The Government is successfully diversifying the economy by promoting investment in new sectors such as information technology and financial services. The Government generally respects the human rights of its citizens, but problem areas remain. There continued to be occasional reports that police abused suspects and detainees as well as delayed their access to defense counsel. Discrimination and violence against women is a problem. In a significant step, in May the Government passed legislation outlawing domestic violence.
Child labor remains a problem.
In a positive step, the Government decided to introduce human rights education in secondary schools and is now preparing a curriculum for introduction in 1998. In November police inspectors participated in the first human rights training seminar for law enforcement officials in the country. There were no reports of political or other extrajudicial killings. However, no progress was made in resolving the cases of two persons who died in police custody, one in December 1996, the other in 1994. Human rights lawyers asserted that the police were attempting to conceal the facts surrounding the deaths and were not conducting thorough, unbiased investigations.