Civic space in Bhutan is rated as ‘obstructed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. There continue to be concerns about media independence, access to information and the chilling effect of defamation laws on journalists and critics. Further, there are political prisoners from the 1990s, who are serving life sentences.
Association
Human rights groups call for release of political prisoners held for decades
Bhutan: King Should Free Political Prisoners https://t.co/SizsHTZJUG
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) May 8, 2023
In May 2023, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling on the King to release political prisoners held in poor conditions for decades following unfair trials in Bhutan.
The organisation reported that 37 political prisoners have been serving long sentences since 1990 and many were sentenced to life without parole. Most are accused of opposing discriminatory policies and rights violations targeting Bhutan’s Nepali speaking community, which faced persecution in the 1990s.
Dinushika Dissanayake, deputy director for South Asia at Amnesty International, said: “Under Bhutan’s constitution, only King Jigme has the power to grant early release and he should do so without further delay, to end the suffering of these prisoners and their families.”
According to the groups, the political prisoners were subjected to torture and had no access to defence lawyers at the time of their arrest and trial. Currently, the prisoners are reportedly given inadequate food, heating and bedding in a generally cold climate, and are denied regular communications or visits from their families.
In 2019, UN experts noted that some of these prisoners had been convicted of “terrorism” but that they were accused of “actions that appeared … to be unrelated to terrorism.” The UN experts found that those “serving life sentences have no prospect of release, with the exception of amnesty,” and recommended that the cases be reviewed “to determine whether there were any due process violations that may have led to their conviction.”
Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said: “Bhutan has undergone democratic reforms and made efforts to modernise its legal system since 2008, but these political prisoners received unfair trials that condemned them to spend their lives in prison.”
Expression
Press freedom rankings drop as journalists struggle to access information
Bhutan’s press freedom ranking dropped 57 spots to 90th place from 33, according to the 2023 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and issued in May 2023.
According to RSF, “journalists report difficulties getting access to state-held information, and that, in particular, the royal bureaucracy perpetuates a culture of secrecy and distrust of the press that ends up depriving the population of information of public interest”. Further, “defamation suits and a national security law penalising any attempt to create misunderstanding or hostility between the government and people have acted as a brake on journalistic freedom.” Many journalists also “avoid covering sensitive issues for fear of appearing to challenge the social order”.
President of the Journalist Association of Bhutan (JAB), Rinzin Wangchuk, said the JAB is not shocked, but surprised by the ranking. “When there is no access to information, there will be no media freedom.”
He added that access to information for Bhutanese journalists has never been as challenging as over the last few years. “The changing media landscape coupled with the high turnover of journalists is compounded by shrinking access to information, all of which is impacting news coverage and people’s access to information.”
Reporters also raised concerns about regulations that restrained civil servants from speaking to the media and that some faced disciplinary actions for doing so.
Kuensel’s editor said: “Most people think they are doing us a favour while giving us information when it’s their duty to do it. The information is not for the media but for the public who has a right to information guaranteed by the Constitution.”