Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/guinea.txt

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TITLE:  GUINEA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995

                             GUINEA


The Government controlled the election of President Lansana
Conte from start to finish and denied the opposition any
significant role.  Complete management of the elections rested
with the Ministry of Interior and Security.  The Government
insisted on holding the elections, notwithstanding considerable
pressure for postponement from the political opposition,
outside observers, and religious leaders.  The National
Electoral Commission, which began functioning only a few days
before the elections, called for a postponement and refused to
participate in the verification of results.  Opposition party
observers, who were excluded from the final hours of
vote-counting, contested the final results.  In January the
Supreme Court rejected opposition legal challenges to the vote
count and ruled that Lansana Conte had won the election on the
first round with 51.7 percent of the vote.

The Gendarmerie and the National Police share responsibility
for internal security.  The Government eliminated the
Republican and Presidential Guards and incorporated these units
into other existing units.  Both military personnel and police
continue to commit human rights abuses.

Eighty percent of the population of 7 million engage in
subsistence agriculture, and annual per capita gross domestic
product is about $511.  Guinea's major exports are bauxite,
gold, and diamonds.  The World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund continued to contribute to Guinea's economic
restructuring program.  This led, among other things, to a
sharp reduction in the size of the public service.

Human rights remain circumscribed.  The Government dominated
the electoral process and rejected opposition demands for
important changes.  An independent press occasionally
criticized the Government, but the latter owns and operates the
electronic media, the major medium for reaching the vast
majority of the public.

There were sporadic outbreaks of ethnically based violence and
recourse to vigilante justice, prompted in part by increased
violent criminal activity.  Major human rights abuses included
extrajudicial killings by security forces; police abuse of
prisoners and detainees; governmental failure to guarantee
access by attorneys to clients in prison, where much abuse
takes place with impunity; the Executive Branch's influence
over the judicial system; the Government's continued neglect of
the prison system; its domination of the electronic media, thus
denying the political opposition the means to reach the
populace; its denial of citizens' rights to change the
government and its inability to prevent vigilante justice; and
violence and discrimination against women.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

There were no reports of targeted political killings, but there
were several extrajudicial killings by security forces using
excessive force.

In March military recruits in Labe rioted following an
altercation in a bar in which a soldier nearly beat a civilian
to death.  After family and friends of the civilian seized and
flogged to death a military officer who had not been involved
in the prior altercation, armed military recruits ransacked the
neighborhood of the bar, wounding many people.  During the riot
an elderly woman died of a gunshot wound.

On August 31, security forces in Kerouane used tear gas and
fired shots in the air to disperse a crowd at a political
opposition rally.  Two independent newspapers reported that two
individuals died.  Ministry of Justice officials reported that
an investigation would take place, although no results were
reported by year's end.

Concerning the August 1993 death in police custody of Alseny
Limam Kourouma, police reportedly tried to cover up the
incident by forcing a doctor to issue a false death certificate
listing heart failure as the cause of death.  The authorities
suspended and detained the officer in charge of the station
where the torture had reportedly occurred.  Authorities
arrested and detained two officers who are still awaiting trial.

     b.  Disappearance

There were no reports of abductions or disappearances.

     c.  Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

The Penal Code and the Constitution prohibit torture and cruel,
inhuman, and degrading treatment.  However, the police often
use beatings to extract confessions and also employ other forms
of brutality.

In February the police summarily punished a number of taxi
drivers for illegally stopping or parking at the roadside.  The
drivers received lashes across their buttocks while they were
made to spread themselves over the hoods of their cars.  A few
drivers reportedly required medical treatment due to the
severity of the lashings.

On September 11 in N'Zerekore, local police harassed and then
detained at their station an American citizen as she returned
home that evening.  After leaving the station, an army soldier
assaulted her and attempted to rape her.  Local, regional, and
national authorities cooperated in identifying the assailant.
In November, he was dismissed from the army, sentenced to 6
months in prison with hard labor, and fined $220.

On November 26, soldiers in Conakry detained approximately 40
civilians at Camp Almamy Samory.  The detainees, mainly
Guineans and Lebanese, were beaten and held without charges for
over 5 hours.  Soldiers allegedly raped some of the women in
the group.

Prison conditions, including those in the women's prison, are
inhumane and life-threatening.  The standards of sanitation and
nutrition remain poor.  Deaths due to malnutrition and disease
are frequent.  The Government does not permit local human
rights organizations to visit prisons.  On the night of
December 31, sixteen prisoners died in Conakry's Central
Prison.  The State Prosecutor began an investigation.

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

The Penal Code requires that detainees must be charged before a
magistrate within 72 hours.  Once charged, the accused may be
held until the final outcome of the case, including during the
period of any appeals.  Release on bail is at the discretion of
the magistrate who has jurisdiction in the case.  The
Constitution proscribes incommunicado detention.  The law
guarantees attorneys access to their clients, but authorities
frequently do not respect this provision.

In practice, administrative controls over the police are
ineffective, and security forces rarely follow the Penal Code;
arbitrary arrest remained a persistent threat to Guineans.

On January 21 in Kankan, security forces stopped, beat, and
imprisoned an opposition party delegation touring the region.
Local police subsequently released the members of the
delegation.  In June gendarmes detained two soldiers to answer
questions concerning their alleged disloyalty and malfeasance.
After 2 days, they were released.

At year's end, there were no known political or security
detainees being held by the Government.

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

The Constitution affirms the judiciary's independence.
Magistrates, however, are civil servants having no guarantee of
tenure and are susceptible to influence by the executive
branch.  Judicial authorities often defer to central
authorities in politically sensitive cases.  In addition, the
administration of justice is plagued by numerous other
problems, including a shortage of magistrates (who generally
are poorly trained) and lawyers (there are 48 in all), and an
outdated and overly restrictive Penal Code.  Owing to
corruption and nepotism in the judiciary, relatives of
influential members of the Government are virtually above the
law.

The Penal Code provides for the presumption of innocence of
accused persons, the independence of judges, the equality of
citizens before the law, the right of the accused to counsel,
and the right to appeal a judicial decision.  Although in
principle the Government is responsible for funding legal
defense costs in serious criminal cases, in practice it rarely
disburses these funds.  The attorney for the defense frequently
receives no payment.

The judiciary includes courts of first instance, two Courts of
Appeal and the Supreme Court, the court of final appeal.  There
is also a State Security Court, but it has not met since the
trial of those allegedly involved in the coup attempt of 1985.
A military tribunal prepares and adjudicates charges against
accused military personnel.  Since 1988, civilian courts have
rendered all judgments regarding violations under the Penal
Code.

A traditional system of justice exists at the village or urban
neighborhood level.  Litigants present their civil cases before
a village chief, a neighborhood chief, or a council of wise
men.  The dividing line between the formal and informal justice
systems is vague, and a case may be referred from the formal to
the traditional system to ensure compliance by all parties with
the judicial ruling.  Conversely, if a case cannot be resolved
to the satisfaction of all parties in the traditional system,
it may be referred to the formal system for adjudication.

Suspected criminals, notably thieves, are sometimes beaten to
death by their victims, and by others with tacit approval of
police authorities.

Guinea did not have any known political prisoners at year's end.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

The Constitution provides for the inviolability of the home and
judicial search warrants are required by law.  Police
frequently ignore these procedures, however, or do not strictly
follow them, and interference in citizens' lives continued,
primarily through police harassment.  Police and paramilitary
police often ignore legal procedures in the pursuit of
criminals and frequently detain private citizens at night
roadblocks in order to extort money to supplement their
incomes.  It is widely believed that security officials monitor
mail and telephone calls.

Local businesses, especially expatriate companies, often
complain of intimidation and harassment by public officials and
authorities.

Section 2  Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a.  Freedom of Speech and Press

The Government has stated publicly that it supports free speech
and a free press, and the Constitution provides for freedom of
expression, subject to certain limitations.  But while
proclaiming freedom of the press and communications, the Press
Law gives the Government a sufficiently broad range of possible
restrictive actions as to vitiate any real protection.  It also
prohibits seditious talk or chants uttered in public,
establishes defamation and slander as criminal offenses, and
prohibits communications that offend the President, incite
violence, discrimination, hatred, or disturb the public peace.

The Government owns and operates the electronic news media,
with national and rural radio being the most important outlet
in reaching the public.  It also publishes the official
newspaper, Horoya.  Reporters for the official press, who are
government employees, practice self-censorship in order to
protect their jobs.  The Ministry of Communications continues
to act as overseer of state-owned media.

There is a vocal and active independent and opposition press,
which is on occasion critical of the President and the
Government.  The two weekly newspapers, Le Lynx and
L'Independant, and up to two dozen other publications continue
to publish despite technical and financial difficulties.  Some
newspapers are linked to opposition parties while others offer
news and criticism of both the Government and the opposition.

Political tracts circulate widely throughout Conakry and other
regions, and include specific criticisms of the President and
high officials.  Foreign publications, some of which include
criticism of the Government, are usually available.

There were no known attempts to interfere with foreign radio
broadcasts.  On March 9 the Government shut down the country's
first and only independent radio station, Radio Gandal.  It had
begun, without a license, to broadcast music on March 3.

The Ministry of Higher Education exercises control over
academic freedom through its influence on the faculty hiring
and control over curriculum.  In general, teachers are not
subject to classroom censorship.

     b.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

Freedom of association is protected by law, but there are legal
restrictions on assembly.  The Penal Code bans any meeting that
has an ethnic or racial character or any gathering "whose
nature threatens national unity."  A September 1992 statute
allows public gatherings only with 72-hour prior notification
to the Government.  Following intercommunal riots in September
1993, the Government banned all street marches except for
funerals.

Pursuant to this statute, local administrative authorities may
cancel a demonstration or meeting if they have grounds to
believe that public order will be threatened.  They may hold
event organizers criminally liable if violence or destruction
of property ensues.  Organizers of political rallies in the
opposition stronghold region of Upper Guinea have been arrested
for violating this statute.

Political parties must provide information on their founding
members and produce internal statutes and political platforms
consistent with the Constitution before the Government
recognizes them.  At year's end, there were 46 legally
recognized political parties.

On September 8, local officials and security forces in Faranah
attempted to detain Alpha Conde, Secretary General of the
Malinke-based political party, the Rally of the Guinean People
(RPG).  Government officials stated that local officials wanted
only to talk to Alpha Conde and that they had made no attempt
to detain him.  Conde intended to hold a political rally, but
authorities prevented him from entering the city.  The Ministry
of Interior subsequently canceled the remaining portion of
Conde's tour of Upper Guinea, where his party had enjoyed its
greatest electoral success.

     c.  Freedom of Religion

The Constitution declares Guinea to be a secular state, and
religious groups freely practice their faiths.  Foreign
missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant, operate freely.

The Government and the quasi-governmental National Islamic
League have spoken out against the proliferation of Shi'ite
fundamentalist sects "generating confusion and deviation"
(within Guinean Islam) but have not restricted these groups.
The Constitution provides religious communities the freedom to
govern themselves without state interference.

     d.  Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
         Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation


The Constitution provides for the right of Guineans to travel
freely within the country and to change their places of
residence and work.  The Government requires all citizens to
carry national identification cards which they must present on
demand at security checkpoints.  Travelers in large cities face
harassment by police and at military roadblocks, particularly
late at night.  It is common for citizens to pay bribes to
avoid police harassment.  The Government permits foreign
travel, although it retains the ability to limit it for
political reasons.  For example, in February airport security
officers prevented Siradiou Diallo, Secretary General of the
Party for Renewal and Progress, from boarding a plane to
Senegal.  Several hours later, officials allowed him to depart.

In June the Government ordered the removal of checkpoints at
prefectoral borders.  In November authorities instituted
midnight to daybreak roadblocks throughout the city of Conakry
in order to control increasing banditry.  Security agents were
instructed to detain only those lacking proper documentation.
However, some security agents, and in particular soldiers,
harassed, detained, and beat those who did not pay bribes.

Guinea currently hosts approximately 633,200 Liberian and
Sierra Leonean refugees.  The Government continues to work
closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
and many other international and nongovernmental organizations
to provide food and shelter to those designated as refugees.
While the Government has generally been hospitable toward
refugees, there have been reports of local police officials and
border patrol soldiers demanding bribes or sexual favors for
entry into Guinea.  There were no reports of forced
repatriation.

Section 3  Respect for Political Rights:  The Right of Citizens
           to Change their Government

Although multiparty elections were held in 1993, the Government
dominated the electoral process (even excluding opposition
observers from the final vote count) thus calling into serious
doubt the ability of the people effectively to exercise their
constitutional right to change the government.

Following the installation of Lansana Conte as President on
January 29, the Government took steps to inhibit opposition
political activity.  The RPG coordinated a tax boycott in its
stronghold, Upper Guinea.  This ended in May, owing to
oppressive tactics of the Government, including detention
without charge of RPG militants, arrests for organizing
rallies, and disrupting RPG political rallies.

The President's party, the Party of Unity and Progress (PUP),
remained the preeminent political organization.  PUP's strength
rested on the fragmentation of the opposition.

While women are numerically underrepresented in the Government,
they participated overwhelmingly in the presidential election.
President Conte named four women to ministerial positions,
including the Minister of Agriculture.

Section 4  Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
           Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
           of Human Rights

Local nongovernmental organizations primarily interested in
human rights issues include:  the Guinean Organization for the
Defense of Human Rights (OGDH); the Guinean Human Rights
Association (AGDH); the Children of the Victims of Camp Boiro;
the Association of Victims of Repression (AVR); and the
Committee for the Defense of Civic Rights.  These groups,
especially OGDH, AGDH and AVR, were vocal in calling attention
to human rights abuses.

The government-controlled press denounces efforts by foreign
governments or organizations to interfere in internal affairs,
including the protection of human rights.

Section 5  Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
           Disability, Language, or Social Status

The Constitution states that all persons are equal before the
law, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, language, beliefs,
political opinions, philosophy, or creed.

     Women

Although the Constitution provides for equal treatment of men
and women, women face discrimination, particularly in rural
areas, where opportunities for women are limited by custom and
the demands of child-rearing and arduous subsistence farming.
Women are not denied access to land, credit or businesses.  The
Government has affirmed the principle of equal pay for equal
work, but in practice women receive less pay than men in most
equally demanding jobs.  According to a 1991 United Nations
Development Program report, females receive only 20 percent as
much schooling as males.

Violence against women, including wife beating, is common,
although social workers' estimates differ as to the extent of
the problem.  Wife beating is a criminal offense and
constitutes grounds for divorce under civil law; however,
police rarely intervene in domestic disputes.  Although the
Government has made regular statements in the media against
sexual harassment, women working in the small formal sector in
urban areas complain of frequent sexual harassment.  Refugees
from Liberia and Sierra Leone reported some Guinean soldiers
demanded sex in exchange for entry into Guinea.  Although not
considered widespread, the social stigma attached to rape
prevents most women from reporting it.  The Government has not
vigorously pursued criminal investigations of alleged sexual
crimes.

     Children

The Constitution provides that the Government has a particular
obligation to protect and nurture the nation's youth, and it
allocates a significant percentage of its budget to primary
education.

Female genital mutilation (FGM), which international health
experts have condemned as damaging to both physical and mental
health, is performed at an early age and is practiced among
Muslims and animists.  According to an independent expert,
about 60 percent of females have undergone this procedure.

Grandmothers frequently insist on the circumcision of a
granddaughter, even when the parents are opposed.
Infibulation, the most dangerous form of FGM, is not
practiced.  The Government has made efforts to educate health
workers on the dangers of this procedure and supports the World
Health Organization resolutions calling for its elimination.

     National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

While the Constitution and the Penal Code prohibit racial or
ethnic discrimination, ethnic identification is strong.  Mutual
suspicion affects relations across ethnic lines, in and out of
government.  The Cabinet includes representatives of all major
ethnic groups, but a disproportionate number of senior military
officers are Soussou, the ethnic group of President Conte.

     People with Disabilities

The Constitution provides that all persons are equal before the
law.  There are no special constitutional provisions for the
disabled.  The Government has not mandated accessibility for
the disabled and few disabled people work.

Section 6  Worker Rights

     a.  The Right of Association

The Constitution provides for the right of employees to form
labor unions and protects them from discrimination based on
their union affiliations.  Only an estimated 5 percent of the
work force is unionized.  Most union members are government
employees, employees of the national utilities (electric,
water, and telephone companies), or of foreign-controlled
companies.

The Labor Code states that all workers (except military and
paramilitary) have the right to create and participate in
organizations that defend and develop their individual and
collective rights as workers.  It requires elected worker
representatives for any enterprise employing 25 or more
salaried workers.

The National Confederation of Guinean Workers (CNTG) was the
sole trade union before the Labor Code was enacted.  Even
though there are now other trade union and labor
confederations, the CNTG remains the largest confederation.

The CNTG is indirectly funded by the State, although dissident
members seek to increase the Confederation's freedom from
Government control.  Independent unions and confederations have
gained popularity, such as the Free Union of Teachers and
Researchers of Guinea and the National Organization for Free
Trade Unions of Guinea.  Several disgruntled groups within the
CNTG left the Confederation, citing corruption in the
leadership.  These groups joined with some independent unions
to form a new confederation, the United Syndicates of Guinean
Workers.

The Labor Code grants salaried workers, including public sector
civilian employees, the right to strike 10 days after their
representative union makes known its intention to do so.  It
prohibits strikes in sectors providing essential services
(hospitals, radio and television, army, and police).  Workers,
including Conakry bank employees, transport workers, and
university teachers, particularly the Medical Faculty, again
exercised their right to strike.

Unions may freely affiliate with international labor groups.
The Government continued to designate CNTG to represent workers
in the International Labor Organization Conference in 1994.

     b.  The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

Under the Labor Code, representative workers' unions or union
groups may organize the workplace and negotiate with employers
or employer organizations.  The law protects the right to
bargain collectively concerning wages and salaries without
government interference.  Work rules and work hours established
by the employer are to be developed in consultation with union
delegates.  The Code also prohibits antiunion discrimination.
Union delegates represent individual and collective claims and
grievances with management.  Individual workers threatened with
dismissal or other sanctions have the right to a hearing before
management with a union representative present and, if
necessary, to take the complaint to the Conakry Labor Court
which convenes weekly to hear such cases.  In the interior,
civil courts hear labor cases.

There are no export processing zones.

     c.  Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The Labor Code specifically forbids forced or compulsory labor,
and there is no evidence of its practice.

     d.  Minimum Age for Employment of Children

The minimum age for employment according to the Labor Code is
16 years.  Apprentices, however, may start at 14 years.
Workers and apprentices under the age of 18 are not permitted
to work at night nor for more than 12 consecutive hours, nor on
Sundays.  The Labor Code also stipulates that the Minister of
Labor and Social Affairs maintain a list of occupations in
which women and youth under 18 cannot be employed.  In
practice, enforcement by Ministry inspectors is limited to
large firms in the modern sector of the economy.  Children of
all ages work on family farms, in small trades, and in the
informal sector, such as in street vending.

     e.  Acceptable Conditions of Work

The Labor Code provides for the establishment by decree of a
guaranteed minimum hourly wage, but the Government has not yet
done so.  There are also provisions in the Code for overtime
and night wages, which are fixed percentages of the regular
wage.  According to the Labor Code, regular work is not to
exceed 10-hour days or 48-hour weeks, with a 40-hour workweek
being the norm, and there is to be a period of at least 24
consecutive hours of rest each week, usually Sunday.  Every
salaried worker has the legal right to an annual paid vacation,
accumulated at the rate of at least 2.5 workdays per month of
work.  In practice, authorities enforce these rules only in the
relatively small modern urban sector.

The Labor Code contains provisions of a general nature
respecting occupational safety and health, but the Government
has at year's end not yet elaborated a set of practicable
workplace health and safety standards.  Neither had it issued
any of the ministerial orders laying out the specific
requirements for certain occupations and for certain methods of
work that are called for in the Labor Code.  The Ministry of
Labor and Social Affairs is responsible for enforcing labor
standards, and its inspectors are empowered to suspend work
immediately in situations hazardous to health.  Enforcement,
however, remained more of a goal than a reality.  Labor
inspectors acknowledge that they cannot even cover Conakry,
much less the entire country, with their small staff and meager
budget.