By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KABUL, Afghanistan –  In August, the presidential election was riddled with accusations of fraud and vote-rigging. As the end of the election neared, now president, Mr. Hamid Karzai’s main rival pulled out of a run-off vote.

Many in the country believe the election was tainted by fraud allegations. In addition to facing skepticism by citizens, the nation has also come under growing Western pressure to deal with corruption.

The American ambassador in Kabul, Ishaq Aluko, has warned against a US troop surge unless Mr. Karzai takes action against corruption. Mr. Karzai has refused to make public the names of people under suspicion for receiving money for government contracts until their files had been sent to the court. He does say, however, that there is a range of corruption, some of it involving huge amounts of money.

Bribes and corruption outside of money include the buying  of cars, computers. and furniture. Other forms exist as well, including contract awards for construction or road building. Mr. Aluko says his department is serious about tackling corruption in all areas, and that he had already asked some of the current and former ministers to answer the allegations.

When U.S. Secretary of State visited the country recently, she stated, “Now we believe that President Karzai and his government can do better.” Clinton also declared that Mr. Karzai must set up a “major crimes tribunal” and an anti-corruption commission. She went on to say that, the Afghan government needs to take action against people who have “taken advantage of the money that has poured into Afghanistan” in the past eight years. Clinton made clear, though that civilian aid would not be given unless the U.S. could track the funds if it went to government ministries.

American and British officials have been particularly vocal in recent weeks in calling for Karzai to institute reforms following a messy election that took 2 1/2 months to resolve and undermined the legitimacy of a government. This is unsurprising since, Transparency International, a non-governmental organization, last year ranked Afghanistan 176th out of 180 countries on its corruption perceptions index, a poll that assesses the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. Only Haiti, Iraq, Myanmar and Somalia were worse.

This is the third formal launch of a crime-fighting unit promising to tackle corruption.

For more information, please see:

Wall Street Journal – Karzai, Under Pressure, Adopts Antigraft Measures – November 16, 2009 

BBC World News – US demands Afghan ‘bribery court’ – November 15, 2009 

ABC News – Afghan ministers accused of taking bribes – November 13, 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea– Despite North Korea’s threats of “merciless military measures” after a naval clash between the two Koreas earlier this week, South Korea said they remain committed to providing humanitarian aid to the North.

The North and South Korean navies clashed by the disputed maritime border on Tuesday, leaving a North Korean ship damaged.  Since then, the two countries have been accusing each other of illegally entering territorial waters and firing the first shot.

  South Korean ships patrolling their waters.  Courtesy of AP.

Both sides have been demanding an apology, and North Korea has threatened South Korea with military actions over this naval skirmish. 

Nevertheless, the South Korean Unification Ministry released a statement saying, “With regard to North Korea’s request for humanitarian aid…[t]here is no change in the government’s stance.”

The North had asked for 100,000 tons of food back in October.  Furthermore, farmers and leaders are pressuring the South Korean government to send rice to North Korea, especially because there is a chronic oversupply of rice in the South.

Choi Young-ok, an official from a South Korean NGO, said, “Rice is the most suitable item for resumption of humanitarian aid to North Korea as it is the main staple grain for Koreas.  The [South Korean] government’s offer of 10,000 tons of corn is not nearly enough.” 

The South had stopped sending rice aid to the North after a new administration took over earlier this year. 

South Korean Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said, “The South had spent 200 30 300 billion won each year to send the rice under the previous administrations…Resumption of such massive aid will be determined after sufficient dialogue with the North, in consideration of inter-Korea relations.”

The U.S. has asked the North not to escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula, and the UN Secretary-General is urging the two Koreas to resolve this dispute through peaceful dialogue. 

UN spokesman said, “[Secretary-General] has called for maximum restraint by both parties.  The incident highlights the need to resolve all outstanding issues through dialogue and in a peaceful manner.”

For more information, please see:

The Korea Herald – Protests spread to restart N.K. rice aid – 12 November 2009

The Korea Times – Seoul to Offer Aid to NK Despite Clash – 11 November 2009

NYT – North Korea Issues New Threat After Naval Clash – 13 November 2009

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KATHMANDU, Nepal – Thousands of Maoist activists gathered outside the capital in Nepal at the main government headquarters, where police claim protesters had tried to enter a prohibited area. According to a local news source, the rioters were calling for the resignation of the president.

 Protesters advancing as police try and contain the riot in Katmandu. Photograph courtesy of The New York Times.

The police fired tear gas at a crowd of protesters who were blocking access to administrative offices in the capital. A Nepalese reporter from Republica noted that there were some minor injuries to police officers and picketers. One police officer stated, “We used force after the protesters tried to breach our security cordon,” said deputy superintendent of police Kanchha Bhandari. He also stated that 14 rounds of tear gas were fired.

Before violence erupted, demonstrators began gathering in Katmandu before dawn. Many of them arrived by bus from outlying towns and villages. As the crowd mounted, thousands of heavily armed National Police officers were mobilized.

The protesters were led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the former guerrilla fighter better known as Prachanda, who had been the leader of the 10-year Maoist insurgency that overthrew the Nepalese monarchy in 2006. Earlier in the week, Prachanda warned the government that he and his supporters could be forced to “take up arms” if the government used the police and military to block demonstrations, according to a local news agency.

Most civil servants and politicians were able to reach their offices in the Singha Durbar, although The Himalayan Times reported that local schools were closed for the day.

Prachanda and other Maoist leaders assert that the general defied a peace accord, which was backed by the United Nations, that would have integrated about 20,000 former guerilla soldiers (a large percentage of which are unemployed) into the Nepalese military. Protests such as this one are not unique occurrences.  Prachanda and his supporters have held several mass riots, demanding the resignation of the government and the removal of the president.

For more information, please see:

NY Times – Protesters Clash With Police in Nepal – November 12, 2009 

Yahoo! World News – Nepal riot police clash with protesters: witnesses – November 13, 2009 

Thaindian – Maoist protesters, police clash outside Nepal presidential palace – November 12, 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Rights activists and petitioners in China are being abused in a network of illegal “black jails” in major Chinese cities.

Human Rights Watch said, “Since 2003, large numbers of Chinese citizens have been held incommunicado for days or months in secret, unlawful detention facilities known as ‘black jails’ by state agents who violate detainees’ rights with impunity.”

Government agents and security forces regularly abduct people off the streets of Chinese cities and imprison them after stripping them of their possessions.  The black jails are operated in state-owned hotels, nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals.

Those who are usually jailed in the black jails are Chinese from rural areas who come to Beijing from rural areas of China looking for redress of abuses ranging from illegal land confiscation to police torture.

 

Detainees in China’s black jails.  Courtesy of Reuters.

The detainees are held without legal justification and face physical torture, theft, extortion and intimidation and are deprived of food, sleep and medical care.

The “black jails” also function as holding centers where petitioners, rights activists and members of illegal religious groups are held before being transferred to other facilities.

One detainee from Jiangsu province said, “[The abductors] are inhuman…two people dragged me by the hair…my two hands were tied and I couldn’t move…two women…beat my head [and] used their feet to stomp my body.”

Another detainee said, “They never told me the reason why they detained me…and didn’t tell me how long they were going to detain me for.” 

In addition, those in black jails are psychologically abused, including receiving threats of sexual violence.  A former detainee said that the guards told her that if she ever tried to escape, she would be taken to a male prison where inmates would take turns raping her.

China’s Foreign Ministry has denied the existence of black cells in China.  However, Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch said, “The existence of black jails in the heart of Beijing makes a mockery of the Chinese government’s rhetoric on improving human rights and respecting the rule of law.”

For more information, please see:

Earth Times – Rights group exposes China’s ‘black jails’ – 12 November 2009

Human Rights Watch – China: Secret “Black Jails” Hide Severe Rights Abuses – 11 November 2009

Mail Online – China accused of human rights abuses in secret ‘black jails’ – 12 November 2009

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia  

CHARSADDA, Pakistan- At least 24 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in a car bombing in the town of Charsadda, police say.  The blast occurred as shoppers walked through the main market of the town, which lies north-east of Peshawar.  

More than 300 people have been killed in a number of attacks as Pakistani troops launched an assault against the Taliban in South Waziristan.

90 pounds of explosives were placed in a car which then exploded outside the busy market intersection.  So far no one has claimed responsibility, but authorities have blamed similar attacks in recent weeks on the Taliban.

Eyewitness said the vehicle blew up on a road lined with fruit and juice shops, leaving the ground littered with slippers, body parts, and broken push carts.  One witness told reporters “It was a terrible scene. There were injured and wounded everywhere… I joined the relief and rescue operation and myself removed about a dozen casualties.”  Early evidence points to a suicide attack, because body parts and sneakers of the suspected bomber were recovered from the site.

The attack is the third in as many days in the North West Province.  On Monday, a suicide bomber in a rickshaw killed at least three people and wounded five others near a police checkpoint in Peshawar.  On Sunday, at least 12 were killed in a suicide bomb attack near the city in the village of Mattani, including the mayor who had opposed the Taliban. Less than two weeks ago, a car bomb killed 112 people in a Peshawar market, the deadliest attack in more than two years in Pakistan.

Syed Shoaib Hasan of the BBC says ordinary citizens are becoming targets in bomb attacks at an increasing rate.  As the Pakistani army presses an offensive against Taliban militants in the border area with Afghanistan, suicide bombers have stepped attacks on civilians and police officers in northwest Pakistan in an attempt to shake the government. 

The government has pledged to press ahead with the offensive, stating that the recent atrocities against the citizens was evidence of the desperation of the militants. “They are not able to target freely, and that’s why they are targeting innocent people,” said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister for North West Frontier.  “But we and the people of Pakistan are determined to continue this jihad against terrorists undeterred.”

For more information, please see;

BBC News- Deadly Blast Hits Pakistani Town – 10 November 2009

New York Times- Car Bomb Adds to Toll in Northwest Pakistan– 10 November 2009

MSNBC- Police: Bomb Kills 24 at Market in Pakistan– 10 November 2009