By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia

NEW DELHI, India – More than 100 Tibetan exiles were arrested in India before embarking on a 6-month march to Tibet. Atul Fulzele, the police superintendent for the Kangra district of Hamachal Pradesh, which is where Dharamasala is located, told reporters that about 100 persons were arrested under criminal codes that allow preventative arrests.

Days earlier the police had issued a restraining order to prevent the marchers from leaving Kangra. Atul Fulzele said, “Today they were planning to move outside the Kangra district. That would have been a crime.” He also added that the marchers did not resist arrest, and there was “no law and order problem.” A government official speaking anonymously commented that “India has other obligations as a country,” which include its commitment to participate in the Beijing Olympics, which prevents India from supporting the march.

Indian police are asking protesters to sign statements that say they will not participate in more protests against China or other political activities. Most are refusing to sign and plan on going on a hunger strike until they are released.

The group intended to begin their march from Dharamasala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. The march was intended to begin on the anniversary of the failed uprising of Tibet in 1959 and end in Lhasa as the Summer Olympics Games opened.

A group of 50 Tibetan exiles in New Delhi were also arrested after they attempted to storm the Chinese embassy. They ran through a security cordon and tried to scale the high walls, but were prevented by security forces. The protesters, who were also mostly nuns and monks, were put in waiting vans and driven to a police station.

Human rights activists are concerned that India’s stance against the protests signals an escalating attitude of repression. Arresting peaceful marchers who were carrying photos of Mahatma Gandhi “signifies a toughness that does not seem legitimate,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch.

For more information, please see:

International Herald Tribune – 100 Tibetan Exiles Arrested in India – 13 March 2008

International Herald Tribune – Tibetans Defy India in March to Homeland – 11 March 2008

The Inquirer – Tibetans Held in India after Fresh Chinese Embassy Assault – 15 March 2008

PENANG, Malaysia – After an unprecedented election in which the United Malays National Organization [UMNO] went from a 91 percent majority to 63 percent majority, several hundred Malays protested and defied an nationwide ban on public demonstrations. During the protests, the hundreds of Malays chanted “Long Live the Malays” and “Allah Akhbar!” – God is great!

Newly elected legislators have moved to abolish privileges held by ethnic-Malays for more than three and half decades. The affirmative action program has granted ethnic-Malays a wide range of benefits from discounts on new houses to 30 percent quotas in initial public offerings. The movement to abolish the privileges highlights the core problems of the ethnic-based political system.

Hours after the protests, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi refused to resign despite calls from within his own party. The son of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad asked him to take responsibility for the losses in the recent election. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi declared that there was a “strong mandate” for him to continue because the UMNO had retained a “strong majority.” In an interview of state television, he said, “This is still a mandate given to me. I will not run away from my responsibility to carry out the wishes of the people.”

For more information, please see:

International Herald Tribune – Malay Demonstration Highlights Ethnic Tension –14 March 2008

International Herald Tribune – Malaysia Prime Minister Rejects Calls to Resign –14 March 2008

BEIJING, China – The U.S. State Department removed China from a list of top 10 human rights violators, according to its annual human rights report.  But instead of placing it among the world’s worst offenders, it shifted China’s listing to: “authoritarian countries that are undergoing economic reform and have experienced rapid social change but have not undertaken democratic political reform and continue to deny their citizens basic human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The delisting of China upsets many rights activists, saying that China’s crackdown on dissent is getting worse as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in August.  In the past week, Chinese police crackdowned monks’ demonstrations in Lhasa, which is the capital of the remote mountainous region of Tibet. Human rights activist Hu Jia, detained after organizing a petition stating that Chinese wanted “human rights, not the Olympics,” was informed that his trial on charges of subverting state power could begin as early as this month.  A prominent human rights lawyer, Teng Biao, was abducted by the Beijing Public Security Bureau and then released two days later.  Migrant construction workers building the “new Beijing” are routinely exploited by being denied proper wages, under dangerous conditions with neither accident insurance nor access to medical and other social services.

State Department officials in Washington avoided questions about why China was dropped from the worst-offenders list, where it has appeared in each of the previous two years.  Jonathan Farrar, acting assistant secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said that China’s “human rights record remains poor” and that the report gives a “very frank appraisal” on the status of human rights in the country.

For more information, please see:

Christian Science Monitor – China’s human rights rating upgraded by U.S. State Dept. – 13 March 2008

International Herald Tribune – U.S. drops China from list of top 10 violators of rights – 12 March 2008

Washington Post – U.S. Delisting of China Upsets Rights Activists – 13 March 2008

BEIJING, China – The U.S. State Department removed China from a list of top 10 human rights violators, according to its annual human rights report.  But instead of placing it among the world’s worst offenders, it shifted China’s listing to: “authoritarian countries that are undergoing economic reform and have experienced rapid social change but have not undertaken democratic political reform and continue to deny their citizens basic human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The delisting of China upsets many rights activists, saying that China’s crackdown on dissent is getting worse as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in August.  In the past week, Chinese police crackdowned monks’ demonstrations in Lhasa, which is the capital of the remote mountainous region of Tibet. Human rights activist Hu Jia, detained after organizing a petition stating that Chinese wanted “human rights, not the Olympics,” was informed that his trial on charges of subverting state power could begin as early as this month.  A prominent human rights lawyer, Teng Biao, was abducted by the Beijing Public Security Bureau and then released two days later.  Migrant construction workers building the “new Beijing” are routinely exploited by being denied proper wages, under dangerous conditions with neither accident insurance nor access to medical and other social services.

State Department officials in Washington avoided questions about why China was dropped from the worst-offenders list, where it has appeared in each of the previous two years.  Jonathan Farrar, acting assistant secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said that China’s “human rights record remains poor” and that the report gives a “very frank appraisal” on the status of human rights in the country.

For more information, please see:

Christian Science Monitor – China’s human rights rating upgraded by U.S. State Dept. – 13 March 2008

International Herald Tribune – U.S. drops China from list of top 10 violators of rights – 12 March 2008

Washington Post – U.S. Delisting of China Upsets Rights Activists – 13 March 2008

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – The Buddhist monks in Tibet held large-scale demonstrations against the Chinese government around a key Tibetan anniversary on Monday, an act that the Chinese government called “an illegal activity that threatened social stability.” In the Lhasa protests, the involvement of monks from Sera and Drepung is particularly provocative.  The monasteries traditionally trained Buddhist scholars who led theocratic Tibet before China supplanted the Dalai Lama and the rest of the theocracy.

Three hundred or more monks from Drepung marched on the streets of the capital.  A smaller group of monks from Sera protested.  Soldiers and police have been deployed around two Buddhist monasteries in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.  According to reports and witnesses, eleven protesters, including the nine monks from Sera monastery were severely beaten then detained by police.

During the second day of protests, the monks, estimated at 500 to 600, demand the release of fellow Sera monks who were detained for protesting a day earlier. They shouted slogans, “We want freedom!” “Free our people!” “We want an independent Tibet!” and “Free our people or we won’t go back!” as they walked.  Armed Chinese police fired tear-gas to try to disperse the crowd, a source told Reuters.  “There were probably a couple of thousand armed police, PSB personnel, wearing different uniforms. Police fired tear-gas into the crowd,” one witness told RFA’s Tibetan service. PSB denotes the China’s Public Security Bureau.

Monks in two more monasteries in Qinghai province—Lutsang monastery in Mangra county, and Ditsa monastery in Bayan county—also held small protests Monday but were not intervened with or detained by police, according to U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang confirmed that protests had taken place, but said the situation had “stabilized.”  He said the demonstration is a political scheme by the Dalai group, attempting to separate China and try to make some unrest in the normal harmonious, peaceful life of Tibetan people.  Qin also said China’s determination to “safeguard national unification” is firm, so further protests “will not take place.”

For more information, please see:

AP – Military, Police at Tibetan Monasteries – 13 March 2008

BBC – China admits Tibet monk protests – 13 March 2008

Radio Free Asia – Chinese Police Fire Tear-Gas at Protesting Tibetan Monks – 12 March 2008

Reuters – Tibetan protests ripple across mountain region – 13 March 2008