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Category: Asia-Pacific

  • Chinese public figures ditch western brands as Xinjiang row escalates

    Burberry and H&M among brands targeted over stance on region at centre of Uighur abuses allegations

    Chinese celebrities and politicians are racing to distance themselves from western brands as Beijing steps up a campaign to penalise those making accusations of abuses in Xinjiang, including fashion companies that boycott the region’s cotton.

    Related: China imposes sanctions on UK MPs, lawyers and academic in Xinjiang row

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • High level meeting held in Riyadh between Malaysia PM and KSA Crown prince.

    Zaka Mohsin, Riyadh,

    Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman receives Malaysian PM at Royal Palace in Riyadh. Issues of mutual interest were discussed between the two countries. On this occasion, three agreements were signed between the two countries.

    In addition to the establishment of a liaison council between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, facilities for Malaysians for Hajj and Umrah and third treaty was a memorandum of understanding on the conduct of Islamic affairs.

    The meeting was attended by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, as well as high-level officials from both countries. The Saudi Crown Prince and the Malaysian Prime Minister also agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Hong Kong activists and plight of the Uighurs: human rights this week in photos

    A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Colombia to the Sahara

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Australian senator calls to recognise China’s treatment of Uighurs as genocide

    Independent Rex Patrick moves after similar parliamentary motions passed in Canada and the Netherlands

    An Australian senator will seek support from fellow upper house members to recognise China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority as genocide, after similar parliamentary motions passed in Canada and the Netherlands.

    The proposed motion – placed on the Senate’s notice paper for 15 March – looms as a test for the major parties at a time when Australia should join the international community in taking a stand, according to the South Australian independent senator Rex Patrick.

    Related: ‘Being young’ leads to detention in China’s Xinjiang region

    Related: ‘Our souls are dead’: how I survived a Chinese ‘re-education’ camp for Uighurs – podcast

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • ‘World must act against Khojaly massacre perpetrators’

    Islamabad, Pakistan

    Pakistani officials, academics, and defense analysts have urged the international community to take action against the perpetrators of a 1992 massacre by Armenian forces in Khojaly, Nagorno-Karabakh which left over 600 people dead.

    Speaking at a seminar on Monday co-organized by Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Islamabad and the Islamabad Institute of Conflict Resolution, parliamentarian Shehryar Khan Afridi said that repeated massacres and genocides show how the world has failed to protect oppressed people living in conflict zones, as the brutal principle of “might makes right” prevails.

    “Mass rapes of women in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Khojaly, Nagorno-Karabakh have been used by occupation forces as tools of genocide,” said Afridi, who also heads the Pakistani parliament’s Committee on Kashmir, a region disputed between Pakistan and India.

    He added that Indian forces are also waging a “rape war” to advance their “genocide” of freedom-loving Kashmiris.

    On Feb. 26, 1992, with the Soviet Union just dissolved, Armenian forces took over the town of Khojaly in occupied Karabakh after battering it with heavy artillery and tanks, assisted by infantry.

    The massacre is seen as one of the bloodiest atrocities by Armenian forces against Azerbaijani civilians in the Upper Karabakh region, which was liberated by Azerbaijan forces last fall after decades of occupation.

    The two-hour Armenian offensive on Khojaly killed 613 Azerbaijani citizens including 106 women, 63 children, and 70 elderly people and seriously injured 487 others, according to Azerbaijani figures.

    Some 150 of the 1,275 Azerbaijanis that the Armenians captured during the massacre remain missing. In the massacre, eight families were completely wiped out, while 130 children lost one parent, and 25 children lost both parents.

    “What has the international community, including the UN Security Council, done against the culprits who killed hundreds of innocents in Khojaly?” asked Salma Malik, a political scientist at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.

    Azerbaijan Ambassador Ali Alizada said that Armenia bears full responsibility for the Khojaly massacre, whose perpetrators must brought to justice.

    He said that even though there were four UN Security Council resolutions and similar statements by other groups, there has been no action or pressure against Armenia during the 30 years of occupation and no legal acts against the perpetrators of the genocide.

    He stressed that that Kashmir dispute also led to several UN Security Council resolutions but similarly no implementation of these resolutions for seven decades. He said he hopes the Kashmir issue will soon be solved by amicable and peaceful means in line with relevant UN resolutions.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Peers vote for ‘judicial committee’ to assess genocide claims

    Proposal is attempt to find compromise on issue after two rejections in Commons

    The government’s marathon resistance to giving the UK judiciary any role in determining if a country is committing genocide has suffered a fresh blow after peers voted to set up an ad hoc five-strong parliamentary judicial committee to assess evidence of genocide crimes. The peers voted in favour by a majority of 367 to 214, a majority of 153.

    It is the third time peers have voted for the measure in various forms and Tory whips will have to face down a third rebellion on the issue when the trade bill returns to the Commons. The judicial but parliamentary genocide assessment would be made if the government was planning to sign a new trade or economic agreement and would be most relevant to claims that China is committing genocide against the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province.

    Related: UK ministers accused of cynically blocking clear vote on genocide

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Huge anti-coup rallies in Myanmar after junta threat

    Naypyidaw, Myanmar,

    Tens of thousands of anti-coup protesters rallied across Myanmar again on Monday despite a clear threat from the junta that it was prepared to use lethal force to crush what it branded “anarchy”.

    The warning came after three demonstrators were shot dead over the weekend, and the funeral on Sunday for a young woman who died from bullet wounds at an earlier rally.

    Massive street demonstrations have taken place since Myanmar’s military staged a coup on February 1 and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ending a decade-long experiment with democracy.

    A civil disobedience campaign has also since choked many government operations, as well as businesses and banks, and the junta late Sunday gave its most ominous signal yet that its patience was nearing an end.

    “Protesters are now inciting the people, especially emotional teenagers and youths, to a confrontation path where they will suffer the loss of life,” said a statement on state-run broadcaster MRTV.

    The statement, read out in Burmese with text of the English version on the screen, cautioned protesters against inciting “riot and anarchy”.

    Protesters on Monday were undeterred by the warning, with tens of thousands rallying in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city and commercial hub.

    “We came out today to join in the protest, to fight until we win,” said Kyaw Kyaw, a 23-year-old university student.

    “We are worried about the crackdown, but we will move forward. We are so angry.”

    Yangon residents had woken up Monday to a heavier security presence, including police and military trucks on the roads and an embassy district barricaded.

    Another protester expressed similar defiance to news agencies.

    “The military unjustly took power from the elected civilian government,” said the 29-year-old, who asked not to be named.

    “We will fight until we get our freedom, democracy, and justice.

    Thousands also rallied in Naypyidaw, the capital and a military stronghold, with many on motorbikes. There were also large protests in the cities of Myitkyina and Dawei.

    Many businesses in Yangon, and in other major cities, were closed on Monday following calls for a general strike to inject more momentum into the civil disobedience movement.

     

    Read Also

    Myanmar closes international airport in Yangon after military takeover

     

    PM Aung San Suu Kyi detains, Myanmar’s military stages coup.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Indigenous peoples face rise in rights abuses during pandemic, report finds

    Increasing land grabs endangering forest communities and wildlife as governments expand mining and agriculture to combat economic impact of Covid

    Indigenous communities in some of the world’s most forested tropical countries have faced a wave of human rights abuses during the Covid-19 pandemic as governments prioritise extractive industries in economic recovery plans, according to a new report.

    New mines, infrastructure projects and agricultural plantations in Brazil, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Indonesia and Peru are driving land grabs and violence against indigenous peoples as governments seek to revive economies hit by the pandemic, research by the NGO Forest Peoples Programme has found.

    Related: Trust our expertise or face catastrophe, Amazon peoples warn on environment

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Key pro-democracy figures go on trial over Hong Kong protests

    Veteran activist Lee Cheuk-yan accuses police and government of depriving Hongkongers of constitutional rights

    A veteran champion of democracy in Hong Kong has described its legal system as an instrument of political suppression, after he and eight other high-profile figures went on trial in one of the biggest court cases linked to the protest movement that paralysed the city for more than a year.

    “It’s the department of justice, the police department and the Hong Kong government who should be on trial because they have deprived us of our constitutional rights,” said Lee Cheuk-yan after the day’s proceedings. “This year is the year of the ox so we should be stubborn as an ox.”

    Related: Hong Kong: 1.7m people defy police to march in pouring rain

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • At least 331 human rights defenders were murdered in 2020, report finds

    Two-thirds of those killed worked to protect environmental, land and indigenous peoples’ rights, while those providing Covid relief also faced reprisals

    At least 331 human rights defenders promoting social, environmental, racial and gender justice in 25 countries were murdered in 2020, with scores more beaten, detained and criminalised because of their work, analysis has found.

    Latin America, the most dangerous continent in the world in which to protect environmental, land and human rights, accounted for more than three-quarters of all the murders of human rights defenders in 2020. In Colombia, where activists are routinely targeted by armed groups despite a 2016 peace deal, 177 such deaths were recorded, more than half of the global total. The Philippines was the second deadliest country with 25 murders, followed by Honduras, Mexico, Afghanistan, Brazil and Guatemala.

    Indigenous activists made up nearly one third of the total of 331 human rights defenders killed worldwide, even though indigenous peoples comprise only about 6% of the global population

    A significant number of those murdered were working to stop extractive industry projects. They included the South African environmental activist Fikile Ntshangase, who was shot dead after opposing the extension of a coalmine near her home

    13% of all those recorded killed were women

    Six transgender human-rights defenders were killed in 2020, all of them in the Americas

    Related: UK failing to protect human rights defenders abroad, says Amnesty

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • UK and EU request for a special session of UN Human Rights Council for Myanmar.

    Muqeem Ahmad, London,

    The United Kingdom, along with European Union, has requested that a special session of the UN Human Rights Council be convened to discuss military’s coup in Myanmar and human rights abuses.

    Myanmar’s military chief, General Min Aung Hlaing, has said that military junta will hold new elections and hand them over to the winning party because the elections held in November last year were not transparent.

    Police ordered protesters to stay away from the protest activities, and strict action otherwise prohibited warning issued. The EU and the UK have jointly requested that a special session of the UN Human Rights Council be convened, said Julian Braithwaite, the British ambassador to the United Nations. He expressed concern over the arrests of political leaders, citizens, journalists and members of civil society.

    According to the US embassy in Yangon, curfews have been reported in Yangon and Mandalay, two major cities in Myanmar, following a series of protests against the military occupation.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • HSBC urged to unfreeze accounts of Hong Kong activist

    International politicians say the bank, already under fire for backing China’s security law, could ‘gravely tarnish’ its reputation

    An international group of senior politicians have written to the chairman of HSBC, Mark Tucker, urging him unfreeze bank accounts linked to a high-profile pro-democracy activist from Hong Kong.

    More than 50 members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China – including representatives from the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and Switzerland – are calling for the immediate release of funds belonging to Ted Hui and his family, and a formal explanation of HSBC’s decision to freeze their accounts.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Beijing 2022: 180 human rights groups call for Winter Olympics boycott

    More than 180 organisations want countries to skip event as a way of demonstrating their opposition to China’s rights record

    More than 180 human rights organisations have called for a boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games in protest against China’s mass human rights abuses.

    The coalition of groups – primarily regional associations in support of Tibet, Taiwan, the Uighur community and Hong Kong – said the hopes in 2015 that awarding Beijing the Games would be a catalyst for progress, had faded.

    Related: US ‘deeply disturbed’ by reports of systematic rape in China’s Xinjiang camps

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Myanmar closes international airport in Yangon after military takeover

    Myanmar,

    Myanmar has closed its international airport in Yangon, its main gateway, the airport’s manager said on Tuesday, a day after the country’s army staged a coup.

    Yangon airport manager Phone Myint told news agency the airport had closed until May but gave no exact date. The local newspaper reported permission to land and take off had been revoked for all flights, including relief flights, until 23:59 of May 31.

    In a statement, military officials said the party that won the election would hand over power after a year of emergency. Earlier, the military arrested political leaders, including Prime minister Aung San Suu Kyi.

    Earlier, a senior official from the party of Mynmar’s detained Aung Suu Kyi said that he had learned that her health was good and that she was not being moved from the location where she was being held after a coup against her government.

    The whereabouts and condition of Myanmar’s elected leader have not been made public since she was detained in the capital Naypyidaw by the military during the coup on Monday.

    “There is no plan to move Daw Aung San Su Kyi and Doctor Myo Aung. It’s learned that they are in good health,” said Kyi Toe, a member of the National League for Democracy’s central information committee in a social media post which also referred to one of her allies.

    News agencies was unable to contact Kyi Toe for further comment and clarification as to how he obtained the information.

    He also posted that NLD members of parliament detained during the coup were being allowed to leave the quarters where they had been held.

    A day earlier, the army said it had carried out the detentions in response to “election fraud”, handing power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and imposing a state of emergency for one year, according to a statement on a military-owned television station.

    Phone lines to the capital Naypyitaw and the main commercial centre of Yangon were not reachable, and state TV went off air hours before parliament had been due to sit for the first time since the NLD’s landslide election win in November, viewed as a referendum on Suu Kyi’s fledgling democratic government.

    Soldiers took up positions at city hall in Yangon and mobile internet data and phone services in the NLD stronghold were disrupted, residents said. Internet connectivity also had fallen dramatically, monitoring service NetBlocks said.

    Suu Kyi, Myanmar President Win Myint and other NLD leaders had been “taken” in the early hours of the morning, NLD spokesman Myo Nyunt told news agency by phone.

    “I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to act according to the law,” he said, adding that he expected to be arrested himself. News agency was subsequently unable to contact him.

    The detentions came after days of escalating tension between the civilian government and the military that stirred fears of a coup in the aftermath of the election.

     

    Read also,

    PM Aung San Suu Kyi detains, Myanmar’s military stages coup.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Australia faces calls to cut military ties with Myanmar after coup

    Canberra is understood to fear that isolating country risks driving junta into China’s embrace

    Australia is facing growing calls to suspend military cooperation with Myanmar and impose targeted sanctions on top military generals after its army seized power in a coup and detained civilian leaders.

    Labor joined calls on Tuesday for the Morrison government to review Australia’s military links and send a “clear signal to Myanmar’s military leaders that their actions are a direct attack on Myanmar’s democratic transition and stability”.

    Related: Fears army will tighten grip in Myanmar after Aung San Suu Kyi detained

    Related: Exercise instructor appears to unwittingly capture Myanmar coup in dance video

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Indonesian doctors challenge Jokowi’s claim pandemic is ‘under control’

    Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo looks out of a car window after visiting the national heroes’ cemetery in Kalibata. Image: Kompas/Antara file

    By Ihsanuddin in Jakarta

    Jakarta Indonesian Doctor’s Association (IDI) chairperson Slamet Budiarto has challenged a statement by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo who has claimed that the Indonesian government has succeeded in bringing the coronavirus pandemic under control.

    Budiarto said he was confused about what parameters Widodo was using in making such a statement.

    “I don’t understand why Pak [Mr] Jokowi made such a statement. Perhaps in terms of the economy, I don’t know what the economy is like. What I do know is in terms of health,” Budiarto told Kompas.com.

    Budiarto asserted that in terms of health, the pandemic was clearly “out of control”. This could be seen from the first parameter – the high death rate.

    According to the Johns Hopkins University world covid-19 map, Indonesia’s total number of deaths today is 30,277.

    “Our death rate is the highest – number 1 among Asean countries – both in terms of percentage and number. I expect that by the end of the year there will be 100,000 deaths, by December 2021,” said Budiarto.

    The second parameter used by the IDI, meanwhile, is the rate of new daily infections. On the day of the interview, there were an additional 13,094 new cases.

    More than 1 million cases
    Today the accumulative number of covid-19 cases in Indonesia is 1,089,308.

    The deputy chairperson of the IDI confessed that he did not understand the parameters being used by Jokowi when he said the pandemic was under control.

    “Yes, well perhaps the President has another parameter. For us at the IDI the parameters are the death and infection rate,” said Budiarto.

    Regardless of the parameters being used, Budiarto is asking the government to focus on dealing with the pandemic in terms of health so the death rate can be brought down.

    He said he had already proposed to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin that covid-19 patients with minor symptoms be treated at home under the care of general practitioners.

    “One doctor can monitor 10 people. Later they could be given incentives,” said Budiarto.

    In this way, hospitals will not be full and treatment rooms in hospitals can be used to focus on patients with medium and serious symptoms.

    ‘Death rate rising’
    “Right now the death rate is rising because hospitals are overloaded”, he said.

    President Widodo said recently that in 2020 and entering 2021 Indonesia had faced a number of difficult challenges. One of these was the covid-19 pandemic which had resulted in a health and economic crisis.

    Widodo, however, also claimed that Indonesia has been able to control both crises well.

    “We are grateful. Indonesia is among the countries that is controlling these two [health and economic] crises well,” said Widodo during a full working assembly session of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) through the PGI Yakoma YouTube channel last week.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Jokowi Klaim Pandemi Terkendali, IDI Bingung Apa Indikatornya”.

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    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Indonesian doctors challenge Jokowi’s claim pandemic is ‘under control’

    By Ihsanuddin in Jakarta

    Jakarta Indonesian Doctor’s Association (IDI) chairperson Slamet Budiarto has challenged a statement by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo who has claimed that the Indonesian government has succeeded in bringing the coronavirus pandemic under control.

    Budiarto said he was confused about what parameters Widodo was using in making such a statement.

    “I don’t understand why Pak [Mr] Jokowi made such a statement. Perhaps in terms of the economy, I don’t know what the economy is like. What I do know is in terms of health,” Budiarto told Kompas.com.

    Budiarto asserted that in terms of health, the pandemic was clearly “out of control”. This could be seen from the first parameter – the high death rate.

    According to the Johns Hopkins University world covid-19 map, Indonesia’s total number of deaths today is 30,277.

    “Our death rate is the highest – number 1 among Asean countries – both in terms of percentage and number. I expect that by the end of the year there will be 100,000 deaths, by December 2021,” said Budiarto.

    The second parameter used by the IDI, meanwhile, is the rate of new daily infections. On the day of the interview, there were an additional 13,094 new cases.

    More than 1 million cases
    Today the accumulative number of covid-19 cases in Indonesia is 1,089,308.

    The deputy chairperson of the IDI confessed that he did not understand the parameters being used by Jokowi when he said the pandemic was under control.

    “Yes, well perhaps the President has another parameter. For us at the IDI the parameters are the death and infection rate,” said Budiarto.

    Regardless of the parameters being used, Budiarto is asking the government to focus on dealing with the pandemic in terms of health so the death rate can be brought down.

    He said he had already proposed to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin that covid-19 patients with minor symptoms be treated at home under the care of general practitioners.

    “One doctor can monitor 10 people. Later they could be given incentives,” said Budiarto.

    In this way, hospitals will not be full and treatment rooms in hospitals can be used to focus on patients with medium and serious symptoms.

    ‘Death rate rising’
    “Right now the death rate is rising because hospitals are overloaded”, he said.

    President Widodo said recently that in 2020 and entering 2021 Indonesia had faced a number of difficult challenges. One of these was the covid-19 pandemic which had resulted in a health and economic crisis.

    Widodo, however, also claimed that Indonesia has been able to control both crises well.

    “We are grateful. Indonesia is among the countries that is controlling these two [health and economic] crises well,” said Widodo during a full working assembly session of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) through the PGI Yakoma YouTube channel last week.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Jokowi Klaim Pandemi Terkendali, IDI Bingung Apa Indikatornya”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • PM Aung San Suu Kyi detains, Myanmar’s military stages coup.

    Myanmar,

    Military staged a coup Monday, detaining democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and declaring it had taken control of the country for one year under a state of emergency.

    The intervention followed weeks of rising tensions between the military, which ruled the country for nearly five decades, and the civilian government over elections in November last year that Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party won easily.

    Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained in the capital, Naypyidaw, before dawn, party spokesman Myo Nyunt told news agency, just hours before parliament was meant to reconvene for the first time since the elections.

    “We heard they were taken by the military. With the situation we see happening now, we have to assume that the military is staging a coup,” he said.

    The military then declared, via its own television channel, a one-year state of emergency and announced that former general Myint Swe would be acting president for the next year.

    It justified the coup by alleging “huge irregularities” in the November polls that the election commission had failed to address.

    “As the situation must be resolved according to the law, a state of emergency is declared,” the announcement said.

    The military moved quickly to stifle dissent, severely restricting the internet and mobile phone communications across the country.

    In Yangon, the former capital that remains Myanmar’s commercial hub, troops seized the city hall just ahead of the announcement, according to an news agency journalist.

    Elsewhere, the chief minister of Karen state and several other regional ministers were also held, party sources told news agencies.

    The United States, the United Nations and Australia quickly condemned the coup, calling for a restoration of democracy.

    “The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.

    Australia said the military was “once again seeking to seize control” of the country.

    “We call on the military to respect the rule of law, to resolve disputes through lawful mechanisms and to release immediately all civilian leaders and others who have been detained unlawfully,” Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said.

    Myanmar’s polls in November were only the second democratic elections the country had seen since it emerged from the 49-year grip of military rule in 2011.

    The NLD swept the polls and was expecting to renew the 75-year-old Suu Kyi’s lease on power with a new five-year term.

    Suu Kyi is an immensely popular figure in Myanmar for her opposition to the military, having spent the best part of two decades under house arrest during the previous dictatorship. But the military has for weeks complained the polls were riddled with irregularities and claimed to have uncovered over 10 million instances of voter fraud.

    It had demanded the government-run election commission release voter lists for cross-checking which the commission did not do.

    Last week, military chief General Min Aung Hlaing arguably the country’s most powerful individual said Myanmar’s 2008 constitution could be “revoked” under certain circumstances.

    Myanmar has seen two previous coups since independence from Britain in 1948, one in 1962 and one in 1988.

    Suu Kyi’s previous opposition to the military earned her the Nobel peace prize. But her international image was shredded during her time in power as she defended the military-backed crackdown in 2017 against the country’s Muslim Rohingya community.

    About 750,000 Rohingya were forced to flee into neighboring Bangladesh during the campaign, which UN investigators said amounted to genocide. Suu Kyi went to the United Nations to defend Myanmar against the allegations.

    Suu Kyi was only ever de facto leader of Myanmar as the military had inserted a clause in the constitution that barred her from being president.

    The 2008 constitution also ensured the military would remain a significant force in government by retaining control of the interior, border and defence ministries.

    But to circumvent the clause preventing her from being president, Suu Kyi assumed leadership of the country via a new role of “state counsellor”. “From (the military’s) perspective, it has lost significant control over the political process,” political analyst Soe Myint Aung told to news agency.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Ministers move to stop backbench revolt over UK courts’ role in genocide rulings

    Government offers alternative to amendment that could force UK to reconsider trade deals with countries such as China

    The government is seeking to fend off a backbench revolt over China by giving the foreign affairs select committee new powers to investigate whether a country is so clearly breaching human rights that the UK should not agree to a free trade deal with it.

    The proposal is being canvassed as an alternative to a measure which would give the high court the power to make a preliminary determination that a country with which the UK is negotiating a trade deal is committing genocide. Such a determination would require the government to consider pulling out of any free trade agreement.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • More than 30 countries condemn Australia at UN over high rates of child incarceration

    Human rights session calls on Canberra to raise age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 as China attacks Australia over ‘baseless charges’

    Australia has come under international pressure to reduce the number of children in detention, with more than 30 countries using a UN human rights session to call on authorities to raise the age of criminal responsibility.

    Amid ongoing tensions between China and Australia, Beijing’s representative took the opportunity on Wednesday evening to demand that Canberra “stop using false information to make baseless charges against other countries for political purposes”.

    Related: ‘Treat children like children’: Indigenous kids are crying out for help, judge says, not punishment

    Related: Australia ‘choosing to invest’ in hurting Indigenous kids, activist says – harming all of us

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • David Perry QC quits prosecution of Hong Kong activists

    British barrister was called ‘mercenary’ by UK foreign secretary for taking on case against pro-democracy figures

    The British QC hired to run the prosecution of senior Hong Kong activists, including the media mogul Jimmy Lai, has pulled out of the case after widespread pressure, the territory’s government has said.

    David Perry QC had been instructed by the Hong Kong justice department to prosecute 76-year-old Lai and eight others including the democracy figure Martin Lee and the veteran activist Lee Cheuk-yan. The group are charged with public order offences for organising and taking part in an unauthorised assembly. Lai, who is in jail on remand, is facing multiple separate charges including under the national security law.

    Related: Dominic Raab calls QC acting for Hong Kong government ‘mercenary’

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Fiji warned on failings at home after winning UN human rights council role

    Fiji won a fierce contest to head the global rights group, but coalition of NGOs says repression and abuses domestically must be addressed

    Fiji has won an intense and secretive geo-political battle to become the first Pacific island nation to win presidency of the United Nations Human Rights Council, but its ascension has come with demands from critics for it to address systemic rights abuses at home.

    Overcoming last-minute challenges from Bahrain and Uzbekistan, both backed by China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, Fiji decisively won 29 out of 47 votes to take control of the powerful and influential global body.

    Related: ‘Shoved aside’: Fiji set to lose top job on UN rights body in global power struggle

    Related: Fiji’s attorney general won’t face charges over 1987 bombings

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The Guardian view on Xinjiang and crimes against humanity: speaking and acting | Editorial

    The US has accused China of genocide against the Uighurs, while British MPs are pressing the government to take a tougher stand

    It took a long time for leaders to notice, longer to condemn, and longer still to act. It took time for researchers to amass evidence of China’s treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang – from mass detention to forced sterilisation – given the intense security and secrecy in the north-west region. Beijing initially denied the existence of the camps, believed to have held about a million Turkic Muslims, before describing them as educational centres to tackle extremism. But the hesitation by other governments also reflected the anxiety to maintain relations with the world’s second-largest economy.

    The US, on Donald Trump’s final day in office, became the first country to declare that China is committing genocide. The administration has already targeted officials and issued a ban on any cotton or tomato products from the region. On Tuesday, the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, described a “systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs by the Chinese party-state … forced assimilation and eventual erasure”. A more cautious report from a bipartisan US Congressional commission said that China had committed crimes against humanity and “possibly” genocide.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Rebels aim to insert genocide amendment in UK-China trade bill

    UK court would determine whether China is committing genocide against Uighurs if measure passed

    The government is struggling to contain a potential backbench rebellion over its China policy after the Conservative Muslim Forum, the International Bar Association (IBA), and the prime minister’s former envoy on freedom of religious belief backed a move to give the UK courts a say in determining whether countries are committing genocide.

    The measure is due in the Commons on Tuesday when the trade bill returns from the Lords where a genocide amendment has been inserted. The amendment has been devised specifically in relation to allegations that China is committing genocide against Uighur people in Xinjiang province, a charge Beijing has repeatedly denied.

    Related: China in darkest period for human rights since Tiananmen, says rights group

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Forced labour clampdown is long overdue | Letters

    John Morrison and Sam Watson on Dominic Raab’s commitment to fine businesses over modern-day slavery in supply chains

    The commitment made by Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, to strengthen businesses’ supply chain requirements under the Modern Slavery Act are welcome, if overdue (China’s treatment of Uighurs amounts to torture, says Dominic Raab, 12 January).

    For him to choose the situation facing the Uighurs in China to do so also seems appropriate, but it represents a blunt instrument for the task in hand. Fines for companies that refuse to issue modern slavery statements will increase the number of statements, but not necessarily their quality.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Third world nationals strives in freezing temperature to migrate Europe.

    ‏Muqeem Ahmad, UK,

    Young people from Asian countries, poor and underdevelopment countries and third world countries risk their lives after spends thousands of dollars and try their luck to migrate Europe and endure months and years of waiting.

    Thousands of young people in a Bosnian camp bordering Europe are forced to live without adequate access to drinking water and medical aid. They have to wait in long lines for food and are looking for an opportunity to enter Europe illegally.

    The camp was set on fire last year after International Organization for Migration (IOM) refused to work.

    Bosnia has not paid attention to European Union’s provision of alternative accommodation for camp, some military tents and beds have been provided to migrants but hundreds are still forced to take refuge in used buildings.

    A 16-year-old Ali, from Afghanistan, says he has been sheltering in a bus structure for six months. More than 8,000 people are stranded in Bosnia, most of them from Muslim countries, and have been barred from seeking refuge in Serbia’s Croatian territories.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Hong Kong hires British QC to prosecute pro-democracy activists

    UK politicians challenge David Perry’s decision to act against group accused of illegal assembly

    A British barrister has agreed to act for the Hong Kong government next month in its efforts to convict Jimmy Lai and eight other pro-democracy activists accused of taking part in an illegal assembly in 2019.

    David Perry’s decision has been challenged by the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, Tom Tugendhat, and by the Labour peer Lord Adonis.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • China in darkest period for human rights since Tiananmen, says rights group

    Human Rights Watch lists persecutions in Xinjiang, Mongolia, Tibet and Hong Kong but notes new willingness to condemn Beijing

    China is in the midst of its darkest period for human rights since the Tiananmen Square massacre, Human Rights Watch has said in its annual report.

    Worsening persecutions of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Tibet, targeting of whistleblowers, the crackdown on Hong Kong and attempts to cover up the coronavirus outbreak were all part of the deteriorating situation under President Xi Jinping, the organisation said.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Christian persecution rises as people refused aid in Covid crisis – report

    Advocacy group Open Doors says hardline regimes across world exploit pandemic

    Persecution of Christians around the world has increased during the Covid pandemic, with followers being refused aid in many countries, authoritarian governments stepping up surveillance, and Islamic militants exploiting the crisis, a report says.

    More than 340 million Christians – one in eight – face high levels of persecution and discrimination because of their faith, according to the 2021 World Watch List compiled by the Christian advocacy group Open Doors.

    Related: Pope changes law so women are allowed to perform tasks in mass

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • China’s treatment of Uighurs amounts to torture, says Dominic Raab

    Foreign secretary sets out measures to ensure UK companies cannot profit from forced labour in Xinjiang

    China’s treatment of the Uighur people amounts to torture, the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said as he set out measures designed to ensure no companies allow the use of forced labour from Xinjiang province in their supply chain. Deterrent fines will be imposed on firms that do not show due diligence in cleaning up their supply chains, he said.

    The aim, he told MPs, was to “ensure no company that profits from forced labour in Xinjiang can do business in the UK, that no UK business is involved in their supply chains”.

    Related: How I survived a Chinese ‘re-education’ camp for Uighurs

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.