By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

WASHINGTON, United States – The U.S. nominee for North Korea human rights envoy, Robert King, said he will continue to pressure China to stop the deportation of North Korean refugees.

At the Senate confirmation hearing, King said, “The Chinese have been less hospitable than we would like in terms of accepting [North Korean] refugees and allowing them access to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.”

China views North Korean defectors as “economic migrants,” not refugees.  Therefore, China deports the defectors to North Korea where they face persecution.  China and North Korea have a secret agreement regarding deportation of North Korean defectors.

King also labeled North Korea as “one of the worst abusers of human rights in the world” and asked the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to continue supporting human rights in North Korea despite Pyongyang’s lack of cooperation.  The U.S. has taken in about 80 North Korean defectors since the passage of the North Korean Human Rights Act.

Furthermore, King described North Korea’s kidnapping of Japanese citizens as “one of the most egregious human rights violations.”  He said that the U.S. would support Japan in their efforts to obtain information of the abducted citizens.  Since 2002, North Korea has kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens.

Critics have accused the Obama administration of turning a blind eye on North Korean human rights issues.  Some have claimed that North Korea’s reprocessing of plutonium has overshadowed the country’s abysmal human rights record.

The UN has recently urged North Korea to immediately reverse its human rights record by providing food to millions of hungry citizens, stopping public executions and ending persecution of defectors who are sent back to North Korea.

The U.S. listed North Korea as one of the worst offenders of religious freedom last month, which put North Korea on the list of “countries of specific concern” for the ninth consecutive year. 

In addition, the U.S. State Department issued a human rights report earlier this year concerning human trafficking and repatriation of North Korean refugees.

Reports have said that the Senate is “virtually certain” to confirm King, however, North Korea has been critical of King’s nomination.

For more information, please see:

AFP – US envoy says to press China on NKorea refuges – 5 November 2009

Taiwan News – US envoy nominee presses NKorea on human rights – 6 November 2009

Yonhap News – U.S. envoy on N.K. human rights denounces China for refugee repatriation – 5 November 2009

By Megan E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

AHMEDABAD, India– In cities across India that have been struggling with organized crime groups, the response of crime fighters has been to have officers designated to killing these gang figures – all in the name of justice. These officers, known as encounter specialists, gained reputations as heroes, and became known as local celebrities by the number and particular gangsters they had killed.

Although such practice has occurred for decades, Indians have become increasingly wary of police officers taking on the role as judge, jury and executioner. According to the National Human Rights Commission, 346 people have been killed since 2006 in what seem to have been extrajudicial police killing, though this figure is estimated to be a low approximation.

A sensationalist account in June 2004 shed light on the issue when four Muslims were pummeled with bullets when intelligence reports had identified the four as terrorism suspects. The group had bomb-making chemicals and a suitcase full of money in the trunk of their car. It was believed they planned to assassinate the chief minister of India’s richest state when police intercepted.

Jay Narayan Vyas, a spokesman for the state government, said that the four people killed had been identified by the central government as terrorism suspects. A government intelligence report said that the four were possible terrorism suspects, but the central government has said that these were merely suspicions and could not justify the killings.

As suspicion mounted, forensic evidence revealed that the four were actually shot at point-blank range, and earlier than the reports given by the police. Civilian animosity then began to rise against “encounter killings.”

In many of these killings, investigations have found, the motive was not vigilante justice. The police often staged such killings for personal gain: eliminating a rival of a powerful politician in the hopes of a big promotion; killing a crime boss on behalf of one of his rivals; settling scores between businessmen. According to the New York Times, lawyers had known for years that something strange was happening in the Gujarat police force and that the killings of terrorism suspects were dubious. Such acts are dubbed, ‘fake encounters.’

Reports continue to show that these human rights violations and fake encounter killings are still being carried out by security forces in India. In New Delhi, political parties, with the exception of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), criticized the Gujarat government in a recent meeting and demanded that Chief Minister Narendra Modi resign over the June 2004 killing of Mumbai collegian, Ishrat Jahan, which created mass public awareness as a exploitive fake encounter. Governmental and official tension remains amidst human rights activists’ continued beckoning for the cessation of this crude ‘justice’ tactic.

For more information, please see:

New York Times – Questions on Executions Mount in India – October 3, 2009

Gulfnews: Modi government criticised for fake encounter killings – October 4, 2009

The Times of India – Another ‘fake’ encounter in Manipur – Septmber 11, 2009

Asia Human Rights Commission – INDIA: Encounter killing and custodial torture, a disgrace for the nation – September 14, 2009 

South Asia Citizens Web – ’Encounter Killings’ and the Question of Justice in India – September 6, 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HONG KONG– While cheering crowds with red flags took the streets in celebration of its National Day and 60 years of Communist rule in China, protesters dressed in black lined the streets of Hong Kong denouncing China’s human rights record.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, did not participate in China’s nationwide celebration because Hong Kong is allowed to enjoy “Western-style civil liberties as part of its special semiautonomous status.”  Accordingly, Hong Kong is where Chinese frequently hold events that highlight China’s human rights abuses and other issues that cannot be discussed in mainland China.

Hong Kong protesters.  Courtesy of AP.

Emily Lau Wai-hing of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party said, “If China wants to emerge as a strong, big power[,] it should respect the human rights of its people.  Just having economic development is not enough.”

Residents of Hong Kong marched through the downtown financial district holding placards with reminders of China’s 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy march in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.  The marchers also chanted, “We want human rights.  We don’t want a sanitized National Day.” 

Followers of Falun Gong also marched in silence, holding signs that read, “Dissolve the Chinese Community Party” and “Get rid of the red menace.”

Hong Kong protesters criticized China’s slow progress on human rights and democracy.  Pro-democracy activist Szeto Wah said, “[W]e can serve as a window – information about China can reach the outside world and information from the outside can flow in,” referring to Hong Kong’s role in shedding light on China’s problems since Hong Kong respects freedom of press and speech.

Lee Cheuk-yan, legislative council of Hong Kong, said, “After 60 years of communist rule[,] we see a regression in human rights and we can see that the Community Party has stepped up the effort in squeezing and suppressing human rights in China.”

The protesters also carried a fake coffin, which symbolized victims who were persecuted by China’s authoritarian and communist regime, to the Central Liaison Office, which is the Chinese government’s liaison office in Hong Kong.
For more information, please see:

AP – Hong Kongers protest on China’s National Day – 1 October 2009

New Tang Dynasty Television – Hong Kong Residents March for Human Rights in China – 2 October 2009

Tibetan Review – Protests dominate China’s National Day in Hong Kong – 3 October 2009

VOA – Protesters Denounce China’s Human Rights Record – 1 October 2009

By Megan E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

XINJIANG, China– In July, Chinese police detained more than 1,500 people after violence between ethnic Uighurs and Han Chinese left 200 dead.

The riots broke out on 5 July after an initially peaceful protest by Uighur youths, apparently prompted by an earlier riot in a factory in southern China. In the outbreak of violence, shops were smashed and vehicles set alight and passers-by set upon  rioters.

The Chinese government says 197 people died and more than 1,700 were injured. It maintains that most of the dead were Han Chinese, but the exile activist group, the World Uighur Congress, claims many Uighurs were also killed. The government has insisted the violence which followed was engineered by Uighurs in exile, chiefly World Uighur Congress leader Rebiya Kadeer. The far west autonomous region borders Russia, Mongolia, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Many Uighurs in this area want more autonomy and respect for their culture and religion, Islam, than China’s strict centrist rule permits.

This incident is described as one of the most serious incidents of ethnic unrest in the country’s recent  history. To much of the world’s surprise, China remained open about the events and was willing to allow reporters media access. Zhou Bing, a political commentator in Hong Kong, said this represents a loosening of the controls the foreign media might have expected in such circumstances. According to Bing, “They wanted the rest of the world to understand that this was a clash between two ethnic groups, rather than a separatist movement, to frame it as people fighting over local issues, not independence.” However, as tension mounted, China wanted to ensure that, within its own borders, its coverage did not further inflame ethnic tensions, and as such, media restrictions were thereby imposed.

The China Daily said that most of the arrests were made in Urumqi and Kashgar, a southern Xinjiang city with a heavy concentration of Uighur people. Charges include vandalizing public property and transport, organizing crowds to cause bodily harm to others, robbery, murder and arson. The state newspaper did not give a breakdown on how many Uighurs and how many Han would go on trial, but it said more than 170 Uighurs and 20 Han lawyers had been assigned to the suspects.  

Four months later, China and the rest of the world await to hear the final outcome. The city’s procuratorate said it has instituted public prosecutions in the Intermediate People’s Court of Urumqi against 21 suspects. A woman from the political department of the Urumqi Intermediate Court confirmed that charges had been issued, but would not her name or any details. The report did not say what the penalty those charged would face if convicted, but just after the riots, Urumqi’s Community Party, Secrtary Li Zhi, said that the death penalty would be sought in some of the serious cases.

For more information, please see:

China View: Xinhua News Agency – 21 suspects involved in Urumqi riot prosecuted  – September 25, 2009

China Daily – Top Xinjiang official stresses development to ensure stability – September 29, 2009 

BBC – China ‘to charge 83 over riots’ – August 4, 2009 

The Associated Press – China charges 21 with murder in July riots – September 25, 2009

 By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN– In a video posted on the social networking site Facebook, Pakistani soldiers are seen abusing Taliban suspects in a 10 minute video.

This video would be clear proof of such abuse, as it shows men in military attire beating suspects as officer looked on giving instructions.  At present time it is not clear where the film was shot, but conversations that are heard on the video suggest that it is recent and possibly shot in the Swat Valley.  

Human rights groups have previously accused the military of being involved in torture and extra judicial killing in the Swat valley region.  The Pakistani army has said that before commenting, it would need to examine the video.  Gen Athat Abbas, head of Pakistan army’s public relations wing stated “This is a very serious accusation,…..I cannot comment o nthe video till we have examined it. This will take some time as the army headquarters will have to be involved in the process.”

In the video it shows and officer interrogating several suspects, including some who are very old, and are presumed relatives of men who are being sought.  When the officer does not receive adequate answers, he orders the soldiers to punish the suspect who proceed to beat the suspect with belts and whips, along with kicking him all over with their heavy boots.  After the first round of punishment, the officer declares that unless the suspect tells all, he would administer “hard punishment”, telling the suspect “You don’t want me to cut off your hands and feet.”

If confirmed this would be the first clear proof of the Pakistani army being involved in the abuse of detainees.  Human rights groups, including The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) have accused the army of such violation during the recent Swat campaign, which the army has consistently denied, calling them “baseless”.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Video Shows Pakistan Army ‘Abuse’– 1 October 2009

Associated Press- Video Appears To Show Army Abuses-2 October 2009

Breaking News 24/7- Video Appears To Show Pakistani Troops Punching, Whipping Militant Suspects– 2 October 2009

 

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia