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TITLE: SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993
DATE: JANUARY 31, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE*
In 1991 Sao Tome and Principe became a multiparty democracy,
and citizens changed their government through free and fair
elections. Independent candidate Miguel Trovoada became
President, and the Party of Democratic Convergence (PCD)
toppled the former single ruling party, the Movement for the
Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe (MLSTP), in legislative
elections to win control of the Government. In 1993 the PCD
continued to dominate the Government and the National Assembly,
but there were new political tensions between the two parties
and between the President and the PCD Prime Minister and his
Government over interpretation of the separation of powers
provisions in the 1990 Constitution. In December 1992, the
MLSTP came back to score a series of landslide victories in
municipal elections, taking firm control of six of eight
regional governing bodies. The elections took place
peacefully, and, after some initial disputes over transfer of
government offices, the municipal committees began to work
alongside the Government.
External and internal security is provided by a 300-person
military force, composed mainly of part-time farmers or
fishermen, and a 300-person paramilitary police force. In 1993
the Government began a process of shifting the police force fom
the jurisdiction of the Minister of Defense to the Minister of
Justice, Labor, and Public Administration. There were no
reports of abuses by military or police forces in 1993.
In contrast to progress on the political front, there was
little improvement in 1993 in Sao Tome's export economy, which
relies almost exclusively on a single cash crop, cocoa, and an
archaic, state-run system of plantations (called "empresas").
Almost all other production on the islands is for subsistence
or local consumption. In 1993 the Government continued to
implement strict structural adjustment measures, emphasizing
privatization, including of empresas, and currency reform to
reduce the country's $200 million foreign debt. However, by
the end of 1993 only a handful of plantations had managed even
the first small steps away from state control, and the
structural adjustment program tended to exacerbate economic
hardship.
*There is no American Embassy in Sao Tome and Principe.
Information on the human rights situation is therefore limited.
The human rights situation continued to be encouraging in
1993. The Government showed a continued respect for the rights
of its citizens, and the young multiparty political system
operated well in the face of new challenges. Nevertheless,
there remained serious problems in the judicial system, notably
long delays in bringing cases to trial, and societal
discrimination against women. Also, worker rights remained
limited in practice with the economy dominated by the
plantation system.
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 or other extrajudicial
killing by the Government.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
There were no reports of such abuses. The Constitution,
promulgated in 1990, states explicitly that no one shall be
subjected to torture or cruel and inhuman punishment. Prison
conditions are harsh but did not result in any known deaths in
1993.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
There was no evidence of arbitrary arrest or detention, but
there was very little information available on the laws
regulating these practices or the manner in which the
authorities carry them out. The Constitution provides for the
right to challenge the legality of detention through habeas
corpus procedures.
Exile is not used as a punishment in Sao Tome, and all those
exiled under the former regime have been given the opportunity
to return. Former president Manuel Pinto da Costa, who
voluntarily left the country following current President
Trovoada's election in 1991, returned in 1993. He was warmly
received and was often seen in public.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
For civil cases, the Constitution states that all citizens
shall have access to fair public trial and have the right of
appeal. For criminal cases, it provides for a public trial
before a judge. The accused are entitled to legal
representation; however, there is a shortage of trained judges,
lawyers, and judicial infrastructure. The Government has been
slow to institute reform, in part because of budgetary
constraints. As a result, there are long delays in bringing
cases before the courts, and there were instances in 1993 of
the authorities simply dismissing criminal cases. In at least
two confirmed cases, the Government did not bring to trial
persons charged with assault because of insufficient personnel
to conduct proper investigations.
There were no known political prisoners or detainees held
during the year.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
The Constitution states that personal identity and the right to
privacy are inviolable; it provides for privacy of the home,
correspondence, and private communication. In 1991 the new
democratically elected Government ended the intrusive
monitoring practices of the past.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution provides for freedom of expression and freedom
of the press. The 1992 municipal elections were conducted
freely, with opposition parties publicly campaigning and openly
criticizing the Government. The opposition had access to, but
used sparingly, the limited facilities of the
government-controlled national television and radio stations.
Three newspapers appeared irregularly; one newspaper presents
mainly the views of the Government and the others generally
support opposition positions. There was one report in 1993 of
a minister warning an independent publisher about the content
of certain critical articles. However, the Government took no
action against the publisher and did not attempt to censor the
newspaper.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Under the Constitution, citizens have the right to associate
freely and to demonstrate publicly, provided they obtain legal
authorization 48 hours in advance of planned events. This
authorization is usually granted. Although bureaucratic delays
often hold up such authorizations, there were no known
instances of authorizations being withheld for purely political
reasons in 1993. In December 1992, municipal elections took
place nationwide; numerous rallies and demonstrations occurred,
and even those that did not receive government sanction took
place peacefully and without police restriction.
Following its resounding victory in these elections, the MLSTP
took control of the newly created municipal committees in six
of eight districts. The Government, under provisions in the
Constitution, had called for formation of these municipal
committees in order to add a measure of decentralization to
government administration, and the elections determined their
first members. Tension arose in two districts--including Aguas
Grandes, where Sao Tome City is located--when the police
barricaded buildings in which the committees were to meet. The
committees, despite bitter complaints, were not afforded a
place to meet for 2 months. In May, however, the
PCD-controlled Government relented, and the committees began
meeting regularly.
c. Freedom of Religion
Religious freedom is provided for in the Constitution and in
practice. The three major religious communities--Roman
Catholic, Protestant, and Seventh-Day Adventist--are allowed to
practice freely. There are no restrictions on the activities
of foreign clergy.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Citizens move freely around the island of Sao Tome, as well as
between it and the smaller island of Principe, 90 miles away.
Interisland transport, however, is infrequent and slow. Under
the Constitution, citizens have the specific right to move
freely to any part of the national territory and are free to
emigrate and to return. In July the Government repealed a law
that required Sao Tomeans who wished to travel abroad to obtain
exit visas.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
Citizens have this right. Less than 2 years after ousting the
MLSTP from power, Sao Tomean voters peacefully returned to the
polls in December 1992 to give the former single ruling party
an overwhelming victory in municipal elections. The MLSTP took
the majority of seats in six of eight municipal districts,
forming new committees that were designed to improve citizen
participation in government administration at the village level.
Throughout 1993 there were serious political differences
between the opposition and the Government, initially when the
PCD Government withheld budgets and refused to allow two of the
MLSTP-dominated municipal committees to meet for 2 months. In
the National Assembly, the PCD Government of Prime Minister
Norberto Costa Alegre defeated the MLSTP's efforts to institute
a vote of no confidence. The disputes were conducted and
resolved entirely within the existing constitutional framework.
Other constitutional disputes arose in 1993, notably between
the independent President and the PCD Prime Minister over
authority for handling foreign and internal economic policies.
According to the findings of a panel of Portuguese jurists
brought in to assist in interpreting the Constitution, foreign
policy is solely the domain of the Chief of State, while
economic policy is the province of the Prime Minister and his
Cabinet. Nevertheless, given the close interrelationship of
the two responsibilities, the controversy continued throughout
much of the year and led to new discussions concerning
amendment of the Constitution's separation of powers
provisions. By year's end, however, there had been no action
toward amending the Constitution.
There are no restrictions in law or practice on the
participation of women in politics. Women currently occupy
important posts in the National Assembly, the Cabinet, and the
municipal committees.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
Since the elections of 1991, a few small domestic groups have
formed with various objectives, including the protection of
human and civil rights. Traditionally, Sao Tome and Principe
has had limited contact with international human rights groups,
mainly due to its small population and the absence of
allegations of human rights abuses. In a report published in
1993, Amnesty International named Sao Tome and Principe as one
of three countries worldwide in which there were no serious
government-sponsored violations of human rights.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status
The Constitution states that all citizens, regardless of sex,
race, social origin, political tendency, creed, or philosophic
conviction, are equal under the law. With more than 80 percent
of the population (estimated at 94,000 on Sao Tome and 20,000
on Principe) able to understand Portuguese, the country also
enjoys the advantages of being a relatively homogeneous society.
Women
The Constitution stipulates that women and men have equal
rights to full political, economic, social, and cultural
participation. Women have access to opportunities in
education, business, and government. However, in practice
women encounter substantial discrimination. In particular,
traditional beliefs concerning the division of labor between
men and women leave women with much of the hard labor in
agriculture, most of the child-rearing responsibilities, and
less access to education and the professions. In addition, the
general lack of public services and health care serve to
disadvantage women more than men in these traditional roles.
Violence against women in Sao Tome and Principe is believed to
be infrequent. However, there is no specific information
available on domestic violence, including data on instances of
wife-beating and rape, and the small media rarely cover cases.
Women have the right to legal recourse against men--including
spouses--in cases of rape, domestic violence, and other
abuses. In practice, however, police rarely intervene, and
tradition and/or ignorance of the law may keep women from
filing complaints or seeking outside intervention. The
Government is actively trying to address women's issues through
various programs.
Children
There are a number of government and donor-funded programs
aimed at improving conditions for children, and great strides
have been made in pre- and post-natal care, infant nutrition,
and access to basic health services. Family planning practices
have not changed significantly, though, and Sao Tome may soon
face more serious challenges to limited resources. According
to recent estimates, nearly half the population is under the
age of 15, and documented research in some rural areas
indicates the percentage may be as high as 75. According to
health officials, the Government is beginning to make efforts
to include family planning in its maternal and child health
care programs, but traditional beliefs and cultural practices
inhibit acceptance.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
There are two minority groups which speak their own dialects:
the Angolares, who are distant descendants of an Angolan ethnic
group, and ethnic Cape Verdians, most of whom are second- or
third-generation Creole speakers. The Angolares principally
inhabit the south of Sao Tome Island, making their living
through subsistence fishing; the Cape Verdians still mainly
work on the cocoa plantations, where they were brought by the
Portuguese during colonial times. Both of these principally
rural groups enjoy fewer opportunities in terms of health care,
education, and social advancement than urban Sao Tomeans,
although this is not due to any specific government action
against them. Lack of government resources has also
contributed to continuing complaints from inhabitants of
Principe of governmental neglect. However, the newly named
Minister for the Region of Principe--a cabinet-level post--has
specifically addressed some of these issues.
People with Disabilities
There is no officially sanctioned discrimination against
physically handicapped individuals. As far as known, there is
no law specifically mandating accessibility to buildings for
the disabled.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The Constitution provides for freedom of association and the
right to strike, and a newly formed union federation, the
Independent Union Federation (IUF), began to take advantage of
these provisions. However, the formation of unions remained at
an early stage, and in 1993 there was a significant increase in
the activities of cooperatives, many of which began independent
activities on formerly state-owned land. These cooperatives
tended to represent more tangible goals and results than
unions, thus attracting greater participation on the part of
plantation and other wage workers.
Unrelated to the former sole union and unaffiliated with any
political party, the IUF is still in its organizational stages
and hobbled by the country's general poverty. Nevertheless, it
seeks to represent workers in all sectors, including the large
state-owned plantations (empresas) which employ a majority of
the working population. It made only slight organizational
progress in this respect in 1993. Workers do not often leave
the estates, which generally provide all community facilities.
Essential workers are allowed to strike in practice, and in
November 1993, midlevel functionaries in the Ministries of
Health and Justice briefly went on strike to demand higher
wages.
In 1992 the Government announced an ambitious plan to privatize
most of the state-owned industries, including the cocoa
empresas. This move was seen as a positive step not only for
the economy as a whole, but also as part of the effort to
improve the lot of workers, especially on the large
plantations. At year's end, however, only one of these
state-owned enterprises, the National Printing Press, had
actually been privatized.
In March workers at the largest state-run empresa, Monte Cafe,
staged a strike to demand higher wages and more time off.
Plantation managers requested government intervention, and
there were reports of minor clashes between police and
strikers. However, there were no reports of serious injuries
or arrests, and, after 4 days, work was resumed. Sporadic
strikes by government employees were less common in 1993 than
in previous years.
There are no restrictions barring trade unions from joining
federations or becoming affiliated with international bodies.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
Workers may organize and bargain collectively under the
Constitution. However, in practice, since privatization steps
have not yet reduced the relative role of the Government as
employer, the Government remains the key interlocutor for labor
on all matters, including wages. As far as is known, there are
no laws prohibiting antiunion discrimination.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Forced or compulsory labor is prohibited by law and is not
practiced.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The legally mandated minimum employment age of 18 years in the
modern wage economy is generally respected in practice. The
Ministry of Justice, Labor, and Public Administration is
responsible for enforcing this law. However, in the
subsistence agricultural sector, children work on family plots
from an early age.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
Work conditions on the state-owned empresas--the biggest wage
employment sector--border on medieval. There is no legally
mandated minimum wage, and the average salary for empresa
workers does not permit a decent standard of living. Workers
are, however, provided free (but poor) housing, rudimentary
education and health care, and--in theory--the right to reduced
prices and credit at the "company store." Clothes and
foodstuffs are subsidized, but corruption at all levels is
rampant, and the parallel market finds goods selling for far
above the prices stipulated by the Government.
Recently, in conjunction with the Government's privatization
efforts, some empresas allotted workers small plots to raise
noncash crops for their own consumption or sale. Nevertheless,
most empresas still do not allow private farming on company
land. The current system of state control, and the corruption
associated with it, is so entrenched that on most plantations,
privatization is still a long way off.
Implementation of an International Monetary Fund structural
adjustment program continues to cause hardship for workers,
both on and off the empresas.
Basic occupational health and safety standards are contained in
the Social Security Law of 1979, which is loosely enforced by
inspectors from the Ministry of Justice, Labor, and Public
Administration.
[end of document]
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