436 Suriname SURINAME 1 I. General Information Suriname is a constitutional democracy governed by a President, Vice President and Cabinet of Ministers. Administratively it is divided into 10 districts and has a total area of 163,820 km 2. The General Bureau of Statistics in Suriname 2 reported that the population was 492,464 in 2004. ECLAC data shows that the population grew 3.4% between 2002 and 2005, and project a further increase of 2.95% by 2010. 3 The same source found that 77.2% of the population lives in urban areas 4 and that population age distribution in 2005 was as follows: 30.1% was between 0 and 14 years, 34.3% between 15 and 34, 19.4% between 35 and 49, 9.9% between 50 and 64, and 6.4% of the population was over the age of 65. In 1999, estimates report that from 50-75% of the population living in poverty. 5 According to the UNDP Human Development Report, Suriname ranks 89th among countries, placing it in the medium human development range. 6 The Gini Coefficient from 1997 was 0.573. 7 In 2004, the unemployment rate was 5.3%. 8 It is estimated that as of 2000, 86% of the population over the age of 15 was literate. 9 Total GDP for 2005 was US$1.14 billion, which is 26.8% higher than in 2000. 10 Per capita GDP was US$2,540 in 2005, up 22.7% since 2000. 11 GDP per capita in 2004 (rated for purchasing power parity) was US$6,552. 12 II. Judicial System Highlights III. Institutions In March 2007, the national government appointed a new chief justice of the Court of Justice (Hof van Justitie). The position had been vacant for seven years. 13 In 2000, there were 2.4 judges per 100,000 inhabitants. 14 In 2007, the police force was undergoing special training in the area of drug trafficking through a program implemented by the U.S. Government s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 15 In 2004, there were 1,200 police officers and 350 civilian officers, or 269 officers per 100,000 inhabitants. 17,317 felonies were committed in Suriname in 2006. This represented a decrease over the previous year, when 21,605 such crimes were committed. 3,381.1 felonies were committed per 100,000 inhabitants. Also that year, 2,475 arrests were made, up from 2,143 in In 2006, 547.5 people were arrested per 100,000 inhabitants. It took 1,290 days to enforce a contract from filing until receipt of payment. 1. Overall Structure and Operation of the Judicial System The main institutions in Suriname s legal system are the Judicial Branch (Rechterlijke Macht), Constitutional Court, the Attorney General s Office (Openbaar Ministerie), Ministry of Justice, and National Police. Approximately 5.8% of the national budget was allocated to the judicial sector in 1999, including 4.5% to the police force. This increased to 6.7% in 2000. 16 Suriname is a member of CARICOM. It has a European continental legal system that is mainly written and based on laws that address specific areas. It does not have a supranational instance of appeal for internal judicial procedures. 2. Judicial Branch 2.1. Institutional Structure 17 The Judicial Branch (Rechterlijke Macht) is composed of the Court of Justice (Hof van 1 This report is based on the Introduction to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) featured in this report; the Report on Judicial Systems in the Americas 2004-2005; Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005, which was published by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the United States; the World Bank report Doing Business (2006); and information gathered via Internet.
Report on Judicial Systems in the Americas 2006-2007 437 Justitie), cantonal courts, lower courts, Constitutional Courts and the Attorney General s Office. 2.1.1. Court of Justice (Hof van Justitie) This is Suriname s highest ranking constitutional court. It serves as a court of appeal for civil and criminal cases that are decided in other courts and as a first instance court for special cases, including disciplinary actions against attorneys or notaries public. It also supervises the cantonal courts. The agency is presided over by a Chief Justice and Vice President. In 2005, it had 11 full time judges and three part time members, 18 an increase over the eight full time judges and three part time members it had in 2001. 19 Judges are appointed to the court for life. Appointments are made by the President in consultation with the National Assembly, State Advisory Council and National Organization of Attorneys in Private Practice. 20 2.1.2. Cantonal Courts The cantonal courts are presided over by a single judge each and have jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases. Their decisions are confirmed by the Court of Justice. These agencies are distributed geographically in three districts. The first handles civil cases in, Wanica, Para, Bokopondo, Commewijne and Saramacca. The second hears criminal cases in all jurisdictions except for and Commewijne and the third handles civil and criminal cases from districts that are not covered by the other two courts. 2.1.3. Lower Courts Suriname has two lower courts. The Martial Court has jurisdiction over cases involving members of the military. It is presided over by a member of the Court of Justice and two military officers. Its decisions can be appealed to the Court of Justice, which in those cases is staffed by a member of the armed forces rather than a civil judge. The Medical Discipline Court hears cases against doctors, pharmaceutical companies and other health professionals. It is composed of a member of the Court of Justice and two medical professionals. Its decisions may be appealed to the Court of Justice. 2.1.4. Constitutional Court (Constitutioneel Hof) The Constitution of 1987 provides for a Constitutional Court, but as of March 2007 it had yet to be established. 21 This court is supposed to be an independent body composed of a President, Vice President and three ministers. Its two key tasks are: To verify that the administration s actions or aspects of these actions do not violate the Constitution or agreements the country has made with other governments or international organizations To ascertain whether the decisions of governmental institutions uphold constitutional rights. 2.1.5. Attorney General s Office 22 The Openbaar Ministerie forms part of the Judicial Branch. Its highest-ranking official is the Procureur-Generaal bij het Hof van Justitie. It is staffed by the Procureur-Generaal, who represents the State in the courts and is assisted by Solicitor Generals, prosecutors and other administrative officials. 23 This institution is responsible for criminal prosecution. It handles the investigation and preparation of criminal cases along with the Judicial Police. It also guides the police in matters of preventing, detecting and investigating punishable offenses. 24 The Procureur-Generaal bij het Hof van Justitie is appointed for life. By Constitutional mandate, the Court of Justice is required to approve the candidacy of the Procureur- Generaal. 25 Prosecutors may decide whether to bring a case before the court or suspend it once it has begun, depending on its political and/or criminal importance and the chances of successful prosecution. When a group of citizens wishes to file a case, it may present a petition to the courts, which shall decide if an investigation should be opened. The police may oversee criminal investigations independently. 26 2. Ministry of Justice and Police 27 This Executive Branch institution is responsible for overseeing the police and the prison system and drafting justice-related legislation.
438 Suriname It also manages the budget of the courts and prosecutor s offices. The latter must request any additional resources or reassignment of budget items from the Ministry. The Ministry also maintains the civil registry and the country s legal aid program. 3. Police The national police force (Korps Politie Suriname) forms part of the Ministry of Justice and is responsible for handling matters of national security, immigration, and border patrol in collaboration with other security agencies. In 2004, there were 1,200 officers and 350 civil officials. The national police force is divided into four departments: Judicial (which is further divided into intelligence, forensics, fraud, narcotics and investigations), General, and the Interior (which covers all areas other than ). It has been suggested that police effectiveness is hindered by a lack of equipment and training, low salaries and a need for better coordination with other agencies. 28 In 2004, there were 269 police officers per 100,000 inhabitants in Suriname. That year, the Police Personnel Investigation Department handled 279 complaints against members of the police force. 29 4. Legal Aid Bureau 30 The Legal Aid Bureau, which is part of the Ministry of Justice and Police, supervises legal aid in civil and criminal cases by appointing private attorneys or law students supervised by attorneys to provide this service. Few attorneys accept these cases, as the pay is very low. IV. Criminal Procedures 1. Description 31 Criminal procedures follow the continental European legal tradition and are mainly written. The police may hold individuals for up to fourteen days in order to investigate their participation in a crime carrying a sentence of more than four years. During this time that detainee may be held incommunicado, though this practice should only be carried out with the authorization of an assistant district attorney or police inspector. Police must bring the detainee before a prosecutor to be formally charged with an offense before the end of this period. In certain circumstances, if more time is needed for the investigation, the prosecutor may authorize detention for an additional thirty days. Before this period expires, the detainee must be brought before an investigative judge, who may authorize the extension of detention for a further 120 days, in thirty-day segments, for a total of 164 days of detention before the case is brought to trial. For less serious crimes, the average length of this pretrial custody was thirty to forty-five days; however it reached the maximum for more serious offenses. Those arrested were frequently held in overcrowded holding cells at local police stations. A lack of permanent prison facilities has meant that the number of those convicted but not yet placed in prison has been growing steadily. Meanwhile, those in pretrial detention, who account for a significant percentage of all those in custody, are regularly detained without being brought before a judge. According to Suriname s Constitution, individuals are entitled to a fair, public trial and to be represented by legal counsel. The State pays for court-appointed attorneys in private practice to defend the extremely poor. However, the fourteen court-appointed attorneys in Suriname often only appeared at the trial itself without meeting with the defendant. It was observed, however, that the court released those who had been held longer than the 164-day period, as the law stipulates. Members of the military are not governed by ordinary criminal law. Armed forces personnel charged with a crime immediately come under military jurisdiction, with the military police responsible for investigating the matter. An officer on the Public Prosecutor s Office staff directs military prosecutions, and martial proceedings are held before two military judges and one civilian judge. The martial court does, however, follow the same procedural rules as the civil courts, but no appeal is possible to the civil system against a ruling of this instance. 2. Prison Situation 32 The country has three detention centers, which are mixed and include all types of inmates, from remand to maximum security. The holding capacity in 2002 was 748 men, 40 women and 50 youth, while this year s occupancy stands at 734, 39 and 47, respectively. 33
Report on Judicial Systems in the Americas 2006-2007 439 All police stations have holding cells. also has five larger police detention centers, which are intended for holding individuals for up to forty-two days. Nevertheless, these spaces have been used as regular prison cells when space is lacking in the country s three penitentiaries. While there is no overcrowding problem in the regular prisons, these police cells are highly overcrowded. Their total holding capacity is 395, but in 2002 they held 722 individuals, 219 of whom had already been convicted. 34 The document Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2005 refers to poor prison conditions in Suriname that in many cases fall short of international standards. The report referred to three prisons and a number of detention centers in police stations where those under arrest were held before appearing before a judge. 35 The report also describes separation of adult and youth offenders: one wing of an adult prison was for boys under the age of eighteen who had been convicted of serious crimes. Facilities for young offenders between the ages of ten and eighteen were within the adult prison but were considered adequate and included educational and recreational facilities. The women s jail and prison had better conditions than the men s. However, girls under the age of eighteen are held with adult women in the women s detention center or in the women s section of a penitentiary. 36 3. Crime Rates 37 According to police statistics, in 2006, 17,317 felonies were committed in Suriname, down from 21,605 such crimes in This represents a decrease of approximately 19%. In 2006, there were 3,381.1 felonies committed per 100,000 inhabitants. Among these 1,774 were considered serious. In 2005, 2,146 such crimes were committed. This represents a decrease of approximately 17%. In 2006, 2,475 arrests were made, up from 2,143 in 2005, an increase of 15%. In 2006, 547.5 people were arrested per 100,000 inhabitants. V. Civil Procedures Civil procedures follow the continental European system. According to the World Bank, in 2006 the average time required to resolve a dispute to enforce a contract was 1,290 days from the moment the suit was filed until payment. The process involves 29 procedures and costs 15.9% of the debt value. 38 VII. Legal Profession 39 According to data from 2000, Suriname has three bar associations. They are the Orde van Advocaten (founded in 1960), Advocaten Vereniging (1986) and Jonge Bali (January 1998). The last is a group of young attorneys who are promoting the unification of these three groups. In 2000, these three associations had a total of 80 members, 50 to 60 of them active. Their activities are led by the Stichting Juidische Samenwerking Suriname-Nederland, which focuses on professional training and other juridical topics including human rights. VIII. Reform Projects In 2007, the police force developed a reform project in cooperation with the U.S. government to strengthen the institution s fight against drug trafficking. This initiative includes training exercises and improvements to the institution s infrastructure. 40 Project activities include training court personnel to use a computerized case monitoring system and improvements in public criminal prosecution of these crimes. 41 The Caribbean Court of Justice and Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission have been installed. However, the constitutional changes needed to make the appellate jurisdiction of the CCJ the court of final instance are still pending. Suriname does not have a supranational instance for handling appeals of internal judicial proceedings. VIII. Websites Presidency of Suriname http://www.kabinet.sr.org/ Official Website of the Government of Suriname. Available in Dutch. General Bureau of Statistics http://www.statistics-suriname.org/
440 Suriname Social, cultural and economic statistics for the country as well as demographic data. Available in Dutch. General Information http://www.surinam.net/ This Website offers documents about the country s political, economic and social organization as well as its ethnic composition and major religions and languages. Visitors also may access numerous links with topics and material about Suriname. Available in English. IX. Directory Court of Justice (Hof van Justitie) Po, Box 7016 Latour Phone: (597) 465 558 Fax: (597) 410555 Openbaar Ministerie Parquet van PG. Gravenstraat 3 Phone: (597) 47 95 89 Fax: (597) 41 52 75 Minister of Justice and Police Gravenstraat # 1 Phone: (597) 473033 (597) 473841 ext. 233 Fax: (597) 410465 Office of the General Secretary Suite N 462 Noorderkerkstraat N 3 Boven Po Box: 3002 Phone: (597) 477355/472 982 Fax: (597) 410950 Notes 2 General Bureau of Statistics of Suriname. See http:// www.statistics-suriname.org/index.html 3 ECLAC, Social Panorama of Latin America 2006. 4 ECLAC, Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean 5 Pan-American Health Organization, http://www.paho.org 6 The UNDP s Human Development Index classifies countries into three groups: high human development (rating of 0.8 or over), medium human development (rating of between 0.5 and 0.8) and low human development (rating of 0.5 or less). According to the 2006 version of the Human Development Report, 63 countries qualify for the first group, 83 for the second, and 31 for the third. See http://undp.org 7 The Gini Coefficient is used to measure concentration of wealth. It is expressed as a value between 0 and 1, where 0 represents perfect equality (everyone has the same income) and 1 represents absolute inequality (one person has all of the wealth and the rest have none). ECLAC, Poverty Statistics Seminar 7-9, Santiago de Chile. 8 General Bureau of Statistics of Suriname, op. cit. 9 Pan-American Health Organization, op. cit. 10 World Bank, World Development Indicators. See http:// devdata.worldbank.org/data-query 11 12 UNDP, Human Development Report, op. cit 13 suriname.php?news_id=270&start=0&category_id=36 14 IDB, Challenges of Capacity Development, Towards Sustainable Reforms of Caribbean Justice Sectors Volume I: Policy Document, Caribbean Group for Cooperation in Economic Development (CGCED), May 2000. 15 suriname.php?news_id=165&start=0&category_id=36 16 JSCA, Report on Judicial Systems in the Americas 2002-2003. 17 18 See http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2005/04/25/ appoints.shtml 19 IDB, Governance in Suriname, Economic and Sector Study Series, April, 2001, p. 99. 20 See http://www.surinam.net/ 21 See http://www.surinameembassy.org/government.shtml 22 See Suriname National Constitution, Articles 145 and following. 23 See http://www.surinameembassy.org/government.shtml 24 See Suriname National Constitution, Articles 145 and 147. 25 See http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2005/04/25/ appoints.shtml 26 27 IDB, Governance in Suriname, Economic and Sector Study Series, April, 2001, p. 98. 28 29 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 30 31 32 33 SURIDIN, Suriname Drug Information Network, Annual National Report 2002. See http://www.unodc.org/pdf/ barbados/suridin_report_2002.pdf 34 35 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 36 Op. cit. 37 See http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/ csarticles/articles/000049/004965.htm 38 World Bank, 2006 data. See http://espanol.doing business.org/exploretopics/enforcingcontracts/ 39 40 suriname.php?news_id=165&start=0&category_id=36 41