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TITLE: GUINEA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993
DATE: JANUARY 31, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
GUINEA
President Lansana Conte and an appointed Transitional Committee
for National Recovery (CTRN)--two-thirds civilian, one-third
military--continued to direct the pace of political reform.
Guinea held its first multiparty presidential elections in more
than three decades on December 19 and planned to hold
legislative elections in 1994. In a highly controversial
election, Conte was elected President, gaining 51.7 percent of
the vote in the final official count. Although all 42
political parties participated in the election, the Government
controlled the electoral process from start to finish, and the
opposition was denied any significant role. The Government
insisted on holding the elections, notwithstanding considerable
pressure for postponement from outside observers, religious
leaders, and the Electoral Commission itself. The results of
the election were contested by opposition party observers, who
were excluded from the final hours of the vote-counting. The
Supreme Court, in reviewing the opposition's claim that the
election results had been achieved by fraudulent means, upheld
the first round victory of Lansana Conte.
Military and paramilitary forces number around 17,000.
Responsibility for internal security is shared by a
Gendarmerie, the Republican Guard, the National Police, and the
Presidential Guard. Both military personnel and police
committed human rights abuses.
Over 80 percent of the population of 7 million people is
engaged in subsistence agriculture, and per capita gross
domestic product is about $430. 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, which involved, among other
things, a sharp reduction in the size of the public service.
This austerity program created a pool of unemployed civil
servants who continued to be a source of civil unrest.
Human rights remained circumscribed despite holding
presidential elections involving 8 candidates and 42 political
parties. The Government carefully directed the electoral
process and rejected opposition demands for important changes.
However, all candidates had access to the media and were able
to organize political rallies. Against a background of
sporadic outbreaks of ethnically based violence and recourse to
vigilante justice by a citizenry beset by increasingly violent
criminal activity, major human rights abuses included torture
and extrajudicial killings by poorly disciplined security
forces; government 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 and poor
treatment of prisoners; and its inability to prevent vigilante
justice.
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 political killings, but there were a
number of extrajudicial killings. Security forces used
excessive force in responding to peaceful demonstrations,
notably on May 25, when 31 political parties staged a largely
peaceful, unauthorized march of more than 100,000 people in
Conakry. Official reports indicated that 2 people were killed
and more than 200 injured in this confrontation. Opposition
leaders stated that it was only after the march officially
ended that local authorities instigated violence by deploying
local toughs, some of whom looted and destroyed stores owned by
members of the same ethnic group that played an active role in
organizing the rally. No one was arrested, charged, or
disciplined in connection with either the killings or injuries.
Police again used excessive force on September 28 in dispersing
a crowd at a demonstration organized by various political
parties demanding a transitional government of national unity
and an independent electoral commission. Officials admitted
that security forces killed two persons and and wounded nine
during the violence. The official casualty report for the
violence and ensuing ethnic conflict was 63 dead, hundreds
wounded, and scores arrested. The opposition claimed that
mayors of the local municipalities had paid progovernment Party
for Unity and Progress (PUP) members to disrupt the September
28 demonstration as a pretext for intervention by security
forces.
On February 8 in Faranah, the military authorities sent
soldiers to control a demonstration by disgruntled youths who
had paid to be recruited into the army and then were rejected
by army recruiters, allegedly for their opposition sympathies.
One soldier fired directly into the crowd, killing 3 women and
injuring 20 other demonstrators when the youths began
destroying the property of local officials. Military
authorities investigated and transferred the soldier to another
part of the country.
On June 4, security forces fired into a crowd of protesters in
Dinguiraye, killing Ousmane Ba and another man and injuring 15
others. Although an investigation was opened by the local
prosecutor, no charges were filed or arrests made.
In August Conakry police tortured several detainees and beat
one person to death in a case in which the son of a prominent
businessman had been murdered. The 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 police official in
charge of the station where the torture reportedly occurred.
Authorities arrested two officers. They remain under
detention, pending a review of the case by a court of first
instance.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of disappearances. There was no progress
in resolving the disappearance of 63 people arrested in the
wake of the April 1984 seizure of power and the July 1985 coup
attempt, despite a suit filed in 1992 by the Association of
Victims of Repression (AVR) against present and former
government officials involved in the arrests.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
The 1965 Penal Code and the 1990 Constitution prohibit torture
and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. However, the
police are often responsible for brutality against suspects
and, in at least one case, beat to death a detainee (see
Section 1.a.). The use of beatings to extract confessions is
common.
Prison conditions, including those in the women's prison, are
primitive and unhealthy.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The Penal Code requires that detainees must be charged within
72 hours before a magistrate. 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 this
provision is often not respected.
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.
During the election campaign security forces detained and
tortured a bodyguard of one of the opposition candidates. The
authorities never brought charges against those involved, even
after public disclosure of the incident.
In April security forces arrested two members of the Air Force,
Lieutenant Madice Keita and Lieutenant Souleymane Dayan Diallo,
and held them for 15 days, ostensibly for involvement in a coup
plot. During the election campaign, the military held several
junior officers incommunicado for questioning; they were
released within a week.
At year's end, there were no known political or security
detainees being held by the Government. The authorities freed
Amadou Diallo, who was arrested in 1992 for allegedly plotting
to kill the President.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The Constitution affirms the judiciary's independence.
However, magistrates are civil servants with 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 45 in all), and an
outdated and overly restrictive Penal Code. There are also
allegations of corruption and nepotism in the judiciary, with
relatives of influential members of the Government being
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 the
Government in principle provides funds for legal defense in
serious criminal cases, in practice these funds are rarely
disbursed; the lawyer frequently either receives no payment or
provides no services to defend the accused.
The judiciary includes courts of first instance, two Courts of
Appeal (one in Kankan and one in Conakry), and the Supreme
Court, the court of final appeal, which heard its first case in
April. 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 all
judgments regarding violations under the Penal Code have been
rendered by civilian courts. There is a traditional system of
justice at the village or urban neighborhood level at which
litigants present their civil cases before a village chief,
neighborhood chief, or council of wise men. 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.
Guinea did not have any known political prisoners at the end of
1993.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
The Constitution provides for inviolability of the home. In
public statements, the Government also stressed the
inviolability of the home, and judicial search warrants are
required by law. However, these procedures are frequently
ignored or not strictly followed, 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 civilians at
night roadblocks in order to extort money to supplement their
low salaries. It is widely believed that security officials
monitor mail and telephone calls.
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 new Constitution provides freedom of
expression, subject to certain limitations. The Government
introduced in 1992 a new Press Law and a National
Communications Council (NCC), ostensibly to assure impartiality
in the media. 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 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, or 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 Communication continues to
act as overseer of state-owned media.
In May the NCC granted free air time--only 5 minutes on
television and 10 minutes on radio per month--to all political
parties. During the fall presidential election campaign,
candidates expressed their views freely and had alloted access
nightly to the television and radio network. Of the total of
240 broadcasts prepared by the candidates, the Communications
Commission rejected one broadcast because it used an unofficial
language (the candidate did not protest) and rejected another
due to alleged slanderous content (this candidate's banned
remarks were soon printed and distributed throughout Conakry.)
A vocal and active opposition press has grown since 1992 and is
widely read by politically active Guineans, mainly in the
capital. Its reporters do not practice self-censorship, and
its articles harshly criticized the President and the
Government. At least one new independent journal, L'Horizon,
was launched. The approximately 25 existing publications, many
launched in 1992, continued to publish despite continuing
technical and financial difficulties. Some newspapers are
linked with opposition parties while others offer news and
criticism of both the Government and the opposition.
Many political tracts, both signed and unsigned, circulated
widely throughout Conakry and other regions, and included
specific criticisms of the President and high officials.
Foreign publications, some of which include criticism of the
Government, circulated freely.
There were no known attempts to interfere with foreign radio
broadcasts. However, the Government showed its sensitivity to
its image abroad by harassing several journalists involved in
international reporting. The radio authorities on March 15
officially suspended Ben Daouda Sylla, a journalist at the
state-owned national radio station and correspondent for Africa
Number One, ostensibly for his portrayal of a "truncated image
of Guinea," but presumably for his more critical accounts
transmitted outside the country. He was allowed to resume his
duties for Africa Number One in May. The police interrogated
Serge Daniel, a journalist from Benin working as the Radio
France correspondent, ostensibly because his visa papers were
not in order, but allegedly due to his reporting on the
political situation.
The Ministry of Higher Education exercises limited control over
academic freedom through its influence on the faculty hiring
process. 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 prior notification to the
Government.
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. Event organizers
may be held criminally liable if there is violence or
destruction of property. Local officials declared opposition
parties liable for the destruction of property after the May 25
march (see Section l.a.), but the Government did not press
charges, and the case was eventually dropped. In late
September, the Government reported that 63 people died in
interethnic violence following political marches in Conakry.
The Government did not charge the march organizers with
responsibility for the violence. The Government suspended the
right to march in the streets in response to this outbreak of
violence. During the election campaign, the Government
permitted political parties to hold mass demonstrations
throughout the country.
Political parties must provide information on their founding
members and produce internal statutes and political platforms
which are consistent with the Constitution before the
Government will recognize them. The 43 parties that applied
for official recognition received it.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution declares Guinea to be a secular State, and
religious groups enjoy religious freedom. An estimated 85
percent of the population is Muslim. The Government observes
major Christian and Muslim holidays. Foreign missionaries,
both Catholic and Protestant, operate freely.
The Government and the quasi-governmental National Islamic
League have spoken out against the proliferation of
"pseudo-sects generating confusion and deviation" (within
Guinean Islam) but have not restricted these groups. The
Constitution provides religious communities the freedom to
administer themselves without state interference.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Guineans are generally free to travel within the country and to
change their place of residence and work. Travelers face
periodic harassment by police and military roadblocks,
particularly at night. Citizens commonly pay bribes to avoid
police harassment. Foreign travel is not restricted; many
Guineans travel widely.
The Government restricted movement on election day. Also, at
the height of the election campaign, the Minister of Defense
issued an order, without specified time limit, closing Guinea's
land borders. The Government had not rescinded this order at
year's end, although cross-border movement of people and goods
soon resumed.
There were two incidents of travel restrictions for political
reasons. On election day, paramilitary police at a checkpoint
outside Conakry did not allow opposition presidential candidate
Jean Marie Dore to pass, thereby preventing him from voting. A
few days later at the same checkpoint, security forces denied
passage to opposition presidential candidate Mamadou Ba. The
order was reversed within 8 hours.
Guinea currently hosts approximately 580,000 Liberian and
Sierra Leonean refugees. An additional 80,000 Guinean
residents of Liberia and Sierra Leone fled violence and
returned to Guinea, where they received relief assistance. The
Government continued 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.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
Throughout 1993 President Conte, his Cabinet, and the
presidentially appointed legislature (CTRN) wielded full powers
of government. On December 19, Guineans had their first
opportunity in over 30 years to change their government by
democratic means. However, the Government controlled the
electoral process, and Lansana Conte was elected President in a
disputed outcome. A former military officer, Conte first came
to power in 1984 in a bloodless military coup d'etat.
Following the vote, opposition candidates claimed serious
electoral irregularities and, in particular, protested the
unilateral annulment by the Minister of Interior and Security
of results from Siguiri prefecture, which voted heavily for an
opposition candidate. They also pointed out that the
provisional results announced by the Minister of Interior and
Security on December 23, which gave President Conte a majority
of 50.93 percent, were inconsistent with the preliminary
results that they and independent observers had noted at the
National Vote Counting Commission. Subsequently, the
opposition petitioned the Supreme Court to nullify the results
that had given President Conte a first-round victory. On
January 4, 1994, the Court annulled the results of Siguiri
prefecture and the city of Kankan and declared candidate
Lansana Conte the winner with 51.7 percent of the vote.
The Government postponed the first elections for the National
Assembly, scheduled for 1992, until 1994 pending, among other
things, the completion of a national census upon which voter
rolls could be based. The Government completed that census in
November. The opposition alleged that the Government
manipulated the voter census in Conte's favor, but
international observers stated the census was acceptable.
The presidential party, the Party for Unity and Progress (PUP),
held a preeminent position going into the December election.
Throughout the year, the opposition made credible claims that
the Government provided the PUP with state resources to support
its campaigns, refused to modify preelection procedures, and
pressured civil servants to support, or not to oppose openly,
the PUP. The Government rejected opposition political groups'
demands for the establishment of a transitional government of
national unity prior to the election. Although the Government
established a National Electoral Commission as demanded by the
opposition, it was an advisory panel without authority to
direct the elections.
PUP's strength also rested on the fragmentation of the
opposition. The three leading opposition parties are the
Malinke-based Assembly of the Guinean People, the Peuhl
(Fulani)-based Union for the New Republic, and the Party of
Renewal and Progress.
While women are poorly represented in the Government, they
voted overwhelmingly in the presidential election on December
19. All voters, male and female, were able to vote in secret
and were treated equally.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
Local nongovernmental organizations primarily interested in
human rights issues included: the Guinean Organization for
Human Rights (OGDH); the Guinean Association for the Defense of
Human Rights; the Children of the Victims of Camp Boiro; the
Association of Victims of Repression (AVR); and the Committee
for the Defense of Civic Rights formed in 1993. These groups,
especially OGDH and AVR, were vocal in calling attention to
human rights abuses but had to be cautious in criticizing the
Government. Following an appeal by the president of the
International Federation for Human Rights, in March the
Interior Minister withdrew his August 1992 suspension of OGDH
and AVR for taking part in a political march in July 1992.
The Government does not welcome commentary or investigation by
outside groups of its human rights practices, which it sees as
strictly an internal matter.
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.
The Government has affirmed the principle of equal pay for
equal work, but in practice women receive less pay than men in
most jobs. In education, according to a United Nations
Development Program report for 1991, females receive only
20 percent as much schooling as males.
Violence against women, including wife beating, is common,
although social workers 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. The issue received some
exposure in locally produced television dramas but is rarely
mentioned in the press or given governmental attention.
Children
The Constitution provides that the Government has a particular
obligation to protect and nurture the nation's youth. The
Government devotes a significant percentage of its annual
budget to primary education.
Female genital mutilation (circumcision), which has been
condemned by international health experts as damaging to both
physical and mental health, is performed at an early age and
is practiced among Muslims and animists in Guinea. According
to an independent expert, about 60 percent of Guinean females
have undergone this procedure. Grandmothers frequently insist
on the circumcision of a granddaughter, even when the parents
are opposed. The most dangerous form of circumcision,
infibulation, is not practiced. The Government has recently
made efforts to educate health workers on the dangers of this
procedure, and at the World Health Organization Assembly in May
cosponsored a resolution calling for a plan of action for
eliminating the harmful traditional practice worldwide.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
While racial or ethnic discrimination is prohibited by the
Constitution and the Penal Code, ethnic identification is
strong, and mutual suspicion affects relations across ethnic
lines, in and out of government. The Cabinet includes
representatives of all major ethnic groups. A disproportionate
number of senior military officers are Soussou, the ethnic
group of President Conte. In March there were incidents of
interethnic violence between Soussou and Peuhl, including in
Forecariah, where houses were looted and destroyed in the wake
of a political rally, and in Conakry, where a minor incident
escalated into fighting that resulted in two deaths. In late
September, interethnic violence between Peuhl and Soussou in
Conakry led to 63 deaths. During the election season, Malinke
supporters of presidential candidate Alpha Conde clashed with
mainly Soussou supporters of President Conte in different areas
of Upper Guinea. Presidential voting often divided along
ethnic lines.
People with Disabilities
The Constitution declares 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.
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 affiliation. Only an estimated 5 percent of the
workforce is unionized. Most union members are government
employees or employees of the national utilities (electric,
water, and telephone companies.)
Guinea's Labor Code, drafted with the assistance of the
International Labor Organization (ILO) and promulgated in
January 1988, 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. The Labor Code requires elected
worker representatives for any enterprise employing 25 or more
salaried workers.
While the new Labor Code ended the previously existing trade
union monopoly system, most union workers still belong to the
former sole confederation, the National Confederation of
Guinean Workers (CNTG). The CNTG is indirectly funded by the
State, although officials seek to increase the Confederation's
freedom from government control. Independent unions and
confederations are rapidly gaining popularity, such as the
National Organization for Free Trade Unions of Guinea and the
Free Union of Teachers and Researchers of Guinea.
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 strike. In
sectors affecting "essential services" (e.g., hospitals,
schools, media, and bakeries) some provisions for a minimal
level of service may be required, though it is not clear how
this principle is to be applied.
In 1993 workers increasingly resorted to strikes and threats of
strikes to achieve their demands. In April and May union
leaders at the state-owned electric utility, Enelgui, led two
successful strikes demanding salary increases. Workers in
Guinea's six banks went on strike for 1 week in May and
threatened to do so again in June, seeking compliance with bank
regulations on salaries and other issues applicable in
surrounding Francophone countries.
Unions may freely associate with international labor groups.
The Government continued to designate the CNTG to represent
Guinean workers in the ILO Conference in 1993.
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. Collective bargaining for wages and
salaries without government interference is protected by law.
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 under the Labor Code is 16
years. However, apprentices may start at 14 years. Workers
and apprentices under the age of 18 are not permitted to work
at night, for more than 12 consecutive hours, or on Sundays.
The Labor Code also states that the Minister of Labor and
Social Affairs must maintain a list of occupations in which
women and youth under 18 may not 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 and in small trades. No minimum years of
schooling are required; fewer than one-third of school-age
children attend school.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The Government has not yet enacted minimum wage legislation,
but the Labor Code provides for the eventual establishment by
decree of a guaranteed minimum hourly wage. 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 at least 24
consecutive hours of rest each week, usually on Sunday. Every
salaried worker has the right to an annual paid vacation,
accumulated at the rate of at least 2.5 workdays per month of
service. In practice, these rules are enforced 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 not yet elaborated a set of practicable workplace health
and safety standards. Neither has it as yet 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. However, enforcement 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.
[end of document]
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