The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Monks’ Convention in Burma Calls for Restricting Buddhist-Muslim Marriage
- UN Supports Drug Eradication in Opium-Rich Shan State
- Religion Caught Up in a Web of Violence
- ‘President Thein Sein has opened the political door’
- Burmese Migrant Community in Malaysia Simmers after Attacks
- Panic Strikes in Pakokku Town Following Rumors of Sectarian Violence
- KNU, Govt Hold Informal Talks on Military Matters
- Authorities in western Burma’s Arakan State have extended a nighttime curfew with two months.
- Malaysia has warned immigrants from Burma not to restart sectarian clashes.
- Malaysia Warns Burma Immigrants Against Violence
- American Who Leaked NSA Secrets Is A Free Man In Hong Kong-For Now
- China Detains Journalist Who Covered Labor Abuse
- Govt Extends Curfew in 6 Arakan State Townships
- Fighting continues in Shan State despite a seven-point peace plan between ethnic rebels and the government
- The EU has readmitted Burma to a scheme allowing it to benefit from lower duties on exports
- Thailand asks Burma to protect Thai tourists following the abduction of five Thai tourists in May
- Clashes in Shan State despite Govt-KIO 7-Point Peace Plan
- Burma Asked to Protect Thai Tourists
- EU Lets Burma Back into Preferential Trade Scheme
- Crackdown Filling N Korean Prisons With Defectors
| Monks’ Convention in Burma Calls for Restricting Buddhist-Muslim Marriage Posted: 13 Jun 2013 06:56 AM PDT  Buddhist monks U Dhammapiya, Dhamma Duta Ashin Saykaneda (C) and U Wirathu (R) discuss their plans to push for a law that restricts interfaith marriage. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — About 200 senior Buddhist monks convening in Rangoon on Thursday have begun drafting a religious law that would put restrictions on marriages Buddhist women and Muslim men. Ahead of the two-day conference, the monks — who are highly revered in Burma — had said that they would meet to discuss how to resolve ongoing tensions between Buddhists and the country's Muslim minority. On Thursday, the monks announced that preventing interfaith marriage would help improve inter-communal relations in Burma, and much of their time was spent discussing a 15-page draft law that would introduce the restriction. "We hold this meeting with the intention of protecting our Buddhist race and our religion, and also to have peace and harmony in our community," said U Dhammapiya, a senior monk and a spokesman for the convention. U Wirathu, a well-known nationalist monk, said he was delighted with the plans to try to stop any Buddhist woman from marrying a Muslim man. "I have dreamed of this law for a long time. It is important to have this law to protect our Buddhist women's freedom," he said during a press conference. U Wirathu leads the controversial 969 campaign that is being implemented all over Burma. It encourages Buddhists not to do business with Muslims and only support fellow Buddhists' shops. The participants of the conference came from townships across Burma to convene at a monastery in Rangoon's Hmawbi Township. The monks said they would collect signatures to pressure Burma's Parliament to adopt the law, adding that they would send letters to President Thein Sein, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all other lawmakers. They said the law would follow other examples of restrictions on interfaith marriage, such as those that are in place in Singapore and in Muslim-majority Malaysia. "We found that there was peace and harmony in Singapore after they ratify this law in their country. This is why we should not have a problem [passing a similar law] in our country," U Dhammapiya told reporters. Singapore and Malaysia both have long-standing restrictions on interfaith marriage between Muslims and people from other religions. The rules require that non-Muslims convert to Islam in order to register their marriage. A copy of the law proposed by the monks would require any Buddhist woman seeking to marry a Muslim man to first gain permission from her parents and local government officials. It also requires any Muslim man who marries a Buddhist woman to convert to Buddhism. Those who do not follow these rules could face up to 10 years in prison and have their property confiscated, according to the draft law. Kyaw Khin, secretary of the All Myanmar Muslim Federation, said the proposed law would violate basic human rights. "In terms of human rights, this type of restriction would be an abuse," he said. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 16 states that "Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family." Kyaw Khin doubted however, that the draft law would be adopted by lawmakers, adding, "There would be a long way to go, if it is to be passed in Parliament. I believe it won't happen." Kyee Myint, a senior lawyer and member of the Myanmar Lawyers' Network, warned against passing a prohibitive religious rule into law. Burma's government, he said, "should be careful not to pass a law just to protect one particular religion." The proposed law comes at a time of growing sectarian tensions between Burma's Buddhists and Muslims, who are estimated to make up some 5 percent of the country's total population. Violence between Buddhists and Muslim communities broke out in Arakan State, western Burma, in June last year. The unrest has since spread to dozens of towns in other parts of the country. Hundreds of people have been killed and more than 150,000 people — mostly Muslims — have been forced to flee their homes. Nationalist Buddhist monks have been accused of openly supporting the violence by calling for the removal Muslims to leave towns and villages in order to establish Buddhist dominance. In some cases, monks were reportedly observed participating in and organizing the street violence. Other Burmese monks however, have also criticized the actions of their nationalist brothers. U Pantavunsa, the leader of the Saffron Monks Network, told The Irrawaddy recently that he rejected the 969 campaign, as it was stoking up inter-communal tensions in Burma. |
| UN Supports Drug Eradication in Opium-Rich Shan State Posted: 13 Jun 2013 06:01 AM PDT  Lt-Gen Yawd Serk, left, chief of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) sits with Khun Sai of the Shan Herald News Agency and Jason Eligh from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime on Thursday in Rangoon. (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The United Nations on Thursday called for tighter law enforcement against drug traffickers in Burma, while affirming its commitment to collaborate with ethnic rebel groups and the government in anti-narcotics operations in opium-rich Shan State. In a joint press conference with the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in Rangoon on Thursday that it would support relevant authorities to eradicate the drug trade in east Burma. "There must be sanctions against those who produce illicit drugs and traffic those drugs," said Jason Eligh, the Burma manager of UNODC. "At the same time, we must find a way to encourage them to participate in a wider solution for drug [eradication] in Shan State." Burma is the world's second-largest poppy grower, with cultivation of opium poppy increasing in the last six years in Shan State. According to the UNODC, 300,000 families in Shan State grow poppy plants for a living. "It is not easy to eradicate, as the opium plantation area is wide, and thousands of families rely on the income from this poppy cultivation," Eligh said. Another challenge to drug eradication in Burma is "the financial investment in poppy cultivation" by different armed groups, he added. RCSS chief Lt-Gen Yawd Serk said the ethnic rebel group was working with the UNODC to launch a pilot project in Shan State's Moe Nae and Mai Pan townships. He said the rebel group also spoke with government officials this week about the drug issue. Yawd Serk said many people in Shan State had turned to poppy cultivation because other economic opportunities were diminished by decades-long civil wars between ethnic armed groups and the government's army. "People have grown poppy plants in order to survive these past decades, as there has been fighting in their areas," he said. "Now we have a ceasefire agreement with the government," he added. "So now we can work on the development sector, including rehabilitation for poppy growers and drug eradication. We will use substitution crops to improve people's lives." The UNODC country manager agreed that a ceasefire and a market for substitution crops would help families in Shan State. "They are growing poppy, not because they are bad, but because households simply do not have enough food to eat," Eligh said. |
| Religion Caught Up in a Web of Violence Posted: 13 Jun 2013 05:10 AM PDT |
| ‘President Thein Sein has opened the political door’ Posted: 13 Jun 2013 04:30 AM PDT  Lt-Gen Yawd Serk gestures during an interview with The Irrawaddy on June 13, 2013. (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy) In an historic first, Lt-Gen Yawd Serk, the chairman of Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), met with President Thein Sein on Monday in the capital Naypyidaw. The meeting marked the first time the ethnic rebel chief and his RCSS have sat down face-to-face with the reformist president, with the two sides still working toward achieving a lasting peace in Burma's east. Yawd Serk was in Rangoon on Thursday for continuing peace talks with the government, having held separate meetings with ministers, Shan leaders, civil society groups and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in the days since his Naypyidaw visit. In an exclusive interview with The Irrawaddy, he shares his views on the peace process and Burma's political changes, as well as Shan State's ongoing problems related to narcotics production and trafficking. Question: Were you satisfied with the results of your meeting with President Thein Sien on Monday? Answer: We met with the president at the arrangement of the government's peace committee. We came here to show that we support the peace implementation led by the president. The political doors have been closed for over 60 years. And now President Thein Sein has opened that door and holds talks with every group. Therefore, we are happy [to be part of it]. Q: You have discussed policies [the formation of a monitoring team, troop repositioning and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) issues] in your meeting with the president. In practical terms, how would you implement the results of these discussions? A: We still need to discuss in detail the implementation. We will have to discuss step by step with every sector. Q: In terms of regional development, the government said this week that it will help with agricultural issues, specifically opium crop substitution. What is your role on that issue? A: We have a two-part plan for the rehabilitation for local residents. First, we will have to help the opium growers to secure opium substitution crops. Second, we have to prepare the market for the products of these substituted crops. Q: What is your role in opium eradication in Shan State? How effectively are you able to work toward this goal? A: RCSS, UNODC and the government's anti-narcotics bureau have discussed it [opium-eradication] at the roundtable meeting before. Since then, we have not started it yet. We are still in the process of selecting an area for the pilot project. Q: Monday was your first official trip to the capital. What are your thoughts on Burma's much-touted political changes? A: We have not seen yet that our country has changed. But we have seen the approach to achieve those changes. Q: You gave a Buddha stupa and a traditional Shan outfit to Thein Sein. What was the inspiration for providing those gifts? A: We chose these gifts because we are Buddhists, and the Buddha teaches us to have compassion. So we intend to have compassion toward each other. Q: You have had a ceasefire with the government for more than a year, but fighting has continued. What effect does this fighting have on the peace process? And what would you like to say to the Tatmadaw [Burma's military] regarding this issue? A: We have been at civil war for six decades. Our people have faced great difficulties, our politics is behind and it's falling. The country has been on the list of least-developed countries for a long time. Now the peace talks have been created, where we can find a way to solve [these problems]. But, it is difficult to immediately cease the fire, as fighting has taken place for over 60 years. So we will have to discuss it. We need to continue our discussions so that the peace will last. Q: What is your view on the ethnic Wa calling for an autonomous state? Because, like the Wa, other ethnic groups in Shan State could raise the same demand in the future. A: It is their [the Wa's] right to ask for an autonomous state, but it is totally dependent on the public desire as to whether they will be given a Wa State. Q: Your RCSS was forced in the past to form a Border Guard Force under the central government's authority as a solution to Shan State's ethnic conflict. What would you do if you were asked to do so again? A: No armed group wants to be forced to form a border guard force or asked to disarm. It is not an acceptable condition. And at this time it is not the right atmosphere to ask that [of RCSS] either. We just need to build a federal state instead of that. |
| Burmese Migrant Community in Malaysia Simmers after Attacks Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:43 AM PDT  Burmese shops and businesses are pictured near Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) KUALA LUMPUR — Differing accounts are emerging from Burmese migrants and refugees in Malaysia about recent deadly violence here that has claimed several lives and pitted Burmese groups in Malaysia against each other. The deaths, which prompted the arrest of hundreds of Burmese nationals by Malaysian police, are being described as spillover from recent Buddhist-Muslim clashes in Burma. "We don't know who did these attacks," says San Win, chairman of the Malaysia Myanmar Free Funeral Service, a Kuala Lumpur-based group that assists Burmese migrants. Flicking through gory photos of roughly stitched victims of the violence, he adds, "but we think it could be the Rohingya people." The president of the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization Malaysia (MERHOM), Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani, disputes this speculation. "This is not correct," he says, citing previous attacks by Buddhists on Muslims in Burma, which he says did not prompt sectarian reprisals in Malaysia. "We have to respect Malaysian law and if any Rohingya breaks the law, we don't support it," Abdul Ghani adds. Tun Tun, a Burmese Muslim who has long worked to assist Burmese workers living in Malaysia, says that two Muslims were killed in the recent clashes. Tun Tun, who is head of the Burma Campaign Malaysia, says that seven people have been killed—a number at odds with Malaysian police accounts of the recent attacks, which suggest that four have died, all thought to be ethnic Burman Buddhists. The attacks have raised concerns that the deaths were the result of reprisal attacks by Burmese Muslims living in Malaysia, retaliating after dozens of Muslims were killed in violence over recent months in various outbreaks of religious violence across Burma. "It started here after Lashio," says San Win, referring to Buddhist riots and looting that took place in Lashio, the biggest town in eastern Burma's Shan State. Those clashes started after a May 28 attack, reportedly perpetrated by a Muslim man on a Buddhist woman, and left around 1,400 Muslims homeless. "But we always try to maintain friendship here [in Malaysia] with Muslims," San Win adds. Similarly, Tun Tun says that though relations between Burma's Muslims and Buddhists in Malaysia have typically been cordial, there has been a marked deterioration in recent months. Citing what he perceives to be Burmese media bias and exaggerated claims on social networking websites, Tun Tun says discord between Burma's Muslim and Buddhist migrants is overhyped. "Some of the 969 movement supporters brought the anti-Muslim campaign to here five months ago, [since] then both side are not trusting each other," he says, referring to a push by Burmese monk Wirathu and other Buddhist nationalists to boycott Muslim businesses and, some say, incite violence against Muslims in Burma. Commercial Repercussions The recent attacks have stalled commerce for Burmese in Malaysia's biggest city. Next to Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown, Bangladeshi, Filipino, and Indonesian migrants run shops and restaurants on side streets, a hectic din of sales pitches, frying snacks and belching traffic. Along the nearby Burmese strip, demarcated by signs reading "Kampung [Malay for village] Myanmar," business has been down in recent days, according to Thu Ya, who runs a Burmese restaurant just around the corner from central Kuala Lumpur's main bus station. "A lot of people are staying home, not as much for the violence, but because of the arrests," he says, speaking while waitresses in Burmese dress ferried drinks and Burmese snacks to the smattering of lunchtime patrons on the premises. One of Thu Ya's staff remains in detention after being caught up in the Malaysian police dragnet cast after the recent attacks, which mostly took place in Selayang, about seven miles from downtown Kuala Lumpur. In the Shan Taung Dan restaurant across the same street, a recent arrival from Mandalay, Burma's second city, says that though concerned by the recent murders and arrests, Burmese migrants around Kuala Lumpur are trying to revert to "our normal life here." The man, who asked that his name be withheld, says he landed in Malaysia just two months ago. "I need to make money," he says. "Yes, reform is good in Myanmar, but is [happening] slowly. So you cannot yet find a good job at home," he laments. Between 400,000 and 500,000 Burmese migrants are thought to be living in Southeast Asia's third-biggest economy, drawn by the prospect of low-paying, heavy-lifting jobs in construction and on plantations. According to the United Nations, there are almost 100,000 Burmese refugees in Malaysia. The Mandalay native says that many people are more concerned about being arrested by Malaysian police than anything else. "Many people don't have documents. That is why they stay home these days," he says. Malaysian press accounts report that the country's Immigration Department is investigating how 307 detained Burmese came to possess fake refugee papers. Burma's other ethnic and religious minorities in Malaysia are wary, fearing members of their communities might be dragged into what is now a simmering sectarian feud. Israel Lal Hmun Siam, a Christian ethnic Chin living in Kuala Lumpur, says "people are worried they might be attacked mistakenly." Siam, who works for the Chin Refugee Committee, a support group for the estimated 40,000 Chin Burmese in Malaysia, believes that the recent Kuala Lumpur violence is a spillover from Burma. "If they solve the conflict in Myanmar, then no problem here," he claims. That seems far off, however, with MERHOM's Abdul Ghani interrupting an interview to take what he said was a call from Burma's Arakan State. "There was more cutting today, 10 people," he says, referring to what he says was an attack by Arakanese on Rohingya near Kyauktaw Township. A Burmese government delegation is currently in Malaysia to assess the situation among Burmese migrants after the recent violence, with Malaysian authorities on Thursday warning Burmese migrants not to restart the recent clashes. But San Win says he thinks the Burmese government is more concerned with maintaining good relations with its fellow Asean nation than with assisting the Burmese in Malaysia. "They just stay quiet when I tell them the problems here," he says. "For now, people are still afraid here." |
| Panic Strikes in Pakokku Town Following Rumors of Sectarian Violence Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:29 AM PDT  Last week, parents gathered outside a school in Mandalay to pull their children from classes following rumors of an outbreak of sectarian violence. (Photo: Manthalay / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Dozens of panicked families in Pakokku, Magwe Division, began pulling their children from school on Thursday afternoon after rumors spread through the town that inter-communal violence had broken out. The panic was sparked by reports that a local primary school in the central Burmese town was being burned down by a group of Muslims. A Pakokku Township police officer told The Irrawaddy however, that there was no fire at the school. A fire engine had been sent to the primary school, located in the town's Quarter No.3, and police had been deployed, said the officer, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak with the media. "Currently, we posted policemen at every school and public area, such as markets, to guard the town and prevent violence," he said. The rumor was reportedly spread by a group of unknown men on four motorbikes, who sped through the town shouting that Muslim residents were burning down the school. "We are locating them and investigating who they are," the officer said. "If we catch the people who are spreading such rumors and trying to start violence, we will severely punish them." Despite these police actions, dozens of panicked parents raced to the primary school in Quarter No. 3 to pull their children from classes. "The police are explaining to the parents that they should not worry as they control the area. They are assuring them that they will not allow any incident to happen," one of the parents said by phone. "The teachers did not allow the students to go until school time is over." The parent, who preferred not be named, said many worried residents were also shutting down businesses in the town, which is located about 30 km north of Bagan. "At the central market some shops owned by Muslims were closed immediately after the rumors spread, out of fear that violence might occur like it has in other towns," he said. "The situation in the afternoon is quite stable," the man said, "But we still are worried that something might happen." During a similar incident last week, dozens of parents in Mandalay began pulling their children from school after a group of motorcyclist drove around the city shouting that Muslims were attacking a local school. The panic in Pakkoku is another indication of the anxiety among communities in Burma, following several deadly outbreaks of violence between Buddhists and Muslims residents in towns across the country this year. |
| KNU, Govt Hold Informal Talks on Military Matters Posted: 13 Jun 2013 02:24 AM PDT  Karen National Liberation Army soldiers in Papun District, Karen State, prepare to go to the front line in November 2012. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) Representatives from the Karen National Union (KNU) have met with Burmese government officials, holding unofficial talks at a village in Myawaddy Township about military affairs including the repositioning of troops and a "code of conduct" governing the two sides' interactions. Saw Thamin Htun, a leading member of the KNU, said a delegation from the KNU's central committee unofficially discussed the military matters with government officials during a traditional Karen ceremony in Myawaddy earlier this week. "The KNU talked about troop repositioning and a code of conduct for the ceasefire that both sides [KNU and the government army] have to obey. They also asked for a timeframe for meeting with President U Thein Sein," Thamin Htun said. There are about 300 government military encampments in total positioned in KNU-controlled areas, from Tavoy District in Tanessarim Division to Papun District in Karen State's north. The KNU plans to ask the Burmese government to withdraw 100 of the 300 camps, which are mostly deployed in villages abandoned by Karen villagers. Some Karen military leaders in attendance said this week's discussion produced no tangible results. They accused the government officials of being uninterested in what the KNU was asking for regarding military affairs. The KNU have held three rounds of official peace talks with a government peace delegation led by Aung Min, a minister at the President's Office. The two sides signed a ceasefire agreement on Jan. 12, 2012. Despite the formal and informal discussions over the last 15 months, the parties have yet to achieve an agreement on government troop withdrawal from KNU-controlled territories. KNU leaders also told the government officials this week that the Karen people and Burma observers inside and outside the country who follow ethnic peace deals were awaiting the next formal talks—when military affairs will likely top the agenda—with interest. Observers see the code of conduct and military repositioning as key to a lasting KNU-government peace accord. The KNU plans to hold official talks to discuss the ceasefire code of conduct and government troop repositioning later this month. However, the KNU's technical peace team said that was largely dependent on whether the government would agree to formal talks focused on military affairs. A code of conduct was initially proposed by the KNU last year. The government delegation at that time agreed to the proposal in principle, but said it would need to get final approval from Thein Sein and the chief of Burma's armed forces, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, before implementing the rules. Among the points agreed in the draft code of conduct, both government and Karen troops would be able to travel and transport rations along routes agreed to by both parties. Another major point would prohibit the Burmese army from ordering the construction of any more roads in KNU-controlled areas. The KNU is one of the oldest ethnic armed groups in Burma, fighting against the Burmese government for autonomy for more than six decades. After signing the ceasefire agreement in January of last year, the KNU opened six liaison offices in and around Karen State to handle disputes that might arise between the two parties. |
| Authorities in western Burma’s Arakan State have extended a nighttime curfew with two months. Posted: 12 Jun 2013 11:41 PM PDT |
| Malaysia has warned immigrants from Burma not to restart sectarian clashes. Posted: 12 Jun 2013 11:41 PM PDT |
| Malaysia Warns Burma Immigrants Against Violence Posted: 12 Jun 2013 11:40 PM PDT Malaysia’s government has warned immigrants from Burma not to restart sectarian clashes that recently killed four people. The fighting in several neighborhoods around Kuala Lumpur earlier this month triggered worries in Malaysia that tensions between Burma’s Buddhists and Muslim minority had spilled over to a country that hosts hundreds of thousands of Burma nationals. Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Jaafar says officials are holding 250 Burma citizens from a security sweep following the violence because they were found without valid immigration documents. Wan Junaidi said after a meeting with Burma’s deputy foreign minister in Malaysia on Thursday that Burma nationals working in Malaysia must respect the law.—AP |
| American Who Leaked NSA Secrets Is A Free Man In Hong Kong-For Now Posted: 12 Jun 2013 11:31 PM PDT  Photos of Edward Snowden, a contractor at the National Security Agency, and US President Barack Obama are printed on the front pages of local English and Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong on June 11. (Photo: Reuters) HONG KONG — Edward Snowden, an American who has leaked details of top-secret US surveillance programs, is technically free to leave the China-ruled city at any time, local lawyers said on Wednesday, but the ex-CIA employee said he would stay. Snowden has not been charged by the US government nor is he the subject of an extradition request. If Washington asks for his extradition, it will be decided in court. “My intention is to ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate,” Snowden said in an interview to the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s main English-language newspaper. “I have been given no reason to doubt your system. “I am not here to hide from justice; I am here to reveal criminality.” The newspaper said he was in Hong Kong but at a secret location. It was the first time Snowden had emerged from hiding since his explosive revelations last week about the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance programs. Barrister Kevin Egan, who has previously dealt with extradition cases in the city, however said Snowden’s best option may be to get out quickly. “If I was him, I’d be getting out of here and heading to a sympathetic jurisdiction as fast as possible and certainly before the United States issues a request for his extradition,” Egan told Reuters. “The attitude of the judiciary here seems to be if Uncle Sam wants you, Uncle Sam will get you.” The big unknown in this case is China. Although it has a degree of autonomy, Hong Kong ultimately answers to Beijing and China could exercise its right to veto any ruling in a local court if the opportunity arose. So far, there’s been no indication of any moves by Hong Kong law enforcement to approach or question Snowden. The Hong Kong Security Bureau has declined comment on the case, while the Hong Kong government has said generally it will act in accordance with the law. The Chinese government has not commented on the case. “In strictly legal terms he’s free to go, but government bodies can always find an excuse to temporize, or stop him,” said Jonathan Acton-Bond, a barrister who has dealt with high-profile extradition cases in Hong Kong. The US Justice Department is in the initial stages of a criminal investigation into the revelations, officials in Washington have said. The key to Snowden’s fate lies in the specific nature of any charges filed against him, if and when they are filed. It will then depend on whether, under Hong Kong law, he’s also charged with a criminal act, without which authorities cannot arrest or take legal action against him. “If they can’t find the equivalent charge in Hong Kong, they can’t extradite him,” said barrister and legislator Ronny Tong, who added any protracted extradition battle could become a high-profile test of the city’s rule of law in the face of political pressure from Beijing and Washington. Battle in Hong Kong? Sources at Hong Kong law firms have said Snowden has approached human rights lawyers in the city and may be digging in his heels for a legal fight in preparation for the United States laying charges against him. Snowden, who admitted he disclosed classified information about NSA surveillance programs to the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers, is likely to face charges, possibly under the Espionage Act enacted in 1917, experts in the United States have said. Under Hong Kong laws, an espionage charge could potentially find equivalence under its Official Secrets Ordinance. The offence of “unlawful use of computers” meanwhile, is included in the list of offences in the extradition treaty between Hong Kong and the United States, and could potentially be used as grounds for extradition, legal experts say. Either way, should Snowden face a formal extradition bid, he could challenge this in a Hong Kong court, and concurrently make a claim for political asylum in what could be a protracted legal battle that could drag out for months, if not years. Given the political sensitivity of the case, there’s a chance the United States could pressure China to fast-track any possible expedition request. The scope, however, for Beijing to influence the outcome of court extradition proceedings is limited and has rarely been exercised for cases involving non-Chinese nationals. Despite China’s ultimate authority over Hong Kong, the financial hub maintains a high degree of autonomy, with its British common law system considered one of the pillars of its success as a commercial and financial hub. “The extradition system if it’s engaged, follows strict procedures laid down by the law and that’s supervised by the courts,” said prominent Hong Kong barrister Philip Dykes. Another barrister and extradition expert in Hong Kong who declined to be named said even if proceedings were fast tracked by the US and Hong Kong governments and Snowden were arrested, he would have the right to habeas corpus – to be brought before a local court to demand release from unlawful detention. Geoffrey Robertson, a leading London-based lawyer who has advised WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in an ongoing extradition case, said Snowden could argue he had not put lives at risk and was a political refugee. But he could consider moving out of Hong Kong. Speaking after Russia said it would consider granting asylum to the American, Robertson told Reuters: “Mr Snowden would doubtless be safe-but-sorry in North Korea and might find refuge in Russia. A more pleasant environment would be New Zealand where he could join Kim Dotcom in resisting extradition.” Kim Dotcom is the founder of the Megaupload file sharing site, who is fighting extradition to the United States to face online piracy charges. |
| China Detains Journalist Who Covered Labor Abuse Posted: 12 Jun 2013 11:29 PM PDT  Chinese journalist and author Du Bin poses with his book 'God Ai,' said to be the first biography of Ai Weiwei, during an interview with Reuters in Beijing on June 20, 2012. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — Chinese state security officials have detained a journalist who recently disappeared after completing a documentary on labor camp abuses, the photographer's sister and close friend said Thursday. The detention of Beijing-based video and photojournalist Du Bin, 41, is likely related to his work, said democracy activist Hu Jia, who said he's been a close friend of Du's for more than a decade. Du had recently completed a documentary exposing torture allegedly inflicted on detainees at a notorious labor camp in northeastern China as well as a 600-page book about the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing, published in Hong Kong. Hu guessed from the timing of Du's detention late last month that authorities were being particularly sensitive during the anniversary of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen crackdown. "His work directly challenged the authorities. They are suppressing him to send a message to others," Hu said. His detention comes amid a broader crackdown on China's small, beleaguered community of rights activists and dissidents launched under new Communist Party chief Xi Jinping. The campaign has dashed hopes that the new leadership might ease controls on civil society. "”I think that from a larger perspective, there has been no improvement in China's human rights situation since Xi Jinping took power, but in fact since the start of this year … things have become even more conservative," Hu said. Du Bin's sister Du Jirong said an officer at the local You'anmen police station verbally informed her on Thursday that her brother was being held at a detention center under state security orders. The sister said, however, that the family has not received any official notice about an investigation into Du Bin, who in the past has done freelance photo assignments for The New York Times. A woman who answered the phone at the You'anmen police station confirmed that Du's family had been briefed but said she could not provide details of his case to people who are not his family members. The woman refused to give her name. Calls to the Fengtai District Detention Center, where Du's sister said he was being held, rang unanswered. Hu and Du Jirong said Du Bin was last heard from on May 31 and that his apartment was searched by police the next day. Chinese dissidents have decried what they see as a deterioration in the country's human rights record under Xi's leadership, pointing to detentions of activists calling for officials to declare their assets as well as an ideological offensive to undermine calls for constitutional governance. Activists slammed a Beijing court's ruling on Sunday to jail the brother-in-law of Nobel Peace Prize winner and democracy activist Liu Xiaobo for 11 years over a real estate dispute. |
| Govt Extends Curfew in 6 Arakan State Townships Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:50 PM PDT Authorities in western Burma's Arakan State have extended a nighttime curfew with two months in order to avoid further outbreaks of inter-communal violence. "The extension is not because the situation is deteriorating, but because we think that a curfew is still needed even though things are becoming stable," said state government spokesperson Win Myaing. He said that a 10 pm to 4 am curfew would remain in place in Sittwe, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Kyaukphyu, Kyauktaw and Ramree townships. Deadly violence broke out between Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists one year ago, and thousands of security forces have been deployed in the region, where tensions remain high. |
| Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:35 PM PDT |
| The EU has readmitted Burma to a scheme allowing it to benefit from lower duties on exports Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:35 PM PDT |
| Thailand asks Burma to protect Thai tourists following the abduction of five Thai tourists in May Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:34 PM PDT |
| Clashes in Shan State despite Govt-KIO 7-Point Peace Plan Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:34 PM PDT Fighting continues in Shan State despite ethnic rebels and the government having late last month signed a seven-point peace plan that was hailed as a breakthrough in the two sides' negotiations to reach a permanent ceasefire, the Kachin News Group reported on Wednesday. KNG said clashes broke out on Saturday, Sunday and Monday between the government army and forces loyal to the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). An anonymous KIO source said KIO-allied forces have been ordered not to strike first, but had been provoked by government troops. |
| Burma Asked to Protect Thai Tourists Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:34 PM PDT Thailand on Wednesday asked Burma's government to better protect Thai tourists following the abduction of five Thai tourists last month, the Bangkok Post reported on Thursday. The request came at a meeting of the Thai-Myanmar Border Township Committee (TBC) in Tachilek, where the five Thais were kidnapped in May by members of the ethnic Wa minority who demanded a 6 billion baht ($200 million) ransom. The Thais managed to escape from their captors on June 1 after being held for four weeks. The request from Thailand comes as Burma last week rolled out a $500 million plan to boost tourism. |
| EU Lets Burma Back into Preferential Trade Scheme Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:33 PM PDT The European Union has readmitted Burma to a scheme allowing it to benefit from lower duties on exports. Burma will return to the EU's Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), having been forced out in 1997 due to systemic practices of forced labor, Ireland, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said in a statement. Richard Bruton, Irish minister for jobs, enterprise and innovation, said the move would facilitate "economic growth and development opportunities" in Burma. The EU's decision had been conditional on the International Labor Organization reporting improvements regarding forced labor, which it did a year ago. —Reuters |
| Crackdown Filling N Korean Prisons With Defectors Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:32 PM PDT  A North Korean prison policewoman stands guard behind fences at a jail on the banks of Yalu River near the Chongsong county of North Korea, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, on May 8, 2011. (Photo: Reuters) SEOUL, South Korea—North Korea's prison population has swelled with those caught fleeing the country under a crackdown on defections by young leader Kim Jong Un, according to defectors living in South Korea and researchers who study Pyongyang's notorious network of labor camps and detention centers. Soon after he succeeded his father as North Korean leader, Kim is believed to have tightened security on the country’s borders and pressured Pyongyang’s neighbor and main ally, China, to repatriate anyone caught on its side of the frontier. In interviews with The Associated Press and accounts collected by human rights groups, North Koreans who have managed to leave the country say those who are caught are sent to brutal facilities where they now number in the thousands. "They are tightening the noose," said Insung Kim, a researcher from the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights who gets to interview most defectors soon after their arrival in South Korea. "This is to set an example to the North Korean people." The plight of those caught fleeing the North was highlighted last month when nine young North Koreans were detained in Laos, a key stop along a clandestine escape route through Southeast Asia that had previously been thought safe. Instead, the Lao government turned them over to Pyongyang. While the high-profile nature of their repatriation might offer them some protection, human rights group fear for them. "Forced repatriation from China is a pathway to pain, suffering, and violence," according to "Hidden Gulags," an exhaustive 2012 study on the prison camps by veteran human rights researcher and author David Hawk. "Arbitrary detention, torture and forced labor are inflicted upon many repatriated North Koreans." In 2003, Park Seong-hyeok, then 7, and his parents were arrested trying to reach Mongolia from China and sent back to North Korea. He ended up at a prison in the northern city of Chongjin, where he was packed in with other kids, some of them homeless children rounded up off the streets. They were blindfolded each day and forced to clear land for agriculture, he said. If they refused, they were beaten. "I couldn’t even tell whether I was alive," Park said. "We were provided five pieces of potato a day, each about the size of a fingernail." After a few months, he managed to escape after his uncle bribed the guards. With the help of relatives, he made it to South Korea, where he now attends a special school for North Korean defectors. But he assumes his parents, who he has not seen in 10 years, remain imprisoned in the North. In the 18 months since Kim took power, any hopes the 20-something ruler would usher in a new era of human rights reforms have been squelched. Defectors pose a particular threat to the Pyongyang regime, human rights groups say, because of the stories they tell the world about the plight of the North Korean people, and the information and money they send back in. North Korea considers those who leave the country to be guilty of treason and subject to up to five years of manual labor. In addition, the penal code states if the nature of the defection is "serious"—taken by most researchers to mean if the defector gets the help of South Korean or American Christian missionary groups as opposed to trying to reach China for work purposes— the defector risks an additional charge of anti-state activities that could mean life in prison or even death. North Koreans considered hostile to the government can spend the rest of their lives, along with their families, in one of at least five sprawling labor camps or colonies that encompass fields, factories, mines and housing blocks. Modeled on the Soviet Gulag system, the areas are chosen for their natural barriers, such as mountains and rivers, their remoteness, and their access to natural resources like wood and coal, according to human rights groups. Defectors may end up in those camps, but are typically held first in other detention facilities close to the border, just as brutal but more resembling traditional penitentiaries, according to human rights groups. Still, at least one labor camp, Yodok, now has a special section for those repatriated from China that houses thousands of inmates, according to Kang Cheol-hwan, a former inmate there. Kang, who recounted his experiences at the camp in the book "The Aquariums of Pyongyang," said his information came from contacts in the North. He currently heads a foreign-funded campaigning and advocacy group aimed at spreading democracy in North Korea. Estimates of the current prison population range from 100,000 to 200,000, and activists say would-be defectors account for up to 5 percent of the total. Insung Kim of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights cites a "five-fold rise" in the number of detained defectors over the last 10 years. "When people get caught, a car comes to their house in the middle of the night and takes them away," said a recent defector, a 17-year-old who asked his name not to be used out of fear relatives in the North might be targeted. "And they don’t come back." The boy, also a student at the defector school in South Korea, worked as a street lookout for his father, who organized the smuggling of money and people across the Chinese border. He fled with his family in 2012 after word got out about the nature of the family business. "The monitoring has got more intense, there are more patrols," he said of security along the border. Figures provided by the South Korean government appear to support numerous accounts by smugglers, defectors and people living along the border that security has been tightened. In 2009, 2,929 defectors made it to South Korea. Last year, 1,509 did, the lowest number since 2005. The government said there had been no sign of positive change in human rights inside North Korea since Kim Jong Un came to power. "From defector accounts, it appears prison camps are still being operated, and control on society, including the flow of information, is toughening," it said in a statement. Despite ever more detailed and consistent testimony by defectors and sharper satellite images of the prison camps, there is still little the international community can do to press for change inside a country that has consistently shown no willingness to engage on human rights issues. The government refuses to allow outsiders access to detention facilities to check conditions, and denies the existence of political prison camps altogether. The United States' main focus is on getting Pyongyang to resume international talks about giving up its nuclear weapons program. Most other governments believe increased contact with the regime and its people—not sanctions or threats—is the best way to improve conditions. The United Nations will in July begin a high-level commission of enquiry into human rights in North Korea, but few expect Pyongyang will allow UN researchers access to the country, let alone the camps. "The US government can’t do much of anything," said Hawk, who conducted detailed interviews with defectors for his "Hidden Gulags" report. "If North Korea wants to maintain its self-imposed isolation, there is very little that the outside world can do except record the grotesqueness of the violations and condemn them." The main source of information about the prison camps and the conditions inside is the nearly 25,000 defectors living in South Korea, the majority of whom arrived over the last five years. Researchers admit their picture is incomplete at best, and there is reason for some caution when assessing defector accounts. Only a tiny percentage of the defectors were themselves imprisoned or worked as guards in the camps. On their arrival in the country, all spend three months at a center run by South Korea's intelligence agency, where they are pumped for information, in part to establish whether they might be spies. It often takes several years for defectors to reach South Korea, so their information is rarely current. Some ask for money to be interviewed. Jung Gwang-il, who fled the North in 2004 after spending three years at Yodok for alleged espionage, said prisoners were forced to grow corn, peppers and barley, and those who didn’t work hard enough had their rations cut. Hunger was so intense that prisoners ate undigested seeds from the feces of other inmates, he said. In April, they would collect the corpses of those who died over the winter, because they were unable to bury them in the frozen earth. "To this day I still remember the smell," he said. "Death was a fact of life there." Associated Press reporters Elizabeth Shim, Christina Kang and Sam Kim contributed to this report. |
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