Day: October 22, 2021

Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) said Friday that it had documented more than 400 serious human rights abuses nationwide in the nearly nine months since the military seized power and intends to seek justice for the victims through both domestic and international courts.

NUG Human Rights Minister Aung Myo Min told RFA’s Myanmar Service that since the Feb. 1 coup, more than 1,000 people have been killed as the result of suspected torture in police custody, amid an ongoing crackdown on anti-junta activities.

Not only was brutal violence used against street protesters in large cities like Yangon and Mandalay, he said, but the military has also stepped up its response to anti-junta groups in rural areas by burning down resistance camps and killing scores of villagers in Magway region, as well as Chin and Kayah states.

Aung Myo Min said that since the NUG Ministry of Home Affairs and Justice launched a website on Aug. 12 inviting people to report human rights abuses, it had gathered information on more than 400 “serious human rights abuses,” which it has referred to the United Nations Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court (ICC). He said justice for the abuses will be sought through domestic courts “as soon as the situation allows.”

“What we have gathered now is not just for the ICC. The information will be used when people win the Spring Revolution, and the country regains a proper rule of law and a strong judiciary,” he said.

“It will be used to prepare reports for the U.N. as the complaints contain strong evidence [of junta brutalities]. When Myanmar gets a chance to become a member of the ICC, we intend to use it to take legal action against the perpetrators. It will be used in every process to find truth and justice.”

Aung Myo Min said the NUG had received several complaints from within the country and that the most serious human rights violations were confirmed after interviewing victims by telephone.

The ICC, based in The Hague, is the only international criminal tribunal that can prosecute individuals convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity. In order for the ICC to prosecute human rights abuses by a military or government, the country must be a signatory to the Rome Statute.

The Rome Statute, which established the ICC, was signed on July 1, 2002, and currently has 123 member states. Forty-two countries, including Myanmar, have yet to sign the treaty.

Aung Myo Min noted that on July 17 the NUG had sent a letter to the ICC calling for the court to prosecute the junta for crimes since its prior rule of the country in 2002, adding that his shadow administration would sign the Rome Statute if necessary.

Nearly nine months after the military’s Feb. 1 coup, security forces have killed 1,186 civilians and arrested at least 7,036, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)—mostly during crackdowns on anti-junta protests.

The junta says it unseated the National League for Democracy government because, they claimed, the party had engineered a landslide victory in Myanmar’s November 2020 election through widespread voter fraud. It has yet to present evidence of its claims and public unrest is at an all-time high.

Seeking to file

A man who has been sentenced to death in absentia after being charged with involvement in a murder in Nya Ward, in Yangon’s North Okkalapa township, told RFA that he would file a complaint with the ICC against the military regime if he could.

“I have heard about this option, but I don’t know how to contact anyone. I want to file a complaint if possible. We want to complain about the destruction of our homes, the looting of all our belongings and the indictment against us,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We didn’t have a chance to defend ourselves [in court] and they just handed us the death sentence one-sidedly. There are a lot of people who have died and others who are in hiding. We want them to get pay-back for what they have done to us.”

A resident of Kinma village, in Magway region’s Pauk township, said he would file a complaint with the ICC against the military for not only burning down the entire village but also for looting and the killing of its inhabitants.

“We have to file a complaint. They not only took away our food, other belongings and destroyed our houses, but they also set fire to the school. If individuals could file a complaint, we would produce all the evidence along with photographs,” said the man, who also declined to be named.

“The killings were not just ordinary killings. Three men were taken away and blown up with an explosive. Two men on a motorcycle, who were passing by, were shot dead and burned along with their vehicle. Nyunt Shwe, who stayed behind in the village, had his hands tied and was set on fire.”

Human rights experts say that what is happening in Myanmar following the military coup amounts to war crimes that can be reported to the ICC because they constitute a form of genocide and crimes against humanity.

But asked by RFA about NUG’s efforts to report human rights abuses to the ICC, junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun denied that the military was knowingly involved in such actions. He acknowledged that “there could be some violations by local security forces,” and said such incidents are “being tackled with existing local laws.”

“The military as well as the government is taking action in accordance with existing laws on terrorist activities and riots. No action can be taken beyond the existing law,” he said.

“We acknowledge some of the incidents. There may be a few cases where members of our security forces lose control of their emotions … These things happen in controlling riots or violence. These incidents happen everywhere in the world. So, whether they file complaints or not, we have to take action according to the existing laws of our country.”

Protecting victims

Nikky Diamond, a Myanmar doctoral student studying law and politics in Germany, told RFA that victims are entirely within their rights to file complaints with the ICC through NUG.

But he urged the NUG to ensure that its website for collecting documentation on rights abuses is safe and secure.

“This is of paramount importance—if the junta feels threatened and knows that people are trying to send information, the complainants might be in great danger,” he said.

“NUG needs to implement measures to provide these people with protection, working hand in hand with international groups. Some of the victims are very important witnesses. If they stay in the country, they will not be safe. If they are well-protected, they will be of great support to the ongoing litigation process.”

Human rights activists also point out that the ICC will only be able to prosecute effectively if evidence is strong and say individual testimonies will be crucial to the process.

The ICC and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have been arenas where Myanmar’s previous government and some generals stand accused of “forced deportation” of more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims in 2017 to neighboring Bangladesh as the military targeted the minority community in Rakhine state.

Thousands of Rohingya perished as a result of the 2017 violence, which included indiscriminate killings, mass rape, torture, and village burnings. The hundreds of thousands who fled to Bangladesh now live-in massive displacement camps.

Former State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s deposed government dismissed the ICC, arguing that the court has no jurisdiction over Myanmar, while she appeared at the ICJ in late 2019 and defended the country in a suit brought by Gambia accusing Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention during the 2017 violence.

The ICJ ordered Myanmar to take measures to protect the Rohingya and document evidence of the Rakhine atrocities, but the ruling was shrugged off by the Myanmar government.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

More than 40 Western-led countries criticized China’s alleged atrocities against the Uyghur minority group in a statement issued at the United Nations on Thursday, and called on Beijing to immediately allow independent observers into the Xinjiang region.

The statement by 43 nations, including the U.S., cited “credible-based reports” about a large network of political re-education camps where over a million people have been arbitrarily detained.

“We have seen an increasing number of reports of widespread and systematic human rights violations, including reports documenting torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, forced sterilization, sexual and gender-based violence, and forced separation of children,” said the statement read by Nicolas De Riviere, France’s ambassador to the U.N., at a meeting of the General Assembly’s Human Rights Committee.

The countries went on to cite severe restrictions on the freedoms of religion and movement, association, and expression and on Uyghur culture, as well as widespread surveillance of the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities.

They also called for Beijing to allow unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent observers, including the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

“We urge China to ensure full respect for the rule of law and to comply with its obligations under national and international law with regard to the protection of human rights,” the statement said.

It was the third time in three years that western nations have criticized China’s policies on the Uyghurs at U.N. Human Rights Committee meetings. In 2019, 23 nations signed a statement read by the United Kingdom, and in 2020, nearly 40 U.N. member states signed a statement read by Germany.

China has held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and others in the camps since 2017, while dismissing widely documented evidence that it has mistreated Muslims living inside and outside the camps — including testimony from former detainees and guards describing widespread abuses in reports by rights organizations, the international media, and the U.N.

Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), said the 43 countries had made history with their statement condemning China’s atrocities against the Uyghur people and calling on China to grant the U.N. unfettered access to Xinjiang.

“Sadly, there have been many countries that are not speaking out on Uyghur genocide due to Chinese pressure or economic relations with China,” he told RFA. “Some are even shamelessly supporting and defending China’s ongoing genocide.”

Isa noted that the signature of Turkey, where some 50,000 Uyghurs live, was important because China has used pressure and deceptive tactics in the past to keep Ankara silent on the Uyghur issue.

“Apparently, these tactics backfired,” he said. “The signing of the joint statement by Turkey will definitely help break the silence of some Muslim countries and take active measures in the future.”

The Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project also praised the action by the U.N. member states that signed the statement.

“U.N. member states have just taken the next step towards accountability for the Chinese government’s brutal treatment of Uyghurs,” said Omer Kanat, the organization’s executive director.

Zhang Jun, China’s ambassador to the U.N., later refuted “groundless” accusations at a press conference on China’s position on human rights issues.

“Ambassador Zhang said that the attempts by the U.S. and a few other countries to politicize and manipulate human rights issues will find no support,” said a statement on the website of China’s permanent mission to the U.N. “People around the world are clear-eyed about the truth. More than 80 countries have made statements to support China.”

At a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin echoed Zhang’s comments, saying that “a small number of Western countries, based on disinformation, rumors and lies, keep attacking and maligning China on issues relating to Xinjiang and other matters and interfering in China’s domestic affairs with human rights as a disguise.”

Translated by Alim Seytoff. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

A Uyghur imam who survived 15 years in prison for separatism in northwestern China’s Xinjiang only to die during a two-year stint in an internment camp, raises questions of torture and highlights the abusive nature of the camp system that has drawn accusations of genocide, said Uyghurs with knowledge of the case.

Qeyimahun Qari, whose death in 2018 has only recently come to light, was sentenced in 1991 for separatism and served a 15-year sentence in the No. 1 prison in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi).

Authorities arrested him again in 2017 and put him in an internment camp, the usual practice with former prisoners, said a Uyghur from the same county as the imam and who is now living in exile.

“He was the imam of our No. 4 township mosque from 2007 to 2010,” said the source who is from Tokkuzak county in Kashgar (Kashi) prefecture, where Qeyimahun lived and worked. “He was arrested in 2017 and died in 2018.”

“He was a healthy man who was able to handle all the physical work in courtyards and on farms, and no one had ever observed that he had any health issues, even on the day when he was working in a cornfield and was taken away by the police,” he said.

At the time of his initial arrest 30 years ago, Qeyimahun respected in his community for his religious and social activities as well as his charisma, he said.

Qeyimahun’s second arrest came when a village policeman seized him after morning prayers while the imam was taking water to his field, according to the source. At the time, Qeyimahun was 59 and had no health problems, said the Uyghur in exile.

About two years later, authorities handed over his dead body to his family, the source said.

Qeyimahun’s case underscores that the treatment of Uyghurs in the four-year-old internment camp system is far worse than regular prison life, said Memettursun Osman, a Uyghur former camp detainee.

“Based on my personal experience I can say that regulations and conditions in the camps, including torture are tenfold harsher than in prisons and other detention facilities before 2017,” he said.

China has held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention camps since 2017. Beijing has said that the camps are vocational training centers and has denied widespread and documented allegations that it has mistreated and tortured incarcerated Muslims.

Until their last breath

One police officer who had been stationed at a camp in Opal township for two years confirmed that Qeyimahun was found dead there at the end of 2018.

“I heard that the one with the name Qeyimahun Qari died in the camp,” said the officer who did not give his name.

Qeyimahun was rushed to the hospital a few hours before his death, the policeman said, adding that he did not know which illness or ailment the imam was suffering from.

“He died in the hospital,” he said.

“I don’t what he was taken to the hospital for,” he added.

Officers at police stations in two other townships where Qeyimahun had been held — Aral and Bulaqsu townships — told RFA that they were not authorized to speak about sensitive issues.

Because Qeyimahun was an imam who had overseen many weddings and ceremonies, the police frequently interrogated him inside the camp to try to obtain information about the Uyghurs who came to his mosque, the source said.

During the interrogation sessions, Qeyimahun declined to reveal their names and other personal details to prevent them from being arrested and detained, prompting authorities to torture him, said the source.

The former imam’s sudden death caused residents of Bulaqsu, where Qeyimahun lived and where his mosque was located, to fret over the condition of their relatives interned in the same camp, especially the elderly and the weak.

Because the interrogations and torture inside the camp were harsher than those that detainees were subjected to in prison, many Uyghurs confessed to charges they hadn’t committed.

Authorities also continued to hold some of the detainees after they confessed to “crimes” they were charged with, hoping to get them to expose the “crimes” of others, Memettursun said.

Authorities told the camp detainees that they would be released after they had demonstrated good behavior and had confessed to their “crimes,” he said.

Mehmettursun told RFA that during his detention in a camp in Hotan (Hetian) prefecture in southwestern Xinjiang, he saw other inmates “confess” to crimes just to avoid being tortured and then be transferred to a prison.

“I know they torture the detainees until they are about to take their last breath, and sometimes they don’t even care if the subject is still breathing or not,” he said.

Increasing international awareness of the camp system and other abuses including forced sterilization of women and forced labor has prompted parliaments in Canada, the Netherlands, the U.K., and Lithuania, as well the U.S. State Department to brand China’s actions in the region as “genocide.”

Translated by the Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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More than 70 percent of diplomatic protests by the Philippines government against Chinese activities in the South China Sea in the last five years were filed this year alone, the nation’s foreign ministry says, hinting at a tougher stance in Manila’s dealings with China.

The state-run Philippine News Agency quoted Department of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Eduardo Meñez as saying on Thursday that a total of 153 out of the 211 notes verbales, or diplomatic notes, were filed in 2021 alone. China has responded to all but two communications, Meñez added.

In addition, the DFA said on Wednesday it protested the “issuance of over 200 radio challenges, sounding of sirens, and blowing of horns by Chinese government vessels against Philippine authorities“ patrolling in the South China Sea. It is unclear when these incidents took place.

While the hundreds of diplomatic notes against China might be seen as public posturing, it also shows that the government “has become more open in their intention of how to deal with Beijing,” according to Jay Batongbacal, director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea at the University of the Philippines.

“It may also indicate a shift in President Duterte’s approach, that he has become less involved in managing this aspect (maritime disputes) of Philippine-China relations and (is) leaving it to relevant departments,” said Batongbacal said.

“And so the DFA has got back to what they’re supposed to do: filing protests when necessary,” he told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

President Rodrigo Duterte, whose presidential term ends next year, took office in 2016, just two weeks before Manila won a landmark case against China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. The tribunal found that Beijing’s “historical claims” as demarcated by the so-called nine-dash line that straddles the South China Sea have no legal basis.

The president, however, did not press the tribunal victory, as he pursued a rapprochement with Beijing in exchange for economic benefits like loans and investments, most of which have yet to materialize.

‘Mild effect’

One of the earliest diplomatic protests lodged by the Philippines this year was in March when hundreds of Chinese vessels were sighted mooring at Whitsun Reef in the Spratly Islands. The Philippines says the reef, which it calls Julian Felipe, lies entirely within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) but Vietnam and China also hold separate claims.

Whitsun Reef is located 175 nautical miles west Palawan Island in the Philippines and 638 nautical miles from China’s Hainan Island.

The Philippine military alleged that the Chinese ships belonged to its increasingly powerful maritime militia but Beijing denied the accusation, saying they were fishing boats taking shelter from bad weather.

As the Whitsun Reef incident escalated, Manila summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian to demand that China withdraw their vessels. Before that, the DFA also filed another diplomatic protest and Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. threatened to do so daily “till the last one’s gone like it should be by now if it is really fishing.”

The number of Chinese ships at Whitsun dwindled to single digits by mid-May but increased again by mid-June. By then, the Philippines had filed 100 diplomatic protests since June 2016 against China’s various incursions, including in the waters off Pag-asa, also known as Thitu Island.

Batongbacal said the diplomatic protests do have a mild effect. He noted that incursions by Chinese fishing vessels into Philippine waters this year are markedly less than in previous years. “But the territorial disputes in the South China Sea are much larger, more complex and involve multiple players, thus require more coordinated actions than notes verbales,” he added.

Coordination among Southeast Asian nations, even those with overlapping claims with China in the South China Sea, is rarely straightforward.

While Malaysia and Indonesia expressed concern about the announcement of a trilateral security pact between the U.S., U.K. and Australia (AUKUS) last month, the Philippines welcomed it. AUKUS, which will help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines, is widely viewed as a pushback against China’s growing military power in the Indo-Pacific.

Even within the administration of a single government, such as the Philippines, there can be conflicting messages.

A week after Locsin hailed the pact as helpful in addressing a “military imbalance” in favor of China, Duterte expressed concerns that the pact could trigger a “nuclear arms race.”

Jason Gutierrez in Manila contributed to this report.

Less than a month after the murder of an internationally known Rohingya activist, dozens of masked assailants killed at least six refugees at a madrassa in southeastern Bangladesh, in the deadliest armed attack at the camps in recent memory, police and witnesses said Friday.

Police said four victims died at the scene – in and around a madrassa at the Balukhali refugee camp in the Ukhia sub-district of Cox’s Bazar – and two died at a nearby hospital. A dozen others suffered injuries in the attack, which took place around 4 a.m.

Some of those who died in the attack had volunteered to help police patrol the camp at night after the killing of activist Muhib Ullah on Sept. 29, a local police official said.

“We assume that they were killed for aiding the police in maintaining law and order at the camps. But we have to investigate whether any other factors led to the killings,” Khandker Ashfaquzzaman, an additional superintendent of the Armed Police Battalion, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

In a statement issued Friday, Ashfaquzzaman’s unit said “Rohingya miscreants” carried out the early-morning attack, and that four forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals died at the scene. 

Police rushed to the area and transported injured Rohingya to a hospital, according to the statement, adding that on-duty doctors had declared two of the injured dead.

Witness Md Rafiq, 32, told BenarNews that some 100 masked men armed with sticks, machetes and firearms descended on a section of the Balukhali refugee settlement.

“The armed men started attacking the nearby houses. Some people from the madrassa came out due to the hue and cry of the people. Then the attackers launched an attack on those people with machetes and firearms,” Rafiq, who lives beside the madrassa, told BenarNews.

“Many of the people fled from the madrassa and hid in the mosque to save their lives. As news of the attack on the madrassa spread, more people rushed to the spot, and the attackers fled,” he said.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.