Freedom in the World 1999 - Togo

1999 Scores

Status: Partly Free
Freedom Rating: 5.0
Civil Liberties: 5
Political Rights: 5

Ratings Change

Togo's political rights rating changed from 6 to 5 following negotiations between the government and opposition and the return from exile of the country's main opposition leader.

Overview

There were slight improvements in Togo's political sphere with negotiations between the government of President Gnasingbé Eyadéma and the opposition, leading to a framework agreement to form an independent national electoral commission that will organize and supervise future elections. The commission's members would be drawn equally from all political parties. The agreement also envisages compensation payments to victims of political violence. A 24-member joint committee has been formed to oversee implementation of the accord. New parliamentary elections in the year 2000 are to replace voting in March that was boycotted by the opposition.

Opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio, who has been living in exile in Ghana since the disputed presidential elections in June 1998, did not attend the talks, citing security concerns. But he did return to Togo in July and spoke to thousands of his supporters in a stadium in the capital, Lome, about talks between his Union of Forces of Change party and the government. Olympio contends he was robbed of a presidential victory in the 1998 polling, which international observers said was neither free nor fair.

Human rights abuses continued to be a problem, leading to a dispute with the rights group Amnesty International over reports of killings. Togo initiated a lawsuit against the group, but that has been suspended pending an international investigation into the reports.

Togoland was a German colony for more three decades until France seized it at the outset of World War I. It was held as French territory until its independence in 1960. Eyadéma has ruled Togo with varying levels of repression and the strong support of successive French governments since he assumed full power in 1967; he had led an army coup as a demobilized sergeant, toppling the country's democratically elected government, four years earlier. Members of his Kabye ethnicity overwhelmingly dominate the security forces and, along with fellow northerners, Togo's civil administration. Opposition leader Olympio is the son of the country's founding president, who was murdered in the 1963 coup.

Joining the trend across sub-Saharan Africa, Eyadéma in 1991 legalized political parties and multiparty elections were promised. The transition faltered, however, as soldiers and secret police harassed, attacked, and killed opposition supporters. In the 1993 presidential election, which the opposition boycotted, Eyadéma claimed to have won 96 percent of the vote.

Violence and intimidation also marred the 1994 legislative elections. Opposition parties won a majority in the national assembly, but splits and flawed 1996 by-elections allowed Eyadéma's Rally of the Togolese People party to regain control of the legislature. Eyadéma has announced that he will not stand for reelection in 2003, but his opponents remain skeptical.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

The Togolese people cannot choose their representatives freely. Eyadema's 1998 reelection was blatantly fraudulent. In the March 1999 election that was boycotted by the opposition, the ruling party won 79 out of 81 seats contested and the remaining two seats went to independent candidates. More than 50 political parties have been created in Togo over the past decade, although only about a dozen are still politically active. A new constitution was adopted in 1992, providing for the basis of democratic institutions, but power in the country still is overwhelmingly concentrated in the presidency.

The judiciary is heavily influenced by the president. All three constitutional court justices were appointed by Eyadéma before the transition to a multiparty system. Togo's criminal courts generally respect legal procedures, and traditional courts handle many minor matters. Courts are understaffed and inadequately funded. Pretrial detentions are lengthy, and prisons are severely overcrowded.

Demonstrations are officially banned, but security forces in November allowed a protest by thousands of students and teachers pressing for better conditions and pay to pass off peacefully. Killings, arbitrary arrest, and torture have continued. The rights group Amnesty International issued a report in May describing Togo as a "state of terror" and alleged that hundreds of people were killed by security forces during the 1998 election and that their bodies washed up on beaches in Togo and neighboring Benin. Amnesty also documented a series of extrajudicial executions from 1993 to 1998. The Togo government employed a top lawyer from its loyal backer, France, and said it intended to sue the rights body for slander and libel. In November Amnesty issued a new report confirming the earlier statements and said there had been a concerted campaign of intimidation, bribery, and threats against witnesses, journalists, and human rights defenders. Legal proceedings against Amnesty have been suspended, and Togo has agreed to invite an international commission of inquiry to investigate the reported killings.

A number of private newspapers publish in Lomé, but independent journalists are subject to harassment and the perpetual threat of various criminal charges. Private radio and television stations now broadcast, but offer little independent local coverage. The new framework agreement would provide for the reorganization of the High Audio-Visual and Communication Authority, ostensibly to grant greater freedom to the press. However, officials in December adopted a bill that gives judges the option of handing down prison sentences for those accused of press offenses, despite reforms to the press code in 1998 that abolished prison sentences for journalists. The editor of the private weekly L'Aurore, Roland Kpagli Comlan, was jailed in December for an erroneous report alleging that police had killed a secondary school pupil during a student meeting. The student had been beaten unconscious but not killed.

Constitutionally protected religious freedom is generally respected, but demonstrations are often banned or violently halted. Ethnic discrimination is rife. Political power is narrowly held by members of a few ethnic groups from northern Togo. Southerners dominate the country's commerce, and violence occasionally flares between the two groups.

Despite constitutional guarantees of equality, women's opportunities for education and employment are limited. A husband may legally bar his wife from working or receive her earnings. Customary law bars women's rights in divorce and inheritance rights to widows. Violence against women is common. Female genital mutilation is widely practiced by the country's northern ethnic groups.

Togo's constitution includes the right to form and join unions, but essential workers are excluded. Health care workers may not strike. Only 15 percent of the labor force is unionized. Unions have the right to bargain collectively, but most labor agreements are brokered by the government in tripartite talks with unions and management. Several labor federations are politically aligned.

Most of the country's people work in rural subsistence agriculture. Political instability and corruption deter significant international investment. In January the government announced that it had discovered oil and gas deposits off its coast. The European Union has linked resumption of aid to a negotiated political settlement in the country.