Overview

The main human rights abuses included societal discrimination and incidents of violence against foreigners and members of ethnic and religious minorities, and domestic abuse of women and children. While the criminal justice system operated effectively in other respects, authorities subjected a high percentage of pretrial detainees to extended periods in isolation and limited their access to visitors, mail, and exercise. Other reported problems included some unauthorized accessing of personal information by police; societal abuses and discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice; sexual harassment of women; displaced children's living on the streets; an increased number of anti-Semitic hate crimes; trafficking of men, women, and children; discrimination against persons with disabilities; and wage abuse of mainly foreign seasonal berry pickers. Authorities generally prosecuted officials who committed abuses in the security services or elsewhere in the government.