[JPRT 112-40, Volume III]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
112th Congress } { S. Prt.
2d Session } JOINT COMMITTEE PRINT { 112-40
_______________________________________________________________________
COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
PRACTICES FOR 2009
VOLUME III
SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA,
WESTERN HEMISPHERE
----------
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
OCTOBER 2012
Printed for the use of the Committees on Foreign Relations of the U.S.
Senate and Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives
respectively
112th Congress } { S. Prt.
2d Session } JOINT COMMITTEE PRINT { 112-40
_______________________________________________________________________
COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
PRACTICES FOR 2009
VOLUME III
SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA,
WESTERN HEMISPHERE
__________
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
OCTOBER 2012
Printed for the use of the Committees on Foreign Relations of the U.S.
Senate and Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives
respectively
_____
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One Hundred Tenth Congress, Second Session
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
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois
BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York RON PAUL, Texas
DIANE E. WATSON, California JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri MIKE PENCE, Indiana
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey JOE WILSON, South Carolina
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
MICHAEL E. MCMAHON, New York J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina
JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee CONNIE MACK, Florida
GENE GREEN, Texas JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
LYNN WOOLSEY, California MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas TED POE, Texas
BARBARA LEE, California BOB INGLIS, South Carolina
SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida
JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
MIKE ROSS, Arkansas
BRAD MILLER, North Carolina
DAVID SCOTT, Georgia
JIM COSTA, California
KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona
RON KLEIN, Florida
Richard J. Kessler, Staff Director
Yleem D.S. Poblete, Republican Staff Director
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin BOB CORKER, Tennessee
BARBARA BOXER, California JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JIM DeMINT, South Carolina
ROBERT P. CASEY, Jr., Pennsylvania JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming
JIM WEBB, Virginia ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma
EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware
KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York
David McKean, Staff Director
Kenneth A. Myers, Jr., Republican Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Letter of Transmittal............................................ vii
Preface.......................................................... ix
Overview and Acknowledgments..................................... xi
Introduction..................................................... xv
Volume I
Africa........................................................... 1
Angola....................................................... 1
Benin........................................................ 17
Botswana..................................................... 28
Burkina Faso................................................. 39
Burundi...................................................... 50
Cameroon..................................................... 67
Cape Verde................................................... 88
Central African Republic..................................... 93
Chad......................................................... 117
Comoros...................................................... 133
Congo, Democratic Republic of the............................ 139
Congo, Republic of the....................................... 183
Cote d'Ivoire................................................ 193
Djibouti..................................................... 210
Equatorial Guinea............................................ 219
Eritrea...................................................... 234
Ethiopia..................................................... 248
Gabon........................................................ 276
Gambia, The.................................................. 285
Ghana........................................................ 297
Guinea....................................................... 312
Guinea-Bissau................................................ 329
Kenya........................................................ 338
Lesotho...................................................... 361
Liberia...................................................... 373
Madagascar................................................... 384
Malawi....................................................... 399
Mali......................................................... 411
Mauritania................................................... 422
Mauritius.................................................... 436
Mozambique................................................... 444
Namibia...................................................... 457
Niger........................................................ 470
Nigeria...................................................... 490
Rwanda....................................................... 519
Sao Tome and Principe........................................ 538
Senegal...................................................... 543
Seychelles................................................... 558
Sierra Leone................................................. 565
Somalia...................................................... 581
South Africa................................................. 605
Sudan........................................................ 626
Swaziland.................................................... 648
Tanzania..................................................... 663
Togo......................................................... 684
Uganda....................................................... 694
Zambia....................................................... 718
Zimbabwe..................................................... 733
East Asia and the Pacific........................................ 773
Australia.................................................... 773
Brunei Darussalam............................................ 784
Burma........................................................ 792
Cambodia..................................................... 814
China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau)................. 837
Taiwan....................................................... 905
Fiji......................................................... 915
Indonesia.................................................... 929
Japan........................................................ 951
Kiribati..................................................... 963
Korea, Democratic People's Republic of....................... 968
Korea, Republic of........................................... 980
Laos......................................................... 992
Malaysia..................................................... 1004
Marshall Islands............................................. 1031
Micronesia, Federated States of.............................. 1036
Mongolia..................................................... 1042
Nauru........................................................ 1053
New Zealand.................................................. 1057
Palau........................................................ 1065
Papua New Guinea............................................. 1070
Philippines.................................................. 1079
Samoa........................................................ 1099
Singapore.................................................... 1106
Solomon Islands.............................................. 1121
Thailand..................................................... 1128
Timor-Leste.................................................. 1159
Tonga........................................................ 1168
Tuvalu....................................................... 1175
Vanuatu...................................................... 1180
Vietnam...................................................... 1187
Volume II
Europe and Eurasia............................................... 1213
Albania...................................................... 1213
Andorra...................................................... 1225
Armenia...................................................... 1229
Austria...................................................... 1265
Azerbaijan................................................... 1275
Belarus...................................................... 1300
Belgium...................................................... 1327
Bosnia and Herzegovina....................................... 1337
Bulgaria..................................................... 1353
Croatia...................................................... 1368
Cyprus....................................................... 1386
Czech Republic............................................... 1415
Denmark...................................................... 1429
Estonia...................................................... 1437
Finland...................................................... 1443
France....................................................... 1453
Georgia...................................................... 1464
Germany...................................................... 1515
Greece....................................................... 1529
Hungary...................................................... 1553
Iceland...................................................... 1569
Ireland...................................................... 1577
Italy........................................................ 1584
Kosovo....................................................... 1597
Latvia....................................................... 1622
Liechtenstein................................................ 1634
Lithuania.................................................... 1640
Luxembourg................................................... 1652
Macedonia.................................................... 1657
Malta........................................................ 1673
Moldova...................................................... 1681
Monaco....................................................... 1711
Montenegro................................................... 1715
Netherlands.................................................. 1736
Norway....................................................... 1747
Poland....................................................... 1755
Portugal..................................................... 1773
Romania...................................................... 1781
Russia....................................................... 1805
San Marino................................................... 1865
Serbia....................................................... 1868
Slovakia..................................................... 1894
Slovenia..................................................... 1911
Spain........................................................ 1919
Sweden....................................................... 1932
Switzerland.................................................. 1943
Turkey....................................................... 1954
Ukraine...................................................... 1984
United Kingdom............................................... 2014
Near East and North Africa....................................... 2029
Algeria...................................................... 2029
Bahrain...................................................... 2047
Egypt........................................................ 2059
Iran......................................................... 2080
Iraq......................................................... 2113
Israel and the Occupied Territories.......................... 2146
Jordan....................................................... 2196
Kuwait....................................................... 2217
Lebanon...................................................... 2230
Libya........................................................ 2248
Morocco and Western Sahara................................... 2262
Oman......................................................... 2286
Qatar........................................................ 2294
Saudi Arabia................................................. 2308
Syria........................................................ 2331
Tunisia...................................................... 2360
United Arab Emirates......................................... 2381
Yemen........................................................ 2393
Volume III
South and Central Asia........................................... 2417
Afghanistan.................................................. 2417
Bangladesh................................................... 2444
Bhutan....................................................... 2467
India........................................................ 2477
Kazakhstan................................................... 2508
Kyrgyz Republic.............................................. 2529
Maldives..................................................... 2546
Nepal........................................................ 2556
Pakistan..................................................... 2573
Sri Lanka.................................................... 2604
Tajikistan................................................... 2621
Turkmenistan................................................. 2637
Uzbekistan................................................... 2651
Western Hemisphere............................................... 2675
Antigua and Barbuda.......................................... 2675
Argentina.................................................... 2680
Bahamas, The................................................. 2694
Barbados..................................................... 2704
Belize....................................................... 2710
Bolivia...................................................... 2718
Brazil....................................................... 2731
Canada....................................................... 2753
Chile........................................................ 2765
Colombia..................................................... 2776
Costa Rica................................................... 2800
Cuba......................................................... 2812
Dominica..................................................... 2828
Dominican Republic........................................... 2834
Ecuador...................................................... 2851
El Salvador.................................................. 2868
Grenada...................................................... 2881
Guatemala.................................................... 2886
Guyana....................................................... 2907
Haiti........................................................ 2917
Honduras..................................................... 2929
Jamaica...................................................... 2951
Mexico....................................................... 2963
Nicaragua.................................................... 2983
Panama....................................................... 3002
Paraguay..................................................... 3015
Peru......................................................... 3028
Saint Kitts and Nevis........................................ 3043
Saint Lucia.................................................. 3048
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines............................. 3054
Suriname..................................................... 3060
Trinidad and Tobago.......................................... 3070
Uruguay...................................................... 3078
Venezuela.................................................... 3086
Appendixes
Appendix A: Notes on preparation of Report................... 3107
Appendix B: Reporting on Worker Rights....................... 3115
Appendix C: Selected International Human Rights Conventions.. 3117
Appendix D: Description of International Human Rights
Conventions in Appendix C.................................. 3133
Appendix E: FY 2009 Foreign Assistance Actuals............... 3135
Appendix F: United Nations General Assembly's Third Committee
Country Resolution Votes 2009.............................. 3157
Appendix G: United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
Rights..................................................... 3169
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
----------
Department of State,
Washington, DC, April 10, 2010.
Hon. John F. Kerry,
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 2009, 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,
David J. Kramer,
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy,
Human Rights, and Labor.
Enclosure.
(vii)
PREFACE
----------
The idea of human rights begins with a fundamental
commitment to the dignity that is the birthright of every man,
woman and child. Progress in advancing human rights begins with
the facts. And for the last 34 years, the United States has
produced the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,
providing the most comprehensive record available of the
condition of human rights around the world.
These reports are an essential tool-for activists who
courageously struggle to protect rights in communities around
the world; for journalists and scholars who document rights
violations and who report on the work of those who champion the
vulnerable; and for governments, including our own, as they
work to craft strategies to encourage protection of the human
rights of more individuals in more places.
The principle that each person possesses equal moral value
is a simple, self-evident truth; but securing a world in which
all can exercise the rights that are naturally theirs is an
immense practical challenge. To craft effective human rights
policy, we need good assessments of the situation on the ground
in the places we want to make a difference. We need a
sophisticated, strategic understanding of how democratic
governance and economic development can each contribute to
creating an environment in which human rights are secured. We
need to recognize that rights-protecting democracy and rights-
respecting development reinforce each other. And we need the
right tools and the right partners to implement our policies.
Human rights are timeless, but our efforts to protect them
must be grounded in the here-and-now. We find ourselves in a
moment when an increasing number of governments are imposing
new and crippling restrictions on the nongovernmental
organizations working to protect rights and enhance
accountability. New technologies have proven useful both to
oppressors and to those who struggle to expose the failures and
cowardice of those oppressors. And global challenges of our
time-like food security and climate change; pandemic disease;
economic crises; and violent extremism-impact the enjoyment of
human rights today, and shape the global political context in
which we must advance human rights over the long term.
Human rights are universal, but their experience is local.
This is why we are committed to hold everyone to the same
standard, including ourselves. And this is why we remember that
human rights begin, as Eleanor Roosevelt said, ``in small
places close to home.'' When we work to secure human rights, we
are working to protect the experiences that make life
meaningful, to preserve each person's ability to fulfill his or
her God-given potential. The potential within every person to
learn, discover and embrace the world around them; the
potential to join freely with others to shape their communities
and their societies so that every person can find fulfillment
and self-sufficiency; the potential to share life's beauties
and tragedies, laughter and tears with the people they love.
The reports released today are a record of where we are.
They provide a fact-base that will inform the United States's
diplomatic, economic and strategic policies toward other
countries in the coming year. These reports are not intended to
prescribe such policies, but they provide essential data points
for everyone in the U.S. Government working on them. I view the
these reports not as ends in themselves, but as an important
tool in the development of practical and effective human rights
strategy by the United States Government. That is a process to
which I am deeply committed.
The timeless principles enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights are a North Star guiding us toward
the world we want to inhabit: a just world where, as President
Obama has put it, peace rests on the ``inherent rights and
dignity of every individual.'' With the facts in hand, and the
goals clear in our hearts and heads, we recommit ourselves to
continue the hard work of making human rights a human reality.
Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Secretary of State.
OVERVIEW AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
----------
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 thus are not covered by the
congressional requirement.
In the early 1970s the United States formalized its
responsibility to speak out on behalf of international human
rights standards. In 1976 Congress enacted legislation creating
a Coordinator of Human Rights in the Department of State, a
position later upgraded to Assistant Secretary. Legislation
also requires 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.
How the Reports Are Prepared
The Department of State prepared this report using
information from U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, foreign
government officials, nongovernmental and international
organizations, and published reports. The initial drafts of the
individual country reports were prepared by U.S. diplomatic
missions abroad, drawing on information they gathered
throughout the year from a variety of sources, including
government officials, jurists, the armed forces, journalists,
human rights monitors, academics, and labor activists. This
information gathering can be hazardous, and U.S. Foreign
Service personnel 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.
Once the initial drafts of the individual country reports
were completed, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and
Labor, in cooperation with other Department of State offices,
worked to corroborate, analyze, and edit the reports, drawing
on their own sources of information. These sources 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. Bureau
officers also consulted experts on worker rights, refugee
issues, military and police topics, women's issues, and legal
matters. The guiding principle was to ensure that all
information was assessed objectively, thoroughly, and fairly.
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 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 right to nationality, 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: Carlos Garcia,
Douglas Kramer, and Kay Mayfield; Senior Editors: Jonathan
Bemis, Douglas B. Dearborn, Daniel Dolan, Jerome L. Hoganson,
Patricia Meeks Schnell, Julie Turner, and Rachel Waldstein;
Editors: Naim Ahmed, Joseph Barghout, Kate Berglund, Sarah
Beringer, Marissa Brescia, Sarah Buckley-Moore, Liliana Caparo
Ariza, Laura Carey, Elise Carlson-Rainer, Delaram Cavey, Sharon
Cooke, Susan Corke, Stuart Crampton, Kathleen Crowley, Frank
Crump, Tu Dang, Mollie Davis, Huseyin Dogan, Will Dokurno, Mort
Dworken, Amy Feagles, Joan Garner, Solange Garvey, Jeffrey
Glassman, Blake Greene, Edward Grulich, Patrick Harvey, Victor
Huser, Jill Hutchings, Stan Ifshin, David T. Jones, Simone
Joseph, Mancharee Junk, Douglas Kramer, Sarah Labowitz, Jessica
Lieberman, Gregory Maggio, Stacey May, John McKane, David
Mikosz, Mia Mitchell, Stephen Moody, Sarah Morgan, Perlita
Muiruri, Sandra Murphy, Daniel L. Nadel, Catherine Newling,
Anand Prakash, Drue Preissman, Gabriela Ramirez, Lea Rivera,
Peter Sawchyn, Wendy Silverman, Catherine Snyder, Erin Spitzer,
Rachel Spring, Michael Suttles, Leslie Taylor, James Todd,
Kathy Unlu, David Wagner, Nicole Wilett, Karen Yoo;
Contributing Editor: Lynne Davidson; Editorial Assistants: Cory
Andrews, Carol Finerty, Ronya D. Foy, Lauren Gandillot, Yelipza
Gutierrez, Wen Hsu, Raymond Lu, Stephanie Martone, James
McDonald, Matthew Miller, Amanda Pourciau, Sabrina Ragaller,and
Helaena White; and Technical Assistant Eunice Johnson.
INTRODUCTION TO THE
2009 COUNTRY REPORTS
----------
2009 was a year of contrasts. It was a year in which
ethnic, racial, and religious tensions led to violent conflicts
and serious human rights violations and fueled or exacerbated
more than 30 wars or internal armed conflicts. At the same
time, it was a year in which the United States and other
governments devoted greater attention to finding ways to
acknowledge and combat these underlying tensions through
showing leadership in advancing respect for universal human
rights, promoting tolerance, combating violent extremism, and
pursuing peaceful solutions to long-standing conflicts in the
Middle East and elsewhere. As President Obama said in his June
speech at Cairo University, we should be defined not by our
differences but rather by our common humanity, and we should
find ways to work in partnership with other nations so that all
people achieve justice and prosperity.
2009 also was a year in which more people gained greater
access than ever before to more information about human rights
through the Internet, cell phones, and other forms of
connective technologies. Yet at the same time it was a year in
which governments spent more time, money, and attention finding
regulatory and technical means to curtail freedom of expression
on the Internet and the flow of critical information and to
infringe on the personal privacy rights of those who used these
rapidly evolving technologies.
Today, all governments grapple with the difficult questions
of what are appropriate policies and practices in response to
legitimate national security concerns and how to strike the
balance between respecting human rights and fundamental
freedoms and ensuring the safety of their citizens. That said,
during the past year, many governments applied overly broad
interpretations of terrorism and emergency powers as a basis
for limiting the rights of detainees and curtailing other basic
human rights and humanitarian law protections. They did so even
as the international community continued to make tangible
progress in isolating and weakening the leadership in violent
extremist and terrorist groups such as al-Qa'ida.
This report explores these and other trends and
developments and provides a specific, detailed picture of human
rights conditions in 194 countries around the world. The U.S.
Government has compiled these reports for the past 34 years
pursuant to a requirement placed on the U.S. executive by law
in part to help the U.S. Congress inform its work in assessing
requests for U.S. foreign military and economic assistance, as
well as to set trade policies and U.S. participation in the
multilateral development banks and other financial
institutions. The reason for publishing this report is to
develop a full, factual record that can help U.S. policymakers
to make intelligent and well-informed policy decisions. It has
also been increasingly used by policymakers abroad and has
become a core reference document for governments,
intergovernmental organizations, and concerned citizens
throughout the world.
Many have questioned the reason the U.S. Government
compiles this report, rather than the United Nations or some
other intergovernmental body. One answer is that we believe it
is imperative for countries, including our own, to ensure that
respect for human rights is an integral component of foreign
policy. These reports provide an overview of the human rights
situation around the world as a means to raise awareness about
human rights conditions, in particular as these conditions
impact the well-being of women, children, racial minorities,
trafficking victims, members of indigenous groups and ethnic
communities, persons with disabilities, sexual minorities, and
members of other vulnerable groups. Also, we provide these
reports as a form of comprehensive review and analysis. While
some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) do extensive and
excellent reporting on some countries, none cover the world as
we do. And while we have encouraged more detailed and
comprehensive reporting from the UN and other intergovernmental
bodies, thus far these organizations have not met this need.
Because of this unmet need, the U.S. Congress has mandated this
report. Even as we continue this reporting exercise, we
encourage the UN to take up this type of thorough and
comprehensive reporting, and we stand ready to work with them
to meet the challenge. We will continue to press for enhanced
UN reporting, for example through the UN Human Rights Council
as part of its review of its own operations in 2011.
Some critics, in the United States and elsewhere, also have
challenged our practice of reviewing every other country's
human rights record but not our own. In fact, the U.S.
Government reports on and assesses our own human rights record
in many other fora pursuant to our treaty obligations (e.g., we
file reports on our implementation of the two Optional
Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the
International Covenant on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination, and the Convention Against Torture). We are
reviewing our reporting, consistent with President Obama and
Secretary Clinton's pledge that we will apply a single
universal human rights standard to all, including ourselves.
Later this year, the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report, for
the first time, will rank the United States as it does foreign
governments by applying the minimum standards for the
elimination of trafficking in persons set forth in the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 as amended. And in
the fall the U.S. Government will appear before the United
Nations Human Rights Council for the first Universal Periodic
Review of our domestic human rights situation.
These country reports are written to provide an accurate,
factual record of human rights conditions around the world, not
to examine U.S. policy responses or options or to assess
diplomatic alternatives. Yet in a broader sense these reports
are a part of the Obama Administration's overall approach to
human rights and an essential component of that effort. As
outlined above, the administration's approach, as articulated
by President Obama and Secretary Clinton, is guided by broad
principles, the first of which is a commitment to universal
human rights. In preparing this report, we have endeavored to
hold all governments accountable to uphold universal human
rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to
their human rights treaty obligations. As Secretary Clinton
stated in December, all governments, including our own, must
``adhere to obligations under international law: among them not
to torture, arbitrarily detain and persecute dissenters, or
engage in political killings. Our government and the
international community must consider the pretentions of those
who deny or abdicate their responsibilities and hold violators
to account.'' The first step in that process is to tell the
truth and to identify specific instances where such violations
are occurring and where governments are failing to take
responsibility for holding violators accountable.
A second element of our approach is a principled and
pragmatic engagement with other countries on these issues. This
means that we will pursue steps that are most likely to make
human rights a human reality. This principled pragmatism starts
with an honest assessment of human rights conditions and
whether violations are the result of deliberate government
repression, governmental unwillingness or inability to confront
the problems, or a combination of all three. As Secretary
Clinton has said, ``With China, Russia, and others, we are
engaging on issues of mutual interest while also engaging
societal actors in the same countries who are working to
advance human rights and democracy. The assumption that we must
either pursue human rights or our `national interests' is
wrong. The assumption that only coercion and isolation are
effective tools for advancing democratic change is also
wrong.'' These reports provide an essential, factual predicate
upon which we can shape current and future polices.
A third element is our belief that although foreign
governments and global civil society cannot impose change from
outside, we can and should encourage and provide support to
members of local civil society and other peaceful change agents
within each country. As part of such efforts, these reports can
and often do amplify these voices, by making reference to their
findings, publicly reinforcing their concerns, and by widely
disseminating this information to opinion makers, both
internationally and within affected countries.
A fourth element of our approach is to keep a wide focus
where rights are at stake and to adopt a broad approach to
democracy and human rights. As Secretary Clinton stated,
``Democracy means not only elections to choose leaders, but
also active citizens and a free press and an independent
judiciary and transparent and responsive institutions that are
accountable to all citizens and protect their rights equally
and fairly.'' President Obama has also highlighted the crucial
linkages between development, democracy, and human rights,
noting the centrality of issues such as corruption to the
realization of basic rights. Consistent with that approach,
these reports cover a wide range of topics and trends,
providing a detailed and comprehensive picture of human rights
and democracy in each country.
The fifth and final element of our approach has been to
pursue progress on these issues through multilateral processes
and institutions. As President Obama has acknowledged, we live
in an increasingly interdependent and multipolar world, and to
achieve our international goals, we need to collaborate with
other governments and international actors. That is the reason
we have joined the UN Human Rights Council, have actively
supported human rights initiatives in the General Assembly, and
have more thoroughly engaged in regional bodies like the
Organization of American States and the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe in promoting democracy and
human rights.
In preparing these reports, we relied on information
collected by officials in U.S. embassies around the world and
on information from other governments and multilateral
organizations. We also solicited and relied on useful
information from nongovernmental human rights groups, both
those operating internationally and those that work at a
national level. We also collected information from academics,
lawyers, trade unions, religious leaders, and the media. While
we benefited from these many inputs, the U.S. Government alone
bears responsibility for the content of these reports. The
preparation of these reports involves a major commitment of
time and energy by hundreds of people, and includes a lengthy
process of fact-checking and editing to ensure high standards
of accuracy and objectivity.
The Year in Review
In 2009, governments across the globe continued to commit
serious violations of human rights. As we survey the world,
there still are an alarming number of reports of torture,
extrajudicial killings, and other violations of universal human
rights. Often these violations relating to the integrity of the
person are in countries where conflicts are occurring. These
violent attacks are a central concern wherever they take place.
In a significant number of countries, governments have
imposed new and often draconian restrictions on NGOs. Since
2008, no fewer than 25 governments have imposed new
restrictions on the ability of these organizations to register,
to operate freely, or to receive foreign funding, adversely
impacting freedom of association. In many countries, human
rights defenders are singled out for particularly harsh
treatment, and in the most egregious cases, they are imprisoned
or even attacked or killed in reaction to their advocacy.
These restrictions and repressive measures are part of a
larger pattern of governmental efforts to control dissenting or
critical voices. This pattern also extends to the media and to
new forms of electronic communications through the Internet and
other new technologies. Restrictions on freedom of expression,
including on members of the media, are increasing and becoming
more severe. In many cases, such restrictions are applied
subtly by autocrats aiming to avoid attention from human rights
groups and donor countries, such as through the threat of
criminal penalties and administrative or economic obstacles,
rather than through violence or imprisonment; the end result is
still a chilling effect on freedom of expression.
A third trend we observed is the continuing and escalating
discrimination and persecution of members of vulnerable
groups--often racial, religious, or ethnic minorities, but also
women, members of indigenous communities, children, persons
with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups that lack the
political power in their societies to defend their own
interests.
These key trends are discussed in the subsequent sections,
illustrated by thumbnail sketches of selected countries
(ordered alphabetically) that were chosen for notable
developments--positive, negative, or mixed--chronicled during
calendar year 2009. For more comprehensive, detailed
information, the individual country reports themselves should
be consulted.
Specific Human Rights Trends
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN COUNTRIES IN CONFLICT
In many countries where conflicts were raging during the
year, noncombatant civilians faced human rights abuses and
violations of international humanitarian law. In many of these
conflict zones, insurgents, terrorist organizations,
paramilitary forces, and government security forces used
murder, rape, and inhumane tactics to assert control over
territory, silence opponents, and coerce the cooperation of
civilian communities in conflict zones. Throughout the world,
thousands of men, women, and children died or were mistreated
not only in conflicts, but also in campaigns to intimidate
civilian populations.
The security situation in Afghanistan deteriorated
significantly because of increased insurgent attacks, with
civilians bearing the brunt of the violence. Armed conflict
spread to almost one-third of the country, hindering the
government's ability to govern effectively, extend its
influence, and provide services, especially in rural areas. As
a result of the insurgency, 1,448 Afghan military personnel,
1,954 government employees, and 2,412 civilians were killed.
Approximately five million of the 15 million registered voters
participated in the August elections that were marked by
serious allegations of widespread fraud, insufficient
conditions for participation by women, and a concerted effort
by the Taliban to disrupt the voting. Nevertheless, more
polling stations opened than in previous elections, the media
and public debated political alternatives, and the election
followed the constitutional process.
The government in Burma continued its egregious human
rights violations and abuses during the year, including
increased military attacks in ethnic minority regions, such as
in the Karen and Shan state. In August, government soldiers
attacked the Kokang cease-fire group, the Myanmar National
Democratic Alliance Army, which the government claimed was
launched in order to shut down narcotics and arms factories.
Tens of thousands of civilians reportedly fled across the
border to China as a result of the fighting. Government
soldiers destroyed several villages in Shan territory, and some
media estimates suggested the army razed up to 500 homes in
Kokang territory. The regime continued to rule by decree and
was not bound by any constitutional provisions guaranteeing any
fundamental freedoms. The regime continued to commit other
serious abuses, including extrajudicial killings, custodial
deaths, disappearances, rape, torture, forcible relocation of
persons, the use of forced labor, and conscription of child
soldiers. The government detained civic activists indefinitely
and without charges.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), conflict in
mineral-rich parts of the east, including counterinsurgency
operations by government security forces, resulted in the
killing of more than 1,000 civilians; the displacement of
hundreds of thousands whose government did not adequately
protect or assist them; the rapes of tens of thousands of
women, children, and men; the burning of hundreds of homes; the
unlawful recruitment or use of thousands of children as
soldiers by the DRC military and various armed groups; and
abductions of numerous persons for forced labor and sexual
exploitation, both domestically and internationally.
Despite substantial improvements in the general security
situation in Iraq, human rights abuses continued. There were
reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary
or unlawful killings in connection with the ongoing conflict,
and insurgent and terrorist bombings, executions, and killings
continued to affect all regions and sectors of society. Due to
the continuing conflict, violence against the media was common,
and media workers reported that they engaged in self-
censorship. Although the government publicly called for
tolerance and acceptance for all religious minorities and took
steps to increase security at places of worship, frequent
attacks by insurgent and extremist groups on places of worship
and religious leaders, as well as sectarian violence, hampered
the ability of individuals to practice their religion freely.
In response to a sharp increase in the number and frequency
of rocket attacks from Gaza against civilians in Israel shortly
prior to and following the expiration of Hamas's agreed period
of ``calm'' on December 19, 2008, the Israeli Defense Forces
launched Operation Cast Lead on December 27, which consisted
initially of airstrikes targeted against Hamas security
installations, personnel, and other facilities in the Gaza
Strip, and later ground operations. Hostilities between Israeli
forces and Hamas fighters continued through January 18, and the
Israeli withdrawal of troops was completed on January 21. Human
rights organizations estimated that close to 1,400 Palestinians
died, including more than 1,000 civilians, and that more than
5,000 were wounded. According to Israeli government figures,
Palestinian deaths totaled 1,166, including 295 noncombatant
deaths. There were 13 Israelis killed, including three
civilians. In the West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces relaxed
restrictions at several checkpoints during the year that had
constituted significant barriers to the movement of
Palestinians, yet remaining barriers limited Palestinian access
to places of worship, employment, agricultural lands, schools,
hospitals, and the conduct of journalism and NGO activities. In
Gaza, which remained under the control of Hamas, there were
reports of corruption, abuse of prisoners, and failure to
provide fair trials to those accused. Hamas also strictly
restricted the freedom of expression, religion, and movement of
Gaza residents, and promoted gender discrimination against
women. Killings by Hamas-controlled security forces remained a
problem. There were reports of torture by Gaza Hamas Executive
Force and victims were not only security detainees but also
included persons associated with the Fatah political party and
those held on suspicion of ``collaboration'' with Israel. Hamas
authorities in Gaza often interfered arbitrarily with personal
privacy, family, and home.
National police, army, and other security forces in Nigeria
committed extrajudicial killings and used lethal and excessive
force to apprehend criminals and suspects. Violence in the form
of killings, kidnappings, and forced disappearances; mass rape;
and displacement of civilians attributed to both government and
nongovernment actors continued in the Niger Delta, despite the
formation of the Joint Task Force in 2003 that sought to
restore stability to the region. Reports of incidents
attributed to militant groups in the Niger Delta decreased upon
the president's offer of amnesty, although violence remained
pervasive in the south. Between July 26 and July 29, police and
militant members of Boko Haram, an extremist Islamic group,
clashed violently in four northern states, resulting in the
displacement of approximately 4,000 people and more than 700
deaths, although this figure is not definitive because quick
burials in mass graves precluded an accurate count. Sect leader
Muhammad Yusuf; Yusuf's father-in-law, Baba Mohammed; and
suspected Boko Haram founder Buji Fai reportedly were killed
while in custody of the security forces.
Although Pakistan's civilian authorities took some positive
steps, significant human rights challenges remain. Major
problems included extrajudicial killings, torture, and
disappearances. Militant attacks in the Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA) and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP)
killed 825 civilians; security operations to repel the
militants from Malakand Division and parts of the FATA
displaced almost three million persons at the peak of the
crisis (although by year's end, approximately 1.66 million had
returned to their home areas). The Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan, the New York Times, and several local publications
reported that security forces allegedly committed 300 to 400
extrajudicial killings during counterinsurgency operations in
NWFP and Swat. There were widespread accusations that
insurgents conducted terror- and revenge killings to intimidate
local populations and law enforcement officials. Sectarian
violence killed approximately 1,125 persons, and more than 76
suicide bombings killed 1,037 persons.
The situation in the North Caucasus region of Russia
worsened as the government fought insurgents, Islamist
militants, and criminal forces. Local government and insurgent
forces in the region reportedly engaged in killings, torture,
abuse, violence, politically motivated abductions, and other
brutal or humiliating treatment. In Chechnya, Ingushetia, and
Dagestan, the number of extrajudicial killings increased
markedly, as did the number of attacks on law enforcement
personnel (in actions involving insurgents, 342 members of law
enforcement were killed and 680 were injured.) Some authorities
in the North Caucasus acted with impunity and appeared to act
independently of the federal government, in some cases,
allegedly targeting families of suspected insurgents for
reprisal and engaging in kidnapping, torture, and extrajudicial
punishment.
Before the 33-year conflict in Sri Lanka came to an end in
May, government security forces, progovernment paramilitary
groups, and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) used
excessive force and committed abuses against civilians. Several
hundred thousand ethnic Tamil civilians were not allowed
freedom of movement by the LTTE from LTTE-controlled areas
Artillery shelling and mortar fire by both sides occurred close
to and among civilian encampments, resulting in thousands of
civilian deaths during the last months of the conflict. From
January to May, the LTTE dramatically increased its forced
recruitment of child soldiers. Although the number of children
recruited and killed in fighting is unknown, the government
reported 527 ex-LTTE child soldiers in custody several months
after the end of the war. The confinement in camps of nearly
300,000 persons displaced by the end of the conflict called
into question the government's postconflict commitment to human
rights, although the government began to make significant
progress on the treatment of internally displaced persons and
other human rights improvements toward the end of 2009, in the
run up to the January 2010 presidential election.
Conflict and human rights abuses in the Darfur region of
Sudan continued despite the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement between
the government and a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement/
Army. Government-sponsored forces bombed villages, killed
civilians, and supported Chadian rebel groups. Women and
children continued to experience gender-based violence. Since
the conflict in Darfur began in 2003, nearly 2.7 million
civilians have been internally displaced, approximately 253,000
have sought refuge in eastern Chad, and more than 300,000 have
died. Tensions also persisted between the north and south over
the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Interethnic conflict
and violence perpetrated by the Lord's Resistance Army in
southern Sudan resulted in the deaths of approximately 2,500
and the displacement of 359,000 persons during the year.
RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, ASSEMBLY, AND ASSOCIATION
(INCLUDING NGOS)
Many governments continued to exert control over
information that came into and was produced within their
countries. This was accomplished by hindering the ability to
organize in public, online, or through use of new technologies;
by restricting the dissemination of information on the
Internet, radio, or television or through print media; and
constructing legal barriers that made it difficult for NGOs to
establish themselves. According to the National Endowment for
Democracy, 26 laws in 25 countries have been introduced or
adopted since January 2008 that impede civil society.
In Belarus, the government's human rights record remained
very poor. Civil liberties, including freedoms of expression,
assembly, association, and religion, continued to be
restricted. The government limited distribution of independent
print and broadcast media outlets. Authorities used
unreasonable force and intimidation to discourage participation
in demonstrations and to disperse peaceful protesters. NGOs,
opposition activists, and political parties were subjected to
persistent harassment, fines, and prosecution, and several
leading NGOs were again denied registration, forcing them to
operate under threat of criminal prosecution. Following a few
positive steps taken by authorities in 2008, the absence of
reform during 2009 was disappointing.
The government of China increased its efforts to monitor
Internet use, control content, restrict information, block
access to foreign and domestic Web sites, encourage self-
censorship, and punish those who violated regulations. The
government employed thousands of persons at the national,
provincial, and local levels to monitor electronic
communications. In January the government began an ``anti-
vulgarity'' campaign that resulted that same month in the
closure of 1,250 Web sites and the deletion of more than 3.2
million items of information. The government at times blocked
access to selected sites operated by major foreign news
outlets, health organizations, foreign governments, educational
institutions, and social networking sites, as well as search
engines, that allow rapid communication or organization of
users. During the year, particularly around sensitive events
such as the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown,
authorities maintained tight control over Internet news and
information. The government also automatically censored e-mail
and Web chats based on an ever-changing list of sensitive key
words. Despite official monitoring and censorship, dissidents
and political activists continued to use the Internet to
advocate and call attention to political causes such as
prisoner advocacy, political reform, ethnic discrimination,
corruption, and foreign policy concerns.
Independent media in Colombia were active and expressed a
wide variety of views without restriction, and all privately
owned radio and television stations broadcast freely. However,
members of illegal armed groups intimidated, threatened,
kidnapped, or killed journalists, which, according to national
and international NGOs, caused many to practice self-censorship
and others, 171 to be specific, received protection from the
government. The official Administrative Department of Security
monitored journalists, trade unionists, the political
opposition, and human rights organizations and activists--
physically, as well as their phone and email communications and
personal and financial data. According to some NGOs, the
government allegedly detained arbitrarily hundreds of persons,
particularly social leaders, labor activists, and human rights
defenders (HRDs), although a key NGO reported that such
detentions in 2009 were half the 2008 level. HRDs were also
persecuted and accused of supporting terrorism in an effort to
discredit their work. Prominent NGOs reported that eight human
rights activists and 39 trade unionists were killed during the
year. However, the government also worked to protect thousands
of union members, human rights activists, and other such
groups.
Authorities in Cuba interfered with privacy and engaged in
pervasive monitoring of private communications. There was no
ability to change the government. There were also severe
limitations on freedom of expression and no authorized press
apart from official media; denial of peaceful assembly and
association; restrictions on freedom of religion; and refusal
to recognize domestic human rights groups or independent
journalists or to permit them to function legally. The law
allows for punishment of any unauthorized assembly of more than
three persons, including those for private religious services
in private homes. The law also provides for imprisonment for
vaguely defined crimes such as ``dangerousness'' and ``peaceful
sedition.'' The government did not grant permission to any
antigovernment demonstrators or approve any public meeting by a
human rights group. Authorities held numerous opposition
leaders pursuant to sentences ranging up to 25 years for
peaceful political activities and detained activists for short
periods to prevent them from attending meetings,
demonstrations, or ceremonies. Although unauthorized, the
organization Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) generally was
allowed to assemble and walk to church each Sunday demanding
freedom for their imprisoned family members. However, the
organization reported that its activities beyond the
traditional weekly marches to church were disrupted on several
occasions during the year. In addition, a prominent blogger and
her colleague were detained and beaten while en route to a
peaceful protest. Human rights activists also reported frequent
government monitoring and disruption of cell phone and landline
services prior to planned events or key anniversaries related
to human rights. Authorities have never approved the
establishment of a human rights group; however, a number of
professional associations operated as NGOs without legal
recognition.
The government's poor human rights record degenerated
during the year, particularly after the disputed June
presidential elections. Freedom of expression and association
and lack of due process continued to be problems within Iran,
and the government severely limited individuals' right to
change their government peacefully through free and fair
elections. Following the June 13 announcement of President
Ahmadi-Nejad's reelection, hundreds of thousands of citizens
took to the streets to protest. Police and the paramilitary
Basij violently suppressed demonstrations. The official death
count was 37, although opposition groups report the number may
have reached 70. By August, authorities had detained at least
4,000 individuals, and arrests continued throughout the year. A
massive show trial involving many of the more prominent
detainees was undertaken in September. On June 20, according to
eyewitnesses, Basij militia killed Neda Agha-Soltan in Tehran.
The video of her death appeared on YouTube and became a symbol
of the opposition movement. Ahead of the June presidential
election, on the actual day of election, and during the
December 27 Ashura protests, when authorities detained 1,000
individuals and at least eight persons were killed in street
clashes, the government blocked access to Facebook, Twitter,
and other social networking sites. After the June election,
there was a major drop in bandwidth, which experts posited the
government caused to prevent activists involved in the protests
from accessing the Internet and uploading large video files.
The government continued to restrict freedom of religion
severely, particularly against Baha'is and, increasingly,
Christians.
The government of North Korea continued to subject citizens
to rigid controls over many aspects of their lives,
specifically denying citizens freedoms of expression, assembly,
and association. Reports by defectors and NGOs of extrajudicial
killings, disappearances, and arbitrary detention, including of
political prisoners, continued to paint a grim picture of life
there. The government sought to control virtually all
information: there were no independent media, Internet access
was limited to high-ranking officials and other elites, and
academic freedom was repressed. Domestic media censorship
continued to be strictly enforced and no deviation from the
official government line was tolerated. Similarly, the
government prohibited all but the political elite from
listening to foreign media broadcasts, and violators were
subject to severe punishment. There was no genuine freedom of
religion. Reports continued that religious believers, their
families, and even their descendents were imprisoned, tortured,
or simply relegated to a lower status. Indoctrination was
carried out systematically through the mass media, schools, and
worker and neighborhood associations and continued to involve
mass marches, rallies, and staged performances, sometimes
including hundreds of thousands of persons.
Government actions weakened freedom of expression and media
independence within Russia by directing the editorial policies
of government-owned media outlets, pressuring major independent
outlets to abstain from critical coverage, and harassing and
intimidating some journalists into practicing self-censorship.
During the year, unknown persons killed a number of human
rights activists and eight journalists, including prominent
journalist and human rights activist Natalia Estemirova, who
spent more than 10 years documenting cases of killings,
torture, and disappearances that she linked to the Chechen
authorities. President Medvedev stated it was ``obvious'' that
the killings were connected to Estemirova's work and ordered an
immediate investigation to find the perpetrators, but there
have been no arrests or prosecutions in this case. The
government increasingly attempted to restrict media freedom to
cover sensitive issues such as the conduct of federal forces in
Chechnya, human rights abuses, and criticism of some government
leaders. Likewise, many observers noted a selective pattern of
officials encouraging government-friendly rallies while
attempting to prevent politically sensitive demonstrations. The
government also attempted to restrict the activities of some
NGOs, making it difficult for some to continue operations. Upon
hearing criticism of the 2006 NGO law at a meeting with the
Presidential Council on Human Rights, President Medvedev called
existing regulations a ``burden'' and announced that some
regulations would be eased. None of the amendments to the law
applied to foreign NGOs.
Government officials in Venezuela, including the president,
used government-controlled media outlets to accuse private
media owners and reporters of fomenting antigovernment
destabilization campaigns and coup attempts. Senior federal and
state government leaders also actively harassed privately owned
and opposition-oriented television stations, media outlets, and
journalists throughout the year, using administrative
sanctions, fines, and threats of closure to prevent or respond
to any perceived criticism of the government. The government's
harassment of Globovision, the largest private television
network, included raiding the home of the company's president
and publicly calling for the company's closure. At year's end,
32 radio stations and two television stations had been closed,
and 29 other radio stations remained under threat of closure.
One domestic media watchdog reported that 191 journalists
either were attacked or had their individual rights violated
during the year. NGOs expressed concern over official political
discrimination against, and the firing of, state employees
whose views differed from those of the government. Private
groups also alleged that the government was pursuing 45 persons
as ``political objectives'' using various legal and
administrative means. The Organization of American States's
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights recently noted ``a
troubling trend of punishments, intimidation, and attacks on
individuals in reprisal for expressing their dissent with
official policy.''
The human rights record of the government of Vietnam
remained problematic. The government increased its suppression
of dissent, arresting and convicting several political
activists. Several editors and reporters from prominent
newspapers were fired for reporting on official corruption and
outside blogging on political topics. Bloggers were detained
and arrested under vague national security provisions for
criticizing the government and were prohibited from posting
material the government saw as sensitive or critical. The
government also monitored e-mail and regulated or suppressed
Internet content, such as Facebook and other Web sites operated
by overseas Vietnamese political groups. The government
utilized or tolerated the use of force to resolve disputes with
a Buddhist order in Lam Dong and Catholic groups with
unresolved property claims. Workers were not free to organize
independent unions, and independent labor activists faced
arrest and harassment.
The government of Uzbekistan tightly controlled the media
and did not permit the publication of views critical of the
government. Government security officials regularly gave
publishers articles and letters to publish under fictitious
bylines, as well as explicit instructions about the types of
stories permitted for publication. In July, a court convicted
independent journalist Dilmurod Sayid to 12 and one-half years
in prison on charges of extortion and bribery soon after he
published articles regarding the corruption of local government
officials. The government requires all NGOs and religious
organizations to register in order to operate, and the
activities of international human rights NGOs are severely
restricted because the government suspects them of
participating in an international ``information war'' against
the country. Any religious service conducted by an unregistered
religious organization is illegal, and police frequently broke
up the meetings of unregistered groups, generally held in
private homes. Reportedly, in some regions, universities and
schools closed to send students to work in cotton fields;
students who refused were expelled or threatened with
expulsion.
DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT OF VULNERABLE GROUPS
Members of vulnerable groups--racial, ethnic and religious
minorities; the disabled; women and children; migrant workers;
and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals--often
were marginalized and targets of societal and/or government-
sanctioned abuse.
China continued to exert tight control over activities and
peoples that the government perceived as a threat to the
Chinese Communist Party. For example, public interest lawyers
who took on cases deemed sensitive by the government
increasingly were harassed or disbarred, and their law firms
often were closed. The government also increased repression of
Tibetans and Uighurs. The government tightened controls on
Uighurs expressing peaceful dissent and on independent Muslim
religious leaders, often citing counterterrorism as the reason
for taking action. Following the July riots that broke out in
Urumqi, the provincial capital of XUAR, officials cracked down
on religious extremism, ``splittism,'' and terrorism in an
attempt to maintain public order. In the aftermath of the
violence, Uighurs were sentenced to long prison terms and in
some cases were executed, without due process, on charges of
separatism. At year's end, Urumqi remained under a heavy police
presence and most Internet and international phone
communication remained cut off. In the Tibetan areas of China,
the government's human rights record remained poor as
authorities committed extrajudicial killings, torture,
arbitrary arrests, and extrajudicial detentions. Authorities
sentenced Tibetans for alleged support of Tibetan independence,
regardless of whether their activities involved violence. The
preservation and development of Tibet's unique religious,
cultural, and linguistic heritage also remained a concern.
The government of Egypt failed to respect the freedom of
association and restricted freedom of expression, and its
respect for freedom of religion remained very poor. Sectarian
attacks on Coptic Christians mounted during the year. The
government failed to redress laws and government practices that
discriminate against Christians. The government sponsored
``reconciliation sessions'' following sectarian attacks, which
generally prevented the prosecution of perpetrators of crimes
against Copts and precluded their recourse to the judicial
system for restitution. This practice contributed to a climate
of impunity and may have encouraged further assaults. Members
of non-Muslim religious minorities that the government
officially recognized generally worshipped without harassment;
however, Christians and members of the Baha'i faith, which the
government does not recognize, faced personal and collective
discrimination in many areas. In a step forward, the government
promulgated procedures for members of unrecognized religions,
including the Baha'i faith, to obtain national identification
documents and reportedly issued 17 such documents and 70 birth
certificates to Baha'i during the year.
As a growing number of people cross borders to find work,
migrant workers have become particularly vulnerable to
exploitation and discrimination. In Malaysia, foreign workers
were subject to exploitative conditions and 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. The law did not effectively prevent employers from
holding employees' passports, and it was common practice for
employers to do so. Some domestic workers alleged that their
employers subjected them to inhuman living conditions, withheld
their salaries, confiscated their travel documents, and
physically assaulted them.
Violence against women, violations of the rights of
children, and discrimination on the basis of gender, religion,
sect, and ethnicity were common in many countries in the Middle
East region. In Saudi Arabia, for example, Muslim religious
practices that conflict with the government's interpretation of
Sunni Islam are discriminated against and public religious
expression by non-Muslims is prohibited. Human rights activists
reported more progress in women's rights than in other areas,
and the government made efforts to integrate women into
mainstream society, for example, through the founding of the
Kingdom's first coeducational university in September. However,
discrimination against women was a significant problem,
demonstrated by the lack of women's autonomy, freedom of
movement, and economic independence; discriminatory practices
surrounding divorce and child custody; the absence of a law
criminalizing violence against women; and difficulties
preventing women from escaping abusive environments. There are
no laws specifically prohibiting domestic violence. Under the
country's interpretation of Shari'a (Islamic law), rape is a
punishable criminal offense with a wide range of penalties from
flogging to execution. Statistics on incidents of rape were not
available, but press reports and observers indicated rape
against women and boys was a serious problem.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in
Uganda faced arbitrary legal restrictions. It is illegal to
engage in homosexual acts, based on a 1950 legal provision from
the colonial era criminalizing ``carnal acts against the order
of nature'' and prescribing a penalty of life imprisonment. No
persons have been charged under the law. The September
introduction in parliament of a bill providing the death
penalty for ``aggravated homosexuality'' and for homosexual
``serial offenders'' resulted in increased harassment and
intimidation of LGBT persons during the year; the proposed
legislation also provides for a fine and three years'
imprisonment for persons who fail to report acts of homosexual
conduct to authorities within 24 hours. Public resentment of
homosexual conduct sparked significant public debate during the
year, and the government took a strong position against such
conduct despite a December 2008 ruling by the High Court that
constitutional rights apply to all persons, regardless of
sexual orientation. The local NGO Sexual Minorities Uganda
protested alleged police harassment of several members for
their vocal stand against sexual discrimination.
Traditional and new forms of anti-Semitism continued to
arise, and a spike in such activity followed the Gaza conflict
in the winter of 2008-2009. Often despite official efforts to
combat the problem, societal anti-Semitism persisted across
Europe, South America, and beyond and manifested itself in
classic forms (including physical attacks on Jewish
individuals, synagogue bombings, cemetery desecrations; the
theft of the ``Arbeit Macht Frei'' sign from the Auschwitz
Death Camp; and accusations of blood libel, dual loyalty, and
undue influence of Jews on government policy and media.) New
forms of anti-Semitism took the form of criticism of Zionism or
Israeli policy that crossed the line into demonizing all Jews,
and, in some cases, translated into violence against Jewish
individuals in general. Instead of combating anti-Semitism,
some governments fueled it, most notably Iran's President
Ahmadi-Nejad. Anti-Semitic propaganda, including Holocaust
denial, was circulated widely by satellite television, radio,
and the Internet. A television show in Egypt that was widely
aired throughout the region did not deny the Holocaust, but
instead glorified it, praising the slaughter and humiliation of
Jews and calling for future Holocausts.
In several countries with generally strong records of
respecting human rights, there were nevertheless some notable
examples of members of vulnerable groups facing discrimination
and harassment. Discrimination against Muslims in Europe has
been an increasing concern. A recent case that received
international attention was the passage on November 29 in
Switzerland of a constitutional amendment banning the
construction of minarets. A provision in the Swiss constitution
enables direct citizen involvement. The amendment passed with
57.5 percent of the vote despite opposition from both
parliament and the Federal Council and public statements by
many of the country's leaders describing such a ban as
contradicting basic values in the country's constitution and
violating its international obligations. Proponents of the
initiative to ban minarets contended the construction of
minarets symbolized a religious and political claim to power.
In the wake of the economic downturn, there have been a
number of killings and incidents of violence against Roma,
including in Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and the Czech
Republic. Roma are the largest and most vulnerable minority in
Europe; they suffer racial profiling, violence, and
discrimination. There were also reports of mistreatment of
Romani suspects by police officers during arrest and while in
custody. Roma faced high levels of poverty, unemployment, and
illiteracy, as well as widespread discrimination in education,
employment, and housing.
SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA
----------
AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan is an Islamic republic; population estimates range from
24 to 33 million. In August citizens voted in their second presidential
and first-ever contested election; after his challenger withdrew from a
run-off election, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) declared
Hamid Karzai president for a second term. Citizens who participated in
the election faced threats of insurgent violence; at least 31 persons
were killed on August 20, election day, including 11 IEC members. The
elections were marked by serious allegations of widespread fraud; a
Taliban offensive to disrupt the elections through public threats,
fear-mongering, and violence; low turnout; and insufficient conditions
for participation by women.
The country's human rights record remained poor. Human rights
problems included extrajudicial killings, torture, poor prison
conditions, official impunity, prolonged pretrial detention,
restrictions on freedom of the press, restrictions on freedom of
religion, violence and societal discrimination against women,
restrictions on religious conversions, abuses against minorities,
sexual abuse of children, trafficking in persons, abuse of worker
rights, the use of child soldiers in armed conflict, and child labor.
The security situation in the country deteriorated significantly
during the year because of increased insurgent attacks, with civilians
continuing to bear the brunt of the violence. Armed conflict spread to
almost one-third of the country, including previously unaffected areas
in the north and northeast. The marked deterioration in security posed
a major challenge for the central government, hindering its ability to
govern effectively, extend its influence, and deliver services,
especially in rural areas. The security environment also had an
extremely negative effect on the ability of humanitarian organizations
to operate freely in many parts of the country, particularly in
providing life-saving care. Insurgents deliberately targeted government
employees and aid workers. Efforts to contain the insurgency by
military and nonmilitary means continued. Reports of human rights
violations were actively exploited and sometimes manufactured by the
Taliban and other insurgent groups for propaganda purposes.
According to the Ministry of Interior (MOI), 1,448 Afghan military
personnel and 1,954 government employees, primarily police, died as a
result of the insurgency, including deaths by suicide attacks, roadside
bombs, small-arms attacks, and targeted assassinations.
Civilian casualties increased sharply due to insurgent actions.
According to the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan's (UNAMA) Annual
Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, the year was
the deadliest for civilians since 2001, with 2,412 civilian casualties,
compared with 2,118 in 2008, an increase of 14 percent. Taliban and
antigovernment elements were responsible for 67 percent of civilian
casualties, killing 1,630 civilians, compared with 1,160 in 2008, an
increase of 41 percent since 2008. The MOI reported 2,590 civilians
killed and 3,646 injured during the year. Taliban and antigovernment
elements continued to threaten, rob, attack, and kill villagers,
foreigners, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) workers. As in 2008,
suicide and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks killed more
Afghan civilians than any other tactic.
Progovernment forces also bore responsibility for civilian
casualties. Airstrikes, whether seeking high-value targets or providing
close air support on battles located in areas with high concentrations
of civilians, remained responsible for the largest percentage of
civilian deaths by progovernment forces; during the year UNAMA recorded
65 incidents of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)
airstrikes in which reportedly more than 359 civilians were killed,
down 28 percent from 552 killed in 2008.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were reports
that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful
killings. In addition, insurgents killed civilians during conflict, and
insurgent groups increased politically targeted killings during the
year (see section 1.g.).
Taliban and insurgent attacks escalated in both number and
complexity during the year. According to the June report of the UN
Secretary General, in the first half of the year, security incidents in
Kandahar city and the airport district of Damam increased by 80 percent
compared with 2008. On February 17, a suicide bombing in Kandahar
killed 80 men and boys and injured 90 individuals. On August 25, in
Kandahar, a truck bomb killed at least 65 and injured more than 100
persons, mostly civilians; although Taliban spokesmen denied
involvement, it was widely believed the Taliban were responsible for
the attack, which may have targeted a foreign business.
Kabul became a key terrorist target during the year. On August 15,
five days before the presidential elections, a suicide car bomb
exploded outside the main gate of NATO headquarters and the Ministry of
Transportation, killing seven and wounding 91 persons; Taliban
spokesman Zabiullah Mojahed claimed the Taliban was responsible for the
blast. On September 6, two rockets landed in Kabul, killing four
civilians, including one woman and two children, and wounding three
others. On September 17, Taliban killed 20 persons with a suicide car
bomb at a major intersection. On October 8, Taliban killed 17
individuals in a bomb attack on the Indian Embassy. On October 28,
insurgents killed 11 persons, including five UN staffers, and injured
at least nine others, in an attack on a Kabul UN guesthouse. On
November 16, Taliban fired rockets into a bazaar northeast of Kabul,
killing 16 and wounding 37. Insurgents staged a total of 36 suicide and
IED attacks and fired 19 rockets in Kabul during the year.
Violence occurred in many parts of the country, escalating in the
last quarter of the year. On August 31, according to Ariana Television,
an IED in Kunduz province killed two children and injured four others.
On September 1, in Jowzjan province, a bomb killed one child. On
September 2, in Laghman province, a suicide bomb exploded outside a
mosque, killing 23, including National Directorate of Security (NDS)
Deputy Director Abdullah Laghmani, and wounding 54 others, including
women and children. On the same day, Taliban insurgents hanged a man in
Baghlan province on suspicion of spying for foreign forces and the
government. On September 7, an explosion in Uruzgan province killed
four and injured 20 persons, including four Afghan National Police
(ANP) officers. On September 29, a crowded intercity bus traveling from
Herat to Kandahar struck a roadside bomb in Maiwand, Kandahar, killing
30 and injuring 39; no group claimed responsibility for the attack. On
November 16, Taliban raided a police station in the Arghandab district
near Kandahar, killing eight officers and wounding three.
On November 27, gunmen attacked and killed Makhdoum Abdullah, the
provincial head of Afghanistan's Red Crescent Society in Takhar, as he
was walking home. President Karzai ordered an investigation into the
attack.
There were other insurgent attacks that targeted civilians or
injured or killed them during attacks on coalition or Afghan security
and/or government targets.
On December 27, Taliban attacked the town of Langar, Badghis
province, burning the girls' school and looting the health clinic.
Three police officers were killed in the attack.
On September 15, construction workers discovered a mass grave in
Kunduz province containing the remains of at least 26 bodies believed
to date from the Soviet-backed government era. According to UNAMA's
local human rights officer, provincial authorities marked the sites but
did not conduct an investigation.
In July a foreign government began an investigation of a mass grave
site in Jowzjan province that allegedly contained remains of 2,000
Taliban fighters killed in conflict in 2001. In December 2008
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) reported that most of the evidence
from the Jowzjan site had been removed.
According to PHR, there were 84 known mass grave sites in the
country. There were no new developments regarding the April and June
2008 discoveries of mass graves.
There were no updates regarding the August and September 2008
insurgent killings (see section 1.g.).
There were no developments regarding the investigation of a May
2007 killing of 10 persons by police in Jowzjan province or in the
October 2007 case of 15 prisoners executed at Pol-e-Charkhi prison
under executive order amid allegations of lack of due process.
b. Disappearance.--There were reports of insurgent groups and
criminals perpetrating disappearances and abductions during the year in
connection with the ongoing insurgency (see section 1.g.).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices; however, there
were reports of abuses by government officials, local prison
authorities, police chiefs, and tribal leaders. NGOs reported that
security forces continued to use excessive force, including beating and
torturing civilians.
Human rights organizations reported local authorities tortured and
abused detainees. Torture and abuse methods included, but were not
limited to, beating by stick, scorching bar, or iron bar; flogging by
cable; battering by rod; electric shock; deprivation of sleep, water,
and food; abusive language; sexual humiliation; and rape. An April
Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) report stated
that torture was commonplace among the majority of law enforcement
institutions, especially the police, and that officials used torture
when a victim refused to confess to elicit bribes or because of
personal enmity. Observers report that some police failed to understand
the laws regarding torture.
In May the local media widely reported that local officials in the
Chora district in Uruzgan arbitrarily arrested and reportedly tortured
five individuals. Officials released the individuals after three days
of detention in exchange for money and weapons.
The Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) and NGOs reported that
police frequently raped female detainees and prisoners. For example, on
September 15, Radio Arman reported that authorities had arrested three
police officers in Dai Kundi province for the rape of a 13-year-old
girl. An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier was sentenced to 15 years'
imprisonment for the September 2008 rape of an 11-year-old girl in
Jowzjan province; UNAMA confirmed that the soldier remained in custody
at year's end.
There were reports of torture and other abuses by Taliban and other
insurgent groups. Media reports and firsthand accounts accused Taliban
of employing torture in interrogations of persons they accused of
supporting coalition forces and the central government. The Taliban
contacted newspapers and television stations in such cases to claim
responsibility.
According to the AIHRC, many of the children in detention centers
and orphanages were exposed to physical abuse. According to the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), cases of authorities
threatening and mistreating juvenile detainees occurred throughout the
year.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor; however, the government took some steps to improve conditions
within the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) prisons and detention centers.
Most prisons and detention centers, particularly MOI detention centers,
were decrepit, severely overcrowded, and unsanitary and fell well short
of international standards. The AIHRC, ICRC, and other observers
continued to report that inadequate food and water, poor sanitation
facilities, insufficient blankets, and infectious diseases were common
conditions in the country's prisons. Infirmaries, where they existed,
were underequipped. Prisoners with contagious diseases and prisoners
with mental illness rarely were separated from other prisoners.
However, UNAMA observed significant operational improvements in
conjunction with international support to train and mentor prison staff
in the provinces. International observers noted that the MOJ and
Central Prison Directorate (CPD) leadership were actively striving to
improve staff working conditions and prisoner living conditions with
the goal of meeting the UN minimum standards for prisoners and
detainees.
The government reported 34 provincial prisons and 203 district
detention centers. The government also reported 30 juvenile
rehabilitation centers. No official information was available on the
number of prisoners the NDS held or the number of facilities the NDS
ran. The CPD reported 109 female detainees and 356 female prisoners in
23 detention centers and provincial prisons.
Children younger than six whose mothers had been convicted of a
crime often lived in prison with their mothers, particularly if they
had no other relatives. This practice was dramatically reduced under
the direction of the CPD and in conjunction with the opening of the
Children's Center Home in Kabul, operated by local NGO Women for Afghan
Women. Women were not imprisoned with men. Authorities generally did
not separate prisoners awaiting trial from the rest of the inmate
population. Juveniles awaiting trial in rehabilitation centers were not
usually separated from those convicted, nor were they separated in
terms of age, nature of the charge against them, or other criteria.
The ANP sometimes lacked sufficient detention facilities. For
example, in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, ANP authorities detained 16
boys and two girls in a prison at a rented property of cave-type
structures that lacked adequate ventilation, running water, or
sanitation. They were reportedly adequately fed, and the boys received
some education.
On August 18, on the 90th anniversary of the country's
independence, President Karzai released 700 prisoners, including 23
women, and reduced the sentences of 239 prisoners. Their violations
ranged from drug and alcohol abuse to adultery, rape, theft, robbery,
fraud, forgery, manslaughter, and murder; sentences ranged from six
months' to 10 years' imprisonment.
The MOI and the MOJ permitted the AIHRC, the United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the ICRC to visit all prisons the MOI and
the MOJ operated. In November the ICRC was permitted access to a
Taliban prison for the first time since 2001; they visited three
members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) detained in
Badghis province. Security constraints occasionally prevented ICRC
delegates from visiting some places of detention. NGOs reported
powerful local leaders and insurgents, including Taliban, continued to
operate private prisons. In some cases tribal leaders may have held
persons accused of crimes in private detention. The ICRC and the AIHRC
did not have access to prisoners and hostages detained by insurgents.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest or detention; however, both remained serious problems. According
to a January UN report, many citizens were detained without enjoying
essential procedural protections.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Three ministries have
responsibility both in law and in practice for providing security in
the country. The ANP, under the MOI, has primary responsibility for
internal order but increasingly was engaged in fighting the insurgency.
The ANA, under the Ministry of Defense (MOD), is responsible for
external security. The NDS had responsibility for investigating cases
of national security and also functioned as an intelligence agency. In
some areas certain individuals, some of whom reportedly were linked to
the insurgency, maintained considerable power as a result of the
government's failure to assert control. NATO remained in control of
ISAF, which worked closely with the national security forces.
Official impunity was pervasive. Many observers believed ANP
personnel were largely unaware of their responsibilities and
defendants' rights under the law. Credible sources, including
detainees, reported local police in many parts of the country extorted
a ``tax'' at checkpoints and inflicted violence (including sexual
violence against boys) at police checkpoints. Police also reportedly
extorted bribes from civilians in exchange for release from prison or
to avoid arrest. Police abuses generally have declined following
international police training efforts. Observers alleged that the high
acquittal rate in courts reflected the lack of training of judges, poor
investigations, lack of evidence, and possible bribes to legal
officials. Lack of formal education and low literacy rates among the
ANSF and the judiciary hampered the consistent delivery of justice.
International support for recruiting and training new ANP personnel
continued, with the goal of professionalizing the police force,
including the ongoing implementation of the CPD staff prison reform and
restructuring program. The international community worked with the
government to develop awareness and training programs as well as
internal investigation mechanisms to curb security force corruption and
abuses. Training programs for police emphasize law enforcement, the
constitution, police values and ethics, professional development, the
prevention of domestic violence, and fundamental standards of human
rights, in addition to core policing skills. The MOI reported that
during the year, every new police officer received training in human
rights. In every province two officers were responsible for human
rights reporting. In Kabul 50 officers were responsible for human
rights reporting, including internal police matters. Nevertheless,
human rights problems persisted.
In October the government implemented a criminal case management
system to ensure that suspects were appropriately charged, that
evidence was appropriately passed from police investigators to
prosecutors to courts, and that prisoners were not held past the
duration of their sentence.
The Helmand Huquq (Human Rights) Department of the MOJ expressed
willingness to train community leaders and justice providers with
information about the constitution and its provisions against
discrimination (including violence), but Helmand Huquq officials were
unable to travel throughout the country due to the poor security
situation.
NGOs and human rights activists noted that societal violence,
especially against women, was widespread; in many cases the ANP did not
prevent or respond to the violence.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Arbitrary
arrest and detention remained problems.
The law provides for access to legal counsel and the use of
warrants, and it limits how long detainees may be held without charge.
Authorities often did not inform detainees of charges against them.
Police have the right to detain a suspect as long as 72 hours to
complete a preliminary investigation. If they decide to pursue a case,
the file is transferred to the Prosecutor's Office, which must
interrogate the suspect within 48 hours. The investigating prosecutor
can continue to detain a suspect without formal charges for 15 days
from the time of arrest while continuing the investigation. With court
approval, the investigating prosecutor may detain a suspect for an
additional 15 days. The prosecutor must file an indictment or release
the suspect within 30 days of arrest. Investigation may continue even
if an indictment cannot be completed within the 30 days. In practice
many detainees did not benefit from any or all of these provisions. The
media and human rights organizations reported arbitrary arrest in most
provinces. Observers reported that prosecutors and police detained
individuals on average for nine months without charging them, sometimes
for actions that were not crimes under the law, in part because the
judicial system was inadequate to process detainees in a timely
fashion. UNAMA reported that police detained individuals for ``moral
crimes,'' breaches of contractual obligation, family disputes, and to
extract a confession. There was little consistency in the length of
time detainees were held before trial or arraignment. Postsentence
detention also was reportedly common. According to a UNAMA report, in
cases in which a prison sentence and a fine were handed down,
impoverished prisoners sometimes remained in prison after their
sentence had been completed. The AIHRC in Paktya province reported that
it petitioned monthly for the release of approximately 50 to 60 persons
detained because of lack of follow-up on their cases.
According to the MOJ, 20 to 30 children were detained on national
security-related charges in juvenile rehabilitation centers during the
year; all were male, eight younger than 15. Observers reported 11 more
children detained in Baghlan, Herat, Helmand, and Kunduz not reflected
in the MOJ data. The juvenile code presumes children should not be held
to the same standard as adults.
Detained children were typically denied their basic rights and many
aspects of due process, including presumption of innocence, the right
to be informed of charges, access to defense lawyers, and the right not
to be forced to confess. Some of the children in the criminal justice
system were victims rather than perpetrators of crime; particularly in
cases of sexual exploitation, perpetrators were seldom imprisoned as
cases were seldom prosecuted, and some victims were perceived as
shameful and in need of punishment, having brought shame on their
family by reporting the abuse. Some children were allegedly imprisoned
as a family proxy for the actual perpetrator, presumably a bread-
winner.
``Zina,'' a criminal act under the penal code, defined as
heterosexual penetration between persons not married to one another,
technically means adultery or fornication. In practice police and legal
officials often invoked zina to justify the arrest and incarceration of
women for social offenses such as running away from home, defying
family wishes on the choice of a spouse, fleeing domestic violence or
rape, or eloping. Police often detained women for zina at the request
of family members. UNAMA reported cases of zina in nearly every
province. Authorities imprisoned some women for reporting crimes
perpetrated against them and some as ``proxies,'' serving as
substitutes for their husbands or male relatives convicted of crimes.
Authorities placed some women in protective custody to prevent violent
retaliation by family members.
Authorities frequently did not rearrest defendants even after an
appellate court convicted them in absentia. There was no bond system;
authorities justified posttrial detentions because defendants released
pending appeal often disappeared.
There were 963 practicing prosecutors; many of them lacked any
formal legal training. More than 850 defense lawyers, 80 of whom were
women, were registered and licensed in the country's independent bar
association. The MOJ had 50 legal aid providers in 13 provinces.
According to the MOJ, 14,857 persons were detained in correctional
facilities nationwide, of whom 10,593 had been tried and convicted; the
remaining 4,264 were awaiting trial.
The Criminal Law Reform Working Group, which included local legal
experts and international rule of law advisors, completed its revision
of the criminal procedure code and submitted it to the Taqnin, the
legislative drafting department of the MOJ, for further consideration.
At year's end the Taqnin had not taken steps to respond to the Criminal
Law Reform Working Group's recommendations.
The criminal procedure code sets limits on pretrial detention, but
authorities did not respect such limits, and lengthy pretrial detention
remained a problem, in part because the overburdened system could not
process detainees in a timely fashion. The UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), ICRC, AIHRC, and other observers reported that
arbitrary and prolonged detentions frequently occurred throughout the
country.
Amnesty.--According to Radio Free Europe, in September President
Karzai pardoned Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, a 24-year-old former journalism
student serving a 20-year sentence for blasphemy for downloading and
distributing material from the Internet that the courts deemed anti-
Islamic. At year's end he was living outside the country in an
undisclosed location. International media and human rights groups had
widely criticized this conviction as a violation of freedom of speech
and freedom of religion.
The Law on National Reconciliation and Amnesty, which was published
in December 2008, grants amnesty to persons engaged in conflict during
the past 25 years.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, but in practice the judiciary was often
underfunded, understaffed, and subject to political influence and
pervasive corruption. Bribery, corruption, and pressure from public
officials, tribal leaders, families of accused persons, and individuals
associated with the insurgency threatened judicial impartiality. The
Counter Narcotics Tribunal in Kabul, whose member salaries the
international community supplemented and who worked within a secure
compound, was an exception, and international organizations reported no
evidence of corruption or political influence involving its officials.
Other courts administered justice unevenly, according to a mixture of
codified law, Shari'a (Islamic law), and local custom.
The formal justice system was relatively strong in the urban
centers, where the central government was strongest, and weaker in the
rural areas, where approximately 72 percent of the population lives.
Nationwide, fully functioning courts, police forces, and prisons were
rare. The judicial system lacked the capacity to handle the large
volume of new and amended legislation. A lack of qualified judicial
personnel hindered the courts. Municipal and provincial authorities,
including judges, had minimal training and often based their judgments
on their personal understanding of Shari'a, tribal codes of honor, or
local custom. Lack of access to legal codes and statutes hindered
judges and prosecutors.
The Supreme Court has overall responsibility for the national court
system. The president appoints Supreme Court members with the approval
of the lower body of the House of Representatives (Wolesi Jirga).
Judges for the primary and appellate courts are appointed by
recommendation of the Supreme Court and approval of the president.
There were widespread shortages of judges; the Supreme Court reported
there were 77 judges, including seven women. A national security court
tried terrorists and other cases, although details on its procedures
were limited.
In areas not under government control, the Taliban enforced a
parallel judicial system. The Taliban issued punishments including
cutting off fingers, beheadings, beatings, and hangings. On May 9,
Taliban leader Mullah Omar issued ``The Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan's Rules for Mujahideen,'' which stated that beheadings were
an explicit violation of the rules, possibly a response to ISAF's
commitment to reducing civilian casualties. Nevertheless, on December
6, Radio Salam Watandar reported that the bodies of two police officers
were found beheaded in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province. According to the
report, Taliban had abducted the police officers in November in Helmand
province. The code also called for a reduction in the number of suicide
attacks; however, the Taliban more than doubled the number of IED
attacks during the year.
Courts primarily decided criminal cases in major cities, as
mandated by law, although civil cases often were resolved in the
informal system. Because of the unreliable formal legal system, in
rural areas local elders and shuras (consultative gatherings, usually
of men selected by the community) were the primary means of settling
both criminal matters and civil disputes; they also levied unsanctioned
punishments. Some estimates suggested 80 percent of all cases went
through shuras, which did not adhere to the constitutional rights of
citizens and often violated the rights of women and minorities.
Trial Procedures.--Trial procedures rarely met internationally
accepted standards. The administration and implementation of justice
varied in different areas of the country. By law all citizens are
entitled to a presumption of innocence. In practice the courts
typically convicted defendants after sessions that lasted only a few
minutes. Defendants have the right to be present at trial and to
appeal; however, these rights were not always applied. Trials were
usually public. All criminal trials are decided by judges, as there is
no right to a jury trial under the constitution. A defendant also has
the right to consult with an advocate or counsel at public expense when
resources allow. This right was inconsistently applied, in part due to
a severe shortage of defense counsel. Defendants frequently were not
allowed to confront or question witnesses. Citizens often were unaware
of their constitutional rights. Defendants and attorneys were entitled
to examine the physical evidence and the documents related to their
case before trial; however, observers noted that in practice court
documents often were not available for review before cases went to
trial.
When the accused is held in custody, the primary court must hear
the trial within two months. The appellate court has two months to
review the case of an incarcerated person. Either side may appeal; the
accused defendant who is found innocent may remain detained in the
legal system until the case moves through all three levels of the
judiciary: first court, appeals, and the Supreme Court. The decision of
the primary court becomes final if an appeal is not filed within 20
days. Any second appeal must be filed within 30 days, after which the
case moves to the Supreme Court, which must decide the case of the
defendant within five months. If the appellate deadlines are not met,
the law requires that the accused be released from custody. In many
cases courts did not meet these deadlines.
Under Shari'a relatives of victims can pursue a case against a
suspected offender. A judge can offer restitution or, in the case of
murder, execution, which the relatives can carry out only if a member
of the family consents. Under Shari'a, if the family of the victim
forgives the perpetrator, the judge must issue a pardon.
In cases lacking a clearly defined legal statute, or cases in which
judges, prosecutors, or elders were unaware of the law, judges and
informal shuras enforced customary law; this practice often resulted in
outcomes that discriminated against women. This included the practice
of ordering the defendant to provide compensation in the form of a
young girl to be married to a man whose family the defendant had
wronged.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports that the
government held political prisoners or detainees. There were reports
that a number of tribal leaders, sometimes affiliated with the
government, held prisoners and detainees. There were no reliable
estimates of the numbers involved.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Citizens had limited
access to justice for constitutional and human rights violations, and
interpretations of religious doctrine often took precedence over human
rights or constitutional rights. The judiciary did not play a
significant role in civil matters due to corruption and lack of
capacity. Land disputes remained the most common civil dispute and were
most often resolved through the informal justice system.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits arbitrary interference in matters of
privacy; however, the government did not respect these prohibitions in
practice, and there were no legal protections for victims.
Government officials forcibly entered homes and businesses of
civilians without judicial authorization. UNAMA reported that community
members alleged theft of possessions during home searches the military
conducted. UNAMA also reported that searches by members of the military
or security officials involved conduct toward women that contravened
local customs and angered local communities.
The law provides for wiretapping in certain cases, but there was no
reported government abuse; wiretapping was permitted to track money
laundering and narcotics trafficking.
The government's willingness to recognize the right to marry varied
according to nationality, gender, and religion. The family court could
register a marriage between a Jewish or Christian woman and a Muslim
man, but the court required the couple to accept a Muslim ceremony. A
non-Muslim woman had to convert to Islam before marrying a Muslim man.
The court could not register a marriage between a Muslim woman and a
non-Muslim man. These situations rarely occurred, however, as more than
99 percent of the population was Muslim. The courts registered
marriages between non-Muslims, however.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Ongoing internal conflict caused civilian deaths, abductions, prisoner
abuse, property damage, and the displacement of residents.
Killings.--The security situation in the country deteriorated
significantly during the year, and civilian casualties rose
accordingly. Increases in coalition operations and insurgent attacks
caused civilian casualties to rise. Persistent Taliban and
antigovernment activity, interfactional fighting between regional
warlords, and criminal activity resulted in hundreds of unlawful
killings and civilian casualties.
UNAMA reported that Taliban and antigovernment forces killed 1,630
civilians, progovernment forces killed 596 civilians, and unknown
actors killed 186 civilians, for a total of 2,412 civilian casualties,
an increase of 14 percent over the 2,118 civilian deaths recorded in
2008. Taliban and antigovernment elements remained responsible for 67
percent of civilian casualties.
Insurgent suicide attacks increased significantly, with 281 suicide
attacks during the year, compared with 138 suicide attacks in 2008.
UNAMA recorded 773 IED attacks during the year, which insurgents used
extensively and increasingly; suicide and IED attacks combined caused
1,054 civilian deaths, or 44 percent of the total civilian causalities.
The Taliban and other insurgent groups were responsible for nearly
three times as many casualties as progovernment forces.
Insurgents targeted national and government officials, foreigners,
and local NGO employees.
Insurgents targeted and killed government officials during the
year. The MOI reported 964 police were killed and 1,787 were injured as
a result of insurgent attacks. On August 27, in Kunduz, an IED killed
Qari Jan Gir, the head of the Justice Department of Kunduz, and on
August 30, in six separate incidents in four provinces, insurgents
killed 11 police officers and at least six civilians. Targeted killings
included an attack on May 4 that killed the mayor of Mehterlam city in
Laghman as well as six civilians; and on June 21, a series of attacks
on government buildings in Jalalabad and Gardez that killed nine
persons. On December 15, a remotely detonated roadside IED killed Koshk
District police chief Colonel Abdul Karim and three other police near
the district headquarters. Karim was the second Koshk district police
chief and the fourth district police chief in Herat province to be
killed during the year. The Taliban claimed responsibility. The ANP
arrested seven persons in connection with the case.
On July 19, in the period before the election, gunmen killed Jan
Mohammad, a candidate for provincial council in Kunduz, while he was
campaigning. This was the first time a provincial council candidate had
been assassinated in Kunduz Province.
According to the International Crisis Group, at least 31 persons
were killed on election day. Security officials reported that 11
civilians and 20 police and soldiers were killed in election-related
violence.
During the year antigovernment elements continued to attack
progovernment religious leaders. According to the MOI, the Taliban
killed at least 71 clerics and committed at least 17 acts of violence
inside mosques and other religious facilities. Tolo TV reported that on
September 9, insurgents killed a mullah in a mosque in Ghazni province
after he spoke out against insurgent forces.
According to UNICEF, from January to June, there were 470 confirmed
targeted attacks on education (schools, teachers, staff, and pupils),
resulting in 30 deaths and 186 injuries to schoolchildren, teachers,
and other school employees. According to data from the Ministry of
Education (MOE) referenced by Human Rights Watch, from April to August,
insurgents attacked 102 schools using explosives or arson and killed
105 students and teachers. There were no updates on the May or June
2008 killings of teachers (see section 6).
ISAF airstrikes remained responsible for the largest percentage of
civilian deaths by progovernment forces; during the year UNAMA recorded
65 airstrikes in which reportedly more than 359 civilians were killed,
a 28 percent decrease from 2008. The decline in civilian casualties
reflected ISAF's changed tactics as part of a major commitment to
minimize civilian casualties in the armed conflict. Nevertheless,
during the year there were several high-profile incidents. On May 4, in
Bala Baluk, Farah province, a coalition airstrike targeting the Taliban
reportedly killed more than 60 women and children; following its
investigations into the event, the U.S. military acknowledged that it
had failed to comply with guidelines for protecting civilians. On
September 4, a coalition airstrike targeting insurgents who had
hijacked two fuel trucks south of Kunduz killed more than 30 civilians
and injured nine who were offloading fuel from the trucks. On December
26, a coalition attack allegedly killed 10 civilians in Nanreng
district in Kunar province; credible reports indicated that the
civilians were armed and possibly underage. No further information was
available at year's end.
Abductions.--The MOI reported 368 abductions during the year, at
least one of which resulted in the death of a hostage. The Afghanistan
NGO Safety Office (ANSO) reported insurgents and others kidnapped 20
aid workers during the year, a decline from 38 in 2008; all abductees
were local staff. ANSO reported that most abductions were temporary and
most abductees were released unharmed, usually due to the efforts of
community elders. One person was reportedly killed while resisting an
abduction attempt. Observers alleged that noninsurgency-related
kidnapping was a form of dispute resolution.
Security officials arrested six suspects in the 2008 kidnapping of
Humayun Shah Asifi, a relative of the late King Zahir Shah; the
investigation continued at year's end.
Physical Abuse, Punishment, and Torture.--Land mines and unexploded
ordnance continued to cause deaths and injuries, restricted areas
available for farming, and impeded the return of refugees. The United
Nations Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (UNMACA) reported that land
mines and unexploded ordnance killed or injured an average of 40
persons each month, a significant decline from 57 per month in 2008.
Numerous groups including UNMACA and Halo Trust organized and
trained mine detection and clearance teams that operated throughout the
country. UN agencies and NGOs conducted educational programs and mine
awareness campaigns for more than 1.5 million persons, primarily women
and children, in various parts of the country. At year's end land mines
and unexploded ordnance imperiled approximately 2,000 communities.
Child Soldiers.--The legal recruitment age for members of the armed
forces is 18. There continued to be unconfirmed reports that children
younger than 18 falsified identification records to join the national
security forces and the ANP. There were no reports of forced child
conscription by the government into the national security forces.
The government, with international assistance, vetted all recruits
into the armed forces and police, rejecting applicants under the age of
18.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that insurgent recruitment of underage
soldiers was on the rise. There were numerous credible reports that the
Taliban and other insurgent forces recruited children younger than 18,
in some cases as suicide bombers and in other cases to assist with
their work. For example, in Uruzgan the Taliban reportedly used
children to dig hiding places for IEDs. There were many reports of
insurgents using minor teenage boys as combatants in Paktya province.
In July in Helmand province, authorities apprehended a child before he
allegedly would have been equipped to become a suicide bomber. NDS
officials held several children in the juvenile detention facility in
Helmand on insurgency-related charges. Although most of the children
were 15 or 16 years old, reports from Ghazni province indicated that
insurgents recruited children as young as 12, particularly if they
already owned motorbikes and weapons. NGOs and UN agencies reported
that the Taliban tricked, promised money to children, or forced them to
become suicide bombers.
Sexual abuse of boys by members of the ANP and the ANA was widely
alleged but unconfirmed.
Other Conflict-Related Abuses.--The December report of the UN
Secretary-General stated that attacks against the aid community
slightly increased during the year, becoming a nearly daily occurrence
in the last quarter. On October 29, in an attack on a Kabul UN
guesthouse, the Taliban killed 11 persons, including five UN staffers.
The Taliban, tribal leaders, and other insurgents abducted security
forces, civilians, and journalists.
As in 2008, suspected Taliban members fired on NGO vehicles and
attacked NGO offices. Violence and instability hampered development,
relief, and reconstruction efforts. In a study of 25 provinces, ANSO
reported 114 security incidents involving NGOs and aid workers between
January 1 and September 30. NGOs reported that insurgents, powerful
local individuals, and militia leaders demanded bribes to allow groups
to bring relief supplies into the country and distribute them. The
difficulties in moving relief goods overland due to insurgent threats
limited assistance efforts. Tribal leaders and low-level members of
insurgent groups reportedly extorted bribes at illegal border and other
checkpoints. Due to the increasing violence, the UN considered many
parts of the country inaccessible.
As in recent years, the Taliban distributed threatening messages in
attempts to curtail government and development activities. Ten jurists
from Laghman province reported that judges and prosecutors routinely
faced death threats and other forms of intimidation in their jobs. In
addition to threats against persons working for the government or NGOs,
the Taliban distributed ``night letters'' (death threats) and text
messages warning citizens not to vote in the August 20 elections,
including messages to an entire village in Uruzgan.
Insurgents regularly used civilians as ``human shields,'' either by
forcing them into the line of fire or by basing operations in civilian
settings. UNAMA documented how insurgent forces deliberately deployed
their forces in populated villages, with the intent of embarrassing
international coalition forces and the government and increasing
civilian casualties from airstrikes.
In the south and east, the Taliban and other antigovernment
elements frequently forced local residents to provide food and shelter
to their fighters. The Taliban also continued to attack schools, radio
stations, and government offices.
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, journalists increasingly were
vulnerable to physical harm and reported numerous instances of pressure
from multiple sources to influence reporting, including national and
provincial governments, warlords, the drug mafia, foreign governments
and individuals, and Taliban insurgents. Some media observers contended
that individuals could not criticize the government publicly without
fear of reprisal.
On June 14, the government detained two Al Jazeera journalists--a
producer for the station's Arabic service and a senior producer at the
English language channel--after Al Jazeera broadcast a report on
Taliban strength in Kunduz province. Authorities released the
journalists without charge after holding them for three days at NDS
headquarters in Kabul.
On August 19, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the MOD issued
decrees barring journalists from reporting on election day violence and
ordering them to stay away from the scenes of terrorist attacks. Most
journalists ignored the ban, but NDS agents beat and briefly detained
15 journalists who ignored the directive. According to the Committee to
Protect Journalists, security forces obstructed, assaulted, and
detained Afghan and foreign journalists in Kabul and elsewhere on
election day.
At year's end member of parliament (MP) Malalai Joya remained
suspended from parliament for her 2007 criticism of her fellow MPs
during a televised interview. Other members of parliament expressed
criticism of government policies without incident.
Independent media were active and reflected differing political
views. Although some independent journalists and writers published
magazines and newsletters, circulation largely was confined to Kabul,
and many publications exercised a degree of self-censorship. The
freedom of speech law covered foreign media; however, they were
restricted from commenting negatively on Islam and from publishing
materials considered a threat to the president.
Violence against journalists increased during the year. According
to independent media and observers, a combination of government
repression, armed groups, and manipulation by foreign groups and
individuals prevented the media from operating freely. Journalists were
subject to pressure from government officials, foreign governments, and
the Taliban and other insurgents, who harassed, intimidated, and
threatened to commit violence against them.
Governmental officials intimidated journalists in an effort to
influence their reporting. Media sources reported instances of
provincial officials attempting to regulate the media based on their
personal interests. Local officials asked the director of Uruzgan Radio
and Television to obtain content approval before broadcasting
television and radio programs.
Media sources reported that police detained journalists without
cause. According to Media Watch, there were 85 reported cases of
violence against journalists, including three killings, nine
kidnappings, 35 cases of arrest, 12 cases of intimidation, 22 cases of
beating, and four cases of injury. The Media Watch annual report noted
government involvement in 57 of the 85 cases of violence against
journalists.
According to many media sources, private Iranians, Pakistanis, and
Gulf state citizens actively influenced Afghan media, shaping the media
through both ownership and threats. According to media sources, Iranian
sources funded approximately five radio stations and three television
stations. Media sources indicated that the Iranian consulate in Herat
threatened and rewarded journalists. Some reporters stated that Iranian
embassy staff in Kabul called them to prevent the publication of
articles criticizing Iran. There were also rumors that Iran paid secret
salaries to a number of Afghan journalists in Kabul as well as in the
western provinces, and allegations that Iran intimidated reporters in
the western provinces to increase antigovernment reporting and decrease
anti-Iranian articles. Media sources and analysts contended that many
of the other private television stations and newspapers were bankrolled
by, and produced content loyal to, various political factions, leaders,
and warlords.
On October 5, police reportedly assaulted Wahkt News Agency (WNA)
cameraman and photographer Mohammad Naeem while he was documenting the
killing of a businessman and two security personnel by unidentified
gunmen wearing military uniforms. The police confiscated Naeem's
camera, beat him, and held him in detention for almost an hour. Police
officers released Naeem and returned the camera to him after Afghan
Independent Journalists' Association and WNA representatives
intervened.
On October 20, multiple media sources reported that the MOI
arrested editors Nazari Paryani of Mandagar Daily and Hashmatullah
Raadfar of Nukhost Daily for publishing allegedly imbalanced
information about the MOI after the newspapers had reprinted an article
from the Internet. The editors were released after three hours through
the mediation of Nai Media Watch and IEC Media Commission Chairman
Sidiqullah Tawhidi. The Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC)
described MOI's actions as illegal. The case was referred to the
government commission on media oversight.
Muhammed Naseer Fayez, news anchor and host of the political
program Haqeeqat (``Truth''), arrested in July 2008 by NDS agents,
returned to work on January 2 for Ariana Television.
The 2008 media law, published in July, is intended to protect
freedom of thought and expression and legally protect journalists as
they carry out their work; however, it contains content restrictions.
Article 45 restricts works and materials contrary to the principles of
Islam or other religions and sects; works that publicize religions
other than Islam; works and materials considered defamatory, insulting,
offensive, or libelous or that may cause damage to a person's
personality or credibility; works and materials that are contrary to
the constitution and penal code; disclosure of the identity and
pictures of victims of violence and rape in a manner that damages their
social dignity; and works and material that harm the psychological
security and moral wellbeing of individuals, especially children and
adolescents. Nai Media and the Afghan National Journalists Union
reported that the MoIC failed to implement the law by year's end.
Media sources claimed that the independent media prospered despite
the efforts of the MoIC to actively undermine an open and free media
environment. The MoIC and some provincial governors exercised control
over news content to varying degrees during the year. According to
media sources, the MoIC maintained cumbersome licensing procedures.
Before the election the MoIC complained that several new print outlets
were operating without licenses. Factional authorities controlled media
in some parts of the country. The Institute for War and Peace Reporting
(IWPR) noted tight controls, especially in the provinces of Balkh,
Jowzjan, Faryab, Sar-i Pul, Kandahar, Herat, and Nangarhar. According
to journalists, many reporters exercised self-censorship by not asking
substantive questions of government officials and by ignoring certain
investigative stories. Powerful figures largely avoided media scrutiny.
Members of the media reported they did not interview Taliban commanders
or leaders due to government pressure; police in Helmand province
jailed journalists for speaking to the Taliban. Some media observers
considered it more difficult for journalists to operate in the areas of
the country the government controlled than in Taliban-controlled areas.
On August 26, in Kandahar city, police severely beat a local
journalist of Radio Azadi, the in-country service of Radio Free Europe/
Radio Liberty, and took his notebooks and sound recorder when he
visited the site of a bombing.
On July 30, in Herat, police officers and plainclothes NDS
personnel reportedly attacked four journalists as they attempted to
cover a public demonstration against the police killing of a fruit
seller. The International Federation of Journalists reported that MOI
officials investigated the attack.
On December 3, gunmen from the Islamic Revolution Movement party
(Hezb-e Harakat Inqelab-e Eslami) held Sepehr TV journalist Nasir Ahmad
and cameraman Sefatollah for four hours in Kabul. The gunmen beat,
insulted, and humiliated the men and destroyed camera equipment. Tolo
TV reported that the assailants were possibly security guards working
for a former government official.
On August 18, the government issued a statement requiring all news
agencies to refrain from covering incidents of ``terrorist activities
or movements'' between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. on election day. Informed
observers believed the order was intended to minimize public knowledge
of polling place violence. NDS officials enforced the ban. The
government also required journalists covering the election to sign a
code of conduct specifying that the journalists could not publish
``scandalous advertisements and disgrace reports about [a] candidate's
personality or behavior that could affect the election results.''
According to news reports, on August 20, police briefly detained at
least three foreign journalists and at least 12 local journalists.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, on August 20,
authorities detained and interrogated a Japanese television
correspondent for several hours, and also detained Dutch
photojournalist Ruben Terlo and Rohulla Samadi, an interpreter with
independent Afghan media organization Killid Media, for 30 minutes,
after they covered a gun battle between the Taliban and police.
Multiple accounts reported police beating journalists, threatening them
with guns and confiscating equipment, but no serious injuries were
reported. Almost all the reported incidents occurred at the scene of
attacks by insurgent groups.
At least two journalists were killed during the year. On March 10,
in Kandahar, two persons shot and killed Jawed (Jojo) Ahmad, a reporter
working for Canadian television. Authorities had held Ahmad in military
custody for 11 months at Bagram Theater Internment Facility, allegedly
for having contacts with the Taliban; he was released in September
2008.
On September 9, journalist Sultan Ahmad Munadi died in a firefight
between NATO soldiers and militants during the rescue of Munadi and New
York Times reporter Stephen Farrell, whom the Taliban had abducted in
the vicinity of a coalition airstrike in Kunduz. There were no updates
regarding the 2008 killing of a Norwegian journalist or the killings of
Abdul Samad Rohani, Ajmal Naqshbandi, Shakiba Sanga Amaj, or Zakia
Zaki.
The Taliban abducted at least six journalists during the year. Nai
Media reported that on July 10, the Taliban abducted Ariana Television
Chief Ehsanullah Arianzai in Wardak province and held him for two days.
On July 12, the Taliban kidnapped a journalist for Al-Jazeera English
news in Kunar province before releasing him after several hours. On
November 6, the Taliban kidnapped Norwegian freelance journalist Paal
Refsdal and an Afghan colleague (who was not named in local or
international reports about the incident) in Kunar province; they were
released November 12.
On June 19, New York Times reporter David Rohde and his translator,
Tahir Ludin, escaped their Taliban captors after seven months in
captivity.
On August 11, in Kandahar, an IED seriously injured Associated
Press photographer Emilio Morenatti and videographer Andi Jatmiko, who
were traveling in a military vehicle.
The Taliban manipulated the media, especially print journalism,
both directly and indirectly, by threatening to physically harm some
journalists and by directly feeding news to others. Some sources
asserted that the media underreported reconstruction efforts, for
example, as a result of Taliban pressure to shape local opinion.
Journalists reported receiving threats of harm if they did not publish
stories released on Taliban Web sites, if they published anti-Taliban
stories, or if they published stories favorable to the government.
The Taliban increased efforts to influence and control radio, which
reaches more persons in remote areas than other media. In Kunduz two
radio stations reported threats from the Taliban. One of the stations
shut down as a result of Taliban pressure. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah
Mojahed rejected Taliban responsibility.
Despite these obstacles, media sources and observers asserted that
the country's independent media continued to expand and became
increasingly sophisticated. Numerous international and local
organizations provided regular training and mentoring for journalists.
The IWPR stated that broadcast media operated somewhat more freely
than print media and that commercially viable stations received less
government control than others. Nai Media stated that FM radio stations
broadcast in many remote regions throughout the year.
Television broadcasts appeared to avoid some of the restrictions
imposed on print journalism. Satirical programming was widespread;
every private television station had at least one comedy-satire program
that openly criticized government officials.
Prior to the August 20 elections, radio and television stations ran
unprecedented candidate debates, forums, and interviews, widening the
content and quality of information available to the public. Several
stations ran live coverage on election day. Reporters Without Borders,
Internews, and other news groups noted that equal time protections were
not in place and many candidates could not afford to pay for messages,
so unequal access to airtime for the more than 40 presidential
candidates hindered impartiality. The Media Commission of the IEC did
not find significant problems with candidate access to the media,
although it stated that state media aired biased reports in favor of
the incumbent president.
On September 8, Sokhan-e-Jadid, a conservative weekly newspaper,
threatened the lives of Hasht-e-Sob employees based on their reporting
of the elections. The same day, Tolo TV reported that IEC Media
Commission Chairman Tawhidi warned several media outlets that they
would be subject to legal action for slander of an Afghan national.
According to the United Nations Development Fund for Women
(UNIFEM), print media did not adequately cover female candidates. Tolo
TV showed a presidential debate focused on women's issues. Shahala
Atta, one of two women running for president, participated in the
debate.
The number of female journalists remained low. According to the
IWPR, only 15 of the 54 recent female journalism graduates from Herat
University worked in media. Mazar, Herat, Kunduz, and Faryab provinces
each had women's radio stations. With International Organization for
Migration (IOM) funding, Radio Television Afghanistan upgraded its AM
radio facilities in Badghis, opening a media production center for
female journalists. Women ran two private radio stations in Kunduz
city, but the deteriorating security situation hindered their
reporting.
Free Muse reported that on March 24, the MoIC arrested Fahim
Kohdamani, manager of Emrooz TV, for broadcasting music programs
allegedly ``against Islam values and Afghan culture.'' Observers
considered the arrest politically motivated because of the selective
application of such rulings.
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 e-mail
messages. Tolo TV reported that the MoIC ordered four election-related
Web sites to close, claiming they were ``undermining the personality of
presidential candidates'' they favored or opposed.
Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh's case involved government sanction against
distributing information downloaded from the Internet; however, media
observers believed his case was unlikely to function as a deterrent for
seeking culturally or politically taboo information. Internet access
was unavailable to most citizens; computer literacy and ownership rates
were estimated at less than 10 percent of the population.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The government restricted
academic freedom by forbidding course content it deemed un-Islamic.
Article 10 of the 2008 Mass Media Law states that academic research
``shall be subject to prior approval of concerned ministries and
institutions.'' Educators at public universities stated that they
censored themselves when discussing questions of ethnicity; it was not
clear whether the self-censorship was from fear of official or
university sanctions or from societal pressure.
The MoIC tried to ban Indian and Western television shows and
films. The IWPR stated that a former attorney general raided Tolo TV
offices and detained journalists and administrators to intimidate
broadcasters to stop broadcasting soap operas. Station owners spoke to
members of parliament and reached an agreement that allowed the showing
of shows censored for local sensibilities.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association; however, security
conditions and, in some cases, local officials restricted this right in
practice.
Freedom of Assembly.--A lack of physical security as well as
interference from local authorities and security forces inhibited
freedom of assembly in areas of the country where security was poor.
Pajhwok news agency reported on January 1 that police severely
injured a demonstrator at an impromptu demonstration at a madrassa in
Kunduz city. The demonstrator was hospitalized. On April 15, in Kabul,
more than 300 women, most of them students, held a protest against the
Shia Personal Status Law (SPSL). Five times as a many counterprotesters
retaliated, some throwing stones at the protesters. On August 31, a
spontaneous protest occurred in Kandahar city, when 40 burqa-clad women
marched to the site of the August 25 bombing in a public display of
mourning for the dozens killed and injured. On September 10,
journalists, civil society, and human rights organizations in Kabul
demonstrated to condemn the killing of journalist Sultan Ahmad Monadi
in Kunduz province and demanded a full investigation. On September 12,
civil society organizations and tribal councils gathered in Khost to
protest provincial administration incompetence. On September 23, 1,000
individuals gathered at the Babur Gardens in Kabul to mark the
International Day of Peace. On September 27, more than 5,000 supporters
of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah gathered in Kabul to
``stand against fraud.'' Also in September, nearly 60 citizens of Chora
district in Uruzgan province protested in front of the provincial
reconstruction team headquarters without incident. On October 25,
women's rights representatives from 10 provinces gathered in Kabul to
express concern over increasing insecurity and rising violence, and on
November 30, religious scholars in Kunar spoke out against violence
against women, saying women should be respected as equals to men.
Mass protests took place across the country after insurgents spread
rumors that Western troops burned a Koran during a house search in
Wardak province on October 15; the rumors, reportedly spread by the
Taliban, took nearly a week to gain public attention. On October 23,
students at Khost University gathered to protest the alleged
desecration of the Koran, burning a U.S. flag and a picture of
President Obama. On October 25, hundreds of secondary school students
in Pul-i-Alam, Logar province, peacefully protested the desecrations.
On October 25, hundreds of students turned out in two separate
demonstrations in Kabul, one in front of the parliament building and
another at Kabul University. An estimated 1,000 demonstrators burned an
effigy of U.S. President Obama and hurled stones at police; police
responded by firing into the air to disperse the crowd. Later, hundreds
of students gathered at Kabul University to protest; at least three
persons were injured, including two parliament security guards, and
several students were arrested on charges of attacking the police and
throwing rocks in public places. On October 27, in Kabul, Afghan police
opened fire and turned a water cannon on approximately 300 persons who
marched on the parliament to protest the alleged incident; at least 12
were injured. Also on October 27, 800 to 1,000 students staged a
peaceful demonstration in Balkh province; students chanted anti-U.S.,
anti-British, and anti-Israel slogans.
On December 8, approximately 50 supporters of defeated provincial
council incumbent Ohliya Amoor, including Amoor himself, staged an
unruly protest in front of the provincial IEC office in Panjshir,
throwing stones and breaking windows. The ANP made no arrests.
On December 8, numerous media outlets reported that hundreds of
angry residents of Mehtarlam, the capital city of Laghman province,
staged a protest against what they claimed was the killing of 15
civilians, including women and children, by U.S. forces in Laghman
province that day. ANA soldiers fired into the air as the demonstrators
neared the entrance to the governor's house; eyewitnesses alleged the
rounds killed a man and seriously injured a child. On December 9, 2,000
students of Nangahar University staged a protest condemning the deaths
of civilians during the raid in Laghman province. On the same day, more
than 400 university students in Jalalabad protested, blocking a main
highway. On December 26, hundreds of Nangarhar University students and
faculty members blocked main roads in Jalalabad city, Nangarhar
province, to protest the alleged deaths of 10 civilians as a result of
the coalition military operation in Nanreng district in Kunar province.
The protesters demanded the intervention of government officials to
stop escalated attacks against civilians and chanted slogans against
the coalition forces.
On December 27, approximately 300 tribal elders and Khogyani
tribesmen demonstrated in front of the Nangarhar governor's palace to
protest the recently released Provincial Council results. The
demonstrators objected to the exclusion of several Khogyani provincial
council (PC) candidates who had been included in the initial PC
election results but omitted from the final list of PC members
distributed by the IEC. The demonstrators also announced plans to
coordinate with the Shinwari and Mohmand tribes of Nangarhar to
organize several large protests over the next few days in Jalalabad,
possibly blocking the main entrances to the city.
On December 31, in the wake of television and press reports
detailing the arrest of four suspects in the September 2 assassination
of NDS Deputy Director Abdullah Laghmani, more than 100 protesters
gathered in Mehtarlam to demand justice. Although the demonstration was
by all accounts peaceful, the protesters reportedly called for the
immediate deaths of the four suspects. Locals speculated that the
demonstration was organized by the Laghmani family. After congregating
in central Mehtarlam, the protesters moved south to continue their
activities at the intersection of the provincial highway with National
Highway 7, which connects Kabul with Jalalabad.
There were no updates on the March 2008 protests or the May 2008
civilian killings.
Freedom of Association.--The law on political parties obliges
parties to register with the MOJ and requires them to pursue objectives
consistent with Islam. Political parties based on ethnicity, language,
Islamic school of thought, and religion were not allowed. Anti-
government violence affected the ability of provincial council
candidates and political parties to conduct activities in many areas of
the country.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution proclaims Islam is the
``religion of the state'' but allows non-Muslim citizens the freedom to
perform their rituals within the limits determined by laws for public
decency and peace. This right was not respected in practice. The
constitution also declares that no law can be ``contrary to the beliefs
and provisions of Islam.'' The penal code permits the courts to defer
to Shari'a in cases involving matters that the penal code or
constitution do not explicitly address, such as apostasy. The SPSL,
which was amended in the summer to remove the most controversial
phrases, went into effect for Shias in July. The Sunni Hanafi-based
civil code governs the family courts for Sunnis and those the SPSL does
not cover; this civil code also applies to non-Muslims.
Licensing and registering religious groups is not required; the
government assumes all native-born citizens to be Muslim. In practice
non-Muslims faced harassment and social oppression and opted to
practice their faith discreetly. According to Islamic law, conversion
from Islam is punishable by death.
There was no progress in the case of journalists Ahmed Ghous Zalmai
and Mullah Qari Mushtaq, sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2008 for
publishing a Dari translation of the Koran that allegedly contained
errors and without the legally required Arabic version alongside for
comparison.
Societal pressure forced Christians to remain underground, not
openly practicing their religion or revealing their identity. During
the year there were sporadic reports of harassment and threats against
Christians. There was one known Christian church in the country.
Citizens wishing to practice Christianity did so in private locations.
However, a Christian television program called ``Afghan Television''
broadcast weekly by satellite into the country, and several Christian
radio stations were on the air.
Public school curricula continued to include Islamic content, in
accordance with article 45 of the constitution. Non-Muslims were not
required to study Islam, and there were no restrictions on parental
religious teaching. The Ministry of Education opened special primary
schools for Hindu and Sikh children in Ghazni, Jalalabad, and Helmand.
Laws forbid proselytizing as contrary to the beliefs of Islam, and
authorities could punish blasphemy and apostasy with death under
Shari'a. Foreigners caught proselytizing were arrested and sometimes
deported.
During the year antigovernment elements continued to attack
progovernment religious leaders for supporting the government or for
stating that activities conducted by terrorist organizations were
against the tenets of Islam. There were no updates regarding the March
2008 attacks against clerics in Nimroz province.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Social discrimination against
Shia Hazaras continued along class, race, and religious lines. Ethnic
Hazaras reported occasionally being asked to pay additional bribes at
border crossings where Pashtuns were allowed to pass freely.
Sikhs and Hindus were allowed to practice their faith publicly,
although they reportedly continued to face discrimination, including
intimidation; unequal access to government jobs; and verbal and
physical abuse in public places. Kabul government officials bulldozed
sections of the Sikh neighborhood in Kart-e-Parwan to build new roads,
damaging numerous homes. The government stated it would pay restitution
to homeowners, but by year's end it had not done so. The new road in
front of the gurdwara (the Sikh house of worship) threatened the
building's structural integrity. In November the government bulldozed
the gurdwara's boundary wall to build a sidewalk and promised to pay
restitution for the damage, but it had not done so by year's end.
Non-Muslims faced discrimination in schools. The AIHRC continued to
receive reports that students belonging to the Sikh and Hindu faiths
were prevented from enrolling in some schools, and others stopped
attending due to harassment from both teachers and students. Hindus and
Sikhs had recourse to dispute resolution mechanisms such as the Special
Land and Property Court, but in practice the community felt
unprotected. Sikhs and Hindus reported being harassed by neighbors in
their communities and schools.
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts. There was only one
known Jewish resident in the country, caretaker of the one remaining
synagogue in Kabul.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov//g//drl//rls//irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation; however, social custom limited many women's freedom of
movement without male consent or chaperone, and the government limited
citizens' movement due to security interests. The greatest restriction
to movement in some parts of the country was the lack of security. In
many areas insurgent violence, banditry, land mines, and IEDs made
travel extremely dangerous, especially at night. The government
cooperated with the UNHCR, the IOM, and other humanitarian
organizations in providing protection and assistance to internally
displaced persons, refugees, returning refugees, and other persons of
concern.
Taxi, truck, and bus drivers reported that security forces and
armed insurgents operated illegal checkpoints and extorted money and
goods. The number of such checkpoints increased at night, especially in
the border provinces. Residents reported having to pay bribes to ANP
and border police officials at checkpoints and the Khyber Pass border
crossing between Jalalabad and Pakistan. The Taliban imposed nightly
curfews on the local populace in regions where it exercised authority,
mostly in the southeast.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government generally did
not use it in practice.
According to the AIHRC and the UNHCR, women deported from Iran were
referred to a safe house until their families guaranteed their safety.
The UNHCR referred 17 Afghan women to safe houses from March to
November.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Afghanistan continued to
experience high levels of internal population movements, triggered by
irregular labor conditions, large numbers of returnees, poor service
infrastructure in rural areas, military operations, and the volatile
security situation in some parts of the country. During the year severe
flooding in several provinces rendered families homeless. Authorities
estimated there were more than 275,000 IDPs in the country at year's
end, two-thirds of whom depended on assistance, including food. More
than half of the IDPs were in the south. Many were among the more than
one million IDPs who left their places of origin because of drought in
1995, insecurity and drought in 2002, and human rights violations and
ethnic-based conflict linked to land and property matters between 2003
and 2004. These individuals resided in camp-like circumstances,
primarily in the south, but officially organized and spontaneous
settlements have sprung up on the outskirts of major cities, including
Kabul, Herat, and Jalalabad.
Authorities estimated approximately 62,000 individuals were newly
displaced within the country during the year, including some 45,000
individuals due to insecurity and violence linked to armed conflict in
their region of origin; approximately 6,600 persons newly affected by
drought; and approximately 9,900 affected by tribal, ethnic, or land
disputes. Local governments provided housing assistance and, in some
cases, food aid to conflict-affected IDPs through provincial emergency
commissions consisting of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and
Development, Afghan Red Crescent Society, UNHCR, IOM, UNAMA, and
UNICEF. UNAMA reported restricted access due to insecurity limited
efforts to assess the numbers of displaced persons and made it
difficult to provide assistance.
On April 17, two earthquakes struck Nangarhar province, killing 22,
injuring 59, and leaving 650 families homeless. Local authorities, the
Afghan National Disaster Management Authority, the Ministry of Public
Health, and the UN provided emergency assistance.
Returnees and other migrants faced high health risks, including HIV
infection and drug addiction. HIV incidence in the camps increased
fivefold in five years. The spread of HIV in part reflected increasing
rates of injectable drug use, particularly among 15- to 25-year-old
individuals, the largest age cohort in the country; they were also the
largest group of drug users and the largest cohort among returnees who
had not returned to their places of origin.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention on the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. Laws do not
provide for granting asylum or refugee status, and the government has
not established a system for providing protection to refugees.
In October approximately 500 Pakistani families fled to Kunar
province as military activity increased in Pakistani-Afghan border
areas. Local residents gave shelter to most of the refugees. The
government did not provide free services to refugees. Refugees had
access to primary education and other public services if they could
afford to pay for them.
In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular group, or political opinion.
The country continued to focus on providing services for returning
refugees, but the government's capacity to absorb returnees, often in
conflict settings, remained low. The continuing insurgency and related
security concerns, as well as economic difficulties, discouraged
numerous refugees from returning to the country. Many refugees needed
humanitarian assistance upon arrival. Common types of extreme
vulnerability, as defined by the UNHCR, included minors unaccompanied
by adult family members, drug addiction, mental illness, and severe
physical illness.
In accordance with the Tripartite Agreement among the government,
the Pakistan government, and the UNHCR, repatriation must be voluntary.
During the year 48,320 documented refugees voluntarily repatriated from
Pakistan with UNHCR assistance, a significant decrease from the 274,200
refugees repatriated in 2008.
In August the UNHCR suspended repatriation of local citizens from
Pakistan due to insecurity in the country and in the processing areas
in Pakistan. Pakistan abandoned its unilateral December 31 deadline to
repatriate all refugees, and the Pakistan government's commitment to
permit registered Afghan refugees to remain in Pakistan through 2012
was not formalized by year's end. In Pakistan three of the four refugee
camps scheduled for closure during the year remained open. There were
an estimated 1.7 million registered refugees in Pakistan, an estimated
180,000 unregistered individuals eligible for refugee status, and an
estimated 230,000 individuals who may have been eligible for refugee
status but who had not come forward to register.
The situation of the country's refugees in Iran--mostly non-
Pashtuns--contrasted markedly with life for refugees in Pakistan. Fewer
than 2.5 percent of local citizens settled in refugee camps in Iran;
the majority resided in urban areas. During the year 5,801 documented
refugees voluntarily returned from Iran with assistance from the UNHCR,
compared with 3,656 in 2008. The UNHCR estimated that approximately
900,000 documented refugees, 43 percent of whom were Hazara, remained
in Iran. The World Refugee Survey reported more than one million
unregistered Afghans lived in Iran.
Iran continued to deport undocumented economic migrants. Iranian
migration was mostly temporary and cyclical, with more than 400,000
adult male individuals staying on average for 3.5 years without their
families. According to the UN, remittances from Iran exceeded 25
billion Afghanis ($500 million) annually. From October 15 to November
22, Iran deported 17,894 undocumented Afghans through the border points
at Islam Qala, Herat province, and Zaranj, Nimroz province. Single
males accounted for more than 96 percent of the deportations; many
cycled back repeatedly. During the year Iran deported 292,229 persons,
compared with 356,027 in 2008. The average number of Afghans deported
daily during the year was 896, compared with a daily average of 1,089
in 2008.
The IOM worked to renew a Memorandum of Understanding with the
Government of Iran to offer advance notification of mass deportations
in order to avoid overwhelming destination cities such as Herat. It was
reportedly less expensive to be smuggled across the border than to pay
for a temporary working visa--approximately 25,000 Afghanis ($500)
versus 40,000 Afghanis ($800). Despite shared religious beliefs for
Shia followers, Afghans were reportedly subject to ethnic
discrimination and were shunted into low-skill manual labor. There were
also reports that the Mahdi Army, an Iraqi Shiite insurgency force,
paid high recruitment fees to young men.
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 the August
presidential and provincial council elections.
Elections and Political Parties.--During the year approximately
five million citizens voted in presidential and provincial council
elections, and the first competitive presidential election in the
country's history. Hamid Karzai was declared the winner. Elections were
held amid significant security, geographic, and logistical challenges,
including a prolonged intimidation campaign waged by insurgents.
Nevertheless, more polling stations opened than in previous elections,
the media and the public debated political alternatives, and the
election followed the constitutional process.
Incumbent President Hamid Karzai and his main challenger, Abdullah
Abdullah, both claimed victory ahead of the official verdict. After
completing an audit and recount process that affected more than 3,300
polling stations nationwide, the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC)
invalidated nearly one million votes from the first-round election held
in August, leaving incumbent Karzai with a final tally of 48.3 percent,
just short of the constitutionally mandated 50 percent. Election
officials scheduled a run-off for November 7. On November 1, Abdullah
withdrew from the race, demanding major changes to guard against
repetition of the reported widespread fraud in the August vote.
Election officials declared President Karzai the winner.
International observers and civil society groups documented
widespread instances of fraud, including ballot stuffing, ghost polling
stations, and interference by staff of the IEC; fraud was especially
notable in areas with high levels of insecurity, and insufficient
female electoral staff and female election observers. Security
arrangements were inadequate in many locations, and numerous
irregularities occurred, including pervasive intimidation of voters and
candidates, especially women. From August 20 through October 25, the
ECC received approximately 2,800 complaints of electoral
irregularities, of which 850 had the potential to affect the results of
the presidential election, and 650 had a potential effect on provincial
council elections. After conducting initial investigations, on
September 8, the ECC ordered a nationwide audit and recount. Using a
sampling method agreed upon by the ECC and the IEC, the IEC audited a
sample of 300 polling stations nationwide and found that 58 to 96
percent of votes were invalid. After analyzing the complaints related
to the presidential election, the ECC invalidated the results of 3,400
voting stations and found clear and convincing evidence of fraud at
1,900 other stations. According to the ECC, final numbers for voter
turnout could only be estimated; approximately 1.2 million votes were
invalidated from 4.5 million votes cast.
Two women ran for president and seven for vice president; 328 women
ran for the 124 provincial council seats reserved for women, more than
ever before. In some provinces open seats remained for women because
not enough female candidates contested the election.
According to UNIFEM, of the 4.5 million newly registered voters,
approximately 38 percent were female, although percentages could not be
confirmed because there was no voter list. Both under- and over-
registration of women were reported. Insecure access to registration
stations and the lack of female staff led to underregistration. In some
provinces local IEC officials ignored the physical presence
requirement, issuing voter identity cards for women whose male family
members registered them in absentia; 13 provinces where this practice
was widespread showed higher-than-average rates of female registration.
Women voted in separate polling stations from men, yet the lack of
sufficient numbers of female election workers hindered women's
participation. At some voting sites, women were turned away for lack of
available female workers. There was evidence that men also proxy-voted
on behalf of women in many cases, as occurred in 2004 and 2005.
Insurgents targeted civilians and election officials in a campaign
to disrupt national elections. Insurgents killed 31 civilians,
including 11 IEC officials, and injured 50, in at least 135 separate
incidents of IEDs, small-arms clashes, and rocket and mortar attacks on
election day. The UN reported there were as many as 300 such incidents.
Night letters and direct threats were reported countrywide, including
the threat to cut off fingers marked with voting ink. Some schools
identified as polling places received threatening letters. Integrated
Regional Information Networks (IRIN), of the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reported that on election day,
Taliban insurgents attacked at least 26 schools used as polling places.
Insurgents attacked a school in Paktya province the night before the
elections as well as a secondary school in the Zormat district in
Paktya on election day because it was used as a polling site. Also in
Paktya, insurgents fired rockets at two madrassas serving as polling
centers. In addition, insurgents fired two missiles at a school being
used as a polling center. There were with no casualties.
The MOJ recognized 84 accredited political parties. Political
parties were not always able to conduct activities throughout the
country, particularly in regions where antigovernment violence affected
overall security.
Women active in public life faced disproportionate levels of
threats and violence. Many female MPs and provincial council members
reported death threats. Women were also the targets of attacks by the
Taliban and other insurgent groups. Women who received threats often
moved throughout the country to evade those harassing them. According
to UNIFEM, a female candidate's Kabul office was ransacked and tarred.
A female candidate in Takhar province received night letters and
multiple death threats targeting her and her children; her office was
also vandalized. Armed men attacked the house of a provincial election
candidate in Jalalabad. According to a Human Rights Watch report, the
number of women in the civil service decreased to 21.4 percent, from a
high of 31 percent in 2006. Most female MPs reportedly experienced some
kind of threat or intimidation; most believed that the state could not
or would not protect them. Some female MPs stated that unless the
security situation improved, they were unlikely to run in parliamentary
elections scheduled for 2010.
On August 4, female activists launched the ``5 Million Women
Campaign'' to support female political participation, to encourage
women to run as candidates, and to urge them to vote in the 2009 and
2010 elections.
In 2005 citizens elected 249 members of the Wolesi Jirga, the lower
house of the National Assembly, in an election the majority of citizens
viewed as credible. The president and provincial councils selected
members of the Meshrano Jirga, the upper house of the National
Assembly.
As required by law, there were 68 women in the 249-seat Wolesi
Jirga; 30 percent of seats are reserved for women. UNIFEM expressed
concern that the quota was interpreted as a ceiling rather than a
floor, limiting the number of women to 30 percent. There were 23 women
in the Meshrano Jirga. One woman served in the cabinet. No women served
on the Supreme Court Council. There were 203 female judges.
There were no laws preventing minorities from participating in
political life; however, different ethnic groups complained they did
not have equal access to local government jobs in provinces where they
were in the minority. The law requires that 10 seats of the Wolesi
Jirga be allocated to Kuchi nomads. Some members of parliament
disagreed with this allotment, arguing that under the constitution all
groups were to be treated equally.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides for criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not always implement the law effectively,
and officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.
Corruption was endemic throughout society. For example, in Helmand
the ANP human rights director reported that promotion, job retention,
and other rewards often were based on financial payment and nepotism.
Prisoners and local NGOs reported that corruption was widespread across
the justice system, particularly in relation to the prosecution of
criminal cases and ``buying'' release from prison. Provincial police
benefited financially from corruption at police checkpoints and from
the narcotics industry.
A lack of political accountability and low salaries exacerbated
government corruption. The international community worked with the
national and provincial governance structures to address the issue of
low salaries. Police mentors addressed problems of corruption among
police and justice officials at provincial and district levels.
The government made efforts to combat corruption in the security
apparatus. On April 18, the Attorney General's Office established an
Anti-Corruption Unit. Before the August 20 elections, the MOI trained
and deployed more than 100 officers as provincial Inspectors General
(IGs). Although their role was initially to investigate election-
related claims against the police, they remained on duty after the
election as general purpose IG officers. The MOI removed 12 senior
officers for alleged corruption, along with 14 others. Merit-based
promotion boards became functional during the year, with at least three
candidates competing for each job; the process of instituting pay
reform and electronic funds transfer for police salaries continued. The
MOI continued to obtain training for its IG office.
On June 21, the MOI implemented an anticorruption program based on
a 17-point action plan approved in March. The program included
mentoring and development, tracking and reporting mechanisms for
incidents of corruption and abuse, and support for merit-based
promotion and asset declaration systems.
As in 2008, the government electronically direct deposited police
and military salaries, making pay a more transparent and accountable
process and less subject to corruption.
Observers alleged governors with reported involvement in the drug
trade or past records of human rights violations received executive
appointments and served with relative impunity.
The constitution provides citizens the right to access government
information, except when access might violate the rights of others. The
government generally provided access in practice, but officials at the
local level were less cooperative to requests for information. Lack of
government capacity also severely restricted access to information.
Section 5. 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. Hundreds of local
human rights NGOs operated independently and included groups focusing
on women's rights, media freedom, and rights of persons with
disabilities. Government officials were generally cooperative and
responsive to organization views. The government cooperated with
international governmental organizations and permitted them to visit
the country.
The lack of security and instability in parts of the country
severely reduced NGO activities. Insurgent groups and the Taliban
directly targeted NGOs during the year.
The constitutionally mandated AIHRC continued to address human
rights problems and operated without government interference or
funding. The AIHRC was effective in drawing attention to major human
rights problems, publishing numerous reports on a range of topics.
President Karzai signed the Action Plan for Peace, Justice, and
Reconciliation in 2006; however, the government did not take any
affirmative action in support of transitional justice.
Three parliamentary committees deal with human rights in the Wolesi
Jirga: the Gender, Civil Society, and Human Rights Committee; the
Counternarcotics, Intoxicating Items, and Ethical Abuse Committee; and
the Judicial, Administrative Reform, and Anticorruption Committee. In
the Meshrano Jirga, the Committee for Gender and Civil Society
addresses human rights concerns. During the year these committees
vetted several draft laws that went before the parliament and conducted
confirmation hearings on several presidential appointees.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination between citizens and
provides for the equal rights of men and women; however, local customs
and practices that discriminated against women prevailed in much of the
country. The constitution does not explicitly address equal rights
based on race, disability, language, or social status. There were
reports of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, and
gender.
Women.--On July 19, President Karzai signed the SPSL, a civil law
governing family and marital issues. The law applies only to the 20
percent of the population who are Shia. Some Shia groups hailed the law
for officially recognizing the Shiite minority; however, the law was
controversial both domestically and internationally for to its failure
to promote gender equality. Articles in the law of particular concern
include minimum age of marriage, polygamy, inheritance rights, right of
self-determination, freedom of movement, sexual obligations, and
guardianship.
On July 19, President Karzai signed the Elimination of Violence
Against Women (EVAW) law, criminalizing violence against women,
including rape, battery or beating; forced or underage marriage;
``baahd'' (the giving of a female relative to another family to settle
a debt or dispute); humiliation; intimidation; and the refusal of food.
Penalties include prison terms of less than six months to the death
penalty. Victims have the right to prosecute abusers, seek shelter in a
safe house, and receive medical and legal aid, but the law was seen as
only a small positive step for women, as implementation was a concern.
Article 17 of the EVAW law specifically punishes rape with life
imprisonment, and if the act results in death of the victim, the
perpetrator shall be sentenced to death. The law punishes the
``violation of chastity of a woman. that does not result in adultery
(such as touching)'' with imprisonment of up to seven years. Rape does
not include spousal rape. Shari'a law, as interpreted in the local
context and influenced by tribal customs, although uncodified, impeded
successful prosecution of rape cases. The Koran does not specifically
mention a punishment for rape, but under one interpretation of Shari'a,
local tribal elders or religious leaders may treat rape as a form of
adultery, punishable by stoning to death or 100 lashes of the whip,
although there were no reports of such cases during the year. Under
some interpretations of Shari'a, a woman who brings a charge of rape
sometimes must produce four witnesses to prove that the rape occurred
as a result of force. Accused men often claimed the victim agreed to
consensual sex, which resulted in an adultery charge against the
victim. The MOI reported 30 cases of rape in the country during the
year, and the AIHRC reported 44 cases between January and September;
the actual number of cases was probably much higher. The MOI reported
52 arrests in connection with rape cases. Statistics on convictions
were unavailable. Rapes were difficult to document due to social
stigma. Male victims seldom came forward. Peer sexual abuse was
allegedly common; UNAMA Herat documented two rape cases in which the
victims were three and four years old and the perpetrators were 14 and
20 years old. Female victims faced stringent societal reprisal, from
being deemed unfit for marriage to being imprisoned. According to NGOs,
authorities frequently raped women in prison.
The penal code criminalizes assault, and courts entered judgments
against domestic abusers under this provision. According to NGO
reports, hundreds of thousands of women continued to suffer abuse at
the hands of their husbands, fathers, brothers, armed individuals,
parallel legal systems, and institutions of state such as the police
and justice systems. UNAMA reported a slight decline in cases of
violence against women active in public life. A total of 1,708 cases
were reported from January to September, compared with 2,322 for the
same period in 2008; however, the number of incidents was believed to
be underreported. Human Rights Watch reported that 87.2 percent of
women had experienced at least one form of physical, sexual, or
psychological violence or forced marriage in their lifetimes. Many
elements of society tolerated and practiced violence against women.
Killing and assault against women commonly involved family members as
suspects. Women widely reported that they were victims of violence,
especially sexual violence. Police response to domestic violence was
limited, whether because of the crimes never being reported,
sympathetic attitudes towards perpetrators, or limited protection for
victims, even as witnesses to a serious crime.
Two NGOs that ran women's shelters in Kabul reported an increase in
referrals from police; however, an increase in referrals possibly
reflected improved ANP training and awareness. Authorities rarely
prosecuted abusers and only occasionally investigated complaints of
violent attacks, rape, killings, or suicides of women. If cases came to
court, the accused were often exonerated or punished lightly. NGOs
confirmed that domestic violence occurred in most homes but went
largely unreported due to societal acceptance of the practice. Most
domestic violence cases involved beating women and children. In some
cases men burned their wives in an attempt to mimic self-immolation.
During the year 27 domestic violence prosecutions resulted in
convictions in Herat. According to the MOJ, neither Ghor, Badghis, nor
Farah provinces had domestic violence prosecutors; the penal code does
not differentiate between domestic violence and battery and laceration
cases. Most provinces reported only one or two domestic violence
prosecutions per year. Women occasionally resorted to self-immolation
when they believed there was no escape from their situations. During
the first nine months of the year, the AIHRC documented 86 cases of
self-immolation, in contrast to 72 cases in 2008. Other organizations
reported an overall increase during the past two years. The burn unit
of the Herat Regional Hospital, which draws patients from Farah and
Ghor as well, reported receiving eight to 10 cases of self-immolation
per quarter; 95 percent of the cases were female.
There were 11 women's shelters across the country, some run by MOWA
and some by NGOs. MOWA and other agencies referred women to the
centers, which provided protection, accommodation, food, training, and
health care to women escaping violence in the home or seeking legal
support due to family feuds. MOWA reported receiving two to three new
domestic violence victims a month; however, space at the specialized
shelters was limited. Women in need of shelter who could not find a
place in the Kabul shelters often ended up in prison.
According to a UN High Commission on Human Rights (UNHCHR) report,
``unaccompanied'' women were not accepted in society, so women who
could not be reunified with their family had nowhere to go. The
difficulty of finding durable solutions for women who ended up in a
shelter was compounded by the societal attitude toward shelters, linked
to the perception of ``running away from home'' as a serious violation
of social mores. The misapprehension that safe houses were a ``safe
haven'' for immoral women forced them to operate nearly clandestinely
and in a precarious security situation. In lieu of relying on shelters,
girls who sought to escape violence at home were reportedly sometimes
``married'' or ``engaged'' to older men as a means of providing them
with safety; observers noted that officials across the justice sector
promoted and accepted this practice.
Policewomen trained to help victims of domestic violence complained
they were instructed not to reach out to victims but to wait for
victims to come to police stations. This significantly hindered their
work, as reporting domestic violence was not socially accepted, and
many women could not travel to police stations alone. UNAMA reported
police leadership often did not provide female officers with equipment
or vehicles to do outside investigations. The 42 Family Response Units
(29 in Kabul, seven in Mazar, four in Kunduz, two in Bamiyan, and three
opening in Jalalabad) were staffed primarily by female police officers
who addressed violence and crimes against women, children, and
families. The 897 women serving in civilian and ANP positions in the
MOI (including 94 officers and 225 patrol officers) offered mediation
and resources to prevent future domestic violence.
Women continued to face pervasive human rights violations and
remained largely uninformed about their rights under the law.
Discrimination was particularly acute in rural areas and villages.
Denial of educational opportunities, limited employment options,
and ongoing security threats continued to impede the ability of many
women to improve their situation, despite the progress women in urban
areas made toward access to public life, education, health care, and
employment. According to UNAMA, there was an increase of violence
against women working in the public sphere. On April 12, Sitara
Achakzai, an outspoken human rights defender and local councilor in
Kandahar, was killed; the Taliban claimed responsibility, but those
close to her believe the killing may not have been related to the
insurgency and instead could have been motivated by other personal or
political factors. She had received threats for weeks before her death
and had informed government officials of the risk she faced. By year's
end no arrests had been made for her killing.
Societal discrimination against women persisted, including domestic
abuse, rape, forced marriages, forced prostitution, exchange of girls
to settle disputes, kidnappings, and honor killings. Despite the
constitutionally protected right to travel freely, many women were
forbidden to leave the home except in the company of a male relative.
Such cultural prohibitions meant that many women could not work outside
the home, and often could not receive access to education, health care,
police protection, and other social services.
In September, in Uruzgan province, a man maimed his 16-year-old
wife, cutting off her nose and ears, allegedly because she had brought
shame to the family by running away after years of domestic violence;
she was rescued by U.S. military forces, who found her abandoned in the
mountains.
Ariana TV reported 39 cases of violence against women in Nimroz
province from January to November. The Department of Women's Affairs in
Baghlan province reported 74 cases of violence against women from
January to November, compared to 67 cases in 2008, including six
killings, three suicides, 10 runaways, 10 cases of food deprivation,
eight forced marriages, seven broken engagements, and other cases of
physical abuse. The head of the provincial appellate court in Baghlan
province reported one case of female violence against another female.
Extended family violence was reportedly widespread. On November 4, in
Laghman, a mother-in-law reportedly poured gasoline on her 16-year-old
daughter-in-law; the girl's clothes caught fire from the cooking stove.
The U.S. military provided treatment for first-, second-, and third-
degree burns from her chin to her waist and financial assistance to the
family.
Although police, prosecutors, and judges discriminated against
women in criminal and civil legal proceedings stemming from violence
and forced marriages, increasing numbers of female attorneys
successfully represented female clients in these types of cases in both
formal courts.
According to Human Rights Watch and UNIFEM, more than 70 percent of
marriages were forced and despite laws banning the practice, a majority
of brides were younger than the legal marriage age of 16; the practice
cuts across social, ethnic, religious, tribal, and economic lines.
According to the UNHCHR, only 5 percent of marriages were registered,
leaving forced marriages outside legal control. The AIHRC recorded 28
cases from January to September of women given to another family for
``baahd,'' to settle disputes or as a debt settlement, although a
presidential decree outlaws baahd. The unreported number was likely to
be much higher. IRIN reported that drug smugglers often demanded young
brides when farmers failed to produce opium and lacked other means to
repay their loans. In a practice known as ``badal,'' a brother and a
sister are married to another pair of siblings to avoid any payment
having to be made.
Local officials occasionally imprisoned women at the request of
family members for opposing the family's choice of a marriage partner
or being charged with adultery or bigamy. Women also faced bigamy
charges from husbands who had deserted them and then reappeared after
the woman had remarried. Local officials imprisoned women in place of a
family member who had committed a crime but could not be located. Some
women resided in detention facilities because they had run away from
home to escape domestic violence or the prospect of forced marriage.
Several girls between the ages of 17 and 21 remained detained in Pol-e-
Charkhi prison after fleeing abusive forced marriages.
Given the early marriage age, some women become widows in their 20s
and 30s. Since widows were perceived as their in-laws' property, they
could be forced to marry a brother-in-law, who may already have a wife;
the late husband's family seized any property he left.
The AIHRC documented 51 honor killings throughout the year;
however, the unreported number was believed to be much higher.
Prostitution existed, although it is illegal. Many observers
considered ``temporary marriages'' a form of prostitution. Temporary
marriages lasted from one day to a few months, in exchange for a dowry.
There is no law specifically prohibiting sexual harassment.
Couples were free from government discrimination, coercion, and
violence to decide the number, spacing, and timing of their children,
but family and community pressures to reproduce, the high prevalence of
child marriages, and lack of accurate biological knowledge limited
their ability to do so. Oral contraceptives, intrauterine devices,
injectables, and condoms were available commercially and through
provincial hospitals. Men and women were equally diagnosed and treated
for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, when health care
was available. NGOs reported that sexually transmitted diseases were
widespread and typically went undiagnosed since most persons suffered
from numerous untreated medical conditions.
Women who reported cases of abuse or who sought legal redress for
other matters reported pervasive discrimination within the judicial
system. Local practices were discriminatory toward women, and in parts
of the country where courts were not functional or knowledge of the law
was minimal, elders relied on an interpretation of Shari'a and tribal
customs, which generally were discriminatory toward women. Most women
reported limited access to justice in tribal shuras, where all
presiding elders were men; women in some villages were not allowed any
access for dispute resolution. Women's advocacy groups reported that
the government intervened informally with local courts to encourage
them to interpret laws in ways favorable to women.
MOWA and NGOs continued to promote women's rights and freedoms.
According to UNIFEM, women made up 26 percent of government employees.
The MOWA, the primary government agency responsible for addressing the
needs of women, had provincial offices, but the organization suffered
from a lack of capacity and resources. The provincial offices assisted
hundreds of women by providing legal and family counseling and
referring women they could not directly assist to relevant
organizations.
Women and children were overwhelmingly the victims of preventable
deaths due to illness. Of the 25,000 citizens who died from
tuberculosis annually, 16,000 were women. Many households could afford
neither the cost of health care nor transport to health-care
facilities, and many women were not permitted to travel to health
facilities on their own. Observers reported that 68 percent of the
population had access to primary health-care centers within two hours'
walking distance from their homes, an increase from 9 percent in 2002.
According to Save the Children and UNIFEM, the country had the
second highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Only 14 percent of
births had skilled attendants present, and only 12 percent of women
received professional prenatal care. Early marriage and early pregnancy
put girls at greater risk for premature labor, complications during
delivery, and death in childbirth. Lack of skilled attendance during
childbirth and lack of obstetric and postpartum care were key causes of
maternal mortality. The number of trained midwives increased from 467
in 2002 to 2,500 during the year.
According to reports in the British medical journal The Lancet,
both adults and children suffered from a broad spectrum of mental
health problems, including depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic
stress related to widespread social suffering and domestic violence as
well as acts of war. Residents of Kabul were at greater risk, possibly
stemming from social and economic stressors in the capital, including
overcrowding, high living costs, widening inequalities, pressure on
resources, and declining security.
According to Save the Children, although there was some diversity
in household decision-making practices throughout the country, women
generally exercised little decision making regarding marriage, timing
of pregnancies, birthing practices, and child education. Informal
social and familial pressure led the majority of women in rural areas
to wear burqas, and most women wore head covering.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory and from one's parents.
Education is mandatory up to the secondary level (four years for
primary school and three years for secondary), and the law provides for
free education up to the college level.
According to UNAMA and the AIHRC, 6,139,101 students were enrolled
in primary and secondary school. Boys made up nearly two-thirds of the
school population. In most regions boys and girls attended primary
classes together but were separated for intermediate and secondary-
level education. Although the rate of secondary school for boys was 10
times the rate for girls, boys were legally identifiable as ``heads of
household'' as young as age 15, and many boys were forced to leave
school to work.
Due to insecurity, inadequate facilities, poor quality of
education, severe shortages of female teachers, early and forced
marriages, the perceived need for girls to work at home, and cultural
pressures, the status of girls and women in education remained a matter
of concern. According to Save the Children, only 5 percent of girls
attended secondary school. In many families girls stopped attending
school at age 11 or 12 because parents would not permit their teenage
girls to be taught by adult men. Nearly 29 percent of all educational
districts lacked girls' schools. Nearly 80 percent of educational
districts and several provinces lacked secondary schools for girls due
to lack of female teachers; the AIHRC reported there were only 216
girls' high schools in the country, most of them situated in the
provincial centers. Girls' enrollment was as low as 9 percent in some
areas. Since 2001 most girls enrolled in schools were the first
generation in their family to receive formal education.
Violence impeded access to education in increasing sections of the
country from 2008 through year's end, as the Taliban and other
extremists, as well as criminal gangs, threatened or attacked schools,
especially girls' schools, as well as school officials, teachers, and
students. Where schools remained open, parents were often afraid to
send their children, particularly girls. The MOE reported that
approximately 40 percent of children were deprived of access to
education; the AIHRC reported 26 percent. The AIHRC reported that half
of schools did not have adequate, safe, and appropriate space for
learning. Many new schools in rural parts of Khost province were burned
or destroyed; some communities hired their own security guards to
protect their schools. In Kunduz province, according to the director of
education, seven girls' schools closed, all in areas of high insurgent
infiltration; the director stated that Taliban ``policy'' regarding
girls' schools differed from place to place, and in some places the
Taliban allowed schools to remain open. UNICEF reported from January to
June there were 470 confirmed targeted attacks on education (schools,
teachers, staff, and pupils), resulting in 30 deaths and 186 injuries
to schoolchildren, teachers, and other school employees. The MOE
reported to Human Rights Watch that unknown assailants poisoned 200
students; 196 were female. On July 9, in Logar province, a Taliban bomb
near a school killed 25 persons, including 12 students.
According to a report by CARE, many schools were attacked
repeatedly. Girls' schools were targeted more frequently than boys' or
mixed-gender schools. Government schools were more frequently attacked
than schools run by NGOs. Helmand, Kandahar, and Zabul provinces
reported the highest number of closed schools. In Helmand province, for
example, 180 schools, or 71 percent of the total, were inactive from
March to July, but the MOE reopened 100 schools over the same period;
by December only 58 percent of schools in Helmand were closed. Only one
school in Helmand was attacked during the year.
In Uruzgan province, education officials stated that state schools
were open but many unofficial schools were also in operation.
Individuals opened schools inside their homes and recruited local
mullahs as teachers. In the Khus Uruzgan district of Uruzgan province,
official schools were closed after insurgents abducted and beat the
teachers. There were no updates to the November 2008 acid attacks
against female students in Kandahar. NGOs and aid agencies reported
that insecurity, conservative attitudes, and poverty denied education
to millions of school-age children, mainly in the southern and
southeastern provinces.
Child abuse was endemic throughout the country, based on cultural
beliefs about child-rearing, and included general neglect, physical
abuse, sexual abuse, abandonment, and confined forced labor to pay off
family debts. The Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs, and
Disabled (MoLSA) stated that police frequently beat children. MOLSA
reported that more than five million children lived in need of
humanitarian assistance, and it recognized 23 categories of ``Children
Facing Threats,'' including forced marriage, trafficking, drug
addiction, and neglect. During the year drought and food shortages
forced many families to send their children onto the streets to beg for
food and money. Police regularly beat and incarcerated children they
took off the streets. NGOs reported a predominantly punitive and
retributive approach to juvenile justice throughout the country.
Although it was against the law, corporal punishment in schools,
rehabilitation centers, and other public institutions remained common.
The legal age for marriage was 16 for girls and 18 for boys.
International and local observers estimated that approximately 60
percent of girls were married younger than 16. Under the EVAW, those
who arrange forced or underage marriages may be sentenced to
imprisonment of not less than two years. Article 99 of the Law on
Marriage states marriage of a minor may be conducted by a guardian. By
law the marriage contract requires verification that the bride is 16
years of age; however, less than 10 percent of the population had birth
certificates.
The custom of bride money may have motivated families facing
poverty, indebtedness, and economic crisis to pledge daughters as young
as six or seven, with the understanding that the actual marriage would
be delayed until the child reached puberty. However, reports indicated
that this delay was rarely observed, and that young girls were sexually
violated not only by the groom but also by older men in the family,
particularly if the groom was also a child.
Sexual abuse of children remained pervasive. NGOs noted that most
child victims were abused by extended family members. A UNHCR report
noted tribal leaders also abused boys. During the year the MOI recorded
17 cases of child rape; the unreported number was believed to be much
higher. In January and February, the ANP arrested men in three separate
cases of the rape of boys in Jowzjan province. According to the AIHRC,
most child sexual abusers were not arrested. Numerous reports alleged
that harems of young boys were cloistered for ``bacha baazi'' (boy-
play) for sexual and social entertainment; although credible statistics
were difficult to acquire, as the subject was a source of shame and
``dancing boys'' was a widespread culturally sanctioned form of male
rape.
In extreme examples of child abuse, observers reported several
instances of deliberately burned children in Paktya; the children
sustained burns after their parents submerged them in boiling water.
The AIHRC reported the following incidents: in January in Mazar-
Sharif, three men raped and killed a nine-year-old boy; the ANP later
arrested the men. Also in January in Jowzjan province, three adults
raped a 15-year-old boy; the ANP arrested the men. In February in
Jowzjan province, police made arrests in the rape cases of a four-year-
old boy and a seven-year-old boy; police arrested the adult. In August
in the Dihdadi district of Balkh province, a 28-year-old man raped a
seven-year-old girl; police arrested the man.
Child pornography, reportedly widespread, is not specifically
prohibited by law.
Children were used in armed conflict (see section 1.g.)
Children were displaced due to the conflict. NGOs estimated as many
as one-third of all refugees were children.
NGOs estimated there were 60,000 street children in urban areas.
Street children had little or no access to government services,
although several NGOs provided access to basic needs such as shelter
and food.
Living conditions for children in orphanages were unsatisfactory.
The MoLSA operated 34 residential orphanages and 22 day-care centers,
designed to provide vocational training to children from destitute
families. There were 18 private orphanages in the country. NGOs
reported that 60 to 80 percent of 4- to 18-year-old children in the
orphanages were not orphans, but children whose families could not
provide food, shelter, or schooling. Children in orphanages reported
mental, physical, and sexual abuse; were sometimes trafficked; and did
not always have access to running water, winter heating, indoor
plumbing, health services, recreational facilities, or education.
Trafficking in Persons.--The 2008 antitrafficking law was published
on July 15. There were reports that persons were trafficked to, from,
through, and within the country. The country was a source for women and
children trafficked predominantly to Iran and Pakistan for forced labor
and commercial sexual exploitation. Children were trafficked internally
for forced labor as beggars or for debt bondage in the brick kiln and
carpet industries. Women and girls were kidnapped, lured by fraudulent
marriage or job proposals, or sold into marriage or commercial sexual
exploitation within the country and elsewhere. Boys as well as girls
were victims of trafficking. Men were trafficked to Iran and Pakistan
for forced labor and debt bondage, as well as to Greece for forced
labor in the agriculture or construction sectors. The country was also
a destination for women and girls from Iran, Tajikistan, and possibly
China for forced prostitution. Sexual exploitation of boys, reportedly
more widespread than sexual exploitation of girls, occurred in every
region of the country, and internal trafficking was more widespread
than cross-border trafficking. The MOI reported 75 cases of trafficking
during the year.
The government took steps during the year regarding legislation,
prosecution, prevention, and protection. In April the IOM and MOI
signed an agreement establishing a cooperative framework to combat
trafficking and assist victims of trafficking and other vulnerable
migrants, expanding activities to six provinces: Nangahar, Helmand,
Nimroz, Herat, Balkh, and Kunduz.
The IOM provided the MOI with countertrafficking technical support
and capacity building, as well as help for victims. The IOM trained
multiple law enforcement sectors, including the MOI, MOJ, ANA, ANP,
border police, security agents, and the special unit for combating
trafficking. The IOM assisted the MOI in developing a database on
trafficking and organized crime and trained MOJ officials and judges,
including members of the Supreme Court, in prosecution protocols in the
six provinces.
The MOWA cooperated with NGOs that provide counseling and shelter
to victims of trafficking. The IOM, in partnership with local NGOs,
established the only shelter for victims of trafficking, providing
reintegration assistance, including education and income-generating
training.
Selling of children internally reportedly continued to occur. NGOs
reported cases of false marriage, in which a girl was exchanged for a
bride price to a buyer who intended to sell her. The Balkh Department
of Labor and Social Affairs reported to the Child Protection Action
Network that it was aware of several cases of unmarried women selling
their newborns to health workers to avoid the social stigma of a giving
birth outside of marriage or as a means of providing a stable future
for the child. In July provincial authorities arrested one person in
Tarin Kot bazaar in Uruzgan for selling a child. There were unconfirmed
reports of similar cases in Kabul and in Kunduz province. There were no
updates regarding the 2008 cases of child-selling.
The IOM was actively involved with the government in all aspects of
countertrafficking, including protection, prevention, and prosecution.
Adult victims were sometimes jailed.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits any kind of
discrimination against citizens and requires the state to assist
persons who have disabilities and to protect their rights, including
health care and financial protection. The constitution also requires
the state to adopt measures to reintegrate and ensure the active
participation in society of persons with disabilities.
The ICRC reported that accurate figures on the disabled population
were not available, but estimated 800,000 mobility-impaired persons, of
whom approximately 40,000 were limb amputees. MOLSA provided financial
support to 88,000 persons with war-related disabilities. Fewer than 90
percent of persons with physical and mental disabilities had jobs. The
AIHRC reported that of the nearly 200,000 school-age children with
disabilities, only 22.4 percent attended school.
In the Meshrano Jirga, two seats for presidential advisors were
reserved for persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were no updates regarding
the June 2008 violence between Hazara and the Kuchi nomads in Wardak
province; however, ethnic tensions between the groups were reported in
Ghazni province, fueled by conflicts over grazing rights, especially in
the high passes in Jaghato, Nawur, and Kwaja Omari.
On September 22, the Shia Turi-Sunni Bushara tribes on Paktya's
Pakistan border reached a negotiated settlement, but ongoing low-level
violence threatened to reignite the two-year conflict. The Bushara
villages were surrounded by Turi tribal lands, and the Turi people were
frequent victims of insurgent attacks.
Ethnic tensions between Pashtun and non-Pashtun groups,
particularly in the Moqur and Qadis districts, resulted in conflict and
occasional killings. In February members of a Pashtun group killed
Hafizollah, a prominent non-Pashtun, and several of his family members.
In retaliation, members of the non-Pashtun group killed several
Pashtuns. In September, non-Pashtuns assassinated a Pashtun leader,
Mowin Gholan, in retaliation for the killing of Hafizollah.
Claims of social discrimination against Hazaras and other Shias
continued.
On September 6, Deputy Minister of Defense Akram acknowledged to
the parliament that linguistic and ethnic discrimination occurred in
the ANA. Observers claimed that soldiers with former Northern Alliance
affiliation actively discriminated against soldiers from the southern
provinces. Soldiers also reportedly discriminated along ethnic lines
when harassing drivers at checkpoints.
Confiscation and illegal occupation of land by powerful
individuals, in some cases tied to the insurgency, caused displacement
in some situations. Discrimination continued in some areas, in the form
of extortion of money through illegal taxation, forced recruitment and
forced labor, physical abuse, and detention.
Ethnic minorities continued to face oppression, including economic
oppression. Dasht-i Barchi, one of Kabul's poorest neighborhoods, was
home to a large Hazara population. Average earnings per day were 13
Afghanis (25 cents) per person, although the minimum wage was 63
Afghanis ($1.25) per day; average household size was nine to 10
persons. In Dasht-i Barchi, 60 percent of all families rented their
homes and were therefore subject to landlord exploitation; 50 percent
of families' income went to cover rent, and families moved frequently.
Observers noted that groups of migrant workers in Paktya province
were regularly attacked and robbed just after receiving their salaries
and prior to their departure from the province. Labor violations
against migrant workers were also common; many companies allegedly did
not pay local laborers for months at a time.
NGOs reported that although Ismailis (a minority Shia Muslim group
who follow the Aga Khan) were not generally targeted or seriously
discriminated against, they continued to be exposed to risks.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The law criminalizes
homosexual activity; however, authorities only sporadically enforced
the prohibition. Organizations devoted to the protection or exercise of
freedom of sexual orientation remained underground. There were no
reported instances of discrimination or violence based on sexual
orientation, but social taboos remained strong.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--There were no known
instances of discrimination or violence against persons with HIV/AIDS,
but there was reportedly high social stigma against persons with AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The 1987 Labor Code allows workers to
join and form unions. The government allowed several unions, including
Central Council National Union Afghanistan Employees, the largest, and
several smaller unions to operate without interference. Implementation
of labor laws remained a problem due to lack of funding, personnel,
political will, and central enforcement authority. Workers were not
aware of their rights.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
workers to join independent trade unions. The country lacked a
tradition of genuine labor-management bargaining. Articles 137-146 of
the labor law identify the Labor Dispute Settlement Commission as the
body investigating labor disputes.
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. There were reports that women and girls were given
away as household laborers to another family to settle disputes and
debts. Many employers subjected child laborers to sexual exploitation
and forced labor.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--In
July the 2008 labor code went into effect, setting the minimum age for
employment at 18 years but permitting children 15 years and older to do
``light work.'' Children between ages 16 and 18 may work only 35 hours
per week. Children 14 years and older may work as apprentices. Children
younger than 13 were prohibited from work under any circumstances,
although this law was not observed in practice. There was no evidence
that authorities in any part of the country enforced child labor laws.
Child labor remained a pervasive problem. According to UNICEF
estimates, at least 30 percent of primary school-age children undertook
some form of work and there were more than one million child laborers
younger than 14. The AIHRC reported that 43 percent of child laborers
were younger than 12 and 35 percent were between 12 and 15. Many child
laborers worked as domestic servants, street vendors, peddlers, or
shopkeepers. Children worked in the worst forms of child labor in
several sectors, including carpet weaving, brick making, and poppy
harvesting. Children were also heavily employed in agriculture, mining
(especially family-owned gem mines), and organized begging rings. Some
sectors of child labor exposed children to land mines. According to the
AIHRC, 85 percent of child laborers were boys, but this figure did not
include the uncounted number of girls who perform domestic work in
their homes. Many families stated that they needed the income their
children provided, but many reportedly also believed that work was
useful for children. MOLSA and the Aschiana Foundation reported
approximately 60,000 child laborers in Kabul alone, the majority of
whom migrated to the city from other provinces. Children faced numerous
health and safety risks at work, and some of them sustained serious
injuries such as broken bones.
Carpet weaving was especially dangerous for children, particularly
in urban settings, as the enclosed spaces where they lived and worked
exposed them to upper respiratory diseases, eyestrain, and spinal and
muscular damage. Parents sometimes administered narcotics to their
children to ease their physical pain. Children were considered suitable
to learn carpet weaving at age five, and many children began working in
this sector at an early age; families typically worked together weaving
carpets, earning 1,500 Afghanis ($30) per month for their efforts, well
below the minimum wage.
In August the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched its first
report on the Convention of the Rights of the Child. The report
recommended judicial and legal system reforms to ensure national
compliance with international standards of child rights. The
international community lauded the report as a milestone for children's
rights in Afghanistan.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--In July President Karzai signed
a law doubling the minimum wage to 4,000 Afghanis ($80) for government
workers. The minimum wage was 2,000 Afghanis per month ($40) in the
private sector, but in practice wages were not protected. The minimum
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. Wages were determined by market forces, informal negotiation,
or, in the case of government workers, dictated by the government. Many
workers were hired as day laborers.
The law defines the standard workweek as 40 hours: eight hours per
day with one hour for lunch and noon prayers. Reduced standard
workweeks were stipulated for youth, pregnant women, nursing mothers,
and miners and other occupations that present health risks. The law
provides workers the right to receive wages, annual vacation time in
addition to national holidays, compensation for injuries suffered in
the line of work, overtime pay, health insurance for the employee and
immediate family members, per diem for official trips, daily
transportation, food allowances, night shift differentials, retirement
rights, and compensation for funeral expenses in case of death while
performing official duties. These standards were not effectively
enforced, and citizens generally were not aware of the full extent of
their labor rights under the law.
There were no occupational health and safety standards and no
enforcement mechanism. Employment was at will, and MOLSA did not
enforce the existing legal protections for workers. Workers did not
have the right to remove themselves from situations that endangered
their health or safety without jeopardizing their employment, as all
employment could be terminated without cause.
__________
BANGLADESH
Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy of 155 million citizens. On
December 29, 2008, the Awami League (AL) alliance led by Sheikh Hasina
Wazed won 263 of 299 parliamentary seats in elections international and
domestic observers considered to be free and fair, with isolated
irregularities and sporadic violence. The elections and the peaceful
transfer of power ended two years of rule by a military-backed
caretaker government. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
The government's human rights record improved somewhat due to the
return of a democratically elected government and the repeal of the
state of emergency. There was a slight increase in the number of
extrajudicial killings by security forces; there remained cases of
serious abuse, including extrajudicial killings, custodial deaths,
arbitrary arrest and detention, and harassment of journalists. With the
return of an elected government, reports of politically motivated
violence increased 3.3 percent. The failure to investigate fully
extrajudicial killings by security forces, including the deaths in
custody of alleged mutineers from the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) border
force, remained a matter of serious concern. Some members of security
forces acted with impunity and committed acts of physical and
psychological torture. Violence against women and children remained a
serious problem, as did trafficking in persons. Violence against
religious and ethnic minorities still occurred, although many
government and civil society leaders stated that these acts often had
political or economic motivations and could not be attributed only to
religious belief or affiliation.
On February 25-26, members of the BDR staged a mutiny, alleging
poor pay and benefits, as well as corruption in the senior officer
corps, which were drawn from the army. During the two-day mutiny, BDR
soldiers killed 57 officers and 15 of their family members, including
the director general and his wife. Security forces subsequently
arrested more than 2,000 individuals allegedly involved in the
uprising. The government announced plans to try them under the existing
BDR Act, which carries a maximum prison term of seven years. Those
charged with criminal acts were to be tried under the penal code in
special tribunals. According to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
and media reports, 59 BDR soldiers died while in police custody or in
the BDR barracks. There were credible reports that many of the deceased
had been tortured. To investigate these allegations, the government
formed a committee, which concluded that only two members died as a
result of torture. No other government action was taken.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Members of the
security forces committed numerous extrajudicial killings. The police,
BDR, military, and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) occasionally used
unwarranted lethal force.
According to government statistics, there was a 3 percent increase
in the number of killings by all security personnel, and the government
did not take comprehensive measures to investigate these cases despite
public statements by high-ranking officials that the government would
show ``zero tolerance'' and would fully investigate all extrajudicial
killings by security forces. The number of killings by the police and
combined security forces also increased. According to the media and
local human rights organizations, no case resulted in criminal
punishment, and in the few instances in which the government levied
charges, those found guilty generally received administrative
punishment.
According to media reports, local and international human rights
organizations, and the government, the RAB killed 41 persons during the
year, from 68 the year before, a nearly 40 percent drop. The average
number of such deaths dropped from six per month in 2008 to three per
month during the year. Combined security units consisting of RAB
members and police, however, killed 25 persons during the year. The
deaths, some under unusual circumstances, occurred during raids,
arrests, and other law enforcement operations, or in some cases while
the accused were in custody. The government often described these
deaths as ``crossfire killings,'' ``gunfights,'' or ``encounter
killings,'' terms it used to characterize exchanges of gunfire between
the RAB or police and criminal gangs.
According to media reports, local and international human rights
organizations, and the government, law enforcement officials were
responsible for 154 deaths, 129 of which were attributed to crossfire.
According to reported figures, this total represented a 3 percent
increase from the previous year. The RAB accounted for 38 crossfire
killings; members of the police were responsible for 63; combined
security units consisting of the RAB and police were responsible for
25; and the army committed three crossfire killings. Since 2004 when
the minister for law, justice, and parliamentary affairs stated
crossfire deaths under RAB or police custody could not be considered
custodial death, the government has not disclosed publicly any
prosecution of a RAB officer for a killing.
According to Ain O-Shalish Kendra (ASK), a leading human rights
organization, 58 deaths occurred in custody during the year, including
30 deaths in prison.
For example, according to Odhikar on May 8, police officers and RAB
members allegedly shot and killed Sayeedur Rahman Sayeed in a crossfire
killing in Alamdanga, Chuadanga. Family members claimed police from the
Islamic University Police arrested Sayeed on a bus along the Ujangram
Bazar Road and transferred him to the Chuadanga RAB Six Camp. The RAB
and police claimed they were conducting a raid on a cemetery where
Sayeed and his accomplice were holding a meeting when the two men
opened fire. The security forces allegedly returned fire, killing
Sayeed. According to witnesses, no gunfight took place and the police
and RAB staged the incident. Sayeed's body had two bullet wounds,
broken bones above his right heel and left elbow, and additional wounds
on his body.
On May 28, a team from RAB 2 allegedly killed two Dhaka Polytechnic
Institute students, Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Mohsin Sheikh, in a
shootout. On June 15, according to media reports, family members of the
victims filed a case against 10 RAB personnel. Family members, fellow
students, and teachers claimed Jinnah and Sheikh were members of the
Bangladesh Chhatra League and did not have criminal records. The RAB
claimed the two students were ``criminals'' and ``muggers,'' and that
they had stopped the students at a checkpoint for acting suspiciously.
The metropolitan magistrate ordered the officer-in-charge of Tejgaon
Police Station to investigate the case and submit a report by August
20. The officer-in-charge stated that he submitted the investigation
report to the court and the matter was pending at year's end.
The government did not conduct further investigations into the
alleged killing of Abdur Rashid Malitha and Nasima Akthtar Rikta by
officers from RAB 12 in June 2008. According to Odhikar, relatives of
Rikta did not speak out for fear of retaliation from security forces.
There were no further developments in the June 2008 killing of
Anwar Hossain by police officers or the 2007 killing of Khabirul Islam
by naval personnel.
The government did not take formal action to investigate the 2007
killing by army personnel in Madhupur of Choilesh Ritchil, an activist
in one of the country's indigenous communities.
Deaths allegedly due to torture occurred while in police custody.
According to Odikhar, on January 11, police from the Shahbajpur Police
Camp arrested, allegedly tortured, and killed Nawab Ali of Bariakandi
village. His body was recovered from a river near his home on January
14 with signs of trauma. Officials temporarily suspended the three
police officers allegedly involved in the incident. Police stated they
were conducting an internal investigation into the matter but after
repeated inquires from Odhikar, the investigating officer stated that
the final report had been submitted three months earlier, and the
investigation committee had concluded that Nawab Ali died from falling
into the river.
On January 28, according to Odhikar, police from Chandgaon Police
Station arrested, tortured, and killed Mohammed Habib and tortured his
colleague Arif. According to police, the men were arrested on suspicion
of importing drugs from India and were injured during their arrest. On
the day of arrest, the police transferred the men between the police
station and the hospital several times before producing them before
court. Because Habib was ill, the court ordered hospitalization;
however, on arrival at the hospital Habib was declared dead by doctors.
Arif claimed police tortured both he and Habib for an extended period
of time and that the torture may have caused Habib's death. He alleged
that three police officers trampled on Habib's chest. Arif had visible
injuries on his left hand and right leg. Following Habib's death, an
``unnatural death case'' was filed. According to the assistant police
commissioner of the Chittagong metropolitan police, the three officers
involved were suspended. An investigation was ongoing at year's end.
According to media reports, 59 BDR members arrested in the wake of
the February 25-26 mutiny died in custody. Family members of the
victims alleged they died after being tortured. According to Odhikar,
several BDR members taken into custody claimed the RAB and police
physically assaulted and beat them, administered electric shocks,
blindfolded them, and hung them upside down while in custody; NGOs
alleged army personnel also were involved in custodial deaths. The
government announced an investigation and promised to publish a report
by July regarding the nature of the deaths but failed to publish any
report. The government investigation ruled that only two members died
due to torture and that the others died as a result of illness or
suicide. At year's end the government had not taken any action
regarding the deaths or allegations of torture.
On March 22, Nayak Mobarak Hossain, a detective in the BDR security
unit of the 18th Rifle Battalion in Cox's Bazar, died at the Dhaka
Medical College Hospital after soldiers allegedly assaulted him,
according to his family. Hossain had been present in BDR headquarters
during the mutiny. His wife alleged that on February 28, the army
detained him, took away his phone, and did not allow him to contact his
family. On March 18, Hossain allegedly telephoned his wife to say he
was being kept in poor conditions and tortured, and if anyone attempted
to communicate with him, he would be tortured further. Two individuals
who saw Hussain's body confirmed severe bruising, swelling of limbs,
injuries to both palms, and broken joints. They also claimed that marks
on his body indicated that burnt needles were inserted into his
fingers. The local magistrate who presided over the autopsy did not
reveal any further details. A local police subinspector in Dhaka, who
was present at the medical examination, opened a murder investigation.
The case was ongoing at year's end.
The government did not conduct any further investigations into the
alleged March 2008 death by torture of Abul Hossain Dahli by police in
Botiyaghata.
On May 25, according to Odhikar, following a petition from the
victim's father, the chief judicial magistrate ordered local police to
file a case against 16 officers from RAB 8 who allegedly tortured to
death Afzal Khan in 2008. Khan's father reported receiving various
threats from the accused.
There were no new developments in the April 2008 death of Fakir
Chan in police custody in Maulvibazar. Chan's widow told Odhikar she
was not financially able to pursue any legal case against his alleged
killers.
Politically motivated violence resumed following the end of the
state of emergency, with opposition party supporters claiming
harassment by ruling party supporters. Motivations for the violence
often were unclear. According to Odhikar, 251 deaths were suspected of
being politically motivated, compared to 50 the previous year.
On June 19, seven to eight unknown assailants abducted and killed
opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) member Manju Morshed
Shipu in Mohammadpur, Dhaka. Witnesses claimed the men abducted Shipu
while he was returning home on the night of June 18. Several hours
later, guards saw a microbus drive into a school playground, heard a
gunshot, and subsequently found Shipu's body. According to police,
Shipu had been shot in the left side of the forehead, and there were
marks of beating on his arms, back, and feet. Marks on his hands, feet,
and eyes indicated he had been bound and blindfolded. According to
Shipu's wife, he was a potential candidate for ward commissioner in the
city corporation elections. She believed his murder was politically
motivated and filed a case with the Mohammadpur police station on June
20. There were no further developments by year's end.
There were no further developments in the July 2008 killing of
Moshiul Alam Sentu, allegedly by officers from RAB 8. According to
Odhikar, Sentu's mother claimed she tried to file a case against the
RAB, but no lawyers would take it out of fear the RAB would target
them.
There was no further investigation into the July 2008 killing of
Mizanur Rahman Tutu by police officers. Family members told human
rights groups they did not file a case.
At year's end authorities had not carried out death sentences in
the case of three individuals from the banned Islamist organization
Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJi) who were tried in 2007 for organizing a
grenade attack at the Hazrat Shahjalal Shrine in Sylhet in 2004. Two
others sentenced to life imprisonment were serving their sentences.
There also were a significant number of reports of killings
involving political party supporters.
On May 8, according to media reports, one person died and at least
15 others were injured in a clash between AL and BNP activists in
Hagragari village, Lalpur upazila (subdistrict). The two groups
reportedly attacked each other with firearms and sharp weapons.
There were no developments in the February 2008 killing of Mohammad
Farman Ali by political rivals or the death of an individual following
gunfire between AL and BNP activists.
Vigilante killings remained a problem during the year, although
figures suggested that the problem had lessened or remained the same.
Odhikar reported at least 90 killings, but local human rights
organizations also acknowledged that the number of reported cases
probably represented only a fraction of the actual incidents. The most
recent figures are from 2008 when there were 163 reported vigilante
killings.
On July 2, a mob killed a suspected robber in Naranpar village in
Comilla. The deceased was identified as Yakub Hossain alias Tetu Miah.
On September 14, according to press reports, a mob beat a carjacker
to death and critically injured during an attempted carjacking in the
Pallabi area of Dhaka. A third person fled the scene. According to
Pallabi police, the three men shot the driver during the robbery
attempt. There was no investigation at year's end.
On November 15, according to the Daily Star, a mob beat to death
Badsha Bhai, an alleged regional leader of an outlawed faction of Purbo
Banglar Communist Party in Roypur village in Gangni upazila. According
to police, 15 ``village watchers'' chased Badsha as he was walking in
the village and beat him. Police took Badsha to Meherpur General
Hospital where he was declared dead.
There were no further investigations into the March 2008 vigilante
killings in Nasirabad and Kaliakoir, near Dhaka.
Violence along the border with India remained a problem, and the
number of incidents increased by nearly 63 percent from the previous
year. According to human rights organizations, the Indian Border
Security Force killed 96 citizens during the year.
b. Disappearance.--Disappearances and kidnappings remained problems
during the year, but precise figures were unavailable. At least some of
these kidnappings were politically motivated, although many were often
for money or as a result of localized rivalries.
On August 22, a group of local armed criminals kidnapped nine
members of an extended family from their house in Dhaka and held them
in a nearby engineering workshop. After eight hours, police located
them and arrested 16 men who were charged several with kidnapping. The
cases were pending at year's end. Police suspected the criminals were
using the kidnapping as an attempt to coerce the family into giving up
their land.
There were no further developments in the September 2008 kidnapping
of 40 fishermen from the Kachikhali coast of Pathorghata. There were no
developments in the November 2008 disappearance of Liakat Hossain,
allegedly involving members of the RAB.
The government did not take any steps to investigate the 2007
kidnapping of two Danish aid agency employees.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution prohibits torture and cruel,
inhuman, or degrading punishment, security forces including the RAB,
military, and police frequently employed severe physical and
psychological abuse during arrests and interrogations. According to
figures provided by human rights organizations, the use of such
techniques dropped in 2008 but increased during the year. Abuse
consisted of threats, beatings, and the use of electric shock.
According to human rights organizations, security forces tortured at
least 68 persons. The government rarely charged, convicted, or punished
those responsible, and a climate of impunity allowed such abuses by the
RAB, police, and military to continue.
On June 4, according to Odhikar, Kahalu police in Bogra arrested
and tortured the president of the student wing of the BNP, Morshed
Habib Bhuiyan Jewel, in Netrokona district. Jewel alleged that several
times while in custody at the Netrokona Model Police Station three to
four police officers blindfolded him, suspended him from the ceiling
with handcuffs, and beat him with sticks from the waist down. According
to Jewel, police also poured hot water into his nose and mouth.
Netrokona police claimed Jewel was a suspect in a murder case and that
they were interrogating him. Witnesses and the victim claimed police
arrested him due to his political affiliation. Jewel remained in jail
at year's end.
There were no developments in the 2007 torture cases of Shahidul
Islam, Mohammad Jamal Uddin, and Mohammad Kajol.
According to human rights organizations, there were at least three
recorded incidents of rape and sexual abuse by law enforcement
personnel.
For example, on February 28, according to Odhikar, four police
constables gang-raped a member of an ethnic minority group in the
Chittagong metropolitan area.
There were no new developments in the July 2008 rape of a 14-year-
old girl in Sonargaon, Narayanganj, allegedly by RAB officer Abdul
Gaffur. Gaffur was under arrest and awaiting trial at year's end. There
was no further investigation into the July 2008 rape of a young girl at
Kamlapur Dhaka, allegedly by police subinspector Rezaul Karim.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison system conditions
remained abysmal due to overcrowding, inadequate facilities, and lack
of proper sanitation. Human rights observers believed these conditions
contributed to custodial deaths. Unlike in the previous year, there
were no accounts of security forces holding detainees in ad hoc or
military detention facilities.
According to Odhikar, 48 persons died in prison and 31 persons died
in the custody of police and other security forces during the year.
According to the government, the existing prison population at
year's end was 71,880, or more than 250 percent of the official prison
capacity of 28,668. Of the entire prison population, approximately one-
third of the detainees had been convicted. The rest were either
awaiting trial or detained for investigation. Due to the severe backlog
of cases, individuals awaiting trial often spent more time in jail than
if they had been convicted and served a maximum sentence. In most
cases, prisoners slept in shifts because of the overcrowding and did
not have adequate bathroom facilities.
The law requires that juveniles be detained separately from adults,
but in practice, many juveniles were incarcerated with adults.
Approximately 347 children were imprisoned (some with their mothers)
despite laws and court decisions prohibiting the imprisonment of
minors. In some places, the figure was much higher, mainly because
there was no proper means of recording age in the criminal justice
system. According to statistics from the 2008 International Centre for
Prison Studies report, minors made up 0.4 percent of the prison
population.
Although the law prohibits women in ``safe custody'' (usually
victims of rape, trafficking, and domestic violence)from being housed
with criminals, in practice separate facilities were not always
available.
In general the government did not permit prison visits by
independent human rights monitors, including the International
Committee of the Red Cross. Government-appointed committees composed of
prominent private citizens in each prison locality monitored prisons
monthly but did not release their findings. District judges
occasionally visited prisons but rarely disclosed their findings.
In 2008 the inspector general of prisons tried to address prisoner
morale by allowing low-level offenders to meet family and friends
inside jail cells without any physical barriers between them. There
were few additional efforts to improve the prison system during the
year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the law permits authorities to
arrest and detain persons suspected of criminal activity without an
order from a magistrate or a warrant.
In December 2008 the president promulgated the Emergency Power
(Repeal) Ordinance to revoke the state of emergency that had been
declared in 2007. Under the state of emergency, the government
promulgated the Emergency Power Rules (EPR), which gave the government
authority to detain citizens without filing formal charges or specific
complaints. In repealing the state of emergency, the ordinance
specified that, although cases brought under the EPR would continue to
have validity, pending cases would be conducted under the traditional
rules and laws.
According to official government statistics, the police arrested
50,787 persons during the year. Of those arrested, 15,894 were detained
without arrest warrants or convictions.
On March 21, police arrested former deputy speaker of parliament
and opposition member Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui in the Naogaon district.
The officer in charge of the Mohadebpur Police Station alleged Siddiqui
had threatened him. Siddiqui was sentenced to one month's detention
order under the Special Powers Act of 1974.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police are organized
nationally under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) and have a mandate
to maintain internal security and law and order. Under recent
governments, police were generally ineffective and reluctant to
investigate persons affiliated with the ruling party. The government
ended its use of the joint forces security structure formed in 2007
under the state of emergency and composed of police, the RAB, members
of the military, and other security agencies. Unlike the previous year,
the military intelligence agency, the Directorate General Forces
Intelligence (DGFI), did not take the lead in maintaining law and order
as it had under the state of emergency.
The RAB received human rights training sponsored by foreign
governments, the UN Development Program, and a local NGO, the
Bangladesh Society for Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR). Although
the RAB continued to commit serious human rights violations, the number
of incidents involving the RAB dropped from the previous year.
The government took steps to address widespread police corruption
and a severe lack of training and discipline. The inspector general of
police continued to implement a new strategy, partially funded by
international donors, for training police, addressing corruption, and
creating a more responsive police force.
Plaintiffs rarely accused police in criminal cases due to lengthy
trial procedures and the fear of retribution. Reluctance to confront
police perpetuated a climate of impunity.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The law
provides for arrest without the use of warrants in certain cases.
Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code and Section 100 of the Dhaka
Metropolitan Police Ordinance authorize detention of persons on
suspicion of criminal activity without an order from a magistrate or a
warrant, and the government regularly used such provisions. The number
of preventive and arbitrary arrests declined from the previous year
when the state of emergency was in effect.
Unlike in previous years under the caretaker government, the new
government did not carry out mass arrests. ASK, a domestic human rights
organization, and media outlets estimated that authorities made more
than 2,000 routine arrests daily. The majority of those arrested were
released within one or two days, often on payment of a bribe.
Under the existing Special Powers Act, the government or a district
magistrate may order a person detained for 30 days to prevent the
commission of an act that could threaten national security; however,
authorities held detainees for longer periods. The magistrate must
inform the detainee of the grounds of detention, and an advisory board
is required to examine the detainee's case after four months. Detainees
had the right to appeal. Many detainees taken into custody during the
caretaker government's anticorruption drive were held under this act,
and the government sought and received numerous detention extensions
from advisory boards consisting of two judges and a government
official. Use of the provisions of the Special Powers Act declined
during the year.
There was a functioning bail system in the regular courts. For
example, the courts granted bail to many of the officials and former
officials accused of corruption.
Most criminal detainees charged with crimes were granted access to
attorneys. The government rarely provided detainees with state-funded
defense attorneys, and there were few legal aid programs for detainees.
Government-funded legal aid programs received little funding, and there
were no efforts to expand those programs during the year.
The government generally permitted lawyers to meet with their
clients only after formal charges had been filed in the courts, which
in some cases occurred several weeks or months after the initial
arrest. Arbitrary arrests were common, and the government held persons
in detention without specific charges, often to collect information
about other suspects.
Arbitrary and lengthy pretrial detention continued to be a problem.
There were an estimated two million pending civil and criminal cases. A
2008 estimate from the International Centre for Prison Studies found
nearly 70 percent of prison inmates were in pretrial detention.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, but in practice a longstanding temporary
provision of the constitution placed the executive in charge of the
lower courts, judicial appointments, and compensation for judicial
officials. In 2007 the caretaker government implemented legislation the
previous government had developed separating the judiciary from the
executive, and that legislation remained in effect throughout the year.
The court system has two levels: the lower courts and the Supreme
Court. Both hear civil and criminal cases. After the separation of the
judiciary from the executive, the government appointed judicial
magistrates to replace the executive magistrates who had presided over
the lower courts. Although executive magistrates still exist, their
powers are restricted, and they are only appointed in specific
circumstances; for example, executive magistrates were appointed to
administer the mobile court system to look at issues of food
adulteration and quality. The Supreme Court has two parts, the high
court and the appellate divisions. The High Court Division hears some
original cases mostly dealing with constitutional issues, and reviews
cases from the lower courts. The Appellate Division hears appeals of
judgments, decrees, orders, or sentences of the High Court. Rulings of
the Appellate Division are binding on all other courts.
On July 15, the government appointed four new judges to the
Appellate Division. Members of the legal community criticized the
appointment of one of the judges, which superseded the appointment of a
more senior judge of the High Court Division. According to government
officials, the appointments were made because the additional judges
were necessary to dispose of the large numbers of cases pending in the
Appellate Division.
In September 2008 the Appellate Division resumed the practice of
overturning politically charged decisions by the High Court Division,
usually to the benefit of the current AL government. In at least two
cases, the Appellate Division overturned decisions granting bail to
high-level corruption suspects who were leaders of opposition parties.
Additionally, corruption, judicial inefficiency, lack of resources, and
a large case backlog remained serious problems with the judiciary.
The EPR authorized the government to create special speedy
anticorruption courts to adjudicate cases prosecuted by the
Anticorruption Commission (ACC). Sentences from these tribunals could
also be appealed to the High Court. During the year, the repeal of the
EPR led to the demise of these courts.
In 2005 a High Court panel judged unconstitutional an amendment to
the constitution that legitimized martial law in the 1980s. The prime
minister's office arranged for a stay of the ruling because of its
ramifications for the legacy of former president Ziaur Rahman, the late
husband of the then prime minister. The case remained in the Appellate
Division at year's end.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides accused persons with the right
to be represented by counsel, to review accusatory material, to call or
question witnesses, and to appeal verdicts. Cases are decided by judges
rather than juries, and trials are public. In practice a public
defender is rarely provided to defendants. Defendants are presumed
innocent and have the right to appeal, to be present and to see the
government's evidence.
Corruption and a substantial backlog of cases hindered the court
system, and trials were typically marked by extended continuances,
effectively preventing many from obtaining a fair trial due to witness
tampering, victim intimidation, and missing evidence. Human rights
observers contended magistrates, attorneys, and court officials
demanded bribes from defendants in many cases filed under the Special
Powers Act during the year.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The caretaker government
detained more than 150 high-ranking politicians, businessmen, and
officials as part of its anticorruption campaign. The courts released
most of these persons in 2008.
According to media reports, during the year the government withdrew
1817 allegedly ``politically motivated'' cases that had been filed
under the regular penal code and the Anticorruption Commission Act.
Most of the cases withdrawn involved ruling party politicians.
During the year, under a new chairman, the ACC filed a money
laundering case against Koko Rahman, the son of BNP leader Khaleda Zia.
A separate money laundering case was also filed against Koko Rahman and
Khaleda Zia's other son, Tarique Rahman. In 2008 the ACC and the public
prosecutor prosecuted a total of 228 cases against high-ranking
political officials, ranging from extortion and money laundering to
murder.
Former law minister Moudud Ahmed and former communications minister
Anwar Hossain Manju remained free on bail, although their cases
remained in process. Ahmed refused the government's offer to drop the
cases against him, and Manju continued to appeal two of his three
sentences. The metropolitan public prosecutor decided to withdraw one
of the cases against Ahmed for possessing alcohol at his residence in
2007. The High Court threw out one of Manju's convictions.
The trial continued against journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib
Choudhury, detained for his attempted 2003 travel to Israel. The
government allowed Choudhury to travel abroad while the case was
pending.
During the year, the new government began to identify and withdraw
allegedly ``politically motivated'' cases initiated under the caretaker
government. The government set up an interministerial committee to
review the applications of individuals alleging cases filed against
them were politically motivated. Initially, the majority of the cases
recommended for withdrawal appeared to be those brought against AL
members. However, in August and September the committee recommended
withdrawal of cases against BNP members Moudud Ahmed and Tarique
Rahman.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Administrative as well as
judicial remedies are available for alleged wrongs. The government did
not interfere with civil judicial procedures. Corruption and outside
influence were problems in the civil judicial system. Alternative
dispute resolution for civil cases allows citizens to present their
cases for mediation. According to government sources, wider use of
mediation in civil cases quickened the administration of justice, but
there was no assessment of its fairness or impartiality.
Property Restitution.--During the year the government took measures
to implement the 2001 Vested Property Return Act, providing for
property restitution to persons, mostly Hindus, whose property the
government seized after the 1965 India-Pakistan war. On November 2, the
cabinet approved the Vested Property Return (Amendment) Act, which set
a time limit for the government to produce a list of lands seized under
the Vested Property Act. Members of religious minorities welcomed the
new act but argued it needed to be amended to expand the definition of
who could inherit properties and to bar political leaders involved in
the seizure of land from determining how the lands would be returned to
their original owners. The bill was before parliament at year's end.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law allows intelligence and law enforcement
agencies to monitor private communications with the permission of the
chief executive of the MOHA. According to media reports, the government
established a national monitoring center made up of representatives
from law enforcement and intelligence agencies to monitor and
coordinate phone taps in 2008. Media and human rights groups complained
that the government continued to employ the practice of illegal phone
tapping. Police rarely obtained warrants as required, and officers
violating these procedures were not punished. Human rights
organizations indicated that the special branch of the police, National
Security Intelligence, and the DGFI employed informers to conduct
surveillance and report on citizens perceived as critical of the
government.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and press, but the government occasionally did not
respect these rights in practice.
Although public criticism of the government was common, newspapers
depended on government advertisements for a significant percentage of
their revenue. As a result, newspapers practiced self-censorship on
some issues.
There were hundreds of daily and weekly independent publications.
Although there were significant improvements over the previous year,
newspapers critical of the government experienced some government
pressure. Journalists perceived to be critical of the government and
those aligned with the opposition alleged harassment from unspecified
wings of the security forces and members of the ruling party. In
addition to one official government-owned news service, there were two
private news services.
Unlike in the previous year, the military's Inter-Service Public
Relations (ISPR) office and the DGFI did not directly restrict
newspaper ownership or content. However, journalists reported the
military cautioned them against criticizing the government or the
military, especially in the aftermath of the BDR mutiny. Matiur Rahman
Chowdhury, editor of Manabzamin and host of two television talk shows,
stated in the English language New Age that officials told him
indirectly to refrain from inviting specified guests during the BDR
incident. He also said tapes for a particular talk show were taken from
station several hours before the show was scheduled to be broadcast.
The host of a popular Bengali-language current affairs talk show,
Point of Order, alleged she received phone calls from individuals
identifying themselves as DGFI officials who warned her against
promoting ``antigovernment and antistate propaganda.'' She also said
sponsors of her program had been encouraged to stop their support of
her show.
The government owned one radio and one television station. The
parliament passed a law mandating that the public television station,
BTV, remain the country's only terrestrial broadcast channel. An
estimated 60 percent of the population did not have access to private
satellite channels.
There were 10 private satellite television stations and three
private radio stations in operation. There were two foreign-based and
licensed satellite television stations that maintained domestic news
operations. Cable operators generally functioned without government
interference. The government required all private stations to
broadcast, without charge, selected government news programs and
speeches by the prime minister.
The 24-hour all-news television station, CSB, which the government
shut down in 2007, purportedly for not having a proper license,
remained closed at year's end.
Attacks on journalists continued to be a problem. There was an
increase in individuals affiliated with the government or ruling party
harassing, arresting, or assaulting journalists. According to Odhikar
and media watchdog groups, at least three journalists were killed, 84
were injured, one was arrested, 45 were assaulted, 73 were threatened,
and 23 had cases filed against them during the year. According to some
journalists and human rights NGOs, journalists engaged in self-
censorship for fear of retribution from the government.
On January 1, following the parliamentary elections, activists of
the AL's student wing, the Chhatra League, harassed and threatened with
death Dhaka University correspondents of the Bengali and English
publications Daily Sangbad, Janakantha, BDNews24.com, Destiny, and
Janatar Chokh. The activists ransacked the reporters' rooms, destroyed
their valuables, and threatened to kill them. No action was taken
against the alleged vandals.
On September 1, according to Odhikar, two Chattra League activists
attacked and ransacked a store owned by the Chuadanga representative of
the daily Amar Desh, reportedly in retaliation for a report published
in the paper criticizing an AL member of parliament (MP). The activists
set fire to the store and burned copies of Amar Desh. Members of the
Chattra League then ransacked the store owner's home and assaulted his
wife and children. Chattra League and Jubo League members also
ransacked the business of the Chuadanga representative of the daily
Janakantha and the home of the local representative of the daily
Prothom Alo.
On October 22, officers of RAB 10 arrested F.M. Masum, a reporter
for the English-language daily New Age from his home in Jatrabari, near
Dhaka. According to New Age and the Asia Human Rights Commission
(AHRC), RAB members beat Masum with iron rods, wooden sticks and the
blunt sides of machetes and rubbed salt into his wounds, allegedly
because he had worked on several news stories on extrajudicial killings
committed by the battalion and its involvement in the fight against
drugs. Staff from New Age alleged Masum was targeted because he had
written about violence against journalists. The home minister ordered
RAB 10 to release Masum, and RAB officials announced an investigation
into the matter. After the incident, RAB officials gave varying
accounts of the reason for Masum's detention, including that he had
been found in possession of drugs and that he was found with
prostitutes. However, when Masum was released, RAB officials stated he
had been arrested for not cooperating with the law enforcement agency.
RAB headquarters released a statement expressing regret for the
incident and transferred one of the officers involved. No further
action was taken at year's end.
There were no developments in the March 2008 case of Rabiul Islam,
a journalist for the Rajshahi-based Bengali language Daily Sunshine who
was allegedly tortured by local police.
The government took no further action in the May 2008 assaults
against Daily Star correspondents Mirza Shakil and Iasinur Rahman.
There were no new developments in the case of Jahangir Alam Akash,
who reportedly was tortured by authorities in November 2008. Akash ran
his own blog devoted to press freedoms and human rights during the
year.
There were no developments in the case of the Jai Jai Din editor
who was fired in July 2008 because he published a cartoon critical of
then Army Chief General Moeen Uddin Ahmed.
The trial court dismissed charges against accused teachers and
students in the 2007 attack on journalists at Dhaka University. Tasneem
Khalil, former Daily Star journalist and researcher for Human Rights
Watch, continued to live in exile in Sweden following his 2007
interrogation and torture by joint forces.
Unlike in previous years, the government did not subject foreign
publications and films to stringent reviews and censorship. A
government-managed film censor board reviewed local and foreign films
and had the authority to censor or ban films on the grounds of state
security, law and order, religious sentiment, obscenity, foreign
relations, defamation, or plagiarism, but this was less strict than in
the past. In practice video rental libraries and DVD shops stocked a
wide variety of films, and government efforts to enforce censorship on
rentals were sporadic and ineffective.
Unlike in the previous year, the government only rarely exercised
censorship in cases of immodest or obscene photographs, perceived
misrepresentation or defamation of Islam, or objectionable comments
regarding national leaders.
There were no developments regarding the 2007 decision to ban
Alpin, the satirical weekly magazine of the newspaper Prothom Alo, due
to alleged blasphemy against Islam.
Unlike in previous years, the government did not use defamation
charges to curb freedom of speech.
There were no developments in the 2007 defamation lawsuit filed by
Mah Selim against Juganthor newspaper.
Internet Freedom.--Although individuals and groups generally could
engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, local
human rights organizations reported continued government monitoring of
Internet communications. The most recent figures from the World Bank
indicated that 5.8 percent of the population used the Internet in 2008.
On March 9, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, the country's
Internet regulatory body, blocked YouTube and several other Web sites
for posting a recorded conversation between Prime Minister Hasina and
angry army officers following the BDR mutiny. The restriction was
lifted on March 21 after a public outcry.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The government did not limit
academic freedom or cultural events; however, media groups reported
that authorities discouraged research on sensitive religious and
political topics.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the government
generally respected these rights in practice. The lifting of the state
of emergency in December 2008 restored these rights to citizens.
Freedom of Assembly.--Restrictions on holding rallies and
processions ended with the withdrawal of the state of emergency in
December 2008. The new government generally permitted rallies to take
place but on occasion used Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code
to prevent opposition political groups from holding meetings and
demonstrations. Section 144 authorizes the administration to ban
assembly of more than four persons; according to ASK, the
administration used this provision at least 82 times during the year.
At times police or ruling party activists used force to break up
demonstrations.
On July 5, according to media reports, the police arrested two
individuals and used force against 17 others demonstrating in front of
the Indian High Commission in Dhaka against the planned construction of
the Tipaimukh Dam in India. The operation to break up the group of
protestors, who were allegedly demonstrating peacefully, involved
approximately 100 police officers.
On August 19, the district administration in Manikganj invoked
Section 144 of the law to prohibit a rally organized by the opposition
BNP. Authorities cited the potential for violence because the local
branch of the ruling AL's student wing had announced a simultaneous
rally.
On September 2, according to media reports, police used force
against demonstrators as they marched toward the headquarters of the
Mineral, Oil, and Gas Corporation to protest the decision to lease off-
shore energy blocks to foreign companies for oil and gas exploration.
The subsequent clashes between the protesters and the police left
approximately 30 persons, including 10 police officers, injured. The
Home Ministry issued a statement expressing regret for the attacks on
the procession and ordered an inquiry into ``any police excesses.''
Local officials used Section 144 prior to planned council meetings
of the BNP to prevent clashes either between BNP and the ruling party
or among rival factions of BNP. On December 22, ruling party activists
and the police attacked individuals at a reception in honor of Moyeen
Khan's selection as a party leader. BNP supporters clashed with the
police and AL supporters, causing dozens of injuries. According to ASK,
ruling party activists initiated the clash.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for the right of every
citizen to form associations, subject to ``reasonable restrictions'' in
the interest of morality or public order, and the government generally
respected this right. Individuals were free to join private groups.
Unlike the previous year under the state of emergency, trade unions
were able to conduct their normal activities.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution incorporates elements of
Islam but stipulates the right--subject to law, public order, and
morality--to profess, practice, or propagate the religion of one's
choice. The government generally respected this right in practice.
Religion shaped the platforms of some political parties, but the
government was sensitive to the religious sentiments of most citizens.
Violence against religious and ethnic minorities was a problem
occasionally. Discrimination against members of religious minorities,
such as Hindus, Christians, and Buddhists, existed at both the
governmental and societal levels, and religious minorities were
disadvantaged in practice in such areas as access to government jobs,
political office, and justice. The secular AL government, however,
appointed some members of the minority communities to senior government
and diplomatic positions. In the new cabinet, three of the 38 ministers
were non-Muslims.
Shari'a (Islamic law) was not implemented formally and not imposed
on non-Muslims, but it played an influential role in civil matters
pertaining to the Muslim community. The Muslim Family Ordinance
codifies issues such as inheritance, marriage, and divorce for
registered marriages of members of the Muslim community. A Muslim man
may marry as many as four wives; however, a Muslim man must get his
first wife's signed permission before taking an additional wife.
Society strongly discouraged polygamy and it was rarely practiced.
Family laws concerning marriage, divorce, and adoption differed
slightly depending on the religion of the individuals involved. Each
religion had its set of family laws. Under Hindu law, unlimited
polygamy is permitted, and although there is no provision for divorce
or legal separation, Hindu widows may legally remarry. There were no
legal restrictions on marriage between members of different faiths.
As in the previous year, government protection of Ahmadiyyas, an
Islamic group, continued to improve, although social discrimination
continued and there were sporadic cases of harassment. The High Court
continued to stay the government ban on publishing Ahmadiyya
literature, effectively allowing Ahmadiyyas to publish.
As in previous years, the government failed to prepare a list of
property that the government expropriated from Hindus following the
1965 India-Pakistan War. The cabinet took steps this year to enact a
law to speed up this process.
The law permits citizens to proselytize, and the government
respected that right in practice, although local authorities and
communities sometimes objected to efforts to convert persons from
Islam.
Some missionaries faced problems in obtaining or renewing visas,
and some reported that internal security forces closely monitored their
activities.
The government allowed various religions to establish places of
worship, train clergy, travel for religious purposes, and maintain
links with coreligionists abroad.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Discrimination against
Ahmadiyyas, Hindus, and Christians decreased during the year. There
were no demonstrations by anti-Ahmadiyya groups during the year.
There were reports of attacks on members of minority communities,
although many of these reports could not be independently verified, and
motives for such attacks--criminal, political, or religious--could not
be ascertained.
On January 10, according to the Bengali language daily Prothom Alo
and the Bangladesh Buddhist Hindu Christian Unity Council, more than
150 armed thugs attacked a mostly Hindu village in Gazipur, outside
Dhaka. The mob beat many of the residents, damaged several houses and
an image of a goddess, and assaulted several women.
On March 30, according to Shamokal, 50 police officers and 100
citizens evicted approximately 400 predominantly Hindu individuals from
their ancestral homes in Sutrapur in old Dhaka. Many of the homes were
destroyed. The attackers, allegedly led by the brother of a local AL
politician, also destroyed the oldest Shiva temple in Kalirghat.
On August 22, according to media reports, a group of AL activists
attacked a Hindu family in old Dhaka and abducted nine members,
including children and women, whom it kept in confinement. The police
later recovered the victims and arrested four of the alleged abductors.
Authorities claimed the abductors may have wanted to take over the
house of the Hindu family. A local AL leader admitted the accused
belonged to his party but claimed the party itself did not sanction the
occupation of the Hindu property. Media reports suggested police had
shown undue lenience towards the alleged criminals.
There were no developments in the case of Biman Chandra Bosak, who
was allegedly beaten by RAB officers and police in April 2008 after he
filed a case against a Muslim neighbor who tried to seize land
dedicated to a Hindu deity.
There were also no developments in the April 2008 attack against
two Christian men in Rangunia allegedly by members of an Islamist group
In contrast to previous years, there were no reports of the
military attempting to evict Hindu families from land in the Mirpur
area of Dhaka abutting the military cantonment.
According to human rights groups, harassment by forestry department
officials persisted, although it decreased from previous years.
Religious minorities continued to be disadvantaged in seeking
government jobs and political office, although reportedly less so than
in the past following the election of a secular government. Selection
boards for government services often lacked minority group
representation.
There was no Jewish community in the country and there were no
reports of anti-Semitic acts against locals, but some newspapers
occasionally printed anti-Semitic articles and commentary.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice except in the cases of some opposition political figures.
Immigration officials at Zia International Airport in Dhaka prevented
numerous politicians belonging to the opposition BNP and Jamaat-e-
Islami from leaving the country, citing instructions from undisclosed
higher authorities. Some of the politicians successfully challenged the
unannounced restrictions on their travel abroad and managed to depart
and return to the country. In some instances, the government filed
criminal charges against the politicians after they had filed petitions
with the High Court challenging the prohibition on their travel. With
the lifting of the state of emergency, the government no longer had
legal authority to prohibit travel.
The law does not provide for exile, which was not practiced. The
country's passports were invalid for travel to Israel.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or the 1967 Protocol. As
a result, and in the absence of any national legislation, the law does
not provide a legal framework for the granting of asylum or refugee
status. The government had no formal system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the government provided some protection against
the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedoms would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion. The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in providing protection and assistance to refugees.
The government continued to deny asylum to Rohingyas arriving from
Burma. The government categorized them as illegal economic migrants and
turned back many at the border; however, the border was porous, and
attempts to stem the tide of migration proved unsuccessful. According
to the UNHCR, some of the individuals who were turned back were likely
entitled to refugee status. Some unregistered persons in UNHCR camps
returned to the country illegally after their official repatriation to
Burma. On a number of occasions, local police picked up unregistered
persons outside the camps and imprisoned them under the Foreigners Act.
Working with the UNHCR, the government provided temporary
protection to approximately 28,000 registered Rohingya refugees at two
official refugee camps and to individual asylum seekers whom the UNHCR
interviewed and recognized as refugees on a case-by-case basis.
According to international aid organizations active in the area, there
were an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 Rohingyas not officially
recognized as refugees living among the local population in the
surrounding area of Teknaf and Cox's Bazaar, including approximately
12,000 at an unofficial site. There were no repatriations of Rohingyas
during the year.
Working with the UNHCR, the government continued to improve
conditions in refugee camps following findings in recent years that
sanitation, nutrition, and shelter conditions had fallen below minimum
international standards. The government permitted the UNHCR to build
replacements for shelters and latrines and permitted more NGOs to work
in the camps on skills training, education, and health for residents.
According to the UNHCR, there were cases of abuse against refugees,
including rape, assault, domestic abuse, deprivation of food, arbitrary
detention, and documentation problems. However, there were fewer such
incidents reported in previous years.
As in previous years, the government continued to ignore UNHCR
requests to allow Rohingya refugees who were unable to return to Burma
to work locally, get medical care, or attend school outside the camps.
The government began to allow the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) to
operate schools through grade five in the camps. In practice, however,
the provision of basic services from the UNHCR and other NGOs meant
registered refugees often received better medical care than individuals
in surrounding villages. The government insisted all Rohingya refugees
remain in camps until their return to Burma. The government claimed
Rohingya refugees were not allowed to possess money and that money in
their possession could be confiscated. In practice, enforcement of
these rules remained sporadic and depended on local authorities. For
example, many refugees worked illegally as manual laborers or rickshaw
pullers in the unregulated economy, and small numbers of students
studied with the assistance of private tutors and participated in
countrywide school exams through the high school level.
The government repeatedly rejected a UNHCR proposal to grant
refugees rights for temporary stay and freedom of movement under a
self-reliance program.
Stateless Persons.--In May 2008 the High Court ruled that Biharis
living in the country, once considered stateless, were citizens.
Approximately 160,000-200,000 non-Bengali Bihari Muslims who immigrated
to the former East Pakistan during the 1947 partition, a large number
of whom supported Pakistan during the 1971 war, continued to live in
camps throughout the country. According to Refugees International, many
of these persons lived in unsanitary conditions with little access to
education and medical resources. Some Biharis declined citizenship in
1972, and a minority awaited repatriation to Pakistan, where the
government was reluctant to accept them. Many in the Bihari community
were born after 1971, and the vast majority of this population has now
been assimilated into the mainstream Bengali-speaking environment,
although social barriers to upward mobility remained.
Approximately 80 percent of all adult Biharis, or 184,000 persons,
were registered as voters following voter registration drives ahead of
the December 2008 elections.
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.
Since assuming power after the caretaker government, the parliament
passed 66 bills. Many of those bills either ratified some of the
ordinances the caretaker government promulgated or made new laws based
on the substance of the ordinances. The Representation of the People's
Order (Amendment) Ordinance 2008 significantly changed the electoral
law that had been in place since 1972, in an attempt to address
corruption in politics. The major political parties considered some of
the new provisions in the bill, such as the abolition of students' and
women's wings and foreign chapters, to be undemocratic, but they
accepted the changes with some of reluctance and revised their party
constitutions. Under the amended ordinance, candidates must reveal
information about their education, wealth, and criminal records when
they file to run for parliament. Political parties must submit
statements to the election commission outlining expenditures and
sources of funds.
On April 6, the parliament passed the Upazila Parishad (Amendment)
Act to reintroduce a tier of the local government abolished in 1991.
The act, in contrast with provisions in a lapsed ordinance the
caretaker government promulgated, made it mandatory for the updazila
parishads, or councils, to accept the advice of the local MP. Under the
act, upazila parishads could not communicate directly with the central
government without their local MP's advice.
The parliament had 345 members, 300 of whom were directly elected.
The remaining 45 seats were reserved for women nominated by the
political parties, based on their proportional representation within
the 300-member group of directly elected members of parliament. Party
leaders appointed candidates for elections, and there were allegations
that wealthy candidates could purchase nominations from party leaders
with campaign contributions or personal gifts.
Elections and Political Participation.--Sheikh Hasina, leader of
the AL, became prime minister on January 6, following the parliamentary
elections in December 2008. The 14-party AL alliance won 230 of 299
seats in the elections, which international and local observers deemed
free and fair. Hasina's cabinet included representatives from the other
parties in her coalition. Hasina replaced Fakhruddin Ahmed, chief
advisor to the caretaker government, as the head of government. BNP
chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia became leader of the
opposition.
On January 22, the country held elections to the newly created
upazila parishads, or subdistrict councils, throughout the country.
There were reports of violence, intimidation, vote rigging, and low
voter turnout. The candidates backed by the ruling party won most of
the upazila posts, although the election was not officially party
based. The election commission organized repolling in a number of
upazilas where elections were suspended due to violence.
On January 25, the new parliament convened for its first session.
Members of the main opposition party, the BNP, which alleged
irregularities in the elections, participated in the first few sessions
but subsequently walked out to protest the inadequate allocation of
seats in the front row of the opposition bench and did not return to
the house at year's end. The parliament formed all 48 standing
committees in the first session with participation from opposition
parties.
There were 64 women serving in parliament, 19 of them were directly
elected. According to the law, women are eligible to contest and win
any number of seats among the 345 members of parliament, but 45 seats
were reserved for women. Six women, including Prime Minister Hasina,
held the status of cabinet minister, including the ministers of home
affairs, foreign affairs, and agriculture. Khaleda Zia, as the leader
of the opposition, and Sajeda Chowdhury, as the deputy leader of
parliament, also had the status of cabinet minister. Two women were
appointed as state ministers, and a third was serving as a whip of
parliament with the status of a state minister. In the January 22
upazila elections, 481 women vice chairpersons were elected to reserved
positions for women. Six of the 89 supreme court judges were women.
There was no provision to provide parliamentary seats for
minorities. Members of minority groups constituted approximately 10.3
percent of the population but held only approximately 5 percent of
seats in parliament.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, but
the government did not implement the law effectively, and officials
frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. Following the
declaration of a state of emergency in 2007, the caretaker government
and military took several significant steps to address government
corruption. On April 2, however, the ACC chairman resigned following
statements by the prime minister suggesting a willingness to
reconstitute the ACC. On May 2, the president appointed Gholam Rahman,
the former chair of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission, as the
new chairman of the ACC.
During the year the government undertook a substantial review of
the actions of the ACC under the caretaker government. An AL-headed
parliamentary standing committee summoned the former ACC chairman and
two of its current members to appear before the committee to account
for some of the ACC's actions against political leaders during the
caretaker period. The ACC officials defied the summons and the
committee recommended parliamentary action against them. A
parliamentary committee also conducted an inquiry into alleged
corruption and irregularities by the speaker, the deputy speaker, and
the chief whip of parliament and recommended action against them,
including stripping former speaker and BNP leader Jamiruddin Sircar of
his membership in parliament. Sircar petitioned the High Court to
challenge the authority of the committee to take these actions against
him. Parliament, however, rejected the committee's recommendation to
strip Sircar of his membership.
The government formed a review committee headed by the state
minister for law, justice, and parliamentary affairs to recommend
withdrawal of politically motivated cases that the government and ACC
filed. The committee subsequently recommended the withdrawal of
approximately 1,817 cases filed mostly against AL leaders, including
all the cases filed against Sheikh Hasina. Other cases recommended for
withdrawal included one case against BNP leader Khaleda Zia's son,
Tarique Rahman, one against BNP leader and former law minister Moudud
Ahmed, and one against Jatiya Party secretary general Ruhul Amin
Howlader. Ahmed refused the government's offer to withdraw all cases
against him and demanded withdrawal of all politically motivated cases
against BNP leaders, including Khaleda Zia and her sons.
During the year authorities had released most of the accused in ACC
cases from prison on bail, and the ACC did not file many new cases
against politicians or bureaucrats. On March 16, the ACC filed a money
laundering case against Arafat ``Koko'' Rahman, son of BNP leader
Khaleda Zia. Separately, the ACC also filed a money laundering case
against Tarique Rahman and his associate Giasuddin Al Mamun. On August
5, the ACC filed charges against Khaleda Zia and others for allegedly
embezzling funds from the Zia Orphanage Trust.
As in prior years, the ACC focused its efforts on developing cases
involving public persons failing to disclose income. The National Board
of Revenue filed a tax evasion case against AL advisory council member
and immediate past general secretary Abdul Jalil. The arrest came soon
after Jalil told a television reporter that his party's victory in the
2008 elections was the result of an understanding with the caretaker
government and the military leaders.
In previous years the caretaker government detained prominent
business leaders using the Special Powers Act, which permitted
preventive detention. Most of those persons were then tried under
existing anticorruption legislation. Most high-profile cases were
handled under the EPR, which initially denied suspects both the right
to bail and the right to appeal their cases during the course of the
trial. A supreme court ruling restored some forms of bail and the court
exercised its authority to consider bail petitions.
The release of many corruption suspects continued to draw comment
from some members of civil society, who stated the government was not
serious about fighting corruption. Government leaders argued that the
government and the ACC would continue to pursue corruption cases
despite release of some suspects on bail. In September the president
granted clemency to a fugitive convicted of corruption, Shahadab Akbar,
son of deputy leader of parliament Sajeda Chowdhury. The special courts
had sentenced Akbar to 18 years' imprisonment for several corruption
cases and fined him 15 million taka ($220,000). Some legal experts
questioned the granting of clemency to a fugitive and noted that the
constitution authorizes clemency only for those convicts who surrender
to a court of law.
On March 29, the parliament passed the Right to Information Act, in
line with a lapsed September 2008 ordinance promulgated by the
caretaker government. This law effectively annulled the Official
Secrets Act, which had denied the public access to government
information. The act went into effect on July 1 and required the
formation of a three-member information commission. The commission,
however, was not functional at year's end.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated independently and without government restriction,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
Although human rights groups often were sharply critical of the
government, they also practiced self-censorship.
The government required all NGOs, including religious
organizations, to register with the Ministry of Social Welfare . During
the state of emergency, NGOs came under heightened scrutiny by the
caretaker government and the military, a practice that decreased under
the elected civilian government. Nevertheless, local and international
NGOs, including Odhikar and the American Center for International Labor
Solidarity (ACILS), reported the government sought to impede their work
either by canceling projects or subjecting them to restrictive
operating requirements.
On August 31, Odhikar received a letter from the NGO Affairs Bureau
(NAB), the office within the prime minister's office that approves NGO
projects, canceling its approval of an ongoing human rights training
and advocacy project. The letter cited objections to the project from
the Ministry of Home Affairs but did not provide any details. A
newspaper quoted a home ministry official as saying the ministry
objected to the project following instructions from unspecified higher
authorities. Domestic and international human rights NGOs criticized
the government for the arbitrary cancellation of the project and called
for a review of the decision. On October 11, a High Court panel stayed
the government order canceling its approval of Odhikar's training
project and issued a ruling asking the government to explain why its
decision to cancel the project should not be declared illegal and void.
The case was still pending at year's end.
According to ACILS, in October, the NAB informed the organization
it was delaying the release of approximately 34 million taka($500,000)
in foreign funding for a program to improve labor standards in the
shrimp and fish processing sector. The NAB noted that the Home Ministry
had required ACILS to secure a clearance from several national security
agencies before proceeding with the program. By year's end the
government had assured ACILS that the clearances had been completed and
that the funds would be released in the near future.
There were no developments in the case of RAB 3 officers allegedly
harassing Odhikar in November 2008. According to Odhikar, the RAB
continued some harassment of the organization during the year.
Asudullah Al-Galib, leader of Ahle Hadith, a local Islamic group,
remained free on bail while awaiting trial on six charges for a 2005
attack on several offices of leading NGOs, including the Grameen Bank
and the Rural Advancement Committee. His case was pending at year's
end.
In July the parliament passed the National Human Rights Commission
Act, successor to the ordinance the caretaker government promulgated.
The law changed the formation of the commission and created a new
seven-member selection committee, dominated by government officials
from the ruling party: the speaker of parliament, the home, law, and
justice ministers, and the law commission chairman and cabinet
secretary. The other two committee members are an opposition party MP
and a ruling party MP, both chosen by the speaker. Human rights
activists criticized the new law for granting the commission inadequate
powers and politicizing the selection process.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination, but the government did not
strongly enforce laws aimed at eliminating discrimination. Women,
children, minority groups, and persons with disabilities often
confronted social and economic disadvantages.
Women.--Laws specifically prohibit certain forms of discrimination
against women, provide special procedures for persons accused of
violence against women and children, call for harsh penalties, provide
compensation to victims, and require action against investigating
officers for negligence or willful failure of duty. Enforcement of
these laws was weak. In 2003 parliament passed an amendment to the
current law, weakening provisions for dowry crimes and addressing the
issue of suicides of female victims of acts of dishonor.
The law prohibits rape and physical spousal abuse but makes no
specific provision for spousal rape. According to Odhikar, there were
454 reported incidents of rape during the year, including 211 against
women and 243 against children. According to human rights monitors, the
actual number of rape cases was higher because many rape victims did
not report the incidents due to social stigma. Prosecution of rapists
was not consistent.
For example, on July 9, according to Odhikar and media reports, two
men raped a 14-year-old girl in Chorbhodrashon, Faridpur, and recorded
the incident on a mobile phone camera. The men then circulated the
images among friends, uploaded the images onto a Web site, and copied
it onto CDs, which they sold at the local market. The victim's family
filed a case with the Women and Children Repression Prevention Court in
Faridpur against Kalam Khan, Tushar Khan, and two other unknown men.
The court issued arrest warrants for the men and ordered a ban on the
sale of the CD. The accused men continued to threaten the victim's
family. There were no further developments at year's end.
Domestic violence is not criminalized. According to women's rights
groups, it was widespread and increased during the year, although data
quantifying it was difficult to obtain. A 2000 study by the UN
Population Fund indicated that at least 50 percent of women experienced
domestic violence at least once in their lives. The National Women
Lawyers' Association (BNWLA) reported 3,502 incidents of domestic
violence and received 3,496 complaints related to domestic violence
issues. Domestic violence is not criminalized in the country, and most
efforts to combat it were funded by NGOs with little assistance from
the government.Some of the reported violence against women was related
to disputes over dowries. There was an increase in the number of dowry-
related killings during the year. Odhikar reported 227 dowry-related
killings, an increase from 188 the previous year.
Domestic violence is not criminalized.
On June 3, according to the Daily Star, a man beat his wife to
death in Shibram village, Barobari union in Lalmonirhat Sadar. Police
recovered the woman's body the next day and filed a case against the
husband. The case was ongoing at year's end.
On July 4, according to media reports, a man beat his wife and
allegedly forced her to drink poison in Narsingdi. The woman died on
the way to the hospital; her husband claimed she had committed suicide.
When the wife's relatives confronted the husband about her death, he
allegedly attacked them, seriously injuring six men. According to
relatives, the husband regularly beat his wife because he was upset
that he had not received a dowry from her parents. A case was filed
with the police and was pending at year's end.
On October 19, according to the Daily Star, a man strangled his
wife in Kadamtoli, Siddhirganj upazila, because she refused to give him
a dowry of 20,000 taka (approximately $295). The woman was reportedly
seven months pregnant when her husband killed her. A case was filed
with local police. The husband fled with his young son after the
incident and there were no further developments at year's end.
Female prostitution continued to be legal. Male prostitution was
illegal, although local NGOs claimed it was common in the major cities.
Authorities generally ignored the minimum age of 18, often circumvented
by false statements of age, for legal female prostitution. The
government rarely prosecuted procurers of minors, and large numbers of
underage girls worked in brothels. Estimates for the number of underage
girls in commercial sexual exploitation ranged from a 2003 UNICEF
estimate of 10,000 underage girls, but other estimates placed the
figure as high as 29,000.
NGOs such as the BNWLA operated facilities to provide shelter to
destitute persons and distressed women and children. According to the
BSEHR, persons in ``safe custody'' were no longer housed in prisons.
Courts sent most of them to shelter homes. In a few cases they were
sent to prison as a transit for short periods.
A 2001 high court ruling banned fatwas (religious edicts). Islamic
tradition dictated only those muftis (religious scholars) who have
expertise in Islamic law are authorized to declare a fatwa. Despite
these restrictions, village religious leaders sometimes made such a
declaration in an individual case and called the declaration a fatwa.
Such declarations could result in extrajudicial punishments, often
against women for alleged moral transgressions.
Incidents of vigilantism against women--sometimes led by religious
leaders by means of fatwas--occurred. According to Odhikar, 37
incidents of vigilante justice against women occurred during the year.
The punishments included whipping, beating, and other forms of physical
violence.
For example, on May 22, a fatwa committee in Bitteshwar union
ordered a 26-year-old woman whipped 100 times, according to the Daily
Star. The woman, an unwed mother, sought to have her son's paternity
socially acknowledged, a claim the alleged father denied. The woman was
whipped until she lost consciousness, at which point village leaders
asked her father to tie her hands as they continued to whip her. Police
filed cases against six men but only three were arrested. The trial was
pending at year's end.
On June 10, according to media reports, village leaders in
Companiganj whipped a 35-year-old woman and her mother because the
daughter allegedly had an affair with a man. Local police arrested five
villagers for their involvement in the attack. On June 12, the local AL
chapter organized a women's rally to protest the arrest of the
perpetrators and warned the police and press against further
``excesses'' with regard to this incident.
On June 27, according to the Daily Star, village leaders in
Khaiyar, Comilla, whipped two women in front of hundreds of persons for
their alleged involvement in behavior that was described as
``antisocial activity.'' Local religious leaders issued a fatwa against
the women after village arbitration. One of the women was whipped 202
times, and the other received 101 lashes. Each woman was fined 30,000
taka (approximately $442). Local police arrested six individuals
allegedly involved in the incident, who were on trial at year's end.
There were no further developments in the September 2008 case of
Mahmuda, a local woman who was shunned by her community after her
husband divorced her.
Acid attacks remained a serious problem. Assailants threw acid in
the faces of victims--usually women--that left them disfigured and
often blind. Acid attacks often related to allegations of spousal
infidelity. During the year, according to Odhikar, 101 persons were
attacked with acid. Of these, 64 of the victims were women, 20 were
men, and 17 were children.
For example, on May 7, according to the AHRC, in Khulna, Ayub
Mollah attacked a young woman with acid after she refused his marriage
proposal. The woman was admitted to the Khulna Medical College Hospital
with burns to her face, ear, and left shoulder. Witnesses reported that
the investigating officer accepted refreshments from Mollah before
attempting to convince the victim to drop her case. The officer
allegedly told the woman she was too poor to win the case, and she
should settle for a cash payment and consider marrying Mollah for her
own safety. The woman filed a complaint with the Koyna police seeking
physical and legal protection, but no action has been taken. The
investigating officer's final report of the case cleared Mollah of any
wrongdoing.
The law provides for speedier prosecutions of acid-throwing cases
in special tribunals and generally does not allow bail. The Women and
Child Repression Control Act seeks to control the availability of acid
and reduce acid-related violence directed toward women, but lack of
awareness of the law and poor enforcement limited the law's effect.
According to the Acid Survivors Foundation, the special tribunals were
not entirely effective, but that prosecutors were able to obtain an
unspecified number of convictions during the year.
Deputy attorney general Rajik Al Jalil stated that the new
guidelines covered verbal abuse and physical attacks, including the
sending of suggestive text messages. Sexual harassment in schools,
workplaces, and in other public spaces remained a problem during the
year. A study published on May 19 by the Journal of Interpersonal
Violence found that out of 5,106 unmarried adolescent girls in rural
areas surveyed in 2004, 35 percent experienced harassment, 34 percent
experienced unwanted sexual attention, and 14 percent experienced
sexual intimidation.
Reproductive health information was freely available, but income
and education often served as barriers to access. According to a 2005
report by the World Health Organization (WHO), ``the state of maternal
health in Bangladesh is dismal'' and the country has a very high
maternal mortality rate 300 per 100,000 live births. The WHO also
listed some of the major causes of maternal death, including postpartum
hemorrhage, obstructed labor, postpartum sepsis, and violence or
injuries. According to the government, approximately 85 percent of
women give birth at home, and only 18 percent have access to a skilled
birth attendant. Fifty percent of women attended one of four
recommended prenatal visits; only 21 percent attended all four. Only 21
percent of women attend one or more postnatal visits.
Most of the programs offered by the government and NGOS to prevent
and treat HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases were focused
on women.
Women remained in a subordinate position in society, and the
government did not act effectively to protect their basic rights. For
example, under traditional Islamic inheritance laws, women inherited
only half that of sons, and in the absence of sons, they may inherit
only what remains after settling all the debts and other obligations.
Employment opportunities increased at a greater rate for women than
for men in the last decade, largely due to the growth of the export
garment industry. Women constituted approximately 80 percent of garment
factory workers. There were some disparities in pay in the overall
economy between men and women, but in the garments sector they were
roughly comparable.
On September 2, the new AL government vowed to reinstate the
National Women's Development Policy that the previous AL government
established in 1997. The policy's features included reservation of
seats for women in parliament, initiatives to appoint women in senior
posts in the administration and in all spheres of employment, and
greater legal measures to end discrimination against women. There were
no further developments at year's end.
Children.--The government, with the assistance of local and foreign
NGOs, worked to improve children's rights and welfare, enabling the
country to make significant progress in improving children's health,
nutrition, and education. Despite the progress, according to UNICEF
only slightly fewer than half of all children remained chronically
malnourished.
The law does not grant citizenship automatically by birth within
the country. Individuals become citizens if they, their fathers, or
grandfathers were born in the territories that are now part of the
country. If a person qualifies through citizenship through ancestry,
the father or grandfather must have been a permanent resident of these
territories on March 25, 1971. Birth registrations were available only
to approximately 10 percent of the population
Primary education was free and compulsory, but the implementation
of compulsory education fell short, in part because parents kept
children out of school to work for money or help with household chores.
Government incentives to families who sent children to school
contributed significantly to the rise in primary school enrollments in
recent years. Despite these efforts and contrary to established
policies, public schools imposed fees that were burdensome to poor
families and created a disincentive to attend school.
Although the legal age of marriage is 18 for women and 21 for men,
underage marriage was a widespread problem. Reliable statistics
concerning underage marriage were difficult to find because marriage
registrations were sporadic and birth registrations rare. A local human
rights NGO, Mass Line Media, concluded from a 2004 survey that an
estimated 40 percent of all marriages could be considered child
marriages. In an effort to reduce child marriages, the government
offered stipends for girls' school expenses if parents promised to
delay their daughters' marriage until at least age 18.
According to human rights monitors, child abandonment, kidnapping,
and trafficking continued to be serious and widespread problems.
Despite advances, including a monitoring agency in the Ministry of Home
Affairs, trafficking of children continued to be a problem.
Child labor remained a problem in certain industries; it frequently
resulted in the abuse of children, mainly through mistreatment by
employers during domestic service, and occasionally included servitude
and trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation abroad. According to
a 2006 study by the Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies, attacks on
children constituted more than 50 percent of the deaths, injuries, and
sexual assaults reported among domestic workers during the year.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
but trafficking remained a serious problem affecting men, women, and
children. Trafficking in children for ``immoral or illegal purposes''
carries the death penalty or life imprisonment, and the government took
measures for the expeditious prosecution of traffickers. During the
year special courts dealing with incidents of repression against women
and children adjudicated 66 cases. Courts convicted 33 persons and
ordered life sentences for 26 convicted traffickers.
Trafficked women and children went to India, Pakistan, Bahrain, the
United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, and destinations within the
country. Men seeking work abroad as expatriate labor in destinations
such as Malaysia and the Middle East occasionally found themselves in
exploitative situations of forced labor, with conditions including
restrictions on movement, threats, and physical assault. Some women and
children were trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation.
Some children faced forced labor in the fishing industry, and entire
families were subject to bonded labor throughout the country.
According to government sources, law enforcement personnel rescued
73 victims of trafficking during the year. Some of the rescued victims
remained in government homes or at NGO-run shelters and received social
and vocational skills training while NGOs attempted to locate their
families.
During the year the BNWLA rescued 123 domestic trafficking victims
and repatriated 42 others. The actual number of persons arrested for
trafficking was difficult to assess, as charges against traffickers
sometimes cited lesser crimes, such as crossing borders without proper
documents. According to the Centre for Women and Child Services, most
trafficked boys were younger than 10, while most trafficked girls were
11 to 16 years of age.
The exact number of women and children trafficked was unknown. Most
trafficked persons were lured by promises of jobs or marriage, and some
were forced into involuntary servitude outside and within the country.
Parents sometimes willingly sent their children away to escape poverty.
Unwed mothers, orphans, and others outside the normal family support
system were also vulnerable. For example, traffickers living abroad
often married women and deserted them upon arrival in the destination
country, where they would be sold into bonded labor, menial jobs, or
commercial sexual exploitation. International criminal gangs conducted
some of the trafficking. The border with India was loosely controlled,
especially around Jessore and Benapole.
As many as 10,000 children were used in brothels for commercial
sexual exploitation, and procurers of minors were rarely prosecuted.
Government corruption greatly facilitated the process of
trafficking. Police and local government officials often ignored
trafficking in women and children for commercial sexual exploitation
and accepted bribes from brothel owners and pimps.
Because the number of workers traveling to Southeast Asia and the
Middle East increased, the expatriate labor market remained lucrative.
Labor recruiters sometimes offered nonexistent jobs or conditions that
left migrant workers stranded upon arrival in the receiving country.
Recruiters also often charged exorbitant fees that made workers
extremely vulnerable to forced labor and debt bondage. Some women were
subjected to forced prostitution upon arrival in the receiving country.
During the year the Bureau for Manpower, Education and Training
(BMET) received 1,025 complaints against recruiting agencies and their
agents. By year's end, the BMET had settled a total of 470 complaints
and collected 50.6 million taka (approximately $745,000), more than
double the year before. In addition, the government cancelled the
licenses of six recruiting agencies and ordered them to forfeit their
security deposits due to fraudulent activities and breach of contract.
During the year the government also suspended activities of one
recruiting agency due to fraudulent activities.
In August the parliamentary standing committee on expatriate
welfare and overseas employment ministry issued a two-month deadline to
the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA)
and the BMET to develop and submit a detailed action plan to curb
irregularities and mismanagement in the migration sector. The committee
also asked the BAIRA to set the migration cost at no more than 95,000
taka (approximately $1,400) and to standardize a minimum salary for the
workers. NGOs alleged that former MPs and other senior political
figures were involved with several fraudulent recruiting agencies.
In 2007, as part of negotiations to send workers to South Korea,
the government agreed to eliminate the role of recruitment agencies and
to have the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare recruit workers directly. In
2007 the government of Malaysia suspended the import of expatriate
laborers from the country after persistent problems with recruitment
agencies. This issue was later resolved but from time to time Malaysia
cancelled visas for the country's workers because of a perceived
surplus of labor.
Although a lack of resources hindered investigations, the
government maintained antitrafficking police units in all 64 districts
to encourage victims to testify against their traffickers and to
compile data on trafficking. In response to inadequately trained police
and prosecutors, the government worked with legal experts to provide
specialized training to prosecutors and with the International
Organization on Migration to develop an antitrafficking course for the
National Police Academy.
The government continued efforts to combat trafficking in persons
through intensive case tracking by the trafficking monitoring cell at
police headquarters and holding bimonthly interministerial committee
meetings headed by the MOHA. The cell monitored police activities and
assisted in prosecuting relevant cases. The government had monitoring
committees headed by the deputy commissioners in all 64 districts.
These committees transmitted to the national monitoring agency in Dhaka
daily progress reports on arrests, convictions, acquittals, and
repatriation of trafficked victims.
In 2007 the Foreign Ministry issued new instructions to all
consular staff worldwide on how to handle trafficking cases abroad and
introduced labor-trafficking training courses for director-level
officials. During the year, 17 foreign ministry officials and officials
from the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and BMET received training to
enhance their capacity to protect trafficking-in-persons victims.
Thirteen labor attaches received training on ensuring migrant workers'
rights and monitoring the compliance of contractual agreements in
destination countries.
During the year the MOHA arrested 120 persons on trafficking
charges and disposed of 66 trafficking cases. Of those cases, 33
persons were convicted, and 26 of them were sentenced to life
imprisonment. Although the law allows capital punishment for convicted
human traffickers, no death sentences were handed down during the year.
Government antitrafficking projects included conducting awareness
campaigns, research, lobbying, and rescue and rehabilitation programs.
In February police established a victim support center to provide legal
advice and a short-term shelter facility for the victims of trafficking
and other forms of violence. The MOHA secretary continued to meet
bimonthly with NGOs working on antitrafficking issues to facilitate
coordination and cooperation between the government and civil society.
The MOHA also formed a committee to adopt a national plan of action to
combat human trafficking in the country.
Since 2005 a cooperative effort among NGOs, the government, and the
UAE resulted in the repatriation of 199 camel jockeys, all of whom were
reunited with their biological parents. Authorities from the government
and the NGO community continued to monitor the repatriation,
rehabilitation, and social integration of former camel jockeys. All
camel jockeys received 104,000 taka ($1,500) as compensation. The
government, with assistance from UNICEF, initiated the second phase of
the camel jockey rehabilitation project to focus on ensuring the
sustainability of community care groups and livelihood options for
victims. During the year, the program to repatriate and compensate
former camel jockeys was largely completed. All children were reunited
with their families.
Many NGOs, community-based organizations, and local government
leaders worked against trafficking through prevention, research, data
collection, documentation, advocacy, awareness creation, and
networking, cross-border collaboration, legal enforcement, rescue,
rehabilitation, and legislative reform. Despite constraints such as
lack of birth and marriage records at the village level, authorities
prosecuted trafficking cases. There was limited success in increasing
shelter capacity and developing rehabilitation programs, including
skills and vocational training, to facilitate sustainable social
reintegration of the survivors largely due to lack of adequate funding.
Despite efforts to address trafficking for sexual exploitation, the
government failed to demonstrate significant progress in criminally
prosecuting and convicting labor trafficking offenders and recruiters.
In December the government formed a committee at the Expatriates'
Welfare Ministry to review laws and regulations on labor migration for
reformation.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides for equal treatment
and freedom from discrimination for persons with disabilities; in
practice, persons with disabilities faced social and economic
discrimination. The law focuses on prevention of disability, treatment,
education, rehabilitation and employment, transport accessibility, and
advocacy.
The Ministry of Social Welfare, the Department of Social Services,
and the National Foundation for the Development of the Disabled were
the government agencies responsible for protecting the rights of
persons with disabilities. Government facilities for treating persons
with mental disabilities were inadequate. Several private initiatives
existed for medical and vocational rehabilitation, as well as for
employment of persons with disabilities.
Indigenous People.--Indigenous populations had marginal ability to
influence decisions concerning the use of their lands. There was some
progress in the implementation of the 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT)
Peace Accord. The government reconstituted the CHT Land Commission,
which announced its decision to conduct a land survey beginning on
October 15. The National Committee for Implementation of the CHT Peace
Accord also was reconstituted with Deputy Leader of Parliament Sajeda
Chowdhury as chairman. The government did not cede responsibility for
key functions such as land use and natural resources to local
authorities, as the accord specified. Law and order problems and
alleged human rights violations continued, as did dissatisfaction with
the implementation of the Peace Accord.
The government allowed some cell phone and Internet coverage to the
three Hill Tract districts in 2008. Although the government cited
security concerns as the reason for limiting coverage, human rights
groups and local officials claimed lack of coverage was also aimed at
stunting the development of the region. The Land Commission dealing
with land disputes between tribal individuals and Bengali settlers did
not function effectively in addressing critical land disputes after the
signing of the Peace Accord. Tribal leaders remained disappointed with
the lack of assistance to those who left the area during the
insurgency. Local human rights organizations alleged that security
forces took advantage of the state of emergency to increase human
rights abuses, including arbitrary arrests, against indigenous people
in the preceding two years.
In 2007 the government withdrew 16 temporary camps of security
forces in the Rangamati area of the Hill Tracts. Since the signing of
the 1997 Peace Agreement, the government had withdrawn 212 camps,
leaving approximately 270 camps. On July 29, the ISPR office issued a
press release announcing plans for a partial removal of troops from the
CHT in two months. The main opposition BNP and its allies protested
that withdrawal of troops would leave the Bengali settlers insecure and
compromise sovereignty. The army withdrew a brigade, including three
infantry battalions and 35 security camps, per the announced plans. In
August Bengali settlers barricaded roads and enforced ``hartals''
(strikes) in parts of the CHT to protest the decision. Indigenous
leaders welcomed the partial army removal but also insisted on complete
withdrawal of camps and faster implementation of other clauses of the
peace accord.
The conflict continued between the Parbattya Chattagram Jono
Sanghati Samity (PCJSS), which signed the 1997 Peace Agreement with the
government, and the United Peoples' Democratic Front (UPDF), which
opposed the peace agreement. There were no further updates regarding
the 2007 killing of PCJSS activist Vinku Kumar Chakma.
NGOs continued to allege that security forces abused the indigenous
population of the CHT. There were no updates to the 2007 land dispute
in Mahalchari in Khagrachari district.
There were no developments in the 2007 arrest of UPDF members Bimol
Bikash Chakma and Milon Bihari Chakma.
Indigenous communities in other areas continued to report loss of
land to Bengali Muslims. The government neither cancelled work on
national park projects on land traditionally owned by indigenous
communities in the Moulvibazar and Modhupur forest areas, nor did it
undertake any new activities. In addition, indigenous communities,
local human rights organizations, and churches in the area continued to
claim the government had yet to withdraw thousands of false charges the
Forestry Department filed against indigenous residents.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Homosexual acts remained
illegal but in practice the law was rarely enforced. There were a few
informal support networks for gay men, but organizations to assist
lesbians were rare.
Attacks on lesbians and gay men occurred on occasion, but those
offenses were difficult to track because victims desired
confidentiality. Strong social stigma based on sexual orientation was
common and repressed open discussion about the subject. Local human
rights groups did not monitor the problem, and there were few studies
on homosexuality in the country.
Although overt discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals,
and transgender individuals was fairly rare--partly because few
individuals openly identified their orientation--there was significant
societal discrimination. Openly gay individuals, particularly those
from less affluent backgrounds, found their families and local
communities ostracized them. Some sought refuge in the transgender or
``hijra'' community.
Other Societal Discrimination.--There were no reported cases of
violence or discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients. NGOs believed
this was partly a function of the refusal of victims to self-identify
and an absence of research given the relatively low rate of HIV/AIDS in
the country.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to
join unions and, with government approval, the right to form a union,
although numerous restrictions on union registration remained. For
example, the law requires more than 30 percent of an enterprise's total
workforce to be members before approval and the union can be dissolved
if membership falls below 30 percent; no more than three trade unions
can be registered in any establishment; and managerial staff and other
employees designated by employers as ``confidential'' may not join
unions.
Civil service and security force employees were legally prohibited
from forming unions. In 2006 new categories of workers, including
teachers and NGO workers, were permitted to form unions; however, due
to the broad limitations on union organizing during the state of
emergency, these regulations were not formally instituted.
The total labor force was approximately 50 million, of whom
approximately 1.9 million belonged to unions, many of which were
affiliated with political parties. There were approximately 5,000
garment factories employing 2.5 million workers; more than 80 percent
were women. No reliable labor statistics were available for the large
informal sector in which the majority (nearly 80 percent) of citizens
worked.
The 2006 Bangladesh Labor Act (BLA) consolidated laws from 25
separate acts into one comprehensive law. The director of labor is
responsible for the registration and dissolution of unions. The
registrar of trade unions has authority to deregister unions without
labor court approval, and during the year some unions were
deregistered, primarily for labor law violations. The law afforded
unions the right of appeal in the case of dissolution or denial of
registration.
The law recognized the right to strike; however, many restrictions
on this right remained. For example, 75 percent of union membership
must consent to a strike before it can proceed. The government can shut
down any strikes lasting more than 30 days and refer the matter to
labor courts for adjudication. In addition, strikes are banned for the
first three years of commercial production or if the factory was built
with foreign investment or owned by a foreign investor. In practice few
strikes followed legal requirements, which are cumbersome; strikes or
walk-outs often occurred based on the spontaneous decisions of workers.
Throughout the year labor organizers reported acts of intimidation
and abuse as well as increased scrutiny by security forces and the
National Security Intelligence Agency. Sporadic labor unrest occurred
throughout the country, particularly in the ready-made garment sector.
Labor organizers reported frequent acts of intimidation and abuse,
arbitrarily locking out, and firing employees, and increased scrutiny
by security forces. Authorities sometimes arrested labor organizers in
what some NGOs considered a crackdown on labor rights activists. In the
face of frequent unrest and protests demanding outstanding wages,
unpaid overtime, and decent working conditions, in December home
minister advocate Sahara Khatun announced the government would create a
1,580-member ``industrial police force'' to target apparel sector
workers and protect investors' assets.
The law established mechanisms for conciliation, arbitration, and
labor court dispute resolution. Workers have the right to strike in the
event of a failure to reach settlement. The government filed cases
against some striking labor leaders and workers for destruction of
property, blocking roads, or violation of the EPR provisions. In some
cases, the appeals courts subsequently acquitted strikers.
Unions were highly politicized but were independent of the
government and were strongest in state-owned enterprises, including
jute mills, textile mills, chemical industries, and the government-run
Port of Chittagong.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
protects the rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively
without interference, but this right was not always effectively
enforced. The BLA includes provisions protecting unions from employer
interference in organizing activities, however, employers often sought
to curtail this right, particularly in the ready-made garment industry.
Implementation of these provisions was uneven and many private sector
employers discouraged union activity. Some employers fired workers
suspected of organizing or sympathizing with unions, placed informants
in work areas, and intimidated workers with threats of violence.
The Director of Labor ruled on union-organizing discrimination
complaints except in Export Processing Zones (EPZs). Throughout the
year the Labor Court ordered reinstatement of workers who had been
fired for union activities, but a large backlog of unresolved cases
remained. The majority of workers in such cases, however, sought
financial compensation rather than reinstatement. Increasingly, labor
disputes were settled informally prior to scheduled hearing dates in
the labor court.
Under the BLA, legally registered unions are entitled to bargain
collectively with employers; however, this was rarely implemented in
practice. The BLA simplified and clarified the procedure for selecting
a collective bargaining agent and specified time limits for steps in
the process. Labor organizations reported that in some companies,
workers feared reprisals and did not exercise their collective
bargaining rights.
Overall implementation of labor regulations in the EPZs was poor. A
separate law, the EPZ Workers' Association and Industrial Relations Act
(EWAIRA) specified association rights in EPZs. EPZ officials
interpreted these regulations and applicable laws narrowly and claimed
they were exempt from the broader labor law. Labor groups challenged
this claim. EPZ-specific labor laws allowed workers to organize into
``workers associations,'' which had the right to strike and could
engage in collective bargaining. Many workers associations were not
formally registered because employees attempting to organize
associations faced difficulties from some factory owners. Some factory
managers strongly discouraged workers from meeting outside labor groups
and sometimes terminated workers who did. The challenges to EPZ
officials were ongoing at year's end.
Federations of workers associations within the EPZ were permitted,
but federations with enterprises in other EPZs or with enterprises
outside EPZs were banned. As in previous years, the government did not
establish an EPZ labor tribunal or an EPZ labor appellate tribunal as
required by the EWAIRA. A 2008 ordinance promulgated by the caretaker
government stated that labor courts would serve in place of tribunals
for disputes in the EPZ. The new government did not pass this ordinance
into law and this provision therefore remained unfulfilled. Workers in
EPZs filed complaints in the national labor courts to enforce broader
legal rights in the EPZs in addition to provisions of the EWAIRA.
Workers filed legal cases against EPZ factories that did not follow
the BLA, and the courts made no decisions on this point. In May 2008,
through an amendment of the BLA, the government declared that no trade
union office can be established inside or within 200 meters of any
industrial institution or group of institutions. Therefore, any trade
union offices within these limits had to be moved within three months
of the date that the amendment was implemented. In November the BLA was
amended to reduce the penalty for persons who violate the provisions of
the law. Labor activists protested this amendment alleging this had
been made in favor of the employers, although there was no strict
enforcement of the law.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The penal code
prohibits forced or bonded labor; however, the prescribed penalty of
imprisonment for up to one year or a fine was not sufficiently
stringent to deter the offense, and the government did not enforce the
prohibitions effectively. The BLA created inspection mechanisms to
strengthen laws against forced labor, but these laws were not enforced.
Though relatively uncommon in urban areas, bonded labor remained
common in rural areas and in domestic service. Faced with extreme
poverty and unemployment, rural workers, including entire families,
were engaged in bonded labor, often facing physical abuse and sometimes
death.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Under the law every child must attend school through grade five or the
age of 10 years, but there is no effective legal mechanism to enforce
this provision, and child labor is widespread. The BLA regulates child
employment depending on the type of work and the child's age. In 2006
the International Labor Organization (ILO) released the 2005 Baseline
Survey for Determining Hazardous Child Labor Sectors, which estimated
that of the 2.2 million workers in 45 targeted hazardous sectors,
532,000 child workers ages five to 17 performed hazardous labor.
Children were found working in road transport, such as rickshaw
pulling, automotive repair, and minibus assistance, in machine shops,
salt and match factories, and tanneries, and in the manufacturing of
bricks, cigarettes, dried fish, footwear, steel furniture, glass,
textiles, garments, and soap. Children were engaged in the following
hazardous activities: printing, fabrication, stone breaking, dyeing
operations, blacksmith assistance, and construction. Children also
worked in the service industry in hotels and restaurants. According to
a government survey of urban areas, street children, mostly boys,
engaged in various forms of work such as begging, portering, shining
shoes, collecting paper, and selling flowers. Boys and girls, often
those living on the streets, are exploited in illicit activities,
including smuggling and trading arms and drugs.
Children routinely performed domestic work. The government
occasionally brought criminal charges against employers who abused
domestic servants. During the year, the ILO and the Bangladesh Bureau
of Statistics completed a baseline survey on commercial sexual
exploitation of children. According to the survey, among 18,902 child
victims of sexual exploitation, 83 percent were girls, 9 percent
transgender children, and 8 percent boys. Forty percent of the girls
and 53 percent of the boys were below the age of 16. Fourteen percent
of the girls and 6 percent of the boys were trafficking victims.
There was little enforcement of child labor legislation outside the
export garment sector. The BLA specifies penalties for child labor
violations, typically nominal fines of less than 5,000 taka ($80).
Agriculture and other informal sectors that had no government oversight
employed large numbers of children.
In 2008 the government, with ILO support, established a child labor
unit at the Ministry of Labor and Employment to coordinate planning and
execution of all child-related labor interventions.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The National Minimum Wage Board
(NMWB) announced the most recent national minimum monthly wage in 2007
for all economic sectors not covered by industry-specific wages to be
1,800 taka ($26.50). The NMWB convenes every five years in a tripartite
forum to set wages and benefits industry by industry. In the garment
industry, wages were sometimes higher than the minimum wage. Wages in
the EPZs were typically higher than general national wage levels. None
of the set minimum wages provided a sufficient standard of living. It
was common practice for garment factories to force workers to work
overtime, delay their pay for months, and deny full leave benefits. In
May the government declared a minimum wage for shrimp sector workers.
The minimum monthly wage was 2,510 taka ($35.85).
The BLA established occupational health and safety standards.
Workers groups stated that legally established standards were
sufficient, but they were rarely implemented. Workers may resort to
legal action for enforcement of the law's provisions, but few cases
were pursued legally. Enforcement by the Labor Ministry's industrial
inspectors was weak, due to the low number of labor inspectors.
Inspections were unannounced, but in many cases, labor groups alleged
that factory owners were warned in advance and that the owners colluded
with inspectors. There were 95 inspectors serving nationwide and 59
vacant positions. Many workers alleged there was systemic and endemic
corruption and inefficiency among inspectors.
Because of high unemployment rates and inadequate enforcement of
laws, workers demanding redress of dangerous working conditions or who
refused to work under hazardous conditions risked losing their jobs. A
standard workday is eight hours, but workers may work 10 hours a day in
certain instances. Overtime is permitted, but the employer must pay
double the basic wage and other allowances and ad hoc or interim wage
for the overtime work. A standard workweek is 48 hours but can be
extended up to 60 hours, subject to the payment of overtime allowances.
By law, the average workweek should not exceed 56 hours. Workers must
get one hour of rest if they work for more than six hours a day, a
half-hour of rest for more than five hours a day, and one hour's rest
at intervals for more than eight hours' work in a day. Factory workers
receive one day off every week. Shop workers receive one and a half
days off per week.
In practice, however, these legal limits were routinely violated
and enforcement of these provisions was weak. On May 10, the National
Labor Committee (NLC) released a report detailing its investigations in
2008, which uncovered abuses of workers in a Chittagong factory that
produces jeans for leading international retailers. For example, the
report notes that Bibi Kulsum Fatema, an 18-year-old worker, fainted
due to overwork at her workplace and died after she was taken to a
nearby hospital. According to the report her mother stated that she
worked 13-15 hours at a stretch every day. The report also stated that
many workers informed NLC investigators that the factory manager kicked
a 17-year-old worker who had collapsed on the factory floor and that
many workers are often beaten and forced to 20-hour shifts. The report
noted that workers often have limited access to bathrooms and that
factory fans were often kept switched off to save energy. The NLC
report indicated that speaking in many factories was strictly
prohibited.
The Bangladesh Garments Manufacturer and Exporters Association
president stated that his organization sought to promote full
compliance with of labor regulations and that the organization would
reinvestigate all allegations of abuse.
__________
BHUTAN
Bhutan is a democratic, constitutional monarchy with a population
of approximately 700,000. The current king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel
Wangchuck, is the head of state, and executive power is vested in the
cabinet, headed by the prime minister, Jigme Thinley. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
Although constitutional democracy has helped to improve the human
rights situation in the country, difficulties with the regulation of
religion and some discrimination against the ethnic Nepalese minority
remained.
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.--The Human Rights Organization of Bhutan (HUROB)
claimed the government was responsible for disappearances of alleged
supporters of the Communist Party of Bhutan-Marxist, Leninist and
Maoist (BCP-MLM), in Samchi in 2008. On February 25, HUROB reported
that five cases submitted to the UN Working Group on Enforced and
Involuntary Disappearances remained outstanding without a government
response.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, but some human rights
groups alleged the army mistreated cadres of the BCP-MLM who were
arrested after a series of bomb blasts prior to the March 2008
elections. HUROB also claimed police tortured persons arrested in
connection with violence in refugee camps. The South Asia Human Rights
Documentation Center (SAHRDC) received anecdotal information from
Indian border towns that the government detained Maoist leaders and
denied them food and medical treatment. There was no confirmation of
these allegations by year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Inmates and members of
civil society reported that prison conditions generally were
satisfactory, and buildings and installations were in fairly good
condition. According to the 1982 Prison Act, men and women should be
detained separately, and juveniles (younger than 18) should be kept
separate from adults. NGOs were unable to determine if these laws were
followed during the year. Authorities kept prisoners incarcerated for
politically motivated crimes in areas separate from criminals.
The government extended the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) prison visits program. During the year the ICRC visited 86
persons held at the Chamgang Prison near Thimphu. None of the 86
persons was a woman or juvenile. At the time of the visit in January,
Chamgan Prison authorities told the ICRC the prison held a total of 405
prisoners, including the 86 the ICRC visited.
During its July session, parliament passed the 2009 Prison Act to
improve prison management.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these
prohibitions. The SAHRDC stated that its contacts in the country
reported officials continued to detain 50 BCP-MLM cadres arrested in
connection with bomb blasts in January and February 2008. No
information was available regarding their whereabouts or whether the
government brought official charges against them.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Royal Bhutan Police
(RBP) agency, which reports to the Ministry of Home and Cultural
Affairs, was responsible for internal security. The Royal Bhutan Army
(RBA) was responsible for external threats but also had responsibility
for some internal security functions including conducting
counterinsurgency operations, guarding forests, and providing security
for important persons. The army and police both have procedures in
place for conducting internal investigations of alleged officer
misconduct; official courts of inquiry adjudicate the allegations. The
king or other senior official makes the final determination of the
outcome of a case.
The government adopted the Royal Bhutan Police Act of 2009 to help
address police human rights abuses. Under the Act, a Police Service
Board consisting of senior police personnel and a Ministry of Home and
Cultural Affairs representative investigates cases of abuse; police
officers can face criminal prosecution for human rights violations. The
RBP has in place institutional reviews, human rights training for its
personnel, and accountability procedures.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is authorized to investigate
cases of official corruption.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Under the law
police may not arrest a person without a warrant, and in practice the
police generally respected the law. According to the law, authorities
must issue an immediate statement of charges and engage in reasonable
efforts to inform the family of the accused. Authorities are required
to bring an arrested person before a court within 24 hours, exclusive
of travel time from the place of arrest. Bail is available depending on
the severity of charges, the suspect's criminal record, likelihood of
flight, and potential threat to the public.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--In 2007 the government passed the
Judiciary Services Act (JSA), establishing the formal separation of the
judiciary from the executive. The JSA set professional standards for
judges and other judicial service personnel. In practice the judiciary
generally enforced the right to a fair trial. The National Judicial
Commission (NJC) oversees the judiciary.
The JSA created a supreme court that has the responsibility to
oversee the interpretation and application of the constitution. The
judicial system consists of subdivisional courts, district courts, and
a high court. The NJC nominates and the king confirms judges to the
high court and 20 district court justices. The king may remove,
suspend, or censure judges only at the request of the NJC. The chief
justice of the high court, following recommendations of the Judicial
Service Council, makes judicial appointments to the subdivisional
courts.
The Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) is the judicial support
department and it conducts state prosecutions, drafts and reviews
legislation, and renders legal counsel. The OLA consists of a legal
services division with domestic, international, and human rights
sections, and a prosecution division with criminal and civil sections.
As the lowest level of the judicial system, village headmen
arbitrate disputes. Magistrates with responsibility for a block of
villages review the decisions of village headmen. Defendants may appeal
decisions rendered by magistrates to a district judge.
Trial Procedures.--The law stipulates that defendants must receive
fair and speedy trials, and the government generally respected this
right in practice. A preliminary hearing must be convened within 10
days of registration of a criminal matter with the appropriate court.
Before registering any plea, courts must determine whether an accused
is mentally sound and understands the consequences of entering a plea.
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, and cases must be proved
beyond a reasonable doubt to obtain convictions. There is no trial by
jury. Punishments include imprisonment, probation, fines, or a
requirement for restitution of losses. Defendants have the right to
appeal to the high court and may make a final appeal to the king, who
traditionally delegates the decision to the Royal Advisory Council.
Trials are conducted publicly, except for cases involving family law
and juveniles. The Civil and Criminal Procedure Code of Bhutan 2001
does not give defendants the right to question witnesses. Only the
court can determine if there is a need to question witnesses, after
which the prosecutor and defendants are allowed to conduct cross-
examinations.
Courts tried criminal and civil cases under both customary law and
the legal code. State-appointed OLA prosecutors are responsible for
filing charges and prosecuting cases for offenses against the state. In
other cases relevant organizations and departments of government file
charges and conduct prosecutions. The law grants defendants and their
attorneys access to state evidence.
Although most litigants represented themselves before the court,
the law provides for the right to representation in criminal cases,
including provision of counsel for defendants who cannot afford
representation. In practice there were no known instances of the
government providing free legal counsel to political opponents, and
many citizens who were unable to afford representation did not receive
professional legal assistance. The law states that defendants may
choose legal representation from a list of government licensed
advocates, and the government promoted the use of judiciary Web sites
for legal information as a means of offering self-help to defendants.
The OLA stated that most defendants sought professional legal
assistance only in serious criminal cases.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The Society for Threatened
Peoples reported to the Universal Periodic Review process of the UN
Human Rights Council that at least 200 political prisoners remained
imprisoned in the country. During the year, HUROB estimated the
government released four or five individuals who had been imprisoned
from 1991 to 1992 for violence associated with political dissent.
Several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) asserted that,
although some political prisoners were sentenced to life in prison,
other sentences varied, and most ranged from three months to three
years.
In March, 10 inmates engaged in a hunger strike to demand the
release of all political prisoners, but in April authorities informed
the ICRC that the prisoners had stopped the strike. Participants
included Shantiram Acharya, who reportedly was arrested for taking
photographs of an army outpost and charged for participating in
``subversive activities,'' and N.L. Katwal, a political activist
arrested for participation in a demonstration. The Association of Press
Freedom Activists (APFA) alleged Acharya was kept in secret detention
for two months and subsequently tortured by police. APFA also stated
Acharya was convicted only because he could not afford a lawyer.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Criminal matters and most
civil matters are resolved under the Civil and Criminal Procedure Code
(CCPC). The CCPC states that a suit may be initiated by a litigant or a
member of the litigant's family. Questions of family law are governed
by traditional Buddhist or Hindu law. Village leaders adjudicate minor
offenses.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Human rights groups claimed the government interfered with
individual rights by requiring all citizens, including ethnic minority
members, to wear the traditional dress of the ethnic majority in public
places. The government strictly enforced the law, however, only in
Buddhist religious buildings, government offices, schools, official
functions, and public ceremonies. Younger citizens increasingly refused
to comply with this regulation.
The country implements criminal sanctions against sexual activity
between consenting adults. For example, a person may be imprisoned for
as long as one year for engaging in sodomy or ``any other sexual
conduct that is against the order of nature,'' but there were no
reported prosecutions based on these charges. The Marriage Act bars
non-Bhutanese individuals who are married to citizens from promoting a
religion other than Buddhism.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Some bombings and sporadic killings occurred in parts of the country as
a result of internal conflicts in 2008. There was no further
information from investigations into these incidents.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press. The government attempted occasionally to
impede criticism of it and to monitor political meetings.
In practice, individuals are permitted to criticize the government
publicly, but the law prohibits criticism of the king and the political
system.
Independent newspapers operated and published stories critical of
the government, although some NGOs expressed concern about increasing
government interference with independent media sources. NGOS reported
that the government fined a media outlet for airing a discussion of
taxi fares. The reports stated that the InfoCom and Media Authority
(BICMA) interrogated editors of a newspaper following their publication
of an article about government interference in the media.
In May a reporter from the country stated in his presentation at a
regional conference in Nepal that it ``was too early to say that Bhutan
had freedom of press.'' The government allowed foreign broadcasts, and
foreign newspapers and magazines were available. Private radio and
television stations were active and expressed a variety of views, but
media observers reported that the government may have limited the
number of television stations as a result of high sales taxes and
regulatory obstacles.
Internet Freedom.--Individuals and groups generally were permitted
to engage in peaceful expression of views via the Internet, although
there were some reports of government restrictions. The government
continued to monitor material on the Internet and blocked what it
deemed pornographic. According to the SAHRDC's most recent figures,
approximately 0.4 percent of the country's inhabitants used the
Internet in 2008.
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
provided for the right to peacefully assemble and for freedom of
association, with the exclusion of membership in associations that are
``harmful to the peace and unity of the country.'' All protesters must
first obtain government approval before staging public demonstrations.
It is not known whether the government denied any permits during the
year.
Freedom of Assembly.--The government did not allow NGOs that work
on overtly political issues to operate inside the country. Security
forces arrested citizens for taking part in peaceful prodemocracy
demonstrations, and the government deported southern Bhutanese refugees
who had been living in Nepal but who entered the country to demonstrate
for the right to return.
Freedom of Association.--The law provided for freedom of
association, and the government permitted the registration of some
political parties and organizations. The government did not permit
political parties organized by ethnic Nepalese citizens. According to
international NGOs, local civil society organizations censored
themselves to avoid conflict with the government.
c. Freedom of Religion.--Mahayana Buddhism is the basis of the
state's spiritual heritage, but the law provides for freedom of
religion. There were allegations that the government restricted this
right in practice.
The government favored the Drukpa Kagyupa and Ningmapa Buddhist
groups, subsidizing their monasteries and shrines, as well as providing
financial aid for their monks. The government stated its actions were
in accordance with a 1956 agreement following its seizure of Buddhist
land for redistribution to landless citizens. Societal pressure to
practice Buddhism was not apparent, but the government declares most
major Buddhist holy days to be state holidays. The king declared one
major Hindu festival to be a national holiday.
NGOs reported that the government required permission to build
religious temples but rarely granted it for non-Buddhist buildings.
Followers of religions other than Buddhism and Hinduism were free to
worship in private but were not permitted to erect religious buildings
or congregate in public. International Christian relief organizations
and Jesuit priests were active in education and humanitarian
activities, but several organizations reported that Christian religious
services often had to be held in private in order to avoid harassment
by authorities. Proselytism and forced conversion are barred under the
National Security Act, which prohibits speech promoting ``enmity or
hatred'' between religious groups. Violation of the law is punishable
with a maximum of three years' imprisonment, although the extent of
government enforcement of this provision is unknown.
According to dissidents living outside the country, the government
permitted only Drukpa Kagyupa and Ningmapa Buddhist religious teachings
in schools. Some dissidents stated that Buddhist prayer was compulsory
in all government-run schools; the government contended Buddhist
teaching was permitted only in monastic schools and religious teaching
was forbidden in other schools. Local NGOs confirmed that students did
take part in a prayer session each morning, but the prayers were
nondenominational and noncompulsory. Government authorities
occasionally asked job applicants to state their religion before
entering them into public service. The government required all civil
servants to take an oath of allegiance that did not have religious
content but was administered by a Buddhist Lama. There were no reports
of denial of promotion for Hindus and Christians The formal practice of
Hinduism was permitted.
in government.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country does not have a
Jewish population, and there was no report of any anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International Religious
Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/rpt.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, but the government limited them in practice. The law does
not address forced exile, but the government forced the majority of its
Nepali-speaking population to leave the country in the early 1990s,
following a series of steps taken during the 1970s and 1980s to deprive
the Nepali-speaking population of their citizenship. The 2007 census
indicated there were 108,000 persons living in refugee camps in Nepal
administered by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR). In 2007 the government of Nepal announced it would allow
resettlement of the refugees in foreign countries. As a result,
resettlement began in 2007, and as of November more than 24,000
Bhutanese refugees had been resettled in foreign countries, with the
majority (more than 21,000) in the United States. As of October,
according to the UNHCR, almost 80,000 of the refugees had formally
expressed interest in resettlement in other countries.
Despite the opportunity for large numbers of refugees to resettle
to third countries, some residents in the camps in Nepal continued to
demand, occasionally through hunger strikes, repatriation to the
country. A human rights group active in the refugee camps registered
several thousand refugees, many of them elderly, who had expressed
their continued strong desire to repatriate.
The government continued to condemn the UNHCR for its failure to
screen individuals who entered camps in Nepal in the early 1990s to
determine whether they were genuine citizens of the country. The
government maintained that individuals who entered the camps before the
establishment of screening and registration mechanisms were not
citizens and were using the camps as a base for terrorist activities
against the country.
The government restricted emigration and prohibited the return of
citizens who left the country. The country's revised citizenship laws
state that persons who have left the country of their own accord,
without the knowledge or permission of the government, or whose names
are not recorded in the citizenship register maintained in the Ministry
of Home Affairs (MHA), would not be considered citizens of the country.
Some dissidents and human rights groups claimed the government wrote
the law specifically to deny citizenship to ethnic Nepalese Bhutanese.
Human rights groups also alleged that some ethnic Nepalese who had
relatives in the camps faced insurmountable bureaucratic challenges and
were denied identification cards, compromising their citizenship status
and preventing them from participating in the 2008 election process.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or the 1967 Protocol
relating to the Status of Refugees. Its laws do not provide for the
granting of asylum or refugee status, and the government has not
established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice,
the government provided some protection against the expulsion or return
of refugees to countries where their lives or freedoms would be
threatened because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in
a particular social group, or political opinion.
From 1990 to 1993, more than 80,000 ethnic Nepalese Bhutanese left
the country and entered Nepal via India. Approximately 15,000
additional refugees fled Nepal to India, but the UNHCR did not accord
them refugee status. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), there were
25,000 to 45,000 unregistered ethnic Nepalese Bhutanese refugees living
outside refugee camps in India and Nepal who did not have citizenship
in the country, rendering these persons stateless. The government
stated it is committed to receiving ``genuine'' refugees wishing to
return voluntarily from the camps but also maintained that only a small
number of persons in the Nepali camps are genuinely citizens.
Stateless Persons.--Implementation of a nationwide government-
conducted census in 1985 resulted in the denationalization of many
ethnic Nepalese in the country because land ownership documents from
1958 were required to receive citizenship. The census was repeated in
1988-1989 in the southern districts, and those who lost citizenship in
1985 were at that time permitted to reapply for citizenship provided
they met certain conditions. The government then labeled as illegal
immigrants those who could not meet the new, more stringent citizenship
requirements. Beginning in 1990 the government expelled large numbers
of ethnic Nepalese individuals under the 1985 citizenship law.
The law provides for revocation of the citizenship of any
naturalized citizen who ``has shown by act or speech to be disloyal in
any manner whatsoever to the King, country, and people.'' The MHA later
declared that any nationals leaving the country to assist
``antinationals,'' and the families of such persons, would forfeit
their citizenship. The law permits reapplication for citizenship after
a two-year probationary period. The government reissues citizenship
upon successful completion of the probation period and a finding that
the person in question is not responsible for any act against the
government. There were no reports of successful application of this
provision.
Some citizens alleged the government discriminated against ethnic
Nepalese persons still living in the country by enacting and enforcing
restrictive citizenship laws. These laws regulated the movement of
ethnic Nepalese to different towns, monitored school attendance,
regulated the buying and selling of property, and regulated engagement
in business activities. The government also required ethnic Nepalese
individuals to meet strict criteria to obtain citizenship, including
security clearances to obtain No Objection Certificates (NOCs). Without
citizenship, they were stateless and faced discrimination with regard
to education, employment, and land ownership.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The country completed a successful transition from an absolute
hereditary monarchy to a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral
elected parliament in 2008, marking the final step in the transition to
a parliamentary democracy. The law provides limited rights for changing
the government, and it provides for a separation of powers.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2007 the government
began allowing political parties to register under the terms of a draft
constitution. Three parties registered with the Election Commission,
which disqualified the Bhutan People's United Party (BPUP) for
``failing to prove its credibility'' as a national political party. The
Election Commission indicated that BPUP candidates did not meet the
commission's education requirements. The Election Act specifies that
candidates for parliament must have earned at least a bachelor's degree
to run for office. The government took no action in response to the
party's appeal of the decision.
Other parties, such as the Druk National Congress, established in
1994, continued to claim that the government denied independent parties
the ability to operate effectively. Both parties that participated in
the 2008 National Assembly elections, the ruling Druk Phensum Tshogpa
(DPT) party and opposing People's Democratic Party (PDP), had ties to
the royal family. The government regarded political parties organized
by ethnic Nepalese living in refugee camps as illegal, terrorist, and
antinational in nature. These parties, which sought repatriation of
refugees and democratic reforms, were unable to conduct activities
inside the country.
In 2008 voters elected the first National Assembly which is the
lower house of the parliament. The DPT won 44 out of 47 seats. Eighty
percent of the 320,000 eligible voters cast ballots. HRW reported that
the government excluded 13 percent of the population from voting
because, as ethnic Nepalese, they were considered ``non-nationals'' in
the 2005 census. Nonetheless, nine Nepali-speaking candidates were
elected.
There are 25 members of the National Council, or upper house of
parliament; the king appoints five members and the remaining members
are elected. In 2007 elections for the National Council, voters elected
three women, two Nepali speakers, one Hindu, and one Christian.
International monitors judged the elections free and fair. Women
constituted 26 percent of civil service employees and held more than 30
percent of positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There were no
women on the high court, although there was one female judge in a
district court. Women in parliament decreased from 9.3 percent in 2005
to 2.7 percent in 2008. There was no provision for allocating a set
number or percentage of parliamentary seats for women or members of
minority groups.
In September the government passed the Local Governments Act, which
stipulates 20 local governments, one for each Dzongkhags (province).
The act calls upon the local governments to provide social and economic
services and to promote the development and well-being of constituents.
The act does not provide these governments with legislative powers but
grants them the authority to collect taxes, to make rules and
regulations consistent with national legislation, and to receive funds
from the national government to fulfill their duties. According to an
NGO, elections for such local governments were to take place in October
2008, but political wrangling within the two houses of parliament
delayed the passage of the act and in turn the elections. After the
government failed to pass an elections act in July, the king requested
an extraordinary sitting of both houses of parliament in September, at
which time the act was passed. The date for local elections had not
been scheduled by year's end.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and
the government generally implemented these laws effectively. The
government took an active role in addressing the issue through the
public accounts committee in the National Assembly and the Royal Audit
Authority, which monitored the use of government funds. The Anti-
Corruption Commission (ACC), established in 2006, allowed citizens to
post information on its Web site regarding corrupt practices. According
to the ACC's most recent report presented to parliament in 2008, it
received 498 complaints in 2006, 791 complaints in 2007, and 287
complaints as of September 2008. It had investigated a total of 34
cases, forwarded a total of 37 cases to the Office of the Attorney
General or other agencies, and passed judgment in 15 cases. The same
report indicated that it took an average of 72 working days to begin an
investigation following the submission of a complaint and an average of
37 working days to complete an investigation. According to a Bhutan
Observer article published in November, 428 complaints were made during
the year to the ACC. Although the number of complaints investigated was
not mentioned, the ACC stated that it investigated 12 percent of
complaints made between 2006 and 2009. Freedom House indicated during
the year that local police and local officials engaged in significant
acts of corruption.
There is no law providing public access to government information,
but NGOs reported that the government regularly provided unclassified
information upon request.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no independent human rights organizations operating in
the country. The government regarded human rights groups established by
ethnic Nepalese as political organizations and did not permit them to
operate. The ICRC was the only human rights monitoring group officially
operating in the country.
Various civil society organizations functioned locally and
informally. The Civil Society Organization (CSO) Authority, established
by the Civil Society Act of Bhutan 2007, became operational during the
year. The government established the CSO Authority to oversee the
accountability and transparency of CSO operations, and by year's end 33
organizations had applied for CSO status with the Authority. Critics,
including the Committee on the Rights of the Child, stated that they
feared the CSO Act could result in restrictions on, rather than
promotion of, independent civil society organizations. In 2008 the
government created the Committee on Human Rights within the National
Assembly to help promote human rights within the legislative processes,
visit prison and detention centers, and submit findings and
recommendations regarding human rights.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of race,
sex, disability, language, or social status.
Women.--The law mandates that the government take appropriate
measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination and exploitation of
women, including trafficking, prostitution, abuse, violence,
harassment, and intimidation, at work and at home, and generally the
law was enforced. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW) reviewed the country during the year. CEDAW
commended the government for establishing the National Commission on
Women and Children (NCWC) Plan of Action for Gender and recognizing
gender in the five-year plan of the Gross National Happiness
Commission. CEDAW expressed concerns, however, that the constitution
does not adequately define discrimination to include both direct and
indirect forms. They also noted the government failed to adopt
implementation legislation for its international treaty obligations
related to women's rights or to provide adequate resources to the NCWC
to allow it to operate effectively.
NGOs reported that women faced little overt discrimination and had
equal access to health care, education, and public services. There was
no evidence that rape or spousal abuse were extensive problems, but
NGOs reported that many women did not report rape because of cultural
taboos or because they were unaware of their rights. CEDAW expressed
concern over reports of violence against women by their spouses or
other family members and at work.
The law contains a clear definition of criminal sexual assault and
specifies penalties. In cases of rape involving minors, sentences range
from five to 17 years in prison. In extreme cases a rapist may be
imprisoned for life. Spousal rape is illegal. According to CEDAW, the
government commissioned a report on violence against women, set up
mobile police stations, trained police on gender issues, and allowed
civil society groups to undertake further efforts including the opening
of a crisis and rehabilitation center. CEDAW expressed concern about
the large number of reported sexual harassment cases in the workplace.
Women were accorded respect in the traditions of most ethnic groups
and participated relatively freely in the social and economic life of
the country. Inheritance law provides for equal inheritance for sons
and daughters, but traditional inheritance practices, which varied
among ethnic groups, may be observed if the heirs choose to forgo legal
challenges. Traditional inheritance laws for the majority of Buddhists
stipulate that daughters inherit family land. As a result, 60 percent
of rural women held land registration titles, accounting for the large
number of women who owned shops and businesses. Tradition dictates that
the most capable member of the family runs the household, which often
resulted in the mother or eldest daughter holding this position. Within
the household men and women were relatively equal. Employers generally
paid women in unskilled jobs slightly less than men in the same
positions. In 2007 women constituted approximately 43.6 percent of the
work force. Dowries were not customary in the country.
CEDAW expressed concern over the continued gender gap in secondary
and higher education as well as in participation and representation in
public and political affairs.
Prostitution took place on a limited scale and mostly in border
regions.
The country has no legal restrictions regarding the number,
spacing, or timing of children, and there were no reports of coercion
regarding reproduction. According to the World Health Organization's
(WHO) 2005 report, the maternal mortality ratio was 450 per 100,000
live births, and 56 percent of births in 2006 were attended by skilled
personnel. WHO also noted, ``Death during pregnancy and within six
weeks following delivery is very common among women of reproductive
age.'' In 2000 WHO stated that contraceptive prevalence was at 31
percent and information about, and access to, contraception was readily
available.
The law covered questions related to family issues, including
divorce, child custody, and inheritance. The minimum age of marriage
for women was 18. The law provided for equal treatment for men and
women. Polygyny is allowed provided the first wife gives her
permission. Polyandry was permitted but was rare. Marriages were
arranged by the marriage partners themselves or by their parents. The
law required registration of all marriages with the government.
The National Women's Association, one of the few registered NGOs,
tried to encourage women to improve their living standards and
socioeconomic status. The NCWC actively defended the rights of women
and children during the year, although CEDAW questioned the limited
resources of the NCWC and its potential lack of independence from
government influence.
CEDAW expressed concern about the high numbers of women younger
than 25 who have contracted HIV/AIDS. Respect, Educate, Nurture and
Empower Women, an organization operating with funding and direction
from the queen, focused on HIV/AIDS and other health issues to improve
the lives of underprivileged and marginalized women. In 2007 the
government established the Women and Child Protection Unit, run by
female police officers in collaboration with the NCWC. The unit
provides a setting for women to voice problems freely and works to
provide appropriate care for victims of societal violence or
discrimination.
Children.--Under the constitution only children whose parents are
both citizens become citizens at birth. According to the Bhutanese
Refugee Support Group, existing citizenship laws contained inadequate
provisions for a child to acquire nationality at birth, and persons who
are designated as ``non-nationals'' (for example, ethnic Nepalese
Bhutanese) are rendered essentially stateless. Births in remote areas
are less likely to be registered. NGOs asserted births of children to
nonregistered ethnic Nepalese Bhutanese may not be registered. The
failure of timely birth registration had negative consequences and made
it difficult for some children to access educational and other
services.
The government provides 11 years of universal, free education to
children who are recognized as citizens. Education is not compulsory,
and some schools charged fees. According to the UN Development Program,
the primary school net enrollment rate was 83.7 percent in 2007. The
Ministry of Education reported that enrollment of girls at every level
of general education has slowly but steadily increased since 2002.
Girls comprised 49 percent of the enrollment in schools and, in several
districts, the average surpassed 50 percent. Approximately 33 percent
of university students were female and 18 percent of the students
receiving scholarships to study abroad were female.
There is no law barring ethnic Nepalese children from attending
school, but the government denied NOCs to children of ethnic Nepalese
the government claimed were antinationals, preventing them from
accessing higher education. Minority children often were denied access
to primary, secondary, and higher-level education when the government
withheld a required ``security clearance certificate.'' Members of
exiled groups claimed the government discriminated against ethnic
Nepalese Bhutanese secondary level students in distribution of
educational advantages and benefits, particularly if the students were
related to prominent dissidents or refugees. The government refuted
this claim, stating that all scholarships were merit based.
Child abuse was rare. Although corporal punishment was banned in
schools, there were some incidents in schools and monasteries.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
and it appeared that few individuals were trafficked to or from the
country, although exact numbers were difficult to ascertain because few
NGOs and government officials worked on the issue. There were no
reported cases of trafficking within the country, but CEDAW expressed
concern that there was an increase in trafficking in persons in the
country and that women had few protections to prevent them from being
trafficked.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not specifically protect
the rights of citizens with disabilities, but it does direct the
government to try to provide security in the ``event of sickness and
disability.'' There was no evidence of official discrimination against
persons with disabilities in matters of employment, education, access
to health care, or the provision of other state services. The law
stipulated that new buildings must be constructed to allow access for
persons with disabilities, but the government did not enforce the law
consistently. Under the Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation
Program, the government seeks to provide medical and vocational
rehabilitation for persons with all types of disabilities, promote
integration of children with disabilities into schools, and foster
community awareness and social integration. The approximately 21,894
(3.4 percent of the population according to the most recent estimates
released in 2005) persons with physical disabilities living in the
country lacked necessary infrastructure.
There are three special education institutes for students with
disabilities including the National Institute for the Disabled in
Khaling, which educates visually impaired children, and an education
resource unit for the hearing impaired in Paro. There also were special
education facilities in Thimphu designed to meet the needs of children
who have physical and mental disabilities. Although there were no
government-sponsored social welfare services available for persons with
disabilities, the National Pension and Provident Fund granted benefits
to persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--An estimated 100,000 ethnic
Nepalese Bhutanese left the country in the early 1990s, although the
government asserted that a substantially smaller number departed.
Ethnic Nepalese Bhutanese claimed they were subjected to discrimination
and prejudice in employment, but the government stated they were
proportionally represented in civil service and government jobs. Human
rights groups outside the country contended that the government's
employment claims are based on intentionally inaccurate numbers.
During the 1990s, the government resettled Bhotes (members of the
dominant ethnic group of the country who speak Dzongkha and practice
the Drukpa Kagyupa sect of Mahayana Buddhism) in the southern part of
the country on land that ethnic Nepalese Bhutanese had vacated. Human
rights groups maintained that this action prejudiced any eventual
outcome of negotiations over the return of the ethnic Nepalese
Bhutanese refugees to the country. The government indicated it
occasionally resettled ethnic Nepalese from the south on more fertile
land in other parts of the country.
The 1998 government dismissal of 219 employees who were relatives
of ``antinationals'' (refugee activists) continued to adversely affect
the ethnic Nepalese Bhutanese resettlement. The forced retirement of
refugee family members from government service and the resettlement of
Bhotes on land that expelled ethnic Nepalese Bhutanese vacated in the
south reinforced prejudice against the ethnic Nepalese Bhutanese. The
government stated that these resettlement plans were part of a
nationwide program to discourage migration to urban centers and to
reduce the dependence of landless persons on migrant farming.
The law requires that the Dzongkha language be taught as a second
language in all schools. No instruction in Nepali as a second language
was required or offered. The Committee on the Rights of the Child
expressed concern about the rights of minority children, specifically
those of Nepalese ethnic origin, to take part in their culture,
practice their religion, or use their language.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Same-sex relationships are
illegal in the country and punishable as a petty misdemeanor with a
prison sentence ranging from one month to one year. Under Article 213
in Chapter 14 of the Penal Code, a person can be imprisoned for as long
as one year for engaging in ``sodomy or any other sexual conduct that
is against the order of nature.'' There were, however, no reported
cases of such charges.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--Different observers
assessed varying levels of stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. Persons
with HIV/AIDS received free medical and counseling services, and the
government maintained programs meant to prevent discrimination.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form
workers' associations; there were no new associations formed in the
country during the year. The law does not allow for the formation of
unions or for strikes.
In 2007 parliament passed the Labor and Employment Act of 2007,
which allows employees to form an association in one workplace if at
least 12 employees join the association. The law was first tested in
September 2008 when national telecommunications employees decided to
form an association after they accused management and the government of
discriminatory behavior in promotions. There have been no subsequent
updates on the formation of the association.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law does
not authorize collective bargaining. The 2007 labor act grants workers
the right to pursue litigation.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The government
prohibits forced or compulsory labor; however, there were reports that
such practices occurred. The government required community service
projects to build roads, schools, and hospitals. NGOs reported that, in
southern areas of the country where Bhotes were resettled following the
move of ethnic Nepalese Bhutanese, the ethnic Nepalese Bhutanese who
remained were required to perform a disproportionate amount of
compulsory labor. The government and NGOs stated rural workers often
volunteered to work on national projects and were paid slightly above
the minimum wage.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the employment of children, but child labor remained
prevalent. The 2007 Labor and Employment Act allows for employment of
children between the ages of 13 and 17 in environments that will not
damage their health. Children younger than 18 often performed
agricultural work and completed chores on family farms or worked in
shops after school and during holidays. Girls were employed primarily
as domestic workers, where they were vulnerable to abuse and
exploitation. The government estimated there were approximately 45,000
persons under 18 who were working. Labor inspectors operating under the
Ministry of Labor and Human Resources enforced child labor laws
sporadically.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law addresses issues such as
minimum wage, sexual harassment, workers' associations, acceptable
forms of child labor, and labor inspection regulations. The national
daily wage, also the de facto national minimum wage, was 100 ngultrum
($2.07) per day, plus various allowances paid in cash or kind; it
provided a minimal standard of living for a worker and family. In June
2008 the Ministry of Labor announced it would form a committee to
examine the minimum wage in terms of employers' ability to afford the
wage, employee productivity, type of work, and cost of living. The
committee had not released its findings by year's end. The National
Council passed a resolution urging the Ministry of Labor to fix a
national minimum wage rather than relying on the national daily wage
rate. The workday is defined as eight hours with a one hour lunch
break, and employers must grant regular days of rest. Work in excess of
this must be paid at one-and-one-half times the normal rate.
All citizens were entitled to free medical care. The government
transported persons who could not receive adequate care in the country
to other countries (usually India) for treatment. Workers were eligible
for compensation in the case of partial or total disability, and in the
event of death, their families were entitled to compensation. Existing
labor regulations do not grant workers the right to leave work
situations that endanger health and safety without jeopardizing their
continued employment.
__________
INDIA
India is a multiparty, federal, parliamentary democracy with a
bicameral parliament and a population of approximately 1.1 billion with
an active civil society. It has a federal structure in which the states
enjoy a high degree of autonomy, especially on issues of law and order.
Manmohan Singh became prime minister for a second term following his
Congress Party-led coalition's victory in the April-May general
elections, which were considered free and fair, despite scattered
instances of violence. Serious internal unrest at times affected the
state of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as several states in the Northeast.
Although civilian authorities maintained effective control of the
security forces, security forces occasionally acted independently of
government authority.
The government generally respected the rights of its citizens and
made progress in reducing incidents of communal violence, expanding
efforts against human trafficking, and reducing the exploitation of
indentured, bonded, and child workers but serious problems remained.
Major problems included reported extrajudicial killings of persons in
custody, disappearances, and torture and rape by police and other
security forces. Investigations into individual abuses and legal
punishment for perpetrators occurred, but for many abuses, a lack of
accountability created an atmosphere of impunity. Poor prison
conditions and lengthy detentions were significant problems. Some
officials used antiterrorism legislation to justify excessive use of
force. Corruption existed at all levels of government and police. While
there were no large-scale attacks against minorities during the year,
there were reports of delays in obtaining legal redress for past
incidents. Some states promulgated laws restricting religious
conversion. Violence associated with caste-based discrimination
occurred. Domestic violence, child marriage, dowry-related deaths,
honor crimes, and female feticide remained serious problems.
Separatist insurgents and terrorists in Kashmir, the Northeast, and
the Naxalite (Maoist) belt committed numerous serious abuses, including
killing armed forces personnel, police, government officials, and
civilians. Insurgents engaged in widespread torture, rape, beheadings,
kidnapping, and extortion. The number of incidents declined compared
with the previous 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 credible
reports that the government and its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings of suspected
criminals and insurgents. A high rate of extrajudicial killings, in
which security forces shot and killed alleged criminals or insurgents
in staged encounters, occurred in the Northeast, particularly in the
states of Assam and Manipur. Sources also reported encounter killings
in Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh. Custodial deaths,
in which prisoners were killed or died in police custody, remained a
serious problem, and authorities often delayed prosecutions. Despite
the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recommendations that the
Criminal Investigations Department (CID) investigate all police
encounter deaths, many states conducted internal reviews only at the
discretion of senior officers.
For example, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) alleged that
Chhattisgarh police killed as many as 19 persons on January 8 in
Singaram, Dantewara District, Chhattisgarh, in a staged encounter.
Police claimed they were involved in a gun battle that resulted in the
deaths of 15 Naxalite insurgents and the recovery of large amounts of
explosives and weapons; however, reports from local villagers and
journalists claimed that the police killed as many as 19 villagers who
had no connection to Naxalites. According to these reports, 150 to 170
special police officers rounded up 24 villagers and forced them to put
on Naxalite uniforms. Five villagers escaped, but the remaining 19 were
shot and killed. Villagers alleged the special police officers raped
female victims before killing them. In February the Chhattisgarh High
Court directed police to conduct a postmortem examination of the
bodies, in response to the petition by human rights groups for a
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the incident. The
case continued in Chhattisgarh High Court at year's end.
On March 17, the NHRC directed the Defense Ministry to pay
compensation of rupees 300,000 ($6,521) to the family of a youth killed
in a staged encounter in 2003.
On March 20, the army stated that three soldiers were guilty of
killing two civilians on February 22 in Bumai, in Jammu and Kashmir.
Authorities initially claimed the victims died in crossfire between
militants and security forces. The army ordered disciplinary action
against the soldiers.
There were advances in several other notable cases, including the
Gujarat High Court's investigation of the killings of at least 95
persons in Naroda Patiya, Gujarat, in 2002. The Supreme Court received
the Special Investigation Team (SIT) interim report on the killings on
March 2.
Also in March the SIT arrested two highly placed political leaders,
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state legislator Maya Kodnani and Vishva
Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Jaydeep Patel, in connection with one of
the incidents at Naroda Patiya. Both were released on bail. In October
the court filed charges against 62 suspects in relation to the Naroda
Patiya incidents, including Maya Kodnani. Their trial, which began on
October 27, continued at year's end.
The Supreme Court continued efforts to bring to trial those
responsible for 2002 violence following a train burning in Godhra. On
April 28, the Supreme Court ordered Gujarat police to register a
complaint against Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 60 other high-level
officials of the Gujarat government and to investigate their roles in
the riots. The court also asked the SIT to review the complaint and to
submit a report by December 31. The report had not been submitted at
year's end.
On May 1, the Supreme Court ordered the Gujarat High Court to set
up fast-track courts in Gujarat to hear several other high-profile
cases related to the 2002 Godhra train burning and resulting communal
riots. The Supreme Court ordered that witnesses be protected by central
police forces rather than Gujarat police and gave the SIT special
powers to oversee the prosecutions.
At year's end litigation continued in Gujarat regarding human
remains recovered in 2005 and 2006 in Kidiad and near Lunawada,
Gujarat. Court-ordered DNA testing identified nine victims of the 2002
violence among the remains. According to government figures, 228
individuals, mainly Muslims, remained missing after the 2002 violence.
In February all the missing were assumed dead, and their next of kin
were awarded compensation. The official death toll of the 2002 riots
increased from 952 to 1,180.
In May, according to Amnesty International (AI), private militia
shot and killed Amin Banra, an Adivasi leader, during a protest against
forced displacement in Kalinganagar, Orissa. Authorities arrested two
persons but failed to investigate reports that the suspects were part
of a large private militia.
On May 10, Mumbai police killed alleged criminal Anil Mhatre in an
encounter, and on June 19, Maharashtra police killed Vishwanath Munna
Katari in an encounter in Nasik. In August the Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA) informed parliament that the NHRC had registered 28 staged
encounter cases from January through July.
On May 29, in the Shopian District of Jammu and Kashmir, relatives
and police discovered the bodies of two women in a stream. According to
media reports, local residents and examining doctors alleged that
Indian security forces committed gang rape before killing Neelofar Jan
and Asiya Jan, and government officials stated that police involvement
in the killings could not be ruled out. On July 15, the High Court
ordered the arrest of four police officers on charges of suppressing
and destroying evidence in the case. On September 12, the court granted
bail to the officers. On September 17, the CBI took charge of the case
from the Special Investigation Team, and on September 29, the CBI
exhumed and collected samples from the bodies of the two women. On
December 14, the CBI submitted its report to the High Court concluding
the women died of drowning and ruling out foul play. The report
prompted renewed protests and a general strike in the state. The case
remained ongoing at year's end.
On July 23, Manipur's Rapid Action Police Force killed Chongkham
Sanjit in Imphal, Manipur. Officials initially claimed they shot him
after he fired on them, but a local photographer published pictures of
the incident that showed police escorting Sanjit calmly into a
pharmacy. When the police emerged from the pharmacy, a witness
photographed the officers dragging Sanjit's corpse to a waiting truck.
Several days after publication of the photographs followed by violent
protests, the local government suspended the six police officers
involved and ordered a judicial inquiry.
In August Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate S.P. Tamang ruled that
the 2004 killings of Ishrat Jahan and three others were the result of a
staged encounter with Gujarat police. On September 8, the government of
Gujarat said it would appeal Tamang's ruling. On September 9, the
Supreme Court began hearing complaints regarding the encounter killings
of Javed Shaikh (Pranesh Pillai) and Ishrat Jahan in 2004.
The Asian Center for Human Rights reported 1,184 persons killed in
police custody from April 2001 to March 2009. Maharashtra recorded 192
deaths, Uttar Pradesh 128, and Gujarat 113.
According to the MHA, 127 deaths took place in police custody in
2008-09. Maharashtra recorded 23 deaths, and Uttar Pradesh recorded 24.
In February the Supreme Court again ruled that authorities should
prosecute perpetrators of custodial deaths because failure to do so
could ``lead to destruction of the criminal justice system.'' The Asian
Center for Human Rights (ACHR) noted that the NHRC's guidelines
indicating custodial deaths be reported within 24 hours ``continue to
be flouted'' by the police. Furthermore, the armed forces are not
required to report custodial deaths to the NHRC, and the NHRC has no
jurisdiction over any violations they may commit, leading to concerns
that the states underreported custodial deaths.
On January 7, the army ordered a high-level inquiry into the death
of Abdur Ahad Reshi, a deaf and mute man in Veer Saran Pahalgam in
Kashmir.
On March 7, Jammu and Kashmir police registered a complaint against
the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for the killing of Sahbir Ahmad
Ahangar in Nowhatta.
On March 20, the army held three soldiers, including a junior
commissioned officer, accountable for the February 22 killing of two
youths in Bomai, Baramulla, in the Kashmir valley. The army initiated
an inquiry and took disciplinary action against the three soldiers from
the 22 Rasthriya Rifles.
On March 28, the CRPF admitted that two troopers of the 181st
Battalion killed Ghulam Mohi-uddin Malik on March 18. After a
magisterial inquiry, the CRPF suspended one assistant commandant and
the troopers involved in the incident.
On May 18, the army ordered an inquiry into the alleged custodial
death of Manzoor Ahmed Beig by the Special Operations Group in
Srinagar, Kashmir valley.
On August 15, the government began a phased pullout of 35 CRPF
companies from the Kashmir valley.
On September 13, the government ordered a magisterial inquiry into
the alleged custodial death of Noor Hussain in Rajouri, Kashmir valley.
The police suspended four personnel.
Unlawful killings due to societal violence, including insurgent
attacks and vigilante action, continued. The ACHR 2009 India Human
Rights report noted that Naxalites were active in at least 15 states,
and casualties among civilians and security forces resulting from
Naxalite violence exceeded those resulting from violence by separatist
insurgents in Jammu and Kashmir.
For example, in February according to AI, ''more than 500 armed
Maoists raided the Nayagarh district police armory in Orissa, killing
16 police. In an operation following the raid, the Orissa police shot
and killed 20 persons in nearby forests claiming them to be Maoists and
their supporters.''
On May 5, media outlets reported that Naxalites detonated a
landmine in Sirguda village, in Chhattisgarh. On July 13, in
Chhattisgarh, Naxalites targeted police and killed police
superintendent Vinod Kumar Choubey, along with 36 others.
Although the overall levels of societal and insurgent violence
declined in Jammu and Kashmir, there continued to be notable incidents.
For example, on August 3, the army killed four suspected guerrillas in
a gunfight, and a policeman was shot and killed in an ambush in
Kashmir. According to media reports, on August 26, general officer
commanding-in-chief of the army's strategic Northern Command,
Lieutenant General P C Bharadwaj stated that as of August 9 ``.26
infiltration bids have been foiled and 57 terrorists killed'' in the
Kashmir valley.
b. Disappearance.--There were credible reports that police
throughout the country failed to file required arrest reports for
detained persons, resulting in hundreds of unresolved disappearances.
Police usually denied these claims. On May 28, the Association of
Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) stated that 298 persons had
disappeared in custody from Jammu and Kashmir since 2002.
On August 23, the Jammu and Kashmir state government claimed that
since 1990, 3,429 persons have been reported missing in the state. The
APDP maintained that 10,000 persons remained missing.
The central government stated that state government screening
committees provided information about detainees to their families, but
credible sources stated that families often needed to bribe prison
guards to confirm detention of their relatives.
The government made little progress holding police and security
officials accountable for disappearances committed during the Punjab
counterinsurgency in 1984-94 and the Delhi anti-Sikh riots of 1984,
despite the work of a special investigatory commission. In February
2008 the NHRC criticized the Justice Bhalla Commission for its
inability to identify the whereabouts of 657 missing victims.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits torture and generally does not allow
authorities to admit coerced confessions in court; NGOs and citizens
alleged that authorities used torture to extort money, as summary
punishment and to coerce confessions. In some instances authorities
used the confessions as evidentiary support for death sentences.
The ACHR stated the following in its June report Torture in India
2009: ``Torture in police custody remains a widespread and systematic
practice in India. They also noted the lack of an effective system of
independent monitoring of all places of detention facilitates
torture.''
NGOs asserted that custodial torture was common in Tamil Nadu, and
credible sources claimed police stations in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh,
Haryana, and Chandigarh used torture to obtain desired testimony. The
Asian Human Rights Committee claimed police used torture and assault in
Kerala and Gujarat as a means of criminal investigation.
NGOs claimed the NHRC underestimated the number of rapes, including
custodial rapes, that police committed. Some rapes may have gone
unreported due to the victims' feelings of shame and fears of
retribution.
On May 29, doctors confirmed that Assiya Jan and her sister-in-law
Neelofer had been raped prior to being killed in the Shopian district
of Jammu and Kashmir (see section 1.a.), although a subsequent
postmortem examination ordered by the CBI in September refuted those
findings.
On June 2, a Dalit woman alleged that four Madhya Pradesh police
officers gang-raped her while she was in custody in Betul district. The
officers claimed the woman was making a false accusation to escape her
arrest for harassing her daughter-in-law for dowry. At year's end a
government of Madhya Pradesh internal probe committee continued to
investigate the allegation.
An investigation continued into the February 2008 case in which two
commandos from the Haryana police allegedly raped a woman after pulling
her out of a moving rickshaw.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
continued to be life threatening and did not meet international
standards. Prisons were severely overcrowded, and food and medical care
were inadequate. In April 2008 the MHA stated that since 2007, 38,366
cases of human rights violations had been registered in prisons
throughout the country. According to a 2007 NHRC report, the country's
prisons, with an authorized capacity of 234,462, held 358,177 persons.
The MHA reported that prisons were at 135.7 percent of capacity. In
addition, a reported 69.9 percent of the prison population consisted of
persons being tried but not yet convicted. Female prisoners accounted
for 3.9 percent of the total prison population, and women and men were
typically held in separate facilities. According to National Crime
Records Bureau (NCRB) 2007 figures, 12 states held women in prisons
built exclusively for them. Neither the NHRC nor the MHA has released
new figures.
In November the Ministry of Law and Justice informed parliament
that as of June there were 27,120,108 cases pending in subordinate
courts; as of September there were 53,221 cases pending in the Supreme
Court and 4,018,914 in the high courts.
On January 13, the Mumbai High Court ordered the Maharashtra state
government to provide voluntary HIV counseling and testing to 7,000
inmates in the state's four central prisons as part of a campaign to
assess HIV prevalence among inmates. In June the Mumbai High Court
heard a petition claiming Maharashtra prisons were failing to follow
the National AIDS Control Organization's guidelines by not allowing HIV
positive prisoners access to antiretroviral therapy. The prisoner
filing the petition has since died. The Mumbai High Court directed the
Maharashtra health secretary to submit a report on AIDS-related deaths
in prison. The report was pending at year's end.
In September 2007 the NHRC notified Uttar Pradesh's director
general of police (DGP) that the conditions in Mirzapur prison for
female inmates were extremely poor and lacked medical facilities.
Authorities held minor girls in prisons instead of in government homes
for children, in violation of the law. The NHRC asked the DGP for a
detailed report, which was pending at year's end.
The NHRC asked high court chief justices to resolve the problem of
overcrowded prisons. In 2006 the government introduced a plea bargain
option to reduce the pending time of cases in trial courts and prison
overcrowding. In July the Ministry of Law and Justice informed
parliament that 1,563 fast track courts were operational in the
country. In November the Ministry of Law and Justice informed
parliament that fast-track courts had adjudicated 2,594,231 of the
3,208,911 cases that state high courts had transferred to them.
According to the 2006 NHRC report, a large proportion of deaths in
prisons resulted from diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS,
aggravated by poor prison conditions. The NHRC assigned a special
rapporteur to ensure that state prison authorities performed medical
checkups on all inmates. According to the MHA, in 2008-09 there were a
total of 1,528 deaths in prisons, 90 percent of which were due to
natural causes.
By law juveniles must be detained in rehabilitative facilities,
although at times they were detained in prison, especially in the rural
areas. Pretrial detainees were not separated from convicted prisoners.
The NHRC identified torture and deaths in detention as priority
concerns for the commission. The government allowed some NGOs to
provide assistance to prisoners, within specific guidelines, but their
observations of prison conditions often remained confidential due to
agreements with the government. Increased press reporting and
parliamentary questioning provide evidence of growing public awareness
of custodial abuse.
Prison monitoring by independent groups such as the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was permitted in many regions,
including Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, and
Nagaland. For Manipur and Nagaland, special permits were required for
visits. According to the Home Ministry, the ICRC has conducted 832
visits since 2005 in 67 detention centers, including all 25
acknowledged detention centers in Jammu and Kashmir and all facilities
where Kashmiris were held elsewhere in the country. The ICRC was not
authorized to visit interrogation or transit centers in the
northeastern states. Amendments in 2006 to the 1933 Protection of Human
Rights Act (PHRA) authorized the NHRC to make surprise visits to state
prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, but both occurred during the year. According to a
May 4 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), ``Police officers sometimes
make arrests in retaliation for complaints of police abuse, in return
for bribes, or due to political considerations or the influence of
powerful local figures.''
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Although the central
government provides guidance and support, the 28 states and seven union
territories have primary responsibility for maintaining law and order.
The MHA controls most paramilitary forces, the internal intelligence
bureaus, and the nationwide police service, and it provides training
for senior police officers of the state-organized police forces.
Corruption in the police force was pervasive, which several
government officials acknowledged, according to a May 4 HRW report on
police abuse. Officers at all levels acted with impunity, and officials
rarely held them accountable for illegal actions. When a court found an
officer guilty of a crime, the punishment often was a transfer. Human
rights activists and NGOs reported that citizens often had to pay
bribes to receive police services.
According to the MHA's 2008-09 annual report, with information
through March, there had been 1,185 reports of human rights violations
countrywide against army and central paramilitary personnel.
Authorities investigated 1,162 cases; 1,129 were judged false and 33
genuine. The military imposed penalties on 69 individuals and awarded
compensation in six cases.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The law
requires officials to inform detainees of the grounds for arrest and of
the right to legal counsel. Arraignment of a detainee must occur within
24 hours, unless the suspect is held under a preventive detention law.
In practice many suspects were detained without charge, mostly in
terrorism-related cases. AI reported: ``More than 70 persons were
detained without charge, for periods ranging from one week to two
months in connection with bomb blasts in several states throughout the
year. Reports of torture and other ill-treatment of suspects led to
protests from both Muslim and Hindu organizations.''
Individuals under arrest also have the right to bail and prompt
access to a lawyer; those arrested under special security legislation
often received neither. By law authorities must allow family members to
have access to detainees. In practice authorities granted access only
occasionally.
In 2004 the government repealed the Prevention of Terrorism Act
(POTA) and replaced it with the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act
(UAPA). The revised UAPA was intended to provide broader protection for
human rights. The South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC)
reported that more than 1,000 persons remained in detention under POTA.
In December 2008 Union Minister Kapil Sibal announced that there were
90 to 100 pending POTA cases. SAHRDC did not change those numbers
during the year.
As of year's end, approximately 80 Muslims accused of the 2002
Godhra train burning remained in jail in Gujarat under POTA, despite a
POTA review committee ruling in 2005 that POTA did not apply to them,
an October 2008 ruling by the Indian Supreme Court granting their
release, and a Gujarat High Court ruling in February that POTA charges
did not apply to the accused. The Supreme Court suspended the trial of
the Godhra train-burning suspects until April. A fast-track trial of
the suspects began in September and continued at year's end.
Despite the parliament's 2004 repeal of POTA and the introduction
of UAPA, state governments held persons without bail for extended
periods before filing formal charges. For example, four alleged
Naxalite sympathizers (Arun Ferreira, Sridhar Srinivasan, Murli Ashok
Reddy, and Vernon Gonsalves) were arrested in Maharashtra under UAPA in
2007. They remained in jail near Mumbai at year's end.
Maharashtra police made ``preventive arrests'' in the name of
curbing public unrest. For example, in July Mumbai police detained two
Muslim activists on the eve of a foreign minister's visit to Mumbai;
the detention continued for the duration of the visit on the suspicion
that they might engage in public protest. In August the activists filed
a case in the Mumbai High Court against the government of Maharashtra
and against the Mumbai police.
The National Security Act (NSA) allows police to detain persons
considered security risks anywhere in the country, except Jammu and
Kashmir, without charge or trial for as long as one year. The law
stipulates that family members and lawyers can visit NSA detainees and
that authorities must inform a detainee of the grounds for detention
within five days (10 to 15 days in exceptional circumstances). In
practice these rights sometimes were not enforced.
On June 2, police detained five Manipur University students in
Imphal under the NSA on charges of connection with militant
organizations involved in the killing of a professor. The students
remained in custody, and the cases were pending at year's end.
On March 29, BJP member Varun Gandhi was arrested under the NSA for
inciting communal tensions and for engaging in ``hate speech.'' The
BJP, however, claimed the arrest was politically motivated, and Varun
challenged the accusation in court. On May 14, the Supreme Court
revoked the NSA charge.
The Public Safety Act (PSA), which applies only in Jammu and
Kashmir, permits state authorities to detain persons without charge or
judicial review for as long as two years. During this time family
members do not have access to detainees, and detainees do not have
access to legal counsel. In 2005 the NHRC set guidelines regarding
arrest under the PSA that included establishing reasonable belief of
guilt, avoiding detention if bail is an option, protecting the dignity
of those arrested, prohibiting public display or parading, and allowing
access to a lawyer during interrogation. In practice police routinely
employed arbitrary detention and denied detainees, particularly the
destitute, access to lawyers and medical attention. According to media
reports, since 2004 Indian authorities arrested approximately 2,700
Kashmiris under the PSA. On August 28, the state government announced
that officials had detained 121 persons under the PSA during the year.
On October 20, five persons were released under the PSA, including
Hurriyat Conference leader Shabir Shah.
On February 5, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court overturned the
detentions of 10 persons arrested under the PSA during Amarnath land
transfer agitation in 2008.
On April 18, the Jammu and Kashmir Bar Court Association informed
the State Assembly that lawyers had filed 2,223 PSA petitions since
2004.
On May 26, police placed Syed Ali Shah Geelani, chairman of a
faction of the separatist Hurriyat Conference, under house arrest.
Police invoked the PSA and accused him of leading protests regarding
the rape and killing of two Shopian women and an alleged police cover-
up of those events (see section 1.a.). On June 7, Geelani was
transferred to the Cheshmashah jail. In July the Jammu and Kashmir High
Court overturned the PSA charges against Geelani and directed
authorities to release him; they did so on September 9.
On August 11, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told the state
legislative assembly that high-level state screening committees review
PSA cases and make recommendations to the government regarding release.
Based on these recommendations, 21 detainees were released during 2008
and 44 more were released during the year.
In October the Jammu and Kashmir High Court dismissed the PSA
detentions of Muhammad Saleem Nunnaji, Shakeel Ahmad Rather, Khursheed
A Lone, Mohammad Abbas Parray, Sarfaraz Ahmad, Mohammad Shafi Chopan,
Tariq Ahmad Lone, and Javed Ahmad Pathan, all of whom authorities had
arrested for protesting during the 2008 Amarnath shrine controversy.
In 2005 the Chhattisgarh state government enacted the Special
Public Security Act (SPSA), which permits detention for as long as
three years for loosely defined unlawful activities. NGOs criticized
the law as overly broad. Human rights groups voiced concerns that the
law criminalizes any support given to Naxalites, even support provided
under duress.
On May 26, the Indian Supreme Court granted bail to Binayak Sen, a
human rights activist from the People's Union of Civil Liberties
(PUCL). Police arrested Binayak in 2007 under the Chhattisgarh SPSA for
alleged links with Maoists. The trial was underway in a special court
in Raipur at year's end.
In 2005 the PUCL filed a petition challenging the SPSA in the
Supreme Court, but the court said the law had to be challenged in the
state's high court instead. In April the Chhattisgarh High Court
accepted the PUCL's petition regarding the SPSA's constitutionality.
The petition argued that the act's definition of illegal activities and
legal organizations was ambiguous and barred democratic protest and
organizations. By year's end the state had not filed its response to
the petition.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) remained in effect in
Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, and parts of Tripura, and a version of the
law was in effect in Jammu and Kashmir. Under the AFSPA, the government
can declare any state or union territory a ``disturbed area,'' a
declaration that allows security forces to fire on any person to
``maintain law and order'' and to arrest any person ``against whom
reasonable suspicion exists'' without informing the detainee of the
grounds for arrest. The law also gives security forces immunity from
prosecution for acts committed under the AFSPA.
In August police used the AFSPA to arrest an 11-year-old Manipur
girl to force her parents, suspected of helping local armed opposition
groups, to surrender to police. According to AI, the police claimed
they had taken the girl for medical treatment after she fainted, but
they could not explain why they did not take her to a hospital for
treatment. The police released the girl after they arrested her
parents.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected this
provision. In Jammu and Kashmir, insurgents sought to threaten and
intimidate members of the judiciary.
The Supreme Court heads the judicial system and has jurisdiction
over constitutional matters and the decisions of state high courts,
state lower courts, and special tribunals. Lower courts hear criminal
and civil cases, and appeals go to state high courts. The president
appoints judges, who may serve until the age of 62 on state high courts
and 65 on the Supreme Court.
The legal system continued to be overburdened, often delaying
justice. On February 13, A.P. Shah, chief justice of Delhi High Court,
announced it would take 466 years for the courts to clear the existing
backlog of cases. He stated that the backlog resulted from an
inadequate number of judges. There were only 32 judges appointed to the
High Court instead of the mandated 48. In September 2008 Supreme Court
Chief Justice Balakrishnan reported that 610,000 cases were pending in
the lower courts, and the Delhi High Court had 330,000 pending cases.
Many citizens reported that they offered bribes to move cases through
the court system.
On May 1, the Supreme Court ordered the Gujarat High Court to set
up fast-track courts in that state to hear several cases associated
with the 2002 violence. The Supreme Court ordered that central police
forces rather than Gujarat police protect witnesses and gave the SIT
special powers to oversee the prosecutions. Trials commenced for two
incidents, the Godhra train burning and the Gulberg Society case
regarding the killing of Congress Party leader Ehsan Jafri. Both trials
continued at year's end.
Trial Procedures.--The criminal procedure code provides for public
trials, except in proceedings that involve official secrets, trials in
which someone might make statements prejudicial to the safety of the
state, or under provisions of special security legislation. Defendants
enjoy the presumption of innocence and can choose their counsel. Courts
must announce sentences publicly and there are effective channels for
appeal at most levels of the judicial system. The state provides free
legal counsel to indigent defendants, but in practice access to
competent counsel often was limited, especially for the poor, and the
overburdened justice system usually resulted in major delays in court
cases.
The law allows defendants access to relevant government evidence in
most civil and criminal cases; the government reserved the right to
withhold information and did so in cases it considered sensitive.
Courts in Jammu and Kashmir often were reluctant to hear cases
involving insurgent and terrorist crimes and failed to act
expeditiously, if at all, on habeas corpus cases. According to a study
by the South Asia Forum for Human Rights and the Centre for Law and
Development, thousands of habeas corpus cases were pending in the
courts throughout the Kashmir valley.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--NGOs reported that Jammu and
Kashmir held political prisoners, and the government from time to time
temporarily detained hundreds of persons characterized as terrorists,
insurgents, and separatists. Human rights activists based in the state
estimated there were 150 political prisoners. Prisoners arrested under
one of the special antiterrorism laws often were not formally charged,
nor did their family or other visitors have access to them.
On May 27, police arrested Marimuthu Barathan of the Human Rights
Education and Protection Council. Barathan had been working closely
with Dalit communities in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. Police accused
Barathan of the January 11 killing of a man named Madhan, who had
allegedly killed 20 Dalits earlier that day. On June 27, authorities
released Barathan from prison on bail. A hearing was pending at year's
end.
On August 28, the Jammu and Kashmir state government informed the
state legislative assembly that 121 persons had been arrested under the
PSA between January and July. In August the All Parties Hurriyat
Conference (APHC) released a list of 19 activists arrested as a result
of protests of the Shopian incident (see section 1.a.).
In August 2008 police arrested 100 activists, including leaders of
the APHC and the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, in connection with
the Amarnath shrine controversy and the subsequent protests they led.
They were all quickly released, but officials held APHC leaders Shabir
Shah and Asiya Andrabi under the PSA. Shah was released on September
12, and Asiya was released and rearrested on September 15 but released
later that month.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The NHRC is an independent
and impartial investigatory and judicial body the government
established in 1993 under the provisions of the Protection of Human
Rights Act. Its mandate is to address violations of human rights or
negligence in the prevention of violations by public servants,
intervene in judicial proceedings involving allegations of human rights
violations, and review any factors (including acts of terrorism) that
infringe on human rights. The NHRC also recommends appropriate remedies
for alleged wrongs by offering compensation to the families of
individuals killed or harmed extrajudicially by government personnel.
The NHRC is not empowered to address allegations leveled against
military and paramilitary personnel.
According to the Web portal NGOs India, individuals or NGOs can
file Public Interest Litigation petitions in any high court or directly
in the Supreme Court to seek judicial redress of public injury. These
injuries may have been a result of a breach of public duty by a
government agent or as a result of a violation of a provision of the
constitution. Public interest litigation provides for public
participation in judicial review of administrative action by allowing
the public to directly seek legal redress.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits arbitrary interference, and the
government generally respected these laws in practice; however, at
times the authorities infringed upon the right to privacy. Police are
required to obtain warrants to conduct searches and seizures, except in
cases in which such actions would cause undue delay. Police must
justify warrantless searches in writing to the nearest magistrate with
jurisdiction over the offense. In Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, and
Manipur, authorities have special powers to search and arrest without a
warrant.
The Information Technology Act allows police under certain
circumstances to search premises and arrest individuals without a
warrant. The act specifies a one-year sentence for persons who fail to
provide information to the government on request and a five-year
sentence for transmitting ``lascivious'' material.
The Indian Telegraph Act authorizes the surveillance of
communications, including monitoring telephone conversations and
intercepting personal mail in cases of public emergency or ``in the
interest of the public safety or tranquility.'' The central government
and state governments used these surveillance techniques during the
year.
Although the Telegraph Act gives police the power to intercept
telephone conversations, that evidence is generally inadmissible in
court. The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act allows use of evidence
obtained from intercepted communications in terrorist cases.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Insurgent groups killed members of rival factions, government security
forces, government officials, and civilians in Jammu and Kashmir, in
several northeastern states, and in the Naxalite belt in the eastern
part of the country.
Killings.--Security forces allegedly staged encounter killings to
cover up the deaths of captured militants. Human rights groups claimed
police refused to turn over bodies in cases of suspected staged
encounters. In 2002 the Supreme Court ordered the central government
and local authorities to conduct regular checks on police stations to
monitor custodial violence, but government officials often failed to
comply with the order.
Although there were significant improvements during the year, human
rights groups reported that security forces in Jammu and Kashmir
targeted suspected terrorists, insurgents, and their supporters. There
was little consensus about the magnitude of extrajudicial killings and
custodial deaths.
In January the MHA stated in its most recent annual review that
during 2008, terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir had decreased by
39 percent, killings of civilians by 41 percent and of security forces
by 31 percent, compared with 2007. The Jammu and Kashmir director
general of police, Kuldeep Khoda, stated in December 2008 that the year
witnessed a 40 percent decrease in militancy-related incidents compared
with 2007.
In November the MHA informed parliament that 268 civilians and
security forces and 472 militants died or were killed in Jammu and
Kashmir in the first 10 months of the year.
Human rights groups maintained that in Jammu and Kashmir and in the
northeastern states, military and paramilitary forces continued to hold
numerous persons. Human rights activists feared that many of these
unacknowledged prisoners were tortured and some may have been killed.
Investigations continued throughout the year regarding the November
2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai that killed 173 persons and injured at
least 308. Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only terrorist captured
alive, disclosed that the attackers belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).
Violence between the government and Naxalite (Maoist) insurgents
also continued. On June 12, Naxalites detonated a landmine in the
Nawadih area of Jharkhand, killing at least 11 security officers.
On June 20, Naxalites at Tonagapal, Chhattisgarh, set off a mine
blast that killed 12 CRPF officers. Maoists also opened fire in an
ambush of a police patrol. The police returned fire and killed seven
insurgents.
On June 22, the central government declared the Communist Party of
India Maoist (Naxalites) a terrorist organization.
On July 8, the MHA released figures indicating that Naxalite
violence had caused the deaths of as many as 455 persons (255 civilians
and 200 security personnel) in the first half of the year. The states
of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand accounted for 60 percent of insurgent
deaths in the country in this period. There were 148 deaths in
Chhattisgarh and 122 in Jharkhand. Of the 107 Naxalites killed in the
same period, 63 died in Chhattisgarh.
On July 12, Naxalites allegedly killed 30 police personnel in two
separate incidents in the Rajnandgaon District of Chhattisgarh.
On September 17, Naxalites fired on members of the CRPF's Combat
Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and the Chhattisgarh Police,
killing six officers, including assistant CoBRA commandants Manoranjan
Singh and Rakesh Chaurasia.
On September 19, security personnel shot approximately two dozen
Naxalites in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. During the
exchange the Naxalites killed an assistant CoBRA commandant.
On September 28, security forces killed three alleged LeT
terrorists, including two individuals from Pakistan, in an encounter in
south Kashmir. A woman also died in the crossfire. The media reported
that security forces killed 11 alleged terrorists from September 20 to
25.
On October 7, alleged Naxalites beheaded a civilian at Kurkheda,
Jharkhand, a day after Jharkhand police recovered the decapitated body
of Police Inspector Francis Enduwar, who had been abducted on September
30.
On October 8, Naxalites shot and killed 17 policemen in a firefight
in a forest along the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border.
In November the MHA informed parliament that 577 security forces
and civilians and 514 militants were killed in the Northeast during the
first 10 months of the year.
According to data provided October 12 in the South Asia Terrorism
Portal database, 788 persons (261 civilians, 293 security forces
personnel, and 234 militants) were killed as a result of violent
clashes during the year. At least 74 major incidents of violence
involving Naxalites were reported, resulting in the deaths of 366
persons, including 138 civilians, 124 security forces personnel, and
104 Maoists.
Abductions.--On July 6, the human rights group Press for Peace
demanded the release and safety of two Kashmiri women kidnapped by
local Muzaffarabad residents while the women were in police custody.
The press reported the abductions occurred in relation to a dowry
dispute.
On July 15, Daleep Kumar, the father of a missing 14-year-old boy,
filed a complaint against a soldier, Ram Lal of 25 Rajput Regiment, for
allegedly abducting the boy from near the Line-of-Control in Rajouri
District of Jammu and Kashmir. At year's end the case was under review
at the police station in Bhawani.
On August 2, militants abducted and beheaded civilian Ali Saeed
near his home in Rajouri District, Kashmir. There were several media
reports stating that the militants may have believed that Saeed was
working with Kashmiri security forces.
Physical Abuse, Punishment, and Torture.--On February 3, members of
the regional political party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) assaulted
and injured 10 persons attending a rally in Mumbai. MNS members
continued attacks over the next several days in Mumbai, Pune, and
Nasik. Although police did not stop the attacks, they later arrested
more than 60 MNS members and ordered a probe into abusive remarks made
by MNS chief Raj Thackeray. MNS activists allegedly threatened north
Indians in Nasik and Pune, and many laborers fled the state. MNS
activists allegedly hit one person with stones; he later died of his
injuries. Police charged Thackeray with inciting violence and twice
briefly arrested him. On February 22, the Supreme Court condemned
Thackeray's inflammatory remarks against north Indians. The
investigation of the February incidents continued at year's end.
An investigation continued at year's end into the October 2008 MNS
assaults on north Indian candidates who were in Mumbai for an Indian
Railways recruitment examination.
Child Soldiers.--According to a report the Indian National
Commission for the Protection of Child Rights released January 23,
recruitment of child soldiers by insurgent groups rose in 2008. The
report also noted that Naxalites formed a children's division. NGOs
alleged that militants often used the children as shields against
government security forces. The report also stated that Naxalites were
recruiting children in Orissa. The UN conducted investigations into
these allegations throughout the year. There were no credible reports
of any government security forces using child soldiers during the year.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and expression, but it does not explicitly mention
freedom of the press. The government generally respected these rights
in practice. Under the 1923 Official Secrets Act, the government may
prosecute any person who publishes or communicates information that
could be harmful to the state.
The Press Council, a statutory body of journalists, publishers,
academics, and politicians with a government-appointed chairman,
investigates what it considers irresponsible journalism and sets a code
of conduct for publishers. The code includes injunctions against
publishing stories that might incite caste or communal violence. The
council publicly criticized those it believed had broken the code.
Independent newspapers and magazines regularly published and
television channels broadcast investigative reports, including
allegations of government wrongdoing, and the media generally promoted
human rights and criticized perceived government violations.
Private entities owned most print media and 80 percent of
television stations.
With the exception of radio, foreign media generally operated
freely. Widely distributed private satellite television provided
competition for Doordarshan, the government-owned television network.
Although there were allegations that the government network manipulated
the news, some privately owned satellite channels promoted the
platforms of political parties their owners supported. On September 19,
the cabinet authorized foreign news magazines to print local editions
of their publications. Previously the government had allowed foreign
magazines to print only scientific, technical, and specialty
periodicals.
The government often held foreign satellite broadcasters, rather
than domestic cable operators, liable under civil law for what it
deemed objectionable content on satellite channels--notably, tobacco
and alcohol advertisements and adult content.
AM radio broadcasting remained a government monopoly. Private FM
radio station ownership was legal, but licenses authorized only
entertainment and educational content. Officials prohibited local
editions of foreign publications, but the government allowed country-
specific editions to be published by local companies with no more than
a 26 percent foreign partnership.
The authorities generally allowed foreign journalists to travel
freely, including in Jammu and Kashmir, where they regularly met with
separatist leaders and filed reports on a range of topics, including
government abuses. Nonetheless, in May Reporters Without Borders
reported that the government had denied a press visa to Hasnain Kazim,
a German journalist of Indian origin. They stated that Indian diplomats
acknowledged to German officials that visa denial was linked to the
government's view that his articles were overly critical and biased
against the government and therefore illegal.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the Newspapers Incitements to Offenses Act
allows a district magistrate to prohibit publication of material likely
to incite violence. Newspapers in Srinagar were able to report in
detail on alleged human rights abuses by the government, and separatist
Kashmiri groups regularly issued press releases. Due to the threat of
violence by extremist groups, many journalists self-censored their
articles. Some smaller media outlets also self-censored for fear of
losing state government advertising revenue. The press in Jammu and
Kashmir was vibrant, with more than 30 daily newspapers.
The central government maintained a list of banned books that were
not permitted to be imported or sold in the country because they
contained material that government censors deemed inflammatory and apt
to provoke communal or religious tensions. The Rajasthan government
continued to ban the books Haqeeqat (The Truth) and Ve Sharm Se Hindu
Kahate Hain Kyon? (Why Do They Say With Shame They Are Hindus?) because
of alleged ``blasphemy against Hindu gods.''
On June 5, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah banned
the operation of a local cable channel for allegedly televising
inflammatory news leading to violence following the rape and murder of
two women in Shopian. On June 6, the state government directed all
private news channels to restrict daily news bulletins to 15 minutes.
The government lifted the ban and restrictions after a few days.
On August 19, the Gujarat government attempted to ban Jinnah:
India-Partition-Independence for carrying defamatory language against
Sardar Vallabhai Patel due to concerns that the comments would provoke
communal clashes. On September 4, the Gujarat High Court struck down
the ban, stating it was against fundamental rights and freedom of
expression.
Internet Freedom.--There were government restrictions on access to
the Internet and reports that the government occasionally monitored
users of digital media. According to Freedom House, there were
approximately 82 million Internet users in the country.
According to Freedom House, the Indian Computer Emergency Response
Team created by the government in 2003 to review ``requests from a
designated pool of government officials to block access to websites''
engaged in Internet censorship and filtering.
A 2008 amendment to the Information Technology Act reinforced the
government's power to block Internet sites and content, and it
criminalized the sending of messages it deemed inflammatory or
offensive. Both central and state governments have the power to issue
directions for the interception, monitoring, or decryption of computer
information.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The government continued to
apply restrictions to the travel and activities of a few visiting
experts and scholars. Academic guidelines issued by the Ministry of
Human Resources Development (MHRD) in 2003 remained in effect and
required all central universities to obtain MHRD permission before
organizing ``all forms of foreign collaborations and other
international academic exchange activities,'' including seminars,
conferences, workshops, guest lectures, and research. Although the
restrictions remained in force, in most cases the MHRD permitted the
international academic exchanges to take place after bureaucratic
delays.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally
respected this right in practice.
Freedom of Assembly.--Authorities normally required permits and
notification before parades or demonstrations, and local governments
generally respected the right to protest peacefully, except in Jammu
and Kashmir, where the local government sometimes denied permits to
separatist parties for public gatherings and detained separatists
engaged in peaceful protest. During periods of civil tension,
authorities used the criminal procedure code to ban public assemblies
or impose a curfew.
On June 29, police shot and killed two persons in Baramulla who
were protesting a policeman's alleged harassment of a woman.
On June 30, police killed two persons participating in
demonstrations following the May rape and killing of two women in
Shopian.
On July 3, violent protests erupted in the Kashmir valley over the
police shooting of four youths and the disappearance of another man.
More than 30 persons were injured in clashes between protestors and
security forces. Clashes also erupted in Sopore in response to the same
incident. Police and the paramilitary CRPF used tear gas and batons to
disperse the protesters.
On September 16, police shot and killed three persons in Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh. The villagers were protesting police failure to trace
an individual who had been missing for more than two months.
On October 26, police injured four persons in Jammu and Kashmir who
were protesting the killing of a man by soldiers after he allegedly
intruded into an army camp. Media reports indicated police used batons
and fired teargas shells to disperse the protesters.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for the freedom of
association, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
NGOs must secure approval from the MHA before organizing
international conferences. Human rights groups contended that this
practice provided the government with political control over the work
of NGOs and restricted their freedom of assembly and association.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for secular government
and the protection of religious freedom, and the central government
generally respected these provisions in practice. The country's
longstanding democratic system, open society, independent legal
institutions, vibrant civil society, and media all continued to provide
mechanisms to address violations of religious freedom when they
occurred.
According to the Ministry of Minority Affairs' annual report for
2008-09, the National Commission for Minorities received 2,250 total
complaints: 1,474 from Muslims, 183 from Christians, 151 from Sikhs, 42
from Buddhists, and the remainder from other small groups.
Some groups interpreted ineffective investigation and prosecution
of past attacks on religious minorities, particularly at the state and
local levels, as creating an atmosphere of impunity. The country's
federal political system accords state governments primary jurisdiction
over maintaining law and order, which limited the national government's
capacity to deal directly with state-level abuses, including abuses of
religious freedom.
The law mandates benefits for certain groups, including some
defined by their religion. For example, the government allowed
educational institutions administered by minority religions to reserve
seats for their coreligionists even when the institutions received
government funding. Article 17 of the constitution outlawed
untouchability, but members of lower castes remained in a
disadvantageous position. A quota system reserved government jobs and
places in higher education institutions for Scheduled Castes (SC),
Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes members belonging to
the Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist religious groups, but not for Christians
or Muslims. Christian groups filed a court case demanding that converts
to Christianity and Islam enjoy the same access to ``reservations'' as
other SC groups. The Supreme Court was considering the case at year's
end.
On June 23, the Ministry of Minority Affairs announced in
parliament the prime minister's 15-Point Program for the Welfare of
Minorities, which provided reservations for minorities in addition to
the SC and ST quotas. Christians and Muslims became eligible for these
reservations, and the program allowed special considerations in job
recruitment as well as representation on selection committees. The new
program provided scholarships and coaching to enable minorities to
compete more effectively for opportunities. The Ministry of Minority
Affairs monitored the program quarterly.
In November the MHA informed the parliament that 663 cases of
communal incidents of violence, including (but not limited to) riots
and ethnic strife, had occurred as of September. Uttar Pradesh had the
highest number at 126, followed by Maharashtra at 111.
The law criminalizes the use of any religious site for political
purposes or the use of temples to harbor persons accused or convicted
of crimes. The Religious Buildings and Places Act requires a state
government permit before construction of any religious building. NGOs
and activists expressed concern that the act would be enforced only for
religious buildings of minority religious groups. In September the
Supreme Court issued an order disallowing new construction of places of
worship in public places.
There are active ``anticonversion'' laws in five of the 28 states:
Gujarat, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh;
however, there were no reports of convictions under these laws during
the year. Arunachal Pradesh has an inactive ``anticonversion'' law
awaiting regulations needed for enforcement.
In 2007 the Andhra Pradesh government enacted a law limiting the
``propagation of other religion in places of worship or prayer.'' The
law forbids the distribution of literature of one religion within the
vicinity of a designated place of worship of a different religion.
There were reports from faith-based media of approximately 17 arrests
under state-level ``anticonversion'' and other restrictive laws in
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra during the period July
2008 through June. Of the 17, seven were reports from Chhattisgarh and
six from Madhya Pradesh. In most cases police allowed the arrestees to
post bail and released them after a night in jail. Faith-based NGOs
alleged the arrests were intended to discourage Christian prayer
meetings.
There is no national law barring a person from professing or
propagating religious beliefs, but the law prohibits international
visitors on tourist visas from engaging in religious proselytizing
without prior permission from the MHA. Officials granted foreigners
permission to travel to some northeastern states on a case-by-case
basis due to political instability and security concerns. Missionaries
and religious organizations must comply with the Foreign Contribution
and Regulation Act (FCRA), which restricts funding from abroad. The
government can ban a religious organization that violates the FCRA,
provokes intercommunity friction, or has been involved in terrorism or
sedition.
The legal system accommodates religious minorities by allowing
different personal laws for religious communities. Religion-specific
laws are paramount in matters of marriage, divorce, adoption, and
inheritance. The personal status laws of some religious communities
sometimes disadvantaged women within their families and communities.
The law limits inheritance, alimony payments, and property
ownership of persons from interfaith marriages and prohibits the use of
churches for marriage ceremonies in which one party is a non-Christian.
Clergymen who break the law may face as long as 10 years' imprisonment,
but the act does not bar interfaith marriages.
On June 4, the government of Gujarat appointed a commission of
inquiry to study settlement patterns in Gujarat from independence in
1947 until the present. The commission's mandate was to identify the
areas occupied by persons of different religious faiths and their
migration patterns and to give recommendations for ``stopping the
polarization of population in the state.'' Human rights groups
criticized the choice of a judge as the single member of the commission
because they alleged he had made several anti-Muslim rulings. The
groups also voiced concern that detailed mapping of Hindu and Muslim
residential localities could be used for targeting victims in
subsequent riots. The government asked the commission to submit its
report by January 2011.
The August 2008 killing of a popular Hindu religious leader sparked
a wave of retaliatory violence in the remote, sparsely populated tribal
area of Kandhamal, Orissa. According to widely accepted government
statistics, 40 persons died and 134 were injured. Although most of the
victims were Christians, the underlying causes that led to the violence
had complex economic, religious, and political roots related to land
ownership and government-reserved employment and education benefits.
Relief camps that opened in 2008 to shelter the 24,000 persons
displaced by the violence were closed during the year, but some NGOs
reported that villagers were unable to return to their villages, and
others who tried were threatened or asked to abandon their religious
beliefs as a condition for return. The state continued to pursue fast-
track court cases against the suspected killers of the religious
leader. Fast-track proceedings also were underway in relation to the
300 open cases that resulted from the rioting that left 40 dead. In
addition, the state also began to address the underlying socioeconomic
causes of the violence.
On January 5, a Catholic nun who allegedly was raped during the
September 2008 Kandhamal riots identified two of the three individuals
who attacked her. On June 23, she identified the last of her attackers.
At year's end a fast-track court process continued in the case.
Prosecutions for the Orissa violence continued in a fast-track
court, and approximately 60 to 70 convictions and 100 acquittals
resulted. On July 26, five persons were convicted and sentenced to six
years' imprisonment. On September 7, six persons were convicted and
sentenced to four years' imprisonment and fined 2,000 rupees
(approximately $40).
In September 2008 militant Hindu activists attacked Christian
churches in and around Mangalore, Karnataka. Three Christians were
critically injured and more than a dozen others were assaulted.
Mahendra Kumar, the local leader of the Hindu Bajrang Dal organization,
claimed responsibility, stating the attacks were in response to
``forced conversions'' and insults toward Hindu deities. On November
13, a fast-track court acquitted six suspects, bringing the total
number of acquittals to 121, with 27 convictions. At year's end, the
state-initiated judicial inquiry into the attacks continued, but
Christian groups and media sources expressed doubts about its
impartiality.
On April 9, more than 500 protesters from Sikh organizations
protested outside a New Delhi judicial court that was scheduled to hear
arguments in favor of closing the case against Congress Party leader
Jagdish Tytler regarding his alleged participation in the 1984 anti-
Sikh riots. Later that day Tytler announced his decision to pull out of
the Lok Sabha elections. A lawyer representing victims of the 1984
anti-Sikh violence claimed supporters of Tytler had threatened him.
On May 5, riots occurred in Punjab after members of a Sikh sect in
Austria killed a preacher from a rival sect who had traveled to Vienna
to conduct a special service. Within hours of the incident in Vienna,
thousands of protesters in Punjab clashed with police and engaged in
vandalism. In Jalandhar police fired on rioting mobs, killing one man
and injuring at least four persons.
On June 16, the Punjab government banned a textbook that allegedly
contained objectionable remarks against Maharishi Valmiki on the
grounds that it might hurt the sentiments of a large section of
society. Maharishi Valmiki authored the Hindu epic Ramayana.
On June 23, a fast-track court charged 73 persons for murder,
attempted murder, criminal conspiracy, rioting, looting, and other
violations of the penal code during post-Godhra riots in Sardarpura,
Gujarat. During the riots 33 minority community members were killed,
and an estimated 8.5 million rupees (approximately $170,000) worth of
property was damaged. Hundreds of other court cases stemming from the
2002 violence in Gujarat remained unsettled.
On August 26, the Delhi High Court sentenced four persons to life
imprisonment for their involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The
court imposed a fine of 21,000 rupees (approximately $477) on Lal
Bahadur, Ram Lal, Virender, and Surinder Pal Singh after finding them
guilty of rioting, murder, and conspiracy. NGOs reported that numerous
cases related to the riots had not been resolved.
On September 30, a New Delhi city court acquitted Jagdish Singh,
Sajjan Singh, and Ishwar Singh, accused of leading a mob that lynched a
man during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The MHA's 2008-09 annual
report stated there were 943 cases of communal violence in 2008 in
which 167 persons were killed and 2,354 were injured. These attacks
occurred against several different communities, including Christian,
Hindu, and Muslim. In 2008 Hindu-Christian communal riots resulted in
the deaths of 44 persons and injuries to 82. No further updated figures
were available.
Several human rights and religious freedom NGOs continued to
express concern about sporadic anti-Christian violence in some states
governed by the BJP and claimed some attackers had affiliations with
the Hindu extremist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Muslims in some Hindu-dominated areas continued to experience
discrimination and reported poor government response to their concerns,
which limited their access to work, residency, and education.
On July 2, rioting in Karnataka between Muslims and Hindus resulted
in three deaths after a dead pig was thrown into the compound of a
mosque that was under construction. More than a dozen individuals were
injured in the clashes.
Hindu organizations frequently alleged that Christian missionaries
forced or lured Hindus, particularly those of lower castes, to convert
to Christianity. Such allegations fomented anti-Christian violence.
On October 25 in Madhya Pradesh, 11 Hindu extremists assaulted a
Protestant clergyman. On the same date, in Karnataka, approximately 50
Hindus stormed an Assembly of God church, disrupting Sunday worship.
They beat the clergyman, burned Bibles, and threatened worshippers.
On several occasions, extremist Hindu groups in Karnataka's
Dakshina Kannada district attacked young women visiting pubs, as well
as Muslim boys found speaking to Hindu girls. On January 25, members of
Sri Ram Sene, a right-wing group, beat and molested young women in
Amnesia Lounge Bar in Mangalore, ostensibly to protect Indian culture
from behavior the activists perceived as inappropriate, such as wearing
western clothes, drinking, smoking, and dancing with men.
On February 26, the Hindu daughter of a legislator in Kerala was
attacked while she was talking to a male Muslim friend on a bus. Sri
Ram Sene activists reportedly proceeded to harass the two and forced
them off the bus. The girl was released after the assailants became
aware of her identity, but they repeatedly assaulted her Muslim friend.
The BJP government termed both attacks as trivial. The media
characterized the attacks as ``Talibanization,'' which in turn prompted
the central government to reprimand the state government. Media sources
alleged that such ``morality'' vigilantism continued in remote parts of
the district.
Most Indian Jews emigrated to Israel in 1948, but there were small,
active communities primarily based in Mumbai, with a total estimated
population of 1,500 persons. During the November 2008 attacks in
Mumbai, terrorists allegedly belonging to LeT attacked the Jewish
Chabad-Lubavitch center at the Nariman House as part of coordinated
attacks on high-profile civilian targets in the city. The attackers
killed six Jewish persons from the United States, Israel, and Mexico
before security forces killed the attackers. The attackers also killed
Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Parsis. The trial of the sole
surviving alleged gunman in the attacks began in March.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement, and the government generally respected this in practice,
although special permits are required for the northeastern states and
parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
Security forces often searched and questioned vehicle occupants at
checkpoints, mostly in troubled areas in the Kashmir valley or after
major terrorist attacks. The government also completed construction
(except in areas of difficult terrain) of a 330-mile security fence
along the Line-of-Control in Jammu and Kashmir, causing difficulties as
the fence cuts through some villages and agricultural lands. The
government attributed a decline in insurgent crossings in part to the
fence.
The government legally may deny a passport to any applicant who it
believes may engage in activities outside the country ``prejudicial to
the sovereignty and integrity of the nation.'' The government
prohibited foreign travel by some government critics, especially those
advocating a Sikh homeland and members of the separatist movement in
Jammu and Kashmir.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of the government
using the issuance of passports or travel documents to restrict travel
of separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. Citizens from Jammu and
Kashmir continued to face extended delays, often as long as two years,
before the Ministry of External Affairs would issue or renew their
passports. Government officials demanded bribes for applicants from
Jammu and Kashmir who required special clearances. The government
subjected applicants born in Jammu and Kashmir--even the children of
serving military officers born during their parents' deployment in the
state--to additional scrutiny, requests for bribes, and police
clearances before issuing them passports.
There was no law banning forced exile and no reports of forced
exile during the year.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--According to the Norwegian
Refugee Council, regional conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, and
the Northeast displaced at least 650,000 persons. According to the
MHA's 2008-09 annual report, there were 55,000 Kashmiri Pandit migrant
families, of whom 34,878 resided in Jammu, 19,338 in Delhi and 1,240 in
other states. There were 230 migrant families living in 14 camps in
Delhi, and 5,778 families in 16 camps in Jammu.
On February 2, local Kashmiri Pandits released a survey on their
population in the state. The survey found 2,865 Pandits residing in the
state, compared with 19,900 in 1998.
On August 25, the Jammu and Kashmir government announced a package
of approximately 16 billion rupees ($32 million) for the return and
rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits to the state.
During the year the government issued passports to several
separatist leaders from Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the MHA's 2008-09 annual report, the central
government began discussions with the state of Mizoram regarding
repatriation of 32,500 Reang IDPs living in six relief camps in Tripura
to Mizoram.
According to media sources, tensions in six Reang/Bru camps in
Kanchanpur resulted from failure to include more than 7,000 children in
the distribution of ration cards. A survey conducted by the Asian
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples' Network (AITPN) on internally displaced
families at Bru found that more than 94 percent of the camp inmates had
documents issued by Mizoram authorities to prove their bona fide
residence.
AITPN presented its findings to the Supreme Court, but neither the
state nor the central government tried to verify the Brus' status.
Despite the Tripura government's recommendation, the central government
failed to increase the ration card numbers to include 1,514 children,
forcing families to share their food allocation. More than 1,000 Hmar,
one of many groups who belong to the Chin-Kuku-Mizo tribe, reportedly
were displaced in and around Mizoram.
In 2005 the Supreme Court ordered the MHA, the election commission,
and the governments of Mizoram and Tripura to resettle approximately
30,000 displaced Reangs and add them to the electoral rolls. By year's
end approximately 1,000 Reangs were resettled in Mizoram.
The Bru National Liberation Front and Mizoram government agreed on
a financial package of 278 million rupees (approximately $6.3 million)
and paved the way for the resettlement of Reang IDPs encamped in North
Tripura.
The violence in Gujarat in 2002 displaced many Muslims from
Gujarati villages and cities. According to June estimates from an NGO
that carried out a study for the National Commission for Minorities,
approximately 5,000 Muslim families had not been able to return to
their original homes; instead, they continued to live in 46 camps in
precarious conditions across Gujarat.
More than 87,000 persons lived under poor conditions in IDP camps
in Assam as a result of violence in the Northeast.
The government provided assistance to IDPs and allowed them access
to NGO and human rights organizations. As in previous years, there were
no reports that the government attacked or forcibly resettled IDPs.
There were no specific government programs designed to facilitate
resettlement or return to countries of origin.
IDP camps that opened in Chhattisgarh for displaced tribal persons
caught in fighting between Naxalites and the Salwa Judum in 2006
continued to operate. An October 2008 NHRC report identified 23
government relief camps, with an estimated camp population of 40,000
IDPs, down from 27 camps with as many as 60,000 IDPs in 2006. There
were no updated estimates of camp populations available.
The camps lacked adequate shelter, food, health care, education,
and security. Civil society groups alleged that men, women, and
children from the camps were trafficked for labor, sexual exploitation,
and child soldiering. Some sources alleged that both Naxalites and
Salwa Judum activists armed children, but there was no confirmed
evidence. Police acknowledged that some minors may have been armed
unintentionally as special police officers but stated that police
dismissed minors upon learning their ages.
NGOs alleged that hundreds of Chhattisgarh IDPs settled in forest
reserve areas in Andhra Pradesh were denied basic assistance, including
food, water, shelter, medical facilities, and sanitation. Little was
known about the population or their living conditions. According to
HRW, the Andhra Pradesh forest department attempted to evict displaced
persons from Kothooru.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol. Due
to the absence of clear guidelines, refugees are governed under the
Foreigners Act 1946, which defines a foreigner as a person who is not a
citizen of India and is thus eligible to be deported. The government
has established a system for providing protection against the expulsion
or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would
be threatened on account of their race, religion, nationality,
membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. This
applied especially to Tibetans and Sri Lankans.
According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), during the year there were 11,321 refugees under UNHCR mandate
in the country. Since 1960 the government has hosted approximately
110,000 de facto refugees from Tibet. Tibetan leaders in the country
stated that the government treated them extremely well. The MHA has
spent 180.7 million rupees (approximately $4.2 million) on Tibetan
refugee resettlement.
According to the World Refugee Survey, 456,000 refugees were in the
country, including the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan
Buddhists. The survey noted that there were 100,000 refugees from
Myanmar, 30,000 from Afghanistan, 25,000 from Bhutan, and 25,000 from
Nepal residing in the country. According to the MHA's 2008-09 annual
report, citing information of the Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai
Lama, the population of Tibetan refugees in the country as of February
2008 was 110,095.
The government generally denied NGOs, international humanitarian
organizations, and the UNHCR direct access to refugee and IDP camps,
particularly in Mizoram, although foreign government access was
granted. Although the UNHCR had no formal status, the government
permitted its staff access to refugees in urban centers and allowed it
to maintain a local office in Tamil Nadu. The government did not
formally recognize UNHCR designations of refugee status, although it
provided ``residential permits'' to many Afghans and Burmese. An
estimated 1,900 Burmese refugees have lived in New Delhi since 1982.
The government considered Tibetans and Sri Lankans in settlements and
refugee camps to be refugees and provided assistance, but because it
regarded most other groups, especially Bangladeshis, as economic
migrants, it did not provide aid to them. In recent years a number of
court rulings extended protection to refugees the government formerly
considered economic migrants.
As of October approximately 73,000 Sri Lankan refugees from 19,904
families lived in 117 refugee camps throughout Tamil Nadu. There were
26,729 Sri Lankan refugees living outside the camps after completing a
registration process with the nearest police station. The central
government and the state of Tamil Nadu jointly provided monthly cash
payments and food subsidies to the refugees. The refugees were free to
move in and out of the camps but had to return to camps for periodic
roll calls. The refugees were subject to surveillance by police.
Refugee children generally enrolled in local schools.
According to NGOs, conditions in the Sri Lankan refugee camps in
Tamil Nadu were generally acceptable, although much of the housing, as
well as water and sanitation facilities, were of poor quality. There
were some reports of gender-based violence. The UNHCR continued to meet
outside the camps with Tamil refugees considering voluntary
repatriation. The NGO Organization for Eelam Refugee Rehabilitation had
regular access to the camps, as did some other international NGOs.
There were approximately 65,000 persons who were not formally
recognized as refugees living in the country, according to the World
Refugee Survey. In addition, Chakmas and approximately 200,000
Santhals, both from Bangladesh, resided in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram,
and Assam. Afghans, Iraqis, and Iranians without valid national
passports were also present in the country. In most cases the
government chose not to deport them, issued them renewable residence
permits, or ignored their presence. For financial and other reasons,
many refugees were unable or unwilling to obtain or renew national
passports and could not regularize their status.
According to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
(USCRI), the ``Citizenship Amendment Act of 2003 defines all
noncitizens who entered without visas as illegal migrants, with no
exception for refugees or asylum seekers, [but the government] does
grant some Tibetans and Sri Lankans asylum under executive policies,
based on strategic, political, and humanitarian grounds.India does not
formally recognize UNHCR's grants of refugee status under its mandate
but typically does not refoule them either and gives residence permits
to some Afghans and Myanmarese mandate refugees.''
The UNHCR provided refugee status and assistance to approximately
1,800 Chins from Burma living in New Delhi. The UNHCR did not have
access to the larger population of ethnic Chins living in the
northeastern states. According to USCRI's World Refugee Survey, an
estimated 100,000 Chins lived and worked illegally in Mizoram. Mizoram
human rights groups estimated that approximately 31,000 Reangs, a
tribal group from Mizoram displaced by sectarian conflict, remained in
six camps in North Tripura. Conditions in these camps were poor, and
the Tripura government asked the central government to allot funds for
their care.
USCRI also reported a number of cases of abuse of refugees and
arbitrary detentions. USCRI noted that ``even recognized refugees
cannot work legally, although Nepalese and Bhutanese nationals could do
so under friendship treaties. [but] the Government rarely punishes
employers formally for hiring refugees illegally. Many refugees work in
the informal sector or in highly visible occupations such as street
vendors, where they are subject to police extortion, nonpayment, and
exploitation.''
The UNHCR reported that the government collaborated with it to
protect and assist approximately 11,000 urban refugees, most of them
from Afghanistan and Burma. The UNHCR also reported that the government
was developing a national legal framework to ensure protection for
refugees and had provided more resettlement opportunities for long-
staying refugees. The UNHCR and the government continued to pursue
durable solutions for all refugee groups, focusing on resettlement and
negotiation of an agreement that provided for local integration through
naturalization for Hindu and Sikh refugees from Afghanistan.
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 country has a
longstanding democratic parliamentary system of government, with
representatives elected in multiparty elections. The parliament sits
for five years unless it is dissolved earlier for new elections, except
under constitutionally defined emergency situations. The country held a
five-phase national election in April and May that included 714 million
eligible voters. National and local security forces helped to ensure a
relatively smooth election, although 65 persons were killed in voting-
related violence. The Congress-led United Progress Alliance government,
headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, returned to power for a second
term in May.
Citizens elected state governments and local municipal or village
council governments at regular intervals. During the year free and fair
assembly elections were held in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Sikkim,
Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Haryana. During the elections seven
civilians were killed in election-related violence.
Political parties could operate without restriction or outside
interference. On May 7 in West Bengal, there were reports of political
violence. According to media reports, 11 persons were killed as a
result of postpolling violence. Communist Party of India-Marxist
activists fought with Trinamool Congress supporters using bombs,
firearms, and weapons in several Bengali districts. Hundreds of houses
were set ablaze or otherwise damaged in Howrah, Burdwan, East
Midnapore, and Murshidabad districts. Sporadic politically motivated
violence continued through August.
The May general elections were largely peaceful in Jammu and
Kashmir. Average turnout of the five-phase elections in the state
reached a historic high of 40 percent. There was no significant
violence in spite of threats by militant groups and boycott calls by
separatists.
On April 24, Abdul Sattar Ganaie, bloc president of the National
Conference party, was shot and killed by militants in Baramulla
District. Ganaie was the only political leader killed by militants
during the election process.
On April 29, the government imposed an undeclared curfew in the
Kashmir valley to prevent antipoll protests, and 21 persons were
injured when police used tear gas against curfew violators. Many
separatist leaders were put under house arrest to prevent their
participation.
The elections brought 78 female members to the Lok Sabha (lower
house), which can have up to 552 members. Women held many high-level
political offices, including President Pratibha Patil, Lok Sabha
Speaker Meira Kumar, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati. Women
remained active in politics throughout the country at all levels.
On August 29, the central government approved a proposed amendment
to the constitution to increase reservations in elected village
councils (panchayats) from 33 percent to 50 percent for women.
Parliament approved the amendment, and implementation across states was
ongoing at year's end.
The constitution stipulates that to protect historically
marginalized groups and to ensure representation in the lower house of
parliament, each state must reserve seats for scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes in proportion to their population in the state. Only
candidates belonging to these groups can contest elections in reserved
constituencies. In the 2009 elections, 84 seats for candidates from
scheduled castes and 47 seats for scheduled tribes members were
reserved, representing 24 percent of the total seats in parliament's
lower house.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption; in
practice officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with
impunity. Both the Election Commission and the Supreme Court upheld
mandatory disclosures of criminal and financial records for election
candidates. Election campaigns for the parliament and state
legislatures often were funded with unreported money, and the
government failed to control the practice.
The law does not prevent candidates who are facing criminal charges
from running for public office unless they have been convicted. In its
2009 report, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) estimated
that one-quarter to one-third of the country's directly elected members
of parliament (MPs) faced criminal charges ranging from trespass to
murder. The year's election brought a 20 percent increase in the number
of MPs who had pending criminal cases as compared with the 2004
elections; the ADR noted that five MPs with serious charges had been
voted out of office.
Transparency International (TI) and the India and Center for Media
Studies, found that nearly one million households below the poverty
line had to pay bribes worth 68.8 million rupees (approximately $1.5
million) to obtain public services typically provided free of cost,
such as police protection, school admission, water supply, and
government assistance. Half of the bribes were paid for the benefit of
registering for government assistance. In February 2008 a survey the
Institute of Development and Communication conducted for the Punjab
government's Department of Planning found that 76.5 percent of
respondents reported paying bribes to municipal officials to get work
done. Furthermore, 94.1 percent of respondents stated that officials
had asked them for money before addressing problems with basic
amenities such as water, sewage, streetlights, and roads. TI India and
the Center for Media Studies did not release updated findings during
the year.
According to a survey released in January by Trace International, a
not-for-profit association that helps companies to combat bribery, 91
percent of bribe demands came from government officials. Police
officers accounted for 30 percent of the bribe demands. Express India
reported that the survey also indicated that ``of the total reported
bribe demands at the national level, 13 percent were from the national
office of Customs and 9 percent each were from the national offices of
Taxation and Water.'' On February 26, the New Delhi city court
sentenced former minister of state for communications Sukh Ram to three
years' imprisonment for illegally amassing properties during his
government tenure from 1991 to 1996. The former official was also
ordered to forfeit 43.5 million rupees (approximately $926,000) and to
pay a fine of 200,000 rupees ($4,260) fine.
On September 1, a Delhi court sentenced a suspended Delhi
municipality engineer to four years' imprisonment for taking a bribe of
25,000 rupees ($530) for allowing construction of a building in an
industrial area in 2003.
In 2006 the government launched a national antibribery campaign to
raise public awareness of the right to information. The law mandates
stringent penalties for failure to provide information or for
restricting the flow of information, and requires agencies to be more
flexible in releasing sensitive information. Although the government
took extended periods of time to reply to information requests, local
community members as well as noncitizens could access the Right to
Information Act (RTI) online portal to get information on personal
documentation, city plans, and other public records. The government
charged 10 rupees (approximately $0.21) as a fee at the time of the
request. Many state governments, including that of Jammu and Kashmir,
have right-to-information laws.
The MHA's 2008-09 annual report stated that 20,920 requests were
processed under the central RTI in 2007-06, an increase from the 8,311
requests addressed in the previous year. If a request is denied, one
can appeal to the Central Information Commission and then to the high
court. On August 4, the government announced that a study of the RTI
Act found that inadequate planning by public authorities was hindering
the supply of information and that there was less awareness in rural
areas about the act. The study recommended measures for improving
awareness on the right to information, simplifying methods of filing
requests, and enhancing accountability.
As of February 26, the Central Information Commission had penalized
public information officers in 211 cases and recommended disciplinary
action in 21 cases for not following the RTI Act in response to public
requests.
Officials arrested several senior government bureaucrats in Tamil
Nadu on charges of official corruption. On April 25, the CBI detained
regional passport officer Sumathi Ravichandran and her husband,
charging them with accepting bribes. Two travel agents also were
implicated in the case for acting as conduits for bribes. The CBI
raided the office and homes of former Chennai Port Trust chairman K.
Suresh and deputy conservator M.K. Sinha on August 4 and filed cases
under the Prevention of Corruption Act, claiming they abused their
official position for monetary gain. The cases were pending at year's
end.
On July 20, the CBI arrested R. Sekar, protector of emigrants
(Chennai), and two other agents on corruption charges, seizing 10
million rupees ($208,000).
On August 6, the Tamil Nadu Directorate for Vigilance and Anti-
corruption (DVAC) arrested M. Ezhilarasi, the director of Medical and
Rural Health Services (Employees State Insurance). According to the
media, the DVAC had information that drug company representatives
planned to give 853,000 rupees ($17,700) to Ezhilarasi in exchange for
a 150 million rupee ($3.1 million) drug supply contract.
On August 7, DVAC officials raided the homes and offices of the
vice chancellor of Coimbatore Anna University, R. Radhakrishnan.
According to news reports, the raids stemmed from a petition in the
Madras High Court alleging that the vice chancellor amassed wealth far
beyond his legitimate sources of income. Charges against Radhakrishnan
included accepting bribes to grant affiliation between the university
and more than 100 private colleges and for awarding university
contracts.
On November 30, police arrested former Jharkhand chief minister
Madhu Koda for allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to his
income and for alleged money laundering of 50 million rupees
(approximately $1.1 million). Income tax authorities raided dozens of
offices and homes nationwide investigating the allegations and
ultimately filed corruption cases against Koda and three former state
ministers.
The CBI credited its successes to an innovative text-messaging
campaign launched in 2008 encouraging the public to report government
employees who sought bribes. The CBI sent messages to five million cell
phone users, and the public responded with approximately 200 calls and
40 e-mails each day from Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.
On August 28, the country's chief justice announced that all
Supreme Court judges would disclose their assets per a 1997 resolution
and make the information available online to the public. Previously,
the Supreme Court had argued it was not a public authority and
therefore was exempt from the Right to Information Act. On November 3,
the chief justice and 20 judges of the Supreme Court made their assets
public on the Supreme Court Web site.
On September 17, the Central Vigilance Committee posted on its Web
site the names of 123 government officials who were under investigation
for alleged corruption.
Section 5. 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; in a few
circumstances, groups faced restrictions. Government officials assisted
some NGO inquiries and actions.
In 2006 the MHA barred 8,673 organizations from seeking foreign
funds under the FCRA for failing to provide proper paperwork. NGOs
called the FCRA restrictive and claimed the government failed to notify
organizations when the requisite paperwork was due. Until December
2007, funds under the FCRA were granted to 475 organizations. During
2008-09, under the FCRA, 1,611 organizations were granted registration
and 346 organizations were granted prior permission to receive foreign
funds. In July the MHA informed the parliament that 6,653 NGOs received
foreign funds of 100,000 rupees ($20,400) during 2007-08. Forty-one
NGOs were prohibited from receiving foreign contribution, 34 NGOs were
placed in the prior permission category, and accounts of 11 NGOs were
frozen. Thirteen cases were referred to the CBI for FCRA violations.
The main domestic human rights organization was the government-
appointed NHRC. Although the NHRC generally acted independently, some
human rights groups claimed institutional and legal weaknesses hampered
the NHRC. For example, although the NHRC was not required to request
and receive approval for visits to state-managed prisons, the NHRC was
unable to inquire independently into human rights violations by the
armed forces, initiate proceedings for prosecution, or grant interim
compensation. NGOs also criticized the NHRC's financial dependence on
the government and the failure to investigate abuses more than one year
old.
From March 2008 to March 31, the NHRC received 9,090,954 complaints
of human rights abuses. The NHRC closed 9,595,258 cases, including
those from previous years. The NHRC transferred 5,925 cases to the
State Human Rights Commission. It recommended interim relief in 137
cases of custodial deaths, amounting to 19,775,000 rupees
(approximately $396,000). The NHRC did not have the statutory power to
investigate allegations and could only request that a state government
submit a report, a request that state governments often ignored. Human
rights groups claimed the NHRC did not register all complaints,
dismissed cases on frivolous grounds, did not adequately protect
complainants, and failed to investigate cases thoroughly.
Human rights monitors in Jammu and Kashmir were able to document
human rights violations, but they were at times restrained or harassed
by security forces, counterinsurgents, and police. The Jammu and
Kashmir State Human Rights Commission has disposed of 3,775 cases of
human rights violations since its creation in 1997. The state human
rights commission makes recommendations to the state government,
including recommendations on victims' compensation payments.
In July the MHA informed parliament that the NHRC received the
greatest number of human violation complaints from three states: Uttar
Pradesh (55,214 cases), Delhi (5,616 cases), and Gujarat (3,813 cases).
International human rights organizations faced difficulties
obtaining visas for investigations, and occasional official harassment
and restrictions limited the public distribution of materials.
International humanitarian organizations, such as the ICRC, had access
to most regions, with the exception of the Northeast and Naxalite-
controlled areas.
Despite the recommendation in the 1993 PHRA to create state human
rights commissions, only 17 of the 28 states had established them by
year's end.
Human rights groups alleged that state human rights commissions
were limited by local politics and less likely to offer fair judgments
than the NHRC. For example, the Jammu and Kashmir Commission did not
have authority to investigate alleged human rights violations committed
by members of paramilitary security forces. The Maharashtra State Human
Rights Commission, after receiving a court order, was forced to
disclose that it had dismissed without any action 27,000 of the 30,000
complaints it received between July 2000 and July 2007. It heard 39
cases and recommended action against police or government officials in
only eight cases.
In October 2008 the Punjab State Human Rights Commission stated
that most cases it took up concerned atrocities that Punjab police
allegedly committed. According to the commission, 6,000 of 10,000
complaints registered through September pertained to police atrocities.
There was no update available at year's end.
The country welcomed a wide array of international NGOs that were
registered as trusts, societies, or private limited nonprofit
companies. Civil society faced few restrictions in most areas of the
country.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender,
religion, place of birth, or social status, and the government worked
with varying degrees of success to enforce these provisions.
Women.--The law provides for protection from all forms of abuse
against women in the home, including physical, sexual, verbal,
emotional, or economic abuse. Domestic violence includes actual abuse
or threat of abuse. The law recognizes the right of a woman to reside
in a shared household with her spouse or partner while the dispute
continues, although a woman can be provided with alternative
accommodations, at the partner's expense. The law also provides women
with the right to police assistance, legal aid, shelter, and access to
medical care. The law banned harassment in the form of dowry demands
and empowered magistrates to issue protection orders. The law
criminalizes spousal rape. Punishment ranged from jail terms as long as
one year, a fine of 19,800 rupees (approximately $450), or both.
For the year the MHA informed parliament it recorded 109,559 cases
of crime against women through August. The southern state of Andhra
Pradesh recorded the worst record for crimes against women, with 772
cases of rape, 1,039 cases of kidnapping and abduction, 506 cases of
dowry deaths, and 7,033 cases of domestic violence. Uttar Pradesh
recorded 14,192 cases of violence, including 1,485 cases of dowry
deaths, 1,066 cases of rape, and 3,139 cases of kidnapping. Haryana
recorded 3,125 incidents, including 164 cases of dowry deaths and 325
cases of rape. Bihar reported that 59 percent of married women were
victims of domestic violence and recorded 4,054 cases in total,
including 629 rape cases, 612 dowry deaths, and 886 kidnapping and
abduction cases. The NCRB noted that underreporting of these types of
crimes against women was likely.
The Gujarat Human Rights Commission reported during the year that
there were 16,113 crimes against women in the state in 2008. Of these,
there were 359 cases of rape, 1,041 of kidnapping, 857 of mo1estation,
28 dowry deaths, and 6,093 incidents of physical or mental torture.
In 2005 parliament amended the code of criminal procedure to
stipulate mandatory DNA tests in all rape cases. The act also requires
a judicial inquiry into any death or rape of a woman in police custody
and prohibits the arrest of a woman between sunset and sunrise except
in ``exceptional circumstances.'' Human rights groups claimed there was
no subsequent decrease in the prevalence of custodial abuse or
killings. The law sets criminal penalties for rape, including spousal
rape, but the government did not enforce the law effectively. In
December the Additional Court of Delhi convicted Ajit Singh Katiyar and
sentenced him to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment for the gang rape of
a Delhi University student in May 2005.
According to the MHA, there were 414 reported incidents of rape in
Delhi from January 1 to November.
According to a survey conducted in six states (Andhra Pradesh,
Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu) published in
February by the International Institute of Population Studies and the
Population Council of India, domestic violence remained a significant
problem. In Maharashtra 27 percent of women interviewed reported
physical abuse. In July NGOs alleged that the government of Madhya
Pradesh subjected several hundred women in Shahadol district to an
intrusive virginity/pregnancy test. The women, who registered in a low-
cost mass-marriage program, were required to take a medical test to
prove they were eligible for the government-subsidized wedding
ceremony. The government denied the allegation that the test was
intended to test for virginity.
Domestic violence remained a significant problem. The highest
prevalence was in Delhi, according to a study conducted by the NGO
Lawyers Collective and the UN Development Fund for Women. A total of
3,534 cases were reported in Delhi, followed by Kerala with 3,287
cases, and Maharashtra with 2,751 cases, between 2006 and October 2008.
The NCRB reported 43,224 incidents of torture and cruelty against women
in matrimonial homes from 2006 through August 2007. The National Family
Health Survey also found that 59 percent of married women in the state
of Bihar suffered from domestic violence. No further updates were
available at year's end.
Bohra Muslims practiced various forms of female genital mutilation
(FGM). The Bohra Muslims, a sect with a following of approximately one
million worldwide, is headquartered in Mumbai. There is no national law
addressing the practice of FGM.
The law forbids the provision or acceptance of a dowry, but
families continued to offer and accept dowries, and dowry disputes
remained a serious problem. The law also provides extensive powers to
magistrates to issue protection orders to address dowry-related
harassment and murder. Deaths associated with the nonpayment of dowries
rose in the past several years. The number of dowry deaths in 2007 was
8,093, up from 6,767 in 2005. During 2008 Andhra Pradesh police
reported a marginal decrease in dowry deaths, noting 538 that year,
compared with 596 in 2007. Tamil Nadu recorded 207 such deaths and
Karnataka 259.
Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, and several other states had a chief
dowry prevention officer, although it was unclear whether these
officers were effective. Madhya Pradesh required government employees
to produce sworn affidavits by prospective brides, bridegrooms, and
fathers of bridegrooms that no dowry was exchanged.
Honor killings continued to be a problem, especially in Punjab and
Haryana, where as many as 10 percent of all killings were honor
killings. In July 2008 the Association for Advocacy and Legal
Initiative, a women's advocacy group, reported that it identified 73
cases of honor killings from Hindi-speaking states in 2007.
For example, according to media reports, on March 23, a 16-year-old
girl from Bhojpur was set on fire inside her house. She was admitted to
a local hospital, where she later died from her injuries. Two of the
four accused men told the police the girl's father asked them ``to
straighten out his daughter'' because she was accepting too many visits
from a young man from another tribe.
On July 22, in Haryana, residents of the home village of the wife
of Ved Pal Maun attacked him with scythes and farm tools and lynched
him for violating caste prohibitions. At year's end no one had been
charged in the killing, and the police had not questioned his wife's
family, according to media reports.
On October 17, the in-laws of Virender Singh from Haryana killed
him for marrying their daughter, who belonged to a different caste. The
police arrested four persons, including the girl's father.
On August 17, an additional sessions court in Delhi convicted four
of the president's bodyguards for raping a 17-year-old in 2003. Two
were sentenced to life imprisonment and fined 9,000 rupees ($180) each.
The other two were given 10 years to life in prison and fined 7,000
rupees ($140) each.
Although the act of prostitution is not illegal, most activities,
such as selling, procuring, and exploiting any person for commercial
sex or profiting from the prostitution of another individual, are
illegal. Section Eight of the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act
(ITPA), which criminalizes the act of solicitation for prostitution,
was occasionally the basis for arresting and punishing women and girls
who were victims of trafficking. The country is a significant source,
transit point, and destination for trafficked women.
Sexual harassment of women in the workplace included physical and
verbal abuse from male supervisors. In 2006 the Supreme Court
instructed all state chief secretaries to comply with its mandate that
all state departments and institutions with more than 50 employees
establish committees to deal with matters of sexual harassment.
According to the NCRB, which reports on the entire country, 4,541 cases
of sexual harassment were filed in 2006, the latest year for which
figures were released. In October 2008 the National Commission for
Women reported 153 cases of sexual harassment registered from 2006-08.
Sixty cases were registered in Delhi and 77 in Uttar Pradesh.
The government permits health clinics and local health NGOs to
operate freely in disseminating information about family planning.
There are no restrictions on the right to access contraceptives.
Laws favoring families that have no more than two children remained
in place in seven states, but authorities seldom enforced them. The
laws provide reservations for government jobs and subsidies to those
who have no more than two children and reduced subsidies and access to
health care for those who have more than two. National health officials
noted that the central government did not have authority to regulate
state decisions on population issues.
Maternal health remained poor, with only 34 percent of births
attended by skilled help and no follow-up care of mothers and infants.
The maternal mortality rate is about 400 per 100,000 births, according
to the Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecological Societies of India.
The National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), which formulates and
implements programs for the prevention and control of HIV and AIDS,
reported that women accounted for about one million of the estimated
2.5 million citizens with HIV/AIDS. Infection rates for women were
highest in urban communities, and care was least available in rural
areas. There were a number of HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention
programs under way across the country, but a 2007 report cosponsored by
the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Horizons, and others
indicated that fewer than 50 percent of HIV-positive women had heard of
treatment, and NGOs expressed concerns that many affected persons had
insufficient access to programs. In its 2006-07 report, NACO noted that
traditional gender norms left women especially vulnerable to infection,
stating that the government and NGOs had created programs to address
the ``feminization of the epidemic'' and to provide access comparable
to that of men.
The law prohibits discrimination in the workplace; in practice
employers paid women less than men for the same job, discriminated
against women in employment and credit applications, and promoted women
less frequently than men.
In March 2008 the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board
released a new marriage law, applicable to both Shias and Sunnis, that
makes registration of marriages compulsory and expands the rights of
women. For example, the new law prohibits divorce via text message, e-
mail, or telephone, and the wife can file for divorce if her husband
forces her to have sex with him.
On October 21, villagers branded five Muslim widows in
Pattharghatia village, Jharkand, as witches and forced them to eat
human excrement. Four persons were arrested, and the victims were under
police protection.
Many tribal land systems, notably in Bihar, denied tribal women the
right to own land. Shari'a (Islamic law) determines land inheritance
for Muslim women. Other laws relating to the ownership of assets and
land accorded women little control over land use, retention, or sale.
Several exceptions existed, such as in Ladakh, Meghalaya, and Himachal
Pradesh, where women traditionally controlled family property and
enjoyed full inheritance rights.
Female feticide (selective abortion for gender) was an acute
problem in Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. The states of Punjab,
Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, and parts of
Tamil Nadu reported particularly low female/male ratios. Nationally,
there were only 927 girls per 1,000 boys, according to the 2001 census.
In 14 districts of Haryana and Punjab, there were fewer than 800 girls
per 1,000 boys. The low female/male ratio resulting from female
feticide caused families in Punjab and Haryana to traffic women and
girls from Bihar and other northeastern states to provide wives or to
serve as prostitutes in other regions of the country.
Children.--The Registration of Birth and Death Act 1969 establishes
state governments' procedures for birth registration. According to the
National Commission on Population, approximately 55 percent of national
births were registered at year's end, and the registration rate varied
substantially across states. Any person born in the country on or after
January 26, 1950, but before phases of the act took full effect on July
1, 1987 obtained citizenship by birth. A person born in the country on
or after July 1, 1987, obtained citizenship if either parent was a
citizen at the time of the child's birth. Those born in the country on
or after December 3, 2004, were considered citizens only if both of
their parents were citizens or if one parent was a citizen and the
other was not an illegal migrant at the time of the child's birth.
Persons born outside the country on or after December 10, 1992, were
considered citizens if either parent was a citizen at the time of
birth. From December 3, 2004, onward, persons born outside the country
were not considered citizens unless their birth was registered at an
Indian consulate within one year of the date of birth. In certain
circumstances it was possible to register after one year with the
permission of the central government.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005,
mandates that each state create a state commission. By the end of the
year, only Delhi, Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Sikkim had
constituted the commissions.
In the November session of parliament, the Ministry of Women and
Child Development informed parliamentarians that NCRB figures showed
20,410 crimes against children in 2007.
The constitution provides free education for children from six to
14 years of age, but the government did not enforce this provision. On
July 20, the parliament passed the Right to Free and Compulsory
Education for all children ages six to 14.
In November UNICEF marked the 20th anniversary of the Convention on
the Rights of the Child and acknowledged measures the country had taken
to ensure ``survival'' of children. UNICEF stated that school
attendance had increased from 61 percent to 81 percent among girls
between the ages of six and 10.
The law provides for protection against various forms of child
abuse. In 2007 the NHRC developed guidelines for handling child rape
cases and issued recommendations on missing children. The NHRC
recommended that state directors general of police should issue
standing instructions to protect children and require that every police
station have a special squad or missing persons desk to trace missing
children. The central government directed district administrations to
inspect periodically locations where children often worked. The NHRC
recommended that state police headquarters create a system of mandatory
reporting of all incidents of missing children to the National
Commission for Protection of Child Rights within 24 hours.
The NHRC recommended that enforcement agencies, in partnership with
NGOs and social workers, develop a mechanism for counseling and
awareness on child abduction and that the National Crime Research
Bureau establish a National Tracking System to help in locating and
tracing missing children.
Abuse of children in both public and private educational
institutions was a problem. Although corporal punishment is banned,
schoolteachers often used it. There was no progress in the 2007 case of
Brijesh Prajapati, a sixth-grade student in Farukhabad, Uttar Pradesh,
who died after a beating from his teacher, Kishan Singh. Authorities
suspended Singh and the school principal; the case was pending at
year's end.
On March 8, a fast-track court sentenced six teachers of the
Gujarat Patan Government Women's Teacher Training College to life
imprisonment for repeatedly gang-raping a Dalit student. After the
matter was reported, several other students came forward complaining of
sexual harassment from the male teachers. The state government decided
to replace all male teachers with female ones.
On April 17, Shanno, a Class II student of MCD Girls Primary School
in New Delhi, died after teachers forced her to stand in the sun for
more than one hour the previous day. The municipal commissioner ordered
an inquiry and suspended the principal and teacher.
On September 9, a teacher from Chhattisgarh's Koriya District
reportedly forced primary school students to strip, dance, and play
field games in a wooded area near the school. The children complained
that the teacher slapped those who disobeyed. At year's end police had
not arrested the teacher, who fled the area when angry parents stormed
the school.
The government sponsored a toll-free 24-hour helpline for children
in distress in 72 cities. A network of NGOs staffed the ``Childline
1098 Service'' number, accessible by either a child or an adult to
request immediate assistance, including medical care, shelter,
restoration, rescue, sponsorship, and counseling.
According to the NCRB, in 2008 there were 24,528 crimes committed
by juveniles under the penal code and 3,156 under the Special and Local
Laws.
In 2006 the central government passed the Prohibition of Child
Marriage Act, strengthening the 1929 Child Marriage Restraint Act and
declaring existing child marriages null and void. On September 7,
Orissa became one of the last states to implement the act.
Although the law sets the legal age of marriage for women as 18 and
for men as 21, in practice this law was not enforced. According to a
2005 Health Ministry report, 50 percent of women were married by the
age of 15. The report found that 45 percent of women ages 18 to 24 and
32 percent of men ages 18 to 29 had married before the legal age.
According to a 2005 report from the Office of the Registrar General of
India, an average of 240 girls died every day due to pregnancy-related
complications in early-child marriages. The International Center for
Research on Women concluded that those married younger than 18 were
twice as likely to experience abuse by their husbands compared with
women who married later; they were also three times more likely to
report marital rape. The center reported that child brides often showed
signs of child sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress. Child marriages
limited girls' access to education and increased their health risks, as
they had higher mortality rates and exposure to HIV/AIDS than girls
married at 18 or older.
According to UNICEF, approximately 1.2 million children were
prostituted and enslaved throughout the country. The UNICEF report was
based on surveys that identified an approximate total of three million
prostitutes in India, 40 percent of whom were minors. In part, this
high number of exploited children was attributed to the country's
status as a source, transit, and destination country for human
trafficking.
Sex determination tests are illegal under the 1994 Prenatal
Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT). Nevertheless, credible sources stated
the problem was widespread and calculated that feticide was a $116
million industry. Officials claimed the practice was prominent among
educated and urban sections of society.
On May 14, Mitu Khurana became the first woman to file a complaint
under the PNDT Act, claiming her in-laws had forcibly determined the
sex of her unborn twins in 2005.
In June a Gujarat woman filed a complaint against her in-laws,
claiming they had forced her to abort five female fetuses in nine
years. Police arrested the husband and the in-laws, who at year's end
were free on bail pending investigation of the case.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 89 cases of
violation of the PNDT were reported during the year. In November the
ministry informed parliament that there were 603 cases pending for
violation of the PNDT law.
According to the NCRB, authorities registered a total of 73 cases
under the PNDT Act in 2008, of which 24 were from Punjab. Authorities
arrested 44 persons, charged 37, and convicted 10. Punjab had recorded
294 cases of female feticide since 2006.
There was no update in the 2007 arrest by the Haryana Health
Department of unlicensed doctor A.K. Singh for feticide based on
gender. Haryana registered 35 cases against doctors illegally
conducting sex determination tests in the past two years.
Efforts to combat feticide included a program by the Health and
Family Welfare Ministry to target and apprehend those who perform or
abet female feticide. The central government also launched a ``Save the
Girl Child'' campaign. The New Delhi municipal government sponsored the
Ladli plan, which provided each registered girl child with a gift
deposit of 5,000 rupees (approximately $114) at time of admission to
class I, VI, IX, X, and XII. The money accumulates interest until the
child reaches the age of 18.
Trafficking in Persons.--The country is a source, destination, and
transit point for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes
of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Those from the most
disadvantaged social economic strata were particularly vulnerable to
trafficking. Women and girls were trafficked within the country for the
purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage.
Children also were subjected to forced labor as factory workers,
domestic servants, beggars, and agricultural workers. In recent years
sex trafficking to medium-sized cities and satellite towns of large
cities increased.
The country also was a destination for women and girls from Nepal
and Bangladesh trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation. In addition, there were victims of labor trafficking
among the thousands of citizens who migrated to the Middle East,
Europe, and the United States for work as domestic servants and low-
skilled laborers.
The country prohibits some forms of trafficking for commercial
sexual exploitation through the ITPA. Prescribed penalties under the
ITPA range from seven years' to life imprisonment. To arrest
traffickers, authorities also used sections 366(A) and 372 of the penal
code, which prohibit kidnapping and selling minors into prostitution.
Penalties prescribed under these provisions are a maximum of 10 years'
imprisonment and a fine. In general enforcement of these laws was weak,
and convictions of traffickers remained infrequent.
Despite significant efforts to combat trafficking, the country
faced several challenges. The constitution gives states primary
responsibility for law enforcement, state-level authorities were
limited in their abilities to confront interstate and transnational
trafficking, corruption among law enforcement officials and
overburdened courts impeded effective prosecutions, and widespread
poverty continued to provide a source of vulnerable persons.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development remained the central
government's coordinator of antitrafficking policies and programs,
although its ability to enhance interagency coordination and accelerate
antitrafficking efforts across the bureaucracy remained weak. The
government continued information and education campaigns against
trafficking in persons and child labor. In January the central
government approved a nationwide plan to merge educational and poverty
alleviation programs to combat child labor.
Government authorities continued to rescue victims of trafficking
for commercial sexual exploitation and forced child labor and to
sensitize police about human trafficking. Several state governments
(Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Goa, and West Bengal) made
significant efforts in prosecution, protection, and prevention, largely
in the area of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
The MHA renewed its efforts to combat human trafficking. On
September 5, it issued an advisory to states stressing the importance
of tackling this issue. MHA Minister P. Chidambaram launched a human
trafficking book at a large public event and labeled human trafficking
``a crime against humanity.'' The MHA also expanded its Anti-Human
Trafficking Cell to better coordinate nationwide efforts.
The central government continued to improve coordination among the
many bureaucratic agencies that play a role in antitrafficking. The
central government earmarked 4 trillion rupees (approximately $440
million) to establish a computerized tracking and network system for
serious crimes such as trafficking and to connect all of the country's
14,000 police stations. The central government allocated 840 million
rupees ($18 million) to create 297 antitrafficking units across the
nation to train and sensitize law enforcement officials. According to
NGOs, state-level officials who received such training in the past
increasingly recognized women in prostitution as potential trafficking
victims and did not arrest them for solicitation.
The central government and state governments continued to combat
sex trafficking of women and children. In Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
Maharashtra, Goa, and West Bengal, government officials registered
hundreds of sex trafficking cases, helped to rescue more than 1,000
victims, and arrested more than 1,000 traffickers. Authorities
undertook measures to reduce demand for commercial sex acts, such as
the arrests of 856 customers of prostitution in Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Bihar, Goa, and West Bengal. Some of the country's
diplomatic missions in destination countries, especially those in the
Middle East, provided significant services, including temporary
shelters, to nationals who were trafficked.
In October 2007 the Jammu and Kashmir High Court criticized the
CBI's ``lax and deficient'' handling of the 2006 arrest of the former
state minister for tourism in Jammu and Kashmi, Pirzada Mohammed
Sayeed, and his wife for allegedly trafficking and blackmailing
approximately 40 local girls into prostitution. In May 2008 the Jammu
and Kashmir state government asked the high court to reconsider the
case. The CBI and the High Court Bar Association disagreed, and the
case was pending at year's end.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution does not explicitly
mention disability as a prohibited ground for discrimination. The
Persons with Disabilities Act (PDA) provides equal rights for persons
with disabilities, but a clause that makes implementation of programs
dependent on the ``economic capacity'' of the government significantly
weakens the law.
Widespread discrimination occurred against persons with physical
and mental disabilities in employment, education, and access to health
care. There was limited accessibility for persons with disabilities to
public buildings and transport. The law did not require spaces and
provisions for wheelchairs.
According to a 2007 World Bank report, the country had
approximately ``40 to 80 million persons with disability. But low
literacy, few jobs, and widespread social stigma resulted in the social
exclusion of persons with disabilities. Children with disabilities were
less likely to be in school, such adults were less likely to be
employed, and families with a disabled member were often worse off than
average.''
The PDA requires that 3 percent of public sector jobs be reserved
for persons with physical, hearing, or visual disabilities. Although
only 0.44 percent of public sector employees were persons with
disabilities, the government allocated funds to NGO partners to develop
programming that would increase the number of job reservations for such
persons. Private sector employment of persons with disabilities
remained low despite PDA benefits to private companies where persons
with disabilities constituted more than 5 percent of the workforce. In
July 2008 the central government approved an incentive program for
private sector employers that covered positions with a monthly wage of
25,000 rupees (approximately $568).
The PDA created a Central Coordination Committee, which reported
that approximately 100,000 children with special needs attended
approximately 2,500 schools that provided integrated and inclusive
education or nonformal education. The MHRD reported in 2006 that
children with mental disabilities had the lowest rate of school
attendance of any other tracked group of children at 53 percent,
followed by those with speech disabilities at 57 percent, and those
with hearing disabilities at 68 percent.
The law stipulates that 3 percent of all educational places be
reserved for persons with disabilities, but the Ministry of Social
Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) stated that students with disabilities
made up only an estimated 1 percent of all students. The MSJE offered
500 scholarships to persons with disabilities to pursue higher
education. University enrollment of students with disabilities remained
low for reasons including inaccessible infrastructure, limited
availability of resource materials, nonimplementation of the 3 percent
reservation, and harassment.
On March 4, the Score Foundation launched www.eyeway.org, the
country's first Internet knowledge portal for persons with visual
impairments, which provided information on eye conditions, education
facilities, services, and job markets.
On May 28, the Delhi High Court noted that 650 New Delhi government
schools and 1,800 Municipal Corporation of Delhi schools did not hire
any dedicated teachers for the 10,000 students with disabilities. The
Delhi High Court directed the state government to develop an action
plan to hire teachers and build facilities for students with
disabilities.
On September 8, the Central Information Commission launched a Web
site accessible to persons with disabilities for lodging complaints and
appeals. Users with impaired vision could hear instructions and details
on the portal.
In July 2008 the central government pledged to fund programs to
provide toilets accessible for persons with disabilities, sloped ramps,
lifts with audio systems and Braille buttons, computer rooms usable for
persons with disabilities, and one room in each hostel for persons with
disabilities in the country's universities.
In 2008 Delhi University organized a special orientation program
for students with disabilities, and in July it launched its first
special cost-free bus service for students with physical disabilities.
In November the MSJE informed parliament that 483,834 persons with
disabilities received benefits from government programs in 2008-09.
The disability division of the MSJE delivered rehabilitation
services to the rural population through 16 district centers. A
national rehabilitation plan committed the government to provide
rehabilitation centers to more than 400 districts, but services were
concentrated in urban areas. The impact of government programs was
limited due to the concentration of funding provided to a few
organizations.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law provides that the
practice of untouchability, which discriminated against Dalits and
members of other scheduled castes (SCs), is a punishable offense. This
type of discrimination remained ubiquitous, however.
The law gives the president the authority to identify historically
disadvantaged castes, Dalits, and tribal persons (members of indigenous
groups historically outside the caste system) for special quotas and
benefits. These groups were entitled to affirmative action and hiring
quotas in employment, benefits from special development funds, and
special training programs. According to the 2001 census, SCs, including
Dalits, made up 16 percent (168.6 million) of the population, and STs
were 8 percent (84.3 million). In 2006 parliament passed a bill to
reserve 27 percent of seats at educational institutions for SCs and
members of disadvantaged social classes.
Although the law protects Dalits, in practice they faced
significant discrimination in access to services such as health care
and education, attending temples, and marriage. Many Dalits were
malnourished. Most bonded laborers were Dalits. Dalits who asserted
their rights were often attacked, especially in rural areas. As
agricultural laborers for higher-caste landowners, Dalits often worked
without remuneration. Crimes committed by upper-caste Hindus against
Dalits often went unpunished, either because the authorities failed to
prosecute or because victims did not report the crimes for fear of
retaliation.
Reports from the UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination described systematic abuse of Dalits, including
extrajudicial killings and sexual violence against Dalit women. For
example, on January 9, upper-caste attackers beat a Dalit man, injuring
his eyes, because of his relationship with their relative. Police
arrested and charged six persons for the assault.
A June study conducted by the Dalit Arthik Adhikar Andolan, an
organization committed to the elimination of discrimination based on
caste, with support from UNICEF reflected that Dalit children often
dropped out of school due to discrimination. The study included 41
primary schools, 36 middle schools, and 17 secondary schools in Uttar
Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. The study stated that physical
access to the schools was the biggest challenge faced by Dalit children
because the schools were located in areas occupied by members of
dominant castes. Some school officials did not allow Dalit children to
attend morning prayers, and teachers asked Dalit children to sit at the
back of the class. Some school officials also forced Dalit children to
clean school toilets but did not allow the children to use those
facilities.
The MHA's 2008-09 annual report noted 30,031 cases of crime against
SC in 2007, compared with 27,070 in 2006. In July the MHA reported to
the parliament that 56,245 persons were arrested in 2007 for crimes
against SC. On April 30, the MHA reported that 13,449 persons had been
convicted of crimes against persons belonging to the SC and ST,
according to NCRB records.
In June 2008 a Dalit girl alleged that she was raped and tortured
for more than a year in Jatapar village in Gujarat after her
disappearance in 2006. Her alleged abductors released her in June 2008.
No arrests had been made in the case by year's end. Also in June 2008,
a group of upper-caste men stripped and beat a Dalit woman and her
daughter in Ajmer, Rajasthan. Police registered a case against the
accused, but they remained at large at year's end.
On February 3, Uttar Pradesh police beat a six-year-old Dalit girl
for allegedly stealing 280 rupees (approximately $5.60). The incident,
captured on video, received nationwide attention. Authorities fired the
senior subinspector for abusing the child and suspended the station
house officer for not intervening on her behalf.
On October 28, Dalits from Chettipulam village, Tamil Nadu, entered
the Kamakshi Amman Sametha Ekambareshwarar temple for the first time.
In October, 37 Dalit families in a village in Virudhunagar, Tamil
Nadu, questioned their exclusion from the state government's Kalaignar
medical insurance scheme for the poor. Some higher caste individuals
beat members of the families, and the 37 families were evicted from the
village. Police, instead of helping, issued First Incident Reports
against the Dalits.
In December six persons were sentenced to life imprisonment for the
1979 killing of eight Dalits in Lohari village, Uttar Pradesh.
According to the MSJE, there were 24,971 cases of atrocities
against Scheduled Castes and Tribes in 2008.
According to credible NGOs, Dalits and other individuals considered
lower caste were often accused of witchcraft. In June residents of a
Jharkhand village accused Ghuchara Pahan, his son Kisun, and daughter-
in-law Mukta of practicing witchcraft and then beat them to death.
Indigenous People.--The law provides for safeguarding tribal rights
in most of the northeastern states, and authorities generally tried to
follow the regulations. The regulations prohibit any nontribal person,
including citizens from other states, from crossing an inner boundary
without a valid permit. No rubber, wax, ivory, or other forest products
may be removed from protected areas without prior authorization. Tribal
authorities must approve the sale of land to nontribal persons.
According to the Indian Confederation of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples,
80 percent of the tribal population lived below the poverty level, and
more than 40,000 tribal women, mainly from Orissa and Bihar, were
forced into economic and sexual exploitation. Land encroachment on
tribal lands continued in almost every state despite limited efforts by
the states to combat it.
Businesses and illegal undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants
encroached on tribal lands in almost every eastern state. Numerous
tribal movements demanded the protection of tribal land and property
rights. The government created tribal-majority states in 2000 from the
Jharkhand area of Bihar and the Chhattisgarh region of Madhya Pradesh,
and authorities provided local autonomy to some tribes in the
northeast.
In May 2008 police and members of the Gujjar tribe in the state of
Rajasthan killed 41 persons in clashes after the Gujjars demanded
inclusion in affirmative action quotas and the List of Scheduled
Tribes. In 2007, 26 persons were killed in similar clashes. A six-
member team from the NHRC visited the state to investigate. In July
2008 the Rajasthan Assembly passed the Reservation Bill for the Gujjar
tribe. The Gujjars were expected to get a 5 percent reservation in the
category of Special Backward Classes. On July 27, the Gujjar community
started a sit-in involving approximately 4,000 individuals, demanding
Scheduled Tribe status for quotas in government jobs.
Since late 2007, thousands of mainly indigenous groups of Scheduled
Castes and Tribal protesters in Chengara, Kerala, staged a continuing
strike on a private estate demanding land ownership. Discussions with
the state government to resolve the situation continued at year's end.
Civil rights organizations working with indigenous persons in
Kodagu district of Karnataka accused the state government of actively
promoting tourism by infringing on their property rights. The groups
alleged that more than 1,600 families had been evicted since 1972.
Although the 2006 Scheduled Tribes Act grants indigenous persons
certain rights pertaining to lands from which they were evicted, in
practice little changed. The government had not determined by year's
end which department should implement the new rules, with the practical
effect that none of the evicted families could take up permanent
residence in their former homes.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The law punishes acts of
sodomy and bestiality and was often used to target, harass, and punish
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons. Gays and lesbians
faced discrimination in all areas of society, including family, work,
and education. Activists reported that employers often fired gays and
lesbians who did not hide their orientations. Gays and lesbians also
faced physical attacks, rape, and blackmail. Police committed crimes
against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender persons and used the
threat of arrest to coerce victims not to report the incidents.
Voices Against 377, a campaign to overturn the colonial-era law
section 377 that outlaws homosexual conduct, continued its efforts
during the year.
On July 2, the Delhi High Court overturned some provisions in
section 377, thus decriminalizing consensual sexual activities between
adults. Section 377 continued to apply in cases involving minors and
coercive sex. Within one week, three groups petitioned the Supreme
Court, challenging the ruling. On July 9, several Islamic, Christian,
and Jain leaders issued a joint statement protesting the ruling. On
September 16, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights also
questioned the ruling, stating that the judgment would encourage sexual
exploitation of children.
On September 17, the cabinet decided not to issue a statement on
the propriety of the Delhi High Court judgment, allowing the Supreme
Court to make a final decision. The Supreme Court's hearing date for
the case was twice postponed and rescheduled to begin December 9. There
were no updates at year's end.
On July 14, the MHA stated that the population census required
respondents to identify themselves as male or female. On November 13,
the Election Commission of India issued a statement allowing eunuchs
and transsexuals to indicate their sex as ``other'' in the electoral
rolls.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual groups were active
throughout the country, sponsoring events and activities including
rallies, gay pride marches, film series, and speeches. Nonetheless,
societal discrimination continued on the basis of sexual orientation
and identity throughout the country.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--According to NACO, the
government agency responsible for monitoring HIV/AIDS, there were
approximately 2.3 million persons with HIV/AIDS in the country, and
according to the International Labor Organization, as many as 70
percent of persons in the country with HIV/AIDS faced discrimination.
HRW reported that many doctors refused to treat HIV-positive children
and that some schools expelled or segregated children because they or
their parents were HIV-positive. Many orphanages and other residential
institutions rejected HIV-positive children or denied them housing.
NACO, with support from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/
AIDS and the World Health Organization, produced revised AIDS estimates
showing that as of December, approximately 2.31 million persons were
living with the virus and that HIV prevalence among adults was 0.36
percent. In June in Rajkot, Gujarat, two government health
functionaries put a label ``HIV positive'' on a female patient's
forehead and paraded her through different wards in a government
hospital. The two were found guilty, fined, and suspended from duty for
several days.
In July the government of Maharashtra removed 10 HIV-positive
children from a Latur district government school after the community
refused to send 150 nonpositive children to the same school.
In August 2008 Kerala became the first state to reserve government
jobs for HIV-positive candidates.
In August 2008 the state government launched an initiative to
provide insurance to persons with HIV/AIDS in Karnataka. The state
estimated that 250,000 residents were infected with HIV/AIDS, but only
22,000 were registered with the main HIV/AIDS NGO, the Karnataka
Network for Positive People. Of those, 1,028 had opted for the
insurance as of October 31. The health insurance would provide 30,000
rupees (approximately $650) in coverage, including 15,000 rupees
(approximately $325) for hospitalization at the onset of AIDS and
15,000 rupees for further treatment.
In August school officials dismissed an eight-year-old HIV-positive
boy from primary government school in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.
In September the central government informed the Supreme Court that
HIV-positive persons traveling by train would be allowed a 75 percent
fare discount.
Section 7. Worker Rights
The law allows workers to form and join unions of their choice
without previous authorization or excessive requirements, and in
practice the government generally respected this right. Although the
country's active work force comprised more than 400 million persons,
only 30 million were employed in the formal sector, with the rest as
agricultural workers and, to a lesser extent, urban nonindustrial
laborers. Some trade unions represented agricultural workers and
informal sector workers, but most of the country's estimated 13 to 15
million union members were in the formal sector. An estimated 80
percent of unionized workers were members of unions affiliated with one
of five major trade federations.
In practice legal protections of worker rights were effective only
for the organized industrial sector, in which authorities generally
prosecuted and punished persons responsible for intimidation or
suppression of legitimate trade union activities. Unaffiliated unions
generally were not able to secure the protections and rights the law
provides. The 1926 Trade Union Act prohibits discrimination against
union members and organizers, and employers were penalized if they
discriminated against employees engaged in union activities.
Trade unions have a limited right to strike, and workers exercised
this right. The Essential Services Maintenance Act allows the
government to ban strikes in government-owned enterprises and requires
arbitration in specified essential industries; the act is subject to
varying interpretations from state to state. State and local
authorities occasionally used their power to declare strikes illegal
and to force adjudication. The Industrial Disputes Act prohibits
retribution by employers against employees involved in legal strike
actions, and this prohibition was observed in practice.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
government protected this right. The government protects collective
bargaining under the law, but public servants have limited organizing
and collective bargaining rights. When parties cannot agree on
equitable wages, the government may establish boards of union,
management, and government representatives to make a determination.
Specialized labor courts adjudicate labor disputes, but there were long
delays and a backlog of unresolved cases.
The law provides workers in export processing zones (EPZs) the
right to join trade unions and bargain collectively, although EPZ
workers often did not exercise their full labor rights. The Trade Union
Act designates the EPZs as ``public utilities'' and requires a 45-day
strike notice.
Entry into the EPZs ordinarily was limited to employees, and entry
restrictions applied to union organizers. Unions have not vigorously
pursued efforts to organize private sector employees since EPZs were
established. Most EPZ workers were women. The International Trade Union
Confederation reported that overtime was compulsory in the EPZs,
workers often were employed on temporary contracts with fictitious
contractors rather than directly by the company, and workers feared
that complaints about substandard working conditions would result in
their dismissal.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or bonded labor, but such practices remained widespread.
Offenders may be sentenced up to three years in prison, but successful
prosecutions were rare. Enforcement and compensation for victims were
the responsibility of state and local governments and varied in
effectiveness due to inadequate resources and societal acceptance of
bonded or forced labor. When inspectors referred violations for
prosecution, long court backlogs and inadequate funding for legal
counsel sometimes resulted in acquittals simply due to inadequate
prosecution, which resulted from lack of preparation time and access to
evidence. The Institute for Socio-Economic Development research found
that in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the main form of bonded labor involved
agricultural workers. According to NGOs, nonagricultural sectors that
had a high incidence of bonded labor were stone quarries, brick kilns,
making beedi (hand-rolled cigarettes), and carpet weaving.
According to the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MOLE), during
the period April 2008 to March 2009, officials rescued and
rehabilitated 543 bonded laborers from the states of Bihar, Uttar
Pradesh, and West Bengal.
Members of Scheduled Castes and Tribes lived and worked under
traditional arrangements of servitude in many areas of the country. In
Arunachal Pradesh, the Nishi tribe traditionally subjugated Sulungs or
Puroiks as customary slaves. Local customs and landlessness made
eradication of slavery difficult.
The MOLE partnered with the NHRC and NGOs to investigate
allegations of bonded labor. MOLE statistics showed a large decrease in
the number of bonded labor cases brought before the courts, although
the extent to which this reflected a decrease in bonded labor was
unclear.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits forced labor, including bonded labor, but NGOs reported
bonded labor remained a serious problem.
There is no overall minimum age for child labor, but the law
prohibits work by children under 14 in factories, mines, domestic work,
roadside eateries, and hazardous industries. In occupations and
processes in which child labor is permitted, children may work only for
six hours between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., with one day's rest weekly.
Employers who failed to abide by the law were subject to penalties
specified in the Child Labor (Prohibition and Abolition) Act.
The penalty for employers of children in hazardous industries is
20,000 rupees (approximately $430) per child employed. The fines go
into a welfare fund for formerly employed children. The law requires
the government to find employment for an adult member of the child's
family or pay 5,000 rupees ($108) to the family. NGOs noted that
requiring the government to pay the family of a child laborer or find
the adult family member a job could be a disincentive to investigating
violations.
The law prohibits child labor, but the prohibition was not
effectively enforced, and forced child labor remained a serious
problem. Estimates of the number of child laborers varied widely. The
government's 2004 national survey estimated the number of working
children from ages five to 14 at 16.4 million. NGOs claimed the number
of child laborers was closer to 55 million.
According to 2001 census figures, 65.3 million (29 percent) of 226
million children between the ages of five and 14 did not receive any
formal education. Most, if not all, of the 87 million children not in
school worked in the informal sector, often in private homes, with the
highest rate (15 percent) in Uttar Pradesh. Child labor continued due
to social acceptance of the practice, ineffective state and federal
government enforcement of existing laws, and poverty. Many officials
claimed they were unable to stop the practice because the children were
working with their parents' consent.
Working conditions sometimes amounted to bonded labor. Some NGOs
alleged that children were found working in forced or bonded conditions
in gemstone cutting, quarrying, assembling garments, weaving carpets,
brick kilns, rice production, silk thread production, and textile
embroidery. The government and industry leaders, however, challenged
many of these claims and noted their joint efforts to address
violations of labor law.
In July 6, Rajasthan Labor Watch stated that child labor was
pervasive in the state and that there was weak implementation of the
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000. The
National Sample Survey Organization stated that there were 3.4 million
children between ages five and 14 engaged in labor in the state.
During its July session, the MOLE informed parliament that states
were providing welfare to 507,450 former child laborers. Also in July
the MOLE informed parliament that in 2008-09, it had conducted 2,860
inspections to check child labor. It noted 2,277 violations and pursued
two prosecutions, but there were no convictions. During 12 months
preceding March 31, the MOLE launched 12,244 prosecutions and obtained
566 convictions.
According to UNICEF, private companies in Andhra Pradesh reportedly
employed 200,000 children in the hybrid seed industry. Most were girls
between the ages of seven and 14 from other parts of the state. The
majority were Dalits and members of economically disadvantaged castes
and tribal groups forced to work in debt bondage. They were routinely
abused, exposed to dangerous pesticides, and denied access to
education.
Human rights organizations estimated as many as 300,000 children
worked in the carpet industry. The government disputed this claim. The
following industries also reportedly used child labor: leather goods,
embroidered textiles, sporting goods, brassware, fireworks, footwear,
hand-blown glass bangles, handmade locks, hand-dipped matches, hand-
quarried stones, hand-spun silk thread, hand-loomed silk cloth,
handmade bricks, roadside restaurants, roadside auto repair, illegal
mining, rice milling, sorting trash for items to resell or recycle, and
beedis. A number of these industries exposed children to hazardous work
conditions.
According to UNICEF and others, the number of children involved in
the silk spinning industry dropped due to competition from China and
concerted action by the state government against employers of child
labor. The government of Karnataka, in partnership with UNICEF,
monitored child labor and developed programs to enable former child
workers to enter the state-sponsored formal education system.
The NHRC stated the enforcement of existing child labor laws was
inadequate, in part because the act exempts a child assisting his or
her family. Employers in cottage industries often claimed that child
laborers were assisting their families.
The country made moderate progress during the year on addressing
child labor. The MOLE raised awareness about child labor and
coordinated efforts with states through video conferences. The MOLE,
through its 250 National Child Labor Projects (NCLP), rehabilitated
more than 400,000 children from child labor in part by enrolling the
children in NCLP schools.
New Delhi's state government rescued more than 100 children from
forced labor during the year. Included in this number was the February
rescue of 35 children found enslaved in four small factories making
leather products under hazardous and forced conditions without pay. In
Jharkhand, police and state officials, in collaboration with an NGO,
raided 120 establishments and rescued 208 children from forced or
bonded labor.
Throughout the year the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan rescued more
than 200 bonded child laborers in Delhi. The NGO worked in
collaboration with the Delhi government and police. All the rescued
children received release certificates under the Bonded Labor Act,
which entitled each child to a rehabilitation package of 20,000 rupees
(approximately $420) and priority access to government housing and
education.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--State government laws set
minimum wages, hours of work, and safety and health standards. The
Factories Act mandates an eight-hour workday, a 48-hour workweek, and
safe working conditions, which include adequate provisions for
restrooms, canteens, medical facilities, and ventilation. The law
mandates a minimum rest period of 30 minutes after every four hours of
work and premium pay for overtime. These standards generally were
enforced in the modern industrial sector; they were generally not
observed in the informal economy, which included nearly 93 percent of
the work force.
Minimum wages varied according to the state and to the sector of
industry. Such wages were inadequate to provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family. Most workers employed in units subject
to the Factories Act received more than the minimum wage, including
mandated bonuses and other benefits. State governments set a separate
minimum wage for agricultural workers but did not enforce it
effectively.
Enforcement of safety and health standards was poor, especially in
the informal sector. Industrial accidents occurred frequently. Chemical
industries had the highest number of accidents. Workers from Scheduled
Castes and Tribes often worked as rag pickers, recycling trash under
hazardous and generally deplorable conditions. Workers from these
groups also cleaned sewers and drains of human excrement without proper
equipment and under extremely unsanitary conditions.
Safety conditions were better in the EPZs than in the manufacturing
sector outside the EPZs.
The law does not give workers the right to leave workplaces that
endanger health and safety without jeopardizing their continued
employment. The country's undocumented foreign workers did not receive
basic occupational health and safety protections.
__________
KAZAKHSTAN
The Republic of Kazakhstan, with a population of approximately 15.6
million, has a parliamentary system dominated by President Nazarbayev's
Nur Otan Party. The constitution concentrates power in the presidency,
permitting the president to control regional and local governments and
to exercise significant influence over the legislature and judiciary.
Changes or amendments to the constitution require presidential consent.
According to official results, Nur Otan received 88 percent of the vote
in the 2007 national elections for the Mazhilis (lower house of
parliament), winning every seat in the chamber. Local and international
observers noted some improvements in the electoral process in
comparison to past national elections but criticized the 2007 elections
as falling short of a number of international standards, particularly
with respect to the legislative framework and the integrity of the vote
counting and tabulation processes. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The following human rights problems were reported: severe limits on
citizens' rights to change their government; military hazing that led
to deaths; detainee and prisoner torture and other abuse; unhealthy
prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of an
independent judiciary; restrictions on freedom of speech, the press,
assembly, and association; pervasive corruption, especially in law
enforcement and the judicial system; prohibitive political party
registration requirements; restrictions on the activities of
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); discrimination and violence
against women; trafficking in persons; and societal discrimination.
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.
Abuse was common in detention facilities and other institutions.
On August 4, the court of appeals overturned the conviction of
Captain Ruslan Shurshenov in connection with an August 2008 incident in
which a marine border guard patrol boat fired on a fishing boat on the
Caspian Sea, killing two civilians. The court of appeals ruled that
there were no elements of crime in Shurshenov's actions. On June 2, a
military court sentenced Shurshenov to six years' imprisonment for
unlawfully killing a civilian. Border authorities claimed the patrol
opened fire as a response to shooting from the boat. The local
community and media alleged that there was no need to open fire.
Military hazing led to deaths, suicides, and serious injuries. The
government reported 93 incidents of nonlethal military hazing during
the year, compared to 115 in 2008. The government did not publish
statistics on the number of deaths during the year that were linked to
hazing. The number of suicides in the army did not significantly change
from the previous year. Authorities reported 16 suicides; there were 15
in 2008.
On May 8, the Almaty military court convicted two soldiers from the
Zhambyl Gvardeisky detachment to five-and-a-half and six years in
prison for hazing 19-year-old conscript Yeleusizov and driving him to
suicide in December 2008. On July 27, conscript Mukhambetkaliyev of the
Aktau military detachment died after a soldier beat him. The Aktau
military court sentenced conscript Nesipbayev of the same military unit
to six years in prison in connection with Mukhambetkaliyev's death.
b. Disappearance.--On April 6, Almaty police announced they
detained a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of journalist Olga
Zhabaktai-kyzy. In 2007 the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA)
concluded that her disappearance was unrelated to her ongoing reporting
on official corruption, interethnic clashes, and criminal activity in
the Almaty region. There was no further information at year's end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; nevertheless, the police
and prison officials at times beat and abused detainees, often to
obtain confessions. Human rights activists asserted that the legal
definition of torture was too broad and did not meet UN standards, and
that the penalties for the crime were too lenient. The Prosecutor
General's Office (PGO) and the human rights ombudsman acknowledged that
some law enforcement officers used torture and other illegal methods of
investigation. Human rights and international legal observers noted
investigative and prosecutorial practices that overemphasized a
defendant's confession of guilt over collecting other types of evidence
in building a criminal case against a defendant. Courts generally
ignored allegations by defendants that their confessions were obtained
by torture or duress.
During his May visit to the country, Manfred Nowak, the UN special
rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment, inspected several prisons and detention facilities.
According to his initial assessment, torture was not widespread,
although a culture of impunity allowed police to use extreme methods,
such as heavy beating and asphyxiation, to obtain confessions. Police
rarely investigated complaints of torture. Nowak noted that he visited
two detention facilities of the Committee for National Security (KNB)
that human rights observers routinely cited as places where abuses were
common. Nowak's final report to the UN Human Rights Council was pending
at year's end.
On August 14, the Astana city court initiated a criminal trial
against Kuat Zhobolayev and Zhasulan Suleymenov for alleged involvement
with the extremist religious group Jama'at Al-Farabi. The defendants
claimed that they confessed under extreme pressure from the KNB. They
and several other citizens of the country were arrested during the year
in Russia's Ingushetia Republic. Prosecutors claimed that police found
extremist literature and weapons in their apartment.
The Ombudsman's Office reported 1,090 citizen complaints during the
year.
On March 24, Karaganda police detained 22-year-old Nikolay
Bagautdinov on suspicion of murder. According to media reports, police
officers severely beat Bagautdinov and forced him to sign a confession.
Police later released him into the custody of his legal guardian, who
had doctors document his injuries and publicized the story through the
media. Following a public outcry, five police officers received
administrative reprimands for their conduct. Bagautdinov's lawyer
succeeded in opening a criminal investigation into the incident, but
the investigation stopped when Bagautdinov declined to press charges.
The NGO Human Rights Bureau reported that, on March 20, prison
officers severely beat two detainees at the Stepnogorsk pretrial
detention facility for allegedly disobeying rules of detention and
attempting to start a riot. One of the detainees was hospitalized for
skull and rib fractures. The Human Rights Bureau sent a request to the
ombudsman and the PGO urging a thorough investigation into the
incident, but the PGO found no wrongdoing in the officers' actions.
On April 22, KNB officers detained three fishermen in Atyrau on
suspicion of poaching and reportedly beat them while they were in
detention. The KNB asserted that the fishermen were released, although
the fishermen told the media they escaped from the detention facility.
All three were hospitalized for internal injuries, and one fisherman
suffered from a concussion. The KNB denied any wrongdoing and opened a
criminal investigation against the men for poaching. The case was
pending at year's end.
The government reported 167 crimes related to military hazing and
abuse of power during the year, compared to 146 in 2008.
The government investigated some allegations of conscript hazing
and prosecuted soldiers who engaged in this abuse, forwarding 34 hazing
cases to the courts. The Ministry of Defense continued unannounced
inspections and required systematic reports from senior officers about
hazing in their units.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and facilities did not meet international health standards.
Scarcity of medical care continued to be a problem. NGOs reported that
about half of the inmate population needed professional treatment,
especially for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases.
Abuse occurred in police cells, pretrial detention facilities, and
prisons. The government took steps to address systemic patterns that
encouraged prisoner abuse, including providing for the continued
operation of and increased access for regional penitentiary oversight
commissions, training of prison officials, and seminars for MIA police.
By year's end authorities had prosecuted seven prison officials for
abuses and opened 30 investigations for corruption-related offenses,
resulting in 23 convictions.
NGOs and international observers reported that prison and detention
center conditions did not improve during the year. Observers cited poor
treatment of inmates and detainees and lack of professional training
for administrators. In February 2008 the Constitutional Council
invalidated legislative changes adopted in 2007 that criminalized
prisoner protests and self-mutilation.
During the year the government reported 43 detainee deaths and 59
suicides, of which six occurred in pretrial detention facilities, 49 in
prisons, and four in police cells.
According to the latest statistics available from prison monitoring
NGOs, there were 50,843 prisoners and 8,298 detainees in pretrial
facilities. Of the prisoners, 47,265 were men, 3,129 were women, and
449 were juveniles. Men, women, and juveniles were held separately.
Detainees were held apart from prisoners. There were no reports that
political prisoners were held separately from the rest of the prison
population.
Incidents of inmates' self-mutilation as a protest against harsh
prison conditions and abuse continued, with 28 cases involving 86
inmates reported during the year; a significant number were group
mutilation.
On April 13 and 16, approximately 30 inmates from prison ES-164 in
Northern Kazakhstan committed self-mutilation to protest against poor
prison conditions and administrative abuse. Several prisoners were
hospitalized in the Petropavlovsk hospitals, but prison officials
allegedly ordered them not to discuss the incident. On April 15, prison
officials released a statement alleging that the prisoners were
protesting the detention of the wife of one of the prisoners on
corruption charges. On April 16, financial police blamed an organized
criminal group for arranging the action. On July 1, police detained and
beat an ex-convict, who subsequently alleged that the beating was
retribution for his public statements about the incident.
On May 13, five inmates of the Dolinka maximum security prison
committed group self-mutilation to protest the facility's harsh
conditions. Their injuries were treated on-site.
Civil society activists worked with the councils for public
oversight of the ministries of justice and of internal Affairs, as well
as the human rights ombudsman's countertorture working group, to
monitor the situation in prisons and detention facilities. Many
observers criticized the councils for lacking independence or any
clearly defined authority or power.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, but problems remained.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The MIA supervises the
national police force, which has primary responsibility for internal
security, including investigation and prevention of crimes and
administrative offenses and maintenance of public order and security.
The Agency for Combating Economic and Corruption Crimes (financial
police) has administrative and criminal investigative powers. The KNB
plays a law enforcement role in border security, internal security,
antiterrorism efforts, and the investigation and interdiction of
illegal or unregistered groups, such as extremist groups, military
groups, political parties, religious groups, and trade unions. In
February the government established a separate external intelligence
service, Syrbar, which reports directly to the president. The financial
police and the KNB reported directly to the president.
According to a 2008 poll released by the PGO's Crime Statistics
Committee, 35 percent of the population did not believe the government
could protect them from infringement of their civil rights and
freedoms, specifically infringement by the police and the courts.
Public perception of police effectiveness was low, and corruption among
law enforcement officers was believed to be high. Authorities fired 61
officers for corruption during the year.
During the year the government maintained MIA hot lines and
received more than 173 complaints about police corruption and abuse.
The majority of ministers, including the prime minister, established
personal blogs where citizens could submit their complaints.
The prosecutor general chaired a council for coordination of law
enforcement operations. Staff included heads of other law enforcement
agencies. Among many duties the council reviewed complaints against law
enforcement.
The MIA cooperated with NGOs to provide human rights training for
local police. The government cooperated with international
organizations to provide limited law enforcement training aimed at
decreasing abuse by emphasizing investigative skill development.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--In August 2008
the government passed legislation transferring the power to sanction
arrest from prosecutors to the judiciary. Prosecutors continued to have
the power to authorize investigative actions, such as search and
seizure. The law allows police to hold a detainee for 72 hours before
bringing charges. Human rights observers criticized this period as too
lengthy and said that authorities often used this detention to exert
pressure and extract confessions. A bail system exists but was not
widely used, and many individuals remained in pretrial detention until
their trial.
Persons detained, arrested, or accused of committing a crime have
the right to the assistance of a defense lawyer from the moment of
detention, arrest, or accusation. The law does not require police to
inform detainees that they have the right to an attorney, and in
practice police did not do so. Human rights observers alleged that law
enforcement officials dissuaded detainees from seeing an attorney,
gathered evidence through preliminary questioning before the person's
attorney arrived, and, in some cases, used corrupt defense attorneys to
gather evidence. The law states that the government must provide an
attorney for an indigent suspect or defendant when the suspect is a
minor, has physical or mental disabilities, or faces serious criminal
charges. In practice public defenders often lacked the necessary
experience and training to assist defendants.
Some defendants were barred from freely choosing their defense
counsel because the cases against them involved state secrets, and the
law only allows lawyers who have special clearance to work on such
cases. The editor and owner of the Alma-Ata Info newspaper, Ramazan
Yesergepov, who a court convicted on charges of publishing secret
government documents, decided to represent himself rather than select
an attorney from the government-approved list. In the embezzlement case
against the former manager of the state-owned uranium company
KazAtomProm, Mukhtar Dzhakishev, the KNB barred Dzhakishev from meeting
with his attorney, because the lawyer lacked the necessary clearance.
Dzhakishev eventually chose an attorney from the list of approved
lawyers and was allowed to meet with him.
Prosecutors reported continuing problems with arbitrary arrest and
detention of citizens. During the first nine months of 2008,
authorities released 17 persons from illegal pretrial detention and 675
persons from illegal custody in police offices. Although the government
did not publicize overall statistics for the year, media reported at
least 207 incidents of illegal detention and illegal custody.
The government occasionally arrested and detained government
opponents and critics, sometimes for minor infractions such as
unsanctioned assembly. Nevertheless, there were no allegations of
prolonged detention for political offenses.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law does not provide for an
independent judiciary. The executive branch limited judicial
independence. Prosecutors enjoyed a quasijudicial role and had
authority to suspend court decisions.
Corruption was evident at every stage of the judicial process.
Although judges were among the most highly paid government employees,
lawyers and human rights monitors alleged that judges, prosecutors, and
other officials solicited bribes in exchange for favorable rulings in
the majority of criminal cases.
There are three levels in the court system: district, oblast
(regional), and the Supreme Court. District courts are the court of
first instance in nearly all criminal cases. Regional courts hear cases
involving more serious crimes and may handle cases in rural areas that
have no local courts. District court decisions may be appealed to the
regional courts, and regional court decisions may be appealed to the
Supreme Court. There are also military courts. Military courts have
jurisdiction over civilian criminal defendants alleged to be connected
to military personnel undergoing a criminal trial. Military courts use
the same criminal code as civilian courts.
The Constitutional Council rules on election and referendum
challenges, interprets the constitution, and determines the
constitutionality of laws that parliament adopts. Citizens have no
right of direct appeal to the council.
The presidentially appointed High Judicial Council recommends
nominees for the Supreme Court to the president, who in turn recommends
them to the senate for approval. The council makes recommendations to
the president for all lower-level judges, and the president directly
makes the appointments. Judges are appointed for life. The parliament
may remove Supreme Court judges upon recommendation by the president,
and the president may remove lower court judges.
Trial Procedures.--All defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence
and are protected from self-incrimination. Trials were public except in
instances that could compromise state secrets or when necessary to
protect the private life or personal family concerns of a citizen.
Nevertheless, there were several reports of journalists and observers
denied access to open court hearings.
Courts conducted jury trials for aggravated murder cases, pursuant
to legislation enacted in 2006. Observers noted that the juror
selection process was inconsistent and that judges, who deliberate with
the jurors, tended to dominate the process. However, observers also
noted an increase in acquittal rates. During the year courts conducted
47 jury trials involving 69 defendants; jurors convicted 32 defendants
and acquitted 14. Two cases involving 16 defendants were under appeal
at year's end.
Defendants in criminal cases have the right to counsel and to a
government-provided attorney if they cannot afford counsel. Under the
criminal procedure code, a defendant must be represented by an attorney
when the defendant is a minor, has mental or physical disabilities,
does not speak the language of the court, or faces 10 or more years of
imprisonment. In practice defense attorneys reportedly participated in
only half of all criminal cases, in part because the government did not
have sufficient funds to pay them. The law also provides defendants the
right to be present at their trials, to be heard in court, and to call
witnesses for the defense. They have the right to appeal a decision to
a higher court.
Human rights activists reported numerous problems in the judicial
system, including lack of access to court proceedings, lack of access
to government-held evidence, frequent procedural violations, lack of a
presumption of innocence, poor explanation of rights to defendants,
denial of defense counsel motions, and failure of judges to investigate
allegations that confessions had been extracted through torture or
duress. Lack of due process was a problem, particularly in politically
motivated trials and in cases when improper political or financial
influence was alleged.
On October 20, the Almaty regional court upheld a lower court's
September 3 conviction and four-year sentence of prominent human rights
defender Yevgeniy Zhovtis on charges of vehicular manslaughter. The
charge stemmed from a July 26 accident in which Zhovtis struck and
killed a pedestrian with his car. On December 10, an Almaty district
court judicial review panel refused to review the appellate court's
decision based on a request by Zhovtis' defense team; at year's end it
was unclear whether Zhovtis would request another judicial review of
his case. Local and international observers heavily criticized the
trial for numerous procedural violations. Some observers alleged that
the ``harsh'' sentence imposed on Zhovtis, a critic of the government,
was politically motivated.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Local and international human
rights NGOs asserted that the prison sentence imposed on Yevgeniy
Zhovtis amounted to political persecution to silence the government's
most vocal critic in advance of the country's assumption of the
chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) in 2010.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Economic and
administrative court judges handle civil cases under a court structure
that largely mirrors the criminal court structure. The law and
constitution provide for the resolution of civil disputes in court. In
practice observers viewed civil courts as corrupt and unreliable.
Observers noted that litigants experienced difficulty in enforcing
judgments, particularly if they did not agree to pay a percentage to
the court administrator.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions;
however, the government at times infringed on these rights.
The law provides prosecutors with extensive authority to limit
citizens' constitutional rights. The KNB, the MIA, financial police,
and other agencies, with the concurrence of the PGO, may infringe on
the secrecy of private communications and financial records as well as
on the inviolability of the home. Courts may hear an appeal of a
prosecutor's decision but cannot issue an immediate injunction to cease
an infringement. On June 3, the parliament amended the criminal
procedure code to expand the range of cases in which the police can
wiretap and record communications without a warrant, allowing it in
cases of medium gravity as well as in urgent and grave ones, which was
previously the standard.
Government opponents and their family members continued to report
that the government occasionally monitored their movements and
telephone calls.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and the law
provide for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the government
used a variety of means, including laws, harassment, licensing
regulations, Internet restrictions, and criminal and administrative
charges to control the media and limit freedom of expression. Judicial
actions against journalists and media outlets, including civil and
criminal libel suits filed by government officials, contributed to the
suspension of media outlets and self-censorship.
The government limited individuals' ability to criticize the
country's leadership, and regional leaders attempted to limit local
media outlets' criticism of them. The law prohibits insulting the
president and other senior officials. The government continued to
characterize the distribution of pamphlets by Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), a
prohibited extremist political organization, as incitement for
political and terrorist purposes and beyond the bounds of
constitutionally protected free speech.
According to government statistics, approximately 20 percent of the
2,973 media outlets were government-owned. Many privately owned
newspapers and television stations received government subsidies. The
majority of broadcast media that the government did not own, including
the larger outlets, were nonetheless owned by holding companies
believed to be controlled by members of the president's family or by
loyal associates. Media observers believed that most of the seven
nationwide television broadcasters were owned wholly or partly by the
government. Regional governments owned several frequencies; independent
broadcasters arranged to use the majority of these.
All media were required to register with the Ministry of Culture
and Information, although Web sites were exempt from this requirement.
On February 6, the president signed amendments to the media law that
removed requirements for media to reregister if their senior leadership
changes and to obtain permission to record interviews. The licensing
system was not transparent. As a result of an April 18 government
tender, all radio frequencies in major cities and regions went to one
company that the government favored. Similarly, in January 2008 the
government conducted a tender for new licenses for television
frequencies, but media monitors charged that the government
predetermined the results and awarded all new television frequencies to
companies that it favored. In March 2008 government-owned Samgau
Holding bought 49.9 percent of Khabar stock in an auction, where
neither the names of the bidders nor the prices were manipulated.
Nevertheless, public activists and several politicians criticized the
deal as unfair and alleged that the government orchestrated the process
to consolidate its control of the media.
The law limits the rebroadcast of foreign-produced programming to
20 percent of a station's total airtime. This provision burdened
smaller, less developed regional television stations that lacked
resources to develop their own programs, although the government did
not sanction any media outlet under this provision.
Harassment of and violence against journalists remained a problem.
Press advocacy NGO Adil Soz reported 188 incidents of harassment and
violence against journalists during the first seven months of the year,
compared with 226 such incidents during the first 11 months of 2008.
Journalists working in opposition media and those covering corruption
reported harassment and intimidation by government officials and
private actors.
On January 18, unknown assailants attacked Yermek Boltay, Web site
editor and part-time contributor to Radio Free Europe and Radio
Azzatyk. Several men reportedly approached Boltay on the street and
asked him for money; when he refused they assaulted him. The police
treated the case as a ``hooligan attack'' and had not apprehended any
suspects by year's end.
On August 8, in a closed hearing, Taraz city court found Ramazan
Yesergepov, owner and editor in chief of the Alma-Ata Info newspaper,
guilty of divulging classified documents and sentenced him to three
years in prison. The charge stemmed from a November 2008 article in
Alma-Ata Info that contained ostensibly secret KNB documents. On August
13, in a separate hearing, the Supreme Court ruled against Alma-Ata
Info and upheld a lower court's ruling that suspended the newspaper for
three months for publishing classified documents. On October 22, the
Zhambyl regional court denied Yesergepov's appeal and upheld the
original conviction.
On December 22, Kyrgyzstani opposition journalist Gennady Pavlyuk
died in Almaty from injuries sustained after unknown assailants
allegedly bound his hands and feet with tape and pushed him from a
sixth-floor window on December 16. According to media reports, Pavlyuk
intended to establish an opposition newspaper and Internet portal in
Kyrgyzstan before the end of the year. On December 28, the MOI claimed
it had identified several suspects in the case, all of whom were
Kyrgyzstani nationals. The MOI did not provide further details on the
suspects or on their possible motive. The outcome of the investigation
was pending at year's end.
Incidents of government pressure on the media continued. The NGO
Adil Soz reported that the management of TDK-42, a regional television
station, fired its reporter, Lukhan Akhmedyarov, in January after he
asked the regional governor during a press conference whether his
relatives would continue to spend government funds as they had in the
past.
There were no reports of forced closures under the restrictive
media law enacted in 2006. The amendment to the media law included
tightened government control, requiring media owners to reregister upon
any change in editor, address, or frequency of publishing; a
prohibition on persons convicted of libel holding a managing editor
position at another media outlet; a prohibition on registering an
outlet under a name similar to one that had been closed by court
action; and imposition of fines against broadcasters for failing to
offer the required 50 percent to 50 percent mix of Kazakh- and Russian-
language programming time.
The law enables the government to restrict media content under
amendments that prohibit undermining state security or advocating
class, social, race, national, or religious superiority, or cruelty and
violence. Owners, editors, distributors, and journalists may be held
civilly and criminally responsible for content unless it came from an
official source. The government used this provision to limit media
freedom. The law prohibits publication of any statement that promotes
or glorifies ``extremism,'' a term that international legal experts
said the government had not clearly defined.
The government subjected media outlets willing to criticize the
president directly to intimidation such as law enforcement actions or
civil suits. Although these actions had a chilling effect on media
outlets, criticism of government policies continued.
The law on state secrets makes it a criminal offense to release
information about the health, finances, or private life of the
president as well as economic information, such as mineral reserves and
government debt owed to foreign creditors. To avoid possible legal
problems, media outlets often practiced self-censorship regarding
information on the president or his family.
Private parties could initiate criminal libel suits on behalf of
the government, and an individual filing such a suit would be able to
file a civil suit as well, based upon the same allegations. Officials
increasingly used the law's restrictive libel and defamation provisions
to constrain media outlets from publishing unflattering information.
Both the criminal and civil codes contain articles establishing broad
liability for libel. The requirement that owners, editors,
distributors, publishing houses, and journalists prove the veracity of
published information, regardless of its source, promoted self-
censorship at each level. At times fines for libel were exorbitant and
caused some media outlets to close.
In contrast to the previous year, NGOs monitors reported an
increase in libel cases against journalists and media outlets. On
February 26, the Almaty appellate court ordered the opposition
newspaper Taszhargan to pay a fine of 30 million tenge (approximately
$200,000) to parliamentarian Romin Madinov for insulting his honor and
dignity. The appellate decision increased the district court's original
decision, which levied a three million tenge fine (approximately
$20,000). Media watchdog NGOs warned that the decision to increase a
penalty as a result of an appeal set a precedent that could serve as a
deliberate warning to journalists. Unable to pay the fine, the
newspaper ceased publishing.
On September 9, the Almaty city court decided in favor of BTA
Bank's claim of slander against the opposition weekly Respublika and
ordered the newspaper to pay the bank 60 million tenge (approximately
$400,000). The bank alleged that the newspaper caused a run on the
bank's deposits by publishing articles that undermined its business
reputation. On September 18, court officers seized a print run of the
newspaper and froze the bank accounts of the newspaper's management. On
October 29, the Almaty city court denied the newspaper's appeal and
upheld the lower court's decision. Financial police raided the printing
house that printed the newspaper, Comet-S, on September 21 and 23,
seizing copies of Respublika and other newspapers printed there.
According to the newspaper's management, other printing houses refused
to print the newspaper for fear of retribution from authorities. At
year's end the newspaper's staff was publishing the paper on high-speed
copy machines.
On February 6, the Petropavlovsk court fined Vremya newspaper
editor Victor Miroshnichenko 250,000 tenge (approximately $1,670) for
insulting the deputy director of the regional police department and
ordered him and the newspaper to pay 100,000 tenge (approximately $670)
in moral damages of the plaintiff.
Internet Freedom.--Observers reported that the government monitored
e-mail and Internet activity, blocked or slowed access to opposition
Web sites, and planted progovernment propaganda in Internet chat rooms.
The state regulated the country's only Internet service providers,
state-owned Kaztelecom and privately owned Nursat. Nevertheless, Web
sites expressed a wide variety of views, including viewpoints critical
of the government. According to government statistics, there were 1.2
million regular (primarily urban) Internet users in the country (7
percent of the population).
On July 11, the president signed amendments to the legislation
governing the Internet. Many local and international observers
criticized the amendments as infringing on freedom of speech on the
Internet. The new law reclassified all Web sites, including chat rooms
and blogs, as ``media outlets,'' making them subject to the media law.
It broadened the definition of ``disseminated media products'' to
include information posted on the Internet. It also made it easier for
the government to shut down media outlets, including Web sites, for
violations during electoral periods or for inciting interethnic
violence.
The Agency for Information and Communication (AIC) controlled the
registration of .kz domains. The AIC may suspend or revoke registration
for failure to locate servers in the country. Observers criticized the
registration process as unduly restrictive and vulnerable to abuse.
The media monitoring group Adil Soz reported that government
blocking of the Web site Live Journal continued intermittently
throughout the year, although the site remained accessible through
other servers. The government began blocking the site in 2007 in
connection with the publication of audio recordings and transcripts of
telephone conversations between high-level government officials.
The opposition-oriented Web site zona.kz reported coordinated cyber
attacks against it in February and April and a 10-day attack in May. On
February 13, a cyber attack interrupted the Web site of opposition
newspaper Respublika. The managers of both outlets ascribed the attacks
to the sites' critical comments of the government.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The government generally did
not restrict academic freedom, although academics, like all citizens,
were prohibited from infringing on the dignity and honor of the
president.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for limited freedom of assembly. There were
significant restrictions on this right in practice, and police used
force to disrupt peaceful demonstrations. The law defines unsanctioned
gatherings, public meetings, marches, demonstrations, illegal
picketing, and strikes that upset social and political stability as
national security threats.
Under the laws governing public assembly, organizations must apply
to local authorities for a permit to hold a demonstration or public
meeting at least 10 days in advance. Opposition and human rights
monitors complained that complicated and vague procedures and the 10-
day notification period made it difficult for groups to organize public
meetings and demonstrations and reported that local authorities turned
down most applications for demonstrations. Authorities often detained
briefly and fined organizers of unsanctioned gatherings, including
political party gatherings. The National Human Rights Action Plan 2009-
12, which the Presidential Human Rights Commission presented to the
media on September 10, noted that the country's legal norms on public
gatherings at times contradicted international standards and proposed
that a new law on public assemblies be adopted by the end of 2010.
The PGO urged members of the Azat political party not to gather on
February 21, although the party had received formal permission for a
demonstration from the Almaty mayor's office. After several newspapers
reported Azat's call for the public to join the demonstration, the PGO
declared that Azat's message contained elements of ``social and clan
enmity'' that constituted ``political extremism'' as defined in the
criminal code. The prosecutor threatened to bring criminal charges
against anyone who participated in the demonstration for ``inciting
social and clan enmity.''
During the year authorities dispersed several gatherings organized
without preliminary authorization. In February authorities prohibited
protests by several citizens' groups and political parties throughout
the country, alleging that other events were scheduled for the same day
and time. On April 21, police detained 12 activists with the youth
human rights organization Ar.Rukh.Khak for three hours when they tried
to meet with journalists on the main square in Almaty. The group had
not registered the meeting with authorities. In Almaty the number of
protests increased due to the economic crisis. In most cases
authorities denied the rally permits.
On July 21, the Almaty administrative court fined Bulat Abilov, the
leader of the opposition party Azat, 64,800 tenge (approximately $430)
for holding an unsanctioned rally on June 24 in support of media
freedom. Abilov asserted that city authorities had denied his requests
for rally permits. On July 30, the same court sentenced the leader of
the Talmas movement, Ainur Kurmanov, to 15 days in jail for holding an
unsanctioned action on June 24.
On September 16, police arrested Andrey Sviridov, a journalist
working for the Human Rights Bureau, for holding an unsanctioned
protest against the conviction of Yevgeniy Zhovtis. Sviridov was
released after three hours in detention. The next day the court found
him guilty of holding an unsanctioned rally and fined him 12,730 tenge
(about $75). Sviridov's colleague Victor Kovtunovski held a similar
protest on September 9 and received a heavier fine of 32,400 tenge
(about $216).
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for limited freedom of
association. There were significant restrictions on this right in
practice. Any public organization set up by citizens, including
religious groups, must be registered with the Ministry of Justice (MOJ)
as well as with MOJ branches in every region in which the organization
conducts activities. The law requires public or religious associations
to define their specific activities, and associations that act outside
the scope of their charter may be warned, fined, suspended, or
ultimately prohibited. Participation in unregistered public
organizations may result in administrative or criminal liability, such
as fines, dissolution, probation, or imprisonment.
The prohibition on unregistered organizations often provided a
pretext for authorities to interfere with the activities of
organizations. Membership organizations, including religious groups,
must have 10 members to register at the local level and must have
branches in more than half of the regions for national registration.
Political parties and labor unions were considered membership
organizations but had additional specific registration requirements. On
February 6, the president signed amendments to the political party law
that lowered the number of signatures necessary for registration from
50,000 to 40,000. If authorities challenge the applications alleging
irregular signatures, the registration process can continue as long as
the total number of eligible signatures remains above the minimum. The
law prohibits parties established on an ethnic, gender, or religious
basis. The law prohibits members of the armed forces, employees of
national security and law enforcement organizations, and judges from
participating in trade unions or political parties.
On May 19, the Special Administrative Court in Almaty found
Vladimir Kozlov guilty of leading the unregistered political party Alga
and fined him 127,000 tenge (approximately $900). The court of appeals
upheld the ruling on June 2. On December 18, the MOJ suspended Alga's
formal registration request for allegedly submitting ineligible
signatures. Alga had been waiting for formal registration with the MOJ
since 2006.
NGOs reported that the registration process was fairly
straightforward, although corruption in the process was common. NGOs
involved in human rights advocacy and political activities faced
greater administrative delays and obstacles, although there were no
reports that the government denied registration or closed
organizations.
The Human Rights Bureau, Almaty Polyton Club, and the Semey-based
NGO Dom reported that the government investigated them for allegedly
failing to pay taxes on grants from a foreign donor organization. Tax
authorities froze the accounts of Polyton and Dom. In February the
Human Rights Bureau and Polyton Club successfully argued the grants'
tax-exempt status. On August 7, the Supreme Court ruled against the NGO
Dom in a similar case and ordered the organization to pay 5 million
tenge (approximately $33,000) in corporate tax.
The 2005 extremism law criminalizes membership in certain
prohibited organizations. HT was the only organization prohibited under
this law. Although it maintained that it was committed to nonviolence,
HT promoted hate and praised acts of terrorism. The party's virulently
anti-Semitic and anti-Western literature called for the overthrow of
secular governments, including those in Central Asia, to be replaced
with a worldwide Islamic government.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the government generally respected this right
in practice. Local and regional officials attempted on occasion to
limit or control the practice of religion by several groups, especially
religious communities that the government defined as
``nontraditional.'' The constitution defines the country as a secular
state and provides the right to decline religious affiliation.
The government continued to express publicly its support for
religious tolerance and diversity, but also publicly criticized
``nontraditional'' religious groups and called for new legislation to
increase its control of missionaries and the dissemination of religious
materials. On February 12, the Constitutional Council declared that the
restrictive amendments to the religion law adopted by parliament in
November 2008 were unconstitutional on technical grounds. The
government's enforcement of the law led to continuing problems for some
unregistered groups, as the law imposes mandatory registration
requirements on missionaries and religious organizations. Although the
majority of religious communities worshipped largely without government
interference, local officials attempted on occasion to limit the
practice of religion by some minority groups.
The generally amicable relations between religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. The country is multiethnic,
with a long tradition of tolerance and secularism. In particular
Muslim, Russian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Jewish leaders reported
high levels of acceptance in society. The population, particularly in
rural areas, was sometimes wary of religions the government deemed
``nontraditional.'' The number of registered religious groups and
places of worship increased during the year for virtually all religious
groups, except minority and nontraditional groups. In August the
government introduced a class on religions in the high school
curriculum.
The religion law narrows the constitution's legal protections for
religious freedom. Under the law religious groups must register both
with the central government and in the individual regions in which they
have congregations. Missionaries must register annually and be
sponsored by a registered religious organization. All supporting
materials must be provided with the registration applications; it is
illegal to use other materials. Only a registered organization may act
as a legal entity to buy or rent real property, hire employees, or
engage in other legal transactions.
In practice most religious communities chose to register with the
government and ultimately obtained registration. Minority religious
groups sometimes reported long delays in the process. Unregistered
religious groups reported an increase in court actions against them and
an increase in the monetary amount of fines imposed for
nonregistration. Some religious groups also criticized the intrusive
nature of the registration process, which required them to provide
information about ethnicity, family status, religious education,
employment, and political affiliation.
Minority religious groups reported sustained government pressure
against their communities. During the year the Baptist Council of
Churches, which has a policy not to seek registration in former Soviet
countries, continued to report new cases against churchgoers for
participating in the activities of an unregistered group. Protestant
groups reported an increase in intrusive inspections from financial
police. Human rights groups reported that the Ministry of Culture and
Information partially financed five crisis centers for victims of
``dangerous religious sects.''
On January 26, the Atyrau city court upheld the Jehovah's
Witnesses' right to register a religious center, overturning seven
years of denials by regional MOJ officials and the akim (governor).
On March 10, the Almaty appellate court vacated a two-year prison
sentence against Elizaveta Drenicheva, a Unification Church member and
Russian citizen, but upheld the guilty verdict. The court fined
Drenicheva 1,273 tenge (approximately $8), but she did not have to pay
it because of time spent in detention awaiting the appellate ruling. On
January 9, an Almaty district court found Drenicheva guilty on charges
of promoting the superiority of a group of citizens based on religion.
The case was based on several religious lectures Drenicheva gave on the
teachings of Sun Myung Moon. Human rights activists and international
observers sharply criticized the decision as an infringement on freedom
of conscience.
On June 12, the Karaganda regional court upheld a decision of the
Specialized Interdistrict Economic Court of Karaganda to close the
Church of Scientology in Karaganda. On June 22, the president of the
Scientology Church of Karaganda, Vadim Vitushkin, reported that the
church's appeal was heard in court without the presence of the church's
representatives and lawyers. The appeals court upheld the lower court's
decision on the same day.
Members of Jehovah's Witnesses reported somewhat improved relations
with authorities but noted several cases of government interference
with their attempts to conduct ceremonies and other gatherings.
Local and foreign missionaries must register annually with the MOJ
and provide information on religious affiliation, territory of
missionary work, and time period for conducting that work. The MOJ may
refuse to register missionaries whose work would be inconsistent with
any law, including laws that prohibit the incitement of interethnic or
interreligious hatred. Foreign missionaries, like all visitors, are
required to register with migration police and indicate the purpose of
their stay. The constitution requires foreign religious associations to
conduct their activities, including appointing the heads of religious
associations, ``in coordination with appropriate state institutions.''
Although foreigners may register religious organizations, the
government requires that the majority of the 10 founders be local
citizens.
Although the law is vague on the definition of missionary activity,
authorities frequently interpreted any religious activity by visiting
foreigners as missionary activity and expelled those who were not
registered as missionaries. During the year 15 foreign citizens were
deported for conducting missionary activities without registration.
Observers believed that security officials informally monitored
some religious activity, particularly Muslim imams' sermons. There were
no reports that any monitoring involved interference or harassment.
There were no restrictions on religious travel. Media reported several
cases of public schools prohibiting female students from wearing the
hijab (Muslim head covering) because it conflicted with uniform rules.
On December 1 to 4, in response to broad public interest,
representatives of the MOJ spoke on public television to clarify that,
although the constitution guarantees everyone's right to follow any
religion, students in public schools must follow the established
uniform rules.
In contrast with 2008, the Karasai regional government near Almaty
moved toward an agreement with the Almaty Hare Krishnas to resolve a
property dispute regarding a plot of land they had been using in the
Almaty region. In March local authorities offered the Hare Krishnas
land close to Almaty for their temple and promised to find pasture land
for the community's cows. Negotiations were ongoing at the end of the
year.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Observers noted that negative
media coverage of ``nontraditional'' religious groups lessened after
the Constitutional Council overturned the November 2008 amendments to
the religion law on February 12. Nevertheless, some minority groups,
including evangelical Christians and Scientologists, continued to face
negative media coverage.
Approximately 30,000 to 40,000 Jews lived in the country. There
were no reports of anti-Semitic acts apart from the distribution of
anti-Semitic literature by HT. Leaders of the Jewish community reported
no cases of anti-Semitism by the government or in society.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement, but there were some regulatory restrictions. The government
generally respected the right in practice, and citizens were able to
move within the country with relative ease. The government cooperated
with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and
other organizations to provide some protection and assistance to
refugees, asylum seekers, and other persons of concern.
The government required citizens and foreigners who remained in the
country for more than five days to register with migration police.
Foreigners entering the country may register at certain border posts.
Registration in most of the country generally was routine; nonetheless,
some foreign citizens reported that local authorities regularly
requested bribes before completing registration. During the year the
MIA deported 17,545 foreigners for gross violations of the visitor
rules; the majority of the foreigners were citizens of countries in the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The government required
persons who were suspects in criminal investigations to sign statements
that they would not leave their place of residence and detained
individuals routinely for identity checks without suspicion of a
criminal offense.
Although the government did not require exit visas for temporary
travel of citizens, there were certain instances in which the
government could deny exit from the country, including for travelers
subject to pending criminal or civil legal proceedings, unfulfilled
prison sentences, or compulsory military duty. Travelers who presented
false documentation during the exit process could be denied exit, and
authorities controlled travel by active-duty military. The law on
national security requires that persons who had access to state secrets
obtain permission from their employing government agency for temporary
exit from the country.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not employ
it.
The law provides for the right to emigrate and the right to
repatriate, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. An exception is the law on national security, which prohibits
persons who had access to state secrets from taking up permanent
residence abroad for five years after leaving government service. The
government required a permanent exit visa for emigration; obtaining
this visa required criminal checks, credit checks, and letters from
parents and any dependents expressing no objection to exit visa
issuance.
Authorities required foreigners to obtain prior permission to
travel to certain border areas with China and cities in close proximity
to military installations. The government continued to declare
particular areas closed to foreigners due to their proximity to
military bases and the space launch center at Baikonur. In practice
foreigners could visit these areas with prior permission from the MIA.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. On
December 9, the president signed a new law on refugees that outlines
refugee rights, including the right to be registered and be issued a
document. The government provided some protection against the expulsion
or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would
be threatened on account of their race, religion, nationality,
membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. The
government did not forcibly return any refugees to Uzbekistan during
the year.
In practice the government did not expel or return refugees or
asylum seekers despite some detentions and interrogations of such
persons. The Office of the UNHCR reported that, in July and August, the
MIA and local Almaty law enforcement detained several Uighur refugees,
holding them for several hours or, in one case, for three days. The
UNHCR maintained regular access to the detainees and did not report
abuse.
On September 7, armed and masked men, later identified as Almaty
KNB officers, detained three Uzbekistani and Chinese Uighur national
refugees and two asylum seekers and held them for three hours. Some
reported the KNB officers threatened them with deportation or put
plastic bags on their heads. In response to the UNHCR's inquiry, the
KNB said it was running checks on the detainees. The detainees reported
that the KNB officers accused them of killing a policeman in
Uzbekistan. The UNHCR sent a formal protest letter to the government.
The government generally registered asylum seekers and determined
their status in consultation with the UNHCR, with the exceptions of
citizens from the CIS countries or China. Only the president could
grant political asylum, and he did not do so during the year. In some
cases the government allowed asylum seekers and refugees to stay in the
country while the UNHCR found third countries that would accept them.
Although the government registered refugees already present in the
country, it did not accept any refugees for resettlement and
naturalization. The government also provided temporary protection to
individuals, including some Afghan refugees, who might not qualify as
refugees.
In practice the government does not grant refugee or asylum status
to citizens of CIS countries or China. The government maintained that
citizens of CIS countries cannot by definition need refugee status
because they enjoy freedom of movement under the visa-free regime in
the CIS. Citizens of CIS countries are processed under migration laws
that give them some renewable temporary status but not the full
protection of refugee status. Citizens from China were not granted any
legal status, but the government informally tolerated their presence.
Activists reported that, in practice, many refugees from CIS countries
and China did not seek formal status. Those who sought protection from
the UNHCR generally had access to such processes, and the government
generally respected UNHCR refugee certificates.
During the year the UNHCR reported generally good cooperation from
the government in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The government
usually allowed the UNHCR access to detained foreigners to determine
whether they qualified for refugee status. The government was generally
tolerant in its treatment of local refugee populations, except for a
few citizens from former Soviet republics. The government often did not
allow refugees without passports or those who had entered the country
illegally to register, although the UNHCR intervened on behalf of those
it judged to be asylum seekers under the UNHCR's mandate.
The Committee on Migration in the Ministry of Labor continued to
work with the UNHCR and a local NGO, Kazakhstan Refugee Legal Support,
to review refugee claims. Consistent with the Minsk Convention on
Migration within the CIS, the government did not recognize Chechens as
refugees. Chechens were eligible for temporary legal resident status
for up to 180 days, as any other CIS citizen. This temporary
registration was renewable, but local migration officials have
discretion over the renewal process. In some cases they solicited
bribes, exploiting the vulnerability of Chechens due to their inability
to return safely to Chechnya. The government has an agreement with
China not to tolerate the presence of ethnic separatists from one
country on the territory of the other. Human rights monitors remained
concerned about the effect of this agreement on Uighurs from China
living in the country, and there were reports that the government
forcibly returned Uighurs to China during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide for a democratic government with
universal suffrage for those older than 18 years of age; in practice
the government severely limited the right of citizens to change their
government.
Although the 2007 constitutional amendments increased legislative
authority in some spheres, the constitution continues to concentrate
power in the presidency. The president appoints and dismisses most
high-level government officials, including the prime minister, the
cabinet, the prosecutor general, the KNB chief, Supreme Court and
lower-level judges, regional governors, and the chairman and two
members of the Central Election Commission (CEC), which oversees
presidential and parliamentary elections. The Mazhilis (lower house of
parliament) must confirm the president's choice of prime minister, and
the senate must confirm the president's choice of prosecutor general,
chief of the KNB, Supreme Court judges, and head of the national bank.
The parliament has never failed to confirm a presidential nomination.
Modifying or amending the constitution effectively requires the
president's consent. The 2007 constitutional amendments exempted
President Nazarbayev from the two-term presidential term limit.
The government continued to take some steps toward meeting
democratic reform commitments it made at the 2007 OSCE Ministerial. In
February the president signed into law amendments on political parties,
parliamentary elections, and the media. Some civil society
representatives and opposition party members criticized the legislation
for not going far enough with reforms and claimed that the legislative
process lacked transparency.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the 2007 elections for
the Mazhilis, President Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party, the country's
dominant political force, received 88 percent of the vote, winning
every seat in the chamber. No other party received the necessary 7
percent of the vote to obtain Mazhilis seats.
An OSCE election assessment noted several areas of improvement in
the conduct of previous national elections, including increased
transparency on the part of the CEC. Nevertheless, the assessment
criticized a number of legal provisions related to the election
including excessive requirements for registration of political parties;
limitations on the right to seek public office, such as 10-year
residency and party membership requirements; and a provision allowing
the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan--an unelected body whose members
President Nazarbayev appointed--to choose nine of the 107 members of
the Mazhilis. Opposition leaders filed 400 court cases alleging
violations. The courts dismissed or denied the majority of the cases.
All registered parties that sought to compete in the 2007 elections
were permitted to do so, although the system introduced by 2007
constitutional amendments makes no provision for independent
candidates. Political parties must register members' personal
information, including date and place of birth, address, and place of
employment. This requirement discouraged many citizens from joining
political parties. There were credible allegations that persons
entering government service were pressured to join the Nur Otan party.
At year's end there were 10 registered political parties, including
opposition parties Ak Zhol, Azat, the National Social Democratic Party,
and the Communist Party of Kazakhstan.
In order to register, a political party must hold a founding
congress with minimum attendance of 1,000 delegates from two-thirds of
the oblasts and the cities of Astana and Almaty. The February 6
amendments to the political party law lowered the number of signatures
necessary for registration from 50,000 to 40,000. Parties must obtain
at least 700 signatures from each oblast and the cities of Astana and
Almaty, registration from the CEC, and registration from each oblast-
level election commission.
The February 9 amendments to the law on elections mandate a two-
party parliament by stipulating that the party with the second-highest
vote count automatically receives seats in the Mazhilis, even if it
fails to reach the 7 percent threshold.
The law prohibits parties established on an ethnic, gender, or
religious basis.
On May 22, the Almalinskiy district court in Almaty found Azat
chairman Bulat Abilov, Shanyrak movement's Asylbek Kazhakhmetov, and
oppositionist Tolen Tokhtasynov guilty of concealing the whereabouts of
a suspect in a murder investigation. The court did not impose a
sentence on the three oppositionists, because the statute of
limitations on the case had run out. The three appealed the charges,
claiming the allegations were politically motivated. On July 29, the
Almaty City Appellate Court denied the appeal.
There were two women in the 47-seat senate and 19 women in the 107-
member Mazhilis. There was one woman in the cabinet and one chaired a
national agency. Traditional attitudes sometimes hindered women from
holding high office or playing active roles in political life, although
there were no legal restrictions on the participation of women and
minorities in politics. There were nine non-Kazakhs in the senate, and
27 in the Mazhilis. There were two non-Kazakh cabinet members. Under
the 2007 constitutional amendments, the president gained the ability to
appoint 15 members of the senate, with the requirement that the
appointments facilitate representation of different ethnic and cultural
groups.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.
Corruption was widespread in the executive branch, various law
enforcement agencies, local government administrations, the education
system, and the judiciary. The MIA, financial police, the KNB, and the
Disciplinary State Service Commission are responsible for combating
corruption. Opposition leaders and human rights NGOs accused the
government of rampant corruption. According to the World Bank's
Worldwide Governance Indicators, corruption in the country was a
problem.
The government intensified its campaign to address corruption, and
several highly placed government officials were investigated for
embezzlement and abuse of office. On March 24, a court sentenced former
aide to the president Serik Burkitbayev to six years in prison for
committing economic crimes. On April 13, the KNB arrested Deputy
Defense Minister Kazhimurat Mayermanov for alleged abuse of power in
defense procurement. On May 24, the KNB arrested the chairman of the
state uranium company, Mukhtar Dzhakishev, on charges of abuse of
office. The investigation was ongoing at year's end.
Lower and middle-ranking officials and minor political figures were
penalized on corruption charges. The government reported that, during
the first 10 months of the year, 1,693 corruption crimes were
disclosed, including 626 bribery cases, 332 cases of abuse of power, 60
cases of excessive use of power, 365 cases of embezzlement, five cases
of money laundering, and two cases of economic smuggling. In July the
Customs Committee announced that 190 criminal cases had been opened
against corrupt customs officials since the beginning of the year. On
July 19, Supreme Court Chairman Musabek Alimbekov told the media that
24 judges had been fired for incompetence since the beginning of the
year. Five judges were convicted for corruption. On September 1,
President Nazarbayev publicly ordered that all new legislation undergo
an ``anticorruption examination'' to eliminate loopholes that could
lead to bribery or embezzlement.
The law mandates that the government, public associations,
officials, and media outlets provide citizens with information that
affects their rights and interests; in practice citizens' requests for
information were not fulfilled in a timely manner.
Although parliament published several draft laws, some
parliamentary debates, and occasionally its voting record, many
parliamentary activities remained outside public view. Accredited
journalists and representatives of public associations may observe some
parliamentary sessions via video link from a separate room. Transcripts
of parliamentary sessions were not available to the public. Parliament
closed to the public and the media its discussion of controversial
legislation during the year.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated effectively, with relative freedom to investigate
and publish their findings on human rights cases; however, the
government restricted certain activities of domestic and international
human rights NGOs. International human rights groups reported that the
government continued to monitor the activities of NGOs that worked on
sensitive issues and noted government harassment, including police
visits and surveillance of NGO offices and personnel.
The Kazakhstan International Bureau of Human Rights (KIBHR), the
Almaty Helsinki Commission, the Republican Network of Independent
Monitors, the Charter for Human Rights, Penal Reform International, and
Adil Soz were among the most active local human rights NGOs and
occasionally faced difficulties in registration and acquiring office
space and technical facilities. They also reported the government
audited their records and imposed various legal constraints.
On September 22, unidentified persons assaulted Aynur Kurmanov, the
head of the Talmas public association, near his home. Kurmanov and Azat
party representatives claimed that the attack directly related to his
work with trade unions and alleged that the authorities were involved
with the attack. A police investigation was pending at year's end.
In general the government did not prevent international NGOs and
multilateral institutions dealing with human rights from visiting the
country and meeting with local human rights groups and government
officials. The government cooperated with the OSCE and its field
mission. The UN, the International Organization for Migration, and the
International Red Crescent Society also operated freely in the country.
National security laws prohibit foreigners, international
organizations, NGOs, and other nonprofit organizations from engaging in
political activities. The law stipulates that a noncommercial
organization must provide information to tax authorities on its
founders, activities, and foreign sources of funding, as well as
income, property, expenses, and employee records. International
organizations are prohibited from funding unregistered entities.
The Presidential Commission on Human Rights is a consultative and
advisory body that includes members from the public appointed by the
president. The commission reviews and investigates complaints, issues
recommendations, monitors fulfillment of international human rights
conventions, and publishes annual human rights reports. The commission
does not have legal authority to remedy human rights violations or
implement its recommendations. On September 10, the commission
presented the National Action Plan on Human Rights for 2009-12. Leading
human rights NGOs made a significant contribution to the draft plan.
Civil society activists considered it an ambitious, well-prepared
document, but expressed concern regarding its implementation.
The presidentially appointed human rights ombudsman investigated
complaints by citizens of violations of their rights by state agencies,
although the ombudsman was not authorized to investigate complaints
concerning the president, heads of government agencies, the parliament,
the cabinet, the Constitutional Council, the prosecutor general, the
CEC, or the courts. The Ombudsman's Office has authority to appeal to
the president, cabinet, or parliament to resolve citizens' complaints,
to cooperate with international human rights organizations and NGOs, to
meet with government officials concerning human rights violations, to
visit certain facilities such as military units and prisons, and to
publicize results of investigations in the media. The ombudsman also
published an annual human rights report. During the year the ombudsman
occasionally briefed the media and issued reports discussing complaints
it had investigated. The ombudsman received 1,090 complaints during the
year and provided relief to 119 citizens. Many of the complaints
concerned court rulings in which the ombudsman had no jurisdiction.
Domestic human rights observers noted that, although government
human rights investigators did some laudable work, particularly with
less controversial social problems and issues involving lower-level
elements of the bureaucracy, the Ombudsman's Office and the human
rights commission were limited in their ability to stop human rights
abuses or punish perpetrators. Observers noted that the commission and
the ombudsman avoided addressing underlying structural problems that
led to human rights violations.
Section 6. 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 effectively
enforce the law. Violence against women, trafficking in persons, and
discrimination against persons with disabilities, homosexual activity,
and nonethnic Kazakhs in government were problems.
Women.--The law criminalizes rape. The punishment for rape,
including spousal rape, ranges from three to 15 years' imprisonment.
The government reported 734 criminal rape cases. Under the law a
prosecutor cannot initiate a rape case absent aggravating
circumstances, such as gang rape, unless the victim files a complaint.
Once a complaint is filed, the criminal investigation cannot be
dismissed if the rape victim recants or refuses to cooperate further
with the investigation. This provision is intended to protect victims
from coercion. There were anecdotal reports of police and judicial
reluctance to act on rape and spousal rape cases.
Violence against women, including domestic violence, was a problem.
On December 7, President Nazarbayev signed a new law on domestic
violence. The law defines for the first time ``domestic violence'' and
``victim''; identifies various types of violence, such as physical,
psychological, sexual, and economic; and outlines the responsibilities
of the local and national governments and NGOs in providing support to
domestic violence victims. The law also outlines mechanisms for
issuance of restraining orders and provides for 24-hour administrative
detention of abusers. The criminal procedure code sets the maximum
sentence for spousal assault and battery at 10 years in prison, which
is the same as for any beating.
According to NGOs domestic violence increased. Although official
statistics were scarce, activists assessed that one in four families
experienced domestic violence. The government reported 761 domestic
violence crimes during the year. NGOs reported that 40 percent of such
crimes went unreported.
Police intervened in family disputes only when they believed the
abuse was life-threatening. According to NGO estimates, police
investigated approximately 10 percent of such cases. NGOs conducted
training for police officers on how to handle victims of domestic
violence.
NGOs reported that women often withdrew their complaints as a
result of economic insecurity. When victims pressed charges for
domestic violence or spousal rape, police sometimes tried to persuade
them not to pursue a case. When domestic violence cases came to trial,
the charge was most often light battery, for which judges sentenced
domestic abusers to incarceration at a minimum security labor colony
and 120 to 180 hours of work. Sentences for more serious cases of
battery, including spousal battery, range from three months to three
years' imprisonment; the maximum sentence for aggravated battery is 10
years' imprisonment.
According to the government, there were 25 crisis centers in the
country providing assistance to women and two centers that provided
assistance to men. All the crisis centers received funding through
government and international grants to NGOs. A number of smaller NGOs
provided assistance to victims. Six of the crisis centers also provided
shelter for victims of violence.
Prostitution was a serious problem. Prostitution is not prohibited
by law, although forced prostitution, prostitution connected to
organized crime, and acts facilitating prostitution, such as operating
a brothel or prostitution ring, are illegal. During the year the
government investigated 169 individuals for prostitution-related
crimes; 164 individuals were convicted. NGOs reported that criminal
prostitution rings often included local law enforcement officials.
Sexual harassment remained a problem. The law prohibits some forms
of sexual harassment, but legal and gender experts regarded the
legislation as inadequate to address the problem. There were reports of
incidents of harassment, but in no instance was the victim protected
under the law, nor were there reports of any cases prosecuted.
According to the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), the birth rate
in the country was 23 births annually per 1,000 members of the
population and the infant mortality rate was 32 infant deaths per 1,000
live births.
Couples and individuals are free to decide the number, spacing, and
timing of their children, and have the means to do so free from
discrimination, coercion, or violence. Modern contraceptive methods
were widely available. Less than 1 percent of women between the ages 15
and 24 and less than 1 percent of the adult population between the ages
of 15 and 49 years had contracted or were living with HIV/AIDS. Women
and men received equal treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
Skilled personnel attended 99 percent of births, and 100 percent of
women received at least one postnatal care visit, according to the PRB.
The constitution and law provide for equal rights and freedoms for
men and women. On December 10, the president signed a new gender
equality law that defines the terms ``gender,'' ``gender equality,''
``sexual discrimination,'' and ``equal opportunity'' and prohibits
discrimination based on gender. The financial and economic crisis
affected women more than men with more women than men losing their
jobs. According to observers women in rural areas faced greater
discrimination than women in urban areas and suffered from a greater
incidence of domestic violence, limited education and employment
opportunities, limited access to information, and discrimination in
their land and property rights.
Children.--Citizenship is derived both by birth within the
country's territory (jus soli) and from one's parents (jus sanguinis).
The government is required to register all births immediately.
Children's rights are governed by the Law on the Rights of the
Child, the Marriage, and Family, the Law on Prevention of Juvenile
Delinquency, the Law on Social and Medical Support to Children with
Disabilities, and related UN conventions to which the country is a
party. In 2006 the government established a Committee on Protection of
Children's Rights within the Ministry of Education and Science.
Education is mandatory through 16 years of age or secondary school;
elementary schooling generally begins at age six. Primary and secondary
education are free and universal. The law provides equal access to
education for boys and girls. The Ministry of Education and Science
estimated 99 percent enrollment of school-aged children. The law
provides for access to public education for refugee and illegal migrant
children. In some cases these children were denied access to schools or
their parents did not enroll them for fear of discovery and
deportation. According to the Committee on the Protection of Children's
Rights, more than 6,000 children were identified as ``street children''
during the year. According to media reporting, homeless children
apprehended by police were placed in centers for temporary detention,
where they received medical and psychological assistance before they
were released or sent to orphanages.
The law provides that medical care for all children irrespective of
gender, and in practice children received such care.
There were reports of child abuse, although there was no societal
pattern. NGOs estimated that more than half of all children younger
than 14 years old experienced at least one incident of physical or
psychological abuse by adults. Abuse was more common in rural areas.
During the year the MIA permanently terminated custody rights of 923
abusive parents. Minors who are 16 years old or older have the right to
file petitions related to their interests directly with a court.
NGOs reported that a growing number of children in orphanages,
boarding schools, and detention facilities for delinquent children were
victims of violence, and there were increased media reports on abuses
in orphanages and other institutions. According to media reports,
incidents of illegal placement of delinquent children in special
correction facilities (prisons for underage criminals) occurred. In
rare cases in which the abusive teachers were held liable, delinquent
children received lenient punishment.
In June D. Seitkhanov, a teacher at the Zyrianovsk boarding school
for children with mental disabilities, was convicted for
``inappropriate performance of duties in the education of underage
persons related to abusive treatment.'' The court sentenced Seitkhanov
to one year of restricted freedom of movement and a two-year
prohibition from teaching.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons
for all purposes, but the practice remained a problem. There were
investigations and prosecutions of law enforcement officials for
complicity in trafficking, and one official was convicted.
The country was a source, transit, and destination country for
victims of trafficking. Internal trafficking was also a problem.
Persons were trafficked to, from, through, and within the country. The
International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that nearly
200,000 citizens fell victim to trafficking annually, of whom 76
percent were trafficked internally. Many NGOs reported a continued
increase in the identification of victims, possibly reflecting greater
awareness of the problem. During the year the MIA registered 44 citizen
and foreign victims of trafficking. The IOM estimated that, for every
case that was investigated, as many as four others went unreported.
Individuals were trafficked to the United Arab Emirates, Turkey,
Israel, South Korea, Greece, Russia, and Western Europe for purposes of
forced labor and sexual exploitation. Men and women were trafficked to
and through the country and from the Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan, Ukraine, and South Asia for purposes of forced labor and
sexual exploitation.
Traffickers targeted girls and young women in their teens and
twenties for sexual exploitation. According to the MIA, some women were
recruited with promises of jobs or marriage abroad. Travel, employment,
and modeling agencies often recruited victims through advertisements
promising lucrative jobs abroad. Previously trafficked women reportedly
recruited new victims. Some trafficking victims appeared to be aware or
at least suspected that they were going to work as prostitutes but did
not expect to work in slave-like conditions. Many trafficked persons
were from Uzbekistan and traveled to their destinations on forged
passports obtained abroad.
Trafficking in women remained a problem. Individuals were
trafficked to the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Israel, South Korea,
Greece, Russia, and Western Europe for purposes of forced labor and
sexual exploitation.
Adolescents in orphanages, regardless of gender, and residents of
rural and economically disadvantaged areas were particularly vulnerable
to being trafficked.
There was a decrease in the number of men trafficked into the
country for forced labor from neighboring countries. The MIA and the
IOM attributed the decrease to greater awareness of the problem and
lessened demand for construction labor due to the financial crisis.
There were credible reports of organized criminal trafficking rings
bringing construction laborers to Astana and other cities. Employers
and trafficking accomplices usually held trafficked workers' passports.
Victims reported traffickers used debt bondage, violence, or threats of
violence to compel them to work. NGOs suspected organized crime was
involved in all forms of trafficking.
On April 2, the government adopted a new national plan to combat
trafficking in persons for 2010-11, assigning responsibilities for
combating trafficking to the ministries of justice, internal affairs,
foreign affairs, labor and social welfare, education and science,
culture, information and sports, the KNB, the National Commission on
Family Issues and Gender Policy, and the prosecutor general.
Trafficking is punishable by a maximum seven-year prison term. If a
minor is involved, the maximum penalty increases to 10 years'
imprisonment. The maximum penalty increases to 10 years' imprisonment
if a victim was trafficked abroad and 12 years' if the victim was a
minor. The maximum penalty is 15 years' imprisonment for cases
involving an organized crime syndicate, the death of a victim, or other
``grave consequences'' to the victim.
The number of successful prosecutions for trafficking continued to
increase. In the first 11 months of the year, police registered 20 new
cases of trafficking involving adults and 16 cases of trafficking
minors. Twenty-four of these cases reached the courts.
The government cooperated with authorities in both destination and
source countries. Embassies assisted victims of trafficking. In the
first nine months of 2008, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assisted in
repatriating eight citizens. No information was available on the number
of repatriations during the year by year's end.
There was no evidence of a pattern of official complicity with
trafficking, although corruption of law enforcement officials,
including migration and border officials, contributed to trafficking.
The law provides trafficking victims with temporary resident status
to ensure their safe repatriation or participation in trafficking
prosecutions. Trafficking victims are not considered illegal immigrants
under the law and generally were not deported or otherwise penalized.
NGOs working with foreign trafficking victims reported government
cooperation in providing administrative support for the repatriation of
identified trafficking victims.
The government provided some victim protection and assistance,
although significant gaps remained in comparison with the level of
assistance that victims required. In the first nine months of the year,
the government provided financial assistance to trafficking victims who
participated in criminal proceedings. The assistance included security,
food, lodging, and medical services. NGOs operated two crisis support
centers that provided legal and material assistance and counseling
under memoranda of understanding with the government. In some cases,
the government provided NGOs with reduced-rate leases and other limited
support. In general NGOs reported improved cooperation with government
officials in coordinating assistance for trafficking victims.
The MOJ continued to maintain separate national hotlines for
trafficking victims to report crimes and to receive information. The
government provided training for law enforcement and other government
officials to improve their abilities to recognize, investigate, and
prosecute instances of trafficking. The MIA continued enrolling
migration police and criminal police in comprehensive antitrafficking
training at the Study Center for Specialists on Combating Illegal
Migration and Human Trafficking.
The MIA conducted spot investigations at hotels, saunas, and
employment agencies for trafficking activities. The PGO enforced
mandatory licensing for tourist agencies and conducted inspections
throughout the year to uncover agencies involved in trafficking.
The government increased funding for trafficking prevention and
encouraged media to publish and report on antitrafficking efforts. The
government continued to air a series of public service announcements
provided by international organizations in Russian and Kazakh. Public
and private media were required to distribute the messages.
The Ministry of Education and Science reported that the curriculum
of all high schools and colleges included trafficking awareness.
According to the ministry, most universities had information and
analysis centers that dealt with trafficking awareness, among other
topics. As part of the national action plan, a chapter on trafficking
in persons was introduced in secondary school curricula.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
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 or other
areas. It requires companies to set aside 3 percent of their jobs for
persons with disabilities. International and local observers noted some
improvement in the situation regarding the rights of persons with
disabilities. Nevertheless, there were reports that persons with
disabilities faced difficulty integrating into society and finding
employment. The law mandates access to buildings for persons with
disabilities. Vice Minister of Labor and Social Protection Assel
Nusupova identified the two biggest problems facing persons with
disabilities as poor infrastructure and lack of access to education.
Persons with disabilities had difficulty accessing public
transportation. The government did not make a concerted effort to
address these problems.
Citizens with mental disabilities could be committed to state-run
institutions without their consent or judicial review. In practice the
government committed persons at a young age with permission of their
families. Institutions were poorly managed and inadequately funded.
There are no regulations regarding the rights of patients in mental
hospitals; human rights observers believed this led to mass abuse of
patients' rights. NGOs reported orphanages for children with physical
and mental disabilities were overcrowded and unsanitary, with
insufficient staff to care adequately for children's needs. KIBHR
observed that the government provided almost no care for persons with
mental disabilities.
The government did not restrict the right of persons with
disabilities to vote, and arranged home voting for individuals who
could not travel to polling places as a result of their disability. The
Ministry of Labor and Social Protection was the primary government
agency responsible for protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities; the ministries of health and education also assisted in
their protection.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The government continued to
discriminate in favor of ethnic Kazakhs in senior government
employment. Minorities experienced ethnic prejudice and hostility;
encountered incidents of insult, humiliation or other offenses; and
were discriminated against in employment or job retention. There were
fewer complaints than in previous years of discrimination regarding
school enrollment and fewer concerns about the activities of
nationalist organizations and nationalist propaganda in the media.
Ethnic Kazakh migrants (oralmans) who returned to the country from
abroad experienced domestic discrimination; in some instances the
discrimination evolved into conflict. On June 10, a large group of
local residents of Mamait village attacked oralmans living in the
village. Several persons were injured and houses were damaged. A police
investigation resulted in the conviction of eight men and the dismissal
of the village mayor.
Kazakh is the official state language, although organizations and
bodies of local self-administration may officially use Russian on an
equal basis with Kazakh. The language law is intended to strengthen the
use of Kazakh without infringing on the rights of citizens to use other
languages. By law the ability to speak Kazakh is not required for entry
into the civil service, but most government agencies have technically
switched to conducting business in Kazakh, which elicited protests from
non-Kazakh speakers against language discrimination.
Among other forms of discrimination, critics mentioned a scarcity
of representatives of non-Kazakh ethnicities in the government, the
fact that only one of the 20 cabinet members is a non-Kazakh, and a
reduction in the number of Russian-language schools.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Although there were no
official statistics on discrimination or violence based on sexual
orientation, there were reports of such discrimination. Representatives
of international organizations reported that negative social attitudes
towards marginalized groups, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT), impeded these groups' willingness to come forward
and consequently hindered their access to HIV/AIDS programs.
LGBT individuals, particularly gay men, were among the most
oppressed groups, although the country does not outlaw homosexual
conduct. Those whose nontraditional sexual orientation was publicly
known risked physical and verbal abuse, possible loss of work, and
unwanted attention from police and authorities. Several LGBT
organizations operating in the country reported that government-run HIV
clinics sometimes breached confidentiality and reported patients'
sexual orientation to their families and employers.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--The law prohibits
discrimination against persons with HIV and AIDS. Observers reported
that cultural stigmas against drug users and other at-risk groups
continued to affect general access to information, services, treatment,
and care.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to
organize and form unions. During the year, following a widely
publicized mining accident in Satpayev and subsequent strike in January
2008, the government launched a prounion campaign to empower workers to
protect their workplace rights. Independent union organizers saw this
campaign as a significant change in policy. Nevertheless, organizers
reported that the government continued to restrict the right to
organize, and most workers were not able to join or form trade unions
of their choice. The government exercised considerable influence on
organized labor and favored state-affiliated unions over independent
unions. At least one-third of the workforce was unionized. The largest
trade union association, the Federation of Trade Unions, successor to
formerly state-sponsored Soviet-era labor organizations, remained
affiliated with the government. The federation united 25 national
unions and 13 regional industrial unions. The industrial unions
represented workers in a wide range of industries, including oil and
gas, construction, textiles, education, and public health. Each union
elects its own leader and has a representative on the General Council,
which elects the 14-member Executive Committee. The committee runs the
federation's day-to-day operations and deals with issues of social and
economic protection, labor protection, organization, and international
cooperation.
To obtain legal status, a trade union must apply for registration
with the MOJ. The registration procedure is broadly similar to that of
other membership organizations.
The law prohibits the operation of foreign unions and prohibits the
financing of unions by foreign legal entities and citizens, foreign
states, and international organizations. Foreign workers have the right
to join unions.
Workers are protected by law against antiunion discrimination, but
in practice there were violations of this right. The violations ranged
from threats of being fired, which would lead to the loss of social
benefits, such as subsidized health care, to physical intimidation and
assault.
According to media accounts, local administrators tried to prevent
the activities of independent trade unions through threatens,
harassment, and physical intimidation.
On May 15, company managers in Aktau publicly beat two independent
labor union activists in the oil company UzenMunaiGas. On August 20,
unidentified attackers shot Zhondeu company labor union leader Yklas
Shangereyev with a pistol that fires ``nonlethal'' rounds, which have
been known to cause lethal injuries. He was not mortally injured. On
August 19, Shangereyev met with KazMunayGas general director Ibrashev
about grievances that the labor union had lodged the previous year.
Representatives of the independent labor union community unanimously
believed the shooting directly resulted from Shangereyev's activism.
In January local authorities acceded to calls from Confederation of
Free Trade Unions (CFTU) leader Sergey Belkin to investigate a December
2008 incident in which two masked assailants severely beat CFTU vice
president Mukhtar Umbetov in Aktau. As an active participant in many
labor disputes, Umbetov began to receive threatening telephone calls in
November 2008. As of year's end, authorities had not released their
findings.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
protects the rights of unions to conduct their activities without
interference, and unions were free to recruit new members, conduct
meetings, and bargain collectively with employers. The law permits
collective bargaining and collective agreements; unions and
associations engaged in collective bargaining in practice. During the
year the government increased efforts to encourage collective
bargaining. As a result the Kazakhstan Federation of Labor Unions
reported in September that 95 percent of all unionized enterprises had
concluded collective bargaining agreements, a 2 percent increase from
the previous year. Activists noted the promising trend and stressed
that political pressure was driving the rapid conclusion of agreements.
Union demands unacceptable to management could be presented to a
tripartite commission composed of government, employer association, and
labor union representatives. The government was supposed to be the
neutral broker on the commissions, but there were cases in which it
favored the interests of labor unions or employers. The tripartite
commission is responsible for developing and signing annual agreements
governing most aspects of labor relations. Through this mechanism,
labor unions raised the minimal wage for several industries, including
mining and metallurgy, during the year. In response to the global
financial crisis, labor unions also played a key role in maintaining
jobs for workers in industries with declining production demands. Labor
union leaders negotiated a deal with the nation's largest steel
producer in Karaganda, Arcelor Mittal. Under the agreement workers
accepted a 14 percent salary cut and limits on bonuses to prevent
layoffs.
The labor law provides for an individual contract between an
employer and each employee that sets the employee's wage and outlines
the rights and responsibilities of the employee and the employer.
The law provides for the right to strike, but exercising this right
is subject to numerous legal limitations. The government maintained a
list of industries and enterprises providing essential services where
strikes were permitted only under limited conditions. In general
workers may strike only if a labor dispute has not been resolved
through existing compulsory arbitration procedures. Striking workers
must give 15-day advance notice to employers. The law neither sanctions
nor prohibits the firing of employees for participation in an illegal
strike. In practice there were reports of employers providing arbitrary
justifications for firing employees who had attempted to organize
strikes. In September the Almaty Electric Car Repair Plant fired
Yessenbek Ukteshbayev, who organized a June 30 to July 2 plant-wide
strike to demand increased salaries and nationalization of the
enterprise.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, except at the sentence of the court or in
conditions of a state of emergency or martial law; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred. There were reports that some
employers abused migrant workers by confiscating their passports or
using debt bondage, violence, or threats of violence to compel them to
work. The majority of migrant workers came from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
and Uzbekistan and were primarily employed in agriculture and
construction. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection was
responsible for dealing with issues of migrant workers.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace. The minimum
age for employment is 16 years; children who are between 14 to 16 years
of age can perform, with parental permission, light work that does not
interfere with their health or education. The law also restricts the
length of the workday for employees younger than 18 years old. The
government conducted labor inspections to enforce the minimum age for
employment, but enforcement was uneven.
The government concluded an agreement with national employer
associations that committed them to eradicate the use of forced labor
and the worst forms of child labor and to develop alternative
employment opportunities for children and their families. The Ministry
of Education's 2007-11 Children of Kazakhstan program addressed child
labor issues. Nevertheless, NGOs contended that the government's
efforts were insufficient to address fully the use of child labor,
specifically in cotton production.
The government did not maintain statistics on child labor. NGOs and
activists reported child labor occurred routinely in agriculture,
especially during harvest season. Children were involved in growing
cotton and tobacco. There were no comprehensive national statistics on
the use of child labor in cotton and tobacco production, but NGO
studies have found that more than 70 percent of the children employed
in this work were from migrant families, primarily Uzbek and Kyrgyz.
Labor conditions frequently presented a physical health risk, and some
children suffered from inadequate rest and nutrition. Many child
workers lacked proper clothing to protect them from harmful chemicals
used in agriculture and harsh weather conditions. The ILO reported
that, in 2008-09, it recorded 900 incidents of children between the
ages of seven and 17 years old working in cotton fields. In urban areas
the country's increasingly formalized labor market led to a decrease in
many forms of child labor. Nevertheless, there were reports of children
begging, unloading freight, delivering goods in markets, washing cars,
and working at gas stations. There were also reports of children
exploited in prostitution and pornography.
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcement of child labor
laws and for administrative offenses punishable by fines. The MIA is
responsible for investigating criminal offenses. In the first 10 months
of the year, the government reported no crimes related to illegal child
labor. The government cooperated with trade unions, employers, and NGOs
to raise awareness and promote interagency cooperation in eliminating
child labor.
Trafficking in children was a problem. The country did not have an
acute problem with child labor, although local and international NGOs
active in the country reported that children worked in the seasonal
production of cotton and tobacco, primarily in the southern regions.
There were no comprehensive national statistics on the use of child
labor in cotton and tobacco production, but NGO studies have found that
more than 70 percent of the children employed in these fields are from
primarily Uzbek and Kyrgyz migrant families. The International Labor
Organization (ILO) reported 900 cases of children working in cotton
fields in 2008-09. On July 1 to 12, the Committee on the Protection of
Children's Rights conducted an annual ``12 Days against Child Labor''
national information campaign.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national monthly minimum
wage of 13,717 tenge (approximately $91) did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. It was common for working-
class families to have more than one wage earner, and most workers
earned above minimum wage in urban areas. For the first time in recent
years, the monthly minimum wage exceeded the minimum monthly
subsistence level, which averaged 12,700 tenge (approximately $84)
during the first eight months of the year.
The law stipulates that the normal workweek should not exceed 40
hours and limits heavy manual labor or hazardous work to no more than
36 hours a week. The law limits overtime to two hours in a day or one
hour a day for heavy manual labor, and requires overtime to be paid at
a rate of no less than one-and-a-half times normal wages for hours
exceeding the normal workweek. Overtime is prohibited for work in
hazardous conditions. The law provides that labor agreements may
stipulate the length of working time, holidays, and paid annual leave
for each worker.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection enforced minimum wages,
workhours restrictions, and overtime. Ministry inspectors conducted
random inspections of employers. Labor advocates reported that some
employers regularly violated these laws.
The law provides for the right to safe and hygienic working
conditions, but working and safety conditions in the industrial,
agricultural, and construction sectors were often substandard. Workers
in factories usually lacked protective clothing and worked in
conditions of poor visibility and ventilation.
There were reports of management ignoring regulations concerning
occupational health and safety. In the first 11 months of the year, the
ministry reported 20,421 inspections and 94,738 violations of
occupational health and safety standards and rules. In addition to
inspections by the ministry, unions conducted inspections of unionized
enterprises and reported their findings to authorities for
investigation. The law requires employers to suspend work that could
endanger the life or health of workers and to warn workers about any
harmful or dangerous work conditions or the possibility of any
occupational disease. The law specifically grants workers the right to
remove themselves from situations that endanger their health or safety
without losing their job. In practice some workers, particularly in the
construction industry, were not free to exercise this right without
jeopardizing their employment.
During the first 11 months of the year, the government reported
1,811 workplace injuries, compared with 2,184 during the first six
months of 2008. The government reported 298 workplace deaths during the
first 11 months of the year, marking an increase compared with the 117
deaths reported in the first six months of 2008. According to officials
at the Federation of Trade Unions, many of the deaths were due to
antiquated equipment, Soviet-era infrastructure, and disregard for
safety regulations in the mining and metallurgy sectors.
__________
KYRGYZ REPUBLIC
The Kyrgyz Republic's 2007 constitution defines the country as a
sovereign, unitary, democratic state based on the rule of law. The
country, with a population of approximately 5.4 million, has an elected
president, an appointed prime minister and cabinet, and an elected
Supreme Council (parliament). According to independent election
observers, the July 23 presidential election failed to meet many of the
country's international commitments and was marred by significant
obstacles for opposition parties, intimidation, voting irregularities,
and the use of government resources to benefit specific political
interests. Three parties are represented in parliament, with the pro-
presidential Ak Jol party holding 71 of 90 seats. Civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control over the security forces,
although there were isolated cases of serious human rights abuses.
The following human rights problems were reported: restrictions on
citizens' right to change their government; arbitrary killing, torture,
and abuse by law enforcement officials; impunity; poor prison
conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of judicial
independence; pressure on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and
opposition leaders, including government harassment; pressure on
independent media; government detention of assembly organizers;
authorities' failure to protect refugees adequately; pervasive
corruption; discrimination against women, persons with disabilities,
ethnic and religious minorities, and other persons based on sexual
orientation or gender identity; child abuse; trafficking in persons;
and child labor. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that
the government forcibly returned Uzbek refugees or asylum seekers to
Uzbekistan.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Police committed at
least one arbitrary killing during the year. On July 4, Ministry of
Internal Affairs second lieutenant Shukurbek Nurmatov reportedly argued
with freelance journalist Almaz Tashiev at the Jany-Bazar police
station in Nookat District. Tashiev, a frequent government critic, was
applying for a new passport. According to witnesses, as many as six
police officers beat him severely. On July 12, he died as a result of
the injuries. The Ministry of Internal Affairs launched an
investigation; on July 14, Nurmatov confessed to the crime. Authorities
also charged a second officer, Batyrbek uulu Nurgazi, in connection
with Tashiev's death. As of year's end, the ministry had fired the
Nookat police chief for abuse of power, and Nurmatov and Nurgazi were
in pretrial detention.
During the year there were two high-profile deaths that opposition
groups claimed were politically motivated murders.
On March 13, former presidential chief of staff Medet Sadyrkulov;
the former director of the International Strategic Studies Institute
think tank, Sergey Slepchenko; and driver Kubat Sulaimanov were found
dead in a burned-out car outside Bishkek. After an investigation,
authorities stated that another man, Omurbek Osmonov, fell asleep while
driving his car and collided with Sadyrkulov's car, causing it to burst
into flames, and then drove away from the scene of the accident. The
fire reportedly killed Sadyrkulov, Slepchenko, and Sulaimanov.
Opposition member of parliament (MP) Bakyt Beshimov and activists
claimed that the accident was staged and that the government had
assassinated Sadyrkulov to prevent him from joining the opposition. In
May the Alamedin District Court turned down a request by relatives of
the victims to reopen the investigation. In June the court found
Osmonov guilty of causing the accident and sentenced him to 12 years in
prison.
On December 22, according to police, Gennady Pavlyuk, a prominent
opposition journalist and government critic, died in the hospital after
unknown persons threw him out of a tall building in Almaty, Kazakhstan,
with his hands tied behind his back on December 16. Pavlyuk remained in
a coma after the attack. Kyrgyz police announced that they would
investigate the death jointly with Kazakh police.
On December 9, the Supreme Court ordered the Ministry of Internal
Affairs to reopen the investigation into the murder of independent
journalist Alisher Saipov. On August 7, the minister of internal
affairs had announced the completion of the criminal investigation and
sent the findings to the court. In 2007 an unknown gunman shot and
killed Saipov, who was known for writing articles critical of the Uzbek
government.
During the year the military prosecutor's office convicted soldier
Daniel Tuleyev and sentenced him to five years' imprisonment for his
participation in the July 2008 beating death of army private Almazbek
Sagaliyev.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances during the year.
On September 30, authorities found the body of Ruslan Shabatoyev,
an MP representing the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK),
who disappeared in September 2008. On August 7, the Ministry of
Internal Affairs announced the issuance of warrants for suspects in the
case. Investigators tied a Kazakh criminal gang and Shabatoyev's
commercial dealings to his death. There was no evidence that
Shabatoyev's disappearance was politically motivated.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, police and
State Committee on National Security (GKNB) forces employed them. At
times police beat detainees and prisoners to extract confessions.
Following the arrest and imprisonment of 32 citizens in connection
with the October 2008 Nookat protest (see section 1.e.), the
Ombudsman's Office established a commission to investigate allegations
of torture and mistreatment of the detainees. In February the
commission released a report that documented incidents of Ministry of
Internal Affairs and GKNB officers beating detainees, tearing their
fingernails, burning their beards, and shaving female detainees' heads.
In January the Russian human rights organization Memorial published a
report documenting similar abuses. The government took no action to
investigate the allegations further or reprimand the officers involved.
In July 2008 the Bishkek newspaper Tribuna reported that officials
fired seven police officers and opened criminal cases against two
others in the Issyk-Kul Oblast for alleged use of torture. No further
information was available as of year's end.
The NGO Committee of Soldiers' Mothers reported two registered
cases of military hazing during the year, including physical abuse and
extortion by noncommissioned officers. Military authorities took steps
to deal with the problem, providing psychological support and legal
advice to all service members and medical treatment and legal
protection to the victims of hazing. The NGO continued to question the
quality of the psychological and legal assistance.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor and included food and medicine shortages, poor health care, and
lack of heat and other necessities. Pretrial and temporary detention
facilities were particularly overcrowded, and conditions and
mistreatment generally were worse than in prisons. Nevertheless,
morbidity and mortality rates continued to decline, particularly those
resulting from tuberculosis (TB). As of September 1, the prison
population was approximately 9,902. Approximately 700 prisoners had TB,
of which an estimated 300 carried multi-drug resistant strains. In the
first nine months of the year, 74 prisoners died, 30 of them from TB.
On July 18, one prisoner was killed in a large-scale brawl that
erupted among detainees in juvenile prison number 14 in Voznesenovka.
Authorities transferred four prisoners to the Bishkek pretrial
detention center to face charges in connection with the death. On July
20, the Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice dismissed
the prison head.
As of September 1, there were approximately 9,900 persons
(including approximately 400 women) in prisons whose total capacity the
government estimated to be 14,000, although some international
organizations believed actual capacity was significantly less.
Authorities generally held juveniles separately from adults but
occasionally held them with adults in overcrowded temporary detention
centers. At times convicted prisoners were held in pretrial detention
centers while their cases were being appealed.
The government continued to permit international and domestic human
rights observers, including from the Office of Democratic Institutions
and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) and the NGO Penal Reform International, to visit
detainees in Justice Ministry prisons and in temporary detention
centers. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was able
to conduct visits in accordance with its standard modalities.
Following up on its 2008 reports of poor living conditions,
corruption of prison personnel, drug activity, and excessive use of
force by both prison and investigative officials in several prisons,
the NGO Citizens Against Corruption worked with the Ministry of
Justice's Public Council to provide food and toiletries to prisoners
during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, police at times used false charges to
arrest persons and solicited bribes in exchange for their release.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Law enforcement
responsibilities are divided between the Ministry of Internal Affairs
for general crime, the GKNB for state-level crime, and the Prosecutor's
Office for both types of crimes. Early in the year, President Bakiyev
signed into law measures that empowered the military to intervene in
domestic political conflicts and gave the Presidential Security Service
law enforcement powers, including authorization to conduct
interrogations, intercept communications, and carry out surveillance
and other covert activity.
The payment of bribes to avoid investigation or prosecution was a
major problem at all levels of law enforcement. The government took
steps to address corruption in the police force, including public
commitments to fight corruption. Police impunity remained a problem;
however, Ministry of Internal Affairs officials were dismissed and
prosecuted for various offenses, including corruption, abuse of
authority, and police brutality. Unlike in previous years, the
ministry's internal investigations unit did not provide statistics on
citizen complaints, subsequent investigations, or officers dismissed
after criminal convictions during the year, nor did the Ombudsman's
Office track the number of Ministry of Internal Affairs, GKNB, and
Financial Police employees who were subjected to criminal investigation
during the year.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--In July 2008
the parliament passed amendments to the criminal procedure code that
returned many judicial powers to prosecutors, including the authority
to issue search and seizure warrants. The amendments partially reversed
a 2007 law that transferred those powers to the courts. Prosecutors
have the burden of proof in persuading the judge that a defendant
should be detained pending trial. In September 2008 the parliament
approved amendments to the code that reduced the period that
authorities can hold a detainee before charging him from 72 to 48
hours. The limit was generally enforced in practice. The law requires
that investigators notify a detainee's family within 12 hours of
detention; however, this requirement often was not observed in
practice. There were no reports of incommunicado detentions. The courts
have discretion to hold suspects in pretrial detention as long as one
year, after which the courts are required to release the suspect.
All persons arrested or charged with crimes have the right to
defense counsel at public expense. By law the accused has the right to
consult with defense counsel immediately upon arrest, but in practice
the first meeting often did not happen until trial. Human rights groups
noted that authorities usually denied attorneys to arrested minors,
often holding them without parental notification and questioning them
without parents or attorneys present, despite laws forbidding these
practices. Authorities often intimidated minors into signing
confessions.
The law authorizes house arrest for certain categories of suspects.
There were also reports that law enforcement officials selectively
incarcerated persons suspected of minor crimes while other persons
suspected of more serious crimes remained at large. There was a
functioning bail system.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the executive branch at times
interfered with the judiciary. Lawyers and citizens commonly believed
that judges were open to bribes or susceptible to outside pressure. Low
salaries for judges remained a contributing factor.
Cases originate in local courts and can move to appeals courts at
the municipal or regional level and finally to the Supreme Court. There
were separate military courts as well as a separate arbitration court
system for economic disputes. Civilians may be tried in a military
court if a codefendant is a member of the military. Military court
cases can be appealed to a military appellate court and ultimately to
the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Court is limited to
constitutional questions and cannot intervene with other courts except
concerning constitutionality. The court has specific authority to
determine the constitutionality of NGO activities, political parties,
and religious organizations. Traditional elders' courts handle property
and family law matters and low-level crime. Elders' courts are under
the supervision of the Prosecutor's Office but do not receive close
oversight because of their location in remote regions. Their decisions
can be appealed to the corresponding regional court. Military courts
and elders' courts follow the same rules and procedures as general
courts.
The president nominates and the parliament approves justices to the
Constitutional Court; justices to the Supreme Court are nominated by
the National Council for Judicial Affairs (NCJA) and approved by the
president and the parliament. The president can propose the dismissal
of supreme and constitutional court justices, subject to a two-thirds
vote by the parliament. The NCJA nominates and the president appoints
local judges, whom the president may relieve of duty at the NCJA's
request.
Trial Procedures.--State prosecutors bring cases before courts, and
judges direct criminal proceedings. A criminal case is conducted by one
judge; appellate cases, by three judges. If a court renders a case
indeterminable, it returns the case to the investigative bodies for
further investigation, and suspects may remain under detention. As of
year's end, the government had not implemented 2007 changes to the law
on trials allowing for juries. The law provides for transparency of
court proceedings. Trials are generally open to the public, unless
state secrets or the privacy of defendants are involved; however, the
verdict is publicly announced, even in closed proceedings.
The law provides for defendants' rights, including the presumption
of innocence. In practice, however, such rights were not always
respected. The judicial system continued to follow customs and
practices that provided no presumption of innocence, and the focus of
pretrial investigation was to collect evidence sufficient to show
guilt. The law provides for an unlimited number of visits between an
attorney and a client during a trial. Official permission for such
visits is required and was usually granted. Indigent defendants were
provided attorneys at public expense, and defendants could refuse
attorney support and defend themselves. The law permits defendants and
counsel the right to access all evidence the prosecutor gathers, attend
all proceedings, question witnesses, and present evidence; however,
these rights were not always respected in practice. Witnesses generally
have to present their testimony in court, but under certain
circumstances testimony can be presented at trial via audio or video
recording. Defendants and prosecutors have the right to appeal the
court's decision.
On May 14, the Supreme Court reduced the sentences of 32 ethnic
Uzbek and Kyrgyz Muslims whom the Osh regional court convicted in
November 2008 for participating in an October 2008 protest in Nookat.
The protest followed local authorities' decision to ban a public
gathering for the Muslim holiday Orozo Ait (Eid al-Fitr). The
sentences, which originally ranged from nine to 20 years' imprisonment,
were reduced to a range of five to 17 years. Court authorities had
denied access to observers and family members of the accused until the
third day of the five-day trial, and human rights activists claimed
that the defendants had inadequate legal counsel and had been subjected
to torture and other mistreatment (see section 1.c.).
Amanbek Karypkulov, the fifth and final official charged with
involvement in the 2002 shooting deaths of protesters in Aksy, died
before his case could go to trial.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--At year's end, according to
human rights groups, at least three high-profile members of the
opposition faced trial under what the groups claimed were trumped-up
charges: Green Party leader Erkin Bulekbayev (see section 3); former
foreign minister Alikbek Djekshenkulov, accused of murdering a Turkish
businessman; and former State Agency director Ishenbai Kadyrbekov,
charged with abuse of power and detained for almost 12 months. As of
November 1, authorities had released Djekshenkulov and Kadyrbekov for
medical reasons.
Human rights groups also claimed that the detention and
particularly severe charges facing 19 protesters in Balykchy were
politically motivated (see section 2.b.).
In December 2008 authorities indefinitely suspended the trials of
two 2007 protest participants, Bolotbek Suyerkulov and Bakytbek
Saptayakov, and the two remained free at year's end.
Prisoners arrested in connection with political activity received
the same protections as other prisoners.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and law
provide for an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters. As
with criminal matters, citizens believed the civil judicial system was
subject to influence from the outside, including by the government.
Local courts address civil, criminal, economic, administrative, and
other cases. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; however, the
government at times violated these prohibitions. The law requires
approval from the prosecutor general for wiretaps, home searches, mail
interception, and similar acts, including in cases relating to national
security.
On July 24, President Bakiyev signed into law an amendment to the
Law on Defense and Armed Forces authorizing the military to confiscate
private property for the purpose of state security. There were no
reports of such confiscations during the year.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, although the government at times restricted
these rights in practice, especially through withdrawal of broadcasting
rights and reportedly through intimidation of journalists. A June 2008
law, yet to be fully implemented, places significant restrictions on
television and radio broadcast companies and established new Kyrgyz-
language and local content requirements. Human rights activists
asserted that the law is unconstitutional because it conflicts with
constitutional rights to freedom of speech and access to information.
The law also maintains state control over the Kyrgyz National
Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation (NTRK) rather than
creating a national public interest broadcaster as the president had
previously pledged to do.
Individuals could criticize the government publicly or privately
without reprisal, but the government attempted to impede criticism,
including by monitoring political meetings.
There were 40 to 50 regularly printed newspapers and magazines,
eight of which were state owned with varying degrees of independence.
The independent printing press run by the nongovernmental Media Support
Center surpassed the state printing house, Uchkun, as the leading
newspaper publisher in the country. Approximately 50 state-owned and
private television and radio stations operated in the country, with two
television stations, both state-owned, broadcasting nationwide.
Government newspaper, television, and radio outlets continued to
receive state subsidies. In previous years the government was the
primary source of scarce advertising funding; however, as advertising
from private sources continued to increase, the government's ability to
use advertising funding to influence the media diminished.
The Ministry of Justice requires all media to register and receive
ministry approval in order to operate. The registration process
nominally takes one month but in practice often took much longer. It
included checks on the background of each media outlet's owner and its
source of financing, including financing by international donor
organizations.
Foreign media operated freely. The law prohibits foreign ownership
of domestic media; however, there was a small degree of foreign
ownership of media through local partners. Russian-language television
stations dominated coverage and local ratings, and a Commonwealth of
Independent States television network increased its television and
radio broadcasts throughout the country. A number of Russia-based media
outlets operated freely in the country; the government treated them as
domestic media. Although several broadcast media companies have applied
for new licenses and frequency assignments, the government has not
approved any requests for new media outlets since 2006.
There were continued reports of media harassment. The NGO Committee
to Protect Journalists, along with other media watchdog organizations
and human rights groups, reported several incidents in which unknown
attackers harassed journalists associated with opposition news media.
On March 3, four unknown attackers assaulted political opposition
journalist Syrgak Abdyldaev near his office in Bishkek, stabbing him
more than 30 times and breaking his hands, forearms, and ribs.
Abdyldayev claimed he was assaulted because of his reporting, and his
editor said Abdyldayev faced ongoing death threats. As of year's end,
no arrests had been made in the case, and Abdyldaev sought political
asylum in a European country.
On June 6, unknown attackers beat Abduvahab Moniev, a political
reporter for the opposition newspaper Achyk Sayasat, on a Bishkek
street corner. Moniev's editor contended that the beating was the
result of the journalist's articles criticizing the government. As of
year's end, no arrests had been made.
On November 2, unknown attackers beat Osh Shamy deputy editor
Kubanych Zholdoshev, who suffered a concussion and broken ribs. Osh
Shamy editor Turgunbai Aldakulov reportedly said the assailants warned
Zholdoshev to stop his journalistic activities, which included stories
about corruption in the Osh educational system. As of year's end, no
arrests had been made.
In October 2008 the NTRK ended transmissions of programming from
the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Kyrgyz service, known as
Radio Azattyk. The state-run broadcasting corporation also cancelled
its showing of two TV Azattyk news programs. The NTRK stated that the
cancellations were due to RFE/RL's failure to meet its financial
obligations, but it also criticized RFE/RL programs for favoring the
political opposition, and it did not restore transmission after RFE/RL
showed that it had paid all outstanding bills. At year's end, NTRK
channels were not carrying Azattyk productions, but some private FM
channels continued to broadcast Radio Azattyk. In December 2008 the
NTRK also withdrew broadcasting rights for the BBC's Kyrgyz-language
service. BBC broadcasts resumed weeks later, but the government had not
officially renewed its contract.
Although the law prohibits censorship, a few independent
journalists reportedly faced government pressure over press coverage
critical of authorities, were denied access to public meetings, and
were not given information that the government freely provided to
state-run outlets.
Libel remains a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in
prison. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of officials
using libel lawsuits against opposition newspapers to suppress
criticism.
Following the November 2008 death from natural causes of Erkin
Kojogeldiyev, editor in chief of Jany Zaman, Osh City deputy mayor
Ainura Shayikulova dropped her August 2008 libel suit against the
newspaper.
At year's end, former De Fakto editor in chief Cholpon Orozobekova
remained in Switzerland with her family. In 2008 police conducted at
least two raids on the newspaper's offices, confiscating documents and
five computers, and the government sued De Fakto for publishing
allegedly false statements accusing the head of the tax commission of
corruption. The libel case against the paper was closed when De Fakto
ceased publication in August 2008.
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 peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including e-mail, online forums,
and blogs. According to 2008 International Telecommunication Union
statistics, approximately 16 percent of the country's inhabitants used
the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events. Religious higher
educational institutions must follow strict reporting policies. The
GKNB did not demand confidential documents about student enrollment at
Bishkek's Protestant United Theological Seminary as it did in 2008.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for limited freedom of assembly, and the
government generally respected this right in practice, although
authorities imposed restrictions. An August 2008 law prohibits
protesters from gathering near government entities, including the
parliament, presidential residences, schools, military establishments,
motorways, and gas pipelines. The law also requires that organizers
apply for permits at least 12 days prior to an event, thus making any
spontaneous demonstrations illegal.
On July 23, during the presidential election, several hundred
citizens of Balykchy gathered spontaneously outside the district
election commission headquarters to protest alleged voting
irregularities. Although the protesters did not engage in violence,
police officers in riot gear dispersed the crowd with stun grenades.
Police detained two SDPK parliamentarians along with 19 other
protesters. Authorities later released the MPs and charged the
remaining protesters with attempting to overthrow the government,
organizing mass disorder, and obstructing the work of the government.
The protesters claimed authorities beat and mistreated them and
threatened them with rape during their detention. Authorities did not
investigate the protesters' claims. On December 25, a judge found all
of the protesters guilty and sentenced four of them to four years'
imprisonment. The remainder received suspended sentences of one to
three years and two years of probation.
On July 30, four prominent human rights activists staged a protest
in front of the presidential headquarters by chaining themselves to the
fence and holding signs demanding the release of the protesters
detained in Balykchy and Bishkek following the presidential election.
The Pervomayski District Court judge fined the activists 1,500 soms
(approximately $34) each for disobeying police and staging an
unauthorized protest. The activists claimed they had applied for
permission to protest but it was denied.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the government generally respected this right,
although at times it used law enforcement agencies to intimidate
organizations. NGOs, labor unions, political parties, and cultural
associations must register with the Ministry of Justice. NGOs are
required to have at least three members, and all other organizations at
least 10 members. The Ministry of Justice did not refuse to register
any domestic NGOs during the year; however, it continued to prevent the
Norwegian Helsinki Commission from operating in the country (see
section 5). The law prohibits foreign-funded political parties and
NGOs, including their representative offices and branches, from
pursuing political goals.
The government continued its ban on four organizations--Hizb ut-
Tahrir (HT), the Islamic Party of Turkestan, the Organization for
Freeing Eastern Turkestan, and the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Party--it
deemed to be extremist due to alleged ties to international terrorist
organizations, and it banned Jamaat al-Jihad al-Islamias during the
year for the same reason. Arrests and prosecution of persons accused of
possessing and distributing HT literature continued. Although most
arrests of alleged extremists in the past occurred in the south and
involved ethnic Uzbeks, media reports tracked a marked increase in
detentions of ethnic Kyrgyz for HT-related activity in the north. The
majority of those arrested were charged with distribution of literature
inciting ethnic, racial, or religious hatred.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion.
The government generally respected this right in practice, although
there were some restrictions, particularly regarding the activities of
conservative Islamic groups that the government considered extremist
and a threat to the country. The constitution provides for the
separation of state and religion. Islam is the most widely practiced
faith. The government did not officially support any religion; however,
a 2006 decree recognized Islam and Russian Orthodoxy as ``traditional
religions.'' The government also recognizes two Muslim holy days
(Kurman Ait, or Eid al-Adha, and Orozo Ait, or Eid al-Fitr) and
Orthodox Christmas as national holidays.
On January 12, the president signed the Law on Freedom of Religion
and Religious Organizations, establishing numerous restrictions on the
activities of religious groups. The law increases the membership
threshold for registration of a religious organization from 10 to 200
individuals, which excludes many smaller faith groups, and prohibits
any activities by unregistered religious groups. The law also bans
proselytizing, religious conversion, and private religious education at
any level. After the law was implemented, some religious groups
reported they were unable to register congregations of fewer than 200
members, and some groups reported that the new law banned them from
distributing literature outside their churches.
The State Agency for Religious Affairs (SARA) is responsible for
promoting religious tolerance, protecting freedom of conscience, and
overseeing laws on religion. Under the law all religious organizations,
including religious schools, are required to register with SARA, and
each congregation must register separately. The government has not
registered the Hare Krishna or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, and it suspended registration of the Universal Church in 2003
for noncompliance with government regulations. SARA may deny
registration if a religious organization does not comply with the law
or is considered a threat to national security, social stability,
interethnic and interdenominational harmony, public order, health, or
morality. Once approved, the organization must register with the
Ministry of Justice, which gives the organization legal status and
allows it to own property and conclude contracts. Groups may appeal a
SARA decision to the courts.
After enactment of the new religion law, foreign missionaries faced
increasing difficulties with the government. According to Kanybek
Osmonaliev, the director of the State Commission on Religious Affairs,
from January to October the government expelled nine foreign
missionaries. In addition authorities refused at least two religious
licenses and denied four visa extensions.
The law forbids the teaching of religion (or atheism) in public
schools and in unregistered religious schools (the latter as a result
of the 2009 religion law), but a 2006 decree allows the teaching of
``the history of world religions'' and ``religion in general.'' On
February 19, the minister of education signed a decree that prohibited
students from wearing clothing indicative of religious preference.
Muslim families protested the prohibition on religious attire, which
included the hijab (headscarf). In response the minister amended the
decree to ``recommend against'' religious clothing. However, there were
continued reports that girls in the south, particularly in Jalalabad
Oblast, were prevented from attending school or dropped out because of
restrictions on wearing the headscarf.
The new religion law requires that censors examine religious
material before permitting its importation or distribution, and it
prohibits the sharing of religious literature in public locations, with
the exception of worship facilities or bookstores.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In 2008 the Christian Web site
Forum 18, documented numerous instances in which Muslim groups denied
Protestants, Baha'is, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Hare Krishna access to
community cemeteries to bury relatives. The Muslim Council, the
Muftiate, issued a decree in 2007 forbidding the burial of non-Muslims
in Muslim cemeteries. In 2008 meetings with SARA resulted in the
establishment of separate cemeteries for nontraditional religious
groups.
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts. Approximately 1,500
Jews lived in the country.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law on internal migration
provides for freedom of movement. The government generally respected
the right in practice, and citizens were able to move within the
country with relative ease. However, certain policies continued to
restrict internal migration, resettlement, and travel abroad. The
government cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and other organizations to provide some protection and
assistance to refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and other
persons of concern. The law requires all persons to possess an official
residence registration to work and live in a particular area of the
country. Applicants for residence registration must file a request with
the local police and be able to prove they have a place to live in the
area. Individuals who do not register, or who are registered in a town
other than where they live, can be denied access to subsidized health
care or schooling.
The law on migration prohibits travel abroad by citizens who have
or had access to information classified as state secrets.
The law neither provides for nor prohibits forced exile; there were
no reports that the government employed it.
As in past years, several Kyrgyz citizens sought asylum in foreign
countries, claiming they would face repression or legal persecution if
they returned to the country. In September the leader of the SDPK,
Bakyt Beshimov, left the country, allegedly because of persistent
threats and an attempt against his life. Beshimov was the campaign
manager for SDPK leader Almazbek Atumbayev, the principal challenger to
President Bakiyev in the presidential election. Some journalists were
also living in self-imposed exile during the year (see section 2.a.).
Protection of Refugees.--The country is party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol
relating to the Status of Refugees. Its laws provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status, and the government has established a
system for doing so. During the year the government cooperated with the
UNHCR and other organizations to provide some protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion; however, there was at least one case during the year in which
authorities failed to protect a refugee and his son from being
kidnapped and taken across an international border. Also, according to
the UNHCR, Uighurs remained at risk of deportation or extradition,
particularly if they were involved with political and religious
activities in China or if the Chinese government requested their
return. The government did not grant refugee status or asylum to
refugees from Uzbekistan (with the exception of those joining family
members), Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, or Syria during the year, nor did it
adequately protect such individuals. There were approximately 400 such
asylum seekers and refugees from Uzbekistan and Afghanistan who
obtained registration and support exclusively from the UNHCR. The
government also continued to deny Chechen refugees official refugee
status, but it granted them asylum seeker status, which provided some
legal protection. There were continued reports of Uzbek refugees hiding
in the country for fear of retaliation by the Uzbek government.
According to the State Committee for Migration and Employment
(SCME), there were approximately 247 refugees and 200 asylum seekers in
the country as of September 1. Refugees were primarily from Afghanistan
(228), along with several from Syria, Iran, and North Korea. Among the
asylum seekers officially registered with the government were three
from Afghanistan, 77 from Uzbekistan, 115 from Russia, and five from
other countries.
Stateless Persons.--A UNHCR-funded survey local NGOs conducted in
late 2008 exposed a problem of statelessness in the country. In the
report researchers identified nearly 13,000 individuals living in the
three southern oblasts (provinces) who lacked any official
documentation confirming their citizenship. The report listed several
categories of stateless persons: Uzbek women who married Kyrgyz
citizens but never received Kyrgyz citizenship (many such women allowed
their Uzbek passports to expire and current regulations obstructed
their efforts to gain Kyrgyz citizenship); individuals who continued to
hold outdated USSR passports because they failed to exchange their
passports or never applied for citizenship; children born to one or
both parents who are stateless; and children of migrant workers who had
renounced their Kyrgyz citizenship in the hope of becoming Russian
citizens. Stateless persons were denied state social benefits and
prevented from working in legitimate jobs. The UNHCR estimated the
total number of stateless persons in the country (both de jure and de
facto) at approximately 20,000.
In September the UNHCR announced a plan of action for dealing with
the problem of statelessness, including increasing public awareness and
working with the government to improve the process for applying for
citizenship.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, although this right remained restricted in practice. Under
the constitution, the president can veto any legislative act (although
the parliament may override a veto), dismiss members of the government,
nominate constitutional and supreme court judges proposed by the NCJA,
appoint and dismiss regional governors and the heads of local
administrations, control defense and security bodies, and direct
foreign policy. The president has immunity from prosecution after
leaving office.
Elections and Political Participation.--On July 23, 79 percent of
the 2.3 million registered voters cast presidential ballots, resulting
in the reelection of Kurmanbek Bakiyev for a second presidential term.
According to the Central Election Commission, Bakiyev received 76
percent of the vote, and the opposition front-runner, Almaz Atambayev
of the United People's Movement (UPM), received approximately 8
percent. Local and international independent observers concluded that
the election failed to meet many of the country's international
commitments and was marred by widespread ballot box stuffing, multiple
voting, and misuse of government resources. On the day of the election
and for several weeks afterward, citizens gathered and marched to
protest the election results and electoral fraud. Authorities arrested
hundreds of protesters and fined or sentenced them to short prison
terms.
Opposition political parties operated with limited freedom and
faced significant government interference by the government in the form
of questionable charges against their leaders and restrictions on
freedom of assembly. Ak Jol, which President Bakiyev leads, was the
dominant political party and held a clear majority in parliament.
Following the 2007 parliamentary elections, the election commission
certified that three parties passed the thresholds to gain seats in the
parliament: Ak Jol with 71 seats, the SDPK with 11 seats, and the Party
of Communists of Kyrgyzstan with eight seats.
There continued to be cases of government harassment of members of
the political opposition.
On January 14, the prosecutor general opened three criminal cases
against former minister of defense and opposition leader Ismail Isakov
relating to alleged misuse of Ministry of Defense funds, negligence
relating to government property, and the illegal privatization of an
apartment. Opposition leaders and human rights activists asserted that
these charges were baseless. As of year's end, the prosecutor general
had not detained Isakov and the investigation continued.
On March 9, authorities arrested former foreign minister and
opposition leader Alikbek Jekshenkulov for abuse of power during his
tenure in government and suspected involvement in the 2007 murder of a
Turkish businessman in Talas. A forensic examination by the ministries
of justice and internal affairs established that the bullet found at
the murder scene was fired from a pistol that Jekshenkulov owned.
Opposition leaders asserted that both charges were fabricated. On
August 17, Jekshenkulov was released from the pretrial detention center
and admitted to a Bishkek hospital for medical treatment. As of year's
end, no trial date had been set.
On April 27 and 28, police arrested Green Party leader Erkin
Bulekbaev, along with civic activists Sapar Argynbaev and Ulan
Ryskulov, following the April 26 interethnic clashes against Kurds in
Petrovka village. Authorities charged the three opposition figures with
inciting civil unrest, which rights activists claimed was a spurious
charge. The trial was ongoing at year's end.
There were no legal restrictions on the participation of women in
politics; however, traditional attitudes at times hindered women from
holding high office or playing active roles in political life. Twenty-
five women representing three political parties occupied seats in
parliament in accordance with the government quota system. The
parliamentary election code mandates that every fourth person on a
party list be a woman. Women held several high-level government posts,
including vice prime minister, minister of labor and social
development, chief justices of the Constitutional Court and Supreme
Court, chair of the social fund, and chair of the State Committee on
Migration and Employment Issues.
There were 18 members of six minorities represented in the 90-seat
parliament. Russians and Uzbeks, the two largest ethnic minority
groups, remained underrepresented in government positions. Members of
minority groups held senior posts, including an ethnic Russian as prime
minister and an ethnic Tatar as minister of energy, industry, and fuel.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
Corruption remained endemic at all levels of society. The law
provides criminal penalties for official corruption; however, the
government did not implement the law effectively, and officials engaged
in corrupt practices with impunity. During the year the government took
limited steps to address the problem, including arrests of government
officials on corruption charges.
In the first six months of the year, the National Anticorruption
Agency had received 362 written complaints and telephone calls
regarding corruption among government officials, 61 involving alleged
unlawful actions of law enforcement officials and 59 related to the
judiciary bodies. From January to July, according to the Ministry of
Internal Affairs, citizens filed 605 corruption-related cases against
government officials. The corruption cases alleging malfeasance,
illegal examinations by state agencies, mismanagement of government
funds and unauthorized procurement, embezzlement, illegal commercial
activity, and bribery.
On March 11, President Bakiyev approved a National Anticorruption
Strategy for 2009-11; however, as of year's end, the government had not
taken any actions to implement the strategy. In 2007 the NGO Kyrgyz
Parliamentarians Against Corruption analyzed the implementation of the
previous strategy, originally adopted in 2005, and noted lack of
compliance of domestic legislation with international standards.
On May 16, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, working with the
National Anticorruption Agency and the Prosecutor General's Office,
arrested Stalbek Momunaliev, a Leninski District police investigator,
in Bishkek. Momunaliev allegedly had demanded a bribe of 8,000 soms
(approximately $180) from a foreign citizen. At year's end, Momunaliev
was awaiting trial for criminal charges related to abuse of power.
During the year officials completed a criminal investigation on the
judge of the Moscow District Court of the Chui Oblast and referred the
case to the Jaiyl District Court for prosecution. In May 2008 GKNB
officers detained the judge for accepting a bribe of 98,545 soms
(approximately $2,200). At year's end, the court continued to review
the case.
In November 2008 the Commissioner of the National Anticorruption
Agency reported violations of admissions processes at Kyrgyz National
University and Jalal-Abad State University. The minister of education
dismissed the rectors, and they were charged with abuse of power and
forgery. One rector was found not guilty and restored to his position;
the other's case was pending at year's end.
In December 2008 the Prosecutor General's Office arrested a judge
of the Naryn Oblast Court, Askat Askaliyev, for accepting a 10,000 soms
(approximately $200) bribe from a defendant. The Naryn Oblast Court
found Askaliyev guilty and sentenced him to five years' imprisonment.
The law gives persons the right to request information from the
government, and the government generally complied with such requests;
however, the process is generally slow, rendering the service less
useful. In addition, there have been isolated cases in which the
government ignored requests, as in the case of rights activist Maxim
Kuleshov, who demanded that the election commission publish the results
of the 2007 parliamentary elections but never received a response.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The government restricted or hampered to some degree the activities
of domestic and international organizations that reported on human
rights in the country. Law enforcement agencies and unknown persons
continued to harass and pressure human rights activists. Although the
government regularly met with local and international organizations to
discuss their activities and acknowledge their concerns, it failed to
respond to some international organizations' questions, requests, or
reports.
The government permitted visits by representatives of the UN and
other organizations, including the OSCE, the ICRC, and the
International Organization for Migration (IOM), but it severely
restricted the activities of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC). In
October 2008 law enforcement officials at Bishkek International Airport
denied NHC representative Ivar Dale entrance into the country, telling
him he was prohibited for 10 years. The NHC subsequently closed its
office in Bishkek. In addition, the election commission denied
accreditation to the NHC's election observers one day before the July
23 presidential election.
A February 2008 decree disbanded the State Commission on Human
Rights and transferred its authority to the Office of the Ombudsman.
The ombudsman acts as an independent advocate for human rights on
behalf of private citizens and NGOs and has authority to recommend
cases to courts for review. The Ombudsman's Office actively advocated
for individual rights. Office representatives stated that, during the
first nine months of the year, they received 917 individual and 3,871
group complaints lodged by a total of 6,981 citizens and that in some
cases the office's advocacy had been effective in reversing court
verdicts against complainants.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status; however, rights activists claimed
authorities failed to apprehend or punish perpetrators of crimes of
discrimination during the year.
Women.--Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal; however, the
government failed to enforce the law effectively. Activists continued
to note a growing number of rape cases, although this may have been due
to increased reporting of attacks. NGOs claimed that rape cases were
dramatically underreported and were rarely brought to court. No
statistics relating to the number of cases or convictions during the
year were available. Experts noted that defendants often used bribery
to curtail rape investigations.
The law specifically prohibits domestic violence and spousal abuse;
however, violence against women remained a problem. According to a 2008
UN Women's Development Fund poll, 80 percent of respondents stated
there was physical violence against women in the home. According to the
Ministry of Internal Affairs, police responded to almost 10,000 cases
of family conflict annually and nearly 15 percent of crimes committed
during family conflicts result in death or serious injury. Many crimes
against women were not reported due to psychological pressure, cultural
traditions, and apathy among law enforcement officials. Furthermore,
there were reports of spouses retaliating against women who reported
abuse. Penalties for domestic violence ranged from fines to 15 years'
imprisonment (if abuse resulted in death). There were 300 reported
crimes committed against women in 2007, the latest year for which crime
statistics were available, and the majority of those cases were sent to
court.
Several local NGOs provided services for victims of domestic
violence, including legal, medical, and psychological assistance, a
crisis hotline, shelters, and prevention programs. Organizations
assisting battered women also lobbied to streamline the legal process
for obtaining protection orders. The government provided offices for
the Sezim Shelter for victims of domestic abuse and paid its bills.
Although prohibited by law, the traditional practice of kidnapping
women and girls for forced marriage continued in rural areas. There was
no reliable data confirming the extent of the problem. Cultural
traditions discouraged victims from going to the authorities.
Reportedly, some victims go to the local police and obtain protective
orders, but the orders are often poorly enforced.
Prostitution is not a crime, although the operation of brothels,
pimping, and recruiting persons into prostitution are illegal, with
penalties of up to five years' imprisonment. Prostitution was prevalent
throughout the country. The NGO Tais-Plus continued to defend the
rights, such as the right to health care, of those in prostitution.
The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, according to an
expert at the local NGO Shans, it was widespread, especially in private
sector workplaces and among university students, but was rarely
reported or prosecuted. Penalties range from fines of up to 68,000 soms
(approximately $1,500) to imprisonment for up to three years.
National health regulations require that family planning counseling
and services are readily available through a range of health
professionals, including not only obstetricians and gynecologists, but
also family doctors, paramedics, and nurse-midwives. Citizens--couples
and individuals--are free to decide the number, spacing, and timing of
their children and to have the information and means to do so free from
discrimination, coercion, and violence. At the primary health-care
level, contraceptives are provided to all women upon request,
regardless of ability to pay, and the country's Essential Drug List (a
list of drugs and other medical items that all government medical
clinics should have in supply and available to patients) includes
different types of contraceptives. National health protocols require
that women be offered postpartum care and counseling on methods and
services related to family planning. The government offers special
programs to meet the needs of vulnerable target groups, such as
adolescents, internally displaced persons, new urban migrants, persons
in prostitution, and the very poor. No information was available
relating to gender differences in diagnosis or access to treatment for
sexually transmitted infections.
In August 2008 the president signed a law providing for equal
rights for men and women. According to the presidential press service,
the ``document establishes state guarantees in terms of providing equal
rights and opportunities for persons of various sexes in political,
social, economic, cultural, and other fields...and aims to protect men
and women against discrimination on the basis of sex.'' Women have the
same rights as men, including under family law, property law, and in
the judicial system, although discrimination against women persisted in
practice. According to an expert from the NGO Women's Educational
Coalition for Equal Rights, Development, and Peace, women from Muslim
families had no property rights and were subject to discrimination when
applying for jobs or entering educational institutions. The National
Council on the Issues of Family, Women, and Gender Development, which
reports to the president, is responsible for women's issues.
Average wages for women were substantially less than for men. Women
made up the majority of pensioners, a group particularly vulnerable to
deteriorating economic conditions. In the countryside, traditional
attitudes toward women limited them to the roles of wife and mother and
curtailed educational opportunities. Data from NGOs working on women's
issues indicated that women were less healthy, more abused, less able
to work outside the home, and less able to determine independently the
disposition of their earnings than men. According to the UN Development
Fund for Women and domestic NGOs, women did not face discrimination in
access to credit or owning businesses.
In November 2008 then prime minister Igor Chudinov initiated an
annual government-sponsored media campaign to combat violence against
women. According to NGOs, the campaign helped to coordinate the efforts
of groups combating violence against women and give them a greater
voice.
Children.--According to Articles 19 and 20 of the children's code,
every child born in the country has the right to receive a birth
certificate, local registration, and citizenship; however, some
children were stateless (see section 2.d.).
The law provides for compulsory and free education for the first
nine years of schooling, or until age 14; secondary education is free
and universal until age 17. However, financial constraints prevented
the government from providing free basic education for all students,
and the system of residence registration restricted access to social
services, including education, for certain children, such as refugees,
migrants, and noncitizens. The law carries penalties for parents who do
not send their children to school or who obstruct their attendance.
This law was only sporadically enforced, particularly in rural areas.
Families who kept children in public schools often had to pay
burdensome and illegal administrative fees. The government continued to
fund two programs that provide school supplies and textbooks to low-
income children and children with mental or physical disabilities.
Legally, all textbooks should be free of charge, but the government was
unable to provide them to all students.
The government provided health care for children; however, refugee,
migrant, noncitizen, and internally displaced children had problems
accessing health care due to the system of residence registration.
Child abuse--including beatings, child labor, and commercial sexual
exploitation of boys and girls--continued to be a problem. In addition,
gang-related child-on-child violence in schools was a growing trend.
Although illegal, the practice of bride kidnapping continued, and
many underage abductions during the year were likely not reported.
Children who are 16 and 17 may legally marry with the consent of local
authorities, but marriage before age 16 is prohibited under all
circumstances. The government did not have a program to address the
problem of child marriage; instead, local authorities handled reports
of its occurrence on a case-by-case basis.
As in previous years, there were numerous reports of child
abandonment due to parents' lack of resources, and large numbers of
children lived in institutions, in foster care, or on the streets.
Approximately 80 percent of street children were internal migrants.
Street children had difficulty accessing educational and medical
services. Police detained street children and either sent them home (if
an address was known) or to a rehabilitation center or orphanage. The
Rehabilitation Center for Street Children in Bishkek, maintained by the
Ministry of Internal Affairs, continued to lack sufficient food,
clothes, and medicine and remained in poor condition. In 2007 it
provided rehabilitation assistance to approximately 400 children and
sheltered 70, according to The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). In 2008 the
IOM, with foreign government funding and SCME assistance, renovated the
Rehabilitation Center for Children in Osh, staffed it with personnel
from an IOM-trained NGO, Ulybka, and stocked it with food and supplies.
According to Ulybka employees, from January through September more than
500 children received shelter, rehabilitation, and psychological
counseling; 253 of the children were found to have been victims of
child labor or sexual exploitation.
State orphanages and foster homes lacked resources and often were
unable to provide proper care. Some older children were transferred to
mental health care facilities even when they did not exhibit mental
health problems. According to the Social and Gender Issues Department
within the presidency, the number of children in state shelters
continued to grow, with the total number in the 39 state shelters
estimated at 5,390 at the end of 2008. Of these children, 20 percent
were orphans.
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. Trafficking remained a persistent
problem, and victims alleged that government officials facilitated it
or were complicit in it. However, the government continued to make
significant efforts to address trafficking, including improved
assistance to victims.
The country was a source, country of transit, and--to a lesser
degree-a destination for trafficked persons. Internal trafficking for
labor and sexual exploitation also occurred, generally from poor rural
areas to larger cities, such as Bishkek in the north and Osh in the
south. There were no reliable data on the number of persons trafficked.
International organizations and NGOs reportedly provided assistance to
68 victims of trafficking from January through August.
Most trafficking cases were reported after the agricultural labor
season ended and forced laborers from the country wanted to return home
from Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, the United Arab Emirates
(UAE), and South Korea. Women, especially from impoverished southern
areas, were trafficked for sexual exploitation to Kazakhstan, Russia,
the UAE, and Turkey. The trafficking of children for the purposes of
commercial sexual exploitation and labor also remained a problem. In
2008 the IOM reported that approximately 4,000 Kyrgyz women and girls
were sold abroad each year, at least 10 percent of them under the age
of 18. The IOM estimated that it assisted more than twice as many
victims from the southern provinces of Jalalabad and Osh than from the
north, where unemployment rates were lower.
Sex traffickers were often persons who previously operated local
prostitution networks but also included organized crime rings that used
former trafficking victims as recruiters. Relatives or close family
friends were also reportedly used to recruit trafficking victims. In
some cases, traffickers provided an escort, usually an older woman, to
accompany victims and facilitate border crossings into countries such
as the UAE. In 2008 a trend emerged involving the traffickers' use of
``collateral,'' in which traffickers forced a victim who sought to quit
to leave a relative, usually a child, in the trafficker's possession as
a ``hostage'' until a suitable labor replacement was found, essentially
forcing victims to assist traffickers in recruiting other victims.
Labor trafficking was much less organized and often involved self-
employed recruiters, who simply loaded persons onto buses and
transported them to the country for work on farms or to foreign labor
recruitment firms.
Trafficking in persons, including organizing illegal migration and
human smuggling, is a criminal offense punishable by up to 20 years in
prison. Other provisions of the criminal code used to prosecute
traffickers included laws against kidnapping, recruiting persons for
exploitation, coercion into prostitution, rape, and deprivation of
freedom. The maximum prison sentence under these laws is 15 years.
The government's enforcement efforts appeared to have limited
effect in protecting victims of trafficking or bringing traffickers to
justice. According to the IOM, eight defendants were prosecuted and six
convicted during the year for trafficking; no information was available
about the sentences they received. Endemic corruption impeded the
government's efforts to curb trafficking. Victims reported that local
police, immigration, and airport security personnel often cooperated
with highly organized trafficking operations. Observers believed that
some government authorities facilitated or were otherwise complicit in
trafficking activities. The government agencies responsible for
combating trafficking in persons, according to a September 2008 decree,
are the GKNB; the Committee for Migration and Employment; the
ministries of internal affairs, foreign affairs, education and science,
health, and labor and social development; the State Agency on Physical
Culture, Sports, Youth Affairs, and Child Protection; and the State
Border Service.
As part of the National Action Plan against Human Trafficking, the
State Committee for Migration and Employment shared information with
the IOM and its local implementers and jointly sponsored programs to
combat trafficking, including in labor migrant assistance centers in
Russia. In addition the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Border
Service cooperated closely with the IOM to identify victims of
trafficking; however, some victims and NGOs alleged that Border Service
and Ministry of Internal Affairs officials were complicit in
trafficking or received bribes to assist traffickers.
The law protects trafficking victims from prosecution if they
cooperate with an investigation and may also in some cases offer
temporary or permanent residence status. Some trafficking victims
cooperated with investigations, but many feared retaliation from
traffickers. There were no reports during the year of the government
penalizing victims who did not cooperate with trafficking
investigations. According to the SCME, government agencies assisted in
the repatriation of 134 Kyrgyz victims of trafficking during the year.
According to several NGOs, the government did not directly assist
trafficking victims, including those repatriated, with special services
or care facilities; however, the government supported NGOs by providing
them with office space, space for two shelters (one in Bishkek and one
in Osh), and free advertising in government-owned media outlets. The
SCME continued to provide consultations through its hotline and in
person, and the country's embassies abroad assisted victims of
trafficking by issuing new authentic travel documents to replace the
false documents the victims had used to exit the country.
Law enforcement organs increasingly referred trafficking victims to
IOM-sponsored shelters. After an earthquake, the Osh trafficking
victims shelter opened a new facility in November 2008 with building
space provided by the government and refurbishment paid for with grants
from the IOM and the Norwegian government. The newly renovated
Rehabilitation Center for Children in Osh provided shelter to child
victims of trafficking and labor exploitation.
The government actively participated in and helped implement
antitrafficking programs. With financial and practical assistance from
international and nongovernmental organizations, the government
supported a countrywide information campaign and trained law
enforcement and foreign affairs officials on trafficking awareness.
Central and local governments worked with approximately 36 domestic
NGOs that operated within the IOM-managed antitrafficking network.
Numerous articles in government and independent media publicized the
dangers of working abroad, and posters on public transport raised
public awareness of the problem.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at http://www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities, but in practice such persons faced
discrimination in employment, education, access to health care, and the
provision of other state services. The law mandates access to buildings
for persons with disabilities and requires access to public
transportation and parking, it authorizes subsidies to make mass media
available to persons with hearing or visual disabilities, and free
plots of land for the construction of a home; however, the government
generally did not ensure that these provisions of the law were
implemented. In addition persons with disabilities often had difficulty
finding employment because of negative societal attitudes and high
unemployment among the general population.
The lack of resources made it difficult for persons with
disabilities to receive adequate education. Although children with
disabilities have the right to an education, Gulbara Nurdavletova of
the Association of Parents of Children with Disabilities stated that
most were denied entry into schools. Parents sometimes established
special educational centers for their children, but they did not
receive government assistance.
Serious problems continued within psychiatric hospitals. The
government did not provide basic needs such as food, water, clothing,
heating, and health care, and facilities were often overcrowded.
Inadequate funding played a critical factor. In 2008 a parliamentary
commission reported violations of patients' rights in a number of
mental hospitals, mainly due to lack of funding.
Authorities usually placed children with mental disabilities in
psychiatric hospitals rather than integrating them with other children.
Other patients were also committed involuntarily, including children
without mental disabilities who were too old to remain in orphanages.
The Youth Human Rights Group monitored the protection of children's
rights in institutions for children with mental and physical
disabilities. The group noted gross violations by staff at several
institutions, including depriving young patients of sufficient
nourishment and physically abusing them.
The Office of the Prosecutor General is responsible for protecting
the rights of psychiatric patients and persons with disabilities.
According to local NGO lawyers, the members of the prosecutor's office
had no training and little knowledge of the protection of these rights
and were ineffective in assisting citizens with disabilities. Most
judges lacked the experience and training to determine whether persons
should be referred to psychiatric hospitals, and the practice of
institutionalizing individuals against their will continued.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Minorities alleged
discrimination in hiring, promotion, and housing, but no official
reports were registered with local authorities.
In previous years there were reports of isolated incidents of
discrimination against ethnic Kurds. On April 26, an estimated 300
ethnic Kyrgyz and Russian residents of Petrovka village in the Chui
Oblast protested the presence of Kurds, damaging Kurdish residents'
houses and vehicles. The riot erupted as a result of perceived inaction
by the authorities in arresting a 22-year-old Kurd accused of raping a
four-year-old Russian girl. Riot police ended the violence and detained
80 persons. Authorities released all but three detainees,
representatives of the opposition UPM and Green Parties, who voiced
support for the Kyrgyz and Russian villagers and against local
authorities (see section 3). The Kyrgyz and Russian villagers demanded
that the local administration expel Kurdish families from Petrovka.
While some families left the village voluntarily, most Kurds remained
without further incident during the remainder of the year. On August
27, a district court convicted the Kurdish suspect and sentenced him to
20 years in prison.
The law designates Kyrgyz as the state language and Russian as an
official language, and it provides for preservation and equal and free
development of minority languages. Non-Kyrgyz-speaking citizens alleged
that a ceiling precluded promotion beyond a certain level in government
service. They also alleged that unfair language examinations
disqualified some candidates for office. A government initiative to
increase official use of Kyrgyz further raised concerns among non-
Kyrgyz ethnic groups about possible discrimination.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--There is no law against
homosexuality; however, according to Human Rights Watch and a local
NGO, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals faced
severe oppression. Persons whose nontraditional sexual orientation was
publicly known risked physical and verbal abuse, possible loss of work,
and unwanted attention from police and authorities. Inmates and
officials often openly victimized incarcerated gay men. Forced
marriages for lesbian and bisexual women also occurred. According to an
October 2008 Human Rights Watch report, the government failed to
protect the rights of LGBT individuals.
A single NGO supported advocacy campaigns, conducted training,
organized festivals, and operated a community center and shelter in
support of LGBT individuals.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--On October 7, during
the Inter-Parliamentarian Conference in Bishkek, local human rights
organizations and government officials formally recognized that persons
with HIV/AIDS in the country faced societal discrimination. At the same
time, Minister of Health Marat Mambetov announced that the government
had developed a program to educate local communities about acceptance
of persons with HIV/AIDS in their neighborhoods.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law permits citizens to form and
join trade unions; however, many restrictions exist. The Federation of
Trade Unions (FTU), with an unconfirmed membership of 200,000 workers,
or 9 percent of the workforce, remained the only umbrella trade union
in the country. Unions were not required to belong to the FTU, and
there were several smaller unaffiliated unions. One of the largest of
these was the Union of Entrepreneurs and Small Business Workers, with a
claimed membership of approximately 60,000.
The law grants the right to strike, but the conditions required to
receive formal approval made the procedure difficult and complicated.
The law does not prohibit retaliation against strikers. The law on
government service prohibits government employees from striking, but
the prohibition does not apply to teachers, medical professionals, or
members of the armed forces.
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 most of the time.
The law recognizes the right of unions to organize and bargain
collectively, and trade unions exercised this right on behalf of their
members.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the free economic zones (FEZs) that function as 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, especially involving foreign
laborers in agriculture. Unlike in previous years, there were no
reports by the NGO Mental Health and Society during the year that
psychiatric hospital patients were forced to work or provide domestic
service for doctors and local farmers.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law provides for the protection of children from economic exploitation
and from work that poses a danger to their health or development;
however, child labor remained a widespread problem. The minimum legal
age for basic employment is 16, except for work considered by the
government to be ``light,'' such as selling newspapers. In addition,
children as young as 14 years old may work with the permission of a
parent or guardian. The law prohibits the employment of persons under
18 at night, underground, or in difficult or dangerous conditions,
including the metal, oil, and gas industries; mining and prospecting;
the food industry; entertainment; and machine building. Children who
are 14 or 15 may work up to five hours a day; children who are 16 to 18
years old may work up to seven hours a day. These laws also apply to
children with disabilities.
According to a study conducted in 2007 by the National Statistical
Committee and the International Labor Organization (ILO), 450,000
children, or 30.7 of all children between the ages of five and 17,
worked. The study found that 95 percent of child laborers were employed
as unpaid family workers, primarily in family businesses and
agriculture. Child labor was also noted in the following sectors:
tobacco, cotton, rice, cattle breeding, coal mining, construction,
brick making, car washing, shoe cleaning, and retail sales of tobacco
and alcohol. According to NGO reports, child labor continued to be
particularly prevalent in the south. During the fall some schools
cancelled classes and sent children to pick cotton. During the summer
children were involved in tobacco production, often in extreme heat and
under hazardous conditions. Some schools required children to harvest
tobacco planted on school grounds, with the income going directly to
the schools. The Agricultural Workers Union estimated that 125,000
children in the south were involved in child labor and that
approximately 15,000 children worked in tobacco fields.
Internal trafficking of children for the purposes of commercial
sexual exploitation and forced labor remained a problem. A 2008 ILO-
funded study found an increase in the employment of trafficked children
to sell and distribute illicit drugs.
Reports from ECPAT International and other international
organizations indicated that police arrested street and working
children and forced them to give up their earnings in exchange for
being released.
The Prosecutor General's Office and the State Labor Inspectorate
are responsible for enforcing employers' compliance with the labor
code. During the year inspectors conducted spot checks of child labor
law compliance, but these were infrequent and ineffective. During the
first six months of 2008, the Prosecutor General's Office conducted 52
checks, resulting in 16 written notifications, 33 demands for immediate
action, 142 warnings, and four disciplinary actions against five
individuals. Since many children worked for their families or were
self-employed, it was difficult for the government to determine whether
work complied with the labor code. Government enforcement efforts also
suffered from a lack of resources. Although employers found violating
the labor code could be charged with financial or criminal penalties,
punishment was usually minimal.
The government supported several social programs to prevent the
engagement of children in exploitative child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no minimum wage. The
government used a nominal national minimum monthly wage of 340 soms
(approximately $7.71) for administrative purposes, such as determining
fines imposed by the courts; the amount would not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. Employers generally paid
somewhat higher wages.
The standard workweek is 40 hours, usually within a five-day week.
For state-owned industries, there is a mandated 24-hour rest period in
the workweek. According to the labor code, overtime work cannot exceed
four hours per day or 20 hours per week and must be compensated with
compensatory leave or with premium pay of between 150 and 200 percent
of the hourly wage. These provisions were mainly enforced at large
companies and organizations with strong trade unions. Small, informal
firms had no union representation.
Safety and health conditions in factories were poor. The law
establishes occupational health and safety standards, but the
government generally did not enforce them. The State Labor Inspectorate
is responsible for protecting workers and carrying out inspections for
all types of labor problems, but its activities were limited, and
business compliance was uneven. The FTU and other trade unions are
empowered to enforce all labor laws. Workers in all industries have the
right to remove themselves from dangerous workplaces without
jeopardizing their employment, and workers exercised this right in
practice.
Unregistered foreign workers in the country could not exercise the
same rights as registered workers.
Government licensing rules place strict requirements on companies
recruiting Kyrgyz citizens to work abroad, and companies must be
licensed by the SCME before they can recruit. The government regularly
published a list of licensed and vetted firms. Recruiters are required
to monitor employer compliance with employment terms and the working
conditions of labor migrants while a work contract is in effect.
Recruiters are also required to provide workers with their employment
contract prior to their departure. The government also took steps to
streamline labor migration by adopting a program on the regulation of
migration processes and collaborating with the governments of Russia,
South Korea, and Kazakhstan to improve the protection of rights of
Kyrgyz labor migrants working abroad. The SCME had representatives in
several Russian cities to assist Kyrgyz labor migrants who sometimes
encountered discrimination, poor working conditions, or violence. In
March 2008 the SCME, with the support of the IOM and the Swedish
Development Agency, opened an information center for potential labor
migrants in Osh to advise migrants about the risks of labor
trafficking, inform them of their legal rights, and provide them with
the names of reputable labor management firms previously vetted by the
SCME.
__________
MALDIVES
The Republic of Maldives is a multiparty democracy with a
population of approximately 390,000. In August 2008 parliament ratified
a new constitution that provided for the first multiparty presidential
elections. In October 2008 Mohamed Nasheed became the country's first
directly elected president in relatively free and fair elections. The
constitution establishes a bill of rights and mandates a strict
separation of powers among all the branches of government. On May 9,
the country held its first multiparty parliamentary elections. The
ruling Maldivian Democratic Party won 26 out of the 77 seats in the
Majlis (parliament); 28 seats went to the main opposition party, former
president Maumoon Gayoom's Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP); and the
remaining seats went to independent candidates and smaller members of
the coalition government and opposition. Election observers from the
British Commonwealth, Sri Lanka-based diplomatic missions, and local
organizations such as Transparency Maldives reported the elections were
relatively free and fair, with minor voting irregularities. Civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens
and upheld civil liberties. Its human rights record continued to
improve from the previous year, although some issues remained,
including abuse of detainees by security forces, the unequal treatment
of women, and restrictions on religious freedom and workers' rights.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
The Maldivian Detainee Network (MDN) reported that on March 20,
Ahmed Shiyam, who was serving a 25-year sentence at Maafushi prison for
drug-related offences, died in detention. Prison medical officials
initially declared that Shiyam died of a drug overdose; however,
doctors at the local hospital were unable to determine cause of death.
Shiyam's death remained under investigation at year's end.
In 2008 authorities charged police corporal Ahmed Shah with assault
in connection with the 2007 death of Hussain Salah near the police base
of Atoluvehi. Salah had been arrested on drug charges, and police
claimed that he had been released; however, the Human Rights Commission
of Maldives (HRCM) concluded there was insufficient evidence to try
Shah and the case was being treated as a suspected custodial death. On
November 15, the court acquitted Shah of the charges and stated that
there was insufficient evidence to convict him.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, although there were
reports of mistreatment of persons by security forces.
On September 22, several detainees at Maafushi jail reported to the
local media and the HRCM that members of the Emergency Support Group
(ESG), a team of special security forces tasked with maintaining order
in the prison, indiscriminately attacked detainees on September 21.
Twelve detainees were reportedly injured. The Department of
Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services' (DPRS) investigation on the
incident continued at year's end.
In February the HRCM released its annual report, which included an
investigation into alleged September 2008 abuse of a detainee at
Maafushi jail. The HRCM determined that five officers of the ESG were
responsible. The HRCM stated that it was examining how to obtain
financial compensation for the detainee from DPRS and was not aware of
any action taken against the ESG.
The law permits flogging as a form of punishment. In July local and
international media reported authorities sentenced an estimated 180
persons to public flogging for engaging in extramarital affairs. An 18-
year-old woman was flogged in public on July 5 and received 100 lashes.
Reports indicated that the woman fainted and was taken to the hospital
for medical treatment. Abdulla Mohamed, head of the country's Criminal
Court, told the local media that flogging was meant as a deterrent and
not designed to cause injury, as regulations prohibit those carrying
out the sentences from raising their arms above their shoulders.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers. Officials did not hold
pretrial detainees separately from convicted prisoners. Independent
inspections by MDN and HRCM officials revealed that security forces
regularly mistreated and abused detainees.
During the year there was a hunger strike, several riots, and
repeated jailbreaks in the country's largest prison, Maafushi.
On January 10, detainees went on a hunger strike reportedly due to
the government's failure to deliver on promises made in December 2008
to address overcrowding, poor ventilation and lighting, inadequate
medical treatment, and to institute rehabilitation and parole programs
for prisoners. An estimated 85 percent of detainees were arrested for
drug-related offenses.
In February the HRCM cited the absence of rehabilitation programs
and the intermingling of experienced criminals with those convicted of
petty crimes as the major causes of problems in Maafushi prison. The
report also revealed the use of homemade weapons and drug trafficking
by detainees. The HRCM cited lack of security for both prisoners and
security officers as a serious concern. The HRCM's recommendations
included giving full authority and responsibility over the prison to
the DPRS for more effective site management; immediate establishment of
a Prison's Act; and revision of prison regulations to conform to
international best practices. There was no reported response to the
HRCM's recommendations by year's end.
In April detainees set fire to various areas of the Maafushi
prison, causing damage to the health center, a workshop, and a
desalination plant. Also on April 5, a prison raid in Maafushi revealed
homemade bombs, literature about Islamic extremism, knives, mobile
phones, syringes, trowels, and maps of the prison.
In July dozens of detainees demanding their release, vandalized
cells and sawed through cell bars. Mohamed Rasheed, director general of
the DPRS, acknowledged to the local media that the riots were a result
of lax security and noted the need to improve human resources and
renovate prison facilities.
In October there was another riot in the Maafushi prison, and
detainees set fire to various parts of the facility, resulting in
severe damage. Following the riot several detainees were transferred to
a military center in Addu atoll, under the management of the Maldives
National Defense Force (MNDF). The detainees were to be kept at the
center until the Maafushi prison was repaired. The HRCM expressed
concern over military personnel's supervision of detainees and
recommended placing management under the DPRS. At year's end the
detainees were still at the temporary facility.
There were repeated jailbreaks at the Maafushi prison, as well as
at Feydhoofinolhu jail, which had initially been constructed for use by
the Education Ministry for extracurricular school activities. Since
2006 Feydhoofinolhu acted as a minimum-security jail and accommodated
the detainees in excess of the capacity of the Maafushi prison.
The government generally permitted regular prison visits by the
HRCM, the MDN, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
In its annual report, the ICRC stated that it visited detainees
regularly and shared its findings and recommendations confidentially
with authorities. The government also allowed access to prisons to the
jail oversight committee, composed of judges and members of parliament.
The oversight committee has a mandate to conduct quarterly visits and
submit a report directly to the president. These reports were not
available to the public.
During the year the government continued construction of a new jail
for 200 persons adjacent to Maafushi prison; the new facility was
designed to relieve overcrowding at Maafushi.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these
prohibitions. The constitution also provides compensation for those
detained without legal justification.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The MNDF is responsible
for external security. The MNDF also handled disaster relief operations
and national emergencies. The director of the MNDF reports to the
minister of defense. The president is commander-in-chief of the MNDF.
In 2008 the Majlis enacted a new Armed Forces Act that establishes
legal parameters for the MNDF's role.
The Maldives Police Service (MPS), which is responsible for
internal security, public safety, and law and order, was separated from
MNDF in 2004 and is subordinate to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The
president appoints the MPS commissioner, who reports to the minister of
home affairs.
The prosecutor general referred cases to the appropriate court
based on the results of police investigations. The authorities
generally kept the details of a case confidential until they were
confident that the charges were likely to be upheld. Three units under
the Special Operations and Security Department of the MPS replaced the
Star Force, formerly an elite unit of the MPS. These units are the
Special Weapons and Tactic Team (SWAT), the Industrial and Personal
Security Unit, and the Riot Police. The Police Integrity Commission
(PIC), established in 2006 to investigate allegations of police
corruption and impunity, was inactive, holding no hearings in 2008. In
July President Nasheed appointed five new commissioners to the PIC. The
commission was the primary mechanism available to investigate security
force abuses. On August 31, the PIC reported that it investigated 16
cases involving police conduct in public places and internal police
disputes. The PIC determined that the cases did not merit criminal
prosecution, and none of the cases were forwarded to the prosecutor
general. The PIC instead made recommendations to the MPS and the
Ministry of Home Affairs to establish a detention facility that meets
international standards.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The law of
arrest requires that no person be arrested unless the arresting officer
observed the offence, had reasonable evidence, or had an arrest warrant
issued by the court. The constitution provides for an arrestee to be
informed of the reason for arrest within 24 hours and provides for the
right to hire a lawyer. The law also requires that a detainee be
informed of the right to a lawyer at the time of arrest. Prisoners had
the right to a ruling on bail within 36 hours; however, reports
indicated that bail procedures were not publicized adequately,
explained, or implemented consistently. Under the new constitution, a
lawyer may be appointed by the court in serious criminal cases if the
accused cannot afford one. According to the Attorney General (AG),
police normally informed the arrestee's family of the arrest within 24
hours, although the law does not require that police inform the family
of the grounds for the arrest. Authorities generally permitted
detainees to have counsel present during police questioning.
The law provides for investigative detention. Once a person is
detained, the arresting officer must present evidence to a court within
48 hours to justify continued detention. Based on the evidence
presented, the prosecutor general has the authority to determine
whether charges will be made. If law enforcement authorities are unable
to present sufficient evidence within 48 hours, the prisoner is
eligible for release. Judges have the authority to extend detention
upon receiving an arresting officer's petition citing factors such as
the detainee's previous criminal record, the status of the
investigation, the type of offense in question, and whether the
detainee would pose a threat if released.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law/constitution provides for
an independent judiciary, and the government generally respected
judicial independence in practice.
In 2008 the government established an interim Supreme Court. The
five-member court, appointed by the former president, is independent
from the executive. It hears appeals from the High Court and considers
constitutional matters brought directly before it. The seven-member
Judicial Services Commission (JSC) is responsible for judicial
appointments, examining the conduct of judges, and any dismissals of
judges and recommended candidates for judgeships to the president. The
legislation setting up the commission permits the body to accept or
veto presidential appointments to judgeships. The JSC did not publicize
deliberations or make recommendations on the hiring, dismissal, or
discipline of judges during the year.
There are three lower courts: one for civil matters, one for
criminal cases, and one for family and juvenile cases. The High Court
handles a wide range of cases, including politically sensitive ones.
The president's judicial advisory council, led by the chief justice,
reviews all appealed court rulings.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides that an accused person is
presumed innocent until proven guilty. There were no jury trials. Most
trials were public and were conducted by judges and magistrates, some
of whom were trained in Islamic, civil, or criminal law. Regulations
rather than laws govern trial procedures. The prosecution collects all
evidence and presents it to a judge, who has the discretion to choose
what evidence he will share with the defense. Judges question the
concerned parties and attempt to establish the facts of a case. An
accused person has the right to defend himself or herself ``in
accordance with Shari'a. During a trial the accused may call witnesses
and has the right to be represented by a lawyer. Under the constitution
a lawyer may be appointed by the court in serious criminal cases if the
accused cannot afford one. The judiciary generally enforced these
rights.
Under the constitution, the prosecutor general is a separate and
independent body subject only to general policy directives by the AG on
the conduct of criminal proceedings. The Prosecutor General's mandate
includes supervising prosecution of all criminal cases and determining
whether charges should be pursued based on evidence presented by
investigating authorities.
Civil law was subordinate to Shari'a, which was applied in
situations not covered by civil law, as well as in family matters such
as divorce and adultery. Courts adjudicating matrimonial and criminal
cases generally did not allow legal counsel in court because, according
to local interpretation of Shari'a, all answers and submissions should
come directly from the parties involved. However, the High Court allows
legal counsel in all cases, including those in which the right to
counsel was denied in a lower court. Those convicted had the right to
appeal. Under the country's Islamic practice, the testimony of two
women equals that of one man in matters involving Shari'a, such as
adultery, finance, and inheritance. In other cases the testimony of men
and women was equivalent.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees. The government declared that it no
longer has political prisoners. Local nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) confirmed that no one had been arrested solely for their
political beliefs since the inauguration of the new government. As for
previous political prisoners, government observers claimed that they
have been released after the charges against them were withdrawn or
found to be without merit. Amnesty International had stated that ``it
continues to be concerned about the detention of Prisoners of
Conscience who have been imprisoned solely for their political
beliefs'' but did not cite specific cases or provide a number of
political detainees.
In November 2008 the High Court overturned a verdict against
journalist Abdullah Saeed who had been sentenced to life imprisonment
for drug possession in 2005. He was released on November 30, 2008.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--A civil court addressed
noncriminal cases. On February 3, Mariyam Manike filed a civil suit
against the ministry of defense over the killing of her son, Evan
Naseem, in 2003 by eight former security officers at Maafushi prison.
The case continued at year's end.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits security officials from opening or
reading wireless messages, letters, telegrams, or monitoring telephone
conversations, ``except as expressly provided by law.'' In practice the
government generally respected privacy rights. Security forces may open
the mail of private citizens and monitor telephone conversations if
authorized to do so by a court during a criminal investigation.
The constitution provides that residential premises and dwellings
should be inviolable and can be entered without consent of the resident
only under exigent circumstances or under the authorization of the
court.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution guarantees
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 most cases. However, the
law limits a citizen's right to freedom of expression in order to
protect the ``basic tenets of Islam'' and prohibits inciting citizens
against the government.
There are almost 200 independent newspapers and periodicals;
however, government ministers owned several of the daily publications.
In July Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued a statement urging
authorities and political parties to respect freedom of the press. The
statement stemmed from a series of incidents including attacks against
opposition and state media journalists by supporters of political
parties and after the head of a privately owned television station
reportedly was summoned and warned by the information department for
programs it considered objectionable. Tourism, Arts, and Culture
Minister Mohamed Thoyyib assured RSF that the government had no
intention of arresting journalists, taking them to court, or
withdrawing licenses.
There were no legal prohibitions on the import of foreign
publications except for those containing pornography or material
otherwise deemed objectionable to Islamic values.
Internet Freedom.--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,
which was widely available in the capital and increasingly present in
outlying atolls. There were, however, reports of the Ministry of
Islamic Affairs blocking certain Web sites.
In March the Telecommunications Authority of Maldives announced
that nine Web sites with anti-Islamic and pornographic content were
blocked at the request of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. One of the
Web sites posted an audio clip of a Ministry of Islamic Affairs
official reportedly threatening an imam.
In December 2008 the Ministry of Islamic Affairs blocked a Dhivehi
and English-language Web site promoting Christianity.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The law prohibits public
statements contrary to government policy or to the government's
interpretation of Islam. In response to the law, there were credible
reports that academics practiced self-censorship.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for ``freedom of peaceful assembly
without prior permission of the State,'' and the government generally
respected this in practice. Although freedom of assembly was also
included in the previous constitution, it came with the clause ``in a
manner that does not contravene the law.''
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association; however, the government imposed some limits on this
freedom in practice. The government registered clubs and other private
associations only if they did not contravene Islamic or civil law.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law does not provide for freedom of
religion and significantly restricts it. The constitution designates
Sunni Islam as the official state religion. The law prohibits the
practice of any religion other than Islam and confers citizenship
exclusively on Muslims. The government allowed non-Muslim foreign
residents to practice their religion only if they did so privately and
did not encourage citizens to participate. The president, members of
the People's Majlis, and cabinet members were required to be Sunni
Muslims.
There were no places of worship for adherents of other religions.
The government prohibited the import of icons and religious statues,
but it generally permitted the import of religious literature, such as
Bibles, for personal use. It also prohibited non-Muslim clergy and
missionaries from proselytizing and conducting public worship services.
Conversion of a Muslim to another faith is a violation of the
government's interpretation of Shari'a and may result in punishment,
including the loss of the convert's citizenship; however, there were no
known cases of such loss of citizenship.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs mandates Islamic instruction in
schools, funds the salaries of religious instructors, and certifies
imams, who are responsible for presenting government-approved sermons.
No one may publicly discuss Islam unless invited to do so by the
government, and imams could not prepare sermons without government
authorization. The minister of Islamic Affairs had the sole authority
to grant preaching licenses.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were some reports of
discrimination against various Islamic subgroups.
In April the Ministry of Islamic Affairs requested that police
investigate independent prayer groups reportedly led by unlicensed
preachers. During the year the ministry received criticism for its
restrictions on issuing preaching licenses. The ministry cited the
threat of religious extremism as the reason behind the investigations.
In January, however, the ministry banned a religious group from
practicing Friday prayers separately at the Dharumavantha mosque,
stating that doing so violated the Protection of Religious Unity Act,
which promotes religious homogeneity.
There were no known Jewish citizens or residents, and there were no
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. Employers often housed foreign workers at their worksites.
The law allows for banishment to a remote atoll as a punishment,
but this was seldom practiced.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 protocol, and
the government had not established a system for providing protection to
refugees or persons seeking asylum. The government has cooperated in
the past with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees;
however, asylum issues did not arise during the year. In practice the
government provided protection against the expulsion or return of
refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened
on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a
particular social group, or political opinion.
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 sufferage.
Elections and Political Participation.--On May 9, the country held
its first multiparty parliamentary elections. These were the first
elections under the new government. The previous Majlis was composed of
50 members, including eight presidential appointees. The new Majlis,
however, had 77 seats, all directly elected for five-year terms. The
ruling MDP won 26 out of 77 contested seats. The main opposition party,
former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's DRP, won 28 seats. The People's
Alliance (PA) won seven seats, which gave the opposition DRP-PA
alliance a total of 35 seats, four short of a majority. The smaller
members of the coalition government won three seats while the remaining
13 seats went to independent candidates. Election turnout was 79
percent of registered voters. Although there were sporadic
confrontations and reports of electoral irregularities, including
allegations of bribery and intimidation, election observer groups, such
as Transparency Maldives and the British Commonwealth, reported the
elections to be generally free and fair.
Under the constitution local elections were scheduled for July 1;
however, members of parliament were unable to agree on a
decentralization model, thus delaying the elections. At year's end, no
date had been set for local elections. A limited number of women held
prominent positions in government. The minister of health and family,
the deputy minister of education, and five members of parliament were
women.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. In 2008
the government established an independent Anti-Corruption Commission
(ACC) to investigate corruption charges involving senior government
officials.
Approximately 150 cases from the previous board were transferred to
the new commission. In May President Nasheed established a Presidential
Commission to investigate allegations of widespread corruption by high-
level officials from the previous government, including former
president Gayoom. The government created the commission after the ACC
and independent audit reports revealed cronyism and misappropriation of
state funds. The commission has authority to summon, interrogate, and
take statements that may be used as evidence in court. At year's end
the investigation continued.
There are no laws that provide for access to government
information.
Section 5. 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.
The HRCM was fully functional, with Ahmed Saleem serving as
president.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for the equality of all citizens, but there is no
specific provision to prohibit discrimination based on race, gender,
religion, disability, or social status. Women traditionally were
disadvantaged, particularly in the application of Shari'a in matters
such as divorce, education, inheritance, and testimony in legal
proceedings.
Women.--A man can be convicted of rape in the absence of a
confession only if there are two male witnesses or four female
witnesses willing to testify.
In March Mazeena Jameel, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
Health and Family, stated that out of 10 rape cases reported, only two
led to convictions, partly due to the difficulty of proving rape.
Under the law, spousal rape is not a crime.
There are no laws in force regarding domestic violence against
women or workplace harassment, nor were there firm data on the extent
of violence against women
In 2008 the Ministry of Gender and Family released data showing an
increase in the reported cases of violence against women, although NGOs
believed that most cases remained unreported. Several reasons were
cited for the silence on the issue, including fear of reprisals from
abusers, losing custody of children, lack of economic independence,
insensitivity of police when dealing with victims, absence of
regulation in media concerning the privacy of the victim, dealing with
the stigma attached to being a victim, and low conviction rates.
In May an official of the Ministry of Health and Family, formerly
the Ministry of Gender and Family, stated to the local media that
access to justice was one of the biggest obstacles to eliminating
gender-based violence.
The 2006 Ministry of Gender and Family study on women's health and
life experiences noted that one in three women between the ages of 15
and 49 years reported some form of physical or sexual violence at least
once in their lives. One in five women between the ages of 15 and 49
years reported physical or sexual violence by a partner, and one in
nine reported experiencing severe violence. One in six women in Male
and one in eight countrywide reported experiencing childhood sexual
abuse under the age of 15 years. Of those women between the ages of 15
and 49 years who had ever been pregnant, 6 percent reported having been
physically or sexually abused during pregnancy. A survey reported that
many respondents perceived women to be subordinate to men, and that men
had used Islam to justify restrictions and violence against women.
In cases of harassment involving physical assault, violators can be
prosecuted under the ``indecent assault'' laws.
Although women traditionally played a subordinate role in society,
they participated in public life. Women constituted approximately 40
percent of government employees. The literacy rate for women was
approximately 98 percent. In 2007 the government appointed the first
female judges. The minimum age of marriage for women was 18 years, but
marriages at an earlier age were common.
Under Islamic practice husbands may divorce their wives more easily
than vice versa, absent mutual agreement to divorce. Shari'a also
governs estate inheritance, granting male heirs twice the share of
female heirs. Women who worked for wages received pay equal to that of
men in the same positions. According to an HRCM report published in
August, despite provisions in the constitution and the 2008 Employment
Act, there were no policies in place that provide equal opportunities
for women's employment. The absence of childcare facilities made it
difficult for women to remain employed after they had children; it was
socially unacceptable for women to stay on resort islands for extended
periods, which discouraged women from working at tourist resorts. The
HRCM also received reports that some employers discouraged women from
marriage or pregnancy, as it could result in termination or demotion.
On March 8, the government established an Rf 10 million ($780,000)
Fund for the Economic Development of Women. Provided by the Asian
Development Bank as part loan and part grant, the project is designed
to encourage economic independence by assisting women in setting up
small- and medium-sized enterprises.
On May 5, the government in partnership with the UN launched a two-
year program to deal with gender-based violence. The program's
objectives include raising awareness of gender-based violence,
developing social support and counseling, providing women with legal
options, and advising them on economic opportunities that would empower
them to leave abusive relationships. The action plan was to involve
various stakeholders in government including police, health ministry,
religious leaders, and the judiciary to ensure cooperation and
accountability.
There are Family and Children's Centers (FCSC) on every atoll in
the country. They are intended to help streamline the process of
reporting abuse against women and children. The centers had a shortage
of trained staff and faced legal challenges such as collecting evidence
about abuse cases.
Prostitution was illegal but occurred on a small scale. In March
and June, police arrested 10 foreign residents at a guesthouse in
Maafannu and a health center in Hanveiru on charges of prostitution.
A 2006 NGO report concerning the UN Convention on the Elimination
of Discrimination Against Women stated that many women reported sexual
harassment in public places and at their places of employment.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide freely and
responsibly the number, spacing, and timing of children, and to have
the information and means to do so free from discrimination,
correction, and violence. Access to information on contraception and
skilled attendance at delivery and in postpartum care was widely
available. Women and men were given equal access to diagnostic services
and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
Children.--Citizenship is derived through one's parents (jus
sanguinis). A child born of a citizen father or mother, regardless of
the child's place of birth, can derive citizenship.
Education is not compulsory, but there was universal access to free
primary education. In many instances parents curtailed education for
girls after the seventh grade by not allowing them to leave their home
island for another island with a secondary school.
Government policy provides for equal access to educational and
health programs for both male and female children.
The law sought to protect children from physical and psychological
abuse, including at the hands of teachers or parents. The Ministry of
Health and Family has the authority to enforce the law and receives
strong popular support. The ministry reported child abuse, including
sexual abuse. On November 4, parliament passed the Child Sex Abuse Act
which codified child sex offenses for the first time and outlined
sentences of up to 25 years for those convicted. There were reports
that although the courts had the power to detain perpetrators, most
were released pending sentencing and were allowed to return to the
communities of their victims.
In March the FCSC stated that the biggest challenge they faced in
their efforts to protect children's rights was the release of
pedophiles into the communities of their victims.
According to statistics from the MPS, from January to March, 34
cases of child sexual abuse were reported, and 23 pedophiles were
arrested. An MPS officer attributed the increase to growing public
awareness.
In February police arrested Hussain Fazeel after they discovered
pornographic images of children on his computer and videos of him
having sex with approximately 35 underage boys, some of them reportedly
as young as 10 years of age. On November 25, Fazeel was sentenced to
six years imprisonment for 39 counts of child sexual abuse.
In March police arrested Ahmed Ibrahim for sexual abuse of two
underage boys. According to police, Ibrahim had lured the boys with
promises of high-paying jobs in the tourism industry. DRPS officials
stated that Ibrahim was an escaped convict serving a sentence for
sexual abuse.
In May police arrested the father, uncle, and four family friends
of a 10-year-old child on charges of repeated sexual abuse. According
to police the child had been abused since she was five years old.
Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and laws do not
specifically prohibit trafficking in persons.
There are no laws that specifically prohibit trafficking for
commercial sexual exploitation; however, provisions of the 2008 Rules
of Procedure can be used to prosecute cases of trafficking for sexual
exploitation.
The country was a destination country for a number of migrant
workers, predominantly from Bangladesh and India, who came to work in
the construction and tourism sectors. It was unknown how many of these
workers were trafficking victims, but of the 80,000 expatriate workers
in the country, an estimated 20,000 were there illegally. These illegal
workers were most at risk of becoming trafficking victims, as they
lacked proper documentation to be in the country. In addition, most
migrant workers, illegal and legal, borrowed large sums of money to pay
foreign employment agents in their search for job opportunities in the
country.
A small number of foreign women, predominantly from Sri Lanka,
Thailand, India, and China, were trafficked to the country for sexual
exploitation. In 2008 there were two identified cases of sexual
exploitation in the country, one involved an Indian woman and one
involved a Sri Lankan woman. Although there were no precise figures on
the total number of victims, it is believed to be small. A small number
of local teenage girls under the age of 18 years were trafficked to
Male from other islands in the country to work as domestics in exchange
for room and board and access to a better education than was available
on their home islands.
The country was not a source country for the international
trafficking of persons.
Traffickers in the country fell into at least two different
categories depending on their victims. For internal trafficking local
girls were generally sent by their parents from the outer islands to
Male, so that they could receive a better education. The traffickers in
these cases were affluent families in Male. The girls were identified
and brought to Male based on personal relationships. If the two
families did not know each other, a third party known to both families
would act as an intermediary. There was no formal process or agents
used. Once the girls were in Male, they faced an increased
vulnerability to trafficking. There were allegations that some ended
working full time as domestics and never attended school. There were
allegations that girls were also sexually abused by the families with
whom they stayed. Although this form of internal trafficking
historically has been practiced in the country, improved education
opportunities on the other islands has helped to curb this practice.
The second group of traffickers was employment agents, both within
the country and outside. The law requires employers to use domestic
employment agents to bring workers to the country. There were about 200
registered employment agents in the country. In order to operate,
agents needed to register with the Ministry of Human Resources, Youth,
and Sports to receive quotas and work permits to bring in workers.
Labor trafficking, however, occurred not just with employment agents
but with employers. The trafficking offenses included fraudulent offers
of employment, withholding of passports, withholding salaries, or not
paying promised wages.
There were no known instances of government officials participating
in, facilitating, or condoning trafficking.
The rights of trafficking victims for both sexual and labor
exploitation were respected. The government did not provide trafficking
victims with any special legal, medical, or psychological services to
which citizens were not entitled. There were no known instances in
which trafficking victims were fined or prosecuted. The government's
policy was to return foreign trafficking victims to their countries of
origin as quickly as possible. There were no reports of persons being
returned against their will.
Officers with the Police and the Department of Immigration and
Emigration had training in the proactive identification of trafficking
victims. The training appeared to be widespread and effective.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the constitution provides for
the rights and freedom from discrimination of persons with
disabilities, no law specifically addresses the rights of persons with
physical or mental disabilities. Government programs provided services
for persons with disabilities, including special educational programs
for persons with hearing and vision disabilities. Inadequate facilities
made it difficult for persons with disabilities to participate in the
workforce. On November 9, there was a highly publicized report of
Mariyam Rizwana, the first deaf citizen teacher.
On July 21, the Maldives Deaf Association received funding from the
Ministry of Human Resources, Youth, and Sports to facilitate arts and
crafts courses for deaf persons between the ages of 18 and 35 years
old.
On October 29, President Nasheed launched the country's first sign-
language dictionary. The objective of the book was to serve as a bridge
between the deaf community and the rest of society. Handicap
International funded the project.
The government established disability awareness and empowerment
campaigns on some of the more populous islands. The government
integrated students with physical disabilities into mainstream
educational programs. Families usually cared for persons with
disabilities; when family care was unavailable, persons with
disabilities lived in the Ministry of Health and Family's Institute for
Needy People, which also assisted elderly persons. When requested the
government provided free medication for all persons with mental
disabilities on the islands, but follow-up care was infrequent.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The law prohibits homosexual
conduct, and it was considered socially unacceptable. The punishment
for men includes banishment for nine months to one year or 10 to 30
lashes. For women the punishment is house arrest for nine months to one
year. There were no organizations concerned with lesbian, gay, bisexual
or transgender (LGBT) issues in the country. There have not been any
reports of officials complicit in abuses against the LGBT community.
There were no reports of official or societal discrimination based on
sexual orientation in employment, housing, access to education, or
health care.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--There were no reports
of official or societal discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--For the first time, the constitution
recognized the right to form associations, including the right to form
trade unions and to participate or not participate in their activities.
The constitution states explicitly that all rights and freedoms in the
statute apply to ``everyone'' without any form of discrimination,
including migrant workers.
The 2008 Employment Act, however, did not address the formation of
trade unions. There were no reports during the year that labor unions
were formed, but several worker associations had been established,
primarily in the tourism sector. The existing organizations and
associations active in the area of workers' rights do not have the
legal authority to function as trade unions and enter into formal
negotiations on behalf of workers they represent.
The constitution states that every person employed in the country
has the freedom to stop work and to strike. This newly granted right
was exercised frequently in the last year, particularly in the
construction and tourism sectors. Police sometimes employed force to
suppress strikes. Workers' associations that have been established
include the Teachers' Association of the Maldives, Tourism Employees'
Association of Maldives (TEAM) and Fishermen's Association. TEAM
organized work stoppages to protest against unfair working conditions,
low wages, and long working hours.
The Employment Act does not cover emergency workers, air and sea
crews, police, armed forces, executive staff of any company, and
workers who are on call.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The new
constitution and Employment Act do not address workers' rights to
bargain collectively, but in practice informal collective bargaining
involving employee associations primarily in the tourism sector began
within days of the new law taking effect. Traditionally, wages in the
private sector were set by contract between employers and employees and
were based on rates for similar work in the public sector.
Problems arose in some resorts when employees' associations
petitioned for wage increases and improvements in the conditions of
work. When one resort operator refused to meet the demands and fired
the leaders of the employees' association, the employees went on
strike. In one instance police used force to remove the fired workers.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, there were no reports that such
practices occurred. The HRCM reported, however, that some domestic
workers, especially migrant female domestic workers, were in some cases
trapped in circumstances bordering on forced labor in which employers
used threats and intimidation to prevent them from leaving. Some
teenage boys and girls who were sent to the city of Male for
educational purposes found themselves working as domestics in exchange
for food and lodging.
Migrant workers were predominantly employed in the construction and
tourism sectors, where some could find themselves in situations of
forced labor. The majority of victims of forced labor were reportedly
coerced to work through one or more of the following practices: the
holding of passports by employers, fraudulent offers of employment, not
being paid the promised salary, and not being paid at all. It is
unknown how widespread these problems were.
Generally, the Ministry of Human Resources blacklisted companies
who violated the provisions of the Employment Act thereby preventing
violators from bringing in new workers until violations were rectified.
A fine of not more than Rf 5,000 ($397) could be imposed on violators.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Employment Act sets 16 years of age as the minimum age for employment,
with an exception for children who voluntarily participate in family
businesses. The Employment Act also prohibits employment of children in
``any work that may have a detrimental effect on his health, education,
safety, or conduct.'' Child labor, however, was a problem in the
fishing sector, small commercial activities, and family enterprises.
The Department of Gender and Family Protection Services of the
Ministry of Health and Family was responsible for monitoring compliance
with the law regarding child labor. Based on the limited information
available, the ministry's enforcement appeared to be effective. The
Ministry of Health and Family, the Ministry of Human Resources, Youth
and Sports, and the Family and Child Protection Unit of Maldives Police
Service received complaints of child labor, conducted inquiries, and
initiated legal action.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The 2008 Employment Act
establishes maximum hours of work, overtime, annual and sick leave,
maternity leave, and guidelines for work place safety. The act also
provides a mechanism to establish a minimum wage in the private sector.
The minimum wage in the government sector was approximately Rf 2,600
($206) per month, which was adequate for a decent standard of living
for a worker and family. Because of the tight labor market, private
sector employers generally offered competitive pay and conditions to
attract skilled workers.
The Employment Act also provides for a 48-hour per week limit on
work with a compulsory 24-hour break if employees work six days
consecutively. Overtime is possible; for example, employees in tourist
resorts may work an additional two hours per day paid at overtime
rates. The Employment Act states that employees working overtime shall
be paid 125 percent their hourly working wage and, if working on a
Friday or a public holiday, they shall be paid 150 percent their hourly
working wage. The public sector provides a seven-hour workday and a
five-day workweek.
With the exception of a few government-controlled corporations and
a number of private companies, the HRCM reported that employers in
general have not taken steps to comply with the Employment Act. Migrant
workers were particularly vulnerable to exploitation and, upon arrival
in the country, they found unacceptable work conditions, but they were
forced to accept work at whatever wage was offered for debt repayment
to the employment agency. The HRCM found many instances of nonpayment
of wages to migrant workers and inadequate housing. Bangladeshi High
Commissioner Professor Selina Mohsin reported that 110 Bangaldeshi
migrant workers died last year from construction-related injuries such
as falls, heart attacks, extreme tension and stress, and the effects of
working in hazardous environments without proper ventilation. The HRCM
reported, however, that the status of migrant workers employed in the
categories of senior management, professionals, and skilled workers was
different. These workers enjoyed a status similar to citizens, if not
at times better.
Under the Employment Act, workers have the right to refuse work
that is dangerous; there are no reports as to whether this right is
exercised in practice. Regulatory requirements in certain industries,
such as construction and transport, require employers to provide a safe
working environment and ensure the observance of safety measures.
According to an HRCM report in August, there are no national standards
for safety measures and as a result, such measures were at the
discretion of employers.
Some employers that produce for export have adopted health and
safety standards. Employers in different sectors, however, have
reportedly not taken similar measures. The Employment Act grants
workers the right to compensation if fired without cause. The act
specifically bans discrimination based on race or color but it notes
that ``any preference given to Maldivians by an employer in granting
employment shall not be deemed discrimination.''
In December 2008 the government established a Labor Relations
Authority and a Labor Tribunal to implement the new Employment Law. The
Labor Tribunal did not begin operations until mid-April due to the
absence of office space, budgetary constraints, and the need to revise
the draft regulations.
In August the HRCM stated in a report that employment-related
disputes were the most common complaints received at the commission.
The report called for amendments to the Employment Act and claimed that
relevant stakeholders were not consulted when it was formulated,
resulting in conflict and nonimplementation of provisions in the law,
including a cap on working hours and a minimum wage. The HRCM added
that the institutions created by the establishment of the Labor
Relations Authority were not yet fully functional and the courts have
refused to hear labor disputes.
In May the government acceded to the International Labor
Organization.
__________
NEPAL
Nepal, a population of approximately 29 million, is a federal
democratic republic. The political system is based on the 2007 interim
constitution with a prime minister as the chief executive and a
Constituent Assembly that serves as a legislature and is required to
draft a new constitution by 2010. The prime minister, Madhav Kumar
Nepal, of the Communist Party of Nepal--United Marxist Leninist (UML),
took office on May 25 following the resignation of former prime
minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal whose party, the United Communist Party of
Nepal--Maoists (UCPN-M), has a plurality in the Constituent Assembly.
Domestic and international observers generally characterized the 2008
election results as credible, although there were reports of political
violence, intimidation, and voting irregularities. Civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces, but
there were frequent instances in which elements of the security forces
acted independently.
The government's respect for human rights improved slightly as all
parties joined the government. Members of the security forces, the
Maoist militias, the Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL),
and members of other small, often ethnically based armed groups
committed human rights abuses. Members of the Nepal Army (NA) were
confined to their barracks in accordance with the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement (CPA) of 2006. Members of the Nepal Police (NP) and Armed
Police Force (APF) occasionally used excessive and lethal force in
response to continued demonstrations throughout the country. Maoist
militias engaged in arbitrary and unlawful use of lethal force and
abduction. Violence, extortion, and intimidation continued throughout
the year. Numerous armed groups, largely in the Terai region in the
lowland area near the Indian border, attacked civilians, government
officials, members of particular ethnic groups, each other, or Maoist
militias. Impunity for human rights violators, threats against the
media, arbitrary arrest, and lengthy pretrial detention were serious
problems. The government compromised the independence of the judiciary
by exerting political pressure on the judicial process, and society
continued to discriminate against persons of lower castes and persons
with disabilities. Violence against women and trafficking in persons,
mainly women and girls, 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 numerous
reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings. The Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC) reported
that security forces or other armed groups killed 229 persons during
the year. Security forces killed at least 37 individuals, the Maoist
party and its affiliate the YCL were believed to have killed four
persons, and armed groups operating in Terai killed more than 21
persons; 141 persons reported killed could not be linked to a specific
group, or the families and reporters were afraid to name the group.
There were no substantive allegations of human rights abuses filed
against the army during the year.
On March 26, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR) reported that an unidentified group killed Prachanda Man
Thaiba, a member of the UML-affiliated Youth Force (YF) in Butwal. The
YF accused YCL member Sujit Biswo Karma, and the Maoists initiated an
internal investigation. In April then Prime Minister Dahal promised an
investigation which the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
promised to conduct. NHRC has not followed up on the case after
completion of a preliminary investigation. The case was registered at
the area police office (APO) in Butwal following a First Incident
Report (FIR) filed by the victim's father. The case will remain active
for 20 years and will be submitted to the court if the perpetrators are
found.
On April 2, the OHCHR reported that YCL members allegedly killed YF
member Anuj Thapa Magar in Biratnagar. YCL district leadership denied
involvement. Following an investigation police arrested two
individuals. On April 6, a FIR was filed by his family members; it
named three persons and noted another 10 to 12 unidentified persons
were involved. On April 14, one person was arrested by police and
subsequently released. At year's end the case continued.
On July 7, the OHCHR reported that villagers from Dhunchepakha and
Chapacho killed three persons for allegedly trying to kidnap village
children. On July 21, the deputy superintendent of police at the Thimi
Metropolitan Police Office informed the OHCHR that eight persons had
been arrested. Of the four the Bhaktaput District Court released one on
bail for lack of evidence, while the remaining three were sent to the
central jail in Nakkhu, where they were under pretrial detention.
There were no further developments in the 2008 killing of Ram Hari
Shrestha in Chitwan District. In 2008 authorities charged five UCPN-M
members in connection with the case: Govinda Bahadur Batala, Keshab
Adhikari, Ganga Ram Thapa, Kali Bahadur Kham, and Arjun Karki. In 2008
the NP arrested Govinda Bahadur Batala, while the remaining four, who
were allegedly under the protection of the Maoist-affiliated People's
Liberation Army were not located.
Authorities closed the investigation into the 2007 killing of Moid
Khan after the family withdrew the Supreme Court case.
According to INSEC, landmines and improvised explosive devices
(IEDs) killed 12 persons and injured 41, including 32 children. Five
deaths and one injury were reported from NA-planted landmines around
military installations and infrastructure. The UN Mine Action Team has
destroyed more than 14,682 IEDs in nine locations and cleared 17 of 53
antipersonnel minefields and 105 of the 312 IED fields the NA laid. The
CPA and the December 2006 agreement on Monitoring of the Management of
Arms and Armies called for all landmines to be identified and located
within 30 days and removed completely within 60 days.
b. Disappearance.--The fate of many of those who disappeared during
the 10-year Maoist insurgency (1996-2006) remained unknown. According
to NHRC estimates, there were 835 unresolved cases of disappearances at
year's end, 616 believed to involve the state and 219 believed to
involve the Maoists. The International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) estimated the number of disappeared at more than 1,365. A
significant number of the disappeared were young, married men who were
the primary income earners for their families. At year's end the
government had not prosecuted any government officials or Maoists for
involvement in disappearances or released any information about the
whereabouts of the 616 persons the NHRC identified as disappeared with
state involvement.
The government did not respond to an OHCHR report on 49 disappeared
persons who had been arrested and detained at the Maharajgunj barracks
in Kathmandu in 2003 on suspicion of being linked to the Maoists, nor
did it respond to the OHCHR's report on disappearances in the Bardiya
district where at least 170 persons disappeared between 2001 and 2004.
On August 28, the OHCHR again called on the government to investigate
the human rights violations at Maharajgunj barracks, including the
responsibility of those within the chain of command. In December Major
General Toran Bahadur Singh, who was commander of the 10th Brigade and
had chain of command responsibility for the Maharajgung barracks, was
promoted to lieutenant general and second in command of the NA, against
the strong opposition of the OHCHR and local human rights
organizations.
The media and civil society reported that abductions and
kidnappings of children escalated during the year. Most abductions were
for ransom and occurred in the Terai, where armed groups operated with
relative impunity.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the 2007 interim constitution prohibits torture,
the law does not clearly criminalize torture, and no one has been
prosecuted for torture. The Torture Compensation Act (TCA) provides for
compensation to victims of torture; however, the victim must file a
complaint and pursue the case through the courts. During the year
Advocacy Forum-Nepal (AF) filed 15 new cases under the TCA. The cases
were pending in the district court.
A credible nongovernmental organization (NGO) reported that of the
2,079 detainees interviewed between January and June in 18 districts,
540 claimed they had been tortured. Citizens were afraid to bring cases
against the police for fear of reprisal. Although the overall reported
rate of torture decreased over the past year by 7.8 percent, in some
districts, such as in Dhanusha, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Banke, the
percentage was significantly higher. Credible national and
international sources reported that security forces tortured
blindfolded detainees and beat the soles of their feet, and kicked and
beat detainees with plastic poles or bamboo sticks.
In 2008 a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report found more than 200 cases
of torture or abuse in police custody of boys and girls as young as 13,
mostly during interrogations. The HRW reported that children allegedly
were tortured using methods such as kicking, punching, inserting metal
objects under toenails, and beating with bamboo sticks and plastic
pipes. Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Center, a credible local child
rights NGO, registered 771 cases of violence and abuse of children in
police custody.
On January 4, AF reported that uniformed police arrested and
tortured Narayan Thapa. He was hospitalized, and his case was referred
to the NHRC and OHCHR for investigation. On February 4, the case was
registered at the Morang District Court under the Torture Compensation
Act. The accused police personnel furnished their reply to the court
before the November 24 deadline, but at year's end the Morang District
Court had not set a date for the hearing.
On July 31, the OHCHR investigated allegations of torture and ill-
treatment of Sushan Limbu and Bhakta Rai in the Urlabari APO in Morang.
The OHCHR reported that one of the detainees had undergone surgery for
injuries he suffered while in detention. The NP Human Rights
Directorate investigated and on August 20 found four police personnel
guilty of committing abuses: Inspector Chakra Bahadur Basnet, Head
Constable Netra Bahadur Magar, Police Officer Bhesh Raj Acharya, and
Police Officer Seman Khatri. On August 24, NP Headquarters issued a
formal warning to the four and closed the case. After the human rights
directorate of the NP completed its investigation, Inspector Chakra
Bahadur Basnet returned to the Urlabari APO and resumed work despite
the serious allegations against him.
During the year APF personnel reportedly tortured persons in Jhapa
and Dhanusha districts. In the Jhapa district, 10 Bhutanese refugees
allegedly were tortured at both the APF camp in Beldangi-2 refugee camp
and at the Pathibara Gan APF camp in Padajungi, Jhapa district. In
Dhanusha district, APF personal allegedly tortured 13 persons, and in
Udayapur district, the APF allegedly tortured nine persons.
During the year the AF documented 98 cases of torture by nonstate
actors. The AF attributed responsibility for 49 cases to the Maoists
and the YCL; 34 cases to Madhesi armed groups, including the
Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM); six cases to the Tharu Mukti
Morcha; and nine cases to unidentified armed groups in the Terai. The
government failed to conduct thorough and independent investigations of
reports of security force or Maoist/YCL brutality and generally did not
take significant disciplinary action against those involved.
INSEC reported that YCL rehabilitation centers appeared to have
closed. The centers, which operated during the insurgency, had been
used as ad hoc punitive detention facilities where villagers who were
perceived to be anti-YCL were detained.
Between mid-July 2008 and mid-July 2009, the NHRC made
recommendations to the government to resolve 157 complaints of human
rights abuses, including torture and killings. None of these
recommendations were implemented, since the government was still
resolving a backlog of NHRC recommendations from 2003-04.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
extremely poor and did not meet international standards. According to
the director general of the Department of Prisons, 9,260 prisoners--
8,599 men and 661 women--remained in custody through December 31.
Although there generally were separate facilities for men and women, in
some overcrowded prisons men and women were in the same prison but in
segregated cells.
Due to a lack of adequate juvenile detention facilities, children
were occasionally incarcerated with adults or were allowed to remain in
jails with their incarcerated parents.
During the year the Supreme Court affirmed the standards for
juvenile detention set out in the Torture Act and Regulations, and the
court ordered government agencies to improve the infrastructure and
capacity of existing juvenile correction homes, mandated the creation
of new homes in regions lacking them, and prohibited juveniles from
being returned to police custody. There is only one functional
government-run juvenile reform home, Sano Thimi in Bhaktapur.
According to the Department of Jail Management, pretrial juvenile
detainees are sent to the sole juvenile correction home and are not
kept with convicted prisoners.
The government generally permitted the NHRC, ICRC, and OHCHR to
make unannounced visits to prisons and detainees in army and police
custody. Although the NHRC is authorized to request government action,
the government often denied the NHRC the right to intervene.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, but arbitrary arrests occurred during the year.
Police routinely abused their 48-hour detention authority by holding
persons unlawfully (i.e., without proper access to counsel, food, and
medicine, or in adequate facilities), often at the behest of the chief
district officer (CDO) or assistant CDO. It was not unusual for local
government authorities (i.e., CDOs) to direct police to arrest
individuals for minor, petty infractions (e.g., unpaid taxes), and many
of those orders (which were frequently verbal) were undocumented and
appeared politically motivated.
On August 3, two persons were arrested in Naubise, Dhading
district, for allegedly being members of the Terai-based JTMM armed
group and possessing arms. They were arrested by NP in civilian clothes
and detained in the Kamalpokhari Ward Police Office. Both were
reportedly mistreated, and arrest and detention letters were not issued
to them until three days after their arrest.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Comprehensive Peace
Agreement (CPA) called on the NP and the APF to enforce law and order
across the country. Police did not respond to most incidents of
violence, particularly events involving Maoists and armed groups in the
Terai. There were multiple incidents in which police detained Maoist
and YCL cadres for illegal acts, but political leadership within the
Home Ministry freed the detainees or other political leaders
intervened.
Both the police and NA had human rights cells to investigate cases
of abuse, although they tended to limit their activities to training
and capacity building rather than investigating cases; corruption and
impunity remained problems. Police generally were unarmed and had the
role of preventing and investigating nonterrorist criminal behavior.
At the district level, police often operated without significant
guidance from superiors, allowing considerable discretion in the
enforcement of laws. As in 2008, there were many reports of police
abuse and bribery.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The law
stipulates that, except in cases involving suspected security and
narcotics violations, authorities must obtain a warrant for arrest,
arraign or release a suspect within 24 hours of arrest, and file a case
in court within seven days of arrest; however, security forces
regularly violated these provisions.
If the court upholds a detention, the law authorizes police to hold
the suspect for 25 days to complete an investigation, with a possible
extension of seven days. Security forces occasionally held prisoners
longer. In some cases the Supreme Court ordered the release of
detainees held longer than 24 hours without a court appearance. Some
foreigners, including refugees, reported difficulty in obtaining bail.
Detainees have the legal right to receive visits by family members,
and they are permitted access to lawyers once authorities file charges.
In practice family access to prisoners varied from prison to prison.
There is a system of bail, but bonds were too expensive for most
citizens. Pretrial detention often exceeded the period to which persons
subsequently were sentenced after a trial and conviction. Persons
detained have time they served credited to their sentence.
Under the Public Security Act, security forces may detain persons
who allegedly threaten domestic security and tranquility, amicable
relations with other countries, or relations between citizens of
different classes or religions. The government may detain persons in
preventive detention for as long as six months without charging them
with a crime. The detention period can be extended after submitting
written notice to the Home Ministry. The security forces must notify
the district court of the detention within 24 hours. The court may
order an additional six months of detention before the government must
file official charges.
Other laws, including the Public Offenses Act, permit detention
without charge for as long as 25 days. This act covers crimes such as
disturbing the peace, vandalism, rioting, and fighting. Human rights
monitors expressed concern that the act vests too much discretionary
power in the CDO. Police frequently arrested citizens under this act
and detained them for short periods without charge.
According to the AF, in some cases detainees were brought before
judicial authorities well after the legally mandated 24-hour limit,
allegedly to allow injuries from abuse to heal.
NGOs expressed concern about police use of private houses to hold
detainees after arrest. In early May at least three detainees claimed
to have been held in unofficial places of detention.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, but courts remained vulnerable to political
pressure, bribery, and intimidation.
The Supreme Court has the right to review the constitutionality of
legislation parliament passes. Appellate and district courts showed
independence and impartiality in many cases, although they remained
susceptible to political pressures.
The judicial system consists of three levels: district courts,
appellate courts, and the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Council,
chaired by the prime minister, nominates the chief justice of the
Supreme Court. After an advisory hearing before the Parliamentary
Special Hearing Committee, the president may then appoint the new chief
justice. After advisory hearings the chief justice, on recommendation
of the Judicial Council, appoints other Supreme Court justices. The
council also is responsible for the assignment of judges, disciplinary
action, and other administrative matters. A special court hears cases
related to narcotics trafficking, trafficking in persons (mainly women
and girls), crimes against the state, corruption, and crimes related to
foreign currency.
Delays in the administration of justice were a severe problem. As
of December 31, the Supreme Court reported a backlog of 10,306 cases.
There was no indication that this backlog lessened during the year.
Trial Procedures.--Although the law provides for the right to
counsel, equal protection under the law, protection from double
jeopardy, protection from retroactive application of the law, and
public trials, these rights were not equally applied except in a few
security and customs cases. Judges decide cases; there is no jury
system. All lower court decisions, including acquittals, are subject to
appeal. The Supreme Court is the court of last resort.
The law provides detainees with the right to legal representation
and a court-appointed lawyer, a government lawyer, or access to private
attorneys; however, the government provided legal counsel only upon
request. Persons who are unaware of their rights may be deprived of
legal representation.
Military courts adjudicate cases concerning military personnel
under the military code, which provides military personnel the same
basic rights as civilians. Military personnel are immune from
prosecution in civilian courts, except in cases of homicide or rape
involving a civilian. The NA has argued that military personnel are
immune from prosecution in civilian courts for conflict-era violations,
an interpretation of law that is not shared by the human rights
community and inconsistent with Supreme Court decisions. Military
courts cannot try civilians for crimes, even if the crimes involve the
military services; civilian courts handle these cases.
Authorities may prosecute terrorism or treason cases under the
Treason Act. Specially constituted tribunals hear these trials in
closed sessions, but no such trials have occurred since 1991.
Although the Maoists announced the dissolution of their parallel
government structures and courts in 2007, according to police and NGO
reporting they continued to function in some districts, particularly in
rural areas. In areas where they no longer functioned, the Maoists
often expected previous decisions and sentences to be carried out.
These courts had no due process and handled both criminal and civil
cases. According to the OHCHR, these courts did not provide minimum
guarantees of due process and fair trial.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--No political prisoners or
detainees were reported to be held by the government. According to
INSEC, no labor camps were being operated by the UCPN-M.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--During the year there were
some allegations of government abuses of civil procedures including
bribery and intimidation by political leaders.
Property Restitution.--The Maoists returned some previously seized
property as the CPA requires but kept other illegally seized lands and
properties in their possession; they also seized additional properties.
For example, on September 1, more than 1,000 activists of Tamu Rastriya
Mukti Morcha, an organization affiliated with the UCPN-M, seized land
belonging to Bharat Gurung in Srinathkot.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Security forces could enter and search houses without
warrants, although forced searches are illegal. The YCL occasionally
conducted illegal forced searches of businesses, civilian homes, and
property.
Security personnel frequently conducted vehicle and body searches
at roadblocks in many areas of the country.
There were no reports of the government forcing civilians to
resettle. Some persons who had resettled to escape Maoist extortion,
recruitment, or retaliation could not return home.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
There was significant internal conflict in the Terai. Numerous armed
groups, many ethnically based, clashed with each other and with the
local population. Police had a limited mandate and were unable fully to
promote law and order. Members of the Maoists, the Maoist-affiliated
YCL, and other ethnically based splinter groups in the Terai frequently
committed acts of violence, extortion, and intimidation throughout the
year.
On July 17, according to the OHCHR, APF personnel opened fire on
protesters in the Saptari district, killing one person and injuring
three others. The CDO informed the OHCHR that the dispute occurred
during the arrest of several businessmen during which some protesters
attempted to seize weapons from the APF and the APF fired. The NHRC was
conducting an investigation of the incident, and a three-member probe
committee commissioned by the Home Ministry submitted a report at the
national level. District authorities were unaware of the content of the
report; however, the CDO provided one million rupees ($13,300) to the
family of the victim.
Killings.--INSEC reported that during the year armed groups killed
229 civilians; of that number, the state killed 37. The OHCHR
documented nearly 40 credible allegations of extrajudicial killings
attributed to the NP in both the current year and 2008. There were no
developments in the 2007 death of Ram Babu Sharma Neupane by cadres of
the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha-Goit faction (JTMM-G).
Child Soldiers.--The CPA forbade the use of children younger than
18 as soldiers in the armies of either side; however, the Maoists
continued to recruit children after signing this agreement. The 2,973
combatants verified by UN Mission in Nepal to be younger than 18 as of
May 2006 had not been released from the cantonments. An action plan for
release was signed on December 16 between the Maoists and the
government to establish a timetable and details for the discharge of
the combatants.
Other Conflict-Related Abuses.--Maoists and Maoist-affiliated
organizations continued to commit abuses during the year in
contravention of the CPA. Maoists regularly extorted money from
businesses, workers, private citizens, and NGOs. When individuals or
companies refused or were unable to pay, Maoist recrimination was
violent or implied the threat of violence.
Maoists attacked political opponents on several occasions. On May
6, according to the OHCHR, YCL members allegedly attacked the president
of the Nepal Teacher's Union and member of the Nepali Congress (NC),
Rup Narayan Jabegu, in the Panchthar district. While he took refuge in
the district headquarters, the armed group reportedly vandalized his
house, assaulted him with a knife, and shot at him. The group left when
villagers gathered to protest. On May 7, approximately 100 to 150 NC
members surrounded the houses of YCL cadres who were allegedly involved
and vandalized one of the houses.
On May 31, according to human rights defenders, a group of 27 YCL
cadres attacked the NC district president of Kalikot district, Mukti
Prasad Neupane. He reportedly filed a FIR with the police, but there
was no subsequent investigation.
On July 12, according to the OHCHR, in Gulmi district, Maoist
followers reportedly abducted and assaulted a UML member. On July 14,
the UML district secretary, along with members of other parties, filed
a FIR about the incident. The deputy superintendent of police from
Gulmi told the OHCHR that the perpetrators were charged under the
Public Offense Act, and the case was pending with the CDO.
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 there were constraints on
such freedoms.
The interim constitution protects media licenses from revocation
based on what they print or broadcast. The government owned two
television stations, Nepal TV and Nepal TV Metro, and controlled one
radio station that broadcast both AM and FM signals. Radio remained the
primary source of information, with more than 150 independent radio
stations reaching more than 90 percent of the population.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views. Hundreds of independent vernacular and English-language
newspapers were available, representing various political viewpoints.
Foreign publications were widely available, and none were banned or
censored during the year. Foreign print media was present, and
reporting on the country was allowed without restrictions.
Armed groups and political parties deliberately targeted media
workers and journalists throughout the country. For example, printing
presses and journalists were attacked by Maoists and their youth wing
and by other smaller armed groups. The government promised action
against those targeting journalists, although there were few instances
where the government punished perpetrators. Impunity encouraged others
to resort to threats and violence to silence journalists. The Maoists
also influenced media outlets through their powerful trade unions. In
the Terai and the eastern hills, armed groups coerced journalists,
resulting in self-censorship and fear of personal safety. Armed groups
and political parties burned newspapers that they found objectionable.
During the year one journalist was killed, one survived a shooting,
and approximately 50 others were either attacked or threatened by
various nonstate groups and, in a few instances, by security personnel.
Police reportedly arrested three journalists, according to the
Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), an umbrella association of
journalists.
Three armed ethnic groups--Kirati Janawadi Workers' Party,
Limbuwan, and Khambuwan--extorted money from journalists, according to
the FNJ, although victims did not report these cases to police due to
security concerns.
Female journalists came under particular and increasing threat. On
January 11, a group of unidentified assailants killed Uma Singh, an
investigative journalist based in Janakpur. A district Maoist leader
and a relative were suspects, but no progress was reported on the
investigation.
On January 22, in Kathmandu, a group of masked men entered the
apartment of Yashoda Timsina, a journalist who reportedly was
investigating the killing of Uma Singh. When they determined Timsina
was not at home, they threatened her housekeeper.
On April 7, unknown persons telephoned threats to another female
journalist in the Dhanusha district, Manika Jha, a correspondent from
Kantipur Daily newspaper. She was later attacked by an unidentified
group of assailants.
On December 9, an unidentified group severely beat and cut with
knives a Rukum district female journalist, Tika Bista, a reporter for
the Kathmandu-based Rajdhani Daily newspaper. She suffered lacerations
and head trauma and was airlifted to Kathmandu and hospitalized for
several weeks. The FNJ conducted an investigation and concluded that
YCL members were responsible for the attack. The Maoists held a press
conference condemning the attack and denying YCL involvement. District
police made several preliminary arrests, but all detainees were later
released, and police had no solid leads.
Several ethnic and political groups in the Terai seized and
destroyed newspapers when the papers declined to publish and highlight
protester activities, halt distribution of the newspapers during
strikes, or prohibit Nepali-language content in newspapers.
Maoist activists allegedly seized and destroyed newspapers that
published content they disagreed with, although they denied the
allegations. For example, on June 11, copies of the Kathmandu Post and
Kantipur Daily were destroyed in the Rupandehi district. On June 16,
copies of Nagarik containing information the YCL disagreed with were
destroyed. On August 23, copies of the Kathmandu Post and Kantipur were
again destroyed.
On July 23, Tamsaling protesters burned copies of Kantipur and The
Kathmandu Post in Dhading for ``defying'' a strike. Protesters burned
copies of the Annapurna Daily and the Himalayan Times in Pokhara on
July 22.
On August 23, activists of the Madhes Terai Forum, a splinter group
of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, burned 15,000 copies of the Kathmandu
Post, Kantipur, and Nepal newsmagazine in the Saptari district. The
group demanded a ban on all Nepali-language media in the Terai. On
August 28, the FNJ issued a press release condemning the burning.
On March 21, a group of local college students vandalized Radio
Mukti, an FM radio station run by a women's group in Butwal. The
station management alleged that Maoist-affiliated students threatened
them for broadcasting reports about student elections.
In April Radio Parbat halted transmission after receiving threats.
Managers later closed the radio station when an unknown group
vandalized the station and ordered the staffers to stop working.
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.
Approximately 2 percent of the population used the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
The country's media continued to report instances of abduction,
extortion, and intimidation of school officials by armed groups.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association; however, the government
sometimes restricted freedom of assembly.
Freedom of Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and
it was generally respected for citizens and legal residents of the
country. The law authorizes CDOs to impose curfews if there is a
possibility that demonstrations or riots may disturb the peace.
According to the OHCHR, the NP and APF occasionally responded to
provocations and protests with excessive and lethal force. For example,
on July 29 and 30, according to the OHCHR, the district administration
office in Banke imposed a curfew that led to the NP arresting 29
protesters, during which 12 local residents and two police officers
were injured.
The country limited freedom of expression for the Tibetan
community, although the frequency and size of Tibetan demonstrations in
Kathmandu decreased significantly in comparison with the previous year.
Nonetheless, in March the government canceled the Tibetan community's
commemoration of the 1959 Tibetan uprising. Police also terminated
demonstrations and sometimes detained demonstrators. In March and June,
police intercepted and released in Kathmandu groups of Tibetans who
attempted a march from Kathmandu to the border with China to protest
conditions in the Tibetan areas of China. On September 2, police
arrested seven Tibetan refugees protesting outside a hotel where a
delegation of Chinese officials was staying. Police released the
detainees on September 6.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and it was generally respected.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The interim constitution declares the
country a secular state, and the law provides for freedom to practice
one's own religion; however, the law prohibits converting others and
proselytizing. A conviction for conversion or proselytizing can result
in fines or imprisonment or, in the case of foreigners, expulsion from
the country, but there were no incidents of arrest for conversion or
proselytizing during the year.
Members of minority religions occasionally complained of police
harassment. Authorities limited the location of and otherwise
restricted public celebrations by the Tibetan community, especially
those who supported the Dalai Lama.
The Press and Publications Act prohibits the publication of
materials that create animosity among persons of different castes or
religions.
On May 23, three persons were killed and 13 others injured when a
bomb exploded in a Catholic church in Kathmandu. The Hindu extremist
Nepal Defense Army (NDA) claimed responsibility. On June 2, the police
arrested Seeta Thapa Shrestha. The May bombing followed the 2008
killing of a Catholic priest, John Prakash Moyalan, by the NDA. On
September 6, police arrested the head of the NDA, Ram Prasad Mainali,
and three of his associates. They were convicted for the March 2008
bombing of a mosque in Biratnagar that killed two, and they were
sentenced to two years in prison for weapons violations and possession
of explosives. The Office of the Attorney General did not file charges
for murder or the church bombing.
In December 2008 the Maoist-led government announced plans to
replace the Indian priests at Pashupatinath Temple with two Nepali
priests. Following protests, the Supreme Court issued a stay order. On
September 2, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal appointed two Indian
priests to Pashupatinath Temple. In response, Maoist followers and
others attacked two of the Indian priests at Pashupatinath Temple on
September 5.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits caste
discrimination, but citizens experienced it in a wide variety of
religious, professional, government, and social environments, and such
discrimination strongly influenced society.
There are no known Jewish adherents in the country, and there were
no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement, except for most refugees, whose freedom of movement within
the country is legally limited. Constraints on refugee movements were
unevenly enforced--more often against the Tibetan than the Bhutanese
refugee population. The government generally cooperated with the Office
of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian
organizations in providing protection and assistance to internally
displaced persons, refugees, returning refugees, stateless persons, and
other persons of concern.
Numerous political groups restricted freedom of movement within the
country, including forcing transportation strikes, known locally as
``bandhs,'' to bring attention to political issues. Ethnic groups in
the Terai called most bandhs.
The law prohibits forced exile, and it was not used during the
year. The government allowed citizens to emigrate and those abroad to
return and was not known to revoke citizenship for political reasons.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Although the government and
Maoists agreed to support the voluntary return in safety and dignity of
IDPs to their homes following the 10-year civil war, in practice the
agreement was not implemented. Several UN agencies, including the
UNHCR, OHCHR, and UN Development Program, continued working with the
government to develop an IDP policy consistent with international
principles. Civil society and international organizations estimated
there were between 50,000 and 70,000 IDPs in the country. The Ministry
of Peace and Reconstruction has registered 52,163 IDPs through its task
force. The government allowed several international organizations such
as the Norwegian Refugee Council, ICRC, Caritas, International Relief
and Development, and Action Aid Nepal to initiate programs to assist
IDPs. According to UN agencies and international NGOs, the main
obstacles preventing most IDPs from returning to their homes continued
to be fear of Maoist reprisal, local Maoist commanders' refusal to
allow IDPs to return to their homes, and conflict with those occupying
the houses and lands of IDPs. Unrest in the Terai region led to more
displacement. According to Caritas, the government made little effort
to aid or monitor the movement of post-conflict IDPs. According to the
Nepal IDP Working Group, most of the IDPs in the country were unwilling
to return to their homes, due not only to a lack of security but also
to economic concerns, primarily property, housing, and employment
opportunities.
On March 18, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of
Human Affairs, a large group of an alleged Mahato-affiliated group
linked to UCPN-M attacked and temporarily displaced an estimated 65
families of the Sahani community. A large group of Maoists entered the
Sahani community and assaulted families, vandalized houses, and looted
property. Fearing persecution, the men from the Sahani community fled.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 protocol, and
the laws do not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status.
The government has in place ad hoc administrative directives that
provide some protection for Bhutanese and Tibetan refugees.
Since 1991 the government has provided asylum to approximately
108,000 persons who claimed Bhutanese citizenship. Almost all of these
refugees lived in camps in the southeastern part of the country. The
UNHCR administered the camps and monitored the condition of the
refugees, and international organizations and NGOs provided for their
basic needs, including food, education, and health care. The government
continued to accept the refugees' presence on humanitarian grounds.
Lutheran World Federation provided the infrastructure for the camps;
the World Food Program provided food assistance; the Association of
Medical Doctors of Asia provided medical care; and Caritas provided
education assistance and coordination. The government officially
restricted the refugees' freedom of movement and work, but those
restrictions largely were unenforced for this population.
The security situation in the camps improved as a result of the
government's continued security presence in the camps. An option of
third-country resettlement diminished support among the Bhutanese
refugees for the small but radical anti-resettlement groups previously
active in the camps. In 2007 the government agreed to permit third-
country resettlement for Bhutanese refugees, and the resettlement
program saw its first significant movements in 2008. By the end of the
year, approximately 25,000 refugees had been resettled to seven
countries.
Between 1959 and 1989, the government accepted approximately 20,000
Tibetans and recognized them as refugees. Since 1990 the government has
not recognized Tibetans as refugees. Consequently, most Tibetans who
arrived in the country have transited to India, although an unknown
number of Tibetans arriving since 1989 have chosen to remain or
returned to the country after visiting India.
Between 1990 and 2008, the number of Tibetans transiting the
country to find asylum in India ranged from 2,000 to 3,000 per year.
Following 2008 protests and subsequent riots in the Tibet Autonomous
Region and other Tibetan areas of China, the People's Republic of China
heightened security along its border. After March 2008 the number of
Tibetans transiting the country dropped significantly, falling to fewer
than 700 per year. There continued to be reports of harassment by
Chinese border guards within Nepal's borders, including a credible
report by an international observer of a joint patrol by Chinese and
Nepali border officials more than 30 miles inside Nepal. There were
also numerous instances of APF officers assisting and protecting
Tibetan refugees found in the border region. There were no confirmed
reports of refoulement, but there were unconfirmed allegations of
acquiescence to the return of Tibetans found on the border.
Many of the Tibetans who lived in the country did not have legal
resident status. Those who arrived after 1990 generally had neither
status nor documentation. Even those with acknowledged refugee status
had no legal rights beyond the ability to remain in the country.
Bribery was required to obtain access to higher education, business
ownership, licenses, and legal transactions, including documentation of
births, marriages, and deaths. In February during the period leading to
the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's exile from Tibet,
approximately 20 Tibetans reported that Kathmandu police extorted money
and threatened them with arrest and deportation.
There were numerous reports that police and other local officials
harassed Tibetans engaged in daily activities. Police reportedly
conducted random checks of identity documents of Tibetans, including
monks. Reportedly, these checks sometimes included threats of
deportation, followed by requests for bribes.
The country also hosted in Kathmandu approximately 300 refugees
from other countries, including Somalia, Burma, and Pakistan. The
government continued to deny these groups recognition as refugees and
to require prohibitive fines to obtain permission to exit. However, the
government permitted the waiver of the fines in a few instances in
which there were compelling humanitarian concerns. The government also
allowed the UNHCR to provide some services for these refugees.
Stateless Persons.--In 1995 the government-established Dhanapati
Commission estimated that 3.4 million individuals in the country were
de facto stateless. Although the government acknowledged that they were
Nepalis, they did not hold the citizenship certificate (issued to
citizens at the age of 16), without which they could not obtain many
rights of citizenship. Although the 2006 Citizenship Act allowed more
than 2.6 million persons to receive citizenship certificates, NGOs
estimated that approximately 800,000 de facto stateless persons
remained in the country. There was no further progress during the year
on this issue.
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.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2008 citizens elected
members for a Constituent Assembly (CA) to serve as both a legislature
and constitution drafting body. Domestic and international observers
found the election results credible, although there were reports of
political violence, intimidation, and voting irregularities. The most
recent local elections, held in 2006, were not considered free and
fair.
The CA consists of 601 members, with 240 elected by a first-past-
the-post system; 335 by proportional representation, quotas for Dalits,
oppressed caste/indigenous ethnic groups, Madhesis, women, and other
underrepresented groups; and 26 nominated by the cabinet. CA members
classified as oppressed or members of minority ethnic groups
constituted 35 percent of the total, and 33 percent were women. The
president and vice president belong to the historically disadvantaged
Madhesi ethnic community.
There are no specific laws that restrict women, indigenous people,
or minorities from voting or participating in government or in
political parties, but tradition limited the roles of women and some
castes and ethnicities in the political process. Members of certain
castes traditionally held more power than others. Of the 44-member
cabinet, seven members were from ethnic minority communities, five were
women, and four were Dalits. Most of the larger political parties had
associated youth wings, trade unions, and social organizations.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively. The
Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA),
mandated to investigate official acts of corruption, claimed a 75
percent success rate concerning corruption cases it filed, but some
cases involving politicians were not filed or were defeated in court.
Most civil society organizations believed the CIAA was not an effective
commission.
The CIAA requested the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation to
take action against employees of the Tatopani Customs Office who
allegedly aided smugglers across the Tatopani/Chinese border, but the
ministry took no action.
The CIAA urged the chief secretary, prime minister, and Cabinet
Secretariat to follow established legal procedures when accepting funds
from international organizations, after CIAA discovered some civil
servants had written false development proposals. There was no further
information to the CIAA from the chief secretary, prime minister, or
the Cabinet Secretariat on their implementation of the CIAA directives.
In 2007 the interim parliament passed the Right to Information Law,
which mandated that public organizations provide citizens with
information as quickly as possible and respond within 15 days. In
practice the government generally met this requirement. If authorities
deny individuals access to information, officials must provide a valid
explanation. The law provides five exemptions for withholding
information: to facilitate the investigation and filing of criminal
cases, to protect the economic and commercial interests of the country,
to preserve banking and commercial secrecy, to prevent disruption of
communal harmony, or to prevent disruption to personal life or
security.
Corruption and impunity remained problems within the NP. According
to international observers, there was a severe shortage of senior-level
officers. At the district level, this shortage resulted in untrained
constables making policies and decisions outside of their authority and
without supervision from officers, creating space for bribery,
corruption, misinterpretation, and abuse of authority.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Domestic and international human rights groups generally operated
without government restriction and were able to investigate and publish
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were
cooperative with and responded to their views in a few cases.
There were approximately 13 independent domestic human rights NGOs,
including Advocacy Forum (AF), the Human Rights Organization of Nepal,
Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC), Inhured, the Human Rights and
Peace Society, and Him Rights. The Nepal Law Society also monitored
human rights abuses, and a number of other NGOs focused on specific
areas such as torture, child labor, women's rights, and ethnic
minorities.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs, there were occasional credible claims that Maoists interfered
with the operations of international NGOs.
The government welcomed and regularly granted visas to
international NGOs and other human rights monitors, including members
of Amnesty International and HRW. Authorities generally gave
international observers access to barracks and places of detention.
International observers were not granted access to courts martial and
military investigations.
As set out in the 2006 CPA, the OHCHR continued its work with the
government to formulate and implement policies and programs for the
promotion and protection of human rights.
During the year the OHCHR issued 43 press releases. The media
covered all reports freely.
The commissioners of the NHRC began their duties in 2007 to
investigate past and current allegations of abuses. Resource
constraints and insufficient manpower restricted the number of cases
the commission investigated. Once the NHRC completes an investigation
and makes a recommendation, the government has three months to respond.
The commission received 677 complaints of human rights violations
during the year. The NHRC also investigated illegal detention and
arrest of acquitted persons. The NHRC reported open access to
government detainees across the country.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law specifies that the government shall not discriminate
against citizens on grounds of race, sex, caste, or ideology; however,
a rigid caste system continued to operate throughout the country in
many areas of religious, professional, and daily life. Societal
discrimination against lower castes, women, and persons with
disabilities remained common, especially in rural areas.
Women.--Under the civil code, sentencing provisions for rape depend
on the age of the female victim, with the maximum possible jail
sentence of 10 to 15 years if the victim is younger than 10, and the
minimum possible jail sentence of five to eight years if the victim is
older than 20. The victim's compensation depends on the degree of
mental and physical torture. Under the 2006 Gender Equality Amendment
Act, the definition of rape includes marital rape, and the husband can
be jailed for three to six months.
Most incidents of rape went unreported. In 2008, for example,
during a four-month period, 391 cases of rape and 75 cases of attempted
rape were filed in the court, according to the women's police cell. A
2003 survey found that 39 percent of rape victims who reported the
crime to police were younger than 19. Of victims who reported the crime
to the authorities, 25 percent said the government arrested and
convicted the perpetrator. Police and the courts were quick to respond
to rape cases.
Domestic violence against women remained a serious problem that
received limited public attention. There was a general unwillingness
among police, politicians, citizens, and government authorities to
recognize violence against women as a problem. Educational programs by
NGOs for police, politicians, and the general public continued to lead
to greater awareness of the problem. Police had women's cells in 41 of
the country's 75 districts. Female officers in the cells received
special training in dealing with victims of domestic violence and
trafficking. Police also issued directives instructing all officers to
treat domestic violence as a criminal offense but found the directives
difficult to enforce because of entrenched discriminatory attitudes
among police. Even if police made arrests, often neither the victim nor
the government pursued prosecution.
The Domestic Violence (Crime and Punishment) Act 2065 imposes a
fine of 3,000 to 25,000 rupees ($40 to $330), six months' imprisonment,
or both for a person who commits domestic violence. Repeat offenders
receive twice the punishment. Any person holding a position of public
responsibility is subject to 10 percent more punishment than one who
does not hold such a position. Pursuant to article 6 of the act, anyone
who does not follow the order of the court can be charged a fine of
2,000 to 15,000 rupees ($25 to $200), four months of imprisonment, or
both.
In September police interrogated a 14-year-old rape victim in front
of a large crowd outside the Sunsari Police Station in Dharan. One of
the alleged rapists was a police officer, Suresh Kuma Sah, who offered
the family 30,000 rupees ($400) to withdraw the case against him.
According to district police, the officer was arrested and was in
custody.
There was no progress in the 2008 case of Laxmi Bohara, whose
husband and mother-in-law forced her to swallow a fatal poison because
they were upset with her activities as a women's rights activist.
Although the law prohibits polygamy, it persisted. Polygamists are
subject to a two-month jail term and fine, but the second marriage is
not invalidated. Between June 2008 and 2009, 170 cases of polygamy were
officially reported. Violence surrounding polygamy remained a problem.
Rishi Pandit killed Nirmala Thapa during a domestic dispute over this
matter. According to the NP, there was a 27 percent increase in
polygamy cases filed during the last half of the year.
The dowry tradition was strong in the Terai districts bordering
India, and there were sporadic incidences of bride killing over dowry
disputes. More often, husbands or in-laws seeking additional dowry
physically abused wives or forced women to leave so the men could
remarry.
In April Bishnu Bhatta of Daiji Champapur was arrested for severely
beating his daughter-in-law, Laxmi Devi Bhatta, for not eliciting
enough of a dowry.
In January Oshim Idris was sentenced to seven years in prison and
his mother Raksana Idris to five years for causing severe burns to
Hasrun Idris in 2007 because they were dissatisfied with the dowry her
family had paid. The court decided not to take action against her
brothers-in-law, who allegedly were accomplices, leading to concerns
about Hasrun and her children's security.
Traditional beliefs about witchcraft negatively affected elderly
rural women and widows. Shamans or other local authority figures
publicly beat and physically abused alleged witches as part of an
exorcism ceremony. The media and NGOs reported numerous cases of this
violence during the year. For example, Kalli Kumari BK of Lalitpur
district was tortured by Bimala Lama, principal of a local school,
because a shaman indicated that she could be practicing witchcraft.
Lama was not charged with any crime. Similar incidents occurred in
other parts of the country. There was no government mechanism to
prevent such abuses or to provide compensation to the abused.
In July villagers in Tengar beat and forced Patambari Devi Das to
eat human excrement because they accused her of witchcraft. According
to traditional beliefs, witches lose their power after this treatment.
An estimated 7,500 women were forced into commercial sexual
exploitation in other countries and increasingly within the country.
Forced prostitution is illegal, but there are no laws banning
prostitution by choice.
Couples and individuals generally may decide freely and responsibly
the number, spacing, and timing of their children, and were not subject
to discrimination, coercion, and violence regarding these choices.
Contraception was available to both men and women, and 44 percent
of married women used a modern contraceptive method. One in four
married women (25 percent) had an unmet need for family planning.
Forty-four percent of mothers received prenatal care from a doctor,
nurse, or midwife. Most births (81 percent) were at home, and 67
percent of mothers received no postnatal care.
Men and women generally were equally diagnosed and treated for
sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. According to the Nepal
Demographic Health Survey, 75 percent of women and more than 90 percent
of men had heard of HIV and understood the methods of prevention.
Although the law provides protections for women, including equal
pay for equal work, the government did not implement those provisions,
even in many state industries. The law contains a provision against
sexual harassment and provides penalties of as long as a one-year jail
sentence and a fine of as much as 10,000 rupees ($130). Government
enforcement was weak.
In 2008 the Supreme Court upheld the right of women to equal wages
for work of equal value. In its decision, the court referred to the
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against
Women regarding the right of women to parity in remuneration, as well
as constitutional protections.
Women faced systematic discrimination, particularly in rural areas,
where religious and cultural traditions, lack of education, and
ignorance of the law remained severe impediments to the exercise of
basic rights, such as women's right to vote or to hold property in
their own names.
Citizenship may not pass through the mother, and the children of
female citizens married to foreign spouses can claim citizenship only
if they meet naturalization requirements. Women may register birth and
death information. Women did not need permission from their husband or
parents to get a passport. Unmarried, widowed, and divorced women were
able to inherit parental property. Women did not need the permission of
their husband, son, or parents if they wished to sell or hand over
ownership of property.
Despite the 2006 Gender Equality Act, discriminatory provisions
remain in the law. For example, the law on property rights favors men
in its provisions for land tenancy and the division of family property.
The Foreign Employment Act requires a woman to get permission from the
government and her guardian before seeking work through a foreign
employment agency. The law encourages bigamy by allowing men to remarry
without divorcing the first wife if she becomes incapacitated or
infertile.
According to the 2001 census, the most recent statistics available,
the female literacy rate was 43 percent, compared with 65 percent for
men. NGOs focused on integrating women into active civil society and
the economy. Most political parties had women's groups that advocated
for women's rights and brought women's issues before the party
leadership.
Children.--According to the interim constitution, citizenship is
derived solely from a Nepali father. Nepali mothers who are married to
foreigners or who cannot prove a child's father is Nepali can confer
citizenship only if their child complies with the naturalization
requirement of 15 years' residence in the country. Children found
within the borders of the country without parental identity are
considered citizens on the basis of lineage until the parents of the
child are identified. According to a 2008 report by the Ministry of
Women, Children and Social Welfare, 35 percent of births were
registered.
Although the law provides for the welfare and education of
children, its implementation was uneven. Education was not compulsory.
Government policy provided free primary education for all children
between the ages of six and 12 years. Approximately 70 to 75 percent of
boys who worked went to school, compared with only 50 to 60 percent of
the girls who worked. Human rights groups reported that girls attended
secondary schools at a rate half that of boys. The government reported
91.9 percent of school-age children were attending public schools but
that girls were the majority of those deprived of basic education. A
reported 1,058 legally registered madrassas functioned throughout the
country.
The government provided basic health care free to children and
adults, but government clinics were poorly equipped and few in number,
and serious deficiencies remained. Some health clinics in rural areas
were forced to close due to Maoist intimidation.
Violence against children rarely was prosecuted, and commercial
sexual exploitation of young girls remained a serious problem.
There are no laws against discrimination against female children,
and in practice there was considerable discrimination. Although the law
prohibits marriage for girls before the age of 18, child brides were
common, and girls were sometimes forced to marry before the onset of
puberty. Social, economic, and religious values promoted the practice
of child marriages. According to the Ministry of Health, girls' average
age of marriage was 16 years, and boys' average age was 18. An age
difference in marriage often was cited as a cause of domestic violence.
Internal displacement due to the decade-long Maoist conflict
continued to be a problem, with estimates of the number displaced
ranging widely. As IDPs, children faced inadequate access to food,
shelter, and health care and had limited access to education.
According to the local NGO Child Workers in Nepal, 206 boys and 64
girls and two unidentified were reported missing. Many of the missing
children were presumed to have been trafficked. Of the 270 missing
children, police records indicated that 172 boys and 74 girls were
later found.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits all forms of trafficking
in persons; however, trafficking in women and children remained a
serious problem.
The country was a source country for trafficking. Young women were
the most common targets. Trafficking of boys rarely was reported, but
girls as young as nine years were trafficked, primarily to neighboring
countries. Although the majority of trafficking was of women and girls
for sexual exploitation, men, women, and children also were trafficked
for domestic service, manual or semiskilled bonded labor, work in
circuses, or other purposes. Men were trafficked for involuntary
servitude in Iraq by labor recruiting agencies; they generally were
promised jobs in other Gulf countries but were subsequently transferred
to Iraq under threat or deception. There were more reports than in
previous years that men were trafficked for labor exploitation to the
Middle East. Most women and girls trafficked from the country went to
India, lured by promises of jobs or marriage.
An estimated 12,000 women and children were trafficked into sexual
exploitation in Indian brothels, and an unspecified number were victims
of internal sex trafficking. Traffickers posing as labor recruiting
agencies sent women to Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the United
Arab Emirates, and other Gulf states for sexual exploitation and
domestic servitude.
Community Action Center, an NGO that assists female sex workers,
estimated that in August there were 5,275 women working in the sex
industry in the Kathmandu valley.
Internal trafficking for forced labor and sexual exploitation also
occurred and appeared to increase during the year. According to studies
conducted by Save the Children and Action Aid, internal trafficking
likely was on the rise due to the lingering effects of the insurgency,
as rural women and children left their homes to seek employment and
security in urban centers. A 2007 NHRC report estimated that
approximately 40,000 female workers between the ages of 12 and 30
worked in 1,200 cabin and dance restaurants and massage parlors in the
Kathmandu valley. The girls reportedly had been assured jobs, primarily
in the Middle East.
In May local authorities raided houses in Ghorahi and freed four
girls (ages 10-16) who had been forced into indentured servitude(the
kamlari system). The country has laws to protect against forced labor
and child labor; however, the tradition of employing girls and young
woman as domestic workers continued in rural and remote areas of the
country.
Traffickers were usually from the country or India and often had
links to brothels in India, but recruiters who sought girls in villages
were primarily Nepali citizens. In many cases parents or relatives sold
women and young girls into sexual slavery. Corruption was also believed
to facilitate trafficking, but there were few reported investigations
or prosecutions of complicit government officials. The government
identified 26 districts as major source areas of trafficking and
established antitrafficking task forces in each of these districts.
Women and youth displaced from homes as a result of the insurgency were
especially vulnerable to being trafficked.
Enforcement of antitrafficking statutes improved but remained
sporadic. The law prohibits the selling of persons in the country or
abroad and prescribes imprisonment of as long as 20 years for
infractions. Implementation of the 2007 Trafficking in Persons and
Transportation Control Law was poor, reportedly due to lack of
knowledge regarding provisions and the generally weak rule of law
situation in the country.
Police records of trafficking cases and cases registered by NGOs
did not match. Maiti Nepal, the country's largest antitrafficking NGO,
registered 29 cases of trafficking in the Kathmandu district court.
According to the Attorney General's Office, the government made 14
convictions for trafficking (with 19 acquittals and 59 cases pending)
across the country from June 2007-08.
The government did not monitor labor recruiting agencies adequately
to ensure that workers going abroad attended premigration orientation
sessions or that labor contracts were honored after workers' arrived in
receiving countries. Recruiters in the country who tricked workers into
forced labor in Iraq despite a government ban remained largely
unmonitored and unpunished.
The government had a national plan to combat trafficking and a
National Rapporteur on Trafficking; however, political instability and
security problems hindered the government's antitrafficking efforts.
Official corruption in identity documentation and at ports of entry
continued to facilitate the illicit movement of persons across the
country's borders. The National Task Force in the Ministry of Women,
Children, and Social Welfare (MWCSW) continued to coordinate the
response to trafficking cases. There were programs in place to train
police, and the MWCSW worked closely with local NGOs to rehabilitate
and otherwise assist victims. Police women's cells in 41 districts
worked with NGOs to provide referral services to victims of trafficking
and domestic violence.
The government provided limited funding to NGOs to assist victims
with rehabilitation, medical care, and legal services. The MWCSW
sponsored job and skill training programs in several poor districts
with high rates of commercial sex workers. The government protected the
rights of victims and did not detain, jail, or prosecute them for
violations of other laws.
The government, with NGOs and international organizations,
implemented local, regional, and national public awareness campaigns on
trafficking in persons; however, the government failed to provide
adequate police training and resources or prompt adjudication.
Government welfare agencies worked with NGOs to deliver public outreach
programs and assistance to trafficking victims. Maiti Nepal stationed
rehabilitated trafficking victims as guards with government officials
to intercept trafficking victims at border crossings.
Maiti Nepal provided transit homes for girls rescued from
trafficking. Transit homes were located in border towns of eight
districts through which many girls were trafficked into India. During
the year 2,673 children and women stayed at the transit homes after
authorities intercepted them while they were being trafficked. At the
Maiti Nepal Rehabilitation and Protection Home, children and women
could stay as long as six months and learn income-generating skills. At
year's end, 341 children and women were residing in Maiti Nepal's
rehabilitation home in Kathmandu. Other NGOs also provided transit
homes.
During the year Maiti Nepal's head office rescued and repatriated
118 children and women from India and the Gulf countries. Many had been
expelled from their brothels after contracting sexually transmitted
diseases or tuberculosis. Most were destitute, and according to
estimates by Maiti Nepal and ABC Nepal, 50 percent were HIV-positive.
Maiti Nepal operated a hospice for HIV-positive trafficking victims and
their children.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not prohibit
discrimination against persons who have physical and mental
disabilities, and there was such discrimination in employment,
education, access to health care, and in the provision of other state
services. The law mandates access to buildings, transportation,
employment, education, and other state services, but these provisions
generally were not enforced. The government did not implement
effectively or enforce laws regarding persons with disabilities. The
MWCSW was responsible for the protection of persons with disabilities.
Some NGOs working with persons with disabilities received funding from
the government; however, most persons with physical or mental
disabilities relied almost exclusively on family members for
assistance.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law provides that each
community shall have the right ``to preserve and promote its language,
script, and culture'' and that each community has the right to operate
schools at the primary level in its native language. In practice the
government generally upheld these provisions.
There were more than 75 ethnic groups who spoke 50 different
languages. In remote areas school lessons and radio broadcasts often
were in the local language. In urban areas education was almost
exclusively offered in Nepali or English.
Discrimination against lower castes and some ethnic groups,
particularly Madhesis and Janajatis, was especially common in the Terai
and in rural areas in the western part of the country, even though the
government outlawed the public shunning of Dalits and made an effort to
protect the rights of disadvantaged castes. Better education and higher
levels of prosperity, especially in the Kathmandu valley, were slowly
reducing caste distinctions and increasing opportunities for lower
socioeconomic groups. Better-educated, urban-oriented castes continued
to dominate politics and senior administrative and military positions
and to control a disproportionate share of natural resources.
Caste-based discrimination is illegal; however, Dalits were barred
occasionally from entering temples and sharing water sources. Progress
in reducing discrimination was more successful in urban areas.
Resistance to intercaste marriage (upper and lower caste) remained
high.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The country has no laws that
specifically criminalize homosexuality; however, government
authorities, especially police, sometimes harassed and abused
homosexual persons. According to Blue Diamond Society, an indigenous
NGO, harassment of such persons was common by both government and
citizens.
In 2008 the Nepal Army Court upheld the NA's 2007 decision to fire
Sergeant Bhakti Shah for being a lesbian while serving as an instructor
at the military academy. On September 26, Shah filed an appeal before
the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court hearing was initially scheduled
for November 30 but did not occur during the year.
As a result of the 2007 Supreme Court decision that sexual
minorities are natural persons, transgender individuals may be issued
third-gender identification cards. In 2008 the first transgender
individual received a citizenship certificate. The court also directed
the government to eliminate discriminatory laws and policies for sexual
and gender minorities. Other than issuing the certificates, the
government made no progress on complying with the Supreme Court's
order.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--In 2007 the Supreme
Court directed the government to enact laws to protect lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) fundamental rights, enable
third-gender citizenship, and amend all laws that are sexually
discriminatory. At year's end the court order had not been implemented.
Many mainstream political parties included pro-LGBTI legislation in
their party manifestos.
In 2008 the Supreme Court instructed the government to form a
committee to examine same-sex marriage. The committee was formed and
began its work during the year. NGOs working on LGBTI issues reported
that police harassment of sexual minorities occurred in rural areas of
the country, especially in the Terai.
There was no official discrimination against those who provided HIV
prevention services or against high-risk groups likely to spread HIV/
AIDS, although there was societal discrimination against these groups.
There was no official discrimination against those who provided HIV
prevention services or against high-risk groups likely to spread HIV/
AIDS, although there was societal discrimination against these groups.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law grants workers, including
noncitizens, the freedom to establish and join unions and associations,
but the government protected these rights unevenly in practice. The law
permits the banning of unions only in cases of subversion, sedition, or
similar conditions. Members of the armed forces and the police are not
permitted to form a union, and members of the management of private or
public enterprises are not permitted to take part in union activities.
In the public sector, employees under the level of undersecretary can
join a union. Trade unions developed administrative structures to
organize workers, bargain collectively, and conduct worker education
programs. The three largest trade unions were affiliated with political
parties.
Only 10 percent of the total work force was in the formal sector;
the remaining 90 percent worked in the informal sector. Of the formal
sector work force, 75 percent participated in unions. The law contains
enabling regulations; however, the government did not fully implement
acts projecting trade unions or combating and regulating child labor.
The law defines procedures for establishing trade unions, associations,
and federations. It also protects unions and officials from lawsuits
arising from actions taken in the discharge of union duties, including
collective bargaining, and prohibits employers from discriminating
against trade union members or organizers.
The government enforced some barriers to the participation in union
federations through minimum required thresholds for the formation of
trade union federations and confederations. The government did not
restrict unions from joining international labor bodies. Several trade
federations and union organizations maintained a variety of
international affiliations.
The law provides the right to strike except by employees in
essential services, and workers exercised this right in practice. The
government used the legislation to ban strikes in sectors, including
several that go beyond international standards for essential services,
such as banking, hotels, and restaurants. The law empowers the
government to halt a strike or to suspend a union's activities if the
union disturbs the peace or if the strike adversely affects the
nation's economic interests. The process for conducting a legal strike
is cumbersome, as 60 percent of a union's membership must vote in favor
of a strike in a secret ballot, and the union is required to give
notice 30 days before a strike.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for collective bargaining, but the government did not
effectively enforce these provisions. Collective bargaining agreements
covered an estimated 10 percent of wage earners in the organized
sector. Labor leaders faced challenges in reaching collective
bargaining agreements due to political infighting among trade unions,
and the government did not effectively enforce protections regarding
antiunion retaliation due to legal obstacles to striking, insufficient
capacity, and employer resistance. According to the General Federation
of Nepalese Trade Unions, collective bargaining was not effective in
new factories and industries, but it was successful in some of the
well-established factories and industries. Workers often faced threats
or dismissal for attempting to organize a union, and the government did
not effectively enforce protections regarding antiunion retaliation.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor. In practice there were reports that forced
labor occurred, especially in domestic servitude, food services, and
the sex industry.
Bonded labor remained a problem primarily in the agricultural
sector as well as the small formal sector, which included brick and
kiln works and food services such as tea shops and restaurants.
Enforcement of the Kamaiya Prohibition Act of 2002 by the government
was uneven, and social integration of the Kamaiyas--former bonded
laborers--was difficult. During the year the government rehabilitated
an additional 4,870 Kamaiyas, bringing the total rehabilitated to
20,402 of a total 27,570, mostly living in Dang, Banke, and Kanchanpur
districts. Most unrehabilitated Kamaiyas lived in Bardiya and Kailali
districts.
The Ministry of Labor enforced laws against forced labor only in
the small formal sector.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law establishes a minimum age for employment of minors at 16 years in
industry and 14 years in agriculture, and it mandates acceptable
working conditions for children. Employers must maintain records of all
laborers between the ages of 14 and 16. The law also establishes
specific penalties for those who unlawfully employ children, but
regulations to enforce the law have not been fully implemented. The law
stipulates that children shall not be employed in factories, mines, or
60 other categories of hazardous work and limits children between the
ages of 14 and 16 years to a 36-hour workweek (six hours a day between
6 a.m. and 6 p.m. and six days a week). The Child Labor Act of 2000
applies only to formal sectors of the economy, such as tourism,
cigarette or carpet factories, and mines.
Child labor was a significant problem, particularly in the large
informal sector, including agriculture, domestic service, portering,
rag picking, and rock breaking. The agricultural sector accounted for
an estimated 95 percent of child laborers. Children working in textiles
and embroidery faced hazards, as they were confined to small, poorly
ventilated rooms where they worked with sharp needles. Resources
devoted to enforcement were limited. According to the International
Labor Organization (ILO), the agricultural sector accounted for less
than 40 percent of child laborers. According to the National Leaving
Standard Survey of 2004, which was the most recent survey available,
1.8 million children, most of them girls, participated in the labor
force. Of those, 1.17 million children worked full time. According to
the ILO and the Ministry of Labor, inspectors found no children working
and no legal action taken in the formal sector. At the same time, an
estimated 60 percent of children who worked also attended school.
The Ministry of Labor, responsible for enforcing child labor laws
and practices, had a mixed enforcement record. According to the
ministry, there were 10 labor inspectors employed during the year. The
ministry reported it carried out 1,198 labor inspections across the
country during the 12-month period ending in July. The Home Ministry
raided restaurants and brothels and rescued and rehabilitated 75
children.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage for unskilled
laborers was approximately 4,600 rupees per month (approximately $65).
The wage for semiskilled workers was set at 4,650 rupees ($66), for
skilled workers at 4,760 rupees ($67), and for highly skilled workers
at 4,950 rupees ($70). None of these minimum wages was sufficient to
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. It is
possible to increase this wage through a tripartite mechanism
comprising representatives of the government, the employer, and the
employee. Wages in the informal service sector and in agriculture
ranged from 100 to 190 rupees per day ($1.28 to 2.43). The law calls
for a 48-hour workweek, with one day off per week and one-half hour of
rest per eight hours worked, and it limits overtime to 20 hours per
week with 50 percent overtime pay per hour. In practice these laws were
effectively enforced. Labor regulations also apply to foreign and
migrant workers.
The government sets occupational health and safety standards, and
the law establishes other benefits such as a provident fund and
maternity benefits. Implementation of the law was slow, as the
government did not create the necessary regulatory or administrative
structures to enforce the law's provisions. Workers did not have the
right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without fear
of losing their jobs. Although the law authorizes labor officers to
order employers to rectify unsafe conditions, enforcement of safety
standards remained minimal.
__________
PAKISTAN
Pakistan is a federal republic with a population of approximately
176 million. In 2008 civilian democratic rule was restored in the
country through elections that international observers deemed
competitive and reflective of the people's will. Asif Ali Zardari, the
widower of assassinated Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Benazir
Bhutto, became president and head of state on September 6, 2008. Yousuf
Gilani is the prime minister and head of government. The PPP and its
federal coalition partners control the executive and legislative
branches of the national government and three of the four provincial
assemblies.
On March 16, in the wake of large-scale demonstrations by the
``Lawyers Movement'' and pressure from the opposition Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, Prime Minister Gilani reinstated Iftikhar
Chaudhry as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as well as 10 other
judges then President Pervez Musharraf had removed from office in
November 2007. On July 31, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional
the November 2007 emergency and provisional constitutional order. On
December 16, the Supreme Court declared the National Reconciliation
Ordinance (NRO) void, reopening all the cases against its
beneficiaries. . The ordinance had allowed officials accused of
corruption to return to the government. The Supreme Court's ruling
invalidated the ordinance (thereby allowing corruption cases to
resume). At year`s end, a debate continued about the fate of
beneficiaries, including the president, ministers, and
parliamentarians. Security forces often acted independently of civilian
authority.
Although the civilian government took some positive steps, the
overall human rights situation remained poor. Major problems included
extrajudicial killings, torture, and disappearances. Collective
punishment was a problem, particularly in the Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA), which fall under the legal framework of the
Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). Lengthy trial delays and failures to
discipline and prosecute those responsible for abuses contributed to a
culture of impunity. Poor prison conditions, arbitrary arrest, and
lengthy pretrial detention remained problems, as did a lack of judicial
independence. Corruption was widespread within the government and
police forces, and the government made few attempts to combat the
problem. Rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, and abuse against
women remained serious problems. Honor crimes and discriminatory
legislation affected women and religious minorities respectively.
Religious freedom violations and inter-sectarian religious conflict
continued. Widespread trafficking in persons, child labor, and
exploitation of indentured and bonded children were ongoing problems.
Child abuse, commercial sexual exploitation of children, discrimination
against persons with disabilities, and lack of respect for worker
rights remained concerns.
Militants launched a spring offensive in the North-West Frontier
Province (NWFP), briefly occupying territory 60 miles north of the
capital. Military operations to repel the militants from Malakand
Division and parts of the FATA displaced approximately three million
people at the peak of the crisis. By July, families from Malakand
Division began to return; by year's end, approximately 1.66 million had
returned to their home areas. On August 12, the Human Rights Commission
of Pakistan (HRCP) released a report stating that both the government
security forces and insurgents had committed human rights violations,
including extrajudicial killings, during the conflict in Malakand.
During the year, military operations in the FATA and the NWFP
killed approximately 1,150 civilians, and militant attacks in FATA and
NWFP killed 825 more civilians. Sectarian violence in the country
killed approximately 1,125 individuals. More than 65 suicide bombings
throughout the country killed an estimated 970 individuals. In
Balochistan, the ongoing low-level insurgency killed approximately 125
civilians, according to media reports. Ongoing battles with militants
created a fluctuating number of internally displaced persons (IDPs). At
year's end there were an estimated 1.2 million IDPs in the NWFP and
FATA.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Reports of arbitrary
or unlawful killings by government agents and politically motivated
killings by independent actors continued during the year, as did
arbitrary or unlawful killings of civilians in conflict (see section
1.g.).
Some targeted killings of individuals accused of crimes resulted
from staged encounters and excessive physical abuse while in official
custody. During the year the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Society
for Human Rights and Prisoners' Aid (SHARP) reported 72 civilian deaths
after encounters with police and 168 deaths in jails, an increase from
the previous year. The police stated that these deaths occurred when
suspects attempted to escape, resisted arrest, or committed suicide.
Human rights observers, family members, and the media reported that
security forces staged many of the deaths. Although the government
investigated, and sometimes convicted, police officials for
extrajudicial killings, lengthy trial delays and failures to discipline
and consistently prosecute those responsible for abuses contributed to
a culture of impunity.
On September 15, according to the New York Times, after two days of
police questioning, Robert Fanish, a Christian detained on blasphemy
charges, was found dead in his cell in a jail in Sialkot. Police stated
that Fanish hanged himself, using a strip of material ripped from his
clothing. The Joint Action Committee for People's Rights, an alliance
of more than 30 human rights groups, stated that it had talked to
witnesses who saw marks of torture on his body. Activists staged
numerous demonstrations across the country, and on September 17, the
chief minister of Punjab Province ordered an inquiry into the death. At
year's end the inquiry was pending.
The HRCP, the New York Times, and several local publications
reported that security forces allegedly committed 300 to 400
extrajudicial killings during counterinsurgency operations in the NWFP
and Swat. On August 12, after completing a three-day fact-finding
mission to Malakand Division, the HRCP released a report documenting
accounts of extrajudicial killings by security forces and reports of
mass graves in the conflict region.
According to Dawn and The News, 251 corpses had been found in Swat
by September 1. It was uncertain from where these media organizations
obtained their data. According to the HRCP report, Swat residents
reported sighting mass graves in the area, including at least one in
Kookarai village in Babozai tehsil (administrative division) of Swat
district and another in an area between Dewlai and Shah Dheri in Kabal
tehsil. According to the report, witnesses who saw mass burials said
that at least in some cases the bodies appeared to be those of Taliban
militants. The HRCP acknowledged that the unconfirmed graves could have
contained the remains of Taliban militants or of civilians killed in
conflict operations.
According to Dawn Media and local television stations, in early
August the corpses of individuals who had been extrajudicially killed
began appearing in Swat, NWFP. Responsible parties have not been
identified. According to Dawn, on August 24, residents found 15 bodies
in a town east of Mingora, and on August 15 residents discovered 18
more bodies in different parts of Swat. The New York Times reported
that on September 1, a group of soldiers arrested Akhtar Ali in his
electrical shop in Mingora. Family members went to army headquarters
the day after his arrest and authorities assured them that Ali would be
released. The family filed a petition stating that on September 5,
security forces dropped Ali's body on their doorstep. According to his
family, ``there was no place on his body not tortured.''
On August 12, the HRCP issued a report and statement, noting:
``Human rights violations by security forces can only be discouraged if
the State puts in place a transparent mechanism to monitor violations
both during and post-conflict and fulfills its obligation of providing
justice through due process.'' By year's end the government had not
taken steps to investigate or hold persons accountable for the
killings.
There were no updates concerning the following 2008 deaths: the
January death in custody of Allah Bakhsh in Khanewal, Punjab; the
February deaths in custody of Irfan Khan and John Masih; the May
torture of Rafique Masih by Jafar Husain in a Lahore police station;
the August police torture of Falak Sher in Sheikhupura, Punjab; or the
June death in custody of Idris Ahmad.
There were no developments regarding the 2008 case in which prison
guards reportedly shot and killed three inmates during riots at
Karachi's Malir District Jail, with a fourth inmate reportedly killed
by a blunt object. At year's end there were no developments in the 2007
case of death in custody of Ali Nawaz in Karachi.
At year's end the case of the 2007 death of Supreme Court
Additional Registrar Syed Hammad Raza remained open.
At year's end the case of alleged torture of Malik Zaheer in 2007
was pending in Lahore High Court. Initial investigations while he was
on trial for murder indicated Zaheer died of natural causes. A
subsequent investigation revealed evidence of torture on Zaheer's body,
and Zaheer's relatives filed an appeal of the official findings in the
Lahore High Court. At year's end the government had not arrested or
indicted anyone in the case.
The inquiry into the death of Arif Bhinder, the Punjab assistant
advocate general who was killed in Lahore in 2007, was in its final
stages at year's end in the Lahore Anti-Terrorism Court. Authorities
arrested six individuals related to the case, including two for
abetment.
There were reports of politically motivated killings by political
factions or unknown assailants. Examples of these cases include the
following:
On April 3, assailants killed Baloch National Movement (BNM)
President Ghulam Muhammad Baloch, Sher Muhammad Baloch, and Lala Munir
Baloch of the Baloch Republican Party (BRP) in Turbat. According to the
Asia Human Rights Commission (AHRC), 12 persons dressed in civilian
clothing attacked the three BNM leaders following a court session in
Terbat district. Their lawyer, Kachkol Ali, informed local police that
military intelligence (and Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) personnel
were responsible for the attack. Police refused to file a First
Information Report (FIR). According to the AHRC report, the bodies of
the three men were found on April 8 in Pikrak.
According to a July 8 HRCP report, approximately 100 political
workers were killed in Karachi during the first half of the year as a
result of interparty clashes. Many of the workers belonged to the
Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM-Haqiqi), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
(MQM), the PPP, and the Awami National Party (ANP). According to the
HRCP, 938 persons were killed in Karachi from January to June during
incidents of political and ethnic violence, gang wars, targeted
killings, police encounters, personal enmity, honor killings, and other
cases. The interior minister reported that there were 256 victims of
targeted killings in Karachi since July.
On August 23, in Uthal, Balochistan, assailants abducted Central
Joint Secretary of the BNM Rasool Bakhsh Mengal. According to the AHRC,
the BNM and other nationalist groups suspected that armed Frontier
Constabulary or intelligence officials abducted Mengal and tortured him
in military cells. His body was found hanging from a tree in Bela on
August 31 with signs of apparent torture, including cigarette burns and
words carved into his skin. His death sparked violence in Khuzdar and
Makshay.
The elected civilian government remained the target of attacks,
especially the coalition partner ANP in the NWFP. On February 11, a
remote-control bomb attack in Peshawar killed Alamzeb Khan, an ANP
member of the provincial assembly (MPA), and injured seven others. On
March 11, two suicide bombers attempted to assassinate Bashir Bilour, a
senior ANP leader and senior minister in the NWFP government; he
survived, but the attack killed four persons. On December 1, a suicide
bomb blast in Swat killed ANP MPA Shamsher Ali Khan and injured 11
others. Terrorists also targeted dozens of ANP activists across the
NWFP for assassination.
By year's end the Sindh High Court trial was ongoing for those
arrested in connection with the deaths of more than 40 political
activists during demonstrations in 2007 that were planned to coincide
with the arrival of then suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
There were no further updates regarding the 2007 arrest of three
persons in connection with the 2007 suicide bombing that killed 11
police officers and eight civilians in Islamabad.
Police did not make any arrests in the case of two suicide bombers
who killed more than 130 civilians and 11 police officers in Karachi
during a procession to welcome former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's
return in 2007.
By year's end there were no suspects in custody for the 2007
assassination of Benazir Bhutto. In July 2008 the UN agreed in
principle to a government request to initiate an investigation into the
attack, which also killed at least 30 of her supporters and police.
Scotland Yard assisted local officials in their investigation in
January 2008 but did not explore who perpetrated the attack. In July a
three-member UN inquiry team headed by Chile's ambassador to the UN,
Heraldo Munoz, began an inquiry into the case and visited the country.
The team, mandated to ``submit its report identifying facts and
circumstances'' of the incident, was scheduled to submit its report on
December 31. In November the team requested and was granted a three-
month extension to complete the inquiry.
The government did not take further steps to investigate the 2007
killing of seven persons at a political rally in Karal Chowk held by
Nawaz Sharif, leader of the PML-N.
By year's end the Supreme Court had not ruled on the legality of
the 2007 military assault against armed militants inside Islamabad's
Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) that left 106 dead. The government did not
allow the mosque to reopen an affiliated madrassa (privately run
Islamic school), but allowed another, Jamia Faridia, to renew
operations under government scrutiny.
Attacks on houses of worship, religious gatherings, and religious
leaders linked to sectarian, religious extremist, and terrorist groups
outside FATA resulted in hundreds of deaths reported during the year.
The HRCP reported that through August sectarian violence killed 215
persons and injured 573. Examples of these cases include the following:
On July 31 and August 1, Muslim mobs, reportedly inspired by
supporters of the banned Sipah-e-Sahba Pakistan sectarian extremist
organization, attacked the Christian communities living in Gojra and
Korian localities, near Toba Tek Singh, Punjab, following allegations
that local Christians had desecrated the Holy Koran. The mob killed
eight Christians and burned nearly 100 houses as police failed to stop
the violence. The National Assembly adopted a unanimous resolution
condemning the Gojra killings, and the Punjab minorities affairs
minister registered a legal complaint against the participants. At
year's end police had arrested 42 individuals in connection with the
Gojra incident, of whom 34 were released on bail and eight remained in
custody at Toba Tek Singh. In the Korian case, police arrested 54
individuals, of whom 43 were released on bail and 11 remained in jail.
The provincial government initiated a program to construct new houses
for members of the Christian community who lost their homes in the
violence. The reconstruction program was ongoing at year's end.
By year's end authorities had not taken further action to
investigate the following 2008 cases: the April beating death of
Jagdish Kumar, the May killing of Adeel Masih, or the June bombing at a
Shia mosque in Dera Ismail Khan, NWFP.
By year's end the government had not taken steps to address the
September 2008 killings of Dr. Abdul Mannan Siddiqui and Seth Muhammad
Yousuf, two Ahmadi leaders in Sindh. In September 2008 the local anchor
of a religious affairs program on Geo Television, Amir Liaquat Hussain,
declared that Islamic teachings necessitated the killing of members of
the Ahmadi sect and prompted two religious scholars who were guests on
the program to affirm his position.
b. Disappearance.--During the year politically motivated
disappearances continued, and police and security forces held prisoners
incommunicado and refused to disclose their location. SHARP reported
that security forces were holding hundreds of individuals
incommunicado. On August 21, Federal Minister of Interior Rehman Malik
informed the media that approximately 1,291 individuals were missing in
the country. According to the interior minister, a joint investigative
team had been established to probe the issue. Some disappearances were
related to terrorism and national security, and human rights
organizations reported many Sindhi and Baloch nationalists were among
the missing. According to Amnesty International, children also
disappeared with their relatives.
Disappearances of the Baloch people remained a problem during the
year, with Baloch political groups demanding greater political and
human rights. In December the Balochistan home department issued a list
of 992 persons from the province who had been missing for several
years. The HRCP reported 30 new cases of ``forced disappearances'' from
Balochistan during the year, as illustrated in the following examples:
According to the HRCP, on February 6, security forces arrested
Jaleel Rakei, a member of the BRP, during a raid on his house in Sariab
Kechi Beg. He remained missing at year's end.
On August 1, according to the AHRC, the Frontier Corps (FC)
arrested Balochistan National Party members Lateef Baloch and Javed
Baloch in Khuzdar. On August 3, FC officers turned them over to police.
Both men showed evidence of having been tortured. Authorities
reportedly forced them to make false confessions before their release.
According to the HRCP, on August 21, armed personnel of a law
enforcement agency allegedly abducted Saadullah Baloch (alias M. Sadiq)
in Khuzdar. Personnel at a nearby army checkpoint, upon being informed
of the abduction, stated that Saad had been arrested for questioning
but would soon be released. At year's end he remained missing.
Then president and chief of army staff Musharraf's decision in 2007
to abrogate the constitution and fire the Supreme Court effectively
prevented continued action on the approximately 600 disappearance cases
the court was reviewing as part of then Chief Justice Chaudhry's
efforts to have the government release or regularize the detention
status of prisoners whom various security agencies held incommunicado.
In November the Supreme Court resumed hearings of the missing persons'
cases, after 15 families comprising 38 persons set up camp outside the
court building in Islamabad. The Supreme Court directed the Interior
Ministry to furnish complete details of missing nationals and observed
that law enforcement agencies made no serious effort to trace the
whereabouts of missing persons. Defense for Human Right Pakistan
(DHRPK) reported that since the transition to a civilian-led
government, some persons newly reported as disappeared were traced to a
jail within an average of three months and formally charged with a
crime. Family members and attorneys have access to the prisoners in
these cases. DHRPK also reported 104 new cases of disappearances from
January to July.
On November 26, the Anti-Terrorism Court Rawalpindi No. 2 referred
the cases of Osama bin Waheed alias Hadayat Ullah, a resident of
Bhakar, and Zeeshan Jalil alias Khizar, a resident of Karachi, to
district and sessions judge for their trial by an ordinary court. Wahid
and Jalil had been allegedly disappeared from Karachi in 2008.
Both Waheed Kambarani and Sherdil Khan, who were seized at a
restaurant in Khuzdar, Balochistan, in 2007 and held in an unknown
location for a month, remained incarcerated at year's end. The details
of the charges against them remained unavailable.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment, but there were reports that security forces,
including intelligence services, tortured and abused individuals in
custody. Under provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act, coerced
confessions are admissible in anti-terrorism courts. During the year
the NGO SHARP reported 2,300 cases of torture by police, most of which
occurred in Punjab. Observers noted that underreporting of torture was
prevalent in the NWFP and Balochistan. Torture occasionally resulted in
death or serious injury.
Human rights organizations reported methods including beating with
batons and whips, burning with cigarettes, whipping soles of the feet,
prolonged isolation, electric shock, denial of food or sleep, hanging
upside down, and forced spreading of the legs with bar fetters.
Security force personnel reportedly raped women during
interrogations. The government rarely took action against those
responsible. Before the 2006 Women's Protection Act, the Hudood
Ordinances allowed punishments for violations of Shari'a (Islamic law),
including amputation and death by stoning. There were no reports that
authorities imposed such punishments during the year.
On October 6, a 10-minute video was posted on the social networking
site Facebook showing army members interrogating and beating several
detained civilians, some of them elderly. According to the BBC,
although the date and location of the video could not be determined,
conversations in the video suggest it was between June and October in
Swat. Army officers kicked suspects and beat them with belts, fists,
and small whips. Later, the officer in the video threatened to sever
the hands and feet of one of the suspects. An army spokesman declined
to comment on the video, and there was no indication the government
investigated the alleged incident.
On July 9, Human Rights Watch (HRW) asked the British government to
probe reports of complicity of British agencies with Pakistani
counterparts in using violence against terrorism suspects in Pakistan.
By year's end the government had not taken steps to prosecute Sub
Inspector Shujat Ali Malhi and other police officers responsible for
the March 2008 alleged torture and rape of an unnamed 17-year-old girl
in Faisalabad.
There were no developments regarding the August 2008 case of Agha
Mahboob Ahmed, who was arrested on suspicion of involvement in a bank
robbery and allegedly tortured at the Hyderabad Criminal Investigation
Agency center.
There were no updates regarding the 2007 arrest of Hazoor Buksh
Malik or the 2007 gang rape of a woman by Lahore police officers at a
vehicle checkpoint.
There were no developments in the case of Mubarik Ali, who was
arrested in 2007 after he submitted a complaint about a local police
official. While he was in custody, police reportedly beat him, causing
serious injury. After the case garnered media attention, police
investigated and suspended three police personnel. The accused
personnel disappeared in August, and Ali's family alleged the police
allowed them to escape.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
extremely poor and failed to meet international standards. Overcrowding
was widespread, except for cells of wealthy or influential prisoners.
According to SHARP, more than 95,000 prisoners occupied 72 jails
originally built to hold approximately 36,000 persons.
Inadequate food and medical care in prisons led to chronic health
problems and malnutrition for those unable to supplement their diet
with help from family or friends. According to a November Global
Foundation report on prisoners, 197 prisoners suffered from HIV/AIDS in
prisons across Punjab, including 30 in the Central Adiala Jail. It
stated that there were 55 HIV/AIDS patients in prisons across Sindh,
including 21 in the Larkana jail and 34 in the Karachi Central Jail.
Foreign prisoners often remained in prison long after completion of
their sentences because they were unable to pay for deportation to
their home countries.
Police reportedly tortured and mistreated those in custody and at
times engaged in extrajudicial killings. Christian and Ahmadi
communities claimed their members were more likely to be abused. Non-
Muslim prisoners generally were afforded poorer facilities than Muslim
inmates and often suffered violence at the hands of fellow inmates.
Following a complaint of torture by Mirza Sarfaraaz, a death row
inmate in Adiala Prison, the judiciary launched an inquiry into prison
conditions and the prisons department in June 2008. The inquiry
revealed that prisoners who did not pay bribes were brutalized.
According to the Geo TV Web site, Adiala Jail held more than 5,000
prisoners, but the jail has a capacity of 1,994. Adiala Prison held
some female prisoners whose children were living with them; there was
no separate arrangement for the children. During the year the chief
justice of the Supreme Court and the interior minister visited the
Adiala Prison unannounced and ordered improvements in the jail's living
conditions. In October on the directives of the chief justice, all the
judges of district courts visited Adiala Prison. They released 42
charged with minor crimes.
In October the Daily Times reported that after the imposition of
national judicial policy, authorities released 1,000 prisoners. The
Punjab Home Department conducted medical tests of 32,464 prisoners in
29 prisons across the province on the directives of Chief Justice
Chaudhry when he visited prisons across the country.
There were various reports of prison riots during the year. The
News quoted jail officials who stated that more than 20 riots had
occurred during the year in Sindh. Grievances that provoked the riots
included overcrowding, deprivation of legal rights, slow disposition of
cases, behavior of the jail administration, and lack of facilities.
At year's end the Sindh attorney general had not followed up on his
commitment to initiate an investigation into the October 2008 police
abuse of prisoners in Hyderabad Central Jail following a prisoner riot
over lack of basic facilities and alleged corruption. More than 1,000
prisoners broke out of their cells and protested both the solitary
confinement of 40 prisoners and basic conditions of confinement. Police
injured four inmates in the clashes.
Prison officials kept juvenile offenders in the same facilities as
adults but in separate barracks. Police often did not segregate
detainees from convicted criminals. Prisoners with mental illness
usually lacked adequate care and were not segregated from the general
prison population.
In 2005 authorities expanded the number of special women's police
stations with all-female staff in response to complaints of custodial
abuse of women, including rape. The Aurat Foundation reported these
stations did not function properly due to lack of resources and lack of
appropriate training for policewomen. Court orders and regulations
prohibit male police from interacting with female suspects, but male
police often detained and interrogated women at regular stations.
Although the law contains provisions for inmate release on
probation, scarcity of resources made this option impossible in most
cases.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had an
agreement with authorities to allow independent visits to prisons
throughout the country, but this understanding was only partially
honored. The ICRC had access to the Peshawar Central Prison, where it
initiated a water-sanitation improvement project. ICRC visits were not
permitted to some detention sites in the NWFP and Balochistan. The ICRC
suspended prison visits in Punjab in 2008, as its inspectors were not
provided access to prisoners detained on certain security-related
charges. Authorities at the local, provincial, or national level
permitted some human rights groups and journalists to monitor prison
conditions for juveniles and female inmates, but visits of prison
conditions for male inmates, whose conditions were poorest, took place
rarely and on an ad hoc basis.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, but authorities did not always comply.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police have primary
internal security responsibilities for most areas of the country. Under
the Police Order (Second Amendment) Ordinance of 2006, control of local
police falls under the Ministry of Interior. The provincial government
has the power to transfer officers from their posts, however, and
district nazims (mayors) write the district police officer annual
performance evaluation reports, which guide promotions.
Law and order in the FATA is administered under the FCR through the
political agent, who reports to the president through the NWFP
governor. In lieu of police, multiple law enforcement entities operate
in the FATA. These include various tribal forces; the paramilitary
Frontier Corps, which reports to the Ministry of Interior in peacetime
and the army in times of conflict; the Frontier Constabulary, which
patrols the area between the FATA and the NWFP; levies, which operate
in some FATA agencies and report to the political agent; khassadars,
which help the political agent maintain order; and lashkars, tribal
militias convoked by tribal leaders to deal with temporary law and
order disturbances.
The Rangers are a paramilitary organization under the authority of
the Ministry of Interior.
The armed forces are responsible for external security. At times
during the year, they were also assigned domestic security
responsibilities.
Corruption within the police was rampant. Low salaries and poor
working conditions contributed to corruption, particularly for low-
level officials.
Police were known to charge fees to register genuine complaints and
accepted money for registering false complaints. Bribes to avoid
charges were commonplace. Individuals paid police to humiliate their
opponents and to avenge personal grievances. Critics charged that the
appointment of station house officers had become politicized.
Police effectiveness varied greatly by district, ranging from
reasonably good to ineffective. Some members of the police committed
human rights abuses or were responsive to political interests. Frequent
failure to punish abuses created a climate of impunity. Police and
prison officials frequently used the threat of abuse to extort money
from prisoners and their families. The inspectors general, district
police officers, district nazims, provincial interior or chief
ministers, federal interior minister, prime minister, or courts can
order internal investigations into abuses and order administrative
sanctions. Executive branch and police officials can recommend and the
courts can order criminal prosecution, and these mechanisms were
sometimes used.
As in previous years, the Punjab provincial government conducted
regular training and retraining in technical skills and protection of
human rights for police at all levels. The Karachi city government
reportedly gave facilities to the city's human rights officers for
training. During the year at least two NGOs (Sahil and SHARP) trained
police. In Punjab and the NWFP, public safety commissions continued to
function poorly due to their vague mandate, according to SHARP, and due
to their susceptibility to interference by the provincial executive,
according to the International Crisis Group (ICG). Although district
public safety committees existed in Punjab, Sindh, and a majority of
districts in the NWFP and Balochistan, inadequate staffing undermined
their effectiveness. The ICG also reported these committees were
subject to political influence.
Police often failed to protect members of religious minorities from
societal attacks, including Christians, Ahmadis, and Shias.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--A First
Information Report (FIR) is the legal basis for any arrest. Police may
initiate FIRs when complainants offer reasonable proof a crime was
committed. A FIR allows police to detain a named suspect for 24 hours,
after which only a magistrate can order detention for an additional 14
days, if police show such detention is material to the investigation.
In practice authorities did not observe fully these limits on
detention. Authorities frequently issued FIRs without supporting
evidence to harass or intimidate detainees, or did not issue them when
adequate evidence was provided unless the complainant paid a bribe.
Police sometimes detained individuals arbitrarily without charge or on
false charges to extort payment for their release. Police also detained
relatives of wanted individuals to compel suspects to surrender.
Police routinely did not seek a magistrate's approval for
investigative detention and often held detainees without charge until a
court challenged the detention. Some women in detention were sexually
abused. When requested, magistrates usually approved investigative
detention without reference to its necessity. In cases of insufficient
evidence, police and magistrates sometimes colluded through issuing new
FIRs to continue detention beyond the 14-day period the law provides.
Courts appointed attorneys for indigents only in capital cases.
Individuals frequently had to pay bribes to visit a prisoner. Foreign
diplomats could meet with prisoners when they appeared in court and
could usually meet with citizens of their countries in prison visits.
The district coordination officer may order preventive detention
for as long as 90 days and may extend the detention for an additional
90 days with court approval. Human rights organizations charged that a
number of individuals allegedly affiliated with terrorist organizations
were held indefinitely in preventive detention. In corruption cases,
the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) may hold suspects indefinitely
provided judicial concurrence is granted every 15 days. During the year
the NAB rarely exercised this power.
The law stipulates that detainees must be brought to trial within
30 days of their arrest. Under both the Hudood Ordinances and standard
criminal codes, there are bailable and nonbailable offenses. Bail
pending trial is required for bailable offenses and permitted at a
court's discretion for nonbailable offenses with sentences of less than
10 years. In practice judges denied bail at the request of police or
the community, or upon payment of bribes. In many cases trials did not
start until approximately six months after the filing of charges, and
in some cases individuals remained in pretrial detention for periods
longer than the maximum sentence for the crime with which they were
charged. SHARP estimated that approximately 55 percent of the prison
population was awaiting trial.
Between March 10 and 12, security forces arrested approximately 400
members of the PML-N to prevent protesters from participating in a
march and sit-in in support of the restoration to office of Iftikhar
Mohammad Chaudhry, the Supreme Court chief justice, who was fired by
then president and chief of army staff Musharraf in 2007. On the
evening of March 14 and the morning of March 15, authorities restricted
the movement of Nawaz Sharif, Aitzaz Ahsan, and several other political
leaders, ostensibly for their own protection, but did not enforce the
restrictions when the political leaders chose to ignore them on the
afternoon of March 15. According to HRW, the Punjab and Sindh
provincial governments imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure
Code, banning gatherings of four or more persons. Human rights
organizations, including HRW, strongly criticized the arrests and
restrictions on gatherings. Authorities released the detained PML-N
workers after the prime minister announced on the evening of March 15
an end to Section 144 throughout the country and the release of all
political prisoners.
Under the FCR in the FATA, political agents have legal authority to
impose collective punishment, preventively detain individuals for as
long as three years, and require ``bonds'' to prevent undesired
activity. Authorities cited collective responsibility to detain members
of fugitives' tribes, demolish their homes, confiscate or destroy their
property in the tribal areas and around the country, or lay siege to a
fugitive's village pending his surrender or punishment by his own tribe
in accordance with local tradition. Assistant political agents,
overseen by political agents and supported by tribal elders of their
choosing, are legally responsible for justice in the FATA and conduct
hearings according to Islamic law and tribal custom. Ongoing military
operations, militant activity, and the poor security situation have
undermined their ability to hold court. The usual penalties consisted
of fines and prison terms of as long as 14 years. The accused have no
right to legal representation or bail. Militants in FATA and briefly in
Swat imposed their version of Shari'a law in makeshift courts; their
punishments included public beheadings, stonings, lashings, and fines
(see section 1.g.).
Special rules apply to cases brought by the NAB or before
antiterrorism courts. Suspects in NAB cases may be detained for 15 days
without charge (renewable with judicial concurrence) and, prior to
being charged, may be deprived of access to counsel. The NAB did not
prosecute serving members of the military or judiciary. During the year
the government removed NAB's authority to prosecute politicians on new
charges.
Accountability courts may not grant bail; the NAB chairman has sole
power to decide whether and when to release detainees. Accountability
courts were established under the NAB Ordinance 1999 to consider
corruption cases. Twenty-one accountability courts work under the
administrative and operational control of high courts and independently
of NAB. Antiterrorism courts do not grant bail if the court has
reasonable grounds to believe the accused is guilty. Security forces
may, without needing court approval, restrict the activities of
terrorism suspects, seize their assets, and detain them for as long as
one year without charges.
On December 16, the Supreme Court declared null and void the 2007
NRO, which then president Musharraf promulgated. The bill provided a
mechanism for amnesty for public office holders who were charged, but
not convicted, in cases filed between 1986 and 1999.
In May 2008 the government announced it had imposed a moratorium on
the death penalty, although the moratorium was not enforced in
practice. In March 2008 the HRCP had noted there was ``strong
evidence'' that the death penalty was applied without regard to due
process, and SHARP reported that there were an estimated 7,000 inmates
on death row. In August President Zardari issued a decree making
``Internet crimes'' punishable by execution or life imprisonment if
they caused the death of a person; the decree raised the total number
of capital offenses to 28.
On July 9, authorities arrested Joseph Francis, national director
of the Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), and
denied him bail after he traveled to London while on bail in a forced
conversion case. According to the Christian Study Center, authorities
detained Francis for more than a week before releasing him.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; in practice, the judiciary was subject to
external influences, such as street protests, at the local level. In
nonpolitical cases, the media and the public generally considered the
high courts and Supreme Court credible. In March in the wake of large-
scale demonstrations from the Lawyers Movement and pressure from the
opposition PML-N party, Prime Minister Gilani reinstated Iftikhar
Chaudhry as Supreme Court Chief Justice. Gilani also reinstated 10
other judges to the Supreme Court and provincial High Courts. In doing
so the prime minister restored all judges ousted by then president
Musharraf in 2007 who had not yet reached retirement age. Chief Justice
Chaudhry forced the resignation of all Supreme and High Court judges
who had taken oath under Musharraf's Provisional Constitutional Order
in 2007. The newly restored superior judiciary is independent of
executive branch influence but appears to be politicized in favor of
the opposition based on its rulings in high-profile cases.
Delays in justice in civil and criminal cases arose due to
antiquated procedural rules, weak case management systems, costly
litigation to keep a case moving in the system, and weak legal
education. These problems undermined the right to effective remedy and
the right to a fair and public hearing.
There are several court systems with overlapping and sometimes
competing jurisdictions: criminal; civil and personal status;
terrorism; commercial; family; military; and Shariat. The Federal
Shariat Court, according to Article 203 of the constitution, is an
appellate court that can examine and decide whether any law is
repugnant to the teachings of Islam. The passage of the Women's
Protection Act does not negate the possibility of the Federal Shariat
Court hearing appeals in certain cases. The Federal Shariat Court could
hear appeals of cases involving parts of the Hudood Ordinance not moved
to the secular law provisions, including gambling, liquor possession
and drinking, and fornication in the false promise of marriage.
The National Assembly's failure before a Supreme Court-imposed
deadline to approve amendments to the Army Act of 1952, allowing
civilians to be tried in military court, nullified these amendments.
The National Assembly's failure to approve before a Supreme Court
deadline amendments to the 1973 Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils
Act that were seen as curtailing the independence of bar associations
nullified these amendments. Both sets of amendments had been approved
through orders of former president Musharraf during the 2007 state of
emergency and were nullified as of November 28. Neither was invoked
prior to nullification.
Lower courts remained corrupt, inefficient, and subject to pressure
from prominent wealthy, religious, and political figures. The
politicized nature of judicial promotions increased the government's
control over the court system. Unfilled judgeships and inefficient
court procedures resulted in severe backlogs at both trial and
appellate levels.
There were extensive case backlogs in both the lower and superior
courts. According to a 2009 report published by the Law and Justice
Commission of Pakistan on National Judicial Policy there were 138,945
cases pending at the superior judiciary and 1,565,926 pending with the
lower courts or subordinate judiciary.
Feudal landlords in Sindh and Punjab and tribal leaders in Pashtun
and Baloch areas continued to hold local council meetings (known as
panchayats or jirgas), at times in defiance of the established legal
system. Such councils, particularly prevalent in rural areas, settled
feuds and imposed tribal penalties on perceived wrongdoers including
fines, imprisonment, or even the death penalty. In Pashtun areas, such
councils were held under the outlines of the Pashtun Tribal Code. Under
the code, a man, his family, and his tribe are obligated to take
revenge for wrongs real or perceived to redeem their honor. Frequently
these disputes arose over women and land and often resulted in
violence.
The traditional settling of family feuds in tribal areas,
particularly those involving murder, could result in giving daughters
of the accused in marriage to the bereaved.
Many tribal councils instituted harsh punishments such as the death
penalty or watta-satta marriages (exchange of brides between clans or
tribes). Over the past few years, there has been a growing number of
reports of militants running their own courts in several tribal
agencies and briefly in Swat and dispensing quick justice with little
due process or transparency in their deliberations.
The AHRC reported that since 2002 more than 4,000 individuals, two-
thirds of them women, have died by order of jirga courts in the
country. Although the superior courts have declared these rulings
illegal, the AHRC reports that some of those involved in implementing
jirgas sit in parliament.
On February 15, the National Assembly endorsed a controversial
peace deal with the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) in the
Malakand Division. Under the deal the government instituted changes in
the judicial system for the Malakand Division largely designed to bring
about swift justice, in exchange for a TNSM guarantee to end militant
activity in the division. Many feared that the TNSM would exercise
control over the appointment of judges for the new courts known as
Qazis, although the government denied repeatedly that this would be the
case. Before judicial appointments could occur, the militants violated
the peace deal, expanding their activities into a larger geographic
area of Malakand Division. In response the government declared the
peace deal broken, and in April it launched military operations to
drive out militants and reassert its control over the region. The
government did not repeal the new swift justice system in the Malakand
Division but did appoint well-respected judges to the new courts
without consultation with the TNSM or any other extremist groups.
Militants in the Malakand Division enforced their own brand of
Islamic justice until the start of the military operation in April. In
March a video was released on national and international media outlets
showing militants flogging a teenage girl in Swat. According to press
reports, militants flogged the girl as punishment for being seen in a
public bazaar with a man who was not her husband. In response a
spokesman for the militants defended their right to flog women shoppers
who were inappropriately dressed, saying it was permitted under Islamic
law. The video's release was instrumental in building national support
against militants in the Malakand Division.
Trial Procedures.--The civil, criminal, and family court systems
provide for public trial, presumption of innocence, cross-examination
by an attorney, and appeal of sentences. There are no jury trials.
Defendants have the right to be present and to consult with an
attorney. Defendants bear the cost of legal representation in lower
courts, but a lawyer can be provided at public expense in session and
appellate courts. Defendants can confront or question witnesses against
them and present witnesses/evidence on their behalf. Defendants and
attorneys have legal access to government-held evidence relevant to
their cases. Due to the limited number of judges, heavy backlog of
cases, lengthy court procedures, frequent adjournment, and political
pressure, cases routinely took years, and defendants had to make
frequent court appearances. A case starts over when an attorney
changes.
The Anti-Terrorism Act allows the government to use special
streamlined courts to try persons charged with violent crimes,
terrorist activities, acts or speech designed to foment religious
hatred, and crimes against the state. Cases brought before these courts
were to be decided within seven working days, but judges were free to
extend the period. Under normal procedures, the high courts and the
Supreme Court heard appeals from these courts. Human rights activists
criticized the expedited parallel system, charging it was more
vulnerable to political manipulation.
Courts routinely failed to protect the rights of religious
minorities. Judges were pressured to take strong action against any
perceived offense to Sunni orthodoxy. The judiciary rarely heard
discrimination cases dealing with religious minorities.
Laws prohibiting blasphemy continued to be used against Christians,
Ahmadis, and members of other religious groups, including Muslims.
Lower courts often did not require adequate evidence in blasphemy
cases, which led to some accused and convicted persons spending years
in jail before higher courts eventually overturned their convictions or
ordered them freed.
Original trial courts usually denied bail in blasphemy cases,
claiming that because defendants faced the death penalty, they were
likely to flee. Many defendants appealed the denial of bail, but bail
often was not granted in advance of the trial. Lower courts frequently
delayed decisions, experienced intimidation, and refused bail for fear
of reprisal from extremist elements.
The Federal Shariat Court is the court of first appeal in all
Hudood cases that result in a sentence of more than two years. The
Supreme Court has ruled that in cases in which a provincial high court
decides in error to hear an appeal in a Hudood case, the Federal
Shariat Court lacks authority to review the provincial high court's
decision.
The Shari'a bench of the Supreme Court is the final court of appeal
for Federal Shariat Court cases. A 2005 ruling allows the full Supreme
Court to bypass the Shari'a bench and assume jurisdiction in such
appellate cases in its own right. The Federal Shariat Court may
overturn legislation it judges inconsistent with Islamic tenets, but
such cases are appealed to the Shari'a bench of the Supreme Court and
ultimately may be heard by the full Supreme Court.
The separate legal system in the FATA, the FCR, recognizes the
doctrine of collective responsibility. Tribal leaders were responsible
for justice in the FATA. They conducted hearings according to Islamic
law and tribal custom. The accused have no right to legal
representation, bail, or appeal. The usual penalties consisted of
fines. Federal civil servants assigned to tribal agencies oversaw
proceedings and could impose prison terms of as long as 14 years. Under
the FCR, FATA residents may appeal judgments within the civil
bureaucracy. Some observers faulted the procedures for not allowing
cases to be heard on appeal by the judiciary.
Human rights NGOs expressed concern about the concept of collective
responsibility, as authorities used it as a pretense to detain members
of fugitives' tribes, demolish their homes, confiscate or destroy their
property, or lay siege to a fugitive's village pending his surrender or
punishment by his own tribe in accordance with local tradition.
Religious extremists and militants maintained parallel
administrations, including justice administrations, in parts of FATA
and Malakand Division under their control during the year. The
militants' justice administrations administered public punishments
including floggings and executions.
The Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) of the NWFP,
which include parts of the former princely states of Swat, Dir, and
Chitral, fall under Shari'a law. Under its provisions, judges, known as
qazis, are assisted by religious scholars. On February 15, the
government extended this provision to the entire Malakand Division.
Azad Kashmir has a court system independent of the country's
judiciary.
Gilgit-Baltistan (formerly known as the Northern Areas) also has a
separate judicial system. The Gilgit-Baltistan Self Governance Order
2009 instituted a separate judiciary, legislature, and election
commission for the region. Formerly, laws of the country were extended
to the Gilgit-Baltistan at the discretion of the Ministry for Kashmir
and Gilgit-Baltistan. The Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court did not have all
the powers of a high court.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Some political groups claimed
their members were marked for arrest based on their political
affiliation or beliefs.
According to Baloch nationalist political leaders and human rights
organizations, military intelligence and security forces detained 1,000
to 1,500 Baloch political prisoners since the military operation began
in the province in 2004. The exact number of prisoners was unavailable
because many were held incommunicado. In 2008 the government
acknowledged that 1,100 of the disappeared were in its custody, and it
was widely believed there were hundreds of Sindhi and Baloch
nationalist leaders and activists among them (see section 1.b.).
Authorities did not take steps to hold persons accountable for the
February 2008 assault, arrest, and detention of six student activists
and a teacher in Lahore, the May 2008 arrest of Chlam Baloch, or the
February 2008 arrest and torture of Munir Mengal.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Persons may petition high
courts to seek redress for human rights violations, and courts often
take such actions. Individuals may seek redress in civil courts against
government officials, including on grounds of denial of human rights in
civil courts. Observers reported civil courts seldom if ever issued
official judgments in such cases, and most cases were settled out of
court. Although there were no official procedures for administrative
redress, informal reparations were common.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law requires court-issued search warrants for
property but not for persons. Police routinely ignored this requirement
and at times stole items during searches. Police were seldom punished
for illegal entry. In cases pursued under the Anti-Terrorism Act,
security forces were allowed without a warrant to search and seize
property related to the case.
Several domestic intelligence services monitored politicians,
political activists, suspected terrorists, the media, and suspected
foreign intelligence agents. These services included the ISI, the
Intelligence Bureau, the police Special Branch, and Military
Intelligence. Despite a Supreme Court order, credible reports indicated
authorities routinely used wiretaps and intercepted and opened mail
without the requisite court approval. They were also suspected of
monitoring mobile phones and electronic correspondence.
In accordance with the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997, the government
banned the activities of and membership in several religious extremist
and terrorist groups. Some of the banned groups changed their names and
remained active, including Jaish e Muhammad (new name: Tehrikul Furqan
& Al Rehmat Trust); Tehrik e Ja'afria Pakistan (new name: Tehrik e
Islami Pakistan); and Sipah e Sihaba Pakistan (new name: Millat e
Islamia Pakistan). Many of the renamed groups were subsequently banned.
Lashkar e Taiba regrouped under the new name Jamaat ud-Dawa. The
government seized the public assets of Jamaat ud-Dawa and ordered its
accounts frozen in response to the group's designation as an alias of a
Foreign Terrorist Organization under UN Security Council resolution
1267. In 2008 the government labeled Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) a
terrorist organization and ordered the State Bank to freeze all the
organization's accounts.
Although the government generally did not interfere with the right
to marry, local officials on occasion assisted influential families to
prevent marriages the families opposed. The government also failed to
prosecute vigorously cases in which families punished members
(generally women) for marrying or seeking a divorce against the wishes
of other family members. Upon conversion to Islam, women's marriages
performed under the rites of their previous religion were considered
dissolved, but the marriages of men who converted remained intact.
In some cases authorities detained relatives to force a family
member who was the subject of an arrest warrant to surrender. NGOs
alleged that intelligence personnel often harassed family members of
Baloch nationalists. Collective punishment, which involved detention of
relatives or members of the same tribe, took place in FATA under the
FCR.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
During the year the military engaged in active combat operations to
clear militants from North and South Waziristan, Malakand Division of
the NWFP, and the Bajaur, Mohmand, and Khyber Agencies of the FATA.
Dawn News reported that more than 3,300 persons, including personnel of
law enforcement agencies and armed forces, were killed in terrorism-
related incidents across the country. Newspaper reports of major
incidents also showed that 1,037 persons lost their lives in 76 suicide
attacks. December saw the highest number of suicide attacks, 15, which
claimed 211 lives.
Due to poor security, intimidation by security forces and
militants, and the control the government and security forces exercised
over access by nonresidents to FATA, human rights organizations and
journalists found it difficult to report on abuses in military
theaters. Multiple sources reported that security forces' imprecise use
of ground artillery and aerial bombardment resulted in extensive
civilian casualties and collateral damage in FATA. Militants imposed
fines and carried out public beheadings, public displays of dead
bodies, stonings, and lashings.
A low-level insurgency continued in Balochistan. According to NGOs
and media reports, at least 800 militants, approximately 125 civilians,
and 91 members of the security forces died as a result of the ongoing
insurgency from January through late November. According to the AHRC,
more than 100 individuals were killed in July and August alone.
According to the AHRC, approximately 80,000 individuals were displaced
and 1,300 disappeared from January through November. The last
government-released official figures recorded the total number of
deaths at 158 in 2006.
Killings.--In August several news agencies reported that local
citizens found at least 251 corpses of suspected Taliban militants
along a roadside in the Swat Valley. The HRCP alleged, based largely on
interviews with victims' families, that many of the deaths were
retaliatory killings by government security forces and civilians. The
HRCP also alleged that security forces extrajudicially killed militants
detained in combat operations.
Militants staged numerous suicide attacks during the year. On March
3, 12 gunmen attacked a visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore,
killing six security personnel and wounding eight team members. Two
weeks later, armed militants stormed a police training school in
Lahore, killing 18 officers and wounding 12. On May 27, militants
detonated a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device in front of three
government office buildings in a downtown business district of Lahore,
killing 26 and wounding more than 250 persons. The government blamed
the TTP for the attacks.
In a 24-hour period beginning April 24, there were three suicide
bombings. One bomber blew himself up at the entrance to a crowded Shia
mosque near Islamabad, killing at least 26 persons. Another killed
eight paramilitary security officers in Islamabad, and a third drove
his vehicle into a group of civilians on the side of the road in Miram
Shah, North Waziristan, killing at least eight persons, including
school children. The government blamed TTP for the attacks. On June 9,
armed terrorists fought their way past guards at the Pearl Continental
Hotel in Peshawar and detonated a vehicle-borne improvised explosive
device, killing themselves and 11 others and wounding more than 50
persons. International humanitarian aid workers were among those
killed. The government blamed the TTP for the attack. On October 10,
six armed militants attacked the General Headquarters of the Pakistan
Army in Rawalpindi, penetrating the institution's security cordon and
killing six soldiers. The TTP claimed responsibility for the attack. On
October 15, militants in Lahore carried out near-simultaneous attacks
on the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) provincial headquarters,
Manawan Police Training School, and the Elite Police Headquarters. The
militants penetrated the security cordons of all three institutions,
killing 12 police and five civilians. The TTP claimed responsibility
for the attacks. On October 28, a bomb in a Peshawar market killed more
than 100 persons, including women and children. In November militants
killed two female teachers in an ambush near Khar, in the Bajur tribal
region. On December 8, militants exploded devices in Lahore's Moon
Market, killing at least 45 persons and injuring more than 100.
Sectarian killings related to the conflict were also widespread.
Examples include:
In January clashes between Sunni and Shia groups in villages in the
Hangu District killed 17 persons and injured 30. On February 21, a
suicide bomb attack killed at least 30 persons and wounded more than 60
others during a funeral procession in Dera Ismail Khan. The blast
occurred during the funeral procession for a Shia religious leader
killed a day earlier. On September 8, Taliban militants shot dead four
Shia schoolchildren and wounded six others in an apparent sectarian
attack in Atmankhel town of Orakzai district. On June 12, following
Friday prayers, a suicide bomber entered the seminary office of
prominent Brailvi scholar Allama Sarfraz Naeemi and detonated an
explosive device. Allama Naeemi and four followers died in the attack.
Allama Naeemi had condemned Taliban activities in the country, issued
religious edicts against suicide bombings and Taliban threats to the
state, and supported military operations against terrorists in the
Malakand Division of the NWFP. Allama Naeemi's followers claimed the
TTP carried out the attack.
On September 2, two unidentified gunmen attacked the convoy of
Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Seed Kazmi, killing Kazmi's bodyguard
and shooting the minister in the leg. Minister Kazmi is a prominent
Brailvi religious scholar and a vocal critic of the Taliban. Brailvi
leaders blamed Taliban insurgents for the attack.
By year's end law enforcement had not charged anyone in the 2007
assassination of Maulana Hassan Jan, a prominent and well-respected
Deobandi religious scholar who had declared suicide attacks ``un-
Islamic.'' Police arrested 13 suspects in 2007, but there were no
further developments in the case.
The security situation in Balochistan remained unstable. Landmines
in Balochistan killed civilians, including children, in Dera Bugti,
Kohlu, Noshki, and Sui, among other areas of the province.
On March 2, a suicide bomb attack by a 15-year-old boy on a
madrassa in Kili Karbala, Pishin District, Balochistan, killed six
persons and wounded several others. Jamaat-Ulema-i-Islam provincial
chief Maulana Muhammad Khan Shirani, Balochistan Assembly Deputy
Speaker Syed Matiullah Agha, and provincial ministers belonging to the
party who were attending a ceremony at the school escaped unharmed.
On July 31, the Balochistan Republican Army claimed responsibility
for kidnapping 18 policemen and 14 laborers from the Chatter area of
Naseerabad district.
There were no developments regarding the 2007 killing of Mir Balach
Marri, the son of Baloch leader Nawab Khair Bux Marri. It was unknown
whether he was killed in the country or in Afghanistan. In December
Prime Minister Gilani announced that an inquiry would be conducted into
his death.
Political violence between rival political parties continued during
the year. There were 256 targeted killings in Karachi alone. Those
killed included 69 members of the MQM, 60 from MQM-Haqiqi, 28 from the
PPP, and 23 from the ANP and other political parties.
Abductions.--Criminal groups, some with ties to militant groups,
engaged in extortion and kidnapping activities throughout the country.
Diplomats, foreign nationals, religious minorities, and NGO workers
were among those targeted.
On February 1, the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) Balochistan office, John Solecki, was kidnapped on his
way to work and his Pakistani driver was killed. The next day, the
Balochistan Liberation United Front (BLUF) claimed responsibility for
the kidnapping. On April 4, BLUF militants released Solecki after
keeping him in captivity for 61 days.
On February 8, Taliban militants announced the beheading of Polish
engineer Pioter Stanczak, whom they had kidnapped from the Pind Sultani
area in 2008.
On June 1, suspected Taliban militants abducted 120 students and
six teachers of Cadet College Razmak in North Waziristan Agency, in the
Bakakhel area of Frontier Region Bannu. The students and their teachers
had been traveling in four vehicles as part of a 28-vehicle convoy
transporting almost 400 individuals including students, teachers, and
their relatives. The army subsequently freed some students and the
militants released the rest on July 4 following talks with a local
jirga.
On August 21, officials confirmed the release of a French tourist,
Anthenio Sarsaperla, who had been kidnapped in the Dalbandian area of
Balochistan.
On September 10, masked gunmen kidnapped Thanasis Lerounis, a Greek
volunteer for a humanitarian organization in northwestern Pakistan. The
kidnappers did not announce any conditions for his release. At year's
end he remained missing. According to media reports, the kidnappers
held him captive in an unknown location in southeastern Afghanistan's
Nuristan Province. As ransom, his captors demanded the release of
several comrades from a Pakistani jail, $2 million, and/or his
conversion to Islam.
Other Conflict-Related Abuses.--Military operations created
hardships for the local civilian population when militants closed key
access roads and tunnels and attacked communications and energy
networks, disrupting commerce and food and water distribution networks.
In some areas, including Swat, security forces imposed curfews.
Militants destroyed girls' schools, particularly in Swat, and forced
the closure of barber shops and stores selling western CDs and videos
in the FATA and the NWFP.
On February 26, gunmen ambushed a minibus carrying children to
school in the NWFP, killing the driver, wounding two children, and
kidnapping six others.
Dawn reported in November that approximately 200 schools were
destroyed in the Swat Valley during the two-year Taliban insurgency. On
October 31, militants blew up a girls' school in Khyber district,
destroying the building and wounding four persons in neighboring homes.
According to Agence France-Press (AFP), two explosions demolished the
government high school for girls at Kari Gar village. According to AFP,
the militants kidnapped a boy who watched the bombing.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and citizens generally were free to discuss
public issues. The government often impeded criticism by monitoring
political activity and controlling the media. Journalists and their
families were arrested, beaten, and intimidated by militants and
criminal elements, leading many to practice self-censorship.
There were numerous independent English and Urdu daily and weekly
newspapers and magazines. The Ministry of Information (MOI) controlled
and managed the country's primary wire service, the Associated Press of
Pakistan, the official carrier of government and international news to
the local media. The few small privately owned wire services practiced
self-censorship. The military had its own media wing, Inter Services
Public Relations (ISPR), as well as two sections to monitor the media.
There were no newspapers published in the FATA. Owners of newspapers
and periodicals had to receive permission from the Kashmir Council and
Ministry of Kashmir Affairs to publish within Azad Kashmir. According
to many observers, these bodies were unlikely to grant permission to
publications sympathetic to an independent Kashmiri cause.
In August the Daily Asaap, the most widely circulated Urdu-language
newspaper in Balochistan Province, suspended publication, citing
harassment from security forces. Two other newspapers in Balochistan,
Daily Balochistan Express and Daily Azadi, also reported harassment by
security forces. At year's end the Daily Asaap remained closed.
Foreign magazines and newspapers were available, and many
maintained in-country correspondents who operated freely, although some
had difficulty receiving visas allowing them to work as journalists.
The government directly owned and controlled Pakistan Television
and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, which ran radio stations
throughout the country. Both reflected government views in news
coverage.
Restrictive amendments to regulatory laws for print and electronic
media promulgated by former president Musharraf during the 2007 state
of emergency were not enforced during the year. Private cable and
satellite channels broadcast domestic news and were critical of the
government, despite some self-censorship. In November, eight television
channels, including KTN, Samaa, DawnNews, Dunya, Express News Geo, and
Aaj TV, voluntarily developed and agreed to guidelines governing
coverage of terrorist attacks.
Between January 2008 and December, according to Dawn, the MOI
issued 64 legal notices to 18 private television channels for violating
the country's code of conduct. The MOI issued 18 of the legal notices
to Independent Media Corporation, owner of the private television
channel Geo TV. The government's reasons for serving the notices
included covering terrorist attacks and airing footage that showed the
Taliban releasing hostages.
On March 12, cable operators in some parts of the country blocked
transmission of Geo News. Independent Media Corporation claimed that
operators did so on instructions from the federal government to curtail
media coverage of the ``Long March'' by lawyers scheduled for March 14.
Then information minister Sherry Rehman resigned, reportedly in protest
of the blockage. Cable operators restored the channel's signal within a
few hours.
On October 10, according to the Associated Press, the government
blocked three TV channels, including Geo News, ARY News, and Samaa, for
several hours, and blocked Express News for a short period following a
Taliban attack on army headquarters in Rawalpindi. The director general
of ISPR and the minister for information and broadcasting later denied
ordering the stations' blockage. Several sources, including
representatives from two of the channels, speculated that the
government punished the stations for covering that day's attack on the
army headquarters.
Private radio stations existed in major cities, but their licenses
prohibited news programming. Some channels evaded this restriction by
discussing news in talk shows, although they were careful to avoid most
domestic political discussions. International radio broadcasts,
including the BBC and the Voice of America, were available.
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority ordinance did
not extend to the FATA or the PATA of the NWFP. Independent radio
stations are allowed to broadcast in FATA with the permission of the
FATA Secretariat. Militants and religious figures operated
approximately 150 illegal stations in the FATA.
During the year media outlets, journalists, and journalists'
families were the targets of attacks and intimidation by security
forces, political parties, militants, and unidentified groups.
Journalists were also abducted. Newspapers frequently criticized the
government, political leaders, and military operations. Media outlets
that did not self-censor were at times the targets of retribution.
In April during the military operation against militants in NWFP,
Taliban warned newspapers and television channels not to publish or
broadcast negative news about them. In a poster issued on April 28,
Taliban warned the media of dire consequences if they did not stop
``propaganda'' against the struggle of Taliban ``for the enforcement of
Shari'a'' in Malakand Division. Copies of the poster were posted
outside the offices of newspapers and private television channels. On
December 22, a suicide bomber attacked the Peshawar Press Club, killing
four persons and injuring 17. Local journalists said the press club had
received numerous threats from the Taliban.
According to an International Freedom of Expression Exchange report
published in August, 11 journalists have been killed in Pakistan since
2008; the World Association of Newspapers and New Publishers reported
eight journalists were killed during the year. The following cases were
representative of attacks on journalists:
On January 4, a suicide bomb killed Muhammad Imran, a trainee
cameraman with Express TV, and Saleem Tahir Awan, a freelance reporter
with local daily newspapers Eitedal and Apna Akhbar, in front of the
Government Polytechnic College in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP.
Following the killing of journalist Wakil Ahmed on January 24 and
an attack on a privately owned Television station within 48 hours,
Reporters Without Borders urged authorities to adopt protective
measures for journalists.
On February 18, unknown gunmen killed Musa Khan Khel, a reporter
for Geo TV, while he was covering a peace mission in Swat by a pro-
Taliban cleric. His throat was also partially slit.
On August 24, in an ambush in the Khyber Pass region near the
Afghanistan border, gunmen killed Janullah Hashimzada, an Afghan
journalist and Peshawar bureau chief for the television channel
Shamshad, and seriously wounded his colleague Ali Khan. Other
journalists who were killed included Siddique Bacha Khan of Aaj TV on
August 14; Wasi Ahmed of Balochistan Express on April 16; and Raja Asad
Hameed of The Nation and Waqt TV on March 26.
There were no developments regarding the November 2008 shootings of
two journalists, one of whom was a Japanese national, in Peshawar after
they returned from an interview with a Taliban commander in nearby
Khyber Agency. There were no arrests in the 2007 killing of Makhdoom
Hashmi, editor of Sindhi-language newspaper Daily Nijat. Hashmi had
been critical of the policies of local feudal landlords and critical
that provincial authorities had denied his requests for protection.
There were no updates regarding the 2007 case in which two
unidentified men assaulted and beat the editor in chief of the South
Asia News Agency, Shakeel Ahmed Turabi, due to his coverage of the
Supreme Court chief justice crisis in Islamabad.
There were no updates regarding the attack on the Aaj television
station and property in Karachi as the station broadcast violent
demonstrations live in 2007.
There were no developments in the case of Daily Mashriq
correspondent Nasarullah Afridi, whose home local militants targeted
with hand grenades in 2007 for his reporting on militant activities in
Khyber Agency.
The Anti-Terrorism Act prohibits the possession or distribution of
material designed to foment sectarian hatred or material obtained from
banned organizations. Foreign books must pass government censors before
being reprinted, but in practice there were no reports of book bans
during the year. Books and magazines may be imported freely but are
subject to censorship for objectionable sexual or religious content.
Obscene literature, a category the government defines broadly, was
subject to seizure. Television and radio stations broadcast dramas and
documentaries on previously taboo subjects, including corruption,
social privilege, narcotics, violence against women, and female
inequality.
Internet Freedom.--Although there were no reports that the
government limited public access to the Internet, it attempted to
control some extremist and Baloch Web sites based in the country. The
International Telecommunication Union estimated that there were more
than 18.5 million Internet users in the country as of June, and service
existed in nearly all of the country's urban and semi-urban areas.
Local sources reported that authorities continued to ban
Walochwarna, a Web site that advocated independence for Balochistan. As
of September 10, the Web site Balochvoice, a pro-Balochistan
independence site that was previously banned, was accessible on the
Internet and appeared to be operating without interference.
In November 2008 President Zardari issued the Prevention of
Electronic Crimes Ordinance, stipulating that cyber terrorism resulting
in a death would be punishable by the death penalty or life
imprisonment.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The government generally did
not restrict academic freedom, but the atmosphere of violence and
intolerance fostered by student organizations, typically tied to
political parties, continued to limit academic freedom. On some
university campuses in Karachi, armed groups of students, most commonly
associated with the All Pakistan Mutahidda Students Organization
(affiliated with the MQM) and the Islami Jamiat Talaba (affiliated with
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), clashed with and intimidated other students,
instructors, and administrators over issues such as language, syllabus
content, examination policies, grades, doctrines, and dress.
These groups frequently influenced the hiring of staff, admissions
to the universities, and sometimes the use of institutional funds. They
generally achieved such influence through a combination of protest
rallies, control of campus media, and threats of mass violence. In
response, university authorities banned political activity on many
campuses, but with limited effect.
The Ministry of Culture operated the Central Film Censor Board,
which previewed all foreign and domestic films before exhibit in the
country. In practice no movie was banned during the year.
There was no government interference on art exhibitions or other
musical or cultural activities.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and freedom of association, subject to
restrictions imposed by law.
Freedom of Assembly.--Although the constitution provides for this
right, in practice the government placed selective restrictions on the
right to assemble. By law district authorities can prevent gatherings
of more than four people without police authorization. Separately,
Ahmadis have been prohibited from holding conferences or gatherings
since 1984.
In early March the government attempted to prevent planned
demonstrations referred to as the ``Long March'' by arresting a number
of lawyers and politicians. The government also prohibited
demonstrations and public gatherings throughout the country and blocked
access to roads to Islamabad. On March 12, protesters largely abandoned
marches departing from Quetta and Karachi when police blocked their
access to roads leading from those cities to Punjab. On March 15, when
protesters gathered in Lahore in the morning and early afternoon in
defiance of government orders, police responded with tear gas and baton
charges, injuring several hundred people. By mid-afternoon, PML-N
leader Nawaz Sharif defied his house arrest, leaving his residence in
Lahore to join protesters at the site of the demonstration. The
government abandoned its effort to disperse crowds and allowed the
demonstration to proceed unhindered and to begin to march to Islamabad.
In the morning of March 16, the government yielded to the protesters'
demands that Iftikhar Chaudhry be reinstated as chief justice of the
Supreme Court, and the protesters abandoned their march. Police used
preventive detention and excessive force against demonstrators, members
of civil society, political activists, and lawyers during the Long
March.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for the right of
association subject to restrictions by law. NGOs are required to
register with the government. According to the federal Ministry of
Social Welfare and Special Education, there were more than 100,000 NGOs
working in the country; due to the fragmented legal and regulatory
framework, the exact number of NGOs was not known. No prominent NGO
reported registration problems with the government during the year.
Some continued to operate without registering and were not prosecuted.
The NGO community continued to protest a voluntary code of conduct
promulgated in 2007 by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special
Education. The code gives the government powers to regulate NGO
activity, change the groups' staff or management, and freeze the assets
of organizations that do not comply. In practice, the code has not been
enforced and has not impeded the work of NGOs.
Security was a problem for NGO workers due to the instability in
the FATA and the NWFP and threats to organizations that promoted
women's rights. By year's end seven NGO workers had been killed, seven
had been kidnapped but were later released, and several others had
received threats. In April police in the Shinkiari area of Mansehra
district found the bullet-riddled bodies of four local aid workers,
including three women and a man. A local police official told AFP the
bodies were found in the Kund forest. In September press reports
containing leaked internal government documents appeared, detailing the
difficulties certain international NGOs encountered in obtaining visas
for their staff. The documents indicated that security agencies blocked
issuance of visas for international staff of NGOs due to concerns about
their activities in country and links to a foreign government.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution states that adequate
provisions shall be made for minorities to profess and practice their
religions freely, but the government limited freedom of religion in
practice. Islam is the state religion, and the constitution requires
that laws be consistent with Islam. The Federal Shariat court ensures
that laws are consistent with Shari'a. All citizens are subject to the
blasphemy laws. Freedom of speech is constitutionally subject to ``any
reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of
Islam.''
According to the HRCP, there was an increase in cases of violence
against minorities during the year. Reprisals and threats of reprisals
against suspected converts from Islam occurred. Members of religious
minorities were subject to violence and harassment, and at times police
refused to prevent such actions or charge persons who committed them,
leading to an atmosphere of impunity. The constitution stipulates the
president and the prime minister must be Muslim. The prime minister,
federal ministers, and ministers of state, as well as elected members
of the Senate and National Assembly (including non-Muslims), must take
an oath to ``strive to preserve the Islamic ideology,'' the basis for
the creation of the country.
Religious groups must be approved and registered; there were no
reports that the government refused to register any group.
The law declares the Ahmadi community, which considers itself a
Muslim sect, to be a non-Muslim minority. The law prohibits Ahmadis,
who numbered more than two million, from engaging in any Muslim
practices, including use of Muslim greetings, referring to their places
of worship as mosques, reciting Islamic prayers, using specific Islamic
terms, and participating in the Hajj or Ramadan fast. Ahmadis were
prohibited from proselytizing, holding gatherings, or distributing
literature. Government forms, including passport applications and voter
registration documents, require anyone wishing to be listed as a Muslim
to denounce the founder of the Ahmadi faith. According to Ahmadiyya
Foreign Mission, during the year 11 Ahmadis were killed due to their
faith; there were nine targeted attacks against Ahmadis that resulted
in several serious injuries; 37 Ahmadis were charged under blasphemy
laws; and 57 Ahmadis were charged under Ahmadi-specific laws. At year's
end no Ahmadi was in prison on charges of desecration of the Koran.
The penal code calls for the death sentence or life imprisonment
for anyone who blasphemes the Prophet Muhammad. The law provides for
life imprisonment for desecrating the Koran and up to 10 years in
prison for insulting another's religious beliefs with the intent to
offend religious feelings. The latter penalty was used only against
those who allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad. On January 22,
police arrested Hector Aleem, the country director of a Christian human
rights NGO, after a member of a militant Islamic organization accused
him of sending a blasphemous text message from his cell phone. Although
the blasphemy charges were dropped after evidence showed the text
message was not sent from Aleem's cell phone, the charges of abetting
blasphemy stood. A judge denied bail on April 30 and remanded Aleem
into custody ``for his own protection'' after a religious extremist
lawyer threatened his life in a court hearing, according to CLAAS. At
the end of the year, Aleem remained in jail awaiting trial on charges
of abetting blasphemy.
On January 28, authorities arrested five Ahmadis, including four
teenage students and one adult, for carving the name of the Prophet
Muhammad onto the walls of a bathroom stall at a mosque in Punjab
province. According to the AHRC, no evidence suggested the five
individuals were responsible, and authorities did not conduct any
investigation before the arrest. The four students who allegedly
defaced the stalls at the behest of the adult had no connection to the
mosque and did not live nearby, and a police official said police were
not aware of any substantial evidence that linked the students with the
crime. According to the AHRC, the district police officer told family
members of the accused that police were under pressure from religious
fundamentalists to act against the students. The students were released
in July.
There were no developments regarding the June 2008 case in which
police charged all the residents of Rabwah in Punjab under anti-Ahmadi
laws and arrested Muhammad Yunus for lighting fireworks and lamps and
greeting each other, which the government considered to be preaching
their faith, a crime by law.
Police closed the Ahmadi centers in August 2008 following a citizen
complaint that Ahmadis were attempting to proselytize. The centers were
permitted to reopen on the condition that they remove the Kalima (the
recitation of the Shahada, the Islamic recitation of faith) from their
centers.
On December 14, a local court acquitted and freed Christian Gulsher
Masih and his daughter, Sandal Gulsher. They had been detained in
October 2008 in Faisalabad after the father was accused of desecrating
the Koran.
There were no developments in the 2007 case in which an
Intelligence Bureau district officer ordered the arrest of five
Ahmadis, including two minors, after a teacher discovered the minors
carrying an Ahmadi children's magazine. After the case received wide
media coverage, the charges were dropped but then re-filed in February
2007 against two adults.
By the end of the year, there were no developments in the trial of
the 2007 case of a retired assistant sub-inspector who shot and killed
a recent Ahmadi convert in a restaurant in Seerah, near Mandi Bahauddin
in Punjab. At year's end he was incarcerated and the case was pending.
Martha Bibi, a Christian who was arrested for blasphemy in 2007,
was granted bail; at year's end her case was pending in a local court.
Complaints under the blasphemy laws were used to harass rivals in
business or personal disputes. Most complaints under these laws were
filed against the majority Sunni Muslim community by other Sunnis.
Appellate courts dismissed most blasphemy cases; the accused, however,
often remained in jail for years awaiting the court's decision. Trial
courts were reluctant to release on bail or acquit blasphemy defendants
for fear of violence from extremist religious groups. In 2005 a law
went into effect revising the complaint process and requiring senior
police officials to review such cases in an effort to eliminate
spurious charges. According to human rights and religious freedom
groups, this process was not effective because senior police officers
did not have the resources to review the cases. There were no legal
restrictions on Christian or Hindu places of worship. District nazims
had to authorize construction after they assessed the need for a new
church or temple. Religious minority groups experienced bureaucratic
delays and requests for bribes--routine obstacles all religious groups
faced--when they attempted to build houses of worship or to obtain
land.
Islamiyyat (Islamic studies) was compulsory for all Muslim students
in state-run schools. Students of other faiths were exempt from such
classes; in practice, teachers forced non-Muslim students to complete
Islamic studies.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Sectarian violence between
Sunni and Shia extremists continued during the year. Shias, Christians,
and Ahmadis were the targets of religious violence across the country.
In April militants began attacking the Sikh population,
particularly in the Qasimkhel and Ferozkhel areas of lower Orakzai in
the FATA. For example, on April 13, militants kidnapped local Sikh
leader Kalyan Singh, forcing the community to pay 50 million rupees
($595,000) as a ``non-Muslim tax'' (jizya). The ransom was later
reduced to 15 million rupees ($178,500). The Sikh community ultimately
abandoned its homes in Orakzai.
As a result of the military operation in the FATA and Malakand,
hundreds of Sikh families left the affected areas and took shelter in
other parts of Pakistan. The government provided relief to Sikh IDPs
and by the end of the year, most of those from Malakand had returned to
their homes.
On July 31 and August 1, mobs attacked Christian enclaves in Gojra
and Korian in Toba Tek Singh District, Punjab, following allegations
that members of the Christian community had committed blasphemy. The
mobs set fire to and damaged most properties in the enclave. Eight
Christians trapped in their properties died in the fires. Human rights
groups claimed the district administration and police failed to take
adequate steps to stop the mobs. The provincial government established
an Inquiry Tribunal of the Lahore High Court to investigate the
incident. The Tribunal concluded its work September 6 and submitted a
report in December, warning the government against such violence in the
future and recommending action against the perpetrators without
discrimination. Police arrested and charged 102 individuals in
connection with the riots, including the four alleged instigators who
had ties to the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba extremist group. The Lahore High
Court granted bail to five of the accused.
According to Pakistan Christian Post, on August 28, militants shot
and killed six Christians and injured seven in the city of Quetta in
Balochistan. The incident coincided with the Balochistan observance of
the death anniversary of Nawab Akbar Bugti, the leader of the Bugti
tribe who was killed by the Pakistani military in 2006.
The government did not address the 2008 attacks against one church,
one Hindu temple, and five Ahmadi mosques in Punjab.
Since the promulgation of the Anti-Ahmadiyya Ordinance in 1984, 295
Ahmadis have faced charges, and at the end of the year two Ahmadis were
in prison under the blasphemy laws.
The National Commission for Justice and Peace noted that abductions
and forced conversions of Christians and Hindus were on the rise. It
reported in December that 20 Christian and 21 Hindus were forced to
convert to Islam during the year, of whom 15 were men, 13 women, and
four children.
Authorities argued that the law prohibits minor girls' return to
non-Muslim families following their conversion to Islam, even in cases
where the minor girls were abducted and then converted to Islam.
Although families alleged the minor girls' conversions and the
affidavits that authorities produced to verify them were fraudulent,
the authorities did not return the minor girls to their families after
releasing them from their abductors.
The Hindu community continued to face harassment and demands for
bribes from security forces. In April a minority minister in the Sindh
Assembly claimed that 18 Hindu women had been abducted and forced to
convert to Islam and that one of them was killed. He claimed that
approximately 30 to 35 members of religious minorities had been
kidnapped, resulting in one death.
Ahmadi leaders charged that militant Sunni mullahs and their
followers sometimes staged marches through the streets of Rabwah, a
predominantly Ahmadi town and spiritual center in central Punjab.
Ahmadis claimed that police generally were present during the marches.
Ahmadi, Christian, Hindu, and Shia Muslim communities reported
significant discrimination in employment and access to education,
including government institutions. These communities also faced
societal violence. The National Education Policy mandated Islamic
studies in schools; non-Muslim students could opt out of the course in
favor of a more general ethics course. Several minority religious
groups claimed the policy infringed on the religious freedom of non-
Muslim students and made textbooks more biased toward Islam by removing
information regarding the practices of other religions.
Although there were few Jewish citizens in the country, anti-
Semitic sentiments appeared to be widespread.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation; the government limited these rights in practice. The
government required that foreigners obtain special permits to enter
certain restricted areas, including the FATA, Balochistan, and parts of
the NWFP, due to security concerns. Foreigners were required to obtain
a No Objection Certificate (NOC) issued by the government to enter Azad
Kashmir.
The law prohibits travel to Israel, but it was not enforced in
practice. Government employees and students must obtain NOCs before
traveling abroad, although this requirement rarely was enforced against
students.
Persons on the Exit Control List (ECL) were prohibited from foreign
travel. Although the ECL was intended to prevent those with pending
criminal cases from traveling abroad, no judicial action was required
for the Ministry of Interior to add a name to the ECL, and it was
sometimes used to harass human rights activists or leaders of
nationalist parties. Those on the list had the right to appeal to the
courts for removal of their names.
The law prohibits forced exile, and no case of forced exile was
reported during the year.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--During the year the number of
IDPs fluctuated due to militant activity and military operations in the
NWFP and the FATA. The population displacement first began in August
2008 from Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies in the FATA and Lower Dir
District in the NWFP. In late April and early May, a larger population
displacement from Lower Dir, Buner, and Swat districts in the NWFP
occurred as military operations confronted a militant offensive that
had extended into Buner. The total number of IDPs ultimately swelled to
2.87 million. The government and the international humanitarian
assistance community worked together to ensure protection for all IDPs
and access to food, shelter, medicine, water, and sanitation. The
government also provided debit cards worth 25,000 rupees ($300) to
approximately 320,000 displaced families from the Malakand Division to
support the return process, and cards worth 5,000 rupees ($60) for
livelihood support to approximately 21,000 displaced families from
South Waziristan. There was concern that the government limited the
areas of origin considered eligible for assistance or disqualified
individuals whose national identity cards had problems. According to a
July 16 notification by the NWFP authorities, only persons displaced as
a consequence of a current or imminent army operation could be
classified as IDPs. By late November, after significant returns, the
IDP population was approximately 1.2 million, including recent
displacements from Bajaur, Khyber, Kurram, Orakzai, and South
Waziristan agencies. Most of the 1.2 million IDPs lived with host
communities or in rented accommodation in the FATA and the NWFP and
approximately 125,000 resided in tent camps in the NWFP.
Media reports from 2003 estimated that 1.5 million Kashmiris
displaced from Indian-held Kashmir had entered the country. The law
entitles Kashmiris to the same rights as full citizens.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a party to the 1951 UN
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
but in practice, the government in most cases provided protection
against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their
lives or freedom would be threatened. The country is a member of the
UNHCR's governing Executive Committee and cooperated with the UNHCR in
protecting, assisting, and repatriating Afghan refugees.
Since 1979 the government has provided temporary protection to
millions of refugees from Afghanistan. According to the government-run
National Database and Registration Authority, there were approximately
1.7 million registered Afghan refugees in the country. There were no
credible estimates of how many Afghans are undocumented or
unregistered. The government continued to work closely with the UNHCR
to provide support to this refugee population, although the Tripartite
Agreement between the UNHCR and the governments of Pakistan and
Afghanistan, setting the terms and conditions under which Afghan
refugees can remain in Pakistan and the structure for the UNHCR-
assisted voluntary repatriation program, expired December 31. Although
the prime minister did not sign the Afghan Management Strategy by
December 31, the Ministry for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON)
released a statement to the UNHCR that Pakistan would comply with the
Tripartite Agreement and would not force Afghan refugees to return to
Afghanistan upon expiration of their Proof of Registration (PoR) cards.
SAFRON also requested that the Ministry of Interior issue instructions
to provincial home departments and other authorities to prevent
harassment of PoR card holders while the Management and Repatriation
Strategy for Afghan Refugees in Pakistan (2010-12) was being finalized.
According to the UNHCR, there were more than 80 Afghan refugee camps in
the country, including 71 in the NWFP, 12 in Balochistan, and one in
Punjab. Most Afghan refugees resided in urban areas.
In addition to internal displacement that resulted from the
military operation in Bajaur starting in August 2008, more than 20,000
residents fled into neighboring Kunar Province in Afghanistan in 2008.
The majority were believed to have returned as security allowed over
the course of the year.
In October 2008 the government ordered illegal Afghan refugees
resident in Bajaur to return to Afghanistan and began to deport
refugees who did not return voluntarily and to arrest those who
returned to Pakistan. Beginning in October, security forces reported
that hundreds of militants were crossing periodically from Afghanistan
into the country to commit violence.
Police in some cases demanded bribes from Afghan refugees. There
were credible reports that members of the intelligence services
harassed refugees. Some female refugees who accepted jobs with NGOs
reported harassment from Taliban sympathizers in their own community.
Refugees faced societal discrimination and abuse from local
communities, which resented economic competition and blamed refugees
for high crime rates and terrorism.
Although refugees did not have access to courts, the government
provided access to basic health and education services, especially for
Afghan refugees. Every refugee who registered with both the UNHCR and
the government-run Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees was granted
admission to public education facilities after filing the proper
paperwork. Single women, female-led households, and children working on
the streets were particularly vulnerable to abuse, including
trafficking.
The country lacks a legal and regulatory framework for the
management of refugees and migration. In many instances the rights of
refugees and services to which Afghans can or cannot have access are
open to local government or even individual interpretation. For
example, the State Bank governor decided that Afghans could not have
bank accounts, but the National Database and Registration Authority
regularly verified for banks the identity of refugees who wished to
open accounts. Although there is no legislation specifically permitting
Afghans to obtain driver's licenses, Afghans drove a large percentage
of the trucks in the NWFP. Afghans owned and leased property, but
occasionally a city or a provincial government issued instructions to
cancel all leases to Afghans. Afghans could not get jobs in government
but could often get jobs in industry, although sometimes there will be
a local order to fire Afghan workers. Although there are a number of
Afghan schools funded by foreign assistance, Afghan children usually
had no problem attending Pakistani primary schools. For older students,
and particularly in cities, access was harder. Even Afghans who have
grown up in Pakistan usually needed a student visa to attend university
in Pakistan but could get a student visa on the basis of their refugee
PoR card. Afghan refugees could avail themselves of the services of
police and courts, but some, particularly the poor, were afraid to do
so. In some cases of particularly abhorrent crime, the UNHCR has taken
up legal cases on behalf of refugee victims.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The law provides the majority of citizens with the right to change
their government, and the country held national and provincial
elections in 2008 that brought opposition parties to power. Gilgit-
Baltistan, the FATA, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir were subject to unique
systems. The president retained the power to dissolve parliament, a
power then president Musharraf arrogated to the presidency and codified
in constitutional Article 58(2)b in 2002.
Residents of Gilgit-Baltistan did not have representation in the
national parliament. On September 7, President Zardari signed the
Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order. Under the order
the formerly named Northern Areas were afforded a number of attributes
of a province and renamed Gilgit-Baltistan. The first elections were
held in November for the 24-member Gilgit Baltistan Legislative
Assembly, with the PPP winning the majority vote. On December 11, the
assembly elected Syed Mehdi Shah of the PPP as the first-ever chief
minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, replacing direct rule by the federal
government. The region has a Supreme Appellate Court headed by a chief
judge, a public service commission, a chief election commissioner, and
an auditor-general.
Residents of the FATA were overrepresented in the national
parliament but did not have a voice in federal decision making over the
tribal areas, an authority that belongs to the president. Tribal
residents did not have the right to change their local government, as
unelected civil bureaucrats nominally ran the tribal agencies. The
elected councils in the FATA, set up in 2007 to provide local
representation within the tribal areas, have not been given an active
role in governing the tribal areas. The Political Parties Act does not
apply to the FATA, and no political party can legally campaign or
operate an office there. On August 13, President Zardari announced his
intention to extend the act to the FATA; by year's end he had not
signed the necessary order. Some political parties asserted that this
prohibition on political party activity was void, because religious-
based parties such as Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and JI openly campaigned in
the FATA despite the law.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir is subject to its own constitution that
allows for a legislative assembly and a prime minister but prohibits
parties and candidates from contesting elections if they do not support
Kashmir's accession to the country, according to a 2006 HRW report.
Despite the existence of an elected parliament and executive for Azad
Jammu and Kashmir, the federal government controlled significant
decision making in the area, according to HRW's report. Under the Azad
Jammu and Kashmir constitution, authority over 52 critical policy areas
is ceded to the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council in Islamabad, whose
numerical composition favored the federal government. The federal
government can dismiss arbitrarily the elected Azad Jammu and Kashmir
legislative assembly.
Elections and Political Participation.--On November 12, Gilgit
Baltistan held its first election for a legislative assembly. The PPP
won a majority. According to preliminary findings and a preelection
analysis by the network of civil society organizations known as the
Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), government interference, weak
administration, procedural irregularities, and erroneous voter lists
affected the election results. The HRCP observer mission reported that
flaws caused by insufficient preparations marred the election. Although
the election was relatively peaceful, several incidents of violence
resulted in the deaths of two persons and injured at least 40.
In February 2008 the country held national parliamentary elections
that brought former opposition parties into a coalition government led
by the PPP under the leadership of Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani. The
elections were postponed multiple times, the last of which was due to
the assassination of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto in 2007. In the
September 2008 indirect presidential election, Asif Ali Zardari,
widower of Bhutto, became president succeeding Pervez Musharraf, who
had resigned in August 2008. The PPP and its coalition partners took
control of the executive and legislative branches of the national
government and three of the four provincial assemblies. The PML-N took
control of the Punjab provincial assembly. The PML-N, originally the
PPP's largest partner in the national government, withdrew from the
coalition on August 25, 2008, ostensibly due to the PML-N's insistence
that judges deposed during the 2007 state of emergency be reinstated to
their original positions.
International and domestic observers found the February 2008
parliamentary election competitive and noted that the results appeared
to reflect the will of the voters, despite significant flaws in the
process. The government permitted all existing political parties to
contest the elections. The largest political parties participated.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, some Baloch parties, and several parties
from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal coalition were among those that staged
a boycott.
The government required voters to indicate their religion when
registering to vote. The Ahmadi community boycotted the elections,
according to the EU Election Observation Mission, because they were
required to register on a separate voter roll.
The FAFEN documented intimidation of voters and political parties
by security services and local landowners throughout the country before
the election. In particular, their observers noted that police
pressured candidates and political party workers by threatening to
register cases against them. Police often reportedly did not allow
rallies for opposition parties and pressured individuals to vote for
the PML. The FAFEN documented cases in which intelligence services
pressured candidates to withdraw.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reportedly accredited
approximately 25,000 domestic observers, the majority of whom were from
the FAFEN. The EU and Democracy International were among the
organizations that fielded international observation teams. In
September 2008, for the first time, the ECP released the certified
results of the elections broken down by polling station, a step toward
greater transparency.
The Ministry of Interior issued restrictions on political rallies
beyond what already existed in the electoral code of conduct, in the
wake of suicide bombings against Benazir Bhutto and other high-profile
leaders.
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems noted that
formal adjudication of challenges related to disputed election results
was weak and that the high courts did not meet statutorily prescribed
deadlines for adjudication of challenges in the majority of cases
brought before them.
Petitions filed in the Lahore High Court Election Tribunal
separately challenged the eligibility of PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif to
run for the National Assembly and Shahbaz Sharif to run for the Punjab
Provincial Assembly. The Supreme Court dismissed both petitions during
the year.
There were 60 seats in the National Assembly reserved for women,
and an additional 16 women won directly elected seats in the 342-seat
National Assembly. There were five women in the federal cabinet. In
2008, for the first time in the country's history, the National
Assembly elected a female speaker, Dr. Fahmida Mirza. There were 128
reserved seats for women of the 758 seats in provincial assemblies.
One-third of the seats were reserved for women in local councils.
Provincial chief ministers named women to serve in their cabinets. In
some districts, social and religious conservatives prevented women from
becoming candidates.
There were 10 religious minority members in reserved seats in the
National Assembly, and one served in the cabinet as the Federal
Minister for Minorities. Such seats were apportioned to parties based
on the percentage of seats each won in the assembly. Under the law
minorities held 23 reserved seats in the provincial assemblies: eight
in Punjab; nine in Sindh; three in the NWFP; and three in Balochistan.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law imposes criminal penalties for official corruption; the
government did not implement the law effectively in practice, and
officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. The
public perception of corruption was widespread.
Special accountability courts try corruption cases brought by the
NAB, including defaults on government loans by wealthy debtors. The NAB
has not targeted genuine business failures or small defaulters.
Accountability courts were expected to try cases within 30 days. In
accountability cases there was a presumption of guilt.
The Worldwide Governance Indicators of the World Bank reflected
that corruption was a severe problem.
On December 16, the Supreme Court declared the NRO null and void,
reopening all the cases against its beneficiaries. At year's end the
fate of beneficiaries, including the president, ministers, and
parliamentarians remained uncertain.
The NAB stopped disproportionately targeting opposition politicians
for prosecution following the return of the Anti-Crime and Economic
Wings of the NAB in April 2008 to the FIA, which reports to the
Ministry of Interior. Then president Musharraf had transferred them
from the FIA to the NAB in 2002. The NAB did not prosecute active duty
members of the military or judges.
The Freedom of Information Ordinance restricts the information to
which citizens may have access.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
With some exceptions 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 of the new administration were cooperative but
only somewhat responsive to the groups' views.
The government sought NGO technical cooperation, especially from
international NGOs, in the fields of humanitarian relief, development,
environment, election operations, and human trafficking. Human rights
groups reported they generally had good access to police stations and
prisons.
The government permitted international nongovernmental human rights
observers to visit the country. In some instances the government did
not issue visas to international NGO officials. The ICRC and many
agencies of the UN had offices in the country, including UNHCR, UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF), and UN Development Program. The government
did not allow ICRC access to security detainees in Swat and the NWFP.
The ICRC also reported difficulties in meeting freely with detainees in
Balochistan, where the government blocked access, and Punjab, where the
government restricted access to security-related prisoners.
The Senate and National Assembly Standing Committees on Law,
Justice, and Human Rights held hearings on a range of issues, including
honor crimes, police abuse of the blasphemy law, and the Hudood
Ordinance. The committees served as useful fora to raise public
awareness of such issues, but their final actions generally adhered to
government policy, and the committees did not have the resources to do
more than perform broad oversight. The Parliamentarians' Commission for
Human Rights, an inter-party caucus of parliamentarians, lobbied
effectively for reform in key areas.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides for equality for all citizens and broadly
prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, caste, residence, or
place of birth; in practice, there was significant discrimination based
on each of these factors.
Women.--Rape, other than by one's spouse, is a criminal offense. An
individual cannot be prosecuted for marital rape or for rape in a case
in which a marriage between the perpetrator and victim was contracted
but not solemnized. Although rape was frequent, prosecutions were rare.
The Ministry of Women's Development, Social Welfare, and Special
Education was charged with handling these issues, with NGO assistance.
On February 11, the Federal Shariat Court invalidated a 25-year-old
legal provision allowing a man accused of rape to impeach the
credibility of his alleged victim by offering evidence that she was
``of generally immoral character.''
The Women's Protection Act (WPA) of 2006 brought the crime of rape
under the jurisdiction of criminal rather than Islamic courts.
Previously, under the rape provision of the Hudood Ordinance, a woman
was compelled to produce four male witnesses to corroborate her charge.
Under the WPA, police are not allowed to arrest or hold a woman
overnight at a police station without a civil court judge's consent. In
an attempt to bypass difficulties rape victims faced at police
stations, a provision in the act called for a sessions judge to hear
all rape cases. Women's rights NGOs continued to assert that the law
introduced barriers to rape victims who did not have money or access to
the courts. Courts began bringing rape cases under the WPA rather than
the Hudood Ordinances.
The punishment for rape ranges from 10 to 25 years in prison and a
fine at a minimum or the death penalty at a maximum. The penalty for
gang rape is either death or life imprisonment, but sentences were
often much less severe.
There were no reliable national statistics on rape, due to the
serious underreporting of the problem.
Police were at times implicated in rape cases. Police often abused
or threatened victims and demanded they drop charges, especially when
the accused had bribed police. Police demanded bribes from some victims
before registering rape charges, and investigations were often
superficial. NGOs reported that some police stations stopped recording
rape complaints. Medical personnel did not have sufficient forensics
training, which further complicated prosecutions.
On June 5, the Lahore High Court reviewed a case of alleged gang
rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl. The girl, a resident of
Sheikhupura, was allegedly raped by Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad along with
others at Amin Hospital, then received a poisonous injection. According
to police, the accused remained in custody at year's end.
According to a July 26 New York Times article, two men abducted 16-
year-old Assiya Rafiq and held her for approximately eight months,
during which they repeatedly raped her. When the men handed her over to
police in Khanewal district, south Punjab, police officers allegedly
detained and raped her for 14 days. On June 19, a local court ordered
an investigation and released Rafiq. At year's end no arrests had been
made, and no further action had been taken.
According to the AHRC, on October 5, five men kidnapped 16-year-old
Ruby Perveen at gunpoint and gang-raped her. She was found
semiconscious the next day at a bus stop in Shumali, Sargodha. Three of
the alleged perpetrators--Qiaser Shahzad, Adeel Shahzad, and Irshad--
were allegedly the sons of a local political party leader. Although the
victim's family filed a FIR with local police, there were no arrests.
Police officers claimed an out-of-court settlement was being arranged,
a claim the victim's family denied. The government did not take any
further action by year's end.
On November 4, a district court in Karachi heard testimony in the
March 2008 gang rape case of an 18-year-old woman in the precinct of
Mazar-e-Quaid. Three of the alleged perpetrators were arrested, and at
year's end remained in jail awaiting trial.
There were no developments regarding the May 2008 rape case of a
seven-year-old girl by two men in Gowalmandi, Lahore. A case against
the suspects, one of whom was her uncle, was ongoing at the end of the
year.
There were no arrests regarding the August 2008 case in which a
group of men kidnapped, raped, and killed a 13-year-old schoolgirl in
Rawalpindi.
Police made no arrests in the 2008 case of a woman multiple men
kidnapped, raped, and severely burned with acid before killing her in
Mandi Bahauddin, Punjab, nor in the 2007 case of a 17-year-old girl
four men gang-raped in Shadara Town, Lahore. During the year, there
were no developments in the 2007 case of then 16-year-old Nasima
Labano, who at least eight men gang-raped as punishment. At year's end
eight suspects remained in jail.
During the year there were no developments in the Supreme Court
case brought against the men involved in the 2002 gang rape of Mukhtar
Mai. In 2005 the Supreme Court ordered that the five whose original
conviction the Lahore High Court overturned be rearrested and held
without bail. During the year Mai lived in her village in Punjab with
police protection, and the 13 men allegedly involved in the gang rape
were in prison.
Domestic violence was a widespread and serious problem. Husbands
reportedly beat, and occasionally killed, their wives. Other forms of
domestic violence included torture and shaving. In-laws abused and
harassed married women. Dowry and family-related disputes often
resulted in death or disfigurement by burning or acid.
According to the Aurat Foundation, the cases of violence against
women increased 13 percent from the previous year. The Aurat Foundation
reported that during the year 1,384 women were killed, 1,987 were
abducted, 683 committed suicide, and 928 were raped or gang-raped. Also
according to the Aurat Foundation, there were 608 cases of domestic
violence, 274 cases of sexual assault, 683 cases of suicide, and 50
cases of stove burning.
According to a 2008 HRCP report, 80 percent of wives in rural
Punjab feared violence from their husbands, and nearly 50 percent of
wives in developed urban areas admitted that their husbands beat them.
The HRCP reported 52 cases of women doused with kerosene and set afire.
The Aurat Foundation reported that during the year there were 53 cases
of acid attacks, up from 29 in 2008.
Women who tried to report abuse faced serious challenges. Police
and judges were reluctant to take action in domestic violence cases,
viewing them as family problems. Police, instead of filing charges,
usually responded by encouraging the parties to reconcile. Abused women
usually were returned to their abusive family members. Women were
reluctant to pursue charges because of the stigma attached to divorce
and their economic and psychological dependence on relatives. Relatives
were hesitant to report abuse for fear of dishonoring the family.
The government operated the Crisis Center for Women in Distress,
which referred abused women to NGOs for assistance. There were
approximately 70 district-run shelter homes and approximately 250
facilities operating as emergency shelters for women in distress,
including female police stations and homes run by provincial social
welfare departments and NGOs. The district-run centers provided
shelter, access to medical treatment, limited legal representation, and
some vocational training.
In some cases women were abused at the government-run shelters.
There were no developments in the 2007 case of the man who
allegedly set his 21-year-old wife on fire in Rawalpindi with
assistance from his two brothers. At year's end the case of the two men
police had arrested was pending in Rawalpindi District Court.
Honor killings and mutilations occurred throughout the country
during the year. The Aurat Foundation reported that during the year
there were 604 honor killings.
A 2005 law established penalties for honor killings. Human rights
groups criticized the legislation because it allows the victim or the
victim's heirs to negotiate physical or monetary restitution with the
perpetrator of the crime in exchange for dropping charges, a law known
as ``qisas'' and ``diyat.'' Because honor crimes generally occurred
within families, perpetrators were able to negotiate nominal payments
and avoid more serious punishment.
On April 24, according to media reports, Alia Bibi and Azeemul Haq
were shot dead in the Kala Dhaka PATA. The couple had eloped, and a
jirga had subsequently condemned them to death. Alpuri police arrested
the couple in Shangla on February 26 and released them on bail. Soon
thereafter, they were kidnapped and taken to Kala Dhaka, where the
jirga enforced the execution order. A government representative said
that although he regretted the killing, the jirga system was the only
law in the area.
On June 28, according to Dawn, armed men, some in police uniform,
attacked the home of a newlywed couple in Charsadda, killing five
persons. According to the husband's relatives, some of the armed men
pretended to be policemen, knocked on the door, and shot him. The
bride's relatives then scaled a wall, entered the house, and began
firing, killing the bride as well as her husband's father, mother, and
sister. The bride's family allegedly was upset because the couple had
wed against their wishes. The police made no arrests in the case.
On July 27, the Supreme Court settled the March 2008 case of Taslim
Solangi, a 17-year-old girl who was allegedly the victim of a jirga-
ordered honor killing. According to the AHRC, she was attacked by dogs
and then her in-laws killed her. The Supreme Court concluded that no
dogs had been unleashed on her.
There were no developments in the July 2008 honor killings of two
teenage girls and three women in Baba Kot, Balochistan. After the case
prompted media controversy and condemnation by politicians and human
rights groups, the federal government and the provincial government
initiated an investigation and police arrested seven suspects. At
year's end the case was still pending in court.
Despite bans on handing over women as compensation for crimes
committed by rival tribes (also known as ``vani'' or ``swara''), the
practice continued in Punjab and the NWFP.
Parliament outlawed forced marriages in 2007, but implementation of
the law remained a problem.
The World Bank released a study in 2007 indicating that
approximately one-third of marriages in rural areas were ``watta
satta,'' exchange marriages in which men marry each other's sisters.
The study indicated that the reciprocal nature of the practice provided
some measure of protection for women. According to the study, ``women
in watta satta marriages have substantially and significantly lower
probabilities of marital estrangement, domestic abuse, and major
depressive episodes.'' Human rights groups such as the HRCP criticized
the practice, noting that ``these marriages treat women as a commodity,
and tension within one household also affects the other.''
In rural Sindh landowning families continued the practice of
``marriage with Koran'' to avoid division of property. Property of
women married to the Koran remains under the legal control of their
father or eldest brother, and such women are prohibited from contact
with any male older than 14. These women were expected to stay in the
home and not maintain contact with anyone outside of their family.
Prostitution is illegal. Most prostitutes were victims of domestic
or international trafficking and were held against their will. Police
generally ignored the activity if they received bribes. Police raided
brothels during the year but many continued to operate underground,
particularly in larger cities.
Sexual harassment was a widespread problem. There was no law to
protect women in the workplace. Press reports indicated harassment was
especially high among domestic workers and nurses. Although the penal
code prohibits harassment, prosecution was rare.
According to AHRC, on May 11 Maheen Usmani, a senior anchorperson
for Dunya TV News in Islamabad, allegedly received two late-night phone
calls from Yusuf Baig Mirza, the channel's managing director, in which
he made inappropriate comments. Usmani informed the channel's director
of news and chief executive officer, but no action was taken. Usmani
claimed she experienced professional setbacks, and on June 15 she
resigned from her position, citing ``continued harassment, coercion,
and highly unethical conduct of the top management of Dunya News.'' An
internal investigation committee and the National Press Club
investigated the claim, but there was no progress by year's end. Mirza
filed two defamation lawsuits against Usmani, who has been approached
with offers of money and jobs in exchange for dropping the case.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children, and had the information and means to
do so free from discrimination. Young girls and women were especially
vulnerable to problems related to sexual and reproductive health and
rights. According to the National Committee for Maternal and Neonatal
Health, only 30 percent of married women of reproductive age used any
contraceptive method, and more than one-quarter of these women used
traditional methods that are less effective than modern contraceptives.
Few women in rural areas had access to skilled attendance during
childbirth, including essential obstetric and postpartum care. Women
were less likely than men to be diagnosed and treated for sexually
transmitted infections, including HIV.
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, but in
practice this provision was not enforced. Women faced discrimination in
family law, property law, and the judicial system.
Family law provides protections for women in cases of divorce,
including requirements for maintenance, and lays out clear guidelines
for custody of minor children and their maintenance. Many women were
unaware of these legal protections or unable to obtain legal counsel to
enforce them. Divorced women often were left with no means of support
and their families ostracized them. Although prohibited by law, the
practice of buying and selling brides continued in rural areas. Women
are legally free to marry without family consent, but women who did so
were often ostracized or were the victims of honor crimes.
Inheritance law discriminates against women. Female children are
entitled to one-half the inheritance of male children. Wives inherit
one-eighth of their husband's estate. In practice women often received
far less than their legal entitlement.
Women faced significant discrimination in employment and were
frequently paid less than men for similar work. In many rural areas of
the country, strong societal pressure prevented women from working
outside the home. Some tribes continued the traditional practice of
sequestering women from all contact with males other than relatives.
Numerous women's rights NGOs such as the Progressive Women's
Association, Sehar, Struggle for Change, War against Rape, and Aurat
Foundation were active in urban areas. Their primary concerns included
domestic violence and honor crimes.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory. Reporting of births is voluntary, and records are not
uniformly kept, particularly in rural areas. In lieu of a birth
certificate, individuals often used school records attested by the
headmaster or principal of the school or matriculation certificates,
both of which identify the father and the date of birth.
The government made some progress during the year in defending
children's rights and welfare through its laws and programs, but
problems remained. Juveniles accused of terrorism or narcotics offenses
were not protected under the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance. The
Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) reported
children as young as 12 were arrested under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Children convicted under this act are subject to the death penalty.
Local laws do not mandate free public education, and schools
generally charged tuition. Public schools, particularly beyond the
primary grades, were not available in many rural areas. Parents of
lower socio-economic means often chose to send children to madrassas
where they received free room and board. In urban areas some parents
sent children to private schools due to the lack of facilities and poor
quality of education that the public system offered.
According to AFP, militants destroyed hundreds of schools, mostly
girls' schools, in the northwest region of the country. For example, on
November 1, militants detonated a bomb at a government high school for
girls in Kari Gar village, Khyber tribal district, destroying the
building and wounding four persons. In the last two years, militants
destroyed approximately 200 schools in the Swat Valley alone during the
Taliban insurgency.
Although boys and girls had equal access to government facilities,
families were more likely to seek medical assistance for boys.
Child abuse was widespread. The NGO Lawyers for Human Rights and
Legal Aid (LHRLA), reported that from January to November, 612 children
were murdered, 274 sodomized, 963 kidnapped, 374 trafficked, and 1,054
reported missing.
The legal age of marriage is 18 for males and 16 for females.
Despite laws barring child marriage, there was evidence it occurred.
LHRLA reported 1,006 cases of forced and ``vani'' marriages. In March
2008 the Family Planning Association of Pakistan estimated that child
marriages comprised 32 percent of marriages in the country. At a 2007
human rights seminar in Islamabad, participants noted a 12-year-old
girl could be purchased for 90,000 to 200,000 rupees ($1,140 to $2,540)
in parts of Sindh and the NWFP. In rural areas poor parents sold
children as bonded laborers and sold their daughters into marriage.
In 2008 the Edhi Welfare Trust (EWT) said it rescued approximately
30 infants each month from dumpsters in Karachi and elsewhere in the
country and recovered the bodies of about four times as many infants.
They reported that since 1970, they had recovered 68,000 dead infants
from garbage dumps. Of the infants abandoned or killed, 98 percent were
girls, according to the EWT.
There were no known limits on child IDPs' access to government
services, although some civil society organizations demanded
improvement in these services.
Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children were
problems. According to Sahil, an NGO that focuses on child sexual
exploitation, children were generally prostituted through the
involvement of a third party rather than prostituting themselves as a
means of survival.
According to media reports, Taliban militants forcibly recruited
child soldiers. The Times reported on July 28 that religious militants
allegedly kidnapped between 1,200 and 1,500 boys as young as 11 to be
trained in Swat as suicide bombers after the government signed a peace
deal with Taliban in February. In July the army rescued five teenage
boys after the military offensive in Swat forced the Taliban to abandon
the training camp where the boys had been held. The army set up a
rehabilitation center for the rescued children. The BBC reported
similar practices by Taliban militants in 2007.
The SPARC estimated that more than 150,000 children lived on the
streets in urban areas in 2008.
The penal code defines statutory rape as sexual intercourse with a
female younger than 16. The punishment for rape is death or
imprisonment for 10 to 25 years and a fine. Gang rape is punishable by
death or life imprisonment. Child pornography is illegal under general
obscenity laws.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits domestic and
international trafficking in persons, but there were reports that
persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country.
The country was a significant source, transit point, and
destination for trafficked persons, and internal trafficking was a
serious problem reportedly involving more than one million men, women,
and children. Men and women were trafficked from the country to the
Middle East to work as bonded or sex laborers or in domestic servitude.
The country was also a destination for women and children from
Bangladesh, India, Burma, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Central
Asia for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women from
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Burma, and East Asian countries were
trafficked through Pakistan to the Gulf. Traffickers bribed police and
immigration officials to facilitate passage. Foreign victims faced
societal discrimination upon repatriation.
Maximum penalties for trafficking ranged from seven to 14 years'
imprisonment plus fines. The FIA Anti-Trafficking Units had primary
responsibility for combating international trafficking. The government
assisted other countries such as Oman, the United Kingdom, Iran,
Turkey, Greece, and Australia with international investigations of
trafficking.
Authorities registered approximately 4,599 human smuggling and
trafficking cases during the year. This figure included trafficking
cases because the FIA did not have the facilities to identify
trafficking and smuggling victims. During the year authorities
discovered and detained nearly 5,500 individuals attempting to travel
through illegal routes. In 2008, FIA human trafficking cells estimated
that 700 persons attempted to leave the country using forged or
fraudulent documents.
Women and children from rural areas were trafficked internally to
urban centers for commercial sexual exploitation and other forms of
labor. Bonded labor of children in the brick kiln industry, carpet
weaving, and in agriculture remained a serious problem. In some cases
families sold children into servitude or believed they were marrying
off their children or sending them for legitimate employment, but in
other cases children were kidnapped.
Media reported April 4 that human smugglers had packed more than
100 Afghans into a shipping container in a bid to smuggle them to Iran;
52 of the Afghans suffocated to death and 51 others were found
unconscious at Hazar Ganji Bus Terminal in Quetta. On July 27, the FIA
arrested a key member of a human trafficking racket in Chachi Mohalla,
Wah Cantonment Police Station jurisdiction, who allegedly was involved
in the smuggling operation. At year's end the case was being processed
in the Quetta court system.
In 2005 the central government opened a model shelter in Islamabad
specifically for trafficking victims. There are more than 200 shelters
around the country providing services to trafficking victims, including
government-run camps in Sindh for released bonded laborers. During the
year the government of Punjab initiated a project to eliminate bonded
labor in brick kilns in Lahore and Kasur districts. The government of
Sindh also initiated a project at the end of 2008 to distribute state
land to poor laborers, with a focus on women, in efforts to reduce
bonded labor practices. The federal government also provided temporary
residence status to foreign victims of trafficking.
The federal government, in cooperation with UNICEF and the United
Arab Emirates, worked to repatriate and rehabilitate children used as
camel jockeys. An estimated 700 children have been repatriated through
these efforts since 2005. The FIA facilitated payment of compensatory
damages from the United Arab Emirates.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides for equality of the
rights of persons with disabilities. There are employment quotas at
federal and provincial levels that require public and private
organizations to reserve at least 2 percent of jobs for qualified
persons with disabilities. In practice, this right was only partially
protected due to lack of adequate enforcement mechanisms. Families
cared for most individuals who had physical and mental disabilities. In
some cases criminals forced persons with disabilities into begging and
took most of the proceeds they received.
Organizations that refused to hire persons with disabilities could
choose to pay a fine to a disability assistance fund. This obligation
was rarely enforced. The National Council for the Rehabilitation of the
Disabled provided job placement and loan facilities as well as
subsistence funding. The Council also operated the Pakistan Society for
the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, which provided rehabilitation,
vocational training, and medical support to persons with disabilities.
On August 10, President Zardari launched the ``Special Persons-
Special Cards'' initiative under which persons with disabilities
received reduced prices for a number of services, including
transportation and financial services. The initiative also undertook
measures to provide them with greater physical access to public
facilities.
There were no restrictions on the rights of persons with
disabilities to vote or participate in civil affairs.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Systematic discrimination
against national, ethnic, and racial minorities is widely acknowledged
privately, but insufficient data exist for clear and accurate reporting
on these forms of discrimination.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Homosexual intercourse is a
criminal offense; in practice the government rarely prosecuted cases.
Gays and lesbians rarely revealed their sexual orientation, and there
were no cases brought to the courts during the year of discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation.
Society generally shunned transvestites, eunuchs, and
hermaphrodites--referred to as hijras. They often lived together in
slum communities and survived by begging and dancing at carnivals and
weddings. Some were also involved in prostitution. Hijras were often
denied places in schools or admission to hospitals, and landlords often
refused to rent or sell property to them. Their families often denied
them their fair share of inherited property.
On July 14, the Supreme Court stated that hijras are equal citizens
of the country and ordered provincial social welfare departments to
survey and register hijras and to provide them benefits from the
government's financial support mechanisms, such as the Benazir Income
Support Program. On December 23, the Supreme Court ordered authorities
to allow transvestites and eunuchs to identify themselves as a distinct
gender and ordered the government to give national identity cards to
members of the community. The Supreme Court also ordered that district
administrations assist them in obtaining inheritance rights after
tracing their families.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--According to the
government's National Aids Control Program (NACP), there was no
discrimination based on HIV/AIDS status observed in the government
service. Societal attitudes toward HIV-positive individuals were
changing, but social discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS
remained. Cases of discrimination often went unreported due to the
stigma against HIV/AIDS patients. The NACP estimated that there were
97,500 HIV-positive individuals in the country and that only 5 percent
were reported. In addition to opening new treatment centers, the NACP
held rallies and public campaigns and spoke in mosques about birth
control and AIDS awareness.
Section 7. Worker Rights
According to NGOs and the Economic Survey of Pakistan, the total
workforce was approximately 51.8 million. Labor groups and
International Labor Organization (ILO) figures indicated that
approximately 3 percent of the total estimated workforce was unionized.
The constitution states that ``every citizen shall have the right to
form associations or unions, subject to any reasonable restriction
imposed by law.''
In November 2008 the parliament enacted the interim Industrial
Relations Act 2008 (IRA), which went into effect in December 2008 and
was set to expire in April 2010, and repealed the previous labor law,
the Industrial Relations Ordinance of 2002 (IRO). Although the IRA
expanded the right to form labor unions to include more labor sectors,
labor groups were concerned about limited tripartite consultations in
the drafting of the IRA and continued exclusions of large sectors of
the workforce.
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution protects the right
of association, but according to the 1973 Civil Servants Act, civil
servants may establish associations and may not form or join trade
unions. The 2008 IRA expanded the right of association to workers and
employers in the private sector but continued to exclude nonprofit
organizations, self-employed workers, agricultural and other informal
sector workers, the more than 15,000 employees working in the country's
12 export processing zones (EPZs), and most public sector employees,
including medical staff, firefighters, teachers, and state enterprise
employees. Under the IRA, EPZ workers are prohibited from joining
unions, bargaining collectively, or striking. The EPZ Authority is
empowered to draft labor laws within the EPZs, but no such laws have
been drafted. NGOs and government surveys estimated that agriculture
accounted for approximately 45 percent of the labor force and other
informal sectors accounted for 20 percent, rendering more than 65
percent of the labor force without the right of association. In
practice the 2008 IRA was too new to judge enforcement and, given its
interim nature, labor groups did not follow closely its effects.
The 2008 IRA took positive steps to decrease government control of
membership and participation by eliminating the previous requirement
for Collective Bargaining Agents to affiliate with a national-level
registered federation. Under the IRA trade unions have the right to
join any federation or confederation of their choice. Under the IRA,
unlike the IRO, the Registrar of Trade Unions cannot cancel a trade
union's registration. There were no reported incidents of the
government dissolving a union without due process.
According to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC),
the IRA does not articulate the rights of workers to conduct sympathy
strikes and under the IRA it takes at least one month before a strike
can be legally declared. The federal government has wide powers to
prohibit a strike if it lasts for more than 30 days and causes
``serious hardship to the community'' or is ``prejudicial to the
national interest.'' In the case of public utility services, strikes
may be prohibited at any time before or after the strike begins. The
Anti-Terrorist Ordinance of 1999 defines illegal strikes, picketing,
and other types of protests as ``civil commotion,'' which carries a
penalty of up to life imprisonment. Section 144 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure also deems any gathering of four or more persons subject to
police authorization, a provision that authorities use against trade
union gatherings. In previous years the Essential Services
(Maintenance) Act of 1952 (ESMA) had been invoked to limit or ban
strikes by public sector workers and to curtail collective bargaining
rights; labor groups reported that ESMA was not applied during the
year.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Collective
bargaining for some workforce sectors is protected under the 2008 IRA.
Sectors not covered are the same as those excluded from Freedom of
Association: nonprofit organizations, self-employed workers,
agricultural laborers, other informal sector workers, and most public
sector employees, including medical staff, firefighters, and teachers.
The IRA prohibits employers from retaliating against workers for union
activity, and any employer found to have engaged in serious violations
was liable for fines but not imprisonment. In practice the IRA was not
fully enforced.
The ITUC reported that employers disqualified workers from union
membership by promoting them to nominal managerial status. According to
ITUC, there were cases in previous years in which management resorted
to intimidation, dismissal, and blacklisting to prevent unionization.
The ITUC reported in March 2008 that brick kiln bonded laborers
attempted to organize in seven districts of Punjab. The largest
gathering was in Lahore, with nearly 5,000 attending the event.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
slavery and all forms of forced labor. In practice the government did
not enforce the prohibitions effectively, and there were numerous
instances in which such practices occurred.
The Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act of 1992 (BLAA) outlaws
bonded labor, cancels all existing debts, forbids lawsuits for the
recovery of such debts, and establishes a District Vigilance Committee
system to implement the act. Due to technical flaws, federal and local
government structural changes, and a lack of budget for implementation,
the act was largely unenforced. As a result law enforcement registered
bonded labor offenses under other sections of the penal code. During
the year police releases of bonded laborers increased between 140 and
200 percent in areas of high incidence of bonded labor in Sindh. In
Punjab there was a 10 percent increase in cases registered for forced
or bonded labor offenses.
NGOs reported that more than one million persons were involved in
some form of bonded labor, primarily in Sindh and Punjab. A large
proportion of bonded laborers were low-caste Hindus, Christians, or
Muslims of lower socio-economic class. Bonded labor was most common in
agriculture and in brick, glass, carpet, and fishing industries.
Bonded laborers often were unable to determine when their debts
were fully paid. Some bonded laborers returned to their former status
after being freed, due to a lack of alternative employment options.
Ties between landowners and brick kiln owners and influential
politicians hampered effective elimination of the problem.
A 2008 Freedom House report noted that bonded laborers sometimes
sold their organs, particularly kidneys, to make money to escape
servitude. According to the UN's Integrated Regional Information
Networks, the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation conducted
a survey in Punjab released in 2007 noting that 93 percent of kidney
sellers needed the money to repay debts and 69 percent of sellers were
bonded laborers. Despite the 2007 Human Organs and Tissues Transplant
Ordinance, which criminalizes the practice of kidney sale and purchase,
media continued to report instances during the year in which laborers
sold their kidneys for as little as 84,000 rupees ($1,000).
On October 27, Time reported that at least three landlords had held
more than 150 bonded laborers against their will in Sindh Province for
more than 30 days. Lawyers provided by local NGOs filed petitions in
district courts for the release of the laborers, who were all in bonded
employment. The laborers, a third of whom were children, were landless
peasants. Sindh law enforcement secured the release of all the
laborers, and criminal charges have been filed against one of the
landlords.
The Ministry of Labor, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis initiated a
123 million rupee ($1.4 million) project during the year to combat
bonded labor in brick kilns, through which it obtained national
identity cards for 11,000 brick kiln workers and issued interest-free
microfinance loans of 11.8 million rupees ($140,000) to help workers
pay off debts to employers or finance their work activity. The Punjab
Ministry of Labor registered nearly 200 brick kilns and 6,000 workers
to take steps to better regulate the industry and provided free legal
aid to laborers, registering more than 150 cases in 2009.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace; however,
enforcement of child labor laws was weak, and child labor remained a
serious problem.
The law makes bonded labor by children punishable by as long as
five years in prison and as much as 50,000 rupees ($635) in fines. The
law prohibits the employment of children younger than 14 in factories,
mines, railways, rag picking, port areas, fireworks, and other
hazardous occupations, and regulates their work conditions. The
government has identified four occupations and 34 processes considered
illegal for children, including street vending, surgical instrument
manufacturing, deep sea fishing, leather manufacturing, brick making,
production of soccer balls, and carpet weaving.
The law limits a child's workday to seven hours, including a one-
hour break after three hours of labor, and sets permissible times of
day for work and time off. No child is allowed to work overtime or at
night, and a child should have one day off per week. In addition, the
law requires employers to keep for labor inspectors' examination a
register of children working for them. These prohibitions and
regulations do not apply to family businesses or government schools.
The law protects all children younger than 18 from exploitation, and
defines exploitative entertainment as all activities related to human
sports or sexual practices and other abusive practices. Parents who
exploit their children are also liable under the law.
Enforcement was a serious problem. According to media, a government
directive to ban inspection of industrial units in Punjab prevents
detection of child labor. According to the HRCP and SPARC, there were
10 to 11.5 million child laborers, many of them in agriculture and
domestic work. The media reported that approximately 70 percent of
nonagricultural child labor took place in small workshops, complicating
efforts to enforce child labor laws as, by law, inspectors may not
inspect facilities employing fewer than 10 persons. The Ministry of
Labor, Manpower, and Overseas Pakistanis had a small group of
specialized labor inspectors empowered to inspect all facilities under
the child labor law. Authorities stated that violations were
immediately cited and prosecuted; in practice, enforcement efforts were
not adequate to meet the scale of the problem. Inspectors have little
training and insufficient resources, and are susceptible to corruption.
Authorities allowed NGOs to perform inspections without interference,
and SPARC noted that government officials usually cooperated with their
visits.
The law allows fines of as much as 20,200 rupees ($256) for
violations of child labor laws. Authorities often did not impose
penalties on violators during the year, and when they did the penalties
were not a significant deterrent. Although law enforcement authorities
obtained hundreds of convictions for violations of child labor laws,
the fines the courts levied ranged from an average of 364 rupees ($5)
in the NWFP to an average of 7,344 rupees ($93) in Balochistan.
Children were forced to work in the brick kiln and carpet-weaving
industries as well as in agriculture as part of their family's debt
obligation to feudal landowners or owners of brick kilns. In March the
National Coalition Against Child Labor released a report on bonded
labor in the country that stated there were 1.7 million persons in
bonded labor in the agricultural sector, including children, and called
for amendments to the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The fixed minimum wage per month
was 6,000 rupees ($76), increased in March 2008 from 4,000 ($51). It
applied only to industrial and commercial establishments employing 50
or more workers. The national minimum wage did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family and fell short of the
Pakistan Workers' Federation demand for a minimum wage of 12,000 rupees
($152) per month. Significant parts of the work force, such as those in
the informal sector, domestics, and migrant workers, were not covered.
Federal law provides for a maximum workweek of 48 hours (54 hours
for seasonal factories) with rest periods during the workday and paid
annual holidays. These regulations did not apply to agricultural
workers, workers in factories with fewer than 10 employees, domestic
workers, and contractors. Additional benefits required under the
Federal Labor Code include official government holidays, overtime pay,
annual and sick leave, health care, education for workers' children,
social security, old age benefits, and a workers' welfare fund.
Health and safety standards were poor. There was a serious lack of
adherence to mine safety and health protocols. For example, mines had
only one opening for entry, egress, and ventilation. Workers could not
remove themselves from dangerous working conditions without risking
loss of employment.
Provincial governments have primary responsibility for enforcing
labor regulations. Enforcement was ineffective due to limited
resources, corruption, and inadequate regulatory structures. According
to the ITUC, labor inspectors exempted certain employers from
inspection in Sindh and Punjab. Many workers remained unaware of their
rights, especially in the informal labor sectors.
__________
SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka is a constitutional, multiparty republic with a
population estimated at 21 million. President Mahinda Rajapaksa,
elected in 2005, and the parliament, elected in 2004, both for six-year
terms, share constitutional power. The government is dominated by the
president's family; two of his brothers hold key executive branch
posts, defense secretary and senior advisor to the president.
International observers generally characterized the 2005 national
elections as free and fair; however, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) enforced a boycott of the presidential polls by ethnic
Tamils in the north and east, and many observers believed that this
affected the electoral outcome in favor of the current president. The
government declared victory over the LTTE on May 18 after more than 25
years of armed conflict. While civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces, observers linked
the government closely to paramilitary groups believed responsible for
serious human rights violations.
The government's respect for human rights declined as armed
conflict reached its conclusion. Outside of the conflict zone, the
overwhelming majority of victims of human rights violations, such as
extrajudicial killings and disappearances, were young male Tamils,
while Tamils were estimated to be only 16 percent of the overall
population. Credible reports cited unlawful killings by paramilitaries
and others believed to be working with the awareness and assistance of
the government, assassinations by unknown perpetrators, politically
motivated killings, and disappearances. The government was credibly
accused of arbitrary arrests and detentions, poor prison conditions,
denial of fair public trial, government corruption and lack of
transparency, infringement of freedom of movement, harassment of
journalists and lawyers critical of the government, and discrimination
against minorities. Human rights observers alleged that progovernment
paramilitary groups and security forces participated in armed attacks
against civilians and practiced torture, kidnapping, hostage-taking,
and extortion with impunity. During the year there were no indications
or public reports that civilian or military courts convicted any
military, police, or paramilitary members for human rights abuses. In
some cases the military turned over military members to the civilian
judicial system for processing. The executive failed to appoint the
Constitutional Council, which is required under the constitution, thus
obstructing the appointment of independent representatives to important
institutions such as the Human Rights Commission, Bribery Commission,
Police Commission, and Judicial Service Commission.
In May the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) defeated the LTTE when the SLA
captured all remaining LTTE-controlled territory and killed its leader,
Velupillai Prabhakaran. During the final months of the war, the LTTE
engaged in torture, arbitrary arrest, and detention; denied fair public
trials; arbitrarily interfered with privacy; and denied freedoms of
speech, press, assembly, and association. The LTTE prevented civilians
under its control from crossing over to government-held territory by
shooting and killing those attempting to escape. As the conflict
intensified, the LTTE forcibly recruited both adults and children for
combat and reportedly located mortars and other heavy weapons near or
in civilian encampments, drawing government military fire in the
process. Until its defeat in May, the LTTE continued to organize bomb
attacks in areas that it did not control, particularly in the south,
targeting military, political, and civilian persons and property.
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 numerous
reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings, but reliable statistics on such killings by the
government, its paramilitary allies, and the LTTE were difficult to
obtain because past complainants were killed and families feared
reprisals if they filed complaints (see section 1.g.).
Police or other security forces killed several detained suspects.
For example, on August 13, police arrested M.B. Dinesh Tharanga
Fernando and Dhanushka Udayanga Aponsu in Angulana. No formal charges
were filed and the men's relatives were not allowed to see them. Their
bodies were found the following morning with fatal gunshot wounds. The
Mount Lavinia district magistrate ordered an investigation by the
Criminal Investigation Division, and the government took nine members
of the Angulana police force into custody as suspects.
According to official accounts, other deaths occurred when security
forces took the suspects to the scenes of their alleged crimes, and
shot and killed them while they allegedly were trying to escape. On
March 13, six persons were arrested in connection with the killing of a
schoolgirl in the Trincomalee area. Police reported that two of the six
were killed in the jungle near Kanniya by LTTE forces; the police shot
and killed one person who tried to escape as he was being transferred
to court; and a fourth suspect died in police custody.
During the year unknown actors suspected of association with
paramilitary groups reportedly assisting government military forces
committed numerous killings and assaults of civilians. These included
the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), led by breakaway-LTTE
eastern commanders Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan, alias ``Karuna,'' and
Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, alias ``Pillaiyan,'' in the east as well
as the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), led by Minister of
Social Services and Social Welfare Douglas Devananda, in Jaffna. Other
progovernment paramilitaries increasingly were active in Mannar and
Vavuniya. The TMVP increasingly became a political organization but
with armed and allegedly criminal elements.
There were no developments in the November 2008 case of the killing
of Pillaiyan's private secretary, Kumaraswamy Nandagopan, which was
allegedly carried out by supporters of rival TMVP leader Karuna.
In June the Commission of Inquiry (COI), set up under retired
Supreme Court justice Udalagama to investigate high profile killings
and disappearances, ceased operation. The COI did not issue a public
report and reportedly investigated only seven of the 17 cases it was
asked to review. One of the cases the COI did complete involved the
2006 killing of 17 local staff of the French NGO Action Against Hunger
(ACF), but COI's methods raised serious concerns about its fairness.
The COI reportedly determined that ACF was to blame for the deaths for
having allowed their employees to work in an area where violence was
likely to occur. The COI also exonerated all government security forces
by saying the LTTE had killed the workers, contrary to many independent
analyses of available evidence that pointed toward involvement in the
killings by police, Muslim Home Guard, and Special Task Force members.
Security forces visited the victims' families and asked them to sign
letters blaming ACF for the deaths and calling for a foreign government
to provide further compensation. It was unclear how many families had
agreed to sign the letters.
A separate commission set up under retired Supreme Court justice
Tillekeratne to investigate abductions, disappearances, killings, and
unidentified bodies completed its mandate on December 31 with a final
report to the president due in early 2010. In November the commission
told the press that in many cases relatives of disappeared persons had
not filed reports with the local police, hampering investigations.
Other observers commented that this was likely due to mistrust of local
security forces and a belief that, at best, the local police were
unlikely to be of any assistance.
There was no progress on several high profile killings; for
example, the January 8 killing of the chief editor of the Sunday Leader
and Morning Leader newspapers, Lasantha Wickrematunga, by four
assailants.
There was no investigation into the killing of a young man at a
polling station in a Colombo suburb on April 25, the day of Western
Provincial Council elections. Leading United Peoples Freedom Alliance
candidate Duminda de Silva was involved in an altercation at a polling
site in the Mount Lavinia neighborhood. De Silva's security personnel
pushed him into his vehicle after he pulled out a gun, but then a shot
was fired from inside the vehicle as it departed the scene, killing a
young man in the crowd. The case was dropped shortly after, and no
further investigation occurred.
Prior to its defeat in May, human rights groups implicated the LTTE
in a number of attacks on political opponents and civilians. For
example, on February 9, an LTTE female suicide bomber killed 28 persons
and injured 64 others at an internally displaced persons (IDP) rescue
center. Civilians accounted for 25 of those killed and 40 of those
injured. On February 20, two LTTE airplanes launched a suicide attack
on Colombo. One of the planes struck the Inland Revenue building,
exploding on impact and killing two civilians. On March 10, a LTTE
suicide bomber attacked a local mosque's parade in Akuress, Matara
District, killing 15 persons and injured dozens of others, including
several government ministers and local officials.
b. Disappearance.--Disappearances continued to be a significant
problem, but declined from previous years, in particular after the end
of the war. Reliable statistics on the number of disappearances were
difficult to obtain, but estimates from some sources ranged from 300 to
400, with the majority occurring in the north and east. Government
reports on disappearances often claimed that most cases actually
involved persons who had left the country for foreign employment and
had not informed family members; however, civil society organizations
disputed this interpretation.
During the year the government did not publish any investigations
into past disappearances aside from releasing some statistics, nor did
it indict or convict anyone of involvement in disappearance-related
cases. There were several high profile disappearances during the year.
On May 7, four persons in a white van and wearing SLA uniforms abducted
Stephen Sunthararaj, project manager at the Center for Human Rights and
Development. Sunthararaj had been held by police with no charges since
February and had just been released by the courts, which had ruled that
there was no evidence upon which to charge him with a crime.
Sunthararaj's wife received ransom demands in the weeks after his
abduction, but she was not able to win his release and received no
further word about her husband.
In the east credible sources linked the TMVP to the October 29
abduction of Sankarapillai Shantha Kumar, a member of the nongovernment
organization (NGO) consortium in Akkaraipattu, Ampara District.
Although family members filed a complaint with police, at year's end he
remained missing and there was no progress on the investigation.
There were reports of disappearances during the year in connection
with the conflict and resulting IDP camps (see section 1.g.).
Witnesses and victims who were released after their abductions
often identified the perpetrators as Tamil-speaking armed men using
white vans without license plates. The government generally failed to
investigate these incidents.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law makes torture a punishable offense and mandates a
sentence of not less than seven years' imprisonment. Human rights
groups alleged that some security forces believed torture to be allowed
under specific circumstances. Following a 2007 visit, UN Special
Rapporteur (UNSR) on Torture Manfred Nowak concluded that ``torture is
widely practiced in Sri Lanka.'' No accurate, publicly released
statistics on reported torture cases were available.
Civil society groups and former prisoners reported on several
torture cases. For example, former detainees of the Terrorist
Investigation Division (TID) at Boosa Prison in Galle confirmed earlier
reports of torture methods used there. These included beatings, often
with cricket bats, iron bars, or rubber hoses filled with sand;
electric shock; suspending individuals by the wrists or feet in
contorted positions, abrading knees across rough cement; burning with
metal objects and cigarettes; genital abuse; blows to the ears;
asphyxiation with plastic bags containing chili pepper mixed with
gasoline; and near-drowning. Detainees reported broken bones and other
serious injuries as a result of their mistreatment.
In the east and conflict-affected north, military intelligence and
other security personnel, sometimes working with armed paramilitaries,
carried out documented and undocumented detentions of civilians
suspected of LTTE connections. The detentions reportedly were followed
by interrogations that frequently included torture. There were cases
reported of detainees being released with a warning not to reveal
information about their arrests and threatened with rearrest or death
if they divulged information about their detention. There were also
reports of secret government facilities where suspected LTTE
sympathizers were taken, tortured, and often killed.
Human rights groups estimated that approximately 2,400 LTTE
suspects were in regular detention centers. An unknown additional
number of unidentified detainees were thought to be held in police
stations, the CID , the TID, army or paramilitary camps, or other
informal detention facilities, with some organizations estimating this
group to number as high as 1,200. Approximately 11,700 former LTTE
combatants also were held by the government since the end of the
conflict in detention centers near Vavuniya. Because of limited access
to these detainees, few details were available about their treatment
and whether such treatment met international standards. There were
concerns that LTTE detainees could be abused in a manner similar to
suspected LTTE sympathizers.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions did not
meet international standards due to acute overcrowding and lack of
sanitary facilities. According to prison official and civil society
sources, prisons designed for approximately 10,000 inmates held an
estimated 26,000 prisoners. Approximately 1,400 of these were women.
Some 12,000 of these total prisoners were convicted, while the
remaining 14,000 were in detention, either awaiting or undergoing
trial. In some cases juveniles were not held separately from adults.
Pretrial detainees were often not held separately from those convicted.
In many cases prisoners were reported to be sleeping on concrete floors
and often without natural light and sufficient ventilation. Female
prisoners were held separately from male prisoners and in generally
better conditions, but some human rights groups alleged that isolated
incidents of degrading treatment, including corporal punishment,
overcrowding, maltreatment, or abuse of female prisoners occurred.
According to the assessment by UNSR Nowak, ``the combination of severe
overcrowding and antiquated infrastructure of certain prison facilities
places unbearable strains on services and resources, which for
detainees in certain prisons, such as the Colombo Remand Prison,
amounts to degrading treatment.'' Nowak also noted the absence of an
independent institution responsible for monitoring conditions in
detention facilities, holding private interviews, and conducting
medical evaluations of detainees.
The government permitted visits to regular and remand prisons by
independent human rights observers and the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC). The government ended ICRC access to detention
camps near Vavuniya for former LTTE combatants in July and withdrew
permission for the ICRC to work in the Eastern Province. The government
requested the ICRC to negotiate a new, postwar mandate covering their
operations throughout the country before continuing such work. The
government did not provide access to any detention facilities operated
by military intelligence, stating that none existed. The ICRC was not
allowed to visit suspected illegal detention facilities operated by
paramilitaries.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; in practice such incidents occurred. Under the
arrest and detention standards imposed by the emergency regulations,
the law does not clearly define what constitutes an arbitrary arrest.
Data concerning arrests made during the year under the emergency
regulations were fragmentary and unreliable. In addition to several
hundred thousand IDPs who were unable to leave the IDP camps, an
unknown number of individuals were detained at least temporarily by the
government. Observers said although many were released within two days
if no official detention order was produced, others were known to be
detained for much longer.
Some arrests appeared arbitrary. In June police detained
Chandrasiri Bandara, an astrologer, for one week without charges for
negative forecasts concerning the president.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The inspector general
of police (IGP) is responsible for the 80,000-member Sri Lanka Police
Service (SLPS). The SLPS conducted civilian police functions such as
enforcing criminal and traffic laws, enhancing public safety, and
maintaining order. The IGP reported to the minister of defense, public
security and law and order (in a separate chain of command from that of
the armed forces and other military units). The 5,850-member
paramilitary Special Task Force (STF) is within the structure of the
SLPS, although joint operations with military units in the recent
defeat of the LTTE led to questions among observers over who actually
was directing the STF. There was no independent authority to
investigate complaints. Senior officials in the police force handled
complaints against the police. Of the police officers serving in Tamil
majority areas, few were Tamil and most did not speak Tamil or English.
There were 791 ethnic Tamils on the police force and 971 Muslim Tamil
speakers. The government hired 50 new Tamil-speaking police in Jaffna
including two women, however, there was concern by some observers that
many of these were members of Tamil paramilitary groups. Impunity,
particularly for cases of alleged police torture and the disappearances
of civilians within High Security Zones (HSZs), was a serious problem,
as was corruption. A 2007 Asian Human Rights Commission assessment
cited the government's tolerance of pervasive corruption as a major
reason for the police force's incapacity to investigate and prosecute
cases effectively.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Under the law
authorities are required to inform an arrested person of the reason for
arrest and bring that person before a magistrate within 24 hours, but
in practice it often took several days and sometimes weeks or months
before detained persons appeared before a magistrate. A magistrate
could authorize bail or continued pretrial detention for up to three
months or longer. Police do not need an arrest warrant for certain
offenses, such as murder, theft, robbery, and rape. In the case of
murder, the magistrate is required to remand the suspect, and only the
High Court could grant bail. In all cases suspects have the right to
legal representation. Counsel is provided for indigent defendants in
criminal cases before the High Court and the Courts of Appeal, but not
in other cases.
A number of observers complained about the slow pace of the
judicial process. One observer stated that approximately 55 percent of
all persons in prison were either undergoing pretrial or trial
detention.
Under the emergency regulations, the armed forces have the legal
authority to arrest persons, but they are required to turn suspects
over to the police within 24 hours. Police could detain a person for a
period of not more than one year under detention orders issued by a
deputy inspector general of police or by the secretary of defense. The
defense secretary extended some detentions beyond one year under the
Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Numerous NGOs and individuals
complained that the armed forces and their paramilitary allies arrested
suspected LTTE sympathizers and did not turn them over to the police,
blurring the line between arrests and abductions. Credible reports
alleged that security forces and paramilitaries often tortured and
killed those arrested rather than follow legal safeguards.
In cases when security force personnel were alleged to have
committed human rights abuses, the government generally did not seek to
identify those responsible or bring them to justice. Case law generally
failed to uphold the doctrine of command responsibility for human
rights abuses. Human rights organizations noted that some judges
appeared hesitant to convict on cases of torture because of a seven-
year minimum mandatory sentence with no room for issues of severity or
duress.
According to human rights organizations, obtaining medical evidence
of torture was difficult, since there were fewer than 25 forensic
specialists, equipment was lacking, and medical practitioners untrained
in the field of torture assessment examined most torture victims. In
some cases police intimidated doctors responsible for collecting
evidence, and any potential victim receiving a medical examination
usually was accompanied by his or her detainer, often the person who
had allegedly committed the torture. At year's end there was no
functioning witness protection program.
Persons convicted and undergoing appeal did not receive credit
towards their original sentence for time served in prison while the
appeal was ongoing. Appeals often took several years to resolve.
Amnesty.--The president granted amnesty to a number of military
deserters on several occasions throughout the year, including more than
500 in June and more than 1,900 in July. Approximately 13 women over
the age of 60 were granted amnesty to commemorate International Women's
Day, including the wife of a government minister, who was serving a
life term for murder.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, but in practice the judiciary at lower levels
remained reliant on the executive. The president appoints judges to the
Supreme Court, the High Court, and the Courts of Appeal. A judicial
service commission, composed of the chief justice and two Supreme Court
judges, appoints and transfers lower court judges. The Supreme Court
demonstrated significant independence from the government in several
decisions with regard to detentions and various actions of the
executive that it found to be arbitrary. However, since 2005 the
government has failed to appoint the Constitutional Council, whose
function was to ensure the independence of constitutional bodies such
as the Judicial Service Commission. As a result a series of important
checks on executive power were absent. Judges may be removed for
misbehavior or incapacity but only after an investigation followed by
joint action of the president and the parliament.
There was no procedure in place to address the legal status of the
approximately 11,700 former LTTE combatants held in detention centers
after the end of the war.
Lawyers who defended human rights cases sometimes were under
physical and verbal threats. On January 28, police officers made death
threats againt Amitha Ariyaratne, a lawyer in past prominent human
rights cases, and on January 30, his house was burned.
In July the Defence Ministry's official Web site called five
lawyers, who were appearing for editors of The Sunday Leader in a case
against the secretary of defense, ``traitors.'' The Bar Association of
Sri Lanka protested this as an infringement of lawyers' right and duty
to provide representation. Lawyers defending journalist J.S.
Tissainayagam reported receiving anonymous threats.
There was no progress in the investigation of a 2008 grenade attack
on the home of J.C. Weliamuna, a local human rights lawyer.
Trial Procedures.--In criminal cases juries try defendants in
public. Defendants are informed of the charges and evidence against
them, and they have the right to counsel and the right to appeal. The
government provides counsel for indigent persons tried on criminal
charges in the High Court and the Courts of Appeal but not in cases
before lower courts. Private legal aid organizations assisted some
defendants. Juries were not used in cases brought under the PTA, but
defendants in such cases had the right to appeal.
Defendants are presumed innocent. Confessions obtained by coercive
means, including torture, are inadmissible in criminal courts, except
in PTA cases. Defendants bear the burden of proof, however, to show
that their confessions were obtained by coercion. Defendants have the
right to question prosecution witnesses during their trials, and are
allowed access to the prosecution's evidence. Subject to judicial
review, in certain cases defendants may spend up to 18 months in prison
on administrative order waiting for their cases to be heard. Once their
cases came to trial, decisions usually were made relatively quickly.
The law requires court proceedings and other legislation to be
available in English, Sinhala, and Tamil. In practice most courts
outside of Jaffna and the northern parts of the country conducted
business in English or Sinhala. A shortage of court-appointed
interpreters restricted the ability of Tamil-speaking defendants to
receive a fair hearing in many locations, but trials and hearings in
the north were in Tamil and English. Few legal textbooks existed in
Tamil.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
persons being formally held as political prisoners or detainees. Some
cases, however, such as one brought against journalist J.S.
Tissainayagam under the PTA, appeared to be politically motivated.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Citizens were allowed to
file fundamental rights cases to seek redress of human rights
violations. The judiciary exhibited some independence and impartiality
in adjudicating these types of cases, and plaintiffs were awarded
damages in a number of instances. Observers cited bureaucratic
inefficiencies in this system, leading to delays in the resolution of
many cases, and cases filed by persons suspected of having ties to the
LTTE appeared to be subject to delays much more frequently. Where
damages were awarded, there were relatively few problems in enforcing
the court orders.
Property Restitution.--Seizure of private lands by various actors
remained a problem across the country and particular in the north and
east. Significant amounts of land were seized during the war by the
military to create security buffer zones around military bases and
other high-value targets which the government called HSZ. The
declaration of HSZs resulted in a number of displaced persons,
particularly in the Jaffna Peninsula, and rendered inactive
approximately 40 square kilometers of agricultural lands. While the
government discussed reducing the size of these HSZs towards the end of
the year, there was no action taken by year's end.
Paramilitary actors were often cited as being responsible for other
land seizures. While a legal process exists for private landowners to
contest such seizures, in practice it proved very slow, and many
victims did not take advantage of it for fear of violent reprisals by
those who had seized the property in question.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law provides for the right to privacy; however,
the government infringed on these rights, particularly when conducting
cordon and search operations in Tamil neighborhoods. The emergency
regulations allowed security forces to conduct searches of property,
engage in wiretapping and surveillance of private citizens with little
judicial oversight. The government limited the ability of IDPs to
correspond with or communicate with persons outside of the IDP camps.
When it controlled territory, the LTTE routinely interfered with
the privacy of citizens by maintaining a network of informants.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Government security forces, progovernment paramilitary groups, and the
LTTE used excessive force and committed abuses against civilians.
During the SLA offensive against the LTTE, several hundred thousand
ethnic Tamil civilians were trapped in LTTE-held land. As the conflict
reached its final months, the government declared two no-fire zones,
areas into which it would not fire weapons. As the conflict progressed,
the LTTE and civilians under its control were confined to an
increasingly small area.
The government and the LTTE did not allow any independent
observers, media, or international staff of humanitarian organizations
to work in the conflict zone. Eyewitness accounts of the end of the
conflict were difficult to obtain because most of the involved
civilians remained confined in large IDP camps with little access to
independent observers.
Killings.--Artillery shelling, mortar fire, and aerial bombing
reportedly killed many civilians during the final five months of
conflict. While only the Sri Lankan Air Force used aerial bombs, it was
difficult to attribute artillery and mortar fire to one side or the
other. There were frequent reports of the LTTE positioning artillery
and mortar positions close to and among civilian encampments,
hospitals, and churches, drawing return fire from the government. Some
reports estimated that fighting in the last week of the conflict may
have killed 1,000 civilians per day.
Government and other observers reported numerous occasions when the
LTTE fired on civilians who attempted to flee, reportedly killing and
wounding many individuals. Trapped Tamil civilians reported being
afraid to cross over to the government side for fear of being subjected
to killings, disappearances, and abuse by the SLA.
Progovernment paramilitary groups allegedly were used to identify,
abduct, and kill suspected LTTE sympathizers or operatives immediately
after the conflict and in the IDP camps.
Abductions.--There were reports that persons among the IDP
population had disappeared on their way to an initial military
checkpoint at Omanthai.
NGOs and international sources reported that paramilitaries
abducted civilians from the IDP camps. Verification of such incidents
was complicated by reports that large numbers of persons paid bribes to
officials and others to escape the camps. Estimates on the number of
persons who escaped the camps in this manner varied widely, but most
observers suggested it was at least 10,000. There was no practical way
to verify how many had left the camps this way, and no way to determine
whether some of these numbers were not disappearance cases.
Physical Abuse, Punishment, and Torture.--The SLA held
approximately 11,700 alleged former LTTE combatants mainly in detention
centers near Vavuniya. There were several detention centers, with one
set aside for women. Before the government halted access to the
detainees in July, while ICRC renegotiated its operating mandate with
the government, the ICRC had registered 9,500 of these detainees.
Prior to the end of the war, the LTTE and the TMVP continued to
interfere with the work of international NGOs. The LTTE prevented
refugees from leaving areas under its control in the north and sought
to influence aid organizations in areas under its control.
Child Soldiers.--From January to May the LTTE dramatically
increased its forced recruitment of child soldiers. Reports from the
conflict zone during these months stated that both boys and girls as
young as 12 were forced to join the fighting. The numbers of children
killed in fighting were unknown, but the government reported 527 former
LTTE child soldiers in its custody several months after the end of the
war. These children were being held in government-run detention centers
but were undergoing rehabilitation in accordance with international
standards at year's end.
The government made significant progress towards its goal of
eliminating the child soldier problem among the TMVP. By December 31,
the UN Children's Fund reported that the number of child soldiers still
involved in the TMVP was down to five. TMVP officials claimed they did
not know where these five individuals were located, and the government
was actively working to find them.
Other Conflict-Related Abuses.--The government consistently
underestimated the number of civilians trapped behind LTTE lines,
leading to a severe shortage of food and medicine shipped into the no-
fire zones over the final months of fighting. Many international
observers disputed the government's population estimates at the time,
and some accused the government of deliberately lowering their
estimates in an effort to starve the civilians out from behind LTTE
lines to cause more difficulties for the LTTE soldiers. The government
often prevented medicine, including all anesthetics, from being
delivered to trapped civilians by ICRC, stating that it would instead
be used by LTTE forces to treat wounded soldiers. It was not possible
to determine how many civilians may have died as a result of this
shortage of food and medicine.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press but in practice this was not always supported.
The government owned the country's largest newspaper chain, two major
television stations, and a radio station. However, private owners
operated a variety of independent newspapers, journals, and radio and
television stations. The government imposed no political restrictions
on the establishment of new media enterprises. While foreign media
outlets operated in the country, some foreign journalists had their
visas revoked or were asked to leave the country when they reported on
sensitive issues in a manner that the government disliked.
Media freedom deteriorated in the Colombo area, as well as in the
conflict-affected north and east. Most journalists practiced self-
censorship. National and international media freedom organizations and
journalists' associations expressed concern over media freedom and were
sharply critical of the Defense Ministry's role in harassing and
intimidating journalists and their lawyers.
Senior government officials repeatedly accused critical journalists
of treason and often pressured editors and publishers to run stories
that portrayed the government in a positive light. Lawyers who defended
journalists were also threatened and pressured by defense and
government officials.
In addition to high-profile killings, such as the death of the
newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, media personnel were often
subject to threats and harassment during the year. Statements by
government and military officials contributed to an environment in
which journalists who published articles critical of the government
felt under threat.
On January 2, men in an unregistered white van burned the
broadcasting station of MTV/MBC in Pannipitiya. The police failed to
respond to requests for additional security, and four days later armed
men, arriving in unregistered vans, destroyed the studio with guns,
clubs, grenades, and a claymore mine. Five suspects were arrested two
weeks later, but the magistrate granted them bail and alleged
misconduct in the police investigation of the attack. No progress had
been made in the case at year's end.
On February 27, three men in civilian clothes and three men in
police uniforms in a van abducted Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, editor of
the Sudar Oli, a leading Tamil-language newspaper. After telephone
calls by foreign diplomats to senior authorities, police announced that
he had been arrested. Authorities held Vithyatharan until April 25, and
then released him without charges.
On June 1, the head of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists
Association Poddala Jayantha was abducted and severely beaten near
Colombo. The attack seemed to have been encouraged by the government,
which had aired photos of journalists--including a close-up of
Jayantha--during comments by the Inspector General of Police Jayantha
Wickramaratne, who called journalists traitors who would be dealt with.
On August 30, a court convicted and sentenced journalist J.S.
Tissainayagam to 20 years in prison with hard labor. A number of
witnesses testified that his articles did not incite intercommunal
tension, the primary charge against him, and there were doubts about
the source of changes made to his written confession. His conviction
represented the first time that a journalist had been convicted under
the PTA for their writings. As international criticism of
Tissainayagam's conviction mounted, government officials made new
accusations against him but offered no new evidence and filed no
additional formal charges.
On several occasions during the year, copies of the Economist
newsmagazine were confiscated by government authorities at the
international airport, preventing their release to the magazine's local
distributor. This occurred when articles in the issue were critical of
the government.
On July 9, the government officially reactivated the Press Council
Act of 1973. This act, which includes power to fine and/or impose
punitive measures including lengthy prison terms, proscribed the
publishing of articles that discussed internal communications of the
government and decisions of the cabinet, matters relating to the
military that could affect national security, and details of economic
policy that could lead to artificial shortages or speculative price
increases. Several demonstrations by journalists took place throughout
the latter part of the year against the resurrection of this council.
Internet Freedom.--There appeared to be some limited government
restrictions on access to the Internet, including suspicions that the
government was behind the blocking of Internet access to several Tamil
news Web sites, including the pro-LTTE TamilNet.
High-speed Internet was available in major cities and towns, with
more widespread use among younger populations. Cell phone use,
including text-messaging, was high across a broad spectrum of society.
The government did not restrict short message service (SMS) or cell
phone usage.
According to International Telecommunication Union statistics for
2008, approximately 5.8 percent of the country's inhabitants used the
Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no reports of
government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the government
generally respected this right in practice; however, some restrictions
existed. For example, the 2005 emergency regulations gave the president
the power to restrict meetings, assemblies, and processions. The law
states that rallies and demonstrations of a political nature could not
be held when a referendum was scheduled, but the government generally
granted permits for demonstrations, including those by opposition
parties and minority groups.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the government generally respected this right in
practice; however, some restrictions existed, such as those under the
emergency regulations. The government often used informants to target
individuals for arrests and interrogation based on their association.
Before the end of the conflict, the LTTE did not allow freedom of
association in the areas it controlled.
c. Freedom of Religion.--Although there was no state religion, the
law accords Buddhism a foremost position. It also provides for the
right of members of other faiths to practice their religions freely,
and the government generally respected this right in practice. The
majority of citizens were followers of Buddhism. The Ministry of
Religious Education and Moral Uplift Islamic section monitored the
doctrinal content of Islamic teachings at mosques in an effort to
prevent ``extremist'' viewpoints from gaining traction among Muslim
congregations. The ministry also administered an Islamic charity funded
by new mosque registrations. The Buddhist section did not regulate the
content of Buddhist religious observances. All new religious buildings
are required to register with the government.
Foreign clergy could work in the country, but the government sought
to limit the number of foreign religious workers given temporary work
permits. Permission usually was restricted to denominations registered
with the government.
While the courts generally upheld the right of Christian groups to
worship and to construct facilities to house their congregations, local
authorities manipulated rules to prevent registration of new Christian
denominations or construction or expansion of worship facilities. The
Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that although the constitution supported
the right of individuals to practice any religion, it did not support
the right to proselytize.
Societal Abuse and Discrimination
In July two persons were killed and 12 injured when a disagreement
between two Muslim congregations over methods of ritual sacrifice
erupted into violence. Persons attached to a mosque in Galle set a
mosque in Beruwela on fire. Police arrested a number of persons
involved, and a court case was ongoing at year's end.
On July 5, an estimated 100 persons and 50 Buddhist monks forcibly
entered the Assemblies of God church in Dickwella, Matara District to
try to halt their activities.
In July the Vineyard Community Church in Makandura, Kurunegala
District, was attacked on several occasions. This included a single
individual attacking two persons and a subsequent attack on July 12 by
several others. The building was vandalized and fliers against the
church were distributed. Several complaints were filed with the police,
and a court case was in progress at the end of the year.
There were reports that smaller, less-established Christian
churches faced building code restrictions when attempting to build new
places of worship, requiring such things as a petition signed by a
majority of neighbors allowing such a building.
The Jewish population remained very small, and there were no
reported cases of anti-Semitism.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law grants every citizen
``freedom of movement and of choosing his residence'' and ``freedom to
return to the country.'' In practice, however, the government severely
restricted this right on multiple occasions. The additional checks on
travelers from the north and the east and on movement to and in Colombo
remained in effect. Colombo police refused to register Tamils from the
north and the east, as required by Emergency Regulation 23, sometimes
forcing them to return to their homes in areas affected by the
conflict.
The government required Tamils who wished to move within the
country, especially those Tamils living in Jaffna, to obtain special
passes issued by security forces. Ethnic Tamils' national
identification cards were the only cards printed in both Sinhala and
Tamil. For most of the year, citizens of Jaffna were required to obtain
permission from the army's civil affairs unit, or in some cases from
the EPDP, to leave Jaffna, but the requirement was lifted in December.
Curfews imposed by the army also restricted the movement of Jaffna's
citizens, although this curfew was reduced after the end of the war.
Security forces at army checkpoints in Colombo frequently harassed
Tamils. After the government assumed effective control of the east,
both the government and the TMVP operated checkpoints that impeded the
free movement of residents, especially Tamils.
The government maintained a partial closure of the A-9 highway
leading to Jaffna for most of the year, requiring special authorization
from security forces for any vehicles traveling the road north of
Vavuniya. These restrictions were largely lifted in December, although
there were still restrictions in place at the end of the year on
private vehicles traveling on the A-9 at night. The government
continued security checks on movements in all directions north of a key
junction near Medawachiya, although they were less stringent by the end
of the year than existed during and immediately following the war.
Limited access continued near military bases and the HSZ where
civilians could not enter. The HSZs extended in an approximately 2.5-
mile radius from the fences of most military camps. Some observers
claimed the HSZs were excessive and unfairly affected Tamil
agricultural lands, particularly in Jaffna. There were allegations
after the war ended that the government was allowing non-Tamil
businesses to locate inside HSZs, taking over valuable land before
local citizens were allowed to return.
The government did not expel citizens from one part of the country
to another, nor did it forcibly exile any citizens abroad. However,
over a dozen journalists were in self-exile due to safety fears with
many having received physical threats.
In July the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reaffirmed
his recommendation that Tamils from and in the north be eligible for
asylum status given the human rights situation in the country. As of
October the number of Tamil refugees from the country living in South
India included approximately 76,000 in refugee camps, and an additional
100,000 living outside of camps among the Indian population. Some Tamil
refugees returned to Sri Lanka over the course of the year. Tamil
refugees were also present in significant numbers in the United
Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and other countries.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The country had a significant
population of IDPs which was caused both by past and recent conflicts.
Almost all IDPs were ethnically Tamil although approximately 80,000
were Tamil-speaking Muslims who had been displaced from Jaffna by the
LTTE. Large-scale returns of IDPs began in the final three months of
the year, in particular of the approximately 280,000 more recently
displaced persons who had been held in IDP camps since the end of the
war in May. Of that group, approximately 155,000 had been returned to
their home districts by the end of the year. Many of these were not
able to return to their actual homes due to significant damage from the
war or uncleared land mines. An additional 108,000 remained mostly in
the government-run Manik Farm IDP camps near Vavuniya by year's end.
The Manik Farm camps had originally held approximately 250,000 IDPs,
without freedom of movement, from the end of the war in May until late
October. IDPs remaining in Manik Farm were not given freedom of
movement until December, when a system of temporary exit passes was
implemented for those who had not yet been returned to their districts
of origin and remained in Manik Farm. Some observers said this exit
pass system still did not qualify as freedom of movement.
In addition to this group of newer IDPs, there were an estimated
200,000 previously displaced Tamils. Most of these IDPs were displaced
prior to the last big offensive in 2008, and were living either with
relatives or friends. It was unclear at the end of the year how or when
they might be returned to their places of origin, or if any would
prefer to stay where they currently were after being displaced for many
years.
The government-run Manik Farm IDP camp provided basic assistance
for IDPs, along with a number of other much smaller camps scattered
throughout the north and east of the country. The government did not
allow open access to Manik Farm, although access for UN agencies and
some NGOs improved as the year progressed. During the months of
detention at Manik Farm and other smaller camps, international
observers and local legal experts questioned the legality of this long-
term detaining of IDPs under the law, including the emergency
regulations and the PTA. These laws require that any detainee be
specifically named and detained pending further investigations, and
informed of the reason for the detention.
The government accepted assistance from NGOs and international
actors for the IDP camps but management of the camps and control of
assistance was under the military rather than civilian authorities.
Food, water, and medical care were all insufficient in the first
several weeks after the end of the war, but by July the situation had
stabilized and observers reported that basic needs were being met.
In June the military withdrew from inside the camps but continued
to provide security around the barbed wire-enclosed perimeter. There
were allegations of crimes and sexual assaults inside the camps, both
by outside persons and by other IDPs, but access was not allowed to
independent observers to evaluate these reports or to determine if
there was significant variance in the number of such crimes over the
level expected for a non-refugee population of similar size.
The government released IDPs arbitrarily and did not effectively
coordinate with local or international aid agencies who were asked to
provide assistance on short notice. The government failed to coordinate
with military personnel in the IDPs' home locations. In September
several small groups of IDPs were released from Manik Farm but were
detained for several weeks in closed ``transit'' camps until the local
military officials had rescreened them.
Among the long-term displaced were tens of thousands of Muslims
evicted from Jaffna in 1990 by the LTTE, many of whom remained in camps
in Puttalam. During the year the government announced these Muslims
would be allowed to return to Jaffna. A small number had reportedly
moved back by the end of the year, but many others were either unaware
yet of the change in policy, or had younger family members who felt
more at home in Puttalam. The government had not permitted other IDPs,
primarily Tamils, to return home because their places of origins were
declared HSZs, despite announcements during the year that these HSZs
would soon be reduced or eliminated.
The government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting IDPs, however, it ended access for ICRC's
protection work in IDP camps in July, requesting that a new, postwar
operating mandate be negotiated before such work could be resumed. By
year's end this negotiation was not yet complete, leaving the ICRC
unable to provide protection support in the IDP camps.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 protocol, the
laws do not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and
the government had not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion.
Stateless Persons.--The 2003 Grant of Citizenship to Persons of
Indian Origin Act recognized the Sri Lankan nationality of previously
stateless persons, particularly Hill Tamils. The government made
limited progress towards naturalizing and providing citizenship
documentation to stateless persons. By December approximately 30,000
Hill Tamils, versus 70,000 at the beginning of 2008, lacked identity
cards and citizenship documents. Those lacking identity cards remained
at higher risk for arbitrary arrest and detention. Reliable sources
estimated that approximately 70 such persons were arrested under
Emergency Regulations by October. It was not known how many of those
persons remained detained at year's end.
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 held on the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The president, elected in
2005 for a six-year term, holds executive power, while the 225-member
parliament, elected in 2004, exercises legislative power.
The EU Election Observation Mission described the 2005 presidential
election as generally satisfactory. The LTTE enforced a boycott of the
polls and conducted seven grenade attacks in the north and east. As a
result, less than 1 percent of voters in the north were able to
exercise their right to vote. Persistent allegations of a preelection
agreement and bribe between the Rajpaksa campaign and the LTTE to
suppress Tamil votes remained. A parliamentary investigation of these
allegations was opened in 2007, but Soori Yarachchi, the member of
parliament who was placed in charge of the investigation, was killed in
a car accident in 2008, and the investigation did not advance any
further.
On August 8, the government held municipal council elections in
Jaffna. While there were few reports of election-related violence or
overt fraud, ethnic Tamil-based parties not aligned with the government
faced severe restrictions on traveling to Jaffna to campaign prior to
the election. EPDP candidates ran under the governing coalition's party
symbol and enjoyed frequent campaign visits from top government
officials, who announced major infrastructure projects and the
reduction of security restrictions while speaking at campaign events.
During provincial council elections held in Uwa Province on August
8, and the Southern Province on October 10, there were widespread
allegations that government officials used state resources, including
vehicles, offices, and state employees in their personal and party
campaigns. For a number of months, several opposition parties were
prevented by security forces from visiting the large Manik Farm IDP
camps, while figures from government allied parties were under no such
restrictions.
There were 13 women in the 225-member parliament, five female
ministers, and two women out of 11 justices on the Supreme Court. There
were 34 Tamils and 25 Muslims in the parliament. There was no provision
for or allocation of a set number or percentage of political party
positions for women or minorities.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials in all three branches of the government frequently engaged in
corrupt practices with impunity.
The tendering and procurement process for government contracts was
not transparent, leading to allegations of corruption by the losing
bidders. Senior officials served as corporate officers of several
quasi-public corporations, including Lanka Logistics and Technologies,
which the government established in 2007 and designated as the sole
procurement agency for all military equipment. Critics alleged that
large kickbacks were paid during the awarding of certain defense
contracts. In 2007 the government used state pension funds to set up a
new budget airline, Mihin Air, with many of the same officials serving
as corporate officers. On May 1, Mihin Air went bankrupt, but the
current budget allocated several million dollars to restart operations.
In 2008 the Supreme Court found then treasury secretary P.B.
Jayasundera, guilty of a violation of procedure in the awarding of a
large contract for the expansion of the Port of Colombo. The court
barred him from holding the treasury position. In June after President
Rajapaksa named a new Supreme Court chief justice, the Supreme Court
allowed Jayasundera to proceed with a fundamental rights case
protesting the original decision. The Supreme Court then overturned the
previous decision and allowed Jayasundera to be reinstated as secretary
of the treasury.
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption
received 3,224 complaints, of which 1,035 were under investigation at
year's end.
There was no law providing for public access to government
information.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
continued to investigate and publish their findings on human rights
cases despite increasing government restrictions and physical threats
to their work. The government often criticized local NGOs critical of
government actions, failed to respond to requests for assistance, and
put pressure on those who sought such assistance. For example, the
government failed to investigate a death threat in August against one
prominent civil society leader and instead opened an investigation of
those who signed a public petition calling for an investigation.
During the conflict the government and the LTTE allowed only
limited operations by NGOs within the conflict zone, mainly to bring
food and medical shipments to civilians and to evacuate the wounded and
sick to safety. During the last few weeks of the conflict, neither side
ceased hostilities long enough to allow the assistance to enter or the
wounded to leave the conflict zone.
After the conflict the government sought to limit the role of the
ICRC and requested it to withdraw from the Eastern Province. At year's
end the ICRC continued in discussions with the government over its
mandate.
The government continued to refuse the request by the UNHCR for an
expanded mission and an independent presence in the country. The
Ministry of Defense, other government officials, and diplomatic
missions abroad regularly accused human rights NGOs and UN bodies of
bias against the government.
International personnel of NGOs often had trouble getting visa
renewals to continue working in the country. The government canceled
the visas of two employees of UN agencies after they made public
remarks perceived to be critical of the government.
By statute the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) had wide
powers and resources and could not be called as a witness in any court
of law or be sued for matters relating to its official duties. However,
in practice the SLHRC rarely used its powers. The SLHRC did not have
enough staff or resources to process its caseload of pending
complaints, and it did not enjoy the full cooperation of the
government. From January to September, 116 cases were reported to the
SLHRC Jaffna Branch. While all the cases underwent an initial
investigation, by October only 11 cases were resolved, and the
remaining 105 were pending. The SLHRC had a tribunal-like approach to
investigations and declined to undertake preliminary inquires in the
manner of a criminal investigator. In 2007 the International
Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions downgraded
the SLHRC to observer status, citing government interference in the
work of the SLHRC.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for equal rights for all citizens, and the
government generally respected these rights in practice; however, there
were instances where gender and ethnic-based discrimination occurred.
Women.--The law prohibits rape and domestic violence but it was not
effectively enforced. Sexual assault, rape, and spousal abuse were
pervasive societal problems. The law specifically addresses sexual
abuse and exploitation, and it contains provisions in rape cases for an
equitable burden of proof and stringent punishments. Marital rape is
considered an offense only in cases of spouses living under judicial
separation. While the law could ease some of the problems faced by
victims of sexual assault, many women's organizations believed that
greater sensitization of police and the judiciary was necessary. The
Bureau for the Protection of Children and Women (BPCW) within the
police conducted awareness programs in schools and at the grassroots
level, prompting women to file complaints. The BPWC received 714
complaints of grave violent crimes and 2,391 minor crimes against women
during the year.
There were reports that individual cases of gender-based violence
perpetrated by members of the security forces occurred more frequently
during the conflict, but others stated that military officials were
responsive to reports of such incidents and showed a willingness to
prosecute the offenders. However, the government did not release any
details about prosecutions or punishments for offenses during the
conflict. Statistics on numbers of such cases were unavailable because
few victims reported such incidents. Human rights groups in northern
districts alleged that the wives of men who had been killed as a result
of the conflict often fell victim to prostitution because of their
economic vulnerability.
According to the BPWC, 175 reported incidents of rape occurred
through August, but reported incidences of rape were unreliable
indicators of the degree of this problem, as most victims were
unwilling to file reports. Services to assist victims of rape and
domestic violence, such as crisis centers, legal aid, and counseling,
were generally scarce due to a lack of funding.
Prostitution, although illegal, was prevalent. Trafficking in women
for prostitution and forced labor also occurred.
Sexual harassment was a criminal offense carrying a maximum
sentence of five years in prison; enforcement of this law, however, was
not widespread.
Couples and individuals were generally free to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of their children. An estimated 40 percent of the
population used modern contraceptives, and skilled attendance during
childbirth was estimated at approximately 97 percent. Women appeared to
be equally diagnosed and treated for sexually transmitted infections,
including HIV. The UN and World Health Organization estimated
approximately 4,000 persons were infected with HIV in 2007.
The law provided for equal employment opportunity in the public
sector. In practice women had no legal protection against
discrimination in the private sector, where they sometimes were paid
less than men for equal work and experienced difficulty in rising to
supervisory positions. Although women constituted approximately half of
the formal workforce, according to the Asian Development Bank, the
quality of employment available to women was less than that available
to men. The demand for female labor was mainly for casual and low-paid,
low-skill jobs. Women's participation in politics was approximately 5
percent in the parliament and the provincial councils.
Women had equal rights under national, civil, and criminal law.
However, adjudication according to the customary law of each ethnic or
religious group of questions related to family law, including divorce,
child custody, and inheritance, resulted in de facto discrimination.
Children.--Citizenship was obtained by birth within the territory
of the country and from a child's parents if born to citizen parents
overseas. The law required children between the ages of five and 14 to
attend school. The government provided extensive systems of public
education and medical care. Education was free through the university
level. Health care, including immunization, was also free and available
equally to boys and girls.
Under the law the definition of child abuse includes all acts of
sexual violence against, trafficking in, and cruelty to children. The
law also prohibits the use of children in exploitative labor or illegal
activities or in any act contrary to compulsory education regulations.
It also defines child abuse to include the involvement of children in
war.
NGOs attributed the problem of exploitation of children to the lack
of enforcement, rather than to inadequate legislation. The conflict
with the LTTE both before and after the end of the war had priority in
the allocation of law enforcement resources. However, the police's BPCW
conducted investigations into crimes against children and women. The
National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) included representatives
from the education, medical, police, and legal professions and reported
directly to the president. During the year the BPWC received 1,974
complaints of grave violent crimes and 986 of minor crimes against
children.
The government advocated greater international cooperation to bring
those guilty of sexual exploitation of children to justice. Although
the government did not keep records of particular types of violations,
the law prohibits sexual violations against children, defined as
persons less than 18 years of age, particularly in regard to child
pornography, child prostitution, and the trafficking of children.
Penalties for violations related to pornography and prostitution range
from two to five years of imprisonment. The penalties for sexual
assault of children range from five to 20 years' imprisonment and an
unspecified fine. By the end of the year the government opened 1,575
files, of which 497 resulted in indictments for sexual assault and
exploitation of children, including kidnapping, cruelty to children,
rape and statutory rape; 299 cases were dismissed, and 303 cases were
referred to the police for further investigation. The remaining were
pending at year's end.
Commercial sexual exploitation of children remained a problem in
coastal resort areas. Private groups estimated that approximately 6,000
children were exploited for commercial sex in the country, and that
local citizens were responsible for much of the exploitation. Other
groups believed foreign tourists were more frequently the exploiters of
thousands of children, especially boys, for commercial sex, most of
whom were reportedly forced into prostitution by traffickers. There was
little solid data to elucidate these reports. The Department of
Probation and Child Care Services provided protection to child victims
of abuse and sexual exploitation and worked with local NGOs that
provided shelter. The tourist bureau halted programs to raise awareness
for at-risk children in resort regions prone to sex tourism due to a
lack in funding.
Children in the large, postwar IDP camps were exposed to the same
difficult conditions as other IDPs in the same camps. School facilities
were set up by the government early on, but were rudimentary and lacked
many basic supplies. Medical care in the camps was limited, but
improved over time as the government was better able to organize its
resources and allowed increased assistance from outside organizations.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons.
Legal penalties for trafficking include imprisonment for two to 20
years and a fine. For trafficking in children, the law allows
imprisonment of three to 20 years and a fine.
The country was both a point of origin and destination for
trafficked persons. Sri Lankan men and women migrated legally to the
Middle East, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and South Korea primarily
to work in construction, factories, and as domestics. A small
percentage of those who went abroad found themselves in situations of
involuntary servitude, facing restrictions on movement, threats, and
physical or sexual abuse. Illegal recruitment agencies charged large
predeparture fees that forced some migrants into debt bondage.
The Bureau of Foreign Employment (BFE) had responsibility to
protect and assist workers who went abroad for work. The BFE estimated
that approximately 1.8 million citizens were working abroad during the
year. The BFE licensed recruitment agencies and had three offices to
protect migrant workers abroad: a police detachment that raided and
arrested bogus recruitment agencies, an office that mediated with
foreign employers and recruiting agencies to resolve workers'
complaints, and a prosecutorial department that tried cases against
unlicensed recruiting agencies. The BFE conducted a publicity campaign
to warn of the dangers of going abroad illegally and of using
illegitimate recruitment agencies. Lack of effective enforcement
against violators and the infrequency of punishment for abuses provided
little incentive for operators to refrain from illegal but lucrative
practices. In 2008 the BFE received 9,664 complaints. Some 17 percent
of these were for nonpayment of wages.
Women and children were reportedly trafficked internally for
domestic and sexual servitude. No statistics were available on the
extent of this problem. A number of Thai, Chinese, and Russian women,
and women from the former Soviet Union were also trafficked into the
country for commercial sexual exploitation.
The NCPA had primary responsibility for prevention of trafficking
in children. It had a Special Police Investigations Unit, with arrest
authority, that focused on combating the trafficking of children for
commercial and sexual exploitation. The NCPA had several cases pending
against child traffickers, but no trials were completed by the end of
the year. Trials were slow, taking as long as 10 years. The NCPA
operated centers for children vulnerable to trafficking in
Anuradhapura, Kalmunai, Puttalam, and Trincomalee, targeting
populations affected by the war, the 2004 tsunami, and economic
challenges.
The government continued its programs to monitor the movements of
suspected traffickers or sex tourists, including a cyberwatch project
to monitor suspicious Internet chatrooms.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law forbids discrimination against
any person on the grounds of disability; however, in practice
discrimination occurred in employment, education, and provision of
state services. The Department of Social Services operated eight
vocational training schools for persons with physical and mental
disabilities and sponsored a program of job training and placement for
graduates. The government provided financial support to NGOs that
assisted persons with disabilities including subsidizing prosthetic
devices, making purchases from suppliers with disabilities, and
registering 74 NGO-run schools and training institutions for persons
with disabilities. The Department of Social Services reportedly
discontinued a program that had allowed job placement officers to help
the estimated 200,000 work-eligible persons with disabilities find
jobs, due to a lack of funding. This program had assisted 147 disabled
persons in finding jobs in 2008. Persons with disabilities faced
difficulties due to negative attitudes and societal discrimination.
On October 14, the Supreme Court directed that steps be taken to
provide easy access for persons with disabilities to public buildings.
There were regulations on accessibility, but in practice accommodation
for access to buildings for persons with disabilities was rare. The
Department of Social Services provided housing grants, self-employment
grants, and medical assistance to persons with disabilities. During the
year the department provided a monthly allowance grant of approximately
3,200 rupees ($30) to approximately 2,100 families of disabled persons.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Both local and Indian origin
Tamils maintained that they suffered longstanding systematic
discrimination in university education, government employment, and in
other matters controlled by the government. According to the SLHRC,
Tamils also experienced discrimination in housing. Landlords were
required to register any Tamil tenants and report their presence to the
police.
Tamils throughout the country, but especially in the conflict-
affected north and east, reported frequent harassment of young and
middle-aged Tamil men by security forces and paramilitary groups.
A small ethnic group known as Kaffari or Kaffirs existed in very
small numbers, mostly in the coastal areas of Negombo, Trincomalee and
Batticaloa. They were thought to be the descendants of African slaves
originally brought to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese sometime in the 16th
century. They numbered approximately 1,000, and had dwindled in number
largely due to many years of intermarriage. They did not appear to
suffer from any overt discrimination, but because of their small number
struggled to maintain any distinct cultural identity.
Indigenous People.--The country's indigenous people, known as
Veddas, by some estimates numbered fewer than 1,000. Some preferred to
maintain their traditional way of life and are nominally protected by
the law. There were no legal restrictions on their participation in
political or economic life. However, lack of legal documents was a
problem for many. Vedda communities complained that they were pushed
off their lands by the creation of protected forest areas, which
deprived them of traditional livelihoods.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The law criminalizes
homosexual activity, but this was not officially enforced. Some NGOs
working on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues did
not register with the government. In recent years human rights
organizations reported that while not actively arresting and
prosecuting LGBT activity, police harassed, extorted money, or sexual
favors from, and assaulted gays and lesbians in Colombo and other
areas. This led to many incidents of crimes against members of the LGBT
community going unreported. There were LGBT organizations, and several
events were held throughout the year. In addition to pressure,
harassment, and assaults by police, there remained significant societal
pressure against members and organizations of the LGBT community. There
were no legal safeguards to prevent discrimination based on sexual
orientation or gender identity.
Other Societal violence or Discrimination
There was no official discrimination against those who provided HIV
prevention services or against high-risk groups likely to spread HIV/
AIDS, although there was societal discrimination against these groups.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allowed workers to form and
join unions of their choice without previous authorization with the
exception of members of the armed forces and police officers, who are
not entitled to unionize. Seven workers could form a union, adopt a
charter, elect leaders, and publicize their views. To compel an
employer to recognize a union required forty percent of the staff. In
practice such rights were resisted by the management of individual
factories and administrative delays by the government in registering
unions. Approximately 20 percent of the seven million-person workforce
nationwide and more than 70 percent of the plantation workforce was
unionized. In total there were more than one million union members.
Approximately 11 percent of the nonagricultural workforce in the
private sector was unionized. Unions represented most workers in large
private firms, but workers in small-scale agriculture and small
businesses usually did not belong to unions. Public sector employees
were unionized at very high rates.
Under the law workers in the 12 Export Processing Zones (EPZs) had
the same rights to join unions as other workers. Although some unions
were able to organize EPZ workers, forming trade unions was more
difficult in the zones, as some employers tried to undermine the
formation of unions there. As a consequence the unionization rate
within the EPZs was under 10 percent of the workforce. As of December,
11 trade unions were active in EPZs. According to the Board of
Investment (BOI), in September 2007, unions were operating in 31 out of
259 factories in the EPZs.
Most large unions were affiliated with political parties and played
a prominent role in the political process, although some major unions
in the public sector were politically independent. The Ministry of
Labor Relations and Manpower was authorized by law to cancel the
registration of any union that did not submit an annual report, the
only grounds for the cancellation of registration.
By law all workers, other than police, armed forces, prison
service, and those in essential services, had the right to strike, but
the government did not enforce this law uniformly. Workers may lodge
complaints with the commissioner of labor, a labor tribunal, or the
Supreme Court to protect their rights. Strikes were forbidden in areas
that were determined by the president to be ``any service which is of
public utility or is essential for national security or for the
preservation of public order or to the life of the community and
includes any Department of the Government or branch thereof.'' On
November 15, in the face of threatened strikes, the petroleum
corporation, the water board, the Ceylon Electricity Board and the port
facilities were all declared to be essential services.
The law prohibited retribution against strikers in nonessential
sectors; in practice, however, employees were sometimes fired for
striking. Those employees affected under the November 15 essential
services ruling returned to work without any major incidents.
During the year the Supreme Court did not intervene to stop public
sector trade unions from striking. The law allows unions to conduct
their activities without interference, but the government enforced the
law unevenly. By law public sector unions are not allowed to form
federations, but the law was not generally enforced. In prior years the
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) reported that union
officials and organizers were harassed and intimidated with impunity,
including arrests, libel, and death threats, but no report was obtained
for the current year. Employees of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation
were harassed and assaulted by unidentified assailants.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to collective bargaining; however, the
government did not enforce it. All collective agreements are required
to be registered at the Department of Labor. Collective agreements
normally were for three years, five were registered during the year,
and 18 were registered in 2008.
The Employer's Federation of Ceylon (EFC) employed an estimated 15
percent of the country's three million private sector workforce,
primarily in the tourism, finance, plantations, manufacturing, and
services sectors. The EFC did not have members from the large informal
sector or foreign or government employees. About half of EFC's 520-
company membership had a unionized workforce, and approximately 135
companies in the EFC had collective agreements with workers.
Employers found guilty of antiunion discrimination were required to
reinstate workers fired for union activities but could transfer them to
different locations. Antiunion discrimination was a punishable offense
liable for a fine of 20,000 rupees ($177). During the year the
Department of Labor filed action against one company for unfair labor
practices under section 32A of the Industrial Disputes Act, reportedly
the first time this has occurred since at least 1999. Some violations
were previously prosecuted under various other labor laws, such as the
Wages Board Act, Employees Provident Fund Act, Termination Act, or
other sections of the Industrial Disputes Act, and several employers
were under investigation. In practice employers often delayed
recognition of unions for collective bargaining indefinitely. The ITUC
reported that employers used these delays to identify, victimize,
terminate, and sometimes assault or threaten union activists.
In most EPZ enterprises, worker councils, composed of elected
representatives of employees, engaged in labor and management
negotiations. In accordance with BOI guidelines, they participated in
labor-management negotiations. As of December worker councils were
active in 156 factories. The International Labor Organization approved
the right of worker councils to engage in collective bargaining,
provided worker councils were not used to undermine the position of
unions. NGOs and unions reported that undermining did occur.
Labor representatives alleged that the BOI and the Department of
Labor discouraged union activity within EPZ factories and favored
worker councils. Restricted access to the EPZs for union and NGO
organizers made it difficult to organize. Labor representatives alleged
that the labor commissioner, under BOI pressure, failed to prosecute
employers who refused to recognize or enter into collective bargaining
with trade unions. The government countered that employees preferred to
work within a company to resolve disputes rather than via large unions
spanning many companies.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibited
forced or bonded labor; however, there were reports that such practices
occurred, particularly in the informal employment sector such as
agriculture, mining, and ropemaking.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
minimum age for employment was 14, although the law permitted the
employment of younger children by their parents or guardians in limited
family agriculture work or to engage in technical training. Persons
under age 18 could not be employed in any public enterprise that was
considered dangerous.
There were no reports of children employed in the EPZs, the garment
industry, or any other export industry. Children sometimes were
employed in the plantation sectors and in nonplantation agriculture
during harvest periods. Sources indicated that many thousands of
children (between 14 years and 18 years of age) were employed in
domestic service in urban households, although this situation was not
regulated or documented. Some child domestics reportedly were subjected
to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Employment of children
commonly occurred in family enterprises such as family farms, crafts,
small trade establishments, restaurants, and repair shops. There were
cases of underage children recruited to serve as domestics abroad,
primarily in the Middle East.
The National Child Protection Authority was the central agency for
coordinating and monitoring action on the protection of children. The
Department of Labor, the Department of Probation and Child Care
Services, and the police were responsible for the enforcement of child
labor laws. Approximately 220 complaints of child employment were
received from January through November by the police Children's and
Women's Desk, compared to 257 complaints the previous year. Information
on litigation during the year was not available. Penalties for
employing minors were 10,000 rupees ($89) or 12 months' imprisonment.
The government identified a list of 49 occupations considered to be
hazardous. Of these occupations, 40 were unconditionally prohibited for
children under 18 years of age, with limited exceptions for the
remaining nine occupations. However, by year's end the government had
not passed implementing legislation.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--While there was no national
minimum wage, 43 wage boards established by the Ministry of Labor
Relations and Manpower set minimum wages and working conditions by
sector and industry in consultation with unions and employers. The
minimum wage in sectors covered by wage boards was increased to 5,750
rupees ($51) in 2008. In addition to the minimum wage, employees
covered by the wage boards received an allowance of 1,000 rupees per
month ($9) in 2005 that effectively brought the total minimum wage to
6,750 rupees per month ($60). The minimum wages set by some wage boards
was higher than the government stipulated minimum wage. These minimum
wages, however, did not always provide a decent standard of living for
a worker and family. The minimum wage in the public sector was higher
than that governed by the wage boards. Workers in sectors not covered
by wage boards, including informal sector workers, were not covered by
any minimum wage.
The law prohibited most full-time workers from regularly working
more than 45 hours per week (a five-and-a-half-day workweek). In
addition the law stipulates a rest period of one hour per day.
Regulations limit the maximum overtime hours to 15 per week. Overtime
pay is 1.5 times the wage, and is paid for work done on either Sundays
or holidays. Several laws protect the safety and health of industrial
workers, but the Ministry of Labor Relations and Manpower's efforts
were inadequate to enforce compliance. Health and safety regulations do
not meet international standards. Workers have the statutory right to
remove themselves from dangerous situations, but many workers were
unaware or indifferent to such rights and feared they would lose their
jobs if they removed themselves from the work situation. The government
had approximately 680 labor inspectors. The ITUC reported that labor
inspection was inadequate in the EPZs, as labor inspectors cannot make
unannounced visits.
Migrant labor also faced abuse. There were cases when recruitment
agencies promised one type of job to a migrant but changed the job,
employer, or salary after the employee arrived.
__________
TAJIKISTAN
Tajikistan, with a population of more than seven million, is an
authoritarian state, and political life is dominated by President
Emomali Rahmon and his supporters, drawn mainly from one region of the
country. The constitution provides for a multiparty political system,
but in practice the government obstructed political pluralism. The 2006
presidential election lacked genuine competition and did not meet
international standards, although there were some improvements on
voting procedures. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The government's human rights record remained poor, and corruption
continued to hamper democratic and social reform. The following human
rights problems were reported: restricted right of citizens to change
their government; torture and abuse of detainees and other persons by
security forces; impunity for security forces; denial of right to fair
trial; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; prohibition of
international monitor access to prisons; restrictions on freedoms of
speech, press, association, and religion; government harassment of
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); security force abuse of refugees;
violence and discrimination against women; trafficking in persons; 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 apparently politically motivated
killings, but several political opponents of the regime died violently
in unclear circumstances.
On June 17, former minister of interior Mahmadnazar Solehov died
after government security forces entered his home. The government
claimed Solehov committed suicide.
On July 11, Mirzo Ziyoev, a former commander in chief of the United
Tajik Opposition (UTO) and minister of Emergency Situations, was
fatally shot while traveling with government soldiers near Tavildara.
The government claimed a rebel faction killed him.
There were several cases of deaths in prisons and detention
facilities in which families of the detainees disputed the official
cause of death. For example, on June 27, police detained a doctor who
crossed a street in front of a presidential motorcade in Dushanbe; he
died in custody several hours later. Police claimed the doctor's death
resulted from a heart attack, but marks on his body indicated he had
been physically abused while in custody. The doctor's relatives
contested the police account in court, and the case continued at year's
end.
According to the Tajikistan Mine Action Center and the Landmine
Monitor, there were fewer landmine casualties than in previous years,
with eight casualties (three killed and five injured) in four
incidents. Five casualties were civilians and three were military. On
March 2, two military personnel were injured while on duty in Dushanbe.
On March 30, an antipersonnel mine killed a man who was grazing cattle
in the Isfara district of Sughd province. On April 27, a man and a
woman were injured in the Rasht district, and on June 17, an
antipersonnel mine injured a military deminer during clearance
activities in Darvoz district, Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Region. On
December 25, a mine explosion on the Uzbek border killed two persons in
the Isfara district. The government called for the removal of mines
along the borders.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, but some security
officials used beatings or other forms of coercion to extract
confessions during interrogations, although the practice was not
systematic. Officials did not grant sufficient access to information to
allow human rights organizations to investigate claims of torture.
In Sughd region, four suspects arrested in a murder case claimed
investigators tortured them seeking to extract confessions. One suspect
claimed an investigator threatened to ``ruin'' his daughter if he did
not confess to a crime. The same individual stated he lost toenails as
a result of torture while in custody. The courts dismissed the
individual's claim of torture, and he was convicted of murder and other
crimes and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Several individuals held in
Dushanbe city jails also claimed they were beaten while in custody.
Articles in the criminal code do not specifically define torture, and
the country's law enforcement agencies have not developed effective
methods to investigate allegations of torture. According to a report
during the year by Human Rights Watch, ``Experts agreed that in most
cases there is impunity for rampant torture in Tajikistan.''
In an April 2008 court decision (Rakhmatov et al. v. Tajikistan)
the UN Human Rights Committee found that the government violated the
human rights, including freedom from torture, of three adults and two
minors. The committee also noted that the government failed to
cooperate with the committee and that similar allegations were
substantiated in an October 2008 court decision (Khuseynov and Butaev
v. Tajikistan). Denial of access to detention centers impeded efforts
to determine if any improvements had occurred since then.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--The government operates
eight prisons, including one for females, and four pretrial detention
facilities. The government opened a new prison in Khujand, and many
citizens reported that it represented an improvement over the previous
detention facility.
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) continued to deny access to prisons
or detention facilities to representatives of the international
community and civil society seeking to investigate claims of harsh
treatment or conditions. Some foreign diplomatic missions and NGOs were
given access to implement assistance programs or carry out consular
functions, but their representatives were limited to administrative or
medical sections, and MOJ personnel accompanied them. The government
did not sign an agreement with the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) to allow free and unhindered access to prisons and
detention centers, and the ICRC's international monitoring staff has
not returned to the country since 2007.
Detainees and inmates described harsh and life-threatening prison
conditions, including extreme overcrowding and unsanitary conditions.
Disease and hunger were serious problems, but outside observers were
unable to assess accurately the extent of the problems because
authorities did not allow access to prisons. Organizations such as the
UN Human Rights Council reported that infection rates of tuberculosis
and HIV were significant and that the quality of medical treatment was
poor.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The government placed few checks
on the power of prosecutors and police to make arrests. The criminal
justice system operated under the criminal procedure code based on a
1961 Soviet law. Individuals reported that some prosecutors and courts
pressed questionable criminal charges and that some officials
influenced judges inappropriately to get convictions. In December the
government approved a new criminal procedure code to replace the
existing code in April 2010.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
Interior (MOI), Drug Control Agency (DCA), Agency on State Financial
Control and Fight Against Corruption (an anticorruption agency), State
Committee for National Security (SCNS), State Tax Committee, and
Customs Service shared civilian law enforcement responsibilities. The
MOI is responsible primarily for public order and controls the police
force. The DCA, anticorruption agency, and State Tax Committee each
have a mandate to investigate specific crimes, and they report to the
president. The SCNS has responsibility for intelligence and controls
the Border Service. The Customs Service reports directly to the
president. The Prosecutor General's Office oversees criminal
investigations these agencies conduct.
The agencies' responsibilities overlapped significantly, and law
enforcement organizations deferred to the SCNS. Law enforcement
agencies were not effective in investigating organized criminal gangs,
and corruption remained a serious problem. There were credible
allegations that some traffic police retained the fines they collected
for traffic violations. Although this corruption was small-scale, it
was widespread and systemic. Although the government prosecuted some
law enforcement officials, serious abuses--particularly those committed
by high-ranking officials--went unpunished, including the alleged fraud
committed by former bank governor Alimardon (see section 4).
In May a regional prosecutor was accused of pressuring a woman to
drop a criminal complaint against a man who allegedly abused her and
stole her property. The alleged perpetrator's brother worked for the
Prosecutor's Office. After the woman's defense attorney filed her
initial criminal complaint, the prosecutor's office allegedly
threatened the attorney that he could be prosecuted for libel and that
it ``isn't worth it'' to raise complaints about prosecutors or their
relatives.
Victims of police abuse may submit a formal complaint in writing to
the officer's superior or the Office of the Ombudsman. Most victims
chose to remain silent rather than risking retaliation by the
authorities. The Ombudsman's Office for Human Rights opened in May and
made efforts to respond to complaints about civil rights violations,
but lack of funding and resources impeded its work. According to
government reports, the anticorruption agency detected 677 corruption-
related crimes through September, including 122 government employees of
the public management system, law enforcement, and counternarcotics
agency.
Arrest and Detention.--By law prosecutors are empowered to issue
arrest warrants, and there is no requirement for judicial approval of
an order for pretrial detention. Police may detain a suspect without a
warrant in certain circumstances, but a prosecutor must be notified
within 24 hours of arrest. After a warrant is issued, the police may
hold a suspect 72 hours before arraignment. Defense advocates alleged
that prosecutors often held suspects for longer periods and only
registered the initial arrest when the suspect was ready to confess.
Pretrial detention may last as long as 15 months in exceptional
circumstances. Local prosecutors may order pretrial detention for as
long as two months; subsequent detentions must be ordered by
progressively higher level prosecutors. A defendant may petition for
judicial review of a detention order, but judges rarely questioned
detention decisions, and defense attorneys stated judges regarded this
review as merely a formality.
Prosecutors oversee pretrial investigation and have the right to
initiate criminal proceedings. Individuals have the right to an
attorney upon arrest and the government must appoint lawyers for those
who cannot otherwise afford one. In practice the government provided
few attorneys for public defense, and these attorneys were generally
ineffective. There is no bail system, although criminal detainees may
be released conditionally and restricted to their place of residence
pending trial. The typical length of pretrial detention was two to
three months.
According to the law, family members are allowed access to
prisoners only after indictment; officials occasionally denied
attorneys and family members access to detainees. Authorities held
detainees charged in crimes related to national security incommunicado
for long periods without formally charging them. In January, after
relatives of former citizen Muhammadi Salimzoda sought his whereabouts
for five months, the SCNS admitted that Salimzoda had been in state
custody the entire period. Salimzoda was sentenced to 29 years'
imprisonment for espionage and attempting to overthrow the government,
but he claimed security personnel obtained his confession to the crimes
under physical and psychological duress.
The government generally provided a rationale for arrests, although
some detainees claimed that authorities falsified charges or inflated
minor problems to make politically motivated arrests. Some police and
judicial officials regularly accepted bribes in exchange for lenient
sentencing or release.
Amnesty.--On November 4, President Rahmon granted amnesty to 10,000
prisoners, in part to relieve prison overcrowding. The amnesty covered
those who had served three-fourths of their sentences, women, children,
men older than 55, disabled prisoners, civil war veterans, and
individuals sentenced for army desertion. Individuals covered by the
amnesty were eligible to apply for release, pending court approval, on
a case-by-case basis.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, in practice the executive branch exerted
pressure on prosecutors and judges. Corruption and inefficiency were
significant problems.
On June 9, Judge Nur Nurov sentenced 31 residents of Isfara
district to 10 to 25 years in prison for numerous crimes including
theft, embezzlement, and membership in a criminal organization. The
convicted individuals included employees and family members of a
prominent Isfara businessman whose holdings were seized by officials.
Following the sentencing, the state prosecutor complained that he had
not asked for such lengthy sentences. The defense attorney later
produced an audio tape in which Judge Nurov claimed that the chair of
the Supreme Court had ordered him to issue maximum sentences to the
group.
In September the Grace Sun Min Church vacated the school it had
purchased in the late 1990s after losing a legal dispute with the city
of Dushanbe. Legal observers believed the government pressured the
court to rule against the church so the government could reclaim
ownership of the school.
The law gives prosecutors disproportionate power in relation to
judges and defense advocates. This power includes control of formal
investigations and oversight of entire case proceedings. ``Supervisory
powers'' provided by law allow prosecutors to protest court decisions
outside normal appeal procedures. Prosecutors effectively can cause
court decisions to be annulled and reexamined by higher courts
indefinitely after appeal periods have expired. These powers were an
impediment to establishing an independent judiciary.
The criminal courts are organized into three levels: district, city
or regional, and national courts. Most cases were heard in general
criminal courts. In rare instances, military courts try civilians, and
the defendants have the same rights they would have as defendants in
civilian courts. A military judge and two officers drawn from the
service ranks hear these cases. A constitutional court adjudicates
claims of constitutional violations.
The president is empowered to appoint and dismiss judges and
prosecutors with the consent of parliament. The parliament approved all
presidential judicial nominations during the year, nor did the
president dismiss any judges. Judges at all levels often were poorly
trained and had limited access to legal reference materials. Low wages
for judges and prosecutors left them vulnerable to bribery, which was a
common practice. Government officials subjected judges to political
influence.
The government addressed problems of judicial integrity by holding
some judges and prosecutors accountable for criminal conduct. During
the year the government arrested four judges and three judicial system
employees for corruption. Courts convicted four judicial system
employees who were arrested for corruption in 2007.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public, except in cases involving
national security. There is a presumption of innocence by law, but in
practice defendants were presumed guilty. NGOs reported that their
ability to gain access to monitor trials improved during the year,
although authorities denied NGOs access to some trials without
explanation. In many cases judges were reluctant to allow monitoring
organizations to observe trials unless the judge received an official
request from the Council of Justice. In national security cases, a
panel consisting of a presiding judge and two ``people's assessors''
determines the guilt or innocence of the accused. Qualifications of the
assessors and how those qualifications are determined are not known,
but their role is passive, and the presiding judge dominates the
proceedings.
The law states that cases should be brought before a judge within
28 days after indictment. Pretrial investigation can be extended as
long as 15 months in exceptional circumstances, but most cases were
brought to trial within three months. Indicted individuals were usually
found guilty. Judges often deferred to uncorroborated testimony of law
enforcement officers, especially members of the SCNS, and often
discounted the absence of physical evidence.
Defendants and attorneys have the right to review all government
evidence, confront and question witnesses, and present evidence and
testimony. No groups are barred from testifying, and in principle, all
testimony receives equal consideration. In practice courts generally
gave prosecutorial testimony more consideration than defense testimony.
The law provides for the right to appeal. The law extends the rights of
defendants in trial procedures to all citizens.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Authorities claimed that there
were no political prisoners and that they did not make any politically
motivated arrests. Opposition parties and local observers claimed the
government selectively prosecuted political opponents. There was no
reliable estimate of the number of political prisoners, but former
opposition leaders claimed there were several hundred such prisoners
held in the country, including former fighters of the UTO.
In February Rustam Fayziev, deputy chairman of the unregistered
Party of Progress, died in prison after four years of confinement for
insulting and defaming President Rahmon in a 2005 unsent, unpublished
letter. The government claimed his death was the result of natural
causes. Muhammadruzi Iskandarov, head of the Democratic Party of
Tajikistan and former chairman of Tojikgaz, the country's state-run gas
monopoly, remained in prison following his unlawful extradition from
Russia and 2005 conviction for corruption. Former interior minister
Yakub Salimov remained in prison serving a 15-year sentence for crimes
against the state and high treason following his 2005 closed trial.
In December security officials arrested family members of the late
Mirzo Ziyoev, former UTO leader killed in July, on unknown charges.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Civil cases are heard in
general civil courts, economic courts, and military courts. In practice
the jurisdictions of these courts overlapped significantly, sometimes
impeding fairness and efficiency. For example, a case during the year
involving Jehovah's Witnesses was processed in a regional court. In
2008 the Supreme Court determined that a military court should hear
civil cases related to Jehovah's Witnesses. In 2008 an economic court
heard a land use dispute between the Grace Sun Min Church and the city
of Dushanbe, despite the lack of a clear commercial interest.
Property Restitution.--Despite changes to the land code,
substantive property law is weighted against private property holders.
Property recording systems are outmoded, leaving government officials
with frequent opportunities to claim that property owners have violated
regulations. Government officials relied on a lack of procedural
transparency to implement development plans that call for building new
businesses or residences in city centers at the expense of long-time
residents. Municipal governments that developed these plans did not
share them with the public, and evictees were afforded little due
process.
Officials appeared to decide that government control of certain
parcels of land was necessary and acquired them with no public debate
and without elaborating on the justification for government seizure.
The government notified residents that they had to leave their
properties and offered them very little compensation. If residents did
not comply with the order to vacate, city officials took them to court.
The court hearings generally resulted in an eviction order. Property
owners who challenged evictions in the courts generally were
unsuccessful and were subject to retribution. Some of the owners were
charged with criminal violations.
On May 4, a new synagogue was opened in Dushanbe, funded by the
head of Orion Bank (who is the brother-in-law of the president). In
June 2008 officials demolished the country's former synagogue to make
way for a new presidential palace after a local court upheld an
eviction order against Dushanbe's Jewish community, despite significant
irregularities in the process.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits arbitrary interference, although
police forces committed violations in practice.
The law states that police cannot enter and search a private home
without the approval of a prosecutor, except in special circumstances
in which a delay would impair national security. If police search a
home without prior approval, they must inform a prosecutor within 24
hours. In practice police frequently ignored these laws and infringed
on citizens' right to privacy, and citizens were sometimes searched
without a warrant. The government conducts no independent judicial
review of police searches conducted without permission. In August state
security officers raided a private home and detained 17 Jehovah's
Witnesses. The individuals were interrogated and released, pending
trial.
The law prohibits the government from monitoring private
communications, but citizens and NGOs alleged that the government did
so on occasion.
Police and MOI officials sometimes harassed the families of
suspects in pretrial detention or threatened to do so to elicit
confessions, as in the case in which a prosecutor allegedly threatened
a suspect that he would ``ruin'' his daughter (see section 1.c.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, but in practice the government restricted
these rights. Authorities subjected individuals who disagreed with
government policies to intimidation and discouraged them from speaking
freely or critically. Under the law a person can be imprisoned for as
long as five years for insulting the president.
Independent media were active but, as in previous years, the
government subjected the media to different means of control and
intimidation. Although print media regularly published political
commentary and investigatory material critical of the government, media
sources observed that certain topics were considered off limits,
including derogatory information about the president or his family
members or questions about financial impropriety by those close to the
president. Media outlets regularly practiced self-censorship due to
fear of government reprisal.
In October a Dushanbe court found Paikon newspaper guilty of libel
after it published an open letter by businessmen critical of the
country's import/export agency. The court ruled that the newspaper must
pay the agency 300,000 somoni ($68,000) for publishing the letter. The
newspaper appealed the court's decision, noting that the law states
that only individuals (not organizations) may be sued for libel.
There were four state-run television channels that broadcast
throughout the country, and four state-run television stations that
broadcast regionally. There was one national and several regional
state-run radio stations. Several independent television and radio
stations were available in a small portion of the country, but the
government controlled most broadcasting transmission facilities.
In March the government terminated the contract of Russia's RTR
Planeta television over unpaid fees. RTR was the only Russian-language
channel broadcasting in the country. Independent TV Somoniyon, shut
down in 2004, won several cases against the State Committee on Radio
and TV but did not receive compensation or a new license. In October a
court ruled against TV Somoniyon, and it remained off the airways. An
independent television station in the Sughd region, ``Guli Bodom,'' was
denied an extension of its license, which many media analysts alleged
was the government's response to the political content of the station's
programming.
The government also cut off transmission of independent Radio Imruz
on August 11 after it reported on sensitive security issues. The
government permitted the station to resume broadcasting on September 3
but required the resignation of the editor in chief. The government
initiated a case against Tursunali Aliyev for slander, based on his
criticism of Sughd authorities in a 2007 article in Tong (a local
newspaper), and the case remained open at year's end. Local prosecutors
rejected charges against Aliyev in 2007, but Sughd regional prosecutors
instituted their own case. Media advocacy organizations viewed the case
as the result of government efforts to intimidate journalists.
Government authorities occasionally subjected individual
journalists to harassment and intimidation. Government officials
fabricated derogatory information about a journalist working for
Reuters and threatened to release the false information if the
journalist proceeded to write information critical of the government.
Journalists reported that government officials limited their access to
information or provided advice on what news should not be covered.
Other common types of government harassment included arbitrary
prosecutions, warnings issued via telephone and in person at
prosecutors' offices or during visits to editorial offices, and
selective tax inspections. In September 2008, the Prosecutor General's
Office instituted criminal proceedings against Dodojon Atovulloyev, the
editor in chief of the Moscow-based opposition newspaper Charogh-i-Ruz
(The Light of Day). Prosecutors instituted proceedings, citing
provisions in the criminal code that criminalize calling for the
overthrow of the constitutional order and public defamation of the
president, and were allegedly seeking Atovulloyev's extradition from
Russia. Atovulloyev remained abroad and Charogh-i-Ruz, which criticized
President Rahmon, ceased publication.
Independent radio and television stations continued to experience
administrative harassment and bureaucratic delays. New stations must be
licensed by the Commission of the National Committee on Television and
Radio, which directly manages the national television and radio
stations. The government restricted issuance of licenses to new
stations, in part through an excessively complex application process.
According to the National Association of the Independent Media of
Tajikistan (NANSMIT), more than 20 privately owned broadcasting
organizations were unable to begin working because the licensing
commission had rejected their documents over the last four years.
NANSMIT and the Union of Tajik Journalists called for an end to the
National Committee on Television and Radio's control of licensing,
noting the Committee's conflict of interest due to its management of
the national stations. Only a few of the privately held television
stations were genuinely independent, and government officials at times
interfered with their operations. The government granted two new
broadcast licenses in March to the Mavji Oryono television station in
Khujand and to the FM Aziz Plus radio station in Istravshan, but
neither station was functioning, according to NGOs.
The government allowed some international media to operate freely
as well as rebroadcasts of Russian television and radio programs. The
government continued to deny BBC a renewal of its license to broadcast
on FM radio. BBC broadcast a Persian-language television station via
satellite. Community radio stations continued to experience
registration and licensing problems that prevented them from
broadcasting. The Russian-language K Plus operated in the country and
broadcasted via satellite from Kyrgyzstan.
Opposition politicians had limited access to state-run television.
State television excluded the Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan
(SDPT) from its election coverage and did not report on the SDPT's
party congress; political observers attributed the lack of coverage to
party leaders' expressions of political views that opposed government
policies. The government allowed opposition political party leaders
limited or, in some cases, no broadcast time during the parliamentary
election campaign through the end of the year. The government allowed
opposition candidates limited time in parliamentary and presidential
elections in 2005 and 2006.
The government exercised a number of restrictions on the
distribution of materials. All newspapers and magazines with
circulations exceeding 99 recipients were required to register with the
Ministry of Culture. According to the Ministry of Culture, there were
244 registered newspapers and magazines, 128 of them private. None was
a daily publication. All major newspapers were released once per week,
on the same day of the week, and relied heavily on government-provided
content. There were 10 information agencies, nine of them private,
although some were not functioning and several were strongly influenced
by the government.
The government continued to control most printing presses and the
supply of newsprint. During the year at least six new national
newspapers began publishing. One of these, Risolat, was a privately
funded, religious-themed newspaper. In October a newspaper in Gorno-
Badakhshan Autonomous Region began publication in a minority Pamiri
language.
Internet Freedom.--Independent Web site www.nansmit.tj was
temporarily shut down after it criticized the forced closure of an
Internet cafe that allowed customers unrestricted access to Web sites.
Two Internet sites remained blocked as a result of the 2006 government
order to block access to Web sites that ``undermined the state's
policies.'' The sites are www.charogu.ru and www.ariana.com.
In 2007 the criminal code was amended to criminalize libel and
defamation on the Internet, punishable by as long as two years in
prison. By year's end the government had not prosecuted anyone under
these amendments.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--In March the Ministry of
Culture banned performances of a play after viewing it on opening night
and deeming its content a political critique. After the playwright
revised the script to remove objectionable content, authorities
permitted the play to resume performances.
The Ministry of Education regularly placed pressure on academic
institutions that employed individuals who opposed the president's
administration or policies. The ministry ordered the three-month
closure of the Technological and Communication Innovation of Tajikistan
Institute, ostensibly for technical reasons, but several opposition
political figures were on its faculty. The institute contested the
order in economic court, won a reprieve in September, and continued its
operations. At year's end the case remained open.
Students wearing a hijab (head scarf) were banned from attending
public universities. Schoolchildren wearing hijabs have been denied
diplomas at the conclusion of their studies, particularly in Dushanbe
and the Sughd region. In Dushanbe and Khujand, university and school
students contested the ban in two court cases, but in each case the
court ruled in favor of the Ministry of Education. The Tajik National
University expelled 40 students for wearing hijabs. Most were
readmitted after they agreed to not wear hijabs on university grounds.
In September the Ministry of Education introduced a ban on wearing
beards by teachers younger than 50. Teachers who are older than 50 may
not wear beards longer than one and one-fourth inch.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, but the government
restricted this right in practice. On May 6, 30 female merchants
launched a hunger strike to protest the demolition of a market in
Dushanbe where they were employed. Authorities proceeded to demolish
the market and the hunger strike ended.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution protects freedom of
association. In practice the government restricted this right. The Law
on Observing National Traditions and Rituals provided a basis for the
government to infringe on individuals' ability to hold private events
such as wedding and funeral ceremonies. The law limits the number of
wedding guests and controls ceremonial gift presentations and other
traditional rituals. The law also regulates the number of guests at
funerals and memorial services. Some citizens reported that government
officials monitored weddings and funerals to ensure that all parties
obeyed the law.
An estimated 2,000 public organizations functioned in the country.
The government reported that the courts closed five public
organizations during the year. The 2007 Law on Public Associations
required all NGOs to register with the MOJ. Of more than 1,000 NGOs
that reregistered, approximately 50 were international entities.
The government continued to refuse to register political parties
and associations it considered to be opposition groups. The government
also monitored activities of religious groups and institutions to
prevent them from becoming overtly political.
Legislation defined extremism in broad terms and gave law
enforcement agencies wide latitude to conduct investigations. There was
no reliable estimate of the number of persons arrested or detained for
membership in extremist organizations such as the Islamic Movement of
Uzbekistan and Hizb ut-Tahrir. Fundamentalist Islamic groups, including
Jamaat-E-Tabligh and the Salafi sect, also were banned; local
authorities frequently detained and questioned members of these groups.
Authorities reported that those arrested faced charges of membership in
banned organizations, illegal possession of weapons, and disruption of
the constitutional order.
Although prosecutors secured convictions for many of those arrested
for extremist activities, law enforcement officials continued to use
their authority to monitor, question, and detain a broad spectrum of
individuals and groups by alleging extremism.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, but legislation and government decrees restrict this right.
In April the government passed the restrictive Law on Freedom of
Conscience and Religious Organizations. Elements of the law included
limiting the number of religious institutions that may be built within
a given population area, designation of the Hanafi branch of Islam as
the religious basis of society, a mandate that an individual seeking to
open a religious institution must have been resident in the country for
five years, limits on the number of madrassahs (religious schools) to
one per district, and a requirement for all religious organizations to
reregister with the Department of Religious Affairs (DRA) by January 1,
2010. According to the new law, prayer is effectively banned in public
places and restricted to four areas: mosques, cemeteries, holy places,
and the home. In practice the government did not enforce most
provisions of the new law, and there were no known cases of individuals
arrested for praying in a public place. The government granted approval
to most minority religious organizations who applied to reregister with
the DRA. Women were prohibited from attending mosques (see section 6).
In January the Supreme Court banned the Islamist ``Salafi''
movement and designated it an extremist organization. In June police
raided a mosque, arrested 40 individuals, and charged them with
membership in the Salafi movement.
Courts upheld the government's ban on activities of the Jehovah's
Witnesses and took action against the group in local courts in the
Sughd region.
On October 12, the first center for Ismaili Muslims in Central
Asia, the Aga Khan Cultural Center, opened in Dushanbe.
The Council of Ulamo, an association of Islamic clergy, provides
interpretations of religious practice that imams throughout the country
are required to follow. Although the council is officially an
independent religious body, in practice it was subject to significant
government influence. The DRA is responsible for general regulation of
all religious organizations. The DRA, in consultation with local
authorities, registers and approves all religious places of worship.
For Muslims, the DRA controls all aspects of participation in the hajj
(pilgrimage to Mecca) and chooses participants. President Rahmon
established the Center for Islamic Studies during 2008 to direct
religious policy, and it remained active during the year.
The government continued to impose limitations on personal conduct
and to restrict activities of religious groups it considered ``threats
to national security.'' Government officials visited mosques regularly
to monitor activities, observe those who attended the mosques, and
examine audio and video materials for evidence of extremist and
antigovernment material. The DRA continued to test imams on their
religious knowledge and to ensure that they followed official positions
on religious issues.
The new Law on Religion placed new restrictions on private Islamic
education. In January 2008 the government put the previously
independent Islamic University, the country's only religious
institution of higher learning, under the administration of the
Ministry of Education. Teachers underwent a vetting process, and the
university was downgraded to an ``Islamic institute'' (a level below
that of university but equivalent to a college.) The government
permitted private religious schools, but they were required to register
with the Ministry of Culture. There were approximately 20 madrassahs at
the secondary school level, including a new, secular-based madrassah;
the government did not close madrassahs during the year.
Government printing houses generally did not publish religious
literature, but they did so in special cases such as printing the Koran
in Arabic script. The government tightly controlled importation of
religious literature. In April 2008 the government refused to allow
entry of a shipment of books for a Baptist organization, arguing that
the size of the shipment was disproportionate to the organization's
membership. The Ministry of Culture continued to ban religious
literature from organizations it considered inappropriate during the
year, and Jehovah's Witnesses' literature was included on the list.
The government did not restrict missionaries from registered
religious groups. The new religion law permitted proselytizing, but in
practice officials interfered with proselytizing. The government banned
the Jamaat-E-Tabligh group due to its proselytizing activities and
arrested its members.
The government requires citizens to apply for a permit to make the
hajj and limits the number of citizens who may be issued these permits,
placing additional age-based restrictions on those seeking to make the
pilgrimage. There were some reports that government officials extracted
bribes from individuals seeking permits to attend the hajj, or
pressured them to purchase ruling political party newspapers or other
goods.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
discrimination or harassment by members of one subgroup of a religion
against members of other groups or religious minorities. According to
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, there were an estimated 15,000 Jews
living in the country prior to the breakup of the Soviet Union, but
many of them left, and the community now numbers only a few hundred
persons. Although there were no confirmed public anti-Semitic acts,
some imams and mullahs preached anti-Semitic messages in mosques. On
May 4, a new synagogue was opened in Dushanbe to replace the one
demolished by the government in 2008 to make way for a new presidential
palace (see section 1.e.).
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement, but in practice the government imposed some restrictions.
Foreigners are prohibited from traveling within a 15-mile zone
along the country's borders with China and Afghanistan unless they
obtain permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Officials did
not always enforce the restrictions along the western border with
Afghanistan, although the government required travelers (including
international workers and diplomats) to obtain special visas to go to
Gorno-Badakhshan. Diplomats and international aid workers could travel
to the Afghanistan border without prior authorization.
There are no laws that provide for exile, and there were no reports
of forced exile. Some government opponents remained in self-imposed
exile in Russia.
Persons wishing to emigrate to countries of the former Soviet Union
must notify the MOJ prior to their departure. Persons who wish to
emigrate to other countries must obtain an immigrant visa to receive a
passport. Most persons who left the country were permitted to return,
but several political dissidents continued to reside abroad for fear of
arrest. The government declared Dodojon Atovulloev, editor in chief of
Charoghi Ruz who resided in Russia, a criminal. Safar Abdullo, former
deputy chairman of the Democratic Party, stated that he feared arrest
if he returned to the country.
The government provided protection and modest assistance to
resettle any citizens who returned voluntarily, and it cooperated with
international organizations that helped to fund assistance and
resettlement programs.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951
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 the expulsion
or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would
be threatened. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) reported that there were no cases of deportations of
individuals registered as refugees during the year. The government
respected protection letters issued by the UNHCR and allowed those
holding the letters to remain in the country while the UNHCR considered
their claims.
In April the authority for processing refugees was moved to the MOI
from the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection (MOL), resulting in
longer processing times for refugees and additional administrative
delays. The transfer of the Migration Service to the MOI brought with
it rampant corruption and the routine solicitation of bribes for
processing refugee claims and all other migration matters.
According to the UNHCR, 1,361 persons were registered as refugees
or asylum seekers in all of 2008, but the Ministry of Interior
registered more than 2,200 in the first nine months of the year. The
number of new arrivals claiming refugee status was approximately double
the 2008 number. The government continued to cooperate with the UNHCR,
which retained its observer status in the Refugee Status Determination
Commission.
The government generally succeeded in registering those with a
claim to refugee or asylum status, but the government also placed
significant restrictions on claimants. Officials continued to enforce a
law prohibiting asylum seekers and refugees from residing in urban
areas. Work permits for refugees were subject to administrative delays.
Refugees and asylum seekers were generally left to their own devices to
secure food, shelter, education, and access to basic services, although
the UNHCR provided significant assistance. Government actions reflected
a particular concern about the country's population of Afghan refugees.
Security officials regularly monitored refugee populations. Foreigners,
including refugees and persons with asylum status, were subject to
police raids throughout the year, particularly following incidents in
the summer in which security forces clashed with an armed opposition
group in Tavildara.
The process for making asylum status determinations was fraught
with problems, including lack of transparency. The government processed
asylum applications through the National Refugee Status Determination
Commission and granted applicants documents to regularize their stay
and to prevent deportation. Officials made decisions to deny refugee
status to some individuals without providing any justification for the
decisions. Although the law stipulates that refugee status should be
granted for as long as three years (after which it can be extended),
the transfer of refugee processing to the MOI resulted in much shorter
periods. Many Afghan refugees were granted status for periods as short
as six months, after which they had to reapply for status to stay in
the country. Although the law allowed refugees to apply for citizenship
after 18 months, few were granted citizenship. In 2008 the government
initiated a joint program with the UNHCR to promote integration and
eventual citizenship for 1,000 long-staying Afghan refugees, but its
implementation proceeded slowly.
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. In practice the government restricted this right.
The president and his supporters, primarily from his home region of
Dangara, continued to dominate the government. The president's
political party, the People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan (PDPT),
dominated both houses of parliament, holding 52 of 63 seats in the
Assembly of Representatives and an overwhelming majority in the
National Assembly. Members of the PDPT held most government positions.
The president had broad authority to appoint and dismiss officials, and
he exercised that authority throughout the year. For example, in
January, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, President Rahmon
fired the heads of the state electricity and natural gas companies,
accusing them of failing to do their jobs.
Elections and Political Participation.--After the 2006 presidential
elections, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
determined that presidential electoral legislation did not provide a
framework for democratic elections and that the 2005 parliamentary
elections were not free and fair. OSCE/ODIHR also noted that officials
exercised excessive control during the campaign and that the elections
did not adhere to democratic principles. Opposition parties, ODIHR, and
NGOs generally agreed on the areas that needed reform: increasing
accountability for election violations, revising the election law and
enacting new legislation, improving electoral administration,
establishing an environment all considered fair for campaigning, and
assisting political parties to become more professional. By year's end
the government had not implemented these recommendations or approved a
new election law to replace the 2005 law. Accordingly, the February
2010 parliamentary elections were to be conducted under the 2005 law.
The government reported eight legally registered political parties,
including the PDPT, but the MOJ refused to register a ninth party, the
Unity Party. Observers considered only three parties to represent
actual opposition. Opposition political parties had moderate popular
support and faced close scrutiny by the government. In February Rustam
Fayziev, deputy chairman of the unregistered ``Progress Party,'' died
in prison after four years of confinement.
The law prohibits political parties from receiving support from
religious institutions, but religiously affiliated parties, such as the
Islamic Revival Party (IRPT), were registered.
The Democratic Party of Tajikistan remained factionalized.
Supporters of the party's imprisoned chairman, Mahmadruzi Iskandarov,
alleged that the government assisted in dividing the party in the
period preceding the 2006 presidential election. All senior members of
President Rahmon's government were PDPT members; most members of the
country's 97-seat parliament were members of the PDPT or were otherwise
considered to be supportive of the government. The only other parties
represented in parliament were the IRPT and the Communist Party.
There were 16 women in parliament, and there were five
representatives from minorities. Some ministries had female deputy
ministers. Ethnic Uzbeks were represented in the government, although
not in direct policymaking roles.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, but
the government did not implement the law effectively. Officials
frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity, and corruption
and nepotism were pervasive at all levels of government.
The MOI, anticorruption agency, and Prosecutor General's Office are
responsible for investigating, arresting, and prosecuting corrupt
officials. The government acknowledged a problem with corruption and
took steps to combat it, including putting lower-level officials on
trial for taking bribes. According to the newspaper Asia-Plus, an
officer from the Jilikul prosecutor's office in Khatlon province was
detained on suspicion of soliciting and receiving a bribe. The
anticorruption agency reported that the prosecutor received a bribe of
26,400 somoni (approximately $6,000) from a local resident for dropping
criminal cases against his relative. In October the deputy chairman of
Khatlon's Jomi District was charged with corruption for allegedly
taking a bribe from a person seeking to perform the hajj.
The prosecutor general investigated some cases of corruption by
government employees, but the bulk of the cases involved mid- or lower-
level officials, and none involved large-scale abuses. According to the
anticorruption agency, the government prosecuted 115 officials for
misconduct through September, but it was unclear how many of these
cases were for torture or degrading punishment. Prosecutors have
generally charged law enforcement officials under criminal provisions
related to abuse of official powers, extracting testimony under duress,
or corruption.
In December officials began a campaign to pressure public
institutions, private businesses, government employees, students, and
private individuals to publicly commit to purchase stocks in the
government's Roghun hydroelectric power station. Although the
government claimed that no individual was compelled to contribute to
Roghun, many government employees reported that money was deducted from
their salaries and applied to the Roghun project without their
permission. Officials instructed school and hospital directors to order
their employees to commit to purchase shares in Roghun in amounts
ranging from 500 to 5,000 somoni ($113-$1,136). Some citizens stated
that they feared reprisals, including termination from employment, if
they refused to contribute to the Roghun project. State media began a
propaganda campaign extolling individuals who committed to buy shares.
Independent media outlets practiced self-censorship in covering the
Roghun fundraising drive and did not publish criticism of the campaign.
The government did not explain the details of the Roghun stock program,
how it would manage shares, or how citizens would be able to recoup
their investments.
Throughout the year the government continued to face scrutiny from
the international community over apparently deliberate
misappropriations involving the International Monetary Fund (IMF). IMF
auditors found in 2008 that the country had misreported its finances
and required the country to make early repayment of IMF loans. Despite
evidence that the actions were deliberate, the government did not
prosecute anyone. Authorities admitted the falsifications and removed
Murodali Alimardon, the National Bank chief, but then awarded him the
position of deputy prime minister.
Public budgets, particularly those involving major state-owned
enterprises, lacked transparency. Although parliament had oversight
over the budget, in practice it passed annual budgets almost without
comment despite large, unexplained, and undefined expenses. For the
first time, ministries and state agencies reported to parliament on
implementation of the budget, but neither parliament nor the government
released information on the report. It was widely believed, and
privately acknowledged by government officials, that the government
used proceeds from state-owned enterprises for off-budget prestige
construction projects, including the Palace of the Nation in central
Dushanbe.
TALCO, the state-owned aluminum smelter that consumed a significant
portion of the country's energy resources and produced the country's
major export, agreed to a financial audit in 2008. TALCO's off-shore
management company, which reportedly was owned by senior politicians
and received the bulk of the proceeds, did not undergo an audit.
The law requires government officials to provide information to
journalists upon request. In practice the government did not permit
free access to information, and some officials disregarded the law
concerning journalists because there was no enforcement. Media
organizations claimed the Law on Access to Information that parliament
passed in June 2008 did not in practice give journalists greater access
to official information. For example, after the legislation took
effect, several ministries and agencies would not provide information
unless questions were submitted in writing. Release of the information
required the consent of top ministry and agency officials. Government
agencies took as long as one month to provide the requested
information, limiting journalists' ability to obtain information in a
timely manner.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
As in previous years, domestic and international human rights
groups usually were able to monitor and report on the general human
rights situation in the country, including treatment of prisoners by
security officials. Human rights NGOs and journalists were careful,
however, to avoid public criticism of the president or other high-
ranking officials.
The government continued to deny ICRC access to prison facilities.
The government's Office for Constitutional Guarantees of Citizens'
Rights continued to investigate and answer citizens' complaints, but
staffing inadequacies and uneven cooperation from other government
institutions hampered the office's effectiveness. The parliamentary
committee on legislation and human rights also monitored human rights
violations, but it lacked full independence from government influence.
The committee's primary responsibility was to examine proposed
legislation for compliance with human rights obligations, but according
to observers it did not fulfill its primary responsibility to raise
human rights concerns in new legislation.
In May the government opened the Office of the Human Rights
Ombudsman (OHRO). In drafting legislation to create the OHRO, the
government consulted with international organizations and NGOs, but the
final legislation did not include provisions ensuring the OHRO's
independence from government influence. The OHRO made efforts to
respond to civil complaints during the year, but its limited staff and
budget constrained its capacity to do so.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for the rights and freedoms of every person
regardless of race, gender, disability, language, or social status, but
in practice there was discrimination against women and persons with
disabilities. Trafficking in persons remained a problem.
Women.--The law prohibits rape, which is punishable by as long as
20 years' imprisonment. There is no provision addressing spousal rape.
Most observers believed the majority of cases were unreported. There
were no official statistics on the number of rapists charged,
prosecuted, or convicted. However, in November Amnesty International
(AI) released the report Violence is Not Just a Family Affair: Women
Face Abuse in Tajikistan, which stated that 42.5 percent of women
reported cases of spousal rape, with perpetrators frequently justifying
the act by invoking ``cultural values.''
Violence against women, including spousal abuse, remained a
widespread problem. According to the AI report, ``surveys have shown
that between a third and a half of Tajik women have suffered violence
from a family member. One survey showed 58 percent of wives reporting
physical and/or sexual violence from their husbands, and young--often
uneducated--women married in 'unregistered' ceremonies are particularly
at risk. In many Tajik households women are demeaned and attacked by
husbands and in-laws alike.'' AI also noted in the report that
``unregistered wives can also be divorced by husbands who simply repeat
a phrase in front of two witnesses. This often leaves divorced women
with nowhere to live and no source of income. In some cases wives have
been divorced over the telephone by husbands working abroad who have
already started new families abroad. Despite the fact that research
reveals very high levels of domestic violence in the country the Tajik
authorities do not compile comprehensive data on the issue and there is
only one shelter for at-risk women in the entire country.''
There is no comprehensive law against domestic violence. The
government has not taken adequate steps to conduct public information
campaigns or to collect information on domestic violence or the needs
of victims. Most cases of domestic abuse went unreported. Reported
cases were seldom investigated, and few alleged perpetrators were
prosecuted.
NGOs managed 44 ``crisis centers'' where women could seek guidance
on domestic violence problems, but many centers lacked funding and
resources. Local governments donated the premises for three of the
shelters. The Committee for Women's Affairs (within the Office of the
President) had limited resources to assist domestic violence victims,
but local committee representatives referred women to the crisis
shelters for assistance.
In some rural areas officials observed an ongoing trend of female
suicide; domestic abuse by in-laws or labor migration may have been
contributing causes. According to the November AI report, studies have
shown that domestic violence is the most frequent reason cited by women
who have attempted suicide. AI also noted that law enforcement agencies
often did little to assist victims of domestic violence. By law police
cannot act without a written complaint from the victim, even if there
were other witnesses, and police often gave only warnings, short-term
detentions, or fines for committing ``administrative offenses'' in
cases of domestic violence.
Prostitution is illegal, although in practice prostitutes who were
arrested were assessed a nominal fine and released. Procurers were
prosecuted.
The law prohibits sexual harassment with penalties of as long as
two years' imprisonment, but victims often did not report incidents
because of fear of social stigma.
The government did not interfere with the rights of individuals and
couples to plan the number, spacing, and timing of their children.
According to the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), 14 percent of women
between the ages of 15 and 49 used modern forms of contraception and 83
percent of births were attended by skilled personnel. The PRB also
reported that 77 percent of women received postpartum care and that the
maternal mortality rate was approximately 625 per 100,000 births.
Amonullo Ghoibov, secretary of the National Coordination Committee
to Prevent and Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria noted that
women in the country were becoming increasing vulnerable to infection
and that the ``.culture and traditions do not allow for an open
discussion about sex education issues, HIV transmission routes and
protection from infection.'' According to the activist group Women
Living Under Muslim Laws, the head of the country's National AIDS
Center stated that ``traditional gender stereotypes and the subordinate
status of women mean few of them get any information on sexual health
and reproductive issues, let alone HIV prevention.''
The law protects women's rights in marriage and family matters, but
some female minors were pressured to marry against their will. NGOs
reported that there was a high rate of polygamy, although the practice
is illegal. Inheritance laws do not discriminate against women,
although in practice some inheritances passed disproportionately to
sons. The law provides that women receive equal pay as men for equal
work, but cultural barriers continued to restrict the professional
opportunities available to women.
In 2004 the country's highest Islamic body, the Council of Ulamo,
issued a fatwa (religious edict) that prohibited women from praying in
mosques. The government supported the fatwa but expressed concern over
the separation of church and state. The IRPT continued to operate one
``Friday prayer'' mosque that permitted women.
In its November report, AI stated that, according to its shadow
report conducted by women's NGOs in 2006, women were underrepresented
in decision-making processes at all levels of political institutions,
that the higher the position the lower the female representation, and
that female representation in all branches of power was less than 30
percent. AI noted that the country had no female ministers or
ambassadors.
AI also noted gender segregation in employment, ``with the vast
majority of the working female population (86 percent) working in the
low-paid sectors, such as agriculture (75 percent), public health
services and education: Wages in these branches are approximately 4-7
times lower than in other spheres (as in industry, construction,
transportation and communication). Furthermore, a significant number of
women of employable age are engaged in housekeeping or in the informal
sector of the economy.''
Children.--Citizenship is derived both by birth within the
country's territory (jus soli) and from one's parents (jus sanguinis).
The government is required to register all births. Many parents do not
register births until a child is ready to enter school, since birth
registration is required to receive public services.
Free and universal public education is compulsory until age 16 or
completion of the ninth grade. The United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF) indicated that school attendance was generally good through
the primary grades but that girls faced disadvantages, especially in
rural school systems where families elected to keep them home after
primary grades to take care of siblings or work in agriculture.
Underage marriage was widespread in some rural areas, and many parents
directed their daughters to quit school after the ninth grade.
There was no government body assigned to address issues of violence
against children. Human rights advocates were concerned that many acts
of violence were unreported.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation and
the trafficking of men for forced labor was a serious problem. Boys and
girls were trafficked internally for various purposes, including forced
labor and begging. Article 130.1 of the criminal code prohibits both
sexual exploitation and forced labor and prescribes penalties of five
to 15 years' imprisonment, penalties that are lower than those
prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. Officials generally
used other criminal provisions to address trafficking-related crimes,
because evidence gathered abroad was generally required for cases
prosecuted under article 130.1.
The country is a source for women trafficked to the United Arab
Emirates, Russia, Turkey, Iran, and India for the purpose of commercial
sexual exploitation. Economic migrants who traveled to Russia (and to a
lesser extent Kazakhstan) for work in the construction and agricultural
sectors were often exploited by unscrupulous employers and local
officials. While working abroad, they were often subjected to poor
living conditions, threatened with deportation, and denied the salaries
they had been promised.
A report by the government's Interagency Commission on Human
Trafficking reported 22 criminal cases involving trafficking-related
offenses through the first half of the year. In the first nine months
of the year, one individual was prosecuted under article 130.1, three
individuals under article 132 (deceptive recruitment), and nine
individuals under article 9 (trade in underage persons).
Although the government created a special antitrafficking unit in
the Ministry of Interior, it remained underfunded and had little
capacity to investigate trafficking cases. The government reported that
no convicted traffickers received suspended sentences or were granted
amnesty in 2008; sentences for those serving time in prison ranged from
six months' to eight years' imprisonment. The government worked with
Russian authorities to investigate trafficking cases during the year.
The government reported limited improvements in law enforcement,
although these efforts were overshadowed by the government's failure to
address serious and systemic problems, including the provision of
adequate funding to antitrafficking bodies, such as the Trafficking in
Persons Unit at the MOI; identification of and assistance to
trafficking victims; prosecution of a significant number of
traffickers; improvement in coordination between law enforcement and
security institutions with overlapping responsibilities; investigation
of allegations of security official abuse of three victims in 2008; and
the government's excessive reliance on the international community to
conduct trafficking awareness campaigns and to ensure victims' access
to assistance and protection.
The government's Interagency Commission on Human Trafficking
coordinated government efforts to combat human trafficking. The
government coordinated with the OSCE and International Office of
Migration (IOM) to develop an antitrafficking course at its police
academy. The government established new migration offices for its
laborers working in Russian cities. The country's consul in Dubai
coordinated with the IOM to repatriate victims of trafficking.
The government demonstrated limited efforts to assist trafficking
victims during the reporting period. The Ministry of Health operated
eight medical support units for female victims of domestic violence and
trafficking in persons. Virtually all other victim assistance and
protection, including shelter, medical assistance, rehabilitative
counseling, legal assistance, and vocational training, were provided by
internationally funded shelters and NGOs; the government did not
provide financial or in-kind assistance to any NGO or organization that
provided victim assistance.
After interviewing trafficking victims upon their return to the
country, government security officials referred victims to the
available shelter in Dushanbe. Victims were encouraged to participate
in trafficking investigations and prosecutions, but many authorities
remained untrained and unskilled in interviewing and caring for victims
of trafficking. Shelter officials stated they would prefer to meet with
victims before security officials interviewed them. During the year
internationally funded NGOs provided 44 victims with shelter and
assistance, compared with 38 victims in 2008. The government made no
efforts to develop and implement systematic victim identification
procedures or a domestic mechanism to refer victims to care providers.
The government engaged in few trafficking prevention efforts during
the year. The government operated several centers for training and
advising migrant workers, but these centers were generally ill-equipped
and lacked funding. In October 2008 the government produced and
broadcast television programs informing potential labor migrants of
their rights and practical considerations for the migration process. In
2008 officials instituted monitoring and licensing requirements for
travel firms to detect or investigate firms suspected of labor
trafficking complicity, and they were implemented throughout the year.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The MOL, the government's Commission on
Fulfillment of International Human Rights, the Society of Invalids, and
local and regional governmental structures were charged with protecting
the rights of persons with disabilities.
The law prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities
in employment, education, access to health care, and provision of other
state services, but public and private institutions generally did not
have the resources to provide legal safeguards. There is no law
mandating access to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the
government did not require employers to provide such access. Although
the government maintained group living and medical facilities for
persons with disabilities, funding was limited, and facilities were in
poor condition.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Generally discrimination was
not a significant problem. There were reports that some law enforcement
officials harassed ethnic Afghans and Uzbeks, but such reports were not
common.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Gay and lesbian relationships
have been legal in the country since 1998, and the age of consent is
the same as for heterosexual relationships. Throughout the country,
there was significant societal discrimination against lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons, and there was little to no
public activism on their behalf. There were no known acts of violence
against members of LGBT communities, and there were no documented cases
of government discrimination against LGBT persons.
Other Societal Discrimination.--There was considerable societal
discrimination against individuals with HIV/AIDS. The law on HIV/AIDS
requires health-care providers to give HIV/AIDS patients essential
medicines and treatments free of charge, but in practice many patients
were denied care and socially shunned.
The government offered HIV testing free of charge at 140
facilities, and partner notification was mandatory and anonymous. The
World Health Organization noted that HIV testing was systematically
offered to prisoners, military recruits, street children, refugees, and
persons seeking visas, residence, or citizenship.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions, and they did so in practice. The government used informal
means to exercise considerable influence over organized labor,
including influencing the selection of labor union leaders. The
umbrella Federation of Trade Unions of Tajikistan did not effectively
represent worker interests. There were reports that the government
compelled some citizens to join state-endorsed trade unions and impeded
formation of independent unions. According to official figures, 1.3
million persons belonged to unions, approximately 63 percent of the
active work force. The law requires all NGOs, including trade unions,
to be registered. The law does not specifically prohibit antiunion
discrimination, but there were no reports that it occurred during the
year.
Citizens were reluctant to strike due to fear of government
retaliation. In March 400 workers at the Sangtuda I power station went
on strike after they did not receive their salaries. After the workers
were paid, they returned to work, but three of the strike organizers
were fired from their jobs.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct activities without interference, except ``in cases
specified by law,'' but the law does not define those cases. The Law on
Meetings requires that meetings and other mass actions have prior
official authorization, limiting trade unions' ability to organize
meetings or demonstrations. The law provides for the right to organize
and bargain collectively, and workers exercised this right in practice.
Ninety percent of workers were covered by collective bargaining
contracts. The Law on Meetings did not restrict the right to strike,
but it required that meetings and other mass actions receive prior
approval from the authorities.
There are four Special Economic Zones--Khujand, Panj, Ishkoshim,
and Dangara--which are granted special trade privileges and exceptions
from taxation.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including of children, except in cases
defined in the law, but there were reports that such practices
occurred.
Local officials compelled state workers--particularly in Khatlon
and Sughd regions--to pick cotton during the annual cotton harvest.
Many workers were forced to sign statements certifying that their work
was voluntary. Forced labor in the cotton sector remained a problem
because the government continued to set a fixed price for a small cadre
of investors to purchase cotton from farmers. The fixed price was well
below market value, making it difficult for farmers to pay workers to
pick cotton. The undervaluing of labor, and the consequent lack of
voluntary laborers, led local officials to compel persons to
participate in the cotton campaign. Work conditions were generally
poor. The government announced that farmers were free to plant crops of
their choosing during the year's growing season. This announcement
followed a 2008 presidential pronouncement aimed at reforming the
country's agricultural sector, which led to an estimated 20 percent
drop in land allotted to farmers for cotton cultivation during the
year. In some cases, local officials continued to force farmers to grow
and pick cotton.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor remained a widespread problem, and the government did not
effectively enforce child labor laws or develop a comprehensive policy
to prevent or eliminate the worst forms of child labor. In 2005 UNICEF
estimated that approximately 200,000 children between the ages of five
and 14 were in the labor force. The highest incidences of child labor
were in the domestic or agricultural sectors.
The minimum age for children to work is 16, although children may
work at age 15 with local trade union permission. By law children
younger than 18 may work no more than six hours a day and 36 hours per
week. Children as young as seven may participate in household labor and
agricultural work, which were separately classified as family
assistance. Many children younger than 10 worked in bazaars or sold
goods on the street.
In April President Rahmon, in his address to parliament, called for
an end to forced child labor during the annual cotton harvest. Child
labor continued to be employed at the local level in cotton harvesting,
but to a lesser degree than in previous years. The practice of school
administrators directing school children to harvest cotton became less
common, although individual cases were reported. After the 2008 fall
harvest, local prosecutors in Khatlon charged two local officials with
pressuring schools to direct students to participate in the cotton
harvest. Despite reports of forced labor, the MOL did not deploy
inspection teams to investigate, and Ministry of Education officials
generally did not discipline teachers or local administrators who
facilitated or directed such practices. Authorities continued to deny
official involvement in forced labor.
Enforcement of child labor laws is the responsibility of the
Prosecutor's Office, the MOJ, the Ministry of Social Welfare, the MOI,
and appropriate local and regional governmental offices. Unions also
are responsible for reporting any violations in the employment of
minors. Unresolved cases between unions and employers can be brought
before the prosecutor general for investigation. Few violations were
reported, because most children worked under the family assistance
exception.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The estimated average monthly
wage was 322 somoni (approximately $73), but in many sectors the
average wages were far lower. In the agricultural sector, for example,
the average wage was estimated at 108 somoni ($24.50). There was no
agreed-upon measure of cost of living standards, but the World Bank
estimated that 53.5 percent of the population lived below the poverty
line, and 17 percent lived in extreme poverty. Although statistical
measures varied, the poverty line was estimated to be 139 somoni ($40)
per month, based on a 2007 joint survey by the government, the World
Bank, and UNICEF. The extreme poverty line was estimated to be 89
somoni ($25) per month. The government acknowledged the problem of low
wages and provided subsidies for workers and their families who earned
the minimum wage of 60 somoni ($17) per month. Some establishments
compensated their employees with food commodities or with enterprise-
produced products, which employees either sold or bartered in local
markets.
The law provides for a standard work week of 40 hours for adults
older than 18. The law mandates overtime payment, with the first two
hours paid at one and half times the normal rate and the remainder at
double the rate. Overtime payment was inconsistent in all sectors of
the labor force. The Ministry of Finance enforces financial aspects of
the labor law, and the Agency of Financial Control of the presidential
administration oversees other aspects of the law.
There are laws that establish relatively strict occupational health
and safety standards. In practice the government did not fully comply
with these standards, partly because of the degree of corruption and
the low salaries paid to inspectors. The State Technical Supervision
Committee under the Council of Ministers was responsible for enforcing
health and safety standards. The law permits workers to remove
themselves from hazardous conditions without risking loss of
employment. This law was not enforced effectively, and in practice few
workers removed themselves.
Farmers and agricultural workers, accounting for approximately 50
percent of the workforce, continued to work under difficult
circumstances. There was no system to monitor or regulate working
conditions in the agricultural sector. Wages were low, and many workers
were paid in kind. Despite some changes, the government's failure to
introduce and implement comprehensive property and land usage reforms
continued to limit its ability to protect agricultural workers' rights.
__________
TURKMENISTAN
Although the constitution declares the country to be a secular
democracy and presidential republic, it is an authoritarian state of
approximately five million that was dominated by President-for-life
Saparmyrat Niyazov until his death in December 2006. The now-disbanded
People's Council selected six candidates for the February 2007
presidential election. All those selected were members of the
Democratic Party, the country's only political party, and Gurbanguly
Berdimuhamedov won in an election that did not meet international
standards. December 2008 parliamentary elections also fell short of
international standards. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of security forces.
Although there were modest improvements in some areas, the
government continued to commit serious abuses, and its human rights
record remained poor. Authorities continued to restrict political and
civil liberties. Human rights problems included citizens' inability to
change their government; reports of torture and mistreatment of
detainees; incommunicado and prolonged detention; arbitrary arrest and
detention; denial of due process and fair trial; arbitrary interference
with privacy, home, and correspondence; restrictions on freedom of
speech, press, assembly, and association; restrictions on religious
freedom, including continued harassment of religious minority group
members; restrictions on freedom of movement for some citizens,
including increased restrictions on those intending to study abroad;
violence against women; and restrictions on free association of
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 the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful
killings.
There were no updates on the 2007 reports of citizens who died
under suspicious circumstances during detention, including the cases of
an allegedly drunk suspect who died in police custody in Mary Province
and a man who died in an Ashgabat detention center while awaiting an
appeal decision.
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,
security officials trying to extract confessions from detainees
tortured, beat, and used excessive force against criminal suspects,
prisoners, and individuals critical of the government.
An October 2008 decision of the European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR) stated that ``any criminal suspect held in custody ran a serious
risk of being subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment.''
The ECHR also reported that the country lacked an effective system to
prevent torture.
In contrast with previous years, there were no reports during the
year that authorities detained persons in psychiatric hospitals as
punishment. There was no further information regarding a July 2008
report that Nurmamed Agayev, a Muslim prayer leader who was arrested in
2006, was held in a psychiatric hospital in Lebap.
Hazing of military conscripts remained a problem and led to
desertions from units where conditions were particularly harsh.
According to a 2006 report from the Institute for War and Peace
Reporting, corruption within the defense ministry and draft
commissions, tribal- and ethnicity-based rivalries, and disregard for
the rights of soldiers led to an increasing number of deaths from
soldiers abusing fellow conscripts. Regular military units continued to
be used as unpaid manual labor working in fields, hospitals, factories,
and construction sites.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor; prisons were unsanitary, overcrowded, and unsafe. According to a
civil society source, a women's prison near Dashoguz built for 800
prisoners held approximately 2,000. Disease, particularly tuberculosis
(TB), was rampant. There continued to be concerns that the government
did not adequately test and treat prisoners with TB before they were
released into the general population, although the government
reportedly screened prisoners for TB and other diseases. The government
reportedly transferred prisoners diagnosed with TB to a special
Ministry of Interior hospital in Mary Province for treatment and
arranged for ongoing treatment for released prisoners at their
residences. The nutritional value of prison food was poor, and
prisoners depended on relatives to supplement inadequate food. There
were reports that prison officials sometimes confiscated these food
parcels.
Prisoners convicted for treason were unable to receive supplies
from relatives. There was no further information concerning a 2007
report that individuals convicted of complicity in the 2002 attack on
the former president's motorcade were given supplemental food packages
for the first time since they were imprisoned.
In 2007 family members and international nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) claimed that some prisoners died due to a
combination of overcrowding, untreated illnesses, and lack of adequate
protection from summer heat.
Sources familiar with prison conditions at Owadan Depe Prison
reported that former high-level officials continued to be denied proper
medical treatment and suffered beatings and verbal intimidation to
coerce confessions.
There are three types of incarceration facilities: educational
labor colonies, correctional labor colonies, and prisons. In
correctional labor colonies, relatives of prisoners reported excessive
periods of prisoner isolation.
Authorities held prisoners connected with the 2002 attack separate
from the general prison population at the Owadan Depe Prison. During
the year government officials continued to disregard inquiries from
family members and foreign diplomats about political prisoners'
locations or condition. Government officials continued to refuse to
permit family members, foreign diplomats, or international observers,
including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), access
to detainees or prisoners associated with the 2002 attack. The
government and the ICRC were unable to agree on acceptable conditions
for prison visits. As a result, the ICRC did not conduct any prison
visits during the year. Prisoners' family members reported that the
government also held political prisoners in facilities near
Turkmenbashy and in Mary Province.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, they remained serious problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
Internal Affairs directs the criminal police, who work closely with the
Ministry of National Security (MNB) on matters of national security.
The MNB controls personnel changes in other ministries and enforces
presidential decrees. Both the MNB and criminal police operated with
impunity. Corruption existed in the security forces.
Since President Berdimuhamedov created it in 2007, the presidential
commission to review citizens' complaints of abuse by law enforcement
agencies has conducted no known inquiries in which members of the
security forces were held accountable. In 2007 the commission reviewed
only three cases that led to further review by the Supreme Court and
reductions of citizens' sentences. In 2007 the president, who chairs
the commission, publicly fired and later arrested the chairman of the
Supreme Court, who served as deputy chairman of the commission, in part
for failure to ensure that cases coming to the commission received
proper review. In the same year the president fired the minister of
internal affairs, reportedly because of an alleged doubling of cases
involving ministry corruption and abuse under review by the commission.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--A warrant is
not required for arrest when a suspect is caught in the act of
committing the offense. The prosecutor general issues an authorization
for arrest within 72 hours of detention. If, within 10 days of
detention, investigating authorities do not find proof of guilt, they
must release the detainee. If evidence of guilt is found, the
investigation can last as long as two months. A provincial- or
national-level prosecutor may extend the investigation period to six
months. The national prosecutor general or deputy prosecutor general
may extend the investigation period to a maximum of one year. Following
the investigation the prosecutor prepares a bill of indictment and the
case is transferred to the court. These procedures were generally
respected in practice, and the prosecutor promptly informed detainees
of the charges against them.
A new Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) adopted in April provides for a
bail system and surety; however, these provisions were not implemented.
Detainees were entitled to immediate access to an attorney after a
formal accusation was issued, and they were able to choose their
counsel. In practice they did not always have prompt or regular access
to legal counsel. Authorities denied some prisoners visits by family
members during the year. Families sometimes did not know the
whereabouts of imprisoned relatives. Incommunicado detention was a
problem. The scope of these problems in the criminal justice system was
unclear. Authorities legally had to issue a formal indictment within 10
days of arrest to hold detainees longer. However, authorities did not
adhere to these provisions in practice.
The law characterizes any opposition to the government as treason.
Those convicted of treason face life imprisonment and are ineligible
for amnesty or reduction of sentence. However, there were no known
treason convictions. The government arrested and filed charges against
those expressing critical or differing views.
Pretrial detention legally could last no longer than two months,
but in exceptional cases it could be extended to one year if an
investigator made such a request to the prosecutor general. For minor
crimes a much shorter investigation period applies. In contrast to
previous years, authorities rarely exceeded legal limits for pretrial
detention. In the past chronic corruption and cumbersome bureaucratic
processes contributed to lengthy trial delays; however, the
government's anticorruption efforts and the establishment of the
Academy of State Service to improve state employees' qualifications
generally eliminated such delays.
Although in past years the government detained regime opponents
under house arrest without due process, no provision in the CPC
authorizes such punishment. The law does provide for internal exile,
requiring an individual to reside in a certain area for a fixed term of
two to five years. At year's end the status of individuals previously
placed under house arrest, including NGO leaders, relatives of those
suspected of involvement in the 2002 attack, and some of the 100
individuals prevented from meeting with the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2003, was unknown.
Amnesty.--The government pardoned 990 prisoners on February 19 in
honor of Flag Day; 1,671 prisoners on May 14 for the Day of Revival,
Unity and Magtymguly Pyragy's Poetry; 1,284 on September 9 in advance
of the Night of Omnipotence holiday; and 3,934 on December 2 in honor
of Neutrality Day. No prisoners of international concern or prisoners
associated with the 2002 attack on the former president's motorcade
were released.
It was unknown whether amnestied prisoners still had to swear an
oath of allegiance to the Ruhnama, former president Niyazov's spiritual
guidebook on the country's culture and heritage.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; in practice the judiciary was subordinate to the
president. There was no legislative review of the president's judicial
appointments and dismissals, except for the chairman (chief justice) of
the Supreme Court, whom parliament nominally reviewed. The president
had sole authority to dismiss any judge before the completion of his or
her term. The judiciary was widely reputed to be both corrupt and
inefficient.
The court system consists of a Supreme Court, six provincial courts
(including one for Ashgabat), and 64 district and city courts. Civilian
courts, under the authority of the Office of the Prosecutor General,
tried members of the armed forces for criminal offenses.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides due process for defendants,
including a public trial, access to accusatory material, the right to
call witnesses to testify on their behalf, a defense attorney or a
court-appointed lawyer if the defendant cannot afford one, and the
right to represent oneself in court. In practice authorities often
denied these rights. Defendants frequently did not enjoy a presumption
of innocence. There was no jury system. The government permitted the
public to attend most trials but closed some trials, especially those
it considered politically sensitive. There were few independent lawyers
available to represent defendants. The CPC provides that a defendant be
present at his or her trial and consult with his or her attorney in a
timely manner. The law sets no restrictions on a defendant's access to
an attorney. If a defendant cannot afford to pay for attorney's
services, an attorney is provided at public expense. The court at times
did not allow a defendant to confront or question a witness against him
or her and denied the defendant and his or her attorney access to
government evidence. In some cases courts refused to accept exculpatory
evidence provided by defense attorneys, even if that evidence would
have changed the outcome of the trial.
Even when the courts observed due process, the authority of the
government prosecutor far exceeded that of the defense attorney, making
it difficult for the defendant to receive a fair trial. Court
transcripts were frequently flawed or incomplete, especially when
defendants' testimony had to be translated from Russian to Turkmen.
Defendants could appeal a lower court's decision and petition the
president for clemency. In most cases courts ignored allegations of
torture when defendants raised such allegations in trial. There were
credible reports that judges often predetermined the outcome of the
trial and sentence.
There were regular reports that police would arrest an individual
and request he or she pay a fine for breaking a specific law. When a
citizen asked to see the law, police or other government officials
refused or stated the laws were secret.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--On May 2, the government
released Mukhametkuli Aimuradov, imprisoned since 1995 for antistate
crimes, including attempted terrorism.
There was no further information about the case of former civil
activist and former political prisoner Gulgeldy Annaniyazov, whom
authorities arrested in June 2008 after he reentered the country and
sentenced in a closed court trial the next month to 11 years in prison.
Annaniyazov received asylum in Norway in 2002 after serving five years
in a Turkmenbashy prison for his role in a 1995 political
demonstration.
There was no further information regarding the cases of journalists
Annakurban Amanklichev and Sapardurdy Hajiyev, who remained in jail. In
2006 authorities charged them and journalist Ogulsapar Myradova with
weapons possession after they received journalism equipment from
foreign sources. They were sentenced in a closed trial to six to seven
years' imprisonment. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the
Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation, and several other human rights
organizations claimed the journalists were charged with criminal
activities to block their reporting. In 2006 Myradova died in police
custody under suspicious circumstances.
Opposition groups and some international organizations claimed the
government held political prisoners and detainees, although the precise
number of these individuals--who included persons convicted of
involvement in the 2002 attack--remained unknown. Among those
individuals from 2002 was a former ambassador to the OSCE, Batyr
Berdiev, whose whereabouts and fate remain unknown. In 2008 there were
reports that the government held approximately 360 individuals in
Owadan Depe prison for their perceived political opinions and alleged
involvement in the 2002 attack. Human rights observers called
conditions at Owadan Depe Prison among the worst in the country, and
there were reports that prison officials subjected prisoners to torture
and other forms of abuse.
There was no further information on 2007 reports that some
prisoners accused of economic crimes, including a number of former
senior government ministers, might have been moved from Owadan Depe
Prison to Mary Prison. Government officials continued to ignore
inquiries from family members and foreign diplomats about many
prisoners' locations or condition. Government officials also continued
to prevent family members, foreign diplomats, and international
observers such as the ICRC from accessing detainees or prisoners
associated with the 2002 attack.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The civil judiciary system
was neither independent nor impartial; the president appointed all
judges. According to law, evidence gathered during a criminal
investigation can be used as the basis for a civil action in a process
called ``civil lawsuit in criminal justice.'' There were reports of
bribes in the civil court system to ensure a particular outcome. In
cases in which the state had interests regarding an individual citizen,
it imposed court orders. The most commonly enforced court orders were
eviction notices.
Property Restitution.--The government failed to enforce the law
consistently with respect to restitution or compensation for
confiscation of private property. In February 2007 President
Berdimuhamedov announced there would be no housing demolition unless
replacement housing was available. However, during the year the
government demolished some private homes in and around Ashgabat as part
of an urban renewal program without adequately compensating the owners.
As in previous years, there were reports that the government gave
persons as few as 72 hours to vacate their homes and did not provide
homeowners with alternative accommodations or compensation.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions;
however, authorities frequently did not respect these prohibitions in
practice. In some cases authorities forcibly searched the homes of
suspected regime opponents and some minority religious group members
without independent judicial authorization. The law does not regulate
surveillance by the state security apparatus, which regularly monitored
the activities of officials, citizens, opponents and critics of the
government, and foreigners. Security officials used physical
surveillance, telephone tapping, electronic eavesdropping, and
informers. The government reportedly intercepted surface mail before
delivery, and letters and parcels taken to the post office had to
remain unsealed for government inspection.
A noncitizen may marry a citizen only after residing in the country
for one year.
Individuals who were harassed, detained, or arrested by
authorities, and their family members continued to report that the
government caused family members to be fired from their jobs or
expelled from school and that authorities sometimes detained and
interrogated the family members.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, but the government did not
respect these rights in practice. The government warned critics against
speaking with visiting journalists or other foreigners about human
rights problems. There were reports that law enforcement officials
harassed and detained Turkmen journalists who worked for foreign media
outlets.
Almost all print media were government financed. Except for the
private but government-sanctioned Turkish newspaper Zaman, which
reflected the views of the state newspapers, the government imposed
significant restrictions on the importation of foreign newspapers.
The government controlled radio and local television, but satellite
dishes providing access to foreign television programming were
widespread throughout the country. Citizens also received international
radio programs through satellite access.
During the year government agents reportedly detained, harassed,
and intimidated journalists and their families. In particular,
journalists working for RFE/RL reported frequent surveillance and
harassment by government authorities.
During the year there were several reports that the government used
restrictions on travel abroad to punish independent journalists and
individuals who openly criticized the government. The government also
restricted the travel of journalists' family members. In 2008 the
government barred four RFE/RL reporters from travelling abroad.
There were no updates concerning the case of RFE/RL correspondent
Soltan Achilova. In January 2008 authorities interrogated Achilova for
two days, accusing her of producing reports critical of national
policy. They released her after she signed an agreement to stop working
for RFE/RL until she obtained formal press accreditation. Although RFE/
RL requested accreditation on Achilova's behalf, by year's end
authorities had not responded to the request.
There were no updates concerning the case of RFE/RL reporter
Gurbandurdy Durdykuliyev. In late April 2008, a Molotov cocktail struck
Durdykuliyev's house in Balkanabat. Three of the house's outer walls
were painted with obscene graffiti, including the word ``traitor,''
paint was poured on his car, and human feces were smeared on his front
door.
Throughout the year the government continued intermittent
harassment of RFE/RL reporter Halmyrat Gylychdurdyev. Authorities
monitored his activities, harassed his family, and periodically
disconnected his mobile telephone service. In April 2008 security
officials sought to disrupt the wedding of a family member of
Gylychdurdyev.
There were no updates concerning the case of RFE/RL reporter Osman
Halliyev. In July 2008 Halliyev reported that security authorities
pressured administrators at the Azadi Foreign Language Institute to
expel his son because Halliyev refused to stop working for RFE/RL.
Several family members were dismissed from their employment, and
Halliyev remained under constant surveillance.
During the year, as in previous years, the government required
state journalists to obtain permission to cover specific events as well
as to publish or air the subject matter they had covered.
Domestic journalists and foreign news correspondents engaged in
self-censorship due to fear of government reprisal. The government
continued to censor newspapers and prohibit reporting of opposition
political views or of any criticism of the president.
To regulate domestic printing and copying activities, the
government required all publishing houses and printing and photocopying
establishments to obtain registration licenses for their equipment. The
government required the registration of all photocopiers and mandated
that a single individual be responsible for all photocopying. The
government owned all publishing companies. The government censored
works on topics that were out of favor with the government, including
some works of fiction.
The government continued its ban on subscriptions to foreign
periodicals by nongovernmental entities, although copies of the Russian
newspaper Argumenti I Fakti and other nonpolitical periodicals appeared
occasionally in the bazaars.
There was no independent oversight of media accreditation, no
defined criteria for allocating press cards, no guarantee of receiving
accreditation when space was available, and no protection against the
withdrawal of accreditation for political reasons. The government
required all foreign correspondents to apply for accreditation. It
granted visas to journalists from outside the country only to cover
specific events, such as international conferences and summit meetings,
where their activities could be monitored. Authorities denied some
journalists accreditation, although at least five journalists
representing foreign media organizations were accredited. Turkish news
services had eight correspondents in the country, at least five of whom
reportedly were accredited. As many as 13 correspondents representing
foreign media services operated without accreditation. Visiting foreign
journalists reported harassment and denial of their freedom of movement
when they attempted to report outside official channels.
Internet Freedom.--During the year Internet access for the general
population increased to approximately 70,000 users, according to the
International Telecommunication Union. Government-owned Turkmentelecom
remained the main provider to the general population, but its service
was monitored and filtered.
The government continued to monitor citizens' e-mail and Internet
activity, and reports indicated that the Ministry of National Security
controlled the main access gateway, monitored users' browsing, and
blocked access to certain sensitive Web sites, cutting service in
certain cases. The Russian cellular company MTS reportedly provided
unfettered mobile Internet service to its customers; however, the price
was prohibitively high for most citizens.
The public could access the Internet through 15 state-owned
Internet cafes nationwide. The cafes offered controlled access and
blocked politically sensitive and pornographic Web sites.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The government did not
recognize academic degrees received abroad, except those obtained
abroad through intergovernmentally approved education programs. Only
government-selected students were allowed to participate in
intergovernmentally approved exchange programs. The Ministry of
Education did not recognize degrees from nonstate institutions of
higher education in former Soviet Union countries. The Ministry of
Education (MOE) closely scrutinized exchanges at the university level,
and according to the new law, the Council of Ministers must approve all
programs.
During the year the MOE took no action on the president's 2007
request that the ministry facilitate recognition of foreign degrees,
apart from the earlier established process of validation, based on
passing Ruhnama, History of Turkmenistan, and specialization exams in
Turkmen. The validation process was available only for degrees from
state higher educational institutions that offered a full-time
enrollment program.
Beginning in late July, the government began denying freedom of
movement to more than 150 Turkmen students studying at the American
University of Central Asia in Bishkek. The students were not allowed to
depart Turkmenistan to continue their studies there or at other
universities abroad. There were widespread reports that students
attempting to depart for overseas university study were also denied
exit permission and that authorities threatened families as a way to
pressure some students who were abroad to return home.
The government did not tolerate criticism of government policy or
the president in academic circles and curtailed research into areas it
considered politically sensitive, such as comparative law, history,
ethnic relations, and theology. University enrollment totaled
approximately 4,300 students at all higher educational institutions,
compared with 4,000 students in 2008.
Officials from the MOE and provincial authorities sought to prevent
students who were not ethnic Turkmen from entering exchange programs.
The school curriculum continued to include works by Niyazov, such
as the Ruhnama, and students were required to pass examinations on them
for advancement, graduation, or admission to higher educational
institutions. However, teachers reported that administration required
them to spend substantially less class time studying Niyazov's works
than in the past and instead began introducing books and speeches by
President Berdimuhamedov into the curriculum. During the year Ruhnama
studies as a separate course was discontinued for senior grades, but
was still required for primary school students. The newspaper
Mugallymlar gazeti (Teachers' Newspaper) published the new government-
provided curriculum for schools.
Most secondary school textbooks were revised to remove all text
devoted to Niyazov and his family; however, a picture of Niyazov
continued to appear on the first page of each textbook. Text devoted to
President Berdimuhamedov's ``New Revival'' ideology replaced the
previous text on Niyazov and his family. Despite a 2008 MOE report
stating that all textbooks had been completely revised, only one-third
had been revised at year's end.
The government continued to require teachers and students to
participate in state-sponsored extracurricular events, and
approximately 70 to 80 academic days per year were allocated to
compulsory participation in festivals and greetings for high-level
visitors, significantly reducing instruction time. This previously
informal practice was formalized at secondary schools by requiring
teachers to sign an agreement accepting salary cuts for not
participating in these government events. Participating students were
given the equivalent of ``A'' for the day, which provided further
incentive to attend the event rather than be in the classroom.
The government created a formalized mechanism for content
censorship by establishing a separate government committee to approve
all cultural products produced in the country for the general public,
including books, movies, theatrical plays, art, and any other cultural
program.
Although restrictions eased somewhat, the government continued to
control attendance at nonindigenous cultural events and refused to
permit the production of some foreign plays and performances in state
theaters. Only the Russian theater in Ashgabat continued to stage
foreign plays in Russian, and those plays were invariably apolitical.
The Ministry of Culture censored and monitored all public
exhibitions, including music, art, and cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
but the government restricted this right in practice. Authorities
neither granted the required permits for public meetings and
demonstrations during the year nor allowed unregistered organizations,
particularly those perceived to have political agendas, to hold
demonstrations.
Freedom of Association.--Although the constitution and law provide
for freedom of association, the government restricted this right in
practice. The law requires all NGOs to register with the Ministry of
Justice (MOJ) and all foreign assistance to be registered with the MOJ
and the Ministry of Economics and Development and coordinated through
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Unregistered NGO activity is
punishable by a fine, short-term detention and confiscation of
property. As in previous years, the government routinely denied
registration to NGOs and other private organizations for what appeared
to be arbitrary reasons.
During the year there were no reports that the government
registered any new civic organizations.
Of the 89 registered NGOs, international organizations considered
seven to be independent. NGOs reported that the government continued to
present numerous administrative obstacles to NGOs that attempted to
register. Some applications were repeatedly returned on technical
grounds. Some organizations awaiting registration found alternative
ways to carry out activities, such as registering as businesses or
subsidiaries of other registered groups, but others temporarily
suspended or limited their activities.
In 2008 authorities in Lebap Province advised two community groups
against cooperation with an international NGO. Local security
authorities in Dashoguz Province advised a community activist not to
accept grants from international organizations.
In 2007 security service officials continually harassed NGOs and
their local partners. In April and May 2007, authorities closed several
information and resource centers in the central Ahal region that an
international NGO operated; one was later allowed to reopen.
Authorities terminated cooperation between an NGO and local community
groups twice in 2007, advised two community groups against cooperating
with an NGO, terminated training the NGO was providing, and questioned
its local point of contact.
No independent political groups existed (see section 3). The only
registered political party was the ruling Democratic Party, the former
Communist Party of Turkmenistan. The government did not prohibit
membership in political organizations; however, in practice there were
no reports of persons who claimed membership in political organizations
other than the Democratic Party.
In contrast with previous years, there were no reports during the
year that government authorities harassed recipients of foreign grants.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion; however, the government restricted this right in
practice. There is no state religion, but the majority of the
population is Sunni Muslim. The government incorporated some aspects of
Islamic tradition into its efforts to define a national identity. In
practice the government closely controlled and monitored all religious
activities and placed some restrictions on Muslims. The government
required all religious groups as well as individual mosques and
churches to register with the MOJ and continued to monitor of financial
and material assistance to religious groups from foreign sources. Some
groups reported confusion over registration requirements for individual
branches of religious groups due to conflicting statements by
government officials from different ministries.
During the year religious groups continued to encounter persistent
administrative hurdles to registration. One Islamic religious group was
registered during the year. At least six groups that had applied for
registration continued to be denied legal status. Other unregistered
religious congregations, including separate groups of Baptists and
evangelical Christians, existed, although the government restricted
their activities. The government officially prohibited unregistered
groups from conducting religious activities. According to the
government-appointed Council on Religious Affairs (CRA), Shia Muslim
groups were allowed to register collectively as one organization.
The Catholic Church remained unregistered because local law
requires the head of a local religious organization to be a citizen.
However, authorities eased their harassment of the church. Church
leaders conducted regular masses and held classes on Catholicism for
interested ethnic Turkmen as well as citizens of other ethnicities.
The CRA reports to the president and ostensibly acts as an
intermediary between the government and registered religious
organizations. The CRA includes representatives of the government,
Sunni Islam, and the Russian Orthodox Church, but no other religious
groups. In practice the CRA acted as an arm of the state, exercising
direct control over hiring, promotion, and firing of Sunni Muslim and
Russian Orthodox clergy and monitoring all religious publications and
activities. A January report by the UN special rapporteur on freedom of
religion or belief encouraged the government to revise its Law on
Religion to bring it into greater conformity with international human
rights standards and recommended the CRA be more inclusive and
independent.
Both registered and unregistered minority religious communities
experienced difficulty in obtaining facilities where they could
worship. Legal and governmental obstacles hindered or prevented
registered and unregistered religious groups from purchasing or renting
land or buildings for worship or meetings. Although the law specified
that residential premises not be used for other purposes, some
religious groups meeting in homes reported no interference, while
others faced harassment.
The government continued occasionally to harass and threaten
registered and unregistered minority religious groups. Examples of
harassment included government agents disrupting religious services and
interrogating and detaining group members and pressing them to abandon
their beliefs. The government threatened members of minority religious
groups with fines, loss of registration, loss of employment and
housing, and imprisonment because of their beliefs. There were also
reports of raids and the seizure of religious materials. However, the
only instance of reported physical abuse led to an unprecedented
punishment of the police officer involved. On May 6, Jehovah's
Witnesses reported a Turkmenabad police officer beat and abused a
member whose mother subsequently reported the incident to the local
public prosecutor. The prosecutor reportedly summoned the police
officer and ordered him to pay damages of approximately eight million
manat ($540).
Members of Jehovah's Witnesses and other minority religious groups
reportedly continued to experience police harassmentincluding
disruption of meetings, raids; surveillance; detentions; and
administrative fines. Nevertheless, some registered and unregistered
religious minority group members indicated mistreatment has diminished
considerably during recent years. Registered minority religious groups
reported little harassment. The leader of one unregistered group
reported the group's adherents generally gathered in private apartments
and police no longer raided or fined them as in the past.
Despite the government's embrace of certain aspects of Islamic
culture, the government was concerned about foreign Islamic influence
and local believers' interpretation of Islam. The government controlled
the establishment of Muslim places of worship and limited access to
Islamic education.
The government officially banned only extremist groups that
advocate violence, but it effectively prevented all groups advocating
stricter interpretations of Islamic religious doctrine, which it also
regarded as extremist, from operating. The government did not
officially restrict persons from changing their religious beliefs and
affiliation, but police officers and other government officials
sometimes subjected ethnic Turkmen who converted to Christianity to
harassment and mistreatment, such as verbal abuse.
Reports continued that the government obstructed travel based on
affiliation with religious minority groups. Turkmen Evangelical Church
Pastor Ilmyrat Nurliyev continued to be barred from travel abroad.
Although the government had not permitted visits by foreign
religious officials since 2007, during the year the government granted
at least three registered minority religious groups permission for the
visit of a foreign religious leader to conduct religious services for
the group. The government prohibited foreign missionary activity,
although both Christian and Muslim missionaries were present. It also
prohibited proselytizing by unregistered religious groups; however, for
the first time, two minority religious groups reported they were able
to proselytize in the form of ``street evangelism,'' or going door-to-
door, without interference from the authorities.
There was no official religious instruction in public schools.
Unregistered religious groups and unregistered branches of registered
religious groups were prohibited from providing religious education.
Extracurricular religious education was allowed only with CRA and
presidential permission, and there were no reports that either the CRA
or the president approved such programs.
The government controlled access to Islamic education. The theology
faculty in the history department at Turkmen State University in
Ashgabat was the only academic faculty the government permitted to
conduct Islamic education.
The government no longer required mosques to display the Ruhnama;
however, phrases from the Ruhnama were still inscribed on the walls of
a large mosque in Gypjak. The government did not allow the publication
of religious literature and limited the availability of Korans, Bibles,
and other religious literature. In practice the CRA must approve
imported religious literature. Government representatives informed
religious groups they could only import religious literature in
quantities corresponding to the number of registered congregants.
The government does not offer alternative civilian service,
permitted under the law until 1995, for conscientious objectors.
Individuals who refused military service for religious reasons were
offered noncombatant roles within the military. In July courts tried
two Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors in Dashoguz Province and
sentenced them to two years in prison. This followed the imprisonment
in May of two Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors from Serdar for
refusing military service. They were both sentenced to two-year prison
terms. In January the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or
belief recommended that the law be revised to provide civilian service
as an alternative to compulsory military service for conscientious
objectors.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were an estimated 700
Jews, predominately in Ashgabat, but no organized Jewish community.
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
Ethnic Turkmen who chose to convert from Islam to other religious
groups were viewed with suspicion and sometimes ostracized.
There were reports that members of nontraditional minority
religious groups were forced to resign from government jobs.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution and law do not
provide for full freedom of movement. The law requires internal
passports and residency permits. The government cooperated with the
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other
humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to
refugees, stateless persons, and other persons of concern. The
president eliminated police checkpoints on major roads soon after his
inauguration in February 2007, and in July 2007 he lifted controls
requiring citizens to obtain permits for internal travel to border
regions. The border permit requirement remained in effect for all
foreigners.
Although citizens are not allowed to hold dual citizenship, this
requirement has not been enforced in practice. However, persons
indicating on applications for new passports that they are dual
citizens reportedly have not been issued new passports, whereas persons
with only Turkmen citizenship have received passports.
The government denied it maintained a list of persons not permitted
to depart the country; however, it continued to bar certain citizens
from departing. A 2005 migration law forbids travel by any citizen who
has access to state secrets, has falsified personal information, has
committed a serious crime, is under surveillance, might become a
trafficking victim, has previously violated the law of the destination
country, or whose travel contradicts the interests of national
security. The education law allows the government to impose limitations
on obtaining education in specific professions and specialties, which
has been applied to prevent students from travelling abroad to study.
Citizens were able to inquire at the State Migration Service (SMS)
about their travel status; however, those who inquired rarely received
information. A few students who had been barred from travel abroad
reportedly were able to avoid the restriction by bribing government
officials.
In January authorities stopped the son of an RFE/RL reporter from
departing to study in Canada. Authorities at the airport referred him
to the SMS, but the SMS did not provide a reason for the travel ban.
The law permits forced internal exile, and at year's end some
former government ministers and other officials who had been dismissed
from their positions and sent into internal exile in previous years
remained detained in a designated area. Almost all political opponents
of the government lived in other countries for reasons of personal
safety.
Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
government has established a system to provide protection to refugees.
In practice the government provided protection against the expulsion or
return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be
threatened on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership
in a particular social group, or political opinion. The government
granted refugee or asylum status to some ethnic Turkmen from
Afghanistan and Tajikistan and to other groups of ethnic Uzbeks and
Russians. There were 125 UNHCR-mandate refugees in the country. The
government also provided temporary protection to individuals who may
not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention or the 1967 Protocol.
The government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Stateless Persons.--The UN Development Program (UNDP) reported
there were few stateless persons in the country. However, the UNDP
estimated there may be as many as 9,000 undocumented residents who held
Soviet Union passports when the Soviet Union dissolved and who did not
have a state affiliation selected when those passports expired in 1999.
The government administratively processed these residents and issued
them residency permits while considerations of state affiliation
continued. The UNDP could not easily quantify these persons because
they had not sought UNDP assistance, nor had they sought a change in
their status. The UNHCR considered these individuals as de facto
stateless or at risk of becoming stateless.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
Citizens could not freely choose and change the laws and officials
that governed them. The constitution declares the country a secular
democracy in the form of a presidential republic. It calls for
separation of powers among the branches of government but vests a
disproportionate share of power in the presidency. In practice the
president's power over the state continued to be absolute; he made all
important decisions.
According to the OSCE, the election law does not meet OSCE
standards.
Elections and Political Participation.--Local council (``gengesh'')
elections were held in July in rural areas under a law that had been
revised in April to bring electoral procedures into line with the 2008
constitution and electoral law.'' The 2008 constitution gave broader
powers to the Mejlis (parliament), increased the president's powers,
and abolished the Halk Maslahaty (Peoples' Council) as a political
body.
In October 2008 the government also adopted a revised Mejlis
election law that incorporated some international standards, including
eliminating negative voting, permitting the nomination of candidates by
community groups, and granting the right to vote to detainees not yet
convicted of a crime. In December 2008 parliamentary elections were
held for deputies to the Mejlis. For the first time, the government
invited international observers to monitor the election process. The
elections did not meet OSCE standards for free, fair, transparent, and
competitive elections.
At year's end former Parliamentary Chairman Ovezgeldy Atayev
remained in prison. Under the constitution, after the December 2006
death of former President Niyazov, Atayev should have become the
interim president. However, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov was named
instead, and authorities initiated a criminal investigation against
Atayev.
In February 2007 citizens selected Berdimuhamedov president in an
election that did not meet international standards. The OSCE noted the
following problems: lack of political pluralism, restrictions on the
right of citizens to run for president, lack of provisions regulating
the media coverage of the campaign, prohibition against failed
candidates contesting a repeat election, and negative voting, a
requirement that voters cross out the names of all candidates except
the name of the chosen candidate. Although the government did not
legally prohibit membership in political organizations, it banned all
political parties other than the president's Democratic Party. The
government continued to ban political opposition in the country.
There were 21 women in the 125-member parliament, including the
Mejlis chairman, who was reelected in 2008. Women served in a few
prominent government positions: deputy chairman of the Cabinet of
Ministers for Culture and Television (a vice premier position),
minister of education, director of the State Archives, director of the
Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, the chairpersons of two of
five parliamentary committees, the chairperson of the state publishing
service, and head of the state news agency.
The government gave preference for appointed government positions
to ethnic Turkmen, but ethnic minorities occupied several high
government positions. Members of the country's largest tribe, the
president's Teke tribe, held the most prominent roles in cultural and
political life.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials reportedly often engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.
Widespread corruption existed in all social and economic sectors.
Factors included the existence of patronage networks, a lack of
transparency and accountability mechanisms, and fear of government
reprisal. According to the World Bank's Worldwide Governance
Indicators, the country had a severe corruption problem. Transparency
International's 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index reported that experts
perceived rampant corruption among the country's public officials.
The president dismissed numerous ministers and government officials
from their positions; some were investigated and arrested for alleged
malfeasance, although a lack of information about their cases made it
difficult to determine whether their arrests were politically
motivated. The government reportedly sentenced a senior government
official in the oil and gas sector to prison for corruption.
There is no law that allows for public access to government
information, and in practice the government did not provide access.
Authorities denied requests for specific information on the grounds
that the information was a state secret. Some statistical data were
considered state secrets. There was no public disclosure of demographic
data, and published economic and financial data were manipulated to
justify state policies and expenditures.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no domestic human rights NGOs due to the government's
refusal to register such organizations and to government restrictions
that made activity by unregistered organizations illegal. During the
year the government continued to monitor the activities of nonpolitical
social and cultural organizations.
There were no international human rights NGOs with a continued
permanent presence in the country; however, the government permitted
international organizations, including the OSCE and the UNHCR, to have
resident missions. Government restrictions on freedom of speech, press,
and association severely restricted international organizations'
ability to investigate and criticize the government's human rights
policies. The government appeared to have relaxed somewhat its past
efforts to control citizens' access to international organizations and
missions and to discourage citizens from cooperating with foreigners.
During the year the OSCE reported there had been no perceptible
restrictions on citizens' ability to visit and participate in OSCE
Center activities. In October 2007 the OSCE reported the government had
stopped impeding ordinary citizens from visiting the OSCE Center or
participating in OSCE-sponsored civil society-themed seminars and
activities.
In January the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or
belief published a report on her September 2008 official visit to the
country. During the visit she met with the president; other national,
regional, and local government representatives; the chairman of
parliament; members of the Supreme Court; and a variety of registered
and unregistered religious group representatives. The NGO Human Rights
Watch reported security services had warned representatives of at least
three religious communities in Ashgabat not to meet with the special
rapporteur during her visit.
The government-run Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (IDHR)
played an unofficial ombudsman's role to resolve some citizen human
rights-related petitions during the year. In 2007 the government
established the Human Rights Commission, which reports to the
president, to oversee institutional human rights reform. In 2005 the
president established the parliamentary Committee on the Protection of
Human Rights and Liberties to oversee human rights-related legislation.
The IDHR, also subordinate to the president, was established in 1996
with a mandate to support democratization and monitor the protection of
human rights, and maintained a human rights library. The IDHR was not
an independent body, and its ability to obtain redress was limited.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender,
disability, language, ethnic minority status, or social status,
discrimination continued to be a problem, as did violence against
women.
Women.--Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, with penalties of
three to 25 years based on the level of violence of the incident and
whether the attacker was a repeat offender. A cultural bias against
reporting or acknowledging rape made it difficult to determine the
extent of the problem, but some sources indicated rape was not
uncommon.
The law prohibits domestic violence, including spousal abuse, but
the law was not effectively enforced. Penalties are based on the extent
of the injury. Anecdotal reports indicated domestic violence against
women was common; most victims of domestic violence kept silent because
they were unaware of their rights or afraid of increased violence from
husbands and relatives. There were a few court cases and occasional
references to domestic violence in the media. One official women's
group in Ashgabat, an independent NGO, and several informal groups in
other regions assisted victims of domestic violence. A local NGO, Keik
Okara, launched a domestic violence hotline with support from the OSCE
Center in Ashgabat. Keik Okara also provided free legal consultations
and psychological assistance to victims of domestic violence and
organized awareness-raising seminars on domestic violence for the
general public.
Prostitution is illegal but remained a problem throughout the
country. Authorities actively monitored prostitution and attempted to
counter it. There is no law specifically prohibiting sexual harassment,
and reports suggested sexual harassment existed in the workforce.
Couples and individuals have the right to decide freely and
responsibly the number, spacing, and timing of their children, and the
means to do so free from discrimination, coercion, and violence.
According to the Population Reference Bureau, 97 percent of births
were attended by skilled personnel, and 99 percent of women receive at
least one postnatal care visit. Modern contraceptive methods were
available to 99 percent of the public. Statistics on contraceptive use
by single women were unavailable, but 53 percent of married women used
some form of modern contraceptives. Due to cultural attitudes, almost
one-third of married women opposed the use of family-planning methods.
Women had equal rights under family law and property law, and in
the judicial system. In 2007 the Mejlis approved and began implementing
a new law on women's rights after consultation with the UNDP and other
international partners. The Mejlis Committee on Human Rights and
Liberties was responsible for drafting human rights and gender
legislation, integrating a new gender program into the education
curriculum, and publishing regular bulletins on national and
international gender laws. By law women are equal to men in all
spheres, including wages, loans, starting businesses, and working in
government. Nevertheless, women continued to experience discrimination
in practice due to cultural biases. Employers allegedly gave preference
to men to avoid productivity losses due to pregnancy or child-care
responsibilities. Women were underrepresented in the upper levels of
government-owned economic enterprises and were concentrated in health
care, education, and service professions. The government restricted
women from working in some dangerous and environmentally unsafe jobs.
The government did not acknowledge, address, or report on
discrimination against women.
Children.--The government took modest steps to address the welfare
of children, including increased cooperation with the UN Children's
Fund (UNICEF) and other international organizations on programs
designed to improve children's health, and reinstatement in 2007 of the
10th year of mandatory schooling.
The government reimposed restrictions on some students wishing to
study abroad, following a period since 2007 during which such
restrictions had eased. Significant bureaucratic hurdles to foreign
study remained in place throughout the period.
In 2007 the government initiated reforms in the higher education
system, including extending university education to five years from two
years and removing the requirement that university students work for
two years before embarking on a degree program.
There were isolated reports of child abuse.
According to a 2006 UNICEF report, 9 percent of marriages involved
minors.
Trafficking in Persons.--In December 2007 parliament passed a
comprehensive law prohibiting all forms of trafficking in persons.
There were some reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and
within the country.
Statistics on the estimated number of trafficking victims were
unavailable. During the year the government continued to use a 2005
migration law to prevent suspected female trafficking victims from
going to Turkey, United Arab Emirates, or Iran, which human rights
observers reported were the primary trafficking destination countries.
Most of the cases involved young women trafficked for sexual
exploitation, as well as men trafficked to work as laborers or in
factories. Most of the persons were trafficked to Turkey. NGOs noted
young women from minority ethnic groups were most vulnerable to being
trafficked.
During the year the International Organization for Migration helped
25 trafficked persons repatriate from Turkey. Fines for traffickers
ranged from two to eight years' imprisonment and confiscation of
property, depending upon the law under which they were convicted.
During the year, for the first time, the government prosecuted two
alleged traffickers. The outcome of these cases remains unknown. During
the year the Office of the Prosecutor General replaced the Ministry of
Internal Affairs as the responsible agency for combating trafficking.
Some social action groups carried out trafficking awareness
programs in the provinces. The government did not publicly acknowledge
trafficking as a problem and did not monitor the trafficking situation
within its borders, nor did it have a strategy to do so. The government
did not systematically screen vulnerable population groups to identify
trafficking victims. There were unconfirmed reports that some customs
or migration officials had been notified of cases in which women were
trafficked abroad but made no efforts to prevent the trafficking.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, and other state services; however, in
practice disabled persons encountered discrimination and are regularly
denied work, education, and access to health care and other state
services because of strong cultural biases. The government
systematically categorized many persons with physical disabilities as
persons with mental disabilities and housed them in facilities for the
mentally ill. The government provided subsidies and pensions for
persons with disabilities, although the assistance was inadequate to
maintain a decent standard of living. Persons with disabilities who
received these subsidies were considered ``employed'' and therefore
ineligible to compete for jobs in the government, the country's largest
employer.
Some groups of students with disabilities were unable to obtain
education because there were no qualified teachers. Students with
disabilities did not fit the unofficial university student profile and
were not admitted to universities. Children with disabilities,
including those with mental disabilities, were placed in boarding
schools through which they were to be provided with educational and
future employment opportunities if their condition allowed them to
work; in practice neither was provided. Special schools for the hearing
and sight impaired existed in the larger cities.
Although the law requires new construction projects to include
facilities that allow access by persons with disabilities, compliance
was inconsistent and older buildings remained inaccessible. The
Ministry of Social Welfare was responsible for protecting the rights of
persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law provides for equal
rights and freedoms for all citizens. Several minority groups tried to
register as NGOs to have legal status to conduct cultural events;
however, no minority groups succeeded in registering during the year.
The law designates Turkmen as the official language, although it
also provides for the rights of speakers of minority languages. Russian
remained prevalent in commerce and everyday life in the capital, even
as the government continued its campaign to conduct official business
solely in Turkmen. The government required ministry employees to pass
tests demonstrating knowledge of professional subjects in Turkmen;
employees who failed the exam were dismissed. The government
systematically replaced teachers and staff at Turkish schools with
ethnic Turkmen. Only in schools did the government dedicate resources
to providing Turkmen language instruction for non-Turkmen speakers.
Non-Turkmen speakers noted that some avenues for promotion and job
advancement were closed to them, and only a handful of non-Turkmen
occupied high-level jobs in government ministries. In some cases
applicants for government jobs had to provide ethnicity information
going back three generations. The government often targeted non-Turkmen
first for dismissal when government layoffs occurred.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Homosexual conduct between men
is illegal and punishable by up to two years in prison; the law does
not mention women. According to a human rights NGO, homosexuality is
considered a mental disorder, and gay men were sometimes sent to
psychiatric institutions to be ``cured.''
There were no recorded cases of violence or other human rights
abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and no
information was available regarding discrimination against lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgendered individuals in employment, housing,
statelessness, access to education, or health care.
Other Societal Discrimination.--There was no reported societal
violence or discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS. The
government did not officially recognize any cases of HIV/AIDS in the
country.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for citizens to join
independent unions, but in practice all existing trade and professional
unions were government-controlled. Private citizens are not permitted
to form independent unions.
The government permitted the existence of only the umbrella
organization Center for Professional Unions (CPU). Led by a
presidential appointee, the CPU included professional unions in most
fields, including medicine, construction, banking, accounting,
economics, entrepreneurship, and lease holding. All unions were
government appendages and had no independent voice in their own
activities. There is no law regulating strikes or retaliation against
strikers, and strikes were rare.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law does
not protect the right to bargain collectively.
The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination by employers
against union members and organizers. There were no mechanisms for
resolving complaints of discrimination, and there were no reports of
discrimination.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor. In contrast to previous years, there were
no reports of such practices.
A 2005 presidential decree bans child labor, specifying that
children are not permitted to participate in the cotton harvest. During
the year the government enforced this policy.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace, but they were not effectively enforced. The minimum age
for employment of children is 16 years; in a few heavy industries, it
is 18 years. The law prohibits children between the ages of 16 and 18
from working more than six hours per day. A 15-year-old may work four
to six hours per day with parental and trade union permission, although
such permission was rarely granted. The MOJ and the Prosecutor
General's Office were responsible for enforcing child labor laws.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The state sector minimum monthly
wage of 330 manat ($116) did not provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family.
The standard legal workweek is 40 hours with weekends off. Most
public sector employees also worked at least one-half day on Saturdays.
The law states overtime or holiday pay should be double the regular
payment. Maximum overtime in a year is 120 hours and cannot exceed four
hours in two consecutive days; however, this law was not enforced.
The government did not set comprehensive standards for occupational
health and safety. Industrial workers in older factories often labored
in unsafe environments and were not provided proper protective
equipment. Some agricultural workers were subjected to environmental
health hazards related to the application of defoliants in preparing
cotton fields for mechanical harvesting. Workers did not always have
the right to remove themselves from work situations that endangered
their health or safety without jeopardy to their continued employment.
__________
UZBEKISTAN
Uzbekistan is an authoritarian state with a population of
approximately 27.6 million. The constitution provides for a
presidential system with separation of powers among the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches. In practice President Islam Karimov
and the centralized executive branch dominated political life and
exercised nearly complete control over the other branches. Of the 150
members of the lower house of parliament, 135 are elected, and 84 of
the 100 senators are chosen in limited elections open only to elected
members of local councils. The president appoints the remainder. In
December 2007, the country elected President Karimov to a third term in
office; however, according to the limited observer mission from the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the
government deprived voters of a genuine choice. Parliamentary elections
took place on December 27. While noticeable procedural improvements
were observed, the elections were not considered free and fair due to
government restrictions on eligible candidates and government control
of media and campaign financing. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The government continued to commit serious abuses and authorities
restricted political and civil liberties. Human rights problems
included citizens' inability to change their government; tightly
controlled electoral processes with limited opportunities for choice;
instances of torture and mistreatment of detainees by security forces;
incommunicado and prolonged detention; arbitrary arrest and detention;
denial of due process and fair trial; poor prison conditions;
restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association;
governmental control of civil society activity; restrictions on
religious freedom, including harassment and imprisonment of religious
minority group members; restrictions on freedom of movement for some
citizens; violence against women; and government-compelled forced labor
in cotton harvesting. Human rights activists and journalists who
criticized the government were subject to physical attack, harassment,
arbitrary arrest, politically motivated prosecution, and forced
psychiatric treatment.
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
politically motivated killings.
Family members reported several deaths in custody of prisoners who
were serving sentences on charges related to religious extremism. In
each such case, family members reported that the body of the prisoner
showed signs of beating or other abuse, but authorities pressured them
to bury the body before a medical professional could examine it.
Reported deaths that fit this pattern during the year included
Abdulatif Ayupov (he also suffered from tuberculosis), Ismat
Hudoyberdiyev, Negmat Zufarov, and Golib Mullajonov. All had been
convicted of crimes related to religious extremism.
On January 22, a credible report cited the deaths in custody from
unknown illness of Muhammad Artykov, allegedly one of 23 businessmen
involved in the trial that led to the 2005 Andijon events, and alleged
Andijon participant Abdurahmon Kuchkarov, although family members
reported Kuchkarov was healthy when they saw him a few months before
his death. Khoshimjon Kadirov, also arrested after the Andijon events,
was reportedly beaten to death in November 2008, but his death was not
reported until this year.
On April 30, Nozimjon Mamadaliev, a Kyrgyz citizen living in
Ferghana, died in custody. Although the official forensic report stated
that he died of natural causes, relatives took photographs of the body
that appeared to show signs of severe beating.
Nurillo Maqsudov, the leader of a group in exile that calls
attention to the 2005 Andijon massacre, reported in September that four
of his relatives died in jail in 2008; he claimed their bodies showed
clear signs of torture.
There were no updates in the cases of Odil Azizov, Fitrat
Salkhiddinov, Takhir Nurmukhammedov, and two other unnamed prisoners.
The courts convicted all of them on charges related to religious
extremism, and they reportedly died after being tortured in prison in
May 2008 and in 2007.
The government has not agreed to authorize an independent
international investigation of the alleged killing of numerous unarmed
civilians and others during the violent disturbances in Andijon in
2005. The government claimed, based on its own 2005 investigation, that
armed individuals initiated violence by firing on government forces.
The estimated number of dead varied between the government's total of
187 and eyewitnesses' reports of several hundred.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances. There continued to be numerous unconfirmed reports of
disappearances dating from 2005 of persons who were present at the
violent disturbances in Andijon. The welfare and whereabouts of several
of the refugees who were forcibly returned to the country during the
year remained unknown.
On July 30, unknown Uzbek speakers abducted a citizen refugee and
his young son in Kyrgyzstan and reportedly returned them to the
country. They interrogated the man for several days, releasing him
after he promised to help his abductors find his brother, a human
rights activist who may have escaped from prison.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices,
law enforcement and security officers routinely beat and otherwise
mistreated detainees to obtain confessions or incriminating
information. Torture and abuse were common in prisons, pretrial
facilities, and local police and security service precincts. Prisoners
were subjected to extreme temperatures. Observers reported several
cases of medical abuse, and one known person remained in forced
psychiatric treatment.
In June Human Rights Watch (HRW) concluded that the government had
not taken actions in response to a 2007 report from the UN Committee
Against Torture that torture and abuse were systematic throughout the
investigative process and had not improved since a 2003 UN special
rapporteur on torture report drew the same conclusion. The 2007 UN
report stated that despite an amendment to the criminal code addressing
elements of the definition of torture, punishment for violations was
rare and did not reflect the severity of the crimes. The government
responded to these accusations by claiming that the access they had
provided to the UN special rapporteur had made it harder to address the
issue of abuse, and consequently, future visits by the special
rapporteur would be denied.
In November a local human rights organization reported that a
former security guard at the British embassy claimed he was beaten into
confessing to espionage charges. The former guard also claimed he was
tortured with severe cold, fire, electricity, and starvation and was
kept in a remand center for nine months before being transferred to a
prison facility, during which time his family did not know his
location.
In December two sisters serving prison sentences alleged that
officers raped and mistreated them in prison. One of the sisters
subsequently gave birth to a child in prison. On December 25, the
Tashkent City Criminal Court initiated a criminal case against the
accused officers.
Authorities convicted and punished 60 Ministry of Internal Affairs
officials for wrongdoing.
In January a court upheld the sentencing of four police officers to
eight to 17 years' imprisonment for beating to death Angren resident
Muzaffar Tuychiyev.
Authorities reportedly gave harsher than normal treatment to
individuals suspected of extreme Islamist political sympathies, notably
pretrial detainees who were alleged members of banned extremist
political organizations Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) or Nur. Local human rights
workers reported that authorities often paid or otherwise induced
common criminals to beat suspected extremists and others who opposed
the government. Two human rights defenders who were arrested reported
beatings in pretrial detention facilities.
There were reports of politically motivated medical abuse. Victims
could request through legal counsel that their cases be reviewed by an
expert medical board. In practice, however, such bodies generally
supported the decisions of law enforcement authorities.
Family members of several inmates, who are considered political
prisoners, complained throughout the year of the declining health of
the prisoners and asserted that the prisoners' requests for medical
evaluation and treatment went unheeded. Among these prisoners were
Alisher Karamatov, Yusuf Juma, Solijon Abdurahmanov, and Akzam
Turgunov.
There was no update on the case of Jamshid Karimov, a journalist,
human rights activist, and nephew of President Karimov, who has
remained under forcible detention at Samarkand Psychiatric Hospital
since 2006.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor and in some cases life threatening. There continued to be reports
of severe abuse, overcrowding, and shortages of food and medicine.
Tuberculosis and hepatitis were endemic in the prisons, making even
short periods of incarceration potentially life-threatening. Family
members frequently reported that officials stole food and medicine that
were intended for prisoners.
There were reports that authorities did not release prisoners,
especially those convicted of religious extremism, at the end of their
terms. Instead, prison authorities contrived to extend inmates' terms
by accusing them of additional crimes or claiming the prisoners
represented a continuing danger to society. These accusations were not
subject to judicial review.
According to prison officials, the government held approximately
42,000 inmates at 58 detention facilities. Men, women, and juvenile
offenders were held in separate facilities.
On April 10, the parliament amended national legislation to allow
the human rights ombudsman unfettered access to prisons to monitor
conditions. According to this law, authorities at pretrial detention
facilities, where many abuses reportedly occurred, are required upon a
detainee's request to arrange a meeting between the detainee and a
representative from the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office. The law also
provides that correspondence between prisoners and the Ombudsman's
Office is confidential. In its 2008 report, released in June, the
ombudsman reported on 29 prisoner complaints during the year, an
increase from four complaints it undertook to resolve in 2007.
In October the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
resumed its visits to detention facilities under the responsibility of
the GUIN (penitentiary system under the authority of the Ministry of
Interior). This program follows the six-month trial program that the
ICRC completed in September 2008. The ICRC reported that unlike the
2008 six-month pilot program, this program was of unlimited duration.
There were some reports that high-profile prisoners were transported to
alternate facilities just prior to ICRC visits and were returned after
the visits were completed.
Several knowledgeable sources reported that authorities had made
some progress in the past three years in improving prison conditions,
notably in combating the spread of tuberculosis.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, these practices
continued.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
Interior (MOI) controls the police, who are responsible for law
enforcement and maintenance of order. The National Security Service
(NSS), headed by a chairman who answers directly to the president,
deals with a broad range of national security and intelligence issues,
including corruption, organized crime, and narcotics. Corruption among
law enforcement personnel remained a problem. Police routinely and
arbitrarily detained citizens to extort bribes. Impunity was a problem,
and the government rarely punished officials responsible for abuses.
The MOI's main investigations directorate has procedures to investigate
abuse internally and to discipline officers accused of rights
violations, and it reported that 60 officers had been disciplined. A
human rights department formed within the Ministry of Interior has
taken actions in some police brutality cases. The Human Rights
Ombudsman's Office, affiliated with the parliament, also has the power
to investigate such cases.
The MOI's main investigations directorate incorporated human rights
training into officers' career development. On November 5, the ministry
reported it has provided human rights training to more than 2,000
officers during the year. The OSCE provided training in human rights
practices, focusing on basic international human rights documents, to
175 Ministry of Interior officers. The ministry also opened 250
libraries, located in police stations in every district, with human
rights literature in both Russian and Uzbek that various international
organizations provided. Officers and the public can borrow materials
from the library. The ministry has also started an awards program to
acknowledge officers who submit their ideas on best practices or
articles on human rights issues.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Under the law,
any decision to arrest accused individuals or suspects must be reviewed
by a judge, and defendants have the right to legal counsel from the
time of arrest, although that right is not always strictly observed.
The judge conducting the arrest hearing is not allowed to sit on the
panel of judges during the individual's trial, and detainees have the
right to request a hearing with a judge to determine whether they
should remain incarcerated or be released. Within 24 hours of taking a
suspect into custody, the arresting authority must notify a relative or
close friend of the detention and question the detainee. Suspects have
the right to remain silent. Detention without formal charges is limited
to 72 hours, although a prosecutor may extend it for an additional
seven days, at which time the person must either be charged or
released. In practice judges granted arrest warrants in nearly all
cases, and authorities continued to hold suspects after the allowable
period through various means. There were complaints that authorities
tortured suspects before notifying either family members or attorneys
of arrests. The 72-hour period begins only when a suspect is brought to
the police station.
Once charges are filed, a suspect may be held in pretrial detention
for as long as three months during an investigation. The law permits
extension of that period at the discretion of the appropriate court
upon a motion by the investigating authority. A prosecutor may release
a prisoner on bond pending trial, although in practice authorities
frequently ignored these legal protections. Those arrested and charged
with a crime may be released without bail until trial on the condition
that they provide assurance that they will appear at trial and register
each day at a local police station. State-appointed attorneys are
available for those who do not hire private counsel.
On March 9, the cabinet adopted a decree requiring that all defense
attorneys pass a comprehensive relicensing examination. Among those who
did not pass were several experienced and knowledgeable defense
lawyers, including noted defense attorney Ruhiddin Komilov, who had
represented human rights activists and independent journalists. Rights
activists asserted that the change is targeted at defense attorneys who
take human rights cases. Several activists facing criminal charges
during the year reported difficulties in finding attorneys to represent
them. Amendments to the criminal procedure code in 2008 abolished
provisions that allowed unlicensed ``public defenders'' to represent
individuals in criminal and civil hearings. Prior to this revision, a
human rights defender could serve as a defendant's advocate at trial,
particularly in politically sensitive cases or for indigent defenders.
There were reports that police arrested persons on false charges
such as extortion or tax evasion as an intimidation tactic to prevent
them or their family members from exposing corruption or interfering in
local criminal activities.
Authorities continued to arrest persons arbitrarily on charges of
extremist sentiments or activities, or association with banned
religious groups. Local human rights activists reported that police and
security service officers, acting under pressure to break up HT cells,
frequently detained and mistreated family members and close associates
of suspected HT members. Coerced confessions and testimony in such
cases were commonplace.
On July 28, police arrested Oyazimhon Hidirova, a human rights
defender active on farmer's issues, on charges of tax evasion and
hooliganism, and beat her while she was in custody. On August 31, the
government granted her amnesty and released her.
On October 2, officials sentenced Farhad Mukhtarov to five years in
prison on what many analysts believe were politically motivated charges
of fraud and bribery. Mukhtarov was an active member of the Human
Rights Alliance. On December 3, the Tashkent city criminal court
reduced Mukhtarov's sentence to four years.
On November 11, police assaulted two human rights activists shortly
after they met with a returned political opposition figure. Police
detained one of the activists for several hours before releasing him.
On November 24, the Akhunbabaev District Court sentenced Ganikhon
Mamatkhanov to five years in prison on what were widely believed to be
trumped-up charges of extortion and attempted bribery. Mamatkhanov was
a member of the Independent Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan and
actively promoted farmers' rights.
Police harassed and sometimes arbitrarily detained members of the
opposition Birlik, Free Farmers, Erk, and Birdamlik parties.
During the year pretrial detention typically ranged from one to
three months. The number of persons held in pretrial detention was
unknown although estimates ranged from approximately 3,400 to 4,000
persons at any one time.
In general prosecutors exercised discretion over most aspects of
criminal procedure, including pretrial detention. Detainees had no
access to a court to challenge the length or validity of pretrial
detention. Even when authorities filed no charges, police and
prosecutors sought to evade restrictions on the duration a person could
be held without charges by holding persons as witnesses rather than as
suspects.
In March the parliament expanded the number of crimes for which
reconciliation procedures may be used. At a conference on legal and
judicial reform on June 25, authorities reported that reconciliation
procedures were being used more frequently to resolve criminal cases,
especially those involving minors, women, and the elderly.
Amnesty.--On August 28, the senate issued an amnesty decree for
33,354 persons. Amnesty actions included full exemption from further
incarceration, transfer to a prison with lighter conditions, or
stopping a criminal case at the pretrial or trial stage.
On August 10, operating under a 2008 decree, the government
amnestied and released Sattor Irzayev, a member of the Human Rights
Society of Uzbekistan who was convicted of libel and extortion in 2005
following the Andijon events.
On November 7, the government amnestied and released well-known
businessman and political opposition figure Sanjar Umarov. Umarov
served four years in prison following his arrest in October 2005 for
allegedly illegal financial dealings.
Local prison authorities have considerable discretion in
determining who qualifies for release, as they determine whether a
prisoner is ``following the way of correction'' or ``systematically
violating'' the terms of incarceration. ``Violation of internal prison
rules'' is often cited as a reason for denying amnesty and for
extending sentences. Political and religious prisoners often were often
found ineligible for amnesty based on these provisions. For example,
Jehovah's Witnesses Olim Turayev, Abdubannov Akmedov, and Farrukh
Zaripov, convicted in 2008 for activities related to religion, applied
for amnesty. Soon thereafter they were found guilty of violating
internal prison regulations. According to the terms of the amnesty, all
three became ineligible for amnesty. Norboy Kholjigitov, who was widely
considered a political prisoner, applied for and was denied amnesty on
the basis of alleged administrative violations.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution provides
for an independent judiciary, the judicial branch took its direction
from the executive branch, particularly the general prosecutor's
office, and exercised little independence in practice.
Under the law, the president appoints all judges for five-year
terms. Removal of supreme court judges must be confirmed by parliament,
which in practice complies with the president's wishes.
The Karakalpakstan Supreme Court has jurisdiction over the
Karakalpakstan Republic. Decisions of district and provincial courts
may be appealed to the next level within 10 days of a ruling. In
addition, a constitutional court reviews laws, decrees, and judicial
decisions to ensure compliance with the constitution. Military courts
handle all civil and criminal matters that occur within the military.
The Supreme Court is a court of general jurisdiction that handles
selected cases of national significance.
Trial Procedures.--The criminal code specifies a presumption of
innocence. There are no jury trials. Most trials are officially open to
the public, although access was sometimes restricted in practice.
Trials may be closed in exceptional cases, such as those involving
state secrets, or to protect victims and witnesses. Courts often
demanded that international observers obtain written permission from
the court chairman or from the supreme court. Permission was difficult
and time consuming to obtain, but international observers, including
foreign diplomats, were granted access to some hearings.
Authorities generally announced trials, including those of alleged
religious extremists, only at the court in which the trial was to take
place and only one or two days before the trial began.
Generally, a panel of one professional judge and two lay assessors,
selected either by committees of worker collectives or neighborhood
committees, presided over trials. The lay judges rarely spoke, and the
professional judge usually deferred to the recommendations of the
prosecutor on legal and other matters.
Defendants have the right to attend court proceedings, confront
witnesses, and present evidence. These rights generally were observed,
including in high-profile human rights and political cases. In the vast
majority of criminal cases prosecutors brought to court, however, the
verdict was guilty. Defendants have the right to hire an attorney, and
the government provides legal counsel without charge when necessary.
State-appointed defense attorneys routinely acted in the interest of
the government rather than of their clients. Judges in some cases
denied defendants the right to an attorney of choice. There were
several reports that investigators pressured defendants to refuse legal
counsel. Defense counsel was not always well qualified and, in some
cases, the role of defense counsel was limited to submitting
confessions and pleas for mercy.
During the year defendants had improved access to qualified defense
counsel due to the establishment in 2008 of a 24-hour on-call system.
Several private law firms provided qualified defense counsel at no
expense, and some were financed through international donors.
Government prosecutors order arrests, direct investigations,
prepare criminal cases, and recommend sentences. Although the criminal
code specifies a presumption of innocence, in practice the prosecutor's
recommendations generally prevailed. If a judge's sentence does not
correspond with the prosecutor's recommendation, the prosecutor may
appeal the sentence to a higher court. Verdicts often are based solely
on confessions and witness testimony, which are extracted through
torture, threats to family members, or other means of coercion. Legal
protections against double jeopardy are not applied in practice.
The law provides a right of appeal to defendants. In political
cases appeals did not result in reversals of convictions, but in other
cases appeals resulted in reduced or suspended sentences.
Defense attorneys had limited access in some cases to government-
held evidence relevant to their clients' cases. In most cases,
prosecution was based solely upon defendants' confessions or
incriminating testimony from state witnesses, particularly in cases
involving suspected HT members. Lawyers may, and occasionally did, call
on judges to reject confessions and to investigate claims of torture.
Judges often did not respond to such claims or dismissed them as
groundless.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The government denied that
there were any political prisoners, and it was impossible to determine
the actual number of prisoners or detainees held on political grounds.
Observers estimated that 13 to 25 individuals were political prisoners.
While a few political prisoners were released during the year, other
individuals were imprisoned on what appeared to be politically
motivated charges for crimes such as extortion and hooliganism.
Starting in October the government allowed the ICRC to visit prisons,
but family members of political prisoners reported that in the past
monitors were not given access to political prisoners or detainees.
Family members of Yusuf Juma, a poet sentenced in April 2008 to
five years in prison for allegedly assaulting a police officer during a
protest, reported repeatedly that his health was deteriorating. Family
members also reported that guards continued to torture Juma and that
prison administrators often delayed or refused their attempts to visit
him.
Civil and Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Although the
constitution provides for it, the judiciary is not independent or
impartial in civil matters. Citizens may file suit in civil courts, if
appropriate, on cases of alleged human rights violations. There were
reported cases in which courts decided in favor of plaintiffs. However,
there were also reports that bribes to judges influenced decisions in
civil court cases.
Civil courts operate on the city or district level, as well as the
interdistrict and provincial levels. There are also supreme civil
courts with jurisdiction over the Karakalpakstan Republic.
Economic courts with jurisdiction over the individual provinces,
the city of Tashkent, and the Karakalpakstan Republic handle commercial
disputes between legal entities. Decisions of these courts may be
appealed to the supreme economic court.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions ((per
p15 instructions)); however, authorities did not respect these
prohibitions in practice. The law requires a search warrant for
electronic surveillance, but there is no provision for a judicial
review of such warrants.
There were reports of police and other security forces entering
homes of human rights activists and religious figures without a
warrant. Members of Protestant churches who held worship services in
private homes reported that on numerous occasions armed security
officers raided services and detained church members on suspicion of
illegal religious activity.
Citizens generally assumed that security agencies routinely
monitored telephone calls and employed surveillance and wiretaps of
persons involved in opposition political activities.
The government continued to use an estimated 12,000 neighborhood
committees (``mahallas'') as a source of information on potential
extremists. Committees served varied social support functions, but they
also functioned as a link among local society, government, and law
enforcement. Mahalla committees in rural areas tended to be more
influential than those in cities.
There were credible reports that police, employers, and
neighborhood committees harassed family members of human rights
activists.
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 generally did
not respect these rights in practice, and freedom of expression was
severely limited.
The law limits criticism of the president, and public insult to the
president is a crime punishable by as long as five years in prison. The
law specifically prohibits articles that incite religious confrontation
and ethnic discord or that advocate subverting or overthrowing the
constitutional order.
The law holds all foreign and domestic media organizations
accountable for the ``objectivity'' of their reporting, bans foreign
journalists from working in the country without official accreditation,
and requires that foreign media outlets be subject to mass media laws.
The promotion of religious extremism, separatism, and fundamentalism,
as well as the instigation of ethnic and religious hatred, are all
prohibited. It bars legal entities with more than 30 percent foreign
ownership from establishing media outlets in the country.
During the year police reportedly arrested some individuals for
possessing literature of the banned religious extremist, anti-Semitic,
and anti-Western group HT. Police also charged persons for possessing
writings of the moderate Nur group.
The Uzbekistan National News Agency (UzA) cooperated closely with
presidential staff to prepare and distribute all officially sanctioned
news and information. In September UzA reported that more than 1,100
newspapers, magazines, news agencies, electronic media outlets, and Web
sites were registered with the Uzbek Agency for Press and Information,
which is responsible for monitoring all media. The cabinet of ministers
owns and controls three of the country's most influential national
daily newspapers, Pravda Vostoka (Russian language), Halq So'zi (Uzbek
language), and Narodnoe Slovo (Russian language). The government, or
government-controlled political parties or social movements, and the
Tashkent municipal government and regional ``hokimiyats''
(administrations) own or control several other daily and weekly
publications. Articles in state-controlled newspapers reflected the
government's viewpoint. The main government newspaper published
selected international wire stories.
The government also published news stories on official Internet
sites including UzA.uz, operated by the National News Agency of
Uzbekistan, and Jahonnews.uz, operated by the ministry of foreign
affairs (MFA). A few Web sites, most notably Press-uz.info,
Gorizont.uz, and Region.uz, purported to be independent, yet their
reporting reflected the government's viewpoint.
The government allowed publication of a few private newspapers with
limited circulation containing advertising, horoscopes, and similar
features and some substantive local news, including infrequent stories
critical of government socioeconomic policies. Three private national
Russian-language newspapers--Novosti Uzbekistana, Zerkalo XXI Veka, and
Biznes Vestnik Vostoka--carried news and editorials exclusively
favorable to the central government, as did two Uzbek-language
newspapers, Hurriyat (owned by the Journalists' Association) and
Mohiyat (owned by Turkiston-Press, a nongovernmental information agency
loyal to the state). Russian Federation newspapers and a variety of
Russian Federation tabloids and lifestyle publications were available,
and a modest selection of other foreign periodicals was available in
Tashkent.
The four state-run channels dominated television broadcasting.
Cable and satellite television channels were also widely watched in
Tashkent. Numerous privately owned regional television stations and
privately owned radio stations were influential among local audiences.
The government tightly controlled broadcast and print media.
Journalists and senior editorial staff in state media organizations
reported that there were officials whose responsibilities included
censorship. Government officials allegedly provided verbal directives
to journalists not to cover certain events sponsored by foreign
embassies. There were reports, however, that regional television
outlets broadcast some moderately critical stories on local issues.
The government continued to refuse Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,
Voice of America, and BBC World Service permission to broadcast from
within the country. It also refused to accredit foreign journalists and
local correspondents for those or other Western media, including
Reuters and the Associated Press.
Harassment against journalists continued during the year. Police
and security services subjected print and broadcast journalists to
arrest, harassment, intimidation, and violence, as well as to
bureaucratic restrictions on their activity.
In June authorities accused eight journalists from Yetti Iglim
newspaper and Irmoq magazine (private, Uzbek language, scientific
publications) of membership in the banned Nur religious movement. A
court convicted all of the accused, with their sentences ranging from
six and one-half years to 12 years in prison. The journalists, all of
whom were graduates of Turkish schools, denied the charges.
On July 30, a court convicted independent journalist Dilmurod Sayid
on charges of extortion and bribery and sentenced him to 12.5 years'
imprisonment. Sayid's arrest came soon after he published articles
regarding corruption of local government officials. Sayid's appeal
remained under consideration. A foreign diplomat attempted to attend
the initial appeal hearing but was denied entrance.
Independent journalist Salijon Abdurahmanov from Nukus served the
first year of his 10-year sentence for what were widely considered
politically motivated drug charges. His family reported in July that
his health was deteriorating in prison.
On October 28, Reporters without Borders reported that law
enforcement officials detained two Tashkent-based journalists crossing
the border to Kyrgyzstan. Police questioned the journalists extensively
and confiscated audio tapes of their interviews, but allowed them to
return to Tashkent following the incident.
During the year there were reports that the government harassed
journalists from state-run and independent media outlets in retaliation
for their contacts with foreign diplomats. However, more journalists
were able to participate during the year at foreign embassy events in
Tashkent than in previous years.
Training of international media groups fell under higher scrutiny
during the year. In May Charter IV, a Ukrainian nonprofit organization,
planned to conduct training sessions for journalists in Tashkent. The
government expressed its opposition shortly prior to their planned
start, and the organizers cancelled the sessions.
It was unclear if during the year the National Association of
Electronic Mass Media continued to use its directors' close relations
with the government to persuade local television stations to join the
association and occasionally broadcast prescribed government-produced
programming, as it reportedly had done in the past.
Government security services and other offices regularly gave
publishers articles and letters to publish under fictitious bylines, as
well as explicit instructions about the types of stories permitted for
publication. Often there was little distinction between the editorial
content of a government or privately owned newspaper. There was little
independent investigative reporting. The number of critical newspaper
articles remained low and their scope narrow. Widely read tabloids,
however, were able to publish some articles that lightly criticized
government policies and discussed issues viewed as somewhat
controversial, such as trafficking in persons.
The criminal and administrative codes impose significant fines for
libel and defamation. The government used charges of libel, slander,
and defamation to punish journalists, human rights activists, and
others who criticized the president or the government.
On December 16, the Uzbek Communication and Information Agency
initiated a defamation case against well-known photographer Umida
Ahmedova for her work that was included in the documentaries ``The
Burden of Virginity'' and ``Customs of Men and Women.'' The
documentaries looked at poverty and gender equality in the country, and
the charges alleged that the photographs damaged the country's image.
Internet Freedom.--The government allowed access to the Internet
and reported in September that the number of Internet users in the
country was approximately 2.6 million. However, Internet service
providers, at the government's request, routinely blocked access to Web
sites or certain pages of Web sites the government considered
objectionable. The government blocked several domestic and
international news Web sites and those operated by opposition political
parties.
The media law defines Web sites as media outlets, requiring them,
as all local and foreign media to register with the authorities and to
provide the names of their founder, chief editor, and staff members.
Web sites are not required to submit hard copies of publications, as
traditional media outlets are.
A 2007 law requires Internet providers to block access to blogs
that discuss any aspect of the country, and according to local
journalists, this injunction was enforced. Several online forums
remained accessible, however. These forums allowed registered users to
post comments and read discussions on a range of social issues facing
the country.
A decree requires that all Web sites seeking a ``uz'' domain
register with the state Agency for Press and Information. The decree
generally affected only government-owned or government-controlled Web
sites. Opposition Web sites and those operated by international NGOs or
media outlets tended to have domain names registered outside the
country.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The government continued to
limit academic freedom and cultural events. Authorities occasionally
required department head approval for university lectures or lecture
notes, and university professors generally practiced self-censorship.
Numerous university students reported that universities taught
mandatory courses on books and speeches of the president and that
missing any of these seminars constituted grounds for expulsion.
Although a decree prohibited cooperation between higher educational
institutions and foreign entities without explicit prior approval by
the government, foreign institutions often were able to obtain such
approval by working with the MFA, especially for foreign language
projects. Some school and university administrations continued to
pressure teachers and students not to participate in conferences
sponsored by diplomatic missions.
On June 27, NSS officials halted the Kyrgyzstan-based American
University of Central Asia (AUCA) attempt to conduct an entrance
examination in the country by confiscating materials, interrogating
students and administrators, and canceling the exam. The university
representatives returned to Bishkek without their test materials; the
confiscated materials remained with the government. The government
stated that the exams were stopped because the AUCA did not have
permission from the MFA.
On July 16, government officials shut down a foreign embassy
outreach event explaining how to apply to foreign universities.
There were a few instances of individuals choosing not to
participate in international exchange programs after being threatened
with the loss of their jobs, but there were no reports of individuals
actually losing their jobs after participating in such programs. During
the year the government expressed concern over a foreign embassy-
sponsored high school exchange program, which the embassy suspended.
Authorities also cancelled the planned professional development
conference for former international educational and professional
exchange program participants.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
but in practice the government often restricted this right. Authorities
have the right to suspend or prohibit rallies, meetings, and
demonstrations for security reasons. The government did not routinely
grant the required permits for demonstrations. Citizens are subject to
large fines for facilitating unsanctioned rallies, meetings, or
demonstrations by providing space or other facilities or materials, as
well as for violating procedures concerning the organizing of meetings,
rallies, and demonstrations.
Authorities used arrests to prevent or stop peaceful protests. For
example, on May 13, Tashkent police dispersed human rights activists
who had gathered to commemorate the victims of the 2005 Andijon events
by laying a wreath at a popular memorial. About 20 activists tried to
take part, but only one activist managed to reach the monument, where
he was arrested. On June 10, police arrested five human rights
activists when they tried to submit a statement detailing government
human rights abuses to the Embassy of the Czech Republic, which at the
time held the chairmanship of the European Union.
On October 5 and 15, small groups of human rights activists (five
and four, respectively) were detained when they staged demonstrations
against the use of child labor in the cotton harvest in the district of
Jizzakh.
On November 11, police broke up a small group of persons protesting
the alleged torture of a family member in prison.
On November 23, police detained in their homes, brought to police
stations, or confiscated the passports of as many as 30 human rights
activists who attempted to attend an annual meeting of the opposition
party Birdamlik. The meeting, scheduled for the following day, was
canceled.
In several other cases, however, human rights activists reported
that local residents protested economic conditions, and human rights
activists occasionally held small protests, unmolested and apparently
without prior permission of the authorities.
Freedom of Association.--While the law provides for freedom of
association, the government continued to restrict this right in
practice. The government sought to control NGO activity and has cited
the perceived role that internationally funded NGOs allegedly have in
fomenting dissent as well as concerns about unregulated Islamic groups.
The law broadly limits the types of groups that may be formed and
requires that all organizations be registered formally with the
government. The law allows for a six-month grace period for new
organizations to operate while awaiting registration, during which time
they are classified officially as ``initiative groups.'' Several NGOs
continued to function as initiative groups for periods longer than six
months. The government allowed nonpolitical associations and social
organizations to register, but complicated rules and a cumbersome
government bureaucracy made the process difficult and allowed
opportunities for government obstruction. The government compelled most
local NGOs to register with a government-controlled NGO association,
the purpose of which was to control all funding and activities. The
degree to which NGOs were able to operate varied by region, as some
local officials were more tolerant of NGO activities.
The administrative liability code imposes large fines for
violations of procedures governing NGO activity, as well as for
``involving others'' in illegal NGOs. The law does not specify whether
``illegal NGOs'' are those that were forcibly suspended or closed or
those that were simply unregistered. The administrative code also
imposes penalties against international NGOs for engaging in political
activities, activities inconsistent with their charters, or activities
the government did not approve in advance. The government enforced the
2004 banking decree that, although ostensibly designed to combat money
laundering, also complicated efforts by registered and unregistered
NGOs to receive outside funding.
The government claimed that there were more than 5,000 registered
NGOs. Credible sources estimated approximately 300 independent NGOs
remained following the closure of more than 300 local NGOs and 17 or
more foreign-funded NGOs in the post-Andijon period. The government
reported that 290 NGOs received financial support from the government.
The government also reported that there were 15 professional unions and
100 sports associations.
Although a 2008 tax code had rescinded tax exemptions for NGOs,
NGOs and legal experts successfully lobbied during the year to retain a
tax structure favorable to NGOs.
In December 2008 the government officially registered the French
NGO ACTED, which focuses on public health issues. This was the first
instance when an NGO that was forced to leave the country in 2007
regained its legal status.
On April 30, the Finance Ministry issued an order requiring all
humanitarian aid and technical assistance recipients to submit to the
ministry information on bank transactions.
The law criminalizes membership in organizations the government
deems extremist, including Tabligh Jamoat and other groups branded with
the general term ``Wahhabi.'' The law also banned the extremist
Islamist political organization HT for promoting hate and praising acts
of terrorism. Although HT maintained that it was committed to
nonviolence, the party's virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Western
literature called for the overthrow of secular governments, including
those in Central Asia to be replaced with a worldwide Islamic
government.
The government has pressured and prosecuted members of the Islamic
group Akromiya (Akromiylar) since 1997. Independent religious experts
claimed that Akromiya was an informal association promoting business
along Islamic religious principles. The government claimed that it was
a branch of HT and that it attempted, together with the Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan, to overthrow the government through armed
rebellion in the 2005 Andijon demonstrations.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion and separation of church and state. In practice, however, the
government and laws restricted religious activity, especially for
unregistered groups.
A significant majority of the population are Muslims. The
government promoted a single version of Islam through the control of
the Muftiate, which in turn controlled the Islamic hierarchy and the
content of imams' sermons and published Islamic materials. The
Religious Affairs Committee, under the cabinet of ministers, oversaw
registered religious activity and approved all religious literature.
Many sources reported that mosques overflowed for lack of space during
Friday prayers. The government allowed a small number of unofficial,
independent mosques to operate under the watch of government-sanctioned
imams.
The law requires all religious groups and congregations to register
and provides strict and burdensome registration criteria, including
that each group present to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) a list of at
least 100 national citizen members and that a congregation already have
a valid legal address. These and numerous other provisions enabled the
government to cite technical grounds for denying a group's registration
petition, such as grammatical errors in a group's charter. These
provisions mostly affected small, unregistered congregations,
especially those viewed as being engaged in missionary activity, which
is illegal. In contrast, registered minority congregations faced fewer
restrictions on their activities.
Numerous small Protestant churches remained unregistered, including
churches in Tashkent, Chirchiq, Samarkand, Nukus, Gulistan, Andijon,
and Gazalkent. Most did not apply because they did not expect local
officials to register them or because they had too few members to
qualify for registration. Often they were afraid to give the
authorities a list of their members, especially ethnic Uzbeks. No
Baptist church has registered successfully since 1999. No Protestant
churches were registered in Karakalpakstan. Only one Jehovah's
Witnesses congregation was registered. On February 19, authorities
denied the seventh application filed by Jehovah's Witnesses to register
a congregation in Tashkent legally. New mosques faced difficulties
gaining registration as well.
Any religious service conducted by an unregistered religious
organization is illegal. Police frequently dispersed meetings of
unregistered groups, which were generally held in private homes,
occasionally detaining, imposing fines, and beating members of the
groups.
Proselytizing is a crime, as is the teaching of religion without
state approval. These provisions resulted in several prosecutions.
Jehovah's Witnesses faced arbitrary fines, arrest, and imprisonment on
charges of proselytizing or illegally teaching religion. Convicted
Jehovah's Witnesses were not allowed to read or possess a Bible in
prison.
Christian congregations, that included members of traditionally
Muslim ethnic groups, often faced official harassment, legal action,
or, in some cases, mistreatment. The Baha'i community faced similar
mistreatment. There were reports from Protestant Christians that
authorities delayed or denied their exit visas. There were other
reports that Christians were questioned and searched when leaving the
country to take part in a religious event.
On February 25, the Yakkasaray District Court in Tashkent upheld
the convictions of six Jehovah's Witnesses following a police raid of
an apartment in which they were meeting. Two persons were jailed for 10
days, one for 15 days, and three were fined the equivalent of 1,400,000
soum ($1,000).
On February 28, the Mirzo Ulugbek District Court in Tashkent
sentenced two Jehovah's Witnesses to 15 days in jail following a
meeting that was raided by police.
On July 27, a court sentenced Timur Chekparbayev and one other
person to 15 days' detention for proselytizing and missionary activity,
following the raid of a study meeting at the Baha'i Center in Tashkent.
Authorities brought Chekparbayev, a citizen of Kazakhstan living
legally in the country, to the Kazakhstan border and deported him
immediately following his detention. The same court fined four other
participants of the meeting 16,000 soum each ($10) on similar charges.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Uzbekistan reported
that on August 15, police again entered the Baha'i Center in Tashkent
and confiscated hundreds of books.
On October 29, a court found Pavel Peichov, chairman of the
Evangelical Christian Baptist Union, and his colleagues Yelena
Kurbatova and Dmitri Pitirimov guilty of tax evasion and involving
children in religious activities for the operation of a Baptist summer
camp for children. The court fined each 260 times the monthly wage, an
estimated total of 26,243,100 soum ($17,280), and prohibited them from
participating in any administrative or commercial activity for the next
three years. On December 4, the Tashkent City Court granted amnesty for
the charges resulting in the fine but left intact the restriction on
administrative and commercial activities.
In November a Tashkent district court convicted Igor Morozov, the
local representative for the Jehovah's Witnesses in the country, of
teaching religion illegally and fined him 3,364,500 soum ($2,200).
Most Muslims arrested on political charges were tried for
anticonstitutional activity and participating in ``religious extremist,
separatist, fundamentalist, or other banned organizations,'' a charge
that encompasses both political and religious extremism. The
overwhelming majority of those arrested on this charge were accused of
HT or Nur membership, with a marked increase in the number of arrests
and convictions of Nur members. The government commonly arrested
members of other groups outside of the control of the official
religious authorities and labeled many of them Wahhabi or
``extremist.'' The government states that it does not consider
repression of persons or groups suspected of extremism to be a matter
of religious freedom, but rather of preventing armed resistance to the
government. However, convictions of individuals associated with HT and
similar organizations have lacked due process and have also involved
credible allegations of torture. Most defendants received sentences
ranging from three to 14 years; some received sentences of 16 to 20
years.
On July 6, a Samarkand court sentenced 11 members of Nur between
the ages of 19 and 31 to between seven and 11 years in prison.
On November 6, authorities in Karshi arrested one woman and several
other persons for allegedly holding an unauthorized religious meeting.
The woman reportedly taught a religious course for women at a local
mosque, but the charges arose from a meeting she held in her home.
Authorities confiscated films and literature from her home when they
arrested her. At year's end no charges had been filed, but she remained
in custody.
Authorities severely mistreated persons arrested on suspicion of
extremism.
Prison authorities reportedly denied many prisoners suspected of
Islamic extremism the right to practice their religion freely and, in
some circumstances, did not allow them to possess a Koran. Authorities
reportedly punished with solitary confinement and beatings inmates who
attempted to carry out religious practices despite prison rules, or who
protested the rules.
The law limits religious instruction to officially sanctioned
religious schools and state-approved instructors and does not permit
private instruction or the teaching of religion to minors without
parental consent.
The government controlled the publication, importation, and
distribution of religious literature. The government required a
statement in every domestic publication indicating the source of its
publication authority. Possession of literature deemed extremist could
lead to arrest and prosecution. Illegal production, storage,
importation, or distribution of religious materials could result in
fines of 20 to 100 times the minimum monthly wage for individuals and
50 to 150 times the minimum wage for groups, as well as confiscation
and destruction of the literature.
In February, March, and September, documentaries on state-
controlled television described Nur as ``an extremist sect'' that aimed
to establish a pan-Turkic state. They also described several
convictions for Nur membership with sentences between six and one-half
and eight years in prison. In October a documentary critical of
Jehovah's Witnesses and of a Baptist congregation aired on state-run
television.
There were numerous reports of enforcement of a ban on wearing
hijabs (headscarves) in public schools with accusations that some
officials forcibly removed them. There were also several reports that
girls wearing the headscarves in school were ridiculed by their peers
and sometimes by teachers. There were no reports of arrests or
harassment of Muslim believers based on outward expressions of their
religious belief such as beards, veils, or mosque attendance. The law
allows only those serving in religious organizations to wear ``cult
robes'' (religious clothing). In practice this provision did not appear
to be enforced.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Society is generally tolerant
of religious diversity but not of proselytizing. In particular, Muslim,
Russian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Jewish leaders reported high
levels of acceptance in society. Other minority religious groups,
especially churches with ethnic Uzbek converts, encountered
difficulties stemming from social prejudices. There were persistent
reports of discrimination against and harassment of ethnic Uzbek
Muslims who converted to Christianity. There were some reports of local
mosques banning women and persons below 18 from participation in
prayer, allegedly based on the directive of local religious leaders.
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts or patterns of
discrimination against Jews. There were eight registered Jewish
congregations, and observers estimated the Jewish population to be
approximately 10,000 persons, concentrated mostly in Tashkent,
Samarkand, and Bukhara. Their numbers were declining due to emigration,
largely for economic reasons. There were no reports during the year of
HT members distributing anti-Semitic materials.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution and law provide for
free movement within the country and across its borders, although the
government limited this right in practice. On November 23, the
government closed the border with Kazakhstan due to concerns over the
spread of the H1N1 influenza virus. Citizens could cross the border to
Kazakhstan if they carried an invitation from someone in Kazakhstan or
for reasons deemed serious, such as for health care or to attend a
funeral. Borders are sometimes closed around national holidays due to
security concerns. Permission from local authorities is required to
move to a new city. The government rarely granted permission to move to
Tashkent, and local observers reported that persons had to pay bribes
of up approximately 100,000 soum ($67) to obtain the registration
documents required to move.
The government required citizens to obtain exit visas for foreign
travel or emigration and, although it generally granted the visas,
local officials often demanded bribes. There were reports during the
year that the government delayed exit visas for human rights activists
to prevent their travel abroad; they also limited their freedom of
movement within the country. A government registration system required
citizens to obtain a special stamp from local authorities in their
place of residence before leaving the country. Citizens generally
continued to be able to travel to neighboring states, and the stamp
requirement was not uniformly enforced. Land travel to Afghanistan
remained difficult. Citizens needed permission from the NSS to cross
the border.
Foreigners with valid visas generally could move within the country
without restriction.
In October Bahodir Choriev, the leader of the Birdamlik opposition
party, returned to the country after living for five years in a western
country. Authorities closely monitored his activities and, in several
instances, persons with whom Choriev met were questioned or beaten by
law enforcement officers. On December 11, authorities deported Choriev.
At year's end several other opposition political figures and human
rights activists remained in voluntary exile.
Emigration and repatriation were restricted since the law does not
provide for dual citizenship. In practice returning citizens had to
prove to authorities that they did not acquire foreign citizenship
while abroad, or otherwise they would face prosecution. In practice
citizens often possessed dual citizenship and traveled without
impediment.
The government noted that citizens residing outside the country for
more than six months can register with the country's consulates, and
such registration was voluntary. However, there were reports that
failure to register has rendered citizens residing abroad and children
born abroad stateless.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
Its laws do not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status,
and the government has not established a system for providing
protection to refugees. In practice the government provided some
protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries
where their lives or freedom would be threatened due to their race,
religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or
political opinion. As in the previous year, there were reported cases
of the government forcibly removing Afghan refugees from the country.
In practice the government did not allow the UNHCR to provide
assistance to refugees and asylum seekers.
During the first 10 months of the year, the UN Development Program
(UNDP) continued to assist with monitoring and resettlement of
approximately 600 refugees, most of them Afghans, who remained in the
country. The UNDP also performed some of the UNHCR's humanitarian
functions, as it has done since the government forced the UNHCR office
to close in 2006. The UNHCR assisted refugees from the country who had
fled into Kyrgyzstan following the 2005 unrest in Andijon.
During the year there were reports that harassment of Afghan
refugees continued. Since 2007 the MFA has not considered UNHCR mandate
certificates as the basis for extended legal residence, and persons
carrying such certificates must apply for the appropriate visa or face
possible deportation. The government considered the refugees from
Afghanistan and Tajikistan economic migrants, and offials sometimes
subjected them to harassment and bribery. Most refugees from Tajikistan
were ethnic Uzbeks; unlike their counterparts from Afghanistan, those
from Tajikistan were able to integrate into and were supported by the
local population. Some refugees from Tajikistan were officially
stateless or faced the possibility of becoming officially stateless, as
many carried only old Soviet passports rather than Tajik or Uzbek
passports.
The UNHCR reported that Afghan refugees had no access to the legal
labor force and therefore had limited means to earn a livelihood. There
have been reports that Afghan refugees frequently decide not to seek
police protection or redress through the courts because they fear
harassment or retribution from officials.
During the year the government pressured several other countries to
forcibly return citizens who were under UNHCR protection abroad.
In January a court in Namangan sentenced Abdumumin Dadakhonov,
allegedly the personal driver for a leader of the Islamic Movement of
Uzbekistan, to 18 years in prison on charges of religious extremism
following his arrest and extradition in 2008 from Ukraine. Rights
activists objected to the extradition on the ground that he would be
subjected to torture upon his return.
On August 19, the media in Russia reported that a review board of
the St. Petersburg city court overturned a decision to extradite
Orinboy Ergashev to the country on charges related to religious
extremism. The review panel found that extradition would violate the
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms, given the possibility that Ergashev would be tortured if
returned to his 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. In practice this was not possible through
peaceful and democratic means. The government severely restricted
freedom of expression and suppressed political opposition. The
government was highly centralized and ruled by President Karimov and
the executive branch through sweeping decree powers, primary authority
for drafting legislation, and control of government appointments, most
of the economy, and the security forces.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2008 President Karimov
swore himself in for a third term as president after his 2007
reelection in a process that fell short of international democratic
norms. The OSCE's limited election observation mission noted that there
were more candidates than in previous elections, but all candidates
publicly endorsed the incumbent's policies. There was no competition of
political views, administrative hurdles kept other potential candidates
off the ballot, and the government tightly controlled the media. The
OSCE mission noted procedural problems and irregularities in vote
tabulation.
The constitution prohibits a president from seeking a third term in
office, an apparent contradiction the government has never publicly
addressed. The OSCE declined to monitor the 2000 election in which
President Karimov was reelected to a second term, determining that
preconditions did not exist for it to be free and fair. A 2002
referendum, which multilateral organizations and foreign embassies also
refused to observe, extended presidential terms from five to seven
years.
Parliamentary elections were held on December 27. Changes to
election law ensured that only members of political parties (all of
whom supported the president) were eligible to run for office. For the
first time, however, the political parties engaged in debate and
criticized each other's proposed policies. Election observers noted
that the elections themselves appeared to be conducted with fewer
irregularities than in previous years. Multiple voting instances were
the most commonly observed problem, attributed to a tradition of
``family voting,'' in which one person casts votes for an entire
family.
The total number of registered political parties decreased from
five to four in June 2008 after the Milliy Tiklanish (``National
Rebirth'') party absorbed the Fidokorlar (``Selfless'') party. The
three remaining registered parties are the People's Democratic Party of
Uzbekistan , the Adolat (``Justice'') Social-Democratic Party, and the
Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan. The government controlled all
registered political parties and provided their funding.
The law allows independent political parties, but it also gives the
MOJ broad powers to interfere with parties and to withhold financial
and legal support to parties that are judged to oppose to the
government.
The law makes it extremely difficult for genuinely independent
political parties to organize, nominate candidates, and campaign. To
register a new party requires 20,000 signatures. The procedures to
register a candidate are burdensome. The law allows the MOJ to suspend
parties for as long as six months without a court order. The government
also exercised control over established parties by controlling their
financing and media exposure.
Only registered political parties may nominate candidates. In 2008
the number of deputies in parliament's lower house (the Oliy Majlis)
expanded from 120 to 150, with half of the new seats reserved for
members of the new ``Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan.'' With this
change, 10 percent of the Oliy Majlis members are now appointed rather
than elected. All members of the senate are either appointed by the
president (16) or chosen in limited elections open only to elected
members of local councils (84).
The law prohibits judges, public prosecutors, NSS officials,
persons serving in the armed forces, foreign citizens, and stateless
persons from joining political parties. The law prohibits parties based
on religion or ethnicity; those that oppose the sovereignty, integrity,
and security of the country and the constitutional rights and freedoms
of citizens; those that promote war or social, national, or religious
hostility; and those that seek to overthrow the government.
Several political parties were banned or denied registration
following the 2005 Andijon events. Former party leaders remained in
exile, and their parties struggled to remain relevant without a strong
domestic base.
There were 33 women in the 150-member lower chamber of the
parliament and 15 women in the 100-member senate. At year's end there
was one woman in the 28-member cabinet. In January 2008 Dilorom
Toshmuhammedova--leader of the progovernment Adolat Social-Democratic
party and one of four officially recognized presidential candidates in
the December 2007 election--became the first female speaker of the
lower house of parliament, the highest government position a woman has
ever held.
At the end of the year, there were nine members of ethnic
minorities in the lower house of parliament and 15 minorities in the
senate.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials frequently engaged with impunity in corruption.
In 2008 President Karimov signed a law to ratify the United Nations
Convention Against Corruption. The law states that all government
agencies must provide citizens with the opportunity to examine
documents, decisions, and other materials affecting their freedoms. In
practice the government has not implemented these rights, although the
Prosecutor General's Office formed a working group to address
implementation of its obligations under the convention, and the
government cohosted with the UN and OSCE a workshop on implementing
these obligations.
The World Bank corruption indicators gave the country particularly
low marks for accountability and control of corruption, with both
indicators dropping over the last five years. The public generally did
not have access to government information, and information normally
considered in the public domain was seldom reported.
Corruption was a severe problem in the university, law, and traffic
enforcement systems. There were several reports that bribes to judges
influenced the outcomes of civil suits. On March 24, authorities
accused an NGO, Ezgulik, of defamation after it named officials who
allegedly requested a bribe from the organization. There were reports
that citizens encountered corruption from neighborhood committees
(``mahallahas''), frequently paying a bribe to receive social benefit
payments that were distributed through the mahallas.
The government reported that investigative agencies prosecuted
1,138 officials for official crimes. As a result, seven officials were
disciplined, 624 were dismissed from the positions, and 189 persons
were criminally charged for economic crimes including corruption. In
May a Tashkent district court sentenced Bahtiyor Sirliboyev, former
inspector for crime prevention under the MOI, to seven years in prison
for receiving bribes.
On March 23, state-controlled television announced that law
enforcement arrested a former officer of the criminal investigation
unit in a region of Tashkent. The former official allegedly led a ring
of corrupt police who extorted money from citizens under fabricated
charges.
A state-controlled newspaper reported on October 12 that the
Kashkadarya regional criminal court sentenced a judge from the
Shahrisabz district to 10 years in prison for receiving a bribe.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic human rights groups operated in the country,
although they were hampered by a fear of official retaliation. The
government frequently harassed, arrested, and prosecuted human rights
activists.
The government officially acknowledges two domestic human rights
NGOs--Ezgulik and the Independent Human Rights Organization of
Uzbekistan. Others were unable to register but continued to function at
both the national and local levels. Organizations that attempted to
register in previous years and remain unregistered included the Human
Rights Society of Uzbekistan, Mazlum (``Oppressed''), and Mothers
against the Death Penalty and Torture. These organizations did not
exist as legal entities, but they continued to function despite
difficulty renting offices or conducting financial transactions. They
could not open bank accounts, making it virtually impossible to receive
funds legally. Unregistered groups were liable to government
prosecution.
Government officials occasionally met with domestic human rights
defenders, some of whom noted that they were able to resolve cases of
human rights abuses through direct engagement with authorities.
Police and security forces continued to harass domestic human
rights activists and NGOs during the year. Security forces regularly
threatened and intimidated human rights activists to prevent their
activities and dissuade them from meeting with foreign diplomats, and
occasionally police and other government authorities ordered activists
to cease contact with foreigners. Unknown assailants attacked human
rights activists. Authorities regularly detained or arrested human
rights activists and subjected them to house arrest or false criminal
charges. Government officials publicly accused specific activists of
conspiring with international journalists to discredit the government.
Since the 2005 Andijon events, the government severely restricted
the activities of international human rights NGOs and subjected their
employees to frequent harassment and intimidation. Government officials
and the government-controlled media frequently accused international
NGOs of participating in an international ``information war'' against
the country.
The government continued to restrict the work of international
bodies and foreign diplomatic missions and severely criticized their
human rights monitoring activities and policies. The government
followed a standard policy of auditing all international NGOs annually.
Generally following an audit, the MOJ sent each audited NGO a letter
outlining the violations discovered during the process, with a 30-day
time limit to resolve the violations.
The government reguired that NGOs coordinate their training
sessions or seminars with government authorities. NGO managers believed
this amounted to a requirement for prior official permission from the
government for all NGO program activities.
Two foreign-based international NGOs that attained registration in
2008 continued operations, presenting several conferences and trainings
with high-level officials and international experts.
HRW remained registered, but it has not resumed operations since
the government in 2008 refused to accredit HRW's country director and
prohibited him from reentering the country.
In July World Vision announced it would cease operations (effective
June 2010) due to the difficult operational environment in the country.
Although the OSCE has been able to do only limited work on human
rights issues since 2006, the government approved several proposed OSCE
projects during the year, including in the ``human dimension,'' the
human rights part of the OSCE's work, to which the government had
objected in past years.
The human rights ombudsman, affiliated with parliament, had the
stated goals of promoting observance and public awareness of
fundamental human rights, assisting in shaping legislation to bring it
into accordance with international human rights norms, and resolving
cases of alleged abuse. The Ombudsman's Office mediates disputes
between citizens who contact it and makes recommendations to modify or
uphold decisions of government agencies, but its recommendations are
not binding. The ombudsman has offices in all provinces of the country,
as well as in the Karakalpakstan Republic and Tashkent. The ombudsman
released a report in June for 2008, stating that it received nearly
10,000 petitions and took action in 5,676 cases. The majority of these
dealt with the rights to life, freedom, privacy, human treatment, and
respect for dignity, as well as the right to a fair trial.
Throughout the year the Ombudsman's Office hosted meetings and
conferences with law enforcement, judicial representatives, and limited
international NGO participation to discuss its mediation work and means
of facilitating protection of human rights.
The National Human Rights Center is a government agency responsible
for educating the population and officials on the principles of human
rights and democracy and for ensuring that the government complies with
its international obligations to provide human rights information.
During the year the center responded to the UN Human Rights Council's
report on the country's December 2008 Universal Periodic Review,
accepting some criticism but denying many of the allegations or stating
that the issues were the country's internal affair. International
organizations reported cooperation with the center in raising awareness
of recent legal reforms among government officials, including the
adoption of an antitrafficking law and International Labor Organization
(ILO) antichild labor conventions adopted in 2008.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender,
disability, language, or social status. The constitution prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race, gender, and language, but it does
not specifically prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability.
Societal discrimination against women and persons with disabilities
existed, and child abuse persisted.
Women.--The law prohibits rape, including rape of a ``close
relative,'' but the criminal code does not specifically prohibit
marital rape, and no cases were known to have been tried in court.
Cultural norms discouraged women and their families from speaking
openly about rape, and instances were almost never reported in the
press.
The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence, which
remained common. While the law punishes physical assault, police often
discouraged women from making complaints against abusive husbands, and
abusers rarely were taken from their homes or jailed. Physical abuse of
females was considered a personal affair rather than a criminal act.
Such cases were usually handled by family members or elders within the
mahallah and rarely came to court. Local authorities emphasized
reconciling husband and wife, rather than addressing the abuse.
As in past years, there were reported cases in which women
attempted or committed suicide as a result of domestic violence.
Information indicates that most cases went unreported, and there were
no reliable statistics on the problem's extent. Observers cited
conflict with a husband or mother-in-law, who by tradition exercised
complete control over a wife, as the usual reason for suicide. NGOs
assisting survivors of suicide attempts reported inconsistent
cooperation from officials and neighborhood committees.
The law prohibits prostitution; however, it remained a problem.
Police enforced the laws against prostitution unevenly; some police
officers harassed and threatened prostitutes with prosecution to extort
money.
The law does not explicitly prohibit sexual harassment, but it is
illegal for someone to coerce a woman with whom he has a business,
financial, or other dependent relationship into a sexual relationship.
Social norms and the lack of legal recourse made it difficult to assess
the scope of the problem.
Couples and individuals generally may decide freely and responsibly
the number, spacing, and timing of their children, and to have the
information and means to do so free from discrimination, coercion, and
violence. However, there were isolated reports in Khorezm and Andijon
of forced sterilization of women who had more than two children.
Contraception generally was available to both men and women. In
most districts, maternity clinics were available and staffed by fully
trained doctors, who gave a wide range of prenatal and postpartum care.
There were some reports that women in rural areas chose in greater
numbers than in urban areas to give birth at home, without the presence
of skilled medical attendants.
Men and women generally are equally diagnosed and treated for
sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
The law prohibits discrimination based on gender, and the National
Women's Committee (NWC) exists to promote the legal rights of women.
Women historically have held leadership positions across all sectors,
although not with the same prevalence as men, but cultural and
religious practices limited their role in society. There were few data
to show whether women experienced discrimination in access to
employment, credit, or pay equity for substantially similar work.
The NWC is tasked to work with the UNDP on implementation of both
the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW) and the 2007 National Action Plan to address
recommendations of the CEDAW Committee. The NWC conducts awareness-
raising efforts such as a September 23 seminar in Nukus,
Karakalpakstan, on protection from discriminative customs, forced and
early marriages, and domestic violence. In December the NWC and the MOI
jointly conducted training for Tashkent police officers on the
protection of women and children, specifically addressing preventing
and resolving family conflicts.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory (jus soli) and from one's parents (jus sanguinis). The
government generally registers all births immediately.
The law provides for children's rights and for free compulsory
education for 12 years through basic and secondary school and does so
equally for both boys and girls. In practice shortages and budget
difficulties meant many families had to pay education expenses.
Teachers earned extremely low salaries and expected regular payments
from students and their parents for good grades.
The government subsidized health care, including for children, and
boys and girls enjoyed equal access. As with education, low wages for
doctors and poor funding of the Soviet era health sector led to a
widespread system of informal payments for services; in some cases this
was a barrier to access for the poor. With some exceptions, those
without an officially registered address, such as street children and
children of migrant workers, did not have access to government health
facilities.
Child abuse generally was considered an internal family matter, and
government officials were reluctant to discuss the issue openly with
international organizations. Elders on neighborhood committees
frequently took an interest at the local level in line with the
committees' responsibilities to maintain harmony and order within the
community.
The law states that the minimum age for marriage is 17 for women
and 18 for men, but a mayor of a district may lower the age by one year
in exceptional cases. Child marriage was not prevalent, although in
some rural areas girls as young as 15 were married occasionally in
religious ceremonies not officially recognized by the state. According
to a 2006 report endorsed by UNICEF and the Uzbek State Statistical
Committee, 5 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 19 were
married. The same report also found that 12.5 percent of women between
the ages of 20 to 49 were married before they became 18.
A statutory rape law states that a child younger than 14 cannot
legally consent to having sexual relations with an adult, and the
punishment for statutory rape is 15 to 20 years of imprisonment. The
production, demonstration, and distribution of child pornography (of
persons younger than 21) is punishable by a fine of 100 to 200 times
the minimum wage or up to three years' imprisonment.
There were reports that girls were trafficked from the country for
the purpose of sexual exploitation and that girls were engaged in
forced prostitution. There also were reports that boys were trafficked
to Kazakhstan and Russia.
Men are required to serve one year of military duty at the age of
18. A person who is determined by a medical commission to be physically
unable to serve is offered ``alternative service,'' which usually means
paying 30 percent of one's salary to the Ministry of Defense for one
year. University students can defer their service, and some
universities have programs that will substitute for military service.
There are also options to pay a fee in lieu of service.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons
for all purposes; however, there were reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, through, and within the country. The government
took action to combat this problem.
In 2008 the government strengthened penalties against convicted
traffickers. The law, officially titled ``Trafficking in Persons,''
formally defines and criminalizes all severe forms of human
trafficking. The base punishment for first-time offenders is three to
five years in prison. The punishment increases to eight to 12 years in
prison for instances of trafficking two or more persons, using force or
threat, recidivism, group conspiracy, abuse of official position, and
cases involving the death of trafficking victims. Unlike under the
previous code, the new law generally does not grant amnesty to
individuals who receive prison sentences of 10 years or more.
The country was primarily a source and, to a lesser extent, a
transit point for trafficking women and girls for commercial sexual
exploitation and men for labor exploitation. NGOs and the government
reported labor trafficking was much more prevalent than trafficking for
sexual exploitation and was likely rising due to poor economic
conditions.
During the year there were credible reports that women were
trafficked to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, India, Russia,
Kazakhstan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. There
were also reports of victims transiting Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan,
Georgia, and Azerbaijan for other destinations. According to a local
antitrafficking NGO, most female trafficking victims were sent to the
UAE and Turkey via Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Labor trafficking
victims, mostly male, typically were trafficked to Kazakhstan and
Russia to work in the construction, agricultural, and service sectors.
Some transit of trafficked persons also may have taken place from
neighboring countries and to or from countries for which the country
was a transportation hub--Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, South
Korea, and the UAE. Women between the ages of 17 and 30 were vulnerable
to sexual exploitation, and men of all ages were targets for labor
trafficking. A local antitrafficking NGO registered 617 cases of human
trafficking during the year involving 371 female victims and 246 male
victims, compared with 529 in 2008 and 659 in 2007.
Traffickers operating within nightclubs, restaurants, or
prostitution rings solicited women, many of whom engaged in
prostitution. In large cities such as Tashkent and Samarkand,
traffickers used fraudulent newspaper advertisements for marriage and
fraudulent work opportunities abroad to lure victims. Travel agencies
promising tour packages and work in Turkey, Thailand, and the UAE were
also used to recruit victims. In most cases, traffickers confiscated
travel documents once the women reached the destination country.
Victims of labor trafficking were typically recruited in local regions
and driven to Kazakhstan or Russia, where they were often sold to
``employers.'' Traffickers held victims in a form of debt bondage,
particularly in the case of those trafficked for sexual exploitation.
Recruiters tended to live in the same neighborhood as the potential
victims and often may have known the victims. These recruiters
introduced future victims to the traffickers, who provided
transportation, airline tickets, visas, and instructions about meeting
a contact in the destination country. There were also reports of former
victims being used to recruit new victims.
All law enforcement agencies are charged with upholding the
antitrafficking provisions of the criminal code. Enforcement appeared
to improve during the year. In October the MOI reported that between
January and September, authorities opened 959 criminal cases against
suspected traffickers: 318 for sex trafficking and 641 for labor
trafficking. On September 17, a state publication noted that between
January and September, there were 2,941 victims of trafficking in the
country.
State-controlled media consistently warned against the risk of
being trafficked and reported the convictions of alleged traffickers.
For example, on July 29, state-controlled television in Samarkand
broadcast a program dedicated to victims of human trafficking, noting
that in the first six months of the year, nearly 100 labor migrants
from Samarkand died abroad. On September 24, a television station
reported in a program dealing with trafficking that authorities
uncovered 60 case of human trafficking in the Ferghana Region in the
first eight months of the year, and of that number, 27 charges against
34 persons went to court.
Government offices with responsibility for fighting trafficking
included the MOI's Office for Combating Trafficking, Crime Prevention
Department, and Department of Entry-Exit and Citizenship; the NSS's
Office for Fighting Organized Crime, Terrorism, and Drugs; the Office
of the Prosecutor General; the Ministry of Labor; the Consular
Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the State Women's
Committee. A government Inter-Agency Commission on Combating
Trafficking in Persons meets quarterly and consists of representatives
from the foregoing government entities.
There were no reported investigations of government corruption in
trafficking.
There were no reports that the government prosecuted victims of
trafficking for illegal migration in the course of being trafficked.
There were unconfirmed reports of law enforcement officials involved in
trafficking-related bribery and fraud.
Repatriated victims often faced societal and familial problems upon
return. Internationally supported NGOs operated two shelters in
Tashkent and Bukhara to help victims reintegrate into society. There
were no reports of local police harassing shelter residents. The NGO
implementer reported a good working relationship with authorities, who
often contacted the shelter with new referrals. During the year NGOs
reported assisting 336 victims (241 female and 95 male) trafficked for
sexual and labor exploitation.
On November 18, the government opened the Republican Rehabilitation
Center, which began providing medical, psychological, and legal
services for as many as 35 victims of trafficking at any one time.
Unlike the two NGO-run shelters, this center provides services to men,
as well as women.
The government cooperated with the International Organization for
Migration (IOM) to provide assistance to repatriated trafficking
victims. The IOM also reported that police, consular officials, and
border guards referred women returning from abroad who appeared to be
trafficking victims to the organization for services. The government
routinely allowed the IOM to assist groups of returning women at the
airport, help them through entry processing, and participate in the
preliminary statements the victims gave to the MOI.
In several different regions, antitrafficking NGOs, with the
participation of law enforcement and local government officials,
conducted seminars for orphanages, secondary schools, and higher
education institutions; placed antitrafficking notices in local
newspapers; and developed informational brochures and educational
manuals for teachers and students. In July the IOM completed a three-
year project with a local NGO to combat trafficking in persons and
protect victims. The program trained approximately 1,300 law
enforcement officers in prosecuting trafficking cases and providing
assistance to victims. Through this program the government sent
delegations on study visits in June to Poland and July to Turkey to
meet with counterparts, compare best practices, and improve
international communication related to prosecuting trafficking cases
and providing assistance to victims.
During the year the government continued to focus on trafficking
prevention. A specialized antitrafficking unit in the MOI continued to
cooperate with NGOs on antitrafficking training for law enforcement and
consular officials. The unit also supported victims who testified
against traffickers and organized public awareness campaigns. The
Agency for External Labor Migration (under the Labor Ministry) takes
anonymous reports of trafficking through two hotlines and via its Web
site.
Government-controlled media routinely carried targeted articles and
programs raising awareness about the dangers of trafficking for both
sexual and labor exploitation. Government-owned television stations
worked with local NGOs to broadcast antitrafficking messages and to
publicize the regional NGO hotlines that counseled actual and potential
victims. The government allowed NGOs to place posters about trafficking
hazards on public buses, in passport offices, and in consular offices
abroad.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--On February 27, the government signed
the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The
convention clarifies the rights of persons with disabilities and
identifies area where adaptations must be made to allow persons with
disabilities to exercise their rights effectively.
On March 5, an advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities
was convicted of bribery and given a suspended sentence of two years
and a fine of 12 million soums ($8,500). Many believe the charges were
fabricated as a result of his advocacy and criticism of the government.
There was some societal discrimination against persons with
disabilities. The government provided care for persons with mental
disabilities in special homes.
In March the cabinet of ministers adopted a resolution that
requires medical facilities and all relevant public and private
organizations to adopt and implement individual rehabilitation programs
for persons with disabilities, to include medical, professional, and
social rehabilitation of the disabled.
The Labor Ministry continued to participate in a two-year ACCESS
(Accessibility, Civic Consciousness, Employment, and Society Support
for Persons with Disabilities) project with several international
partners, including the UNDP, UNICEF, the UN Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization, and the UN Population Fund. The purpose of
the project was to combat societal discrimination against persons with
disabilities and expand social integration, employment, and inclusive
educational opportunities. The program trained NGOs, journalists,
government authorities, social workers and employment specialists as
well as university students with disabilities.
During the year there were no reports of facilities fined for being
inaccessible to persons with disabilities. In 2008 the government
amended the law to include provisions imposing fines of up to 70 times
the monthly minimum wage for such violations.
Although many public places lacked access for persons with
disabilities, there was some wheelchair access throughout the country.
The law does not provide effective safeguards against arbitrary or
involuntary institutionalization. During the year human rights
activists reported that a number of persons with mental or physical
disabilities were held at psychiatric hospitals despite showing no
signs of mental illness. The Ministry of Health controlled access to
health care for persons with disabilities, and the Ministry of Labor
and Social Protection facilitated employment of persons with
disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The constitution provides for
the right of all citizens to work and to choose their occupation.
Although the law prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of
ethnicity or national origin, ethnic Russians and other minorities
expressed concern about limited job opportunities. Senior positions in
the government bureaucracy and business generally were reserved for
ethnic Uzbeks, although there were numerous exceptions.
The law does not require Uzbek language ability to obtain
citizenship, but language remained a sensitive issue. Uzbek is the
state language, and the constitution requires that the president speak
it. The law also provides that Russian is ``the language of interethnic
communication.'' Russian was spoken widely in the main cities, and
Tajik was spoken widely in Samarkand and Bukhara.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Homosexual activity is
punishable by up to three years' imprisonment. There were no known
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) organizations. There was
no known perpetrated or condoned violence against the LGBT community.
There were no known reports of official or societal discrimination
based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, statelessness, or
access to education or health care, but this may be attributed to the
social taboo against discussing homosexual activity rather than to
equality in such matters.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--There was a social
stigma against HIV/AIDS patients. Persons living with HIV reported
social isolation by neighbors, public agency workers, health personnel,
law enforcement officers, landlords, and employers after their HIV
status became known. Recruits in the armed services found to be HIV-
positive were summarily expelled. The MOI's Department of Corrections
continued efforts to raise awareness about the realities of HIV/AIDS in
its training for prison staff. The government's restrictions on local
NGOs left only a handful of functioning NGOs to assist and protect the
rights of persons with HIV/AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to
form and join unions of their choice. In practice workers generally did
not exercise this right because they believed that, as in Soviet times,
attempts to create alternative unions would be quickly repressed. The
law declares unions independent of governmental administrative and
economic bodies, except where provided for by other laws, for example,
those that regulate fund and asset management by the unions. In
practice unions remained centralized and dependent on the government.
The state-run Board of the Trade Union Federation of Uzbekistan was the
largest union, with official reports of 60 percent of employees
participating. Although leaders of the federation could be elected by
the union board, in reality they are appointed by the president's
office. All regional and industrial trade unions at the local level
were state-owned. There were no independent unions. The law prohibits
discrimination against union members and officers, but this prohibition
was irrelevant due to the unions' close relationship with the
government.
The law neither provides for nor prohibits the right to strike.
There were unconfirmed reports that strikes took place in some
factories because of delays in salary payments.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Unions and
their leaders were not free to conduct activities without interference
from the employer or from government-controlled institutions. The law
provides the right to organize and to bargain collectively; in practice
this right was not exercised. Unions were government-organized
institutions that had little power, although they did have some
influence on health and work safety issues.
The law states that unions may conclude agreements with
enterprises, but because unions were heavily influenced by the state,
collective bargaining in any meaningful sense did not occur. The
ministry of labor and social protection and the ministry of finance, in
consultation with the Council of the Federation of Trade Unions (CFTU),
set wages for government employees. In the small private sector,
management established wages or negotiated them individually with
persons who contracted for employment. There is no state institution
responsible for labor arbitration.
The law gives unions oversight for individual and collective labor
disputes.
A free trade zone has been established in Navoi, but there are no
special laws or exemptions from regular labor law within that zone.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and
law prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by children, except
as legal punishment for such offenses as robbery, fraud, or tax
evasion, or as specified by law; however, there were reports that such
practices occurred, particularly during the cotton harvest, when
authorities reportedly compelled medical workers, government personnel,
schoolchildren, university students, and others to pick cotton.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--Laws
exist to protect children from exploitation in the workplace, but those
laws were not effectively enforced. The national labor code establishes
the minimum working age at 16 and provides that work must not interfere
with the studies of those younger than 18. The law establishes a right
to a part-time job beginning at age 15, and children with permission
from their parents may work a maximum of 24 hours per week when school
is not in session and 12 hours per week when school is in session.
Children between the ages of 16 and 18 may work 36 hours per week while
school is not in session and 18 hours per week while school is in
session. Children as young as seven or eight years old worked in family
businesses in cities during school holidays and vacations, and children
also worked in street vending, services, construction, building
materials manufacturing, and transportation. Many schools, particularly
in rural areas, closed for six to eight weeks during the fall cotton
harvest and sent students to work in the fields.
The government did not invite or allow the ILO to conduct a
baseline assessment of child labor in the cotton sector. The government
took limited steps during the year to implement its April 2008 adoption
of ILO Conventions 182 (On the Worst Forms of Child Labor) and 138 (On
the Minimum Age of Employment), its September 2008 adoption of a
national action plan on implementation of the ILO Conventions that
called for abolishing the mobilization of children for the annual
cotton harvest, and the prime minister's 2008 decree banning child
labor in the cotton harvest.
On June 10, a local human rights group in Karakalpakstan reported
that all students in lyceums, colleges, institutes, and universities
were forced to weed cotton fields under conditions of inadequate food,
drinking water, and housing.
On June 26, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection issued a
list of jobs with unfavorable working conditions, including cotton
picking, in which children younger than 18 cannot be involved.
On December 21, President Karimov signed laws strengthening the
penalties for using child labor. Under the new rules, public officials
who violate labor legislation involving a minor is subject to a fine of
five to 10 times the minimum wage (an increase from two to five times
the minimum wage), and private individuals are fined one to three times
the minimum wage.
On December 24, the president signed amendments to article 77 of
the labor code and to article 20 of the law ``On the Guarantees of the
Rights of the Child.'' The new amendments abolish a provision that
allowed 14-year-olds to be involved with ``light work'' that did not
interfere with education or hinder the health or development of the
child. The minimum age for employment remains at 16, although 15-year-
olds may engage in light work with the permission of a parent.
During the year's fall harvest, there were reports that schools
closed in the Syrdarya, Gulistan, Tashkent, Khoresm, Jizzakh, Bukhara,
and Surhandarya regions. Reports stated that local administrators
closed schools and transported students as young as 12 or 13 years of
age to work in the cotton fields, but the majority of the students were
from grades nine through 12, or generally over age 14. Unlike in the
past, classes remained in operation at the younger grade levels.
Students made between 70 and 80 soum ($.05) per kilo (2.2 pounds) of
cotton picked and were expected to pick 20 to 40 kilos per day,
depending on their age, for a daily wage of between 1,400 and 3,200
soum ($1.00 to 2.00)per day.
There were several reports that working conditions for children
deteriorated during the year, with neither farmers nor the government
providing sufficient food, water, or lodging for the children.
Universities also reportedly closed and sent students to work in
the fields. One report stated that some university students who refused
to work in the cotton fields were expelled, and several others were
threatened with expulsion. Teachers and school administrators were
expected to participate either as foremen or by picking cotton
directly. Other government workers were mobilized to work in the
fields.
The government does not allow independent organizations to assess
comprehensively child labor in the cotton sector, nor does it provide
figures on the use of child labor in the country.
The legislation does not explicitly provide jurisdiction for
inspectors from the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection to focus on
child labor enforcement. Enforcement of child labor laws is under the
jurisdiction of the Labor Ministry, the prosecutor general, and the MOI
and its general criminal investigators. There were no known
prosecutions for using child labor during the year.
The law provides both criminal and administrative sanctions against
violators. The government reportedly reprimanded 150 officials for not
complying with national orders to refrain from using child labor but
did not provide information about the nature of the sanctions.
Enforcement was difficult due in part to long-standing societal
acceptance of government-compelled child labor as a method of cotton
harvesting.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Labor and Social
Protection, in consultation with the CFTU, sets and enforces the
minimum wage. The minimum wage from August until December was 33,645
soum ($22) per month; on December 1, it was raised to 37,680 soum
($25). This did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family.
The law establishes a standard workweek of 40 hours and requires a
24-hour rest period. Overtime pay exists in theory, but it was rarely
paid in practice.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection establishes and
enforces occupational health and safety standards in consultation with
unions. Reports suggested that enforcement was not effective. Although
regulations provide for safeguards, workers in hazardous jobs often
lacked protective clothing and equipment. In accordance with the Law on
Workers' Safety, workers legally may remove themselves from hazardous
work if an employer has failed to provide adequate safety measures for
the job. Generally workers did not exercise this right, as it was not
effectively enforced and employees feared retribution by employers.
In 2007 the country signed bilateral labor migration agreements
with Russia to increase protections on a range of labor rights for the
country's labor migrants. Under the agreement, citizens can apply
through the Agency on External Labor Migration to receive permits to
work legally in Russia. As of September approximately 5,000 persons had
taken advantage of the program to work in Russia's agriculture and
construction sectors. However, this was a small fraction of the
estimated one million or more citizens already working in Russia, most
of them illegally. The agency also has enabled more than 3,000 Uzbek
citizens to work legally in South Korea. In addition, the Tashkent
Employment Bureau established ties with Poland enabling citizens to
travel there legally to work in construction.
There were reports that the number of women day laborers had
increased, particularly in Khorezm region. In June a local NGO of that
district reported that women day laborers fell outside the protection
of the law and were hidden from socially oriented programs directed
toward the protection and advancement of the rights of women. According
to the report, they worked in difficult labor conditions and their
health suffered accordingly. The UNDP reported that it was working with
the government on a project aimed at protecting the human rights of
women involved in labor migration and at increasing the quality of
services relevant governmental and nongovernmental bodies provide to
women migrant workers.
__________
WESTERN HEMISPHERE
----------
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
Antigua and Barbuda is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy with a
population of approximately 100,000. In parliamentary elections on
March 12, which observers described as generally free and fair, the
United Progressive Party (UPP) defeated the ruling Antigua Labour Party
(ALP), and Baldwin Spencer was reelected as prime minister. Civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
While the government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were problems in a few areas, including excessive use
of force by police, poor prison conditions, some limits on press
freedom, societal discrimination and violence against women, and sexual
abuse of children.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution specifically prohibits such practices,
and the authorities generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Nonetheless, there were occasional reports of police brutality,
corruption, excessive force, discrimination against persons on basis of
sexual orientation or gender identity, and allegations of abuse by
prison guards.
There were several incidents during the year involving foreign
citizens in which excessive police force was used, as well as threats
of violence while in police custody. Foreign embassies were not
notified on a timely basis, and on occasion consular access was denied.
In one case six tourists from a cruise ship were involved in an
altercation with a taxi driver who took them to a police station to
complain. Police arrested them, and they alleged mistreatment by the
local police including threats of violence.
In May 2008 authorities placed a police officer on administrative
leave for the beating of a 17-year-old. The deputy police commissioner
promised an investigation, and the officer retired. At year's end the
officer still faced criminal charges.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
very poor. Her Majesty's Prison, the country's only prison, was
overcrowded, did not have toilet facilities, and slop pails were used
in all 122 cells. It held 295 convicted prisoners at year's end.
Prison overcrowding was attributed in part to a law that limited
the ability of magistrates to grant bail to those accused of certain
offenses. This resulted in an increase in the number of persons held on
remand or awaiting trial. Due to space limitations, authorities
sometimes held persons on remand together with convicted prisoners.
Female prisoners were held in a separate section and were not
subject to the same problems encountered in the men's prison.
Juveniles were held with adult inmates.
The government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, although no such visits were known to have occurred.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the government generally observed
these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Security forces consist
of a police force, the small Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force, and the
Office of National Drug Control Policy, which coordinates law
enforcement and prosecutorial action to counter narcotics trafficking.
The police force comprised more than 759 officers, 164 of whom were
part of the country's fire brigade, and 595 police officers. The police
force was male dominated, but the number of female officers increased
to 120. In 2008 the government hired three former Royal Canadian
Mounted Police officers to help professionalize the police force and
combat corruption.
The police discipline department, which investigates complaints
against the police, is headed by the deputy police commissioner and
decides whether an investigation is conducted. The police fall under
the prime minister's area of responsibility, and he can call for an
independent investigation into an incident as needed.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The law
permits police to arrest without a warrant persons suspected of
committing a crime. Criminal defendants have the right to a prompt
judicial determination of the legality of their detention. The police
must bring detainees before a court within 48 hours of arrest or
detention. Criminal detainees were allowed prompt access to counsel and
family members. There were cases in which authorities denied foreign
national criminal detainees prompt consular access and delayed
notification of detention to the foreign government. Some foreign
national detainees claimed police used excessive force and threats of
violence against them while in detention; the government investigated
these allegations and found no evidence to support them. The bail
system requires those accused of more serious crimes to appeal to the
High Court for bail, taking this responsibility away from the lower
court magistrates.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
The judicial system is part of the Eastern Caribbean legal system
and reflects historical ties to the United Kingdom. The first level is
the magistrate's court, followed by the court of appeals and the High
Court. The constitution designates the Privy Council in the United
Kingdom as the final court of appeal, which is always employed in the
case of death sentences.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides that criminal
defendants should receive a fair, open, and public trial, and an
independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are by
jury. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, have timely access
to counsel, may confront or question witnesses, and have the right to
appeal. In capital cases only, the government provides legal assistance
at public expense to persons without the means to retain a private
attorney. Courts often reached verdicts quickly, with some cases coming
to conclusion in a matter of days.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--A court of summary
jurisdiction, which sits without a jury, deals with civil cases
involving sums of up to EC$1,500 ($550); three magistrate's courts deal
with summary offenses and civil cases of not more than EC$500 ($185) in
value. Persons may apply to the High Court for redress of alleged
violations of their constitutional rights.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
In June 2007 the Privy Council rejected an appeal by the former
owner of property expropriated by the government in 2002. (The owner
alleged abuse of power, harassment, and threats by the government to
acquire the property.) Despite repeated attempts by the owner to
resolve the case, at year's end, the government had not provided
prompt, adequate, and effective compensation to the claimant, as
stipulated under law, and was seeking to sell the property to a third
party, prior to settling with the previous owner.
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 respected these
rights on a somewhat limited basis. Privately-owned print media,
including daily and weekly newspapers, were active and offered a range
of opinion. Politicians in both parties often filed libel cases against
members of the other party. In May the prime minister paid an out-of-
court settlement to ALP Parliamentarian Asot Michael.
There was continued tension between the government and ZDK Radio,
which is owned by the family of Lester Bird, the former prime minister
and leader of the opposition ALP.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that 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. According to
the International Telecommunication Union, there were 15 Internet users
per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
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.--Rastafarians complained of
discrimination, especially in hiring and in schools, but the government
took no specific action to address such complaints. There were no other
reports of societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic
acts. The Jewish community was very small.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not use it
in practice.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for granting asylum or
refugee status in accordance with the 1951 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 the expulsion or return of
refugees to a country where their lives or freedom would be threatened.
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 and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers, but normally the government
immediately deported foreigners who could not provide legal
documentation.
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 elections on March 12,
the opposition UPP won nine of 17 seats in the House of Representatives
and 50 percent of the popular vote. Members of the Organization of
American States observer group reported that the elections were free
and fair. UPP leader Baldwin Spencer remained in power. At year's end
the courts were considering various legal challenges to the election
results.
Political parties could operate freely without restriction or
outside interference.
There were two women in the 19-seat House of Representatives and
five women appointed to the 17-seat Senate. The governor general, the
speaker of the House of Representatives, and the president of the
Senate, all appointed positions, were women. There was one woman in the
cabinet.
There was one member of a minority in parliament.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and
the government generally implemented these laws effectively. There were
isolated reports of government corruption during the year. No
information was available about the results of investigations of former
ALP officials by a Special Task Force on Crime and Corruption
established after the 2004 elections. Investigation targets included
the former prime minister, a former finance minister, and a former
ambassador. Both political parties frequently accused the other of
corruption, but investigations yielded little or no results.
The Integrity in Public Life Act requires public officials to
disclose all income, assets (including those of spouses and children),
and personal gifts while in public office. The law established an
Integrity Commission, appointed by the governor general, to receive and
investigate complaints regarding noncompliance with or contravention of
any provisions of this law or the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Freedom of Information Act gives citizens the statutory right
to access official documents from public authorities and agencies, and
it created a commissioner to oversee the process. In practice citizens
found it difficult to obtain documents, possibly due to government
funding constraints rather than obstruction.
Section 5. 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 government cooperated with international organizations and
consulted regularly with UN representatives.
There is an ombudsman, an independent authority appointed by the
prime minister, to deal with complaints about the police and other
government officials. However, the office lacked the resources to
provide effective oversight for the entire government and did not
produce regular reports.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex,
creed, language, or social status, and the government generally
respected these prohibitions in practice.
Women.--Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal and carries
maximum sentences (rarely imposed) ranging from 10 years' to life
imprisonment. As many as four rapes were reported every month. The
directorate of gender affairs, part of the Ministry of Labor, Public
Administration, and Empowerment, established and publicized a crisis
hotline for victims and witnesses to sexual assault. When rape cases
are reported to the police, a female police officer accompanies the
victim for both questioning and medical examinations. Once the doctor's
report is completed, an investigation commences. If a suspect is
arrested, he is placed in a line-up and must be identified by the
victim face to face, without the use of a one-way mirror. There were 58
rape cases, of which 28 led to prosecution, during the year. In
situations where the victim did not know her assailant, the cases
rarely made it to trial. At year's end the government was working with
a task force from Canada to target suspected serial rapists.
Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a problem. The
law prohibits and provides penalties for domestic violence, but many
women were reluctant to testify against their abusers. The directorate
of gender affairs operated a domestic violence program that included
training for police officers, magistrates, and judges. The directorate
also ran a domestic abuse hotline and worked with a nongovernmental
organization (NGO) to provide safe havens for abused women and
children. Services for victims of domestic violence included counseling
and an advocacy case worker who accompanied the victim to the hospital
and police station.
Prostitution is prohibited by law, but it remained a problem. There
were a number of brothels that catered primarily to the local
population.
Sexual harassment is illegal, but it was rarely prosecuted.
According to the Labor Department, there was a high incidence of sexual
harassment incurred by employees in both the private and public
sectors. However, only four cases were formally reported during the
year; the small number was believed to result from concerns about
retaliation.
Reproductive rights of women were protected. Couples and
individuals had the right to decide freely and responsibly the number,
spacing and timing of their children, and had the information to do so
free from discrimination, coercion, and violence. There was adequate
access to contraception. Most women gave birth in hospitals. Women were
equally diagnosed and treated for sexually transmitted infections,
including HIV.
While the role of women in society is not restricted legally,
economic conditions in rural areas tended to limit women to home and
family, although some women worked as domestics, in agriculture, or in
the large tourism sector. Women were well represented in the public
sector, accounting for 54 percent of the public service and more than
half of the permanent secretaries--the most senior level in each
government department. In addition 41 percent of bar association
members were women. There was no legislation requiring equal pay for
equal work, but women faced no restrictions involving ownership of
property.
Children.--Citizenship is acquired by birth in the country, and all
children were registered at birth. Children born to citizen parents
abroad can be registered by either of their parents.
Schools faced many shortages in supplies due to lack of resources.
Child abuse remained a problem. The press reported regularly on the
rape and sexual abuse of children. Adult men having regular sexual
relations with young girls was also a problem. According to one
regional human rights group, the girls were often the daughters of
single mothers with whom the perpetrators also had regular sexual
relations.
Statutory rape is illegal; the minimum age for consensual sex is
14. Despite a maximum penalty of 10 years to life, authorities brought
charges against few offenders, and those convicted did not serve long
jail terms due to lack of witness cooperation. Child pornography is
illegal, but no information was available about penalties for it.
Trafficking in Persons.--There are no laws that specifically
address trafficking in persons.
The country was a destination for women trafficked from Guyana,
Haiti, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic for the purposes of sexual
exploitation; it may also be a destination country for women trafficked
for the purposes of forced domestic servitude. Women voluntarily came
to the country to engage in prostitution; brothel managers later
confiscated their passports and threatened the women with deportation
until they repaid the brothel owner for travel and other expenses. Some
victims trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation had been
given work permits as ``entertainers'' to legally enter the country.
However, authorities usually deported victims immediately, before
information on possible trafficking could be obtained.
There were two cases in 2008 in which persons were trafficked to
the country to work in local brothels. Authorities deported one victim,
and the other voluntarily returned to her home country with the support
of the Bureau of Gender Affairs. In neither case were charges brought
against the brothel owners.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no reported discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services. Although the
constitution contains antidiscrimination provisions, no specific laws
prohibit discrimination against, or mandate accessibility for, persons
with disabilities.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Homosexual acts are illegal,
carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
There were no reports of violence or discrimination based on sexual
orientation. There was no information as to the existence of any
lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender organizations in the country.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--There were no reports
of violence or discrimination directed toward persons with HIV/AIDS.
The Ministry of Health supported local NGO efforts to register human
rights complaints and seek assistance related to cases of
discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS. The Ministry of Labor
encouraged employers to be more sensitive to employees with HIV/AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers have the right to associate
freely and to form labor unions. Approximately 60 percent of workers in
the formal sector belonged to a union. Unions were free to conduct
their activities without government interference. Labor unions formed
an important part of the base of both political parties.
The labor code provides for the right to strike, but the Industrial
Relations Court may limit this right in a given dispute. Workers who
provide essential services (including bus, telephone, port, petroleum,
health, and safety workers) must give 21 days' notice of intent to
strike. Once either party to a dispute requests that the court mediate,
strikes are prohibited under penalty of imprisonment. Because of the
delays associated with this process, unions often resolved labor
disputes before a strike was called. In addition an injunction may be
issued against a legal strike when the national interest is threatened
or affected.
Labor law prohibits retaliation against strikers, and the
government effectively enforced those laws.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
labor organizations to organize and bargain collectively without
interference, and the government protected this right. The law
prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers but does not
specifically require reinstatement of workers illegally fired for union
activity, although a court could impose it.
There were no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there
were no reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law stipulates a minimum working age of 16 years, which corresponds
with the provisions of the Education Act. In addition persons under 18
years of age must have a medical clearance to work and may not work
later than 10 p.m. The Ministry of Labor, which is required by law to
conduct periodic inspections of workplaces, effectively enforced this
law. The labor commissioner's office also had an inspectorate that
investigated exploitive child labor matters.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor code provides that the
minister of labor may issue orders, which have the force of law, to
establish a minimum wage. Tripartite consultations were held when the
minimum wage was set. The minimum wage was EC$7.00 ($2.59) an hour for
all categories of labor, which provided a barely adequate standard of
living for a worker and family. In practice the great majority of
workers earned substantially more than the minimum wage.
The law provides that workers are not required to work more than a
48-hour, six-day workweek, but in practice the standard workweek was 40
hours in five days. Laws provide for overtime work in excess of the
standard workweek; excessive or compulsory overtime is not specifically
prohibited.
Although the government had not developed occupational health and
safety laws or regulations apart from those regarding child labor, the
labor code includes provisions regarding occupational safety and
health. While not specifically provided for by law, in practice workers
could leave a dangerous workplace situation without jeopardy to
continued employment.
__________
ARGENTINA
Argentina is a federal constitutional republic with a population of
approximately 40.9 million. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner won the
presidency in October 2007 in multiparty elections that media and
various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) described as generally
free and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces, although there were some instances of
abuse.
While the government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, the following human rights problems were reported: killings
and use of excessive force by police or security forces; police and
prison guard abuse and alleged torture of suspects and prisoners;
overcrowded and substandard prison and jail conditions; occasional
arbitrary arrest and detention; prolonged pretrial detention; continued
weak judicial independence; official corruption; domestic violence
against women; child abuse; trafficking in persons for sexual and labor
exploitation, primarily within the country; and child labor.
During the year the courts convicted 34 perpetrators of human
rights abuses committed during the 1976-83 military dictatorship and
continued trials that were suspended in 1989-90 when the government
pardoned such perpetrators.
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 deaths as a result of police using unwarranted or
excessive force. Generally, officers accused of wrongdoing were
administratively suspended until completion of an investigation.
Authorities investigated and in some cases detained, prosecuted, and
convicted the officers involved.
A November report by the NGO Coordinator Against Police Repression
(CORREPI) claimed that security forces using excessive force killed 392
persons between mid-December 2007 and mid-November 2009. The Center for
Legal and Social Studies (CELS) reported a 12 percent increase in
deaths as a result of police using unwarranted or excessive force from
June 2008 to June 2009.
On July 20, an off-duty police officer shot and killed a 26-year-
old man at a nightclub in Zarate. Authorities arrested the officer who
claimed the victim had attempted to rob him. The suspect was in prison
awaiting trial at year's end.
On July 29, Sergeant Sergio Borgino in Mendoza Province reportedly
shot and killed a sixteen-year-old boy who was attempting to break into
his car and then disposed of his body in a dump. Authorities charged
Borgino with aggravated homicide. His trial was pending at year's end.
On October 23, two police officers reportedly shot 15-year-old Juan
Carlos Quiroz in Pergamino and then disposed of his body in a nearby
field. The Minister of Security of Buenos Aires Province dismissed both
officers and an investigation was pending at year's end.
In February authorities sentenced Buenos Aires police sergeant
Carlos Madrid to 12 years' imprisonment for the 2007 off-duty killing
of 18-year-old Daniel Ezequiel Cespedes. The victim's family appealed
the decision, claiming the sentence was not harsh enough.
On May 6, a criminal court acquitted five police officers and the
police chief of Ramos Mejia in Buenos Aires Province, who were charged
with the February 2008 murder of Gaston Duffau. Duffau died from
multiple blows to the body and asphyxia.
There were no developments in the case against two police officers
allegedly involved in the January 2008 killing of Sergio Enciso in
Buenos Aires Province.
The trial regarding the 1991 police killing of Walter Bulacio
continued as recommended by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
Authorities continued to investigate and prosecute individuals
implicated in disappearances, killings, and torture committed during
the 1976-83 military dictatorship. CELS estimated that there were 204
ongoing judicial investigations and 526 persons charged for crimes
against humanity committed during the military dictatorship. Of those
charged, 385 remained in pretrial detention. According to the Supreme
Court's Office for Follow-up on Crimes Against Humanity, during the
year authorities convicted 34 persons of human rights violations
committed during the military dictatorship compared to 18 individuals
in 2008, a 70 percent increase in convictions. An additional 88 cases
were pending at year's end.
On March 16, a federal court extended former navy lieutenant
commander Ricardo Cavallo's pretrial detention by one year. At year's
end Cavallo was awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity
committed during the military dictatorship.
On August 13, the Federal Court of San Martin sentenced Santiago
Omar Riveros, former chief of the Military Institute Command, to life
imprisonment related to the 1976 murder of Floreal Avellaneda and the
kidnapping and torture of Avellaneda's mother. During the same trial,
former director of the Infantry School Jorge Osvaldo Garcia received an
18-year sentence and former chief of police Fernando Ezequiel
Verplaetsen received a 25-year sentence for their involvement in the
crime.
On October 1, former Formosa governor Juan Carlos Colombo was
convicted of human rights violations committed during the military
dictatorship and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
On October 28, the former National University Concentration chief,
Eduardo Cincotta, died of lung cancer. Authorities had charged Cincotta
for human rights crimes he allegedly committed while working in a
clandestine detention center in Mar de Plata, but in October the
Federal Appellate Court released him from pretrial detention in light
of his medical condition. Five other individuals arrested with Cincotta
under the same charges remained in pretrial detention at year's end.
On October 16, a federal criminal court sentenced two former
colonels, Juan Antonio Beltrametti and Carlos Humberto Caggiano
Tedesco, to life in prison after they were found guilty of giving
orders in Misiones during the military dictatorship that resulted in
illegal deprivation of liberty, torture, and death.
On October 23, the Federal Criminal Court sentenced former general
Jorge Olivera Rovere and former colonel Bernardo Jose Menendez to life
imprisonment for their role in abductions and murders that occurred
during the military dictatorship.
On November 2, a trial against former president and general
Reynaldo Benito Antonio Bignone began in Buenos Aires Province. Bignone
and several other former government officers were charged with
committing 58 counts of kidnapping and torture at Campo de Mayo, the
country's largest clandestine detention center. Several of Bignone's
co-defendants, Santiago Omar Riveros, Fernando Ezequiel Verplaetsen,
and Jorge Osvaldo Garcia, were convicted and sentenced for other human
rights violations in August.
On July 7, Spanish authorities arrested Alberto Soza, a former
assistant federal police commissioner from Neuquen, for his connection
in 18 cases of kidnapping and torture that occurred during 1975 and
1977. Soza was in Madrid awaiting extradition at year's end.
There were no known developments regarding the March 2008 charges
against former economy minister Jose Martinez de Hoz for the death of
economist Juan Carlos Casariego Del Bel.
Ernesto Barreiro remained in pretrial detention for human rights
abuses he allegedly committed while serving as army officer and chief
interrogator at the La Perla clandestine torture center during the
military dictatorship. A trial date had not been set by year's end.
There were no developments in the trial of former police officers
Fernando Esvedes and Carlos Vercellone, arrested in April 2008 for
their alleged role in political kidnappings and torture in the
clandestine detention center Pozo de Arana during the military
dictatorship.
An investigation into the 1973 killing of General Labor
Confederation leader Jose Ignacio Rucci continued at year's end.
At year's end a Supreme Court decision was pending on a Court of
Criminal Appeals order that 21 military officials accused of human
rights violations during the military dictatorship be released on bail.
The military officials remained in detention.
Judicial authorities continued to investigate cases of kidnapping
and illegal adoption by members of the former military dictatorship of
children born to detained dissidents. On November 18, Congress passed a
law allowing the government to order DNA testing if an individual
refuses a blood test. At year's end, 100 of an estimated 500 persons
born to detained and disappeared dissidents and illegally adopted had
been identified and made aware of their backgrounds.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment or punishment and provides penalties for torture
similar to those for homicide. However, there were reports that some
police and prison guards continued to employ torture and brutality.
CELS reported police brutality and occasional alleged torture of
suspects, particularly during prison transfers. While the government
investigated such reports, there were few convictions.
In September several guards at the Melchor Romero prison reportedly
tortured prison guard Carlos Maidana, while another guard taped the
incident. Maidana filed a complaint against the four officers, which
was under investigation by the prosecutor's office at year's end. The
minister of justice dismissed the four officers along with the director
and vice director of the prison.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions often
were poor. Inmates in many facilities suffered from extreme
overcrowding, poor nutrition, inadequate medical and psychological
treatment, inadequate sanitation, limited family visits, and frequent
inhuman and degrading treatment, according to various reports by human
rights organizations and research centers. Buenos Aires provincial
penitentiaries were overcapacity by an estimated 39 percent. According
to CELS, there was a 9 percent increase from 2008 in the number of
prisoners in penitentiaries and police stations in Buenos Aires
Province.
The Buenos Aires Provincial Memory Commission's Committee Against
Torture indicated that during 2008, 112 prisoners died in Buenos Aires
Province prisons. The deaths were attributed to fights, suicides,
general injuries, and diseases.
A September Amnesty International (AI) investigation into the death
of eight prisoners in Mendoza Province concluded that they were
murdered by other prisoners. During the year AI's country director
claimed that the number of crimes, violence, illegal weapons, and
unsanitary conditions in Mendoza's prisons were rising. The Mendoza
government acknowledged these issues and created the position of a
prison ombudsman to receive and investigate prisoners' complaints and
increased training for prison officials. In November the Supreme Court
of Justice ordered Mendoza Province to improve the Boulogne Sur Mer
prison facilities, giving them 60 days to develop a working plan.
According to an August report of the Buenos Aires Provincial Memory
Commission's Committee Against Torture, practices such as beatings, the
use of a cattle prod, cold water showers, and forced isolations within
Buenos Aires prisons was common.
A Buenos Aires Provincial Court of Appeal's decision regarding
police mistreatment of prisoners during prison transfers was pending at
year's end.
While women were held separately from men, the law permits children
to stay in prison with their mothers until age four. Press reports
estimated that 82 children under the age of four lived with their
mothers in federal prisons. CELS reported that in Buenos Aires
provincial prisons, 92 children remained with their mothers. In general
men's prisons were more violent, dangerous, and crowded than women's
prisons.
Overcrowding in juvenile facilities often resulted in minors being
held in police station facilities, although separate from adult
detainees. The Buenos Aires Provincial Memory Commission's Committee
Against Torture estimated overcrowding in Buenos Aires Province
juvenile facilities at 30 percent. According to a 2007 UN Children's
Fund and National Secretariat for Human Rights report, juvenile
facilities held approximately 20,000 children, 20 percent of whom were
under age 16. The overwhelming majority had not committed a crime;
rather, they were abandoned by their families or considered ``at risk''
for other reasons.
According to the United Civil Association for Justice, juvenile
detention centers in Buenos Aires Province were often in a poor state
of security, health, and infrastructure. The Association's officials
reported overcrowded conditions, with inadequate psychological services
and understaffing. The Buenos Aires Provincial Memory Commission's
Committee Against Torture indicated that approximately 6,500 complaints
of human rights violations against juvenile detainees were filed in
provincial prisons and juvenile detention facilities in Buenos Aires
Province in 2008, the majority of which were pending investigation at
year's end.
According to press reports, 85 percent of female pretrial detainees
and 76 percent of male pretrial detainees were held in locations with
convicted prisoners. In 2008 CELS estimated that 53 percent of those in
federal prison were awaiting trial.
There were no known developments in the Buenos Aires Provincial
Court trial initiated in November 2008 against Buenos Aires Magdalena
Provincial Prison Director Carlos Tejeda and 15 prison guards and
officials accused of abandoning prisoners in a 2005 fire that killed 33
prisoners.
The government permitted independent prison visits by local and
international human rights observers, and such visits took place during
the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these
prohibitions; however, police reportedly arrested and detained citizens
arbitrarily on occasion.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Federal Police have
jurisdiction for maintaining law and order in the federal capital and
for federal crimes in the provinces. Other federal police authorities
include the Airport Security Police, the Gendarmerie, the Coast Guard,
and the Bureau of Prisons. Additionally, each province has its own
police force that responds to a provincial security ministry or
secretariat. Individual forces varied considerably in their
effectiveness and respect for human rights.
Cases of corruption were reported in some forces. The most frequent
abuses included extortion of, and protection for, those involved in
drug trafficking and prostitution. Internal controls to counter police
abuses were weak.
The federal security forces have the authority to conduct internal
investigations into alleged abuses and to fire individuals who have
allegedly committed a human rights violation. The federal government
can also file complaints with the federal courts; provincial
governments may do the same for provincial security forces. Members of
security forces convicted of a crime were subject to stiff penalties.
Between January and December, federal security forces opened 120
investigations into police officials suspected of corruption and
criminal involvement. Press sources indicated that approximately 40,000
administrative or disciplinary investigations against police officers
were pending at year's end.
According to La Nacion newspaper, from 2008-2009, authorities
investigated 13,619 police for acts of corruption, violence, or
irregularities in job performance in Buenos Aires Province. This was
approximately 25 percent of the provincial police force and a 75
percent increase in investigations from 2006-2007. Of those
investigated, 872 were relieved of duty and 1,779 were reassigned to
different positions.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Persons
generally were apprehended openly with warrants based on sufficient
evidence and issued by a duly authorized official; however, police may
detain suspects for up to 10 hours without an arrest warrant if the
authorities have a well-founded belief that the suspects have
committed, or are about to commit, a crime or are unable to determine
the suspected person's identity. Human rights groups reported that the
police occasionally arrested persons arbitrarily and detained suspects
longer than 10 hours.
The law provides a person in detention with the right to a prompt
determination of the legality of the detention, which entails
appearance before a lower criminal court judge, who determines whether
to proceed with an investigation. There were some delays in this
process and in informing detainees of the charges against them.
The law provides for the right to bail, except in cases involving
narcotics, violent crimes, and firearms violations. Although the bail
system was used, civil rights groups claimed that judges were more
likely to order the holding of indicted suspects in preventive or
pretrial detention than to allow suspects to remain free pending their
trial.
Detainees were allowed prompt access to counsel, and public
defenders were provided for detainees unable to afford counsel,
although such access sometimes was delayed due to an overburdened
system. Strong demand and a lack of resources for the Public Defender's
Office resulted in an excessive caseload for public defense attorneys.
Although there were no official statistics on the percentage of
detainees requesting public defense attorneys, human rights
organizations estimated that 80 percent requested public defense
attorneys. Detainees also were allowed access to family members,
although not always promptly.
The law provides for investigative detention of up to two years for
indicted persons awaiting or undergoing trial; the period may be
extended for one year in limited situations. The slow pace of the
justice system often resulted in lengthy detentions beyond the period
stipulated by law. CELS reported that prisoners waited an average of
three years to be tried, with some cases taking as long as six years. A
convicted prisoner usually received credit for time already served.
In 2008 CELS indicated that nearly 75 percent of detainees in
Buenos Aires Province were in pretrial detention. According to several
human rights organizations, 30 percent of pretrial detainees were
eventually acquitted.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for the right to
a fair trial, and the judiciary generally enforced this right. However,
judicial scholars continued to report inefficiencies and delays in the
judicial system. Additionally, there were complaints that judges were
at times subject to political manipulation.
The judicial system was hampered by inordinate delays, procedural
logjams, changes of judges, inadequate administrative support, and
general inefficiency caused by remnants of the inquisitorial criminal
justice system used in federal and many provincial courts. Judges have
broad discretion as to whether and how to pursue investigations,
contributing to a public perception that many decisions were arbitrary.
Allegations of corruption in provincial courts as well as federal
courts located in the provinces were more frequent than federal courts
with jurisdiction over the city and province of Buenos Aires,
reflecting strong connections between the executive and judicial
branches at the provincial level.
The country continued to lack a sufficient numbers of judges, and
the Council of Magistrates sought to fill the void by appointing
temporary judges to fill 116 of the more than 150 vacant judgeships.
The judicial system is divided into federal and provincial courts,
both headed by a Supreme Court with appellate courts and district
courts below it. The federal courts are divided into criminal, civil,
commercial, labor, social security, and administrative courts.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public, and defendants have the right
to legal counsel and to call defense witnesses in federal and some
provincial courts that have an accusatory system of criminal justice.
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and have the right to
appeal as do prosecutors. If needed, a public defender is provided at
public expense when defendants face serious criminal charges. During
the investigative stage, defendants can submit questions in writing to
the investigating judge. A panel of judges decides guilt or innocence.
Although defendants and their attorneys have access to government-held
evidence, in practice they sometimes experienced obstacles or delays in
obtaining such evidence. Lengthy delays in trials occurred nationwide,
with many cases taking five or more years to resolve.
Federal and provincial courts continued the transition to trials
with oral arguments in criminal cases, replacing the old system of
written submissions. Although the 1994 constitution provides for trial
by jury, implementing legislation had not been passed by year's end. In
Cordoba Province, however, defendants accused of certain serious crimes
have the right to a trial by jury.
The human rights organization Fundacion Sur noted that the country
lacked a separate juvenile justice system that affords adolescents due
process protections equal to the rights extended to defendants in
criminal trials. In addition this organization expressed concern that
the broad discretion judges have in such cases increased the
possibility of arbitrary rulings. Fundacion Sur asserted that 16- and
17-year-old offenders frequently were transferred to adult criminal
courts or held in juvenile detention centers for longer periods than
warranted by their offenses.
An ad hoc juvenile justice system operated in eight out of 18
districts in Buenos Aires city. It provides minors age 16 to 18 the
same procedural rights as adults and limits sentences to 180 days in
prison.
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 the
courts to bring lawsuits seeking damages or the protection of rights
provided by the constitution. Administrative and judicial remedies are
available for alleged wrongs.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. However,
there were press reports and judicial investigations of electronic
eavesdropping, possibly perpetrated by government agents without due
authorization.
On October 8, former president Eduardo Duhalde alleged that during
the year the Kirchner administration used the intelligence community to
wiretap his conversations. Other prominent officials including
journalists and judges made similar allegations. Authorities initiated
an investigation into these claims.
On October 26, officials arrested former federal police officer
Ciro James for illegally wiretapping numerous individuals. He remained
in pretrial detention at year's end.
On October 27, three legislators from the opposition Civic
Coalition party called for the secretary of intelligence to respond to
wiretapping claims.
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 can criticize the government publicly or privately, but
there were criminal penalties, including prison sentences, for libel
and slander until Congress passed legislation decriminalizing libel and
slander on November 18.
The independent media were numerous and active and expressed a wide
variety of views without restriction.
On October 10, Congress passed a broadcast media law to replace
legislation dating back to the 1976-83 military dictatorship. The new
law mandates regulatory changes in three areas: ownership of mass
communication channels, content, and regulatory oversight. It reduces
the number of broadcast licenses an individual or company can hold from
24 to 10 and gives firms one year to comply with the new rules. The law
creates a seven-member regulatory agency--two members appointed by the
executive, three by Congress, and two from a federal council. At year's
end the regulatory agency was inactive pending the appointment of its
members. A December 16 lower court ruling establishes local content and
other programming and advertising limitations, such as a minimum amount
of Argentine programming content.
Numerous FM radio stations continued to broadcast with temporary
licenses pending conclusion of a licensing normalization process.
In response to studies by NGOs Poder Ciudadano and the Association
for Civil Rights expressing concerns that state advertising could be
used as a political tool, the broadcast media law included an article
stating that the country should follow ``criteria of equity and
reasonability'' in the distribution of state advertising.
On February 11, a court ordered the government to distribute its
official advertising budget to various publications of the Perfil
publishing house. The court cited a 2007 Supreme Court precedent that
ruled against a state government for indirectly curtailing freedom of
speech via its distribution of state advertising.
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. The
International Telecommunication Union reported that 28 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 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 also states that the federal government
``sustains the apostolic Roman Catholic faith,'' and the government
provided the Catholic Church with a variety of subsidies not available
to other religious groups.
In order to obtain visas for foreign missionaries and obtain tax-
exempt status, religious organizations must register with the
Secretariat of Worship in the Ministry of Foreign Relations,
International Trade, and Worship and report periodically to maintain
their status.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Sporadic acts of
discrimination and vandalism against religious minorities, particularly
the 300,000-member Jewish community, continued. The Delegation of
Israeli Argentine Associations (DAIA) received 253 complaints of anti-
Semitism during January and February, representing 82 percent of the
total amount of complaints (302) filed in 2008. They reported a nearly
four-fold increase in reports of anti-Semitic incidents in the first
half of the year compared with the same period in 2008.
The most commonly reported incidents were anti-Semitic graffiti;
verbal slurs; and the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, including 50
graves at the Jewish cemetery of La Tablada in September. A majority of
the complaints were filed in the city of Buenos Aires. DAIA claimed
that cases in the provinces were likely underreported.
In January some political organizations exploited anti-Semitic
imagery during protests outside the Israeli Embassy, the headquarters
of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid Association (AMIA), the DAIA, and a
hotel owned by the treasurer of the World Jewish Congress. The
government's National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and
Racism (INADI) condemned the use of anti-Semitic imagery and lodged a
criminal complaint over the discriminatory graffiti and banner used
during the protests.
On May 16, approximately 20 members of the Revolutionary Action
Front physically attacked participants at a Buenos Aires commemoration
celebrating the 61st anniversary of the creation of Israel. The
authorities arrested nine persons who remained in pretrial detention at
the year's end.
The investigation into the 1994 bombing of the AMIA building in
Buenos Aires that killed 85 persons continued. With INTERPOL
assistance, the federal prosecutor investigating the case continued to
seek the arrest of eight Iranians for their alleged involvement in the
bombing. On May 27, the Supreme Court ordered the reopening of the
investigation into Carlos Telleldin's alleged involvement in the
bombing. A federal court had acquitted him in 2004. In addition the
court's decision upheld the 2004 acquittal of former Buenos Aires
provincial police officers accused of facilitating the attack, but
opened the door to retrying them on extortion charges. On December 16,
an appeals court ordered that Telleldin be retried. On October 10, the
federal court indicted former president Carlos Menem, former secretary
of intelligence Hugo Anzorreguy, and former federal judge Juan Jose
Galeano for their alleged role in covering up and protecting those
involved in the bombing.
On December 21, unidentified vandals desecrated 27 tombs and
sprayed anti-Semitic graffiti on the perimeter wall of a Jewish
cemetery in San Luis.
The government continued to support public dialogue to highlight
past discrimination and to encourage religious tolerance, including the
celebration of Freedom of Religion Day. On May 28, provincial education
ministers made holocaust education mandatory in all secondary schools.
The government collaborated with DAIA and other organizations during
the year to create a recommended instruction manual for holocaust
education.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution provides for freedom
of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice.
The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in providing protection and assistance to refugees, asylum seekers, and
other persons of concern.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not exile
anyone.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol.
Its laws provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the
government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees.
In April the government created the National Committee for Refugees
(CONARE), an inter-ministerial body under the Ministry of the Interior
replacing the Committee for Refugee Eligibility. From April to
December, 389 persons sought asylum, and CONARE granted refugee status
to 50 persons. According to the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the country also resettled eight
Colombians during the first half of the year, and approved the
resettlement of 24 additional Colombians during December.
In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in particular social group, or political
opinion.
The law allows the government to provide temporary protection for
humanitarian reasons, including family reunification, to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 convention and the 1967
protocol.
The OHCHR noted that the government improved protection and
assistance to unaccompanied children seeking refuge through a special
and multidisciplinary committee under the National Ombudsman's Office.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In October 2007 Cristina
Fernandez de Kirchner of the Front for Victory Party won the presidency
in elections described by media and various NGOs as free and fair. In
legislative elections on June 28, voters elected one-half of the
members of the Chamber of Deputies representing all 24 provinces and
one-third of those in the Senate representing eight provinces. Local
observers considered these elections generally free and fair.
Political parties generally operated without restriction.
Decrees provide that one-third of the members of both houses of
congress must be women, a goal achieved through balanced election
slates. There were 27 women in the 72-seat Senate and 107 women in the
257-seat Chamber of Deputies. The president, two of the seven Supreme
Court justices, and three cabinet ministers were women. Women
constituted approximately 17 percent of top executive-branch positions
at the federal level.
One indigenous person served in the Chamber of Deputies. There were
no other known ethnic or racial minorities in the national legislature.
There were no known indigenous, ethnic, or racial minorities in the
cabinet or on the Supreme Court.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, there were frequent press reports that executive, legislative,
and judicial officials engaged in corrupt practices, suggesting a
failure to implement the law effectively.
According to the World Bank's worldwide governance indicators,
corruption was a serious problem. Historically weak institutions and an
often ineffective and politicized judicial system made rooting out
corruption in any systemic fashion difficult.
Public officials are subject to financial disclosure laws, and the
Ministry of Justice's Anti-Corruption Office (ACO) is responsible for
analyzing and investigating federal executive branch officials based on
their financial disclosure forms. The ACO also is responsible for
investigating corruption within the federal executive branch or in
matters involving federal funds, except for funds transferred to the
provinces. As part of the executive branch, the ACO does not have
authority to prosecute cases independently, but it can refer cases to
other agencies or serve as the plaintiff and request a judge to
initiate a case.
Facing at least 25 reported charges of corruption during his tenure
as Secretary of Transportation, Ricardo Jaime resigned on July 1.
In November the government auctioned off the property of Maria
Julia Alsogaray, a former government official convicted of illicit
enrichment, to compensate the country for damages.
On December 12, the Criminal Court of Appeals upheld the indictment
of former president Fernando de la Rua on corruption charges related to
bribes he allegedly offered national senators in 2000 for their votes
of support on labor legislation. A former labor minister, four former
senators, a parliamentary secretary, and the former chief of
intelligence faced similar charges in connection with the case.
On December 15, the Supreme Court upheld the 2008 indictment of
former president Carlos Menem on corruption charges related to his
alleged involvement in the illegal sale of arms to Ecuador and Croatia
while serving as president in the 1990s. As a senator, Menem enjoyed
immunity from arrest.
Following the Mayor of Tartagal Sergio Leavy's impeachment in
October under allegations that he mishandled federal money allocated
for public works and humanitarian assistance to victims of February
flood, in December the Salta Supreme Court suspended the City Council's
impeachment decision pending the court's final decision on the case.
Leavy was reinstated temporarily.
Several judicial investigations into alleged fraud committed by
prosecutors and judges filling vacancies at the federal level
continued. Some applicants reportedly negotiated with members of the
examining board to receive answers to questions before taking the exam.
Investigations by Poder Ciudadano cited irregularities in some
campaign finance reports filed after the midterm elections in June.
Their findings concluded that some political parties underreported
official campaign expenses, particularly regarding advertising costs.
Poder Ciudadano also reported that some of the ruling party's
candidates used public resources for the electoral campaign, including
public funds for transportation and publicity, and coverage of
electoral events on the state-owned channel. Poder Ciudadano noted a
significant rise in government advertising as the country approached
the elections.
An executive decree provides for public access to government
information from executive agencies, which are required to answer
requests for public information within 10 working days, with a possible
10-day extension.
In October without notice the government disabled a federal Web
site which provided information on government agencies' work and
accounting. Some NGOs alleged that the government removed the Web site
for political reasons.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
usually were cooperative and generally responsive to their views.
While the government cooperated with some international and local
NGOs, the local chapter of a well-known international organization
expressed concern that, despite repeated requests, the government often
delayed providing information under a freedom of information decree.
The government cooperated with international governmental
organizations and permitted visits by UN representatives and other
organizations during the year.
The government has a Human Rights Secretariat and a National
Ombudsman's Office.
Section 6. 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 in practice.
Women.--Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime, but evidentiary
requirements, either in the form of clear physical injury or the
testimony of a witness, often presented difficulties in prosecuting
such crimes. The penalties for rape ranged up to 20 years'
imprisonment. There were no reports of police or judicial reluctance to
act on rape cases; however, women's rights advocates claimed that
police, hospital, and court attitudes toward sexual violence victims
often revictimized the individual.
The Rape Victims' Association reported more than 9,000 rape cases
in Buenos Aires City and Buenos Aires Province during the year. Sixty
percent of those cases involved victims under the age of 18. According
to the Attorney General's Office, complaints were filed in three out of
every ten cases, and one in three of these cases was prosecuted.
The law prohibits domestic violence, including spousal abuse,
although the law defines violence against women as a misdemeanor, and
complaints are addressed in civil rather than criminal courts. Family
court judges have the right to bar a perpetrator from a victim's home
or workplace. The law, however, prescribes penalties for domestic
violence only when it involves crimes against sexual integrity, in
which case the penalty can be as much as 20 years' imprisonment.
However, lack of vigilance on the part of the police and the judicial
system often led to a lack of protection for victims.
On March 11, Congress passed a law aimed at preventing, punishing,
and eradicating violence against women. The law expands the legal
definition of violence against women to include ``any behavior, act, or
omission that directly or indirectly, in the public or private sphere,
based on an unequal relationship of power, affects the life, freedom,
dignity, or physical, psychological, sexual or economic integrity or
security of women.'' The new law does not prescribe penalties for
violence against women but according to proponents, it provides a
framework for complementary laws.
Domestic violence against women was a problem. In October Amnesty
International reported that a woman died every three days as a result
of domestic violence. In July the civil society organization La Casa
del Encuentro reported that more than 82 women died from January to
June as a result of domestic violence. According to the NGO Red Alto a
la Trata y el Trafico, 204 women died during the year as a result of
domestic violence.
The Office of Domestic Violence, which opened in September 2008,
provided protection and resources to victims of domestic violence 24
hours a day, seven days a week. During the year the office hired
additional staff members to handle the approximately 500 cases of
domestic violence it received per month. An estimated 82 percent of
adult domestic violence cases received by the office involved violence
against women.
Family and civil courts in Buenos Aires Province, in compliance
with a provincial Supreme Court order, created hotlines to receive
complaints of domestic violence and assist victims after normal hours.
Criminal courts worked with police stations, police offices for women's
issues, and prosecutors' offices to enable victims to file domestic
violence complaints 24 hours a day.
The Ministry of Justice continued to operate mobile units to assist
victims of sexual and domestic violence in the city of Buenos Aires. A
free hotline servicing the city of Buenos Aires offered consultations
and received complaints.
Public and private institutions offered prevention programs and
provided support and treatment for abused women. The Buenos Aires
municipal government operated a small shelter for battered women;
however, few other shelters existed.
Prostitution by individuals over the age of 18 is legal, but the
promotion, facilitation, or exploitation of persons into prostitution
is illegal. NGOs considered sex tourism a problem but had no estimates
of its extent. Trafficking of women to and within the country for
prostitution was a problem.
Sexual harassment in the public sector is prohibited under laws
that impose disciplinary or corrective measures. In some jurisdictions,
such as the city of Buenos Aires, sexual harassment may lead to the
abuser's dismissal, whereas in others, such as Santa Fe Province, the
maximum penalty is five days in prison. There was no information on the
extent of the problem.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children, and had the information and means to
do so free from discrimination. Access to information on contraception,
and skilled attendance at delivery and in postpartum care were widely
available. Women and men were given equal access to diagnostic services
and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
Although women enjoyed equality under the law, including property
rights, they encountered economic discrimination and held a
disproportionately high number of lower-paying jobs. According to an
Inter-American Development Bank report released in October, women
earned 14.2 percent less than men of equivalent age and education.
The National Council of Women carried out programs to promote equal
social, political, and economic opportunities for women. The council
worked with the special representative for international women's
issues, the Ministry of Labor, and union and business organizations to
form the Tripartite Committee on Equal Opportunity for Men and Women in
the Workplace, which sought to foster equal treatment and opportunities
for men and women in the job market.
Children.--The country provided universal birth registration, and
citizenship was derived both by birth within the country's territory
and from one's parents.
Parents have 40 days within which to register births, and the state
has an additional 20 days to do so. A February decree permits the
Ministry of Interior to issue birth certificates to children under age
12 whose births have not been previously registered.
Child abuse was not uncommon; for example, a University of Buenos
Aires study released in August 2008 noted that 56 kindergartens and
primary schools in Buenos Aires Province had detected 1,590 cases of
family violence in the previous year.
According to media sources, approximately 5,000 children were
recruited every year for pornography and sex tourism. The minimum age
of consensual sex is 18. There is a statutory rape law with penalties
ranging from three to 10 years in jail for victims age 13 to 18, and 5
to 15 years in prison for minors under 13. Additionally, regardless of
age, if a judge finds evidence of deception, violence, threats, abuse
of authority, or any other form of intimidation or coercion, the
sentence increases to 10 to 15 years in jail.
The law prohibits the production and distribution of child
pornography with penalties ranging from six months' to four years'
imprisonment. While the law does not prohibit the possession by
individuals for personal use, it provides penalties ranging from four
months' to two years' imprisonment for possession with the intent to
distribute child pornography. Additionally, the law provides penalties
ranging from one month's to three years' imprisonment for facilitating
access to pornographic shows or materials to minors under the age of
14. During the year prosecutors and police pursued cases of Internet
child pornography. On May 22, a Mendoza court sentenced an individual
to two years in prison for distributing child pornography. This was the
first child pornography conviction in Mendoza Province.
The NGO Fundacion Adoptar reported government reluctance to
prosecute and convict child abuse cases. In August the NGO filed
several claims regarding three producers of child pornography in the
province of Tucuman. However, the organization alleged that only two of
the suspected leaders were detained for 48 hours and then release. The
third individual received a warning. Authorities dismissed charges
against the three individuals. In August Fundacion Adoptar denounced
the existence of 75 houses allegedly used in the sexual exploitation of
children. The NGO went undercover and filmed some of the suspected
houses which prompted authorities to raid 12 of them. No individuals
were convicted following the raid.
According to credible local press reports, dozens of child victims
of violence from poor families were lodged in juvenile detention
centers under judicial protection orders. City government observers
continued to be barred from visiting the centers.
The National Council for Children, Adolescents, and the Family
continued to conduct public awareness campaigns and operated a national
hotline, which children used to call for advice, make complaints, and
report instances of abuse or other rights violations.
Trafficking in Persons.--A 2008 law criminalizes trafficking in
persons for all purposes; however, there were several reports of
persons trafficked to, from, through, and within the country.
Trafficking in persons primarily involved citizens trafficked
within the country for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation.
Many were trafficked from rural to urban areas. Some women and girls
were trafficked into Mexico, Western Europe, and neighbouring countries
for sexual exploitation. The country was a destination for victims,
principally women and minors from Paraguay, Brazil, Peru, and the
Dominican Republic. A significant number of Bolivians, Paraguayans, and
Peruvians were trafficked into the country for forced labor in
sweatshops, agriculture, or domestic services. There were some reports
suggesting that Chinese immigrants were trafficked into the country for
labor exploitation in Chinese supermarkets.
While there were no official reports on the activities of
traffickers, the media reported that traffickers often presented
themselves as employment agencies or as individual recruiters. Credible
sources also identified large organized crime networks, which sometimes
consisted of extended families plus their business associates,
including recruiters and brothel managers. Traffickers confiscated
travel documents to prevent victims from appealing to authorities for
protection. Victims, particularly women and girls in prostitution, at
times were denied contact with the outside world. Victims often were
threatened or beaten.
Penalties for trafficking range from three to 15 years in prison,
depending on the nature of the violation and the age of the victim.
Traffickers have been prosecuted on charges of prostitution through
fraud, intimidation, and coercion or, in the case of minors, alien
smuggling, indentured servitude, and similar abuses.
Trafficking investigations and arrests increased significantly
during the year. According to Ministry of Justice statistics, internal
security agencies conducted 254 raids, arrested 259 persons suspected
of human trafficking, and rescued 421 victims, 83 of who were minors.
On November 27, a court in Santa Fe Province sentenced a woman to 10
years' imprisonment in the country's first human trafficking
conviction. Several cases were under investigation at year's end. The
Ministry of Justice was the lead agency for coordinating
antitrafficking efforts with internal security agencies.
There were no allegations of federal government official
involvement in trafficking. However, there were reports of corruption
and collusion with traffickers at provincial and local levels, which
impeded prosecution. There were some efforts to investigate and
prosecute local police and officials suspected of involvement in human
trafficking.
On May 26, the Federal Court of Appeals in Buenos Aires Province
ruled that consent by trafficking victims could not be deemed as valid
when vulnerability was present.
On October 6, police discovered a sex trafficking network that had
lured 20 indigenous women from Chaco Province to various locations in
the country. The police arrested 12 network members, who were suspected
of beating and forcing the victims into prostitution.
On August 11, Prosecutor General Esteban Righi approved a
standardized protocol for the investigation of sex trafficking cases.
The protocol provides guidelines for identifying sex trafficking cases
throughout all stages: recruitment, transportation, receiving, lodging,
and exploitation of victims.
On August 24, Prosecutor General Esteban Righi signed a resolution
instructing federal prosecutors to seek the closure of brothels
operating with a commercial license for licit activities. The
prosecutor general urged the justice and interior to act so that
provincial and municipal legislation complies with national and
international legislation punishing the existence of ``houses of
tolerance'' where sexual commercial exploitation is performed or
encouraged. The prosecutor general also ordered prosecutors to continue
investigations against officials that may have participated or covered
up trafficking in persons crimes.
In May a judge referred the December 2008 case involving alleged
police protection of brothels suspected of human trafficking in Buenos
Aires to the national courts with ordinary jurisdiction. The judge did
not consider the case to involve trafficking.
Trafficking victims normally were not detained, jailed, or
deported. The Ministry of Justice's training seminars for internal
security forces included a component emphasizing that they not blame
trafficking victims for illegal activities they may have become
involved in as a consequence of their exploitation.
Victims' assistance is provided by the Ministry of Justice's First
Responder Office for the Rescue and Immediate Assistance of Trafficking
Victims. It refers minor and adult victims rescued in the city or
province of Buenos Aires to the Ministry of Social Development's
Secretariat for Children, Adolescents, and the Family, which then may
direct victims to existing social and medical assistance programs.
Victims in other provinces usually were assisted by the relevant human
rights secretariat. The Prosecutor General's Office of Victim's
Assistance continued to provide assistance on an as-needed basis.
Although it did not operate victim shelters dedicated to
trafficking, the government funded one NGO to operate a victims'
shelter. Some victims qualified for federal government assistance, but
most provincial officials were not trained to identify or help victims
of trafficking specifically. During the year the federal government
worked on outreach programs with provincial officials to help them
identify and assist trafficking victims. The International Organization
for Migration (IOM) assisted with repatriation and reintegration of
foreign victims of trafficking.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and laws prohibit
discrimination against persons with physical or mental disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other
state services. A specific law also mandates access to buildings for
persons with disabilities. However, critics questioned the efficacy of
government enforcement of such laws.
Laws mandating greater access to buses and trains for persons with
disabilities were not enforced fully. A March 2008 federal court ruling
ordered the Buenos Aires subway operator Metrovias to make subway
stations handicapped accessible. At year's end Metrovias was making
four stations handicapped accessible.
According to INADI, an estimated 20,000 children with disabilities
were unable to attend school in Buenos Aires City because the buildings
were not handicapped accessible. In August the NGO Acceso Ya,
represented by the Association for Civil Rights (ADC), filed a suit
against the city government for failing to provide information on the
accessibility of its schools and claiming that the buildings were
handicapped accessible.
An estimated 82 percent of persons with disabilities lacked
employment. Due to lengthy procedures for obtaining a certificate of
disability, a key document to access services including rehabilitation,
only 15 percent of unemployed persons with disabilities received a
certificate of disability.
The National Advisory Committee for the Integration of People with
Disabilities, under the National Council for Coordination of Social
Policies, has formal responsibility for actions to accommodate persons
with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--A 2007 report by DAIA indicated
that many Afro-Argentines experienced employment, education, and
housing discrimination; endured racial slurs while using public
transportation; and were barred entry from nightclubs. The DAIA report
also noted that Chinese, Koreans, Muslims, Roma, and immigrants from
other Latin American countries also faced discrimination.
INADI continued a number of national public awareness campaigns
throughout the year to discourage racial discrimination, including one
entitled ``Words Discriminate.''
Indigenous People.--The constitution recognizes the ethnic and
cultural identities of indigenous people and states that the Congress
shall protect their right to bilingual education, recognize their
communities and the communal ownership of their ancestral lands, and
allow for their participation in the management of their natural
resources. In practice indigenous people did not fully participate in
the management of their lands or natural resources, in part because
responsibility for implementing the law is delegated to the 23
provinces, only 11 of which have constitutions recognizing indigenous
rights.
Although there is no formal process to recognize indigenous tribes
or determine who is an indigenous person, indigenous communities can
register with the provincial or federal government as civic
associations.
Estimates of the indigenous population ranged from 700,000 to 1.5
million. Poverty rates were higher than average in areas with large
indigenous populations. Indigenous people had greater than average
rates of illiteracy, chronic disease, and unemployment. The lack of
trained teachers hampered government efforts to offer bilingual
education opportunities to indigenous people.
Deforestation in the Salta Province continued in violation of the
December 2008 Supreme Court ruling which ordered the Salta governor to
suspend clearing of forested areas pending completion of a study on the
environmental impact of deforestation on indigenous persons living in
the area.
On October 12, a landowner accompanied by two former policemen
killed one indigenous person and injured three others in the town of El
Chorro, Trancas, during a forced eviction. Authorities arrested the
landowner and one of the former policemen in October. They remained in
pretrial detention at year's end.
The land dispute between the Mbya Guarani community and La Plata
National University over 6,500 hectares of land in Misiones Province
continued.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) continued to
evaluate a petition presented by the Lhaka Honhat indigenous
association regarding the national government's failure to implement a
titling policy that would return their traditional land. The Lhaka
Honhat association sent a letter to the IACHR in September 2008 asking
for greater involvement and a timely resolution to the case.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Nine provinces have laws that
either criminalize transgender behavior or single out homosexual
activity when referring to prostitution; however, INADI reported that
these laws were rarely enforced.
During the year INADI received 321 complaints of discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organizations operated
freely. They worked closely with academic institutions, NGOs, and
government authorities without interference.
Numerous gay pride marches occurred throughout the country and
received government authorization. Police provided protection to
participants.
On April 10, an individual was reportedly beaten for his
transgender identity in La Matanza, Buenos Aires Province. According to
the NGO The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the
attorney general and INADI had not responded to his complaint by year's
end.
In November and December, Sergio Alfredo Nunez and Silvio Elias
Soria went to trial for their alleged role in the 2006 killing of
transgender activist Pelusa Liendro. The decisions were pending at
year's end.
There was no official or overt societal discrimination based on
sexual orientation in employment, housing, statelessness, or access to
education or healthcare.
Other Societal Discrimination.--There were no known reports of
societal violence against persons with HIV/AIDs and occasional reports
of discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides all workers, with
the exception of military and law enforcement personnel, the right to
form and join ``free and democratic labor unions, recognized by
inscription in a special register,'' and workers exercised this right.
An estimated 35 to 40 percent of the workforce was organized.
The Argentine Workers Central (CTA) and other labor groups not
affiliated with the General Confederation of Labor continued to contend
that the Trade Unions Law provision for the legal recognition of only
one union per sector conflicts with the International Labor
Organization's (ILO) Convention 87 and prevents the CTA from obtaining
full legal standing. Despite a December ruling by the Supreme Court
upholding the right of a workers' union lacking official legal
recognition to elect its own delegates, the executive branch had not
granted legal recognition to the CTA at year's end. The IACHR continued
to review the CTA's 2004 petition at year's end.
Unions have the right to strike, although those representing civil
servants and workers in essential services are subject to the condition
that undefined ``minimum services'' are rendered. In some cases
``minimum services'' have already been incorporated in union bargaining
agreements, but since the law does not define ``minimum services,''
civil servants and workers in essential services have the right to
strike only after a compulsory 15-day conciliation process. Once that
term expires, civil servants and workers in essential services must
give five days' notice to the administrative authority and the public
agency that they intend to strike. All parties then negotiate which
minimum services will continue to be provided and a schedule for their
provision. The public agency, in turn, must provide two days' notice to
users about the intended strike. Other workers exercised the right to
strike by conducting legal strikes.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides recognized unions with the right to negotiate collective
bargaining agreements and to have recourse to conciliation and
arbitration. During the year an increasing number of shop stewards were
elected by their colleagues but did not report to officially recognized
unions, which impaired the ability and willingness of official unions
to negotiate. The Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security
ratifies collective bargaining agreements, which covered approximately
75 percent of the formally employed workforce. According to the ILO,
the ratification process impeded free collective bargaining because the
ministry considered not only whether a collective labor agreement
contained clauses violating public order standards but also whether the
agreement complied with productivity, investment, technology, and
vocational training criteria. However, there were no known cases during
the year of government refusal to approve any collective agreements
under these criteria.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the three functioning export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--While the law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, there were reports that such
practices occurred.
Through December the IOM assisted 89 victims and 23 minor
dependents from Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, and the Dominican
Republic, most of whom were exploited in sweatshops. Victims of labor
exploitation also included 18 persons working in fruit and vegetable
stores, nine in domestic services, five in street vending, and nine in
other activities.
In July the National Industrial Technology Institute (INTI)
launched the Apparel Demonstrative Center, which provided garment work
for individuals previously employed in clandestine textile workshops
under conditions of forced labor. The government supplied the center
with machinery seized from the workshops. During the year approximately
130 seamstresses worked at the center. In September the courts donated
an additional 250 sewing machines seized in a 2007 raid to INTI in
compliance with a ruling from a September 2008 case.
The April 2008 case of 30 Bolivians working in exploitative
conditions at a poultry farm in Buenos Aires Province had not gone to
trial at year's end. Press reports indicated the company had not paid
the fine by year's end. The Ministry of Labor was reviewing additional
forced labor complaints, including two deaths, lodged against the
company.
There were no developments in the September 2008 case of a garment
sweatshop manager employing 20 Bolivian minors.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
While the law protects children from exploitation in the workplace,
child labor persisted. A 2004 government survey revealed that an
estimated 450,000 children were working, or 7 percent of children age
five to 13 and 20 percent of children over age 14.
The minimum age for employment is 15. In rare cases the Ministry of
Education may authorize a younger child to work as part of a family
unit. Children between the ages of 15 and 18 may work in a limited
number of job categories and for limited hours if they have completed
compulsory schooling, which normally ends at age 18. Legal penalties
for employing underage workers ranged from 1,000 to 5,000 pesos ($269
to $1,344) for each child employed. Provincial governments and the city
government of Buenos Aires are responsible for labor law enforcement.
In rural areas, children worked in family and third-party farms
producing such goods as tobacco, cotton and grapes. Children working in
the agriculture sector often handled pesticides without proper
protection. In urban areas, some children engaged in domestic service
and worked on the street selling goods, shining shoes, and recycling
trash. According to government sources, some children worked in the
manufacturing sector producing such goods as bricks, matches,
fireworks, and garments. Children were also found working in the
mining, fishing, and construction sectors.
The National Commission for the Eradication of Child Labor
conducted seminars with the 19 provincial commissions for the
eradication of child labor to train provincial authorities responsible
for enforcing labor laws and raising awareness regarding exploitive
child labor. It also provided technical assistance to NGOs addressing
child labor in the tobacco and trash-picking sectors, including
workshops with tobacco producers to encourage corporate social
responsibility on child labor issues. The government worked with
several NGOs to address the commercial sexual exploitation of children
in the triborder area with Brazil and Paraguay, disseminating
information on prevention and available assistance for victims.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The government increased the
monthly minimum wage in October, bringing the total monthly minimum
wage to 1,440 pesos ($387). This exceeded the estimated amount of 1,013
($272) a month needed by a family of four to maintain a ``decent''
standard of living. Most workers in the formal sector earned
significantly more than the minimum wage. The Ministry of Labor, which
is responsible for enforcing legislation related to working conditions,
continued inspections to get companies to register their informal
workers. In November the Ministry of Labor reported informal urban
unemployment at 40 percent. According to a 2007 ILO study, 60 percent
of employed citizens ages 15 to 24 were engaged in informal labor.
Federal labor law sets standards in the areas of health, safety,
and hours. The maximum workday is eight hours, and the maximum workweek
is 48 hours. Overtime pay is required for hours worked in excess of
these limits. The law sets minimums for periods of rest, requiring a
minimum of 12 hours of rest to start a new workday. Sundays are
holidays, and those required to work on Sundays are paid double.
However, laws governing acceptable conditions of work were not enforced
universally, particularly for workers in the informal sector.
The law requires employers to ensure their employees against
accidents at the workplace and when traveling to and from work. Workers
have the right to remove themselves from dangerous or unhealthy work
situations without jeopardy to continued employment. However, workers
who leave the workplace before it has been proven unsafe risk being
fired; in such cases the worker has the right to judicial appeal, but
the process can be very lengthy.
__________
THE BAHAMAS
The Commonwealth of The Bahamas is a constitutional, parliamentary
democracy with a population of approximately 342,400, including an
estimated 30,000 undocumented Haitians. Prime Minister Hubert
Ingraham's Free National Movement (FNM) regained control of the
government in May 2007 elections that observers found to be generally
free and fair. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control over security forces.
The government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. There were problems in some areas, including complaints of
abuse by police and prison and detention center guards; poor detention
conditions; a poorly functioning judicial system, leading to delays in
trials and lengthy pretrial detention; violence against women and
children; and discrimination against persons of Haitian descent.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
there were killings by police in the performance of their duties.
Police investigated such incidents and referred them to a coroner's
court when necessary for further evaluation.
On March 5, police shot a Nassau man in disputed circumstances. The
victim later died, and the case was under investigation at year's end.
In June a coroner's jury delivered a verdict of accidental death in
the 2007 police killing of a resident of Andros Island.
The coroner's court received the case of the 2007 police killing of
two armed men who failed to stop when fleeing the scene of a crime. An
investigation continued into another 2007 incident involving an
individual killed by police at Rand Memorial Hospital on Grand Bahama.
At year's end a magistrate's court was hearing the case against the
police officer who shot and killed a man on Bimini Island in 2007.
Although a coroner's court recommended manslaughter charges against
prison guard Sandy Mackey, who allegedly killed an inmate in 2006,
Mackey died before he could be charged, and the matter was closed.
The coroner's court continued to face a heavy backlog. In 2008 the
coroner's court had a backlog of more than 150 cases, including six
police shootings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, but human
rights monitors and members of the public expressed concern over
continued instances of police abuse of criminal suspects. Police
officials, while denying systematic or chronic abuses, acknowledged
that police on occasion abused their authority.
In May a 15-year-old boy allegedly hanged himself in a holding cell
while in police custody, according to media reports. A police autopsy
was performed in June that determined hanging was the cause of death.
The family alleged foul play, and after public pressure to revisit the
case, a coroner's inquest began in November. The doctor who performed
the autopsy testified that the boy's injuries were ``consistent with a
hanging'' and ``inconsistent with a beating.'' The family alleged that
the hanging was a cover-up for a beating. The inquest continued at
year's end.
In August authorities opened an investigation in the case of police
officer Dwight Williamson, accused of raping a 15-year- old girl at the
police station on August 11. Police escorted Williamson to a
magistrate's court on October 1 to be arraigned.
On December 8, a judge heard the case of police constable Daniel
Paul Smith, alleged to have had nonconsensual sex with a 19-year-old
girl while on duty on September 28. Charged with rape, authorities
suspended him, placed him on half-pay, and required him to report to
the police weekly.
In November a magistrate sent to the hospital a man charged with
serial rape after he showed the judge welts on his torso and alleged
police brutality. He claimed that he had been beaten by detectives into
signing a statement; the resulting medical report was placed in his
court file.
Amnesty International (AI) reported that Emmanuel McKenzie,
chairman of an environmental organization, was harassed and assaulted
by police and defense forces during a fundraising event in April 2008.
AI stated that no investigation was initiated.
There were other allegations of police beatings and brutality
throughout the year. Victim's families and community activists claimed
that many officers had their cases thrown out of court or dropped by
the Attorney General's Office. In addition many officers waited years
for their court date, only to return to work without having their names
cleared.
On December 3, a magistrate ruled that the prosecution had
established a prima facie case against police officer Vaughn Pratt,
arrested in 2007 and accused of having sex with two minors. The
prosecution closed its case on June 23; the police suspended Pratt
pending the outcome of the trial.
Authorities brought charges against two officers in connection with
the 2007 beating of a suspect, Desmond Key. The officers were released
on bail; after an investigation, authorities charged both officers with
causing grievous harm. When Key died, the charges were upgraded to
manslaughter, and the case was before a magistrate's court at year's
end.
On June 12, authorities closed without prosecution a case involving
a foreign journalist allegedly beaten by Defense Force guards at the
Immigration Detention Center in 2006.
On July 1, a court acquitted the seven defense force members
charged with beating a man on the island of Inagua in 2006.
The Privy Council in the United Kingdom upheld the government's use
of flogging as a punishment.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions at Fox Hill
Prison, the country's only prison, remained harsh for many prisoners.
Overcrowding was a major problem in the men's maximum-security block.
Originally built in 1953 to hold 450 inmates, it held 624 of the
country's 1,319 prisoners. The remaining prisoners were held in medium-
and minimum-security units that were at intended capacity. A remand
center held 265 detainees. Male prisoners in the maximum-security unit
were crowded into poorly ventilated and poorly lit cells that generally
lacked regular running water. Prisoners lacked beds, slept on concrete
floors, and if not participating in work programs were locked in small
cells. Maximum-security inmates were allowed outside for exercise four
days a week for one hour per day. Inmates complained of inadequate
potable water, lack of medical care, and poor treatment.
During the year authorities installed toilets in cells, added a
medical facility and exercise yard within the remand facility, as well
as a well-equipped health diagnostic unit and a pharmacy. They also
created a classroom within the maximum-security facility to provide
educational programs to high-risk offenders who could not attend
classes within the correctional training institute. That facility had
water treatment units installed and the dental unit renovated and
refurbished.
There continued to be allegations of abuse by prison guards. Local
attorneys and human rights observers asserted that the prison's
internal affairs unit lacked the independence needed to investigate
impartially allegations of abuse and misconduct; it conducted no
investigations during the year.
Conditions for female prisoners were less severe than for men;
however, women did not have access to the same work-release programs
available to male prisoners.
The prison has a separate section for juvenile offenders between
the ages of 16 and 18. There was occasional mixing of juveniles with
adult inmates depending on the severity of their crimes. Offenders
younger than 16, along with children made wards of the court by their
parents because of ``uncontrollable behavior,'' were held at the
Simpson Penn Center for Boys and the Williamae Pratt Center for Girls.
The Carmichael Road Immigrant Detention Center held up to 500
detainees (with tent space for an additional 500), and women and men
were held separately. Haitians and Jamaicans were the most commonly
interdicted migrants. The highest occupancy during the year was
approximately 664. Observers complained of continuing abuse by guards,
although immigration officials stated that no such complaints were
filed during the year. Human rights groups expressed concern that
complaint investigations were handled internally without independent
review and oversight. Children under the age of 14 were held in the
women's dormitory. Many children arriving with both parents were not
allowed contact with the father except during weekly visitation.
Despite the possibility of being held for months, children did not have
access to education.
The government made improvements to the Carmichael Road center
during the year, including benches for seating and recreation, cable
television, bunk mattresses, fans, and 100 roll-away mattresses for
overflow. Two nurses conducted medical screening of detainees on a
weekly basis; authorities issued care packages upon entry into the
facility and installed a washer and dryer and additional pay phones for
detainee use.
AI as well as local media wrote and released reports throughout the
year alleging systemic abuse of detainees at the Carmichael Road
center. In February the media reported that three Cuban detainees went
on a hunger strike to protest conditions at the center. In an expansive
interview with a local daily newspaper in June, an anonymous former
officer at the center alleged widespread abuse of detainees that
included killings. Media reports also claimed that detainees exchanged
sex for food due to insufficient rations.
Neither domestic nor international human rights groups made any
requests to visit the detention center or prison during the year.
However, organizations providing aid, counseling services, and
religious instruction had regular access to inmates.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the government generally observed
these prohibitions, although police occasionally were accused of
arresting and detaining persons arbitrarily.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Royal Bahamas
Police Force (RBPF) maintains internal security, and the small Royal
Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF) is responsible for external security,
security at the Carmichael Road Detention Center, and some minor
domestic security functions such as guarding foreign embassies and
ambassadors. The Ministry of National Security oversees the RBPF and
the RBDF.
A police officer involved in shooting or killing a suspect is
automatically placed under investigation. The Police Complaints and
Corruption Branch, which reports directly to the deputy commissioner
without any independent oversight, was responsible for investigating
allegations of police brutality. This unit determines if enough
evidence of abuse or misconduct exists in a particular case to warrant
disciplinary action within the police system or, in some cases,
criminal prosecution by the attorney general. Some local attorneys and
human rights observers expressed concern that the Police Complaints and
Corruption Branch lacked the independence needed to investigate
impartially allegations of abuse and misconduct and that the perceived
lack of impartiality discouraged full reporting of complaints.
The complaints commission began an investigation after a police
officer was accused of savagely beating his girlfriend in May. The
police commissioner said that criminal charges and disciplinary action
would be considered at the conclusion of the investigation. In June
authorities arraigned four police officers on armed robbery and
extortion charges, two of whom pleaded not guilty to the extortion
charges; the other two were not required to enter a plea to the armed
robbery charges. Authorities remanded the two alleged armed robbers to
the Central Police Station, released the two alleged extortionists on
bail, and ordered them back to court at a future date. In early
November authorities arrested two police officers for an unauthorized
raid on a bar but kept them on active duty while deciding whether to
discipline them. If they are disciplined, they could face a court
martial or a criminal trial.
There were 257 complaints against police through October, compared
with 300 in 2008. Of these cases, 55 were sub judice, and 202 were
under active investigation at year's end. Authorities resolved 184
cases, recommended 44 to the Police Court of Inquiry, found 46 to have
insufficient evidence, ruled 37 cases unsubstantiated, found 8 cases
required no further action, informally resolved 15 cases, dropped five
cases as unfounded, executed one warning, made one recommendation for
counseling and one reprimand, and dropped one case because the officer
died. Complainants withdrew 25 cases. The overwhelming number of
complaints involved allegations of assault, followed by unethical
behavior, unlawful arrest, stealing, missing property, damage,
unnecessary violence, threats of harm, causing harm, neglect, unlawful
sexual intercourse, indecent assault, and threats of death.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--In general the
authorities conducted arrests openly and, when required, obtained
judicially issued warrants. Serious cases, including those of suspected
narcotics or firearms offenses, do not require warrants where probable
cause exists. The law provides that a suspect must be charged within 48
hours of arrest. Arrested persons appear before a magistrate within 48
hours (or by the next business day for cases arising on weekends and
holidays) to hear the charges against them. Police can apply for a 48-
hour extension upon simple request to the court and for longer
extensions with sufficient showing of need. Some persons on remand
claimed they were not brought before a magistrate within the 48-hour
time frame. The government generally respected the right to a judicial
determination of the legality of arrests. The constitution provides the
right for those arrested or detained to retain an attorney at their own
expense; volunteer legal aides were sometimes available. Minors under
the age of 18 have the right to communicate with a parent or guardian.
There is a functioning bail system. Judges sometimes authorized
cash bail for foreigners arrested on minor charges; however, in
practice foreign suspects generally preferred to plead guilty and pay a
fine rather than pursue their right to defend themselves, given
possible delays in court cases and harsh conditions in the prison.
Attorneys and other prisoner advocates continued to complain of
excessive pretrial detention due to the failure of the criminal justice
system to try even the most serious cases in a timely manner. The
constitution provides that suspects can be held for a ``reasonable
period of time'' before trial. Government officials stated that
approximately 581 of the 1,319 prisoners at Fox Hill Prison were
awaiting trial. Available government statistics suggested that
approximately 100 prisoners had been held on remand without trial for
more than two years. This was recognized as a major problem in the
justice system, as criminals accused of serious crimes made bail, while
many others were held indefinitely without trial. The minister also
stated in 2008 that more than one-third of those charged with murder
during the previous 30 months were free on bail for a previous murder
indictment.
The authorities detained illegal immigrants, primarily Haitians,
until arrangements could be made for them to leave the country or they
obtained legal status. The average length of detention varied
significantly by nationality, willingness of governments to accept
their nationals back in a timely manner, and availability of funds to
pay for repatriation. Haitians usually were repatriated within one
week, while Cubans were held for much longer periods. Illegal
immigrants convicted of crimes other than immigration violations were
held at Fox Hill Prison, where they often remained for weeks or months
after serving their sentences, pending deportation.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
Magistrate's courts are the lowest level courts and handle only
crimes with a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment. Trial by
jury is available only in the Supreme Court, which handles most major
cases. Magistrate's court decisions may be appealed to the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council in the United Kingdom, which is the
final court of appeal.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence until proven guilty and are
permitted to question witnesses at trial and view government evidence.
Defendants have a right to appeal. There is a functioning bail system,
but individuals who could not post bail were held on remand
indefinitely. Defendants can elect to use a jury in criminal cases;
serious offenses such as murder and fraud automatically go to a jury.
The judicial system had a large and steadily expanding backlog of
cases, numbering as high as 8,700 in 2008, which included hundreds of
cases of the most serious violent crime. In July 2008 the newly
appointed attorney general ordered an audit to determine the actual
scope of the problem. Delays reportedly lasted five years or more.
Local legal professionals attributed delays to a variety of
longstanding systemic problems, such as slow police investigation,
inefficient prosecution strategies, lack of judicial capacity, lengthy
legal procedures, staff shortages, and judicial inefficiency compounded
by financial and space constraints. According to media reports, the
attorney general decided to drop some old criminal cases in which the
evidence supporting the charges was either not substantive or so
degraded that a conviction would be unlikely, to allow his prosecutors
to focus on the most pressing cases.
Defendants may hire an attorney of their choice, but the government
provided legal representation only to destitute suspects charged with
capital crimes, leaving large numbers of defendants without adequate
legal representation. Lack of representation contributed to excessive
pretrial detention, as some accused lacked the means to pursue the case
toward trial.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, and there is access to a
court to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human
rights violation.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
While the law usually requires a court order for entry into or
search of a private residence, a police inspector or more senior police
official may authorize a search without a court order where probable
cause to suspect a weapons violation or drug possession exists.
In November arguments concluded in the Court of Appeals over the
constitutionality of the Listening Devices Act, but no ruling was made
before 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. 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 significant
restriction.
Internet Freedom.--The government did not impose restrictions on
public access to the Internet. There were no 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. According to the International
Telecommunication Union, there were 32 Internet users per 100
inhabitants in 2008.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events. However, the Plays
and Films Control Board rates and censors entertainment.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice. The constitution explicitly calls for respect for Christian
values.
The practice of Obeah, a version of voodoo, is illegal, and those
convicted of practicing it were liable to three months' imprisonment.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal violence or discrimination and no reports of anti-Semitic
acts. The local Jewish community numbered approximately 200 persons.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution provides for freedom
of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--Although the country is a signatory to
both the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its
1967 protocol, the government has not established a consistent system
for providing protection to all refugees and asylum seekers. In
practice the government provided some protection against the expulsion
or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would
be threatened. Applications for political asylum were adjudicated on a
case-by-case basis at the cabinet level. The authorities did not grant
asylum during the year.
The government generally cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The government suspended the
practice of systematically sharing its prescreening notes with the
UNHCR but did seek UNHCR advice on specific cases of concern.
In April the government denied political asylum to Haitian national
Anderson Pierre, stating he did not qualify for refugee status under
the 1951 convention. Assailants killed Pierre upon his return to Haiti.
He had served as a bodyguard and driver for a commissioner in the
Aristide government, and his wife claimed they fled Haiti after several
attempts on their lives.
Local and international human rights observers criticized the
government for failing to screen potential asylum applicants
adequately. Those requesting asylum screening often lacked access to
legal counsel. Human rights observers claimed that the government
detained Cuban migrants for excessive periods. The government asserted
that all migrants who claimed asylum were interviewed and screened
adequately by trained immigration officials.
Stateless Persons.--The government has not effectively implemented
laws and policies to provide certain habitual residents the opportunity
to gain nationality in a timely manner and on a nondiscriminatory
basis. Children born to non-Bahamian parents or to a Bahamian mother
and a non-Bahamian father born outside of the Bahamas do not
automatically acquire citizenship. Bahamian-born persons of foreign
heritage must apply for citizenship during the year after their 18th
birthday, sometimes waiting many years for a government response. The
narrow window for application, difficult documentary requirements, and
long waiting times created generations of de facto stateless persons.
Individuals born in the country to Haitian parents were not required to
pay the college tuition rate for foreign students while waiting for
their request for citizenship to be processed. There were no reliable
estimates of the number of stateless persons.
In November 2008 the Immigration Department announced the initial
results of an audit of approximately 2,000 outstanding residence and
citizenship claims conducted in 2007. The audit found that 86 persons,
including 47 Haitians, were approved, 22 applications were denied, and
more than 700 cases remained pending. However, the remaining claims,
more than half the total, remained in different procedural categories
or were regarded as incomplete.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The two principal political
parties are the governing FNM and the opposition Progressive Liberal
Party (PLP). In May 2007 national elections generally considered free
and fair, the FNM won 23 of 41 seats in the House of Assembly and
formed the new government under Hubert Ingraham. The election campaign
under the incumbent PLP, however, was marred by instances of violence,
alleged favoritism by the influential state-owned electronic media'
toward government candidates, and allegations of vote-buying.
The PLP lost the elections and unsuccessfully pursued court cases
challenging the election results in three constituencies.
The House of Assembly had five elected female members; there were
five appointed female senators, including its president, in the 14-seat
Senate. There was one woman in the cabinet.
Information on racial background was not collected, but there were
several members of minorities in prominent positions in parliament and
the cabinet.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and
the government generally implemented these laws effectively. There were
isolated reports of government corruption during the year.
Both political parties were subject to corruption allegations
concerning the inappropriate transfer of government-owned land. The
opposition party also charged the FNM government with corruption in
relation to a controversial relocation of the container port. In July
authorities suspended 16 customs officials over allegations that
included falsifying documents, bribery, stealing, and evasion of
customs duties. Police investigations into government contract
corruption in the wake of 2004 hurricanes Frances and Jeanne continued
at year's end.
In January authorities charged a former PLP senator with conspiracy
and abetting an alleged extortion attempt. At year's end she faced
retrial on September 6, 2010. In July authorities investigated a former
PLP treasurer who was indicted on money laundering charges in a foreign
jurisdiction.
Senior public officials, such as senators and members of
parliament, were subject to financial disclosure under the Public
Disclosure Act. Antibribery legislation designates the attorney general
responsible for combating government corruption.
The RBPF operated a complaints and corruption branch, which
received 11 corruption reports during the year: it sent one to the
police tribunal, found that one was unsubstantiated, recommended
criminal charges in one case, and had eight cases under investigation
at year's end.
Media representatives criticized the lack of laws providing for
public access to government information. Members of the local press
also complained that the government failed to provide regular, open
access to information, including information regarding alleged human
rights violations. Specifically, press and local human rights groups
complained that the government was not forthcoming about alleged human
rights abuses by police and prison and detention center guards, citing
a lack of transparency in investigations and publication of
investigative reports.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
usually were cooperative and responsive to their views.
The Data Protection Act of 2003 created a ``commissioner'' with
ombudsman-like duties.
The government generally cooperated with international governmental
organizations.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of race,
place of origin, political opinion, or creed, and the government
generally enforced these prohibitions. However, the constitution and
the law contain provisions that discriminate against women.
The country is made up of 700 islands and cays, 30 of which are
inhabited. Information reflects the situation in the highly populated
areas on New Providence and Grand Bahama. Limited information was
available from the lesser populated out-islands.
Women.--Rape is illegal, but the law does not address spousal rape,
except if the couple is separating, in the process of divorce, or if
there is a restraining order in place. The maximum penalty for all
offenses, including a first-time offense, is life imprisonment.
According to the RBPF, there were 90 rapes reported by October, a
decrease from 114 reported in 2008. Prosecutions and convictions on
rape charges were common.
Violence against women continued to be a serious, widespread
problem. The law prohibits domestic violence as a crime separate from
assault and battery, and the government generally enforced the law. The
police reported that seven of 87 killings recorded through December
were related to domestic violence. Women's rights groups cited a
general reluctance on the part of law enforcement authorities to
intervene in domestic disputes. The police recognized domestic violence
as a high priority, provided specialized training for all incoming
officers, and offered continuing training in domestic violence.
The government operated a toll-free hotline in New Providence and
Grand Bahama, with trained volunteers to respond to emergency calls 24
hours a day. Government and private women's organizations continued
public awareness campaigns highlighting the problems of abuse and
domestic violence. The Ministry of Labor and Social Development's
Department of Social Services, in partnership with a private
organization, operated a safe house to assist battered women. The
ministry's Bureau of Women's Affairs was responsible for promoting and
protecting women's rights.
Prostitution is illegal and was not a widespread problem. There are
no laws specifically addressing sex tourism. Police officials
acknowledged that sex entertainment was a developing industry but did
not consider sex tourism a problem.
The law prohibits criminal ``quid pro quo'' sexual harassment and
authorizes penalties of up to B$5,000 ($5,000) and a maximum of two
years' imprisonment. Civil rights advocates complained that criminal
prohibitions were not enforced effectively and that civil remedies,
including a prohibition on ``hostile environment'' sexual harassment,
were needed.
Couples and individuals generally could decide freely and
responsibly the number, spacing, and timing of their children, and were
not subject to discrimination, coercion, or violence regarding these
choices. Access to family planning was universally available to persons
age 18 and older and to younger persons with the consent of an adult.
Pregnant teens were removed from government educational institutions
and placed in a special school, Providing Access to Continued
Education, until after the birth of their children. Women had access to
maternal health services. According to UN data, skilled personnel
attended 99 percent of births, and 98 percent of mothers received
prenatal and postpartum care. Services were available on a
nondiscriminatory basis, although some illegal immigrants did not
receive postpartum care because they had no fixed address.
The law does not provide women with the same right as men to
transmit citizenship to their foreign-born spouses. The law also makes
it easier for men with foreign spouses than for women with foreign
spouses to confer citizenship on their children. The law does not
include gender as a basis for protection from discrimination. Women
were generally free of economic discrimination, and the law provides
for equal pay for equal work.
Children.--Children born to non-Bahamian parents or to a Bahamian
mother and a non-Bahamian father born outside of the Bahamas do not
automatically acquire citizenship. Otherwise, citizenship is acquired
by birth in the country. There is universal birth registration; all
births must be registered within 21 days of delivery. All residents,
regardless of immigration status, had free access to education and
social programs.
Both the government and civic organizations conducted public
education programs aimed at child abuse and appropriate parenting
behavior; however, child abuse and neglect remained serious problems.
The RBPF operated a hotline regarding missing or exploited children.
The Child Protection Act of 2007 included increased penalties for child
abuse, mandatory reporting to police of all forms of child abuse, a
provision for fathers of children born out of wedlock to pursue custody
of the children, and a provision for mothers of children born out of
wedlock to pursue maintenance of those children up to age 18.
The Department of Social Services reported that cases of child
abuse increased during the year, and in some categories surpassed
previous year's totals. From January through August, 355 child abuse
cases were reported, while neglect cases for the same period were down
slightly from 2008 to 217. The ministry believed that only a minority
of cases were reported.
The law prohibits statutory rape of persons under the age of 16;
victims between the ages of 14 and 16 carry penalties of up to 14
years' imprisonment, with harsher penalties involving persons under age
14. While a victim's consent is insufficient defense against
allegations of statutory rape, it is sufficient defense if an
individual can demonstrate that the accused had ``reasonable cause to
believe that the victim was above 16 years of age,'' provided the
accused was under age 18.
Child pornography is against the law. A person who produces it is
liable to life imprisonment; dissemination or possession of it calls
for a penalty of 20 years' imprisonment.
The law requires all persons having contact with a child they
believe to have been physically or sexually abused to report their
suspicions to the police. Sexual exploitation of children through
incestuous relationships occurred, and anecdotal reports suggested that
this was a particular problem in the out-islands. Observers generally
acknowledged that a small number of children were involved in illicit
or unlawful activities. The ministry may remove children from abusive
situations if the court deems it necessary. The ministry provided
services to abused and neglected children through a public-private
center for children, through the public hospital family violence
program, and through a nonprofit crisis center.
The Department of Social Services is responsible for abandoned
children up to 18 years of age but had very limited resources at its
disposal. The government found foster homes for some children, and the
government hospital housed abandoned children with physical
disabilities when foster homes could not be found.
Trafficking in Persons.--In December 2008 parliament enacted
legislation specifically addressing trafficking in persons for the
first time. The law also prohibits prostitution and the procurement of
persons for purposes of prostitution either in or outside the country
by force, threats, intimidation, or the administering of drugs. The
maximum penalty for trafficking in persons is life imprisonment.
There were reports that persons were trafficked within, to, or from
the country, but the full nature and extent of the problem were
undetermined. The previous lack of a legal prohibition rendered it
difficult to measure accurately the extent of trafficking within the
vulnerable illegal migrant communities. It was too early to assess the
impact of the new legislation and how it would be implemented and
enforced to prosecute perpetrators, protect and assist victims, and
prevent trafficking. According to limited reports, men, women, and
children may be trafficked for the purpose of labor exploitation.
Local observers previously complained that the law does not protect
trafficking victims, who might be fearful of pressing complaints due to
emphasis on immigration enforcement. The new legislation details
provisions for assistance and protection for victims, including witness
protection and special immigration procedures for nonresidents to
facilitate investigation and prosecution. The Foreign Ministry and the
Women's Affairs Bureau have the lead on antitrafficking efforts, and
the International Organization for Migration (IOM) met with an
interagency committee that included various NGOs that work on
assistance issues.
In November the IOM conducted antitrafficking training for
government personnel in New Providence and Grand Bahama. Various law
enforcement officers, social workers, and NGOs participated. Training
included train-the-trainer components, sensitization, awareness,
indicators, and referral as well as a discussion of the new law and
jurisdiction of the various agencies involved.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--There is no specific law protecting
persons with physical or mental disabilities from discrimination in
employment, education, access to health care, or in the provision of
other state services. However, provisions in other legislation address
the rights of persons with disabilities, including a prohibition of
discrimination on the basis of disability. Although the law mandates
access for persons with physical disabilities in new public buildings,
the authorities rarely enforced this requirement, and very few
buildings and public facilities were accessible to persons with
disabilities. Advocates for persons with disabilities complained of
widespread job discrimination and general apathy on the part of private
employers and political leaders toward the need for training and equal
opportunity.
The Social Development Ministry's Disability Affairs Unit worked
with the Bahamas National Council for Disability, an umbrella
organization of nongovernmental organizations that offered services for
persons with disabilities, to provide a coordinated public and private
sector approach to the needs of such persons. A mix of government and
private residential and nonresidential institutions provided education,
training, counseling, and job placement services for adults and
children with both physical and mental disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country's racial and ethnic
groups generally coexisted in a climate of peace and mutual respect
without overt racial or other tensions. However, anti-Haitian prejudice
and resentment regarding continued Haitian immigration was common.
According to unofficial estimates, between 10 and 25 percent of the
population were Haitians or persons of Haitian descent, making them the
largest ethnic minority. Many persons of Haitian origin lived in
shantytowns with limited sewage and garbage services, law enforcement,
or other infrastructure. Haitian children generally were granted access
to education and social services, but interethnic tensions and
inequities persisted. The Haitian community was characterized by high
poverty, high unemployment, poor educational achievement, and poor
health conditions. Haitians generally had difficulty in securing
citizenship, residence, or work permits.
Lawyers for an illegal Haitian resident in Nassau, whom an RBDF
officer shot and injured in 2007, continued their civil suit seeking
damages against the officer, the commander of the RBDF, and the
attorney general for false arrest, false imprisonment, assault and
battery, and malicious prosecution, even though the man was
subsequently deported.
Members of the Haitian community complained of discrimination in
the job market, specifically that identity and work permit documents
were controlled by employers seeking leverage by threat of deportation.
Some also complained of tactics used by immigration officials in raids
of Haitian or suspected Haitian communities. The economic recession led
to an increase in resentment against the Haitian population and a
tendency to blame Haitians for rising crime rates.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Societal discrimination
against gays and lesbians occurred, with some persons reporting job and
housing discrimination based upon sexual orientation. Although
homosexual activities between consenting adults are legal, there was no
legislation to address the human rights concerns of gays, lesbians,
bisexuals, or transgendered persons. The 2006 Constitutional Review
Commission found that sexual orientation did not deserve protection
against discrimination.
Authorities brought charges in one of three killings of reportedly
gay individuals in 2008, but the jury could not reach a verdict in the
case of Troyniko McNeil (alleged to have murdered handbag designer Harl
Taylor). A retrial was set for July 12, 2010, and he was released on
B$30,000 ($30,000) bail. There were no new developments in the
investigations into the other killings by year's end.
One 16-year-old male rape victim alleged that investigators treated
his case poorly because he was gay. He claimed that he had to wait
hours to report his case or be seen by a medical examiner, and that the
investigating authorities treated the case as a ``joke.'' However, in
early December a court convicted a man for having ``unnatural
intercourse'' with the victim.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--Stigma and
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS was high, but there were
no reports of violence against persons with HIV/AIDS. Children with
HIV/AIDS also faced discrimination, and teachers often were not told
that a child was HIV positive for fear of verbal abuse from both
educators and peers. The government maintained a home for orphaned
children infected with HIV/AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions without previous authorization or excessive requirements,
and those laws were applied in practice. Almost one-quarter of the
workforce (and 80 percent of the workers in the important hotel
industry) belonged to unions. Members of the police force, defense
force, fire brigade, and prison guards may not organize or join unions.
The law provides for the right to strike, and while workers
exercised this right in practice, the government has the right to
intervene in the national interest to assure delivery of essential
services. The law requires that before a strike begins, a simple
majority of a union's membership must vote in favor of a motion to
strike. The Ministry of Labor and Social Development must approve a
strike ballot.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers freely
exercised their right to organize and participate in collective
bargaining, which the law protects. Employers can apply to have union
recognition revoked if a collective agreement is not reached after 12
months. Unions and employers negotiated wage rates without government
interference.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, and employers can be
compelled to reinstate workers illegally fired for union activity. This
law was generally enforced. Under the law, labor disputes first are
filed with the Labor Ministry and then, if not resolved, are
transferred to an industrial tribunal. The tribunal's decision is final
and can be appealed in court only on a strict question of law. Some
employers complained that the industrial tribunal was biased unfairly
in favor of employees. After a massive sick out by the Bahamas Nurses
Union over a health insurance dispute, the government announced it
would prosecute doctors who falsified sick notes. The nurses returned
to work, but the issue remained unresolved at year's end.
Freeport is a specially designated free trade zone. Labor law and
practice in this zone do not differ from those in the rest of the
country. There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there were
reports that such practices occurred.
Local sources indicated that labor exploitation of undocumented
Haitians could be widespread, and some immigrants may be subjected to
conditions of involuntary servitude. Employers could coerce migrants to
work long hours for no pay or below the minimum wage by withholding
documents or threatening arrest and deportation. Migrant workers
usually do not have access to labor protections under local law.
A 2008 IOM World Migration Report stated that smuggling rings
continued to take advantage of the demand for labor by bringing in
irregular migrants from Haiti. Some commercial sexual exploitation of
women and minors was also identified.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although the law prohibits the employment of children under the age of
14 for industrial work or work during school hours, some children
worked part-time in light industry and service jobs. Children under the
age of 16 may not work at night. There was no legal minimum age for
employment in other sectors. The Labor Ministry is responsible for
enforcing these laws and did so adequately.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The government sets minimum
wages in a transparent and tripartite manner. The minimum wage for
government employees, set in 2000, was B$4.45 ($4.45) per hour. A
minimum wage for the private sector was established in 2002 at B$4.00
($4.00) per hour. The Labor Ministry was responsible for enforcing the
minimum wage but did not do so effectively. Undocumented migrant
workers often earned less than the minimum wage. The minimum wage did
not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
The law provides for a 40-hour workweek, a 24-hour rest period, and
time-and-a-half payment for hours worked beyond the standard workweek.
These standards were enforced effectively.
The Labor Ministry is responsible for enforcing labor laws and had
a team of inspectors that conducted on-site visits to enforce
occupational health and safety standards and investigate employee
concerns and complaints, although inspections occurred infrequently.
The ministry normally announced inspection visits in advance, and
employers generally cooperated with inspectors to implement safety
standards. It was uncertain whether these inspections effectively
enforced health and safety standards, although the ministry actively
sought international assistance during the year to improve performance.
The law does not provide a right for workers to remove themselves from
dangerous work situations without jeopardy to continued employment.
__________
BARBADOS
Barbados is a parliamentary democracy with a population of
approximately 278,000. In January 2008 general elections the Democratic
Labour Party (DLP), which had been in opposition since 1994, defeated
the Barbados Labour Party, and DLP leader David Thompson became prime
minister. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control
of the security forces.
Although the government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, problems included excessive use of force by police and
societal violence against women and children.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings, but on rare occasions there were police killings in
the line of duty. All such killings were investigated and referred to a
coroner's inquiry when appropriate.
On June 9, police allegedly shot and killed Hugh Springer by
accident, when they were responding to a disturbance. The killing was
under investigation at year's end.
On December 14, police shot and killed Denzil Headley during an
attempted drug landing at Roaches, St. Lucy parish. Media reports
indicated that members of the police Drug Squad Unit returned fire when
attacked while conducting a nighttime operation. A routine
investigation was under way at year's end.
There was no information available about the outcome of the 2007
police killing of Michael Davis. After investigations into three police
killings that occurred during 2006, the coroner found that the killing
of Merlyn Layne was lawful, returned an open verdict in the killing of
Kevin Ellis, and still was considering the killing of Richard Gordon.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--While the constitution specifically prohibits torture and
inhuman or degrading punishment or other treatment, there were reports
that police sometimes used excessive force. The majority of complaints
against the police alleged unprofessional conduct and beating or
assault. Police were occasionally accused of beating suspects to obtain
confessions, and suspects often recanted their confessions during their
trial. There were many cases where the only evidence against the
accused was a confession. Suspects and their family members continued
to allege coercion by police, but there was no evidence of systematic
police abuse.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions improved
since 2007, when 1,084 prisoners were transferred to H.M.P. Dodds, a
new permanent prison in St. Philip, designed to meet modern
international standards with a capacity of approximately 1,250
prisoners. In November it held 898 prisoners, including pretrial
detainees. Although prisoners occasionally complained about the quality
of the food, Dodds has a canteen program where family members can make
cash deposits into inmate accounts, and inmates may purchase popular
food, snacks, toiletries, and dry goods. The general reaction to the
new prison was positive.
There were 35 female prisoners held in a separate wing.
The government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
monitors.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, and the government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--At year's end the Royal
Barbados Police Force (RBPF) numbered 1,444--including 1,002 special
constables--and is responsible for internal law enforcement. While
still a male-dominated profession, the number of female recruits
increased to 214. The small Barbados Defence Force (BDF) protects
national security and may be called upon to maintain public order in
times of crisis, emergency, or other specific need. The RBPF reports to
the minister of home affairs, and the BDF reports to the minister of
defense and security. Although the police largely were unarmed, special
RBPF foot patrols in high-crime areas carried firearms. An armed
special rapid response unit continued to operate. The law provides that
the police can request the BDF to assist them as needed with special
joint patrols.
The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) handled complaints
of inappropriate police conduct. The office does not answer to
independent civil authority and was frequently the subject of
complaints of inaction concerning accusations of police abuse. The
authorities did not report the number of cases the OPR handled, and
there were no convictions of police for unlawful conduct or abuse of
authority.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Police are
authorized to arrest persons suspected of criminal activity; a warrant
is typically required. The constitution permits detainees to be held
without charge for up to five days; however, once charged, detainees
must be brought before a court without unnecessary delay. There is a
functioning bail system. Criminal detainees were given prompt access to
counsel and were advised of that right immediately after arrest. Access
to family members generally was permitted.
Police procedures provide that, except when expressly permitted by
a senior divisional officer to do otherwise, the police may question
suspects, and other persons they hold, only at a police station. An
officer must visit detainees at least once every three hours to inquire
about the detainees' condition. After 24 hours the detaining authority
must submit a written report to the deputy commissioner. The
authorities must approve and record all movements of detainees between
stations.
There were between 50 and 100 persons in pretrial detention at
various times during the year. While length of pretrial detention can
vary from one case to another, there were no reports of extended
periods of pretrial detention or abuse of the practice.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The judiciary includes the courts of first instance, or
magistrate's courts, and the Supreme Court of Judicature, which
consists of the High Court and the Court of Appeals. The Caribbean
Court of Justice is the final court of appeal.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides that persons charged
with criminal offenses be given a fair public hearing without
unnecessary delay by an independent, impartial court and a trial by
jury. The government generally respected these rights in practice.
Defendants have the right to be present and to consult with an attorney
in a timely manner. The government provided free legal aid to the
indigent in family matters, child support, serious criminal cases such
as rape or murder, and all cases involving minors. Defendants are
allowed to confront and question witnesses and present evidence on
their own behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have access to
government-held evidence relevant to their case. Defendants are
presumed innocent until proven guilty and have the right of appeal.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Magistrate's courts have
both civil and criminal jurisdiction, but the civil judicial system
experienced heavy backlogs. Citizens can seek redress for human rights
or other abuses through the civil system.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice.
There was no information available about the outcome of the
December 2008 incident in which police arrested two journalists who
were attempting to cover the arraignment of a police officer charged
with drug possession and trafficking charges.
The government restricted the receipt and importation of foreign
publications deemed to be pornographic.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail.
According to the International Telecommunication Union, there were
74 Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
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.
To obtain import privileges or tax benefits religious groups must
register with the government.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. The
Jewish community was very small.
For more detailed information, see the 2009 International Religious
Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/rpt/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution and the law provide
for freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration,
and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights
in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and it was not used.
Protection of Refugees.--The laws do not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol, and the
government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to a country where their lives or
freedom would be threatened.
The government did not grant refugee status or asylum during the
year. Although no known cases occurred, the government was prepared to
cooperate 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 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 general elections held
in January 2008, the DLP, which had been in opposition since 1994,
defeated the Barbados Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Owen Arthur.
The DLP won 20 of the 30 seats in the parliament's House of Assembly,
and DLP leader David Thompson became prime minister.
There were no restrictions on the political opposition. Individuals
and parties were free to declare their candidacy and stand for
election.
Two cabinet members were female; there were three women in the
House of Assembly. There were four women and three minorities in the
21-member appointed Senate.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and
the government generally implemented these laws effectively.
There was a report of alleged corruption involving a government-
funded housing development program overseen by a junior minister under
the previous government. Although the DLP uncovered the alleged
corruption and called for an independent investigation, the opposition
party did not officially dispute the incident and also called for an
investigation. This matter had been a focal point of the 2008 general
elections, and the new government launched a financial audit to see if
criminal charges should be filed against those involved. The company
involved went into receivership, and there were some reports that
information may have been destroyed during the investigation. The DLP
continued to allege corruption surrounding the building of the national
highway system, begun under the opposition party. The highway issue
continued at year's end with that dispute under litigation.
There is no law that subjects public officials to financial
disclosure. Parliament's Public Accounts Committee and the auditor
general conduct investigations of all government public accounts, which
include ministries, departments, and statutory bodies.
There is no law providing citizens access to information held by
the government. While access to information was provided on government
Web sites, responses to requests for specific government information by
citizens and other interested parties often were slow.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
RightsA number of domestic human rights groups generally
operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government
officials were cooperative and responsive to their views.
The Ombudsman's Office hears complaints against government offices
for alleged injuries or injustices resulting from administrative
conduct. The governor general appoints the ombudsman on the
recommendation of the prime minister in consultation with the leader of
the opposition; Parliament must approve the appointment. The ombudsman
submits annual reports to Parliament, which contain both
recommendations on changes to laws or possible outcomes and
descriptions of actions taken by the Ombudsman's Office.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides for equal treatment regardless of race,
origin, political opinion, color, creed, or sex, and the government
effectively enforced these provisions.
Women.--The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and the
maximum penalty for it is life imprisonment. There were legal
protections against spousal rape for women holding a court-issued
divorce decree, separation order, or nonmolestation order. Authorities
charged 109 persons with sex-related offenses, compared with 116 in
2008. Charges were brought in 65 cases of rape, compared with 49 in
2008; 17 cases of sex with a minor, compared with 19 in 2008; 35 cases
of indecent assault, compared with 46 in 2008; and five cases on other
charges, compared with seven in 2008 (some persons faced more than one
charge). Many cases were pending in the courts, as there was one
conviction for rape and one for sex with a minor, compared with two and
one in 2008.
Violence and abuse against women continued to be significant social
problems. The law prohibits domestic violence, provides protection to
all members of the family, including men and children, and applies
equally to marriages and to common-law relationships. Penalties depend
on the severity of the charges and range from a fine for first-time
offenders (unless the injury is serious) up to the death penalty for a
killing. Victims may request restraining orders, which the courts often
issued. The courts can sentence an offender to jail for breaching such
an order. The police have a victim support unit, made up of civilian
volunteers, which offered assistance primarily to female victims of
violent crimes.
There were public and private counseling services for victims of
domestic violence, rape, and child abuse. The Business and Professional
Women's Club operated a crisis center staffed by trained counselors and
provided legal and medical referral services. The government funded one
shelter for battered women, operated by nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), which accommodated up to 20 women and children. The shelter
offered the services of trained psychological counselors to victims of
domestic violence.
The Bureau of Gender Affairs cited a lack of specific information
and an appropriate mechanism for collecting and evaluating data on
incidents of domestic violence as the major impediments to tackling
gender-based violence.
Prostitution is illegal, but it remained a problem, fueled by
poverty and tourism. A number of brothels with women from Guyana, the
Dominican Republic, and other Caribbean islands operated in the
country. The police and immigration officers periodically raided
brothels and deported women found working illegally. There is no
statute specifically prohibiting sexual tourism and no statistics on
it, but anecdotal evidence suggested that it occurred.
The law does not specifically address sexual harassment, which was
a problem. There were no statistics available on the prevalence of
sexual harassment cases. Media reports often indicated that women were
afraid to report sexual harassment because they feared retribution in
the workplace. An NGO advocacy group called the Coalition on Sexual
Harassment, together with the Department of Labor, among others, called
for legislation to address this problem.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children, and had the information and means to
do so free from discrimination. Access to information on contraception,
and skilled attendance at delivery and in postpartum care were widely
available. Women and men were given equal access to diagnostic services
and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
The Office of Gender Affairs in the Ministry of Social
Transformation worked to ensure the rights of women. Women have equal
property rights, including in a divorce settlement. Women actively
participated in all aspects of national life and were well represented
at all levels of the public and private sectors. A Poverty Eradication
Fund focused on encouraging entrepreneurial activities to increase
employment for women and youth.
Children.--Citizenship is obtained by birth in the country, but can
also be attained through marriage and naturalization procedures. There
was universal birth registration.
Violence and abuse against children remained serious problems. In
December the minister of youth, family, and sports told the press that
every month the Child Care Board received new cases of children who
were victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence,
emotional abuse, abandonment and neglect.
Pornography is illegal, but there was no information available
about any specific prohibitions dealing with child pornography.
The Ministry of Labor and Immigration did not receive any
complaints about child labor during the year. The youth, family, and
sports minister acknowledged that child prostitution occurred; however,
there was no research to document that problem.
The Child Care Board has a mandate for the care and protection of
children, which involved investigating day care centers and cases of
child abuse or child labor and providing counseling services,
residential placement, and foster care. The Welfare Department offered
counseling on a broad range of family related issues, and the Child
Care Board conducted counseling for child abuse victims.
Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and laws do not
specifically prohibit trafficking in persons, although laws against
slavery, forced labor, or other crimes could be applied. A law
prohibiting the procurement of persons for sex, which carries a 15-year
sentence, could be used to prosecute that type of trafficking cases.
There were reports that persons from the Dominican Republic, Guyana,
and Jamaica were trafficked to the country, both to work as prostitutes
and as domestic workers or in the construction and garment industries.
The government has no dedicated facilities to assist victims and
does not provide funding to antitrafficking NGOs. A number of local
NGOs provided safe houses for battered women.
Trafficking victims have been treated as criminals and deported
after being held temporarily for questioning.
The Office of Gender Affairs organized public forums to raise
awareness of trafficking in persons.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws that specifically
prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in
employment, education, or the provision of other state services, other
than constitutional provisions asserting equality for all. In practice
persons with disabilities faced some discrimination. The Ministry of
Social Transformation operated a Disabilities Unit to address the
concerns of persons with disabilities, but parents complained of added
fees and transport difficulties for children with disabilities at
public schools.
While no legislation mandates provision of accessibility to public
thoroughfares or public or private buildings, the Town and Country
Planning Department set provisions for all public buildings to include
accessibility to persons with disabilities. As a result, the majority
of new buildings had ramps, reserved parking, and special sanitary
facilities for such persons.
The government's National Disabilities Unit continued numerous
programs for persons with disabilities, including Call-a-Ride and Dial-
a-Ride public transportation programs, sensitization workshops for
public transportation operators, inspections of public transportation
vehicles, sign language education programs, integrated summer camps,
and accessibility programs. However, the National Disabilities Unit was
housed in a two-story walkup that was not handicap accessible until
recently, when it moved to a new location that met all accessibility
requirements.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The law criminalizes
consensual homosexual relations, and there are no laws that prohibit
discrimination against a person on the basis of sexual orientation in
employment, housing, education, or health care. Although no statistics
were available, anecdotal evidence suggested that societal
discrimination against gays and lesbians occurred.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--The government funded a
large country-wide media campaign to discourage discrimination against
HIV/AIDS-infected persons and others living with them.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers freely exercised their right
to form and belong to trade unions. Approximately 25 to 30 percent of
the 120,000-person workforce was unionized; unionized workers were
concentrated in key sectors such as transportation, government, the
hotel sector, and agriculture. Of the 20,000-member public sector work
force, 50 percent belong to the Public Workers Union, and about 20
percent of the private sector also belonged to that union. There were
two major unions, one in the public sector and the other focused on the
private sector, with some overlapping representation particularly in
the state-owned enterprise sector. The unions wielded significant
influence. Both unions belong to the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff
Associations (CTUSA), which brings together all unions and staff
associations. Police, firefighters, and prison officers are not allowed
to unionize, but their associations function as quasi-unions and are
members of the CTUSA.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. All private sector employees are permitted to
strike, but the Trade Union Act and the Better Service Act prohibit
essential workers, such as police, firefighters, electricity, and water
company employees from engaging in strikes.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers
exercised the legal right to organize and bargain collectively.
Negotiated protocols contained provisions for increases in basic wages
and increases based on productivity. Government, private sector, and
labor representatives signed a fifth such protocol in 2005. It was
still in place and, at year's end, a sixth protocol was under
discussion. The Social Partnership Agreement provides for monthly
meetings of labor, management, and government, and is chaired by the
prime minister or the minister of state for labor affairs.
Although employers were under no legal obligation to recognize
unions, most did so when a significant percentage of their employees
expressed a desire to be represented by a registered union. The Trade
Union Act governs trade union activities. Under that act, companies are
not obligated to recognize unions or to accept collective bargaining.
In practice, most major employers recognized unions, but smaller
companies were often not unionized. The National Workers Union took a
number of actions when it had reason to believe that companies were not
respecting the rights of union members.
While there is no specific law that prohibits discrimination
against union activity, the courts provide a method of redress for
employees who allege wrongful dismissal. The courts commonly awarded
monetary compensation but rarely ordered reemployment. Labor unions
reported that some companies engaged in antiunion discrimination, and
they have complained to the Labor Ministry on a number of occasions
about what they deem to be antiunion activity by employers. According
to the NWU general secretary, some unspecified foreign firms engaged in
antiunion activities.
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 provides for a minimum working age of 16, and this provision
generally was observed in practice. Compulsory primary and secondary
education policies reinforced minimum age requirements. The Labor
Department had a small cadre of labor inspectors who conducted spot
investigations of enterprises and checked records to verify compliance
with the law. These inspectors may take legal action against an
employer who is found to have underage workers. According to the chief
labor inspector, no underage employment cases were filed during the
past few years.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Shop Keepers Act provides
for and the authorities established minimum wage rates for specified
categories of workers. The process is transparent and involves
tripartite participation by government, labor, and the private sector.
The categories of workers with a formally regulated minimum wage are
household domestics and shop assistants. The minimum wage for these
employees was BDS$5 (approximately $2.50) per hour, which was only
marginally sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. The Ministry of Labor and Immigration recommended
that companies use this as the de facto minimum wage, and the
prevailing wage on the island was higher than the legal minimum wage.
The Labor Department within that ministry was charged with enforcing
the minimum wage. There were occasional press reports alleging that
migrant workers received less than the minimum wage, but the chief
labor inspector insisted that all workers' salaries were above the
minimum wage.
The standard legal workweek is 40 hours in five days, and the law
requires overtime payment of time and one-half for hours worked in
excess. The law prescribes that all overtime must be voluntary.
The government announced an amnesty program for illegal migrants,
giving such migrants until the end of the year to register. Employed
migrants may apply for permission to stay; all others will be subject
to deportation proceedings.
The 2005 Occupational Safety and Health at Work Act was never
promulgated into law, as it was passed at the end of the last
administration and was therefore still under review. The Labor
Department enforced other health and safety standards, such as those in
the 1986 Factories (Amendment) Act, and in most cases followed up to
ensure that management corrected problems cited. The law requires that
in certain sectors firms employing more than 50 workers create a safety
committee that could challenge the decisions of management concerning
the occupational safety and health environment. The Ministry of Labor
and Immigration hired five new health and safety officers in 2008, who
received a two-week basic occupational and safety standards course,
along with union staff and other employer health and safety inspectors.
Civic organizations such as the Barbados Employer's Confederation
worked closely with the government to ensure that worker safety was
protected despite the nonimplementation of the 2005 law. Trade union
monitors identified safety problems for government health and safety
inspectors to ensure the enforcement of safety and health regulations
and effective correction by management. The Labor Department's Health
and Safety Inspection Unit conducted several routine annual inspections
of government-operated corporations and manufacturing plants. Workers
had the right to remove themselves from dangerous or hazardous job
situations without jeopardizing their continued employment.
__________
BELIZE
Belize is a constitutional parliamentary democracy with an
estimated population of 314,300. In February 2008 Prime Minister Dean
Barrow's United Democratic Party (UDP) won 25 of the 31 seats in the
House of Representatives following generally free and fair multiparty
elections. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces, there were instances in which elements
of the security forces acted independently.
The government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. Human rights problems included killings and the use of
excessive force by security forces, which the government in some cases
took steps to prosecute administratively. Other problems included
lengthy pretrial detention, domestic violence, discrimination against
women, sexual abuse of children, trafficking in persons for sexual and
labor exploitation, discrimination based on sexual orientation, 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,
there were isolated reports that security forces committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
In March police officers shot and killed a 20-year-old Belize City
resident during an alleged robbery attempt. Witnesses claimed that the
police officer stood over the man and shot him in the face. There was
no additional information on the case from the Office of Internal
Affairs (OIA). There was no known investigation.
In August a Belize City family claimed that police officers beat
their 17-year-old son to death while he was in custody on charges of
robbery. Witnesses stated that the boy was last seen with police
officers in a police vehicle before his body was found. There was no
known investigation.
In August 2008 a police constable was charged with murder for
shooting a man in the back of the head. The court date, originally set
for October 2008, was postponed twice and remained to be rescheduled at
year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--While the constitution prohibits torture or other inhuman
punishment, there were numerous reports that police used excessive
force.
On January 5, the politically appointed position of ombudsman,
which receives complaints of alleged misconduct and abuse by police,
was filled after being vacant for a year. The government occasionally
ignored reports of abuses, withheld action until the case had faded
from the public's attention, and then failed to take punitive action or
transferred accused officers to other districts.
Through September the police Office of Internal Affairs (OIA)
received 41 allegations of police violence and 50 complaints of police
abuse. The Office of the Ombudsman reported that, as of September, it
filed 15 requests for information with the OIA regarding allegations of
police brutality.
In February a man from Belize City stated that three police
officers attacked him and left him bleeding on the pavement with
injuries that required hospital treatment. The man indicated he would
file a report with the OIA; however, at year's end, the OIA reported
that no complaint had been filed.
In July a youth claimed that two police officers detained him, told
him he was being taken to the police station, but instead drove him to
the side of a major highway and used excessive force on him, which
included beatings and a gunshot to the head.
In August a youth claimed that he was taken to a burglary crime
scene and beaten by a police officer before being charged for the
burglary. There was no additional information from the OIA regarding
the claim.
In November authorities charged a police corporal with sexual
assault while on duty. The corporal was released on bond and awaited
trial at year's end.
In December a 14-year-old crime suspect claimed that he had been
beaten and sexually assaulted while in police custody. The case
remained pending at year's end.
A court convicted and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment the
Dangriga police constable suspended from duty on charges of raping a
14-year-old girl in 2007; however, the conviction was reversed on
appeal.
There were no developments, and none were expected, in the 2007
case where police shot and killed a San Pedro man, claiming afterward
that he had pointed a gun at them. Although ordered by the Office of
the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), a coroner's inquest had not
been rescheduled, and the case remained under investigation at year's
end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor and did not meet international standards. The number of inmates in
the country's only prison, Belize Central Prison, fluctuated between
1,400 and 1,450; on December 1, it held 1,423 inmates, including 28
women and 49 juveniles. In February the prison opened a new facility
with a capacity to hold 550 remanded prisoners, increasing capacity
from 1,200 inmates to 1,750. Although the prison budget provided BZ$13
($6.50) per prisoner per day for operating costs, a local nonprofit
organization, the Kolbe Foundation, which administered the Belize
Central Prison, reported that actual costs were 10 percent higher.
Funding from independent sources defrayed costs above the budgeted
level. Prisoners in the supermax (Tango 10) section sometimes lived two
per cell. Isolation in a small, unlit, unventilated punishment cell,
called a ``reflection room,'' was used to discipline inmates in the
youth section.
The Belize Central Prison, which investigated formal complaints
regarding prison conditions, reported no cases of abuse or excessive
force by prison officials. The prison holds officer tribunals
approximately twice a month to deal with officer misconduct, including
such issues as absence without leave, dereliction of duty, and
disobeying the rules. Disciplinary actions were taken in 80 to 90
percent of the cases brought before the tribunal; 30 percent of those
actions resulted in termination of employment. Prison officers
committing criminal offenses do not go through the tribunal process but
are immediately detained and processed through the judicial system.
As of November, there were approximately 31 incidents of inmate-on-
inmate violence, two of which resulted in serious injuries requiring
hospitalization; there was one fatality, which was under investigation
by the Belize National Police.
The Belize Central Prison has four counselors, including a woman
who counsels female inmates. The prison includes a separate facility
for women, located 200 yards outside of the main compound. Conditions
in the women's facility are significantly better than those in the
men's compound. The courts occasionally sent female juveniles to the
Belize Central Prison; however, most of those convicted were placed in
the care of the government social services authorities in facilities
such as the Youth Hostel. There was one 17-year-old woman at the prison
who shared a cell with a female adult. Male juveniles, both on remand
and convicted, lived in a separate facility outside the main perimeter
fence of the Belize Central Prison, but they were within visual and
auditory distance of the adult facility.
The government permitted visits by independent human rights
observers. The ombudsman made her first visit to the Belize Central
Prison in August.
Living conditions at the country's sole prison continued to
improve: every cell has a toilet and proper lighting, and all cells
were protected from the elements. Trusties were held in larger rooms of
eight to a cell, while the regular prison population was held in cells
of two to four prisoners.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the constitution and
law prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, there were occasional
accusations of arbitrary arrest and detention.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--National and local
police under the Office of the Commissioner of Police maintain internal
security. The Ministry of National Security supervises the Department
of Police and the Department of Immigration. The Customs Department
reports to the Ministry of Finance. The Belize Defense Force (BDF),
under the Ministry of National Security, handles external security and
also has some responsibilities for domestic security under the Office
of the Commissioner of Police to complement mobile and foot patrols.
BDF soldiers carry out preventive patrols along with the police,
primarily in Belize City. The 1,193-member national police force
responded to complaints. Inadequate government resources, low pay for
officers, and corruption remained problems. During the year there were
no reported cases of impunity for security authorities.
As of November, the OIA had received a total of 135 complaints
against police officers and investigated 16 complaints of police
corruption. Authorities investigated 89 police officers for corruption,
violence, or abuse, resulting in 10 monetary fines, five reprimands,
two severe reprimands, four dismissals, one recommendation for
dismissal, and 67 findings of not guilty or justifiable actions. A
total of 46 cases related to corruption, violence, or abuse remained
under investigation.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Police must
obtain search or arrest warrants issued by a magistrate, except in
cases of hot pursuit, when there is probable cause, or when the
presence of a firearm is suspected. The law requires police to inform a
detainee (in writing) of the cause of detention within 48 hours of
arrest and to bring the person before a magistrate to be charged within
a reasonable time (normally 24 hours). In practice, arresting police
informed detainees immediately of the charges against them.
The law requires police to follow the Judges' Rules, a code of
conduct governing police interaction with arrested persons. Although
cases sometimes were dismissed when the Judges' Rules were violated,
more commonly a confession obtained through violation of these rules
was deemed invalid. Detainees usually were granted timely access to
family members and lawyers, although there were occasional complaints
that inmates were denied access or a telephone call after arrest. While
there is a functioning bail system, a 2008 law prohibits magistrates or
police officers from granting bail for certain offenses, such as
murder, kidnapping, any offense committed with a firearm, or narcotics
charges involving 2.2 pounds or more of illegal drugs. In such cases
the Supreme Court may grant bail upon receiving an application.
Detainees sometimes could not afford bail, and backlogs in the
docket often caused considerable delays and postponement of hearings,
occasionally resulting in prolonged pretrial detention. As of November,
there were 425 persons (29 percent of the prison population) in
pretrial detention.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial
independence. The constitution is the supreme law of the land, and
persons have the right to bring legal actions for alleged violations of
rights protected under the constitution, regardless of whether there is
also implementing legislation.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The law
extends the following rights to persons accused of civil or criminal
offenses: presumption of innocence, protection against self-
incrimination, defense by counsel only in capital cases, a public
trial, and appeal. Defendants have the right to be present at their
trial unless the court determines that the opposing party has a
substantiated fear for their safety, in which case the court can grant
interim provisions that both parties be addressed individually during a
five-day period.
The government provided legal counsel for indigent defendants only
in capital murder cases. Most defendants could not afford an attorney,
and there was a higher rate of conviction of defendants without legal
representation. Many defendants remained unrepresented. The
constitution and law allow defendants to confront and question
witnesses against them and to present witnesses on their behalf.
Defendants have the right to produce evidence in their defense and to
examine evidence held by the opposing party or within the hands of the
court.
Lengthy trial backlogs remained during the year. The DPP cited
staffing constraints as the main reason for the backlog. Routine cases
without a defense attorney were decided within three months, but cases
involving a serious crime or in which a defense attorney was present
took more than one year. The DPP dismissed a large number of Supreme
Court cases, citing uncooperative witnesses or a lack of evidence.
Judges were often slow to issue rulings, which sometimes took a year or
longer.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Most civil suits are heard
in the Supreme Court; however, the magistrates' courts have
jurisdiction over civil cases involving sums of less than BZ$5,000
($2,500). In addition to civil cases, the Supreme Court has
jurisdiction over cases involving human rights issues. The backlog of
civil cases in the Supreme Court increased during the year due to an
increase in the number of cases.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and
government authorities generally respected these prohibitions in
practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the government generally respected these
rights in practice. The constitution, however, permits authorities to
forbid any citizen from questioning the validity of financial
disclosure statements submitted by public officials. Anyone who
questions these statements orally or in writing outside a rigidly
prescribed procedure is subject to a fine of up to BZ$5,000 ($2,500),
imprisonment of up to three years, or both. There were no reports that
this prohibition was invoked during the year.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
viewpoints without restriction. All newspapers were subject to libel
laws that were enforced during the year.
The Belize Broadcasting Authority regulated broadcasting and had
the right to preview certain broadcasts, such as those with political
content, and to delete any defamatory or libelous material from
political broadcasts. This right was not exercised during the year.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail.
Lack of infrastructure and high costs limited public access to the
Internet. The International Telecommunication Union reported that in
2008 there were 11 Internet users per 100 inhabitants.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
Pursuant to a constitutional amendment, the governor general
appoints one of 12 senators, in accordance with the advice of the
Belize Council of Churches and the Evangelical Association of Churches.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. There
were fewer than 10 members in the Jewish community.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution provides for freedom
of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in providing protection and assistance to internally displaced persons,
refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and
other persons of concern.
The constitution prohibits forced internal or external exile of
citizens.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol
relating to the Status of Refugees. Its laws provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status, but the government no longer has an
established system for providing protection to refugees. The
nongovernmental organization (NGO) Help For Progress, the UNHCR's
implementing partner in the country, assisted with refugee and asylum
cases. Individual cases were handled through the Immigration and
Nationality Department.
In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion. In February a group of 16 Cubans found floating on a craft off
the coast were reportedly brought ashore, given treatment, and placed
in detention while awaiting a decision about repatriation. According to
media reports, two individuals died, one went missing, and the
remaining 13 sought judicial review of their claims for refugee status.
Eventually the government assisted in the repatriation of 10
individuals in May, while the remaining three applied for asylum, were
offered work permits, and were awaiting results on their asylum
applications at year's end. The government also provided protection for
and assisted in the voluntary repatriation of an Indian national in
June.
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 by secret ballot and on
the basis of universal suffrage for all citizens age 18 and older.
Elections and Political Participation.--In February 2008 the UDP
obtained a parliamentary majority in generally free and fair elections.
There were five women, among them the president, in the 12-member
appointed Senate but no women in the 31-seat House of Representatives.
Mestizo, Creole, Maya, Garifuna, Mennonite, and other minority and
immigrant groups were represented in the National Assembly and at the
highest levels of government.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, there have been no successful prosecutions for official
corruption. The World Bank's worldwide governance indicators reflected
that corruption was a problem.
In June the chief justice of the Supreme Court dismissed the case
charging former prime minister Said Musa with theft of BZ$20 million
($10 million).
The Prevention of Corruption in Public Life Act requires public
officials to submit annual financial statements, which are to be
reviewed by the Integrity Commission.
The law provides for public access to documents of a ministry or
prescribed authority upon written request, although it protects a
number of categories, such as documents from the courts or those
related to national security, defense, or foreign relations. The
government must supply to the Office of the Ombudsman a written reason
for any denial of access, the name of the person making the decision,
and information on the right to appeal.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Domestic and international human rights groups generally operated
without government restriction, investigating and publishing their
findings on human rights cases. Government officials often were
cooperative and responsive to their views.
The ombudsman, although appointed by the government, acts as an
independent check on governmental abuses. The Office of the Ombudsman
consists of the ombudsman, an assistant, and a secretary. By year's
end, the office had not published its annual report. The Office of the
Ombudsman reported difficulty in receiving information from the Belize
Police Department regarding allegations of police brutality. The
ombudsman reported that information received was insufficient,
resulting in her decision to initiate independent judicial proceedings
for 15 cases.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, gender,
disability, language, or social status, and the government effectively
enforced these prohibitions.
Women.--The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape.
The criminal code states that persons convicted of rape or marital
rape shall be sentenced to not less than eight years' and up to life
imprisonment. In practice, however, sentences were often much lighter.
In a number of instances, the DPP dropped the charges if the accusing
party did not testify at trial. Police and courts enforced statutory
rape laws; however, in relation to the number of accusations,
convictions were infrequent, as the prosecution discontinued cases when
complainants were unwilling to proceed or requested no further court
action. Police reported 30 cases of rape during the year; there were 13
arrests in the 16 cases reported through September.
The law prohibits domestic violence and contains penalties,
including imprisonment, for violations, depending on the crime. The law
empowers the family court to issue protection orders against accused
offenders. Domestic violence against women remained a significant
problem. Through June the Belize Police Department reported that 782
cases of domestic violence were recorded by police and health
authorities. Domestic violence was most prevalent in the Belize
District, which includes Belize City. There were two women's shelters
in the country (with a total of 18 beds) that offered short-term
housing.
The law does not explicitly address adult prostitution, and the
government did not use law enforcement resources to combat
prostitution. Loitering for the purposes of prostitution, operating a
brothel, and soliciting sex are illegal.
The magistrates' courts deal with sexual harassment complaints.
There are no criminal penalties for sexual harassment, and no sexual
harassment cases were brought during the year.
Couples and individuals have the right to decide freely and
responsibly the number, spacing, and timing of their children, and they
had the information and means to do so free from discrimination,
coercion, and violence. Programs undertaken by the Ministry of Health
and the Belize Family Life Association provided for information and
access to family planning and reproductive health services. Women and
men were afforded equal access to diagnostic services and treatment for
sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
Despite legal provisions for gender equality, the media continued
to report that women faced social and economic discrimination. There
were no legal impediments to women owning or managing land or other
real property. Women participated in all spheres of national life but
held relatively few top managerial positions. Although the law mandates
equal pay for equal work, women tended to earn less than men. The
median monthly income for a working woman was BZ$710 ($355), compared
with BZ$751 ($374.50) for a man, based on the 2007 Belize Labor Force
Survey.
The Women's Department under the Ministry of Human Development and
Social Transformation is responsible for developing programs to improve
the status of women. A number of officially registered women's groups
also worked closely with various government ministries to promote
social awareness programs.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory, regardless of the nationality of the parents. Citizenship
may also be acquired by descent if least one parent is a citizen of the
country; however, citizenship by descent is not automatic for a child
born outside the country.
The law requires the registration of the birth of children, and it
was effectively enforced.
Through June the Epidemiology Unit at the Ministry of Health
recorded 110 cases of domestic violence and 36 cases of sexual abuse
against children under 14, and the police reported 42 cases of unlawful
carnal knowledge as of September. In many cases, the government was
unable to prosecute individuals for sexual abuse and unlawful carnal
knowledge because the victims or their families were reluctant to press
charges.
The law allows authorities to remove a child from an abusive home
environment and requires parents to maintain and support children until
the age of 18. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) expressed concern about
the criminal justice system's response to cases, as many of the
perpetrators were not prosecuted and many cases were withdrawn due to
lack of evidence and poor-quality investigations.
The Family Services Division in the Ministry of Human Development
and Social Transformation is the government office devoted to
children's issues. The division coordinated programs for children who
were victims of domestic violence, advocated remedies in specific cases
before the family court, conducted public education campaigns,
investigated cases of trafficking in children, and worked with local
and international NGOs and UNICEF to promote children's welfare.
The legal age for consensual sex is 16. Carnal knowledge of a
female child under the age of 14, with or without her consent, is an
offense punishable by 12 years' to life imprisonment. Carnal knowledge
of a girl who is 14 to 16 is an offense punishable by five to 10 years'
imprisonment.
Paid sex with a 16- or 17-year-old is a crime. The law criminalizes
the procurement or attempted procurement of unlawful carnal knowledge
with a female who is under the age of 18 and who is not a common
prostitute or of ``known immoral character;'' an offender is liable to
five years' imprisonment.
There are no laws against pornography; however, the criminal code
establishes a penalty of two years' imprisonment for persons convicted
of publishing or offering for sale any obscene book, writing, or
representation.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
which is punishable by fines of up to BZ$10,000 ($5,000) and
imprisonment of up to five years. There were reports that persons were
trafficked within, to, and through the country, mainly from neighboring
countries, for purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual
exploitation.
There were no reliable estimates of the extent of trafficking.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, working with the Ministry of
Human Development, indicated that three victims of trafficking in
persons were identified through year's end. Of the three
investigations, two reports were unsubstantiated and one investigation
continued at year's end. There were reports that women were trafficked
to the country from neighboring countries, such as Guatemala, Honduras,
and El Salvador, primarily for prostitution and nude dancing. NGOs
reported that persons in the commercial sex trade appeared to be in the
country (and in their current occupation) by choice, usually at the
suggestion of a friend or family member who was also engaged in
commercial sex work. Victims generally lived in squalid conditions in
the bars where they worked. Some bar owners reportedly confiscated
victims' passports.
The government's National Committee for Families and Children and
UNICEF reported that underage girls from economically disadvantaged
backgrounds often provided sexual favors to older men, ``sugar
daddies,'' in exchange for clothing, jewelry, school fees, or books at
the urging of their families. Adolescent girls, some of whom were
trafficked within the country and to and from neighboring countries,
worked as domestic servants and in commercial sexual activities.
There were no successful prosecutions of traffickers during the
year. One case involving five Indian nationals was scheduled to go to
trial on September 28; however, the trial was delayed while the
prosecutor searched for a qualified interpreter.
The law provides for limited victims' assistance, although in
practice government resources were insufficient to provide meaningful
aid to victims. Noncitizen victims willing to assist in prosecuting
traffickers are legally eligible for residency status.
The government's Anti-Trafficking in Persons Committee, led by the
Ministry of Human Development and including representatives of various
other ministries, departments, and NGOs, is the lead entity in
combating trafficking. The NGO Youth Enhancement Services (YES)
launched a public awareness campaign in October to combat
``intergenerational transactional sex.''
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/t/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the law does not expressly
prohibit discrimination against persons with physical and mental
disabilities, the constitution provides for the protection of all
citizens from any type of discrimination. The law does not provide for
accessibility for persons with disabilities. There were two schools
(the Cayo Deaf Institute in Central Farm and the Stella Maris School
for disabled children in Belize City) and four special education
centers (located in Corozal, Punta Gorda, Orange Walk, and Dangriga)
for children with disabilities.
Informal government-organized committees for persons with
disabilities were tasked with public education and enforcing
protection. Private companies and NGOs, such as the Parents Association
for Children with Special Needs and the Belize Council for the Visually
Impaired, provided services to persons with disabilities. The Ministry
of Education maintained an educational unit offering limited special
education programs within the regular school system.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Ethnic tension, particularly
resentment of recently arrived Central American and Asian immigrants,
continued to be a problem, resulting in discrimination characterized
largely by verbal mistreatment.
Indigenous People.--The country's pluralistic society comprised
several ethnic minorities and indigenous Mayan groups. Among the
country's indigenous population, the Mopan and Kekchi historically were
characterized under the general term Maya, although self- proclaimed
leaders more recently asserted that they should be identified as the
Masenal (``common people''). The Maya Leaders' Alliance, which
comprised the Toledo Maya Cultural Council, the Kekchi Council of
Belize, the Toledo Alcaldes Association, and the Toledo Maya Women's
Council, monitored development in the Toledo District with the goal of
protecting Mayan land and culture. While there were legal disputes
concerning land development, there were no reports of governmental
violations of civil or political rights. In July the Supreme Court
heard a communal land rights case including 38 villages in the Toledo
District that was filed in 2008 by the Maya Leader Alliance and the
Toledo Alcades Association. The case was heard in July, and the chief
justice's judgment was pending at year's end.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The law does not protect
sexual orientation or gender identity. The criminal code states that
``carnal intercourse'' with ``any person'' ``against the order of
nature'' shall receive a punishment of 10 years' imprisonment. The law
is interpreted as affecting male-to-male sex but not female-to-female
sex.
The extent of discrimination based on sexual orientation was
difficult to ascertain due to lack of reporting of instances of
discrimination through official channels.
In July two men from Orange Walk alleged they were harassed because
of their sexual orientation. One of the men reported to the United
Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM) that he and his partner were harassed
by a group of police officers while visiting a local public park. The
officers took the men to the police station where they detained one of
the men overnight. During detention, the man alleged that the police
verbally abused him with derogatory comments about his sexual
orientation. The individual refused to file a complaint due to fear of
future harassment and information that one of the police officers
conducting the harassment was also the officer in charge.
The country's sole lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy
organization, UNIBAM, reported that continuing harassment and insults
by the general public and police affected its activities; however, its
members were reluctant to file complaints. There were no gay pride
marches organized in the past year due to UNIBAM membership concerns
over the public's reaction to such a march.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--There was some societal
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS, and the government worked
to combat it through the public education efforts of the National AIDS
Commission under the Ministry of Human Development and through the Pan
American Social Marketing Organization.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--By law and in practice, workers were
generally free to establish and join trade unions. Eleven independent
unions, whose members constituted approximately 7 percent of the labor
force, represented a cross section of workers, including most civil
service employees. The Ministry of Labor recognizes a union after it
has registered. The union must be certified by a tripartite body,
comprising three members each from an established trade union, the
business community, and the government, in order to represent workers.
Both law and precedent effectively protect unions against dissolution
or suspension by administrative authority.
The law permits unions to strike and does not generally require
notice before a strike. However, this right is not extended to public
sector workers in areas designated as ``essential services,'' which are
broadly defined and include postal, sanitary, health, and other
services, as well as services in which petroleum products are sold.
Essential services workers must provide 21 days' notice to strike. The
law also empowers the government to refer a dispute to compulsory
arbitration in order to prevent or terminate a strike.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for collective bargaining, and unions practiced it freely.
Although employers and unions can set wages in free negotiations, more
commonly employers simply established them. The labor commissioner or
his representative has the authority to act as a mediator in deadlocked
collective bargaining negotiations between labor and management,
offering nonbinding counsel to both sides. If either union or
management chooses not to accept the commissioner's decision, they may
request a legal hearing.
Unions may organize freely, but the law does not require employers
to recognize a union as a bargaining agent if no union within that
sector covers more than 50 percent of the workers.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and contains a mechanism
by which employees terminated for union organizing may seek redress. In
practice there was antiunion discrimination on the banana plantations
and in the export processing zones (EPZs), where employer collectives
and associations have not agreed to recognize unions. While an
aggrieved employee can seek redress from the courts, effective redress
for workers dismissed for union organizing was extremely difficult to
obtain. Although workers are able to file complaints with the Labor
Department, it was difficult for workers who filed complaints to prove
that their termination was due to union activity, and fines imposed on
employers in cases of antiunion discrimination were too low to
discourage employers from such practices.
There are no special laws or exemptions from the regular labor laws
in the country's 63 EPZs. There were no unions in the EPZs.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the employment of children under age 12 and the
employment of children between the ages of 12 and 14 before the end of
school hours on official school days. While the law does not expressly
provide for a maximum number of weekly hours of work that can be
performed by persons under 18 years of age, it generally limits work
hours for all persons to 45 hours per week. The law expressly prohibits
children from working overtime. The law permits children to work on
family farms and in family-run businesses. The minimum age for
employment involving hazardous machinery is 17 years. There were
ambiguities in the legal definition of child labor in relation to light
work, hazardous work, and artistic performance. Inspectors from the
Departments of Labor and Education are responsible for enforcing
regulations governing child labor, but there were no updated reports on
whether child labor laws were well enforced during the year.
Child labor was a problem in family-related commercial activities.
Children in rural areas worked on family plots and businesses after
school, on weekends, and during vacations, and they were involved in
the citrus and banana industries as field workers. Children in urban
areas shined shoes and sold food, crafts, and other small items.
Adolescent girls were trafficked within, to, and from the country (see
section 6, Trafficking in Persons). Children frequently sold fruit and
baked goods along the country's northern and southern highways and also
crossed into the country from Guatemala on a daily basis to work as
street vendors in the urban centers of the Cayo district. A 2003
International Labor Organization study, the most recent available,
estimated that 6 percent of children between the ages of five and 17
were working, with 69 percent engaged in hazardous work.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage varied
according to the type of work in which an employee is engaged. The
minimum wages for various sectors were established on the basis of a
survey of various domestic businesses, resulting in an average that was
reviewed and approved by the cabinet. The survey was conducted in 2006
by the wages council, which consisted of representatives of government,
employers, and unions. For those in agriculture and agroindustry, the
hourly minimum wage was BZ$2.50 ($1.25); for manual and domestic
workers, it was BZ$3.00 ($1.50). The minimum wage law did not cover
workers paid on a piecework basis. The national minimum wage did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The
Ministry of Labor was charged with enforcing the minimum wage, which
generally was respected in practice.
The law sets the workweek at no more than six days or 45 hours and
requires premium payment for overtime work. The exploitation of
undocumented Central American workers, particularly young service
workers and agricultural workers, continued to be a problem.
Several different health and safety regulations covered numerous
industries, and the Ministry of Labor enforced these regulations to
varying degrees due to limited resources. The government committed its
limited inspection and investigative resources principally to urban and
more accessible rural areas where labor, health, and safety complaints
were registered. Workers have the legal right to leave a dangerous
workplace situation without jeopardy to continued employment and did so
in practice.
__________
BOLIVIA
Bolivia is a constitutional, multiparty democracy with a population
of approximately 9.7 million. On January 25, Bolivians approved a new
constitution. On December 6, in a process deemed free and fair by
international observers, citizens reelected Evo Morales Ayma, leader of
the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party, as president. Civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
While the government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were significant problems in a number of areas. These
included alleged abuses by security forces; harsh prison conditions;
allegations of arbitrary arrest and detention; an ineffective,
overburdened, and corrupt judiciary; a ``partly free'' media;
corruption and a lack of transparency in government; discrimination
based on gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation; trafficking in
persons; child labor; forced or coerced labor; and harsh working
conditions in the mining sector.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the government or its agents committed politically
motivated killings. Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports
that deaths occurred during politically related conflicts; however,
security forces killed three alleged international terrorists.
On April 16, an elite police unit raided a downtown Santa Cruz
hotel and shot and killed three alleged terrorists--Bolivian-Hungarian
Eduardo Rozsa-Flores, Hungarian Arpad Magyarosi, and Irishman Michael
Dwyer--and arrested two others--Mario Tadic, a Croatian, and Elod
Toaso, a Hungarian. The government claimed Rozsa-Flores led a group
recruited by the political opposition that intended to assassinate
President Morales and assist in the secession of the department of
Santa Cruz. Opposition leaders denied these charges and claimed the
government itself recruited or quickly infiltrated the group and then
executed the three men so they could not discuss government
involvement. An official congressional inquiry found that police acted
lawfully and disrupted a terrorist cell. A report by opposition
commission members questioned the majority findings and the
circumstances of the terrorist deaths.
Mob violence, sometimes incorrectly characterized by perpetrators
as ``indigenous justice'' or ``community justice,'' often led to
violent deaths. Although the concept of ``indigenous justice'' is
discussed in the country's new constitution, the government strongly
rejected the interpretation that the constitution permits mob violence,
noting the constitution specifically bans capital punishment. Many
observers attributed such ``community justice'' to the absence of
effective police and judicial presence in many urban and rural areas.
While there were no official statistics for such crimes, the
government's Special Force Against Crime (FELCC) unofficially
registered 53 such attempts. On December 16, local daily newspaper La
Razon reported 14 episodes of mob violence that resulted in death
during the year.
Killings committed in the name of community justice occurred during
the year.
On February 1, farmers in Ancoraimes, Omasuyos, killed a high
school student from La Paz, accusing him of stealing a small bus.
On April 10, a 25-year-old bicycle thief in southern Cochabamba
died after a crowd tied him to an electric fence post and beat him.
On October 18, La Paz press reported that a mob in neighboring El
Alto beat and then burned to death 38-year-old Pablo Quispe Laura for
trying to steal a canister of liquid gas.
There were no developments in the investigation of the September
2008 deaths of 13 persons in the cities of Porvenir and Cobija in Pando
Department; 11 individuals died in a confrontation between marching
campesinos and Porvenir townspeople, and two others were killed the
next day after security forces landed at Cobija airport. On the
anniversary of the conflict, opposition civic groups released video
footage of townspeople asking the marchers not to enter Porvenir,
hostages being taken by the marchers, federal police forces failing to
act, and the two groups shooting at each other. On October 12, within
the 18-month period allowed for investigation, prosecutors brought
formal charges against former prefect (governor) Leopoldo Fernandez and
other defendants for their alleged roles in the conflict.
There were no developments in the prosecutor's investigation into
the August 2008 deaths of two miners during a confrontation with police
in Cahuasi, near the border of Oruro and Cochabamba Departments.
Congress did not act on a December 2008 request by the Supreme
Court to authorize an impeachment trial for members of the Ministry of
Government, including Government Minister Alfredo Rada, implicated in
the 2007 killings in Sucre of Gonzalo Duran Carazani, Juan Carlos
Serrudo, and Jose Luis Cardozo allegedly by security forces.
There were no developments in the military or civil investigations
into the 2007 death of Osmar Flores Torres in Arani, Cochabamba
Department, in which police denied using lethal weapons in responding
to a demonstration. Although the case's 18-month investigatory phase
ended, the civilian prosecutor did not close the case, bring it to
trial, or identify a person responsible for further prosecution.
There were no new developments in the 2007 shooting of Herman Ruiz.
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 security forces beat terrorist suspects.
Following the April 16 arrest of Mario Tadic and Elod Toaso in
connection with alleged terrorist activities (see section 1.a.), a Web
site showed pictures of Toaso with large bruises on his face, legs,
arms, and buttocks. Other sources showed similar pictures of Tadic.
After meeting Toaso in jail, the Hungarian ambassador told local media,
``Unfortunately, they mistreated this Hungarian citizen during the
arrest. You can see this on his face and other parts of his body.'' The
human rights ombudsman also confirmed both were beaten.
On May 16, Jhenieffer Wissemberg told local media that government-
affiliated thugs beat her severely in August 2008, causing her to lose
sight in her right eye. She said the beating was a reprisal for
accusations by her husband, former national customs department
president Cesar Lopez, that Presidency Minister Juan Ramon Quintana
coordinated delivery of 33 truckloads of contraband to Brazil.
Wissemberg said that Quintana ordered the attack and two subsequent
attacks when her husband did not respond to a series of threatening
telephone calls directing him to recant his accusations. On May 7, the
MAS-controlled lower house of Congress dismissed Lopez's charges,
exonerated Quintana, and charged Lopez with corruption.
There were several incidents of nonlethal mob violence during the
year.
On March 3, former Congress member and MAS party dissident Marlene
Paredes was attacked by a large group and expelled from her home in the
Yungas Valley. Paredes said the group comprised MAS party followers who
shouted as they beat her that the attack was ``community justice'' for
being a traitor to the MAS. In an interview, Paredes showed pictures of
large bruises covering her body. The government denied any connection
with the attack and closed the case. Paredes presented her case to the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which had not responded
formally by year's end.
On March 7, approximately 300 persons invaded the home of former
vice president and opposition political leader Victor Hugo Cardenas,
where they attacked and evicted his wife and two children, ransacked
their belongings, and refused to allow police to enter the property for
weeks. According to news reports, many in the mob specifically called
the action ``community justice'' and said the constitution empowered
them to take such actions. Cardenas said he held the Morales
administration responsible for the attack. He sued Government Minister
Alfredo Rada for the government's refusal to prosecute the attackers
and for the lack of police action to return the home. Government
spokespersons disavowed any responsibility. After initially declaring
that Cardenas brought the attack upon himself for past ``traitorous''
acts, Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera called for the return of
Cardenas' home, saying the constitution ``contains absolute respect for
private property.'' The property had not been returned to Cardenas, and
social group representatives maintained a vigil near the house at
year's end, denying entrance to Cardenas and local police.
On April 7, police in Cochabamba broke up three separate lynching
attempts to kill up to 10 persons for robberies. In one incident a
crowd beat a group of six children ranging in age from 14 to 17, only
to find hours later the children were not the thieves.
On May 11, the pro-MAS Federation of Indigenous People of Eastern
Bolivia (CIDOB) announced they had applied ``community justice'' to
Beni Department Director of Indigenous Development Marcial Fabricano by
publicly whipping him 50 times. CIDOB leader Adolfo Chavez said
Fabricano was punished for not appointing MAS leaders to prominent
positions in Beni. The government disavowed the attack and started a
formal investigation, but no results were announced by year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh. Prisons were overcrowded and in poor condition. Government
authorities effectively controlled only the outer security perimeter of
each prison. Prisoners usually maintained control, and gangs directed
criminal activity from their cells.
Violence among prisoners, and in some cases the involvement of
prison officials in violence against prisoners, were problems.
Corruption was a problem among low-ranking and poorly paid guards
and prison wardens. The number of persons held in detention centers
remained a problem. A prisoner's wealth often determined cell size,
visiting privileges, day-pass eligibility, and place or length of
confinement. Inmates reportedly paid fees to prior cell occupants or to
prisoners who controlled cellblocks.
Although the law permits children up to six years old to live with
an incarcerated parent, children as old as 12 lived with their parents
in prisons. (The law also permits spouses to live in prison.)
Approximately 877 children lived with a parent in prison, as an
alternative to being left homeless. During school vacations the number
of children in prison with parents could double. The national
ombudsman, in coordination with the Ministry of Government, issued a
statement in 2007 advocating a ban on the practice of children living
in prisons.
The standard prison diet was insufficient, and prisoners who could
afford to do so supplemented rations by buying food.
The law provides that prisoners have access to medical care, but
care was inadequate, and it was difficult for prisoners to get
permission for outside medical treatment. Nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) and prisoners reported cases of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in the
jails. However, affluent prisoners could obtain transfers to preferred
prisons or even to outside private institutional care for ``medical''
reasons. Inmates who could pay had access to drugs and alcohol, and
sometimes they used children to traffic drugs inside the prisons.
There were 7,433 inmates (6,541 men and 892 women) in facilities
designed to hold 4,700 prisoners. There were separate prisons for
women, except for Morros Blancos Prison in Tarija, where men and women
shared facilities. Conditions for female inmates were similar to those
for men; however, overcrowding at the San Sebastian women's prison in
Cochabamba was worse than in most prisons for men.
According to Ministry of Government officials, 668 convicted
juveniles (16 to 21 years old) were not segregated from adult prisoners
in jails. According to interviews, adult inmates sometimes abused the
juvenile prisoners. Rehabilitation programs for juveniles or other
prisoners were scarce to nonexistent. Pretrial detainees were held with
convicted prisoners.
The government generally permitted prison visits by independent
human rights observers, judges, and media representatives, and such
visits took place during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, there were cases of security forces
seizing and holding individuals under legally questionable
circumstances.
On November 18, police arrested Betty Aponte Justiniano for showing
a lack of respect to Presidency Minister Juan Ramon Quintana and for
subsequently failing to respond to a request to appear in front of
government investigators. Police detained Aponte for 21 hours with her
three daughters before a judge released her with the requirement that
she report weekly to the government investigator's office. Aponte
allegedly insulted Quintana on September 11 by coarsely asking him how
long he would spend in jail for his alleged role in a contraband
scandal (see section 1.c.). Opposition Senators Paulo Bravo and Roger
Pinto said the arrest was a political reprisal, that Aponte was held at
Quintana's behest, and that she never received a required written
request from investigators to report to court.
Jorge Melgar Quete remained in a La Paz jail awaiting trial after
his October 2008 arrest for publicly calling for the ``liquidation'' of
President Morales. The opposition maintained Melgar was jailed for
disseminating video of Presidency Minister Quintana calling for the
``political burial'' of then-Pando prefect Fernandez.
On June 18, Reinaldo Bayard was released from prison on bail as
investigations continued over his role in the September 2008 explosion
of a government-owned gas pipeline in Tarija Department.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police
have primary responsibility for internal security, but military forces
may be called upon for help in critical situations. The national police
disciplined officers by issuing 1,179 administrative sanctions through
December 1. Prosecutors were sometimes reluctant to prosecute security
officials for alleged offenses committed while on duty, in part because
they relied on the Judicial Technical Police to investigate its own
officers. NGOs charged that several investigations into potential human
rights violations by the military stalled or proceeded slowly due to an
administrative policy prohibiting the military from commenting on its
activities, a policy that can be overruled by civilian judges. Police
corruption was a significant problem, partially due to low salaries and
lack of training, although no reliable statistics existed to quantify
the depth of the problem.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Arrests
generally were carried out openly, but there were credible reports of
arbitrary arrests and detentions.
The law requires an arrest warrant, and the police must inform the
prosecutor of an arrest within eight hours. The law requires that a
detainee see a judge within 24 hours (except under a declared state of
siege, in which a detainee may be held for 48 hours), at which time the
judge must determine the appropriateness of continued pretrial
detention or release on bail and must order the detainee's release if
the prosecutor fails to show sufficient grounds for arrest. Credible
reports indicated that in some cases detainees were held for more than
24 hours without court approval.
More than 73 percent of detainees awaited sentencing, but the
courts provided release on bail for some detainees. Judges have the
authority to order preventive detention for suspects deemed a flight
risk. If a suspect is not detained, a judge may order significant
restrictions on the suspect's movements.
Detainees generally had prompt access to their families and were
allowed access to lawyers, but approximately 70 percent could not
afford legal counsel, and public defenders were scarce and
overburdened.
During the year the government provided 112 police officers in-
depth human rights training, and provided 381 cadets and other police
officials instruction in legal procedure that featured human rights
instruction as well. Led by MAS Deputy Elizabeth Salguero, the
Congressional Human Rights Commission worked with the Bolivian National
Police to organize an international workshop on the rights of women
police officers and provided training for 1,975 female officers.
Denial of justice through prolonged detention remained a problem.
Although the law establishes that a case's investigatory phase cannot
exceed a maximum of 18 months and that the trial phase cannot exceed
three years, some suspects were held in preventive detention longer
than the legal limits. If the investigatory process is not completed in
18 months, the detainee may request release by a judge; however,
judicial corruption, a shortage of public defenders, inadequate case-
tracking mechanisms, and complex criminal justice procedures kept some
persons jailed for more than 18 months before trial.
Children from 11 to 16 years of age may be detained indefinitely in
children's centers for known or suspected offenses, or for their
protection, on the orders of a social worker. There is no judicial
review of such orders.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, but the judiciary was widely considered corrupt,
overburdened, and weakened by vacancies at its highest levels.
There are three levels of courts within the criminal court system:
trial courts, superior courts, and the Supreme Court. Superior court
review is restricted to a review of the application of the law. The
Supreme Court may hear appeals in general, but review is restricted to
cases involving exceptional circumstances. Three other bodies forming
part of the judicial branch are the Constitutional Tribunal, National
Electoral Court, and Judicial Council.
The Supreme Court functioned throughout the year, but legal
investigations undertaken by the lower house of Congress led to
impeachment hearings against several justices. At year's end, Supreme
Court President Eddy Fernandez and six other justices faced suspension
and possible impeachment. Fernandez labeled the investigations a
direct, partisan attack by the government on the Supreme Court.
Government representatives countered that several justices were
politically aligned with the opposition and were abusing their
positions by slowing or halting justice in key cases.
The Supreme Court also faced a backlog of more than 5,000 pending
requests, some dating back to 2003, which justices said they had not
addressed due to vacancies on the Court. The Supreme Court functioned
for most of the year with only seven of 12 positions filled.
The Constitutional Tribunal is an independent institution and has
original and appellate jurisdiction on constitutional matters. The
Tribunal is the country's highest authority on constitutional matters
and is separate from the Supreme Court, which is the highest authority
on all other legal matters.
The Constitutional Tribunal, which normally functions with five
regular members and five alternates, did not operate for most of the
year, as its final magistrate, Silvia Salame, resigned on May 25.
Tribunal magistrates, including Salame, charged that government-
affiliated social groups harassed tribunal members to force them to
resign to remove judicial oversight of constitutionally questionable
government actions. A deadlock between the MAS-controlled lower house
and the opposition-controlled senate prevented agreement on replacement
magistrates, leaving the tribunal empty. According to the Inter-
American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), at the end of the year the
tribunal had a backlog of more than 4,400 cases, affecting an estimated
29,000 persons.
The National Electoral Court is the final authority on all matters
relating to elections. Although it operated with only three of five
members, it met regularly, was able to form a quorum, and signaled its
independence from the executive branch through a variety of rulings and
initiatives.
The Judicial Council, a legal oversight body created to fight
corruption and malpractice, was unable to form a quorum and did not
make judgments during the year. The council faced a backlog of more
than 100 disciplinary cases.
In addition to the foregoing, the law also recognizes the conflict-
resolution (community justice) traditions of indigenous communities,
which are, in fact, practiced in many communities, provided they
respect the right to life and do not conflict with the rights and
provisions established under the constitution.
There is also a military justice system: it generally was
susceptible to senior-level influence and tended to avoid rulings that
would embarrass the military. When a military member is accused of a
crime related to his military service, the commander of the affected
unit assigns an officer to conduct an inquiry and prepare a report. The
results are forwarded to a judicial advisor, usually at the division
level, who then recommends a finding of innocence or guilt. For major
infractions the case is forwarded to a military court, except that
military personnel are supposed to be tried in civilian courts for
human rights violations.
Trial Procedures.--Defendants have constitutional rights to a
presumption of innocence, to a speedy and public trial by jury, to
remain silent, to have an attorney, to confront witnesses, to present
evidence on their own behalf, to due process, to an appeal, and to
confront legal charges with government prosecutors before a formal
court process is initiated.
In practice the rights to an attorney and to a speedy trial were
not protected systematically, although the Criminal Procedures Code
facilitated more efficient investigations, transparent oral trials, and
credible verdicts. According to the Public Defender's Office, its
staffing for the country's nine departments included only 55 public
defenders and 11 legal assistants. According to a study by the IACHR
released December 16, only 55 percent of municipalities had judges, 23
percent government investigators, and 3 percent public defenders.
The law provides for a system of transparent oral trials in
criminal cases, requires that no pretrial detention exceed 18 months
without charges, provides for a maximum period of detention of 24
months in cases in which a sentence is being appealed, and mandates a
three-year maximum duration for a trial. The law provides that the
prosecutor is in charge of the investigative stage of a case and must
give suspects an opportunity to confront charges before a trial
formally begins.
The prosecutor instructs police regarding witness statements and
evidence necessary to prosecute. The prosecutor pursues misdemeanor
cases (with possible sentences of less than four years) before a judge
of instruction and felony cases (with possible sentences of more than
four years) before sentencing courts, both of which feature a five-
member panel that includes three citizens and two judges.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The opposition alleged that
former Pando Prefect Fernandez and three others were held as political
prisoners, while the government maintained they were being held legally
under judicial order (see section 1.d.) The government allowed
Fernandez to receive visitors, including international monitors, but
did not allow press to enter the prison to interview Fernandez as part
of his national election campaign.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary for civil matters. The law provides for
criminal remedies for human rights violations, and at the conclusion of
a criminal trial, the complainant can initiate a civil trial to seek
damages. Administratively, the ombudsman for human rights can issue
resolutions on specific human rights cases, which the government may
enforce.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the government
generally respected these prohibitions.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press. Although the government generally respected
these rights, it maintained an antagonistic relationship with the
press. Opposition members charged President Morales and government
officials with making disparaging statements regarding the press,
politicizing state-produced media content, and taking actions designed
to restrict independent media or encourage self-censorship.
The number of media outlets, including printed press, television,
and radio, was extensive, and airing of various viewpoints, many
expressing opposition to the government, continued. Radio and
television stations generally operated freely. However, in rural areas
state radio was often the only available media source.
The law provides that persons found guilty of insulting, defaming,
or slandering public officials for carrying out their duties may be
jailed from one month to two years. Insults directed against the
president, vice president, or a minister increase the sentence by half.
Journalists accused of violating the constitution or citizens' rights
are referred to the 40-person Press Tribunal, an independent body
authorized to evaluate journalists' practices and apply sanctions.
Progovernment and antigovernment groups criticized and attacked
each other. The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) reported on
November 9 that there had been 112 attacks on journalists since May 1.
In its 2009 Freedom of the Press report, NGO Freedom House
characterized the country's press as ``partly free.'' Freedom House
reported that ``significant slides continued'' in the country ``as
attacks and official rhetoric against the media escalated.''
On January 22, President Morales introduced the state-run newspaper
Cambio, which he said would ``halt the aggressive actions and lies of
the private media.'' The government maintained that the majority of
press outlets were owned by persons or groups hostile to the
government, who used their media outlets to call for regime change.
President Morales at times allowed only international press and
domestic state-run media to ask questions during press conferences. On
May 27, President Morales asked journalists to ``educate themselves and
behave more like the foreign press'' instead of ``looking like a bunch
of screeching chickens'' during press conferences.
The IAPA was generally critical of the government for
``undermining'' the press, for sanctioning verbal and physical attacks
against journalists that it feared could lead to self-censorship, and
for contributing to a climate of polarization. However, the IAPA also
stated on May 27 that ``freedom of press definitely exists.''
On March 24, the government sued leading daily newspaper La Prensa
for slander for publishing a story linking President Morales and
Presidency Minister Juan Ramon Quintana to a plan to smuggle 33
truckloads of contraband into Brazil. La Prensa editors rejected the
claim and said they considered the trial an attempt to silence the
press. The case had not been resolved at year's end.
On September 3, police physically attacked and fired shots at a
news reporter and a camera operator when they tried to film the arrest
and transfer of farm owner Nelson Vaca, whom the government accused of
misusing and invading government property. A government representative
condemned the police action and announced that the officers would be
investigated and sanctioned as appropriate. On September 8, the
government dissolved the police unit involved in the attack.
Although the case remained open, there were no results from an
investigation into the December 2008 bombing of newspaper El Potosi.
According to local NGO UNIR, from October 2007 through June 2009,
280 cases of violence against journalists occurred, with only two
resulting in judicial sanctions.
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. The
International Telecommunication Union reported that in 2008 there were
10 Internet users per 100 inhabitants.
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 peaceful assembly, and the authorities generally
respected this right in practice. While the law requires a permit for
most demonstrations, security forces rarely enforced the law, and most
protesters demonstrated without obtaining permits, frequently
blockading major thoroughfares and highways.
While most demonstrations were peaceful, occasionally demonstrators
carried weapons, including clubs, machetes, firearms, and dynamite.
Security forces frequently (police and on occasion the military) were
called upon to break up protest groups carrying weapons or threatening
government and private facilities.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice. Under the constitution promulgated during the year, the state
is independent from religion, and Roman Catholicism is no longer the
official religion.
Tension continued between the government and the Catholic Church's
leadership. President Morales occasionally and vigorously objected to
what he characterized as the Catholic Church leadership's overtly
political role in state affairs, referring to the Church as his
``enemy''; however, his comments did not lead to restrictions on
religious freedom in practice.
On August 20, the government signed a five-year framework agreement
with the Catholic Church, which affirms freedom of religion and
outlines the Church's continued role in providing education, health,
and other social services. The Church hailed the signing of the
agreement as a sign of improved relations.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuse or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. There
was a small Jewish community of approximately 650 persons.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. However, throughout the year both progovernment and
opposition protesters prevented movement within the country by
blockading major highways, as did trade and industry groups. Several
hundred thousand citizens lacked basic identity documents, which
prevented them from obtaining international travel documents and
accessing other government services. However, some experts estimated
the number of citizens lacking documents had decreased due to
government efforts. The government cooperated with the Pastoral de
Movilidad Humana, which is the local representative of the Office of
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. In law/practice
the government provided some protection against the expulsion or return
of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be
threatened on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership
in a particular social group, or political opinion.
The law prohibits the forced exile of citizens, and the government
did not employ the practice.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol.
Its laws provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the
government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the government provided some protection against
the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion.
The government's refugee department, established in January 2008 to
record and process all cases, continued to collaborate with the UNHCR
and improved its performance in processing cases.
The UNHCR reported that the recognized refugee population in the
country was more than 673 persons and steadily increasing. The
government completed processing and agreed to provide refugee
protection in 84 pending cases, with seven older cases still under
review, an improvement over the prior year. There were 39 new
applications 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 through periodic, free,
and fair elections based on universal suffrage. Many citizens of voting
age, particularly in rural areas, lacked the identity documents
necessary to vote, although government efforts reduced this number
significantly. A broad spectrum of political parties and citizens'
groups functioned openly. Elections for national offices and municipal
governments are scheduled every five years.
The National Electoral Court undertook a significant effort to
create a biometric electoral register in advance of December elections.
The new electoral register increased the number of eligible voters by
almost two million persons, to more than five million, and also
increased confidence in the integrity of the register.
Elections and Political Participation.--Monitoring groups from the
Organization of American States, EU, and the Carter Center all
proclaimed the December 6 national presidential and legislative
elections peaceful, free, and fair. Implementation of a new biometric
electoral register greatly reduced accusations of fraud. There were no
reports of significant violence.
The European Union monitoring mission criticized the government for
inappropriately using state-owned media to provide significantly more
coverage of the government's campaign than that of all opposition
groups combined. They also reported that the absence of a functioning
Constitutional Tribunal limited candidates' legal protections: ``The
lack of the Constitutional Tribunal reduced the instruments to protect
the fundamental rights of candidates who are under investigation for
crimes before judicial decisions and citizens in general from
resolutions made by the electoral administration.''
Every second candidate on municipal election ballots must be a
woman, a requirement that had increased female representation to
approximately 30 percent of municipal council positions. Before the
December 6 elections, there were 23 women among Congress's 157 deputies
and senators and three female ministers in the 18-member cabinet. The
number of indigenous members of Congress was estimated at 17 percent.
After the elections the percentage rose sharply, with 162 women among
Congress's 332 total members, and 50 among the 166 titular
representatives.
The constitution and electoral law set aside seven special
indigenous districts to increase indigenous political participation in
the Plurinational Assembly (Congress). President Morales considered
himself indigenous. Two of the nine departmental prefects, including
one woman, were indigenous.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of
government often engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. Laws to
combat corruption and promote transparency include the Financial
Administration and Control Law, the State Employees Statute Act, and
the Sworn Declaration of Property and Income Law. A cabinet-level
presidential appointee is empowered to investigate corruption at any
level in any branch of government. The Judicial Council, a legal
oversight body, did not function during the year (see section 1.e.).
According to the World Bank's 2009 worldwide governance indicators
and Transparency International's 2009 Corruption Index, government
corruption and lack of transparency were serious problems. Transparency
International indicated that corruption worsened during the year.
An investigation into the January 27 killing of an oil executive
and robbery of briefcases containing $450,000 led to a corruption
scandal involving the head of the state petroleum company, Santos
Ramirez, a cofounder of the MAS party and close adviser to the
president. After evidence emerged that the money was an illegal
payment, Morales fired Ramirez, who was subsequently arrested. On
November 25, prosecutors formally presented six corruption-related
charges against Ramirez, with a potential prison sentence of one to six
years.
On April 18, the government approved a purchase for 15.27 million
bolivianos ($2.16 million) of land in Santa Cruz Department as part of
a proposed mining operation. On September 29, government investigators
accused the government's executive in charge of the project, Guillermo
Dalence, of illegally profiting from the sale. The minister of
government transparency and anticorruption asserted that the land was
valued at 325,000 bolivianos ($46,000). Dalence responded that
President Morales, Vice President Garcia Linera, and other top
government officials knew the details of the purchasing agreement,
including the sales price. The finance minister subsequently blamed the
national mining union (COMIBOL) of compliance mismanagement and of
hiding the correct valuation of the lands from top government
officials. Investigations continued at year's end.
After investigating the December 2008 case in which Presidency
Minister Juan Ramon Quintana was accused of collaborating to smuggle 33
truckloads of contraband into Brazil, on May 7 the lower house of
Congress dismissed the charges and exonerated Quintana.
A patchwork of laws requires public officials to report potential
personal and financial conflicts of interest. Cases involving
allegations of corruption against public officials require
congressional approval before prosecutors can initiate legal
proceedings.
There were no laws providing access to government information.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views; however, NGOs
and the human rights ombudsman complained that government security
forces and ministries occasionally refused to cooperate with their
investigations.
The human rights ombudsman is a position with a six-year term
established in the constitution. Congress chooses the ombudsman via a
required two-thirds majority vote. The ombudsman is charged with
providing oversight of the defense and promotion of human rights,
specifically to defend citizens against government abuses. The
ombudsman operated without party influence and with adequate resources
from the government and foreign NGOs. The ombudsman issues annual
reports, and the government usually accepted his recommendations. The
lower house of Congress includes a permanent commission on human
rights, which proposes laws and policies to promote human rights.
Congressional deputies sit on the commission for one-year terms.
In the aftermath of the April 16 killing of three alleged
international terrorists in Santa Cruz (see section 1.a.), President
Morales initially rejected calls by the governments of Hungary,
Ireland, and Croatia for an international investigation but
subsequently authorized the police to cooperate with investigators from
the three countries. An Irish government investigation concluded the
postmortem on one of the alleged terrorists, Michael Dwyer, was
incomplete.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The new constitution explicitly prohibits discrimination based on
race, gender, language, sexual orientation, or social status. According
to the human rights ombudsman, there was significant discrimination
against (in descending order) persons with HIV/AIDS, indigenous
persons, gay persons, and women.
Women.--Rape was a serious and underreported problem. The law
defines two types of criminal cases. In private criminal matters, the
victim brings the case against the defendant; in public criminal
matters, a state prosecutor files criminal charges. The code of
criminal procedures makes rape a public crime. The law criminalizes
statutory rape, with prison terms of 15 to 20 years for the rape of a
child under the age of 14. In cases involving consensual sex with an
adolescent 14 to 18 years of age, the penalty is two to six years'
imprisonment. Forcible rape of an adult is punishable by sentences
ranging from four to 10 years' imprisonment. Sexual crimes against
minors automatically are considered public crimes. Spousal rape is not
a crime.
Violence against women was also a pervasive and underreported
problem. According to the NGO Center for the Information and
Development of Women (CIDEM), 70 percent of women suffered some form of
abuse. CIDEM noted that the statistics ``did not reflect the full
magnitude of the problem of violence against women'' and that ``a great
number of women'' did not report the aggression they faced on a daily
basis.
Family laws prohibiting mental, physical, and sexual violence
provide for fines or up to four days in jail, unless the case becomes a
public crime subject to the penal code; however, these laws were
enforced irregularly. The government took few meaningful or concrete
steps to combat domestic violence.
Through November, the police Family Protection Brigade handled
19,182 cases nationally, including 5,037 cases of repeat offenders.
However, the police brigade lacked financial support, structural
support, and personnel to follow up and pursue all reported cases. Most
cases of domestic violence went unreported.
Prostitution is legal for individuals age 18 and older, and there
were reports of trafficking in women for the purposes of prostitution
and forced labor.
The law considers sexual harassment a civil crime. There were no
statistics on the incidence of sexual harassment, but it generally was
acknowledged to be widespread.
Legal services offices devoted to family and women's rights
operated throughout the country. The Maternal and Infant Health
Insurance Program provided health services to women of reproductive age
and to children under age five.
The government recognized the basic right of couples and
individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing, and
timing of their children. Health clinics and local health NGOs were
permitted to operate freely in disseminating information on family
planning under the guidance of the Ministry of Public Health.
The government provided direct cash transfers to expecting and new
mothers to defray the cost of prenatal and neonatal care and to reduce
the birth mortality rate.
Women were entitled to the same legal rights as men; however, many
women were unaware of their legal rights. Women generally did not enjoy
a social status equal to that of men. Traditional prejudices and social
conditions remained obstacles to advancement. In rural areas
traditional practices restricting land inheritance for women remained a
problem. The minimum wage law treats men and women equally; however,
women generally earned less than men for equal work. Women sometimes
complained that employers were reluctant to hire them because of the
additional costs (mainly maternal) in a woman's benefits package. The
gender gap in hiring appeared widest in the higher education brackets.
Most women in urban areas worked in the informal economy and the
services and trade sectors, including domestic service and
microbusiness, whereas in rural areas the majority of economically
active women worked in agriculture. Young girls often left school early
to work at home or in the informal economy.
Numerous domestic and international women's rights groups worked to
advance women's rights and integrate women into the mainstream of
society.
Children.--Birth certificates were registered either via a notary's
affirmation of the certificate or through testimony of two adults
regarding a child's parentage. Registered birth certificates were
necessary to obtain national identification cards.
Corporal punishment and verbal abuse were common in schools.
Children from 11 to 16 years of age may be detained indefinitely in
children's centers for suspected offenses or for their own protection
on the orders of a social worker. There also were many children living
on the streets of major cities. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
estimated that more than 3,700 children and adolescents lived on the
streets in the cities of La Paz, El Alto, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba,
Tarija, and Sucre.
Child prostitution was a problem, particularly in urban areas and
in the Chapare region. There were reports of children trafficked for
forced labor to neighboring countries. According to Pastoral de
Movilidad Humana, the local representative of the UNHCR, each month
between nine and 11 children in the southern part of the country
disappeared and were presumed victims of trafficking. Several NGOs had
active programs to combat child prostitution.
There were 260 Defender of Children and Adolescents offices to
protect children's rights and interests nationwide. The government's
plan to combat child labor included a public information campaign
against child prostitution and raids on brothels.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons
and specifically criminalizes trafficking in persons for the purpose of
prostitution. However, there were credible reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, or within the country.
The country was a source for men, women, and children trafficked
for forced labor and sexual exploitation to Argentina, Chile, Brazil,
Spain, and the United States. Faced with extreme poverty, many citizens
became economic migrants, and some were victimized by traffickers as
they moved from rural areas to cities and then abroad. Women and
children, particularly from indigenous ethnic groups in the Altiplano
region, were at greater risk of being trafficked. Children were
trafficked within the country to work in prostitution, mines, domestic
servitude, and agriculture, particularly on sugarcane and Brazil nut
plantations. Weak controls along its extensive borders made the country
an easy transit point for illegal migrants, some of whom may have been
trafficked. Commercial sexual exploitation of children also remained a
problem.
While there were reports that some adolescents were sold into
forced labor, it appeared that most victims initially were willing
economic migrants who later were trafficked by being duped or coerced
into conditions of forced labor.
The law criminalizes trafficking and provides for a prison term of
four years, which may be increased to 12 years when the victim is less
than 14 years of age. The government investigated 153 cases of
trafficking in persons; while there were some arrests, only three cases
received formal sentences and the majority of individuals arrested
either remained in detention or were out of jail awaiting trial.
The Ministry of Justice, via an interinstitutional committee, has
responsibility for combating trafficking. The Ministry of Government,
including the National Police and the Immigration Service, the
Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Labor, and Sustainable Development, as
well as prefectures and municipalities, has secondary responsibility.
The human rights ombudsman nonetheless noted that the government had
little presence at the borders to control trafficking, and that
unauthorized entities and agents issued permission documents for minors
to travel abroad.
Some government officials reportedly took bribes to facilitate
smuggling and the illegal movement of persons; however, the government
did not condone or facilitate trafficking.
The municipal Defender of Children and Adolescents offices,
sometimes in cooperation with NGOs, managed scattered assistance
programs for victims. La Paz Department and the La Paz city government
each operated a shelter for abused and exploited children.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the NGOs
Save the Children and Pro-Adolescente conducted public awareness
campaigns on trafficking of children.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities and identifies the rights and
benefits afforded them. There was no official discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or the provision of other state services. The government did not
effectively enforce these provisions, however, and societal
discrimination kept many persons with disabilities at home from an
early age, limiting their integration into society. The Law on
Disabilities requires wheelchair access to all public and private
buildings, duty-free import of orthopedic devices, a 50 percent
reduction in public transportation fares, and expanded teaching of sign
language and Braille.
The National Committee for Handicapped Persons was responsible for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The human rights ombudsman
reported that approximately 70 percent of the population considered
racism a problem. There was societal and systemic discrimination
against the small black minority, which generally remained at the low
end of the socioeconomic scale and faced severe disadvantages in
health, life expectancy, education, income, literacy, and employment.
The majority of the estimated 35,000 Afro-Bolivians lived in the Yungas
region of La Paz Department.
Indigenous People.--In the 2001 census, approximately 62 percent of
the population over 15 years of age identified themselves as
indigenous, primarily from the Quechua and Aymara groups. The IACHR
reported that 70 percent of these indigenous people lived in poverty or
extreme poverty, with little access to education or to minimal services
to support human health, such as clean drinking water and sanitation
systems. The government embarked on a wide-ranging program to increase
access to potable water and sanitation in rural areas where indigenous
persons predominated.
Indigenous lands are not demarcated fully, and land reform remained
a central political issue. Historically, a majority of indigenous
people shared lands collectively under the ``ayllu'' system, a system
that was not legally recognized during the transition to private
property laws. Despite laws mandating reallocation and titling of
lands, recognition and demarcation of indigenous lands have not been
fully accomplished. Indigenous people protested outside exploitation of
their resources. In 2007, the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous People was adopted as law, and states that indigenous
peoples have the right to control natural resources in their
territories.
Indigenous peasants illegally occupied several private properties,
often with the backing of the Landless Movement. Since 2007 at least
seven illegal seizures of mines by campesinos have been reported. On
September 22, campesinos from Oruro Department took the Kori Kollo mine
from the Inti Raymi Company, demanding payment for their lands, as well
as compensation for environmental damages and the use of original
indigenous lands. Inti Raymi halted operations, evacuated its workers,
and presented a legal complaint to resolve the conflict. The case was
ongoing at year's end.
Indigenous people continued to be underrepresented in government
and politics and bore a disproportionate share of poverty and
unemployment. Government educational and health services remained
unavailable to many indigenous groups living in remote areas. The
government tried to improve the situation with the delivery of monthly
payments of 100 to 200 bolivianos ($14 to $28) to the elderly and
similar funding for more than one million children to attend school.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The law prohibits
discrimination based on sexual orientation, including by police, and
citizens are allowed to change their name and gender on their official
identity cards. However, societal discrimination against gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgendered persons was common and noted in local media
editorials. Organizations advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender persons existed and marches occurred, including a small
annual gay pride parade. One student was reportedly expelled from high
school for being gay, although school authorities denied that was the
reason for the expulsion.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--The human rights
ombudsman reported that persons with HIV/AIDS faced pervasive
discrimination. There were few if any registered acts of violence
against persons with HIV/AIDS. No formal government programs existed to
combat HIV/AIDS discrimination.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--While the law allows workers to form
and join trade unions, in practice this right was limited due to
inefficient labor courts and inadequate government regulation.
Approximately 25 percent of workers in the formal economy, which
employed an estimated 30 percent of all workers, belonged to unions.
Workers may form a union in any private company of 20 or more
employees; however, the minimum requirement of 20 workers proved a
heavy restriction, as an estimated 72 percent of enterprises had fewer
than 20 employees.
Public-sector workers also have the right to form unions. The law
requires prior government authorization to establish a union and
confirm its elected leadership, permits only one union per enterprise,
and allows the government to dissolve unions by administrative fiat.
The central government had close ties with certain umbrella labor
organizations such as the Central Workers Union of Bolivia (COB) and
the Confederation of Farm Workers (CSUTCB). The government exerted
pressure on national leadership and local chapters of many of these
organizations and funded parallel chapters in areas where the
government had less influence. As one example, after disagreements with
the leadership of the CSUTCB, the MAS funded a parallel organization in
many departments. Although the COB officially recognized the first
CSUTCB leadership, the MAS heavily funded the alternative group, and
many media outlets ceased to refer to the first CSUTCB group or its
leadership.
The law provides most workers with the right to strike but requires
unions to seek prior government mediation; the law requires the same of
employers before they initiate a lockout.
Public service employees, including those in banks and public
markets, are prohibited from striking; despite this, workers in the
public sector (including teachers, transportation workers, and health
care workers) frequently went on strike and were not penalized for such
strike activities. Solidarity strikes are illegal, but the government
neither prosecuted nor imposed penalties in such cases.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides workers the right to organize and bargain collectively;
however, collective bargaining, or voluntary direct negotiations
between employers and workers without the participation of the
government, was limited. Most collective bargaining agreements were
restricted to wages.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and requires
reinstatement of employees illegally fired for engaging in union
activity. The National Labor Court handles complaints of antiunion
discrimination, but it can take a year or more to rule due to a
significant backlog of cases. The court ruled in favor of discharged
workers in some cases and successfully required their reinstatement.
However, union leaders stated that problems often were moot by the time
the court ruled.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
special duty-free zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, the
practices of child apprenticeship and agricultural servitude by
indigenous workers continued, as did some alleged individual cases of
household workers effectively held captive by their employers.
In many cases Guarani families worked land owned by landlords in
exchange for housing and food but were not paid the minimum wage. As a
result they incurred large debts to their landlords and were not
permitted to leave the property without satisfying their debt. Many of
these families lived in very poor conditions, without water,
electricity, medical care, or schools.
There were victims of forced labor, mostly indigenous, harvesting
Brazil nuts in Beni Department. The work was seasonal, lasting
approximately three months per year. During that time landlords sold
basic foodstuffs to workers at inflated prices; workers subsequently
incurred large debts and were not permitted to leave the property until
the debts were satisfied. Similar conditions existed in the sugar,
cattle, corn and peanut industries in Santa Cruz Department.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor remained a serious problem. The law prohibits all paid work
by children under the age of 14; however, in practice the Ministry of
Labor generally did not enforce child labor laws, including those
pertaining to the minimum age and maximum hours for child workers,
school completion requirements, and health and safety conditions for
children in the workplace. The law prohibits a range of dangerous,
immoral, and unhealthy work for minors under the age of 18. Labor law
permits apprenticeship for 12 to 14-year-old children under various
formal but poorly enforced restrictions, which have been criticized by
the International Labor Organization and were considered by some to be
tantamount to bondage.
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing child labor
provisions but did not enforce them throughout the country. According
to the International Labor Organization, 313,529 children between the
ages of seven to seventeen work in Bolivia, and approximately 142,000
are girls. Although the law prohibits persons under 18 years of age
from work in the sugarcane fields, approximately 10,000 rural migrant
children (7,000 of whom were under the age of 14) did so. Children
worked in forced labor situations in the production of sugarcane and
Brazil nuts.
There was also evidence of exploitation of indigenous children in
the regions of the Chaco, Beni, and Santa Cruz, and in cities across
the country wherever individuals were migrating in from the
countryside. Urban children sold goods, shined shoes, and assisted
transport operators. Rural children often worked with parents from an
early age, generally in subsistence agriculture. Children generally
were not employed in factories or formal businesses but, when employed,
often worked the same hours as adults. Children also worked in mining
gold, silver, and tin, and in other dangerous occupations in the
informal sector.
Narcotics traffickers used children to transport drugs. Child
prostitution remained a problem. According to the human rights
ombudsman, 3,000 children lived in the streets, many of whom were
exploited sexually. The report stated that more than 100,000 children
worked eight to 12 hours a day. The IOM estimated that 2,000 girls
worked, or were forced to work, as prostitutes.
The traditional practice of ``criadito'' service persisted in some
parts of the country. Criaditos are indigenous children of both sexes,
usually 10- to 12-year-olds, whom their parents indenture to middle-
and upper-class families to perform household work in exchange for
education, clothing, room, and board. Such work is illegal, and there
were no controls over the benefits to, or treatment of, such children.
The government devoted limited resources to investigating child
labor cases, but NGOs and international organizations such as UNICEF
supplemented the government's efforts.
The government continued its efforts to eliminate child labor in
its worst forms, working with NGOs to discourage the use of child labor
in the mining and sugar sectors by participating in internationally
funded programs to provide educational alternatives to children who
otherwise would work in mines or sugarcane fields. Nonetheless,
according to the human rights ombudsman, 3,800 children worked in
mining.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--During the year the government
raised the minimum monthly wage to 647 bolivianos ($92) for the public
and private sectors, from 577 bolivianos ($82) in 2008. The minimum
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. Most private-sector workers earned more than the minimum wage.
While the minimum wage fell below prevailing wages in most jobs,
certain benefit calculations were pegged to it. Many independent
workers were part of the informal economy, and did not receive the
minimum wage.
Labor laws establish a maximum workweek of 48 hours, limit women to
a workday one hour shorter than that of men, prohibit women from
working at night, mandate rest periods, and require premium pay for
work above a standard workweek. In practice the government did not
effectively enforce these laws.
The Ministry of Labor's Bureau of Occupational Safety has
responsibility for protection of workers' health and safety, but
relevant standards were poorly enforced. There were fewer than 30
inspectors in the entire country. While the government did not maintain
official statistics, there were reports that workers died due to unsafe
conditions, particularly in the mining and construction sectors. A
national tripartite committee of business, labor, and government
representatives was responsible for monitoring and improving
occupational safety and health standards. The Ministry of Labor
maintained an office for worker inquiries, complaints, and reports of
unfair labor practices and unsafe working conditions.
Working conditions in cooperative-operated mines remained poor.
Miners continued to work with no scheduled rest for long periods in
dangerous, unhealthy conditions and earned relatively little for their
efforts; some earned less than 12 bolivianos ($1.70) per 12-hour day.
Conditions have changed little in the past decades, as independent
miners' cooperatives lacked the financial and technical resources
needed to improve mine infrastructure. The law provides workers the
right to remove themselves from dangerous situations without fear of
losing their jobs.
__________
BRAZIL
Brazil is a constitutional federal republic with a population of
approximately 192 million. In 2006 voters reelected President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party to a second four-year term
in a generally free and fair election. While civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the federal security forces,
state-level security forces committed numerous human rights abuses.
The federal government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there continued to be numerous, serious abuses, and
the records of several state governments were poor. The following human
rights problems were reported: unlawful killings, excessive force,
beatings, abuse, and torture of detainees and inmates by police and
prison security forces; inability to protect witnesses involved in
criminal cases; harsh prison conditions; prolonged pretrial detention
and inordinate delays of trials; reluctance to prosecute as well as
inefficiency in prosecuting government officials for corruption;
violence and discrimination against women; violence against children,
including sexual abuse; trafficking in persons; discrimination against
indigenous persons and minorities; failure to enforce labor laws;
widespread forced labor; and child labor in the informal sector. Human
rights violators often enjoyed impunity.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The federal
government or its agents did not commit politically motivated killings,
but unlawful killings by state police (military and civil) were
widespread.
In many cases police officers employed indiscriminate lethal force
during apprehensions. In some cases civilian deaths followed severe
harassment or torture by law enforcement officials. Killings by police
occurred for various reasons. Confrontations with heavily armed
criminals resulted in shoot-outs. Some police accused of killing
suspects lacked the training and professionalism to manage deadly
force. On other occasions the police behaved as criminals.
On December 8, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Human Rights
Watch issued a two-year study on lethal police violence in which it
examined an indicative 51 cases where Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo
police officers appeared to have executed criminal suspects and
reported the deaths as resulting from resisting arrest. To improve the
situation, the report recommended police immediately notify authorities
of such killings, establish crime-scene protocols, investigate
potential cover-up techniques, and prosecute offenders. Rio de Janeiro
and Sao Paulo officials responded that training and other corrective
steps were under way.
Death squads with links to law enforcement officials carried out
many killings, in some cases with police participation. Credible, local
human rights groups reported the existence in several states of
organized death squads linked to police forces that targeted suspected
criminals and persons considered problematic or undesirable by
landowners.
The Catholic Church's Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) reported that
from January to November there were 20 confirmed killings related to
disputes over land, water, and labor, compared with a total of 18 such
killings in all of 2008. According to the CPT, for the period from
January to November, there were nine killings reported in the north
region and four killings and 14 attempted killings in the center-west
region. Amnesty International (AI) stated that such violence was often
caused by illegal private security companies and illegally armed
militias linked to landowners.
Numerous credible reports indicated the continuing involvement of
state police officials in revenge killings and the intimidation and
killing of witnesses involved in testifying against police officials.
In Rio de Janeiro, the most acute human rights problems involved
indiscriminate use of force, by both on- and off-duty police, primarily
in the city's poorer northern section. Residents of the city's
approximately 1,000 favelas (shantytowns), where an estimated one-third
of the population (i.e., approximately three million persons) lived,
were at increased risk given the frequency of police actions. According
to the Rio de Janeiro-based NGO Global Justice (GJ), impunity and
nonaccountability for police actions were serious problems in the
metropolis. AI claimed that Rio de Janeiro law enforcement continued to
be characterized by large-scale operations in which heavily armed
police units ``invaded'' favelas. AI added that few killings were
effectively or independently investigated and that perpetrators were
seldom prosecuted successfully.
The Favela Pacification Program, instituted in late 2008 by the Rio
de Janeiro State government, registered an initial nine favelas as
``pacified'' by year's end. Police and government officials pushed drug
gang members out of areas they previously dominated, established
community policing, regularized public utilities, and indicated
intentions to introduce other city services and social assistance. The
program reportedly aimed to pacify 30-40 favelas in the next two years.
In October the Rio de Janeiro Institute for Public Security
reported 805 killings in the state by police of persons described as
``resisting arrest'' from January to September, an average of three
persons per day, down from a 2007 average of four per day and an 11
percent decrease compared with the same partial-year period in 2008. GJ
reported 1,137 killings by police in Rio de Janeiro State in 2008.
The Sao Paulo State Secretariat for Public Security reported that
Sao Paulo state police (civil and military) killed 400 civilians in the
state from January to September, compared with 353 during the same
period in 2008. Cases involving extrajudicial executions were either
under police investigation or before the state courts; observers
believed that it could take years to resolve such cases. During the
year there were reports of multiple killings (called chacinas) in Sao
Paulo State, often drug-related and suspected to involve the police; in
the Sao Paulo metropolitan region, there were 20 chacinas resulting in
64 deaths.
On January 24, in Pitimbu, Paraiba, masked gunmen shot and killed
Manoel Bezerra de Matos Neto, vice president of the Pernambuco branch
of the Workers' Party and a human rights advocate. Authorities arrested
five suspects in February and August, including military policemen, and
at year's end they were in custody pending trial.
On March 26, in Rio de Janeiro, military police killed a 22-year-
old man in Morro da Providencia favela. Police asserted the man was
armed. Witnesses claimed they were threatened if they testified. At
year's end there were no further developments in this case, but the Rio
de Janeiro Bar Association Human Rights Commission continued to follow
it.
In April in Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro, six persons alleged by
military police to be involved in drug trafficking were killed in a
police operation in Morro da Coroa favela. Four officers faced criminal
charges, and there were further developments at year's end.
On July 21, in Sao Paulo, off-duty civil police officer Alfred
Stapf shot and killed Edinalva Oliveira da Silva and seriously wounded
her child. Stapf and accompanying police technician Alex Sander Pedroni
claimed they were chasing a suspect and fired accidentally; civil
police internal affairs investigators, however, suspected a police
operation to conceal police extortion from a local shop owner. The
investigation continued at year's end.
In August in Guaratiba District, Rio de Janeiro, authorities
arrested and charged two military police officer brothers for the
killings of four persons; at year's end they were in jail pending
trial. According to GJ, both officers belonged to a militia, and one
(Emmerson Meirelles) was responsible for the state governor's personal
security.
In August in Sao Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul State, military police
shot and killed Elton Brumda Silva while removing him and approximately
500 other Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST) members from a farm,
according to the national agrarian ombudsman. MST members alleged that
police forced them to sit for hours with hands behind their necks, some
on top of ant hills, and that a dispersion bomb burned a child. The
State Secretariat for Public Security investigation apparently
continued at year's end.
In August authorities arrested retired military police sergeant
Jairo Francisco Franco for killing an unknown black male in the greater
Sao Paulo area. Franco had been detained in December 2008 for allegedly
killing 13 gay men but was released for lack of evidence.
In November NGOs reported that more than 40 deaths occurred during
three weeks of military police operations in Rio de Janeiro favela
communities following an October 17 helicopter shoot down. Shootouts
between police and drug traffickers and between rival gangs caused the
killings. On October 22, according to the media, Third Battalion
military police officers also broke into a house in the Morro da
Cachoeirinha favela and allegedly beat and tortured an 18-year-old man.
In the January 2008 case in Rio de Janeiro of the beating death of
Andreu Luis da Silva Carvalho at a detention facility, a prosecutor
requested exhumation of the body, which according to the NGO Legal
Project had not occurred by year's end. Charges were being considered
against several detention facility employees.
During the year police continued investigating, based on ballistic
evidence and witness testimony, military policeman Pascoal dos Santos
Lima in connection with the killing of military police Colonel Jose
Herminio Rodrigues in Sao Paulo in January 2008 while he had been
investigating police participation in extrajudicial killings.
Authorities had indicted Lima for the killing of Colonel Rodrigues in
July 2008, while he was in prison for the 2007 killing of Marisa
Ferreira Vaz, but had released him in 2009.
There were no developments in the investigation involving the
August 2008 discovery of Andre Lima de Araujo's body after he had been
detained in 2007 by police on the outskirts of Guarulhos.
There were no developments in the 2007 chacina cases in Sao Paulo
State; they remained under investigation at year's end.
There were no developments in the case of four military police
officers and a businessman who were arrested in May 2008 for the 2007
killing of investigative journalist Luiz Carlos Barbon Filho in Porto
Ferreira, Sao Paulo, and they remained in custody awaiting trial.
There were no developments, and none were expected, in the
investigations of the 2007 joint state-police/national-military
operations in Rio de Janeiro's Complexo do Alemao and Vila Cruzeiro
favelas that resulted in numerous deaths in police confrontations
(according to official accounts) or in summary executions (according to
bar association and NGO accounts).
The investigation into police involvement in the August 2007
killings of Aurina Rodrigues Santana, Rodson da Silva Rodrigues, and
their 19-year-old son in their Salvador home concluded without
indictment of the accused officers.
There were no known developments in the case of five police
officers accused of torturing and killing a 15-year-old in 2007 in
Bauru, Sao Paulo State. Authorities expelled them from the military
police in December 2008 and later freed them pending trial.
In early April, on appeal by the prosecution, the Para State
Justice Court reversed the not-guilty verdict of Vitalmiro ``Bida''
Bastos Moura--a verdict that in May 2008 had overturned his 2007
conviction for the 2005 murder of Catholic nun Dorothy Mae Stang--and
ordered his arrest. At year's end he remained free pending retrial in
2010. Although authorities detained Reginaldo Pereira Galvao, also
accused in the murder case, in December 2008 as part of an
investigation into whether he forged titles to land where the nun was
killed, at year's end he was also free awaiting trial. The media
reported that an assailant shot and injured a key witness in the Galvao
case in Anapu, Para State, on November 26. On December 10, Rayfran das
Neves Sales, convicted in May 2008 of the murder, waived his right to a
new trial.
In September Sao Paulo State's Fifth Regional Court reopened the
death-in-custody case of Manoel Fiel Filho, who was arrested and
allegedly tortured in 1976. The official report stated that Filho
committed suicide; however, authorities charged a police detective, a
specialist, and the medical examiner that performed the autopsy with
murder and cover-up. At year's end there were no further developments.
Lynching by mobs or vigilante groups was common in some regions,
especially against those accused of rape or other crimes that they
believed went unpunished. For example, in May in Teresina, Piaui, a
crowd of 500 persons attempted to invade the police station to lynch a
detainee who allegedly killed Pedro Sabino, an innocent bystander to a
robbery. In October in the capital of Alagoas, Maceio, an attempted
rape suspect avoided lynching when police dispersed a crowd and placed
him in custody.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances. However, GJ reported 5,095 disappearances in 2008 and
alleged that police killed many of the individuals.
In May the federal government released Memories Revealed, a
document said to contain all obtainable information about disappearance
cases that occurred during the 1964-85 military dictatorship; the
document responded to a 2007 Chamber of Deputies' Human Rights
Committee request.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution prohibits torture and provides
severe legal penalties for its use, torture by police and prison guards
remained a serious and widespread problem. In August the government's
Special Secretariat for Human Rights (SEDH) acknowledged in its
national program launch that police institutions have been historically
marked with violence, generating a vicious cycle of insecurity,
inefficiency, abuse, torture, and impunity.
Thirteen of the country's 26 states have formally adhered to the
National Plan for the Prevention and Control of Torture, which includes
the installation of cameras in prisons and penitentiaries; frequent
unannounced visits by prosecutors, public defenders, and NGOs; and
videotaping of interrogations.
During the first half of the year, the Sao Paulo State Ombudsman's
Office received seven complaints of torture by police, compared with
five during the same period of 2008.
Police continued to abuse transvestite prostitutes in Rio de
Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, and Salvador, according to the NGO Bahia Gay
Rights Group. Complaints were investigated but rarely resulted in
punishment (see section 6).
In Rio de Janeiro, militia members--many of them off-duty and
former law enforcement officers--reportedly continued to use physical
abuse, degrading treatment, and torture to spread fear and establish
control over favela residents.
In June the Federal Police allegedly applied electric shocks to the
backs and genitals of five Tupinabas in Ilheus, Bahia, to force their
confession to a murder involving a land dispute with a nonindigenous
rancher. The five, released from custody the next morning, filed a
complaint, and the Justice Minister ordered a Federal Police
investigation that continued at year's end.
In the cases of two O Dia newspaper investigative journalists and
their driver who were kidnapped, tortured, and released in Batan
favela, Rio de Janeiro, in May 2008, a state court on August 12
convicted two militia leaders (civil police Inspectors Odinei Fernando
da Silva and Davi Liberato de Araujo) and sentenced them to 31 years'
imprisonment. Authorities also arrested another individual in December
2008 and provisionally arrested three military police officers (Fabio
Goncalves Soares, Marcos Antonio Alves da Silva, and Andre Luiz de
Matos) in January 2009 in connection with the same incident, but at
year's end there were no further developments reported.
There were no known developments in the case of nine police
officers in Sao Paulo charged in 2007 with theft, torture, extortion,
beating, and threatening to rape to extort money.
There were no developments during the year, and none were expected,
in the illegal-arrest-and-torture case involving Antonio Ferreira Braga
in 1993 in Ceara State, although the government had not fulfilled
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) recommendations made
in 2007.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
throughout the country often ranged from poor to extremely harsh and
life threatening. Abuse by prison guards, poor medical care, and severe
overcrowding occurred at many facilities.
Prison officials frequently resorted to brutal treatment of
prisoners, including torture. Harsh or dangerous working conditions,
official negligence, poor sanitary conditions, abuse and mistreatment
by guards, and lack of medical care led to deaths in prisons. Poor
working conditions and low pay for prison guards encouraged widespread
corruption. Prisoners who committed petty crimes were held with
murderers. According to the National Penitentiary Department, in June
there were 469,807 prisoners, including 30,519 women, incarcerated in a
prison system designed for approximately 300,000. The SEDH reported
14,704 individuals under age 18 confined in 2006. Of those held, nearly
43 percent were in detention awaiting trial or judgment.
In Rio de Janeiro and most other states, pretrial detainees were
often held together with convicted prisoners due to overcrowding.
According to the Ministry of Justice, approximately 2,000 prisoners
were involved in riots in federal prisons in 2008. The federal
government stopped providing such statistics thereafter, but newspapers
reported major prison riots in July and August in Sao Paulo, Bahia, and
Para states involving approximately 270 prisoners.
The Catholic Church's Ministry for the Incarcerated in Sao Paulo
State reported that authorities used police stations in the state
capital as prisons, increasing the risk of mistreatment and torture.
The church ministry also reported continued inadequate rates of
penitentiary construction. The state's criminal justice system as a
whole continued to sentence more defendants to prison or detention each
month than it released and also often held inmates beyond their
sentences.
On April 16 and 17, the National Council for Criminal and
Penitentiary Policy reported seriously deficient conditions at two
detention facilities in Serra, Espirito Santo. In Cascuvi, 25
individuals guarded more than 1,170 prisoners crowded into three spaces
lacking individual cells in a facility designed for 370 persons. The
report described the absence of electricity and showers, privacy, legal
counsel, inmate advocacy, and reformative activity; rodents and pests
roaming freely; drinking water provided once daily; food served
sporadically; limited medical access; inmate skin disease; and
allegations of inmate-on-inmate attacks. In Serra, the Novo Horizonte
facility designed for 144 inmates held nearly 400 individuals, with
approximately 40 crowded into each metal ship-container cell. The
council particularly noted open sewers and sewage and active use of a
windowless cell (known as ``the microwave'' for the temperatures
reached inside); a judicial decision had stopped usage earlier, but it
was reactivated and observed holding 23 prisoners.
On June 1, the IACHR granted precautionary measures for inmates of
the Polinter-Neves penitentiary in Sao Goncalo, Rio de Janeiro State,
because of inadequate access to medical services and asked the
government to ensure adequate medical care, reduce overcrowding, and
report its actions to the IACHR.
After a June 2008 congressional investigative report ranked it as
the third worst prison in the country, authorities reconstituted the
Contagem prison in Minas Gerais as a temporary prisoner-holding
facility for a maximum of 96 prisoners and, according to a media report
during the year, substantially improved inmate living conditions and
access to legal, medical, and psychological assistance.
An October court ruling ordered the Minas Gerais State government
to compensate the families of the 25 inmates killed during the 2007
gang dispute and resultant fire in an overcrowded jail in Ponte Nova.
Each family reportedly should receive approximately 20,000 reais
($11,500) plus a monthly minimum-wage payment until the date each
victim would have reached age 65. There were no developments reported
concerning the indictments of 23 individuals for allowing weapons into
the jail and failing to respond adequately to the incident.
The Women's Penitentiary of Santana in Sao Paulo, a former men's
facility remodeled for women, continued in precarious condition,
although health care improved in response to human rights organization
requests, contaminated water problems were rectified after NGOs lodged
protests (according to Instituto Pro-Bono), and the kitchen area and
food quality were improved (according to NGO sources who visited during
the year). However, the facility remained overcrowded as of December,
with 2,800 women occupying space designed for 2,400 and three of the
nine prisoner areas closed due to poor conditions. Further health-care-
unit improvements reportedly were needed, as were programs to promote
inmate educational and social development.
Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo states and the Federal District
provided separate prison facilities for women; elsewhere, women were
held with men in some facilities. Male officers who served in women's
prisons often abused and extorted the prisoners for sexual favors.
The media reported that throughout the country adolescents were
jailed with adults in prison units without bathrooms and in inhumane
conditions. Insufficient capacity in juvenile detention centers was
widespread.
While authorities attempted to hold pretrial detainees separately
from convicted prisoners, overcrowding often required holding convicted
criminals in pretrial detention facilities. In addition abuses
continued in municipal jails and detention centers throughout the
country.
The investigation into reports in 2007 of prisoners being forced to
be sex slaves and have their actions recorded on camera in a Santa Rita
de Caldas, Minas Gerais, prison absolved the officer on duty of any
crime or negligence. However, the Prosecutor's Office ordered the jail
closed and sought a ruling against the Minas Gerais State government,
an action that was pending at year's end.
There were no developments reported concerning the March 2008
indictments of 12 persons, including 10 police officers, for the 2007
repeated sexual abuse of a 15-year-old girl in a cell in Abaetetuba,
Para. The accused remained free, and authorities placed the girl and
her relatives into a witness protection program. At year's end the
judge who knew about the girl's situation was under investigation by
the National Council of Justice and had been transferred to another
municipality in Para.
Government policy continues to permit prison visits by independent
human rights observers; however, in practice authorities did not always
follow this policy. An NGO Conectas representative confirmed that it
was at times difficult for outside observers to obtain permission to
visit prisons.
Human rights advocates visiting juvenile detention centers in Sao
Paulo reported continuing improvements in their general conditions. The
Center for the Socio-Educational Care of the Adolescent Foundation
continued to dismantle large out-of-date detention centers prone to
inmate violence and build smaller facilities for easier management of
the inmate population.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and it limits arrests to those caught in the act
of committing a crime or arrested by order of a judicial authority;
however, police continued at times to arrest and detain persons
arbitrarily.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Federal Police,
operating under Ministry of Justice oversight, is small, primarily
investigative, and plays a minor role in routine law enforcement. Most
police forces fall under the control of the states, where they are
divided into two distinct units: The civil police are plainclothes
officers with an investigative role, while the military police are
uniformed officers charged with maintaining order and preventing crime.
Although the individual state governments control their respective
military police forces, the constitution provides for calling them into
active military service in the event of an emergency, and they maintain
some military characteristics and privileges, including a separate
judicial system.
In Rio de Janeiro's favelas, militia groups often start as off-duty
and former law enforcement officers take community policing into their
own hands. However, many militia groups come to resemble drug-
trafficker groups in intimidating residents and conducting illegal
activity such as extorting protection money, imposing tribute fees, and
providing pirated utility services. The number of militias with police
participation continued to increase. Punishing police involved in
militia activity was difficult due to solidarity and fear of reprisals.
Police often did not operate in militia-dominated communities. State
authorities estimated that militias have taken over nearly 100 favelas
from drug-trafficker control, mostly in the city's west.
In March a court convicted former military police officer Luciano
Guinancio and sentenced him to nine years in prison for orchestrating
the random killings by a militia group of seven residents in Rio de
Janeiro's Barbante favela in August 2008. In June four relatives of the
main witness in the case went missing.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--With the
exception of arrests of suspects caught in the act of committing a
crime, arrests must be made with a warrant. The use of force during an
arrest is prohibited unless the suspect attempts to escape or resists
arrest. Suspects must be advised of their rights at the time of arrest
or before being taken into custody for interrogation.
Authorities generally respected the constitutional right to a
prompt judicial determination of the legality of detention. Detainees
generally were informed promptly of the charges against them. The law
permits provisional detention for up to five days under specified
conditions during a police investigation, but a judge may extend this
period. A judge may also order temporary detention for an additional
five days for paperwork processing. Preventive detention for an initial
period of 15 days is permitted if police have indications that a
suspect may leave the area. This may be renewed under specific
circumstances. Occasionally detainees--typically poor and uneducated--
were held longer than the provisional period.
Defendants arrested in the act of committing a crime must be
charged within 30 days of arrest. Other defendants must be charged
within 45 days, although this period may be extended. In practice the
backlog in the courts almost always resulted in extending the period
for charging defendants. Bail was available for most crimes, and
defendants facing charges on all but the most serious crimes had the
right to a bail hearing. In general prison authorities allowed
detainees prompt access to a lawyer; indigent detainees had the right
to a lawyer provided by the state. Detainees were also allowed prompt
access to family members.
Human rights observers stated that civil and uniformed police
regularly detained persons illegally to extort money or favors. In May
the new Sao Paulo State secretary for public safety suspended 120
police officers from narcotics and organized-crime units for possible
involvement in extortion, corruption, and organized crime.
The law does not provide for a maximum period for pretrial
detention, which is defined on a case-by-case basis. Time in detention
before trial is subtracted from the sentence.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial
independence in practice; however, the judiciary was underfunded,
inefficient, and often subject to intimidation and to political and
economic influences, particularly at the state level, a situation that
resulted in vigilante action. A number of senior judges remained under
investigation nationwide on a variety of charges.
Although the law requires that trials be held within a set period
of time, which is defined according to individual circumstances, the
nationwide backlog in state and federal cases frequently led courts to
dismiss old cases unheard.
The judicial system ranges from courts of first instance and
appeals, through courts of second instance and the Superior Court of
Justice, to the Federal Supreme Court. States organize their own
judicial systems within the federal system and must adhere to basic
constitutional principles. There are specialized courts for police,
military, labor, election, juvenile, and family matters.
Trial Procedures.--The right to a fair public trial as provided by
law generally was respected in practice, although in some regions--
particularly in rural areas--the judiciary was less professionally
capable and more subject to external influences. Similarly, when cases
involved gunmen hired by landowners to kill land activists or rural
union activists, local police often were less diligent in
investigating, prosecutors were reluctant to initiate proceedings, and
judges found reasons to delay.
After an arrest a judge reviews the case, determines whether it
should proceed, and, if so, assigns it to a state prosecutor who
decides whether to issue an indictment. The law recognizes the
competence of a jury to hear cases involving capital crimes. Judges try
those accused of lesser crimes.
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and have the rights to
confront and question witnesses and to appeal. A large case backlog
hindered the ability of appellate-level courts to ensure fair and
expeditious trials.
While the law provides for the right to counsel, the Ministry of
Justice estimated that 85 percent of prisoners could not afford an
attorney. In such cases the court must furnish a public defender or
private attorney at public expense. There were 752 public defenders in
Rio de Janeiro State, a personnel deficit of 15 percent. The Public
Ministry continued hiring public defenders, but deficits remained in
all states.
In May a judicial assistant discovered that Valmir Romario de
Almeida, accused of homicide, had spent 11 years in four prisons
without being tried. De Almeida was freed 10 days after his situation
came to light.
The law mandates that special police courts exercise jurisdiction
over state military police except those charged with ``willful crimes
against life,'' primarily homicide. In all but the most egregious
cases, police tribunals decided whether or not the killing was willful.
As a result civilian courts, which have jurisdiction over killings by
police, received very few case referrals involving police killings. In
addition the requirement that the initial investigation be carried out
by police internal affairs officers increased the potential for long-
languishing investigations. The police themselves were often
responsible for investigating charges of torture carried out by fellow
officers. Long delays in the special military police courts allowed
many cases of alleged torture and lesser charges to expire due to
statutes of limitations.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--While the justice system
provides for an independent civil judiciary, courts were overburdened
with significant backlogs and sometimes were subject to corruption,
political influence, and intimidation. Citizens have access to bring
lawsuits before the courts for human rights violations.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, but there were reports
that police conducted searches without a warrant. Human rights groups,
other NGOs, and the media reported frequent incidents of violent police
invasions in shantytowns and poor neighborhoods. During these
operations police stopped and questioned persons and searched cars,
residences, and business establishments without warrants. Victims
reported searches without warrants and abusive and violent searches of
women. Wiretaps authorized by judicial authority were permitted. The
inviolability of private correspondence generally was respected.
From February to April, after three military police officers died,
the police conducted a crackdown in Paraisopolis favela, Sao Paulo,
using 400 officers, 100 vehicles, 20 horses, four dogs, and a
helicopter to search the area repeatedly. One newspaper published
interviews of residents who alleged warrantless searches, physical and
verbal abuse, and destruction of personal property. The military police
department stated that there was no proof of the allegations.
The Federal Police investigation into the alleged 2008 wiretapping
of a telephone call between Senator Demostenes Torres and Supreme Court
President Gilmar Mendes resulted in the exoneration of former
intelligence agency director Paulo Lacerda, whom the president had put
on administrative leave in connection with the allegation. The
investigation continued 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, and the authorities generally respected these
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction.
Criminal as well as other elements, such as political party
activists, continued to subject journalists to violence, sometimes
specifically because of their professional activities (see also
sections 1.a. and 1.c.).
The National Association of Newspapers (ANJ) continued to report
cases of imprisonment, aggression, censorship, and failure to respect
freedom of the press during the year ending in July. For example, on
March 12, men accompanying the brother of the mayor of Sao Goncalo, Rio
de Janeiro, attacked the reporting team of the newspaper Extra and
destroyed its photographs. On April 15, Minas Gerais State police
apprehended photo-journalist Nelson Batista of O Tempo Betim newspaper
when he entered a forensic institute building to investigate
information about seven bodies there in an advanced state of
decomposition.
The ANJ regarded the most serious threat to press freedom to be the
growing number of court decisions prohibiting the media from reporting
on certain activities. The following examples pertained:
On March 20, Judge Benedito Helder Afonso Ibiapina prohibited the
newspaper O Povo from reporting on an illegal gaming case in Fortaleza,
Ceara State.
On July 31, Judge Marcio Reinaldo Miranda Braga barred the
newspaper A Tarde in Salvador, Bahia State, from reporting about an
investigation into the alleged sale of sentences by an appeals court
judge.
On July 31, Federal District Appeals Court Judge Dacio Vieira
blocked the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo and its associated Web site
from reporting on the Federal Police investigation of alleged
corruption by Fernando Sarney, the Senate president's son; the decision
also prevented other media in the country from using or citing
information already published by the newspaper. O Estado de S. Paulo
succeeded on September 15 in having the judge removed due to a possible
conflict of interest, but the reporting bar continued, so the newspaper
appealed. On December 10, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal on
technical grounds, and on December 18, Fernando Sarney withdrew the
original lawsuit. At year's end the newspaper remained under the
reporting bar for a total of 153 days.
On April 30, the Supreme Court ruled that the entire press law
dating from the 1964-85 military dictatorship, which had allowed
lawsuits and prison sentences against journalists and media companies
for allegedly causing moral damage, was incompatible with the
constitution. On June 17, the Supreme Court found that requirements
from the dictatorship era (for a journalism degree and registration
with the Labor Ministry in order to practice journalism) were
unconstitutional.
The three journalists in Rio de Janeiro who had their photographs
of a mayoral candidate shaking hands with criminals deleted at gunpoint
in 2008 were subsequently able to recover and publish the photos.
There were no developments in the killings of journalists
highlighted in April 2008 by the Inter American Press Association,
including the 2004 killing of radio commentator Jorge Lourenco dos
Santos in Santana do Ipanema, Alagoas.
Internet Freedom.--There were generally no government restrictions
on access to the Internet or reports that the government monitored e-
mail or Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e?'mail.
The International Telecommunication Union reported that Internet users
increased to approximately 34 percent of the country's inhabitants in
2008.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In January police in Rio de
Janeiro distributed to police stations and religious organizations an
NGO-prepared Guide to Combat Racism and Religious Intolerance (Freedom
Manual). The state's legislature created a religious intolerance
hotline in September 2008.
In March vandals threw an improvised explosive device at a
Pentecostal church in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, during a service,
injuring a parishioner and damaging the building. At year's end the
incident remained under investigation, with Ilan Lopes Afonso indicted
for the crime but not arrested.
It is illegal to write, edit, publish, or sell books that promote
anti-Semitism or racism. The law enables courts to fine or imprison
anyone who displays, distributes, or broadcasts anti-Semitic or racist
materials and mandates a two- to five-year prison term.
According to the country's Jewish Confederation, there were
approximately 125,000 Jewish residents, of whom approximately 65,000
were in Sao Paulo State and 40,000 in Rio de Janeiro State.
There were reports of violence against Jewish persons. Jewish
community leaders expressed concern over the continued appearance on
Web sites of anti-Semitic material compiled by neo-Nazi and
``skinhead'' groups. Police and Jewish Federation of Sao Paulo
representatives stated that anti-Semitic Web sites and blogs continued
to exist. The Jewish Federation of Sao Paulo reported cases of anti-
Semitic graffiti, harassment, vandalism, and threats via telephone and
e-mail. Occasional anti-Semitic graffiti and anti-Semitic epithets
directed at Orthodox Jews were also visible in some of Sao Paulo's
traditionally Jewish neighborhoods.
At year's end there were no known developments in the 2005 case of
14 persons charged with attempted murder, gang formation, and racism
for attacking three Jewish students in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul.
The Center for Promoting Islam in Latin America, located in Sao
Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo State, reported frequent complaints during
the year of verbal harassment of Muslim women wearing veils in public.
Practitioners of Afro-Brazilian religions like Umbanda and
Candomble experienced discrimination in several states, especially Rio
de Janeiro, but the NGO Commission to Combat Religious Intolerance in
Rio de Janeiro reported that there were no government efforts at
prevention during the year. According to the NGO, Afro-Brazilian
religious practitioners were not permitted to visit hospitals or
penitentiaries to provide religious assistance to patients or inmates,
as were other religious practitioners, and the Rio de Janeiro State
government had no office to provide effective assistance to victims of
religious intolerance.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution provides for freedom
of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice, although there were restrictions on entry into protected
indigenous areas.
The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in providing protection and assistance to refugees, asylum seekers, and
other persons of concern.
The law prohibits forced exile, and it was not practiced.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 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 the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion. On July 2, the president approved a law that allowed
foreigners who arrived in the country illegally by February 1 to apply
for a two-year temporary residency; at year's end, approximately 43,000
persons received amnesty under the new law. The largest group of
beneficiaries, approximately 17,000, was from Bolivia.
According to the interministerial and interinstitutional National
Committee for Refugees (CONARE), of the 4,240 recognized refugees from
75 different countries in the country as of October, the largest
numbers were from Angola (1,688) and Colombia (598), two-thirds were
women, and 418 were resettled in the country. In addition to officially
recognized refugees, there were in 2008 approximately 17,500 de facto
Colombian refugees in the country's Amazon region, according to the
2008 World Refugee Survey.
Of the approximately 600 persons that the UNHCR estimated fled to
the country from the September 2008 conflict in Pando, Bolivia, CONARE
reported that 118 asylum requests were approved.
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.
Military conscripts may not vote.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the 2006 national
election generally considered free and fair, Workers' Party candidate
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a second four-year term as president.
Political parties operated without restriction or outside
interference.
Women have full political rights. The law requires that 30 percent
of the candidates registered by each political party must be women.
There were nine women in the 81-member Senate and 44 women in the 513-
member Chamber of Deputies. There were two women in the 36-member
cabinet, two on the 11-member Federal Supreme Court, five on the 33-
member Superior Court of Justice, and one on the 14-member Military
Superior Court. Women occupied 11.2 percent of elected seats at the
state level and 12.6 percent at the municipal level.
There were 17 self-identified Afro-Brazilians in Congress,
according to the Black Parliamentary Center. There were three self-
identified Afro-Brazilians in the cabinet and one on the Federal
Supreme Court.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. The
World Bank's worldwide governance indicators reflected that corruption
continued to be a serious problem.
Media reports and statements circulated during the year alleging
malfeasance, mismanagement, nepotism, and ethics violations involving
current and former Senate presidents, other senators, staff, and family
members. No formal investigation was underway at year's end (see
section 2.a.)
On August 6, a Senate commission of inquiry began investigating
allegations of tax and procurement fraud and embezzlement involving the
state-controlled oil company Petrobras. In November senators from
opposition parties withdrew their participation in the inquiry and
claimed it was manipulated by the government majority. At year's end
the inquiry continued.
In November videotapes became public of Federal District Governor
Jose Roberto Arruda and several of his political allies in state
government apparently receiving bribes in past years. At year's end the
governor remained in office, and a Federal Police investigation
continued.
There were no developments in the 2008 Federal Police investigation
of alleged fraudulent public works contracts involving four members of
the Chamber of Deputies, 119 cities, and the Comptroller General's
Office.
There were also no developments in the 2008 Federal Police
investigation into an alleged multiyear financial crimes scheme that
included money laundering, tax evasion, conspiracy, and other crimes
involving public funds.
The 2008 Federal Police investigation of Romero Menezes, executive
director of the Federal Police and its second-ranking official,
suspected of leaking information to his brother about a fraud
investigation, continued at year's end. Authorities fired Romero
Menezes in December 2008 from his executive directorship, and at year's
end he was awaiting trial in a Para State court.
There were also no developments in the 2008 charging by the Public
Ministry of 61 persons--including a former minister of mines and
energy, two state governors, and two former state governors--allegedly
involved in conspiracy to defraud the government through overpriced
public works contracts.
During the year the Supreme Court continued to hear witnesses and
collect evidence in cases from 2007 against 40 persons accused of
illegal payments to legislators in exchange for support of government
legislation.
Public officials were subject to financial disclosure laws. Federal
government entities such as the Federal Audit Court, the Federal
Controller General, the Public Ministry, the Federal Police, the
judiciary, the Department of Revenue and Control of Financial
Activities, and the Federal Treasury existed to fight corruption. The
agencies identified campaign financing and public spending as sources
of financial corruption; however, they had limited powers to function
effectively.
The law provides for public access to unclassified government
information upon application to the Commission for Public Ethics,
although the release of such information was often slow.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Federal officials
often were cooperative and responsive to their views. Although federal
and state officials in many cases sought the aid and cooperation of
domestic and international NGOs in addressing human rights problems,
human rights monitors occasionally were threatened and harassed--
particularly by members of the state police--for their efforts to
identify and take action against human rights abusers.
While most states had police ombudsmen, some NGOs and human rights
observers questioned their independence and effectiveness. The
ombudsmen's accomplishments varied considerably, depending on such
factors as funding and outside political pressure, and they issued no
significant reports or recommendations during the year.
The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate have human rights
commissions that operated without interference and participated in
several activities nationwide in coordination with domestic and
international human rights organizations.
On December 21, President Lula issued a decree adopting the Third
National Program of Human Rights, which called in part for a bill to be
submitted to Congress by April 2010 creating a national truth
commission to examine human rights violations during the 1964-85 period
of military rule.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the law prohibits and penalizes discrimination on the
basis of race, gender, disability, or social status, discrimination
against women, Afro-Brazilians, homosexual persons, and indigenous
persons continued.
Women.--The federal government continued to operate a toll-free 24-
hour nationwide hotline for women. According to annual hotline data
recorded by the Special Secretariat of Policies for Women,
approximately 30 percent of total calls were from Sao Paulo State. The
number of calls received nationwide increased 33 percent compared with
the same period in 2008, rising to 401,729. Of the complaints received,
40,857 concerned violence (physical, psychological, moral, sexual, and
other), compared with 24,523 such complaints in 2008. Seventy percent
of the callers reported being beaten daily, and 12.7 percent, weekly;
the majority blamed domestic partners, who were commonly under the
influence of alcohol or drugs. Approximately one-fourth of the women
who used the hotline considered themselves mixed-race, were married,
and/or attended high school; two-thirds were between the ages of 20 and
40.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime punishable by eight to 10
years' imprisonment; however, men who killed, sexually assaulted, or
committed other crimes against women were unlikely to be brought to
trial. Nationwide annual hotline data included 390 sexual-violence
incidents within the total complaints of violence. From January to
August, the Sao Paulo State Secretariat for Public Safety registered
1,998 rape cases, compared with 2,562 during the same period in 2008.
There was no information available on the numbers of prosecutions or
convictions for rape.
According to a nationwide Avon Institute/Brazilian Institute of
Public Opinion and Statistics poll conducted in February, 62 percent of
women and 48 percent of men knew a woman who suffered from domestic
violence. Of those interviewed, 24 percent said that women continue to
stay with an abusive partner for economic reasons; 23 percent, for the
well-being of children; and 17 percent, because of fear for their
lives. Fifty-six percent of those polled lacked confidence that the
police or judicial system could protect an abused woman.
Domestic violence remained both widespread and underreported to the
authorities. Of the domestic violence complaints registered through the
hotline during the year, 52 percent were considered physical violence,
and 22 percent were threats. For such cases the law increases the
penalty from one to three years in prison and creates special courts.
There was no information available on the numbers of prosecutions or
convictions for domestic violence.
The federal government stimulated the creation of special courts
for domestic and family violence, and according to the National Council
of Justice in March, 22 of the 26 states plus the Federal District had
such courts. For example, on January 22, Sao Paulo State installed its
Special Court of Domestic and Family Violence against Women. The
federal government also promoted capacity-building courses for judges.
Each state secretariat for public security operated police stations
dedicated exclusively to addressing crimes against women (DEAMs), for a
total of 415 countrywide. The quality of services generally varied, and
availability was particularly limited in isolated areas. For example,
the north and northeast regions, which contained approximately 35
percent of the country's population, possessed only 24 percent of the
country's DEAMs. The stations provided psychological counseling,
temporary shelter, and hospital treatment for victims of domestic
violence and rape (including treatment for HIV and other sexually
transmitted diseases) as well as criminal prosecution assistance by
investigating and forwarding evidence to courts. There were also 125
reference centers and 67 women's shelters.
In Rio de Janeiro, the city's Center for Studies on Women's
Policies (CEPIP) provided assistance to female victims of domestic
violence who received death threats. When necessary, victims were sent
to specific shelters, which also provided psychological and legal aid.
CEPIP operated one shelter (Cora Coralina) with capacity to assist 42
domestic violence victims. In addition to CEPIP, domestic violence
victims could obtain assistance at the Center for Women's Support, an
initiative of the Rio de Janeiro state government that offered a
complaint hotline, shelters, and psychological and legal aid.
The law requires health facilities to contact the police regarding
cases in which a woman was harmed physically, sexually, or
psychologically in order to collect evidence and statements should the
victim decide to prosecute.
Prostitution is legal, but exploiting it through associated
activities, such as operating a brothel, is illegal. While no specific
laws address sex tourism, it is punishable under other criminal
offenses. The government issued a ``code of conduct to combat sex
tourism and sexual exploitation'' and conducted campaigns in the most
affected areas. The Federal District and the states of Rio de Janeiro,
Bahia, Pernambuco, Espirito Santo, Amazonas, and Parana had laws
requiring certain businesses to display signs listing the penalties for
having sexual intercourse with a minor. Women's groups reported that
prostitutes encountered discrimination when seeking free medical care.
Trafficking of women for the purpose of prostitution was a serious
problem.
Sexual harassment is a criminal offense, punishable by up to two
years in prison. The law encompasses sexual advances in the workplace
or in educational institutions and between service providers or
clients. In the workplace it applies only in hierarchical situations,
where the harasser is of higher rank or position than the victim.
Although the law was enforced, accusations were rare, and the extent of
the problem was not documented.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children, and had the information and means to
do so free from discrimination. Access to information on contraception
and skilled attendance at delivery and in postpartum care were
generally available in urban, but not in rural, areas. Women and men
were given equal access to diagnostic services and treatment for
sexually transmitted infections.
There were no developments reported during the year in the case of
Aline da Silva Pimentel, an Afro-Brazilian woman who died in late 2002
after complications of birth. Her primary emergency assistance occurred
in a Belford Roxo municipal hospital, and she died in a Nova Iguacu
hospital. In 2003 the victim's family filed a suit against the
municipality of Belford Roxo and the state of Rio de Janeiro, seeking
compensation for wrongful death. In 2008 a petition was filed on the
victim's behalf before a UN committee, alleging that her access to
emergency obstetric care was blocked and that therefore there was a
violation of her rights under the Convention on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women.
Women have the same legal rights as men. A cabinet-level office,
the Secretariat for Women's Policy, oversees a special entity charged
with ensuring the legal rights of women. Although the law prohibits
discrimination based on gender in employment and wages, there were
significant wage disparities between men and women. According to the
Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE), women were often paid less than
men in the same functions.
The law provides 120 days of paid maternity leave to women and
seven days of paternity leave to men. The law also prohibits employers
from requiring applicants or employees to take pregnancy tests or
present sterilization certificates, but some employers sought
sterilization certificates from female job applicants or tried to avoid
hiring women of childbearing age. Violations of the law are punishable
by jail terms of up to two years for employers, while the company may
be fined 10 times the salary of its highest-paid employee.
Children.--Citizenship is derived from birth in the country or from
a parent. According to the SEDH, approximately 12 percent of the
children born in the country during the year were not registered, and
an estimated total of 400,000 children did not have birth certificates.
There were wide registration discrepancies between the more affluent
states of the south and southeast and the poorer states of the north
and northeast regions of the country. During the year the federal
government launched a campaign to increase reported births and
standardize certification, focusing on the north and northeast regions
and on the more vulnerable and rural populations.
While the law prohibits subjecting any child or adolescent to
negligence or abuse, such abuse was a major problem and included rape,
molestation, and impregnation of girls by family members. From January
to August, the SEDH-operated National Hotline of Sexual Abuse and
Exploitation against Children and Adolescents registered 21,714 reports
of abuse, approximately the same as for that period in 2008.
Approximately 62 percent of the victims were girls; the usual
complaints were negligence and sexual violence. Girls also suffered
slightly more than boys from physical and psychological aggression.
Allegations of abuse of minors and prosecution of crimes against
children were not pursued adequately or aggressively.
According to the NGO Children's Network to Combat Violence, which
operated three centers in the Sao Paulo area, the number of reported
cases of sexual abuse and physical aggression against children tripled
from October 2008 to May 2009 due principally to a greater willingness
to report. The centers, with 46 social workers, handled 457 abuse cases
involving 380 families.
Child prostitution was a problem, with extreme poverty the primary
contributor. The Federal Police continued to estimate that upward of
250,000 children were involved in prostitution. The law sets a minimum
age for consensual sex of 14 years, with the penalty for statutory rape
ranging between 8 and 15 years in prison. The national telephone
hotline registered 27,159 reported cases of sexual exploitation of
children and adolescents between January and November. A 2006
University of Brasilia study found that approximately one-fourth of the
1,514 tourist destinations frequented by citizens had an active sexual
commercial market for children and adolescents and also found, in
combination with the SEDH and the UN Children's Fund, commercial sex
involving children and adolescents in approximately one-sixth of the
country's 5,561 municipalities. The largest percentage of these cases
occurred in the northeast, but all regions had reported incidents.
Trafficking in children for the purpose of sexual exploitation was
a serious problem. The national hotline, established in coordination
between the Federal Police and the Federal Highway Police, received 58
reports during the year of such trafficking, both domestically and
internationally.
The Rio de Janeiro civil police identified eight hotels and
restaurants involved in a child sexual exploitation network in two city
areas. The newspaper O Globo reported in April that drug traffickers
and corrupt police officers exploited children in 11 city areas;
authorities indicted military police officers Ailton Neto and Manoel
Costa for extorting children who engaged in prostitution to finance
their drug addiction, but there were no developments in the case at
year's end.
According to the NGO Reference Center on Children and Adolescents
(CECRIA), patterns of sexual exploitation of children corresponded to
the distinct economic and social profiles of the country's regions. In
the Amazon region, sexual exploitation of children took place in
brothels that catered to mining settlements. In large urban centers,
girls who left home to escape abuse or sexual exploitation often
prostituted themselves on the streets to survive. In the cities along
the northeast coast, sex tourism exploiting children was prevalent and
involved networks of travel agents, hotel workers, taxi drivers, and
others who actively recruited children and also trafficked them outside
the country. Child prostitution also developed in the areas served by
the country's navigable rivers, particularly in ports and at
international borders.
There were no known developments in the 2008 Federal Police
investigation in Manaus into allegations that a foreign-owned travel
company arranged fishing expeditions to the Amazon region that were
actually sex tours for foreign pedophiles.
The 2007 investigation by the Human Rights Committee of the Chamber
of Deputies ended in December 2008 with the conviction and sentencing
of Alderman Roberto Alan de Souza Costa to 12 years in prison for the
rape of a 13-year-old girl who was part of a child-prostitution network
in Portel, Para State. The case against another alderman, Adson de
Azevedo Mesquita, for sponsoring orgies involving adolescents, remained
under investigation at year's end with no known developments and none
expected. The network involved politicians, business operators, hotel
owners, and taxi drivers in the city; child victims who denounced these
crimes were threatened and forced into hiding along with their
families. At year's end there was also no known information, and none
was expected, in the case of the committee investigator killed in
suspicious circumstances.
In January a judge released the four persons that authorities
arrested in Taquara, Rio Grande do Sul, in 2007 and detained on
suspicion of pedophilia and trafficking of children. The judge acted
because, although the case remained open, he considered the time
already served to have been excessive.
Although the country is not a large-scale producer of child
pornography, such material spread during the year on social-networking
Web sites. After a 2008 law criminalized the possession of child
pornography, the Federal Police conducted in May an operation against
child pornography online. There were no known developments after police
officers filtered nearly 3,500 tips and carried out 92 search warrants
in 20 states and the Federal District to inspect computers and seize
illegal material. The penalty for possession of child pornography is up
to four years in prison and a fine. Those who produce, reproduce, or
offer for sale child pornography or recruit a child to participate in a
pornographic production may be imprisoned up to eight years and fined.
The primary federal program to assist child victims of commercial
sexual exploitation, according to the Ministry of Social Development,
was the Service to Fight Violence, Abuse, and Sexual Exploitation of
Children and Adolescents (formerly the Sentinel Program). It provided
victims with psychological, social, and legal services through Social
Assistance Specialized Reference Centers that are managed locally and
raised awareness through information campaigns, workshops, and
partnerships. The Ministry of Tourism continued to promote the code of
conduct it developed to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of
children in the tourism industry, distributed public awareness campaign
materials for display within tourism-related establishments, and
continued to distribute awards to entities responsible for combating
sexual exploitation of children within the industry. The Federal
Highway Police and the International Labor Organization (ILO) published
data on places such as gas stations, bars, restaurants, motels, and
nightclubs along highways considered to be areas for sexual
exploitation of children and adolescents.
In Rio de Janeiro city, the Secretariat for Social Assistance
coordinated aid to street children and minors who were victims of
sexual abuse and exploitation. According to the Rio de Janeiro Human
Rights Center, the city maintained five centers that provided social
services, counseling, and shelter, although the city discontinued its
hotline for reporting cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation in
January. The Sao Paulo city government continued to operate several
programs for street children, including one that used rehabilitation
and social reinsertion into other geographic areas to save the lives of
adolescents condemned to death by drug traffickers.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law criminalizes all forms of
trafficking, persons were trafficked from, within, and, to a lesser
extent, to the country. Consolidated government statistics were
unavailable.
Authorities continued to estimate that thousands of women and
adolescents were trafficked annually from all parts of the country,
both domestically and internationally, for commercial sexual
exploitation. The government reported that trafficking routes existed
in all states and the Federal District. The 2002 National Study on
Trafficking in Women, Children, and Adolescents for Sexual Exploitation
Purposes identified 241 international and national trafficking routes,
but some study aspects were obsolete.
According to the National Justice Secretariat (SNJ), international
sex trafficking victims were principally destined for Spain, the
Netherlands, Venezuela, Italy, and Portugal; and international labor
trafficking victims, for Bolivia and Paraguay.
Internal trafficking of rural workers into forced labor schemes was
a serious problem, while trafficking from rural to urban areas occurred
to a lesser extent. Union leaders claimed that nearly all persons
working as forced laborers had been trafficked by labor recruiters.
Labor inspectors found a small number of persons from other countries--
mostly Bolivians, Paraguayans, and Koreans--trafficked into the country
to work in urban sweatshops, primarily in the city and state of Sao
Paulo. Labor recruiters generally recruited laborers from small
municipalities in the north and northeast and transported them to
ranches and plantations in remote areas in the central western part of
the country. Most internally trafficked slave laborers originated from
the states of Maranhao and Piaui, while Para and Mato Grosso states
received the highest number of internally trafficked slave laborers.
Internal trafficking supplied forced labor, primarily from urban to
rural areas, for agricultural work and commercial sexual exploitation.
This typically occurred when employers recruited laborers from poor
rural towns and transported them to remote areas where escape was
difficult. Workers then were obliged to toil in brutal conditions until
they could repay inflated debts.
Sex tourism existed throughout the country but was most apparent in
coastal resort towns in the northeast, south, and southeast and in such
major tourist destinations as Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza, Ceara, as
well as in the wildlife tourist areas of the Pantanal and the Amazon.
CECRIA found that typical sex trafficking victims were darker-
skinned women between 15 and 27 years of age, but researchers also
noted the presence of adolescent boys as victims, some of whom worked
as transvestites. Persons exploited in trafficking schemes typically
came from low-income families and usually had not finished high school.
Traffickers often lured victims with promises of lucrative work as
dancers or models in Europe; beauty contest winners were cited as
common targets. Girls were recruited at clubs and modeling agencies or
through the Internet, want ads, mail-order bride schemes, or maid and
au pair services. Most women who were trafficked internationally were
older than 18, but younger victims were also trafficked with
counterfeit documents.
Police officials believed that some women recruited by trafficking
organizations understood they were to work as prostitutes but did not
know about working conditions and their prospective earnings. In other
cases women were told that they would work as nannies or domestics.
Upon arrival the victims' passports often were confiscated, and they
were forced to prostitute themselves and live in virtual confinement.
In addition to threatening physical violence, traffickers often used
debt and isolation to control victims. Trafficking in persons was
linked to international networks of crime, including drugs, arms
trafficking, and money laundering. Traffickers were predominantly
citizens and were usually associated with such activities as brothels,
escort agencies, nightclubs, and tourist agencies.
The law establishes a penalty of up to eight years' imprisonment
and a fine for internal or external trafficking in persons for the
purposes of prostitution; sentences may be increased to 12 years when
violence, threats, or deception are involved. The law requires the
permission or presence of both parents for children to leave the
country; it also prohibits children from leaving the country with a
foreigner unless authorities grant prior approval.
Laws on trafficking for sexual exploitation were difficult to
enforce, particularly in relation to domestic trafficking. Violators of
antitrafficking laws rarely received criminal penalties because of
statutes of limitation. Police officers reported difficulty in
arresting traffickers because of the need to apprehend them in the act
of traveling with the victims. According to police, some women left the
country with traffickers willingly. Fear of reprisals and lack of
awareness of legal recourse also kept victims from seeking police
intervention or testifying against traffickers. In addition, because
trafficking in persons laws were relatively new in the country and not
fully understood by many judicial officials, courts often misclassified
such cases. As a result, there were few criminal convictions for
trafficking.
Fifteen government ministries and cabinet-level secretariats were
involved in implementing the national antitrafficking-in-persons plan,
notably the SEDH and various agencies of the Ministries of Justice
(including the Federal Police), Tourism, Social Development, and Labor
and Employment. The Federal Highway Police were responsible for
checking documents and monitoring traffic along highways and roads;
occasionally they were involved in apprehending suspected traffickers.
Federal and state police monitored the Internet to detect recruitment
by sex traffickers. Operating under the SNJ, which was building a
national database to track victim and trafficker data, antitrafficking
offices in the states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Ceara, and Goias
monitored domestic and international trafficking. From 2004 to early
2009, 45 accusations of enticement for trafficking of women were
presented to the Public Ministry in Goias, and the Federal Police there
conducted 32 joint operations with foreign police.
In January Federal Police arrested four citizens and a Swiss
national involved in trafficking young women from Goias State to
Switzerland. At year's end there were no known developments.
In March Spanish police rescued 28 women trafficked from Brazil to
Barcelona, Spain, for prostitution. At year's end the investigation
continued.
In July authorities charged two citizens and five foreigners in
Tocantins State with trafficking women to Spain and Portugal and eight
persons in Espirito Santo State with trafficking women to Europe. In
the latter case, two of the arrests were in Italy and six were in Rio
de Janeiro and Espirito Santo.
In August the Federal Police arrested 18 suspected members of a
trafficking ring centered in Sao Paulo that allegedly supplied the
luxury prostitution market in the United States, the Caribbean, and
Europe with approximately 200 women a year.
There were 43 Federal Police investigations conducted into cases
involving trafficking of persons during the year, compared with 89
investigations in 2008. Goias Federal Court convicted five persons of
international trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation in
2008. There were no known developments concerning the arrests of 14
individuals during 2008 for internal and international trafficking in
persons in the states of Sao Paulo, Ceara, Mato Grosso, and Goias,
including the cases of six persons charged with international
trafficking and conspiracy who at the end of 2008 were being tried in
the Mato Grosso Federal Court.
Trafficking victims were not treated as criminals, and police
usually referred victims to centers for treatment and counseling.
However, access to such services was limited due to a lack of
government financial support, and efforts often were inconsistent and
underfunded. The government cooperated with a number of shelters or
health care facilities specifically dedicated to trafficking victims,
and it trained workers at more than 600 centers to assist trafficking
victims. The Secretariat of Social Assistance of the Ministry of Social
Development and Combating Hunger operated more than 400 centers to
assist victims of sexual abuse, exploitation, and domestic violence.
NGOs provided victims assistance in job training, counseling, and other
community reintegration assistance. Locally based NGOs assisted
trafficking victims with retraining and counseling activities. Eighteen
states have integrated into the SEDH-maintained national witness
protection system, with another state in the process of integration.
The federal government invested nearly 13 million reais (approximately
$7.5 million) into the witness program and brought 982 individuals
under its protection during the year.
The SEDH conducted antitrafficking information campaigns. The SNJ
continued to lead a government public awareness campaign to deter
international traffickers and sensitize their potential victims to the
dangers. Sao Paulo, Rio de Janiero, and Pernambuco states and others
carried out similar, statewide campaigns.
Labor organizations and NGOs continued to conduct prevention
campaigns to supplement Federal Police and state civil police efforts.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment,
education, and access to health care, and the federal government
effectively enforced these provisions. However, state governments
failed to meet legally mandated targets for educational opportunities
and work placement. While federal and state laws have provisions
ensuring access to buildings for persons with disabilities, states did
not have programs to enforce them effectively. For instance, while the
Sao Paulo State labor code requires that meeting places for more than
100 persons or other facilities for 600 persons or more provide
modified entrances and other accommodations for persons with
disabilities, such persons had continued difficulty in securing
necessary accommodations.
The National Council for the Rights of Handicapped Persons and the
National Council for the Rights of the Elderly, both within the SEDH,
have primary responsibility for promoting the rights of persons with
disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Although the law prohibits
racial discrimination, darker-skinned citizens, particularly Afro-
Brazilians, frequently encountered discrimination.
The law specifically prohibits denial of public or private
facilities, employment, or housing to anyone based on race. The law
also prohibits, and provides jail terms for, the incitement of racial
discrimination or prejudice and the dissemination of racially offensive
symbols and epithets.
Afro-Brazilians, representing almost half the population, were
significantly underrepresented in the government, professional
positions, and the middle and upper classes. They experienced a higher
rate of unemployment and earned average wages approximately half those
of a white person. There was also a sizeable racial education gap.
In 2008 in a government report to the UN, the SEDH acknowledged the
existence of racism in the country but stated that the government took
and was taking affirmative actions to reduce it, including university
admission quotas for Afro-descendants.
Sixty-eight universities maintained affirmative action programs,
including major public universities in the Federal District and the
states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Parana, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais,
Espirito Santo, and Bahia. For instance, the University of Brasilia
admitted 3,275 self-declared students of color during the year using a
quota. According to a study from Rio de Janeiro Federal University
released in 2008, approximately half the public federal and state
universities had a quota system or an exam bonus.
Indigenous People.--The law grants the indigenous population broad
protection of their cultural patrimony and exclusive use of their
traditional lands. Although many problems existed, the government
continued to make limited progress in securing these rights. The law
provides indigenous persons with exclusive beneficial use of the soil,
waters, and minerals on indigenous lands, but Congress must approve
each case. The government administers the lands but must consider the
views of affected communities regarding their development or use, and
communities have the right to ``participate'' in the benefits gained
from such use. However, indigenous leaders and activists complained
that indigenous persons had only limited participation in decisions
taken by the government affecting their land, cultures, traditions, and
allocation of national resources.
The National Indigenous Foundation (FUNAI) estimated that there
were more than 500,000 indigenous persons in 225 societies on
indigenous lands and an additional 100,000 to 190,000 indigenous
persons living outside these areas, including in urban environments. In
October O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported an estimated 150,000
indigenous voters in the country and marked a trend of increased
indigenous political representation including five mayors and 90 city
council members.
The government estimated that more than half of the country's
indigenous persons lived in poverty in communities whose traditional
ways of life were threatened on a variety of fronts, including land
development, agricultural expansion, and mining. FUNAI reported that
indigenous persons also faced other problems, including disease, poor
health care, and loss of native culture.
While the 1988 constitution charged the federal government with
demarcating indigenous areas within five years, the government has not
completed the process's four phases (identification, declaration,
approval, and registration).
In a landmark ruling on March 19, the Supreme Court upheld the
demarcation of the large Raposa Serra do Sul reserve in Roraima State
as contiguous indigenous territory, ordered the removal of
nonindigenous rice farmers from the land, and articulated 19 conditions
governing the exercise of state power relative to indigenous lands. The
court rejected the view that the reservation threatened the development
or security of the state and endorsed the federal executive branch's
view. Confrontations between indigenous persons and rice farmers in the
reserve in 2008 had resulted in the wounding of 10 indigenous persons.
A law enacted in June allows the transfer of properties in the
Amazon region to those who occupied them prior to December 2004 and
whose occupation was peaceful.
In an August report, a UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur
noted the absence of an effective mechanism for consultation with
indigenous persons on the planning of major development projects, such
as highway and dam construction and large-scale mining. The special
rapporteur also criticized the government for failure to protect the
land from outsiders and for inadequate attention to the health care and
educational needs of the indigenous population, although the report
noted the government's creation of 34 Special Indigenous Health
Districts to provide a network of services adapted to indigenous
community needs.
In October the Ministry of Justice decreed recognition of the
boundaries of Guyraroka indigenous land, belonging to the Guarani-
Kaiowa tribe in Mato Grosso do Sul State, after more than 10 years of
dispute.
On December 21, the president decreed tracts of land, mainly in the
Amazon region and totaling approximately 19,300 square miles, as
indigenous reserves. Farmers in Mato Grosso do Sul challenged the
decree's constitutionality, and on December 29, the Supreme Court
president suspended it with respect to a nonindigenous farm in that
state until the court can decide the merits of the case.
Nonindigenous persons who illegally exploited indigenous lands for
mining, logging, and agriculture often destroyed the environment and
wildlife, spread disease, and provoked violent confrontations. FUNAI,
which acknowledged insufficient resources to protect indigenous lands
from encroachment, depended on the understaffed and poorly equipped
Federal Police for law enforcement on indigenous lands.
Disputes between indigenous and nonindigenous persons occasionally
erupted into violence. Most conflicts concerned land ownership or
resource exploitation rights. Tensions were particularly acute in Mato
Grosso do Sul State, where denial of access to traditional lands,
extreme poverty, and related social ills led to high rates of infant
mortality and violence, including murder and suicide. In January six
members of the Guarani-Kaiowa tribe in Mato Grosso do Sul State
committed suicide; there were no known developments at year's end
regarding the resultant civil police investigation.
On February 12, approximately 25 civil police raided the Guarani-
Kaiowa village of Passo Piraju, Mato Grosso do Sul State, and detained
four tribe members accused of receiving stolen goods, illegally
possessing a weapon, and forming a criminal gang. According to
residents, the police kicked down house doors, damaged homes and the
school, and took money and household goods. In September a court set
two of the accused free because of undue delay in the legal process.
In June the Federal Police allegedly abused five Tupinabas in
Ilheus, Bahia, to force their confession to a murder involving a land
dispute with a nonindigenous rancher. A Federal Police investigation
into their complaint was pending at year's end (see section 1.c.).
On September 18, a group of 10 men attacked the Guarani-Kaiowa
community Apyka'y, shot and injured one tribe member, and burned
several shelters. Four days earlier, shelters in a nearby Guarani-
Kaiowa community were burned. At year's end there were no known
developments in the resultant Public Ministry investigation into both
incidents.
According to the Indigenous Missionary Council, 60 indigenous
persons were killed during 2008.
There were no developments in the Mato Grosso do Sul civil police
investigation into the suicides of 34 members of the Guarani-Kaiowa
tribe in 2008.
At year's end there were no known developments in the police
investigation of the 2007 killing of indigenous leader Ortiz Lopes in
Mato Grosso do Sul State.
The precarious health situation of indigenous groups continued in
many states. Malnutrition, dengue, malaria, hepatitis, tuberculosis,
and parasites were among frequent ailments and principal causes of
death, according to the UN special rapporteur. Indigenous women
suffered disproportionately from cervical cancer. Complaints continued
regarding poor transportation for bringing doctors to communities and
taking patients to hospitals. The Ministry of Health created a Special
Secretariat for Indigenous Health in 2008 to improve the provision of
health services to indigenous communities. It tasked a working group,
composed of FUNAI and National Health Foundation specialists, to
identity and train community members as health agents. For example, in
Mato Grosso do Sul, authorities designated 28 indigenous persons for
training focused on respiratory illness and diarrhea.
There were no reported developments regarding either the Vale do
Rio Doce Company appeal of the September 2008 Para State Federal Court
decision to reinstitute monthly payments to Xikrin tribal groups or the
related Public Ministry civil case, both of which remained pending at
year's end.
Created in April 2008, the National Commission on Indigenous
Policies--consisting of representatives from indigenous tribes, civil
society groups, and numerous government entities--examined ways to
improve government policies and the provision of health services to
indigenous persons and to incorporate indigenous concerns into the
federal government's anticrime plan. In October the commission met in
Rio Branco, Acre, to discuss the state's indigenous political issues
and mineral exploration in the Cinta Larga indigenous land.
According to the Ministry of Education, 20 state and federal
universities continued to reserve entrance slots for indigenous
persons. The number of indigenous university students, almost 5,000 or
approximately 1 percent of total university students, remained
unchanged.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Federal law does not prohibit
discrimination based on sexual orientation, but several states and
municipalities such as Sao Paulo had administrative regulations that
bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and provide for equal
access to government services.
Between January and September, the NGO Bahia Gay Group received 115
reports of killings in the country based on sexual orientation and
gender identity, a decrease from 186 during the same period in 2008.
Gay men were the most affected group, followed by transvestites and
lesbians. During the year Parana State had the most cases of killings
of gay men (19), followed by the states of Bahia (18) and Sao Paulo
(10). Activist groups claimed that violence against gay, lesbian, and
transgender persons and, in particular, transvestites was underreported
(see also section 1.a.). Boys perceived to be effeminate were
trafficked within the country and abroad to work as transvestite
prostitutes. Police routinely harassed transvestite prostitutes.
Rio de Janeiro's program ``Rio without Homophobia''--created in May
2008 to replicate a national program aimed at providing assistance to
the homosexual community--remained under development.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--There were no reported
cases of societal violence or discrimination based on persons with HIV/
AIDS during the year.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for union
representation of all workers (except members of the military, the
uniformed police, and firefighters) but imposes a hierarchical, unitary
system funded by a mandatory union tax on workers and employers. New
unions must register with the MTE, which accepts the registration
unless objections are filed by other unions. Unions that represent
workers in the same geographical area and professional category may
contest registration, in which case the MTE Secretariat for Labor
Relations has 15 days to consider the validity of the objection. If the
objection is found valid, the MTE does not register the union. Union
organizers may challenge this decision in labor courts.
The law stipulates certain restrictions, such as ``unicidade'' (one
per city), which limits freedom of association by prohibiting multiple,
competing unions of the same professional category in a given
geographical area. Most elements of the labor movement and the
International Trade Union Confederation criticized unicidade. While a
number of competing unions existed, the MTE and the courts enforced
unicidade in decisions regarding the registration of new unions.
The law extends legal recognition to trade union centrals that meet
certain requirements regarding membership and regional representation.
Such recognition allows qualifying centrals legally to represent
workers in courts, public councils, and other bodies.
The Single Central Organization of Workers estimated that 20 to 25
percent of workers were unionized. Most informal sector workers,
including self-employed workers and those not formally registered with
the MTE, fell outside the official union structure; they therefore did
not enjoy union representation and usually were unable to exercise
their labor rights fully. According to government statistics, the
informal sector accounted in 2008 for approximately 38 percent of the
labor force; in agriculture 70 percent of workers were unregistered.
Intimidation and killings of rural union organizers and their
agents continued. The Catholic Church's Pastoral Land Commission
reported that violence in rural areas victimized labor leaders, with
most perpetrators enjoying impunity (see section 1.a.).
On August 23, two masked men shot and wounded Elio Neves, president
of the Federation of Rural Salaried Employees of Sao Paulo State and
known for his representation of sugarcane workers, in Riberao Bonito,
Sao Paulo. At year's end there were no arrests.
There were no developments in the August 2008 attempted killing of
Transport Workers' Union leader Joinville Frota in Amapa State,
reportedly during a dispute between the union and two transport
companies.
The law provides the right to strike to all workers except the
armed forces, military police, and firefighters. The civil police are
allowed to conduct strikes, and workers exercised this right in
practice. The Inspectorate General of Military Police is responsible
for monitoring compliance with laws and regulations concerning the
military police and the firefighter corps of the states. For the
excepted individuals, an internal administrative process is provided
for handling grievances, ensuring due process, and protecting worker
rights. It is hierarchical and varies by state. For example, in the
Military Police of Sao Paulo, an officer must direct his/her complaint
to an immediate supervisor within five days of becoming aware of the
act motivating the complaint, a decision is required in the following
10 days, and an appeal is possible. If the issue concerns discipline, a
Council of Discipline composed of three active-duty officers is
required to rule within 15 days of submissions from both sides.
The law stipulates that a strike may be ruled ``abusive'' by labor
courts and be punishable if a number of conditions are not met, such as
maintaining essential services during a strike, notifying employers at
least 48 hours before the beginning of a walkout, and ending a strike
after a labor court decision. Employers may not hire substitute workers
during a legal strike or fire workers for strike-related activity,
provided that the strike is not ruled abusive. In practice employers
fired strike organizers for reasons ostensibly unrelated to strikes,
and legal recourse related to retaliatory discharge was often a
protracted process.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Collective
bargaining was widespread in the formal sector. The law obliges a union
to negotiate on behalf of all registered workers in the professional
category and geographical area it represents, regardless of whether an
employee pays voluntary membership dues to it.
The law permits the government to reject clauses of collective
bargaining agreements that conflict with government policy. The ILO
Committee of Experts has called for this provision's repeal. Collective
bargaining is effectively prohibited in the public sector; the
constitution allows it, but implementing legislation has never been
enacted.
The law prohibits the dismissal of employees who are candidates for
or holders of union leadership positions and requires employers to
reinstate workers fired for union activity; however, authorities at
times did not effectively enforce laws protecting union members from
discrimination. Labor courts charged with resolving these and other
disputes involving unfair dismissal, working conditions, salary
disputes, and other grievances were slow and cumbersome, averaging six
years for resolution. Parties generally agreed that when ultimately
resolved, cases were decided fairly and on their merits. There was a
trend for courts to rule against employees, claiming that union
membership was not a factor. Most complaints were resolved in the first
hearing; however, the appeals process introduced many delays, and some
cases remained unresolved for up to 10 years.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the country's free trade zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
``reducing someone to a condition analogous to slavery.'' The concept
of slave labor includes not only forced and compulsory labor but also
extremely arduous labor and labor performed in degrading working
conditions. Such labor, including by children, occurred in many states,
most commonly in activities such as forest clearing to provide cattle
pastureland, logging, charcoal production, raising livestock, and
agriculture, particularly harvesting sugarcane. Forced labor typically
involved young men drawn from the impoverished northeast states--
Maranhao, Piaui, Tocantins, Para, Goias, and Ceara--to work in the
northern and central-western regions of the country. Women and
children, the latter typically working with their parents, also were
involved in forced labor activities such as charcoal production. The
ILO estimated that there were approximately 25,000 forced laborers at
any given time during the year, with some NGOs estimating the number as
high as 100,000 without supporting empirical data. According to the
MTE, there were 29 slave labor cases against employers in the early
stages of federal labor court trial at year's end.
Labor intermediaries trafficked most forced laborers to remote
estates, where victims were forced to work in harsh conditions until
they repaid inflated debts related to travel, tools, clothing, or food.
Armed guards sometimes were used to retain laborers, but the remoteness
of the location, confiscation of documents, and threats of legal action
or physical harm usually were sufficient to prevent laborers from
fleeing.
Violators of forced or compulsory labor laws may be sentenced up to
eight years in prison. The law also provides penalties for various
crimes related to forced labor, such as recruiting or transporting
workers or obliging them to incur debt as part of a forced labor
scheme. The abolition of forced labor was hindered by failure to impose
effective penalties, the impunity of those responsible, delays in
judicial procedure, and the absence of coordination between various
government bodies. There were few criminal prosecutions relating to
forced labor because of the lack of a clear legal definition; local
political pressure; weak coordination among the police, the judiciary,
and prosecutors; the remoteness of areas in which forced labor was
practiced; witnesses' fear of retaliation; and police failure to
conduct criminal investigations when accompanying labor inspectors on
raids.
However, there were the following notable cases:
On March 5, a federal judge in Maraba, Para State, convicted 27
persons on slave labor charges; imposed sentences ranging from three
years and four months to 10 years and six months in prison, plus fines;
and acquitted eight persons. The defendants were landowners in the
southern and southeastern regions of the state, property managers, and
labor recruiters.
On October 2, a judge convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison
Moises Cespedes Cossio, an apparel manufacturer in Sao Paulo, for slave
labor, facilitating the illegal entry of foreigners into the country,
and kidnapping. According to court testimony, Cossio seized the
passports of his Bolivian workers and threatened them if they tried to
escape. Police discovered the slave labor situation in his factory
after he held one young worker for ransom.
On November 11, a judge convicted the former vice mayor of Moju,
Para State (Altino Coelho Miranda) and his son (Altino Freitas Miranda)
for having 15 workers, including one below age 18, in conditions
analogous to slavery on their palm-oil plantation. The judge sentenced
the father to nine years in prison and the son to seven years and six
months in prison and fined both.
On November 18, a judge convicted Eduardo Dall Magro, owner of a
rice and soy plantation in Ribeiro Goncalves, Piaui State, for having
21 workers in conditions analogous to slavery and sentenced him to
three years and four months in prison, and also sentenced his farm
manager to two years and eight months in prison and his labor recruiter
to three years' imprisonment. All three were also fined and, at year's
end, were free pending appeal.
The MTE punished those who used slave labor by imposing fines,
requiring that indemnities be paid to workers, and placing the names of
violators on a ``dirty list'' that is published every six months on the
Internet. Each listed employer is reviewed after two years to determine
if the irregularities identified have been corrected, in which case the
employer is removed from the list. Although the decree that created the
list does not prohibit granting credit to listed persons or companies,
the Ministry of National Integration recommends denying financing and
other assistance to violators, and some financial institutions decide
to do so on their own initiative. The Bank of Brazil denied credit to
landowners using slave labor, and some sectors of the economy refused
to buy products from producers on the list. The Federal Labor
Prosecutor's Office participated in inspections by receiving complaints
and establishing fines that violators had to pay to receive financing
and credit, sell products, have their accounts unfrozen, or obtain
access to governmental loans.
In December the MTE reported in its semiannual ``dirty list'' 165
employers in 17 states who used their workforce in conditions analogous
to slave labor. In one case involving the world's largest sugarcane
producer, its listing generated legal action that continued at year's
end.
During the year the MTE's Mobile Inspection Unit freed 3,571 slave
laborers in 141 operations on 324 properties. Payments of indemnities
to the workers totaled approximately 5.6 million reais ($3.2 million).
The 2008 slave labor case against a cacao plantation employer in
Placas, Para, remained unresolved as a federal labor court continued to
determine civil penalties.
At year's end there were no known developments concerning penalties
in a 2006 case in which authorities arrested landowners in Goias State
suspected of labor abuse and environmental crimes in making charcoal
from illegally felled, protected-area timber.
The National Commission to Eradicate Slave Labor coordinated the
government's efforts to eliminate forced labor. The MTE's enforcement
arm, the Special Group for Mobile Inspection, had responsibility for
locating and freeing victims of forced labor. Federal Police
accompanied mobile unit inspectors on raids to provide protection.
Mobile teams levied fines on estate owners who used forced labor and
required employers to provide back pay and benefits to workers before
returning the workers to their municipalities of origin. Although
mobile units enjoyed some success in freeing those working in slave-
like conditions, inspectors faced resistance and often worked under
dangerous conditions.
The National Pact for the Eradication of Slave Labor included more
than 200 companies and NGOs with a public commitment to restrict
economic relations with anyone who uses slave labor. The NGOs Social
Observatory Institute, ETHOS Institute, and Reporter Brasil monitored
the actions to combat forced labor implemented by those who signed the
pact.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although child labor is prohibited, it continued to be a widespread
problem, particularly in homes and the informal sector. Children were
found working on cotton, manioc, pineapple, rice, and tobacco farms.
The government's Applied Economic Research Institute data showed that
there were 1.7 million children between the ages of five and 14
(approximately 5 percent of the total) who worked in the country's
economy in 2008. According to the National Household Survey conducted
by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the
number of children between the ages of five and 17 working in the
economy fell from 8.4 million in 1992 to 4.5 million in 2008. In a
report released in December, the ILO recognized the country's
government and civil society for their comprehensive efforts aimed at
preventing and eliminating child labor. The government continued to
cooperate with the ILO in projects to eradicate child labor in the
states of Bahia and Mato Grosso.
The minimum working age is 16 years, and apprenticeships may begin
at age 14. The law bars all minors under age 18 from work that
constitutes a physical strain or that occurs in nocturnal, unhealthy,
dangerous, or morally harmful conditions; however, authorities rarely
enforced additional legal restrictions intended to protect working
minors under age 18. The law requires parental permission for minors to
work as apprentices, and apprentices must attend school through the
primary grades. Inspectors may punish violators of child labor laws by
drawing up infringement assessments and issuing fines.
Approximately half of child laborers received no income, and 90
percent worked in the unregistered informal sector. Slightly more than
half of child laborers worked in rural areas, and two-thirds were boys.
The ILO estimated that approximately 20 percent of 10- to 14-year-old
girls worked as household domestics. Most of these workers received
less than half the minimum wage and worked in excess of 40 hours a
week.
The hidden and informal nature of child labor made children
especially vulnerable to workplace accidents. Children were involved in
livestock and sugarcane raising and the production of ceramics, bricks,
charcoal, sisal, and footwear. They suffered from dismemberments,
gastrointestinal disease, lacerations, blindness, and burns caused by
applying chemical products with inadequate protection.
The MTE is responsible for inspecting worksites to enforce child
labor laws; its regional offices have special groups to enforce child
labor laws, principally by gathering data and developing plans for
child labor inspection. Nonetheless, most inspections of children in
the workplace were driven by complaints brought by workers, teachers,
unions, NGOs, and the media. Labor inspectors continued to prioritize
inspections in the informal sector, but they remained unable to enter
private homes and farms, where much of the nation's child labor was
found. The MTE reported that from January to December, inspectors found
4,788 children under age 16 working illegally, a 19 percent decrease
compared with 2008. In most cases inspectors reportedly attempted to
reach agreements and convince employers to desist from labor law
violations before levying fines of 402 reais (approximately $230) per
violation up to a maximum fine of 2,013 reais (approximately $1,150);
the fine doubles for a second violation and triples for a third. In
practice few employers were fined for employing children.
In September police uncovered forced and child labor on a lime farm
in Cabreuva, Sao Paulo State. One child claimed to earn two reais
(approximately $1.15) daily, and another reported not being paid in
months and subsisting on food from neighbors. Authorities removed 30
children from the property; no arrests were reported.
The government implemented programs to prevent child labor,
including the Program to Eradicate Child Labor (PETI), coordinated by
the Ministry of Social Development and Combating Hunger with state and
local authorities. Through PETI, families with children seven to 15
years of age working in selected hazardous activities receive monthly
cash stipends to keep their children in school, and the children may
participate in after-school programs that provide nutritional snacks,
sports, art, and cultural activities. Through the Social Development
Ministry, the Bolsa Familia program provided a monthly stipend to low-
income families that keep their children up to age 17 in school and
meet certain child-health requirements.
The NGO Centers for the Defense of Children and Adolescents were
active in many parts of the country and reported violations of
children's rights to the guardianship councils, the social assistance
network, and the organizations that defended children and family
rights.
Civil society also took actions to prevent and abolish child labor.
The National Forum for the Eradication and Prevention of Child Labor,
which includes governmental and civil society representatives,
mobilized institutional agents involved in developing policies and
programs to eliminate child labor. The toy industry's Foundation for
Children's Rights operated a labeling program that identified companies
with child-friendly policies and a commitment to eliminate child labor.
All major labor organizations had programs to educate union members
about the hazards of child labor and encouraged members to report
instances of child labor to authorities.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The government adjusts the
minimum wage annually through a provisional measure from the president,
citing a percentage increase for inclusion in the annual budget based
on consultations among the Ministries of Finance and Social Security,
Congress, and the presidency (but not with workers or employers). In
February the minimum wage increased to 465 reais (approximately $267)
per month. The IBGE estimated that approximately 26 percent of workers
earned the minimum wage or less in 2008. The national minimum wage did
not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
The law limits the workweek to 44 hours and specifies a weekly rest
period of 24 consecutive hours, preferably on Sundays. The law also
prohibits excessive compulsory overtime and stipulates that hours
worked above the weekly limit must be compensated at time-and-a-half
pay; these provisions generally were enforced in the formal sector.
The MTE sets occupational, health, and safety standards that are
consistent with internationally recognized norms. MTE labor inspectors
worked closely with the Federal Labor Prosecutor's Office, an
independent agency responsible for prosecuting labor infractions.
However, the government devoted insufficient resources for adequate
inspection and enforcement of standards.
Unsafe working conditions were prevalent throughout the country.
There were no figures available on workplace accidents during the year.
According to data from the Ministry of Social Security, the government
granted benefits to 28,819 persons for work-related accidents from
January to November. Employees or their unions may file claims related
to worker safety with regional labor courts, although this was
frequently a protracted process.
The law requires employers to establish internal committees for
accident prevention in workplaces. It also protects employee members of
these committees from being fired for their committee activities.
However, such firings occurred, and legal recourse usually required
years for a resolution. The Federal Prosecutor's Labor Office reported
that numerous firms used computerized records to compile ``black
lists'' identifying workers who had filed claims in labor courts.
Individual workers did not have the legal right to remove themselves
from the workplace when faced with hazardous working conditions, but
workers could express such concerns to a company committee for an
immediate investigation.
__________
CANADA
Canada, with a population of 33.8 million, is a constitutional
monarchy with a federal parliamentary form of government. In a free and
fair multiparty federal election held in October 2008, the Conservative
Party, led by Stephen Harper, won a plurality of seats and formed a
second successive minority 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 judiciary provided effective means of
addressing individual instances of abuse. Human rights problems
included harassment of religious minorities, violence against women,
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, but a few law enforcement-related deaths remained
under investigation.
In January the Commission for Public Complaints Against the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police (CPC) initiated an investigation into all in-
custody deaths that involved the use of a taser by the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police (RCMP). On March 26, the CPC reported that RCMP officers
drew tasers 1,106 times in 2008 (approximately 30 percent less often
than in 2007) and fired them in 63 incidents (down from 148 in 2007).
After reviewing recommendations of a June 2008 CPC report on the
use of RCMP tasers, the RCMP on February 12 acknowledged that tasers
posed a risk of death and confirmed that it had issued revised training
and policy directives for taser use, effective June 2008. The new
regulations require use to be ``reasonable'' (where the alternative is
to deploy a firearm) and restrict use to incidents in which there is a
real threat to officers or the public. The regulations also direct
officers to subdue the suspect as an alternative to multiple discharges
when another officer is present. The rules tighten reporting
requirements and require officers to recertify annually to use the
weapons.
On July 31, police in Edmonton, Alberta, issued new regulations to
restrict police use of tasers to incidents in which there is a ``real
likelihood of injury'' to an officer, the individual being arrested, or
a bystander.
In October the RCMP, the Ontario Provincial Police, and police
forces in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Winnipeg ordered officers to
avoid firing tasers at the upper chest.
On February 8, an investigation into the June 2008 death of Jeffrey
Mark Marreel in Ontario concluded that Marreel died of cocaine
poisoning and that provincial police acted lawfully when they used a
taser to subdue him.
In May and September, the Ontario Special Investigations Unit
cleared Peel police officers of criminal liability in two 2008 deaths:
the shooting of Gregg Moynagh of Mississauga; and the taser death of
Sean Reilly of Brampton. Inquests remained pending at year's end. There
were no developments in the July 2008 death of Michael Langan in
Manitoba after police stunned him with a taser.
On April 22, the RCMP apologized publicly for releasing and
subsequently failing to correct erroneous information about the conduct
of RCMP officers in the 2007 death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver
International Airport. On July 24, a British Columbia inquiry into the
death issued the first of two reports. The report recommended that the
British Columbia government set province-wide standards for taser use,
that police deploy the weapons only when enforcing federal criminal law
or in cases of actual or imminent bodily harm, and that police limit
discharges to five seconds. The report also called for enhanced police
training and annual reporting on the use of tasers in the province. The
British Columbia government ordered all police officers in the province
to implement the guidelines with immediate effect, including the
federal RCMP, which provided contract policing for approximately 70
percent of the province. However, the RCMP announced it would review
the recommendations. It had not stated publicly whether it would comply
with the provincial directive by year's end. The second report,
focusing on the circumstances of Dziekanski's death, remained pending
at year's end.
On December 8, the CPC issued a final report on the conduct of RCMP
officers in Dziekanski's death. The commission found that the four RCMP
officers involved lawfully executed their duties but that their conduct
fell short of the standard expected of members of the RCMP. It further
found that the RCMP failed to provide clear and accurate information to
the public in its internal investigation of the incident. On December
29, the British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld a lower court ruling
that the province's report into Dziekanski's death could find the four
RCMP officers in the case guilty of misconduct in the incident. The
officers had argued that the inquiry lacked jurisdiction to comment on
the federal RCMP.
On May 13, a provincial inquiry ruled that the cause of the 2006
death of Jason Doan of Red Deer, Alberta, after he was stunned by
police with a taser, remained undetermined and could not be
conclusively attributed to the weapon.
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 and detention
center conditions generally met international standards, and the
government permitted monitoring 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.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Civilian authorities
maintained effective control over the RCMP and provincial and municipal
police forces, and the government has effective mechanisms to
investigate and punish abuse and corruption. There were no reports of
impunity involving the security forces during the year.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Authorities
generally apprehended persons openly with warrants. A judge may issue a
warrant after being satisfied that a criminal offense may have been
committed. A person arrested for a criminal offense has the right to a
prompt, independent judicial determination of the legality of the
detention; authorities respected this right in practice. Authorities
provided detainees with timely information as to the reason for the
arrest; ensured prompt access to a lawyer of the detainees' choice and,
if indigent, to one provided by the state; and granted prompt access to
family members. Bail generally was available. Detainees were released
immediately after being charged, unless a judge deemed continued
detention necessary to ensure the detainee's attendance in court, for
the protection or safety of the public, or due to the gravity of the
offense.
Noncitizens may be detained and deported on national security
grounds under immigration security certificates. The government issues
certificates on the basis of confidential evidence presented to two
cabinet ministers by intelligence or police agencies and reviewed by a
Federal Court judge who determines its ``reasonableness'' and upholds
or revokes the certificate. A judge may order an individual detained
during the security certificate removal process if the government
considers that the individual presents a danger to national security or
is unlikely to appear at the proceeding for removal. If a judge
determines that an individual faces a risk of torture or death in the
individual's country of origin greater than the risk the person poses
by remaining in the country, the judge may stay the removal order, and
the individual may be detained pending deportation or released subject
to monitoring.
Individuals subject to a security certificate may see a summary of
confidential evidence against them. Authorities provide full disclosure
to court-appointed, security-cleared lawyers (``special advocates'')
who can review and challenge the evidence on the behalf of these
individuals, but may not show to or discuss the material with them. The
law establishes strict rules on disclosure and use of secret evidence,
prohibits the use of evidence if there are reasonable grounds to
believe authorities obtained it as a result of torture, and provides
mechanisms for review and appeal.
On October 14, the Federal Court revoked one security certificate
after authorities withdrew sensitive evidence (rather than disclose it)
in the case against the suspect. On December 17, the Court revoked a
second certificate. Three applications for security certificates were
active at year's end. The Federal Court relaxed restrictions on the
three individuals whom it had previously ordered conditionally released
in 2008. In December the government initiated a review of the national
security certificate program.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The
judicial system is based on English common law at the federal level as
well as in most provinces. In Quebec, civil law is derived from the
Napoleonic Code; however, criminal law is the same nationwide. The
government appoints the judges. Trials are public, and defendants have
a right to have their case heard before a judge alone or, for more
serious cases, before a judge and jury. Defendants have the right to be
present and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner. The
government provides an attorney at public expense if needed when
defendants face serious criminal charges, and defendants can confront
or question witnesses against them and present witnesses and evidence
on their behalf. Defendants and their attorneys generally have access
to government-held evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants also
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 an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters and access to a court to bring
suit seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights violation.
Remedies can be monetary, declaratory, or injunctive. Alleged human
rights violations may also be heard by provincial or federal human
rights commissions, although these bodies follow differing standards
and procedures. Complainants have access to alternative dispute
mechanisms as well as judicial remedies.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
On October 5, the government of Ontario completed a four-month
investigation into allegations that Crown prosecutors in Barrie and
Windsor directed Ontario provincial police and local police to conduct
extensive background checks on potential jurors. The investigation
revealed that 18 of the 55 Crown attorney offices in Ontario gathered
personal information about potential jurors that failed to comply with
applicable privacy legislation. The background checks had led to two
mistrials and the dismissal of two jury panels 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, 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. The independent media were
active and expressed a wide variety of views without restriction.
The Supreme Court has ruled that the government may limit free
speech in the name of goals such as ending discrimination, ensuring
social harmony, or promoting gender equality. It also has ruled that
the benefits of limiting hate speech and promoting equality are
sufficient to outweigh the freedom of speech clause in the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms, the country's constitutional bill of rights.
Provincial-level film censorship, broadcast licensing procedures,
broadcasters' voluntary codes curbing graphic violence, and laws
against hate literature and pornography also impose some restrictions
on the media.
Inciting hatred (in certain cases) or genocide is a criminal
offense, but the Supreme Court has set a high threshold for such cases,
specifying that these acts must be proven to be willful and public.
Laws prohibit speech or programming containing any abusive comment that
would expose individuals or groups to hatred or contempt and empower
the federal Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) and the federal
Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) to enforce the law in areas of
federal jurisdiction. In addition, each province has its own human
rights code. Some advocates argued that the hate speech laws limit
freedom of speech and criticized the requirement that commissions
process all complaints received, the procedures that permit commissions
to investigate and adjudicate complaints, and the ability of
complainants to file identical complaints with several provincial
commissions, each of which may adjudicate without attention to others.
On July 23, the Vancouver City Council passed bylaws banning
leaflet distribution and posters in Olympic venues during the 2010
Olympic Winter Games and creating separate protest zones for political,
religious, or racial demonstrations. The bans take effect in January
2010 and expire in March 2010. Nongovernmental groups criticized the
restrictions on free speech.
On December 22, the Supreme Court added greater protections for
journalists and Internet media, including bloggers, against claims of
defamation in a ruling striking down two separate findings of libel
against two newspapers. The Court created a new ``responsible
communication'' defense to libel claims on matters of public interest
in which a journalist's attempts to report fairly and accurately are of
greater importance than a discovery of false allegations.
On December 3, an Alberta provincial court overturned a 2008 order
by the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission that had
sanctioned and fined Stephen Boissoin for violating the province's
human rights code in a letter critical of homosexual conduct that he
wrote for a newspaper.
In a new trial in February, a Saskatchewan provincial court
acquitted a former Assembly of First Nations leader of hate speech,
ruling that he did not willfully intend to incite hatred against Jews
in his 2002 remarks.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet and no reports that the government monitored e-mail or
chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. Internet
access was readily available and widely used. The International
Telecommunication Union reported that there were 75 Internet users per
100 inhabitants in 2008.
The CHRC investigates complaints about hate messages on Web sites
and may forward cases to the CHRT for action.
On June 11, the CHRC released its special report to Parliament on
hate speech on the Internet, which recommended that the federal Human
Rights Act continue to prohibit hate speech but also proposed
establishing a statutory definition of hatred and contempt and allowing
the CHRC summarily to dismiss complaints. These recommendations
differed from the nonbinding November 2008 policy review, which
suggested that Parliament repeal the section of the federal Human
Rights Act dealing with hate speech.
On September 9, the CHRT, in ruling on a complaint that accused
former white supremacist leader Marc Lemire of disseminating hate
speech on his Web site, found that section 13(1) of the Human Rights
Act prohibiting the telephonic dissemination of hate speech was
unconstitutional. The CHRT concluded that section 13(1) violates the
freedom of expression provision of the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms. The CHRT's ruling is not binding on courts or provincial
tribunals. On October 1, the CHRC appealed the CHRT's ruling to the
Federal Court. In January the privacy commissioner released a report
finding that the CHRC had not improperly accessed a private citizen's
Internet account, as charged by Lemire.
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.
On July 24, the Supreme Court ruled that the province of Alberta
could require members of the Hutterite religious community to pose for
photographs to obtain driver's licenses. The Supreme Court found that
the benefits of a universal photo requirement outweighed the
infringement on the Hutterites' religious beliefs.
On September 1, the Quebec Superior Court rejected an application
by a group of parents in Drummondville to exempt their children from
mandatory enrollment in an ``Ethics and Religious Culture'' course that
provided an overview of world religions. In September 2008 Quebec's
Education Ministry implemented the course in all elementary and
secondary schools in the province, including private and religious
schools. The parents had alleged that the course contravened their
charter right to freedom of religion and conscience, as well as their
choice of education.
On September 23, the British Columbia Supreme Court dismissed
charges against the current and former bishops of the Bountiful
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for
breaching section 293 of the criminal code, which bans polygamy, in a
case brought before the court in January. The court ruled that the
former attorney general did not have jurisdiction to appoint a new
special prosecutor to the case after two previous special prosecutors
had refused to prosecute the two bishops.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were a number of reports
of harassment of religious minorities, which the government
investigated and punished under laws and regulations that seek to
protect religious freedom and counter hate and bias activity.
Approximately 1.1 percent of the population was Jewish. The B'nai
Brith Canada League for Human Rights received 1,135 reports of anti-
Semitic incidents in 2008, an 8.9 percent increase from 2007. The
greatest number of reports came from Ontario Province (682 incidents,
538 of which took place in the Greater Toronto area), followed by
Quebec Province (245 incidents, 201 of which took place in Montreal)--
the two provinces where approximately 80 percent of the country's
Jewish population resided. The 1,135 reports included 803 cases of
harassment, 318 cases of vandalism, and 14 cases of violence; 177 cases
involved attacks on synagogues, Jewish homes, community centers, or
cemeteries. Jewish students reported 76 cases of anti-Semitic incidents
that occurred on university campuses in 2008, compared with 78 in 2007;
another 57 involved primary and secondary school settings, compared
with 82 in 2007. B'nai Brith also received 405 reports of Web-based
hate activity, a 31 percent increase from 2007.
On July 31, the RCMP arrested three men in Ucluelet, British
Columbia, for allegedly shouting anti-Semitic comments and spray-
painting their bodies with anti-Semitic messages. Authorities charged
one man with disorderly conduct and dropped charges against the other
two.
On August 1, police confirmed that unidentified arsonists destroyed
a Punjabi private religious school in East Vancouver in a fire set on
July 30. Police had no suspects at year's end.
In August unidentified vandals spray-painted swastikas on
buildings, bus shelters, and road signs in the city of Cote Saint-Luc,
a suburb of Montreal with a large Jewish population. According to
police, there were 14 local incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti from
January to August.
On November 15, an unidentified man spray-painted anti-Semitic
slogans on the Calgary Jewish Centre, the Holocaust War Memorial, and
private residential property in Calgary. Police were investigating at
year's end.
On December 16, an Ontario court sentenced an individual to six
months in prison for criminal harassment, assault with a weapon, and
possession of a concealed weapon after he uttered anti-Semitic slurs
and death threats against a Jewish man and his son in September.
A British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal decision regarding the
March 2008 complaint of two Sikh men against their employer remained
pending at year's end. The men alleged that their employer failed to
consider their religious obligation to wear a turban when it required
them to wear hard hats and suspended them for not doing so in 2007.
The CHRC is responsible for information programs to foster public
understanding of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Provincial human rights
commissions and tribunals perform similar functions for activities not
under federal regulation. Four provinces (Newfoundland, Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick) officially recognize Holocaust
Remembrance Day, and every province conducts a remembrance ceremony.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in providing protection and assistance to internally displaced persons,
refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and
other persons of concern.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention and 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. Its
laws provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the
government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to a country where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion. The government offered alternatives to refugee claimants whose
cases were refused by the Immigration and Refugee Board. The option for
judicial review through the Federal Court exists. Two other remedies of
last resort are available through the Department of Citizenship and
Immigration, including a ``pre-removal risk assessment'' as well as an
appeal to the minister of citizenship and immigration for a waiver
based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. The government
accepted refugees for resettlement from third countries and facilitated
local integration (including access to naturalization), particularly of
refugees in protracted situations.
The government also provided temporary resident permits to foreign
nationals who may not qualify as refugees, may be inadmissible, or did
not meet immigration and refugee law requirements.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the British Columbia
provincial general election held on May 12, the British Columbia
Liberal Party, led by Gordon Campbell, formed its third successive
majority government. In the Nova Scotia provincial general election
held on June 9, the New Democratic Party (NDP), led by Darrell Dexter,
won a majority government and formed the first NDP government in the
province's history after 10 years of rule by the Progressive
Conservative Party. The provincial elections were free and fair.
Political parties operated without restriction or outside interference.
There were 68 women and five indigenous people in the 308-member
federal House of Commons. There were 34 women and six indigenous people
in the 105-seat Senate (whose members are appointed by the government).
Women held 11 seats in the 38-member cabinet. The governor-general and
four of the nine members of the Supreme Court, including the chief
justice, were women.
On March 11, the Chief Electoral Officer testified that some
indigenous people were unable to establish their residency for voting
purposes in the October 2008 general election due to a lack of, or
difficulty in obtaining, authorized identification with a home address.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and
the government generally enforced these laws effectively. There were
isolated reports of government corruption during the year. The Federal
Accountability Act provides for transparency and accountability in
government. The Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner
reports annually on allegations of corruption. On June 30, the
government appointed the first Commissioner of Lobbying to administer
the 2008 Lobbying Act, including a new national registry of lobbying
activity.
A conflict of interest and ethics commissioner administers the
conflict of interest code for members of the House of Commons, as well
as the Conflict of Interest Act in relation to public office holders.
Provincial governments provide independent audits of government
business and ombudsman services. Public officials are not subject to
financial disclosure laws for personal assets.
The law permits public access to government information, and in
practice the government granted access for citizens and noncitizens,
including foreign media. The law provides for denial of legal requests
for information on limited and specific grounds, for which reasons are
given and cited in law, and there is a mechanism to appeal denials. The
government released quarterly information on the public expenditures of
senior government officials and also published expense information on
individual ministerial Web sites and on a centralized Web site.
Section 5. 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.
The government cooperated with international governmental
organizations and permitted visits by UN representatives. From October
13 to 23, the UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues met with
government officials and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in
Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver (see section 6, National/
Racial/Ethnic Minorities). Also in October, officials from the
country's Office of the UNHCR visited 76 ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils
detained by the Canadian Border Services Agency after they arrived off
the coast of British Columbia in a suspected human-smuggling incident.
Federal and provincial human rights commissions enjoyed government
cooperation, operated without government or party interference, and had
adequate resources. Observers considered them effective. Parliamentary
human rights committees operated in the House of Commons and the
Senate. The committees acted independently of government, conducted
public hearings, and issued reports and recommendations to which the
government provided written, public, and timely responses.
In July the government complied with an order of the Federal Court
of Canada and facilitated the return to Canada of Abousfian Abdelrazik,
a Canadian-Sudanese dual national, after the Court determined that
Canadian officials had been complicit in his detention in Sudan in 2003
on suspicion of links to terrorism. The Security Intelligence Review
Committee, a federal watchdog for the domestic security and
intelligence community, announced that it would investigate
Abdelrazik's formal complaint concerning the alleged involvement of
Canadian security agencies in his detention. In September Abdelrazik
filed suit against the federal government, alleging that it was
responsible for his detention and abuse in Sudan and had obstructed his
repatriation. The suit sought monetary compensation and a formal
apology from the government. The case remained pending at year's end.
In February three Muslim dual citizens filed amended lawsuits
against the federal government based on the October 2008 report of a
judicial inquiry into the role Canadian officials may have played in
their detention and alleged abuse in Syria and/or Egypt on suspicion of
links to terrorism. The complainants' suits alleged that the government
facilitated their detention and abuse. The suits sought monetary
compensation for the complainants as well as a formal apology from the
government. The case remained pending at year's end.
On November 13, the Supreme Court heard an appeal by the federal
government of a June Federal Court of Appeal decision upholding a lower
court order that the government must seek the repatriation of Canadian
citizen Omar Khadr from Guantanamo Bay. The lower court had ruled that
the government's refusal to request Khadr's repatriation offended a
principle of fundamental justice and violated his rights. The federal
government had argued that foreign affairs decisions are the exclusive
domain of the prime minister and his cabinet. The Supreme Court's
decision was pending at year's end.
On October 29, a Quebec court sentenced Desire Munyaneza, a Rwandan
national who entered the country in 1997 claiming refugee status, to
life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. In May
Munyaneza was convicted on seven counts of genocide, crimes against
humanity, and war crimes committed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
The trial was the first under the country's Crimes against Humanity and
War Crimes Act. In November Munyaneza filed notice to appeal.
On November 7, authorities arrested Jacques Mungwarere, a Rwandan
immigrant, on war crimes charges related to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Mungwarere was the second individual to be charged under the country's
Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for equal benefits and protection of the law
regardless of race, gender, national or ethnic origin, age, language,
social status, or disability; the government effectively enforced these
provisions.
Women.--Although prohibited by law, rape and violence against
women, including spousal rape and abuse, occurred. The government's
statistical office reported there were 63 sexual assaults per 100,000
persons in 2008, down from 65 in 2007, as well as 491 reported cases of
aggravated sexual assault and assault with a weapon causing bodily
harm.
The law prohibits domestic violence. Although the criminal code
does not define specific domestic violence offenses, an abuser can be
charged with an applicable offense, such as assault, aggravated
assault, intimidation, mischief, or sexual assault. Persons convicted
of assault may be penalized with up to five years in prison. Assaults
involving weapons, threats, injuries, or endangerment of life carry
prison sentences up to 14 years. Sexual abuse may be penalized with up
to 10 years in prison. Aggravated sexual assaults involving weapons,
and committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in
association with, a criminal organization carry sentences between four
years and life imprisonment. Studies indicated that victims of domestic
violence and spousal abuse underreported incidents.
Indigenous (Aboriginal) people were more than three times more
likely to be victims of spousal violence than nonindigenous persons.
The federal statistical agency reported that there were
approximately 569 shelters for abused women; the shelters provided
emergency care, transition housing, and long-term assistance. Shelters
admitted more than 101,000 women and children in 2008, of whom
approximately three-quarters had fled abusive situations. The
government's family violence initiative involved 12 departments and a
cabinet ministry--Status of Women Canada. These entities worked to
eliminate systemic violence against women and advance women's human
rights.
On August 26, the Manitoba government, RCMP, and Winnipeg Police
Service established the Manitoba Integrated Task Force for Missing and
Murdered Women to review unsolved homicide cases and missing-persons
files of female victims in the province. At least 75 women, almost all
Aboriginal, have disappeared in the province over the last two decades,
according to Aboriginal groups.
Adult prostitution is not illegal, but the law prohibits pimping
(benefiting from the earnings of prostitution of another); operating,
being found in, or working in a brothel; and communicating in a public
place for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. Prostitution exists
throughout the country, particularly in major urban centers.
The law does not contain a specific offense of ``sexual
harassment'' but criminalizes harassment (stalking), punishable by up
to 10 years' imprisonment, and sexual assault, with penalties ranging
from 10 years for nonaggravated sexual assault to life imprisonment for
aggravated sexual assault. The government generally enforced these
prohibitions. Most harassment cases were settled out of court.
Couples and individuals freely exercised their reproductive rights.
The publicly funded medical system provided access to contraceptive
services and information, prenatal care, skilled attendance during
childbirth, and essential obstetric and postpartum care. Women had
equal access with men to diagnosis and treatment for sexually
transmitted infections, including HIV.
Women were well represented in the labor force, including business
and the professions, and did not experience economic discrimination.
Status of Women Canada, headed by a cabinet-level minister, promoted
the legal rights of women. According to the federal statistical agency,
62.8 percent of women age 15 and older were employed in the workforce
in 2008. Employment equity laws and regulations cover federal employees
in all but the security and defense services. Women have marriage and
property rights, as well as rights in the judicial system, equal to
those of men. However, Aboriginal women living on reserves (where land
is held communally) lack matrimonial property rights.
Children.--The country provided universal birth registration, and
citizenship was derived both by birth within the country's territory
and from one's parents.
The country was a destination for child sex tourism. Under
penalties for child prostitution, persons convicted of pimping a child
under age 18 face between two and 14 years' imprisonment; Persons who
aid, counsel, compel, use, or threaten to use, violence, intimidation
or coercion in relation to a child under age 18 to engage in
prostitution face between five and 14 years' imprisonment. Persons who
solicit or obtain the sexual services of a child under age 18 face
between six months' and five years' imprisonment.
The minimum age of consensual sex is 16 years. The country does not
have a statutory rape law but prosecutes a range of sexual offenses
against children, including sexual interference, sexual touching and
invitation to sexual touching, and sexual exploitation. Penalties for
each offense range from 14 days to 10 years' imprisonment.
The law prohibits child pornography, including the production,
distribution, accessing, and possession of child pornography. Police
services reported 464 incidents of child-luring over the Internet
between 2006 and 2007, an increase of 31 percent over the previous
year, although the national statistical agency estimated the number of
reported cases to represent only 10 percent of actual cases. Maximum
penalties range from 18 months' imprisonment for summary offenses to 10
years' imprisonment for indictable offenses. On December 4, the Supreme
Court broadened the legal interpretation of child-luring over the
Internet, ruling that defendants do not have to meet, or intend to
meet, the victim to commit the offense.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons
for all purposes; however, the country was a source, transit point, and
destination for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of
forced labor and sexual exploitation.
NGOs estimated that 2,000 persons were trafficked into the country
annually, while the RCMP estimated 600 to 800 persons, with an
additional 1,500 to 2,200 persons trafficked through the country into
the United States. Many victims were Asians and Eastern Europeans, but
a significant number also came from Africa, Latin America, and the
Caribbean. Women and children were trafficked for sexual exploitation;
on a lesser scale, men, women, and children were trafficked for forced
labor. Some girls and women, most of whom were Aboriginal, were
trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation.
Traffickers tended to be members of larger criminal organizations,
members of small criminal groups, or individual criminals. Organized
crime groups were involved in transnational trafficking to varying
degrees.
Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto served as hubs for organized crime
groups trafficking in persons, including for prostitution. East Asian
crime groups targeted the country, Vancouver in particular, to exploit
immigration laws, benefits available to immigrants, and the proximity
to the U.S. border.
The law criminalizes trafficking in persons and prohibits global
and internal trafficking in persons, benefiting economically from
trafficking in persons, and withholding or destroying documents to
facilitate trafficking in persons. The Immigration and Refugee
Protection Act establishes criminal penalties of up to life in prison
and fines of up to one million Canadian dollars ($953,000) for
convicted cross-border traffickers. The government prosecutes all forms
of human trafficking, including forced labor, in addition to
trafficking-related acts such as kidnapping, forcible confinement,
uttering threats, sexual assault, prostitution-related crimes, and
extortion. The law also permits domestic prosecution of citizens and
residents who engage in illegal sexual activity with children overseas.
Twenty-four antitrafficking prosecutions were pending before
provincial courts, involving 15 accused offenders at year's end. There
were no trafficking convictions during the year.
The government has an interdepartmental working group consisting of
17 departments and agencies and cochaired by senior officials from the
Departments of Justice and Public Safety to combat trafficking in
persons. The RCMP has six regional human trafficking awareness
coordinators who conduct law enforcement training programs to sensitize
officers to trafficking realties, train officers to identify potential
victims, and provide information on the trafficking sections of the
criminal code. The Canadian Border Services Agency has 56 specially
trained migration integrity officers who collect and report
intelligence information on organized human trafficking.
During the year the government's interdepartmental working group on
trafficking coordinated with British Columbia's Office to Combat
Trafficking in Persons, the Vancouver Police, and the Vancouver Olympic
Committee to incorporate antitrafficking measures into the Olympics'
broader security plan.
The government, in conjunction with nongovernmental organizations,
supports a 24-hour tipline for the public anonymously to report
suspected cases of human trafficking.
On December 1, the Salvation Army opened a 10-bed facility in
Vancouver for female victims of sex trafficking.
Through agencies such as Interpol, the government assisted other
countries with criminal investigations of trafficking cases and
cooperated with law enforcement authorities in neighboring and source
countries.
Officials may grant a temporary residence permit (TRP) of 180 days
(or longer, in special meritorious cases) to provide a reflection
period for the victim and an investigative window for law enforcement
to determine whether there is enough evidence to pursue a trafficking
case. During this 180-day period, immigration officials determine
whether a longer residency period of up to three years may be
warranted. Victims of trafficking who receive a TRP are eligible for
health-care benefits and trauma counseling and may also apply for a
work permit. Victims of trafficking are not required to testify against
their trafficker to gain temporary or permanent resident status. In
addition to legal status under a TRP, trafficking victims may also
apply for assistance from victim assistance funds maintained by
provincial governments.
In April the government granted Cdn$100,000 ($95,000) to the
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs to raise awareness of human trafficking for
sexual exploitation of Manitoba First Nations women and children and to
undertake resource and strategic development aimed at prevention and
protection.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
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 or in other areas, and the government effectively enforced
these prohibitions. The government effectively implemented laws
mandating access to buildings for persons with disabilities.
The federal, provincial, and territorial governments share
responsibility for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
The Office for Disability Issues, the federal government's focal point,
funded a range of programs, including programs to enable participation
of persons with disabilities in the workforce, to improve physical
accessibility infrastructure, to build the capacity of the voluntary
sector, and to raise public education and awareness of disability
issues.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Charter of Rights and
Freedoms protects the linguistic and cultural rights of minorities and
establishes English and French as the country's two official languages.
Despite the federal policy of bilingualism, native English speakers in
Quebec (5.7 percent of the province's population in 2006) and French
speakers in other parts of the country generally lived and worked in
the language of the majority. Provinces may grant French or English the
status of an official language, but only New Brunswick has granted the
two languages equal status.
The Charter of the French Language in Quebec makes French the
official language of the province; requires the use of French in
commerce, the workplace, education, and government; and protects
minority language rights. The charter also restricts access to publicly
funded English-language education to children who have received or are
receiving elementary or secondary instruction in English and whose
parents are citizens, and to students who are temporary residents in
the province or have serious learning disabilities and who have
obtained a waiver.
On October 22, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a 2002
Quebec language-protection law that limited access to English-language
schools for students. The law closed a legal loophole that allowed
parents to send their children to English-language public schools under
limited circumstances. The court suspended the effects of its ruling
for one year to allow the Quebec government to redraft the legislation.
In a preliminary report following a visit to the country in
October, the UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues stated that the
country's Muslim communities feared ``unsubstantiated use'' of security
certificates, racial profiling, and harassment by police. The
Independent Expert also found ``uneven and unclear'' human rights
protections for all minorities due to the independent authority of
human rights commissions in each province and lack of federal
oversight.
Complainants reported at least three incidents of alleged racially
motivated assault and harassment of Asian-Canadian recreational anglers
in the Simcoe, Ontario, region during the 2008-09 fishing season.
Police increased presence in the area, and launched a public awareness
campaign. Authorities included an antiracism message in 2009 fishing
regulations. In September one individual pled guilty to assault in a
2007 incident and received a conditional discharge and probation.
Police dropped charges in connection with two other alleged racially
motivated assaults on Asian fisherman in 2007 and 2008. On December 15,
an Ontario court convicted one individual of two counts of criminal
negligence causing bodily harm and four individuals of aggravated
assault following a 2007 racially motivated attack on recreational
fishermen in the Lake Simcoe area.
On May 25, Quebec authorities opened a coroner's inquest into the
August 2008 shooting death by Montreal police of a teenage immigrant
from Honduras. The inquest continued at year's end.
Indigenous People.--The law recognizes three different groups of
indigenous (also known as Aboriginal) people: Indians (generally called
First Nations), Inuit (formerly called Eskimos), and Metis (persons of
mixed Indian-European ancestry). According to the 2006 census,
indigenous people constituted approximately 4 percent of the national
population and higher percentages in the country's three territories:
Yukon, 25 percent; Northwest Territories, 50 percent; and Nunavut, 85
percent. Disputes over land claims, self-government, treaty rights,
taxation, duty-free imports, fishing and hunting rights, and alleged
harassment by police continued to be sources of tension. Indigenous
people remained underrepresented in the workforce, overrepresented on
welfare rolls and in prison populations, and more susceptible to
suicide, poverty, and sexual violence than other groups. A 2008 review
by the federal auditor general reported that authorities placed
Aboriginal children in protective public care facilities at a rate
eight times higher than children in the general population.
The law recognizes and specifically protects indigenous rights,
including those established by historical land claims settlements.
Treaties with indigenous groups form the basis for the government's
policies in the eastern part of the country, but there were legal
challenges to the government's interpretation and implementation of
treaty rights. Indigenous groups in the west that never signed treaties
continued to claim land and resources, and many continued to seek legal
resolution of outstanding issues. As a result the evolution of the
government's policy toward indigenous rights, particularly land claims,
frequently depended on legal challenges. According to an August Amnesty
International report, approximately 60 Aboriginal claims over territory
previously excluded from treaty making remained unresolved. An
additional 765 specific claims related to interpretation of historic
treaties remained unresolved.
During the year the CHRC received 20 complaints against the federal
government in the areas of eligibility for status as a First Nations
person and access to health and educational services for those who live
off-reserve.
In June the government appointed a new chairman for the Indian
Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission following the
resignation of all the original members in 2008. On October 15, the
governor general relaunched the commission to examine abuse that
indigenous children sustained in residential schools in the 20th
century.
The Specific Claims Tribunal, created in 2008, has the authority to
issue binding decisions on Aboriginal grievances relating to treaties
that are rejected for negotiation or where negotiations fail. The
tribunal had not registered any judgments at year's end.
In August former students of Aboriginal day schools in Manitoba
filed suit against the federal government for Cdn $15 billion ($14.3
billion) for alleged abuse suffered in the schools. The claimants
sought to have the case adopted as a class-action suit to cover an
estimated 70,000 former Aboriginal day students across the country.
In June the government launched a ``Federal Framework for
Aboriginal Economic Development'' to promote government collaboration,
private-sector partnerships, skills development, and easier access to
capital for the Aboriginal community. Through the framework, the
government committed C$200 million ($191 million) over four years to
enable economic use of land, improve access to commercial capital,
promote Aboriginal procurement of goods and services at market rates,
and strengthen Aboriginal participation in key economic areas.
In August the government announced the creation of the Northern
Economic Development Agency, located in Nunavut territory, to foster
economic and social development and better environmental stewardship in
the North. The government dedicated funds to six geosciences programs
for mining industry explorations in Nunavut and funds to a program
aimed at strengthening and diversifying Nunavut's fishing industries.
In November the Nisga'a First Nation in northwestern British
Columbia became the first self-governing Aboriginal nation in the
country to pass legislation allowing private property rights on
Aboriginal land.
On January 28, the government reiterated its previously rejected
Cdn $26 million ($24.8 million) offer in 2007 to settle one of the four
land claims of the Haudenosaunee/Six Nations in Ontario. The disputed
site had been occupied since 2006. Consultations on the government's
offer continued at year's end.
The government continued the process of claim settlements and self-
government negotiations with more than 350 First Nations communities.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--There were rare reports of
societal violence or discrimination based on sexual orientation. The
law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the
criminal code provides penalties for crimes motivated by bias,
prejudice, or hate based on personal characteristics, including sexual
orientation. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations
operated independently and without restriction. Federal, provincial,
and municipal governments authorized, and sometimes provided financial
support for, gay pride marches in communities across the country and
provided police protection to marchers. There was no official
discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, or
access to education or health care.
In July the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission opened an
investigation into a complaint by an individual formerly employed by a
provincial youth facility that he experienced severe and prolonged
sexual harassment in the workplace based on his sexual orientation. The
case remained pending at year's end.
In July a gay man filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights
Tribunal after his parish priest removed him from his volunteer
position as a church altar server because of his sexual orientation.
In July a lesbian couple filed a complaint with the Manitoba Human
Rights Commission alleging that a family doctor declined to accept them
as patients because their sexual orientation offended her religious
beliefs and because she had no experience treating gay patients. The
case was pending at year's end.
On July 22, a Saskatchewan court upheld a 2008 Saskatchewan Human
Rights Tribunal ruling that a provincial marriage commissioner had
discriminated against a gay couple when he refused to perform their
same-sex ceremony on the grounds that the law violated his charter
right to freedom of religion.
Other Violence or Societal Discrimination
There were no known reports of societal violence or discrimination
against persons with HIV/AIDS. The criminal code provides penalties for
violence against individuals. Courts generally interpreted prohibitions
against discrimination on the basis of disability in federal and
provincial human rights statutes to include discrimination against
persons with HIV/AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers in both the
public (except armed forces and police) and the private sectors to form
and join unions of their choice without previous authorization, and
workers did so in practice. The law allows unions to operate without
government interference. An estimated 30 percent of the civilian labor
force belonged to a trade union.
All workers, except for those in the public sector who provide
essential services, have the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. Workers in essential services had recourse to
binding arbitration if labor negotiations failed. The law prohibits
employer retribution against strikers and union leaders, and the
government generally enforced this provision in practice.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
protects collective bargaining, and the government effectively enforced
this right in practice. An estimated 25 percent of workers were covered
by collective agreements. The law prohibits antiunion discrimination
and employer interference in union functions, and the government
protected this right in practice.
On December 17, the Supreme Court heard an appeal by the Ontario
government of a November 2008 Ontario Court of Appeal ruling that
struck down a provincial law prohibiting an estimated 32,000
agricultural workers (including foreign migrants) from bargaining
collectively. The court's decision remained pending at year's end.
On November 27, the Supreme Court upheld the right of a company to
terminate its operations. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union
had alleged that a store in Jonquiere, Quebec, violated provincial
labor laws and workers' constitutional rights by closing in 2005, six
months after receiving union certification and days before a
provincially appointed labor arbitrator was to present the parties with
a mandatory contract settlement.
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 adults and children were trafficked into the country for
the purpose of forced labor in the agricultural sector, domestic
servitude, and prostitution.
On December 9, Ontario passed a law to protect foreign caregivers
in the province from abuse by recruiters and employers. The law
prohibits employers from confiscating a worker's personal documents
such as a passport or work permit and prohibits recruiters from
charging fees to live-in caregivers.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor legislation varies by province. The federal government
employs youths under age 17 only while school is not in session and in
work unlikely to endanger health or safety. Most provinces restrict the
number of hours of work, and prohibit children under age 15 or 16 from
working without parental consent, at night, or in any hazardous
employment.
Inspections by federal and provincial labor ministries effectively
enforced child labor laws and policies.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The federal government sets
minimum wage rates for federally regulated employees covered by the
Canada Labour Code, and provincial and territorial governments through
their respective employment standards laws, and enforced them
effectively. Some provinces have minimum wage boards that represent the
interests of employers and employees, and may recommend nonbinding
changes to rates. Four provinces have legislation requiring an annual
or biennial review of the minimum wage, but no governments have a
legislated obligation to increase or otherwise modify rates. Minimum
wage rates ranged from Cdn$8.00 to Cdn$10.00 ($7.60 to $9.50) Some
provinces exempt agricultural and other specific categories of workers
from minimum wage rates, and Ontario and British Columbia have a
minimum wage rate for youths lower than their respective minimums for
adult workers. The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family. The federal statistical agency
calculates annual averages, or Low Income Cut Offs (LICOs), below which
individuals and families spend significantly more on food, shelter, and
necessities than the average. During the year the national LICO for a
family of four with a before-tax income of less than Cdn$40,259
($38,300) qualified as low income.
Standard work hours vary by province, but in each the limit is 40
or 48 hours per week, with at least 24 hours of rest. The law requires
payment of a premium for work above the standard workweek. Authorities
effectively enforced these standards. There is no specific prohibition
on excessive compulsory overtime, which is regulated by means of the
required rest periods in the labor code that differ by industry.
Federal law provides safety and health standards for employees
under federal jurisdiction, while provincial and territorial
legislation provides for all other employees. Federal and provincial
labor departments monitored and enforced these standards, and conducted
inspections proactively through scheduled visits, reactively in
response to complaints, and at random. Enforcement measures included a
graduated response, with a preference for resolution via voluntary
compliance, negotiation, and education, and prosecution as a last
resort. Some trade unions argued that resources limited capacity
effectively to conduct proactive inspection and enforcement. Federal,
provincial, and territorial laws protect the right of workers with
``reasonable cause'' to refuse dangerous work and remove themselves
from hazardous work conditions, and authorities effectively enforced
this right.
__________
CHILE
Chile is a multiparty democracy with a population of approximately
16 million. On December 13, in free and fair elections voters chose
Sebastian Pinera Echenique of the center-right Coalition for Change and
Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the center-left Concertacion coalition as
the two presidential candidates for a runoff election scheduled for
January 17, 2010. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. There were isolated reports of excessive use of force and
mistreatment by police forces, physical abuse in jails and prisons, and
generally substandard prison conditions. The government generally took
steps to investigate and punish abusers. Domestic violence against
women and children was widespread. There were incidents of trafficking
in persons. Some indigenous people suffered discrimination. Many
children were employed in the informal economy.
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 August 12, in Ercilla, police shot and killed Jaime Mendoza, who had
joined an occupation of private land organized by indigenous persons. A
military court indicted a police corporal for the shooting; he remained
free on bail, and the case was pending at year's end (see section 6,
Indigenous People). The case against another police corporal for the
January 2008 shooting of Matias Catrileo in similar circumstances was
pending at year's end (see section 6, Indigenous People).
On September 4, the Rancagua Appeals Court indicted Juan Rivera and
Walter Medina, former members of the uniformed national police
(Carabineros), for the 1988 killings of Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic
Front activists Raul Pellegrini and Cecilia Magni. Two other former
Carabineros were indicted in 2007 for their role in the same killings.
Both cases remained pending at year's end.
On December 7, Judge Alejandro Madrid charged six persons in the
poisoning death of former president Eduardo Frei Montalva in 1982. A
National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) agent, a doctor, and Frei's
driver (who allegedly worked secretly for DINA) were charged with
murder; two other doctors who allegedly falsified the autopsy were
charged as accessories to the crime, and another doctor was charged as
an accomplice.
On September 8, Judge Alejandro Madrid charged seven former army
officials with obstruction of justice in the case of dual Chilean-
Spanish citizen Carmelo Soria, who was killed by DINA agents in 1976.
One of the seven, Sergio Cea, was the military prosecutor in charge of
investigating Soria's death in 1993. The case remained pending at
year's end.
On January 29, the Santiago Appeals Court upheld the June 2008
convictions of nine former DINA agents, including former DINA director
Manuel Contreras and two civilians, for the 1974 car bomb assassination
of former army commander Carlos Prats and his wife in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. An appeal was pending before the Supreme Court at year's
end.
On September 7, the Supreme Court convicted and sentenced five
former DINA agents, including Manuel Contreras, to 10 years in prison
for the 1974 death of Lumi Videla. Another former DINA agent was
sentenced to five years for the same killing. The Supreme Court also
convicted two of the six DINA agents for the disappearance of Videla's
husband, Sergio Perez (see section 1.b.).
Judge Jorge Zepeda's investigations of retired security officer
Rafael Gonzales, charged in connection with the 1973 killings of U.S.
citizens Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, remained pending at year's
end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
Courts prosecuted a number of historical cases based on plaintiffs'
arguments that the abduction of political prisoners constituted a
continuing crime, not covered by amnesty, unless the subsequent
execution of the prisoner could be established concretely by
identification of remains. The Supreme Court upheld a number of
convictions based on indefinite or permanent kidnapping. In other cases
the courts upheld the statute of limitations or lessened sentences,
allowing the convicted persons to serve time outside of prison.
There were no developments in Judge Jorge Zepeda's investigation
into the 1985 disappearance case of U.S. citizen Boris Weisfeiler.
On September 1, Judge Victor Montiglio reportedly issued 129
indictments of former members of the army, air force, navy,
Carabineros, plainclothes Investigations Police (PDI), and prison
system (Gendarmeria) for ``permanent kidnappings'' perpetrated by DINA
agents from 1974 to 1976 in ``Operation Colombo,'' ``Operation
Condor,'' and ``Calle Conferencia.'' ``Operation Colombo'' covered up
DINA detentions of 119 Chileans by placing false media reports in
Argentina and Brazil stating that the disappeared individuals had died
in those countries. ``Operation Condor'' was a 1970s intelligence-
sharing operation among South American dictatorships that included
Chile and coordinated assassinations within countries and across
international borders. ``Calle Conferencia'' refers to the 1976
detentions and disappearances of Communist Party leaders.
On September 7, the Supreme Court convicted and sentenced three
former DINA agents, including Manuel Contreras, to five years in prison
for the 1974 disappearance of Sergio Perez. One of the three was
allowed to serve time outside of prison. The Supreme Court also
convicted two of the three for the 1974 murder of Perez's wife, Lumi
Videla (see section 1.a.).
A criminal court investigation of the 1974 disappearance of Gloria
Lagos Nilsson remained pending at year's end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution prohibits such practices,
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) received reports of abuse and
mistreatment by the Carabineros, the PDI, and prison guards. Few
reports of abuse or mistreatment led to convictions.
The Gendarmeria opened administrative investigations into 88
allegations of abuse during the year, compared with 107 such cases in
2008. Of the new cases, one resulted in officials receiving sanctions,
11 were closed, and 76 were pending at year's end.
On September 25, the Supreme Court convicted and sentenced retired
air force officers Edgar Cevallos and Ramon Caceres to three years in
prison for torturing 17 individuals between 1973 and 1975 at the Air
Force War Academy. The court permitted the convicted to serve time
outside of prison. This was the first Supreme Court ruling on a torture
case from the dictatorship era, and it was the country's first ruling
to identify torture as a crime against humanity.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally were poor. Prisons often were overcrowded and antiquated,
with substandard sanitary conditions. At year's end there were
approximately 52,260 prisoners in prisons designed to hold 35,845
inmates. Prisoners included 4,255 women, who are held in separate
sections of the same facilities, and 1,411 minors held in specially
designated facilities. Prisons in the Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM)
were at nearly double their capacity. The 2009 Diego Portales
University Law School Annual Report on Human Rights reiterated that
overcrowded prisons with substandard sanitary, food, and medical
services were a problem in some prisons; it also described cases of
prisoner abuse and use of excessive force. The report added that space
and hygiene conditions in privately operated prisons were considerably
better than those in publicly run prisons.
In isolated instances prisoners died due to lack of clear prison
procedures and insufficient medical resources. Prison officials
reported that there were 73 deaths from preventable causes during the
year, compared with 63 in 2008; in the same period, 60 inmates had been
killed by other prisoners, and 13 had committed suicide. Prisoners with
HIV/AIDS and mental disabilities allegedly failed to receive adequate
medical attention in some prisons.
On April 26, 10 inmates died in a cell fire started during a fight
between rival gangs at the Colina II penitentiary center. A prosecutor
was assigned to investigate, and the case was pending at year's end.
On June 2, Supreme Court prosecutor Monica Maldonado presented to
the Senate's Constitution, Legislation, and Justice Committee a report
on the prison system, which concluded that the system lacked
rehabilitative policies and actions and that overcrowding led to
degrading living conditions.
A March 2008 UN Children's Fund report on the more rehabilitative
juvenile justice system established under a 2007 reform law noted
deficient implementation of schooling and training programs, a lack of
appropriate medical attention and administration of medicines, the use
of solitary confinement despite its prohibition in the law, and the
absence of segregation of youths by age and gender. At year's end
approximately 1,400 minors were incarcerated in the new system, of whom
nearly 850 were held provisionally during their trial.
On December 9, an agreement to stay proceedings conditionally was
reached in the case of six former employees of the National Children's
Service (SENAME) charged with manslaughter for the April 2008 death of
10 adolescents in their care at the Tiempo de Crecer juvenile detention
center in Puerto Montt.
The government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, and such visits took place at both government-run and
privately operated facilities. Prisoner rights and human rights groups
continued to investigate alleged use of abuse or excessive force
against detainees.
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.--Civilian authorities
maintained effective control over the Carabineros, overseen by the
Ministry of Defense, and the PDI, overseen by the Ministry of the
Interior. The government has effective mechanisms to investigate and
punish abuse and corruption. There were no reports of impunity
involving the security forces during the year.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Only public
officials expressly authorized by law can arrest or detain citizens.
Authorities must immediately inform a prosecutor of an arrest and
generally did so in practice.
The prosecutor must open an investigation, receive a statement from
the detainee, and ensure that the detainee is held at a local police
station until the detention control hearing. Detention control hearings
are held twice daily, allowing for a judicial determination of the
legality of the detention within 24 hours of arrest. Detainees must be
informed of their rights, including the right to an attorney and the
right to remain silent until an attorney is present. Public defenders
are provided to detainees if they do not select a lawyer of choice.
Authorities must expedite notification of the detention to family
members. If authorities do not inform the detainees of their rights
upon detention, the process can be declared unlawful by the judge
during the detention control hearing.
The law allows judges to set bail, grant provisional liberty, or
order continued detention as necessary to the investigation or for the
protection of the prisoner or the public.
The law affords detainees 30 minutes of immediate and subsequent
daily access to a lawyer (in the presence of a prison guard) and to a
doctor to verify their physical condition. Regular visits by family
members are allowed.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. National
and regional prosecutors investigate crimes, formulate charges, and
prosecute cases. Three-judge panels form the court of first instance;
the process is oral and adversarial, trials are public, and judges rule
on guilt and dictate sentences. Court records, rulings, and findings
were generally accessible to the public.
The law provides for the right to legal counsel, and public
defender's offices in all 14 regions and the Santiago RM provide
professional legal counsel to anyone seeking such assistance. When
requested by other human rights organizations or family members, the
NGO Corporation for the Promotion and Defense of the Rights of the
People and other lawyers working pro bono assisted detainees during
interrogation and trial. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence
and have a right of appeal.
For crimes committed prior to the implementation of the 2005
judicial reforms, criminal proceedings are inquisitorial rather than
adversarial. In 2008 authorities closed four of the six remaining
inquisitorial criminal courts in the Santiago RM, and all prereform
cases faced extensive waits for trial. At year's end the two remaining
inquisitorial criminal courts remained open.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees, although a number of inmates
convicted of terrorist acts following the return to democracy in 1990
claimed to be political prisoners.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, which permits access for
lawsuits regarding human rights violations. However, modernization of
the judiciary has not affected the civil justice system, which was
characterized by antiquated and inefficient procedures. The average
civil trial lasted approximately five years, and civil suits could
continue for decades. There are administrative as well as judicial
remedies available for alleged wrongs.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice, subject to certain legal
restrictions.
Human rights groups and press associations criticized the existence
and application of laws that prohibit insulting state institutions and
that allow government officials to bring charges against journalists
who insult or criticize them. Military courts may charge and try
civilians for defamation of military personnel and for sedition, but
their rulings can be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Two major media groups, which were largely independent of the
government, controlled most of the print media. The government was the
majority owner of La Nacion newspaper but did not directly control its
editorial content. International print media operated freely.
The broadcast media generally were independent of direct government
influence. The Television Nacional network was state owned but not
under direct government control. It was self-financed through
commercial advertising, editorially independent, and governed by a
board of directors appointed by the president and approved by the
Senate.
The government-funded National Television Council (CNTV) is
responsible for ensuring that television programming respects ``the
moral and cultural values of the nation.'' The CNTV's principal role is
to regulate violence and sexual explicitness in both broadcast and
cable television programming. Films and other programs judged by the
CNTV to be excessively violent, have obscene language, or depict
sexually explicit scenes may be shown only after 10 p.m., when ``family
viewing hours'' end. The CNTV occasionally levied fines or pressured
stations to reschedule programs.
On January 27, the general prosecutor requested a 15-year sentence
for documentary filmmaker Elena Varela Lopez, charged with ``illegal
association with intent to commit an offense'' and ``links with a
terrorist group'' related to bank raids in 2004-05. In May 2008
authorities arrested Varela while she was covering the conflict between
lumber companies and the Mapuche indigenous group and confiscated her
equipment and 300 videotapes. She was released from custody after three
months but placed under nighttime house arrest, which continued at
year's end.
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 e-mail. While the
PDI maintained a cybercrime unit that monitored Web sites for financial
crimes and child pornography, there were no reports that the government
monitored e-mail or Internet chat rooms for other purposes. The
International Telecommunication Union reported that there were 32
Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
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 reports of anti-
Semitic incidents during the year, such as acts of vandalism, verbal
slurs, and online harassment. On January 4, an unidentified individual
called the police with a death threat to Jewish teenagers who were
participating in a summer camp in Pirque. There were approximately
15,000 members of the Jewish community.
Neo-Nazi and skinhead groups engaged in gang-type criminal
activities and violence against immigrants, homosexuals, punk rockers,
and anarchists, including killing a punk rocker by a skinhead. Some
skinhead groups shared the anti-Semitic rhetoric of neo-Nazi groups. On
December 1, skinhead and former leader of a neo-Nazi group Elliot
Quijada was arrested for disseminating xenophobic messages after
harassing a chamber deputy and writing hostile messages against Jews on
Web sites.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution provides for freedom
of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and it was not used.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the
government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinions. Between January and December, 185 residents were given
recognized refugee status for a total of 1,539 residents with that
status at year's end. The government cooperated with the Office of the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. Refugees may be naturalized
after five years of permanent residency if they demonstrate financial
independence and have no criminal record.
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.--On December 13, voters in
free and fair elections chose Sebastian Pinera Echenique of the center-
right Coalition for Change and Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the center-
left Concertacion coalition as the two presidential candidates for a
runoff election scheduled for January 2010. On December 13, voters also
elected 18 of the 38 senators and all members of the Chamber of
Deputies in elections generally considered free and fair. Political
parties can operate without restriction or outside interference.
Of the candidates elected on December 13, 17 of 120 members of the
Chamber of Deputies and five of the 38 members of the Senate (including
three of the 18 newly elected senators) were women. There were 10 women
in outgoing President Bachelet's 22-member cabinet; women filled 28
percent of governmental appointments in her administration. However,
women continued to be underrepresented among elected officials,
constituting, for instance, only 12 percent of mayors.
Indigenous people have the legal right to participate freely in the
political process, but relatively few were active. No member of the
legislature or the cabinet was known to be of self-identified
indigenous descent.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and
the government generally implemented these laws effectively. There were
isolated reports of government corruption during the year.
On January 20 and July 2, the former administration manager of the
State Railroad Company, Claudio Carreno, was convicted of fraud for
acts that in 2005-06 generated a loss of 371 million pesos
(approximately $706,000) in public funds. Carreno received two
sentences of 600 days in prison, fines totaling 17 million pesos
(approximately $33,500) plus a third of the costs of both trials, and a
suspension from public office during the prison sentence.
On April 30, former Ministry of Education employee Franka Grez was
convicted of 19 counts of embezzlement of public funds. While Grez
served in the accounting and finance section of the ministry, she
approved subsidy payments to a school inspector and his wife, who were
also convicted. Grez was sentenced to 11 years in prison; the inspector
and his wife were sentenced to seven years in prison. The three also
had to repay the 290 million pesos (approximately $571,000) they
embezzled.
Between April and December, 17 individuals from two corruption
rings within the judicial system were convicted of crimes including
criminal association, bribery, falsification of public documents, and
obstruction of an investigation. The separate but related criminal
rings falsified certifications that a prisoner had completed time,
misplaced files, and falsified judicial decisions. Those convicted
included six current and two former PDI officers, two Carabineros, and
two judicial officials.
The law makes public officials subject to financial disclosure and
assigns responsibility to the comptroller for conducting audits of
government agencies and to the Public Prosecutor's Office for
initiating criminal investigations of official corruption.
The constitution requires the government and its agencies to make
all unclassified information about their activities available to the
public. On April 20, the Transparency of the Public Administration and
Access to Information Law went into effect. This law regulates
government transparency and public access to information. The law
applies to ministries; regional, provincial, and municipal level
governments; the armed forces, police, and public security forces; and
public enterprises where the state owns more than 50 percent or holds a
majority of appointments on the board of directors. The law created an
autonomous Transparency Council to provide for the right of access to
information and to rule on cases in which information is denied. During
the year the Transparency Council considered 627 cases of denials for
information requests. The council made decisions on 47 percent of
those, while the remaining cases were under analysis. Any individual or
entity may request information and appeal to the council free of
charge. The new law also requires all ministries and public agencies to
publish certain information on their Web sites.
Section 5. 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.
The government cooperated with international governmental
organizations and permitted visits by UN representatives and other
organizations. For example, the UN rapporteur on indigenous peoples in
April and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
rapporteur on the rights of the child visited in November. Both visits
yielded reports that included criticisms of the government (see section
6, Indigenous People).
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, age,
nationality, national origin, disability, language, or social status,
and the government enforced these prohibitions; however, such
discrimination continued to occur.
Women.--Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense.
Penalties for rape range from five to 15 years' imprisonment, and the
government generally enforced the law. Statutory rape applies to
victims 14 years of age and under.
The law protects the privacy and safety of the victim making the
charge. During the year the Public Prosecutor's Office investigated
5,199 cases of rape, and the courts handed down 872 rape convictions.
Experts, however, believed that most rape cases went unreported.
The Ministry of Justice and the PDI operated several offices
specifically dedicated to providing counseling and assistance in rape
cases. A number of NGOs, such as La Morada Corporation for Women,
provided counseling for rape victims.
Domestic violence against women remained a serious problem. During
the year the Public Prosecutor's Office initiated investigations into
110,162 cases of family violence. From January to December, 56 women
were killed as a result of domestic or sexual violence, compared with
59 in 2008.
Government actions to confront domestic violence included a
national awareness campaign that began in October 2008; operation of 90
assistance centers and 25 shelters for women; and partnerships with
NGOs to provide training for police officers and judicial and municipal
authorities on the legal, medical, and psychological aspects of
domestic violence.
Although adult prostitution is legal, bordellos are not. Several
hundred women registered as prostitutes with the National Health
Service. Police often detained prostitutes (usually as a result of
complaints by neighborhood residents) on charges of ``offenses against
morality,'' which could lead to a fine of 50,000 pesos (approximately
$99) or five days in prison. Procurement or pandering is illegal and
punishable under law.
Sexual harassment generally was recognized as a problem. The law
provides protection and financial compensation to victims of sexual
harassment and penalizes harassment by employers or coworkers. The
Labor Directorate received 302 complaints of sexual harassment during
2008, of which 58 percent involved harassment by a hierarchal superior.
Generally, couples and individuals had the right to decide the
number, spacing, and timing of children and had the information and
means to do so free from discrimination. Access to contraception and
skilled attendance at delivery and in postpartum care were available.
Women and men were given equal access to diagnostic services and
treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. On
October 29, the Santiago Appellate Court upheld a June 16 Comptroller
General resolution that in effect prohibited the distribution of
emergency contraception in the public health system. Emergency
contraception was legally available in the private health system.
Women enjoy most of the same legal rights as men, including rights
under family law and property law. Despite the 1994 introduction of a
``community property'' marital arrangement, in which each spouse
maintains separate control of the assets brought into the marriage, the
default and most common marital arrangement is ``conjugal society,''
which gives a husband the right to administer joint property, including
his wife's property. Under a 2007 agreement with the IACHR, the
government committed to modify the law to give women and men equal
rights and responsibilities in marriage. Implementing legislation
remained pending at year's end.
The commercial code provides that unless a woman is married under
the separate estate regime, she may not enter into a commercial
partnership agreement without permission from her husband; a man may
enter into such an agreement without permission from his wife.
The 2007 Supplemental Survey of Incomes estimated that the overall
gender income gap had decreased to 25 percent, compared with 33 percent
in 2004. Among those with university education, the income gap was 33
percent, compared with 38 percent in 2004. On December 19, a new law
providing for equal pay for equal work went into effect. The law
requires companies with 10 or more workers to establish a formal
internal complaint procedure, while those with 200 or more workers must
also generate a registry detailing employee positions and functions.
The labor code provides specific benefits for pregnant workers and
recent mothers, including a prohibition against dismissal. The National
Women's Service is charged with protecting women's legal rights.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory and from one's parents or grandparents.
Violence against children was a significant problem. The
government's First National Survey of Victimization of Domestic
Violence and Sex Crimes, conducted from 2006 to 2008, found that 72
percent of children had suffered some form of violence including
psychological abuse.
The law prohibits sexual abuse of minors and suspends the statute
of limitations in such cases. During the year the Public Prosecutor's
Office investigated 333 cases of commercial juvenile sexual
exploitation, compared with 347 in 2008. Also during the year, SENAME
assisted 1,062 victims of commercial juvenile sexual exploitation,
compared with 1,216 in all of 2008. SENAME ran 14 programs specifically
for victims of commercial sexual exploitation and 48 additional
programs for children and youth in high-risk situations, including
commercial sexual exploitation. SENAME also partnered with municipal
governments to run 108 local branches of the Office for the Protection
of Children's Rights throughout the country. SENAME, the Carabineros,
and the PDI cooperated with schools and NGOs to identify children in
abusive situations, provide counseling and other social services to
abused children, and keep families intact.
Child prostitution was a problem. Children engaged in prostitution
for survival with and without third-party involvement. The criminal
code considers 18 the age for consensual sex. Sex with a girl between
ages 14 and 18 may be considered statutory rape, and sex with a child
under age 14 is considered rape, regardless of consent. Penalties for
statutory rape range from three to 10 years in prison. Child
pornography is a crime; penalties for producing child pornography range
from 541 days to five years in prison.
From July to November, 11 PDI detectives and one PDI lawyer were
formally charged for their involvement in a child prostitution ring in
Valparaiso (see Trafficking in Persons below).
Child labor in the informal economy was a problem (see section
7.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit all
forms of trafficking in persons, and there were reports that persons
were trafficked to, from, through, and within the country for the
purposes of sexual and labor exploitation and involuntary domestic
servitude.
Most reported victims were women and minors trafficked to the
country for sexual exploitation. Foreign victims were brought to the
country from Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia, Paraguay, and China
for commercial sexual exploitation or involuntary domestic servitude or
labor. In certain cases it was difficult to distinguish some
trafficking victims from economic migrants. Victims were also
trafficked from the country to Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia for sexual
and labor exploitation. Anecdotal reports suggested that young women
were the primary targets for trafficking abroad. Children, along with
their families, were trafficked from Peru and Bolivia to work in
agriculture. Victims, primarily Chinese men subjected to labor
exploitation, were also trafficked through the country en route to
Mexico, Brazil, and possibly the United States.
Principal traffickers were small-scale criminals, although reports
of trafficking by organized criminal rings increased. Traffickers
reportedly used newspaper advertisements for models to lure girls and
targeted economically disadvantaged families when looking for children.
The majority of transnational trafficking victims reportedly held valid
travel documents.
The law criminalizes cross-border trafficking for sexual
exploitation, with a minimum penalty of three years in prison and fines
beginning at 430,000 pesos (approximately $847). Sanctions increase to
a maximum of 20 years in a number of circumstances, including cases in
which the victim is a minor, violence or intimidation is used,
deception or abuse of authority is involved, the victim is related to
or under the tutelage of the perpetrator, or advantage is taken of a
victim's circumstances or disability. The law criminalizes the
promotion of child prostitution, corruption of minors, and solicitation
of sexual services from a minor in exchange for money or other
considerations. Trafficking victims may remain in the country during
legal proceedings against their traffickers. Victims may also bring
legal action against traffickers and seek restitution. The law does not
criminalize transnational trafficking for the purpose of labor
exploitation and lacks specific prohibitions against some forms of
internal trafficking.
In December 2008 in the country's first case ever against a
pedophile and child pornography network, the Santiago Appellate Court
increased the sentences against Rafael ``Sakarach'' Maureira and two
others to life in prison for the production and distribution of child
pornography, sexual abuse and rape of minors, and illicit association.
An antitrafficking coordinator in the Ministry of the Interior
worked with the PDI, the Ministry of Justice, other government
agencies, and NGOs to coordinate antitrafficking efforts. During the
year the Public Prosecutor's Office opened 146 new trafficking cases,
including 22 cases of cross-border trafficking, compared with 126 cases
in 2008. Most trafficking-related cases dealt with commercial sexual
exploitation of minors. During the year the courts convicted 26 persons
of cross-border trafficking, compared with five such convictions in
2008. Twenty-three investigations of cross-border trafficking were
active at year's end. The government cooperated with Interpol on law
enforcement activities.
Investigations continued into PDI and Carabinero involvement in a
child prostitution ring in Valparaiso. From July to November,
authorities formally charged 11 PDI detectives and one PDI lawyer with
facilitating child prostitution and obstructing an investigation. The
cases remained pending at year's end.
The government made substantial efforts to assist trafficking
victims. SENAME worked with local offices, international organizations,
and NGOs to provide counseling, psychological and health care, and
educational opportunities to child victims. SENAME also worked to
ensure that child victims would not return to abusive or high-risk
situations.
The government also worked with Bolivian and Argentine authorities
to coordinate the safe repatriation of foreign victims. The government
had no residence visa program for foreign trafficking victims.
Government programs to prevent trafficking included a PDI public
awareness campaign, with cinema workshops; ongoing training of police
and prosecutors in collaboration with the International Organization
for Migration; and participation in the regional training of officials
from immigrant services, the National Prosecutor's Office, and the PDI.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities, but such persons
suffered forms of de facto discrimination. In October 2008 the New
Faces Foundation, an NGO that provides attention to impoverished adults
with mental or psychological disabilities, reported an estimated 60,000
persons suffered from moderate or severe mental disability, nearly half
of whom received no mental health attention. Approximately 100,000
persons under the age of 27 with disabilities did not receive any
special care or education.
A majority of public buildings did not comply with legal
accessibility mandates. An improved transportation system in Santiago
provided additional, but still limited, accessibility for persons with
disabilities. Public transportation outside of the capital remained
problematic.
The National Fund for Persons with Disabilities (FONADIS), under
the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Planning, has responsibility for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and for creating
programs to promote their better integration into society. FONADIS
supported a number of programs through its annual national projects
contest.
Indigenous People.--The law gives indigenous people (approximately
5 percent of the total population) the right to participate in
decisions affecting their lands, cultures, and traditions and provides
for bilingual education in schools with indigenous populations.
Approximately one-half of the self-identified indigenous population
remained separated from the rest of society, largely due to historical,
cultural, educational, and geographical factors. Both internal factors
and governmental policies limited the participation of indigenous
people in governmental decisions affecting their lands, cultures,
traditions, and the allocation of natural resources. Indigenous people
also experienced some societal discrimination and reported incidents in
which they were attacked and harassed. According to the 2006
Socioeconomic Characteristics Survey, the indigenous population's
poverty rate dropped 10 percent since 2003, and the gap between
indigenous and nonindigenous poverty narrowed by more than 5 percent.
The UN rapporteur on indigenous peoples recognized this improvement in
his October report but noted that severe inequality gaps between
indigenous and nonindigenous peoples persisted.
The National Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI), which
included directly elected indigenous representatives, advised and
directed government programs to assist the economic development of
indigenous people. During the year the Ministry of Education and CONADI
provided scholarships to 43,640 indigenous elementary, high school, and
college students, compared with approximately 44,000 in 2008.
Indigenous groups noted, however, that the scholarships were actually
small stipends to cover living expenses and did not necessarily cover
tuition costs.
There were isolated instances of violent confrontations between
indigenous Mapuche groups and landowners, logging companies, and police
in the southern part of the country. The actions normally took the form
of protests. Instances of rock throwing, land occupations, and burning
crops, buildings, or vehicles occurred. Members of the Coordinadora
Arauco Malleco (CAM), an indigenous group the government accused of
committing domestic terrorist acts, reportedly initiated many of these
actions.
From January to September, the government applied the antiterrorism
law to prosecute 49 Mapuche individuals or sympathizers who committed
violent acts of protest in the form of destruction of property or
confrontations with police. The Working Group on the UN Human Rights
Council Universal Periodic Review, the UN Committee on the Elimination
of all forms of Racial Discrimination, and the UN rapporteur on
indigenous peoples all recommended that the government limit its
application of the antiterrorism law in the context of Mapuche social
protest.
There were reports of police abuse against Mapuche individuals and
communities and harassment of NGOs associated with the promotion of
indigenous rights. The military justice system investigates all cases
of alleged police abuse. On August 12, police shot and killed Jaime
Mendoza while he and approximately 30 other Mapuche individuals
occupied private land in Ercilla. A military court indicted Carabineros
Corporal Patricio Jara for ``unnecessary violence resulting in death.''
Jara remained free on bail with the case pending at year's end. On
August 21, a military prosecutor charged Carabineros Corporal Walter
Ramirez for ``unnecessary violence resulting in death'' and requested
he serve 10 years in prison for the January 2008 shooting of Matias
Catrileo. The case remained pending at year's end.
The Citizens' Observatory (OC, formerly the Observatory of
Indigenous People's Rights) reported an increased incidence of police
searches of Mapuche homes without a warrant, arrest and release of
Mapuche individuals without a detention control hearing, and police use
of intimidation and discriminatory statements against Mapuche
individuals, including minors. The OC also reported that alleged police
abuse of Mapuche individuals often occurred during the implementation
of court-ordered arrests or search warrants.
On February 11, after the Appellate Court of Concepcion annulled a
November 2008 absolution and ordered a new trial, a court absolved
alleged CAM member Avelino Menaco of involvement in a 2007 arson fire.
The case of one other alleged Mapuche CAM member, arrested in 2007
under charges of arms possession, was transferred to the military
justice system and was pending at year's end.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--There are no laws
criminalizing sexual orientation. There are active organizations for
gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transvestites, and transgender persons,
which operated free of impediments. On June 27, 10,000 persons
participated in the ninth annual gay pride march in Santiago without
violence or other incidents. There were also marches in Calama, La
Serena, Puerto Montt, and Lota. According to the Seventh Annual Report
on the Human Rights of Sexual Minorities of the Movement for Homosexual
Integration and Liberation (MOVILH), there were 65 cases of
discrimination due to sexual orientation in 2008, compared with 57
cases (including four killings) in 2007. The MOVILH cited a decrease in
reports of violent attacks against gay men, lesbians, bisexuals,
transvestites, and transgender individuals but noted an increase in
intrafamilial discrimination by parents who threatened or expelled
children from their homes.
On May 28, a homosexual couple of former Carabineros sued the state
for 50 million pesos each (approximately $98,500), alleging that their
superiors threatened to make public their sexual orientations if they
did not resign. The case remained pending at year's end.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--There were no confirmed
cases of societal violence or discrimination based on persons with HIV/
AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers have the right to form and
join unions without prior authorization, and approximately 13 percent
of the total workforce (estimated at 7.2 million) was unionized in more
than 20,000 registered unions. The law allows unions to conduct their
activities without interference, and the government protected this
right in practice. Police and military personnel may not organize
collectively.
Public employees do not enjoy the right to strike. However, on
October 13, an estimated 80,000 public school teachers began a three-
week strike to pressure the government to deliver back pay.
While employees in the private sector have the right to strike, the
government regulated this right, and there were some restrictions.
Employers must show cause and pay severance benefits if they dismiss
striking workers. The law proscribes employees of 32 private sector
companies, largely providers of services such as water and electricity,
from striking. It stipulates compulsory arbitration to resolve disputes
in these companies. Strikes by agricultural workers during the harvest
season are prohibited.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Collective
bargaining is protected by law, but the right of entertainers and
temporary agricultural, construction, and port workers to bargain
collectively is limited. Intercompany unions were permitted to bargain
collectively only if the individual employers agreed to negotiate under
such terms. Collective bargaining in the agricultural sector remained
dependent on employers agreeing to negotiate.
The 2009 International Trade Union Confederation's Annual Survey of
Violations of Trade Union Rights reported that 20 companies were found
guilty of antiunion practices in the first half of 2008.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor; however, such practices occurred, primarily
for domestic servitude and forced prostitution. The labor code does not
specifically prohibit forced or compulsory labor by children, and child
prostitution remained a problem.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Despite laws restricting child labor, the employment of children was a
problem in the informal economy and in agriculture. Children worked in
the production of ceramics and books and in the repair of shoes and
garments. Children in urban areas worked as baggers in supermarkets and
waited tables in restaurants. They sold goods on the street, worked as
domestic servants, and assisted in construction activities. Children in
rural areas were involved in caring for farm animals, as well as
harvesting, collecting, and selling crops, such as wheat, potatoes,
oats, and quinoa. Children also worked in fishing and forestry.
Children were also used in drug production and sales and transported
drugs in the border area with Peru and Bolivia.
The law provides that children between the ages of 15 and 18 may
work with the express permission of their parents or guardians, but
they must attend school. They may perform only light work that does not
require hard physical labor or constitute a threat to health and
childhood development. When attending school, children may not work
more than 30 hours a week and in no case more than eight hours a day or
between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Their work contracts must be
registered by their employers at the local Ministry of Labor
inspector's office.
From January to December, there were 289 detected cases of children
and adolescents involved in the worst forms of child labor, compared
with 268 cases in 2008; 56 percent of these cases involved girls. Most
reported child and adolescent labor cases involved children over the
age of 15 and children not enrolled in school. Examples included
hazardous work in mines, commercial sexual exploitation, and illegal
activities.
Ministry of Labor inspectors enforced regulations, and while
compliance was good in the formal economy, many children were employed
in the informal economy. From January to October, the Ministry of Labor
imposed some form of sanction in 47 cases involving violations of child
labor laws, compared with 111 cases in all of 2008.
The government devoted considerable resources and oversight to
child labor policies. SENAME, in coordination with labor inspectors,
identified and assisted children in abusive or dangerous situations.
SENAME also implemented public education programs to raise awareness
and worked with the International Labor Organization to operate
rehabilitation programs. The Ministry of Labor convened regular
meetings of a business-labor-government group to monitor progress in
eradicating child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage is set by law
and is subject to adjustment annually. A committee composed of
government, employer, and labor representatives normally suggests a
minimum wage based on projected inflation and increases in
productivity. On July 1, the minimum wage increased 3.8 percent to
165,000 pesos (approximately $288) a month. This wage was designed to
serve as the starting wage for an unskilled single adult worker
entering the labor force and did not provide a worker and family with a
decent standard of living. The minimum wage for domestic servants was
83 percent of that for other occupations. The minimum wage for workers
over age 65 and under 18 was 123,176 pesos (approximately $215) a
month. The Labor Directorate, under the Ministry of Labor, was
responsible for enforcing minimum wage and other labor laws and
regulations, and it did so effectively.
The law sets the legal workweek at six days or 45 hours. The
maximum workday length is 10 hours (including two hours of overtime
pay), but positions such as caretakers and domestic servants are
exempt. The law mandates at least one 24-hour rest period during the
workweek, except for workers at high altitudes, who may exchange a
work-free day each week for several consecutive work-free days every
two weeks. The law establishes fines for employers who compel workers
to work in excess of 10 hours a day or do not provide adequate rest
days. The government effectively enforced these standards.
The law establishes occupational safety and health standards, which
were administered by the Ministries of Health and Labor and effectively
enforced. Insurance mutual funds provide workers' compensation and
occupational safety training for the private and public sectors. The
law protects employment of workers who remove themselves from dangerous
situations if labor inspectors from the Labor Directorate and
occupational safety and health inspectors from the country's Safety
Association determine conditions that endanger their health or safety
exist. Authorities effectively enforced the standards and frequently
imposed fines for workplace violations.
__________
COLOMBIA
Colombia is a constitutional, multiparty democracy with a
population of approximately 45 million. In May 2006 independent
presidential candidate Alvaro Uribe was reelected in elections that
were considered generally free and fair. The 45-year internal armed
conflict continued between the government and terrorist organizations,
particularly the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the
National Liberation Army (ELN). While civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces, there were
instances in which elements of the security forces acted in violation
of state policy.
Although significant human rights abuses remained, the government
continued to make efforts to confront and address these abuses. The
following societal problems and governmental human rights abuses were
reported during the year: unlawful and extrajudicial killings;
insubordinate military collaboration with new illegal armed groups and
paramilitary members who refused to demobilize; forced disappearances;
overcrowded and insecure prisons; torture and mistreatment of
detainees; arbitrary arrest; a high number of pretrial detainees, some
of whom were held with convicted prisoners; impunity and an inefficient
judiciary subject to intimidation; illegal surveillance of civilian
groups, political opponents, and government agencies; harassment and
intimidation of journalists; unhygienic conditions at settlements for
displaced persons, with limited access to health care, education, or
employment; corruption; harassment of human rights groups and
activists, including unfounded prosecutions; violence against women,
including rape; child abuse and child prostitution; trafficking in
women and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation; some
societal discrimination against women, indigenous persons, and
minorities; and illegal child labor.
The FARC and ELN committed the following human rights abuses:
political killings; widespread use of landmines; killings of off-duty
members of the public security forces and local officials; kidnappings
and forced disappearances; massive forced displacements; subornation
and intimidation of judges, prosecutors, and witnesses; infringement on
citizens' privacy rights; restrictions on freedom of movement;
widespread recruitment of child soldiers; attacks against human rights
activists; violence against women, including rape and forced abortions;
and harassment, intimidation, and killings of teachers and trade
unionists.
New illegal armed groups and paramilitary members who refused to
demobilize also committed numerous human rights abuses. The last United
Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) block demobilized in 2006, but
AUC members who refused to demobilize, AUC members who demobilized but
later abandoned the peace process, and other new illegal armed groups
remained targets of security force action. These new groups lacked the
organization, reach, and military capacity of the former AUC and
focused primarily on narcotics trafficking and extortion. The AUC
demobilization led to a reduction in killings and other human rights
abuses, but paramilitary members who refused to demobilize and new
illegal armed groups continued to commit numerous unlawful acts and
related abuses, including the following: political killings and
kidnappings; physical violence; forced displacement; subornation and
intimidation of judges, prosecutors, and witnesses; infringement on
citizens' privacy rights; restrictions on freedom of movement;
recruitment and use of child soldiers; violence against women,
including rape; and harassment, intimidation, and killings of human
rights workers, journalists, teachers, and trade unionists.
Government statistics indicated that during the year kidnappings
decreased 18 percent and mass killings decreased 13 percent compared
with the same period in 2008. The Prosecutor General's Human Rights
Unit achieved convictions of 421 defendants for human rights crimes,
including 157 military personnel for extrajudicial executions, during
the year. Through December the Justice and Peace Law (JPL) process,
wherein former paramilitary leaders confess their crimes and surrender
assets in exchange for reduced sentences, helped clarify more than
38,000 crimes involving 50,000 victims and led to the exhumation of
2,800 remains in 2,300 common graves, while the Supreme Court and
prosecutor general's investigations of links between politicians and
paramilitary groups implicated 87 members of Congress, 15 governors,
and 35 mayors, 66 of whom were detained at year's end. In total, 18
politicians (13 members of Congress, four governors, and one mayor) had
been convicted for ties to paramilitary groups at year's end.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Political and
unlawful killings remained an extremely serious problem, and there were
periodic reports that members of the security forces committed
extrajudicial killings during the internal armed conflict (see section
1.g.). Unlike in the preceding year, there were significantly fewer
reports of military officials presenting murdered civilians as killed
in combat.
The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Philip Alston,
reported extrajudicial killings of civilians presented as combat kills
in the departments of Antioquia, Arauca, Valle del Cauca, Casanare,
Cesar, Cordoba, Huila, Meta, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Santander,
Sucre, and Vichada. While the special rapporteur noted there was no
evidence to suggest these killings were carried out as a matter of
official government policy, the number of cases, their geographic
spread, and the diversity of military units implicated, indicated that
these killings were carried out in a systemic fashion by significant
elements within the military.
Guerrillas, notably the FARC and ELN, committed unlawful killings
(see section 1.g.).
Paramilitary members who refused to demobilize and new illegal
armed group members committed numerous political and unlawful killings,
primarily in areas under dispute with guerrillas or without a strong
government presence (see section 1.g.).
The Jesuit-founded Center for Popular Research and Education
(CINEP), a local human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO),
reported there were at least 192 political and unlawful killings,
committed by all actors, during the first six months of the year, 28
fewer than those reported in the same period in 2008. Some NGOs, such
as CINEP, considered the new illegal groups to be a continuation of the
paramilitary groups and attributed reports of human rights violations
committed by these groups directly to the government. Those NGOs also
included killings by these groups in their definition of ``unlawful
killings.''
The Presidential Program for Human Rights reported that through
November 30, illegal armed groups killed 133 persons in 26 massacres
(defined by the government as killings of four or more persons), an 8
percent reduction in the number of massacre victims from the same
period in 2008 (see section 1.g.).
Some members of government security forces, including enlisted
personnel, noncommissioned officers, and senior officials, in violation
of orders from the president and the military high command,
collaborated with or tolerated the activities of new illegal groups or
paramilitary members who refused to demobilize. Such collaboration
often facilitated unlawful killings and may have involved direct
participation in atrocities.
In certain areas, such as Medellin, Antioquia; Tierralta, Cordoba;
Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca; the Uraba region of Antioquia and Choco;
and Meta, corrupt dealings reportedly continued between local military
and police forces and new illegal groups or paramilitary members who
refused to demobilize. Although impunity for these military personnel
remained a problem, the Ministry of Defense carried out investigations
and handed over culpable parties to civilian authorities in a number of
high-profile cases during the year. In several cases of extrajudicial
executions falsely reported as combat deaths, former paramilitary
members were associated with the crimes (see section 1.g.). In July the
Prosecutor General's Office accused 11 members of the police of
collaborating with the illegal group Oficina de Envigado. In October
four police from the Carepa, Antioquia, station were charged with
sharing police and military operations information with Daniel Rendon
Herrera's (alias Don Mario) criminal group.
In conformity with the law, military or civilian authorities
investigated killings committed by security forces. Investigations of
past killings proceeded, albeit slowly. Some high-profile cases against
military personnel resulted in convictions or were reopened in large
part due to testimony in the Justice and Peace process. On June 3, the
Third Penal Circuit Court of Monteria, Cordoba, sentenced two officers
and four professional soldiers to 28 years in prison for the 2006
homicides of two young men presented as killed in combat. In June the
Prosecutor General's Office reopened the 1989 case of the Rochela
massacre, in which paramilitary forces, working in collaboration with
elements of the military, killed 12 judicial officials investigating
the forced disappearances of 19 merchants.
Nongovernmental actors used landmines; the armed forces stopped
planting new landmines after the government signed the Mine Ban Treaty
in December 1997. Preliminary reports indicated that landmines, used
primarily by the FARC and ELN, caused 94 deaths and 450 injuries during
the first 11 months of the year (see section 1.g.), a 27 percent
decrease in landmine incidents from the same period in 2008.
b. Disappearance.--Forced disappearances, many of them politically
motivated, continued to occur. CINEP reported 18 victims of forced
disappearance by unknown actors during the first six months of the
year, compared with 27 victims in the same period in 2008. The
Prosecutor General's Office charged members of the armed forces in nine
cases of forced disappearance during the year, although the alleged
crimes did not all occur in 2009. According to the Presidential Program
and the Disappeared Persons registry (SIRDEC), coordinated by the
National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Science, 348 persons
were reported as forcibly disappeared during the year, a reduction of
19 percent from 2008. In August the government presented a new
interagency plan to improve efforts to identify remains of victims of
forced disappearances.
Although kidnapping, both for ransom and for political reasons,
continued to diminish, it remained a serious problem. The government's
National Fund for the Defense of Personal Liberty (Fondelibertad)
reported 160 kidnappings for extortion during the year, a decrease of
18 percent from 2008. After reviewing 3,300 kidnapping cases since
1996, Fondelibertad revised its current estimate of the number of
victims currently kidnapped down to 125 (66 held by the FARC, 10 by the
ELN, and the rest by new illegal groups or paramilitary members who
refused to demobilize). Some human rights groups questioned the figure,
arguing that the true number ranged from 600 to several thousand.
GAULAs (Unified Action Groups for Personal Liberty, military and
police entities formed to combat kidnapping and extortion) and other
elements of the security forces freed 64 hostages during the year;
Fondelibertad reported that at least five kidnapping victims died in
captivity, compared with 13 in 2008, a 62 percent reduction. The FARC
and ELN, as well as new illegal groups and paramilitary members who
refused to demobilize, continued the practice of kidnapping. All
illegal groups, including guerrillas, sometimes killed kidnapping
victims (see section 1.g.). The FARC voluntarily released 15
individuals through November 30.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices, there were
reports that the police, military, and prison guards sometimes
mistreated and tortured detainees. Members of the military and police
accused of torture were tried in civilian rather than military courts.
CINEP asserted that during the first six months of the year, government
security forces were involved in 16 incidents of torture, a 78 percent
decrease compared with the first six months of 2008. The Prosecutor
General's Office charged four members of the armed forces with torture
during the year.
CINEP reported, for example, that:
On January 1, in Caloto, Cauca, troops assigned to the Eighth
Infantry Battalion ``Battle of Pichincha'' allegedly arbitrarily
detained and tortured Gerardo Barona Avirama and James Barona Avirama.
On February 28, in Paya, Boyaca, members of the army allegedly
tortured 16-year-old Neftali Blanco to force him to confess to being a
guerrilla.
On March 10, in Argelia, Cauca, the National Police allegedly
arbitrarily detained, tortured, and threatened Oscar Gomez Zapata, a
member of ASCAMTA, an NGO that focuses on agrarian rights issues.
CINEP reported that demobilized paramilitary members were
responsible for at least 24 cases of torture as of June, compared with
19 in the same period of 2008.
Cases of military hazing were reported. On April 13, an army
captain was arrested for torture committed in October 2006. On August
26, the Special Circuit Court of Ibague sentenced 13 soldiers to
between 15 and 16 years in prison for their involvement in torturing 37
lower-ranked soldiers at the Piedras military base in Tolima in January
2006.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--With the exception of new
facilities, prison conditions were poor, particularly for prisoners
without significant outside support. The National Prison Institute
(INPEC) runs the country's 139 national prisons and is responsible for
inspecting municipal jails.
Overcrowding, lack of security, corruption, and an insufficient
budget remained serious problems in the prison system. As of year's
end, more than 77,000 prisoners were held in facilities designed to
hold fewer than 55,000; overcrowding rates exceeded 34 percent. Many of
INPEC's 5,746 prison guards were poorly trained. The NGO Committee in
Solidarity with Political Prisoners noted that improved training,
increased supervision, and more accountability for prison guards had
helped but expressed fear that greater privatization of the prisons
system may lead to further corruption.
Constrained budgets adversely affected prison conditions. INPEC
spent 5,300 pesos ($2.65) per day on each inmate for food. Private
sources continued to supplement food rations of many prisoners.
INPEC reported that there were 27 violent deaths among inmates
related to fighting and riots during the year. Through November, 22
riots occurred at various penal institutions. The Prosecutor General's
Office continued to investigate allegations that some prison guards
routinely used excessive force and treated inmates brutally. According
to INPEC, three prison guards were convicted of extortion and
conspiracy during the year.
The law prohibits holding pretrial detainees with convicted
prisoners, although some cases were reported. Minors were not held with
adults; however, minor children of female prisoners were able to stay
with their mothers in some cases.
The government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by local and international human rights groups, and such
monitoring occurred during the year. The FARC and ELN continued to deny
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to police
and military hostages.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the law prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, there were allegations that authorities
detained citizens arbitrarily.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police are
responsible for internal law enforcement and are under the jurisdiction
of the Ministry of Defense. Law enforcement duties are shared with the
Administrative Department of Security (DAS) and the Prosecutor
General's Corps of Technical Investigators (CTI). The army also shared
limited responsibility for law enforcement and maintenance of order
within the country. For example, military units sometimes provided
logistical support and security for criminal investigators to collect
evidence in high-conflict or hard-to-reach areas. During the year the
Prosecutor General's Human Rights Unit issued 518 arrest orders for
armed forces personnel involved in extrajudicial killings, the majority
of which took place prior to 2009. However, claims of impunity
continued to be widespread, due in some cases to obstruction of
justice, a lack of resources for investigations and protection for
witnesses and investigators, and inadequate coordination among
government entities. Many human rights groups criticized the Prosecutor
General's Office for indicting low-ranking military personnel only
while avoiding investigations of high-ranking intellectual authors.
During the year the Ministry of Defense relieved from duty 55 officers
and 41 noncommissioned officers and soldiers of the armed forces for
inefficiency, unethical conduct, corruption, and suspected involvement
in human rights violations.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Police
apprehended suspects with warrants issued by prosecutors based on
probable cause. However, a warrant is not required to arrest criminals
caught in the act or fleeing the scene of a crime. Members of the armed
forces detained members of illegal armed groups captured in combat but
were not authorized to execute arrest warrants; however, members of the
CTI, who accompanied military units, could issue such warrants.
Under the accusatorial system that took effect nationwide in
January 2008, persons detained must be brought before a judge within 36
hours to determine the validity of the detention. Formal charges must
then be brought within 30 days, and a trial must start within 90 days
of the initial detention. Crimes committed before implementation of the
new code, however, must be tried under the previous, inquisitorial
system.
The previous system required law enforcement authorities to inform
suspects promptly of the reasons for an arrest and bring suspects
before a senior prosecutor within 36 hours of detention. Prosecutors
had to rule on the legality of detentions within 72 hours. Under both
the new and previous systems, in most felony cases, detention prior to
the filing of formal charges cannot exceed 180 days, after which a
suspect must be released. Under the old system, in cases of crimes
deemed particularly serious, such as homicide, terrorism, or rebellion,
authorities were allowed up to 360 days to file formal charges before a
suspect had to be released. Habeas corpus is available to address cases
of alleged arbitrary detention.
Bail is not available for serious crimes such as murder, rebellion,
or narcotics trafficking. Detainees have the right to prompt access to
counsel of their choice, and nearly 1,600 public defenders from the
Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman assisted indigent defendants.
Prominent human rights NGOs complained that the government
arbitrarily detained hundreds of persons, particularly social leaders,
labor activists, and human rights defenders. CINEP reported that
security forces arbitrarily detained 113 persons during the first six
months of the year, compared with 224 in the same period of 2008. Many
of these detentions took place in high-conflict areas (notably in the
departments of Santander, Antioquia, Arauca, and Narino), where the
military was involved in active hostilities against insurgents.
The government and prominent local NGOs frequently disagreed on
what constituted ``arbitrary detention.'' While the government
characterized detentions based on compliance with legal formalities,
NGOs applied other criteria in defining ``arbitrary detention,'' such
as arrests based on tips from informants about persons linked to
guerrilla activities, detentions by members of the security forces
without a judicial order, detentions based on administrative authority,
detentions during military operations, large-scale detentions, and
detentions of persons while they were ``exercising their fundamental
rights.''
Failure on the part of many local military commanders and jail
supervisors to keep mandatory detention records or follow notification
procedures made accounting for all detainees difficult. Trial delays
were caused by large numbers of detainees, financial constraints, and
staff shortages.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the law provides for an
independent judiciary, much of the judicial system was overburdened,
inefficient, and hindered by subornation and intimidation of judges,
prosecutors, and witnesses. In these circumstances impunity remained a
serious problem, although the government took action to address these
issues. The Superior Judicial Council (CSJ) reported that the civilian
judicial system suffered from a significant backlog of cases, which led
to large numbers of pretrial detainees. Implementation of the new
criminal accusatory system reduced the time for resolving new criminal
cases by over 75 percent, with conviction rates of approximately 60
percent under the new system, compared with 3 percent under the old,
inquisitorial system. However, a large backlog of old-system cases
remained.
Judicial authorities were subjected to threats and acts of
violence. According to the protection program in the Prosecutor
General's Office, during the year 470 judicial employees sought varying
forms of protection from the CSJ for reasons including threats.
Although the Prosecutor General's Office ran a witness protection
program for witnesses in criminal cases, witnesses who did not enter
the program remained vulnerable to intimidation, and many refused to
testify.
The UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and
lawyers, Gabriela Carina Knaul de Albuquerque e Silva, reported on a
high level of threats and attacks against judicial officials such as
judges, defense lawyers, prosecutors, and investigators as well as
civilian participants in the justice system such as witnesses and
victims. The special rapporteur acknowledged the government had
programs in place to provide protection but called for increased
measures to ensure the protection of justice officials. The special
rapporteur noted that threats against judicial personnel contributed to
the high rate of impunity, along with insufficient resources for the
administration of justice and inadequate initial investigations.
The civilian justice system is composed of four functional
jurisdictions: ordinary, administrative, constitutional, and special.
The ordinary jurisdiction is the largest and handles all criminal,
civil, labor, agrarian, and domestic cases involving nonmilitary
personnel. The Supreme Court is the highest court within the civil
jurisdiction and serves as its final court of appeal.
The Constitutional Court is the sole judicial authority on the
constitutionality of laws, presidential decrees, and constitutional
reforms. The court also may issue advisory opinions on the
constitutionality of bills not yet signed into law and acts within its
discretion to review the decisions of lower courts on ``tutelas,'' or
writs of protection of fundamental rights, which can be filed before
any judge of any court at any stage of the judicial process, by any
citizen.
The special jurisdiction of the civilian justice system consists of
the justices of the peace program and the indigenous jurisdiction. The
CSJ is responsible for the administration and discipline of the
civilian justice system.
The Supreme Court, the Council of State, the Constitutional Court,
and the CSJ are coequal supreme judicial bodies that sometimes issued
conflicting rulings and frequently disagreed about jurisdictional
responsibilities.
The military justice system consists of 44 military courts and the
Supreme Military Tribunal, which serves as the court of appeals for all
cases tried in military courts. The Supreme Court serves as a second
court of appeal for military cases with prison sentences of six or more
years.
The military justice system may investigate and prosecute active
duty military and police personnel for crimes ``related to acts of
military service.'' The military penal code specifically defines
torture, genocide, massacre, and forced disappearance as crimes
unrelated to military service. All human rights violations are
considered unrelated to military service and must be handled by the
civilian justice system, although this did not always happen in
practice. More than 250 human rights cases were transferred during the
year from the military to the civilian justice system. The military
penal code specifically excludes civilians from military jurisdiction,
and civilian courts must try retired military and police personnel,
although military courts are responsible for service-related acts
committed prior to their retirement.
The military penal code denies commanders the power to impose
military justice discipline on their subordinates and extends legal
protection to service members who refuse to obey orders to commit human
rights abuses. The army has discretionary authority to dismiss
personnel who may be implicated in human rights abuses.
The Prosecutor General's Office is responsible for investigations
and prosecutions of criminal offenses. Its Human Rights Unit, which
includes 13 satellite offices, specializes in investigating human
rights crimes. As of December the unit's 100 specialized prosecutors
were handling a total of 5,586 active cases.
The Inspector General's Office investigates allegations of
misconduct by public employees, including members of the state security
forces. The Inspector General's Office referred all cases of human
rights violations it received to the Prosecutor General's Human Rights
Unit.
During the year the Office of the Inspector General opened
disciplinary processes against 546 members of the armed forces for
human rights offenses. In addition the Prosecutor General's Office
achieved convictions of 157 military personnel during the year.
Trial Procedures.--Under the new, accusatorial criminal procedure
code, which was fully implemented in January 2008, the prosecutor
presents an accusation and evidence before an impartial judge at an
oral, public trial. The defendant is presumed innocent and has the
right to confront the evidence against him at trial and to present his
own evidence. No juries are involved. Crimes committed before
implementation of the new code were processed under the prior written
inquisitorial system in which the prosecutor is an investigating
magistrate who investigates, determines evidence, and makes a finding
of guilt or innocence. The ``trial'' was actually the presentation of
evidence and finding of guilt to a judge for his/her ratification or
rejection.
In the military justice system, military judges preside over
courts-martial without juries. Counsel may represent the accused and
call witnesses, but the majority of fact-finding takes place during the
investigative stage. Military trial judges issue rulings within eight
days of a court-martial hearing. Representatives of the civilian
Inspector General's Office are required to be present at courts-
martial.
Criminal procedure within the military justice system includes
elements of the inquisitorial and accusatorial systems. Defendants are
considered innocent until proven guilty and have the right to timely
consultation with counsel. A Constitutional Court ruling forbids
military attorneys from undertaking defense counsel duties. Defendants
must retain counsel at their own expense or rely on defenders paid by a
private fund.
At year's end the Ministry of Defense was prepared to launch its
transition to the oral accusatory system used by the civilian
judiciary. The roll-out of the new system will take place regionally
and is scheduled to be completed in 2012. The military justice system
transferred more than 250 human rights cases from military justice to
civilian systems during the year.
Civilian courts convicted military members for past human rights
violations; for instance:
September 1, the Third Criminal Circuit Court of Ibague convicted
five soldiers of murder and sentenced them to 35 to 40 years of prison
for the 2004 homicides of a family of five, including a minor child and
an infant, in Potosi de Cajamarca, Tolima.
September 24, the Twelfth Circuit trial judge of Bogota convicted
two pilots of murder for their involvement in the 1998 bombing of the
village of Santo Domingo, Arauca, which left 17 persons dead. A 2007
conviction of manslaughter was overturned because the higher court said
the pilots' actions violated international humanitarian law prohibiting
the use of bombs in populated areas, even if enemy fighters are
present.
November 25, the Superior Tribunal of Bogota sentenced retired
general Jaime Humberto Uscategui to 40 years in prison for his
involvement in the 1997 paramilitary massacre in Mapiripan, Meta, in
which an estimated 50 persons were killed.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The government stated that it
did not hold political prisoners. Some human rights advocacy groups
characterized as political detainees some detainees held on charges of
rebellion or terrorism in what the groups reported were harassment
tactics by the government against human rights advocates (see section
5). According to INPEC, there were 3,698 detainees accused of rebellion
or aiding and abetting insurgence in the year. The government provided
the ICRC access to these prisoners.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Citizens can sue a state
agent or body in the Administrative Court of Litigation for damages for
a human rights violation. Although critics complained of delays in the
process, the court generally was considered impartial and effective.
Property Restitution.--For many small landowners, formal land
titling remained inaccessible. Government agencies and human rights
groups estimated that illegal groups, including guerrillas, seized
between 1.1 and 2.7 million acres of land from small landowners during
the decades-long conflict. Paramilitary groups stole the majority, only
a fraction of which was reclaimed by the government after the
demobilization of the AUC. On June 18, the Congress voted down a
victims' law that, inter alia, would have addressed land reform and
land restitution, with some opponents charging the law did not go far
enough, and others saying the government could not afford its cost.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; while the government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice, there were notable
exceptions by some intelligence agencies. The law requires government
authorities to obtain a warrant signed by a senior prosecutor to enter
a private home without the owner's consent unless the suspect has been
caught in hot pursuit, and government authorities generally adhered to
these regulations.
Government authorities generally need a judicial order to intercept
mail or monitor telephone conversations, even in prisons. However,
government intelligence agencies investigating terrorist organizations
sometimes monitored telephone conversations without judicial
authorization, although evidence obtained in such a manner could not be
used in court.
Surveillance by the DAS of high court magistrates, journalists,
human rights organizations and activists, opposition leaders, and the
Vice Presidency prompted an investigation by the CTI. Press reports
indicated DAS surveillance included physical monitoring of individuals
and their families, phone and e-mail intercepts, and collection of
personal and financial data. A CTI report described a twofold strategy
to mount prosecutions against the victims of the surveillance and to
disrupt human rights groups' activities through ``offensive
intelligence.'' According to a publication released by the National and
International Campaign for the Right to Defend Human Rights, examples
of DAS harassment included operations involving diverse attacks,
setups, and death threats. Former DAS director Jorge Noguera and deputy
director Jose Narvaez were under investigation for colluding with
paramilitary members to instigate the murders of three unionists, a
college professor, and a journalist. The Prosecutor General's Office
launched a separate investigation into the wiretapping scandal, and 34
DAS employees were under investigation, 10 of whom, including four
directors, were detained. Investigations into the surveillance
continued at year's end.
The government continued to use voluntary civilian informants to
report terrorist activities and identify terrorists. Some national and
international human rights groups criticized this practice as subject
to abuse and a threat to privacy and other civil liberties. In the
August report of the UN secretary-general on children and armed
conflict, the UN called on the government to ensure children were not
used for military intelligence purposes, noting this practice puts
children at risk of retaliation by illegal armed groups. The FARC
publicly justified its February 4 massacre of eight Awa indigenous
persons as retaliation for collaboration with the military.
New illegal groups, paramilitary members who refused to demobilize,
and FARC and ELN guerrillas routinely interfered with the right to
privacy. These groups forcibly entered private homes, monitored private
communications, and engaged in forced displacement and conscription.
The standing orders of the FARC, which had large numbers of female
combatants, prohibited pregnancies among its troops, and there were
numerous credible reports of compulsory abortions to enforce the order.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
The country's 45-year-long internal armed conflict, involving
government forces, two terrorist guerrilla groups (FARC and ELN), and
new illegal groups and paramilitary members who refused to demobilize,
continued. The conflict and narcotics trafficking, which both fueled
and prospered from the conflict, were the central causes of multiple
violations of human rights.
After the conclusion of a process in which approximately 34,000
paramilitary personnel demobilized between 2003 and 2006, the
government confronted militarily any groups that did not demobilize, as
well as new illegal groups. The Organization of American States (OAS)
continued to verify all stages of demobilization and reincorporation of
former combatants into society. In its October report, the OAS noted
significant advances in the process, citing an increase in victims'
participation, while also pointing to areas for improvement, such as
the need to confront new illegal groups. The OAS noted that of the 959
members of new illegal groups captured through June, 181 (19 percent)
were formerly demobilized paramilitary members who had returned to
criminal life.
Killings.--Security forces were responsible for alleged unlawful
killings. CINEP reported that there were 45 such killings during the
first six months of the year, compared with 76 in the same period of
2008. Of those unlawful killings, CINEP reported two were cases of
civilians murdered by the military and falsely reported as killed in
combat. As of November the Human Rights Unit in the Prosecutor
General's Office was assigned 1,302 cases, involving 2,177 victims
(1,949 men, 112 women, and 116 minors), of extrajudicial killings by
the armed forces that occurred between 1985 and 2009. The majority of
the killings under investigation occurred in the departments of
Antioquia (378), Meta (116), Norte de Santander (76), and Casanare
(52). A large number of the reported cases involved army members. The
Prosecutor General's Office achieved a number of convictions of members
of the armed forces for extrajudicial killings during the year;
complete information was unavailable on those convicted during the
year. At year's end the Prosecutor General's Office was investigating
12 colonels, 14 lieutenant colonels, 43 majors, and 89 captains and
hundreds of lower ranked military personnel.
According to CINEP, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
(UNHCHR), and the Presidential Program for Human Rights, reports of
extrajudicial killings falsely reported as killed in combat fell
significantly during the year. CINEP reported two cases involving four
victims through June. The Prosecutor General's Human Rights Unit opened
five new cases of extrajudicial killings alleged to have occurred
during the year. The cases reported by CINEP, included:
January 16, members of the armed forces allegedly executed Jose
Maria Hoyos, Islena Garcia Valencia, and Noe Pena Navarro in Salento,
Quindio, and reported them as killed in combat.
March 14, members of the armed forces allegedly executed Arbey
Diaz, the president of a local peasant organization, in Marcarena,
Meta, and presented him as killed in combat.
The National Indigenous Organization Colombia (ONIC) reported the
following case:
May 23, in Barbacoas, Narino, members of the armed forces allegedly
executed Gonzalo Rodriguez Guanga, a member of the Awa indigenous
group, and presented him as killed in combat. His wife, Tulia Garcia
Guanga, the sole witness to the event, was subsequently killed in the
August 26 massacre of 12 Awa.
According to CINEP, cases of extrajudicial killings attributed to
the government also included ``social cleansing'' (including vagrants,
gay men, lesbians (see section 6), and other ``undesirables'').
Examples of extrajudicial executions by security forces reported by
CINEP included:
March 6, three members of the armed forces allegedly executed
Alvaro Miguel Rivera, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)
activist, in Cali, Valle del Cauca.
May 24, members of the National Police and a new illegal group
allegedly executed 30-year-old Reinaldo Delgado Londono in Guadalajara
de Buga, Valle del Cauca.
In a ``social cleansing'' case, the NGO Colombian Commission of
Jurists (CCJ) reported that on January 9, police officers allegedly
tortured and killed Robinson de Jesus Gil, a homeless man in Bogota. On
February 10, the Prosecutor General's Office charged two police
officers for the crime.
There were developments in some continuing human rights cases.
Cases involving killings in 2008 included:
The Prosecutor General's Office implicated 40 members of the
military in the case of the approximately 14 Soacha residents who were
lured to Ocana by civilian recruiters and later killed by members of
the military, who then falsely reported the victims as killed in
combat. Trials had not begun at year's end.
The Prosecutor General's Office ordered the preventive detention of
15 members of the antiguerrilla unit of the 14th Brigade's Calibio
Battalion in Cimitarra, Santander, for two January 2008 murders of
civilians who were falsely presented as killed in combat.
Cases involving killings that took place before 2008 included:
The Prosecutor General's Office charged two professional soldiers
in the case of 10 young men from Toluviejo, Sucre, who were killed by
the military between July and August 2007 and falsely reported as
killed in combat. Former AUC member Jose Dionisio Ramos Castillo, alias
Joselito Carnaval, was sentenced to 22 years for recruiting the victims
and turning them over to the military.
On March 16, the Circuit Penal Court of Apartado (Antioquia)
sentenced seven soldiers from the 17th Brigade to 30 years in prison
for their involvement in the 2006 murder of Edilberto Vasquez Cardona,
a member of the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community who was falsely
presented as killed in combat.
On May 10, Jose Wilson Giraldo, witness in the 2006 extrajudicial
killing case of his brother Jose Orlando Giraldo, was shot in the head;
he survived the attack. Another witness in the case, Orlando Giraldo's
daughter Martha Giraldo, received numerous threats during the year. The
trial of former sergeant Luis Eduardo Mahecha Hernandez of the Third
Brigade's High Mountain Battalion for the 2006 killing continued at
year's end. Trials had not begun for several other military personnel
implicated in the case.
In the 2005 case of eight civilians killed in San Jose de Apartado,
Antioquia, the Prosecutor General's Office charged 10 soldiers from the
47th Infantry Battalion of the 17th Brigade with homicide. The
government captured suspect Yamid de Jesus Gonzalez Galaraga for his
involvement in the killings. The Prosecutor General's Office opened an
investigation into retired army general Hector Fandino for his alleged
involvement in the crime.
On October 5, the Fourth Administrative Circuit Court of Sincelejo
ordered the government to pay 2.5 billion pesos ($1.25 million) to the
families of the victims of the 2001 Chengue massacre by the AUC.
The government initiated reforms to improve the human rights
performance of the security forces. The reforms included opening a new
human rights school in May, establishing a new human rights department
under the command of a brigadier general, creating ``operational legal
advisors'' who provide legal advice on planning, follow-up, and control
of military operations, and developing new rules of engagement. The
government held six televised accountability hearings to receive
complaints against military members, hosted by the Presidency, with
participation by the Prosecutor General's Office, the Inspector
General's Office, and the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman.
New illegal groups and paramilitary members who refused to
demobilize killed journalists, local politicians, human rights
activists, indigenous leaders, labor leaders, and others who threatened
to interfere with their criminal activities, showed leftist sympathies,
or were suspected of collaboration with the FARC. They also reportedly
committed massacres or ``social cleansing'' killings of prostitutes,
gay men and lesbians, drug users, vagrants, and gang members in city
neighborhoods they controlled. New illegal groups and paramilitary
members who refused to demobilize, according to CINEP, were responsible
for the deaths of 279 civilians from January through June, an 89
percent increase from the 148 deaths reported during the same period in
2008. On February 26, an illegal armed group allegedly killed a
transgender sex worker in Dabeiba (Antioquia). Members of the group
were reported to have bragged that they killed a gay drug user.
Guerrilla group members continued to demobilize. According to the
Ministry of Defense, during the year 2,481 members of guerrilla groups
demobilized, compared with an estimated 3,240 demobilized over the same
period in 2008, a 23 percent reduction in demobilizations. In August,
22 Embera indigenous persons demobilized collectively from the FARC's
34th Front and rejoined indigenous reserves in the Uraba region of
Antioquia. Also in August, 24 Nasa indigenous persons demobilized from
the FARC's Sixth Front.
FARC and ELN guerrillas killed journalists, religious leaders,
candidates for public office, local elected officials and politicians,
alleged paramilitary collaborators, and members of government security
forces. On December 22, the FARC kidnapped and killed the governor of
Caqueta. In many areas of the country, the 8,000- to 9,000-member FARC
and the 2,000-member ELN worked together to attack government forces or
demobilized paramilitary members; in other areas, especially in Arauca,
Valle del Cauca, Cauca, and Narino departments, they fought each other.
Various courts convicted members of the FARC secretariat in absentia on
various charges including aggravated homicide, such as the 2001
massacre of 22 people in Tierralta, Cordoba, and the 1999 attack on
Puerto Lleras that left 10 civilians and 11 police dead.
The FARC killed persons it suspected of collaborating with
government authorities or paramilitary groups. The Presidential Program
for Human Rights reported that during the first 11 months of the year,
the FARC killed at least 220 civilians, while another 106 persons were
killed in massacres in which the perpetrators remained unidentified.
On January 13, the FARC's 29th Front attacked the town of Roberto
Payan, Narino, with improvised mortars, killing six civilians,
including three children, and injuring 11 others.
On January 27, the FARC bombed a Blockbuster video store in Bogota,
killing two civilians.
On February 12, the ELN killed three police officers and three
civilians in an ambush in Convencion, Norte de Santander. The ELN first
killed a married couple to serve as bait and, from the cover of high
ground, attacked police first responders and civilians on the scene.
Seventeen persons were wounded.
Abductions.--New illegal groups, paramilitary members who refused
to demobilize, and FARC and ELN terrorists continued to take hostages
for ransom.
Fondelibertad reported that new illegal group members continued to
be responsible for kidnappings. During the year government statistics
began to track kidnappings by new illegal groups as organized crime,
which accounted for 13 kidnappings during the year. The majority of
kidnapping cases, 98, were attributed to common crime.
The FARC and ELN continued to commit numerous kidnappings, which
remained a major source of revenue. The FARC also held politicians,
prominent citizens, and members of the security forces to use as pawns
in prisoner exchanges. Fondelibertad reported that guerrillas kidnapped
49 persons (in 28 percent of all cases a perpetrator was identified),
the FARC 38 individuals, and the ELN 11 persons.
The FARC continued to hold 22 political hostages, as well as an
estimated 44 economic hostages, representing a downward revision of
estimates by the government. Foundation Free Country, an NGO that
monitors kidnapping, estimated that the FARC held 48 hostages. Military
action freed 81 kidnap victims through November 30.
Foundation Free Country criticized Fondelibertad's numbers. It
estimated that at least 63 cases of kidnap victims were not included in
Fondelibertad's database.
Physical Abuse, Punishment, and Torture.--According to preliminary
reporting from the Presidential Program of Integrated Action Against
Anti-personnel Mines, landmines, used primarily by the FARC and ELN,
caused 94 deaths and 450 injuries during the first 11 months of the
year, a 27 percent decrease in landmine incidents from the same period
in 2008. Approximately 70 percent of landmine victims during the year
were military personnel. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines
stated that the FARC continued to be the largest individual user of
landmines and that the ELN also continued to use landmines. The
government created two additional Humanitarian Demining (HD) brigades,
bringing the total number to six. The HD brigades had cleared 26 of the
34 military landmine fields. According to the Ministry of Defense,
during the year the government cleared more than 90 mined areas. In
November the government hosted the Second Review Conference for the
Ottawa Convention Banning Anti-Personnel Landmines and signed the
Cartagena Action Plan, which commits the government to ensure landmine
victims receive timely and affordable assistance.
Child Soldiers.--Guerrillas and illegal armed groups used children
as soldiers. According to the report of the UN secretary-general on
children and armed conflict, the recruitment and use of children by
illegal armed groups was widespread and remained a serious concern. The
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Colombian Family
Welfare Institute (ICBF) estimated the number of children participating
in illegal armed groups ranged from 10,000 to 13,000. Effective
November 1, when the government's reservation to the Rome Statute
expired, the penalty for leaders of armed groups who use child soldiers
rose to life imprisonment. The government agreed to the International
Criminal Court's penalty for child recruitment when it ratified the
Rome Statute in 2002 but delayed application of the law to provide an
incentive to all illegal groups, especially the FARC, to free recruited
children. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)
linked the phenomenon of forced displacement of families to that of
forced recruitment of children. The FARC issued letters to indigenous
communities outlining a policy to conduct child recruitment and warning
recipients not to challenge it.
Other Conflict-Related Abuses.--Guerrillas failed to respect
injured and medical personnel. Both the FARC and the ELN frequently
executed injured prisoners, threatened and harassed doctors and nurses,
and killed enemy combatants receiving medical care.
On January 12, in Tibu, Norte de Santander, the FARC burned six
cars, including an ambulance.
On February 28, in Popayan, Cauca, the FARC kidnapped Tomas Vernaza
Nino, a member of a medical mission.
On May 18, in El Tarra, Norte de Santander, the FARC killed
civilian Jesus Duran Ascanio because he allegedly was a member of a
paramilitary organization, a fact contested by the community. Adolfo
Perez Avendano, a bystander, was injured. As Perez was being
transported in an ambulance, the FARC stopped the ambulance and killed
Perez at point blank range.
Guerrilla groups, new illegal groups, and paramilitary members who
refused to demobilize also prevented or limited the delivery of food
and medicines to towns and regions in contested drug trafficking
corridors, straining local economies and increasing forced
displacement.
Guerrillas forcibly displaced peasants to clear key drug and
weapons transit routes in strategic zones and to remove individuals who
collaborated with the government or new illegal groups and paramilitary
members who refused to demobilize. Guerrillas also imposed de facto
blockades of communities in regions where they had significant
influence. For example, ONIC and international organizations reported
many incidents in which illegal armed groups forcibly recruited
indigenous people or obligated them to collaborate, restricted their
freedom of movement, and blockaded their communities in Choco, Valle
del Cauca, Narino, and other departments. According to Awa indigenous
authorities, after the February 4 massacre of eight members of the Awa
indigenous group in Narino, the FARC confined several villages,
affecting approximately 280 people. In the two-week period following
the massacre, five children under two years of age died of
malnutrition. On January 8, the special rapporteur on the situation of
human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, James
Anaya, stated that it was evident that violence from the internal armed
conflict disproportionately affected indigenous groups in the country.
New illegal groups and paramilitary members who refused to
demobilize continued to displace civilians residing along key drug and
weapons transit corridors. In March confrontations between the Los
Rastrojos criminal group and the ELN over control of drug and weapons
trafficking routes resulted in the displacement of 335 Embera
indigenous people, including 130 children. Nearly 30 individuals,
including 21 children, were confined and unable to flee. Members of Los
Rastrojos raped an unknown number of women, destroyed a school, damaged
a power generator, and looted several houses (see section 2.d.).
In a report released in September, Oxfam International reported
sexual violence against women and girls had become a ``generalized and
systemic practice'' by all armed actors in the conflict. According to
the report, sexual violence was one of the main causes of forced
displacement. The report acknowledged that the crime was grossly
underreported and that there was no way to estimate the number of
victims (see section 6).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the government generally respected these
rights in practice.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. A number of independent newspapers and
magazines published freely, and all print media were owned privately.
Privately owned radio and television stations broadcast freely.
Government security forces and corrupt officials occasionally
subjected journalists to harassment, intimidation, or violence (see
section 1.f.).
Members of illegal armed groups intimidated, threatened, kidnapped,
and killed journalists. National and international NGOs reported that
local media representatives regularly practiced self-censorship because
of threats of violence. During the year 171 journalists received
protection from the Ministry of the Interior and Justice's protection
program. The ministry also supported an alert network organized for
journalists by providing a small number of radios and an emergency
telephone hotline. The Prosecutor General's Human Rights Unit was
investigating 48 cases of crimes against journalists involving 67
victims. The Unit achieved 22 convictions, and five additional
defendants were standing trial at year's end.
According to the NGO Foundation for Press Freedom, during the year
one journalist was killed for reasons related to his work, compared
with none in 2008. A total of 65 journalists received death threats,
compared with 94 in the same period in 2008. Four journalists went into
voluntary exile as a result of threats, compared with two in 2008.
Foundation for Press Freedom considered the greatest threat to
journalists during the year to have been illegal intelligence gathering
by state agencies (see sections 1.f. and 1.g.).
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet. Individuals could engage in the peaceful expression of
views via the Internet, including by e-mail. The International
Telecommunication Union reported that in 2008 there were 38 users of
the Internet per 100 inhabitants.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events. However,
guerrillas maintained a presence on many university campuses to
generate political support for their respective causes and undermine
support for their enemies through both violent and nonviolent means.
New illegal groups, paramilitary members who refused to demobilize, and
FARC and ELN guerrillas threatened, displaced, and killed educators and
their families for political and financial reasons. According to the
Presidential Program for Human Rights, various assailants killed 19
educators through November 30, a reduction of 30 percent from the same
period in 2008. The teachers' union, Colombian Federation of Educators,
reported 18 educators were killed. Threats and harassment caused many
educators and students to adopt lower profiles and avoid discussing
controversial topics.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice. Freedom of association was limited
in practice by threats and acts of violence committed by illegal armed
groups against NGOs, indigenous groups, and labor unions (see section
1.g.).
Although the government does not prohibit membership in most
political organizations, membership in organizations that espoused or
carried out acts of violence, such as the FARC, ELN, and paramilitary
groups, was illegal.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the government generally respected this right in practice.
The Roman Catholic Church retained a de facto privileged status.
Accession to certain voluntary stipulations within a 1997 public law is
required for non-Catholic religions to minister to their adherents in
public institutions and to perform marriages recognized by the state.
When deciding whether to grant accession, the government considers a
religion's total membership, its degree of popular acceptance within
society, and other relevant factors.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--New illegal groups,
paramilitary members who refused to demobilize, and FARC and ELN
guerrillas harassed, threatened, and sometimes killed religious leaders
and activists, although often for their role as community leaders
rather than for religious reasons (see section 1.g.). The NGO Justapaz
reported that during the year two Protestant pastors were killed;
another pastor, along with his pregnant wife and two children, were
abducted. According to the Catholic National Conference, 17 Catholic
leaders received protection due to threats against them. The
Presidential Program for Human Rights reported that illegal armed
groups, especially the FARC, made numerous threats against priests and
other religious workers.
The Jewish community had an estimated 5,000 members. Reports of
anti-Semitism continued, including graffiti painted on the exterior
walls of synagogues and anti-Semitic statements in pamphlets published
by small anti-Semitic organizations.
Indigenous Christians reported they were prevented from practicing
their faith while on indigenous reserves. Protestant groups reported
approximately 28 Kogui Christians were detained for nearly two months
by the Gonawindua Tayrona Organization (OGT), the governing body of the
Sierra Nevada reserve, for practicing their faith. The OGT denied any
individuals were held against their will and cited recent high court
decisions that protect indigenous autonomy and the right of indigenous
governments to deny public practice of religions different from
traditional indigenous rites on reserves.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and while the government generally respected these rights
in practice, there were exceptions. Military operations and occupation
of certain rural areas restricted freedom of movement in conflict
areas.
The government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in providing protection and assistance to internally
displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers,
stateless persons, and other persons of concern.
New illegal groups, paramilitary members that refused to
demobilize, and FARC and ELN guerrillas continued to establish illegal
checkpoints on rural highways, but an enhanced government security
presence along major highways reduced the number of kidnappings. The
Ministry of Defense reported no kidnappings at illegal roadblocks
during the year, compared with nine in 2008 (see section 1.b.).
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not employ
it. However, many persons went into self-imposed exile because of
threats from new illegal groups, paramilitary members who refused to
demobilize, and FARC and ELN guerrillas.
Internally Displaced Persons.--The internal armed conflict,
especially in remote areas, was the major cause of internal
displacement. International organizations and civil society identified
various factors driving displacement including confrontations between
security forces, terrorists, new illegal groups, and paramilitary
members who refused to demobilize, competition among illegal armed
groups for resources and territorial control, forced recruitment of
children, and threats and violence from new illegal groups and
paramilitary members who refused to demobilize. Most IDPs were rural
peasants displaced to cities. Estimates of the numbers of IDPs varied.
During the year Accion Social, the government's internal welfare and
foreign coordination agency, registered 111,414 new displacements, a 47
percent decline over the same period in 2008. The GOC's national IDP
registry showed an 8 percent decline in new displacements, with 301,817
IDPs in 2008 compared with 328,264 IDPs in 2007. Accion Social cited
continued improvement in security and territorial control and improved
verification of fraudulent IDP claims as contributing factors in the
decline. During the year Accion Social refused approximately 36 percent
of registrations as ineligible, compared with a 29 percent refusal rate
in 2008.
The NGO Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES) said
that the government arbitrarily denied many registrations and that
underregistration of IDPs remained a problem due to lack of access to
the registration system or fear of retaliation from illegal armed
groups. On January 26, the Constitutional Court acknowledged that
despite some improvements, underregistration remained a problem and
ordered the government to improve the IDP registration system.
International organizations and civil society expected the number of
registrations to rise as IDPs from previous years continued to
register. According to Accion Social, the department of Narino
registered the highest number of IDPs (17,110) during the year,
followed by Antioquia (14,100), Cauca (9,013), and Tolima (8,354).
CODHES estimated that 286,389 persons were displaced during the year, a
24 percent reduction compared with CODHES' estimate for 2008.
The government has registered a total of 3.3 million IDPs since
1995, while CODHES estimated that as many as 4.9 million persons have
been displaced since 1985. Accion Social attributed the growth in
cumulative IDP registrations in the past year to a 2008 Administrative
Court (Consejo de Estado) order requiring the government to include
displacements from all previous years. Under the previous system, an
IDP only had one calendar year from displacement to register. The
government's national registry included registered IDPs whose
applications for recognition had been accepted, while CODHES estimated
new displacements based on information from the media, civil society,
and fieldwork. CODHES also included as IDPs an undetermined number of
coca and opium poppy producers who migrated in response to government
drug eradication efforts, as well as those who migrated due to poor
economic conditions resulting from the armed conflict. During the year
the ICRC provided assistance to 51,176 newly displaced persons--11,217
persons from massive displacements (groups of 50 or more persons) and
39,959 persons in individual displacements.
New illegal groups, paramilitary members who refused to demobilize,
and FARC and ELN guerrillas continued to use forced displacement to
gain control over strategic or economically valuable territory, weaken
their opponents' base of support, and undermine government control and
authority. Illegal armed groups also used landmines and roadblocks to
confine entire villages in order to protect illicit crops and to
prevent pursuit by state security forces. The FARC, ELN, new illegal
groups, and paramilitary members who refused to demobilize continued to
use force, intimidation, and disinformation to discourage IDPs from
registering with the government; guerrilla agents often forced local
leaders and community members to demonstrate against illicit crop
eradication efforts, including causing mass displacements.
During the year the government registered 4,308 new IDPs who
identified themselves as indigenous and 17,844 new IDPs who identified
themselves as Afro-Colombian. ONIC estimated the number of displaced
indigenous people to be much higher, since many indigenous people did
not have adequate access to registration locations due to geographic
remoteness, language barriers, or unfamiliarity with the national
registration system. The local NGO Association of Internally Displaced
Afro-Colombians (AFRODES) stated that threats and violence against
Afro-Colombian leaders and communities continued to cause high levels
of forced displacement, especially in the Pacific Coast region. CODHES
estimated that 83 percent of mass displacement events during the year
involved indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. The UNHCR concurred
that indigenous and Afro-Colombian groups were disproportionately
affected by displacement.
The government, international humanitarian assistance
organizations, and civil society observed that the rate of mass
displacements declined during the year. The ICRC assessed 53 mass
displacement events during the year, a 23 percent decline compared with
2008. Accion Social reported a 63 percent decline in the number of IDPs
from mass displacements through November compared with the same period
last year. According to Accion Social, the departments with the highest
numbers of IDPs from massive displacements in the year were Narino with
3,575, Choco with 1,432, Cauca with 523, and Antioquia with 496. CODHES
recorded 77 mass displacement events affecting 19,981 persons during
the year, compared with 82 mass displacement events affecting 43,357
persons in 2008. According to CODHES, Narino accounted for 56 percent
of mass displacement events. CODHES estimated that 12,934 Afro-
Colombians were displaced in 28 mass displacement events in Narino,
Choco, Cauca, Valle del Cauca, and Antioquia. For example, the UNHCR
and the UN Office of the Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
reported that:
On February 4, approximately 500 persons fled the area of
Tortugana-Telembi in the municipality of Barbacoas, Narino, after the
reported massacre of eight members of the Awa indigenous group by the
FARC (see sections 1.g and 6).
On March 2, combat between the military and the FARC caused the
displacement of 576 persons (116 families) from Afro-Colombian
communities in the municipality of Lopez de Micay, Cauca.
On March 4, approximately 2,000 members of the Embera indigenous
group started to displace from rural areas along the Baudo River in
Choco as result of threats and clashes between illegal armed groups in
the area.
On September 24, intense combat between the military and the FARC
near Bocas de Napi in the municipality of Guapi, Cauca, forced 212
persons from Afro-Colombian communities to flee the area.
OCHA, the ICRC, and the UNHCR reported on other mass displacements
in other departments throughout the year:
On June 12, 550 persons (147 families) were displaced from Ituango,
Antioquia, due to threats and attacks by the FARC.
On July 7, 224 individuals from the indigenous Zenu community left
Puerto Libertador, Cordoba, due to confrontations between the army and
the FARC. Fifty of the displaced were children under the age of 14.
During October and November, more than 450 persons displaced from
rural areas in the municipality of Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, due
to threats and abuses by an illegal armed group and confrontations
between that group and the military.
During the first week of December, 80 persons (21 families) from
Afro-Colombian communities were displaced in the rural area of Bajo
Baudo municipality, Choco, after members of an illegal armed group
kidnapped two members of the Litoral del San Juan community.
CODHES also reported that at least eight IDP community leaders were
killed during the year. On April 14, Ana Isabel Gomez Perez, a leader
of displaced communities and a victims' advocate, was killed by unknown
assailants in Los Cordobas, Cordoba. On July 23, an unknown assailant
killed Guillermo Ramos Rosso in Volador, Cordoba. Ramos worked on a
program to recuperate land from former paramilitary members for
redistribution to IDPs. On May 22, a UNHCR official expressed concern
over death threats against human rights workers and social activists,
including displaced leaders.
The government budgeted approximately 1.3 trillion pesos
(approximately $650 million) to provide assistance to IDPs during the
year. Assistance to registered IDPs was delivered through Accion
Social, the ICBF, the Ministry of Social Protection (MSP), and other
governmental ministries and agencies.
Assistance organizations pointed out that the emergency response to
mass displacements was more difficult and costly to mount, since most
displacements took place in more remote locations; however, the speed
and effectiveness of the response has improved in recent years.
Additionally, international organizations and civil society reported
that a lack of local capacity to accept registrations in high-
displacement areas often delayed by several weeks or months assistance
to persons displaced individually or in smaller groups. Intense
fighting and insecurity in conflict zones, including areas in the
departments of Antioquia, Arauca, Cauca, and Narino, sometimes delayed
national and international aid organizations from accessing newly
displaced populations.
Despite several government initiatives to enhance IDP access to
services and knowledge of their rights and notable improvements in
meeting their social and economic needs, many IDPs continued to live in
unhygienic conditions with limited access to health care, education, or
employment. On January 26, the Constitutional Court ordered the
government to reformulate its IDP programs and policies, including
improving the IDP registration system, to address the continuing
``unconstitutional state of affairs'' in providing for IDP rights. The
court also ordered the government to implement specific protection and
assistance programs for displaced indigenous people, Afro-Colombians,
disabled persons, and IDP community leaders (a previous 2008 order
provided this right for displaced women and children). Several
international organizations and domestic nonprofit groups, such as the
International Organization for Migration (IOM), the ICRC, and the
Colombian Red Cross, worked with the government to provide emergency
relief and long-term assistance to displaced populations.
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 to which the
country is a party, and the government has established a system for
providing assistance to refugees. In practice the government provided
protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries
where their lives or freedom would be threatened on account of their
race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group,
or political opinion. The government reserved the right to determine
eligibility for asylum, based upon its own assessment of the nature of
an applicant's claim. According to the government, 193 recognized
refugees resided in the country. During the year 334 persons applied
for refugee status, of which 27 refugee cases were approved and 237
rejected.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, generally free and fair elections held on the basis of nearly
universal suffrage. Active duty members of the armed forces and police
may not vote or participate in the political process. Civilian public
employees are eligible to vote, although they may participate in
partisan politics only during the four months immediately preceding a
national election.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2006 independent
candidate Alvaro Uribe won a second four-year term as president in
elections that were considered generally free and fair, despite a
concerted campaign by the FARC and ELN to disrupt or manipulate the
outcome. The OAS electoral observation mission stated that the
elections took place ``in an atmosphere of freedom, transparency, and
normalcy.''
Political parties could operate without restrictions or outside
interference. The Liberal and Conservative parties previously dominated
politics. The reelection of President Uribe as an independent in 2006
and the second-place showing of the Polo Democratico presidential
candidate, Carlos Gaviria, reflected a widening of the political arena.
More than 20 political parties from across the political spectrum were
represented in Congress. In 2007 Polo Democratico candidate Samuel
Moreno was elected mayor of Bogota.
New illegal groups, paramilitary members who refused to demobilize,
and the FARC threatened and killed government officials (see section
1.g.). According to the Presidential Program for Human Rights, eight
municipal council members were killed through November, compared with
12 in the same period 2008.
Some local officials throughout the country resigned because of
threats from the FARC. A program by the Ministry of Interior and
Justice provided protection to 233 mayors, 29 former mayors, and 3,338
council members during the year.
The law requires that women be placed in at least 30 percent of
appointed government posts and that the government report to Congress
each year the percentage of women in high-level government positions.
There were 13 women in the 102-member Senate and 14 in the 166-member
House of Representatives. There were three women in the 13-member
cabinet and four on the 23-member Supreme Court. Additionally, there
were 11 women on the higher courts: one on the Constitutional Court,
eight on the State Council, and two on the CSJ.
Two indigenous senators and one indigenous member of the House of
Representatives occupied seats reserved for indigenous persons. There
were no indigenous cabinet members and no indigenous persons on any of
the nation's high courts.
There were 10 self-identified Afro-Colombian members of the House
of Representatives; nine were part of the Afro-Colombian caucus and two
occupied seats reserved for Afro-Colombians. There were no seats
reserved for Afro-Colombians in the Senate. There was one Afro-
Colombian cabinet minister; there were no Afro-Colombians on any high
court.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and
the government actively prosecuted cases of governmental corruption;
however, officials sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with
impunity. The World Bank's worldwide governance indicators reflected
that government corruption was a problem. Drug trafficking revenues
exacerbated corruption.
On September 21, five senior officials from the Ministry of
Transportation and the National Concessions Institute, including its
director, were forced to resign after recorded telephone conversations
implicated them in soliciting bribes in connection with the Central
Magdalena railroad concession. Investigations continued at the end of
the year.
Former agricultural minister Andres Felipe Arias and other ministry
officials were implicated in a scandal involving inappropriate use of
the Agriculture Ministry's irrigation and drainage loan program.
Investigations continued at the end of the year.
On April 13, the Superior Tribunal of Medellin sentenced the former
president of the Antioquia Assembly to eight years and three months for
irregularities in contracts.
In July the Supreme Court's criminal chamber sentenced former
representative Teodolindo Avendano to eight years in prison for
accepting a bribe to abstain from voting against changing the
constitution to allow President Uribe's 2006 reelection.
The Justice and Peace Law (JPL) process continued to expose
corruption and paramilitary ties within the government and security
forces. The president continued funding for the Supreme Court's
investigative unit, which investigated members of Congress and senior
government officials. On August 19, the Supreme Court convicted former
representative Karelly Patricia Lara Vence to six years in prison for
paramilitary ties. The primary government body to investigate
corruption is the Presidential Program for the Fight Against
Corruption.
By law public officials must file annual financial disclosure
forms.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
the government generally provided such access in practice. While there
are no prohibitive fees to access government information, there were
reports that some low-level officials insisted on bribes to expedite
access to information.
Section 5. 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 and
prominent local human rights groups differed in their evaluations and
analyses of the human rights situation, which led to mutual suspicion.
NGOs reported that criticism from high-level officials, including
President Uribe, linking the groups to guerrilla groups, put them at
risk for retaliation by new illegal groups and paramilitary members who
refused to demobilize. Many domestic NGOs also said that the government
arbitrarily arrested and detained human rights activists, particularly
in high-conflict areas. NGOs reported that the Prosecutor General's
Office had pursued numerous unfounded judicial cases against legitimate
human rights defenders with the purpose of discrediting their work. The
government asserted that some human rights activists engaged in
activities that supported terrorism (see section 1.e.).
The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights
defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, concluded patterns of harassment and
persecution against human rights defenders, including arbitrary arrest
and detention, continued to exist in the country. Sekaggya said the
primary reason for insecurity of human rights defenders lay in the
systematic stigmatization of defenders by government officials. NGOs
also complained about what they described as intolerant and hostile
statements from the government regarding the work of human rights
defenders. On September 17, during the special rapporteur's visit,
President Uribe made a public statement supporting the work of human
rights defenders.
Several thousand human rights and civil society NGOs were
registered in the country, although most existed only on paper. Local
human rights NGOs had far-reaching influence. By sharing information
and disseminating it to international human rights organizations and
the media, NGOs raised the country's human rights profile and
contributed to significant levels of international attention.
According to the CCJ, eight human rights activists were killed
during the year. Two were female IDP leaders and two were LGBT
activists. The CCJ reported a rising trend of attacks against women
leaders of the IDP population.
Several NGOs reported receiving threats in the form of e-mail,
mail, telephone calls, obituaries, objects, or directly from unknown
individuals. According to the UNHCHR, reports of threats doubled during
the year. The government condemned the threats, and the police launched
a special unit to work on such cases. The Prosecutor General's Office
launched 193 investigations, which continued at year's end.
A Ministry of Interior and Justice program provided protection to
more than 567 human rights activists during the year (see section
2.a.). The government enhanced this security at eight NGO offices
during the year.
The government cooperated with international organizations. The
UNHCR, IOM, International Labor Organization (ILO), UNHCHR, and ICRC
had an active presence in the country and carried out their work
without government interference.
UN special rapporteur missions included the special rapporteur on
extrajudicial killings, June 8-18; the special rapporteur on the
situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous
people, July 22-27; the special rapporteur on the situation of human
rights defenders, September 7-19; and the special rapporteur on the
independence of judges and lawyers, December 7-16.
The government continued to meet with the UNHCHR, local NGOs, and
members of the diplomatic corps to discuss steps it had taken to comply
with UNHCHR recommendations on improving human rights practices. While
acknowledging progress on several recommendations, the UNHCHR and local
NGOs reported that the government had not fully implemented most of
them by year's end.
The national human rights ombudsman is independent, submits an
annual report to the House of Representatives, and has responsibility
for ensuring the promotion and exercise of human rights. The
ombudsman's Bogota office was the headquarters of a national Early
Warning System designed to alert public security forces and the
national and regional governments of impending massive human rights
violations. The ombudsman's office was underfunded, which limited its
ability to monitor human rights violations effectively. Some human
rights groups complained that the government lacked the political will
to publish Early Warning System reports, and they said a significant
number of regional reports were never published. Members of the
ombudsman's regional offices were under constant threat from illegal
armed groups via pamphlets, e-mails, and violent actions. On May 11, a
pamphlet signed by the illegal armed group Black Eagles declared early
warning system workers in Magdalena, Guajira, and Cesar departments to
be ``targets.'' On July 28, unknown assailants shot at the car of the
human rights ombudsman for Valle del Cauca; no one was injured.
The Presidential Program for Human Rights, which operated under the
authority of the vice president, coordinates national human rights
policy and actions taken by government entities to promote or protect
human rights. The program is the government's primary interlocutor with
domestic and international NGOs and with foreign governments on human
rights issues. The program publishes the Human Rights Observer
magazine, which provides analyses of major human rights issues and the
human rights situation in various regions of the country.
Both the Senate and House of Representatives have human rights
committees. The committees serve as forums for discussion of human
rights issues but have no authority to draft legislation.
Implementation of the 2005 JPL continued. The Justice and Peace
Unit in the Prosecutor General's Office is responsible for the required
investigation and prosecution of demobilized persons under the law, and
an interinstitutional commission on Justice and Peace was created to
coordinate its implementation. Through November, 3,950 persons had been
presented as eligible for the JPL; 3,727 of these were former
paramilitary members, including 25 commanders, and 223 were former
guerrilla members. More than 1,952 proffers or ``versiones libres''
have been taken, in which the Prosecutor General's Office identified
almost 35,000 crimes, more than 29,000 of them homicides. There were
50,000 victims involved in the 35,000 identified crimes. A total of
274,000 victims had registered with the Prosecutor General's Office,
and 2,300 graves had been exhumed involving the remains of 2,800
persons; remains of 850 victims were identified, and 721 were returned
to their families. Testimony from the voluntary confessions also
triggered investigations of politicians, military members, major
agricultural producers, and government officials' ties to paramilitary
forces.
Despite advances in the JPL process, the application of the law
continued to face many challenges, including zero convictions of
paramilitary leaders since 2005, thousands of former paramilitary
members who remained in legal limbo, and no land or money reparations
of properties confiscated from paramilitary leaders. NGOs and victims
criticized the slow pace of determining the truth, while the Prosecutor
General's Office said pressure to reveal all truths behind paramilitary
crimes delayed prosecutions.
The government's Program of Administrative Reparations paid 200
billion pesos ($100 million) in reparations to victims of illegal armed
groups. The Victim Protection Program under the Ministry of Interior
and Justice protected 126 victims involved in the Justice and Peace
process, and during the year the government spent 90 billion pesos
(approximately $45 million) on the program. The National Commission of
Reconciliation and Reparation maintained offices in nine cities,
including Sincelejo, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, and Medellin. The
offices contained one-stop informational centers for victims and
assisted victims with enrollment, and receipt of legal and
psychological support.
In spite of the advances in the implementation of the Justice and
Peace process and the increasing participation of victims, the OAS
reported continuing shortfalls in protection of victims. The OAS
reported that victims were highly susceptible to killings, threats, and
intimidation, and that government effort was uncoordinated.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the law specifically prohibits discrimination based on
race, gender, disability, language, or social status, many of these
prohibitions were not enforced in practice.
Women.--Although prohibited by law, rape, including spousal rape,
remained a serious problem. The law provides for sentences ranging from
eight to 15 years' imprisonment for violent sexual assault. For acts of
spousal sexual violence, the law mandates sentences of six months to
two years and denies probation or bail to offenders who disobey
restraining orders. The National Institute for Legal Medicine and
Forensic Science reported 15,418 cases of suspected sex crimes,
including rape, during the year, but indicated that many cases went
unreported. New illegal group members, paramilitary members who refused
to demobilize, and guerrillas raped, sexually abused, and sometimes
sexually mutilated women and children for fraternizing with the enemy,
working as prostitutes, having sexual relations outside of marriage, or
violating imposed codes of conduct or restrictions on dress (see
section 1.g.). The ICBF provided psychosocial, medical, and legal
support to victims of sexual violence.
Although prohibited by law, domestic violence, including spousal
abuse, remained a serious problem. Judicial authorities may remove an
abuser from the household and require therapy or reeducation. The law
provides prison time if the abuser causes grave harm or the abuse is
recurrent; however, provisions for fines were not applied. The National
Institute for Legal Medicine and Forensic Science reported
approximately 54,000 cases of domestic violence against women during
the year, but it noted that only a small percentage of cases were
brought to its attention for investigation and follow-up. The law
stipulates that the government must provide victims of domestic
violence with immediate protection from physical or psychological
abuse. The ICBF provided safe houses and counseling for victims, but
its services could not meet the magnitude of the problem. In addition
to fulfilling traditional family counseling functions, ICBF family
ombudsmen handled domestic violence cases. The Human Rights Ombudsman's
Office conducted regional training workshops to promote the application
of domestic violence statutes.
Adult prostitution is legal in designated ``tolerance zones,'' but
enforcement of, and restriction to, the zones remained difficult.
Prostitution was widespread and exacerbated by poverty and internal
displacement. Sex tourism existed to a limited extent, particularly in
coastal cities such as Cartagena and Barranquilla, where marriage and
dating services were often fronts for sexual tourism. The law prohibits
organizing or facilitating sexual tourism and provides penalties of
three to eight years' imprisonment. Trafficking in women for sexual
exploitation continued to be a problem.
The law provides measures to discourage and punish harassment at
the workplace, such as sexual harassment, verbal abuse or derision,
aggression, and discrimination. Nonetheless, sexual harassment remained
a pervasive problem.
Although women enjoy the same legal rights as men, discrimination
against women persisted. Women faced hiring discrimination, were
disproportionately affected by unemployment, and had salaries that
generally were incompatible with their education and experience. Female
workers in rural areas were affected most by wage discrimination and
unemployment.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide on the number,
spacing, and timing of children, and had the information and means to
do so free from discrimination. Women and men had access to
contraception. According to the Population Reference Bureau, 93 percent
of women were able to satisfy their family planning needs. The majority
of births, 86 percent, were attended by a skilled professional. Women
have equal access to health care and diagnosis for sexually transmitted
diseases.
The president's advisor for equality of women has primary
responsibility for combating discrimination against women. The advisor
managed a program to help women who were microbusiness entrepreneurs
and heads of families to get favorable lines of credit for their
companies. During the year the government provided to women 10,247
microcredit loans, in the amount of 11.4 billion pesos (approximately
$5.7 million). During the year 5,851 women attended 29 government-
sponsored seminars on establishing microbusinesses.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory. By law primary education was compulsory, free, and
universal, but this was not always true in practice. Rural schools
often could not offer classes because they lacked teachers.
Child abuse was a serious problem. The National Institute for Legal
Medicine and Forensic Sciences reported 10,396 cases of child abuse
through November 30. The institute also estimated that approximately 86
percent of reported sex crimes involved sexual abuse of children, most
of whom were under age 14.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is performed in the 20,000-person
Embera Chami indigenous community in Risaralda. During the year the
indigenous community suspended the practice for a period of two years
to evaluate its effects on girls. Despite this decision, the NGO
Committee for the Defense of Women and Girls of the Embera Chami
reported at least two cases of FGM performed on infant girls who
required hospitalization. Since FGM is practiced privately in the home,
there were no estimates for how often FGM was practiced during the
year.
According to the ICBF, as of November 30, there were 470 reports of
minors engaging in independent or forced prostitution; many other cases
went unreported. Children were trafficked for sexual exploitation and
engaged in child pornography. On July 30, the president approved a law
that increases the penalties for sexual tourism involving minors. The
law authorizes the government to confiscate profits from hotels and
other establishments where sex with minors is performed.
Guerrillas forcibly recruited and used children as soldiers,
including indigenous children (see Section 1.g.). An estimated 10,000
to 13,000 children were child combatants. At least 269 children (202 of
them former members of the FARC) surrendered to state security forces
during the year and were transferred to the ICBF, which operated a
reintegration program for former child soldiers.
According to government registrations, 77 percent of IDPs were
women and children. Displaced children particularly were vulnerable to
physical abuse, sexual exploitation, and recruitment by criminals.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, there were reports that persons were trafficked from, through,
and within the country.
The country was a major source for trafficking in persons,
primarily for sexual and labor purposes. During the year the national
trafficking prevention hotline received 2,097 calls, 39 (1.86 percent)
directly related to trafficking. Most calls were preventive in nature,
with callers asking for information on a potential trafficking scheme.
The vast majority of trafficking victims were young women, although
children and young men were also at risk. Destinations and routes
included Aruba, China, Ecuador, Germany, Holland, Italy, Iran, Japan,
Jordan, Mexico, Panama, the Philippines, Portugal, Spain, and the
United States. Victims also transited the country from other South
American and African countries on their way to Europe and the United
States. Internal trafficking of women and children from rural to urban
areas for sexual exploitation and forced labor remained a serious
problem.
Many traffickers disclosed the sexual nature of the work they
offered but concealed information about working conditions, clientele,
freedom of movement, and compensation. Others disguised their intent by
portraying themselves as modeling agents, offering marriage brokerage
services, providing study programs, or operating lottery or bingo scams
with free trips as prizes. Recruiters reportedly loitered outside high
schools, shopping malls, and parks to lure adolescents into accepting
nonexistent jobs abroad. The IOM and domestic NGOs estimated that
international organized crime networks were responsible for most
transnational trafficking. Domestically, organized crime networks, some
related to illegal armed groups, were also responsible for trafficking
for sexual exploitation or organized begging, and the armed conflict
made a large number of IDP victims vulnerable.
The law provides for prison sentences between 13 and 23 years and
fines up to 1,000 times the monthly minimum wage for trafficking
offenses. These penalties may be increased by up to one-half if there
are aggravating circumstances, such as trafficking of children younger
than 12. Additional charges of illegal detention, violation of the
right to work in dignified conditions, and violation of personal
freedom also may be brought against traffickers. While limited
resources hindered prosecutions, the Prosecutor General's Office
continued to open new investigations and continued progress on current
trials. The Prosecutor General's Office opened 134 cases for
trafficking in persons during the year; 21 individuals were placed in
preventive detention; 27 individuals were convicted and sentenced.
With the support of the IOM, the National Committee against
Trafficking (composed of 14 agencies) prepared information campaigns,
promoted information exchange among government agencies, and began use
of a database to monitor trafficking cases. During the year 15
departments established interagency committees to combat trafficking in
persons locally. The Ministry of Interior and Justice, with technical
assistance from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and IOM,
worked with the Prosecutor General's Anti-Human Trafficking Center to
take the lead on combating trafficking. The government cooperated with
foreign counterparts on investigations. In August the government hosted
a bilateral antitrafficking conference for counterparts in Panama.
There was no evidence of institutional involvement in trafficking in
persons by government bodies or officials.
The country's diplomatic missions worked with the IOM to repatriate
victims. The IOM strengthened government institutions involved in
antitrafficking efforts and assisted trafficking victims; during the
year the IOM and the UNODC trained officials on specific trafficking
issues and provided awareness-raising training to NGO groups. The IOM
also provided victims with job training and employment opportunities,
temporary emergency shelter, necessary medical and psychological care,
and opportunities for social reintegration. The Hope Foundation, an
antitrafficking NGO, provided educational information, social support,
and counseling to trafficking victims. The Rebirth Foundation (another
antitrafficking NGO) provided housing, psychosocial therapy, medical
care, and legal assistance to child victims of sexual exploitation.
The government advertised a national hotline to prevent trafficking
and report violators. The IOM worked with the government to continue
its antitrafficking public awareness campaign that included placing
posters in airports, bus stations, consulates, and travel agencies, and
running public service announcements on radio and television. The UNODC
provided training to public prosecutors on trafficking issues.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
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 sought to enforce these prohibitions. No
law mandates access to public buildings for persons with disabilities,
thus limiting the power of the government to penalize those schools or
offices without access, but both national and local governments
addressed this with programs aimed at improving access. The law
provides persons with physical disabilities access to voting stations.
The Presidential Program for Human Rights is responsible for protecting
the rights of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the 2005 national
census, approximately 4.5 million persons, or 10.6 percent of the
population, described themselves of African descent. However, human
rights groups and Afro-Colombian organizations estimated that Afro-
Colombians comprised up to 20 to 25 percent of the population. While
Afro-Colombians are entitled to all constitutional rights and
protections, they faced significant economic and social discrimination.
According to the National Administrative Department of Statistics
(DANE), an estimated 58 percent of Afro-Colombians lived in poverty;
their infant mortality rate was almost two times higher than the
general population. Choco, the department with the highest percentage
of Afro-Colombian residents, had the lowest per capita level of social
investment and ranked last in terms of education, health, and
infrastructure. It also continued to experience some of the country's
worst political violence, as new illegal groups, paramilitary members
who refused to demobilize, and FARC and ELN guerrillas struggled for
control of the department's drug- and weapons-smuggling corridor (see
section 1.g.).
The Commission for Advancement of Afro-Colombians, headed by the
vice president and consisting of several government officials,
academics, business and community leaders, and two foreign congressmen,
provided recommendations to the government in May on how to improve
education, income generation, and political representation within the
Afro-Colombian population. The recommendations were based on data
collected from 17 regional workshops with civil society throughout the
country. Although the Ministry of Interior and Justice in conjunction
with the Vice President's Office drafted a Law of Equality to implement
the recommendations, it was never introduced in Congress.
Indigenous People.--The constitution and laws give special
recognition to the fundamental rights of indigenous people, who
comprised approximately 3.4 percent of the population, and require that
the government consult beforehand with indigenous groups regarding
governmental actions that could affect them.
The law accords indigenous groups perpetual rights to their
ancestral lands. Traditional indigenous authorities operated 711
reservations, accounting for 30 percent of the country's territory,
with officials selected according to indigenous traditions. However,
many indigenous communities had no legal title to lands they claimed,
and illegal armed groups often violently contested indigenous land
ownership.
The law provides for special criminal and civil jurisdictions
within indigenous territories based on traditional community laws.
Proceedings in these jurisdictions were subject to manipulation and
often rendered punishments that were more lenient than those imposed by
regular civilian courts. The law permits indigenous communities to
educate their children in traditional dialects and in the observance of
cultural and religious customs. Indigenous people are not subject to
the national military draft.
Indigenous leaders complained about the occasional presence of
government security forces on indigenous reservations and asked that
the government consult with indigenous authorities prior to taking
military action against illegal armed groups and guerrillas operating
in or around such areas. The government stated that for security
reasons it could not provide advance notice of most military operations
and that it consulted with indigenous leaders when possible before
accessing land held by the communities. The law permits the presence of
government security forces on indigenous lands; however, Ministry of
Defense directives instructed security forces to respect the integrity
of indigenous communities, particularly during military and police
operations. The Ministry of Defense's Integrated Policy on Human Rights
stresses the importance of protecting indigenous communities.
The Ministry of Interior and Justice, through its Office of
Indigenous Affairs, is responsible for protecting the territorial,
cultural, and traditional rights of indigenous people. Ministry
representatives, together with inspector general and human rights
ombudsman representatives, worked with other governmental human rights
organizations and NGOs to promote indigenous interests and investigate
violations of indigenous rights. The ministry is also responsible for
buying land to add to indigenous reserves.
Despite special legal protections and government assistance
programs, indigenous people continued to suffer discrimination and
often lived on the margins of society. The indigenous people were the
country's poorest population and had the highest age-specific mortality
rates and rates of intestinal diseases, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and
malaria.
UNHCHR reported that ethnic groups, particularly indigenous people
and Afro-Colombian populations, were increasingly vulnerable as a
result of the internal armed conflict. The special rapporteur on the
situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous
people, James Anaya, reported that there were alarming patterns of
forced displacement, homicide, hunger, and other serious problems due
to the internal armed conflict. The special rapporteur also signaled
the FARC's complete disregard for human rights.
The Presidential Program for Human Rights reported that through
November 30, there were 101 homicides of indigenous people, an increase
of 63 percent from the same period in 2008. Mass killings of indigenous
people included:
On February 4, the FARC killed eight members of the Awa indigenous
community in Barbacoas, Narino. The FARC announced the Awa were killed
due to their alleged collaboration with the Colombian military.
On August 26, 12 Awa indigenous persons, including six minors, were
killed in their home. Five members of an illegal armed group were
arrested in conjunction with the crime.
The UNHCHR continued to criticize threats and violence against
indigenous communities, characterized government investigations of
human rights violations against indigenous groups as inadequate, and
appealed to the government to do more to protect indigenous people.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Colombia Diversa, an NGO
focused on violence and discrimination due to sexual orientation,
reported at least 39 killings during the year due to prejudice
regarding sexual orientation. LGBT activists were the subjects of
``social cleansing'' threats and attacks (see section 1.g.). The
Constitutional Court recognized the right of same-sex couples to
pension; nevertheless, Colombia Diversa reported the law was frequently
not applied due to lack of knowledge by government employees. There was
no official discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment,
housing, statelessness, or access to education or health care However,
Colombia Diversa reported societal discrimination. Colombia Diversa
reported cases of police abuse against persons due to their sexual
orientation, with the majority of complaints coming from transgender
individuals. The group also claimed that violence in prisons against
persons due to their sexual orientation remained a problem. Colombia
Diversa reported several cases of threats against human rights
defenders working on LGBT issues. Colombia Diversa cited a high level
of impunity for crimes against members of the LGBT community.
Government authorized Gay Pride marches took place in several cities on
June 28; there were no reports of insufficient security for the
participants.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--There were no confirmed
reports of societal violence or discrimination towards persons with
HIV/AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to
organize unions, and the government generally respected this right in
practice. The law does not extend this right to members of the armed
forces or police. Approximately 815,000 workers (4.4 percent of the
workforce of 18.4 million) were union members. Almost 60 percent of the
workforce was employed in the informal sector.
The labor code provides for automatic recognition of unions that
obtain 25 signatures from potential members and comply with a
registration process. Until recently, trade union leaders claimed that
this process was slow and used to block union registration. Some union
leaders claimed that bureaucratic hurdles gave companies time to fire
organizers before they could officially establish unions. However, in
July 2008 the Constitutional Court ruled that filing union registration
documents with the Ministry of Social Protection (MSP) immediately
establishes the legal status of a union and that the MSP has no
discretion over the content of the registration documents. With this
ruling the courts largely removed any legal basis for the MSP to
interfere in the registration process.
Violence and discrimination against union members discouraged some
workers from joining and engaging in union activities. The MSP reported
that 28 trade unionists were killed during the year, compared with 38
in 2008, while the National Union School (ENS), a labor rights NGO,
reported that 39 trade unionists were killed, compared with 49 in 2008.
ENS and government figures differed because of different methodological
conceptions of trade union membership. According to data provided by
the government and ENS, during the year the homicide rate per 100,000
was five for unionists and 35 for the general population.
The ENS and other labor groups acknowledged an improvement from
2008 but warned that focusing on murders alone masked the true nature
and scope of the antiunion violence. ENS reported that only 26 percent
of the 10,364 ``violations of life, liberty, and integrity'' of
unionists it had tallied since 1986 had been murders. The majority
consisted of death threats (4,418) and forced displacements (1,611), as
well as arbitrary detentions, harassment, nonlethal attacks,
disappearances, kidnappings, torture, and illegal searches. Labor
groups said that while murders had dropped, nonlethal violations
continued.
Teachers made up the largest percentage of union members who were
victims of violence by illegal armed groups, both because they
constituted 27 percent of all registered unionists and because of their
presence in rural, conflict-ridden parts of the country. The MSP
reported that 15 of the 28 (54 percent) of the unionists killed during
the year were teachers, while ENS reported 15 of 39 (38 percent)
unionists were teachers. The teachers union, Colombian Federation of
Educators, reported three nonunionized educators were also killed
during the year, for a total of 18.
The government provided protection to 11,179 at-risk individuals of
whom 1,550 were trade union leaders (others protected included
journalists, human rights advocates, and social leaders); the
protection program received annual funding of 90 billion pesos ($45
million). The Ministry of Education (MOE) managed a separate protection
program for educators, the majority of whom are unionized, consisting
of a transfer program. The MOE has removed 2,043 educators from
dangerous situations since the program began in 2003.
Since 2000 the Prosecutor General's Office obtained 234 convictions
(209 for murders) of 334 perpetrators of violent acts against trade
unionists. A special Labor Sub-Unit was set up in 2006 to prosecute
those who commit such acts and was assigned a total of 1,344 cases. It
obtained 184 convictions (79 percent of the labor crimes convictions),
including 69 in 2009. Still, a majority of the 1,344 cases remained
under investigation or were in the preliminary stages of the
prosecutorial process. While labor groups recognized important advances
made by the Labor Sub-Unit of the Prosecutor General's Office, they
said more needed to be done to end impunity for perpetrators of
violence against trade unionists.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. Members of the armed forces, police, and
persons performing ``essential public services'' were not permitted to
strike. During the year the courts declared three work stoppages
illegal.
Before conducting a strike, unions must follow prescribed legal
procedures and give advance notice to their employers and local
authorities. The law prohibits the use of strikebreakers. The law
prohibiting public employees from striking was often ignored. Employees
are not required to accept binding arbitration if they cannot reach an
agreement.
There were reports that employers used temporary contracts and
associated workers' cooperatives (CTA), both of which are legal, to
reduce nonwage costs and avoid unionization. Such workers are not
covered by the labor code. Unionists advocated revising the labor code,
which currently defines a ``worker'' as a direct hire with an
employment contract, to include a greater percentage of the workforce.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides workers the right to organize and bargain collectively, and
the government respected this right in the private sector; however,
collective bargaining was not implemented fully in the public sector.
Labor unions assessed that high unemployment, a large informal economy,
antiunion attitudes, and violence against trade union leaders made
organizing difficult, which limited workers' bargaining power across
sectors. Economists judged that mandatory high nonwage benefits in the
formal sector depressed formal employment and union membership, and
increased informality. According to the ENS, in 2008, 0.8 percent of
the workforce was covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
In February the president issued Decree 535, creating a formal
process whereby public-sector unions may submit demands to their
public-sector employers, who are obliged to respond or initiate
``discussions.'' Unions criticized the decree as ineffectual for lack
of any binding mechanisms. There are no collective bargaining
agreements in the public sector.
Collective pacts between individual workers and their employers
were not subject to collective bargaining and were often used to
subvert collective bargaining. Collective pacts, which are legal, give
employers the right to negotiate accords on pay and labor conditions at
any time with groups of workers when no union is present or when a
union represents less than one-third of employees. Labor groups
complained that when a minority union presented a collective bargaining
proposal, employers offered some workers better conditions and pay in
exchange for their leaving the union and joining the pact, which
undermined organized labor's ability to bargain collectively.
The continued growth and prevalence of CTAs further diminished
collective bargaining because CTA workers were not covered by the labor
code and hence could not bargain collectively. Law 1233, passed in
2008, requires CTAs to register with the government and provide
compensation at least equivalent to the minimum wage and the same
health and retirement benefits normally offered to directly hired
employees. While this reduced the economic incentive to hire CTA
workers over direct hires, unions complained that it did nothing to
extend collective bargaining rights to CTA workers.
Decree 4588 prohibits the use of CTAs as subcontractors when they
do not own the means of production, when they are used to perform core
functions for a company, and when a company itself directly disciplines
CTA workers. Still, evidence suggests that many cooperatives engaged in
illegal forms of subcontracting, and in some cases private-sector
employers forced workers to join CTAs that they themselves managed. The
government has the authority to fine labor rights violators but seldom
shuts down repeat offenders. During the year the government
investigated 788 cooperatives and sanctioned 86. In practice nominal
fines assessed by the government did little to dissuade violators.
While the law prohibits antiunion discrimination, some longstanding
ILO criticisms of the labor code remained, including the right to fire
trade unionists who participate in illegal strikes or work stoppages as
determined by the courts, and the prohibition of strikes in a wide
range of public services that are not strictly ``essential,'' as
defined in ILO standards.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
export processing zones. Labor law applies in the country's 58 free
trade zones where its standards were enforced.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were some
reports that such practices occurred (see section 6.d.).
New illegal groups, paramilitary members who refused to demobilize,
and FARC and ELN guerrillas practiced forced conscription. There were
some reports that FARC and ELN guerrillas, new illegal groups, and
paramilitary members that refused to demobilize used forced labor,
including child forced labor in coca cultivation, in areas outside
government control (see section 1.g.). There were also reports of
forced commercial sexual exploitation. In addition, there were reports
of children from Ecuador working as coca pickers and children from
Honduras and Nicaragua working in forced-labor fishing.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
While there are laws to protect children from exploitation in the
workplace, child labor remained a problem in the informal and illicit
sectors. Significant incidences occurred in the following eight
industries: clay bricks, coal, coffee, emeralds, gold, sugar cane,
coca, and pornography. By September the ICBF reported 6,884 complaints
of labor exploitation and 470 child victims of commercial sexual
exploitation. The ICBF assisted 1,806 children victimized through
commercial sexual exploitation throughout the country.
The minimum age for employment is 15. Minors between 15 and 17
years of age must obtain authorization from the local inspection units
of the MSP. Such minors may work only six hours per day and 30 hours
per week, with no work hours past 6 p.m. Minors between 17 and 18 years
of age may only work eight hours per day, 40 hours per week with no
work hours past 8 p.m. Minors under age 15 may receive authorization
from the local inspection unit to engage in remunerated activities in
art, culture, recreation, or sport. However, the authorization
establishes the maximum number of hours and specific labor conditions;
a minor younger than 15 may not engage in remunerated activities more
than 14 hours per week. According to the DANE, there were 11.5 million
children between the ages of five and 17, of whom approximately 1.6
million worked. Member organizations of the National Inter-agency
Committee to reduce the worst forms of child labor and to protect minor
workers reported up to two million children who worked, the majority of
whom worked illegally. ENS reported that 38 percent of children who
worked did not receive payment.
The legal minimum age for work was consistent with completing basic
education. All child workers were prohibited from working at night or
performing work where there is a risk of bodily harm or exposure to
excessive heat, cold, or noise. Although children were prohibited from
working in a number of specific occupations, including mining and
construction, in practice these prohibitions largely were ignored.
Children worked in artisanal mining of coal, clay, emeralds, and gold
under dangerous conditions.
The ICBF identified and assisted 2,137 children working in illegal
mining operations during the year. Estimates of the total number of
children who worked in illegal mining operations varied from 10,000 to
200,000. The minor's code provides for fines of up to 40 times the
minimum monthly wage for violations of child labor laws. A violation
deemed to endanger a child's life or threaten moral values may be
punished by temporary or permanent closure of the responsible
establishment.
According to the DANE, children also worked in the illegal drug
trade and other illicit activities. Several thousand children were
forced to serve as combatants, prostitutes or coca pickers for the
FARC, ELN, new illegal groups, or paramilitary groups that refused to
demobilize (see section 1.g.).
The MSP's 180 labor inspectors nationwide were responsible for
enforcing child labor laws in the formal sector (which covered
approximately 20 percent of the child labor force) through periodic
inspections. Resources were inadequate for effective enforcement. With
assistance from the ILO, the government worked to improve cooperation
among national, regional, and municipal governments through its
national plan to eradicate child labor and protect working youth. The
ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor operated
a program to prevent children from engaging in commercial sexual
exploitation, while private groups and foreign governments conducted
programs to remove children from the worst forms of child labor. The
government, in conjunction with the IOM and UNICEF, provided services
to former child soldiers and carried out awareness-raising campaigns to
prevent the recruitment of children by armed groups.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The government establishes a
uniform minimum wage every January that serves as a benchmark for wage
bargaining. The monthly minimum wage, which is negotiated by a
committee of representatives of business, organized labor, and the
government, was approximately 496,900 pesos ($250), a 7.6 percent
increase from the previous year. If the negotiation process fails to
reach agreement, as has occurred frequently in the past, the president
can set the minimum wage unilaterally. The national minimum wage did
not provide sufficient income to purchase the basic market basket of
goods for a family of four. Furthermore, it was impossible to enforce
the minimum wage in the informal sector.
The labor code provides for a regular workweek of 48 hours and a
minimum rest period of eight hours within the week. The code stipulates
that workers are entitled to receive premium compensation for
additional hours worked over the regular workweek of 48 hours and for
work performed on Sundays. Compulsory overtime is permitted only in
exceptional cases where the work is considered essential for the
company's functioning.
The law provides comprehensive protection for workers' occupational
safety and health, which the MSP enforced through periodic inspections.
However, a scarcity of government inspectors, poor public safety
awareness, and inadequate attention by unions resulted in a high level
of industrial accidents and unhealthy working conditions. Moreover,
workers in the informal sector sometimes suffered physical or sexual
abuse. The law provides workers with the right to leave a hazardous
work situation without jeopardizing continued employment, and the
government enforced this right. Nonunion workers, particularly those in
the agricultural and in some parts of the flower sector, reportedly
worked under hazardous conditions because they feared losing their jobs
if they criticized abuses. The Colombian Flower Industry Association
(ASOCOLFLORES) continued to implement voluntary principles on
environmental and worker safety practices and reduce the use of
pesticides. Nevertheless, problems remained unaffiliated to
ASOCOLFLORES.
__________
COSTA RICA
Costa Rica, a constitutional democracy with a population of
approximately 4.5 million, is governed by a president and the
unicameral Legislative Assembly, whose members are directly elected in
multiparty elections every four years. In 2006 Oscar Arias Sanchez of
the National Liberation Party (PLN) won the presidency in elections
that were generally considered free and fair. Civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
While the government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, the following human rights problems were reported:
substantial judicial process delays, particularly in pretrial detention
and civil, criminal, and labor cases; excessive penalties for
violations of libel laws; domestic violence against women and children;
child prostitution; trafficking in persons; 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 25, authorities detained one officer and one former officer of
the police intervention unit (UIP) as suspects in two killings, one of
which occurred in 2006 and the other in 2007.
There were no developments in the 2008 case of two officers from
the uniformed police who allegedly assisted in killing two persons.
Authorities administratively suspended the two officers from their jobs
without pay while in preventive detention, and the case remained
pending at year's end.
A judicial investigation in the case of a police officer involved
in the 2007 shooting death of robbery suspect continued at year's end.
The officer was dismissed from duty in September 2008.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution prohibits such practices and the
government generally respected this prohibition, some members of the
security forces committed abuses. Any statement obtained through
violence is invalid, and the government investigated, prosecuted, and
punished agents responsible for confirmed cases of abuse.
On February 25 and July 25, there were two separate complaints
against Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ) agents for abuse of
authority. In the first incident, the agents used excessive force when
they detained a student who had not obeyed an order to stop. In the
second case, two OIJ agents stopped a car at gunpoint without
identifying themselves, leading the occupants to believe it was an
attempted carjacking.
During the year the Ombudsman's Office recorded 48 complaints of
police abuse; at year's end 18 complaints remained under investigation
and 30 had been resolved. The ombudsman conducts investigations as a
preliminary step, with any recommendation for action forwarded to the
respective agency for investigation or follow-up.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Although the government
continued to improve prison conditions during the year, overcrowding,
poor sanitation, lack of health services, and violence among prisoners
remained problems in some prison facilities. The Ombudsman's Office
investigated all complaints and referred serious cases of abuse to the
public prosecutor. Illegal narcotics were readily available in the
prisons and drug abuse was common.
The country's prison population sharply increased during the year
due to new legislation and expedited court procedures. As a result, the
Justice Ministry's Social Adaptation Division on October 30 reported a
total prison population of 16,368 and indicated that on average prison
populations exceeded designed capacity by 3 to 4 percent.
The San Sebastian, San Carlos, Cartago, Liberia, Perez Zeledon, and
Puntarenas prisons remained overcrowded, with the population in
pretrial detention experiencing the most overcrowding. In San
Sebastian, where most prisoners in pretrial detention were held, 629
prisoners lived in an unsanitary facility with a capacity of 588. To
mitigate these conditions, some pretrial detainees were held with
convicted prisoners in long-term detention facilities throughout the
country.
Medical care at most facilities was generally adequate for routine
illnesses and injuries; starting in August there was a doctor on duty
at all prisons. However, prisoners were referred to the social service
system for complex medical issues, such as HIV/AIDS, with consequent
treatment delays.
Prisoners generally were separated by gender and level of security
(minimum, medium, and maximum), but overcrowding sometimes prevented
proper security-level separation.
The government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by international and local human rights observers, including
representatives from the Ombudsman's Office. Human rights observers
were allowed to speak to prisoners and prison employees in confidence
and without the presence of prison staff or other third parties.
In February two newly constructed prison units with a capacity for
384 inmates went into service, thus lessening overcrowding.
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 country has no
military. Thirteen agencies have law enforcement components, including
the OIJ (under the Justice Ministry). The Ministry of Public Security
is responsible for the uniformed police force, the drug control police,
the border police, and the coast guard. The Ministry of Public Works
and Transportation operates the traffic police. The police force's
effectiveness was hampered by inadequate funding, equipment, training,
and lack of police professionalism.
The government has mechanisms in place to investigate and punish
abuse and corruption; however, court backlogs and an antiquated legal
system greatly slowed such action. Citizens may report abuse of
authority or police corruption through various accessible mechanisms.
Officers are entitled to a disciplinary investigation, oral hearing,
and board review in administrative cases. For criminal charges, cases
go to the judicial branch. There were no reports of impunity involving
the security forces during the year.
The Legal/Disciplinary Department of the Ministry of Public
Security has primary responsibility for investigating complaints of
police abuse. In 2008 the Legal/Disciplinary Department opened 194
files of investigation on possible police abuses (of all types). As of
July 17, 99 of those cases had been resolved and 95 were pending. As of
July 17, the Legal/Disciplinary Department opened 84 cases of police
abuse; 15 were resolved and 69 remained pending. The majority of
complaints related to corruption, domestic abuse, use of illegal drugs,
falsification of documents, and misuse of official vehicles (such as
transporting family members or friends). In the 18-month period ending
in June, authorities dismissed more than 100 uniformed police as a
result of these activities.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The law
requires issuance of judicial warrants before making arrests, except
where probable cause is evident to the arresting officer. The law
entitles a detainee to a judicial determination of the legality of
detention during arraignment before a judge within 24 hours of arrest.
The law provides for the right to bail and prompt access to an attorney
and to family members, and authorities generally observed these rights
in practice. Indigents are provided a public attorney at government
expense; in practice even those with sufficient personal funds were
able to use the services of a public defender. With judicial
authorization, the authorities may hold suspects incommunicado for 48
hours after arrest or, under special circumstances, for up to 10 days.
A criminal court may hold suspects in pretrial detention for
periods of up to one year, and the Court of Appeals may extend this
period to two years in especially complex cases. The law requires that
cases of suspects in pretrial detention be reviewed every three months
by the court to determine the appropriateness of continued detention.
On July 22, President Arias signed a law against organized crime. Under
this new law, if a judge declares a case to be related to organized
crime, special procedural rules apply, extending the maximum period of
preventive detention from 12 months to 24 months, with the statute of
limitations being 10 years from the date of the last crime.
According to the Ministry of Justice, as of October 30, there were
2,628 persons in pretrial detention, constituting approximately 16
percent of the prison population.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial
independence in practice. The legal system faced many challenges,
including significant delays in the adjudication of civil disputes and
a growing workload. In 2008 there were 176,000 criminal complaints
registered with the judicial branch, of which only 7,600 were brought
to trial, with a conviction rate of 50 percent.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
All trials, except those that include juvenile defendants, are
public. There are no jury trials. A trial is presided over by a single
judge or by a three-judge panel, depending on the potential penalties
arising from the charges. Trials that involve victims or witnesses who
are minors are closed during that portion of the trial where the minor
is called to testify. Accused persons can select attorneys to represent
them, and the law provides for access to counsel at state expense for
the indigent. The law provides for detainee and attorney access to
government-held evidence, and during trials defendants can question
witnesses against them and present witnesses on their behalf.
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and, if convicted, have the
right of appeal. The law extends these rights to citizens and
noncitizens alike.
Authorities continued to expand the use of fast-track courts in the
provinces to speed up prosecution of criminal cases in which an
individual is arrested while committing the crime. The first such court
began function in the Second Circuit of San Jose in October 2008.
On July 9, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that
reforms to the judicial appeals system did not comply with the Inter-
American Convention on Human Rights. This clarified a 2004 Inter-
American Court ruling that required the government to reform its
appeals system. On October 15, the government submitted a compliance
report on the actions taken to adhere to the judgment.
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 that presides over lawsuits in civil matters,
including human rights violations. Administrative and judicial remedies
for alleged wrongs are available.
Property Restitution.--The law grants considerable rights to
squatters who invade uncultivated land, regardless of who may hold
title to the property. Property rights were irregularly enforced and
duplicate registrations occurred. More than 500 cases of purported
title fraud involving 30 public notaries remained under investigation
at year's end.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and the
government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. The law
requires judicial warrants to search private homes. Judges may approve
the use of wiretaps in investigations of certain crimes, but legal
guidelines are so restrictive that the use of wiretaps was rare. The
new law against organized crime, enacted on July 22, reformed the
electronic surveillance procedures by mandating the creation of a
communications investigation center under the judicial branch to run
all wiretapping. The center was under construction 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. The independent media were active
and expressed a wide variety of views without restriction.
Journalists and media company owners continued to criticize
legislation that imposes criminal penalties, including lengthy jail
sentences instead of civil fines, for common press infractions and
argued that such legislation promoted self-censorship.
The law does not require reporters to reveal the identity of a
source in any civil or criminal trial if the source has requested
confidentiality. Reporters may defend themselves against libel charges
by claiming that they were merely repeating a story published by
foreign media. Libel convictions are punishable with fines or jail
time.
The law provides persons criticized in the media with an
opportunity to reply with equal attention and at equal length. Media
managers considered that it was difficult to comply with provisions of
the law, which include a series of ``insult laws'' establishing
criminal penalties of up to three years in prison for those convicted
of insulting the honor or decorum of a public official. The law also
identifies defamation, libel, slander, and calumny as offenses against
a person's honor that can carry criminal penalties.
On February 19, the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) issued a
resolution that applies political campaign rules to Internet
advertising, specifically relating to legal campaign periods. Under the
provision, candidates may actively campaign via the Internet only in
the two months prior to their party primaries; this conforms to
regulations placed on traditional campaign media.
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. The
International Telecommunication Union reported that there were 32
Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
The Commission on Control and Rating of Public Performances rates
films and has the authority to restrict or prohibit the showing of
films deemed pornographic or violent in nature or likely to incite
crime or vice. The commission has similar powers over television and
radio programs and stage plays. In addition the commission regulates
the sale and distribution of written material deemed pornographic,
enforcing specific packaging and display regulations. A tribunal
reviews appeals of the commission's actions.
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 and requires that the state contribute to its maintenance.
Besides notaries public, only officials of the Catholic Church may
perform marriages that are automatically recognized by the state. Other
religious groups can perform wedding ceremonies, but the marriage must
be legalized by a civil union, or couples may choose only a civil
union.
Religious groups must be accredited with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Religion to be eligible for temporary residency for their
foreign missionaries and employees and to petition for legal
recognition of religious holidays.
Religious organizations must submit applications to the local
municipality to establish a place of worship and must comply with
safety and noise regulations established by law. A 2007 executive order
granted a two-year grace period for existing facilities to comply with
the ruling. In July the Evangelical Alliance Federation requested a
one-year extension from the Ministry of Health because only 25 percent
of churches complied with the regulations; the Ministry of Health
granted the extension via executive order. The Evangelical Alliance
Federation reported that the government continued to close some non-
Catholic churches for noise and other code violations, although other
non-Catholic leaders did not complain of church closings.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were a few minor reports
of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation,
belief, or practice, including some cases of anti-Semitic verbal abuse
in public and occasional instances of anti-Semitic graffiti during the
year. There were an estimated 3,000 Jews in the country according to
the Jewish Zionist Center.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in providing protection and assistance to refugees, asylum seekers,
stateless persons, and other persons of concern.
The law requires that adults carry national identification cards at
all times. Persons who fail to produce such documents at security
checkpoints may be detained until their identity and immigration status
are verified.
The constitution prohibits forced internal or external exile, and
it was not used.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951 UN
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol,
and its laws provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status. The
government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees, and it granted refugee status or asylum. In practice the
government provided protection against the expulsion or return of
refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened
on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a
particular social group, or political opinion.
The General Directorate of Immigration is in charge of refugee
status determination. The law requires claims to be adjudicated within
three months of receipt; however, in practice decisions took from six
to eight months, and as of August there were 80 cases on appeal.
Applicants cannot work legally until the Directorate approves their
cases.
According to the UNHCR, there were approximately 11,900 recognized
refugees in the country at year's end, the majority from Colombia, as
well as 300 asylum seekers. The General Directorate of Immigration
reported 8,527 refugees as of June 30. (The difference can be
attributed to the fact that once refugees obtain permanent residency in
the country, the General Directorate no longer counts them as
refugees.) There were also 5,500 ``persons of concern'' in need of
international protection.
The General Directorate of Immigration reported that 262 of 614
asylum requests, or 42 percent, were approved during the first six
months of the year.
The UNHCR worked to counter the incorrect perception of Colombian
refugees as narcotics traffickers, criminals, or members of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The UNHCR launched two
awareness campaigns, both worldwide and on the local level; one was the
``Einstein was a refugee'' campaign and the other was for World Refugee
Day on June 20.
The government provides medical assistance (through the social
security system) and other benefits to refugees.
On August 19, President Arias signed a new immigration law, to take
effect in February 2010, that creates a separate office within the
General Directorate of Immigration to deal specifically with refugee
issues. The law also clarifies and strengthens the application appeal
process and removes or lowers some of the financial costs involved with
the refugee application process.
Stateless Persons.--There were occasional problems of statelessness
in the border areas with Panama and Nicaragua. Members of the Ngobe-
Bugle indigenous group from Panama came to work on Costa Rican
plantations, and sometimes their children were born in rudimentary
structures on the plantations. In these cases the children were not
registered as Costa Rican citizens because the families did not think
it necessary to register the births, but when the families returned to
Panama, the children were not registered there either. A similar
problem occurred with Nicaraguan families that migrated to work on
coffee plantations. The government attempted to advise the migrant
population to register at birth all children born in the 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 based on universal suffrage
and by secret ballot every four years. The independent Supreme
Electoral Tribunal ensured the integrity of elections, and the
authorities and citizens respected election results. Presidents may
seek reelection after sitting out two subsequent four-year terms, and
assembly members may seek reelection after at least one term out of
office. Political parties operated without restriction or outside
interference.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the 2006 national
elections, Oscar Arias of the PLN won the presidency in elections that
generally were considered free and fair. On August 19, President Arias
signed a law to reform the Electoral Code, which will be implemented in
the 2010 national elections. The new law prohibits campaign donations
from corporations and reduces the amount of state campaign financing of
political parties. The law also requires that, starting in 2014, 50
percent of Legislative Assembly candidates on party lists be female.
The TSE requires that a minimum of 40 percent of candidates for
elective office be female and that women's names be placed accordingly
on the ballots by party slate. The first vice president (who was also
the minister of justice) and the ministers of government, police and
public security, science and technology, health, and culture were
women; the first vice president resigned in October 2008 to run for
president. There were 20 women in the 57-seat Legislative Assembly,
including nine legislative committee chairwomen.
Indigenous persons did not play significant roles in politics or
government except on issues directly affecting their welfare, largely
because of their relatively small numbers and physical isolation. There
were no indigenous members in the Legislative Assembly or the cabinet.
There was one black member in the Legislative Assembly but none in the
cabinet.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and
the government generally implemented these laws effectively; however,
the World Bank's worldwide governance indicators reflected that
government corruption was a problem, and there were isolated reports of
such corruption during the year.
Public officials are subject to a law against corruption and
illicit enrichment in the public service. This law requires senior
officials to submit sworn declarations of income, assets, and
liabilities. The public ethics prosecutor, the comptroller general, the
attorney general, and the ombudsman are all responsible for combating
government corruption. The main function of the public ethics
prosecutor is to take the administrative steps necessary to prevent,
detect, and eradicate corruption and to raise ethical and transparency
standards in the public service.
The judicial investigation continued in the August 2008 case of the
housing minister who resigned following controversy over using a
foreign donation to pay fees to various government consultants and to
purchase equipment. In March the minister of the environment resigned
after allegations that he preferentially awarded government bids to a
corporation that had connections with his family. The Office of the
Public Ethics Prosecutor presented a report on this case with
recommendations; the judicial investigation continued.
Previous investigations of two former presidents, Rafael Angel
Calderon and Miguel Angel Rodriguez, resulted in indictments for
separate and unrelated earlier cases of corruption. On October 5, a
court sentenced Calderon to five years in prison on corruption charges
and ordered him to pay restitution of the embezzled funds, but it did
not prohibit him from holding office. A trial of the Rodriguez case
remained pending at year's end.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
the government generally respected this right. Government institutions
published reports that detailed the year's activities. The Ombudsman's
Office operated a Web page dedicated to enhancing transparency by
improving citizens' access to public information.
Section 5. 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.
The Ombudsman's Office has six regional offices and more than 150
staff to oversee government action or inaction that affects citizens'
rights and interests. The ombudsman is accountable to the Legislative
Assembly, which appoints him or her to a four-year term and funds
office operations. The ombudsman participates in the drafting and
approval of legislation, promotes good administration and transparency,
and reports annually to the Legislative Assembly with nonbinding
recommendations. The position carried a strong moral and symbolic
weight in the country.
A special committee at the Legislative Assembly studies and reports
on issues relating the violation of human rights and reviews bills
relating to human rights and international humanitarian law; it also
follows up on recommendations from the Ombudsman's Office.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, gender,
disability, language, or social status, and the government generally
enforced these prohibitions effectively.
Women.--The law criminalizes rape and provides penalties from 10 to
18 years in prison for rape. The length of the sentence depends on the
victim's age and other factors, such as the assailant's use of violence
or position of influence over the victim. The judiciary effectively
enforced the rape law and provided due process for both victim and
defendant. According to the autonomous National Institute for Women
(INAMU), the rape law applies to spousal rape, although spousal rape
cases in practice were much more difficult to prove.
Authorities acknowledged that many known rape cases were not
investigated due to reluctance by the victim or family of the victim to
press charges against the perpetrator. According to the judicial
branch's statistics office, courts tried 356 cases for rape or
attempted rape in 2008 and sentenced 158 defendants.
The government continued to identify domestic violence against
women and children as a serious and growing societal problem. The law
prohibits domestic violence and provides measures for the protection of
domestic violence victims. Criminal penalties range from 10 to 100 days
in prison for aggravated threats and up to 35 years in prison for
aggravated homicide, including a sentence of 20 to 35 years for men who
kill their partners. If the offender has no violent criminal record and
the sentence received is less than three years' imprisonment, the law
also provides for alternative sanctions, such as weekend detentions,
and assistance including referrals for social services. Protection from
minor injuries continues under the criminal code.
INAMU reported that 35 women and girls died from domestic violence
through the first 11 months of the year, compared with 38 such deaths
in all of 2008. INAMU maintained a domestic abuse hotline connected to
the 911 emergency system and provided counseling to 6,002 women as of
October 31. According to the judicial branch's statistics office, in
2008 authorities opened 14,707 cases of domestic violence throughout
the country, compared with 5,145 cases in 2007; in 2008 a total of 53
cases were tried and 18 persons were sentenced for crimes of violence
against women.
The public prosecutor, police, and ombudsman have offices dedicated
to domestic violence problems.
Prostitution is legal for persons age 18 and above and was
practiced openly throughout the country, particularly in areas with
heavy concentrations of foreign tourists. The penal code prohibits
individuals from promoting or facilitating the prostitution of persons
of either sex, regardless of the person's age, and the penalty
increases if the victim is younger than 18. There are no specific laws
against sex tourism, which was growing; however, law enforcement
agencies initiated investigations under existing legislation. The
government and several advocacy groups also continued awareness
campaigns publicizing the dangers of sex tourism and its association
with child sexual exploitation.
The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace and
educational institutions, and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security
generally enforced this prohibition. The law imposes penalties ranging
from a letter of reprimand to dismissal, with more serious incidents
subject to criminal prosecution. The Ombudsman's Office received 92
complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace during the year.
Individuals have the right to obtain information and access to safe
methods of contraception from public hospitals and medical attention
centers, as well as the right to receive medical care during pregnancy
and childbirth. The public health care system plays a major role in how
women may access contraception, including access to sterilization. In
public as well as private health care, the right to obtain and use
contraceptives extends to all members of the population. Approximately
94 percent of women had skilled attendance during childbirth in the
public healthcare system.
The law prohibits discrimination against women and obligates the
government to promote political, economic, social, and cultural
equality. The government maintained offices for gender issues in most
ministries and parastatal organizations. The Labor Ministry was
responsible for investigating allegations of gender discrimination.
INAMU implemented programs that promoted gender equality and publicized
the rights of women.
In 2008 the Census Institute (INEC) reported that women represented
41.7 percent of the labor force. Approximately 4.2 percent worked in
agriculture, 13.1 percent in manufacturing, and 82.7 percent in the
service sector. Women occupied 43.5 percent of professional and
technical positions and 30.4 percent of high-level managerial/executive
positions. The law requires that women and men receive equal pay for
equal work; however, a UN Development Program report estimated that
earned income for women was approximately 53 percent of earned income
for men, while INEC estimated that earnings for women were 85 percent
those for men. These discrepancies reflected, in part, the fact that
most women's jobs were in traditionally lower-paid sectors (domestic
and clerical rather than professional or industrial).
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory or from either of one's parents.
Abuse of children remained a problem. For 2008 the judicial
branch's statistics office reported 692 cases of sexual abuse of
minors, with 337 perpetrators convicted. Additionally, 10 cases
involved sex with minors, seven involved cases of sex with minors with
payment involved, and seven involved the sexual corruption of minors.
From January 1 to June 30, the autonomous National Institute for
Children (PANI) assisted 2,145 children and adolescents, including
1,410 cases of physical abuse and 409 cases of intrafamily sexual
abuse. Traditional attitudes and the inclination to treat sexual and
psychological abuse as misdemeanors occasionally hampered legal
proceedings against those who committed crimes against children.
The government, security officials, and child advocacy
organizations acknowledged that commercial sexual exploitation of
children remained a serious problem. PANI estimated that a significant
number of children suffered from commercial sexual exploitation. Street
children in the urban areas of San Jose, Limon, and Puntarenas were
particularly at risk. During the first six months of the year, PANI
reported that it provided assistance to minors in 51 separate cases of
commercial sexual exploitation. The law against commercial sexual
exploitation includes sanctions for possession of child pornography,
greater protection of children younger than 14 years, and an extended
statute of limitations for child abuse. In addition PANI continued
programs of comprehensive care for children and adolescents at risk and
in vulnerable situations, combined with a program to help adolescent
mothers return to school. The government identified child sexual
tourism as a serious problem.
The National Commission to Combat Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children and Adolescents (CONACOES), as well as nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs), implemented a prevention and attention pilot plan
in six communities. CONACOES also reported that 19 local information
campaigns took place during the year. CONACOES, the Chamber of Tourism,
and the Board of Tourism worked to commit travel agencies and tour
operators to sign a code of ethics for the protection of children and
adolescents against commercial sexual exploitation, as a requirement
for a program of certification for sustainable tourism.
The minimum age of consensual sex is 18 years. The law provides for
sanctions from two to 10 years in prison for statutory rape.
There were occasional problems encountered in the registration at
birth of children born of migrant parents (see section 2.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits transnational human
trafficking for purposes of prostitution or forced labor, including of
minors, and criminalizes internal trafficking of children, adolescents,
and adults. In February the Legislative Assembly passed a law that
criminalizes all forms of trafficking in persons and closes a statutory
gap relating to the internal trafficking of adults. In August the
Legislative Assembly passed an immigration reform law, which
establishes a separate migratory status for trafficking victims. There
were reports that persons, particularly women and minors, were
trafficked to, from, and within the country, most often for commercial
sexual exploitation.
Victims were trafficked to the country from Nicaragua, the
Dominican Republic, Colombia, Guatemala, China, Russia, and Ukraine.
While evidence suggested that most trafficked persons remained in the
country, according to a judicial source, there was evidence that
Dominican and Colombian women were trafficked through the country en
route to the United States, Guatemala, and Europe. Costa Rican women
were trafficked to Mexico, Canada, and Japan. Women and children were
trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation; men, women, and
children also were trafficked within the country for forced labor as
domestic servants, agricultural workers, and workers in the fishing
industry. Traffickers often lured victims, generally from impoverished
backgrounds, with a promise of secure employment and good pay.
The Victim and Witness Protection Law, which went into effect on
April 22, establishes a penalty of six to 10 years in prison for the
movement of persons for the purposes of prostitution, sexual or labor
servitude, slavery, forced work or services, servile marriage, begging,
or other prohibited purposes. Punishment can increase to eight to 16
years in prison under aggravating circumstances, such as cases
involving minors (anyone under age 18) or the use of deception,
violence, intimidation, or coercion. The criminal code provides
sentences of between two and 10 years' imprisonment for anyone who
engages in remunerated sex with a minor, between four and 10 years'
imprisonment for managing or promoting child prostitution, and between
two and 10 years' imprisonment for the sale of minors or trafficking in
human organs.
At year's end there were seven active investigations of potential
trafficking open in the OIJ Trafficking Unit. During the year the OIJ
opened 11 investigations and forwarded two of them to the Prosecutor's
Office, and two persons were arrested. In April authorities arrested
one government official involved with a child-trafficking ring based in
China, which was attempting to bring up to 300 Chinese children into
the country.
While there were limited formal mechanisms specifically designed to
aid trafficking victims, PANI provided temporary shelter services to
minors that included integrated wellness and education programs.
Through INAMU the government provided emergency medical care, shelter,
and legal and psychological assistance to adult victims. The Victim's
Assistance Office within the Prosecutor's Office reported providing
assistance to victims of trafficking. The Witness Protection Law
provides new protections to victims, including the creation of a
witness protection program, and increased financial resources for the
Victim's Assistance Office.
Government agencies responsible for combating trafficking and child
sexual exploitation include the special prosecutor on domestic violence
and sex crimes, the Victim's Attention Office, PANI, INAMU, the Foreign
Ministry, the Labor and Social Security Ministry, the Public Security
Ministry, the Tourism Ministry, the General Directorate of Immigration,
and the OIJ.
The government acknowledged the serious nature of the problem of
trafficking in persons, especially the commercial sexual exploitation
of minors. Awareness campaigns against child sex tourism continued, as
did television and radio announcements and billboard notices designed
to warn young women of the dangers of commercial sexual exploitation.
The government had a national hotline for potential victims to receive
information about trafficking and referred cases to PANI or INAMU. The
antitrafficking media campaign, launched in October 2008 by the
government's National Coalition against Trafficking and PANI in
collaboration with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), continued during
the year.
The government continued to effectively implement the 2008-10
National Plan of Action against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Minors, which incorporates recommendations by the UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child.
The National Coalition against Trafficking, headed by the minister
of public security and composed of governmental institutions and NGO
observers, developed a protocol for immediate victim assistance;
provided antitrafficking training to immigration police, community
police, labor inspectors, and OIJ agents; promoted prevention practices
for educational institutions and associations of community development;
and created an immediate response team for victim assistance composed
of representatives from government institutions responsible for
combating trafficking.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in
employment, education, health care access, or provision of other state
services, and there were no reports of such practices in education or
in the provision of other state services. However, the Ombudsman's
Office reported that, due to poor facility access and entrenched
business practices, employment discrimination occurred.
Although a 1996 law mandates access to buildings for persons with
disabilities and established a 10-year deadline to make necessary
installations and upgrades, the government did not enforce this
provision in practice, and many buildings remained inaccessible to
persons with disabilities. The Supreme Court's Constitutional Chamber
ruled in favor of the right of persons with disabilities to gain access
to state-owned or private facilities open to the public. Public
transportation services improved access slightly for persons using
wheelchairs. During the year the Ombudsman's Office received and
investigated 46 complaints about violations of the law that protects
equal opportunities for persons with disabilities.
The Ministry of Education continued to operate a program for
persons with disabilities, including a national resource center that
provided parents, students, and teachers with advanced counseling,
training, and information services. There were 24 special education
centers exclusively to assist special education students and those with
disabilities, two more inside state hospitals, and an additional
institute for the blind. In addition, 1,987 schools had programs to
provide some support to students with disabilities, and the ministry
provided special education to 14,815 students who registered in March.
The National Council on Disability is the body responsible for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and for coordinating
all organizations working on disabilities issues.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the 2000 census,
the country's population included 72,784 blacks, who resided primarily
in the province of Limon. During the year there were no reports to the
Ombudsman's Office of racial discrimination against blacks.
Approximately 6 percent of the resident black population was foreign
born.
There were sporadic reports of discrimination, including labor
discrimination, usually directed against Nicaraguans.
Undocumented immigrants received medical care, including prenatal
and maternity care, at public health centers. However, they sometimes
were denied discretionary or long-term medical care because they were
not participants in the national health care insurance program.
Indigenous People.--The 2000 census recorded 63,876 indigenous
persons from eight ethnic groups, accounting for 1.7 percent of the
population. While indigenous persons were not subject to official
discrimination, social and health network gaps diminished their quality
of life. The indigenous population's complaints generally referred to
their inability to fulfill basic needs such as housing, health, and
education, which the Ombudsman's Office attributed to inadequate social
development efforts. The National Commission on Indigenous Affairs is a
semiautonomous institution responsible for promoting the development of
indigenous populations, respecting their organizations, and protecting
their cultural identity.
Seventy-three percent of the indigenous population lived in
traditional communities on 24 reserves, most in remote locations, which
often lacked access to schools, health care, electricity, and potable
water. The Housing Ministry estimated that only 27 percent of the
indigenous population lived in dwellings considered to be in good
condition, mainly due to reluctance to move from huts into more modern
housing. Few government health-care facilities were established in
indigenous reserves. The law nominally protects reserve land as the
collective, nontransferable property of the indigenous communities.
Some indigenous landowners, however, illegally sold their land to
nonindigenous persons to pay off debts. The unit of the Ombudsman's
Office dedicated to investigating violations of the rights of
indigenous persons sought to return reserve land to indigenous groups.
During the year the Ombudsman's Office received 12 complaints of
discrimination against indigenous people, including problems related to
documentation, community development, and the right to be consulted
about national legislation that might affect indigenous life,
territories, or culture.
At year's end, nonindigenous property owners continued to hold
title to land on approximately 39 percent of the reserves legally set
aside for indigenous ownership. The law requires that the government
purchase all preexisting land titles within the reserves in order to
secure exclusive use and ownership rights for indigenous populations.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--There are no laws prohibiting
discrimination against persons based on sexual orientation. There were
isolated cases of discrimination against persons based on sexual
orientation.
An NGO that focused on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
(LGBT) rights and health issues complained that, due to the difficulty
in proving labor discrimination based on sexual orientation, victims
often failed to report such discrimination. The NGO received through a
call center 2,332 inquiries or complaints from January to September
2008 when it lost funding from its sponsoring international institution
for its call-center operations. The same NGO conducted an HIV/AIDS
prevalence study from February to April, which determined that 10
percent of gay men in the country were infected with HIV/AIDS. This NGO
also published a nondiscrimination manual with best practice guidelines
for the educational system. Other LGBT organizations operated freely
and lobbied for legal reforms recognizing same-sex unions.
During the year the Ombudsman's Office reported receiving three
complaints of discrimination based on sexual orientation, all of which
were resolved. On May 27, the Supreme Court's Constitutional Chamber
upheld the constitutionality of the provision on common-law marriage
and the definition of common-law partner of the family code, which
limits the term to opposite-sex partners.
Other Societal Discrimination.--The law and a presidential decree
prohibit discrimination based on HIV/AIDS in health care, employment,
and education. During the year the Ombudsman's Office reported
receiving 30 complaints of discrimination against patients with HIV/
AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions of their choice without prior authorization. Workers
exercised this right in practice; however, restrictions on the minimum
number of employees (12) needed to form a union may have hampered
freedom of association in small enterprises. The law permits foreign
workers to join unions but prohibits them from holding positions of
authority within the unions. In August the Ministry of Labor and Social
Security reported that approximately 9 percent of workers were
unionized in 292 active unions, a decline from the percentage reported
in 2008 attributable to the ministry's updating of its statistical
records.
Due to complex filing procedures and the lack of oral hearing
procedures, labor grievances continued to move extremely slowly in the
courts. The International Labor Organization (ILO) and unions reported
that antiunion activity cases took several years to reach judgment. For
example, the FERTICA fertilizer workers' union case involving illegal
terminations of union leaders and members has not been resolved after
almost 10 years. In May 2008 the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights heard this case, including government commitments to resolve it,
but there has been no visible progress. At year's end the case
reportedly remained in the fact-finding phase to determine whether
there were human rights violations.
Government mediation centers, designed to resolve conflicts without
having to hire a lawyer and to alleviate overcrowded court dockets,
addressed some labor disputes. During the first six months of the year,
the Labor Ministry's Center for Alternative Resolution of Conflicts
handled 1,408 cases, of which 72.6 percent resulted in an agreement
between the parties. During the first six months of the year, the Labor
Ministry's Labor Affairs Directorate provided individual mediation
assistance and handled 526 hearings, which resulted in 367 mediation
agreements. A mediation center in the judicial branch to promote
dispute resolution, which was approved by the Supreme Court in March
2008, was not functioning due to a lack of mediators. Trade unionists
stated that workers were disadvantaged in mediation forums, because
they did not have legal counsel and lacked power in relations with
employers. Unions asserted that employer positions in these proceedings
were essentially imposed on workers.
The law provides for the right to strike and workers exercised this
right in practice; however, the law requires that at least 60 percent
of the workers in an enterprise support strike action. This requirement
was considered excessive by ILO standards.
Restrictions on the right to strike apply only to those services
designated as essential services by the government, including those
that concern the national economy or public health; however, the ILO
noted that this also includes sectors, such as oil refineries and
ports, that were not considered essential under international
standards. Unions argued that the government's broad definition of
``essential services'' denied many workers the right to strike.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
constitution protects the right of workers to organize and bargain
collectively; however, there were barriers to exercising these rights
in practice. The Labor Ministry reported in 2007 that 8.3 percent of
the workforce was covered by collective bargaining agreements. Unions
perceived a pattern of employers firing employees who wanted to
unionize. The Ministry of Labor reported 16 complaints of antiunion
discrimination during the year. Although public sector employees were
permitted to bargain collectively, a 2006 decision of the
Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court held that some fringe
benefits received by certain public employees were disproportionate and
unreasonable and repealed sections of collective bargaining agreements
between public sector unions and government agencies.
The law requires employers to initiate the bargaining process with
a trade union if at least 34 percent of the workforce requests
collective bargaining. The government enforced this law in practice.
Although private-sector unions have the legal right to engage in
collective bargaining with employers, ``direct bargaining
arrangements'' between employers and nonunionized workers occurred more
commonly. In a 2008 study, the ILO concluded that such direct
bargaining agreements disadvantaged workers because they did not result
from balanced negotiations of two independent, adequately equipped
parties. The Ministry of Labor reported 68 direct agreements during the
year.
The law permits the formation of ``solidarity associations,'' which
often were organized by employers. The law prohibits such associations
from representing workers in collective bargaining negotiations or in
any other way that assumes the functions or inhibits the formation of
trade unions; however, labor unions asserted that solidarity
associations conducted negotiations and that in some cases employers
required membership in a solidarity association as a condition for
employment.
Trade union leaders contended that the existence of worker
solidarity associations in many enterprises displaced unions and
discouraged collective bargaining. Under solidarity associations both
employers and employees directly contribute to the financing of the
association. According to the ILO, such associations, to the extent
that they displaced trade unions, discouraged collective bargaining,
affected the independence of workers' organizations from employers'
influence, and contravened ILO Convention 98 on the right to organize
and bargain collectively. As of August solidarity associations had
approximately 246,000 members, representing 12.5 percent of workers; 95
percent of these workers were in the private sector.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
export processing zones (EPZs). Labor unions alleged, however, that
efforts of EPZ workers to organize were met by illegal terminations of
activists, threats, and intimidation. Unions also claimed that
employers in the zones maintained blacklists of workers identified as
activists. Unions reported systematic violations of labor rights and
provisions concerning working conditions, overtime, and wages in the
EPZs. The ILO, confirming it found no trade unions operating in the
country's EPZs, also identified the zones as a hostile environment for
organizing.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor; however, there were reports that such
practices occurred.
The National Coalition against Trafficking identified and studied
two possible cases of trafficking in persons for the purpose of forced
labor (in the service sector) during the year. The coalition identified
these cases as labor exploitation and referred them to the Ministry of
Labor. The coalition also organized a working group to provide training
to labor inspectors from the Ministry of Labor.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law provides special occupational protection for minors and establishes
a minimum working age of 15 years. Adolescents between the ages of 15
and 18 may work for a maximum of six hours daily and 36 hours weekly.
The law prohibits night work and overtime for minors. Activities
considered to be unhealthy or hazardous typically require a minimum age
of 18. Working minors are entitled to attend educational establishments
through flexible programs adapted to their interests and employment
conditions and to participate in apprenticeship training programs.
According to the ILO, working minors ages 15 to 18 sometimes
received less than the minimum wage, which was corroborated by the
chief of the Labor Ministry's Office for the Eradication of Child Labor
(OATIA).
The Labor Ministry, in cooperation with PANI, generally enforced
these regulations effectively through inspections in the formal sector;
the regulations were not enforced effectively in the informal labor
sector as a result of inadequate resources. From January to June, PANI
received 58 complaints of child labor exploitation.
Child labor was a problem mainly in the informal economy, including
in agriculture, fishing, construction, and service sectors of the
economy. Child labor also was used in production on family farms and
small third-party farms, specifically in the production of oranges,
sugarcane, and melons.
Child labor was also a problem among the indigenous population,
including migrant populations. For example, children of the Ngobe-Bugle
group migrated with their parents from Panama for seasonal work and
participated in the harvest, even though the government offered
schooling to children of migrants.
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing child labor laws
and policies; the OATIA is responsible for coordinating government
efforts targeted at child labor. Resource limitations constrained
government efforts to enforce child labor laws. In coordination with
public and private institutions, the OATIA provided technical
assistance for vocational training programs to teenagers who previously
worked in dangerous jobs in the Caribbean and northern regions of the
country. The OATIA continued conducting four projects aimed at
improving the life and work conditions of adolescent workers and
eradicating child labor. The government, in conjunction with
international donors, participated in regional initiatives to combat
child labor. This included the ILO's International Program on the
Elimination of Child Labor eight-year regional project to combat
commercial sexual exploitation of children, which ended in April.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law provides for a minimum
wage set by the National Wage Council and updated annually. Monthly
minimum wages for the private sector ranged from 118,000 colones ($203)
for household workers to 434,000 colones ($748) for university
graduates. The Labor Ministry effectively enforced minimum wages in the
San Jose area but generally was not effective in enforcing the wage law
in rural areas, particularly where large numbers of migrants were
employed. The national minimum wage, which also covers migrant workers,
did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
The constitution sets workday hours, overtime remuneration, days of
rest, and annual vacation rights. Workers generally may work a maximum
of 48 hours weekly. Although there is no statutory prohibition against
compulsory overtime, the labor code stipulates that the workday may not
exceed 12 hours. Nonagricultural workers must receive an overtime
premium of 50 percent of regular wages for work in excess of the daily
shift. However, agricultural workers did not receive overtime pay if
they worked voluntarily beyond their normal hours. Hourly work
regulations were enforced generally in the formal labor market in San
Jose, but poorly in rural areas and in the informal sector.
Labor unions reported that overtime pay violations, such as
nonpayment, and mandatory overtime were common in the private sector
and particularly in EPZ industries. Unions asserted that overtime was
required to preserve employment, that there were violations of premium
payment requirements for overtime work, and, in some cases, that
workers did not receive payment for some of their required overtime
work.
While the labor and health ministries shared responsibility for
drafting and enforcing occupational health and safety standards, they
did not enforce these standards effectively. The law requires
industrial, agricultural, and commercial firms with 10 or more workers
to establish a joint management-labor committee on workplace conditions
and allows the government to inspect workplaces and fine employers for
violations. Most firms established such committees but did not use them
effectively.
Although resource constraints continued to hinder the Labor
Ministry Inspection Directorate's ability to carry out its inspection
mandate, there were 7,915 inspections conducted in the first half of
the year, compared with 8,651 inspections in all of 2008. Workers who
consider a work condition to be unhealthy or unsafe must make a written
request for protection from the labor or health ministries in order to
remove themselves from the condition without jeopardizing their
employment. The ministries generally effectively addressed these
complaints by sending inspection teams to investigate them and
coordinate with each other on follow-up actions.
__________
CUBA
Cuba, with a population of approximately 11 million, is a
totalitarian state that does not tolerate opposition to official
policy. The country is led by Raul Castro, who holds the positions of
chief of state, president of the council of state and council of
ministers, and commander in chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
Although the constitution recognizes the unicameral National Assembly
as the supreme authority, the Communist Party (CP) is recognized in the
constitution as the only legal party and ``the superior leading force
of society and of the state.'' Fidel Castro remained the first
secretary of the CP. The January 2008 elections for the National
Assembly were neither free nor fair, and all of the candidates had to
be preapproved by a CP candidacy commission, with the result that the
CP candidates and their allies won 98.7 percent of the vote and 607 of
614 seats in the National Assembly. Civilian authorities, through the
Ministry of the Interior, exercised control over the police, the
internal security forces, and the prison system.
The government continued to deny its citizens their basic human
rights, including the right to change their government, and committed
numerous and serious abuses. The following human rights problems were
reported: beatings and abuse of prisoners and detainees, harsh and
life-threatening prison conditions, including denial of medical care;
harassment, beatings, and threats against political opponents by
government-recruited mobs, police, and state security officials acting
with impunity; arbitrary arrest and detention of human rights advocates
and members of independent professional organizations; and denial of
fair trial, including for at least 194 political prisoners and as many
as 5,000 persons who have been convicted of potential ``dangerousness''
without being charged with any specific crime.
Authorities interfered with privacy and engaged in pervasive
monitoring of private communications. There were also severe
limitations on freedom of speech and press; denial of peaceful assembly
and association; restrictions on freedom of movement, including
selective denial of exit permits to citizens and the forcible removal
of persons from Havana to their hometowns; and restrictions on freedom
of religion and refusal to recognize domestic human rights groups or
permit them to function legally. Discrimination against persons of
African descent, domestic violence, underage prostitution, trafficking
in persons, and severe restrictions on worker rights, including the
right to form independent unions, were also problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--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 abusive treatment of detainees and
prisoners. However, there were verifiable reports that members of the
security forces harassed and sometimes physically assaulted human
rights and prodemocracy advocates, dissidents, detainees, and
prisoners, and did so with impunity.
Authorities sometimes beat and threatened dissidents and their
families. Some detainees and prisoners endured physical abuse,
sometimes by other inmates with the acquiescence of guards, or long
periods in isolation cells.
In some cases authorities psychologically abused political
dissidents. For example, during a three-day interrogation beginning on
February 27, opposition activist Lilvio Fernandez Luis was falsely told
that his father-in-law had suffered a heart attack, while his wife, who
was not told of his whereabouts, received multiple telephone calls from
a woman claiming to be Fernandez's lover.
The government continued to subject opposition activists and their
families to abuse by organizing ``acts of repudiation,'' or staged
public protests, often in front of their homes. Participants were drawn
from the CP, the Union of Communist Youth (UJC), Committees for the
Defense of the Revolution (CDRs), the Federation of Cuban Women, and
the Association of Veterans of the Cuban Revolution or were brought in
by the authorities from nearby workplaces or schools. Mob actions
included shouting insults and obscenities, sometimes over loudspeakers,
and throwing rocks, fruit, and other objects at their homes. In extreme
cases, mobs assaulted the victims or their relatives or damaged their
homes' or property, as was the case in the July 9 arrest of Dr. Darsi
Ferrer, when neighbors, apparently acting in coordination with the
arresting officers, ransacked Ferrer's home.
Although the government characterized these ``acts of repudiation''
as spontaneous, as in past years, undercover police and agents from the
General Directorate for State Security (DGSE) were often present and
clearly directed the activities, for example by threatening neighbors
with job loss if they did not participate. The government did not
detain any participants involved in these acts, including those who
physically attacked the victims, nor did police respond to victims'
complaints.
Members of the Damas de Blanco (``Ladies in White''), a group of
relatives and supporters of the 75 political prisoners who were
arrested in the spring of 2003 (of whom 53 remained in detention), were
targeted several times during the year with detentions and acts of
repudiation designed to disrupt or discredit their activities. On March
20, 30 members of the group gathered in front of the Supreme Court
building for a planned march requesting freedom for their family
members. Dozens of individuals, some of whom were identified as DGSE
agents, surrounded the protesters. The mob shouted obscenities and
insults and pursued the protesters as they left the scene.
On December 9 and 10, the Damas de Blanco organized peaceful
marches in commemoration of Human Rights Day. On both days the marchers
were met by large, state-organized, counterdemonstrations of between
300 and 500 individuals, who surrounded the human rights activists,
shouted obscenities and insults, and tried to assault them. Foreign
diplomats observed state security agents organizing the mob even while
establishing a defensive corridor around the women to protect them. The
mob followed the women back to the house of one of the organizers and
continued chanting and shouting in front of the house for more than an
hour. Some of the Damas reported minor injuries.
Also on December 10, supporters of imprisoned human rights activist
Dr. Darsi Ferrer attempted to gather in the park where he and his
followers have traditionally assembled to commemorate Human Rights Day.
Again, state security officers served the dual roles of organizing the
counterdemonstrators and keeping them in check. The mob of
approximately 300 assaulted the marchers upon their arrival at the
park, hitting, shoving, and spitting at them. Eventually, state
security officers detained the human rights activists, drove them away
in unmarked cars, and detained them for several hours before releasing
them without charges.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
continued to be harsh and life threatening. Food shortages were
widespread, due in part to corruption. Meals were often spoiled or
infested with vermin. Prisoners' relatives were authorized to visit
every two to three months and bring a hot meal and up to 30 pounds of
food and other basic supplies. Political prisoner Ariel Sigler-Amaya
suffered from malnutrition, lost almost 50 percent of his body weight,
and began to suffer from paraplegia before he was moved to a hospital
in Havana for treatment.
Reports of beatings of prisoners were commonplace. Political
prisoner Felix Navarro reported from Canaleta Provincial Prison in the
province of Ciego de Avila that guards beat prisoners on numerous
occasions, sometimes employing attack dogs. There were reports of
prisoner-on-prisoner sexual assaults, generally due to lax security by
prison guards.
Prison cells lacked adequate water, sanitation, space, light,
ventilation, and temperature control. Running water was rare and, if
available, generally ran only for a limited time in the morning and
evening. Water for drinking and bathing was foul and frequently
contaminated with parasites. Many prisoners reported receiving only one
small glass of water per day, even when confined to sweltering cells
during the summer. Vermin and insect infestations were common, with
inmates reporting rats, cockroaches, fleas, lice, bedbugs, stinging
ants, flies, and mosquitoes.
Prison cells were overcrowded, requiring prisoners to sleep on the
floor and limiting freedom of movement during the day. Prisoners often
slept on concrete bunks without a mattress. Where available, mattresses
were thin and often infested with vermin. Prisoners reported increased
mattress distribution during the year and transfers of prisoners from
maximum-security prisons to rural work camps, which alleviated some
prison overcrowding.
Prisoners were often held in isolation to punish misconduct. In
general, prisoners in isolation had restrictions on family visits.
Prisoners, family members, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
reported inadequate health care, which led to or aggravated
hypertension, diabetes, heart conditions, asthma, skin disease,
infections, digestive disorders, and conjunctivitis, among other
maladies. Prisoners also reported outbreaks of dengue, tuberculosis,
and hepatitis. Prison health workers often reused syringes, despite
existence of communicable diseases among inmates.
The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation
(CCDHRN) reported multiple prison deaths from heart attacks, asthma
attacks, and other chronic medical conditions, as well as from suicide.
While exact figures were not available, the CCDHRN indicated that
overall incidence of prison deaths appeared to have declined slightly
compared with previous years.
The government placed healthy prisoners in cells with mentally
disturbed inmates. Political prisoners were placed in the same cells as
common prisoners and sometimes reported being threatened or harassed by
fellow inmates acting on the orders of prison authorities.
Some pretrial detainees were held at maximum-security prisons,
where they stayed for months or years without being charged. Darsi
Ferrer was arrested on July 9 and taken directly to Valle Grande
maximum-security prison, where at year's end he remained without being
formally charged. Jose Diaz Silva was arrested June 10 and was also
being held at Valle Grande without charge at year's end. Vladimir Alejo
Miranda was arrested in 2007 and spent 18 months in a maximum-security
prison before being sentenced to a two-year prison term in June. He was
released from prison on October 23, two months shy of completing the
full two-year sentence.
The government did not publish the number of prisoners or
detainees, nor did it provide information regarding the number or
location of detention centers, which include not only prisons but also
work camps and other kinds of detention facilties.
Men and women were held in separate prisons and police detention
facilities. Women reported suffering the same poor prison conditions as
men. In addition women reported lack of access to feminine hygiene
products and adequate prenatal care. The government did not release
information on the treatment of minors at either youth or adult prisons
or detention centers. There were reports of inmates as young as 15 in
maximum-security prisons.
Prison officials regularly denied prisoners the right to
correspondence and often denied family visits as a form of punishment
or shortened the visits capriciously.
While the government sometimes denied political detainees and
prisoners pastoral visits, in September the government authorized
Catholic and Protestant religious services in prisons throughout the
island, and detainees reported that authorities increasingly honored
written requests to receive visits from clergy. Religious leaders
reported an increased ability to hold Christian services in prisons.
Many political prisoners were serving sentences in prisons located
long distances from their home provinces, increasing their and their
families' sense of isolation and directly affecting their families'
ability to visit them or supply them with food and other aid. The
government did not permit independent monitoring of prison conditions
by international or national human rights groups and did not permit
access to detainees by international humanitarian organizations. The
government has not granted prison visits by the International Committee
of the Red Cross, Amnesty International, or Human Rights Watch since
1988.
Although the government has not traditionally allowed independent
human rights observers to monitor prison conditions, it invited Manfred
Nowak, UN special rapporteur for torture and other cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment or punishment, to conduct a mission to the country,
although no date for the visit had been agreed to by year's end.
Improvements in prison conditions, including facilities upgrades and
some prisoner transfers to reduce overcrowding, were reported
throughout the year by prisoners and NGOs. Prisoners' families and NGOs
perceived these improvements as being directly linked to the special
rapporteur's planned visit.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although prohibited by law, the
government effectively and frequently used arbitrary arrest and
detention to harass opponents. The law denies all legally recognized
civil liberties to anyone who ``actively opposes the decision of the
people to build socialism.'' Government officials routinely invoked
this authority to deny due process to persons detained on purported
state security grounds.
On July 9, Darsi Ferrer, a physician and director of the Juan Bruno
Zayas Center for Health and Human Rights, and his wife were detained
for most of the day to prevent their participation in a planned human
rights march. At year's end no formal charges had been brought against
Ferrer, and he continued to be held with common prisoners in a maximum-
security prison.
On November 6, state security stopped bloggers Yoani Sanchez and
Orlando Luis Pardo while they were on their way to a peaceful
demonstration against violence. Sanchez and Pardo were beaten during
their brief detention. On November 27, state security also detained
Juan Almeida Garcia while he was en route to a protest march; he was
released on November 30.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of the
Interior exercises control over police, the internal security forces,
and the prison system. The National Revolutionary Police (PNR) is the
primary law enforcement organization and was moderately effective in
investigating common crimes. Specialized units of the Ministry of the
Interior's state security service are responsible for monitoring,
infiltrating, and suppressing opposition political groups. The PNR
played a supporting role by carrying out house searches and providing
interrogation facilities for state security agents.
Members of the security forces acted with impunity in committing
numerous, serious human rights abuses. While the PNR ethics code and
Ministry of the Interior regulations ban police brutality, security
forces continued to employ aggressive and physically abusive tactics,
and the government did not announce any investigations into police
misconduct during the year. Nor were any training or reform initiatives
announced during the year. Corruption among police was a problem.
CP officials and leaders of neighborhood CDR branches lacked formal
law enforcement powers but wielded considerable authority and often
used it to mobilize action against persons criticizing the government
or its leaders.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The law places
few formal limits on police discretion to stop or interrogate citizens.
Police street surveillance was heavy, and police frequently and
randomly stopped cars and pedestrians for questioning. There are no
formal protections under the law to protect citizens from these
investigative stops, and there were many reports that such stops
continued during the year.
Police have broad detention powers, which they may exercise without
a warrant. Under the law, police can detain without a warrant not only
persons caught in the act but also someone merely accused of a crime
against state security. Police, by law, cannot conduct a search without
a warrant, but both the CCDHRN and human rights lawyer Rene Gomez
Manzano reported that police always had available a supply of signed
and stamped blank warrants that they merely filled out on the spot.
The criminal process begins with the filing of a criminal complaint
by either a citizen or a police officer. By law, after an arrest police
have 24 hours to present the complaint to a police official called an
instructor. The instructor then has 72 hours to investigate and prepare
a report for the prosecutor. The prosecutor then has an additional 72
hours to recommend to the appropriate court whether an investigation
should continue or the case should be dropped. If the court approves
further investigation, the detained person can be released on bail,
released into home detention or to the custody of an official entity
(such as a CDR), or kept in custody while the investigation proceeds.
By law, after this 144-hour period, the person under arrest must be
informed of the reasons for the detention. Following this notification,
the accused can continue to be legally detained until charges are
filed. However, under special circumstances where a court determines
that further investigation is necessary, this requirement can be waived
and the accused can be held, without charges, indefinitely. This
requirement is commonly waived in cases involving political detainees,
who are frequently held for months or years without being informed of
any formal charges.
At year's end political dissidents Ihosvani Suris de la Torre and
Maximo Pradera Valdez, held without charges since 2001, remained in
detention while their cases underwent further investigation.
The law provides for detainees' prompt access to a lawyer. After
being notified of the reasons for detention, the accused has the right
to engage an attorney at any time. However, access to a public defender
is not available until after formal charges are filed. If the accused
has not engaged an attorney within five days of being formally charged,
the court will appoint a public defender. Once the accused has an
attorney, the defense has five days to respond formally to the charges,
after which a court date usually is set. However, a prosecutor can
demand a summary trial, in which case the defense has minimal time to
prepare its case and may only meet the client minutes before the
hearing starts.
Bail was available, although typically not granted in cases
involving alleged antigovernment activity. Time in detention before
trial counted toward time served if convicted. The government often
denied prisoners and detainees prompt access to family members.
Although the authorities continued to resort to brief detentions of
human rights advocates, the trend appeared to be declining compared
with 2008. In most cases, dissidents were held for several hours and
then released without charges. Such detentions generally coincided with
planned activities by human rights activists and prevented their
participation in these activities. The CCDHRN received reports of as
many as 800 such detentions during the year but suspected there were
many more.
In August authorities detained two lesbian, gay, bisexual or
transgender (LGBT) activists without charges for 13 days, in connection
with their efforts to plan a ``Mr. Gay Cuba'' competition; during that
period they were held incommunicado for more than 24 hours. On
September 23, police detained Belinda Salas Tapanes, president of the
Federation of Rural Latin American Women-Cuba, for several hours and
questioned her about her advocacy activities. Salas was 38 weeks
pregnant, and her family was not notified of her location. In the week
leading up to the September 20 ``Peace without Borders'' concert in
Havana, more than 40 leading dissidents were briefly detained and
threatened with imprisonment if they attended. On the day of the
concert, PNR officers were stationed outside many dissidents' houses to
prevent them from leaving.
Dissident Jorge Luis Garcia Perez (also known as Antunez) remained
under virtual house arrest in his hometown of Placetas for most of the
year. Antunez was confined to his home at least once a month for
several hours at a time and detained in Havana and forcibly returned to
Placentas many times throughout the year. After each detention, he was
released without charges.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the constitution provides
for independent courts, it explicitly subordinates them to the National
Assembly and the Council of State. Through the National and Provincial
Assemblies, which choose all judges, the CP exerts near total influence
over the courts.
Civilian courts existed at the municipal, provincial, and Supreme
Court levels. Panels composed of professionally certified and lay
judges presided over them. Military tribunals, which are governed by a
special law, assumed jurisdiction for certain ``counterrevolutionary''
(almost always political in nature) cases. Military tribunals may also
have jurisdiction over civilians in cases where any of the defendants
were members of the military, police force, or other law enforcement
agency. In these tribunals defendants have the right to know the
charges, the right to an attorney, and the right to appeal.
Trial Procedures.--The courts often failed to observe due process
rights nominally available to defendants. The law presumes defendants
are innocent until proven guilty, but authorities often ignored this in
practice. The law does not provide for jury trials. While most trials
ostensibly were public, trials were closed whenever state security was
at stake, a frequent occurrence. Almost all cases were tried in less
than one day.
The law provides the accused with the right to an attorney, the
right to be present during the trial, and the right to consult with an
attorney in a timely manner. When necessary, an attorney is provided at
public expense. However, prosecutors' requests for summary judgment
sometimes left defendants with little or no time to consult with a
defense attorney. Summary judgment was particularly common in cases
involving charges of ``dangerousness.''
On September 29, Oswaldo Paya, leader of the Christian Liberation
Movement (MCL), reported the arrest and summary judgement of Agustin
Cervantes, who was sentenced to two years in prison for collecting
signatures for the Varela project, an effort to present citizen
petitions advocating freedom of speech and of assembly to the National
Assembly.
Criteria for presenting evidence were arbitrary and discriminatory.
While defendents have the right to present witnesses, and they or their
attorneys can question witnesses against them, these rights were
observed arbitrarily, particularly in cases involving alleged threats
to security of the state. Defense attorneys have the right to review
the investigation file at any time, unless the investigation involves
``crimes against the security of the state.'' In these cases, defense
attorneys are not allowed access to the file until charges have been
filed. In practice, many political detainees have reported that their
attorneys had difficulties accessing their files due to bureaucratic
and administrative obstacles that seemed politically motivated. Because
of these constraints and because most trials last less than eight
hours, defense attorneys often did not have time to arrange for
testimony by defense experts.
The penal code includes the concept of ``potential dangerousness,''
defined as the ``special proclivity of a person to commit crimes,
demonstrated by his conduct in manifest contradiction of socialist
norms.'' No evidence is required for a conviction for this offense. The
CCDHRN estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 citizens were serving
time in detention for this offense, including approximately 1,000 women
(mostly for suspicion of prostitution). The authorities mostly applied
this law in nonpolitical cases to target prostitutes, young persons who
refused to report to work centers, and repeat offenders of laws
restricting change of domicile. The CCDHRN listed six new cases of
political prisoners convicted of ``potential dangerousness'' during the
year, the same number of cases as the previous year.
Prosecutors may introduce testimony from a CDR member about the
revolutionary background of a defendant, which may contribute to longer
or shorter sentences.
The law recognizes the right of appeal in municipal courts but
limits it in provincial courts to cases involving lengthy prison terms
or the death penalty.
On August 4, Juan Carlos Gonzalez Marco, commonly known as Panfilo,
was arrested and charged with ``dangerousness'' as a result of a series
of three video clips that appeared on YouTube. In the clips, Panfilo
drunkenly complained about hunger and food shortages and later
expressed concern about his own safety and the security of his family
should he be arrested. It was widely reported that he had been
threatened by state security following the dissemination of the first
video. Following his arrest, Panfilo was sentenced to two years in
prison. On September 21, his sentence was commuted, and he was sent to
a psychiatric hospital for a 21-day alcohol treatment program.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--At year's end there were at
least 194 political prisoners and detainees, compared with 205 at the
end of 2008. Convictions were for offenses such as ``disrespect of the
head of state,'' ``disrespect and scorn of patriotic symbols,'' public
disorder, and attempting to leave the country illegally. Other inmates
were convicted of ``disseminating enemy propaganda,'' ``illicit
association,'' clandestine printing, or the broad charge of rebellion,
which sometimes has been brought against advocates of peaceful
democratic change. On August 3, opposition member Ernesto Medero
Arozarena was stopped by authorities while returning home from an event
commemorating the 15th anniversary of the ``Maleconazo'' (a 1994
antigovernment demonstration). Medero reportedly resisted arrest and
was being held without charges in the Aguica maximum-security prison in
Matanzas Province at year's end.
Authorities more frequently used short-term detention rather than
prosecution to harass political opponents and dissuade them from public
action. During these detentions, authorities frequently threatened
dissidents with prosecutions for ``dangerousness,'' although few were
charged and sentenced. The number of convictions for ``dangerousness''
remained significant during the reporting period, but most of those
convicted were not politically affiliated. Human rights groups also
reported an increased tendency to incarcerate dissidents in maximum-
security prisons, usually reserved for violent convicts or career
criminals, on nonviolent, common criminal charges.
At year's end 53 of the 75 peaceful activists, journalists, union
organizers, and opposition figures arrested and convicted in 2003,
mostly on charges of violating national security and ``aiding a foreign
power,'' remained in prison.
Mistreatment of political prisoners and detainees was widespread.
Beatings were not uncommon. On March 7, Yasmani Reina Pardo was
reportedly beaten by prison guards in full view of other prisoners
while senior prison leadership watched without intervening. On March
10, and again on March 13, guards reportedly beat Abel Vento Garcia.
Following the beating on the night of the 13th, guards threw cold water
on him and left him in a frigid cell.
Many political prisoners were denied privileges given to ordinary
prisoners, such as access to outdoor activities or exercise. The
government continued to deny human rights organizations and the
International Committee of the Red Cross access to political prisoners
and detainees. Authorities sometimes denied visits to families of
political prisoners and detainees. Prisoners in punishment cells had no
access to lawyers.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Civil matters such as
family relations, debt, property, and commercial disputes are handled
by civil courts. However, these courts were not widely utilized outside
of family issues, such as divorce and child custody, due to a lack of
public awareness about legal options and an insufficient supply of
well-trained and affordable lawyers. Most torts provisions typically
associated with civil courts were remedied in criminal court. The only
way a citizen can seek redress for a human rights violation is to
convince a prosecutor to file criminal charges. The CCDHRN was not
aware of any successful human rights-related prosecutions during the
year or of any damages ordered by any court in connection with a human
rights case. In cases of police brutality or cases involving a member
of the military, charges must be presented before a military tribunal.
The CCDHRN stated that CP and government control of the prosecutors'
offices and the courts discouraged citizens from seeking legal redress.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--While the constitution provides for the inviolability
of a citizen's home and correspondence, official surveillance of
private and family affairs by government-controlled organizations, such
as the CDRs, remained pervasive. The government employed physical and
electronic surveillance against political opponents, interfered in the
lives of citizens, and employed a wide range of social controls to
discover and discourage nonconformity.
DGSE agents routinely read correspondence from abroad. Most letters
from overseas were delivered with the envelope torn and resealed; many
were placed in a different envelope. The DGSE also monitored domestic
and overseas telephone calls and conversations with foreigners. In
September the MCL reported that authorities had broken into the home of
Agustin Cervantes and stolen several pages of signatures collected as
part of the Varela Project. At least one other group reported a similar
break-in and theft. Dissidents often reported that their phones were
tapped and expressed frequent concerns about electronic surveillance of
their homes.
DGSE agents subjected journalists and foreign diplomats to
harassment and surveillance, including electronic surveillance and
surreptitious entry into their homes. Civil society organizations
reported intensified government monitoring of dissidents. The
government took no known action on a judge's order that it investigate
the August 2008 complaint of prominent dissidents Martha Beatriz Roque,
Vladimiro Roca, and Jorge Luis Perez Garcia (Antunez), who filed a
formal complaint that dissemination of personal communications and
documents in the media violated their privacy. Civil society
organizations continued to report property seizures by local police or
state security agents agents who refused to provide legally required
documentation of the seizure.
Workers subcontracted by state employment agencies must satisfy
political qualifications, and those agencies consulted with the CP, the
Cuban Confederation of Workers (CTC), and the UJC to vet applicants for
work in joint enterprises. The law requires workers to have government
permission to contract directly with foreign companies. Although a few
firms negotiated exceptions, the government required foreign investors
and foreign diplomatic missions to contract workers through state
employment agencies.
Unlike in 2008, there were few reports of forced evictions of
squatters. However, residents who lacked official permission to reside
in Havana continued to be forcibly removed to their city of legal
residence.
The Ministry of Interior employed a system of informants and CDR
block committees to report on suspicious activities, including
``conspicuous consumption;'' unauthorized meetings, including those
with foreigners; and what they considered defiant attitudes toward the
government and the revolution.
Relatives of political dissidents sometimes suffered reprisals.
Some wives and children of opposition figures were denied employment
for being ``untrustworthy,'' prevented from matriculating into
universities or denied academic distinctions or exit permits to leave
the country. Children reported being insulted, mocked, or otherwise
mistreated by teachers and school administrators, who labeled them and
their parents ``counterrevolutionaries'' in front of their classmates.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press insofar as they ``conform to the
aims of socialist society,'' a clause effectively barring free speech.
In practice the government did not allow criticism of the revolution or
its leaders. Laws against antigovernment propaganda, graffiti, and
disrespect of officials carried penalties of between three months and
one year in prison; criticism of the president or members of the
National Assembly or Council of State is punishable by one to three
years' imprisonment. Disseminating ``enemy propaganda,'' which includes
expressing opinions at odds with those of the government, is punishable
by up to 15 years' imprisonment if the ``propaganda'' was distributed
by means of mass media. The government considered international reports
of human rights violations to be enemy propaganda. Local CDRs inhibited
freedom of speech by monitoring and reporting dissent or criticism.
Catholic priests and other clergy were able to deliver sermons
without prior government approval and in some cases made veiled
criticisms of the government without immediate reprisal. Catholic
Church officials were allowed to broadcast 15-minute radio programs on
special occasions such as Christmas, as long as the programs did not
have any political content.
The government considered print and electronic media to be state
property. The government owned and the CP controlled all authorized
media. The government operated four national television stations, six
national radio stations, one international radio station, one national
magazine, and three national newspapers, as well as numerous local
media outlets. All were official CP organs. Content was nearly uniform
across all of these media; none enjoyed editorial independence. The
regime vigorously prosecuted attempts to distribute unauthorized
written, filmed, or photographed material. The law bars ``clandestine
printing.'' The government was the sole book publisher in the country,
and with the exception of some publications by the Catholic Church and
other denominations, state censors required prepublication approval.
The government subjected independent journalists to travel bans,
detentions, harassment of family and friends, equipment seizures,
imprisonment, and threats of imprisonment. DGSE agents posed as
independent journalists to gather information on activists and spread
misinformation and mistrust within independent journalist circles. At
least 25 journalists were in prison during the year.
The law prohibits distribution of printed material from foreign
sources that are considered counterrevolutionary or suspicious. Foreign
newspapers or magazines were generally unavailable. Persons
distributing copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
continued to be harassed and, in some instances, detained. The
government continued to jam the transmissions of Radio Marti and
Television Marti.
The government frequently barred independent libraries from
receiving materials from abroad and seized materials donated by foreign
governments.
Internet Freedom.--The government controlled nearly all Internet
access. Authorities reviewed and censored e-mail. Authorities employed
Internet search filters and also blocked access to Web sites that they
considered objectionable. Citizens could access the Internet only
through government-approved institutions, except at Internet facilities
provided by a few diplomatic missions. Despite the government's March
2008 decision to allow citizens to purchase personal computers, access
to the Internet was strictly controlled and given only to those deemed
``ideologically trustworthy.'' The only citizens granted direct
Internet access were some government officials and certain government-
approved doctors, professors, students, and journalists. The government
restricted Internet use in government offices and applied extensive
filters that both restricted access to content and slowed download
times. Numerous human rights groups also reported that authorities used
mobile patrols to search for unauthorized Internet, satellite
television, and digital cable users. When police discovered violators,
they confiscated the equipment and cited the owners.
Both foreigners and citizens were allowed to buy Internet access
cards from the national telecommunications provider and to use hotel
business centers, where Internet access can be purchased only in
convertible currency. Access usually cost between five and 10
convertible pesos ($5.40 to $10.80) an hour, a rate beyond the means of
most citizens. The International Telecommunication Union reported that
13 percent of the population used Internet services in 2008. This
figure included citizens who had access to the government Intranet only
at work.
The law requires all public Internet centers to register with the
government and permits the Ministry for Information Technology and
Communications to control and supervise all such centers without prior
warning.
While the law does not set specific penalties for unauthorized
Internet use, it is illegal to own a satellite dish that would provide
uncensored Internet access. In October 2008 the government instructed
providers of public Internet access to block access to sites ``whose
contents are contrary to social and moral interests and community
standards'' or applications that ``affect the integrity or the security
of the State.'' The same resolution ordered Internet providers to
prevent the use of encryption software and the transfer of encrypted
files. A growing number of citizens maintained blogs where they often
posted opinions critical of the government; in October authorities
banned one such blogger, Yoani Sanchez, from travelling abroad to
receive a journalism award. Local access to all of these blogs was
blocked.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The government restricted
academic freedom and controlled the curriculum at all schools and
universities, emphasizing the importance of reinforcing ``revolutionary
ideology'' and ``discipline.'' Students were required to swear by the
principles of the CP and to model their lives after Ernesto ``Che''
Guevara. Academics were prohibited from meeting with some diplomats
without prior government approval, and those permitted to travel abroad
were aware that their actions, if deemed politically unfavorable, could
negatively affect them and their relatives back home.
In July, 29 students selected for scholarships to study abroad were
denied exit permits. In addition some of the students reported being
harassed by university and CP officials and threatened with expulsion
from CP organizations at their universities. Officials denied that
university officials harassed or threatened any of the individuals.
Government-controlled public libraries required a government letter
of permission for access to books or information.
There were reports that university admission was denied to the
children of political dissidents.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Although the
constitution grants limited rights of assembly and association, these
rights are subject to the requirement that they may not be ``exercised
against the existence and objectives of the Socialist State.''
Freedom of Assembly.--The law allows for punishment of any
unauthorized assembly of more than three persons, including those for
private religious services in private homes, by up to three months in
prison and a fine. The government did not grant permission to any
antigovernment demonstrators or approve any public meeting by a human
rights group.
Civil society organizations reported continued suppression of the
right to assemble. Dissident Jose Diaz Silva reported that on May 25,
police forcibly entered his home and violently broke up a gathering of
40 persons who were commemorating the anniversary of his organization.
The authorities detained activists for short periods to prevent them
from attending meetings, demonstrations, or ceremonies. The CCDHRN
reported that there there were at least 700 short-term detentions,
compared with approximately 1,500 such detentions in 2008.
Although unauthorized, the Damas de Blanco generally were allowed
to assemble and stage marches each Sunday demanding freedom for their
imprisoned family members. However, the organization reported that
their activities beyond the traditional weekly marches were disrupted
on several occasions during the year. Members reported brief detentions
aimed at blocking participation in events, threats from state security
agents that visits or calls to imprisoned family members would be
limited or discontinued if activities continued, and ``acts of
repudiation'' during marches and activities.
During the first week of August, prior to the ``Maleconazo''
anniversary commemoration, human rights activists reported a
significant increase in monitoring and detentions. More than a dozen
activists were detained for several days to prevent them from leading
or participating in commemorative events.
Human rights activists reported frequent government monitoring and
disruption of cell phone and landline services prior to planned events
or key anniversaries related to human rights.
Freedom of Association.--The law specifically prohibits
unrecognized groups, and the government routinely denied its citizens
freedom of association. The constitution proscribes any political
organization other than the CP. Authorities have never approved the
establishment of a human rights group; however, a number of
professional associations operated as NGOs without legal recognition.
Recognized churches, the Roman Catholic humanitarian organization
Caritas, the Freemason movement, and a number of fraternal or
professional organizations were the only associations permitted to
function outside the formal structure of the state, the CP, and their
mass organizations. The authorities continued to ignore applications
from new groups for legal recognition, including several new religious
groups as well as women's rights and gay rights organizations, thereby
subjecting members to potential charges of illegal association.
However, the Cuban Council of Churches (CCC) reported that six new
religious denominations were legally recognized during the year.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution recognizes the right of
citizens to practice any religious belief within the framework of the
law; however, the government continued to restrict freedom of religion.
Although it did not favor any particular religion or church, the
government cosponsored public events with some churches through the
CCC. The CCC includes 25 religious organizations as full members, eight
associate members, and two with observer status. It does not include
the Catholic Church, among others.
The government required churches and other religious groups to
enroll with the provincial registry of associations within the Ministry
of Justice to obtain official recognition. A government directive
requires house-church operators to register their house churches with
the government. To register, an operator must meet a number of
requirements, such as limiting weekly meetings to a number specified by
local authorities. The CCC reported that there were approximately 2,400
registered house churches, while the status of another 300 to 400
remained pending.
The government rarely permitted the construction of new churches,
although it increasingly permitted the restoration and expansion of
existing churches.
Education was secular, and no primary or secondary religious
educational institutions were allowed. However, the Catholic Church,
Protestant churches, and Jewish synagogues were permitted to offer
religious education classes to their members and adult education
classes to the general public.
Leaders from several different Protestant denominations reported
efforts by DGSE agents to infiltrate congregations and to report on the
content of sermons and religious activities. In addition the NGO
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported that more than 30 pastors
were detained during the year and threatened with charges of
``dangerousness'' in association with their religious activities. One
pastor, Omar Gude Perez, was convicted in July on charges of
``falsification of documents'' and sentenced to six years in prison;
Gude claimed he was targeted because of his religious activities.
Religious literature and other materials generally are imported
through a registered religious group and distributed to officially
recognized religious groups.
Religious groups were required to submit a request to local CP
officials before holding processions or events outside of religious
buildings.
The CSW also reported that in May authorities confiscated the home
of pastor Tomaza Victoria Ayala Zellero of Las Tunas Province, which
also served as her church, leaving the family homeless. The government
threatened to charge Ayala with ``dangerousness'' if she continued to
participate in religious services. Authorities also closed the family's
carpentry shop, depriving them of all sources of income.
There were isolated but decreasing reports of mistreatment and
discrimination against Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses
in employment and education.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal violence, harassment, or discrimination against members of
religious groups. There were between 1,000 and 1,500 members of the
Jewish community. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law qualifies freedom of movement
within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, and
in practice the government severely restricted these rights.
The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in providing protection and assistance to the small number of refugees
and asylum seekers in the country.
The government tightly restricted foreign and domestic travel and
limited internal migration from rural areas to Havana. Authorities
frequently picked up dissidents visiting Havana and promptly escorted
them back to their home provinces.
Although the constitution allows all citizens to travel anywhere
within the country, changes of residence were heavily restricted. The
local housing commission and provincial government authorities
considered requests for change of residence largely on the basis of
housing space. During the wait for permission, which routinely lasted
six months or more, the applicant could not obtain food rations or a
local identification card in the new location. Anyone living in a
location illegally may be fined and sent home. While the regulation was
in effect nationwide, it was applied most frequently in Havana. Human
rights organizations estimated that the expulsion from Havana of young
persons and individuals from the eastern provinces averaged more than
100 persons a week. Police threatened to prosecute for
``dangerousness'' anyone who returned to Havana after having been
expelled.
The government restricted both emigration and temporary foreign
travel, mainly by requiring an exit permit. The government allowed the
majority of persons who qualified for immigrant or refugee status in
other countries to depart. However, at least 450 citizens who had
received foreign travel documents were denied exit permits during the
year. Persons routinely denied exit permits included medical personnel,
men of military age, and citizens with certain political beliefs. An
unpublished government policy denies exit permits to medical
professionals until they have performed, on average, six to eight years
of service in their profession after requesting permission to travel
abroad; nurses and medical technicians waited an average of two to
three years to receive exit permission.
The government denied exit permits for several years to relatives
of individuals who migrated illegally (for example, merchant seamen and
sports figures who defected while out of the country). The government
frequently withheld exit visas from dissidents. After a wait of more
than 15 years, dissident physician Hilda Molina received an exit visa
in June to visit her elderly mother and son in Argentina.
The government also denied exit permission to citizens who held
valid foreign travel documents. In October blogger Yoani Sanchez was
denied permission to travel abroad to receive a prestigious journalism
award, the most recent in a series of denials.
The law permits authorities to bar an individual from a certain
area, or to restrict an individual to a certain area, for a period of
one to 10 years. Under this provision, authorities may internally exile
any person whose presence in a given location is considered ``socially
dangerous.'' Authorities routinely warned emigrants and their family
members that speaking out against the government abroad could result in
repercussions for relatives remaining in Cuba, such as loss of
employment or denial of permission to leave the country.
Those seeking to emigrate legally alleged they also faced fines,
reprisals, harassment, and intimidation by the government, including
involuntary job transfers, threatened arrest, and dismissal from
employment. Government employees who apply to emigrate legally to the
United States are usually fired from their jobs when their plans become
known, which is not normally the case for those who seek to emigrate to
other countries. The government routinely waited up to eight years to
grant permission to doctors or other professionals with advanced
degrees to emigrate.
Fees for medical exams, exit permissions, passport costs, and
airport taxes are payable only in convertible pesos and amounted to
approximately 580 convertible pesos (approximately $625) for an adult,
or nearly three years' salary. These fees represented a significant
hardship, particularly for migrants who had been forced from their jobs
and had no income. At year's end some would-be migrants were unable to
leave the country because of inability to pay exit fees. Authorities
routinely dispossessed migrants and their families of their homes and
most of their belongings before permitting them to leave the country.
The law provides for imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of
300 to 1,000 pesos (approximately $11 to $38) for unauthorized
departures by boat or raft. The government also sometimes applied a law
on trafficking in persons to would-be migrants charged with organizing
or promoting illegal exits. The law provides for imprisonment from two
to five years for those who organize, promote, or incite illegal exit
from national territory. The CCDHRN estimated that at year's end
approximately 300 citizens had been fined, were awaiting charges, or
were serving sentences on trafficking charges. Jail terms were more
common for persons attempting to flee to the United States through the
Guantanamo U.S. Naval Base. Under the terms of the 1994 U.S.-Cuba
Migration Accord, the government agreed not to prosecute or retaliate
against migrants returned from international or U.S. waters, or from
the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo, after attempting to emigrate
illegally if they had not committed a separate criminal offense.
However, in practice some would-be migrants experienced harassment and
discrimination such as fines, expulsion from school, and job loss.
The government generally refused to accept nationals returned from
U.S. territory beyond the maritime limits of the Migration Accord.
However, under a 2008 migration accord with Mexico, the government
accepted the return of approximately 100 migrants in three separate
repatriations.
Protection of Refugees.--Although the country is not a party to the
1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967
protocol, the constitution provides for the granting of asylum to
individuals persecuted for their ideals or actions involving a number
of specified political grounds. Although the government has no formal
mechanism to process asylum for foreign nationals, in practice it
provided protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to
countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened on account
of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social
group, or political opinion. These protections were also provided to
some fugitives from justice, whom the government defined as refugees
for political reasons.
The government allowed a small number of asylum seekers identified
by the UNHCR to remain in the country while third-country settlement
was being sought. In addition the government allowed foreign medical
students who feared persecution in their home countries to remain in
the country after the end of their studies so that an investigation of
their concerns could be conducted.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
While the constitution provides for direct election of provincial,
municipal, and National Assembly members, citizens do not have the
right to change their government, and the government retaliated against
those who sought peaceful political change.
In February 2008 the National Assembly unanimously elected Raul
Castro to succeed his brother as chief of state, president, and
commander in chief of the armed forces. Without citizen participation,
existing undemocratic institutions, including the armed forces, the CP,
and the National Assembly, endorsed the transfer of power.
In the elections for the National Assembly held in 2008, the
government promoted a unified CP-approved slate of candidates. The CP
candidates and their allies won 98.7 percent of the vote and 607 of 614
seats in the National Assembly.
Elections and Political Participation.--Candidates for provincial
and national office must be approved in advance by mass organizations,
such as the women's and youth party organizations controlled by the
government. A small group of leaders, under the direction of the
president, selected the members of the highest policy-making bodies of
the CP, the Politburo, and the Central Committee. Although non-CP
members can contest elections, all candidates must be approved by CP-
dominated candidacy commissions, and the commissions approve only one
candidate per office. Although not a formal requirement, in practice CP
membership was a prerequisite for high-level official positions and
professional advancement.
The government maintained a dossier on every child from
kindergarten through high school, which included a record of the
child's participation in political activities, such as mandatory
marches. Full participation in political activities, such as membership
in the Union of Pioneers of Cuba, a regimented youth organization used
by the government for political indoctrination, was essential to
advance in the school system.
There were two women in the 24-member Politburo and 15 in the 107-
member Central Committee. Women held eight seats in the 27-member
Council of State and 265 seats in the 614-seat National Assembly.
Persons of African descent held five seats in the Politburo.
Following the selection of the National Assembly in February 2008, the
government reported its composition as 64 percent white, 19 percent
black, and 16 percent mixed race.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. The
World Bank's worldwide governance indicators reflected that government
corruption was a problem.
Unofficial reports indicated that in April the military, which
controls most state-run enterprises and joint ventures with
international firms, detained several high-ranking officials as part of
an investigation into corruption and black-market sales. In August the
National Assembly voted to establish a new Office of the General
Comptroller and ratified the nominee to take charge of the office as
part of an effort to address corruption and to increase control over
state assets. The office began functioning immediately and performed
audits during the year.
Government officials are not subject to any special financial
disclosure laws. The law provides for three to eight years'
imprisonment for ``illegal enrichment'' by authorities or government
employees. All government agencies, especially the Ministry of Auditing
and Control and the Ministry of the Interior, are tasked with combating
corruption and unlawfulness, including through prosecution of
government officials.
The law provides for public access to government information, but
in practice requests for information routinely were rejected, often on
the grounds that access is not a right.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
In violation of its own statutes, the government did not recognize
any domestic human rights groups or permit them to function legally.
Several human rights organizations continued to function outside the
law, including the CCDHRN, the MCL, the Assembly to Promote Civil
Society, and the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights. The government
subjected domestic human rights advocates to violence, intense
intimidation, and harassment.
The government occasionally staged acts of repudiation, mobilizing
Communist militants and others to hold public rallies aimed at
intimidating and ostracizing members of dissident organizations.
There are no officially recognized, independent NGOs that monitor
human rights. The government refused to recognize or meet with any
unauthorized NGOs who monitor human rights.
The government continued to deny human rights organizations and the
International Committee of the Red Cross access to political prisoners
and detainees. However, it invited Manfred Nowak, UN special rapporteur
for torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or
punishment, to conduct a mission to the country during the year,
although a date had not been agreed upon by year's end.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, gender,
disability, or social status; however, racial discrimination occurred
frequently.
Women.--The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and the
government enforced the law. The government did not release statistics
during the year on arrests, prosecutions, or convictions for rape, and
no reliable information regarding the incidence of rape was available.
The law does not recognize domestic violence as a distinct category
of violence but prohibits threats and inflicting injuries, including
those associated with domestic violence. Penalties for domestic
violence are covered by the laws against assault and range from fines
to prison sentences of varying lengths, depending on the severity of
the offense.
Human rights advocates reported that violence against women was a
problem, and police often did not act on cases of domestic violence.
The press rarely reported on violent crime, and the government did not
release data on the extent of domestic violence. However, the CCDHRN
and the Cuban Chapter of the Latin American Federation of Rural Women
reported that domestic violence was a serious problem and that there
was a lack of programs to protect victims.
To raise awareness about domestic violence, the government
continued to carry out media campaigns during the year. The CCDHRN
believed that many women did not report acts of domestic violence
because they feared doing so could trigger another attack. Government-
sponsored NGOs continued efforts to establish more accurately the
prevalence of domestic violence. In March several government-sponsored
NGOs cooperated with foreign NGOs to hold a workshop on the prevention
of gender violence.
Prostitution is legal for persons 16 and older, but pandering and
economic activities facilitating prostitution, including room rentals,
are illegal. Women engaged in prostitution were routinely arrested
under loitering and ``dangerousness'' laws. The CCDHRN estimated that
there were at least 500 women serving sentences for prostitution-
related activities. Large numbers of foreign tourists visiting the
country patronized prostitutes. Some police officers were suspected of
providing protection to individuals engaged in prostitution.
The law provides penalties for sexual harassment, with potential
sentences of three months' to five years' imprisonment. The law was
applied most frequently to male supervisors ``abusing their power''
over female subordinates, according to the CCDHRN. The government did
not release any statistics during the year on arrests, prosecutions, or
convictions for offenses related to sexual harassment.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children and had the information and means to do
so free from discrimination. Access to information on contraception and
skilled attendance at delivery and in postpartum care were widely
available. Women and men were given equal access to diagnostic services
and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
The law provides that women and men have equal rights and
responsibilities regarding marriage, divorce, raising children,
maintaining the home, and pursuing a career. The law grants working
mothers preferential access to goods and services. The law provides for
equal pay for equal work, and women generally received pay comparable
to men for similar work.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory.
There was no societal pattern of child abuse.
While there was underage prostitution, there were no reliable
statistics available regarding its extent. The minimum age of consent
for consensual sex is 16. There is no statutory rape law; however,
penalties for rape increase as the age of the victim decreases, from
four to 10 years' imprisonment if the victim is 14 or 15 years old, to
15 to 30 years' imprisonment, or death, if the victim is under 12.
While the law does not specifically prohibit child pornography, it
prohibits the production or distribution of any kind of obscene graphic
material, with possible sanctions ranging from three months to one year
in prison and a fine.
The government, in cooperation with the British government and a
British NGO, ran a center in Havana for the treatment of child sexual
abuse victims, including victims of trafficking. The center employed
modern treatment techniques, including the preparation of children to
be witnesses in criminal prosecutions.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits most forms of
trafficking in persons; however, there were reports that women were
trafficked to Mexico, the Bahamas, and Europe. There were also
unverified reports that children were trafficked within the country for
purposes of sexual exploitation.
The nature and extent of trafficking were difficult to gauge due to
the closed nature of the government and the lack of NGO reporting;
however, some citizens who had successfully emigrated on ``go-fast''
vessels were forced to work as deckhands on subsequent smuggling trips
to pay off smuggling debts and, according to foreign law enforcement
officials, female migrants were sometimes raped or forced into
prostitution by the traffickers. There was no information available
regarding types of persons who engaged in trafficking or their methods.
The law provides penalties for anyone who ``induces, cooperates
with, promotes, or gets a benefit from the exercise of prostitution.''
If the offense involves the victim's entry or exit from the country,
the penalty ranges from 20 to 30 years' imprisonment. The law provides
for penalties of seven to 15 years' imprisonment for trafficking for
forced labor, prostitution, and trade in organs, both domestically and
internationally. The law provides for penalties of four to 10 years'
imprisonment for ``inducing, in any way, or promoting another person to
engage in prostitution or bodily commerce.'' The sentence increases to
10 to 20 years if the perpetrator occupies certain positions of
responsibility in the government, is in a position of authority over
the victim, or uses violence or coercion to force the victim to engage
in prostitution. The law also provides sentences of 20 to 30 years for
anyone convicted of facilitating prostitution after a previous
conviction or anyone accused of habitually promoting prostitution. A
criminal court can levy damages, called ``responsibilities,'' and can
assess damages to be paid through the court to the victim. The CCDHRN
stated that in cases of internal trafficking, rather than bring a
trafficking charge, the government might charge the individual with
facilitating prostitution.
There were no reliable statistics on the number of traffickers
prosecuted or convicted during the year. The CCDHRN stated that
although it could not make reliable estimates, many individuals were
serving sentences for facilitating prostitution, but it was unclear
whether these individuals actually trafficked in persons or merely
facilitated work by willing individuals. The CCDHRN reported that those
prosecuted or convicted had entered the country from the United States,
Mexico, or other nearby countries such as the Bahamas, but the
government did not provide any information about these individuals.
There were no known investigations or prosecution of public
officials for complicity in trafficking during the year, although some
police officers reportedly accepted bribes in connection with
prostitution.
The Ministries of Justice and Education, the PNR, and local
governments were tasked with different facets of combating trafficking
in persons and the problem of underage prostitution; no single entity
had complete autonomy dealing with these problems. Police were
responsible for investigating and arresting traffickers, the Ministry
of Justice with prosecuting and incarcerating traffickers, and the
Ministry of Education with helping women resettle into the community.
No information was available concerning government assistance with
international investigations of trafficking or the extradition of
traffickers.
Although prostitution is not a crime per se, individuals who
engaged in prostitution, including possible trafficking victims and
children, often were treated as criminals, detained, and taken to
rehabilitation centers that were not staffed with personnel who were
adequately trained or equipped to care for trafficking victims.
There were no known government programs to prevent trafficking.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no known law prohibiting
official discrimination against persons with disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, or in the provision of
other state services. However, a Ministry of Labor and Social Security
resolution gives persons with disabilities the right to equal
employment opportunities and to equal pay for equal work. There was no
official discrimination against persons with disabilities. There are no
laws mandating accessibility to buildings for persons with
disabilities, and in practice buildings and transportation rarely were
accessible to persons with disabilities.
The Special Education Division of the Ministry of Education was
responsible for the education and training of children with
disabilities. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security was in charge
of the Job Program for the Handicapped.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Afro-Cubans often suffered
racial discrimination, including frequent and disproportionate stops
for identity checks and searches of backpacks and personal items,
insults, and racial epithets. Afro-Cubans were disproportionately
represented in neighborhoods with the worst housing conditions and were
economically disadvantaged in part because of employment
discrimination, notably in the tourist industry. The government made no
efforts to address racial discrimination because it denied that any
such discrimination existed. A former political prisoner stated that
Afro-Cuban political prisoners were targeted for even worse treatment
than the norm.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Officially, there was no
discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing,
statelessness, or access to education or health care. However, societal
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity
persisted, as police occasionally conducted sweeps in areas where gay
men congregated, particularly along sections of Havana's waterfront. On
March 24, police arrested 20 male transvestites in Central Havana. Some
were reportedly detained for several hours and ordered to stop dressing
in women's clothing. Gay rights organizations also reported cases of
individuals discharged from their jobs due to their sexual orientation.
Mariela Castro, the president's daughter, headed the national
Center for Sexual Education and continued to be outspoken in promoting
gay rights. Despite these efforts, several nongovernment gay rights
activists asserted that the government had done nothing to stop
frequent cases of police brutality and harassment of LGBT persons. In
August two LGBT activists were detained without charges for 13 days in
connection with their efforts to plan a ``Mr. Gay Cuba'' competition.
During the detention, police destroyed or damaged personal property and
seized computer equipment used by the activists. The activists were
held incommunicado for more than 24 hours. On September 3, the contest
winner reported that he had been detained for several hours and
threatened with expulsion from medical school as a result of his
participation in the contest.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--Some persons with HIV/
AIDS suffered job discrimination or were rejected by their families.
The government operated four prisons exclusively for inmates with HIV/
AIDS; some inmates were serving sentences for ``propagating an
epidemic.''
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law does not allow workers to
form and join unions of their choice. The only legal labor union in the
country was the CTC, whose leaders were chosen by the CP. The CTC's
principal responsibility was to ensure that government production goals
were met. It did not bargain collectively, promote worker rights or
protect the right to strike. Virtually all workers were required to
belong to the CTC, and promotions frequently were limited to CP members
who took part in mandatory marches, public humiliations of dissidents,
and other state-organized activities.
The government can determine that a worker is ``unfit'' to work,
resulting in job loss and the denial of job opportunities. Persons were
deemed unfit for their political beliefs, including their refusal to
join the official union, or for trying to depart the country illegally.
Several small independent labor organizations operated without legal
recognition, including the Union of Bicycle Taxi Drivers, the Christian
Labor Organization, and the National Independent Workers' Confederation
of Cuba. These organizations also were subject to police harassment and
infiltration by government agents and were unable to represent workers
effectively or work on their behalf.
The government continued to incarcerate independent labor
activists. Of the 75 dissidents jailed in 2003, seven were independent
labor leaders and five remained in prison during the year, serving
sentences of between 12 and 25 years.
The law does not provide for the right to strike, and no strikes
were known to have occurred during the year.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Although
provided for in the law, collective bargaining did not exist in
practice. Because the only legal union is a government entity,
antiunion discrimination, by definition, did not exist.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law does not
prohibit forced or compulsory labor by adults. Convicts were often
forced to work on farms or in construction, agricultural, or metal
work. Authorities also often imprisoned persons who refused to
participate in mandatory work.
Compulsory and unpaid labor, called ``voluntary work,'' was
regularly organized to accomplish ordinary production or to complete
other tasks such as repairs, cleaning, painting, and decorating or to
mobilize a large agricultural labor force.
The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor by children, but the
government required children to work in various situations (see section
7.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children, and the Ministry
of Labor and Social Security was responsible for enforcement.
Nonetheless, the government required children to work in various
situations.
Students at rural boarding schools were expected to participate in
several hours of manual labor per day. Secondary school students were
expected to devote up to 15 days of their summer vacation completing a
variety of tasks ranging from farm labor to urban cleanup projects and
were paid a small wage for this labor. Students in postsecondary
institutions (technical schools, university preparatory schools, and
agricultural institutes) were expected to devote 30 to 45 days per year
to primarily agricultural work. Refusal to do agricultural work or some
substitute could result in expulsion from school, although such
expulsions rarely occurred.
The legal minimum working age is 17, although the labor code
permits the employment of 15- and 16-year-old children to obtain
training or to fill labor shortages. However, in practice it was rare
that children under 17 worked. The labor code does not permit teenagers
to work more than seven hours per day or 40 hours per week, or on
holidays. Children ages 13 to 18 cannot work in specified hazardous
occupations, such as mining, or at night.
There were no known government programs to prevent child labor or
remove children from such labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The monthly minimum wage, which
is established and enforced by the Ministry of Labor and Social
Security (MLSS), was fixed at 225 pesos (approximately $10). There is
no fixed period for review or revision of the minimum wage, which was
last revised in 2005. The MLSS did not engage in any public
consultation with workers or employers prior to fixing the wage. The
MLSS enforced the minimum wage requirement through offices at the
national, provincial, and municipal level and did so effectively. The
government supplemented the minimum wage with free education,
subsidized medical care (daily pay is reduced by 40 percent after the
third day of a hospital stay), housing, and some subsidized food.
However, the amount of food provided by the government for each
individual (through the ration card system) was reduced in June. The
government stopped providing free lunches at some government ministries
late in the year, replacing it with an additional payment of 15 pesos
($0.62) per day. Even with subsidies, the government acknowledged that
the minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. In practice even the average wage of 415 pesos per
month (approximately $18) combined with government subsidies did not
provide a reasonable standard of living.
The standard workweek is 44 hours, with shorter workweeks in
hazardous occupations, such as mining. The law provides workers with a
weekly 24-hour rest period. These standards were effectively enforced.
The law does not provide for premium pay for overtime or prohibit
obligatory overtime but places a cap on the number of overtime hours
that may be worked per week or per year. Compensation for overtime is
paid either in cash at the regular hourly rate or in additional rest
time, particularly for workers directly linked to production or
services, and does not apply to management. Workers frequently
complained that overtime compensation was either not paid or not paid
in a timely manner. The law provides little grounds for a worker to
refuse to work overtime. Refusal to work overtime could result in a
notation in the employee's official work history that could imperil
subsequent requests for vacation time.
Laws providing for workplace environmental and safety controls were
inadequate and the government lacked effective enforcement mechanisms.
The law provides that a worker who considers his life in danger because
of hazardous conditions has the right to refuse to work in a position
or not to engage in specific activities until such risks are
eliminated; the worker remains obligated to work temporarily in
whatever other position may be assigned at a salary provided for under
the law.
Official reports noted an increase in work-related accidents and
fatalities during the year, particularly in sectors where safety-
related spending had fallen short in 2008. According to the former
president of the Confederation of Independent Workers of Cuba, there
were numerous violations of health and safety laws at worksites
throughout the country, and conditions were particularly dangerous in
the construction industry. Welders and persons who work with
pesticides, he alleged, were rarely provided with protective equipment.
Truck drivers for state firms frequently had to drive vehicles in poor
repair. He stated that the CTC seldom informed workers of their rights
and did not respond to or assist workers who complained about hazardous
workplace conditions.
__________
DOMINICA
Dominica is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy with a population
of approximately 72,500. Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit's Dominica
Labour Party (DLP) prevailed over the opposition United Workers Party
(UWP) by a margin of 18 seats to 3 seats in elections on December 18.
Although outside observers found the elections generally free and fair,
the opposition boycotted Parliament over alleged electoral abuses.
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in a few areas, primarily poor
prison conditions, corruption, domestic violence against women and
children, and adverse conditions experienced by indigenous Kalinago
(Carib).
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
The case of two police officers charged with murder for shooting
and killing a man in 2007 was still pending prosecution at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--While the constitution prohibits such practices, there
were reports that police used excessive force while making arrests,
including documented cases in which the police shot victims.
There was no new information available about the cases in which
police shot and injured persons in 2007, the 2006 beating by police
that went before a civil court, nor about a pending case from 2005.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor. Conditions remained unsanitary, and many buildings were in
disrepair. The country's single prison held fewer prisoners than its
designed capacity.
Juvenile detainees were held with adults, and pretrial detainees
were held with convicted prisoners.
The government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, although no such visits were known to have occurred during
the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The prime minister's
office oversees the Dominica Police, the country's only security force.
The force of approximately 400 officers effectively carried out its
responsibilities to maintain public order. The police have a formal
complaint procedure to handle allegations of excessive force or abuse
by police officers. Corruption was not a problem within the police
force.
The police Internal Affairs Department investigates public
complaints against the police and provides officers with counseling.
There were no cases of misconduct filed during the year.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The police
apprehend persons openly with warrants issued by a judicial authority.
The law requires that the authorities inform persons of the reasons for
arrest within 24 hours after arrest and bring the detainee to court
within 72 hours. This requirement generally was honored in practice. If
the authorities are unable to bring a detainee to court within the
requisite period, the detainee may be released and rearrested at a
later time. There is a functioning system of bail. Criminal detainees
were provided prompt access to counsel and family members.
Lengthy detention before trial was a problem due to judicial
inefficiency and staff shortages. On average prisoners remained in
remand status for more than three months.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
The judicial system is composed of the High Court with two judges,
and four magistrates based in the capital city of Roseau who
periodically travel around the country. Appeals can be made first to
the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and then to the Privy Council in
the United Kingdom.
Inadequate police staffing for investigations, together with a lack
of judges, resulted in severe backlogs and other problems in the
judicial system.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
There are public trials by jury, and defendants have the right to be
present, to consult with an attorney in a timely manner, and to
confront or question witnesses. Criminal defendants are presumed
innocent until proven guilty, are allowed legal counsel, and have the
right to appeal. Courts provide free legal counsel to juveniles unable
to obtain their own counsel, regardless of the crime committed, and to
the indigent, but only in cases involving serious crimes. Defendants
and their attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to
their cases.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent,
impartial judiciary in civil matters where one can bring lawsuits
seeking damages for a human rights violation.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The 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.
In the December election campaign, the opposition claimed that the
government blocked its access to the main government-owned radio
station, and purchased all the advertising time on the largest private
station, restricting the opposition to a smaller private station that
only reached about one quarter of the country.
Prime Minister Skerrit ceased pursuing the libel suit he filed
against the Times newspaper in 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 e-mail. The
Internet was largely available in homes, offices, and Internet cafes in
urban areas, but infrastructure limitations restricted Internet access
in villages. According to the International Telecommunication Union,
there were 41 Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
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 requires all religious organizations to register.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Rastafarians complained that
the use of marijuana, an aspect of their religious rituals, was illegal
and that their members were victims of societal discrimination,
especially in hiring. There is a small Muslim community and no
organized Jewish community; there were no reports of discrimination
against either community or of any anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution and the law provide
for freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration,
and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights
in practice.
The only internal restriction on movement applies to the Carib
Reserve area. Since all the land is collectively owned by the community
and managed by the Carib Council, for a newcomer to live in the
territory, the council would have to grant permission to use the land.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the government did not
use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol,
but the government has not established a legal or procedural system for
providing protection to refugees. The law provides for asylum or
refugee status, but the government did not grant refugee status or
asylum during the year.
In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened.
Although no known cases occurred, the government was prepared to
cooperate 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 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 parliamentary elections
held on December 18, the ruling DLP won 18 seats in the House of
Assembly, defeating the UWP, which won three seats. The race was
extremely close, with three constituencies decided by five votes or
less. The opposition alleged that the government unconstitutionally
denied it media access, delayed any type of voter identification
system, and provided direct and indirect incentives to voters,
particularly by flying in citizens residing elsewhere. The opposition
decided to boycott Parliament, in hope of pressuring the government to
call new elections with increased protections in place.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organization of American
States (OAS) both sent teams of election observers. Both organizations
declared the election to be fair and transparent, despite allegations
from the opposition and the nongovernmental organization (NGO)
community claiming that basic democratic principles were not upheld.
The lack of a voter identification card allowed individuals to vote by
simply stating their name, address, and occupation, without having to
show any documentation to prove their identity. Voters are required to
return to the country every five years to maintain their right to vote,
but there were limited ways to check the travel record of those
residing abroad.
Political parties could generally operate without restrictions. The
opposition brought court cases alleging that the government restricted
media access of the opposition candidates, in addition to other
complaints.
The new cabinet had not been named by year's end. In the pre-
election government, there were six women in the 31-seat legislature:
four elected to the House of Assembly and two appointed members to the
10-seat Senate, three of whom served as cabinet ministers. A woman also
served as attorney general, a cabinet position. The speaker of the
house was a woman.
The parliamentary representative for the constituency that includes
the Carib Territory was a Carib, who served concurrently as minister
for Carib affairs in the pre-election government.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively. The
World Bank's worldwide governance indicators reflected that government
corruption was a problem. There were multiple reports in the press and
by NGOs of corruption in the government, including accusations that
some government officials engaged in property speculation. These
allegations focused upon the Layou River tourism development, misuse of
the economic citizenship program, improper ambassadorial appointments,
and no-bid government contracts. There were also accusations that
government ministers received unreported money from foreign sources.
In November 2008 a government commission to implement the 2004
Integrity in Public Service Act began operating to minimize government
corruption. The act requires government officials to account annually
for their income and assets and those of their immediate family, as
well as any gifts they have received. The commission is required to
examine each declaration and determine its validity. This declaration
is private, and the only disclosure is whether the commission has
received it and if it has been deemed valid. If misrepresentation is
found, the official can be liable for a fine of EC$20,000 ($7,500) or
two years' imprisonment, with additional penalties for bribery,
possession of unaccounted property, and other provisions. The public
submitted multiple claims, but the commission decided against
investigating any of them. The chairman stated that, since the alleged
crimes occurred before the commission's establishment, they did not
fall under its legal mandate.
The Financial Intelligence Unit is the chief government agency
responsible for identifying and combating government corruption. In
addition the police force and customs service have internal watchdog
offices.
The law does not provide for public access to government
information, and the government did not provide routine access in
practice. The government maintained a Web page, where it posted limited
information such as directories of officials and a summary of laws and
press releases. The government budget and an audit of that budget were
both publicly available on the Web site.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no government restrictions on the formation of local
human rights organizations, although no such groups existed. Several
advocacy groups, such as the Association of Disabled People, the
Dominica National Council of Women (DNCW), and a women's and children's
self-help organization, operated freely and without government
interference.
There were no requests for investigations of human rights abuses
from international or regional human rights groups. A parliamentary
commissioner has responsibility to investigate complaints against the
government.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law specifically prohibits discrimination based on race,
gender, place of origin, color, and creed, and the authorities
generally respected this prohibition in practice.
Women.--The law criminalizes rape but not spousal rape. Police were
not reluctant to arrest or prosecute offenders; whenever possible,
female police officers handled rape cases. Although the maximum
sentence for sexual molestation (rape or incest) is 25 years'
imprisonment, the normal sentence given was five to seven years, except
in the case of murder. The Bureau of Gender Affairs of the Ministry of
Community Development, Social Services, and Gender Affairs assisted
victims of abuse by finding temporary shelter, providing counseling to
both parties, or recommending police action. The bureau also
coordinated interagency efforts to collect data, advocate policy
changes, and provide programs for the empowerment of women.
Domestic violence cases were common. Although no specific laws
criminalize spousal abuse, spouses could bring charges against their
partners for battery. However, victims were often reluctant to press
charges due to their reliance on financial assistance of the abuser.
Shelters were operated in private homes, in order to preserve the
privacy of the victims, but the location of a shelter was hard to keep
secret. The law allows abused persons to appear before a magistrate
without an attorney and request a protective order. The court also may
order the alleged perpetrator to be removed from the home to allow the
victims, usually women and children, to remain in the home while the
matter is investigated. However, inadequate police resources made
enforcement of these restraining orders difficult. Police officers
continued to receive training in dealing with domestic abuse cases.
The Bureau of Gender Affairs reported that both men and women
sought assistance in dealing with domestic violence. Despite the range
of programs offered, there were insufficient support systems to deal
with the problem. In addition to counseling services offered by the
DNCW and the bureau, there was a legal aid clinic, and the government's
legal department offered assistance as well.
The DNCW provided preventive education about domestic violence and
maintained a shelter where counseling and mediation services were
available daily. Due to a shortage of funding, the organization could
permit persons to stay at the shelter only for several days at a time;
however, if needed, additional housing was provided in private homes
for up to three weeks. Because of the country's small size, abusive
spouses commonly found and visited the victims at the shelter, making
private homes a safer option in many cases. The Catholic Church
continued to be active in educating the public about domestic violence.
Prostitution is illegal, but authorities rarely enforced laws
against it. There were anecdotal reports but no evidence to support the
claim of trafficking in persons for commercial sexual exploitation.
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and it remained a
problem. Government enforcement was not an effective deterrent.
There were no restrictions on reproductive rights, as women were
free to choose the number, spacing and timing of their children. Access
to contraception and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases,
including HIV/AIDS, was widely available.
Women enjoy the same rights as men, and the ministry promotes the
legal rights of women. While there was little open discrimination
against women, instances of cultural discrimination existed. Also,
property ownership continued to be deeded to heads of households, who
were usually male. When the male head of household dies without a will,
the wife may not inherit or sell the property, although she may live in
it and pass it to her children. The law establishes pay rates for civil
service jobs without regard to gender. Although there were some women
in managerial or high-level positions, most women worked as
shopkeepers, nurses, or in education, and the unemployment rate for
women was high.
The Bureau of Gender Affairs is charged with promoting and ensuring
the legal rights of women. The bureau provides lobbying, research,
support, counseling, training, and education services. The bureau
worked with the DNCW and other organizations to help the government,
NGO, and police sectors coordinate work on women's issues, particularly
in data collection and information sharing.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth to a Dominican parent.
Birth certificates were provided to the parents on a timely basis.
Child abuse continued to be a pervasive problem, both at home and
at school. The Welfare Department of the Ministry of Community
Development and Gender Affairs handled reports of child abuse; 80
percent of the victims were girls. The Welfare Department also assisted
victims of abuse by finding temporary shelter, providing counseling to
both parties, or recommending police action. The Welfare Department
reported all severe cases of abuse to the police. Lack of staff and
resources continued to hamper enforcement of children's rights laws.
There were allegations of irregular adoptions of children from the
Carib territory, especially to the neighboring French islands.
The age of consent for sexual relations is 16 years. No specific
laws prohibit commercial sexual exploitation of children, but such
activity could be prosecuted under laws against prostitution or
trafficking. There was no information available about laws dealing with
child pornography.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
specifically involving forced labor, commercial sexual exploitation,
and smuggling illegal migrants. There were no confirmed reports that
persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country.
However, there were anecdotal reports that women from the Dominican
Republic, Haiti, South America, Eastern Europe, and Asia entered the
country irregularly to work in underground strip clubs that
proliferated in the outskirts of Canefield or Portsmouth, as well as
some that opened in Roseau. These women faced cultural and language
barriers that made finding assistance difficult. The Ministry of
National Security did not believe that there was widespread trafficking
in persons but acknowledged there might be a few isolated incidents.
There were no reports of trafficking of children.
The DNCW and other activists believed that there may be some
trafficking of women for prostitution but acknowledged it was hard to
prove as most of the women in the sex trade were afraid to come
forward, fearing deportation. An NGO that interviewed commercial sex
workers as part of an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign found that most
appeared to have entered the country for economic reasons and began
working in prostitution thereafter.
Persons convicted of trafficking are subject to a fine of
EC$100,000 (approximately $37,500) and up to seven years in prison, but
there were no known prosecutions for trafficking in recent years.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the law does not specifically
prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities, there was no
reported formal discrimination against them in employment, education,
access to health care, or the provision of other state services.
However, many employers refused to hire persons with disabilities, and
unemployment among them was very high.
There is no legal requirement mandating access to buildings for
persons with disabilities.
There are no programs in school for children with learning or other
disabilities, most of whom did not complete educational programs due to
the difficulty involved in simply getting to and from school and in
keeping up with the curriculum.
Indigenous People.--There was a Kalinago, or Carib, population,
estimated at about 3,000 persons, most of whom lived in the 3,782-acre
Carib Territory. The law establishing the Carib Territory does not
delineate clearly its territorial boundaries. There were four
preschools and two primary schools in the Carib Territory and two
secondary schools in nearby communities attended by Kalinago children;
a new school was under construction in Salybia. Despite these schools,
however, the Carib language has almost completely disappeared, and
students elsewhere in the country are not taught about pre-Columbian
history or the role played by Caribs in shaping the country's society.
The Ministry of Education covered tuition for Kalinago students at the
Dominica State College and awarded scholarships to Kalinago students
for study throughout the Caribbean.
The Carib Act states that any child of a Kalinago is also Kalinago.
Non-Kalinagos may become Kalinagos if they are invited to live in the
Carib Territory and do so continuously for 12 years.
Every five years Kalinagos over the age of 18 who reside in the
territory may vote for the chief and six members of the Council of
Advisors. They also are eligible to vote in national elections. In
national elections, persons who are registered in the district but
reside outside, either in another part of the country or
internationally, are still allowed to vote in the Carib Territory. A
Kalinago headed the Ministry of Carib Affairs and was elected Chief of
the Council of Advisors in August.
The Kalinago people continued to suffer from low levels of
unofficial and societal discrimination. Unemployment in the territory
generally was higher than in the rest of the country, and mean income
was below the national mean. There are few jobs in the territory,
because of the decline of the agricultural sector and the inability to
obtain bank financing due to the lack of collateral in terms of
privately owned land. Many Kalinagos who move to the capital city of
Roseau did not report any significant discrimination. The vast majority
of Kalinagos have intermarried, and it is not always easy to identify
someone as Kalinago.
Although the government set aside funds for a community aid bank
for the Kalinagos, those funds were diverted into the Salybia school
and housing project sponsored by Venezuela. There were complaints that
the money originally allocated for the bank was greater than the amount
being used on those two projects.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The law criminalizes
consensual homosexual relations. Although no statistics were available,
anecdotal evidence suggested that societal discrimination against gays
and lesbians was quite common in the socially conservative society.
There were very few openly gay men or lesbians.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--The government and the
Dominica Planned Parenthood Association initiated programs designed to
discourage discrimination against HIV/AIDS-infected persons and those
living with them.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers exercised the legal right to
organize and choose their representatives. Unions represented
approximately 13 percent of the total work force; approximately half of
government workers were unionized, but less than 30 percent of private
sector workers were unionized. The informal sector accounts for close
to 50 percent of total employment, and workers in that sector are not
unionized. There were six unions: the Public Service Union representing
the public sector, the teachers union representing teachers in both
public and private schools, and four competing unions for the private
sector. There was no labor confederation. Prison guards and
firefighters do not have a staff association or quasi-union such as
they have in neighboring countries, but the police welfare association
functions as a quasi-union.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. However, emergency, port, electricity,
telecommunications, and prison services, as well as banana, coconut,
and citrus fruit cultivation industries, were deemed essential, which
effectively prohibited workers in these sectors from going on strike.
However, in practice essential workers have gone on strike and did not
suffer reprisals. The procedure for essential workers to strike is
quite cumbersome, involving giving appropriate notice and submitting
the grievance to the labor commission for possible mediation. Most such
actions were resolved through mediation through the office of the labor
commissioner.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Unions have
legally defined rights to organize workers and to bargain with
employers. Workers exercised this right, particularly in the
nonagricultural sectors of the economy, including in government
service. Government mediation and arbitration were also available; few
disputes escalated to industrial action. A company, a union
representative, or an individual can request mediation by the labor
commissioner's office. Most of the time the labor commissioner was able
to resolve the matter. In the agricultural sector most workers were not
unionized, as most agricultural work is performed on small family owned
farms. With the collapse of the large-scale banana plantations, most
agricultural workers no longer work for larger plantations.
The law provides that employers must reinstate workers who file a
complaint of illegal dismissal, which can cover being fired for
engaging in union activities, but also covers other grounds of
dismissal, and employers generally did so in practice.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, and there were no reports that such
practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although two laws prohibit employment of children, one law defines a
``child'' as under age 12 and the other as under age 14. The government
defined 15 years as the minimum age for employment and enforced this
standard in principle. Education is compulsory until age 16, and most
children attend school until that age. Children between the ages of 12
and 14 were allowed to work only in certain family enterprises such as
farming. Safety standards limit the type of work, conditions, and hours
of work for children over the age of 14. The government effectively
enforced these standards.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage law, prepared
after tripartite consultations, established a base wage of EC$5.00
(approximately $1.87) per hour for all public and private workers. The
minimum wage was last updated in June 2008 and varies according to
category of worker, with the lowest minimum wage set at EC$4.00
($1.50), and the maximum at EC$5.50 ($2.06) per hour. The minimum wage
did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
However, most workers (including domestic employees) earned more than
the legislated minimum wage as prevailing wages were much higher than
statutory minimum wages. Enforcement was the responsibility of the
labor commissioner.
Labor laws provide that the labor commissioner may authorize the
employment of a person with disabilities at a wage lower than the
minimum rate to enable that person to be employed gainfully. In
practice, even persons with disabilities were generally paid more than
the minimum, and the labor commissioner had not authorized sub-minimum
wages for the last few years.
The standard legal workweek is 40 hours in five days. The law
provides overtime pay for work above the standard workweek; however,
excessive overtime is not prohibited. The government effectively
enforced these standards.
The Employment Safety Act provides occupational health and safety
regulations that are consistent with international standards.
Inspectors from the Environmental Health Department of the Ministry of
Health conducted health and safety surveys. The Department of Labor
conducted inspections that prescribe specific compliance measures,
impose fines, and can result in prosecution of offenders. Workers have
the right to remove themselves from unsafe work environments without
jeopardy to continued employment, and the authorities effectively
enforced this right.
__________
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The Dominican Republic is a representative constitutional democracy
with a population of approximately 9.7 million, plus an estimated
900,000 to 1.2 million undocumented immigrants, mostly Haitians or
their descendents. In May 2008 voters elected President Leonel
Fernandez of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) for a third term, and
in 2006 elections the PLD won majorities in both chambers of Congress.
Impartial outside observers assessed both elections as generally free
and fair. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces, there were instances in which elements
of the security forces acted independently.
Although the government's human rights record continued to improve,
serious problems remained: unlawful killings; beatings and other abuse
of suspects, detainees, and prisoners; poor to harsh prison conditions;
arbitrary arrest and detention of suspects; a large number of
functionally stateless persons; widespread corruption; harassment of
certain human rights groups; violence and discrimination against women;
child prostitution and other abuses of children; trafficking in
persons; severe discrimination against Haitian migrants and their
descendants; violence and discrimination against persons based on
sexual orientation; ineffective enforcement of labor laws; 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,
there were numerous reports that security forces were involved in many
killings that were unlawful, unwarranted, or involved excessive use of
force.
According to the Attorney General's Office, police killed 346
persons in 32 jurisdictions in the course of duty during the year, a
decrease from 455 police killings reported in 2008. Lack of training,
accountability, and inadequate supervision by superiors contributed to
these police killings. Human rights nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) asserted that, as in previous years, the police continued to
employ unwarranted deadly force against criminal suspects.
In May eyewitnesses reported that a police officer shot and killed
19-year-old Jose Gomez Taveras at point-blank range after forcing him
to kneel, even though he seemed cooperative.
In October five police officers shot and killed two suspected
kidnappers in Guayabin, Montecristi Province, in what the officers
asserted was an ``exchange of gunfire.'' In November the police chief
established a three-member investigatory committee headed by a special
prosecutor to investigate the incident. The committee rejected the
officers' assertion and concluded that the officers, along with a
marine sergeant accomplice, executed the suspects. The five officers
and the marine sergeant were free on bail and awaiting their trial at
year's end.
On October 17, a police officer shot and killed 23-year-old
Lissandro Cuevas Ferreras, who was handcuffed while waiting for medical
attention at a hospital in San Cristobal. Authorities detained the
officer involved and initiated an investigation.
There were reports of use of excessive force throughout the year
against demonstrators and protesters by members of the security forces.
Security forces routinely dispersed protesters with tear gas and water
cannons, as well as with live fire. On July 17, during a demonstration
in Santo Domingo, police opened fire on a group of protesters, and two
persons were killed, including a minor. Ballistics tests confirmed an
officer's gun fired the bullet that killed the boy, and authorities
brought charges against the officer involved, who awaited trial at
year's end.
In July a court convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison the
two officers involved in the May 2008 deaths of four civilians and one
police officer in Boca Chica.
There was no information available about the police killing of
three minors who were suspected in a store robbery in May 2008.
There were no known developments in the case of the 2008 police
killing of a minor during a demonstration or the police killing of a
17-year-old playing basketball near a demonstration.
Despite previous reports that the inspector general had named a
commission to investigate the 2007 police killing of Rafael Concepcion
while in police custody and that the police officers involved in the
shooting had been detained, there was no information that anyone was
assigned to investigate or that any charges were filed.
On a number of occasions reported in the media, citizens attacked
alleged criminals in vigilante-style reprisals for theft, robbery, or
burglary. These incidents were attributed to an increase in crime and
the inability of security forces to stem or combat these crimes.
In August a mob in the province of Azua killed a Dominican and a
Haitian national and afterwards set both bodies on fire in retaliation
for an alleged murder of a community resident. In October a group of
armed assailants attacked and killed three Haitians, including two
minors, who were preparing charcoal from illegally harvested trees near
Jimani. Judicial authorities charged two men as accomplices in the
murder of the three Haitians, and an investigation continued at year's
end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
Despite the Public Ministry's 2007 announcement that it would
reopen the investigation, there were no developments, and none were
expected, in the case of journalist Narciso Gonzalez, who disappeared
in 1994 after allegedly criticizing the government.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits torture, beating, and physical
abuse of detainees and prisoners, members of the security forces,
primarily police, continued such practices. The Attorney General's
Office reported that the police were involved in incidents that
resulted in maiming or severely injuring unarmed civilians. However,
improvements in oversight, awareness, and accountability led to a
perception that the police were making efforts to reduce incidents of
physical abuse of detainees. Nonetheless, human rights organizations
stated that uniformed vigilantism persisted on a nonlethal level. There
were also reports of use of excessive force against demonstrators and
protesters by members of the security forces.
The law provides penalties for torture and physical abuse,
including sentences from 10 to 15 years in prison. Civilian prosecutors
sometimes filed charges against police and military officials alleging
torture, physical abuse, and related crimes. Authorities sent abuse and
torture cases to civilian criminal courts rather than police tribunals.
Senior police officials treated the prohibition on torture and
physical abuse seriously, but lack of supervision and training
throughout the law enforcement and corrections systems undercut efforts
to contain the problem. Although observers agreed that conditions
improved somewhat due to an increase in professionally trained
corrections officers, human rights groups and prisoners reported
physical abuse of detainees, most commonly beatings. In July the
president of the National Commission on Human Rights, an NGO, made a
formal complaint to the chief of police, alleging that torture had been
used as a method of interrogation in several instances throughout the
country.
On April 3, an arrestee reported that a police officer forced a
potato into his mouth, put a bag over his head, and beat him with a
phone book. On September 27, in another incident, police forced an
onion into a suspect's mouth, pulled a bag over his head, and beat him
with a glass bottle.
There were no developments in the May 2008 beating of a missionary
who refused to remove her clothing for examination at the Najayo prison
or in the 2007 complaint by the National Commission on Human Rights
against the police with regard to the case of Javier Vicente Reyes
Segura.
Lawyers from the National District prosecutor's office monitored
the investigative process to ensure that detainees' rights were
respected in high-volume police stations and in several National Drug
Control Directorate (DNCD) offices. Assistant prosecutors at times
reportedly acquiesced in improper police practices rather than
insisting they be changed to conform to constitutional standards.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--While prison conditions
generally ranged from poor to extremely harsh, the government made
advances with newer ``model prisons'' known as Correctional and
Rehabilitation Centers (CRCs) where prisoners experienced improved
conditions in comparison to the other facilities. According to the
Office of the Attorney General, there were 18,701 prisoners and
detainees held in 36 prisons, with an intended capacity of
approximately 10,000. The new CRCs held 2,864 prisoners, while 15,837
prisoners were held in conventional prisons. Virtually all prisons,
other than the CRCs, experienced extreme overcrowding. La Victoria
prison, the largest in the country, held more than 4,000 prisoners in a
facility designed for 1,300. This severe overcrowding led to an
informal market wherein prisoners paid as much as 40,000 pesos
(approximately $1,200) to acquire a bed. The cell blocks consisted of
makeshift bed cubicles, stacked three high, in a densely packed warren
of cells. Air circulation was a problem, and the danger of a fire
outbreak was high.
Reports of mistreatment and inmate violence in prisons were common,
as were reports of harassment, extortion, and inappropriate searches of
prison visitors. Health and sanitary conditions were poor, and some
prisons were out of the control of authorities and effectively run by
criminal gangs of armed inmates. In May a riot to protest lack of water
at the Santiago juvenile detention center resulted in a fire in which
two prisoners died; in two other prisons that same month, violence
among prisoners led to the injury of at least 11 prisoners. On
September 2, seven prisoners in La Romana prison were injured during
what was reported as an altercation between rival gangs; another report
suggested that the incident had been a prisoners' riot to protest
prison conditions, including water shortages. A common sentiment among
prison wardens at conventional prisons was that while the wardens may
control the perimeter, inside the prison the inmates often made their
own rules and had their own system of justice. In general this
situation differed from the CRCs, where specialized prison guards
increased control of prison areas. The attorney general reported that
the incidence of corruption within the CRCs remained minimal.
Budget allocations for necessities such as food, medicine, and
transportation were insufficient. Most inmates begged for or purchased
food from persons in the vicinity of the prison or obtained it from
family members. Prisoners were often not taken to their trials unless
they paid bribes to the guards, and visitors often had to bribe prison
guards in order to visit prisoners. Similarly, detainees had to pay
bribes to be allowed to attend vocational training offered at some
facilities. Prison officials accepted money in exchange for a
recommendation that a prisoner be furloughed or released for health
reasons. There were credible allegations that prisoners could obtain
early release on parole for a bribe. Prisons often did not provide
adequate medical care to inmates. Prisoners immobilized with HIV/AIDS
or who had terminal illnesses were not transferred to hospitals.
The National Directorate of Prisons reported at least 52 deaths in
prisons; 38 of the reported deaths in prison were related to various
illnesses, including tuberculosis and HIV. Other deaths and injuries
were reported as the result of violence, and guards reportedly shot and
killed two prisoners who were attempting to escape.
Although a warden who reports to the attorney general was
technically responsible for running each prison, in practice police or
military officers (generally appointed for a period of only three to
six months and responsible for providing security) were usually in
charge of most prisons. Approximately 80 percent of prison guards were
military or police officers rather than civilian correctional officers,
who were employed exclusively at the CRCs.
There were continued allegations of drug and arms trafficking,
prostitution, and sexual abuse within the prisons. There continued to
be special sections within prisons where police officers convicted of
criminal activity, including a few known human rights abusers, were
interned.
As of September, 12 CRCs were built or converted from conventional
prisons, while still more were scheduled to open in the near future.
However, this improvement for 16 percent of the prisoners came at the
expense of others in the system, because when a facility was converted
to a model prison, excess inmates were transferred to other locations,
principally La Victoria, increasing the strain on that already-
overcrowded facility.
Female inmates generally were separated from male inmates. Half of
all female inmates were held in prisons only for women. Conditions in
the prison wings for women generally were better than those in prison
wings for men. Female inmates, unlike their male counterparts, were
prohibited from receiving conjugal visits. Those who gave birth while
incarcerated were permitted to keep their babies with them up to a
year.
Juveniles were processed using specialized juvenile courts and,
with increasingly rare exceptions, were held in juvenile facilities.
Because of serious overcrowding, authorities at many smaller
facilities, such as Higuey prison, did not attempt to segregate
prisoners according to the severity of criminal offense.
Pretrial detainees were held together with convicted prisoners. The
Directorate of Prisons estimated that 62 percent of the prisoners were
in preventive custody, awaiting trial. This figure was difficult to
verify, as many prisoners were considered to be in preventive custody
after an initial conviction because they were awaiting an appeal. The
law states that the pretrial waiting period should not exceed three
months, but it can be extended up to a year in certain cases.
There were also insufficient efforts to segregate and provide
services to the mentally ill, especially at conventional prisons.
The government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers and the media, and such visits took place during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the criminal procedures
code (CPC) prohibits detention without a warrant unless a suspect is
apprehended in the act or in other limited circumstances, arbitrary
arrest and detention continued to be problems. By law authorities may
detain a person without charges for up to 48 hours. There were numerous
reports of individuals held and later released with little or no
explanation for the detention.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police,
the National Department of Intelligence (DNI), the DNCD, the Airport
Security Authority (CESA), the Port Security Authority (CESEP), the
Border Authority (CESFRONT), and the armed forces (army, air force, and
navy) form the security forces. The Secretariat of Interior and Police
is responsible for making policy decisions affecting the police force.
The military, CESA, CESEP, and CESFRONT are under the secretary of the
armed forces; the DNI and the DNCD, which have personnel both from the
police and military, report directly to the president.
In 2008 the police chief announced a zero tolerance policy for
human rights abuses. Police officers were fired or prosecuted through
the criminal justice system when found to have acted outside of
established police procedures. In March a special police commission was
designated to investigate police officers who had alleged links to
narcotraffickers. The police arrested and prosecuted 31 police officers
from Puerto Plata and 20 officers from Bonao.
The Internal Affairs Unit effectively investigated charges of gross
misconduct by members of the National Police. These cases involved
physical or verbal aggression, death threats, improper use of a
firearm, muggings, and theft. By December Internal Affairs had
conducted 2,664 investigations that resulted in 332 dismissals and 985
sanctions.
On many occasions police officials attempted to solicit bribes from
individuals facing arrest or imposition of fines. Local human rights
observers reported on a few occasions that immigration and police
authorities rounded up undocumented construction workers and other
manual laborers of Haitian origin or descent to extort money from them.
NGOs alleged corruption among the military and migration officials
stationed at border posts and noted that these officials sometimes were
complicit in the illegal transit of Haitian workers into the country.
The Institute of Human Dignity, a branch of the National Police,
conducted training courses for police officers. In the revised police
curriculum, both new and existing officers received human and civil
rights training as well as increased technical training. In addition
the Police Academy trained police officers to engage suspects with less
lethal force.
Training for military and DNCD enlisted personnel and officers
included instruction on human rights. The Military Institute of Human
Rights offered diploma courses in human rights and regularly sent
representatives to border units to conduct mandatory human rights
training. The Secretariat of the Armed Forces provided human rights
training or orientation to 1,266 officers of various ranks as well as
civilians during the year.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The
constitution provides that an accused person may be detained for up to
48 hours without a warrant before being presented to judicial
authorities. It also provides for recourse to habeas corpus proceedings
to request the release of those unlawfully held. Any prisoner detained
for more than 48 hours without being formally charged is entitled to
file a motion of habeas corpus. The presiding judge at the habeas
corpus hearing is empowered to order the prisoner's release when the
prisoner has been detained for more than 48 hours without being
formally charged or when there is insufficient proof of a crime to
warrant further detention. The judge's decision to release a prisoner
is subject to appeal by the district attorney.
The law also permits police authorities to apprehend without an
arrest warrant an accused person when the person is caught at the
moment of committing a crime or could be reasonably linked to a crime
(e.g. escaped from prison or detention facility, hot pursuit, etc.).
The CPC establishes a more restrictive 24-hour time limit in which
to make formal charges, which was generally observed.
Despite the foregoing provisions, at times the police detained
suspects for investigation or interrogation longer than 48 hours.
Police often detained all suspects and witnesses in a crime and used
the investigative process to determine the individuals who were
innocent and merited release and those whom they should continue to
hold. Even so, successful habeas corpus hearings reduced these abuses
significantly.
Although previously granted only to a few defendants, bail became
more common under the new CPC, which requires judicial review of
detentions at an earlier point in a criminal case, but the system
proved inadequate to prevent defendants from going into hiding. In some
cases observers suspected that the granting of bail and subsequent
disappearance of the suspect were due to corruption or inefficiencies
within the judicial system.
The law requires provision of counsel to indigent defendants, but
most detainees and prisoners unable to afford defense services did not
have prompt access to a lawyer. The National Office of Public Defense
provided legal advice and representation to indigent persons, but
resource constraints resulted in inadequate levels of staffing.
Nationwide there were 16 public defense offices, with 184 public
defenders, 72 part-time defense lawyers, and 23 investigators. The
government continued its program to train public defenders on relevant
changes caused by implementation of the CPC and expanded training for
prosecutors.
Police continued the practice, albeit less frequently than in
previous years, of making sporadic sweeps or roundups in low-income,
high-crime communities, during which they arrested and detained
individuals without warrants, allegedly to fight delinquency. During
these sweeps police arrested large numbers of residents and seized
personal property allegedly used in criminal activity.
Many suspects endured long pretrial detention. Under the CPC the
judge has authority to order a detainee to remain in police custody
between three months and one year. According to the Directorate of
Prisons, average pretrial detention typically was between three and six
months. Time served in pretrial detention counted toward completing a
sentence. The Public Ministry continued implementing an automated case-
tracking system that permitted prosecutors to adhere more effectively
to pretrial detention regulations and thereby reduce the number of
occasions when the CPC time limits were exceeded. This system covered
15 of 32 district attorney offices.
Juveniles at the Department for Minors at the Villa Juana police
station commonly were held well beyond the 12-hour limit for sending
the case to the district attorney's office. The law prohibits
interrogation of juveniles by the police or in the presence of police.
Prosecutors and judges handled juvenile interrogations.
The failure of prison authorities to produce the accused for court
hearings caused a significant percentage of trial postponements.
Inmates often had their court dates postponed because they were not
taken from prison to court or because their lawyer, codefendants, or
witnesses did not appear. The government did not provide funding to
transport all defendants between prison and court. Despite additional
protections for defendants in the CPC, in some cases the authorities
continued to hold inmates beyond the mandated deadlines even though
there were no formal charges against them.
The judiciary has judicial service offices in La Vega, Moca, and
Puerta Plata. These offices allowed urgent matters in need of a judge
(such as obtaining an arrest or search warrant and conducting
arraignments) to be attended to 24 hours a day. These judicial service
offices were part of an effort to increase efficiency and reorganize
the courts so they operate in conformance with the CPC. This
reorganization proceeded at a steady, if not rapid, pace.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, despite increasing independence in the
judiciary, instances of political influence in decision making were
still evident. Interference by public entities, when it occurred,
tended toward public pronouncements regarding active cases and
selective prosecution, as opposed to direct intervention in existing
cases. On occasion, however, it appeared that judges in superior courts
attempted to influence lower court decisions. In addition, corruption
continued to be a serious problem (see section 4).
The judiciary consists of a 16-member Supreme Court, various
appeals courts, courts of first instance, and justices of the peace.
There are specialized courts that handle tax, labor, land, and juvenile
matters. A Magistrate's Council selects Supreme Court justices based on
factors such as general reputation and time in service, although the
political composition of the council leaves open the possibility for
patronage appointments. Lower court judges are appointed following
passage of rigorous entrance examinations, completion of a training
program, and successful completion of an examination.
Public defenders and public prosecutors were typically well
qualified; their particular organizations required passage of objective
examinations for employment.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for a presumption of innocence,
the right of appeal, and the right to confront or question witnesses.
The law establishes a citizen's right not to be deprived of liberty
without trial or legal formalities or for reasons other than those
provided by law, the right against self-incrimination, and the right to
a defense in an impartial and public trial. Defendants have the right
to remain silent. The law also provides for a public defense attorney
to every person that cannot afford an attorney.
There were credible allegations that authorities violated these
rights in some cases, but there was improved adherence to due process
as authorities became increasingly familiar with the modifications to
the CPC. The district attorney's office must notify the defendant and
attorney about the criminal charges as well as the evidence the
district attorney's office will present in court. Defendants and
attorneys have access to government-held evidence, but only after the
preliminary hearing, when the indictment is approved by the judge.
Military and police tribunals shared jurisdiction over cases
involving members of the security forces. While the tribunals have
jurisdiction over cases involving breaking internal rules and
regulations, civilian criminal courts handled cases of killings and
other serious crimes allegedly committed by members of the security
forces.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There are separate court
systems for claims under criminal law, commercial and civil law, and
labor law. Commercial and civil courts reportedly suffered lengthy
delays in adjudicating cases, although their decisions were generally
enforced. As in criminal courts, undue political or economic influence
in civil court decisions remained a problem.
Citizens had recourse to the remedy of ``amparo,'' an action to
seek redress of any violation of a constitutional right, including
violations by judicial officials. Although this remedy was rarely used
except by those with sophisticated legal counsel, civil society and
journalists sought amparo in some major cases during the year.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits arbitrary entry into a private
residence, except when police are in hot pursuit of a suspect or when a
suspect is caught in the act of committing a crime. The law provides
that all other entries into a private residence require an arrest
warrant or search warrant issued by a judge. In practice, however, the
police conducted illegal searches and seizures, including raids without
warrants on private residences in many poor Santo Domingo
neighborhoods.
Although the government denied using unauthorized wiretapping or
other surreptitious methods to interfere with the private lives of
individuals and families, human rights groups and opposition
politicians alleged such interference continued.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the government generally respected these
rights in practice. Individuals or groups generally were able to
criticize the government publicly and privately without reprisal,
although a national journalists' association reported threats and
aggression against journalists.
Newspapers and magazines presented a variety of opinions and
criticisms. There were eight daily newspapers, a number of weekly
newspapers, and numerous online news outlets. Editors at times seemed
to practice self-censorship, particularly when coverage could adversely
affect the economic or political interests of media owners. Coverage of
the major bank fraud trials was also often influenced by the fact that
two of the major newspapers were owned by defendants in the trials.
On May 22, a judge ordered Senator Alejandro Williams to cease and
desist from all actions against three journalists, Margarita Cordero,
Maria Isabel Soldevila, and Norma Sheppard. The three journalists had
filed suit against the senator, saying that men whom he had hired posed
as foreign investigators and harassed the journalists for their
unfavorable reporting about Williams.
In June 2008 a district attorney, Victor Cordero Jimenez, allegedly
attacked journalist Manuel Guillermo Mejia when the latter questioned
Cordero's performance in a drug-related case, which ultimately led to
the dismissal of Cordero. Subsequently, Bani Senator Wilton Guerrero
accused Cordero of complicity with drug dealers in the province.
Cordero filed a suit against the senator, claiming defamation and
libel, but a judge dismissed the charges.
There were many privately owned radio and television stations,
broadcasting a wide spectrum of political views. The government owned
one official television and radio station. International media operated
freely.
There were no known developments in the case of cameraman Normando
Garcia, who was killed in Santiago in August 2008.
The National Journalists' Union reported that civil, police, and
military authorities, criminals, and other persons assaulted or
threatened more than 70 journalists during the year. In October the NGO
Reporters Without Borders' evaluation of press freedom in the country
cited a high index of violence, harassment, and abuse against news
organizations and journalists. The government did little to investigate
the threats of violence or physical attacks on journalists.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail.
Internet access was widely available, including Wi-Fi hotspots. Blog
functions were also available on several local press sites that allowed
strongly stated views against the government and other powerful
sectors. According to the International Telecommunication Union, there
were 22 Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, but outdoor public
marches and meetings require permits, which the government usually
granted. On several occasions, police officers used force to break up
spontaneous demonstrations and killed or injured demonstrators or
bystanders (see section 1.a.).
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice. The law prohibits discrimination on religious grounds, and
many religious denominations were active.
The Catholic Church enjoyed special privileges not extended to
other religions, under the terms of a concordat signed in 1954. For
example, the government only recognizes civil and Catholic marriages.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination against members of religious groups.
The Jewish community was very small, and there were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice; however, there were some exceptions. Local and international
human rights groups reported that hundreds of thousands of persons
without proper documentation, including Haitian migrants and other
persons of Haitian descent, faced obstacles in traveling both within
and outside of the country.
Although the government claimed it no longer practiced mass
deportation, such practices were still reported. The new border control
authority reported that from January to September, it had repatriated
6,619 Haitians. NGOs reported that in the majority of these cases, the
government's agents did not follow due process or internal basic human
rights guidelines, despite the terms of a bilateral agreement with
Haiti regarding repatriation of undocumented Haitians and express
instructions from the director of migration to follow the guidelines.
The law prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports of its
use.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and the government established a system for providing protection to
refugees but has not implemented it effectively.
An applicant for refugee status must be referred by the National
Office of Refugees in the Migration Directorate to the Technical
Subcommittee of the National Commission for Refugees, which is chaired
by the Foreign Ministry. The subcommittee has the responsibility of
making a recommendation to the commission, consisting of members from
the Foreign Ministry, the DNI, and the Migration Directorate. The full
commission has the responsibility for the final decision on the
application but met only twice during the past 15 years.
As of December the Migration Directorate reported between 400 and
500 asylum applications, nearly all made by Haitians. Some of these
cases had been awaiting decision since 2000, but five cases were
approved (three Russians, one Haitian, and one Guatemalan), and 85 new
cases were filed during the year. According to NGOs, hundreds of other
asylum seekers submitted claims that had not been processed, leaving
those individuals in a state of legal limbo for years. Most of these
individuals lacked documentation sufficient to obtain permission to
work legally and to exercise other rights, such as obtaining
documentation for their children.
Although the government provided some protection against the
expulsion or return of persons to countries where their lives or
freedom might be threatened, there was still a risk of deportation.
Protection generally applied to individuals who gained access to the
refugee process and had been issued proof that they were refugees or
had applications pending. The documents provided do not bestow
significant legal rights, including residency, or prevent disruption of
educational studies past eighth grade to children of refugees. Due to
lack of training, these documents may not be recognized by all
officials who might apprehend such a person.
There were reports that children born to Haitian refugees--even
those born to holders of migration documents--were routinely denied
birth certificates as well as education, health, and security
documentation. In this respect they received the same treatment as any
undocumented Haitian migrant.
Stateless Persons.--The constitution provides that anyone born in
the country is a Dominican national, except children born to diplomats
or to those who are ``in transit.'' The government regularly used the
transit exception to deny registration as nationals to children born in
the country of parents of Haitian descent, whom the government
considers to be in the country illegally, even when their parents and
grandparents had resided in the country for long periods of time. In
2005 the Supreme Court ruled that transit status applied to children of
undocumented migrants.
Haitian consulates reported that they were legally authorized to
register only those births that were declared within two years. Parents
declaring a birth were required to submit valid forms of identification
in order to file a claim. These requirements could not be met by a
significant number of persons of Haitian descent in the country, and
thus their children remained undocumented. Consequently, hundreds of
thousands of Dominican-born persons of Haitian descent were
functionally stateless. According to a report submitted to the UN Human
Rights Council by the government, an estimated 900,000 to 1.2 million
undocumented immigrants, mostly of Haitian descent, were in the
country.
The Dominicans and Dominican-born persons of Haitian descent who
lacked citizenship or identity documents faced obstacles in traveling
both within and outside of the country. In addition undocumented
persons cannot obtain the national identification card (cedula) or a
voting card. Persons without a cedula had limited access to formal
sector jobs, public higher education, marriage and birth registration,
formal economy services such as banks and loans, access to courts and
judicial procedures, and ownership of land or property.
Government officials often took strong measures related to
citizenship for persons of Haitian descent. In 2007 the Central
Elections Board (JCE) issued an administrative instruction ordering
officials to refrain from issuing, signing, and providing official
copies of birth documents for individuals whose parents were foreigners
and had not legally proven their residency. This resulted in cases of
retroactive cancellation of birth and identity documents, many
pertaining to persons of Haitian descent. The government stated that
such cancellations were based on evidence that the documentation had
been obtained fraudulently, and that of 2,416 cases through July 2008,
only 72 involved parents of Haitian descent. However, advocacy groups
alleged that the revocations targeted persons whose parents were
Haitian or whose names sounded Haitian and that the number of
revocations was in the thousands. As of March the JCE had provisionally
revoked the birth certificates and cedulas of 126 children born to
Haitian migrants and their children. Some of the births had been
recorded decades ago, with several from the early 1970s. The JCE also
cancelled 65 cedulas issued to foreign nationals on grounds of fraud,
12 of which were held by Haitians.
The government has taken no action, and none was expected, in the
case of Norberto Selvi, who was denied a copy of his birth certificate
in 2007.
In 2007 the JCE also created a registration system that allowed
children born in the country of parents who were not legal residents to
receive a special birth certificate. This involved a registration book
for foreigners. Regulations stipulated that children born of parents
who were not legal residents of the country and have documentation from
their home country may register their child in the book, after which
the parents would be given an official report of birth, which does not
confer citizenship. Only children born in hospitals are eligible for
registration in the book. Children of undocumented mothers are given
provisional birth certificates until the mother obtains her documents.
An undocumented mother may make a late declaration in the civil
registry by presenting her parents' birth certificates. However, most
undocumented mothers could not comply with this requirement as their
parents also did not have documents.
Local and international NGOs reported that since implementation of
the foreigner's book, hospitals and civil registries did not register
numerous children of Haitian migrants and their descendents. As of
October the JCE reported that approximately 631 children registered in
the foreigner's book were of Haitian descent. An estimated 10,000 to
20,000 children are born to Haitian migrants and their descendants each
year. NGOs reported that some Haitian parents who were in the country
legally, and whose children were Dominican nationals under Dominican
law, were required to register their children's births in the
foreigner's book.
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 nearly
universal suffrage. Active-duty police and military personnel may not
vote or participate in partisan political activity.
Elections and Political Participation.--In May 2008 PLD candidate
Leonel Fernandez won the presidency in an election described as
generally free and fair by the Organization of American States, other
independent observers, and the government electoral board. Observers
also described the 2006 congressional and municipal elections as
generally free and fair.
By law parties must reserve for women 33 percent of positions on
their lists of candidates for the House of Representatives and city
councils; in practice the parties often placed women low on the lists.
There were two women in the 32-member Senate, 33 women in the 178-
member House of Representatives, two women in the cabinet, and five
women on the 16-seat Supreme Court.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
administration officials who engaged in corrupt practices were not
prosecuted, although some were removed from office and others were
submitted to the Office for the Prosecution of Corruption for
investigation. The World Bank's worldwide governance indicators
continued to reflect that government corruption was a serious problem.
Moreover, a 2008 survey showed that 81 percent of citizens believed
that the country was corrupt (43 percent) or very corrupt (38 percent).
The same study showed that more than 25 percent of citizens considered
corruption to be an impediment to development. The World Economic Forum
Global Competitiveness report also listed corruption as the most
problematic factor for doing business in the country.
Government officials were reluctant to investigate seriously and
prepare for trial cases involving senior government officials of either
the current or former government. The attorney general concluded six
corruption cases against lower-level officials, either by conviction or
acquittal, compared to 17 in 2008.
The May 2008 death in jail of convicted narcotics kingpin Rolando
Florian Feliz led to revelations that he ran his criminal enterprise
from a deluxe cell where he had access to books, television, and
prostitutes. However, the chief of the prison system did not resign,
nor was he fired.
The efforts of the criminal justice system to combat financial
crimes and corruption were blunted by five pardons issued by President
Fernandez for certain persons convicted in two well-known corruption
cases in December 2008: the RENOVE and Baninter cases. Most members of
the Pardons Commission resigned in protest against the pardons.
Following the investigation and dismissal by Congress of the
members of the Court of Accounts, new members were named in September
2008. The new members voted themselves Christmas bonuses but after a
public outcry returned the money. Since then, the new Court of Accounts
made significant efforts to strengthen itself institutionally and
increase its capacity to carry out effective audits of government
institutions. During the year the Court of Accounts submitted a number
of audit reports to Congress with significant findings of misuse of
public funds and lack of proper procedures. These included several
municipalities, institutions of state, and the national budget. By the
end of the year, there were no known follow-up measures or sanctions
taken.
The use of nonjudicial sanctions continued. These measures included
the dismissal or transfer of armed forces members, police officers,
judges, and other minor government officials engaged in bribe taking
and other corrupt behavior. Society's widespread attitude of tolerance
toward at least some forms of corruption complicated the effort to
reduce corruption. In a 2008 survey, respondents acknowledged that they
did not condemn specific acts of corruption (such as paying a small
bribe to a government official) because they considered that they
gained something in return.
The Commission for Ethics and Combating Corruption continued to
operate, although with minimal practical results as it lacked well-
defined authorities and decision-making structures. In August the
president appointed Marino Vinicio Castillo as the new president of the
commission. Castillo vowed to take actions necessary to improve
prosecution of corruption in addition to strengthening prevention,
although there was no noticeable improvement by year's end.
In September the Supreme Court approved a change of venue for the
prosecution of several naval officers and a former police officer in
Bani for their alleged involvement in killing seven supposed drug
traffickers after some of the accused threatened prosecutors and
judges. The trial of 27 defendants continued in Santo Domingo at year's
end; however, it was not clear that the judicial system would be able
to pursue powerful individuals alleged to be behind the crimes.
The law requires that the president and vice president, members of
Congress, some agency heads, and other officials such as mayors and
council members, as well as income tax and customs duty collectors,
make declarations of their personal and real property within a month of
being hired, as well as when they ``end their responsibilities.''
Efforts were made to encourage compliance, but it was not clear how
effective these were. The Department of Prosecution of Corruption, an
office within the Public Ministry, is in charge of reviewing these
declarations.
The law provides for public access to government information, with
limits on the availability of such information only under specified
circumstances (such as to protect national security). It also provided
for penalties of up two years in prison and a five-year ban from
positions of public trust for government officials who obstruct access
to public information. A court may review the decision of an agency to
deny access to information. While often timely, responses were also
often incomplete, and the government rejected subsequent requests.
Moreover, there was little consistency in the determination of what was
considered public information and what was not.
Section 5. 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. While government
officials generally were cooperative and responsive to their views,
human rights groups who advocated for the rights of Haitians and
persons of Haitian descent were an important exception and faced
occasional government harassment and threats.
Principal domestic NGOs included the Dominican Human Rights
Committee, the National Human Rights Commission, and the Santo Domingo
Institute of Human Rights. There were also several smaller secular and
religious organizations that addressed women's rights, labor issues,
and the rights of Haitians and their descendants in the country.
By year's end the government had not implemented a 2001 law
mandating the creation of a human rights ombudsman's office.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the law prohibits discrimination based on race and gender,
such discrimination existed, and the government seldom acknowledged its
existence or made efforts to combat it.
Women.--Rape was a serious and widely underreported problem. The
law provides penalties for rape of from 10 to 15 years in prison (or 10
to 20 years in case of rape of a vulnerable person, a child, or if
occurred under other egregious circumstances) and a fine of 100,000 to
200,000 pesos (approximately $2,770 to $5,540). The state may prosecute
a suspect for rape even if the victim does not file charges, and rape
victims may press charges against spouses. Victims often did not report
cases of rape because of fear of social stigma, as well as the
perception that the police and the judiciary would fail to provide
redress. Police were reluctant to handle rape cases and often
encouraged victims to seek assistance from NGOs.
Domestic violence continued to be a serious problem. Under the Law
against Domestic Violence, the state can prosecute rape, incest, sexual
aggression, and other forms of domestic violence. Penalties for these
crimes range from one to 30 years in prison and fines from 700 to
245,000 pesos (approximately $20 to $6,800). A local NGO estimated that
20 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 had been victims of
physical abuse at some point in their lives. Between January and May,
the government reported 41 women killed as a result of domestic
violence.
The district attorney of Santo Domingo in the National District,
which includes approximately 10 percent of the country's population,
had a specialized Violence Prevention and Attention Unit with 14
satellite offices around the city. At these offices victims of violence
could file criminal complaints, obtain free legal counsel, and receive
psychological and medical attention. Police were instructed to forward
all domestic violence and sexual assault cases to these offices. Each
office had professional psychologists on staff to counsel victims of
violence and to assess the threat of impending danger associated with a
complaint. These offices had the authority to issue temporary
restraining orders immediately after receiving complaints and to serve
as messengers for the victims, which prevented contact between the
victim and the abuser.
As of December, 7,598 complaints had been made to the specialized
Violence Prevention Unit, a slight increase from the same period in
2008. The cases reported were either settled through mediation,
remained in investigation, or were taken to court.
The National Directorate for Assistance to Victims coordinated
efforts of official and nongovernmental institutions that offer
services to victims of violence. It had three offices in Santo Domingo
and two others elsewhere. These offices not only accepted criminal
complaints from victims of violence throughout the country but also
provided counseling and protection services and, when necessary,
referrals to medical or psychological specialists. The Attorney
General's Office, the Secretariat of Women, and various NGOs conducted
outreach and training programs on domestic violence and legal rights.
Additionally, the Attorney General's Office established a public
information campaign against sexual and labor exploitation and launched
a national hotline for prevention and victim assistance.
The Secretariat of Women also operated two shelters for victims of
domestic violence in undisclosed locations, where abuse victims could
make a report to the police and receive counseling.
Prostitution is legal, although there are some prohibitions against
sex with minors, and it is illegal for a third party to derive
financial gain from prostitution. However, the government usually did
not enforce prostitution laws. Sex tourism existed throughout the
country, particularly in Las Terrenas, Cabarete, Sosua, and Boca Chica.
Human rights groups reported continuing prostitution in sugarcane work
camps and areas outside the capital. NGOs conducted programs about
prostitution and child sexual exploitation for hotel and industrial
zone workers, male and female prostitutes, and other high-risk groups.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is a misdemeanor and carries a
possible penalty of one year in prison and a fine of up to 10,000 pesos
(approximately $277); however, union leaders reported that the law was
not enforced, and sexual harassment remained a problem.
Reproductive rights were generally respected. While contraceptives
were freely available, many low-income women used contraceptives
inconsistently due to both irregular availability of contraceptives
from public agencies as well as social and religious bias against
family planning. Maternal mortality remained high (159 per 100,000 live
births), yet 98 percent of deliveries took place in hospital settings.
Most maternal and neonatal deaths were due to poor quality of care and
failure to adhere to standards norms and protocols, resulting in
mismanagement of both normal and complicated deliveries. In addition
the number of Caesarean sections was extremely high. Most women had
access to some postnatal care. However, in some poor provinces such as
Pedernales, 29 percent of women received no postnatal care. Access to
diagnostic services and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases was
limited by technical, financial, and management issues affecting
equally both men and women. Approximately 12,000 persons with HIV/
AIDS--the majority of whom were women--had access to antiretroviral
treatment.
Although the law provides that women have the same legal status as
men, in practice women experienced discrimination. Women did not enjoy
social and economic status or opportunity equal to those of men, and
men held most leadership positions in all sectors. In many instances
women received less pay than men in jobs of equal content and requiring
equal skills. Some employers reportedly gave pregnancy tests to women
before hiring them, as part of a required medical examination. Although
it is illegal to discriminate based on such tests, NGO leaders reported
that pregnant women often were not hired and that female employees who
became pregnant sometimes were fired. There were no effective
government programs to combat economic discrimination against women.
Children.--Citizenship is acquired by birth in the country, except
children born to diplomats or to those who are ``in transit,'' a
broadly defined category (see section 2.d.). Children born to parents
of Haitian descent, even when the parents had resided in the country
for a lifetime, were denied citizenship under the transit exception. A
child not registered at birth is undocumented until a late declaration
is made, and there were limitations on late declarations. The most
recent report by the NGO Profamilia and the UN Children's Fund
indicated that 13 percent of children under 15 were not registered.
Undocumented children, particularly those of Haitian descent, faced
challenges in accessing primary public education.
Abuse of children, including physical, sexual, and psychological
abuse, was a serious problem. As of August, 1,558 complaints had been
filed in the National District, which primarily represents the capital
city of Santo Domingo. Of these, more than half were awaiting a court
appointment. Few such cases reached the courts, due to fear of family
embarrassment, lack of economic resources, or lack of knowledge
regarding available legal assistance. The Santo Domingo district
attorney's office reported that in most abuse cases, the accused was a
person close to the child, such as a family member or close family
friend. The law provides for removal of a mistreated child to a
protective environment.
Local observers believed that instances of child abuse were
underreported because of the social norm that such problems should be
dealt with inside the family. The law contains provisions concerning
child abuse, including physical and emotional mistreatment, sexual
exploitation, and child labor. The law provides penalties of between
two and five years' incarceration and a fine of three to five times the
monthly minimum wage for persons found guilty of abuse of a minor. The
penalty is doubled if the abuse is related to trafficking.
The law covers statutory rape, and the age of consent is 18.
Penalties for statutory rape are 10 to 20 years in prison and a fine of
100,000 to 200,000 pesos ($2,778 to $5, 556) if rape is committed
against a child or adolescent. The law also contains specific
provisions that prohibit child pornography and child prostitution,
prescribing penalties for sexual abuse of children of 20 to 30 years'
imprisonment and fines from 100 to 150 times the minimum wage.
The government's National Directorate for Assistance to Victims
coordinated efforts of official and nongovernmental organizations to
assist children who were victims of violence and abuse.
Trafficking, sexual exploitation of children, and child sex tourism
remained serious problems, particularly in major urban areas and
popular tourist destinations. Child prostitution often was based on
economic need, and the government conducted several programs to combat
the sexual exploitation of minors, including notices in airports and
targeted programs in popular tourist locations.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in
persons for all purposes, there were reports that men, women, and
children were trafficked to, from, and within the country.
The prevalence of the problem was uncertain because of its illegal
nature. The NGO Center for Integral Orientation and Investigation
(COIN) estimated that from 17,000 to 33,000 Dominican women abroad were
victims of trafficking. Dominican women reportedly were trafficked to a
wide variety of nations, principally in Western Europe, Latin America,
and the Caribbean for commercial sexual exploitation. Women 18 to 25
years of age, in particular those with low levels of education, were at
the greatest risk of being trafficked. Internally trafficked victims
were typically women or adolescents trafficked for sexual exploitation
to urban or tourist areas. Women and children were also reportedly
trafficked internally for domestic servitude.
According to COIN and the International Organization for Migration
(IOM), trafficking organizations were typically small groups.
Individuals in the country recruited the persons to be trafficked and
obtained identification and travel documents. Traffickers frequently
met women through friends and family; they promised some form of
employment, obtained false or legitimate documents for the women, and
often retained their passports after arrival in the destination
country. NGOs operating in the country report helping only a few
victims a year. As of October the IOM had assisted 28 victims of
trafficking.
The law includes penalties for traffickers of 15 to 20 years'
imprisonment and a fine of up to 175 times the monthly minimum wage.
The Protection of Children and Adolescents Law provides penalties for
the transfer of a child to someone else, in exchange for compensation,
for forced labor, commercial sexual exploitation or other degrading
activities, of 20 to 30 years' imprisonment and fines from 100 to 150
times the minimum wage. Nevertheless, the government generally failed
to prosecute trafficking cases. During 2008 the Attorney General's
Office claimed to have opened four investigations.
In late 2008 the National Commission against Trafficking in
Persons, a body established by the government, produced a national plan
to combat trafficking and improve victim protection but did not fund
its implementation. Law enforcement services cooperated with foreign
governments investigating trafficking and child prostitution cases.
The involvement of government officials in trafficking was
unproven, but some activists believed trafficking in persons could not
happen without the cooperation or acquiescence of some officials. The
government reported investigating public officials who facilitated,
condoned, or were complicit in trafficking activities, but there were
no known prosecutions. The Migration Department fired numerous
investigators that it suspected of possible involvement in trafficking.
The government provided some assistance to trafficking victims both
overseas and in the country, but it relied on NGOs and international
organizations to provide the bulk of protection services. The Ministry
of Foreign Affairs developed a worldwide network of consular officers
trained to recognize and assist victims of trafficking. There were
several church-run shelters that provided refuge to children who
escaped prostitution, with some government support. Public shelters for
victims of domestic violence were generally not accessible to
trafficking victims. The government had an awareness-raising campaign
by radio, television, and print media to discourage illegal emigration
and combat human trafficking.
The Prevention Unit of the Department of Alien Smuggling and
Trafficking in Persons, in coordination with the Secretariats of Labor
and Education, provided outreach training at schools around the
country. The courses warned children of the dangers of alien smuggling,
commercial sexual exploitation, and trafficking. Additionally, the
government and various organizations made efforts to address the
problem of sex tourism in high-volume tourism areas. NGOs also
conducted programs for hotel and industrial zone workers about
prostitution and child sexual exploitation issues.
COIN and the IOM counseled women planning to accept job offers in
Europe and the eastern Caribbean about immigration, health, and other
problems, including the dangers of trafficking, forced prostitution,
and forced domestic servitude. COIN administered the Center for Health
and Migration Information for Migrant Women, which carried out
community education campaigns in high-risk areas on these issues, as
well as citizenship documentation and legal work requirements. With IOM
support, COIN also provided a minimal level of clinical services and
adult education classes for returned women, many of whom were
trafficking victims.
There were no reports that the government inappropriately
incarcerated, fined, penalized, or prosecuted identified victims, nor
did the government discourage people from filing complaints.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the law prohibits
discrimination against persons with disabilities, these individuals
encountered discrimination in employment and in obtaining other
services. The law provides for physical access for persons with
disabilities to all new public and private buildings, but the
authorities did not enforce this provision. The Dominican Association
for Rehabilitation, which had 17 branches around the country, received
a subsidy from the Secretariat of Public Health to provide
rehabilitation assistance to persons with disabilities.
Discrimination against persons with mental illness was common
across all public and private sectors, and there were few resources
dedicated to the mentally ill.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There was significant evidence
of racial prejudice and discrimination against persons of dark
complexion, but the government denied that such prejudice as well as
discrimination existed and, consequently, did little to address the
problem.
There were also strong prejudices against Haitians, which
disadvantaged many Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian ancestry, as well
as other foreigners of dark complexion. Few government officials
acknowledged the existence of this discrimination; others regularly and
publicly denied that it existed.
Local NGOs reported incidents where darker-skinned persons were
denied access or services in banks, service in restaurants and stores,
entry into nightclubs, enrollment in private schools, and birth
registration in hospitals. In a 2007 report, the UN special rapporteurs
for racism and the rights of minorities urged authorities to recognize
the existence of racism and discrimination against minorities, adopt a
national action plan to address the problem, revise a JCE rule that
resulted in revocation of identity documents for Haitians, and cease
mass repatriations of Haitians. Government officials responded to the
report with a denial that racism existed in the country, referencing
comments that the country was a mulatto community. They asserted that
the JCE rule focused on fraud and that Haitians in the country could
receive their identity documents in Haiti. The government also claimed
there were no grounds to state that black Dominicans were being
repatriated to Haiti and noted that authorities suspended repatriations
on Fridays to prevent employers from using this as a tool to avoid
paying laborers for the week's work.
Haitians continued to immigrate to the country in search of
economic opportunity, and the government repatriated many of them.
Migration authorities and security forces conducted periodic sweeps
throughout the year to locate and repatriate undocumented persons of
Haitian descent. Some of those removed from the country reported that
they were denied the opportunity to demonstrate that they were legal
residents, to make arrangements for their families or property, or to
express a credible fear of persecution or torture if returned to Haiti.
NGOs reported that migration officials and security forces sometimes
confiscated and destroyed expellees' residency documents and passports
despite standing government orders to respect the human rights of the
expellees. In some cases expellees with appropriate legal documents
received permission to return.
Some Haitian immigrants lived in shantytowns or sugarcane work
camps known as ``bateyes.'' As in many poor areas in other parts of the
country, these were harsh environments with limited or no electricity,
running water, sanitary facilities, or adequate schooling. In many
bateyes medical assistance either was rudimentary or not readily
available, and clean water was rarely available. Many batey residents,
lacking documentation, felt they had little choice but to remain in
their communities, where they felt relatively safe from the risks of
deportation and harassment that existed elsewhere in the country.
Private sector enterprises in the sugar sector continued to make
improvements at their facilities, a process that began in 2007,
including new schools and both new and renovated housing. In Nuevo
Cayacoa, construction of a modern housing and community development for
132 cane workers and their families concluded its first phase in
September.
During the year there were reports of vigilante violence and
attacks against Haitians (see section 1.a.).
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--NGOs reported widespread
social discrimination against persons based on sexual orientation.
Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community
voiced concerns about discrimination in all areas of society, including
health, education, and work. Numerous credible reports indicated
members of the LGBT community were expelled from public school,
arrested without reason, fired from work, or denied access to rent or
own homes.
Gays and lesbians faced physical attacks, intimidation, harassment,
and threats of violence. NGOs reported that these groups were reluctant
to file charges or complain to authorities due to fear of reprisal or
humiliation. Several killings during the year were linked to the
victims' sexual orientation. In March a transgender sex worker,
Francisco Encarnacion Urbi, was thrown from a moving vehicle and later
died at a hospital in Santo Domingo. In April two transgender sex
workers were assaulted and later killed in Santiago. On August 11, 18-
year-old Janet Cerda, a lesbian in Santiago, was found killed by an
unknown attacker in the streets. On October 20, a transgender sex
worker, Richard Joel Cuevas Castillo, was shot and wounded by four
unknown suspects on motorcycles in Santo Domingo. On November 25,
unknown attackers shot and killed a transgender sex worker, Alejandro
Correa Pichardo, in Santo Domingo. Investigations into these killings
were pending at year's end.
Since the first gay pride celebration in 2001, authorities have
rejected or delayed all other permission requests for its formal
celebration by gay and lesbian organizations. Activists reported that
these organizations substituted marches and concentrations by small
informal gatherings in recreational spaces, activities that do not
require any type of permission from authorities.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--Persons with HIV/AIDS
faced discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere. According to the
UN agency UNAIDS, an estimated 52,000 to 71,000 persons were infected
with the disease. A study by the Network of Persons Living with HIV,
Profamilia, and Alianza Solidaria revealed that, among the sample of
persons living with HIV who were interviewed, 62 percent reported being
the subject of gossip, 30 percent were the victims of verbal
aggression, 27 percent were the victims of verbal threats, and 14
percent were victims of attacks or physical threats.
According to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, workers
in many industries faced obligatory HIV testing in the workplace or
when seeking medical care or medical insurance. Many workers or
patients found to have the disease were not hired or were fired from
their jobs or denied adequate health care. Although the law prohibits
the use of HIV testing to screen employees or for medical services
unrelated to the disease, there were no known instances where this was
enforced, despite reports that official complaints had been filed.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the freedom to
organize labor unions, and all workers, except the military and the
police, were free to form and join unions of their choice. There were
some restrictions placed on civil servants for union formation; 40
percent of civil servant employees must agree to join the union in a
given government entity for it to be formed. Organized labor
represented an estimated 8 percent of the work force. Although the law
requires that unions be registered by the Ministry of Labor in order to
be legal, it provides for automatic recognition of a union if the
Secretary of Labor has not acted on the application within 30 days.
A few labor unions represented a small number of Haitian workers,
who are covered by the Labor Code regardless of legal status. (Persons
who register unions must have documentation, but enforcement of
documentation rules for union members was lax.) Various NGOs reported
that many Haitian laborers and Dominicans of Haitian descent in the
agricultural and construction industries did not exercise their rights,
fearing firing or deportation. Although 500 undocumented Haitian
employees of a private sugar producer sued their employer and won the
right to benefits and a written contract in November 2008, a court
later rejected the ruling on appeal. The decision held that a contract
does not have to be written to be enforceable, and the Labor Code does
not require a written contract. Various NGOs reported that companies
took advantage of the slow and ineffective legal system to appeal
cases, which left workers without labor rights protection in the
interim.
The law provides for the right of most workers to strike but
includes a number of requirements for the strike to be legal, and
formal strikes were not common. Formal requirements for a strike
include the support of an absolute majority of all company workers
whether unionized or not, a prior attempt to resolve the conflict
through mediation, written notification to the Ministry of Labor, and a
10-day waiting period following notification before proceeding with the
strike.
Government workers and essential public service personnel are not
allowed to strike. The Ministry of Labor offered a worker-employer
conciliation process in an effort to provide due process to protect
workers' rights.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
protects the right to organize and bargain collectively. While the law
requires that collective bargaining be used in firms in which a union
has gained the support of an absolute majority of the workers, it does
not allow for collective bargaining unless a trade union represents an
absolute majority of the workers. The International Labor Organization
(ILO) considered this requirement to be excessive and an impediment to
collective bargaining. Few companies had collective bargaining pacts,
partly because companies created obstacles and could afford to go
through lengthy judicial processes that nascent unions could not
afford.
The law establishes a system of labor courts for dealing with
disputes. This process was often long, with cases remaining pending for
several years. The most recent study by the Foundation for
Institutionalism and Justice, a local NGO, showed that the average case
resolution time was 15.3 months in courts of first instance and 16.4
months in appeals court.
Many participants reported that the ministry's nonbinding
conciliation process, involving 37 mediators in eight locations, was
the most effective method for resolving worker-company disputes.
The law forbidding companies from firing union organizers or
members was enforced inconsistently, and penalties were insufficient to
deter employers from violating worker rights. Some NGOs reported that
workers who tried to form unions were routinely fired. There were
reports of harassment and intimidation by employers in an effort to
prevent union activity, especially in the free trade zones (FTZs). The
Dominican Federation of Free Trade Zone Workers (FEDOTRAZONAS) noted
incidents of antiunion activity at Gildan Active Wear, Andin Caribe,
Kola Real, and Loadway Enterprise. There were complaints made that the
management of these companies conducted public antiunion campaigns,
which included threats to fire union members, engaged in activities to
forestall attainment of union membership sufficient to establish
collective bargaining rights, and violated worker rights under the
labor code.
Given the scarcity of formal sector employment, the fear of
reprisal greatly limited workers ability to freely associate. Workers
were often asked to sign documents agreeing not to participate in union
activities. Companies often supported company unions to counter free
and democratic unions.
Local NGOs reported that companies routinely attempted to create
``yellow'' or company-backed unions in an effort to dilute the worker
union's power. In addition, the use of short-term contracts and
subcontracting was increasing--often making union organizing and
collective bargaining more difficult.
There were no new developments in the Ministry of Labor's 2008
investigation of labor rights violations--including discrimination
against union members, forced overtime, and minimum wage violations--
reportedly committed by an agricultural export company in the north of
the country. FEDOTRAZONAS reported that the company continued to
discriminate openly against its members during the year.
The labor code applies in the 57 established FTZs, which employed
approximately 155,000 workers. According to the National Council of
Labor Unions, unions were active in only eight companies in the FTZs,
and only four unions had established collective bargaining rights.
Workplace regulations and their enforcement in the FTZs did not differ
from those in the country at large. Working conditions were reportedly
sometimes better, and the pay in the FTZs was occasionally higher than
in the public or agricultural sectors. At the same time, mandatory
overtime was a common practice.
There were reports of widespread covert intimidation by employers
in the FTZs to prevent union activity, firing of workers for union
activity, and blacklisting of trade unionists. Unions in the FTZs
reported that their members hesitated to discuss union activity at
work, even during break time, for fear of losing their jobs. Unions
accused some FTZ companies of discharging workers who attempted to
organize unions. The majority of the unions in the FTZs were affiliated
with the National Federation of Free Trade Zone Workers or with
FEDOTRAZONAS. FEDOTRAZONAS estimated that fewer than 10 percent of the
workers in the FTZs were unionized. Many of the major manufacturers in
the FTZs had voluntary codes of conduct that included worker rights
protection clauses generally consistent with the ILO Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. However, workers were not
always aware of such codes or of the principles they contained.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, but there were reports of forced labor of
both children and adults within the country. There were reports that
both adults and children were forced to work as domestic servants.
Children were also subjected to forced prostitution, particularly in
coastal resort areas (see section 6).
Haitian workers' lack of documentation and illegal status in the
country often placed them in a tenuous situation and made them
vulnerable to forced labor. Although specific data on the issue were
limited, there were reports that some Haitian nationals may have been
subjected to forced labor in the service, construction, and
agricultural sectors. A foreign government report asserted there was
reason to believe that at least some sugar in the country was produced
with forced labor. Private sugar producers acknowledged that they hired
some Haitian workers already residing and working in the country but
insisted that they did not force these individuals to work. NGOs
reported that the practice of bringing in new, undocumented migrant
labor from Haiti continued and that labor conditions in sugar cane
plantations remained harsh.
Mandatory overtime, a common practice, was sometimes enforced
through locked doors or loss of pay or employment for those who
refused.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
While the law prohibits employment of children younger than 14 years of
age and places restrictions on the employment of children under the age
of 16, child labor remained a serious problem, although there was some
evidence it lessened during the year. Some NGOs estimated that 436,000
minors between five and 17 years of age worked illegally. Regulations
limited working hours of those between the ages of 14 and 16 to six
hours per day; for those under age 18, the law limited night work and
prohibited employment in hazardous occupations, under unhealthy working
conditions, or in establishments serving alcohol. Fines and legal
sanctions may be applied to firms employing underage children. While
the government effectively enforced these regulations in the formal
sector, child labor was a problem in the informal sector largely beyond
regulatory reach.
Child labor took place primarily in the informal economy, small
businesses, private households, and agriculture. In particular, there
were reports that children worked in the production of garlic,
potatoes, coffee, tomatoes, and rice. There were also limited reports
of children working in mining of larimar in the Barahona region.
Children often accompanied their parents to work in agricultural
fields, in part because parents had nowhere else to leave their
children, since schools were usually in session only for a few hours a
day. The commercial sexual exploitation of children remained a problem,
especially in popular tourist destinations and urban areas.
Children also worked as domestic servants, and many appeared to be
victims of forced labor. There were credible reports that poor Haitian
families arranged for Dominican families to ``adopt'' and employ their
children. In some cases adoptive parents reportedly did not treat the
children as full family members, expecting them to work in the
households or family businesses rather than to attend school, which
resulted in a kind of indentured servitude for children and
adolescents.
The Ministry of Labor and other government institutions, as well as
organizations from civil society, continued to work with the ILO's
International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor to prevent
5,500 children from entering or continuing in exploitive labor and to
mitigate certain conditions, such as eliminating employment of children
in hazardous agriculture in rice-growing regions. The effort also
included a program to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of
minors in popular tourist destinations such as Boca Chica, Sosua, and
Las Terrenas. These programs provided psychological support and medical
assistance, returned children to classrooms, and reunited children with
their families and communities whenever possible. The programs also
provided legal assistance to child victims and their families to arrest
and convict exploiters.
The Ministry of Labor, following site inspections, reported that
the sugar consortium's bateyes no longer used child labor on their
property. NGO sources, however, stated that child labor could still be
found in these facilities. The Secretariat of Labor employed 203 labor
inspectors, all of whom received special training to locate and
eliminate illegal child labor.
The National Steering Committee against Child Labor's plan to
eliminate the worst forms of child labor set objectives, identified
priorities, and assigned responsibilities so that exploitive labor
could be efficiently tackled and the number of child laborers
significantly reduced. In January 2008 the Ministry of Labor launched a
program to support public-private partnerships aimed at preventing
hazardous child labor with a goal of withdrawing 8,500 children from
exploitive labor. The program helped reduce the number of children
exposed to the worst forms of child labor from 9.3 percent in 2004 to
6.4 percent in 2008.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The executive branch sets
minimum wage levels for public workers, and the tripartite National
Salary Committee sets levels for the private sector, with the exception
of workers in the FTZs and the sugar, construction, hotel, and shoe
manufacturing industries. A Tripartite Commission negotiates minimum
wages for each of these industries separately, and the Ministry of
Labor enforces the minimum wages. The minimum monthly salary was 4,900
pesos (approximately $136) in the FTZs and between 5,158 and 8,465
pesos ($143 and $235), depending upon the size of the company, outside
the FTZs. The minimum wage for the public sector was 2,600 pesos ($72)
per month. The daily minimum wage for farm workers covered by minimum
wage regulations was 175 pesos ($4.86), based on a 10-hour day, which
includes all agricultural products except sugarcane. Cane workers were
subject to a special, lower minimum wage for the sugar industry of 95
pesos ($2.64) per day. The national minimum wage did not provide a
decent standard of living in any industry for a worker and family. All
workers, including migrants, are covered by minimum wage provisions.
The law establishes a standard work period of 44 hours per week and
stipulates that all workers are entitled to 36 hours of uninterrupted
rest each week. The law provides for premium pay for overtime, although
enforcement was ineffective. At some firms in the FTZs, overtime was
mandatory. The FEDOTRAZONAS reported that some companies set up ``4x4''
work schedules, in which employees work 12-hour shifts for four days.
Some companies also started a practice to pay every eight days instead
of every seven days, which resulted in a loss of wages for workers.
On sugar plantations cane cutters usually were paid by the weight
of cane cut rather than the hours worked. Cane cutters continued to
suspect fraud by weighing station operators and noted that employers
sometimes did not provide trucks or carts to transport the newly cut
cane at the end of the workday, causing workers to receive lower
compensation because the cane dried out overnight and weighed less.
Company officials denied that there were delays in transporting cane,
noting that any delay would be detrimental to their business operation.
The amount of cane a worker could cut varied, but most young able-
bodied workers were able to cut two to three tons of cane in a workday,
yielding a daily wage of 160-240 pesos (approximately $4.44-$6.67).
However, older, less able-bodied workers were paid only for the amount
of the cane they actually cut, even if the amount was less than the
minimum wage. During the six-month off-season, some workers in sugar
plantations who opted to remain in their communities were offered part-
time jobs such as clearing land or cleaning sugarcane. Such workers
generally were not paid the legally mandated minimum wage.
Conditions for agricultural workers were poor, with many workers
working long hours and exposed to hazardous working conditions
including the exposure to pesticides, excessive exposure to the sun,
and use of sharp and heavy tools. Many activists reported that workers
in the sugarcane industry who lived in company-owned bateyes had
inadequate access to schools, medical facilities, running water, and
sewage systems. Some employers in the sugarcane industry allegedly
withheld a portion of wages to ensure that workers returned for the
next harvest. Sugarcane workers often did not receive medical services
or pensions due to the lack of documentation even though deductions
were taken from their pay.
The Dominican Social Security Institute (IDSS) sets workplace
safety and health conditions. Both the IDSS and the Ministry of Labor
had a small corps of inspectors charged with enforcing standards.
Although the inspectors noted over 2,000 infractions, the findings of
these inspections were not effectively enforced. Workers complained
that inspectors were not trained, did not respond to health and safety
complaints, and more quickly responded to requests from employers than
workers. While the law requires that employers provide a safe working
environment, in practice workers could not remove themselves from
hazardous working situations without losing their jobs.
__________
ECUADOR
Ecuador is a constitutional republic with a population of
approximately 14.6 million. In September 2008, voters approved a
referendum on a new constitution, which became effective in October of
that year, although many of its provisions were still being implemented
during the year. On April 26, voters reelected Rafael Correa to a four-
year presidential term in elections that were considered generally free
and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control
of the security forces.
While the government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there continued to be problems in the following areas:
isolated unlawful killings and use of excessive force by security
forces, sometimes with impunity; poor prison conditions; arbitrary
arrest and detention; corruption and other abuses by security forces; a
high number of pretrial detainees; and corruption and denial of due
process within the judicial system. President Correa and his
administration continued verbal and legal attacks against the
independent media. Societal problems continued, including violence
against women; discrimination against women, indigenous persons, Afro-
Ecuadorians, and persons based on their sexual orientation; trafficking
in persons and sexual exploitation of minors; and child labor; despite
constitutional provisions and some positive governmental steps on these
issues.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Although the
government or its agents did not commit any politically motivated
killings, there continued to be credible reports that security forces
used excessive force and committed isolated unlawful killings.
On April 25, police officers allegedly shot and killed Carlos
Songs, Oswaldo Chavez, and Walter Avila Murillo, after following them
from El Puente Night Club in Manabi Province. According to a fourth
victim who escaped without injury, the group assumed the attackers were
robbers; they never identified themselves as police officers. On
November 16, the prosecutor decided that there was insufficient
evidence against the police officers to bring the case to trial and
requested that the case be dismissed.
In December 2008 the bodies of three men were found in a car in
Manta. One of the victims was Yandry Velez, who had allegedly fled to
Manta to hide from Diego Erazo, chief of the operational support unit
of the Judicial Police in Pichincha Province. The family asserted that
police killed Velez and his friends on orders from the mayor. At year's
end an investigation into the killings continued.
Due to lack of evidence, a police court did not try the January
2008 case in which police allegedly shot and killed two men, one a
fellow officer, without asking questions of the suspects.
In February the prosecutor in Esmeraldas released all three police
officers involved in the May 2008 incident in which police arrested
Klever Arce Toro, an off-duty military conscript, who was found dead
three days later. The National Police's internal affairs unit found
that the officers had no responsibility for Arce's death.
On December 8, the judge determined there was insufficient evidence
to convict the defendants in the April 2008 mob lynching and burning
alive of two Colombians who allegedly killed a local resident in an
attempted robbery in San Vicente, Manabi Province, and the case was
closed.
The presidential commission established in 2007 to investigate
human rights violations committed under the government of Leon Febres
Cordero (1984-88) and in other periods was expected to issue a final
report in September, but had not done so by year's end. The press
reported that a draft report leaked in early September stated that the
commission found 87 cases of human rights violations among the 150
cases investigated.
The Ecumenical Human Rights Commission (CEDHU) reported that mob
violence against suspected criminals continued at the level of the
preceding year. Such violence occurred particularly in indigenous
communities and poor neighborhoods of major cities, where there was
little police presence. On October 30, a mob of indigenous women
attacked the director of bilingual and intercultural education in
Cayambe, Pichincha Province, and doused him with water from a hose and
threw stinging nettles on him. The women allegedly shouted that they
were ``applying indigenous justice'' because he was a member of ``the
government of Rafael Correa'' and would not let them assemble in the
local school after hours.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
Criminal kidnapping for profit continued to be a problem in
selected regions of the country. There also were reports of extortion
and threats of kidnapping of ranchers, farmers, and businessmen along
the Colombian border. During the year police reported 28 kidnappings
and 347 ``express kidnappings'' (in which a person is driven around and
forced to make automatic withdrawals of personal funds), compared with
354 kidnapping cases and 143 ``express kidnappings'' in 2008.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--While the constitution and laws prohibit torture and
similar forms of intimidation and punishment, some police officers
reportedly tortured and abused suspects and prisoners, often with
impunity.
The new constitution makes ``any form of torture'' illegal; the
criminal procedures code has a similar provision, and the criminal code
punishes state authorities and members of the police or military who
use torture to force confessions. The Attorney General's Office tracked
information on alleged torturers being imprisoned, but classified these
cases as ``crimes against life'' and not as ``torture.'' Such persons
often were fined rather than imprisoned.
In April prosecutors began an investigation of seven police
officers who allegedly tortured three suspects in a shopping mall
robbery that occurred in March 2008. All charges against both robbery
suspects were dropped, and the investigation into the actions of the
police officers continued at year's end.
Through December 18, CEDHU registered 66 cases of alleged
``torture'' or ``unwarranted physical aggression'' by police forces.
In June police jailed 18-year-old Jose Elias Barberan Queirolo for
killing a fan after a Quito soccer game. After being arrested, he
claimed that police took him to a room, blindfolded him, and forced him
to kneel while they hit him on the neck and head. Barberan claimed the
police wanted him to confess to a crime he did not commit. On July 10,
the court released Barberan; no charges were filed against him.
In June two police officers approached five Salesian Polytechnic
University students, including Paul Trujillo and Fernando Munoz, and
tried to arrest them. The students resisted arrest, and the police
requested reinforcements. The police used force to load the students
into police vehicles, physically attacked the students, and released
them after an hour. The students filed a complaint, but at year's end
there had not been a response.
The prosecutor's office reportedly found little evidence in the
January 2008 incident in which police officer Fernando Santiago Moreno
Charro, accompanied by other officers, entered the Salesian University
and allegedly injured student Nadia Cristina Traslavina Bossano because
of her personal disagreements with Moreno's daughter. The statute of
limitations in this case expired in January.
On April 1, the Pichincha Provincial Criminal Court ordered an
investigation into the police involved in the March 2008 case of three
men in Quito who claimed that police arrested them for attempted
robbery, detained them on charges of illegal possession of arms, and
tortured them to force confessions that they had taken part in the
robbery. The authorities banned the police chief allegedly involved in
the case from leaving the country. The court absolved the three men
accused of the robbery of all charges against them.
A police judge reconsidered the case of a 2007 police beating of
16-year-old Victor Javier Tipan Caiza and dismissed the case on grounds
of lack of merit after an internal police investigation of two
officers.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in prisons and
detention centers generally were poor and tended to be worse in the
tropical coastal areas than in the temperate highlands.
Overcrowding continued to be a problem in most prison facilities,
although the number of detainees dropped sharply due to a presidential
pardon that released thousands of persons serving sentences for drug
trafficking that involved less than two kilograms of narcotics, or if
they had been jailed for more than 12 months without trial. The
decrease also reflected the work of a temporary public defenders' unit
that hired over 150 lawyers to defend poor prisoners, especially those
awaiting sentencing. As of December the National Agency for Social
Rehabilitation (DNRS) reported that 10,808 prisoners were being held in
45 facilities designed to hold 7,527 prisoners, a decline from a total
of 17,201 in the previous year.
A number of prisons experienced serious outbreaks of disease, and
often medical care was inadequate. The daily allocation for prison
rations was one dollar per inmate (the U.S. dollar is the official
currency); prisoners often supplemented these rations by buying their
own food. The DNRS reported that six prisoners died during the year, a
decrease from 21 deaths in 2008.
A court acquitted two police officers charged in the 2007 death of
Juan Lorenzo Delgado Zambrano, who died in a hospital reportedly after
fighting another detainee in the local precinct jail. Delgado's family
could not afford an attorney and was forced to leave the investigation
to the prosecutor's office.
Conditions were notably better in the Quito women's prison than in
men's facilities. There were no adolescents or children over three
years old living with their incarcerated mothers; for children younger
than three--who could not be separated from their mothers--appropriate
day-care facilities within detention centers were provided. Pretrial
detainees were held with convicted prisoners. According to CEDHU, male
guards were responsible for guarding female inmates, and female inmates
reported being beaten by male guards who accused them of trying to
escape.
Although in most instances the government permitted prison visits
by independent human rights observers, authorities occasionally did not
permit human rights observers to visit prisoners who had been placed in
isolation cells after they allegedly had been beaten. DNRS stated that
all properly identified officials and representatives from
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were able to visit prisoners, yet
many times observers and authorities were not able to find prisoners
because of poor record keeping and corruption of prison officials.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--While both the previous and the
new constitutions prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, in 2006 the
UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention noted that provisions in the
Criminal Procedures Code (CPC), the Penal Code, and some regulations
adopted by central or provincial authorities ``undermine the guarantees
and protection offered.'' In 2007 Congress passed an interpretive law
stating that detainees who purposely delayed the judicial process were
not subject to a benefit from the constitutional limitation of the
length of preventive detention. However, the criminal courts did not
apply this interpretation evenly nationwide.
The law stipulates that pregnant women cannot be held in prison
facilities during pretrial detention, although women who are pregnant
or become pregnant after sentencing must remain incarcerated. However,
according to reliable NGOs, police sources, and press reports, many
pregnant women were jailed rather than being confined to their homes
during pretrial detention.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police are
under the authority of the Ministry of Government. National Police
effectiveness was impaired by corruption, poor hiring procedures, and
insufficient training, supervision, and resources. President Correa's
October 2007 declaration of a state of emergency in several areas,
which lasted six months, continued to result in a higher level of
resources for the National Police. Police contacts said they had
received an additional $160 million as of August to combat crime and
increase citizen security. On September 30, Correa declared a 60-day
``state of exception'' in the cities of Quito, Guayaquil, and Manta,
permitting military forces to assist police in controlling crime. The
Constitutional Court upheld the decree on October 2, and the government
later extended it until the end of December.
Some municipalities, such as Quito and Guayaquil, have their own
metropolitan police forces in addition to the National Police.
Guayaquil also has a separate municipal transit police department. A
police internal affairs office investigates complaints against police
officers and can refer cases to the courts. According to reliable NGOs,
members of the Quito and Guayaquil metropolitan police occasionally
used excessive force. Police corruption was sometimes a problem. The
National Police contracted with NGOs to provide human rights training.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The law
requires authorities to issue specific written arrest orders prior to
detention, and authorities must charge a suspect with a specific
criminal offense within 24 hours of arrest. Within 24 hours of arrest,
detained persons may challenge the legality of their detention through
a habeas corpus petition to a judge in the locality where detention
took place. The constitution provides that a prisoner may be released
only by court order.
The prosecutor dropped the case of the 2007 arrest of Manuel Xavier
Cornejo Delgado in Manta, who asserted that he was arrested and held
incommunicado for two weeks, for lack of merit.
Bail is allowed only in the case of crimes punishable with jail
terms of less than five years, and is prohibited for hate, sexual, and
domestic violence crimes and those which, in the judge's opinion, may
cause public alarm.
Although the law entitles detainees to prompt access to lawyers and
family members, there were delays depending on the circumstances and
officials' willingness to enforce the law; alleged narcotics
traffickers commonly waited 24 to 48 hours for these visits. Detainees
with sufficient resources bribed prison officials to facilitate access.
CEDHU reported that an unknown number of prisoners were held in
facilities that did not accommodate visits by family or counsel.
Although the law prohibits incommunicado detention, human rights
organizations continued to report occasional violations. Authorities
charged with determining the validity of detention often allowed
frivolous charges to be brought, either because they were overworked or
because the accuser bribed them. The system frequently was used as a
means of harassment in civil cases in which one party sought to have
the other arrested on criminal charges.
Investigative detention up to and including trial is legal if a
judge determines that it is necessary, and if evidence that a crime has
been committed is presented. The law limits immediate detention to 24
hours for in flagrante crimes or to allow investigative detention to
begin. In most jurisdictions, the immediate detention is often
considerably longer. If the investigation report is detrimental, the
judge may order preventive detention, which is limited to six months
for minor offenses and one year for major offenses.
The law limits the period prisoners may be held after indictments
have been issued but before conviction or sentencing to six months in
the case of less serious crimes (those punishable with ``correctional
imprisonment'') and one year in the case of major crimes. However,
authorities repeatedly circumvented this provision by filing new
charges when the limit was about to expire. The majority of the accused
remained in prison during the investigation phase. According to
government data, as of December, approximately 52 percent of detainees
had not been sentenced. Of those, 70 percent corresponded to cases
filed in the previous six months.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the constitution provides
for an independent judiciary, in practice the judiciary was at times
susceptible to outside pressure and corruption. The media reported on
the susceptibility of the judiciary to bribes for favorable decisions
and resolution of legal cases and on judges parceling out cases to
outside lawyers who wrote judicial sentences on cases before the court
and sent them back to the presiding judge for signature. Judges
occasionally reached decisions based on media influence or political
and economic pressures.
The judiciary consists of the National Court of Justice, provincial
circuit courts, tribunals, and first instance tribunals. The new
constitution created the Constitutional Court, in place of the former
Constitutional Tribunal, to hear cases concerning constitutional
matters. Citizens may file cases directly with the Constitutional
Court. The Judicial Council has more ample powers under the new
constitution to provide oversight not just of the judiciary, but also
of prosecutors and private attorneys. The Prosecutor General's Office
is part of the judicial branch.
The constitution provides for a unified judicial system, which
abolished separate military and police judicial systems, although the
National Assembly postponed the date of judicial unification. In
October the National Court of Justice ordered ordinary courts to begin
processing pending and new police and military cases. However, the
Judiciary Council, which is responsible for the administration of the
judicial system, postponed implementation of that order for 90 days,
until specialized judges could be trained and the budget established.
In 2007 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ruled that
the 2005 appeal by 27 justices of the Supreme Court, who had been
replaced by Congress in 2004, was admissible. The case remained pending
at year's end.
Trial Procedures.--Despite efforts to modernize the court system,
the judiciary continued to operate slowly and inconsistently. There
were lengthy delays before most cases came to trial. Judges reportedly
rendered decisions more quickly or more slowly as a result of political
pressure or, in some cases, the payment of bribes. The failures of the
justice system contributed to cases in which communities took the law
into their own hands, such as mob violence against suspected criminals.
There are no juries in the justice system. Defendants are presumed
innocent until proven guilty and have the right to a public trial,
defense attorneys, and appeal. They may present evidence, refuse to
testify against themselves, and confront and cross-examine witnesses.
The law extends these rights to all citizens. Although a public
defender system exists, in practice only 330 attorneys were available
to defend the large number of impoverished defendants throughout the
country. Of those public defenders, 150 were hired during the year.
Civil society groups, lawyers' associations, universities, and
foreign donors supported vulnerable groups that did not have access to
legal defense.
The regular court system tries most nonmilitary defendants,
although some indigenous groups try members independently for
violations of tribal rules. The new constitution mandates elimination
of military courts and orders military courts to hand over their cases
to the National Court of Justice. However, this court--established in
December 2008--had not tried members of the military or police at
year's end.
Although the law and the previous and new constitutions recognize
indigenous communities' right to exercise their own systems of justice
based on their traditions and customs, they do not specify how this
right would be implemented. This parallel system raised questions of
both jurisdiction and conformity to the right to a fair trial.
Reforms to the CPC effective March 24 distorted the criminal
justice system by, for example, limiting the length of detention prior
to conviction but allowing prosecutors to add new charges, which keep
suspects in detention. In addition the new constitution places the
prosecutor general within the judicial branch and under its
supervision, giving the Judicial Council exclusive power to train,
evaluate, and sanction prosecutors. This also threatened prosecutorial
independence, since prosecutors are obligated to submit their
discretionary decisions regarding the prosecution of a case for review
by a magistrate at an adversarial, evidentiary hearing conducted during
the investigative phase of the trial. Reforms aimed at providing
criminal procedural protection created a more complex system, thus
slowing the judicial process. The law increased the number of formal
steps in the investigative cycle, with no fewer than 20 hearings needed
before preparation for trial hearing (similar to a preliminary
hearing), which also includes ruling on motions related to evidentiary
matters.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Civilian courts and the
Administrative Conflicts Tribunal, generally considered independent and
impartial, handle lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, human
rights violations. However, civilian lawsuits seeking damages for
alleged wrongs by the state were rarely filed since such suits were
time-consuming and difficult to prosecute, with judges taking up to a
decade to rule on the merits.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and the law prohibit such actions,
and the government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
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 partially
respected these rights in practice. Verbal and legal attacks against
the press by President Correa and his government increased
significantly during the year, causing relations between the press and
the government to deteriorate and reports of indirect censorship and
self-censorship to increase. Nonetheless the independent media remained
active and expressed a wide variety of views, including those critical
of the government.
On October 28, authorities arrested Giancarlo Zunino and Felix
Pilco, members of activist group New Civic Union, and placed them in
pretrial detention pending an investigation into charges of
``separatism.'' The prosecutor ordered their arrest for hanging
placards around Guayaquil saying ``Guayaquil Declares President Rafael
Correa Persona Non Grata.'' On November 6, a judge released them on a
$500 bond. Attorneys for the accused said they would bring a case
against the prosecutor and judge to the Constitutional Court.
President Correa regularly used his weekly radio and television
address and other public appearances to criticize the media and accuse
it of bias, frequently naming specific reporters and outlets. Several
journalists and individuals involved in local press associations
reported that Correa's ``systematic'' verbal attacks against the media
created ``a hostile environment for journalists.'' They also noted
similar behavior exhibited by other high-level government officials.
On January 17, Correa criticized the Teleamazonas channel for not
paying taxes on a regular basis. On May 2, Correa stated that the press
was ``a grave political enemy [that] needs to be defeated.'' He listed
what he considered the ``worst'' media outlets in terms of corruption.
On July 18, Correa attacked the newspaper El Comercio for not verifying
its sources when reporting a statement by the former governor of Azuay
that he had warned President Correa about his brother's contracts with
the government. During his August 10 inaugural speech, Correa stated
that his ``greatest adversary'' throughout his previous term had been
the press, asserting that it took on a political role even though it
had ``no democratic legitimacy'' because it was not elected.
On July 18, Fernando Alvarado, Director of Public Relations and
Communication for President Correa, said he would not communicate
directly with the private press and would only make official
announcements through state-owned media. On August 4, Alvarado
submitted a formal complaint to the Inter American Press Association
(IAPA) against Expreso general editor Juan Carlos Calderon and
columnist Jorge Vivanco for exhibiting what he called
``discriminatory'' behavior against journalists from the state-run
online newspaper El Ciudadano. According to Alvarado, both Calderon and
Vivanco refused to be interviewed by the government paper regarding
their articles criticizing the government.
In March the IAPA General Assembly asserted that the government
continued to ``systematically threaten and insult the press and
journalists'' and limit their access to information. Between January
and August, there were more than 30 reported cases of harassment
(threats, attacks, or arrests) against journalists or other
representatives of the press and four break-ins or robberies of media
outlets.
On February 11 in Quito, prosecutor Luis Ramiro Sanchez threatened
Angelo Chamba, a photographer for the newspaper Hoy, and a police
officer attacked Chamba while he was covering the arrest of another
journalist accused of a crime. Two police officers put Chamba in a
vehicle, threatened him, and took away his camera, radio, and cell
phone. They held Chamba for 30 minutes and then released him. The
following day he appeared in court to continue his coverage of the same
story, and police confiscated his camera again and reviewed the photos
on it.
On March 13, Emilio Palacios, editorial writer for the newspaper El
Universo, received death threats via e-mail, which referenced his March
1 piece criticizing Correa for his weekly attacks on the media. At
Palacio's request, the government agreed on March 19 to provide the
journalist and his family protection.
On July 3, armed men broke into the offices of the magazine
Vanguardia, threatened the employees, and raided their computers and
files. On July 7, two armed men assaulted Jose Luis Estrada, the
magazine's general manager, outside his office and stole his briefcase
and personal computer; the two incidents were not proven to be
connected.
There were several incidents of crowds or individuals within crowds
assaulting and yelling insults at journalists covering a protest or
event. There also were a few high-profile cases of indirect censorship
of the media by the government.
On March 6, Jose Toledo, vice president of the news division of
three television channels that the government had confiscated in July
2008, resigned less than a year after he was appointed to the position
following the state takeover of the stations. In resigning he cited
political pressure to favor government candidates in coverage of the
April elections. At year's end the government continued to control
those three channels--Gamavision, TC Television, and a cable station,
CN3 Cablenoticias.
There were also instances of the government utilizing legal
mechanisms to restrict the media, including use of libel laws to
suppress criticism.
On May 18, an audit commission created by the new constitution
found over 700 irregularities in its examination of 1,637 radio and
television frequency concessions, among them expired concessions,
``clandestine frequencies,'' and monopolistic behavior. Due to the
report's inconsistencies, however, in August the government created a
new commission to analyze the report and provide recommendations for
subsequent legal action. The report had not been released by year's
end.
On June 3, the government's television and radio regulatory agency,
the National Radio and Television Council (CONARTEL), issued its first
sanction against an independent television station, Teleamazonas, for
showing violent images of a bullfight during ``family'' hours,
resulting in a $20 fine imposed on the station. On June 25, CONARTEL
sanctioned the station a second time with a $40 fine for reporting on a
``clandestine vote counting center,'' which CONARTEL decided was based
on ``rumors'' instead of hard evidence. The government dissolved
CONARTEL in July during a reorganization of the telecommunication
sector that was previously announced in October 2008.
On August 29, President Correa demanded closure of Teleamazonas due
to the station's alleged illegal airing of a clandestine audio tape on
August 25 that purportedly captured the president and other government
officials discussing how they altered language in the new constitution
after it had already been approved by the National Assembly. President
Correa accused the station of breaking the Broadcasting Law by
reproducing covertly acquired recordings, ``spying on the president,''
and ``threatening national security.'' On September 2, a Correa
government spokesperson retracted Correa's statement and asserted that
the government would follow due process. A third government
investigation of Teleamazonas concerned alleged misinformation about
gas exploration on the island of Puna aired by the station, which
ultimately led to a 72-hour suspension of programming, announced by the
superintendant of telecommunications (SUPERTEL) on December 22.
Also on December 22, SUPERTEL announced that the radio station La
Voz de Arutam, broadcasting in Morona Santiago Province to the Shuar
indigenous community, would lose its frequency rights for inciting
violence during indigenous protests in late September that led to the
death of a Shuar protester. The station appealed the loss of frequency
decision, allowing it to remain on the air, and the case was pending at
year's end (see section 2.b.).
The new constitution declares the frequency spectrum a nonrenewable
resource owned by the state and mandates that the state receive no less
benefit than the company involved in the exploitation of that resource.
It prohibits oligopolies or monopolies in the ownership of means of
communications and in the use of frequencies and precludes financial
groups, their legal representatives, stockholders, and board members
from participating in the control of the ``social means of
communication'' in terms of capital and investment. It also states that
the social communication system will assure the exercise of the rights
of communication, information, and freedom of expression.
The Correa administration enforced a provision in the Radio and
Television Broadcasting Law that requires all stations to broadcast at
no charge government programs on education and health issues for up to
an hour per day (Mondays through Saturdays). This law also mandates the
broadcast of messages and reports by the president and his cabinet free
of charge. The new constitution maintains the previous constitutional
provision stating the right of all persons to receive information that
is true, verified, timely, contextualized, pluralistic, and without
prior censorship. It also includes a provision stating that the law
will regulate the informational, educational, and cultural content of
the programming of communication outlets.
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.
Internet access was widely available in larger cities, but access in
the most remote locations was poor. In November the National
Telecommunications Secretariat reported that there were 2,034,000
Internet users, approximately 14 percent 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.--The constitution
provides for freedom of peaceful assembly, and the government generally
respected this right in practice. Security forces used force and tear
gas to quell some violent demonstrations, resulting in several
injuries. Public rallies require prior government permits, which
generally were granted, although exceptions occurred.
In January several persons were injured when they blocked roads in
the southern provinces of Azuay, Zamora Chinchipe, Loja, and Morona
Santiago to protest the government's proposed law on mining. On January
5, residents of Pueblo Nuevo, Azuay Province, beat two police officers
and held one of them prisoner for 36 hours. On January 7, altercations
between the police and Pueblo Nuevo residents resulted in several
injured, including schoolchildren who were affected by tear gas.
On September 29, Bosco Wisum was killed in Morona Santiago Province
during a Shuar indigenous protest against a proposed water law and the
extant law on mining. Preliminary reports noted that Wisum was likely
killed accidentally by other protesters when police arrived to clear
the barricaded road. At year's end, the government and the National
Assembly were investigating the incident.
On April 9, a judge dismissed the case against six students
prosecuted for having offended President Correa during the
August 2008 altercations between the police and university students
during and after the president's radio and television address broadcast
from the Catholic University of Guayaquil.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
The government requires religious groups to register.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Muslim leaders reported that
members of their community occasionally experienced discrimination when
applying for work or housing. There was an isolated report of an anti-
Semitic act of graffiti on a wall in Quito. There were no other reports
of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation,
belief, or practice.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice.
The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations,
such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The new constitution recognizes the rights
of asylum and refuge, including ``special protection in view of
guaranteeing the full exercise of their rights.'' 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 the
expulsion and return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion. The government also provided temporary protection to
individuals who might not qualify as refugees under the 1951 convention
or the 1967 protocol. This included providing services to the
continuing flows of Colombians crossing the northern border throughout
the year.
The government reported that during the year, it received 12,363
applications for regular refugee status and recognized 5,067 refugees.
On March 23, the government fully implemented an ``enhanced
registration'' program that improved the refugee registration process
for Colombian asylum seekers so that those in need of international
protection could be interviewed, assessed, and issued documentation on
the same day. Previously, the refugee registration process could take
one to two years to complete, and more than 30,000 cases were pending
in the regular process at the beginning of the year. From March to
December, the government recognized more than 21,000 refugees under the
enhanced registration program. The program was expected to target up to
50,000 Colombian refugees for registration and documentation over a 12-
month period in the northern border region. Applicants rejected in
either the regular or the enhanced refugee process have a legal right
to appeal; after appeals are exhausted, they have 30 days to leave the
country. There were no reports of anyone without refugee status being
expelled. While the UNHCR and the government reported difficulty
dealing with the number of applicants and appeals, both the UNHCR and
the IOM supported the government refugee office's efforts to streamline
its decision-making and appeals processes and reduce its case backlog.
There were 45,820 recognized refugees in the country. The
government and UNHCR estimated in 2008 that approximately 135,000
persons were in need of international protection, of whom approximately
68,000 were not registered in the asylum process at that time.
Colombians accounted for 90 percent of asylum seekers, and the rest
originated from a wide variety of countries, including Cuba, Peru,
Haiti, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The law provides persons
granted refugee status the right to work; however, this right is not
extended to asylum seekers. The law provides recognized refugees and
asylum seekers the same access to public health services as citizens.
The presentation of any identity document is sufficient to ensure
access to public educational institutions.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In accordance with the new
constitution, elections for offices at all levels of government were
held on April 26 and June 14. On April 26 voters reelected Rafael
Correa to a four-year presidential term. In addition voters chose a
vice president, provincial prefects and vice prefects, mayors, National
Assembly members, and city councilors; a total of 1,969 offices.
Election of five members to the Andean Parliament and 3,985 rural
parish council members took place on June 14. Organization of American
States and European Union observers concluded that the elections were
generally free and fair, with local irregularities, and highlighted
areas for further improvement in subsequent elections.
Although the international and domestic observation teams reported
no major fraud, there were some reports of missing or marked ballots,
counting and vote calculation irregularities, and incidents of
violence.
In 2008 along with the new constitution, voters approved a
``transition regime,'' which regulated the transition to the new
institutional order. The interim Constitutional Court and National
Court of Justice remained in place. An interim Citizen Participation
and Social Control Council, an institution under the newly created
Transparency and Social Control branch of government, was installed on
January 26 and disbanded on September 9 when the law regulating the
selection of the permanent council went into effect. On the basis of
that law, the National Electoral Council began supervising the merit-
based selection of members of the permanent Citizen Participation and
Social Control Council. The Transparency and Social Control branch of
the state is designed to promote citizen participation and prevent and
combat corruption.
The constitution provides for state-promoted, gender-balanced
representation in the public sector, including in decision-making
positions, and mandates government adoption of affirmative action
policies to promote the participation of affected groups. The new
constitution grants suffrage to members of the armed forces and the
police, and lowers the minimum voting age from 18 to 16.
The new constitution provides for gender balance in the lists of
political parties' candidates for the National Assembly and other
representative institutions. Voters elected 40 women to the 124-seat
National Assembly, which was installed on July 31. As of December there
were nine women in the 27-member cabinet and two female secretaries of
state with the rank of minister.
There was one Asian-Ecuadorian but no Afro-Ecuadorians or
indigenous persons in the cabinet.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. The
World Bank's worldwide governance indicators reflected that government
corruption was a serious problem.
In June local media reported that businessman Fabricio Correa, the
brother of President Rafael Correa, had signed public sector contracts
worth over $80 million during the Correa administration, raising public
concerns of corruption. On September 5, in response to the allegations,
President Correa announced he would nullify all government contracts
connected to his brother. On September 9, Comptroller General Carlos
Polit announced that his office's review of the public contracts in
question yielded contracting ``irregularities'' including 31 instances
of unfulfilled jobs or orders by Fabricio Correa's companies. According
to the comptroller's report, the total amount in government contracts
received by Correa's companies was $167 million. In response to the
nullification of his contracts, Fabricio Correa leveled his own
accusations of corruption within his brother's administration and, in
support of this, submitted alleged evidence against several of
President Correa's cabinet members to the Prosecutor General's Office.
The Prosecutor General's Office and the National Assembly both opened
investigations into Fabricio Correa's accusations; the investigations
continued at year's end.
In August a multinational oil company provided government
authorities with clandestinely recorded videos that it alleged exposed
a bribery scheme related to a multi-billion dollar environmental
lawsuit pending against it in an Ecuadorian court. The judge who had
been presiding over the case, as well of some members of President
Correa's Proud and Sovereign Fatherland Movement, were shown on the
recordings. The Prosecutor General's Office opened an investigation
into the allegations, while plaintiffs in the lawsuit claimed the
videos were fabricated.
The prosecutor's investigations continued into the July 2008
criminal investigation of former ombudsman Claudio Mueckay for alleged
misuse of public funds and the August 2008 case of irregularities
involving contracts and staff members advising the Constituent
Assembly.
On January 7, authorities imprisoned former minister of sports Raul
Carrion, who resigned in December 2008 after three of his advisors were
placed under preventive detention during an investigation of their
alleged illicit enrichment and asset laundering, among other charges.
On April 27, a National Court of Justice criminal tribunal freed him,
but reversed its decision on May 5 amidst widespread criticism,
including by the Prosecutor General. Carrion was released from prison
on December 22 after reaching the statutory limits on preventive
detention. At the same time, the prosecutor dismissed the charges
against him for asset laundering due to insufficient evidence. However,
Carrion still had fraud charges pending, and the judicial proceedings
continued at year's end.
In December 2008 President Correa created via presidential decree
the National Secretariat for Management Transparency, tasked with
investigating and reporting corruption cases and promoting transparent
practices in the public administration.
The new constitution states that all persons have the right to
access information gathered by public or private organizations
receiving state funds. It further requires that the information be
available in the native language of the citizen. The 2004 Law on
Transparency and Access to Information defines these rights, and
requires that government agencies make available to the public, free of
charge, all information gathered by organizations that receive public
funds, including unions and NGOs. Personal information about individual
citizens, and information regarding national security, are excluded. As
a result, government agencies increasingly put budget information,
functions, organizational information, lists of government officers,
and all official notices on the Internet, in addition to responding to
written requests.
An NGO's year-long study of this law's implementation found that
while many agencies lagged in publishing the required information on
the Internet, 97 percent of written requests for information were
answered, and only one petition did not receive a response. Agencies
responded to 63 percent of requests within the time limit established
by law. In a few cases, the NGO noted that the specific information
requested was not received, either because it did not exist or it was
not accessible to the official searching. The report noted that many
government agencies did not have the budgets required to fully
implement the law, nor the technological systems to make information
easily searchable. Other NGOs rated government compliance with
publishing the required data on their Web pages at about 70 percent,
although the data may not be complete or accurate.
Section 5. 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
cooperated with the groups but often did not act on their
recommendations.
An Ombudsman's Office focused on human rights problems. The new
constitution describes the Ombudsman's Office as an independent part of
the judiciary established to ensure equal access to justice and the
protection of rights. The office has 50 members and regularly presents
cases to the prosecutor's office, but with limited success. In July
2008 the Constituent Assembly appointed an interim ombudsman. As with
many of the restructured or new institutions established by the new
constitution, this organization was not yet in final form. Once the
permanent Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control is
established in mid-2010, it is expected to create a merit-based system
for receiving nominations and selecting the ombudsman.
The Commission for Truth, created in 2007 to investigate alleged
human rights violations (particularly during the 1984-88 period),
investigated 150 cases of human rights violations but did not release
its report by year's end (see section 1.a.).
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The new constitution prohibits discrimination based on race,
gender, disability, language, or social status; however, women, persons
with disabilities, indigenous persons, Afro-Ecuadorians, gays,
lesbians, bisexual, and transgender persons continued to face
discrimination.
Women.--Although the law prohibits violence against women,
including within marriage, abuses were widespread.
The law criminalizes rape and provides a penalty of up to 25 years
in prison. The law does not criminalize spousal rape, although under
family law spousal rape is considered a type of violence. The penalty
for rape where death occurred is from 16 to 25 years' imprisonment. As
of October there were 3,547 reported rapes, 914 cases where charges
were filed, and 294 cases prosecuted successfully. Many rapes were not
reported due to the victim's reluctance to confront the perpetrator.
The most pervasive violations of women's rights involved domestic
and sexual violence. Although prohibited by law, both were widespread
and vastly underreported. The Ministry of Government's Office of Gender
reported, based on preliminary and partial reports it had received as
of October 31, 48,022 cases of sexual, psychological, or physical
mistreatment of women and 7,040 cases involving male victims as of
June. Police and judicial reluctance to act on domestic violence cases
was an additional factor. Authorities referred many women who reported
domestic abuse or sexual crimes to the judicial system, but gaps in
this process contributed to dropping charges against the perpetrators.
While the new constitution eliminated the 34 special Police
Stations for Women and Families, which formerly handled issues such as
domestic violence, the government established new joint service centers
to assist citizens. These centers provided assistance free of charge to
victims of domestic and gender violence on legal issues, social and
medical assistance, and police protection. The law provides penalties
for domestic violence of a fine of up to $28 or seven days in prison
and gives family courts the power to remove an abusive spouse from the
home if continued cohabitation creates a risk to the victim of abuse.
The new constitution provides for courts specializing in women and
family issues, which are to be under the judicial branch and have the
power to authorize restraining orders prohibiting the abusive spouse
from approaching the victim or her place of employment or study; to
prohibit the abusive spouse from persecuting or intimidating the victim
or any member of her family; to reinsert the victim into the family
home, if shared, while simultaneously removing the abusive spouse from
the premises; and to order any treatment deemed beneficial to the
affected family. In November the Constitutional Court established a
Regional Observers Office for Judicial Decisions that would review
court decisions from six Latin American countries to report whether
those countries comply with international norms, including UN
declarations, involving women's rights.
The new constitution affords women an array of benefits in the
economic, political, and social areas. While women's organizations
applauded these provisions, they noted that many legal and financial
steps remained to implement the reforms. Meanwhile, a transitional
council handled projects in all provinces, focusing primarily on equal
opportunities, public policy programs toward women, and lines of credit
for women's businesses. The law stipulates that the government should
formulate and implement policies to achieve gender equality,
incorporate a gender focus into plans and programs, and provide
technical assistance to implement the law in the public sector.
Adoption of the new constitution restructured the former National
Council on Women (CONAMU)--whose main role was the enactment and
enforcement of public policies for the advancement of women's issues
and rights. The council became part of the Secretariat on Peoples,
Social Movements, and Citizen Participation, a cabinet-level ministry
charged with ensuring the participation of the citizenry in government
decision making, especially among historically disadvantaged groups.
Prostitution is legal for persons over the age of 18 as long as the
prostitution businesses are registered with the government and follow
health regulations. Trafficking in persons for prostitution was a
problem.
Despite the legal prohibition of sexual harassment, women's rights
organizations described harassment in the workplace as common. CONAMU
and subsequently the transitional council were charged with designing
public policies to promote women's human rights and equality in cases
of sexual harassment.
The new constitution acknowledges sexual and reproductive rights.
The Free Maternity Care Law protects the sexual and reproductive rights
of women and calls for free prenatal care, family planning services,
and cancer screening. According to statistics from the Population
Reference Bureau, 69 percent of women had skilled attendants present
during childbirth, and 99 percent had health care providers present
during childbirth. A 2004 survey of demographic and maternal health
care noted that over 70 percent of women used contraceptives, with a 5
percent ``unmet need'' for family planning. The gap between the rural
and urban contraceptive prevalence rate was small, at 67 percent and 77
percent respectively. More than 36 percent of modern contraceptive
method users received these services through government-sponsored
programs. The government began implementing a national HIV/AIDS program
to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the disease and provided
free screening for all women. The law also promotes a greater role for
men in care giving by providing paternity leave of up to 10 days.
Despite legal protection of women's rights in politics, the home,
and employment, societal discrimination against women was pervasive,
particularly with respect to educational and economic opportunities for
older women and for those in the lower economic strata. Although women
enjoyed the same legal status as men, women often did not receive equal
rights in practice. According to the government, for example, women
received approximately 65 percent of the pay received by men for equal
work. Women's advocates alleged that culture and tradition inhibited
achievement of full equality for women. There were fewer women than men
employed in professional work and skilled trades. Little reliable data
existed regarding the situation of women within the tightly knit
indigenous communities.
The Ecuadorian Women's Permanent National Forum included more than
320 women's organizations and promoted social, economic, and cultural
change, including increased political participation by women throughout
the entire constitutional drafting process carried out in 2007-08 by
the Constituent Assembly. According to the forum, participation by
women was greater in the 2008 constitutional referendum than in
previous elections.
Children.--Citizenship is acquired either through birth in the
country or by birth to an Ecuadorian mother or father abroad (until the
third generation). Since 2006 the government encouraged civil
registration and made it easier for adults and children to register.
The Ministry of Health implemented a program to register newborns at
birth in hospitals and clinics, and mobile registration centers reached
out to rural areas regularly. As a result, the number of unregistered
citizens fell 40 percent, from 1.5 million to less than 900,000. Of
those, 100,000 were indigenous persons and 300,000 were under 18.
Authorities did not use lack of documentation to deny access to
education, therefore some parents reportedly did not understand the
importance of registering their children. Other government services,
however, including welfare payments and free primary health care,
require some form of identification. The registration campaign was
designed in part to teach adults about the benefits of registering
themselves and their children, as well as their obligations as
citizens.
The new constitution raised the minimum 10-year requirement of
schooling to 15 years; however, due to shortages of schools, inadequate
school funding, and the comparatively high cost of books and uniforms,
the government rarely enforced either the old or new minimum
requirement.
There was no societal pattern of abuse against children.
Commercial sexual exploitation of minors remained a problem; it was
punishable with six to 16 years of imprisonment. The law prohibits
child pornography, with penalties of six to 16 years' imprisonment. The
law covers statutory rape; the age of consent is 14. The penalty for
statutory rape is 16 to 25 years' imprisonment.
More than 20 NGOs promoted child welfare. The UN Children's Fund
and several private organizations were active in programs to assist
street children.
Trafficking in Persons.--The government recognized that trafficking
in persons was a national problem, and the law prohibits such
trafficking. Nonetheless, there were reports that women and children
were trafficked within, to, from, and through the country. The country
was both a source and a destination for trafficking.
The Child Welfare Police reported that the majority of identified
trafficking victims were from the provinces of Pichincha, El Oro, and
Orellana.
Traffickers were mainly criminal gang members specializing in
movement of persons, proprietors of small businesses such as bars or
brothels, and illicit employment brokers. Recruitment modalities varied
depending on the type of exploitation. In the case of sexual
exploitation, victims were lured romantically or with promises of
legitimate employment and then forced into prostitution. Recruiters for
forced labor offered parents education and work opportunities for their
children.
The law criminalizes trafficking in persons and provides for prison
terms of six to 35 years. The law also provides for penalties of six to
12 years in prison for promoting sexual tourism. From April through
December, authorities opened 41 cases involving trafficking in persons,
forced labor, or sexual exploitation; data on convictions were not
available at year's end.
The government had a specialized antitrafficking Police Unit with
18 investigative agents and two intelligence analysts. During the year
this unit received 46 reports of human trafficking, conducted 15
investigations or ``sting'' operations, detained 17 suspects, and
rescued 44 trafficking victims, according to the National Judicial
Council.
Numerous municipalities had antitrafficking action plans,
prevention campaigns, and antitrafficking networks working in
conjunction with the national government. The Trafficking in Persons
and Sexual Crimes Unit of the Prosecutor's Office in the city of Cuenca
reported four cases of trafficking in persons, which were related,
respectively, to child pornography, labor exploitation, sexual
exploitation, and forced begging. All of these cases remained under
investigation at year's end. Other cases included kidnapping and
selling newborn children, and children used to transport drugs and
commit petty theft.
The government provided shelter and assistance to trafficking
victims. In Pinchicha Province, for example, authorities provided
direct assistance, including reintegration opportunities, to 71
trafficking victims during the year. In December a court in the
province sentenced a trafficker arrested in 2006 to eight years'
imprisonment for sexually exploiting an adolescent.
The Ministries of Government and Foreign Affairs, the National
Child and Family Institute, and the National Secretariat for Migrants
coordinated the return of five Ecuadorian victims of labor exploitation
from Colombia and Chile. The Ministry of Tourism launched a campaign in
24 provinces to prevent sexual exploitation of children and
adolescents. In October an investigation led to the arrest of a woman
traveling from Ecuador to Venezuela with six children and four
adolescents. None of the children had documents permitting them to
leave the country, and the prosecutors suspected the woman was part of
a ring to exploit children as domestic laborers. At year's end, the
case remained under investigation.
In July the government established a state-run integrated database
system to collect important statistical information on trafficking. The
IOM taught and provided technical assistance to different state
officials, mainly at the Ministry of Justice, on the administration and
use of this technical tool.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, and the provision of
other state services. The interagency National Council on Disabilities
oversees government policies regarding persons with disabilities.
Although the law mandates access to buildings for persons with
disabilities, the government did not fully enforce it.
For the April 26 elections, the National Electoral Council (CNE)
printed ballots in braille only for the presidential race. According to
the CNE, due to the significant number of candidates running for office
and the complex voting system--for entire lists or candidates among
lists--the CNE did not print ballots in braille for the remaining
offices at stake on April 26 or for the June 14 election. Instead, the
CNE allowed blind individuals to have assistance from a relative while
voting and provided training to CNE field coordinators, as well as
police and military officials, to raise awareness on specific needs for
voting by persons with disabilities. The CNE provided sign language
translators and made efforts to ensure that voting precincts were fully
accessible to persons with disabilities.
The new constitution extends benefits to persons with disabilities,
particularly in the areas of education, employment, and access to
social security. The law requires the hiring of persons with
disabilities in all public and private enterprises with more than 25
employees. According to a radio address by Vice President Lenin Moreno
on November 28, 92 percent of public and private companies complied
with the law. Moreno said the remaining companies would be sanctioned,
but did not specify how. An initiative, ``Ecuador without Barriers,''
led by the vice president, helped create an unspecified number of jobs
for persons with disabilities. In November the municipality of
Guayaquil, the largest city in the country, opened debate on a
regulation that would require all businesses and public institutions to
improve access for the disabled and the elderly. The final regulation
had not been issued as of year's end.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Afro-Ecuadorian citizens, who
account for about 3 percent of the population, suffered pervasive
discrimination, particularly with regard to educational and economic
opportunity.
The Afro-Ecuadorian Cultural Center estimated that 70 percent of
Afro-Ecuadorians lived in poverty. Afro-Ecuadorian organizations noted
that, despite the absence of official discrimination, societal
discrimination, including stereotyping, continued to affect them. For
example, they continued to assert that the police stopped Afro-
Ecuadorians for document checks more frequently than they stopped other
citizens and that employers often would not interview persons whose job
applications carried Afro-Ecuadorian photos. There were no special
government efforts to address these problems, except for the
Municipality of Quito, which in December 2008 prohibited private and
public institutions in Quito from accepting curriculum vitae with
pictures.
The Center for Racial Equity and Development reported increased
violence by the public forces. According to the center, on January 10,
members of the armed forces detained and reportedly tortured three
young Afro-Ecuadorian men in the area of Carcelen, Quito. The ombudsman
determined that the attack was based on racial discrimination and
recommended that the officers be dismissed. The military court that
heard the case imposed an administrative measure of two days'
detention. The civilian prosecutor to whom the case was referred said
that a criminal investigation in civilian courts could not proceed
because the case had already been tried in military court and
defendants cannot be prosecuted for the same offense twice. (Military
courts were abolished later in the year.)
The new constitution declares the state to be plurinational,
affirms the principle of nondiscrimination by recognizing the right of
indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorian, and Montubio communities to restitution
for acts of discrimination, and mandates affirmative action policies to
ensure the representation of minorities. On October 13, the government
published an Executive Decree with a National Pluricultural Plan to
Eliminate Racial Discrimination. Among other provisions, it calls for
all public sector bodies to ensure that ``access to labor'' reflects
the percentage of the population of Afro-Ecuadorians, indigenous
persons, and Montubios (a rural, farming population recognized as an
independent ethnic group).
Indigenous People.--Estimates of those who maintained their
indigenous cultural identity and lived in indigenous communities varied
between 7 and 30 percent of the population. The vast majority of
indigenous citizens resided in rural areas, including in the highlands
and the Amazonian provinces. The literacy rate among the indigenous was
approximately 72 percent. Despite their political influence and the
advocacy efforts of grassroots community groups, indigenous persons
continued to suffer discrimination at many levels of society and, with
few exceptions, were at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale.
Arable land was scarce in the more heavily populated highland
areas, where high infant mortality, malnutrition, and epidemic disease
were common among the indigenous population. Electricity and potable
water often were unavailable. Although the rural education system was
seriously deficient, many indigenous groups participated with the
Ministry of Education in the development of the bilingual education
program used in rural public schools.
The new constitution strengthens rights of indigenous peoples; it
declares the state plurinational, recognizing Kichwa and Shuar as
``official languages of intercultural relations,'' and specifically
recognizes indigenous justice. Existing law also recognizes the rights
of indigenous communities to hold property communally, to administer
traditional community justice in certain cases, and to be consulted
before natural resources are exploited in community territories. Land
in many cases is titled to the indigenous community, and some
indigenous groups hoped to expand these areas. In other cases,
indigenous groups managed a reserve that the government set aside for
biodiversity protection. Indigenous persons also have the same civil
and political rights as other citizens.
The former and new constitutions grant indigenous persons the right
to participate in decisions about the exploitation of nonrenewable
resources that are located in their lands and that could affect their
culture or environment. The new constitution allows indigenous persons
to participate in the benefits the projects may bring and to receive
compensation for the damage that could result. It mandates, in the case
of environmental damage, immediate corrective government action and
full restitution from the responsible company. However, some indigenous
organizations asserted a lack of consultation and remedial action.
Indigenous groups lobbied the government, enlisted the help of
foreign and domestic NGOs, and mounted protests in attempts to win a
greater share of oil revenues and a greater voice in natural resource
and development decisions. Settlers, drug traffickers, and loggers
illegally encroached into indigenous territory. Corrupt local
officials, a lack of political will, and divisions among and within
indigenous communities undermined indigenous efforts to stop the flow
of illegally harvested timber. Widespread environmental damage, in part
due to deforestation and petroleum production, constituted another
serious problem.
The Ombudsman's Office had representatives in indigenous
communities throughout the country. These had responsibility for
promoting human and indigenous rights among indigenous communities and
providing specific advisory services to these groups.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The new constitution includes
the principle of nondiscrimination and establishes choice of sexual
orientation as a right. Homosexual acts are not criminalized.
Transexuals have the right to identify themselves by their chosen
gender on their national identification cards, according to a court
case in Pichincha Province. Although the law prohibits discrimination
based on sexual orientation, gays, lesbians, transgender persons, and
transvestites continued to suffer discrimination from both public and
private bodies. In September the National Electoral Council published
rules governing the selection of the national prosecutor general,
comptroller, members of the Council for Citizen Participation, and
directors of certain regulatory bodies that gave lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) candidates for those positions two
additional points on their applications. The measure was designed to
help traditionally disadvantaged groups participate more effectively in
government.
LGBT organizations existed and were not aware of incidents of
violence perpetrated by the police or other government agents towards
the establishment of these organizations. Such groups organized
multiple Gay Pride marches in the last decade with the authorization of
pertinent authorities and received police protection.
Despite the lack of official discrimination, societal
discrimination was present. The NGO Kimirina advised that members of
the LGBT community believed that their right of equal access to formal
education and employment was frequently violated. The LGBT population
involved in the sex industry reported abusive situations, extortion,
and ill-treatment by security forces but did not file or press charges
in the Office of the Public Prosecutor.
The April 2008 case in which a policeman reportedly pushed and
punched a member of a sexual minority group remained under
investigation at year's end.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--The new constitution
specifically prohibits discrimination directed at persons with HIV/
AIDS. There was no societal violence against persons with HIV/AIDS;
however, NGOs reported that individuals with HIV/AIDS believed they
were discriminated against, including on issues such as equal
employment opportunities and access to appropriate health care.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--While the law provides most workers
with the rights to form and join trade unions of their choice, legal
protections of these rights were inadequate, sometimes failing to deter
employers from retaliating against workers for organizing. In May an
employer laid off 26 workers in a tuna factory in Manabi Province after
they formed a union. In July managers fired 46 workers at a wood
plantation and 15 workers at a hospital after forming unions. Members
of the police, the military, and most public sector employees (those
who fall under the civil service law) were not free to form trade
unions. Approximately 1.2 to 3 percent of the workforce was organized.
While employees of state-owned organizations enjoyed rights similar
to those in the private sector, the law prohibits the majority of
public sector employees from joining unions or exercising collective
bargaining rights. Under the law, employees that do not fall into the
technical, administrative, or professional categories may join a union
and bargain collectively. Public sector employees in strategic sectors,
as designated in the new constitution, may not take any action that
paralyzes those sectors, including striking. The constitution lists
health; environmental sanitation; education; justice; the fire brigade;
social security; electrical energy; drinking water and sewerage;
hydrocarbon production; the processing, transport and distribution of
fuel; public transport; and post and telecommunications as strategic
sectors. Most public employees maintained membership in a labor sector
association; such associations are not allowed to strike or bargain
collectively.
Despite the law, however, teachers, state oil refinery workers, and
workers in an electricity generating company held strikes during the
year. The teachers union called for strikes intermittently through the
year, most recently from September 15 to October 7. In November workers
protested at an electricity generating company in Guayaquil during a
surprise visit by President Correa. Correa told reporters that he would
have the organizers investigated under the article in the penal code
prohibiting interference in the provision of public services. By
December, 22 employees had been summarily dismissed, with the approval
of the Ministry of Labor, for interrupting services to the public and
``insulting the majesty of the president.'' The director of the firm
also asked the prosecutor to charge the employees with sabotage and
terrorism. At year's end the workers had hired lawyers to challenge the
decisions.
The new constitution, whose worker rights provisions require the
adoption of implementing laws, terms worker rights ``irrevocable'';
provides for the right to unionize and to strike (except in instances
which might cause ``paralysis'' in strategic sectors); and commits
state support for democratic unions.
The labor code and the constitution require workers in state
enterprises to be represented by a single labor union. The law does not
require reinstatement of workers fired for union activity but does
require compensation and fines. The new constitution prohibits the use
of outsourcing and of discriminatory criteria in hiring. Outsourcing
includes subcontracting, third party, and hourly contracts. The law
prohibits these activities except in the areas of security, catering,
message delivery services, and cleaning if those services are not an
integral part of the company's productive processes. The law permits
part-time contracts, but only with full-time employee benefits. Public
sector enterprises may subcontract for certain technical workers with
the Ministry of Labor's approval.
There were few restrictions on the right of private-sector workers
to strike, although a 10-day period is required before a strike can be
declared. The law allows solidarity strikes or boycotts of three days
if the Ministry of Labor approves them. In some industries, during a
legal strike, workers may take possession of the factory or workplace
(thus ending production at the site) and receive police protection
during the takeover. However, in other industries, such as agriculture,
the law requires a 20-day waiting period from the day the strike is
called. During this time workers and employers must agree on how many
workers are needed to ensure a minimum level of service, and at least
20 percent of the workforce must continue to work in order to provide
essential services. The law provides that ``the employer may contract
substitute personnel'' only when striking workers refuse to send the
number of workers required to provide the minimum necessary services,
although in practice this law was not enforced. The law protects
strikers and their leaders from retaliation.
The law does not provide the majority of public workers with the
right to strike, although they were able to organize and bargain
collectively. Individual workers may take complaints against employers
to the Labor Inspection office if they are still employed by the firm,
or to courts charged with protecting labor rights if they are no longer
employed by the organization. Unions may also take complaints to a
tripartite (union, employer, government) arbitration board established
to hear these complaints. In December the tripartite commission decided
in favor of the union in the case of striking workers at a tire
manufacturing company. The law includes a provision that striking
public-sector workers are liable to between two and five years in
prison.
Pursuant to a temporary law passed in 2008 calling for revision of
all public-sector collective bargaining agreements to eliminate
``excessive benefits'' for workers, at year's end, 64 collective
bargaining contracts had been reviewed, affecting approximately 46,000
workers. Excessive benefits include paid leave for professional
training and union related/labor rights training; seniority bonuses;
additional vacation (accrued due to seniority); the right to free or
discounted public services; and the right to have a commissary, among
other items.
A presidential decree signed on April 30 empowered SENRES (National
Secretariat for the Development of Public Sector Human Resources and
Remuneration) to evaluate the employment of workers in the public
sector to establish which workers fall into the category of manual
laborers and which are classified as technical or administrative
workers. Workers who are classified as technical and administrative
workers will be subject to the Civil Service and Administrative Career
Law (LOSCA) and not the labor code. The LOSCA does not provide any
assurances for the right to freedom of association or the right to
bargain collectively. According to an NGO specializing in promoting
worker rights, a likely result of this process is that 75 percent of
union members in public sector enterprises will no longer be able to
legally join a union or have a collective bargaining agreement. Those
who work in strategic sectors already are not legally permitted to
strike, although they may participate in collective bargaining
negotiations.
In August the government officially incorporated SENRES into the
Ministry of Labor Relations.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
requires all private employers with 30 or more workers belonging to a
union to negotiate collectively when the union so requests. Collective
bargaining agreements covered only 140,000 workers of the total
workforce of 4.3 million. Most of the economically active population
was employed in the agricultural sector or the urban informal sector;
the vast majority of these workers were not organized. The law allows
businesses to hire workers on individual contracts.
There is special legislation regulating labor in export processing
zones. Most workers in export processing zones are hired on temporary
contracts and as such do not appear to be protected by key elements of
the labor code.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that children were trafficked for the purpose of forced labor
(see section 6). Forced labor for children and adolescents occurred
most often when the children were trafficked as street vendors or
domestic servants. Women were sometimes forced into domestic servitude
by their traffickers.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits exploitation of children in the workplace and forced or
compulsory labor; however, the government did not effectively enforce
the law, and child labor remained a problem especially in informal
sectors.
The labor code, the child and adolescent code, and the new
constitution set the minimum working age for minors at 15 for all types
of labor and the maximum hours a minor may work at six hours per day,
five days per week. The law lists jobs that are not suitable for
children and prohibits minors from working in hazardous conditions,
including in agriculture, mines, domestic work, garbage dumps,
slaughterhouses, or in jobs requiring exposure to toxic or dangerous
substances or loud noises. The law requires employers to pay minors the
same wages received by adults for the same type of employment.
Penalties for violations of the child labor laws include fines of $50
to $300 for parents or guardians and fines of $200 to $1,000 for
employers hiring children less than age 15. In cases of repeated
infractions, the employer's business can be closed.
The Ministries of Labor and of Economic and Social Inclusion and
the Minors' Tribunal were charged with enforcing child labor laws, but
enforcement, while improving, was not fully effective due to lack of
resources. The 2006 National Institute of Statistics and Census's Child
Labor National Survey (the latest available information) found that
367,000 children between ages five and 14 were engaged in labor not
permitted by law, primarily working in rural areas in the informal
sector, compared with 550,000 in 2001. Children worked in the
production of bananas, flower, broccoli, sugarcane, and strawberries.
They were also involved in brick-making and small-scale gold mining.
There were reports of Ecuadorian children working as coca pickers in
Colombia.
The government's 29 child labor inspectors inspected workplace
locations that specifically employed child labor; these inspectors had
the authority to cite violations and sanction companies and employers
found to have illegally hired child labor. In January the government
began implementation of a second phase of its Child Labor Eradication
Program, supporting initiatives to combat child labor in domestic work,
garbage collection, mines, slaughterhouses, brick factories, and flower
and banana plantations. The objective was to prevent children and
adolescents in 60 cantons of 16 provinces from working in these areas.
During the year the inspectors conducted 3,992 workplace inspections
and removed 2,056 minors working in dangerous conditions in violation
of labor laws.
While the Ministry of Labor's Social Service Directorate monitored
child labor in businesses such as factories, enforcement in most
sectors of the economy remained limited. In urban areas many children
under age 15 worked in family-owned businesses in the informal sector,
shining shoes, collecting and recycling garbage, or as street peddlers.
Other children were employed in commerce, messenger services, domestic
services, and begging. Children as young as five or six often sold
newspapers or candy on the street to support themselves or augment
family income.
The government supported the Program for the Schooling and
Protection of Child Workers, which implemented a workshop program in
indigenous communities in five provinces to work with families and
schools on the problem of child labor.
The Observatory for the Rights of Children and Adolescents reported
that the number of children and adolescents working under conditions of
child labor in 2008 decreased to 7 percent and access to education
increased to 78 percent.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The new constitution mandates an
annual revision of the minimum wage to match progressively the cost of
a family's basic needs. The National Council on Salaries, a technical
agency under the labor ministry, acts as the negotiating and
arbitration arm. A trilateral body composed of representatives from the
ministry, the private sector, and labor unions, performs the review
each December and must be unanimous in its decision. The minimum wage
was $218 per month, plus mandated annual bonuses equivalent to two
months' salary, which did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. Most organized workers in state industries and
formal-sector private enterprises earned substantially more than the
minimum wage and also received other significant benefits through
collective bargaining agreements. However, most workers worked in the
large informal and rural sectors without obtaining the minimum wage or
legally mandated benefits.
The law provides for a 40-hour workweek and two consecutive days of
rest per week. If required to work beyond the standard workweek,
workers must be paid overtime. A higher overtime rate is set for
working at night. The maximum overtime was 12 hours per week, which
generally was respected, except in subcontracting companies, where
workers sometimes were required to work up to 28 hours of overtime per
week, and in the case of some domestic employees. The Ministry of Labor
did not deploy sufficient resources to enforce labor laws.
The Social Security Institute is responsible for enforcing health
and safety standards and regulations. In the formal sector,
occupational health and safety was not a significant problem. However,
there were no specific regulations governing health and safety
standards in the small-scale agricultural sector, which accounts for
the majority of farms and workers. In practice, primarily due to the
lack of labor inspectors, there was no enforcement of safety rules in
the small mines that made up the vast majority of enterprises in the
mining sector.
The new constitution protects self-employed workers who work in
public areas and prohibits the confiscation of their products or work
tools, a provision intended to benefit informal sector workers, such as
street vendors.
The new constitution provides that workers have the right to a
healthy and safe work environment. A worker may request that an
inspector from the Ministry of Labor confirm a workplace hazard; that
inspector then may close down the workplace. Response time for
inspectors ranged from three days in major cities to much longer in the
countryside. Workers do not have the legal right to remove themselves
from danger prior to the inspection, unless the employer agrees.
__________
EL SALVADOR
El Salvador is a constitutional, multiparty democracy with a
population of approximately 5.8 million. In March voters elected Carlos
Mauricio Funes Cartagena of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation
Front (FMLN) as president for a five-year term in generally free and
fair elections. Funes was inaugurated on June 1. Civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control over the security forces.
Although the government generally respected the rights of its
citizens, protection of human rights was undermined by widespread
violent crime, including the following: gang-related violence, high
levels of impunity from prosecution, and judicial corruption. Other
significant human rights problems included harsh, violent, and
overcrowded prison conditions; lengthy pretrial detention; violence and
discrimination against women; abuses against children, child labor, and
forced child prostitution; trafficking in persons; violence and
discrimination against sexual minorities; and inadequate enforcement of
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.--There were no
verified reports that the government or its agents committed
politically motivated killings; however, there were reports that
security forces were involved in unlawful killings. The Office of the
Ombudsman for Human Rights (PDDH) stated that the National Civilian
Police (PNC) was responsible for 545 cases of abuse of human integrity,
which included unlawful killings, attempted unlawful killings,
assaults, and other offenses causing bodily harm. By year's end the
PDDH had received 10 complaints of alleged unlawful killings. The
Office of the PNC Inspector General reported that during the year
security forces killed 30 persons.
On September 29, unknown assailants disguised as road repair
workers shot and killed Roque Feller Melgar, a former legislative
deputy for the Christian Democratic Party and mayoral candidate for the
National Republican Alliance (ARENA) party. At year's end authorities
had not identified any suspects, and continued to investigate the case.
In June unknown actors strangled community activist Gustavo Marcelo
Rivera near San Isidro, Cabanas. On July 7, the National Civilian
Police (PNC) arrested seven purported gang members for the crime. At
year's end authorities continued to investigate the case.
On December 20, unknown assailants shot and killed environmental
activist Ramiro Rivera (no relation to Marcelo) in Trinidad, Cabanas.
On December 26, also in Trinidad, unknown assailants shot and killed
Dora Santos Sorto Rodriguez, wife of environmental activist Santos
Rodriguez. At year's end authorities were conducting an investigation
of these cases.
There was no further information regarding the July 2008 fatal
shooting of Rafaela Hernandez Delgado while she was riding a public
bus.
On December 18, an appellate court in San Miguel overturned the
dismissal of charges against Shefick Cruz Vasquez and Edilberto Paiz
Morales, who were accused in the August 2008 murder of Garcia Amaya. At
year's end the PNC Office of the Inspector General reported that both
defendants were in police custody awaiting trial.
There was no further information, and none was expected, regarding
the case of PNC officer Luis Alfonso Rubi Canales, who was allegedly
involved in the 2007 killing of Jose Napoleon Aviles.
At year's end there was no further information, and none was
expected, regarding the pending case, and the whereabouts of, PNC
officer Elmer Vladimir Lovato Ramos, implicated in the 2006 killing of
Cesar Anaya Vanegas.
There was no information available regarding the attorney general's
2008 appeal of the Supreme Court's acquittal of Edwin Rene Sanchez
Canjura for two counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, in
relation to the 2006 killings of two police officers.
At year's end a decision was pending following the December 2 trial
court hearing of the case of Rosa Elba Zelaya de Ortiz for the 2004
murder of Teamster Union activist Gilberto Soto. Santos Sanchez, also
charged with the murder of Soto, did not appear at the December hearing
and remained at large with a warrant for his arrest.
The Human Rights Institute of the University of Central America
reported that by year's end, the government had not taken concrete
steps to observe the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' November
2007 ruling against the government for violations of judicial
guarantees and rights in the 1994 killing of Mauricio Garcia Prieto.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances. Upon assuming office on June 1, President Funes
terminated the Interinstitutional Committee for the Search for Missing
Children Resulting from the Armed Conflict in El Salvador. In August
the government announced the establishment of a national search
commission to work with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to locate
persons who were forcibly disappeared during the 1980-92 civil war. By
year's end the new commission had not begun operation. The NGO
Association for the Search for Missing Children (Pro-Busqueda)
continued investigating 499 cases of children who disappeared during
the civil war and resolved 17 other cases during the year.
On November 6, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) heard the government's response to Pro-Busqueda's complaints,
which alleged the forced disappearances of Santos Ernesto Salinas and
Emelinda Lorena Hernandez in 1981 and of Manuel Antonio Bonilla and
Ricardo Ayala Abarca in 1982. At year's end the cases remained pending
further information the IACHR requested from the government.
At year's end there was no additional information available
regarding the Office of the Attorney General's appeal to the Supreme
Court regarding a lower court's January 2008 dismissal of charges
against Juan Antonio Lopez, the western regional chief of the Office of
the Public Defender, in relation to the kidnapping of a 12-year-old
boy.
At year's end the government had not responded to the Inter-
American Court of Human Rights' published findings in 2006 regarding
the Jose Adrian Hernandez Rochac 1980 disappearance case.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices; however, during
the year the PDDH received 562 complaints alleging the use of excessive
force or mistreatment of detainees, compared with 591 such complaints
during 2008. The PDDH received 61 complaints specifically against PNC
officers for excessive use of force. It also received 13 complaints of
alleged torture and 10 complaints of alleged extrajudicial killings.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and dangerous. Overcrowding constituted a serious threat to
prisoners' health and lives.
The prison authority reported that as of August, there were 22,101
prisoners held in 22 correctional facilities and two secure hospital
wards, with a combined designed capacity for 8,227; of these inmates,
14,451 had been convicted, and 7,650 were in pretrial detention. There
were 733 inmates in four prisons for juvenile offenders with a capacity
of 763 inmates.
Prison authorities reported that 47 prisoners died during the
year--five by homicide, one by suicide, and 41 from natural causes.
Prison authorities reported nine inmates were found guilty and 11
not guilty in connection with the 2007 gang-on-gang confrontation in
Apanteos Prison, in which 21 inmates were killed.
There were no developments, and none were expected, in the
investigation into the 2007 death of a 15-year-old inmate and injuries
to two others at the Juvenile Offenders Prison in Ilobasco.
There was no new information available regarding the investigation
of the alleged beating by police officers in 2007 of a minor prisoner
in Tonacatepeque Juvenile Prison.
Gang activities in prisons and juvenile-holding facilities remained
a serious problem. Of the total population in detention center
facilities, 7,555 inmates were current or former gang members. Gang
members routinely were separated from the regular prison population
when possible. Gangs continued to exercise influence within the prisons
and the judicial system.
Prisoners reportedly conducted criminal activities from their
cells, at times with the complicity of prison guards. Smuggling of
weapons, drugs, and contraband such as cell phones and cell phone chips
was a major problem in the prisons. Through August prison authorities
dismissed charges of wrongdoing against three prison guards and
continued criminal investigations against an additional eight guards.
On August 17, as a means to combat increased inmate extortion using
cell phones, authorities resumed body cavity searches of prisoners to
detect the devices.
There was no additional information regarding the July 28 charges
against police officers Jose Juan Cruz Carias and Julio German Garcia
for raping a woman held in custody in April.
Due to a lack of holding cells, pretrial detainees were often held
in regular prisons together with violent criminals.
The government permitted prison monitoring visits by independent
human rights observers, NGOs, and the media, and such visits occurred
during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the constitution
prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, there were complaints that
the PNC arbitrarily arrested and detained persons. By year's end the
PDDH reported receiving 185 complaints of arbitrary arrest or detention
and 140 complaints of illegal detentions.
At year's end there were no new developments regarding the August
2008 case involving the reported police beating of Abraham Kattan.
At year's end there were no new developments regarding the May 2008
Hector Ventura murder case.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The PNC is responsible
for maintaining public security and the Ministry of Defense for
maintaining national security. The military provided support for some
PNC patrols in rural areas and gave support to law enforcement agencies
for specific activities, including antinarcotics and antigang efforts.
The Ministry of Public Security headed the antigang task force.
Approximately 5,000 military personnel were deployed to join the police
on antigang and other task forces, including an estimated 3,000
additional soldiers deployed on November 6. Military personnel,
however, do not have arrest authority.
Through November the PNC Office of the Inspector General had
received 2,230 complaints of alleged police misconduct, referred 47
cases of these to special investigation units, and sanctioned 1,181
officers in response to complaints filed during the year and prior
years. These sanctions included 156 officers dismissed for misconduct
and 762 suspended without pay for minor infractions.
By year's end the Attorney General's Office had prosecuted 462
police officers as a result of investigations begun during the year and
in 2008. Inadequate training, insufficient government funding, lack of
a uniform code of evidence, and isolated instances of corruption and
outright criminality interfered with the PNC's effectiveness.
The PNC Inspector General reported that most PNC officers and
police academy cadets received human rights awareness training during
the year, including training by the Salvadoran Institute for the
Development of Women (ISDEMU) concerning rape prevention, child abuse,
and related offenses. By year's end the PNC Human Rights Unit had
trained 21,072 police officers on general human rights topics. The
International Law Enforcement Academy's training of 14 police officers,
17 prosecutors, eight judges, and 22 technical advisors, including
workers in the immigration, customs, and airport authorities, included
human rights awareness components.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The
constitution requires a written warrant for arrest, except in cases
where an individual is arrested in the act of committing a crime. In
practice authorities apprehended persons openly and with warrants based
on sufficient evidence and issued by a duly authorized official and
brought them before appropriate judicial officials. The constitution
grants detainees the right to a prompt judicial determination of the
legality of their detention, and authorities generally respected this
right in practice. In general detainees were promptly informed of
charges against them.
The law permits release on bail for detainees who are unlikely to
flee or whose release would not impede the investigation of the case.
The bail system functioned adequately in most cases. Because it may
take several years for a case to come to trial, some prisoners were
incarcerated longer than the maximum legal sentences for their crimes.
In such circumstances, detainees could request a Supreme Court review
of their continued detention.
The courts generally enforced a ruling that interrogation without
the presence of counsel is considered coercion and that any evidence
obtained in such a manner is inadmissible. As a result, PNC authorities
generally delayed questioning until a public defender or an attorney
arrived. Family members were allowed prompt access to detainees.
Detainees generally had prompt access to counsel of their choosing or
to an attorney provided by the state.
The constitution permits the PNC to hold a person for 72 hours
before delivering the suspect to court, after which the judge may order
detention for an additional 72 hours to determine if an investigation
is warranted. The law allows up to six months for investigation of
serious crimes before requiring either a trial or dismissal of the
case. In exceptionally complicated cases, the prosecutor may ask an
appeals court to extend the deadline for three or six months, depending
on the seriousness of the crime. Many cases were not completed within
the legally prescribed time frame. As of August there were 7,229
inmates in pretrial detention or in detention awaiting final judgment.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution provides
for an independent judiciary, the judiciary suffered from inefficiency,
corruption, and insufficient resources. Substantial corruption in the
judicial system contributed to a high level of impunity, undermining
the rule of law and the public's respect for the judiciary. Inadequate
government funding of the PNC, combined with intimidation and killing
of victims and witnesses, made it difficult to identify, arrest, and
prosecute perpetrators of human rights abuses and other crimes, thus
diminishing public confidence in the justice system.
The government operated police witness and victim protection
programs that provided protection to 4,205 persons during the year.
However, street gang intimidation and violence against witnesses
contributed to a climate of impunity from criminal prosecution.
At year's end there were no new developments regarding pending
criminal investigations of nine gang members against whom charges were
dropped in 2008 after the killing of ``Afrodita,'' a key government
witness in their cases.
By year's end the PDDH had received complaints that the Attorney
General's Office prevented access to justice in 57 cases, violated due
process in 10 cases, and violated administrative process in 11 cases.
By year's end Fredis Osmin Escobar Alvarenga, one of three judges
accused of rendering controversial decisions in the prosecutions of the
Los Perrones narcotrafficking organization, was found guilty of money
laundering. The Attorney General's Office reported that the cases of
the other two judges, Jose Israel Bonilla Granados and Wilfredo Antonio
Reyes Martinez, remained pending.
The Office of the Attorney General investigated five judges and
three magistrates for alleged misconduct. At year's end these cases
remained under investigation. The Supreme Court received 170 complaints
from private citizens against judges for alleged irregularities and
sanctioned three judges for improper conduct.
By year's end, the Office of the Attorney General had investigated
261 complaints against prosecutors for misconduct, compared with 203
complaints during 2008, resulting in the dismissal of two prosecutors
and suspensions of 13 others for corruption and other serious
infractions.
The court system has three levels. The first level includes
justices of the peace, judges of instruction, and judges of sentence.
The other two levels include appellate courts and the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court oversees the budget and administration of the court
system and selects justices of the peace, trial judges, and appellate
judges from a list of nominees proposed by the National Judiciary
Council, an independent body that nominates, trains, and evaluates
justices. There are separate court systems for family matters and
juvenile offenders. The law requires that minors from 12 to 17 years of
age be tried in juvenile courts. There are no military or security
tribunals that are separate from the military court system. Military
courts cannot try civilians.
Trial Procedures.--In general the law provides for trial by jury
only in select cases. Although juries were used for specific charges,
including environmental pollution and certain misdemeanors, judges
decided most cases. By law juries hear only cases that the law does not
assign to sentencing courts. After the jury's determination of
innocence or guilt, a tribunal decides the sentence.
Defendants have the right to be present in court, question
witnesses, and present witnesses and evidence. Although the
constitution further provides for the presumption of innocence,
protection from self-incrimination, the right to legal counsel, freedom
from coercion, and government-provided legal counsel for the indigent,
these legal rights and protections were not always respected in
practice. Although a jury's verdict is final, a judge's verdict can be
appealed. Trials are public. The law extends these rights to all
citizens.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Although the law provides
for access to the courts, enabling litigants to bring civil lawsuits
seeking damages for, as well as cessation of, human rights violations,
the judiciary was not independent or impartial. Judges were subject to
outside influence. Some persons sought to bring their cases before
international bodies, such as the IACHR and the Inter-American Court,
because they believed that these organizations would adjudicate their
claims with greater fairness and impartiality. The law provides
administrative remedies for alleged wrongs through the PDDH, the
Solicitor's Office, the Government Ethics Tribunal, and the Center for
Consumer Protection, as well as administrative offices within the
various ministries. There were problems in enforcing domestic court
orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice. Individuals could criticize the
government publicly or privately without reprisal, and the government
generally did not interfere with such criticism.
The independent media were active and expressed a variety of views
without restriction. The Salvadoran Journalists' Association noted that
journalists reporting on narcotics trafficking were subject to threats
and intimidation, which led to media self-censorship in reporting about
the drug trade.
Although international NGOs generally commented positively on the
status of press freedom in the country, newspaper editors and radio
directors occasionally discouraged journalists from reporting on topics
that the owners or publishers might not view favorably.
The law permits the executive branch to use the emergency
broadcasting service to take over temporarily all broadcast and cable
networks to televise political programming.
In July unknown actors made death threats against radio journalists
Ludwing Iraheta, Jose Beltran, and Vladimir Abarca, allegedly related
to their reporting on the killing of community activist Marcelo Rivera.
By year's end authorities had provided the journalists protection under
the Program for the Protection of Victims and Witnesses but had not
apprehended any suspects.
On September 2, unknown assailants shot and killed French-Spanish
documentary filmmaker Christian Poveda in Soyapango. By year's end
authorities had arrested 15 alleged gang members, one PNC officer, and
10 imprisoned gang members in relation to the killing. At year's end
authorities continued to investigate the case.
In February the justice of the peace in Huizucar, La Libertad,
closed the case against municipal advisor Jose Antonio Arias Hernandez,
who was accused of attacking two journalists in September 2008 while
they filmed a documentary about potable water. Arias Hernandez agreed
to a settlement by which he would obey a restraining order and repair
video equipment damaged during the dispute.
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.
Internet service was available in the major cities. According to
International Telecommunication Union statistics for 2008,
approximately 13 percent of the country's inhabitants used the
Internet.
Academic and Cultural Freedom.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, and the
government generally respected this right in practice.
Freedom of Association.--Although the constitution provides for
freedom of association, there were concerns regarding registration
delays of certain types of civil society groups. NGOs asserted that the
Ministry of Governance delayed approval of, or denied legal status for,
NGOs with particular human rights or political agendas.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice. The Ministry of Governance has responsibility for
registering, regulating, and overseeing the finances of nonprofit
organizations, non-Catholic churches, and other religious groups. The
constitution exempts the Roman Catholic Church from this registration
requirement. Although non-Catholic religious groups are not required to
register, they must do so if they wish to incorporate formally.
Noncitizens in the country primarily for the purpose of proselytizing
must obtain a special residence visa for religious activities. In
practice the government did not enforce this requirement. The penal
code imposes criminal sentences on those who publicly offend or insult
the religious beliefs of others or damage or destroy religious objects.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. The
Jewish community totaled approximately 150 persons.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution provides for freedom
of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
providing protection and assistance to internally displaced persons,
refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and
other persons of concern.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the government
observed this prohibition in practice.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol,
and the law provides for the granting refugee status or asylum in
accordance with those international instruments. The government has
established a system for providing protection to refugees. During the
year the government received 102 refugee petitions but did not grant
refugee protection to any of the petitioners. Approximately 33
petitions remained pending at year's end.
The law provides protection against the expulsion or return of
persons to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened
on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a
particular social group, or political opinion.
The government received no requests for temporary protection for
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 UN
Convention and its 1967 protocol. The law does not provide this type of
temporary protection.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The constitution provides the right of citizens 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 March FMLN candidate
Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena won the presidential election, which
the Organization of American States and other international observers
reported was generally free and fair with few irregularities.
In the January legislative elections, described as free and fair by
international observers, no party won an outright majority. Political
parties could operate without restrictions or outside interference.
There were 16 women in the 84-member Legislative Assembly, five
women on the 15-member Supreme Court, and two women in the 13-member
cabinet. No persons in the Supreme Court, legislature, or other
government entities identified themselves as members of an ethnic
minority or indigenous community, and there were no political party
positions or parliamentary seats designated for ethnic minorities.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials, particularly in the judicial system, reportedly engaged in
corrupt practices with impunity.
NGOs, such as the Foundation for Studies in Legal Application and
the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development
(FUSADES), alleged that the Supreme Court did not adequately address
judicial delays, inefficiency, and unqualified and corrupt judges.
FUSADES reported that the public had minimal confidence in the judicial
system due to a lack of access to justice and accountability, a
judicial backlog, and corruption. FUSADES launched a website that made
judicial proceedings and records available to the public.
Public officials were not subject to financial disclosure laws. The
Court of Accounts, the Anticorruption Unit of the Office of the
Attorney General, and the Government Ethics Tribunal (TEG) are the
three agencies that combat corruption. During the year the Office of
the Attorney General investigated three judges for corruption and
continued investigating 120 cases opened in 2008 involving court
officials. Of these cases, three were dismissed, two were sentenced,
and 95 remained under investigation at year's end. There was a public
perception that government corruption was a serious problem.
The Legislative Assembly has not audited the Court of Accounts, the
government agency charged with auditing the National Treasury and the
Federal Budget, since 1995, despite a law mandating an annual audit. In
July the Court of Accounts rejected a budget and procedural audit based
on legal technicalities.
The Legislative Assembly restricted public access to its monthly
committee reports and required that a Board of Directors member approve
such requests. By year's end the Government Ethics Tribunal (TEG)
opened 140 investigations into government ethics complaints, resulting
in public reprimands for 11 government officials. To combat public
sector corruption, the TEG operated ethics commissions within 77
government entities.
Although the law provides for public access to government
information, in practice inconsistent legislation impeded such access.
There is no freedom of information law. Citizens could access some
information via the Internet regarding the national budget and certain
cases before the Supreme Court. The government usually did not give
reasons for denying public access to information. There are no
mechanisms to appeal denials.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Although government
officials generally were cooperative and responsive to these groups,
officials at times were reluctant to discuss worker rights issues with
NGOs and the PDDH. Domestic and international NGOs were required to
register with the government, and some reported difficulties (see
section 6).
The government cooperated with the UN Development Program, UN
Children's Fund, UN Population Fund, International Labor Organization,
Organization of American States, Central American Integration System,
and other international governmental organizations and permitted visits
by UN representatives.
The principal human rights investigative and monitoring body is the
autonomous PDDH, whose head is elected by the Legislative Assembly to a
three-year term. The PDDH regularly issued reports and press releases
on prominent human rights cases and monitored the year's presidential
and legislative elections.
The PDDH maintained a constructive dialogue with the president's
office. The government publicly acknowledged receipt of the PDDH's
reports, although in some cases it did not take action on PDDH
recommendations, which are not legally binding. The public generally
trusted the PDDH.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the constitution and the legal code establish that all
persons are equal before the law and prohibit discrimination regardless
of race, gender, disability, language, or social status, in practice
the government did not effectively enforce these prohibitions. There
was discrimination against women, persons with disabilities, gay and
lesbian persons, and indigenous people.
Women.--The law criminalizes rape. While not specifically addressed
in the law, spousal rape may be considered a crime if the actions meet
the criminal code definition of rape. The Office of the Attorney
General may prosecute rape cases with or without a complaint from the
victim, and the law does not permit the victim's pardon to nullify the
criminal charge. The penalty for rape is six to 10 years' imprisonment,
but the law provides for a maximum sentence of 20 years for rape of
certain classes of victims, including children and persons with
disabilities. Incidents of rape continued to be underreported for a
number of reasons, including societal and cultural pressures against
victims, fears of reprisal, ineffective and unsupportive responses by
the authorities toward victims, fear of publicity, and a perception
among victims that cases were unlikely to be prosecuted. Laws against
rape were not effectively enforced.
Rape and other sexual crimes against women were widespread. The PNC
received reports of 2,211 cases of rape of adults, which, according to
the Attorney General's Office, resulted in 127 trials and 63
convictions.
By year's end ISDEMU had provided health and psychological
assistance to 1,013 women and girls who suffered sexual abuse and 2,512
girls who suffered physical abuse.
The law prohibits domestic violence and provides for sentences
ranging from one to three years in prison. The law also permits
obtaining restraining orders against offenders. Domestic violence was
considered socially acceptable by a large portion of the population,
and, as with rape, its incidence was underreported.
Violence against women, including domestic violence, was a
widespread and serious problem. Laws against domestic violence were not
well enforced, and cases were not effectively prosecuted. Through
August ISDEMU received 6,514 reports of domestic violence, compared
with 6,051 complaints in 2008. Through July the Office of the Attorney
General investigated 740 cases of domestic violence, which resulted in
eight convictions and 80 cases resolved through mediation.
ISDEMU coordinated with the judicial and executive branches and
civil society groups to conduct public awareness campaigns against
domestic violence and sexual abuse. The PDDH, Attorney General's
Office, Supreme Court, Public Defender's Office, and PNC collaborated
with NGOs and other organizations to combat violence against women
through education, increased enforcement of the law, and NGO support
programs for victims. The National Secretariat for the Family, through
ISDEMU, defined policies, programs, and projects on domestic violence
and continued to maintain a telephone hotline and a shelter for victims
of domestic abuse and child victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
The government's efforts to combat domestic violence were minimally
effective.
Although prostitution is legal, the law prohibits inducing,
facilitating, promoting, giving incentives to a person to work as a
prostitute, or paying anyone under the age of 18 for sexual services.
Prostitution remained common, and there were credible reports that some
women and girls were forced into prostitution.
The law prohibits discrimination based on gender. The law defines
sexual harassment as any unwanted physical sexual contact and
stipulates penalties of three to five years in prison (or four to eight
years in cases where the victim is under the age of 15 at the time of
the offense). The law, however, does not clearly recognize nonphysical
sexual harassment as a crime. Fines are added to the prison term in
cases where the perpetrator is in a position of authority or trust over
the victim.
The government did not enforce sexual harassment laws effectively.
Since underreporting by victims of sexual harassment appeared to be
widespread, it was difficult to estimate the extent of the problem.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children, and information about and access to
contraception was widely available. Access to contraception was free
from discrimination, violence, and coercion. Prenatal care and skilled
attendance at delivery were also widely available. However, the
Population Reference Bureau reported that 8 percent of births were not
attended by trained medical professionals. Women and men were given
equal access to diagnostic services and treatment for sexually
transmitted infections.
The constitution grants women and men the same legal rights under
family and property law, but women did not receive equal treatment in
practice. The law establishes sentences of one to three years in prison
for public officials who deny a person's civil rights based on gender,
and six months to two years for employers who discriminate against
women in the workplace. However, employees generally did not report
such violations due to fear of employer reprisals.
Pregnancy testing as a condition for employment is illegal. There
were allegations that some businesses, including apparel assembly
factories required female job applicants to present pregnancy test
results and fired pregnant workers.
Women suffered from cultural, economic, and societal
discrimination. Men often received priority in job placement and
promotions, and women were not accorded equal respect or stature in
traditional male-dominated sectors, such as agriculture and business.
Training for women generally was confined to low-wage occupational
areas where women already held most positions, in fields such as
teaching, nursing, apparel assembly, home industries, and small
businesses.
Gender-based wage disparity remained a problem. Data from the 2007
Household Survey, the latest available, indicated that, on average,
women's monthly wages were $266 (the U.S. dollar is the national
currency), and men's were $309. In the apparel assembly sector, where
women made up the majority of the labor force, men held most positions
in management and in departments where employees received higher wages.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country and
from one's parents. The law requires parents to register a child within
15 days of birth or else pay a $2.86 fine. There were no firm
statistics, but there was information that many births were not
registered. Unregistered children had access to public health care but
not to public education.
Child abuse was a serious and widespread problem. At year's end the
Salvadoran Institute for Children and Adolescents (ISNA), an autonomous
government entity, reported sheltering 894 abused children, including
184 cases of negligence, 602 cases of mistreatment, 39 cases of
children living on the street, 54 cases of sexual abuse, 184 cases of
abandonment, 13 cases of children employed as beggars, and 2 cases of
commercial sexual exploitation. ISNA defined policies, programs, and
projects on child abuse, maintained a shelter for child victims of
abuse and commercial sexual exploitation, and in June initiated a
violence awareness campaign to combat child abuse.
There was no new information available regarding the investigation
of the alleged beating by police officers in 2007 of a minor prisoner
in Tonacatepeque juvenile prison.
The law classifies statutory rape as sexual relations with anyone
under 18 years of age and provides for penalties between four and 20
years' imprisonment for those convicted of the crime. The law prohibits
participating in, facilitating, or purchasing materials containing
child pornography and provides for prison sentences of up to 16 years'
imprisonment. The PNC and Attorney General's Office cooperated with
INTERPOL to make at least two arrests against persons for child
pornography.
On September 24, ISNA nurses Ana Gladis Argeta de Ruano and Maria
Silvia Amaya de Murcia were each sentenced to one year of community
service and a fine of $1,000 for negligence in the August 2008 death of
infant Erick Amaya.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and
within the country. Trafficking remained a significant problem, but due
to the country's porous borders, there were no firm estimates on its
full extent.
The country was a source, transit, and destination country for
women and children trafficked primarily for the purpose of sexual
exploitation. There were reports of internal trafficking and evidence
that persons were trafficked for agricultural work, fraudulent
adoptions, and organ harvesting. There was also evidence that the
country was a transit point for girls trafficked to Mexico, the United
States, neighboring Central American countries, Spain, and Italy.
Most international trafficking victims came from Nicaragua,
Guatemala, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic. Some children were
trafficked internally to cities, particularly to Acajutla and San
Miguel, and to border regions. Sex trafficking of minors occurred
within the country's borders, as did sex trafficking induced by force,
fraud, or coercion. According to the International Labor Organization's
(ILO) International Program to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child
Labor, girls were commercially sexually exploited in San Salvador and
San Miguel.
Groups at special risk for trafficking were girls and young women
from 12 to 18 years of age, persons from rural and poor areas, single
mothers in poor areas, adolescents without formal schooling, adolescent
mothers, unemployed young men, and young foreign girls.
According to immigration authorities, the principal traffickers in
the country were the owners of topless bars, brothels, and employment
agencies that made fraudulent offers of employment for work in beauty
salons, as models, in gyms, as maids, or in factories. There was
evidence that members of organized crime were involved in trafficking.
The PNC reported that the most common methods of obtaining victims
were kidnapping, lucrative job offers, and inducement into prostitution
by family, friends, and smugglers. While some traffickers transported
victims, some foreign victims entered the country on their own from
Nicaragua, Honduras, and other neighboring countries in response to
fraudulent job offers to work as domestic servants but were forced into
prostitution on arrival.
Trafficking in persons and forced prostitution are felonies,
carrying criminal penalties between four and eight years' imprisonment.
By law perpetrators are liable for civil damages. However, in practice
civil penalties for trafficking were rarely imposed If the trafficking
victim is under 18, has physical or mental disabilities, dies as a
consequence of negligence or imprudence, or if the perpetrator is a law
enforcement agent or public officer, the maximum sentence increases by
one-third. The government's enforcement of trafficking laws was poor
and impeded by corruption and administrative disorganization.
The PNC reported 281 cases of trafficking during the year. The
Office of the Attorney General investigated 67 new cases of trafficking
and obtained 11 convictions
During September and October public hearings, a court sentenced
four defendants in the Cerron Grande case to eight years in prison each
for trafficking in persons. At year's end the Attorney General's Office
reported that pursuant to an investigation conducted with INTERPOL in
Guatemala, authorities sentenced four defendants in a fraudulent
adoption case to sentences between three and six years each in prison.
There were credible reports that some government officials in the
department of Chalatenango were involved in trafficking. The government
sponsored regular antitrafficking awareness training for government
officials aimed at eliminating official involvement in trafficking in
persons.
The government detained illegal migrants, including those who might
have been trafficking victims. Persons under age 18 were repatriated
through ISNA cooperation with its counterpart organizations. The PNC
encouraged trafficking victims to press charges against traffickers.
Victims could apply for temporary residence or refugee status if they
were likely to face persecution in their country of origin. Adult
illegal immigrant victims of trafficking who did not request assistance
or express fear for their lives were deported under immigration law.
The government provided legal, medical, and psychological services
upon request. Victims of trafficking were not treated as criminals
unless they were undocumented workers of legal age. Although the
government provided assistance to its repatriated citizens who were
victims of trafficking, victims faced societal discrimination due to
having engaged in prostitution or other commercial sexual activities.
The Salvadoran Network Against Trafficking, made up of the ILO,
Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, the Anglican Church of El
Salvador, CARECEN International, Caritas, and the Salvadoran National
Women's Commission, provided legal counseling and human rights
awareness to victims of trafficking. The government's shelter for
victims of trafficking provided protection to 18 persons during the
year.
The ISDEMU human rights program assisted approximately 11,443 at-
risk persons. The National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons,
a task force made up of the government agencies responsible for
addressing trafficking in persons, collected data on trafficking, and
its member agencies conducted extensive anti-trafficking training,
information programs, and assistance to victims. The government stated
that by year's end, it had trained 4,532 public officials involved with
combating trafficking.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
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. According to the NGO Survivors Network, the government did
not allocate sufficient resources to enforce these prohibitions
effectively, particularly in education, employment, and transportation,
and did not effectively enforce legal requirements for access to
buildings for persons with disabilities.
Several public and private organizations promoted the rights of
persons with disabilities. The National Council for Disabled Persons
(CONAIPD) is the government agency responsible for protecting those
rights.
CONAIPD conducted awareness campaigns, provided sensitivity
training to 1,991 persons from the public and private sectors, and
promoted the hiring of persons with disabilities. The government Fund
for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities assisted financially
people who were wounded or had a disability as a result of the civil
war. The Rehabilitation Foundation, in cooperation with the Salvadoran
Institute for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled (ISRI), continued to
operate a treatment center for persons with disabilities. However,
CONAIPD reported that the government provided minimal funding for ISRI.
Indigenous People.--While the constitution states that native
languages are part of the national heritage and should be preserved and
respected, the law does not recognize indigenous communities and
accords no special rights to indigenous people. According to 2007
census, the most recent available, indigenous persons formed
approximately 0.21 percent of the national population in three
principal groups: Nahua-Pipiles in western and central areas of the
country, and Lencas and Cacaoperas in the eastern region. Indigenous
rights groups and the PDDH complained that the government's methodology
used to determine indigenous self-identification underestimated the
actual size of the indigenous population. Although few individuals
publicly identified themselves as indigenous, there were a few small
indigenous communities whose members continued to maintain traditional
customs without repression or interference by the government or
nonindigenous groups. Government estimates in 2004, the most recent
available, indicated that approximately 99 percent of indigenous
persons lived below the poverty level.
The government did not effectively protect the civil and political
rights of indigenous people. There are no domestic laws giving
indigenous people rights to share in revenue from exploitation of
natural resources on indigenous lands. The government did not demarcate
any lands as belonging to indigenous communities. Access to land was a
problem for indigenous persons. Because few possessed title to land,
opportunities for bank loans and other forms of credit were extremely
limited.
There was no information available regarding the status of a
complaint that 11 self-identified indigenous persons filed in 2007 with
the Supreme Court Constitutional Chamber, regarding discrimination
arising out of the government housing and population censuses.
There were no government programs dedicated to combating
discrimination against, or promoting the rights of, indigenous persons.
The PDDH reported that indigenous persons faced employment and
workplace discrimination.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Although the law prohibits
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, in practice
discrimination was widespread. By year's end the government had not
approved the legal registration application filed in August by the gay
rights NGO Entre Amigos. However, Arco Iris and Gays Sin Fronteras,
NGOs that also worked with the sexual minority population, enjoyed
legal status.
There was widespread official and societal discrimination based on
sexual orientation in employment and access to health care. Entre
Amigos reported that public officials, including the police, engaged in
violence and discrimination against sexual minorities. Persons from the
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community reported that
the PNC and Attorney General's Office ridiculed them when reporting
cases of violence against LGBT persons. The government's response to
these abuses was primarily through PDDH reports that publicized
specific cases of violence and discrimination against sexual
minorities. In general violence and discrimination against sexual
minorities went unpunished.
LGBT rights supporters held two gay pride marches, for which the
municipality of San Salvador provided authorization. The government
provided sufficient police security for marchers.
By year's end Entre Amigos reported the killings of 23 persons from
the LGBT community, compared with 11 during 2008. Entre Amigos alleged
that many of the victims' bodies showed signs of torture.
Entre Amigos reported that the PNC did not investigate a July
attempted break-in to the group's offices by unknown actors. At year's
end there was no information regarding any investigation of the
incident.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--Although the law
prohibits discrimination on the basis of HIV/AIDS status, in practice
discrimination was widespread. Lack of public information remained a
problem in confronting discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS or
in assisting persons suffering from HIV/AIDS. In August the Ministry of
Public Health launched an awareness campaign aimed at reducing
stigmatization of HIV positive persons.
Reports indicated that rape and other sexual abuse of males was
substantially underreported to authorities. During the year ISDEMU
provided health and psychological assistance to men and boys who were
victims of physical or sexual abuse.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides for the
right of workers, except military personnel, national police, judges,
high-level public officers, and workers who are in ``positions of
trust,'' to form unions without previous authorization from their
superiors. During the year the government amended the constitution to
grant legal status to public worker unions.
Among the requirements to obtain legal standing, unions must have a
minimum of 35 members in the workplace, hold a convention, and elect
officers. The constitution permits the participation of noncitizens in
unions, but requires that union leaders be citizens.
The constitution recognizes the right to strike. Although the law
contains complex and cumbersome registration procedures for conducting
a legal strike, workers freely exercised this right in practice.
A legal strike must be supported by 51 percent of workers in an
enterprise, including workers not represented by the union. Unions may
strike only after the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement
or to protect professional rights. Unions must seek to resolve
differences through direct negotiation, mediation, and arbitration
before striking. A strike must aim to obtain or modify a collective
bargaining agreement and to defend the professional interests of
workers. Union members must approve a decision to strike through secret
ballot, and the union must name a strike committee to serve as a
negotiator and send the list of names to the Ministry of Labor, which
notifies the employer. The union must wait four days from the time the
Ministry of Labor (MOL) notifies the employer before striking. The law
prohibits workers from appealing a government decision declaring a
strike illegal. In practice, workers engaged in strikes regardless of
whether the legal requirements were met. Although the MOL did not
declare any strikes to be legal during the year, it did not report any
instances where the right to strike was denied.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law permits
collective bargaining by employees in the private and public sectors,
and the government effectively enforced the law. Collective bargaining
was practiced to some extent.
Although the law prohibits antiunion discrimination, the MOL did
not adequately enforce these provisions and there was discrimination,
including unfair dismissal, against labor union organizers.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws
inside the free trade zones (FTZs). There were credible reports that
some factories in the FTZs dismissed union members.
As of August the Office of the Attorney General reported opening
529 investigations against employers for illegally retaining social
security and pension payments, eight investigations for violations of
labor safety conditions, one investigation for labor discrimination,
and 10 investigations for violations against freedom of association and
the right to strike. The government did not allocate sufficient
resources for adequate inspection and oversight to ensure respect for
association and collective bargaining rights in the FTZs. There
continued to be allegations of corruption among labor inspectors in the
apparel assembly industry.
During the year the MOL reportedly conducted 884 inspections and
413 follow-up inspections of apparel assembly facilities, pursuant to
which it identified labor law violations involving failure to pay back
wages, firings of union leaders and pregnant workers, and mandatory HIV
tests as a condition of employment. It reportedly imposed fines for
violations in six cases.
The law specifies 18 reasons for which an employer can legally
suspend workers, and employers can invoke 11 of these reasons without
prior administrative or judicial authorization. Workers reported
instances where employers used illegal means to undermine union
organizing, including dismissing labor activists and blacklisting
workers who were union members.
The law does not require employers to reinstate illegally dismissed
workers. Employers have dismissed workers who tried to form unions, and
in most cases the government did not prevent their dismissal or seek
their reinstatement.
By year's end the Calvo Tuna Company had provided financial
compensation to two union leaders whom it had dismissed for their
unionizing activities, in violation of a 2007 MOL order granting the
union legal status. The company did not reinstate either of these
workers.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor except in the case of natural
catastrophe and other instances specified by law. Although the
government generally enforced this prohibition, there were reports of
trafficking of persons for forced commercial sexual exploitation and
apparel assembly labor.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the employment of children under the age of 14, but child
labor remained a serious and widespread problem.
Children age 12 and older are allowed to engage in light work, so
long as it does not harm their health or interfere with their
education. Children under 16 years of age are prohibited from working
more than seven hours per day and 34 hours per week; those under age 18
are prohibited from working at night or in occupations considered
hazardous. The MOL was responsible for enforcing child labor laws. In
practice, labor inspectors focused almost exclusively on the formal
sector.
The MOL reported receiving few complaints of violations of child
labor laws, primarily because many persons perceived child labor to be
an essential component of family income rather than a human rights
problem. The government did not devote adequate resources to
effectively enforce child labor laws in agricultural activities,
especially coffee and sugarcane production, or in the large informal
sector.
There were credible reports of trafficking in children and child
prostitution. According to the 2008 School Registration Census, the
most recent available, there were approximately 110,000 child workers,
with the largest numbers engaged in coffee, sugarcane, and other
agricultural activities; domestic work; street vending; and fishing.
Child labor in its worst forms was a serious problem in coffee and
sugarcane cultivation, fishing, mollusk extraction, and fireworks
production. There were reports of children engaging in garbage
scavenging and apparel assembly. Orphans and children from poor
families frequently worked for survival as street vendors and general
laborers in small businesses. Children also worked as domestic
servants.
The MOL reported that it had 159 labor inspectors distributed
nationwide, including four specialists in child labor issues. The MOL
reported receiving six complaints of child labor law violations, but
there was no information on specific investigations or prosecutions.
According to the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Education
operated 134 after-school programs to promote child labor awareness and
encourage school attendance. The MOL reported that when inspectors
encountered incidents of child labor, the government removed the
victims and placed them in educational programs.
Through April the MOL participated in a regional ILO International
Program on the Elimination of Child Labor project to combat child
sexual exploitation. Building on that project, the government developed
with the ILO a strategic plan to eliminate the worst forms of child
labor by 2015 and child labor in its entirety by 2020.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage is set by
executive decree, based on recommendations from a tripartite committee
comprising representatives from labor, government, and business. There
is no national minimum wage; the minimum wage is determined by sector.
The minimum daily wage was $6.92 for retail and service employees,
$6.77 for industrial laborers, and $5.79 for apparel assembly workers.
The agricultural minimum wage was $3.24. The national minimum wage did
not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
Although during the year basic subsistence costs for food were $169.34
per month, the highest monthly minimum wage nationally was $207.60.
By year's end the Social Security Institute confirmed that Joaquin
Salvador Montalvo Machado had complied with the Third Sentencing
Court's fine of $144,724 imposed in 2006 for illegally retaining social
security and pension payments of workers at the Hermosa Manufacturing
apparel assembly plant. However, Montalvo had not paid legally required
severance and other payments to workers.
The ministry reported conducting 2,012 inspections and issuing six
fines for nonpayment of minimum wages. The average fine was $202.
During the year the MOL conducted a pilot plan to enforce the minimum
wage. The government reportedly effectively enforced the minimum wage
law in the formal sector but not in the informal sector.
The law sets a maximum normal workweek of 44 hours, limited to no
more than six days, and requires bonus pay for overtime. The law
mandates that full-time employees be paid for an eight-hour day of rest
in addition to the 44-hour normal workweek. The law prohibits
compulsory overtime. These standards were not enforced effectively.
The MOL reported that it had received 658 complaints of unpaid
overtime, involving 983 workers.
The government's gender and labor discrimination unit reported that
assembly plants generally respected the laws on overtime. However, most
of these plants required workers to work extra days in order to meet
production goals, with a promise of incentive pay in addition to
overtime. There were no reports of workers not receiving incentive pay.
The MOL is responsible for setting workplace safety standards, and
the law on occupational health and safety standards establishes a
tripartite committee to review the standards. The law requires all
employers to take steps to ensure that employees are not placed at risk
to their health and safety in the workplace. This includes prohibitions
on the employment of persons under age 18 in occupations considered
hazardous or morally dangerous.
Health and safety regulations are outdated, and enforcement was
inadequate. The law does not clearly recognize the right of workers to
remove themselves from hazardous situations without jeopardy to their
continued employment. The MOL reported conducting 4,409 workplace
inspections for working conditions.
__________
GRENADA
Grenada is a parliamentary democracy with a bicameral legislature.
Grenada and two smaller islands, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, have
a population of approximately 105,000. In generally free and fair
elections in July 2008, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) won 11
of 15 seats in Parliament, and Tillman Thomas was sworn in as prime
minister. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control
of the security forces.
The government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, problems included allegations of corruption,
violence against women, and instances of child abuse.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and
there were no confirmed reports that government officials employed
them. However, there were occasional allegations that police beat
detainees. Flogging, a legal form of punishment, was occasionally used
as punishment for sex crimes.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, with the exception of
overcrowding, and the government permitted visits by independent human
rights observers. Overcrowding was a significant problem; in the sole
penitentiary there were 378 prisoners, of whom three were women, held
in space designed for 98 persons.
Women were held in a separate section of the prison from men. There
was no separate facility for juveniles, and they were held with the
general prison population.
The government permits monitoring of prison conditions by
independent human rights groups, and such visits took place 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 country does not
have a military. The 948-person Royal Grenadian Police--there are also
253 rural constables--has a hierarchical structure and generally was
effective in responding to complaints. The police commissioner
continued a community policing program.
The police report to the minister for national security, who is
also the prime minister. The police commissioner can discipline
officers (up to the rank of sergeant) in cases of brutality with
penalties that include dismissal. In March the commissioner immediately
dismissed an officer whose identification card (along with a quantity
of illegal drugs) was found during a raid. Only the Public Service
Commission can discipline officers with the rank of inspector or above.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The
constitution and law permit police to detain persons on suspicion
without a warrant, but they must bring formal charges within 48 hours,
and this requirement generally was respected. In practice detainees
were provided access to a lawyer and family members within 24 hours.
The law provides for a judicial determination of the legality of
detention within 15 days after arrest on a criminal charge. The police
must formally arraign or release a detained person within 60 days, and
the authorities generally followed these procedures. There is a
functioning bail system, although persons charged with capital offenses
are not eligible. Persons charged with treason may be accorded bail
only upon the recommendation of the governor general. The court
appoints a lawyer for the indigent in cases of murder and other capital
crimes.
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 a part of the Eastern Caribbean legal system,
which consists of three resident judges who hear cases in the High
Court twice a year and a Court of Appeals staffed by a chief justice
who travels between the Eastern Caribbean islands to hear appeals of
local cases. Final appeal may be made to the Privy Council in the
United Kingdom.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right.
There is a presumption of innocence, and the law protects persons
against self-incrimination and requires the police to explain a
person's rights upon arrest. The accused has the right to remain silent
and to seek the advice of legal counsel. The law allows for a defense
lawyer to be present during interrogation and to advise the accused how
to respond or not to respond to questions. The accused has the right to
confront his accuser and has the right of appeal. There are jury trials
in the High Court only; trials are open to the public unless the
charges are sexual in nature or a minor is involved.
The court appoints attorneys for indigents only in cases of murder
or other capital crimes. In other criminal cases that reach the
appellate stage, the court appoints a lawyer to represent the accused
if the defendant was not represented previously or reappoints earlier
counsel if the appellant can no longer afford that lawyer's services.
With the exception of foreign-born drug suspects or persons charged
with murder, the courts granted most defendants bail while awaiting
trial.
On September 5, the government released the remaining seven of the
original ``Grenada 17,'' those imprisoned for the 1983 murders of then
prime minister Maurice Bishop and 10 other citizens. The release was
based on a 2007 ruling in a resentencing hearing ordered by the Privy
Council.
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 civil court system
encompasses a number of seats around the country at which magistrates
preside over cases.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice.
Led by a prime minister who spent more than two years in prison
because of his belief in press freedom, the government did not use
libel laws to sue journalists and media owners. However, journalists
were subject to forms of criticism that could result in self-
censorship.
Continuing a practice used by the opposition while in power, in
December an opposition politician threatened to file suit against the
media when confronted with unfavorable media reports.
In January the health minister apologized for telling a television
audience that ``irresponsible'' journalists who criticized the
government belonged in jail, explaining that his remarks were intended
in jest. On May 29, authorities questioned a radio broadcaster (and
opposition supporter) who urged citizens to avoid a government-
sponsored event. Journalists noted that the Media Workers Association,
which frequently criticized the previous administration for its
treatment of the media, remained silent on the broadcaster's 45-minute
detention.
Authorities granted broadcast licenses to two radio stations that
had been denied licenses by the previous government. Grenada Today, a
newspaper that closed and was liquidated for failure to pay a large sum
owed in a libel suit brought by the opposition leader in 2007, reopened
the next day as The New Today.
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. The
International Telecommunication Union reported that there were 23
Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
government respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
There is no state religion. To qualify for customs tax exemptions,
religious organizations must register with the government.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. There
was no organized Jewish community.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice.
Although no known cases occurred, the government was prepared to
cooperate with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and
other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum
seekers.
The law does not address forced exile, but the government did not
use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol. The
government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees or asylum seekers. In practice the government provided
protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries
where their lives or freedom would be threatened.
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 general
elections were held in July 2008, when the National Democratic Congress
won 11 of the 15 seats in the House of Representatives, defeating the
New National Party, which had governed for 13 years. The Organization
of American States led a 25-member election observer mission, which
deemed the elections free and fair.
There were two women in the House of Representatives and four among
the 13 appointed senators. The president of the Senate is a woman, and
there were three female ministers of government. In the civil service,
women held 17 of the 19 most senior positions.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. The
World Bank's governance indicators reflected that corruption was a
problem.
In 2007 Parliament passed the country's first anticorruption laws
and a bill establishing an Integrity Commission. In October the
government appointed seven persons to the Integrity Commission, and it
began to set up its office.
Although the new anticorruption laws require all public servants to
report their income and assets, the appropriate regulations had not
been promulgated by year's end.
In July the prime minister asked the attorney general to resign
after it was learned that he had used his official letterhead to beg
for leniency for his stepson, who was held in foreign custody on drug
charges.
There are no laws mandating transparent reporting of political
donations or limiting the amount of political donations from outside
the country.
Although there is no law providing for public access to government
information, citizens may request access to any information that is not
deemed classified. There is no national archive system, but the public
library attempted to archive those official documents to which it had
access.
Section 5. 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.
On October 1, the government swore in Argar Alexander as the
country's first ombudsman. A career public servant, he previously
served as cabinet secretary. The ombudsman has authority to investigate
complaints from persons who object to government actions they deem to
be unfair, an abuse of power, contrary to law, discriminatory, or
negligent.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
place of origin, political opinion, color, creed, or gender, and the
government generally upheld these prohibitions.
Women.--The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and
stipulates a sentence of flogging or up to 15 years' imprisonment for a
conviction of any nonconsensual form of sex. Authorities referred 62
charges involving rape or related charges for prosecution through
November. Of these, 15 counts against nine individuals resulted in
convictions.
Women's rights monitors noted that violence against women remained
a serious problem. The law prohibits domestic violence and provides for
penalties at the discretion of the presiding judge based on the
severity of the offense. Police and judicial authorities usually acted
promptly in cases of domestic violence. Sentences for assault against a
spouse vary according to the severity of the incident. A shelter
accommodating approximately 18 battered and abused women and their
children operated in the northern part of the country, staffed by
medical and psychological counseling personnel. The government
established and publicized an anonymous hotline for victims to get help
and for persons to report cases of abuse. The hotline received an
average of two calls per week, while a government office line received
approximately 15 calls per week that met hotline criteria.
Prostitution is illegal but existed.
The law prohibits sexual harassment, but there are no criminal
penalties for it. It is the responsibility of the complainant to bring
a civil suit against an alleged harasser.
Couples and individuals had access to contraception as well as
obstetric and post-natal care. Lifestyle choices and a lack of prenatal
education contributed to a high percentage of premature births, which
resulted in an infant mortality rate of 15 deaths per 1,000 live births
in 2008. Essential obstetric and postpartum care was widely available,
as well as skilled attendants at births. Women and men had equal access
to treatment for HIV/AIDS.
Women generally enjoyed the same rights as men, and there was no
evidence of official discrimination in health care, employment, or
education; however, women frequently earned less than men performing
the same work. Television and radio public service announcements
continued to condemn spousal abuse and raise women's awareness of their
rights.
Children.--Citizenship is derived from birth in the country or by
birth to a Grenadian parent. There is universal birth registration.
The government continued a free school book program for all primary
and secondary school students. A number of local NGOs and the
government provided scholarships to needy families to pay for uniforms
and transport. The Social Welfare Division within the Ministry of
Social Development provided probationary and rehabilitative services to
youth, day-care services and social work programs to families,
assistance to families wishing to adopt or provide foster care to
children, and financial assistance to the six children's homes run by
private organizations.
Government social service agencies reported 14 physical abuse, 15
sexual abuse, and two incest cases during the year, substantially fewer
than in 2008. Abused children were placed either in a government-run
home or in private foster homes. The law stipulates penalties ranging
from five to 15 years' imprisonment for those convicted of child abuse
and disallows the victim's alleged ``consent'' as a defense in cases of
incest. The government used television and radio spots to raise
awareness within the population about child abuse and incest.
There is a statutory rape law that applies to children 16 years and
under. Penalties are 15 years' imprisonment if the victim was less that
14 and five years' imprisonment if the victim was 14 to 16 years of
age. No specific laws address child pornography, but the law does
prohibit the importation, sale, and public display of pornography.
Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law do not prohibit
trafficking in persons for all purposes; however, there were no reports
that persons were trafficked to, from, through, or within the country.
In theory trafficking cases could be prosecuted under other laws, such
as those prohibiting forced prostitution, pimping, sexual abuse, and
abuse of a minor.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law do not protect
job seekers with disabilities from discrimination in employment. The
law does not mandate access to public buildings or services. The
government provided for special education in its school system;
however, most parents chose to send their children to three special
education schools operating in the country. Persons with disabilities
had full access to the health care system and other public services.
The government and NGOs continued to provide training and work
opportunities for such persons. The Ministry of Social Services
includes an office responsible for looking after persons with
disabilities; the Council for the Disabled reviews disability-related
issues.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The ancestors of many citizens
came to the country from India as indentured servants, many of whom
found themselves in slave-like conditions. Descendants of this
population make up approximately 8 percent of the population, but their
history is not taught in the schools. Some complained about
discrimination based on their origins, although most have intermarried
with persons of European or African descent.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The law criminalizes
consensual homosexual relations, providing penalties of up to 10 years'
imprisonment. Society generally was intolerant of homosexuality, and
many churches condemned it.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--There was no
perceptible discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS, in part because
the disease was widespread in the general population, including women
infected by partners engaging in sex with men and boys, and partly
because of societal pressures to keep one's status quiet. The
government encouraged citizens to be tested and to get treatment. An
NGO, GRENCHAP, provided counseling to those affected by HIV/AIDS. A
local business organization urged local companies to educate themselves
and their workers about HIV/AIDS in the workplace and not to
discriminate against employees with the disease.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law allow
workers to form and join independent labor unions. Labor ministry
officials estimated that 52 percent of the work force was unionized.
All major unions belong to one umbrella labor federation, the Grenada
Trades Union Council, which was subsidized by the government.
The law does not oblige employers to recognize a union formed by
their employees if the majority of the work force does not belong to
the union; however, they generally did so in practice.
The contracts between the government and the government worker
unions expired in December 2008, and negotiation of new contracts was
pending at year's end.
The law provides workers with the right to strike, and workers
exercised this right in practice. The Technical and Allied Workers
Union at different times during the year brought a number of the groups
it represented out on brief strikes. All the cases were resolved.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers
exercised the legal right to organize and to participate in collective
bargaining. The law requires employers to recognize a union that
represents the majority of workers in a particular business.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, and employers can be
forced to rehire employees if a court finds they were discharged
illegally.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The government
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and there were no reports that
such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although child labor is illegal, children sometimes worked in the
agricultural sector on family farms. The statutory minimum age for
employment of children is 18 years. Inspectors from the Ministry of
Labor enforced this provision in the formal sector through periodic
checks, but enforcement in the informal sector remained a problem. The
minimum age for work applies to family farms, and the labor ministry
had authority to inspect these farms, which it did when there were
allegations of violations of labor law.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Labor last
revised minimum wages in 2002. In 2008 a tripartite committee reviewed
wage levels but took no action to set a new minimum wage. The process
was transparent and involved site visits to examine 14 categories of
employees. The 2002 minimum wages were still in effect for various
categories of workers; for example, agricultural workers were
classified into male and female workers. Rates for men were EC$5.00
($1.85) per hour, and for women EC$4.75 ($1.75) per hour; however, if a
woman performed the same task as a man, her rate of pay was the same.
The minimum wage for domestic workers was set at EC$400 ($148) monthly.
The national minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family. The government effectively enforced minimum
wages.
Although unemployment and underemployment remained high, the
absence of labor market statistics hindered economic policy
development. During the year approximately 30 percent of the population
earned less than the official poverty line, which was drawn at EC$599
($222) per month.
The law provides for a 40-hour maximum workweek. The law does not
stipulate rest periods, although no one can be asked to work for longer
than five hours consecutively without a one-hour meal break. In
addition, domestic employees may not, by law, be asked to work longer
than a 10-hour period without at least two hours of breaks for meals
and rest periods. Union-negotiated contracts often mandated rest
breaks. The law requires a premium for work above the standard workweek
and prohibits excessive or compulsory overtime.
The government sets health and safety standards, but the
authorities enforced them inconsistently. Workers have the right to
remove themselves from dangerous workplace situations without jeopardy
to continued employment.
__________
GUATEMALA
Guatemala is a democratic, multiparty republic with a population
estimated at 14 million. Alvaro Colom of the National Unity of Hope
(UNE) party won the 2007 presidential election, which international
observers generally considered free and fair, and began his four-year
term in January 2008. While civilian authorities generally maintained
control of the security forces, there were instances in which members
of the security forces committed illegal acts, including human rights
abuses.
Although the government generally respected the human rights of
citizens, a wide variety of serious problems remained. These included
the government's failure to investigate and punish unlawful killings
committed by members of the security forces; widespread societal
violence, including numerous killings; corruption and substantial
inadequacies in the police and judicial sectors; police involvement in
serious crimes; impunity for criminal activity; harsh and dangerous
prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; failure of the
judicial system to ensure full and timely investigations and fair
trials; failure to protect judicial sector officials, witnesses, and
civil society representatives from intimidation; threats and
intimidation against, and killings of, journalists and trade unionists;
discrimination and violence against women; trafficking in persons;
discrimination against indigenous communities; discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation and gender identity; and ineffective
enforcement of labor laws and child labor provisions.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Although there were
no reports that the government or its agents committed any politically
motivated killings, members of the police force committed unlawful
killings. Corruption, intimidation, and ineffectiveness within the
police and other institutions prevented adequate investigation of many
such killings as well as the arrest and successful prosecution of
perpetrators. An Amnesty International (AI) report issued on December
15 described police and security force involvement in alleged
extrajudicial killings and criticized investigations for being delayed
or ineffective.
The National Civilian Police (PNC) and its Office of Professional
Responsibility (ORP) reported that they investigated 17 accusations of
killings involving 16 PNC agents, all of whom remained under
investigation at year's end.
On January 20, authorities arrested PNC officers Mynor Joel Loarca
Morales and Isaias Miguel Pineda for the January 15 killing of Walter
Garcia Suruy in Guatemala City. Suruy had formally accused the two
officers of car theft. No further information was available at year's
end.
On April 14, unknown persons shot and killed Khalil Musa, a
prominent coffee grower and businessman, and his daughter, Marjorie, in
Guatemala City. At year's end authorities had not charged anyone in
their deaths. On May 10, Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano, a lawyer retained
by the Musa family, was also shot and killed in Guatemala City.
Following an exhaustive investigation, the UN-sponsored International
Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) announced its finding
that Rosenberg had arranged for his own murder. CICIG also exonerated
President Colom and close associates in his administration regarding
the accusation, made by Rosenberg in a video filmed just before his
death, that they had orchestrated his killing.
In September and October, authorities arrested 11 members of an
organized crime group for organizing and carrying out Rosenberg's
murder. Six were either active or former PNC agents, and one was a
retired soldier. The Public Ministry (MP or the Attorney General's
Office) charged five persons with murder and four with illicit
association and issued warrants for others who allegedly served as
middlemen for Rosenberg in arranging his killing. Three suspects
remained at large at year's end.
On May 27, after the driver of a truck in which 15-year-old Pedro
de Jesus Sacul Pop rode failed to obey an order to stop in Alta
Verapaz, a group of soldiers opened fire and killed him. On June 26,
authorities arrested 12 soldiers (Leopoldo Chen Tiul, Hugo Cuz Cuz,
Audiel Salazar Cortez, Edy Ronal Caal Colay, Rudy Alberto Sarceno,
Walter Raul Ramirez, Mario Enrique Iseem Caal, Jose Luis Lopez Sanchez,
Oscar Anibal Garcia Ramirez, Javier Cacao Coy, Oscar Ramirez Gudiel,
and William Agusto Cetino Garcia) for the killing. At year's end the 12
soldiers remained free on bail as the MP's investigation of the case
continued.
On July 4, the PNC arrested three MP prosecutors (Mario Adolfo
Soberanis Pinelo, Oscar Efrain Vasquez Fuentes, and Rigoberto Arturo
Castanon Mejia) and two PNC officers (Marlon Josue Garcia Lopez and
David Ezequiel Vasquez) for conspiring to obstruct justice in the
killing of Castulo and Ana Leticia Vasquez Garcia. The main suspect in
the case (also arrested on July 4) was reportedly the victims' brother,
Jeiner Estanislao Vasquez Garcia, in whose home a June 16 video
allegedly showed the arrested prosecutors and police officers failing
to impound money and weapons and altering and destroying evidence. At
year's end the six suspects remained in custody awaiting trial.
At year's end PNC agents Omar Evidan Godoy Arana and Gendy Misael
Chinchilla Samayoa remained in custody awaiting trial for the February
2008 killing of bus assistant Jose Angel Hernandez.
On February 3, charges were filed against former MP chief homicide
prosecutor Alvaro Matus for abusing authority and failing to fulfill
his duties with respect to investigating the April 2008 killing in
Guatemala City of Victor Rivera, former advisor to a government
minister and former head of the PNC anti-kidnapping unit. On June 17
and 18, authorities arrested three MP assistant prosecutors (Denys
Billy Herrera Arita, Carlos Rodriguez Serrano, and Pedro Pablo Giron
Polanco) and MP deputy dhief Leyla Susana Lemus Arriaga on charges of
obstruction of justice and conspiracy for their alleged role in aiding
Matus. On December 28, at a pretrial hearing, the Eighth Penal Court
added obstruction of justice and conspiracy charges against Matus as
well. At year's end the five suspects remained in custody as an MP
investigation continued.
On March 31, the Seventh Sentencing Court sentenced three former
PNC agents (Juan Carlos Jalal Caal, Julio Roberto Aguirre Martinez, and
Israel Barco Arana) to 25 years' imprisonment for the April 2008
shooting and killing of Jorge Eduardo Rivera-Cabezas Klussmann, who had
failed to obey a stop order.
On November 23, the Sentencing Court of Coatepeque absolved three
Criminal Investigation Division detectives charged in the June 2008
killings of the son and former husband of Edilma Navarijo, mayor of
Ocos, San Marcos.
On February 16, authorities arrested Sandro Adrian Ramos Venegas, a
former PNC officer, for alleged involvement in the November 2008
killings of 16 occupants of a Nicaraguan bus in eastern Guatemala. On
March 27, the MP arrested Rony Eduardo Terraza Hernandez, a possible
member of the ``Taquero'' narcotics trafficking organization, for
alleged participation in the killings. The two suspects remained in
custody at year's end awaiting trial.
At year's end the nine PNC officers arrested as suspects in the
alleged 2007 killing of Antonio de Leon Lopez in Huehuetenango during
an antinarcotics operation remained in custody awaiting trial, while a
tenth officer remained at large.
There were no developments in the cases of the Jutiapa mayor-elect
and former member of Congress, Manuel Castillo, and his assistant,
Carlos Alberto Gutierrez, who were arrested in 2008 for alleged
involvement in the 2007 killings of three Salvadoran members of the
Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) and their driver. At year's end
both remained in custody, with Castillo facing seven charges.
At year's end the former director of El Boqueron prison, Manuel
Antonio Recinos Aguirre; his deputy, Baldimiro Rodene Lopez y Lopez;
and several police officers with alleged ties to narcotics trafficking
in Jutiapa remained in custody awaiting trial in connection with the
killing of four PNC suspects in the 2007 PARLACEN case.
On December 22, the Supreme Court ordered the reopening and
reinvestigation of the 1993 assassination of Jorge Carpio Nicolle, a
former presidential candidate and prominent journalist, as well as the
killing of three of his close political associates. The Supreme Court
was complying with a 2004 decision by the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights, which found that the previous investigation by the country's
authorities was flawed. The Supreme Court offered to provide security
for witnesses, judges, prosecutors, and family members who participate
in the new process.
Also on December 22, the Supreme Court ordered the reopening and
reinvestigation of two other high-profile human rights cases. The
first, known as the ``street children'' case, involved the alleged
abduction, torture, and killing by state security forces of five street
children in 1990. The second was known as the ``white van'' case, in
reference to a van that state security agents allegedly used during
1987 and 1988 in the kidnapping and killing of five civilians.
At year's end former army captain Jose Antonio Solares Gonzalez and
former Civil Defense Patrol members Ambrosio Perez Laju and Domingo
Chen--three suspects sought for the 1982 killings of 177 civilians in
Rio Negro, Baja Verapaz--remained at large, despite court orders.
According to PNC statistics, vigilante mobs (most often in rural
indigenous communities) killed 49 persons and injured 216 in lynchings
during the year. Many observers attributed the lynchings to public
frustration with the failure of police and judicial authorities to
guarantee security and to the emergence of local citizen security
groups. There were continued reports of community lynchings of
individuals suspected of rape, kidnapping, or attempted kidnapping of
children to sell for adoption. In many instances, PNC agents refused to
intervene out of fear for their own safety.
On March 16, Huehuetenango community members reportedly captured,
beat, tortured, dismembered, and set on fire three suspected motorcycle
thieves. Citizens claimed that an investigation they had conducted
revealed the suspects as responsible for the theft. On July 10, two
alleged thieves were lynched in Villa Canales. Police found one victim,
Manolo Estrada, tied to a post and shot. On November 16, citizens in
Chimaltenango burned to death a police officer accused of attempted
extortion. On November 27, a mob in Solola burned to death three
persons, including a 16-year-old boy, whom the PNC had arrested earlier
that day on suspicion of killing a bus driver and a passenger. The mob
also set fire to the governor's office, the PNC station, three patrol
cars, and a motorcycle. On December 4, citizens in Huehuetenango burned
to death three persons accused of killing a woman. On December 5,
citizens beat to death a man accused of theft in Panajachel, captured
his three alleged accomplices, burned four police vehicles and a gas
station, and damaged a police station and a municipal building. Police
later freed the accomplices.
There were no developments, and none were expected, in the January
2008 shooting and killing in San Juan Sacatepequez of a 17-year-old
whom a vigilante group suspected of being a gang member. The group also
killed the victim's brother and father, who had attempted to intercede.
Similarly, there were no developments, and none were expected, in
the September 2008 lynching by community members in San Pedro Yepocapa,
Chimaltenango, of a 22-year-old man accused of assaulting and robbing
bus passengers and raping four women.
b. Disappearance.--Although there were no reports of politically
motivated disappearances, there were reports of police involvement in
kidnappings for ransom. The PNC's ORP reported that during the year
there were 11 complaints of kidnapping by PNC personnel.
There were no developments in the 2007 disappearance of security
guard Marcos de Jesus Garcia Sarmiento from the alleged hiding place of
former fugitive Gustavo Herrera.
There were also no known developments in the MP investigation of
the 2007 kidnapping of Marco Tulio Moreno Ramirez, reportedly committed
by men wearing PNC-type uniforms.
On December 29, in response to a 2002 Inter-American Court of Human
Rights order, the Supreme Court reopened the case of the forced
disappearance in 1992 of guerrilla leader Efrain Bamaca Velasquez.
On March 5 and 6 respectively, authorities arrested PNC officer
Hector Roderico Rodriguez Rios and retired PNC officer Abraham Lancerio
Gomez, former members of the disbanded National Police, in the case of
the 1984 forced disappearance of labor leader Edgar Fernando Garcia,
whose widow is Congresswoman Nineth Montenegro. The suspects remained
in custody at year's end on charges of illegal detention, kidnapping,
and abuse of authority; authorities also issued arrest warrants for two
other suspects.
On August 31, a Chimaltenango court convicted former military
commissioner Felipe Cusanero Coj of the forced disappearances in
Choatalum, San Martin Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango, between 1982 and 1984
of Lorenzo Avila, Alejo Culajay, Filomena Lopez, Encarnacion Lopez,
Santiago Sutuj, and Mario Augusto Tay--all members of the Kaqchiquel
Mayan indigenous group--and sentenced him to 150 years' imprisonment.
On December 3, a Chiquimula court convicted and sentenced retired
army colonel Marco Antonio Sanchez Samayoa and three former military
commissioners (Jose Domingo Rios, Gabriel Alvarez Ramos, and Salomon
Maldonado Rios) each to 53 years in prison for the 1981 forced
disappearances of the following eight individuals from El Jute village:
Jacobo Crisostomo Cheguen, Miguel Angel Cheguen Crisostomo, Raul
Cheguen, Inocente Gallardo, Antolin Gallardo, Valentin Gallardo,
Santiago Gallardo, and Transito Rivera. The court also ordered an
investigation of former minister of defense Angel Anibal Guevara,
former army chief of staff Benedicto Lucas Garcia, and army officers
and soldiers who served at the Zacapa military base when the
disappearances occurred.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and the law prohibit such
practices, there were credible reports of torture, abuse, and other
mistreatment by PNC members. Complaints typically related to the use of
excessive force during police operations.
There were no developments in the February 2008 alleged police
beatings of two bus assistants.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and dangerous, and there were multiple instances of killings by
inmates. The prison system continued to suffer from a severe lack of
resources, particularly in the areas of prison security and medical
services and facilities. Prisoners complained of inadequate food and
medical care. Corruption, especially related to illegal drug sales and
use, was widespread. Prison officials reported frequent escape
attempts, gang fights, and other manifestations of prisoner unrest.
Prisoners reportedly used cell phones frequently to demand extortion
payments, coordinate kidnappings for ransom and killings of bus drivers
and assistants, and direct other criminal activity both inside and
outside the prison. Several prisons installed equipment to block such
calls, but at year's end the final installation for equipment
activation was incomplete.
Prison overcrowding continued to be a problem, although in
September the government opened a new high-security prison in Fraijanes
capable of holding 230 inmates. According to the prison system
registry, as of mid-December, 19 prisons and jails designed to hold
6,974 persons held 9,801 persons. Of the national penitentiary system
population, approximately 45 percent was in pretrial detention; 579
were adult women, 358 were boys held in three centers, and 31 were
girls.
Inadequate security measures undermined the penitentiary system's
ability to control prisoners effectively; there were only 2,144 prison
guards nationwide. In the prisons, 16 percent of inmates reportedly
belonged to gangs, which were active in prisons and occasionally
attacked prison guards. Prison work and educational programs were
inadequate to rehabilitate prisoners and decrease the 90 percent
recidivism rate.
The media and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that
physical and sexual abuse of women and juvenile inmates was a serious
problem. Many of the abused juvenile inmates were suspected gang
members.
On February 4, the PNC arrested Jorge Torres, director of the
Pavoncito Preventive Prison, as well as seven prison guards for their
alleged complicity in the February 1 escape of inmate Leonel Giovanni
Herrera Reyes, who was serving a 50-year sentence for a 2003 rape and
homicide.
On September 4, six inmates (Byron Alberto Morales Villatoro,
Carlos Esteban Galindo Pardo, Wilmer Armando Argueta, Jose Armando
Sapon Ola, and former PNC officers Leopoldo Zaid Castillo Belloso and
Bartoleme Teni Cuc)--believed to be members of a kidnapping band--
escaped from the Quetzaltenango Preventive Prison. Authorities
subsequently arrested five PNC agents (Gonzalo David Morales, Hilario
Antonio Lopez, Juan Carlos Mendez, Jose Pedro Rojas, and Francisco
Javier Agustin) for allegedly aiding the escape.
In September the minister of government fired 37 prison system
employees, including the director, deputy director, manager, and guards
of the El Boqueron Prison; ordered their investigation for allegedly
allowing inmates under their control to possess money, guns, and drugs;
and moved gang leaders into the new high-security prison at Fraijanes.
Subsequent (apparently coordinated) retaliatory incidents included the
firing by unknown assailants of more than 35 AK-47 rounds at the prison
system headquarters, the killings in Guatemala City of a prison guard
and the El Progreso Jail deputy director, and the killings of the
Chimaltenango Jail deputy director and a guard in Chimaltenango. On
October 31, unknown assailants in Guatemala City shot and killed one
prison guard and injured two others and, on the outskirts of the city,
unknown assailants shot and killed a guard and injured two others. The
PNC and the Ministry of Government (MOG) responsible for the
penitentiary system ascribed these attacks to retaliation for the MOG's
attempted disruption of gang activity in prisons. The minister of
government specifically attributed the attacks to incarcerated gang
leader Jorge Jair Hernandez, who allegedly operated a criminal
organization from El Boqueron Prison.
At year's end there were no known developments in the MP
investigation of the 2007 case of prison guard Irma Barrientos, who
allegedly prostituted female prisoners in Jalapa and extorted a
commission on money sent to prisoners.
On rare occasions, male and female detainees in immigration
facilities were held together. Pretrial detainees sometimes were held
in the same prison blocks with the general prison population, and, on
rare occasions, juveniles and adults were held together.
The government permitted prison monitoring visits by local and
international human rights groups, the Organization of American States,
public defenders, religious groups, and family members; such visits
took place throughout the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and the law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, but there were credible
reports of arrests without judicial warrants, illegal detentions, and
failure to adhere to prescribed time limits in legal proceedings. In
practice arresting officers sometimes failed to bring suspects before
magistrates within the legally mandated six-hour deadline, and
magistrates sometimes failed to hold a hearing within the legally
mandated 24-hour period.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The 19,465-member PNC,
headed by a director general appointed by the minister of government,
remained understaffed, inadequately trained, and insufficiently funded.
As of December, the PNC reported 65 deaths of PNC personnel, 30 in the
line of duty.
While no active members of the military served in the police
command structure, the government continued to employ the military to
support police units in response to rising crime. Joint police and
military operations under PNC operational control continued in
Guatemala City high-crime areas as well as other areas.
Police corruption remained a serious problem, and there were
credible allegations of involvement by individual police officers and
some police units in criminal activity, including rapes, killings, and
kidnappings. Police and immigration officials reportedly extorted and
mistreated persons attempting to enter the country illegally.
On August 7, President Colom fired PNC director general Porfirio
Perez Paniagua and three of his top lieutenants (deputy director
general Rolando Mendoza Perez, deputy director of operations Victor de
Jesus Lopez, and deputy director of investigations Hector David
Castellanos Soto) on suspicion of having masterminded an attempt to
steal more than 2,200 pounds of cocaine during an August 6
counternarcotics operation in Guatemala City. On August 18, authorities
arrested Orlando Evangelista Villatoro Alvarado, the PNC special
division of criminal investigations operations chief, in connection
with the attempted theft. At year's end an arrest warrant for
Castellanos remained unimplemented, and the MP continued to investigate
Paniagua and other PNC officers.
On August 28, authorities arrested Paniagua and two subordinate PNC
officers (Benigno Lopez Fuentes and Mario Roberto Castillo) on separate
charges of stealing $350,000 in cash that the PNC had originally seized
on June 10 in Chimaltenango.
Police impunity remained a serious problem. The PNC routinely
transferred officers suspected of wrongdoing rather than investigating
and punishing them.
There were credible reports that PNC officers or persons disguised
as police officers stopped cars and buses to demand bribes or steal
private property. In some cases the supposed police officers assaulted
and raped victims.
On September 21, the Second Penal Court sentenced PNC chief Elias
Lemus Guerra, deputy inspector Jose Lopez Hernandez, and agents Jorge
Garcia Ortiz and Dennis Gueiry Godinez to prison terms ranging from
five to eight years for the April 2008 illegal detention of Eleazar
Rodas in Guatemala City as well as for threats, theft, and abuse of
authority.
There were no developments in the September 2008 case of two deputy
PNC commissioners under arrest and 12 other PNC officers under MP
investigation for alleged involvement in a Guatemala City criminal
group.
Police threatened persons engaged in prostitution and other
commercial sexual activities with false drug charges to extort money or
sexual favors and harassed lesbian and gay persons and transvestites
with similar threats. Critics accused police of indiscriminate and
illegal detentions when conducting antigang operations in some high-
crime neighborhoods. Security officials allegedly arrested and
imprisoned suspected gang members without warrants or sometimes on
false drug charges.
The ORP conducted internal investigations of misconduct by police
officers. During the year the ORP reported receiving 776 complaints,
which included 17 complaints of killings, three forced disappearances,
11 kidnappings, six illegal detentions, 80 thefts, three rapes, 81
threats, and 323 cases of abuse of authority.
Although the ORP forwarded to the MP for further investigation and
prosecution cases with sufficient evidence of criminal activity, few
such cases went to trial. At year's end the ORP had investigated 69
police officers. The PNC did not provide statistics on the resolution
of these cases, some of which remained pending at year's end.
The PNC trained 3,770 cadets in human rights and professional
ethics, compared with 2,810 in 2008. The army required civil affairs
officers at each command to plan and document human rights training
provided to soldiers. As of year's end, 5,760 military officers and
soldiers had received human rights training, according data provided by
the Ministry of Defense.
Approximately two-thirds of police districts remained understaffed.
Indigenous rights advocates asserted that continuing lack of
sensitivity by security authorities to indigenous cultural norms and
practices engendered misunderstandings and complained that few
indigenous police officers worked in their own ethnic or linguistic
communities.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The
constitution and the law require that a court-issued arrest warrant be
presented to a suspect prior to arrest unless the suspect is caught in
the act of committing a crime. Police may not detain a suspect for more
than six hours without bringing the case before a judge. Detainees
often were not promptly informed of the charges filed against them.
Once a suspect has been arraigned, the prosecutor generally has three
months to complete the investigation and file the case in court or seek
a formal extension of the detention period. The law provides for access
to lawyers and bail for most crimes. The government provided legal
representation for indigent detainees, and detainees had access to
family members.
At year's end the ORP had received six accusations of illegal
detention. There were no reliable data on the number of arbitrary
detentions, although most accounts indicated that police forces
routinely ignored writs of habeas corpus in cases of illegal detention,
particularly during neighborhood antigang operations.
In high-crime areas of Guatemala City, Mixco, and Villa Nueva, the
government continued to operate three 24-hour court pilot projects that
significantly reduced the number of cases dismissed for lack of merit
or on technical grounds and increased the prosecution rate in the
Guatemala City metropolitan area. Year-end statistics for the 24-hour
court in Guatemala City indicated that only 9.4 percent of those who
were brought before the court were released for cases lacking merit or
technical grounds, compared to 77 percent who were released for these
reasons in 2005 before the 24-hour court was established. These
projects also enhanced the government's ability to comply with legal
requirements to bring suspects before a judge within six hours of
initial detention.
Although the law establishes a three-month limit for pretrial
detention, prisoners often were detained past their legal trial or
release dates. Some prisoners were not released in a timely fashion
after completing full sentences due to the failure of judges to issue
the necessary court order or due to other bureaucratic problems. A
judge has the discretion to determine whether bail is necessary or
permissible for pretrial detainees, depending on the circumstances of
the charges.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the constitution and the law
provide for an independent judiciary, the judicial system often failed
to provide fair or timely trials due to inefficiency; corruption;
insufficient personnel and funds; and intimidation of judges,
prosecutors, and witnesses. Most serious crimes were not investigated
or punished. Very few reported crimes were prosecuted; fewer resulted
in conviction. A Myrna Mack Foundation study released in July stated
that the MP pressed formal charges in 3 percent of 13,342 homicide
cases between the beginning of 2006 and the middle of 2008. Many high-
profile criminal cases remained pending in the courts for long periods,
as defense attorneys employed successive appeals and motions.
On July 17, Congress approved a two-year extension of the mandate
of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala through
September 11, 2011. The UN and the government agreed to establish the
UN-led CICIG in 2006 to investigate and prosecute cases involving
criminal penetration of the state and to advance rule-of-law reforms.
During the year Congress also passed and implemented reform
legislation designed to make the selection of Supreme Court and
appellate court judges more transparent. In the September 30 selection
of 13 Supreme Court justices, a special committee developed a list of
26 candidates from the 250 names it had ranked, based on legislated
criteria. Despite public denunciation of eight of the 26 by CICIG
commissioner Carlos Castresana, Congress elected six of the eight
denounced candidates. However, on October 7, after international
criticism, Congress partially reversed itself, deciding that three of
the six justices Castresana named were not qualified, and replaced them
with three others from the list of 26.
There were numerous reports of corruption, ineffectiveness, and
manipulation of the judiciary. Judges, prosecutors, plaintiffs, and
witnesses also continued to report threats, intimidation, and
surveillance. At year's end the special prosecutor for crimes against
judicial workers received 68 cases of threats or aggression against
workers in the judicial branch, compared with 129 in 2008.
The MOG assigned police officers to CICIG to augment security, and
the MP-created, CICIG-vetted prosecutor unit continued to be directly
supervised by a senior CICIG prosecutor. At year's end CICIG continued
its investigation of 15 high-profile cases, 39 prosecutions, and
various cases involving killings of women, bus drivers, and assistants;
trafficking in persons; and attacks against and killings of unionists
and human rights defenders.
On July 4, Leopoldo Liu, the chief prosecutor in the MP for money
laundering, resigned after receiving death threats.
On September 10, unidentified gunmen shot and killed PNC agent
Dimas Godoy when he surprised them trying to break into the residence
of MP chief prosecutor for organized crime Rony Lopez.
There were credible reports of killings of witnesses.
On September 3, a court acquitted Juan Ignacio Monzon Guillen,
Gabriel Ruche Pixtun, William Donaldo Hernandez, and Marvin Leonel
Coc--members of the Monzon gang--of all charges in the January 8
killing of Blanca Leticia Amperez Velasquez, a protected witness in the
case against gang leader Wilfredo Monzon Gillen.
On February 16, unidentified gunmen attempted to kill Sandro Ramos
Vanegas, a protected witness in the 2008 Nicaraguan bus-killings case,
in Guatemala City.
On May 18, unknown gunmen in Mazatenango killed Nery Angel Urizar
Garcia, a former army intelligence operative and witness in the Efrain
Bamaca forced disappearance case.
There were no known developments in the 2007 killing of Dalia
Evangelina Garcia Illescas, a witness in the murder trial of PNC
officer Jorge Macario Mazariegos.
Judge Eduardo Cojulum of the Eleventh Court of First Instance
reportedly continued to receive death threats throughout the year for
his assistance in the Spanish national court case brought by Rigoberta
Menchu, in collaboration with NGOs, against five retired military
officers and two civilians for alleged human rights violations
committed during the internal conflict.
There were no developments concerning the March 2008 killing in
Guatemala City by unknown assailants of MP Homicide Division clerk
Ingrid Judith Borrayo and PNC officer Hugo Rolando Toj, who had been
assigned to the MOG's Human Rights Division. According to the MP, the
investigation remained officially open although the two main suspects
in the case both died in separate incidents during the year.
There were also no developments in the May 2008 killing of Judge
Jose Vidal Barillas Monzon, president of the Appeals Court of
Retalhuleu, by unidentified gunmen. Judge Barillas had presided over
organized crime, drug trafficking, and land disputes cases.
There were also no developments in the July 2008 killing of
assistant homicide prosecutor Juan Carlos Martinez, chief prosecutor in
the PARLACEN and Victor Rivera homicide cases, by unknown assailants.
The Supreme Court continued to seek the suspension of judges and to
conduct criminal investigations for improprieties or irregularities in
cases under its jurisdiction. The Judicial Disciplinary Unit
investigated 165 complaints of wrongdoing and held hearings for 55
complaints during the year but did not provide statistics on case
resolution.
Prosecutors were often ineffective and remained susceptible to
intimidation and corruption.
The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court of Justice, appellate
courts, trial courts, and probable-cause judges (with a function
similar to that of a grand jury) as well as courts of special
jurisdiction, including labor courts and family courts. There were 388
justices of the peace throughout the country. Some of the justices
specialized in administering traditional and indigenous law in
community courts, which were under the jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court. The Constitutional Court, which reviews legislation and court
decisions for compatibility with the constitution, is independent of
the rest of the judiciary.
At year's end the MP had 196 persons in its witness protection
program.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair public trial, the presumption of innocence, the right to be
present at trial, and the right to counsel. Defendants and their
attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to their
case. The law provides for plea bargaining, possible release on bail,
and the right of appeal. Three-judge panels render verdicts. The law
provides for oral trials and mandates language interpretation for those
needing it, in particular the large number of indigenous persons who
are not fluent in Spanish, although inadequate government funding
limited effective application of this requirement. The MP utilized 20
interpreters nationwide, including in former conflict areas of the
country, and the Office of the Public Defender employed 35 bilingual
public defenders in locations where they could also serve as
translators.
The MP, acting semi-independently of the executive branch, may
initiate criminal proceedings on its own or in response to a complaint.
Private parties may participate in the prosecution of criminal cases as
plaintiffs. Lengthy investigations and frequent procedural motions used
by both defense and prosecution often led to excessively long pretrial
detention, frequently delaying trials for months or years.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law does not provide
for jury trials in civil matters. The law provides for administrative
and judicial remedies for alleged wrongs, including the enforcement of
domestic court orders, but there were problems in enforcing such
orders. Some killings resulted from PNC failure to enforce restraining
orders promptly.
Property Restitution.--In November 2008 the president signed an
agreement with leaders of the group of families that lost relatives
during the Rio Negro massacres in the early 1980s, known as the
Coordinator of the Communities Affected by the Construction of the
Chixoy Dam. In the agreement the government acknowledged ``damages and
violations'' and accepted responsibility to provide reparations to
families of the victims. An ad hoc presidential commission continued to
work on a plan to implement this agreement.
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.
At year's end the espionage trial of former chief of presidential
security Carlos Quintanilla, who voluntarily surrendered in December
2008, continued in connection with the discovery of listening devices
in the offices of the president and first lady. On January 8, facing
similar charges, the former head of the secretariat of strategic
analysis, Gustavo Solano, voluntarily surrendered, and at year's end he
remained under house arrest awaiting trial.
There were no developments, and none were expected, in the cases of
the November 2008 break-in of the home of Ruth del Valle, the
presidential human rights commissioner, and the 2007 break-ins at the
offices of three NGOs.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and the law
provide for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice.
The independent media, including international news organizations,
operated freely and actively and expressed a wide variety of views
without overt government restriction. During the year, however, some
members of the press reported being pressured by various public
officials. Some owners and members of the media also accused the
government of following a discriminatory advertising policy,
particularly with respect to leading print and broadcast media that
expressed news or commentary perceived as critical of the president,
his administration, the first lady, or public officials and programs.
Members of the press claimed that increasing levels of impunity and
violence in the country, particularly associated with narcotics
trafficking, threatened the practice of free and open journalism. The
press also complained of threats made against them by organized crime
and drug trafficking organizations, noting that these threats increased
their sense of vulnerability.
During the year the Special Prosecutor's Unit for Crimes against
Journalists and Unionists received 39 complaints of attacks and other
acts of intimidation against journalists. The MP reported 24 incidents
of intimidation of journalists, compared with 10 during 2008. A 2008 UN
Development Program report categorized the country as a ``country of
risk'' for journalists, based on violence against the media and
violations of freedom of expression.
On April 1, unknown gunmen killed Telecentro 13 television
journalist Rolando Santis in Guatemala City and injured an accompanying
cameraman, Juan Antonio De Leon Villatoro.
On June 6, an unknown assailant shot and killed Telediario
television correspondent Marco Antonio Estrada Orla in Chiquimula.
On September 1, Vice President Rafael Espada filed an accusation of
slander against journalist Marta Yolanda Diaz Duran, who had accused
him in an opinion column of having met with lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg
days before he was killed on May 10 (see section 1.a.).
There were no developments in the following cases:
The May 2008 killing of Prensa Libre correspondent Jorge Merida
Perez in Coatepeque, Quetzaltenango, after he reported corruption in
Coatepeque municipality and alleged the mayor's connection to drug
trafficking.
The July 2008 death threat case of Prensa Libre news correspondent
Danilo Lopez, who reported on corruption in the Suchitepequez
governor's office.
The July 2008 shooting attack on the home of Radio Punto news
correspondent Edin Rodelmiro Maaz Bol in Coban.
The 2007 attempted killing of Nuestro Diario correspondent Wilder
Jordan.
The investigation of the 2007 anonymous death threats against the
staff of Guatevision and their family members for coverage of the
PARLACEN killings.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Leading independent print, broadcast media, and a
growing number of small/medium-size news organizations featured
Internet editions and operated freely. Individuals and groups engaged
in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-
mail. The International Telecommunication Union reported that in 2008
approximately 14 percent of the population accessed the Internet.
On May 14, in the aftermath of the killing of attorney Rodrigo
Rosenberg, authorities arrested Twitter user Jean Ramses Anleu
Fernandez and charged him with provoking financial panic by his
``tweet'' e-mail message calling on Rural Development Bank customers to
close their bank accounts. The bank superintendent claimed the message
caused withdrawal of 525 million quetzales (approximately $66 million).
On June 8, the Third Appeals Court issued a no-merit ruling and found
that the tweet had not caused financial panic.
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 the law provide for freedom of
assembly, and the government generally respected this right in
practice, there were some allegations of unnecessary use of force or of
police inaction during violent demonstrations.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and the law provide for
freedom of association, and the government generally respected this
right in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination against persons for their religious
beliefs or practices, and no reports of anti-Semitic acts. The Jewish
population numbered approximately 2,000 persons.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution and the law provide
for freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration,
and repatriation; and the government generally respected these rights
in practice.
The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations.
The law prohibits forced exile.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol
relating to the Status of Refugees. The constitution and the law
provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the
government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion.
During the year the government received six requests for refugee
status and accorded temporary protection, asylum, or refugee status to
one person.
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 nearly universal suffrage for those 18 years of age and older.
Members of the armed forces and police are not permitted to vote.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2007 Alvaro Colom of the
UNE party won a four-year term as president with approximately 53
percent of the vote. The Organization of American States international
observation mission characterized the elections as generally free and
fair. AI reported an estimated 26 killings of political activists in
the context of the election.
There were 20 women in the 158-seat Congress. A total of 197 women
served as judges nationwide, including one each on the Supreme Court
and the Constitutional Court. There were no women in the 12-member
cabinet. Six of the country's 332 mayors were women.
There was one indigenous cabinet member, no indigenous Supreme
Court justices, 113 indigenous mayors, and approximately 20 indigenous
members of Congress. A prominent indigenous leader has headed the Human
Rights Office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since mid-2008.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
Government corruption was widely perceived to be a serious problem.
World Bank governance indicators reflected that government corruption
was a serious problem. The MP continued to investigate corruption
charges against former president Alfonso Portillo, former vice
president Reyes Lopez, and other senior members of previous
governments.
On March 27, police arrested retired general Enrique Rios Sosa,
Captain Pedro Adolfo Catalan Munoz, and retired lieutenant Miguel Angel
Salguero Torres on charges of document forgery and embezzlement of 471
million quetzales (approximately $59 million) from 2001 to 2003 during
the Portillo administration. Three other suspects charged in the case
(retired colonel Sergio Hugo Cardenas Sagastume; Navy captain Rodolfo
Leonel Chacon Alvarez, naval school commander; and Colonel Luis Alberto
Gomez Guillermo) thereafter turned themselves in. The presiding judge
set no bail but ordered house arrest for all six, which continued at
year's end.
On June 25, authorities arrested former minister of defense and
minister of government Eduardo Arevalo Lacs on charges of embezzling
army funds worth 120 million quetzales (approximately $15 million) in
2001. At year's end he remained in custody awaiting trial.
Having resigned from office in August 2008 after acknowledging that
his private secretary (Byron Sanchez) had illegally transferred 82.8
million quetzales (approximately $11 million) of public funds to
Mercade do Futuros (MDF), a private investment house, former president
of Congress Eduardo Meyer delayed his trial on embezzlement charges
while remaining under house arrest. Raul Giron, the MDF's general
manager and legal representative, who voluntarily surrendered in August
2008, remained in custody awaiting trial for money laundering and fraud
at year's end. Sanchez and former congressional chief financial officer
Jose Conde, also wanted in the case, remained at large at year's end.
Authorities arrested former president of Congress Ruben Dario
Morales on November 26 on embezzlement and fraud charges based on his
alleged receipt of a 300,000-quetzal (approximately $38,000) commission
for investing congressional funds in the MDF in 2007. On December 3,
the Seventh Penal Court placed Morales under house arrest on bail of
400,000 quetzales ($50,000) while the MP continued its investigation.
On October 27, the Tenth Sentencing Court imprisoned former
congressman Hector Loaiza Gramajo for 14 years on money laundering,
fraud, and tax evasion charges related to the theft of gasoline trucks
in 2006.
Former president Portillo continued to face charges for
embezzlement allegedly committed during his presidency (2000-04), but
the start of his trial was delayed due to appeals. He remained free on
bail at year's end.
Public officials who earn more than 8,000 quetzales (approximately
$1,000) per month or who manage public funds are subject to financial
disclosure laws overseen and enforced by the Controller General's
Office. Lack of political will and rampant impunity facilitated
government corruption.
The constitution provides for the right of citizens to access
public information. A 2008 law in effect since April regulates the
provision of, and facilitates access to, information held by public
institutions. It covers all branches of government, requires all public
and private entities that receive public funds to respond to public
requests for information on their operations and administration of
resources, and establishes sanctions for obstructing such public
access. The press, however, has criticized the government for not
having provided sufficient resources to allow government and publicly
funded offices to comply fully with the new legislation. The country's
Transparency International chapter noted that public access to
government information has decreased since 2006 and that implementation
of the 2008 law was slow.
Section 5. 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 open to their views.
On February 16, the UN special representative on the situation of
human rights defenders issued a report on her February 2008 follow-up
visit to the country that expressed deep concern ``at the deterioration
in the environment in which human rights defenders operate,
characterized by endemic impunity for crimes and violations'' against
them. She recommended that the government construct a human rights
political agenda, take steps to legitimize the work of human rights
defenders, institutionalize consultation processes with civil society,
ensure coordination among investigatory bodies, reform witness
protection measures and the police, monitor implementation of CICIG
recommendations, protect public defender staff, and fund the
government's human rights ombudsman (PDH).
In partial implementation of the March 2008 Constitutional Court
decision that four early-1980s military counterinsurgency plans be
declassified, the Ministry of Defense on March 6 surrendered two plans
(Victoria 82 and eight of the estimated 200-plus pages of Firmeza 83)
and claimed the other two (operations Sofia and Ixil) had been lost. An
MP investigation and the Presidential Commission for Declassification
of Military Archives continued at year's end.
In a November 2008 decision, the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights held the government accountable for the 1990 forced
disappearances of Maria Tiu Tojin and her daughter. The court
recognized that the government had complied with some of its
recommendations, including providing a letter of apology to the
victims' family, the payment of two million quetzales ($259,000) to
family members, and the construction of a monument in the victims'
memory. The court found, however, that the government had not done
enough to establish the identities of those responsible or to locate
the victims' remains.
On December 22, the Supreme Court decided to reopen four high-
profile human rights cases from the 1980s and 1990s (see section 1.a.).
Many NGOs and human rights workers, as well as a number of trade
unionists, reported threats or intimidation by unidentified persons,
many with reputed links to organized crime, private security companies,
and ``social cleansing'' groups, and complained that the government did
little to investigate these reports or to prevent further incidents.
An NGO, the Guatemalan Human Rights Defenders Protection Unit
(UDEFEGUA), reported that, as of August, there had been 10 killings of
human rights defenders. Reports suggested that former or current
members of the police were involved in some of the killings. On May 21,
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted
precautionary measures for the director (Iduvina Hernandez) and members
of the NGO Association for the Study and Promotion of Security in
Democracy and requested government protection for them in view of
threats connected with their activities.
On September 29, and again on December 31, human rights activist
Norma Cruz said that she had received repeated death threats for
calling on authorities to prosecute Juan Jose Santos Barrientos,
accused of killing Francisca Ayala Pinto and Carlos Cruz Pineda on May
11. Francisca Ayala was a key witness in the trial of Estuardo Ayala
Casasola, who was convicted on April 25 of the statutory rape of a 13-
year-old girl.
On October 18, unknown persons attacked and killed Fausto Leonel
Otzin Poyon, a human rights lawyer and advocate for Mayan community
rights, in San Juan Comalapa, Chimaltenango. At year's end an
investigation was underway, but no suspects had been named or arrested.
There were no known developments in the MP's investigations in the
following cases that the UDEFEGUA highlighted as examples of violence
and intimidation against human rights defenders:
The March 2008 death threat against Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini, a
supporter of rural communities in land-use conflicts.
The August 2008 death threat against indigenous leader Amilcar Pop,
president of the Guatemalan Association of Mayan Lawyers.
The August 2008 killing in Colotenango, Huehuetenango, of
indigenous community leader Antonio Morales Lopez, a member of the
Committee of Peasant Unity and an activist for indigenous natural
resource rights in opposition to mining projects.
The October 2008 death threat against a family member of Norma
Cruz, director of the Survivors Foundation, in Guatemala City.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights opened new
cases involving anonymous telephone or written threats, physical
assaults, and surveillance of workplaces, residences, and vehicular
movements. The majority of such cases remained pending for lengthy
periods without investigation or languished in the court system, as
defense attorneys filed successive motions and appeals to delay trials.
At year's end Erwin Gudiel Arias remained in custody awaiting an
appeals court-ordered retrial for the 2007 killing of Jose Emanuel
Mendez Dardon, son of former congressman and human rights leader
Amilcar Mendez.
The resident Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
advised and assisted the government and monitored the human rights
situation. The government cooperated with the office and other
international organizations, including CICIG.
PDH Sergio Morales, whose current five-year term runs until 2012,
reports by law to Congress and monitors the human rights set forth in
the constitution. The PDH operated without government or party
interference, had the government's cooperation, and issued reports and
recommendations that were made public, including an annual report to
Congress on fulfillment of its mandate.
On March 24, the PDH released its first official report on the
national police archives project (The Right to Know). It specifically
publicized the case of the 1984 forced disappearance of a labor leader,
allegedly by active and retired PNC members whom authorities arrested
in early March and who remained in custody at year's end (see section
1.b.).
On April 8, the IACHR granted precautionary measures for the
director and employees of the Office of the Human Rights Prosecutor and
requested government protection in view of threats connected with their
publication of historical police archives.
The President's Commission on Human Rights (COPREDEH), led by Ruth
del Valle, is charged with formulating and promoting the government's
human rights policy, representing the government before the IACHR, and
negotiating amicable settlements in cases before the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights. COPREDEH also led coordination of police
protection for various human rights and labor activists during the
year.
The Congressional Committee on Human Rights drafts and provides
advice on legislation regarding human rights matters. By law all
political parties represented in Congress are required to have a
representative on the committee. NGOs reported that they considered the
committee to be an effective public forum for promoting and protecting
human rights.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and the law prohibit discrimination based on race,
gender, disability, language, or social status. In practice the
government frequently did not enforce these provisions due to
inadequate resources, corruption, and a dysfunctional judicial system.
Women.--Sexual offenses remained a serious problem. The law
criminalizes rape, including spousal rape and aggravated rape, and sets
penalties between five and 50 years in prison. A 2008 law establishes
penalties for physical, economic, and psychological violence committed
against women because of their gender. At year's end 1,512 cases of
economic violence and 2,033 cases of sexual abuse and other forms of
physical violence were reportedly under investigation.
Police had minimal training or capacity for investigating sexual
crimes or assisting victims of sexual crimes. The government maintained
the PNC Special Unit for Sex Crimes, the Office of Attention to
Victims, the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Women,
and a special unit for trafficking in persons and illegal adoptions
within the Special Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime. Rape
victims sometimes did not report the crime for lack of confidence in
the justice system and fear of reprisals.
Violence against women, including domestic violence, remained a
common and serious problem. The law prohibits domestic abuse, provides
for both the issuance of restraining orders against alleged aggressors
and police protection for victims, and requires the PNC to intervene in
violent situations in the home. In practice, however, the PNC often
failed to respond to requests for assistance related to domestic
violence. Women's groups commented that few officers were trained to
deal with domestic violence or assist victims.
The Institute of Public Criminal Defense continued to provide free
legal, medical, and psychological assistance to victims of domestic
violence. By year's end the project had attended to 13,375 cases of
domestic violence.
According to press reports, the government's Program for Prevention
and Eradication of Intrafamily Violence, under the first lady's
Secretariat of Social Work, received on average 565 calls daily from
battered women and children via its three emergency hotlines. At year's
end the MP reported that it received more than 31,641 complaints of
violence against women and children, including domestic violence,
economic violence, and sexual crimes. Of the 5,097 complaints of sexual
crimes, at year's end the government reported 242 convictions. The MP
did not provide data on punishment.
Justices of the peace issued an unspecified number of restraining
orders against domestic violence aggressors and ordered police
protection for victims. Full investigation and prosecution of domestic
violence and rape cases usually took an average of one year. Although
the law affords protection, including shelter, to victims of domestic
violence, in practice there were insufficient facilities for this
purpose.
The Office of the Ombudsman for Indigenous Women within COPREDEH
provided social services for victims of domestic or social violence, as
well as mediation, conflict resolution, and legal services for
indigenous women. The office also coordinated and promoted action by
government institutions and NGOs to prevent violence and discrimination
against indigenous women but lacked human resources and logistical
capacity to perform its functions on a national level. There were no
firm statistics available on the number of cases the office handled.
Killings of all types continued, including those with reported
evidence of sexual assault, torture, and mutilation of women. The NGO
Guatemalan Women's Group reported that 721 women were killed from
January to November 22. The PNC reported a total of 6,498 killings
during the year, including 720 killings of women, compared with 6,292
total killings, including 687 women, in 2008. There were 219
prosecutions for killings of women in Guatemala City during the year,
but few prosecutions resulted in convictions.
The MOG continued to operate eight shelters for victims of abuse in
departments with the greatest incidence of domestic violence. The
centers provided legal and psychological support and temporary
accommodation. The Institute of Public Criminal Defense hotline to
assist female victims of physical violence received approximately
60,113 calls during the year.
Although prostitution is legal, procuring and inducing a person
into prostitution are crimes that can result in fines or imprisonment,
with heavier penalties if minors are involved. Trafficking in women and
minors, primarily for the purpose of prostitution, is illegal and was a
widely recognized problem. There were credible reports that police and
immigration service agents were complicit in trafficking or leaking
information on imminent raids of brothels and other commercial sex
establishments to criminal targets.
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and there were no
accurate estimates of its incidence. Human rights organizations
reported, however, that sexual harassment was widespread, especially in
industries in which the workforce was primarily female, such as the
textile and apparel sectors; it was also a problem in the police force.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children. On October 30, the government approved
a regulation designed to help implement family-planning law by
providing for access to family-planning information and sex education
throughout the public health system. Catholic and evangelical churches
sought court injunctions against implementation of the regulation but
did not succeed by year's end. According to UN data, two-thirds of
urban births and 30 percent of rural births were attended by skilled
personnel. At least 82 percent of women had at least one antenatal care
visit, but no data were available about postpartum care. In general
women and men had equal access to diagnostic services and treatment for
sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.
While the law establishes the principle of gender equality, in
practice women faced job discrimination and were less likely to hold
management positions. Women were employed primarily in low-wage jobs in
agriculture, retail businesses, the service sector, the textile and
apparel industries, and the government. They were more likely than men
to be employed in the informal sector, where pay and benefits generally
were lower. Women may legally own, manage, and inherit property on an
equal basis with men, including in situations involving divorce.
The government's Secretariat for Women's Affairs advised the
president on interagency coordination of policies affecting women and
their development. The secretariat's activities included seminars,
outreach, and providing information on discrimination against women.
A Guatemala City women's shelter for victims of violence continued
to operate during the year with capacity to house 20 victims and their
families for six months at a time.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory and from one's parents. The UNHCR reported that there were
problems in registering births, especially in indigenous communities,
due to inadequate government registration and documentation systems.
Cultural factors, such as the need to travel to unfamiliar urban areas
and interact with nonindigenous male government officials, at times
inhibited indigenous women from registering themselves and their
children. Lack of registration sometimes restricted children's access
to public services.
Although the constitution and the law provide for free, compulsory
education for all children up to the ninth grade, less than half the
population over the age of 13 had completed primary education.
Completion rates were lower in rural and indigenous areas.
Child abuse remained a serious problem. The Special Prosecutor's
Office for Women, Unit of Adolescent and Child Victims, investigated
cases of child abuse. It achieved 43 convictions in the 364 child abuse
cases it opened between January and December.
The Secretariat of Social Welfare, with oversight for children's
treatment, training, special education, and welfare programs, provided
shelter and assistance to children who were victims of abuse but
sometimes placed children under its care in shelters with juveniles who
had criminal records.
Authorities investigated and prosecuted an estimated 90 cases of
abduction or purchase of children, some involving more than one child,
for purposes of offering them for adoption.
There were credible reports of forced early marriages in some rural
indigenous communities.
Child prostitution remained a problem. Child sex tourism was not a
widespread problem, although there were credible reports that some
activity of this nature occurred in Antigua and Guatemala City. The
minimum age of consensual sex is 18. The Law against Sexual Violence,
Exploitation, and Trafficking in Persons that was passed in February
provides sentences ranging from 13 to 24 years in prison, depending on
the victim's age, for sex with a minor. The law also prohibits child
pornography and establishes penalties of six to 10 years in prison for
the production, promotion, and selling of child pornography and two to
four years' imprisonment for possession of it.
The government conducted 65 rescue operations during the year,
resulting in the rescue of approximately 30 sexually exploited minors
under age 18. The Secretariat of Social Welfare handled 1,052 child
protection cases, including cases of sexually exploited minors, as part
of a national plan to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of
children.
Credible estimates put the number of children who were members of
street gangs at 3,000 nationwide. Many street children had left home
after being abused. Criminals often recruited street children for
purposes of stealing, transporting contraband, prostitution, and
illegal drug activities. The NGO Mutual Support Group reported that, as
of July, 28 minors suffered violent deaths nationwide. NGOs dealing
with gangs and other youth reported concerns that street youth detained
by police were subject to abusive treatment, including physical
assaults.
The government operated a girl's shelter in Antigua and a boy's
shelter in San Jose Pinula. Two other shelters in Quetzaltenango and
Zacapa served both boys and girls. The government devoted insufficient
funds to shelters, and authorities often preferred to send juveniles to
youth shelters operated by NGOs. The government provided no funding
assistance for shelter costs to these NGOs. Security authorities
incarcerated juvenile offenders at separate youth detention facilities.
Trafficking in Persons.--While the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, trafficking was a significant problem, and there were reports
that men, women, and children were trafficked to, from, through, and
within the country. The law criminalizes trafficking in persons for all
purposes and defines the categories of persons responsible for
trafficking offenses. On February 18, Congress approved a reform law
against sexual violence, exploitation, and trafficking in persons that
establishes increased prison terms of eight to 18 years and fines of
300,000 to 500,000 quetzales (approximately $38,000 to $63,000) for
persons found guilty of trafficking for sexual or labor exploitation.
However, the government did little to implement the law after its entry
into force in March and funding for antitrafficking efforts either
remained the same or decreased.
The country was a source, transit, and destination country for
citizens and other Central Americans trafficked for purposes of
commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children
were trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation and to
Mexico and the United States. Children were also trafficked for labor
exploitation, including for begging rings in Guatemala City, but there
were no reliable estimates on the extent of the problem.
The NGO End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking
of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) reported in 2008 that children
between the ages of eight and 14 were sold for 750 to 1,500 quetzales
(approximately $90 to $190) to work in various economic activities,
primarily for commercial sexual exploitation. According to ECPAT the
incidences of trafficking in persons and the sale of children for
sexual exploitation in 2008 likely increased due to higher unemployment
rates and increasing numbers of individuals living in extreme poverty.
Trafficking was particularly a problem in towns along the country's
borders. Children of Guatemalan and other Central American migrants who
did not accompany their parents into Mexico often resorted to or were
forced into prostitution. Many women and children also were brought
into the country from El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras by organized
crime rings that forced them into prostitution. The primary target
groups for sexual exploitation were girls and young women from poor
families. In March Honduran media reported that four Honduran minors
found in Guatemala were victims of commercial sexual exploitation and
trafficking, and Guatemalan police arrested four suspects.
Trafficking organizations ranged from family businesses to highly
organized international networks. Brothel owners in Mexico, Belize, and
the United States often were responsible for transporting and employing
victims of trafficking. Traffickers frequently had links to other
organized crime, including drug trafficking and migrant smuggling.
Traffickers often approached individuals with false promises of
economic rewards, jobs in cafeterias or beauty parlors, or employment
in other countries. They used flyers, newspaper advertisements, and
verbal or personal recommendations.
The MP operated a special unit within the Prosecutor's Office of
Organized Crime to investigate and prosecute trafficking. A task force
that included the MP, the PNC, and immigration authorities conducted an
unspecified number of raids on bars and other commercial
establishments.
The PNC and MP units responsible for combating trafficking were
severely understaffed and underfunded. Weak institutional capacity,
infiltration of organized crime, systemic corruption, lack of resources
to aid victims, and lack of witnesses willing to aid prosecution also
hampered government efforts. At year's end the MP's Special Unit
against Trafficking in Persons received and investigated 400
trafficking cases, compared with 136 during 2008. During the year the
MP prosecuted and the courts sentenced seven persons for trafficking
offenses.
There were credible reports that some police and immigration
service agents were complicit in trafficking of persons. ECPAT reported
that some child victims of trafficking claimed immigration officials
took bribes from traffickers, provided victims falsified identification
papers, and allowed them to cross borders. There were credible reports
that brothel owners allowed police and immigration officials to have
sex with minor victims without charge.
Civil society and humanitarian organizations provided all the
services specially designed for trafficking victims. However, the
shelters operated by the government's Secretariat of Social Welfare in
Antigua, San Jose Pinula, Quetzaltenango, and Zacapa to house victims
of domestic abuse and abandonment and to offer social services, job
training, and counseling also on occasion provided services to
trafficking victims. During the year the NGO shelter Casa del Migrante
assisted 966 victims of trafficking, including four cases involving
minors. During the year one of the primary shelters for trafficking
victims in Guatemala City, Alliance House, closed for financial
reasons; its parent organization, Covenant House, planned to reopen a
shelter in 2010.
Immigration officials generally deported foreign adult trafficking
victims and did not treat them as criminals. Immigration officials
deported an unspecified number of women found during bar raids back to
Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Victims were not prosecuted and
were not required to testify against traffickers.
The Interagency Commission to Combat Trafficking in Persons and
Related Crimes , headed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
including representatives of the executive, legislative, and judicial
branches as well as NGOs and international organizations and totaling
27 entities, coordinated initiatives to combat trafficking. The
government participated in a regional plan to combat trafficking in
persons and the commercial sexual exploitation of children and
adolescents.
The government gave increased attention to rescuing minors from
commercial sexual exploitation in bars, brothels, and other
establishments. The minors were referred to a number of NGOs, which
provided shelter, medical treatment, psychological counseling, and job
training.
The country cooperated with Mexico to assist victims in both
countries. This cooperation included ensuring that repatriation of
trafficking victims was handled separately from deportations. The
country had repatriation agreements for minor victims of trafficking
with El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama.
The MP worked with ECPAT to train government officials on crimes of
sexual and commercial exploitation with an emphasis on trafficking of
children. ECPAT provided numerous courses to more than 1,410 government
officials nationwide, but the government made only a minimal effort to
train justice officials in the new law on trafficking.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution contains no specific
prohibitions against discrimination based on physical disability in
employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other
state services. The law, however, mandates equal access to public
facilities and provides some other legal protections. In many cases,
persons with physical and mental disabilities did not enjoy these
rights, and the government devoted few resources to addressing the
problem.
There were minimal educational resources for persons with special
needs, and the majority of universities were not made accessible to
persons with disabilities. The National Hospital for Mental Health, the
principal health-care provider for persons with mental illness, lacked
basic supplies, equipment, hygienic living conditions, and adequate
professional staffing. The National Council for the Disabled, composed
of representatives of relevant government ministries and agencies, met
regularly to discuss initiatives and had a budget of five million
quetzales (approximately $610,000).
Indigenous People.--Indigenous persons from 22 ethnic groups
constituted an estimated 43 percent of the population. The law provides
for equal rights for indigenous persons and obliges the government to
recognize, respect, and promote their lifestyles, customs, traditions,
social organizations, and manner of dress.
Although some indigenous persons attained high positions as judges
and government officials, they generally were underrepresented in
politics and remained largely outside the country's political,
economic, social, and cultural mainstream due to limited educational
opportunities, poverty, lack of awareness of their rights, and
pervasive discrimination. While the indigenous population increased its
political participation, some civil society representatives questioned
whether such participation had resulted in greater influence in the
national political party structure. Indigenous lands often were not
effectively demarcated, making land titles frequently problematic.
On March 4, the Defense for Indigenous Women announced that lawyer
Sandra Santos Lopez was stabbed while exiting a court in Chimaltenango
where she had been involved in a case related to indigenous women's
rights.
On September 27, unknown persons killed an indigenous
schoolteacher, Adolfo Ich Chaman, and injured seven other protesters
who had gathered to protest a rumored eviction of community members by
the Guatemalan Nickel Company (CGN) from disputed land near El Estor,
Izabal. Authorities issued a warrant for the arrest of Mynor Padilla,
who headed CGN's private security force in El Estor at the time of
Chaman's death. Padilla remained at large at year's end.
According to AI, on September 2, police evicted approximately 80
indigenous Mayan Q'eqchi community members from their homes in the
communities of Bella Flor and 8 de Agosto, Alta Verapaz Department;
burned houses; destroyed crops; and attempted to rape a 15-year-old
girl. The underlying land dispute reportedly remained unresolved
because the alleged landowners failed to attend negotiations.
During an October 12 protest in Guatemala City against government
agrarian policy, a gunman reportedly shot and killed one indigenous
rural worker and injured two others.
The NGO Human Rights First noted a tendency to criminalize social
movements, especially community mobilizations against large-scale
industrial projects that would negatively impact the livelihood of the
community. Several indigenous community members of San Juan
Sacatepequez had been arrested over the previous few years because of
their opposition to the construction of a cement factory. In July 2008
authorities issued arrest warrants for eight individuals as a result of
a dispute between a landowner and a mining company, the second dispute
in 18 months in which residents opposed to the mine were targeted for
arrest. At year's end there were no developments in the cases.
Rural indigenous persons had limited educational and employment
opportunities. Many indigenous persons were illiterate, and
approximately 29 percent did not speak Spanish, according to the 2006
National Statistics Institute National Survey of Life Conditions
report, the latest data available. While the average nonindigenous
child from seven to 17 years of age had received 4.4 years of
schooling, indigenous children of the same age range had received an
average of 3.7 years, according to the same report. More than 50
percent of indigenous women over the age of 15 were illiterate, and a
disproportionate number of indigenous girls did not attend school.
According to the Ministry of Education, 78,117 preschool- and
kindergarten-age indigenous children were enrolled in Spanish-
indigenous language bilingual education programs.
The Department of Indigenous People in the Ministry of Labor,
tasked with investigating cases of discrimination and representing
indigenous rights, counseled indigenous persons on their rights. This
department had a budget of 60,000 quetzales ($7,354) and only four
employees to investigate discrimination claims.
Legally mandated court interpreters for criminal proceedings were
rarely available, placing indigenous persons arrested for crimes at a
disadvantage due to their sometimes limited comprehension of Spanish.
There were 115 judges who spoke Mayan languages among the 536 tribunals
in the country. There were 62 court interpreters, including 45
bilingual Mayan speakers, and the Supreme Court reported that the
judicial system had 758 employees who spoke indigenous languages.
However, in many instances bilingual judicial personnel continued to be
assigned to areas where their second language was not spoken.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Homosexual rights support
groups alleged that members of the police regularly waited outside
clubs and bars frequented by sexual minorities and demanded that
persons engaged in commercial sexual activities provide protection
money. A lack of trust in the judicial system and a fear of further
persecution or social recrimination discouraged victims from filing
complaints. There was general societal discrimination against lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in employment, the
workplace, and housing.
On September 29, a court ordered a stay of proceedings against LGBT
rights defender Jorge Luis Lopez Sologaistoa, executive director of the
NGO Organization to Support an Integrated Sexuality to Confront AIDS,
who was accused of assaulting a sex worker in November 2008.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--The law does not
expressly include HIV/AIDS status among the categories prohibited from
discrimination, and there was societal discrimination against persons
with HIV/AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--While the law provides for freedom of
association and the right to form and join trade unions for all workers
with the exception of security force members, enforcement in practice
remained weak and ineffective. Violence against unionists and worker
activists combined with a lack of adequate enforcement of labor and
employment laws weakened labor unions and restricted this right in
practice. Only 8 percent of the formal-sector workforce was unionized.
The official report reviewing the petition filed in 2008 under the
Central American Free Trade Agreement noted serious problems regarding
labor law enforcement. The government made very limited progress during
the year in addressing specific deficiencies highlighted in the
submission, and systemic enforcement issues remained.
The Ministry of Labor granted legal status to 72 new labor unions,
compared with 53 during 2008. Most of the new unions were small unions
in the provinces, primarily in the agricultural or municipal sector.
Although there were 2,014 legally registered labor unions, 650 appeared
to be active at year's end based on administrative registration
records.
Legal recognition of a new industry-wide union requires that the
membership constitute 50 percent-plus-one majority of the workers in an
industry. The International Labor Organization (ILO) Committee of
Experts (COE) stated in its annual report that the requirement
restricted the free formation of unions.
At year's end an active ``Solidarismo'' (a national solidarity
association movement) claimed to have 91 affiliated associations with
approximately 30,000 members. Another 90 independent, nonaffiliated
associations claimed approximately 50,000 members in addition. Unions
may operate legally in workplaces that have solidarity associations,
and workers have the right to belong to either or both.
Labor leaders reported receiving death threats and being targets of
other acts of intimidation. The Special Prosecutor's Unit for Crimes
against Journalists and Unionists within the Office of the Special
Prosecutor for Human Rights accepted 48 new union-related cases during
the year. The unit achieved 10 convictions for crimes against trade
unionists during the course of the year. The unit's small size (two
full-time prosecutors and six assistant prosecutors) limited its
effectiveness.
UDEFEGUA reported at year's end that 120 trade unionists had been
attacked (a 255 percent increase over UDEFEGUA's 2008 figure for this
category) and five killed by unknown assailants. It was generally
difficult to identify motives for killings, since most were not well
investigated and went unprosecuted. Local unions urged that the
killings of unionists be investigated and called for increased security
for union leaders and members. On October 29, CICIG announced that it
intended to investigate the deaths of 20 union and peasant leaders
killed since 2007.
On April 1, according to AI, unknown men threatened and shot at the
house of Edgar Neftaly Aldana Valencia, secretary general of the
National Health Professionals Union, San Benito branch, which
reportedly has complained of corruption and discrimination at San
Benito Hospital, Peten.
On October 25, according to the International Trade Union
Confederation (ITUC), unknown assailants killed Victor Galvez, a union
leader who had demonstrated in front of the National Electricity
Institute.
Notwithstanding MP investigations in some instances, there were no
known developments in the following cases from 2008:
The killing in March of labor leader Miguel Angel Ramirez Enriquez,
a founder of the Union of Banana Workers of the South.
The April killing of Carlos Enrique Cruz Hernandez, a member of the
Union of Banana Workers of Izabal (SITRABI).
The June killing of Freddy Morales Villagran, a member of the
Consultative Council of the Peten Distributor Employees Union.
The August killing of Edvin Portillo, treasurer of the Pension
Administration Board and member of the port workers union of the
National Santo Tomas Port Company.
On January 10, authorities arrested Wilfredo Waldemar Valiente
Garcia for the 2007 killing of Pedro Zamora, secretary general of the
Dock Workers Union of Puerto Quetzal. A court acquitted Valiente on
November 12, and the MP's Special Unit for Crimes against Trade
Unionists and Journalists reportedly filed an appeal on December 2, but
the appeals court had not made any decision on the matter at year's
end. A second suspect wanted in the case, Dremler Fuentes, remained at
large.
There were no known developments in the following cases from 2007:
the killings of street vendors Walter Anibal Ixcaquic Mendoza and Norma
Sente de Ixcaquic, members of the Sixth Avenue Union of the National
Front of Vendors of Guatemala and the killing of Marco Tulio Ramirez
Portela, a SITRABI leader and brother of the SITRABI secretary general.
Workers have the right to strike but by law must have the support
of 51 percent of a company's workforce. Due to the low level of
unionization and such procedural hurdles, there was only one legal
strike during the year, according to the judicial branch's statistical
department. However, teachers, health-care workers, farm workers, and
other labor groups organized and participated in various protests,
marches, and demonstrations throughout the year.
The law empowers the president and cabinet to suspend any strike
deemed ``gravely prejudicial to the country's essential activities and
public services.'' Workers in such essential services and public
services sectors may address grievances by means of mediation and
arbitration through the Ministry of Labor's General Inspectorate of
Labor and also directly through the labor courts. Employers may suspend
or fire workers for absence without leave if authorities have not
recognized a strike as legal. The law calls for binding arbitration if
no agreement is reached after 30 days of negotiation. The law prohibits
employer retaliation against strikers engaged in legal strikes.
Organized labor protested the use of national-security and
emergency-situation arguments by the government to enjoin what
organized labor considered ``legal'' strikes. It also criticized
arrests, incarcerations, and fines imposed against protesters,
regarding such actions as violations of ILO conventions on the right to
strike. The ITUC annual report noted that ``essential services'' was
more broadly interpreted than the ILO believed warranted, thus denying
the right to strike to a large number of public workers (such as those
working in education; postal services; transport; and energy
production, transport, and distribution).
The annual ITUC report found insufficient labor inspections, a weak
judicial system, and impunity. The survey reported that, according to
workers, the inspectors were more likely to persuade them to renounce
their rights than seek to protect them and often gave employers advance
warning of their visits. The labor courts had a backlog of applications
for the reinstatement of workers, and cases could last more than 10
years. Employers tended to ignore court rulings, and courts did not
take action to ensure that their decisions were respected. The February
ILO technical assistance mission expressed concern regarding the will
to resolve obstacles to freedom of association and noted that issues of
impunity, judicial system effectiveness, and implementation of freedom
of association needed priority attention.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides the right to organize and allows unions to bargain
collectively. The government sought to protect this right in actuality
but had limited means to do so. The law requires that union members
approve a collective bargaining agreement by simple majority; however,
the small number of unionized workers and restrictions on union
formation limited the practice of collective bargaining. In particular,
formation restrictions effectively eliminated the possibility for
workers to exercise their rights to negotiate and engage employers
formally at an industry level.
According to the law, a factory or business owner is not obligated
to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement unless at least 25
percent of the total number of workers in that factory or business are
union members and request negotiations. Most workers, including those
organized in trade unions, did not have collective contracts
documenting their wages and working conditions, nor did they have
individual contracts as required by law. This was largely due to the
combination of employer-supported unions, illegal terminations or
layoffs of union members, refusal to honor court reinstatement orders
or rulings requiring the employer to negotiate with recognized unions,
and threats and manipulations of subcontracted workers (i.e., threats
not to renew a contract or offer permanent employment if the worker
joins a union or refuses to disaffiliate).
Although the law stipulates that trade unions have an exclusive
right to negotiate work conditions on behalf of workers, unions
asserted that management promoted solidarity associations to discourage
the formation of trade unions or to compete with existing labor unions.
The Ministry of Labor reported that there were 36 new collective
bargaining agreements, including agreements reached with teachers and
health-care workers unions, during the year. These agreements were
reached after years of negotiations and after numerous teachers'
demonstrations throughout the country.
The COE referred in its annual report to long-standing problems
related to the failure to comply with orders to reinstate dismissed
trade unionists; the slowness and ineffectiveness of procedures to
impose penalties for breaches of labor legislation; and the need to
promote collective bargaining, especially in export processing zones.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and employer
interference in union activities, but enforcement of these provisions--
in particular, legal prohibitions on retribution for forming unions and
for participating in trade union activities--was weak. Many employers
routinely sought to circumvent legal provisions for union organizing by
resisting union formation attempts or by ignoring judicial orders to
enforce them. Inadequate penalties for violations and an ineffective
legal system to enforce sanctions continued to undermine the right to
bargain collectively and participate in trade union activities. An
additional factor was the 2004 Constitutional Court ruling that the
Ministry of Labor does not have the authority to impose sanctions for
labor law violations.
Local unions reported increased incidences of fraudulent
bankruptcies, ownership substitution, and reregistration of companies
by employers seeking to circumvent legal obligations to recognize newly
formed or established unions. Government institutions continued to
tolerate these practices. The delay in processing legal complaints,
from submission to final resolution, resulted in immunity for
employers.
There were credible reports of retaliation by employers against
workers who tried to exercise their labor rights. Common practices
included termination and harassment of workers who attempted to form
workplace unions, creation of illegal company-supported unions to
counter legally established unions, blacklisting of union organizers,
threats of factory closures, refusal to permit labor inspectors to
enter facilities to investigate worker complaints, and refusal to honor
labor tribunal decisions in favor of workers, including reinstatement
of wrongfully dismissed union organizers.
According to the ITUC, since January, 60 members of the Zaragoza
municipal workers' union were dismissed for ``forming a trade union
organization.'' Their dismissal coincided with the appointment of new
members of the municipal council.
The law requires employers to reinstate workers dismissed illegally
for union-organizing activities. In practice employers often failed to
comply with reinstatement orders. During the year workers who suffered
illegal dismissal won 284 court injunctions ordering reinstatement.
Appeals by employers, along with legal recourse such as reincorporation
as a different entity, often prolonged reinstatement proceedings. The
labor courts rarely dismissed frivolous cases or appeals, did not
operate in a timely manner, and did not ensure enforcement of their
decisions. According to Labor Ministry officials, authorities rarely
sanctioned employers for ignoring legally binding court orders.
Employers often failed to pay the full amount of legally required
severances to workers.
Labor courts, not labor inspectors, have responsibility for
sanctioning employers found violating labor laws. The labor courts
received 8,606 cases from the Labor Inspectorate during the year. Court
decisions favorable to workers, however, were rarely enforced due to
frequent refusals by employers to honor the decisions. Management or
persons hired by management reportedly continued to harass and make
death threats against workers who did not accept employer dismissals or
refused to forfeit their right to reinstatement.
There were no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the 16 active export processing zones (EPZ) and within the garment
factories that operated under an EPZ-like regime. Due to inadequate
enforcement of labor laws and illegal measures often taken by employers
to prevent new-union formation or undermine existing unions, there were
few successes in organizing workers in EPZs and in the garment sector.
Some factories closed and then reopened with a new name and new tax
exemption status. Of the 216 companies operating in the EPZs, only two
had recognized trade unions and none had collective bargaining
agreements. The government did not regularly conduct labor inspections
in the EPZs, and there were systemic violations of wage and hour laws,
mandatory overtime at nonpremium pay, terminations of workers who tried
to form unions, withholding of social security payments, and illegal
pregnancy testing. The COE observations in 2008 identified as a problem
the requirement of pregnancy tests in some workplaces as a condition to
obtain and retain employment.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--While the
constitution and the law prohibit forced or compulsory labor, men,
women, and children were trafficked within the country, for forced
labor, particularly in agriculture. In the Mexican border area,
children were exploited for forced begging on streets and labor on
coffee plantations and in municipal dumps. Organized labor equated
mandatory overtime practices, which were commonplace in the private
sector, particularly in the export sectors, to forced or compulsory
labor.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although the law bars employment of minors under the age of 14 without
written permission from parents or the Ministry of Labor, child labor
was a widespread problem. The law prohibits persons under the age of 18
from work where alcoholic beverages are served, in unhealthy or
dangerous conditions, and at night or overtime. The legal workday for
persons younger than 14 is six hours and, for persons 14 to 17 years of
age, seven hours. Despite these protections, child laborers worked on
average in excess of 45 hours per week.
The majority of child labor occurred in rural indigenous areas
where economic necessity forced children to supplement family income.
The informal and agricultural sectors regularly employed children below
14 years of age, usually in small family enterprises, and there were
reports during the year that child labor existed in the production of
broccoli, coffee, corn, fireworks, gravel, and sugar.
Children, primarily indigenous girls, worked as domestic servants
vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse. Indigenous children also
worked frequently in street sales, rubber and timber production, and as
shoe shiners and bricklayer assistants. There were reports of forced
child labor in municipal dumps and in street begging.
The Ministry of Labor's Child Worker Protection Unit is charged
with enforcing restrictions on child labor and educating minors, their
parents, and employers on the rights of minors in the labor market. The
government did not effectively enforce laws governing the employment of
minors, a situation exacerbated by the weakness of the labor-inspection
and labor-court systems. While in exceptional cases the Labor
Inspectorate may authorize children under the age of 14 to work, the
Ministry of Labor has committed, in accordance with the applicable ILO
convention, not to provide such authorizations. In keeping with this
commitment, the Labor Inspectorate reported that it had not made such
authorizations during the year.
The COE observations in March expressed deep concern about the
situation of children under 14 years compelled to work in the country,
noted that it appeared very difficult to apply in practice the national
child labor legislation, and encouraged the government to step up
efforts to improve the situation of child laborers under age 14.
The government devoted insufficient resources to prevention
programs, but Guatemala City's municipal administration managed several
small programs that offered scholarships and free meals to encourage
families to send to school children who had formerly worked in the
broccoli, coffee, gravel, and fireworks industries.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law sets national minimum
wages for agricultural and nonagricultural work and work in garment
factories. On December 29, President Colom raised the daily minimum
wage to 56 quetzales ($6.86) per day for agricultural and
nonagricultural work and 51.75 quetzales ($6.34) per day for work in
garment factories. The president raised the minimum wage through an
executive order after a tripartite committee consisting of
representatives from the government, unions, and the private sector
failed to reach agreement on the annual increase, which has to be set
by year's end.
The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. The National Statistics Institute estimated that the
minimum food budget for a family of five was 1,897.32 quetzales
($232.54) per month, nearly 4 percent lower than in 2008. Labor
representatives noted that even where both parents worked, the minimum
wage did not allow a family to meet basic needs.
The Ministry of Labor conducted inspections to monitor compliance
with minimum-wage law provisions, but the government allocated
inadequate resources to enable inspectors to enforce the law
adequately, especially in the very large informal sector. Noncompliance
with minimum wage provisions in the informal sector was widespread.
Advocacy groups focused on rural-sector matters estimated that more
than half of the workers in rural areas who engaged in day-long
employment did not receive the wages, benefits, and social security
allocations required by law. According to credible estimates, between
65 and 75 percent of the workforce continued to work within the
informal sector and outside the basic protections afforded by law.
The legal workweek is 48 hours with at least one paid 24-hour rest
period, although in certain economic sectors workers continued to
operate under a tradition of longer work hours. Daily and weekly
maximum hour limits do not apply to domestic workers. Time-and-a-half
pay is required for overtime work. Although the law prohibits excessive
compulsory overtime, trade union leaders and human rights groups
charged that employers forced workers to work overtime without legally
mandated premium pay. Management often manipulated employer-provided
transportation to force employees to work overtime, especially in EPZs
located in isolated areas with limited transportation alternatives.
Labor inspectors reported uncovering numerous instances of overtime
abuses, but effective enforcement was undermined due to inadequate
fines, labor-court inefficiencies, and employer refusals to permit
labor inspectors into facilities or provide access to payroll records
and other documentation. Moreover, labor inspectors were not empowered
to adopt administrative measures or to impose fines, but had to send
alleged violations to the labor courts, where decisions favorable to
workers were rarely enforced.
The Ministry of Labor operated a call center that received 44,767
labor complaints or requests for information and advice during the
year. Local unions continued to highlight and protest violations by
employers who failed to pay employer and employee contributions to the
national social security system despite employee contribution
deductions from workers' paychecks. These violations, particularly
common in the private sector and export industries, resulted in
limiting or denying employees access to the public health-care system
and reducing or underpaying workers' pension benefits during their
retirement years.
The government sets occupational health and safety standards, which
were inadequate and poorly enforced. When serious or fatal industrial
accidents occurred, the authorities often failed to investigate fully
or assign responsibility for negligence. Employers rarely were
sanctioned for failing to provide a safe workplace. Legislation
requiring companies with more than 50 employees to provide onsite
medical facilities for their workers was not enforced. Workers have the
legal right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without
reprisal. Few workers, however, were willing to jeopardize their jobs
by complaining about unsafe working conditions.
__________
GUYANA
The Co-operative Republic of Guyana is a multiparty democracy with
a population of approximately 760,000. President Bharrat Jagdeo was
reelected to a second full term in 2006 elections considered generally
free and fair by international observers. President Jagdeo's People's
Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) has been the majority party in
Parliament since 1992. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
While the government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were problems in some areas. The most significant
reported abuses included killings by police, torture and mistreatment
of suspects and detainees by security forces, poor prison and jail
conditions, and lengthy pretrial detention. Other problems included
government corruption and sexual and domestic violence against women
and abuse of minors.
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 killings;
however, security forces committed unlawful killings. The Police
Complaints Authority (PCA) received four complaints of unlawful
killings compared with eight the previous year. In most cases the
police reportedly shot the victims while attempting to make an arrest
or while a crime was being committed.
On April 12, a 19-year-old man died at the Georgetown Public
Hospital Corporation after being shot in the head by an off-duty member
of the Presidential Guard following what police said was a robbery. The
file went to the PCA in December, but no evidence was brought forward
to contradict the police account of the circumstances. At year's end
authorities had filed the case with the Office of the Director of
Public Prosecutions (DPP).
On August 24, three on-duty members of the Coast Guard, Sherwyn
Harte, Delon Gordon, and Deon Greenidge, were charged with murder in
the August 20 strangling of businessman Dweive Kant Ramdass; three of
their relatives were charged for being accessories in the crime, which
took place in the course of a robbery. On September 17, an army board
of inquiry found that the coast guardsmen confessed that they were
responsible for the abduction and robbery.
Concerning the July 2008 manslaughter case against prison officials
Kurt Corbin and Gladwin Samuels, the Magistrate's Court began the
Preliminary Inquiry (PI), which was scheduled for a ruling in January
2010.
The police investigation into the July 2008 death of prison inmate
Nolan Noble from blunt-force trauma to the head, and the October 2008
Brickdam Police Station death from multiple injuries of James Nelson,
did not result in the filing of any charges nor any request to commence
an inquest.
In the January 2008 case of extreme violence in Lusignan,
authorities in September 2008 charged Mark Williams, Dwane Williams,
and James Hiles, and at year's ending the case remained pending.
In the February 2008 case of extreme violence in Bartica,
authorities on May 13 charged five persons: Mark Williams, Dennis
Williams, Clebert Reece, Michael Caesar, and Roger Simon. The
preliminary investigation has been heard, and at year's end the case
remained pending at the Bartica Magistrate's Court.
A coroner's inquest into the 2007 killing of Donna Herod completed
on August 4 found insufficient evidence to determine responsibility for
the death.
On April 16, a court sentenced police officer Clement Bailey to
four years' imprisonment for the 2007 killing of Clifton Garraway.
Bailey pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
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 however there were numerous
allegations that prison officers tortured inmates. There were also
allegations of police abuse of suspects and detainees.
During the year the PCA received 78 complaints of unlawful arrest
and 46 complaints of unnecessary use of violence.
During a cocaine raid on March 3 in Wakenaam, police allegedly
abused two individuals. Mitchell Thomas, a farm hand, was placed in a
huge ants' nest by members of the Joint Services and left there for
several minutes while the insects bit him. Ryan Gordon, 17, was beaten
by the same persons and later gave a detailed testimony to the police
to facilitate a full-scale investigation; however, there was no known
information regarding an investigation.
On March 15, police shot 19-year-old Ryan Hescott, wounding him in
the right arm during a raid. The police claimed that Hescott fired at
them.
Following a July 17 arson attack on the Ministry of Health, police
arrested and allegedly beat a number of suspects before determining
whether the individuals committed a crime. Local media reported several
cases of random police brutality, arrest, and interrogation prior to
investigation.
On October 27, authorities charged three police officers involved
in abusing three individuals in related cases.
Two police officers tortured a 14-year-old murder suspect, Twyon
Thomas, dousing him with alcohol and setting his genitals on fire
during an investigation of the killing of a former government official.
Thomas was also struck on the ears and head with a piece of wood and
beaten with a baton. On November 30, Sergeant Narine Lall and Constable
Mohanram Dolai were charged for unlawfully and maliciously wounding
Thomas with intent to maim, disfigure, or cause grievous bodily harm.
Both individuals were granted bail, and the case continued at year's
end. On December 8, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) released a
police report that confirmed the allegations of torture associated with
this case.
The two officers were also charged on November 4 with abusing two
other suspects in the same case, Mohanram Dolai and Nouravie Wilfred. A
third officer, Corporal Oswald Foo, was also charged in the Rafick
case. They reportedly used a piece of wood to strike a suspect on the
back and legs. One suspect was forced to sign a confession and was held
in prison from October 26 until December 2, two weeks after the DPP had
ordered his release. The other suspect was released without any charges
being filed.
On November 2, a policeman allegedly sexually harassed and
attempted to rape a Brazilian woman who reported a stolen passport. Her
husband reported the matter to the police, and the officer was in
custody at year's end.
On December 2, authorities remanded police constable Gavin Holder
to prison for allegedly indecently assaulting over a six-day period a
15-year-old girl who was in police custody. On December 1, authorities
also charged police constable Gary Verwayne for the same offense.
Hearings in both cases were scheduled for the Springland Magistrate's
Court in January 2010.On December 23, authorities arrested police
constable Colin Jonas and an accomplice for robbing a businessman of
cash and jewelry worth GYD 500,000 ($2,500) at his shop in Crabwood
Creek. The suspects were granted GYD 300,000 ($1,500) bail on December
29 pending a court hearing in early 2010.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and jail conditions
were poor and deteriorating, particularly in police holding cells.
Capacity and resource constraints were a problem. The Prison Authority
reported that at the end of September there were 1,989 prisoners in
five facilities, which had a design capacity of 1,580. More than half
of the prisoners were in Georgetown's Camp Street Prison, which was
designed to hold 600 inmates but held 1,053. Overcrowding was in large
part due to backlogs of pretrial detainees, which constituted
approximately 43 percent of the total prison population. Unlike in
preceding years, each prison had an assigned medic, and doctors visited
on assigned hours.
There were three reported cases of death in prisons due to neglect
or prison official abuse.
All newly hired prison guards received limited human rights
training from the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), but the
government made no provision for reinforcement training beyond this
initial stage.
Although funding and plans were approved for rehabilitation of the
Brickdam facility lock-ups, overall these conditions remained worse
than those in the prisons. Visitors described the facility as dark,
malodorous, unhygienic, and crowded, and it had no medical attention
available to detainees. Meals normally were inadequate; friends and
relatives routinely had to bring detainees food and water. Although
precinct jails were intended to serve only as pretrial holding areas,
some suspects were detained there as long as two years, awaiting
judicial action on their cases.
Juvenile offenders 16 years of age and older were held with the
adult prison population. Juvenile offenders ages 15 and younger were
held in the New Opportunity Corp (NOC), a juvenile correctional center
that offered primary education, vocational training, and basic medical
care. Problems at the NOC included lax security and understaffing.
There were complaints that juvenile runaways, or those out of their
guardians' care, were placed with juveniles who had committed crimes,
with the result that some petty offenders became involved in more
serious criminal activity.
Unlike in preceding years, no women were held in the same
facilities as men. The Prison Authority reported that there were 88
female inmates in the women's prison located in New Amsterdam. Due to
inadequate facilities, juvenile female pretrial detainees were
sometimes held with adult female pretrial detainees.
The Prison Authority offered rehabilitation programs focused on
vocational training and education; however, such programs did not
adequately address the needs of prisoners with substance abuse
problems.
On March 13, prison officers allegedly beat and fractured the left
foot of Camp Street Prison inmate Roscio Mercurius, after he was caught
in a drug-smuggling operation in which a prison official was arrested
for smuggling marijuana into the facility.
On March 24, prison officers allegedly beat Camp Street Prison
inmate Suruj Narine Singh severely. There were other unconfirmed
allegations of officers beating prisoners and then refusing to take
them to Georgetown Hospital for medical attention, for fear that their
actions would be exposed.
On August 3, a court found a Guyana Police Force (GPF) officer
guilty of failing to follow procedures in the case of inmate Ramesh
Sawh's suicide in January 2008. However, in November the director of
public prosecutions concluded that there was no evidence to charge the
police officer in the death.
Unlike in the preceding year, there was no indication that the
government declined to permit independent monitoring of prison
conditions, but there were no known monitoring visits during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The GPF, which is
headed by the commissioner of police and overseen by the MoHA, employed
2,884 officers and is responsible for maintaining internal security.
The GDF's duties include: defending the country's territorial
integrity, assisting civil authorities to maintain law and order, and
contributing to economic development. The GDF, headed by the Chief of
Staff, consisted of approximately 3,000 troops; it falls under the
purview of the Defense Board, which the president chairs.
Poor training, poor equipment, and acute budgetary constraints
severely limited the effectiveness of the GPF. Public confidence in and
cooperation with the police remained low. There were reports of
corruption in the force. Most cases involving charges against police
officers were heard by lower magistrates' courts, where specially
trained police officers served as the prosecutors. On August 31, three
policemen were charged with larceny by public officers on charges of
stealing money retrieved from suspects held for robbery and murder of
Dweive Kant Ramdass.
Following public outcry over police brutality in an October 31 case
in which two police officers tortured a 14-year-old boy (see section
1.c.), several staff changes occurred within police ranks. Assistant
Police Commissioner Paulette Morrison, who commanded the police
Division on the West Coast Demerara where the officers in question
engaged in torture, was transferred to another division resulting in
changes among other police divisional heads. In the reshuffle,
Assistant Police Commissioner Steve Merai, who once headed the ``Black
Clothes'' police squad responsible for several extrajudicial killings,
became commander of Division B.
Shifting local police staff from one division to another without
prosecuting perpetrators of abuse heightened public anger over police
brutality and impunity. Although Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee
acknowledged that the fault rested with the members of the GPF, neither
the two police detectives charged with torture nor their supervisors
were obliged to resign. They were, however, suspended from duty pending
the outcome of the criminal charges. Members of the opposition party
and local media called for the removal of Police Commissioner Henry
Green and for the government to investigate and prosecute individuals
connected to cases of police brutality.
The PCA's efforts to conduct impartial and transparent assessment
of the accusations it received were obstructed by staff shortages (five
of eight full-time positions were filled), as well as the lack of an
investigative unit. By law the police commissioner must comply with the
PCA's recommendations on complaints, but the PCA relied on the GPF to
conduct investigations into complaints against its own officers. Long
delays in receiving reports from the commissioner also thwarted the
complaints process.
The PCA received 364 written and oral complaints, 42 of which were
sent from the Commissioner of Police. Four of the complaints involved
police killings, while the others were mostly for police neglect of
duties or misconduct in public places, unlawful arrest, illegal search,
corrupt transactions, and unnecessary use of force. At year's end an
investigation had been concluded in 264 of the complaints by the GPF
Office of Professional Reponsiblity, while 100 awaited final
determination.
The GDF provided human rights training for 239 officers during the
year.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--An arrest
requires a warrant issued by a court official, unless an officer who
witnesses a crime believes there is good cause to suspect that a crime
or a breach of the peace has been or will be committed. The law
requires that a person arrested and held for more than 72 hours be
brought before a court to be charged; authorities generally observed
this requirement in practice. However, in October during a notorious
investigation of a killing, authorities held a 20-year-old suspect
seven days without permitting him to see family or legal
representatives or to receive medical attention.
Bail was generally available except in cases of capital offense and
narcotics trafficking.
Although the law provides criminal detainees prompt access to a
lawyer of their choice and to family members, in practice these rights
were not fully respected. The state provides legal counsel for indigent
persons only when such persons are charged with a capital offense.
However, the Legal Aid Clinic provides legal counsel at a reduced fee
in certain circumstances, as determined by the Clinic. Police routinely
required permission from the senior investigating officer, who was
seldom on the premises, before permitting counsel access to a client.
Lengthy pretrial detention, due primarily to judicial inefficiency,
staff shortages, and cumbersome legal procedures, remained a problem.
The average length of pretrial detention four months to three years for
those awaiting trial at a magistrate's court and two years for those
awaiting trial in the High Court.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected this
provision in practice.
Delays and inefficiencies undermined judicial due process. Delays
in judicial proceedings were caused by shortages of trained court
personnel and magistrates, inadequate resources, postponements at the
request of the defense or prosecution, occasional allegations of
bribery, poor tracking of cases, and the slowness of police in
preparing cases for trial.
The court system is composed of several magistrates' courts, the
High Court, and the Court of Appeal. There is also the right of final
appeal to the Caribbean Court of Justice. The magistrates' courts
handle both criminal and civil matters. Specially trained police
officers serve as prosecutors in lower magistrates' courts. The DPP is
statutorily independent, may file legal charges against offenders, and
handles all criminal cases.
The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) has the authority to appoint
judges, determine tenure, and appoint the DPP director and deputy
director. The president, on the advice of the JSC, may temporarily
appoint judges to sit on magistrates' courts and on the High Court.
There were ten sitting High Court justices, including the Chief
Justice; 20 magistrates; and three judges on the Court of Appeal. The
chief justice and the chancellor of the judiciary were serving in
acting capacities.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public, and defendants enjoy a
presumption of innocence. Cases in magistrates' courts are tried
without jury; more serious cases are tried by jury in the High Court.
Defendants can confront witnesses against them and have access to
relevant government-held evidence. Defendants have the right to appeal.
Trial postponements were granted routinely to both the defense and the
prosecution. The law extends these rights to all citizens.
The law recognizes the right to legal counsel; however, except in
cases involving capital crimes, it was limited to those who could
afford to pay. Although there is no public defender system, a defendant
in a murder case that reaches the High Court receives a court-appointed
attorney. The Georgetown Legal Aid Clinic, with government and private
support, provided advice to persons who could not afford a lawyer,
particularly victims of domestic violence and violence against women.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
The case of former GDF officer Oliver Hinckson, whose indictment in
2008 for sedition some observers claimed was politically motivated, was
scheduled for court hearing at the Georgetown magistrate's court in
February 2010.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides for an
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters, and the
government generally respected this provision in practice. The
magistrates' courts deal with both criminal and civil matters. Delays,
inefficiencies, and corruption in the magistrate court system affected
the ability of citizens to seek timely remedy in civil matters, and
there was a large backlog of civil cases.
On, March 8, the Executive Committee of the GHRA reported that
figures released earlier in the year indicated ``an average of 1,000
new cases per month being introduced to the court system, all of which
are handled by nine permanent, four contracted, and four temporary
magistrates, along with the backlog of cases accumulated over years.''
On March 23, the National Assembly passed a judicial decisions bill
that specifies time limits for a judge to issue a decision after
evidence is given in civil proceedings. The president assented on
August 14, effectively making this bill a law.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits searches without warrants, and the
government generally respected this, but there was one report of police
officers searching a home without a warrant. On May 22, two men said
that they were badly beaten by joint services members at their home in
Linden, arrested, and then released. A police press release stated that
the men were in custody, assisting with investigations into the
discovery of an unlicensed 12-gauge shotgun and marijuana at a house in
the area, but the men said that the police knocked down their door and
beat them before identifying themselves.
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, the government demonstrated diminishing
tolerance for publicly expressed views or opinions different from its
own.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. International media operated freely. The
partially government-owned daily newspaper, the Guyana Chronicle, which
typically displayed a progovernment slant, covered a broad spectrum of
political and nongovernmental groups. The independent daily newspapers,
Stabroek News and Kaieteur News, freely reported and editorialized on
the government's policies and actions.
On March 2, CNS TV 6 dropped a minority political party's TV
program, AFC on the Move, from its scheduled programming in the
interest of not causing public unrest. According to the party chairman,
a government official called CNS 6 and threatened the owner of the
station, stating that if the program were broadcast, the owner would be
charged with libel.
On October 14, in a case filed by a local television operator, the
Court of Appeal ruled that the government had an unlawful monopoly on
the airwaves and that the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU) was
not adequately considering radio license applications. All radio
stations that operate on the electromagnetic spectrum are government-
controlled.
On October 29, authorities arrested anti-PPP/C activist Mark
Benschop for interfering with a search of his residence by police and
officials from the NFMU. During the incident, NFMU officials seized FM
radio broadcast equipment from Benschop's residence, alleging that
Benschop had begun transmitting illegally. Government intimations that
Beschop was linked to the July 17 Ministry of Health fire and other
alleged ``terrorist'' acts were not substantiated, and Benschop was
released from jail on November 2. The government's monopoly on radio
broadcasting, although ruled illegal by the Court of Appeal, continued,
limiting the expression of opposition views.
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. The
International Telecommunication Union reported that there were an
estimated 27 Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
On September 2, MoHA officials briefly detained approximately 40
foreign missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
(Mormons). Prior to their detention, the missionaries received an
official notice requiring them to appear before a court of law for a
hearing on their immigration status. Before this hearing could take
place, however, they were detained and ordered to depart. After
President Jagdeo was informed of the situation via diplomatic channels,
he instructed the Mormons to depart the country within one month, which
they did. The news media reported that the government was wary of the
church's independent charity work in the interior and of the
missionaries' alleged close relationship with opposition figures.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. The
Jewish community was very small, perhaps fewer than 10 members.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice.
The Amerindian Act requires that the local village council grant
permission for travel to Amerindian areas. In practice most persons
traveled throughout these areas without a permit.
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 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 the
expulsion or return of refugees to a country where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion. The government did not receive any petitions to grant refugee
status or asylum.
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 national elections based on universal
suffrage. However, local government elections, which the law provides
should be held every three years, have not been carried out since 1994.
On December 10, the Local Authorities (Elections) Amendment Bill was
passed in the National Assembly, which extended to December 1, 2010,
the date by which elections can be held. Political parties operated
without restrictions or outside interference.
Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent elections
took place in 2006, when citizens voted in a generally free election to
keep the PPP/C government in office. Incumbent President Bharrat Jagdeo
was reelected to a five-year term. International observers, including
teams from the Organization of American States, the Caribbean
Community, the Carter Center, and the Commonwealth, noted isolated
irregularities not sufficient to change the outcome, declared the
election to be substantially free and fair, but noted that ruling party
use of government resources during the campaign disadvantaged
opposition parties.
On September 2, a new hearing in the High Court began as the
Elections Commission and the ruling PPP/C party continued to challenge
the minority Alliance for Change (AFC) party's 2006 claim that
incorrect vote counting in Region 10 in the national elections had
wrongly awarded a seat to the PPP/C that should have gone to the AFC.
As of December 31, the matter has been heard by the Chief Justice and
reserved for decision.
The constitution requires that one-third of each party list of
candidates be female but does not require the parties to select women
for seats. There were 20 women in the 65-seat National Assembly; five
of 21 cabinet ministers were women.
While supporters of the two major parties (the PPP/C and the
People's National Congress/Reform) were drawn largely from the Indo-
Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese communities, respectively, political party
leadership was more diverse. The ethnically diverse National Assembly
included three indigenous members. The cabinet was also ethnically
diverse, mirroring the ethnic makeup of the general population. More
than 20 percent of the 21 cabinet ministers were Afro-Guyanese,
including the prime minister and the head of the presidential
secretariat; there were also two Amerindian cabinet ministers.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides for criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively. The
World Bank's worldwide governance indicators reflected that government
corruption was a serious problem. There was a widespread public
perception of serious corruption in the government, including law
enforcement and the judicial system. Low-wage public servants were easy
targets for bribery.
Public officials are subject to financial disclosure laws and are
required to submit information about personal assets to the Integrity
Commission, but compliance was uneven and the commission had no
resources for enforcement or investigations.
The law does not provide for public access to government
information. Government officials were generally reluctant to provide
public information without approval from senior administration
officials.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The UN Human Rights Council's independent expert on minority issues
visited the country from July 28 to August 1, 2008. The government
stated that the expert failed to incorporate its views adequately into
her report and that she mislead officials about the nature of her
mission. The government submitted an official response to the Human
Rights Council, registering its profound concern about the report and
the independent expert's conclusions. The government also questioned
the independent expert's focus on the Afro-Guyanese community and the
exclusion of other minorities in her report.
A few domestic human rights groups generally operated without
government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on
human rights cases. Government officials were often uncooperative and
unresponsive to their views; when they did respond, it was generally to
criticize.
The constitution allows for a governmental human rights commission,
but it has yet to be established.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
While the constitution provides fundamental rights for all persons
regardless of race, gender, religion, or national origin, the
government did not always enforce these provisions.
Women.--Rape and incest are illegal but were neither frequently
reported nor prosecuted; spousal rape is not illegal, which contributed
to an atmosphere where victims were often reluctant to report
incidents. A person who commits spousal rape may instead be charged
with causing grievous bodily harm or aiding and abetting.
If a case does come to trial, a judge has discretion to issue a
sentence of any length in a rape conviction, depending upon the
circumstances and severity of the act committed. The apparent norm
appeared to be a sentence of five to 10 years' imprisonment. Sixty
persons were charged with rape during the year, and 15 persons were
convicted of rape (a figure that includes persons charged in preceding
years). Additionally, 254 persons were charged with statutory rape
during the year, and 22 persons were convicted of statutory rape
(including persons charged in preceding years).
Violence against women, including domestic violence, was widespread
and crossed racial and socioeconomic lines. The law prohibits domestic
violence, gives women the right to seek prompt protection, and allows
victims to seek protection, occupation, or tenancy orders from a
magistrate. Penalties for violation of protection orders include fines
up to GYD $10,000 ($50) and 12 months' imprisonment; however, this
legislation frequently was not enforced.
According to the NGO Help and Shelter, the GPF received Inter-
American Development Bank funds to refurbish all police units, which
are required to include domestic violence units where victims can be
counseled in private. The group noted discrepancies in police training
for domestic violence, with some divisions actively involved in
training, while others remained unfamiliar with the basic violence
protection order.
Help and Shelter handled 471 cases of abuse and violence, including
child, spousal, nonspousal, and other domestic abuse; 254 of the cases
involved spousal abuse directed against women. Help and Shelter ran a
free shelter for victims of domestic violence and operated a hotline to
counsel victims with the funds it received from both private donors and
the government. During the year Help and Shelter conducted 20 workshops
and 321 awareness sessions in sensitizing individuals about domestic
violence, and 1,049 persons were counseled for domestic abuse or
violence.
Prostitution is illegal but present. It continued to receive
greater public attention due to the high incidence of HIV/AIDS among
prostitutes.
Sexual harassment is prohibited under the Prevention of
Discrimination Act, which provides for monetary penalties and award of
damages to victims, but its application is confined to the workplace.
Harassment in schools, for instance, is not covered under the law. Any
act of sexual harassment involving physical assault can also be
prosecuted under relevant criminal statutes. Although reports of sexual
harassment were common, there were no prosecutions for sexual
harassment under the Prevention of Discrimination Act, and charges of
sexual harassment were often settled out of court.
The Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA) was
established in 1973. It collaborates closely with the Ministry of
Health's Maternal and Child Health Department to lecture on safe
parenthood. GRPA has offered contraceptive services at its headquarters
and government clinics since the early 1980s.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children and had the information and means to do
so free from discrimination. Access to contraception, and skilled
attendance at delivery and in postpartum care were widely available.
The UN Children's Fund reported that 83 percent of births had a skilled
attendant. Women and men had equal access to diagnostic services and
treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.
The law prohibits discrimination based on gender, but there was no
legal protection against such discrimination in the workplace. Although
women constituted a significant proportion of the workforce, there were
credible reports that they were not equally treated and faced
disadvantages in promotion. Job vacancy notices routinely specified
that the employer sought only male or only female applicants. The
Women's Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Labor monitored the legal
rights of women, but its role was limited to employment-related
services. The bureau also held seminars on leadership and gender equity
issues for women throughout the country. The constitution provides for
a Women and Gender Equality Commission, but implementing legislation
has not been passed.
The law protects women's property rights in common-law marriages.
It entitles a woman who separates or divorces to one-half of the
couple's property if she had regular employment during the marriage and
one-third of the property if she had not been employed.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory or by birth to a Guyanese citizen abroad.
Reports of physical and sexual abuse of children were common.
During the year Help and Shelter handled 66 cases of child abuse, and
76 child abuse cases were filed with the courts.
Law enforcement officials and NGOs believed that the vast majority
of child rape and criminal child abuse cases were not reported. As with
cases of domestic abuse, NGOs noted reports that some police officers
and magistrates could be bribed to make cases of child abuse ``go
away.''
On July 29, the government established the Child Care and
Protection Agency. Legislation states that the agency has the power to
implement policies and decisions in relation to the laws governing
children, to monitor childcare facilities, to intervene in cases of
child abuse or neglect, and to protect vulnerable children. The agency
launched a hotline in November to which anyone who suspects someone of
abusing or harming a child may place a call.
The age of sexual consent is 16. Under the law anyone who has
sexual relations with a girl under 16 can be found guilty of a felony
and imprisoned for life. There were unconfirmed reports of child
prostitution, although there were no indications that the country is a
destination for child sex tourism.
There is no legal prohibition of child pornography. However,
Section 350 of the Criminal Law Offences Act regulates selling,
publishing, or exhibiting obscene material, defined as anything that
could deprive or corrupt those open to immoral influences.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits all forms of trafficking
in persons, and five such cases were filed with the courts during the
year.
The Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons reported that
there were two reports of persons presumed to be trafficked in 2008,
and two persons were charged early in January for human trafficking.
The preliminary inquiry has begun and was set for continuation in
February 2010 at the Albion Magistrate's Court.
Penalties for trafficking include three years' to life
imprisonment, forfeiture of property, and full restitution to the
victims. There were no convictions under the Trafficking in Persons Act
during the year. Prosecution of human traffickers was more difficult in
the interior, where infrequent court sessions delayed prosecution of
cases. There is a National Plan of Action to combat human trafficking
as well as a National Task Force for Combating Trafficking in Persons,
which meets to address anti-trafficking issues and consists of multiple
government agencies. The MoHA chaired the task force and monitored
enforcement.
There was no evidence that government officials or institutions
participated in or condoned human trafficking.
There were no reports of societal discrimination against
trafficking victims. The government also worked closely with, and
provided some financial support for, the NGOs Help and Shelter and Red
Thread, although neither reported any trafficking victims during the
year.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution mandates the state to
``take legislative and other measures designed to protect disadvantaged
persons and persons with disabilities''; however, there is no law
allowing such persons to contest discriminatory acts. There is also no
law mandating provision of access for persons with disabilities, and
the lack of appropriate infrastructure to provide access to both public
and private facilities makes it difficult for persons with disabilities
to be employed outside their homes. The National Commission on
Disabilities, comprising 15 cabinet-appointed members, is charged with
advising the government and acting as a coordinating body on issues
affecting persons with disabilities. The Open Door Center offered
assistance and training to persons with disabilities throughout the
year.
Indigenous People.--According to the 2002 census, the indigenous
population constituted 9 percent of the population. There were nine
tribal groups, and 90 percent of indigenous communities were located in
the remote interior. Their standard of living was lower than that of
most citizens, and they had limited ability to participate in decisions
affecting their lands, cultures, traditions, and allocation of natural
resources. Indigenous communities had limited access to education and
health care. All indigenous communities had primary schools, and there
were 10 secondary schools in remote regions. The secondary schools had
dormitories that housed approximately 1,400 students at government
expense. Government programs trained health workers, who staffed
rudimentary health facilities in most communities.
By law persons wishing to enter indigenous lands must obtain prior
permission from the local village council, but most visitors traveled
in these areas without a permit. Rules enacted by the village council
require approval from the minister of Amerindian affairs before
entering into force.
Since passage of the Amerindian Act of 2006, the government has
increased the number of communal land titles for Indigenous communities
from 74 to 96, more than doubling the area from 6.5 percent of the
national territory to 14 percent. A total of 134 communities now have
collective land titles, and approximately five communities remained
without collective land rights.
To earn cash, some villages contracted with loggers, sawmillers,
and miners to exploit timber and other natural resources on their land.
These generally were unequal exchanges benefitting the contractors more
than the communities.
Some indigenous groups and others perceived President Jagdeo's Low
Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) as another government ``land grab.''
The Jagdeo administration conducted consultations with several
indigenous communities on the LCDS, but many objective observers
described the sessions as one-way presentations by government
officials. The LCDS stated that indigenous communities with legal title
to their lands may opt in.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Sodomy is punishable with a
maximum sentence of life in prison. There are no laws concerning
female-to-female sex. On September 18, Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy
publicly called for a Caribbean-wide discussion on the laws, stating
that ``many homosexuals suffer because of the stigma and discrimination
attached'' to their sexual orientation.
Between February 6 and 10, police arrested at least eight
transgendered persons, detaining them without reading them their
rights, informing them of their charges, or allowing them to contact a
lawyer. The acting chief magistrate ordered each of the men to pay a
court fine of GYD $7,500 ($37) and told them they were ``confused''
about their sexuality and gender, stating ``It's a curse on the
family.'' There was no official response to the comments.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--Violence and
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS were not widely reported.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides for the
right of association and specifically enumerates workers' rights to
form or belong to trade unions, and workers exercised this right in
practice. The constitution bars GPF members from unionizing or
associating with any established union. According to a Bank of Guyana
report, in 2007 approximately 20 percent of the work force was
unionized.
The law provides workers with the right to strike, and workers
exercised this right in practice. Strikes may be declared illegal if
the union leadership did not approve them or if they did not meet the
requirements specified in collective bargaining agreements. Public
employees providing essential services may strike if they provide the
proper notice to the Ministry of Labor and leave a skeleton staff in
place, but they are required to engage in compulsory arbitration to
bring an end to a strike. The law defines and places limits on the
retaliatory actions employers may take against strikers. The law does
not define or limit retaliation against strikers, which is an issue
settled between strikers and employers by the terms of resumption after
a strike.
On December 2, following a two-week strike, the predominantly
Russian-owned Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. sent a letter to
derecognize the union to the president of the Guyana Bauxite and
General Workers Union, which represents nearly all 500 of the company's
workers. The letter was sent shortly before the two sides were due for
negotiations mediated by the Chief Labour Officer of the Ministry of
Labour, Human Services and Social Security. Workers said the letter was
a total disregard for the collective labor agreement and the laws. At
year's end the strike had ended; 80 employees were fired, and the
company no longer deducted union dues from employees who were rehired.
Tensions remained between the union and the mine.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Public and
private sector employees possessed and exercised the right to organize
and to bargain collectively. Ten collective bargaining agreements were
signed in the first three quarters of the year. The Ministry of Labor
is required to certify all collective bargaining agreements, and there
were no reports that it refused to certify any specific agreement.
Individual unions directly negotiate collective bargaining status. The
chief labor officer and the staff of the Ministry of Labor provided
consultation, enforcement, and conciliation services.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers; however,
some unions alleged antiunion discrimination by the government. A July
8 report by the International Trade Union Confederation found that
trade union rights were violated and that the government did not
effectively enforce its laws. The report found that freedom of
association and the rights to organize, bargain collectively, and
strike were recognized in law but not in practice.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, and there were no reports that such
practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although the law sets minimum age requirements for employment of
children, child labor in the informal sector was a problem. The law
prohibits the employment of children younger than 15 with some
exceptions. Children age 14 may be employed in technical schools,
provided such work is approved and supervised by the public authority.
No person under 16 may be employed at night, except under regulated
circumstances. The law permits children under 16 to be employed only in
enterprises in which members of the same family are employed. The
government was committed to prosecute anyone found employing a child
for wages, especially during school hours. By October 10, Ministry of
Labor inspections of 3,386 worksites (out of a planned 4,000 for the
year) had revealed no child labor violations. In September the
Ministries of Labour and Education launched the Tackling Child Labor
through Education program (TACKLE) program with the International Labor
Organization and the EU.
Child labor was most prevalent in family-based businesses, farming,
bars and restaurants, domestic work, and street vending. Small numbers
of children performed hazardous work in the construction, logging,
farming, fishing, manufacturing industries, and small-scale traditional
mining. There are three times more children in the interior than in the
coastal urban areas.
The Ministry of Labor collaborated with the Ministry of Education
and the GPF to enforce child labor laws. The Ministry of Labor employed
20 labor inspectors who were charged with investigating child and
exploitative labor activities; however, these were not sufficient to
effectively enforce existing laws.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum public sector wage
was GYD $34,055 ($170) per month. There were minimum wages for certain
categories of private sector workers, including retail cashiers and
clerks, printers, drivers, and conductors, starting with a minimum of
GYD 4,120 ($20) per week. Although enforcement mechanisms exist, it was
difficult to put them into practice, and unorganized workers,
particularly women and children in the informal sector, often were paid
less than the service sector legal minimum wage. Laborers and untrained
teachers at public schools also were paid less than the minimum wage.
The legal minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for
a worker and family.
The law sets hours of employment, which vary by industry and
sector. In general, work in excess of a 44-hour workweek required an
overtime payment rate. The law does not require a minimum weekly rest
period but does state that a person cannot be compelled to work
overtime.
The law also establishes workplace safety and health standards. The
Occupational Health and Safety Division of the Ministry of Labor is
charged with conducting factory inspections and investigating
complaints of substandard workplace conditions. Inadequate resources
prevented the ministry from effectively carrying out this function.
Workers could not remove themselves from dangerous work situations
without jeopardizing continued employment.
__________
HAITI
Haiti is a constitutional republic with a population of
approximately nine million. International observers assessed the 2006
presidential and parliamentary elections as generally free and fair,
after which President Rene Preval and the new parliament took office in
May 2006. Parliament confirmed Jean-Max Bellerive as the new prime
minister in November 2009. Haiti has a multiparty political system.
Elections for one-third of the Senate's members, originally scheduled
for late 2007, occurred in April and June 2008 and were also generally
considered free and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces, but in some instances
elements of the Haitian National Police (HNP) acted independently. The
UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) consisted of approximately
9,100 military, police officers, and civilians who assisted and advised
government and security authorities.
The following human rights problems were reported: failure to hold
timely parliamentary elections, alleged unlawful killings by HNP
officers, HNP participation in kidnappings, overcrowding and poor
sanitation in prisons, arbitrary threats and arrests, prolonged
pretrial detention, an inefficient judiciary subject to significant
influence by the executive and legislative branches, severe corruption
in all branches of government, violence and societal discrimination
against women, child abuse, human trafficking, and ineffective
enforcement of worker rights.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The government or
its agents did not commit any known politically motivated killings.
However, HNP officers killed several persons, who were usually armed
and resisting arrest; there were also allegations of HNP involvement in
unlawful killings.
On October 24, police arrested seven individuals, including two
active police officers and one former police officer, for killing the
owner of a money-exchange outlet during an armed robbery on October 5
in Port-au-Prince.
There were no further developments in the July 2008 death of Renece
Charon, who died while in police custody.
In July three bodyguards, who were originally believed to be police
officers and were detained in December 2008 for murder and attempted
murder of residents in Martissant, a Port-au-Prince neighborhood, were
released.
In response to continuing violence perpetrated by suspected
criminals, residents in some neighborhoods resorted to vigilante
justice. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also reported vigilante
incidents including shootings, beatings, and lynchings in rural areas,
where effective judicial and law enforcement institutions largely were
absent. Police statistics documented 74 lynchings through the end of
October. Observers attributed the majority of lynchings to accusations
of theft, witchcraft, or kidnapping.
On August 16, crowds lynched three men in Saint Marc. The media
reported that the victims were believed to be werewolves. No arrests
were made.
On October 4, a Port-au-Prince crowd stoned and hacked to death
Thelimene Fils-Aime, who allegedly had just decapitated his wife.
Police made no arrests and publicly noted the difficulty of pursuing
participants in mob justice.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances by government agents.
Current and former HNP officers were accused of participation in
kidnappings. Since some HNP officers were involved in narcotics
trafficking, credible observers assumed HNP officers' complicity in
disappearances related to narcotics trafficking.
Kidnappings decreased substantially during the year. There were 66
reported kidnapping victims in the first 10 months of the year,
compared with 263 in 2008.
On January 12, unknown assailants abducted Director of the National
Commission of Public Markets (CNMP) Robert Francois during an evening
stroll. At year's end he remained missing and no arrests had been made.
At year's end there were no further developments in the July 2008
case of three Cap-Haitien police officers arrested for allegedly
heading a gang responsible for multiple kidnappings.
In December 2008 Gonaives Police Commissioner Ernst Dorfeuille
Bouquet was arrested and charged with the November 2008 kidnapping and
murder of Monica Pierre; there were no further known developments in
the case by year's end.
The 2007 disappearance of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, a supporter of
former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and a potential senatorial
candidate, was unresolved. Pierre-Antoine remained missing at year's
end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and with the exception
of a few HNP officers, as of October there were no reports that
government officials employed them.
There were no further developments, and none were anticipated, in
the following 2008 cases: the February beating of a local resident in
the Canape-Vert precinct of Port-au-Prince by a HNP officer, the
September reported beating of three local residents of Delmas 7 by the
HNP's crowd control unit, and the September beating of Natacha Jeune
Santil by four HNP officers.
On November 12, MINUSTAH issued a public press statement confirming
that peacekeepers who had served in the country were among the 50
individuals sanctioned for sexual abuse of women and minors in 2007.
They did not release further details.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh. Prisoners reported physical abuse by correctional officers;
prisons also suffered from guard abuse, corruption, and indifference.
Officers reported limiting their exposure to cellblocks due to
insufficient staffing, equipment, and security.
Prisons and detention centers throughout the country remained
overcrowded, poorly maintained, and unsanitary. Overcrowding was
severe; in some prisons detainees slept and stood in shifts due to lack
of space. Some prisons had no beds for detainees; some cells had not
access to sunlight. Many prison facilities lacked basic services such
as medical services, electricity, and medical isolation units for
contagious patients. Many prisons also periodically lacked water. Many
prisoners and detainees suffered from a lack of basic hygiene,
malnutrition, and poor quality health care and illness caused by the
presence of rodents. Some prisons did not allow prisoners out of their
cells for exercise.
In some prisons the incidence of preventable diseases such as AIDS,
malaria, and drug-resistant tuberculosis remained a serious problem. By
October there were 62 inmate deaths, surpassing the 2008 total of 60.
Sixty of these deaths occurred in the Civil Prison of Port-au-Prince
(CPPP).
At year's end the total prison population, including both pretrial
detainees and sentenced prisoners in the country's 17 prisons, was more
than three times their capacity.
The overburdened prison system had insufficient holding facilities.
The CPPP contained approximately half of the country's prisoners and
held inmates in its intake room. Provincial authorities, in particular,
incarcerated many convicted prisoners for long terms in temporary
holding cells. Police stations served as prisons in the cities of
Gonaives and Petit Goave, whose prisons were destroyed in 2004. They
were severely overcrowded. Gonaives, for example, held 214 long-term
prisoners in its local police station in October.
Port-au-Prince maintained separate penitentiaries for adult men and
women. Both penitentiaries suffered from overcrowding, poor
maintenance, and unsanitary conditions, but the problems at the men's
penitentiary were more severe. In the 15 other prisons throughout the
country, space permitting, male and female prisoners were held in
separate cells. Children 16 and older were confined with adults. Minors
and adults sometimes occupied the same cells due to lack of available
space. Pretrial detainees were held together with convicted prisoners
in the women's prison.
Most boys were held in a separate facility in Port-au-Prince. By
law that facility may hold only boys ages 13 to 15, although a few
children claimed to be as young as age 10. Girls were held separately
from women at the Petionville Women's Penitentiary.
As of December 18, 2,262 of the country's 9,066 prisoners in
custody had been tried and sentenced, while 6,804 awaited trial. Fifty-
seven of the country's 467 incarcerated women and girls were in
prolonged pretrial detention, several since 2004.
Prison population statistics did not include the large number of
persons held in police stations around the country in prolonged
pretrial detention (without a hearing or filed charges) for longer than
the constitutionally mandated 48-hour maximum detention period.
Inadequate record keeping and data entry at the police stations made it
difficult to estimate the number of persons held in prolonged detention
(see section 1.d.).
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), MINUSTAH, the
local NGO National Human Rights Network for Haiti, and the government's
Office of Citizen Protection (OPC) monitored prison conditions in
cooperation with the Department of Prison Administration.
Authorities freely permitted the ICRC, the Haitian Red Cross, and
human rights groups to enter prisons and police stations, monitor
conditions, and assist prisoners and detainees with medical care, food,
and legal aid. Primary concerns for most groups monitoring the
conditions in the prisons related to adequate water, food, and
sanitation. Although some programs, such as efforts to improve
sanitation and health care delivery at the CPPP reported success, the
government did not implement many changes recommended by NGOs and donor
governments.
Authorities took some measures to improve prison conditions. In
October authorities at the CPPP began holding convicted prisoners
separately from those in prolonged pretrial detention. On December 8,
construction on a higher security wall and interior catwalk was
completed, improving the prison's public security. Because of the
improved security, authorities began utilizing previously unused yards
for exercise and as bathing areas. The CPPP's warden developed a
prisoners' art project and began prisoner-taught basic education
classes. The CPPP completed renovation of its infirmary and new
construction of an isolation ward for seriously ill patients. The
government added eight cells to the Civil Prison of Cap-Haitien.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the constitution stipulates that a person may
be arrested only if apprehended during the commission of a crime or on
the basis of a warrant by a legally competent official such as a
justice of the peace or magistrate. The authorities must bring the
detainee before a judge within 48 hours of arrest. Officials frequently
did not comply with these provisions in practice.
At least some prisoners were detained for offenses not included in
the criminal code, including witchcraft.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--MINUSTAH, deploying
7,057 soldiers, 2,066 police officers, and 492 civilian UN officials,
trained and supported the national police force, provided disaster
recovery assistance, and assisted the government in suppressing gang-
related violence.
The 8,546 member HNP has sole responsibility for law enforcement
and maintenance of order; there are no military forces. The UN
estimated that the country needs a force of at least 14,000 police,
although it recommended 18,000 to 22,000 officers. The HNP is an
officially autonomous civilian institution under the authority of a
director general and includes police, corrections, and coast guard
functions in separate units. The Ministry of Justice and Public
Security, through its minister and the secretary of state for public
security, provides oversight.
There were reports of corruption in the HNP, which the HNP has
mechanisms to investigate. For instance, affluent prisoners sometimes
obtained favorable conditions of detention. The HNP conducted
investigations of police malfeasance, leading to the arrest or
termination of employment of some officers. The Inspector General's
(IG) Office of the HNP accepts and investigates allegations from any
complainant of police wrongdoing, including human rights violations,
complicity in criminal acts, and other violations. IG investigations
revealing criminal activity were referred to the regional prosecutor.
Upon completion of these investigations, the IG forwarded its
findings to the director general of the HNP and high-level Ministry of
Justice officials for appropriate action. The first group of cases was
provided to the government in 2008; a second group of cases was
forwarded to the Ministry of Justice in June. As of October, the
government had taken no further action on the cases. The IG also
conducted vetting with MINUSTAH to certify that members of the HNP had
no serious disciplinary violations or accusations of human rights
abuses pending against them.
Reform and professionalization of the HNP continued as
international programs, with the assistance of the National Network for
the Defense of Human Rights, provided human rights and other training
and equipment for new recruits and for existing officers; police
station upgrades; security and humanitarian improvements to prisons;
vehicles, computers, and communications equipment; and other technical
assistance. Some units, notably the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, made
significant improvements. Nevertheless, reform efforts remained
incomplete, and HNP officers occasionally were implicated in
corruption, kidnapping, and narcotics trafficking. The Corrections
Department of the HNP did not perform the same vetting and background
procedures on new employees and guards as its HNP law enforcement
counterparts. A MINUSTAH poll reported that 72 percent of the
population perceived improvement in the HNP during the year. Another
survey found that an increasing number of citizens were critical of the
HNP and felt less safe overall.
Although the HNP's efforts resulted in significantly increased
levels of physical security and policing effectiveness, the HNP could
not always prevent or respond to gang-related and other societal
violence, such as vigilante justice, due to an insufficient number of
officers and inadequate equipment or training.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Police are
permitted to make arrests when a suspect is caught during the
commission of a crime, or later with a court-authorized warrant. Police
sometimes apprehended persons without warrants or with warrants not
issued by a duly authorized official. The authorities occasionally
detained individuals on unspecified charges or pending investigation.
The government frequently did not observe the legal requirement to
present detainees before a judge within 48 hours, and prolonged
pretrial detention remained a serious problem. Many detainees were held
in pretrial detention for extended periods--in some cases up to five
years--without being informed of charges against them.
Investigative judges granted bail at their discretion. Bail
hearings were not routine, and judges usually granted bail only for
minor cases and based on compelling humanitarian grounds, such as a
need for medical attention. Detainees generally were allowed access to
family members and a lawyer of their own choosing. Many detainees could
not afford the services of an attorney, and the government routinely
did not provide free counsel.
The government detained some repatriated citizens upon their return
for approximately two weeks in ``administrative quarantine'' if the
citizen had local criminal charges pending or when local family members
could not be located. Authorities used the returnee's time in detention
to assess whether the citizen planned to participate in criminal
activities and to locate local family members. The government took
measures to improve its past record and increased its efforts to
release these citizens in 10 days or less. Returnees, some of whom
spent substantial portions or most of their lives abroad, alleged
corruption, widespread discrimination, and social abuse after returning
home. Reported discriminatory practices included arbitrary arrests,
false accusations about their activities to local police, and extortion
attempts against them and their families abroad during the initial
detention phase, in exchange for quicker release from administrative
quarantine.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, in practice the executive and legislative
branches exerted significant influence on the judicial branch. Judges
assigned to politically sensitive cases complained about interference
from the executive branch. Credible reports of judicial corruption were
commonplace (see section 4).
Pervasive and long-standing problems--including a shortage of
funding and adequately trained and qualified justices of the peace,
judges, and prosecutors as well as failure to convene court sessions on
the schedule provided by law--contributed to the large backlog of
criminal cases, and many detainees waited years for a court date. The
Ministry of Justice and Public Security underwrote special summer
felony hearings in Port-au-Prince to reduce pretrial detention
backlogs, and the courts adjudicated an additional 115 cases at these
special sessions. Still, since most of the 4,353 detainees awaiting
trial in the Civil Prison of Port-au-Prince were held for serious
crimes that warranted a jury trial, they were effectively denied the
right to a prompt trial. An estimated 15 percent of detainees in the
National Penitentiary had been convicted as of October.
The code of criminal procedure does not assign clear responsibility
for criminal investigations and divides authority among police,
justices of the peace, prosecutors, and investigative magistrates.
Authorities often failed to question witnesses or complete
investigations and rarely conducted autopsies, and examining
magistrates often received incomplete files.
An outdated juridical fee scale created another barrier for crime
victims requesting investigation of their cases. After a citizen
reported being the victim of a crime, some justices of the peace
charged varying ``fees'' to initiate criminal prosecutions based on
their perceptions of what a service should cost.
Long distances and limited transportation between citizens'
residences and the courts also limited access to the judicial system.
In most regions judges lacked basic resources and professional
training.
The School for Magistrates continued in-service training for
justices of the peace, and during the year more than 150 justices from
all 18 jurisdictions completed the intensive six-week training program.
An internationally funded program provided training for judges,
prosecutors, and other court personnel; furnished technical assistance
in drafting rules and procedures; and assisted in curriculum planning
for the school. The Judicial Strengthening Program begun by the
National Center for State Courts provided assistance with training and
curricula for judges and court personnel.
At the lowest level of the justice system, justices of the peace
issue warrants, adjudicate minor infractions, mediate cases, take
depositions, and refer cases to prosecutors or higher judicial
officials. Investigating magistrates and public prosecutors cooperate
in the development of more serious cases, which are tried by the judges
of the first instance courts. Thirty appeals court judges hear cases
referred from the first instance courts, and the 11-member Court of
Cassation, the country's highest court, addresses questions of
procedure and constitutionality.
Trial Procedures.--The judicial apparatus follows a civil law
system based on the Napoleonic Code, largely unchanged since 1880. In
practice authorities widely ignored the constitutionally provided right
to a fair public trial. The constitution also expressly denies police
and judicial authorities the right to interrogate suspects unless legal
counsel or a representative of the suspect's choice is present or they
waive this right. Most accused persons could not afford legal counsel
for interrogation or trial, and the law does not require that the
government provide legal representation. Defendants who could not
afford representation were more vulnerable to interrogation without
counsel. However, some defendants had access to counsel during trials.
With the support of the national government and the local legal
community, international groups provided funds to indigent defendants
for professional legal representation.
While the constitution provides defendants with a presumption of
innocence, the right to be present at trial, the right to confront
witnesses against them, and the right to present witnesses and evidence
on their own behalf, judges frequently denied defendants these rights.
The lack of a witness protection program and widespread impunity
discouraged some witnesses from testifying at trials. Defendants and
their attorneys had access to government-held evidence before trial.
Defendants had the right to appeal.
There were no known reports that citizens were denied these rights
on the basis of gender, ethnicity, or disability.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Victims of alleged human
rights abuses are able to bring their cases before a judge for
cessation of the violation, but it is unknown whether damages can be
awarded. Seeking legal remedies for human rights abuses is difficult,
since very few organizations have the resources to start and maintain a
case through its duration in the system.
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 and elected officials
generally respected these rights in practice. However, there were a few
incidents of local government officers and elected officials harassing
or threatening journalists as well as reports of pressure from criminal
groups.
During the April 19 round of senatorial elections, radio journalist
Sainlus Augustin was publicly harassed, struck, and threatened by the
brother and other supporters of senatorial candidate Wilot Joseph,
allegedly because they objected to Augustin's attempt to interview
supporters of the political opposition. Repeated anonymous death
threats forced Augustin into hiding. The government initiated an
investigation, which remained open at year's end; international and
local human rights groups monitored the case throughout the year.
In September the government commissioner of Port-de-Paix briefly
arrested radio station director Kerly Debreus on accusations of libel;
he was released following public outcries from press associations and
NGOs.
On December 9, HNP officers in Port-au-Prince beat journalist
Edwige Joseph Watson and destroyed his equipment when he attempted to
take photographs of a peaceful student demonstration. Although several
officers tried to prevent the beating, others joined in. At year's end
one officer was under investigation by the Office of the Inspector
General.
There were no further developments in the July 2008 attack on news
correspondent Joachim Marcel by the deputy mayor of Cap-Haitien and his
bodyguards, allegedly in retaliation for Marcel's investigation of
voting corruption.
Internet Freedom.--The government did not restrict access to the
Internet or monitor e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Individuals and
groups freely engaged in communication via the Internet, including by
e-mail. Approximately 10 percent of the population had routine access
to the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice. Citizens must apply for a permit in
order to hold legal demonstrations; the HNP regularly issued permits.
Student demonstrations occurred throughout most of the year in
downtown Port-au-Prince. Demonstrators threw rocks, occupied university
offices, and burned and vandalized official and international vehicles.
HNP authorities generally restricted their interventions to the use of
tear gas and removing demonstrators from the scene. Unknown assailants
killed two student demonstrators; there were no prosecutions.
On June 18, bystander Kerel Pascal was killed during a public
funeral, allegedly by peacekeeping forces. Television cameras recorded
a force member discharging a weapon in the general direction of Pascal.
MINUSTAH began an investigation and conducted an autopsy, but no formal
results were released by MINUSTAH or the government as of October.
On August 5, Ricardo Morette died during a demonstration in
Lascahobas characterized by sporadic gunfire when Nepali MINUSTAH
forces attempted to clear the road of blockades. An autopsy recovered
no bullets, and MINUSTAH maintained that it was not responsible for
Morette's death.
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 members of religious groups,
including anti-Semitic acts. The Jewish community was very small.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. Persons deported from other countries were sometimes
subjected to amendments in their Haitian passports, which singled out
their status and impeded their transnational movements.
Since there were no known refugees in the country, there was no
opportunity for the government to coordinate with the Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
providing protection and assistance to internally displaced persons,
refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and
other persons of concern.
The law prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports of its
use. However, according to anecdotal reports, many former government
officials abandoned the country with their families for fear of
retaliation or prosecution.
Internally Displaced Persons.--No further studies were conducted
regarding the whereabouts of persons who temporarily abandoned their
homes after the devastating 2008 storm season.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol.
The law provides for the granting of refugee status or asylum, and the
government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to a country where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion, but it did not routinely grant refugee status or asylum.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully through free and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Multiparty presidential and
parliamentary elections in 2006 were relatively stable and peaceful.
Rene Preval won the presidency with 51 percent of the vote. Citizens
and international observers considered the election process acceptable
and the results credible, and they noted few incidents of violence or
fraud. Additional rounds of parliamentary and municipal elections were
held in 2006 and April 2008. Electoral authorities scheduled elections
for February through April 2010 to replace the entire Chamber of
Deputies and a third of the Senate.
The Senate elections held in April-June were generally well run,
although marked by low voter turnout and isolated incidents of ballot
box stuffing, voter intimidation, and violence. In June the Provisional
Electoral Council (CEP) sponsored a postelection investigation, which
found that rival political parties in the Center Department acted
inappropriately, and subsequently recommended sanctions against four
individual candidates. Electoral authorities observed these
recommendations and in December barred the four from running in the
2010 parliamentary elections.
Political parties were able to operate without restriction or
outside interference. In November the CEP considered 69 political
parties for the upcoming parliamentary elections and approved 53
parties. The CEP rejected 16 parties, including, for the second time
during the year, former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party, Fanmi
Lavalas (Waterfall Family). Other rejected major parties included
Union, Popular Solidarity Alliance, Struggling People's Organization,
and Fusion. The latter two groups allied under a new party banner,
Alternative.
The constitution requires that following local and municipal
elections, local officials must hold a series of indirect elections to
staff departmental organs of self-government and an interdepartmental
council to advise the national government and nominate candidates for
the Permanent Electoral Council. The law requires that the three
branches of the national government select from among these nominees
the council's nine members. Since these indirect elections have not
taken place since the constitution was written, the country continued
to operate with the presidentially appointed the CEP.
Many persons, including the president, declared the
constitutionally mandated calendar of frequent elections either too
impractical or too expensive.
The electoral legislation mandated that political parties
presenting at least 30 percent female candidates and succeeding in
electing 20 percent of them receive twice as much public financing for
those same positions in the next election. The monetary deposit
required of female candidates for political office (if sponsored by a
recognized party) was one-half that required of male candidates. Five
women served in the 129-seat National Assembly; four women served in
the prime minister's 18-member cabinet; no woman served on the Supreme
Court.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials often engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. According
to the World Bank's worldwide governance indicators, government
corruption was a severe problem. Corruption remained widespread in all
branches and at all levels of government. The constitution mandates
that high-level officials and parliament members accused of official
corruption be prosecuted before the Senate, not within the judicial
system. However, the Senate brought no such cases of corruption.
Poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and weak governmental
institutions (especially relating to law enforcement and the judiciary)
contributed to widespread corruption.
In March former minister of justice and public security Jean-Joseph
Exume dismissed five Saint-Marc judges, two of them specifically for
``serious acts of corruption.'' No charges were filed.
The HNP, with the assistance of UN civilian police, continued
efforts to eliminate corruption within its ranks, and the government
continued to investigate individuals in the business sector and in
government entities for corruption but brought no charges. The Center
for Pleas and Legal Assistance offered judicial assistance to victims
and witnesses of government corruption and widely disseminated
telephone and e-mail contact information.
Authorities arrested or detained a few low-level public servants,
mainly customs officials, on corruption or corruption-related charges.
The director of the Social Security Agency, Sandro Joseph, was
arrested in May on charges of misuse of funds within the social
security system, including improper loans and disbursements to national
officials. He was awaiting trial at year's end.
There were no known developments in the investigation begun in 2007
concerning alleged mismanagement of funds at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in 2004-06.
Several persons and groups, including the then prime minister
Pierre-Louis and the Heritage Foundation for Haiti, called for an audit
of the 197 million dollars of humanitarian assistance provided to the
country by Petrocaribe in the aftermath of the 2008 storm season. The
government's Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) opened an investigation.
By law the president, the prime minister, cabinet ministers, and
other high-level public officials must declare assets. The Financial
Control and Information Office has responsibility for combating
financial crimes. The ULCC reported in September that 412 officials,
including just one senator and 19 deputies, had observed the law and
filed disclosure statements. HNP officers are also required to file
disclosure statements. Public officials who do not fulfill this
obligation are subject first to a 50 percent reduction in salary,
followed by suspension, until they file their statements. The
government sanctioned no officials as of the end of October for failure
to file the disclosures.
The CNMP is charged with certifying that public contracts in excess
of 700,000 Haitian gourdes (HTG, or approximately $16,700) conform to
the law.
No law requires public access to government information, but there
were no reports that the government prevented public access to
government information.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. The government
cooperated with the various human rights observation missions and
generally acknowledged their views but lacked the capacity to implement
their recommendations. The government permitted special missions and
the continued presence of UN bodies and other international
organizations such as the ICRC.
The UN sent several envoys and investigators to the country during
the year. UN Special Envoy Bill Clinton made several visits and
highlighted the progress the country's improvements in security. UN
Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti Michel
Forst visited the country four times to draw attention to various human
rights matters. He made numerous recommendations, including that the
government make a final resolution of outstanding human rights vetting
dossiers for members of the HNP, that President Preval appoint a
Supreme Court chief justice, and that the government increase efforts
to end prolonged pretrial detention. In June UN Special Rapporteur on
Contemporary Forms of Slavery Gulnara Shahinian investigated human
trafficking (see section 6) and recommended that the government form a
National Commission on Children, educate officials working with
vulnerable children, and begin universal birth registration. With the
exception of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Work's efforts to
educate officials working with vulnerable children, by year's end the
government had not implemented the recommendations.
At national and international levels, human rights organizations
actively and effectively monitored human rights matters, meeting
frequently with government officials. Human rights organizations made
media appearances, hosted training sessions and conferences, and
published reports.
The OPC is mandated to protect individuals against any form of
abuse by the government. The OPC offered free legal assistance to any
citizen who appeared before a court regarding a filed complaint. In the
first half of the year, the OPC had a reputation for ineffectiveness
and primarily operated within Port-au-Prince, but it began operating
under new leadership in August. The government rarely acted on OPC
recommendations.
The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate each had a human rights
committee; however, neither committee published any reports or
introduced any legislation during the year.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law does not specifically prohibit discrimination on the
grounds of race, gender, disability, language, or social status. It
does provide for equal working conditions regardless of gender,
beliefs, or marital status. However, no effective governmental
mechanism administered or enforced these provisions.
Women.--The law prohibits and provides penalties for rape but does
not recognize spousal rape as a crime. The penalty for rape is a
minimum of 10 years of forced labor, increasing to a mandatory 15 years
if the victim was less than 16 years old. In the case of gang rape, the
maximum penalty is forced labor for life. Sentences were often less
rigorous. The criminal code excuses a husband who kills his wife or her
partner found engaging in an act of adultery in his home, but a wife
who kills her husband under similar circumstances is subject to
prosecution. Anecdotal evidence suggested that some younger women were
detained after violently resisting sexual attackers, sometimes family
members. Kidnappers often raped their female abductees.
Reported sexual assault cases increased. HNP statistics showed that
218 rapes were reported as of October, compared with 282 for all of
2008; 76 victims were adult women, 139 were female minors, one was an
adult man, and two were male minors. NGOs estimated that the numbers
reflected an increase in incidents, rather than a greater degree of
confidence in the legal system, and noted alarming increases in sexual
violence against women in Petit Goave, the Artibonite, and the Port-au-
Prince neighborhood of Cite Soleil.
In Saint-Marc the Federation for Women of the Lower Artibonite
reported that it received more than 260 victim requests for legal
assistance from July to October.
Rape was especially common in areas with minimal police presence.
Many credible NGOs and government sources believed that urban gangs
used rape as a systematic instrument of intimidation. Women's shelters
and organizations reported that armed gangs frequently raped and
harassed girls and women.
Rape was often treated in practice as a relatively minor infraction
or a family or community matter instead of a prosecutable offense.
Substantial disincentives discouraging victims from reporting rapes
included: victims' desire to protect themselves from the social or
physical consequences of bringing accusations against the perpetrators,
who often lived in the community; tacit cultural acceptance of sexual
assault; the lack of sufficient facilities or services at police
stations to aid rape victims; the long distances between homes and
qualified tribunals; and finally, the corrupt judicial system that
fosters a perception of impunity. Cases were often relegated to a
justice of the peace, who acted as a mediator, with an emphasis on
finding family or community solutions as opposed to punishing the
perpetrator. No statistics were available on the number of abusers who
were prosecuted, convicted, or punished.
Two officially sponsored centers for victims of sexual violence
opened during the year. A shelter offering comprehensive services from
legal to medical assistance opened in April with the help of
international donors but was barely operational by year's end. In
September a center for victims of sexual violence was inaugurated in
Port-au-Prince to assist victims with registering assaults and
obtaining legal and medical care. The center is colocated with a local
police station, which is charged with actively assisting victims. In
Saint-Marc the local government commissioner worked closely with the
only local NGO offering comprehensive services to sexual assault
victims in the region to protect victims' safety and access to the
justice system. The same official, Yvon Pradel, publicly called upon
the families of these victims to offer them support and accompany
victims as their cases proceeded through the judicial system.
The law prohibits and provides penalties for domestic violence, but
women's rights groups and human rights organizations reported that
domestic violence against women remained commonplace and underreported.
Government figures reported 38 incidents of domestic violence in the
first 10 months of the year (compared with 31 incidents in all of
2008); there were 27 adult female victims, five adult male victims, and
three cases each of minor male and minor female victims. Police rarely
arrested the perpetrators or investigated the incidents, and the
victims sometimes suffered further harassment and reprisals from
perpetrators. Corrupt judges often released suspects arrested for
domestic violence and rape.
In February the Tribunal of Petit-Goave sentenced Berthony Sagesse
to 15 years in prison and a fine of HTG 100,000 (approximately $2,500)
for the 2008 attack upon his former wife Martine Lindor. The judgment
reversed an earlier summary dismissal.
The government, with the support of international donors, sponsored
a program for victims of violence that provided medical and legal
assistance for victims, as well as a campaign denouncing violence
against women.
Although prostitution is illegal, it remained a widespread
practice, particularly among women and girls. Police generally ignored
prostitution.
The law does not specifically prohibit sexual harassment, although
the labor code states that men and women have the same rights and
obligations. Data concerning sexual harassment in the workplace were
not available, although observers suggested that sexual harassment was
common. Such incidents went unreported because of high unemployment and
because citizens had little confidence in the ability of the judicial
system to protect them.
Couples and individuals have the legal right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children. The 2005 Demographic and Health Survey
showed that only 25 percent of couples used modern contraceptive
methods, and the rate of unmet need for family planning was 38 percent.
Despite high levels of general knowledge of contraceptive methods,
women had few opportunities to acquire additional information on family
planning methods and to learn about the possible negative effects of
certain contraceptive methods. The maternal mortality ratio was 630 per
100,000 live births. Although 85 percent of pregnant women received
prenatal care at least once during their pregnancy, only 25 percent
delivered in a health facility, and a vast majority delivered their
babies at home without the benefits of a skilled birth attendant or the
ability to find adequate care in the event of complications. Women and
men had equal access to diagnostic services and treatment for sexually
transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.
Women did not enjoy the same social and economic status as men. In
some social strata, tradition limited women's roles. The majority of
women in rural areas remained in the traditional occupations of
farming, marketing, and domestic labor. Very poor female heads of
household in urban areas also often faced limited employment
opportunities, such as domestic labor and sales. Government and private
sectors seldom promoted women to supervisory positions. Excepting the
HNP, which continued efforts to recruit and increase the percentage of
women in its ranks, there were no government efforts to combat economic
discrimination.
Many domestic women's rights groups worked through a national
network, the Coordination for Advocacy on Women's Rights.
Children.--Citizenship is derived through an individual's parents;
only one parent of either sex is necessary to transmit citizenship.
Citizenship can also be acquired through a formal request to the
Ministry of the Interior.
The government did not register all births immediately and did not
keep statistics concerning the number of births unregistered each year.
One government estimate of the total number of Haitians whose births
were not registered was more than one million (out of a total
population of nine million). Birth documents are legally necessary to
register for school, open a bank account, apply for credit, gain
admission to a hospital, and vote. Although required, individuals
without birth documents were not denied emergency medical services or
educational opportunities on that basis. Anecdotal evidence suggested
that birth documents were not required to obtain such basic documents
as a voting identification card.
Credible sources reported that large numbers of domestically
trafficked children were forced to work as indentured household
servants. Governmental agencies and programs promoted children's rights
and welfare, but the government lacked sufficient resources to support
or enforce existing mechanisms adequately. In June the Social Welfare
Office (IBERS) conducted a two-week campaign aimed at heightening
awareness of children's rights. On October 21, the government
inaugurated the Youth Center for Vulnerable Children in Port-au-Prince,
which offered social support services to at-risk youth.
Children also worked on the street in prostitution. Recruitment of
children for sexual exploitation, pornography, and illicit activities
is illegal. The law prohibits the corruption of youth under the age of
21 years, including by prostitution, with penalties ranging from six
months' to three years' imprisonment.
The minimum age of consensual sex is 18. Inefficiencies in
reporting and investigating allegations of rape contributed to
uncertainties regarding penalties, if any, for statutory rape.
Port-au-Prince's population of at least 2,500 street children (as
of October) included many who were dismissed from or fled employers'
homes, but also some children who fled abusive homes or families who
could no longer provide for them. NGOs reported that street children
were likely to be sexually or otherwise abused, received little or no
education, and were easily exploitable by trafficking recruiters.
Criminal gangs also reportedly enlisted minors to commit illegal acts.
The Ministry of Social Affairs provided some assistance, such as
food and temporary shelter, to street children. A shelter reopened by
the government in April 2008 assisted children but did not provide
adequate food, education, medical care, or adult supervision. Some
children in the facility reported that they had families whom they were
not allowed to visit. Minor males and minor females were housed
separately.
Credible and numerous NGOs reported widespread and endemic abuse at
many of the country's more than 600 orphanages, the majority of which
were unregistered or not licensed by the government. IBERS and the
HNP's Brigade for the Protection of Minors (BPM) increased efforts and
cooperation toward increased regulation and oversight. Lack of
sanitation, overcrowding, insufficient food, an absence of education,
and poor adult supervision characterized many facilities.
On September 16, Douglas Perlitz was arrested in the United States
on suspicion of sexually abusing minors at a boys' home, which he
founded and managed in Cap-Haitien. The facility closed in January.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, although labor legislation and other laws,
including those prohibiting and penalizing slavery, kidnapping,
violence against women, as well as those prohibiting recruitment of
children for sexual exploitation, pornography, and illicit activities
could be used to combat human trafficking, including trafficking of
children. There were reports that persons were trafficked from, to,
through, and within the country.
The country was a source for persons trafficked to the Dominican
Republic, the Bahamas, Jamaica, the United States, Europe, and Canada.
Trafficked citizens reported conditions of bonded servitude, slavery,
and forced labor. Extreme poverty and lack of employment were among key
risk factors supporting human trafficking. Women from the Dominican
Republic were trafficked into the country for sexual exploitation.
Traffickers also used the country as a transit point for foreigners.
Several NGOs reported the problem of child trafficking for sexual
and labor purposes, especially to the Dominican Republic and the
Bahamas.
The government acknowledged the problem of internal trafficking,
including that of children, and on October 26, announced that it was
ready to take measures to prohibit the practice. The BPM investigated
cases of child trafficking and monitored movement of children across
the border with the Dominican Republic, but it faced many barriers to
its operational effectiveness. The BPM, with 75 officers, stationed
personnel in each of the country's 10 departments and established a
hotline to receive tips regarding child trafficking and abuse. With
international partners, in August BPM also began conducting nighttime
operations to locate children at risk and return them to their
families. The first operation successfully located and returned 14
children to their families. International organizations, including the
International Organization for Migration (IOM), were primary providers
of services to victims of trafficking.
Authorities picked up some restaveks who escaped and referred them
to the government's Institute for Social Welfare and Research (IBESR)
for temporary care in dedicated shelters. The IOM provided financial
and technical support to two such centers in Port au Prince, which
provided shelter, food, medical and psychosocial services for the
children until their parents were found and they were able to return to
their families. Shelter capacity was limited and rescued children could
not always return to their families. Since 2005 the IOM has assisted
approximately 300 children.
No information was available on the principal traffickers, their
networks, or methods. There were no antitrafficking laws and thus no
prosecutions or convictions during the year.
In general the government could not provide sufficient protection,
shelter, or assistance to victims and witnesses, and it referred
victims to NGOs for services. Child victims of domestic trafficking
living as street children in Port-au-Prince or subjected to domestic
servitude as restaveks (live with) were so numerous throughout the
country that the BPM did not as a matter of routine try to help them
(see section 7.d).
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Work and the Social Welfare
Officer actively sponsored and participated in numerous conferences
organized around antitrafficking and children's rights.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and laws do not
explicitly prohibit discrimination against persons with physical and
mental disabilities, and there were no reports of discrimination by the
government against persons with disabilities in employment, education,
access to health care, or the provision of other state services.
However, because of widespread and chronic poverty, a shortage of
public services, and limited educational opportunities, persons with
disabilities were severely disadvantaged. The government and NGOs
distributed wheelchairs and implemented awareness campaigns. Access for
persons with disabilities was limited, but the government implemented a
program for increased numbers of disabled students to take part in
national exams.
There were no reports of abuse in mental health facilities.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--There was a minimal presence
of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) advocacy NGOs operating
within the country.
There were no officially confirmed reports of discrimination
against the LGBT community, but local NGOs reported that LGBT persons
faced widespread societal discrimination including social stigma,
targeted physical violence, sexual assault, and employment insecurity.
NGOs also reported that such persons did not report human rights
violations due to fear of reprisal.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--Societal discrimination
occurred against persons with HIV/AIDS, particularly women, but
educational programs sponsored by foreign donors and efforts by HIV/
AIDS activists attempted to change that stigma.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers, except
public-sector employees, to form and join unions of their choice. The
law also requires that a union must have a minimum of 10 members and
register with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs within 60 days
of its formation. The law prohibits employers, management, and anyone
who represents the interests of employers from joining a union. In
theory unions were independent of the government and political parties,
but in practice most unions were extensions of political parties. There
were nine principal labor federations representing approximately 5
percent of the labor force.
The labor code provides for the right to strike with restrictions,
except for managers, administrators, other heads of establishments,
public utility service workers, and all public sector enterprises, and
workers exercised this right in practice. The labor code defines public
utility service employees as essential workers who ``cannot suspend
their activities without causing serious harm to public health and
security.'' A 48-hour notice period is compulsory for all strikes, and
strikes may not exceed one day.
Despite the prohibition there were a few public sector strikes,
usually related to the government's failure to pay staff on time.
Doctors and staff struck for weeks in several public hospitals,
including the central public hospital in Port-au-Prince, demanding back
pay and better working conditions. In December nurses in Gonaives went
on strike to protest nonpayment of their salaries for the preceding 30
weeks.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--While the law
protects trade union organizing activities and stipulates fines for
those who interfere with this right, in practice the government made
little effort to enforce the law.
High unemployment rates and antiunion sentiment among some factory
workers and most employers limited the success of union organizing
efforts.
Collective bargaining was nonexistent, and employers set wages
unilaterally.
Although workers had access to labor courts established to resolve
common labor-management disputes, the courts' judgments were not
enforced. The courts function under the supervision of the Ministry of
Labor and Social Affairs and adjudicate minor conflicts, but unions
stated that the process was ineffective. Seven labor courts operated in
Port-au-Prince, and in the provinces plaintiffs utilized municipal
courts.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers, who are
liable to a monetary fine for each individual violation. The law does
not specify that employers must reinstate workers illegally fired for
union activity. Illegally fired workers have the right to recoup any
compensation to which they are entitled. The labor court adjudicates
all labor disputes, but it was considered weak and ineffectual.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the single export processing zone in Ouanaminthe, a town on the
Dominican border.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including of children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred, namely instances of forced labor
of child restaveks (see section 6, Trafficking in Persons).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
minimum employment age for employment in all sectors, including
domestic service, is 15. The minimum age for apprenticeships is 14. The
law prohibits minors from working under dangerous conditions and
prohibits night work in industrial enterprises for minors under 18.
Fierce adult competition for jobs ensured that child labor was not a
factor in the industrial sector. However, children under the age of 15
commonly worked at informal-sector jobs to supplement family income.
Children also commonly worked with parents on small family farms,
although the high unemployment rate among adults kept children from
employment on commercial farms in significant numbers. There was no
legal penalty for families that employed children in domestic labor as
restaveks, the primary form of child employment.
Parents unable to care for their children have traditionally sent
them to relatives or strangers who were expected to provide the
children with food, shelter, and an education in exchange for
housework. The practice was so entrenched that even poor families
routinely kept one or more restaveks who came from even poorer
families. Parents often offered their children as restaveks when they
were six years old, or even younger. While some restaveks were cared
for by their host families and sent to school, most of them were
subjected to abuse and involuntary domestic servitude.
Government and NGO estimates of the number of restaveks ranged
between 90,000 and 300,000, the majority of whom were girls between the
ages of six and 14. Exploited restaveks typically worked excessive
hours on physically demanding tasks without pay or adequate food, did
not attend school, and were often physically and sexually abused by
their host family. Girls were generally placed in domestic servitude in
private urban homes, while boys more frequently were exploited for
labor on farms. Restaveks who did not run away usually remained with
the host family until age 14. Labor laws require employers to pay
domestic workers over 15 years old, so many host families forced
restaveks out of the household before that age. Abandoned and runaway
restaveks constituted a significant proportion of the large population
of children living on the street, where most were forced into
prostitution or street crime by criminal gangs, while others became
street vendors or beggars.
Although the government charged with implementation and enforcement
of child labor laws and regulations, the IBESRP lacked adequate funding
to investigate exploitive child labor cases effectively. Other factors
contributing to ineffective investigation and lack of judicial recourse
were border permeability and lack of a well-trained and well-equipped
police force.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--During the year parliament
implemented a new stratified minimum wage system. On October 1, the
daily minimum wage was set at HTG 125 (approximately $3.00) in the
textile sector and HTG 200 (approximately $5.00) in the commercial and
industrial sectors. Workers paid at a piecework rate received a minimum
of HTG 200 per day. For all other industrial and commercial
establishments, the minimum wage was fixed at HTG 200 per day for eight
hours of work.
Most citizens worked in the informal sector and subsistence
agriculture, where minimum wage legislation does not apply, and daily
wages of HTG 15 ($0.37) were common. Many women worked as domestic
employees, an area of work also exempted from minimum wage legislation.
The law sets the standard workday for industrial, commercial, and
agricultural establishments at eight hours and the workweek at 48
hours, with 24 hours of rest. It also provides for the payment of
overtime and prohibits excessive compulsory overtime. However, the law
grants exemptions to health care, lodging, food and beverage, and
entertainment establishments; managerial positions; and family
establishments that employ only family members. The Labor Directorate
also may grant exemptions for other employers not specifically exempted
by the law. These laws were not effectively enforced. In addition the
law is silent concerning public sector employees. Due to staff
shortages and special events, salaried HNP officers sometimes worked
12-hour shifts six days per week and received no overtime, although
they received standardized bonuses at year's end. HNP officers had also
not been incorporated into the standardized government schedule of
benefits after their initial three-year probationary contracts. In
severely understaffed regions, officers sometimes worked longer hours
to serve the needs of their communities.
The law also establishes minimum health and safety regulations. The
industrial and assembly sectors largely observed these guidelines, but
the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs did not enforce them
effectively. No group collected formal data, but unions alleged that
job-related injuries occurred frequently in the construction industry
and public works sectors. Although they have the legal right to do so,
in practice workers could not exercise the right to remove themselves
from dangerous work situations without jeopardizing their continued
employment.
__________
HONDURAS
On June 28, the military forcibly removed and sent into exile
President Jose Manuel Zelaya, and Congress President Roberto Micheletti
Bain became the leader of a de facto regime. Until the June 28 coup
d'etat (June coup), the country was a constitutional, multiparty
democracy with a population of approximately eight million. The coup
was preceded by months of political tension between the executive and
other branches of government in relation to an executive proposal to
hold a referendum on convening a constitutional assembly to consider
reforms to the constitution. Although the coup was bloodless,
subsequent related events resulted in the loss of life as well as
limitations by the de facto regime on freedom of movement, association,
expression, and assembly. On November 29, voters elected Porfirio
``Pepe'' Lobo of the National Party for a four-year term to the
presidency, in elections that international observers considered to be
generally free and fair. While civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces prior to the June
coup, there were instances in which elements of the security forces
acted independently of government authority.
The following human rights problems were reported: unlawful
killings by members of the police and government agents; arbitrary and
summary killings committed by vigilantes and former members of the
security forces; harsh prison conditions; violence against detainees,
and corruption and impunity within the security forces; lengthy
pretrial detention and failure to provide due process of law; arbitrary
detention and disproportionate use of force by security forces after
the June coup; politicization, corruption, and institutional weakness
of the judiciary; erosion of press freedom; corruption in the
legislative and executive branches; limitations on freedom of movement
and association; government restrictions on recognition of some
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); violence and discrimination
against women; child prostitution and abuse; trafficking in persons;
discrimination against indigenous communities; violence and
discrimination against persons based on sexual orientation; ineffective
enforcement of labor laws; and child labor.
During the political crisis following the June coup, demonstrations
occurred throughout the country. Curfews were arbitrarily implemented
during which security forces employed disproportionate use of force,
resulting in some cases of loss of life and acts of vandalism by
protestors. The de facto regime also limited freedom of assembly and
restricted freedom of the press. Most notably, on July 1, September 26,
and October 5, the de facto regime enacted decrees that suspended the
constitution during curfew hours and placed substantial restrictions on
freedom of expression, assembly, and association.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Prior to the June
coup, there were reports that the government or its agents committed
arbitrary or unlawful killings, particularly of youths and children by
vigilante groups that may have included members of the security forces.
Following the June coup, there were reports that the de facto regime or
its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights reported that
between January and November, it received 63 complaints of killings in
which police or military were allegedly involved. The office pressed
charges in some cases. The government has a Special Unit of
Investigation of Child Murders, but the investigative process seldom
identified perpetrators.
Casa Alianza reported through December the killings of 159 minors
under age 18 and of 468 youths between the ages of 19 and 22, compared
with 128 and 416 respectively during 2008. Casa Alianza reported that
more than 50 percent of the killings were committed by unknown
assailants, and a smaller number were attributed to private security
forces, government agents, and gang violence.
Throughout the year several groups and families of juvenile victims
claimed to have provided public prosecutors with evidence of collusion
between police elements and business leaders in perpetrating killings.
While observers linked some killings of high-profile targets, such as
environmentalists, labor leaders, attorneys, and politicians, to
organized crime and narcotics traffickers; other cases appeared
politically motivated.
The following were among the killings reported prior to the June
coup:
On January 18, unknown actors shot and killed Marlene Suyapa
Gavarrete in Rubi de Choloma during the robbery of a convenience store.
Gavarrete had been defense counsel in court cases involving gang
members. An investigation continued at year's end.
On January 24, unknown assailants allegedly carjacked and fatally
shot Rodrigo Eugenio Valladares Pineda, son of former human rights
commissioner Leo Rodrigo Valladares Lanza, as well as Edmund Jeffry
Trochez and Isaiah Nahum Bonilla Escobar. On January 31, police
arrested Norman Gilberto Reyes, an alleged member of a carjacking gang.
At year's end Reyes was awaiting trial.
On February 13, unknown assailants shot and killed Marco Tulio
Velasquez in Santa Rosa de Copan. Tulio was a National Party
congressional candidate from Copan Department. At year's end an
investigation continued.
On February 28, unknown assailants fatally shot environmentalist
Jose Miguel Pagoada Tercero while he was working on land he had helped
reforest in the Hato de Enmedio community. At year's end an
investigation was proceeding.
On March 7, unknown assailants fatally shot in San Pedro Sula
Liberal Party congressional candidate Oscar Heberto Mejia Villafranca,
who was an advisor to the mayor of San Pedro Sula. At year's end an
investigation continued.
On March 22, two unknown persons fatally shot land-rights activist
Miguel Angel Reyes in Cofradia. On April 27, Juan Angel Rivera
Gonzalez, also a land-rights activist from Cofradia, was shot and
killed by unknown persons. Authorities arrested Adan Rodriguez Cabrera
for the killing of Rivera, and an investigation continued at year's
end.
On April 15, unknown gunmen fatally shot Odilio Acosta and Santos
Aguilar of the Campesino Movement of Rigores in Trujillo, Colon. Acosta
and Aguilar had been involved in a land dispute. At year's end there
was no information available regarding an investigation of this
incident.
On June 3, several persons, allegedly impersonating police by
wearing police uniforms, fatally shot Andres Reyes, Marlon Javier
Turcios, Heber Rendon, Felix Omar Mayorquin, Dagner Canales, Santos
Sabillon, Carlos Villatoro, Allan Belis, and Harry Plama in Saba, Colon
Department. The nine victims were employees of landowner Miguel Reyes.
Police reported that the incident may have been linked to drug
trafficking. An investigation continued at year's end.
The following cases were reportedly connected with political unrest
related to the June coup:
On July 5, unknown assailants fatally shot Isis Obed Murillo during
an anticoup demonstration at Toncontin Airport. Human rights NGOs
alleged the bullet that killed Murillo was of the same caliber the
military used. At year's end the Public Ministry was conducting an
investigation and had requested that the military provide those
firearms carried at the airport on July 5. The military reportedly
refused to comply with this request.
On August 1, Roger Vallejo died of gunshot injuries he received
during a July 30 anticoup demonstration in Tegucigalpa. At year's end
the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights was investigating
the incident.
An Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) delegation
that visited the country between August 17 and 21 to assess the human
rights situation, received a complaint that on August 2, a military
official fatally shot in the head Pedro Pablo Hernandez at a military
roadblock during curfew hours in Jamastran. The military later detained
the officer suspected in the shooting. An investigation by the Office
of the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights was pending at year's end.
On September 22, during a curfew in San Pedro Sula, police officer
Denis Omar Montoya reportedly shot and killed 19-year-old Jacobo
Perdomo, who was unarmed and riding his bicycle and failed to obey
Montoya's order to stop. Authorities issued an order for Montoya's
arrest. At year's end Montoya remained at large and an investigation
continued.
On September 22, unknown assailants on a motorcycle reportedly shot
Jairo Sanchez, president of the workers' union at the Institute of
Professional Formation, during an anticoup protest in Tegucigalpa. On
October 17, Sanchez died from injuries he sustained during the
shooting. At year's end authorities were conducting an investigation.
On September 23, the National Investigative Police confirmed that
unknown persons fatally shot Francisco Moncada Alvorado during a police
break-up of an anticoup demonstration in the Flor de Campo neighborhood
in Tegucigalpa. At year's end an investigation was proceeding.
On November 27, unknown assailants reportedly shot at the
automobile of Angel Salgado when he drove through a military roadblock
in Tegucigalpa. Salgado suffered a head wound as a result of the
shooting, lost control of the vehicle, and seriously injured a
bystander. Witnesses reported that members of the security forces
removed all evidence immediately after the incident. Unknown persons
brought Salgado to Teaching Hospital in Tegucigalpa, where he died of
his injuries. At year's end there was no information about any
investigation of the case.
The following cases originated before 2009:
In January police announced that the youth gang responsible for the
April 2008 killing of labor leader Altagracia Fuentes (see section
7.a.) also committed the November 2008 killing of Mario Fernando
Hernandez Bonilla, a Liberal Party congressional deputy and a
congressional vice president. On January 19, authorities issued arrest
warrants for four members of the gang in relation to the killings. At
year's end the suspects remained at large.
There were no known developments in relation to the August 2008
killing of 11 persons involved in a land dispute between relatives of
police official Henry Osortes and the Aguan Campesino Movement (MCA).
At year's end authorities arrested Julio Cesar Galan Rodriguez for
the June 2008 killing in Trujillo of Irene Ramirez, a member of the
MCA.
There were no new developments, and none were expected, in the
investigation into the July 2008 killing of Shamir Guifarro Ramirez,
Henry Arturo Chacon, and Nelda Ochoa--the son, father-in-law, and
mother-in-law, respectively, of environmentalist Mario Guifarro, who
was killed in 2007.
In March police arrested Amilcar Antonio Hernandez for the October
2008 killing of land-rights activist and community leader Elias Murcia.
At year's end Hernandez was in prison and awaiting trial. There was no
further information regarding the status of the cases of Fredi Osorto
and Ubence Aguilar, who were killed with Elias Murcia in October 2008.
There were no developments in the investigation of the November
2008 killing of Danilo Edgardo Castro Hernandez, La Lima vice mayoral
candidate, or the November 2008 killing of Julio Cesar Padilla, Liberal
Party mayoral candidate for Morazan.
There were no new developments, and none were expected, regarding
the 2007 killing of Garifuna leader Felix Ordonez Suaze in Punta
Piedras, Colon Department.
There were no further developments, and none were expected,
regarding an investigation of the 2007 killing of Regional Red Cross
president Jose Raul Carranza Soto in Puerto Cortes. Carlos Alberto
Navas Gonzalez, the only known suspect, remained in prison on a
separate conviction.
At year's end four police officers, who were awaiting trial for the
2006 killing of environmentalists Heraldo Zuniga and Roger Murillo,
remained at large after escaping from prison in 2008.
At year's end the prosecutor was considering appealing a court's
decision to acquit Italo Ivan Lemus Santos for the 1998 killing of
environmentalist Carlos Luna.
On February 4, the Supreme Court sentenced Efrain Ordonez to 32
years in prison for the 1997 kidnapping and murder of Ricardo Ernesto
Maduro Andreu.
On May 6, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found the
government responsible for the 1995 murder in Tela of environmental
activist Blanca Jeanette Kawas Fernandez. The court ordered the
government to pay the Kawas family reparations of $105,000 in U.S.
currency within one year of the ruling. The court also ordered that
within two years of the ruling the government conduct a national
campaign to create awareness and sensitivity regarding the importance
of environmentalists' work and their contribution to the protection of
human rights. At year's end the government had not responded to the
court's ruling.
On May 8, the Office of the Forensic Medicine Department of the
Honduran National Police (HNP) discovered the remains of Edwin
Palacios, who was kidnapped in 2007. On June 18, inmates Elmer Orellano
and Alexander Reyes, charged with murdering Palacios, along with two
gang member inmates, escaped from a San Pedro Sula prison where they
were incarcerated. At year's end Orellano, Reyes, and the two other
escaped prisoners remained at large.
Violent crime continued to fuel the growth of private unlicensed
security guard services and vigilante groups that allegedly patrolled
neighborhoods and municipalities to deter crime. Human rights
organizations asserted that some citizen security councils
(neighborhood protection groups), as well as private security
companies, with ties to former and current military or police
officials, acted with the complicity of police as vigilantes or death
squads to use lethal force against supposed habitual criminals.
b. Disappearance.--There were reports of politically motivated and
other disappearances. Some disappearances, including those involving
disappearances of minors, were thought to be criminally motivated
abductions, and others were attributed to voluntary acts of persons
leaving the country for employment elsewhere or to escape death
threats. Police reported investigating 111 cases of kidnapping during
the year.
On March 31, the government announced 13 measures to combat
kidnapping for ransom, including blocking cell phone calls from jails
as a means to stop criminal gang inmates from arranging kidnappings. At
year's end a cell phone blocking program operated at the Dr. Marco A.
Soto National Penitentiary.
On March 15, unknown actors kidnapped Bernardo Rivera Paz, a
retired journalist and former Liberal Party deputy. On July 9,
authorities found his remains in Florida, Copan Department. At year's
end an investigation continued.
There were no known developments in the October 2008 disappearance
of Jose Alfredo Guevera, Carlos Lazo, and Hector Herrera.
On September 1, the Public Ministry reported that officers at the
La Lima, Cortes police station had used for almost one year, without
informing their superiors, a vehicle belonging to public defender Juan
Bautista Vargas, who disappeared in 2008. At year's end Vargas'
whereabouts were unknown.
The National Reparations Program, created by government decree in
2008, did not operate during the year due to court-granted injunctions
initiated by private parties questioning the program's legality,
particularly in relation to proposed reparations payments for human
rights violations to Berta Oliva, president of the NGO Committee of the
Family of Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH), and
Ppresidential Aadvisor Milton Jimenez.
On May 19, a judge ordered the former head of Batallion 3-16,
Alexander Hernandez, to house arrest pending further investigation into
his alleged involvement in the 1983 disappearance of Nelson Mackey. On
July 2, a court granted without explanation early release for former
army lieutenant Wilfredo Leva Cabrera in relation to his sentence of
80-years' imprisonment for several crimes, including the murder of
Mackey.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices,
there were instances in which the police and military employed them,
including police beatings and other abuse of detainees and political
protestors.
There were allegations of nonlethal abuse of force and serious
physical assaults by the police and military against anticoup
protesters in connection with the political conflict following the June
coup.
The following are representative examples of these allegations:
The IACHR delegation reported receiving complaints from more than
100 persons alleging that during anticoup demonstrations, police used
disproportionate force resulting in physical injuries to protesters.
The HNP reported receiving between June 29 and August 15, 31 complaints
of persons injured by police during political demonstrations.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights in San Pedro
Sula reported filing charges between June 28 and October 11 against 13
police officers in four cases involving unlawful detention and physical
abuse of anticoup protestors. Authorities issued an arrest warrant for
police officer Delmi Yamileth Martinez for aggravated illegal detention
and torture for allegedly using pepper spray and threatening to kill
anticoup demonstrator Antonia Coello on August 12, in San Pedro Sula.
At year's end an investigation continued, and Martinez was at large.
On July 30, police struck with a baton independent presidential
candidate Carlos H. Reyes during an anticoup political demonstration in
Tegucigalpa. Reyes fell 15 feet over a retaining wall and suffered a
broken arm. At year's end there was no information available regarding
an investigation of the incident.
On August 14, four police officers reportedly raped a woman in a
remote location after detaining her for participating in an anticoup
political demonstration that same day in Choloma, Cortes Department.
The victim alleged that at least one of the officers stated that she
was ``getting what she deserved'' for participating in something in
which she should not have been involved. At year's end the Office of
the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights in San Pedro Sula was
investigating the incident.
On October 7, a member of the security forces reportedly beat on
the head, kicked, and shot and injured with rubber bullets 18-year-old
Garifuna Luis Norales during an anticoup political demonstration in
Tegucigalpa. After hospital treatment for his injuries, Norales filed a
complaint with COFADEH. At year's end there was no information
regarding an investigation by authorities concerning the matter.
The following cases began before 2009:
On September 9, a court found Marvin Javier Martinez Bermudez and
Jose Santiago Lopez Villalobo guilty of murder in the 2007 killing of
Judge Alba Leticia Bueso. At year's end Martinez Bermudez and Lopez
Villalobo remained in custody pending sentencing. There was no further
information regarding the whereabouts of the other two suspects, Ruben
Antonio Pineda Hernandez and Olvin Alexander Lopez Moreno, who remained
at large.
At year's end one police officer had been charged for unlawful
detention and was awaiting trial in the 2007 case against five police
officers for torture and illegal detention of several members of the
NGO Lesbian-Gay Rainbow Association of Comayaguela.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh, and prison security was poor. However, there were some
improvements. Human rights groups reported that prisoners suffered from
severe overcrowding, malnutrition, and lack of adequate sanitation. The
ready access of prisoners to weapons and other contraband, impunity for
inmate attacks against nonviolent prisoners, inmate escapes, and
threats by inmates and their associates outside prisons against prison
officials and their families contributed to an unstable and dangerous
penitentiary system environment.
Prisoners were subject to various abuses, including rape by other
inmates. Authorities did not provide adequate food or other basic
necessities. Prisoners continued to escape through bribery or other
means. Human rights organizations reported that prisoners were tortured
or otherwise abused in, or on their way to, prisons and other detention
facilities.
Prison disturbances, primarily due to harsh conditions and
intergang violence, occurred in the larger facilities of San Pedro
Sula, Tamara, and Choluteca. Between January and September, 30
prisoners had reportedly been killed while incarcerated, in most cases
due to rival gang violence.
Prison authorities attempted to hold prisoners from rival gangs in
different facilities or in different areas of the same prison to reduce
intergang violence, as well as violence against nongang inmates.
Persons with mental illnesses, as well as those with tuberculosis
and other infectious diseases, were held among the general prison
population. Human rights organizations charged that prison officials
used excessive force against prisoners, including beatings, as well as
isolation and threats. There were credible reports that security
officials condoned rapes and other physical assaults on homosexual
detainees.
On January 19, the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Human
Rights asked the Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of
women detained at the National Women's Penitentiary of Social
Adaptation, based on assertions that prison officials engaged in
inhumane conduct when punishing inmates. The court denied the request
for a writ, based on a lack of evidence.
On March 27, authorities charged former prison directors Leonel
Ramos Andino and Luis Trochez Pineda with abuse of authority relating
to a 2007 incident in which Andino and Trochez Pineda reportedly
authorized extended permission for prisoners to leave the Marco Aurelio
Soto National Penitentiary. At year's end there were no developments
regarding the case.
On April 20, prisoners exploded a grenade at the Marco Aurelio Soto
National Penitentiary, killing three inmates and injuring 16 others. At
year's end there were no developments regarding the case.
Several prison officials, including Wilfredo Maradiaga Oseguera and
Aldo Rodolfo Oliva Rodriguez, were under investigation for abusing
their authority and permitting prisoners illegal furlough privileges.
At year's end there were no developments regarding the investigation.
There was one juvenile prison in Tamara that operated under the
supervision of the Honduran Institute of the Child and Family. During
the year the Tamara facility held 76 male and 21 female juvenile
inmates.
Female prisoners generally were held in separate facilities under
conditions similar to those of male prisoners but, unlike their male
counterparts, did not have conjugal visit privileges. At certain lower-
security prisons, women were held with the general population. Children
up to age two were permitted to stay with their mothers in prison.
Pretrial detainees generally were held together with convicted
prisoners. Minors were sometimes held together with adults.
Prison overcrowding remained a problem. Judges tended to place
minors in detention centers in the absence of other educational or
reform programs. The government generally permitted prison visits by
independent local and international human rights observers, and such
visits occurred during the year. The International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) visited prisons and jails during the year. These visits
were in accordance with ICRC standard procedures and practices.
In 2008 the Ministry of Security undertook a major prison reform
program involving the construction of new facilities to reduce
overcrowding, separate the most dangerous prisoners from nonviolent
offenders, and promote rehabilitation. Authorities moved 400 prisoners
from a 90-inmate capacity facility into a new prison in Julticalpa,
Olancho, which had a 600-inmate capacity. The Office of the Director of
the National Women's Penitentiary developed in 2008 a modern inmate
classification and evaluation system and used NGO support for
rehabilitation and education programs. The reforms reportedly reduced
violence within the women's facility.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, but authorities at times
failed to enforce these prohibitions effectively. At times police
arrested persons based on factors such as forms of dress, types of
tattoos, and political beliefs.
There were allegations of arbitrary arrest and detention in
connection with the June coup. Between June 28 and October, the Office
of the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights in San Pedro Sula filed
charges against police officers in four cases involving unlawful
detention, abuse, and in one case, torture.
On June 30, the de facto regime instituted decree 011-2009, which
establishes curfew hours; substantially restricted freedom of assembly,
association, and movement; and permits police to arrest and detain for
24 hours persons found in public places and to search homes without
warrants. On September 26, the de facto regime enacted decree 016-2009,
which substantially restricts freedom of expression, assembly, and
movement. On October 17, the de facto regime abrogated decree 016-2009.
Decree 011-2009 remained in force at year's end.
During its August 17-21 visit, the IACHR delegation found a number
of human rights abuses, including a pattern of disproportionate use of
force by government security forces and arbitrary detentions. The
delegation reported receiving information asserting that between June
28 and August 21, the security forces arbitrarily detained between
3,500 and 4,000 persons during anticoup demonstrations. The HNP
reported that between June 29 and August 15, it arrested 213 persons
for crimes committed during political demonstrations and that 37 of
those arrested were indicted for various offenses, including sedition,
terrorism, illicit demonstration, and vandalism.
The HNP reported that between June 29 and August 1, it arrested
3,430 persons for curfew violations. Although some persons were charged
with acts of vandalism, in many cases security forces reportedly did
not provide due process and arrested persons without probable cause.
Amnesty International and other human rights organizations reported
that some arresting officers told detainees that they had been arrested
and detained for their political views.
On September 11, authorities arrested in La Ceiba and charged with
sedition congressional candidate Rene Chavez, reportedly for
participating in anticoup protests. A few days later a judge dropped
all charges and released Chavez.
On September 22, security forces reportedly arrested approximately
150 anticoup protestors near the Embassy of Brazil for violating a
curfew and detained them at the Chochi Sosa stadium in Tegucigalpa.
However, police records did not indicate that any of the persons
detained at the stadium had been formally arrested, and all 150
detainees were released within 24 hours of their arrest.
There were no further developments in the investigation of the
September 2008 unlawful detention of Mario Alvarez, Nelson Alvarez,
Heliodoro Amador, and Alonso Andino, land-rights activists with the
Union and Strength Campesino Association in the town of Suntule,
Francisco Morazan Department.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
Security oversees police operations, including those of the HNP,
Criminal Investigation Division (DGIC), Transit Police, Frontier
Police, Tourist Police, and Prison Police. Corruption and impunity were
serious problems within the security forces.
The Office of Internal Affairs in the Ministry of Security (IA) is
charged with investigating allegations of illegal activities committed
by members of the police. However, the IA's effectiveness in vetting
officers was substantially impeded following the June coup. The HNP and
the DGIC each have an office of professional responsibility that
conducts internal reviews of police misconduct.
On July 23, the de facto regime implemented executive decree 001-
2009, which remained in effect at year's end, that requires the
Ministry of Defense and the army and all its personnel and resources to
assist the HNP to prevent, control, and fight against crime, including
detaining protesters committing illegal acts, as determined and ordered
by either a prosecutor or judge with the intention of protecting
individuals and property. The Public Ministry had difficulty
investigating security force abuses because in many cases, police were
tasked with investigating crimes committed by fellow officers.
At year's end there was no information regarding any investigation
of a September 2008 incident during which two plainclothes police
officers, who had infiltrated an Autonomous National University of
Honduras union meeting, were carrying a list of civil society leaders
identified as ``dangerous.'' The list included the crossed-out name of
slain labor leader Altagracia Fuentes with the written word ``dead''
next to her name (see section 7.a.).
During the year the National Police Academy provided 60 hours of
human rights training to all active police officers. Before the June
coup, the Ministry of Security coordinated with civil society groups to
train police and prison officials on human rights. There was no
information available regarding police training following the June
coup.
Gang violence and intimidation, notably on public transport,
remained serious problems and led the government to station security
officers on many public buses. Sometimes police lethally targeted youth
and minors, often with impunity.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Prior to the
June coup, the law provided that police could arrest a person only with
a court order, unless the arrest is by order of a prosecutor, made
during the commission of a crime, made when there is strong suspicion
that a person has committed a crime and may try to evade criminal
prosecution, or made when the person is caught with evidence related to
a crime. The law prior to the coup required police to inform a person
of the grounds for arrest and bring a detainee before a competent
authority within 24 hours. The prosecutor had 24 hours to decide if
there was probable cause for an indictment, and a judge then had 24
hours to decide whether to issue a temporary detention order that could
last up to six days, by which time the judge had to hold a pretrial
hearing to examine probable cause and make a decision on whether
pretrial detention should continue. The law provided for bail for
persons charged with felonies and the right of prisoners to prompt
access to family members. Although the law also provided for prisoners
to have the right of prompt access to a lawyer of their choice and, if
indigent, to state-provided counsel, these requirements were not always
followed.
On June 30, the de facto regime enacted decree 011-2009 that
suspends a number of civil rights during curfew hours and permits
police to arrest and hold for 24 hours persons found in public places
after curfew. On September 26, the de facto regime enacted decree 016-
2009 permitting detention of persons who violated curfews or whom the
police and military suspected had injured persons, damaged property, or
joined together to plan unlawful activities (see section 1.d.).
Lengthy pretrial detention was a serious problem. The law mandates
the release from prison of any detainee whose case has not come to
trial and whose time in detention exceeds the maximum prison sentence
for the crime of which he is accused. Judicial inefficiency and
corruption and lack of sufficient resources delayed proceedings in the
criminal justice system.
As a result of trial delays, many pretrial detainees already had
served time in prison equivalent to the maximum allowable for the crime
for which they were accused. Many prisoners remained in jail after
being acquitted or having completed their sentences due to the failure
of officials to process their releases.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and the
law provide for an independent judiciary, the judicial system was
poorly funded and staffed, inadequately equipped, often ineffective,
and subject to patronage, corruption, and political influence.
Low wages and lack of internal controls rendered judicial officials
susceptible to bribery, and powerful special interests exercised
influence in the outcomes of court proceedings.
The criminal court system is made up of 12 appeals courts, 77
courts of first instance with general jurisdiction, and 330 justice of
the peace courts with limited jurisdiction. The Supreme Court of
Justice names all lower court judges.
Judges allegedly were subject to administrative punishment,
including loss of pay, and changes in position due to their political
beliefs and legal decisions. On August 16, Tegucigalpa criminal court
judge Maritza Arita reported that her supervisors ordered her to take
15 days of unrequested paid vacation after she provisionally released
three demonstrators who had been arrested on charges of vandalism and
terrorism during an August 11 anticoup demonstration. In September
authorities transferred Arita to work at a civil court, and she
reportedly received death threats in relation to her August provisional
release decision.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair public
trial, permits defendants to confront or question witnesses, present
witnesses and evidence on their behalf, and provides defendants access
to government-held evidence relevant to their cases. Although the law
recognizes that the accused is presumed innocent and has the right to
an initial hearing by a judge, to bail, to consult with legal counsel
in a timely manner, to have a lawyer provided by the state if
necessary, and a right to appeal, these rights frequently were not
observed.
Although the law prohibits cases from proceeding where a suspect
lacks legal representation, the government allocated minimal resources
to the prosecutors. As a result the public defender was not able to
meet the demand for legal assistance to those unable to afford
representation.
Throughout the year common challenges to criminal prosecutions
included a lack of credible evidence presented by the prosecution, lack
of witness protection, widespread public distrust in the legal system,
and judicial corruption.
On June 28, military officials and police executed a Supreme Court-
issued sealed arrest warrant against President Zelaya, ordering the
president to be detained and placed before a judge. However, the
military forcibly placed the president on an aircraft and flew him into
exile without the right to a public trial or self defense. On June 29,
the de facto regime forcibly removed from the country Foreign Minister
Patricia Rodas (see section 2.d.).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were reports of arbitrary
detentions for political reasons following the June coup. At year's end
there was no information regarding the number of political detainees or
whether the de facto regime permitted access to such persons on a
regular basis by international humanitarian organizations.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, including access to a court
to seek damages for a cessation of a human rights violation. A litigant
can bring such charges when the criminal court determines that damages
may be sought.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Although the constitution and law generally prohibit
such actions, a legal exception allows entry into a private residence
at any time in the event of an emergency or to prevent the commission
of a crime. There continued to be credible charges that police
occasionally failed to obtain the required authorization before
entering a private home.
On June 30, the de facto regime enacted decree 011-2009, which
permits police to search homes without warrants during curfews, and on
September 26 enacted decree 016-2009, which also limited the right to
privacy (see section 1.d.).
On July 13, Liberal Party Congresswoman Margarita Zelaya reported
that military officers entered her home without a search warrant.
Zelaya alleged that the de facto regime undertook this action to
intimidate her because she was the cousin of President Zelaya. At
year's end there were no further developments regarding an
investigation.
Garifuna and other ethnic minority rights leaders continued to
complain that the government failed to redress previous actions by
private and public security forces that dislodged farmers and
indigenous groups who claimed ownership of lands based on land reform
laws or ancestral titles to property (see section 6).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and the law
generally provide for freedom of speech and of the press. However,
particularly following the June coup, there were reports of government
intimidation of journalists, government takeovers of television
transmission frequencies, and journalistic self-censorship.
Following the June coup, the de facto regime used decrees and other
measures to restrict freedom of expression. The IACHR reported that
through these measures the de facto regime engaged in serious
restrictions on freedom of expression, which generated an atmosphere of
intimidation. Although there were no reports that international media
were prohibited from operating freely, international news channels
using cable service providers experienced transmission interruptions
following the June coup, particularly when broadcasting communications
by President Zelaya or members of his administration.
A small number of powerful business magnates with intersecting
commercial, political, and family ties owned most of the country's news
media. The government and, following the June coup, the de facto regime
influenced media coverage by granting or denying access to government
officials, which linked the media to the political system and increased
the influence of newspaper owners on the news agenda and political
decisions.
On February 1, police detained La Tribuna newspaper reporter Martin
Ramirez after he took photographs at the scene of an automobile
accident. On May 27, a judge issued arrest warrants and charged
officers Dora Elvira Rivera Zuniga, Leonardo Rerrufino, and Walter
Castellanos of DGIC with illegal detention and abuse of authority for
detaining Ramirez. The three officers were later released on bail and
at year's end were awaiting trial.
On March 31, unknown actors in San Pedro Sula fatally shot Radio
Cadena Voces correspondent Rafael Munguia while he was in his
automobile. Human rights organizations alleged that he was killed for
his reporting on gangs and organized crime. At year's end an
investigation continued.
On April 12, unknown gunmen attempted to kill reporter and owner of
television station Telemaya Channel 12 Carlos Roberto Chinchilla near
San Nicolas, Copan. In 2008 masked gunmen made death threats against
Chinchilla and his cameraman, Marlon Dubon, warning them to leave San
Nicholas or be killed. At year's end an investigation continued.
Following the June coup, there were violent acts and other forms of
intimidation against media outlets and journalists, including the
following:
On June 28, the military entered the offices of Cable Color,
Channel 8, television stations Channel 11 and Channel 36, and radio
stations Radio Progreso and Radio Globo and censored or blocked their
transmissions. Most of these stations were able to resume broadcasting
within three or four days. Unknown actors made threats against Radio
Globo, and on August 23, masked individuals poured a corrosive chemical
on the transmission equipment of Radio Globo and Channel 36. On
September 28, the de facto regime closed Radio Globo and Channel 36,
pursuant to decree 016-2009 restricting freedom of expression and other
civil liberties. The security forces confiscated and damaged
transmission and other equipment at both stations. Radio Globo and
Channel 36 were allowed to reopen on October 17, after the de facto
regime abrogated decree 016-2009(see section 1.d.). A Public Ministry
investigation regarding the legality of the decree and the security
force's actions against Radio Globo was pending at year's end.
On June 30, unknown actors threw a grenade at the offices of Radio
America in Tegucigalpa. On July 8 and 16 and August 31, unknown actors
cut Radio America transmission wires in Tegucigalpa, Marcala, and
Olanchito.
On July 3, two masked assailants in Atlantida Department fatally
shot radio journalist Gabriel Fino Noriega. On July 22, the Office of
the National Commissioner for Human Rights reported that the killing
was not related to political unrest arising out of the coup. Human
rights NGOs alleged, however, that prior to his killing Fino received
death threats for covering anticoup activities. The Office of the
Special Prosecutor for Human Rights was conducting an investigation at
year's end.
On July 4, unknown actors threw grenades at the office of Channel
11 and the national newspaper El Tiempo in San Pedro Sula. On July 5
and September 12, unknown perpetrators threw incendiary devices at the
offices of Channel 11. On November 4, unknown actors threw a hand
grenade onto the roof of the Honduran Radio Network building in
Tegucigalpa. One journalist was injured by the explosion.
In July Carlos Mauricio Flores, an editor for El Heraldo newspaper,
which disseminated reports supporting the de facto regime, received a
death threat via text message. On August 15, unidentified perpetrators
attacked with five molotov cocktails the Tegucigalpa office of El
Heraldo. There was no information available regarding any
investigations of these incidents.
On October 5, the de facto regime published executive agreement
124-2009, which permits the National Telecommunications Commission
(CONATEL) to revoke or cancel the permits or licenses for media that
broadcast messages that defend national hate, damage to property, or
social anarchy against the democratic state. At year's end decree 124-
2009 remained in force.
On December 5, two masked persons entered an Internet cafe where El
Libertador newspaper was operating temporarily in Tegucigalpa,
threatened employees with firearms, and took a computer and camera.
There was no information available about an investigation of this
incident.
On December 9, the IACHR expressed ``deep concern regarding the
constant interferences against the transmission'' of Channel 36 during
its main news program, noting it was the sixth occasion the commission
had publicly complained about ``different attacks against journalists
and media outlets'' in the country.
On December 15, unknown assailants shot at the automobile of
procoup television journalist Karol Cabrera, killing her 16-year-old
pregnant daughter Catherine, who was a passenger, and Catherine's
unborn child. At year's end authorities were conducting an
investigation of the incident.
On December 15, the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights filed an
indictment with the Supreme Court to bring charges against de facto
regime head of CONATEL Miguel Rodas and others for abuse of authority
in relation to the September 28 forced closure of Channel 36 and Radio
Globo. At year's end the case was proceeding. Channel 36 continued to
experience unknown signal interference for the remainder of the year.
Before the June coup, the government gave substantial sums of money
to selected members of the media who covered their stories in the
manner they requested. The de facto regime reportedly continued this
practice. The government exerted considerable influence on the print
media through granting or withholding publicly funded official
advertisements.
The news media continued to suffer from venality, politicization,
and outside influence. According to NGOs, high-ranking officials
obtained press silence through hiring journalists as public affairs
assistants at high salaries and paid journalists to investigate or
suppress news stories.
Some media members claimed that when they attempted to report in
depth on national politicians or official corruption, they were
occasionally denied access to information by the government and, after
the June coup, the de facto regime.
On June 9, a court released German David Almendarez, citing
insufficient evidence after he served 11 months in prison for the 2007
killing of Radio Cadena Voces journalist Carlos Salgado.
On February 12, a court sentenced Walter Urbina and Edgardo Zuniga
Salgado to 17 years in prison for their role in the 2001 death of
journalist Aristides Soto.
Internet Freedom.--Prior to the June coup, there were no government
restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that the government
monitored e-mail or Internet chat rooms. In general individuals and
groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the
Internet, including by e-mail. Following the June coup, media outlet
Radio Globo reported that its Web site was taken offline on a number of
occasions. There were approximately nine Internet users per 1,000
inhabitants, and lack of infrastructure in rural areas greatly limited
access for many persons.
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,
which the government of President Zelaya generally respected.
The de facto regime issued decrees 011-2009 and 016-2009, with the
effect of substantially restricting the right of peaceful assembly,
association, and movement (see section 1.d.). International human
rights organizations asserted that both decrees violated the
constitution.
Although most political protests following the June coup were
reportedly peaceful, some protests ended violently. The HNP stated that
between June 29 and August 15, 11 police officers and 18 members of the
military were injured due to confrontations with anticoup
demonstrators. Demonstrations involved rock throwing, burning of tires,
and vandalism of businesses. Other general violence following the June
coup included the detonation of small explosive devices at the bar
association, and the headquarters of the Liberal Party and the pro-
Zelaya Popular Bloque movement.
There were a number of reported cases where the de facto regime
used excessive force to impede freedom of peaceful assembly. For
example, NGOs alleged that during a July 24 anticoup demonstration at
the Las Manos border crossing, security forces used disproportionate
force to quash the protest. Herman Valladares reported to the IACHR
delegation that police physically assaulted him while he was protesting
peacefully at the Las Manos demonstration. At year's end there were no
further developments regarding an investigation.
On August 12, anticoup protesters kicked, pushed to the ground, and
verbally assaulted procoup Third Vice President of the National
Congress Ramon Velasquez Nazar as he exited the Congress. During
subsequent clashes between police and demonstrations that same day,
anticoup Congressman Marvin Ponce's suffered a broken arm.
On September 21, HNP and military forces reportedly injured 30
demonstrators while removing with force between 500 and 1,000 anticoup
protesters in front of the Embassy of Brazil in Tegucigalpa, where
President Zelaya had taken refuge. On September 22, the IACHR stated
that it ``strongly condemns the excessive use of force in the
repression of protests'' that occurred near the embassy.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and the law generally
provided for freedom of association, and prior to the June coup the
government of President Zelaya generally respected this right in
practice. The criminal association law, however, prohibits illicit
association and prescribes prison terms of three to 12 years. For
several years, human rights organizations continued to criticize the
law and its implementation as an undue restriction on the right to
associate freely. Gay-rights advocacy groups expressed concerns that
the law could be used to criminalize social activities and
organizations of the sexual minority community. The government used
criminal code reforms outlawing illicit association to arrest and take
land away from suspected gang members, farmers, and persons from
indigenous communities.
Decree 011-2009 suspends freedom of association under penalty of
arrest during curfew hours. Decree 016-2009, implemented on September
17, placed severe restrictions on freedom of assembly (see section
1.d.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice. The government requires foreign missionaries to obtain entry
and residence permits.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were reports of
discrimination or violence against religious groups, including anti-
Semitic acts. On July 4, Roman Catholic Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez
reported that after publicly suggesting that the June coup was a
constitutional transfer of power, unknown actors made threats against
his life and threatened to burn down the cathedral in Tegucigalpa.
Demonstrators painted political graffiti on the walls of church
property. Auxiliary Bishop Juan Jose Pineda Fasquelle reported that
after the Catholic Bishops Conference issued a July 4 pastoral letter
regarding the June coup, unknown actors made 47 death threats against
him.
On September 25, journalist David Romero asserted on a Radio Globo
transmission that Israel and the Jews had supported the coup and that
Hitler should have been allowed to ``finish his historic vision.''
Romero later told media that his comments were in error, that they did
not reflect his actual views, and that his grandfather was Jewish.
Radio Globo owner Alejandro Villatoro stated that he would not take
action against Romero in relation to the anti-Semitic statements
because there was no law to punish those comments. President Zelaya
issued a public statement that he respected all religions. The de facto
regime did not make a statement regarding Romero's comments. In
response to concerns about the safety of their members, the Jewish
community, which numbered approximately 1,000 persons, constructed a
protection wall around the San Pedro Sula synagogue.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. The de facto regime implemented several decrees that limited
movement within the country.
Prior to the June coup, the government cooperated with the Office
of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian
organizations in providing protection and assistance to internally
displaced persons, refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers,
stateless persons, and other persons of interest. There was no
information available about the de facto regime's cooperation with the
UNHCR.
The constitution prohibits forced exile. On June 28, the military
removed President Zelaya from his home and forced him into exile in
Costa Rica. On June 29, the military forced Foreign Minister Patricia
Rodas to board an aircraft and transported her to exile in Mexico.
On July 5, President Zelaya attempted to return to the country by
aircraft; however, the military placed obstacles on the runway at
Toncontin Airport and prevented his landing.
On July 24, the military set up approximately 20 checkpoints
between the city of El Paraiso and the Las Manos border crossing into
Nicaragua and reportedly prohibited demonstrators from leaving the
border area during a 24 hour curfew.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol.
Its laws provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and
prior to the June coup, the government had established a system for
providing protection to refugees. In practice the government of
President Zelaya provided protection against the expulsion or return of
refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened
on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular
social group, or political opinion.
At year's end there was no information available regarding the
government detention in November 2008 of eight South African citizens
holding false passports, who later filed for asylum.
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. Prior to the June coup, citizens exercised
this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held
on the basis of nearly universal suffrage. The law does not permit
active members of the clergy and of the military and civilian security
forces to vote. On June 28, the military and police executed a Supreme
Court-issued sealed arrest warrant against President Zelaya, ordering
the president to be detained. Military officials and police forcibly
placed the president on an aircraft and flew him into exile without the
right to a public trial or right to self defense. On June 28, the
Congress named Congress President Roberto Micheletti as the new leader
of the country. The action in Congress was based on a resignation
letter by President Zelaya that he denied signing.
Elections and Political Participation.--On November 29, voters
elected Porfirio Lobo of the National Party for a four-year
presidential term, in elections that were considered by international
observers to be generally free and fair. Security forces broke up an
anticoup protest on November 29, but there were no reports of
widespread violence or that voters were unable to cast ballots or
intimidated.
There were some reported instances of violence in the weeks leading
up to the November elections. For example, on September 6, security
forces reported that a number of persons were detained or injured
during a protest at a public appearance by liberal party presidential
candidate Elvin Santos. However, presidential candidates generally were
able to campaign freely.
Political parties could operate without restriction or outside
interference. Women participated actively in politics. Women held 31 of
128 seats in the National Congress. Twenty-seven women were alternate
members of congress. Five women sat on the 13-member executive board of
congress, and 16 women presided over congressional committees. Prior to
the June coup, there were three female secretaries of state; 10 women
holding positions as ministers, directors, or representatives of
executive-level departments; one female general police commissioner;
and five female ambassadors.
There were two Garifuna and one Lenca members of the National
Congress.
In the month before the June coup, there was significant
controversy over the legality of a public opinion poll proposed by the
executive branch that would have asked whether in the general elections
a question would be added about holding a constituent national assembly
to produce a new constitution. Some groups believed that the
constituent assembly was unconstitutional and represented a means for
President Zelaya to eliminate constitutionally mandated term limits and
remain in office beyond his four-year term. On May 28, the Office of
the National Commissioner of Human Rights publicly denounced efforts by
the executive branch to obligate each civil service employee to gather
40 signatures in favor of the public opinion poll. Also on May 28, an
administrative court judge abrogated the president's decree ordering
the June 28 public opinion poll. The judge instructed all government
agencies to suspend all publicity and logistical activities associated
with the poll. This decision was upheld by an appellate court ruling on
June 16 and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal on June 25.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for corruption; however, the
government of President Zelaya did not implement the law effectively,
and officials engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. The World
Bank's governance indicators reflected that government corruption was a
serious problem. Governmental institutions were subject to corruption
and political influence.
There was a widespread perception that the country's anticorruption
institutions had not taken the steps necessary to combat corruption and
were unwilling or lacked the professional capacity to investigate,
arrest, and prosecute those involved in high-level corruption. The law
provides criminal penalties for corruption; however, the government of
President Zelaya did not implement the law effectively, and officials
engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.
Following the June coup, the de facto regime actively sought to
bring corruption charges against President Zelaya and members of his
administration. There was no information available regarding the status
of corruption during the period of the de facto regime.
Individuals engaged in detecting corruption faced intimidation. On
April 6, the IACHR requested that the government take all measures
necessary to protect the life of Ines Yadira Cubero Gonzalez, the
victim of a March 16 attempted shooting, reportedly due to her work as
president of the Commission of Transparency and Anticorruption in San
Pedro Sula. The IACHR issued the request because the government had not
provided protection to Cubero Gonzalez, even though she had requested
protection and reported the March 16 incident to the Office of the
Public Prosecutor.
On July 2, authorities arrested Marcelo Chimirri, the former head
of the state-owned telephone company, Hondutel, and charged him with
embezzlement involving alleged bribes paid to Hondutel officials. On
August 22, authorities brought corruption charges against Hondutel
auditor Jose Daniel Flores. At year's end the cases against Chimirri
and Flores continued.
On July 5, the Public Ministry issued an arrest warrant for the
Zelaya administration's secretary of the presidency, Enrique Flores
Lanza, charging him with abuse of authority for allegedly withdrawing
on June 24, 40 million lempiras ($2 million) from the central bank. On
July 5, the Public Ministry issued an arrest warrant for Edwin Araque,
president of the Central Bank under President Zelaya, for usurping a
government position in relation to Flores Lanza's alleged June 24
withdrawal of funds.
On July 22, a judge issued arrest warrants for Zelaya
administration Executive Vice President Aristides Mejia, Finance
Minister Rebeca Santos, and head of the state energy company Rixi
Ramona Moncada Godoy. The three were charged with abuse of authority
relating to allegations of an unlawful contract for a new building for
the energy company. At year's end there was no further information
available regarding this case.
Prior to the June coup, the government allowed access to public
information for citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media
through the Institute for the Access to Public Information (IAIP),
which operated a Web site for citizens to request information from
government agencies. On March 13, El Heraldo reported that IAIP was
attempting to ensure the executive branch posted public financial
information on its Web site as required under the transparency and
access to information law.
On January 6, the Public Ministry announced it had reopened the
April 2008 case involving a network trafficking Cuban immigrants
through the country. At year's end authorities had not made any arrests
or announced any suspects.
There was no further information regarding any developments in the
August 2008 corruption case of Guillermo Seaman, who was awaiting trial
on charges of approving fraudulent airline employee certifications.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
operated in the country, investigating and publishing their findings on
human rights cases. Prior to the June coup, government officials
generally cooperated with NGOs and, with certain notable exceptions,
were usually responsive to NGO views.
On August 11, police detained human rights advocate Alex Matamoros
after he attempted to speak to police about the arrest of student Jose
Elcer Sabillon during an anticoup protest. On August 12, police
released Matamoros without charges.
On August 12, civil society groups alleged that a member of the
security forces hit with a baton and threw to the ground human rights
defenders Dina Meza and Leyla Elisa Diaz, who were filming the arrest
of a an anticoup protester in front of the congress building in
Tegucigalpa.
There was no further information regarding the April 2008 killing
by unidentified gunmen of Luis Gustavo Galeano Romero, an educator and
promoter for the Tocoa, Colon Department, delegation for CONADEH.
On March 19, a Tegucigalpa court sentenced Cesar Damian Amador and
Ramon Eusebio Solis to 21 years each for the 2006 murder of Association
for a More Just Society lawyer Dionisio Diaz Garcia.
In July the IACHR criticized the forced removal and exile of
President Zelaya and the forced exile of Foreign Minister Patricia
Rodas. The commission expressed serious concern about the de facto
regime's implementation of an executive decree limiting freedom of
movement, assembly, and expression during curfew hours. The commission
also called on the de facto regime to provide precautionary measures to
protect 50 persons, including Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas.
Following its August visit to the country, the IACHR delegation
issued an interim report documenting a number of human rights
violations, including disproportionate use of force by police,
arbitrary detention of thousands of persons, arbitrary application of
curfew hours, and violations of freedom of expression. The delegation
called particular attention to deaths reportedly associated with the
political crisis. On August 21, the de facto regime reportedly stated
that the IACHR interim report contained ``no big surprises.''
CONADEH was headed by Human Rights Commissioner Ramon Custodio
Lopez. The commissioner reportedly had open access to all civilian and
military institutions and detention centers. The government generally
cooperated with the commission but allocated inadequate financial or
other resources.
Following the June coup, Custodio reportedly was reluctant to call
for investigations of human rights violations allegedly committed by
the de facto regime. During the year CONADEH issued a number of press
releases on various topics, including political statements relating to
the June coup. The NGO Center for Investigation and Promotion of Human
Rights and other human rights groups expressed dissatisfaction with
CONADEH's work. On July 1, a number of lawyers signed and circulated a
public letter asking the Ibero-American Federation of Ombudsmen to
investigate Commissioner Custodio's handling of human rights
allegations following the June coup. By contrast, on August 21, a pro-
de facto regime civic group, Alliance for Honduras in Peace and
Democracy, placed a full-page newspaper advertisement in La Tribuna
praising Custodio's human rights work.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status; however, in practice it was not effectively
enforced. Political, military, and social elites generally enjoyed
impunity under the legal system. Women suffered social and economic
discrimination and, along with other vulnerable groups, experienced an
erosion of human rights protections following the June coup.
Women.--The law criminalizes all forms of rape, including spousal
rape. With the exception of spousal rape, which is evaluated on a case-
by-case basis, rape is considered a public crime. A rapist can be
prosecuted even if the victim does not press charges. The penalties for
rape range from three to nine years' imprisonment, and the courts
enforced these penalties in practice. Between January and December, the
police reported receiving 1,266 cases of rape. At year's end there was
no information available regarding the extent of the rape problem or
the number of prosecutions or punishments.
Violence against women, including systematic killing, occurred
throughout the year. The law criminalizes domestic violence with
between two and four years' imprisonment. The only legal sanctions for
lesser forms of domestic abuse are community service and 24-hour
preventive detention if the violator is caught in the act. The law
provides a maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment for disobeying
a restraining order connected with the crime of intrafamilial violence.
The National Violence Observatory at the National Autonomous University
reported that through September there were 289 killings of women,
compared with 269 reported between January and September 2008.
The IACHR delegation reported that following the June coup, some
members of the police and military subjected women detained at
political demonstrations to groping, verbal, sexual insults, beatings,
and other forms of abuse and intimidation. The NGO Center for Women's
Rights asserted that many of the victims were afraid or reluctant to
press charges due to a lack of trust of the judicial system and police.
By year's end the prosecutor was investigating at least one reported
case of rape by police, which allegedly was related to the victim's
anticoup activities (see section 1.c.).
The government of President Zelaya and the de facto regime did not
enforce the law effectively with regard to domestic abuse. The Public
Ministry stated that domestic violence accounted for most of the
complaints it received.
Between January and May, the Public Ministry received more than
2000 complaints of domestic abuse. The Special Prosecutor for Women's
Issues reported that between January and March, it had received 57
cases of violent deaths of women.
The government of President Zelaya worked with CARE and other NGOs
to provide specialized training to police officials on enforcing the
law relating to domestic violence. During the administration of
President Zelaya, two facilities operated by NGOs provided shelter for
battered women. The shelter in Tegucigalpa could accommodate 20 women
and their families. Additionally, six other private centers for
battered women offered legal, medical, and psychological assistance.
There were 15 civil society NGOs grouped under the Women's Collective
against Violence involved in combating violence against women. There
was no information available during the period of the de facto regime
regarding the operation of shelters.
Although adult prostitution is legal for adults over the age of 18
and relatively widespread, the law prohibits promoting or facilitating
prostitution. Women were trafficked for sexual exploitation and debt
bondage.
The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace and provides
penalties of one to three years' imprisonment. Sexual harassment
continued to be a problem, but the government did not effectively
enforce the law.
Couples and individuals had basic rights to decide freely and
responsibly the number, spacing, and timing of their children.
Information about access to contraception was widely available, and
access to contraception was free from discrimination, violence, and
coercion. Skilled attendance, including essential obstetric and
postpartum care, during childbirth was available only to those that
could afford it. There was no known difference in access of men and
women to diagnosis and treatment for sexually transmitted infections,
including HIV.
Although the law accords women and men equal rights under the law,
including property rights in divorce cases, in practice women did not
enjoy such rights.
Most employed women worked in lower-status and lower-paid informal
occupations, such as domestic service, without legal protections or
regulations. Women were represented in small numbers in most
professions, and cultural attitudes limited their career opportunities.
By law women have equal access with men to educational opportunities.
The law requires employers to pay women equal wages for equivalent
work, but employers often classified women's jobs as less demanding
than those of men to justify women's lower salaries. Despite legal
protections against lower wages based on gender, workers in the textile
export industries continued to report that they were required to take
pregnancy tests as a condition for employment.
The National Institute for Women develops government policy on
women and gender. Several NGOs actively addressed women's issues,
including the Center for the Study of Women-Honduras, which dealt with
trafficking in persons, commercial sexual exploitation, garment factory
employees, and domestic workers.
Children.--Birth registration was widely available. Under the
constitution citizenship is derived by birth within the territory, from
one's parents, or by naturalization.
Child abuse was a serious problem. The law establishes prison
sentences of up to three years for persons convicted of child abuse.
There was no information available regarding the number of reported
cases of child abuse.
Abuse of youth and children in poor neighborhoods remained a
serious problem. Police, gangs, and members of the general population
engaged in violence against poor youth and children. Human rights
groups alleged that individual members of the security forces and
civilians used unwarranted lethal force against supposed habitual
criminals or suspected gang members, as well as against other youths
not known to be involved in criminal activity. Casa Alianza reported
two cases of cruel treatment of minors by police. At year's end
authorities were investigating the cases.
Trafficking in children for commercial sexual exploitation and
child prostitution were problems. Penalties for facilitating
prostitution are between nine and 15 years in prison and a fine ranging
between 50,000 lempiras and 100,000 lempiras ($2,360 to $5,290). The
penalty increases by half if the victim is less than 18 years of age.
There is no statutory rape law, but the penalty for rape of a minor
under the age of 12 is between 15 and 20 years in prison and between
nine and 13 years if the victim is age 13 or older. The law prohibits
the use of children less than 18 years old for exhibitions or
performances of a sexual nature and in the production of pornography.
The law outlaws illicit associations, including gang and organized
crime membership, for which it prescribes prison terms ranging from
three to 12 years. Year-end statistics indicated that there were
approximately 36,000 gang members, many of them minors. Gang membership
was primarily confined to the Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula areas.
Children's rights organizations estimated that there were 20,000
street children, only half of whom had shelter, and that a majority of
street children used illegal substances, including glue inhalants and
marijuana. Many street children were sexually molested or exploited.
The municipal administration of Tegucigalpa operated 12 temporary
shelters with a capacity for 240 children. Casa Alianza operated three
shelters (with a capacity for 175 children) for victims of commercial
sexual exploitation, street children, and children with substance abuse
problems. The NGO Feed the Children operated a shelter for 40 boys in
La Ceiba. Casa Alianza estimated that 73 formerly trafficked girls
(ages 12-17) stayed at their shelters and participated in recovery
programs. Forty-six had been trafficked internally, and 27 had been
trafficked outside the country. Casa Alianza provided assistance to
approximately 2,560 children, attempting to reintegrate as many as
possible with their families. Other private organizations and the
government agency National Institute of Children and the Family (IHNFA)
centers also housed street children and cared for approximately 2,500
children.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law criminalizes trafficking
in persons for all purposes, there were reports that persons were
trafficked from, through, and within the country.
The country was principally a source and transit country for women
and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation. Women and children were trafficked to Belize, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and also internally, most often from rural
to urban settings. Most foreign victims trafficked into Honduras came
from neighboring countries.
Prior to the June coup, the director of IHNFA estimated that more
than 10,000 children were at risk for sexual exploitation, of whom 98
percent were girls. In the Tegucigalpa metropolitan area, an estimated
several hundred children were victims of commercial sexual exploitation
during the year. There was no information available regarding the
status of at-risk children during the period of the de facto regime.
Gangs, organized crime, and human smugglers were reportedly among
the principal traffickers for purposes of commercial sexual
exploitation. There were reports that families sold their daughters for
purposes of trafficking. Additional reports indicated that
entrepreneurs used the promise of lucrative job offers abroad and in
urban areas of the country as a means to trap victims. There were
reports that victims of sexual exploitation by organized crime in
Guatemala recruited new victims in Honduras. International trafficking
was undertaken by land; the government maintained control of the
country's land borders only at specific crossings. Trafficking was
conducted using valid and forged documents.
At year's end there was no further information available about the
February 2008 case against Emilio Fiallos Pina and his wife Dora
Rutilia Sauceda Fiallos, who were arrested for allegedly selling their
nine-year-old daughter to attorney Conrado Zelava Castellon for sexual
exploitation.
The law sets penalties and defines offenses related to trafficking,
including incest, lechery, abuse, prostitution, pornography, and
knowingly infecting someone with HIV/AIDS. Punishments include fines
ranging from 100,000 lempiras to 500,000 lempiras (between $5,300 and
$26,500) and imprisonment between four and 20 years. The law was not
enforced effectively. Inadequate government funding to combat
trafficking, corruption, and routine dismissal of government employees
limited the government's ability to address trafficking. In the Special
Prosecutor's Office for Children in Tegucigalpa, antitrafficking
responsibilities are assigned to one district attorney, one lawyer,
four Public Ministry investigators, and two DGIC agents. In San Pedro
Sula, two district attorneys covered trafficking issues, while one
attorney did so in Choluteca.
The Division Against Abuse, Trafficking, and Commercial Sexual
Exploitation, a unit of the criminal investigative police, conducted
detection operations throughout the country, including on highways, at
airports and ports, and in hotels.
By year's end the Public Ministry had prosecuted 26 trafficking and
commercial sexual exploitation cases, had obtained 11 convictions, and
was investigating another 82 cases. The ministry did not report
separate statistics for trafficking cases.
On January 27, the Foreign Ministry announced it had discovered
that 18 Hondurans who had been trafficked for labor exploitation in
Romania, where employers had confiscated their passports, provided
substandard living quarters, and refused to pay them. At year's end
there was no further information available regarding the case.
On April 15, police arrested Olga Marcia Salvador Sanchez in
Cofradia, Cortes Department, and charged her with trafficking for
prostitution a 14-year-old girl from Guatemala. At year's end the case
continued.
In May police arrested and charged with aggravated human rights
trafficking Avilio Gomez Sobral, Luis Enrique Soriano Mondragon, and
Teodosio Guzman Pineda. The three reportedly operated an organization
that trafficked women and girls from rural areas for sexual
exploitation in Comayagua. At year's end there was no further
information available regarding the case.
In November 2008 Blanca Azucena Merio Amador and her daughter
Gloria Floriscelda Varela Amador were arrested for selling minor girls
to men for sexual exploitation. They were allegedly linked to a much
larger trafficking operation. While arresting the traffickers, the
authorities were able to liberate one minor girl who was being sexually
exploited. At year's end there was no further information available on
this case.
At least four juvenile trafficking victims were referred to the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) for repatriation. The
IOM referred dozens of victims each month to government- and NGO-run
shelters for assistance. Authorities repatriated three children from
Mexico and one from Nicaragua after being trafficked for sexual
exploitation.
Before the June coup the government continued antitrafficking
training for police, prosecutors, judges, and students. The government
also worked with NGOs and the IOM to place victims in shelters and
provide them with reintegration assistance. The Intra-Institutional
Task Force on Trafficking implemented a protocol for Assistance to the
Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation, while the government's
Institute for the Family focused on reintegrating child victims back
into their families and society. However, the government did not
provide adequate assistance to victims. The Office of the Special
Prosecutor for Children reported that antitrafficking activities
continued under the de fact regime.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, or the provision of other state
services, but the government did not adequately enforce these
provisions. Statutory provisions make it illegal for an employer to
discriminate against a worker based on disability. During the year
there were no known reports of discrimination against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or the
provision of other state services. The law requires access to buildings
for persons with disabilities. In practice few buildings were
accessible, and the government did not effectively implement laws or
programs to ensure such access.
The Human Rights Commission of the National Congress focused on
matters of importance to persons with disabilities. Although the law
requires the Ministry of Governance and Justice to maintain an office
for persons with disabilities, the government did not provide funds or
staff to operate the office. Before the June coup, there was a
presidential commissioner for persons with disabilities. There was no
information available regarding whether the position continued to exist
after the coup.
In March authorities arrested former principal Melvin Alvarado Diaz
after seven students at the Pilar Salinas School for the Blind accused
him of sexually molesting them. At year's end Alvarado had been granted
temporary release pending trial.
On April 1, the local government of Puerto Cortez opened a school
specifically for children with Down's syndrome. The city already had
schools for blind and deaf students.
Indigenous People.--Approximately 621,000 persons, constituting 8
percent of the general population, were members of indigenous and other
ethnic minority groups. These groups, including the Miskitos, Tawahkas,
Pech, Tolupans, Lencas, Maya-Chortis, Nahual, Bay Islanders, and
Garifunas, lived in 362 communities and generally had little or no
political power to make decisions affecting their lands, cultures,
traditions, and the allocation of natural resources.
Most indigenous lands were owned communally, providing land-use
rights to individual members of the ethnic community. Indigenous land
titles often were defined poorly in documents dating back to the mid-
19th century. Lack of clear title fostered encroachment and
expropriation conflicts among landless nonindigenous settlers, powerful
business elites, and government entities interested in exploiting
coastlines, forests, and other lands traditionally occupied or utilized
by indigenous and other ethnic minority communities. Indigenous and
nonindigenous communities criticized the government's alleged
complicity in the exploitation of timber and other natural resources on
these lands. Indigenous groups maintained that their community-based
land systems more effectively protected their lands from encroachment
by large land owners and outside groups engaged in illegal activities.
Garifuna leaders alleged that groups engaged in drug smuggling and
other contraband trafficking had illegally appropriated vast areas of
their communal lands.
There were several protests by Garifuna and indigenous groups
regarding land-rights disputes and perceived government discrimination.
Garifuna leaders continued to petition the government before the June
coup regarding their concerns about large-scale commercial development
undertaken on coastal lands traditionally occupied and utilized by
their communities. The government permitted tourism development by
private local and foreign business interests on the disputed lands,
using 100-year leases designed to revert to the Garifuna after the
expiration of that period of time. Garifuna leaders continued to report
to the government and NGOs harassment, threats, and assaults. There was
no information available about any actions taken by the de facto regime
to address Garifuna community concerns.
On April 13, approximately 3,000 members of the Maya-Chorti
indigenous group closed the Mayan Ruins Archeological Park in Copan and
demanded that the government comply with promises made over several
years to help the group establish legal title to their ancestral lands.
There was no information about any response to the Maya-Chorti demands
by the Zelaya administration or the de facto regime. However, the Maya-
Chorti reported that after the June coup, the de facto regime halted a
land reparations program and placed bank transfer restrictions on
funding for the community's educational programs.
On June 18, indigenous leader Edgardo Benitez and members of the
Miskito indigenous community complained to the press that a government
project to break up community land holdings and replace them with
individual land titles in the departments of Gracias a Dios, Colon, and
Olancho was causing environmental damage to the community's lands in
the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve.
There were no reported developments regarding an investigation or
arrest of any suspects in relation to the March 2008 killing of Tolupan
youths Jose Mastul and Geovanny Banegas Sevilla.
There were no reported developments in the case involving the June
2008 abduction and physical assault of Garifuna activist Santos
Feliciano Aguilar Alvares by 10 private security guards employed by a
real estate company in San Juan Tela, Atlantida Department.
On September 8, a court in La Ceiba acquitted military officials
Marco Antonio Rodriguez, Nelson Makeny, Edgar Portillo, David Edward
Wilson Tabor, and Noe Hernandez Perez Carpio in relation to the
September 2008 killing of Garifuna community member Guillermo Morales
Herrera in the Cuero y Salado wildlife preserve.
The Zelaya administration undertook minimal efforts to work with
indigenous persons to address concerns regarding ownership and use of
traditional lands. The courts commonly denied legal recourse to
indigenous persons and often favored nonindigenous parties of means and
influence. Failure to obtain legal redress frequently led indigenous
persons to attempt to regain land through invasions of private
property, which led the authorities to retaliate forcefully. There was
no available information about any de facto regime actions to address
indigenous community land concerns.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--There are no discriminatory
laws based on sexual orientation, but in practice social discrimination
against persons from sexual minority communities was widespread. Many
NGOs indicated that hate crimes increased, particularly during
political campaign season. Representatives of NGOs focusing on sexual
diversity rights asserted that throughout the year security forces
killed and abused their members. In cases where lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender (LGBT) persons were found dead, the prosecutor often
encountered serious difficulties because the victims had either
concealed their identity or sexual orientation, or were hiding from
their families.
Criminal investigations did not recognize a ``transgender''
category. Sexual minority rights groups asserted that throughout the
year security forces, government agencies, and private employers
engaged in antigay discriminatory hiring practices. These groups also
reported that intimidation, fear of reprisal, and police corruption
made LGBT victims reluctant to file charges or proceed with
prosecutions. In May Human Rights Watch released a report documenting
targeted violence against transgender persons in the country. The
report called for the repeal of statutory language on guarding against
public scandal, which the police allegedly used to justify detaining
transgender persons.
On January 12 and May 17, hundreds of LGBT protesters marched
against hate crimes in Tegucigalpa calling for the government to
investigate the reported killings of 28 persons from the sexual
minority community since 2008. While police did not impede the
demonstrations, authorities did not provide protection for the
marchers. The organizers of the January and May events did not seek
advance permission for these marches as required under the law.
There were multiple killings or attacks on persons presumably
because of their sexual orientation. The LGBT rights organization Red
Lesbica Cattrachas reported that between July and December, unknown
actors killed 19 members of the LGBT community and that a number of gay
persons fled the country out of fear of social and security-force
persecution. One human rights group estimated that it registered
approximately one case per month of pistol whipping and other police
abuses against LGBT persons. The NGO Lesbian-Gay Rainbow Association of
Comayaguela operated a medical and psychiatric services clinic that
treated between seven and 10 hate crime victims per month.
On January 9, unknown assailants shot and killed Cynthia Nicole, a
transgender sex worker and well-known LGBT rights activist. In December
2008 armed men had physically assaulted Cynthia Nicole. At year's end
there was no information available regarding any investigation of these
incidents.
On March 3, unknown assailants reportedly beat to death 18-year-old
Delmer Joel Martinez, allegedly because they thought he was gay, and
dragged his body to a field near the Tegucigalpa suburb of Nueva
Suyapa. There was no information available about any investigation in
the case.
Following the June coup, human rights organizations reported at
least two cases in which police made death threats against LGBT persons
for their involvement in anticoup protests saying, ``We should kill all
homosexuals.'' On July 3, the IACHR requested that the de facto regime
provide protective measures for four LGBT activists. In response to the
commission's request, the de facto regime published a newspaper
advertisement in La Tribuna listing the names of all persons awarded
protective measures from June 28 onwards and asked the named persons
either to present themselves to the Supreme Court or call a government-
listed telephone number. Human rights defenders reported that none of
the persons listed in the advertisement replied to the government
request and asserted that the advertisement was a form of intimidation
against the named persons.
On June 29, unknown actors fatally shot in the head transvestite
sex worker Vicky Hernandez Castillo (Jhonny Emilson Hernandez) in San
Pedro Sula. Human rights defenders alleged that security forces were
responsible for the killing because Hernandez Castillo was believed to
have been killed while working during curfew hours on the night of June
28.
On September 20, unknown perpetrators fatally shot Salome (Jorge
Samuel Caravante) and Zaira (Carlos Ricardo), two transvestite sex
workers in Choloma, Cortes Department. At year's end there was no
information regarding any investigation of these killings.
On December 4, unknown persons reportedly kidnapped and physically
assaulted LGBT activist Walter Trochez but later released him. Trochez
told human rights organizations that during his December 4 detention,
the kidnappers questioned him about his involvement in the anticoup
movement. On December 13, unknown assailants fatally shot and killed
Trochez in Tegucigalpa. At year's end the Office of the Special
Prosecutor for Human Rights was conducting an investigation.
At year's end there was no information available regarding a
response by the Committee on Human Rights to a 2008 complaint filed by
LGBT rights advocates about reports that authorities denied transgender
persons national identity cards because the applicants were wearing
cosmetics and feminine accessories.
At year's end Nelson Daniel Gaytan had been charged with unlawful
detention and was awaiting trial for the 2007 police beating and
detention of LGBT activist Donny Reyes. Police reportedly detained
Reyes in a cell with 57 gang members who raped and beat him.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--There was no reported
widespread societal violence or discrimination against persons based on
their HIV/AIDS status. However, the NGO Center for the Investigation
and Protection of Human Rights reported that authorities refused to
perform an autopsy on the body of transgender sex worker Vicky
Hernandez Castillo because they believed she had been HIV positive.
Job-related age discrimination remained a serious problem.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of
workers to form and join unions of their choice, but in practice
workers exercised this right with difficulty. The law permits unions to
operate without government interference. However, the law prohibits
members of the armed forces and the police force from forming labor
unions and also prohibits public service employees from presenting
union organizing petitions or participating in collective bargaining.
There were an estimated 519 unions representing approximately 8 percent
of the work force, excluding the agriculture sector. As of July
approximately 13 percent of the 133,000 apparel assembly workforce was
unionized.
The law prohibits coexistence of more than two trade unions at a
single enterprise, requires 30 or more workers to constitute a trade
union, prohibits foreign nationals from holding union offices, and
requires that union officials be employed in the economic activity of
the business the union represents.
Union leaders were occasionally subjected to violence and threats.
On April 1, authorities in San Pedro Sula arrested Sergio Misael
Murillo Jimenez and charged him with the April 2008 murder of labor
leader Altagracia Fuentes; her companion, labor leader Yolanda Sanchez;
and their driver, Juan Bautista Aceituno. On April 11, authorities in
La Lima, Cortes Department, found the body of Jose Omar Funez Cruz, a
known gang member and a suspect in the killing of Fuentes. On May 4,
police arrested Alexander Armando Reyes Ferrera and Elmer Alberto
Orellana Dubon and charged them with the murder of Fuentes, Sanchez,
and Aceituno. Authorities also arrested and charged police officer
Marvin Mauricio Aguilar with misappropriation of public goods after he
failed to turn in 58,500 lempiras (approximately $3,080) and $1,000 in
U.S. currency found in Fuentes' automobile.
Throughout the year unknown actors made death threats by phone
against labor activist Evangelina Argueta, who was involved in a
textile industry collective bargaining agreement. By year's end
authorities had not complied with the IACHR's August 7 request for
protective measures for Argueta.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. The law prohibits strikes in a wide range of
economic activities deemed essential services and any others that in
the government's opinion affect individual rights to security, health,
education, economic, or social life. The International Labor
Organization (ILO) criticized the law's denial of the right to strike
to workers in the petroleum sector and to government workers other than
employees of state-owned enterprises.
In February Human Rights Ombudsman Ramon Custodio called strikes by
teachers illegal, based on his assertion that such strikes interfered
with ``the right of children to have an education.''
Although civil servants occasionally engaged in illegal work
stoppages without experiencing reprisals, the Ministry of Labor (MOL)
has the power to declare the protest illegal and dismiss the protesting
workers. The legal restrictions on strikes include a prohibition on
labor federations and confederations from calling strikes and a
requirement that a two-thirds majority of the votes of the total
membership of the trade union call a strike.
Following the June coup, teachers took part in anticoup protests
for several months. Between July and August, the Public Ministry
reportedly received 27 complaints from parents about teacher
absenteeism in public schools. On August 28, the press reported that
the de facto regime education minister and finance minister stated that
teachers engaging in political protests instead of reporting to work
would not receive salaries.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to organize and to bargain collectively, but the
government did not protect this right in practice. Although the law
requires that an employer begin collective bargaining once workers
establish a union, employers often refused with impunity to engage in
bargaining.
Although the law prohibits employer retribution for engaging in
trade union activity, it was a common practice with employers
threatening to close unionized companies and harassing or dismissing
workers seeking to unionize. Some foreign companies closed operations
when notified that workers sought union representation.
The MOL can reach administrative decisions and fine companies for
unfair dismissal, but only a court can order reinstatement of workers.
Employers often failed to comply with court orders requiring them to
reinstate workers fired for engaging in union activity; failure to
reinstate workers was a serious problem.
Although the law prohibits blacklisting, there was credible
evidence that apparel assembly factory employers blacklisted with
impunity employees seeking to form unions. There were reports of
apparel assembly workers allegedly fired for union activity who were
hired for one or two weeks and then dismissed with no explanation.
Apparel assembly company employees reported seeing computer records
that included previous union membership in personnel records. Some
employers informed previously unionized workers that they were
unemployable because of their previous union activity.
The government did not allocate adequate resources to the MOL for
labor inspectors to perform their duties. The country's labor
inspectorate offices did not have financial resources to cover travel
for inspections and requested that the government provide transport
facilities and other necessities to enable inspectors to carry out
their duties.
On November 14, Russell Athletic negotiated a settlement with
worker representatives of the Jerzees de Honduras (JDH) factory in
relation to the January closure of the JDH factory and unlawful
dismissal of approximately 1,800 workers. The closure occurred after
workers obtained legal registration for their union and had begun
salary negotiations. The settlement included establishing a unionized
factory, offering employment to former JDH employees, and joint union-
company training.
There were no new developments regarding a Public Ministry
investigation or the whereabouts of union leader Lorna Jackson, who
remained in hiding at the end of 2008 after receiving death threats in
relation to the August 2008 dismissal of 1,800 workers at Alcoa
factories in El Progreso and Choloma.
Strikes are permitted in the 102 registered export processing zones
(EPZs) and 19 industrial parks operating as EPZs. However, the law
requires that strikes cannot impede the operations of other factories
in the industrial parks. An additional 26 companies that provided
services for industrial parks had their own free zones, outside the
industrial parks. In the absence of unions and collective bargaining,
several companies in the EPZs instituted solidarity associations that,
to some extent, functioned as company unions for the purposes of
setting wages and negotiating working conditions. Other EPZ companies
used the minimum wage to set starting salaries and adjusted wage scales
by negotiating with common groups of plant workers and other employees
based on seniority, skills, categories of work, and other criteria.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law generally
prohibits forced or compulsory labor. However, there were reports of
trafficking in children for commercial sexual exploitation and of child
prostitution.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law regulates child labor and provides that minors between the ages of
14 to 18 cannot work unless authorities determine that the work is
indispensable for the family's income and will not conflict with
schooling. The constitution and the law establish the maximum work
hours for children under age 18 as six hours daily and 30 hours weekly.
Parents or a legal guardian can request special permission from the MOL
to allow children between the ages of 14 and 15 to work, so long as the
ministry performs a home study to ensure that the child demonstrates
economic necessity to work, and that the child will not work outside of
the country or in hazardous conditions, including offshore fishing.
The law prohibits night work and overtime for minors under age 16
and requires that employers in areas with more than 20 school-age
children working at their business facility provide a location for a
school. The law provides for between three and five years in prison for
persons violating child labor laws. In practice the vast majority of
children worked without ministry permits.
Child labor was a problem. A May household survey found that
approximately 170,000 children between the ages of five and 14 were
child laborers, mostly in rural areas. Children often worked harvesting
melons, coffee, and sugarcane or rummaging at garbage dumps; working in
the forestry, hunting, and fishing sectors; and working as deckhands
and divers in the lobster industry. Children worked as domestic
servants, peddled goods such as fruit, begged, washed cars, hauled
loads, and were employed in limestone and lime production. Most child
labor occurred in rural areas. Worst forms of child labor included
lobster fishing and the harvesting of coffee and sugar cane. Children
worked out of economic necessity alongside other family members. In its
2009 report, the ILO Committee of Experts noted the high number of
children, particularly girls, engaged in domestic work, as well as
child victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Media outlets reported
that street children had been found working as drug mules in
Tegucigalpa and other cities in the country.
The government did not devote adequate resources or inspectors to
follow up, prevent, or monitor compliance with labor laws. The MOL, the
government agency responsible for enforcing child labor laws, did not
effectively enforce child labor laws outside the apparel assembly
sector, and there were frequent violations of the child labor laws.
There was no known change to the practice of appointing child-labor
inspectors only to offices in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, which
reportedly limited their ability to investigate allegations of child
labor.
The government conducted social and educational programs to reach
at-risk children, including a school grant program to provide money for
school supplies for very poor families and an alternative schooling
program using radio and long-distance learning for children in distant
rural areas with few schools. On May 25, the government launched
Challenge 100, a joint public-private venture involving NGOs, the
Honduran Maquiladora Association, and the Chamber of Commerce of
Cortes. The venture targeted former gang members and assisted them in
locating new jobs.
The government of President Zelaya conducted a National Plan of
Action for the Eradication of Child Labor and a National Plan of Action
to Eradicate Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. These programs
reportedly continued under the de facto regime. The plans coordinated
government agency actions to promote interinstitutional cooperation and
assistance to victims of child labor. Government measures had minimal
impact on diminishing child labor in light of extreme poverty, famine
conditions in rural areas, and a lack of jobs for school graduates.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--In December 2008 the government
announced a 60 percent general increase in the minimum wage to 5,500
lempiras (approximately $290) per month for city workers and 4,055
lempiras ($213) for rural workers. However, the textile industry and
free trade zones were left out of the increases. The increase put the
private sector minimum wage (not including agriculture) on par with the
public sector minimum wage. In the agricultural sector, employers often
did not pay the minimum wage. The national minimum wage did not provide
a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
The daily minimum wage scale is divided into 10 sectors based on
the size of the worker's place of employment. The scale ranged between
55 lempiras ($2.90) for unskilled labor and 135 lempiras ($7.10) for
workers in financial and insurance companies. The minimum wage is
established through a commission composed of representatives from the
government, business sector, and labor unions. The commission
negotiates a new minimum salary, and if it fails to reach an agreement,
the matter goes to the president for decision.
The law prescribes a maximum 44-hour workweek and at least one 24-
hour rest period for every six days of work. The law requires overtime
payment for hours in excess of the standard, and there are prohibitions
on excessive compulsory overtime. Employers frequently ignored these
regulations due to the high level of unemployment and underemployment
and the lack of effective enforcement by the MOL.
There were credible allegations of compulsory overtime at apparel
assembly factories (particularly for women, who comprised approximately
65 percent of that sector's workforce), in the private security sector,
and among household workers. Human rights organizations frequently
reported that in the private security and household sectors, workers
were typically obliged to work more than 60 hours a week and earned
only the legal limit of 44 hours. Foreign workers enjoyed equal
protection under the law.
The MOL is responsible for enforcing national occupational health
and safety laws but did not do so consistently or effectively. Worker
safety standards were enforced poorly, particularly in the construction
industry, in garment assembly sector, and in agriculture production
activities. There were complaints that foreign factory managers in EPZs
and other private industrial facilities failed to comply with
occupational health and safety regulations. Workers in pineapple
production and other commercial agriculture enterprises alleged
blacklisting by employers if they complained to the authorities about
working conditions.
The NGO Honduran Women's Collective reported that large numbers of
apparel assembly workers had back, neck, and carpal tunnel syndrome as
well as respiratory (including tuberculosis), digestive, and skin
diseases. These health problems were attributed to air contaminated by
fine dust and fabric fuzz, noise, lack of ventilation, lack of
protective equipment, and extreme temperatures.
The law does not provide workers with the right to leave a
dangerous work situation without jeopardy to continued employment.
The MOL did not investigate alleged violations of occupational
health and safety laws and other labor rights problems relating to the
approximately 3,000 lobster divers, many from indigenous and other
ethnic minority groups, in La Moskitia, Gracias a Dios Department.
Since 2003 approximately 365 lobster divers died, and at least 2,000
became disabled due to the dangerous nature of their work.
__________
JAMAICA
Jamaica is a constitutional parliamentary democracy with a
population of approximately 2.8 million. In generally free and fair
elections in September 2007, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) won 32 of
the 60 seats in the House of Representatives, and JLP leader Bruce
Golding was sworn in as prime minister. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
While the government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were serious problems in some areas, including unlawful
killings committed by members of the security forces, abuse of
detainees and prisoners by police and prison guards, poor prison and
jail conditions, impunity for police who committed crimes, an
overburdened judicial system and frequent lengthy delays in trials,
violence and discrimination against women, trafficking in persons, and
violence against person based on their suspected or known sexual
orientation.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--While the government
or its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings, there
were reliable accounts that security forces committed unlawful or
unwarranted killings during the year.
According to official statistics, there were more than 200 shooting
cases involving the police as of October 31, resulting in 241
fatalities for the entire year. Sources indicated that many police
killings were unreported, with police meting out the justice they see
as unavailable through the judicial system.
In most shooting incidents, police alleged that the victims were
carrying firearms and opened fire on them. In many cases, however,
eyewitness testimony contradicted the police accounts. In other cases,
allegations of ``police murder'' were suspect, because well-armed gangs
trafficking in weapons and narcotics and running lottery scams
controlled many inner-city communities and were often better equipped
than the police force.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) employed lethal force in
apprehending criminal suspects on many occasions. Violent crime was
rampant, and there were a record 1,680 murders reported through
December. The minister of national security referred to citizens killed
by police as ``collateral damage'' and vowed to ``use every effort'' to
defend police officers who were ``hauled before the court like common
criminals.'' However, it can take many years to bring police officers
to trial for unlawful killings. Although there was progress during the
year in bringing some cases to trial, there were no convictions, and no
police officer accused of human rights violations has been convicted
since 2006. As of May 15, 1,040 investigations into complaints against
police officers for a variety of crimes remained incomplete.
The JCF's Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI) investigated all
police killings and when appropriate forwarded some to the Director of
Public Prosecutions (DPP) for prosecution. For example:
On January 5, Paul Brown was driving a bus and allegedly hit a
policeman's personal motor car. The policeman stopped him, an argument
ensued, and Brown was shot in the face. The policeman was charged with
murder, and his case remains before the court.
The BSI was investigating: the January 7 police killing of Anthony
Nelson, a security guard, at Nelson's workplace; the April 5 killing of
16-year-old Hussein McCormack, found in a locked department store; the
May 3 killing of Ramon Hopkins, whom eyewitnesses described as ordered
off a motorcycle and then executed in a kneeling position with his
hands behind his head; and the May 16 killing of Dane Daley, shot and
killed by armed men in denim suits who were police officers.
On December 9, police shot and killed entertainer Robert Hill at
his Kingston home in what police accounts called a ``shootout.'' Prior
to his death, Hill had reportedly told the Sunday Herald and other
journalists that he feared for his life, and that police had been
stalking and intimidating him after a crash with a police car in July.
After the crash, he said police threatened him and beat him at Half Way
Tree Police Station and at his home. The human rights group Jamaicans
for Justice said ``the young man did everything that a citizen could
possibly do to highlight his case.'' At year's end the BSI was
investigating the incident.
In February the DPP brought murder charges against Christopher
Thompson, the police officer accused of murdering Randeen Hall in 2008.
A December court date was changed to January 18, 2010, to allow time to
locate witnesses. Authorities set a trial date of December 14 for the
police officers charged in the 2008 murder of Carlton Grant, the 17-
year-old son of dancehall artist Spragga Benz. The BSI completed the
investigation into the killing of Jehvanie Robinson in 2008 and sent
the case to the DPP, and the BSI was still investigating the 2008
deaths of Fabian Wray and Randall Richards.
The BSI completed its investigation into the 2007 police shooting
deaths of Dexter Hyatt and Tian Wolfe and submitted the case to the DPP
for a decision whether to bring charges.
In December 2007 the DPP charged four policemen, Noel Bryan,
Phillip Dunstan, Omar Miller and Clayton Fearon, with murder in the
2007 death of Andre Thomas. Their trial was set to begin on April 26,
2010.
An inquest into the 2005 shooting death of Jeff Smellie started in
November 2007 and was set to continue on January 11, 2010. Authorities
had not yet brought to trial the police officers involved in the 2005
killings of Nicholas Weir and Donald Allen.
On June 3, authorities arrested Loui Lynch, Paul Edwards, and
Victor Barrett, policemen involved in the 2004 abduction and killing of
Kemar Walters and Oliver Duncan, and charged them with murder. Their
trial began on December 11.
While it can take years for police officers charged with killings
to reach trial, appeals can also take years to process, as exemplified
by the Janice Allen case. In 2000 a group of policemen allegedly shot
and killed 12-year-old Janice Allen on a Kingston street. Authorities
eventually charged one police officer, Rohan Allen, with her murder,
but a court later acquitted the defendant, and the DPP chose not to
prosecute him again. Janice's mother pursued a series of appeals,
including an application for judicial review by the Privy Council of
the DPP's decision. The Privy Council ruled in her favor and ordered
the DPP to reconsider its decision not to prosecute Rohan Allen again.
The hearing at which the DPP will consider prosecuting Rohan Allen a
second time is scheduled to take place in February 2010.
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, reports of
physical abuse of prisoners by guards continued, despite efforts by the
government to remove abusive guards and improve procedures.
When prisoners raised allegations of abuse by correctional
officers, the charges were first reviewed by corrections officials,
then by an inspector from the Ministry of National Security, and
finally by the police. Authorities file charges against correctional
officers for abuse if evidence is found to support the allegations.
However, official complaints and investigations were infrequent.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor, primarily due to overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions. Men
and women were incarcerated in separate facilities under similar
conditions. Cells in some facilities had little natural light and
inadequate artificial light. Hunt's Bay Lockup held prisoners in a
cage-like structure open to the rain and sun and the curious gazes of
passers-by. The women's prison, Fort Augusta with about 200 inmates,
had no indoor water supply. Inmates had to fetch water in containers
they provided themselves from a central spigot or well. Inmates who did
not own a container could not bathe.
Prison food was poor, and wardens were observed serving themselves
generously with whatever meat was available, leaving only leftover
gravy for the inmates. Mattresses were not provided; inmates slept on
the concrete floors. Those with access to funds and outside contacts
were permitted to purchase thin foam mattresses that often became
infested with bedbugs. Ringworm was a common malady.
At the Armadale Juvenile Correctional Center where 50 girls, ages
13 to 16, were held in severely overcrowded conditions, lockdown was a
common punishment for unruly behavior and other infractions. Although
the use of lockdown was supposed to be limited to 24 hours, inmates
reported lockdowns that lasted more than a month. During lockdown the
girls were not permitted to use the bathrooms; instead, buckets or
newspapers were used and removed each morning.
On May 22, fire broke out in the Armadale facility when police
threw a tear gas canister into the locked dormitory. It ignited a foam
mattress, and five girls died in the flames. Many more were injured,
and two more girls died in the hospital from their injuries. The lack
of sufficient or operable fire extinguishers led directly to the deaths
of the inmates. Reports concluded that supervision and staffing was
grossly inadequate, with staff often working double shifts. Inmates
reported that they were forced to eat their meals with their hands as
no eating utensils were provided. The facility was closed immediately
after the fire.
Prison medical care was also poor, primarily a result of having
only three full-time doctors, one full-time nurse, and one psychiatrist
to cover 12 facilities (eight adult, four juvenile) with almost 5,000
inmates across the island. One prisoner died after breaking a leg;
prison staff claimed there was no vehicle available to transport him to
the hospital, and by the time he was brought in, complications from
diabetes had caused infection and the prisoner died. Other prisoners in
need of dentures and unable to eat the prison food encountered
difficulties in gaining access to a dentist. A doctor who treated the
girls at Armadale made repeated requests to have two sexually active,
HIV-infected inmates removed, to no avail. She also reported that many
inmates at Armadale were suicidal, homicidal, or suffered from
psychosis and received no treatment.
Although the law prohibits the incarceration of children in adult
prisons in most cases, some juveniles as young as 13 years old were
held in adult jails because there were no juvenile facilities with
adequate security. Authorities jailed juveniles convicted of murder in
an adult facility, but police were prohibited from holding children
under 14 in adult police detention. Nonviolent youth offenders were
under the jurisdiction of the social services agency and were generally
sent to unsecured halfway houses (called ``places of safety'' or
``juvenile remand centers'') if they were removed from their homes.
Authorities moved girls to the women's prison from other facilities
due to incorrigibly violent behavior. After the closure of Armadale,
nine of those girls were moved to the notorious Horizon maximum-
security remand center where the island's most violent male offenders
are held. In October the Office of the Children's Advocate announced
that it would investigate reports of children being held in police
lock-ups.
Most pretrial detainees were held in police custody either in
police stations or in remand centers, generally separate from convicted
prisoners. Convicted prisoners were held in police custody only if they
were in the process of being moved to a prison facility.
In general the government allowed private groups, voluntary and
religious organizations, local and international human rights
organizations, and the media to visit prisons and monitor prison
conditions, and such visits took place during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law permits the arrest of
persons ``reasonably suspected'' of having committed a crime. While the
law prohibits arbitrary arrest, security forces performed ``cordon and
search'' operations, during which they detained persons and took them
into custody. Although police can legally hold a person for 24 to 48
hours before charging or releasing them, the police reportedly held
individuals until they determined whether they could charge them with
anything, sometimes for as long as five weeks.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The JCF has primary
responsibility for internal security and is assisted by the Island
Special Constabulary Force. The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) is charged
with national defense, maritime narcotics interdiction, and JCF
support. The JDF has no mandate to maintain law and order and no powers
of arrest (with the exception of the JDF coast guard in the maritime
domain) unless so ordered by the prime minister. The Jamaica Regiment
(JDF infantry forces) was detached as part of a joint internal security
operation to assist the JCF in patrolling certain communities. The
prime minister occasionally authorized the JDF to cordon and search
with the JCF. The Ministry of National Security oversees the JCF and
the JDF.
The JCF is headed by a commissioner who delegates authority through
the ranks to its constables. The force maintains divisions focusing on
community policing, special response, intelligence gathering, and
internal affairs. The Anti-Corruption Branch, headed by a British
police officer hired as assistant commissioner of police, has
responsibility for addressing corruption in the force, and some recent
improvements have been noted. However, the corruption and impunity
within the force remained despite a notable increase in the number of
arrests of officers for corruption.
In January the JCF launched a toll-free hotline through which the
public could anonymously report corrupt activities of both police and
customs officials. In March the police commissioner uncovered a major
corruption scheme involving officers at the Mount Salem Police Station.
Beginning in October 2008, officers recruited a civilian to pose as a
member of the force and participate in a lottery scam to defraud
unsuspecting citizens. Undetected for six months, the fake officer bore
firearms and participated in regular police activities.
As of December, authorities had arrested 60 JCF officers on
corruption charges. Of the 56 police officers arrested in 2008 on
corruption-related charges, the courts convicted three persons,
dismissed 15 cases, and had 38 trials pending. Human rights groups
identified systematically poor investigative procedures and weak
oversight mechanisms as factors contributing to corruption. Another
major factor in police corruption was the very low salaries paid to JCF
members, in contrast to JDF soldiers, who have the reputation of being
incorruptible and earn substantially higher salaries plus room and
board for themselves and their families.
In December a court found former police superintendent Harry Daley
guilty of corruption, and a judge sentenced him to 18 months of hard
labor. The charges against Daley stemmed from allegations that he had
collected protection money since 2007 from a businessman in St.
Catherine's. He was to face trial on five other counts of corruption in
January 2010.
The JCF conducted administrative and criminal investigations into
all incidents involving fatal shootings by police. The JCF's BSI
addressed police shootings, but no officer was found criminally liable
during the year. The BSI, unable to keep up with its caseload, had a
backlog of approximately 960 cases with only 21 investigating officers
to cover more than 30 allegations of excessive force per month. BSI
supplements the civilian Police Public Complaints Authority, which
oversees investigations by the other two bodies and also initiates its
own investigations.
The JCF continued a community policing initiative to address the
long-standing antipathy between the security forces and many poor
inner-city neighborhoods. Through a recently established Community
Safety and Security Branch, the JCF conducted targeted training of 200
officers in 38 communities, trained community safety officers, and
assigned JCF officers to targeted schools as resource officers to stem
school violence. These officers also served as liaisons between the
students, faculty, parents, and police. The government bolstered these
efforts through public education and by nominating deputy divisional
commanders with responsibility to introduce community policing to all
the communities within their division.
Three civil society organizations--Jamaicans for Justice, the
Independent Jamaican Council for Human Rights (IJCHR), and the local
Amnesty International group--designed law enforcement and human rights
training for JCF police cadets. The training sessions, approved by the
police commissioner and the police academy commissioner, began in 2008
and continued during the year. Instructors from both within and outside
the country conducted two 33-hour courses on the use of force, arrest
and detention, and other best practices.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Arrests
normally require warrants signed by a police officer of the rank of
station sergeant or higher; however, arrests may be made without
warrants. Police often used the warrant as the first step in an
investigation, in order to search for evidence. The law requires
detained suspects to be charged or released within 24 to 48 hours of
arrest, unless a justice of the peace or a resident magistrate grants a
special waiver.
The law also requires police to contact duty counsel (a private
attorney who volunteers to represent detainees at police stations and
until cases go to trial) under the legal aid program, if requested by
the detainee; however, authorities continued to wait until after
detainees had been recognized in an identification lineup before
contacting duty counsel for them. There was a functioning bail system,
and detainees were provided with prompt access to family members.
Although the law requires police to present a detainee in court
within a reasonable time period, in practice suspects were sometimes
remanded for psychiatric evaluation, some for as long as three years
when their cases were ``lost in the system.'' Magistrates were required
to inquire at least once a week into the welfare of each person listed
by the JCF as detained, but few did so in practice, especially in the
busy Kingston/St. Andrew corporate area.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, the judicial system relied entirely on the
Ministry of Justice for all resources.
Trials in many cases were delayed for years, and other cases were
dismissed because files could not be located or had been destroyed.
Some trials suffered as a result of antiquated rules of evidence as
well as lack of equipment for collecting and storing evidence. For
example, drug evidence collected in an arrest had to be stored in its
entirety; samples or photographs were not acceptable. Storage
facilities were inadequate and understaffed, so evidence went missing,
rotted in the warehouse, or could not be located when needed.
The resident magistrate's courts, which handled more than 90
percent of the cases in the court system, continued operation of a
night court in an effort to reduce the backlog of cases. The Supreme
Court used mediation through the Dispute Resolution Foundation as an
alternative to traditional trials, which alleviated some of the civil
case backlog in that court. The resident magistrate's courts also used
alternative dispute resolution in limited cases.
Some criminal trials were dismissed because witnesses failed to
come forward as a result of threats, intimidation, or murder. Some of
those who came forward qualified for the witness protection program,
but many either refused protection or violated the conditions of the
program. According to the JCF, no participant in the witness protection
program who abided by the rules of the program was ever killed.
The court system includes justices of the peace, the resident
magistrate's courts, the Supreme Court, which has unlimited
jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters, and the Court of Appeal.
Defendants have the right to appeal a conviction in any of the two
trial courts (resident magistrate's courts and the Supreme Court) to
the Court of Appeal, the highest court in the country, and ultimately
to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, the final
court of appeal.
Trial Procedures.--Most trials are public and adjudicated by a
judge alone. More serious criminal offenses are tried with juries in
circuit court at the Supreme Court level. There was a persistent
problem seating enough jurors for cases, which contributed to the
extensive judicial backlog. Citizens were reluctant to serve as jurors
for fear of retribution.
The constitution provides that defendants are presumed innocent and
have the right to counsel and to confront witnesses against them. Legal
Aid attorneys were available to defend the indigent, except those
charged with certain offenses under the Money Laundering Act or
Dangerous Drugs Act and in the case of offenses in which the defendant
is not liable to incarceration. The Office of the Public Defender (OPD)
may bring cases for persons who have had their constitutional rights
violated but cannot prosecute or otherwise appear in court. Although
the OPD contracted with private attorneys to represent indigent
clients, funds were insufficient to meet the demand, and such attorneys
sometimes requested payment from clients.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial civil judiciary process. Complainants may bring human
rights abuse cases for civil remediation to the courts, but awards can
be difficult to collect. The government is required to undertake
pretrial negotiations or mediation in an attempt to settle out of
court, but the government often did not do so. When there were
settlements, whether in or out of court, the government often lacked
the funds to pay, resulting in a backlog of awards.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Although the constitution prohibits such actions, the
Constabulary Force Act gives security personnel broad powers of search
and seizure. This act allows search without a warrant of a person on
board or disembarking from a vehicle, ship, or boat if a police officer
has good reason to be suspicious. In practice the police conducted
searches without warrants.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the government generally respected these
rights in practice.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. However, some local media professionals
expressed concern that the country's libel laws limited their freedom
of expression. Specifically, news outlets reported the need to self-
censor investigative reports because of the potential for courts to
award high damages in cases of defamation. Some journalists also stated
that they censored their political coverage based on fear of violent
reprisals. The Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) and the Media
Association of Jamaica (MAJ) continued to advocate changes in the libel
laws, which the PAJ president described as ``oppressive.''
Prime Minister Golding, when he was opposition leader, called for a
review of the country's old libel and defamation laws to allow the
media more freedom to report on public officials. Golding argued that
since such public officials are to be held to a higher standard than
the average citizen, they should therefore not be subject to the same
protection under the law.
The June parliamentary session considered several issues related to
the libel and defamation laws, but did not complete its review. The MAJ
and the PAJ were expected to reconvene with the Joint Selection
Committee of Parliament to come to a compromise.
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.
According to the International Telecommunication Union, there were 57
Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom. With respect to cultural events, the
Jamaica Broadcasting Commission (JBC) sought to regulate and limit the
dissemination of certain popular music deemed inconsistent with public
morality. Despite public protest early in the year, the commission
banned certain lyrics deemed inappropriate for broadcast, including
dancehall songs referring to the simulation of aggressive or violent
sex. The commission also banned editing methods used to expunge lyrics
thought unfit for broadcast, which protesters interpreted as an
outright attack on dancehall music. The commission stated that its
directive was aimed at ``all types of musical broadcast output,
including soca music and carnival music.''
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Members of the Rastafarian
community complained that law enforcement officials unfairly targeted
them. However, it was not clear whether such complaints reflected
discrimination on the basis of religious belief or were due to the
group's illegal use of marijuana as part of Rastafarian religious
practice.
There was a small practicing Jewish congregation in the country.
There were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination, including
anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports that it
occurred.
Protection of Refugees.--Although the country is a party to the
1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967
protocol, its laws do not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee
status. However, the government has established a system for processing
and providing protection to refugees. In practice the government
provided protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to
countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened, and it
handled refugee or asylum cases administratively.
The government generally 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 elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--All citizens age 18 and
over have the right to vote by secret ballot. However, in recent
elections voters living in ``garrison communities,'' inner-city areas
dominated by one of the two major political parties, often faced
substantial influence and pressure from politically connected gangs and
young men hired by political parties to intimidate supporters of the
opposing political party. These factors impeded the free exercise of
their right to vote. According to Amnesty International, at least nine
persons died as a result of election-related violence in the 2007
campaign period.
In the 2007 elections, after a legal challenge in one district,
authorities determined that the JLP won 32 out of 60 seats in the House
of Representatives. People's National Party (PNP) challengers filed
four cases against elected parliamentarians who held dual
nationalities, citing a constitutional provision that bars from office
those who have ``sworn allegiance to a foreign power.'' Although three
winning candidates subsequently renounced their foreign citizenship,
the Supreme Court ruled that if the candidate had held dual citizenship
at the time of nomination for office, he or she was ineligible to hold
a seat in Parliament. In three of the four cases heard thus far, the
Supreme Court ordered by-elections, each of which was won by the
incumbent JLP parliamentarian after renouncing dual nationality. In
response to the PNP challenges, the JLP threatened to reciprocate
against PNP parliamentarians holding dual citizenship, with one such
challenge filed in October. At year's end the case continued.
There were eight women elected to the 60-seat House of
Representatives and three women appointed to the 21-seat Senate. Two of
the 16 cabinet ministers were women.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, but
the government did not implement the law effectively, and officials
engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. The World Bank's worldwide
governance indicators reflected that government corruption was a
serious problem. A 2007 media poll and a survey by the Caribbean Policy
Research Institute found that the public believed more than half of the
JCF was corrupt and considered corrupt nearly 50 percent of all
government employees, particularly parish council members and customs
officers.
In February 2008 authorities arrested Kern Spencer, the former
junior minister of energy, mining, and telecommunications, on charges
of fraud, corruption, and money laundering in connection with a scandal
involving payment of more than J$114 million ($1.7 million) to
distribute and install light bulbs donated by Cuba. At year's end
Spencer's trial continued and was set to resume in January 2010.
Another major scandal led to the resignation in July of Joseph
Hibbert, a JLP Member of Parliament and the junior minister in the
Ministry of Transport and Works, following allegations of bribery. The
former official was one of a dozen politicians who allegedly accepted
bribes from the British bridge-building firm Mabey and Johnson. In
September the firm pled guilty to foreign bribery charges following an
investigation by the United Kingdom's Serious Fraud Office, alleging
that it had paid Hibbert more than $160,000 since 1999. Hibbert denied
the charges and, despite a recommendation from the contractor general
for charges of corruption and perjury, the former junior minister
continued to hold his seat in Parliament.
In the North-East St. Catherine parliamentary by-election in June,
PNP allegations of corruption prompted an investigation by the Office
of the Contractor General (OCG). The PNP charged that the JLP had
awarded state contracts to gain political advantage prior to the by-
election. The OCG report apparently found ``irregularities'' in the
award of public works contracts in the period before the election, but
procurement guidelines are so vague that it was not clear if any
illegality was involved. By year's end Parliament had not acted on the
report.
Also in June authorities arrested two longtime Supreme Court clerks
for breaching the Corruption Prevention Act. The employees, suspected
of charging unsanctioned fees to expedite divorce petitions, awaited
trial at year's end. In October authorities arrested an employee of the
Inland Revenue Department on several counts including fraud and
falsifying documents. The employee was accused of stealing J$21 million
($237,000) from the Finance Ministry.
The Corruption Prevention Act requires many government officials to
file financial declarations; however, reports indicated that more than
5,000 civil servants failed to file or filed late or incomplete
financial declarations required under the act. The DPP's office has the
authority to identify noncompliant officials and send their cases to
the magistrate's office, but the government did not levy any fines on
officials during the year. The Ministry of Justice and the Attorney
General's Office have overall responsibility to combat official
corruption, but the various ministries are responsible for their own
investigations.
The Access to Information Act was designed to ``reinforce and give
further effect to the fundamental democratic principles vital to
governmental accountability, transparency and public participation in
national decision making.'' According to media accounts, however, these
standards were not routinely met. The MAJ asserted that one request by
the Gleaner newspaper to the National Land Agency for documents
pertaining to information on the value and total acreage of state land
was ignored for six months. After the Gleaner made another request for
the same information, an additional four months passed before access to
the documents was finally granted.
Not only was access to information on occasion unreasonably
delayed, it was sometimes categorically denied. In one example, the
media asked the Office of Cabinet for access to documents outlining the
number of meetings held by the new cabinet, as well as the number of
members attending each one. This request was denied, and only after the
minister of information intervened was access to the information
granted. The act contains no sanctions or penalties to discourage the
lack of response to applications.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups and
other international bodies generally operated without government
restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human
rights cases. Government officials often were cooperative and
responsive to their views.
The IJCHR was the country's only formal organization concerned with
all aspects of human rights. The NGO Jamaicans for Justice focused on
the issues of police impunity, extrajudicial killings, and excessive
use of force by the police. Many news editorials, as well as the
minister for national security, criticized these groups, fuelling a
public misperception that the organizations advocated only on behalf of
accused criminals.
The Public Defender's Office provides services on behalf of those
who charged that their constitutional rights were violated. The office
contracted private attorneys to bring suits against the government on
behalf of private citizens.
The government was generally supportive of international human
rights concerns and humanitarian NGOs, although there was cause for
concern during the year. In May Member of Parliament and Minister for
National Security Dwight Nelson unleashed a firestorm of controversy
when, speaking before the Jamaican Police Federation, he seemed to
signal government tolerance of police misconduct in referring to police
shootings as ``collateral damage'' and promised sympathy and legal
assistance to police officers accused in such instances. Nelson soon
apologized for his statements but returned to the headlines later in
the year when he told a crime forum that ``there are times when you
have to restrict rights to bring back order and discipline'' and
criticized human rights groups ``who make a lot of noise about civil
liberties and human rights...''
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, place of
origin, political opinions, color, or creed. The government generally
enforced these prohibitions in practice, although there continued to be
widespread discrimination on the basis of political opinion in the
distribution of scarce governmental benefits, including employment,
particularly in the garrison communities.
Women.--Rape is illegal and carries a maximum penalty of 25 years'
imprisonment. The 2009 Sexual Offenses Act criminalizes spousal rape.
During the year victims reported 671 rapes, a decrease of 21 percent
from 2008. NGOs believed the actual numbers were much higher, but no
detailed statistics were available. The JCF rape investigative and
juvenile unit, which was headed by a female deputy superintendent,
handled sex crimes. Only partial information was available as to the
number of prosecutions and convictions obtained. For the period January
through July, there were 20 rape prosecutions and six convictions, not
including figures from the circuit courts in the rural parishes.
Social and cultural norms perpetuated violence against women,
including spousal abuse. Violence against women was widespread, but
many women were reluctant to acknowledge or report abusive behavior,
leading to wide variations in estimates of its extent. The law
prohibits domestic violence and provides remedies including restraining
orders and other noncustodial sentencing. Breaching a restraining order
is punishable by a fine of up to J$10,000 (approximately $114) and six
months' imprisonment. Police were generally reluctant to become
involved in domestic issues, which led to cases not being pursued
vigorously when reported. The Bureau of Women's Affairs (BWA) operated
crisis hotlines and managed a public education campaign to raise the
profile of domestic violence, while the NGO Woman Inc. operated a
shelter that received some government funds.
Although the law prohibits prostitution, it was widespread,
particularly in tourist areas. Trafficking in women for prostitution
and sex tourism continued to be a problem.
There is no legislation that addresses sexual harassment, and the
BWA reported that it had become a ``disturbing problem.'' There were
anecdotal reports of sexual harassment of women by the police as well
as in the workplace, but few statistics were available. The BWA and
NGOs such as Woman Inc. and Women's Media Watch believed that women
often did not report such incidents because there was no legal remedy.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children, and had the information and means to
do so free from discrimination. Access to information on contraception
and skilled attendance at delivery were widely available. However,
essential obstetric and postpartum care was often lacking. Missionaries
of the Poor, a Kingston-based NGO, provided counseling and medical
services to expectant mothers. Women and men were given equal access to
diagnostic services and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases,
including HIV.
Although the law accords women full legal equality, including equal
pay for equal work, in practice women suffered from discrimination in
the workplace and often earned less than their male counterparts. The
BWA, reporting to the minister of development, oversaw programs to
protect the legal rights of women. These programs had limited effect
but raised awareness of problems affecting women. Women sought jobs and
served in almost every occupation in both the public and private
sectors.
There was an active community of women's rights groups, including
Women's Media Watch, the Women's Political Caucus, the St. Peter Claver
Women's Housing Cooperative, the Women's Construction Collective, the
Sistren Theatre Collective, Woman Inc., and the Centre for Gender and
Development Studies at the University of the West Indies. Among the
major concerns of these groups were the protection of victims of sexual
abuse, participation of women in the political process, and legislative
reforms affecting women.
Children.--Every person born in the country after August 5, 1962,
is entitled to citizenship. Persons born or adopted outside the country
to one or more Jamaican parents can claim citizenship, and those
married to Jamaican spouses may also claim citizenship. There is
universal birth registration.
Actual school attendance rates hovered around 64 percent due to the
expense of school uniforms, lunch, and books, coupled with lost wages
for not working on family farms or selling items on the street. To
address this, the Ministry of Social Security established a program to
provide stipends to pay for educational expenses. However, students
must maintain an 85 percent attendance rate to qualify, resulting in
underutilization of the program.
Under the Child Care and Protection Act, the Child Development
Authority (CDA) in the Ministry of Health is responsible for
implementation of the government's programs to prevent child abuse. The
Office of the Children's Advocate (OCA) has broad responsibilities for
reviewing laws, policies, practices, and government services affecting
children; providing legal services and investigating complaints against
the government; and publishing reports and issuing best practice
guidelines concerning the rights or best interests of children. The
Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the police, the CDA, and
the OCA, maintained a ``safe school zone'' program.
In October the OCA reported it had received 365 complaints during
the year and conducted some preliminary investigations while referring
other cases to appropriate government institutions. The OCA intervened
to have students reinstated in schools, assigned lawyers to represent
children in court cases, and successfully sought bail for minors
accused of committing crimes. OCA officials met with the commissioner
of corrections to discuss the treatment of children in penal
institutions. As a result of the OCA's advocacy, the Department of
Correctional Services provided psychological assessments, medical
examinations, and individual and group counseling to minors.
There was no societal pattern of abuse of children; however, there
were numerous reports of rape and incest, particularly in inner cities.
The law prohibits statutory rape, defined as sexual relations with a
person under 16 years old, the minimum age for consensual sex.
Penalties for sexual relations by an adult with a child between the
ages of 12 and 16 is a misdemeanor punishable by not more than seven
years in prison; if the victim is under 12, it is a felony punishable
by up to life imprisonment. In a 2008 Reproductive Health Survey,
almost half of young women reported that they had been pressured or
forced into sexual intercourse at the time of their first sexual
experience. NGOs reported that inner-city gang leaders and sometimes
even fathers initiated sex with young girls as a ``right.'' There were
498 cases of carnal abuse reported to the JCF, a decrease of 18 percent
over the same period from 2008.
The government expressed concern about child abuse and acknowledged
that incidents were underreported. The Task Force on Child Abuse,
established by the prime minister's office in October 2008, coordinated
the ``Ananda Alert'' child protection system to search for missing
children. The CDA held training sessions to familiarize police officers
with the rights of children and to prepare them to enforce the Child
Care and Protection Act. The OCA and the Family and Parenting Center
conducted a child protection audit and training to prevent child abuse
victims from being revictimized and to facilitate court proceedings in
victimization cases. The Child Abuse Registry recorded a significant
increase in reported cases compared with 2008. The Child Care
Protection Act places responsibility on all citizens to report
suspected abuse, with a penalty of up to J$500,000 ($5,600) for failure
to do so.
Child prostitution and trafficking for the purpose of sexual
exploitation were problems, especially in tourist areas.
In July Parliament approved a child pornography bill, criminalizing
commercial sexual exploitation of children. The law applies to the
production, possession, importation, exportation, and distribution of
child pornography and carries a maximum penalty of 20 years'
imprisonment and a fine of J$500,000 ($5,600).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits all forms of
trafficking; however, persons were trafficked to, from, through, and
within the country.
Most trafficking victims were poor women and girls, but also
increasingly boys, who were trafficked from rural to urban and tourist
areas for commercial exploitation. Women were reportedly trafficked
from Asia, the Dominican Republic, Russia, and Eastern Europe, while
some women and girls were trafficked to Canada, the United Kingdom, the
United States, the Bahamas, and other Caribbean destinations. Children
trafficked within the country may also be subjected to domestic
servitude and forced labor.
Victims were lured by the promise of jobs and education. Some
victims were trafficked by family members, while others voluntarily
answered employment advertisements without knowing what the job
actually entailed. Girls recruited on the streets of Kingston and
Montego Bay were also vulnerable to being trafficked into selling drugs
or becoming drug couriers. In January, 10 Jamaicans, lured by the
promise of work, traveled to Curacao but were locked up and forced into
prostitution. Four victims escaped, but information was not available
on the remaining six.
As a measure to limit trafficking for commercial exploitation, the
Ministry of Labor significantly increased the work permit fees for
foreign exotic dancers, resulting in a dramatic decrease in their
presence on the island.
The Child Care and Protection Act specifically prohibits the sale
or trafficking of minors and provides that violators receive the
maximum penalty under the law. This law subjects convicted traffickers
to a fine or imprisonment with hard labor for a term not exceeding 10
years, or both. The Trafficking in Persons Act provides penalties of up
to 10 years' imprisonment for permitting or facilitating trafficking.
It also allows for restitution to the victim. Three major crime
hotlines were available to receive reports of trafficking 24 hours a
day. In 2008 the DPP successfully prosecuted one case of trafficking in
children before a court; authorities prosecuted a few such cases under
other laws during the year.
The government's National Task Force against Trafficking in
Persons, chaired by the Ministry of National Security, had the lead on
all trafficking issues. A specialized police antitrafficking unit
within the Organized Crime Division of the JCF compiled data on
trafficking investigations and related legal proceedings. The task
force was also involved in public education programs, maintained a
hotline for trafficking victims, and worked with NGOs operating a
shelter in Negril.
During the year the JCF conducted four raids and made two arrests
on trafficking charges, although there were no convictions. In June
authorities arrested Paul Lewis, a prominent preacher, in Westmoreland
in June for having sex with a 15-year-old while a 14-year-old was
present. His trial was scheduled to begin December 18.
Law enforcement training taught ways to identify trafficking
victims and directed police not to charge the victims with crimes such
as solicitation or pandering. The International Organization for
Migration (IOM), in collaboration with the Ministry of National
Security, trained judicial authorities and attorneys in the DPP's
office to adequately address such issues.
The CDA managed facilities for at-risk children, and the government
provided funding to NGOs that worked to reintegrate child laborers who
were victims of trafficking.
The BWA integrated trafficking topics into its public education
program. The IOM worked closely with government officials in conducting
training, using its manual on prevention and suppression of
trafficking. In July the Ministry of National Security conducted
training for resident magistrates, prosecutors, JCF antitrafficking
units, Narcotics and Transnational Units, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Foreign Trade, and NGOs during a two-day conference. The
ministry also provided specialized training for operators in the
Victim's Support Unit and maintained a trafficking hotline.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws prohibiting
discrimination against persons with disabilities or mandating
accessibility for persons with disabilities, and such persons
encountered discrimination in employment and denial of access to
schools. Health care and other state services were reported to be
universally available. The Ministry of Labor has responsibility for the
Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities, which had a budget of
J$47 million ($500,000) in 2008-09. The ministry also has
responsibility for the Early Stimulation Project, an education program
for children with disabilities, as well as the Abilities Foundation, a
vocational program for older persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Maroons, descendants of slaves
who escaped to the mountainous interior in the 17th and 18th centuries,
consider themselves a group apart and maintain some African traditions
distinct from those of the larger society. They continue to defend
their rights and legal status, which stem from peace treaties signed
with the British in 1739-40. In Maroon communities such as Accompong
and Nanny Town, voters elect a Colonel for a five-year term, who
governs the community assisted by an appointed 32-member council.
Maroons also vote in general elections, and their leaders work with
Parliament to ensure that their communities' needs are considered when
making important decisions. Maroons are exempt from national taxes and
land is held in common; however, there are major infrastructural needs
that the Maroons feel the central government neglects. Formal education
is not available in Maroon communities beyond the junior high school
level, and unemployment rates are high. Many young Maroons leave the
region for employment elsewhere, and the communities' rich culture and
heritage is threatened by this migration and by the influx of popular
island-wide culture.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The law prohibits ``acts of
gross indecency'' (generally interpreted as any kind of physical
intimacy) between men, in public or in private, which are punishable by
10 years in prison. In October Prime Minister Golding, who upon taking
office announced that no gays or lesbians would be allowed to serve in
his cabinet, called for a constitutional prohibition against same-sex
marriage.
The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals, and Gays (J-FLAG)
continued to report human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention,
mob attacks, stabbings, harassment of homosexual patients by hospital
and prison staff, and targeted shootings of such persons. Police often
did not investigate such incidents. J-FLAG reported 33 cases of serious
injuries to gays and lesbians over an 18-month period. The violence led
many such persons to emigrate.
J-FLAG members also suffered attacks on their property and home
intrusions, as people demanded to know the number of persons and beds
in a home. In one instance, a fire bombing at the home of two men left
one of them with burns on more than 60 percent of his body. In addition
such persons faced death and arson threats, with some of these directed
at the J-FLAG offices. J-FLAG did not publicize its location due to
such threats, and its officials reported feeling unsafe having meetings
with clients at the organization's office.
On September 9, an honorary British consul in Montego Bay was
strangled in bed, and a note left at the scene reportedly denounced the
victim as gay. On October 12, a passerby accused a pedestrian on a
Kingston sidewalk of being gay because he had been walking in an
``effeminate manner.'' That person was subsequently attacked with a
machete and four fingers were nearly severed.
The trial of six suspects arrested for the 2005 robbery and murder
of prominent gay rights advocate Lenford ``Steve'' Harvey, initially
begun and then postponed in 2007, was scheduled to recommence on
January 25, 2010.
Male inmates deemed by prison wardens to be gay were held in a
separate facility for their protection. The method used for determining
their sexual orientation was subjective and not regulated by the prison
system, although inmates were said to confirm their homosexuality for
their own safety. There were numerous reports of violence against gay
inmates, perpetrated by the wardens and by other inmates, but few
inmates sought recourse through the prison system.
Gay men were hesitant to report incidents against them because of
fear for their physical well-being. Lesbian women were subject to
sexual assault as well as other physical attacks. Human rights NGOs and
government entities agreed that brutality against such persons,
primarily by private citizens, was widespread in the community.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--No laws protect persons
living with HIV/AIDS from discrimination. Human rights NGOs reported
severe stigma and discrimination against this group. The International
Labor Organization (ILO) worked with the Ministry of Labor on a program
to reduce the stigma of HIV/AIDS in the workplace and to assist
employers in designing policies for workers with HIV/AIDS. Health care
facilities were prepared to handle patients with HIV/AIDS, but health
care workers often neglected such patients. The Ministry of Labor, in
conjunction with the ILO and the Ministry of Health, conducted
workplace education programs for HIV/AIDS issues.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to
form or join a trade union, and unions functioned freely and
independently of the government. Approximately 20 percent of the work
force of 1.2 million was unionized. Some unions reported that it was
not uncommon for private sector employers to lay off union workers and
rehire them as contractors, a practice some unions did not oppose so
long as labor and management agreed. In July the Appeals Court upheld a
2005 decision by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal to hold a
representation rights poll for more than 300 hotel contract workers who
had been unable to formalize union representation.
The law neither authorizes nor prohibits the right to strike, and
strikes occurred. Striking workers could interrupt work without
criminal liability but could not be assured of keeping their jobs,
although there were no reports of any workers losing their jobs due to
strike action during the year. Workers in 10 categories of ``essential
services'' must first take disputes to the labor ministry before they
can legally strike. The ILO has repeatedly criticized the government
for broadly defining these 10 categories.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law permits
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
government protected this right in practice. An estimated 20 to 25
percent of the work force was covered by a collective agreement. An
independent Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) hears cases when
management and labor fail to reach agreement. Any cases not resolved by
the IDT pass to the civil courts. The IDT generally handled 35 to 40
cases each year. Most were decided within 90 days, but some took longer
to resolve due to the complexity of the dispute or delays requested by
the parties.
Collective bargaining is denied to a bargaining unit if no single
union represents at least 40 percent of the workers in the unit in
question or when the union seeking recognition for collective
bargaining purposes does not obtain 50 percent of the votes of the
total number of workers (whether or not they are affiliated with the
union). The ILO Committee of Experts asked the government to change
this, but the government disagreed with the recommendation and
expressed no intent to change the existing law.
The law allows for union activity and prohibits antiunion
discrimination. The law prohibits firing an employee for union
activity, and employers generally respected the law in practice.
However, there were several cases of antiunion activities during the
year, including an incident in which 18 former employees of Solo
Jamaica Ltd. accused the company of union-busting and wrongful
termination. According to the former employees, management attempted to
bribe them in order to dissuade them from unionizing and forced them to
sign temporary contracts. When the National Workers Union submitted a
claim to represent the workers' interests, management initially denied
having received the claim and then laid off the workers. While union
organizers and members are entitled to full legal protections that were
effectively enforced, both management and workers were often unaware of
their collective bargaining rights and obligations. In many cases,
management easily intimidated and dissuaded less-educated workers from
joining or organizing unions, and workers feared filing complaints with
the Ministry of Labor.
Domestic labor laws applied equally to the ``free zones'' (export
processing zones), but there were no unionized companies in any of the
three publicly-owned zones. Organizers attributed this circumstance to
resistance to organizing efforts by foreign owners in the zones and the
belief that many free-zone employees were difficult to unionize since
they feared losing their jobs. Employer-controlled ``workers'
councils'' handled grievance resolution in most of these companies but
did not negotiate wages and conditions, which were set by management.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The country has
ratified relevant ILO conventions, which carries a legal obligation to
apply their provisions. Other than that, there are no specific laws
prohibiting forced or compulsory labor, and there were reports of child
prostitution and of girls in rural areas recruited for domestic labor
and then forced into servitude.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace and stipulates
that every citizen has a duty to report child abuse. The minimum age
for employment is 15 years, and the law prohibits the employment of
children under age 13 in any type of work. Children between 13 and 15
years are permitted to engage in ``light work,'' as prescribed the
Ministry of Labor, which will not disrupt their education or be harmful
to their health. The ministry's child labor unit was responsible for
monitoring and controlling child labor.
The labor ministry assisted the Office of Health and Safety in
child labor enforcement efforts. The CDA is responsible for carrying
out investigations of abuse. According to CDA officials, resources to
investigate exploitive child labor were insufficient. Children under
the age of 12 peddled goods and services, begged on city streets,
worked on plantations, farms, and construction sites, as well as in
gardens, shops, and markets.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The government sets the minimum
wage in a transparent process after receiving recommendations from the
tripartite National Minimum Wage Advisory Commission. The minimum wage
was J$4,070 (approximately $46) per week for all workers except private
security guards, whom some companies insisted were contractors. Several
cases were before the courts to determine whether security guards were
contractors or employees. The minimum wage did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family, but most workers were paid
more than the legal minimum. The Ministry of Labor administered and
enforced the minimum wage.
The law provides for a standard 40-hour workweek and mandates at
least one day of rest per week. Work in excess of 40 hours per week or
eight hours per day must be compensated at overtime rates, a provision
that was generally respected, except by some security guard companies.
The law does not prohibit excessive compulsory overtime, and some
employees, including security guards, regularly were required to work
12-hour shifts without overtime compensation. There were differing
practices among security guard companies, but workers were generally
not paid for overtime unless they worked more than 12 hours.
The Ministry of Labor's Industrial Safety Division sets and
enforces industrial health and safety standards, mainly through factory
inspections. Insufficient staffing in the Ministries of Labor, Finance,
National Security, and Public Service contributed to the difficulties
in enforcing workplace regulations. The Industrial Safety Division
conducted inspections, investigated accidents, warned violators, and
gave them a time period in which to correct the violation. If the
violation was not corrected within that time, the violator was taken to
court. However, inspectors did not regularly and sufficiently monitor
health and safety standards.
The law provides workers with the right to remove themselves from
dangerous work situations without jeopardy to their continued
employment if they are trade union members or covered by the Factories
Act. The law does not specifically protect other categories of workers
in those circumstances.
__________
MEXICO
Mexico, with a population of approximately 111 million, is a
federal republic composed of 31 states and a federal district, with an
elected president and bicameral legislature. President Felipe Calderon
of the National Action Party was elected in 2006 to a six-year term in
generally free and fair multiparty elections. The country continued its
fight against organized crime, which involved frequent clashes between
security forces and drug traffickers. As the government brought
enforcement pressure against drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs),
both the DTOs and gangs within them battled each other for control of
trafficking routes and markets, causing more than 8,000 drug related
homicides during the year, as well as clashes between DTOs and security
forces. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of
the security forces. There were instances in which elements of these
forces acted outside of the government's policies.
The government generally respected and promoted human rights;
however, the following problems were reported during the year by the
country's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) and other sources:
unlawful killings by security forces; kidnappings; physical abuse; poor
and overcrowded prison conditions; arbitrary arrests and detention;
corruption, inefficiency, and lack of transparency that engendered
impunity within the judicial system; confessions coerced through
torture; violence and threats against journalists leading to self-
censorship. Societal problems included domestic violence, including
killings of women; trafficking in persons; social and economic
discrimination against some members of the indigenous population; 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 federal
government or its state agents did not commit any politically motivated
killings; however, there were reports that security forces, acting both
within and outside the line of duty, killed several persons, including
minors, during the year.
In its effort to dismantle the country's DTOs, the government
deployed approximately 50,000 army troops in 10 states. The command and
control arrangements for those deployments varied. In the two highest-
profile deployments in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, the government
focused on ensuring that civilian law enforcement agencies played a
lead or coordinated role in security operations.
According to the CNDH, more than 8,000 persons were killed in drug-
related violence during the year. Also according to the CNDH, human
rights complaints were filed against the military, the Secretariat of
Public Security (SSP), and the Attorney General's Office (PGR) across
the country during the year. Killings allegedly involving government
security forces include the following:
On January 9, two Preventive Federal Police (PFP) officers opened
fire against a vehicle that was transporting 26 migrants from various
countries, after the vehicle failed to stop at a checkpoint. The
gunfire killed two women and a man and injured eight others. At year's
end the case remained under investigation.
On February 13, three men identifying themselves as ministerial
police officers abducted Raul Lucas Lucia and Manuel Ponce Rosas, the
president and secretary respectively of the Organization for the Future
of the Mixtec People (OFPM) in Ayutla de los Libres, Guerrero. On
February 21, their bodies, showing signs of torture, were discovered
near the neighboring township of Tecoanapa. A few months before the
abduction, the OFPM alleged it had received death threats after it
accused the army of committing human rights abuses in cases occurring
in 2002 and 1998 (see section 6, Indigenous People). Local human rights
organizations alleged that state officials were responsible for the
torture and killing. The Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human
Rights (OHCHR), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR),
and Amnesty International (AI) denounced the killings and warned of
army abuses in Guerrero's Savi region. Five days after the forced
disappearance was reported, on February 18, authorities initiated an
investigation into the case, which was pending at year's end.
On May 5, the bodies of civilians Miguel Angel Gama Habif, Israel
Ayala Ramirez, and Aaron Rojas de la Fuente, who were detained by
soldiers on March 17, were found near Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. On May
8, the Secretariat of Defense (SEDENA) acknowledged responsibility and
announced that 12 members of the army's First Regiment of the Motorized
Cavalry, Eighth Military Zone, had been formally indicted for the
killings.
On June 20, members of the 93rd Infantry Battalion based in Tlapa
de Comonfort, Guerrero, killed Naua Bonfilio Rubio Villegas at a
military checkpoint located in Huamuxtitlan. While searching and
inspecting a bus, the soldiers identified an individual wearing
military-style boots and detained him for questioning. After the
soldiers signed the bus driver's manifest to account for the detention,
they signaled for the driver to leave, but another group of soldiers
fired at the bus as it was departing, killing passenger Bonfilio Rubio.
The army assumed jurisdiction of the case. In July the army arrested a
soldier, who remained imprisoned at year's end; in October the army
offered compensation to the family of the victim. Human rights
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), drawing on reports of
eyewitnesses, including the detainee, disputed SEDENA's conclusion that
soldiers first shot into the air and fired at the bus only when it did
not stop at the checkpoint.
On July 17, soldiers from the army's First Regiment Motorized
Cavalry (Eighth Military Zone) in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, shot and
killed 18-year-old Jorge Eduardo de Leon Vela while he was going to
work. After the shooting the victim was taken to the hospital and kept
under military guard. His wife found a patient in a local hospital with
characteristics similar to those of her husband, whom soldiers had
registered under another name. She was not allowed access to identify
him. Two days later the victim died and was transferred to a local
funeral home. When the mother and the wife of the victim went to claim
the remains, they were interrogated and briefly detained. They never
received an official explanation. A subsequent SEDENA press release
claimed that the victim possessed drugs and weapons, assertions that
were questioned by the victim's relatives and human rights
organizations.
During the year the CNDH issued to SEDENA 30 recommendations
(certifications that a case merits further investigation or sanction)
concerning allegations of human rights violations committed by armed
forces members during counternarcotics operations, compared with 14 in
2008. The military accepted 19 of the recommendations and affirmed its
commitment to collaborating with the CNDH on outstanding
investigations.
Human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW),
criticized SEDENA for a lack of transparency in the information it
makes available to the public. On July 23, the military announced that
it had prosecuted and sentenced 12 soldiers for unspecified offenses
since 2006 and that another 53 soldiers were under investigation for
alleged abuses. However, in November in response to questions by HRW
concerning this claim, the secretary of governance, Fernando Gomez
Mont, clarified that only one soldier had been convicted in the course
of the Calderon administration. At year's end no additional information
was provided on the 53 other soldiers SEDENA cited as being under
investigation.
There were a number of killings that may have been politically
motivated. In June the CNDH issued a recommendation to the governor of
Oaxaca, the PGR, and the Oaxacan State Congress for further
investigation of the April killing of Beatriz Lopez Leyva, a Democratic
Revolutionary Party (PRD) leader who was the victim of previous attacks
and had requested protection. On August 20, armed assailants killed
Armando Chavarria Barrera, the leader of the Guerrero State Congress
and PRD gubernatorial candidate.
During the year the military procurator general charged one soldier
with homicide in the January 2008 case from the 12th Infantry Battalion
in Michoacan; the soldier reportedly opened fire on a pick-up truck,
killing minor Victor Alfonso de la Paz Ortega and injuring Juan Carlos
Penaloza Garcia.
There were no reported developments, and none were expected, in the
February 2008 case of the killing of Sergio Meza Varela and the
wounding of Jose Barboza Ramirez by soldiers in Tamaulipas.
There were no developments in the March 2008 case in which soldiers
in Badiraguato, Sinaloa, without apparent cause, opened fire on a car,
killing four persons.
There were no developments in the June 2008 incident when military
officials in Chihuahua opened fire against a vehicle, killing two
occupants of the vehicle, a soldier, and a bystander. SEDENA maintained
that the vehicle failed to stop at a checkpoint and ran over a soldier.
There were no known developments in the investigation into the July
2008 killing by security forces of 17-year-old Guillermo Soto Garcia in
Aguascalientes or the investigation into the 2007 shooting and killing
of a civilian family at a checkpoint in Sinaloa.
In October the Supreme Court ruled that Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz
Ortiz was responsible for the human rights abuses committed during the
2006 political conflict in the state of Oaxaca. An estimated 26
civilians were killed during the unrest, including U.S. journalist
Bradley Will. The ruling did not impose any binding consequences,
including legal sanctions.
An estimated 10,000 private security firms operated in the country,
of which 80 percent reportedly did not meet legal registration
requirements. This large presence of the private sector in security led
to concerns about vigilantism. In November the mayor of San Pedro Garza
Garcia, a wealthy suburb outside Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, sharpened those
concerns when he conveyed public support for extralegal means of
combating organized crime. Later he made public statements concerning
the killing of suspected narcotics traffickers several hours before
their bodies were discovered in Mexico City. The country's political
establishment, including President Calderon, sharply criticized the
mayor and publicly pledged strong support for the rule of law.
b. Disappearance.--There were no confirmed reports of politically
motivated disappearances at the federal level; however, there were
multiple reports of forced disappearances by the army and police. Most
occurred in the course of anticrime operations. In several cases of
reported disappearances, security forces had detained the missing
persons incommunicado for several days.
SEDENA was investigating the case of the disappearance of Isaias
Uribe Hernandez and Juan Pablo Alvarado Oliveros, two veterinarians who
went missing on April 5 while driving in Torreon, Coahuila. Family
members presented complaints to the Coahuila State Human Rights
Commission and state authorities. They alleged that SEDENA officials
were responsible for the disappearances. SEDENA stated it had no
information that military personnel were involved in the incident but
were nevertheless investigating the case.
In July the CNDH recommended to SEDENA that it investigate the
November 2008 case of brothers Jose Luis and Carlos Guzman Zuniga, who
disappeared in Ciudad Juarez after being detained in their house by
soldiers, according to many eyewitness accounts. In its initial
investigation, the SSP provided the CNDH documentation indicating that
the two brothers were taken to the military installation for
questioning. SEDENA denied involvement in the case. The whereabouts of
the Guzman brothers remained unknown at year's end.
In February the CNDH recommended that SEDENA investigate the case
of ecologist Javier Torres Cruz from Petatlan, Guerrero, who was
allegedly detained in December 2008 by soldiers from the 19th Battalion
and reappeared after 10 days with evidence of physical abuse. In June
2008 the PGR in Mexico City had reopened the case of the 2001 killing
of human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa and implicated the former mayor of
Petatlan, Guerrero, Rogaciano Alba Alvarez, in the case; thereafter
soldiers reportedly threatened and harassed Torres Cruz, his family,
and the community of La Morena. Many human rights organizations
expressed concerns for the safety of the victim and his relatives. By
year's end there was no known investigation by SEDENA.
In April several members of the government commission established
in 2008 to review the disappearance of two Popular Revolutionary Army
members in 2007 resigned due to frustration with the government for
failing to investigate thoroughly.
Kidnapping remained a serious problem for persons of all
socioeconomic levels. According to Mexico United Against Delinquency's
(MUCD) annual report, kidnappings rose from 325 in 2005 to 820 in 2008.
Express kidnappings, in which a victim is detained for a short period
to extract payment, often through forcing the victim to use an ATM card
to drain a bank account, remained a problem. Many kidnapping cases
continued to go unreported, as families feared repercussions and often
negotiated directly with kidnappers. Informed observers believed the
number of cases reported to authorities was far less than the actual
number of kidnappings. The Institute for Crime Studies reported that 22
percent of citizens feared the consequences of reporting crime. The
MUCD report affirmed that there were credible reports of police
involvement in kidnappings for ransom, primarily at the state and local
level.
The CNDH reported that between September 2008 and February 2009,
approximately 10,000 migrants were kidnapped as they attempted to cross
the border into the United States. According to the Casa del Migrante
and other NGOs, the government did not respond adequately to migrant
kidnappings. Many migrants were reluctant to report such crimes out of
fear of being deported.
On September 7, authorities arrested six individuals, three of them
Federal Ministerial Police officers, in connection with the June 2008
kidnapping and killing of minor Fernando Marti and his bodyguard. In
November the PGR announced the arrest of Abel Silva Petriciolet in
connection with this crime as well as an additional 36 kidnappings.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment and stipulates that confessions obtained through
illicit means such as torture are not admissible as evidence in court;
similarly inadmissible is any confession made directly to police. To be
admissible a confession must be formally recorded before a prosecutor
with the acknowledgement that it is being made voluntarily and after
examination by a doctor confirming that the person has not been
subjected to physical abuse. By year's end Congress had not enacted
implementing legislation for the June 2008 justice reform act, which
diminishes reliance on confessions by requiring that they be made
before a judge.
The government took steps to implement preventive measures against
the practice of torture, including applying, at the federal level, the
Istanbul Protocol, which contains guidance on investigating and
documenting torture and other abuses. According to the PGR, 12 of the
country's 31 states have ratified the protocol and established
consultant and evaluation offices. In addition the PGR said it has
provided training on human rights and torture to its local, state, and
federal staff. The National Mechanism to Prevent Torture under the CNDH
made 48 visits to prisons and detention centers nationwide. During the
year the CNDH conducted 75 human rights-related courses for SEDENA, 95
for PGR, 95 for SSP, and 18 for prison officials; the courses included
sections on torture.
During the year the CNDH received 1,105 complaints of cruel or
degrading treatment and 33 torture complaints, compared with 588
complaints of cruel or degrading treatment and 21 torture complaints in
2008. During the year the CNDH made 30 recommendations to SEDENA, of
which SEDENA accepted 19; in the majority of the 30 recommendations the
CNDH cited arbitrary detention and torture. In at least three cases,
the CNDH verified that army doctors or other members of the military
falsified evidence to cover up abuses.
While some law enforcement officials were punished for lesser
offenses, human rights groups linked physical abuse to the
pervasiveness of arbitrary detention. Despite the law's provisions to
the contrary, NGOs reported that police and prosecutors attempted to
justify arrests by forcibly securing confessions to a crime.
In March soldiers from the 28th Infantry Battalion of the Second
Military Zone in Baja California detained and tortured 25 Tijuana
municipal police, using electric shocks, beatings, and asphyxiation to
force the police to make self-incriminating statements that were used
to charge them with crimes. The officers were transported to a state
prison in Nayarit on May 7. A complaint was made to the CNDH and an
investigation was opened to determine the soldiers' responsibility for
the alleged abuses.
On June 9, AI publicized the case of the communities of Puerto de
las Ollas, Las Palancas, and El Jilguero in the state of Guerrero,
inhabited by approximately 100 subsistence farmers. In a five-day
period, 500 soldiers reportedly committed abuses, including illegal
raids, theft, damage to property, threats, harassment, physical
aggression against a pregnant woman, and pointing firearms at children.
There were two reports of torture during the raid: Omar Garcia, age 14,
and Cesar Acosta Avila, a young man with brain injuries, were
blindfolded, beaten, given electric shocks, partially suffocated with a
plastic bag, and threatened with castration by soldiers. Human rights
organizations of Guerrero (Guerrero Human Rights Commission and the
Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights) documented these cases,
and the military's investigation reportedly continued at year's end.
Early in the year, military prosecutors closed the 2007 case of
arbitrary detentions and torture of Jesus Picaso Gomez and Antonio
Paniagua by soldiers from the 37th Infantry Batallion of Michoacan; the
case was closed for lack of evidence despite the documented medical
report of physical abuse. Although military investigators concluded
that there was no evidence that soldiers committed any crime, SEDENA
indemnified the victims.
There were no known updates in the Chihuahua state attorney
general's complaint with SEDENA and the PGR regarding army soldiers in
Ciudad Juarez who allegedly detained local police officers and abused
female officers.
The CNDH continued investigating allegations that three individuals
detained by federal authorities in connection with the September 2008
grenade attack in Morelia, which killed eight civilians, had been
tortured while in custody.
Although SEDENA accepted the CNDH's recommendation and agreed to
investigate, there were no known developments in a 2007 case involving
arbitrary detention and alleged torture of seven adults and one child
by military officials at a military base in Michoacan.
With respect to the 2006 San Salvador Atenco confrontation between
local vendors and state and federal police agents in Mexico State
during which two individuals were killed and more than 47 women were
taken into custody with many allegedly raped by police officials, 21
policemen initially were investigated at the state level, of whom 15
were exonerated and five remained under investigation. In June an
appeals court acquitted the only police officer convicted in the case.
According to AI Mexico and the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Center, none
of the 2,500 police officers who participated in the Atenco Operation
had been convicted of any crime. In February the Supreme Court (SCJN)
issued a nonbinding finding that grave human rights violations occurred
in Atenco and on September 22 sent the case back to the state; it
remained pending there and in the IACHR at year's end. The Office of
the Special Prosecutor for Violence Against Women and Trafficking in
Persons (FEVIMTRA) declined jurisdiction over the case in September.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor. During the year the CNDH and NGOs reported that corruption,
overcrowding, prisoner abuse, alcoholism, and drug addiction were
prevalent in most facilities. Health and sanitary conditions were poor,
and most prisons did not offer psychiatric care. Poorly trained,
underpaid, and corrupt guards staffed most prisons. Authorities
occasionally placed prisoners in solitary confinement for indefinite
periods. Prisoners often had to bribe guards to acquire food, medicine,
and other necessities. Prison overcrowding continued to be a common
problem. According to the SSP, in December there were 224,749 prisoners
in 440 facilities, approximately 30 percent above capacity.
Approximately 95 percent of those inmates were men. In its Strategic
Plan for 2008-12, the SSP described the penitentiary system as ``one of
the most underdeveloped and abandoned components of public security.''
Overcrowding contributed to hunger strikes and prison riots. In
March, 20 inmates died when two rival gangs clashed in a prison in
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. In August another fight between armed inmates
in Durango left 19 dead and more than 20 injured. In Mexico City dozens
of inmates were injured when hundreds of prisoners rioted to protest
living conditions and the limitation of visits during the H1N1 outbreak
in May.
The SSP reported that between September 2008 and December 2009, 200
inmates died in prison, 532 were injured, and 142 escaped.
The CNDH noted that conditions for female prisoners were inferior
to those for men, particularly for women who lived with their children
in prison. There were anecdotal reports of sexual abuse of women while
in detention. Pretrial detainees were routinely held together with
convicted criminals.
The government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by human rights organizations. The International Committee
of the Red Cross, the CNDH, and state human rights commissions visited
detainees during the year. The CNDH reported making 99 prison visits
during the year in addition to 48 in conjunction with the National
Mechanism to Prevent Torture. Separately, the CNDH opened 460 complaint
cases based on concerns about human rights violations against
prisoners. The CNDH also received 35 complaints of ``cruel treatment''
but none for torture of prisoners.
The federal government worked to improve prison conditions by
implementing its 2008-12 strategic plan focused on security,
rehabilitation, and education. During the year the SSP trained 473 new
corrections officials, 107 technical staff, and 51 administrative
staff. The government designated approximately $6.8 billion pesos ($500
million) in the fiscal year for prison construction, upgrades, and
reform. Much of that funding was dedicated to the construction of two
new centers and renovation of four others that continued at year's end.
The SSP also worked towards developing a new classification system and
a new unit to oversee the classification process. To this end, the SSP
trained 72 new classification staff and also opened the new Federal
Corrections Officer Training Academy in Veracruz in May.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention as well as sponsoring or covering up an illegal
detention. However, the CNDH reported receiving 1,289 complaints of
arbitrary arrests and detentions during the year.
On January 16, the army detained Arnulfo Anaya, Luis Carlos Perez,
and Juan Ramon Castillo near Castillo's home in Chihuahua. The CNDH
determined that the soldiers held the men for nearly 36 hours before
turning them over to local authorities and tortured Luis Carlos Perez.
The CNDH also reported that the army's medical personnel helped cover
up the abuses by failing to report Perez's injuries properly.
Authorities charged the three men with drug possession, but it was
unknown whether any investigation was initiated into the alleged abuses
by the military.
At the state level, 53 complaints of arbitrary detention were filed
with the Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission against the army and
federal police operating under the auspices of Joint Operation
Chihuahua, a government effort to attack organized crime and to stop
executions in the state of Chihuahua. As of July the Michoacan State
Human Rights Commission registered 400 human rights complaints against
the military, more than the total for all of 2008, mainly in connection
with illegal searches, arbitrary detention, robbery, and mistreatment.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The country has an
estimated 2,600 police forces with approximately 400,000 officers
operating at the municipal, state, and federal levels. During the year
the government deployed approximately 50,000 military in 10 states to
support, and in some municipalities to coordinate, the fight against
the country's well-armed and well-funded organized criminal groups. The
government continued its long-term effort to reform and improve the
country's police organizations, with the goal of replacing the military
in its domestic law enforcement function.
The police forces traditionally are divided into two functional
groups: a uniformed ``preventive'' police that seeks to maintain public
order and deter crime through a visible public presence and an
``investigative'' police force responsible for crime scene preservation
and investigation once a crime has been committed. These functional
divisions exist at all levels of government--federal, state, and
municipal. Both the PGR and the SSP have investigative police.
A law approved on May 29 created a new federal investigative police
force, the Federal Ministerial Police (PFM), which falls under the
command of the Attorney General's Office. The PFM replaces the Attorney
General's Federal Investigative Agency. Additionally, on April 30,
Congress passed a new Federal Police Law that strengthens the Federal
Police, which falls under SSP authority, and gives it limited
investigative and intelligence-gathering abilities.
President Calderon remarked in speeches in March and October that
corruption was a serious problem in the police forces and a primary
reason for the use of the military in the domestic counternarcotics
fight. The CNDH reported that police, especially at the state and local
level, were involved in kidnapping, extortion, and in providing
protection for, or acting directly on behalf of, organized crime and
drug traffickers. Local forces in particular tended to be poorly
compensated and directly pressured by criminal groups, leaving them
most vulnerable to infiltration. According to a 2009 HRW report in
impunity in the country, impunity was pervasive; this lack of
accountability contributed to the continued reluctance of many victims
to file complaints. Responsibility for investigating federal police
abuse falls under the purview of the PGR or the Secretariat of Public
Administration, depending on the type of offense.
To better manage the corruption problem, in January the government
enacted legislation establishing a four-year deadline to vet personnel
in all of the country's 2,600 police forces using a series of testing
mechanisms. The legislation requires all police forces to meet certain
compensation and training standards, and it also makes it easier for
authorities to fire corrupt or unfit officers. In addition to rooting
out corruption at the federal level through ``Operation Cleanup,'' the
government led anticorruption operations in several states. On May 26,
federal authorities arrested 10 mayors, a judge, and 16 law enforcement
officers in the state of Michoacan for ties to drug trafficking. At
least 12 of these officials were later released for lack of evidence
against them. SSP officers arrested 92 police officers in the state of
Hidalgo on June 26 for protecting a DTO. Also in June the military
arrested more than 70 local and state law enforcement officers with
presumed ties to organized crime.
The CNDH received 14,633 complaints during the year, including
2,178 complaints against the SSP, which upon investigation produced a
finding of 667 violations in categories that included arbitrary
detention (244), noncompliance with arrest warrant procedures (177),
and cruel and inhuman treatment (245). Significantly more than half the
complaints received were resolved by inter alia reorienting the
complainant to the proper authority (1,722), suspending an
investigation for lack of evidence (222), and reaching an amicable
agreement (49). Three complaints involving violations pertaining to
treatment in prison and arbitrary detention resulted in recommendations
calling on the SSP to make amends with victims and adopt procedural
measures to comply with its obligations.
In seeking to improve human rights practices, the SSP during the
year conducted 131 courses specifically on human rights or with modules
pertaining to the topic, training a total of 19,048 personnel. In the
SSP training academy in San Luis Potosi, human rights were
institutionalized as a standard part of the curriculum. The SSP also
worked with the International Organization for Migration to hold three
courses training 112 federal police officers. With experts from the
ICRC, the SSP held two courses to train 24 personnel. Additionally, the
CNDH trained 4,344 SSP officials. The SSP in collaboration with the
National Autonomous University of Mexico also continued to provide
human rights training to federal police officers throughout the
country. Separately, the CNDH provided training to approximately 3,600
PGR personnel.
According to the CNDH, the military's domestic law enforcement
deployment led to an increased number of reported human rights abuses,
and human rights NGOs complained that an opaque military justice system
led to impunity.
A November decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in
the Rosendo Radilla Pacheco case found the use of military courts to
try human rights cases involving civilians deficient and issued a
binding ruling calling for the country to evaluate and reform this
process. In July the local office of the OHCHR signed an agreement with
SEDENA to work with the military on human rights issues including
developing human rights training programs and indicators.
SEDENA's Directorate General for Human Rights investigates military
personnel for violations of human rights identified by the CNDH and
promotes a culture of respect for human rights within the institution.
Nevertheless, the directorate has no power to ensure allegations are
properly tried and prosecuted. Human rights NGOs such as CenterProdh
complained about a lack of access to the directorate and maintained it
had done little to improve SEDENA's human rights performance. In a July
23 press conference, the director of SEDENA's Human Rights Directorate,
General Lopez Portillo, stated that the increase in complaints against
SEDENA were related to its lead role against organized crime but also
claimed that many complaints were filed by lawyers on behalf of
criminals apprehended by the army to slow their trials and besmirch the
army's reputation.
The CNDH provided human rights training to approximately 11,000
military personnel during the year. In 2008 SEDENA reported that 860
soldiers participated in 14 courses centered on human rights, 83,992
officials attended 610 conferences, and 56,776 soldiers attended 718
lectures. Additionally, SEDENA routinely included in its operations
directives to promote respect for human rights during operations.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--In most cases
persons must be presented to a judge, along with sufficient evidence to
justify their continued detention, within 48 hours of their arrest.
According to many NGOs, in practice there were violations of this 48-
hour provision. The Michoacan State Human Rights Commission, for
example, stated that the majority of complaints it received during the
year about illegal detention (193) and deprivation of freedom (93) also
included this violation.
In organized crime cases (involving three or more persons who
organize themselves for the purpose of committing certain crimes),
suspects may be held for up to 96 hours before being presented to a
judge. Only the federal judicial system can prosecute organized crime
cases. However, recognizing the complex nature of organized crime, the
legislation stipulates that, under a procedure known as arraigo,
certain suspects may, with the approval of a judge, be detained for up
to 80 days prior to the filing of formal charges. Human rights NGOs
considered this form of pretrial detention a violation of due process
that facilitated torture, and some groups alleged it was used to obtain
forced confessions. In February the Universal Periodic Review by the UN
Human Rights Council recommended ending this practice, but the
government rejected the recommendation.
In areas involving military operations against DTOs, SEDENA
personnel detained individuals without the involvement of state or
federal investigators with the authority to collect evidence for use in
subsequent prosecutions. Additionally, the PGR claimed it was not
always notified in a timely manner of the detentions, which complicated
efforts to prosecute and convict arrestees.
On November 5, the IACHR held a special session on public safety
and human rights in Tijuana and heard the cases of alleged torture and
human rights abuses in arraigo by military members or police officers,
including the following three cases:
On June 24, 28th Infantry Batallion soldiers detained and tortured
two former ministerial police officers from Baja California. Soldiers
allegedly tried to force them to sign self-incriminatory confessions of
extortion and crime participation, but they refused. The victims were
sent to the II Military Zone installation (28th Infantry Batallion
headquarters) by the Baja California state attorney, Rommel Moreno
Manjarrez, and local internal affairs officers. The two former police
officers presented a complaint to the CNDH against II Military Zone
commander General Jorge Alonso Garrido for allowing arbitrary
detentions and torture; in the absence of a satisfactory response, they
presented their case to the IACHR.
In September Tijuana municipal public security secretary Julian
Leyzaola Perez and chief of police Gustavo Huerta Martinez summoned 11
municipal police officers from Tijuana and sent them to the II Military
Zone installation (28th Infantry Batallion headquarters) for
questioning about possible connections to organized crime. While the
investigation was still in process, SEDENA presented the detainees to
the public as members of a drug cartel.
In both cases the victims were held incommunicado for several days,
and the authorities refused to provide information on their status. The
victim's relatives were intimidated and threatened by the local
authorities for publicizing abuses. The two groups of police officers
were transferred to Nayarit's high security prison El Rincon.
On July 13, soldiers detained without formal charges 20 police
officers from Nuevo Leon. The police officers were reportedly tortured
and forced to admit they belonged to organized crime.
The law provides time limits within which an accused person must be
tried. However, due to caseloads that far exceeded the capacity of the
federal and the fact that most state judicial systems still used the
written inquisitorial criminal justice system, such time limits often
were disregarded. HRW reported that more than 40 percent of prisoners
have never been convicted of a crime but were held in pretrial
detention, often for years, waiting for a trial. Pretrial release on
bond is supported by the 2008 reforms, but in jurisdictions that have
not implemented the reforms, it was available only in cases in which
the charges were not considered a serious crime.
While detainees usually were allowed prompt access to family
members and to counsel, there were complaints that in some cases police
held persons incommunicado for several days and made arrests
arbitrarily and without a warrant. Human rights NGOs documented, and
the CNDH issued several recommendations confirming, that the army
frequently detained civilians for extended periods of time before
placing them at the disposition of civilian authorities.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the judiciary is
independent, weaknesses in the system, particularly in jurisdictions
where reforms have not been implemented, make court decisions
susceptible to improper influence by both private and public entities,
particularly at the state and local level. Civil society organizations
reported that corruption, inefficiency, and a lack of transparency
continued to be major problems in the judiciary. NGO representatives
reported that the country's conviction rate was only between 1 and 2
percent, citing a general indifference and ineffectiveness of the
justice system. A poll conducted by Grupo Reforma and published in a
Mexico City daily in August found that 68 percent of respondents had no
or little trust in the judiciary.
The federal court system consists of the Supreme Court, 91 circuit
courts of appeal, 49 courts of appeal, and 185 district courts. State
judicial systems consist of trial-level courts and appeals courts with
jurisdiction over family, criminal, civil, and administrative matters.
The government defended military jurisdiction in cases involving
civilians, navigating an apparent contradiction between the
constitution and the Military Code of Justice. The constitution states
that military jurisdiction applies to ``crimes against military
discipline'' but that military tribunals have no jurisdiction over
people who do not belong to the army. However, Article 57 of the code
defines crimes against military order as ``state or common offenses
that have been committed by active duty military.'' Historically, the
military assumed the lead for trying and investigating cases of alleged
human rights violations involving military personnel, and the Supreme
Court appeared reluctant to challenge that claim.
In cases in which a member of the military is arrested by civil
authorities, the military may request the immediate transfer of the
case to military jurisdiction. Traditionally, civilian judicial
authorities grant jurisdiction to the military in all cases involving
soldiers. NGOs, such as CenterProdh, maintained that human rights abuse
cases involving military personnel were not handled transparently by
the military justice system, giving rise to concerns about impunity in
these cases. According to information obtained from the government
through an access to information request, only 11 out of 174 such cases
(from 2006 through November 2008) resulted in indictments, with only
one conviction, which was under appeal at year's end.
On August 10, the Supreme Court ruled that the wife of a victim of
a March 2008 military shooting in Badiraguato, Sinaloa, did not have
the right to contest military jurisdiction.
In a decision rendered December 15, the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights described Article 57 as ``broad and imprecise'' and while
noting active military personnel may be implicated in crimes,
determined that ``this is not [a sufficient standard] to apply military
jurisdiction.'' The ruling further described Article 57 as
``incompatible with the American Convention [on Human Rights].'' The
court concluded that the country ``should adopt, within a reasonable
time period, the pertinent legislative reforms to make Article 57
compatible with international standards and the American Convention.''
Additionally, SEDENA formed a commission to draft the criminal
procedural code to uphold the 2008 constitutional reform and move to an
oral accusatorial system.
Trial Procedures.--The legal system is a hybrid system. While it
incorporates some aspects of common law and accusatory-style systems,
it draws primarily from traditional European code-based, inquisitorial
systems. The 2008 constitutional criminal justice reforms mandated
implementation of an oral adversarial system and the presumption of
innocence by 2016. At year's end eight states had passed legislation
and were at various stages of training and implementation, three states
were legislating reforms, and seven states sought assistance to
consider the reforms. Under the old system, still being used by the
federal government, the federal district, and 22 states, a typical
trial consists of a series of fact-gathering hearings during which the
court receives documentary evidence or testimony. A judge in chambers
reviews the case file and then issues a final, written ruling. The
record of the proceeding is not available to the general public; only
the parties involved have access to the official file and only by
special motion.
The 2008 constitutional criminal justice reform establishes that
defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence; however, such rights are
not guaranteed in jurisdictions that have not finished with reform
implementation and are still operating under the inquisitorial system.
The new constitutional reform provides for the right of the accused
to attend the hearings and challenge the evidence or testimony
presented and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. In most cases court hearings were open to the public.
While the law provides defendants with the right to an attorney at
all stages of criminal proceedings, in practice this only meant that
authorities had to appoint a ``person of confidence,'' who was not
required to meet any particular legal qualifications, to represent a
defendant. Because of the nascent implementation stage of the 2008
reforms, only some public defenders had preparation and training to
serve adequately on the defendants' behalf, and often the state public
defender system was not adequate to meet demand. Public defender
services were placed either in the judicial or executive branch; there
were rarely autonomous public defender services. According to AI, most
criminal suspects did not receive representation until after they were
placed under judicial authority, thus making individuals vulnerable to
coercion to sign false statements before being presented to a judge.
Although the law provides for translation services from Spanish to
indigenous languages to be available at all stages of the criminal
process, this generally was not done due to limited resources.
Indigenous defendants who did not speak Spanish sometimes were unaware
of the status of their cases, and some suspects were convicted without
fully understanding the documents they were required to sign.
On August 12, the Supreme Court ordered the release of 29 of the 57
persons imprisoned for involvement in the 1997 massacre of 45 persons
in Acteal, Chiapas, and ordered retrials for 22 others, five of whom
had confessed to the crime. The court found that the PGR had fabricated
evidence and deprived the accused of their right to a fair trial. Some
human rights organizations criticized this decision, but legal experts
welcomed the decision as evidence of the court's commitment to due
process in the investigation of crimes.
On September 16, Jacinta Francisco Marcial was released from jail
on appeal for irregularities in her trial, including falsification of
evidence and not having a translator during the trial. She and two
other indigenous women (whose appeals remained pending at year's end)
were sentenced in December 2008 for allegedly kidnapping six armed
federal police agents. NGOs described the case as an example of
authorities using the judicial system to retaliate against social
protests.
Despite enactment of judicial reform legislation in June 2008,
judges, particularly in areas that had not yet implemented the reforms,
reportedly continued to allow statements coerced through torture to be
used as evidence against the accused, a practice particularly subject
to abuse because confessions were often the primary evidence in
criminal convictions (see section 1.c.). NGOs asserted that judges
often gave greater evidentiary value to the first declaration of a
defendant, often given in the absence of legal representation. This
provided prosecutors an incentive to obtain an incriminating first
confession and made it difficult for defendants to disavow such
declarations. For their part law enforcement officials complained that
defendants frequently made baseless claims of coerced confessions as a
way to win acquittal.
The 2008 justice reform facilitates transition to an oral trial
system establishes strict guidelines on the use of confessions,
evidence, and expert testimony; allows consensual monitoring of
telephone calls; and gives police more responsibility for conducting
investigations. The reform stipulates that all hearings and trials must
be conducted by a judge and under the principles of public access,
immediacy, confrontation, and cross-examination, promoting greater
transparency and allowing defendants to challenge their accusers.
Constitutional reforms associated with the new justice system were
ratified by the congresses of 24 states in support of its passage.
All state and federal jurisdictions must now legislate to conform
to the new judicial system and implement oral trial procedures by 2016.
Criminal procedural codes in the states of Chihuahua, Oaxaca,
Zacatecas, Baja California, Durango, Mexico State, Veracruz, and
Morelos already permit oral trials for crimes. Nuevo Leon permits oral
trials for misdemeanors. However, not all have trained the judiciary
and police in implementation. States where implementation was taking
place were doing so in phases, implementing district by district over
several years. At year's end the Federal Congress had not passed
criminal procedural code legislation necessary for the implementation
of the reforms at the federal level.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees; however, AI and the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) criticized the government for
arbitrarily detaining and imprisoning some indigenous members of the
Organization of Indigenous Me'phaa People (OPIM) for their membership
in that group and for orchestrating protests against abuses (see
section 6, Indigenous People). In April 2008 authorities detained and
charged Manuel Cruz, Orlando Manzanarez, Natalio Ortega, Romualdo
Santiago, and Raul Hernandez with the January 2008 murder of Alejandro
Feliciano Garcia, an army informant, in the town of El Camalote,
Guerrero. Human rights activists asserted the charges were based on
fabricated evidence. AI named the five individuals prisoners of
conscience. The Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights defended
the five in court and eventually secured the release of all except Raul
Hernandez, who at year's end remained in prison while his trial
continued.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, including access to a court
to seek damages for a human rights violation. However, for a plaintiff
to secure damages against a defendant, the defendant first must have
been found guilty in a criminal case, which was a high standard given
the relatively low number of individuals convicted of human rights
abuses in the country.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Although the law prohibits such practices and requires
search warrants, during the year the CNDH received 1,014 complaints of
illegal searches.
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. Most newspapers and television and radio stations
were privately owned, and the government had minimal presence in the
ownership of news media.
Despite federal government support for freedom of the press, many
journalists worked in dangerous environments. Reporters covering
corrupt public officials and various organized criminal organizations
acknowledged practicing self-censorship, recognizing the danger
investigative journalism posed to them and to their families. During
the year 12 journalists were killed and one disappeared.
The PGR's Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against
Journalists (FEADP) accepted jurisdiction over 22 cases during the
year.
On August 19, the CNDH issued seven recommendations to all of the
state governors as well as to Mexico City's mayor and the attorney
general. The recommendations included calls to make journalists a
protected class, sanction authorities that are negligent in their
investigation or prosecution of cases, guarantee the safety and support
of journalists that cover high-risk and sensitive issues, and give
victims of violence the right to reparations.
On May 3, four unidentified men kidnapped and killed Carlos Ortega
Samper, a columnist for El Tiempo de Durango, who had been reporting on
local government corruption.
On May 25, eight masked men kidnapped, tortured, and killed Eliseo
Barron Hernandez in Gomez Palacio, Durango. Barron reported on police
and crime in La Opinion, a newspaper based in Torreon, Coahuila.
Barron's last article involved a case in which 302 police officers were
fired after a corruption scandal; he also had reported on the
involvement of eight of the fired officers in kidnapping.
On July 12, authorities discovered the body of Martin Javier
Miranda Aviles, a correspondent for the news agency Quadratin and
reporter for the daily Michoacan newspaper Panorama, which had
published an article related to the arrest of a police officer in
possession of weapons and drugs.
Three media outlet headquarters were attacked during the year. On
January 6, unknown actors allegedly threw a hand grenade and shot
several rounds at the facade of the Monterrey affiliate of Televisa. On
August 18, unidentified assailants opened fire on the premises of
newspaper El Siglo de Torreon in Coahuila. On September 7, a hand
grenade was thrown onto the premises of weekly Rio Doce magazine in
Sinaloa.
In the April 2008 killings of Felicitas Martinez and Teresa
Bautista, reporters and commentators on a community radio station in
rural Oaxaca, the FEADP passed the case to the PGR, and an
investigation into the case by PGR continued at year's end.
In the June 2008 attack allegedly by police officers in the Benito
Juarez Municipality of Nuevo Leon on six print and broadcast reporters
covering a demonstration against the local government, two police
officers and one civilian were detained, and an investigation continued
at year's end.
In the September 2008 killing of a young girl in Matamoros,
Tamaulipas, by PFP officers who had opened fire on journalist Carlos
Solis Reina and his companion, Luis Alberto Salas, who were arrested
for the girl's death, there were no known developments in the
investigation of the killing or the journalist's allegation that he and
his companion were tortured on the way to SIEDO offices.
In the November 2008 shooting death in Ciudad Juarez of Armando
Rodriguez, a veteran police reporter with the newspaper El Diario,
there were no known developments.
An investigation continued at year's end into the 2007 death of
Amado Ramirez, an Acapulco-based correspondent for Televisa and
Radiorama. A suspect detained in 2007 remained imprisoned at year's
end.
The 2006 killing of Bradley Will, a foreign filmmaker who was shot
while documenting civil unrest in Oaxaca, remained under investigation.
The only suspect, Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno, who in 2008 was formally
charged for the crime, remained in custody. In July a team of retired
independent forensic experts from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
conducted an investigation at the government's request and presented a
report supporting the PGR's claim that someone in Will's close
proximity shot him. (However, in 2008 Physicians for Human Rights
conducted a forensic analysis that it claimed contradicted that
conclusion.) In late December a federal judge ruled that the state had
presented insufficient evidence to detain Martinez for Will's murder
and ordered his release. At year's end the PGR indicated it planned to
appeal this ruling.
In September Congress dissolved the Special Committee for Dealing
with Attacks upon Journalists and News Media but reinstated it on
November 10, following criticism from the media and NGOs and outrage
over the November 2 kidnapping and murder of journalist Jose Bladimir
Antuna Garcia in Durango. However, the NGO Article 19 continued
criticizing the special committee, as only one deputy served on it, and
it lacked a budget at year's end.
The law does not provide a legal framework for issuing permits to
nongovernmental and noncommercial community radio stations. According
to Article 19, the government closed down at least three community
radio stations across the country and detained an indigenous anchor,
supposedly for lacking transmission permits.
Although defamation, libel, and slander are not federal offenses,
17 states have criminal libel laws making journalists vulnerable to
threats of imprisonment at the state level.
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. The
International Telecommunication Union reported that there were
approximately 25 Internet users per 100 inhabitants.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice. Groups that wish to meet in public
areas must inform local police authorities in advance. Organized,
peaceful demonstrations occurred frequently throughout the country.
Unlike in the preceding year, there were no reports of violent
confrontations in connection with demonstrations.
There were no known developments into charges against police
officers allegedly involved in the death of six individuals during an
October 2008 protest in Chiapas.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the government generally respected this right in practice.
According to the NGO Voz de los Martires, social, cultural, and
economic disputes sometimes took on religious overtones, particularly
in the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Hidalgo. Poor
enforcement mechanisms, local land disputes, and family traditions
contributed to discrimination against some religious groups, especially
in the south.
The constitution bars members of the clergy from holding public
office, advocating partisan political views, supporting political
candidates, or opposing the laws or institutions of the state.
Religious associations must register with the government to apply
for official building permits, receive tax exemptions, and hold
religious meetings outside their places of worship. The registration
process was routine.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In the central and southern
regions, according to Voz de los Martires, some leaders of
predominantly Catholic indigenous communities regarded evangelical
groups as unwelcome outside influences and as economic and political
threats. These leaders sometimes ordered or acquiesced in the
harassment or expulsion of individuals belonging chiefly to Protestant
evangelical groups. Whether a group was displaced forcibly or left
voluntarily to avoid harassment, it often found itself living on the
outskirts of another local community in circumstances worse than the
extremely poor conditions common to the region.
In cases of religious disputes submitted to it, the General
Directorate of Religious Associations (GDAR) in the Secretariat of the
Interior attempts to mediate a solution. If mediation fails, the
parties may submit the issue to the GDAR for binding arbitration.
The Jewish community numbered approximately 50,000 persons.
Although the GDAR received no reports of anti-Semitic incidents during
the year, there were several unconfirmed incidents reported in the
local press.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government respected these rights in practice.
However, according to several NGOs including AI, in the course of its
operations the army occasionally restricted freedom of movement. The
government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in providing protection and assistance to refugees,
asylum seekers, stateless persons and other persons of concern. The law
does not permit forced exile, and it was not practiced.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol.
Its laws provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the
government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees.
In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion. The government provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not have qualified as refugees under the 1951 Convention and
its 1967 protocol; however, there were no available reports that it
received such requests during the year.
Pursuant to its 2008 migration agreement with Cuba, the country
repatriated 233 undocumented Cubans.
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. There were occasional cases of politically motivated killings
(see section 1.a.).
Elections and Political Participation.--The closely contested
presidential and congressional elections of 2006, in which Felipe
Calderon was elected president to a six-year term, were considered
generally free and fair by the majority of neutral observers, including
EU representatives and local and international civil society
organizations. On July 5, midterm national legislative and local
elections, which took place in select states, were free of significant
violence or claims of fraud.
The law prohibits all public and private funding of political
advertisements on television or radio outside of time slots established
by a respective state, requires placement of all political campaign
advertisements through the Federal Elections Institute (IFE), and
stipulates allocation of airtime among registered political parties
based on their share of the vote in the most recent election. The law
also prohibits negative campaign messages and establishes public
spending limits for presidential elections. Recognition as a national
political party by IFE is based on having won at least 2 percent of the
vote in the previous national election.
There were 23 women in the 128-seat Senate and 138 women in the
newly elected 500-seat lower house. Two female justices sat on the 11-
member Supreme Court. There were two women in the 19-member cabinet,
compared with one in the previous administration. Many state electoral
codes provide that no more than 70 to 80 percent of candidates can be
of the same gender. All political parties continued their efforts to
increase the number of women running for elected office. Some utilized
quotas requiring that a certain percentage of candidates on a party
list be female. However, several parties ran female candidates, known
as ``Juanitas,'' who were not intended to serve in office. Before
taking office, the parties orchestrated for the women to relinquish
their positions to men. For example, after the July midterm elections,
seven elected female deputies relinquished their seats and were
replaced by men.
There were no established quotas for increased participation of
indigenous groups in the legislative body, and no reliable statistics
were available regarding minority participation in government. The law
provides for the right of indigenous people to elect representatives to
local office according to ``usages and customs'' law, rather than
federal and state electoral law. Traditional customs varied by village.
In some villages women did not have the right to vote or hold office;
in others they could vote but not hold office.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators and other
indices reflected that corruption remained a problem at all levels of
government, as some public officials continued to perpetrate
bureaucratic abuses and some criminal acts with impunity. Corruption at
the most basic level involved paying bribes for routine services or in
lieu of fines to administrative officials and security forces. More
sophisticated and less apparent forms of corruption included overpaying
for goods and services to provide payment to elected officials and
political parties.
By the end of the year, 16 SSP and PGR officials had been indicted
for corruption since the government launched Operation Cleanup in July
2008; however, none had been convicted. During the year the Customs
Agency relieved more than 700 employees and replaced them with vetted
officials.
Since 2007 the National Migration Institute (INM) has sanctioned
approximately 300 migration officials for involvement in corruption. In
May two officers assigned to the Mexico City International Airport were
detained for human smuggling, and another two were detained in June for
the same reason. Also in June INM's regional director in Yucatan,
Hernan Vega Burgos, resigned after being accused of corrupt activities.
Despite significant institutional and regulatory changes increasing
government transparency, access to information continued to be
difficult in some states. The Federal Institute of Access to Public
Information (IFAI) received more than 130,000 requests for information
during the year. All states have laws complying with the 2007
constitutional reforms regarding access to information. Nineteen of the
31 states, plus the federal district, have signed a formal agreement
with IFAI to make the information system on government operations,
Infomex, available for petitions for state government information. At
year's end the 11 other states were in the process of completing an
agreement, leaving Yucatan as the only state that had not signed the
agreement.
In September IFAI ordered SEDENA to make public information related
to the 1998 military operation ``El Charco'' in Guerrero, in which 11
persons, including one student, were killed and 22 persons were
detained for four years for rebellion. By year's end SEDENA had
provided no known response.
In July the CNDH brought a case before the Supreme Court
challenging the PGR's right to withhold information from the CNDH. This
dispute stemmed from an unresolved conflict in the law under which the
CNDH should have access to all information it needs to fulfill its
human rights mandate and investigate serious cases, while the PGR
claims the right under law to withhold information on current cases
under investigation. At year's end the court's ruling remained pending.
Section 5. 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 made
periodic attempts to engage civil society, particularly on security
issues but also on human rights issues, by creating and reinvigorating
a variety of mechanisms that encourage civil society's participation in
policy debates and allow individuals to register complaints.
Nevertheless, some NGOs complained that the government did not take
their concerns sufficiently into account and that they were unable to
engage in constructive human rights discussions with military
officials. In December the secretary of governance responded in writing
to a request by several NGOs for information on the status of seven
cases involving alleged abuses committed by military officials. All of
the cases were under investigation.
The UN and NGOs reported harassment of human rights defenders.
According to an October report by the OHCHR, from 2006 to August 2009,
there were 128 attacks--including 10 killings--against human rights
activists but only two prosecutions (see section 6, Indigenous People).
The report criticized government authorities for the country's lack of
comprehensive policies to reduce and eliminate the risks faced by human
rights activists and recommended that the government establish a
national mechanism for protection of human rights defenders. NGOs
maintained that state and municipal authorities harassed defenders. Due
to anonymous threats against its staff, the Tlachinollan Mountain
Center for Human Rights in Guerrero closed its offices in March.
UN agencies and other international bodies freely operated in the
country and publicly commented generally without restriction or
sanction. In July the OHCHR signed an agreement with the government
giving it a mandate to provide SEDENA with human rights assistance.
The CNDH, which was funded by the federal government, received and
investigated allegations of human rights violations. The CNDH
determined which cases it considered credible, and it pursued out-of-
court resolutions. During the year, for example, the CNDH received
1,017 complaints against the PGR, which upon investigation generated a
finding that 594 violations had occurred in categories that included
arbitrary detention (270), torture (four), noncompliance with the
arrest warrant (136), and cruel and inhuman treatment (184). Most of
the complaints received were resolved by inter alia reorienting the
complainant to another institution with the proper authority to address
the complaint (793), suspending an investigation for lack of evidence
(63), and forging an amicable resolution (23). Eight complaints
involving violations including arbitrary detention and mistreatment
resulted in recommendations calling on the PGR inter alia to take
measures to address the victims' physical and psychological needs
resulting from the violations, ensure the victims' future protection,
consider administrative actions against the appropriate officials as
recommended by the PGR's Internal Affairs Unit, and adopt procedural
measures to guard against a recurrence of violations in the future.
According to the CNDH, the PGR rejected four of these recommendations,
accepted two, and had not yet acted on the remaining two.
The CNDH operated without government or party interference. During
the year the CNDH issued 78 recommendations in connection with human
rights violations. The CNDH's recommendations are nonbinding and
without legal weight. Each of the country's 31 states plus the Federal
District has a similar mechanism in terms of state human rights
commissions, which maintain autonomy from the CNDH. Some NGOs,
including HRW, praised the CNDH for bringing to light noteworthy human
rights abuses but criticized it for not pressuring the government
sufficiently to comply with its recommendations and for not applying
international human rights standards in the area of military
jurisdiction.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status. While the government continued to make
progress enforcing these provisions, significant problems, particularly
violence against women, persisted.
Women.--The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and
imposes penalties of up to 20 years' imprisonment. However, rape
victims rarely filed complaints with police, in part because of the
authorities' ineffective and unsupportive responses to victims, the
victims' fear of publicity, and a perception that prosecution of cases
was unlikely. According to the government's cabinet-level National
Institute of Women (INMUJERES), 3,687 men were convicted nationwide for
rape and an additional 4,467 were in pretrial detention for rape. Human
rights organizations asserted that authorities did not take seriously
reports of rape and victims continued to be socially stigmatized and
ostracized.
Federal law prohibits domestic violence, including spousal abuse,
and stipulates fines equal to 30 to 180 days' pay and detention for up
to 36 hours; actual sentences, however, were normally lenient. This
countrywide law obligates federal and local authorities to prevent,
punish, and eradicate violence against women. Nevertheless, according
to the NGO Citizen Femicide Observatory (Observatorio Ciudadano de
Feminicidios) domestic violence was pervasive and mostly unexposed.
State-level laws sanctioning domestic violence are weak. Seven
states do not criminalize it, and 15 states only punish it when it is a
repeated offense. According to a survey conducted by the National
Institute of Public Health in several of the country's rural and
indigenous communities, victims did not report abuses for a variety of
reasons, including fear of spousal reprisal, shame, and the view that
the abuse did not merit filing a complaint.
The 2006 National Survey on Household Relationships suggested that
67 percent of women over age 15 had suffered some abusive treatment.
According to the Citizen Femicide Observatory, more than 1,014 girls,
teenagers, and women were killed in the 19 months ending July 31, 43
percent between the ages of 21 and 40.
NGOs criticized government authorities for failing to investigate
adequately, prosecute, and prevent the killings of women and girls.
In November the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found that the
government denied justice to and failed to prevent the deaths of
Claudia Gonzalez, Esmeralda Herrera, and Berenice Ramos, whose bodies
were found near Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, in 2001.
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography,
Mexico City and the 12 states of Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Sinaloa,
Sonora, Tamaulipas, Mexico, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos, Tlaxcala,
Tabasco, and Yucatan experienced high rates of alleged gender-driven
homicide.
FEVIMTRA--staffed by 19 legal, administrative, and technical
support professionals--is responsible for leading government programs
to combat domestic violence and trafficking in persons. Its work
includes prosecuting the crimes, raising awareness with potential
victims and government officials, and providing the only government
shelter for trafficking victims. With only five lawyers dedicated to
federal cases of violence against women and trafficking countrywide,
FEVEIMTRA faced challenges in moving from investigations to
convictions.
INMUJERES reported that its national hotline established under the
National Plan for a Life without Violence received 19,959 calls during
the year. Although there were some government-funded shelters, civil
society and women's rights groups maintained most available shelters.
Prostitution is legal for adults and continued to be practiced
widely. While pimping and prostitution of minors under age 18 are
illegal, these offenses also were practiced widely, often with the
collaboration or knowledge of police, according to the Coalition
Against Trafficking in Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. The
country was a destination for sex tourists and pedophiles, particularly
from the United States. There were no laws specifically prohibiting sex
tourism, although federal law criminalizes corruption of minors, for
which the penalty is five to 10 years' imprisonment. Trafficking in
women and minors for prostitution remained a problem.
Federal law prohibits sexual harassment and provides for fines of
up to 40 days' minimum salary, but victims must press charges. Sexual
harassment is criminalized in 26 of the states and the Federal
District, but in only 22 of these is a punishment contemplated when the
perpetrator has a position of power. According to INMUJERES, sexual
harassment in the workplace was widespread, but victims were reluctant
to come forward, and cases were difficult to prove.
Couples and individuals have the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children and have the information and means to
do so free from discrimination. However, in practice such rights often
were not provided. Services, information, and public policies in the
area of reproductive health were limited. Despite the existence of a
national family planning program, the lack of sex education and
contraceptives in public hospitals and rural areas undermined the
government's commitment to reproductive rights. In rural areas one of
every four women did not have access to contraception, and 50 percent
did not use any form of contraception, according to the National
Institute of Women. A study on contraceptive use concluded that lack of
access affected adolescents, women living in marginalized urban or
rural areas, and migrant men. Skilled attendants at delivery and in
postpartum care were widely available except in some marginalized
areas. Women and men were given equal access to diagnostic services and
treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
The law provides women the same rights and obligations as men and
``equal pay ... for equal work performed in equal jobs, hours of work,
and conditions of efficiency.'' According to INMUJERES, during the year
women earned 6.2 percent less than men for comparable work; however, in
some occupations the disparity reached 40.3 percent.
The law provides labor protection for pregnant women. According to
the Information Group on Reproductive Rights, some employers reportedly
sought to avoid this law by requiring pregnancy tests in preemployment
physicals and by continuing to make inquiries into a woman's
reproductive status.
Children.--The country provided universal birth registration in
principle, with citizenship derived both by birth within the country's
territory and from one's parents.
Citizens generally registered the birth of newborns with local
authorities. In some instances government officials visited private
health institutions to facilitate the process. Failure to register
births could result in the denial of public services, such as education
or health care, to children living in communities where such services
were in any event not widely available. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
country office survey data for 2000 estimated--based on the total
population of children under the age of five when the survey was
taken--that 90 percent or more of these children were registered at
birth, suggesting that the total number of children whose births had
not been officially recorded was more than one million.
The antitrafficking law prohibits the commercial sexual
exploitation of children. The CNDH estimated that every year, more than
30,000 children were recruited by criminal organizations dedicated to
trafficking in persons. UNICEF and the antitrafficking NGO CEIDAS
reported that 1.8 million children were involved in commercial sex
exploitation and that 1.2 million were victims of child trafficking.
CEIDAS, the NGO Casa Alianza, and the National Network of Shelters
reported that sex tourism and sexual exploitation of minors were
significant problems in the resort and northern border areas. The UN
special rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution, and
child pornography, who visited the country in 2007, stated that the
country did not have an effective system to protect and provide
assistance to children and young people who were victims of sexual
exploitation or trafficking, stating that approximately 85 million
children had been exploited in pornography.
Child marriage has historically remained a problem, although there
were no statistics available for the year. UNICEF estimated that in
2007--the latest date for which information was available--
approximately 28 percent of men and women married before the age of 18.
The country does not have a statutory rape law but does have laws
against corruption of a minor, child pornography, and sexual tourism
that apply to persons under 18 years of age. For the crimes of selling,
distributing, or promoting pornography to a minor, the law stipulates a
prison term of six months to five years and a fine of 300 to 500 times
the daily minimum wage. For the crime of involving minors in acts of
sexual exhibitionism, the law mandates seven to 12 years in prison and
a fine of 800 to 2,500 times the daily minimum wage. The production,
facilitation, reproduction, distribution, sale, and purchase of child
pornography carries a punishment of seven to 12 years' of prison and a
fine of 800 to 2,000 times the daily minimum wage. Perpetrators, who
promote, publicize, or facilitate sexual tourism involving minors, face
seven to 12 years of prison and a fine of 800 to 2,000 times the daily
minimum wage. For those involved in sexual tourism who commit a sexual
act with a minor, the law requires a 12- to 18-year prison sentence and
a fine of 2,000 to 3,000 times the daily minimum wage. The crime of
sexual exploitation of a minor carries an eight- to 15-year prison
sentence and a fine of 1,000 to 2,500 times the daily minimum wage.
Trafficking in Persons.--The country was a point of origin,
transit, and destination for persons trafficked for sexual exploitation
and labor.
The INM, CNDH, and CEIDAS reported that the vast majority of
noncitizen trafficking victims came from Central America; a lesser
number originated in the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Asia. Victims
were trafficked to the United States as well as to Europe, Asia,
Canada, and in-country destinations. Women and children (both boys and
girls), undocumented migrants from Central America, the poor, and
indigenous persons were most at risk for trafficking.
Trafficking victims were often promised employment, but once
isolated from family and home, they were forced into prostitution,
factory work, or agricultural labor. Young female migrants recounted
being robbed, beaten, raped by criminal gang members, and forced to
work in table-dance bars or as prostitutes under threat of further harm
to them or their families. In many cases drug cartels also diversified
their operations to include trafficking in persons. Many illegal
immigrants also became victims of traffickers along the border with
Guatemala, where the growing presence of gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha
and MS 18 made the area especially dangerous for undocumented and
unaccompanied women and children migrating north.
Apart from cartels and gangs, many criminal organizations from
Mexico, Central America, Brazil, Europe, Japan, China, and several
other countries, as well as small family networks, were reportedly
involved in trafficking.
Federal law makes trafficking in persons a crime punishable by up
to 12 years' imprisonment (or up to 18 years' imprisonment if the
offense is committed against a person under the age of 18).
The federal government does not automatically assume jurisdiction
in interstate trafficking cases. Twenty-one states criminalize certain
aspects of trafficking. The federal law also criminalizes corruption of
minors, exploitation of children for commercial sex, and child
pornography; anyone convicted of a crime related to a minor under the
age of 18 may be sentenced to five to 10 years' imprisonment. If the
illicit activity involves a minor under age 16, the sentence increases
by one-third; if it involves a minor less than 12 years old, the
sentence is increased by one-half. Persons who direct or facilitate
such illicit activity for purposes of financial gain may be imprisoned
for six to 10 years. If a minor is physically or psychologically abused
for profit or exploitation, the penalties increase by up to one-half.
The law also forbids forced or compulsory labor.
On December 2, a federal judge convicted five individuals from
Tlaxcala, Mexico, for sexual exploitation--the first convictions under
the Trafficking in Persons Law adopted in 2007. Four of the individuals
were in custody in Mexico awaiting sentencing, while the fifth was in
the United States awaiting sentencing on a conviction there.
Separately, the government pursued 48 trafficking cases. FEVIMTRA
investigated 43 of the cases involving three or fewer suspects during
the year. The Special Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, which
handles trafficking cases with more than three suspects, was
investigating the other five cases. In several states that have adopted
penal codes to reflect the federal trafficking legislation, local
prosecutors also made efforts to prosecute traffickers, particularly in
Mexico City, Chihuahua, and Oaxaca. These offices had limited resources
and experience.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the law prohibits
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, and the provision of
other services, the government did not effectively enforce all these
stipulations. It was evident that most public buildings and facilities
in Mexico City did not comply with the law requiring access for persons
with disabilities, although the federal government stated that
entrances, exits, and hallways in all of its offices were accessible to
persons with disabilities. The education system provided special
education for approximately 400,000 of an estimated two million
students with disabilities in 2004; only 42 percent of the country's
municipalities provided special education.
In the last census from 2000, 1.8 percent of the population
reported having a disability, 73 percent of whom lived in urban areas.
Of children with disabilities between the ages of six and 14, 73
percent attended school, compared with 91 percent for those in the same
age range without disabilities. Only 4 percent of the overall
population with disabilities had finished university. Ninety-five
percent of all persons with disabilities had access to public or
private health care.
The secretary of health collaborated with the secretaries of social
development, labor, and public education, as well as with the Integral
Development of the Family (DIF) and the Office for the Promotion and
Social Integration of the Disabled, to protect the rights of persons
with disabilities. The government established offices and programs for
the social integration of persons with disabilities, including a
program to enhance job opportunities and launch an online portal to
disseminate information and assistance. One popular and well-known
program, spearheaded by the Humanitarian Foundation for Aid for the
Handicapped, employed 40 wheelchair users in the Mexico City airport.
The program proved highly successful and was expanding across the
country, most recently to Merida, Yucatan.
Indigenous People.--The CNDH and the Secretariat of Indigenous
Peoples in Chiapas acknowledged that indigenous communities have long
been socially and economically marginalized and subjected to
discrimination, particularly in the central and southern regions, where
indigenous persons sometimes represented more than one-third of the
total state population. In the state of Chiapas, the NGOs Fray
Bartolome de las Casas (FrayBa) and SiPaz argued that indigenous
peoples' ability to participate in decisions affecting their lands,
cultural traditions, and allocation of natural resources was
negligible.
Indigenous groups reported that the country's legal framework
neither respected nor prevented violations of the property rights of
indigenous communities. Communities and NGOs representing indigenous
groups reported that the government did not consult indigenous
communities adequately when making decisions about development project
implementation on indigenous land.
Indigenous persons did not live on autonomous reservations,
although some indigenous communities exercised considerable local
control over economic, political, and social matters. In Oaxaca State,
for example, 70 percent of the 570 municipalities were governed
according to the indigenous regime of ``usages and customs,'' which did
not follow democratic norms such as the secret ballot, universal
suffrage, and political affiliation. These communities applied
traditional practices to resolve disputes and choose local officials
without government interference. While such practices allowed
communities to elect officials according to their traditions, usages
and customs laws generally excluded women from the political process
and often infringed on other women's rights.
The government generally showed respect for the desire of
indigenous persons to retain elements of their traditional culture. The
law provides protections for indigenous persons, and the government
provided support for indigenous communities through social and economic
assistance and social welfare programs and provisions of law. Budget
constraints, however, prevented these measures from meeting the needs
of most indigenous communities, as severe shortages in basic
infrastructure as well as health and education services persisted in
such states as Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Guerrero.
The law provides for educational instruction in the national
language, Spanish, without prejudice to the protection and promotion of
indigenous languages. However, many indigenous children spoke only
their native languages.
During the year the CNDH received numerous 989 complaints about
human rights abuses of the indigenous population; by year's end it
concluded investigations into 982 of these complaints, and seven
remained pending. Most complaints pertained to a lack of interpreters
and discriminatory practices by government officials.
NGOs such as FrayBa and SiPaz reported that state authorities and
nongovernmental actors harassed and abused indigenous human rights
defenders. Early in the year, the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights
Center closed one of its offices in Ayutla de los Libres, Guerrero,
because of threats and a climate of insecurity toward indigenous rights
activists.
During the year AI documented cases of intimidation and harassment
of indigenous members of human rights organizations OPIM and OFPM,
including the February killings of Manuel Ponce Rosas and Raul Lucas
Lucia (see section 1.a.).
In September the Inter-American Court of Human Rights accepted the
cases of OPIM members Valentina Rosendo Cantu and Ines Fernandez
Ortega, whom soldiers allegedly detained arbitrarily, raped, and
tortured in 2002. The victims, their families, and communities
complained that they have been harassed and intimidated by soldiers in
the area since the court accepted the cases in 2006. In February 2008
the brother of Ines Fernandez Ortega, Lorenzo, was found dead in Ayutla
de los Libres, Guerrero; by year's end there were no known developments
in the case.
In the latter part of the year, the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights also accepted the case of two environmental human rights
defenders, Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, whom army soldiers
reportedly tortured into giving false confessions subsequently used to
convict them.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--While homosexual conduct
experienced growing social acceptance, the National Center to Prevent
and Control HIV/AIDS stated that discrimination persisted. According to
the National Center and the Mexican Foundation for Family Planning,
societal discrimination based on sexual orientation was common,
reflected principally in entertainment media programs and everyday
attitudes. Activists organized gay pride marches in cities across the
country; the largest, in which 400,000 people participated, was held in
June in Mexico City. In December Mexico City legalized gay marriage and
adoption, effective in March 2010.
One of the most prominent cases of discrimination and violence
against gay men was that of Agustin Humberto Estrada Negrete, a teacher
and gay activist from Ecatepec, Mexico State. In 2007 he participated
in a gay rights march wearing a dress and high heels. According to the
NGO Asilegal, soon after the march, Estrada began receiving threatening
telephone calls and verbal and physical attacks. In 2008 he was fired
from the school for children with disabilities where he worked. After
his dismissal, he and a group of supporters began lobbying the
government to reinstate him; when they went to the governor's palace to
attend a meeting with state officials in May, police beat him and his
supporters. The next day he was taken to prison, threatened, and raped.
Although he was released, Estrada continued to face harassment by state
authorities.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--The CNDH reported that
police, immigration, and customs officials violated the rights of
undocumented migrants. There were no known developments in the 2007
cases of Jose Alejandro Solalinde, a priest, and 18 Central American
migrants who were reportedly beaten and detained for seven hours by
police officers in Ixtepc, Oaxaca. Undocumented migrants rarely filed
charges in such cases because the authorities generally deported such
persons who came to their attention. The INM operated 48 detention
centers specifically for undocumented migrants with a total capacity of
3,913. The CNDH had an office in each of these facilities to monitor
compliance for respect of detainee human rights.
In September 2008 the CNDH issued recommendations against the
Secretariat of the Navy (SEMAR) and SEDENA for discrimination against
military members with HIV. SEDENA accepted the recommendations and
reported that the officials involved remained on duty, receiving pay
and medical attention; SEMAR did not accept the recommendation and took
no further action.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Federal law provides workers the
right to form and join trade unions of their choice, and workers
exercised this right in practice. According to the National Census
Institute, during the year there were approximately 47 million workers
in the workforce, with between 20 and 30 million in the formal sector--
those paying taxes to the Mexican Institute for Social Security (IMSS).
The country's official unemployment rate was an estimated 5.5 percent,
but unofficial estimates for unemployment as well as underemployment
were much higher.
Approximately 10 percent of the formal sector was unionized. By law
20 workers may formally register an independent union. Administrative
procedures for registration, however, were complex and burdensome, and
government labor boards frequently rejected independent union
registration applications on technicalities. A new union also is
required to challenge the government-sanctioned union, if one exists,
for control of the collective bargaining contract. Credible reports
continued to note the use of officially sanctioned protection
contracts, which consisted of an informal agreement whereby the company
supported an unrepresentative union in exchange for industrial peace.
Workers have not chosen such unions democratically, and exclusion
clauses in these protection contracts gave promanagement unions the
right to prevent the formation of an authentic union and to demand the
dismissal of a worker expelled from the union. Workers were reportedly
frequently expelled from official unions for trying to organize their
colleagues. HRW also reported that workers who sought to form
independent unions risked losing their jobs, as inadequate laws and
poor enforcement generally failed to protect them from retaliatory
dismissals.
During the year the Secretariat of Labor and Social Security (STPS)
denied the results of the elections of the Mexican Electricians Union
and the National Trade Union of Miners, Metal Workers, and Similar,
effectively freezing their assets and interrupting union business. Both
unions complained to the International Labor Organization (ILO) about
the administrative procedure (``toma de nota'' or taking notice) that
the government required to obtain recognition of union election
results.
Representation elections were traditionally open; management and
officials from the existing union were usually present with the
presiding labor board official when workers openly and individually
declared their votes. However, in September 2008 the SCJN ruled that
secret ballots are required when two or more unions compete for
recognition as the legal bargaining representative. At year's end this
change had not been implemented, and workers continued to face
intimidation in the voting process.
The law provides for the right to strike in both the public and
private sector, and workers exercised this right. However, only
officially recognized unions may call for a strike. Before a strike may
be considered legal, a union must receive approval of a strike notice
from the appropriate labor authorities. Procedural requirements have
proved lengthy and resulted in a large backlog of strike-notice
requests at the state level. Although few formal strikes actually
occurred, informal stoppages of work by both union and nonunionized
groups were fairly common.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to organize and bargain collectively, and the
government protected this right in practice. Collective bargaining
contracts covered approximately 10 percent of workers.
The use of so-called employer protection contracts continued to
expand, according to an expert from the Autonomous University of
Mexico, and were common in the mining sectors. Such contracts were
collective bargaining agreements negotiated between management and an
unrepresentative union, often even prior to hiring a single worker in a
new factory. Often these agreements failed to provide worker benefits
beyond the minimums mandated by legislation and served to frustrate
legitimate collective bargaining with legally recognized independent
unions.
In December 2008 the Guerrero State Human Rights Commission traced
the abductions of three union organizers to the Attorney General's
Office in Acapulco.
There are no special laws or exemptions from labor laws in export
processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor by children and adults, such
practices commonly persisted in both the rural and industrial sectors.
Migrants and children were the most vulnerable.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace, including a
prohibition of forced or compulsory labor; however, the government did
not effectively enforce such prohibitions. The law prohibits children
under the age of 14 from working and allows those between the ages of
14 and 16 to work only limited hours, not at night or under hazardous
conditions, with parental permission. According to UNICEF statistics,
16 percent of children between the ages of five and 14 were involved in
child labor activities. UNICEF and ILO data indicated that
approximately 3.6 million children ages five to 17--many of them
indigenous--worked in agriculture. Approximately 1.5 million child
laborers did not attend school.
Child labor was prominent in the area of agriculture. According to
the government's 2007 national child labor survey, a total of 3.6
million children worked, approximately one-third in the agricultural
sector in the production of melons, onions, sugarcane, tobacco, and
tomatoes. Child labor in agriculture was common among migrant and
indigenous children.
The STPS, which is charged with protecting worker rights, carried
out child-labor inspections and led a number of initiatives to address
child labor. The role of the STPS is to conduct workplace inspections
to verify that no child under age 14 is working and that children
between ages 14 and 16 are not participating in activities prohibited
by federal labor law. The STPS was involved in many programs that
supported the elimination or the improvement of conditions for working
minors. It collaborated with other government secretariats and offices.
In addition the Secretariat for Social Development, the PGR, and the
Family Development Institute each has responsibility for enforcement of
some aspects of child labor laws or intervention in cases where such
laws are violated. Government enforcement was reasonably effective at
large- and medium-sized companies, especially in the maquila sector and
other industries under federal jurisdiction; inadequate at many small
companies and in the agriculture and construction sectors; and nearly
absent in the informal sector in which most children worked.
During the year the Secretariat for Social Development and DIF
carried out programs to prevent child labor abuses and promote child
labor rights, including specific efforts to combat the commercial
sexual exploitation of children. Nevertheless, it was not uncommon to
find girls under the age of 15 working in prostitution.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--By law the STPS is charged with
setting the minimum wage each December for the coming year. The minimum
daily wages, determined by zone, were 54.80 pesos (approximately $4.21)
in Zone A (Baja California, Federal District, state of Mexico, and
large cities); 53.26 pesos (approximately $4.10) in Zone B (Sonora,
Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Jalisco); and 51.95 pesos
(approximately $4.00) in Zone C (all other municipalities). The minimum
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. Most of the workers in the formal workforce received more than
the minimum wage. Mexico's Metropolitan Autonomous University experts
noted that Article 84 of the Federal Employment Law states that an
individual's salary should be sufficient to provide for the worker and
his family for all their basic needs. The minimum wage would need to be
four times what it is now to regain the purchasing power of the early
1970s. In December the STPS announced an increase in the minimum wage
of up to 5 percent. At the same time, other secretariats announced an
approximate 30 percent increase in the price of the basic basket of
goods, and the price of gas and gasoline increased by approximately 25
percent.
The law sets six eight-hour days and 48 hours per week as the legal
workweek. Any work over eight hours in a day is considered overtime,
for which a worker receives double the hourly wage. After accumulating
nine hours of overtime, a worker earns triple the hourly wage; the law
prohibits compulsory overtime. There were labor rights disputes filed
with labor boards and international labor organizations during the year
regarding complaints that workers did not receive overtime pay they
were owed. Employers often used the ``hours bank''--requiring long
hours when the workload is heavy and cutting hours when it is light--to
avoid paying for overtime hours.
The law requires employers to observe occupational safety and
health regulations, issued jointly by the STPS and the IMSS. Legally
mandated joint management and labor committees set standards and are
responsible for overseeing workplace standards in plants and offices.
Individual employees or unions may complain directly to inspectors or
safety and health officials. Workers may remove themselves from
hazardous situations without jeopardizing their employment, but in
practice this was often not permitted. Plaintiffs may bring complaints
before the Federal Labor Board at no cost to themselves. STPS and IMSS
officials reported that compliance was reasonably good at most large
companies.
__________
NICARAGUA
Nicaragua is a constitutional democracy with a population of
approximately 5.9 million. In January 2007 Daniel Ortega Saavedra of
the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) was sworn in as
president for his second term, following the 2006 election that
international observers characterized as generally free and fair. While
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces, there were some instances in which elements of these
forces acted independently.
The most significant human rights abuses during the year included:
unlawful killings by security forces; harsh and overcrowded prison
conditions; police abuse; lengthy pretrial detention; lack of respect
for the rule of law and widespread corruption and politicization of the
judiciary, the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), and other government
organs; erosion of freedom of speech and press, including government
intimidation and harassment of journalists; widespread irregularities,
fraud, and abuses during the January municipal elections in the North
Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) and government interference with the
operation of political parties for regional elections; government
harassment and intimidation of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs);
increasing violence against women; discrimination against ethnic
minorities and indigenous communities; and violation of trade union
rights.
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 three persons during the year. The Office of the
Inspector General, which makes determinations independently of court
rulings, generally conducted parallel investigations and administered
punishments, including demotion and dismissal of officers.
On February 14, Jinotega police officer Rosendo Gomez Poveda shot
and killed Jose Magdaleno Rocha Benavides. Police alleged that the
victim resisted arrest and attempted to disarm the officer, but his
relatives demurred. Authorities suspended Poveda, and at year's end
there was no information available regarding any government
investigation or further action.
On October 3, a police officer in Somoto, Madriz, shot and killed
16-year-old Francisco Absalon Carrasco Montano. According to police,
Carrasco Montano threatened them with a machete when they broke up a
fight among suspected gang members. Family members of Carrasco claimed
he was unarmed and called for an investigation.
In April a jury found police officers Denis Cano and Norvin Sevilla
guilty of homicide in the September 2008 killing of Luis Angel Vargas
Salgado. A judge sentenced Cano, the patrol chief, to 12 years in
prison (later reduced to two years and six months) and Sevilla to three
years. On May 6, Salgado's mother filed a complaint with the NGO
Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), claiming that Cano and
Sevilla had not been incarcerated immediately following their sentences
and that her family had received numerous death threats. By year's end
Sevilla was released from prison, and Cano's case was under appeal.
On February 17, members of the Artola Delgadillo family, who had
been granted special protection under precautionary measures from the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights, filed a complaint with CENIDH
that armed groups had again threatened them. The family members stated
that relatives of Casimiro Candry, who had been sentenced in 2008 to 30
years in prison for the 2007 killings of Villanueva and Gilberto Artola
Delgadillo, threatened them after police had disarmed the family
members.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
or other disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices, human rights
and other NGOs received complaints that police frequently abused
suspects during arrest; often used excessive force, including beatings
on body areas that do not bruise easily to hide the evidence; or
engaged in degrading treatment that caused injuries to criminal
suspects during arrests. All three main human rights organizations--the
NGOs Permanent Commission on Human Rights (CPDH) and CENIDH, and the
government's Human Rights Ombudsman (PDDH)--received complaints against
the Nicaraguan National Police (NNP) for excessive force and arbitrary
detention.
On April 2, antinarcotics police wearing hoods entered a Managua
home without presenting a search warrant and forced six family members,
including a 15-year-old girl and her 21-year-old pregnant sister, to be
strip-searched for drugs. Police also beat their 17-year-old brother
when he resisted arrest, but they found no drugs. On April 4, the
family filed a complaint with the CPDH; at year's end the police had
not investigated the incident.
On June 9, a group of police shot into a crowd of protesting
lobster divers in Puerto Cabezas in the RAAN, injuring Marcela Davis, a
Miskito indigenous women's leader, and Bick Gonzalez, a Miskito diver.
Police denied involvement in the shooting, and the officer who
allegedly shot Davis was sent on vacation. At year's end there was no
information available regarding any government investigation or further
action in the case.
On September 25, NNP antiriot officers used tear gas, billy clubs,
and rubber bullets to dislodge more than 150 artisanal salt makers and
their families, including children, who were protesting and blocking
traffic in front of the country's largest salt company, which was owned
partially by relatives of FSLN officials. Some protesters were injured,
a few were arrested and released the following day, and by year's end
there was no investigation.
On October 22, three government supporters, assisted by a driver
from the Managua mayor's office, assaulted human rights activist Leonor
Martinez after she had participated in the NGO Civil Coordinator's
press conference criticizing an October Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ)
decision (see also section 3). She reported to police the assault, as
well as subsequent threatening phone messages and a threatening
encounter. At year's end there was no information available regarding
any government investigation or further action in the case.
There were no investigations or charges in the March 2008 case of
degrading police treatment of 13 Managua youths that the PDDH reported,
nor in the May 2008 or July 2008 police-abuse cases that CENIDH and the
CPDH respectively reported.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
continued to deteriorate due to antiquated infrastructure, increasing
inmate populations, and lack of capital investment. The country's eight
prisons, designed for fewer than 5,000 inmates, held 5,952 prisoners
who suffered from parasites, inadequate medical attention, frequent
food shortages, contaminated water, and inadequate sanitation. Family
members, churches, and charitable organizations provided some prisoners
with food and medical attention to mitigate harsh conditions since,
according to NGOs, prisoners were provided only with the bare
essentials: food (beans and rice) and water.
Conditions in jails and temporary holding cells were also harsh.
Most facilities were old, infested with vermin, physically
deteriorated, lacking in potable water, and equipped with inadequate
ventilation, electric, or sewage systems. At least two detainees died
due to dangerous conditions, and many prisoners suffered mistreatment
and discrimination from police officials and other inmates.
On January 2, Eduardo Picado Medina, a prisoner in Chinandega, died
of cardiac arrest brought on by a severe asthma attack that began in
his prison cell.
On August 22, an NNP chief stationed in Pearl Lagoon in the South
Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS) subjected a detained Afro-Caribbean
teenager to grossly degrading treatment in a holding cell. Community
leaders decried the police behavior as an example of racial
discrimination by the country's Hispanic majority against a minority
member of the population.
On September 6, La Modelo prison inmates in Tipitapa began a six-
day hunger strike to protest poor conditions and abusive treatment by
prison officials. On September 9, the CPDH received complaints that
five spouses and one young daughter of La Modelo inmates alleged
inhumane and unsanitary treatment when prison officials conducted body-
cavity searches of them using the same surgical glove. At year's end
there was no information available regarding any government
investigation or further action.
On November 9, Jose Domingo Cornejo, a Chinandega penitentiary
inmate, died of encephalitis after repeatedly requesting his sentence
be changed to house arrest due to poor prison conditions.
On November 17, antiriot NNP forcibly quelled a riot at Chinandega
penitentiary, killing one inmate (Hector Estrada Picado), injuring two
severely, and hospitalizing at least 14 for tear-gas-induced
respiratory problems. The media reported that the prisoners rioted over
poor conditions and mistreatment; a public defender claimed the cause
was a judge's unwillingness to allow prisoners to reduce their
sentences legally through work.
The investigation of Abel Antonio Ramirez Castellon's September
2008 death while incarcerated in Sebaco did not result in further
action, although the CPDH reported that the Sebaco municipal cell
conditions improved during the year.
Pretrial detainees often shared cells with convicted prisoners.
Juvenile prisoners also shared cells with adults. Suspects were
regularly left in police holding cells during their trials because the
government did not allocate funds to transport them to court.
Conditions for female inmates were generally better than those for
men, but women still suffered from overcrowded and unhygienic cells.
During the year authorities pardoned 63 women who were held for minor
drug possession, leaving the country's approximately 125 female inmates
incarcerated in Managua's La Esperanza women's prison. Police reported
that 90 percent of female inmates were serving drug possession
sentences.
The government generally permitted prison visits by local and
international human rights observers, with the exception of the La
Modelo prison in Tipitapa. In certain instances the government
restricted prisoners' access to visitors, attorneys, physicians, and
human rights officials. Local human rights groups stated that
authorities had denied them access to prisons and prevented them from
interviewing detainees. At times government officials did not grant
access to foreign government representatives to meet with their
imprisoned nationals and did not grant attorneys access to imprisoned
clients.
Government programs to improve prison and detention facility
conditions continued, including announced plans to repair prison
facilities in Chinandega, Puerto Cabezas, and Bluefields, although NGOs
and human rights organizations were unable to verify implementation.
CENIDH reported improvements to the prison transportation system.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the government observed these prohibitions,
with some exceptions discussed below.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The president is
commander in chief of the NNP, which is administered by the Ministry of
Government. The NNP forms a single, unified force responsible for
enforcing the law throughout the country. The NNP maintains internal
security. The army is responsible for external security but also has
some domestic security responsibilities, including combating drug
trafficking. There were 9,595 NNP employees, of whom 8,423 were police
officers, 857 were civilian personnel, and an estimated 315 were
voluntary police who filled staffing gaps. In some areas lacking
adequate police protection, citizens engaged in vigilante justice.
The government's inadequate funding of the NNP hampered efforts to
improve police performance and resulted in a continuing shortage of
officers. Low salaries--typically below 2,000 cordobas (approximately
$100) a month for new officers--created conditions wherein police
officers were susceptible to bribes, corruption, and drug trafficking.
Many voluntary police officers lacked training and professionalism. The
Office of the Inspector General generally investigated and punished
officers through internal administrative measures and referred some
corruption cases of lower-level officers to the court system. The slow
pace of the justice system fostered a public perception of impunity
within the police force.
The NNP Office of Internal Affairs is responsible for investigating
police security force abuses. During the year the office registered
2,283 complaints and investigated 1,686 cases of alleged police
misconduct, including 984 complaints of excessive force, searches
without warrants, and unlawful use of firearms. In these cases, 899
officers were punished, including 151 dishonorable discharges. The
Office of Internal Affairs also determined that of the complaints filed
against police, 71 percent pertained to human rights violations, 15
percent to acts of corruption, and the remaining 14 percent to common
offenses or minor infractions.
NNP regulations require that police trainees receive human rights
instruction to graduate from the police academy and also annual
recertification in human rights awareness. During the year the police
academy formally trained 2,473 officers and trainees in human rights
principles, with continuing training in human rights given to an
additional 5,040 officers. The army included human rights training in
its curriculum.
The constitution establishes the NNP as an apolitical, nonpartisan
institution protecting all citizens equally under the law. Human rights
groups and other NGOs complained that in practice, President Ortega
continued to use his position as commander in chief and his embedded
surrogates to politicize NNP affairs and threaten the organization's
professionalism and institutional integrity. These groups alleged that
during the year a general commissioner, the current director of public
security and a militant FSLN supporter, ordered police not to interfere
with progovernment mob intimidation of peaceful protesters.
On February 28, FSLN mobs violently disrupted an authorized
nationwide march against the fraudulent November 2008 municipal
elections while police watched passively. Organizers led by the
Citizen's Union for Democracy and opposition groups in Managua,
Chinandega, Leon, and Jinotega contacted police well in advance of the
event and obtained route approval as well as a promise of protection
for participants. When the march began, police allowed FSLN mobs to
operate with impunity against peaceful marchers, threaten them with
rocks and powerful firecrackers, and injure at least one participant
severely.
On September 29, three NNP commissioners (one in police uniform)
participated in the FSLN women's conference that voted to support the
president's reelection. This partisan participation, apparently in
violation both of the constitution and of the NNP professional code
that bars police from ``any political proselytizing,'' led Police Chief
Aminta Granera to criticize the three commissioners publicly for
purposely breaking the law, although they were not reprimanded or known
to have been disciplined in any way.
On November 18, the National Assembly granted amnesty to Alberto
Steffano Boschi, whom a court stacked with pro-FSLN judges had
convicted and sentenced in October 2008 to a one-year prison term for
allegedly inciting a riot that injured a journalist. Boschi, a dual-
national Catholic missionary and former opposition mayoral candidate
for Ciudad Sandino, had fled the country in November 2008.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Individuals
are apprehended openly. The law requires police to obtain a warrant
from a judicial authority prior to detaining a suspect and to notify
family members of the detainee's whereabouts within 24 hours. The law
mandates that a prosecutor accompany police making an arrest. Detainees
have the right to an attorney immediately following their arrest.
Police may hold a suspect legally for 48 hours before arraignment, when
they must bring the person before a judge to decide if charges should
be brought. The judge then must order the suspect released or
transferred to jail for pretrial detention. In practice few prisoners
were held beyond the 48-hour deadline. After the initial 48 hours, the
suspect has access to bail, visits from family members, and legal
representation.
On January 5, Mildred Lopez, the ex-mayoral candidate for La
Concepcion in the 2008 municipal elections, organized a peaceful
protest to denounce election fraud. Within 24 hours, police violently
arrested her and her husband, Gustavo Eslaquit, at home without a court
order and detained them for several hours without accusing them of a
crime or informing them of the reason for their detention. At year's
end there was no information available regarding a police investigation
into the incident.
Arbitrary lengthy pretrial detention after arraignment was a
problem. Detainees in the RAAN and RAAS often waited an average of six
months for their cases to be presented formally before a judge.
Amnesty.--During the year the National Assembly granted 63 pardons
and one general amnesty to citizens.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, the judicial system remained susceptible to
corruption and politicization and did not function independently (see
section 4). The law requires new judicial appointments be vetted by the
CSJ, a process often based on nepotism, influence, or political
affiliation. Once appointed, many judges were subject to political and
economic pressures that affected their judicial independence.
The judicial system contains both civil and military courts. The
16-member CSJ, the highest court, administers the judicial system and
nominates all appellate and lower-court judges. The 16 CSJ magistrates,
equally divided along party lines between the FSLN and the
Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), are appointed by the National
Assembly. The CSJ is divided into specialized chambers for
administrative, criminal, constitutional, and civil matters. The law
requires that the Office of the Attorney General investigate crimes
committed by and against juveniles. The Office of the Prosecutor under
the Public Ministry has authority to investigate criminal and civil
matters.
The law does not permit military tribunals to try civilians, and
the military code requires the civilian court system to try members of
the military charged with common crimes. Human rights and lawyer groups
complained of a delay of justice caused by judicial inaction and
impunity, especially regarding family violence and sexual abuse.
On July 14, former minister of culture Father Ernesto Cardenal
publicly asked President Ortega to unfreeze his bank accounts to permit
his travel to receive an international poetry award. The government had
frozen the Catholic priest's bank accounts in 2008 after he refused to
pay the fine for his conviction in a reopened slander case that was
widely viewed as political retribution for his criticism of the
president.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public, and the law provides that
defendants can choose a jury trial. Defendants have the right to legal
counsel and are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Defendants also
have the right of access to all information and evidence registered
with the government, as well as the right to know why and how it was
obtained, but only during the discovery and trial phases, not during
the pretrial period. The law provides public defenders to represent
indigent defendants. Defendants can confront and question witnesses who
testify against them and also have the right to appeal a conviction.
The law extends these rights to all citizens regardless of gender,
ethnicity, disability, or other status. The courts continued to use the
Napoleonic legal process for some old cases.
The country continued to lack an effective civil law system, with
the result that private litigants often filed their cases as criminal
complaints to force one party to concede rather than face the prospect
of detention in jail. This civil-based criminal caseload continued to
divert resources from the overburdened Office of the Prosecutor.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides that
persons can file lawsuits seeking damages for human rights violations
before civil courts and also provides for litigants to use mediation to
resolve civil claims. In practice many members of the judiciary did not
render impartial judgments in civil matters and were not independent of
political or other influence. Due to bureaucratic inefficiencies,
litigants unable to resolve claims through mediation often had to wait
months or years for the courts to process their claims, including the
enforcement of domestic court orders.
Property Restitution.--The government regularly failed to enforce
court orders with respect to seizure, restitution, or compensation of
private property. Even when courts ordered specific compensation, the
government refused to pay settlements, arguing it was illegal for a
judge to determine compensation. For example, an appellate court in
Jinotepe ordered the government to return confiscated property to the
original owner, but on July 23 the Attorney General's Office
countersued to annul the decision, an action apparently without legal
basis because appellate court rulings may not be appealed by a lower
court. However, on December 16, the lower court judge ruled in the
countersuit's favor.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--While the law prohibits such actions, several domestic
NGOs alleged their e-mail and telephone conversations were monitored by
the government.
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 used
administrative, judicial, and financial means to limit the exercise of
these rights. Although the law provides that the right to information
cannot be subject to censorship, it also establishes retroactive
liability, implying the potential for penalties for libel and slander.
Individuals could not always criticize the government freely without
reprisal, and at times the government attempted to impede criticism.
Independent media were active and expressed a variety of views. The
government, however, sought to restrict media freedom through
harassment, censorship, the arbitrary application of libel laws, and
the use of national security justifications to suppress reporting.
Throughout the year President Ortega and First Lady Rosario Murillo
actively criticized independent media outlets. On July 3, days after
three-time boxing world champion and Managua Mayor Alexis Arguello was
found dead at home, the president blamed the media for causing his
death. On March 18, in the role of coordinator for all government
communication, the first lady circulated an article to FSLN supporters
entitled, ``Enemies of Nicaragua--Journalists.'' On July 19, the
president labeled the independent media as ``terrorists, agents of the
CIA,'' and ``sons of Goebbels.''
Government officials and private individuals harassed media outlets
for criticizing the government. During the year the NNP reported eight
cases of threats and acts of violence against journalists. The
government continued to exclude independent media outlets from all
official media events and to withhold government advertising contracts,
instead funneling the equivalent of millions of dollars worth of its
advertising funds and important public announcements only to
``official'' media outlets owned or controlled by the Ortega family.
On June 1, when the Ministry of Health announced the first
confirmed H1N1 influenza cases in the country, only ``official'' media
were invited to the press conference. Independent media complained they
were denied access to government officials as well as to information
that should be publicly available. When government officials cooperated
with independent media, they were often reprimanded by superiors for
doing so. The government also threatened to eliminate the
constitutionally provided tax-free importation of newsprint.
Harassment and intimidation in the form of tax extortion and fines,
along with acts of sabotage and equipment theft, continued against
radio stations critical of the government during the year. On June 19,
the Institute of Telecommunications and Mail (Telcor) canceled the
operating license of radio station La Ley in Sebaco, and armed
government and Telcor technicians confiscated the station's
transmission equipment, valued at approximately 200,000 cordobas
($9,700)--a seizure in apparent violation of the constitution. The
station's owner, Santiago Aburto, was a supporter of opposition
presidential candidate Eduardo Montealegre and a critic of the Ortega
administration.
In August four opposition radio stations located on the Atlantic
Coast--including Radio Amor, Radio La Portenisima, Radio Hit, and Radio
Kabu Yula, which broadcast in the Miskito language--ceased operations
due to increased operating costs imposed by the government. Their
National Electric Company bills rose by 400 percent after the stations
broadcast messages critical of the FSLN-controlled regional government.
On October 8, Radio Corporacion, the leading opposition radio
station, announced that the Tipitapa Mayor's Office demanded taxes be
paid on its radio transmission tower. On October 14, the Managua
Mayor's Office imposed fines and threatened to tow Radio Corporacion
vehicles away.
On November 19, unknown persons damaged the printing press of La
Prensa, the largest daily newspaper in the country, in what owner Jaime
Chamorro believed was politically motivated sabotage.
In August 2008 the CSE brought charges against a foreign NGO and
several local civil society groups, alleging that these organizations
improperly sought to influence municipal elections by hosting former
president of Mexico Vicente Fox, who spoke earlier that month in
Managua about democracy in Latin America--a speech taken as criticism
of the Ortega administration. The prosecutor subpoenaed and seized
financial documents of the foreign NGO. The prosecutor also subpoenaed
local cosponsors of the Fox visit. On January 29, the Prosecutor's
Office ended its investigation and withdrew the case, although it
maintained that there were ``irregularities'' in the accused NGOs'
accounts.
Both La Prensa and El Nuevo Diario, the two largest major daily
newspapers, continued to have libel cases open against them within the
court system, cases filed by private individuals affiliated with the
FSLN's Citizen Power Councils (CPCs). There were also no new
developments in the appeal process for the 2007 CPC libel case against
La Prensa or in the investigation of the 2007 death threats against La
Prensa political cartoonist Manuel Guillen.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or Internet chat rooms; however, several NGOs alleged
that the government monitored their e-mails. Individuals and groups
engaged in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including
by e-mail. Internet access was widely available in the majority of the
country's cities, and there were more than 12,500 Internet hosts in the
country, although the International Telecommunication Union reported
only approximately 3 percent of the country's inhabitants used the
Internet in 2008. Frequent power outages and infrastructure problems
hampered citizen access to Internet and e-mail services.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on cultural events. However, the government reportedly
sought to restrict academic freedom by pressuring universities to
cancel events.
On October 2, the FSLN-controlled Journalists Union prohibited Juan
Ramirez Huerta, political editor of El Nuevo Diario, from presenting
his 50-year history of a public school.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law recognizes the right to public assembly,
demonstration, and mobilization but mandates that demonstrators obtain
permission for a rally or march by registering its planned size and
location with the police. The government limited public spaces where
groups could assemble, countered group demonstrations, and failed to
protect opposition demonstrators.
On August 8 in Managua, a mob of more than 100 FSLN and CPC
sympathizers violently disrupted a peace march composed of 400 members
of civil society and human rights NGOs. The government-friendly mob
injured more than 21 persons, including journalist Mario Sanchez, the
NGO Civil Coordinator's spokesperson; damaged buses; groped and
partially stripped five women; and chased marchers to sanctuary in a
cathedral. Police passively watched the confrontation; government
workers and high officials, including Tourism Vice Minister Meyling
Calero, participated in the attacks. International human rights
organizations (including the International Federation of Human Rights,
Inter American Press Association, and World Organization against
Torture) and the Catholic Church condemned the violence.
On October 4, government-friendly FSLN and CPC mobs attacked with
impunity an opposition-unity rally held in a private home in Nindiri
and used powerful firecrackers and rocks to force the rally's
cancellation, injure severely one attendee, and damage vehicles and the
home. Police responded slowly to the incident.
On November 21, police led by Chief Commissioner Amnita Granera
provided security for peaceful opposition and pro-FSLN marches in
Managua, but later violent confrontations outside the city resulted in
one death and several injuries.
February marked the conclusion of the six-month-long, FSLN-run,
voluntary ``Prayer against Hatred'' campaign that had illegally
occupied Managua's main rotundas before, during, and after the
fraudulent 2008 municipal election. Some of the ``volunteer''
campaigners demonstrated against the government for not paying them for
their participation.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for this right, including
the right to organize or affiliate with political parties; however, in
September the government, through the CSE, inexplicably divided one
political party between two regional election alliances (see section
3). The government also used administrative and judicial means to
harass other civil society organizations (see section 5).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
The government requires National Assembly approval of religious
group applications for legal standing before they may be registered
with the Ministry of Government. This registration is required to
obtain tax-exempt status, incur legal obligations, or enter into
contracts, and different religious groups perceived unequal treatment
in the process.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were reports of societal
abuses. Monsignor Juan Abelardo Mata, Catholic Church Episcopal
Conference leader and outspoken critic of President Ortega, was the
target of death threats and allegedly slanderous accusations about his
character during the year.
On April 6, Attorney General Hernan Estrada, supported by the PDDH,
accused Catholic Church bishops of inciting an assassination attempt
against him; a police investigation and media reports indicated he was
the victim of common street crime.
On April 30, Presidential Adviser Orlando Nunez Soto allegedly
wrote an e-mail letter purporting to contain information from the
Vatican and scurrilously attacking the Catholic Church hierarchy for
corruption, moral impropriety, thievery, and deceit. A week later the
president's wife denied governmental responsibility for the letter.
There were no reports of religious discrimination or anti-Semitic
acts. The Jewish community numbered fewer than 50.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, and emigration, and the
government generally respected these rights in practice. The government
cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) through humanitarian organizations, such as the International
Organization for Migration (IOM), in providing protection and
assistance to internally displaced persons, refugees, returning
refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and other persons of
concern.
The law prohibits forced exile, and there was no reported use of
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the
government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. The National Commission for Refugees--composed of six voting
members (three government ministries and three religious organizations)
and five nonvoting members from human rights NGOs--is the only entity
that may grant refugee status in the country. Asylum may only be
granted for political persecution by the executive branch or by the
country's embassies abroad.
In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion. The law provides for regularizing the legal status of
approximately 6,000 Salvadorans, who have lived in the country since
the 1980s civil wars; waiving fines imposed on persons who have been in
the country illegally and offering them a year-long status-
regularization period beginning in July 2008; and establishing a
detention center in Managua for refugees during case processing. The
center, however, was underfunded and understaffed and had capacity for
only 30 refugees.
During the year the government granted refugee status to two
Colombians and political asylum to Peruvian indigenous leaders Alberto
Pizango, Saul Puerta, and Cervando Puerta. Pizango and the Puerta
brothers received asylum on June 9 after the Peruvian government
accused them of instigating a confrontation in the Peruvian Amazon that
killed 24 police and nine indigenous persons. On October 13, the
Puertas returned to Peru once a Peruvian court overturned arrest orders
against them; Pizango remained in the country since the Peruvian court
upheld the order for his arrest.
The IOM and the country's Council of Protestant Churches reported
that there were increasing numbers of refugees entering the country,
primarily on the Atlantic Coast, hoping to reach the United States or
Canada. According to the UNHCR, 227 persons formally requested refugee
status (approximately 80 percent from Somalia, 10 percent from Eritrea,
5 percent from Ethiopia, 4 percent from Nepal and Bangladesh, and 2
percent from Cuba and Colombia). During the political crisis in
neighboring Honduras, approximately 40 Hondurans requested refugee
status. However, only 1 percent of all refugee-status seekers actually
stayed in the country.
Stateless Persons.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the
country's territory and from one's parents. Local civil registries
normally register births within 12 months upon the presentation of a
medical or baptismal certificate; however, many persons, especially in
rural areas, lacked registration or birth certificates. The NGO Child
Rights Information Network estimated in September 2008 that
approximately 250,000 children and adolescents lacked legal
documentation.
Persons without citizenship documents were unable to obtain
``cedulas,'' the national identity cards, and therefore had
difficulties participating in the legal economy, conducting bank
transactions, or voting. Persons who lacked cedulas also were subject
to other restrictions in employment, access to courts, and land
ownership. Women and children without citizenship documents were
reportedly more vulnerable to sexual exploitation by traffickers. The
NGO campaign ``The Right to a Name and Identity'' worked primarily in
the RAAN and RAAS to register birth certificates and distribute
cedulas. The government deliberately manipulated issuing cedulas for
political purposes for citizens both inside and outside the country.
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; however, the government restricted the exercise of this
right in practice.
Elections and Political Participation.--The results of the January
18 RAAN municipal elections heavily favored the FSLN and its Yatama
indigenous allies, through an electoral process that continued a
pattern of fraud that civil society observed in the rest of the country
during the November 2008 municipal elections. The government allowed
observers from the Moravian Church and an FSLN-affiliated NGO to
monitor polling places but did not allow any independent domestic or
international observers with significant monitoring experience to
participate.
Allegations of RAAN election fraud stemmed primarily from an
orchestrated voter-registration process containing substantial
irregularities. FSLN-controlled CPCs reportedly staffed the voter-
registration drive and manipulated eligible-voter lists to gerrymander
election districts in favor of FSLN-bloc candidates, and the FSLN-
controlled CSE politicized the distribution of cedulas necessary for
voter registration. The media reported that the CSE intentionally
delayed issuing cedulas to non-Sandinista voters to prevent their
voting but issued them to minor children of FSLN families (under the
legal voting age of 16) to increase the FSLN voter pool. On election
day there were reports that the FSLN brought in voters from outside the
RAAN and also ordered soldiers and police to vote in areas that have
historically favored non-Sandinista candidates.
CSE actions led to concerns regarding manipulation of the scheduled
March 2010 RAAN and RAAS regional elections. For example, on September
17, the CSE published its list of authorized political parties expected
to appear on the ballot, and the list prevented Eduardo Montealegre's
Liberal Independent Party from running as a unified party, instead
splitting it between two electoral alliances. Evidence also existed of
fraud in the September 20 PLC primaries held in the RAAN and the RAAS,
where turnout in some areas was three times higher than the total vote
for all parties in the 2006 general election. PLC members who did not
support former president and PLC leader Arnoldo Aleman reportedly were
not allowed to vote in the PLC primaries, while many FSLN party members
were.
Responding to a reported appeal by President Ortega and more than
100 mayors, six FSLN justices in the CSJ's Constitutional Chamber ruled
on October 19 that the president's human rights were violated by the
constitutional provision that limits presidents to two terms in office
and thus prohibits his running for another term. The president had
threatened to call a referendum if the National Assembly failed to
change the constitution so that he would be eligible to run again. The
CSJ's ruling was reached on short notice in the absence of three
regular non-FSLN members of the chamber; it was almost universally
regarded by constitutional experts, the media, civil society members,
and every opposition party as illegal and an ``institutional coup
d'etat.''
There were 17 women in the 92-seat National Assembly, four women in
the 16-member CSJ, and five women in the 13 cabinet-level posts. Five
persons from indigenous and other ethnic groups in the RAAN and the
RAAS were deputies in the National Assembly.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. World
Bank indicators reflected that corruption was a serious problem.
In the executive branch, officials dispensed funds outside the
normal budgetary process controlled under law by the legislature.
Officials who drew these funds, from the equivalent of hundreds of
millions of dollars in economic and developmental assistance loaned by
the Venezuela-led multigovernmental Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples
of Our America (ALBA), claimed they were administered by a joint
venture between the state-owned oil companies of Venezuela and
Nicaragua--an arrangement that prevented public oversight or basic
accounting to track the money. Government explanations of ALBA-related
spending were often contradictory. For example, the government
sometimes claimed that ALBA funded the ``Zero Hunger'' program and at
other times claimed the funds came directly from the national budget.
The media reported that ALBA-funded contracts were awarded to companies
run by individuals with ties to the Ortega family.
Independent media, human rights groups, and opposition political
parties reported that the Ortega administration blurred distinctions
between party and government by using FSLN-directed CPCs. The
government administered subsidized food and other government benefits
directly through CPCs, which reportedly coerced citizens into FSLN
membership. A September study by a foreign embassy confirmed that the
Zero Hunger program, administered through the Ministry of Agriculture
and distributed by local CPCs, lacked transparency, displayed official
corruption, and demonstrated political preference in its beneficiaries.
According to the study, authorities spent most Zero Hunger funds before
the 2008 municipal elections to buy votes or reward loyalty.
Additionally, persons seeking to obtain or retain public-sector
employment were obliged to obtain recommendation letters from CPC block
captains. Civic groups complained that government agencies required CPC
recommendation letters from persons seeking voter registration and
national identity documents.
In the legislative branch, allegations surfaced in February that
FSLN National Assembly deputies offered sexual favors and money to
opposition lawmakers in exchange for votes. Some PLC members reported
that they were offered prostitutes and up to approximately 800,000
cordobas ($39,000) to support FSLN legislation; at year's end there
were no official investigations or ethics charges against allegedly
implicated FSLN deputies, and none were expected.
Within the judicial branch, the CSJ was demonstrably susceptible to
corruption throughout the year, especially by political parties and
drug cartels.
On January 15, six PLC justices in the CSJ issued a ruling that
provided a stay of proceedings in former president Arnoldo Aleman's
corruption cases. The CSJ decision revoked and left without effect the
previous court's ruling and suspended the order that barred Aleman from
leaving the country as well as all civil and criminal proceedings
related to money laundering and corruption during his presidency. Many
observers viewed the decision as the product of an agreement between
Aleman and President Ortega, wherein Aleman received his freedom in
exchange for FSLN control over the National Assembly.
The law requires that cash seized in antinarcotics operations
remain under judicial-system control until a conviction sentence is
issued, but it does not clearly specify how seized cash should then be
distributed. The media reported that in practice CSJ justices pocketed
a portion of the seized cash and gave the rest to police, resulting in
the disappearance of more than 20 million cordobas (approximately
$970,000) during the year without accountability.
Cars seized by the NNP in drug cases reportedly were given to
members of the judiciary in violation of the law requiring seized
assets to be distributed equally among five government agencies. In
Rivas Department, for example, damaged or less valuable cars were left
in police lots, while the majority of the more valuable ones were
provided to judges and officials.
Public officials were subject to financial disclosure laws, and the
Office of the Comptroller is responsible for combating government
corruption.
Although the law mandates public access to government information
and statistics, it was rarely applied. A Violeta Barrios de Chamorro
Foundation study of the law's implementation that was published on May
21 found that 37 of 51 government entities approved a relevant
facilitative office, but only 16 existed with an official in charge and
only two had fully compliant Web sites. An appeal mechanism existed if
authorities denied or ignored an appropriate information request, but
its processes were slow and burdensome. The CPDH, unable to obtain
information from the CSE about its actions during 2008 municipal
elections, filed a case on May 27 with the Court of Administrative
Disputes to compel release of the information. At year's end the CSJ
had not provided any information on the case status nor responded to
CPDH information requests.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
operated in the country. Civil society organizations focused on
humanitarian activities generally operated without government
restriction. However, government officials harassed and intimidated
domestic and international NGOs that criticized the government, CPCs,
or the FSLN. During the year the government continued financial audits
and other investigations of NGOs. Civil society organizations continued
to report governmental confrontations with NGOs, adversarial
conditions, and a climate of fear created to suppress organizations
critical of the government.
Domestic NGOs and their members who were under investigation
reported problems in access to the justice system and delays in filing
petitions with courts. Many believed that comptroller and tax
authorities audited their accounts as a means of intimidation. NGOs
reported encountering severe problems scheduling meetings with
authorities and an unwillingness to reveal any information due to a
growing culture of secrecy.
In February authorities dropped accusations of money laundering
against some organizations such as the Women's Autonomous Movement
(MAM) due to lack of evidence, although authorities continued to
monitor their accounts and maintained the possibility of reopening
cases during the year. MAM reported surveillance of the organization
and its offices and the theft of key documents.
In January authorities revived a September 2008 investigation
against MAM leader Juanita Jimenez in which she was accused of abuse of
power as a notary public. MAM and Amnesty International pressed the
government to resolve the case, but there were no developments by
year's end, and none were expected. Such accusations and ensuing
investigations prevented individuals from working in public offices or
performing public services, including working as lawyers or notaries
public.
Authorities dismissed the cases against, or never formally charged,
the 17 prominent civil society organizations that the government
accused in 2008 of laundering money from international donors. While
they were under investigation, the government froze their assets,
seized computer equipment, performed tax audits, and disbanded them.
MAM reported that the government returned its equipment at the end of
the investigation, but some was damaged without explanation or
compensation.
NGOs complained that the government continued to sideline civil
society organizations not affiliated with the FSLN by preventing them
from participating in government social programs, such as Zero Hunger
and Zero Usury.
There were fewer death threats against members of civil society and
human rights NGOs during the year; however, at least five leaders
received death threats for political reasons, including Monsignor Juan
Abelardo Mata, Victor Boitano, Alvaro Leiva Sanchez, Jaime Arellano,
and Bernicia Sanchez Escobareveral. Additionally, some NGOs reported
perceiving serious threats, fearing retribution through financial
monitoring or judicial action, and often encountering hostility when
they questioned or criticized the government or FSLN.
There were no reports of any developments, and none were expected,
regarding the 2008 death threats against MAM President Sofia
Montenegro, CENIDH Director Vilma Nunez, and other CENIDH members.
The government generally cooperated with international
organizations and permitted visits by the UN Development Program and
other UN representatives. However, international NGOs, including Save
the Children, reported difficulties signing agreements with the
government that specify the length of permitted operation in the
country. Authorities allocated tax numbers to Save the Children and
several other NGOs that exposed them to tax as businesses rather than
nonprofits.
Human rights NGOs and former ombudsman officials asserted that the
PDDH office was politicized, influenced by partisan interests, and
lacked the independence necessary to comply with its mandate. The PDDH
suffered from general budget cuts during the year and publicly claimed
inadequate resources to complete its mission. Its December 1 annual
report on human rights identified and condemned corruption within the
judicial system and the lack of access thereto but praised education
and health advances. The government did not respond to PDDH
recommendations.
The National Assembly operated a human rights committee that
focused primarily on amnesties and pardons. Civil society viewed the
committee as controlled by partisan forces and not credible.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender,
disability, language, or social status. In practice the government
often did not enforce these legal protections, and aggrieved persons
filed few discrimination suits or formal complaints.
Women.--The law criminalizes all forms of rape, regardless of the
relationship between the victim and the accused, and the government
generally enforced the law. However, many women were reluctant to
report abuse or file charges due to the social stigma attached to rape,
fear of retribution, and loss of economic security. NGOs reported that
both sexual and domestic violence increased. During the year the NNP
reported 4,013 cases of sexual crimes, including 1,518 cases of rape,
260 cases of aggravated rape, and 80 cases of attempted rape. The
Public Ministry did not make year-end statistics available, but during
the first six months of the year, it reported 520 accusations of rape,
of which 256 had charges brought before a court. Many rape cases were
resolved through mediation, which allowed alleged rapists to circumvent
heavier punishment. The media reported that 10 percent of cases
involving sexual crimes were taken to court, where 62 percent of the
accused were convicted.
The law requires female victims of sexual crimes to undergo a
medical examination by CSJ forensic specialists before proceeding
legally against alleged perpetrators; the lack of female forensic
doctors deterred women from taking legal action. Rape victims were
often unaware or uninformed about the procedures required to process
their cases officially, and much time transpired before victims
received the necessary physical and psychological examinations.
Rape and sexual abuse of adolescent girls continued, including
cases involving incest and gang rape. According to the NNP,
approximately 78 percent of rape cases during the year involved
adolescent girls less than 17 years of age.
On July 25, an employee of the Ministry of Migration allegedly
raped a colleague. Police assured the victim that an investigation was
underway, yet 45 days after the initial report, authorities had not
examined the victim medically or psychologically; the alleged rapist
and his accomplice continued to work at the ministry; and police had
not examined submitted evidence. By year's end, however, the case
proceeded to trial after the CSJ Institute of Forensic Medicine (IML)
provided information.
The law criminalizes domestic violence and provides for prison
sentences up to six years. The law also provides for the issuance of
restraining orders to protect women who fear for their safety. NGOs
asserted that victims of violence did not have reasonable access to
justice; only 10 percent of cases went to court, while the majority of
cases were resolved through mediation. NGOs asserted that this form of
case resolution was ineffective and led to patterns of abuse and
impunity.
Reporting of domestic violence and violence against women increased
dramatically, attributable in part to a higher frequency of occurrence,
in part to a greater public willingness to come forward, and in part to
the NNP's continued 2008 campaign (``A Home Cannot Be Built Out of
Violence . . . Give Love To Your Family'') aimed at raising public
awareness of domestic violence and helping domestic-abuse victims. NGOs
and the NNP asserted that domestic violence remained widespread and
underreported, however, with the latter primarily due to cultural
attitudes. The NNP reported that during the year there were 27,746
cases of domestic violence and aggression, of which 40 percent were
between domestic partners and 2,547 were against children. Although the
IML did not make end-of-year statistics available, it reported that in
the first six months of the year, it examined 2,886 cases of domestic
violence, of which 2,767 were between domestic partners, and 223 cases
involving children being considered for criminal proceedings.
The PDDH reported a significant increase in the number of killings
of women: there were 53 killings from January through September, 45 of
which partners committed. The NNP reported that 31 women were killed
during the year due to domestic and sexual violence. NGOs reported 20
percent were sexually abused before death and 31 percent were killed by
firearm. Many victims were often raped, beaten, maimed, or mutilated.
During the year 35 NNP women's commissariats operated in the
country, three more than in 2008. Commissariats provided social and
legal help to women, mediated spousal conflicts, investigated and
helped prosecute criminal complaints, and referred victims to other
governmental and nongovernmental assistance agencies. Although the
government and the NNP intensified campaigns to encourage women to
report spousal abuse and other violence, commissariats lacked
sufficient government-provided equipment and funding to discharge their
responsibilities adequately. There were no government-operated shelters
dedicated to female victims of violence or abuse, although there were
nine nongovernment-operated women's shelters.
Prostitution, which is legal for persons 14 years of age and older,
was common, although the law prohibits its promotion. In Managua most
prostitutes worked on the streets or in nightclubs, bars, or massage
parlors. The law imposes a penalty of five to seven years' imprisonment
for convicted sex-tourism offenders. Several NGOs reported that sexual
exploitation of young girls was common, as was the prevalence of older
men (often foreigners) who exploited young girls under the guise of
providing them support. Although there was a national campaign launched
to raise awareness and reporting of sex tourism, the NNP reported no
cases of sex tourism during the year.
The law prohibits sexual harassment, and those convicted face
between one- and three-year prison terms, or three- to five-year
sentences if the victim is under age 18. From January through
September, the Public Ministry reported 105 cases of sexual harassment,
of which 22 resulted in charges brought to court; year-end statistics
were not available. As with rape and domestic violence, sexual
harassment was underreported.
Ministry of Health family-planning norms provide for couples and
individuals to have the right to decide the number, spacing, and timing
of children, and to have the information and means to do so free from
discrimination. Access to information on contraception, and skilled
attendance at delivery and in postpartum care, were more available in
urban areas and have improved in remote areas, such as the Atlantic
Coast. Women generally received better access to diagnostic services
and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases than men because NGO
efforts and government campaigns focused on women's reproductive
health. Health centers and hospitals provided information on the
benefits of family planning and breast-feeding and generally had
programs in place to address these issues. A 2006-07 demographic survey
showed that 70 percent of women used a modern contraceptive method and
that the gap between urban and rural users had decreased.
Women in some areas, such as the RAAN and RAAS, did not have
widespread access to medical care or programs. The Ministry of Health
reported a total of 5 percent fewer maternal deaths during the year,
compared with 2008. However, the decrease was less pronounced in rural
areas (11 percent) than in urban areas (24 percent), and maternal death
was generally more likely to affect poor rural women than their urban
counterparts. Most of the women who died in childbirth were older than
35 years or adolescents who lived in rural areas and had low education
levels.
The law provides that women enjoy the same rights as men, including
in the family and the workplace and regarding property. However, women
generally experienced economic discrimination in access to employment,
credit, and pay equity for substantially similar work, as well as in
owning and/or managing businesses. The NNP Office of the Superintendent
of Women is responsible for enforcing the law to protect women. In
practice authorities often discriminated in property matters against
poor women who lacked birth certificates or national identity cards.
The Office of the PDDH's Special Prosecutor for Women and the
Nicaraguan Women's Institute are the principal government entities
responsible for protecting the legal rights of women. However, they had
limited effectiveness.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory and from one's parents; however, the Ministry of Family
(MiFamilia) failed to register births immediately. Media reports
estimated that annually 50,000 children were not properly registered.
During the first six months of the year, ``Programa Amor'' (the child-
welfare program launched by the president's wife), in conjunction with
Save the Children and the UN Children's Fund, successfully registered
11,250 children located mostly in the RAAN. However, the problem
persisted: children and adolescents lacked birth certificates, were not
listed in the national civil registry, lacked legal identity, were
denied public services, and were highly vulnerable to trafficking.
The NNP reported that approximately 24 percent of the victims of
domestic and sexual violence were children. Save the Children reported
that both child abuse and violations of children's human rights
increased most notably in poor rural areas. The media reported that
during the year there were few judicial resources available to defend
the rights of children and that, of all cases brought to court alleging
violations of children's human rights, more than half were dismissed
and 28 percent of those charged were found guilty. There were no
government programs specifically combating child abuse.
An NGO reported that MiFamilia personnel sexually, physically, and
emotionally abused children living in government-sponsored child-
protection centers during the year. The MiFamilia center in Managua
reportedly took in children with a range of issues but did not develop
specific programs to address them. It was overcrowded and chaotic;
children were bullied and infested with lice.
The PDDH's 2007 allegations of corruption and abusive living
conditions did not result in a MiFamilia investigation during the year.
There were no reports of child marriage; however, NGOs stated that
while child marriage was rather uncommon, it existed in rural areas.
There were no government efforts to combat it.
The law prohibits promoting or engaging in child prostitution, but
it remained a problem. Penalties include four to 10 years in prison for
a person who entices or forces a child under age 12 to engage in sexual
activity, and one to five years in prison for the same acts involving
persons between the ages of 12 and 18 years. The law defines statutory
rape as sexual relations with children who are 13 years old or younger,
and there is no law prohibiting prostitution by juveniles 14 years of
age or older.
The law also prohibits promoting, filming, or selling child
pornography. The penalty for an individual convicted of inducing,
facilitating, promoting, or using a minor younger than 16 years for
sexual or erotic purposes, or forcing such a person to watch or
participate in such an act, is five to seven years in prison. If the
victim is older than 16 years but younger than 18 years, the penalty is
reduced to four to six years in prison. During the year the NNP
reported 34 cases of child pornography.
According to the IML midyear report, 82 percent of sex crimes were
with minors younger than 17 years old. The country was a destination
for child sex tourism, primarily in Granada and Managua; however, there
were no officially reported cases during the year.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons
for all purposes. There were reports that persons were trafficked to,
from, through, and within the country.
NGOs continued to confirm that trafficking was a serious and
increasing problem. The IOM also stated in September that international
trafficking was present and that there was a disproportionate increase
in internal and urban trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation.
Porous borders and lack of access to legal identification documents,
which led individuals to cross borders clandestinely, exacerbated
trafficking problems.
NGOs reported increases in trafficking victims from urban and
suburban areas during the year. However, victims overwhelmingly
originated from rural areas such as the RAAN and RAAS. Women and
children living in rural border areas were at particularly high risk--
along with poor, rural, homeless, and undocumented children--of being
trafficked for commercial sexual and/or labor exploitation.
The majority of victims were women and children trafficked to
Guatemala and El Salvador for commercial sexual exploitation, while
Costa Rica was the main destination for trafficking adults and children
for forced labor. Victims generally were poor and uneducated; adults
generally were coerced under the assumption of finding gainful
employment, while children were homeless and frequently had histories
involving domestic or sexual abuse.
NGOs and government agencies reported that traffickers included
organized crime, employment agencies, other trafficking victims, family
members, brothel operators, international truck drivers, and sometimes
children carrying packages or guiding border-crossers. Many traffickers
used legal migration procedures to traffic victims through official
ports of entry, exploiting ineffective government security measures and
often taking advantage of the minimal documentation requirements among
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua as well as the low
price of falsified immigration papers.
The IOM reported that a common method of luring victims into
trafficking involved recruiters (usually women acquainted with the
victim who had acquired the trust of the community) who presented rural
women with employment opportunities abroad. Recruiters invited young
girls and women to travel as a group and provided false paperwork
enabling them to cross borders through official ports of entry. Upon
arrival at the final destination, victims were enslaved in brothels and
sexually exploited.
NGOs reported that family friends or trusted persons often promised
urban employment opportunities as domestic workers to young girls from
rural and suburban areas. After taking transportation into the city,
victims were informed that their workplaces were actually night clubs
or bars; on arrival, they were often forced to dance or perform sexual
acts.
The Public Ministry is charged with prosecuting trafficking cases.
The Ministry of Government has primary responsibility for combating
trafficking through the National Coalition against Trafficking in
Persons, which coordinated efforts with 16 ministries and autonomous
government agencies and with national and international organizations.
The judicial police handle trafficking complaints.
Trafficking for sexual exploitation, slavery, or adoption purposes
carries a sentence of between seven and 10 years in prison. The maximum
penalty is applied against perpetrators in cases where the victim is
married, less than 14 years of age, or living as a sex slave with the
perpetrator. The penalty range increases to 10-12 years in prison for
trafficking of children under 18. There are no penalties for attempted
trafficking. Laws against commercial sexual exploitation of minors do
not protect all adolescents under 18 years old. The failure of the
government to allocate adequate resources, the slow pace of law reform,
judicial corruption, lack of border and immigration controls, and
inadequate government coordination impeded government antitrafficking
efforts.
From January to September, there were five cases of suspected
trafficking pursued by the Public Ministry, with 18 persons under
investigation; at year's end no one was convicted. NGOs reported that
the government did not cooperate with or assist international
investigations against trafficking. The law does not permit extradition
of citizens.
There continued to be no information available regarding the
investigation of two trafficking suspects apprehended in 2007 at the
Managua airport while they allegedly tried to put unaccompanied
children on a United States-bound flight.
Although the government and NNP did not report officials involved
in trafficking, NGOs asserted that both were often aware of, and
sometimes colluded with, traffickers. When NGOs gave information to the
NNP about specific locales, such as brothels, known to engage in
trafficking, officials responded that nothing could be done.
The tasking of ``Programa Amor'' to help women, children, and
adolescents who were trafficking victims did not produce any reported
results. NGOs reported there were no other government-sponsored
reintegration or aid programs, shelters, or resources for trafficking
victims. Rather than the government, NGOs undertook most efforts to
reintegrate victims into society. The NGO ``Casa Alianza'' operated the
only two shelters in Managua for trafficking victims.
The government did not allocate sufficient resources to identify
victims and failed to provide effective access to judicial remedies for
victims. Judges often treated victims as complicit parties in
trafficking cases. A lengthy hearing process deterred some victims from
submitting cases.
Although the government continued its antitrafficking campaign to
increase public awareness and reporting of suspected trafficking cases,
inadequate coordination between government entities undermined its
effectiveness. For instance, NGOs reported that the 24-hour hotline
developed to facilitate reporting of suspicious activity in fact closed
after government working hours. Also, police often did not take action
or investigate cases although given specific details regarding the
whereabouts of known traffickers.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities, but in practice
such discrimination was widespread in employment, education, access to
health care, and the provision of state services. MiFamilia is
responsible for the protection and advancement of rights for persons
with disabilities. The government did not effectively enforce the law
with regard to the protection of persons with disabilities and did not
mandate accessibility to buildings for persons with disabilities.
Government clinics and hospitals provided care for veterans and
other persons with disabilities, but the quality of care was generally
poor.
At year's end there was no information available on the remaining
three cases from 2007 regarding abuse of children with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Various indigenous and other
ethnic groups from the RAAN and the RAAS attributed the lack of
government resources devoted to the Atlantic Coast to discriminatory
attitudes toward the ethnic, racial, and religious minorities in those
regions. In contrast with the rest of the country, the racial makeup of
the RAAN and RAAS was predominantly black and Amerindian.
Exclusionary treatment based on race, skin color, and ethnicity was
common, especially in higher-income urban areas. Darker-skinned persons
of African descent from the RAAN and RAAS, along with foreigners
assumed to be from those areas, experienced social discrimination in
the interior and Pacific areas and were denied access to private clubs
and restaurants in Managua. Persons with darker skin claimed that
authorities at the Managua airport targeted them for extra security
measures and that police stopped them to conduct illegal searches.
There was no information available on government efforts to address
discrimination based on skin color, race, or ethnicity.
Indigenous People.--Indigenous persons constituted approximately 5
percent of the country's population and lived primarily in the RAAN and
RAAS. The five major identifiable indigenous groups were the Miskito,
the Sumo, the Garifuna (of Afro-Amerindian origin), the Mayangna, and
the Rama. These groups alleged government discrimination through
underrepresentation in the legislative branch. For instance, the RAAN
and RAAS had generally the same population as Leon and Masaya
departments but had only five representatives in the National Assembly,
compared with 10 for Leon and Masaya.
Indigenous group members often lacked birth certificates, national
identity cards, and land titles. Although they formed political groups,
these often held little sway over politics and were ignored or used by
major national parties to advance their own agendas. Most indigenous
persons in rural areas lacked access to public services, and
deteriorating roads made medicine and health care almost unobtainable
for many communities. The rates of unemployment, illiteracy, and
absenteeism of school-age children were among the highest in the
country. By year's end there was no information available regarding any
government action to meet the 2008 request, by the UN Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination, for development of a national
strategy to combat racism and forge a new relationship with indigenous
and ethnic minority communities.
Human rights organizations and indigenous rights groups claimed
that the government failed to protect indigenous communities' civil and
political rights, including rights to land, natural resources, and
local autonomy.
On April 19, the Miskito Council of Elders in the RAAN declared
independence from the central government and elected a Wihta Tara
(meaning ``Great Judge'' in the Miskito language) as leader. The elders
stated that they declared independence in part because of their lack of
representation in the central and regional governments and the alleged
corruption of the FSLN-controlled regional government. Election fraud
in January's municipal elections (see section 3) increased
proindependence sentiment. On October 19, police used tear gas and
rubber bullets to suppress a proindependence protest in Bilwi during
which one Miskito protester died. By year's end the government had not
formally responded to the independence declaration.
In April Rama community leaders filed their December 2008 lawsuits
against the government with the Inter-American Court on Human Rights,
claiming that the government refused to complete the demarcation
process and issue titles for their indigenous lands. On December 19,
the government issued titles to most of the Rama territory.
There continued to be no developments, and none were expected,
regarding the 2006 lawsuit that the CPDH filed with the CSJ on behalf
of the Miskito community, in relation to the Red Christmas operation
and other human rights abuses committed in the 1980s by then president
Ortega and other high-ranking Sandinista officials.
Although the law requires that the government consult with
indigenous persons regarding the exploitation of their areas'
resources, some indigenous communities continued to complain that
government authorities excluded RAAN and RAAS indigenous persons from
meaningful participation in decisions affecting their lands, cultures,
traditions, and the allocation of natural resources. Representatives of
autonomous regions and indigenous communities regularly complained to
the government, media, and NGOs that the government failed to invest in
infrastructure in those regions.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Although sexual orientation is
not mentioned specifically, the constitution states that all persons
are equal before the law and have the right to equal protection.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons continued to
face widespread societal discrimination and human rights abuses,
particularly in employment and education. On November 30, the PDDH
created the position of a special prosecutor for sexual diversity to
champion LGBT issues. A gay rights NGO reported that, despite the fact
that their community benefited from legislation which protects their
human rights, violence directed toward the LGBT community increased.
However, it was difficult to measure trends because LGBT human rights
violations were underreported and often mischaracterized.
Although not authorized by the government, gay pride events
occurred several times during the year in Managua. There were no
reports of violence directed against these events.
On August 11, the Ministry of Health signed a regulation that seeks
to eradicate discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the
public and private health sectors and to allocate funds from
international donors and multinational aid for the establishment of
programs to combat such discrimination.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--The law provides
specific protections for persons with HIV/AIDS against employment and
health services discrimination. However, persons with HIV/AIDS
continued to suffer societal discrimination based on their alleged HIV/
AIDS status. Several NGOs worked to educate communities regarding HIV/
AIDS discrimination. Communities often stigmatized persons with HIV/
AIDS, and there was a general lack of awareness and education among the
public and health care professionals regarding prevention, treatment,
and transmission of HIV/AIDS.
There were no known developments, and none were expected, regarding
the lawsuit by Maria Josefa Rivera against three health-care
professionals who misdiagnosed AIDS and publicized that diagnosis in
2008.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of all
public- and private-sector workers, with the exception of those in the
military and police, to form and join independent unions of their
choice. Workers exercised this right in practice. Workers are not
required to notify their employer or the Ministry of Labor (MITRAB) of
their intention to organize a union. The government estimated the
national workforce at approximately two million, with 28 percent
involved in agriculture, fishing, and forestry activities; 18 percent,
in manufacturing; and 53 percent, in services. The unionized workforce
represented approximately 4.5 percent of the total workforce between 15
and 60 years old. In general labor unions were allied with political
parties. During the year the National Assembly passed a law allowing
unions to register outside Managua. MITRAB put this decentralization of
union registration in place to remove obstacles that discouraged union
registration, and it led to an increased number of unions outside the
Managua area.
The constitution recognizes the right to strike, and the law allows
unions to conduct their activities without government interference.
However, burdensome and lengthy labor code conciliation procedures
impeded workers' ability to call strikes. During a strike employers
cannot hire replacement workers. If a strike continues for 30 days
without resolution, MITRAB has authority to suspend the strike and
submit the matter to arbitration. MITRAB often declared strikes
illegal, even when workers followed legal strike procedures.
On June 9, NNP officers in Puerto Cabezas shot into a crowd of
lobster divers who were protesting price cuts, injuring two persons
(see section 1.c.).
On September 29, several members of the National Union of Public
Employees (UNE) from Ciudad Sandino went on strike by taking control of
the city hall to protest alleged breaches of their collective
bargaining agreement with the mayor's office. Tensions began earlier in
the year, as the FSLN mayor fired seven union members and replaced them
with six close political allies and his son, but the strike did not
occur until after the mayor fired two more union members, reportedly
for uncovering financial corruption in his office. In response the CPCs
of Ciudad Sandino organized a ``shock'' force that broke up the strike;
raided, looted, and destroyed much of city hall; and attacked union
members, injuring 10. Police arrived late and did little to stop the
violence. After the strike the union and the mayor agreed to attempt to
work together peacefully. However, after receiving one fired worker's
resignation letter, the mayor replaced him with a close political
advisor, a move the union opposed.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to bargain collectively. A collective bargaining
agreement cannot exceed two years and is automatically renewed if
neither party requests its revision. The government protected these
rights and often sought to foster resolution of labor conflicts through
informal negotiations rather than formal administrative or judicial
processes. Companies in disputes with their employees must negotiate
with the employee union, if one exists. By law several unions may
coexist at any one enterprise. The law permits management to sign
collective bargaining agreements with each union operating at the
enterprise.
The penal code establishes sanctions against employers who violate
labor rights by conducting activities such as interfering with the
formation of unions or strikebreaking. In practice many employers in
the formal sector continued to violate worker rights by blacklisting or
firing union members. Employers also avoided legal penalties by
organizing ``white unions'' (employer-led unions) for their employees,
which lacked independence. Union leaders asserted that employers and
union leaders who supported the Ortega administration continued to
pressure workers affiliated with non-FSLN unions to resign and register
with FSLN unions.
There were reports that more than 11,000 public employees (more
than 12 percent of the public workforce) were fired after rebuffing
pressure to join the FSLN party, participate in political marches, or
join the FSLN's UNE. The leader of UNE and the National Workers Front
(FNT), National Assembly Deputy Gustavo Porras, stated to the media
that he wanted to make the rival Sandinista Central of Workers (CST)
and other non-Sandinista unions ``disappear'' from state institutions,
a sentiment that the FNT backed by directing the apparently illegal
dismantling of 47 public-sector unions. The pace of politically
motivated firings increased significantly during the year. Unions
accused the government of directing ministries to hire CPC members to
replace fired workers. These unions claimed that the sole criterion for
hiring appeared to be political allegiance to President Ortega, since
those hired were often unqualified to execute competently the tasks
necessary to their jobs.
In February the Internal Revenue Office (DGI) fired nearly 400
employees for refusing to join Sandinista Leadership Councils,
government groups dedicated to strengthening the organizational power
of the FSLN. The DGI failed to pay severance as required by law. This
was one case in a systematic pattern of illegal, politically motivated
firings carried out by several large government entities. Although most
of these firings were ruled illegal by courts, none of the entities
involved abided by rulings mandating severance payment.
On March 26, anonymous CPC members sent death threats to Alvaro
Leiva Sanchez, the leader of the Ministry of Transportation and
Infrastructure and Democratic Federation of Public Service Employee
unions, because of his public lobbying for improved labor rights on
behalf of the employees he represented. He reported the threats to
police, but by year's end there was no investigation because police
claimed a lack of evidence. The Ministry of Transportation and
Infrastructure fired Leiva on September 30 without showing proper
cause.
Although employers must reinstate workers fired for union activity,
MITRAB may not legally order employers to rehire fired workers; that
requires a judicial order. The law allows employers to obtain
permission from MITRAB to dismiss any employee, including union
organizers, provided the employer agrees to pay double the usual
severance pay. In practice employers often did not reinstate workers or
pay the severance due to weak enforcement of the law.
Although the law establishes a labor court arbitration process,
long waiting times and lengthy, complicated procedures detrimentally
affected court-mediated solutions, so most labor disputes were
reconciled outside of court. The International Labor Organization (ILO)
worked with the government and labor leaders to reform this process and
make it more accessible to employees in disputes.
Labor leaders complained that employers routinely violated
collective bargaining agreements and labor laws. Although year-end
statistics were not made available, during the first six months of the
year, MITRAB conducted 3,959 inspections and issued 26 fines, including
some to companies that operate in the export processing zones also
known as free trade zones (FTZs).
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the country's 41 FTZs. Fewer than 10 percent of the estimated 55,000
FTZ workers were union members. Because a high proportion of FTZ unions
had fewer than 50 members, many lacked effective collective bargaining
power.
On July 21, the FNT-affiliated Confederation of Sandinista Workers-
Jose Benito Escobar formed in the Tecnotex textile factory located in
an FTZ. Two days later the employer fired 29 of the 33 founding union
members in retaliation and circulated a document forbidding the union
to exist; those employees who did not sign it were fired. MITRAB
promptly ruled that Tecnotex must reinstate the employees; however,
when they showed up for work on August 21, company security personnel
assaulted them and blocked their entrance to the factory. The fired
workers claimed to be unable to find another job in the FTZ because of
blacklisting.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor; however, there were reports that such
practices occurred. The law prohibits submission, maintenance, or
forced recruitment for slavery, forced labor, servitude, or
participation in an armed conflict and sets a penalty of between five
and eight years' imprisonment. The government did not effectively
enforce the law or implement programs to combat forced labor. There
were instances of forced domestic servitude, primarily of female
minors, and forced prostitution of minors, who were trafficked to urban
centers from other countries or from rural areas within the country
(see sections 6 and 7.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although the law provides for the protection of children's rights and
prohibits any type of economic or social exploitation of children,
child labor was a widespread problem. The government did not
effectively enforce the law to protect children from workplace
exploitation. The most recent available national survey of adolescent
and child labor (2005) estimated that there were approximately 239,000
working children between five and 17 years old, of whom 36 percent were
less than 14 years old.
The law establishes the minimum age for employment at 14 years and
limits the workday to six hours and the workweek to 30 hours. Children
between 14 and 16 years of age must have parental approval to work. The
law prohibits teenage domestic workers from sleeping in the house of
their employers; MITRAB is responsible for caring for those teenage
domestic workers unable to return each evening to their families, but
this was not effectively enforced. It is also illegal for minors to
work in places MITRAB considered harmful to their health or safety,
such as mines, garbage dumps, and night-entertainment venues.
All employees more than 14 years old must be enrolled in the
national social security system. The law also provides for eight-year
prison terms and substantial fines for persons employing children in
dangerous work and permits inspectors to close those facilities. The
government did not provide adequate resources for MITRAB to enforce the
law effectively, except in the small formal sector. Although the annual
budget for MITRAB was cut during the year, the budget percentage
allocated to enforcement increased by 10 percent--from approximately 18
million cordobas ($880,000) to 21 million cordobas (one million
dollars).
Most child labor occurred in the large informal sector, including
on coffee plantations and subsistence farms, and in forestry, fishing,
and hunting. Children also worked in the production of sugarcane,
tobacco, and crushed stone as well as in street sales, garbage dump
scavenging, and transport. According to the ILO's International Program
on the Elimination of Child Labor, children engaged in the worst forms
of child labor in plantation agriculture, shellfish harvesting, pumice
and limestone quarrying, gold mining, industrial manufacturing,
construction, commercial/retail, hospitality, and as domestic servants.
Children working in agriculture suffered from sun exposure, extreme
temperatures, and dangerous pesticides and other chemicals. Hundreds of
children working with their families also faced water pollution and
powerful ocean tides in harvesting black clams.
The government continued activities to incorporate working
adolescents into the formal workforce by transferring children above
the legal working age from the worst forms of child labor into
nondangerous jobs. NGOs offered vocational training to help adolescents
develop job skills for FTZ factory employment. During the first six
months of the year, MITRAB reported that it removed 51 child workers
from employment and incorporated 783 adolescents into the formal
sector; full-year statistics were not available.
MITRAB supported a 10-year plan (2007-16) to end child labor that
requires all government programs to include child-labor prevention and
eradication initiatives. The government continued its ``Programa
Amor,'' which had a primary goal of eradicating child labor by
reintegrating abandoned children into society; while there were
indications that it was operative early in the year, effectiveness
information was inaccessible. La Prensa newspaper articles in December
reported there was no concrete evidence that ``Programa Amor''
objectives were being reached. On October 16, more than 340 educators
in the RAAN who work for ``Programa Amor'' and MiFamilia complained
that they had not been paid and had not received promised resources and
materials for more than six months.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage law
establishes statutory minimum wages for nine different economic
sectors; the wages are set through tripartite negotiations involving
business, government, and labor. The National Assembly must approve any
wage increases. During the year the government increased the minimum
wage by an average of 11 percent across all sectors. The monthly
minimum wage ranged from 1,573 cordobas (approximately $77) in the
agricultural sector to 3,588 cordobas ($175) in the financial sector.
This minimum wage remained significantly below MITRAB's estimated basic
cost of goods for an urban family of four, which is 8,670 cordobas
($420), and did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family. Also, the minimum wage was generally enforced only in the
formal sector and was thus applicable only to approximately one-third
of the working population.
The standard legal workweek is a maximum of 48 hours, with one day
of rest; however, this provision was often ignored by employers who
claimed that workers readily volunteered for extra hours for additional
pay. While the law mandates premium pay for overtime and prohibits
excessive compulsory overtime, these requirements were not always
effectively enforced.
The law establishes occupational health and safety standards, but
the government did not allocate adequate staff or resources to enable
the Office of Hygiene and Occupational Safety to enforce these
provisions. The law mandates the creation of regional offices for the
National Council of Labor Hygiene and Safety. The council is
responsible for worker safety legislation and for collaboration with
other government agencies and civil society organizations in developing
assistance programs and promoting training and prevention activities.
The government did not enforce the new law effectively. During the
first half of the year, MITRAB conducted 1,096 health and safety
inspections; no end-of-year statistics were made available. Also, 1,154
workplace accidents were reported in this period, a drop from 5,497
reported in the first half of 2008.
The law provides workers with the right to remove themselves from
dangerous workplace situations without jeopardizing continued
employment, but many workers were unaware of this right due to the lack
of government dissemination of information.
__________
PANAMA
Panama is a multiparty constitutional democracy with a population
of approximately 3.45 million. On May 3, voters chose Ricardo A.
Martinelli Berrocal as president in national elections considered
generally free and fair by international and domestic observers.
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, although problems persisted, including harsh prison
conditions and abuse by prison guards; prolonged pretrial detention;
corruption, ineffectiveness, and political manipulation of the judicial
system; political pressure on the media; discrimination and violence
against women; trafficking in persons; discrimination against
indigenous communities; 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.
In the ongoing investigation of 47 cases of murder or disappearance
during the 1968-89 military regime, 19 cases were tentatively
dismissed, one was declined for trial, another was permanently
dismissed, and seven cases were closed due to prescription; 19 cases
were at various stages of the trial process, including four cases
currently being tried.
There were no known developments in investigations the attorney
general opened in 2008 regarding the alleged killings in 1982-83 of
more than 20 persons reportedly thrown from helicopters.
In November the Attorney General's Office requested that a superior
court call former minister of government and justice Daniel Delgado to
trial for a killing in 1971. Delgado was instructed not to leave the
country and must appear before the Prosecutor's Office once a month
until the court reaches a decision on calling a trial.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
In December the Public Ministry requested permission from family
members to conduct DNA tests in Panama on the remains of four persons,
including disappeared priest Hector Gallego. The remains had been sent
abroad in 2008 for DNA testing but contractual and procedural issues
have delayed this process.
In 2008 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
ordered the government to pay restitution to the family of Heliodoro
Portugal, who disappeared in 1970 during the military dictatorship. In
February, during a public event to honor those who disappeared during
the military regime, the government undertook to comply with the IACHR
ruling; however, at year's end no payment had been made.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits treatment or punishment that
harms the physical, mental, or moral integrity of persons.
Prison guards sometimes physically abused inmates. Through August
the Panamanian National Police (PNP) Directorate of Professional
Responsibility (DRP) opened two investigations into cases of prison
guard abuse against inmates, compared with 35 such investigations in
all of 2008. During the year the ombudsman intervened in 153 cases in
the prison system, negotiating and petitioning on behalf of prisoners
and receiving complaints about prison conditions.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and, in some cases, life threatening. Problems included
overcrowding, use of police stations as detention facilities, and
failure to separate inmates according to the type or severity of their
alleged crimes. As of September the prison system, which had an
official capacity of 7,145 persons, held 10,676 prisoners. In October
the government released 803 inmates who had served two-thirds of their
sentences.
Abuse by prison guards and custodians remained a problem. Prison
authorities generally arranged for prosecution of criminal offenses by
officials.
Prison medical care was inadequate. HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis,
hepatitis B, and other communicable diseases were common among the
prison population. Only 14 physicians served the entire prison system,
and they worked limited morning hours. A 60-bed clinic opened at La
Joyita prison in 2008 remained unused due to lack of custodians to
watch ill detainees; authorities transferred patients to public clinics
instead.
There were no known developments in the case of two persons charged
with the 2007 killing of an inmate in the Basilio Lakas detention
facility.
PNP officers provided both internal and perimeter security at all
prisons but often lacked training for prison duty. In PNP-run prisons,
inmates complained of limited time outside of cells and limited access
to family visits. Civilian custodians joined the PNP in overseeing
inmates within Nueva Esperanza, Tinajitas, El Renacer, and the central
women's prisons in Panama and Chiriqui provinces.
Small jails attached to local police stations sometimes held
prisoners for the entire length of their sentences, but police officers
who guarded them lacked the necessary custodial training to prevent
abuses, and typically the detention facilities were not suitable for
long-term detention.
Female and male prisoners were held separately. Although prison
conditions for women and juveniles were generally better than those for
men, they remained characterized by overcrowding, poor medical care,
and lack of basic supplies for personal hygiene. There were no reports
of sexual or other violence in women's prisons. Unlike in prisons for
men, there were no conjugal visit programs in prisons for women, which
were administered mainly by female directors and custodians.
With the exception of one modern facility near Panama City,
juvenile pretrial and custodial detention centers throughout the
country did not have resources to provide education or adequate
supervision.
Pretrial detainees often shared cells with convicted prisoners, and
first offenders were held with recidivists due to space constraints.
The Office of the Ombudsman conducted weekly prison visits, and the
government generally did not monitor ombudsman meetings with prisoners.
The office accepted complaints from prisoners or their families and in
July issued a comprehensive report on the status of prisons. Also in
July the government approved an additional $5.5 million to improve
prison conditions (the U.S. dollar is the official paper currency but
is officially referred to as the Balboa).
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these
prohibitions. The law permits exceptions when an officer apprehends a
person during the commission of a crime or when an individual
interferes with an officer's actions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The country has no
regular military forces. The Ministry of Government and Justice
oversees all police, investigative, border, and maritime forces in the
country. The PNP is responsible by law for internal law enforcement and
public order. The National Frontier Service and the National Aero-Naval
Service were created in 2008 to provide border and maritime security.
The Directorate of Judicial Investigation (DIJ) provides investigative
services to the judicial system.
In August the National Assembly abolished the year-old National
Intelligence and Security Service.
Although its primary mission is law enforcement, the PNP also is
responsible for prison security. There were approximately 17,000 law
enforcement officers. The law includes specific guidelines for the use
of force, including deadly force; requires that police officers respect
human rights; and prohibits instigation or tolerance of torture,
cruelty, or other inhuman or degrading behavior.
Corruption among police officers remained a problem, and cases
against higher level officials generally were not pursued as vigorously
as those against lower-level officers. The Public Ministry opened three
cases against PNP officers for embezzlement and one for corruption.
Police officers frequently were involved in cases of narcotics
smuggling and other crimes. The government regularly investigated and
prosecuted officials involved in criminal activity. In July the new
administration approved salary increases for PNP (but not DIJ) agents.
The government fired 25 DIJ agents for subsequently protesting,
declaring that the protests constituted disrespect for the
constitution.
The PNP's independent Office of Professional Responsibility has
administrative authority to open internal investigations and a defined
legal process. The staff received training in polygraph usage and
conducting internal investigations.
The PNP's deputy director and secretary general addressed human
rights problems that arose in the police force. A Directorate of Human
Rights created in 2008 is responsible for sanctioning officers for
human rights violations. Through May the human rights ombudsman
received two complaints against police officials for abuse of
authority. PNP officers regularly underwent human rights training.
As of September the DRP had opened 335 disciplinary proceedings
against police, including 125 for inappropriate conduct, 111 for
physical aggression, and 97 for abuse of authority. For the entire
year, 133 incidents of domestic violence by police officers were
reported. Through September no PNP officers had been dismissed.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Police
generally apprehended persons openly and did not practice arbitrary or
secret arrest and detention. The law provides that suspects be brought
promptly before a judge; however, lack of prompt arraignment continued
to be a problem. The law requires arresting officers to inform
detainees immediately of the reasons for arrest or detention and of the
right to immediate legal counsel. The law provides for bail, and a
functioning bail system exists. Detainees were allowed prompt access to
legal counsel and family members, and the government provided indigent
defendants with a lawyer. The law prohibits police from detaining
suspects for more than 48 hours without judicial authorization but
permits detention of minors for 72 hours. The preliminary investigation
phase of detention may last from eight days to two months and the
follow-up investigation phase another two to four months, depending on
the number of suspects.
In practice extended pretrial detention continued to be a serious
problem because of the laws, judicial inefficiency, and the use of a
written inquisitorial system. According to government statistics, as of
July 58 percent of prisoners were pretrial detainees. Pretrial
detention at times exceeded the maximum sentence for the alleged crime.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the judicial system was susceptible to
corruption and outside influence, including manipulation by other
branches of government. The president appoints nine Supreme Court of
Justice magistrates to staggered 10-year terms subject to National
Assembly ratification. The Supreme Court of Justice magistrates, in
turn, appoint appellate Superior Tribunal judges, who appoint circuit
and municipal court judges in their respective jurisdictions. Although
the law provides for these judicial appointments to be made under a
merit-based system, civil society groups maintained that political
influence and undue interference by higher-level judges undermined the
system.
At the local level, mayors appoint ``corregidores'' (administrative
judges), who exercise jurisdiction over minor civil cases and over the
arrest and imposition of fines or jail sentences of up to one year.
Outside of Panama City, this system had serious shortcomings.
Defendants lacked adequate procedural safeguards. Corregidores usually
had no legal training or other pertinent expertise. In practice appeal
procedures were generally nonexistent. Affluent defendants often paid
fines while poorer defendants went to jail.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides that all citizens charged with
crimes enjoy a presumption of innocence and have the right to counsel,
to refrain from incriminating themselves or close relatives, and to be
tried only once for a given offense. If not under pretrial detention,
the accused may be present with counsel during the proceeding's
investigative phase.
In 2008 the National Assembly approved a new Code of Criminal
Procedures (new code), through which the country will transition from
an inquisitorial to an accusatory system of justice. The new code
incorporates anticorruption elements, such as regulations to penalize
conflicts of interest, protect witnesses and whistleblowers, and allow
the use of plea bargaining. In August, a month before the new code was
to have entered into force, the government postponed its implementation
for two years.
Trials are open to the public. The law provides for trial by jury
at the defendant's election but only in cases where at least one of the
charges is murder. Judges may order the presence of pretrial detainees
for rendering or amplification of statements or for confronting
witnesses. Trials are conducted on the basis of evidence presented by
the public prosecutor. Defendants have the right to be present at trial
and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner. Defendants can
confront or question witnesses against them and present witnesses and
evidence on their behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have access to
government-held evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants have a
right of appeal. The law extends these rights to all citizens.
The law obliges the government to provide public defenders for the
indigent. Many public defenders, however, were appointed late in an
investigation, after the prosecutor already had evaluated the bulk of
the evidence and decided to recommend trial. Public defenders'
caseloads remained extremely high, averaging 395 cases per attorney per
year.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and the
judicial code establish an independent judiciary in civil matters.
Political manipulation of the judicial system remained a problem, and
bureaucratic delays hindered access to judicial and administrative
remedies for human rights violations. There were problems in enforcing
domestic court orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the government
generally respected these prohibitions; however, there were complaints
that in some cases law enforcement authorities failed to follow legal
requirements and conducted unauthorized searches.
A law enacted in September eases requirements for authorities to
conduct wiretap surveillance; however, the law denies prosecutors the
authority to order wiretaps on their own and requires judicial
oversight of any wiretap surveillance.
In an effort to prevent unauthorized searches, the Public Ministry
maintained representatives in each PNP division to approve searches.
These representatives approved numerous searches during the year.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and in practice individuals generally enjoyed
freedom of expression, although there were some official attempts to
impede it.
The independent media were active and expressed a variety of views
without restriction. The government owned one educational television
station and one radio station. The law prohibits newspapers from
holding radio and television concessions and vice versa. International
media operated freely in the country.
Journalists alleged that the government purchased advertising space
to reward news organizations for publishing favorable stories and
withdrew advertising funding from news organizations engaged in
unfavorable coverage. Legal actions brought by officials of the former
administration remained pending against many journalists. The IACHR,
the Inter American Press Association, Reporters Without Borders, and
other groups criticized these measures as efforts to censor the press.
The law allows prosecution of journalists for vague charges related
to exposing private information and documents, even those deemed of
public interest. The law also permits prosecution of journalists for
publishing information restricted on national security grounds.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) asserted that these provisions
threatened freedom of speech and press.
In April a judge sentenced the director of the tabloid El Siglo,
Jean Marcel Chery, and two other journalists to two years in prison for
trespassing while reporting on corruption allegedly involving a Supreme
Court justice who exercised influence over the lower court that heard
the case. The local journalism community and the Inter American Press
Association denounced the decision as a clear case of judicial
harassment. Chery appealed the decision in November.
In September a court convicted Rafael Berrocal of La Prensa, the
country's leading newspaper, of calumny and libel against a former
Panamanian vice president, now deceased. The court sentenced Berrocal
to 200 days in prison or a fine of $400; Berrocal's appeal of the
decision remained pending at year's end.
In July 2008 the Supreme Court overturned former president
Moscoso's pardons of several journalists who had been convicted of
libel under laws no longer in force. The impact of the ruling remained
uncertain because the court returned the cases to their ``original
state,'' which was not clarified by year's end.
In September 2008 a judge ordered the seizure of the assets of the
local newspaper El Periodico for publishing the tax returns of a
prominent businessman. After the judgment the newspaper went out of
business. The case remained under appeal.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet and no reports that the government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms, except for legitimate law enforcement monitoring
of suspects' computers in sex crime cases. Individuals and groups could
engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including
by e-mail. The International Telecommunication Union reported that 23
percent of the nation's populace used the Internet in 2008.
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.
One construction company employee and one PNP officer remained in
custody awaiting trial for killing two union members during
demonstrations in 2007.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, provided that ``Christian morality and public order'' are
respected, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
The constitution limits public offices that religious leaders may
hold to those related to social assistance, education, and scientific
research.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts or of societal abuses or discrimination against any
religious groups. There was a Jewish population of approximately 10,000
persons.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights. The
government generally cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in providing protection and assistance to internally displaced persons,
refugees, returning refugees, persons under temporary humanitarian
protection (THP), asylum seekers, stateless persons, and other persons
of concern.
The government generally permitted freedom of movement for
documented refugees and asylum seekers; however, it restricted the
freedom of movement of Colombian nationals living in the border region
with Colombia under the THP regime, who could only leave these
locations with special permits issued by the National Office for the
Protection of Refugees (ONPAR).
The law prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports of its
use.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the
government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. A 1998 decree grants protection to all persons entering the
country due to ``state persecution based on race, gender, religion,
nationality, social group, or political opinion.'' The decree grants
two months' THP status to ``displaced persons'' in the case of a large
influx; in practice the government did not enforce the two-month time
limit.
In practice the government provided some protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion. At times border officials and authorities in large urban
centers did not have a clear understanding of their responsibilities
when dealing with persons seeking asylum or refugee status, which
resulted in arbitrary detention and risk of return to countries where
their lives or freedom may be threatened.
Asylum seekers and refugees were not provided with documentation in
a timely fashion, and the documents provided were not always recognized
as valid by public officials, including police, health service
providers, schools, and banking institutions. Work permits were issued
after a lengthy bureaucratic process.
There were approximately 1,000 recognized refugees in the country.
During the year between 240 and 300 persons approached the government
seeking refugee status, according to ONPAR.
The law requires that the government's National Commission for the
Protection of Refugees, which is convened by ONPAR, meet at least once
every three months to determine the status of persons seeking refugee
status. In October the commission met for the first time in a year; it
reviewed 230 cases and granted refugee status to 41 persons. In
December the commission met again and granted refugee status to another
19 persons.
Law 25, enacted in 2008, establishes a legal process to allow
persons who have been recognized as refugees for more than 10 years to
apply for permanent residence. By October the government had approved
41 cases under this law; another 140 cases were pending.
Persons under THP included approximately 500 displaced persons,
mainly of Afro-Colombian heritage, and approximately 300 of their
dependents, some of whom were citizens born in Panama of marriages
between displaced Colombians and Panamanian citizens. The government
did not permit displaced Colombians to move or work outside of their
assigned villages.
UNHCR classified 15,000 persons living in the country as ``persons
of concern'' in need of international protection. These included
persons for whom the government had denied refugee status and persons
in the country who did not apply for refugee status due to lack of
knowledge or fear of deportation. UNHCR had a permanent office in the
country and was generally granted access to refugees and project sites
where it could provide services to refugees, internally displaced
persons, and persons under THP.
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. The law
provides for direct popular election every five years of the president,
the vice president, legislators, and local representatives. Naturalized
citizens may not hold certain categories of elective office.
Elections and Political Participation.--On May 3, voters chose
Ricardo A. Martinelli Berrocal, the opposition Alliance for Change
candidate, as president in national elections considered generally free
and fair by international and domestic observers. More than two million
citizens voted in elections for president, vice president, 71
legislators, 75 mayors, and 623 local representatives. For the first
time, citizens residing overseas who had registered via the Internet
were allowed to vote by mail-in ballot; prisoners and hospital patients
were also able to vote.
The law requires new political parties to meet strict membership
and organizational standards to gain official recognition and
participate in national campaigns. The law also requires political
parties to be structured democratically, permits independents to
campaign for the National Assembly, provides for the autonomy of the
Electoral Tribunal, and limits the immunity of representatives in the
National Assembly by permitting the Supreme Court of Justice to
prosecute criminal cases against representatives. In April the Supreme
Court ruled against the electoral prohibition on independent candidates
running for president.
Women held six of 71 seats in the legislature. There were six women
in the 17-member cabinet and one female judge on the Supreme Court of
Justice. The attorney general was a woman.
Five seats in the legislature were designated to represent the
country's recognized indigenous regions. In general deputies in the
legislature, cabinet members, or members of the Supreme Court of
Justice did not identify themselves as members of ethnic or racial
minorities.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption and
anticorruption mechanisms such as asset forfeiture, whistleblower and
witness protection, plea bargaining, and conflict of interest rules.
Corruption remained a problem in the executive, judicial, and
legislative branches of government as well as in the police (see
section 2.d.). While there were a number of arrests in cases of
official corruption, there were also accusations that these arrests
were politically motivated. There was little, if any, improvement in
systems designed to increase regulatory quality.
In August authorities arrested former minister of education Belgis
Castro for embezzlement in a case concerning contracts for removal of
fiberglass from public schools. In September authorities fired the
deputy director of the Transit and Land Transportation Authority,
Roberto Moreno, for allegedly selling more than 200 taxi permits.
There were no new developments in the case of six employees of the
Ministry of Education charged in 2008 with embezzling $1.5 million.
In 2008 the government instituted an Internet-based procurement
system that requires publication of all proposed government purchases,
evaluation of proposals and monitoring of the procurement process, and
advance public notice of intended procurement. An administrative court
handles all public contracting disputes. With the change of
administration, there were reports of government purchases made via
direct contracts, circumventing this system.
Commercial or industrial licenses may be obtained through the
country's online business registration service, reducing opportunities
for corruption compared with the former process, which involved
numerous interactions with local officials.
Public officials were subject to financial disclosure laws, but
this information, reported to the government, was not available to the
public.
The transparency law provides public access to information from and
about public entities with the exception of cabinet meeting minutes. In
practice the government was not always forthcoming in response to
information requests, obliging journalists to resort to legal remedies.
When denying requests, authorities generally provided the rationale for
the denials. Requesters can appeal access decisions to the Supreme
Court of Justice.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
The Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman, elected by the National
Assembly, has moral but no legal authority. Between January and May,
the Office of the Ombudsman received 90 complaints, 14 of which were
against the Ministry of Health. The ombudsman enjoyed the government's
cooperation and operated without government or party interference. The
office had adequate resources, was considered to be effective, enjoyed
public confidence, and issued reports with recommendations on
environmental contamination and prison conditions on which the
government took action.
The government generally cooperated with international governmental
organizations. The UN maintained a significant regional and country-
specific presence in the country.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender,
disability, language, or social status, but there were allegations that
these prohibitions were not always effectively enforced.
Women.--The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, with
prison terms of five to 10 years and eight to 10 years with aggravating
circumstances. A 2008 law removed the provision that a perpetrator can
marry a victim who is at least age 14 in order to avoid potential
charges. Rapes constituted the majority of sexual crimes investigated
by the PNP.
Domestic violence against women continued to be a serious problem.
Although the law criminalizes domestic abuse and family violence with
prison terms of two to four years, there were few convictions for
domestic violence, with the exception of killings in the course of
domestic abuse.
The DIJ reported 2,855 cases of domestic violence and 715 cases of
rape; 80 women died as a result of domestic violence. A 2008 law makes
domestic violence an ``aggravating circumstance'' in homicide cases.
In June the government upgraded the former National Directorate of
Women at the Ministry of Social Development to an autonomous agency,
the National Institute for Women, with a mandate to reduce domestic
violence.
The government operated a shelter in Panama City for victims of
domestic abuse or trafficking that offered social, psychological,
medical, and legal services.
Prostitution is legal and regulated, with prostitutes required to
register and carry identification cards; however, the majority of
prostitutes were not registered. Trafficking in women was a problem.
The law prohibits sexual harassment in cases of established
employer/employee relations in the private sector and in teacher/
student relations; violators can receive one- to three-year prison
sentences. The extent of the problem was difficult to determine because
convictions for sexual harassment were rare, and preemployment sexual
harassment was not actionable. The effectiveness of law enforcement
could not be determined due to the small number of cases brought before
the courts.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children, and had the information and means to
do so free from discrimination. Access to information on contraception
and skilled attendance at delivery and in postpartum care were widely
available. Women and men were given equal access to diagnostic services
and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender, and women
officially enjoyed the same rights as men under family, property, and
criminal law. The law recognizes joint or common property in marriages,
but the government did not allocate sufficient resources to enforce the
law effectively.
The law mandates equal pay for men and women in equivalent jobs,
but in practice women on average received wages that were 14 percent
lower than those received by men for comparable jobs. The Ministry of
Social Development (MIDES), through the National Institute of Women,
promoted equality of women in the workplace and equal pay for equal
work, attempted to reduce sexual harassment, and advocated legal
reforms.
Children.--Although the law provides that citizenship is derived by
birth within the country's territory, children in remote areas may have
difficulty in obtaining birth registration certificates. Lack of
reporting on sexual exploitation of minors remained a problem, often
because of parental involvement or complicity. Sexual abuse of children
was reported in both urban and rural areas, as well as within
indigenous communities.
MIDES received complaints regarding physical abuse of children. The
ministry maintained a free hotline for children and adults to report
abuses, and advertised it widely.
MIDES provided funding to children's shelters operated by NGOs in
seven provinces. MIDES continued a program that used pamphlets in
schools to sensitize teachers, children, and parents about mistreatment
and sexual abuse of children.
The law prohibits consensual sex with a girl age 14 to 18 and
provides a sanction of one to three years' imprisonment; when the child
is younger than 14, the sanction is four to 10 years' imprisonment. The
law provides for three- to five-year prison terms for anyone who
practices, facilitates, or promotes the corruption of a minor. The law
criminalizes child pornography, for which it also provides penalties of
three to five years' imprisonment.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law specifically prohibits trafficking
in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation. While trafficking
for forced labor was not specifically prohibited under the law, it was
punishable under other statutes and the constitution.
Persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country. An
estimated 50 to 100 persons were trafficked to the country for
commercial sexual exploitation in 2008. The PNP Sex Crimes Unit
reported that most victims trafficked into the country came from
Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Central America. The primary
destinations for victims trafficked from the country were Jamaica and
Europe. Most victims trafficked within the country were women and
children trafficked into the sex trade. The PNP Sex Crimes Unit
reported that the vast majority of trafficking victims were women older
than 18 years.
The principal traffickers in the country were owners or
administrators of night clubs, massage parlors, and brothels, and most
transnational trafficking occurred using valid travel documents and was
conducted through official ports of entry.
The PNP Sex Crimes Unit has responsibility for investigating and
arresting persons involved in trafficking. The unit worked closely with
the PNP Special Section on Crimes of Sexual Exploitation and the
Division of Crimes relating to Shame, Integrity, and Sexual Liberty.
The law criminalizes trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation
and proscribes the promotion of sex tourism and use of the Internet for
soliciting for sexual exploitation. Persons who engage in human
trafficking for sexual activity can receive five to eight years in
prison or, in cases involving a minor, eight to 10 years. The law
permits undercover operations and the monitoring of suspects' computers
in sex crime cases.
A government prosecutor, based in Panama City, was dedicated solely
to prosecuting trafficking cases. Additionally, each province has a
prosecutor trained in trafficking cases. The PNP Sex Crimes Unit
investigated cases of child prostitution, child pornography, and sexual
trafficking; the Prosecutor's Office initiated its own investigations.
There was no information available on the outcome of the
investigations.
The law provides for a registry of businesses dedicated to
entertainment in the country. It is intended in part to limit requests
for visas for those intending to work in the adult entertainment
industry, permit monitoring of businesses that apply, and ensure that
the businesses operate legally. The law also requires visa holders
intending to work in the entertainment industry to attend an
antitrafficking education seminar. Visa applicants must provide
comprehensive personal information, make a $1,000 deposit with the
Immigration Directorate, and provide proof of a return ticket to their
home countries. No entertainment visas have been granted to employees
of bars or nightclubs under the new law.
Immigration law emphasizes cases involving minors and provides for
a special trafficking victims' unit within the Immigration Directorate.
According to the Integrated Crime Statistics System at the Ministry
of Government and Justice, during the year authorities nationwide
opened eight cases of trafficking (organizing or facilitating the
movement of an individual to be exploited in prostitution against their
will) down from 14 cases in 2008, and seven cases of third-party
prostituting of a minor, up from five cases in 2008.
According to the National Commission for the Prevention of Crimes
of Sexual Exploitation (CONAPREDES), during the year the first circuit
prosecutor for Panama City opened five cases of trafficking involving
four adults and one minor; nine cases of adults paying for sex with a
minor; five cases of third-party prostituting of a minor; and 26 cases
of child pornography. Two trafficking cases at the Supreme Court have
been pending since 2007.
Outside of Panama City, statistics were poorly maintained and did
not reflect systematic forensic practices and often did not specify
charges made in particular cases or record ages of victims. However,
both NGO and government entities reported anecdotally that sex
trafficking was a greater problem in Colon and the interior than in
Panama City.
MIDES is charged with protecting victims through shelters and
related services. The law does not hold trafficking victims criminally
responsible for prostitution or immigration crimes. The law provides
for indemnification of victims of trafficking, even if they return to
their home country, and for the costs of medical and psychological
treatment, temporary housing, legal fees, and emotional suffering.
The country's consular officers provided assistance to Panamanian
trafficking victims. MIDES continued providing shelter and other
services to victims of commercial sexual exploitation, using substitute
families, its own shelter, and the shelter of the NGO Hogar Malambo,
which it subsidized. The government shelter, which was located in a
former prison, did not have adequate infrastructure to house
trafficking victims.
The government worked with the International Labor Organization's
(ILO's) International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC)
on trafficking initiatives, including producing pamphlets on sexual
exploitation and trafficking for distribution to public school
educators. The Commission on Justice and Peace, a Catholic NGO,
counseled victims about their rights and modes of assistance, and the
Center of Legal Assistance provided legal assistance for victims. The
Center of Family Studies and Training researched trafficking and
educated women about trafficking and gender-based crime. The law
provides for a registry of minors traveling internationally without
parents or other legal guardians.
The Ministry of Government and Justice is responsible for
developing policies to reduce trafficking in persons. CONAPREDES
allocated funding for combating trafficking and for victims' assistance
via member cabinet agencies. To fund CONAPREDES and these activities,
the law allows customs authorities to collect one dollar from each
tourist leaving the country; however, the government had not
implemented a mechanism to collect these funds.
The government cooperated through information sharing with
international investigations of persons accused of trafficking.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination based
on physical or mental disability; however, the constitution permits the
state to deny naturalization to persons with mental or physical
disabilities. The law mandates access to new or remodeled public
buildings for persons with disabilities and requires that schools
integrate children with special needs. In practice persons with
disabilities experienced substantial discrimination in employment,
education, access to health care, and other state services. Some public
schools admitted children with mental and physical disabilities, but
most did not have adequate facilities for children with special needs.
The government installed ramps in some schools and mainstreamed some
children with disabilities. Few private schools admitted children with
special needs.
By year's end the ombudsman had received 11 complaints of
violations of the rights of persons with disabilities.
The National Secretariat for the Social Integration of Persons with
Disabilities is the government agency responsible for protecting the
rights of persons with disabilities. The Ministry of Education and
MIDES share responsibilities for educating and training minors with
disabilities.
The law provides that a minimum of 2 percent of workers at a given
company be persons with disabilities, with the Ministry of Labor and
Labor Development (MITRADEL) responsible for placing workers with
disabilities in suitable jobs; however, in practice placement remained
difficult.
The government operated the Family Businesses Project, which
assisted low-income families with members with disabilities to open
microbusinesses. The government disbursed $50 monthly and donated
rehabilitation equipment to low-income persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Minority groups have generally
been integrated into mainstream society, but problems continued with
negative attitudes among all ethnic communities toward members not
belonging to their particular group. Prejudice was directed at recent
immigrants; cultural differences, immigration status, and language
hindered immigrant and first-generation Chinese, Indians, and Middle
Easterners from integrating into mainstream society. Additionally, some
members of these communities were themselves reluctant to integrate
into mainstream society. Members of these groups often owned major
businesses or worked in the country's retail trade: A constitutional
provision reserving retail trade for citizens of the country generally
was not enforced.
The black community continued to be underrepresented in positions
of political and economic power, and many blacks remained clustered in
economically depressed areas of Colon and Panama City. Prejudice toward
blacks was generally subtle, taking the form of ``right of admission''
policies at restaurants and commercial establishments, which
discriminated against darker-skinned individuals or those of lower
social status.
The law prohibits discrimination involving entry to public or
commercial establishments; however, in practice, cases of
discrimination were difficult to prove and legal remedies difficult to
obtain.
There were reports of racial discrimination against various ethnic
groups in the workplace. In general lighter-skinned persons were
represented disproportionately in management positions and jobs that
required dealing with the public, such as bank tellers and
receptionists. Some businesses discriminated against citizens with
darker skin through preferential hiring practices. Employers often
required job applicants to submit photographs with their resume, which
the employers used to discriminate against persons based on appearance.
Indigenous People.--The law affords indigenous people the same
political and legal rights as other citizens, protects their ethnic
identity and native languages, and requires the government to provide
bilingual literacy programs in indigenous communities. Indigenous
persons have the legal right to take part in decisions affecting their
lands, cultures, traditions, and the allocation of natural resources.
There were legally designated comarcas (provincial-level indigenous
regions) governed by traditional community leaders for five of the
country's seven indigenous groups, including the Embera-Wounaan, Ngobe-
Bugle, and Kuna. The government did not recognize comarcas for the Bri-
Bri and Naso communities.
The Ministry of Government and Justice maintained an Office of
Indigenous Policy. Although federal law is the ultimate authority on
indigenous reserves, local groups maintained considerable autonomy. The
government recognized traditional Kuna marriage rites as the equivalent
of a civil ceremony. Indigenous workers had greater health problems and
mortality rates, suffered from lack of educational and health services,
had lower life expectancy, and experienced higher levels of
malnutrition compared to nonindigenous workers. The International Fund
for Agricultural Development estimated the poverty rate among the
indigenous population at 95 percent. Although indigenous persons
comprised only 10 percent of the population, they accounted for 19
percent of those considered poor and 34 percent of those in extreme
poverty.
Many indigenous people misunderstood their rights and failed to
employ legal channels when threatened because they did not have an
adequate command of Spanish. Outside settler encroachment continued to
threaten indigenous comarcas.
Social and employment discrimination against indigenous people was
widespread. Employers frequently did not afford indigenous workers
basic rights provided by labor laws such as a minimum wage, social
security benefits, termination pay, and job security. Indigenous
laborers in the country's sugar, coffee, and banana plantations
continued to work under worse conditions than their nonindigenous
counterparts. Employers were less likely to provide quality housing or
food to indigenous migrant laborers, and the children of these workers
were much more likely to work long hours of heavy farm labor than
nonindigenous children. An October ILO report estimated that 35 percent
of child laborers were located in indigenous areas.
In July the government created a high-level committee chaired by
the vice president and led by the vice minister of government to
resolve sensitive issues involving land and human right disputes of
several indigenous groups.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--In 2008 the country
decriminalized sodomy. There was societal discrimination based on
sexual orientation and gender identity, which often led to denial of
employment opportunities. The PNP's regulations describe homosexuality
as a ``grave fault.'' The advocacy group New Men and Women of Panama
advocated for homosexual rights and organized an annual gay pride
parade.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--The law prohibits
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS in employment and
education, but discrimination continued to be common due to ignorance
of the law and a lack of mechanisms for ensuring compliance. The
Ministry of Health and Social Security provided treatment for HIV/AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law recognizes the right of
private-sector workers to form and join unions of their choice, a
choice that is subject to the union's registration with the government.
The law requires a minimum of 40 persons to form a private-sector union
and permits only one trade union per business establishment; the ILO
Committee of Experts criticized both provisions as violations of
workers' rights to organize. The law permits workers to organize unions
under a skill set or trade, as long as these unions have 40 members.
These unions may operate alongside employer-specific unions in the same
business. Executive Decree 27 passed in June protects employees from
employer interference in labor rights, specifically including
``employer-directed unions,'' and mandates that unions be freely chosen
by workers without penalty. According to the National Council of
Organized Workers, 8 to 10 percent of workers in the private sector
were unionized.
The law prohibits public servants from forming unions but allows
them to form associations, which can bargain collectively on behalf of
members. Union leaders for both public- and private-sector unions must
be citizens. The government reduced the minimum number of public
servants required to form a worker association from 50 to 40, a number
the ILO Committee of Experts still considered too high.
The law provides that if the government does not respond to a
registration application within 15 days, the union automatically gains
legal recognition; however, unionists asserted that such automatic
registration did not occur in practice. MITRADEL reported that
inadequate personnel resources, case backlogs, and incomplete or
inaccurate information in applications delayed the processing of new
registrations within the required time frame.
The National Federation of Public Servants (FENASEP), an umbrella
organization of 21 public-sector worker associations representing
primarily administrative staff of government agencies, was not
permitted to call strikes or negotiate collective bargaining
agreements, as individual associations negotiate on behalf of their
members. Other public workers, such as doctors, nurses, and
firefighters, have separate associations that negotiate on their
behalf. The law grants public employees a limited right to strike,
except for those in areas vital to public welfare and security,
including police and health workers. At least 25 percent of the
workforce must continue to provide minimum services in the case of
administrative workers, and 50 percent of workers providing ``essential
public services,'' such as transportation, firefighting,
telecommunications, and mail, must continue to provide those services.
The ILO Committee of Experts expressed continued concerns that the
government had not amended the law to permit strikes by federations
such as FENASEP. The ILO also requested that the government take the
necessary steps to guarantee the right to strike for public servants
who do not exercise authority in the name of the state, such as
transport workers or workers in the export processing zones. Executive
Decrees 25 and 26, promulgated June 5, increased transportation
workers' ability to strike by limiting the scope of strike restrictions
on essential transportation services to those involving public
passenger services.
The law governing the autonomous Panama Canal Authority prohibits
the right to strike for its 9,500 employees but does allow unions to
organize and to bargain collectively on such issues as hours and safety
and provides for arbitration to resolve disputes.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides all private-sector and most public-sector workers the right to
organize and bargain collectively, and private-sector unions exercised
this right widely. The law establishes a conciliation section in
MITRADEL to resolve private-sector complaints and provides a procedure
for mediation. These conciliation tribunals include representatives
from government, labor, and the private sector and address cases in
which the claim in dispute is no more than $1,500. While labor leaders
favored these tribunals, some civil society groups criticized the
tribunals as routes for circumventing the role of the judiciary and
leaving interpretation of labor laws to the discretion of persons who
might lack expertise.
For public-sector workers, a Board of Appeal and Conciliation in
the Ministry of the Presidency hears and resolves complaints for
public-sector workers. If not resolved by the board, complaints are
referred to an Arbitrage Tribunal, which consists of representatives
from the employer, the employee association, and a third member chosen
by the first two. Decisions of the Arbitrage Board are final.
Employers in the retail industry frequently hired temporary workers
to circumvent labor code requirements for permanent workers. In lower-
skilled service jobs, employers often hired employees under three-month
contracts for several years, sometimes sending such employees home for
a month and later rehiring them. Employers also circumvented the law
requiring a two-week notice for discharges by dismissing some workers
one week before a holiday. Due to labor laws that make it difficult to
fire employees who have worked two years or more, employers frequently
hired workers for one year and 11 months and subsequently laid them
off.
Several laws enacted during the year limit employers' ability to
hire temporary or subcontracted workers on serial contracts. In
addition, two executive decrees issued during the year strengthened the
ability of workers to bargain collectively. MITRADEL's Manual of Labor
Rights and Obligations provides that unorganized workers can petition
MITRADEL regarding labor rights violations and exercise the right to
strike; however, only unions can negotiate collective bargaining
agreements. However, Supreme Court decisions have recognized that
collective agreements negotiated between employers and unorganized
workers have legal status equivalent to collective bargaining
agreements.
The leaders of the four public-service worker associations enjoyed
legal immunity from dismissal and other employer retaliatory behavior
in relation to worker representation and organizing activities. The
labor code prohibits employer antiunion discrimination and protects
workers engaged in union activities from loss of employment or
discriminatory transfers.
Unions and collective bargaining are permitted in export processing
zones (EPZs) and call centers. A strike is considered legal only after
36 work days of conciliation; otherwise, striking workers could be
fined or fired. These procedures were somewhat more prescriptive than
those that generally apply.
There were approximately 1,550 employees in the country's 17 EPZs
and 8,830 employees in the country's 54 call centers, which operated
under the law applicable to EPZs. Other call centers were registered
with the Public Services Authority and were not subject to the EPZ's
laws.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--No law expressly
prohibits forced labor of adults or children, although the government
stated that forced labor could be prosecuted under provisions of
constitutional law and other civil and criminal statutes, and there
were no reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law contains provisions to prevent exploitation of children in the
workplace. MITRADEL, which has responsibility for enforcement, was
reasonably effective in enforcing the law in the formal sector. During
the year the ministry performed inspections to ensure compliance with
child labor regulations.
The labor code prohibits the employment of children under age 14,
although exceptions can be made for children 12 and over to perform
light farm work so long as it does not interfere with their school
hours. Children who have not completed primary school may not begin
work until age 15. The law prohibits 14- to 18-year-olds from engaging
in potentially hazardous work. The law identifies such hazardous work
to include work with electrical energy, explosives, and flammable and
toxic or radioactive substances; work underground and on railroads,
airplanes, or boats; and work in nightclubs, bars, and casinos. Youths
under 16 years may work no more than six hours per day or 36 hours per
week, while those 16 and 17 years old may work no more than seven hours
per day or 42 hours per week. Children under 18 may not work between
6:00 pm and 8:00 am.
Businesses that employ an underage child are subject to civil
fines, while employers who endanger the physical or mental health of a
child can face two to six years' imprisonment. MITRADEL enforced these
provisions in response to complaints and has authority to order the
termination of unauthorized employment. The government acknowledged
that it was unable to enforce some child labor provisions in rural
parts of the country; due to insufficient staff, MITRADEL conducted
only limited inspections in those areas.
According to the 2008 child labor survey performed by the
government in conjunction with ILO-IPEC, approximately 90,000 children,
30 percent of whom did not attend school, engaged in labor,
predominantly in agriculture and in the informal sector of the economy.
Child labor violations occurred most frequently in rural areas, in
subsistence and commercial agriculture, especially during the harvest
of coffee, onions, melons, sugarcane, and tomatoes. According to the
2008 survey, 53,300 children (and almost 100 percent of employed
indigenous children) worked in the agricultural sector. Farm owners
often paid according to the amount harvested, leading many laborers to
bring their young children to the fields to help with the work. The
problem of child labor in agricultural areas fell most heavily on
indigenous families, who often migrated out of their isolated
communities in search of paid work and whose frequent migrations
interrupted schooling.
According to the 2008 census, 4,500 children between the ages of
five and 17 worked as domestic servants, although the law prohibited
such employment under age 14. Government enforcement of domestic labor
violations was traditionally weak because the place of work was a
private residence. Children also worked in the informal sector, where
7,700 performed personal services; 10,500 worked in trade and the
repair of motor vehicles and appliances; 3,600 in manufacturing; and
3,100 in construction.
The government provided awareness raising and training on combating
child labor for officials and civil society. In January the government
created the National Secretariat of Children, Adolescents and Family
(SENNIAF) under Law 14. SENNIAF is an independent and autonomous entity
with an initial budget of two million dollars. SENNIAF searched the
main streets of Panama City looking for children engaged in work and
managed a hotline to receive reports of child labor. SENNIAF also
operated programs that offered comprehensive services to children at
risk and their families, including home visits, tutoring, counseling
for parents, and school visits.
As part of the National Plan Against Child Labor (2007-11), the
Committee for the Eradication of Child Labor and Protection of Working
Adolescents (CETIPPAT) provided scholarships to children ages five to
14 who were working in the metropolitan areas of Panama City and Colon.
At the end of the year these programs were also extended to the
provinces of Chiriqui and Veraguas. CETIPPAT components included a
variety of efforts to improve conditions for working children.
During the year CETIPPAT provided outreach to 3,369 children
engaged in or at risk of child labor. The National Institute of
Vocational Training for Human Development (INADEH) implemented programs
for parents of those children involved in CETIPPAT's outreach program.
The joint INADEH/CETIPPAT program focused primarily on the development
of technical and administrative skills for parents and guardians of
working children and children at risk and during the year gave 85
trainings benefitting 867 persons.
On September 15, the government-supported ILO-IPEC program closed
its offices in the country. The NGO Casa Esperanza, CETIPAT, and MIDES
continued programs in the comarca of the Ngobe-Bugle, in Santiago de
Veraguas, and in Chorrera to provide scholarships to working children,
to allow them to begin or return to primary school and to provide their
parents job training and literacy programs.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor code assigns
responsibility for setting minimum wages to a commission composed of
representatives from government, employer organizations, and unions.
This commission establishes hourly minimum wage rates for specific
regions and for most categories of work. At year's end the minimum wage
ranged from $1.01 to $1.87 per hour, depending on region and sector.
A worker working 40 hours per week, 50 weeks a year, and earning at
the minimum wage median would earn approximately $2,880, which exceeded
the estimated poverty level of $953 per year. Provisions for domestic
workers were made on a monthly instead of hourly basis ($121 to $134
per month), since food and the use of housing facilities were
considered part of their salary. The agricultural and construction
sectors received the lowest and highest minimum wage, respectively.
Wages in those sectors did not provide a decent standard of living for
a worker and family. Most workers formally employed in urban areas
earned the minimum wage or more. Approximately 40 percent of the
population worked in the large informal sector and earned far below the
minimum wage, particularly in most rural areas, where unskilled
laborers earned from three to six dollars per day without benefits. The
government did not enforce labor laws in most rural areas.
The law establishes a standard workweek of 48 hours, provides for
at least one 24-hour rest period weekly, limits the number of hours
worked per week, provides for premium pay for overtime, and prohibits
excessive or compulsory overtime. MITRADEL generally enforced these
standards in the formal sector.
MITRADEL is responsible for setting and enforcing health and safety
standards and generally did so. Information on the number of workplace
inspections during the year was unavailable.
Inspectors from MITRADEL and the occupational health section of the
Social Security Administration conducted periodic inspections of
hazardous employment sites and responded to complaints. The government
failed to adequately enforce health and safety standards. Construction
workers and their employers were lax about conforming to basic safety
measures and equipment was often outdated, broken or lacking safety
devices. Construction workers needed training to enable them to create
safer working environments.
The labor code requires employers to provide a safe workplace
environment, including the provision of protective clothing and
equipment for workers, but does not specifically recognize the right of
a worker to leave a dangerous work situation without jeopardy to
continued employment. In practice workers removed themselves from
situations that presented an immediate health or safety hazard without
jeopardizing their employment.
__________
PARAGUAY
Paraguay is a multiparty, constitutional republic with a population
of approximately seven million. In April 2008 Fernando Lugo of the
Patriotic Alliance for Change won the presidency in elections that were
generally free and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
Although the government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were serious abuses in some areas. There were reports
of killings by police, which the government occasionally investigated
but rarely prosecuted. Some prisoners were reportedly subjected to
torture and abuse by government agents. Prisons were routinely
overcrowded. Political interference, corruption, and inefficiency in
the judiciary were common, as was lengthy pretrial detention.
Government corruption was a serious problem. Violence and
discrimination against women, indigenous persons, persons with
disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons (LGBT)
continued, as did trafficking in persons. Exploitation of child labor
and violations of workers' rights were serious problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
there were occasional reports that security forces killed individuals
using unwarranted or excessive force.
On August 5, police found the body of Higinio Aquino Santos in
Ciudad del Este. Santos' father Valeriano Aquino Zorrilla stated that,
prior to his death, police took his son into custody and released him
after an extortion attempt. Zorrilla alleged that three policemen were
responsible for the killing.
On October 5, policeman Nestor Eduardo Gonzalez Alonso fired
warning shots to disperse a crowd in Villa Hayes, killing 16-year-old
Roberto Ramon Mendoza. Prosecutors charged Alonso with murder. The case
was pending at year's end.
On February 24, prosecutors of the August 2008 shooting of Leticia
Veronica Lugo in Villa Elisa charged eight policemen with attempted
murder and failure to assist a victim. The case remained pending at
year's end.
There were no known developments in the December 2008 arrest of
police officer Gustavo Arnaldo Duarte for the killing of security guard
Salinas Vicente Gonzalez.
There were no known developments in the 2007 killings of Nancy
Martinez, Cesar Gonzalez, Christian Delfino Morales, Rildo Ramirez,
Alfonso Leguizamon, and Mario Leguizamon during a police raid in Minga
Guazu.
On August 16, an appeals court reversed the 2007 acquittal of
Alberto Magno Ferreria and ordered a new trial for the 2006 killing of
Miguel Angel Benitez. The case remained pending at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--On October 15, the Paraguayan People's Army,
which was suspected of kidnapping Luis Alberto Lindstron in September
2008, kidnapped Fidel Zavala from his ranch near the Brazilian border.
Free Fatherland Party members Aristides Vera Silguero, Roque
Rodriguez Torales, Simeon Bordon Salinas, Basiliano Cardozo Jimenez,
Agustin Acosta Gonzalez, and Gustavo Lezcano Espinola remained
incarcerated awaiting trial for the 2004 kidnapping and killing of
Cecilia Cubas.
On July 23, officials located a grave containing human remains of
Stroessner-era political prisoners in the Tacumbu area of Asuncion. The
remains of two victims were recovered, and as many as 50 more were
suspected to be buried in this plot. At year's end, excavation and
forensic work continued under the direction of the ombudsman.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such treatment, and the government
generally respected these provisions in practice. However, there were
reports that some government agents employed such treatment. The
Paraguayan Human Rights Coordinator (CODEHUPY), made up of 33
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and civic organizations, and the
local NGO Committee of Churches for Emergency Aid (CIPAE) reported
several cases of police torture and other abuses designed to extract
confessions or intimidate detainees.
On January 17, CODEHUPY accused police and military forces deployed
in San Pedro department of torturing several farmers following a
December 2008 attack on a military outpost in Tacuati.
On August 21, Emiliana Quinonez Espinola alleged that District
Police Chief Virginia Villar tortured her in order to obtain a
confession for a theft in Guayaybi. Villar was previously accused of
torture by five other alleged victims and was convicted in 2004 for
beating Eseer Arens.
On June 26, the Supreme Court reopened the case against former
minister of the interior Walter Bower and police officers Basilio
Pavon, Merardo Palacios, and Osvaldo Vera. Bower and Pavon reportedly
tortured Alfredo Caceres following an alleged coup d'etat in 2000. The
case remained pending at year's end.
On August 27, a three-judge panel ordered that National Military
Academy cadets Guillermo Benitez Adorno, Cesar Candia Britos, Francisco
Sotelo Blanco, and Leonardo Fabio Martinez Rotela be placed under house
arrest while awaiting trial for the March 2008 rape of a female cadet.
There were no developments, and none were expected, in the July
2008 case of alleged police torture of Domingo Lezcano and other
landless farmers.
The government improved hygienic conditions and implemented
controls to monitor and prevent abuse at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital
in Asuncion in compliance with the July 2008 Inter-American Commission
of Human Rights (IACHR) ruling on abuse at the hospital. The hospital
transferred more than a dozen patients to three group homes opened
during the year.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and detention
center conditions generally did not meet international standards. An
August 2008 Senate Human Rights Committee report stated that prisons
remained in ``deplorable'' condition. The most serious problems
included violence, mistreatment, overcrowding, inadequate staffing,
deteriorating infrastructure, unsanitary living conditions, poor food
safety standards, and inadequate medical and psychological care. The 20
penitentiaries and correctional centers held more than 6,000 inmates,
60 percent more than their design capacity of 3,800. Tacumbu Prison in
Asuncion, designed to hold approximately 900 inmates, held over 3,000
prisoners; the penitentiary in Ciudad del Este, designed to hold about
300 inmates, held more than 650.
On August 15, Isacio Ocampos died in custody of the Concepcion
Police Department. His family alleged that that he did not receive
sufficient medical care after he showed signs of illness.
Prisons lacked adequate security controls. Inmates frequently
carried weapons and committed acts of violence, particularly against
other inmates. Inmate escapes were common. There were cases of inmates
conducting illicit activities by bribing prison guards. On September
12, prosecutors arrested Pablo Soley and Eligio Lagrana, the director
and the chief of security at the Social Rehabilitation Center at
Cambyreta, for alleged extortion of prisoners.
Living conditions at Tacumbu Prison and the Ciudad del Este
Regional Penitentiary, both men's prisons, remained poor. Regional
penitentiaries in the departments of Guaira, Amambay, Concepcion,
Itapua, Caaguazu, and Misiones held both men and women but in separate
wings. In 2008 the Senate's Special Committee on Penal Reform and
Penitentiaries cited the Ministry of Justice and Labor (MJT) for
failing to house prisoners by gender in separate facilities.
Although the ministry assigned minors convicted of juvenile crimes
in Asuncion, Concepcion, and Encarnacion to youth detention centers,
juvenile offenders elsewhere served their sentences in adult prisons.
Living conditions in juvenile facilities were generally better than in
adult prisons.
Prison officials and unauthorized prisoner leadership frequently
separated inmates based on their ability to pay for better living
conditions. Inmates could upgrade their accommodations for a monthly
fee ranging from 15,000 to 700,000 guaranies ($3 to $150).
There were no new developments in the investigation of the alleged
2007 rape of female inmates by prison guards at San Juan Bautista
Regional Center.
The government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions and granted the media, human rights groups, and diplomatic
representatives access to prisons with prior coordination from the MJT.
On March 27, the MJT established a Directorate of Health for
Penitentiaries, Education Centers, and Housing Shelters. Red Cross
volunteers provided training and classes to some prisoners under work
training programs designed to rehabilitate them for their release back
into society.
On September 14, the MJT closed the Amambay State Regional
Penitentiary in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero after opening an
improved facility.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arrest and
detention without an arrest warrant signed by a judge. The law also
stipulates that persons detained must appear before a judge within 24
hours to make a statement. The police may arrest without warrant
persons apprehended in the act of committing a crime, and persons may
be detained up to six hours by the Public Ministry. There were some
reports of arbitrary arrest and detention of persons without a warrant.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police,
under the authority of the Interior Ministry, preserves public order,
protects the rights and safety of persons and entities and their
property, prevents and investigates crimes, and implements orders given
by the judiciary and public officials. The military, under the
president's authority, guards the country's territorial integrity and
defends lawfully constituted authorities. The Defense Ministry, also
under the president's authority but excluded from the military's chain
of command, handled some defense matters. The law authorizes the
Antinarcotics Secretariat (SENAD) and the Antiterrorism Secretariat
(SEPRINTE), both under the president's authority, to enforce the law
and maintain order in matters related to narcotics trafficking and
terrorism.
Civilian authorities generally maintained control over the security
forces. The security forces did not effectively coordinate law
enforcement efforts. Although the government has mechanisms to
investigate and punish security force abuses and corruption, there were
regular reports of police involvement in crimes that went unpunished.
The 22,500-member National Police force was poorly trained,
inadequately funded, generally corrupt, and shielded by impunity.
On August 21, President Lugo appointed Jose Gimenez as the new
police commissioner in place of Viviano Machado, who resigned following
allegations that his brother was involved with criminal elements.
The government continued to take steps to decrease and punish human
rights violations committed by police officers. However, officers often
continued to act with impunity. Although the National Police trained
officers in human rights, there were routine incidents of police
involvement in homicide, arms and narcotics trafficking, car theft,
robbery, extortion, and kidnapping.
On September 16, prosecutors charged Agustin Rios and Ramon
Lequizamon, both police officers working with the anti-kidnapping unit
of the National Police, with extortion for allegedly demanding $2,000
from an Uruguayan fugitive.
On October 13, Jose Dolores Amarillo, former head of the Narcotics
Branch of the National Police, filed a complaint against Cesar
Carrillo, the second in charge of the National Police, for allegedly
ordering the return of confiscated cocaine to drug traffickers.
Amarillo served 30 days in prison for insubordination. Authorities
closed the case against Carrillo without charges because the only
witnesses were the two immediate subordinates of Amarillo.
On February 25, prosecutors charged former defense minister Roberto
Gonzalez Segovia, national deputies Magdaleno Silva and Jose Chamorro,
and five others for issuing false documents to obtain special low-
interest loans from Fondo Ganadero bank.
Corruption in the 12,000-member military continued.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Police may
arrest individuals when authorized by a judicial or prosecutorial
warrant or when they discover a crime in process. The law provides
that, after making an arrest, police have up to six hours to notify the
Prosecutor's Office, at which point the Prosecutor's Office has up to
24 hours to notify a judge that it intends to prosecute the case.
The law provides detainees with the right to a prompt judicial
determination regarding the legality of the detention, and authorities
appeared to respect this right and to inform detainees promptly of the
charges against them. The law permits detention without trial until the
accused completes the minimum sentence for the alleged crime. This
often occurred in practice. The law stipulates that pretrial detention
may range from six months to five years based on the nature of the
crime; in practice, detention was arbitrarily lengthy, and some
detainees were held beyond their maximum allowable detention time.
The law allows judges to utilize ``substitute measures,'' such as
house arrest and bail in felony cases but prohibits their use in
criminal cases. In nonfelony cases, judges frequently set relatively
high bail, and many poor defendants were unable to post bond and thus
waited in prison for trial. At the same time, minimal or no bonds were
required of those with political or economic connections.
The law grants accused criminals the right to counsel, and the
government provides representation to poor defendants. The government
permitted defendants to hire attorneys at their own expense. Detainees
had access to family members.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; in practice, however, political interference
seriously compromised that independence. Politicians and interested
parties routinely attempted to influence investigations and pressured
judges and prosecutors. The judicial system provides for separate
military, criminal, civil, and commercial courts. Courts remained
inefficient and routinely subject to corruption. Although the judiciary
was not formally allied with any political group, a 2007 report showed
that approximately 62 percent of judges were members of the Colorado
Party, which governed for 61 years.
The nine-member Supreme Court appoints lower-court judges and
magistrates based on slates of three candidates submitted by the eight-
member Magistrate's Council. The council also nominates for Senate
approval a slate of three candidates for Supreme Court vacancies. Both
selection processes were highly politicized, with specific seats
customarily allocated by political party.
There are five types of appellate tribunals: civil and commercial,
criminal, labor, administrative, and juvenile. Lower courts and
justices of the peace handle civil and commercial, criminal, labor, and
juvenile cases. In many rural communities, one justice of the peace
handles all judicial matters. The military has its own judicial system,
and the Supreme Court of Military Justice oversees military cases. The
Superior Electoral Court (TSJE) oversees the electoral process and
settles election disputes. The Supreme Court has final appellate
jurisdiction over all courts and constitutional questions.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, which the judiciary nominally enforced through a lengthy
trial process. In June the Center for Judicial Studies released a study
indicating that only 47.9 percent of cases initiated in 2008 were
resolved within one year. Wealthy or well-connected defendants received
impunity by conspiring with judges and filing often-specious motions
that slowed legal progress until their cases reached the statute of
limitations.
The law provides for the use of three-judge tribunals in lieu of
juries to rule on procedure, determine guilt or innocence, and decide
sentences. A majority opinion is required to convict. One judge
presides over misdemeanor cases when the maximum punishment does not
exceed two years in prison and in civil cases.
All trials are open to the public. The law requires prosecutors to
indict accused persons within 180 days of arrest. The 343 prosecutors
and 98 public defenders on staff at the Public Ministry lacked the
resources to perform their jobs adequately. Defendants enjoy a
presumption of innocence and a right of appeal, and defendants and
prosecutors may present written testimony from witnesses and other
evidence. Defendants and their attorneys have the right of access to
state evidence relevant to their cases.
There were instances when prisoners were held beyond their
scheduled release dates. On February 11, prison officials released
transgender Luis Gaspar Rojas (alias Rosana) two years and two months
after the completion date of her eight-month sentence for theft of a
cell phone.
On September 17, Minister of Justice Humberto Blasco released
Leonardo Oviedo from Tacumbu Prison more than five years after his 2004
release date.
In October prison officials released Eulogio Amarilla from the
Encarnacion Rehabilitation Center more than three years after his 2006
release date.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Citizens have access to
the courts to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of,
human rights violations. There are administrative and judicial remedies
for alleged wrongs, although these were rarely granted to citizens. The
government experienced problems enforcing court orders.
Property Restitution.--The government generally enforced court
orders with respect to seizure, restitution, or compensation for taking
private property. However, systemic failures occurred.
During the year the government partially complied with the Inter-
American Court of Human Rights' 2005 ruling in favor of the Yakye Axa
indigenous community with full monetary restitution, including interest
payments. The government did not deed land to the community, and on
October 15, the Senate voted down a land expropriation measure, citing
intercommunal conflicts and NGO interference. The government partially
complied with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' 2006 ruling in
favor of the Sawhoyamaxa indigenous community by providing continued
monetary restitution but did not award the community land.
In Puerto Casado ongoing land disputes dating back to 2000 between
local residents and landowner Victoria SA resulted in regular clashes
and damage to private property. The government did not enforce judicial
decisions and court orders to return occupied land to Victoria SA.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits police entry into private homes
except to prevent a crime in progress or when the police possess a
judicial warrant. While the government and its security forces
generally did not interfere in the private lives of citizens, human
rights activists reported that officials abused their authority by
entering homes and businesses without warrants. There were credible
allegations that some government officials occasionally spied on
individuals and monitored communications for partisan or personal
reasons.
An investigation of Colonel Heriberto Galeano, former commander of
the Presidential Escort Regiment, for illegally wiretapping telephones
from his home remained open at year's end. Separately, on December 31,
the Supreme Court confirmed lower court decisions absolving Galeano of
charges of illicit enrichment.
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 criticized the government publicly and
privately, generally without reprisal or impediment.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views with few legal restrictions. The media frequently criticized the
government and freely discussed opposition viewpoints without
censorship. Many media outlets reflected personal business or political
interests, and ethical and professional standards were low.
Political officials often retaliated against media criticism by
invoking criminal libel laws and suing the media to intimidate
journalists and suppress further investigations. At the end of the
year, ABC Color managing director Aldo Zuccolillo faced at least 20
criminal charges relating to defamation suits brought against him by
former government officials.
During the year journalists were subject to harassment,
intimidation, and violence due to their reporting. In contrast with
2008, there were fewer cases of government harassment of journalists.
On January 12, an unknown assailant shot and killed Martin Ocampos
Paez, the director of a community radio station, at his home in
Concepcion. Members of the Paraguayan Union of Journalists and the
International Federation of Journalists speculated that Paez's death
was linked to comments he made regarding the complicity of the police
and local officials with drug traffickers in the region.
On February 5, two security officials at La Esperanza penitentiary
assaulted Channel 13 journalist Richard Villasboa and camera operator
Blas Salcedo after they attempted to report on the institution.
On March 8, private citizen Hugo Montiel Ortellado verbally
assaulted and threatened with death journalist Aldo Lezcano because of
opposition to articles published by the journalist's paper.
On September 14, alleged petroleum smugglers shot at journalist
Javier Nunez as he photographed the theft of diesel fuel from the state
oil company.
There were no known developments in the 2007 killing of Chilean
radio journalist Alberto Tito Palma, the 2007 attack by log
traffickers, and the 2007 threat by a local councilman against
journalist Alberto Nunez in Capiibary, San Pedro Department.
In March the country hosted the biannual meeting of the Inter-
American Press Association, during which President Lugo signed the
organization's Chapultepec Declaration, affirming that ``no law or act
of government may limit freedom of expression or press, whatever the
medium.''
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on basic
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. The International Telecommunication Union reported that
there were 11 Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
Early in the year, the state-owned telecommunications company that
controls most Internet access to and from the country occasionally
blocked Web sites that used Voice Over Internet Protocol technology.
There were reports that this practice had ended by year's end.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly and association,
and the government generally respected these rights in practice. The
government generally protected demonstrators from indiscriminate
violence. The law restricts demonstrations to certain times and places
and specifically prohibits meetings or demonstrations in front of
specified government buildings. Although the law prohibits closing
roads as a form of protest, demonstrators did so on many occasions
during the year. Police sometimes forcibly removed protesters.
During the year campesino (peasant farmer) movements occasionally
protested in the interior of the country, blocked major highways, and
occupied private ranches to advocate for land reform. These protests
occasionally turned violent, although less frequently than in 2008.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for the right of
citizens to free association, and the government generally respected it
in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected religious freedom in
practice.
A 2008 law allows doctors to administer blood transfusions in life-
threatening situations without patient consent. Some Jehovah's
Witnesses refused to give permission for blood transfusions. Early in
the year, doctors at the National Hospital in Itaugua gave a newborn
several blood transfusions without the consent of his parents. No new
developments were reported in the 2007 case of Jehovah's Witnesses Jose
Ortega and Asuncion Ortega Gaona, who were arrested for refusing to
allow doctors to give their minor daughter blood transfusions.
On August 13, army major Marcos Fabio Meaurio Melgarejo, an
evangelical Christian, was reprimanded by his unit commander for
failing to attend a Catholic Mass. The army justified the reprimand by
citing the failure to follow orders.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were infrequent reports
of violence, harassment, and discrimination against members of
religious groups.
The Jewish community numbered approximately 1,000. Anti-Semitic and
pro-Nazi messages and symbols, including graffiti, appeared
sporadically. The government investigated but did not identify
suspects.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at: www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. The government's National Commission of Refugees cooperated
with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other
humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to
internally displaced persons, refugees, returning refugees, asylum
seekers, stateless persons, and other persons of concern. CIPAE acted
as the UN's local legal representative. Authorities frequently
prohibited those accused of crimes from leaving the country and, on
occasion, barred those convicted of crimes from traveling abroad after
completing their sentences. The law expressly prohibits forced exile.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol
relating to the Status of Refugees. Its laws provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status, and the government has established a
system for providing protection to refugees. In practice the government
provided protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to
countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened on account
of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social
group, or political opinion. The government also provided temporary
protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees. The
government permitted persons refused asylum or refugee status to obtain
legal permanent residency.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the April 2008
multiparty general elections, Fernando Lugo of the Patriotic Alliance
for Change won the presidency and ended 61 years of uninterrupted
Colorado Party rule. International observers characterized the
elections as generally free and fair.
Although political parties operated without restriction or outside
interference, the government must approve their participation in
elections. The government prohibits unregistered parties, including
those with military wings, and independent candidates from
participating in national and departmental elections; however,
independent candidates may participate in municipal elections.
On July 21, the presiding judge concurred with a prosecutorial
request and dismissed the complaint against Senator Juan Carlos
Galverna for fraud he admitted committing in the 1992 Colorado Party
primary. Confirmation of the decision was pending before the Supreme
Court at year's end.
Prosecutors formally closed the criminal investigation into the
alleged August 2008 meeting of former president Duarte, retired general
Lino Oviedo, former Senate president Gonzalez, Attorney General Ruben
Candia Amarilla, and TSJE president Juan Manuel Morales to discuss a
coup d'etat against President Lugo. Prosecutors reported lack of
sufficient evidence to press charges.
There were no legal impediments to women's participation in
government and politics. There were 17 women in Congress (seven of 45
senators and 10 of 80 national deputies). Of 36 appeals court judges,
10 were women. One woman served on the Supreme Court, one as a
departmental governor, and three as members of the Mercosur Parliament.
One woman headed a cabinet-level ministry, and four women held
ministerial rank. The electoral code requires that at least 20 percent
of each party's candidates in their internal primaries be women.
Although there were no legal impediments to participation by
minorities or indigenous groups in government and politics, no
indigenous persons won office in the 2008 elections. On August 20,
President Lugo named Lida Acuna director of the National Institute of
the Indigenous (INDI) after indigenous communities protested limits on
their political and human rights.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. Under
a law prohibiting court cases from lasting longer than five years,
politicians convicted in lower courts routinely avoided punishment by
filing appeals and motions until the statute of limitations was
reached. The World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators reflected
that corruption was a severe problem.
The Public Ministry, under the authority of the attorney general,
commissioned several units of prosecutors to combat corruption. The
Public Ministry worked with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce's
Money Laundering Secretariat to investigate and prosecute corruption
cases.
Elected officials are required to disclose their finances prior to
running for office; however, many did not. Those who filed often filed
late, incomplete, or misleading reports while engaging in corrupt
practices with impunity and using political immunity to avoid
prosecution.
On November 2, anticorruption prosecutors under the Public Ministry
raided the office of Liz Perez Idoyaga, the head attorney of the TSJE
in Asuncion. Idoyaga attempted to dispose of two briefcases that
allegedly contained records of her theft of government salaries for
more than a dozen nonexistent employees she claimed worked for her. In
December the TSJE rescinded contracts for more than 5,000 of its 7,500
allegedly salaried employees.
On November 5, a tribunal sentenced Eugenio Escobar Cattebecke to
two years and six months in prison for diverting more than 1.3 billion
guaranies ($280,000) in public money during his term as governor of
Presidente Hayes.
On December 11, police arrested fugitive Alberto Luciano Chavez
Pereira in Ciudad del Este. Federal prosecutor Victor Maldonado ordered
his release the following day. Eyewitness and press reports indicated
Maldonado accepted up to $50,000 from Chavez in return for his release.
At the order of the attorney general and vice minister of interior,
authorities rearrested Chavez within hours of his release. There was no
known government investigation into the bribery allegations.
On December 27, SENAD officers arrested Brazilian drug trafficker
Jarvis Pavao in Concepcion Department. A list discovered during the
raid indicated he made regular payments to police headquarters
throughout the region.
On June 4, a judge released former labor and justice minister
Silvio Ferreira on bond and barred him from leaving the country pending
completion of his embezzlement trial.
On June 23, prosecutors petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn a
lower court ruling that limited the illicit enrichment investigation of
former president Nicanor Duarte Frutos. The Supreme Court had not ruled
on the motion at year's end.
On September 29, the Supreme Court rejected former director of the
National Service of Professional Promotion Nicolas Donato Dagogliano's
appeal to overturn his April 2008 conviction for embezzling $500,000
from the agency from 2001 to 2003. A government lawsuit to reclaim the
embezzled money from Dagogliano remained pending at year's end.
The September 2008 case involving the detention of 13 officials
from the National Administration of Navigation and Ports for alleged
embezzlement remained pending at year's end.
On December 4, anticorruption prosecutors accused prosecutor
Gustavo Gamba of soliciting a $150,000 bribe from Colorado Senator
Victor Bernal Garay. On June 3, prosecutors taped Bernal delivering an
initial payment of $90,000 to Gamba in return for Gamba's promise to
dismiss one of five cases pending against Bernal involving his reported
misuse of funds while serving as director of the Itaipu Binational
Entity. Authorities suspended Gamba. Bernal continued to enjoy
political immunity while in office.
There were no new developments in the 2007 cases of the videotaped
extortion by former foreign minister Ruben Melgarejo Lanzoni and
prosecutor Juan Claudio Gaona; the misuse of public funds by Deputy
Victor Bogado, who continued to enjoy political immunity while in
office; or the bribery case of environment ministry official Jorge
Colonel. These and a number of similar cases involving high-level
corruption were paralyzed by political interference and corruption in
the judicial system.
On December 10, the Supreme Court confirmed lower court rulings
dismissing the case against former president Luis Angel Gonzalez
Macchi, who was convicted in 2006 for illicit enrichment and making
false statements.
Although the law provides for public access to government
information, citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media, had
limited access to government information. Insufficient infrastructure
and efforts to hide corruption hindered access to information; however,
the government improved transparency by publishing information publicly
via the Internet.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
More than 50 domestic and international human rights groups,
including the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the
International Labor Organization (ILO), and the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF), operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Major local NGO
umbrella organizations representing many local human rights NGOs
operated independently.
Government officials cooperated with domestic NGOs and met with
domestic NGO monitors but often did not take action in response to
their reports or recommendations. The government generally did not
restrict domestic NGO operations or use tactics to suppress criticism
by domestic NGOs. The government generally cooperated with
international human rights groups, humanitarian NGOs, and international
governmental organizations and regularly permitted visits by
representatives of these organizations.
Ombudsman Manuel Paez Monges was the country's primary human rights
advocate. The ombudsman employed approximately 160 lawyers and support
personnel, including 70 who worked in municipal offices outside
Asuncion. Human rights organizations and victims of the Stroessner
dictatorship criticized Monges for what they considered ineffective
handling of cases. Congressional interference limited the ombudsman's
ability to handle cases involving government officials, and budgetary
constraints hindered operations.
The MJT's director general of human rights chaired the National
Commission on Human Rights. The office forwarded information concerning
human rights abuses to the Public Ministry for action. The Foreign
Ministry's Human Rights Section organized an interministerial
roundtable on human rights that met periodically and served as a forum
for human rights officials from the government and NGOs.
On February 26, President Lugo signed a decree establishing an
executive interagency committee responsible for implementing decisions
and recommendations of the Inter-American Court and Commission of Human
Rights.
In October a team of government investigators released military
records relating to political repression and human rights violations by
the Stroessner regime.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
While the law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender,
disability, language, or social status, certain groups, such as
indigenous persons, faced discrimination in practice.
Women.--The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and
provides penalties of up to 10 years in prison for rape or forcible
sexual assault. If the victim is a minor under the age of 18, the
sentences range from three to 15 years. According to the Public
Ministry, rape was a significant problem. The government generally
prosecuted rape allegations and often obtained convictions; however,
many rapes went unreported, and the police were generally reluctant to
act on rape reports.
Although the law criminalizes domestic violence, including spousal
abuse, and stipulates a penalty of two years in prison or a fine for
those who are convicted, it requires that the abuse be habitual before
it is considered criminal. Those convicted were typically fined.
Despite increased reports of domestic violence, complaints were often
withdrawn soon after filing due to spousal reconciliation or family
pressure. In some cases the courts mediated in domestic violence cases.
Domestic violence was very common, and thousands of women were treated
for injuries sustained in domestic altercations. The Secretariat of
Women's Affairs (SMPR) received 2,409 domestic abuse complaints, an 18
percent increase from 2008.
The SMPR operated a shelter for female victims of trafficking or
domestic violence in Asuncion. The SMPR coordinated victim assistance
efforts with the National Police, health care units, the Public
Ministry, and women's NGOs. NGOs provided health and psychological
assistance, including shelter, to victims. The SMPR also provided
victims assistance courses for police, health care workers, and
prosecutors. The SMPR and NGOs Kuna Aty and Women's November 25th
Collective offered services to abused women in Asuncion. Kuna Roga
offered services to abused women in Encarnacion.
The law prohibits the sexual exploitation of women, but the
authorities did not enforce the prohibition effectively. Prostitution
is legal for persons over the age of 18, but exploitation and
trafficking of women, particularly underage prostitutes, remained
serious problems.
The law prohibits sexual harassment and stipulates a penalty of two
years in prison or a fine for those who are convicted; however, sexual
harassment remained a problem for many women. Prosecutors found sexual
harassment and abuse claims difficult to prove, and most complaints
were settled privately without involving prosecutors.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children and had the information and means to do
so free from discrimination. The government provided access to
information on contraception and skilled attendance at delivery and in
postpartum care. Services were concentrated in cities, and rural areas
faced gaps in promised coverage. Women and men were given equal access
to diagnostic services and treatment for sexually transmitted
infections.
Although women generally enjoyed the same legal status and rights
as men, gender-related discrimination was widespread. Women often were
paid significantly less than men for the same work and experienced more
difficulties finding work. According to the General Directorate of
Statistics, Surveys, and Censuses, the December 2008 unemployment rate
for women in the formal sector was 7.4 percent, compared with 4.6
percent for men. Women generally were employed as domestic workers,
secretaries, and customer service representatives. The SMPR sponsored
programs intended to give women equal access to employment, social
security, housing, ownership of land, and business opportunities.
Children.--Nationality is derived by birth within the country's
territory, by birth to government employees in service outside of the
country, or by birth to a citizen residing temporarily outside of the
county. Citizenship is conveyed to all nationals who attain the age of
18 as well as individuals over age 18 when they are naturalized.
The failure to register all births resulted in some discrimination,
including the denial of public services. In 2008 the Secretariat for
Children and Adolescents (SNNA) registered approximately 255,000
births, but unofficial estimates suggested that up to 35 percent of
births were unregistered.
Child abuse and neglect were serious problems. The National
Commission to Prevent and Eradicate the Exploitation of Children
(CONAETI) worked to prevent the exploitation of child labor. The SNNA
and children's NGOs also organized programs to combat child abuse.
In August the SNNA provided funds to the Grupo Luna Nueva hostel
for exploited children. The NGO Children's and Adolescents' Care and
Assistance Center (CEAPRA) managed a shelter in Ciudad del Este
partially supported by the SNNA, and local Catholic charities operated
several children's homes and orphanages in several locations, including
Asuncion and Encarnacion. The NGO Integral Adolescent Attention Service
assisted abused children in Villarrica, Guaira Department. In many
cities, the municipal council for children's rights assisted abused and
neglected children.
Sexual exploitation of children, principally in prostitution, was a
serious problem. According to the SNNA, many underage children were
forced to work as prostitutes or domestic servants for survival and
were sexually abused. The law provides penalties of up to six years'
imprisonment for prostitution of victims between the ages of 14 and 17
and eight years' imprisonment for victims younger than 14. The minimum
age for consensual heterosexual sex is 14 when married and 16 when not
married. While there is a statutory rape law for those under 14, the
maximum penalty is a fine for opposite-sex partners and prison for
same-sex partners. Enforcement was not vigorous. Child pornography is
illegal. Production of pornographic images can result in a fine or up
to three years in prison. This penalty can be increased to 10 years in
prison depending on the age of the child and the child's relationship
to the abuser.
On November 4, the country signed an agreement with the IACHR
concerning the forced disappearances of Marcelino Gomez Paredes and
Christian Ariel Nunez, child soldiers who were recruited into the armed
forces in 1997 at age 14 and disappeared in 1998. The agreement
obligates the country to bring its penal code on forced disappearance
into compliance with the Inter-American Convention on the Forced
Disappearance of Persons and to establish a commission to investigate
the disappearance of children.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits most forms of
trafficking in persons; however, there were reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, through, and within the country.
Anecdotal evidence suggested that each year several thousand women,
children, adolescents, and transgender individuals were trafficked
domestically and internationally. An estimated 80 percent of the
victims were young women and adolescent girls. CEAPRA, which operated a
children's shelter in Ciudad del Este, estimated in 2008 that up to 20
victims were trafficked each day to Brazil and Argentina via the Tri-
Border Area (TBA). As of December 7, the Asuncion antitrafficking unit
had 118 pending cases involving victims trafficked internationally.
Most victims were trafficked to Argentina (60 percent), Spain (16
percent), and Bolivia (13 percent); smaller numbers of victims went to
Chile, France, Korea, and Japan. Domestically, most victims were
trafficked to Asuncion, Ciudad del Este, and Encarnacion.
Most trafficking exploited victims for the purposes of
prostitution, domestic servitude, and manual labor. Most victims lived
in the rural eastern departments of Alto Parana, Canindeyu, Caaguazu,
and Itapua.
Studies showed that many trafficking victims were working as street
vendors when traffickers targeted them. Grupo Luna Nueva estimated that
more than 80 percent of the victims they worked with had drug or
alcohol addictions.
The principal traffickers worked in organized criminal syndicates
based in Argentina and Brazil with local contacts operating nationwide.
Women who were paid to find victims made initial contact on behalf of
traffickers and offered false promises of employment. Victims who
accepted their offers were referred to handlers, who facilitated travel
and lodging and issued false travel documents. Traffickers then
transported victims domestically or internationally through illegal or
unmonitored border crossing points.
On June 9, the trafficking in persons statute passed in July 2008
went into effect. The statute aligns the law with several ILO
antitrafficking conventions and punishes convicted international
traffickers with up to 12 years in prison. It strengthens penalties for
persons who traffic minors and use excessive violence against their
victims. The statute does not specifically address domestic human
trafficking, although other laws, including the Children and
Adolescents Law, the Domestic Violence Law, and a pandering statute,
can be used to prosecute domestic traffickers.
The Public Ministry's special division to combat trafficking in
persons opened 119 cases and indicted 47 suspected traffickers. There
were two trafficking convictions during the year and one extradition to
Argentina. The government assisted with international investigations
and extradited citizens who were accused of trafficking in other
countries.
On September 14, Bolivian authorities discovered 13 Paraguayan
women between the ages of 18 and 22 living as prisoners in a brothel in
Bolivia. The government repatriated the women and placed them in a
hostel for trafficked women run by the Women's Ministry.
There were no known developments in the 2008 investigation into a
syndicate that trafficked dozens of adolescent girls to Chile.
The Public Ministry investigates and prosecutes traffickers. Its
antitrafficking unit consists of two prosecutors dedicated to fighting
human trafficking. The ministry worked with the National Police, the
Foreign Ministry, the SMPR, the SNNA, and Secretariat of Development
for the Repatriated and Conational Refugees (SEDERREC). The Interior
Ministry, which oversees the National Police, has an antitrafficking
unit that assists with investigations and arrests. In October the unit
opened a branch in Ciudad del Este with six officials tasked with
receiving complaints and liaising with the Public Ministry. The
government coordinated antitrafficking efforts through the Inter-
Institutional Roundtable for the Prevention and Combat of Trafficking
in Persons. The roundtable includes representatives from many
government agencies, the IOM, the ILO, NGOs, and foreign missions. The
TBA Antitrafficking in Persons Network assisted national
antitrafficking agencies and NGOs to coordinate efforts in the TBA with
their counterparts in Argentina and Brazil.
There were reports that public officials, including political
figures, border guards, police, prosecutors, judges, and others,
participated in, facilitated, or condoned human trafficking. Officials
reportedly accepted bribes directly or indirectly to facilitate
trafficking in persons. However, prosecutors and the police did not
investigate or prosecute public officials allegedly involved in
trafficking, nor did they remove them. Inadequate political will and
financial and technical resources constrained the government's ability
to combat trafficking.
The SEDERREC repatriated seven trafficking victims to the country.
The SMPR and SNNA helped victims return to their families. The SNNA
placed some child and adolescent victims in foster homes and referred
others to shelters or foster homes and women to the women's shelter for
trafficking victims. The government did not follow up with victims once
they were repatriated.
The government encouraged victims to file complaints against
traffickers and assist in the investigation and prosecution of
traffickers. However, many victims avoided the legal process for fear
of potential retaliation by traffickers or social stigma.
On January 9, the Interior Ministry announced the creation of an
interagency workgroup on trafficking and other issues. During the year
the government's Antitrafficking Interinstitutional Roundtable
conducted antitrafficking meetings and seminars in greater Asuncion,
Caacupe, and Ciudad del Este. The government also worked with
international organizations such as the IOM, the ILO, and UNICEF to
publish reports on trafficking and labor abuses.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
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. The law does not mandate accessibility for persons with
disabilities, and most of the country's buildings were inaccessible.
Many persons with disabilities faced significant discrimination in
employment; others were unable to seek employment because of a lack of
accessible public transportation. The Ministry of Education estimated
that at least half of all children with disabilities did not attend
school because public buses could not accommodate them.
The law requires that persons with disabilities fill 5 percent of
all public sector jobs. However, they were less than 1 percent of all
public sector employees. On December 18, the Secretariat for Personnel
Management adopted regulations to implement the disability hiring law.
In February the Directorate General of Inclusive Education opened
the country's first school for the blind.
On June 10, the Secretariat for Personnel Management created a
director general for policies of equality and inclusion. The two-person
directorate works to achieve equal access to government jobs for all
citizens.
Indigenous People.--The law provides indigenous people the right to
participate in the economic, social, political, and cultural life of
the country. However, the government did not effectively protect
indigenous civil and political rights. Discrimination and lack of
access to education, health care, shelter, and sufficient land hindered
indigenous groups' ability to progress economically and maintain their
cultural identity. The law protecting the property interests of
indigenous people was not respected in practice.
A June 2008 census reported an indigenous population of
approximately 108,000. The census estimated that 39 percent of the
indigenous population over age 15 was illiterate, approximately 48
percent was unemployed, and 88 percent lacked health insurance.
According to the General Directorate of Statistics, Surveys and
Censuses, the average monthly income of the indigenous population in
2008 was 778,000 guaranies ($167), approximately half the minimum wage
and 65 percent that of the nonindigenous population. In December the
national police academy opened 22 slots to be filled by indigenous
recruits.
The INDI, Public Ministry, and Ombudsman's Office are responsible
for protecting and promoting indigenous rights. However, the INDI
frequently lacked funding to purchase land on behalf of the indigenous
and required indigenous persons to register for land at its office in
Asuncion. Indigenous workers engaged as laborers on ranches earned low
wages, worked long hours, were paid infrequently or not at all, and
lacked benefits. This situation was particularly severe for indigenous
persons engaged as laborers on ranches and estates in the Chaco region,
where there were reports of forced labor (see section 7.c.).
The law authorizes indigenous people to determine how to use their
land, leading many of them to transfer or rent their land to
nonindigenous persons, some of whom illegally harvested fish or
deforested indigenous lands through cultivation. There were
insufficient police and judicial protections from encroachments on
indigenous lands.
In March Amnesty International reported that the Yakye Axa and
Sawhoyamaxa indigenous communities were living with irregular water and
food supplies and inadequate medical care, despite the 2005 and 2006
Inter-American Court of Human Rights rulings that ordered the
government to provide the communities with basic services until it
returns their traditional lands (see section 1.e.).
On August 13, the IACHR referred the case submitted by the Xakmok
Kasek indigenous community to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
for trial. The petitioners charged that the government's failure to
provide a satisfactory resolution to the community's land claims
affected their access to land and aggravated their vulnerability in
terms of food security and healthcare. The case remained pending at
year's end.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--There was societal
discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Public Ministry is
responsible for investigating discrimination cases; however, government
agents often condoned such discrimination.
The crime of having sex with a minor between the ages of 14 and 16
is penalized differently, depending on the genders of the victim and
perpetrator. Same-gender perpetrators are subject to up to two years in
prison; the maximum penalty for opposite-gender perpetrators is a fine.
Several LGBT rights organizations operated during the year without
governmental interference, including Paragay, Aireana, and Panambi. On
July 11, these organizations conducted a gay pride march. The
government issued the required permits and provided sufficient security
for the march.
There were no developments regarding the July 2008 attacks on and
killings of transgender persons Lupita, Laura, and Gaby. The cases
remained pending at year's end.
There are no laws explicitly prohibiting discrimination against
LGBT individuals in employment, housing, statelessness, access to
education, or health care. All types of discrimination occurred
frequently. On December 10, the Secretariat for Personnel Management
enacted policies applying to administrative civil service jobs that
prohibit discrimination by government employees on the basis of sexual
orientation or gender identity.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--CODEHUPY noted that
individuals with HIV/AIDS faced discrimination in health care,
education, and employment as well as social intimidation.
On December 1, Congress passed legislation expanding the
government's role in providing support and preventing the spread of
HIV. The law prohibits preemployment HIV tests and expands privacy
protections for those carrying the disease.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows both private and
public sector workers (with the exception of the armed forces and the
police) to form and join unions. The law allows unions to conduct
legitimate activities without government interference and contains
provisions that protect fundamental worker rights. Although the
government did not always enforce these provisions, workers exercised
these rights in practice. Approximately 317,000 persons (11 percent of
the workforce) were members of more than 350 labor unions affiliated
with six major labor umbrella organizations. Most workers, including
farmers, ranchers, and informal sector employees, did not have suitable
labor unions. Many of these workers were members of campesino
movements.
There are no restrictions on the right to form or dissolve a union.
All unions must register with the MJT. Although the official
registration process can take more than a year, the MJT typically
issued provisional registrations within weeks of application to allow
new labor unions to operate.
The law provides for the right to strike, prohibits binding
arbitration, and prohibits retribution against union organizers and
strikers. However, the government failed to prevent retaliation by
employers who took action against strikers and union leaders. The
courts provided due process through mechanisms such as voluntary
arbitration.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
collective bargaining, and this provision generally was respected in
practice. The government did not place restrictions on collective
bargaining and did not require approval for collective agreements to be
valid. According to the MJT, there were approximately 30 collective
bargaining agreements in place, covering approximately 10 percent of
private sector employees and 60 percent of public sector employees.
Although the law prohibits antiunion discrimination, discrimination
occurred in practice. Some union organizers experienced harassment and
were fired for union activities. Some workers allegedly chose not to
protest due to fear of reprisal or anticipation of government inaction.
There are no export processing zones. Factories (maquiladoras) that
assemble imported parts for reexport to Mercosur are subject to all
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 occurred (see section 6, trafficking in
persons).
In May the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues reported
allegations of debt labor on the estates and ranches of the Chaco
region. Receiving little to no wages, some indigenous workers allegedly
contracted debts with their employers, who advanced them pay to meet
the cost of food, clothes, as well as the cost of sending their
children to school. This situation was severe for women in domestic
service, who were reportedly offered no compensation for their work and
faced abuse. Investigators from the MJT were unable to substantiate
claims made by the UN; however, they did not deny that such conditions
could exist.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace. However, the
government did not effectively enforce these laws. Child labor was a
problem, particularly in brick and lime manufacturing, domestic
service, and agricultural sectors.
The law prohibits work by children under age 14. The law permits
minors between 14 and 15 years of age to work, with parental
authorization, up to four hours per day in nonhazardous working
conditions. Minors between 16 and 17 are permitted to work up to six
hours per day in nonhazardous working conditions.
A 2007 ILO study reported that 970,000 (53 percent) of children
between the ages of five and 17 worked more than one hour per day, and
862,0000 worked at least 14 hours per week. Children, primarily boys,
worked in manufacturing and agricultural sectors (including cotton,
beans, soy, sesame, wheat, peanuts, and stevia production) and in the
hotel, restaurant, and transportation industries. Children were also
found working as vendors in markets. An estimated 60,000 children,
primarily girls, worked as criadas (child domestic servants) and
received no pay. In exchange for work, employers promised the child
domestic servants room, board, and financial support for school.
However, they were sometimes subject to sexual exploitation and often
lacked access to education.
In addition to prostitution and domestic servitude, the worst forms
of child labor occurred where malnourished, abused, or neglected
children worked in unhealthy and hazardous conditions selling goods or
services on the street, working in factories, or harvesting crops.
Slavery and similar practices occurred, particularly in prostitution
and domestic servitude. Parents and guardians reportedly sold their
children for the purpose of forced labor, and children were used,
procured, and offered to third parties for illicit activities. Some
children were found working as drug smugglers along the border with
Brazil.
The MJT is responsible for enforcing child labor laws, and the
Public Ministry prosecuted violators. The CONAETI worked to eliminate
exploitative child labor by increasing awareness, improving legal
protections and public policy, and implementing monitoring systems;
however, resource constraints limited the effectiveness of these
efforts.
The SNNA administered ``Programa Abrazo,'' and the Secretariat for
Social Action administered ``Tekopora'' that paid parents of street
children and parents in some rural areas a monthly stipend to send
their children to school. The SNNA's ``Operacion Verano'' brought
children of street workers into shelters when school was not in
session. The Ministry of Education and Culture utilized the ILO's
``Scream'' child labor intervention campaign in six departments to
train and assist educators in identifying child laborers and protecting
them from exploitation. The government also participated in several
regional projects to eliminate exploitative child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The mandatory national minimum
wage, established by the MJT, was approximately 1.4 million guaranies
($300) per month, sufficient to maintain a minimally adequate standard
of living for a worker and family. The minimum salary is adjusted by
presidential decree whenever annual inflation exceeds 10 percent; the
increase is determined in an opaque manner. However, the ministry did
not enforce the minimum wage and estimated that 50 percent of
government workers and 48 percent of private-sector workers earned less
than the minimum wage.
The law provides for a standard legal workweek of 48 hours (42
hours for night work), with one day of rest. The law also allows an
annual bonus of one month's salary and a minimum of 12 and a maximum of
30 vacation days per year, depending on years of service. The law
requires overtime payment for hours in excess of the standard; however,
many employers violated these provisions. There are no prohibitions or
exceptions on excessive compulsory overtime.
The law sets occupational health and safety standards stipulating
conditions of safety, hygiene, and comfort. The government did not
allocate sufficient resources to enable the MJT and the Ministry of
Health to enforce these provisions effectively. Workers have the right
to remove themselves from situations that endanger their health or
safety without jeopardy to their employment, but authorities did not
effectively enforce this right.
__________
PERU
Peru is a multiparty republic with a population estimated at 29.5
million. In 2006 Alan Garcia of the Popular Revolutionary Party
Alliance (APRA) won the presidency in elections that were 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, the following human rights problems were reported:
abuse of detainees and inmates by police and prison security forces;
harsh prison conditions; lengthy pretrial detention and inordinate
trial delays; pressure on the media by local authorities; corruption;
harassment of some civil society groups; violence and discrimination
against women; violence against children, including sexual abuse;
trafficking in persons; discrimination against indigenous communities,
ethnic minorities, and gay and lesbian persons; failure to apply or
enforce labor laws; and child labor in the informal sector.
The terrorist organization Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), linked
to narcotics trafficking, was responsible for killings and other human
rights abuses.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
in episodes of social unrest, protesters and security forces were
killed.
On June 5, clashes between police and indigenous protesters in and
around Bagua, Amazonas, resulted in the deaths of 10 civilians and 24
police officers (see section 6, Indigenous People).
On September 23, security forces in Bolson Cuchara, Huanuco,
protecting Peruvian Coca Eradication Agency workers shot four persons
attempting to impede eradication efforts, one of whom subsequently died
of the wounds. On September 28, a person protecting a drug-making
facility (coca maceration pit) was killed after firing at police.
A prosecutor's investigation into the September 2008 killings of
four persons and the disappearance of two children during an
antiterrorist operation by security forces in the Rio Seco area of the
Valle de Apurimac y Ene region (VRAE) continued at year's end.
In September court proceedings began at against police officer
Carlos Alberto Rodriguez Huamani for allegedly killing two protesters
during a February 2008 agrarian strike in Ayachucho.
There were no developments regarding the 2007 Public Ministry
investigation of 10 police officers for the death of one inmate and the
beating of another at a police station in Jesus Maria.
A change of judges in the Third Special Penal Superior Court
interrupted oral proceedings against jailed former intelligence service
director Vladimiro Montesinos, former armed services chief General
Nicolas Hermoza, Colonel Roberto Huaman, and Colonel Jesus Zamudio
Montesinos for alleged extrajudicial killings following the 1997 rescue
of 74 hostages at the Japanese ambassador's residence. Proceedings were
scheduled to resume after the court is reconstituted.
During the year a court tried and convicted former president
Alberto Fujimori for authorizing the killings in 1991 at Barrios Altos
and in 1992 at La Cantuta (25 years); embezzling state funds (7.5
years); ordering illegal wiretapping (six years); and bribing members
of congress and illegally purchasing media outlets to support
government initiatives. Fujimori remained in prison concurrently
serving these sentences and an earlier six-year sentence for ordering
an illegal search.
On April 27, the National Penal Court dropped charges against
Ollanta Humala, a candidate in the 2006 presidential elections, in
connection with killings in 1992 at the Madre Mia military base.
Juan Manuel Rivera-Rondon, implicated in the 1985 massacre of 69
villagers during a military raid in the village of Accomarca, remained
in custody while on trial in the Third Supraprovincial Court. However,
Telmo Ricardo Hurtado Hurtado, also implicated in the massacre,
remained in a foreign country pending the outcome of extradition
proceedings.
At year's end the Public Ministry continued investigating a mass
grave of unknown date, discovered in 2006 in Cusco. The grave contained
the remains of 80 bodies. The government's Institute of Legal Medicine
awaited DNA results to help identify 25 of the exhumed bodies.
The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) identified the
remains of 28 of the 92 victims found in the clandestine mass grave in
the village of Putis in the department of Ayacucho. At an August 27
public ceremony, the Ayacucho Province governor, Eduardo Morales
Galvez, refused to lower the national flag as civil society groups
formally delivered to family members the coffins of 92 of the victims
of the military massacre at Putis in 1984. Indigenous rights groups
asserted that the governor's actions reflected unwillingness to
recognize crimes committed during the country's internal armed
conflict.
In December the EPAF analyzed 37 bodies found in a clandestine mass
grave in Pucayacu, Ayacucho, and awaited the results.
During the year narcotics traffickers and members of the Shining
Path terrorist organization killed 25 police officers, 51 soldiers, and
an undetermined number of civilians. Between January and December,
Shining Path conducted 136 terrorist acts in remote coca-growing areas.
There were credible reports that women and children participated in
Shining Path operations, in an attempt to thwart security force
responses or to induce reactions that would result in allegations of
serious human rights abuses against these forces.
On April 9, Shining Path terrorists ambushed two military patrols
near the town of Sanabamba in the VRAE; 14 soldiers died in the attack.
On November 5, alleged narcotics terrorists in the VRAE (Palma Pampa)
kidnapped, tortured, and killed a driver for a transportation company
used by the Inforegion press agency.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances during the year, and there were no known developments in
the 2008 disappearances of two persons in the VRAE where government
forces were operating.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices. Although there were no
allegations of systematic torture, there were reports that security
officials used excessive force. Authorities seldom punished those who
committed abuses.
Allegations of abuse most often arose immediately following an
arrest, when families were prohibited from visiting suspects and when
attorneys had limited access to detainees. In some cases police and
security forces allegedly threatened or harassed victims, their
relatives, and witnesses to prevent them from filing charges of human
rights violations. According to the nongovernmental Human Rights
Commission (COMISEDH), some victims were reluctant to pursue judicial
proceedings for fear that members of the security forces allegedly
involved in abuses would be released without being charged. COMISEDH
reported 30 cases of aggravated torture by security forces reported to
provincial prosecutors.
In April the 2008 case of Luis Alberto Rojas Marin, whom police
officers reportedly raped, was presented to the Inter-American Human
Rights Commission (see section 6).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh for the 44,800 inmates, of whom 2,794 were women. The National
Penitentiary Institute (INPE) operated 56 of the country's 71 active
prisons, and the National Police of Peru (PNP) has jurisdiction over
the rest. Prisoners with money had access to cell phones, illegal
drugs, and meals prepared outside the prison. Conditions were poor to
extremely harsh in facilities for prisoners who lacked funds.
Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and inadequate nutrition and health care
were serious problems. Inmates had intermittent access to running
water, bathing facilities were inadequate, kitchen facilities were
unhygienic, and prisoners slept in hallways and common areas for lack
of cell space. Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS reportedly remained at near-
epidemic levels. The San Juan de Lurigancho men's prison held 9,874
prisoners in a facility designed for 3,204.
Prisons for women were also overcrowded and marked by conditions
similar to those in prisons for men. Although INPE opened a new
facility for women in December 2008, prisoners complained about the
dormitory-style sleeping quarters, a single room for the 67 inmates.
Conditions were especially harsh in maximum-security facilities
located at high altitudes. The high-security prison in the jungle area
of Iquitos was in poor condition and was under renovation. During the
year the PNP transferred responsibility for operating the facility to
INPE.
Prison guards and fellow inmates reportedly abused prisoners. There
were deaths of inmates in prisons, most attributed to fellow inmates,
but some were due to negligence by guards. Guards received little or no
training or supervision. Corruption was a serious problem, and some
guards cooperated with criminal bosses who oversaw the smuggling of
guns and drugs into prisons.
There were no known developments regarding the 2007 killing of an
inmate at Miguel Castro Castro Prison.
By December authorities had sentenced only 17,297 of the 44,800
persons held in the country's detention facilities. Authorities held
detainees temporarily in pretrial detention centers located at police
stations, judiciary buildings, and the Ministry of Justice. In most
cases authorities held pretrial detainees with convicted prisoners.
The government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers. The International Committee of the Red Cross made 44
unannounced visits in accordance with its standard modalities to
inmates in 27 prisons and detention centers.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution, criminal code,
and antiterrorist statutes prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and
the government generally observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The PNP, with an
officer and enlisted force of approximately 97,294, was responsible for
all areas of law enforcement and internal security and functioned under
the authority of the Ministry of the Interior. The PNP's organizational
structure comprises directorates that specialize in specific areas
(such as kidnapping, counternarcotics, and counterterrorism) and local
police units. Each department, province, city, and town has a PNP
presence.
The armed forces, with approximately 114,000 personnel, are
responsible for external security under the authority of the Ministry
of Defense, but they also have limited domestic security
responsibilities.
Observers noted that the PNP was undermanned and suffered from a
lack of training and professionalism. Corruption and impunity remained
problems. The Ministries of Interior and Defense employ internal
mechanisms to investigate security force abuses. The Public Ministry
conducts investigations, although access to evidence held by the
Ministry of Defense is not always forthcoming. The Ombudsman is another
mechanism, although it can only refer a case to the Public Ministry.
There were also several reports of military corruption, impunity, and
resistance to provide information on its personnel under investigation
for human rights abuses committed during the country's internal armed
conflict. Security forces sought to strengthen accountability with
human rights training and revision of disciplinary procedures but were
doing so very slowly.
The PNP is charged with witness protection but lacked resources to
provide training for officers, conceal identities, or offer logistical
support to witnesses. Officers assigned to witness protection cases
often brought witnesses into their homes to live.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The law
permits police to detain persons for investigative purposes. Persons
were apprehended openly. The law requires a written judicial warrant
based on sufficient evidence for an arrest unless the perpetrator of a
crime is apprehended in the act. Only judges may authorize detentions.
Authorities are required to arraign arrested persons within 24 hours,
except in cases of terrorism, drug trafficking, or espionage, in which
arraignment must take place within 30 days. In remote areas arraignment
must take place as soon as practicable. Military authorities must turn
over persons they detain to the police within 24 hours. The law
requires police to file a report with the Public Ministry within 24
hours after an arrest. The Public Ministry, in turn, must issue its own
assessment of the legality of the police action in the arrest, and
authorities respected this right effectively in practice. A law
effective on December 14 permits security forces to recover the bodies
of fallen soldiers and police without the presence of the Public
Ministry and civilian authorities only with the ministry's permission.
The law addresses concerns particularly in the emergency zones.
The time between an arrest and an appearance before a judge
averaged 20 hours. Judges have 24 hours to decide whether to release a
suspect or continue detention. A functioning bail system exists, but
many poor defendants lacked the means to post bail. By law detainees
are allowed access to a lawyer and to family members. Police may detain
suspected terrorists incommunicado for 10 days. The Ministry of Justice
provided indigent persons with access to an attorney at no cost,
although these attorneys were often poorly trained. Several
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) worked with the ministry to
improve their skills.
Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. According to a study
prepared by the Technical Secretary of the Special Commission for
Integral Reform of the Justice System, 61 percent of those in prison
were awaiting trial, the majority for between one and two years. The
law requires release of prisoners who have been held more than 18
months without being sentenced; the period is extended to 36 months in
complex cases.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected this
provision in practice. NGOs and other analysts complained that the
judiciary was politicized and corrupt (see section 4).
The three-tier court structure consists of lower courts, superior
courts, and a Supreme Court of Justice consisting of 30 judges.
Supranational courts execute judgments made by courts, such as the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights, outside the domestic judicial
system. The seven-person Constitutional Tribunal operates independently
of the judicial branch. The independent and autonomous National
Judicial Council (CNM) appoints, disciplines, and evaluates all judges
and prosecutors who have served in their position for at least seven
years (excluding those chosen by popular election). Lack of
certification from the CNM permanently disqualifies a judge or
prosecutor.
The military justice system provides the same rights as civilian
courts. Under the military justice system, judges in the lower courts
must pass judgment and sentence within 10 days of the opening of trial.
Defendants can appeal convictions to the Superior Military Council,
which has 10 days to issue a decision. A final appeal may be made to
the Supreme Council of Military Justice, which must issue a ruling
within five days. At the Superior Military Council and Supreme Council
levels, a significant number of judges were active-duty officers with
little or no professional legal training.
The National Penal Court, in accordance with decisions of both the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Tribunal,
continued to retry defendants previously convicted by military
tribunals. The courts found eight persons guilty and absolved 14 others
in terrorism cases. Approximately 38 human rights violations cases
remained pending at year's end.
The National Penal Court continued investigating cases involving
allegations of human rights abuses by security forces during the war
against Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement in the
1980s and 1990s. Several cases referred by the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission remained pending with the court, but only a few involved
active investigations.
Trial Procedures.--The justice system is based on the Napoleonic
Code. The prosecutor investigates cases and submits an opinion to a
first instance judge, who determines if sufficient evidence exists to
open legal proceedings. The judge conducts an investigation, evaluates
facts, determines guilt or innocence, and issues a sentence. All
defendants are presumed innocent; they have the right to be present at
trial, to call witnesses, and to be represented by counsel, although in
practice the public defender system often failed to provide indigent
defendants with qualified attorneys. The Ministry of Justice provided
indigent persons with access to an attorney at no cost, although these
attorneys were often poorly trained. Defendants and their attorneys
generally have access to government-held evidence related to their
cases for recent crimes, except in cases related to the human rights
abuses of the period 1980-2000 and particularly with respect to those
involving the Ministry of Defense. Although citizens have the right to
be tried in their own language, language services for non-Spanish
speakers, who comprise a substantial number of persons in the highlands
and Amazon regions, were sometimes unavailable. Defendants may appeal
verdicts to the superior court and then to the Supreme Court of
Justice. The Constitutional Court decides cases involving such issues
as habeas corpus.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The country has an
independent judiciary that enables citizens to bring lawsuits for
violations of their rights; however, court cases often continued for
years, making it difficult for some plaintiffs, particularly those of
limited economic means, to pursue legal redress. Press reports, NGOs,
and others alleged that judges frequently were subject to corruption or
influence by powerful outside actors.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. There were reports,
however, that authorities sometimes entered private dwellings before
obtaining a warrant.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press. Although the government generally
respected these rights in practice, some civil society, media, and
political opposition groups expressed concern about whether citizens
could criticize the government. There were instances of harassment of
the press, including attacks against and illegal arrests of
journalists, by provincial authorities, the police, and nonstate
actors, such as coca growers.
The independent media was active and expressed a variety of views.
All media outlets were privately owned except for one government-owned
daily newspaper, two television networks, and one radio station.
A number of journalists and media outlets experienced intimidation.
At year's end the National Journalists Association reported 180 cases
of harassment, and the Institute of Press and Society issued 87 alerts.
Most incidents took the form of violent attacks, threats, judicial
pressure, illegal arrests, and theft of broadcasting equipment and
journalists' files. Some cases were attributable to a lack of an
effective government presence in some parts of the country. Through
December civil (not military or police) authorities reportedly harassed
reporters in approximately 54 incidents.
A March report issued by a congressional multiparty commission
headed by Congressman Walter Menchola stated that a large number of
illegal radio stations in the country received foreign financing. In
light of the large number of illegal radio stations--some analysts
estimated at more than 2,000--the government had difficulty maintaining
appropriate control over their licensing and broadcast operations. The
congressional commission found that ``informal radios stations in the
southern region of the country incite violence and public disorder.''
In June government officials accused Radio Voz de Bagua of inciting
the June 5 violence in Bagua, Amazonas, that resulted in the deaths of
24 police officers and 10 civilians (see section 6, Indigenous People).
Government officials and multiple witnesses accused the local radio
outlet of spreading false information, fanning animosities, and
inciting violence. The government subsequently stripped Radio Voz de
Bagua's operating license, charging that the radio violated
administrative laws and procedures. Some NGOs and press analysts
asserted that the government had singled out the station for political
reasons, although many other radio stations were also previously
sanctioned for reasons stated in previous paragraph. A Press and
Society Institute appeal to the judiciary to restore Radio Voz de
Bagua's license was pending at year's end.
On February 5, journalist Julio Vazquez Calle received threatening
phone calls related to the release of photographs depicting the 2005
kidnap and torture of 28 villagers at several of the Majaz mining
company installations in the Piura and Cajamarca regions; police
officers and company security guards were implicated in the abuses.
On February 24, regional government workers insulted and beat Marco
Sanchez and Reynaldo Poma, two journalists employed by Radio Uno
station in Tacna, after they denounced corruption in a technical
institute managed by the regional government.
On March 4, the Quillabamba (Cusco) police arrested reporter
Roberto Chalco after he denounced an increase in crimes and criticized
the police.
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 free
expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. The chief
impediment to Internet access was a lack of infrastructure. The
International Telecommunication Union reported that there were 25 users
of the Internet per 100 inhabitants.
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 the right of freedom of
assembly, and the government generally respected this right in
practice. The government maintained emergency zones and suspended the
freedom of assembly and other freedoms in coca-growing areas, where
Shining Path operated. The emergency zones were located in several
provinces in Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Cusco, and Junin departments. The
law does not require a permit for public demonstrations, but organizers
must inform the Interior Ministry's political authority (prefect) about
the type of demonstration and its location. Demonstrations may be
prohibited for reasons of public safety or health. The police used tear
gas and occasional force to disperse protesters in various
demonstrations. Although most demonstrations were peaceful, protests in
some areas turned violent (see section 6, Indigenous People).
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the government generally respected this right in practice.
The constitution establishes separation of church and state, but
certain laws favor the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church and
clergy received preferential treatment in education, tax benefits, and
other areas. A special registry of non-Catholic religious groups allows
non-Catholic churches to receive state benefits similar to those
received by the Catholic Church; however, some evangelical church
leaders complained about the requirement to operate for seven years
before being added to the registry. The law provides that the military
may hire only Catholic clergy as chaplains, and Catholicism is the only
recognized religion for military personnel. The Ministry of Education
requires that Catholic religion courses be taught in all public and
private primary and secondary schools; however, many non-Catholic
private schools were granted exemptions. Additionally, parents may
request an exemption by writing to the school principal.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses, discrimination, or anti-Semitic acts. There were
approximately 4,000 members of the Jewish community.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for the right of
free movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. The government maintained emergency zones where it restricted
freedom of movement in several provinces (see section 2.b.).
The government stated that it implemented the state of emergency to
maintain public peace and restore internal order. NGOs commented that
the government failed to ensure that military personnel operating in
the emergency zones did not use excessive force against civilians.
Narcotics traffickers and Shining Path at times interrupted the
free movement of persons by establishing roadblocks in sections of the
Upper Huallaga Valley and the VRAE. Occasionally protesters blocked
roads to draw public attention to grievances.
The law prohibits forced internal and external exile, and the
government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol.
Its law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the
government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion. The government gave political asylum to several high-profile
Venezuelan political figures, including former presidential candidate
and Zulia state governor Manuel Rosales and several former Bolivian
government ministers.
The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and recognized the Catholic Migration
Commission (CMC) as the official provider of technical assistance to
refugees. The CMC also advised citizens who feared persecution and
sought asylum abroad. The government provided protection to refugees on
a renewable, year-to-year basis, in accordance with CMC
recommendations. By June UNHCR reported 2,503 pending refugee requests.
Stateless Persons.--Citizenship is derived either by one's birth
within the territory or from one's parents' citizenship. If overseas,
parents must register their child's birth by age 18 in order for the
child to obtain citizenship. The law provides all citizens with the
right to a name, nationality, and legal recognition; it also provides
for other civil, political, economic, and social rights. More than one
million citizens, however, lacked identity documents and could not
fully exercise these rights. An estimated 15 percent of children under
one year of age were unregistered. Poor indigenous women and children
in rural areas were disproportionately represented among those lacking
identity documents. Undocumented citizens faced social and political
marginalization and barriers in accessing government services,
including running for public office or holding title to land.
Obtaining a national identity document requires a birth
certificate, but many births in rural areas occurred at home. In an
effort to lower infant mortality rates, the Ministry of Health fined
women who did not give birth in clinics or hospitals. Poor women often
could not pay the fines and could not register their children
retroactively.
The ombudsman investigated complaints about the unlawful practice
of charging fees to issue identity documents and facilitated refunds
when such fees had been paid. The ombudsman also helped citizens obtain
documents quickly.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The law provides for the right of citizens to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
mandatory voting and universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2006 Alan Garcia Perez
assumed the presidency after two rounds of presidential elections that
were considered free and fair. In the 2006 general elections, the
president's APRA party won 36 seats (second to the Union for Peru
Party's 45 seats) in the 120-seat unicameral Congress.
Nationwide municipal elections were held in 2006. Domestic and
international observer delegations declared the elections to be fair
and transparent, despite a few localized incidents of violence.
Political parties operated without restriction or outside
interference. Registration of a new political party requires the
signature of 1 percent of the voters who participated in the past
election.
Presidential and congressional terms are five years, and the law
prohibits the immediate reelection of a president. Groups that advocate
the violent overthrow of government were barred from participating in
the political process.
There were 32 women in the 120-member Congress. Three of 16 cabinet
members were women, and there were four women on the Supreme Court. The
Law on Political Parties mandates that at least 30 percent of
candidates on the party lists be women. While parties abided by the
legislation, many women candidates were included at the bottom of the
party lists, reducing their likelihood of winning seats on regional and
municipal councils.
There were 23 Quechua and two Aymara speakers in Congress. Two
members of Congress identified themselves as Afro-Peruvians.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law criminalizes official corruption; however, the government
did not implement the law effectively. World Bank Indicators reflected
that government corruption was a serious problem, and there was a
widespread public perception that corruption was pervasive in all
branches of government.
Numerous members of Congress were involved in scandals during the
year, but most cases were deemed ethics violations and handled through
internal congressional investigations and discipline. The judiciary
investigated a few of the cases, but no arrests were made. One such
case concerned Alas Peruanas, a private university involved in multiple
active judicial proceedings, which had financed controversial trips for
several members of Congress, including some on the Education Committee.
Several judges were also implicated in the scandal, and at year's end
two Supreme Court justices were recommended for a disciplinary process
by the National Council of Magistrates and faced possible dismissal as
a result.
The government's major corruption-related scandal continued to
revolve around wiretaps. In October 2008 unknown actors publicly
released audiotapes of conversations suggesting government kickbacks
associated with oil concessions. Authorities arrested a former minister
(under a previous government) and Alberto Quimper Herrera of Perupetro
in connection with the scandal, which was dubbed ``Petroaudios.'' At
year's end Leon remained in jail, Quimper was under house arrest, and
investigations and trial proceedings continued.
On January 8, authorities arrested several individuals (including
former navy intelligence officers) for conducting illegal wiretapping
in connection with the Petroaudios audiotape release and began
investigating the private company, Business Track, where the
individuals were employed. The investigation revealed that Business
Track had illegally wire-tapped several members of Congress, judges,
and other high-profile individuals. But as the case unfolded, there was
a perception that the judiciary sought to limit the scope of its
investigation in the face of politically sensitive and potentially
incriminating information, and the Supreme Court limited a
Congressional investigating committee's access to the information it
had under review. Congressional committee and judiciary investigations
continued at year's end.
In April the Supreme Court's three-judge Permanent Criminal Chamber
convicted former president Alberto Fujimori on four separate corruption
charges: embezzlement, secretly purchasing a television station and
newspaper, bribing members of Congress, and illegal eavesdropping. The
sentences imposed were to be served concurrently with the 25-year
sentence for the former president's human rights conviction.
Most public officials are subject to financial disclosure laws and
must submit personal financial information to the General Comptroller's
office prior to taking office and periodically thereafter.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
most ministries and central offices provided information on Web sites.
Implementation of the law was incomplete, particularly in rural areas,
where few citizens exercised or understood their right to information.
The human rights ombudsman encouraged regional governments to adopt
more transparent practices for releasing information and monitored the
compliance of regional governments with a law that requires public
hearings at least twice a year.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A large 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.
Some NGOs reported that the Peruvian Agency for International
Cooperation, the governing body of international technical cooperation,
audited their records repeatedly, which they believed constituted
harassment.
According to COMISEDH, military commanders continued to deny human
rights observers access to military facilities. To obtain information
about activities in those areas, NGOs had to work through the Office of
the Ombudsman.
The Council for Reparations, a government entity, continued
assisting persons who suffered during the 1980-2000 conflict with
Shining Path. The council compiled a registry of victims, both
individuals and communities, which included 62,909 individuals and
5,409 communities eligible for reparations benefits. A number of
victims and family members lacking proper identity documents had
difficulties registering for eligibility for the reparations program.
The government cooperated with international governmental
organizations and permitted visits by UN representatives. There were
several visits from UN representatives, including the special
rapporteur for indigenous people in June and the regional director of
the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in December. On
July 20, the special rapporteur issued a report and formal
recommendations on observations of the situation of indigenous
populations in the Amazon and the events of the June 5 conflict in
Bagua, Amazonas. The Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) also visited
to assess the efficacy, and effectiveness, and outcomes of UNAIDS
programs.
The Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman operated without
government or party interference and was considered effective, although
it lacked adequate resources. During the year the office issued eight
reports on such issues as mental health and human rights, strengthening
the National Police, and migration. The government took account of
recommendations in these reports in differing degrees.
The Congress has several committees including a Human Rights
Committee as well as Special Commission for Persons with Disabilities;
however, they had limited policy impact.
On December 16, the president and other dignitaries broke ground on
the Museum of the Memory, dedicated to the victims of the internal
conflict from 1980-2000. The government overcame early reluctance in
supporting the museum, which many in the security forces viewed as a
tribute to the terrorists and a condemnation of police and military
sacrifices in halting the violence.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status, but enforcement lagged and discrimination
against women, persons with disabilities, indigenous people, and racial
and ethnic minorities persisted.
Women.--The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, but
enforcement was not effective. There were no reports on the numbers of
abusers prosecuted, convicted, or punished.
The law prohibits domestic violence, and penalties range from one
month to six years in prison. The law authorizes judges and prosecutors
to prevent the convicted spouse or parent from returning to the
family's home, and it authorizes the victim's relatives and unrelated
persons living in the home to file complaints of domestic violence. It
also allows health professionals to document injuries. The law requires
police investigation of domestic violence to take place within five
days and obliges authorities to extend protection to women and children
who are victims of domestic violence.
Nonetheless, violence against women and girls, including rape,
spousal abuse, and sexual, physical, and mental abuse remained a
problem. Insensitivity on the part of law enforcement and judicial
authorities toward female victims contributed to a societal attitude of
permissiveness toward abuse. The Ministry of Women and Social
Development (MIMDES) reported that there were 123 cases of femicide and
attempted murder (93 murders and 30 attempts).
Many domestic abuse cases went unreported, and NGOs stated that the
majority of reported cases did not result in formal charges because of
fear of retaliation or the expense of filing a complaint. The
protections offered were limited because of legal delays, ambiguities
in the law, and the shortage of shelters for victims.
MIMDES operated the Women's Emergency Program, which included 89
centers that brought together police, prosecutors, counselors, and
public welfare agents to help victims of domestic abuse. It also sought
to address the legal, psychological, social, and medical problems
facing victims of domestic violence. These centers handled 31,630 cases
through September or an average of 160 cases a day. In August the
ombudsman issued a report on thecenters, which highlighted challenges
such as lack of qualified professionals in all sectors and the
government decentralization process that also applies to the centers.
MIMDES also operated a toll-free hotline, which answered 16,136
calls or a monthly average of 1,345 of which 94 percent sought
assistance regarding family disturbances.
MIMDES continued efforts to sensitize government employees and the
citizenry to domestic violence, but the ombudsman asserted that police
officers reacted indifferently to charges of domestic violence, despite
legal requirements to investigate the complaints.
Prostitution is legal for women over 18 years of age if they
register with municipal authorities and carry a health certificate. The
vast majority of prostitutes worked in the informal sector, where they
lacked health protection. NGOs reported that traffickers lured some
underage women into prostitution. Penalties for pimps and clients of
underage prostitutes range from four to eight years in prison. There
was no information on the number of cases reported, prosecuted, or
convicted.
Sexual harassment was a problem. The law defines sexual harassment
as a labor rights violation subject to administrative punishment.
Punishments differ depending on the professional situation in which the
violation took place. Government enforcement was minimally effective.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children and had the information and means to do
so free from discrimination, depending on the population's access to
education and to reproductive health information. Access to information
on contraception, and skilled attendance at delivery and in postpartum
care were widely available in urban areas but not as available in the
highlands and jungle. According to the World Health Organization, there
are 410 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births per year. Women and men
were given equal access to diagnostic services and treatment for
sexually transmitted infections.
The law provides for equality between men and women and prohibits
discrimination against women with regard to marriage, divorce, and
property rights, and women from the upper and upper-middle classes
assumed leadership roles in companies and government agencies. The law
prohibits racial and sexual discrimination in employment or educational
advertisements and the arbitrary dismissal of pregnant women; however,
in practice, discrimination continued.
The law stipulates that women should receive equal pay for equal
work. However, societal prejudice and discrimination led to
disproportionate poverty and unemployment rates for women. On average,
women were paid 46 percent less than men for comparable work; usually
worked in less secure occupations as maids, in factories, or as street
vendors; and were more likely to be illiterate due to lack of formal
education.
Children.--Citizenship is derived either by one's birth within the
territory or from one's parents' citizenship. There were problems with
government registration of births (see section 2.d.). Although this did
not cause denial of public services, it limited access to social
welfare programs and public health services.
The constitution stipulates that primary and secondary education is
free; however, citizens and NGOs asserted that it was not completely
free in practice and that fees due to parents associations,
administrative expenses, and costs of educational materials made access
more difficult for lower-income families.
Violence and sexual abuse of children were serious problems. MIMDES
reported 1,650 cases of violence or sexual abuse of children five years
of age and under and 3,687 cases of abuse of children ages six to 11.
Many abuse cases went unreported because societal norms viewed such
abuse as a family problem that should be resolved privately. The
Women's Emergency Program worked to help children who were victims of
violence, receiving information through the children's rights and
welfare protection offices.
MIMDES' Children's Bureau coordinated government policies and
programs for children and adolescents. At the grassroots level, more
than 1,300 children's rights and welfare protection offices resolved
complaints ranging from physical and sexual abuse of children to
abandonment and failure to pay child support. Provincial or district
governments operated approximately 50 percent of these offices, while
schools, churches, and NGOs ran the others. Law students staffed most
of the units, particularly in rural districts. When these offices could
not resolve disputes, officials usually referred cases to the local
prosecutors' offices of the Public Ministry, whose adjudications were
legally binding and had the same force as judgments entered by a court
of law.
The government worked with other Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR)
members to carry out the ``Nino Sur'' (``Southern Child'') initiative
to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
The law prohibits child prostitution, penalizing perpetrators with
five to 12 years in prison. The country was a destination for child sex
tourism, with Cusco and Iquitos as the principal locations. Involvement
in child sex tourism is punishable by two to eight years in prison.
Statutory rape law differentiates between rape, rape of a person in
an unconscious situation or injury, rape of a disabled person, rape of
a minor less than 14 years, rape of a minor resulting in injury, and
rape if the individual has a position of authority. Penalties range
from six years' to life imprisonment. The penalty for involvement in
child pornography is four to eight years' imprisonment and fines.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from,
through, and within the country.
The country was a source, transit point, and destination for
trafficked persons. Internal trafficking was the major problem in the
country. No authoritative estimates existed on the extent of
international trafficking, but evidence indicated that persons were
trafficked to Spain and particularly to Japan through organized
criminal networks. There were reports that victims were trafficked into
the country from Ecuador and Bolivia.
The government, NGOs, and international organizations reported that
significant domestic trafficking occurred, particularly in districts
located in the Andes or the Amazon jungle, to traffic underage girls
into cities or mining areas for commercial sexual exploitation or for
work as domestic servants. There were also reports of trafficking into
the VRAE of victims who were forced to work in brothels and to service
members of the drug-trafficking organizations. Children, along with
their families, were trafficked from Chile to Peru and Bolivia to work
in agriculture.
The principal victims and groups at high risk for trafficking were
children and young women from rural or poor urban areas, persons living
in poverty, persons with disabilities, victims of domestic abuse,
illiterate persons, and persons lacking birth certificates or other
identification documents.
Traffickers' methods often combined emotional manipulation and
coercion. Victims were recruited by friends or acquaintances and
through newspaper and Internet advertisements or street posters
offering employment. Local employment agencies recruited some victims
by offering poor young women from rural areas relatively well-paid
``restaurant work'' in Lima, Cusco, major coastal cities, and abroad.
NGOs reported that the principal traffickers were local crime groups,
parents of victims, and informal networks involving acquaintances or
extended family members. Traffickers usually transported their victims
by road, while a smaller percentage traveled by air or river. The
families of the victims wittingly or unwittingly facilitated the
trafficking by trusting a ``friend'' or a distant relative who promised
the victim a job.
The law provides penalties from eight to 15 years' imprisonment for
those who move a person, either within the country or to an area
outside the country, for the purposes of sexual exploitation (including
prostitution, sexual slavery, or pornography). If the victim is under
18 years old, the punishment is 12 to 25 years' imprisonment. Laws
prohibiting kidnapping, sexual abuse, and illegal employment of minors
also were used to punish those who trafficked persons. The law was not
effectively enforced.
The PNP's Trafficking Investigation Unit raided clandestine
brothels, rescued a number of young women, and returned victims to
their families. The raids resulted in few arrests for trafficking
crimes. Authorities charged most persons with pimping and related
crimes. The PNP's trafficking unit reported 138 trafficking cases of
which 34 were forced labor and 103 for sex trafficking. The 181
reported victims included 155 women and 26 men.
In December 2008 a court sentenced Teobaldo Saavedra Chamba, the
owner of a bar in Sullana, to 12 years' imprisonment for the sexual
exploitation of minors.
On October 30, Lima's 45th Court acquitted Paulina Grajeda on
charges of trafficking underage female victims from Iquitos to work in
her establishments in Cusco. The prosecutor's appeal of the decision
was pending at year's end.
There were no known developments, and none were expected, in the
case of Segundo Yoel Merino Sanchez, arrested in December 2008 by
authorities in Piura for exploitation of minors.
By year's end Carlos Arturo Yong Chong was in prison sentenced to
12 years' imprisonment for trafficking of minors, counterfeiting of
documents, and illegal abortions.
The government coordinated with NGOs to protect and assist victims.
One example is a Catholic order, the Sisters of Adoration, which
operated three programs for underage female prostitutes: a live-in
center for approximately 75 girls and 20 children of the victims in
Callao and two drop-in centers in Lima and Chiclayo. All facilities
offered medical attention, job training, and self-esteem workshops
designed to keep underage girls from the streets. The government
provided the building in Callao and paid for upkeep, utilities, and
food.
The Ministry of Interior's Office of Human Rights maintained a
toll-free trafficking hotline. The hotline staff received support from
the International Organization for Migration, which assisted in
informational campaigns and training government officials in
trafficking issues. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs produced and
distributed antitrafficking materials to domestic passport offices and
overseas consular posts.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities and provides for their protection,
care, rehabilitation, and security; mandates that public spaces be free
of barriers and accessible to persons with disabilities; and provides
for the appointment of a disability rights specialist in the
ombudsman's office. However, the government devoted limited resources
to enforcement and training, and many persons with physical
disabilities remained economically and socially marginalized. The
government made little effort to ensure access to public buildings.
There were no interpreters for the deaf in government offices and no
access to recordings or braille for the blind.
The government failed to enforce laws assigning the state
responsibility for safeguarding and attending to persons with mental
health problems in situations of social abandonment. The number of
medical personnel in psychiatric institutions was insufficient; in some
cases patients cared for each other. The NGOs Mental Disability Rights
International and Association for Human Rights reported that the
government did not protect adequately the rights of persons with mental
illnesses, including inhuman treatment of institutionalized patients,
discrimination in the provision of health and social services, and
failure to ensure informed consent.
MIMDES' National Council of the Person with Disabilities (CONADIS)
is responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
CONADIS continued to work with NGO Sense International to provide
educational, vocational, and training services for meeting the needs of
deaf and blind persons, foster increased public awareness, and
integrate deaf and blind persons into society.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law provides all citizens
equality before the law and forbids discrimination on the basis of
race, national origin, or language.
The population includes large minorities of persons of Asian and
African descent. Afro-Peruvians, who were among the poorest groups in
the country, faced discrimination and social prejudice. Afro-Peruvians
generally did not hold leadership positions in government, business, or
the military. Few Afro-Peruvians served as officers in either the navy
or the air force. Although the law prohibits mentioning race in job
advertisements, NGOs alleged that employers often found ways to refuse
Afro-Peruvians jobs or relegate them to low-paying service positions.
Employers often required applicants to submit photos. The media often
portrayed Afro-Peruvians as stereotypes.
In July several civil society organizations submitted an
alternative report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD) on the state of racism in the country, as the
government did not consult with them for the official report or
hearings (see section 5). The NGOs asserted that the government has not
adopted real and effective mechanisms at the national level to
guarantee the rights of groups protected by the CERD convention.
On November 28, in an executive resolution published in El Peruano,
the government formally apologized to the nation's Afro-descendant
populations for abuse, exclusion, and discrimination perpetrated
against them, from the colonial era until the present.
Indigenous People.--The law prohibits discrimination based on race
and provides for the right of all citizens to speak their native
language. While Spanish and Quechua are the official languages, the
government also recognizes 49 other indigenous languages. The
government did not provide sufficient resources to protect effectively
the civil and political rights of indigenous persons.
Most indigenous persons and those with indigenous features faced
societal discrimination and prejudice. They were often the victims of
derogatory comments and subjected to illegal discrimination in
restaurants and clubs.
Language barriers and inadequate infrastructure in indigenous
communities impeded the full participation of indigenous persons in the
political process. Many indigenous persons lacked identity documents
and could not exercise basic rights.
The geographic isolation of highland and Amazon jungle communities
contributed to their social, economic, and political marginalization.
Child mortality rates were higher in indigenous areas, and only 20
percent of births took place in public health centers.
While the constitution recognizes that indigenous persons have the
right to communal land ownership, indigenous groups often lacked legal
title to demarcate the boundaries of their lands, making it difficult
to resist encroachment by outsiders. By law local communities retain
the right of unassignability to prevent the reassignment of indigenous
land titles to nonindigenous tenants. However, some members of
indigenous communities sold land to outsiders without the consent of
the majority of their community. Mineral or other subsoil rights belong
to the state, a situation that often caused conflict between mining
interests and indigenous communities.
On June 5, security forces dispersed demonstrators who had been
blocking roads in and around Bagua, Amazonas, for several months,
demanding the repeal of certain legislative decrees. Indigenous
community representatives argued that the decrees were unconstitutional
because the government had failed to consult with the communities prior
to their approval. Clashes between police and protesters left 10
civilians and 24 police officers dead and several injured. Following
the conflict, the government participated in negotiations with
indigenous community representatives and, on June 15, signed a 12-point
agreement with indigenous leaders, which led to the repeal of two of
the presidential decrees that sparked the protests. Four working groups
established to address issues leading to these clashes completed their
tasks in December. A December 21 report on the events in Bagua assigned
blame broadly, including to the government and the indigenous
community.
The constitution provides that all citizens have the right to use
their own language before any authority by means of an interpreter. In
Congress native speakers of Quechua conducted some debate in Quechua
(translators were available for non-Quechua speakers). The National
Program of Mobilization for Literacy continued teaching basic literacy
and mathematics to poor men and women throughout the country.
The National Institute of Development of Andean, Amazonian, and
Afro-Peruvians (INDEPA) is a government entity with the mission to
formulate and adopt national development policies, programs, and
projects for Andean, Amazonian, and Afro-Peruvian communities. INDEPA's
board includes four Andean, three Amazonian, and two Afro-Peruvian
representatives elected by popular vote in their respective
communities. INDEPA lacked a separate budget and was ineffective.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--There are no laws prohibiting
discrimination against persons based on sexual orientation; however,
government authorities including the police, sometimes harassed and
abused homosexual persons. There were cases of discrimination against
persons based on sexual orientation.
The Ministry of the Interior's Handbook of Human Rights Applied to
the Civil Police stipulates that police must respect human rights,
especially of the most vulnerable groups, and refers explicitly to the
human rights of lesbians, gays, and transvestites. Although
discrimination based on sexual orientation was a problem as seen in the
expulsion of a gay student from a police academy, on December 9, the
Constitutional Tribunal ordered the student to be reinstated.
Promsex, an NGO and member of the Peruvian Network (Red Peruana
TLGB) focused on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights
reported that there were no impediments to their operation or free
association. They also lobbied Congress to pass a Hate Crimes Law,
which was delivered to the Human Rights Committee of the Congress on
October 23.
On January 29, a transgender woman, known as Techi, was kidnapped
and tortured by members of a local neighborhood watch patrol in
Tarapoto. In April local prosecutors presented the case to the Second
Court of Tarapoto.
On April 14, the NGO Promsex and other NGOs sent the 2008 case of
the rape of Luis Alberto Rojas Marin to the Inter-American Human Rights
Commission; the commission rejected the petition on August 27.
Several gay pride marches occurred in Lima, including the Fifth
Annual Festival of Sexual Diversity on January 11 and a lesbian march
on October 13. By law organizers must inform the Ministry of Interior
of intentions to hold a public gathering. There were no impediments or
incidents for the festival, although there was a problem with police
for the October march as they had not requested authorization.
There was no official or societal discrimination based on sexual
orientation in employment, housing, statelessness, or access to
education or health care although there were cases in each at year's
end.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--Persons with HIV/AIDS
faced extensive discrimination and harassment.
The Ministry of Health executed policies to combat discrimination
based on HIV/AIDS status, including a four-year strategic plan to
prevent and control HIV/AIDS. Some of these policies enjoyed success,
such as in treatment of HIV/AIDS, but observers noted that education
and prevention programs needed strengthening.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of
association. Regulations allow workers to form unions on the basis of
their occupation, employer affiliation, or geographic territory.
Workers are not required to seek authorization prior to forming a trade
union, and employers cannot prevent employment because of union
membership. Judges, prosecutors, and members of the police and military
are not permitted to form or join unions. More than 70 percent of the
14 million-member labor force worked in the informal sector. The
Ministry of Labor (MOL) reported that approximately 9.5 percent of the
labor force was unionized.
Many businesses hired temporary or contract workers who were
legally not permitted to participate in those firms' unions. Although
the law forbids businesses from hiring temporary workers to perform
core company work functions, employers circumvented these restrictions
in a number of ways. In June 2008, however, the government enacted a
law governing subcontracting that requires businesses to monitor their
contractors and imposes liability on businesses for the actions of
their contractors.
Workers in nontraditional export sectors (fishing, wood and paper,
nonmetallic minerals, jewelry, textile, and agroindustry) have their
associational rights limited by two regulations currently in force.
Especially notable is Legislative Decree No. 728, which calls for nine
different categories of employment contracts under which workers can be
hired in response to particular circumstances. These types of contracts
include temporary, project, or seasonal contracts. Another decree
allows employers to hire workers on a series of short-term contracts
without requiring that the workers be made permanent.
The constitution provides for the right to strike with certain
limitations. Unions in essential public services, as determined by the
government, must provide a sufficient number of workers during a strike
to maintain operations. The law bans government unions in essential
public services from striking. It also requires strikers to notify the
MOL before carrying out a job action, which is contrary to
International Labor Organization (ILO) policy that this responsibility
should rest with an independent body, especially in cases involving the
public sector.
During the year the government declared legal seven out of 84
strikes. According to labor leaders, permission to strike was difficult
to obtain, in part because the MOL feared harming the economy. The MOL
justified its decisions in such cases by citing unions' failure to
fulfill the legal requirements necessary to strike. The law allows
unions to declare a strike in accordance with its own statues; it also
allows nonunion workers to declare a strike with a majority vote so
long as the written act is notarized and announced at least five
working days prior to a strike. The difference between a legal and an
illegal strike to the worker is that there exists some recourse
associated with the length allowed under the legal strike.
In spite of improvements in the laws that make it easier for
workers to call a legal strike, employers continue to dismiss workers
for exercising the right to strike. Drawn-out judicial processes and
lack of enforcement following strike-related dismissals threaten to
nullify improvements to the legal framework. A local NGO stated that 75
percent of strikes were based on lack of enforcement of decisions and
not wage issues.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
recognizes the right of public and private sector workers to organize
and bargain collectively but specifies that this right must be
exercised in harmony with broader social objectives. A union must
represent at least 20 workers to become an official collective
bargaining agent. Union representatives have the right to participate
in collective bargaining negotiations and establish negotiating
timetables.
Although a conciliation and arbitration system exists, union
officials complained that the high cost of arbitration made it
difficult to use. Also, many refused to be bound to the decisions and
appealed to the constitutional court.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and other forms of
employer intimidation, and workers fired for union activity have the
right to reinstatement. However, the government did not effectively
enforce the law, and employers engaged in antiunion practices. The
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) notes that the Law of
Productivity and Competitiveness legalizes unfair dismissals by giving
companies the right to fire employees without justification if they
offer severance pay fixed by the law. The ITUC alleged that unionists
were pressured to accept the severance pay and were threatened with
nonrenewal of contract under this law.
In December 2008, 27 workers were dismissed from Goodyear Peru:
some were fired outright, while others reported being forced to sign
voluntary resignation letters. Of the 27 workers who lost their jobs,
10 were founding members of the union, four were union officers, and
the majority had more than 20 years of service to the company. The
workers were dismissed just as their union began talks with the
management on issues including freedom of association, collective
bargaining, and the right to protection from arbitrary dismissals.
In March 600 workers were summarily fired at SiderPeru Iron and
Steel Company in Chimbote.
While there are no known special exemptions or exemptions from
regular labor laws in export processing zones (EPZs), businesses in
EPZs had more flexibility under the law in hiring temporary labor.
According to the MOL there is one recognized public-sector union with
122 members in one of the four EPZs. All labor in the EPZs (estimated
at no more than 500 workers) was subcontracted.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including labor by children; however, there
were reports that such practices occurred.
The ILO estimated that between 20,000 and 40,000 persons worked as
forced laborers, primarily in the logging industry in two departments
in the Amazon. The ILO's Committee of Experts (COE) in 2008 observed
that forced labor practices, including slavery and debt bondage,
affected many workers from indigenous communities. The COE called upon
the government to take the necessary measures to criminalize and
repress practices of forced labor in criminal law.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--Laws
exist to protect children from exploitation in the workplace and
prohibit forced or compulsory labor; however, in practice, child labor
remained a serious problem, and the laws were violated routinely in the
informal sector. The ILO estimated that during the year there were
approximately two million working children in the country. Child labor
was a serious problem in gold mining, brick and fireworks
manufacturing, stone extraction, timber production, brazil-nut
production, and coca production.
The legal minimum age for employment is 14. However, children
between the ages of 12 and 14 may work in certain jobs for up to four
hours per day, and adolescents between ages 15 and 17 may work up to
six hours per day if they obtain special permission from the MOL and
certify that they are attending school. In certain sectors of the
economy, higher minimums were in force: age 15 in industrial,
commercial, or mining and age 16 in fishing. The government
specifically prohibits a number of occupations considered hazardous for
children, including working underground, lifting or carrying heavy
weights, accepting responsibility for the safety of others, or working
at night. The law prohibits work that jeopardizes the health of
children and adolescents, puts their physical, mental, and emotional
development at risk or prevents regular attendance at school.
The MOL's Office of Labor Protection for Minors may issue permits
authorizing persons under age 18 to work legally and granted 768 such
permits through October, which went to children between ages 16 and 17.
Parents must apply for the permits, and employers must have a permit on
file to hire a child. In many cases the child is working alongside the
parents in the family business usually in the areas identified in
sectors above.
The MOL is responsible for enforcing child labor laws, and its
inspectors may investigate reports of illegal child labor. The ministry
stated that inspectors conducted routine visits without notice to areas
where persons or organizations reported child labor problems. The
government reported that it fined and suspended operations of firms
that violated labor laws.
Inspectors maintained contact with a wide variety of local NGOs,
church officials, law enforcement officials, and school officials.
Through November there were 412 labor inspectors (233 in Lima) whose
inspections focused on the formal sector.
The Office of the Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents (DEMUNA)
worked with the MOL to document complaints regarding violations of
child labor laws. There were more than 1,000 DEMUNA offices in
municipalities throughout the country. DEMUNA also operated a
decentralized child labor reporting and tracking system. MIMDES
administered a program that sent specialized teachers to the streets to
provide education and support to minors involved in begging and other
kinds of work.
The National Inter-sectoral Commission for the Eradication of
Forced Labor, a government entity, operated a program in Huachipa that
targeted 150 children and adolescents working in brick making and other
industries. The program provided information to raise awareness within
the community about child labor, education for child workers, and
assistance to parents to develop skills to find alternative employment.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law states that workers
should receive a just and sufficient wage determined by the government
in consultation with labor and business representatives, as well as
adequate protection against arbitrary dismissal. The statutory monthly
minimum wage is 550 soles ($192), which did not provide a decent
standard of living for many families. The government estimated the
poverty line to be approximately 207 soles ($72) a month per person, a
figure that varied by region. The MOL enforced the minimum wage only in
the formal sector, which employed approximately 30 percent of the labor
force, and many workers in the unregulated informal sector, most of
whom were self-employed, received less. During the year labor
representatives boycotted the National Labor Council, citing the
government's refusal to raise the minimum wage.
The law provides for a 48-hour workweek and one day of rest and
requires companies to pay overtime for more than eight hours of work
per day and additional compensation for work at night. Labor, business,
and the government reported that the majority of companies in the
formal sector generally complied with the law.
On March 30, a supreme decree was passed which clearly states what
are acts of discrimination against domestic workers. Employers have
frequently required long hours from domestics and paid low wages.
Although occupational health and safety standards exist, the
government often did not devote sufficient personnel, technical, and
financial resources to enforce compliance with labor laws. Labor
sources claimed that many inspectors were forced to pay for
transportation to sites and were often harassed or refused entry by
businesses. Many fines went uncollected, in part because the MOL lacked
an efficient tracking system.
According to the MOL, its inspectors conducted 71,321 visits to
worksites, including orientation (21 percent) and inspection (79
percent) and levied 882 fines on 8,132 companies, 337 for health and
safety violations.
The National Federation of Mineworkers reported that, between
January and October, 50 miners died in mining accidents mainly as a
result of rockslides, falls, and asphyxiation among others.
In cases of industrial accidents, an agreement between the employer
and worker usually determined compensation. The worker did not need to
prove an employer's culpability in order to obtain compensation for
work-related injuries. No provisions exist for workers to remove
themselves from potentially dangerous situations without jeopardizing
employment.
__________
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
Saint Kitts and Nevis is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy and
federation, with a population of approximately 39,200. In 2004 national
elections, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas's Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour
Party (SKNLP) won seven seats in the 11-seat legislature. International
observers concluded that the election was credible and that the results
reflected the will of the voters, but noted weaknesses in the electoral
process. The constitution provides the smaller island of Nevis
considerable self-government under a premier, as well as the right to
secede from the federation in accordance with certain enumerated
procedures. In 2006 voters in Nevis elected Joseph Parry of the Nevis
Reformation Party (NRP) as premier. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
Although the government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, problems included use of excessive force by police, poor
prison conditions, and violence against women.
respect for human rights
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
Following a coroner's inquest, no police officers were charged with
the 2007 police killing of Philmore ``Kiddy'' Seaton. Security force
Private Louis Richards was charged and convicted of manslaughter for
the 2007 killing of Clyde Williams.
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. However, due to an
increasing number of violent incidents involving police, law
enforcement officials came under increased scrutiny, and citizens were
becoming increasingly afraid of reporting crime because of the heavy-
handedness with which police carried out their duties. Corporal
punishment is legal and an accepted measure for juveniles in schools
and the justice system. A court can order that an accused person
receive lashes if found guilty.
Authorities brought no charges against the police who shot and
injured Devon Albertine in January 2008. Nor were charges brought
against police who shot Beko Lapsey, also in January 2008. In both
incidents, authorities determined that the shootings were justifiable.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prisons remained
overcrowded, and facilities austere. Built in 1840, the prison on Saint
Kitts had an intended capacity of 150 prisoners but held 259 prisoners;
some prisoners slept on mats on the floor. There were separate
facilities for men and women. The prison staff periodically received
training in human rights.
The government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, although no such visits were known to have occurred during
the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the government generally observed
these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces
consist of a 412-officer police force, including a paramilitary Special
Services Unit, a coast guard, and a small defense force. Military
forces patrolled jointly with the police. The military and the police
report to the Ministry for National Security, Justice, and Labor.
Senior police officers investigated complaints against members of
the police force. When warranted, they refer them to an internal
disciplinary tribunal for adjudication; penalties include dismissal,
warnings, or other administrative action. No information was available
as to the number or disposition of cases under consideration during the
year.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Police may
arrest a person based on the suspicion of criminal activity without a
warrant. The law requires that persons detained be charged within 48
hours or be released. If charged, a detainee must be brought before a
court within 72 hours. There is a functioning system of bail. Family
members, attorneys, and clergy were permitted to visit detainees
regularly.
Detainees may be held for a maximum of seven days awaiting a bail
hearing. Those accused of serious offenses are remanded to custody to
await trial, while those accused of minor infractions are released on
their own recognizance.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The court system includes the High Court and four magistrate's
courts at the local level, with the right of appeal to the Eastern
Caribbean Court of Appeal. Final appeal may be made to the Privy
Council in the United Kingdom.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for a fair, speedy,
and public trial, and these requirements generally were observed.
Defendants have the right to be present and to consult with counsel in
a timely manner. There is a presumption of innocence, and defendants
may question or confront witnesses. Juries are used at the High Court
level for criminal matters only. Free legal assistance was available
for indigent defendants in capital cases only.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary for civil matters, including lawsuits regarding
alleged civil rights violations.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and the
government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice.
There were eight radio stations and two daily newspapers on the
islands. In addition, each major political party published a weekly or
fortnightly newspaper. Opposition publications freely criticized the
government, and international media were available. Television was
government owned, and there were some government restrictions on
opposition access to the medium.
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.
According to the International Telecommunication Union, there were 31
Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
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 abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. There
was no organized Jewish community.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution and the law provide
for freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration,
and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights
in practice.
The law does not address forced exile, but 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 Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees, but not to its 1967 protocol, which
the government has not signed. However, the government has not
established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice
the government provided protection against the expulsion or return of
refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened,
but it did not routinely grant refugee status or asylum.
The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and was prepared to cooperate with
other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum
seekers. In the one case that occurred, a UNHCR interview determined
that the asylum seeker was an economic refugee. There is an honorary
UNHCR liaison in the country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--There is a multiparty
political system, in which political parties were free to conduct their
activities. In December the government called for the next general
elections to be held on January 26, 2010.
In the October 2004 general elections, Prime Minister Denzil
Douglas's SKNLP returned to office after winning seven of eight Saint
Kitts-assigned seats in the 11-seat National Assembly. The People's
Action Movement (PAM) party won one seat. The Concerned Citizens
Movement party won two of the three assembly seats assigned to Nevis.
The Commonwealth observer team categorized the electoral rules as
``followed but flawed'' and reported concerns about voter fraud,
intimidation, and foreign influence. Lack of a requirement to prove
identity limited voting officials' ability to prevent persons voting
more than once. Use of foreign campaign advisers was controversial,
government information services were accused of biased coverage, and
the government deported and refused reentry to a leading opposition
consultant.
In 2007 parliament passed electoral reform legislation meant to
address the PAM's allegations of corrupt electoral practices by the
ruling SKNLP; however, the legislation did not address all such
concerns, especially safeguards against persons voting multiple times.
There are no campaign finance regulations or prohibitions on political
parties paying for the transportation of overseas nationals to return
to the country to vote. The new legislation does not include absentee
voting, but there are no restrictions on political parties providing
funding for citizens to return to vote. Although the opposition
complained about the voter reregistration process, in which all voters
were required to appear in person, it was completed in September 2008
without major incidents.
The island of Nevis exercises considerable self-government, with
its own premier and legislature. In 2006 voters in Nevis elected Joseph
Parry of the NRP as premier.
The governor general appoints three senators, two on recommendation
of the prime minister and one on the recommendation of the leader of
the opposition. There were no women in the parliament or the cabinet;
three of four magistrates were women, the court registrar was a woman,
and six of 11 permanent secretaries were women. In Nevis one elected
member of the House of Assembly, the appointed president of the House
of Assembly, and the island's resident judge were women.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and
the government generally implemented these laws effectively. There were
isolated reports of government corruption during the year. The
opposition PAM party continued to allege possible misconduct on the
part of government officials.
Public officials are not subject to financial disclosure laws, and
there is no agency responsible for combating government corruption.
While no laws provide for public access to government information,
the government maintained a Web site with limited information
concerning government actions.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
While there are no governmental restrictions on human rights
groups, no local human rights groups operated in the country. There
were no requests for investigations or visits by international human
rights groups during the year.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, place of
origin, birth out of wedlock, political opinion or affiliation, color,
gender, or creed, and the government generally respected these
prohibitions in practice.
Women.--The law prohibits rape, but it does not address spousal
rape. Penalties for rape range from two years' imprisonment for incest
between minors to life imprisonment for statutory rape or incest with
someone under 16. Indecent assault has a maximum penalty of seven
years' imprisonment. Incest with a person 16 or older carries a penalty
of 20 years' imprisonment. During the year police investigated a number
of cases of rape and indecent assault.
Violence against women was a problem. The law criminalizes domestic
violence, including emotional abuse, and provides penalties of up to
EC$13,500 ($5,000) or six months in prison. Although many women were
reluctant to file complaints or pursue them in the courts, the Ministry
of Gender Affairs handled an annual average of 25 to 30 reports of
domestic violence. The director believed that, due to the nature of the
crime, many women did not feel comfortable reporting it or asking for a
protection order. There were no prosecutions or convictions for
domestic violence during the year.
The ministry offered counseling for victims of abuse and conducted
training on domestic violence and gender violence for officials in the
police and fire departments, nurses, school guidance counselors, and
other government employees.
Prostitution is illegal and was not considered a problem.
The law does not specifically address sexual harassment, and it
remained a problem.
The role of women in society is not restricted by law but was
circumscribed by culture and tradition. Reproductive rights were
generally protected; couples and individuals had the right to decide
the number, spacing, and timing of children. The National Family
Planning Office provided information on contraception and support for
reproductive rights on a nondiscriminatory basis. Skilled attendance at
delivery and in postpartum care was widely available. Women and men
were given equal access to diagnostic services and treatment for HIV/
AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.
There was no overt societal discrimination against women in
employment, although analyses suggested that women did not occupy as
many senior positions as men. The Ministry of Gender Affairs conducted
programs addressing poverty and health and promoting institutional
mechanisms to advance the status of women and attain leadership
positions for women. Although no legislation requires equal pay for
equal work, women and men generally received equal salaries for
comparable jobs.
Children.--Children acquire citizenship by birth in the country,
and all are registered at birth and equally able to access public
education and public services. Children born to citizen parents abroad
can be registered by either of their parents.
Child abuse remained a major problem. The law sets the age of
consent at 16. Authorities received a number of reports of sexual
assaults against children during the year and brought charges in cases
involving alleged sexual activity with minors (indecent assault). Under
the statutory rape law, sexual relations with anyone under 16 is
illegal, with penalties ranging from probation to life in prison. Child
pornography is illegal and carries a penalty of up to 20 years in
prison.
Trafficking in Persons.--Laws criminalize trafficking in persons
that include all elements of the offense, such as withholding
identification or travel documents of a person and controlling and
restricting the movement of a person. The penalties for trafficking in
persons range from 20 years to life in prison. There were no confirmed
reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country.
The UNHCR representative noted that trafficking for the purpose of
labor exploitation was known to occur, especially in the form of
importing foreign nationals from Guyana and other countries to work on
construction projects for lower wages.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--While the law prohibits discrimination,
it does not specifically cite discrimination against persons with
disabilities. There was no reported discrimination against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or in the
provision of other state services. The law does not mandate access to
buildings for persons with disabilities.
Persons who are mentally ill and deemed a menace to society can be
incarcerated for life; there were five such persons in the prison.
Ministry of Health nurses in the various district health centers deal
with persons with mental illness, and the General Hospital has a wing
dedicated to caring for patients with mental illness.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--There are no laws that
prohibit discrimination against a person on the basis of sexual
orientation. Homosexual acts are illegal and carry penalties up to 10
years in prison.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--Although no statistics
were available, anecdotal evidence suggested that societal
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS occurred.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers exercised their legal right
to form and join trade unions. Employers are not bound legally to
recognize a union, but in practice employers did so if a majority of
workers polled wished to organize. Approximately 10 percent of the
workforce was unionized. The law permits the police, civil service, and
other organizations to organize associations that serve as unions. The
major labor union, the Saint Kitts Trades and Labour Union, was
associated closely with the SKNLP and was active in all sectors of the
economy.
The right to strike, while not specified by law, is well
established and respected in practice. Restrictions on strikes by
workers who provide essential services, such as the police and civil
servants, were enforced by established practice and custom but not by
law.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Labor unions
have the legal right to organize and to negotiate better wages and
benefits for union members, and the government protected these rights
in practice. A union that obtains membership of more than 50 percent of
employees at a company can apply to be recognized by the employer for
collective bargaining.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination but does not require
employers found guilty of such action to rehire employees fired for
union activities. However, the employer must pay lost wages and
severance pay to employees who worked at least one year, based upon
their length of service.
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.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
constitution prohibits slavery, servitude, and forced labor of
children, and the Department of Labor effectively enforced this law in
practice. There were no reports of child labor during the year. The
minimum legal working age is 16 years. The Department of Labor relied
heavily on school truancy officers and the Community Affairs Division
to monitor compliance, which they generally did effectively.
Juveniles worked in agriculture, domestic service, and illicit
activities. In rural areas where families engaged in livestock farming
and vegetable production, children often were required to assist as
part of family efforts at subsistence. Girls often engaged in domestic
service. Such labor included family-oriented work where children were
made to look after younger siblings or ailing parents and grandparents
at the expense of their schooling. Children often worked in other
households as domestic servants or babysitters. In general society did
not consider domestic work exploitive child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The government sets the minimum
wage, which was increased in October 2008 to EC$8.00 ($3.00) an hour.
The Ministry of Labor received tripartite input from the major labor
union, private sector groups, and the Ministry of Finance, and the
minimum wage was debated openly in parliament. Average wages were
considerably higher than the minimum wage, which would not provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. The Labor Commission
undertook regular wage inspections and special investigations when it
received complaints; it required employers found in violation to pay
back wages.
The law provides for a 40- to 44-hour workweek, but the common
practice was 40 hours in five days. Although not required by law,
workers received at least one 24-hour rest period per week. The law
provides for premium pay for work above the standard workweek. There
was no legal prohibition of excessive or compulsory overtime, although
local custom dictated that a worker could not be forced to work
overtime.
While there are no specific health and safety regulations, the law
provides general health and safety guidance to Department of Labor
inspectors. The Labor Commission settles disputes over safety
conditions. Workers have the right to report unsafe work environments
without jeopardy to continued employment; inspectors then investigate
such claims, and workers may leave such locations without jeopardy to
their continued employment.
__________
SAINT LUCIA
Saint Lucia is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy with a
population of approximately 171,000. In generally free and fair
elections in 2006, former prime minister Sir John Compton returned to
power when his United Workers Party (UWP) defeated the previously
ruling Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP), winning 11 seats in the 17-
member House of Assembly. In 2007 Stephenson King was appointed prime
minister following Compton's death. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
While the government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were problems in a few areas, primarily abuse of
suspects and prisoners by the police, long delays in trials and
sentencing, violence against women, and child abuse.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
security forces killed two persons during the year. The Criminal
Investigations Department had investigations under way at year's end.
On July 24, police shot and killed Anthony Fulgence in an attempt
to stop a motorcycle he was riding as a passenger. The driver of the
motorcycle claimed not to know that he was being followed by police and
only stopped when he heard gunshots. Authorities placed the police
officer on administrative duties, and he later retired from the force
while the investigation was pending.
On November 30, an undercover police officer shot and killed Alfred
James during an investigation of a robbery. Authorities placed the
officer on administrative leave and opened an investigation.
The director of public prosecution continued reviewing the case of
the December 2008 police killing of John Garvy Alcindor and the
measures put in place to deal with ``a few offending officers.''
The case of the alleged police killing in August 2008 of Timothy
St. Luce of Bouton remained pending in court. There was no information
available about pending investigations into police shootings in 2007,
2006, and 2005.
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,
prisoners and suspects regularly complained of physical abuse by police
and prison officers.
On May 14, Keiran Herman claimed that police tortured him at the La
Toc station, just south of Castries. Herman alleged that police beat,
kicked, and used a cable wire to assault him; an investigation was
under way at year's end.
During the year citizens filed a number of complaints against the
police, most of which were for abuse of authority.
There was no information available about results of any
investigations into the November 2008 case in which police shot and
injured Miguel Edwards, the 2007 incident in which members of the
police Special Services Unit shot Andre Halls in the leg, and the 2006
police shooting of a 17-year-old boy.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met minimum international standards at the four-year-old
Bordelais Correctional Facility, which had an intended capacity of 500
prisoners and held approximately 50 above that number. Some prisoners
and family members complained about treatment of prisoners at the
facility. The government added 40 additional guards to the facility to
help curb the smuggling of drugs and cell phones into the facility.
The Boys Training Center, a facility for boys charged with criminal
offenses or suffering from domestic or other social problems, operated
separately from the prison and conditions were substandard. The boys in
the program normally stay for two years and receive vocational training
while enrolled. There were continuing complaints about the facility,
and at year's end a site had been cleared for a new facility.
The government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, but no such visits took place during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the government generally observed
these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Royal Saint Lucia
Police numbered 826 officers, which included a Special Services Unit
with some paramilitary training and a coast guard unit. The police
force reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security, a
portfolio held by the prime minister.
The police force's internal complaints unit, which consists of
retired police officers, received and investigated complaints made by
the public and sent its findings to the Police Complaints Commission, a
civilian body. The commission reviewed the cases and made
recommendations for internal disciplinary action, but human rights
monitors considered the process ineffective, and the director of public
prosecution stated that the commission had not made any recommendations
for prosecution in several years.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The
constitution stipulates that persons must be apprehended openly with
warrants issued by a judicial authority and requires a court hearing
within 72 hours of detention. Detainees are allowed prompt access to
counsel and family. There is a functioning bail system.
Prolonged pretrial detention continued to be a problem;
approximately 150 of the prisoners at Bordelais Correctional Facility
were on remand awaiting trial. Those charged with serious crimes spent
an estimated six months to four years in pretrial detention.
In November Eugene St. Romain alleged that he had been detained at
the Bordelais Correctional Facility since April 2004 on a charge of
murder but was never tried. He hired an attorney to contest his
detention on the grounds that he was not given access to a fair and
speedy trial. The court heard the complaint and set a trial date in
early 2010.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
The court system includes magistrate's courts and the High Court,
both of which have civil and criminal jurisdiction. The lower courts
accept civil claims up to EC$5,000 (approximately $1,850) and criminal
cases generally classified as ``petty.'' The High Court has unlimited
authority in both civil and criminal cases. All cases may be appealed
to the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and to the Privy Council in
the United Kingdom as the final court of appeal. A family court handles
child custody, maintenance, support, domestic violence, juvenile
affairs, and related matters.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
Trials can be by jury, are public, and, in cases involving capital
punishment, legal counsel is provided for those who cannot afford a
defense attorney. Defendants are entitled to select their own
representation, are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court, and
have the right of appeal. Defendants have the right to confront or
question witnesses and have access to government-held evidence. An
attorney can be provided at public expense if needed in cases of
serious criminal charges.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent,
impartial judiciary in civil matters where one can bring lawsuits
seeking damages for a human rights violation.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The 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.
On August 8, Novita Emmanuel, a reporter with Think Caribbean
Television, filmed an individual committing a traffic violation. That
person assaulted the reporter; the incident occurred in front of a
police constable who refused to intervene. The constable, employed by
the National Insurance Corporation, had not been given the proper
training on how to respond. The police commissioner promised to
discipline the constable if he was found to have acted inappropriately.
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. The
Internet was largely available in homes, offices, and Internet cafes in
urban areas; infrastructure limitations restricted Internet access in
some villages. According to the International Telecommunication Union,
there were 59 Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
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 continued a suspension of all applications for
official registration by faith-based organizations while it revised its
policy on registration. This moratorium affected the Muslim community,
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and approximately 10
other organizations. While awaiting registration, religious groups had
the freedom to meet and worship according to their beliefs.
Rastafarians continued to complain that the use of marijuana, an
aspect of their religious ritual, was prohibited.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Rastafarians complained of
occasional societal discrimination, especially in hiring and in
schools. There was no organized Jewish community, and there were no
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution and the law provide
for freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration,
and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights
in practice.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the government did not
use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a signatory to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 protocol, and
no formal government policy toward refugee or asylum requests existed.
In practice the government provided protection against the expulsion or
return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be
threatened.
Although no known cases occurred, the government was prepared to
cooperate 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 based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2006 Sir John Compton's
UWP defeated Kenny Anthony's SLP by winning 11 of 17 parliamentary
seats. According to electoral observer missions from both the
Organization of American States and the Caribbean Community, the
elections were generally considered free and fair. Following Compton's
death in September 2007, the governor general, in accordance with the
constitution, appointed Stephenson King, the person who commanded the
majority in the House of Assembly, as prime minister.
Political parties could operate without restrictions.
There was one woman elected to the 17-seat House of Assembly, and
the appointed speaker of the house was a woman. There were three women
in the 11-member appointed Senate; one served as president of the
Senate, and one served as the sole female member of the 14-person
cabinet. The governor general was a woman.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and
the government generally implemented the law effectively. Corruption
continued to be viewed as serious and was widely discussed by the
media, the business community, and opposition politicians. Observers
expressed concern that the country was moving backwards in terms of
transparency and accountability. There was also concern that some
foreign assistance programs go through the specific offices of
parliamentarians, providing the opportunity for graft.
Numerous accounts of government corruption occurred during the
year. In August a judge found Health Minister Keith Mondesir guilty of
falsely receiving duty free status for furniture designed for his
personal residence and fined him EC$14,000 ($5,200). The attorney
general and other cabinet members were also under scrutiny for
approving this duty free waiver for their colleague.
In 2008 authorities questioned Housing Minister Richard Frederick
twice concerning alleged involvement in customs duty evasion that
occurred before Frederick was in office. In June authorities
transferred the comptroller of customs to a different ministry, and the
new comptroller released evidence that compromised the validity of
documentation in the case, thus nullifying it. The confiscation tape
locking the cars was also removed, allowing Frederick use of the
vehicles.
High-level government officials, including elected officials, are
subject to annual disclosure of their financial assets to the Integrity
Commission, a constitutionally established commission. The
parliamentary commissioner, auditor general, and the Public Services
Commission are responsible for combating corruption. Parliament can
also appoint a special committee to investigate specific allegations of
corruption.
The law provides for public access to information, and
parliamentary debates are open to the public. The Government
Information Service disseminated public information on a daily basis,
operated an extensive Web site, and published a number of official
periodicals.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A few domestic human rights groups generally operated without
government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on
human rights cases, and government officials often were cooperative and
responsive to their views.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination, but there was no
specific legislation addressing discrimination in employment or against
persons with disabilities. However, government policy was
nondiscriminatory in the areas of housing, jobs, education, and
opportunity for advancement.
Women.--The law effectively criminalizes rape, but not spousal
rape. Police and courts enforced laws to protect women against rape,
which is punishable by 14 years' to life imprisonment. The police were
not reluctant to arrest or prosecute offenders, although many victims
were reluctant to report cases of rape or to press charges. No data
were available about the number of rapes reported, charges brought, or
convictions obtained. The Director of Public Prosecution reported that
sexual assault cases were a growing problem, but that most cases were
not prosecuted due to the reluctance of victims to press charges.
Domestic violence was the most significant human rights problem in
the country. While police were willing to arrest offenders, the
government prosecuted crimes of violence against women only when the
victim pressed charges. Often victims were reluctant to press charges
due to their reliance on financial assistance of the abuser. Shelters,
hotlines, and improved police training were all used to deal with the
problem, but the lack of financial security for the victim was the key
impediment. Shelters were operated in private homes, in order to
preserve the privacy of the victims, but the location of a shelter was
hard to keep secret. The family courts heard cases of domestic violence
and crimes against women and children.
The Ministry of Health Wellness, Family Affairs, National
Mobilization, Human Services, and Gender Relations assisted victims.
Most of the cases were referred to a counselor, and the police
facilitated the issuance of court protection orders in some cases.
Police caught and charged perpetrators in a number of domestic violence
cases.
The police Vulnerable Persons Unit, designed to handle cases
involving violence against women and children, increased police
responsiveness to these cases. As a result the police reported an
increase in the reporting of sexual crimes against women and children
during the first half of the year. This unit worked closely with the
Family Court and the ministry's Gender Relations and Human Services
Divisions.
The Gender Relations Division also ran the Women's Support Center,
which provided shelter, counseling, residential services, a 24-hour
hotline, and assistance in finding employment. Various nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs), such as the Saint Lucia Crisis Center and the
National Organization of Women (NOW), also provided counseling,
referral, education, and empowerment services. The crisis center
assisted in cases of physical violence, incest, nonpayment of child
support, alcohol and drug abuse, homelessness, custody, and visitation
rights.
The Family Court can issue a protection order prohibiting an abuser
from entering or remaining in the residence of a specified person.
Occupation and tenancy orders provide certain residential rights to
victims of domestic violence, such as rental payments and other
protective orders. The Family Court employed full-time social workers
who assisted victims of domestic violence.
Prostitution is illegal, but laws against it were rarely enforced.
Some underground strip clubs were fronts for prostitution and
reportedly were owned and/or protected by corrupt police officers.
There were no arrests for prostitution during the year.
The criminal code prohibits sexual harassment, but it remained a
problem as government enforcement was not an effective deterrent. The
Gender Relations Division continued an awareness program through which
it provided training opportunities in workplaces and assisted
establishments in creating policies and procedures on how to handle
sexual harassment. As a result, most cases of sexual harassment were
handled in the workplace rather than being prosecuted under the
criminal code.
There were no restrictions on reproductive rights, and women and
couples were free to choose the number, spacing, and timing of their
children. Skilled attendance at delivery and in postpartum care was
widely available. Access to contraception was widely available. Testing
for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases was nondiscriminatory and
also widely available.
Women generally enjoyed equal rights, including in economic,
family, property, and judicial matters. However, the fire chief refused
to allow a female firefighter, who completed a two-year training
program and was ready to take the final exam, to take the test because
she was pregnant. The Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and
Action (CAFRA) took on the issue, arguing that the authorities can and
should make reasonable accommodations to allow such persons to take the
test, which was offered only once a year. Women's affairs were under
the jurisdiction of the Gender Relations Division, whose parent
ministry was responsible for protecting women's rights in domestic
violence cases and preventing discrimination against women, including
ensuring equal treatment in employment.
Children.--Children receive citizenship by birth to a Saint Lucia
parent. Birth certificates were provided to the parents within a
reasonable administrative delay.
Child abuse remained a problem. The Division of Human Services and
Family Affairs handled a number of cases of sexual abuse, physical
abuse, abandonment, and psychological abuse, but no figures were
available to compare with cases reported in 2008.
The few social welfare programs in the country were overwhelmed. As
a result, parents of sexually abused children sometimes declined to
press sexual assault charges against the abuser in exchange for
financial contributions toward the welfare of victims of such abuse.
Nonetheless, courts heard some child sexual abuse cases and convicted
and sentenced offenders.
The human services division provided a number of services to
victims of child abuse, including counseling, facilitating medical
intervention, finding foster care, providing family support services,
and supporting the child while working with the police and attending
court. The division was also involved with public outreach in schools,
church organizations, and community groups.
CAFRA operated a hotline for families suffering from different
forms of abuse; however, there was no government shelter for abused
children, resulting in the return of many children to the homes in
which they were abused. Through the hotline, CAFRA learned of various
cases of sexual abuse that were never reported to the police. The
government did not provide funding for foster care, and few families
were willing to take in foster children.
There was no evidence of children engaged in prostitution for
survival.
Laws on rape include statutory rape; the age of consent is 16.
There was no information available about whether the law prohibits
child pornography.
The Catholic Church operated the Holy Family Home for abused and
abandoned children, with space for up to 40 children who were referred
to the center by the police or social workers.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit all
forms of trafficking in persons, but there were no confirmed reports
that persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country.
There were anecdotal reports that women from the Dominican
Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and some Eastern European
countries entered the country irregularly where they worked at strip
clubs and brothels. There were reports that police owned and/or
protected many of these clubs. There were no cases of children being
trafficked.
Although there are laws prohibiting slavery, forced labor, forced
imprisonment, and kidnapping that could be used to prosecute alleged
traffickers, there were no reports of such prosecutions during the
year. The government established a National Coalition against
Trafficking in Persons consisting of the Gender Relations Division, the
Human Services Division, the police, and the Immigration Service. Lack
of funding hampered the coalition's efforts to detect and investigate
cases of trafficking and to protect victims.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--No specific legislation protects the
rights of persons with disabilities or mandates provision of government
services for them. The government is obliged to provide disabled access
to all public buildings, but only a few government buildings had ramps
to provide access. There was no rehabilitation facility for persons
with physical disabilities, although the Health Ministry operated a
community-based rehabilitation program in residents' homes. There were
schools for the deaf and the blind up to the secondary level. There
were isolated cases of persons with disabilities holding jobs,
including one blind bank teller, but a recent blind graduate from the
local community college was not able to secure employment. There also
was a school for persons with mental disabilities; however, children
with disabilities faced barriers in education, and there were few
opportunities for such persons when they became adults.
In October a new foreign-built mental health facility was completed
and furnished but not equipped, which is the responsibility of the
government. The existing state-operated mental health facility was a
century-old building that will be decommissioned once the new facility
is in operation. There were no other mental health facilities on the
island, and mentally ill persons were not generally provided much care.
The government's four mental health social workers had an average of
over 100 cases each.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The law criminalizes
homosexual relations, and there was widespread social discrimination
against lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the
deeply conservative society. There were few openly LGBT persons in the
country.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--There was widespread
stigma and discrimination against persons infected with HIV/AIDS,
although the government implemented several programs to address this
issue, including a five-year program to combat HIV/AIDS. The UN
Population Fund also provided support for youth-oriented HIV/AIDS
prevention programs.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law specifies the right of
workers to form or belong to trade unions under the broader rubric of
the right of association. Approximately 25 percent of the total
workforce were unionized, including most public sector employees. There
were four major unions, the largest being the National Workers Union
(NWU), with over 3,000 members in private sector firms; the civil
service association, a quasi-union as civil service workers were not
legally allowed to join a union, with 1,008 members; the teachers
union; and the prison service and police welfare associations that were
also quasi-unions. All the unions belong to the Saint Lucia Trade Union
Federation (SLTUF). The NWU recently organized workers for the first
time in the financial services industry and formed a financial services
council to look at ways to harmonize benefits and wages in the growing
financial services sector.
Unions have a right to strike, and workers exercised that right.
However, the law prohibits members of the police and fire departments
from striking on the grounds that these professions were ``essential
services.'' Workers in other essential services--water and sewer
authority workers, electric utility workers, nurses, and doctors--must
give 30 days' notice before striking. Once workers have given notice,
the matter is usually referred to ad hoc tribunal set up under the
Essential Service Act. The government selects tribunal members,
following rules to ensure tripartite representation. The ad hoc labor
tribunals try to resolve the dispute through mandatory arbitration.
In April the civil service association and the SLTUF went on strike
against the government for failing to honor an agreement to provide
civil service workers with a 7.5 percent pay raise in May, as the
second component of an overall 14.5 percent raise. The SLTUF agreed to
accept the 3.5 percent that government had unilaterally given in May
but insisted that the government pay an additional 0.625 percent
retroactively and pay the balance of the 7.5 percent in April 2010
retroactive to April 2009.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
government generally protected this right. Collective bargaining is
protected by law and was freely practiced.
The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination, and workers
fired for union activity did not have the right to reinstatement. In
practice many companies were openly antiunion.
The NWU filed a complaint with the labor commissioner that Diamond
International Corporation engaged in antiunion discrimination through
selective dismissal of pro-union activists. The chief counsel of the
company, according to the union, was politically connected and able to
influence the labor commissioner not to take action on the complaint.
The NWU considered the matter to be a continuing labor dispute but
recognized that the complaint will not be acted upon.
The NWU general secretary also noted that there were a number of
other instances of antiunion activity on the part of corporations,
particularly among the foreign-owned hotel chains, but that the NWU was
not taking issue with them due to the slowing of the economy.
Labor law is applicable in the export processing zones, and there
were no administrative or legal impediments to union organizing or
collective bargaining in those zones. The NWU was the only union
representing workers in the export processing zones, representing
workers in eight companies operating there.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The government
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and there were no reports that
such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law provides for a minimum legal working age of 16 years. The minimum
legal working age for industrial work is 18 years. Child labor existed
to some degree in the rural areas, primarily where school-age children
helped harvest bananas from family trees. Children also typically
worked in urban food stalls or sold confectionery on sidewalks on
nonschool days and during festivals. The Department of Labor of the
Ministry of Labor Relations, Public Service, and Cooperatives was
responsible for enforcing statutes regulating child labor. Employer
penalties for violating the child labor laws were EC$9.60 ($3.55) for a
first offense and EC$24 ($8.88) for a second offense. There were no
formal reports of violations of child labor laws.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Minimum wage regulations in
effect since 1985 set wages for a limited number of occupations. The
minimum monthly wage for office clerks was EC$300 ($111), for shop
assistants EC$200 ($74), and for messengers EC$160 ($59). The
government recognized that the minimum wage law was outdated and sought
to meet with tripartite social partners to discuss it, but the matter
was not resolved by year's end. The minimum wage did not provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family, but most categories
of workers received much higher wages based on prevailing market
conditions. However, a number of smaller establishments paid less than
the minimum wage, and Haitians and others often received less than
minimum wage.
The labor commissioner is charged with monitoring violations of
labor law, including the minimum wage. There were three compliance
officers to cover the entire country and to monitor compliance with
occupational and safety standards, and pension standards as well as
minimum wage violations. In practice there were few reported violations
as those who received less than the minimum wage were often in the
country illegally and afraid of reprisals including possible
deportation. Labor unions did not routinely report such violations.
The legislated workweek is 41 hours, although the common practice
was to work 40 hours in five days. Special legislation covers work
hours for shop assistants, agricultural workers, domestics, and persons
in industrial establishments.
Occupational health and safety regulations were relatively well
developed. Although there had been only one qualified inspector for the
entire country, the ministry hired several new occupational and safety
inspectors and was reviewing proposed updates to the occupational and
safety act. The ministry enforced the act through threat of closure of
the business if it discovered violations and the violator did not
correct them. However, actual closures rarely occurred because of lack
of staff and resources. Workers had the legal right to leave a
dangerous workplace situation without jeopardy to continued employment.
__________
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a multiparty, parliamentary
democracy with a population of approximately 118,400. In 2005 Prime
Minister Ralph Gonsalves' Unity Labour Party (ULP) was returned to
office in elections that international observers assessed as generally
free and fair. On November 25 citizens voted on a referendum that
observers also found generally free and fair. Civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
Although the government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were continued problems in a few areas, primarily
impunity for police who used excessive force, poor prison conditions,
an overburdened court system, violence against women, and abuse of
children.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
According to the director of public prosecutions (DPP), a coroner's
inquest was held on the 2007 killing by security forces of two
Venezuelan nationals, Matias Dominquez and Alexis Munoz, and no one was
found culpable. Similarly, a coroner's jury in August 2008 returned a
verdict of death by ``misadventure'' in the 2005 police shooting of
Joel Williams. The DPP was still considering the case of the 2005
police shooting of Selwyn Moses.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices, the
nongovernmental organization (NGO) St. Vincent and the Grenadines Human
Rights Association (SVGHRA) asserted that a number of confessions
resulted from unwarranted police practices, including the use of
physical force during detention. The SVGHRA continued to complain that
the government failed to investigate adequately allegations of abuse or
punish those police officers responsible for such abuses.
During a May 21 narcotics raid, security forces shot and killed
three men, in what police claimed was self-defense. However, the SVGHRA
and at least one civil society activist reported that security forces
used a disproportionate amount of force and that the men were unarmed.
In November 2008 two teenagers, Jemark Jackson and Kemron McDowald,
claimed police officers beat them. According to the DPP, McDowald never
alleged any impropriety against the police and declined to give a
statement on the matter. Authorities charged a corporal and two
constables from the Criminal Investigations Department with assaulting
Jackson and causing bodily harm and suspended all three officers from
duty. The case was raised before the Senior Magistrate on October 5,
and adjourned, first to October 26 and then to January 2010.
Police officers investigated all complaints from citizens about
assault or other abuse by the police and submitted their findings to
the police commissioner. The government did not provide any information
about the disposition of such complaints or any disciplinary charges or
other actions taken.
According to the DPP, the court dismissed the case of an alleged
police slapping of Calypsonian Grantley ``I-Pa'' Constance in 2007.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor. Prison buildings were antiquated and overcrowded, with Her
Majesty's Prison in Kingstown holding nearly 400 inmates in a building
intended to hold approximately 150 inmates, a situation that created
serious health and safety problems. A larger prison, the Belle Isle
Correctional Facility, with separate buildings for male and female
inmates, was officially opened on October 22. Most prisoners moved into
the new facility by the end of year, and the remainder were to be moved
in early 2010.
The SVGHRA reported that prison problems such as endemic violence,
understaffing, underpaid guards, uncontrolled weapons and drugs,
increasing incidence of HIV/AIDS, and unhygienic conditions persisted.
Corrupt prison staff commonly served as a source of drugs, weapons, and
cell phones. The SVGHRA also continued to allege that guards routinely
beat prisoners to extract information regarding escapes, violence, and
crime committed in the prison.
The Fort Charlotte Prison held 13 female inmates (nine sentenced
and four on remand status) in a separate section designed to hold 50
inmates, where conditions were antiquated and unhygienic. The
facilities at Belle Isle promise to be better. Pretrial detainees and
young offenders (16 to 21 years of age) were held with convicted
prisoners.
Conditions were inadequate for juvenile offenders. Boys younger
than 16 were held at the Liberty Lodge Boys' Training Center, which
takes in at-risk boys who can no longer stay at home due to domestic
problems or involvement with criminal activity. Most of the 30 boys
were at the center because of domestic problems, and only a small
number were charged with committing a crime.
The Guadeloupe Home for Girls, a center for at-risk girls was
established recently. Funded mainly by the local Catholic Church, the
center falls within the purview of the Ministry of Social Development
and Mobilization.
The government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, and such visits took place during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these
prohibitions; however, complaints continued regarding police practices
in bringing cases to court.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Royal Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines Police, the only security force in the country,
includes a coast guard, a small Special Services Unit with some
paramilitary training, and the fire service. There were approximately
850 members of the police force. The police report to the minister of
national security, a portfolio held by the prime minister.
The government operated an oversight committee to monitor police
activity and hear public complaints about police misconduct. The
committee reported to the minister of national security and to the
minister of legal affairs and actively participated in investigations
during the year.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--The law
requires judicial authority to issue arrest warrants. Police
apprehended persons openly, and detainees may seek judicial
determinations of their status after 48 hours if not already provided.
The bail system functioned and was generally effective. A local human
rights group reported that most detainees were given prompt access to
counsel and family members, although in some instances delays occurred.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The judiciary consists of lower courts and the High Court, with
appeal to the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and final appeal to the
Privy Council in the United Kingdom. There were three official
magistrates; in addition the registrar of the High Court has the
authority to sit as a magistrate if called upon. The chief magistrate
also served as president of the family court, which handled criminal
cases for minors up to age 16.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for fair, public trials, and an
independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Juries are used at
the High Court level for criminal matters but are not used for civil
court or crimes at the magistrate level. The court appoints attorneys
only for indigent defendants charged with a capital offense. Defendants
are presumed innocent until proven guilty, may confront and question
witnesses, may appeal verdicts and penalties, and have access to
relevant government-held evidence once a case reaches the trial stage.
Lengthy delays occurred in preliminary inquiries for serious crimes. A
backlog of pending cases continued because the magistrate's court in
Kingstown continued to lack a full complement of magistrates.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent,
impartial judiciary in civil matters where one can bring lawsuits
seeking damages for a human rights violation.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the government generally respected these
rights in practice.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. However, there continued to be accounts of
the prime minister or other officials rebuking the press for comments
critical of the government.
Journalist Jeff Trotman agreed to an out-of-court settlement over
his December 2008 arrest for taking pictures of a burning building from
20 feet behind police barriers. After the incident, the police
commissioner issued a ``Force Order'' with respect to handling such
matters, which reiterated the rights of journalists.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. The
International Telecommunication Union reported that there were 60
Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no organized Jewish
community, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and it was not used.
Protection of Refugees.--Although the country is a signatory of the
1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967
protocol, the government has not established a system for providing
protection to refugees or asylum seekers. In practice the government
provided protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to
countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened, but it did
not grant refugee status or asylum.
The government was prepared to cooperate 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.--In 2005 the ruling ULP was
returned to office in elections that international observers declared
to be generally free and fair.
On November 25, 56 percent of the voters rejected a new
constitution in a nationwide referendum that observers from NGOs, the
Caribbean Community, and the Organization of American States considered
generally free and fair. The proposed constitution would have
significantly changed the country's governance structure and severed
most remaining ties with the United Kingdom.
There were two women in the 15-seat House of Assembly and three
women in the cabinet. There was one woman among the six appointed
senators, who also served as deputy speaker.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively.
There were no financial disclosure laws for public officials. No
government agency was specifically responsible for combating government
corruption.
The law provides for public access to information, and the
government provided such access in practice.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no restrictions on international human rights groups. A
domestic human rights group, the SVGHRA, generally operated without
government restriction, investigating and publishing its findings on
human rights cases, particularly with respect to treatment of
prisoners. Government officials generally were responsive, but the
SVGHRA continued to report that its complaints regarding allegations of
police brutality typically received perfunctory responses from the
government. Other advocacy groups, particularly those involved with
protection against domestic violence and child abuse, worked closely
with their corresponding government offices.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for equal treatment regardless of race or gender,
and the government generally enforced this provision in practice.
Women.--Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, and the
government generally enforced the law. Depending on the magnitude of
the offense and the age of the victim, sentences for rape could be
eight to 10 years' imprisonment. The possible sentence of life
imprisonment was very rarely used. The three court sittings heard 23
sexual offenses during the year, of which 14 were completed and nine
carried over to 2010. These included two cases of incest, seven rapes,
and one attempted rape.
Violence against women remained a serious problem. The law does not
criminalize domestic violence specifically but provides protection for
victims. Cases involving domestic violence were normally charged under
assault, battery, or other similar laws. The SVGHRA reported that, in
many instances, domestic violence went unpunished due to a culture in
which victims choose not to seek assistance from the police or the
prosecution of offenders. Furthermore, a number of victims decided not
to press charges once domestic tensions cool down after having already
complained to the police. For this reason police were often reluctant
to follow up on domestic violence cases, according to the SVGHRA.
The Gender Affairs Division of the Ministry of National
Mobilization, Social Development, NGO Relations, Family, Gender
Affairs, and Persons with Disabilities provided a referral and
information service for domestic violence victims, educating victims on
the role of the police, legal matters, and the family court in dealing
with domestic violence, as well as possible assistance from various
NGOs. The Marion House provided counseling to victims of abuse. The
SVGHRA and other organizations conducted numerous seminars and
workshops to familiarize women with their rights. Development banks
provided funding through the Caribbean Association for Feminist
Research and Action for a program on domestic violence prevention,
training, and intervention. Police received training on domestic abuse,
emphasizing the need to file reports and, if there was sufficient
evidence, to initiate court proceedings. To counter the social pressure
on victims to drop charges, some courts imposed fines against persons
who brought charges but did not testify.
Although prostitution is illegal, a local human rights group
reported that it remained a minor problem among young women and
teenagers.
The law does not specifically prohibit sexual harassment, although
it could be prosecuted under existing laws. Local human rights groups
considered these laws ineffective.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children, and had the information and means to
do so free from discrimination. Access to information on contraception,
and skilled attendance at delivery and in postpartum care were widely
available. Women and men were given equal access to diagnostic services
and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
Women enjoyed the same legal rights as men. Women received an
equitable share of property following separation or divorce. The Gender
Affairs Division assisted the National Council of Women with seminars,
training programs, and public relations. The minimum wage law specifies
that women should receive equal pay for equal work, and this was
generally enforced in practice.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory or from either of one's parents. There was universal birth
registration.
The law provides a limited legal framework for the protection of
children, and the Family Services Division of the Social Development
Ministry monitored and protected the welfare of children. The division
referred all reports of child abuse to the police for action and
provided assistance in cases where children applied for protection
orders with the family court.
The minimum age of consensual sex is 15 years of age. The penalty
for child prostitution is 14 years' imprisonment. The law prohibits
statutory rape, with special provisions for those under 13 years of
age. The penalty for statutory rape of a girl over 13 but under 15 is
five years' imprisonment; under 13 it is life imprisonment. The law
does not specifically prohibit child pornography.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not address trafficking in
persons specifically, nor does the government have any specific
programs to do so; however, there were no reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, through, or within the country.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, and the provision of other state
services, and the government generally observed these prohibitions in
practice. The law does not mandate access to buildings for persons with
disabilities, and access for such persons generally was difficult. The
government partially supported a school for persons with disabilities.
A separate rehabilitation center treated approximately five persons
daily. The Social Development Ministry is responsible for assisting
persons with disabilities.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The law does not criminalize
homosexuality, and there are no laws that prohibit discrimination
against a person on the basis of sexual orientation. Although no
statistics were available, anecdotal evidence suggested there was some
societal discrimination against gays and lesbians.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--Although no statistics
were available, anecdotal evidence suggested there was some societal
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions of their choice without prior authorization, and workers
exercised this right in practice. However, no law requires employers to
recognize unions. Approximately 16 percent of the work force was
unionized.
The organized unions generally maintained good relations with the
government, the Employers' Federation, and the Chamber of Commerce and
Industry. The opposition and some business leaders maintained that the
established unions had become too closely tied to the government and
had lost their independence. Union leaders disputed this view, however,
noting that the current government was more proworker than the
previous, opposition-led administration, but acknowledged that the
government has tried to marginalize union leaders who did not toe the
government line. The government promoted social dialogue with the labor
unions and held regular meetings of the Social Partnership Council,
which brings together labor, management, and government to jointly
resolve labor management issues. Two recently-formed unions competed
with existing unions for the right to represent dock workers and
others.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice; however, the Essential Services Act prohibits
persons providing such services (defined as electricity, water,
hospital, and police) from striking, unless they provide at least a 14-
day notice to the authorities. The law prohibits retaliation against
strikers, and it was effectively enforced in practice.
The law provides for establishment of an arbitration tribunal and a
board of inquiry in connection with trade disputes and allows provision
for the settlement of such disputes. Arbitration panels are formed on
an ad hoc basis when a labor dispute arises and are not limited to
labor disputes involving essential workers. The labor unions were
generally satisfied with the working of the arbitration panels, which
have tripartite representation.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law permits
unions to organize and bargain collectively, and the government
protected these rights in practice; however, no law requires employers
to recognize a particular union as an exclusive bargaining agent. There
were no reports of antiunion discrimination. The law provides that if
both parties consent to arbitration, the minister of labor can appoint
an arbitration committee from the private sector to hear the matter.
The law protects workers from summary dismissal without
compensation and provides for reinstatement or severance pay if
unfairly dismissed. It also protects workers from dismissal for
engaging in union activities and provides them with reinstatement
rights if illegally dismissed.
There are no export processing zones, but there were a few
industrial parks that functioned like an export processing zone, and
unions were represented in those sites.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law sets the minimum working age at 16, and workers may receive a
national insurance card at that age. The Ministry of Labor monitored
and enforced this provision, and employers generally respected it in
practice. There were five labor officers in the labor inspectorate with
responsibility for monitoring all labor issues and complaints. The
ministry reported no child labor problems. The only known child labor
was work on family-owned banana plantations, particularly during
harvest time, or in family-owned cottage industries. The government
operated Youth Empowerment, which provided training and increased job
opportunities by employing young persons in government ministries for
up to one year.
There was a growing problem of young people dropping out of school
and becoming involved in the drug trade. Some children, including
children as young as 14, reportedly were working in the marijuana
fields common in the northern part of the country. The government
tackled this problem by opening a number of new schools and providing
additional educational opportunities to young people. The government
has also launched a campaign to address the need to provide employment
opportunities to young people to keep them from becoming involved in
the drug trade.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The process of setting the
minimum wage is tripartite and transparent. The Wages Council is
supposed to meet every two years to review minimum wages and updated
them in July 2008. Minimum wages vary by sector and type of work and
are specified for several skilled categories. In agriculture the
minimum wage for workers provided shelter was EC$32 ($11.85) per day;
for industrial workers it was EC$40 ($14.81) per day. In many sectors,
the minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family, but most workers earned more than the minimum.
Workers who receive less than the minimum wage can file a claim with
the Labor Ministry's inspectors, who will investigate and, if
warranted, refer the matter to arbitration. In practice the ministry
received very few complaints concerning minimum wage violations but did
receive complaints regarding wrongful dismissal.
The law prescribes hours of work according to category, such as
industrial employees (40 hours per week), professionals (44 hours per
week), and agricultural workers (30 to 40 hours per week). The law
provides that workers receive time-and-a-half for hours worked over the
standard workweek. There was a prohibition against excessive or
compulsory overtime, which was effectively enforced in practice.
Legislation concerning occupational safety and health was outdated,
and enforcement of regulations was ineffective. The law does not
address specifically whether workers have the right to remove
themselves from work situations that endanger health or safety without
jeopardy to their continued employment, but it stipulates conditions
under which factories must be maintained. Failure to comply with these
regulations would constitute a breach, which might cover a worker who
refused to work under these conditions.
__________
SURINAME
Suriname is a constitutional democracy, with a president elected by
the unicameral legislature or by the larger United People's Assembly.
The population is approximately 524,000. After generally free and fair
elections in 2005, the New Front Plus government, consisting of a
coalition of eight political parties, was formed. In 2005 the United
People's Assembly reelected Ronald Venetiaan as president. 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 detention facilities; an overwhelmed judiciary with a large
case backlog; lengthy pretrial detention; self-censorship by some
media; governmental corruption; societal discrimination against women,
minorities, and indigenous people; violence against women; trafficking
in women, girls, and boys; and child labor in the informal sector.
respect for human rights
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, including
Freedom From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
During the year authorities completed an internal affairs
investigation into the August 2008 police shooting and killing of
Charles Burleson, a detainee who escaped a pretrial detention cell in
May 2008 while awaiting trial on charges of murder and armed robbery.
The Attorney General's Office reviewed the case and did not prosecute.
There were no known developments, and none were expected, in the
October 2008 police shooting and killing of an armed robbery suspect.
During the year authorities completed the investigation into the
2007 killing of Andy Aroma and forwarded the results to the Attorney
General's Office. The Attorney General's Office reviewed the case and
did not prosecute.
As mandated by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' ruling on
the 1986 killings of 39 Moiwana residents, the government provided a
settlement payment to the Moiwana Foundation and entered its second
phase of housing construction in Moiwana village.
The trial of former military head of state Desi Bouterse and his
codefendants for the 1982 extrajudicial killing of 15 political
opponents continued at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--While the law prohibits such practices, human rights
groups and the media continued to express concern about mistreatment by
police and prison officials and reported isolated incidents of abuse of
prisoners by prison officials.
On December 24, mob violence in Albina occurred after a Brazilian
man stabbed to death a Maroon man during a dispute. The violence,
primarily directed towards Brazilian and Chinese migrants, resulted in
at least three rapes. At year's end 20 persons, including a local
official, were in custody on charges including rape, theft, and arson.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and detention
center conditions were poor. There were three prisons, which held
female and male prisoners separately. There were also 19 smaller jails,
or temporary detention centers, in police stations throughout the
country. Most of these facilities, particularly the older jails, were
unsanitary and seriously overcrowded. As of October 17, the 19 jails
and three prisons held 584 men and 30 women. At year's end the three
main prisons and the main pretrial detention center that opened in
December 2008 held 915 persons.
Violence among prisoners was common. In a letter addressed to an
attorney's office in November, prisoners from the Santo Boma prison
complained of inadequate food provisions, mistreatment by prison
guards, limited ventilation, and a lack of rehabilitation programs.
Human rights organizations expressed concern about conditions in
pretrial detention facilities, which remained overcrowded. Growing
numbers of convicted prisoners were held in pretrial detention cells
due to prison overcrowding. Due to staff shortages, police officers
rarely permitted detainees to leave their cells. Detainees and human
rights groups also alleged that meals were inadequate.
Conditions in the women's jail and prison facilities were generally
better than those in the men's facilities. Following conviction, girls
under age 18 were held in the women's detention center and in the
women's section of one of the prison complexes.
There was one juvenile detention facility, Opa Doeli, for boys and
girls under the age of 18. This facility, located in Paramaribo, was
considered adequate, provided educational and recreational facilities,
and was occupied to less than its maximum capacity. A separate wing of
the detention facility held boys under age 18 convicted of serious
crimes.
The government permitted monitoring visits by independent human
rights observers, and such visits occurred during the year.
The Welzijns Institute Nickerie, a nongovernmental organization
(NGO) operating in the western district of Nickerie, visited and
provided counseling for detainees in the youth detention center in that
district. The institute continued a program to train prison officers to
counsel detainees.
The government continued construction on the main pretrial
detention center to improve conditions and reduce overcrowding. During
the year the detention center absorbed pretrial detainees that were
previously imprisoned in the 19 smaller jails around the country.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these
prohibitions. Due to a shortage of judges, prisoners who appealed their
cases often served their full sentences before the lengthy appeals
process could be completed.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The armed forces are
responsible for national security and border control, with the military
police having direct responsibility for immigration control at the
country's ports of entry. All elements of the military are under the
control of the Ministry of Defense. Civilian police bear primary
responsibility for the maintenance of law and order and report to the
Ministry of Justice and Police.
Corruption remained a problem. The Personnel Investigation
Department (OPZ), an office within the Police Department, investigates
complaints against members of the police force. The OPZ received 189
complaints and launched 57 investigations into cases involving
narcotics, bribery, and other types of police misconduct. In contrast
to 2008, the OPZ received no reports of police abuse. Impunity was not
a problem; during the year authorities relieved 23 police officers of
duty for various offenses, six of whom were jailed.
Police effectiveness was hampered by a lack of equipment and
training, low salaries, and poor coordination with military forces.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Individuals
were apprehended openly with warrants based on sufficient evidence and
brought before an independent judiciary. The law provides detainees
with the right to a prompt judicial determination of the legality of
the detention, and authorities respected this right in practice.
Detainees were promptly informed of the charges against them. Police
may detain for up to 14 days a person suspected of committing a crime
if the sentence for that crime is longer than four years, and an
assistant district attorney or a police inspector may authorize
incommunicado detention. The police must bring the accused before a
prosecutor to be charged formally within that period, but if additional
time is needed to investigate the charge, a prosecutor and, later, a
judge of instruction may extend the detention period an additional 150
days. There is no bail system. Detainees were allowed prompt access to
counsel of their choosing, but the prosecutor may prohibit access if
the prosecutor thinks that this could harm the investigation. Detainees
were allowed weekly visits from family members.
The average length of pretrial detention was 30 to 45 days for
lesser crimes. Detainees were held in 19 overcrowded detention cells at
police stations throughout the country. In accordance with the law, the
courts freed most detainees who were not tried within the 164-day
period. According to human rights monitors, factors such as a shortage
of judges, large case loads, and large numbers of detainees caused
trial delays.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, disputes over the appointment of judges
undermined the independence of the judiciary. The attorney general and
the president of the Court of Justice are appointed for life.
The judicial system consists of three lower courts, two specialized
courts, and the Court of Justice as an appeals court. A military court
system operates in cooperation with the civilian judicial system.
The Ministry of Justice and Police improved the functioning of the
court system by addressing the long-standing shortage of judges. In
July five new judges took their positions after completing the
ministry's 5-year ``Rechterlijke Ambtenaar in Opleiding'' (Judicial
Government Employee in Training) program in 2008. The former president
of the Court of Justice was also sworn in as a judge, bringing the
number of judges in the country to 20.
Other problems the judiciary faced included financial dependence on
the Ministry of Justice and Police (and hence the executive branch),
lack of professional court managers and case management systems to
oversee the courts' administrative functions, and lack of physical
space. These contributed to a significant case backlog. The courts
required a minimum of six months to process criminal cases.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair, public
trial in which defendants have the right to counsel, and the judiciary
generally enforced this right. All trials are public except for
indecency offenses. There is no jury system. Defendants enjoy a
presumption of innocence and have the right to appeal. Defendants have
the right to be present and to consult an attorney in a timely manner.
Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-held evidence.
Defendants' attorneys can question witnesses and can present witnesses
and evidence on the defendant's behalf. The courts assign private
sector lawyers to defend indigent detainees. There were 138 court-
assigned attorneys for both the civil and the penal system. The law
extends the above rights to all citizens.
Military personnel generally are not subject to civilian criminal
law. A member of the armed forces accused of a crime immediately comes
under military jurisdiction, and military police are responsible for
all such investigations. Military prosecutions are directed by an
officer on the public prosecutor's staff and take place in separate
courts before two military judges and one civilian judge. Due to the
shortage of judges, military and civilian judges are selected from the
same pool by the Court of Justice, which makes assignments to specific
cases. A mechanism exists to prevent conflicts of interest. The
military courts follow the same rules of procedure as the civil courts.
There is no appeal from the military to the civil system.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Although there are
separate procedures for civil processes, the same pool of judges is
responsible for presiding over these procedures. There is access to a
court to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human
rights violation. Despite the installation of new judges during the
year, the backlog in cases continued. Most civil cases were resolved
approximately three to four years after being heard by the courts.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. The law requires
search warrants, which are issued by quasijudicial officers who
supervise criminal investigations.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the government generally respected these
rights in practice. The independent media were active and expressed a
wide variety of views without restriction. Individuals could criticize
the government publicly or privately without reprisal. There was one
case reported to the Attorney General's Office of a newspaper
journalist receiving anonymous threats after reporting on government
investigations into police corruption.
Some media members continued to practice occasional self-
censorship. This was due to a history of intimidation and reprisals by
certain elements of the former military leadership or a response to
pressure applied by senior government officials and important community
leaders on journalists who published negative stories about the
administration. In addition many news outlets were affiliated with
particular political parties, which discouraged journalists from
reporting on some news items. In July a newscaster from the program
Suriname Vandaag alleged that the management had engaged in self-
censorship on some of its political content. In contrast to previous
years, there were no reports of government officials threatening libel
actions against the media.
In October and November, the Bureau of Human Rights, under the
authority of the Ministry of Justice and Police, conducted training for
the media on recognizing human rights violations.
In October the government announced it would pay compensation to
two broadcasting companies for the national army's destruction of their
radio stations under the military dictatorship of Desire Bouterse in
1982.
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. The
International Telecommunication Union reported that there were
approximately 10 Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008. The
population in the interior did not have equal access to the Internet
due to limited infrastructure.
In August the Ministry of Justice and Police held a meeting with
the Attorney General's Office; the Ministry of Transport, Communication
and Tourism; TeleSur; the police commissioner; and Telecom Authority
Suriname to discuss a government approach to gossip Web sites, which
some officials saw as an invasion of individual privacy. The media
expressed concerns that the government was attempting to limit
political criticism.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination against members of religious groups,
including anti-Semitic acts. There was a declared Jewish community of
approximately 150 persons.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution provides for freedom
of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights. The
occasion did not arise during the year for government cooperation with
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees or other
humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to
internally displaced persons, refugees, returning refugees, asylum
seekers, stateless persons, and other persons of concern.
Although the law does not address forced exile, the government did
not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol.
Its laws do not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status,
and the government has not established a system for providing
protection to refugees. Under special circumstances, persons may be
granted refugee status, and in practice the government provided
protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries
where their lives or freedom would be threatened on account of their
race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group,
or political opinion.
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 constitution provides
for direct election by secret ballot of the 51-member National Assembly
no later than five years after the prior election date. The National
Assembly in turn elects the president by a two-thirds majority vote. If
the legislature is unable to do so, the constitution provides that the
United People's Assembly, composed of members of parliament and elected
regional and local officials, shall elect the president. After
generally free and fair elections in May 2005, the United People's
Assembly reelected incumbent Ronald Venetiaan as president in August
2005. Political parties could operate without restriction or outside
interference.
Historical and cultural factors as well as societal pressures and
customs, especially in rural areas, particularly with respect to
marriage and inheritance, inhibited equal participation by women in
leadership positions in government and political parties. While women
made limited gains in attaining political power, men continued to
dominate political life. There were 13 women among the 51 members of
the National Assembly and three women among the 17 ministers in the
cabinet. During the year four women were sworn in as judges, increasing
to five the number of women among the 20 sitting judges. The head clerk
of the Court of Justice, that body's highest administrative position,
was a woman.
Several factors traditionally limited the participation of Maroons
(descendants of escaped slaves who fled to the interior to avoid
recapture) and indigenous Amerindians in the political process,
particularly the fact that their populations were concentrated in
remote areas in the interior, removed from the country's centers of
political activity. There was one Amerindian and three Maroon political
parties during the 2005 election, and voters elected eight Maroons and
one Amerindian to the National Assembly. The opportunity for Maroons to
participate in the political process increased when the three Maroon
parties formed a coalition (A-Combinatie) for the 2005 election and
became part of the governing coalition. The A-Combinatie remained
active during the year, with three Maroons in the cabinet and several
others in decision-making positions.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. Long
delays often occurred before corruption cases came to trial. The World
Bank's worldwide governance indicators reflected that government
corruption was a problem. The media frequently reported alleged corrupt
practices with regard to the acquisition of land by one of the
political parties in the governing coalition. In contrast to prior
years, a shortage of police personnel did not hamper police
investigations of fraud cases.
In September the police announced that 200 pounds of cocaine went
missing from a storage vault at the arrest team's headquarters. The
minister of justice and police terminated the command of the arrest
team due to the incident. The OPZ suspended several arrest team
officers and initiated an investigation.
On May 4, former minister of trade and industry Siegfried Gilds was
sentenced to one year's imprisonment for his involvement in a money-
laundering case and for bribing witnesses. Gilds allegedly laundered
SR$3.56 million ($1.27 million) between 2003 and 2005. At year's end
Gilds was serving his prison sentence pending the outcome of his
appeal.
Public officials were not subject to financial disclosure laws.
Various sections of the Ministry of Justice and Police, including the
Fraud Police and the Attorney General's Office, were responsible for
combating government corruption.
Although the law provides for public access to government
information, such access was limited in practice for citizens and
noncitizens, including foreign media. While almost every ministry has
an information service, onerous bureaucratic hurdles made obtaining
information difficult.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of independent domestic human rights groups generally
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing
their findings on human rights cases. NGOs reported generally positive
relationships with government officials, although occasionally
officials were not responsive to their views. No international human
rights groups operated in the country during the year.
A parliamentary commission on human rights continued operating
throughout the year, but resource constraints hampered its
effectiveness. Parliament also has a commission dealing with women's
and children's rights.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race and ethnicity but
does not address discrimination based on disability, language, or
social status. Although the law does not specifically prohibit gender
discrimination, it provides for protection of women's rights to equal
access to education, employment, and property. In practice various
sectors of the population, such as women, Maroons, Amerindians, persons
with HIV/AIDS, and gay and lesbian persons, suffered forms of
discrimination.
Women.--In August the law criminalizing rape was amended to include
spousal rape. The prescribed penalty for rape or forcible sexual
assault ranges between 12 and 15 years' imprisonment. The government
enforced the law effectively. Through November the Ministry of Justice
and Police registered 27 cases of attempted rape and 68 cases of rape.
Violence against women was a common problem. The Ministry of
Justice and Police registered 1,769 cases of domestic violence, an
increase from 2008. The media attributed the increase in registered
domestic violence cases to a greater awareness of domestic violence
issues. On June 20, the National Assembly adopted the Law Combating
Domestic Violence, which allowed for more severe punishments for
offenders than had been available when prosecuting domestic violence
cases under the assault law. Penalties range from four to eight years'
imprisonment. The Bureau of Women and Children Policy, under the
Ministry of Justice and Police, conducted an awareness campaign on
domestic violence in cooperation with the Foundation Ilse Henar Hewith.
In August the Bureau of Women and Child Policy trained government
officials, social workers, and NGO staff on domestic violence issues.
The Victim Assistance Bureau that opened in Paramaribo in December 2008
provided resources for victims of domestic violence and other crimes.
It operated a satellite office in Nickerie, the country's second-
largest city. There were four victims' rooms in police stations in
Paramaribo and Nickerie, and police units were trained to deal with
victims and perpetrators of sexual crimes and domestic violence. An NGO
operated a shelter for victims of domestic violence.
Although the law prohibits sexual exploitation, including
prostitution, in practice prostitution was tolerated and common (see
section 6, Trafficking). Poverty continued to put young women at risk
of being exploited for commercial sex. The presence of large groups of
illegal workers in the gold mining sector in the interior drew young
Maroon women and girls into commercial sexual exploitation. Police
allowed many brothels to operate but made bimonthly checks on these
establishments to monitor if women were being abused, held against
their will, or having their passports retained by brothel owners to
ensure fulfillment of work contract obligations.
While there was no specific legislation on sexual harassment,
prosecutors could cite various penal code articles in filing sexual
harassment cases. There were no reported court cases involving sexual
harassment in the workplace during the year.
Access to information on contraception and skilled attendance
during childbirth and in postpartum care were widely available. Couples
and individuals have the right to decide the number, spacing, and
timing of children, and have the information and means to do so free
from discrimination. Women and men were given equal access to
diagnostic services and treatment for sexually transmitted infections,
including HIV.
Women have the legal right to equal access to education,
employment, and property; nevertheless, societal pressures and customs,
especially in rural areas, inhibited their full exercise of these
rights, particularly with respect to marriage and inheritance. Societal
pressures on families to have their daughters married at or near the
legal age of marital consent frequently interfered with these girls'
education and resulted in the direct passage of all property the women
would have inherited from their parents to their husbands and parents-
in-law in accordance with these customs.
Men and women generally enjoyed the same rights under property law
and under the judicial system. The Bureau for Women and Children, under
the Ministry of Justice and Police, worked to ensure the legal rights
of women and children.
Women experienced discrimination in access to employment and in
rates of pay for the same or substantially similar work. The government
did not make specific efforts to combat economic discrimination.
The National Women's Movement, the most active women's rights NGO,
continued assisting women in launching small home-based businesses,
such as sewing and vegetable growing, and provided general legal help.
The Women's Business Group advocated for business opportunities for
women, while the Women's Parliament Forum advocated for opportunities
in the public sector. Stop Violence against Women provided assistance
to victims of domestic violence, including legal help with dissolving
an abusive marriage. The Maxi Linder Foundation worked with
prostitutes, including women and children who were victims of
trafficking, and conducted outreach and informational sessions to
inform victims about their rights. Resource constraints continued to
limit the effectiveness of these groups.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory and from one's parents.
Physical and sexual abuse of children continued to be a problem.
During the year police received reports of 265 cases of sexual
abuse of children, compared with 338 reported in 2008. The police Youth
Affairs Office conducted three visits per week to different schools in
the capital and the surrounding areas on a rotating schedule to provide
outreach and raise awareness about child abuse and to solicit and
investigate complaints. The Youth Affairs Office also raised awareness
about sexual abuse, drugs, and alcohol through a weekly television
program.
According to one study, more than 80 percent of children in
Paramaribo, and an even greater percentage elsewhere, were exposed to
violence. An estimated 10 percent of the victims developed post-
traumatic stress syndrome as a result of serious mental and physical
damage; in most cases victims lacked professional assistance from the
government, according to research conducted in 2006 on behalf of the
Ministry of Social Affairs and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Various laws were used to prosecute perpetrators of sexual abuse,
and several cases of sexual abuse against minors came to trial.
Sentences averaged three years in prison. In the capital there were
several orphanages and one privately funded shelter for sexually abused
children. In contrast to the previous year, there were no reports of
sexual abuse of children in public institutions.
Although the legal age of sexual consent is 14, it was not enforced
effectively. The marriage law sets the age of marital consent at 15 for
girls and 17 for boys, provided parents of the parties agree to the
marriage. Parental permission to marry is required up to age 21. The
law also mandates the presence of a civil registry official to register
all marriages.
Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of minors remained
problems. On July 29, the criminal law was revised to include penalties
against child prostitution. The maximum penalty is six years'
imprisonment, and the maximum fine is SR$100,000 ($35,714). The law
also prohibits child pornography, which has a maximum penalty of six
years' imprisonment and maximum fine of SR$50,000 ($17,857).
UNICEF continued cooperating with the government in providing
training to officials from various ministries dealing with children and
children's rights. The government-operated ``1-2-3'' telephone hotline
for children provided confidential advice and aid to children in need.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits all forms of trafficking
in persons; however, the country was a source, transit, and destination
country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of
forced labor and sexual exploitation. No reliable numbers were
available indicating the magnitude of the problem.
There were reports that Chinese and Haitian men and women were
trafficked to and through the country. Some Chinese men and women were
forced to work in supermarkets, construction sites, and in the sex
industry. Some Haitian migrants transiting the country were forced to
work in the agricultural sector. NGOs expressed concern that local boys
and girls, particularly Maroon children, were trafficked to the
interior of the country for exploitative work, including sex work at
gold mining sites. However, there were no reliable estimates as to the
extent of the problem. At least one organized ring trafficked Brazilian
women to gold mining sites in the country. There were allegations that
other foreign women were trafficked to these sites for sex work and
forced labor.
Trafficking was largely under the control of local criminal
organizations, many of which were active in the sex industry. The most
common victims of sex trafficking were women aged 18 to 23. Many
victims were from Brazil and Guyana. Some traffickers lured victims to
the country with promises of employment or job training. There were
reports that minors from underprivileged areas were trafficked within
the country for prostitution.
The penal code specifically prohibits trafficking in persons for
both sexual and other purposes. The law covers both internal and
external forms of trafficking. Penalties for trafficking in persons for
sexual exploitation and labor exploitation, such as forced or bonded
labor and involuntary servitude, range from five to 20 years'
imprisonment. The Attorney General's Office may press dual charges
against a trafficker for both the act of trafficking and for the rape
of a victim. The penalty for rape or forcible assault ranges between 12
and 15 years in prison. The government provided free legal services to
trafficking victims.
During the year authorities prosecuted six individuals for
trafficking in persons; the trial of four other individuals was pending
at year's end.
There were reports that government officials, including consular
affairs, customs, and immigration officers, fostered an environment
conducive to trafficking in persons by allowing individuals who were
not bona fide visitors to enter the country.
On June 9, a judge sentenced a Dutch man and two Guyanese women who
were arrested in September 2008 for trafficking an underage Guyanese
girl and forcing her to work as a prostitute. The Dutch man received
two years' imprisonment, one woman received 9 months' imprisonment and
a SR$3,000 fine ($1,071), and the second woman received 18 months'
imprisonment and a SR$10,000 ($3,571) fine. The two women appealed the
decision. On December 22, they were released from prison after having
served two-thirds of their sentences. The outcome of their appeal was
pending at year's end.
The government's Antitrafficking Working Group, which has primary
responsibility for interagency coordination of antitrafficking efforts,
assessed progress and coordinated new actions. Police cooperated with
counterparts in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Dominican
Republic, and justice officials sought improved mechanisms for
cooperation with Colombia and French Guiana. The government requested
the cooperation of Trinidad and Tobago and Curacao in investigating the
case of 23 individuals trafficked to Trinidad and Tobago for forced
labor. The government of Curacao cooperated in extraditing four
individuals arrested in connection with the crime (see section 7.c.).
The Public Prosecutor's Office and the police continued a registry
of all brothels and their employees by nationality. Although
prostitution is illegal, the police had informal agreements with many
brothel owners allowing them to operate. The Special Antitrafficking
Police Unit conducted bimonthly checks to ensure that women were not
mistreated, that no minors were present, and that owners did not keep
the women's airline tickets or passports.
While there was no shelter designated solely for trafficking
victims, the Foundation against Trafficking in Persons, a private
organization mandated by the government to provide victim protection,
arranged shelter and provided other services to both foreign and
domestic victims.
Women arrested in brothel raids as immigration violators and who
did not indicate they were trafficked were deported, but authorities
sought to treat identified victims as material witnesses needing
protection rather than as criminals. An NGO receiving government
funding, the Maxi Linder Foundation, continued working with trafficking
victims, providing counseling and rehabilitative training.
The government continued operating a trafficking-in-persons
awareness campaign funded by the International Organization for
Migration and focusing on the Chamber of Commerce, Youth Parliament,
and the various districts.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws prohibiting
discrimination against persons with physical or mental disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of state
services. In general persons with disabilities suffered from
discrimination when applying for jobs and services. Some training
programs were provided for the blind and others with disabilities.
There are no laws or programs to ensure that persons with disabilities
have access to buildings. A judge may rule that a person with a
cognitive disability be denied the right to vote, take part in business
transactions, or sign legal agreements. A Ministry of Social Affairs
working group remained responsible for protecting the rights of persons
with disabilities but made limited progress during the year.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity, and no such
discrimination complaints were filed during the year. Nonetheless,
Maroons, who represent approximately 15 percent of the population,
generally continued to be disadvantaged in the areas of education,
employment, and government services. Most Maroons lived in the interior
where limited infrastructure reduced their access to educational and
professional opportunities and health and social services. Some forms
of discrimination that affected indigenous Amerindians also extended to
Maroons.
During the year some progress was made on the execution of the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights' ruling on a 2006 case involving
12 Saramaccan clans who claimed authority over 60 villages in the Upper
Suriname River area. In 2007 the court ruled that the government must
recognize the collective land rights of the Saramaccan clans, draft
legislation that complies with international treaties, establish a
development fund of SR$1,680,000 ($600,000), and begin demarcation by
February 2008. During the year the Saramacca Commission met with the
Association of Saramaccan Leaders and prepared a draft report on
implementation of the ruling. The Saramacca Commission established a
private foundation to manage the development fund and reimbursed the
clans for court costs. However, constitutional issues prevented
demarcation of land claimed by ethnic groups. It was reported that the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights did not take into account the
presence of non-Saramaccan groups in the area, including indigenous and
Maroon tribes, which complicated the demarcation process. The deadline
for implementation is December 19, 2010.
Indigenous People.--The law affords no special protection for, or
recognition of, indigenous people. Most Amerindians (approximately 3
percent of the population) suffered disadvantages and had only limited
ability to participate in decisions affecting their lands, cultures,
traditions, and natural resources. The country's political life,
educational opportunities, and jobs were concentrated in the capital
and its environs, while the majority of Amerindians (as well as
Maroons) lived in the interior, where government services were largely
unavailable.
Because Amerindian and Maroon lands were not effectively
demarcated, populations continued to face problems with illegal and
uncontrolled logging and mining. Organizations representing Maroon and
Amerindian communities complained that small-scale mining operations,
mainly by illegal gold miners, dug trenches that cut residents off from
their agricultural land and threatened to drive them away from their
traditional settlements. Mercury runoff from these operations also
contaminated and threatened traditional food source areas. Many Maroon
and Amerindian groups also complained about the government granting
land within their traditional territories to third parties, who
sometimes prevented the villages from engaging in their traditional
activities on those lands. There are no laws granting indigenous people
rights to share in the revenues from the exploitation of resources on
their traditional lands.
Indigenous groups, with the assistance of the Amazon Conservation
Team, mapped their lands and presented proposed demarcation charts to
the government in 2000 and to the Ministry of Physical Planning, Land,
and Forestry Management in both 2006 and November 2009. At year's end,
however, the government had not accepted the proposed demarcations, and
the indigenous groups did not have official rights to the lands.
Maroon and Amerindian groups continued to cooperate with each other
to exercise their rights more effectively. Moiwana and other NGOs
continued to promote the rights of indigenous people.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Although the law prohibits
discrimination based on sexual orientation, there were reports of
employment discrimination against gay and lesbian persons. There were
no reports of official discrimination based on sexual orientation in
housing, access to education, or health care. Police neither
perpetrated nor condoned violence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, or
transgender (LGBT) persons. LGBT organizations operated in the country
independently and without restriction.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--Persons with HIV/AIDS
continued to experience societal discrimination in employment and
medical services. An NGO working with HIV-infected persons reported
that law enforcement agencies and the fire department conducted HIV
testing as part of their hiring procedures. Catering establishments,
casinos, and some private companies also reportedly demanded HIV tests
prior to employment. The Mamio Foundation noted that individuals,
mostly women, reported physical violence or discrimination after their
HIV-positive status became known. Insurance companies allegedly denied
services to HIV-positive clients, having identified their status via
their medication histories.
The Ministry of Health continued its efforts to prevent mother-to-
child transmission of HIV/AIDS through a comprehensive outreach program
involving local health care providers. The program achieved its goal of
voluntary testing of 90 percent of expectant mothers. The military
continued its ongoing HIV/AIDS awareness program among troops. In
October the Ministry of Defense unveiled a two-year plan to develop a
workplace policy on HIV/AIDS awareness that included the development of
a policy and protocols manual, free condom distribution, and training
of peer educators, with the goal of reducing the risk of HIV/AIDS to
military personnel and their families.
Section 7. 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 did so in practice. Nearly 60 percent of the
workforce was organized into unions, and most unions belonged to one of
the country's seven major labor federations. Unions were independent of
the government but played an active role in politics.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers in both the
public and private sectors exercised this right in practice.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Collective
bargaining is protected by law, and the government generally enforced
this right in practice. Collective bargaining agreements covered
approximately 50 percent of the labor force. The law prohibits employer
interference in union activities, and in practice it did not occur.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
all forms of forced or compulsory labor, including by children;
however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see section
6, Trafficking).
On April 2, the International Organization for Migration
repatriated eight of 11 individuals to Indonesia after it was reported
in December 2008 that they were brought to the county under false
pretenses and made to work in poor conditions without pay. The
remaining three decided to stay in the country and return to work for
the employer.
The trial of two individuals arrested after allegedly recruiting 23
men for a cooking course in Trinidad and Tobago and then providing them
as forced labor upon arrival in that country continued at year's end.
During the year an additional four persons were arrested in Curacao and
extradited to Suriname, where they were awaiting trial at year's end.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law sets the minimum age for most types of employment at 14 years and
restricts working hours for minors to day shifts but does not limit the
number of hours minors can work. Children younger than 14 are allowed
to work only in a family-owned business, small-scale agriculture, and
special vocational work. The law does not define the worst forms of
child labor. Children younger than 18 are prohibited from doing
hazardous work, defined as work dangerous to their life, health, and
decency. Children under the age of 15 are not permitted to work on
boats. However, the Ministry of Labor and the police enforced the law
sporadically, and child labor remained a problem in the informal
sector, especially in the western districts of Nickerie and Saramacca,
as children faced increasing economic pressure to discontinue their
education to seek employment.
Children under 14 worked in gold mines, in informal urban sectors,
and reportedly in the commercial sex industry. Employers in these
sectors did not guarantee work safety, and children often worked
barefoot and without protective gloves or access to medical care. There
was a lack of statistical data on the labor environment and child labor
situation in the country. In contrast to 2008, there were no reports of
commercial sexual exploitation of children and teenagers by caretakers
and older recruiters.
The Ministry of Labor's Department of Labor Inspection, with 75
inspectors, has responsibility to implement and enforce labor laws;
however, enforcement was inadequate. Inspectors visited private sector
companies throughout the country, but no data was available regarding
the number of inspections performed during the year. Employers were
required to maintain a Register of Young Persons that includes each
employee's information. Employing a child less than 14 years of age is
punishable by fines and up to 12 months in prison. Parents who permit
their children to work in violation of labor laws may also be
prosecuted. The government did not investigate exploitive child labor
cases outside urban areas. Labor inspectors were not authorized to
conduct inspections in the informal sector as responsibility for
controlling the informal sector lies with the police.
Although the government provided no programs to remove children
from the worst forms of child labor, it supported vocational programs
for dropouts and older children to serve as an alternative to underage
labor.
On November 20, the National Commission for the Eradication of
Child Labor became active. Members included officials from the
ministries of labor, social affairs, and education, as well as
representatives from labor unions, the private sector, and NGOs. The
commission's mandate includes formulating national policy regarding the
eradication of child labor, initiating specific programs for indigenous
children, developing a list of occupations involving the worst forms of
child labor, and monitoring the country's compliance with international
child labor standards.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no legislation
providing for a minimum wage. The lowest wage for civil servants was
approximately SR$600 ($214) per month, including a cost of living
allowance, which did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. Government employees, who constituted approximately
50 percent of the 100,000-member workforce, frequently supplemented
their salaries with second or third jobs, often in the informal sector.
The president and the Council of Ministers set and approved civil
service wage increases. During the year the government implemented the
first phase of a new civil servant wage system, which increased wages
for many civil servants.
Work in excess of 45 hours per week on a regular basis requires
special government permission, which was granted routinely. Such
overtime work earned premium pay. The law prohibits excessive overtime
and requires a 24-hour rest period per week.
The government sets occupational health and safety standards, and a
10- to 12-member inspectorate in the Occupational Health and Safety
Division of the Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing
occupational safety and health regulations, but it did not make regular
inspections. There is no law authorizing workers to refuse to work in
circumstances they deem unsafe; they must appeal to the inspectorate to
declare the workplace situation unsafe.
__________
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Trinidad and Tobago is a parliamentary democracy governed by a
prime minister and a bicameral legislature, with a population of
approximately 1.3 million. Tobago has a House of Assembly that has some
administrative autonomy over local matters on that island. In the 2007
elections, which observers considered generally free and fair, Prime
Minister Patrick Manning's People's National Movement (PNM) secured a
26- to 15-seat victory over the United National Congress (UNC).
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas: police killings
during apprehension or custody, inmate illness and injuries due to poor
prison conditions, high-profile cases of alleged bribery, violence
against women, inadequate services for vulnerable children, and unsafe
working conditions.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
46 persons died during the year while in police custody or at the hands
of law enforcement officers. Authorities investigated or opened
inquests into some of the killings, but only 6 percent of inquiries
into police killings of civilians have been completed since 1999. In
cases where charges were brought, 50 percent of the officers were
acquitted.
On January 23, a police officer shot and killed George Ashby.
Friends and family of the deceased protested for two days until police
officials promised an investigation. At year's end, no formal finding
had been made in the case, and the police officer remained on active
duty.
On October 1, police officers shot four men suspected of murder
when they saw them in a vehicle. The shots killed three men; the
survivor claimed that the police targeted the men because they were
suspects in previous cases. Police began an initial investigation of
the incident, but by year's end the Director of Public Prosecution had
not decided whether to conduct a full inquiry.
There were no reported developments in the inquiries into the 2008
police killings of Mustapha Edwards, Karim Saint Aimee, and Russel
Samuel. Authorities took no action following a June 2008 forensics
report that found no gunshot residue on any of the four men killed by
police in 2007 while sitting in a vehicle in Laventille.
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 the law prohibit such
practices, there were credible reports that police officers and prison
guards mistreated individuals under arrest or in detention.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in the prison
system's eight facilities were somewhat upgraded but continued to be
difficult. The designed capacity of the prisons was 4,380 inmates, and
they held approximately 4,000 prisoners at year's end. However, some
prisons suffered from extreme overcrowding, while others had not
reached full capacity. The Port of Spain prison, originally designed to
accommodate 250 inmates, held 506 prisoners, compared with 528 in 2008.
At peak times, up to 10 prisoners were kept in 10- by 10-foot cells.
The maximum security prison, designed to accommodate 2,453 inmates,
held 1,273. Inmates complained of insufficient medical care for illness
and injuries. No new prisons were constructed during the year, but one
facility was converted into a detention center for illegal immigrants.
It had an intended capacity of 150 and held 46 persons at year's end.
Pretrial detainees were held separately from convicted prisoners.
There were 1,403 inmates awaiting trial, compared with 1,595 at the end
of 2008. However, convicted prisoners often were held in the remand
section until they exhausted their appeals. Since there is no female
youth facility, some underage female prisoners were placed in the
Golden Grove women's prison. Of the 158 female prisoners, 50 awaited
trial at year's end. Although conditions at the women's prison were
better than those in Port of Spain prison, it occasionally became
overcrowded, since it held both women on remand and those serving
prison sentences.
The minister of national security told Parliament that corrupt
prison guards were complicit in the smuggling of cell phones to
prisoners. Prison authorities reported bringing charges against 40
prison officers for assault and battery or for poor conduct on the job,
including possession of narcotics and provision of cell phones to
inmates.
On October 2, a High Court judge awarded damages of TT$243,848
($41,000) to a former inmate who was beaten by a group of prison
officers in 2008 while serving a 30-month sentence. The judge described
the attack as ''depraved and inhumane treatment'' and stated that the
conduct of the officers involved was ``oppressive, arbitrary, and
unprofessional.''
At year's end a trial was pending of a police constable charged
with the March 2008 rape of a woman who visited the Arouca police
station to inquire about a domestic violence report.
An army and a police investigation continued into the March 2008
alleged rape at gunpoint by two soldiers of a woman who had sneaked
into a military camp to visit another soldier.
The government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers upon approval of the Ministry of National Security; however,
there were no such requests 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.
On October 8, a High Court judge awarded 22-year-old Shastri
Ramnarine TT$50,000 ($8,000) in compensation for unlawful detention in
2005 associated with murder charges on which he was ultimately
acquitted.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
National Security oversees the police service, immigration division,
prison service, and defense force. The police service maintains
internal security, while the defense force is responsible for external
security but also has certain domestic security responsibilities. An
independent body, the Police Service Commission, makes hiring and
firing decisions in the police service, and the ministry has little
direct influence over changes in senior positions. The commission
criticized the police force for insubordination, absenteeism, and
failure to appear in court to testify; it also noted persistent public
complaints of police unresponsiveness.
The national police force comprises nine divisions, including 17
specialized branches, with approximately 5,000 members. The Police
Service Commission, in consultation with the prime minister, appoints a
commissioner of police to oversee the police force. Municipal police
under the jurisdiction of 14 regional administrative bodies supplement
the national police force. The Special Anticrime Unit, composed of both
police and defense force personnel, combats violent crime--including
kidnappings for ransom--and carries out other security operations.
Police corruption continued to be a problem, with some officials
suggesting there were officers who participated in corrupt and illegal
activities. Authorities suspended 29 officers on corruption charges
during the year.
The Police Complaints Authority receives complaints about the
conduct of police officers for transmittal to the Complaints Division
of the Police Service, where uniformed officers investigate them. The
authority monitors the division's investigations and its disciplinary
measures. Police Service Commission restrictions limited the division's
ability to dismiss police officers. The public had little confidence in
the police complaints process because the authority had no power to
investigate complaints and because those investigating complaints
against the police were themselves police officers.
In August the Criminal Investigation Unit carried out an
investigation of the St. Joseph Police Station after four unregistered
firearms and a quantity of narcotics were discovered in the office of a
senior officer. Following the incident, authorities transferred 38
officers to other police stations and continued their investigation at
year's end.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--A police
officer may arrest a person based on a warrant issued or authorized by
a magistrate or without a warrant if the officer witnesses the
commission of an alleged offense. Detainees, as well as those summoned
to appear before a magistrate, must appear in court within 48 hours. In
the case of more serious offenses, the magistrate either commits the
accused to prison on remand or allows the accused to post bail, pending
a preliminary inquiry. Detainees were granted immediate access to a
lawyer and to family members.
There is a functioning bail system. Persons charged with murder,
treason, piracy, kidnapping for ransom, and hijacking, as well as
persons convicted twice of violent crimes, are ineligible for a period
of 60 days following the charge. However, a judge may still grant bail
to such persons under exceptional circumstances. Where bail was
refused, magistrates advised the accused of their right to an attorney
and, with few exceptions, allowed them access to an attorney once they
were in custody and prior to any interrogation.
The minister of national security may authorize preventive
detention in order to preclude actions prejudicial to public safety,
public order, or national defense, in which case the minister must
state the grounds for the detention. There were no reports that the
authorities abused this power.
Lengthy pretrial detention resulting from heavy court backlogs and
inefficiencies in the judicial system continued to be a problem. Many
persons under indictment waited months, if not years, for their trial
dates in the High Court. An added inefficiency resulted from the legal
requirement that anyone charged and detained must appear in person for
a hearing before magistrate's court every 10 days, if only to have the
case postponed for an additional 10 days, pending conclusion of the
investigation. Officials cited an increase in the number of arrests and
an antiquated note-taking system in most magistrate's courts as
explanations for the backlog.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and the law
provide for an independent judiciary, and the government generally
respected this provision in practice. Although the judicial process was
generally fair, it was slow due to backlogs and inefficiencies.
Additionally, prosecutors as well as judges stated that witness
intimidation increased.
The judiciary is divided into the Supreme Court of Judicature and
the magistracy. The Supreme Court is composed of the High Court and a
Court of Appeal. The magistracy includes the summary courts and the
petty civil courts.
Trial Procedures.--Magistrates try both minor and more serious
offenses, but in the case of more serious offenses, the magistrate must
conduct a preliminary inquiry. Trials are public, and juries are used
in the High Court. Defendants have the right to be present, are
presumed innocent until proven guilty, and have the right to appeal.
All defendants have the right to consult with an attorney in a timely
manner. An attorney is provided at public expense to defendants facing
serious criminal charges, and the law requires provision of an attorney
to any person accused of murder. Although the courts may appoint
attorneys for indigent persons charged with serious crimes, an indigent
person may refuse to accept an assigned attorney for cause and may
obtain a replacement. Defendants can confront or question witnesses
against them, can present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf,
and have access to government-held evidence relevant to their cases.
Both civil and criminal appeals may be filed with the Court of
Appeal and ultimately with the Privy Council in the United Kingdom.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and the
law provide for an independent and impartial judiciary in civil
matters, and citizens are free to file lawsuits against civil breaches,
in both the High Court and petty civil court. The High Court may review
the decisions of lower courts, order parties to cease and desist from
particular actions, compel parties to take specific actions, or award
damages to aggrieved parties. However, the petty civil court is
authorized to hear only cases involving damages of up to TT$15,000
(approximately $2,500).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and the law prohibit such actions,
and the government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and the law
provide for freedom of speech and of the press, and the government
generally respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an
effective 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 chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail.
According to the International Telecommunication Union, there were 17
Internet users per 100 inhabitants in 2008.
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 the law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
government generally respected these rights in practice.
In April, before the Fifth Summit of the Americas, the police
denied permission for a group calling itself the People's Summit to
demonstrate at the heads of government meeting, citing security
concerns. The police did not interfere when the group rallied outside
of the established security perimeter.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the government generally respected this right in
practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. The
Jewish community was extremely small.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution and various laws
provide for freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel,
emigration, and repatriation, and the government generally respected
these rights in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and it was not used.
Protection of Refugees.--Although the government acceded to the
1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967
protocol, it had not passed legislation to implement its obligations
under the convention. The government cooperated with the Office of the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The government
placed asylum seekers in the care of the Living Water Community (LWC),
a local Catholic social services agency, while their cases were
reviewed by the UNHCR and final resolution reached. Pending
Parliament's approval of legislation implementing the UN convention and
its protocol, the Ministry of National Security's Immigration Division
handled all requests for asylum on a case-by-case basis.
In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular political group, or political
opinion. However, it took as long as four years for the government to
provide identification cards or work permits to persons granted refugee
status, due to a lengthy bureaucratic process.
The government did not provide temporary protection to persons who
may not qualify as refugees. The LWC provided such persons with needed
social services and reported in November that 67 previously filed
asylum applications were still pending and that 63 new applications had
been filed during the year. The government recognized only five persons
as refugees.
In February migrants from Ghana, Senegal, and Nigeria staged a
hunger strike at the Maximum Security Prison, calling for the
government to pay for their return home. On October 22, the Ministry of
National Security chartered a plane to return 52 migrants to Africa,
with stops in Accra and Lagos. The ministry provided migrants from
other countries plane tickets to their home countries from Lagos or
Accra.
On November 11, the government opened a detention center to hold
undocumented immigrants, except those facing criminal charges, who were
formerly held in prison. The detention center can only accommodate men,
and undocumented female immigrants continued to be held in prison. The
facility can support approximately 150 persons pending deportation or
other means of return to their countries.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The constitution and the law provide citizens the right to
peacefully change their government, and citizens exercised this right
in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the
basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Observers found the 2007
national elections to be generally free and fair. However, during the
campaign period, there were incidents of vandalism and violence. A
plurality of voters supported the PNM, which retained control of the
government. The two major political parties are the PNM, which is
primarily but not exclusively Afro-Trinidadian, and the UNC, which is
primarily but not exclusively Indo-Trinidadian. A third party formed in
2006, the Congress of the People, failed to win any seats in the latest
election.
For the fourth consecutive year, the government postponed local
elections. In spite of the constitutional mandate that local elections
be held every three years, the last such election was held in 2003. The
government asserted as its reason that the review of the municipal
boundaries and other local government reforms were yet to be completed.
Voters elected the 41-member House of Representatives, and there is
an appointed Senate composed of 31 persons. Of the 72 persons in both
houses of Parliament, 24 were women; there were 11 women in the 28-
member cabinet and 10 female judges among the 34 judges on the High
Court and the Court of Appeals.
All major political parties reached out to voters from relatively
small ethnic minorities, such as the Chinese, Syrian, Lebanese, and
European-origin communities, and members of these groups held important
positions in government. There were no members of these minorities in
the legislature or in the cabinet.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and
the government generally implemented these laws effectively. However,
the World Bank's worldwide governance indicators reflected that
government corruption was a problem. Authorities suspended 29 police
officers on corruption charges during the year (see section 1.c.).
The Integrity in Public Life Act mandates that public officials
disclose their assets, income, and liabilities to an Integrity
Commission. However, at year's end there was no functioning Integrity
Commission, because all five members the president appointed in April
resigned. This followed the February resignation of the five original
appointees, after a judge ruled that they acted in bad faith and were
guilty of misfeasance in public office. Critics charged that the
commission lacked credibility as it was often used as a political tool.
In the past, officials and candidates for public office were reluctant
to comply with asset disclosure rules due to fear of kidnappings for
ransom. The act does not address public officials' reluctance to
disclose assets, and there was no progress toward amending it.
In May the Director of Public Prosecutions launched an
investigation to determine whether the prime minister and his PNM party
breached the Prevention of Corruption Act or other provision of the law
in regard to an alleged agreement with the organization Jamaat al
Muslimeen prior to the 2002 general elections. Unconfirmed reports
circulated that the group's leader Yasin Abu Bakr agreed to support the
prime minister's party in exchange for a promise that his property
would not be seized to pay a state debt. In October a High Court judge
ruled that 10 of Abu Bakr's properties be auctioned off to pay the debt
to the government.
In January a commission of inquiry into the construction industry
commenced hearings to review 2008 allegations involving activities of
the state-owned Urban Development Company. The commission resumed
meetings in December and was asked to present its final report by
February 28, 2010.
In April 2008 the Privy Council ordered a new trial for UNC Party
Chairman and Parliamentary Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday, stemming
from his 2006 conviction for failing to disclose a London bank account.
However, the trial had not begun by year's end.
The Freedom of Information Act provides for public access to
government documents, upon application. Critics charged, however, that
a growing number of public bodies have been exempted from the act's
coverage, which the government claimed was necessary to reduce the
volume of frivolous requests.
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating human
rights cases and publishing their findings. Government officials
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
The ombudsman investigates citizens' complaints concerning the
administrative decisions of government agencies. Where there is
evidence of a breach of duty, misconduct, or criminal offense, the
ombudsman may refer the matter to the appropriate authority. The
ombudsman has a quasi-autonomous status within the government and
publishes a comprehensive annual report. Both the public and the
government had confidence in the integrity and the reliability of the
office of the ombudsman and the ombudsman's annual report.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The government generally respected in practice the constitutional
provisions for fundamental human rights and freedoms for all without
discrimination based on race, origin, color, religion, social status,
or gender.
Women.--Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal and punishable by
up to life imprisonment, but the courts often handed down considerably
shorter sentences. The government and nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) reported that many incidents of rape and other sexual crimes
were unreported, partly due to perceived insensitivity on the part of
the police. One group, the Rape Crisis Society, stated that it provided
services to 62 new rape victims and 91 returning victims. The Crime and
Problem Analysis Branch of the police service reported that there were
231 cases of rape during the year, 71 of which resulted in prosecution
and conviction. There were 326 rape investigations under way at year's
end, including many from prior years.
Many community leaders asserted that abuse of women, particularly
in the form of domestic violence, continued to be a significant
problem. The law provides for protection orders separating perpetrators
of domestic violence, including abusive spouses, from their victims.
Abusive spouses can also be fined or imprisoned. While reliable
national statistics were not available, women's groups estimated that
from 20 to 25 percent of all women suffered abuse.
The NGO Coalition Against Domestic Violence charged that police
were often lax in enforcing domestic violence laws and asserted that
rape and sexual abuse against women and children remained a significant
problem.
The Division of Gender Affairs (DGA) in the Ministry of Community
Development, Culture, and Gender Affairs operated a 24-hour hotline for
victims of rape, spousal abuse, and other violence against women,
referring callers to eight shelters for battered women, a rape crisis
center, counseling services, support groups, and other assistance.
Prostitution is illegal, and the authorities continued to monitor,
investigate, and prosecute major operators believed to be engaged in
soliciting for prostitution.
No laws specifically prohibit sexual harassment. Although related
statutes could be used to prosecute perpetrators of sexual harassment,
and some trade unions incorporated antiharassment provisions in their
contracts, both the government and NGOs continued to suspect that many
incidents of sexual harassment went unreported.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children, and had the information and means to
do so free from discrimination. Access to information on contraception,
and skilled attendance at delivery and in postpartum care were widely
available. Women and men were given equal access to diagnostic services
and treatment for HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.
Women generally enjoyed the same legal rights as men, including
employment, education, and inheritance rights. No laws or regulations
require equal pay for equal work. While equal pay for men and women in
public service was the rule rather than the exception, both the
government and NGOs noted considerable disparities in pay between men
and women in the private sector, particularly in agriculture.
Civil service regulations require female civil servants to report
their marriages to the Public Service Commission. The government argued
that this was merely an administrative device to account for name
changes. However, the Committee of Experts of the International Labor
Organization (ILO) recommended that the government amend its
regulations to include such reporting from both men and women who marry
while in the public service.
The DGA had primary government responsibility for protecting
women's rights and women's advancement and sponsored income-generation
workshops for unemployed single mothers, nontraditional skills training
for women, and seminars for men on redefining masculinity.
Children.--Children acquire nationality by birth; every person born
in the country is a citizen at the date of birth, unless the parents
are foreign envoys accredited to the country. Children born outside the
country can become citizens at birth if on that date one or both of the
parents is, or was, a citizen. The Births and Deaths Registration Act
provides that every child born alive must be registered within 42 days
of birth.
The Domestic Violence Act provides protection for children abused
at home. The Ministry of Education's Student Support Services Division
reported that young school children were vulnerable to rape, physical
abuse, and drug use and that some had access to weapons or lived with
drug-addicted parents. Abused children removed from the home were first
assessed at a reception center for vulnerable children and then placed
with relatives, government institutions, or NGOs. According to the Rape
Crisis Society, there were 28 child sexual abuse cases, a decrease from
81 cases in 2008. The Coalition against Domestic Violence operated
Childline, a free and confidential telephone hotline for at-risk or
distressed children and young persons up to age 25. During the year
Childline received 13,864 calls, 62 percent from females and 38 percent
from males.
Several children were abused in their own homes or in institutional
settings. On August 5, authorities charged a woman for allegedly
burning a 10-year-old child's hand in a hot pot of rice. The child, who
lived with her father, was staying at the woman's home while her father
worked. The woman pleaded not guilty and was granted TT$12,500 ($2,100)
bail. The case was pending at year's end.
The law defines a child as less than 18 years of age, outlaws
corporal punishment for children, and prohibits sentencing a child to
prison. The legal age for marriage is 18 for both men and fwomen.
However, in practice the minimum legal age for marriage is determined
by the distinct laws and attitudes of the various religious
denominations. Under the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act, the minimum
legal age for marriage is 16 for men and 12 for women; the Hindu
Marriage Act and the Orisa Marriage Act set the minimum legal age for
marriage at 18 for men and 16 for women.
Statutory rape is illegal under the Sexual Offenses Act. The age of
sexual consent is 16 years for males and females; however, this does
not apply if the parties are married. Persons found guilty of rape can
be sentenced from 12 years to life in jail.
Child pornography is illegal, and penalties for pornographers
include a fine of TT$ 2,000 ($330) and four months' imprisonment.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, but perpetrators could be prosecuted under
several related laws. The government made significant efforts to
counter the possibility of trafficking and continued to state that
trafficking of its citizens did not occur and that trafficking was not
a major problem. However, occasional media reports asserted that some
trafficking occurred, and there were five reported trafficking cases in
Trinidad involving Colombian women.
The Sexual Offenses Act prohibits procurement of a person for the
purpose of sexual intercourse or to work in a brothel. It also states
that procurement of minors for prostitution or sexual offenses is
punishable with penalties up to life imprisonment if the child is under
14 years of age. The Kidnapping Act provides that if a person takes,
entices away, abducts, seizes, or detains any person without his
consent, or with his consent obtained by fraud or duress, or if a
person is held, confined, restricted or imprisoned without lawful
excuse; the one who performs these acts commits an offense. Penalties
for violations of these laws range from seven years' to life
imprisonment. There were no prosecutions under these laws during the
year.
The government has worked with the International Organization for
Migration (IOM) since 2006 for training and data-sharing, and held a
joint workshop on trafficking jointly with the IOM and the government
of Colombia, source of some trafficking victims. The IOM has an office
within the Ministry of National Security's Immigration Division.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no statutes either
prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability or mandating
equal access for persons with disabilities to the political process,
employment, education, transportation, housing, health care, or other
citizen services. The labor minister publicly called upon employers
both in the private and public sectors to end discriminatory practices
against persons with disabilities and to create inclusive work
environments.
In practice persons with disabilities faced discrimination and
denial of opportunities in the form of architectural barriers, employer
reluctance to make necessary accommodations that would enable otherwise
qualified job candidates to work, an absence of support services to
assist children with special needs to study, lowered expectations of
the abilities of persons with disabilities, condescending attitudes,
and disrespect. According to the NGO Disabled People's International
(DPI), an estimated 16 percent of the population had some form of
disability, although no census data were available. The government
provided some funding to NGOs such as the DPI.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country is racially and
ethnically diverse, with Afro-Trinidadians and Indo-Trinidadians each
accounting for approximately 40 percent of the population.
Indigenous People.--A very small group of persons identified
themselves as descendants of the country's original Amerindian
population. The government effectively protected their civil and
political rights, and they were not subject to discrimination.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--Although the law criminalizes
consensual homosexual relations, providing penalties of up to 10 years'
imprisonment, the government generally did not enforce such
legislation.
The Equal Opportunities Act does not specifically include lesbians,
gays, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) persons. LGBT rights groups
reported that there remained a stigma related to sexual orientation in
the country.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--HIV/AIDS was viewed as
a significant medical concern for the government and society. Incidents
of violence against this group were usually isolated events, and the
Ministry of Labor partnered with the ILO to launch an HIV
antidiscrimination
program in the workplace.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that all workers,
including those in state-owned enterprises, may form and join
independent unions of their own choosing without prior authorization.
The law also provides for the mandatory recognition of a trade union
when it represents 51 percent or more of the workers in a specified
bargaining unit. The government's Registration and Certification Board,
however, determines whether a given workers' organization meets the
definition of a bargaining unit and can limit union recognition by this
means. The Industrial Relations Act (IRA) does not recognize domestic
workers (maids, chauffeurs, gardeners, etc.), and they do not have the
right to join a union. The government was consistently unwilling to
negotiate with public sector unions and refused to amend its
legislation on ``essential services'' and collective bargaining to
conform to ILO conventions.
According to the National Trade Union Center, one of two umbrella
organizations in the labor movement, 22 to 24 percent of the workforce
was organized in approximately 25 active unions. Most unions were
independent of government or political party control, although the
Sugar Workers' Union historically aligned itself with the UNC.
The law allows unions to conduct their activities without
interference; however, there were heavy restrictions on strikes.
Employees in essential services, such as police and teachers, do not
have the right to strike, and walkouts can bring punishment of up to 18
months in prison. These employees negotiate with the government's chief
personnel officer to resolve labor disputes. The IRA stipulates that
only strikes over unresolved interest disputes may take place and that
strikes may be prohibited at the request of one party if not called by
a majority union.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to participate in collective bargaining, although there were
heavy restrictions on the practice. According to the International
Trade Union Confederation, collective bargaining was restricted by the
requirement that, to obtain bargaining rights, a union must have the
support of an absolute majority of workers. Furthermore, collective
agreements must be for a minimum of three years, making it almost
impossible for workers on short-term contracts to be covered by such
agreements.
The law mandates that workers illegally dismissed for union
activities must be reinstated. A union also may bring a request for
enforcement to the Industrial Court, which may order employers found
guilty of antiunion activities to reinstate workers and pay
compensation or may impose other penalties, including imprisonment.
During the year the government-owned Telecommunication Services of
Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) suspended 30 employees without pay after
they delivered a petition calling for pay increases. The company
applied to the Industrial Court to declassify the bargaining union on
the grounds of improper industrial action but later withdrew the
complaint after government intervention.
The Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) moved to terminate
negotiation rights to the Transport and Industrial Workers Union
representing bus drivers after a bus strike in September.
On October 15, the government intervened to stop TSTT, a statutory
corporation, and PTSC, a state enterprise, from requesting
decertification of two recognized bargaining unions.
There are several export processing zones, where the same labor
laws are in effect as in the rest of the country.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law
does not specifically prohibit forced or compulsory labor, there were
no reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--A
2007 law sets the minimum age for employment in public and private
industries at 16. However, children ages 14 to 16 may work in
activities in which only family members are employed or that have been
approved as vocational or technical training by the minister of
education. Children under the age of 18 are prohibited from working
between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. except in a family enterprise
or within other limited exceptions. One such exception permits children
from 16 to 18 to work at night in sugar factories, but sugar production
all but ended in 2007. Violation of these regulations is punishable by
fines. Although there was no significant evidence of children working,
the government acknowledged that street children did work.
The Ministry of Labor and Small and Micro Enterprise Development
and the Ministry of Social Development are responsible for enforcing
child labor laws. The government trained 19 inspectors to identify
cases of child labor. The minister of labor may designate an inspector
to gather information from parents and employers regarding the
employment of a person under the age of 18. The Industrial Court may
issue a finding of contempt on anyone obstructing the inspectors'
investigation.
The Ministry of Social Development continued to implement its
Revised National Plan of Action for Children, which includes specific
goals for combating commercial sexual exploitation of children and
exploitive child labor. The government also participated in a regional
initiative to combat the worst forms of child labor, implemented by the
ILO's Program for the Elimination of Child Labor. However, the
government did not have comprehensive mechanisms for receiving,
investigating, and resolving child labor complaints. Consequently, it
was unclear how many complaints related to child labor were received
and if any children who work might have been involved in exploitive
labor situations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Labor has a
tripartite minimum wage committee, with input from trade unions and
private sector leaders. The committee provides a recommendation for
setting the minimum wage, which then is brought to cabinet by the
minister. The national minimum wage was TT$9 (approximately $1.45) per
hour, which did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family. The government provided limited food assistance for poor
families through a conditional cash transfer program. Actual wages
varied considerably among industries.
The law establishes a 40-hour workweek, a daily period for lunch or
rest, and premium pay for overtime. The law does not prohibit excessive
or compulsory overtime.
Health and safety regulations apply to all workers, regardless of
citizenship. Foreign laborers brought into the country were generally
protected by local labor laws, a stipulation usually contained in their
labor contract. In October some of the 3,000 Chinese workers in the
country protested the way payments were handled by their Chinese
employers, who claimed the workers agreed in advance that the last two
paychecks would be provided once the worker returned to China.
The law protects workers who file complaints with the labor
ministry regarding illegal or hazardous working conditions. If
complainants refuse to comply with an order that would place them in
danger, and if it is determined upon inspection that hazardous
conditions exist in the workplace, the complainants are absolved from
blame.
__________
URUGUAY
The Oriental Republic of Uruguay, with a population of
approximately 3.4 million, is a constitutional republic with an elected
president and a bicameral legislature. On November 29, in a free and
fair runoff election, Jose Mujica won a five-year presidential term and
a majority in parliament. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
The government generally respected the rights of its citizens.
Prison conditions continued to be poor. Instances of violence against
women and discrimination against some societal groups continued to
challenge government policies of nondiscrimination. Some trafficking in
persons occurred.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
The government continued to investigate the serious human rights
violations committed during the 1973-85 military dictatorship. Former
military dictator, Gregorio Alvarez, and the democratically elected
president in office during the first years of the military rule, Juan
Maria Bordaberry, were both convicted and sentenced to 25 to 30 years
in prison for coauthoring aggravated homicides and disappearances.
Alvarez was serving his sentence in a military prison, and Bordaberry
was under house arrest due to poor health.
In August 2008 the Office of the Prosecutor requested an extended
sentence for imprisoned former foreign minister Juan Carlos Blanco
based on new charges regarding his alleged complicity in the forced
disappearance of teacher Elena Quinteros, kidnapped by military forces
from the compound of the Venezuelan Embassy in Montevideo in 1976. In
July Blanco appealed to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) for temporary release as a presumed innocent presenting little
flight risk. There was no known IACHR response to Blanco's request by
year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
or other disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, the UN special
rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment
or punishment, Manfred Nowak, reported that during his March visit to
the country, he received ``credible allegations of ill-treatment and
excessive use of force in prisons, police stations, and juvenile
detention centers.''
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
continued to be poor as aging facilities were not adequately
maintained. Overcrowding continued to be a problem despite the
government's efforts to build more prison facilities. According to
government figures, the total prisoner population as of July 31
exceeded design capacity by 1,289 prisoners, reaching a population
density of 137 percent of the recommended limit (the prison ombudsman's
report defined a 120 percent density as ``critical''). Overcrowding and
understaffing resulted in sanitation, social, and health problems.
Many prisoners depended on visitors for enough food to reach the
daily minimum caloric intake. Although a new clinic in Comcar Prison
greatly improved health services during the year, access to medical and
dental care, recreation, and training remained deficient. An Honorary
Anti-Tuberculosis Commission report confirmed 85 cases of tuberculosis
in the prison population in 2008. A high percentage of prisoners
reportedly used drugs. A government rehabilitation program trained 40
inmates from two prisons to prepare participants to train other inmates
on such topics as health and narcotics-abuse treatment. Ministry
officials stated that there were no complaints of police abuse in
prisons during the year, which some observers attributed to fear of
reprisals from prison staff; however, the prison ombudsman received
unofficial reports of maltreatment.
Prisoner-on-prisoner violence continued to be a daily problem,
partially due to the lack of a separate, high-security prison for
violent criminals. In August five prisoners perished in a cell fire.
The government judged that the prison staff's response had been swift
and appropriate, but the prison system ombudsman questioned whether the
incident had been adequately investigated. There were 22 deaths in
prisons reported during the year. In October a prison riot and possible
escape attempt led to the deaths of two prisoners. The presiding judge
decided not to prosecute a police officer suspected of being
responsible for one of the deaths.
In December authorities arrested the chief of the police station
and three police officers in connection with the October 2008
strangulation death of a detainee; they awaited trial at year's end.
Government figures from the end of July recorded that there were
7,796 male and 607 female prisoners, of whom 35 percent had been
sentenced, while 65 percent were awaiting trial. Pretrial detainees and
convicted criminals were held together, but female and male prisoners
were held in separate facilities. During the year 32 children lived in
prison facilities with their inmate mothers.
The Uruguayan Institute for Adolescents and Children (INAU), which
supervises juvenile detention and protects abandoned and orphaned
children under age 18, also operated institutions to hold minor
detainees. Juveniles who committed serious crimes were incarcerated in
juvenile detention centers, which resembled traditional jails and had
cells. INAU reported that in November 250 juveniles were incarcerated.
Conditions in some of these facilities were similar to adult versions,
and conditions in others worsened as a result of frequent escape
attempts and riots. Judges placed other juvenile offenders in halfway
houses that focused on rehabilitation. These facilities, which housed
145 juveniles, provided educational, vocational, and other
opportunities, and residents were permitted to enter and leave without
restriction. A prison system ombudsman elected by the General Assembly
is responsible for monitoring and reporting on prison conditions in the
29 detention centers around the country.
The government permitted general prison visits by independent human
rights observers, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), religious
congregations, and foreign diplomats, and such visits occurred during
the year. In March at the invitation of the government, the UN special
rapporteur on torture visited several prisons. The special rapporteur
reported that he found some sections inhuman and degrading, with
conditions that included severe overcrowding and a lack of water,
sanitation, and access to medical treatment. Many of the problems, the
special rapporteur asserted, ``were a direct result of the lack of a
comprehensive criminal or penitentiary policy.''
Responding to the special rapporteur's findings, the government
accelerated and amplified existing plans to ease the prison system's
chronic overcrowding and doubled the budget allocation for prison
improvements. Construction began on a series of projects to create
1,500 to 1,600 additional places in the prison system by the second
half of 2010. These efforts included constructing a 312-place facility
(on which work began in 2008) and converting an old barrack to create
space for approximately 500 prisoners nearing the end of their
sentences. Additionally, the government sought to relocate
approximately 30 female prisoners with young children.
Despite outlining many concerns, the prison ombudsman's 2009 report
identified good practices in some prisons. The report highlighted an
increase in prisoners in open prisons where the detainees were involved
in maintaining small land holdings, a successful clinic in one of the
country's largest prisons, and advances in providing primary education
to inmates.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these
prohibitions in practice. The law requires police to have a written
warrant issued by a judge before making an arrest (except when police
apprehend the accused during commission of a crime), and authorities
generally respected this provision in practice.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Civilian authorities
maintained effective control over the National Police, and the
government has effective mechanisms to investigate and punish abuse and
corruption. There were no reports of impunity involving the security
forces during the year.
The Ministry of the Interior's Directorate of Internal Affairs
operated a hotline for complaints of police abuse. The directorate
received 865 complaints of police abuse during the year. Most
complaints were due to poor customer service in police offices,
mistreatment and abuse, illegal arrests, and corruption, including
three allegations of homicide. Such allegations are investigated
internally before being presented for trial if evidence so merits.
There were some formal and informal reports of police corruption,
which authorities addressed with appropriate legal action. In April, 15
prison guards were prosecuted and imprisoned in the department of
Rivera for failing to provide evidence in the investigation of the
death of a prisoner who was shot during a failed escape in 2007. In
March a 30-year career police officer was convicted of drug and arms
trafficking and graft in prisons.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--Persons were
apprehended openly with warrants based on sufficient evidence and
issued by a duly authorized official. The law provides detainees with
the right to a prompt judicial determination of the legality of
detention, which was not always respected, and requires that the
detaining authority explain the legal grounds for the detention. Police
may hold a detainee incommunicado for 24 hours before presenting the
case to a judge, at which time the detainee has the right to counsel.
The law stipulates that confessions obtained by police prior to a
detainee's appearance before a judge and attorney (without police
present) are not valid. A judge must investigate any detainee's claim
of mistreatment. A lawyer assigned to each police station reports to
the Ministry of the Interior concerning the treatment of detainees.
For a detainee who cannot afford a lawyer, the court appoints a
public defender at no cost to the detainee. Judges rarely granted bail
for persons accused of crimes punishable by at least two years in
prison. Most persons facing lesser charges were not jailed. Detainees
were allowed prompt access to family members. Some detainees spend
years in jail awaiting trial, and the uncertainty and length of
detention contributed to tensions in the prisons. Trial delays were
caused by lengthy legal procedures, large numbers of detainees, and
staff shortages.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence. Juries are not used; trial
proceedings usually consist of written arguments to the judge, which
normally are not made public. Defendants have the right to consult an
attorney in a timely manner, and those that do not have an attorney are
provided one at the state's expense. Only the judge, prosecutor, and
defense attorney have access to all documents that form part of the
written record. There was some difficulty in maintaining
confidentiality between client and attorney. Individual judges may hear
oral arguments at their option, but most judges choose the written
method, a major factor slowing the judicial process. Criminal trials
are held in a court of first instance. Defendants have a right of
appeal. The law extends these rights to all citizens.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There are transparent
administrative procedures to handle complaints of abuse against
government agents. An independent and impartial judiciary handles civil
disputes, but its decisions were ineffectively enforced. Local police
lacked the training and manpower to enforce restraining orders, which
were often generated during civil disputes.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the government 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 the press.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on 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. The
International Telecommunication Union reported that in 2008 there were
40 Internet users per 100 inhabitants.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally
respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the government generally respected this right in practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were a few cases of
societal violence, harassment, or discrimination against members of
religious groups.
Jewish community leaders reported that government officials and
society generally respected members of their community, which numbered
approximately 20,000 to 25,000. Jewish leaders reported effective
cooperation with police investigating incidents of anti-Semitism.
Israel's military action in January in the Gaza Strip led to numerous
demonstrations at the Israeli Embassy, some which were anti-Semitic and
violent. In the early morning of January 13, a Molotov cocktail was
thrown at a Jewish community center causing material damage. There were
no witnesses, and an investigation uncovered no conclusive evidence
regarding the perpetrators. The government strongly condemned the act.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The law provides for freedom of
movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and other
persons of concern. The law provides that in extreme cases of national
emergency an individual may be given the option to leave the country as
an alternative to trial or imprisonment, but this option has not been
exercised in at least two decades.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol.
Its laws provide for the granting of refugee status, and the government
has established a system for providing protection to refugees. The
government granted refugee status and grants asylum only for political
crimes as set forth in the 1928 Treaty of Havana, the 1889 Treaty of
Montevideo, and the 1954 Caracas Convention. On October 8, the
government signed a UNHCR framework agreement to accept 15 additional
refugees per year. During the year the government accepted for
resettlement 174 refugees, 14 of whom were third-country Colombians
resettled from Ecuador. In practice the government provided protection
against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their
lives or freedom would be threatened.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--On November 29, Jose Mujica
of the incumbent Frente Amplio (Broad Front) Party won a five-year
presidential term in a free and fair runoff election. The runoff
followed a series of party primaries in June and a free and fair first-
round election among the four leading parties in October. President-
elect Mujica was scheduled to take office on March 1, 2010.
In parliamentary elections on October 25, the Frente Amplio won 16
of 30 seats in the Senate and 50 of 99 seats in the House of
Representatives. The National Party won nine Senate and 30 House seats,
the Colorado Party won five Senate and 17 House seats, and the
Independent Party won two seats in the House.
Political parties operated without restrictions or outside
interference.
Women participated actively in the political process and
government, although primarily at lower and middle levels. Four
senators and 14 representatives were women. Three of the 13 cabinet
ministers were women.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and
the government generally implemented these laws effectively. There were
isolated reports of government corruption during the year.
Public officials are subject to financial disclosure laws. A
government commission on economic and financial matters collects sworn
financial statements from public servants, including the president.
Although there is no general public disclosure law, the government
requires all government agencies to produce regular public reports. All
agencies complied with these reporting requirements.
Section 5. 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.
In March the UN special rapporteur on torture visited the country
and issued a report on prison conditions (see section 1.c.).
Section 6. 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 effectively, although societal discrimination against some
groups persisted.
The Honorary Commission Against Racism, Xenophobia, and All Forms
of Discrimination, headed by the Ministry of Education and Culture's
director of human rights and including government, religious, and civil
society representatives, proposes policies and specific measures to
prevent and combat racism, xenophobia, and discrimination. Since its
creation in 2007, the commission has investigated 60 claims from Afro-
Uruguayans, persons with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) persons. There were 14 cases brought to the
commission's attention during the year, only one of which (a harassment
case based on sexual orientation) it referred for legal action. The
commission considered the other cases not valid for its action or
handled them through mediation or other means.
Women.--The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape. The law
allows for sentences of two to 12 years' imprisonment for a person
found guilty of rape. According to Ministry of Interior statistics,
there were 302 rape cases during the year.
Authorities believed that some victims of spousal rape did not
report such incidents because of failure to understand their rights and
fear of social stigma.
The Ministry of Interior reported 13,712 cases of domestic violence
during the year, up 10 percent from 2008. The law allows for sentences
of six months to two years in prison for a person found guilty of
committing an act of violence or making continued threats to cause
bodily injury to persons related emotionally or legally to the
perpetrator. Civil courts decided most of the domestic cases during the
year. Judges in these cases often issued restraining orders, which were
difficult to enforce. In many instances courts did not apply criminal
penalties.
The Montevideo municipal government funded a free nationwide
hotline operated by trained NGO employees for victims of domestic
violence. The Ministry of Social Development, INAU, and NGOs operated
shelters in which abused women and their families could seek temporary
refuge.
Prostitution is legal for persons over the age of 18 and was
practiced openly in major cities and tourist resorts. There were no
known reports of police abuse of individuals engaging in prostitution.
Trafficking in women for prostitution occurred.
The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace and punishes
it by fines or dismissal. In August a new law established guidelines
for the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace and in
student-professor relations and defined a system of damages for
victims. Implementing regulations were pending at year's end.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children and had the information and means to do
so free from discrimination. Access to information on contraception and
skilled attendance at delivery and in postpartum care were widely
available. Women and men had equal access to diagnostic services and
treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
Under the law women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights
under family and property law. However, they faced discrimination
stemming from traditional attitudes and practices, and no gender
discrimination cases have ever been litigated. The law declares a state
interest in gender equality and decrees the creation of the National
Plan for Equal Rights and Opportunity. During the year the government
created, under the National Institute for Women, the Tripartite
Committee on Equal Opportunities and Employment, which includes a
subcommittee on gender considerations in salaries and benefits. There
was some segregation by gender in the workforce. Women constituted
almost half of the workforce but tended to be concentrated in lower-
paying jobs, with salaries averaging two-thirds those of men.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory or through one's parents. The government immediately
registers all births.
There were few reports of physical and sexual child abuse.
Some minors engaged in prostitution and forced labor. INAU found
that they sometimes did so at the request of their families to increase
income. The minimum age for consensual sex is 12, although statutory
rape laws can be applied starting at age 15 and carry a penalty of two
to 12 years in prison. Penalties for pimping children range from four
to 16 years in prison. Child pornography is illegal, and penalties
range from one to two years in prison. The International Criminal
Police Organization (INTERPOL) continued to uncover child pornography
material produced in the country and available on the Internet through
servers located in central Europe. Interpol and the Ministry of
Interior authorities responded promptly to seven child pornography
cases that came to light during the year.
INAU provided funding for a number of NGOs that had programs to
assist at-risk children, as well as victims of domestic violence and
sexual exploitation. Assistance to trafficking victims was provided on
a case-by-case basis.
The Integral System to Protect Children and Adolescents Against
Violence, an interagency workgroup that provided training and
awareness-raising campaigns and promoted legislative advancements for
the protection of children and adolescents, operated 10 centers to
provide assistance to victims of child abuse.
Trafficking in Persons.--While laws prohibit all forms of
trafficking in persons, the country was a source, transit point, and
infrequently a destination for trafficked persons. Men, women, and
children were trafficked for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation
and forced labor. Most victims were women, girls, and some boys
trafficked within the country to border and tourist areas for sexual
exploitation. Through use of false job offers, some women were
trafficked by organized crime networks to Spain and Italy for
commercial sexual exploitation; others worked as drug couriers.
According to informed observers, commercial sexual exploitation of
women and children occurred in the departments closest to the borders
with Argentina and Brazil, notably in Paysandu, Salto, and Colonia.
Child welfare organizations and independent research groups expressed
concern about possible prostitution rings exploiting girls in
Montevideo, in the aforementioned border areas, and in the resort areas
of Punta del Este and Maldonado. There were also reports of
prostitution involving boys.
The 2008 immigration law prohibits all forms of trafficking in
persons, with sentences ranging from four to 16 years. The Ministry of
Interior has primary responsibility for investigating trafficking
cases. As a result of increased training and interagency cooperation,
government effectiveness in identifying trafficking victims improved.
At year's end two cases had been presented under the new law.
Two courts established during the year have specific jurisdiction
on cases involving trafficking in persons, child prostitution, and
child pornography.
While the government provided increased assistance to NGOs working
in the area of trafficking, the availability of victim services
remained spotty, especially outside the capital. The government does
not have a formal system for identifying trafficking victims among
vulnerable populations, such as women in prostitution or undocumented
migrants.
An informal interagency committee to combat trafficking in persons,
consisting of representatives from pertinent ministries and civil
society groups, began meeting in January. The committee facilitated
communication and training aimed at improving the overall government
response to the threat of trafficking and victim assistance. The
government conducted training for police and community leaders in high-
risk areas of the interior to raise awareness and strengthen
investigative capabilities, and consular officers received training
prior to international assignments.
The government supervised the work of the National Committee to
Eradicate Commercial and Noncommercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
and Adolescents, which is led by INAU and is responsible for monitoring
implementation of a national plan to eliminate the commercial sexual
exploitation of children.
Following the November 2008 publication of its report on sexual
exploitation in tourist areas, INAU embarked upon a large-scale
information campaign, focused on tourist areas, to raise awareness of
the issue, particularly the prostitution of minors. Youth activists
distributed 50,000 leaflets and 5,000 posters, and INAU representatives
delivered programs in schools and in hotels.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be
found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities, but the government did not
effectively enforce these provisions. Local entities did not devote
resources to provide appropriate accommodations. Persons with
disabilities reported discrimination in employment despite government
efforts to assist in individual cases. The government did not
discriminate against persons with disabilities and provided additional
services as resources allowed; however, difficulties in transportation
inhibited some persons from accessing these services.
A national disabilities commission oversees implementation of a law
on the rights of persons with disabilities. The law mandating
accessibility for persons with disabilities to new buildings or public
services was not consistently enforced. The law reserves 4 percent of
public sector jobs for persons with physical and mental disabilities,
but the quota was not filled.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country's Afro-Uruguayan
minority continued to face societal discrimination. A National Bureau
of Statistics study stated that Afro-Uruguayans comprised 9 percent of
the population and indigenous descendents constituted another 3
percent. A July study concluded that 43 percent of Afro-Uruguayans were
poor, with 5 percent living in extreme poverty. The study concluded
that race is one of the factors responsible for socioeconomic
inequality in the country. The NGO Mundo Afro stated that the
percentage of Afro-Uruguayans working as unskilled laborers was much
larger than for members of other groups in society, despite equivalent
levels of education. Afro-Uruguayans were underrepresented throughout
government and academia and in the middle and upper echelons of
private-sector firms.
As part of a government initiative to increase visibility and
improve communication, Mundo Afro was able to name Afro-Uruguayan
advocates for appointments in each ministry and in the northern
department of Rivera, which has a relatively large population of Afro-
Uruguayans. The government also continued its outreach to the Afro-
Uruguayan community for participation in the Quijano Scholarship
Program for postgraduate work and increased that participation during
the year. Afro-Uruguayan community representatives, however, sought
programs focused more on undergraduate education, noting that only 1
percent of Afro-Uruguayans attend college. Civil society groups and
local governments conducted five regional workshops and one national
conference for police and citizens to increase awareness of minority
rights and the national and international laws protecting minorities.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--No laws criminalize sexual
orientation, and authorities widely protected the rights of the LGBT
community. Several laws enacted during the year addressed specific
rights of the LGBT community: specifically, the right to civil union
for same-sex couples, the right for same-sex couples to adopt, and the
right for transgender individuals to change their gender. Several LGBT
groups were active in the country. They enjoyed free association and
received wide support from government officials. In March the LGBT
community joined with other civil rights and gender-rights groups in a
``Diversity March,'' which drew nearly 10,000 participants. Hate crimes
were rare, and no hate crimes related to LBGT issues were reported
during the year. Police generally afforded protection to the LBGT
community, but there were reports of abuse of some transvestite sex
workers. There were occasional reports of nonviolent societal
discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--There were isolated
reports of societal discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution grants the right of
association, and the law promotes organization of trade unions and
creation of arbitration bodies and protects union leaders and
negotiators from workplace discrimination. Unions traditionally
organized and operated free of government regulation. Civil servants,
employees of state-run enterprises, and private-enterprise workers may
join unions. Unionization was higher in the public sector (more than 42
percent) than in the private sector (approximately 10 percent).
The constitution provides workers with the right to strike, and
workers exercised this right in practice. The government may legally
compel workers to work during a strike if they perform an essential
service, which, if interrupted, ``could cause a grave prejudice or
risk, provoking suffering to part or all of the society.''
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
government protected this right. The law also protects collective
bargaining, and it was freely practiced.
Collective bargaining between companies and their unions determines
a number of private-sector salaries. The executive branch, acting
independently, determines public-sector salaries.
On September 2, the legislature passed a law establishing
regulation of collective bargaining, which creates a larger role for
the government in adjudicating labor disputes. The bill creates a
Superior Tripartite Council made up of 21 officials: nine from the
executive branch of government, six from the business community, and
six from organized labor. This council administers the salary councils
and has authority to make determinations related to labor negotiations.
The law also designates trade unions to negotiate on behalf of workers
whose companies are not unionized.
The law expressly prohibits antiunion discrimination and requires
employers to reinstate workers fired for union activities and pay an
indemnity to such workers. The Ministry of Labor's Collective
Bargaining Division investigates antiunion discrimination claims filed
by union members. There were generally effective mechanisms for
resolving workers' complaints against employers.
All labor legislation fully covers workers employed in the 12 free
trade zones. No unions operated in these zones, but the government did
not prohibit their formation.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that some child labor occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children against exploitation in the workplace, including
a prohibition of forced or compulsory labor, and the Ministry of Labor
and Social Security is responsible for enforcing it. Enforcement was
difficult due to a lack of resources and because most child labor
occurred in the informal sector. INAU estimated that 34,000 children
were involved in child labor. Some children worked as street vendors in
the informal sector or in agricultural activities, areas generally
regulated less strictly and where pay was lower than in the formal
sector. There were isolated reports of parents turning their children
over to third parties for domestic service or agricultural work in
exchange for food and lodging.
The law prohibits minors under the age of 15 from working, and this
was generally enforced in practice. Minors between the ages of 15 and
18 require government permission to work and must undergo physical
exams to identify possible exposure to job-related physical harm.
Permits are not granted for hazardous or fatiguing work. Children
between ages 15 and 18 may not work more than six hours per day within
a 36-hour work week and may not work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Violations of child labor laws are generally punishable by fines
but may extend to imprisonment of three months to four years.
INAU implemented policies to prevent and regulate child labor and
provided training on child labor issues. INAU also worked closely with
the Ministry of Labor and Social Security to investigate complaints of
child labor and with the Ministry of Interior to prosecute cases. INAU
had five trained inspectors to handle an estimated 1,250 inspections
per year.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Labor and Social
Security enforces a legislated minimum monthly wage that covers both
the public and private sectors. The ministry adjusts the minimum wage
whenever it adjusts public sector wages. The monthly minimum wage of
4,441 pesos (approximately $216) functions more as an index for
calculating wage rates than as a true measure of minimum subsistence
levels; it did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. The vast majority of workers earned more than the minimum wage.
While there are no known mechanisms for enforcement, observers believed
companies generally complied with the regulations.
The standard workweek ranged from 44 to 48 hours per week,
depending on the industry, and employers were required to give workers
a 36-hour block of free time each week. The law stipulates that
industrial workers receive overtime compensation for work in excess of
48 hours, entitles workers to 20 days of paid vacation after a year of
employment, and prohibits compulsory overtime beyond a maximum 50-hour
workweek.
The law protects foreign workers and does not discriminate against
them, but official protection requires the companies to report the
foreign workers as employees. Many citizens and foreign workers were
employed informally and thus did not benefit from certain legal
protections.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security enforced legislation
regulating health and safety conditions in a generally effective
manner. However, some of the regulations cover urban industrial workers
more adequately than rural and agricultural workers. Workers have the
right to remove themselves from what they consider hazardous or
dangerous conditions without jeopardy to their employment; the
government effectively upheld this right, but some workers claimed a
subsequent loss of other privileges at work based on their refusal to
work in unsafe conditions.
__________
VENEZUELA
Venezuela is a constitutional democracy with a population of
approximately 27 million. In 2006 voters reelected President Hugo
Chavez Frias of the Fifth Republic Movement party. International
observer missions deemed the elections generally free and fair but
noted some irregularities. In February voters approved a constitutional
referendum eliminating term limits for elected officials. While
civilian authorities generally maintained control of the security
forces, there were instances in which elements of the security forces
acted independently.
Politicization of the judiciary and official harassment and
intimidation of the political opposition and the media intensified
during the year. The following human rights problems were reported by
the nongovernmental organization (NGO) community, the media, and in
some cases the government itself: unlawful killings, including summary
executions of criminal suspects; widespread criminal kidnappings for
ransom; prison uprisings resulting from harsh prison conditions;
arbitrary arrests and detentions; corruption and impunity in police
forces; a corrupt, inefficient, and politicized judicial system
characterized by trial delays and violations of due process; political
prisoners and selective prosecution for political purposes;
infringement of citizens' privacy rights by security forces; government
closure of radio and television stations and threats to close others;
government attacks on public demonstrators; systematic discrimination
based on political grounds; considerable corruption at all levels of
government; threats and attacks against domestic NGOs; violence against
women; inadequate juvenile detention centers; trafficking in persons;
and restrictions on workers' right of association.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The government and
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
security forces were accused of committing unlawful killings, including
summary executions of criminal suspects.
There were several reports of arbitrary or unlawful deprivations of
life allegedly committed by security forces. The human rights NGO
Venezuelan Program of Action and Education in Human Rights (PROVEA)
reported 205 deaths due to security force actions from October 2008
through September 2009. The causes of death were categorized as
executions, 135; excessive force, 45; indiscriminate force, 14; torture
or cruel treatment, 10; and a case of negligence. In its 2008 annual
report, the Public Defender's Office cited receiving 134 allegations of
unlawful killings by government security forces during 2008.
Prosecutors occasionally brought cases against such perpetrators.
Sentences frequently were light, convictions often were overturned on
appeal, and security force members charged with or convicted of crimes
rarely were imprisoned. According to PROVEA, in 2007 (the most recent
year for which it had information) 370 public officials were involved
in extrajudicial killings, of whom 16 received prison sentences.
According to Public Ministry statistics published in the newspaper El
Nacional in July, during 2008 and the first trimester of 2009, out of
755 homicide cases suspected to involve security officials or police
officers, authorities filed 384 charges and courts handed down 12
sentences.
Authorities charged three Merida policemen, one member of the
national intelligence service (the Bolivarian Intelligence Service
(SEBIN), as of December 4; formerly the Directorate of Intelligence and
Prevention Services (DISIP)), and one civilian in the killing of eight
young persons on January 24 in a cafe in El Vigia, Merida. At year's
end an investigation continued, and the accused were held in Coro
Penitentiary.
In June authorities charged three Merida police officers in
connection with the April 28 shooting of student leader Yuban Ortega
during a student demonstration in Merida and with his death two days
later; requested dismissal of related charges against five other police
officers; and requested that the accused be held in custody pending
trial. In September a court admitted the indictments and ordered the
case to trial, which was pending at year's end. As of September 2, the
accused were detained in the Merida State Police headquarters.
In May an eyewitness accused 10 El Valle police officials of
involvement in the May 20 killing of Anderson Naranjo. The media
reported that the officers threw the victim off a roof after he refused
to pay extortion or admit to possessing allegedly ``planted'' drugs. No
information on the investigation was available at year's end.
In June authorities detained two Caracas Police Department members
(Alejandro Guerra and Jorge Corrales) for their alleged involvement in
the May 30 killing of a taxi driver, Freddy Jose Castillin. An
investigation was pending at year's end.
On July 4, authorities charged four members of the Libertador
Municipal Police Department with premeditated homicide and illegal
firearm use in the June 9 daytime killing of psychologist Ana Matilde
Raimondi de Bellorin. The four remained in custody at year's end
awaiting conclusion of an investigation and trial.
On November 28, Aragua State police officers reportedly killed 22-
year-old Oscar Barrios, the fifth member of his family allegedly killed
by police. Since the Barrios family had been under protective orders
issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2004, the Inter-
American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on December 4 condemned the
killing and labeled it ``extremely grave that the State of Venezuela
had not adopted the measures necessary to protect [Barrios's] life and
integrity.'' The IACHR further reminded the government of its
obligations to investigate the killing, sanction those responsible, and
adopt all necessary measures to protect the family. In early December
the Inter-American Court twice requested that the government provide
information regarding the death of Oscar Barrios. By mid-December the
government had not responded to that request, and the court convoked a
public hearing on the matter for January 2010. Also of note, the IACHR
in January admitted a petition by Eloise Barrios and others--alleging
that the government was responsible for violations of the rights to
life, humane treatment, personal liberty, a fair trial, and judicial
protection set forth in the American Convention on Human Rights--in
connection with the deaths of her family members.
There were no known developments in the case against five 32nd
Caribbean Brigade army members charged with the May 2008 beating and
killing of Jean Carlos Rondon in Monagas State. Pursuant to an August
2008 court decision, the five suspects remained imprisoned pending
trial.
There was no information available about the July 2008 killing of
Roger Oscar Avila by unknown assailants dressed as Caracas Metropolitan
Police members.
Responding to an IACHR inquiry, Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega
Diaz explained in late 2008 that the July 2008 shooting and killing of
El Rodeo jail inmate Miguel Hiroyuki Baba Barroyeta and the injuring of
five individuals (inmates Alexander Jose Gonzalez Mosquera, Renato
Javier Rea Noguera, and Hector Luis Solorzano Dias as well as National
Guardsman Victor Eduardo Salcedo Ochoa and driver Manuel Eloy Gonzales)
had occurred while the inmates were in custody and being transferred
from court to prison. According to the prosecutor general, the shooting
resulted from prisoners attempting to seize weapons and escape; there
were no known developments in the case during the year.
In August a court preliminary hearing upheld the indictment of 10
Lara State police officers charged in late 2008 with involvement in the
October kidnapping, torture, sexual abuse, and execution-style killings
of six persons (including four minors) in Portuguesa State; continued
their detention; and ordered a trial.
There was no information available concerning the killings in 2007
of five men allegedly by eight Guarico State police members and a taxi
driver by Anzoategui State police.
In April a court sentenced four police officers and nine civilians
to 30 years in prison for the 2006 kidnapping and killing of three boys
and their driver.
In September the Inter-American Court of Human Rights held a
hearing regarding the government's implementation of the court's 2006
decision in the case of the 1992 massacre of 63 inmates and the
injuring of 100 persons at the Reten de Catia prison. In October the
prosecutor general stated that the Public Ministry had undertaken more
than 300 investigative actions designed to fulfill the court's
decision.
There were the following developments during the year in connection
with the killings in Caracas in 1989, known as the ``Caracazo'':
Between July and October, the Public Ministry charged four former
security force officials--former minister of defense Italo Del Valle
Alliegro, former Caracas Strategic Command head Manuel Heinz Azpurua,
retired National Guard general Freddy Maya Cardona, and former
Metropolitan Police director Jose Rafael Leon Orsoni--with being
accomplices to homicide and violating treaties and international
conventions.
In September the government submitted an arrest request to Interpol
for former president Carlos Andres Perez.
In September the Public Ministry continued its exhumation of victim
remains. The NGO Committee of the Relatives of Victims of the Events
between February 27 and early March 1989 (COFAVIC) expressed concern
that these government exhumations could not be considered independent
since government agents allegedly were implicated in the killings, and
some relatives asserted that they would only accept remains examined by
independent experts. The Public Ministry rejected COFAVIC's request
that forensic experts from Argentina participate in the process.
COFAVIC referred the matter to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
which, on September 23, asked the government to provide information
about its exhumation and identification efforts and to include victims'
relatives in the processes. The court-requested information was not
provided by year's end.
In October a court began retrying two police officers for their
alleged involvement in the killing of Luis Manuel Colmenares. Their
2003 acquittal was annulled by an appeals court in 2004.
There was one development during the year in connection with the
so-called El Amparo massacre in 1988, in which government security
forces allegedly killed 14 persons: In December the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights decided to convoke a private hearing in January
2010 to obtain information from the government regarding its
implementation of the court's 1996 decision that required reparations
to the victims' families, continuation of the investigation of the
incident, and prosecution of those responsible.
There were the following developments during the year in connection
with the so-called Yumare massacre in 1986, in which nine persons were
killed:
In April the prosecutor general asked the military prosecutor
general to transmit its case files.
In May the Public Ministry announced its intention to turn over the
remains of six victims to their families. (Two other victims' remains
were released to relatives in 2006, and a third set were not claimed.)
The prosecutor general also issued arrest warrants for two unnamed
persons in June and formally accused seven former DISIP agents and a
former army officer in August of involvement in the massacre.
Also in August DISIP agents searched the home and personal files of
then president Lusinchi.
In October the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court approved the
government's request for the extradition from Costa Rica of former
police commissioner Henry Rafael Lopez Sisco of DISIP to answer charges
related to the killings.
There were the following developments during the year in connection
with the so-called Cantaura massacre in 1982, in which armed forces and
DISIP members allegedly killed 25 persons:
In April the prosecutor general requested that the military
prosecutor general transmit its case files. The Public Ministry
announced receipt of the original Directorate of Military Intelligence
files in August and the military court files in October.
In October the Public Ministry began exhuming victim remains
located in five states and Caracas.
In October the prosecutor general stated that massacre survivors
would be protected and that the massacre was not the result of a
confrontation between military forces and guerrillas but an ``ambush''
involving 471 military and DISIP personnel and approximately 40 persons
in a guerrilla camp.
Societal violence remained high. In the first four months of the
year, the NGO Venezuelan Observatory of Violence reported 4,659
killings in the country. For 2008 the observatory noted 49 killings for
every 100,000 inhabitants nationwide and an estimated 130 killings per
100,000 inhabitants of Caracas.
b. Disappearance.--There were no substantiated reports of
politically motivated disappearances.
However, criminal kidnappings for ransom were reportedly widespread
in both urban centers and rural areas. PROVEA reported that in the
first nine months of the year there were 518 kidnappings, an increase
of 41 percent from the 366 it reported for all of 2008. The National
Federation of Cattle Ranchers president announced late in the year the
recording of 360 abductions between January 1 and December 16, mainly
in states along the country's western border with Colombia. On December
23, the director of the government's Scientific, Penal, and
Criminalistic Investigative Corps (CICPC) stated that kidnappings had
increased by approximately 63 percent during the year, with a total of
616 cases reported. NGOs noted that many victims did not report
kidnappings to police or other authorities.
Media frequently reported the public perception of collaboration
between police and kidnappers. According to the NGO Active Peace, in
2008 the average total cost of a kidnapping--based on an average of 12
days in captivity, a negotiator's fee, and ransom paid--was
approximately the equivalent of $118,000. Human rights NGOs reported
approximately 20 percent of kidnapping victims were minors or students.
In the case of the forced disappearances of two persons during the
1999 mudslide in Vargas State, the government reported to the Inter-
American Court of Human Rights in September that a court sentenced
DISIP official Casimiro Jose Yanez in June to 15 years' imprisonment
and acquitted another official.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution states that no person shall be
subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment, there were
credible reports that security forces continued to torture and abuse
detainees.
PROVEA reported that in the 12 months prior to September, it
received 16 complaints alleging torture and 427 complaints regarding
cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, a decrease from the 573 cases
reported in the comparable period in 2008. (PROVEA defines ``torture''
as methods used by state security force members to extract information
from victims and ``cruel and inhuman treatment'' as methods used by
those members to punish or intimidate victims.)
In August the government Public Defender's Office reported that
allegations of torture by the police had increased by 10 percent during
2008. Of the 87 complaint cases filed that year, 66 resulted from
alleged physical torture and 21 from alleged psychological torture; 62
percent of the victims were men between 20 and 34.
Human rights groups continued to question the commitment of the
prosecutor general and the human rights ombudsman to oversee neutral
investigations. There was no data available on convictions in cases of
alleged torture.
Reports of beatings and humiliating treatment of suspects during
arrests were common and involved various law enforcement agencies.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh, due to poorly trained and allegedly corrupt prison staff;
violence and alleged extortion by guards and inmates, some gang-related
and fueled by trafficking in arms and drugs; severe overcrowding in
some prisons; and food and water shortages. The prison-monitoring NGO
Venezuelan Prison Observatory (OVP) estimated that existing prisons
were designed to hold approximately 60 percent of the 23,457 persons in
the national penitentiary system. For the first nine months of the
year, PROVEA reported that a total of 30,483 persons were imprisoned,
of whom 1,901 or 6 percent were women; and that 55 centers in the
country held approximately 750 minors.
Security forces and law enforcement authorities often held minors
together with adults, even though separate facilities existed. Because
reform institutions were filled to capacity, hundreds of children
accused of infractions were confined in juvenile detention centers
where they were reportedly crowded into small, unsanitary cells. Women
and men generally were held in separate prison facilities. The OVP
stated that while no prison had good conditions, women's facilities
were generally less violent and healthier than those for men.
Both the OVP and PROVEA estimated that only approximately one-third
of the prisoner population in 2008 had been formally convicted and
sentenced, while two-thirds were in preventive detention or awaiting
trial. In its 2008 annual report, the Public Defender's Office noted
that 30 percent of those imprisoned had been sentenced.
The National Guard and the Ministry of Interior and Justice have
responsibility for exterior and interior security, respectively. The
government failed to provide adequate prison security. The OVP
estimated in 2008 that the guard force in Uribana prison, one of the
most violent prisons, was 0.5 percent of the required strength.
The OVP reported 366 inmates died in custody during the year and
635 were injured, compared to 422 deaths and 854 injuries in 2008. Most
such deaths and injuries resulted from prisoner-on-prisoner violence,
riots, fires, and generally unsanitary and unsafe conditions. The
Carabobo Penitentiary (commonly known as ``Tocuyito'') documented the
highest numbers in the country of deaths (53) and injuries (106) due to
violence during the year.
Hunger strikes and prison uprisings protesting administrative
delays and harsh prison conditions were common during the year. They
included the following selected cases:
In March in prison protests in 11 separate prisons, the OVP
reported that more than 6,000 inmates and 3,000 family members
protested the country's poor prison conditions. During the protests
National Guard forces shot an inmate, Francisco Madrid, in the head.
In May in Los Teques prison, the OVP reported to the media that
prisoner human rights were violated when guards allegedly left inmates
naked for several hours during a search for weapons and guns. During
the search the National Guard shot and injured two inmates, and 10
other prisoners allegedly were injured.
In August according to media reports, a prison uprising resulted in
the killing of eight prisoners and injury to five in the Vista Hermosa
jail in Bolivar State.
Human rights observers continued to experience lengthy
administrative delays and restricted access to prisons and detention
centers.
The government's High-Level Prison Council, established in December
2008 to design penitentiary-system improvement policies, began work
during the year. In July the prosecutor general announced a pilot
project in Caracas to create two prosecutors' offices (one for
investigations, another for trials) to expedite cases involving
Caracas-area inmates. The Supreme Court president announced an
increased number of judges to reduce judicial delays. PROVEA reported
the opening during the year of new penitentiaries or annexes in Coro
(capacity 840) and in Caracas (Terrazas de Yare III, capacity 432), and
others were under construction as part of the government's ``Strategic
Plan to Humanize the Penitentiary System, 2006-11.''
During a public hearing convened by the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights in September, a government delegation provided information
on government actions to comply with a 2006 court decision regarding
the improvement of penitentiary conditions and concluded that prison
violence had been reduced. In a September 30 statement, the IACHR
rapporteur on the rights of persons deprived of liberty recognized
these efforts but found them insufficient to overcome the high level of
prison violence; and inmate representatives claimed the government
``violates, continually, systematically and notoriously, the right to
life and personal integrity of the inmate population.'' In November the
Inter-American Court issued a resolution requiring the government to
maintain the provisional measures and to submit bimonthly reports,
beginning in February 2010, with specific information on actions taken
``to protect the life and integrity'' of inmates, and requiring the
IACHR and inmate representatives to provide reports every six and four
months, respectively, on prison conditions.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits the
arrest or detention of an individual without a judicial order; provides
for the accused to remain free while being tried, except in specific
cases where state law or individual judges may supersede this
provision; and provides that any detained individual has the right to
immediate communication with family and lawyers who, in turn, have the
right to know a detainee's whereabouts (see also section 1.e.).
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Guard, a
branch of the military, is largely responsible for maintaining public
order, guarding the exterior of key government installations and
prisons, conducting counternarcotics operations, monitoring borders,
and providing law enforcement in remote areas. The Ministry of Interior
and Justice controls the CICPC, which conducts most criminal
investigations, and the SEBIN (formerly DISIP), which collects
intelligence within the country and is responsible for investigating
cases of corruption, subversion, and arms trafficking.
Mayors and governors generally oversee local and state police
forces; however, in 2008 the Interior and Justice Ministry assumed
authority over the Caracas Metropolitan Police from the mayor of
Greater Caracas.
In December following the killing of two National Guardsmen in
Tachira State, President Chavez alleged that the Tachira and Zulia
state police forces had failed to control Colombian paramilitary
activity and warned that the national government might intervene in
those forces. In a December 21 public statement, the president said he
told the defense minister and the strategic operational commander to
seize state police headquarters if they continued ``openly [to] defy
the public authority.'' The two state governors, members of the
opposition, rejected the intervention threat.
Pursuant to a 2008 law, President Chavez inaugurated the new
Bolivarian National Police (PNB) in December, and the PNB deployed its
first graduating class of 953 officers in a Caracas municipality.
According to its mission statement, the PNB is not to be a substitute
for, but a complement to, state and municipal police efforts.
Corruption was a major problem in all police forces, whose members
were generally poorly paid and minimally trained. Impunity for
corruption, brutality, and other acts of violence were major problems
explicitly acknowledged by some government officials.
In July for instance, General Juan Francisco Romero Figueroa, vice
minister of citizen security in the Ministry of Interior and Justice,
illustrated the need for police internal investigations by reporting
that 1,800 of the 9,000 Metropolitan Police officers were under
investigation for alleged misconduct or human rights violations--
including kidnapping, torture, unlawful arrest and detention, and
extrajudicial killing--stemming from cases filed in the previous eight
years. In October Interior and Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami stated
that police committed approximately 15-20 percent of the country's
crimes, including the most violent ones.
In March Vice President Ramon Alonzo Carrizales and the interior
and justice minister established the National Prevention Council for
Citizen Security to address crime-related issues. Under its auspices,
an expert-level conference to discuss public policies for crime
reduction occurred in October.
The government used police and the National Guard to repress
political demonstrations (see section 2.b.).
Some local police forces offered human rights training for their
personnel. For example, during the year the Chacao municipality of
Caracas continued to provide mandatory human rights training to all new
police recruits. Amnesty International worked with the municipality to
offer workshops on domestic-violence case processing.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention.--A warrant is
required for an arrest or detention. A detention is possible without an
arrest warrant when the individual is caught in the act of committing a
crime. Persons were sometimes apprehended without warrants from
judicial authorities. Detainees must be brought before a prosecutor
within 12 hours and before a judge within 48 hours to determine the
legality of detention. A person accused of a crime may not be detained
for longer than the possible minimum sentence for that crime nor for
longer than two years, except in certain circumstances, such as when
the defendant is responsible for the delay in the proceedings. The law
requires that detainees be promptly informed of the charges against
them, and that requirement was generally met in practice.
Although there is a functioning system of bail, it is not available
for certain crimes. Bail also may be denied if a person is apprehended
in the act of committing a crime or if a judge determines that there is
a danger that the accused may flee or impede the investigation. In 2008
the public defender reported that more than 60 percent of those
imprisoned had not been convicted or sentenced. The law requires that
detainees be provided access to counsel and family members, and that
requirement was generally met in practice.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the constitution provides
for an independent judiciary, judicial independence remained
compromised according to many observers, and there were allegations of
corruption and political influence, particularly from the Prosecutor
General's Office. (See also section 3.)
On May 21, authorities raided the Caracas residence of Guillermo
Zuloaga, president of the private television network Globovision, and
confiscated 24 new vehicles and hunting trophies. According to Zuloaga,
the automobiles belonged to his car dealership and were at his home for
security reasons, and the trophies had been acquired abroad. On July
16, a court charged Zuloaga with hoarding vehicles and issued an order
preventing his departure from the country. The next day the judge
handling the case stated publicly that a superior had pressured her to
issue the order; three days later she was notified of the revocation of
her judicial appointment. On July 21, the 13th Criminal Court
overturned the travel injunction, but the following day another judge
reinstated the travel ban, which continued in force at year's end.
Eligio Cedeno--a banker accused in 2003 and detained in 2007 on
charges of corruption and embezzlement, and conditionally released on
December 10--alleged in a December 25 press conference outside the
country that his case was subjected to judicial manipulation, due
process violations, and numerous trial irregularities. A court had
annulled his earlier trial in May at Public Ministry request, ordered a
retrial, and reinstated a detention order, but the Appeals Court for
Caracas ordered his release in October because his detention exceeded
the two-year limit. The Public Ministry successfully appealed the
release order to the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, but
on December 10, Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni granted Cedeno conditional
release pending retrial. Shortly thereafter, SEBIN agents detained the
judge on charges of corruption, aiding in the evasion of justice, abuse
of authority, and conspiracy; and the two bailiffs, on corruption,
aiding in the evasion of justice, and conspiracy charges. The bailiffs
were released pending trial, but President Chavez called for the
judge's imprisonment for 35 years as a lesson to others. At year's end
she remained detained at the Women's Detention Facility, and her
attorney expressed concern for her safety in that facility since women
she had sentenced were held there. SEBIN was unable to locate Cedeno
after his departure from the courthouse and issued a fugitive arrest
warrant; Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro Moros announced the
government's intention to seek Cedeno's extradition on December 22.
A court sentenced former Caracas Metropolitan Police commissioners
Ivan Simonovis, Henry Vivas, and Lazarro Forero to 30 years'
imprisonment on April 3 for coordinating police firing on pro-Chavez
demonstrators during events related to the 2002 attempted coup. They
continued to maintain their innocence and assert that the prosecution
was politically motivated. The defendants also claimed that the
verdicts were reached despite a lack of key forensic evidence and
asserted that the court ignored exonerating video, audio, and
eyewitness-testimonial evidence. Of the eight police officers also
charged in connection with the shootings, a court found seven guilty
and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from three to 30 years. At
year's end they were held at SEBIN headquarters in Caracas.
The judicial sector consists of the Supreme Court of Justice and
lower courts, the Prosecutor General's Office, and the Ministry of
Interior and Justice. The Supreme Court, the highest court, administers
lower courts through the Executive Directorate of the Judiciary.
Supreme Court justices are elected by the National Assembly for 12-year
terms.
According to the NGO Penal Forum, almost 40 percent of lower court
judges were provisional and temporary. The Supreme Court's Judicial
Committee may hire and fire temporary judges without cause or
explanation, and it did so. (See section 3 for examples of dismissals
contested in the IACHR and the Inter-American Court.) Provisional and
temporary judges, who legally have the same rights and authorities as
permanent judges, were particularly subject to political influence from
the Ministry of Interior and Justice and the prosecutor general. A
prominent legal scholar's study, published in the media in March,
concluded that in 2007 the Supreme Court's Political-Administrative
Chamber ruled in favor of the government in 324 of the 325 cases
brought by private citizens against the government.
The law provides that the Moral Council (prosecutor general, human
rights ombudsman, and comptroller general) may suspend judges and
allows the National Assembly to remove Supreme Court justices by a
simple majority vote.
Lower court judges hear pretrial motions, including prosecution and
defense motions, prior to criminal cases going to trial judges.
Executive judges oversee the application of sentences. Appeals courts,
consisting of three-judge panels, review lower court decisions. The
prosecutor general oversees the prosecutors who investigate crimes and
bring charges against criminal suspects.
The three persons convicted in 2007 for their roles in the 2004 car
bombing that killed prosecutor Danilo Anderson remained in a SEBIN jail
on 27- to 30-year sentences. In March 2008 a former prosecutor in the
case alleged that their convictions had been based on false and
perjured testimony.
Trial Procedures.--Defendants are considered innocent until proven
guilty. The law provides for open, public, and fair trials with oral
proceedings for all individuals. Defendants have the right to be
present and consult with an attorney. Public defenders are provided for
indigent defendants, but there continued to be a shortage. Defendants
have the right to question witnesses against them and present their own
witnesses. Defendants and their attorneys have the right to access
government-held evidence, but in practice this access often did not
occur. Defendants and plaintiffs have the right of appeal. Trial delays
were common.
The law provides that trials for military personnel charged with
human rights abuses after 1999 be held in civilian rather than military
courts.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--During the year various NGOs
reported between 11 and 57 political prisoners in the country. Nine
leading NGOs published advertisements in Trinidad and Tobago newspapers
before the April Summit of the Americas that listed the names of 11
persons they considered political prisoners. The advertisements also
claimed that the government was pursuing another 45 persons as
``political objectives'' using various legal and administrative means.
As of December 31, the NGO Venezuelan Awareness Foundation listed 32
persons as political prisoners.
In some cases political prisoners were held in various penal
facilities, including SEBIN installations and the Ramo Verde military
prison. Authorities permitted the International Committee of the Red
Cross access to these individuals.
Some examples of persons claiming to be political detainees follow
(see also section 1.e.):
On July 29, Tachira authorities detained journalist Gustavo Azocar
following the publication on the Internet, in violation of a court gag
order, of excerpts from his trial for alleged illegal enrichment
resulting from an advertising contract with Tachira State's lottery. He
claimed his prosecution was politically motivated because of his
investigative reporting on government corruption, including by the
president's relatives--a claim supported by the National College of
Journalists and the NGOs Reporters without Borders and Inter American
Press Association (IAPA). The trial judge was suspended in September,
and a new trial was ordered; no date was set, and he remained in Santa
Ana prison, Tachira.
On August 26, authorities arrested the opposition prefect of the
Caracas Metropolitan District, Richard Blanco, on charges of
``injurious and law-breaking behavior'' following a scuffle between
police and opposition protesters during August 22 demonstrations
against a new educational reform law and the ``criminalization'' of
protest. He argued that he had intervened to protect a plainclothes
police officer whom protesters were threatening after the officer
photographed them. At year's end Blanco remained imprisoned pending
trial.
On August 28, authorities arrested 11 municipal employees
associated with opposition Greater Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma on
charges of ``disturbing public order'' following their participation in
an August 22 march. The employees were granted provisional release from
prison on October 29, and formal charges remained pending at year's
end.
On September 7, Caracas authorities detained student leader Julio
Cesar Rivas for alleged involvement in fomenting violence during an
August 22 march. Charged with resisting authorities, unauthorized use
of a firearm, and instigation of civil war, he was released from prison
on September 28 and required to appear in court every 30 days; charges
remained pending at year's end. His arrest sparked student hunger
strikes, in Caracas and several other cities, that ended two days after
his release and after the secretary general of the Organization of
American States (OAS) stated that the students could present their
request for an IACHR visit to commission headquarters in Washington.
At year's end Jose Sanchez ``Mazuco,'' former Zulia State security
chief, remained in custody at the Ramo Verde military prison following
his 2007 arrest for alleged involvement in the killing of a military
intelligence police informant in jail. Prosecutors alleged that Sanchez
authorized the killing; Sanchez claimed persecution because of his
association with opposition leader Manuel Rosales (to whom Peru later
granted asylum (see section 3)).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There are separate civil
courts that permit citizens to bring lawsuits seeking damages. Like all
courts in the country, however, the civil elements of the judiciary
remained subject to strong executive control.
In the past there were administrative remedies available, but they
were generally inefficient. The current consumer-protection mechanism
is enforced by the Institute for Defense of the People in Accessing
Goods and Services (INDEPABIS) under the auspices of the Commerce
Ministry. INDEPABIS is empowered to use reconciliation, mediation, and
arbitration to settle disputes and is able to sanction providers of
goods and services who violate the law. INDEPABIS also has authority to
expropriate goods and services. Other entities that provide
administrative or civil remedies include the National Securities
Commission and the superintendencies of banks, insurance, cooperatives
and savings accounts, and the promotion and protection of free
competition.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution provides for the inviolability of the
home and personal privacy; however, in some cases security forces
allegedly infringed on citizens' privacy rights by searching homes,
particularly those of independent media owners and opposition leaders.
In July agriculturalist Franklin Brito began a hunger strike to
protest the government's failure to resolve remaining compensation
issues related to the National Land Institute's 2003 seizure of part of
his lands in Bolivar State. He ended the strike in December after
receiving a commitment from the National Assembly president to resolve
those issues but resumed the strike later that month claiming that the
commitments had not been honored fully. The government claimed
responsibility for safeguarding his life and forcibly moved him to the
psychiatric ward of the Military Hospital for his own ``protection,''
where he remained at year's end.
There was no further information on the investigation into the
December 2008 attack against former opposition gubernatorial candidate
Lenny Manuitt in her home, allegedly by two men dressed as CICPC
officers.
Human rights NGOs asserted that the government was complicit with
others, including National Assembly Deputy Luis Tascon, in maintaining
the ``Tascon'' and ``Maisanta'' Lists, which were reportedly used by
employers to dismiss or refuse to hire persons who signed a petition in
2003 to hold a recall referendum on President Chavez in 2004.
NGOs expressed concern over official political discrimination
against, and the firing of, state employees whose views differed from
those of the government. According to PROVEA, the government used
coercion and the threat of dismissal to compel state employees to
attend partisan political functions.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press; however, the combination of laws and
regulations governing libel and media content, as well as legal
harassment and physical intimidation of both individuals and the media,
resulted in practical limitations on these freedoms and a climate of
self-censorship.
The law makes insulting the president punishable by six to 30
months in prison without bail, with lesser penalties for insulting
lower-ranking officials. Comments exposing another person to public
contempt or hatred are punishable by one-to-three-year prison sentences
and fines starting at 55 Bs.F (approximately $26). Inaccurate reporting
that disturbs the public peace is punishable by a two-to-five-year
prison term. The requirement that media disseminate only ``true''
information was undefined and open to politically motivated
interpretation.
Government officials regularly characterized the independent media
as fomenting instability in the country, and according to the media and
NGO community, the government employed a variety of mechanisms to
harass and intimidate the private media.
Members of the independent print media privately said they
regularly engaged in self-censorship due to fear of government
reprisal. The country's major newspapers were independently owned but
heavily dependent on government advertising. In regions where local
newspapers competed for the same audience and a smaller pool of
advertisers, print media tended to exercise even more caution in order
to secure financing from government sources. The government published
one national newspaper, Diario Vea, with a relatively low circulation.
In August President Chavez announced government publication and funding
of a new newspaper, El Correo del Orinoco; it began publication in
September. Also in August a new local Caracas newspaper, Ciudad CCS,
debuted; the newspaper was run by the presidentially appointed Capital
District vice president and received funding from the mayor of the
Libertador municipality of Caracas.
The country's nonsubscription broadcast media were largely
government owned. The government operated six channels with nationwide
coverage.
Government officials, including the president, used government-
controlled media outlets to accuse private media owners, directors, and
reporters of fomenting antigovernment destabilization campaigns and
coup attempts. Officials made such allegations against Alberto Federico
Ravell, director of all-news cable television network Globovision;
Guillermo Zuloaga, majority owner of Globovision (see also section
1.e.); Miguel Henrique Otero, director of El Nacional newspaper; and
Andres Mata, owner and editor in chief of El Universal newspaper.
Senior federal and state government leaders actively harassed
privately owned and opposition-oriented television stations, media
outlets, and journalists throughout the year, using administrative
sanctions, fines, and threats of closure to prevent or respond to any
perceived criticism of the government.
During the March 1 broadcast of his weekly Sunday talk-show program
(Hello, President), President Chavez ordered progovernment governors
and mayors to ``draw a map of the media war'' to determine which media
were ``owned by oligarchs,'' although he did not specify what he or his
administration intended to do with such information.
On April 13, President Chavez urged authorities to impose sanctions
on private television networks Venevision, Globovision, Radio Caracas
Television (RCTV), and Televen for allegedly having backed the 2002
coup by broadcasting cartoons and movies instead of covering the street
protests that aided in his return to power.
Throughout May prominent government officials publicly denounced
Globovision (see also section 1.e.) and called for its closure. For
example, on May 10, President Chavez threatened to close Globovision
during his Sunday talk show. On May 11, the foreign minister publicly
accused Globovision Director Ravell of conspiring to take away people's
rights and engaging in ``media terrorism.'' On May 18, the National
Assembly president condemned Globovision at a political rally. On May
19, members of the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV)
held a public demonstration against Globovision.
National and international groups, such as Reporters without
Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, condemned government
efforts throughout the year to restrict press freedom and to create a
climate of fear and self-censorship. The domestic media-watchdog NGO
Public Space released statistics showing that during the year, 191
journalists either were attacked or had their individual rights
violated.
During the year two private media journalists were killed, and
numerous others were subjected to physical attacks and threats,
notably:
On January 1, El Impulso journalist and photographer Jacinto Lopez
was kidnapped, shot, and killed, and another reporter was injured. In
March the Public Ministry issued an arrest order against a suspect; at
year's end no further information was available.
On January 16, gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed investigative
journalist Orel Sambrano in Valencia. The IACHR's Office of the Special
Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression ``deplored'' the killing.
Authorities arrested two suspects who remained detained pending trial
at year's end, while a third suspect remained at large.
On April 22, the ``La Piedrita'' progovernment militant group
published on its Web site a threat against Globovision, referring to
the network and its sponsors as ``military objectives'' in the
government's stated ``media war.'' Among the journalists specifically
threatened was Leopoldo Castillo, anchor and host of Globovision's
Hello, Citizen interview program.
On August 3, armed militants wearing red berets typical of
presidential supporters brandished weapons; forced entry onto the
grounds of Globovision; threw tear gas canisters; and injured a police
officer, a security guard, and several other persons. Video and witness
testimony pointed to government collaborator Lina Ron as the attack
leader. After a government minister condemned the attack, authorities
arrested Ron on August 4, charged her with promoting violence and
public intimidation, and imprisoned her until conditionally released on
October 14 pending trial.
Progovernment and foreign-affiliated media personnel also faced
violence. For example:
On January 13 in Portuguesa State, unknown assailants shot and
injured Rafael Finol, a progovernment journalist for the daily El
Regional. At year's end the attackers remained unknown, and an
investigation continued.
On July 9, members of the security team of the Barinas State
governor (the president's brother) assaulted a freelance photographer
working with a New York Times correspondent, briefly detained him,
erased photographs from his camera, and removed him from the facility
where the governor was giving a public speech.
On August 10, the government initiated an investigation--that
continued at year's end--into the killing of Ministry of Communication
and Information (MINCI) journalist Daniel Ivan Escamez, whose body was
found on August 7 with multiple gunshot wounds.
On August 13, progovernment supporters attacked a group of
journalists in front of the government-owned Avila television station
who were distributing flyers protesting press restrictions in the
educational reform law passed that day. The attackers hit the
journalists with bats and filled bottles and injured 12. On August 17,
authorities issued two arrest orders for suspects, one of whom was
apprehended, and at year's end an investigation continued.
The government sought to control and/or limit the scope of
independent news coverage by controlling licensing requirements and
censoring advertising content.
The law requires that practicing journalists have journalism
degrees and be members of the National College of Journalists, and it
prescribes three- to six-month jail terms for those practicing
illegally. These requirements are waived for foreigners and opinion
columnists.
The law empowers the government to impose heavy fines and cancel
broadcasts, and the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL),
the government regulatory agency, oversees the law's application.
Media-observer organizations called on the government to appoint an
independent body to regulate the implementation of the law, which it
had not done by year's end.
The government continued to use administrative and criminal
investigations against private television station Globovision. For
instance, on May 8, CONATEL opened an investigation into Globovision's
coverage of the May 4 earthquake, charging that the network might have
incited panic. President Chavez and other officials asserted that
Globovision panicked the public because it broadcast foreign seismic
data instead of the government's (which had been unavailable at the
time). On September 7, CONATEL opened a sixth administrative proceeding
against Globovision following its September 3 broadcast of text
messages that alerted viewers to a possible coup and called for persons
to resist the government; a government minister asked prosecutors to
open a criminal investigation into the broadcast.
The government also restricted broadcasting during the year;
examples follow:
On July 3, CONATEL initiated an administrative proceeding against
four television and two radio stations for broadcasting an advertising
campaign opposing pending private-property-rights legislation, and it
ordered the advertisements off the air. Authorities also opened
criminal investigations against two media organizations and the
newspaper Ultimas Noticias for printing similar ads; courts dismissed
the latter cases on procedural grounds, but prosecutors appealed.
On September 21, the government gazette published a regulation that
would require all radio stations to carry at least 5.5 hours of
programming by local/independent producers, 3.5 hours of which the
MINCI would dictate. The regulation would also limit the amount of time
a single independent producer could broadcast content per day--a limit
which, if enforced, could severely limit syndicated radio shows in the
country. At year's end the regulation had not taken effect.
On December 22, CONATEL issued another regulation extending
government broadcasting requirements--including the requirement
mandating the showing of government broadcasts (known as ``cadenas'')--
to channels on subscription cable networks determined to have 30
percent or more national production. CONATEL was analyzing the cable
networks at year's end.
In July the government announced its intention to review the
licenses of 240 radio stations for allegedly failing to comply with
registration or tax requirements. On July 31, Minister of Public Works
and Housing (and CONATEL Director) Diosdado Cabello announced the
closure of 32 radio stations and two television stations for alleged
procedural, licensing, or tax violations. On September 7, the
government announced its intention to close another unspecified 29
radio stations. Minister Cabello also announced that CONATEL had begun
studying the possible reassignment of revoked frequencies to other
stations or organized communities for the creation of community radio
stations. Media owners and watchdog groups expressed concern that
permission to operate radio stations would be issued predominantly to
government supporters. At year's end the 34 closed stations remained
closed, and the others remained under threat of closure.
Some of the notable developments in defending press freedom during
the year were as follows:
On March 16, IAPA issued a resolution condemning violence against
journalists, media outlets, and media executives as well as pressure
against independent media companies. In a November 10 general assembly
resolution, IAPA criticized the country's laws and rejected government
actions against media executives and journalists.
On May 21, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the
government to end its persecution and harassment of Globovision. On May
22, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the
right to freedom of opinion and expression and the IACHR special
rapporteur for freedom of expression jointly stated their concern about
senior government officials' comments against Globovision and other
privately owned media outlets.
During August 1-3, there were demonstrations against the
government's decision to shut down 32 radio stations. Many
international groups denounced both the station closings and a proposed
media law then under consideration by the National Assembly. On August
3, the UN special rapporteur and the IACHR separately expressed deep
concern about the closings of 32 radio and two television stations, and
on August 14, IAPA condemned the August 3 violence against the media
and Globovision.
In January a court convicted the suspected 2008 killer of Caracas
journalist Javier Garcia and sentenced him to 15 years' imprisonment.
There were no known developments in the cases of the June 2008
killing of Pierre Fould Gerges, vice president of Reporte Diario de la
Economia, and the September 2008 shooting of columnist Eliecer
Calzadilla, a contributor to the regional newspaper Correo del Caroni.
There were no developments in the November 2008 investigations by
CONATEL of Globovision for October broadcasts of comments allegedly
inciting the assassination of the president and of a speech by the
Carabobo State governor-elect that allegedly incited violence.
There were no known developments in the cases of the July 2008
assault by Maracaibo city officials on two journalists from La Verdad
newspaper in Zulia State, and the December 2008 attack by progovernment
supporters on a Valencia journalist in Carabobo.
In November a new trial was ordered in the September 2004 murder of
Maturin journalist Mauro Marcano. The accused remained in custody at
year's end.
On January 28, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found the
government responsible for failing to prevent attacks, threats, and
harassment against employees and reporters both of RCTV during the
period 2001-04 and of Globovision during the period 2001-05. The court
ordered the government to conduct investigations in order to determine
responsibilities; to avoid illegal restrictions and hindrances on the
freedom to seek, receive, and impart information; and to report to the
court within one year on compliance measures taken.
Internet Freedom.--The International Telecommunication Union
reported that in 2008 approximately 25 percent of the population
accessed the Internet. There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet, and individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail.
Some media NGOs expressed concern that the government monitored e-mails
and Web searches.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were some government
restrictions on academic freedom and cultural events. Government
supporters often disrupted university classes, marches, and rallies and
used violence and intimidation to discourage students from political
participation.
On January 18, unknown assailants blew up the pickup truck of the
president of the Federation of University Centers-Central University of
Venezuela (FCU-UCV). A principal adviser to the FCU-UCV complained in
May of weekly attacks on its leaders.
In March and May the media reported that officials of the previous
pro-Chavez Miranda State government (2003-08) pulped 62,262 books for
counterrevolutionary ideological content, accusations that the
government denied.
On August 19, approximately 40 masked men interrupted classes and
fired guns at the University of the Andes in Merida, saying they were
looking for opposition-oriented students, and injured two law school
students and three professors. At year's end there was no information
available regarding an investigation.
In August the National Assembly passed an educational reform law
consolidating control over the public and private educational systems.
Opposition parties, teachers, parents, and students widely complained
that the law eliminated university autonomy and subjected teachers and
students to ideological litmus tests, and there were demonstrations
against it. Catholic school advocates expressed concern that the law
could prevent private religious schools from receiving financial
support from private international associations. At year's end the new
law had not yet been implemented.
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.
Human rights groups continued to criticize the 2005 penal code
revision for its strict penalties on some forms of peaceful
demonstration. PROVEA expressed concern over the law's
``criminalization'' of protests. Penal Forum's 2006 complaint before
the Supreme Court challenging this measure's legality remained unheard
at year's end.
The media reported on June 5 that authorities opened 50 judicial
proceedings in the first half of the year against students, workers,
and other citizens for participating in demonstrations. According to
the NGO Public Space, during the first eight months of the year, out of
a total of 2,079 public demonstrations, police and security forces
suppressed 130, resulting in a total of 461 injuries among participants
and 440 arrests. PROVEA noted that 584 injuries resulted from security-
force interventions in peaceful demonstrations during the year.
On May 5, PROVEA and COFAVIC appealed for government investigations
into excessive police force used against demonstrators and urged the
government to respect the right of protest.
Among the examples of government disruptions of demonstrations were
the following:
On January 20, police used tear gas, plastic bullets, and water
cannons to disperse a demonstration involving several thousand students
gathered in Caracas to protest the February referendum. Government
forces arrested four students and claimed to have confiscated Molotov
cocktails, sacks of stones, and a gasoline container. The minister of
justice stated that the students did not have a protest permit, and the
president denounced the demonstration.
During May 1 Labor Day marches, opposition demonstrators complained
that members of the Caracas Metropolitan Police and National Guard
prevented entrance to Carabobo Park and dispersed them with tear gas,
rubber bullets, and water cannons. Police blamed students for
initiating the confrontation; the opposition alleged the government
infiltrated provocateurs into the student march.
During August 22 protests in Caracas against the educational reform
law, the National Guard used tear gas, water cannons, and rubber
bullets against demonstrators, claiming they were responding to rock
and bottle throwing by demonstrators and to the dismantling of a police
barricade. Media coverage showed largely peaceful protestors, although
the National Guard chief claimed protestors were inciting violence.
(See also section 1.e., Political Prisoners and Detainees.)
Freedom of Association.--While the constitution provides for
freedom of association and freedom from political discrimination, the
government only partially respected this right. Although indicating
that they generally operated without interference, professional and
academic associations complained that the National Electoral Council
(CNE)--which is responsible for convoking all elections, and
establishing dates and procedures for them--repeatedly interfered with
their attempts to hold internal elections. The systematic political
discrimination that HRW attributed to the Chavez administration in its
September 2008 report continued during the year.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion on the condition that its practice does not violate public
morality, decency, or public order, and the government generally
respected this right in practice. There were some efforts by the
government to limit the influence of religious groups in certain
geographic, social, and political areas.
In November authorities arrested six persons in connection with the
December 2008 killings of an evangelical preacher, his wife, and
daughter in San Jose de Guanipa. A trial was pending at year's end.
The Directorate of Justice and Religion in the Ministry of Interior
and Justice maintains a registry of religious groups and disburses
funds to religious organizations. Registration, involving largely
administrative requirements, is required for legal status as a
religious organization.
Foreign missionaries are required to have a special visa to enter
the country, and they noted continuing difficulties, including refusals
for first-time religious visas and, less frequently, for renewals. The
government continued to prohibit foreign missionary groups from working
in indigenous areas.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Government officials
criticized specific Catholic bishops and the papal nuncio on several
occasions and warned them to refrain from commenting on political
issues.
In 2007 the Vatican granted political asylum to opposition student
leader Nixon Moreno in the Holy See mission in Caracas; thereafter the
government denied Moreno permission to leave the country. On January 19
and February 5, unknown perpetrators threw tear gas canisters at the
mission, and on March 9, Moreno fled the mission, reportedly fearing
that progovernment supporters would forcibly extricate him. March
issues of the progovernment daily Diario Vea featured numerous articles
and political cartoons accusing the nuncio and the Catholic Church of
complicity in Moreno's departure, although no evidence was offered. In
late October Peru granted Moreno political asylum.
There were an estimated 11,000 Jews in the country. Government-
affiliated media outlets broadcast or printed numerous anti-Semitic
comments. There was an increase in anti-Semitic vandalism, caricatures,
and expressions at rallies and in newspapers. The host of The
Razorblade, a progovernment talk show on state television, made
frequent anti-Semitic slurs, and government-owned Diario Vea regularly
published anti-Semitic comments. Incidents of sprayed graffiti,
intimidation, vandalism, and other physical attacks against Jewish
institutions were frequent.
Anti-Semitism was not officially condoned by the government, but in
January following Israel's operations in Gaza, the government convoked
several anti-Israel demonstrations and equated Israeli military actions
against Palestinians to the Holocaust. These activities were
accompanied by an increase in anti-Semitic rhetoric and graffiti,
including vandalism of properties owned by Jews. President Chavez
called on the Jewish community to denounce Israel's military actions,
remarks interpreted by Jewish community members as intimidation.
On February 9, prosecutors charged eight police officers and three
others in connection with the January 30-31 armed attack on and
vandalization of Tiferet Israel Synagogue in Caracas, an attack the
government condemned. Eleven suspects remained in prison at year's end
awaiting trial.
On February 26, unknown assailants threw a small explosive device
into the Caracas Hebrew Center. No investigation results were known at
year's end.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International
Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of
Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The constitution provides for freedom
of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and
repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in
practice. There were individual complaints that government agencies
denied passports and other official documents if individuals signed the
petition in support of the 2004 recall referendum.
The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in providing protection and assistance to refugees and asylum seekers.
The law prohibits forced exile, and it was not used.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
Its laws provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the
government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the government provided protection against the
expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or
freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion.
The UNHCR reported 14,317 (cumulative) applicants for refugee
status in the country as of December, of whom 1,211 (cumulative) were
recognized as refugees by the government. The UNHCR estimated that
there were an additional 200,000 persons in need of international
protection. During the year 2,796 persons applied for refugee status.
The government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The National
Committee for Refugees had limited physical and human resources to
address refugee issues, in addition to a lengthy process for examining
individual refugee applications.
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 through
periodic free and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2006 voters reelected
Hugo Chavez as president. Official observation missions from the
European Union and the OAS deemed the elections generally free and fair
but noted some irregularities.
In a February referendum deemed generally free and fair by
international observers notwithstanding scattered reports of
irregularities, voters approved a proposal to eliminate term limits for
all elected officials. Before the referendum, the Venezuelan Episcopal
Conference (CEV), opposition political parties, and leading NGOs
questioned the legality and legitimacy of the referendum on the basis
of the 2007 electoral defeat of a constitutional reform package that
had included the elimination of presidential term limits. Prior to the
February vote, those opposed to the referendum held a large number of
demonstrations throughout the country (see section 2.b.).
During the year the central government and the National Assembly
removed most of the responsibilities and funding from the Office of the
Mayor of Greater Caracas, held by opposition leader Antonio Ledezma. In
early January the government revoked the mayor's authority over the
police force, hospital system, and sports and recreation facilities. On
January 16, 40 armed masked men took over the Caracas city hall, tied
up security guards, and refused access to the mayor and staff. On
February 5, a conflict erupted between the mayor's staff and personnel
from the Ministries of Housing and Culture; the media reported that an
armed group attacked the mayor's staff. In April the National Assembly
approved a law that transferred control of the city's budget and
resources to a newly created position of vice president of the capital
district, appointed by the president. Opposition parties protested this
move as antidemocratic and undermining voter choice.
On August 12, President Chavez approved a new election law (passed
by the National Assembly on July 31) that changed the country's
proportional representation system to advantage majority parties
greatly and gave the CNE broad discretion in redrawing voting-district
boundaries and establishing electoral regulations and timetables.
Smaller political parties expressed concern that the law would
disadvantage them in the 2010 National Assembly election.
Opposition political parties operated in an atmosphere
characterized by intimidation, violence, and restricted media access.
Opposition political leaders and their families suffered physical
assaults by unknown assailants and selective prosecutions.
Progovernment militant groups--including ``La Piedrita,'' ``Alexis
Vive,'' and ``Los Tupamaros''--frequently issued threats against
opposition figures (see also sections 1.e. and 2.a.).
On January 20, a progovernment group headed by Lina Ron stormed the
meeting hall of a small political party (Bandera Roja), fired weapons,
threw tear gas, and forced the building's evacuation. There was no
police response.
On February 19, Carlos Azuaje, the brother of a National Assembly
deputy, was shot and killed in Barinas. The deputy, who was expelled
from the ruling PSUV in 2008 after accusing the Chavez family of
corruption, blamed the killing on the Barinas governor, the president's
brother, whom he accused of ``inciting'' the crime. Authorities
arrested two suspects in the killing. A court convicted and sentenced
one to 20 years' imprisonment in November; the second suspect's trial
was pending at year's end.
On September 14, the IACHR recommended that the government annul
the disqualification of the former opposition mayor of Chacao, Leopoldo
Lopez, and other current and former public officials whom the
comptroller general had declared ineligible to run for elected office
in 2008 based on allegations of misappropriation of public funds and
corruption.
Following are examples of prosecutions of several key opposition
leaders that were widely considered politically motivated and appeared
selective:
On March 19, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Maracaibo
mayor and 2006 opposition presidential candidate Manuel Rosales on
charges of illicit enrichment. Rosales went into hiding and eventually
received political asylum in Peru. He stated that he did not believe he
would have received a fair trial had he remained in-country.
In early April authorities detained retired general Raul Baduel,
former minister of defense and former ally of President Chavez, in a
military prison on corruption charges that authorities originally had
filed in October 2008. At year's end Baduel remained in detention and a
trial was continuing.
On April 24, authorities issued an arrest warrant for former
Guarico State governor Eduardo Manuitt, a former government ally, for
alleged embezzlement. On December 21, based on these charges, the
comptroller general declared Manuitt ineligible to run for elected
office for 15 years.
In August authorities filed corruption charges against former
government ally and former Aragua State governor Didalco Bolivar, who
fled the country and sought political asylum abroad.
In October the comptroller general opened an investigation against
opposition Miranda State Governor Henrique Capriles Radonski for
alleged corruption, tax evasion, and other financial crimes. Capriles
also remained subject to old charges related to a violent demonstration
in April 2002 outside the Cuban Embassy. Prosecutors reopened this case
after a court of appeals annulled an October 2008 acquittal.
On December 8, a court issued arrest warrants for former Sucre
State governor Ramon Martinez, an ally-turned-critic of the president,
and his son, on allegations of irregularities in housing development
and fishing projects.
There were 29 women in the 167-seat National Assembly, five women
in the 27-member cabinet, and 10 women among the 32 justices on the
Supreme Court.
The constitution reserves three seats in the National Assembly for
indigenous persons, which were filled in the 2000 election and remained
occupied during the year. There is one indigenous member of the
cabinet.
Section 4. Official Corruption and Government Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for corruption by government
officials; credible observers alleged the government did not implement
the law effectively or fairly and frequently prosecuted its political
opponents selectively on corruption charges to harass, intimidate, or
imprison them.
The World Bank's governance indicators reflected that government
corruption was a serious problem. There was a perception of widespread
corruption at all government levels. Journalists reported several cases
of apparent corruption implicating high-level government officials, but
none was investigated.
Public officials are not subject to financial disclosure laws. The
government agency responsible for combating government corruption is
the Comptroller General's Office.
The law provides for citizen access to government information.
Human rights groups reported that the government routinely ignored this
requirement and their requests, did not make government information
available, and usually did not give a reason for not providing it.
Section 5. 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 with some government restrictions, and
government officials were somewhat responsive to their views. Major
domestic human rights NGOs that operated independently from the
government included COFAVIC, PROVEA, Network of Assistance, and the
OVP.
In late May the government prohibited the attendance of three
prominent civil society organizations (Active Citizenry, Public Space,
and Transparency Venezuela) at the OAS General Assembly.
Many domestic NGOs reported threats, physical attacks, and
harassment.
On July 9, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights removed the
2002-05 protection orders granting COFAVIC employees and its executive
director, Lilian Ortega, a security detail. COFAVIC expressed concern
about continued threats to their personal safety.
Government and ruling-party officials publicly criticized OVP
Director Humberto Prado numerous times during the year. For example, in
a March 19 television interview, PSUV political leader Gerson Perez
accused Prado of promoting prison hunger strikes, and in a July
university seminar, National Assembly Deputy Pedro Infante accused
Prado of working with prison leaders to orchestrate hunger strikes.
The director of the NGO Window to Liberty, Carlos Nieto Palma,
reported threats on August 19 from three police officers who visited
his home.
The government continued to reject IACHR requests to conduct a
human rights monitoring visit in the country, and by year's end no such
permission had been granted. In October students demanded such an IACHR
visit as one of the conditions for ending their hunger strike (see
section 1.e.). The government's representative to the IACHR, German
Saltron, told the press that the government would not accept such a
visit because it objected to the continued tenure of IACHR Executive
Secretary Santiago Canton due to his alleged support of the 2002
attempted coup. Students lifted a second hunger strike in December
following a one-day visit by IACHR staff members to Caracas.
On November 25, the IACHR filed a case asking the Inter-American
Court to order the government both to reinstate or compensate Mercedes
Chocron Chocron for her arbitrary removal in 2003 as a temporary judge
of the Metropolitan Caracas Criminal Court of First Instance and also
to adopt ``clear criteria and ensure guarantees in the appointment,
tenure, and removal of judges.''
In December 2008 the Supreme Court rejected and criticized the
Inter-American Court judgment seeking reinstatement of three of the
country's judges to the First Court of Administrative Disputes, a
judgment that found the 2003 removal of the judges to be a violation of
due process and that ordered reinstatement and compensation.
On June 30, the Inter-American Court ordered reinstatement of Judge
Reveron Trujillo, who had been removed in 2002.
On August 27, two unknown persons shot at Jose Luis Urbano,
president of the Foundation for the Defense of the Right to Education,
near the city of Barcelona. Injured in a 2007 shooting attack, Urbano
and other members of the foundation have been repeatedly targeted by
unknown assailants and received death threats after having publicly
condemned corruption and violations of the right to free education.
Although the ombudsman, named by the National Assembly, is
responsible for ensuring that citizen rights are protected in a
conflict with the state, human rights NGOs claimed that the Ombudsman's
Office was not independent and rarely acted on public interest cases,
and that the ombudsman was chosen in 2007 in a nontransparent process.
Reports or recommendations issued by the office were not widely
available.
The National Assembly's Subcommission on Human Rights played an
insignificant role in human rights debates.
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender,
disability, language, or social status, discrimination against women,
persons with disabilities, and indigenous persons was a problem.
Women.--The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape. It is
punishable by prison terms of eight to 14 years, although cases often
were not reported to the police. A man may avoid punishment by marrying
his victim before sentencing. There were no reliable statistics on the
incidence of, or prosecutions or convictions for, rape.
The law prohibits domestic violence, and penalties range from six
to 27 months in prison. Violence against women continued to be a
problem. In October Supreme Court Justice Yolanda Jaimes Guerrero
stated, ``Every 15 minutes a woman is the victim of abuse by her
partner. Every 10 days a woman dies in Caracas, the victim of violence
by her husband, lover, or partner.''
Women faced substantial institutional and societal prejudice with
respect to reporting rape and domestic violence. The law criminalizes
physical, sexual, and psychological violence in the home, the
community, and at work, as well as trafficking, forced prostitution,
sexual harassment, and slavery; it also establishes women's bureaus at
local police headquarters and tribunals specializing in gender-based
violence. Justice Jaimes Guerrero reported that between June 2008 and
October 2009, the 29 specialized tribunals had received 55,916 cases,
of which 23,443 had been processed. There was no information available
on the results of these tribunal cases.
The law requires police to report domestic violence to judicial
authorities and obligates hospital personnel to notify the authorities
when they admit patients who are victims of domestic abuse. Police
generally were reluctant to intervene to prevent domestic violence.
Justice Jaimes Guerrero reported in October that the Public Ministry
was investigating approximately 124,000 complaints of violence against
women, although there was no publicly available information regarding
the number of indictments, prosecutions, or convictions resulting from
these investigations. The government sought to combat domestic violence
through a public awareness campaign and a national victim-assistance
hotline administered by the government's National Women's Institute
(INAMUJER). According to the Director for the Prevention and Attention
to Violence against Women, Florangel Parodi, between January and
September there were 127,133 calls to the women's hotline. There were
no reliable statistics available on the incidence of, or prosecutions
or convictions for, domestic violence.
Prostitution is legal. While there was no government information on
the extent of prostitution, the local antitrafficking NGO Association
of Women for Welfare and Mutual Help noted that prostitution was a
serious problem, particularly in Caracas and domestic tourist
destinations.
Sexual harassment is illegal and punishable by a prison sentence of
one to three years. Sexual harassment was allegedly common in the
workplace, but cases were rarely reported.
Couples and individuals had the right to decide the number,
spacing, and timing of children, and had the information and means to
do so free from discrimination. Access to information on contraception
and skilled attendance at delivery and in postpartum care were widely
available. Women and men were generally given equal access to
diagnostic services and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
Women and men are legally equal in marriage, and the law provides
for gender equality in exercising the right to work. The law specifies
that employers must not discriminate against women with regard to pay
or working conditions. According to the Ministry of Labor and the
Confederation of Workers (CTV), these regulations were enforced in the
formal sector, although women reportedly earned 30 percent less than
men on average. INAMUJER worked to protect women's rights but did not
make statistics publicly available.
The law provides women with property rights equal to those of men.
In practice, however, women frequently waived these rights by signing
over the equivalent of power of attorney to their husbands.
Children.--Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's
territory. According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), thousands of
children were not officially registered at birth.
According to UNICEF and NGOs working with children and women, child
abuse, including incest, occurred but was rarely reported. Although the
judicial system acted to remove children from abusive households,
public facilities for such children were inadequate and had poorly
trained staff.
Under the law, sexual relations with a minor (under age 13) or an
``especially vulnerable'' person, or with a minor (under age 16) when
the perpetrator is a relative or guardian, are punishable with a
mandatory sentence of 15 to 20 years' imprisonment. Some children were
occasionally engaged in commercial sexual exploitation and pornography.
The law prohibits the production and sale of child pornography and
establishes penalties of 16 to 20 years' imprisonment.
The human rights NGO For the Rights of Children and Adolescents
estimated that 15,000 children lived on the streets. Authorities in
Caracas and several other jurisdictions imposed curfews on unsupervised
minors to attempt to cope with this problem, but with institutions
filled to capacity, hundreds of children accused of infractions, such
as curfew violations, were confined in inadequate juvenile detention
centers. The government's social service mission (Mision Negra
Hipolita) provided assistance to street children and the homeless.
Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution prohibits slavery or
servitude, and the law prohibits transnational trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports of trafficking to, from, and within the
country.
According to NGOs, the country was a source, destination, and
transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the
purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. An
underdeveloped legal framework, economic conditions, and the relative
ease with which fraudulent passports, identity cards, and birth
certificates could be obtained created favorable conditions for
trafficking. The Foreign Ministry reported in late November that police
conducted 15 investigations and detained 11 persons in 2008-09 for
trafficking crimes and that there were seven cases of repatriation of
persons who had been trafficked abroad (to Trinidad and Tobago, Spain,
and Romania) for sexual or labor exploitation; at year's end no further
information was available.
According to a range of international organizations and NGOs, women
and children from Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, the Dominican
Republic, and the People's Republic of China were reportedly trafficked
to and through the country and subjected to commercial sexual
exploitation or forced labor. Citizens were reportedly trafficked
internally and to Western Europe, particularly Spain and the
Netherlands, and to destinations in the region such as Mexico, Aruba,
Curacao, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago for commercial
sexual exploitation. The country was a transit country for undocumented
migrants from other places in the region--particularly Peru and
Colombia--and for Asian nationals, some of whom were believed to be
trafficking victims. Subgroups particularly at risk included women and
children from poor areas.
Organized criminal groups were widely believed to be involved in
trafficking women and children to and through the country. Traffickers
traveled to transport victims to large urban centers or resort
destinations. In many cases traffickers reportedly placed ads for
models in regional newspapers and then lured respondents to Caracas and
other urban areas under false pretenses of employment.
Trafficking may be prosecuted under criminal laws against forced
prostitution and trafficking, with penalties of up to 20 years for
using force to coerce a victim to perform a sexual act for a third
person, and under a law to protect children, with fines of one to 10
months' income for trafficking in children and two to six years'
imprisonment for trafficking a child abroad. The law provides for
sentences of 10 to 15 years in prison if the victim is an adult (or up
to 18 years if the victim is a child or adolescent).
Government efforts to combat trafficking are the responsibility of
the Public Prosecutor's Family Protection Directorate, the National
Institutes for Women and Minors, and the Interior and Justice
Ministry's Crime Prevention Unit, which is under the jurisdiction of
the Vice Ministry of Citizen Security. Enforcement efforts generally
were limited.
In some cases the government provided trafficking victims with
psychological and physical examinations, but it did not operate
shelters specifically for trafficking victims. The government operated
a hotline and conducted information campaigns of uncertain
effectiveness to prevent future trafficking cases.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can
be found at www.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in
education, employment, health care, and the provision of other state
services. Persons with disabilities had minimal access to public
transportation, and ramps were practically nonexistent. The law
requires that all newly constructed or renovated public parks and
buildings provide access and prohibits discrimination in employment
practices and in the provision of public services; however, the
government did not make a significant effort to implement the law,
inform the public of it, or combat societal prejudice against persons
with disabilities.
Indigenous People.--The law prohibits discrimination based on
ethnic origin, and senior government officials repeatedly stated
support for indigenous rights. However, there were complaints from some
organizations and in the media of government mismanagement and
paternalistic attitudes toward the indigenous population. Of the
country's approximately 300,000 indigenous persons in 27 ethnic groups,
many were isolated from urban areas, lacked access to basic health and
educational facilities, and suffered from high rates of disease. The
government included indigenous persons in its literacy campaigns, in
some cases teaching them to read and write in their native languages as
well as in Spanish.
The law creates three seats in the National Assembly for deputies
of indigenous origin and also provides for ``the protection of
indigenous communities and their progressive incorporation into the
life of the nation.'' Nonetheless, local political authorities seldom
took account of indigenous interests when making decisions affecting
indigenous lands, cultures, traditions, or the allocation of natural
resources. Indigenous persons called on the government to recognize
lands traditionally inhabited by them as territories belonging to each
respective indigenous group.
Conflict between cattle ranchers/landowners and indigenous persons
occurred sporadically. Civil society organizations criticized a
government land-transfer program, which gave private dairy farms in
Zulia State to the Yukpa indigenous group, for causing tension and
violence in the region. Following the alleged theft of 124 cattle on
October 11, three Yukpa tribe members were killed, allegedly by other
Yukpa members, on October 13. Authorities detained one Yukpa community
leader that month in connection with the killings, but no further
information was available at year's end.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.--The constitution provides for
equality before the law of all persons and prohibits discrimination
based on sex or social condition. On this basis, the Supreme Court
ruled in March 2008 that no individual may be discriminated against by
reason of sexual orientation in any way that implies treatment in an
unequal fashion. This prohibition was generally respected in practice.
There were no reliable statistics on societal violence or
discrimination based on sexual orientation, although violence against
lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual communities reportedly occurred
during the year. The media reported that four transgender persons were
killed in Caracas between November 2008 and May and that nine
transgender persons were killed in Caracas and Zulia State between
January and October. The media also noted that victims of hate crimes
based on sexual orientation frequently did not report the incidents.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination.--According to the NGO
Citizen Action against AIDS, persons diagnosed with HIV/AIDS frequently
were discriminated against at the workplace and often were refused
access to government health services.
Section 7. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--While the law provides that all
private and public sector workers (except armed forces members) have
the right to form and join unions of their choice, according to labor
sources and media reports the government continued to undermine this
right by restricting the composition of union leadership and refusing
to negotiate collective bargaining agreements. Approximately 10 to 12
percent of the 12-million-person labor force was unionized.
Although the law recognizes the right of all public and private
sector workers to strike in accordance with conditions established by
labor law, public servants may strike only if the strike does not cause
``irreparable damage to the population or to institutions.''
Replacement workers are not permitted during legal strikes, and the
president may order public or private sector strikers back to work and
submit their disputes to arbitration if the strike ``puts in immediate
danger the lives or security of all or part of the population.''
There were no government-provided statistics available on newly
registered trade union organizations during the year, but other sources
estimated that the number of such organizations remained relatively
stable at approximately 6,200. According to labor leaders, the
government was responsible for many of these organizations, as it
sought to create ``parallel'' unions to dilute the membership and
effectiveness of traditional unions.
The CNE has the authority to administer internal elections of labor
confederations. Labor unions complained of long delays in obtaining CNE
concurrence to hold such elections and in receiving certification of
the election results.
According to union leaders, the government organized groups of
parallel construction unions to attack and intimidate construction
workers affiliated with the CTV to gain control of lucrative
construction projects. According to PROVEA, 46 reported deaths were
associated with union clashes from October 2008 through September 2009.
According to statistics maintained by a respected academic, there was
an average of 75 new or ongoing labor conflicts each month between
January and August.
At year's end the government continued to refuse to adjudicate or
resolve the cases of 19,000 state-owned petroleum-company employees who
were fired during and after the 2002-03 national strike. The Ministry
of Labor continued to deny registration to UNAPETROL, a union composed
of these workers.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) 2009 Annual
Survey of violations of trade union rights reported that labor
conflicts (related to recruitment practices in the construction and oil
sectors and, to a lesser extent, in basic industries) generated acts of
violence ranging from physical and verbal assaults to killings.
According to PROVEA, in the period between September 2008 and October
2009, at least 88 workers, including 16 union leaders, were affected by
violence. The ITUC survey also stated that the president called on
trade unions to join the PSUV.
In January authorities charged and detained Julio Cesar Arguinzonez
in connection with the November 2008 killings of three trade union
leaders (Richard Gallardo, Carlos Jose Requena, and Luis Hernandez) in
Aragua State at the time of a collective bargaining dispute. The April
preliminary court hearing accepted the indictment and ordered that
Arguinzonez remain in custody pending trial.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides that all public and private sector workers have the right to
conduct their activities without interference and protects collective
bargaining. The law stipulates that employers must negotiate a
collective contract with the union that represents the majority of
their workers. The International Labor Organization (ILO) objected to
this provision and requested that the government amend it. Due to the
expired status of many public sector collective bargaining agreements,
only 9 percent of the sector's workers were covered by them.
On July 14, Energy and Petroleum Minister Rafael Ramirez told oil
and gas workers that he would not negotiate a new collective bargaining
agreement with unions unsupportive of the government. After seven
postponements, the CNE convoked union elections in October, and the
government-supported slate of candidates won--with substantial
financial support from both the state-owned petroleum company and the
government and with the open endorsement of the minister and other
officials.
According to PROVEA, more than two million public sector employees
worked under expired collective agreements during the year. The leader
of the largest national union federation, the National Workers' Union,
stated that the framework agreement for public administration has not
been discussed for four years and the one covering Labor Ministry
employees has not been discussed for 17 years. There were no
developments reported during the year concerning the formal complaint
lodged with the ILO by the Teachers' Federation and its 27 affiliated
organizations to request that the government restore its collective
bargaining rights, which were blocked in 2006.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the sole export processing zone.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--While the law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there were
reports of trafficking in children for employment purposes,
particularly in the informal economic sector (see also section 7.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace. The Ministry
of Labor and the National Institute for Minors enforced child labor
policies effectively in the formal sector of the economy but less so in
the informal sector.
Children most frequently worked in agriculture, retail trade,
hotels, restaurants, manufacturing, and community and social services.
The Community Center of Apprenticeship, a domestic NGO promoting the
rights of children, estimated that there were approximately one million
minors working and that a large percentage of them did not receive the
salary and benefits due to them under the law. According to the
government, in 2006, 131,902 boys and 10,196 girls worked in the
agricultural sector, 3,772 boys and 10,285 girls worked in industrial
manufacturing, and 36,106 boys and 746 girls worked in construction.
Indigenous children were reportedly trafficked and forced to work as
miners and prostitutes in illegal gold mining camps.
The law sets the minimum employment age at 14 years and permits
children ages 12 to 14 to work only if the National Institute for
Minors or the Ministry of Labor grants special permission. Children
ages 14 to 16 may not work without the permission of their legal
guardians. Those under 16 years of age may work no more than six hours
per day or 30 hours per week. Minors under the age of 18 may work only
between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Minors may not work in mines or smelting
factories, in occupations that risk life or health or could damage
intellectual or moral development, or in public spectacles. Fines are
established for employing children ages eight to 11 and for employing a
12- or 13-year-old without authorization. Employing a child younger
than eight years of age is punishable by one to three years'
imprisonment. Employers must notify authorities if they hire a minor as
a domestic worker.
The law prohibits inducing the prostitution and corruption of
minors. Penalties range from three to 18 months in prison and up to
four years in prison if the minor is younger than 12 years old. If the
crime is committed repeatedly or for profit, it is punishable by three
to six years' imprisonment. Prison sentences for inducing a minor into
prostitution are increased by up to five years if various aggravating
circumstances occur. Penalties for several crimes relating to child
prostitution do not apply if the perpetrator marries the victim. The
law establishes sentences of one to three years' incarceration for
forced child labor. There were no substantiated reports that these
penalties were enforced.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports ran educational
programs to reincorporate school dropouts and adults into the
educational system, and the government also continued to provide
services to vulnerable children, including street children, working
children, and children at risk of working. However, there was no
independent accounting of the effectiveness of these programs.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage is established
and updated annually by the Ministry of Labor, which according to law
should consult publicly when proposing changes. However, union leaders
alleged the ministry does not carry out such consultations.
On April 30, President Chavez announced a 20 percent increase in
the monthly minimum wage and in the salaries of all public sector
employees. This increase was implemented in two increments--the first
10 percent as of May 1 and the second 10 percent as of September 1--for
a total of 966.79 Bs.F (approximately $450). The 20 percent increase
was below the country's recent annual inflation rate of 25-30 percent,
so workers receiving it suffered a decline in real annual purchasing
power. The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for
a worker and family. The Labor Ministry enforced minimum wage rates
effectively in the formal sector, but approximately half the population
worked in the informal sector, where labor laws and protections
generally were not enforced.
The law stipulates that the work week may not exceed 44 hours.
Managers are prohibited from obligating employees to work additional
time, and workers have the right to weekly time away from work.
Overtime may not exceed two hours daily, 10 hours weekly, or 100 hours
annually and may not be paid at a rate less than time-and-one-half. The
ministry effectively enforced these standards in the formal sector.
While the constitution provides for secure, hygienic, and adequate
working conditions, authorities conducted infrequent inspections to
implement the health and safety law. Employers are required to report
work-related accidents, and the law obligates employers to pay
specified amounts (up to a maximum of 25 times the minimum monthly
salary) to workers for accidents or occupational illnesses, regardless
of who is responsible. Workplaces must maintain ``sufficient protection
for health and life against sickness and accidents,'' and penalties
range from one quarter to twice the minimum monthly salary for first
infractions. Numerous complaints of unsafe conditions, resulting in
several deaths at state-owned industrial plants, continued in Bolivar
State. In practice ministry inspectors seldom closed unsafe job sites.
Under the law workers may remove themselves from dangerous workplace
situations without jeopardy to continued employment.
__________
APPENDIX A
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Notes on Preparation of This Report
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The annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are
based on information available from a wide variety of sources,
including U.S. and foreign government officials, victims of
human rights abuse, academic and congressional studies, and
reports from the press, international organizations, and
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) concerned with human
rights. We find particularly helpful, and make reference in the
reports to, the role of NGOs, ranging from groups within a
single country to those that concern themselves with human
rights worldwide. While much of the information that we use is
already public, information on particular abuses frequently
cannot be attributed, for obvious reasons, to specific sources.
This report reflects the Department of State's assessments and
concerns with respect to the human rights situation around the
world. The Department of States does not use sources or
information it believes lack credibility.
By law, the Secretary of State must submit the Country
Reports to Congress by February 25. The Country Reports cover
respect for human rights in foreign countries and territories
worldwide; they do not purport to assess any human rights
implications of actions by the United States Government or its
representatives, nor do they consider human rights implications
of actions by the United States Government or of coalition
forces in Iraq or Afghanistan. To comply with the congressional
requirement for the reporting of human rights practices, we
provide guidance to U.S. diplomatic missions in July for
submission of draft reports in September and October, which we
update at year's end as necessary. Other offices in the
Department of State provide contributions, and the Bureau of
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor prepares a final draft. Due
to the submission deadline, the report may not reflect
developments that became known only after the end of the year.
We make every effort to include references to major events or
significant changes in trends.
We have attempted to make the reports as comprehensive,
objective, and uniform as possible in both scope and quality of
coverage. We have paid particular attention to attaining a high
standard of consistency in the reports despite the multiplicity
of sources and the problems associated with varying degrees of
access to information, structural differences in political,
legal, and social systems. As highlighted in the Explanatory
Notes, ``generally respected'' human rights is the standard
phrase used to describe all countries that attempt to protect
human rights in the fullest sense, and is thus the highest
level of respect for human rights assigned by this report.
Evaluating the credibility of reports of human rights
abuses is often difficult. Most governments and opposition
groups deny that they commit human rights abuses and sometimes
go to great lengths to conceal any evidence of such acts. There
are often few eyewitnesses to specific abuses, and they
frequently are intimidated or otherwise prevented from
reporting what they know. On the other hand, individuals and
groups opposed to a government sometimes have powerful
incentives to exaggerate or fabricate abuses, and some
governments similarly distort or exaggerate abuses attributed
to opposition groups. We have made every effort to identify
those groups (for example, government forces) or individuals
who are believed, based on all the evidence available, to have
committed human rights or other related abuses. Many
governments that profess to oppose human rights abuses in fact
secretly order or tacitly condone them or simply lack the will
or the ability to control those responsible for them.
Consequently, in judging a government's policy, the reports
look beyond statements of policy or intent and examine what a
government has done to prevent human rights abuses, including
the extent to which it investigates, brings to trial, and
appropriately punishes those who commit such abuses.
To increase uniformity, each country report begins with a
brief overview that includes a description of the country's
political structure and the extent to which civilian
authorities control security agencies. The overview summarizes
human rights developments during the calendar year, identifying
abuses and notable specific improvements.
We have continued the effort from previous years to cover
in the reports human rights problems affecting women, children,
persons with disabilities, and indigenous people. The
appropriate section of each country report discusses any abuses
that are targeted specifically against women (for example, rape
or other violence perpetrated by governmental or organized
opposition forces, or discriminatory laws or regulations). In
Section 6, we discuss socioeconomic discrimination;
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS; societal violence
against women, children, the gay, lesbian and transgender
community, persons with disabilities, or ethnic minorities; and
the efforts, if any, of governments to combat these problems.
The following notes on specific sections in each country
report are not meant to be comprehensive descriptions but
rather to provide an overview of the key problems covered and
their organization:
Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Includes
killings by governments without due process of law or where
there is evidence of a political motive. This section also
covers extrajudicial killings (for example, the unlawful and
deliberate killing of individuals carried out by order of a
government or with its complicity), as well as killings by
police or security forces and actions that resulted in the
unintended death of persons without due process of law. The
section generally excludes combat deaths and killings by common
criminals if the likelihood of political motivation can be
ruled out. Deaths in detention due to adverse conditions are
covered in detail in the section on ``Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.''
Disappearance.--Covers cases in which political motivation
appears likely and in which the victims have not been found or
perpetrators have not been identified. Cases eventually
classified as political killings in which the bodies of missing
persons are discovered also are covered in the previous
section, while those eventually identified as having been
arrested or held in detention may be covered under ``Arbitrary
Arrest or Detention.''
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Covers torture (an act of intentionally inflicting
severe pain, whether physical or mental) and cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment or punishment committed by or at the
instigation of government forces, including paramilitary
forces, or opposition groups. The section discusses actual
occurrences, not whether they fit any precise definition, and
includes use of physical and other force that may fall short of
torture but which is cruel, inhuman, or degrading, including
judicially sanctioned violent or abusive punishment. There also
may be discussion of poor treatment that may not constitute
torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. The section
also covers prison conditions and deaths in prison due to
adverse conditions.
Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Includes cases in which
detainees, including political detainees, are held arbitrarily
in official custody without being charged or, if charged, are
denied a public preliminary judicial hearing within a
reasonable period. The section also includes subsections on the
role of the police and security apparatus, arrest and detention
practices, and any amnesties that may have occurred during the
year.
Denial of Fair Public Trial.----Describes the court system
and evaluates whether there is an independent judiciary free of
corruption and whether trials are both fair and public (failure
to hold any trial is noted in the section above). The
subsection ``Political Prisoners and Detainees'' covers persons
convicted, imprisoned, or detained essentially for political
beliefs or nonviolent acts of dissent or expression, regardless
of the actual legal charge. The subsection ``Civil Judicial
Procedures and Remedies'' inquires whether there is access to
an independent and impartial court to seek damages for or
cessation of an alleged human rights violation. The optional
subsection ``Property Restitution'' is included if there is a
systemic failure of a government to enforce court orders with
respect to restitution or compensation for the taking of
private property under domestic law.
Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Includes government punishment of family
members for alleged violations of law by individuals and
efforts to coerce or forbid membership in a political
organization. The reports discuss the right of the individual
to noninterference by the state. It includes the right to
receive foreign publications, for example, while the right to
publish is discussed under ``Freedom of Speech and Press.''
Includes the right to be free from coercive population control
measures, including coerced abortion and involuntary
sterilization, but does not include cultural or traditional
practices, such as female genital mutilation, which are
addressed under ``Discrimination and Societal Abuses.''
Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal
Conflicts.--This optional section describes abuses in countries
experiencing significant internal conflict. Includes
indiscriminate, nonselective killings arising from excessive
use of force, or by the shelling of villages (deliberate,
targeted killing of civilians is discussed in the section on
``Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life''). This section
also includes abuses against civilian noncombatants. For
countries where use of this section would be inappropriate
because there is no significant internal or external conflict,
killings by security forces are discussed in the section on
``Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life''; nonlethal abuses
are discussed in the section on ``Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.''
Freedom of Speech and Press.--Evaluates whether these
freedoms exist and describes any direct or indirect
restrictions. A subsection (``Internet Freedom'') includes
discussion of monitoring or restriction on the peaceful
expression of opinion via the Internet. Another subsection,
entitled ``Academic Freedom and Cultural Events,'' includes
information on restrictions, intimidation, and censorship in
these fields.
Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Evaluates
the ability of individuals and groups (including political
parties) to exercise these freedoms. It considers instances of
government failure to provide permits or licenses for meetings
and demonstrations, as well as information on the ability of
trade associations, professional bodies, NGOs, and similar
groups to maintain relations or affiliate with recognized
international bodies in their fields. The right of workers to
associate, organize, and bargain collectively is discussed
under the section on ``Worker Rights'' (see Appendix B).
Freedom of Religion.--Discusses whether the law provides
for the right of citizens of any religious belief to worship
free of government interference and whether the government
generally respects that right. The section covers the freedom
to publish religious documents in foreign languages; addresses
the treatment of foreign clergy and whether religious belief or
lack thereof affects membership in a ruling party, a career in
government, or ability to obtain services and privileges
available to other citizens. The subsection ``Societal Abuses
and Discrimination'' reports societal violence, harassment and
discrimination against members of religious groups. Examples of
anti-Semitism, if applicable, are included in this subsection.
The annual International Religious Freedom Report supplements
the information in this section.
Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons,
Protection of Refugees, and Stateless Persons.--The section
discusses whether and under what circumstances governments
exiled citizens, restricted foreign travel, especially for
women, and revoked passports. It includes subsections
``Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)'' (if applicable),
``Protection of Refugees,'' and ``Stateless Persons'' (if
applicable.) As defined in the 1951 Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, refugees are persons
outside their country of origin or, if stateless, outside their
country of habitual residence who have a well-founded fear of
persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality,
membership in a particular social group, or political opinion,
and who are unable or unwilling to avail themselves of the
protection of that country. Under certain regional instruments,
such as the Organization of African Unity convention governing
the specific aspects of refugee problems in Africa, the term
refugee may refer to persons displaced by civil strife,
widespread violence, or natural disaster. The subsection
``Protection of Refugees'' reviews the government's extension
of assistance and protection to refugees, including
nonrefoulement, the provision of temporary protection, support
for voluntary repatriation, longer term integration
opportunities, and third country resettlement. It also covers
abuse and discrimination against refugees. The subsection on
stateless persons examines whether a country has habitual
residents who are legally stateless (not recognized as
nationals under the laws of any state) or de facto stateless
(not recognized as nationals by any state even if these
individuals have a claim to nationality under the laws of a
particular state). The report reviews whether the government
has effectively implemented laws and policies to provide such
persons the opportunity to gain nationality on a
nondiscriminatory basis. The subsection also examines, among
other matters, whether there is violence or discrimination
against stateless persons in employment, education, housing,
health services, marriage or birth registration, access to
courts, or the owning of property.
Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government.--Discusses the extent to which
citizens have freedom of political choice and the legal right
and ability in practice to change the laws and officials that
govern them. The subsection ``Elections and Political
Participation'' assesses whether elections were free and fair,
including participation by women and minorities on an equal
basis.
Official Corruption and Government Transparency.--Covers
allegations of corruption in the executive or legislative
branches of government and actions taken to combat it. Also,
the section covers whether the public has access in law and
practice to government information.
Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights.--Discusses whether the government permits the free
functioning of local human rights groups (including the right
to investigate and publish their findings on alleged human
rights abuses), whether these groups are subject to reprisal by
government or other forces, and whether government officials
are cooperative and responsive to their views. The section also
discusses whether the government grants access to and
cooperates with outside entities (including foreign human
rights organizations, international organizations, and foreign
governments) interested in human rights developments in the
country. Reports on national human rights commissions,
parliamentary commissions, relations with international war
crimes tribunals and truth or similar commissions.
Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in
Persons.--Contains subheadings on Women; Children; Trafficking
in Persons; Persons with Disabilities; Societal Abuses,
Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on Sexual
Orientation and Gender Identity; and Other Societal Violence or
Discrimination. If applicable, also includes subheadings on
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Indigenous People, and
Incitement to Acts of Discrimination. The section addresses
discrimination and abuses not discussed elsewhere in the
report, focusing on laws, regulations, or state practices that
are inconsistent with equal access to housing, employment,
education, health care, or other governmental benefits for
members of specific groups. (Abuses by government or opposition
forces, such as killing, torture and other violence, or
restriction of voting rights or free speech targeted against
specific groups would be discussed under the appropriate
preceding sections.)
The subsection ``Women'' discusses societal violence
against women, e.g., ``dowry deaths,'' ``honor killings,'' wife
beating, rape, female genital mutilation, and government
tolerance of such practices, as well as the extent to which the
law provides for, and the government enforces, equality of
economic opportunity for women. A paragraph on reproductive
rights reports on the basic right of couples and individuals to
decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing, and timing
of their children. The subsection ``Children'' discusses
violence or other abuse against children.
The ``Trafficking in Persons'' subsection covers all acts
involving the recruitment, harboring, transportation,
provision, or obtaining of a person (man, woman, or child) for
labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion
for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude,
peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. Sex trafficking is the
recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining
of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act induced by
force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to
perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age. Reporting
describes any legal prohibitions against trafficking; the
extent to which the government enforces these prohibitions; the
extent and nature of trafficking in persons to, from, or within
the country, other geographic regions or countries affected by
the traffic; the participation, facilitation, involvement or
complicity of any government agents in trafficking; and aid or
protection available to victims.
The subsection ``Persons with Disabilities'' covers
discrimination against persons with physical or mental
disabilities in, among other things, employment, education, and
the provision of other government services. The subsection on
``Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based
on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity'' notes laws
criminalizing sexual orientation and reports on discrimination
against gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgender persons.
WORKER RIGHTS--SEE APPENDIX B.
Explanatory Notes
Occasionally the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
state that a country ``generally respected'' the rights of its
citizens. The phrase ``generally respected'' is used because
the protection and promotion of human rights is a dynamic
endeavor; it cannot accurately be stated that any government
fully respected these rights all the time without qualification
in even the best of circumstances. Accordingly, ``generally
respected'' is the standard phrase used to describe all
countries that attempt to protect human rights in the fullest
sense, and is thus the highest level of respect for human
rights assigned by this report.
In some instances, Country Reports use the word
``Islamist,'' which should be interpreted by readers as a
Muslim who supports Islamic values and beliefs as the basis for
political and social life.
Since the Secretary of State designates foreign groups or
organizations as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) on the
FTO list, only those groups on the FTO list dated April 8, 2008
will be described as ``terrorists'' in the reports.
When describing whether a government provides ``protection
against refoulement,'' the reports are referring to whether the
government refrained from expelling or returning a refugee in
any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his
or her life or freedom would be threatened on account of race,
religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a
particular social group.
Subject headings in these reports are used to introduce
general topics, and the report text that follows such headings
is intended to describe facts generally relevant to those
topics and is not intended to reach conclusions of a legal
character.
----------
APPENDIX B
----------
Reporting on Worker Rights
----------
The 1984 Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Renewal
Act requires reporting on worker rights in GSP beneficiary
countries. It states that internationally recognized worker
rights include: ``(A) the right of association; (B) the right
to organize and bargain collectively; (C) a prohibition on the
use of any form of forced or compulsory labor; (D) a minimum
age for the employment of children; and (E) acceptable
conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of
work, and occupational safety and health.'' All five aspects of
worker rights are discussed in each country report under the
section heading ``Worker Rights.'' The discussion of worker
rights considers not only laws and regulations but also their
practical implementation.
This discussion is informed by internationally recognized
labor standards, including the Conventions and Recommendations
of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Differences in
the levels of economic development are taken into account in
the formulation of the standards related to working conditions;
such standards include freedom of association, the right to
organize and bargain collectively, the prohibition of forced
labor and child labor, and the absence of discrimination in
employment. Some specific guidelines derived from international
standards are discussed below.
A. ``The right of association'' has been defined by the ILO to
include the right of workers and employers to establish
and join organizations of their own choosing without
previous authorization; to draw up their own
constitutions and rules, elect their representatives,
and formulate their programs; to join in confederations
and affiliate with international organizations; and to
be protected against dissolution or suspension by
administrative authority.
The right of association includes the right of workers to
strike. While it is generally accepted for strikes to
be restricted in the public sector and in essential
services, the interruption of which would endanger the
life, personal safety, or health of a significant
portion of the population, these restrictions must be
offset by adequate safeguards for the interests of the
workers concerned (for example, mechanisms for
mediation and arbitration, due process, and the right
to judicial review of legal actions). Reporting on
restrictions on the ability of workers to strike
generally includes information on any procedures that
may exist for safeguarding workers' interests.
B. ``The right to organize and bargain collectively'' includes
the right of workers to be represented in negotiating
the prevention and settlement of disputes with
employers, the right to protection against
interference, and the right to protection against acts
of antiunion discrimination. Governments should promote
mechanisms for voluntary negotiations between employers
and workers and their organizations. Coverage of the
right to organize and bargain collectively includes a
review of the extent to which collective bargaining
takes place and the extent to which workers, both in
law and practice, are protected against antiunion
discrimination.
C. ``Forced or compulsory labor'' is defined as work or
service exacted under the menace of penalty and for
which a person has not volunteered. ``Work or service''
does not apply where obligations are imposed to undergo
education or training. ``Menace of penalty'' includes
loss of rights or privileges as well as penal
sanctions. The ILO has exempted the following from its
definition of forced labor: compulsory military
service, normal civic obligations, certain forms of
prison labor, emergencies, and minor communal services.
Constitutional provisions concerning the obligation of
citizens to work do not violate this right so long as
they do not take the form of legal obligations enforced
by sanctions and are consistent with the principle of
``freely chosen employment.''
D. ``Prohibition of child labor and minimum age for
employment'' concerns the effective abolition of child
labor by raising the minimum age for employment to a
level consistent with the fullest physical and mental
development of young people. ILO Convention 182 on the
``worst forms of child labor'' identifies anyone under
the age of 18 as a child and specifies certain types of
employment as ``the worst forms of child labor.'' These
worst forms of labor include slavery, debt bondage,
forced labor, forced recruitment into armed conflict,
child prostitution and pornography, involvement in
illicit activity such as drug production or
trafficking, and ``work which, by its nature, or the
circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to
harm the health, safety or morals or children.'' In
limited circumstances, ILO Convention 182 permits the
employment of children between the ages of 16 and 18 in
what the convention describes as an ``unhealthy
environment,'' if adequate protective measures have
been taken.
E. ``Acceptable conditions of work'' refers to the
establishment and maintenance of mechanisms, adapted to
national conditions, that provide for minimum working
standards, that is: wages that provide a decent living
for workers and their families; working hours that do
not exceed 48 hours per week, with a full 24-hour day
of rest; a specified number of annual paid leave days;
and minimum conditions for the protection of the safety
and health of workers.
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APPENDIX C
Selected International Human Rights Conventions
(See Footnotes for Treaty/Convention Titles)
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COUNTRY A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afghanistan P - - P - P P P - P P P P P P P P - - P P S P P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Albania P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Algeria P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andorra - - - P - P P - P - - - P P - - - - - - - P P P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angola - P P - P P P - - P - P - P P P P - P P - P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Antigua & Barbuda P P P P P P P - - 1 P P P - - P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Argentina - P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Armenia - P P P P P P - P P - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Austria P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Azerbaijan P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P - P - - P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bahamas P P P P P P P - - P P P P S S P P - P P P P S P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bahrain P P - P - P P - - - P P P P P - - - - P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangladesh P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P - - - - P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barbados P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P - - P P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belarus P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belgium P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belize 1 P P P P P P - - - 1 P P P S P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benin 2 P P - P P P - - - - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Bhutan - - - - - P P - - - - - S - - - - - - - - P - P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bolivia P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bosnia & Herzegovina P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Botswana 1 P P - P P P - - - 1 P P P - P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brazil P P - P P P P P - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Brunei 1 - - - - P P - - - 1 - - - - - - - - P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bulgaria 2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Burkina Faso - P P P P P P P - - - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Burma P P P P - P P S - S - - - - - - - - - - - P - P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Burundi - P P P P P P - - P - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cambodia - P P P P P P S - S P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cameroon P P P - P P P P - - P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canada P - P P - P P - - P P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cape Verde - P P - P P P - - - - P P P P - P - - P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Central African Republic 2 P P - P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chad - P P - P P P - - - - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chile P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
China 2 - - P - P P - - P - - P S P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
China P - - P - - - - - P - - P - - - - - - - - P P P -
Hong Kong
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
China - - - P - - - - - - - - P - - - - - - - - - P - -
Macau from 12-20-99
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
China - - - P - - - P - - P - P P P P P - - - - P P P -
Macau to 12-19-99
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* China Taiwan only P - - P - - - - - P P - P S S - - - - - - - - - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colombia S P P P P P P - - P - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comoros - P P P P P P - - - - P P S S - - - P P P P S P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congo, Democratic Republic - P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congo, Republic 2 P P - P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cook Islands - - - - - P P - - - - - - - - - - - - P P P - - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Costa Rica - P P P P P P - - P - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cote D'Ivoire 2 P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Croatia P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cuba P P P P P P P P - P P P P S S - - - P P P P P P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyprus P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Czech Republic 2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Denmark P P P P P P P S P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Djibouti - P P - P P P P - - P P S P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dominica P P P - P P P - - 1 P P - P P P P P P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dominican Republic S P P S P P P - - P P P P P P P P P P P P P S P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
East Timor - P P - P - - P - - - - - - - - - - - - P P - - P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ecuador P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Egypt P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
El Salvador - P P P P P P - - P S P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equatorial Guinea - P P - P P P - - - - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eritrea - P P - P P P - - - - P P P P - - - P - - P - P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estonia 2 P P P P P P - P - - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethiopia P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiji P P P P P P P - - P P P P - - P P - P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finland P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
France P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gabon - P P P P P P - - P - P P P P P P - - P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gambia 1 P P P P P P - - - 1 P P P P P P - P P P P S P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Georgia - P P P P P P - P P - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Germany P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ghana 2 P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greece P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grenada 1 P P 1 P P P - - 1 1 P S P P - - P P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guatemala P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guinea P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guinea-Bissau - P - - P P P - - - - P S S P P P - P P P P S P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guyana 1 P P - P P P - - - 1 P P P P - - - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Haiti 2 P P P P P P P - P P P P P - P P P P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Holy See - - - - - P P - - - - - P - - P P - - P P - P P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Honduras - P P P P P P P - - - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hungary P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iceland - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
India P P - P - P P P - P P P P P P - - - - - - P S P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indonesia - P P - P P P - - P - P P P P - - - P - - P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iran S P - P - P P S - - P P P P P P P - - S S - - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iraq P P - P P P P P - - P P P P P - - - P - - P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ireland P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Israel P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P - - P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Italy P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jamaica P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japan - P P - P P P P - P - - P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jordan P P - P P P P P - P P P P P P - - - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kazakhstan P P P P P P P S P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kenya - P - - P P P - - - - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Kiribati 1 P P - P P P - - 1 1 P - 1 1 - 1 - - - - P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Korea, Democratic Rep. of - - - P - P P - - - - - - P P - - - - P - P - P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Korea, Republic of - - - P - P P P - P - - P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kuwait P P P P P P P P - - P P P P P - - - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kyrgyzstan P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laos - P - P - P P P - P P - P P P - - - P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Latvia 2 - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lebanon 2 P - P P P P - - P - P P P P - - - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lesotho P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liberia P P P P P P P S - S S P P P P P P - - P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Libya P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P - - - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Liechtenstein - - - P - P P - P - - - P P P P P - - P P P P P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lithuania S P P P P P P - P - - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luxembourg - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Macedonia 2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Madagascar P P P - P P P S - P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malawi P P P - P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malaysia - P - P P P P - - - P - - - - - - - P - - P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Maldives - - - P - P P - - - - - P P P - - - - P P P P P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mali P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malta P P P - P P P - P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Marshall Islands - - - - - - P - - - - - - - - - - - - - - P - P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mauritania P P P - P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mauritius P P P - P P P - - P P P P P P - - - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mexico P P P P - P P P - P P P P P P P P P - P - P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Micronesia - - - - - P P - - - - - - - - - - - - P P P - P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moldova - P P P P P P - P P - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Monaco P - - P - P P - S - - - P P P P - - - P P P P P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mongolia P - P P P P P - - P P - P P P - - - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Montenegro P - - P - P P P - P P - P P P P P - - P P P P P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morocco P P - P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P S S P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mozambique - P P P P P P - - - - P P P - P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Namibia - P P P P P P - - - - P P P P P - - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Nauru - - - - - P P - - - - - S S - - - - - P P - S P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nepal P P - P P P P P - P P P P P P - - - P - - P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Netherlands P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Zealand P P - P P P P - - P P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nicaragua P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Niger P P P - P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nigeria P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Niue - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - P 09
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Norway P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Oman - P - - - P P - - - - P P - - - - - P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pakistan P P P P P P P P - P P P P S P - - - P S S P S P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Palau - - - - - P P - - - - - - - - - - - - P P - - P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Panama S P P P P P P - - - - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Papua New Guinea P P P P P P P - - P - P P P P P P - P - - P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paraguay P P P P P P P S P P P S P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peru - P P P P P P - - P S P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philippines P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P S P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poland 2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Portugal 2 P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qatar - P - - - P P - - - - P P - - - - - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Romania P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Russia P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rwanda - P P P P P P - - - P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Samoa - P P - P P P - - - - P - P - P P - P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
San Marino - P P - P P P - P - P P P P P - - - P P P - P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sao Tome & Principe - P P - P P P - - - - P S S S P P - P P P S S P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saudi Arabia P P - P - P P - - - P P P - - - - - - P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senegal 2 P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Serbia - P P - P - P - P - - P - - - - - P P - P - - P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seychelles 2 P P P P P P P - 1 P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sierra Leone P P P - P P P - - P P P P P P P P - - P P P P P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Singapore - P - P P P P P - - P - - - - - - - P - - P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Slovak Republic 2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Slovenia - P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solomon Islands P P - - - P P - - P P - 1 - 1 P P - - P P P - P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Somalia - P - - - P P - - - - P P P P P P - - - - - P S -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* South Africa P P P P P P P P - S - P P P S P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spain P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sri Lanka P P P P P P P P - - P P P P P - - - P - - P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* St. Kitts & Nevis 1 P P - P P P - - 1 1 P P - - P - - P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
St. Lucia P P P 1 P P P - - 1 P P P - - - - - - P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*St. Vincent & The P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P
Grenadines
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sudan P P - - P P P - - - P P P P P P P - P P P - S P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suriname 2 P P - P P P - - 1 P P P P P P P P - P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swaziland 1 P P - P P P - - P 1 P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sweden P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Switzerland P P P P P P P - P - P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Syria P P P P P P P P - - P P P P P - - - P P - - P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Tajikistan - P P - P P P P - P - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tanzania P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P P - P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thailand - P - - - P P - - P - P P P P - - - P - - P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Togo 2 P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Tonga 1 - - P - P P - - - 1 1 1 P - - - - - P P - - P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trinidad & Tobago P P P - P P P - - P P P P P P P P - P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tunisia P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turkey P P P P P P P - P P P P P S S P P - P - - P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turkmenistan P P P - P P P - - P P P P P P P P - - P P P P P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Tuvalu 1 - - - - P P - - 1 1 - - 1 - P P - - - - P - P -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uganda P P P P P P P - - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ukraine P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United Arab Emirates - P - P - P P - - - - P P - - - - - P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United Kingdom P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States P - - P - P P - - P P P P P S - P S - S S S P S P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uruguay S P P P P P P - - S P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uzbekistan - P - P P P P P - P - P P P P - - - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Vanuatu - - P - P P P - - - 1 P - P - - - - - P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Venezuela - P P P P P P P - P - P P P P - P P P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Vietnam P P - P - P P - - - - - P P P - - - P P - P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yemen P P P P P P P P - P - P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
former Yugoslavia P P P P P P P P - P P - P P P P P - P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zambia P P P - P P P - - P P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zimbabwe 1 P P P P P P P - P P P P P P P P - P P P P - P P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P = Party
S = Signatory
* = non-ILO member
1 = Based on general declaration concerning treaty obligations prior to independence
2 = Party to 1926 Convention only
========================================================================================================================================================
Key to Human Rights Conventions: A-Slavery B-ILO Convention 29 C-ILO Convention 87 D-Genocide E-ILO Convention 98 F-Prisoners of War G-Civilians
in War H-Traffic in Persons I-European HR Conv. J-Pol. Rights of Women K-Suppl. Slavery Conv. L-ILO Convention 105 M-Racial Discrimination N-
Civil and Pol. Rights O-Econ./Soc./Cul. Rights P-UN Refugee Convention Q-UN Refugee Protocol R-American HR Conv. S-ILO Convention 138 T-Geneva
Protocol I U-Geneva Protocol II V-CEDAW W-Torture X-Rights of the Child Y-ILO Convention 182
APPENDIX D
----------
Description of International Human Rights Conventions in Appendix C
----------
A. Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery of
September 25, 1926, as amended by the Protocol of
December 7, 1953.
B. Convention Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labor of June
28, 1930 (ILO Convention 29).
C. Convention Concerning Freedom of Association and Protection
of the Right to Organize of July 9, 1948 (ILO
Convention 87).
D. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide of December 9, 1948.
E. Convention Concerning the Application of the Principles of
the Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively of July
1, 1949 (ILO Convention 98).
F. Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of
War of August 12, 1949.
G. Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian
Persons in Time of War of August 12, 1949.
H. Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons
and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others
of March 21, 1950.
I. European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms of November 4, 1950.
J. Convention on the Political Rights of Women of March 31,
1953.
K. Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the
Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to
Slavery of September 7, 1956.
L. Convention Concerning the Abolition of Forced Labor of June
25, 1957 (ILO Convention 105).
M. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination of December 21, 1965.
N. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of
December 16, 1966.
O. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights of December 16, 1966.
P. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of July 28,
1951.
Q. Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees of January 31,
1967.
R. American Convention on Human Rights of November 22, 1969.
S. Convention Concerning Minimum Age for Admission to
Employment of June 26, 1973 (ILO Convention 138).
T. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of August 12,
1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of
International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), of June 8,
1977.
U. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of August 12,
1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-
International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), of June 8,
1977.
V. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women of December 18, 1979.
W. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment of December 10, 1984.
X. Convention on the Rights of the Child of November 20, 1989.
Y. Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action
for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor
of June 17, 1999 (ILO Convention 182).
----------
APPENDIX E
FY 2009 Foreign Assistance Actuals, Part I
($ in thousands)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All GHCS- GHCS-
Accounts DA USAID STATE ESF TI AEECA INCLE NADR IMET
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL................................... 33,943,409 2,000,000 2,180,000 5,159,000 7,116,901 50,000 922,000 1,876,500 631,500 93,000
AFRICA.................................. 8,242,244 876,620 848,509 3,482,165 712,910 -- -- 26,600 31,498 15,339
Angola................................ 55,967 9,690 28,550 11,052 -- -- -- -- 6,300 375
Benin................................. 30,962 7,000 23,700 -- -- -- -- -- -- 262
Botswana.............................. 81,494 -- -- 80,675 -- -- -- -- -- 819
Burkina Faso.......................... 19,572 -- 6,000 -- -- -- -- 100 -- 166
Burundi............................... 39,482 6,530 12,060 -- -- -- -- -- 373 403
Cameroon.............................. 7,154 -- 1,500 500 -- -- -- -- -- 285
Cape Verde............................ 674 -- -- -- -- -- -- 500 -- 174
Central African Republic.............. 7,493 -- -- -- 2,000 -- -- -- -- 62
Chad.................................. 156,886 5,000 -- -- 5,000 -- -- -- -- 294
Comoros............................... 184 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 184
Cote d'Ivoire......................... 113,744 -- -- 107,136 -- -- -- -- -- --
Democratic Republic of the Congo...... 296,582 5,000 51,265 18,114 52,800 -- -- 1,500 300 506
Djibouti.............................. 5,823 2,500 496 150 -- -- -- 300 -- 377
Ethiopia.............................. 864,846 80,000 63,200 333,687 -- -- -- -- -- 634
Gabon................................. 366 -- -- -- 155 -- -- -- -- 211
Ghana................................. 147,516 59,500 38,495 11,500 32,000 -- -- 500 -- 721
Guinea................................ 13,377 2,576 8,200 -- -- -- -- 100 -- --
Guinea-Bissau......................... 231 -- -- -- -- -- -- 100 -- 131
Kenya................................. 829,441 49,577 45,626 530,850 63,000 -- -- -- 5,500 915
Lesotho............................... 25,698 -- 6,400 19,150 -- -- -- -- -- 148
Liberia............................... 224,021 32,000 24,900 800 104,300 -- -- 4,130 -- 440
Madagascar............................ 71,055 15,350 38,900 500 -- -- -- -- -- 48
Malawi................................ 115,646 20,930 50,789 24,648 -- -- -- -- -- 316
Mali.................................. 102,682 51,700 33,650 1,450 4,000 -- -- -- -- 306
Mauritania............................ 5,800 500 -- -- 300 -- -- -- -- --
Mauritius............................. 178 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 178
Mozambique............................ 317,975 20,820 39,423 237,304 -- -- -- -- -- 376
Namibia............................... 112,047 5,025 1,934 104,934 -- -- -- -- -- 154
Niger................................. 15,216 1,023 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 100
Nigeria............................... 594,298 67,082 57,045 467,173 -- -- -- 720 50 878
Republic of the Congo................. 149 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 149
Rwanda................................ 195,872 19,480 31,750 133,922 -- -- -- -- -- 425
Sao Tome and Principe................. 189 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 189
Senegal............................... 93,754 55,834 32,043 1,535 -- -- -- -- -- 987
Seychelles............................ 86 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 86
Sierra Leone.......................... 20,053 -- -- 500 11,000 -- -- 250 -- 453
Somalia............................... 403,838 -- 1,550 -- 32,250 -- -- -- -- --
South Africa.......................... 544,890 9,000 11,500 523,282 -- -- -- -- 50 1,058
State Africa Regional (AF)............ 35,392 -- -- -- 8,555 -- -- 3,000 14,925 --
Sudan................................. 924,140 25,550 23,185 6,327 263,550 -- -- 15,400 4,000 681
Swaziland............................. 26,790 -- 6,900 19,700 -- -- -- -- -- 190
Tanzania.............................. 464,983 26,890 61,078 329,921 37,000 -- -- -- -- 375
The Gambia............................ 169 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 169
Togo.................................. 134 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 134
Uganda................................ 404,152 45,950 45,282 257,550 15,000 -- -- -- -- 629
Zambia................................ 308,119 26,716 36,575 236,475 -- -- -- -- -- 351
Zimbabwe.............................. 292,301 -- 22,087 23,330 81,000 -- -- -- -- --
USAID Africa Regional (AFR)........... 108,475 87,914 20,311 -- 250 -- -- -- -- --
USAID Central Africa Regional......... 17,500 17,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID East Africa Regional............ 42,230 32,270 9,585 -- 375 -- -- -- -- --
USAID Southern Africa Regional........ 17,713 15,713 2,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID West Africa Regional............ 84,905 72,000 12,530 -- 375 -- -- -- -- --
EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC................... 752,601 205,500 115,396 97,946 240,900 -- -- 9,970 24,810 7,924
Burma................................. 35,400 -- 2,100 -- 33,300 -- -- -- -- --
Cambodia.............................. 65,174 17,000 30,368 2,500 10,000 -- -- -- 4,200 106
China................................. 26,208 11,000 4,000 3,308 7,300 -- -- 600 -- --
Indonesia............................. 253,597 71,000 30,500 5,250 117,000 -- -- 6,150 6,450 1,547
Laos.................................. 5,007 1,000 1,000 -- -- -- -- 1,000 1,900 107
Malaysia.............................. 2,597 -- -- -- 500 -- -- -- 1,340 757
Marshall Islands...................... 59 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 59
Mongolia.............................. 21,763 7,500 -- -- 12,000 -- -- -- 250 1,013
North Korea........................... 17,500 -- -- -- 17,500 -- -- -- -- --
Papua New Guinea...................... 2,743 -- 2,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- 243
Philippines........................... 123,735 30,000 27,175 -- 30,000 -- -- 800 4,175 1,730
Samoa................................. 51 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 51
Singapore............................. 500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 500 --
Solomon Islands....................... 74 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 74
Taiwan................................ 575 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 575 --
Thailand.............................. 15,659 4,500 1,000 500 2,500 -- -- 1,400 2,700 1,459
Timor-Leste........................... 24,301 20,200 1,000 -- 2,800 -- -- 20 -- 281
Tonga................................. 688 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 188
Vanuatu............................... 113 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 113
Vietnam............................... 103,764 15,000 -- 86,148 -- -- -- -- 1,920 196
State East Asia and Pacific Regional.. 8,800 -- -- -- 8,000 -- -- -- 800 --
USAID Regional Development Mission- 44,293 28,300 15,753 240 -- -- -- -- -- --
Asia (RDM/A).........................
EUROPE AND EURASIA...................... 1,021,682 -- 11,170 20,028 38,500 -- 811,867 300 16,195 26,581
Albania............................... 23,030 -- -- -- -- -- 18,910 -- 1,070 950
Armenia............................... 52,357 -- 400 -- -- -- 48,000 -- 600 357
Azerbaijan............................ 25,835 -- 1,246 -- -- -- 19,300 -- 1,300 989
Belarus............................... 11,500 -- -- -- -- -- 11,500 -- -- --
Bosnia and Herzegovina................ 35,383 -- -- -- -- -- 29,444 -- 1,400 939
Bulgaria.............................. 9,103 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,703
Croatia............................... 2,110 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 500 610
Cyprus................................ 11,000 -- -- -- 11,000 -- -- -- -- --
Czech Republic........................ 4,599 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,599
Estonia............................... 2,537 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,037
Georgia............................... 311,817 -- -- 850 -- -- 294,000 -- 2,200 1,426
Greece................................ 100 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 100
Hungary............................... 2,129 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,129
Ireland............................... 15,000 -- -- -- 15,000 -- -- -- -- --
Kosovo................................ 123,033 -- -- -- -- -- 120,100 -- 795 638
Latvia................................ 2,482 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 982
Lithuania............................. 2,761 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,061
Macedonia............................. 23,315 -- -- -- -- -- 19,000 -- 895 620
Malta................................. 305 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 125 80
Moldova............................... 15,674 -- -- -- -- -- 14,500 -- -- 674
Montenegro............................ 8,498 -- -- -- -- -- 7,000 -- 550 148
Poland................................ 29,220 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,220
Portugal.............................. 90 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 90
Romania............................... 13,562 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,562
Russia................................ 70,146 -- 4,296 5,000 -- -- 60,000 -- 850 --
Serbia................................ 49,187 -- -- -- -- -- 46,500 -- 1,000 887
Slovakia.............................. 2,026 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,026
Slovenia.............................. 1,133 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 733
Turkey................................ 15,418 -- -- -- 7,500 -- -- 300 3,410 3,208
Ukraine............................... 99,382 -- 3,191 14,178 -- -- 72,400 -- 800 1,813
Eurasia Regional...................... 28,869 -- 2,037 -- 3,000 -- 23,132 -- 700 --
Europe Regional....................... 30,081 -- -- -- 2,000 -- 28,081 -- -- --
NEAR EAST............................... 8,047,668 34,633 3,000 -- 2,261,114 -- -- 214,000 118,400 16,339
Algeria............................... 8,678 400 -- -- -- -- -- -- 500 898
Bahrain............................... 9,161 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 500 661
Egypt................................. 1,814,741 -- -- -- 250,000 -- -- 2,000 1,425 1,316
Iraq.................................. 599,000 -- -- -- 541,500 -- -- 20,000 35,500 2,000
Israel................................ 3,105,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Jordan................................ 1,021,806 -- -- -- 513,547 -- -- 1,000 19,150 3,109
Lebanon............................... 240,078 -- -- -- 67,500 -- -- 6,000 4,600 2,278
Libya................................. 3,250 -- -- -- 2,500 -- -- -- 750 --
Morocco............................... 25,196 18,000 -- -- -- -- -- 1,000 625 1,916
Oman.................................. 9,400 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 950 1,450
Saudi Arabia.......................... 361 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 350 11
Syria................................. 2,500 -- -- -- 2,500 -- -- -- -- --
Tunisia............................... 14,600 -- -- -- 800 -- -- -- 100 1,700
United Arab Emirates.................. 925 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 925 --
West Bank and Gaza.................... 1,030,715 -- -- -- 776,000 -- -- 184,000 50,000 --
Yemen................................. 42,357 11,233 3,000 -- 19,767 -- -- -- 2,125 1,000
MERC--(Middle East Regional 5,000 -- -- -- 5,000 -- -- -- -- --
Cooperation) and MEM (Middle East
Multilaterals).......................
Middle East Partnership Initiative 50,000 -- -- -- 50,000 -- -- -- -- --
(MEPI)...............................
Multinational Force and Observers 27,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(MFO)................................
Near East Regional Democracy.......... 25,000 -- -- -- 25,000 -- -- -- -- --
Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism 4,900 -- -- -- 4,000 -- -- -- 900 --
Partnership (TSCTP)..................
USAID Middle East Regional (OMEP)..... 8,000 5,000 -- -- 3,000 -- -- -- -- --
SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA.................. 5,536,690 58,941 229,178 21,214 3,238,801 -- 110,133 572,050 74,690 9,399
Afghanistan........................... 2,713,193 -- 57,734 500 2,048,000 -- -- 484,000 48,550 1,399
Bangladesh............................ 166,756 40,000 41,550 -- 50,000 -- -- 200 3,600 787
India................................. 103,480 11,000 69,500 6,450 -- -- -- -- 1,700 1,364
Kazakhstan............................ 22,422 -- 1,064 600 -- -- 13,500 -- 1,900 858
Kyrgyz Republic....................... 58,932 -- 795 475 -- -- 54,400 -- 1,590 872
Maldives.............................. 145 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 145
Nepal................................. 54,917 -- 22,200 -- 22,151 -- -- 330 700 743
Pakistan.............................. 2,305,866 -- 33,468 -- 1,114,000 -- -- 87,500 13,250 2,261
Sri Lanka............................. 35,058 5,241 -- -- -- -- -- 20 650 419
Tajikistan............................ 35,765 -- 1,445 524 -- -- 25,233 -- 1,450 282
Turkmenistan.......................... 8,851 -- 607 75 -- -- 7,000 -- 750 269
Uzbekistan............................ 8,555 -- 815 590 -- -- 7,000 -- 150 --
Central Asia Regional................. 15,000 -- -- 12,000 -- -- 3,000 -- -- --
State South and Central Asia Regional 5,050 -- -- -- 4,650 -- -- -- 400 --
(SCA)................................
USAID South Asia Regional............. 2,700 2,700 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
WESTERN HEMISPHERE...................... 2,515,242 357,622 127,788 176,748 436,350 -- -- 911,165 12,345 12,207
Argentina............................. 1,670 -- -- -- -- -- -- 305 450 915
Belize................................ 487 -- -- 20 -- -- -- -- -- 267
Bolivia............................... 85,941 42,880 16,836 -- -- -- -- 26,000 -- 225
Brazil................................ 21,452 15,000 3,500 1,300 -- -- -- 1,000 400 252
Chile................................. 1,225 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 300 525
Colombia.............................. 540,224 -- -- -- 196,500 -- -- 275,128 3,150 1,400
Costa Rica............................ 364 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 364
Cuba.................................. 20,000 -- -- -- 20,000 -- -- -- -- --
Dominican Republic.................... 51,811 24,600 10,339 11,000 1,100 -- -- 3,650 -- 722
Eastern Caribbean..................... 1,961 -- -- -- -- -- -- 500 -- 661
Ecuador............................... 34,689 26,585 -- -- -- -- -- 7,500 -- 304
El Salvador........................... 59,300 21,196 5,990 20 27,000 -- -- -- -- 1,594
Guatemala............................. 74,167 29,000 14,050 -- -- -- -- 8,320 -- 254
Guyana................................ 21,942 3,750 -- 17,759 -- -- -- -- -- 283
Haiti................................. 353,314 -- 18,289 116,473 134,250 -- -- 17,500 -- 235
Honduras.............................. 40,232 21,382 11,750 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- 329
Jamaica............................... 10,537 6,804 1,200 300 -- -- -- 1,010 -- 823
Mexico................................ 786,779 11,200 2,900 -- 15,000 -- -- 454,000 3,845 834
Nicaragua............................. 26,535 18,079 6,400 897 -- -- -- -- 350 409
Panama................................ 7,603 4,000 -- -- -- -- -- 2,200 150 253
Paraguay.............................. 12,798 7,550 2,100 -- 2,500 -- -- 300 -- 348
Peru.................................. 124,368 63,293 12,235 20 -- -- -- 47,672 -- 398
Suriname.............................. 303 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 153
The Bahamas........................... 787 -- -- -- -- -- -- 500 -- 137
Trinidad and Tobago................... 495 -- -- -- -- -- -- 400 -- 95
Uruguay............................... 427 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 427
Venezuela............................. 5,500 -- -- -- 5,000 -- -- 500 -- --
State Western Hemisphere Regional 117,870 -- -- -- 35,000 -- -- 64,680 3,700 --
(WHA)................................
USAID Caribbean Regional.............. 29,659 5,709 5,750 18,200 -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Central America Regional........ 22,875 8,813 5,391 8,671 -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Latin America and Caribbean 52,777 46,281 5,408 1,088 -- -- -- -- -- --
Regional (LAC).......................
USAID South America Regional.......... 7,150 1,500 5,650 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ASIA MIDDLE EAST REGIONAL............... 40,471 35,521 4,300 650 -- -- -- -- -- --
Asia Middle East Regional............. 40,471 35,521 4,300 650 -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA--DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT, AND 1,098,647 132,750 13,000 -- 44,000 50,000 -- -- -- --
HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE................
DCHA--FEWSNet......................... 12,000 12,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/ASHA............................. 22,500 22,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/CMM.............................. 9,000 9,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/CMM--Reconciliation Programs..... 25,000 -- -- -- 25,000 -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/DG--Core......................... 27,544 12,544 -- -- 5,000 -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/DG--Elections and Political 19,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Process Fund.........................
DCHA/DG--Global Labor Program......... 7,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/DG--SPANS, Special Protection and 40,000 26,000 -- -- 14,000 -- -- -- -- --
Assistance Needs of Survivors........
DCHA/FFP--Contingency................. 221,897 20,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/FFP--Non-Contingency............. 10,206 10,206 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/OFDA............................. 620,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/OTI.............................. 50,000 -- -- -- -- 50,000 -- -- -- --
DCHA/PPM.............................. 20,500 20,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Democracy, Conflict and 13,000 -- 13,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA).......
DRL--DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND LABOR.. 79,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DRL--China............................ 17,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DRL--Global Forensic Assistance....... 3,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DRL--Global Funds..................... 52,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DRL--Muslim World Outside the Middle 6,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
East.................................
EGAT--ECONOMIC GROWTH AGRICULTURE AND 221,821 186,265 -- -- 25,556 -- -- -- -- --
TRADE..................................
USAID Economic Growth, Agriculture and 221,821 186,265 -- -- 25,556 -- -- -- -- --
Trade (EGAT).........................
G/TIP--OFFICE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT 20,400 -- -- -- 12,000 -- -- 8,400 -- --
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS.................
State Office to Monitor and Combat 20,400 -- -- -- 12,000 -- -- 8,400 -- --
Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP).......
GFC--GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS............ 33,045 -- -- -- 33,045 -- -- -- -- --
Assistance to Developing Countries 33,045 -- -- -- 33,045 -- -- -- -- --
Affected by the Global Financial
Crisis...............................
GH--GLOBAL HEALTH....................... 304,614 -- 304,614 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Global Health--Core................... 304,614 -- 304,614 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH--International Partnerships........ 523,045 -- 523,045 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH/IP--Avian Influenza................ 190,000 -- 190,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH/IP--Blind Children................. 2,000 -- 2,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH/IP--Commodity Fund................. 20,335 -- 20,335 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH/IP--Global Alliance for Vaccine 75,000 -- 75,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Immunization (GAVI)..................
GH/IP--Global Fund for AIDS, TB, and 100,000 -- 100,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Malaria..............................
GH/IP--International AIDS Vaccine 28,710 -- 28,710 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Initiative (IAVI)....................
GH/IP--Iodine Deficiency Disorder 2,000 -- 2,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(IDD)................................
GH/IP--Microbicides................... 45,000 -- 45,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH/IP--Neglected Tropical Diseases 25,000 -- 25,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(NTD)................................
GH/IP--TB Drug Facility............... 15,000 -- 15,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH/IP--UNFPA UN Population Fund....... 20,000 -- 20,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
INL--INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW 134,015 -- -- -- -- -- -- 134,015 -- --
ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRS....................
INL--Anti-Crime Programs.............. 14,441 -- -- -- -- -- -- 14,441 -- --
INL--Civilian Policing................ 5,400 -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,400 -- --
INL--Criminal Youth Gangs............. 5,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,000 -- --
INL--Demand Reduction................. 10,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 10,000 -- --
INL--GPOI, Global Peacekeeping 3,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,000 -- --
Operations Initiative................
INL--ILEA, International Law 17,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 17,000 -- --
Enforcement Academy..................
INL--Inter-regional Aviation Support.. 52,420 -- -- -- -- -- -- 52,420 -- --
INL--International Organizations...... 4,900 -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,900 -- --
INL--Program Development and Support.. 21,854 -- -- -- -- -- -- 21,854 -- --
IO--INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS......... 352,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--ICAO International Civil Aviation 950 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Organization.........................
IO--IDLO International Development Law 300 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Organization.........................
IO--IMO International Maritime 400 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Organization.........................
IO--International Conservation 7,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Programs.............................
IO--International Panel on Climate 8,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Change / UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change.......................
IO--Montreal Protocol Multilateral 21,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Fund.................................
IO--OAS Development Assistance........ 5,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--OAS Fund for Strengthening 3,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Democracy............................
IO--UN OCHA UN Office for the 3,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
IO--UN Voluntary Funds for Technical 1,400 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Cooperation in the Field of Human
Rights...............................
IO--UN-HABITAT UN Human Settlements 2,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Program..............................
IO--UNDF UN Democracy Fund............ 3,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--UNDP UN Development Program....... 100,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--UNEP UN Environment Program....... 10,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--UNESCO/ICSECA International 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Contributions for Scientific,
Educational, and Cultural Activities.
IO--UNFPA UN Population Fund.......... 30,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--UNHCHR UN High Commissioner for 8,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Human Rights.........................
IO--UNICEF UN Children's Fund......... 130,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--UNIFEM Trust Fund................. 2,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--UNIFEM UN Development Fund for 4,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Women................................
IO--UNVFVT UN Voluntary Fund for 7,100 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Victims of Torture...................
IO--WMO World Meteorological 1,900 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Organization.........................
IO--WTO Technical Assistance.......... 950 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ISN--INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND 234,700 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 234,700 --
NONPROLIFERATION.......................
State International Security and 234,700 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 234,700 --
Nonproliferation (ISN)...............
ODP--OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS..... 62,900 62,900 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ODP--Bilateral and Multilateral Donors 1,500 1,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(BMD)................................
ODP--Board for International Food and 300 300 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Agricultural Development (BIFAD).....
ODP--Cooperative Development Program 10,000 10,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(CDP)................................
ODP--Development Grants Program (DGP). 40,000 40,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ODP--Global Development Commons (GDC). 1,000 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ODP--Partnership for Democratic 1,000 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Governance (PDG).....................
ODP--Private Sector Aliances (PSA).... 9,100 9,100 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
OES--OCEANS AND INTERNATIONAL 48,725 -- -- -- 48,725 -- -- -- -- --
ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS...
Methane to Markets Partnership........ 4,291 -- -- -- 4,291 -- -- -- -- --
OES/CC Climate Change................. 15,500 -- -- -- 15,500 -- -- -- -- --
OES/FTA-E FTA Environment............. 2,984 -- -- -- 2,984 -- -- -- -- --
OES/M Mercury......................... 950 -- -- -- 950 -- -- -- -- --
OES/OESP OES Partnerships............. 1,450 -- -- -- 1,450 -- -- -- -- --
OES/OP Other Programs................. 5,000 -- -- -- 5,000 -- -- -- -- --
OES/SPFF South Pacific Forum Fisheries 18,000 -- -- -- 18,000 -- -- -- -- --
OES/W Water........................... 550 -- -- -- 550 -- -- -- -- --
PM--POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS.......... 248,043 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 70,462 5,211
PM--Conventional Weapons Destruction.. 70,462 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 70,462 --
PM--FMF Administrative Expenses....... 51,420 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PM--TSCTP, Trans-Sahara Counter- 15,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Terrorism Partnership................
PM--GPOI.............................. 105,950 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM--POPULATION, REFUGEES, AND MIGRATION 1,714,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM, Administrative Expenses.......... 23,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM, Emergency Funds.................. 40,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM, Humanitarian Migrants to Israel.. 30,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--Africa....................... 337,879 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--East Asia.................... 37,400 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--Europe....................... 54,528 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--Migration.................... 15,880 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--Near East.................... 585,940 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--Protection Priorities........ 97,983 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--South Asia................... 161,670 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--Western Hemisphere........... 47,470 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM, Refugee Admissions............... 282,750 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
RESERVE................................. 61,561 36,561 -- -- 25,000 -- -- -- -- --
Unallocated Earmarks.................. 61,561 36,561 -- -- 25,000 -- -- -- -- --
S/CT--OFFICE OF THE COORDINATOR FOR 48,400 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 48,400 --
COUNTERTERRORISM.......................
S/CT--RSI, Regional Strategic 5,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,000 --
Initiative...........................
State Coordinator for Counterterrorism 43,400 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 43,400 --
(CT).................................
S/GAC--Office of the Global AIDS 1,360,249 -- -- 1,360,249 -- -- -- -- -- --
Coordinator..........................
S/GAC, International Partnerships..... 640,000 -- -- 640,000 -- -- -- -- -- --
S/GAC, Oversight/Management........... 168,638 -- -- 168,638 -- -- -- -- -- --
S/GAC, Technical Support//Strategic 551,611 -- -- 551,611 -- -- -- -- -- --
Information/Evaluation...............
USAID MANAGEMENT........................ 1,227,959 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Civilian Stabilization Initiative..... 30,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Capital Investment Fund......... 84,275 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Development Credit Authority 8,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Admin................................
USAID Inspector General Operating 46,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Expense..............................
USAID Operating Expense............... 1,059,184 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID PROGRAM MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES.... 12,687 12,687 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Program Management Initiatives.. 12,687 12,687 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: The FY 2009 Actual includes bridge funding from the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (PL 110-252), funding from the Omnibus Appropriations
Act, 2009 (PL 111-8), and the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009 (111-32) The FY 2009 Actual includes $18 billion in supplemental funding that
forward funded portions of the FY 2010 President's Request
APPENDIX E
FY 2009 Foreign Assistance Actuals, Part II
($ in thousands)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FMF PKO ERMA IO&P MRA PL 480 IDA DF AID Admin PCCF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL................................... 6,231,500 530,200 40,000 352,500 1,674,500 2,320,900 720,949 116,000 1,227,959 700,000
AFRICA.................................. 8,255 382,250 -- -- -- 1,858,098 -- -- -- --
Angola................................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Benin................................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Botswana.............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Burkina Faso.......................... -- -- -- -- -- 13,306 -- -- -- --
Burundi............................... -- -- -- -- -- 20,116 -- -- -- --
Cameroon.............................. -- -- -- -- -- 4,869 -- -- -- --
Cape Verde............................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Central African Republic.............. -- -- -- -- -- 5,431 -- -- -- --
Chad.................................. -- -- -- -- -- 146,592 -- -- -- --
Comoros............................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Cote d'Ivoire......................... -- -- -- -- -- 6,608 -- -- -- --
Democratic Republic of the Congo...... 600 40,500 -- -- -- 125,997 -- -- -- --
Djibouti.............................. 2,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Ethiopia.............................. 843 -- -- -- -- 386,482 -- -- -- --
Gabon................................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Ghana................................. 300 -- -- -- -- 4,500 -- -- -- --
Guinea................................ -- -- -- -- -- 2,501 -- -- -- --
Guinea-Bissau......................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Kenya................................. 250 -- -- -- -- 133,723 -- -- -- --
Lesotho............................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Liberia............................... 1,500 49,650 -- -- -- 6,301 -- -- -- --
Madagascar............................ -- -- -- -- -- 16,257 -- -- -- --
Malawi................................ -- -- -- -- -- 18,963 -- -- -- --
Mali.................................. -- -- -- -- -- 11,576 -- -- -- --
Mauritania............................ -- -- -- -- -- 5,000 -- -- -- --
Mauritius............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Mozambique............................ -- -- -- -- -- 20,052 -- -- -- --
Namibia............................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Niger................................. -- -- -- -- -- 14,093 -- -- -- --
Nigeria............................... 1,350 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Republic of the Congo................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Rwanda................................ -- -- -- -- -- 10,295 -- -- -- --
Sao Tome and Principe................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Senegal............................... -- -- -- -- -- 3,355 -- -- -- --
Seychelles............................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Sierra Leone.......................... -- -- -- -- -- 7,850 -- -- -- --
Somalia............................... -- 246,600 -- -- -- 123,438 -- -- -- --
South Africa.......................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
State Africa Regional (AF)............ 1,412 7,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Sudan................................. -- 38,000 -- -- -- 547,447 -- -- -- --
Swaziland............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Tanzania.............................. -- -- -- -- -- 9,719 -- -- -- --
The Gambia............................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Togo.................................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Uganda................................ -- -- -- -- -- 39,741 -- -- -- --
Zambia................................ -- -- -- -- -- 8,002 -- -- -- --
Zimbabwe.............................. -- -- -- -- -- 165,884 -- -- -- --
USAID Africa Regional (AFR)........... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Central Africa Regional......... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID East Africa Regional............ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Southern Africa Regional........ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID West Africa Regional............ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC................... 48,300 -- -- -- -- 1,855 -- -- -- --
Burma................................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Cambodia.............................. 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
China................................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Indonesia............................. 15,700 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Laos.................................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Malaysia.............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Marshall Islands...................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Mongolia.............................. 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
North Korea........................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Papua New Guinea...................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Philippines........................... 28,000 -- -- -- -- 1,855 -- -- -- --
Samoa................................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Singapore............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Solomon Islands....................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Taiwan................................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Thailand.............................. 1,600 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Timor-Leste........................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Tonga................................. 500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Vanuatu............................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Vietnam............................... 500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
State East Asia and Pacific Regional.. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Regional Development Mission- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Asia (RDM/A).........................
EUROPE AND EURASIA...................... 95,200 -- -- -- -- 1,841 -- -- -- --
Albania............................... 2,100 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Armenia............................... 3,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Azerbaijan............................ 3,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Belarus............................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Bosnia and Herzegovina................ 3,600 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Bulgaria.............................. 7,400 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Croatia............................... 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Cyprus................................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Czech Republic........................ 3,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Estonia............................... 1,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Georgia............................... 11,500 -- -- -- -- 1,841 -- -- -- --
Greece................................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Hungary............................... 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Ireland............................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Kosovo................................ 1,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Latvia................................ 1,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Lithuania............................. 1,700 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Macedonia............................. 2,800 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Malta................................. 100 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Moldova............................... 500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Montenegro............................ 800 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Poland................................ 27,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Portugal.............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Romania............................... 12,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Russia................................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Serbia................................ 800 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Slovakia.............................. 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Slovenia.............................. 400 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Turkey................................ 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Ukraine............................... 7,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Eurasia Regional...................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Europe Regional....................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
NEAR EAST............................... 5,343,155 27,000 -- -- -- 30,027 -- -- -- --
Algeria............................... -- -- -- -- -- 6,880 -- -- -- --
Bahrain............................... 8,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Egypt................................. 1,560,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Iraq.................................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Israel................................ 3,105,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Jordan................................ 485,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Lebanon............................... 159,700 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Libya................................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Morocco............................... 3,655 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Oman.................................. 7,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Saudi Arabia.......................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Syria................................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Tunisia............................... 12,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
United Arab Emirates.................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
West Bank and Gaza.................... -- -- -- -- -- 20,715 -- -- -- --
Yemen................................. 2,800 -- -- -- -- 2,432 -- -- -- --
MERC--(Middle East Regional -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Cooperation) and MEM (Middle East
Multilaterals).......................
Middle East Partnership Initiative -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(MEPI)...............................
Multinational Force and Observers -- 27,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(MFO)................................
Near East Regional Democracy.......... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Partnership (TSCTP)..................
USAID Middle East Regional (OMEP)..... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA.................. 306,780 -- -- -- -- 215,504 -- -- -- 700,000
Afghanistan........................... -- -- -- -- -- 73,010 -- -- -- --
Bangladesh............................ 590 -- -- -- -- 30,029 -- -- -- --
India................................. -- -- -- -- -- 13,466 -- -- -- --
Kazakhstan............................ 4,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Kyrgyz Republic....................... 800 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Maldives.............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Nepal................................. -- -- -- -- -- 8,793 -- -- -- --
Pakistan.............................. 300,000 -- -- -- -- 55,387 -- -- -- 700,000
Sri Lanka............................. -- -- -- -- -- 28,728 -- -- -- --
Tajikistan............................ 740 -- -- -- -- 6,091 -- -- -- --
Turkmenistan.......................... 150 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Uzbekistan............................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Central Asia Regional................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
State South and Central Asia Regional -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(SCA)................................
USAID South Asia Regional............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
WESTERN HEMISPHERE...................... 378,390 -- -- -- -- 102,627 -- -- -- --
Argentina............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Belize................................ 200 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Bolivia............................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Brazil................................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Chile................................. 400 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Colombia.............................. 53,000 -- -- -- -- 11,046 -- -- -- --
Costa Rica............................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Cuba.................................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Dominican Republic.................... 400 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Eastern Caribbean..................... 800 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Ecuador............................... 300 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
El Salvador........................... 3,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Guatemala............................. 500 -- -- -- -- 22,043 -- -- -- --
Guyana................................ 150 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Haiti................................. 2,800 -- -- -- -- 63,767 -- -- -- --
Honduras.............................. -- -- -- -- -- 5,771 -- -- -- --
Jamaica............................... 400 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Mexico................................ 299,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Nicaragua............................. 400 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Panama................................ 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Paraguay.............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Peru.................................. 750 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Suriname.............................. 150 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
The Bahamas........................... 150 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Trinidad and Tobago................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Uruguay............................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Venezuela............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
State Western Hemisphere Regional 14,490 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(WHA)................................
USAID Caribbean Regional.............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Central America Regional........ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Latin America and Caribbean -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Regional (LAC).......................
USAID South America Regional.......... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ASIA MIDDLE EAST REGIONAL............... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Asia Middle East Regional............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA--DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT, AND -- -- -- -- -- 100,948 720,949 37,000 -- --
HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE................
DCHA--FEWSNet......................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/ASHA............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/CMM.............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/CMM--Reconciliation Programs..... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/DG--Core......................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10,000 -- --
DCHA/DG--Elections and Political -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 19,500 -- --
Process Fund.........................
DCHA/DG--Global Labor Program......... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 7,500 -- --
DCHA/DG--SPANS, Special Protection and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Assistance Needs of Survivors........
DCHA/FFP--Contingency................. -- -- -- -- -- 100,948 100,949 -- -- --
DCHA/FFP--Non-Contingency............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/OFDA............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- 620,000 -- -- --
DCHA/OTI.............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA/PPM.............................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Democracy, Conflict and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA).......
DRL--DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND LABOR.. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 79,000 -- --
DRL--China............................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17,000 -- --
DRL--Global Forensic Assistance....... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,000 -- --
DRL--Global Funds..................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 52,500 -- --
DRL--Muslim World Outside the Middle -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 6,500 -- --
East.................................
EGAT--ECONOMIC GROWTH AGRICULTURE AND -- -- -- -- -- 10,000 -- -- -- --
TRADE..................................
USAID Economic Growth, Agriculture and -- -- -- -- -- 10,000 -- -- -- --
Trade (EGAT).........................
G/TIP--OFFICE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS.................
State Office to Monitor and Combat -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP).......
GFC--GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS............ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Assistance to Developing Countries -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Affected by the Global Financial
Crisis...............................
GH--GLOBAL HEALTH....................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Global Health--Core................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH--INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS.......... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH/IP--Avian Influenza................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH/IP--Blind Children................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH/IP--Commodity Fund................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH/IP--Global Alliance for Vaccine -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Immunization (GAVI)..................
GH/IP--Global Fund for AIDS, TB, and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Malaria..............................
GH/IP--International AIDS Vaccine -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Initiative (IAVI)....................
GH/IP--Iodine Deficiency Disorder -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(IDD)................................
GH/IP--Microbicides................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH/IP--Neglected Tropical Diseases -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(NTD)................................
GH/IP--TB Drug Facility............... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
GH/IP--UNFPA UN Population Fund....... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
INL--INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRS....................
INL--Anti-Crime Programs.............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
INL--Civilian Policing................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
INL--Criminal Youth Gangs............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
INL--Demand Reduction................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
INL--GPOI, Global Peacekeeping -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Operations Initiative................
INL--ILEA, International Law -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Enforcement Academy..................
INL--Inter-regional Aviation Support.. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
INL--International Organizations...... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
INL--Program Development and Support.. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS......... -- -- -- 352,500 -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--ICAO International Civil Aviation -- -- -- 950 -- -- -- -- -- --
Organization.........................
IO--IDLO International Development Law -- -- -- 300 -- -- -- -- -- --
Organization.........................
IO--IMO International Maritime -- -- -- 400 -- -- -- -- -- --
Organization.........................
IO--International Conservation -- -- -- 7,000 -- -- -- -- -- --
Programs.............................
IO--International Panel on Climate -- -- -- 8,000 -- -- -- -- -- --
Change / UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change.......................
IO--Montreal Protocol Multilateral -- -- -- 21,000 -- -- -- -- -- --
Fund.................................
IO--OAS Development Assistance........ -- -- -- 5,500 -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--OAS Fund for Strengthening -- -- -- 3,500 -- -- -- -- -- --
Democracy............................
IO--UN OCHA UN Office for the -- -- -- 3,000 -- -- -- -- -- --
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
IO--UN Voluntary Funds for Technical -- -- -- 1,400 -- -- -- -- -- --
Cooperation in the Field of Human
Rights...............................
IO--UN-HABITAT UN Human Settlements -- -- -- 2,000 -- -- -- -- -- --
Program..............................
IO--UNDF UN Democracy Fund............ -- -- -- 3,000 -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--UNDP UN Development Program....... -- -- -- 100,000 -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--UNEP UN Environment Program....... -- -- -- 10,500 -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--UNESCO/ICSECA International -- -- -- 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- --
Contributions for Scientific,
Educational, and Cultural Activities.
IO--UNFPA UN Population Fund.......... -- -- -- 30,000 -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--UNHCHR UN High Commissioner for -- -- -- 8,000 -- -- -- -- -- --
Human Rights.........................
IO--UNICEF UN Children's Fund......... -- -- -- 130,000 -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--UNIFEM Trust Fund................. -- -- -- 2,500 -- -- -- -- -- --
IO--UNIFEM UN Development Fund for -- -- -- 4,500 -- -- -- -- -- --
Women................................
IO--UNVFVT UN Voluntary Fund for -- -- -- 7,100 -- -- -- -- -- --
Victims of Torture...................
IO--WMO World Meteorological -- -- -- 1,900 -- -- -- -- -- --
Organization.........................
IO--WTO Technical Assistance.......... -- -- -- 950 -- -- -- -- -- --
ISN--INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
NONPROLIFERATION.......................
State International Security and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Nonproliferation (ISN)...............
ODP--OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS..... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ODP--Bilateral and Multilateral Donors -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(BMD)................................
ODP--Board for International Food and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Agricultural Development (BIFAD).....
ODP--Cooperative Development Program -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(CDP)................................
ODP--Development Grants Program (DGP). -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ODP--Global Development Commons (GDC). -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ODP--Partnership for Democratic -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Governance (PDG).....................
ODP--Private Sector Aliances (PSA).... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
OES--OCEANS AND INTERNATIONAL -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS...
Methane to Markets Partnership........ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
OES/CC Climate Change................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
OES/FTA-E FTA Environment............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
OES/M Mercury......................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
OES/OESP OES Partnerships............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
OES/OP Other Programs................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
OES/SPFF South Pacific Forum Fisheries -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
OES/W Water........................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PM--POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS.......... 51,420 120,950 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PM--Conventional Weapons Destruction.. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PM--FMF Administrative Expenses....... 51,420 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PM--IMET Administrative Expenses...... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PM--TSCTP, Trans-Sahara Counter- -- 15,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Terrorism Partnership................
PM--GPOI.............................. -- 105,950 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM--POPULATION, REFUGEES, AND MIGRATION -- -- 40,000 -- 1,674,500 -- -- -- -- --
PRM, Administrative Expenses.......... -- -- -- -- 23,000 -- -- -- -- --
PRM, Emergency Funds.................. -- -- 40,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PRM, Humanitarian Migrants to Israel.. -- -- -- -- 30,000 -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--Africa....................... -- -- -- -- 337,879 -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--East Asia.................... -- -- -- -- 37,400 -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--Europe....................... -- -- -- -- 54,528 -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--Migration.................... -- -- -- -- 15,880 -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--Near East.................... -- -- -- -- 585,940 -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--Protection Priorities........ -- -- -- -- 97,983 -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--South Asia................... -- -- -- -- 161,670 -- -- -- -- --
PRM, OA--Western Hemisphere........... -- -- -- -- 47,470 -- -- -- -- --
PRM, Refugee Admissions............... -- -- -- -- 282,750 -- -- -- -- --
RESERVE................................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Unallocated Earmarks.................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
S/CT--OFFICE OF THE COORDINATOR FOR -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
COUNTERTERRORISM.......................
S/CT--RSI, Regional Strategic -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Initiative...........................
State Coordinator for Counterterrorism -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(CT).................................
S/GAC--OFFICE OF THE GLOBAL AIDS -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
COORDINATOR............................
S/GAC, International Partnerships..... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
S/GAC, Oversight/Management........... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
S/GAC, Technical Support//Strategic -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Information/Evaluation...............
USAID MANAGEMENT........................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,227,959 --
Civilian Stabilization Initiative..... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 30,000 --
USAID Capital Investment Fund......... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 84,275 --
USAID Development Credit Authority -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 8,000 --
Admin................................
USAID Inspector General Operating -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 46,500 --
Expense..............................
USAID Operating Expense............... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,059,184 --
USAID PROGRAM MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES.... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Program Management Initiatives.. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
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NOTE: The FY 2009 Actual includes bridge funding from the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (PL 110-252), funding from the Omnibus Appropriations
Act, 2009 (PL 111-8), and the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009 (111-32) The FY 2009 Actual includes $18 billion in supplemental funding that
forward funded portions of the FY 2010 President's Request
APPENDIX F
UN General Assembly's Third Committee Country Resolution Votes 2009
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Belarus
Country '06 Belarus 7 Burma '06 Burma 7 Burma '08 DPRK '05 DPRK '06 DPRK 7 DPRK '08 Iran '05 Iran '06 Iran 7 Iran '08 Burma '09 DPRK '09 Iran '09
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Afghanistan Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N N Y Y N
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Albania Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Algeria N N N N N A N N N N N N N N N N
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Andorra Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Angola A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Antigua-Barbuda A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Argentina Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Armenia N N Y Y Y Y N N N N Y N
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Australia Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Austria Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Azerbaijan N N Y A A N N N N N A N
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Bahamas A Y A Y Y A A Y Y A A Y Y A A A
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Bahrain A A A A A A A Y Y N N N N A Y
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Bangladesh N N N N N A A Y Y N N N N N A N
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Barbados A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Belarus N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
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Belgium Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Belize A A A A Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Benin A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Bhutan A Y A A A Y Y Y Y A A A A A Y A
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Bolivia Y A Y Y A Y Y A A Y A A A A A A
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Bosnia/Herzeg. Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y A Y Y Y Y Y
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Botswana A A A A Y A A A Y A A A Y Y Y Y
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Brazil A A Y Y Y Y Y Y A A A A A A A A
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Brunei Dar-Salam A A N A N A A A A N N A A N A A
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Bulgaria Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Burkina Faso A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Burundi A Y Y Y Y A A Y Y A Y Y A Y Y A
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Cambodia A N A Y A A A A A
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Cameroon A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Canada Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cape Verde A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Central Afr Rep A A A A A A A A A
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Chad A A A A A A
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Chile Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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China N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
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Colombia A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Comoros A A A Y Y Y N N N A A N
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Congo A A N A A A A A A A A A A A
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Costa Rica A Y A Y Y Y A Y Y Y A Y Y Y Y Y
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Cote D'Ivoire A A A A N A A A A A A A A A A A
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Croatia Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Cuba N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
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Cyprusy Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Czech. Rep. Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Dem. Rep of N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
Korea
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Dem Rep of Congo N A N A A A A A N N A A A
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Denmark Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Djibouti A A A A A A A N N N
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Dominica A A A A Y N N N N Y Y N
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Dominican Rep Y A Y A Y Y Y A A Y Y A A Y Y Y
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Ecuador A A Y A A Y Y Y A Y Y A A A A N
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Egypt N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
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El Salvador Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Equatorial A A A A A A Y A A Yy Y
Guinea
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Eritrea A A A A A A A Y Y A A A N A Y N
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Estonia Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Ethiopia N A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Fiji Y Y A A A Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Finland Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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France Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Gabon
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Gambia N A N A A N N A A A
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Georgia Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y A A A Y Y A
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Germany Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Ghana A A A Y A A Y Y Y A A A A Y A
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Greece Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Grenada A A A A A A
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Guatemala Y A Y Y A Y Y A A Y Y A A A A A
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Guinea-Bissau A A A A Y A A N A Y N
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Guyana A A A Y Y N A A A A A A A Y A A
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Haiti A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Honduras Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Hungary Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Iceland Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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India N N N N N A A A A N N N N N A N
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Indonesia N N N A A N N N N N N N N A N N
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Iran (Islamic N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
Rep)
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Iraq Y Y Y Y Y A Y Y
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Ireland Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Israel Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Italy Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Jamaica A A A A A A A A A A A A A Y Y A
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japan Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Jordan A A A A A A A Y A A A A A A
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Kazakhstan N N A Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N N Y Y N
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Kenya A A A Y A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Kiribati Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Kuwait A A A A A A A A A N N N N A A N
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Kyrgyzstan N N A A A A A A A N N N N A A N
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Lao Rep A A N N N N N N N A A A A N N
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Latvia Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Lebanon N N Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N N Y Y N
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Lesotho A A A A A A Y A A A A A A A A A
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Liberia Y Y A A Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Libyan AJ N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
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Liechtenstein Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Lithuania Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Luxembourg Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Madagascar A A A A Y A A Y Y
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Malawi A A A A A Y Y Y A A N Y Y A
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Malaysia N N N N N N A N N N N Y Y
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Maldives Y Y Y Y Y N N Y Y
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Mali A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Marshall Islands Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Mauritania A A A Y A A Y A N N N A A N
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Mauritius A A Y Y Y A A A A A A A A Y A A
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Mexico A A Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y A Y Y Y Y Y
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Micronesia (FS) Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Moldova Y A Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Monaco Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Mongolia A A Y Y Y A A A A Y Y Y
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Montenegro Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y A
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Morocco N A Y Y A Y Y Y N N N N A A A
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Mozambique A A A A A A A A A A A A A N N N
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Myanmar N N N N N N N N N N N N N A A
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Namibia A A A A N A N A N A A A A Y Y Y
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Nauru A Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y A A A
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Nepal A A A A A A A A A A A A A Y Y Y
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Netherlands Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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New Zealand Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N A N
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Nicaragua Y N Y A N Y Y Y N Y Y N N A A N
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Niger A A A A N A A A An N N N Y A N
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Norway Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N
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Oman N N N N N N N N N A A A
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Pakistan N N N N A A A N A N N N N A A N
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Palau Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Panama A A Y Y Y Y Y Y Y A A Y Y A Y Y
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Papua New Guinea A A A A A Y Y Y Y Y A A A Y Y Y
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Paraguay Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y A Y Y Y
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Peru Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y A A A
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Philippines A A A A A A Y Y A A A A A Y Y Y
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Poland Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Portugal Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Qatar N N A A A A A A A N N N N Y Y A
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Rep. of Korea Y Y Y Y Y A Y A Y A A A A Y Y Y
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Romania Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Russian N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
Federation
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Rwanda A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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St. Kitts-Nevis A A A A A A Y A A A A
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Saint Lucia A A Y A A Y N A Y Y Y Y
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St. Vincent- A A A Y A A Y A A A A A
Gren.
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Samoa A A A A Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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San Marino Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Sao Tome Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Principe
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Saudi Arabia A A A A A Y Y Y Y N N N N A Y Y
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Senegal A A A A A A A A A N N N N A A N
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Serbia Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
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Seychelles A A
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Sierra Leone A A A A A A A A A A A Y A
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Singapore A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Slovakia Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Slovenia Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Solomon Islands A A A A A A Y A A Y Y A A A A A
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Somalia N N N N N N N A N N
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South Africa N N A A A A A A A N N N N Y A A
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Spain Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Sri Lanka A A A A N A A A A N N N N N A N
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Sudan N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
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Suriname A A A Y A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Swaziland A A A A A N A A A N A A A A A A
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Sweden Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Switzerland Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Syrian AR N N N N N Y N N N N N N N N N N
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Tajikistan N N A N N N N N N N A A N
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Thailand A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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The FYR Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Macedonia
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Timor-Leste Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y A Y Y
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Togo A A A A Y A N N Y N N N N Y Y A
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Tonga Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Trinidad-Tobago A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Tunisia A N N N N N
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Turkey Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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Turkmenistan A N A A A N A A A N A N N A A N
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Tuvalu Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y N
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Uganda A N A N A A A N A A A N A A A N
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U A Emirates Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United Kingdom Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
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U R Tanzania A A A Y A A A Y Y A A A A Y Y A
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uruguay Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y A A A Y Y A
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uzbekistan N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vanuatu Y Y Y A Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Venezuela N Y N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vietnam N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
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Yemen A N A A A A A Y A N N N N A A N
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Zambia A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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Zimbabwe N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
================================================================================================================================================================================================
Final Vote
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Yes 70 68 79 88 89 84 91 97 95 77 70 72 70 92 97 74
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No 31 32 28 54 29 22 21 23 24 51 48 50 51 26 19 48
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Abstain 67 76 63 66 63 62 60 60 62 46 55 55 60 65 65 59
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APPENDIX G
----------
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
----------
Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the
equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family
is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have
resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience
of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings
shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear
and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the
common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to
have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny
and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the
rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of
friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the
Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in
the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal
rights of men and women and have determined to promote social
progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve,
in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of
universal respect for and observance of human rights and
fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms
is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this
pledge,
Now, therefore, The General Assembly, proclaims this
Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of
achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that
every individual and every organ of society, keeping this
Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and
education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and
by progressive measures, national and international, to secure
their universal and effective recognition and observance, both
among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the
peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should
act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set
forth in this Declaration, without distinction of an kind, such
as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other
status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of
the political, jurisdictional or international status of the
country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be
independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other
limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of
person.
Article 4
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and
the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a
person before the law.
Article 7
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled
to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of
this Declaration and against any incitement to such
discrimination.
Article 8
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the
competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental
rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or
exile.
Article 10
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public
hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the
determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal
charge against him.
Article 11
1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to
be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a
public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary
for his defence.
2. No one shall be held guilty without any limitation due
to race, of any penal offence on account of nationality or
religion, have the any act or omission which did not constitute
a penal offence, under national or international law, at the
time when it was committed.
Article 12
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with
his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks
upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the
protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and
residence within the borders of each state.
2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including
his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14
1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other
countries asylum from persecution.
2. This right may not be invoked in the case of
prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or
from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United
Nations.
Article 15
1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality
nor be denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16
1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to
race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to
found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to
marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and
full consent of the intending spouses.
3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of
society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17
1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as
in association with others.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion; this right includes freedom to change his
religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community
with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion
or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers.
Article 20
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly
and association.
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21
1. Everyone has the right to take part in the Government of
his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service
in his country.
3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the
authority of government; this will shall be expressed in
periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and
equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by
equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22
1. Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to
social security and is entitled to realization, through
national effort and international cooperation and in accordance
with the organization and resources of each State, of the
economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his
dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23
1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of
employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to
protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to
equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable
remuneration insuring for himself and his family an existence
worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by
other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions
for the protection of his interests.
Article 24
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including
reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays
with pay.
Article 25
1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate
for the health and well-being of himself and of his family,
including food, clothing, housing and medical care and
necessary social services, and the right to security in the
event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age
or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his
control.
2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care
and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of
wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26
1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be
free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages.
Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and
professional education shall be made generally available and
higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the
basis of merit.
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of
the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote
understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations,
racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of
the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of
education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27
1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the
cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share
in scientific advancement and its benefits.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral
and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary
or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in
which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can
be fully realized.
Article 29
1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the
free and full development of his personality is possible.
2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone
shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by
law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and
respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting
the just requirements of morality, public order and the general
welfare in a democratic society.
3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised
contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying
for any State, group or person any right to engage in any
activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any
of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
Hundred and eighty-third plenary meeting
Resolution 217(A)(III) of the United Nations General Assembly,
December 10, 1948
(THIS MATERIAL IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND MAY BE REPRINTED WITHOUT
PERMISSION; CITATION OF THIS SOURCE IS APPRECIATED.)