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TITLE: PARAGUAY HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993
DATE: JANUARY 31, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
PARAGUAY
Paraguay, independent since 1811, has been ruled almost
continuously by authoritarian regimes. In May Juan Carlos
Wasmosy became the nation's first freely elected civilian
President. Wasmosy took office in August, vowing to
consolidate the nation's democratic transition, which began
following the February 1989 overthrow of General Alfredo
Stroessner. Paraguay is a constitutional republic with a
strong executive branch and an increasingly important bicameral
legislature. The President is the head of government and
cannot succeed himself. The Colorado Party and the armed
forces hold substantial influence, but the combination of the
changes brought about by the June 1992 Constitution and the
election of an opposition-controlled Congress in May 1993 has
improved political accountability.
The National Police Force, under the overall authority of the
Ministry of the Interior, is responsible for maintaining
internal security and public order. The police continued to
commit human rights abuses in 1993. Paraguay's armed forces
consist of an army, navy, and air force. The President is the
commander in chief. Certain elements within the armed forces
act with little political oversight and insert themselves into
the political process in contravention of the Constitution,
through intimidation, corruption, and influence wielding. The
presence of the first civilian commander in chief, and his
nomination of a civilian Defense Minister, may lessen to some
degree the traditional autonomy of the armed forces. Some
military officials were accused of human rights abuses during
1993.
Paraguay has a market economy based on the export of primary
agricultural products. A substantial percentage of the work
force is employed in the informal economy, which may account
for 40 to 60 percent of the gross domestic product. Efforts to
begin privatization of state-owned enterprises continued.
Principal human rights abuses included extrajudicial killings,
torture and mistreatment of criminal suspects and prisoners,
police corruption, detention of suspects without judicial
orders, general weaknesses within the judiciary, firings of
labor organizers, and military interference into the judicial
and political systems. Although President Wasmosy has stressed
his commitment to enhance respect for human rights, serious
accountability problems continued as the Government often
failed to prosecute perpetrators of recent abuses or
investigate cases of abuse from the Stroessner era.
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 in 1993.
There were extrajudicial killings involving criminal suspects
detained by security force officials. As in the past, there
was little serious effort to investigate and prosecute these
incidents. At least seven extrajudicial killings are known to
have occurred during the year. On the eve of the May 9 general
elections, a drunken army captain allegedly shot and killed
Victor Perez Franco, a 20-year-old wearing a T-shirt supporting
an opposition political party. Following the incident, the
officer and two noncommissioned officers were arrested and
taken into military custody. The case remained under
investigation at year's end.
On August 30, police officer Angel Ayala allegedly shot and
killed Cristobal Gamarra, a 37-year-old bricklayer in the city
of Fernando de la Mora. Gamarra had been drinking and behaving
boisterously near Ayala's house. Ayala, accused of shooting
Gamarra after the latter refused to leave the area, turned
himself into police authorities shortly afterwards. The case
remained under investigation at year's end. In late May, a
minor, Americo Villalba, escaped from prison during a riot
mounted in reaction to alleged mistreatment by police officials.
Villalba had previously accused a police official of torture
and mistreatment. During Villalba's escape attempt, this same
officer allegedly shot him at close range. Villalba died
8 hours later without receiving any medical treatment. The
official was not punished.
In December 1992 and January 1993, extensive government archives
were discovered that documented extrajudicial killings and other
human rights abuses and implicated many former officials of the
Stroessner regime (see Section 1.e.). Four Stroessner-era
police officials convicted in 1992 of the torture and murder of
Mario Schaerer Prono appealed their sentences; none of them
served time in prison, but all remain under arrest.
b. Disappearance
There were no reported cases of abductions by security forces.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
Torture and brutal and degrading treatment of convicted
prisoners and other detainees continued. Police, military, and
prison guards were implicated to some extent in the
mistreatment of individuals in their custody; although some
officials have been arrested and held for investigation, few
were tried, convicted, or appropriately punished. There were
credible reports of mistreatment of women and minors and of
brutal attempts to force confessions out of detainees.
A respected human rights group, Tekojoja, reported that
children in police custody were particularly susceptible to
physical punishment, with torture and abuse occurring against
juveniles at a higher rate than against adult detainees. The
human rights group accused the police in several cases of
torturing minors by placing plastic bags over their heads,
knocking out their teeth, using a hammer to beat their backs,
or scalding their hands and feet to force a confession. Many
minors reported being denied food, drink, or access to toilets
for up to 3 days. None of the many cases involving the torture
of minors that were brought before the courts resulted in a
conviction of the perpetrators.
During a surprise visit to the Encarnacion regional penitentiary
in August, the Congressional Committee on Human Rights
discovered that several prisoners had been tortured by police
officers. The Congressmen acquired sworn statements
implicating Chief of Investigations Juan de la Cruz Paredes and
three other police officials. The police officials were
transferred to Asuncion and were under investigation at year's
end.
Prison conditions remained poor. Overcrowding and mistreatment
of prisoners were the most serious problems. Conditions were
particularly poor in the Panchito Lopez youth prison. The
Government substantially improved formerly abysmal conditions
in the Buen Pastor prison, the nation's largest women's prison,
by creating a separate section for minor girls.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The authorities often violated provisions of the Constitution
prohibiting detention without written order and stipulating
that any person arrested must be presented before a judge
within 48 hours of detention. Nearly 90 percent of an
estimated 3,000 prisoners are held without arrest warrants,
orders of detention, or convictions. Only 6 percent of the
detainees at Tacumbu prison have been sentenced; virtually none
of the detainees at the Panchito Lopez juvenile prison have
been sentenced.
Throughout the year the authorities arrested and imprisoned
individuals without legal process. There were a number of
cases similar to that of Tomas Leiva who was arrested by police
officials without a judicial order on September 13. Following
his illegal arrest, he was taken to a police station and beaten
in an effort to get him to confess to having stolen cattle,
although there was little evidence implicating him in this
crime. The authorities did not present Leiva before a judge,
and he was unable to communicate with family members for
several days. He was released from custody 2 weeks later,
following intervention by a local human rights group, and never
charged with a crime.
In September the Supreme Court ordered the release of over 20
prisoners from the Tacumbu Penitentiary for lack of any legal
process against them. The court also released several minors
during the same month for lack of detention orders.
Credible reports continued that landowners, many of them
Brazilians living near the border in the Alto Parana
department, armed their employees who removed squatters from
the property of their employers without court orders. Some of
the evictions were violent, although there were no reports of
fatalities. No measures were taken to punish those committing
abuses.
Forced exile is no longer used as a means of political control.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The judicial branch is comprised of a five-member Supreme Court
headed by a president. There are four appellate tribunals:
civil and commercial, criminal, labor, and juvenile. Several
minor courts and justices of the peace fall within these four
functional areas. There are only five public defenders
available to the transient and the indigent; accordingly, many
destitute suspects receive little or no legal assistance.
Trials are conducted almost exclusively by presentation of
written documents to a judge, who then renders a decision.
Since there is no trial by jury, the judge alone determines
guilt or innocence and decides punishment.
During the pretrial phase, the judge receives and may request
investigative reports. In this phase, the judge is also likely
to make a personal inspection of the scene of the crime and of
the available physical evidence. The accused often appears
before the court only twice: to plead and to be sentenced.
All verdicts are automatically reviewed by an appellate judge,
and the law provides for appeals to the Supreme Court. The
military has its own judicial system.
Although the 1992 Constitution prescribes that judges be
selected by a combination of an independent entity, the
Congress, and the executive, many of the judges active during
1993 were holdover appointments made by former dictator Alfredo
Stroessner. Several of them were alleged to make judicial
decisions on the basis of bribery, intimidation, political
motives, and friendship with senior military officers.
Notwithstanding the December 1992 discovery of government
archives documenting various human rights abuses and
implicating many former government officials of the Stroessner
regime, no Stroessner-era officials were convicted of human
rights abuses in 1993. A judicial working group continued the
task of reviewing and cataloging the documents for eventual use
in court. The Committee of Churches, one of the nation's most
prominent human rights groups, had over 23 cases against
Stroessner-era human rights abusers pending at year's end.
In January Colonel Luis Catalino Gonzalez Rojas was sentenced
by a military tribunal to over 3 months of confinement for
"breach of military discipline." This alleged breach was
linked to his implication of several high ranking military
officials in a stolen car operation. Most observers viewed his
sentence to be punishment for his high-profile stand against
military corruption rather than a response to the alleged
breach of discipline.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home or
Correspondence
While the Government and its security forces generally did not
interfere in the private lives of citizens, there were
exceptions. The Constitution provides that police may not
enter private homes except to prevent a crime in progress or
when the police possess a judicial warrant. There were
complaints that at times the authorities ignored this legal
guarantee, particularly in the country's interior. The
Government at times also spied on individuals and tapped phones
for political and security reasons. In October the press
denounced the discovery of a political telephone tapping
operation carried out in the offices of the state-owned
telephone company in the department of Guaira. Criminal
investigations relating to a 1992 discovery of an officially
sanctioned wiretap operation ceased without any judicial action.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution provides for freedom of expression and the
press. The press exercised these rights more freely than at
any time in the nation's recent history. Opposition viewpoints
were freely discussed and criticism of the Government was
ubiquitous in the media. However, two media groups linked to
particular candidates practiced self-censorship in reporting on
the 1993 electoral campaign.
During the early morning hours of May 9, election day, the
Channel 13 television station was the site of an unsuccessful
attack in which assailants fired automatic weapons and launched
grenades. At year's end, the attack was still under
investigation by the authorities. The owners of Channel 13,
who also own a newspaper and radio station, alleged that the
Government had singled out their media consortium for a tax
audit in response to its particularly strong opposition to the
then-incumbent President.
Some reporters were threatened and physically attacked during
1993, although investigative reporting continued. As in the
past, threats were made against persons examining allegations
of official corruption, the contraband trade, ties to the
Stroessner regime, and electoral irregularities. In October
journalist Emilio Ortiz reported on corruption in the
state-owned telephone company in Alto Parana. This led to the
dismissal of the company's local director, Mauro Corvalan.
Ortiz subsequently was beaten by three men claiming to be
acting on Corvalan's behalf. On April 20, two journalists
covering a political gathering in Ciudad del Este were beaten
by pro-Colorado Party supporters working as security guards at
the site where the event was taking place. The two reporters
were taking pictures of state-owned vehicles being utilized by
Colorado Party supporters in an apparent violation of the
nation's electoral law.
There were no restrictions on academic freedom in 1993.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Constitution establishes the right of association and
peaceful assembly for all citizens. A law regulating
demonstrations in Asuncion limits the areas where and the hours
when they may take place and requires that the police be
notified 24 hours before any rally in the downtown area. The
police may ban a protest but must provide written notification
of such a ban within 12 hours of receipt of the organizers'
request. Under the law, a police ban is permitted only if a
third party has already given notice of plans for a similar
rally at the same place and time. In addition, the law
prohibits public meetings or demonstrations in front of the
presidential palace and outside military or police barracks.
All of the various political parties held demonstrations and
rallies during the electoral season without incident. Many
social groups, including labor organizations, held rallies
without incident throughout the year.
An October rally to protest congressional consideration of
military privileges blocked access to Parliament, and a few
members of Congress were struck by the participants in the
demonstration. The Congressmen pressed criminal charges
against demonstration leaders, and the cases remained under
investigation at year's end. Media and congressional criticism
of the police centered on the failure of the police to protect
the Congressmen.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution provides for freedom of conscience for all
persons and recognizes no official religion. The Government
continued to respect that freedom in 1993. Roman Catholicism
is the predominant religion, but all denominations are free to
worship as they choose. Adherence to a particular creed
confers no legal advantage or disadvantage, and foreign and
local missionaries proselytize freely.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
All Paraguayan citizens may travel freely within the country
with virtually no restrictions. There are no restrictions on
foreign travel or emigration, although the Government closed
the nation's border during the May 9 general elections pursuant
to a judicial order, an action that was criticized by foreign
election observers. There are no established provisions to
grant asylum or refugee status; the Director of Immigration
determines each request on a case-by-case basis. There were no
reports of refugees forced to return to countries in which they
feared persecution.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
Paraguayan citizens exercised the right peacefully to change
their government in the May 1993 elections. Juan Carlos
Wasmosy became the nation's first freely elected civilian
President; a majority opposition Congress was also elected.
Several parties contested the major leadership positions in the
elections, although only three parties elected officials to
national office. The new opposition-dominated Congress quickly
demonstrated its independence by rescinding legislation passed
by the previous Congress which had the support of the
President-elect. General elections are to be held every
5 years. The Constitution and the Electoral Code mandate that
voting be by secret ballot.
Although the elections were generally conducted in a peaceful
and orderly manner, aspects of the nation's authoritarian
tradition were evident during the primary and general elections.
International observers criticized the violation of the
constitutional prohibition against the military's participation
in partisan politics, citing in particular the activities of
Army General Lino Oviedo after the December 27, 1992, Colorado
Party primary elections, as well as before and during the May
1993 general elections.
Some Paraguayans living outside the country were denied the
right to vote by a judicial decision to close the nation's
border on election day. Many international observers witnessed
intimidation of voters by Colorado Party members and other
isolated irregularities and violations of the Electoral Code.
Unlawful activities included the election day predawn attack on
independent television Channel 13 and the deliberate cutting of
telephone lines providing electoral data to an independent
consortium of nongovernmental organizations conducting a
parallel vote count. During the election campaign, many state
employees were pressured to pay dues to the ruling Colorado
Party and attend its political rallies. Many state employees
were also threatened with dismissal if they did not support the
Government's preferred candidate, and several were dismissed
for supporting other candidates. Virtually all independent
observers of the general elections concluded that the
irregularities were neither systematic nor extensive enough to
alter the final results. There were, however, credible
allegations of misreporting of vote totals in the Colorado
Party primary.
Paraguay has an unassimilated and neglected indigenous
population estimated at 75,000 to 100,000. Members of
indigenous groups, as Paraguayan citizens, are entitled to
vote, and the percentage of indigenous people who exercised
this privilege in 1993 roughly doubled from years past.
Nonetheless, the inhabitants of many indigenous communities
were threatened or inhibited from fully exercising their
political rights. Some were threatened with death or with
losing access to cooperatives and stores unless they voted for
a certain candidate. For example, indigenous people in the
town of Laguna Negra were told by one candidate that he would
execute them should they not support his candidacy.
While there are no formal legal impediments, women often face
significant obstacles when they seek to participate in
government and politics. Participation by women in the
political system, although somewhat improved in 1993, was still
limited in the male-dominated society of Paraguay. All major
parties ran women as candidates in the 1993 general elections,
although few women (four senators and two national deputies)
were elected to national office.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
Several human rights groups operate in Paraguay, including the
Committee of Churches (an interdenominational group that
monitors human rights and provides legal assistance), Prodemos,
Tekojoja (a group dedicated to protection of children's
rights), and the local chapter of the Association of Latin
American Lawyers for the Defense of Human Rights. The
Government did not restrict the activities of any human rights
group in 1993.
Former President Rodriguez met with representatives of local
and international human rights groups during the year. In his
inaugural address, President Wasmosy told the nation that
respect for human rights would be a hallmark of his
administration. The Chamber of Deputies elected as its
president one of Paraguay's leading human rights advocates,
Francisco Jose "Pancho" de Vargas.
The Office of the Director General of Human Rights, located in
the Ministry of Justice and Labor, continued to sponsor
seminars to promote human rights awareness. This office has
access to congressional, executive, and judicial authorities.
It does not have subpoena or prosecution powers but may forward
information concerning human rights abuses to the office of the
Attorney General for action. It also serves as a clearinghouse
for information on human rights and trained thousands of
educators in human rights law in 1993. In January the
Government accepted the jurisdiction of the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights. The Government has yet to show, however,
the determination to try and punish those, particularly within
the police, who commit abuses.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status
Although the Constitution and other laws prohibit
discrimination, certain groups faced significant discrimination
in practice.
Women
Wife beating and exploitation of women in employment continued
to occur. Most informed observers believe that wife beating
occurs among a substantial minority of the population and that
it is underreported. Exploitation of women, especially the
prostitution of teenagers, remained a serious problem. Police
frequently raided brothels in which minors were employed but
never arrested the owners or operators. The minor's court
judge would usually attempt to persuade the minor not to return
to prostitution, but no action would be taken against the
owners. Authorities also paid insufficient attention to
sex-related job discrimination. Some women complained that job
promotions were conditioned on their granting sexual favors.
On the average, 16 cases of rape were reported to the Ministry
of Health each month, although all women's groups believe that
the incidence of rape is much higher. It is becoming easier
for women to initiate complaints against their husbands for
domestic violence, although no perpetrators of domestic
violence have been found guilty by a court to date. The
Congress passed a law creating the office of Secretary for
Women, a cabinet-level position intended to initiate programs
to enable women to have free and equal access to employment,
social security, housing, ownership of land, and business
opportunities. The Secretary for Women is also responsible for
programs to address violence against women.
Children
The Constitution mandates that at least 20 percent of the total
national budget be allocated to education. Forty-six percent
of all educational spending was earmarked for elementary
education, while 22 percent of the Ministry of Health's budget
was devoted to children's services. The Constitution protects
certain children's rights and requires that parents and the
State care for, feed, educate, and support children.
Nonetheless, approximately 26,000 children work in urban areas
as street vendors, shoe shiners, or prostitutes. The majority
of these children suffer from malnutrition, lack of access to
education, and disease. Some young girls, employed as domestic
servants or nannies, are denied access to education and are
mistreated by their employers. Some who seek to leave domestic
jobs are charged with robbing their employers and turned over
to the police.
Some minors were forced into obligatory military service prior
to the constitutionally established minimum age of 17. In one
case, Cesar Meaurio, 15, was removed from a bus and taken to a
nearby military training base because he could not present any
documents establishing his age. On August 28, Santiago Ignacio
Machado, 15, was taken by military authorities while fishing
with his parents in Puente Remanso. Military authorities
subsequently refused to provide the family with information
concerning Machado's whereabouts. The Chamber of Deputies
Committee on Human Rights filed a formal legal request on
September 10 that the minor be released.
Indigenous People
Weak organization and lack of financial resources continued to
limit access by indigenous peoples to the political and
economic system. Indigenous groups relied primarily upon
parliamentary commissions to promote their particular
interests, notwithstanding the fact that the Constitution
guarantees indigenous peoples' rights to participate in the
economic, social, political, and cultural life of the nation.
The Constitution also contains protection for their property
interests. These constitutional rights, however, have still
not been fully codified.
The Government's National Indigenous Institute (INDI) has the
authority to purchase land on behalf of indigenous communities
and to expropriate private property under certain conditions to
establish tribal homelands, but the entity continued to be
poorly funded. In addition, many indigenous people find it
difficult to travel to the capital to solicit land titles or
process the required paperwork associated with land ownership.
The problems of the indigenous population, particularly those
involving land claims, continued to receive frequent media
attention. The main problems facing the indigenous population
are lack of education, malnutrition, lack of medical attention,
and economic displacement resulting from development and
modernization. In the community of Ca'aguay Pora in the
Department of Canindeyu, for example, 80 local children did not
have access to a school.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
The Korean and Chinese communities experience social and
economic discrimination and are sometimes denied access to
credit terms enjoyed by other Paraguayans. They are also
sometimes discriminated against in the housing market and do
not have equal access to private institutions and schools.
People with Disabilities
The Constitution guarantees equal opportunity to people with
disabilities and mandates that the State provide the disabled
with health care, education, recreation, and professional
training. It further requires that the State formulate a
policy for the treatment, rehabilitation, and integration into
society of people with disabilities. Legislation establishing
such programs, however, has never been enacted. Many people
with disabilities face significant discrimination in employment;
others are unable to seek employment because of a lack of
accessible public transportation. Other than the
constitutional provisions establishing equal opportunity,
accessibility for the disabled has not been mandated by law;
the vast majority of the nation's buildings, both public and
private, are inaccessible to people with disabilities.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The Constitution allows both private and public sector workers
(with the exception of the armed forces and the police) to form
and join unions without government interference. The
Constitution contains several provisions that protect
fundamental workers rights, including an antidiscrimination
clause, provisions for employment tenure, severance pay for
unjustified firings, collective bargaining, and the right to
strike. A new Labor Code meeting International Labor
Organization (ILO) standards was enacted in October to
implement these constitutional provisions.
In general, unions are independent of the Government and
political parties. However, one of the nation's three labor
centrals, the Confederation of Paraguayan Workers (CPT), is
closely aligned with the ruling Colorado Party. The Government
did not require the CPT to comply with a union election decree
to the same extent that it required compliance from the other
labor centrals. Government officials were also accused of
encouraging some of the recently organized public sector unions
to affiliate with the CPT.
Although the Constitution protects the right to strike and bans
binding arbitration, the Government's Permanent Council for
Conciliation and Arbitration continued to function. One of the
Wasmosy administration's first actions was to forward
legislation to the Congress to abolish the body. Strikers and
their leaders are protected by the Constitution against
retribution, and several strikes occurred in 1993. However,
the Ministry of Justice and Labor took few steps to enforce
these laws until after the Wasmosy administration took office.
Many strikers and labor leaders were dismissed for either
attempting to form unions or for carrying out routine union
business.
Approximately 7 percent of Paraguayan workers are organized.
Unions are free to form and join federations or confederations
and affiliate with and participate in international labor
bodies. The ILO is currently considering 13 pending claims
against the Government for alleged violations of international
labor standards.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
Collective bargaining is protected by law, and collective
contracts have been successfully concluded in many cases. The
number of successfully negotiated collective contracts
continued to grow in 1993; however, collective contracts are
still the exception rather than the norm in labor-management
relations and typically reaffirm minimal standards established
by law. When wages are not set in free negotiations between
unions and employers, they are made a condition of individual
employment offered to employees.
Under former Minister of Justice and Labor Oscar Paciello, the
Government took actions to discourage the realization of
several collective contracts in 1993. One collective contract,
signed between the president of the state-owned electric
company and the president of the electric company workers'
union, was not recognized by Minister Paciello and declared
void. Following the Minister's departure from office, however,
the courts ordered that the contract be implemented. On March
18, the executive issued Decree 16769, which suspended all
trade union leaders in their functions pending new direct labor
organization elections. Although the Supreme Court found the
decree to be unconstitutional on September 23, many business
leaders, with the support of the former Minister, refused to
negotiate with labor leaders unless their organizations had
complied with the decree.
Minister of Justice and Labor Juan Manuel Morales took office
on August 15 vowing to improve relations between the
Government, labor, and management. Organized labor viewed
positively many of his early efforts, including presentation of
draft legislation to disband the Permanent Council on
Conciliation and Arbitration and his early and frequent
consultations with labor leaders.
While the Constitution prohibits antiunion discrimination, the
firing and harassment of some union organizers and leaders in
the private sector continued. Fired union leaders may seek
redress in the courts, but the labor courts have been slow to
respond to complaints and typically favor business in disputes.
The courts are not required to order the reinstatement of
workers fired for union activities. As in previous years, in
some cases where judges ordered fired workers reinstated, the
employers disregarded the court order with impunity. There
were a number of cases of trade union leaders fired 2 or 3
years ago who had not yet received a decision from the courts.
There were 20 strikes by unions affiliated with the independent
labor central CUT alone, 16 of which were directly related to
the firing of union organizers, management violations of a
collective contract, management efforts to prevent workers from
freely associating, or demands for the payment of the minimum
wage, contribution to the social security system, or other
benefits established by law. The failure to meet salary
payments frequently precipitated labor problems, especially in
the public health sector. Principal problems included an
unresponsive Ministry of Justice and Labor under the leadership
of Minister Paciello and bottlenecks in the judicial system.
There were also complaints of management creating parallel or
"factory" unions to compete with independently formed unions.
There were several cases of workers not receiving the legally
established minimum wage or overtime pay who choose not to
complain because of fear of reprisal or anticipation of
government inaction.
Paraguay has no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Forced labor is prohibited by law. However, substantiated
cases of abuse of national service obligations occurred during
1993. There were several documented cases of draftees forced
to serve as laborers for military officers in their residences
or privately owned businesses. In April a local newspaper
published interviews and photographs of military draftees
forced to carry out a remodeling project at the private
residence of Colonel Cirilo Velazquez.
Forced labor is not significant in any export industries.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The Office of the Director General for the Protection of Minors
in the Ministry of Justice and Labor is responsible for
enforcing child labor laws. Minors between 15 to 18 years of
age may be employed only with parental authorization and may
not be employed under dangerous or unhealthy conditions.
Children between 12 and 15 years of age may be employed only in
family enterprises, apprenticeships, or in agriculture. The
Labor Code prohibits work by children under 12 years of age,
and all children are required to attend elementary school. In
practice, however, many thousands of children, many younger
than 12, work in urban areas engaged in informal employment
such as selling newspapers and sundries, shining shoes, and
cleaning car windows. In rural areas, it is not unusual for
children as young as 10 to work beside their parents in the
field. Other than Paraguay's traditional agricultural exports,
there are no export industries in which child labor is
significant.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The executive, through the Ministry of Justice and Labor, has
established a private sector minimum wage, regionally adjusted
according to cost of living indices, sufficient to maintain a
minimally adequate standard of living. The minimum salary was
adjusted by 10 percent in April (to $159 a month) in response
to a loss in real purchasing power of about 42 percent since
1989. Most analysts agree that between 50 to 70 percent of
workers earn less than the decreed minimum.
The Labor Code allows for a standard legal workweek of 48 hours,
42 hours for night work, with 1 day of rest. The law also
provides for an annual bonus of 1 month's salary and a minimum
of 6 vacation days a year. The Labor Code also stipulates
conditions of safety, hygiene, and comfort. In general, the
Government did not effectively enforce the safety and hygiene
provisions of the Labor Code, partially due to the lack of
inspectors. This led the labor movement to initiate inspector
training programs designed to ensure that violations were
registered with the Ministry of Justice and Labor.
[end of document]
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