By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan –

Police are investigating a fire at a Christian TV station in Karachi, a city in southern Pakistan. Police initially thought that the fire at Gawahi TV, a cable television station, had started due to an electrical short-circuit. However, the owner, Pastor Sarfraz Williams, believes that the fire was deliberately set.

Gawahi TV employed both Christians and Muslims and broadcasted gospel programming. The channel was preparing to release its Christmas programs before the fire occurred.

Mr. Williams made an official complaint to police following the fire, and a forensic investigation is underway. Mr. Williams has stated that the TV station had been getting threatening phone calls and messages.

Mr. Williams’ brother, Javed Williams, stated that the locks on the station’s doors appeared to have been cut open. Most of Gawahi’s materials, including religious books, were destroyed. The channel’s security system was destroyed during the fire, and security footage has not been found. Computers were either destroyed or missing entirely. The computers that were left to burn in the fire were missing their hard drives. Additionally, the cameras that the TV station had used were missing as well.

Mr. Williams also made a blasphemy complaint against those behind the fire, who are currently unidentified. It is remarkable that he made the blasphemy complaint, as such complaints are usually used in cases against Christians. The blasphemy law is implicated because the attack on Gawahi TV involved the burning of religious books.

Human rights groups have criticized the use of the blasphemy law in Pakistan because they believe that the complaint is misused by those seeking to settle personal feuds and those seeking to facilitate “land-grabbing”.

Karachi, which is Pakistan’s largest city, has a substantial Catholic population. Gawahi TV was located in the Akhtar Colony area, which is populated by several religious communities. The population’s makeup in the area is around 90% Muslim and 10% minorities.

There have recently been several other attacks against religious minorities in Pakistan. Churches were bombed in Lahore in March, leading to the deaths of over a dozen people. Last week, a mosque owned by the Ahmadis, a Muslim sect that Pakistan’s Sunni Muslim majority thinks unfavorably of, was attacked after a factory worker was accused of burning pages of the Quran.

Although Pakistan’s government has pledged to protect religious minorities, such attacks have continued. Some critics have questioned the government’s commitment to protecting religious minority groups.

 

For more information, please see:

Business Standard – Owner of Christian Channel Lodges Blasphemy Complaint in Pak – 28 November 2015

NBC News – Pakistan’s Gawahi Christian TV Station Gutted in Fire – 27 November 2015

The Express Tribune – Christian TV Channel Office Burnt to Ashes in Karachi – 26 November 2015

The New York Times – Pakistani Police Investigate Fire at Christian TV station – 26 November 2015

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea –

Nine North Korean refugees are believed to be detained in a Chinese military base, awaiting potential deportation to North Korea. Among the refugees are an 11-month-old baby and a teenager. The refugees were detained by police in Vietnam on October 22, according to their relatives. After their bus was stopped for a random check, they were detained for two days before being handed over to Chinese authorities.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human rights expressed concerns on Friday that the refugees had already been sent back to North Korea. Human Rights Watch believes, however, that the refugees are being held in Tumen, a Chinese town near the North Korean border. Tumen is the last stopping point for many North Korean refugees who are being returned to North Korea. Human Rights Watch is concerned that the refugees could be forcibly deported to North Korea at any time.

Human Rights Watch has urged President Park Geun-hye of South Korea to pressure China to free the refugees and to allow them to seek asylum in a country of their choice. President Park’s office has stated that her government is working to secure the freedom of the refugees and to ensure that China will not forcibly deport the refugees back to North Korea.

Phil Robertson, the Asia deputy director for Human Rights Watch, has stated that if the refugees are handed back over to North Korean officials, they will likely vanish into North Korea’s prison camp system, which is “characterized by torture, violence, and severe deprivation.” Many North Koreans who have been able escape North Korea have stated that refugees sent back from China are subjected to torture and imprisonment in labor camps.

North Korea treats refugees as traitors and therefore subjects repatriated refugees to detention, torture and sexual violence, according to the U.N. Under a 2010 law, those who leave North Korea without permission are deemed guilty of “treachery” against the country, which is punishable by death.

China has often not recognized the refugee status of such North Koreans and instead has tended to treat them as illegal economic migrants. Consequently, China has deported many refugees back to North Korea. The act of forcibly sending refugees back to a country where they face potential persecution is known as “refoulment” and is banned under international treaties such as the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocol. As a party to those international treaties, China is not allowed return refugees to a place where their life or freedom would be threatened.

The U.N. Committee Against Torture recently expressed concerns about China’s practice of deporting North Korean refugees. Xu Hong, an official in China’s foreign ministry, told the U.N. that some illegal migrants from North Korea entering China for economic reasons do not meet the Refugee Convention’s conditions pertaining to the status of refugees and that some of them were criminals who had abused the principle of asylum.

Over 28,000 North Koreans have resettled in South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry. Most of the refugees have fled into China first, then have crossed into countries that have entry points into South Korea, such as Thailand and Vietnam.

 

For more information, please see:

The Guardian – Fears for North Korean Refugees Who May ‘Face Death” if Returned by China – 25 November 2015

Human Rights Watch – South Korea: Act to Save North Korea Refugees – 24 November 2015

The New York Times – South Korea Says It’s Working to Halt Refugees’ Return to North – 25 November 2015

Reuters – U.N. Asks Vietnam and China to Clarify Fate of North Koreans – 20 November 2015

 

 

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

BEIJING, China –

Chinese authorities confirmed on Friday that 28 people suspected of involvement in a coal mine attack in September had been killed. News of the killings had surfaced earlier in the week, but the killings have not been officially acknowledged until now.

Because China censors information in Xinjiang, there is still limited information on the killings known at this time. Initially, 17 people were reported to have been killed for their involvement in the coal mine attack at the Sogan Colliery in Aksu. It is believed that three main suspects were killed, along with their families.

Radio Free Asia, a news source funded by the United States, first reported earlier this week that officials had killed 17 suspects, including women and children. The report stated that the suspects were killed in the Xinjiang region, an area near the China-Kazakhstan border. Radio Free Asia quoted a Xinjiang police officer as saying that Chinese military forces blew up a cave where the suspects were hiding.

A statement posted on China’s Ministry of Public Security website last week stated that the “terrorists were killed on the 56^th day of a ‘pursue and attack’ operation in the region”. Radio Free Asia reports that the statement was taken down shortly after.

The Chinese government has not officially addressed September’s attack on the Sogan Colliery. Radio Free Asia has reported that most of the victims were Han Chinese, the ethnic majority in the region. A report by Tianshin, a state-run news website, stated that only 16 people were killed in the coal mine attack. However, according to the victims’ relatives and residents in the area, the attack killed over 50 people.

Chinese officials have heightened their campaign against what they see as a growing radical separatist movement led by the Uighurs, a Muslim minority. The Chinese government has increasingly restricted the Uighurs’ culture and religion, including their right to participate in religious worship.

Hundreds of people have died in Xinjiang and other areas of China over the past three years. China has placed the blame for the unrest on Islamic militants, but the Uighurs say that China’s controls over their religious and cultural practices are inciting violence in the region.

China has denied committing human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region and states that it is fighting against Islamic radicals in the area. Following the attacks on Paris last week, Chinese leaders called for foreign nations to join China’s efforts to eliminate terrorist movements in Xinjiang. Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, stated that there could be no double standards and that terrorism was also occurring in China. Some have criticized China’s statements, saying that nations should be cautious of accepting China’s definition of terrorism.

 

For more information, please see:

New York Times – China Acknowledges Killing 28, Accusing Them of Role in Mine Attack – 20 November 2015

BBC – Chinese Forces ‘Kill 17 in Xinjiang’ After Colliery Attack – 18 November 2015

New York Times – Police in China Kill 17 Linked to Mine Attack, Report Says – 18 November 2015

Reuters – Chinese Security Forces Kill 17 in Xinjiang: Radio Free Asia – 18 November 2015

Radio Free Asia – Chinese Authorities Kill 17 Suspects in Xinjiang Attack, Including Seven Women and Children – 17 November 2015

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

PYONGYANG, North Korea –

A committee of the United Nations General Assembly condemned on Thursday what it described as rampant and planned human rights violations in North Korea. Pyongyang has rebuked the resolution, saying that it was a hostile plot coordinated by the United States and its allies.

The resolution, which urges North Korea to end all human rights abuses, was drafted by the European Union and Japan and is non-binding. It was adopted by the General Assembly’s Third Committee, whose focus is on human rights and includes 193 nations. The General Assembly has condemned human rights abuses every year since 2005. For the second consecutive year, the resolution encourages the U.N. Security Council to consider sending North Korea to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. The resolution will be voted on in the full General Assembly next month.

112 of the countries in the Third Committee supported the resolution, while 19 voted against the resolution. 50 countries abstained from voting. Among the countries that voted against the resolution were China, Russia, Nicaragua, and Syria. Many of the countries that voted against the resolution said that they object to resolutions singling out specific countries for human rights abuses.

The resolution stated that there have been “ongoing, systematic, widespread, and gross violations of human rights” in North Korea. The resolution accused North Korea of abuses such as torture, rapes, use of prison camps, enslavement, forced abortions, and forced transfers of populations. The Third Committee also stated that Pyongyang has not cooperated with the U.N.’s special rapporteur for North Korea, Marzuki Darusman.

Before the Third Committee’s vote, North Korea’s Deputy Director for U.N. Affairs, Choe Myong-Nam, called for nations to vote against the resolution and said that Pyongyang will “react in the strongest possible terms” to the resolution. North Korea’s U.N. mission emailed reporters a statement rejecting the resolution, saying that the resolution is a product of political confrontation, plot, and conspiracy by the United States and other countries who are hostile toward North Korea and that the resolution is irrelevant to promoting and protecting human rights. The mission stated that North Korea’s government has always maintained a policy of taking responsibility for and promoting human rights of the “popular masses”.

The United Nations General Assembly Committee also approved resolutions concerning human rights violations in Iran, Syria, and Myanmar. The resolutions will now also go on to the full General Assembly.

 

For more information, please see:

Channel NewsAsia – UN Votes to in Record Number to Condemn North Korea Rights Violations – 20 November 2015

CBS News – U.N. Panel Condemns N. Korea for Gross Human Rights Abuses – 19 November 2015

New York Times – Human Rights Committee Condemns North Korea – 19 November 2015

Reuters UK – U.N. Panel Condemns North Korea Abuses, Pyongyang Cites U.S. ‘Plot’ – 19 November 2015

 

 

 

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar –

Parliamentary election results indicate that military-backed rule in Myanmar will soon come to an end. Myanmar’s election commission made the announcement on Friday that Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy Party had won a majority of Myanmar’s parliamentary seats. The elections were the first freely held elections to take place in Myanmar in 25 years, with 80% turnout among 30 million voters.

The results of the election have not been completely counted, but the National League for Democracy (NLD) currently holds over 80% of the parliamentary seats. The ruling military backed party, the Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP), holds around 5% of the seats.

A presidential spokesman has stated that it will take at least another week to count the election results. When the outcome is made official, lawmakers will then begin the process of choosing Myanmar’s next president. Because the NLD has won the majority of the parliamentary seats so far, the party will be able to select the next president, who will then choose a new Cabinet and fill other official posts.

The new parliamentary government will not be official until January of next year. The pre-election parliament will continue to have full legislative power until then. At that point, the new parliament will choose a new speaker, who will go on to select two vice presidents and the president in March.

The current ruling party, led by President Thein Sein, has pledged to honor the results of the election. Ms. Suu Kyi is set to meet with President Sein and army Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing in Nay Pyi Taw next week to discuss the incoming government.

Even as the government will no longer be military-backed, Myanmar’s electoral system is still skewed in favor of the military. The military will have the power to appoint a quarter of the lawmakers in Myanmar’s parliament and will also continue to control the police and key bureaucratic offices.  In addition, the military’s commander in chief is autonomous from the president and the parliament under Myanmar’s current constitution.

Because she has two foreign-born children, Ms. Suu Kyi is unable to become president. There is a military drafted provision in Myanmar’s constitution that prohibits those with foreign family members from becoming the president. Ms. Suu Kyi was reelected to her own parliamentary seat for the Kawhmu constituency in Yangon, but she aspires to fill an office above the position of president and appoint the new president as her proxy. Although Ms. Suu Kyi intends to fill a role above the president, the military will still have the power to veto any proposed alterations to the constitution.

Friday marks the fifth anniversary of Ms. Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest, where she remained for almost two decades. Ms. Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest after her party won Myanmar’s national election in 1990, with the military annulling the results and refusing to hand over power.

President Sein’s government, in place since 2011, has marked a improvement from Myanmar’s international isolation caused by its military rule. Western sanctions have been lessened as President Sein has made efforts to move toward civilian-run government in Myanmar. He has initiated several political reforms by freeing prisoners, making peace deals, and relaxing media censorship.

 

For more information, please see:

BBC – Myanmnar Election: Suu Kyi’s NLD Wins Landslide Victory – 13 November 2015

CNN – Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD Wins Historic Majority – 13 November 2015

New York Times – Myanmar Election Panel Says Aung San Suu Kyi’s Party Won Majority – 13 November 2015

NPR – Aung San Suu Kyi’s Party Wins Majority in Myanmar’s Historic Election – 13 November 2015