KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Irene Fernandez, the director of the human rights group Tenaganita, a prominent labor activist, was acquitted by a Malaysian court on Monday. “I’m so happy that finally truth and justice prevailed,” Fernandez told The Associated Press. “I should never have been charged in the first place.”

Irene Fernandez was arrested in 1996 for claiming that police tortured illegal immigrants in detention, but remained free on bail while fighting her case.  She was convicted and sentenced to one year in 2003 but appealed.  Fernandez’s 1995 report was compiled from interviews with more than 300 former detainees.  The report alleged that illegal immigrants died in Malaysian camps from malnutrition and torture. The government confirmed 98 detainees had died, but said they succumbed to diseases contracted in their homelands.

Irene Fernandez was convicted, and sentenced one year in prison in 2003, but she appealed.
Prosecutor Shamsul Sulaiman said the prosecution decided not to oppose the appeal because typed records from earlier court proceedings contained “systemic errors.”  The errors occurred when a court official typed up the judge’s handwritten notes, Shamsul said.

The appeal process, which did not start until April 1, 2008, has seen a series of postponements. The hearing was postponed until May 12 when it was discovered that 1,700 pages of the record, including witness statements, were missing.  The case was again postponed on August 5 when it was discovered a computer virus had wiped out some newly typed notes. In October, Fernandez’s defense lawyer said that he had received almost 9,000 pages of handwritten and typed notes, but that portions were “incomprehensible.”

“Irene Fernandez and her organization documented the government’s sadistic and humiliating treatment of migrants,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Human Rights Watch has also documented such treatment.”

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – Malaysian activist acquitted after 12 years of legal battles – 24 November 2008

AP – Malaysia labor activist acquitted after long fight – 24 November 2008

HRW – Malaysia: Drop Case Against Labor Activist – 21 November 2008

Recuters – Malaysia court acquits activist after marathon case – 24 November 2008

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea – The U.N. General Assembly’s human rights committee has passed a resolution urging North Korea to improve its human rights conditions on Friday. 51 countries cosponsored the resolution, including South Korea, which is the first cosponsor.  The resolution expressed “very serious concern” at rights violations in North Korea, including the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, the “all-pervasive and severe restrictions” on freedom of thought and religion, and violations of workers’ rights.

However, North Korea strongly rejected the U.N. resolution.  The North Korean delegation to the UN criticized the nonbinding resolution, characterizing it as politicization and double standards in dealing with human rights.  According to the North Korea’s official news agency, a foreign ministry spokesman, Pak Dok Hun said, the DPRK (North Korea) resolutely rejects the resolution.  He said it is based on “false and fabricated” data, adding that the hardline communist country would “firmly” stick to its system and ideology.  Pak also says the resolution was “a provocation to the North’s dignity,” and South Korea “will face the dearest price” for its “treacherous act.”

South Korea’s co-sponsored triggered anger from Pyongyang and worsened cross-border relations. Secretive North Korea said on Monday it would all but seal its border with the South a week before heading into talks with its neighbor and other regional powers which are pressing it to give up nuclear weapons. North Korea’s KCNA news agency said the border closure was the first step “to be taken in connection with the evermore undisguised anti-DPRK (North Korea) confrontational racket of the south Korean puppet authorities.”  The tension between South and North Korean has been escalating since President Lee Myung-bak took office in February. President Lee promises to invest heavily in the impoverished North on condition it moves to end development of an atomic arsenal.

For more information, please see:

AP – Report: North Korea rejects UN rights resolution – 22 November 2008

Jurist – North Korea protests proposed UN General Assembly rights resolution – 22 November 2008

KBS – UN Committee Passes Resolution on NK Human Rights – 22 November 2008

International Herald Tribune – North Korea rejects UN human rights resolution – 24 November 2008

Washington Post – North Korea prepares to shut border with South – 24 November 2008

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGALORE, India – Police evicted more than 100 working class transgender people, also known as hijras, last week. Human Rights Watch and other groups believe that these acts are part of a bigger scheme by police to actively cleanse Bangalore of transgenders, basing their campaign on incidents reported in national newspapers. The news reported that a gang of hijras kidnapped children, castrated them and forced them into prostitution. Police allegedly arrested the perpetrators.

“Of course, all reports of child abuse should be thoroughly investigated,” said Dipika Nath, researcher in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights program at Human Rights Watch. “But authorities are also responsible for sorting out fact from prejudice – and there is no excuse for targeting an entire community for retaliation.”

Following the news stories, the police inspector of Bangalore issued a notice to about 40 homeowners requiring them to evict all hijras occupying their homes. The police targeted the Dasarahalli neighborhood, a place known for having a large number of hijra inhabitants. Almost 100 hijra residents lost their homes, some lost their security deposits, and some lost their belongings.

Hijra victims stated that claims by the police are unfounded and the reported kidnappings are being used as justification for the evictions. Police say that it is the homeowners that are evicting their tenants. However, the leading national newspaper, The Hindu, obtained a copy of the eviction notice served upon the hijra tenants by the police.

“Because of prevailing myths that hijras habitually kidnap young boys, reports of the arrest of two hijras on criminal charges are a convenient excuse to target the entire community without arousing public outcry,” said Nath.

Last month, police arrested five hijras in Bangalore and charged them with extortion. The hijras were beaten and sexually abused. Forty-one human rights defenders were also arrested for protesting their arrest.

On October 20th, Deputy Commissioner of Police in Bangalore was quoted by a national newspaper, Daily News and Analysis, as calling for a “drive against the city’s eunuch menace.” “Eunuch” is a derogatory term for hijras.

For more information, please see:

The Hindu – Hijras Face Further Harassment – 13 November 2008

Human Rights Watch – India:  Stop ‘Social Cleansing’ in Bangalore – 18 November 2008

Times of India – Conflicts Surface Over Sex-Change Racket – 12 November 2008

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Amnesty International urged the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger rebels to allow aid to the more than 300,000 people displaced by the fighting in the northern Wanni region.

“More than 300,000 people face the next few months crowded together in temporary shelters, surrounded by mud, with no promise of regular access to food or adequate sanitation. Our information indicates that the situation in Wanni is rapidly becoming critical, despite that government’s statements that it is coping,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific Director.

Nearly two-thirds of the civilian population in the Wanni region have been displaced by the conflict. Amnesty International states that the need for shelter is increased by the approaching of the monsoon season. Only 2,100 temporary shelters have been provided, leaving more than 20,000 families without shelter.

Amnesty International urges the government to allow additional aid by human rights groups since it believes that the government lacks the capacity to uphold international human rights standards and to ensure that the support is provided to protect the lives of the civilians. Moreover, the Tigers are called upon to ensure the freedom of movement to safer places.

On Thursday, the Sri Lanka government rejected the charges of humanitarian aid blockage to the people in Wanni. Presidential Secretariat said that the government is satisfied that the maximum assistance is being provided considering the circumstances dealing with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The Tigers have been at war with the government in order to achieve their goal of a separate homeland for the LTTE. The battle taking place in the Wanni region has lasted for several weeks now, causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians. The civilians are trapped because of both the fear they have of the government and the restriction of movement from the Tigers who currently occupy the territory. The government hopes to end the war with the Tigers by taking back this region.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Amnesty in Urgent Sri Lanka Plea – 19 November 2008

Colombo Page –  Sri Lanka Government Rejects Amnesty International Report of Aid Blockage – 20 November 2008

TamilNet – Amnesty Urges Sri Lanka to End Policy of Blocking Humanitarian Aid– 19 November 2008

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HANOI, Vietnam – The Vietnamese government will pass a new law strictly enforcing a 2-child per couple policy. Communist Officals in Vietname are worried about the growing-population in Vietnam.

Many Vietnamese families have a third child because of the longstanding preference for a male heir to carry on the family name.  Thus, many of the families that have more than two children have previous children who are daughters. According to government sources, for the first nine months of this year, childbirth has already increased by 10% from last year.

There is already an existing 2-child policy that was ratified in the 1960s; however, the policy was never strictly enforced.  That decree was “so general that people haven’t understood it and have sometimes taken advantage of it” said the deputy head General Office for Population and Family Planning, Duong Quoc Trong.  Trong added, “The demographic boom is damaging the country’s sustainable development.”

In the past, people were reprimanded by fines, pay-cuts, and expulsion from work for having a third child. The Vietnamese government has not yet disclosed what the new punishments will be for the 2-child policy. Certain minority ethnic groups will be exempt from the 2-child policy.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) estimates that Vietnam’s population growth is currently at 1.3% and will continue to grow for the next 30 years. However, Tran Thi Van of UNPF fears that the 2-policy will be problematic for Vietnam’s development in the future.

Van said the government should rethink the 2-child policy because “life expectancy is rising, the fertility rate is decreasing and in the next 20 years many people will be in the senior group” and “if there is not [a sufficient] labor force as the population is ageing, the country will face a lot of problems.”

For more information, please see:

APF – Vietnam to Tighten Two-Child Rule– 21 November 2008

BBC – Vietnam to Enforce Two-Child Rule– 20 November 2008

Channel News Asia – Vietnam to Tighten Two-Child Rule– 21 November 2008