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Title: Peru Human Rights Practices, 1995
Author: U.S. Department of State
Date: March 1996
PERU
Peru is a multiparty republic with a dominant executive branch headed by
President Alberto Fujimori. Fujimori was reelected to a second 5-year
term in free and fair elections on April 9 under provisions of a new
Constitution enacted in 1993. The President's party also won control of
the new Congress and holds 67 of its 120 seats.
The police and military share security duties. Since 1980 much of their
effort has been directed against Sendero Luminoso and other terrorist
groups. These groups have now declined as a major internal threat, and
terrorist attacks took place with less frequency than in previous years.
Although members of the security forces committed human rights abuses,
levels were lower than in previous years. The Sendero Luminoso and
other terrorists were responsible for numerous killings.
Peru's economy is rapidly changing its emphasis from heavy regulation to
an extreme market orientation. Government controls on capital flows,
prices, and trade have been eliminated. The Government has privatized
most state enterprises, and those remaining are scheduled to be sold by
the end of 1996. The current gross domestic product is estimated at
$32.5 billion. Major exports include minerals (principally copper),
fishmeal, and textiles. Illegal exports of processed coca are thought
to have earned about $600-$800 million in past years. As in 1994, Peru
was projected to report a favorable balance of payments in 1995 due to
continued large capital inflows of direct and portfolio investments
despite the growing trade deficit. Unemployment is around 9 percent,
but more than half of the economically active population work in the
informal sector of the economy, which largely operates beyond government
supervision and taxation. The percentage of the population officially
defined as poor declined from over 50 percent to about 45 percent.
Roughly half of the poor live in extreme poverty.
As government counterinsurgency policies became increasingly effective
and the threat from Sendero Luminoso declined, the human rights
situation continued to improve. There was a marked decrease in the
number of extrajudicial killings and disappearances attributable to the
security forces. Despite this improvement, lack of accountability and
due process, prolonged detention, trial delays, and torture remained
problems; emergency zone status--which provides for the suspension of
certain constitutional guarantees in areas of high terrorist activity--
remained in effect in Lima and several other provinces, affecting 44
percent of Peru's 23.5 million people. Congressional passage of the
Amnesty Law on June 14 absolved those in the security forces who
committed human rights abuses while combating terrorism from May 1980 to
June 1995. The summary manner in which this and other laws were passed,
without full notice and debate in the country's unicameral Parliament,
revived concerns about an authoritarian approach to governance. In
October a Supreme Court tribunal upheld the constitutionality of the
Amnesty Law in the 1991 Barrios Altos massacre case.
The Government continued to detain up to 600 persons on terrorism
charges based on unsubstantiated accusations by terrorists who repented
before November 1, 1994; many of these detainees have already been held
for years with their cases unresolved. Nongovernmental human rights
organizations represent approximately 700 individuals believed to have
been wrongfully charged with terrorism and treason. Civilian terrorism
trials by "faceless" judges were due to end on October 15, but Congress
passed new legislation in early October extending their use for 1 more
year. The Government continued efforts to improve prison conditions,
but these remain inadequate. The Congress passed a law in July defining
the duties of the constitutionally mandated "Defender of the People" (a
human rights ombudsman). However, it has not yet named someone to the
position. Violence against women and children and discrimination
against minorities and the disabled are problems.
Sendero Luminoso and members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
(MRTA) were responsible for 232 killings, including 7 deaths from car
bomb attacks.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killings
Since 1980 Peru has suffered a bloody guerrilla war waged by the
terrorist groups Sendero Luminoso and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary
Movement (MRTA). Sendero activity decreased dramatically in 1995 and
security forces continue to arrest the remaining Sendero terrorists.
Statistics compiled by the National Coordinating Committee for Human
Rights (Coordinadora), an umbrella group of forty nongovernmental human
rights organizations, showed that the security forces were responsible
for one extrajudicial killing. This figure is much smaller than the 39
killings reported for 1994 and substantially smaller than the number of
killings which took place at the height of the insurgency in 1992, when
the Coordinadora estimated that the security forces were responsible for
114 extrajudicial killings.
Joel Huaman Garcia, age 19, was detained by police in Cerro de Pasco on
May 26 and died in custody the following day. An autopsy showed that
Huaman had died from torture and beatings.
Police officers Edson Condor Arredondo, Rolando Huere Ore, and Wilson
Torralva Davila face criminal charges for Huaman's killing. In Ucayali
department, in the only death the Coordinadora considered extrajudicial
(others were due to torture and beatings), 16-year-old Indalecio
Pomatanta Albarcan died on April 6 as a result of burns after naval
personnel tried to arrest him at home on April 2. Navy personnel
acknowledged abandoning Pomatanta after the burning incident. They
claimed that Pomatanta as well as one of their own men suffered burns
after accidentally being drenched by fuel near an open fire. A group of
soldiers beat to death 21-year-old Wilder Alex Osorio in May in Pasco
department. In September Jose Eugenio Chamaya Rumacharis died in police
custody after they subjected him to water torture in a Lima police
station. The Public Ministry is investigating the actions of two police
officers in the Chamaya case.
The passage of the Amnesty Law on June 14 created considerable concern
over military and police impunity for past abuses. This law, which
granted amnesty from prosecution to those who committed human rights
abuses during the war on terrorism from May 1980 to June 1995, as well
as to those who participated in the November 1992 coup attempt, was
presented and passed by the Congress in one night with no time provided
for national debate. The law also cleared the records of security force
personnel who had already been convicted of human rights abuses,
including the eight military perpetrators of the 1992 La Cantuta
massacre, who were sentenced in 1994 but released by military
authorities a few days after the Amnesty Law's passage. In addition, 10
police officers were granted amnesty on June 16 for their role in the
1986 Lurigancho prison massacre, in which some 200 prisoners died.
Relatives of the La Cantuta massacre victims announced in late October
that the military had agreed to pay them over 1 million dollars as an
indemnity in accordance with a decree issued by the military court which
sentenced the perpetrators of the massacre.
First-instance Judge Antonia Saquicuray ruled on June 16 that the
Amnesty Law did not apply to the 1991 Barrios Altos massacre case, in
which military personnel killed 15 people including an 8-year-old child.
She also disallowed an effort by lawyers for the accused to have a
civilian investigation of the case dropped. After a superior court
overturned her ruling, relatives of the massacre victims appealed the
superior court decision to the Supreme Court, which in a divided
decision in October upheld the constitutionality of the Amnesty Law. In
response to Saquicuray's ruling, the Congress passed a controversial law
on June 28 which stated that the judiciary had no right to review the
constitutionality of the Amnesty Law.
In two cases a civilian superior court denied requests by military and
police officers for amnesty, ruling that their crimes were not committed
in the course of antiterrorist activities. On August 14, a superior
court in Puno decided that the Amnesty Law did not apply to four
military officers convicted in civilian courts of the assault and armed
robbery of civilians near Juli and Ayaviri in December 1992. In
September a superior court in Callao ruled that the Amnesty Law did not
apply to the five police officers charged in the 1991 killings of
university student Carlos Rodriguez Pighi and brothers Emilio and Rafael
Gomez Paquillauri. Three of the police officers were sentenced to 15 to
18 years in 1994; the other two were never arrested and are believed to
have fled the country.
The Congress never concluded its investigation of the extrajudicial
killings which occurred in 1994 in Huanuco as a result of the army's
"Operation Aries." The Public Ministry's investigation into these
killings was effectively closed when Congress passed the Amnesty Law.
In February then Justice Minister Fernando Vega stated to the United
Nations Human Rights Commission that during the previous 7 years, 108
officers and 453 noncommissioned officers had been punished for
committing human rights abuses. Of these, Vega said that 28 officers
and 151 noncommissioned officers were given prison sentences.
In the few areas of Peru where it continues to operate, Sendero Luminoso
continues to assassinate civilians who oppose it.
b. Disappearance
The Coordinadora is investigating whether 4 more disappearances occured
in Huanuco department, in addition to the 10 cases of disappearance it
recorded during the year. Either number represents a vast improvement
over the mid- and late-1980's and early 1990's, at the height of the
Sendero Luminoso insurgency, when the military and police caused
hundreds of persons to disappear. The use since 1992 of military courts
to try those accused of terrorism has resulted in a high conviction rate
and has contributed to a significant decrease in disappearances and
extrajudicial killings. Of the nine disappearance cases, seven occurred
in Ucayali department and two in Lima department, both emergency zones
where the insurgents have been most active. In addition, a few
disappearances from previous years came to light in 1995.
The seven disappearances in Ucayali department involved persons detained
by naval personnel in front of witnesses. For example, Marcial
Hernandez Melgarejo was detained together with Wilder Ahuanari Canayo on
February 13 in Caserio Raya Rio Aguaytia. While Ahuanari was later
released, Hernandez has not been seen or heard from since his detention.
Despite the credibility of these disappearance reports, navy authorities
in Ucayali assert that they know of no instance during 1995 in which
navy personnel have been responsible in any manner for the disappearance
of any citizen.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment
Although the Constitution prohibits torture and inhuman or humiliating
treatment, torture and brutal treatment of detainees are common.
Eyewitnesses and human rights monitors reported that government security
forces still routinely tortured suspected subversives at military and
police detention centers.
Torture most often takes place in the period immediately following
detention. The law permits police to hold terrorism suspects
incommunicado for 15 days, and for another 15-day period in cases of
treason. Human rights groups report that the incidence of torture is
high during this time, partly because detainees are not allowed access
to family or an attorney except when giving sworn statements to the
public prosecutor.
Besides beatings, common methods of torture included electric shock,
water torture, asphyxiation, and the hanging of detainees by a rope
attached to their hands tied behind the back. Common forms of
psychological torture included sleep deprivation and death threats
against both detainees and their families. Interrogators frequently
blindfold their victims during torture to prevent them from later
identifying their abusers.
Credible sources reported that torture by security forces in emergency
zones is still common. In Ucayali department, Tomas Flores Huanio was
allegedly beaten and tortured for several days after being detained on
April 19 for possession of cocaine base at the naval base in Contamana,
before being taken to a hospital on April 23. The following day Flores
was taken to a civilian jail despite still suffering from injuries
related to torture. Navy personnel assert, however, that Flores was not
tortured, but had injured himself by banging his head on an object in
his detention cell.
Reports of police and military rape of female detainees occurred, and
cases from previous years continued to come to light. While the number
of those raped by security personnel during the past year is difficult
to determine, credible reports indicate the total number of female
detainees raped during the past few years to be in the hundreds.
According to CEAPAZ, a nongovernmental human rights organization, in one
1993 prison rape in La Merced, a pregnant 15-year-old detainee, who had
unwittingly married an MRTA terrorist, was infected with AIDS by a
member of the security forces. Despite the April antiterrorism
legislation which required that an adolescent be transferred to a
juvenile detention facility, the victim remained detained as an adult
terrorist in Huamancacca prison in Huancayo department until her release
in September. She received no medical attention for her AIDS condition
while she was in prison, and those responsible for her rape have not
been punished. After being absolved of terrorism charges and released
in October from Picsi prison in Chiclayo, environmentalist Maria Elena
Faronda claimed that two female detainees in Picsi prison had been raped
by security force personnel during the past year.
Many victims of Sendero Luminoso terrorism also showed signs of torture.
Credible accounts indicate that Sendero tortured people to death by
slitting throats, strangulation, stoning, and burning. Mutilation of
the body was common.
Conditions for many prisoners continued to be inadequate, even though
the Government continues to make a costly and extensive effort to
improve existing penal facilities, construct new penitentiaries, and
ameliorate the physical conditions of detention. The renovation of
Castro Castro Prison in Lima and Yanamayo Prison in Puno department in
1994 helped alleviate severe overcrowding in the prison system and
improved the physical conditions in which many inmates lived.
Nonetheless, prisoners in many facilities continued to experience
unsanitary conditions, poor nutrition and health care, and occasionally
harsh treatment by both prison staff and fellow inmates. Picsi prison
near Chiclayo, for example, holds twice the number of inmates for which
it was designed and still has no running water. Illegal drugs are in
abundance, and tuberculosis and AIDS are reportedly at near-epidemic
proportions in Lima's Lurigancho prison, the country's largest,
containing just over 24 percent of the male prison population. The
police chief at Lurigancho prison announced publicly in December that
there were 7 prisoners with AIDS and 37 with tuberculosis receiving
daily medical attention. He admitted that some of the prisoners had
contracted their illness while in prison. Detainees held temporarily in
windowless cells in Lima's Palace of Justice are not allowed outside for
exercise and fresh air and are taken to the bathroom only once a day.
Basic food, health care, and basic bedding are often not provided by the
prison authorities.
Corruption continued to be a problem among prison staff, who were
implicated in offenses such as sexual blackmail, selling narcotics and
weapons, and arranging escapes. Twenty-six employees of the National
Penitentiary Institute (INPE) were fired in October because they helped
three criminals escape from Callao Prison on September 6. In addition,
four INPE employees were dismissed in October for using undue violence
against a group of journalists who were covering the aftermath of the
September 6 prison escape. Prisoners often have to bribe guards to get
a mattress and report that guards subject inmates to beatings, torture,
and degrading treatment. In some prisons mothers who are detained for
terrorism, many of them later found innocent by the courts after years
of detention, are allowed to see their children and new-born infants
only once every 3 months for only half an hour.
The authorities continued to permit International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) representatives to visit detainees in any place of
detention, including prisons, jails, police stations, and military
bases. The Government provided the ICRC with regular access to
Ecuadorian soldiers detained by the Peruvian military during and after
the January-February border conflict, and the ICRC facilitated prisoner
transfers between Peru and Ecuador in March, June, and August.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The Constitution, Criminal Code, and antiterrorist legislation delineate
the arrest and detention process. However, a number of constitutional
protections are suspended in emergency zones. For example, security
forces do not need an arrest warrant; they may legally hold
incommunicado those detained for treason or terrorism and deny them
access to an attorney during the interrogation period, except when
giving formal statements.
In areas not subject to a state of emergency, the law requires a
judicial warrant for arrest, unless a perpetrator is caught in the act.
In addition, the Organic Law of the National Police is contrary to the
Constitution. It permits detention of an individual for any
investigation. Authorities must arraign persons arrested within 24
hours (a law they frequently violate according to informed observers),
except in cases of terrorism, drug trafficking, or espionage, for which
the limit is 15 to 30 days. If the military is the detaining authority,
it must turn over detainees to the civilian police within 24 hours (or
as soon as practicable in remote areas). The military regularly
disregarded this law.
The Public Ministry continued to inaugurate branch offices of the
National Registry of Detainees throughout Peru. The registry, first
opened in February 1994, records the names of those detained for
terrorism and treason by the police and military (in emergency zones).
However, relatives and human rights groups frequently complain that
registry information is incomplete and that the police and the military
have not been providing information to the registry in a timely manner.
A 1993 modification to antiterrorism legislation authorized first-
instance and superior court judges to order the unconditional release of
terrorism defendants if there is insufficient evidence to bring a case
against them. However, in practice, judges have rarely applied this
law; rather, persons accused of terrorism sometimes must wait until
their cases have been reviewed and dismissed by the Supreme Court before
they are freed, a process that often lasts more than a year. Another
1993 modification to the antiterrorist laws restored a detainee's right
to a prompt judicial determination of the legality of the detention
("habeas corpus"). In practice, however, this has proven to be
ineffective. According to human rights attorneys, judges have denied
most requests for such hearings.
New problems emerged in cases where those who were declared innocent of
terrorism several years earlier were ordered rearrested due to problems
with the judicial case record. This usually occurred when a case file
included several individuals. For example, nine persons, including six
University of San Marcos law students, were acquitted of terrorism in
1993, and two others in the same file, graphic editor Pedro Valdez
Bernales and law student Filomeno Encarnacion Nieto, were found guilty
and sentenced to 20 years in prison. When the Supreme Court reviewed
the case in late 1994, mistakes were found in the case record and the
case was sent back to the superior court. As a result, arrest warrants
were issued for all the individuals in the case file, including those
found not guilty 2 years earlier. Carlos Isla, the only one still in
Peru, was rearrested on May 14. The others had fled the country. On
June 2, the superior court found all of those in the case file who were
alive not guilty, including Pedro Valdez, who had served 3 years in
prison. Filomeno Encarnacion had died on April 24 from tuberculosis,
which he had contracted in prison; he was also suffering from AIDS. In
its June 2 decision, the Court ruled that since Encarnacion was not
present it would reserve judgment until it had proof of his death.
According to INPE statistics, as of June, 76 percent of the country's
prison population--almost 16,000 of the almost 21,000 prisoners--
consisted of accused persons awaiting trial. The average delay between
arrest and trial in civilian cases as well as on criminal or terrorism
charges was between 26 and 36 months. However, those tried on treason
charges by military courts generally wait no longer than 40 days between
the time of detention and the beginning of the trial.
The Constitution does not permit exile, and the Government did not
practice involuntary exile of its citizens. General Rodolfo Robles, who
had been in voluntary exile in Argentina, returned to Peru in June after
the passage of the Amnesty Law which, in addition to granting amnesty to
human rights abusers, also forgave military officers for antigovernment
activities. Others, such as former President Alan Garcia, apparently
fled from what appeared to be legitimate criminal charges.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
Throughout Peruvian history, the judicial branch rarely has been fully
independent of the executive. However, the 1993 Constitution contains a
number of provisions, including an improved system for naming judges,
that provides for a significantly more independent judiciary. By
December 1994, a judicial honor tribunal had completed its review of the
Lima judiciary and prosecutors, having dismissed a large number of
provisional judges and prosecutors who were deemed unqualified.
The 1993 Constitution also provided for several new judicial
institutions to help create a more effective and independent system of
justice: an Office of the Defender of the People (a human rights
ombudsman); a Tribunal of Constitutional Guarantees (which would rule on
the constitutionality of legislation and government actions); the
National Judiciary Council (a permanent, independent entity in charge of
testing, naming, confirming, and periodically evaluating and
disciplining the country's judges and prosecutors); and a Judicial
Academy (to train judges and prosecutors).
While the Congress did finally pass a law defining the duties of the
Defender of the People in early May, it was withdrawn due to objections
by some congressmen and President Fujimori that it gave the Defender too
much potential authority to investigate the military. On July 13 the
Congress passed a revised law which eliminated mention of the armed
forces and laid out a procedure for confidential security-related
material to be passed to the Defender only if approved by the Ministers
of Defense or Interior, or by the Foreign Minister. Although President
Fujimori signed this law, the Congress did not approve with the required
two-thirds vote either of the two candidates for Defender submitted to
it in mid-December.
Efforts to name the members of the Tribunal of Constitutional Guarantees
stalled because members of the outgoing Congressional Constitutional
Committee could not agree on its candidates. The new Congress has not
yet decided on these nominations either; instead, it has created a
commission and charged it with naming both the members of the Tribunal
of Constitutional Guarantees and the Defender.
In office since January, the National Judiciary Council is an autonomous
body made up of seven members elected by such institutions as the
Supreme Court judges, the Supreme Court prosecutors, the country's bar
associations, and deans of public and private law schools. The Council
appointed two highly respected new Supreme Court prosecutors in
September, and began work on evaluating candidates to fill some 1,500
judicial vacancies around the country currently held by provisional
officers.
The Peruvian system of justice is generally based on the Napoleonic
Code. Judicial proceedings comprise three stages.
The first is before an examining judge; the second is conducted by a
superior court which tries and sentences the defendant; and the third is
before an appeals court. A Public Ministry prosecutor investigates
arrests and criminal complaints and then submits an opinion to a first-
instance judge, who decides whether to indict. Following study of the
case, the judge renders a verdict, which is then reviewed by a superior
court prosecutor. The superior court prosecutor then submits an
advisory opinion to a superior court judge, who holds a trial.
Virtually all civilian court convictions are appealed to the Supreme
Court.
Defendants have the right to be present at their trial, although there
were instances of trials in absentia of fugitives (however, a 1993
modification to antiterrorism laws eliminated convictions in absentia).
Although there were trials in absentia, they did not lead to
convictions, but to acquittals or judgments held in reserve until the
defendant was in custody. Defendants have the right to counsel, but the
Government often does not provide indigents with qualified attorneys.
Proceedings in military courts which hear terrorism and treason cases do
not meet internationally accepted standards for due process. Military
trials are closed to the public and are carried out in secrecy. Defense
attorneys do not have access to evidence, nor can they interview police
or military witnesses (to protect their identities) prior to or during
the trial. Many military judges are active duty line officers with no
legal background. Military tribunals in theory must pass judgment
within 10 days. A case may be appealed to the War Council, which has 10
days to make a decision. A final appeal to the Supreme Council of
Military Justice must be acted on within 5 days. However, this calendar
is subject to delays. Human rights groups charge that military judges
have sentenced some defendants before their lawyers were even notified
that the trial had begun.
According to Supreme Council of Military Justice statistics, between
1992 and August 1995, faceless military tribunals tried 1,031 cases of
treason. In those cases in which a verdict was reached, these tribunals
sentenced 267 individuals to life sentences, 217 persons to 30 years or
less, 179 cases were sent to civilian court terrorism trials, and 24
persons were absolved of all charges. In a public statement on August
11, President of the Supreme Council of Military Justice Guido Guevara
Guerra stated that the military justice system was willing to review any
case of a conviction for treason in which procedural errors could be
proved.
The Government did not abolish trials of terrorism cases on October 15
by anonymous superior court tribunals, as it had originally announced.
Human rights groups are concerned about cases sent by the military
justice system to the civilian courts even when there is no evidence to
prove the defendant guilty of treason or terrorism, since a terrorism
trial must begin all over again. For example, Jesus Chacaltana, a
medical doctor detained in January, was found innocent of treason by a
faceless military tribunal in April. The Supreme Council of Military
Justice, however, ruled in September that he must still be tried for
terrorism by a civilian court even though there was no evidence
connecting him to terrorist organizations.
In December the Congress passed the Criminal Procedures Code
legislation. This legislation will institute new accusatorial,
investigative, and trial procedures. Informed observers claimed that
the Government postponed passage of the new Code because the National
Police oppose provisions that would grant more investigative authority
to prosecutors; because the armed forces oppose a provision that would
allow prosecution of military personnel in civilian court for crimes
such as murder that do not come under the Military Code of Justice; and
because the Public Ministry was not prepared in terms of budget or
personnel to put the new Code into practice.
There were no reports of political prisoners. Members of Sendero
Luminoso and those detained on charges of terrorism--
however arbitrary in some instances--are not considered political
prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
The Constitution requires security forces to have a judicial warrant to
enter a private dwelling, but this requirement is suspended in the
emergency zones, and security forces in those areas routinely conduct
searches without a warrant. There were frequent credible reports of
illegal telephone monitoring.
A number of rural communities--with arms, training, and encouragement
from the army--have organized self-defense forces, or rondas, to protect
themselves against terrorist and bandit incursions. These have had a
noticeable impact on curbing Sendero's activity in certain areas of the
country. In some parts of Peru, rondas have existed for centuries as a
form of social organization to protect communities from invaders and
rustlers. However, military authorities organized many of the newer
rondas and sometimes coerced peasants into participating.
As a regular practice and to a far greater degree, Sendero has forced
peasants to join its military ranks, often for extended periods, and to
participate in terrorist attacks and executions.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in
Internal Conflicts
With the internal conflict winding down, reports of use of excessive
force by the military have declined significantly from previous years.
However, there were reports of excessive use of force by the military in
counterinsurgency operations against terrorists in Ucayali, San Martin,
and Huanuco departments. During operations in San Martin and Huanuco
departments, reports continued of arbitrary detentions by the military
in communities where Sendero Luminoso had entered and terrorized
residents.
During the January-February border conflict with Ecuador, several
citizens were killed or injured by mines planted along the border in the
densely populated coastal areas during the war. Soldiers also suffered
many casualties from unmarked and unmapped mining in the upper Cenepa
Valley.
Although both the army and Sendero Luminoso committed serious human
rights abuses in Peru's internal conflict, the latter was responsible
for many more heinous acts. Sendero frequently used arbitrary violence
against civilians and nonmilitary targets. It continued to detonate
powerful bombs in public places, indiscriminately killing and injuring
bystanders, and persisted in its practice of entering villages and
killing residents at random. Many of the victims were unarmed women and
children. Sendero Luminoso and MRTA were considered responsible for 232
killings, including 7 deaths from bomb attacks which also injured 44
people. In armed confrontations, Sendero never took prisoners or
attended to the wounded; its normal aim was to kill as many people as
possible. Sendero also practiced forced military conscription of
children; one of those arrested for planting a small explosive device in
Lima was only 15 years old.
Among the other high-profile Sendero attacks was a car bomb explosion on
May 24 in front of a hotel in the Miraflores section of Lima, which
killed five civilians. On July 1, a Sendero car bomb exploded in front
of the home of congressional Vice President Victor Joy Way, causing
severe damage and killing two police officers. Although Sendero planted
explosive devices near several embassies in Lima in March, no injuries
were sustained. A gunfight between security forces and MRTA terrorists
in Lima on the evening of November 30 resulted in the death of one
member of the security forces and three MRTA terrorists.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press. The
Government generally respected these provisions, although the Government
uses its economic power in the form of newspaper advertising purchases
to influence the press and is selective in allowing access to government
newsmakers, events, and information in order to exert some control over
the views expressed.
The media represent a wide spectrum of information and opinion, with 22
daily newspapers, 10 television stations, 3 cable systems, and 120 radio
stations in Lima alone. The media regularly criticize the Government
and its policies, although that criticism has noticeably lessened in the
last 3 years. The Government owns a daily newspaper, a television
network, and two radio stations, none of which are especially
influential.
Opposition political parties have access to the media. Television
stations, although generally progovernment, provide regular access to
opposition figures on a variety of news and public affairs programs.
The print press is divided between popular, largely apolitical tabloids
and more comprehensive editorial-bearing papers which at times
articulate positions in opposition to the Government's policies.
The enactment of Decree Law 26470 in June effectively eliminated the
applicability to the media of the 1993 Constitution's "habeas data"
provision. This measure had given any citizen a legal right and
mechanism to demand "rectification" for articles or reports he or she
considered libelous. Many journalists viewed this provision as a
potential tool to censor and harass the press. As a result of these
concerns, the Congress had voted overwhelmingly in August 1994 to remove
from the Constitution the portion of the "habeas data" clause related to
the press. This action was praised by local journalists, as well by the
Inter-American Press Society (SIP) which called the vote "an important
step towards full observance of press freedom." Since the changes
affected the Constitution, the measure did not become law until Congress
approved it a second time in a separate legislative session and the
President signed the measure.
During the January-February border conflict with Ecuador, journalists
complained about government restrictions. The Peruvian military rarely
allowed journalists access to the combat zone and reportedly destroyed
videotapes produced by journalists in the war zone. Nevertheless,
critics of government performance during the conflict enjoyed full
access to the press which regularly reported their views.
Three retired military officers, General Carlos Mauricio, General Walter
Ledesma, and Navy Captain Luis Mellet, were charged with "disloyalty"
and "insulting the nation" and detained in April and May for publicly
criticizing the military's handling of the war with Ecuador. Ledesma
and
Mellet were released after serving brief sentences; but Mauricio, whose
charges related to the release of classified information, was sentenced
to 14 months in prison. Mauricio was released as a result of the June
14 Amnesty Law, which also forgave retired military officers who had
publicly criticized the military's handling of the border conflict.
Several journalists were arrested by local authorities throughout the
year in the course of their work. La Republica journalist Clemente
Quinto Panez was jailed for 2 days in La Oroya after uncovering and
reporting the involvement of state mining company officials in a series
of robberies there. Yashin Salas, also of La Republica, was arrested by
Yurimaguas police while photographing a pickup truck loaded with
supplies for cocaine processing. Luis Laos Fascioli of El Comercio was
detained by customs agents who, in full view of a local magistrate in
Bujama, twice tried to seize the reporter's camera.
Two of the best known cases of imprisoned journalists are those of Jesus
Alfonso Castiglione and Javier Tuanama Valera. Castiglione, the former
director of Radio Amistad in Huacho, was sentenced to 20 years in prison
for terrorism despite a lack of evidence and pleas by international
human rights organizations. Tuanama, the former managing editor of the
Tarapoto daily Hechos has been detained for 5 years on various terrorism
charges, despite twice being acquitted, once on a charge that he took
part in a terrorist act committed after the date of his detention in
1990.
The Government exercised substantial influence over the media through
the placement of advertisements. Some media owners claimed that the
Government also encourages private advertisers to boycott opposition
publications and uses tax investigations to harass them. Many media
owners are involved in other economic activities that require government
licensing or involve bidding on government contracts. Opposition media
access to government information has been restricted. Government press
offices have refused to send news releases and other information to some
magazines and often limited opposition media access to official
transportation when the President visited remote parts of Peru or
traveled abroad.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Constitution expressly provides for the right of peaceful assembly
and association, and authorities normally respect them in practice,
except in areas under a state of emergency (where the right of assembly
is suspended). Public meetings in plazas or streets require advance
permission, which may be denied only for reasons of public safety or
health. Municipal authorities usually approved permits for
demonstrations in Lima and nonemergency zones.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government
respects this provision in practice. The Constitution recognizes Roman
Catholicism "as an important element in the historical, cultural, and
moral development of the nation" but also establishes the separation of
church and State. Conversion to other religions is respected, and
missionaries are allowed to enter and proselytize.
Sendero Luminoso rejects religion and continues to threaten and
intimidate religious workers. Members of the Mormon Church, in
particular, continued to receive threats and were victims of extortion
by Sendero.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country
The Constitution provides for the right of free movement, and there are
no political or legal constraints on foreign travel or emigration.
However, the authorities can restrict people with pending criminal and,
in some cases, civil charges from leaving the country. Freedom of
movement is suspended in the emergency zones but is generally permitted
under the army's supervision. Nonetheless, the authorities may detain
travelers in an emergency zone at any time. Passengers on public
transportation are controlled at check points throughout the country.
The Constitution prohibits the revocation of citizenship; repatriates
(both voluntary and involuntary) are not treated any differently from
other citizens. Peru has provisions for granting asylum and refugee
status, although the procedures have been used by only a few in recent
years, principally Cubans. Refugees are not forced to return to
countries in which they fear persecution.
Sendero still occasionally tries to interrupt free movement within the
country. However, in 1995 a weakened Sendero did not conduct any "armed
strikes." During such operations civilians are typically told to stay
home or risk reprisals.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides for the right of citizens to make and amend
the laws and replace the officials that govern them, and citizens
exercise this right in practice. The law bars only groups that advocate
violent overthrow of the Government from participating in the political
process. Voting by secret ballot is mandatory for all citizens between
the ages of 18 and 70; however, prisoners and members of the armed
forces and the police are ineligible to vote. Legal opposition parties
represent a wide variety of opinion and ideology.
Running for a second term under provisions of the 1993 Constitution,
President Fujimori was reelected to a 5-year term on April 9 with 65
percent of the vote over 12 other candidates. Voters also selected 120
members of the unicameral Congress. Fujimori's Cambio 90/Nueva Mayoria
party won 67 seats in the new Congress. Twelve opposition parties won
the remaining 53 seats.
There was tampering with ballots just prior to the election in Huanuco
and several other provincial towns. However, quick action by the
Organization of American States (OAS) election monitors and judicial and
electoral authorities prevented such tampering from affecting the vote.
The OAS election observer mission and a respected nonpartisan observer
group, Transparencia, concluded that the elections were fair. Concerns
were raised, however, about the large number of congressional list
tabulation forms that were declared invalid because they were not filled
out properly by election workers.
Women and minorities participate fully in government and politics.
There are 11 female members of Congress; President Fujimori's July
inauguration highlighted the swearing-in of the Congress's first female
president. The Congress's three-person preparatory committee was
composed entirely of women for the first time in Peruvian history. In
addition, 2 of the 14 Cabinet Ministers and several vice ministers are
women, as are the Attorney General and a Supreme Court Justice.
Asians hold leadership positions in government; President Fujimori is
from an Asian ethnic minority. There are several indigenous
congressmen, and a recent vice president was a Quechua speaker. There
are some indigenous prosecutors, and one of the presidential candidates
was a Quechua speaker from Ancash. However, it is rare for indigenous
people, who represent 30 percent of the population, to reach the highest
leadership levels in either the public or private sectors. Until
recently discrimination has often led to exclusion of members of these
groups from leadership positions in government and business. Members of
the black minority have no leadership role in government, and there are
no black members of Congress.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
The Government allowed numerous nongovernmental organizations (NGO's)
dedicated to monitoring and advancing human rights to operate freely,
although government officials continued to criticize them. The military
often restricted the ability of local and international human rights
workers to investigate human rights abuses; the Government usually
ignored human rights groups' requests for information and prohibited
many human rights monitors--except the ICRC--from visiting some prisons.
Verbal attacks by the Government against both domestic and international
human rights monitors reflected its continuing suspicion of
international NGO's in particular for bringing human rights abuses to
public attention. Legitimate fears of physical attack by Sendero
severely limited the ability of human rights monitors to carry out their
work.
Most Peruvian human rights NGO's are independent and generally objective
in their views. Several private human rights groups joined in 1985 to
form an umbrella organization known as the National Coordinating
Committee for Human Rights, or Coordinadora. The Coordinadora maintains
a policy of not mixing politics with human rights (its individual
members may do so, but not in the Coordinadora's name), and its members
are recognized as thorough and impartial observers. The Coordinadora
had no dialog with the Government during the past year except on the
issue of Peruvians detained in Ecuador during the 1995 border war. The
dialog between the Coordinadora and the Government stalled in 1994 as a
result of Congress's action in the La Cantuta case.
Human rights groups repeatedly denounced Sendero Luminoso as the
greatest violator of human rights in Peru, while simultaneously
documenting the many violations by the security forces. Documentary
evidence indicates that Coordinadora members have been balanced in their
denunciations of abuses by both sides. Nevertheless President Fujimori
and other government officials continued to accuse human rights groups
of defending terrorism and criticizing only government abuses. Amnesty
International added to the debate when it referred in its 1994 report on
Peru (released in mid-1995) to Peruvian terrorists as "political
prisoners." President Fujimori denounced Amnesty International for this
on July 10.
On July 10, the offices of the Human Rights Commission (COMISEDH), a
member of the Coordinadora, were broken into, and files relating to
those believed to be falsely accused of terrorism and to human rights
abuses committed by security forces were rifled. Attorney Tito Guido
Gallegos Gallegos of Juli, in Puno department, received a letter in July
from a group calling itself the "Patriotic Military Front," which
threatened to kill him if he did not stop opposing the amnesty of
military officers. A human rights attorney involved in the Barrios
Altos case received an anonymous telephonic death threat in July related
to her involvement in that case.
On November 16 a funeral wreath was delivered to the offices of the pro-
human rights association APRODEH. Attached to the wreath was a list of
10 individuals, including human rights activists, members of Congress,
and relatives of La Cantuta massacre victims. Their names were listed
under the words "in memorium," and after the names was written "in
remembrance by the Colina community." Shortly afterwards, the Defense
Minister announced the retirement of military personnel convicted in the
La Cantuta massacre who had received amnesty in June.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disability,
Language, or Social Status
The Constitution provides for equal rights for all citizens and
specifically prohibits discrimination based on ethnic origin, race,
gender, language, religion, opinion, or economic condition.
Nevertheless, discrimination against women, the disabled, and minorities
continued. Even so, women have emerged as a key force on the Peruvian
political scene. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is
frequent.
Women
Violence against women, including rape and spousal abuse, is a chronic
problem, according to local women's groups and law enforcement offices.
On average there were over 300 complaints of violence against women per
month, according to these sources. In the last 10 years, there were
over 60,000 reported cases of violence against women nationwide; many
additional cases, however, go unreported. While there are no reliable
statistics, groups which work with victims believe spousal abuse and
rape to be at a very high level. Victims frequently are reluctant to
come forward, and women's groups complain of police indifference and the
pervasive assumption that if a women was raped she probably enticed the
man.
There are special police stations in Lima and other major cities where
policewomen deal directly with abused women. They report a rising
number of complaints of domestic violence. In addition, women's groups
have established legal aid and health centers for women. Judicial
authorities take legal action against perpetrators of domestic violence.
However, one of the reasons that special women's police stations were
established was that regular policemen often do not take seriously
accusations by women against their husbands. Although the Government
has passed strong legislation against domestic violence, it is not
always implemented at lower levels, especially outside the major cities.
The Constitution grants women equality, and laws on marriage, divorce,
and property rights do not discriminate against women. Nevertheless,
tradition often impedes access by women to leadership roles in major
social and business institutions.
Sexual harassment in the workplace continues to be a common problem.
One study by a women's rights organization showed that 62 percent of
working women knew of cases of sexual harassment in the workplace.
Children
The Government made efforts to address children's human rights and
welfare; however, much work still needs to be done. President Fujimori
frequently has emphasized the need to improve education at all levels,
but the Government does not have sufficient funds for public schools.
Millions of children continue to suffer from malnutrition and live in
extreme poverty.
The issue of children serving in the military was highlighted by the
death of a 14-year-old soldier from a gangrene infection during the
January-February border conflict with Ecuador. The military denied that
it recruited 14-year-olds and claimed that the child had volunteered at
the start of the border conflict. Nevertheless, the child's relatives
in Lima publicly asserted that he had been forced into military service.
There were also reports of other soldiers as young as 15 being injured
during the conflict. It is unclear how many soldiers under the age of
18 serve in the military.
In Lima there are thousands of orphaned, homeless, and abandoned
children, and many of them are forced to work in the informal economy to
support themselves. One study indicated that more than 200,000 children
under the age of 16 were working in order to survive. Violence against
children is a serious problem. According to some estimates,
approximately half of all rapes are perpetrated against minors. The
1995 suicide of a couple infected with AIDS, who had four young
children, focused public attention on the growing need for homes for
those orphaned as a result of AIDS-related deaths.
New legislation in April discontinued the practice of adult terrorism
trials for those under age 18 and ordered that underage prisoners be
moved to juvenile detention facilities. However, cases continued to
come to light of persons under 18 who are held in adult prisons.
People With Disabilities
Although the Constitution states that disabled persons "have the right
to respect of their dignity and to a regime of protection, attention,
readaptation, and security," the Government has few resources available
for assisting the disabled or preventing discrimination against them.
Little legislation and few accommodations exist for people with
disabilities, such as wheelchair ramps on streets and in buildings, or
laws mandating access for them, although in any case, few among the
physically disabled have wheel chairs. The number of those disabled is
believed to be very high as a result of the years of violence during the
Sendero and MRTA insurgencies. Disabled persons face discrimination
when seeking employment and many are reduced to begging in the streets.
The publicity surrounding the success of Peru's team at the 1995
International Special Olympics focused public attention on the problems
of Peru's disabled.
Indigenous People
The 1993 Constitution prohibits discrimination based on race and
guarantees the right of all citizens to speak their native language.
Nevertheless, Peru's large indigenous population faces pervasive
discrimination and social prejudice. Because of geographic isolation,
government centralization, lack of organization, and social
marginalization, indigenous people in general are unable to participate
in decisions affecting their lands, cultures, traditions, and the
allocation of natural resources. In jungle areas, colonists, coca
growers, guerrillas, and business interests steadily encroach on native
lands, many seeking to exploit natural resources. The largest
indigenous groups are those speaking Quechua and Aymara, which are
recognized as official languages. However, there are dozens of smaller
native language groups. Indigenous people lack access to public
services in many inland areas while business investment is concentrated
on the coast.
As a result of the January-February border war with Ecuador, public
attention was focused on the 45,000 Aguaruna-Huambisa people who inhabit
areas near the Upper Cenepa Valley where fighting took place. A number
of Aguaruna-Huambisa villages were evacuated during the fighting and
several hundred Aguaruna-Huambisa tribesmen participated in the conflict
as guides and couriers. There were reports that some Aguaruna-Huambisa
community members were pressed into service. Aguaruna-Huambisa leaders
have complained about the lack of consultation by the Government on
matters affecting their welfare, including land tenure, and poor living
conditions.
Sendero Luminoso has been the most egregious violator of indigenous
rights. At the end of 1994, between 8,000 and 10,000 Ashaninkas in the
central jungle area remained displaced and as many as 3,000 were in
areas under Sendero control. During that year, 1,500 displaced
Ashaninkas were resettled in stable communities. During 1995 displaced
groups of Ashaninkas continued to be reincorporated into such
communities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Peru's population includes several small racial minorities, the largest
of which are blacks of African descent and Asians. Blacks, who tend to
be concentrated along the coast, face particularly pervasive
discrimination and social prejudice and are among the poorest groups in
Peru. They are excluded from leadership roles in government, military,
and business institutions. Both the navy and the air force reportedly
have unwritten policies that exclude blacks from the officer corps.
According to Peru's two black human rights groups, police routinely
detain persons of African descent on suspicion of committing crimes for
no other reason than the color of their skin, and police rarely act on
complaints of crimes against blacks. The Government has taken no action
to remedy these problems.
Although Peru's Asian population has traditionally been subjected to
discrimination, this has changed during the past decade as Peru has
looked toward Asia as a growth model and as the Asian community has
achieved financial success. Apart from President Fujimori, who is of
Japanese descent, many other Asians now hold prominent leadership
positions in business and government.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
It is estimated that only 5 percent of the total work force of 8.5
million belong to organized labor unions. More than half of all workers
are in the informal sector of the economy. Workers do not need prior
authorization to form a trade union, nor, by law, can employment be
conditioned on union membership or nonmembership. Existing unions
represent a cross-section of political opinion. Although some unions
have been traditionally associated with political groups, the law
prohibits unions from engaging in explicitly political, religious, or
profit-making activities. There are no restrictions on membership in
international bodies. Several major labor unions and confederations are
affiliates of international labor groups, including the International
Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions. The several union leaders who ran unsuccessfully for
Congress in 1995 all did so as individuals, without union sponsorship.
In June Congress approved a new Employment Law, which all of the main
union confederations publicly criticized for violating the rights of
unions including freedom to bargain collectively and the right to work.
Unions also complained that the new law eliminates the compulsory
reinstatement of dismissed workers when it is proven that they were
unjustly dismissed. At present such workers only have the right to a
year's pay as indemnification. In September the head of the
Coordinating Union Board, which is composed of the three main union
confederations, complained publicly that the new Employment Law had led
to the dismissal of approximately 3,000 workers since it was enacted.
The Coordinating Union Board filed a complaint with the ILO regarding
the new law.
This new law, which treats both men and women equally, superseded
earlier legislation which had provided special working conditions for
women. Among the benefits women workers lost were the guarantee of an
hour each day for breastfeeding of children up to 1 year of age, and the
requirement that employers with more than 25 female employees provide a
nursery. In practice, the new Labor Code has had a negative impact on
the right of association by making it easier for companies to fire
workers involved in union activities.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The 1993 Constitution recognizes the right of public and private workers
to organize and bargain collectively. However, these rights must be
exercised in harmony with broader social objectives. Labor regulations
promulgated prior to the 1993 approval of the new Constitution provide
that workers can form unions based on profession, employment, or
geographic location. The regulations exclude temporary, probationary,
apprentice, or management employees from union membership. They require
a minimum of 100 members to form trade unions by branch of activity,
occupation, or for various occupations; and a minimum of 20 workers to
form a union within a company. They also limit the number of union
officials, the amount of time they may devote to union business on
company time, and require them to be active members of the union. No
legal provisions require employers who commit antiunion discrimination
to reinstate workers fired for union activities.
Labor regulations set the number of union representatives who can
participate in collective bargaining negotiations (a minimum of 3, a
maximum of 12) and establish the negotiating timetable. The management
negotiating team cannot exceed the size of the workers' team; both sides
may have attorneys and professional experts in attendance as advisers.
A majority of all workers in a company, whether union members or not,
must approve a strike by a secret ballot. A second vote must be taken
upon petition of 20 percent or more of the workers. The labor movement
criticized provisions of the new Labor Code which facilitate an
employer's ability to dismiss employees as impeding workers' right to
bargain collectively. However, there are apparently no restrictions
that would prohibit unions from negotiating a higher standard than the
base line of protection provided for workers by the law. To become an
official collective bargaining representative, a union must represent 20
workers.
Labor regulations also permit companies unilaterally to propose
temporary changes of work schedules, conditions, and wages and to
suspend for up to 90 days collective bargaining agreements if obliged to
do so by an unexpected event or economic conditions, provided they give
15 days' notice to employees. If workers dispute the proposed changes,
the Labor Ministry must resolve the dispute based upon criteria of
"reasonableness" and "economic necessity." In such cases employers must
authorize vacation time and in general adopt measures that avoid
aggravating the employment situation.
A conciliation and arbitration system resolves disputes, but union
officials complain that their proportionate share of the cost of
arbitration can exceed their resources. (In the past, business and
government entities had covered these costs.) Union officials also
state that increasing numbers of companies utilize a policy of hiring
workers on temporary, personal services contracts to prevent union
affiliation. The new law restricts such hiring to 20 percent of the
company's workforce. Regulations on this point are still being
formulated by the Labor Ministry. This is a continuing subject of
contention between organized labor and employers and is one of the
concerns that labor continues to raise in international forums.
Employers deny the accusation of antiunion bias and assert that labor
stability provisions of the law have made long-term commitments to
workers too expensive.
Special regulations permitting greater flexibility in application of the
Labor Code in export and duty free zones provide for the use of
temporary labor as needed, flexibility in labor contracts, and a wage
system based upon supply and demand. As a result, workers in duty free
zones are unable to unionize. Duty free zone employers do not engage in
illegal activities to prevent unionization.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The Constitution prohibits forced or compulsory labor, as well as
imprisonment for debt. However, there are periodic reports of the
practice of forced labor in remote Andean mountain and Amazonian jungle
regions of the country. In response to a complaint filed with the ILO,
the Government in 1994 acknowledged the existence of such practices and
asserted it had taken measures to end abuses. However, reports of
forced labor, including that of children in gold mines in the remote
Madre de Dios department, continued to emerge. Forced labor is not a
problem in urban areas.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
Education through primary school is compulsory and free. A high
percentage of school-age children nevertheless work rather than attend
daytime classes, with only a small number of such children attending
classes at night. Given Peru's widespread poverty, children work in the
informal economy without government supervision of wages or conditions
from a very early age to help support their families. A recent
Government labor study found that 8 percent of the workforce was between
the ages of 6 and 14. The Government's National Institute of Family
Welfare cooperates with the United Nations Children's Fund and the
Inter-American Development Bank to assist and rescue street children and
other child laborers.
The minimum legal age for employment is 16. The new Labor Code raised
the age from 21 to 25 years for the special youth labor provisions,
which allow employers to pay lower salaries as part of a program to
provide new workers with specialized training. The new Labor Code also
increased the period of apprenticeship from 18 to 36 months. In
addition, workers covered by these provisions now may make up 30 percent
(increased from 15 percent) of a company's work force.
Child labor is heavily used in the agricultural sector and in informal
gold mining, but not in other major export industries, such as petroleum
and fisheries. Recent studies by NGO's found that approximately 4,500
workers younger than 18 years of age work in harsh conditions in the
informal Madre de Dios gold mines. Many of these workers are under the
age of 15, and some are as young as 11. These child laborers were
recruited from their families through a system known as "enganche" in
Puno, Juliaca, Sicuani, Abancay, and Cuzco, through which they are
provided free transportation to the mine and reportedly agree to work
for at least 90 days before being paid. The Government has not
exercised control over these employment agencies, and employers do not
comply with labor code provisions relating to juveniles. Children who
work in the informal gold mines lack proper medical care, must work long
hours, and are often subjected to beatings, mistreatment, and rape.
There are also reports of these mine workers not being paid.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The Constitution provides that the State promote social and economic
progress and occupational education. It states that workers should
receive a "just and sufficient" wage, to be determined by the Government
in consultation with labor and business representatives and "adequate
protection against arbitrary dismissal." The current minimum wage is
about $57 (S/130) per month and is generally considered inadequate to
support a worker and family. A considerable portion, half according to
some estimates, of the country's work force make only the minimum wage.
The Constitution also provides for a 48-hour workweek, a weekly day of
rest, and yearly vacation. It prohibits discrimination in the
workplace. While occupational health and safety standards exist, the
Government lacks the resources to monitor or enforce compliance.
Employers and workers generally agree upon compensation for industrial
accidents on an individual basis. The Government introduced reforms in
1993 eliminating the need to prove culpability in order to obtain
worker's compensation for injuries. There are no provisions for workers
to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardy to
continued employment.
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