Fiji Calls Pacific Forum Ultimatum Akin to Declaring War

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Following a decision to possibly suspend Fiji from the Pacific Forum, Fiji’s interim prime minister has accused Pacific leaders of all but declaring war on Fiji.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister, John Key, meanwhile, has called interim prime minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama’s reaction “ridiculous.”

On Tuesday, the Pacific Forum, an association of over sixteen independent and self-governing Pacific states, met in Papua New Guinea to discuss placing sanctions on Fiji for Bainimarama’s refusal to set a date for holding democratic elections.

Forum members voted on whether to ban Fiji from future meetings, as well as, suspend any development aid and technical assistance if Fiji has not set a date for elections by May 1, 2009.

Mr. Key has defended the Forum’s stance, saying the group has Fiji’s best interest in mind.

“They are totally ridiculous statement for Frank Bainimarama to be making and as far as we are concerned, the Forum wants Fiji to succeed, we extended a hand of friendship but that hand of friendship has to be done in a way where Fiji needs to understand that there needs to be a return to democracy,” Key said.

For more information, please see:
International Herald Tribune – Little chance seen of Fiji caving to pressure – 28 January 2009

Radio New Zealand International – New Zealand’s PM says Bainimarama reaction is ’ridiculous’ – 28 January 2009

Radio New Zealand International – NZ and Solomons PMs defend Forum’s decision on Fiji – 28 January 2009

Border Attack Kills Israeli Soldiers and Threatens Ceasefire

By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

KISSUFIM CROSSING, Israel/Gaza – On January 27, a bomb attack killed one Israeli soldier and injured three others as they patrolled the Kissufim border crossing.  According Israeli military authorities, it is unknown whether the explosive device was remotely detonated or pressured triggered.  This is the most serious exchange since the unilateral ceasefires were declared.

Following the attack, Palestinian witnesses report that a gunfight claimed the life a Palestinian farmer.  Some sources indicate that the gunfight was an immediate response to the bomb attack.  However, Dr Moaiya Hassanain of Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that the farmer was killed several miles away.

In confirming the border attack, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, added that Israel must respond to “whoever fires towards us, places a bomb [under us] or smuggles weapons.”  Also, Israel’s Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, warned that Israel would retaliate the grave ceasefire violation at the Kissufim crossing.  Mr Barak said that Israel “cannot accept” the attack. “We will respond, but there is no point in elaborating,” he said.

Such response took place in the form of Israeli airstrikes and ground incursion in southern Gaza.  Residents of Khan Younis report heavy fighting in the area.  One airstrike targeted a Hamas militant on a motorbike.  The strike left him and a passer-by wounded.  Shortly afterwards, an Israeli warplane flew over the strip causing a sonic boom, apparently in a warning to the population.  In addition, Palestinian sources say 20 Israeli tanks and seven army bulldozers have made an incursion.

Also, in response to the border attack, Israel closed the crossings into Gaza.  This comes at a difficult time, as the crossings were briefly opened in the morning to allow the entrance of humanitarian aid.

No Palestinian militant group has claimed responsibility for the border attack.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Deadly Clash Along Gaza Border – 27 January 2009

BBC – Israel Launches Attacks in Gaza – 27 January 2009 h

Ha’aretz – Barak, Defense Officials Assess Response to Deadly Gaza Blast – 27 January 2009

New York Times – Two Killed in Violence on Gaza Border – 27 January 2009

Times – Israel Carries Out Air Strike After Bombs Kills Soldier on Gaza Border – 27 January 2009

Yedioth – Barak Vows to Retaliate Kissufim Attack – 27 January 2009

Fiji Times Publisher Deported

By Sarah E. Treptow
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

Image Courtesy of Fiji Times

Small Rex SUVA, Fiji – Rex Gardner, Fiji Times publisher and acting CEO, was declared a prohibited immigrant this week and was ordered out of the country by the interim Government.  The deportation follows a High Court ruling last week in which the newspaper was found in contempt of court and fined for publishing a letter criticizing the court’s validation of the 2006 military coup.  Mr. Gardner is the third newspaper publisher to be deported from Fiji in less than a year.  He was given his Removal Order at his office which was signed on Friday by the permanent secretary for Defense, National Security and Immigration, Peniame Naqasima.  Mr. Gardner was scheduled to meet Immigration officers yesterday afternoon but they failed to show up to the meeting.  He was classified as a prohibited immigrant under section 13(2)g of the Immigration Act of 2003, a clause of the act he called “obscure.”

Mr. Gardner is being deported eight months after his predecessor was also ordered out of Fiji.  In May Australian publisher Evan Hannah was deported amid claims he was a security threat.  In February of last year Russell Hunter of the Fiji Sun newspaper was deported following the publication of a series of controversial articles.

Immigration Director, Viliame Naupoto, confirmed Mr. Gardner will fly out of Fiji on Tuesday morning.  “It is because of his guilty plea on contempt of court,” said Mr. Naupoto.  The Immigration Director claimed the guilty plea put him in breach of his work permit and that the action is consistent with other foreign nationals that were deported.

Pacific Media Freedom Forum says the deportation is despicable and unacceptable.  Online co-chair, Monica Miller, criticized the move, saying that working in the Fiji media has become increasingly difficult due to the lack of media freedom.

Fiji Law Society president, Dorsami Naidu, said the action by the interim Government marked a sad day for democracy in Fiji.  Mr. Naidu said that if a person breaches his work permit there are processes to be followed allowing that person to present their case in court.  He continued, “This is a draconian way of doing things where the order is given in the evening when the courts are closed.”

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Pacific journalist group says deportation of second Fiji Times publisher is despicable – 26 January 2009

The West Australian – Fiji Times publisher to be deported – 26 January 2009

Fiji Times – Deported – 27 January 2009

Fiji Times – A nation’s prayer – 27 January 2009

Fiji Times – Major setback, says FABC – 27 January 2009

“Strike Hard” Campaign in Tibet

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Chinese authorities launched a 42-day “strike hard” campaign in Tibet since Jan. 18, 2009.  According to the Chinese-language state-run Lhasa Evening News, “Within three days of the launch of the winter “Strike Hard” campaign, the Lhasa municipal public security bureau had deployed 600 officers and around 160 police vehicles, and had conducted raids on seven housing blocks, 2,922 rented houses, 14 guest house and hotels, 18 bars and three Internet cafés in Lhasa.”

The authorities in Lhasa had rounded up and interrogated 5,766 Tibetans in the first three days of the campaign.  Dharamsala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) contends that the main objective of the campaign is probably to find participants in last year’s Lhasa unrest.  TCHRD assistant director Jampa Monlam said that police questioning is focused on last year’s March 14 demonstrations that turned into rioting in Lhasa.  “They are asking people where they were during the March 14 incident in Lhasa, whether they have an alibi, and so on. If you can’t prove where you were during that time, you will probably be detained.”

In addition, all visitors are required to apply for a temporary residence permit from the police if they wishes to stay for more than three days and less than a month in Lhasa, TCHRD said.

“Strike hard” campaign was first launched in China in 1983 to fight corruptions and crimes.  However, the motive of launching this campaign in China and in Tibet is very different.  The motive of launching such campaign in Tibet is to intimidate and eliminate those supporting Tibetan independence and human rights activists in Tibet.

For more information, please see:

Punjab Newsline – China grills 5766 Tibetans under winter “Strike Hard” campaign in Lhasa – 23 January 2009

Radio Free Asia – China ‘Strikes Hard’ in Tibet – 26 January 2009

Tibetan Review – 5,766 rounded up in Lhasa under winter ‘strike hard’ move – 26 January 2009

World News – 5766 Tibetan people questioned in winter ‘Strike Hard’ campaign – 24 January 2009

Human Rights Group in Yemen Urges Government to Act to End the Use of Child Soldiers

By Lauren Mellinger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen– On January 25, the Seyaj Organization for Childhood Protection, a Yemeni child-rights organization based in Sana’a made an urgent humanitarian appeal to end the use of children as tribal fighters in northern Yemen.  According to a recent study by the organization, as many as half of the tribal fighters involved in violent clashes in north Yemen are children.

Seyaj noted that over the past four months, more than 63 people were killed in ethnic clashes in Amran province in north Yemen, and forty percent of those killed were children.  According to Ahmad Al-Qurashi, the organizations director, “the tribal culture in Yemen does not regard a 15-year old as a child…Yemen’s society as a whole views a 15-year old as a man and they’re forced into battles.  The society views fighting alongside a tribe as an important part of a child’s passage to manhood.  We see children as young as 13 carrying weapons that are bigger than they are.”

Seyaj blames the Yemeni government  for the high rate of children currently serving as tribal fighters.  The tribal areas in north Yemen are not provided sufficient financial resources by the government, and as a result they lack educational opportunities, and health and development programs.  Often children drop out of school by the age of 12 and either work in their families’ farms or are inducted as tribal soldiers.  According to the report released by Seyaj, the government does not intervene in the northern tribal areas to prevent the tribes from recruiting children as soldiers. 

In its Child Soldiers Global Report 2008, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers accused the Yemeni government of recruiting child soldiers in a war with rebels in north Yemen since 2004, despite the legal minimum recruitment age of 18.  According to the report, “joining the army was highly sought after, since other employment opportunities were extremely limited.  Parents sometimes agreed to the recruitment of their children into the armed forces because of their poor economic situation.”

Seyaj urged the government to provide the tribal areas with sufficient economic resources and with better educational opportunities in order to reduce the number of children serving as tribal fighters.  In addition, the organization is demanding that the fighting tribes throughout north Yemen to stop using children in armed clashes and to respect the State’s minimum legal age for an individual to join armed forces.  To that end, Seyaj recommends that government officials and tribal sheikhs enact a new law to punish those targeting women and children, using them as fighters for combat operations or for providing logistical support or any other form of engagement with tribal forces.
For more information, please see:

The Media Line – Report: Half Yemen’s Tribal Fighters are Children – 26 January 2009

Armies of Liberation – SEYAJ Opposes Use of Child Soldiers in Amran Tribal War – 25 January 2009

News Yemen – Yemeni Children Used as Soldiers in Sa’ada War: Report – 7 September 2008

Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers – Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 – 20 May 2008