COLOMBO, Sri Lanka- Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report today detailing the Sri Lankan government’s responsibility for widespread abductions and disappearances.  The report follows government actions taken since the civil war between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) resumed in 2006.

The government has been accused of taking people into custody and then not disclosing their whereabouts or denying that they are holding them all together, a violation under both the Sri Lankan constitution and international law.  Most of these people are ethnic Tamils, although some are Muslims and Sinhalese.  They are abducted because of their possible involvement with the LTTE.

The government denies that their security forces are involved in abductions, and does not believe there is a national crisis.  They have created bodies to investigate possible disappearances, but HRW has found that these bodies are shams and have not reached any real results.

The HRW report documents 99 of several hundred reported cases.  Four of those cases are outlined on HRW’s website here.

According to HRW, “President Mahinda Rajapaksa, once a rights advocate, has now led his government to become one of the world’s worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances.  The end of the ceasefire means this crisis will continue until the government starts taking serious measures.”

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch News – Sri Lanka: ‘Disappearances’ by Security Forces a National Crisis – 6 March 2008

Human Rights Watch Publications – Recurring Nightmare: State Responsibility for “Disappearances” and Abductions in Sri Lanka – March 2008

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Hundreds of thousands of police, security guards and volunteers patrolled Beijing to usher in China’s annual session of parliament.  Under China’s Constitution, the NPC is China’s highest law-making body. More than 2,000 delegates from across the country are in Beijing to attend the NPC.  The country’s 55 minority groups are all represented, as are the armed forces.  Delegates also come from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.  It provides delegates with a chance to pass on their views.  But because all power rests with the Chinese Communist Party, NPC delegates will merely approve party decisions.

Petitioners often come to Beijing during NPC, looking for a chance to let officials know about their particular grievances. But they are usually harassed and detained by security officials.  Petitioners told Radio Free Asia’s Mandarin service that authorities in the Chinese capital have detained around 1,000 people with grievances against the government ahead of the country’s annual parliament.

Huang Caipiao, a shrimp farmer seeking compensation for business losses following his forced eviction, has made 15 petitioning trips to the capital, yielding nothing but a year in jail. He tried to petition the Supreme Court, but was intercepted by Beijing police as he headed towards the national prosecution service.

Shanghai resident Cai Zhengrong, who has been trying to get compensation after his house was demolished to make way for luxury apartments, was detained shortly after arriving in Beijing to petition the central government, he told Reuters.  These stories are becoming increasingly familiar across China as local officials and big business cash in on soaring land values, pushing rural families from the land with little or no compensation.

Around 1,200 petitioners wrote an open letter to the NPC calling for greater recognition of the rights violations they had suffered at the hands of officials.  While government Web sites have invited Internet users to air their grievances, authorities have taken great measures to ensure their complaints are not delivered to NPC delegates in person.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Main issues at China’s parliament – 04 March 2008.

Radio Free Asia – China Detains 1,000 Petitioners Ahead of Parliament – 04 March 2008.

Washington Post – China muzzles capital ahead of annual parliament – 02 March 2008.

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan- The Birdamlik Solidarity Movement, an Uzbek human rights group, has written a letter to President Islam Karimov demanding the release of human rights activists, journalists, and religious prisoners.

The letter mentions that Karimov released five rights activists in early February in response to European Union pressure, and argues that the President only released them for political reasons.  According to the Birdamlik Solidarity Movement, “the tyrant still oppresses the government, and the innocent people who waste away inside prison walls become mere pawns on a chessboard. What will become of their fate, when they are released, and whether they will ever see the light of day remains unknown.”  The letter requests that Western societies acknowledge that Karimov is only doing the bare minimum to maintain good international relations and asks that they demand more.

The letter was copied to United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well the Uzbek Prosecutor’s office and the Uzbek Ombudsman’s office.

For more information, please see:

Inter Press Service – RIGHTS-UZBEKISTAN: ‘EU Must Take Away the Cover’ – 5 March 2008

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan- The Birdamlik Solidarity Movement, an Uzbek human rights group, has written a letter to President Islam Karimov demanding the release of human rights activists, journalists, and religious prisoners.

The letter mentions that Karimov released five rights activists in early February in response to European Union pressure, and argues that the President only released them for political reasons.  According to the Birdamlik Solidarity Movement, “the tyrant still oppresses the government, and the innocent people who waste away inside prison walls become mere pawns on a chessboard. What will become of their fate, when they are released, and whether they will ever see the light of day remains unknown.”  The letter requests that Western societies acknowledge that Karimov is only doing the bare minimum to maintain good international relations and asks that they demand more.

The letter was copied to United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well the Uzbek Prosecutor’s office and the Uzbek Ombudsman’s office.

For more information, please see:

Inter Press Service – RIGHTS-UZBEKISTAN: ‘EU Must Take Away the Cover’ – 5 March 2008

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan- The Birdamlik Solidarity Movement, an Uzbek human rights group, has written a letter to President Islam Karimov demanding the release of human rights activists, journalists, and religious prisoners.

The letter mentions that Karimov released five rights activists in early February in response to European Union pressure, and argues that the President only released them for political reasons.  According to the Birdamlik Solidarity Movement, “the tyrant still oppresses the government, and the innocent people who waste away inside prison walls become mere pawns on a chessboard. What will become of their fate, when they are released, and whether they will ever see the light of day remains unknown.”  The letter requests that Western societies acknowledge that Karimov is only doing the bare minimum to maintain good international relations and asks that they demand more.

The letter was copied to United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well the Uzbek Prosecutor’s office and the Uzbek Ombudsman’s office.

For more information, please see:

Inter Press Service – RIGHTS-UZBEKISTAN: ‘EU Must Take Away the Cover’ – 5 March 2008