By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGALORE, India – Police evicted more than 100 working class transgender people, also known as hijras, last week. Human Rights Watch and other groups believe that these acts are part of a bigger scheme by police to actively cleanse Bangalore of transgenders, basing their campaign on incidents reported in national newspapers. The news reported that a gang of hijras kidnapped children, castrated them and forced them into prostitution. Police allegedly arrested the perpetrators.

“Of course, all reports of child abuse should be thoroughly investigated,” said Dipika Nath, researcher in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights program at Human Rights Watch. “But authorities are also responsible for sorting out fact from prejudice – and there is no excuse for targeting an entire community for retaliation.”

Following the news stories, the police inspector of Bangalore issued a notice to about 40 homeowners requiring them to evict all hijras occupying their homes. The police targeted the Dasarahalli neighborhood, a place known for having a large number of hijra inhabitants. Almost 100 hijra residents lost their homes, some lost their security deposits, and some lost their belongings.

Hijra victims stated that claims by the police are unfounded and the reported kidnappings are being used as justification for the evictions. Police say that it is the homeowners that are evicting their tenants. However, the leading national newspaper, The Hindu, obtained a copy of the eviction notice served upon the hijra tenants by the police.

“Because of prevailing myths that hijras habitually kidnap young boys, reports of the arrest of two hijras on criminal charges are a convenient excuse to target the entire community without arousing public outcry,” said Nath.

Last month, police arrested five hijras in Bangalore and charged them with extortion. The hijras were beaten and sexually abused. Forty-one human rights defenders were also arrested for protesting their arrest.

On October 20th, Deputy Commissioner of Police in Bangalore was quoted by a national newspaper, Daily News and Analysis, as calling for a “drive against the city’s eunuch menace.” “Eunuch” is a derogatory term for hijras.

For more information, please see:

The Hindu – Hijras Face Further Harassment – 13 November 2008

Human Rights Watch – India:  Stop ‘Social Cleansing’ in Bangalore – 18 November 2008

Times of India – Conflicts Surface Over Sex-Change Racket – 12 November 2008

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Amnesty International urged the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger rebels to allow aid to the more than 300,000 people displaced by the fighting in the northern Wanni region.

“More than 300,000 people face the next few months crowded together in temporary shelters, surrounded by mud, with no promise of regular access to food or adequate sanitation. Our information indicates that the situation in Wanni is rapidly becoming critical, despite that government’s statements that it is coping,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific Director.

Nearly two-thirds of the civilian population in the Wanni region have been displaced by the conflict. Amnesty International states that the need for shelter is increased by the approaching of the monsoon season. Only 2,100 temporary shelters have been provided, leaving more than 20,000 families without shelter.

Amnesty International urges the government to allow additional aid by human rights groups since it believes that the government lacks the capacity to uphold international human rights standards and to ensure that the support is provided to protect the lives of the civilians. Moreover, the Tigers are called upon to ensure the freedom of movement to safer places.

On Thursday, the Sri Lanka government rejected the charges of humanitarian aid blockage to the people in Wanni. Presidential Secretariat said that the government is satisfied that the maximum assistance is being provided considering the circumstances dealing with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The Tigers have been at war with the government in order to achieve their goal of a separate homeland for the LTTE. The battle taking place in the Wanni region has lasted for several weeks now, causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians. The civilians are trapped because of both the fear they have of the government and the restriction of movement from the Tigers who currently occupy the territory. The government hopes to end the war with the Tigers by taking back this region.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Amnesty in Urgent Sri Lanka Plea – 19 November 2008

Colombo Page –  Sri Lanka Government Rejects Amnesty International Report of Aid Blockage – 20 November 2008

TamilNet – Amnesty Urges Sri Lanka to End Policy of Blocking Humanitarian Aid– 19 November 2008

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HANOI, Vietnam – The Vietnamese government will pass a new law strictly enforcing a 2-child per couple policy. Communist Officals in Vietname are worried about the growing-population in Vietnam.

Many Vietnamese families have a third child because of the longstanding preference for a male heir to carry on the family name.  Thus, many of the families that have more than two children have previous children who are daughters. According to government sources, for the first nine months of this year, childbirth has already increased by 10% from last year.

There is already an existing 2-child policy that was ratified in the 1960s; however, the policy was never strictly enforced.  That decree was “so general that people haven’t understood it and have sometimes taken advantage of it” said the deputy head General Office for Population and Family Planning, Duong Quoc Trong.  Trong added, “The demographic boom is damaging the country’s sustainable development.”

In the past, people were reprimanded by fines, pay-cuts, and expulsion from work for having a third child. The Vietnamese government has not yet disclosed what the new punishments will be for the 2-child policy. Certain minority ethnic groups will be exempt from the 2-child policy.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) estimates that Vietnam’s population growth is currently at 1.3% and will continue to grow for the next 30 years. However, Tran Thi Van of UNPF fears that the 2-policy will be problematic for Vietnam’s development in the future.

Van said the government should rethink the 2-child policy because “life expectancy is rising, the fertility rate is decreasing and in the next 20 years many people will be in the senior group” and “if there is not [a sufficient] labor force as the population is ageing, the country will face a lot of problems.”

For more information, please see:

APF – Vietnam to Tighten Two-Child Rule– 21 November 2008

BBC – Vietnam to Enforce Two-Child Rule– 20 November 2008

Channel News Asia – Vietnam to Tighten Two-Child Rule– 21 November 2008

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

Kathmandu, Nepal – Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Nepali police of torturing children in police custody for petty crimes. HRW had received over 200 credible claims of young boys and girls being tortured in Nepalese prisons. Some of the boys and girls were as young as 13 years old and many of the children were convicted of petty crimes or were working on the streets. Methods of torture included kicking, blows to the body, inserting sharp object under children’s toe nails and beatings to the feet, arms, and thighs with bamboo sticks and plastic pipes.

Torture is prohibited by the Nepalese Constitution and the torture of children is a criminal and civil crime. However, the maximum punishment for the torture of children under Article 7 of the Nepalese civil code is a fine and one year in jail. Asia researcher for HWR Children’s Rights Division, Bede Sheppard, said that police are supposed to protect children and “by torturing children in custody they are committing crimes against those they are supposed to be protecting.” Sheppard also added “it is surprising that not a single police officer has been prosecuted” despite the widespread allegations of torture of children in police custody.

HRW also expressed grave concern on the condition of surrounding of children in police custody because children are separated from their parents and adults in Nepalese prisons and could face assault from other prisoners. One 15 year old boy accounted being tortured by each of the three different police stations he was transferred to. The boy faced beatings, kicks, and was threatened with a gun to his temple to force him to confess to robbery. Sheppard said sometimes the purpose of torturing children was to force confessions or can be “purely for the entertainment of officials.”

November 20^th marks Nepalese National Children’s Day and HRW urges the Nepalese government to stop the abuse of children under policy custody. A Nepalese police spokesman said that several police officers have been punished in the past for torturing children; however, the spokesman denied any ongoing torture claims. The foreign minister, Nabin Kumar Ghimire, joined the police spokesman and said the allegations of torture were “wrong and baseless.”

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Nepali Police Accused of Torturing Children – 20 November 2008

BBC – Nepali Police ‘Torture Children’ – 19 November 2008

HRW – Nepal: End Torture of Children in Police Custody – 18 November 2008

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar – A special court set up by the Junta government in Myanmar handed out jail terms of up to nine-and-a-half years to 11 more activists, mainly from the opposition NLD party, according to the Associated Press.   Earlier this week, five monks were jailed for six-and-a-half years and at least 14 student activists were given 65-year jail sentences for participating in anti-junta protests last year.  The sentence of 11 activists brings the total number sentenced this week to more than 60.

It is unclear why the authorities have acted against the opposition now.  However, human rights groups say the government is intensifying efforts to curb dissent ahead of elections in 2010. “Now they won’t be able to participate in the election,” said Soe Aung, the spokesman for the National Council for the Union of Burma, a Thailand-based umbrella organization for exile groups. “The generals are trying to put the final nail in the coffin to keep themselves in power forever.”

Myanmar authorities also have split up pro-democracy activists who were given long jail terms this week and transferred them to different prisons around the country, relatives of sentenced activities said.  The sister of prominent activist Htay Kywe said she met her brother on Saturday at notorious Insein prison in Yangon, but when she returned on Sunday he had been transferred to a jail about 700 miles from Yangon.  “He is very thin and not in good health. I did not think they could be transferred very quickly like this, I am really sorry for this,” she cried.  Then, she added: “If we can appeal for him, I will do. He said they have just tried for peace and national reconciliation.”

Nyan Win, the spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD) party confirmed the transfers.  He told AFP that “It’s like increasing the sentencing. Not only family members but also the person himself or herself is in difficulty.”  He said that party lawyers Aung Thein and Khin Maung Shein had also been transferred.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Myanmar activists moved to separate prisons: relatives – 16 November 2008

AP – Myanmar activists moved to separate prisons: relatives – 16 November 2008

AP – Myanmar courts imprison more democracy activists – 17 November 2008

BBC – Burma court jails more protesters – 14 November 2008

Impunity Watch – Myanmar Sentenced 14 Democracy Advocates to Jail for 65 Years – 12 November 2008