Police Stop China’s First Mr. Gay China Pageant

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – One hour before the event was scheduled to begin, police shut down what would have been China’s first gay pageant, Mr. Gay China. Stopping the show illuminates so close to its commencement illuminates the country’s sensitivity surrounding homosexuality, and the struggle by gays to find mainstream acceptance.

The Mr. Gay China pageant attracted a great deal of press attention. Even the normally staid state-run media reported on the event. Tickets, which cost 100 Yuan (US$14.60) and 150 Yuan (US$22.00), sold out three days prior to the event. The popularity and support of the pageant demonstrates a desire to generate knowledge about gay rights and advocate for promoting wide-spread homosexual societal acceptance in China.

China gay pageant

Simon Wang, a contest participant, reacted to news that police had canceled what would have been China’s first gay pageant. Image courtesy of The New York Times.

Despite the pageant’s popularity, organizers said they were not surprised when eight police officers turned up at the upscale club in central Beijing where the pageant, featuring a fashion show and a host in drag, was set to take place. According to Ben Zhang, one of the main event organizers, stated, “They said the content, meaning homosexuality, there’s nothing wrong with that, but you did not do things according to procedures.” Police then told him he needed official approval for events that included performances, in this case a stage show.

Police intervention, however, is not uncommon. Chinese police frequently cite procedural reasons for closing down gatherings that are deemed to be politically sensitive. Though the pageant did not have any overt political agenda, similar events in the past, such as a parade during the Shanghai Pride Festival last year, have been blocked by authorities.

Zhang had said he hoped the pageant would raise awareness of homosexuals in a country where gays are frequently discriminated against and ostracized. Eight men were competing for the title, and a spot in the Worldwide Mr. Gay pageant, to be held next month in Oslo, Norway. Shutting down the event, however, prevented them from not only competing, but from bringing a gay rights event into the mainstream spotlight. Zhang’s parting words as he left the site of the pageant were, “I wouldn’t say it’s a huge step backwards for the gay community,” he said, “but I guess it’s not a step forward, either.”

For More Information, please see:

The New York Times – Chinese Gay Pageant Is Shut Down – January 15, 2010

The Guardian – Chinese police shut down country’s first gay pageant – January 15, 2010

MSNBC – Police shut down Mr. Gay China pageant – January 15, 2010

UN Urges Uganda to Discard Anti-Homosexuality Bill

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

GENEVA, Switzerland – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay denounced Uganda’s proposed anti-homosexuality legislation calling it “draconian.”  She said it is in violation of international human rights standards and called on the country to shelve it.

The proposed anti-homosexuality legislation would impose the death penalty or life imprisonment on some gay and lesbian people for some homosexual acts.  Some examples of violations would include cases of rape of a minor of the same sex, or where one partner carried the AIDS virus.  Public discussion of homosexuality or renting property to a homosexual would also be criminalized.

“The bill proposes draconian punishments for people alleged to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered – namely life imprisonment, or in some cases, the death penalty,” said Pillay.  “To criminalize people on the basis of color or gender is now unthinkable in most countries.  The same should apply to an individual’s sexual orientation.”

In order to understand the bill’s introduction in Uganda it is first necessary to understand the story of King Mwanga.  In 1886, King Mwanga ordered male pages to have sex with him.  They died as martyrs when they refused based on their Christian faith and were ordered to be burned at the stake.

Playing on Ugandans’ fears, Scott Lively, an American evangelical, addressed the Ugandan Parliament.

“Male homosexuality has historically been, not adult to adult; it’s been adult to teenager,” says Lively.  “It’s called pederasty – adults sodomizing teenage boys.”

A few months later this bill was introduced.

This bill is set to come before the Ugandan Parliament sometime in January.  It could be as early as next week.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and other high ranking government officials have suggested that they might intervene to keep this bill from becoming law, a move that Pillay welcomes.

According to Rupert Colville, the High Commissioner’s spokesman, Pillay believes that the bill’s passage could have an extremely negative impact for homosexual individuals, depriving them of a range of fundamental human rights.

“It is extraordinary to find legislation like this being proposed more than 60 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights … made it clear this type of discrimination is unacceptable,” Pillay said.

She also warned that passage of this bill could harm Uganda’s reputation in the international community.

For more information, please see:

AFP – UN Urges Uganda to Scrap Anti-Gay Bill – 15 January 2010

Guardian – UN’s Human Rights Chief Urges Uganda to Scrap Anti-Gay Legislation – 15 January 2010

Jurist – UN Rights Chief Criticizes Proposed Uganda Legislation Against Homosexuality – 15 January 2010

NPR – U.S. Exports Cultural War to Uganda – 15 January 2010

UN News Centre – Top UN Rights Official Urges Uganda to Do Away with ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill’ – 15 January 2010

VOA – UN Rights Chief Denounces Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill – 15 January 2010

Chemical Ali Receives Fourth Death Sentence

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On January 15 Ali Hassan al-Majid was sentenced to death by hanging by an Iraqi court. Saddam Hussein’s senior aide, also known as “Chemical Ali,” was convicted of ordering the gassing of the Kurds in the Iraqi town of Halabja in 1988. The attack killed an estimated five thousand people and took place near the end of the Iran-Iraq War. This marked the fourth time that Majid has been sentenced to death.

During the 1988 attacks, Iraqi jets swooped over the small north eastern Iraqi town. The jets proceeded to spray Halabja for five hours with a deadly cocktail of mustard gas and Tabun, Sarin and VX, all nerve agents. The was part of Iraq’s Anfal campaign, which Majid was in charge of overseeing. Most of the five thousand Kurds that died were women and children. Majid said “thanks be to God” as the sentence was being read.

Majid was a close cousin of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. He earned his moniker from ordering the poisonous gas attacks in a campaign of bombings and mass deportations that killed over one hundred eighty thousand Kurds during the 1980s. He received his first death sentence from these attacks.

“Chemical Ali” received his second death sentence in December 2008 for war crimes committed during a 1991 Shi’ite uprising in southern Iraq that proved to be ill-fated. His third death sentence came in March 2009 for the 1999 murders of dozens of Shi’ites in Sadr City and Najaf.

It is not clear when Majid will ultimately be executed. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said that it woudl take place soon. Dabbagh told Reuters that “it will not take a long time for Hassan al-Majid to receive his just punishment for the crimes he committed against the Iraqi people.” Despite the wishes of Iraqi authorities, Majid still has the right to appeal to the sentence.

Majid’s first execution was due to be carried out by October 2007. It was ultimately delayed so as not to coincide with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Majid was first captured in August 2003, five months after US-led forces invaded Iraq.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Iraq’s ‘Chemical Ali’ Sentenced to Death – 17 January 2010

Al Jazeera – ‘Chemical Ali’ Sentenced to Death – 17 January 2010

BBC – Fourth Death Sentence for ‘Chemical Ali’ – 17 January 2010

Reuters – Iraq’s “Chemical Ali” gets 4th Death Sentence – 17 January 2010

Discrimination Against Roma Children Continues In Czech Schools

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Report, Europe

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Discrimination against Roma children continues to exist in the the public educational system in the Czech Republic, according to Amnesty International.

The report by the international human rights watchdog indicated that it has become common practice in the Czech Republic for the children of Roma, or Gypsies, to be transferred by the government to schools designed to house those with mental disabilities.  These schools, now known as ‘practical’ schools, offer limited academic opportunities.  The limited opportunities result in many Roma becoming unable to receive the necessary vocational or academic skills to obtain adequate employment.  Approximately fourth-fifths of the students in these alternative schools are of Roma descent, while only 2% of the children of the non-Romi majority attend.

The Europe program director for Amnesty International, Nicola Duckworth, has stated that “education is a way out of a vicious circle of poverty and marginalisation that affects a large part of the Roma population in the country.  Unless the Czech authorities give them equal opportunities, they will be denying Romani children their chances for a better future and full participation in the life of the country.”  The Amnesty International report, which studied four schools in the eastern portion of the country, calls for an immediate freeze on the placement of any student in the ‘practical’ schools in the 2010-2011 school year.

There are approximately 300,000 Roma in the Czech Republic, and over 8 million Roma in all of Europe, mostly in the center of the continent.  The Roma have historically faced educational and work discrimination across Europe.

This report does not mark the first time a human rights group that attempted to push for a change regarding the treatment of Roma in the Czech school system.  Over a dozen organizations, including the European Roma Rights Center, have sought to end the segregation that is resulting from the student transferring process.  In 2007, as a result of a case brought by eighteen Roma, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Czech Prague to discontinue this practice, amending the educational system if necessary.  Amnesty International, in its report, stated that the changes made by the Czech government following the 2007 court ruling have not been sufficient.

The Czech government has offered no response to the conclusions drawn in the Amnesty International report.

For more information, please see:

SOFIA ECHO – Amnesty: End segregation in Czech schools – 14 January 2010

ROMEA – Amnesty International calls on Czech Republic to guarantee full education for all – 14 January 2010

AP – Report: Czechs Still Segregating Gypsy Kids – 13 January 2010

BBC – Amnesty says Czech schools still fail Roma Gypsies – 13 January 2010

FINANCIAL TIMES – Roma children segregated in Czech schools – 13 January 2010

Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Missing

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – It has been almost a year since the Nobel Peace Prize nominee and leading human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng was taken by the Chinese authorities.

After reports surfaced saying that Gao has been “missing” since September, there is speculation that Gao may have been tortured and killed in a detention center.

Gao’s brother came to Beijing to inquire the whereabouts of his brother and was told by a police official that Gao lost his way while out on a walk and then went missing.

Gao has been under the radar of the Chinese authorities for his work in defending members of the outlawed Falun Gong and for working with underground Christian organizations.  He was also accused of being too pro-American.  Gao’s license to practice law was revoked back in 2005.

Human rights activists are particularly worried about Gao’s disappearance because of the gross mistreatment Gao suffered during his previous incarceration.

Gao published a letter after his release few years ago saying that he was subjected to more than a month of torture where he was jabbed with an electric baton and his genitals were pierced with toothpicks.  He said the guards also urinated on him and beat until he could not stop shaking.

Gao said he was told that he would be killed if he ever spoke publically about his detention.

His wife and two children have been granted asylum in the United States.  His wife, surprised to find out that the police could not account for her husband’s disappearance, said, “If he’s alive, let us see him.  If he’s dead, tell us where his body is.”

Another lawyer and a friend of Gao, Teng Biao, also said, “This is the first time the police have come up with ‘went missing’ as an excuse.  That’s impossible.  Gao was in their custody and could go nowhere.”

Advocates say that Gao is the victim of the “legal system whose corruption he worked to expose.”  In addition to human rights, Gao had been fighting for judicial independence, rule of law and impartiality in Chinese legal system.

Rights group like Human Rights in China are demanding that the Chinese authorities stop acting with impunity and provide full and immediate account of Gao’s whereabouts.

For more information, please see:

The Independent – Did the Chinese security forces kill Gao Zhisheng? – 16 January 2010

NYT – Chinese Lawyer Declared ‘Missing’ After Arrest – 15 January 2010

WSJ – Where is Gao Zhisheng? – 17 January 2010