Report on Human Rights Practices Country of Mongolia
- ISBN-10
- 1481833685
- ISBN-13
- 9781481833684
- Pages
- 26
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2012-12-24
- Author
- U. S. Department of State
Description
Mongolia is a multiparty parliamentary democracy. The most recent presidential election, held in 2009 and considered largely free and fair, was won by former prime minister Tsakhia Elbegdorj of the Democratic Party. Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold and his majority Mongolian People's Party (MPP) continued to dominate the parliament but governed under a unity government with the Democratic Party. The MPP, formerly known as the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), changed its name during the year. A small remnant of the original MPRP kept the MPRP name and continued as a competing splinter party led by former president Nambar Enkhbayar. Security forces reported to civilian authorities. The three prominent human rights abuses were police abuse of detainees, uneven enforcement of the law and corruption within the judicial system, and a lack of transparency in government affairs. While the law provides for protection of basic human rights, there was a significant disconnect between human rights laws, regulations, and government pledges of support and what was implemented. Other human rights issues included poor conditions in detention centers, arbitrary arrests, government interference in the media, religious discrimination, including continued refusal by some provincial governments to register Christian churches, unlawful deportation of foreign citizens, opaque and complicated procedures for stateless persons to gain citizenship, secrecy laws and a lack of transparency in government affairs, inadequate measures to counter domestic violence against women, trafficking in persons, discrimination against persons with disabilities, discrimination against ethnic minorities, and violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons. The government took few steps to punish officials who committed abuses, and there was an atmosphere of official impunity.
