Serie D - No. 15

Información presentada por el experto Mr. Christopher Healy (los anexos a que se hace referencia en el escrito del experto reposan en los archivos de la Secretaría de la Corte).

FAX MESSAGE

TO: Manuel E. Ventura-Robles, Secretary

Ana María Reina, Deputy Secretary

The Inter American Court of Human Rights

Fax: (506) 34-05-84

FROM: Christopher Healy

FAX: (597) 410 950

DATE: September 18, 1992

SUBJECT: Economic information needed to establish reparations for the relatives of the victims of the ¬Aloeboetoe et al¬ case.

PAGES: 10 (including this one)

_____________________________________________________________

Dear Mr. Ventura-Robles/Mrs. Ana María Reina,

Thanks for your 16 September 1992 fax. As you noticed, it is rather difficult to get a fax out of Suriname. I tried several times, without success. Anyway, the information which did not go through is included with this fax.

As you noted in your last fax, the tribunal needs reliable information. I can provide you with reliable anthropological data. However, the economic landscape of Suriname is becoming increasingly difficult to interpret. Therefore, I recommend that the court also consider using the services of an economist.

I have asked Merina Eduards, a senior economics major at the University of Suriname, if she is willing to assist in this case. Merina is of Saramakan origin, she has been my research assistant at the University, and I can assure you that she is most reliable and trustworthy. She is a devout Christian, who attends church activities four times a week (bible class, singing practice, the youth gathering and the church service).

Merina can be very helpful in providing detailed economic information on the upper Suriname river. Throughout her youth she has traveled upriver during vacation time. Of course, during the conflict this was not possible. However, last March she returned to her native village once again. Two saturdays from today, Merina will attend a wedding in the village of Tjali Kondre on the Suriname river, above the lake.

Merina feels that she can be objective, especially since many of the prices charged for services upriver are generally known and fixed for a certain period, making it possible to arrive at rather precise calculations of incomes earned by persons working in the various professions.

Again, please note that my current contract does not allow me to take on another assignment and to receive an honorarium. However, should the court agree to use the services of Merina Eduards, I recommend that she be compensated for the services rendered.

As I noted in my previous fax, I understand that the court needs the following information:

a. The cost of living in Suriname;

b. Income of Saramakans working in Paramaribo;

c. Life conditions of the Saramakans living in Paramaribo;

d. Acquisitive value of the US $ in Suriname.

Sub a:

I have obtained more detailed information from the Bureau of Statistics, including the manual used for gathering the data on the ¬basic budget of household consumption expenditure in Paramaribo and surroundings¬(1968-69). With the exception of one page, the manual is in Dutch. I am faxing you the page in English.

I am also faxing you the ¬time series¬ of the ¬basic budget of household consumption expenditure¬ for the period October 1987 up to June 1992. As I noted in my previous fax, I have been told that the instrument used to generate this index needs to be updated. For example, the weight of food and beverages column should now be somewhere between 50 and 60. I have also been told that the transportation input is not realistic.

My previous comments on the cost of living and the poverty line need to be corrected. I am including a page with information on inflation, unemployment, average income for domestic units, average gross monthly cost of employing a person, purchasing power of the Suriname Florin, and the poverty line. This information is subject to economic factors which are becoming increasingly difficult to quantify, due to the various forms of inflation such as ¬monetary inflation¬, ¬import inflation¬ and ¬cost-push inflation¬.

Sub b:

As I noted in my previous fax, it will be much easier for me to arrive at an estimate for the income of Saramakans working in Paramaribo if the professions in question were known.

I also noted that between 40 and 50% of the labor force is employed by the government (or government owned businesses), therefore, it is useful to take into account the civil service pay scale when trying to estimate the income of persons living in Paramaribo. I think it is fair to say that most of the Saramakans working for the government are ranked somewhere between the middle and the lower end of the pay scale. I am also including a table illustrating the distribution of the civil servant incomes at the various levels.

I also called attention to the fact that a large portion of the civil servants hold a second job in the rapidly expanding informal sector, therefore, this pay scale alone will not give a true reading of the income earned by civil servants.

Sub c:

I noted that I would need clarification of the information that is needed under the heading ¬life conditions of the Saramakans in Paramaribo¬.

Sub d:

The official exchange rate is Suriname Florin 1.77 for one (1) US Dollar. The parallel market rate hovers around Sf. 27.00 (it changed since my last fax) for one (1) US Dollar today. The rate fluctuated wildly during the past weeks, because there is much uncertainty about the adjustment program which is supposed to be implemented by the end of the year. The rate climbed to 29 and then dropped to 22 when it became known that the government intended to auction foreign currency to be made available by the Netherlands. When the auction did not come off, the rate started to climb again. Now it appears that the auction will take place, so the rate will drop in the coming weeks.

In any event, it is going to be difficult to fix a level of compensation on which the experts will agree, because it is becoming increasingly difficult to get a good overview of the economic situation in Suriname as a result of the

- foreign exchange scarcity;

- excess liquidity caused by monetary financing of the government debt to the Central Bank;

- high inflation and decreasing purchasing power;

- increasing gap between the official and the parallel market rate, and a shift from the formal economic activities to the parallel market;

- increasing unemployment rate, and skewed income distribution;

- large tertiary sector, grown informal activities.

Final Comments:

I think it is a good idea to already give an indication of some of the problems one may encounter in trying to fix a reasonable compensation for the relatives of the victims:

a. The dominant kin ideology of Saramaka society is matrilineal. Even in modern Christian families, this influence is still pervasive. The role of the father is split up - each child has a biological father as well a social father (¬the mother's brother¬).

b. Even when a man is married to a woman, in most cases she is not considered the rightful heir. The man's matrilineage will (try to) claim the inheritance.

c. A man can have several wives.

d. Even when a Saramakan man lives in town, he retains social obligations to relatives still residing in the interior. For example, all funerals of senior matrilineal kin must be attended (mother's mother, mother's brothers and sisters). When patrilineal relatives pass away, even though it is not required, one is expected to make a financial contribution to defray the costs of the funeral. Most people do.

e. The economic indicators for Paramaribo and the coastal area are not applicable to the interior. For example, the price of a liter of gasoline is Sf. 1.50 in town, but a liter of gasoline was selling for Sf. 17.00 on Stoelmanseiland (190 Km. south-east of Paramaribo) two weeks ago. A sandwich roll cost Sf 0.20 in town, and Sf. 3.00 on Stoelmanseiland.

And finally, if it is going to be necessary to gather date in the field, I will need a budget for travel expenses.

Information obtained from Bureau of Statistics Sep. 16, 1992

(Note: info was used in press release two weeks ago)

1. Inflation (related to cost of living only):

for 1991 : 26 percent

1st half of 1992 : 19 percent

Projection for the entire

year of 1992 : 34 percent

2. Unemployment in Paramaribo and Wanica (66% of the total population lives in these two districts):

1989 : 19 percent

1990 : 15 percent

Note: An unemployed person is defined as a person in the age category 18 - 66, who is not employed and is actively searching for work. A person who does not have a job and is not looking for one is not classified as ¬unemployed¬.

3. Income: The average income for domestic units (a group of persons sleeping under a common roof and sharing at least one meal):

1990 : Sf. 1218.99

Average gross monthly cost of employing a person (includes salary, vacation pay, bonus, overtime, etc.):

1990 : Sf. 1483.00

1991 : Sf. 1694.00

4. Purchasing power of Suriname Florin in relation to consumption of domestic unit:

1-7-'92 compared to 1-1-'80 amounts to 17%

1-7-'92 compared to 1-1-'83 amounts to 21%

1-7-'92 compared to 1-1-'88 amounts to 46%

1-7-'92 compared to 1-1-'91 amounts to 66%

5. Poverty line:

Composition of family Period

15-5-'91 1-7-'92

One adult, no children Sf. 567 Sf. 765

Two adults, no children Sf. 898 Sf. 1212

Two adults, two children Sf. 1631 Sf. 2202

One adult, two children Sf. 1300 Sf. 1755

PAY SCALES - SURINAME CIVIL SERVANTS

Official rate US $ 1.00 - Sf. 1.77

Level Monthly Annual

Max. Min. Max. Min.

24 5000 - 60000 -

- 4640 - 55680

23 4640 - 55680 -

- 4110 - 49320

22 4280 - 51360 -

- 3790 - 45480

21 3950 - 47400 -

- 3470 - 41640

20 3630 - 43560 -

- 3150 - 37800

19 3310 - 39720 -

- 2830 - 33960

18 2990 - 35880 -

- 2525 - 30300

17 2675 - 32100 -

- 2255 - 27060

16 2385 - 28620 -

- 2010 - 24120

15 2130 - 25560 -

- 1800 - 21600

14 1900 - 22800 -

- 1600 - 19200

13 1750 - 21000 -

- 1415 - 16980

12 1505 - 18060 -

- 1255 - 15060

11 1325 - 15900 -

- 1130 - 13560

10 1190 - 14280 -

- 1030 - 12360

09 1080 - 12960 -

- 930 - 11160

08 980 - 11760 -

- 830 - 9960

07 880 - 10560 -

- 730 - 8760

06 780 - 9360 -

- 650 - 7800

05 690 - 8280 -

- 570 - 6840

04 610 - 7320 -

- 502 - 6024

03 534 - 6408 -

- 438 - 5256

02 470 - 5640 -

- 422 - 5064

01 406 - 4872 -

FAX MESSAGE

TO: Manuel E. Ventura-Robles, Secretary

Ana Maria Reina, Deputy Secretary

The Inter American Court of Human Rights

Fax: (506) 34-05-84

FROM: Christopher Healy

Fax: (597) 410 950

DATE: September 15, 1992

SUBJECT: Information on the of cost of living in Suriname and on the income of Saramakans working in Paramaribo.

____________________________________________________________

Dear Mr. Ventura-Robles / Mrs. Ana María Reina,

Herewith my reply to your telex of September 2, 1992, in which you request my services in obtaining information which the International Court of Human Rights needs for its judgment on reparations and costs for the case ¬Aloeboetoe et al¬against Suriname.

My current contract does not allow me to take on another assignment and to receive an honorarium. I understand that the information is urgently needed and I am prepared to assist the court in obtaining whatever information is available, without receiving an honorarium. If necessary, I can locate another resource person who can assist you in the more technical aspects of arriving at an estimate on which to base a reasonable compensation.

If I understand your fax correctly, the court needs the following information:

a. The cost of living in Suriname;

b. Income of Saramakan working in Paramaribo;

c. Life conditions of the Saramakans living in Paramaribo;

d. Acquisitive value of the US $ in Suriname.

a. I am enclosing cost of living index reflecting the needs of a family. I have been told that this index needs to be updated. For example, the weight of food and beverages column should now be somewhere between 50 and 60. I have also been told that the transportation input is not realistic.

A senior person working at the Statistics Bureau estimates that the cost of living per person is currently about Sf. 850 for month, or Sf. 10200 for year. This figure is not reflected in the official statistics, which places the poverty line somewhere around Sf. 5000 for year. I will get more information on the cost or living by the end of this week.

b. It is much easier for me to arrive at an estimate for the income of Saramakans working in Paramaribo it the professions in question were known.

Between 40 and 50 % of the labor force is employed by the government, therefore, it is useful to take into account the civil service pay scale when trying to estimate the income of persons living in Paramaribo. Please note, however, that a large portion of the civil servants hold a second job in the rapidly expanding informal sector, therefore, this pay scale alone will not give a true reading of the income earned by civil servants. I think it is fair to say that most of the Saramakans working for the government are ranked somewhere between the middle and the lower end of the pay scale.

c. It is not clear no me what is understood by ¬life conditions of the Saramakans in Paramaribo¬.

d. The official exchange rate is Suriname Florin 1.77 for one (1) US Dollar. The parallel market rate hovers around Sf. 25.00 for one (1) US Dollar today. The rate fluctuated wildly during the past weeks, because there is much uncertainty about the adjustment program which is supposed to be implemented by the end of the year. The rate went climbed to 29 and then dropped to 22 when it became known that the government intended to auction foreign currency to be made available by the Netherlands. When the auction did not come off, the rate started to climb again.