By Megan E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

CHA-AM, Thailand – Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are meeting under heavy security at a beach resort in Cha-Am. Representatives at this regional summit announced their official effort to engage in a new human rights watchdog.

The East Asian Summit group – is made up of member countries: Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Talks at this summit seek to integrally include India, Australia, New Zealand, China, South Korea and Japan.

After the opening ceremony marking the convened national figureheads, leaders convened to discuss the economy, climate change, disaster management – and human rights. Some say the commission is in part a response to criticism that the region is weak on its efforts to curb human rights abuses by member nations such as Burma. Speculators, however, question whether it will have sufficient powers to make a real difference. Those who are weary on the effort have expressed that they believe the body will do little to deter human rights violators, because it has no power to punish members, according to one source.

Previously, Burma blocked activity by the Asean summit which attempted to call for an amnesty on behalf of detained Burmese democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Furthermore, the organization’s Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, one of the central elements of the legally binding ASEAN Charter signed last year, was a disappointment to many rights advocates when it was limited to the promotion rather than the protection of human rights. Efforts this year have continued to hamper the endeavor. Back in April, Asian leaders were scheduled to hold the summit and propel the human rights initiative, however, anti-government protesters forced the meeting to cancel. Now, five member states -Burma, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Singapore – refused to meet the five individuals chosen by civil rights groups to represent their countries.

Sister Crescencia Lucero, the Franciscan nun who was to have been the Philippines representative, stated, “I am very disappointed, and I see this as not only a rejection of me personally and the organization I represent, but as a rejection of the democratic process in the region.”

Regional politicians sometimes cite the European Union as their model, but their ambitions risk running aground on the vast political and social differences between the states, which range from the absolute monarchy of Brunei to the communist governments of Vietnam and Laos. Debbie Stothard, a human rights activist from Malaysia comments, “the commission has not been designed to be effective and impartial.” It It must be recognized though, the commission is still a considerable milestone for a region ruled by governments as diverse as the thriving democracy in Indonesia, the hermetic communist regime in Laos and the repressive military dictatorship in Myanmar.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Asian leaders launch rights group – October 23, 2009

Wall Street Journal – Summit to Test Japan-China Supremacy  – October 21, 2009

Cambodia News – Thailand Mounts Large Security Operation at Asian Summit – October 22, 2009   

Associated Press – Southeast Asia to have rights monitor – October 23, 2009

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KATHANKULUM, Sri Lanka – Approximately 6,000 Tamil ethnic minorities have at least been permitted to return home from refugee camps run by the Sri Lankan government.  Over 250,000 internally displaced Tamils were confined to derisory conditions in the government’s supposed sanctuary camp since the end of a 25 year war against the Tamil Tigers rebel group.  The Tamils now being released signify the largest number of liberated persons since the onset of the struggle between the government and the militant Tamil independence movement.  With the release of the encamped Tamils, Sri Lankan nationals finally have the opportunity to repopulate lands once in the control of the Tamil Tigers.  

Government forces dismantled the Tigers in May.  After establishing numerous safe-zones across Sri Lankan territory, the government escorted droves of Sri Lankan Tamils to its camps until the population could be screened for militants among the civilians.  The government also contended that they needed to detonate mines surrounding the vicinity of the camps.  

Although the Tamils were supposedly safe from enemy attack, food, water, and clothing quickly became scarce in the government’s camps.  Also, heavy rains and subsequent flooding raised further health issues as water-borne diseases were feared to spread among the confined Tamils.  Monsoon rains also increased the difficulty of transporting supplies as pertinent routes become submerged, or otherwise impossible to traverse. 

The Sri Lankan government has released statements demonstrating its intent to release nearly 40,000 internally displaced Tamils over the coming weeks.  These seemingly abrupt liberation measures have actually been realized after months of international pressure.  Reports of the subhuman living conditions at the refugee camps and occurrences of civilian mistreatment by military and government agents have garnered the attention of alarmed state and non-government organizations.  The U.N. has repeatedly chastised the Sri Lankan government for confining the Tamil minority citizens and failing to properly maintain and supply their camps.

Although significant evacuation processes are currently underway in Sri Lanka, the government must release approximately 270,000 Tamil internally displaced persons.  The government has not given a specific time-frame as to when it plans on completing the evacuation process.  However, it has suggested that compensation programs will come into effect in order to aid many of those who lost their homes.  However, given the government’s history of unsubstantiated promises concerning the fate of the Tamil IDPs, the projected results of the evacuation and repopulation program remain unknowable. 
For more information, please see:

BBC News – Thousands leave Sri Lankan camps – 22 October 2009 

CDIC – Sri Lanka releases 4,300 ethnic Tamils… – 22 October 2009  

Sri Lanka Guardian – Make Lankan Tamils free: CPI to Centre – 22 October 2009

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

WEST JAVA, Indonesia – Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, recently made a personal plea to Indonesian migration authorities to capture any asylum seekers headed towards Australian shores.  Following this request, Indonesian authorities intercepted a boat carrying over 260 Sri Lankan Tamil ethnic minorities en route to Australia.  The Indonesian vessel captured the Sri Lankan boat and escorted it to a West Java dock.
 
 
Photo courtesy of AFP

The Tamils, however, refused to leave the boat and began a hunger-strike which effectively ceased after the weekend. 

The Tamils were apparently so afraid of prosecution in Indonesian lands that they made empty threats to ignite or detonate their boat.  Alex, the unofficial spokesperson for the Tamils, however, confirmed that the Tamil boat did not actually carry any explosives.  Despite the threats, Indonesian authorities captured the Tamils’ boat.  The International Organization for Migration provided basic necessities to the Tamils during their stay in the Indonesian dock.    

Rather than go home to Sri Lanka, the Tamils desire to reach the Australian territory of Christmas Island.  Located south of Indonesian territories, Christmas Island has been a popular sanctuary destination for nationals of war-ridden countries such as Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.  The influx of asylum seekers into the area has reached thousands of refugees per year.        

The Tamils left their homes in Sri Lanka to escape social and quasi-sanctioned persecution.  Intense tensions between Tamils and the Sinhalese ethnic majority escalated after the Sri Lankan government’s upheaval of the Tamil Tiger rebel group.  Tamil militants have been fighting desperately for a separate state for over 25 years.   However, with the recent defeat of the sole Tamil fighting force, the Tamil minority essentially lost its power to assert independence, and many Sri Lankan Tamil nationals took flight to avoid the discrimination. 

Many Tamils were captured by Sri Lankan military personnel or law enforcement, then subsequently maimed and tortured.  Alex has related that many of the people on the boat suffer from burns and severed limbs.  The women and children among the group of over 260 Tamils have suffered from displacement and loss of family.  On these humanitarian grounds, they sought asylum in Australian territory. 

However, Kevin Rudd remains unmoved and obstinate.  According to the prime minister’s own statements, he refuses to support the people-smuggling that has been infiltrating Indonesian and Australian territories.  However, the people-smuggling was to ensure a safe escape for Tamil refugees who would have otherwise been persecuted by the Sri Lankan government. 

The fate of the occupants of the captured ship in Indonesia remains to be decided.     

For more information, please see:

The Age – Asylum boat had holes drilled in hull – 22 October 2009 

Al-Jazeera – Sri Lankan hunger strike fails – 18 October 2009   

BBC News – Australian PM seeking migrant help – 13 October 2009

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia  KABUL, Afghanistan- Following weeks of mounting international pressure, Afghanistan will hold a final and deciding round of its problem-laden presidential poll on November 7, which will pit President Hamid Karzai against rival Adbullah Adbullah.  This news comes a day after Afghanistan’s Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC); a UN-backed panel posted its findings on its website which stated it had clear evidence of fraud in August’s first round.  This confirmed what has been known for many days; that President Karzai scored less than the 50% which is necessary to avoid a second round with Abdullah, his main challenger.  As a result of the report, the ECC ordered that ballots from 210 polling stations be invalidated.

Article 21 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, “Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.”  This article also declares, “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government, this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine election which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”

After weeks of intensive Western lobbying of Afghanistan’s leaders to resolve this crisis and the announcement of the final round, Mr. Karzai gave his reaction to the run-off at a news conference.  “I call upon our nation to change this into an opportunity to strengthen our resolve and determination, to move our country forward and to participate in the new round of elections.”  

The BBC’s Martin Patience, in Kabul, says that even with the new vote, there is no guarantee that any new vote will be free of the fraud that dogged the first round of elections.  White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Afghans must work out their election process in a way that is seen as fair.  “The onus is clearly on this to be legitimate in the eyes of the Afghan people,” Gibbs said

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Endgame for Afghanistan’s elections? – 19 October 2009

Reuters- Karzai seen open to Afghan run-off-Western Sources – 19 October 2009

Bloomberg.com- Karzai May Open Path to Disputed Afghan Vote Solution-20 October 2009

BBC News- Afghan Election Goes to Run-Off – 20 October 2009

United Nations- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

By Megan E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – An official from the Xinhua News Agency announced today that citizens in Hubei and Henan provinces are being relocated from their homes near the Danjiangkou reservoir. Approximately 330,000 people in central China are being dislocated to make way for a massive project to divert water hundreds of miles for a sluice to be built to divert water from the Yangtze river and its tributaries.

The project is estimated to cost $62 billion, which is nearly three times as much as it cost to construct the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric project. When the diversion project is complete, three routes will move billions of tons of water from China’s central, southern and western regions through pipes and canals to flow into Beijing and other fast-growing northern cities. The central route is due for completion by 2014, and is expected to supply about a quarter of Beijing’s water.

In a photograph taken in January, a motorist passes a signboard promising safe water for people on display near a water canal link to the South-to-North Water Diversion Project located in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China. Photograph courtesy of Miami Herald.  

Critics of the project have warned the water diversion will cause environmental damage and still not be sufficient to quench the thriving thirst of Beijing and other heavily populated cities. Moreover, opponents are concerned with the displacement that has begun to resettle citizens.

Resettlement, of about 330,000 people, has already begun, and is expected to be complete by 2011, according to official in Xinhua (in reference to reports by an report issued by Henan provincial authorities). Families have been told that they will be compensated for the cost of their immovable property, and be relocated to arable land. Citizens have also been told that their new villages will receive an annual subsidy of 600 yuan ($88) per person for the next twenty years. 

Human rights activists share concern over the forced agreement to relocate that was apparently forced upon them. Some citizens came forth stating that some resistant villagers were forced to sign a document indicating they were willing to resettle. Villagers expressed concern because they were being offered less than half the land they currently used for farming and other means of income.

The present water diversion project has been compared to the Three Gorges Dam, which forced over 1.4 million people to move. That project caused surrounding villages to be flooded in order to permit a 410 mile (660 kilometer) long reservoir to allow for a dam to be constructed on the middle of the Yangtze river. Here, though the number of displaced civilians is not as high, the same concerns and worries arise as people affected by the water diversion project face relocation and possible unequal and forced resettlement.

For more information, please see:

China Daily – China pushes international co-op in water sectors – October 19, 2009

Times of India – China to relocate 330,000 people for massive water diversion project – October 18, 2009 

China Review – Resettlement of 330,000 people starts to make way for China’s water diversion project  – October 18, 2009  

Yahoo! World News – China starts resettling 330,000 for water project – October 18, 2009