By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand – 121 Burmese migrant workers crammed inside a 20 feet long and 7 feet wide seafood container while being smuggled into Thailand as illegal laborers on Thursday.  37 women and 17 men suffocate to dead in the back of the truck.  Another 67 people were still alive when Thai police officers opened the container.  Some Survivors were hospitalized and the others were held for questioning, according to Col. Kraithong Chanthongbai, the local police commander in Ranong Province, on Myanmar’s border.

Survivors told police that they each paid 10,000 baht (US$314) to be smuggled into Thailand.  One of the survivors, Saw Win, said that about 30 minutes into the trip workers pounded on the container, screamed for air and called the driver, who briefly turned on the air conditioning.  The air conditioning later went off, and they called the driver again 30 minutes later but his phone was off. They shouted and banged on the sides of the sweltering container until he stopped the truck about an hour later, unlocked the container and fled when he saw the state of the victims.

“Television reports showed police lifting bodies out of the truck and images of the cargo-like container empty except for a few pieces of clothing,”  AP reports. “The dead migrants—many wearing little more than T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops—were seen laid out on the floor at a storage facility of a local charity.”

The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said in a report in 2005 that workers from Myanmar “are routinely paid well below the Thai minimum wage, work long hours in unhealthy conditions and are at risk of arbitrary arrest and deportation.” These workers are typically brought into the country by large smuggling syndicates in difficult and often dangerous condition.

The deaths illustrated the increasing human trafficking activities across borders into countries as far apart in the world as the United States, Britain and Thailand.  In 2001, 58 illegal Chinese migrants died when they were crammed into a sweltering tomato truck on the way to England.  In a similar incident in 2003 in Texas, 19 Latin American migrants died from overheating and suffocation inside a trailer truck.

For more information, please see:

AFP – 54 Myanmar migrants die while being smuggled into Thailand – 10 April 2008

AP – 54 Myanmar Migrants Die in Thailand – 10 April 2008

New York Time – Migrants Perish in Truck to Thailand – 11 April 2008

Thai News Agency MCOT – Interior Minister calls for urgent probe of Myanmar migrant workers’ tragedy – 10 April 2008

USA Today – Thai police find 54 dead Burmese migrants in truck – 10 April 2008

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia

MANILA, Philippines – A man on a motorcycle gunned down a Benefredo Acabal, a local newspaper columnist for the Cavite paper The Filipino Newsmen, on Monday, April 7^th. According to police reports, Benefredo Acabal was shot five times in the head and body. He died on his way to the hospital. Benefredo Acabal is the first journalist to have been killed in the Philippines this year.

The Philippines is regarded as the most dangerous places for journalists afterIraq. Since 2001, when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came into office, 56 reporters have been killed. Between 1986 and 2001 there were 35 journalists killed.

Local police, however, are reluctant to connect Benefredo Acabal’s murder to his profession yet. Police Officer Lardy Ignacio said, “We’re still trying to establish the motive for the killing.” He added that it was too soon to say the murder was work-related.

Journalism in the Philippines creates dangers risk for reporters. There are many investigative stories about drug trafficking, gambling and other illegal activities, and underpaid reporters sometimes take bribes to report specific stories.

The Philippine government has been widely criticized for its inability to protect reporters, left-wing politicians, and students. Nearly a thousand persons have been murdered or disappeared in similar situations like Benefredo Acabal. But there have yet to be any convictions regarding past killings. The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, Philippine human rights groups, and HRW have all pointed to strong evidence of military involvement in the disappearances and murders.

For more information, please see:

GMA News TV – Cavite Journalist Slain in Pasig Shooting Incident – 8 April 2008

Impunity Watch – No Convictions in Extrajudicial Killings in Philippines – 4 April 2008

Philippine Star – Another Journalist Killed in Pasig – 8 April 2008

Reuters – Gunman Kills Newspaper Columnist in Philippines – 8 April 2008 – 8 April 2008

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia

KATHMANDU, Nepal – After 10 years of insurgency by Maoists and almost 240 years of monarchy by the family of King Gyanendra, Nepal is set to have elections on April 10^th that will elect an assembly which will transform the country. However, ahead of the elections the United Nations fears that voters face violation and intimidation from supporters of political parties.

A UN report attributed most of the acts to the Maoist party. In its report, it wrote, “The Young Communist League and other Maoist cadres continued to be involved in the largest proportion of these incidents.”. In mid-March youth cadres beat up workers of the Communist Party of Nepal, and harmed one person so severely that he needed a hospital stay. In February, the Nepali Congress accused Maoists of setting a candidate’s home on fire. When the candidate attempted to flee, he was hit with a boulder and fractured his hip.

The UN Mission in Nepal and the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights found that during campaigning there have been a number of abductions and explosions near voting sites. There are three reported deaths thus far and numerous injured persons. Some rebel groups in Nepal’s southern plain region have vowed to disrupt the elections.

The organizations also reported there was credible evidence that State resources were being used to buy votes through “donations” of food, clothing, and other goods.

The Nepalese government tightened security to decrease the violent incidents. About 135,000 police were deployed to keep watch until elections on Thursday. In addition, helicopters are patrolling the skies until the election and will later be used to transport the ballot boxes from remote polling stations.

The up and coming elections are crucial to the country’s future because the newly elected assembly will write a new constitution. This will likely result in a republic, a foundation to lasting peace with Maoists, and a change to the workings of the government. The assembly will also decide how ethnic groups will be represented in the government.

For more information, please see:

The Hindu – UN Asks Political Parties to Stop ‘Intimidatory Behaviour’ – 7 April 2008

International Herald Tribune – Nepal Prepares to Vote with an Uneasy Eye on Ex-Insurgent Candidates – 6 April 2

Reuters – Tight Security in Place Ahead of Nepal Elections – 5 April 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – More than 1,000 Khmer Rouge Regime survivors have filed complaints with the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.  The complaints are a method for greater participation from public in the prosecution.  Survivors are able to share their stories with the Khmer Rouge Regime and give the prosecution additional evidence.

For more information, please see:

Radio Australia – Filed Complaints Bolster Cambodian Trials – 8 April 2008

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SRINAGAR, India – Amnesty International, an international human rights group, urged the Indian government to launch an immediate investigation into nearly 1,000 unidentified graves found in the remote-hit region of Kashmir during the past two years.  Amnesty International wants the government to determine if any of the graves contain the bodies of those listed as missing by local rights groups.  Human Rights Watch also released a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), indicating that HRC should insist that the Indian government take strong steps to hold accountable members of its security forces responsible for torture, arbitrary detentions, killings, and “disappearances”.

The plea from Amnesty International comes after a local rights group, the Association of Parents of Disappeared People, said it discovered nearly 1,000 unidentified graves scattered in cemeteries around the town of Uri. Uri is one of the most violent parts of Kashmir and neighbors the Pakistan-administered zone of Kashmir.

“The grave sites are believed to contain the remains of victims of unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other abuses which occurred in the context of armed conflict persisting in the state since 1989,” Amnesty International said in a statement.

Last week police in Indian-administered Kashmir rejected a demand for action to identify the bodies.  At least 200 demonstrators led by senior leaders of Hurriyat held a protest in Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir, against what they called gross human rights violations by security forces.  The protestors carried placards reading “Stop human rights violations” and pictures of “missing persons”.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but claimed by both in its entirety.  Many Islamic groups have been fighting mainly Hindu India in Kashmir since 1989, demanding independence or a union with mostly Muslim Pakistan.  The insurgency has left more than 43,000 people dead by official counts while rights groups put the toll at 70,000 dead and disappeared.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Amnesty urges Kashmir grave probe – 07 April 2008

Human Rights Watch – India: UN Rights Council Should Tackle Impunity – 07 April 2008

International Herald Tribune – International rights group urges India to probe unidentified graves in Kashmir – 07 April 1008

Reuters – Amnesty urges India to probe unmarked Kashmir graves – 07 April 2008