United States Department of State

The most significant human rights problems included government restrictions on freedoms of speech and expression, press and media, assembly, and association. Of particular concern were police intimidation; sedition and illegal assembly investigations; charges against dozens of activists, lawyers, and opposition politicians; and the politically motivated prosecution and jailing of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Restrictions on freedom of religion were also a significant concern--including bans on religious groups, restrictions on proselytizing, and prohibitions on the freedom to change one's religion. Other human rights problems included deaths during police apprehension and while in police custody; laws allowing detention without trial; caning as a form of punishment imposed by criminal and sharia courts; official corruption; violence and discrimination against women; discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons; and restrictions on the rights of migrants, including migrant workers, refugees, and victims of human trafficking. Longstanding government policies gave preference to ethnic Malays in many areas. The government restricted union and collective-bargaining activity, and government policies created vulnerabilities for child labor and forced labor problems, especially for migrant workers. The government arrested and prosecuted some officials engaged in corruption, malfeasance, and human rights abuses, although civil society groups alleged continued impunity.

The most significant human rights problems included reports of a politicized and inefficient judiciary; the detention of political prisoners, including via trials with procedural irregularities; and efforts by the courts and police to restrict freedoms of speech and assembly. Other human rights problems included the use of flogging as a punishment, harassment of journalists, abuse and unequal treatment of women, restrictions on religious freedom, reports of corruption of government officials, employment discrimination on the basis of political opinion, and discrimination against foreign laborers. Migrant laborers experienced labor abuses and were the primary victims of human trafficking. The government did not take steps to prosecute and punish police and military officers who committed abuses.

Violent attacks perpetrated by these terrorist groups constituted the country's most significant human rights problem. The attacks targeted local government officials and civil society leaders, resulting in deaths, injuries, and property loss. Government officials were afraid to return to their posts, which prolonged the lack of basic services to the country. Other human rights problems included arbitrary killings by government forces; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary detentions; judicial inefficiency; limitations on press freedom; official corruption; rape of and domestic violence against women and girls; female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C); human trafficking; societal discrimination against black Tuaregs, who were subjected to slavery-related practices; discrimination based on sexual orientation; and discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS and albinism. Authorities often disregarded workers' rights, and exploitative labor, including child labor, was common. Impunity also continued to be a problem in cases concerning both government and nongovernment actors accused of perpetrating crimes. The government made limited progress in its efforts to prosecute coup leader Sanogo. In the course of its efforts to advance the peace process by releasing detainees, the government released without due process some prisoners accused of serious crimes, such as human rights abuses or financing terrorist groups.

The most significant human rights problems included prison overcrowding, lengthy pretrial detention, and corruption, particularly in the judiciary. Other major human rights problems included: physical abuse, including torture, by security forces; arbitrary arrests; questionable investigative detention; lack of judicial independence; restrictions on freedom of speech, press, and assembly; rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment of and discrimination against women; female genital mutilation/cutting; child abuse; early and forced marriage; infanticide; violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons; discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS; trafficking in persons; and child labor, including forced child labor. The government continued efforts to investigate and hold to account former Wade administration officials accused of corruption. Nevertheless, impunity for crimes and abuses committed by government and security officials remained a problem.

The most serious human rights problems during the year included discrimination and societal violence against members of minority groups, especially Roma. Harassment of journalists and pressure on them to practice self-censorship was also a significant problem. Corruption existed in health care, education, and multiple branches of government, including the police. An inefficient judicial system that caused lengthy and delayed trials as well as long periods of pretrial detention also adversely affected citizens' access to justice. Other problems reported during the year included police mistreatment of detainees; harassment of human rights advocates as well as groups and individuals critical of the government; lack of durable solutions for large numbers of displaced persons from the wars of the 1990s; societal and domestic violence against women, children, and persons with disabilities; trafficking in persons; harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) groups and individuals; and discrimination against national minorities. The government took steps to prosecute officials, both in the police force and elsewhere in the government, following public exposure of such abuses. Nevertheless, many observers believed that numerous cases of corruption, social and domestic violence, and other abuses went unreported and unpunished.

The government has broad powers to limit citizens' rights. The government could and did censor the media (from television shows to websites) if it determined that the content would undermine social harmony or criticized the government. The Internal Security Act (ISA) permits preventive detention without warrant, filing of charges, or normal judicial review; in recent years, the government has used it against alleged terrorists and not against persons in the political opposition. The following additional human rights problems were reported: Caning is an allowable punishment for some crimes; restrictions existed on free speech and assembly; government intimidation led to self-censorship by journalists; there were some limited restrictions on freedom of religion; and some restrictions on labor rights. The government prosecuted officials who committed human rights abuses, although there were no instances of such prosecutions reported during the year. There were no reports of impunity involving the security forces.

Government forces, government-aligned groups, rebels, and armed groups committed human rights abuses and violations throughout the year. The most serious human rights abuses and violations included: indiscriminate and deliberate bombings of civilian areas; ground attacks that included the killing and beating of civilians, sexual and gender-based violence, forced displacement, looting and burning entire villages, and destroying the means necessary for sustaining life; and attacks on humanitarian targets, including humanitarian facilities and peacekeepers. Other major abuses included: extrajudicial and other unlawful killings; torture, beatings, rape and other cruel or inhuman treatment or punishment; arbitrary arrest and detention by security forces; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; incommunicado detention; prolonged pretrial detention; obstruction of humanitarian assistance; restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, religion, and movement; and intimidation and closure of human rights and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Societal abuses included discrimination against women; sexual violence; female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C); use of child soldiers; child abuse; sexual exploitation of children; trafficking in persons; discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities, persons with disabilities, and persons with HIV/AIDS; denial of workers' rights; and child labor. The government took steps to investigate violations committed by the national police, but prosecution was rare. Authorities, however, did not investigate violations by other branches of the security forces. Impunity remained a common problem in all branches of the security forces. The government agreed to compensate some families relating to the September 2013 protests, but it did not make investigative reports into this or other incidents available to the public.

Citizens remained unable to change their government. The three main human rights abuses were police use of excessive force, including torture, beatings, and unlawful killings; restrictions on freedoms of association, assembly, and speech; and discrimination against and abuse of women and children. Other human rights problems included arbitrary arrests and lengthy pretrial detention; arbitrary interference with privacy and home; prohibitions on political activity and harassment of political activists; trafficking in persons; societal discrimination against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community and persons with albinism; mob violence; harassment of labor leaders; child labor; and restrictions on worker rights. The government took few or no steps to prosecute or punish officials who committed abuses. In general perpetrators acted with impunity.

The most significant human rights problems included citizens' inability to change their government through free and fair elections; torture and abuse of detainees and other persons by security forces; and repression of political activists and opposition groups. Other human rights problems included restrictions on freedoms of expression, press, and the free flow of information, including the repeated blockage of several independent news and social networking websites; poor religious freedom conditions; violence and discrimination against women; torture in the military; arbitrary arrest; denial of the right to a fair trial; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; prohibition of international monitors' access to prisons; limitations on worker rights; and trafficking in persons, including sex and labor trafficking. Officials in the security services and elsewhere in the government acted with impunity. There were very few prosecutions of government officials for human rights abuses, and no officials have been convicted of torture.

The most egregious human rights problems stemmed from the state's widespread disregard for the well-being of a majority of its citizens. This manifested itself in a complete denial of citizens' ability to change their government, a breakdown in law enforcement's ability to protect the majority of citizens from state and nonstate violence, and the reported indiscriminate use of violence against civilians and civilian institutions. The government arbitrarily and unlawfully killed, tortured, and detained persons on a wide scale. Government forces reportedly conducted attacks on civilians in hospitals, residential areas, schools, and camps holding internally displaced persons (IDPs); these attacks included bombardment with improvised explosive devices, commonly referred to as "barrel bombs" (containing a combination of jet fuel and TNT, usually dropped by a helicopter). The government reportedly continued the use of torture and rape, including of children. It reportedly used the massacre of civilians, as well as their forced displacement, rape, and starvation, as military tactics. Government authorities rigorously denied citizens the ability to exercise civil liberties and freedoms of expression, movement, peaceful assembly and association, and the right to a fair public trial. Government authorities reportedly detained without access to fair trial tens of thousands of individuals including those associated with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), human rights activists, journalists, humanitarian aid providers, religious figures, and physicians. Other continuing human rights problems included: restrictions on religious observance and movement; abuse of refugees and stateless persons; prevention of NGOs and individual activists, especially those working on civil society and democracy matters, from organizing; restrictions on access for medical providers to persons in critical need; rampant governmental corruption; violence and societal discrimination against women and minorities; and restrictions on workers' rights. Impunity was pervasive and deeply embedded in the security forces and elsewhere in the government, since the government did not attempt to investigate, punish, arrest, or prosecute officials who violated human rights. The government often sheltered and encouraged those in its ranks to commit abuses.

The main human rights abuses included societal discrimination and incidents of violence against foreigners and members of ethnic and religious minorities, and domestic abuse of women and children. While the criminal justice system operated effectively in other respects, authorities subjected a high percentage of pretrial detainees to extended periods in isolation and limited their access to visitors, mail, and exercise. Other reported problems included some unauthorized accessing of personal information by police; societal abuses and discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice; sexual harassment of women; displaced children's living on the streets; an increased number of anti-Semitic hate crimes; trafficking of men, women, and children; discrimination against persons with disabilities; and wage abuse of mainly foreign seasonal berry pickers. Authorities generally prosecuted officials who committed abuses in the security services or elsewhere in the government.

The major human rights problems reported during the year included harassment of civil society activists, journalists, and persons viewed as sympathizers of the banned terrorist group the LTTE as well as arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, rape, and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence committed by police and security forces. Other serious human rights problems included severe prison overcrowding and lack of due process. Neglect of the rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) remained a problem, as was physical and sexual abuse of women and children and trafficking in persons. Discrimination against persons based on sexual orientation continued. Limits on workers' rights and child labor also remained problems. Widespread impunity continued for the crimes committed during the armed conflict and other crimes committed following the end of the conflict, particularly for cases of torture, sexual violence, corruption, and human rights abuses. The government arrested and detained a number of military, police, and other officials implicated in old and new cases that included the killing of parliamentarians and the abduction and suspected killings of journalists and private citizens.

The most significant human rights problems included forced returns and mistreatment of asylum seekers by police, systemic corruption by government officials, and violence against women and children. Other problems included the circulation of hate speech on the internet; the enactment of a new public security law that opponents alleged violates human rights; sexual harassment; inequality of opportunity and pay for women in the workplace; subjecting women and girls to sex trafficking; acts of anti-Semitic vandalism; and societal discrimination and violence against persons with disabilities, Muslims, ethnic minorities including the Roma, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons. The government generally took steps to prosecute officials, both in the security services and elsewhere in the government, who committed abuses. There were some instances where officials engaged in corruption and created the impression of impunity.

The most serious human rights problems in the country were conflict-related abuses by government security forces, opposition forces, armed militia groups affiliated with the government and the opposition, and rival ethnic communities, including ethnically based killings of civilians and ethnically based discrimination and violence; extrajudicial killings, abuse, and mass displacement of civilians; and intimidation and other inhuman treatment of civilians such as arbitrary arrest and detention, abductions and kidnapping, recruitment and use of what the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated to be 15,000 child soldiers; and conflict-related sexual violence. Attacks on military positions often resulted in rape, destruction of villages, theft, looting, and revenge attacks on civilians. Security force abuses unrelated to conflict included extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, intimidation, unlawful detention, and other inhuman treatment of civilians. Other human rights abuses include harsh prison conditions; a lack of access to justice, including arbitrary arrest and indefinite pretrial detention; government restriction of freedoms of privacy, speech, press, and association; and abductions related to intercommunal and interethnic conflict, particularly of women and children. Corruption among government officials was pervasive. The government often restricted the movement of international organizations and NGOs, and attacks on and harassment of international organization and NGO workers increased. Violence and discrimination against women and children by government actors and within communities were widespread. Trafficking in persons, government incitement of tribal violence, and child labor, including forced labor, also occurred.

The most significant human rights problem continued to be that the government denied citizens the ability to choose their government. Other human rights problems continued to include: abusive prison conditions; lack of due process, including arbitrary arrest and detention; government infringements on freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association, as well as on the right to privacy; government restrictions on academic freedom; local restrictions on religious freedom; trafficking in persons; societal discrimination based on sexual orientation and against persons with HIV/AIDS; and restrictions on workers' rights. The government neither prosecuted nor punished officials who committed abuses, and police and security forces acted with impunity.

Major human rights problems included police and gendarme mistreatment and harassment of detainees and Roma. Government corruption remained a widespread problem. Systematic societal discrimination against Roma affected their access to adequate education, housing, health care, and employment opportunities. Other human rights problems included poor prison conditions and continued attempts by some political figures to compromise the independence of the judiciary. The government failed to take effective action to return Greek Catholic churches confiscated by the communist-era government. Personal and professional threats to journalists undermined media freedom. There were continued reports of violence and discrimination against women. There were some anti-Semitic acts and statements, and media continued to publish anti-Semitic articles. Anti-Semitic, racist, xenophobic, and nationalistic views continued to be disseminated via the internet. Government agencies provided inadequate assistance to persons with disabilities and neglected persons with disabilities in institutions. Societal discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons and individuals with HIV/AIDS, particularly children, remained problems. Employers subjected men, women, and children to labor trafficking in agriculture, construction, domestic service, hotels, and manufacturing. Child labor was also a problem. The judiciary took steps to prosecute and punish officials who committed abuses, but authorities repeatedly delayed lawsuits involving alleged police abuse, which in many cases resulted in acquittals.

The most significant human rights developments in the country during the year were: First, separatists, supported by Russian military and civil officials, continued to control parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions by force of arms, as self-proclaimed "people's republics." Second, in Crimea, Russian occupation authorities committed numerous human rights abuses, targeting ethnic and religious communities, particularly Crimean Tatars, as well as independent journalists and anyone perceived as opposing the Russian occupation regime. Russia's occupation of Crimea displaced more than 20,000 Crimeans. Third, the country suffered from corruption and deficiencies in the administration of justice. Other problems reported during the year included abuse of persons in custody, in particular beatings and alleged torture of detainees and prisoners; harsh conditions in prisons and detention facilities; societal violence against women and abuse of children; societal discrimination against and harassment of ethnic and religious minorities; trafficking in persons; discrimination and harassment against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and intersex (LGBTI) persons; and discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS. There also were limitations on workers' right to strike; forced labor; and failure to enforce effectively labor laws and occupational safety and health standards for the workplace

The most serious human rights problems were extrajudicial and targeted killings; disappearances; torture; lack of rule of law (including lack of due process, poor implementation and enforcement of laws, and frequent mob violence and vigilante justice); gender inequality; and sectarian violence. Other human rights problems included poor prison conditions, arbitrary detention, lengthy pretrial detention, a weak criminal justice system, lack of judicial independence in the lower courts, and governmental infringement on citizens' privacy rights. Harassment of journalists continued, with high-profile attacks against journalists and media organizations. There were government restrictions on freedom of assembly and limits on freedom of movement. Government practices and certain laws limited freedom of religion, particularly for religious minorities. Continuing terrorist violence and human rights abuses by nonstate actors contributed significantly to human rights challenges in the country. In June 2014 the government and military began Operation Zarb-e-Azb, a military campaign against militant and terrorist groups in North Waziristan; the operation later expanded to include areas throughout the country. Following a December 2014 Tehrik-i-Taliban attack on the Army Public School of Peshawar that killed 145 individuals, including 132 schoolchildren, the government announced a National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism. Under the NAP the government passed a constitutional amendment, which established military courts to try civilians suspected of engaging in terrorism and related activities; the Supreme Court upheld the amendment in August. The government reinstated the death penalty after a seven-year hiatus. Discrimination against religious minorities continued. Corruption within the government and police, as well as rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, honor crimes, other harmful traditional practices, and discrimination against women and girls remained serious problems. Child abuse and commercial sexual exploitation of children persisted. Child labor remained pervasive. Widespread human trafficking, including forced and bonded labor, continued. Societal discrimination against national, ethnic, and racial minorities persisted, as did discrimination based on caste, sexual orientation, gender identity, and HIV status. Respect for worker rights was minimal. On August 5, the Constitutional Court upheld a 2011 constitutional amendment that devolved many government responsibilities to the provinces, including for most human rights and labor functions. As a result human rights and labor legislation, enforcement, and practice varied from province to province. Lack of government accountability remained a problem, and abuses often went unpunished, fostering a culture of impunity. Authorities seldom punished government officials for human rights violations. Violence, abuse, and social and religious intolerance by militant organizations and other nongovernmental actors contributed to a culture of lawlessness in some parts of the country, particularly in the provinces of Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP, formerly known as the North West Frontier Province), and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Between 2003 and November, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), militants killed 6,336 security force personnel and 20,790 civilians, while authorities killed 32,261 terrorists/insurgents.

The most significant human rights problems were arbitrary killings, disappearances, kidnappings, and other violence committed by various groups, as well as a corrupt judicial system that did not provide for the rule of law, further weakened after the Houthi-Saleh takeover. The internationally recognized government-in-exile lacked the capacity to enforce laws protecting against human rights abuses, particularly after its exile in March. Other human rights abuses included the use of excessive force and torture by security forces; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; lengthy pretrial detentions; infringements on citizens' privacy rights; limits on freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, religion, and movement; lack of transparency; corruption; violence and discrimination against women, children, persons with disabilities, and minorities; use of child soldiers; restrictions on worker rights; and trafficking in persons to include forced labor. Government and Saudi-led coalition delays or denials of permits for commercial and humanitarian aid shipments bound for rebel-held ports exacerbated a deteriorating humanitarian situation, where a reported 82 percent of the population required aid. Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition resulted at times in civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure, including destruction of a medical facility operated by Doctors without Borders. The unstable security situation significantly complicated efforts to assess human rights practices.

The most significant human rights problems in the country included the slow pace of judicial proceedings and resulting lengthy pretrial detention, sometimes under poor conditions; and violence and discrimination against women and children, including rape, child abuse, and child labor. Other governmental human rights problems included corruption by officials, discrimination against ethnic minorities and indigenous people, and lack of public access to government information. The government took steps to prosecute or punish officials who committed abuses, whether in the security services or elsewhere in the government. Impunity existed nonetheless.