UN finds possible ‘crimes against humanity’ in report on China’s Xinjiang

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Written by northsouth

Category: Asia

Published: 01 September 2022

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GENEVA - China’s arbitrary detention of Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minority groups in the western region of Xinjiang may amount to “crimes against humanity”, the UN human rights office has said in a new report.

Rights groups have accused China of systemically oppressing Uyghurs, carried out through widespread abuses, including mass incarceration, forced labour, torture and sexual assault.

The long-awaited report, published despite pressure from Beijing, seeks “urgent attention” from the world community to rights violations in the Communist government’s drive against alleged terrorism and extremism in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The 48-page document stated that serious human rights violations have been committed against Uyghurs in the name of the “government’s application of counter-terrorism and counter-extremism strategies”.

It pointed out that the violations stem from a domestic “anti-terrorism law system” that contains vague and open-ended concepts that are deeply problematic from the perspective of international human rights norms.

“The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups ... may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity,” the report found.

The report cites “patterns of torture” inside the alleged “vocational training centres” that Beijing claims were of its reputed plan to boost economic development in the region.

It also found credible allegations of torture or ill-treatment, including cases of sexual violence and “violations of reproductive rights through the coercive enforcement of family planning policies”.

Although the human rights office could not confirm estimates of how many people were detained in the camps, it said it was “reasonable to conclude that a pattern of large-scale arbitrary detention occurred” at least between 2017 and 2019.

The report called on Beijing to release all individuals arbitrarily detained and to clarify the whereabouts of individuals who have disappeared.

The findings, which corroborated past advocacy group reports, were released as the UN’s human rights chief Michelle Bachelet served her last day in office.

Ms Bachelet was criticised for allegedly being too soft on China during her visit to Xinjiang in May.

“I said that I would publish it before my mandate ended and I have,” she told AFP. “The politicisation of these serious human rights issues by some states did not help.”

China, however, dismissed the report and slammed the rights group for ignoring human rights “achievements” made together by “people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang”.

“Based on the disinformation and lies fabricated by anti-China forces and out of presumption of guilt, the so-called ‘assessment’ distorts China’s laws and policies, and wantonly smears and slanders China, and interferes in China’s internal affairs,” read a letter from China’s diplomatic mission in Geneva.

The mission argued: “People of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are living a happy life in peace and contentment. It is the greatest human rights protection and the best human rights practice.”

In May, thousands of leaked photographs from Xinjiang provided fresh evidence of the involuntary mass incarceration of Uyghurs.

“Beijing’s repeated denial of the human rights crisis in Xinjiang rings ever-more hollow with this further recognition of the evidence of ongoing crimes against humanity and other human rights violation in the region,” Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, said in a statement.

The British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in London:

“The report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights provides new evidence of the appalling extent of China's efforts to silence and repress Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang. It includes harrowing evidence, including first-hand accounts from victims, that shames China in the eyes of the international community, including actions that may amount to crimes against humanity. This includes credible evidence of arbitrary and discriminatory detention, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, violations of reproductive rights, and the destruction of religious sites. UN Member States must now be given the opportunity to consider the report fully.

“The UK has already led international efforts to hold China to account at the UN, imposed sanctions on senior Chinese government officials, and announced measures to help ensure no UK organisations are complicit in these violations through their supply chains.

“We will continue to act with international partners to bring about a change in China’s actions, and immediately end its appalling human rights violations in Xinjiang.”

India's court to hear petition against release of 11 men who gang-raped pregnant Muslim

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Written by northsouth

Category: Asia

Published: 27 August 2022

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NEW DELHI - India's Supreme Court will hold a hearing on a petition challenging the release last week of 11 Hindu men convicted of the gang rape of a pregnant Muslim woman during Hindu-Muslim riots in 2002 in the western state of Gujarat, reports CNN.

Dozens of women in Mumbai protested on Tuesday against their release and carried placards demanding justice for the victim, who said last week she had not been told the men would be freed and that it had shaken her faith in justice.

Her 3-year-old daughter was among those killed during one of India's worst religious riots. More than 1,000 people died during the violence, most of them Muslims.

The petition has been brought by a group of women including Subhashini Ali, a politician and member of the Communist Party of India; Revati Laul, an independent journalist; and Mahua Moitra, a member of parliament from the opposition Trinamool Congress Party, attorney Kapil Sibal said. Sibal said the court had agreed to hear their public interest litigation petition demanding the men serve their full life sentences. No date has yet been set for the hearing.

Critics contend that freeing the convicts contradicts the government's stated policy of supporting women in a country with numerous, well-documented instances of violence against them.
Authorities in the Panchmahals district of Gujarat released the men last Monday after considering the time they had served after their conviction in 2008 and their behaviour while jailed.

A senior Gujarat state official overseeing the release said the convicts had completed 14 years in jail and were allowed free after the Supreme Court directed authorities to consider their plea for leniency under a 1992 remission policy.

The months-long riots were triggered after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims caught fire. Hindus accused Muslims of setting the fire in which 59 pilgrims died, but Muslims said the train attack was part of a conspiracy to target their community. Several Muslims were convicted for the attack on the train.
Current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was Gujarat's chief minister at the time of the riots and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party continues to rule the state.

Thai court suspends PM Prayuth pending term limit review

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Written by northsouth

Category: Asia

Published: 24 August 2022

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By Panarat Thepgumpanat

BANGKOK - Thailand's Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Wednesday after accepting a petition from an opposition party seeking his ousting on the grounds that he has held office for his full, legally mandated term.

The petition filed to parliament last week by the main opposition Pheu Thai party argued that Prayuth's time spent as head of a military junta, after he staged a coup when he was army chief in 2014, should count towards his constitutionally stipulated eight-year term.

Though Prayuth could be restored to his position when the court rules on the petition, the surprise suspension threw Thai politics into confusion.

"The court has considered the petition and related documents and sees that the facts from the petition are cause for questioning as demanded," it said.

Prayuth has 15 days to respond, the court told media in a statement, adding that a panel of judges ruled five to four in favour of his suspension, starting from Wednesday.

Government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said Prayuth respected the court's decision and had ceased active duty, adding that Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan would take over as interim leader and the suspension would have no impact on the government's work.

"Prime Minister Prayuth also urged the people to respect the decision of the court and avoid criticising the decision that could further create division," Anucha said.

It was not clear when the court would deliver a final ruling on the petition.

Prayuth ruled as head of a military council after he overthrow an elected government in 2014.

He became a civilian prime minister in 2019 following an election held under a 2017 military-drafted constitution in which an eight-year limit for a prime minister was set.

Thailand's next general election is due by May next year.

In its review request, the Pheu Thai party, which was forced from power in the 2014 coup, argued that Prayuth should leave office this week because his time as junta chief should count towards his term.

The party's leader, Chonlanan Srikaew, said in making its decision the court had reflected the party's concern about the legality and legitimacy of various laws in the absence of a suspension. He declined to make any further comment.

Nearly two-thirds of Thais also want Prayuth out of office by this month, a recent poll showed.

But some supporters argue his term started in 2017, when the new constitution took effect, or after the 2019 election, meaning that he should be allowed to stay in power until 2025 or 2027, if elected.

CALL FOR NEW ELECTION

The controversy is the latest in a country that suffered intermittent political turmoil for nearly two decades, including two coups and violent protests, stemming broadly from opposition to military involvement in politics and demands for greater representation as political awareness grows.

Pro-democracy activists have campaigned against Prayuth and his government, arguing that the 2019 election was not legitimate although student-led demonstrations petered out over the past couple of years with the imposition of COVID-19 bans on gatherings.

Activists gathered again this week in anticipation of the court decision.

Nearly 100 pro-democracy protesters at Bangkok's Democracy Monument welcomed Prayuth's suspension but said it was not enough and they planned a march later on Wednesday to press their point.

"We're not just content with suspending Prayuth from duty, we want parliament dissolved and a snap election," said a woman activist who identified herself as just Manee.

"Prayuth stole power from a woman and became prime minister in a coup," she said, referring to the prime minister ousted in 2014, Yingluck Shinawatra, the sister of former prime minister and telecoms tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra.

Both Yingluck and Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, live abroad in self-exile.

Defence ministry spokesman Kongchep Tantravanich said the military supported any government.