A Voice for the Voiceless

Myanmar lengthens Nobel winner’s sentence

Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, will spend another year under house arrest in her Myanmar home, according to the Associated Press. After spending 11 of the past 17 years in confinement, the Myanmar government was due to release her this week.

The government has held Suu Kyi because they claim that she threatens public order. As head of the Myanmar’s National League for Democracy party, her party won the general election in a landslide in 1990. After the victory, the military government refused to hand over power.

Although the United States, the United Nations, and the European Union have strongly condemned her continued sentenced, the Myanmar’s military junta continues to hold her and approximately 1,200 other political prisoners.

This week, National League for Democracy party supporters held a 300 to 500-person rally for her release. In response, the military government stepped up security around Suu Kyi’s home.

For more information, please see:

Myanmar military rounds up Suu Kyi supporters

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/276485/1/.html

Myanmar extends Suu Kyi’s house arrest

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070525/ap_on_re_as/myanmar_suu_kyi_5

Rwandan Hutu Rebels Suspected of Killing 29 in DRC

By Meryl White
Impunity Watch Reporter

In Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, between Saturday night to Sunday morning, more than 29 people were killed by suspected Rwandan Hutu Rebels. Seventeen bodies were found in three villages in South Kivu province, while another twelve bodies were found in the forest. The murderers slashed their victims with machetes during a night attack.

Ignace Murwanashyaka, the leader of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) has denounced responsibility for the attacks. Furthermore, Murwanashyaka claims that it will be impossible for law enforcement to identify the perpetrators because the attack took place at night.

The United Nations Mission in DR Congo is now investigating the attack in the Kanyola district. However, locals in the South Kivu province have been disappointed by both the UN and the army. One resident said, “They roll past in their armoured vehicles here but are incapable of puttng an end to the exactions and disarming the groups that are spreading terror throughout the region.”

Saturday’s attack is the most gruesome in South-Kivu since May 23, 2005, when a militia killed 19 civilians in Nindja. On July 9, 2005, almost 40 civilians were burned to death by suspected Rwandan Hutu rebels who wanted to punish civilians for backing a UN offensive against them.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Rwanda Rebels’ in DR Congo Raid – 28 May 2007

Yahoo – UN Probes DRC Massacre of up to 30 Villagers – May 2007

Justice in Rwanda

By Myriam Clerge
Impunity Watch, Africa

Francois-Xavier Byuma, a prominent civil rights activist, was sentenced for 19 years in prison by a grassroots genocide court for his involvement in the 1994 massacre in Rwanda. On Sunday May 24th, Byuma was convicted of conspiring with criminals and beating a woman during the massacre in 1994. In response, Byuma, a member of the Rwandan League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, a playwright and head of a children’s rights group, claimed the trial and conviction were designed to settle a score between the judge and himself and intends to appeal.

The 1994 mass murder was one of Africa’s worst genocide. During the 100-day killing spree at least 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis, were massacred by extremist members of the Hutu ethnic group. The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) later regained control of the country, which led to nearly 2 million Hutus migrating to nearby Congo. Some of the fleeing Hutus were participants of the Rwanda massacre.

Although Rwanda signed a peace treaty with eastern Congo in 2002, tension and conflict remains between the ethnic groups within the two countries. On Sunday May 24th Rwandan rebels, based in Congo, attacked a Congolese village with machetes and spears killing 17 and wounding dozens. The rebels are suspected of being Hutu members of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda. The UN commission in Congo has not confirmed the attack, but as of April has launched a military offense to push back Rwandan rebels from eastern Congo.

For more information please see:

Yahoo – Rwandan Rights Activist Sentenced for Genocide Role – 28 May 2007

Yahoo – Rwandan Rebels Kill 17 in Congo Village – 27 May 2007

BBC – Country Profile: Rwanda – 04 May 2007

Chavez closes “threatening” TV station

By Christopher Gehrke

Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, South America

Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), Venezuela’s oldest television station, was taken off the air May 27th after 53 years of broadcasting. The decision not to renew RCTV’s lease was made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who said that RCTV “became a threat to the country” and that he had a “responsibility” to shut it down.  RCTV’s news programs regularly disparage President Chavez’s socialist-leaning transformation of Venezuelan government. Chavez defended his decision by claiming that the station supported a coup against him in 2002. The station will be replaced by the state-sponsored Venezuelan Social TV (TVES). The other two national stations, Venevision and Televen, have already removed all content critical of the government from their programming.

Reactions

RCTV supporters say that Chavez is stomping on freedom of expression by silencing a channel that is often critical. José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch agrees, and stated that Chavez is “misusing the state’s regulatory authority to punish a media outlet for its criticism of the government.” Gonzalo Marroquín, the president of the Inter-American Press Association said in a statement that Chavez’s decision was intended to “standardize the right to information, and results in a very bleak outlook for the whole hemisphere.” The U.S. Senate and E.U. Parliament also criticized RCTV’s closure.

The government argues that the station violated broadcast laws and transmitted violent and morally degrading programs. The government’s “White Book on RCTV”, which details the allegations made against the station, accuses RCTV of “inciting rebellion,” showing a “lack of respect for authorities and institutions,” as well. Human Rights Watch points out that the White Book does not present any final judicial or administrative rulings that establish that RCTV had committed any of these offenses, nor was the criteria on which this decision was based available beforehand.

Demonstrations

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets Sunday, some celebrating the decision, some protesting it. Police claimed that shots were fired in their direction and that 11 officers were injured by protesters hurling rocks. A protest rally made their way to the headquarters of the broadcasting regulator to voice their disapproval. The crowd was dispersed by police wielding tear gas, water cannons, and plastic bullets.

For more information, see:

“Venezuela police repel protests over TV network’s closing” NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/world/americas/28venez.html (free login required) 28 May 2007.

“Venezuela Shuts Down TV Network” NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-venezuela-rctv.html (free login required) 28 May 2007.

“Venezuela: TV Shutdown Harms Freedom of Expression” Human Rights Watch: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/05/22/venezu15986.htm. 28 May 2007.

“Rallies as Venezuelan TV closes” BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6696699.stm. 28 May 2007.

“TV row widens Venezuela’s rift” BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6697575.stm. 28 May 2007.

Birth control crackdown in rural China sparks riots

China launched its one-child per couple policy in 1980 to try to maintain swift economic growth and feed and control the country’s growing population of 1.3 billion people. Recently, however, the central government in Beijing announced it was time to strictly enforce the one-child policy. In Bobai County of the Guangxi Province, primarily a rural, farming village, family planning officials threatened families who failed to pay fines for having more than one child. Some officials have even been accused of forcing women to submit to abortions or sterilizations. In response, however, thousands of peasants and townspeople gathered at government and birth control centers, clashing with police. Twenty-eight people have been arrested for instigating riots against China’s one-child policy.

Locals in Buffalo Village, however, have managed to beat China’s system. The records at the county maternity hospital are filled with lists of multiple pregnancies.  Mothers have used fertility drugs to get around the one-child policy by having twins, triplets, quadruplets, and even quintuplets. China does not impose fines on a mother who has multiple children at a time.

For more information please see:

Washington Post – Birth Control Crackdown Sparks Riots In Rural China – 23 May 2007

BBC News – Chinese Challenge One-Child Policy – 25 May 2007

Channel News Asia – China arrests 28 in family planning riots – 23 May 2007