Main Menu
 
Poverty
 
Human Trafficking
 
CSEC
 
Street Children
 

Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance

& Other Ill Treatment

In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to 2025                                      gvnet.com/torture/Gabon.htm

Gabonese Republic (Gabon)

Prison conditions are harsh, and facilities are severely overcrowded, with limited access to proper medical care. Torture is specifically outlawed by the constitution, but detainees and inmates continue to face physical abuse, including those detained for political reasons during 2017. Violent crime and ritual killings remain serious concerns.

In the postelection clashes of 2016, the authorities used indiscriminate and often deadly force against political opponents and protesters, causing a number of fatalities. Members of the security forces involved in these and other alleged abuses apparently enjoyed impunity in 2017.

[Freedom House Country Report, 2018]

Description: Description: Gabon

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Gabon.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE

Students

If you are looking for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of particular interest to you.  You might be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the courtroom.  Perhaps your paper might focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures, starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing water.  On the other hand, you might choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who perpetrate such cruelty.  There is a lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.  Scan other countries as well as this one.  Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions.  Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources that are available on-line.

*** ARCHIVES ***

2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Gabon

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 30 March 2021

www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/gabon/

[accessed 19 July 2021]

DISAPPEARANCE

There was one report of a disappearance during the year. On August 16, two Omar Bongo University students active in the Human Rights League were reported missing. They remained missing at year’s end.

TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT

There were reports of torture in prisons where unidentified personnel employed torture. For example, on January 29, the attorney of Patrichi Christian Tanasa, the former director of the Gabon Oil Company, stated in a press conference that his client was tortured by three hooded men who beat and sexually molested him at the Libreville Central Prison.

Impunity was a problem in the security forces. Nevertheless, the government took some steps to identify, investigate, and prosecute officials and punish human rights abusers. In April authorities established a national hotline to report abuses by security force members.

PRISON AND DETENTION CENTER CONDITIONS

Prison conditions were harsh and potentially life threatening due to low-quality food, inadequate sanitation, lack of ventilation, gross overcrowding, and poor medical care. Conditions in jails and detention centers mirrored those in prisons.

ARREST PROCEDURES AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES

Pretrial Detention: Approximately two-thirds of prison inmates were held in pretrial detention that sometimes lasted up to three years. There were instances in which the length of pretrial detention exceeded the maximum sentence for the alleged crime.

Freedom House Country Report

2018 Edition

freedomhouse.org/country/gabon/freedom-world/2018

[accessed 12 May 2020]

F3.  IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES?

Prison conditions are harsh, and facilities are severely overcrowded, with limited access to proper medical care. Torture is specifically outlawed by the constitution, but detainees and inmates continue to face physical abuse, including those detained for political reasons during 2017. Violent crime and ritual killings remain serious concerns.

In the postelection clashes of 2016, the authorities used indiscriminate and often deadly force against political opponents and protesters, causing a number of fatalities. Members of the security forces involved in these and other alleged abuses apparently enjoyed impunity in 2017.

Gabon Human Rights

Amnesty International USA

www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/africa/gabon

[accessed 22 Jan 2014]

GOVERNMENT - Gabonese citizens have only limited ability to criticize or change their government. A number of opposition members were arrested arbitrarily without warrants after protesting the conduct and result of the election. Gabonese human rights activists and opposition party members claim the Gabonese military killed several dozen people in the city of Port-Gentil, an opposition stronghold, following the announcement of the election results on 2 September 2009.

Search … AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

For current articles:: Search Amnesty International Website

www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=gabon+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance

[accessed 1 January 1, 2019]

Scroll Down

*** EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE ***

Human Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006

www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61570.htm

[accessed 28 January 2013]

2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61570.htm

[accessed 4 July 2019]

TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – Although the constitution prohibits such practices, security forces sometimes beat or tortured prisoners and detainees to extract confessions. Unconfirmed reports from the African immigrant community asserted that police and soldiers occasionally beat noncitizen Africans during operations to round up and deport illegal immigrants. During the year, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed that it received reports from its regional offices that security forces continued to harass and extort refugees.

Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police raped women in their custody.

Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 6   Civil Liberties: 4   Status: Partly Free

2009 Edition

www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/gabon

[accessed 28 January 2013]

LONG URL   ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21

[accessed 12 May 2020]

The judiciary is not independent. However, rights to legal counsel and a public criminal trial are generally respected. Judges may deliver summary verdicts, and torture is sometimes used to produce confessions. Prison conditions are marked by beatings and insufficient food, water, and medical care. Arbitrary arrest and long periods of pretrial detention are common.

All material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use.  PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES. 

Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Gabon", http://gvnet.com/torture/Gabon.htm, [accessed <date>]