David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia

BEIJING, China – Ai WeiWei, the brain behind the birds-nest stadium which was the centerpiece of Beijing’s Olympic Games, and outspoken activist was detained by police at Beijing airport in a widening crackdown on resistance across the country.

His wife told Agence France Press on Monday that police in Beijing had refused to disclose why they detained the artist, the internationally acclaimed artist, has now been missing for over a week.

Ai Weiwei’s believes firmly in the freedom of speech and the right to speak up on behalf of others who have been brutally silenced for their efforts to change society for the better.

His public comments, activities and art are some of the loudest, most flagrantly defiant forms of speech in China today, in a time where government controls on the Internet and traditional media limit freedom in their civil society.

Citizens urge their government to treat their people with respect as a matter of basic justice and humanity.

More than 20 dissidents and activists have been held in the past weeks reports Human Rights Watch.

China’s authorities appear on edge over calls for a so-called Jasmine Revolution, partly inspired by pro-democracy movements in the Middle East.

The artist was stopped while passing through security checks for a flight to Hong Kong with an assistant, Jennifer Ng.

Ms. Ng was allowed to continue on her journey to Hong Kong only after the documents of both were searched thoroughly.

She told the BBC that Ai Weiwei was taken away by border guards.

A few hours later, more than 40 police officers raided the artist’s Beijing studio.

Dozens of items were confiscated, said another assistant, and several people were taken to a nearby police station, although they were released a few hours later.

Some of his work has political connotations, he tried to gather the names of every school child who died during the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.

This is a sensitive subject as many schools fell down in the earthquake, leading to claims that they were poorly built.

The Chinese government has made it a point to arrest activists who bring this issue up, says the BBC’s Michael Bristow in Beijing.

France, Germany and the United States have called for the immediate release of a Chinese artist and dissident, detained in China.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called on China for an “urgent explanation” of his fate.

A spokesman for the French foreign ministry said the country was “very concerned” about his disappearance.

“We hope he will be released as soon as possible,” Bernard Valero said, adding that the French government was following events “very closely”.

Human rights group Amnesty International said Mr Ai’s arrest showed that “China’s time for open dissent has come to an end”.

The detention adds to the lengthening list of dissidents held in a security crackdown by a government determined to snuff out any hint of challenges to its power as it approaches a leadership transition in late 2012.

Under Chinese law, the authorities must inform relatives within 24 hours when someone is brought in for questioning and 48 hours if he or she is arrested. However, the rule is often disregarded.

For more information,  please see:

Human Rights Watch – China: Arrests, Disappearances Require International Response – 31 March 2011

BBC – Concern mounts over missing Chinese artist Ai Weiwei – 5 April 2011

The West Australian – “No information” in disappearance of China dissident – 4 April 2011

Asia News – China West protests “disappearance” of renowned artist Ai Weiwei, but another 200 are also detained – 5 April 2011

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia

NEW DELHI, India – The “Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act” banned Prenatal sex determination India in 1994. The acts prevention of female feticide, which according to the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, “has its roots in India’s long history of strong patriarchal influence in all spheres of life”, has been ineffective since its implementation in 1996.

Despite the banning on doctors revealing the sex of unborn children, poor implementation of the PNDT Act reflect low convictions of medical professionals found guilty, showing a lack of governmental concern.

The 2011 census recorded staggering decrease in the percentage of girls among India’s preschoolers. For every 1,000 boys aged up to 6 years old, the report counted 914 girls, a drop from 927 a decade ago.

The current ratio is the lowest ratio since India gained independence in 1947, said the preliminary census.

It’s illegal in India to abort a child just because of its sex, but such abortions happen, often aided by illegal clinics; reports Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN.

Explaining the fallout of the decreasing sex ratio, Dr. BP Mishra, psychologist in Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, said, “Less number of girls in society could cause fights among communities over marriages. When there are a lot of unmarried men around, it would also lead to prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases.”

The skewed sex ratio in Punjab and Harvana could have wider and more permanent social effects like rise in exploitation of women, higher crime rate, an increase in sexual diseases and depression among youth, she said.

Sociologists and psychologists in Punjab and Haryana said if the sex ratio continues to drop it will lead to chaos in society.

Dr. Mishra added that if the sex ratio continues to fall, the situation would be like “jungle raj” or survival of the fittest. “Being a biological need, the desire for sex is like hunger or thirst. If this desire is not fulfilled, it would lead to unnatural sex encounters,” he said.

“The reasons for high number of incidence of female feticide in India include a deep-rooted traditional son preference, continued practice of dowry and concern for safety of the girl child and exploitation and abuse of women and girl children,” India’s Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath told Parliament last month.

Dean of faculty of social sciences in Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, professor Khazan Singh Sangwan pointed out that marriage would be difficult for those youngsters who don’t have land, employment or businesses.

“In the absence of a job, land, occupation and even marriage this section will opt for crime. Jobless youths will try to bring brides from outside the community and state. Such situation may lead to human trafficking on a large scale,” he said.

Some Indian states have announced incentives for the birth of baby girls and have criminalized sex-selective abortions in an effort to try to restore balance, she said.

Tirath also stressed that socio-economic empowerment of women is essential to help them make informed decisions and change their mind sets.

“If this condition persists, there will be inter-caste marriages that may help in diluting the caste identity and prove helpful for national integration also.” MDU professor Khazan Singh.

Advocating strict implementation of PNDT, Khajan Singh said, “Cases of female feticide should be treated like murders. The person who opts for female foeticide should be punished but doctors should be held more responsible for this crime because they are supposed to follow certain ethics.”

For more information, please see:

CNN – India combats sex-selective abortion as gender ration loses balance – 2 April 2011

The Times of India – Skewed sex ration may lead to social chaos in Punjab & Haryana: Experts – 3 April 2011

The Times of India – National policy needed to tackle declining sex-ration: NGOs – 3 April 2011

Global Post – India Census | Boys and Girls – 31 March 2011

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Desk Reporter, Asia

Reports say the Vietnamese government has intensified its repression of Christians (Photo courtesy of the Associated Press)

HANOI, Vietnam – Vietnam has increased repression of minority Christians, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports released on Thursday. Some of the signs of repression includes, but is not limited to, closing small informal churches, compelling collective renunciations of faith, arresting worshipers, torturing and preventing them to seek asylum abroad.

In Vietnam, all religious groups are required to register with the government according to its law.

Vietnam’s indigenous minority Christian community located in the country’s Central highland provinces, known as the Montagnards or “Dega Protestants”, is unregistered and outside the control of the official Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam.

The Vietnamese government doubts that these Dega Protestants are a legitimate religious group but rather a politically motivated group fighting for a Montagnard independence movement.

The Montagnards, however, are claiming their legitimacy and press for religious freedom and land rights, prompting the government crackdown, according to a report by the US-based HRW.

‘In recent months, the Vietnamese government has increased its harassment of peaceful ethnic minority Christians in the Central Highlands, targeting members of unregistered house churches,’ the report said.

In some instances, police officers destroy the churches of unauthorized groups and detain or imprison the members of church on charges of violating national security. There have been reports of torture by these church members. One man who was sentenced to five years in prison described how the police beat him in the face.

“Blood came out of my ears and my nose. I went crazy from this. It was so painful, and also the build-up made me very afraid and tense,” he said.

This unidentified man remains partially deaf as a result of the beating, while other prisoners and detainees also express similar experiences of torture.

Phil Robertson, HRW’s deputy Asia director based in New York, called for immediate recognition of these independent religious groups by the Vietnamese government to allow them to practice their beliefs.

“Montagnards face harsh persecution in Vietnam, particularly those who worship in independent house churches, because the authorities don’t tolerate religious activity outside their sight or control,” he said.

“The Vietnamese government has been steadily tightening the screws on independent Montagnard religious groups, claiming they are using religion to incite unrest.”

He added: “Freedom of religion does not mean freedom for state-sanctioned religions only.”

For more information, please see:

Christian Today – Human Rights Watch condemns repression of Christians in Vietnam – 31 March 2011

Straights Times – Vietnam steps up repression of Christian group – 31 March 2011

The New York Times – Vietnam Persecutes Christian Minority, Report Says – 31 March 2011

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia

MANILA, Philippines – Appeals have been abandoned in China as three Philippine citizens are executed after drug smuggling conviction.

The two women and one man, Elizabeth Batain, 38, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, 32, and Ramon Credo, 42 were arrested on separate occasions carrying packages containing at least 8lb (4kg) of heroin.

They were the first Filipinos to be executed in China for drug trafficking, Philippine officials said.

The families of two of the prisoners had sent open letters appealing for leniency, arguing they had been conned by others.

China’s foreign ministry considers drug trafficking to be a serious offence and that justice had been served.

The three Philippine nationals were executed by lethal injection on Wednesday.

China normally does not announce executions. Amnesty International says China is the world’s biggest executioner, with thousands of convicts killed every year. The Philippines has abolished the death penalty.

Edwin Lacierda, Philippine presidential spokesman, issued a statement after receiving news of the executions: “Their deaths are a vivid lesson in the tragic toll the drug trade takes on entire families.”

He said the government will act strongly to battle drug organizations. “We are resolved to ensure that the chain of victimization, as pushers entrap and destroy lives in pursuit of their trade, will be broken,” he said.

Prayer vigils and special masses were organized in Manila and other cities in the days before the executions were carried out, in the hope of a “miracle” reprieve for the three convicts; reports Jaime FlorCruz, CNN.

“No miracles happened,” wrote Rodel Rodis, a lawyer based in San Francisco, in his posting on Facebook. Rodis opposed the executions, saying “they are human beings with families and they were just dupes of drug syndicates.”

Ramon Tulfo, a prominent multi-media commentator in Manila, had a different view. “We have a lot of things to cry over, so let’s not waste our tears on three convicted criminals who brought shame to our country,” Tulfo wrote in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “If we continue to plead for (their lives), we might give the impression that our country is a haven of drug mules. Let’s allow the Chinese people to carry out their harsh antidrug trafficking law, as we would expect them to carry out ours in case Chinese (are) caught trying to smuggle drugs into our country.”

The three Filipinos were originally scheduled for execution on February 20, but China agreed to postpone the executions after Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay traveled to Beijing to plead on their behalf.

The three had not been told they would be executed Wednesday, although their sentences were publicized early in the day, Philippine Consul Noel Novicio said.

“They gave us only one hour (with her). They have no mercy,” Ordinario-Villanueva’s sister, Maylene Ordinario, said in a text message from Xiamen to her family in the Philippines.

Jayson Ordinario, Ordinario-Villanueva’s younger brother, said last week that his sister was hired as a cellphone dealer in Xiamen and was tricked into carrying a bag that had a secret compartment loaded with heroin, allegedly by her job recruiter.

Aquino urged Filipinos to remain calm, he said while the three were convicted of drug trafficking, they could also be considered victims of unscrupulous recruiters and drug traffickers, and of a society unable to provide enough jobs at home.

“Our ultimate goal is to create a situation where people are not pressured to resort to these things, where they can find enough gainful employment in the Philippines,” he added.

Around 10 percent of the Philippines’ 94 million people work abroad to escape a lifestyle of poverty and unemployment.

For more information, please see:

TIME – China Executes 3 Filipino Drug Mules – 30 March 2011

BBC – China executes three Filipinos for drugs smuggling – 30 March 2011

CNN – China executes three Filipinos for drug smuggling – 30 March 2011

The Washington Post – Philippines says China executes 3 Filipinos convicted of drug smuggling despite appeals – 30 March 2011

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – The Pentagon’s interest in No Gun Ri was released in January 2001. The Pentagon’s conclusion and investigation acknowledged the killing of civilians at No Gun Ri by US forces, but it limited its conclusion, interpreting the “killings that took place as accidental attacks, an unfortunate tragedy inherent to war” reported BBCs Jeremy Williams.

Air Force Colonel Turner Rogers wrote a memo the day before killings at No Gun Ri. The memo stated, “[t]he Army has requested we blitz all civilian refugee parties that are noted approaching our positions.”

The memo went on to confirm the instructions which were acted upon. The memo concluded that, “[t]o date, we have complied with the army request in this respect”.

After 50 years, “the only major American investigation into the killing of refugees focused exclusively on the activities of the US Army over a small geographic area during one month of a conflict that lasted three years”, stated BBC reported Jeremy Williams.

Bruce Cumings, Department of History chair at the University of Chicago, wrote the book “The Korean War”  which depicts how little the U.S. knew about who it was fighting, why it was fighting, and even how it was fighting.

Though the North Koreans had a reputation for viciousness, according to Cumings, U.S. soldiers actually engaged in more civilian massacres. This included dropping over half a million tons of bombs and thousands of tons of napalm, more than was loosed on the entire Pacific theater in World War II.

Hanson Baldwin, the military correspondent for The New York Times was interviewed by Lawrence Velvel, Dean of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover, described “North Koreans as locusts, like Nazis, like vermin, who come shrieking on. I mean, this is really hard stuff to read in an era when you don’t get away with that kind of thinking anymore.”

Cumings adds, “Rapes were extremely common. Koreans in the South will still say that that was one of the worst things of the war, [acknowledging] how many American soldiers were raping Korean women.”

Cumings believed that Douglas MacArthur, the General who commanded U.S. forces in Korea was prejudiced against Asians and badly underestimated their fighting capabilities.

He went on to say that, “[o]n the day the North Koreans invaded the South in force on June 25, 1950, MacArthur boasted, according to Cummings, ‘’I can beat these guys with one hand tied behind my back’. This stated even after the CIA had warned MacArthur that 200,000 Chinese troops were crossing the border into North Korea, MacArthur said, “I’ll take care of it, don’t worry about it, Chinamen can’t fight.”

In the end it was the Chinese who advanced U.S. forces, clearing them out of Korea in as little as two weeks.

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission charged with investigating wartime atrocities has found that American troops killed groups of South Korean civilians on 138 separate occasions during the Korean War. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is led by operations President Lee.

“We welcome the efforts of the Republic of Korea to investigate abuses of human rights and efforts to correct any possible inaccuracy in the historical record,” said Mark C. Toner, a State Department spokesman.

Lee Chang-geun, 77, whose parents were among an estimated 300 South Korean soldiers, railway officials, students and other civilians killed on July 11, 1950, when American aircraft bombed the train station in Iri, a southern town many miles behind the front line said:

“I want to ask the Americans: Is it O.K. to bomb civilians by mistake?” Mr. Lee said. “I want to ask: Just because their military came to help South Korea, is it O.K. to kill South Korean civilians and keep mum about it?”

An estimated 855 refugees were killed, including 200 crammed inside a cave and suffocated by fires set off by air attacks; 100 huddled on a beach and shelled by an American ship; and 35 attacked by American aircraft in Kyongju, a town behind the lines in the south, reported Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times.

“They have so far uncovered just a tip of the iceberg,” said Oh Won-rok, 70, who said his father was killed without trial by the South Korean police in July 1950. “So many victims did not come forward [during tribunal hearings], out of fear he said.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Kill ’em All: The American Military in Korea – 17 February 2011

Global Research – The Korean War: The “Unknown War”. The Coverup of US War Crimes – 16 March 2011

New York Times – Korean War Panel Finds U.S. Attacks on Civilians – 9 July 2009