Freedom in the World 2004 - Suriname

Political Rights: 1
Civil Liberties: 2
Status: Free
Population: 400,000
GNI/Capita: $1,890
Life Expectancy: 70
Religious Groups: Hindu (27.4 percent), Muslim (19.6 percent), Roman Catholic (22.8 percent), Protestant (25.2 percent), indigenous beliefs (5 percent)
Ethnic Groups: East Indian (37 percent), Creole (31 percent, Javanese (15 percent), other (17 percent)
Capital: Paramaribo

Overview

The spillover effects of narcotics trafficking and the drug trade's ties to top political leaders – including former dictator and current member of parliament Desi Bouterse – continued to make the news in Suriname in 2003. Bouterse was one of more than 30 people accused of participating in the 1982 slaying of 15 critics of his military regime. However, as of November 30, no trial date has been set in that case.

The Republic of Suriname achieved independence from the Netherlands in 1975, which had acquired it as a result of the Treaty of Breda with the British in 1667. Five years after independence, a military coup, which brought Desi Bouterse to power as the head of a regime that brutally suppressed civic and political opposition, initiated a decade of military intervention in politics. In 1987, Bouterse permitted elections that were won handily by the New Front for Democracy and Development, a four-party coalition of mainly East Indian, Creole, and Javanese parties. The National Democratic Party (NDP), organized by the military, won just 3 seats.

In 1990, the army ousted President Ramsewak Shankar and Bouterse again took power. International pressure led to new elections in 1991. The center-right New Front won a majority, although the NDP increased its share to 12. The National Assembly selected the New Front's candidate, Ronald Venetiaan, as president. Bouterse quit the army in 1992 in order to lead the NDP. In the May 25, 2000 legislative elections, the New Front won the majority of 51 National Assembly seats – three times as many as its closest rival.

The May 2001 death of a labor leader who was to be the star witness in a trial against Bouterse and others accused of 15 political killings on December 8, 1982 initially appeared to rob the prosecution of key testimony needed to convict the former narcotics-running strongman. However, the government vowed that testimony given by the witness during a preliminary hearing would be submitted in the trial by the judge who questioned him, a move defense lawyers said they would oppose, claiming they would be denied the right to cross-examine the witness. The death of the lone survivor of the December 1982 massacre came amid a renewed push by the Dutch to bring Bouterse to account for the murders and for his role in the 1982 coup. He had already been tried and convicted by a Dutch court in absentia on charges of having introduced more than two tons of cocaine into the Netherlands between 1989 and 1997. Suriname did not extradite Bouterse to the Netherlands because of a bilateral agreement not to extradite their own citizens to each other's country.

In June 2002, the Surinamese police deported to the United States Carlos Bolas, a member of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) guerrillas, to face charges of drug trafficking and murder. U.S. authorities say that Bolas, in addition to providing cocaine to Colombian traffickers in exchange for arms, money, and equipment, also was involved in the murder of three American activists in 2000. In October, authorities from neighboring Guyana complained that Suriname is a major supply route for illegal arms used in a crime wave gripping the Guyanese capital of Georgetown.

In October 2003, Dino Bouterse – the son of Desi Bouterse – was acquitted by a military court of stealing more than 80 guns, including twenty-one AK-47 assault rifles, from the government's secret service compound. The court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to convict him. The father, now a member of parliament, said that the charges were part of a political conspiracy by his political opponents.

The trial of a former finance minister in the Wijdenbosch government on fraud and corruption charges began in April. The accused maintained his innocence and said that the government was looking for a scapegoat to blame for the country's economic woes. In October, a judge gave more than 50 convicted cocaine traffickers light sentences in an effort by the government to reduce overcrowding in the country's jails. The UN Drug Control Agency estimates that 20 tons of cocaine is smuggled annually through Suriname to Europe alone.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Citizens of Suriname can change their government democratically. The constitution provides for a directly elected, 51-seat National Assembly, which serves a five-year term and selects the state president. Political parties largely reflect the cleavages in Suriname's ethnically complex society. A record of 23 parties competed in the 2000 elections.

The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal 2003 Index of Economic Freedom rated Suriname a 4 on a 1-5 scale, with 5 indicating that corruption is rampant, regulations are applied randomly, and the general level of regulation is very high.

The government generally respects freedom of expression. Radio is both public and private. A number of small commercial radio stations compete with the government-owned radio and television broadcasting system, which generally offer pluralistic viewpoints. The government does not restrict access to the Internet.

The government generally respects freedom of religion and does not restrict academic freedom.

Although civic institutions remain weak, human rights organizations function freely. Workers can join independent trade unions, and the labor movement is active in politics. Collective bargaining is legal and conducted fairly widely. Civil servants have no legal right to strike.

The judiciary is weak and susceptible to political influence and suffers from ineffectiveness and a large backlog of cases. Both the courts and prisons have become seriously overburdened by the volume of people detained for narcotics trafficking. The civilian police abuse detainees, particularly during arrests; guards mistreat prisoners; and prisons are dangerously overcrowded, with as many as 16 inmates sharing a two-person cell.

Discrimination against indigenous and tribal peoples is widespread. Tribal peoples, called Maroons, are the descendants of escaped African slaves who formed autonomous communities in the rain forest in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Their rights to their lands and resources, to cultural integrity, and to the autonomous administration of their affairs are not recognized in Surinamese law.

Constitutional guarantees of gender equality are not enforced, and the Asian Marriage Act allows parents to arrange marriages for their children without their consent. Several organizations specifically address violence against women and related issues. Despite their central role in agriculture and food production, 60 percent of rural women, particularly those in tribal communities, live below the poverty level.