News

Women in China Face Prohibition from Various Employment Opportunities

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– Employment discrimination against women in China remains deeply rooted in culture and practice.  A report from BBC released late last week reveals several career paths that women are flat-out banned from pursuing.

Young girls at China’s “I Have a Dream” theme park are encouraged to dress up as flight attendants, fulfilling gender stereotypes that pervade the communist nation. Young men, on the other hand, are encouraged to portray servicemen and academic professionals. (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

China’s education ministry bans girls from studying a variety of subjects across China, from tunnel engineering to navigation – apparently out of respect for women’s safety. Reports have continually emerged revealing a pattern of women being discriminated against when attempting to gain places at Chinese universities.

According to some, girls were scoring so well in strict admissions tests that a higher percentage was being admitted than men. In response to these rising numbers restrictive practices were implemented as early as 2005, including limiting the programs in which women could enroll.

A book by the government-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has characterized the gender imbalance between boys and girls as one of the biggest challenges facing China today.

The state’s one-child policy continues to showcase the clearest signal of the second-class status of girls in the country, experts have said.

“The policy takes a position that fundamentally discriminates against girls,” said Professor Feng Yuan of the Centre for Women’s Studies at China’s Shantou University.

In China, the idea that girls can’t or shouldn’t do the same jobs as boys is passed on early. It’s a lesson that extends into higher education and beyond. Gender stereotypes are instilled in younger generations at China’s “I Have a Dream” theme park in Beijing, which allows young children to assume various career roles. The park encourages children to choose gender specific roles, and for young girls, the most popular attraction is pretending to be a flight attendant.

At the university level stereotyping takes on a more tangible form.  At the China Mining and Technology University in eastern Jiangsu province, women are completely barred from pursuing a degree in mining engineering, a degree which effectively guarantees employment after graduation.

“China’s labor law suggests mining work is unsuitable for women, so we ask women to refrain from applying to our major,” explains one of the department’s senior professors, Shu Jisen.

At one university in Dalian, northern China, females are barred from studying naval engineering – because months on board a ship would be tough for women to endure, one admissions officer explained.

Slightly different reasons are given for severely restricting the number of women who can study at Beijing’s People’s Police University, which has a strict quota, limiting girls to comprise 10-15% of the student body. One admissions officer told BBC that women were not permitted because job opportunities in policing were scarce, as most people expect police officers to be male.

Professor Shu Jisen argues that some jobs are just “inappropriate” for women. “If they forced their way into these jobs,” he continued, “they will waste energy.”

Last year, young women challenged this notion and ignited a grassroots confrontation with the Chinese Ministry of Education over the gender discrimination. The women shaved their heads in objection to several universities across China that make it easier for men than women to gain acceptance.

“It was blatant gender discrimination,” argues one of the student activists, Xiao Meili. “No-one had stood up to these universities before, and told them these policies were wrong. Why didn’t anyone want to change anything? It really made me very angry.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News– 100 Women: The jobs Chinese girls just can’t do — 16 October 2013

South China Morning Post– China’s women professionals challenge workplace inequality — 13 October 2013

Huffington Post– Chinese Women Still Face Discrimination Against Men In Bid For Jobs — 17 October 2013

Mining.com– Chinese girls want to break down barriers to mining — 17 October 2013

Four Chilean Men Convicted for Murder and Torture of Young Gay Man

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile – Four men in Chile have been convicted of first-degree murder for torturing and beating to death a young gay man and carving swastikas into his body.

Patricio Ahumada, convicted killer of gay man Zamudio
Prosecutors have asked for life imprisonment for Patricio Ahumada. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

Daniel Zamudio, a 24 year-old clothing store salesman was attacked on the night of March 2, 2012 at the San Borja de Alameda park in the Chilean capital, Santiago. The attackers burned Daniel Zamudio with cigarettes, broke his right leg with a heavy stone, beat him with glass bottles and carved swastikas into his body with broken glass before walking away. He died of his injuries 25 days later.

Judge Juan Carlos Urrutia said Patricio Ahumada Garay, Alejandro Angulo Tapia, Raul Lopez Fuentes and Fabian Mora Mora, who were between the ages of 19 and 25 at the time, were guilty of a crime of “extreme cruelty” and “total disrespect for human life.” The four are due to be sentenced on October 28th. Prosecutors are asking for jail terms ranging from eight years to life in prison.

Daniel Zamudio’s death set off a national debate in the country about hate crimes that led Congress to approve the nation’s first anti-discrimination law targeting hate crimes. The law adopted last year, named the “Zamudio law,” allows people to file anti-discrimination lawsuits and adds hate-crime sentences for violent crimes.

“It is typical of us, Chileans, that an accident has to happen for us to approve a law. My son will not come back, but this case may end up being good for Chile,” said Daniel’s father, Ivan Zamudio. He was in court to hear the verdict, alongside Daniel’s mother, Jacqueline Vera.

The law had been stuck in Congress for seven years after the initiative was stalled by conservative legislators, but President Sebastian Pinera put it on the fast track after Zamudio’s murder.

“We’re satisfied with this ruling. There’s a before and an after the Zamudio case,” said Rolando Jiménez, president of the Gay Liberation and Integration Movement. “It generated such outrage because of the brutality, the hate, that it helped raised awareness,” he said. “We’ve witnessed a cultural change that finally led to an anti-discrimination law.”

For more information please see:

The Guardian – Chilean men carved swastikas into body of gay man they killed – 18 October 2013

ABC News – 4 Guilty in Chile Gay Murder That Led to Hate Law – 17 October 2013

The Washington Post – Chilean court convicts 4 in murder of gay man that prompted Chile to adopt hate crime law – 17 October 2013

BBC – Four Chileans convicted over murder of gay man Daniel Zamudio – 17 October 2013

 

Suicide Bomber Kills Soldiers in Somalia

By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – At least 16 people have been killed and more than 30 people injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded restaurant in the central Somalia town of Beledweyne.

Al-Shabaab militants also carried last month’s attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi in which at least 72 people were killed (photo courtesy of Reuters)

Al-Shabab said it had carried out the bombing targeting troops in an African Union peacekeeping force fighting the Somali Islamist group.

The bombing happened at a restaurant near a military base around 210 miles north of Mogadishu. The city is under control of the central government and AU peacekeepers from Djibouti.

“Our main target was Ethiopian and Djibouti troops who invaded our country. They were sitting there,” al-Shabab’s military operation spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, said.

But witnesses have reported that most of those killed by the bomb were civilians.

“There is a lack of medicine in the hospital and they can’t cope with the flood of wounded patients, so we asked the central government to send us planes to evacuate patients,” Mr Jessow said by phone.

“A man with an explosives jacket entered unexpectedly in the tea shop where soldiers and civilians sat . . . and blew himself up,” local elder Ahmed Nur said from the scene of the blast.

 “I could see the bodies of several soldiers being carried, but I could not make out whether they were dead or injured.” Al-Shabaab frequently attacks political targets, as well as restaurants, and other recreational spaces popular with foreigners and government soldiers.

 Al-Shabab militants have been driven out of Somalia’s major towns, including Mogadishu and the key southern port of Kismayo, by a UN-mandated AU force of some 18,000 soldiers.

 But the militants still control large parts of southern Somalia.

 Last month the group claimed the attack on the Westgate shopping center in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in which 72 people died in a four day siege.

 Straddling a major highway that links south-western Somalia to southern and northern parts of the country, Beledweyne is the maine gateway to the Ogaden region in Ethiopia and a strategically vital area that Addis Ababa has often controlled.

“In a way this attack is also a message of weakness as al Shabaab are not able to carry out a conventional assault on the town in the way they use to two years ago,” analyst Abdi said.

 Ethiopian troops have been fighting Islamist militants in neighbouring Somalia for much of the past decade.

 For more information, please visit:

 BBC News – Somali suicide bombing kills AU soldiers in Beledweyne – 19 October 2013
The Frontier Post – Somali bombing kills AU soldiers – 20 October 2013
Yahoo! News – Suicide bomber kills 16 in Somali cafe attack aimed at foreign troops – 19 October 2013
The Guardian – Al-Shabaab suicide bomber attacks restaurant in Somalia – 19 October 2013
Standard Media – Al Shabaab claims responsibility, says AU forces were the target – 19 October 2013

UN Report Says 479 Civilians Killed by Drones in Pakistan

by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

NEW YORK CITY, New York – Ben Emmerson, a UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, publicized findings of his report Friday which announced that at least 479 civilians have been killed by drone strikes in Pakistan since 2004.  The report’s release came ahead of a General Assembly debate schedule for October 25.

Under the Obama Administration, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become a principle method for killing suspected militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

The report, which Emmerson began research on in January, involved interviews with local US elements in Pakistan.  Emmerson said that the CIA’s involvement in the drone program has created “an almost insurmountable obstacle to transparency.”  The report emphasizes that national security considerations are an unacceptable justification for withholding data on civilian casualties.

While Emmerson notes that a number of international legal issues relating to drone use need to be resolved, he believes that there is a place for their use within humanitarian law.  BBC News reports that Emmerson’s fear with drones is that lack of consensus on how to use them in armed conflict could become increasingly dangerous.

Emmerson’s report has no binding authority; however, the UN Human Rights Council will use the report in determining whether the US has committed human rights violations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen.

Human rights concerns aside, the use of drones is unlikely to decline in the near future. Already China has begun training with drones for use in armed conflicts, and Japan is looking to acquire drones by 2015.

Emmerson expects the expanding role of drones as a policing tool will lead states to prefer targeting enemies under war parameters over capturing them.

“The expansive use of armed drones by the first states to acquire them, if not challenged, can do structural damage to the cornerstones of international security and set precedents that undermine the protection of life across the globe in the longer term,” Emmerson’s report said.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – UN investigator presses US to publish drone attack data – 18 October 2013

Asahi Shimbun – Almost 500 civilians killed in drone attacks, U.N. study finds – 19 October 2013

Chicago Tribune – Pakistan tells U.N. at least 400 civilians killed by drone strikes – 19 October 2013

International Business Times – Drone Attacks In Pakistan Killed 400 Civilians In Last 10 Years; UN Investigator Urges US To Declassify Data – 19 October 2013

Reuters – Pakistan tells U.N. at least 400 civilians killed by drone strikes – 19 October 2013

Protests near Piazza San Giovanni Turn Violent Despite Organizers’ Peaceful Intentions

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ROME, Italy – Italy’s planned peaceful protests turned violent as extremists attended, prepared for a clash with police.

Demonstrations turn violent as extremists throw bottles, flares, and thunder flashes. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

On 18 October 2013, a transport strike led to an overnight demonstration at the Piazza San Giovanni, in the city centre. Despite grievances, the demonstrators were allegedly in good spirit.

By 19 October, thousands protested throughout Rome’s streets over several issues, including the government’s austerity program and the proposed high speed rail line linking Lyon, France with Turin.

“We are protesting a one-way austerity that is bringing the country to its knees,” said Piero Bernocchi from Italy’s Cobas trade union group. “And it hasn’t achieved what it was meant to by bringing down debt. Meanwhile politicians continue with their privileges.”

Italy’s two-year recession has pushed unemployment to record-breaking heights, shut down thousands of businesses, and forced much of the younger generation to emigrate. Youth unemployment is at 40.1%.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s 2014 budget has been viewed as insufficient to ease the current tax burden placed on workers.

Originally, organizers hoped 20,000 would appear for a peaceful protest. While organizers estimated 70,000 to have attended, police put estimates closer to 50,000. Among the demonstrators, nearly 400 immigrants expressed support for asylum-seekers, many of whom have died at sea during their trip from North Africa.

“This protest is to demand basic rights: a job paying a wage, and housing,” said Matteo, a 20-year-old student from the eastern Marche region. “All the most downtrodden people are here to protest, unemployed people, students, immigrants, workers without job security.”

One protester apparently looking for a clash said, “We are not assuming it is going to happen, but we need them because the situation in the country is very serious.”

During the lead-up to demonstrations, police discovered five French members of the “Black Block” movement. According to authorities, the group provoked much unrest throughout Europe in past years; and two of the five were under investigation in France for terrorist activity.

At least 100 wearing hoods and motorcycle helmets attacked the Italian Economic Ministry. Demonstrators in masks threw eggs, bottles, flares, and thunder flashes at a police line guarding the building. As police charged the crowd, demonstrators beat their plastic shields with sticks and poles, and set fire to a trash bin.

Police detained the 15 most violent people after confiscating baseball bats, helmets, teargas, rocks, and a knife. Also, police defused a large firework with a bullet in it.

While most protestors sought a peaceful protest over austerity and low wages and the environment, extremists came prepared for anything. In case of violence, shops were shuttered and Rome authorities deployed approximately 3500 police.

For further information, please see:

Euronews – Thousands Protest in Rome over Austerity Measures – October 19, 2013

Reuters – Italian Anti-Austerity Protesters Clash with Police – October 19, 2013

Telegraph – Protests in Rome Turn Violent as Demonstrators Attack Economy Ministry – October 19, 2013

Gazzetta del Sud – Five French “Block Block” Militants Stopped in Rome – October 18, 2013