Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume II, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs

104. Paper Prepared in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research¹

Washington, January 11, 1978

Progress and Retrogression in Human Rights in 1977

Near East and South Asia

India. Following a free and fair election, the new government of Morarji Desai restored fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution and freedom of the press. It has yet to repeal other measures designed to maintain internal security, however.

Iran. The military justice and penal codes were revised to provide for open civil court trials of political prisoners (formerly tried in camera by military courts). The government also liberalized restrictions on public expression and recognized the distinction between dissidents and terrorists, although demonstrators continued to be dealt with severely. In 1977, almost 500 political prisoners were released from prison, and some were pardoned.

Pakistan. Despite the introduction of martial law following the coup last year, the Zia regime’s record on human rights has reflected improvement. Most political prisoners have been released, the press publishes more freely than has been allowed for years, the judiciary’s independence has been strengthened, and Amnesty International has been invited to attend court sessions. However, elections scheduled for October 1977 were postponed until the completion of former Prime Minister Bhutto’s trials for political corruption and murder, according to General Zia, the Chief Martial Law Administrator.

Sri Lanka. The lifting of Mrs. Bandaranaike’s six-year-old state of emergency in February resulted in the release of many former insurgents who had been held without trial. Mrs. Bandaranaike held earlier-postponed elections in July 1977. Her successor, Prime Minister Jayawardene, fulfilled a campaign promise by releasing in November the last of the insurgents convicted in 1971; he also repealed the 1972 Criminal Justice Commission Act.

Bangladesh. Several thousand prisoners were released and local elections were held, although an unknown number of political prisoners remain jailed and several minor political parties were proscribed as a result of army mutinies against the martial law regime.

Morocco. The government continues to repress radical elements suspected of plotting to overthrow the regime, but the trend in recent months has been toward greater freedom and political liberalization. Domestic press censorship has been lifted, relatively free parliamentary elections were held in which all parties participated, and a new cabinet has been formed with multi-party participation.

Nepal. Political parties have been banned since 1960, and the country remains, in effect, an absolute monarchy. On the other hand, the government released virtually all political prisoners in 1977, including Nepal’s leading dissident, B.J. Koirala, who was released from jail for medical treatment in the US. Koirala was re-imprisoned on his return to Kathmandu, however.

Latin America

Hemispheric attention was focused on the human rights issue to an unprecedented degree as a result of a combination of domestic circumstances and pressures from outside governmental, private, media, and UN sources.

Some advances can be noted.

—Significant political releases occurred in Chile, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay, and Peru.

—State of siege regulations were lifted in Jamaica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

—Barbados, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Trinidad, and Venezuela joined the US as advocates of human rights compliance.

—The OAS meeting in Grenada endorsed the work of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and committed the member states to renewed efforts on behalf of human rights observance.

—In Chile, the secret police, DINA, has been altered in form and its power apparently diminished, and fewer reports of abuses of the individual have been received.

—In Nicaragua, there has been a significant decrease in reports of violations of the integrity of the person.

—In El Salvador, President Romero has acted with considerable restraint and regard for human rights considerations in dealing with a potentially explosive internal political situation.

On the other hand, authoritarian regimes that have, in some cases, proven to be insensitive to human rights considerations continue to rule millions in Latin America.

—In Argentina, the rate of disappeared persons remains unchanged, reports of official torture continue to be received, and there is convincing evidence that government security personnal continue to operate in vigilante fashion—all of this in the context of a decreasing terrorist threat as a result of successful counter-terrorist action by the government.

—In Uruguay, progress continues to be blocked by the government’s unwillingness or inability to take effective measures to resolve its serious human rights problem, as manifested especially with regard to its continuing negative attitude toward a visit by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission.

—Paraguay remains an authoritarian state whose affairs are conducted in some ways at the personal whim of President Stroessner and with little regard for the rights of individuals on his part.

—Cuba continues to hold thousands of political prisoners (estimated by some to be as many as 20,000.)

Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

Soviet authorities made a major and rather successful effort in 1977 to weaken the dissident movement. In Eastern Europe, while the human rights picture continued to be mixed, all of the governments there remained repressive by US standards.

Soviet Union. Soviet tactics against dissidents minimized potentially embarrassing dissident activity during the Belgrade Conference and the October Revolution anniversary celebrations. Although the Shcharanskiy case was drawing greater attention in the West than the Soviets probably expected, they apparently were able to break up embryonic human rights movements in the Ukraine, Armenia, Lithuania, and Georgia. The Soviet tactics include isolating dissidents:

—from the West, through harassment of Western correspondents, inhibiting contacts with embassy officials, and interfering with the flow of mail from abroad;

—from one another, through internal exile, voluntary and involuntary emigration, and intimidation; and

—from the Soviet public, by moves ranging from press attacks to arrests and incarceration.

Despite these measures, dissidents remain active, though some are disheartened. Others continue their personal contacts with Westerners, and new members are joining the small group monitoring the Helsinki accords.

Soviet emigration to Israel rose to 17,146 in 1977, a 22-percent increase over 1976 (14,875).

Eastern Europe. Life for non-conformists in Eastern Europe remains difficult. Some easing of restrictions has occurred in some countries, while the situation has retrogressed in others.

Polish and Hungarian authorities broadened official tolerance of diversity in 1977, and in Poland, the authorities have engaged in an increasingly meaningful dialogue with regime critics. Yugoslavia continues to maintain a relatively liberal approach to individual rights. In contrast, the official Czechoslovak approach to human rights has been extremely strict, involving trials, harassment, intimidation, and job denials. Three countries (Yugoslavia, Poland, and Romania) declared broad amnesties affecting a number of political prisoners.

Most of the East European countries, however, have sought to deal with human rights concerns through a variety of expedients designed to minimize international criticism while precluding meaningful internal change. A favorite device has been to pressure dissidents to emigrate, thereby avoiding the need for further sanctions against the individual while at the same time reducing domestic dissidence.

East Asia and the Pacific

Key non-Communist countries in the area demonstrated marked sensitivity, and in some cases, responsiveness to foreign human rights criticism and pressures. The primary human rights violators in the area, however, continued to be the Communist states, particularly Cambodia, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos.

South Korea. In response to international opinion and pressures during 1977, the government relaxed press censorship, improved living conditions for imprisoned dissidents, and handled student protests in October with restraint. While the government continued to arrest and try violators of Emergency Measure 9 (EM–9), by year’s end it released 16 well-known political prisoners in exchange for statements of repentance. Other EM–9 prisoners, including Kim Tae Chung, are expected to either be released or have their sentences reduced in 1978.

Indonesia. The government on December 20 carried out its pledge to release 10,000 prisoners who had been arrested and detained following the Communist coup attempt in 1965. Approximately 20,000 more remain in detention camps. Officials plan to release 10,000 in 1978, and the remainder by the end of 1979. There is no evidence from any source to support Amnesty International’s allegation that upwards of² 90,000 political prisoners still remain in detention.

Thailand. The assumption of power by the Kriangsak government on November 11 brought an end to press censorship, a more relaxed attitude toward political opposition, and introduced a period of more open internal political dialogue. The new government, demonstrating increasing sensitivity to international human rights pressures, also permitted legal counsel for the 18 students now on trial for their activities at the time of the Thammasat University riots in late 1976. Approximately 3,000 other students arrested at the time have been released.

Philippines. Although President Marcos frequently gave lip service to his government’s concern for the rights of the individual, there was little or no progress in the human rights area during 1977. Marcos continues to exercise highly centralized control over the political life of the country through his use of martial law powers. Occasional reports of torture by security personnel continue to be received, and political opposition sources allege that few if any of the 1,000 detainees released during the summer were political dissidents. Marcos’ main political opponent, Senator Aquino, is still in prison awaiting a reopening of his trial, despite the fact that a military tribunal had earlier sentenced him to death for treason.³

Africa

The main human rights preoccupation of all African countries in 1977 was the intensification of repression in South Africa, which was dominated by the major crackdown on black political activity there on October 19.⁴ There is no evidence that any of those who were arrested at that time have been released. Despite condemnation of Africa’s racist policies throughout the world, furthermore, prospects for any significant improvement in the overall situation are dim, at best.

Many African leaders regard human rights as an essentially Western political concept which does not reflect the needs and realities of their societies at this stage of development. In common with other Third World countries, they place a higher priority on the integrity of the group as opposed to the individual, and on economic development and basic human needs as opposed to political and civil rights.

At the same time, however, some countries have reflected growing sensitivity to outside criticism and have taken steps in 1977 to improve their human rights reputation:

—Guinea announced the release of 62 political prisoners in December;

—Togo announced the release of 25 political prisoners in April;

—Ethiopia announced the release of 828 prisoners in June and 894 in September (no significant political prisoners are believed to have been included); and

—Malawi is believed to have released nearly all of its political prisoners.

On the other hand, perhaps as many as several thousand political prisoners are reported to be in prison and reeducation camps in Mozambique, and large-scale executions are reported to have taken place in Angola and Ethiopia. There is no improvement in the situation in Uganda. The situation there is of considerable concern to African political elites, however, who recognize the seriousness of the problem, even in those cases where they are reluctant to express themselves publicly about it.

1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P850109–0129. Confidential. Prepared by David Carpenter (INR/DDR/GIS) and INR/DDR/GIS analysts. According to a January 11 covering memorandum from Carpenter to Oxman, INR prepared the paper in response to Christopher’s request to Saunders for material to be used in Christopher’s address to the American Bar Association, scheduled to meet in New Orleans, Louisiana, in February. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P850109–0129) See footnote 4, Document 117.
2. An unknown hand changed “upwards” to “up to.”
3. An unknown hand deleted the word “treason” and added “murder and subversion.”
4. The NSC Global Issues Cluster alerted Brzezinski to this development in the October 19 evening report: “South Africa has begun a nation-wide human rights crackdown with bannings of the major black newspapers, arrests of black leaders, and raids, detentions, etc. This appears to be the largest effort of its kind since 1960.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Global Issues—Oplinger/Bloomfield Subject File, Box 36, Evening Reports: 8–10/77)