| The State Department web site below is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001. Please see www.state.gov for material released since President George W. Bush took office on that date. This site is not updated so external links may no longer function. Contact us with any questions about finding information. NOTE: External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein. |
Title: Panama Human Rights Practices, 1995
Author: U.S. Department of State
Date: March 1996
PANAMA
Panama is a representative democracy with an elected executive composed
of a president and two vice presidents, an elected 72-member
legislature, and an appointed judiciary. President Ernesto Perez
Balladares, elected in May 1994 at the head of a multiparty coalition,
is Panama's chief executive.
Panama has had no military forces since 1989. The Legislative Assembly
amended the Constitution in 1994 to abolish a standing military. The
amendment contains a provision for forming a "temporary" force under
certain national security circumstances. The Panamanian National Police
(PNP), under the Ministry of Government and Justice, are responsible for
law enforcement. The Judicial Technical Police (PTJ), under the Public
Ministry, perform criminal investigations. Credible reports of
corruption at many levels of both police forces contributed to some
police dismissals. Both police forces are responsive to civilian
authority and are headed by appointed civilian directors.
The service-oriented economy uses the U.S. dollar as currency although
it is called the Balboa. The gross domestic product grew an estimated
2.3 percent in 1995, less than in recent years, but still the sixth
consecutive year of growth. Poverty is pervasive with great and
increasing income disparities between rich and poor and with continued
high unemployment and underemployment, which together may affect 50
percent of the population.
Principal human rights abuses continued to be prolonged pretrial
detention; an inefficient and often corrupt criminal justice system,
undermined by low wages, poor working conditions, and in part by
international narcotics traffickers; and overcrowded, decrepit prisons.
The Government's assignment of a former human rights offender and
intelligence official under ex-dictator General Noriega as deputy
director of a major prison further undermined public faith in the prison
system's humane treatment of prisoners and detainees. Although the
police generally performed in a professional and restrained manner,
several cases involving excessive use of force occurred in May, June,
and July. Violence against women remained a serious problem compounded
by society's unwillingness to recognize it.
The Government continued to prosecute some persons responsible for
abuses committed during the 21 years of dictatorship from 1968 to 1989.
Few of these 1995 prosecutions resulted in convictions. Several notable
homicide cases ended in acquittals, leading many to criticize the jury
trial system and question the Government's ability to deliver justice
for past human rights violations. In September the first Vice
President, acting in his legal capacity as President while Perez
Balladares was on an overseas tour, pardoned 139 citizens, some of whom
had committed common crimes during the Noriega era.
In August the Legislature enacted several revisions to the Labor Code in
an effort to make the generally labor-favorable legal system more
neutral. Moderate labor organizations influenced the revisions through
negotiations. Just prior to the new law's passage, militant labor
groups organized a major strike that turned violent but was eventually
resolved.
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 killings. One
labor union claims that police used excessive force and killed one
demonstrator during the violence that accompanied the August labor
strike. The Government denies the charge and there is no credible
evidence that this death, or any of the other three strike-related
deaths, could be attributed to police action.
A presidential decree regulates the use of force by members of law
enforcement organizations. For the first time since the PTJ was created
in 1990, the Government tried a PTJ agent for the use of deadly force in
a 1992 shooting incident. In July a jury found the officer not guilty.
The Attorney General's Office ordered the prosecution of a police
sergeant for the March 1994 lethal use of force against 22-year-old Jose
Ayala Ibarra. The former sergeant remained in pretrial detention.
In July two officers killed a fellow off-duty police officer when they
encountered him in a bar and tried to detain him after accusing him of
being "impertinent" to them. He resisted and, during the ensuing melee,
shot one of the two arresting officers before being mortally wounded
himself. As of late December, the police were still investigating the
incident.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment
The Constitution prohibits use of measures which could damage the
physical, mental, or moral integrity of prisoners or detainees. In
April police arrested four members of the special police investigations
unit after fellow police members caught them robbing two tourists. They
later arrested several Customs officials for conspiracy in connection
with the case after determining these Customs officials had informed
the special-investigations members of the large amount of cash the two
tourists had declared upon arrival at Panama City's international
airport.
The PTJ and the PNP have offices of professional responsibility that act
as internal affairs organs to hold officers accountable for their
actions. Both have staffs of independent investigators and
administrative authority to open internal investigations which, upon
completion, go to their respective inspectors general for submission to
review boards. The review boards, in turn, recommend to the service's
director the appropriate action; the service director has the final
authority to determine the disposition of each case. Penalties may
include reduction in rank, dismissal, and, in severe cases, criminal
prosecution. The PTJ investigated 110 cases of all categories of
misconduct; since September 1994 it dismissed approximately 200
officials for their actions and forwarded 13 cases for possible
prosecution in the courts. Similarly, the PNP investigated over 400 of
the more than 600 cases of all categories of misconduct opened from
January to November. Since August 1994 the PNP forwarded five cases to
the courts for possible action. Allegations of misconduct are confirmed
in 65 percent of the cases investigated.
Although the police generally performed in a professional and restrained
manner, several cases involving excessive use of force occurred in May,
June, and July, chiefly because of poor officer leadership and faulty
civilian oversight. In September the PTJ suspended three detectives for
having physically abused a detainee. Prosecution of the three was
pending while PTJ authorities investigate the case. Anecdotal evidence
suggests police still use physical violence to control detainees,
particularly during initial arrest, interrogation, and holding phases.
The Police Commissioner publicly apologized for police misconduct at a
July Legislative Assembly hearing. He vowed to redouble efforts to
"cleanse the police of corrupt officials."
Prison conditions throughout the country remain deplorable and a threat
to prisoners' health. Most prisons were built in the 1950's or before
and are dilapidated; medical care is inadequate; and escape attempts are
frequent. There were credible reports of corruption and abuse of
prisoners by guards. The National Corrections Department (DNC) has
authority to discipline prison guards with either penal or civil
sanctions, depending on the severity of the abuse. In practice,
however, few prisoners or detainees have sought redress for alleged
abuse by prison guards.
In April the prison system conducted its first prison census since the
1930's. In Modelo prison alone the Government discovered it was
detaining or holding as sentenced prisoners 135 more inmates than its
records had indicated. The Government admitted that it did not know
the corresponding judicial status of its inmates and detainees. The
census also revealed that because of nonexistent internal controls, as
many as 10 inmates had hired other inmates approaching release to assume
their identities and complete their remaining sentences.
The census revealed that Modelo and Colon Prisons had prison populations
more than three times their designed capacities. Conditions in Modelo
are reportedly so overcrowded that prisoners have to sling their
hammocks up in the bathrooms, and in the main gallery hammocks are
stacked five high. Panama's bishops issued a communique recommending
the closing of Modelo prison which they termed "medieval" and
recommended expediting the trial process.
As of November, the 1,000-bed La Joya facility, which still lacks
furniture, sufficient potable water, and a trained administrative staff,
housed approximately 788 inmates and detainees. Prisoners were
transferred gradually from Modelo to La Joya. The assignment in January
of former 1970's human rights violator and Noriega-era intelligence
official Fitz Gibson as deputy director of La Joya was a setback.
However, Gibson was on extended leave at the end of the year and there
were indications he would not return to any position in the Department
of Corrections.
New legislation aimed at relieving overcrowding by speeding the pace of
prosecution went into effect on July 1, but at year's end resulted in no
appreciable improvement in either case processing or prison
overcrowding. A new case tracking system has, however, shown a decrease
in case delays in the courts and with the prosecutors in the Public
Ministry.
With the exception of the small civil corrections staff at La Joya
prison, the DNC depends on PNP personnel, who are not properly trained,
to supply its guard force. Although the guard response to the riots at
Modelo prison in 1995 was generally restrained and appropriate, in some
cases guards used excessive force and random, close-quarters employment
of tear gas against inmates. The first class of approximately 140
corrections officers is undergoing training at the PNP Police Academy.
Conditions on Coiba Island Penal Colony continued to be deplorable.
Approximately 70 percent of the 277 prisoners await trial, and from all
accounts the majority will have served almost two-thirds of their
potential sentences before reaching trial. Prisoners and detainees
reportedly suffer greatly from malnutrition and shortages of potable
water, and medical care is practically nonexistent. Coiba has a
civilian administrator, but its guard force still consists of police
guards instead of civilian correctional officers. Geographic isolation,
plus lack of communications, has separated detainees from their
attorneys and caused many to miss trials. Escapes from Coiba are
common. The Government did not send any new prisoners to Coiba as a
preliminary step to closing it.
Conditions at women's prisons were somewhat better. In 1995 the
Government closed the isolation cells formerly used for punishment and
expanded the trades-based rehabilitation program. Still, there were
credible allegations that guards and staff at the Women's Rehabilitation
Center (CFR) sexually abused female detainees and convicts. Female
prisoners, especially those in the primary detention area, reportedly
suffered from overcrowding and poor medical care. The Government took
no action to investigate these allegations. There was also no progress
in the prosecution of the former CFR director, due to a lack of
evidence.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The Constitution stipulates that arrests must be carried out with a
warrant issued by the relevant authorities, except when the officer
apprehends a person during the commission of a crime. The law requires
the arresting officer to inform the detainee immediately of the reasons
for arrest or detention and of the right to immediate legal counsel, to
be provided by the State for the indigent.
In response to the outbreak of violence during the August strikes, the
Government arrested and imprisoned hundreds of strikers based on hasty,
quasi-trial judicial procedures administered by local misdemeanor judges
(corregidors) and without adequate defense representation. Authorities
released all the detainees after 5 days, except for a handful who were
held pending charges. These were extraordinary measures to deal with an
extraordinary situation, but the Government clearly violated the
detainees' rights to due process in an effort to project a tough stance
in the confrontation.
The Constitution also provides for judicial review of the legality of
detention and mandates the immediate release of any person detained or
arrested illegally. The law prohibits police from detaining suspects
for more than 24 hours without bringing them before a competent
authority. In practice, the authorities often violated the 24-hour time
limit by several days. The preliminary investigation phase often lasts
from 2 to 4 months, due to extensions granted by the Public Ministry and
additional communications with the court. While the Public Ministry can
legally grant extensions up to 14 months in most cases, it often allows
case processing to exceed the approved extensions, leaving the accused
incommunicado in detention. Insufficient resources, and a slow,
inadequate notification phase exacerbate the problem.
Extended pretrial detention continued to be one of Panama's most serious
human rights problems, although the percentage of defendants detained
past legally required trial deadlines decreased from 1994. The
elaborate notification phase in criminal cases continues to be one of
the chief factors contributing to long case delays. According to
government statistics, pretrial detainees composed approximately 78
percent of the prison population. Almost 25 percent of the total prison
population is under detention beyond legally permissible time limits.
According to public defenders, the average period of pretrial custody
for a defendant was approximately 16 months; pretrial detention in
excess of the maximum sentence for the alleged crime was common. A
legal mechanism exists to hold the Government accountable in cases where
a detainee spends a significant amount of time incarcerated only to be
found not guilty. Although the redress procedure is not excessively
complicated, few former detainees have sought redress for their time in
detention.
The Constitution prohibits exile, and there were no reports of forced
exile.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The President appoints nine Supreme Court magistrates to 10-year terms,
subject to Legislative Assembly confirmation. The Supreme Court
magistrates appoint appellate (superior) court judges, who, in turn,
appoint circuit and municipal court judges in their respective
jurisdictions. The Attorney General, who heads the Public Ministry
jointly with the Solicitor General, appoints the superior and circuit
level prosecutors.
At the local level, mayors appoint administrative judges who exercise
jurisdiction over minor civil and criminal cases in which they may
impose fines or sentences of up to 1 year. This system has serious
shortcomings. For example, defendants lack adequate procedural
safeguards, the officials need not be (and normally are not) attorneys,
and some engage in corrupt practices. In reality, appeal procedures are
nonexistent. More affluent defendants tend to pay fines while poorer
defendants go to jail, one of the chief factors leading to current
prison overcrowding.
The Constitution provides that persons charged with crimes have the
right to counsel and are presumed innocent until proven guilty. If not
under pretrial detention, the accused may be present with counsel during
the investigative phase of the proceeding. Judges can order the
presence of pretrial detainees for the rendering of statements,
amplifications, or confrontation of witnesses. Trial proceedings are
conducted orally with the accused present. The Constitution establishes
trial by jury in some circumstances, primarily in capital and serious
felony cases; by law, however, jury trials are not an option in most
cases.
The Constitution obliges the Government to provide public defenders for
the indigent. Although many public defenders are still not appointed
until after the investigative phase of the case, many more public
defenders than in past years were assigned to cases prior to
commencement of the investigative phase, increasing the defense's
opportunity to present evidence. Public defenders' caseloads remained
staggering, numbering hundreds of cases per attorney and seriously
undermining the quality of representation. At the same time, reliable
reports suggest an increased number of acquittals as a result of the
work of public defenders.
Trial activity was not only hampered by budgetary shortfalls, the
judicial system was also undercut by narcotics related judicial
corruption. In July the Attorney General dismissed a judge because of
her alleged improper return of seized funds to a Colombian narcotics
trafficker. The Attorney General is also investigating other judicial
branch and Justice Ministry officials on similar grounds.
The judicial system continued to prosecute those responsible for human
rights and other abuses committed during the Noriega period. The
Government brought to trial, convicted, or sentenced several notorious
defendants, but juries found most not guilty. For example, despite
eyewitnesses, convincing autopsy reports, and video footage of the
attack, in March a jury found Noriega-era, ex-military sergeant,
Oliverio "Gonzalito" Gonzalez, not guilty in the 1989 street killing of
a prominent opposition leader's bodyguard. In July a jury found Manuel
Antonio Noriega and three of six codefendants innocent of murder in the
infamous 1989 Albrook Massacre case (during which a number of officers
and enlisted men were summarily executed without trial for attempting to
overthrow the dictator), choosing to find guilty of murder only those
three defendants tried in absentia. This surprising outcome, coupled
with the earlier public disappointment from the not guilty verdict in
the March "Gonzalito" case, prompted high-level government leaders,
including the Attorney General and the Supreme Court Chief Magistrate,
to join public calls for jury trial reform.
There were no reports of political prisoners, although acting President
Thomas Gabriel Altamirano Duque issued 139 pardons in September claiming
that some of the individuals pardoned were political detainees.
Included in the list of 139 was Marcos Justine, who had served under
Noriega as the last Chief of Staff of the Panama Defense Forces, and was
accused of grand embezzlement.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
The Constitution provides for the inviolability of the home and
communications. The authorities may not examine personal documents,
monitor communications, or enter and search private residences except by
written order. However, there were credible complaints that the police
failed to follow legal requirements for arrest and search warrants and
instead conducted indiscriminate searches of entire apartment buildings
or housing complexes. Police involvement in crime rings also blurred
distinctions between improper searches and attempted theft.
Despite the view of some that the Constitution prohibits all
wiretapping, the Government maintains that wiretapping with judicial
branch approval is legal. Under the guidelines established by new
antinarcotics legislation passed in July 1994, the Public Ministry may
engage in undercover operations, including "videotaping and recording of
conversations." The Supreme Court will ultimately have to decide
whether wiretapping is constitutional and, if so, under what
circumstances.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and press and the
Government generally respects these rights in practice. Five national
daily newspapers, 3 commercial television stations, 2 educational
television stations, and over 95 radio stations provide a broad choice
of informational sources; all are privately or institutionally owned.
While many media outlets took identifiable editorial positions, the
media carried a wide variety of political commentaries and other
perspectives, both local and foreign. Panamanian and foreign
journalists worked and traveled freely throughout the country, and the
population had access to foreign media.
There were a few cases of government harassment of journalists, such as
barring individual journalists from covering government events and
pressure on the management of certain television stations to modify
their programming. The Government has legal authority to place both
direct and indirect restrictions on the media, and use of informal
pressure on the media was common. Most media censor themselves, a
practice deeply ingrained in a close-knit society, whose leadership is
built on interlocking family, marital, and commercial ties.
The Government stopped advertising in La Estrella de Panama newspaper in
May shortly before First Vice President Tomas Altamirano Duque was
replaced as director of the daily. According to management of La
Estrella, this put the newspaper in financial difficulty. During its
assembly in October, the Inter-American Press Society (SIP) accused the
Government of violating the liberty of the press and practicing economic
harassment against La Estrella. An SIP delegation visited Panama in
mid-December to urge fair treatment; the delegation was received by the
President who restated government commitment to freedom of the press.
The President filed a libel suit in November against La Estrella in
response to an editorial which was mildly critical of the Government,
but dropped the suit a few weeks later.
A special executive branch authority has discretionary powers to
administer the libel laws which provide for fines and up to 2 years in
prison. Opinions, comments, or criticism of government officials acting
in their official capacity are specifically exempted from libel
prosecution, but a section of the law allows for the immediate
discipline of journalists who show "disrespect" for the office of
certain government officials. While this section of the law was not
used during the year, its existence inhibits some writers' self-
expression.
Current press laws allow for the establishment of a censorship board.
There were no reports of the board taking any restrictive actions in
1995.
The law provides for academic freedom, which was freely exercised in
both public and private universities.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Constitution provides for the rights of peaceful assembly and
association, and the Government generally respects these rights. No
authorization is needed for outdoor assembly, although prior
notification for administrative purposes is required. Citizens have the
right to form associations and professional or civic groups without
government interference. They may form and organize political parties
as they like, though parties must meet membership and organizational
standards in order to gain official recognition and participate in
national campaigns.
During August trade unions and other citizens gathered and marched to
protest proposed labor reforms. There were no reported instances of
inappropriate government action against such marches. Police arrests
and efforts to disperse marching strikers generally were limited to
instances in which strikers sought to close roads and attacked
monitoring police units with rocks and Molotov cocktails.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government
respects this right in practice. Clerics are constitutionally
prohibited from holding public office, except as related to social
assistance, education, or scientific research.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation
The Constitution provides for these rights, and the Government respects
them in practice. A 9 p.m. curfew for minors under 18 years of age in
Panama province, imposed in 1992, remained in effect although police
enforced it unevenly, mainly in high-crime areas. There were no cases
of forcible repatriation of refugees or asylees.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides for a representative democracy with direct
popular election by secret ballot of the President, two Vice Presidents,
legislators, and local representatives every 5 years. The independent
National Electoral Tribunal arranges and supervises elections. The
Government respected the rights of its citizens to join any political
party, propagate their views, and vote for candidates of their choice.
There are no legal barriers to participation by women or people of
African, Asian, or indigenous descent, but in fact their presence in
senior leadership positions in government or political parties is not
proportionate to their numbers within society. However, representatives
of these groups are increasingly visible in midlevel political and
governmental positions. In 1994 a woman ran for President and finished
second with over 28 percent of the vote. The Legislative Assembly's
1994-95 president was a woman; the Panama provincial Governor and Panama
City's mayor are both women. Women hold 5 of 72 Legislative Assembly
seats and 3 of 11 Cabinet positions.
The Government provides semiautonomous status to several indigenous
groups in their homelands, including the San Blas, Madugandi, and Darien
Embera-Wounaan reserves. The San Blas groups have two representatives
in the Legislative Assembly, proportionate to their share of the
population. Locally, the reserve is governed by tribal chiefs, who meet
in a general congress twice a year. Neither the Madugandi nor the
Embera-Wounaan reserve has its own dedicated legislators, but each has a
separate Governor.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
Human rights organizations, including both religious and secular groups,
generally operated without governmental restrictions. These
organizations carried out a full range of activities, including
investigations and dissemination of their findings. Human rights
advocates generally had free access to government officials while
investigating complaints. A U.N. team investigating housing
displacement traveled freely throughout Panama.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disability,
Language, or Social Status
The Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, birth
status, social class, sex, religion, or political views. Nevertheless,
Panamanian society, particularly its upper class, still harbors many
prejudices based primarily on race, sex, and social status.
Women
Domestic violence against women continued to be a serious problem. In
January local justices in San Miguelito, a densely populated suburb of
Panama City, estimated that they process almost 30 domestic violence
cases a day; formal statistics indicated that they judged 517 domestic
violence cases during a 2-month period in 1994. These statistics
probably underestimate the problem. A late-1993 report by the reputable
Center for the Development of the Woman estimated that victims report as
few as 20 percent of sexual assaults to judicial or law enforcement
authorities. The Foundation for the Promotion of the Woman, among other
women's advocacy groups and government agencies, operated programs to
assist victims of such abuse. The Government ratified the Inter-
American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of
Violence against Women in July.
Women generally do not enjoy the same economic opportunities as men.
Until 1995, the law did not recognize property in common, and divorced
or deserted women are often left destitute. The new Family Code
promulgated in April recognizes for the first time joint or common
property in marriages. However, the Government has not committed
sufficient funding to provide enough judges and administrative resources
to enforce the new Code's provisions.
The Constitution mandates equal pay for equal work, but wages paid to
women are often lower than those for equivalent work performed by men
and increase at a slower rate. A 1994 U.N. report noted that women
occupy only 4 percent of the managerial positions in Panama. Although
statistics are lacking, there are credible reports of sexual harassment,
firings for pregnancy, and hiring practices based on age and
"attractiveness."
A number of private women's rights groups, including groups for
indigenous women, concentrate on disseminating information about women's
rights, countering domestic abuse, enhancing employment and other
skills, and pressing for legal reforms. Indigenous women vocally
criticized male government administrators and politicians for
overlooking indigenous women's rights.
In May the Perez Balladares Administration created a National Council of
the Woman to administer an Executive Office of Women's Affairs in the
Labor and Social Welfare Ministry. It is unclear whether this new
office will subsume the Women's Department created in July 1993 by the
Labor and Social Welfare Ministry. The Government gave that office
little funding, and it has been relatively ineffective.
In addition to domestic violence, sexual harassment is a serious threat
to the equal status of women in Panamanian society. A reliable report
from the Latin-American Committee for the Defense of Women revealed in
1995 that up to 70 percent of female government employees had been
sexually harassed in the workplace; 42 percent by their immediate
supervisors and 18 percent by even more senior supervisors. In March
the Legislative Assembly failed to approve a sexual harassment bill that
would "prevent, prohibit, penalize, and eradicate sexual harassment in
the workplace and educational sector." Officials relieved several
academics and administrators of their positions at the University of
Panama for sexual harassment.
Children
The Tutelar de Menores, a juvenile authority with additional
administrative roles, plays a role in the protection and care of minors,
but the Government has no specific office charged with protecting
children's rights. A women's advocacy group reported in 1994 that 72
percent of children are born from nonstable, short-term relationships.
Many children suffer from malnutrition, neglect, and inadequate medical
care. Juvenile courts report a high incidence of juvenile delinquency
in major urban areas. The new Family Code placed juvenile court
authority, including rehabilitation programs, orphan care authority, and
juvenile detention authority, under the Supreme Court. It also
clarified reporting authority and strengthened preventive protection
powers in suspected juvenile-abuse cases. While it also aimed to create
a mechanism to record and report suspected domestic violence cases
involving minors, budgetary shortfalls hampered the new bureaucracy's
efforts to implement the reporting program.
People With Disabilities
The Workers with Disabilities Office of the Department of Labor and
Social Welfare is responsible for government policy and support for
citizens with disabilities and for placing qualified disabled workers
with employers. The office was in charge of implementing a June 1993
executive order which provided employers with tax incentives for hiring
people with disabilities but has had only minimal success. Although
some public buildings and retail stores have access ramps for disabled
people, no law or regulation compels the installation of ramps or other
easy-access features in public or private buildings. It is not likely
that the Government will fund construction or modification projects
providing access for the disabled in a significant way, and members of
this group will remain disadvantaged.
Indigenous People
Indigenous people number approximately 194,000 (8 percent of the
population) and theoretically have the same political and legal rights
as other citizens. The Constitution protects the ethnic identity and
native languages of indigenous people, requiring the Government to
provide bilingual literacy programs in indigenous communities.
Indigenous people have legal rights and take part in decisions affecting
their lands, cultures, traditions, and the allocation of natural
resources. The Family Code recognizes traditional indigenous cultural
marriage rites as the equivalent of a civil ceremony. The Ministry of
Government and Justice maintains a Directorate of Indigenous Policy.
The Legislative Assembly also has an indigenous affairs commission to
address charges that the Government has neglected indigenous needs.
Despite legal protection and formal equality, indigenous people
generally endure relatively higher levels of poverty, disease,
malnutrition, and illiteracy than the rest of the population.
Discrimination is widespread. Since indigenous populations infrequently
master Spanish well enough to use appropriate legal terminology, they
often have difficulty understanding their rights under the Legal Code
and defending themselves in court.
Panama's indigenous population, particularly Ngobe-Bugle, has grown
increasingly vocal in requesting that the Government grant them more
autonomy by creating more indigenous reserves or expanding existing
ones. A general standoff has existed between Government and indigenous
reserve status negotiators. Ngobe-Bugle groups complained that private
landholders restricted access to claimed tribal lands. The Government
supported the landholders' claims that legal leases were still in effect
based on prior indigenous members' sales of the property to private
individuals. The Ngobe-Bugle perception that talks had stalemated led
to a brief, yet nasty confrontation in Veraguas Province in April.
Although the police used tear gas to disperse Ngobe-Bugle tribal members
armed with machetes, they acted in a restrained fashion. However, the
Government's subsequent summary arrest and arbitrary transfer and
detention of several tribal members, including a minor, raised questions
of a lack of justice for marginalized social groups. Indigenous leaders
denounced the Government's treatment of the Ngobe-Bugle and raised the
matter with the United Nations Indigenous Groups' Commission in Geneva.
The Commission has yet to take action on the complaint.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
The law prohibits discrimination against any social, religious, or
cultural group; however, naturalized citizens may not hold certain
categories of elective office. Anecdotal evidence indicates that a
constitutional provision reserving retail trade to Panamanian citizens
originally was directed at Chinese immigrants, but Government officials
have stated that it serves as a barrier to keep foreign retail chains
from operating in Panama. The measure is not enforced in practice,
however. Chinese, Middle Eastern, and Indian residents, as well as
Panamanians of Chinese and Indian descent, operate much of the retail
trade, particularly in urban areas.
Leaders of the over 100,000-member East Asian and South Asian
communities credibly claimed that Panamanian elites treat Panamanian-
resident Chinese and Indians as well as Panamanian citizens of Asian
origin as second-class citizens.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
Private sector workers have the right to form and join unions of their
choice, subject to registration by the Government. A Labor Code reform
package signed on August 14 significantly increased workers' ability to
establish unions. The reforms streamline the accreditation and
registration process for unions, reduce the minimum size from 50 to 40
workers and cut the Government's required response time on applications
from 2 months to 15 days. In the event the Government does not respond
within this time frame, the union will automatically be recognized and
accorded all rights and privileges under the law.
Neither the Government nor the political parties control or financially
support any unions. This was demonstrated when virtually all unions
struck--with the notable exception of the transportation workers--for at
least a brief period against the Government's Labor Code reform
proposals. During debate on the Labor Code, militant labor unions took
to the streets to agitate against its passage. Confrontation ensued
between the police and workers that resulted in numerous injuries to
both sides and over 400 workers arrested. Most of them were released
after a few days.
According to Ministry of Labor statistics, approximately 10 percent of
the total employed labor force is organized. There are 257 active
unions, grouped under 6 confederations and 48 federations representing
approximately 73,300 members in the private sector. Union organizations
at every level may and do affiliate with international bodies.
The Civil Service Law of June 20, 1994, permits most government workers
to form public employee associations and federations and establishes
their right to represent members in collective bargaining with their
respective agencies. It also provides most workers with the right to
strike, except for certain government workers in areas vital to public
welfare and security, such as the police and health workers and those
employed by the U.S. military forces and the Panama Canal Commission.
Public sector workers are lobbying the Government to have their
associations accorded formal "union" status.
The new Labor Code addressed some longstanding concerns of the
International Labor Organization (ILO). The Code no longer makes labor
leaders automatically ineligible to keep their union positions if they
are fired from their jobs.
There were many private sector strikes; the most significant by a
coalition of 49 unions led by the construction workers and banana
workers against the Government's labor reform proposals. Most national
confederations briefly joined this coalition to add pressure on the
Government to adopt more labor-friendly legislation.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The Labor Code provides most workers with the right to organize and
bargain collectively, and unions widely exercise it. The law protects
union workers from antiunion discrimination and requires employers to
reinstate workers fired for union activities. The Ministry of Labor has
mechanisms to resolve complaints against antiunion employers. The new
Civil Service Law allows most public employees to organize and bargain
collectively and grants them a limited right to strike. The Labor Code
establishes a conciliation board in the Ministry of Labor to resolve
labor complaints and provides a procedure for arbitration.
Employers commonly hire temporary workers to circumvent onerous labor
code requirements for permanent workers; such temporary workers receive
neither pensions nor other benefits. The practice of blank contracts
is, according to union sources, becoming more widespread. The new labor
legislation addresses this problem by requiring all companies to submit
copies of all labor contracts for permanent workers to the Labor
Ministry and by requiring the Labor Ministry to conduct periodic
inspections of companies' work forces and review all contracts to ensure
that they are in order. The new Code also authorizes the Labor Ministry
to levy fines against companies not in compliance with the law.
Labor law applies equally to export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The Labor Code prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and neither
practice was reported.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The Labor Code prohibits the employment of children under 14 years of
age as well as those under 15 if the child has not completed primary
school; children under 16 cannot work overtime; those under 18 cannot
perform night work. Children between the ages of 12 and 15 may perform
farm or domestic labor as long as the work is light and does not
interfere with the child's schooling. The Ministry of Labor enforces
these provisions in response to complaints and may order the termination
of unauthorized employment. The Government has not enforced child labor
provisions in rural areas, claiming insufficient staff. Accord to a
recent ILO report, 11,600 children between the ages of 10 and 14 are in
the labor force--primarily in farm or domestic labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The Labor Code establishes a standard work week of 48 hours and provides
for at least one 24-hour rest period weekly. It also establishes
minimum-wage rates for specific regions and for most categories of
labor. The minimum wage, last increased in January 1993, is $1.00 per
hour in the districts of Panama, Colon, and San Miguelito, and for
workers in financial services. It is not enough to support a family
above the poverty level in the relatively high-cost economy. Most
workers formally employed in urban areas earn the minimum wage or above,
but most workers in the large informal sector earn below the minimum
wage. Unions have repeatedly alleged that contractors operating in the
Panama Canal area pay less than the required minimum wage. The Ministry
of Labor does not adequately enforce minimum wage law, due to
insufficient personnel and financial resources.
The Government sets and enforces occupational health and safety
standards. An occupational health section in the Social Security System
is responsible for conducting periodic inspections of especially
hazardous employment sites, such as those in the construction industry,
as well as inspecting health and safety standards in response to union
or worker requests. The law protects from dismissal workers who file
requests for health and safety inspections. Workers also have the
right to remove themselves from situations that present an immediate
health or safety hazard without jeopardizing their employment. They are
generally not allowed to do so if the threat is not immediate, but may
request a health and safety inspection to determine the extent and
nature of the hazard. The Ministry of Labor is responsible for
enforcing health and safety violations and generally does so. The
standards are fairly encompassing and generally emphasize safety over
long-term health hazards, according to organized labor sources. Health
problems, however, continue in the banana industry as well as the cement
and milling industries.
(###)
[end of document]
Return
to 1995 Human Rights Practices report home page.
Return to DOSFAN
home page.
This is an official U.S. Government source
for information on the WWW. Inclusion of non-U.S. Government links
does not imply endorsement of contents.