Amnesty International Report 2003 - Togo
| Publisher | Amnesty International |
| Publication Date | 28 May 2003 |
| Cite as | Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 2003 - Togo , 28 May 2003, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3edb47e10.html [accessed 1 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Covering events from January - December 2002
TOGOLESE REPUBLIC
Head of state: Gnassingbé Eyadéma
Head of government: Koffi Sama (replaced Gabriel Messan Agbéyomé Kodjo in June)
Death penalty: abolitionist in practice
International Criminal Court: not signed
Several people, including prisoners of conscience, were arrested for political reasons. There were reports of torture and ill-treatment by members of the security forces. Despite persistent human rights abuses, in April the UN Commission on Human Rights decided to end consideration of the human rights situation in Togo under its confidential procedure. A new law limiting the freedom of the press was passed. One person was sentenced to death. The vast majority of human rights violations were not investigated by the authorities.
Background
In October, the ruling party of President Eyadéma, the Rassemblement du peuple togolais, Rally of the Togolese People, won an overwhelming majority in much delayed legislative elections. The elections were boycotted by the most significant opposition parties, on the grounds that the government had breached the Lomé Framework Agreement by modifying the electoral code.
The Lomé Framework Agreement of 1999 was the outcome of efforts to resolve Togo's political crisis by international mediators including members of the European Union (EU) and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, International Organization of Francophone Countries. The agreement provided for new legislative elections and for the establishment of an independent electoral commission to oversee them. After repeated disagreements between the opposition and the ruling party over the composition of the electoral commission, the Constitutional Court set up a new committee composed of seven judges to organize elections. The EU expressed concern that the "conditions under which the poll was held lacked credibility".
At the end of 2002 Parliament amended the national Constitution to remove the two-term limit on the presidency, thereby allowing President Eyadéma, who came to power in a coup in 1967, to stand for re-election.
Detention of political opponents
At least four student members of the Union nationale des étudiants togolais (UNET), National Union of Togolese Students, were arrested in February and detained for a few days before being released without charge or trial. At the time of the October elections, opposition supporters distributing leaflets calling for a boycott were arrested and held for a few days without charge.
People continued to be imprisoned after unfair trials for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression. Those targeted included journalists and political leaders.
- In September, Claude Améganvi, President of the Parti des travailleurs (PT), Workers' Party, and co-ordinator of Quelle solution pour le Togo?, What Solution for Togo?, and Julien Ayi, publisher of the weekly Nouvel Echo, were sentenced to four months' imprisonment and a fine for "attacking the honour" of President Eyadéma. In December the Court of Appeal increased the sentence to six months' imprisonment. The editor-in-chief of Nouvel Echo, Klu Névamé, who was in hiding, was also sentenced to six months' imprisonment. All three were accused of stating that President Eyadéma was among the world's richest people. Claude Améganvi was arrested after a meeting with the Interior Minister at which he called for the release of two teachers, Djoura Tiguena and Takana Badjessa. These two prisoners of conscience had been arrested and sentenced to prison terms after handing out leaflets for Quelle solution pour le Togo? The leaflets called upon Togolese citizens to honour the memory of Tavio Amorin, who was executed extrajudicially in 1992.
- Seven out of a group of nine refugees, arrested in Ghana in December 1997 and handed back to the Togolese authorities, remained in detention without charge or trial in Kara prison. Two of the nine had died in detention in previous years as a result of ill-treatment, medical neglect, lack of food and insanitary conditions.
In March, Yawovi Agboyibo, chairman of the Comité d'action pour le renouveau (CAR), Action Committee for Renewal, was released by order of President Eyadéma. In August 2001 Yawovi Agboyibo had been sentenced to six months' imprisonment on charges of defamation of character for alleging that a person close to the ruling party supported militias responsible for human rights violations between 1996 and 1998. After serving his prison term he had been kept in detention on new charges of criminal conspiracy.
Torture and ill-treatment
There were reports of the security forces using excessive force against demonstrators in Lomé, subjecting numerous peaceful protesters to gratuitous assaults and beatings.
Acts of torture and ill-treatment of detainees continued, and were not investigated by the authorities. Prolonged incommunicado detention shortly after arrest facilitated torture.
- In April, a Togolese citizen and a teacher were reportedly beaten by members of the security forces in Dapaong, apparently solely because they were in a particular bar at the time.
Conditions in prisons and detention centres continued to be harsh and cases of ill-treatment of prisoners were reported. No provision was made to improve conditions in Lomé civil prison, which was seriously overcrowded. Medical facilities in prisons and detention centres were very poor. Prisoners were denied adequate food, beaten and held in cells which had no light and were too small and overcrowded to lie down in. Some prisoners complained that they were deprived of sleep and forced to sit in the same position for prolonged periods.
Restrictions on freedom of expression
In September, the National Assembly passed a new media bill which limited the freedom of the press. Officially aimed at "encouraging professionalism", the new bill imposed long prison sentences for defaming state institutions, courts, the armed forces and public administration.
Restrictions on the right to freedom of expression continued, with action by officials against independent newspapers, critics of the government and political opponents. On several occasions newspapers criticizing the President or the government were seized by the security forces. Some journalists faced legal suits against them.
International community
In April, despite persistent serious human rights abuses, the UN Commission on Human Rights decided to stop considering the human rights situation in Togo under the confidential procedure established by the UN Economic and Social Council.
In October, the Human Rights Committee, the expert body that monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, expressed a number of concerns in relation to Togo. It reiterated that the International Commission of Inquiry jointly established by the UN and the Organization of African Unity had concluded that there had been "a situation of systematic violation of human rights in Togo in the course of 1998". Togo had rejected the Commission's report and created its own national commission, which did not identify those responsible for the violations.
The Human Rights Committee was also concerned about the "insufficiently precise character of the crimes which might incur the death penalty" and about complaints of excessive use of force by security forces against demonstrations and assemblies. The Committee expressed concern about allegations of torture at the time of arrest and in detention centres, about prison conditions, and about the "continued harassment, intimidation and detention of journalists in 2001 and 2002, and the practice of governmental censorship".
Death penalty
In September Komlan Agbéviadé was sentenced to death on charges of murder, the first death sentence to be passed since 1978. No executions have been carried out since 1978.
