User:Acntx/Human rights in São Tomé and Príncipe

The U.S. Department of State's Human Rights report for 2005 (issued in 8 March 2006) states that the government of São Tomé and Príncipe generally respected the human rights of its citizens, despite problems in a few areas.

São Tomé and Príncipe was one of 11 Sub-Saharan African countries rated 'free' in the 2006 Freedom in the World survey published annually by Freedom House, a pro-democracy organization that monitors political rights, civil liberties, and press freedom around the world. On a scale from 1 (most free) to 7 (least free), São Tomé received a '2' for both political rights and civil liberties.

Political rights

From independence in 1975 to 1990, the country was a single-party state with restricted political rights. In 1990, citizens approved a constitution that established a multiparty, democratic political system. Since then, eight national elections (three presidential: 1991, 1996, 2001 and five legislative: 1991, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006) have taken place - all of which were judged to have conducted in a generally free, fair, and transparent manner by domestic and international monitors.

Elections at the local level were conducted for the first time in 1992. Príncipe was granted autonomy in 1994 and elected a regional assembly and government in 1995.

Civil liberties

Freedoms of Assembly, Association, Movement, and Religion are constitutionally guaranteed and generally respected by the government. Academic freedom is respected.

Press freedom

According to the U.S. State Department, "The law provides for freedom of speech and of the press, and the government generally respected these rights. It also notes that some journalists practice self-censorship."

Television and radio are state operated and there are no independent stations, due to economic and market constraints. There is no law prohibiting the establishment of such stations and all opposition parties have access to the state-run media, including a minimum of three minutes per month on television. Opposition newsletters and pamphlets criticizing the government circulate freely.

São Tomé's press is rated as 'free' by the Freedom House organization. In its 2006 Press Freedom Survey, São Tomé ranked 5th out of Sub-Saharan Africa's 48 countries in terms of press freedom - trailing only Mali, Mauritius, Ghana, and South Africa.[1]

Freedom House describes the country's press freedom situation as follows: "The Constitution of São Tomé guarantees freedom of the press and the government has an exemplary history of respecting these rights in practice. Publications that criticize official policies circulate freely without journalists being arrested, jailed, tortured or harassed. However, journalists do practice a good degree of self-censorship, and often depend on official news releases for their reports which inhibits the growth of investigative journalism. Lack of advertising revenue, technology, media training and poor salaries also constitute major handicaps for journalists."

Other prominent press freedom organizations such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF), International Press Institute (IPI), and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) don't include São Tomé in their annual reports.