Panama: Information on situation of Chinese population in Panama, particularly cases of harassment, violence and authorities' neglect towards it (1980-1990)
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 20 February 1990 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | PAN4229 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Panama: Information on situation of Chinese population in Panama, particularly cases of harassment, violence and authorities' neglect towards it (1980-1990), 20 February 1990, PAN4229, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ac9064.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Current information on the requested subject could not be found among the sources available at present to the IRBDC, except for the attached document and a reference in both the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988 and the Encyclopedia of the Third World, which state that "there is no discrimination in law" against minorities, but state that "certain categories of elected office and ownership of retail trade establishments are constitutionally restricted to native-born Panamanians". [Both quoted sections are virtually identical in both Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988, (Washington: U.S. Department of State, 1989), p. 665, and Encyclopedia of the Third World, (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1987), p. 1532.] However, reports on the application or enforcement of these constitutional restrictions could not be found among the available sources. According to one of the sources, [Encyclopedia of the Third World, p. 1532.] the Chinese minority retains a degree of separate identity in Panama, together with English-speaking blacks of Antillean descent, Jews, Arabs, Greeks, Chinese, East Indians and North Americans.
Although various reports indicate Panamanian authorities and security forces have been accused of a variety of abuses, specific references to their participation, neglect or counteraction of abuses against ethnic minorities could not be found among the currently available sources. At present, the Panamanian government and security forces are undergoing major changes, and no recent report on their performance is yet available to the IRBDC.
A document which reportedly makes references to ethnic minorities in Panama is being sent to the IRBDC through the mail by the UNHCR office in Washington. A copy of the document, once it arrives, may be provided to you upon further request (arrival date of the document cannot be assured).
A source search indicated the existence of a book which may deal with the requested subject, although outside the given timeframe. The book is La población de Panamá, by Medica, Vilma N.; published in Spanish by the Committee for International Coordination of National Research in Demography - SECRET (acronym of the institution) series, 1974. [ Information provided by Human Rights Internet in Cambridge, Massachusetts (U.S.A.), 20 February 1990.] The book is not available at the IRBDC.
For the most recent background information on the ethnic Chinese in Panama currently available to the IRBDC, please find attached a copy of Panama: A Country Study, (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress Federal Research Division, 1987), pp. 69, 77-79, 102-111. Page 110 makes a reference to "a sharp class cleavage in the political consciousness of the Spanish-speaking natives and the more recent, unassimilated immigrant families" (third paragraph) and states that middle-class immigrants "tended to be preoccupied with commercial pursuits and largely conservative or passive in their politics".