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French court acquits Cambodian opposition leader in defamation cases

Editor2 years ago011 mins

A court in France has dismissed two defamation cases brought against Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy by Prime Minister Hun Sen and a senior police official, but both sides were quick to claim victory in the proceedings, citing elements that advanced their own narrative. The Paris tribunal judiciaire ruled on Monday that Sam Rainsy – a dual citizen of France and head of the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) – was guilty of defamation against Hun Sen when he posted a message to social media in 2019 claiming that the prime minister had ordered the assassination of Cambodia’s former National Police Chief Hok Lundy. However, the court found that Sam Rainsy’s right to freedom of expression trumped the ruling and granted him clemency. Hok Lundy died in 2008 when his helicopter crashed in Svay Rieng province during bad weather, but Sam Rainsy maintains that the aircraft was downed in an explosion. “The correlative factual basis for this imputation [that Hun Sen is responsible for Hok Lundy’s death] is tenuous,” the court said, adding that Sam Rainsy’s statements were made “in a context of denunciation of violations of human rights by a political opponent who … cannot go to Cambodia in order to continue its investigations” of the incident. “Under these conditions, it appears that a criminal conviction would undermine manifestly disproportionate to the right to freedom of expression protected by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.” The court also ruled that an allegation in Sam Rainsy’s social media post that Hok Lundy’s son, Deputy Commissioner General of the National Police Dy Vichea, was aware of Hun Sen’s involvement in his father’s death and planned to take “revenge” on the prime minister, did not meet the legal definition of defamation. Dy Vichea is also Hun Sen’s son-in-law. “The reference to a political opponent who could have other reasons to dismiss Hun Sen from power does not necessarily refer to recourse to violence but may as well refer to an alliance of a political nature,” the ruling said, noting that Sam Rainsy provided no details in his comments about the details of the alleged revenge plot and its status. “Therefore, in the absence of precision on the projects thus imputed to Dy Vichea making it possible to establish their illegal nature and even to discern their exact content, the remarks do not undermine his honor and his consideration.” In addition to granting clemency to Sam Rainsy, the court dismissed a countersuit by the opposition leader that Hun Sen pay for his expenses related to the proceedings. In a June 2019 Facebook post that prompted the lawsuits against him, Sam Rainsy wrote that “Hun Sen killed Hok Lundy using a bomb placed inside his helicopter … because he knew too much about Hun Sen’s misdeeds.” He also claimed that Dy Vichea “knows well the cause of his father’s assassination” and is “hatching a plan to avenge his father’s death.” The Paris tribunal judiciaire heard both defamation cases against Sam Rainsy in a five-hour session on Sept. 1 before delivering its verdict Monday. Ruling reactions In a statement that followed the verdict, Sam Rainsy’s legal team welcomed the two acquittals, saying that “the French justice system has solemnly confirmed the legitimacy of his actions and defended his freedom of expression.” “For our client, this judgment is much more than a personal victory, but is a ray of hope for defenders of freedom and justice in Cambodia and elsewhere.” Sam Rainsy said Monday that he had won the case, despite the court’s ruling that he was guilty of defamation and then spared. “[The] French court rules that Sam Rainsy wins the case against Prime Minister Hun Sen and his son-in-law,” he said in a post to the Telegram social media network, referring to Dy Vichea. On Facebook, Sam Rainsy characterized the court’s decision as “good news.”. Hun Sen also jumped on the ruling as proof of his “innocence” in Hok Lundy’s death during a speech he made to a university graduation ceremony in the capital Phnom Penh on Tuesday, saying the court found Sam Rainsy’s accusations “baseless and unwarranted” because they lacked evidence to support them. He said Sam Rainsy had failed to provide direct evidence or any testimony through witness affidavits to prove the crash was due to an explosion, and no autopsy report was available to provide the court. “It means that [Sam Rainsy] just made these accusations without having any evidence to submit to court. So the court said that this had nothing to do with Hun Sen,” he said, referring to himself in the third-person, according to a report by the Phnom Penh Post. “What did Hun Sen want from this that prompted him to trouble Rainsy at his home? Hun Sen wants innocence and nothing else. [Rainsy] claimed that they won the case somehow and I don’t know how they can possibly say this.” Hun Sen said he has no intention of appealing the court decision, but would follow along if Sam Rainsy does. Hun Sen’s comments follow those of his lawyer, Ky Tech, who told local media in France on Monday that the court’s ruling showed Sam Rainsy had provided “no clear evidence or confirmation” of the prime minister’s involvement in Hok Lundy’s death. Ky Tech also claimed that the court “also gave another reason to confirm that Sam Rainsy did indeed defame [Hun Sen], which cannot be denied,” without providing further details. Cambodia case The French court’s ruling follows Sam Rainsy’s December 2021 trial in absentia by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for “falsifying information” regarding the death of Hok Lundy. Sam Rainsy has lived in France since 2015 to avoid what he says are a string of politically motivated charges and convictions against him. The acting CNRP leader tried to return on Nov. 9, 2019 to lead nonviolent protests against Hun Sen, urging Cambodian migrant workers abroad and members of the military to join him. However, his plan to enter Cambodia from…

China, Russia say North Korea launch provoked by US military drills

Editor2 years ago2 years ago06 mins

A U.S.-led push to condemn North Korea’s launch of a missile across Japan was blocked by China and Russia in the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, with the veto powers saying Pyongyang was provoked by recent U.S. military drills. The meeting of the 15-member council was called by the United States after North Korea fired a missile across Japanese territory into the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, violating council resolutions banning Pyongyang from such tests. The test missile launch was condemned by the 12 other members of the U.N. Security Council – Albania, France, Ireland, Norway, the United Kingdom, India, the United Arab Emirates, Ghana, Mexico, Kenya, Brazil and Gabon. Each called for a return to “dialogue” between countries in the region. But Russia and China – who had opposed a public council meeting and in May vetoed a resolution to impose new sanctions against North Korea for its new program of test launches – both said the United States was also at fault. Russia’s deputy representative to the United Nations, Anna Evstigneeva, defended the test launches, and blamed the context of what she termed America’s “unilateral security doctrine in the Asia-Pacific region.” She noted that the United States, Japan and South Korea last month carried out military exercises in the Sea of Japan using a nuclear aircraft carrier that she said focused training on hitting key targets in North Korea. “It is obvious that the missile launches by Pyongyang are a consequence of a short-sighted confrontational military activity surrounding this country conducted by the United States, which hurts their own partners in the region and also hurts the situation in Northeast Asia as a whole,” Evstigneeva said. China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Geng Shuang, mirrored the comments, also blaming U.S.-led drills for Pyongyang’s launch. “We have also noticed the multiple joint military exercises held by the U.S. and other countries recently in the region,” Geng told the Security Council. “A brief examination will reveal that [North Korea’s] launch activities took place either before or after such military activities and did not exist in isolation.” Pedestrians walk under a large video screen showing images of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un during a news update in Tokyo on Oct. 4, 2022, after North Korea launched a missile prompting an evacuation alert when it flew over northeastern Japan. Credit: AFP ‘Blaming others’ However, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, speaking for a second time after first making a case to condemn North Korea’s actions, said the explanation from China and Russia made little sense. “As we expected, instead of putting the blame where the blame lies,” Thomas-Greenfield said, “Russia and China want to blame others for their actions.” She said that U.S.-led drills with South Korea and Japan were carried out “responsibly and consistent with international law” and that there was “no equivalency” with the “unlawful, reckless” missile launches by North Korea. Japan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ishikane Kimihiro, who is not currently sitting on the council but was invited to address it, called on the council to enforce “unanimously adopted” resolutions banning such tests. “This council should be mindful that it is being tested and that its credibility is at stake. Silence is not an option,” Ishikane said. “North Korea has violated multiple Security Council resolutions and this council should act and provide an outcome that restores its credibility and fulfills its responsibilities.” The North Korean missile test was the first to pass through Japanese territory in five years, and flew 2,800 miles at 17 times the speed of sound. The United States and South Korea conducted their own missile tests in response earlier on Wednesday, with a malfunctioning South Korean missile crashing into an air force base on the outskirts of the coastal city of Gangneung.

Chinese overseas police service stations

China opening Chinese Police Stations outside its territory

Editor2 years ago2 years ago88 mins

The spread of Chinese overseas police service stations around the world raises concerns among human rights campaigners. The Chinese government is opening illegal police posts all over the world. China claims that these posts are capable of cracking down on global and multinational crimes. These checkpoints have been opened in many countries around the world including developed countries like Canada and Ireland. According to local media reports, Fuzhou has established informal police service stations affiliated with the Public Security Bureau (PSB) across Canada. At least three of these stations are located in the Greater Toronto Area only. The presence of similar Chinese police posts has also come to the fore in Dublin, Ireland. These outposts are not only illegal but have been set up to antagonize China’s adversaries. Not only this, but with the help of these police posts, the Chinese government is also influencing the elections in the respective countries. Furthermore, these stations are controlling the activities of the Overseas Chinese Diaspora and espionage cases have also been reported. The Fuzhou police says it has already opened 30 such stations in 21 countries. Other Chinese cities and provinces also operate their own stations. The police stations are set up to help Chinese citizens living abroad file local police reports and aid in other bureaucratic processes. According to Chinese state-affiliated media, the “Police service stations” force alleged Chinese criminals to be sent back to China. The organization Safeguard Defenders claims that over 230,000 people have been sent to China through these unofficial negotiations. 110 is the emergency phone number in China, much like 911 and 112 in the US and EU respectively. The Fuzhou city police operation out of Fujian province uses the name “110 Overseas” for its campaign, while other police jurisdictions uses different names. The spread of the police stations The presence of these stations all over Europe and in Toronto (Canada) and New York (USA) has left security experts bewildered. Countries like Ukraine, France, Spain, Germany, and the UK have such arrangements for Chinese Police Stations. The leaders of most of these countries question the rise of China and its worsening human rights records on public platforms and are themselves a part of that issue. Following is a map of publicly documented Overseas Police Service Centers from FuzhouCounty and Qingtian County. In the Global South the presence of these stations can be seen in Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Nigeria, Tanzania, Lesotho, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Cambodia, Brunei and even Japan!! Details of the Police Stations Nation City Address Contact France Paris 19 Avenue De Choisy 75013, Paris France 0783316666 0783725555 France Paris 26Rue De Ballon Noisy Le Grand, Paris 698109872 Spain Madrid Calle Amor Hermoso 30 Bis, 28026 Madrid, Spain +34646606919 +34688178178 Spain Madrid Calle Baco 7 Pbj Torrejon De Androz, Madrid 0034-698783555 Spain Barcelona Calle Industria T9 08025, Barcelona Spain 0034+696070988 Spain Valencia Calle Pelayo 16 102 46007, Valencia, Spain 962507368 650486098 Canada Toronto 2537 Warden Ave, Scarbourovgh On Canada M1w 2h5 64773511002 Canada Toronto 1/2 Unit, 220 Royal Crest, CT, Markham, Ontario. 6477037666 Canada Toronto 9glaceportcreshkrkham. On. L, 6c3c3 6472893333 Brazil Sao Paulo Rua Carnot Street 549, Canindé 2, Building No. 4 005511 977777190 Argentina Buenos Aires Gabriela Mistral 5452 1124649998 U.S. New York 107. E Broadway #3a New York Ny 10002 19173798023 212-966-9977 U.K. London 3rd Floor 2 The Arcade 32- 34 High Street London CR0 1YB 0044-7999319999 U.K. London 49 Watford Way, London, Nw4 3jh U.K. 02070606899 U.K. Glasgow 417 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3lg, Glasgow, U. K. 7833224886 Hungary Budapest Cserkesz Utca 37, Ungarn, Budapest 15980648361 Greece Athens Agisilaou 29-Athens-Greece 104-36 00306939330888 Lesotho Marseille Masowe 1, Maseru Area 100, Lesotho 0026656757777 +26657870887 Nigeria Benin City Yongxing Steel Co. Ltd. Ogua Community, Off Sapele Road Bypass, Pipe Line Road, Benin City, Edo. State. Nigeria 08156566666 08156658888 Uzbekistan Syr Darya Syrdaryo District, Syrdaryo City, Bunyodkor District, Teachers’ Street, 58 Juy 998999168888 Czech Republic Prague Lipova 8, Praha 2 222543589 Mongolia Ulaanbaatar No. 97g-3, Tula River Street, Factory, District 19, Han Ula District, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 99975866 Chile Vina Del Mar Von Schroeders 403, Sea Vineyard Chile 0056-999-666666 Portugal Porto Rua F Lot 12a Arvore Industrial Zone 4480/623 Vila Do Conde Porto Portugal 965625197 Portugal Madeira Island Rua Comandante Comacho Dei 5. 9350-208 Rbeira Brava 929165908 Ecuador Quito Av. Gonzalez Suarez N27-142 Quito Ecuador 0999161065 Brunie Bandar Seri Begawan Ground Floor, The Crowne Princess Complex, Lane 1, Jalan Laksama Abdul Razak, Town Seri Begawan BA1712, Brunei Darussalam 13923197181 Japan Tokyo T101-0024 Izumi Kanda, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, Japan 2-27 Machi Jumura Kaikan 0081-80-7202-8899 Netherlands Rotterdam Van Der Slysstraat 370, Rotterdam +31611333666 Ireland Dublin 27 Capel Street, Dublin, 1.Ireland 00353-0879413643 These police stations cause internal security concerns for the whole world and a threat to sovereignty of the concerned nations. National sovereignty is an obligation as well as an entitlement. A government that will not perform the role of a government forfeits the rights of a government. Richard Perle (Former United States Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs) Sources:

China, Uyghurs battle for support at UN over Xinjiang rights report

Editor2 years ago2 years ago08 mins

China has vowed to “fight” any United Nations action on human rights abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang cited in a damning report by the U.N. human rights chief, while Uyghurs are pressing the world body to move forward with investigations and other concrete follow-up measures. The report issued on Aug. 30 by U.N. High Commissioner of Human Rights Michelle Bachelet concluded that China’s arbitrary detention and repression of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” Uyghurs and their supporters want the U.S. and other Western countries to follow up with a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution condemning the alleged violations, an investigation, and a special envoy on Xinjiang. China, which rejected the Bachelet report as “based on the disinformation and lies fabricated by anti-China forces,” sent a large delegation to the rights council in Geneva this week to condemn the report and present its rebuttal. “The assessment is based on a presumption of guilt, includes mostly disinformation and lies,” Xu Guixiang, head of the Xinjiang government’s information office, told reporters in Geneva Thursday. “If some forces in the international community – or even anti-China forces – make so-called ‘Xinjiang-related motions’ or so-called ‘resolutions’, we won’t be afraid,” Xu said. “We will take countermeasures resolutely and fight.” Bachelet’s report puts a U.N. imprimatur on many findings in investigative reports issued by rights groups, researchers, foreign media and think tanks in the five years since Chinese authorities began detaining up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in internment camps in Xinjiang, The predominantly Muslim groups have also been subjected to torture, forced sterilizations and forced labor, as well as the eradication of their linguistic, cultural and religious traditions, in what the United States and several Western parliaments have called genocide and crimes against humanity. Beijing has angrily rejected all charges, insisting it is running vocational training facilities in the region to counter extremism. The Chinese delegation in Geneva this week included large numbers of officials who challenged the reports and a group of Uyghurs who claimed to support Chinese policies. “The Chinese mission held a side event at the U.N. yesterday featuring five Uyghurs to promote its propaganda that Uyghurs are free and happy in China,” said Zumretay Arkin, program and advocacy manager at the World Uyghur Congress “Some diplomats from Cuba, Venezuela and Zimbabwe came to support China while some Western diplomats came to hear what China had to say,” said Arkin, who is campaigning for the U.S.-led democracies to introduce a resolution condemning China’s genocide against Uyghurs. Addlet Sabit comforts her daughter as she displays pictures of her father, Ablimit Ablaze whom she has never met, during a hunger strike in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., Sept. 21, 2022. Credit: Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA ‘Put our words into action’ Group of 7 Foreign Ministers met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly and welcomed the report, pledging to “address these issues with partners, civil society and the international community.” The G7 ministers “remained deeply concerned by the serious human rights violations in Xinjiang and took note of the overall assessment of the report that some of these violations may constitute ‘international crimes’ in particular crimes against humanity,’” said a statement by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, chair of the meeting. The G7 statement Thursday came after U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Sholtz raised rights violations in Xinjiang in their speeches to the U.N. General Assembly. In Washington this week, the Uyghur American Association has been staging a hunger strike in front of the White House by leaders of the advocacy group and by three internment camp survivors to demand U.S.-led steps to translate the U.N. report into concrete action. Chris Smith, co-chair of the Bipartisan Congressional Uyghur Caucus, who visited the hunger strikers outside the White House on Wednesday, introduced a bill calling on the Biden Administration to direct the U.S. mission team in Geneva to sponsor a resolution that would establish a UN commission to investigate the issues raised in the Bachelet report. “The UN’s recent report demonstrates that Communist China is guilty of serious human rights violations that at a minimum constitute crimes against humanity in the eyes of the world community,” said Smith, “We must speak out forcefully on these atrocities and put our words into action at the United Nations,” she added. Kellie Currie, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, called on Biden to “not only introduce a resolution in the Human Rights Council, but you personally need to make sure that it passes by doing everything you can, reaching out to other countries, using political capital and influence that you have with other countries that are on the Human Rights Council to make sure that it passes.” Reporting and translation by Alim Seytoff. Written by Paul Eckert.

Dud stock trade by senator’s daughter exposes Cambodian tax loophole

Editor2 years ago2 years ago022 mins

A Cambodian senator’s daughter gambled U.S. $8 million on the purchase of shares in an American medical technology company through a Singaporean broker – a transaction conveniently completed before the adoption of a double taxation treaty between Cambodia and Singapore – regulatory filings reviewed by RFA show. Had the investment worked out as planned, Lau Sok Huy expected returns in the realm of $50-60 million, and could have avoided up to $12 million in Cambodian taxes. But the investment flopped. Seven years after she became the second-largest shareholder in Tomi Environmental Solutions Inc, Sok Huy is down some $6.3 million and furious, according to the company’s founder and a fellow shareholder familiar with the deal who spoke with RFA. The investment – equivalent to more than 3,000 years of the average Cambodian salary – is one Sok Huy will likely have to write off as a loss. Tomi’s share price has dipped so low that it currently risks losing its listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. But the structure and sequencing of the deal sheds a light on how well-to-do Cambodians stand to benefit from the double taxation agreement. Such agreements are viewed by advocates as a boon to trade and investment between nations, but they can also offer a way for wealthy investors to avoid taxes. Regulatory disclosures filed during Sok Huy’s acquisition of the Tomi shares strongly suggest the deal – in which she loaned the money to her broker who had purchased the shares, and then took the shares as repayment for the loan – was tailored to benefit from the double taxation agreement. The loan behind the deal was signed in January 2016, but was amended in May of the same year, just three days after the tax treaty was signed. Sok Huy’s politically connected background raises questions about whether it was appropriate for her to benefit from the agreement. Her father, Lau Ming Kan, is a longtime senator for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, which has governed the country in one form or another for three decades. One of the final steps in any treaty becoming law in Cambodia – including the double-taxation agreement with Singapore – is ratification by the Senate where he sits. Sok Huy’s parents are also no strangers to investing in Singapore, a regional financial hub viewed by some as a tax haven. Her mother Choeung Sopheap, a confidante of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, holds $36.5 million in shares in a Singapore-based company that owns a Cambodian corporation with an exclusive license to import liquid natural gas to Cambodia. Those assets are among the more than $230 million in assets that RFA has identified as being held in Singapore by politically connected Cambodians. The DTA Double-taxation agreements, often referred to by the acronym DTAs, are designed to ensure that companies or individuals do not get taxed on the same profits twice when doing business overseas. When two countries sign a DTA, the hope is that it will promote trade and investment between both nations. This particular treaty appears to have paid off. By the end of last year, Singapore was Cambodia’s second-largest source of foreign investment, having barely figured in the rankings half a decade earlier. A business consultant with more than a decade’s experience in Phnom Penh told RFA they viewed the agreement as a net positive for Cambodia. “A DTA can help eliminate double taxation, and for investors coming into Cambodia, that’s fairly important. So, in that sense, they’re fairly useful, and also very widespread and standard around the world,” the consultant said, requesting anonymity due to the potential professional repercussions for speaking publicly on a sensitive topic. “Can the wealthy take advantage of them to reduce their tax bill as well? Absolutely,” the consultant added. “But they already have other means of doing so. So, of all the ‘sins’ here [in Cambodia], I wouldn’t see that as being a meaningful one.” That’s not an analysis everyone would agree with. In late 2016, the World Bank published a blog by two of its senior employees – Jim Brumby and Michael Keen – that asked whether tax treaties like DTAs are a “boost or bane for development” in lower-income countries, such as Cambodia. They were not convinced. “Developing countries have used them with the intention of boosting economic development. The evidence for that is weak,” Brumby and Keen wrote. “The problem is that tax treaties – and the international system of taxation more generally – are highly complex and have unleashed unforeseen consequences.” “Multinational companies, with much at stake, can use treaties to route income through third countries to exploit favorable tax treaties. Tax authorities, particularly in developing countries, are finding it hard to counter such ‘treaty shopping,’” Brumby and Keen added. Despite having assets and businesses in multiple countries, Sok Huy does not fit the traditional definition of a multinational company. But her family often behaves like one, as do many other powerful clans in Cambodia – negotiating sweetheart deals with the government that are unavailable to smaller businesses with less political clout and cash in the bank. If the Lau family’s lawyers and accountants have clocked on to the Singapore loophole, it seems likely the financial professionals advising Phnom Penh’s other leading families will have too. So how does it work? People pass by the Nasdaq Market Site in Times Square in New York City, U.S., Feb. 7, 2018. Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid The deal Between May and July 2015, Singaporean broker Boh Soon Lim snapped up $8 million of Tomi shares, then accounting for roughly 11% of the company, according to regulatory filings lodged with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. stock market regulator. He bought the shares in the name of Arise Asset Management Pte Ltd, a Singapore-registered company in which he is majority owner. In the SEC filings he described the money for the purchase as coming from Arise Asset Management’s working capital. The term refers to the total cash available to the firm…

The Unearthing of the global drug trafficking networks

Editor2 years ago2 years ago118 mins

The Unearthing of the global drug trafficking networks Several countries around the globe have waged war against global drugs trafficking networks. Most of them have the most severe punishments for drug dealing as a part of their criminal codes. It includes life imprisonment as well as death/capital punishment. On the contrary, the production, smuggling, and consumption of drugs are increasing exponentially. According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) – World Drug Report 2022, in 2020, an estimated 284 million people (more people than the population of 190 odd countries) worldwide aged 15–64 had used a drug within the last 12 months. It corresponds to approximately 1 in every 18 or 5.6% of people in that age group and represents a 26% increase from 2010 when the estimated number of people who used drugs was 226 million and the prevalence was 5%. Seizure data suggest that trafficking is expanding to other regions outside the two main markets, North America and Europe, with increased levels of trafficking in Africa and Asia. The map highlights the significant individual Cocaine seizures in Asia and Africa in 2020-2021 (UNDOC: World Drug Report 2022). It is evident that these two are emerging as the most prominent Cocaine markets and drug network transit regions in the world. The region of South Asia, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran is called the “drug capital of the world“. According to UNODC, Afghanistan alone accounted for 84% of the world’s opium supply from 2015 to 2020, outperforming Myanmar and Laos. The major producers of drugs lie in the Golden Crescent (Iran, Pakistan & Afghanistan) and Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos & Vietnam), and they drive the drug trafficking in the world. Drug trafficking routes result from several facets like geographic proximity, logistics, profit, the economy & corruption in the country, and risk margins. This investigative report by Ij-Reportika examines the three most significant trafficking routes in the world: The Northern Route, the Balkan Route, and the Southern Route. The Northern Route After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the anarchy in the former Soviet republics played a significant role in the expansion of the drug market. The northern drug-trafficking route, which originates in Afghanistan, usually passes through Central Asia and the former Soviet Union to connect with the vast market in Western Europe. According to the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, drugs smuggled through the Northern Route have reported increased seizures in 2022. Tajikistan recorded a 52% rise in drug seizures during the first half of 2022, with its anti-narcotics chief expressing that trafficking had increased since the Taliban took power. Similarly, in Kyrgyzstan, about six tons of illicit drugs were intercepted in the first six months of 2022, 60% more than in the same period in 2021. Ceaseless trafficking from Afghanistan has also been under the scanner in Russia, the target country of the Northern Route. According to official statistics, Russia has more than 448,100 regular drug users and addicts, and among young Russians, the lifetime prevalence of illicit drug use is up to 40%. Russia has one of the biggest drug cartels of the world. The Northern Route has three branches: Northeast, Central and the Northwest It is the most used of the three branches of the Northern Route and runs from Afghanistan to Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and then Russia. This route is gradually gaining prominence in the drug trafficking syndicate, it goes from Afghanistan to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and then Russia. It is the least used passage and runs from Afghanistan to Turkmenistan. The Balkan Route The second is the Balkan route which has attracted drug syndicates the most. Started in 1980, today it is the world’s largest heroin trafficking route with 58% share. The Balkan route runs through the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria from Southeast Europe to the Western European market, with an annual market value of approximately $20 billion. Following are some of the findings of the “EU Drug Markets Report 2022“: Around 1 million seizures were reported in 2020 in the European Union, with cannabis products being the most often seized. The largest increases, expressed in percentage terms, observed in the number of seizures between 2010 and 2020 were for MDMA (+129 %) and methamphetamine (+107 %), while the number of herbal cannabis seizures moderately increased (+19 %). In 2020, EU Member States reported 86,000 seizures of cannabis resin amounting to 584 tonnes (464 tonnes in 2019) and 2,40,000 seizures of herbal cannabis amounting to 155 tonnes (130 tonnes in 2019). Additionally, Turkey reported 8,300 seizures of cannabis resin amounting to 37.5 tonnes and 46,900 seizures of herbal cannabis amounting to 56.3 tonnes. Drug supply offences remain at higher levels than in 2010 for all drugs except heroin. Most of this increase was due to the increased activity on the Balkan Route post the COVID19 pandemic. Balkan Route is the main driver of drugs in EU and it takes three different branches to do so : Northern, Western & Southern. The Northern Branch crosses the Eastern Balkans, Bulgaria & Romania and then heads north into Western & Central Europe. Through the western branch, the drug passes through the Western Balkans through North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina & Croatia before reaching the European market. The southern branch passes through Greece and then Italy to enter the Schengen area of Europe. Many smugglers try to circumvent the Balkan route by smuggling to the global market through Africa. Iran is invariably the first stop for 31% of opium traffic on the Balkan Route. The Southern Route The Southern Route offers significant advantages over the other major smuggling routes since most of it is seaborne (shipping). It supplies narcotics to most countries globally, starting from Pakistan and Iran, using the Makran coast to enter the Arabian Peninsula, UAE, Kuwait, the Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf. Its route also goes north from the Red Sea to enter the markets of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The UAE is a noteworthy smuggling country in the Middle East and the Gulf. The traffickers commonly use the free trade junction of Sharjah Port and Dubai’s Mina Rashid & Jebel Ali Ports. They use ships from Pakistan to transport drug shipments to the Gulf, which are out of radar range. The next significant region of the southern route is South Asia. India is a hub of business and a lucrative market in this region. India is a significant producer of acetic anhydride (AA) which is a chemical…

Newly arrived Rohingya refugees say hundreds want to leave Myanmar

Editor2 years ago2 years ago012 mins

Hundreds of people were waiting to cross into Bangladesh from Myanmar, a small group of newly arrived Rohingya told BenarNews, amid fierce fighting close to the border that has sparked diplomatic protests over reports of artillery and mortar shells landing in Bangladeshi territory. One of the new arrivals said he saw “several hundred” people clustered along a river that separates Cox’s Bazar district in southeastern Bangladesh from Myanmar’s Rakhine state, and who were trying to cross the frontier several days ago. It was not immediately clear what happened to those other people apparently displaced by intense clashes in recent weeks between Burmese junta forces and Arakan Army (AA) rebels. In Bangladesh, where the government has tightened security along the border amid the violence in Rakhine, authorities have not confirmed reports of any new refugee arrivals or influx into Cox’s Bazar. Meanwhile, a Rohingya leader said that at least five Rohingya fleeing Myanmar had arrived at a Cox’s Bazar camp in recent days. “Two Rohingya families of five people, including two infants, have taken shelter at the Lambasia camp in Ukhia,” Muhammed Jubair, secretary general of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), told BenarNews. The adults were identified as Abul Wafa, his wife, Minara, and another woman, Dildar Begum. Wafa said they fled from Buthidaung in Myanmar on Sept. 6 as junta and AA forces clashed. “The junta started torturing the Rohingya in Buthidaung,” he told BenarNews. “That’s why we came to Bangladesh to save our lives, but we are also hiding here.” “When we were entering Bangladesh, we saw several hundred Rohingya people, mostly women and children waiting to leave near the Naf River,” Wafa said. Two days earlier, on Sept. 4, the Foreign Ministry issued a news release expressing “deep concern” over mortars that reportedly landed on the Bangladeshi side of the frontier the day before. The release noted that Myanmar Ambassador U Aung Kyaw Moe was summoned regarding the incident, just as he had been summoned on Aug. 21 and 28. “During the meeting, the ambassador was also told that such activities are of grave threat to the safety and security of the peace-loving people, violation of the border agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar and contrary to the good neighborly relationship,” the ministry said. On Tuesday, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said he expected firing inside Myanmar along the border to end soon. “We heard that a group called Arakan Army was fighting with the government forces inside Myanmar. When the government forces attack the Arakan Army, some shells land inside our territory,” he told reporters. “Our Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), as well as Foreign Ministry, have strongly protested the incidents by calling the ambassador of Myanmar.” Refugees’ accounts Jubair said Wafa and the others sheltered with a relative after arriving in Bangladesh before moving into another camp. Wafa said his group gave a boatman a piece of gold jewelry to carry them across the Naf River because they had no money to pay him. Dildar Begum, 22, said her husband, Syed Ullah, was killed by the “Mogh army” a month ago. She was referring to the Arakan Army although “Mogh” is a term that Rohingya also often use to refer to the Burmese military. “I fled with Wafa’s family to Bangladesh as there was no other option for me,” she told BenarNews. In Rakhine state, an official with the AA rebels denied that the group was targeting members of the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority. “The allegations on AA targeting Muslims are not just wrong but baseless accusations, because the fighting [in the state between Arakan Army and junta troops] has been more than a month,” Khine Thu Kha, a spokesman for the rebel group, told RFA Burmese. “We want to question back, did you guys see or hear any report of a Muslim killed or injured by the fighting? Did you hear any report or see anyone saying there was a shell or a bullet from AA falling in a Muslim village so far? Otherwise, it is just an accusation with other intentions to defame our organization.” Despite the claims made by the Rohingya, Md. Shamsud Douza, Bangladesh’s commissioner for Refugee Relief and Repatriation, said there was no official information about any new arrivals from Rakhine state infiltrating Bangladesh territory. “Clashes are occurring between two groups in Myanmar. It is very normal that it will create some tension on our border as a neighboring country,” he told BenarNews. “Our decision is very clear – we cannot allow even a single Rohingya to enter Bangladesh.” Robiul Islam, additional superintendent of police, said his unit was “not sure about a fresh entry of Rohingya but we are looking into the matter.” Sheikh Khalid Mohammad Iftekhar, a senior official of Border Guard Bangladesh, said the border police force had tightened security at the frontier to prevent any attempts by refugees to enter the country. From January to June, 478 Rohingya were denied entry and four were arrested, according to the BGB. Repatriation hopes A Rohingya who lives in Maungdaw, Myanmar, and asked to not be named for security concerns, said that the increasing conflict in the state had dampened Rohingya hopes for repatriation. “It will be difficult for them to return in this situation. The current situation will not allow them to come here,” the resident told RFA. “The situation here is not very good. There is no security. People here are fleeing to other areas because fighting is going on. In this situation, they will not be able to come back.” Fighting between the military and the AA resumed in July. Oo Maung Ohn, a resident of Maungdaw Township, blamed the resurgence in Rakhine State after a nearly two-year ceasefire on the junta. “Do you know why all this fighting resumed? They (the junta) closed the roads and started the fighting and they arrested many innocent people,” he told RFA. “They arrested village administrators, questioned them and hit them.” Rakhine State Attorney General Hla…

WeChat warns users their likes, comments and histories are being sent to China

Editor2 years ago2 years ago09 mins

The Chinese social media platform WeChat is warning users outside China that their data will be stored on servers inside the country, RFA has learned. A number of overseas WeChat users received a notification on Sept. 6, warning that “personal data [including] likes, comments, browsing and search history, content uploads, etc.” will be transmitted to China. The notification also reminds users that their behavior while using the app is subject to WeChat’s licensing agreement and privacy policy. A YouTuber living in France who gave only the pseudonym Miss Crook said she was shocked to receive a French translation of the same message. “I clicked through and … this message popped up, so I automatically clicked cancel,” she said. “It’s becoming clear what the difference is between a democracy and a dictatorship.” She said the move would likely affect large numbers of Chinese nationals and emigres living overseas. “Overseas Chinese have become very dependent on WeChat, but is it really that important?” she said. “We can actually stop using it completely, so we shouldn’t let them confuse us. It’s really not that important.” Faced with mounting international concern over privacy protection, WeChat said in September 2021 that it had “separated” its data storage facilities for domestic and international users, asking overseas users to re-sign the terms and conditions to keep using the app, which many people rely on to send money to people in China, make purchases in Chinese yuan, and stay in touch with friends and family. Former Sina Weibo censor Liu Lipeng said the move was largely a cosmetic one, however. “Last year … WeChat re-signed its agreements with all overseas users, but everything on there except for one-to-one chats have to use WeChat protocols,” Liu said. “So the moment you click OK, you are back in [the Chinese version] again.” “Everything you write is still available [to the Chinese authorities], so it’s basically sleight of hand. Nothing has changed,” he said. “You are a still a WeChat user.” U.S.-based legal scholar Teng Biao said WeChat’s parent company Tencent is already required under China’s Cybersecurity Law to assist the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with any data it says it needs, as are all of the other internet service providers and social media platforms in China. “The Chinese government has always used WeChat inside China as a tool to control society and censor speech, which is part and parcel its program of high-tech totalitarian control,” Teng told RFA. “It has also always used WeChat as a way to export its censorship beyond its borders, to the United States and other countries,” he said. “Western countries should consider re-evaluating WeChat as a threat to national security, data security, personal privacy and so on,” Teng said. “[They] cannot allow China’s censorship system to extend into the West and all around the world.” Growing concerns Concerns have been growing for some time over overseas censorship and surveillance via WeChat, with the U.S. banning any U.S.-based individuals or entities from doing business with Tencent, and rights activists describing it as a “prison” that keeps overseas users within reach of CCP law enforcement operations. Launched by Tencent in 2011, WeChat now has more than 1.1 billion users, second only to WhatsApp and Facebook, but the company keeps users behind China’s complex system of blocks, filters and human censorship known as the Great Firewall, even when they are physically in another country. The app is also used by China’s state security police to carry out surveillance and harassment of dissidents and activists in exile who speak out about human rights abuses in the country, or campaign for democratic reform. And it’s not just Chinese nationals who are being targeted. In May 2020, researchers at CitizenLab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto warned that anyone using WeChat, even if they have lived their whole lives outside China, is “subject to pervasive content surveillance that was previously thought to be exclusively reserved for China-registered accounts.” Documents and images transmitted entirely among non-China-registered accounts undergo content surveillance wherein these files are analyzed for content that is politically sensitive in China, the report, titled “We Chat, They Watch,” said. The report warned of “very serious” security and privacy issues associated with WeChat and other Chinese apps, and called on app stores to highlight risks to users before they download such apps. And a recent report detailing massive amounts of user data collected by TikTok also sparked privacy concerns around the hugely popular video app, which is owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance. In a technical analysis of TikTok’s source code, security research firm Internet 2-0 found the app, which is the sixth most-used globally with forecast advertising revenues of U.S. $12 billion in 2022, was “overly intrusive” and data collection was “excessive.” While TikTok claims user data is stored in the U.S. and Singapore, the report found evidence of “many subdomains in the iOS app scattered around the world,” including Baishan, China. As of September 2021 TikTok had more than one billion active users globally, 142.2 million of whom are in North America. The report found that TikTok makes use of a number of permissions considered “dangerous” by industry experts. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Junta arrests former UK ambassador to Myanmar on immigration charges

Editor2 years ago2 years ago07 mins

Junta authorities have arrested former U.K. Ambassador to Myanmar Vicky Bowman and her husband, a Burmese former political prisoner, for allegedly violating the country’s immigration laws, according to the military regime and a source with close ties to the couple. Bowman, who served as the U.K.’s top diplomat to Myanmar for four years ending in 2006, and her husband, artist Htein Lin, were taken into custody from their home in Yangon’s Dagon township at around 10 p.m. on Wednesday and initially held at an area police station, a person close to their family told RFA Burmese. The pair were transferred to Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison on Thursday afternoon and will be held there pending a court hearing scheduled for Sept. 6, the family friend said, speaking on condition of anonymity. According to a statement by the junta, Bowman had obtained a residence permit to stay in Yangon, where she runs the nonprofit organization Myanmar Center for Responsible Business, but relocated to her husband’s home in Shan state’s Kalaw township between May 4, 2021, and Aug. 9, 2022, without informing authorities of her change in address. Htein Lin abetted her by failing to report the move, the statement said. They face up to five years in prison. The source close to Bowman’s family told RFA that she and her husband had “not violated any laws,” as alleged by authorities. The arrests came as the U.K. announced new sanctions against “military-linked companies” that it said was part of a bid to “target the military’s access to arms and revenue” amid a crackdown by the junta on opponents to its rule. The British Embassy in Myanmar confirmed the arrests to RFA by email and said it is providing the pair with consular assistance. Calls for release Rights groups on Thursday called on the junta to drop the charges against Bowman and Htein Lin, a former activist with the All Burma Students Democratic Front who spent more than six years in prison between 1998 and 2004 for speaking out against military rule. Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director for New York-based Human Rights Watch, slammed the decision to arrest the couple as an “absurd, ridiculous & vengeful action” in a post to his Twitter account and called for their immediate and unconditional release. “[Junta chief] Gen. Min Aung Hlaing & #Tatmadaw just making things up to strike back at critics any way they can,” Robertson wrote. The arrests also drew condemnation in a statement from PEN America, an NGO that campaigns for writers’ freedom of expression. “The arbitrary and sudden arrests of Vicky Bowman and Htein Lin are yet more examples of the sweeping and abusive power that the military junta has wielded since its violent and illegal seizure of power in February 2021,” said Julie Trébault, director of the Artists at Risk Connection at PEN America. “We are deeply concerned for the safety of Vicky Bowman and Htein Lin and call for their immediate release.” ‘Revenge’ arrests Friends of Bowman and Htein Lin told RFA they believe the junta had fabricated charges against the couple as a form of “revenge” for Htein Lin’s activism and the fresh U.K. sanctions. Artist Zaw Gyi said Bowman was within her rights to stay at her husband’s home, which should be seen as part of the couple’s collective assets. “This is just an example of trying to find fault to cause a problem,” he said. “How could Htein Lin stay out of this when his wife is being arrested?” Writer Wai Hmuu Thwin called the arrests “a case of tit for tat by the junta.” “[In other countries] if you enter through immigration legally, there are no problems, regardless of where you stay,” he said. “I see this as a form of revenge because the British government announced sanctions … recently. Since Vicky Bowman was a former British ambassador, she and her husband got caught in the middle.” Authorities in Myanmar have killed nearly 2,250 civilians and arrested more than 15,200 others since the Feb. 1, 2021, coup, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests, according to Thailand’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

The devastating hyperinflation in the post COVID world

Editor2 years ago2 years ago019 mins

The devastating hyperinflation in the post COVID world COVID19 has had a devastating impact on the economies of the world. Many economically fragile nations got ruined post-COVID. The world is going through an uncertain passage where hyperinflation, depreciating currencies, wars between countries, internal protests/riots and debt traps are taking the center stage. Here is a case study on how different countries of the world are faring in terms of inflation and currency depreciation in the post COVID19 world presented by our analyst David May. First, we will see the list of the countries with inflation rates soaring to over three figures. The world-affected nations are Zimbabwe 257% (Jul/22) Lebanon 210% (Jun/22) Sudan 149% (Jun/22) Syria 139% (Aug/21) Venezuela 137% (Jul/22) Causes of the crisis: Zimbabwe is stifling under climbing international debt as it begins to pay the price for borrowing heavily from China for infrastructure projects at the tail end of Robert Mugabe’s regime. Ongoing giant infrastructure projects funded by Chinese financiers include the expansion of the Hwange Thermal Station with a loan of $1.2 billion, the upgrading of Robert Mugabe International Airport, and the construction of dams. Zimbabwe owes $13.5billion to multilateral financial institutions, bilateral partners, and other creditors. Due to extreme inflation in the country post COVID19 pandemic, 61% of people in Lebanon reported challenges in accessing food and other basic needs at the end of 2021 according to the World Food Program (WFP). Causes of the crisis: One of the worst Debt to GDP ratios in the world and huge depreciation in the currency. The refugee crisis of over 1.5 million refugees from the Syrian civil war. Collapse of the Ponzi scheme led to the steady decline of the Lebanese lira. Devastating double blast at the port of Beirut on 4th August, 2020: In addition to killing more than 200 and injuring 7,000, the explosion ruined businesses and the port infrastructure, including giant wheat silos. Dependence on Ukraine for the import of wheat in the country. Sudan had the worst impact of COVID19 and geopolitical tensions since 2020. Sudan’s inflation rate for 2019 was 50.99%. For 2020 it was 150.32%, a 99.33% increase from 2019. For 2021 it galloped to 382.82%, a massive 232.49% increase from 2020. But now in 2022, it is coming down but still is in three digits. Causes of the crisis: Military Coup and political instability has resulted in protests and economic instability in Sudan. Furthermore, Sudan’s government pursued a policy of economic liberalization that has enabled a tiny group of traders, influential people, and capitalists to regulate the majority of Sudanese commercial activity. As a result, monopolistic practices have spread in primary commodities like sugar and building materials, and a significant proportion of the import and export sectors. All this coupled with the Ukraine-Russia war leading to extreme food insecurity has led to extreme inflation in Sudan. Sudan has undertaken a huge debt from France, Austria, the United States, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and China along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Reasons : Historical civil wars, the ISIS crisis, drought in North-Eastern Syria and increase in global commodity prices as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war has led to hyperinflation in Syria. Syria is seeking debts from China out of misery to rebound from the steady and sharp plunge in its economy since 2011, the year the civil war amplified. However, joining hands with China will come with the risk of a vicious #DebtTrap that countries like Srilanka, Zimbabwe, Djbouti, and Pakistan are already suffering from. Causes of the crisis: The crisis in Venezuela is an ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis that began in Venezuela during the presidency of Hugo Chávez and worsened during Nicolás Maduro’s presidency. It has been marked by hyperinflation, escalating starvation, disease, crime, and mortality rates, resulting in massive emigration from the country. More than 6 million refugees, asylum-seekers, and migrants from Venezuela have left the country seeking food, work, and a better life. COVID19 however, exacerbated the crisis in Venezuela. Venezuelan migrants who returned to the homeland after losing their jobs abroad in the wake of the pandemic have been unable to earn wages back home. Deficiencies of fuel, electricity and clean water have flared riots and left many migrants with no option but to flee again. The country was once believed to be the most affluent in Latin America, thanks to holding the most extensive petroleum reserves in the globe. But more than a decade of plunging oil revenue and flawed administration led to the descent of the national economy, and the government has not been able to provide sufficient social services. The next group of countries whose economies are facing the heat due to the geopolitical crisis, food insecurity, debt traps, and hyperinflation in the post-COVID world are as follows Turkey 79.6% (Jul/22) Argentina 71% (Jul/22) Sri Lanka 60.8% (Jul/22) Suriname 55.6% (May/22) Iran 54% (Jul/22) The currency of Turkey has lost more than 20% of its value against the US dollar since the start of 2022. The inflation rate which was just over 8% in October 2019, reached 80% in July 2022. Other than global issues concerning all the nations, following the causes of the crisis in Turkey: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s flawed monetary policy. (like decreasing the cost of borrowing to increase the demand instead of cooling it down) Irrational hikes in the minimum wages. (A massive hike of over 50%) An all-time high External Debt reached $451.2 billion in March 2022, compared with $442.5 billion in the previous quarter. A woman displays her electricity bill during a protest against high energy prices in Turkey. Protests have erupted in various parts of Turkey to protest against the rising prices. Over hundred thousand people participated in a march for employment and fair wages and against hunger and poverty on the Plaza de Mayo in the center of Buenos Aires organized by the workers movement Unidad Piquetera (Picketers Union), as part of widespread protests across Argentina. After the year 2020, inflation galloped past 70%. Analysts surveyed by Argentina’s central bank raised their inflation estimate for 2022 to 90.2%. The primary…

Category: Americas