PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – In its monthly update, the Open Society Justice Initiative reported on the recent events occurring within the Khmer Rouge Tribunal while criticizing the tribunal’s lack of transparency, budget problems, and the tension between the Cambodian government and the United Nations.

Recently, the Pre-Trial Chamber rejected Nuon Chea’s attempts to disqualify Judge Ney Thol, annual the record of his initial appearance, and provisional detention hearings. The Khmer Rouge Tribunal has also hired staff for a Victims Unit that will aid victims to become civil parties to the litigation and file complaints with the office of prosecutors.

Despite the progress of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, the court still lacks transparency, which impedes the public’s ability to understand and criticize the tribunal’s work. In addition, the tribunal soon will request $113.7 million in additional funds because the Cambodian side of the budget will be exhausted in April 2008. And the Cambodian government has opposed attempts by the United Nations to place a special advisor for administrative needs.

For more information, please see:

Open Society Justice Initiative – New Khmer Rouge Tribunal Report Gives Latest Updates on Five Cases, Budget Needs, More – 3 March 2009

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan- On Monday, police fired tear gas on a group of about 200 lawyers and other demonstrators who were protesting outside of the home of ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.  The incident was broadcast across the country by news stations, and demonstrators were seen coughing and bending over when hit with the gas.  Some threw the tear gas cannisters back at the police officers.

The demonstrators were demanding that the Chief Justice be reinstated by President Pervez Musharraf, and were shouting various slogans, such as: “Free the children!” and “Go Musharraf Go!”

Chaudry and his family have been under house arrest since November 3, when Musharraf declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution (see Impunity Watch articles here and here).  The group started to gather in front of Chaudry’s home when they heard reports that his house arrest was coming to an end.  The protests began when they found out that the reports were untrue.

For more information, please see:

Yahoo! News – Police tear gas at Pakistani lawyers – 3 March 2008

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea – North Korea is a source for men, women, and children trafficking.  The men, women, and children are used for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. North Korea was rated as a Tier 3 country in US State Department’s annual Trafficking in Person Report in 2005. Since then, the government has failed to comply with minimal international standards to prevent the human trafficking from its borders.

Between 80 percent and 90 percent of the refugees from North Korean, especially women and young children, end up as trafficking victims in China. Reports estimate tens of thousands of North Koreans are believed to be hiding in China. Women and children are particularly vulnerable to traffickers in China because the Chinese government’s policy of detaining the refugees and sending them back to North Korea.

In the most common form of trafficking, North Korean women and children who voluntarily cross the border into China are picked up by trafficking rings and sold as brides to Chinese or placed in forced labor. However, sometimes North Korean women and girls are lured out of North Korean by the promise of food, jobs and freedom, only to be forced into prostitution, marriage, or exploitative labor arrangements once in China.

A young woman was sold to a 34-year-old Chinese man for marriage and deported to North Korea. There, she was thrown into a North Korean State Safety and Security Agency Camp, where she was forced to undress and physically abused. According to her statement, pregnant inmates were forced to miscarry on the grounds they were bearing Chinese children. She also expressed that she is willing to go back to the Chinese man who bought her first because she had a better life with him, as well for the benefits to her blind mother and young brother.

A senior U.S. official urged China to change its law to protect victims of trafficking instead of returning them home, and also to allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to operate along the border region with North Korea.

For more information, please see:

The Chosun Ilbo – Human Trafficking Thrives Across N.Korea-China Border – 2 March 2008

U.S. Department of State – North Korean Refugees Frequent Victims of Human Trafficking – 20 July 2005

U.S.State Department Trafficking in Persons Report – Human Trafficking & Modern-Day Slavery – June 2007

YonHap News – US Blames China on NK Human Trafficking – 3 March 2008

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand – According to witness’ accounts, Thai soldiers forcibly removed a group of Hmong asylum seekers from their refugee camp. The Thai government, however, alleges that the group left voluntarily and should be models for other Hmong in Thailand.

Witnesses told reporters that the Thai soldiers used force and dogs in order to coax a group of Hmong asylum seekers onto trucks. The Thai soldiers arrived at 1 PM at the Huay Nam Khao Camp and began to drag refugees to the trucks. Three to four soldiers were needed for each person in order to physically drag them and then collect their belongings from the camp. One witness reported to Radio Free Asia that “Some of them [Hmong asylum seekers] hung on to bushes or small trees and had to be pulled free and thrown onto the trucks—bushes were uprooted.” However, when two young men refused to be taken away on the truck, the soldiers use even more threatening measures. An unnamed witness told Radio Free Asia, “Two young men in their 20s jumped off the trucks after they started to move. The soldiers sent dogs out to find them and they were badly mauled, and those men are now in Khao Kao hospital.”

Both the United Nations [UN] and Medecins Sans Frontieres [MSF] have serious doubts that the group removed from the Huay Nam Khao camp was done voluntarily. One of the women “voluntarily” removed was separated from her five young children. After the mistake was discovered, Thai authorities refused to send her back to the refugee camp, and instead she was sent to an adjacent facility in order to use its loud speaker. At the adjacent facility, she was to “call her children to come to Laos with her,” according to MSF National Director Gilles Isard. Kitty McKinsey, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], stated, “We have received a number of reports that call into question whether everyone actually volunteered to go back. Such returns should be strictly voluntary, conducted with dignity and in accordance with international standards.” Additionally, MSF warned that many in the camps had authentic claims for refugee status because of their physical scars from clashes with the Lao and Vietnamese military.

Despite the entirely different accounts from witnesses and doubts from the UN and MSF, the Thai government alleges that the return was voluntary. In an interview, Department of Border Affairs Deputy Director Maj Gen. Voravit Darunchoo said, “The Hmong you saw being returned to Laos this morning could be considered lucky. It was a good opportunity for them because they are the first group who wholeheartedly volunteered to go back to their country, without any kind of pressure.”

The Hmong in Thailand fled Laos after the Communist takeover in 1975. The group alleges that it fears political persecution because it fought on the side of the pro-United States Laotian government. Although the UNHCR has recognized the Hmong in Thailand as refugees and in need of protection, the Thai government regards the Hmong as migrants and alleges they have entered the country illegally.

For more information, please see:

The Nation Multimedia – MSF and UN Question if Hmong Going Back to Laos Voluntarily – 29 February 2008

Radio Free Asia – Thai Soldiers Forced Lao Hmong Back to Laos – 28 February 2008

Thai News Agency – Hmong Migrants Returned from Thailand to Laos – 28 February 2008

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand – According to witness’ accounts, Thai soldiers forcibly removed a group of Hmong asylum seekers from their refugee camp. The Thai government, however, alleges that the group left voluntarily and should be models for other Hmong in Thailand.

Witnesses told reporters that the Thai soldiers used force and dogs in order to coax a group of Hmong asylum seekers onto trucks. The Thai soldiers arrived at 1 PM at the Huay Nam Khao Camp and began to drag refugees to the trucks. Three to four soldiers were needed for each person in order to physically drag them and then collect their belongings from the camp. One witness reported to Radio Free Asia that “Some of them [Hmong asylum seekers] hung on to bushes or small trees and had to be pulled free and thrown onto the trucks—bushes were uprooted.” However, when two young men refused to be taken away on the truck, the soldiers use even more threatening measures. An unnamed witness told Radio Free Asia, “Two young men in their 20s jumped off the trucks after they started to move. The soldiers sent dogs out to find them and they were badly mauled, and those men are now in Khao Kao hospital.”

Both the United Nations [UN] and Medecins Sans Frontieres [MSF] have serious doubts that the group removed from the Huay Nam Khao camp was done voluntarily. One of the women “voluntarily” removed was separated from her five young children. After the mistake was discovered, Thai authorities refused to send her back to the refugee camp, and instead she was sent to an adjacent facility in order to use its loud speaker. At the adjacent facility, she was to “call her children to come to Laos with her,” according to MSF National Director Gilles Isard. Kitty McKinsey, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], stated, “We have received a number of reports that call into question whether everyone actually volunteered to go back. Such returns should be strictly voluntary, conducted with dignity and in accordance with international standards.” Additionally, MSF warned that many in the camps had authentic claims for refugee status because of their physical scars from clashes with the Lao and Vietnamese military.

Despite the entirely different accounts from witnesses and doubts from the UN and MSF, the Thai government alleges that the return was voluntary. In an interview, Department of Border Affairs Deputy Director Maj Gen. Voravit Darunchoo said, “The Hmong you saw being returned to Laos this morning could be considered lucky. It was a good opportunity for them because they are the first group who wholeheartedly volunteered to go back to their country, without any kind of pressure.”

The Hmong in Thailand fled Laos after the Communist takeover in 1975. The group alleges that it fears political persecution because it fought on the side of the pro-United States Laotian government. Although the UNHCR has recognized the Hmong in Thailand as refugees and in need of protection, the Thai government regards the Hmong as migrants and alleges they have entered the country illegally.

For more information, please see:

The Nation Multimedia – MSF and UN Question if Hmong Going Back to Laos Voluntarily – 29 February 2008

Radio Free Asia – Thai Soldiers Forced Lao Hmong Back to Laos – 28 February 2008

Thai News Agency – Hmong Migrants Returned from Thailand to Laos – 28 February 2008