By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

SEOUL, South Korea –

Talks between high-level officials of both North and South Korea on December 11 failed to result in an agreement between the two sides. Disagreement between the two Koreas over the most important topic to be discussed apparently led to the standoff.

South Korea wanted to discuss reunification of family members permanently separated by the Korean War, citing its importance as a humanitarian issue. North Korea instead wanted to first discuss the continuance of cross-border tours suspended by South Korea in 2008. South Korea believes that the two issues should not be likened to each other.

During the talks, in which officials of both sides met for the first time in two years, the delegations were unable to reach any type of agreement and did not release a joint statement at the close of the summit. North Korea blames South Korea for the breakdown of the talks between them. According to chief South Korean delegate Hwang Boogi, he offered to resume talks in the future, but North Korea has not shown interest in continuing talks.

North Korea wanted to reach an agreement on the tours during the talks before moving on to discuss the family unification issue. Because it is having financial difficulties, North Korea hoped to resume the cross-border tours, which were halted in 2008 after a South Korea tourist was shot and killed.

South Korea wanted to discuss the family unification issue before any discussion on resuming cross-border tours. South Korea hoped that North Korea would help family members separated by the Korean War locate their family members on the other side and allow them to write to each other. South Korea also wanted to arrange regular reunions between family members so that they can temporarily reunite before they die from old age. While the two sides arranged for temporary reunions between family members this year, South Korea had hoped for further agreements on the issue. 

The two Koreas have had especially poor relations since land mines injured two South Korean soldiers at the border in August. The two sides agreed at the time to put a stop to an impending military conflict and agreed to meet for negotiations.

The two sides’ failure to come to an agreement during this month’s talks could signify a further setback in relations between them.

 

For more information, please see:

International Business Times – South, North Korea Talks Fail? No Agreement Reached, No Further Meeting Dates Set – 12 December 2015

The New York Times – Negotiations Break Down Between Two Koreas – 12 December 2015

Reuters – North, South Korea Talks End Without Agreement – 12 December 2015

The Wall Street Journal – Talks Between North and South Korea End Without Agreement – 12 December 2016

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China –

Amidst China’s memorializing of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, a new museum depicting the plight of Chinese comfort women during World War II has opened in Nanjing.

The comfort women, among them many Chinese women, were forced into acting as sex slaves for members of the Japanese military during World War II. Over 200,000 Chinese women were forced into sexual slavery during that time.

The new museum was built in Liji Alley in Nanjing, where China’s oldest “comfort station”, or military brothel, once stood. It contains over 1,600 items and over 600 photographs depicting the comfort women’s experience. Some of the items were donated by the families of former comfort women.

The founder of China’s first research center on comfort women, Professor Su Zhiliang, has stated that getting survivors to come forward is an immense challenge and that most of the survivors choose to stay silent about the atrocities that they experienced.

Fewer than two-dozen comfort women are estimated to be alive at this time. Most of those who are still alive live in poverty.

One former comfort woman who has come forward, 96 year-old Wei Shaolan, lives in a mud hut with her son. While being held as a comfort woman, Ms. Wei escaped the station where she was being held as a sex slave to an officer. Upon her return home, her husband wanted nothing to do with her. She then became pregnant with her son, who was her abuser’s child. Her son has faced ridicule in their community because he is half Japanese.

Ms. Wei states that she traveled to Japan in 2010 in hopes of securing reparations and compensation, but the Japanese courts dismissed her case. The officer who made her his sex slave denied Ms. Wei’s accusations against him.

Activists have attempted to secure justice and reparations for the survivors with little success. China’s establishment of the comfort women museum is one of the only measures taken to commemorate the comfort women.

The account of comfort women has often been overshadowed by accounts of the Nanjing Massacre, in which thousands of Chinese were killed. Japan and China disagree on how many were killed during the Nanjing Massacre, and it has been a point of contention between the countries since World War II.

China and Japan have made recent efforts to improve ties between themselves despite their troubled history. Last month, China, Japan and South Korea held a three-way summit, an event that had not occurred in three years.

 

For more information, please see:

Channel NewsAsia – As China remembers Nanjing Massacre, ex-WWII Sex Slave Recounts Ordeal – 14 December 2015

The Straits Times – China Holds Low-Key Memorial for Nanjing Massacre – 14 December 2015

CCTV America – Nanjing Museum Pays Tribute to World War II Comfort Women Victims – 12 December 2015

GB Times – Comfort Women Museum Opens in Nanjing – 2 December 2015

 

 

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia 

 

BEIJING, China –

One of the most prominent human rights lawyers in China, Pu Zhiqiang, will go on trial next week for his blog posts criticizing the Communist Party. Mr. Pu faces a potential sentence of eight years in prison for charges of “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. The Chinese government has brought the latter charge against many other government critics and rights advocates to support their detainment and imprisonment since President Xi Jinping became the leader of China’s Communist Party in late 2012.

Mr. Pu will go on trial before Beijing’s Number Two Intermediate Court on Monday. The court’s only evidence against him consists of seven among thousands of posts that Mr. Pu posted on a micro-blog service, according to one of his defense attorneys, Mo Shaoping. Mr. Mo believes that Mr. Pu is almost certainly going to be convicted and sentenced to imprisonment by the court, which is controlled by the Communist Party.

The prosecutors who brought charges against Mr. Pu have stated that his posts on the micro-blog were insulting to others and disrupted public order. His posts included statements questioning the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic group living in the province of Xinjiang, and critical remarks against the Communist Party. Mr. Mo has stated that Mr. Pu has admitted that his posts were rude and has offered to apologize for his remarks.

Police detained Mr. Pu last year after he attended a seminar marking the 25^th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. He has remained in detention for over a year and has not been allowed to see his wife, who says that he has been interrogated extensively and has been tortured both physically and mentally.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have called for Chinese officials to release Mr. Pu, along with the United States. Max Baucus, the United States’ Ambassador to China, has urged the Chinese government to release Mr. Pu because he and other human rights lawyers should be seen as partners, rather than enemies of China’s government.

China’s government, led by President Xi Jinping, has increasingly cracked down on dissidents and human rights advocates, including several lawyers. According to China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, over 250 people have been questioned and detained and nearly 30 people have been prohibited from leaving China in the last several months.

 

For more information, please see:

Hong Kong Free Press – China to Put Top Human Rights Lawyer on Trial Next Week – 10 December 2015

The New York Times – Chinese Rights Lawyer’s Trial Over Online Comments to Begin Soon – 10 December 2015

Radio Free Asia – Charges Against Top Chinese Rights Lawyer Based on Seven Tweets – 8 December 2015

Voice of America – US: Detained China Lawyers ‘Partners, not Enemies” – 10 December 2015

By Christine Khamis

News Desk Reporter, Asia

 

BAKU, Azerbaijan –

Leyla Yunus, a prominent human rights activist in Azerbaijan, was released from prison on Wednesday. An appellate court in Baku decided to suspect the charges against Ms. Yunus, which included alleged fraud and tax evasion and placed her on a five-year probationary period.

The suspension of Ms. Yunus’s sentence does not mean that the charges against her will be dropped. At this time, her guilty verdict still stands. Additionally, Ms. Yunus and her husband Arif Yunus, also an activist, still face treason charges which are part of another case against them.

Ms. Yunus was initially imprisoned in July 2014 and received an 8 ½ year sentence for the alleged crimes of fraud and tax evasion. Mr. Yunus was charged for similar crimes and was sentenced to time in prison as well. She and Mr. Yunus were also charged with alleged treason for spying for Armenia. Both worked for the Peace and Democracy Institute in Baku.

Ms. Yunus suffers from illnesses of diabetes and hepatitis C and was released primarily due to her deteriorating health. During her time in prison, Ms. Yunus says that she was also beaten severely by prison guards. Mr. Yunus, imprisoned on similar charges, was released in November due to his own deteriorating health.

Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International have called for the charges against Ms. Yunus to be dropped completely, calling her and Mr. Yunus as “prisoners of conscience” who were charged with their crimes for their human rights advocacy and critiques of the government.

American and European Union officials have welcomed the release as a step forward in the promotion of human rights in Azerbaijan. Some, such as European Parliament President Martin Schulz, still call for the charges against the Yunuses to be fully dropped and for other prisoners of conscience to be released.

Nearly 20 other individuals, including activists, journalists, and government critics, including a journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) are currently in Azerbaijan prisons after being convicted of charges human rights groups have called “politically motivated”.

 

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – Azerbaijan: Release of Leyla Yunus Should Spur Freedom for All Prisoners of Conscience – 9 December 2015

Human Rights Watch – Dispatches: Azerbaijan’s Leyla Yunus is Free – 9 December 2015

The New York Times – Azerbaijan: Activist Freed From Prison – 9 December 2015

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – Rights Activist Leyla Yunus Freed From Jail In Azerbaijan – 9 December 2015

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

KUALA LUMPUR –

Malaysia’s House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday establishing a National Security Council, which will have the authority to make decisions on all matters pertaining to national security. The National Security Council will have few limitations when responding to known or potential security threats. Human rights organizations and other critics have condemned the passage of the bill, saying that it will be used as a tool to abuse human rights by the Malaysian government.

Malaysia’s House of Representatives tabled the bill on December 1, but then passed it on Thursday with a vote of 107 in favor and 77 against. Those in Malaysia’s ruling party, Barisan Nasional, were strongly in favor of the bill.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak has stated that the law is necessary for responding to extremism and terrorist threats in Malaysia. Under the law, Mr. Najib has the power to declare any area of Malaysia as a “security area” for up to 6 months if the National Security Council finds that the area is under a serious threat that could be harmful to the public and any national interest.

A Director of Operations of the Council will be allowed to prevent anyone from entering such areas, remove anyone from those areas, and to establish curfews and take possession of any property necessary to further national security. The Director of Operations will have the right to conduct searches and arrest people without warrants.

The members of a security team, which the Director of Operations will oversee, will be allowed to use any force necessary and reasonable to protect national security. Additionally, members of the security team will be immune from liability for any actions taken in good faith.

The National Security Council will be headed by Mr. Najib. Additional members will include Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Communication and Multimedia, Chief Secretary, Commander of the Armed Forces, and Inspector-General of Police.

Human Rights Watch’s Deputy Director for Asia, Phil Robertson, has released a statement referring to the bill as a tool of repression, saying there is a “real risk of abuse” of the law. Human Rights Watch also has stated that there is already a wide range of abusive laws being implemented by Mr. Rajib’s government to arrest dissidents.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) issued a press release on Thursday stating that the bill makes it clear that Malaysia’s government needs to establish reforms in their lawmaking process. ICJ’s Senior International Legal Adviser for Southeast Asia, Emerylynne Gil, stated that there seems to be “a disturbing pattern of avoiding deliberate care on legislation” on security concerns that also greatly implicate human rights.

The National Security Council bill comes amidst an increasing level of civil rights abuses and crackdowns on government critics.

 

For more information, please see:

BBC – Rights Group Condemns Proposed Malaysia Security Bill – 3 December 2015

International Commission of Jurists – Malaysia: the ICJ Condemns Passage of National Security Council Bill, Urges Reform in Lawmaking – 3 December 2015

The New York Times – Malaysian Security Bill Invites Government Abuses, Rights Groups Say – 3 December 2015

World Bulletin News – Human Rights Watch Claims Law Provides Expansive Powers That Could Fundamentally Threaten Human Rights and Democratic Rule – 3 December 2015