Chinese Activist Sentenced for State Secret Laws

November 23, 2009

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – After helping families whose children died during the earthquake in Sichuan in May last year, Huang Qi, a veteran dissident, was sentenced to three years in prison. He was arrested after raising awareness about poorly built schools which collapsed and killed thousands of children during China‘s massive earthquake last year. Huang was taken by the police in Chengdu in June 2008 and has been held in custody ever since.

The verdict was delivered at the close of a 10-minute hearing at Wuhou District People’s Court in the city of Chengdu. Very few details about the charge were released, although activist’s wife and mother were allowed to enter the court to hear the sentence, and were present when Huang was given the maximum jail term for this crime.

There is great concern that Huang was imprisoned for illegally holding state secrets in what some believe is an attempt by the Chinese government to squelch such information. Amnesty International said Huang was a victim of China’s “vague” state secrets laws, and that he should be released immediately. “The Chinese government is penalizing someone who is trying to help the victims of the Sichuan earthquake,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific director.

Photograph of Huang Qi. Image Courtesy of Times Online.

The government linked its charge against Huang in connection to the human rights Web site he founded. He was detained in 2008 after he made several posts on his blog that criticized the government’s response to the massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province a month earlier and killed about 90,000 people.

According to one news source, Huang had also spoken to foreign media outlets about parents’ accusations that their children had been crushed in badly built schools. The government has attempted to quash such complaints, fearing the contentious issue could undermine the admiration and goodwill it earned for the massive rescue effort it led, boosted by volunteers and international aid.

Zeng, Huang’s wife, said the Wuhou district court in the western city of Chengdu gave no details about the state secrets charge, an ill-defined accusation often used by Communist leaders to clamp down on dissent and imprison activists. As a result of the charge, authorities were able to bar Huang from seeing his lawyer, and forbid the photocopying of court documents, according to Amnesty International.

This current bout with authorities is not the only time that Huang has been imprisoned for voicing his opinion. He previously served a five-year sentence for “inciting the subversion of state power” in connection with material published on his website.

Huang is not the only activity to investigate the Sichuan schools issue and is also not the only one to be prosecuted for his actions – or words.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – China activist Huang Qi sentenced to three years – November 23, 2009

Yahoo! World News – China activist who spoke out on quake gets 3 years – November 23, 2009

ABC News – China Activist Who Spoke out on Quake Gets 3 Years – November 23, 2009

The Guardian – China jails earthquake activist – November 23, 2009

UN Condemns Latest Rebel Attacks in CAR

November 22, 2009

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KAMPALA, Uganda – The UN has urged the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic (CAR), and Sudan to protect civilians, especially women and children, by sharing information with the UN. There has been an upsurge of attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group, in these countries.

“The (15) members of the Security Council strongly condemned the continued and recently increasing attacks carried out by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic and Sudan,” said a statement by the Security Council.

According to Austrian Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting, who holds the council’s rotating presidency this month, the LRA’s attacks “have resulted in the death, abduction and displacement of thousands of civilians.” He also encouraged the regional governments’ full cooperation with the United Nations in order to protect civilians.

The LRA guerilla group first appeared in northern Uganda in 1988 and has since expanded into these three other countries. LRA Chief Joseph Kony is wanted by the The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC). The rebels are known for mutilating and murdering civilians and kidnapping children for fighting and sexual slavery.

The UN Security Council has called on MONUC (UN Mission in the DRC), UNMIS (in the Sudan), MINURCAT (in Chad and the CAR), UNAMID (African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur), and BONUCA (United Nations Peace-Building Office in the CAR) to coordinate strategies for civilian protection.

On Tuesday the Ugandan army killed Lt. Col. Okello Ogutti, a commander of the LRA.

“Okutti used to be the overall commander for LRA operations in Pader district, and he was a senior commander among the groups currently in CAR,” said Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye, the Defense and Army spokesman for Uganda. Although they killed Ogutti, he added, “Our unique ideology is that while the targeting of LRA commanders continues, the door for Joseph Kony to sign a peace agreement is still open.”

Currently, Ugandan special forces are seeking out LRA rebels within the DRC, the CAR, and Sudan.

The Security Council has demanded “that the LRA immediately cease all attacks on civilians, and urged them to surrender, assembly [sic] and disarm, as required by the Final Peace Agreement.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Ugandan Troops Kill Top Rebel in Centr.Africa – 20 November 2009

AllAfrica – America Moves to Make Life Harder for Kony Rebels – 19 November 2009

AFP – UN Condemns Rebel LRA Attacks in Africa – 18 November 2009

Taiwan News – UN Condemns Upsurge in Ugandan Rebel Attacks – 18 November 2009

Australia Must End Discriminatory Practices Against Aborigines

November 22, 2009

By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

CANBERRA, Australia – In a visit to the Australian region of Utopia last week, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Irene Khan urged Australia to rescind its laws, putting an end to discrimination against Aboriginal people.

Khan estimates that approximately 45,000 Aboriginal people have been affected by certain measures, in particular, those that allow land confiscation and interference with income payments.

After a report revealed large amounts of abuse and violence in these communities, the government enacted discriminatory practices as part of the 2007 Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER).

Critics of NTER, including Amnesty International, believe that it imposes harsh measures on all Aboriginal people living in the Northern Territory. One such practice is “compulsory income management”, which stipulates that individuals shall receive half of their welfare payments in the form of the Basics card, a “virtual payment” which can only be spent in particular shops on certain goods.

Amnesty claims that Australia has breached its international obligations on human and indigenous rights by imposing these measures, which have left the Aborigines feeling stigmatized and lacking the flexibility to manage their own lives.

“Disempowered, robbed of their dignity, threatened with the loss of their identity and attacked on their own ancestral lands”, Khan is shocked by these human rights violations.

In her statement, Khan said “[i]ndigenous people . . . deserve the same respect, safety and protection as does any Australian . . . but this will not be achieved in a sustained manner under the Emergency Response which is stigmatizing and disempowering an already marginalized people and which is in violation of Australia’s international obligations.”

Khan found the existence of human rights violations within one of the world’s most developed nations to be “inexcusable” and “morally outrageous.”

Individuals living in these communities are subject to chronic violence, housing problems, and health issues. Alcohol and substance abuse are also rampant.

Australia’s Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, indicated that Australia would put forth legislation to reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory.

The government suspended the Racial Discrimination Act and Northern Territory anti-discrimination legislation, which allowed it to enact NTER and intervene into the affairs of Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. In doing so, the government contributed to worsening poverty levels in Aboriginal communities.

The Secretary General of Amnesty has called on Australians to put an end to this disparity.

For more information please see:
New Tang Dynasty Television – Amnesty Cracks Down on Australia – 21 November 2009

Associated Press – Amnesty boss urges equality for poor Aborigines – 18 November 2009

Amnesty International – Australia: Government must overturn law which discriminates against aboriginal people – 18 November 2009

ABC News – Shocking Conditions in Utopia: Amnesty – 16 November 2009

Canadian Official Claims Canada Indifferent to Torture of Transferred Detainees

November 22, 2009

22 November 2009

Canadian Official Claims Canada Indifferent to Torture of Transferred Detainees

By William Miller,

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

Richard Colvin Testified that Canada was ignoring the torture of detainies transfered to Afganistan custody before a Parlimentary Comittee on Wednesday (PHOTO: Guardian)

OTTAWA, Canada – Richard Colvin, former second in command at Canada’s Embassy in Kabul Afghanistan, testified before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday November 18 that Canada transferred numerous Afghan detainees to afghan authorities despite knowing that they would likely be subjected to torture. Colvin further testified that many of the detainees where not involved in the insurgency.
Colvin implicated Canadian government departments including the Department of Foreign Affairs and international trade the department of defense and the Privy Council headed by the Prime Minister. All had received reports regarding the torture of transferred detainees over an 18 month period from 2006 to 2007 but failed to act on them. It was internationally known that Prisoners transferred to Afghan authorities were being tortured. Both NATO and the United Nations have previously raised concerns of abuse by officials in Afghanistan.

Colvin Testified that lax reporting systems brought Canada very close to being complicit in the torture. Both Britain and the Netherlands transferred detainees to Afghanistan authority but did so in lesser numbers and kept better records and actively monitored prisoners to safe guard them against torture. Canada allegedly went to great lengths not to address the problem and went so far as refusing to take phone calls from The Red Cross for months when they attempted to warn officials of the torture.

Unlike Britain and the Netherlands, Canada filed no reports on prisoner transfers. Officials claim that this was done for security reasons but Colvin alleges that it was to guard against the press and the public becoming informed of detainee torture. In 2007 government officials issued reports to their department not to write or record any statements about detainee torture and to sensor those in existence after the Globe and Mail reported on the torture of transferred prisoners.

Harper claims that he sent reports to Canadian Government officials himself over a 17 month period when Canadian Officials where denying that detainees were tortured.

Torture methods used on the prisoners included electric shock, beatings, and exposure to open flames, sleep deprivation and several other methods. Prisoners where often tortured for months at a time. If Calvin’s assertions are verified, Canada could face investigation for war crimes by the International Court.

Officials Colvin named in his testimony include Margrete Bloodworth, former National Security Advisor for Prime Minister Steven Harper, David Sproule, former Ambassador to Afghanistan, and half a dozen other high ranking officials.

For more information, please see:

CBC – A Who’s Who of Officials Named in Richard Colvin,s Testimony – 20 November 2009

Guardian – Canadian Diplomat Alleges Troops in Afghanistan Were Complicit in Torture – 20 November 2009

Ottawa Citizen – Grave Allegations – 20 November 2009

Japan Urged to Help Improve North Korea’s Human Rights

November 22, 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW YORK, United States – Several nongovernmental organizations have submitted a letter to the prime minister of Japan asking the new Japanese government to take leadership in help improving human rights in North Korea.

Prime Minister of Japan, Yukio Hatoyama. Courtesy of Reuters.

These organizations have also urged Japan to focus on North Korean refugees and the fate of Japanese who migrated to North Korea between 1959 and 1984.

Although Japan has previously raised awareness regarding North Korea’s human rights abuses, for example, the plight of Japanese abductees, the letter to the prime minister encouraged Japan to “play a stronger and more proactive role in promoting and protecting the human rights situations in North Korea.”

To do so, the organizations provided suggestions, such as raising human rights issues with North Korea in the future, pressuring China to protect North Korean refugees, accepting North Korea refugees who have no ties to Japan, and continuing to accept former migrants who return to Japan from North Korea.

Tokyo director of Human Rights Watch Kanae Doi said, “Abuses against North Korea take place right on Japan’s doorstep, but Japan has been largely silent on human rights issues except for abductions of Japanese citizens.”

Doi added “The new Japanese government should lead the way in raising wider human rights issues with North Korea.”

Between 1950s and 1980s, more than 93,000 Japanese migrated to North Korea as a result of a campaign by pro-North Korean groups which labeled North Korea as “heaven on earth.”

However, according to North Korean defectors, the North Korean government sent some of those migrants to labor camps where they died of starvation, lack of medical care and physical abuse. Some migrants who escaped North Korea have resettled in Japan, but the Japanese government does not have a clear policy on their resettlement.

Just last month, Japan, along with the European Union, submitted a resolution to the UN General Assembly in efforts to bring more awareness to the human rights conditions in North Korea.

“Improving human rights conditions in a country such as North Korea is a daunting task, but Japan should not waste this opportunity to help North Koreans both in and outside the country,” said Doi.

The letter to the prime minster also included topics such as offering food aid to North Korea and including human rights in bilateral and multilateral talks with the North.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Japan: Press North Korea on Human Rights – 19 November 2009

Human Rights Watch – Joint letter to Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on North Korea – 19 November 2009

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan – Japan-North Korea Relations – May 2004