David Beckham visita programas de sobrevivência infantil na Serra Leoa

David Beckham visitou a Serra Leoa, um país onde uma em cada quatro crianças morre antes de completar cinco anos de idade. O motivo da viagem realizada com a UNICEF foi o de chamar a atenção para a sobrevivência infantil, um tema essencial para o progresso de muitas nações e para a humanidade no seu conjunto. David Beckham é Embaixador de Boa-Vontade da UNICEF desde Janeiro de 2005. "Na Serra Leoa, uma em cada quatro crianças morre antes do seu quinto aniversário. Isto é chocante e trágico, especialmente porque as soluções são simples: coisas como a vacinação contra o sarampo ou o uso de redes mosquiteiras para prevenir o paludismo", declarou David Beckam após a sua visita ao país. A viagem de David Beckham coincide com a publicação do relatório da UNICEF “A Situação Mundial da Infância 2008: Sobrevivência Infantil”, que analisa os progressos realizados e os desafios ainda pendentes para conseguir cumprir o Objectivo de Desenvolvimento do Milénio número 4. O cumprimento deste objectivo pressupõe a redução do número de mortes de crianças em dois terços entre 1990 e 2015.

Beckam na Serra Leoa De acordo com os dados do relatório sobre A Situação Mundial da Infância 2008, 27% das crianças de Serra Leoa morrem antes dos cinco anos, o que confere ao país a triste posição de primeiro na lista dos países com piores taxas de sobrevivência infantil. Em nenhum outro lugar do mundo a necessidade de pôr em marcha estratégias para salvar vidas de crianças é mais evidente do que na Serra Leoa. David Beckam visitou a localidade de Bombali, no Norte, onde se registam as mais elevadas taxas de mortalidade infantil do país. Aí teve a oportunidade de visitar um centro de saúde onde pôde constatar em primeira mão quais são as principais causas que impedem muitas crianças de ultrapassar a primeira infância. O paludismo por si só causa 33% das mortes, seguido da diarreia, da má nutrição e de doenças como o sarampo e a tuberculose. Os números são trágicos, e o que também é trágico é que todas estas causas são evitáveis com intervenções de baixo custo. A UNICEF coopera com os centros de saúde da Serra Leoa para inverter esta situação. Beckham pôde testemunhar algumas iniciativas nas quais a UNICEF apoia as comunidades, vacinando as crianças e mães e promovendo a educação sobre a importância de práticas de higiene para evitar as doenças diarréicas. O apoio da UNICEF permite aos técnicos de saúde a chegarem a centenas de crianças. Num centro de alimentação terapêutica, David Beckham ficou a conhecer as estratégias seguidas pela UNICEF para libertar da má nutrição grave bebés que chegam a pesar menos de 70% do seu peso normal. Para além da alimentação terapêutica com leite enriquecido e biscoitos de vitaminas, a UNICEF promove o aleitamento materno exclusivo como a melhor maneira de proteger a saúde dos bebés até aos seis meses de idade. Para ter êxito, é necessário que as mães conheçam as vantagens do aleitamento e que elas próprias tenham uma alimentação adequada. Com estas intervenções básicas, o centro visitado por David Beckham consgeuiu inverter a má nutrição de 90% das crianças internadas. Sobrevivência infantil Por dia morrem mais de 26 000 crianças menores de cinco anos devido a causas evitáveis, o que indica que, apesar dos grandes progressos realizados, ainda há muito caminho a percorrer. Porém, existem motivos para ter esperança: pela primeira vez na história o número de mortes de crianças no mundo desceu abaixo dos dez milhões, o que revela que o trabalho para promover a sobrevivência funciona e existem intervenções eficazes que permitem avançar ainda mais. O êxito, segundo o relatório sobre A Situação Mundial da Infância 2008, "é uma questão de vontade e acção". “Não podemos fechar os olhos face às dezenas de milhares de crianças pequenas que morrem por dia nos países em desenvolvimento, maioritariamente de causas evitáveis", afirma Beckham. "Salvar estas crianças é uma prioridade fundamental para a UNICEF e, como Embaixador, espero poder chamar a atenção do mundo para esta realidade”. Fotogaleria ©UNICEF HQ08-0014 David Turnley Serra Leoa: David Beckham, Embaixador de Boa Vontade da UNICEF, joga futebol com um grupo de rapazes nos subúrbios de Makeni na Província Norte do país. ©UNICEF HQ08-0008 David Turnley Serra Leoa: David Beckham administra a vacina oral da polio a Mariatsu, um bebé com dois dias de vida, durante uma visita à maternidade na cidade de Mangorea no Norte do país. A mãe, Alice, segura o bebé nos braços com a ajuda da enfermeira Ângela. A mãe de Mariatsu tem apenas 16 anos e espera poder voltar à escola logo que possível.

Em Serra Leoa, durante a guerra civil

Por Ana Guedes Washington, DC 10/05/2005

Na Serra Leoa, durante a guerra civil, os dois principais grupos rebeldes raptaram meninas, algumas com apenas sete anos, forçando-as à escravatura sexual.

Muitas destas meninas ficaram traumatizadas e têm medo de admitir o que lhes aconteceu ou não têm acesso aos programas de ajuda. Aos poucos continuam a contar as suas histórias.

Agora, com 12 anos de idade, uma jovem, que prefere que lhe chamem Aminatta, começou a receber aconselhamento para as vítimas de violação sexual por parte de um gang. Ela diz que uma amiga lhe falou do centro, na cidade de Makeni, dirigida pela organização não-governamental Acção para as Crianças em Conflito. Esta agência oferece conselhos médicos e legais às crianças vítimas de abusos sexuais.

“Eu tinha cerca de 10 anos quando fui violada pelo meu irmão e um grupo de quatro rapazes mais velhos. Mais tarde, quando ouvi falar deste centro, decidi vir até cá e contar o que me aconteceu. Desde então eles têm-me aconselhado.”

Aminatta não vê o irmão desde a violação, e diz que ele fazia parte dos Rebeldes da Frente Revolucionária Unida, apesar de na altura da violação ele não ser muito mais velho que ela.

Os grupos rebeldes recrutavam crianças soldados, injectando-lhes drogas para eles combaterem melhor. A violência sexual era usada como uma arma, e os familiares eram forçados a verem as suas filhas e mulheres serem violadas, ou eram eles mesmos forçados a violá-las.

Ainda hoje se continuam a registar ataques sexuais na Serra Leoa.

O responsável pela protecção da UNICEF, Donald Shaw estima que ocorram por ano cerca de três mil casos de abuso sexual, na sua maior parte cometidos por familiares ou amigos. Mas, Shaw acredita que a violência sexual que se registou durante a guerra faz com que as pessoas agora falem contra isso.

Segundo ele a violação sexual indiscriminada de crianças levou a que as pessoas vejam o horror do acto.

Através de campanhas, organizações como a UNICEF estão a consciencializar as pessoas para o abuso sexual na sociedade e mais vítimas começam a quebrar os tabus sociais e começam a falar sobre o abuso.

Um conselheiro para casos de violação sexual do grupo Action for Children in Conflict, Sadama Michaels, diz que a organização começou a oferecer apoio legal gratuito a crianças que queiram levar o seu caso a tribunal.

“Temos alguém que é advogado e não deixamos que estes casos fiquem assim. Queremos dizer aos pais que quando estas coisas acontecem não devem manter em segredo, deixem que se saiba para que se possam levar os responsáveis perante a justiça.”

Recentemente, um jovem ganhou o seu caso em tribunal, usando os serviços desta organização. Era um caso contra um vizinho a quem ela acusou de a ter violado sexualmente.

Apesar das leis sobre o abuso sexual na Serra Leoa não terem mudado, elas começam a ser usadas e as queixas das crianças são agora levadas a sério. Por forma a acomodar as vítimas, a polícia e os serviços sociais começaram a receber treino em como devem responder a casos de abuso sexual.

Idade média da ”criança soldado” entre os 13 e os 17 anos

9/03/2004

A organização sediada nos Estados Unidos ”Human Rights Watch” revelou que a idade média da ”criança soldado” encontra-se entre os 13 e os 17 anos, mas algumas são jovens de oito ou nove anos. Utilizam armas em combate, servem de detectores humanos de minas, participam em missões suicidas, e agem como espiões, mensageiros ou vigias.

Jo Becker, responsável da Human Rights Watch, indica que ”milhares de crianças tem sido raptadas de suas casas e das suas comunidades, e sujeitas às piores formas de violência”. Acrescenta a mesma fonte que, citamos, ”as crianças fazem soldados obedientes, pois são vulneráveis e facilmente intimidáveis”. São forçadas a cometer atrocidades contra elementos da sua própria comunidade, algumas vezes contra elementos da sua própria família, acrescenta ainda Jo Becker.

As raparigas são utilizadas com frequência como esposas dos comandantes e submetidas essencialmente à escravatura sexual.

O estudo realizado por especialistas belgas demonstra que estes jovens ficam com graves cicatrizes do foro psicológico. Os especialistas entrevistaram mais de trezentas antigas crianças soldado que foram capturadas pelo movimento rebelde do norte do Uganda, o Exército da Resistência do Senhor.

A quase totalidade dos jovens - 97 por cento - sofreu desordens traumáticas após terem servido uma média de dois anos. Os problemas eram tipicamente a persistência de pesadelos, problemas de sono e dificuldade de concentração.

O estudo adianta que uma grande percentagem das crianças soldado testemunhou, ou participaram em assassinatos. Sete por cento foram forçadas a matar um elemento da família. Muitas raptaram outras crianças e participaram em actos de pilhagem e incendiaram habitações. Cerca de metade foram severamente espancadas. Um terço das raparigas foi abusada sexualmente, e um quinto delas deu à luz durante o cativeiro.

Os autores do estudo indicam que as crianças sofrem menos trauma se os país ainda forem vivos, e especial se a mãe ainda for viva. A reunião com as respectivas famílias e os anteriores ambientes sociais ajudam a recuperar a saúde psicológica, mas muitas crianças não têm a mesma sorte. Muitas das crianças já não têm pais, ou um dos pais já morreu, e tendo cometido muitas atrocidades contra os próprios vizinhos, torna difícil a sua re integração na comunidade .

A comunidade internacional tem centrado as atenções nos últimos anos no problema das crianças soldado. A “Convenção de 2002 sobre os Direitos da Criança”, a “Organização Internacional do Trabalho”, a “Acta Africana sobre Direitos e Bem Estar da Criança” proíbem o uso de crianças como soldados. O Tribunal Internacional Criminal define o recrutamento militar de crianças como sendo um crime de guerra.

Um editorial da revista médica ”Lancet”, que publica o estudo que estamos a referir, lamenta que o Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas não tenha punido os violadores, apesar dos debates anuais sobre a questão, desde 1998 e as condenações das partes envolvidas.

Jo Becker considera existirem alguns passos positivos, sublinhando que o Fundo das Nações Unidas para a Criança tem trabalhado com governos e organizações privadas para a desmobilização e a reabilitação de milhares de crianças na Serra Leoa, no sul do Sudão, no Afeganistão e ainda outros países. Um tribunal especial na Serra Leoa acusou 11 pessoas do crime de recrutamento de crianças durante o conflito.

Jo Becker concorda com o editorial da ”Lancet” ao referir que as sanções devem ser alargadas através de acções concretas para que não se fique apenas pelo mundo das palavras, nomeadamente uma actuação decidida do Conselho de Segurança da ONU para impor medidas contra os responsáveis.

NA ROTA DOS MENINOS MATADORES

Atualizado e Publicado em 11 de janeiro de 2008 às 15:59

Shaku matou pela primeira vez quando tinha 14 anos de idade. Ele aparece à esquerda na foto, ouvindo música como qualquer adolescente. Shaku fez parte da geração de soldados meninos que lutaram e ainda lutam em guerras civis na África. Não são meninos no sentido que atribuímos à palavra no mundo ocidental. Na tradição africana, desde cedo recebem a responsabilidade de defender e alimentar a família e a tribo.

Fui ver o resultado da guerra num dos países mais pobres do mundo. Serra Leoa fica na costa da África Ocidental. Se você imaginar uma linha saindo de Pernambuco e avançando oceano adentro, Serra Leoa fica do outro lado do Atlântico.



Logo na chegada, um aviso no outdoor que fica no aeroporto: "Se você não pode nos ajudar, por favor não nos corrompa." Empresas estrangeiras corromperam Serra Leoa. Fomentaram a guerra pelo controle de minas de diamante.



O país viveu uma das guerras civis mais sangrentas da história recente da África. Abu, de camisa laranja, é testemunha viva da barbárie. Ele nunca se envolveu com política. No ápice do conflito, em que diferentes facções disputavam o controle do país, foi capturado pelos rebeldes na zona rural. Teve os braços decepados por um homem armado de facão. Foi solto com a orientação de caminhar em direção à capital, Freetown.

Uma mensagem ambulante aos que apoiavam o presidente de Serra Leoa, que os rebeldes pretendiam derrubar. A guerra civil acabou. Os rebeldes depuseram as armas, depois de um acordo político patrocinado pelas Nações Unidas. A maior força de paz na história da ONU está ajudando a reconstruir o país. As Nações Unidas fracassaram de forma espetacular em Ruanda. Serra Leoa tornou-se exemplo de como a ONU pode agir pela paz.

Houve eleições. Um tribunal julga crimes de guerra, como o que foi cometido contra Abu. No país há cristãos e muçulmanos. Eles convivem pacificamente.



Um dos motivos da guerra foi a disputa pelo controle de grandes minas de diamante. Quando estivemos em Serra Leoa, fomos visitar as jazidas. Ainda hoje o trabalho é semi-escravo. Valas gigantescas são cavadas por homens com pás. Uma Serra Pelada africana. O diamante que sai de Serra Leoa vendido por 100 dólares em Nova York faz parte de uma jóia que custa cinco mil.

As jazidas do país foram tão importantes que mereceram uma visita da rainha Elizabeth. Grandes empresas, de vários paises, manobraram grupos políticos locais pelo controle da riqueza. Deu numa guerra civil que durou mais de uma década, deixou milhares de mortos e feridos. Homens, mulheres e crianças perderam braços e pernas.



O mundo ficou sabendo da existência de Serra Leoa por causa do exército de meninos. Os rebeldes sequestravam adolescentes para lutar. Os garotos cheiravam cocaína, cola, fumavam maconha e estavam prontos para a barbárie.

As vítimas eram, quase sempre, civis inocentes. Entrevistamos Shaku, o adolescente matador. Depois da guerra, passou a viver num orfanato sustentado pela Igreja Católica. O grande sonho dele era ganhar uma bola de futebol. Conseguimos uma com soldados paquistaneses, que serviam às Nações Unidas. Para pacificar o país, os paquistaneses distribuíram mais de dez mil bolas de futebol em Serra Leoa.

Pode se dizer que o futebol ajudou a acalmar o país. A energia dos meninos matadores passou a ser gasta no futebol de areia. Das minas de Serra Leoa sairam 30 bilhões de dólares em diamantes. Ainda assim, na vila mais próxima à jazida que visitamos não há água corrente, nem rede de esgotos.

O povo de Serra Leoa é alegre, gosta de música e ama o futebol. Em Freetown, encontramos um time chamado Brasil. Cada jogador adotou o nome de um craque brasileiro. Numa praia, pudemos ver Romário, Rivaldo e Ronaldo em ação. Britânicos, canadenses e sul-africanos não foram os primeiros a explorar Serra Leoa. O nome do país foi dado pelos portugueses.

Eles entravam mato adentro para capturar escravos. Arrancavam à força os homens das tribos, para exportá-los para as Américas, inclusive o Brasil. Freetown ganhou esse nome porque foi fundada por escravos libertos, que voltaram dos Estados Unidos. Serra Leoa faz parte de nossa história. Apesar da tragédia que consumiu o país, nele eu me senti em casa.



O sorriso maroto dessa gente eu já vi em algum lugar. Acho que foi no Rio de Janeiro ou talvez em Salvador.




Publicado originalmente em 2005

Crianças Continuam a Extrair Diamantes na Serra Leoa

Por Paulo Faria 01/05/2009

Um programa sobre direitos humanos da Universidade de Harvard diz que crianças estão a ser exploradas como uma fonte de mão-de-obra barata nas minas de diamantes da Serra Leoa.

Preocupações sobre os chamados "diamantes de sangue" da Serra Leoa usados pelos rebeldes para financiar anos de guerra civil, conduziram a reformas na indústria conhecidas por Processo de Kimberly, certificando a origem dos diamantes como "livre de conflitos".

Mas o fim da guerra na Serra Leoa não melhorou a vida das crianças que trabalham nas minas, como nos diz Matthew Wells, estudante do programa sobre direitos humanos da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Harvard.

"Está destruindo uma geração inteira. Está alienando uma geração. É um trabalho extenuante com graves consequências para a saúde. Os poços das minas são focos de malária porque o garimpo é feito em águas pouco profundas. Os poços, onde escavam cada vez mais fundo, desmoronam-se causando ferimentos graves ou a morte aos mineiros. E por isso é uma indústria muito perigosa, especialmente para as crianças que são forçadas a um trabalho muito difícil. "

Wells afirmou que muitas crianças foram trabalhar para as minas depois dos seus pais terem sido mortos durante a guerra civil. Outras trabalham para ajudar no sustento de suas famílias. O garimpo infantil não é apenas ilegal. Wells disse que também não é uma fonte sustentável de rendimento.

"Pagam-lhes uma insignificância. Recebem um dólar, dois dólares o máximo por dia. Não é algo que os beneficie em termos de ajudar as suas famílias. Em vez disso, precisam de ter acesso `a educação que o governo da Serra Leoa é obrigado por lei a fornecer-lhes, porque isso dá-lhes oportunidades reais de abandonarem as minas e levarem dinheiro suficiente para casa."

O relatório de Harvard faz duas recomendações gerais: que o governo de Freetown gaste mais em Educação e que o presidente da Serra Leoa, Ernest Bai Koroma, melhore os regulamentos sobre as minas, por forma a que a maior parte das receitas provenientes das minas de diamantes sejam aplicadas em benefício das localidades que fornecem pessoal para o trabalho de garimpo.

Sierra Leone: Recent violence underscores need for international support – Ban

Source: United Nations News Service

Date: 29 May 2009

A recent eruption of political violence in Sierra Leone reinforces the need for the international community's continued support for the West African nation's efforts to rebuild following a brutal 11-year civil war, according to a new report by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

President Ernest Bai Koroma and the top leaders of both the governing and main opposition parties were able to prevent a new round of conflict after clashes broke out, underlining the "fragile nature of the nascent democratic process in the country," Mr. Ban wrote.

The governing All People's Congress (APC) and the opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) signed a joint communiqué on 2 April, which he characterized in his most recent report on the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL) as a "major event."

The disturbances, had they devolved into a full-blown conflict, could have heightened regional divisions and increased identification of political parties with ethnic loyalties, he said.

The violence "served as a wake-up call for the Government and people of Sierra Leone on the critical challenges that require urgent and continued attention," the report noted.

"Against this backdrop, the determined manner with which Sierra Leone overcame its recent political crisis was all the more laudable," the Secretary-General said, commending the nation's resolve to overcome differences rather than relenting to attacks.

Further, Mr. Ban wrote, its recent actions have set an example for other countries in the sub-region experiencing similar upheavals.

He expressed concern that the current global financial crisis could dampen international assistance to Sierra Leone in the coming years, calling on nations to continue their support for the country's peacebuilding endeavours.

Last August, the Security Council authorized the creation of UNIPSIL to replace the UN political office in the country, known as UNIOSIL, in a unanimously adopted resolution, which also gave the new structure an initial mandate of 12 months.

UNIPSIL, which works closely with the UN Peacebuilding Commission, is tasked with providing political support to national and local efforts for identifying and resolving tensions and threats of potential conflict, whatever the source. It also monitors and promotes human rights, democratic institutions and the rule of law, including efforts to counter transnational organized crime and drug trafficking.

Sierra Leone is one of the first two countries, along with Burundi, to receive support from the Commission, which was established in 2005 to help post-conflict countries determine the priority areas for rebuilding out of the vast array of challenges they face.

Missão cumprida entre nuvens negras e diamantes

Thalif Deen

Nações Unidas, 06/01/2006, (IPS) - Quando os 1.700 soldados das forças de paz da Organização das Nações Unidas abandonaram Serra Leoa, no dia 31 de dezembro, a ONU qualificou essa missão como um enorme êxito em meio a um continente arrasado pelos conflitos étnicos e pelas guerras.

"A missão foi capaz de superar uma serie de importantes desafios políticos e militares e realizar uma operação de paz efetiva que deixa Serra Leoa muito melhor do que estava há cinco anos", orgulhou-se o secretário-geral das Nações Unidas, Kofi Annan.

Porém, os méritos políticos da missão podem ser ofuscados por uma onda de graves problemas econômicos que afetam esta pequena nação da África ocidental, com 5,5 milhões de habitantes, que ocupa o último lugar no Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano do Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento (Pnud). "A pobreza continua sendo a principal ameaça à estabilidade neste país", disse o embaixador Daudi Mwakawago, representante especial da ONU em Serra Leoa. "Com desemprego de 70%, que afeta principalmente a juventude, os riscos para a segurança são evidentes", afirmou o diplomata no Conselho de Segurança, na semana passada.

Somente através de maior poupança nacional, do desenvolvimento do setor privado e dos investimentos estrangeiros diretos é possível compensar a previsível drástica queda das doações, por causa da maior competição mundial por esses recursos, disse Mwakawago. "A previsível redução da ajuda externa uma vez terminada a crise humanitária e o processo de recuperação do país, bem como o alto grau de corrupção que se percebe poderiam resultar em uma substancial escassez de capitais estrangeiros", advertiu Annan em um informe apresentado ao Conselho de Segurança. "Isto terá um impacto negativo na balança de pagamentos, na habilidade de manter a estabilidade macroeconômica e nos investimentos que o país necessita para seu crescimento econômico", disse o secretário-geral em seu informe.

Segundo o Fundo de População das Nações Unidas, a proporção da população de Serra Leoa abaixo da linha de pobreza era de 68% em 1990 (um ano antes do início da guerra) e 57% viviam com menos de um dólar por dia. Mas de acordo com o informe de Annan, que apresenta uma imagem mais detalhada da intensidade e profundidade da crise, "a brecha da pobreza" nacional (um indicador que mede a diferença entre renda média dos pobres e a linha de pobreza) é de 29%. A pobreza, segundo esse estudo, é muito mais profunda nas áreas rurais.

Marcus Thompson, diretor para Serra Leoa da organização humanitária internacional Oxfam, mostra-se um pouco mais otimista. "Confiamos que Serra Leoa continuará sendo um país pacífico, com ambiente estável e seguro que lhe permita continuar se desenvolvendo em sociedade com a comunidade internacional", disse Thompson à IPS. O país "tem agora a oportunidade de provar ao mundo seu compromisso com a paz, os direitos humanos e seu próprio destino como membro produtivo e apto da comunidade global", disse o ativista.

Ao cessar a Missão da ONU em Serra Leoa (Unamsil, sigla em inglês), as Nações Unidas citaram entre seus muitos sucessos o efetivo desarmamento, desmobilização e reintegração à vida civil de mais de 75 mil ex-combatentes envolvidos na guerra civil que atingiu o país entre 1991 e 2002. A força de paz da ONU, que chegou a ter 17.500 soldados, também teve papel preponderante na preparação e realização das eleições de 2002 e 2004, em ajudar o governo a recuperar o controle da exploração das jazidas de diamantes e em dar proteção ao Tribunal Especial para Serra Leoa encarregado de julgar os militares e combatentes acusados de crimes de guerra.

Os ganhos proporcionados pelas minas de diamantes aumentaram fabulosamente nos últimos anos, disse Mwakawago, principalmente devido à revisão e à reforma geral dessa indústria. A exportação de diamantes passou de US$ 10 milhões, em 2000, para US$ 130 milhões em 2004. De janeiro a novembro do ano passado, Serra Leoa exportou diamantes no valor de US$ 131 milhões, segundo dados da ONU. "O que ainda é necessário é reforçar a segurança, revisar o sistema de licenças, combater o contrabando e o trabalho infantil, distribuir os benefícios obtidos com a mineração de maneira eqüitativa, e também resolver as disputas limítrofes entre as comunidades", disse Mwakawago.

Com vistas às eleições presidenciais marcadas para 2007, a ONU espera ver a reestruturação da Comissão Nacional Eleitoral e a delimitação dos distritos eleitorais. "Estou convencido de que a realização de eleições livres e com credibilidade no ano que vem será um marco fundamental no processo para conseguir uma estabilidade duradoura em Serra Leoa", acrescentou o diplomata. No começo deste mês foi aberto o novo Escritório Integrado da ONU em Serra Leoa, que supervisionará a etapa de consolidação da paz. O governo do país também herdou a quase totalidade do equipamento militar que foi recolhido pela força de paz, incluindo 25 veículos leves e centenas de equipamentos de comunicação.

A comunidade internacional se ofereceu para ajudar esse país a reconstruir suas forças armadas. A Suíça enviou caminhões, os Estados Unidos três lanchas-patrulha, a China uma quarta lancha e a Holanda veículos militares. Annan disse que esse triunfo da Unamsil será usado como modelo a ser seguido em outras missões de paz em andamento. O secretário-geral também pediu a "todos os cidadãos de Serra Leoa que aproveitem esta oportunidade histórica única construída com o esforço de todos e a ajuda da Unamsil" e que "o futuro do país lhes pertence". Thompson afirmou que "a Oxfam tem toda a intenção de permanecer em Serra Leoa e continuar trabalhando por seu desenvolvimento".

Segundo Thompson, "temos um compromisso de ajudar o povo através de programas de direitos humanos, redução da pobreza, saúde, abastecimento de água, e continuaremos os trabalhos que fazemos desde 1961 junto aos nossos sócios, tanto nas tarefas de socorro como de assistência ao desenvolvimento. Agradecemos à Unamsil por seu árduo trabalho para manter a paz e temos confiança em que a Oxfam continuará fazendo sua parte para construir um ambiente estável e pacífico", acrescentou. (IPS/Envolverde)

Serra Leoa é Aqui

Lucas Figueiredo

O Brasil está na rota do contrabando dos diamantes de sangue, pedras preciosas extraídas ilegalmente na África

Há milhões de anos, as pro-fundezas da Terra foram tomadas por uma onda de calor avassaladora. O miolo do planeta ferveu. Quando a temperatura atingiu 3.815º C, grandes porções de carbono enterradas no solo sofreram uma mutação espetacular. Da massa vulcânica ardente, desprenderam-se cristais transparentes de tons amarelados, esverdeados, rosa e branco leitoso. Com o tempo, devido à pressão no interior da Terra, essas pedras acabaram sendo expulsas para camadas bem próximas à superfície e algumas chegaram a romper o solo. Assim brotaram os diamantes.
Terá sido coisa de Deus ou do diabo?

O melhor amigo das garotas faz girar uma indústria formal que emprega 10 milhões de pessoas e movimenta US$ 60 bilhões por ano. É também, no outro lado da moeda, fonte de sofrimento e injustiça, como mostra Diamante de Sangue, filme estrelado por Leonardo DiCaprio. Fora as pieguices do tipo só-o-amor-constrói, ninguém-é-tão-ruim-que-não-possa-se-recuperar e o-bem-sempre-vence-o-mal, a fita tem o mérito de retratar, com fidelidade histórica (coisa cada vez mais rara em Hollywood), uma das grandes tragédias da África. Só faltou aos roteiristas do filme contar que a história dos "diamantes de sangue" é também uma história brasileira. E o Brasil, nesse caso, não é o mocinho.

Investigações em andamento no Brasil e na Bélgica, cujos resultados serão anunciados ainda neste semestre, apontam para a existência de uma rede internacional de contrabandistas que, a partir do território nacional, reexporta, para a Europa, diamantes extraídos ilegalmente na África. Parte do lucro do negócio fica no Brasil, outra parte segue para a Europa e uma terceira parcela retorna à África, onde ajuda a custear guerras civis.

O problema começou a tomar proporções de tragédia quando, no início da década de 1990, rebeldes de Serra Leoa - na verdade, bandidos sanguinolentos reunidos sob o pomposo nome de Frente Unida Revolucionária (FUR) - descobriram que os diamantes que brotavam com fartura do solo africano podiam financiar seus tresloucados projetos de poder. A fim de levar a melhor na guerra civil que assolava o país, os guerrilheiros da FUR tomaram, na base do balaço e de golpes de facão, o controle sobre as minas de diamantes do governo. (Lá, tal qual no Brasil, as pedras são facilmente encontradas na superfície da Terra. Sem necessidade de maiores tecnologias, basta lavar o cascalho com a bateia para encontrar os diamantes.) A FUR passou então a seqüestrar homens e crianças para trabalharem nas minas. Os homens viraram garimpeiros-escravos (como o personagem Solomon Vandy, interpretado por Djimon Hounson em Diamante de Sangue). E as crianças, por meio de uma tenebrosa lavagem cerebral, processo também retratado no filme, foram transformadas em guardas das minas e soldados treinados para matar. Para que tudo funcionasse conforme o figurino diabólico da FUR, quem saía da linha era assassinado ou tinha braços, pernas, orelhas ou lábios amputados com facão.

Os guerrilheiros de Serra Leoa trocavam os "diamantes de sangue" (a expressão vem daquela época e não carece de maiores explicações) por armas e treinamento. Não lhes faltavam fregueses. Um dos parceiros da FUR nesse comércio era o então ditador da Libéria, Charles Taylor. (Taylor atualmente está preso e aguarda julgamento pelo Tribunal Internacional de Haia por crimes contra a humanidade. As acusações incluem assassinatos em massa, violência sexual, tortura, recrutamento de crianças-soldados, seqüestro, trabalho forçado e ataques a funcionários da ONU. No currículo de Taylor consta ainda o fato de que ele inspirou o personagem do ditador e assassino André Baptiste no excelente filme Senhor das Armas, estrelado por Nicolas Cage.)

Os lucrativos negócios da FUR e de Charles Taylor contagiaram malucos de outros países. Logo, guerrilhas da Angola, do Congo, do Zaire (atual República Democrática do Congo) e da Costa do Marfim aderiram à indústria dos "diamantes de sangue". Uma parcela considerável dos 30 milhões de armas leves que circulam atualmente na África (a conta é da ONG Small Arms Survey) foi comprada em transações envolvendo as pedras. Resumo da história: de lá para cá, 4 milhões de pessoas foram mortas na África e mais de 200 mil crianças foram transformadas em baby killers em conflitos financiados com parte dos lucros obtidos com a venda das gemas.
O Brasil foi incluído nessa corrente criminosa justamente no momento em que o mundo tentava dar uma solução para o problema. Mal calculada, a estratégia para conter a extração e o contrabando dos "diamantes de sangue" acabou por aumentar o número de países envolvidos na questão. E assim, o Brasil virou rota das pedras malditas.

Só no ano 2000, com seu rotineiro atraso para interferir nos genocídios africanos, a ONU acordou para o fato de que os lendários diamantes do continente (lendários pela fartura, beleza, pelo tamanho e valor) estavam alimentando atrocidades. Numa reunião realizada na cidade de Kimberley, na África do Sul, combinou-se um plano para expulsar os "diamantes de sangue" das joalherias (sim, o outro lado horripilante dessa história é que as pedras que movem guerras vão parar no dedo, nas orelhas, nos pescoços e umbigos de muita gente fina deste mundo, sobretudo dos Estados Unidos e da Europa). A idéia era simples e parecia genial: os países fariam um pacto em que se comprometiam a comprar e vender somente os diamantes extraídos, de forma legal, em minas localizadas fora de áreas de conflito. O atestado de "bons antecedentes" das pedras - batizado de certificado Kimberley - seria fornecido a partir de 2003 pelos governos locais, sob rigorosa inspeção dos países participantes do acordo e da ONU. Assim, numa única tacada, impedia-se que os países africanos envolvidos em guerra civil tivessem acesso ao mercado oficial de diamantes e, por tabela, estimulava-se a legalização de uma indústria vocacionada para a clandestinidade.
Beleza! Só faltava ao plano funcionar. E foi aqui que a coisa deu chabu.

Como era de se esperar, integrantes da indústria do "diamante de sangue" (e aqui não está se falando apenas de africanos, mas de gente de várias partes do mundo) não aceitaram mudar de ramo tão facilmente. Na impossibilidade de obter os certificados Kimberley nos países de origem das pedras, os criminosos passaram a fraudar o "pedigree" dos "diamantes de sangue", registrando-os em outros países. Um deles é o Brasil.

De acordo com o Ministério Público e a Polícia Federal, há fortes indícios de que "diamantes de sangue" são vendidos na Europa como se fossem pedras brasileiras extraídas de forma legal. Uma força-tarefa que reúne a PF, o MP, a Receita e o Tesouro Federal investiga o caso há três anos. No ano passado, dez pessoas chegaram a ser presas na chamada Operação Carbono. O material apreendido na ocasião levou a novas pistas, e a apuração ganhou fôlego. O delegado da PF responsável pelo inquérito, Marcelo Eduardo Freitas, afirma que os trabalhos devem ser concluídos em breve. Ele prefere não adiantar suas conclusões, mas, em entrevista à Rolling Stone, deu uma dica preciosa: "Há veementes indícios de que boa parte dos diamantes comercializados no Brasil não provém dos garimpos declarados nos certificados Kimberley. Há possibilidade inclusive de que diamantes tenham vindo do exterior, de regiões de guerra civil".

Não são apenas as autoridades brasileiras que seguem as pistas dos "diamantes de sangue" no país. Nos últimos meses, a Bélgica (maior centro mundial de comércio de diamantes) entrou no caso. Sem alarde, procuradores e polícias da Bélgica estiveram no Brasil no final do ano passado a fim de compartilhar as informações colhidas na Operação Carbono. Depois disso, numa blitz realizada em empresas da Antuérpia - cidade da Bélgica onde são negociados 80% dos diamantes brutos e 50% das gemas lapidadas no mundo -, dois brasileiros foram detidos, fichados e, logo após, soltos. Não se trata de bagrinhos. Um deles é parente de um poderoso político de Minas Gerais.

A "lavagem" dos "diamantes de sangue" no Brasil funciona em três etapas. Primeiro, as gemas são contrabandeadas para o Brasil. Moleza! Atravessar as alfândegas dos continentes africano e americano com diamantes é uma barbada. Escondidas num bolso falso da calça ou até mesmo dentro de uma vasta cabeleira, as pedras não são acusadas pelos detectores de metais. Além disso, um punhadinho delas ou mesmo uma única gema pode valer uma fortuna. Recentemente, uma pedra brasileira de 86 quilates (um diamante rosa igual ao que DiCaprio persegue no filme) foi vendida para compradores da China por US$ 12 milhões.

Na fase seguinte, após internar as pedras africanas no Brasil, os contrabandistas pagam mineradores locais devidamente regulamentados para que eles assumam os "diamantes de sangue" como se fossem gemas encontradas em suas lavras. O "garimpeiro-laranja" então vai ao Departamento Nacional de Produção Mineral (DNPM) - órgão do Ministério de Minas e Energia encarregado de emitir os certificados Kimberley - e registra as pedras em seu nome. Daí, legalizados como pedras de Minas Gerais, do Mato Grosso ou da Bahia, os "diamantes de sangue" ganham as joalherias do mundo.

O DNPM nega que o Brasil esteja na rota das gemas africanas e não reconhece falhas no processo de concessão dos certificados Kimberley. A posição oficial, no entanto, é bombardeada dentro e fora do país.

A ONG canadense Parceria África-Canadá (PAC), que se dedica a investigar e denunciar o comércio de "diamantes de sangue", diz que não encontrou nada no sistema brasileiro que impeça a "lavagem" das gemas africanas. A própria PAC já chegou bem perto de flagrar o esquema. Numa investigação realizada em 2005, integrantes da ONG disfarçados de compradores de diamantes contataram, no Mato Grosso, um israelense que trabalha com a exportação da pedra. O israelense afirmou aos membros da PAC que negociava diamantes da República Democrática do Congo, país que desde 2004 está suspenso do mercado internacional das gemas. "A PAC não encontrou nenhuma prova de que essas redes estavam trazendo diamantes do oeste da África para o Brasil, mas, com uma rede de pessoas e contatos em vigor, seria relativamente simples para uma dessas redes dar um passo adiante e começar a 'lavar' as pedras através do Brasil", diz o relatório da ONG.
O trabalho de detetive realizado pela PAC resultou na revelação de uma megafraude com um certificado Kimberley emitido no Brasil. De quebra, trouxe à luz um personagem acostumado a andar nas sombras - sombras brasileiras, africanas e européias. O personagem é Hassan Ahmad, e a fraude refere-se ao certificado Kimberley número 64.

Primeiro, o personagem. Hassan nasceu em Serra Leoa, foi registrado no Líbano e possui passaporte belga. Esse multiétnico senhor de 43 anos, calvo precoce e rechonchudo, vive no Brasil, mais especificamente em Belo Horizonte. Seu ramo: exportação de diamantes. Com um português precário (ele prefere se comunicar em árabe), Hassan montou sua base de negócios num escritório e num quarto de hotel localizados na zona sul da capital mineira. Segundo levantamento feito pela PAC com base em dados do Anuário Brasileiro Mineral, Hassan foi responsável, em 2004, pela exportação de 96% dos diamantes registrados em Minas Gerais (o estado número 1 do ranking nacional) e 53% das exportações totais do Brasil. Nada mal para quem nunca pegou numa bateia.

Preso no ano passado na Operação Carbono sob a acusação de ser um dos cabeças de uma rede internacional de contrabando de diamantes, Hassan passou uns dias na cadeia, foi solto e agora responde a processo em liberdade. Seu advogado, Carlos Alberto Arges Júnior, afirma que seu cliente é inocente. "Não tem nada firmado ainda contra ele. O que há são suposições", afirmou à reportagem. E que suposições!

Hassan tem uma família da pesada. Os Ahmad estão no ramo dos diamantes desde a década de 1970, sempre com uma autoridade policial no cangote. Segundo a ONG Global Witness, que monitora relatórios de órgãos de inteligência norte-americanos, integrantes do clã já foram investigados pelo serviço secreto dos Estados Unidos e pelo Conselho de Segurança da ONU. Said Ali Ahmad, pai de Hassan, é suspeito de "lavar" dinheiro por meio de negócios com "diamantes de sangue". Já um dos irmãos de Hassan, Ali Ahmad, foi (mal) citado no relatório S/2003/1.207 da ONU, que trata dos esforços do organismo na defesa dos recursos naturais da África. Na Bélgica, onde é dono da empresa Asa Diam (uma das receptadoras dos diamantes que Hassan exporta do Brasil), Ali também enfrenta grossas acusações. O Ministério Público belga informou à Polícia Federal brasileira que possui provas de que Ali fez vultuosas transferências bancárias para Nassour Aziz e Ossaily Samig, expoentes da máfia libanesa que comercializam os "diamantes de sangue" da República Democrática do Congo e de Serra Leoa.
No Brasil, Hassan é dono da Primeira Gema, empresa exportadora de diamantes sediada em Belo Horizonte. Segundo a PAC, a Primeira Gema tem conexões com a Primo Gem da República Democrática do Congo. A Bélgica é o principal destino dos diamantes exportados por Hassan a partir do Brasil. Além de vender as pedras para a empresa de seu irmão, Hassan tem negócios naquele país com a Sierra Gem, Diamonds NV, Tripla A Diamonds, Anar e African Star. Alertadas pela PF, as autoridades belgas cuidam agora de investigar se há algum crime por trás dessas parcerias.

Hassan também foi fisgado em outro caso tarja-preta. O nome do libanês aparece na lista de pessoas que enviaram recursos para fora do Brasil por intermédio da empresa Beacon Hill, uma "gigalavanderia" de dinheiro sujo. Ele obviamente nega qualquer irregularidade.

Fato é que o sujeito toca seus negócios com métodos, digamos, pouco ortodoxos. Um caso ocorrido em 2003 ilustra perfeitamente o estilo deixa-que-eu-chuto de Hassan. Naquela ocasião, ele decidiu expandir seus tentáculos até o garimpo do Rio Abaeté, próximo a Patos de Minas (MG), onde já foram encontrados os cobiçados diamantes cor-de-rosa. A região, contudo, era dominada pelos irmãos Gilmar e Geraldo Campos, conhecidos como "os reis do diamante". A fim de ganhar a simpatia dos garimpeiros, que já tinham o costume de vender suas pedras para os irmãos Campos, Hassan não teve dúvida. Alugou um helicóptero, sobrevoou o garimpo e jogou lá de cima R$ 50 mil em notas de 10. A chuva de dinheiro provocou uma confusão tão grande que a Polícia Militar teve de ser acionada para serenar os ânimos.

Descrito o personagem, passemos à fraude com o certificado Kimberley número 64, uma história incrível em que aparece um morto que anda, uma montanha de dinheiro e, é claro, o nome de Hassan.

Em 2003, um homem que se apresentava como Fábio Tadeu Dias de Oliveira solicitou ao DNPM o direito de lavra sobre uma área de 100 hectares localizada no vale do Rio Jequitinhonha, próximo à cidade mineira de Diamantina. (Na mesma região, no início do século 18, foram encontrados os primeiros diamantes brasileiros, que tanto fizeram a alegria das cortes européias.) Garimpeiro o sujeito até podia ser, mas Fábio Tadeu Dias de Oliveira ele não era. Fábio havia morrido em São Paulo dois anos antes, aos 25 anos de idade, pobre de marré de si, depois de tentar a vida como motoboy, praticar pequenos furtos e vender objetos roubados.

O certo é que o fantasma conseguiu duas licenças do DNPM, registradas com os números 833476/2003 e 833479/2003 no dia 30 de junho de 2004. Sete dias depois (alguém aí lembrou que sete é numero de mentiroso?), o espectro de Fábio "bamburrou", como costuma-se dizer no garimpo quando alguém faz um grande achado. De acordo com os registros oficiais, foi nesse dia que o gasparzinho de Diamantina vendeu para a empresa Morgan Mineração, por US$ 261 mil, uma partida de diamantes de 6.876,92 quilates. Três semanas depois, a Morgan Mineração repassou o lote para a Primeira Gema, de Hassan Ahmad. E este, ato contínuo, vendeu as pedras para a Sam Diamonds, de Dubai, nos Emirados Árabes. O preço foi salgado: US$ 2,97 milhões, mais de dez vezes o valor inicial do negócio.

A presença de um desencarnado na transação (o espírito chegou a figurar como sexto maior produtor de diamantes do Brasil, com faturamento anual de R$ 5 milhões) é apenas um dos mistérios da fraude. Nas suas investigações, a PAC descobriu que a lavra de onde teria brotado essa rara partida de diamantes está localizada numa área com baixo potencial para mineração. Ou seja, o fantasma teria escolhido garimpar numa lavra micada e mesmo assim, sete dias após iniciar os trabalhos, encontrou uma fortuna em pedras. Vai ter sorte assim no céu.

Existem outras irregularidades nas gemas do certificado Kimberley número 64. O gerente da Morgan Mineração, Vinicius José Wanderley Costa, afirmou aos investigadores da PAC que nunca comprou ou vendeu diamantes. Seu ramo de atividade, explicou ele, é a produção de pigmentos minerais usados na fabricação de tintas. O gerente da Morgan Mineração deduz que alguém pode ter clonado um talão de notas fiscais com o nome da empresa.

Na opinião da PAC, se quem encontrou as pedras é um fantasma e quem as vendeu a Hassan garante nunca ter comercializado com diamantes, o mais provável é que o libanês seja o autor da fraude com o certificado 64. "A longa lista de documentação que sustenta o certificado 64 é fraudulenta do começo ao fim e a única pessoa que certamente em algum momento manuseou estas pedras foi Hassan Ahmad", afirma o relatório da ONG. "Os diamantes", conclui a PAC, "podem ser provenientes da reserva indígena Roosevelt (Rondônia) ou podem ter vindo da África. Não há como saber. O que é certo é que eles não vieram dos locais das permissões de lavra mencionados na solicitação".

O governo brasileiro até que tentou rebater as acusações da ONG, mas acabou pagando um mico internacional. Na reunião anual dos participantes do processo Kimberley de dezembro de 2005, em Moscou, a delegação brasileira do Ministério de Minas e Energia contestou as alegações da PAC. Na ocasião, um dossiê do DNPM, recheado com fotos de garimpos, mapas e croquis, foi apresentado como prova definitiva de que o Brasil falava a verdade e a ONG mentia. A bufada, contudo, não sobreviveu ao final do inverno russo. Três meses depois, o autor do relatório brasileiro, o então chefe do DNPM em Minas, Luiz Eduardo Machado de Castro, foi preso pela Polícia Federal sob a acusação de dar cobertura para a máfia do diamante. (Castro, que foi exonerado do cargo, nega envolvimento com a quadrilha e agora responde a processo em liberdade.)

A reserva indígena Roosevelt, citada pela PAC como possível origem das pedras registradas no certificado 64, é mais uma ponta solta no mercado negro de diamantes. Graças a uma formação geológica privilegiada e à eterna cobiça humana, essa área remota de Rondônia, localizada a cerca de 200 quilômetros da fronteira com a Bolívia, passou de refúgio paradisíaco de 1.200 índios a produtora de "diamantes de sangue" made in Brazil.

A região é habitada há séculos pelos índios cintas-largas. Por causa de doenças trazidas pelo homem branco, massacres praticados por seringueiros e avanço de posseiros, em apenas duas décadas (final dos anos 50 a final dos anos 70), a população da tribo diminuiu de 5 mil para mil índios. Em 1979, o governo tentou resolver a situação criando a reserva indígena Roosevelt, com 230 mil hectares. Não foi uma panacéia, mas as coisas começaram a melhorar para o lado dos índios. A tranqüilidade, contudo, durou apenas duas décadas.

Em 1999, um garimpeiro que havia entrado clandestinamente no território dos cintas-largas retornou da selva com as costas repletas de larvas de mosca, um sorriso de orelha a orelha e, na mão, um diamante rosa do tamanho de um cubo de gelo. Estava descoberta a maior mina de diamantes da América do Sul.

A notícia se espalhou rapidamente e, apesar de a mineração em terras indígenas ser considerada ilegal, logo a reserva dos cintas-largas foi invadida por milhares de garimpeiros. Num primeiro momento, os índios entraram na farra, cobrando de cada garimpeiro um pedágio de R$ 10 mil mais uma comissão de 10% sobre os diamantes encontrados. A maioria não pagava. Mas eram tantas as pedras que saíam do solo e elas eram encontradas de maneira tão fácil que, mesmo quando era inevitável a sangria, o negócio valia a pena. Em apenas quatro anos, a reserva dos cintas-largas passou a abrigar uma colônia de cerca de 5 mil garimpeiros. Os forasteiros transformaram grandes porções de selva em aglomerados de minas, barracas, bares e bordéis, onde, com grande chance, as noites podiam acabar em tiroteio e morte.

Com o tempo, os índios desistiram de tentar cobrar pedágio dos garimpeiros e passaram eles próprios a extrair os diamantes dentro da reserva. Os garimpeiros obviamente não gostaram nada do novo quadro, o que agravou a situação. Estima-se que os cintas-largas tenham lucrado US$ 25 milhões por ano com a venda ilegal das pedras no mercado clandestino, deixando atrás de si um rastro de desgraça e devastação.

Em abril de 2004, o problema ganhou as manchetes de todo o mundo quando 29 garimpeiros que trabalhavam ilegalmente dentro da reserva foram mortos pelos cintas-largas a tiros de espingarda e revólver e golpes de bodurna, tacapes e lanças. Dez caciques e guerreiros da tribo foram indiciados por assassinato, mas até hoje o caso não foi a julgamento.

Com o filme queimado no cenário externo, o governo brasileiro finalmente começou a coibir, de maneira mais enérgica, o garimpo ilegal na reserva, tanto o praticado por brancos quanto por índios. Um acordo permitiu aos cintas-largas leiloar seu estoque de diamantes - transação que rendeu mais R$ 717 mil aos índios - sob a condição de que eles abandonassem a extração das pedras. Os índios fingiram aceitar o trato, entregando equipamentos e materiais usados no garimpo, e as autoridades, por sua vez, fingiram acreditar que o problema estava resolvido.

A mentira, contudo, caiu por terra e, de novo, por causa das investigações da PAC. Um ano após a extração de diamantes na reserva Roosevelt ter sido oficialmente extinta, integrantes da ONG foram ao local e descobriram que os cintas-largas não tinham abandonado a atividade. Fazendo-se passar por comerciantes de pedras, investigadores da PAC foram levados à presença de um cacique da tribo. O incauto índio tentou vender aos falsos compradores 250 quilates de diamantes, que foram mostrados durante a negociação. Depois, o cacique ainda tentou convencer os integrantes da ONG a investirem R$ 100 mil na reativação de lavras localizadas dentro da reserva. Para provar que não estava querendo aplicar nenhum golpe, o índio deixou que seus candidatos a parceiro entrassem na reserva e vistoriassem equipamentos já preparados para a retomada da mineração (entre eles, cerca de 15 bombas e motores).

A PAC acredita que a única medida capaz de resolver o problema é legalizar a extração dos diamantes na reserva Roosevelt, sob rígido controle estatal e num formato que contemple os interesses dos índios. "Os órgãos apropriados do governo federal (Funai, Ministério de Minas e Energia e outros) deveriam começar as negociações com os caciques com o objetivo de legalizar a lavra de alguma forma que agrade os cintas-largas", afirma a ONG.

Não será fácil, entretanto, encontrar uma fórmula que impeça a circulação dos "diamantes de sangue" provenientes da África ou da reserva indígena Roosevelt. O mundo, na verdade, demanda cada vez mais essa pedra de brilho hipnótico. Nos últimos anos, a Índia e a China, no vácuo do boom econômico que acontece nesses países, tornaram-se dois grandes mercados consumidores. O aumento da procura também se dá por outros motivos. Devido à bem-sucedida pressão internacional para flexibilizar o sigilo bancário de paraísos fiscais, criminosos, corruptos e terroristas dos quatro cantos do planeta estão limpando suas contas na Suíça e nas Bahamas e optando por aplicar seus recursos em diamantes. A própria ONU calcula que a indústria ilegal de diamantes movimente por ano cerca de US$ 6,7 trilhões. É mais de 30 vezes o que gira anualmente o mercado negro da cocaína (US$ 200 milhões).

O serviço secreto dos Estados Unidos já avisou às autoridades brasileiras que tem sérias razões para acreditar que, de seu esconderijo nas cavernas localizadas em algum lugar na fronteira entre o Afeganistão e o Paquistão, o terrorista Osama bin Laden tenha negócios com a máfia do diamante que opera a partir do Brasil.

Se o líder da Al Qaeda algum dia vier ao país, ele poderá facilmente vender suas pedrinhas no Hotel Nacional, localizado no Setor Hoteleiro Sul, em Brasília. Pelo saguão do hotel, de forma discreta, circulam compradores e vendedores de vários calibres. Com políticos e autoridades sempre em busca de um refúgio seguro para guardar as economias ganhas em outro mercado, o da corrupção, a feira informal do diamante da capital federal é um mercado inabalável.

Não é de hoje, aliás, que os diamantes movem grandes mutretas em terras brasileiras. Por volta de 1725, quando as pedras foram descobertas no país, o então governador de Minas, Lourenço de Almeida, não avisou à Coroa Portuguesa do maravilhoso feito. Somente dois anos depois é que Lisboa ficou sabendo da novidade. Ao que tudo indica, pela severa advertência que recebeu do rei D. João V, Almeida deve ter lucrado muito com a venda das pedras nesse interregno.

Nos anos seguintes, navios vindos do Rio de Janeiro começaram a chegar aos portos de Portugal com grandes quantidades de diamantes. Estabeleceu-se então uma grande confusão. Como até então a Índia era o único produtor mundial das gemas, acreditou-se que as pedras vindas do Brasil eram, na verdade, diamantes indianos de qualidade inferior. Incapazes num primeiro momento de convencer que as pedras tinham sido extraídas no Brasil e que elas valiam tanto quanto as indianas, os donos dos diamantes começaram então a mandá-los para Goa, no Sul da Índia, de onde posteriormente eram reexportadas para a Europa como gemas de primeira linha.

Agora, pelas mãos dos produtores de Hollywood, o lado B dos diamantes é levado ao conhecimento do grande público. Nas salas de cinema, DiCaprio já não detém o monopólio de fazer verter as lágrimas dos espectadores ao retratar as desgraças cometidas na corrida pelos "diamantes de sangue". (Ok, eu também chorei, confesso.) Dois documentários recentemente produzidos causam impacto ainda maior que a fita protagonizada pelo galã de Titanic. Blood on the Stone (sangue na pedra), do diretor serra-leonês Sorious Samura, não usa filtros para mostrar como o mercado dos "diamantes de sangue" conecta, simultaneamente, criminosos e vítimas em Nova York e Freetown, capital de Serra Leoa. Neste ano, nos Estados Unidos, estreou Bling: A Planet Rock (Bling: um planeta de pedra), dirigido pela diretora-gata Raquel Cepeda, de Nova York. Na fita, ela mistura a fissura pelos diamantes que toma conta da cena hip-hop norte-americana (bling é a gíria com que a turma se refere às joalherias caras e chiques do país) com o relato de como muitas dessas pedras foram produzidas em Serra Leoa à custa de mutilações e mortes.

Em breve, chegará às telas do Canadá o documentário The Diamond Road (A Rota dos Diamantes), mais uma fita que aborda o impacto da extração e do comércio ilegal das pedras em Serra Leoa. Já deu para perceber que há um poderoso lobby "do bem" por trás do interesse de produtores de cinema em patrocinar filmes que retratem a complexa questão dos "diamantes de sangue". O Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento, por exemplo, pingou alguns milhares de dólares para inteirar o orçamento de Bling: A Planet Rock. Já a Anistia Internacional fez rasgados elogios ao filme estrelado por Leonardo DiCaprio. Pois é, o cinema também pode ajudar a salvar o planeta.

Para terminar a conversa, uma explicação inútil e em seguida um conselho. A explicação: não, os diamantes não são eternos. Apesar de ter suportado o calor de 3.815º C e de ser o mineral mais duro conhecido até hoje, definhar é o destino de todo carbono - mesmo os poliformos de oito ou 48 faces, como os diamantes. Esse processo, contudo, pode demorar milênios.

Agora, sim, o conselho. Se você faz parte do exclusivo clube dos compradores de jóias fabricadas com diamante, nunca deixe de perguntar ao seu joalheiro qual a política da empresa em relação ao processo Kimberley. Ele deve ser capaz de descrever detalhes relacionados à procedência das pedras e explicar os rigores adotados para garantir que elas não são procedentes de regiões conflagradas. Mas se o joalheiro engasgar ou perguntar se Kimberley é uma nova marca de sapatos, procure outro fornecedor.

Um último aviso. Nunca, em hipótese alguma, embarque na onda fácil do boicote generalizado aos diamantes, sobretudo os da África. Na opinião de grupos envolvidos no combate ao comércio dos "diamantes de sangue", a medida só teria o feito de penalizar países pobres ou em desenvolvimento que atuam dentro da lei. Só na Índia, por exemplo, o mercado das pedras dá emprego a mais de 1 milhão de trabalhadores. As gemas também são pilares da economia de países como África do Sul, Namíbia e Botsuana, onde não há guerra civil.

Portanto, se o bolso permite e o negócio é feito dentro das normas, nada de culpa ao comprar um brinco, um colar ou um piercing de diamantes. As garotas, penhoradas, agradecem.

Lucas Figueiredo, jornalista, é autor de O Operador - Como e a Mando de Quem Marcos Valério Irrigou os Cofres do PSDB e do PT (Record, 2006), entre outros livros-reportagem.

ANGELINA JOLIE, Embaixadora da Boa Vontade para os Refugiados

Angelina Jolie renovou recentemente, por mais dois anos, o seu contrato com o ACNUR como Embaixadora da Boa Vontade. Tudo começou há cinco anos atrás, quando recebeu o "script" de "Beyond Borders", um filme em que era convidada a interpretar a protagonista Sarah, uma americana que resolvera abandonar a sua fácil e fútil vida londrina para se tornar numa trabalhadora humanitária nos campos de refugiados da Chechénia. O filme ficaria na gaveta vários anos (só estreou em Novembro passado), mas Angelina passou de imediato à ação...


Em 2000, numa visita de carácter humanitário à Serra Leoa, cruza-se com Ruud Lubbers, o Alto Comissário das Nações Unidas para os Refugiados, começando aí a sua colaboração mais directa com o ACNUR. O seu trabalho humanitário continua na Tanzania, Camboja, etc. Duas semanas antes dos acontecimentos de 11 de Setembro de 2001, encontrava-se nos campos de refugiados da fronteira do Paquistão com o Afeganistão. Em 2002 e 2003 desloca-se ao Equador, Kosovo, Sri Lanka e a diversos países africanos. Sobre a sua experiência humanitária, publica dois diários que lhe valem o prémio "Sérgio Vieira de Mello" dos correspondentes das Nações Unidas, atribuído pela primeira vez em 2003.


Entretanto, a sua carreira como actriz continuava. A sua participação nas séries televisivas 'George Wallace' e 'Gia' foi premiada com 3 Globos de Ouro sucessivos (1998, 1999 e 2000) e a sua interpretação em "Vida Interrompida" vale-lhe um Óscar (2000).

"Tomb Raider" é na altura o jogo de computador mais conceituado e Lara Croft é a heroína que cada jogador comanda. Lara tem uma agilidade física superior, é culta e sofisticada (tem "berço", é filha de aristocratas ingleses), e é bela e de formas generosas. É talvez a primeira grande heroína cibernética a ganhar vida própria e, quando é decidido transpor o sucesso do jogo para o cinema, há o maior cuidado em escolher uma actriz que consiga, pelo menos, ficar a par da boneca virtual. Angelina Jolie preenche os requisitos e, em 2001, encarna Lara Croft. Este filme dá à actriz uma dimensão internacional, tornando-a num portentoso símbolo, principalmente junto dos jovens.

Angelina Jolie tem actualmente 28 anos. Durante as filmagens de "Tomb Raider", no Camboja, decidiu adoptar Maddox, então com sete meses, com quem vive, só. Interrogada por um jornalista sobre as suas motivações humanitárias, respondeu: "Gostaria que Maddox me recordasse não apenas como uma actriz que fez bem filmes e que por isso ganhou prémios, mas também como alguém que se preocupou com os outros e que fez, ou que pelo menos tentou, com que o mundo fosse melhor para os outros".

Quando Catarina Furtado, também Embaixadora da Boa Vontade, foi por nós convidada e aceitou sem hesitação apresentar a gala do Dia do Refugiado, realizada em Junho deste ano, houve um jornalista que perguntou discretamente de que ordem era o cachet. Surpreendido por não haver dinheiro envolvido, o jornalista concluiu que Catarina tinha um marketing inteligente. É o tipo de argumento muitas vezes invocado pelos mais cépticos sobre a "promiscuidade de estrelas e boas causas", principalmente nos grandes concertos musicais, como o recentemente realizado na Cidade do Cabo com o patrocínio de Mandela.

Angelina Jolie, para além de emprestar a sua mediática imagem, contribui também com um terço dos seus rendimentos para a causa dos refugiados (ganha actualmente 16 milhões de dólares por filme). Parece-nos ser um marketing demasiado caro para a promoção de uma actriz. Talvez seja melhor acreditarmos mais nas pessoas, na sua "boa vontade" - é para isso que temos uma embaixadora.

Fonte: http://www.cpr.pt/prov/angelina.html

Serra Leoa e os diamantes

Serra Leoa é um dos grandes produtores mundiais de diamantes, símbolos de ostentação e fortuna. Apesar disso, é um dos lugares mais miseráveis do mundo, ocupando o último lugar no índice de desenvolvimento humano da ONU.

Arrasada por uma guerra civil que já dura quase dez anos, mais da metade da população vive abaixo da linha de pobreza. Em cada dez adultos, sete são analfabetos, e a expectativa de vida é de cerca de 35 anos.

Serra Leoa surgiu como colônia no século 18 para abrigar escravos ingleses emancipados. Transferidos para um lugar desconhecido, os ex-escravos, próximos da cultura européia, desprezavam a população nativa. Transformados em elite e hostilizados pelos africanos, converteram-se em representantes do colonialismo.

Os diamantes de Serra Leoa foram descobertos na década de 30, despertando de imediato a cobiça européia. Com a independência em 61, assumiu Milton Margai, do Partido Popular de Serra Leoa (PPSL), simpático aos interesses britânicos. Líder de um governo acusado de corrupto e distante dos interesses do povo, Margai morreu em 64, deixando o poder para seu irmão Albert Margai.

Nas eleições de 67, chegou ao poder Siaka Stevens, do Congresso de Todo o Povo (APC). Membros da elite crioula aliaram-se a líderes tradicionais e representantes do interesse neocolonial para depô-lo por meio de um golpe. Siaka retornou ao poder em 68 (Golpe dos Sargentos) e, durante seu governo, nacionalizou a produção de diamantes e estabeleceu um regime de partido único.

Com a queda nas exportações na década de 80 somada à inflação elevada e às denúncias de corrupção, o país enfrentou uma onda de manifestações populares. Em 91, forças rebeldes atuando a partir da Libéria, sob o comando de Fodday Sankon, da Frente Revolucionária Unida de Serra Leoa (URF), ocuparam parte do país.

Nas eleições de 96, Tejan Kabbah do PPSL foi eleito com 60% dos votos. Militares amotinados depõem Kabbah e libertam guerrilheiros da URF.

Mergulhado no caos político e econômico, o país assiste ao crescimento das atividades de contrabando de diamantes. De assassino frio e sanguinário, Sankon se transformou numa alternativa política para chegar à paz.

Pressionada, a ONU pensou numa campanha mundial de conscientização para reduzir o consumo de diamantes. Do contrário, a beleza e o luxo continuarão financiando a destruição de Serra Leoa, a materialização do inferno na Terra.

Think Again: Child Soldiers

What human rights activists never tell you about young killers.

"Child Soldiering Is a Human Rights Issue."

MUSTAFA ABDI/AFP/Getty Images

Exploited and dangerous: Child soldiers are more than just a moral hazard.

It's much more than that. It is also a geostrategic and development issue. Child soldiers are usually depicted as victims. That's accurate: Exploited, torn from their families, deprived of their education, and forced into battle, child soldiers are truly casualties of war.

But they're also assailants. Child soldiers are cheap and efficient weapons in asymmetric warfare. Accounts from the field tell of soldiers who are near free to recruit, cheap to feed, and quick to follow orders. They aptly learn how to employ brutal tactics. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a rebel group operating in Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2002, for example, was notorious for raping and mutilating the civilian population. It was often coerced children, and often high or drunk ones, who perpetrated the acts. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, fighting for independence from Sri Lanka, relied on children for their suicide bombing missions during their decades-long campaign. At times, they found that children could much more easily penetrate targets than their adult counterparts.

Trained and educated in the ways of guerrilla war, many child combatants grow up in a world where brutality is the norm. The result is a violent gift that keeps on giving -- today's Taliban leaders reputedly cut their teeth in the field as child soldiers fighting the Soviets. In addition to inducing psychological trauma, a violent childhood reduces healthy educational opportunities, leaving militancy the only viable career path in later years. War becomes a way of life.

"There Are 300,000 Child Soldiers in the World."

Who knows? No one has ever made a serious attempt at surveying the world's child soldier population. This popularly cited number was touted by members of several child advocacy groups in the mid-1990s as a way to attract attention to the plight of child soldiers. But if this figure was ever true, it isn't now. Wars employing child soldiers, such as those in Angola, Liberia, and Nepal, have ended; the numbers have surely shrunk to match.

What would be more useful than a global number, however, would be an individual assessment by country -- through which local and international policymakers could assess the associated needs and threats. Having 300,000 child soldiers in a world of 6.8 billion matters far less than having 15 percent of a particular country's adolescent population engaged in soldiering. Child soldiers have constituted more than a quarter of all belligerents in many conflicts, including at least nine in Africa over the last two decades.

Not even close. You can forget about the popular image that the phrase "child soldier" evokes: a pre-adolescent African boy, perhaps doped, wielding an AK-47 with anger burning in his eyes. Many child soldiers are not armed combatants. They include messengers, porters, spies, and sex slaves. So great is the diversity of tasks that many advocates now prefer the less punchy but more accurate term, "children associated with fighting forces."

Nor does the gender distinction hold water. Recent studies estimate that girls represent as high as 40 percent of fighters in some armed groups. Girls have fought in nearly 40 wars in the last two decades. Like their male counterparts, girls do at times serve as combatants, just as both genders are recruited for sexual enslavement.

Certainly, child soldiering is a global phenomenon, not simply an African one. More than 70 military organizations in 19 countries around the world recruited and used them in armed hostilities between 2004 and 2007. Burma is among the largest users of child soldiers, with the government and rebel groups recruiting tens of thousands of children between them. In Colombia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, child soldiers have taken to the battlefield. In fact, both Britain and the United States also recruit 17-year-olds, technically still children, on the grounds that they are not allowed into combat (though both have admitted to putting under-18s on the front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq). Australia, Austria, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and New Zealand all have similar policies.

"Globalization Created Child Soldiering."

Wrong. Child soldiering is often portrayed as something new -- a product of the post-Cold War flow of cheap guns and money to the world's most failed states. In fact, child soldiers have been around for millennia. The Spartans of ancient Greece, for example, relied heavily on boys as young as seven. Later, the British Navy recruited young lads to serve as cabin boys and cannon-prepping "powder monkeys" throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Large numbers of children fought on both sides in the U.S. Civil War.

What has changed is our awareness of child soldiers, boosted by monitoring, reporting, and even Hollywood spectacle. And this has coincided with a dramatic change in the perception of childhood, at least in the industrialized West, where early years are seen as a sacred time reserved for innocence, learning, and play. The West's view of children as needing nurture is an outlier in much of the rest of the world, where children are also an economic resource -- on farms and in households, markets, and factories.

As for the role of the small-arms trade, although an adolescent brandishing an AK-47 is certainly terrifying, most child soldiers never touch a weapon. Besides, in many recent wars the old-fashioned machete was preferred to the gun.

"Child Soldiers Are No Match for Western Militaries."

Only in conventional combat. Asymmetrical conflicts, however, are another story. Take suicide bombing, which child soldiers have carried out in the Palestinian territories, Iraq, Sri Lanka, and Chechnya. There is little that trained soldiers can do other than guess that a nearby child is in fact a suicide bomber. In Afghanistan, a 14-year-old was responsible for the first killing of a NATO soldier -- likely just one of the estimated 8,000 child soldiers who do or have worked as part of the Taliban's forces.

Face to face with child soldiers in battle, Western military forces are often befuddled as to what to do. Should they engage, retreat, surrender, or attempt to disarm? The U.S. Army's war manual, for example, offers no guidance on rules of engagement. The British Army only recognized the problem after one of its patrols was captured by child RUF soldiers in Sierra Leone, having been hesitant to attack the under-15-year-olds. Britain later used pyrotechnics and loud explosions in that conflict to induce panic among the ill-trained youngsters, many of whom would simply run away.

"Our Current Approach to Ending Child Soldiering Is Working."

You wish. The international community primarily deals with child soldiers through deterrence (prosecuting the adult recruiters) and demobilization (taking away the children's guns and sending them home). Neither approach goes far enough.

In the first case, prosecutors hope to set an example for future would-be offenders. But most recruiters think they will not get caught. Others, knowing that only those who lose the fight get hauled before international courts, desperately employ child soldiers to avoid defeat. Still others assume they will be granted amnesty after a cease-fire. The Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda is a perfect example. Elusive warlord Joseph Kony has employed child soldiers since the 1990s without being captured, and Ugandan officials privately admit that they might need every carrot they can get (including amnesty) to negotiate a successful peace agreement.

Sending children home via disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) programs is another favorite method of post-conflict planners. These programs are meant to get children and adolescents out of armies and back where they belong -- in schools or in jobs. But here again, results are mixed. Many organizers make the mistake of excluding girls from their programs. They often fail to understand the local economy and therefore train children for the wrong professions. In Liberia, for example, too many ex-combatants were educated as carpenters and hairdressers. Nor do the programs target the roots of intergenerational violence that will long outlast the active fighting. DDR initiatives are often too short term to do much more than superficial training, as even officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development will admit.

The biggest challenge of all in ending child soldiering lies in the types of conflicts that employ the young. Children tend to be recruited in brutal, long-running civil wars, the kind that simmer for years or even decades. Unfortunately, these wars constitute the main form of armed conflict today. Until they stop, the recruitment of children never will.

Scott Gates is director of the Centre for the Study of Civil War at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, and a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Simon Reich is director of the Division of Global Affairs at Rutgers University. They are coeditors of the forthcoming book Child Soldiers in the Age of Fractured States.

Quatro histórias... Uma realidade...

FOME

Mais de 800 milhões de pessoas passam fome; estima-se que a fome mata todos os dias 25.000 dessas pessoas, ou seja, uma pessoa de 3,5 em 3,5 segundos, que se acrescentam aos 400 milhões que morreram já de fome nestes últimos 50 anos (o equivalente à soma das populações dos EUA, da Alemanha e da França). Isto significa que morre 1 criança de 5 em 5 segundos, em lugares no mundo, ao mesmo tempo que são desperdiçadas perto de 12 toneladas de comida.

Essas são as histórias de Massud, Agnes, Kadiatu e Khaliq. Só levará meia hora para lê-las, mas durante esse tempo mais de 500 pessoas terão morrido de fome.



http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/liaison_offices/wfp067222.pdf

Os diamantes de Serra Leoa

ROBERTO CANDELORI
especial para a Folha

Serra Leoa é um dos grandes produtores mundiais de diamantes, símbolos de ostentação e fortuna. Apesar disso, é um dos lugares mais miseráveis do mundo, ocupando o último lugar no índice de desenvolvimento humano da ONU.

Arrasada por uma guerra civil que já dura quase dez anos, mais da metade da população vive abaixo da linha de pobreza. Em cada dez adultos, sete são analfabetos, e a expectativa de vida é de cerca de 35 anos.

Serra Leoa surgiu como colônia no século 18 para abrigar escravos ingleses emancipados. Transferidos para um lugar desconhecido, os ex-escravos, próximos da cultura européia, desprezavam a população nativa. Transformados em elite e hostilizados pelos africanos, converteram-se em representantes do colonialismo.

Os diamantes de Serra Leoa foram descobertos na década de 30, despertando de imediato a cobiça européia. Com a independência em 61, assumiu Milton Margai, do Partido Popular de Serra Leoa (PPSL), simpático aos interesses britânicos. Líder de um governo acusado de corrupto e distante dos interesses do povo, Margai morreu em 64, deixando o poder para seu irmão Albert Margai.

Nas eleições de 67, chegou ao poder Siaka Stevens, do Congresso de Todo o Povo (APC). Membros da elite crioula aliaram-se a líderes tradicionais e representantes do interesse neocolonial para depô-lo por meio de um golpe. Siaka retornou ao poder em 68 (Golpe dos Sargentos) e, durante seu governo, nacionalizou a produção de diamantes e estabeleceu um regime de partido único.

Com a queda nas exportações na década de 80 somada à inflação elevada e às denúncias de corrupção, o país enfrentou uma onda de manifestações populares. Em 91, forças rebeldes atuando a partir da Libéria, sob o comando de Fodday Sankon, da Frente Revolucionária Unida de Serra Leoa (URF), ocuparam parte do país.

Nas eleições de 96, Tejan Kabbah do PPSL foi eleito com 60% dos votos. Militares amotinados depõem Kabbah e libertam guerrilheiros da URF.

Mergulhado no caos político e econômico, o país assiste ao crescimento das atividades de contrabando de diamantes. De assassino frio e sanguinário, Sankon se transformou numa alternativa política para chegar à paz.

Pressionada, a ONU pensou numa campanha mundial de conscientização para reduzir o consumo de diamantes. Do contrário, a beleza e o luxo continuarão financiando a destruição de Serra Leoa, a materialização do inferno na Terra.

Roberto Candelori é professor de atualidades e coordenador da Cia. de Ética

2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Sierra Leone

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and LaborFebruary 25, 2009

Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a directly elected president, a unicameral legislature, and a population of approximately six million. In peaceful presidential and parliamentary elections held in August and September 2007, the opposition All People's Congress (APC) won a majority in parliament, and citizens elected party leader Ernest Bai Koroma president. Domestic and international observers characterized the elections as credible and free but noted irregularities that did not affect the outcome. In 2002 the devastating 11-year civil conflict officially ended, and the government, backed by a United Nations peacekeeping force (UNAMSIL), asserted control over the whole country. In 2004 UNAMSIL handed responsibility for security countrywide to the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) and Sierra Leone Police (SLP).

In 2005 UNAMSIL withdrew all remaining peacekeepers and transferred nonpeacekeeping responsibilities to a follow-on peacebuilding UN mission (UNIOSIL). In September UNIOSIL's mandate ended, and the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL) was established to support government institutions and monitor and protect human rights and the rule of law. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces.

The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens. However, there were serious problems in a number of areas, including: security force abuse and use of excessive force with detainees, including juveniles; police theft and extortion; harsh conditions in prisons and jails; official impunity; arbitrary arrest and detention; prolonged detention, excessive bail, and insufficient legal representation; restrictions on freedom of speech and press; forcible dispersion of demonstrators; harassment of opposition party supporters by ruling party members; widespread official corruption; societal discrimination and violence against women; female genital mutilation (FGM); child abuse; trafficking in persons, including children; and child labor.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
There were no reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.

b. Disappearance
There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, there were reports that security and police forces used excessive force, and stole, extorted, and demanded bribes. The Corporal Punishment Act allows up to 36 lashes as punishment. Although NGO sources state that such incidents occurred less frequently than previous years, prison guards reportedly beat prisoners with impunity.

In July an inmate was severely beaten by a prison warden and was taken to the hospital for medical attention. No action was taken against the warden.

No action was taken in any of the 2007 cases involving police use of excessive force.

The trial of the police officer who raped a 10-year-old Liberian refugee in 2006 concluded, but no details were available at year's end.

Police use of excessive force to disperse demonstrators resulted in injuries.

In August police and security officials forcibly dispersed a crowd of protestors at the State House, resulting in several journalists being injured. A joint investigation between police and jouralists resolved the matter with the journalists receiving compensation.

During the year men and women were forcibly initiated into tribal secret societies, a process that for women usually involved FGM.

Vigilante violence was common in urban areas, particularly for suspected thieves and unsettled debts. Suspected thieves were often set upon by crowds. In March a thief was murdered by a mob in Eastern Freetown. At year's end no one had been charged for the crime.

There were several reports that Guinean troops along the eastern border harassed local residents.

Prison and Detention Center Conditions

Prison conditions were harsh and sometimes life threatening. Overcrowding was a major problem. The Pademba Road Prison, which was designed to house 324 prisoners, held 1,229, according to Prison Watch, a local independent organization. In some cases, cells measuring six feet by nine feet housed nine prisoners. According to UNIOSIL's 2007 assessment of prisons, corporal punishment, solitary confinement, reduction in diets, loss of visits, and loss of exercise were routine disciplinary measures. In Kabala and Port Loko Prisons, UNIOSIL reported that officers in charge were present when guards beat inmates with canes and plastic water pipes. While such practices continued, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that training and monitoring resulted in a reduction of such incidents.

Human rights observers reported that detention conditions frequently fell below minimum international standards because of overcrowding, lack of access to food, unhygienic conditions, and insufficient medical attention. Prison cells often lacked proper lighting, bedding, ventilation, and protection from mosquitoes.

Few prisoners had access to adequate medical facilities, and clinics lacked supplies and medical personnel. Only patients with emergency situations were allowed to visit the clinic outside of the assigned schedule. Women were treated as outpatients or were referred to the local hospitals for special care. However, prisoners often were refused treatment or received inferior care from doctors and nurses in these hospitals because of the social stigma associated with assisting criminals.

Prison Watch reported that there was a shortage of prison staff, and sometimes officers were not paid regularly. Consequently, guards provided only minimal security, and abuse of prisoners and prison breaks occurred. Prison Watch received reports that prison guards sold prisoner food rations to supplement their meager salaries.

Conditions in holding cells in police stations were poor, especially in small stations outside Freetown. Cells were dark with little ventilation. However, overcrowding in some police cells improved during the year due to magistrate judges deployed to the districts to process cases.

Twenty-six prisoner deaths occurred during the year, allegedly as a result of acute malnutrition, lack of hygienic conditions, malaria, and heart failure.

Men and women were held in separate cells; however, in many of the prisons, men and women were held in the same block and shared facilities. During the year the Pademba Road and Kenema Prisons held several infants, most of whom were born in the prison and continued to be detained there with their mothers. While the women's section of the prison in Pademba Road was significantly less crowded with better facilities than the male section, officials detained together persons being tried for petty and serious offenses; the section had no shower facilities, no exercise area, and few rehabilitation programs.

While an effort was made to prevent juveniles from being detained with adults, minors were regularly imprisoned with adult offenders in Pademba, Bo, Makeni, Kambia, Kenema, and Kailahun. Police sometimes released juveniles suspected of committing crimes to avoid incarcerating them with adults. At the same time, when questioned by Prison Watch about detaining juveniles, officers alleged that in some cases, police officers inflated the ages of juveniles to escape blame for detaining and prosecuting minors. In the three juvenile facilities, detainees did not have adequate access to food, education, or vocational training, and sometimes were unable to attend court hearings due to lack of transportation. Violence among youth was a problem, and small riots occurred in some facilities. Juveniles housed with adults and then moved to age-appropriate facilities were often instigators of violence, as noted by the Justice Sector Development Program (JSDP).

In most cases pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners. According to Prison Watch, only 200 of the 1,229 prisoners in Pademba Road Prison had been convicted.

The government permitted family visits, but according to NGO reports, family members had to bribe prison guards to visit in some prisons. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) provided a message delivery service that allowed prisoners housed in all district prisons to communicate with their families on a quarterly basis.

International monitors, including UNIOSIL and the ICRC, had unrestricted access to the prisons, detention centers, and police holding cells. Additionally, some NGOs such as Prison Watch, JSDP, and Lawyers Center for Legal Assistance (LAWCLA) monitored the prisons. Amnesty International (AI), however, reported that the government refused to grant permission to visit any of the prisons despite several requests.

Since the July incarceration of 21 suspects involved in the country's largest drug trafficking case, the government has denied most requests to visit the Pademba Road Prison.

d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention

The constitution and law prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, government forces occasionally arrested and detained persons arbitrarily.

Role of the Police and Security Apparatus

The SLP has primary responsibility for maintaining internal order but was poorly equipped and lacked investigative, forensic, and riot control capabilities. The military is responsible for external security; however, the "Military Assistance to the Police Program" provided additional assistance to police in extraordinary circumstances, such as during the local elections.

There were fewer cases of police brutality during the year, but police corruption was a serious problem, in part exacerbated by low salaries. There were continued reports that police officers took bribes at checkpoints, falsely charged motorists with violations, and impounded vehicles to extort money. Police also accepted bribes from criminal suspects in exchange for dropping charges or having their rivals arrested and charged with crimes.

Police were frequently not present or chose not to intervene when crowds beat alleged thieves.

There were numerous instances in which police refused to make arrests when warranted, or arrested persons without charge for civil causes, such as alleged breach of contract or failure to satisfy debt, in exchange for kickbacks.

During the year there were still many who feared the SLP, particularly traffic officials who were notorious for harassing motorists, taking bribes at checkpoints, falsely charging motorists with violations, and impounding vehicles to extort money. Police also accepted bribes from criminal suspects in exchange for dropping charges and/or having their rivals arrested and charged with crimes.

According to the JSDP, impunity was less of a problem than in the past, and there were several mechanisms available to investigate police abuses. The Police Complaints Commission and the Complaints, Discipline and Internal Investigations Department (CDIID) heard complaints against police officers. There was also a Police Council, composed of the vice president, minister of internal affairs, inspector general, and others who accepted written complaints against police officers. The CDIID facilitated all hearings and trials related to police officer complaints. An appeals process was available. After disciplinary measures by the CDIID were issued, the SLP officer was subject to the civilian court if criminal action was involved. SLP newsletter published disciplinary action against officers.

Between January and July CDIID received 1,273 complaints countrywide, resulting in at least 176 officers being either dismissed, demoted, suspended, or officially warned. The other cases were at various stages of investigation or review. The most common complaints lodged against police were corruption, unfair treatment, lack of professionalism, and assault. Cases requiring dismissal of an officer most commonly involved criminal cases or officers fraudulently posing as land owners or businessmen to extort money.

Police continued to receive professional, leadership, and human rights training, and new recruits received a six-month introductory course before deployment. The SLP retained a full-time UN technical advisor and a number of UN Civil Police advisors. As a result of training programs during the year and the introduction of community policing conducted by the Department for International Development, the Commonwealth, and the JSDP, professional conduct of the police force improved.

Until its mandate ended in September, UNIOSIL worked with the JSDP to implement its strategic plan and develop a training program to enhance the SLP's capacity to provide security for the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Arrest and Detention

The law requires warrants for searches and arrests in many cases; however, arrest without warrant was common. According to UNIOSIL's 2007 assessment of prison conditions, adjournment dates on some warrants were altered and not endorsed by the magistrate, while other warrants were signed, but not by the presiding magistrate. Prison Watch and LAWCLA reported that most arrests were made without warrants and that the SLP rarely followed proper arrest procedures.

Once arrested, a detainee must be told the reason for arrest within 24 hours, and a case must be charged to court within 72 hours, or in the case of serious crimes, within 10 days. According to LAWCLA, remanded prisoners were routinely brought to court on a weekly basis to be re-remanded to bypass the legal restrictions.

Detainees have the right of access to family and legal representation; however, due to a lack of financial resources, only 10 percent of inmates had access to legal representation. Lawyers were generally allowed unrestricted access to detainees; however, during the year lawyers representing accused drug traffickers in a high-profile case publicly claimed that they had limited opportunities to meet with clients. Although the constitution provides for legal aid, there were only 10 state counsels serving the entire country, and they were only available for more serious criminal cases. Regular family visits were permitted with the frequency and duration of the visits varying from prison to prison. According to NGO reports, however, family members were required to pay bribes to gain visitation rights.

There were provisions for bail, and there was a functioning bail system; however, the bail regime was rigorous, excessive, and inconsistent.
Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. According to AI, as a result of case backlogs in the courts, pretrial and remand detainees spent an average of three to five years in pretrial detention before courts examined their cases or filed formal charges. Approximately 60 percent of the country's detainees in prison were in pretrial detention. According to the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, remand prisoners frequently changed their pleas from "not guilty" to "guilty" to be removed from the remand section to the better areas of the prison.

Amnesty

Unlike in the previous year, the president granted no amnesties.

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

The constitution and law provide for an independent judiciary, and the government generally respected this provision; however, the judiciary at times was subject to government influence and corruption. The Sierra Leone Bar Association complained in September that high-level political interference was impacting the higher and lower courts' decisions, although no specific cases were cited.

The judicial system consists of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court of Justice, and magistrate courts in each of the 12 districts and the Western Area. There was also one juvenile court. The president appoints and parliament approves justices for the courts. Local chieftaincy courts administer customary law with lay judges; appeals from these lower courts are heard by the superior courts.

The rotation system between wards in specific districts continued to improve magistrate presence. However, with inexperienced new magistrates, high court fees, and fewer than 20 lawyers practicing outside of Freetown, access to justice remained limited for most citizens.
Traditional justice systems supplemented the central government judiciary, especially in rural areas. Paramount chiefs maintained their own police and courts to enforce uncodified local laws, which acted in parallel with the government's own civil police and court system. Chieftaincy police and courts exercised the authority to arrest, try, and incarcerate individuals, and sometimes abused that power. However, traditional justice systems improved in rural areas during the year due to government and NGO training of traditional elders and an influx of paralegals.

Trial Procedures

The law provides for a fair trial; however, in practice, the lack of judicial officers and facilities often produced long delays. Trials are public, and the accused have a limited right to a trial by jury in the magistrate courts. Juries were drawn from a list maintained by the master and registrar of active and retired civil servants and youth groups; however, the attorney general frequently exercised his power to determine that cases be heard by a judge alone. Defendants generally enjoyed a presumption of innocence. While defendants have the right to be present and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner, access to counsel often was delayed. The law provides for attorneys at public expense if defendants could not afford their own; however, state-appointed attorneys often were overburdened and poorly paid, and indigent detainees usually did not receive legal advice prior to trial. Defendants can confront or question witnesses against them, present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf, and access government-held evidence relevant to their cases. Trials were generally fair; however, there was credible evidence that corruption influenced many cases. A majority of cases on the magistrate level were prosecuted by police officers, many of whom had little or no formal legal training. Although the law provides defendants with the right to appeal, the appeals process was excessively delayed, sometimes over two years.

Human rights NGOs noted wide disparities in sentencing patterns from district to district. There were numerous cases in which sentences imposed were grossly disproportional to the offenses. Many prisoners were serving excessively long sentences for non-capital offenses, such as sacrilege (50 years), larceny (25 years), and larceny and burglary (45 years). Many attributed the inconsistent sentencing to the defendant's ability to pay a fine or bribe.
Traditional justice systems continued to supplement extensively the central government judiciary, especially in rural areas, in cases involving family law, inheritance, and land tenure. However, the customary law guiding these courts is not codified, and decisions in similar cases were inconsistent. Paramount chiefs acting as judges were notorious for accepting bribes and favoring wealthier defendants. Local chieftains at times exceeded their mandates and administered harsh punishments.

There are a number of civil laws and customary laws that discriminate against women, and many traditional courts continued to ignore the rights of women regarding family law and inheritance.

Trials continued before the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) of those bearing the greatest responsibility for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other serious violations against international law committed during the civil war.

Political Prisoners and Detainees

There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees.

Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies

Both the central government judiciary and customary law courts handled civil complaints;
however, corruption influenced some cases and sentencing was inconsistent. Administrative and judicial remedies were available for alleged wrongs, but enforcement was difficult. Victims of human rights abuses have access to the regular courts to seek redress for human rights violations.

f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence

The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and unlike in the previous year, the government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.

2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

a. Freedom of Speech and Press

The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the government at times restricted these rights in practice. Journalists practiced self-censorship.
The government rarely attempted to impede criticism. However, reporting on press conditions, the Society for Democracy Initiative noted that its members received telephonic death threats for several weeks. The calls were not traced to members of the government and an investigation was inconclusive.

More than 50 newspapers were published in Freetown during the year, covering a wide spectrum of interests and editorial opinion. Most of the newspapers were independent, and several were associated with opposition political parties. Reporting was often politicized and inaccurate, in large part because of poor journalistic skills, insufficient resources, and lack of professional ethics. Corruption among journalists was widespread. Newspapers openly and routinely criticized the government and its officials, as well as opposition parties, but also libeled individuals.

International media could operate freely but were required to register with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Independent Media Commission (IMC) to obtain a license. Nine new local newspapers registered with the IMC during the year. Although the IMC instituted stricter registration requirements, there were no cases of local or international media being denied registration.

On August 13, security forces attacked and beat several journalists for allegedly criticizing the SLP's handling of a party fracas outside the State House between members of the opposition APC and the ruling Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). Following an investigation, the journalists were compensated (see section 1.c.).

The Public Order Act of 1965 criminalizes both defamatory and seditious libel; however, the law was rarely applied. Punishment for first-time offenders can be up to three years' imprisonment, and subsequent seditious libel convictions are punishable by prison terms of up to seven years.

The IMC and the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists continued to lobby parliament to amend the act without success.

The IMC regulated independent media organizations and demonstrated independence from government influence. During the year the IMC considered multiple government claims of libel or false reporting in various newspapers, but rejected government requests to close the media outlet. The IMC also received increased libel complaints from the public, largely due to increased public confidence and awareness of the organization.

Due to the low level of literacy and the relatively high cost of newspapers and televisions, radio remained the most important medium for public dissemination of information. During the year over 45 government and private radio and television stations provided domestic news and political commentary. The APC and the SLPP set up radio stations; however, there were calls from different sectors of the society to ban them as they continued to broadcast propaganda that could incite violence such as libeling political party leaders. UN Radio provided additional coverage of news and other current events.

The 2007 case against Philip Neville, editor of the Standard Times, was dropped after the newspaper published a retraction.

Internet Freedom

There were no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that the government monitored e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. There were at least five Internet service providers in the country. In Freetown there were many Internet cafes but few in rural areas due to infrastructure constraints.

Academic Freedom and Cultural Events

There were no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

Freedom of Assembly

The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, and the government generally respected this right in practice. Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the government monitored or prevented opposition meetings.

Occasionally, police forcibly dispersed demonstrators, resulting in injuries. Police were sometimes unable to control demonstration violence, and demonstrators at times attacked police stations.

In the run-up to the July local elections, police clashed with demonstrators protesting allegations that SLPP supporters had defaced the president's portrait.

In August police used tear gas and forcible means to end a clash between SLPP and APC members.

In November students from a high school in Freetown attacked a police barrack after police used excessive force on a student accused of assaulting an officer. The incident resulted in a number of injuries to both police and students.

Freedom of Association

The constitution and law provide for freedom of association, and the government generally respected this right in practice; however, there were some reports that under the ruling APC, members of opposition parties lost or were denied government jobs and government benefits.

b. Freedom of Religion

The constitution and law provide for freedom of religion, and the government generally respected this right in practice.

Societal Abuses and Discrimination

There were no reports of discrimination against members of religious groups.

There reportedly was a small Jewish community; there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.

An application filed in 2006 to the Inter-Religious Council for official recognition of the approximately 20 Jews in Makeni remained pending at year's end.

For a more detailed discussion, see the 2008 International Religious Freedom Report.

d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of Refugees, and Stateless Persons

The constitution and law provide for the freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in practice. However, there were reports that police officers who operated security roadblocks outside of the capital often extorted money from motorists.

The border shared with Liberia was officially open, and authorities generally admitted refugees, returnees, and other persons to move regularly between the two countries; however, there were reports that police, customs, and army personnel demanded bribes at border crossing points.
The law does not provide for forced exile, and the government did not use it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

No officially registered IDPs remained. During the year, the last remaining settlement for war-wounded persons and their families closed in Grafton, which subsequently housed persons officially settled on the land on a permanent basis with the help of the government.

Protection of Refugees

The laws provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol, and the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. The government has established a system for providing protection to refugees and cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other organizations in assisting refugees.

The 2007 Refugee Protection Act, which entered into force during the year, provides for refugee status, as defined by international convention, to be granted to eligible asylum seekers. UNHCR worked with government authorities to develop standard operating procedures for refugee status determination.

In practice the government provided protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened.

According to UNHCR, the government did not provide temporary protection to certain individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 convention and the 1967 protocol.

The government assisted the safe, voluntary return of Liberian refugees to Liberia and facilitated local integration for Liberian refuges unwilling or unable to return to their homes.

On December 31, the UNHCR declared the cessation of refugee status for Sierra Leonean refugees, citing legal and social reforms and progress in fundamental rights and freedoms since the civil war. UNHCR announced that Sierra Leonean refugees remaining outside the country after December 31 would no longer be entitled to claim international protection as refuge. During the year, the government, with UNHCR, facilitated the repatriation of Sierra Leonean refugees wishing to return home before the cessation of their refugee status.

There were no further developments in the 2007 sexual abuse case of two Liberian refugee minors or the rape of host community minors by a refugee in Tobanda Refugee Camp.
Two lawyers were kept on retainer by UNHCR during the year to represent victims of rape; however, few were willing to pursue legal action because of cultural pressure from elders and community members. UNHCR worked closely with the Network Movement for Justice and Democracy in educating refugees and the host community through educational workshops focused on sexual and gender-based violence.

The case was concluded against a police officer who raped a 10-year-old Liberian refugee near the Liberian border at Zimmi in 2006, but details of the outcome of the case were unavailable.
There were no reports of discrimination against refugees with regards to employment, access to social services, and arbitrary arrest.

3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

Elections and Political Participation

Domestic and international observers characterized the July 5 local elections as generally free and fair, although there were irregularities that did not affect the final outcome.

During the year there were multiple reports of harassment and intimidation of members of opposition parties. In other instances, independent and female candidates were forced to drop out of the race due to intimidation by APC and SLPP supporters.

There also were reports of voter coercion by party bosses and traditional leaders. The Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) reported one case of a family being banished by a paramount chief in Kambia until after the election cycle.

In peaceful presidential and parliamentary elections held in August and September 2007, the opposition APC won a majority in parliament, and party leader Ernest Bai Koroma was elected president with 54 percent of the vote. There were multiple reports of harassment and intimidation of members of opposition parties. There were also reports of voter coercion by party bosses and traditional leaders. Domestic and international observers characterized the elections as generally free and fair, noting that irregularities did not affect the outcome.

The PPRC, which governed the behavior of political parties, did not sanction any political party for inappropriate behavior despite numerous complaints of abuse.

A parallel unit of local government is the paramount chief, who is elected for a life term.

Candidates for the position are limited to members of local ruling houses. Only tribal authorities (those who collected local taxes from at least 20 taxpayers) were allowed to vote for paramount chief, and in the north only men could be designated as tribal authorities. Although paramount chiefs' authority exists independently of the central government and local councils, they frequently displayed party affiliations, were influenced by the party in power, and allegedly influenced the votes of their constituents. The election of paramount chiefs at times exacerbated ethnic tensions.

Women are permitted to vote, but there were numerous allegations that their votes were dictated by husbands or other patriarchal figures. Of the 124 parliamentary members, 16 were women. Four women held cabinet positions. There were four female judges out of seven judges on the High Court, and the acting chief justice is a woman. Three out of six judges on the Court of
Appeal were women.

Only citizens can vote, and the Citizenship Act restricts the acquisition of citizenship at birth to persons of "patrilineal Negro-African descent." Legal requirements for naturalization effectively denied citizenship to many long-term residents, and a large number of persons of Lebanese ancestry, who were born and resided in the country, could not vote. While a small percentage of the Lebanese population was naturalized, some insisted that naturalization implied second-class citizenship and refused to vote.

Ethnic affiliations have traditionally been a strong influence in political party membership for the country's two dominant ethnic groups, the Mende and Temne, each of which included approximately 30 percent of the population. The Mende traditionally supported the SLPP and the Temne the APC. Other than ethnic Limbas, the third most populous ethnic group who have traditionally supported the APC, the country's other ethnic minority groups had no strong political party affiliations. The new cabinet consisted of 12 Temnes, three Mendes, one Fullahs, and three Krios.

Government Corruption and Transparency

Corruption in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches was widespread. Official corruption was exacerbated by low salaries and a lack of accountability. The World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators reflected that corruption was a severe problem.
The Anticorruption Commission (ACC) made little progress in curbing corruption during the year or in improving transparency. Many observers complained that the work of the ACC's investigations department was politicized and ineffective. However, on September 1, a new ACC Act came into force with new offenses, tougher penalties, and broader prosecutorial powers. The law expands the appointed members of the Advisory Committee to include representatives of civil society, professional bodies, religious organizations, educational institutions, and the media. It also broadens the mandate of the ACC Board to annually assess the work of the Commission.
During the year the government developed and approved a five-year national action plan to combat corruption and ministries began including anticorruption activities into their strategic plans. Besides passing the revised law, the ACC has taken several steps to implement the action plan, including an internal restructuring to improve its effectiveness, conducting sensitization campaigns with the public and government ministries, and enforcing whistleblower protection measures.

Corrupt procurement practices were a problem, and several ministries, including the Ministry of Health and Energy, were under investigation. During the year 10 cases of corruption were forwarded to the Ministry of Justice for authorization to prosecute; five received authorization, and five were pending at year's end.

The new ACC law also provides for public officers, their spouses, and children to declare their assets and liabilities to encourage integrity in public life. The president declared his assets the day the law came into force, and all other public servants are required to declare their assets before year's end.

There is no provision in the law for public access to government information; however, the government at times provided access to citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media.

4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights

A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated with few government restrictions, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.

Government officials generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.

The National Forum for Human Rights (NFHR) served as an umbrella organization for human rights groups in the country. There were 41 human rights NGOs registered with the NFHR, and all reportedly were active. Most domestic human rights NGOs focused on human rights education. A few NGOs, including the Campaign for Good Governance, LAWCLA, and Access to Justice, monitored and reported on human rights abuses.

Human rights monitors traveled freely throughout the country. Representatives of international and domestic NGOs, foreign diplomats, the ICRC, and UN human rights officers monitored trials and visited prisons and custodial facilities during the year; however, AI reported that the government refused to grant permission to visit any prisons, despite multiple requests.

The National Human Rights Commission, which became operational during the year, generally operated without government interference; however, government agencies were slow to support the commission, and it was also hampered by lack of funds. The commission published a report on the status of human rights which recommended, among other things, increased funding for agencies and NGOs involved in human rights and making the protection of women's and children's rights a priority.

The Parliamentary Human Rights Committee was active in protecting human rights, and it operated without government or party interference. The committee's resources were limited, but it received support from the UN Nations Development Program and the UNHCR.

The trial before the SCSL in The Hague of former Liberian president Charles Taylor resumed in January and was ongoing at year's end. In an appeals judgment issued February 22, the SCSL upheld the July 2007 convictions of Alex Brima, Brima Kamara, and Santigie Kanu, senior commanders of the AFRC. In the first such finding in an international court, the appeals judgment stated that acts of forced marriage should be considered different from acts of sexual slavery and must be considered a crime against humanity in their own right.

In a May 28 appeals judgment, the SCSL reversed the October 2007 conviction of Allielu Kondewa of the Civil Defence Force (CDF) for enlisting child soldiers, and his and CDF Moinina Fofanah's convictions for using collective punishment. However, Kondewa and Fofanah received new convictions for murder and inhumane acts for crimes against humanity. Their sentences were lengthened to 15 years for Fofanah, and 20 years for Kondewa.

The trial phase of the case against RUF leaders Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon, and Augustine Gbao ended August 5. At year's end judgments were pending.

Recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established to provide a forum for publicly airing the grievances of victims and the confessions of perpetrators during the civil war, were being implemented. The Human Rights Commission continued its work, including ensuring enforcement of the Child Rights Bill and three gender bills, and there was increased use of its human rights violations reporting system. The government took steps to implement a reparations program for the victims of the conflict, as recommended by the TRC. Efforts were underway to establish a trust fund for war victims. However, many NGOs continue to be disappointed at the slow implementation of some of the TRC recommendations, such as the trust fund, identification database of war victims, and splitting of the attorney general and minister of justice positions, requiring constitutional reform.

The UN and numerous NGOs, domestic and international, continued to educate and sensitize the population about the TRC and the SCSL, and the government generally supported these efforts.

5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons

The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, tribe, sex, place of origin, political opinions, color (although citizenship is generally limited to persons of "patrilineal Negro-African descent"), or creed; however, the government did not effectively enforce these provisions, and a number of legal acts and customary laws contravene these constitutional provisions.

Women

The law prohibits rape, which is punishable by up to 14 years' imprisonment; however, rape was common and viewed more as a societal norm than a criminal problem. The law does not specifically prohibit spousal rape. Cases of rape were underreported and indictments were rare, especially in rural areas; this reluctance to pursue justice for women, combined with a lack of income and economic independence, helped perpetuate a cycle of violence and a culture of impunity for violence against women. Since the establishment of the Family Support Units (FSUs) and the passage of the Gender Acts in 2007, however, reports of rapes, especially involving child victims, steadily increased. Rapes were documented of children as young as a few months old. An NGO providing services to rape victims reported that 6 to 7 percent of the cases seen involved victims under age five. Rape victims, especially when pregnancy occurred, were encouraged to marry their attackers.

During the year FSU recorded 1,186 cases of sexual assault. Of these cases, 437 perpetrators were charged, while 555 are still under investigation. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) reported that at least 25 cases resulted in convictions, with perpetrators receiving sentences between 18 months to seven years. Rape cases were frequently settled out of court, or did not make it to trial because of inefficiencies in the judicial system. Most legal advisors assigned to prosecute rape cases had only three weeks' training and could not compete against well trained defense lawyers. Most perpetrators were known to their victims and included teachers, family friends, relatives, and neighbors. The JSDP noted an increase in adolescent boys as perpetrators.

Medical and psychological services for rape victims were limited. Rape victims were required to obtain a medical report to file charges, and most government doctors still charged up to 35,000 leones (approximately $11.50) per report, which was prohibitively expensive for most victims. The IRC ran centers in Freetown, Kenema, and Koidu to perform medical examinations, provide counseling for victims of sexual assault, and offer legal assistance for victims who wanted to prosecute their cases. However, these Rainbo Centers were the only such centers in the country and many victims had no access to medical attention or services. During the year the Rainbo
Centers worked with 1,235 sexual assault clients, the vast majority of whom were 11-15 years old, with almost all under 20 years of age. Approximately 7 percent of the victims were between one to five years old, with the youngest client being only one year old at the time of the incident.

Despite the passage of the Domestic Violence Bill in 2007, domestic violence against women, especially wife beating and rape, was common and often surrounded by a culture of silence. The police were unlikely to intervene in domestic disputes except in cases involving injury or death. The SLP used mediation as their primary tool for handling domestic violence. During the year FSUs noted that 2,738 women reported domestic violence. Of these cases, 360 perpetrators were charged and 1,434 were under investigation at year's end. The FSU does not maintain conviction rate statistics, but NGO reports indicate that few perpetrators were convicted due to poorly trained prosecutors and out-of-court settlements. Awareness of the Domestic Violence Act has resulted in an increase in reported cases in urban areas around the country; however, most human rights organizations note that domestic violence continues to be most prevalent and largely underreported in the northern provinces.
According to UNICEF, 85 percent of women felt that domestic beating was justified for actions such as going out without telling a husband, neglecting the children, refusing sex, or burning food. Women suspected of marital infidelity often were subjected to physical abuse. Because husbands could claim monetary indemnities from their wives' partners, beatings often continued until the women named several men, even if there were no such relationships. There were also reports that women suspected of infidelity were required to undergo animistic rituals to prove their innocence.
Prostitution was widespread and not prohibited by law; however, prostitutes sometimes were arrested and charged with loitering or vagrancy. Many women and girls, particularly those displaced from their homes and with few resources, resorted to prostitution to support themselves and their children.
Sexual harassment is not specifically prohibited by law, and it was widespread.
The 2007 bill on customary marriages and divorce empowers either spouse to acquire property and guarantees that gifts, payments, or dowries upon marriage are non-refundable allowing women in unhappy marriages to divorce without being forced to make decisions based on paid dowries.

The 2007 Devolution of Estate Act provides for intestate succession including the transmission of property to the deceased's spouse and/or children as well as to single persons who cohabited with the deceased for 10 or more years. The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children's Affairs finalized their action plan for the implementation of the Gender Acts in October. However, paramount chiefs and local magistrates had not been given the forms or training to register people under the Customary Marriage Act and none of the Acts had been implemented by year's end.

Women faced widespread legal and societal discrimination, particularly in matters of marriage, divorce, property, and inheritance, which are guided by customary law in all areas except for the capital. Formal laws, such as the Gender Acts of 2007, apply in customary as well as formal courts, but customary judges had limited to no legal training and often were unaware or could choose to ignore formal laws. Chiefs sometimes colluded with men to forcibly evict women and children from their homes or subject them to arbitrary detention. In some cases chiefs imposed arbitrary and exorbitant fines, imprisoned women unlawfully in their homes or "chiefdom jails," and expelled them from the community. Their rights and status under customary law varied significantly depending upon the ethnic group to which they belonged, but was routinely inferior to that of men. Under customary law women's status in society is equal to that of a minor. A woman was frequently perceived to be the property of her husband, to be inherited on his death with his other property. In rural areas polygyny was widespread; UNICEF estimated in 2007 that 43 percent of women were involved in polygynous unions. All women in the Western (Freetown) Area, which is governed by general law, had a statutory right to own property in their own names. Women in the provinces, which are governed by customary laws that vary from chiefdom to chiefdom, did not.

In the Temne ethnic group, women could not become paramount chiefs, subordinate chiefs, or chiefdom authorities; however, in the Mende tribe, there were several female leaders. Efforts by international and domestic NGOs to promote female candidates during the run up to July local council elections resulted in the election in every council of at least one female representative.

Women did not have equal access to education, economic opportunities, health facilities, or social freedoms. In rural areas women performed much of the subsistence farming and had little opportunity for formal education. Women also experienced discrimination in access to employment, credit, pay for similar work, and owning and/or managing business.

The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs has a mandate to protect the rights of women; however, the government cut the ministry's budget despite increasing its responsibilities. Most international and domestic NGOs complained that the ministry lacked the resources, infrastructure, and support of other ministries to effectively handle its projects assigned. The ministry routinely relied on the assistance of international organizations and
NGOs to help combat women's rights violations.

Women were active in civic and philanthropic organizations. Domestic NGOs, such as 50/50, the Forum for African Women Educationalists, and Women's Forum raised awareness of the lack of gender equality and other women's issues, and they encouraged women to enter politics as candidates for mayoral positions and local councils.

Children

The government was committed to improving children's education and welfare; however, it lacked the means to provide basic education and health services.
Although birth registration was not universal, lack of registration did not impact access to public services.

Primary school education is tuition-free countrywide, and secondary school education is tuition-free for girls in the north. However, many parents were unable to put their children through primary school because they could not afford school uniforms, books, and other fees charged by school authorities. The average educational level for girls was markedly below that of boys, and only 25 percent of women were literate. At the secondary level, pregnancy forced many girls out of school. New laws were enacted to allow girls to return to school after giving birth, but many communities did not abide by this.

Sexual violence against children was a problem, and the government took few steps to address the issue. The FSUs received training in dealing with sexual violence against children, and cases of child sexual abuse were generally taken more seriously than adult rape cases. However, in many cases of sexual assault against children, parents accept payment instead of taking the perpetrator to court due to difficulties dealing with the justice system.

No law specifically prohibits FGM, and it was practiced widely and supported by politicians and community members. UNICEF and other groups estimated that 80 to 90 percent of women and girls had been victims of the practice; however, some local groups believed that this figure was overstated. FGM was practiced on girls as young as five years old, and UNIOSIL reported cases in which one and two-year-old children underwent FGM because their young age made it cheaper for parents.

Although police occasionally detained practitioners on accusations of forced mutilation or manslaughter, human rights workers reported that police remained hesitant to interfere in cultural practices.

In October a 10-year-old girl in Port Loko District died as a result of FGM. At year's end the SLP were still investigating.

In 2007 the parliament passed the Child Rights Act, which makes it illegal to subject anybody under the age of 18 to harmful treatment, including any cultural practice which dehumanizes or is injurious to the physical and mental welfare of the child; however, the act does not explicitly address FGM. The act prohibits marriage of girls under the age of 18, including forced marriage, as did the 2007 Act on registration of customary marriages and divorce. Despite the new legislation forced child marriage continued to be a problem. UNICEF estimated that 62 percent of females under the age of 18 were married.

The Child Rights Act also provides for the creation of family courts and child committees at the local government level. As of October the FSU reported 136 cases of child cruelty, of which nine had been charged in court. There were no convictions.

Child prostitution continued to be a problem. A UNICEF analysis of Freetown and Bo indicated that over half of the street children survived through prostitution.

The number and plight of street children were problems. Many are forced to engage in petty trading and other economic activities to survive, and are vulnerable to trafficking and other exploitive practices.

According to UNICEF, there were 48 residential homes for orphans. The quality of care at the facilities varied, but met most minimum standards. Each facility provided at least one meal a day, some health care, and some type of education.

Trafficking in Persons

The law prohibits trafficking in persons; however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country.

The country continued to be a source, transit point, and destination for internationally trafficked persons. The majority of victims were women and children, and the majority of traffickers were family members or friends who lured victims from their home villages with false promises of education, caretaking, or employment. Orphaned children were the most vulnerable population for trafficking. There was no evidence of trafficking through employment agencies, organized crime, or marriage brokers.

Reports indicated that women and children were trafficked from the provinces to work in the capital as laborers and commercial sex workers and to diamond areas for labor and sex work; persons were trafficked from neighboring countries for domestic and street labor and for commercial sex work; persons were trafficked out of the country to destinations in west Africa, including Liberia, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and the Gambia for labor and sexual; exploitation; persons were also trafficked to Lebanon, Europe, and North America; and the country served as a transit point for persons trafficked from elsewhere in west Africa and possibly the Middle East. According to a center for street children, 80 to 90 percent of the cases they dealt with involved internal trafficking.

A person convicted of trafficking can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. During the year FSU reported 38 cases of human trafficking, of which more than half were girls under the age of 16. Of the cases reported, 12 individuals were charged with trafficking but none were convicted.
There were no further developments in the 2007 case of two minors, Abu Bakarr Koroma and Nasira Mansaray, who were arrested for trafficking a five-year-old boy.

A number of government agencies are responsible for combating trafficking, including the SLP, Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs, the Immigration Department, and the Office of National Security. The government assisted in reintegrating trafficking victims when requested; however, there were no known requests for assistance with international investigations or extraditions.

Document fraud was common and government registry officials, police, immigration officials, and border guards frequently accepted bribes. Although there was no proof that forged documents were used to facilitate trafficking, government officials who forged documents such as birth, marriage, and death certificates rarely suffered punishment.

A shelter for trafficking victims, run by the International Organization for Migration, has been operational since late 2006 and provided safe haven, medical care, counseling, and reintegration for over 145 victims of trafficking during the year. There were gaps in the services they were able to provide due to limited funding and the lack of shelter facilities outside of Freetown.
Government officials continued to work with NGOs on trafficking-related issues and attended NGO training sessions on trafficking. The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children's Affairs and the SLP publicly supported NGO anti-trafficking efforts. However, the trafficking secretariat, established by the 2005 law, had yet to be funded, and the three-year work plan developed by the antitrafficking task force remained largely unfunded.

See also the State Department's 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report.

Persons with Disabilities

The law does not prohibit discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities.

No law mandates accessibility to buildings or assistance to disabled persons. There was no government policy or program to assist persons with disabilities; public facility access and discrimination against persons with disabilities were not considered public policy priorities. A few private agencies and organizations provided job training for such persons.

There was no outright discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or in the provision of other state services; however, given the high rate of general unemployment, work opportunities for persons with disabilities were few. Despite the sizeable numbers of persons disabled by polio, there was little government assistance to this group.

Psychiatric patients at the Kissy Mental Hospital were usually restrained by being chained to their cots for the first few weeks of treatment due to the lack of soft restraints.
Some of the many individuals maimed in the civil war, or who had their limbs amputated by rebel forces, received special assistance from local and international humanitarian organizations.

Such programs involved reconstructive surgery, prostheses, and vocational training to help victims acquire new work skills; however, amputees complained that they did not receive sufficient assistance compared to former combatants, who received aid through the demobilization process. In response to TRC recommendations, the government accepted in principle the need to develop an aid program for war wounded, amputees, and victims of sexual violence; however, assistance to these groups remained limited and mostly funded by outside entities.

National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

The ethnically diverse population consists of about 18 ethnic groups of African origin, many of whom spoke distinct languages and were concentrated outside urban areas. In addition there are significant Lebanese and Indian minorities, and small groups of European and Pakistani origin.

Little ethnic segregation was apparent in urban areas, where interethnic marriage was common.

The two largest ethnic groups were the Temne in the north and the Mende in the south. These groups each constituted an estimated 30 percent of the population; however, the Krio, who constituted 10 percent of the population, have historically dominated the civil service and judiciary. Strong ethnic loyalties, bias, and stereotypes existed among all ethnic groups. The Temne and Mende have vied historically for political power, and the violence during the 11-year civil war had some ethnic undertones. Ethnic loyalty remained an important factor in the government, armed forces, and business. Complaints of ethnic discrimination in government appointments, contract assignment, and military promotions were common both with the former SLPP and current APC ruling parties.

Ethnic clashes between Limbas and Mandingos resulted in injuries and property damage, including killed livestock and burned homes and villages.

Residents of non-African descent faced institutionalized political restrictions. Legal requirements for naturalization, such as continuous residence in the country for 15 years, or the past 12 months and 15 of the previous 20 years, effectively denied citizenship to many locally born residents, most notably members of the Lebanese community.

Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination

The law prohibits discrimination based on actual, perceived, or suspected HIV status; however, persons with HIV/AIDS were stigmatized in society. There was no official discrimination against HIV/AIDS positive persons.

The law prohibits homosexual acts, and there was official and societal discrimination based on sexual orientation. Many homosexuals concealed their sexual orientation.

6. Worker Rights

a. The Right of Association

The law allows workers to join unions of their choice without prior authorization or excessive requirements; however, civil service, police, and members of the armed services are prohibited from joining unions. The law allows unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the government generally protected this right; however, by year's end the government had not granted a bargaining certificate to the Civil Servant's Union, whose application had been on file since 1986. According to the Ministry of Labor, approximately 35 to 40 percent of workers were unionized, including mainly agricultural workers, mineworkers, and health workers.
Unions have the right to strike, although the government could require 21 days' notice, and workers exercised this right in practice. The law does not prohibit retaliation against strikers, even for a lawful strike.

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

The law provides for collective bargaining, and the government protected this right in practice.

Collective bargaining must take place in trade group negotiating councils, each of which had an equal number of employer and worker representatives. Collective bargaining was widespread in the formal sector, and most enterprises were covered by collective bargaining agreements on wages and working conditions. No reliable data was available on the percentage of workers covered by collective agreements.

The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination against union members nor employer interference in the establishment of unions; however, during the year there were no reports of such occurrences.

There are no export processing zones.

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The law prohibits forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, the government did not effectively enforce the law, and forced and bonded child labor remained a largely unquantifiable problem. Under the Chiefdom's Council Act, individual chiefs may impose forced labor as punishment and have done so in the past; however, there were no reported occurrences during the year. Chiefs also may require villagers to contribute to the improvement of common areas, a practice that occurred in rural areas. There is no penalty for noncompliance.

d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment

The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, the government did not effectively enforce the law, and child labor remained a problem due to strong tradition and high levels of extreme poverty. Almost half of children aged 14-15 years were engaged in some form of child labor, but the rate varied from 27 percent in urban areas to 57 percent in rural areas.

The law limits child labor, allowing light work at age 13, full-time work at age 15, and hazardous work at age 18. The law states that children under 13 should not be employed in any capacity; however, enforcement was not effective.

Children aged 15 may be apprenticed (provided they have finished schooling) and employed full-time in non-hazardous work. The law also proscribes work by any children under 18 between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. The law sets health and safety standards and requires school attendance through the age of 15, but the government did not enforce this. Many of the laws were not enforced because of lack of knowledge, societal perception of children's roles, and poverty.

In many cases children worked alongside parents or relatives and these children abandoned educational or vocational training. There were no reports that authorities conducted any child labor inspections during the year.

In rural areas children worked seasonally on family subsistence farms. Children also routinely assisted in family businesses and worked as petty vendors. Adults engaged a large number of street children to sell, steal, and beg. Because the adult unemployment rate remained high, few children were involved in the industrial sector or elsewhere in the formal economy.

There were reports that foreign employers hired local children to work as domestic laborers outside the country at extremely low wages and in poor conditions. The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children's Affairs was responsible for reviewing the issuance of passports to minors, but did not do so effectively, and the prevalence of document fraud made effective government oversight difficult.

There were reports that children whose parents sent them to friends or relatives in urban areas for education were forced to work on the street. There also were reports that adults asked orphanages for children to be used as household help.

Many girls, particularly those displaced from their homes and with few resources, resorted to prostitution as a means to support themselves.

In remote villages, children are made to carry heavy loads as porters resulting in stunted growth and development. Children are also engaged in sand mining, fishing, hawking, mining, and prostitution. Some of the children who were hired by employers outside the country may have been victims of trafficking.

The Ministry of Labor was responsible for enforcing child labor laws. The Ministry of Mineral Resources enforced regulatory prohibitions against the worst forms of child labor. The ministry also was charged with protecting children working in the diamond mining areas; however, enforcement was not effective.

An initiative called "chiefs as champions for children" used traditional leaders to advocate for children's rights. The Freetown City Council contributed non-financial support to programs that provide free schooling and services to at-risk youth.

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

The national minimum wage, covering all occupations, including in the informal sector, was set at 25,000 leones (approximately $8.30) per month, which did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage, but it lacked the resources to effectively do so, and compliance was difficult to monitor in the informal sector. Most workers supported an extended family, often including relatives who had been displaced by the insurgency in the countryside. It was common to pool incomes and to supplement wages with subsistence farming and child labor.

Although not stipulated by law, the standard workweek was 40 hours (60 hours for security personnel). Employers negotiated work hours with employees at the time of hiring, and overtime was to be paid if an employee's work hours exceeded the standard workweek. There was no prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime.

The Ministry of Health and Sanitation was responsible for setting and enforcing health and safety standards. Although the government set these standards, it lacked the funding to enforce them properly. Trade unions provided the only protection for workers who filed complaints about working conditions. Initially, a union could make a formal complaint about a hazardous working condition; if this complaint was rejected, the union could issue a 21-day strike notice; however, no such actions were reported during the year. If workers were to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without making a formal complaint, they risked being fired.


The law protects both foreign and domestic workers; however, there were fewer protections for illegal foreign workers.