By David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

MANILA, Philippines – A powerful political family is brought to trial for plotting what is known as the deadliest incident for journalists since 1992, when the Committee to Protect Journalists began recording journalist deaths.  On November 23, 2009, 57 people – 32 of them journalist and media personnel, were slaughtered as they traveled in Maguindanao province with intentions of filing “gubernatorial candidacy papers for a local candidate”.

Nine months later, there are 19 people who stand accused at trial, out of a total of 195 named in the overall prosecution, while 127 suspects remain at large. The ultimate question remains, “whether the people who ordered the killings – not just the triggermen — will ever be brought to justice. The well-known identities of the political in-group behind the killings are believed to be local allies of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Ampatuan Jr, then a local mayor, allegedly led the massacre to stop the rival from running against him for the post of governor of Maguindanao province in this year’s national elections.

Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia chief of HRW, said five people with knowledge of alleged abuses by Ampatuan and his supporters have been killed since the massacre. 

“It is difficult to fight these devils,” she told AFP news agency. Knowing the dark history of and rampant nature of political killing, she remarks, “We want to see the light of justice.”

The first witness is a man named Lakmudin Saliao, once sworn in he testified that Ampatuan’s father, Andal Ampatuan Sr., and brother, Zaldy Ampatuan, were present at a meeting on November 17 where they helped plan the massacre. The witness, a former house servant, said the family had discussed killing their political rivals six days before the ambush in which 57 people died.

Journalists in provincial Philippines have been killed regularly; typically they are gunned down by two men on a motorcycle, as they make their way to work, or drop off their children at school, or meet a source for lunch.

Since 2000, 32 journalists, other than those who died in Maguindanao, have been killed and in only five of the cases has there been even partial justice. In none of the cases have the more politically well-connected men who paid them and ordered the executions have ever been tried, let alone found guilty.

Convictions of the killers of journalists in the Philippines are so rare that CPJ’s Impunity Index, which measures the rate of successful prosecutions, ranks the country third worst, behind only Iraq and Somalia.

The Secretary of the Philippines’ Justice Department, Leila de Lima, has called the trial a “litmus test” for the country’s judicial system, according to press reports.  The Maguindanao “litmus test” will really be a report not just on the state of the nation’s judiciary, but a frank indicator of the country’s future.

The summation of this trial will not address one of the root causes of the massacre, the Philippines tolerance for locally run paramilitary forces, which under national laws are allowed to deputize local militias to combat Muslim separatist fighters in the country, the Ampatuan’s have built up what amounts to a large private army.

 “The government has not done anything to disable and disarm these paramilitary forces,” Evans said.

For more information, please see;

Al Jazeera English – Philippine massacre trial begins – 9 September, 2010

CNN – Trial expected to begin over Philippine massacre – 6 September, 2010

BBC – Ampatuan family ‘plotted Philippines massacre’ – 8 September, 2010

Huffington Post – The Worst Massacre You Never Heard Of – 23 August, 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The Indonesian government has banned another leading NGO to work in Indonesia’s easternmost region. The West Papua Advocacy Team showed concerns that ordinary Papuans stand to lose considerable benefits.

Cordaid, a Dutch funding agency, has operated in West Papua for over three decades when Jakarta has refused to renew the agreement which expired in April of this year.

Cordaid’s main operation included assisting Papuan NGOs and social and economic development and empowerment for the poor.

In rejecting the extension, the government voiced suspicions regarding Cordaid’s involvement in supporting Papuan separatism, among other things.

Cordaid strongly denies this accusation. The Advocacy Team’s Ed McWilliams says Cordaid’s micro-financing programs have assisted various grassroots organisations in Papua.

“There’s no indcation that the Papuan government had anything to say in this decision. And of course it impacts the people of Papua. So once again, I think it’s an example of decisions being taken in Jakarta without any consultation with Papuan officials or civil society.”

Cordaid sector manager Margriet Nieuwenhuis also strongly denies that Cordaid helped Papua separatists.

“The participants met only with Mindanao community groups and women leaders, not with political actors,”

The government’s decision to ban Cordaid was criticized by prominent human rights lawyer Totdung Mulya Lubis who claimed that the decision was taken “too hastily” and without sufficient evidence.

“It could set a bad precedent and lead outsiders to believe Indonesia is isolating Papua,” he said. Lubis pointed out that the government needed foreign donors to help develop Papua, one of Indonesia’s poorest regions.

This banning of Cordaid from working in Papua parallels the decision to close down International Committee of the Red Cross in 2009. These decisions to shut down the operation of respected humanitarian organizations is consistent with the Jakarta policy to limit international assistance to, and awareness of, Papuans who for decades have suffered from a dearth of basic humanitarian services and respect for human rights.

It is especially noteworthy that closing the operation of these two organizations was exclusively decided by the Indonesian government with no involvement of Papuans.

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand – Decision to ban Cordaid from Papua taken exclusively by Jakarta – 9 September 2010

Scoop – Indonesian Government Blocks Humanitarian Group – 7 September 2010

Open Democracy – Indonesia’s Far East: Security and Politics – 18 August 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HONIARA, Tonga-Stephen Panga, Premier of the Guadalcanal, is calling for a law change ending immunity for the soldiers working under the Regional Assistance Mision to the Soloman Islands (RAMSI) and to make them subject to the laws and prosecution of Solomon Islands.

This statement comes after a deadly shooting incident occurred on August 12 when RAMSI troops were called to break up a rock-throwing incident in a village just out of capital Honiara. In the process, one civilian was allegedly killed by two soldiers.

This was the second civilian death since the arrival of the Australian-led RAMSI force in 2003. The troops came to end years of ethnic conflict in the Solomons.

In response to the incident, Solomon’s attorney general Gabriel Suri stated that Solomon Islands wants the right to charge the soldiers if necessary.

Mr. Suri further went on to say that there were two requests – the first to grant a waiver on the immunity of RAMSI officers and personnel to allow his office to take charge of any case where evidence suggests a need to lay charges.

The second request was for Tonga to give Solomon Islands the jurisdiction over the Tongan soldiers.

Tonga’s Solicitor General Fonokalafi avoided direct comment on the incident, although admitting that Tonga would conduct its own investigation into the shooting.

Premier Panga says it is wrong that those two Tongan soldiers responsible for the death of a civilian cannot be investigated in Solomon Islands under the present law. He further claims that the newly elected Solomon Islands parliament should introduce an amendment to the Facilitation Act, which would allow for a local investigation in future incidents.

“I’m supporting the RAMSI presence in this country but just to shoot down harmless people, people who don’t have arms with them. The police have a lot of skills to protect themselves in such situations.”

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand – Guadalcanal province chief calls for law change over RAMSI shooting death – 6 September 2010

Solomon Times – Tonga Still to Respond to Government Request – 30 August 2010

David L. Chaplin II

Impunity Watch Reporter; Asia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch has been found guilty of crimes against humanity by Cambodia’s UN-backed war crimes tribunal. Duch, 67, whose full name is Kaing Guek Eav, was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The man who ran a notorious torture prison where more than 14,000 people died during the Khmer Rouge regime was found guilty of war crimes Monday and sentenced to 35 years in prison — with 5 years taken off that sentence for time served.  The verdict against Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, also convicted him of crimes against humanity, murder and torture.  Duch ran Tuol Sleng prison, where “enemies” of the Khmer Rouge regime were sent.

At least 1.7 million people — nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population — died under the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime from execution, disease, starvation and overwork, according to the Documentation Center of Cambodia.  But prosecutors said the former maths teacher ordered the use of brutal torture methods to extract “confessions” from detainees – including pulling out toenails and administering electric shocks – and approved all the executions.

A meticulous record-keeper, Duch built up a huge archive of photos, confessions and other evidence documenting those held at Tuol Sleng.

Despite acknowledging the role he played at Tuol Sleng, codenamed “S-21”, he insisted that he had only been following orders from his superiors, and on the trial’s final day in November shocked many by asking to be acquitted.

Wearing a blue shirt, the former Khmer Rouge jailer looked pensive and slumped in his chair as proceedings were held behind a floor-to-ceiling bullet-proof screen which separated the public gallery from the rest of the court.

“I can’t accept this,” Saodi Ouch, 46, told the Associated Press news agency. “My family died… my older sister, my older brother. I’m the only one left.”

Some said they wanted a tougher sentence. “There is no justice. I wanted life imprisonment for Duch,” said Hong Sovath, whose father was killed in Tuol Sleng. Many called the War crimes tribunal efforts a “shame” and “slap in the face” to survivors.

The group’s top leader, “Brother Number One” Pol Pot, died in 1998.  The other Khmer Rouge leaders awaiting trial are “Brother Number Two” Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan, former foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, the minister of social affairs.

For more information, please see:

CNN World – Khmer Rouger survivors angry over Duch jail sentence – 26 July 2010

Al Jazeera – Khmer Rouge prison chief convicted – 26 July 2010

BBC – Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch found guilty – 26 July 2010

By David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HAMGYONG, North Korea – Human rights group calls on international community to help end regime’s ‘systematic neglect’ and prevent humanitarian disaster.  North Korea is failing to provide the most basic healthcare needs for its people, Amnesty International warns.  Barely functioning hospitals, poor hygiene and epidemics made worse by widespread malnutrition was revealed from human rights watch dog.  An investigation by the human rights watchdog found many people were also too poor to pay for treatment.

The state’s failure to feed its people has produced a generation where nearly 50% suffer from stunted growth, where the hungry eat poisonous plants and pig feed, amputations are conducted without anesthetic and doctors are paid in cigarettes.

“If you don’t have money you die,” said the woman, who left North Korea in 2008.

Pyongyang spends less than $1 (£0.65) per person on healthcare a year, less than any other country, according to World Health Organization figures cited in the report.

Amnesty’s report, The Crumbling State of Health Care in North Korea, is based on interviews with more than 40 North Korean health professionals, who left the country between 2004 and 2009.

“The government’s failure to provide basic education about using medication is especially worrying as North Korea fights a tuberculosis epidemic,” said Catherine Barber, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Asia Pacific.

Pyongyang says it provides free healthcare for its people, but witnesses told Amnesty they had to pay for all services for the past 20 years.

One 20-year-old woman from North Hamgyong province said: “People don’t bother going to the hospital if they don’t have money because everyone knows that you have to pay.  Poor hygiene at medical facilities and a dire lack of medicines were threatening the lives of many, Amnesty warned, with people routinely trading cigarettes, food and alcohol for treatment.

A 56-year-old woman told Amnesty that her appendix was removed without anaesthetic.  “The operation took about an hour and 10 minutes. I was screaming so much from the pain – I thought I was going to die.

North Korea faces critical food shortages following famine in the 1990s which killed up to one million people and relies on international aid.

A botched currency re-evaluation in 2009 almost doubled the price of rice overnight, and one non-governmental organization cited in the report said thousands of people starved to death in January and February this year in one province alone.

Politically the North finds itself isolated – it has withdrawn from international talks over its controversial nuclear programme.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Amnesty warns of healthcare crisis in North Korea – 15 July 2010

Business Week – North Korean Health System “Dire,” – 15 July 2010

Guardian.co.uk – North Korea facing health and food crisis – 15 July 2010