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

 

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – Despite the recent revision in their constitution calling for more respect on human rights, North Korea is estimated to be holding 154,000 political prisoners in six prison camps.

North Korean camp.  Courtesy of Michael Danby. 

These political prisoners are held in separate camps from other criminals, i.e., those who commit robbery or murder, and are forced to work for more than ten hours a day for only about 200 grams of food. 

The prisoners, usually dissidents, defectors who have tried and failed in fleeing North Korea and those who have been “accused of being disrespectful towards the leadership” or lost a political power struggle, are also said to be denied any medical care.  They are forbidden from communicating with family members as well.

A South Korean government official, Yoon Sang-hyun, reported that North Korea had about 200,000 political prisoners in ten camps in the 1990s, but North Korea closed four of these camps after condemnation from the international community.

Yoon said, “North Korea perpetrates various crimes against humanity, including public executions, tortures or rapes, against those who try to escape.”

North Korea does have a history of being among the world’s worst human rights abusers, but North Korea has rejected any criticism on its human rights violations and the existence of gulags.

In another study released by the U.S. Congress, there were reports that North Korea’s concentration camps have “evolved into a mechanism for extorting money from citizens trading in private markets.” 

This report said that there has been a rise in “market activity” in recent years in North Korea, and markets are the “only source of food” for the poor.  However, the North Korean government has banned such market activity, arresting those who engage in market activity as “economic criminals” and sending them to camps. 

These economic criminals, held separately from political prisoners, are held in low-level labor camps and are allowed to go home in about one month.

Nonetheless, reports state that North Korean authorities have “extraordinary discretion” in determining who goes to these labor camps and who gets to leave.  Furthermore, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il has absolute power and executions are carried out under Kim’s discretion.
 

For more information, please see:

 
BBC – North Korea gulags ‘hold 150,000’ – 17 October 2009

Canadian Press – North Korea holds 154,000 political prisoners in 6 camps: S Korean lawmaker says – 17 October 2009

Chosun Ilbo – N.Korean Officials “Use Gulag to Extort Bribes’ – 7 October 2009

Korea Times – N. Korea Holding 154,000 Political Prisoners – 17 October 2009

By Megan E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Almost one year ago Liang Liwan gave information to Yves Cabannes, head contact of the United Nations Advisory Group on Forced Evictions. The result of her outreach was imprisonment.

A Chinese human rights group reports that Liwan has been in police custody since September 23, 2009 based on her attempt to contact officials within the United Nations regarding forced eviction and demolition in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. It was also reported that on October 3, Liwan was moved to an undisclosed location thereby leaving her family with no knowledge of her whereabouts or wellbeing.   

Liang’s imprisonment is based on information she conveyed to the United Nations Advisory Group on Forced Evictions in 2008 making them aware of the impending demolition of her home and several others by the local government. Following her contact with the United Nations, Liang’s husband was seriously injured in a beating by thugs in December of 2008.

In mid-August 2009, a conference was held at the School of Public Management of Zhejiang University, where Liang spoke about social problems facing ordinary Chinese citizens with personal antidotes to discuss along with her research. The United Nations informant Liang reached out to, Yves Cabannes, attended the conference. The event was organized by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, a German foundation, the Centre Marc Bloch, a German social sciences research institution, and the Zhejiang University.

After the conference, Liang invited Cabannes and others to see the site of her home, which is being requisitioned by the government for expansion of the city’s East Railway Station. Liang gave them a tour of her home and while showing conference attendees her house, the police arrived and took Cabannes and others to the local police substation for questioning. Liang escaped and returned to the outskirts of Beijing to her temporary home, which she was renting while petitioning the government.

According to Amnesty International, sources say that on September 22, 2009, three men and one woman forced their way into Liang’s temporary home and attempted to force her to sign an agreement for the demolition. Liang refused. Liang was then detained in Beijing by officials and security police belonging to the city of Hangzhou. It is also reported that police may have threatened Liang’s husband stating that they were detaining his wife. 

It was then that Liang was taken to Hangzhou on September 27 and detained at two different locations before being transferred to an undisclosed location on October 3.

Human rights activists are concerned that Liang’s case is sadly one of millions of Chinese citizens who have been forcibly displaced by local governments across China in recent years.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights in China – Activist Detained After Telling UN Expert of Impending Eviction  – October 7, 2009 

United Nations – World Report 2009 – China – January 14, 2009

Center on Housing Rights & Evictions – Forced Evictions – Violations of Human Rights – Report 2007.

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

NEW DELHI, India– In a development charity’s report released to coincide with UN World Food Day; countries such as India and China have been praised for their efforts to tackle hunger.  However the ActionAid International’s “anti-hunger scorecard”, which ranks government efforts to combat hunger, critiques India, amongst other countries for their inaction in attempting to alleviate the problem of providing the “Right to Adequate Food” to their people.  This report ranks 51 countries where ActionAid has a presence or has data reliable enough to make comparisons.

The ‘Right to Adequate Food’ comes from the UN’s International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  The right to adequate food is a human right for all, to have regular and permanent access, either directly or by financial means to adequate and sufficient food.  

The study estimates that globally one billion people are malnourished, which roughly represents one in seven of the world’s population.  The report criticizes the economically liberal India.  It states the ranks of the hungry have swelled by 30 million people since the mid-1990s, with nearly half of children in the country being under weight, placing it at number 22 after countries such as Ethiopia and Lesotho.  The study also reveals a contrast in the country where although India was ranked in the top three developing countries on the social protection indicator, many have gone hungry as a result of “poor implementation.”  India ranks sixth in developing nations in legal framework for addressing hunger and food rights, but the poor implementation of these laws and schemes has made it futile and difficult for the common man to have a right to adequate food.  Babu Matthew, director of ActionAid India said “The dark side of India’s economic growth has been that the excluded groups have been further marginalized, compounding their hunger, malnutrition and even leading to starvation deaths.”

The report notes the reason hunger in India exists is not because there is not enough food, but the population does not have access to it, and the exploitation of natural resources has led to “horrific displacement” of people, making many in the country poverty stricken.  Anne Jellema, the international policy director for ActionAid stated “It is the role of the state and not the level wealth, that determines progress on hunger.”  

Jellema also implored that “Massive and urgent support to poor farmers, and social welfare programmes for vulnerable groups, are needed to reverse growing global hunger. At the World Food Summit next month, donor countries need to announce an additional 23 billion dollars to support these measures.”

For information, please see:

BBC News-Mixed Messages in Hunger Report– 16 October 2009

Kaiser Family Foundation- World Food Day Marked, ActionAid International Releases Hunger Report– 16 October 2009

Hindustan Times- Half of India’s Children Malnourished, say NGO Report-17 October 2009

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations- Right to Food