BEIJING, China – The most populated country in the world, China, said it would keep its controversial family-planning policies for at least another decade.  The announcement refutes speculation that officials were contemplating adjustments to compensate for mounting demographic pressures.  Zhang Weiqing, minister of China’s State Population and Family Planning Commission, told China’s state-run China Daily newspaper that abandoning the policies at this point would cause “serious problems,” put a strain on economic development, and cause more problems than it would solve.

One-Child policy, one of the world’s strictest population control policies, launched during the late 1970s, has prevented an additional 400 million births.  Most urban couples are limited to a single child, while farmers are often allowed to have two.  Critics say the policy has led to numerous abuses, including forced abortions and sterilizations, which continue in some areas.

Giving a rapidly aging society in China, demographers commented that a lower birthrate may actually lead to social difficulties because there will be fewer young working adults to pay taxes and look after the elderly.  Already, factories have reported shortages of young workers in recent years. At the same time, the one-child policy is considered a contributing factor to a gender imbalance that has raised concerns that there may be too few females in the future.

For more information, please see:

CNN – China to keep one-child policy – 10 March 2008

New York Times – China Sticking With One-Child Policy – 11 March 2008

Wall Street Journal – China to Retain Its One-Child Policy – 11 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

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Over the past week, five Tamil reporters have been arrested by Sri Lankan police for receiving money from Tamil Tiger rebels.

However, after investigation into these allegations, Reporters Without Borders found that the reporters actually received the money from a German organization and Tamil exiles with no connection to the Tamil Tigers.  The money was going to be used by the reporters to help Tamil students and fund an outreach website in Sri Lanka.

Reporters Without Borders condemns the fact that these reporters were beaten during the first few days of detention, and demands that Sri Lankan authorities explain why they are still being held.

For more information, please see:

Reporters Without Borders – Tamil journalists arrested and beaten by police acting on wrong information – 12 March 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan- President Pervez Musharraf announced today on state-run television that the newly-elected parliament will meet on March 17th.  The opposition coalition government (see Impunity Watch article here) has been putting pressure on the President to convene the parliament since it was elected on February 18th.

When the President declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution on November 3rd, he also detained judiciary leaders including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.  Lawyers have been protesting Musharraf and these detentions ever since, and at a recent rally in Rawalpindi they again called for the President’s resignation.  At this rally, Aitzaz Ahsan, the leader of the lawyers movement in Pakistan, said: “Our struggle is to make Pakistan a state where the judiciary is independent, and what Musharraf did to the chief justice is an example of how under him no judge is ever independent.”  The lawyers have also come out saying that the parliamentary elections are not enough proof that Musharraf is dedicated to democracy.  They have planned a week of anti-Musharraf demonstrations, called Black Flag Week after the arm bands protesters have been wearing.

The coalition government between the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was confirmed this Sunday.  When they convene on March 17th, the coalition and their other allies will not comprise the two-thirds majority necessary to impeach Musharraf, however they will have enough parliamentary votes to undermine his authority if they so choose.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Date set for Pakistan parliament – 11 March 2008

New York Times – Lawyers Rally Against Musharraf Government – 8 March 2008

Impunity Watch – BRIEF: Tear Gas Fired on Lawyers in Pakistan Monday – 4 March 2008

Impunity Watch – BRIEF: Pressure on Musharraf to Convene Parliament – 27 February 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan- President Pervez Musharraf announced today on state-run television that the newly-elected parliament will meet on March 17th.  The opposition coalition government (see Impunity Watch article here) has been putting pressure on the President to convene the parliament since it was elected on February 18th.

When the President declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution on November 3rd, he also detained judiciary leaders including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.  Lawyers have been protesting Musharraf and these detentions ever since, and at a recent rally in Rawalpindi they again called for the President’s resignation.  At this rally, Aitzaz Ahsan, the leader of the lawyers movement in Pakistan, said: “Our struggle is to make Pakistan a state where the judiciary is independent, and what Musharraf did to the chief justice is an example of how under him no judge is ever independent.”  The lawyers have also come out saying that the parliamentary elections are not enough proof that Musharraf is dedicated to democracy.  They have planned a week of anti-Musharraf demonstrations, called Black Flag Week after the arm bands protesters have been wearing.

The coalition government between the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was confirmed this Sunday.  When they convene on March 17th, the coalition and their other allies will not comprise the two-thirds majority necessary to impeach Musharraf, however they will have enough parliamentary votes to undermine his authority if they so choose.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Date set for Pakistan parliament – 11 March 2008

New York Times – Lawyers Rally Against Musharraf Government – 8 March 2008

Impunity Watch – BRIEF: Tear Gas Fired on Lawyers in Pakistan Monday – 4 March 2008

Impunity Watch – BRIEF: Pressure on Musharraf to Convene Parliament – 27 February 2008