May 2023 - Page 3 of 6 - Investigative Journalism Reportika

Cambodian court charges trio that assisted farmers with incitement

Editor1 year ago010 mins

A court in Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province has charged three men with incitement after they advised farmers of their constitutional rights, prompting more than 200 farmers to descend on the capital to call for their release. On the afternoon of May 17, authorities in Kratie province arrested Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community President Theng Savoeun and 16 of his colleagues for “inciting social unrest” and “conspiracy to commit treason.” According to local rights group ADHOC, the arrests took place after the 17 met with farmers in Ratanakiri to discuss agricultural techniques and their rights as Cambodian citizens. That same day, police set 14 of the detainees free after they agreed to thumbprint a statement pledging that they would no longer conduct training sessions. The Ratanakkiri Provincial Court formally charged Theng Savoeun and two others – Thach Hach and Nhel Pheap – and ordered them detained at the provincial prison. Nearly six days later, the trio remain in detention and have been refused access to lawyers or family members – visits they are guaranteed after 24 hours in custody, according to Cambodian law. Over the weekend, some 200 farmers – mostly women – from various provinces traveled to the Ministry of Interior in Phnom Penh to demand their release, claiming that they had provided assistance and done nothing illegal. ‘My son is not a dog’ Among them was Theng Savoeun’s mother, Toch Satt, who vowed that she will not leave the premises until her son is freed. “Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, I urge you to resolve this case – get it done today or I will not go home,” she shouted in front of the ministry on Monday, three days after joining other farmers in the capital to protest the detentions. “My son is not a dog, he is a human being,” she said. “I regret that you arrested my son, who did nothing wrong. My son serves the interests of the people.” Theng Savoeun, who is currently being detained, is the president of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmers Community, which was established in 2011 to help farmers’ communities whose land was encroached. Credit: Theng Savoeun Facebook Other protesters – several of whom were carrying infants – held photos of the three detainees and cardboard signs calling for their freedom. One protester from Koh Kong province named Keut Neou told RFA Khmer that she and others had arrived in Phnom Penh to protest on May 19 and had since run out of money. She said they have been staying for free at a Buddhist temple in the suburbs, but are unable to afford rides downtown to the ministry. “We are poor people and farmers – we have no money, so we all decided to walk,” she said. Another farmer from Koh Kong named Nhel Sreymom urged Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife, Bun Rany, to help find justice for the three detainees. “Please, Samdech father and mother, help find a solution for them,” she said, using an honorific for the prime minister. “These three people are innocent.” ‘Planning peasant revolution’ Ministry of Interior officials on Monday met with 10 farmers’ representatives and accepted a petition calling for their release. The officials said Hun Sen will examine and consider their demands. ADHOC human rights spokesperson Soeung Senkaruna urged the Ratanakiri court to reconsider the charges against Theng Savoeun, Thach Hach and Nhel Pheap. “If the charges still have reasonable doubt, the court should hold off on the charges because, from my view, Theng Savoeun has done a lot of work to help farmers to supplement the assistance of the government,” he said. Attempts by RFA to contact Ratanakiri Provincial Police Commissioner Ung Sopheap and Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak about the case went unanswered Monday. However, Khieu Sopheak told local media group CamboJa on May 19 that Theng Savoeun and his associates were involved in “planning a peasant revolution.” About 200 farmers across the country protest in front of the Ministry of Interior to demand the release of Theng Savoeun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmers Community and two of his associates who are being detained. Credit: Citizen journalist The Cambodian Farmers’ Community Association has vehemently denied the allegations, saying it only instructed farmers on agricultural laws and techniques. The group, which claims to have a membership of around 20,000 people across Cambodia, was founded in 2011 to assist farmers from 10 communities who say their land was encroached on. ‘Crackdown’ on rights groups Local rights groups – including LICADHO, ADHOC and the Cambodian Center for the Defense of Human Rights – are monitoring the case and told RFA that the arrests not only threaten the Cambodian Farmers’ Community Association, but also undermine the work of civil society. The case has also drawn the attention of international rights groups, including New York-based Human Rights Watch. Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson said his organization was “appalled” by the arrests and violation of laws that allow the three access to lawyers, calling it an example of how authorities “blatantly violate basic freedoms of association and expression, and totally disregard Cambodia’s international human rights obligations.” Robertson also called authorities out for harassing supporters demanding the trio’s release, noting that police in Koh Kong stopped a minivan carrying Cambodian Farmers’ Community Association members and prevented them from leaving the province. He linked the arrests to what he called a “crackdown” on NGOs and civil society groups in Cambodia ahead of the July 23 general election, “where any sort of challenge, real or perceived, to the government is met with a maximum display of intimidation and punishment.” “Cambodia should immediately and unconditionally let the CCFC 3 go free, and halt the campaign of harassment and abuse against the CCFC and other Cambodian NGOs who dare to stand up and exercise their civil and political rights,” Robertson said. Illegal land grabs by developers or individuals are not uncommon in Cambodia, where officials and bureaucrats can be bribed to provide bogus land titles. Disputes over land…

Papua New Guinea, United States deepen relations with defense pact signing

Editor1 year ago09 mins

The United States signed a defense cooperation agreement on Monday with Papua New Guinea, and announced other security and humanitarian support, in a deepening of its relationship with the most populous Pacific island country. Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby also hosted India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a summit with leaders of 14 Pacific island countries, underscoring the increased geopolitical competition in the vast ocean region where China’s diplomatic relations have burgeoned. The defense agreement is “mutually beneficial,” Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said at the signing ceremony. “In the context of Papua New Guinea it secures our national interest,” he said, predicting it would help the country, one of the poorest in the region, to develop a “robust economy.” Responding to domestic criticism of the defense agreement, Marape said, “this signing in no way, shape and form encroaches into our sovereignty.” U.S. President Joe Biden had planned to stop over in Papua New Guinea on Monday before attending a meeting in Sydney with the leaders of Australia, Japan and India. He canceled the trip to focus on high-stakes Federal debt-limit negotiations, in an apparent setback for U.S. efforts to exert influence in the Pacific. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who traveled to Port Moresby in the president’s place, said he carried an invitation from Biden to Pacific leaders to visit Washington in the fall. As part of efforts to counter Beijing’s influence in the Pacific, Biden hosted a meeting of Pacific island leaders in September last year in Washington. “Simply put we are committed to growing all aspects of our relationship,” Blinken said at the defense agreement signing ceremony. The pact, he said, would be transparent to the public and make it easier for the two countries’ defense forces to train together and improve the capacity of Papua New Guinea’s military to respond to natural disasters. China, over several decades, has become a substantial source of trade, infrastructure and aid for developing Pacific island countries as it seeks to isolate Taiwan diplomatically and build its own set of global institutions. Last year, China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands, alarming the U.S. and its allies such as Australia. The Solomons and Kiribati switched their diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taiwan in 2019. Modi, in his speech to Pacific leaders, did not specifically mention China but said his country was committed to a “free and open Indo Pacific,” the U.S. terminology for a vast region spanning the Indian and Pacific oceans. Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, speaking at a U.S.-Pacific island leaders meeting, said there was a “level of disappointment” in Biden’s cancellation. He also said he welcomed the fall invitation. ‘Intrusion’ into PNG affairs The defense cooperation agreement between Papua New Guinea and the U.S. has been criticized by some analysts and groups such as the PNG Trade Union Congress as being overly accommodative to Washington’s interests. Australia’s Sky TV reported on what it said was a leaked draft version of the agreement last week. “It is the processes our government followed and the motivation behind fast tracking the processes with zero public consultation and parliament debate [that] opens up public debate to all sorts of conclusions,” said Anton Sekum, acting general secretary of the Trade Union Congress, in a statement on Monday. “Any agreement that will have elements of intrusion into our sovereignty and may put the country in harm’s way must not be done without all citizens’ consent,” he said. Elias Wohengu, secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, who was Papua New Guinea’s chief negotiator in the defense cooperation talks, said there was no factual basis to rumors that U.S. military personnel who broke Papua New Guinea’s laws would enjoy immunity from prosecution. Speculation it would preclude defense agreements with other countries and required changes to Papua New Guinea’s laws was also incorrect, he said. “There is no immunity in this agreement for any foreign personnel that will be present in Papua New Guinea,” Wohengu told a press conference on the weekend. “If a crime is committed, punishment will be carried out. So anyone who goes out spreading rumors that we will be providing immunity to offenders is wrong,” he said. The State Department said the text of the defense cooperation agreement would be made public when it comes into force. Papua New Guinea’s Ministry of Defense said it would hold a question and answer session for civil society groups and journalists at its headquarters on Tuesday. Papua New Guinea and the U.S. also signed a shiprider agreement that provides the basis for personnel from the Pacific island country to work on U.S. coast guard and naval vessels, and vice versa, in targeting economic and security weaknesses such as illegal fishing. Among other support announced by the State Department, the U.S. government will supply $12.4 million of equipment to Papua New Guinea’s defense force. It includes $5.4 million of body armor, provided earlier this month, such as ballistic helmets and flak vests with armor plates. Some $7 million will be provided for military dress uniforms for Papua New Guinea’s 50th independence events in 2025. The U.S. is also exploring warehousing of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief supplies in Papua New Guinea. BenarNews is an RFA–affiliated news organization.

In North Korea, ‘Judas’ is nickname for informer and betrayer

Editor1 year ago06 mins

‘Judas’ has become a scornful nickname for informers in North Korea. For example, when a girl confided in her friend during the COVID-19 pandemic that she planned to escape North Korea once the border with China reopened, she was brought before authorities and punished. Residents began calling the friend who sold her out “a modern-day Judas,” a woman from Kimjongsuk county, in the northern province of Ryanggang, told Radio Free Asia on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “After this incident, whenever the informant passes by, other people in the neighborhood turn their backs on him and curse him as Judas,” the woman said. “Authorities who encourage the informants are called Judas as well.” The reference to the disciple who betrayed Jesus in the New Testament might be surprising given that Christianity has been illegal in the country for nearly 120 years. It is not a new term because underground Christians – who are persecuted in North Korea – are familiar with it. And Christianity does have roots in the country. Pyongyang was once such a bastion of Christians that it was called “Jerusalem of the East.” Korea was one of the only places in East Asia where Christianity had staying power after it was introduced in the 17th century. But came to an end once the peninsula fell to Japanese rule in 1905 and Shinto became the state religion, pushing believers underground. At the end of World War II in 1945, Christian missionaries returned to Korea, but only in the south, as the Soviet-occupied north forbade religion. Once North Korea was officially established in 1948, Christianity and other religions were completely outlawed, and the church remained underground. Efforts to stamp out Christianity But the nickname does appear to be used more widely these days. The fact that people are still aware of the story of Judas, who betrayed Jesus to the Romans for 30 pieces of silver, indicates that despite North Korea’s best efforts to stamp out Christianity, the religion still maintains a presence there. “People who lack loyalty or who stab their friends in the back are cursed as ‘Judas,’” a man living in Pyongsong, South Pyongan province, north of Pyongyang, told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “The five-household propagandist, who reports the movements of people and even trivial words to the police, is also called ‘Judas’ by his peers,” he said. The five-household watch is a sophisticated surveillance system in which paid informants, called propagandists, are tasked with monitoring five households in their neighborhoods. Five-household propagandists are enthusiastic Party members selected from factories and schools for exhibiting traits of loyalty. “As the public sentiment has worsened due to the prolonged COVID-19 crisis, the authorities are focusing on monitoring the residents by mobilizing the informants,” the South Pyongan resident said. “As if that was not enough, the authorities secretly planted more informants in the neighborhoods.” “In response, the residents are criticizing the authorities for creating distrust among the residents, telling them not to trust anyone, because they do not know who could be ‘Judas.’” North Korean authorities have tried hard to eliminate Christianity from the country, but believers are still there – though it’s impossible to know how many. The international Christian missionary organization Open Doors, citing a trusted North Korean source, described how in 2022 dozens of members of an underground church were discovered and executed, and more than 100 of their family members were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

INTERVIEW: ‘They threatened to arrest us both together’

Editor1 year ago015 mins

A Chinese rights activist who openly supported the “white paper” protest movement of November 2022 has applied for political asylum in the Netherlands after learning that he could be targeted as part of an ongoing case against his dissident father. Zhang Hongyuan, son of veteran Wuhan-based rights activist Zhang Yi, flew from Beijing to Amsterdam on April 13 after learning that he was being named as a co-defendant alongside his father, who is being targeted for giving interviews to overseas media organizations during the Wuhan lockdown of 2020. He spoke to RFA Mandarin about his current situation: RFA: Where are you right now? Zhang Hongyuan: I am now in a town in the Netherlands, about a 20-minute drive from The Hague. RFA: When did you leave the immigration detention center? Zhang Hongyuan: They eventually decided to put me in this open camp after I had been in the immigration detention center for 12 days. I had my first interview with the immigration bureau in the detention center. After I stayed in the immigration prison for twelve days, they finally decided to put me in this open camp. I completed [two interviews] with the immigration bureau in the immigration prison. RFA: You shot some video of the “white paper” protest that went viral. Was this the main reason for your political asylum application? #武汉 2022/11/27夜晚11点中山大道（汉正街站） pic.twitter.com/dAykIJMyAs — 自由亚洲电台 (@RFA_Chinese) November 27, 2022 Zhang Hongyuan: It’s one of the reasons. I did get video from the [police] clearance of the demonstration on Hanzheng Street in Wuhan, although the people who were actually holding up blank sheets of paper weren’t on Hanzheng Street, but on Yiyuan Road. The real reason I am seeking political asylum is that we received news that they are planning to prosecute me alongside my father as a co-defendant because my father gave interviews to foreign media during the pandemic. RFA: How did you come by that information? Zhang Hongyuan: People linked to the case told us, but I can’t disclose the details. RFA: Does that mean someone in the government? Zhang Hongyuan: Yes. RFA: Lots of people spoke to foreign media during the lockdown, so what is so special about Zhang Yi’s case? Zhang Hongyuan: It’s because we were in Wuhan, and he was giving interviews to any foreign media that asked, all the way through lockdown. And because foreign journalists would let him know they wanted to interview him by calling his Chinese cell phone [without messaging first], the police would have known about it straight away, even though we never actually gave interviews on the phone. We found a safer way of giving the interview later. In the end, the police told my father that he had been interviewed by more than 60 different media organizations around the world. My father didn’t even realize how many there were because he didn’t count them. RFA: What is your father’s situation now? Zhang Hongyuan: Right now he’s in Wuhan. First off, the [ruling Chinese Communist Party’s] political and legal affairs committee of Hubei province want to arrest him, and the central political and legal affairs committee [in Beijing] wanted to make it an open-and-shut case and asked the Hubei political and legal affairs committee to find a way. They wanted [me] as his son to be arrested alongside him and charged as a co-defendant. Then they found out I had left the country after you reported that I was seeking asylum, and now my father is under round-the-clock surveillance, with guards at his door. There is a car downstairs outside our apartment building with a team of three people following him 24/7. It seems they are getting ready to detain him at any time. I’ve been able to leave [China], but there’s no way he will be able to. RFA: Was there any other reason why the Hubei government has been keeping such a close eye on Zhang Yi? Zhang Hongyuan: Yes. Because he has been calling for the release of [disappeared pandemic journalist] Fang Bin for the past three years … in interviews with foreign media. Wuhan-based activist Zhang Yi and his son Zhang Hongyuan. Credit: Provided by Zhang Hongyuan RFA: Why did the government take action against you, when it was your father who was giving the interviews? Zhang Hongyuan: Because I’m his weakness. They threaten him by threatening to arrest us both together, I think that’s [official] Chinese logic. Also, I assisted him with the interviews, because all of his encrypted chats required circumvention tools to get around the Great Firewall [of internet censorship]. When he was interviewed by the Voice of America, some of the communication was done via email like Gmail, and I also helped him use software like Skype and WhatsApp. RFA: So it was just technical assistance? Zhang Hongyuan: Yes, technical assistance. But after he was interviewed, when the police came to threaten him, I also shot a video of them that was broadcast by Japanese TV station NHK. RFA: During the “white paper” movement, you said that you witnessed protests on Hanzheng Street? Zhang Hongyuan: Yes. Hanzheng Street is a wholesale shopping mall in Wuhan, and it supports large numbers of people, but under the strict lockdown conditions, they had no way to work and no food to eat. Then came the white paper movement after the Urumqi incident, and the whole country marched together. Even in Wuhan, they began to hold demonstrations against the strict zero-COVID policy. RFA: Were there any political slogans shouted on Hanzheng Street, for example calling on Xi Jinping to step down? Zhang Hongyuan: By the time I got there on Nov. 27, 2022, it was night, and they were clearing the protesters away. I didn’t hear any slogans like that. RFA: How did your escape from China go? Zhang Hongyuan: The process was relatively smooth, although I was very apprehensive as I was leaving. One worry was that the airline would stop me from boarding, and the other was that the border…

Guangdong court jails veteran dissident for 3 years over foreign media reports

Editor1 year ago07 mins

A court in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Thursday jailed veteran dissident Wang Aizhong for three years after he retweeted foreign media reports on Chinese social media platforms. The Tianhe District People’s Court handed down the jail term after finding Wang guilty of “picking quarrels and stirring up troubles,” a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. The court found that Wang had “used social media platforms to quote and repost false reports in the foreign media about China’s political system.” Wang, 46, also stood accused of “adding false information that seriously damaged China’s image” and of causing “serious public disorder,” it said. Police threw a security cordon around the court building, with plainclothes and uniformed officers patrolling nearby streets, and took Wang’s wife Wang Henan to attend the trial, escorted by state security police, she told Radio Free Asia. “One man and two women from the state security police sent a special car to meet me downstairs from our apartment and take me to the court,” Wang Henan said. “The two women watched me the whole time.” She described the sentence handed to her husband as “a joke.” “It’s an absolute joke, and we totally refuse to accept it,” she said. “His lawyers have argued all along that Aizhong is innocent, because nothing that he said added up to a crime.” ‘A way of keeping me quiet’ Wang Henan said she was prevented from attending the pretrial conference with her husband and his defense team, despite not having seen him in two years. “They don’t want me to know too much about the process and content of the trial,” she said. “It’s a way of keeping me quiet and stopping me from posting something publicly.” “They also want to torture me psychologically because I love Aizhong, and I haven’t seen him for two years,” Wang Henan said. Outside the courtroom, police were stationed on nearby sidewalks in a bid to prevent Wang’s supporters from showing up for him. “There are plainclothes police officers dotted along more than one kilometer from the court gates, all the way to the subway entrance,” a Guangzhou resident who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals told Radio Free Asia. “I’m guessing there are about 70-80 of them in total, and seven or eight of them are currently surrounding me,” he said. “One of them asked to see my ID … then I was told to leave immediately or I would be taken to the police station.” Fellow rights activist Liang Yiming said Wang’s online comments had always been very moderate, and that had only been exercising his constitutional right to freedom of speech. “Take the pandemic in Wuhan,” Liang said. “Wang Aizhong once called on them to disclose the number of deaths, but the authorities felt that this would cause panic.” “They don’t like people to be so proactive, but we as citizens have the right to question them, or why would we pay our taxes and fund a government that just does whatever it wants,” he said. Guangzhou protests The length of Wang’s sentence likely means he will be released in May 2024, after time already served is deducted from the sentence. The family has indicated that it supports him in appealing the sentence. Wang was initially detained at his home in Guangdong’s provincial capital, Guangzhou in May 2021, and his apartment searched by police, who confiscated reading materials and computer devices. He had been a key activist during protests in Guangzhou in January 2013 that were sparked by the rewriting of a New Year’s Day Southern Media Group editorial calling for constitutional government. Activists, journalists, and academics faced off with the authorities for several days after the Southern Weekend newspaper was forced to change a New Year editorial calling for political reform into a tribute praising the Chinese Communist Party. The protest was one of the first overt calls by members of the public for political freedom since large-scale pro-democracy demonstrations were crushed in a military crackdown in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. He was later detained in 2014 on suspicion of the same charge, shortly before the 25th anniversary of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen massacre. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

Anti-junta militia members escape from prison in Myanmar’s Bago region

Editor1 year ago03 mins

Myanmar police and troops are searching for nine People’s Defense Force members who were among 10 that escaped from a prison in Myanmar’s Bago region, the junta said Friday. Its information group said that nine men and one woman escaped from Taungoo Prison. One was shot dead by guards. The jailbreak took place Thursday afternoon after the prisoners were taken from their cells to go on trial, according to a People’s Defense Force member who declined to be named. “Ten prisoners were brought to court in the prison and they grabbed guns from the prison guard who came along with them and ran away,” he said. “They breached the prison walls and fought [against their pursuers].” One prisoner was shot dead as the two sides exchanged fire, the PDF member confirmed. RFA asked to speak with the nine prisoners still at liberty but the defense force declined, citing the need to protect them. A prison guard was also believed to have been killed, according to Tun Kyi, a member of the Former Political Prisoners Society. “Some of the junta-affiliated Pyu Saw Htee were working together with the prison authorities to provide security, but we could say that this operation was successful,” he said. “A sergeant was reportedly killed. A revolver and a G3 rifle were taken.” Nearly 22,500 political activists have been arrested since the February 2021 coup according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, another group of former political prisoners, operating from Thailand. More than 18,000 are still being held in prisons across Myanmar. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Rohingya struggle in Myanmar camps devastated by cyclone

Editor1 year ago02 mins

Rohingya living in camps in the Sittwe, Myanmar, area continued to struggle Thursday amid the widespread destruction caused by Cyclone Mocha over the weekend. “Urgent needs include shelter, clean water, food assistance and health care services,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance said in a flash update Wednesday. “There are rising concerns in flooded areas about the spread of waterborne disease.” About 130,000 Rohingya have lived for more than a decade in camps for internally displaced persons in the area. During the storm, the sea level suddenly rose nearly 10 meters (30 feet) and almost all the huts in one camp were washed away, said Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition. According to the Health Cluster, an arm of the World Health Organization, mobile clinics have begun operating in some of the affected Myanmar townships, and rapid response teams have been deployed to some of the camps, including Dar Paing.

Myanmar’s junta shuts down 3 Mandalay hospitals

Editor1 year ago03 mins

The junta has revoked the business licenses of three private hospitals in Myanmar’s central Mandalay region, it announced this week. Palace, City and Kant Kaw hospitals had already been told to stop accepting patients because they were using staff belonging to the civil disobedience movement. An order signed Monday by Dr. Myat Wunna Soe, secretary of the junta-led Private Health Industry Central Group said the licenses were revoked because the hospitals failed to comply with the licensing rules in Section 19 (a) of the Law Relating to Private Health Care Services. This vague clause stipulates only that “a person who obtains a license for any private health care services shall … comply with the terms and conditions of the license.” The junta arrested urologist and kidney surgeon Dr. Win Khaing, on Dec. 25 last year while he was working at the Palace Hospital. The Mandalay University professor had been participating in the civil disobedience movement following the coup in February 2021. Dr. Win Khaing, a urologist and kidney surgeon who was arrested on Dec. 25, 2023, is seen in this file photograph. Credit: Citizen journalist The junta detained several more disobedience movement doctors in Mandalay in the days that followed his arrest. On Jan. 1, 2023, the junta ordered the temporary closure of five Mandalay hospitals, including the Palace, City and Kant Kaw. No announcement has been made about the other two hospitals. RFA’s calls to the junta spokesman for Mandalay region, Thein Htay, seeking comment on the decision to revoke the licenses, went unanswered. The junta has cracked down on doctors who voice opposition to the military, sacking 557 and revoking their medical licenses for one year. The Ministry of Health of the shadow National Unity Government announced on April 20 this year that 71 health workers had been killed and 836 arrested in the more than two years since the coup. It said the junta attacked and seized equipment from 188 clinics and hospitals, damaged 59 ambulances and seized 49 more. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Vietnam denies UN inquiries about alleged repression of Khmer Krom minority

Editor1 year ago07 mins

The Vietnamese government has denied allegations from United Nations experts that it represses the Khmer Krom minority living in the Mekong Delta region. The nearly 1.3-million strong ethnic group live in a part of Vietnam that was once southeastern Cambodia, and face widespread discrimination in Vietnam and suspicion in Cambodia, where they are often perceived not as Cambodians but as Vietnamese. Scores of Khmer Krom asylum seekers reside in Thailand. Seven special U.N. rapporteurs operating under Human Rights Council mandates sent a 16-page letter to Hanoi on Oct. 18 about information it received concerning the country’s alleged failure to recognize the right to self-determination of the Khmer Krom as an indigenous people. The experts said they had also received evidence of alleged violations of the group’s freedom of expression, association and religion as well as their cultural and linguistic rights and land use rights. Concerns were also raised about Khmer Krom men detained by police and questioned for their activism, namely Duong Khai, Thach Cuong, Danh Set, Tang Thuy and Thach Rine. Of the five, authorities arrested and jailed Rine in October 2021 on charges of “abusing democratic freedoms” for wearing a T-shirt with the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals logo. He was released in April 2022 without having had a fair trial or access to his family and lawyer, the letter said. “While we do not wish to prejudge the accuracy of these allegations, we are expressing our serious concern at what may constitute arbitrary arrest and ill-treatment of Khmer Krom persons with the aim of suppressing their right to freedom of expression, as well as the Khmer Krom Indigenous Peoples’ cultural and linguistic rights,” the letter said. 60 days to respond The U.N. experts gave the Vietnamese government 60 days to respond to its concerns and explain measures and regulations that it has taken to ensure the protection and rights of the Khmer Krom as an indigenous people. Vietnam’s permanent mission to the U.N. office in Geneva refuted the accusations in a response dated May 10. “The accusations stated in the Joint Communication distort the history and socioeconomic development situation with many false information about the State of Viet Nam’s policies and laws towards the ethnic minority communities in guaranteeing and promoting the rights as well as taking care of the lives of ethnic minorities, including the Khmer people,” the letter said. “In addition, the accusations about the individuals mentioned in the Joint Communication are also untrue, stem from unofficial sources, bear heavy arbitrariness and lack objectivity,” it said. The letter went on to say that the concept of “indigenous peoples” is not suitable with the characteristics, history of establishment and development of Vietnam’s ethnic groups. “In other words, in Viet Nam, there is no concept of indigenous peoples,” it said. Tran Mannrinth, a member of Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation, a human rights NGO, told Radio Free Asia that many young people from the ethnic group are discouraged from learning the Khmer language because books printed in Cambodia are not permitted in Vietnam, and Khmer-language material printed in Vietnam is full of mistakes by the ethnic-majority Kinh authors. “Vietnam finds ways to deny; however, if it does not know what indigenous people are, then how could it [endorse] the U.N. declaration?,” he asked, referring to Vietnam’s vote in favor of the adoption of the U.N.’s legally nonbinding Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007. Tran Mannrith, who lived in Lai Hoa village with other ethnic Khmer Krom before permanently resettling in the United States in 1985, lamented the group’s loss of agricultural land to collectivization when Vietnam was reunified in 1975 and resettlement efforts that followed “During the time of war between Vietnam and [Cambodia’s] Khmer Rouge, Khmer people living near the border in Chau Doc were forced to move to other places,” he said. “After the fall of Khmer Rouge, the displaced people were allowed home, but most of their land and property was lost to other people.” Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

Cyclone Mocha destroys camp housing 700 in Myanmar’s Magway region

Editor1 year ago04 mins

As news slowly emerges about the extent of damage caused by Sunday’s cyclone, residents of a township in Myanmar’s Magway region told RFA Wednesday that Mocha destroyed a displaced persons camp housing more than 700 people. The cyclone brought torrential rains, causing a local creek to burst its banks and flood the camp in Tilin township’s Htan Pin Kone village on Sunday, according to one resident, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons. He said it destroyed all the 200 tents in the camp, set up on the banks of the creek. People were forced to move to the camp because junta troops repeatedly carried out maneuvers near Htan Pin Kone village, which has around 250 houses, the resident told RFA Wednesday. “The troop pass near Htan Pin Kone village whenever they conduct offensives on the western part of Tilin township, so the village is quite insecure. That’s why the whole village moved to a safer place, so there are a lot of displaced people,” he said. According to the latest report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 2,462 people were relocated from their homes in two Magway townships before the cyclone hit. It said 3,676 houses in 98 villages in the region were damaged by heavy rains and flash floods. Cyclone Mocha hit Myanmar’s coast Sunday with winds reaching over 220 kilometers per hour (137 mph). Preliminary figures compiled exclusively by RFA confirmed at least 31 deaths due to the cyclone in Rakhine and Chin states, and Ayeyarwady, Magway and Sagaing regions. On Tuesday, the National Unity Government updated its estimated death toll to 435 across the country, with an unspecified number still missing. The United Nations said Tuesday that 16 million people were potentially exposed to Mocha, including more than 1.2 million who were already internally displaced. Its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said early estimates indicated nearly 3.2 million people in Rakhine state and Myanmar’s northwest were the most vulnerable and considered likely to have humanitarian needs in the wake of the cyclone. The International Rescue Committee said Wednesday is deeply concerned about the communities, especially those living in displaced persons camps. It said it is responding to the needs of communities affected by Cyclone Mocha in Bangladesh and Myanmar and appealed for more funding for humanitarian work in Myanmar. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Month: May 2023