By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia – An international human rights agency has accused Mongolia of impunity and injustice for ignoring reports of abuses after a post-election violence in July 2008.

Riots broke out in the streets of Ulan Bator when thousands of Mongolians demonstrated by burning cars and buildings against an alleged fraud in last year’s general election.

After the violence erupted, the spokesman for the General Election Committee, Purevdorjin Naranbat,  rejected allegations of fraud saying, “The election was organized well and by the law.  It was really fair.”

However, five people were killed and more than 200 were hurt during the riots.  This was the worst violence Mongolia saw in two decades. 

Amnesty International reported that the police shot at least nine people during the riots and hundreds more were forced into crowded detention centers where they went without food or water for up to three days.  Some detainees were also reported to have been beaten by the police.

Roseann Rife, director for Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific program, said, “Investigations into allegations of human rights violations have been delayed, ignored or inadequately investigated.”

She added, “A year on from the riot and there is no accountability on the part of authorities and no justice for the victims.”

The rights group is accusing Mongolia of failing to comply with international obligations by not taking legislative, judicial and administrative measures to prevent human rights abuses, and the secrecy surrounding the police operation is leading to further mistrust and fear.

These sentiments will continue unless Mongolian government takes steps to implement reforms to protect human rights.

However, Munkh-Orgil Tsend, who was the Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs at the time of the riots, said, “Lack of food and facilities to hold rioters just shows that we all were not prepared for such a riot.  It cannot be misinterpreted as human rights violation.”

Nevertheless, Amnesty International is urging the Mongolian government to investigate human rights violations promptly in a thorough and impartial manner. 

Furthermore, the organization is asking that Mongolia review its regulations and policy to ensure that the police, when using force and policing demonstrators, comply with international human rights standards, including the UN Code of Conduct for LW Enforcement Officials.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – IMPUNITY AND INJUSTICE ARE LEGACY OF DEADLY JULY RIOTS IN MONGOLIA – 18 December 2009

AP – Rights group accuses Mongolia over 2008 rioting – 18 December 2009

BBC – Streets calm in riot-hit Mongolia – 3 July 2008

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – A recently issued statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry suggests that it is already in the process, or will soon begin, an effort to return 22 Uighurs, after fleeing to Cambodia when deadly ethnic riots broke out in July in western China. Those in flight are said to have left due to extreme subsequent government crackdown on rioters.

Uighurs, are a Turkic-speaking ethnic minority and are namely concentrated in western China. Those who deem themselves Uighurs often say the Chinese government, dominated by ethnic Han, discriminates against them. The Uighurs in Cambodia fled their homeland after the deadliest ethnic rioting in decades in China. Uighurs clashed on July 5 with riot police officers sent to put down a protest in Urumqi, the capital of the western region of Xinjiang, and then went on a rampage through neighborhoods, killing scores of people.

The 22 Uighurs who fled after the incident in July entered Cambodia about a month ago. Three of the Uighurs who made it to Cambodia are children. Two Uighurs were detained in Vietnam en route to Cambodia, and five others who fled China have disappeared, according to Uighur advocacy groups in the West. It is believed they were able to escape with the aid of an underground network of Christian missionaries in China that usually helps North Koreans who seek to get out of the country and into nations they can seek refugee status. It has been confirmed that the 22 Uighurs are still in Cambodia, because they appeared at the United Nations’ Refugee Office to apply for refugee status.

This week, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said at a news conference that the Uighurs were suspected of criminal activities and that the “relevant departments” were investigating them. She said at the news conference and in a written statement that criminals “should not be allowed to take advantage of the United Nations’ refugee system.” She went on to say that, “China’s stance is very clear: the international refugee protection system shouldn’t become a shelter where criminals stay to escape legal punishment.”

Human Rights organizations have been very active in the matter. Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific director of Amnesty International, wrote in a  letter, “Since September 2001, Amnesty International has documented cases in which Uighur asylum seekers who were forcibly returned to China were detained, reportedly tortured and in some cases sentenced to death and executed.” 

For more information, please see:

New York Times – China Is Disputing Status of Uighurs in Cambodia – December 18, 2009

Yahoo! World News – Cambodia to send 20 Uighurs back to China: US rights group – December 18,2009

Inside Asia – China Is Disputing Uighurs in Cambodia 

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – Amid hearings at the UN Human Rights Council where wstern countries are demanding that North Korea cooperate with UN organizations and other aid agencies to help provide food and essential medical aid to their beleaguered population, there are also concerns that the winter months may intensify Pyongyang’s rights abuses.

Last week’s revaluation of the currency has left the North Korean currency worthless, increasing the threat of collapse of its already fragile food market.

The North Korean government said it would redenominated its currency to curb inflation and announced that limited amounts could be exchanged for new currency.  This has angered North Koreans who are reportedly burning banknotes in protest, and the government has sent soldiers out onto the streets to stop the protests.

In addition, calling malnutrition “a thing of the past,” a North Korean diplomat denied any accusations from UN members on Monday at the Human Rights Council meeting claiming that his people are not hungry nor are they facing imminent starvation.

North Korean soldier standing guard by Yalu River.  Courtesy of Reuters.  

Contrarily however, defectors from North Korea said that the majority of the population is limited to two small meals a day and that situation may worsen in the winter months. 

One rights group, Helping Hands Korea, said they are expecting more defectors this winter than usual because the harvest this year was extremely poor.

Moreover, there are reports saying that North Korean food prices are already soaring and this may push the poorest to the point of no return.

Andrew Natsios who wrote The Great North Korea Famine said this year’s harvest has been the worst since the mid 1990’s, adding, “[A]ll estimates say there will be a doubling of food prices over the next year, including rice, which is North Korea’s staple food.”

One Australian diplomat who spoke at Monday’s Human Rights Council meeting said, “We are concerned by the failure of the [North Korean] government to meet [the people’s] basic needs…[Pyongyang] needs to allow international agencies to do their work.”

North Korean Ambassador Ri Tcheul, in response, rebuffed, “Personally I think some distinguished representatives are just repeating or echoing information fabricated and spread by others as if they have seen or witnessed it themselves.”

Nevertheless, defectors have reported that hunger in North Korea remains rampant.

For more information, please see:

Christian Science Monitor – North Korea: Will winter shortages intensify rights abuses? – 11 December 2009

JoongAng Daily – Countries slam Pyongyang on human rights issue – 9 December 2009

The Star – North Korea rushes to starvation – 9 December 2009

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HYDERABAD, India – The Indian government finally announced that it would accept the country’s 50-year old request and make Telangana a state. Leading up to this decision, the people of Hyderabad and nine other surrounding districts endured a turbulent period of limbo.

After issuing the decision, thousands of supporters of Telangana flooded the streets as history was made and news spread that the government had risen to the peoples’ long-standing demands. Men and women of all generations gathered at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences where the leader of the regional Telangana Rashtra Samiti party, K Chandrasekhara Rao, was under observation by doctors. 

The Talngana people and supporters celebrated in Hyderabad the announcement of a Telangana state. Photography courtesy of The New York Times. 

Rao, a 55-year-old supporter of the initiation of Telangana, began a “fast unto death” 11 days ago as a way to press the demand for Telangana state. During the course of his  fasting protest, Rao lost almost half of his original weight and has been suffering from many ailments and complications, although he emerged as a hero for the local masses when he refused to break his fast as his life became gravely in danger due to extreme starvation. In the course of his fast, Rao became known as the “Tiger of Telangana” to supporters of the new state. He swore to starve if India did not reconfigure its political map by carving out a new state anchored by this city, a major technology hub and host to multinationals like Dell and Motorola. The sprawling size of the current state, Andhra Pradesh, wrongly deprived people in the local region, he claimed. His actions sparked a chain reaction of demonstrations on college campuses and plunged Hyderabad into a political crisis. Several universities were shut down, students were jailed and thousands of police and paramilitary officers arrived after a two-day general strike effectively paralyzed the city of four million people.

 
K Chandrasekara Rao has become a hero. Fotograph courtesy of BBC World News

In the few days since India has recognized Telangana and Rao broken his fast, the country has ceaselessly expressed its excitement. “We are happy,” said Uppu Sudhaker, a Telangana supporter. “All these years, people from other regions have slighted us. Our areas were not properly developed. All our resources were misused. The jobs went to outsiders.” Even as many legislative hurdles must be navigated to create a new Telangana state, the drama underscores that while India represents an ancient civilization, it is a relatively young democracy whose internal political shape is likely to keep evolving.

For more information, please see:

Hindustan Times – Telangana does not mean new states everywhere: Pranab – December 13, 2009 

My Bangladesh – Telangana Tiger – December 11, 2009 

BBC World News – India’s ‘Tiger of Telangana’ feted –  December 13, 2009

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Chinese prosecutors have indicted high-profile dissident, Liu Xiaobo, and are likely to bring his case to court within the next month, according to his lawyers. Liu has been detained for over one year in a Chinese prison for what Liu Xiaobo’s lawyer, Shang Baojun, stated were police allegations claiming that the Liu incited the subversion of state power through articles he published on the internet and by helping to write Charter 08, an appeal for democratic reforms and greater civil liberties. 

 Photograph of Liu Xiabo whose image appears in front of the

  Chinese national emblem. Image curtesy of Associated Press.

If the procuratorate conclude that the public security agency has clearly established a case backed by evidence, then it can decide to initiate a prosecution in court,” said Mo Shaoping, another of Liu’s lawyers. Mo went on to say that in the course of the next month, prosecutors also have the option to order additional investigations or to throw out the case entirely. However, Phelim Kine, Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch,  said that given the amount of national attention and international publicity (Liu’s case has drawn protests from western politicians and international authors) states that “The sad fact is by the time it does get to this point, it takes on a momentum of its own and [probably] will unfortunately head to court.”

There is additional concern that the prosecution will prey on Liu’s past. Liu is a literary critic and former academic and spent 20 months in jail after joining the Tiananmen Square pro-reform protests in 1989. He was also sent to a re-education through labor camp in the 1990s. Liu’s present charges regarding his internet and other postings are percieved as a questioning the Communist party’s monopoly on power.

In response to Liu’s indictment, a group of 201 Charter 08 signatories, issued a public letter entitled, “We Are Willing to Share Responsibility with Liu Xiaobo.” The letter reiterated their support for the ideas behind the document as well as for the author and literary critic. Once the letter was posted on the internet, approximately 10,000 people showed their support, although Chinese governmental censors quickly eliminated references to it from Chinese-based sites.

Human rights officials have expressed that Liu’s case means the Chinese government is paying attention to the international response to allegations made against Liu and are hoping that the attention and awareness raised will lead to increasing open-door diplomacy. Human rights leaders are also hoping that Liu’s case will light on other authors facing similar charges such as Wole Soyinka and Salman Rushdie, who are among those who have called for Liu’s release, in addition to their diplomatic efforts.

For more information, please see:

Irish Times – Leading Chinese dissident indicted after year in jail without charges – December 11, 2009 

The Guardian – Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo faces incitement to subversion charge – December 11, 2009

Washington Post – Lawyer says police want Chinese dissident indicted – December 9, 2009