Human rights in Gabon
Gabonese Republic République gabonaise (French) | |
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ISO 3166 code | GA |
Overview
According to Freedom House, Gabon’s freedom status remains “not free”.[4] Freedom house, provides a rating of 1-7 of different types freedoms, with 1 being the most free and 7 being the least free. Gabon's political right's rating is 7/7, the lowest rating possible while its civil liberties rating is of 5/7 leading to a freedom rating of 6/7.[4] A combination of these scores lead to an aggregate score of 23/100 with 0 being the last free.[4]
Political freedom
After gaining independence from France in 1960, Gabon has become a democratic nation which holds political elections. A
Press freedom
Although, there is no censorship of the media, press freedom is limited, as media outlets which criticise the government often face legal repercussions. Gabon's National Communication Council often monitors and accuses media outlets, journalist and individual reporters for defamation.[5] In 2016 Les Echos du Nord a newspaper outlet faced legal repercussions in the form of a 2-month suspensions after criticising the lack of transparency of the electoral process and the postponement of them.[4][6] Les Echos du Nord was again suspended a second time due to criticism of the vice president Pierre Claver Maganga Moussaou's purchase of a luxury car while journalist Juldas Biviga and union leader Marcel Libama was arrested for revealing judicial abuses of power within the court through a radio interview.[4] An internet activist blogger, Landry Amiang Washington, faced imprisonment for a year from 2016 to 2017 following similar charges.[4]
Torture and other cruel, degrading treatment and punishment
Although, the constitution prohibits degrading practices and arbitrary arrest and detention without warrants, detainees are commonly subject to them.[5][7] Following the arrest and detainment of both Juldas Biviga and Marcel Libama after the radio talk, both were beaten severely by guards, suffering injuries from the ankle to the ears.[6] Juldas Biviga had to be hospitalised afterwards.[7] Opposition leader Betrand Zbi Abeghe reported that he was subject to severe beatings by prison officials with batons, pick-axe handles and electrical cables.[5] Refugees are also often subject to such treatments as soldiers and police often humiliate them by ordering them to undress and perform indecent acts in public.[5] Refugee are also harassed by security forces and extorted them, often facing beatings if no valid identification is found on them. Prisoners often have no basic sanitation and access to medical care.[5] There has been reports of sexual exploitation against 20 different Gabonese peacekeepers.[5]
Human trafficking
Human Trafficking infringes multiple human rights as it leads to sexual exploitation, slavery, organ harvesting, child labour and domestic servitude all of which is present in Gabon.
Child trafficking
Child trafficking in contemporary Gabon consists of mainly forced labour, although there are still some cases of child soldiers and commercial sexual exploitation.[10] Around 19.6% of the employment force is from forced child labour. The Gabonese government has responded to these issues through legislative responses such as signing the international law, Conventions on the Rights of a Child in 1990 and later ratifying it in 1994.[2] There has been a decrease commitment to the issue of child trafficking-related matters. Although the government has drafted a 5-year plan that focused on the issue of child trafficking, they have not validated it.[8] There has also been a lack of funding to the child trafficking committee which has led to a lack of ability to investigate related matters. Penalties that relate to child labour matters are below international standards.[9] These penalties include a maximum fine of 20 million Central African franc which is around US$35,220, and a maximum imprisonment of 6 months.[9] Prohibition of child trafficking is also below international standards as issues relating to commercial sexual exploitation of children are not completely prohibited.[10] Pornographic material relating to children, that includes the procurement of them and also production of them is also not criminalised completely by the law.[10] However, the government has increased efforts to protect child victims. A total of 65 child victims were identified in 2018 compared to 15 in 2016.[10][9] Victims were provided with medical, legal and psychological care from shelters provided by non-governmental organizations funded by the Government. However, despite these increased efforts, government funding towards these non-governmental organizations in 2017 has decreased, leading to insufficient shelter space being provided to victims and the lower quality of social services.[9][10]
Poverty
Gabon has signed the
Healthcare
Gabon also has a high level of child mortality rate due to malnutrition under the age of 5 of 17%.
References
- ^ "OHCHR | What are Human Rights". www.ohchr.org. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
- ^ a b c "Gabon". www.claiminghumanrights.org. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ^ a b "Gabon". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Gabon". freedomhouse.org. 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Gabon". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2019-06-08.
- ^ a b c "Gabon 2017/2018". www.amnesty.org. Retrieved 2019-06-08.
- ^ a b "Gabon 2017/2018". www.amnesty.org. Retrieved 2019-06-08.
- ^ OCLC 69990912.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report - Gabon". Refworld. Retrieved 2019-06-08.
- ^ a b c d e "Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor - Gabon". United States Department of Labor. 2016-09-30. Retrieved 2019-06-08.
- ^ a b c d "| Human Development Reports". hdr.undp.org. Retrieved 2019-06-08.
- ^ a b "Africa :: Gabon — The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2019-06-08.
- ^ a b "Gabon | Data". data.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2019-06-08.
- ^ a b c "Gabon's Unemployment Conundrum: Why Economic Growth is not Leading to More Jobs". World Bank. Retrieved 2019-06-08.
- ^ a b "Countries | Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index Africa". africa.hancindex.org. Retrieved 2019-06-08.
- ^ "Gabon". www.unaids.org. Retrieved 2019-06-08.
- ^ a b "WHO | World malaria report 2017". WHO. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved 2019-06-08.