By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

TOKYO, Japan– The United Nations has reported that the world’s second largest economy, Japan, is ranked 54th in terms of gender equality.

UN’s Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women is urging Japan to take stronger remedial measures to eliminate gender inequality, because the country’s efforts thus far have been “insufficient.”

The Committee reported that Japan has failed to address problems affecting women identified in a 2003 report and also listed provisions in Japan’s Civil Code concerning unequal treatment towards women in the labor market.  The report also criticized the low representation of Japanese women in high-level elected offices.

UN urges Japan to do more to eliminate gender bias (Source: AP)

The UN is recommending that Japan raise the legal age for marriage for women from 16 to 18 in line with men, abolish the six-month waiting period before remarriage required for women but not for men, and allow a choice of surnames for married couples.  Furthermore, the Committee advised that Japan repeal laws that discriminate against children born out of wedlock and to impose harsher punishment for rape.

The report also reminded Japan that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, to which Japan is a party, is binding.  The Committee’s report said Japan should recognize the Convention as “the most pertinent, broad and legally binding international instrument in the sphere of the elimination against women.”

Fortunately, Japan’s Cabinet has acknowledged that change is needed.  In the general election coming up next week, issues that were traditionally categorized as “women’s affairs” have become mainstream election issues. 

Ikuko Tanioka, the president of Chukyo Women’s University, said, “Parliament can no longer be run according to the armchair logic of old men.”  A professor at Japan Women’s University, Machiko Osawa, also added, “So much needs to change…[w]e need equal pay for equal work, pension reform, daycare reform and infinitely better support for working mothers…the underlying problem for Japan is still one of attitude.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – Japanese women ‘still not equal’ – 21 August 2009

The Japan Times – Do more to ban gender bias, U.N. panel urges – 21 August 2009

Times Online – ‘We don’t count the women’ – gender inequality in Japanese companies – 8 August 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– Pu Liang, a 14-year old, is in critical condition after being repeatedly beaten at a boot camp in southwest China for Internet addicts.  This comes less than three weeks after a 15-year old was beaten to death at another military-like camp.

Pu is reported to be suffering from kidney failure, which resulted from repeated beatings at the camp where he was being held in solitary confinement.  The boy’s father was quoted in a Chinese newspaper saying, “My son was severely injured after he was beaten three times by the counselor and other students.  All injuries were done by people in the camp.”

The family had paid the camp where Pu was being held 5,000 yuan, which is approximately $730, to treat Pu’s online computer game addiction.  Children at these camps go through rigorous physical exercises and are taught to appreciate other pastimes. 

Wu Yongjing, the man who set up the camp, said, “Physical punishment is an effective way to educate children.”  He further admitted that children are sometimes beaten at his camp.  The camp has been closed and the principal has been arrested.

Internet users in China (Source: BBC)

China has the most Internet users in the world, totaling almost 300 million, and many parents place their children in boot camps to treat their Internet “addiction.”  However, the treatment for Internet addiction remains controversial in China because the rules pertaining to this area are not uniform. 

An expert on Internet addiction at Beijing’s Military General Hospital, Tao Ran, said while “only hospitals and doctors with proper qualifications should provide treatment,” parents send their children to these military-like camps, which are not run by qualified professionals.  Tao added, “Internet addiction is treatable…80[%] of the patients can get away from the addiction.”

China’s Minister of Health has no plans to register or monitor these boot camps.  However, the Chinese officials did ban electro-shock therapy to treat Internet addiction after abuses were reported at Internet addiction camps.

For more information, please see:

AFP – New China web addict attack: state media – 19 August 2009

BBC – China web addict ‘beaten’ at camp – 19 August 2009

CNN – China probe of abuse at Web addiction camp – 19 August 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– A court in northwest China sentenced a group of Tibetans for their role in anti-government protests which took place earlier this year.  Six monks and two lay people were sentenced to jail terms ranging from six-months to seven years in Qinghai province, a region that is largely ethnically Tibetan and includes the birthplace of exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

The eight Tibetans were accused of inciting a mob attack of a police station in a Tibetan town of Rabgya back in March.  The unrest began when a Buddhist monk jumped into the Yellow River to escape police interrogation.  He had hung a Tibetan flag on the roof of his monastery on March 10, which was the anniversary of the failed 1959 Tibetan revolt against the Chinese government, and had distributed anti-government pamphlets.  The Chinese police detained about 100 monks after the violence broke out, and hundreds of Tibetans rioted and attacked the police station.

Monk Palden Gyatso received the harshest sentence, seven years in prison (Source: NYT)

This recent violence resembled the mass protest of March 2008 in Tibetan-populated regions of China, which was the largest anti-government protest by Tibetans in decades.  According to the exiled Tibetan government, the subsequent crackdown by the Chinese government since last year’s riots has led to more than 200 Tibetan deaths.

Local Chinese officials have refused to release any information on the riots which took place this past March, and a court clerk told a news agency that she had no knowledge about the case of the eight Tibetans who were sentenced.  Remaining anonymous, she said, “We don’t know anything about the trial.  Nobody at our court knows.”

However, Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy expressed “its serious concern over Chinese authorities’ manhandling of the case and awarding lengthy prison sentences to what was a mere…exercise of the freedom of expression…guaranteed by the Chinese Constitutions….”  The Centre is urging China to reverse the verdict and ensure fair and free trial to the eight Tibetans.
For more information, please see:

AFP – China court jails eight Tibetans: rights group – 18 August 2009

AP – Report: 8 Tibetans jailed over protests in China – 18 August 2009

Reuters – China sentences 8 Tibetans over protests – activists – 18 August 2009

Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy – China sentences eight Tibetans to varying prison terms in Tibet – 14 August 2009

By Alishba I. Kassim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

TARAKAI, Afghanistan – A group of Taliban fighters made an announcement in a nearby village bazaar a few days ago, threatening to cut off the inked finger of anyone that votes in the upcoming election.

Local villagers told media that they would not participate in the upcoming presidential election. “We can’t vote. Everybody knows it. We are farmers, and we cannot do a thing against the Taliban,” said Hakamatullah, a farmer in the Tarakai area.

The situation is no different in the Pashtun heartland of eastern and southern Afghanistan where the Taliban exert significant authority. There too, many villagers have been warned against going to the polls. Conditions have been so chaotic that many Afghans have been unable to register to vote. The Pashtuns make up about 40 percent of Afghanistan’s population, and doubts regarding their participation are casting a dark cloud over the elections.

The Taliban leadership released the following statement last month with regards to the upcoming election, “Afghans must boycott the deceitful American project and head for the trenches of holy war. The holy warriors have to defeat this evil project, carry out operations against enemy centers, prevent people from participating in elections, and block all major and minor roads before Election Day.” In other released messages since then, Taliban insurgents have been claiming responsibility for the deaths of Hamid Karzai’s and Abdullah Abdullah’s campaign workers.

The U.S. has deployed additional marines to protect the villagers so voting can continue as planned, but local officials are still doubtful, “When you leave here, the Taliban will come at night and ask us why we are talking to you,” a villager named Abdul Razzaq said. “If we don’t cooperate, they will kill us.”

For more information, please see:

CBS – Tension Rises in Afghanistan – August 16  , 2009 

The Australian – Taliban Threat to Afghanistan Election – August 16, 2  009 

The New York Times – Fear of Taliban Discourages Afghan Voters– August 16, 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea– North Korea released Yu Seong-jin, a South Korean employee for Hyundai Asan Corporation, on Thursday after detaining him for 137 days on charges of denouncing North Korea’s political system and persuading a North Korean to defect.

A North Korean official has said, “(Yu) criticized our honorable regime with malignant intention, interfered with the sovereignty of our republic, and committed grave and serious acts that violated relevant law.” 

South Korea and Hyundai Group have been holding negotiations with the North to free Yu for the past two months.  Hyun Jung-eun, the president of Hyundai Group, has actually been in North Korea for the past several days negotiating Yoo’s release with Pyongyang.  Hyundai Group is South Korea’s biggest corporate investor in North Korea.

Yoo Seong-jin talking to reporters following his release (Source: AP)

Yoo was released to South Korean officials in Kaesong, a North Korean town where a joint industrial park is run by the two Koreas, and he has crossed the border and has been reunited with his family.

Inter-Korean relations have been at the lowest point in years since a conservative president was elected in South Korea last year, but Yoo’s release is seen as a sign that the North could be ready to take a more conciliatory approach with its southern neighbor, as well as revive private business ventures between the two countries.  However, the North is still holding four South Korean fishermen who were captured by the North when their boat strayed into North Korean waters two weeks ago.

Accordingly, an analyst at Seoul’s Korea Research Institute for National Unification said, “It is still too early to say that this will lead to a resumption of official dialogue between the two sides.”  The two Koreas have never signed a peace treaty following the Korean War, which ended in 1953, and are technically still at war.
For more information, please see:

BBC – N Korea releases S Korea worker – 13 August 2009

Donga Ilbo – NK Frees Detained S. Korean Worker after 137 Days – 14 August 2009

NYT – South Korean Worker Freed by North – 13 August 2009