By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – China’s top print media censor is to introduce a new qualification exam for aspiring journalists this year in a push to tighten up on control of media. China has limited to an even greater extent, the abilities of journalists to report in an effort to further retrain freedom of the press, and rights of expression China will toughen requirements for reporters by launching a new certification system. Now, the Chinese government has implemented a new training system which requires journalists to be familiar with Marxist and communist theories of news.

Chinese officials already routinely censor journalists, but Chinese media has become less restricted in recent years as they have gained more revenue from independent sources as a result of advertising. Government censors keep a tight grip on news content and routinely ban reporting on issues deemed too politically sensitive or destabilizing, and many media outlets in China serve as mouthpieces for the state. Recent efforts, however, have sought to hamper such an outlet.

One theory of the reporting system advocates that the media serve as communicative reinforcement of the government’s political views rather than as a watchdog to report non-bias news about the country’s leadership and international happenings.

It is believed that the reporting initiative is only directed towards journalists operating on the mainland.

Often times, journalists are not only restricted in what they can cover for news stories, they are punished. For instance, in 2008, Li Changqing, a journalist awarded with the World Association of Newspapers Golden Pen of Press Freedom for reporting on an outbreak of dengue fever in Fuzhou province in 2004 before authorities had admitted it. Chinese authorities imposed Li with a jail sentence, and was forced to spend three years in prison.

According to Li, “Comrades who are going to be working on journalism’s front lines must learn theories of socialism with Chinese characteristics and be taught Marx’s view on news, plus media ethics and Communist Party discipline on news and propaganda.”

Despite the current fury by the government to fully control Chinese culture by limiting news sources to primarily all communist based reporting, several journalists are voicing their opinion before all non-communist communication mediums are closed off.

For more information, please see:

Chicago Tribune – China orders reporters trained in Marxist, communist theory to weed out politically incorrect – 11 March 2010

People’s Daily – Minister: China officials must report assets – 11 March 2010

The Guardian – China orders journalists to retrain in communist theory – 11 March 2010

South China Morning Post –  Journalists must face new exam – 11 March 2010

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – The U.S. State Department issued its annual survey of human rights on Thursday where it criticized several countries including China.

The annual survey by the U.S. specifically mentioned how China has intensified its control over the Internet and dissidents, as well as increasing repression of Uighurs after last year’s ethnic violence in Xinjiang.

In response, China accused the U.S. of being a hypocrite and issued its own annual assessment of U.S. human rights record. 

In discussing U.S.’s economic woes, the report released by China said, “The United States not only has a terrible domestic human rights record, it is also the main source of many human rights disasters worldwide.”

China blamed the U.S. for the current global financial crisis by specifically pointing a finger at U.S.’s sub-prime mortgage crisis and also mentioned various human rights issues arising out of U.S.’s invasion of Iraq.

In a separate statement by China’s Foreign Ministry, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was criticized.  Pelosi had made a comment earlier this week praising the brave Tibetans who have sacrificed their lives in a fight for freedom.

China and the U.S. do not see eye to eye since China views Tibetans as “separatists” while the U.S. sees China as violating human rights of Tibetans.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement posted on the Ministry’s website, “We advise the relevant U.S. congresswoman to respect the facts, abandon her prejudices and stop using Tibet issue to interfere in China’s internal affairs.”

In China’s defense, Qin also added that China has achieved steady economic and cultural progress and has made strides in construction of democracy and legal system.

Qin said Chinese citizens have “gained more and more extensive freedom and rights.” 

Lastly, he said that although China is open to dialogues with other countries regarding human rights issues in order to enhance mutual understanding, Beijing adamantly opposes interference by other countries regarding its domestic affairs by invoking human rights issues.

One Chinese newspaper ran an article stating that China prefers a “mind-your-own-business” attitude. 

The author of the article said, “There is much room for improvement in China’s human rights indeed…[b]ut Washington can’t expect to have a grateful audience while randomly passing on moral judgment on others as savior of the world . . . . ”
For more information, please see:

China Daily – US, stop acting as guardian of human rights – 12 March 2010

Reuters – China calls U.S. a hypocrite over human rights – 12 March 2010

Xinhua – China urges U.S. to stop interference by using annual human rights report – 13 March 2010

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – General Sarath Fonseka, a former commander of Sri Lanka’s armof Sri Lanka’s arm and a significant player in Sri Lanka’s war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, has recently undertaken a hunger strike.  The General’s hunger strike signifies his protest against unfair detention by the Sri Lankan government.  The strike also follows the deprivation of the General’s phone rights to communicate with his wife.  General Fonseka had already invoked numerous concerns regarding his health because he refused to eat anything other than the food his wife delivered to him during allowed visits.

The denial of the General’s telephone rights coincides with what could have been a significant step towards exposing humanitarian violations in Sri Lanka.  The General’s continued denial of rights comes after Sri Lankan government’s vehement rejection of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s idea to establish an expert panel to review alleged human rights violations perpetrated during the quarter-century long war against the Tamil Tigers.  The UN and various human rights groups have consistently accused Sri Lanka of denying the Tamil ethnic minorities, who are regarded internally displaced persons subsequent to  the end of Sri Lanka’s bloody conflict, essential necessities while housing them in derisory, unsanitary refugee camps.  The government was more recently accused of extra-judicial killing of suspected Tamil Tigers, but claimed that the video evidence depicting these illegal executions had been doctored to create false allegations.

General Fonseka’s arrest was suspiciously predicated upon human rights violations during the struggle against the Tamil Tigers.  However, it has become clear that the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, ordered the arrest because General Fonseka opposed him in Sri Lanka’s post-war elections.  Both men were considered heroes by Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese ethnic majority following the end of the war.  However, General Fonseka’s resignation from Sri Lanka’s army in November 2009 and his subsequent participation in the elections to run against Rajapaksa caused a fall-out between two men.

Initially, General Fonseka had access to his wife, lawyer, and doctor.  However, the Sri Lankan government appears to have become concerned that the General may divulge to the UN information regarding human rights violations and the deaths of over 20,000 civilians.  The government’s actions, however, only raise further suspicions and represents a continuation of Sri Lanka’s history of human rights violations.

For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – Fonseka begins hunger strike – 07 March 2010

Sify News – General Fonseka starts hunger strike – 07 March 2010

Times Online – General Sarath Fonseka on a hunger strike… – 07 March 2010

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

Bangladesh – The Bangladeshi government has provoked chastisement from the international community once more for its gross mistreatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority.  The Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) released a statement on Tuesday stating that the state of the makeshift refugee camps in Bangladesh constitutes numerous human rights violations.  The report focuses on the starvation which has been occurring in the refugee camps to which droves of Rohingya Muslims escape.  Other members of the ethnic minority, however, have also been coerced into dwelling in these derisory camps.

The PHR report contains statements alluding to the conditions of the refugee camps in Bangladesh as “unconscionable.” For the duration of their stay in the makeshift refugee camps, the Rohingya Muslim ethnic minority remains stateless and in a state of utmost poverty.  The report also reveals that the child malnutrition rate at the Rohingya camps is approximately 18.2 percent.  As a comparison, the report offers a figure signifying that the child malnutrition rate in Haiti after the recent earthquake is approximately 6 percent.  Furthermore, the Rohingya Muslim group has never received external aid.  Their plight is largely overlooked, allowing for their continued mistreatment.

The ill treatment of the Rohingya Muslims has lead to the group’s becoming the most persecuted peoples on Earth.  They have been fleeing from their homeland of Myanmar since the 1970’s to escape discrimination and deprivation of civil and political rights.  Since the beginning of the exodus out of Burma, over 300,000 Rohingya sought freedom in Bangladesh.  However, human rights groups and the UN have seen a significant backlash against the Rohingya population and the Bangladeshi government has taken affirmative steps to deter further immigration.

Bangladesh has been exacting a significant crackdown on Rohingya Muslims who for decades have been residing as unregistered residents in various camps in Bangladesh.  Current practices include the systematic arrest and expulsion of unregistered Rohingya Muslims by Bangladeshi authorities.  There have also been accounts of Bangladeshi police forcing Rohingya Muslims to re-enter Myanmar, where the ethnic minority has faced its most severe oppression and persecution.

The acts of Bangladeshi authorities signify a flagrant violation of the Rohingya Muslims’ human rights.  The UN has yet to respond with a possible reaction to the illegal acts of the Bangladeshi government.

For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – Refugees ‘starve’ in Bangladesh – 10 March 2010

AsiaNews – Bangkok denies mistreatment allegations by Rohingya refugees – 04 February 2009

Yahoo! News – Rohingya refugees ‘starving to death’ in Bangladesh – 10 March 2009