By: Greg Donaldson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DEHLI, India – After fasting for twelve days Anna Hazare has been heard loud and clear by the country’s parliament.

After an eight hour session on Saturday, both houses passed a resolution urging for the creation of an independent anticorruption agency to monitor government officials. 

Included in the resolution were three main demands that Hazare required. First, an anticorruption bill had to be passed during the current session of Parliament. Second, anticorruption agencies would also be created at the state level to monitor local officials. Hazare’s last substantial mandate was that a clear process be created for public grievances.

Despite this success, the day nearly ended in a stalemate. After being told the new resolution would be put to a “voice” vote, “Team Anna” received a communication from Parliament that it would make the group aware of the House consensus on the bill but that the resolution would not be voted on that day.

Team Anna immediately accused the government of betrayal and demanded that the resolution be passed by a vote.  Shortly thereafter, a motion was made to vote on the resolution. While a voice vote did not take place, the bill passed unanimously. “Thumping of the desk is akin to passing a motion by voice vote,” House Speaker Meira Kumar explained.

In celebration of the passage of the resolution, Team Anna invited supporters to attend Hazare’s breaking of his fast Sunday morning. Hazare shed over fifteen pounds during the course of his fast but doctors report that his health is stable.

Hazare broke his fast by drinking a glass of coconut juice given to him by a five year old girl.

While Saturday marked a historical day throughout India, many are skeptical about the government’s true intent, believing that they might attempt to drag their feet in passing the resolution into law.

Team Anna announced that it still does not trust the government and it will watch the parliament’s actions to ensure that their “morally binding commitment” is kept.

Many local political scientists do not see the government going against a resolution that it created. Yogendra Yadav explained if the government did go against the bill, the parliament’s legitimacy would plummet.

In the past the government has been accused of corruption but some of that criticism has shifted to Team Anna. Many call the organizations tactics dirty and “political blackmail.”

Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi espressed that people have a right to protest but that threatening to fast until death in order to get your way is incorrect

Hazare’s supporters defend the actions taken noting that  if Hazare had not gone to such extreme measures the resolution would have never passed.

Team Anna has demanded a special session of parliament be called to pass the bill.

For more information, please see:

Times of India – Team Anna demands special session to pass Lokpal Bill – 29 August 2011

Express India – Has Anna Hazare really come out a winner? – 28 August 2011

India Today –Anna Hazare to break his fast today at 10am, govt accepts his key demands – 28 August 2011

Times of India – Anna Hazare wins, Parliament passes resolution on Lokpal Bill – 27 August 2011

New York Times – Anna Hazare Ends Hunger Strike as Indian Parliament Agrees to His Demands – 27 August 2011

by Hibberd Kline
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — On August 12, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court sentenced Shahid Zafar, a member of the Sindh branch of the Pakistan Rangers paramilitary force, to death in what many have hailed as an unusual rebuke of Pakistan’s powerful security establishment.

According to attorneys, the speedy trial for the 29 June killing of eighteen-year-old Sarfaraz Shah in Karachi marks the first time that a Pakistani civilian court has sentenced a serving member of the military to death.

The Rangers paramilitary group technically falls under the control of the civilian Ministry of the Interior. However, the Rangers are commonly considered to be a part of the armed forces.

Six other men, including five Rangers and a civilian, were charged with murder and terrorism and sentenced to life in prison.  Zafar was fined 200,000 rupees and the other individuals were each fined 100,000 rupees to be paid to the victim’s family.

The shooting was caught on video and was broadcast on Pakistani TV. Against the background of already widespread criticism of the Pakistani military establishment’s failure to detect the American commando raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, the shooting sparked a rare public outcry leading to the replacement of the Sindh police chief and the director-general of the Sindh branch of the Pakistan Rangers paramilitary force.

However, prosecution lawyer, Muhammad Khan Buriro, took care to distinguish the court case from an attack on the military; “I would like to say that it was the personal action of the soldiers involved, and not an act by the Rangers,” Buriro said.

Attorneys for the defense argued that Shah was shot after trying to rob someone and have vowed to appeal the court’s ruling.

Death sentences are rarely carried out in Pakistan.

The televised shooting of an unarmed man has also instigated criticism of Pakistan’s human rights record and of its government for what many see as its failure to reign in security forces.

Human rights groups say that the approximately 10,000 Rangers in Karachi are not sufficiently trained to keep order amongst civilians. Human Rights Watch (HRW) applauded the verdicts. HRW’s Pakistan director went even further to say that he hopes that the verdict will help to address “the impunity with which Pakistan’s trigger-happy security and paramilitary agencies perpetrate abuses.”

However, some believe that the military may be attempting to increase public accountability of its own accord following the US raid on Osama Bin Laden. Last week, a Pakistani naval official announced that three senior naval officers will face courts martial on charges of negligence relating to the US commando raid in May.

For more information, please see:

Arab News – Death sentence for soldier in Karachi killing – 12 August 2011

BBC – Pakistani shooting film paramilitary sentenced to death – 12 August 2011

Guardian – Pakistani Ranger sentenced to death for killing unarmed civilian – 12 August 2011

Reuters – Pakistan court hands death penalty to soldier for civilian killing – 12 August 2011

By: Jessica Ties
Impunity Watch, Asia

KATHMANDU, Nepal – A report by Human Rights Watch expressed concern that children living with disabilities in Nepal are denied access to education.

Contributing to this concern is the inaccessibility of school structures, lack of instructors who are properly trained to accommodate children with disabilities and neighborhood schools denying admission to disabled children.

These factors result disproportionately in low school attendance and high dropout rates for disabled children when compared to children who do not suffer from a disability. According to Education Ministry officials, disabled students comprise a significant number of the almost 330,000 students who are not in school despite being school aged.

Shantha Rau Barriga of Human Rights Watch reports, “[t]ens of thousands of children with disabilities in Nepal are being shut out from or neglected by the school system.” Barriga also states that these failures exist despite a national policy of inclusive schools.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, “Futures Stolen: Barriers to Education for Children with Disabilities in Nepal” which is based on 97 interviews, more than half the interviewed families of disabled children stated that their children had been denied admission to schools and many of the parents were not even made aware that their children had the right to an education.

The inability of parents to enroll their children in schools has prompted some parents to state that they have “…no choice but to lock their children with disability in a room or tie them to a post” according to the report.

One parent reported to Human Rights Watch that she would be unable to care for her other child and manage the household  if she had to constantly care for her disabled child and therefore locks him in a room, only letting him out one or two times a day to see the sun.

The problem facing Nepal’s disabled children also extends to those who manage to attend school.  Classes are often segregated and the classes offered to disabled students are generally inferior to classes attended by children who are not disabled.

In one case, Nepal’s failure to take into account differences in learning ability caused a fifteen year old boy to spend three years in Class one, three years in Class two and then one year in Class three. Despite the time spent in school, the student reports that he still does not know the alphabet and only passed because teachers began to take exams for him.

The inaccessible structure of schools also contribute to the difficulties disabled children face. One student interviewed by Human Rights Watch, a sixteen year old named Amman, reported that he is forced to crawl to his classroom because the school entrance has steps that he is unable to access any other way and no other entrance to the school. He is also unable to use the restroom without assistance and because staff is unwilling to help him, another student must either run home to get his mother or he must wait until the end of the school day.

The extent of the problem is unknown because there is no reliable data about the number of children who have a disability but it is estimated that between .45 percent and 1.63 percent of Nepal’s child population is living with at least one disability.

These failures come despite Nepal’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on March 1, 2008.

For more information, please see:

Hindustan Times – Right to Equality, but Only on Paper– 27 August 2011

Nepali Times – Educating Children with Disabilities – 26 August 2011

Daiji World – Nepal’s Hellen Kellers, Stephen Hawkings Await Their Rights – 24 August 2011

The Himalayan Times – Disabled Kids Denied School Admission – 24 August 2011

Human Rights Watch – Nepal: Separate and Unequal Education – 24 August 2011

United Nations – Convection Optional Protocol Signatures and Ratifications– 1 March 2008

By: Jessica Ties
Impunity Watch, Asia

BEIJING, China – The Chinese government has shut down 24 schools that had served the children of migrant workers in Beijing and has resulted in 40, 000 students being forced to scramble for new placements just two weeks before the new semester was scheduled to begin.

The 24 schools affected were located  in the Daxing, Chaoyang and Haidian districts of Beijing which have long been home to migrant workers.

While the district government closure orders stated that the school closures were due to”…illegal construction, illegal operation, and safety concerns”, many are skeptical of the government’s motives.

Some of the skeptics suggest that school closures were caused by property developers who are anxious to continue expanding Beijing, while others believe that the school closures are a ploy to force migrant workers to leave the city. Fueling the latter suspicion is the memory of plans made last year by eastern Beijing’s Chaoyang district, in which 3,900 students were affected by the school closures, to ask approximately one million migrant workers to leave the city to alleviate strain on “social security and pollution.”

Under China’s residence permit system, the hokou system, the government designates each citizen based on their place of residence and determines which social services individuals are eligible to receive. Under the hokou system migrant workers living in Beijing, which numbered approximately five million, generally remained registered in their hometown making their children ineligible to register in Beijing schools. As a result, the children of migrant workers are only permitted to attend private schools that are often unapproved and unregistered.

In the Haidian district of Beijing, New Hope School was demolished on August 10 but official announcements were not made until eight days following the demolition. New Hope School had approximately 1,000 students ranging from kindergarten to ninth grade, all of which were forced to find placement elsewhere.

Following the  school closure’s, officials assured students and their parents that they would find placements for the children who were displaced. Some individuals; however, do not believe that the government will maintain it’s promise.

Geoffrey Crothall, the director of communications for China Labour Bulletin expressed his skepticism of the government’s promise by stating that, “…they set the threshold for school placement qualifications so high that the vast majority of migrant families cannot meet the requirements.” This concern is exemplified by the fact that only 70 students out of the 1,000 who were displaced from New Hope School have been able to gather the required documentation to have their children placed in the Beijing school system.

The requirements are so difficult to meet that of the approximately 1,000 students displaced from the New Hope School, only 70 have been able to gather the required documents to have their children placed in the school system.

For more information, please see:

The Wall Street Journal  –  Will School Closures Prompt Migrants to flee? – 19 August 2011

MSNBC – In Beijing, 40,000 Students Stranded – 18 August 2011

Radio Free Asia – Anger Over Migrant School Closures– 18 August 2011

Reuters – Closure of Migrant Children Schools in China Sparks Anguish – 18 August 2011

BBC – Migrant Schools Closed in Chinese Capital -17 August 2011

By Greg Donaldson
Impunity Watch, Asia

NEW DEHLI, India – In continuance of the battle between the Indian government and Anna Hazare, the seventy-four year old man was taken into custody by police Tuesday, just hours before the beginning of Hazare’s next hunger strike over the recently proposed anti-corruption bill.

Although Harzare’s public hunger strike was thwarted, Hazare began fasting in prison. Hazare’s has been relentless in protesting the bill, while some have defended the government’s actions calling Hazare’s protests dangerous and undemocratic.

Officers in plain clothes picked up Anna Hazare from a house in Delhi and drove him away in an unmarked car, fellow activist Akhil Gogoi told the AFP news agency. Police explained that Hazare was arrested because he intended to defy prohibitory orders.

Police had given Hazare regulations that had to be followed if a fast was to take place. Included in the list were: the fast should be limited to three days, no more than four to five hundred people were allowed to gather, and parking must exist for an unspecified number of vehicles.

Following Hazare’s arrest, many supporters rushed onto the streets to protest. India’s Home Minister P. Chidambaram responded telling reporters, “This government is not against democratic and peaceful protest. But that right must be exercised subject to conditions laid down by authorities charged with the duty of keeping law and order and public peace.”

Tuesday evening government officials ordered Hazare to be released from prison. However, Hazare refused because his discharge would be contingent upon him agreeing to abide by government regulations during future protests.

Feeling pressure from the world and a peaceful march, which included over ten thousand people, the government was willing to strike a deal with Hazare.

Hazare’s arrest and the march dominated the local television news networks capturing how citizens feel about the current leadership of the country spurring the government to act.

Wednesday evening one of Mr. Hazare’s aides, Kiran Bedi, announced via Twitter that Mr. Hazare had accepted a police offer to limit any hunger strike and mass demonstration in New Delhi to 15 days.

The protest would be staged at the city’s Ramlila grounds, and the Indian news media reported that the authorities had relented on Mr. Hazare’s demand that no limits be placed on the number of people allowed to attend.

Because of the expected crowd size the protest was delayed until Friday so adequate preparations could be made. However, participants began arriving on Thursday. Many have purchased apparel which reads “I Am Anna.”

City workers began to repair the Ramlila grounds, which had been damaged by the recent rain storms. Metal detectors were placed at entry points, sound systems were prepared, mattresses were laid out to sit on, and a huge tent was built.

Over fifty thousand people attended the event on Sunday. Protesters chanted “Anna, you keep fighting, we are with you.” Hazare has not eaten since his arrest Tuesday and only drinks water in protest. A medical team is on site to monitor Hazare’s health.

Hazare is demanding that his anti-corruption bill be introduced to parliament on Tuesday and be passed by the end of the month. Hazare says if the bill is not passed by the end of the month then there will be an “unprecedented revolution” in the country by the people. “The government will have to either get the Bill passed (in Parliament) or go,” Hazare said on Sunday.

However, Hazare’s boldness has come under criticism. Critics point out that Hazare is attempting to dictate policy to an elected parliament.

One of the major points of contention surrounding the bill is whether or not the prime minister can be investigated for corruption.

Hazare demands that the prime minister fall under the umbrella of the bill, while the government says if the prime minister were to be investigated, the government would be shaken.

Hazare’s counter-argument is if the prime minister is corrupt and no investigation is done, then the danger to the country would be far greater.

Aruna Roy, leader of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) and one of India’s most famous social activists, described Hazare’s recent actions as “ill-advised.”

She explained “We must assert our rights. But to get rid of these institutions would be a great disaster for all the people in this country. We must make these democratic institutions work for us and they must work for us.” Roy continued, “anyone who says my view should be the only view is wrong.”

Since Roy’s remarks Hazare and his supporters have appeared to reduce their demands from absolute passage of the bill to negotiations. Arvind Kejriwal, a man close to Hazare, told supporters, “we are in favor of discussion, we want to ask the prime minister whom should we come to talk to, and when and where.”

The government has begun to show signs of compromise as Prime Minister Singh said he was open to dialogue about the bill. Furthermore, a majority party lawmaker has sent Hazare’s bill to a parliamentary committee for consideration.

Hazare plans to continue his protest throughout this week.

For more information, please see:

DNA — Congress paralysed in face of Hazare-tsunami – 21 August 2011

Reuters — Under pressure, Anna Hazare may tone down demands – 21 August 2011

The Times of India — ‘Anna shouldn’t undermine democratic institutions’— 21 August 2011

The Times of India — Give us our Lokpal Bill or quit: Anna warns government – 21 August 2011

New York Times — Indian Anticorruption Leader to Leave Jail – 18 August 2011

The Times of India — Won’t back down till Lokpal Bill is passed, says Anna Hazare – 18 August 2011

The Times of India — Anna Hazare escalates war with govt, refuses to leave Tihar Jail – 17 August 2011

BBC – India anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare detained – 16 August 2011