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UN official says Cambodia faces ‘severe’ human rights issues

Editor07 mins

Cambodia’s government should remove restrictions on political participation and introduce other democratic reforms to address “severe human rights challenges,” a U.N. rights monitor said Friday, following his first official visit to the country. Vitit Muntarbhorn, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Cambodia, credited Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government for having ratified several human rights treaties in a statement at the end of his 11-day trip, but slammed what he said were moves by Phnom Penh to create a political atmosphere of de facto one-party rule in the Southeast Asian nation. “Cambodia is faced with a pervasive paradox. Since 2017, when the main opposition party was disbanded unjustly by judicial order, the country has effectively been under single-party rule, with all seats of the National Assembly in the hands of that monopoly,” Muntarbhorn said, referring to the Supreme Court’s decision in that year to dissolve the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). Muntarbhorn visited with key government officials and met striking workers, residents displaced by development, and opposition party members who face legal trouble or have been harassed by supporters of the ruling party, the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). He also discussed human trafficking with local leaders in Sihanoukville, a coastal city that has become a gambling haven backed by Chinese investors.  “I am pleased to have met with and learned from all those who generously shared their time, thoughts and experiences with me with characteristic Cambodian warmth. This is a country with a bright future, but it faces a number of severe human rights challenges in the lead up to next year’s general election,” he said. Muntarbhorn called on the Cambodian government to adopt his plan “expeditiously and effectively.” It calls for opening up “civic and political space, by suspending and reforming draconian laws, ensuring election-related personnel are separated from political parties and ending prosecution of political opposition and human rights defenders,” a U.N. news release states. The rapporteur also recommended “releasing all those currently in prison and dropping charges against those who are seen as adversaries by the authorities and improving the quality of law enforcers by proper selection and incentivisation and distance from political authority.” Kata Orn,  spokesman for the government-aligned Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC), noted in an interview with RFA’s Khmer Service that the special rapporteur did not specifically condemn the Cambodian government. “He was concerned, but he didn’t accuse the government of violating human rights,” Kata Orn said. “The government welcomes any recommendations not from the special rapporteurs but from others to review those recommendations to see if they are politically motivated or untrue recommendations. We will accept constructive feedback to improve the government’s loopholes to make sure we are implementing the law and human rights better,’ he said. The special rapporteur’s recommendations on elections are welcomed, but are beyond the scope of the country’s official election monitoring body, Hang Puthea, a spokesman for the National Election Committee (NEC), told RFA.  “We will consider any good recommendations. We are working to improve our shortcomings for the sake of the country and people,’ he said.  After the dissolution of the CNRP in 2017, three members of the opposition quit their positions on the NEC, leaving the organization controlled by members of the ruling party, the Cambodian People’s Party. In a screengrab from a public Zoom video call on Aug. 1, 2022, Migrant Care activist Anis Hidayah [right] shows images of injured and shackled workers who were among Indonesian employees allegedly abused and held against their will after being trafficked to Cambodia to work as cyber scammers. Credit: BenarNews The special rapporteur’s visit also focused on human trafficking, which Muntarbhorn said had “mutated” in the era of cybercrimes. “It’s a different sort of human trafficking and human forced labor too sometimes, some of us say slavery even,” he said. “This situation is pervasive and it’s both local and cross frontier and is rendered more complicated by cyberspace, which is borderless.” Muntarbhorn said Cambodia has become a destination country for human trafficking, and should cooperate with its neighbors to address the problem.   “So on that basis, prevention is better than cure, meaning that we need cooperation between this country and all the various countries, big and small, in the Asian region,” he said.  Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. 

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Junta arrests former UK ambassador to Myanmar on immigration charges

Editor07 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.

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Bank shake-up seen as bid by junta to control Myanmar’s financial sector: experts

Editor08 mins

A junta shake-up of Myanmar’s Central Bank leadership announced last week is part of a bid by the military regime to assume control of the country’s financial sector and extend its grip on power, experts warned Wednesday. On Aug. 19, the junta issued a statement saying that it had replaced Central Bank Chairman Than Nyein and Vice Chairman Win Thaw with Central Bank Vice Chairman Than Than Swe and Director General of the junta Defense Ministry’s Accounts Office Maj. Gen. Zaw Myint Naing, respectively. The announcement of the reshuffle comes two months after the junta appointed six lieutenant colonels to the Central Bank as deputy directors and ensures that all key positions at the financial institution are held by either military generals or those close to the regime. A Myanmar-based economist, who did not want to be identified for security reasons, told RFA Burmese that the shake-up is part of a bid by the junta to gain control of the country’s economy. “[Than Than Swe] who became the chairman is quite strong, but as far as we know, there aren’t many people who will support her,” the economist said. Than Than Swe, widely seen as pro-military, was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt in April, when unknown assailants shot her at her apartment complex in Yangon amid a public outcry over a new Central Bank directive ordering the sale of all U.S. dollars and other foreign currency at a fixed rate to licensed banks. The 55-year-old was sworn in as deputy governor of the Central Bank after the military seized power from Myanmar’s democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup. Believed to be the most senior junta official to be shot since the takeover, she is known to have led efforts to reduce the cash flow in the banking and financial system under the NLD, according to a report by The Irrawaddy online news agency. An official with a private domestic bank in Myanmar told RFA on condition of anonymity that the replacements announced last week and appointment of six military officers to deputy director positions in June indicate that the junta is working to assume total control of the country’s Central Bank. “It’s a matter of placing your own people [in key positions] to extend your power … because the flow of money is the most important thing in the world, regardless of whether it’s for good or bad,” the official said. “They must assume that they will learn more about the accounts of the people, including local businessmen, by controlling a key body such as the Central Bank.” The bank official said it is too early to say whether the appointments will have a beneficial impact on Myanmar’s economy, which has been devastated by political instability in the wake of the coup, prompting businesses to fold and foreign investors to flee. Poorly planned policies Public trust in Myanmar’s banks has eroded since the military takeover, as indicated by a growing number of savings withdrawals, while global trade has been reduced to a trickle amid various Central Bank restrictions placed on the U.S. dollar, sources told RFA. A Mandalay-based trader, who also declined to be named, told RFA that importing and exporting goods had become nearly impossible due to the Central Bank’s constant shifting of policies. “I’m so tired of making adjustments in accordance with the bank’s directives. It’s not easy. I follow their instructions, but it is extremely inconvenient,” he said. “When you have to operate your businesses according to endlessly changing monetary policies, you will suffer losses due to fluctuations in rates, and this is what has happened to us.” The attack on Than Than Swe came days after an unpopular April 3 Central Bank directive ordering all foreign currency, including the U.S. dollar, to be resold within one day of entering the country to licensed banks at a fixed rate of 1,850 kyats to the dollar. Earlier this month, the rate was raised to 2,100 kyats, while the current market price is nearly 3,000 kyats. According to government records, there have been a total of 2,525 employees — including 494 officers — at the Central Bank since 2012, working in seven key departments. People with knowledge of bank operations say many of the employees are former military officials who were transferred to their current positions. On the day of last year’s coup, the military removed NLD-appointee Kyaw Kyaw Maung from his position as Central Bank chairman and arrested bank Vice Chairman Bobo Nge – also an NLD supporter. In their places, the junta reappointed Chairman Than Nyein, who had served in the role under successive junta regimes, and promoted Than Than Swe and Win Thaw, then directors-general at the bank, to vice chairman positions. The changes announced last week follow nearly 17 months of policies widely seen as poorly planned and damaging to the country’s economy. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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UN faces heat over envoy’s trip to Myanmar

Editor010 mins

Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and more than 850 civil society groups called on the United Nations to remove its appointed envoy to the country after her visit last week and demonstrate a “serious commitment” to resolving the nation’s worsening humanitarian crisis. U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer traveled to Myanmar from Aug. 17-18 and met with junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyidaw. She urged him to end violence against the country’s civilian population, stop imposing the death sentence and release the country’s political prisoners, according to a statement from the U.N. But opponents of the regime expressed doubt that the visit would change conditions in Myanmar and warned that it risked giving legitimacy to the regime, which ousted the democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup. On Tuesday, Kyaw Zaw, the spokesperson for the office of NUG President Duwa Lashi La, told RFA Burmese that the U.N. should have presented the junta with a list of consequences if it fails to implement Heyzer’s demands. “[Her demands were] nothing unusual, but she should have told [Min Aung Hlaing] what kind of action would be taken or what was planned if he didn’t comply,” he said. “Only then would it be viewed as a meaningful meeting.” Junta troops resumed setting fire to homes and carrying out various human rights violations — including conducting airstrikes and shelling attacks on civilian targets — immediately after Heyzer’s visit, Kyaw Zaw noted. He called for “immediate and effective action” in response. Kyaw Zaw’s comments came a day after 864 civil society groups issued a joint statement urging the U.N. General Assembly to remove Heyzer ahead of its session next month. “We … call on the U.N. General Assembly to withdraw the mandate of the special envoy on Myanmar,” said the statement, the signatories of which included hundreds of pro-democracy organizations both inside the country and abroad. “We also call on the U.N. Secretary-General [António Guterres] to show his serious commitment to resolving the devastating human rights and humanitarian crises in Myanmar by assuming a personal role on Myanmar and taking decisive action.” The civil society groups called Heyzer’s visit the “latest evidence of the historical ineffectualness of the mandate over a decades-long approach that has continually failed” and demanded that the U.N. “immediately end its business-as-usual approach” toward Myanmar. “The long history of the U.N.’s attempts at peace-brokering with Myanmar’s military through special envoys has never catalyzed into meaningful results, but has instead lent legitimacy to perpetrators of international atrocity crimes — and has permitted worsening human rights and humanitarian crises,” the statement said. The groups urged the U.N. to transfer the issue of Myanmar from the Security Council to the International Criminal Court and called for the formation of a special tribunal to carry out an investigation of the situation in the country. This handout from Myanmar’s military information team taken and released on Aug. 17, 2022 shows Myanmar’s armed forces chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing [right] meeting with United Nations Special Envoy on Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer [left] in Naypyidaw. Credit: Myanmar’s Military Information Team/AFP ‘Additional action’ needed In a statement issued after her trip to Myanmar, Heyzer detailed the demands she made during her talks with Min Aung Hlaing and dismissed claims that her trip would lend legitimacy to the junta. The junta called Heyzer’s statement “one-sided” for having failed to include Min Aung Hlaing’s comments during their discussion. Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the Thaningha Strategic Studies Institute, a Myanmar think tank composed of former military officers, called the U.N.’s demands of the junta “unacceptable.” “[The U.N.] may have hopes for some progress — a discussion has been held — but the U.N. was not very positive, and the way the U.N. approached the talks was not very acceptable to the junta,” he said. “We will have to wait and see if there will be further discussions. Political analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe said the U.N. should take more effective measures if the military regime continues to ignore the demands of the international community. “The U.N. Security Council should take additional action, especially through punitive measures, if the junta fails to [comply],” he said. Sai Kyi Zin Soe also proposed that Heyzer engage with the NUG government to apply additional pressure on the military regime. ASEAN efforts The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member state, has also repeatedly tried and failed to bring the junta to heel since last year’s coup. At an emergency meeting on the situation in Myanmar convened by ASEAN in April 2021, Min Aung Hlaing agreed to implement the conditions of the so-called “Five-Point Consensus (5PC),” which calls for an end to violence in the country, constructive dialogue among all parties, and the mediation of such talks by a special ASEAN envoy. The 5PC also calls for the provision of ASEAN-coordinated humanitarian assistance and a visit to Myanmar by an ASEAN delegation to meet with all parties. Even Min Aung Hlaing acknowledged that the junta had failed to hold up its end of the bargain on the consensus in a televised speech earlier this month, which he blamed on the coronavirus pandemic and “political instability.” He promised to implement “what we can” from the 5PC this year, provided it does not “jeopardize the country’s sovereignty.” At ASEAN’s 55th Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Phnom Penh from July 31 to Aug. 6, most member states criticized the junta for failing to adhere to the 5PC and for its July 25 execution of four democracy activists, including former student leader Ko Jimmy and a former NLD lawmaker. However, the country’s opposition groups have criticized the bloc for what they say is its failure to adopt stronger measures in its dealing with the junta. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Video shows Vietnamese workers making dramatic escape from casino in Cambodia

Editor09 mins

A video reportedly showing dozens of Vietnamese workers making a dramatic escape from a Chinese-managed casino in Cambodia has prompted new questions about worker abuse as a U.N. human rights official tours the country.  More than 42 Vietnamese workers escaped from the Koh Thom casino complex in Kandal province in Cambodia as seen in the video posted by media outlet VnExpress on Aug. 18. The video shows the workers jumping into a river, chased by guards swinging metal rods.  Cambodian authorities have detained the Chinese manager as it investigates allegations of forced labor and worker abuse.  One person had been recaptured and another was missing in the river, VOD reported on Monday. A 16-year-old worker from Vietnam’s Gia Lai province was found dead in the Binh Di River, which the workers had jumped into as they fled the casino, the Vietnamese news outlet VnExpress reported on Aug. 20. Authorities also have arrested two Vietnamese in neighboring An Giang province, across the border from Kandal, for their alleged role in helping Vietnamese illegally enter Cambodia to work. Kandal provincial prosecutor Ek Sun Reaksmey told VOD that authorities were preparing to send back to Vietnam the one person who was recaptured by the Pacific Real Estate Company, registered under the name Tai Ping Yang Fang Di Chan Wu Ye Guan Li. The workers ran from the company’s building. The incident comes as more attention is focused on Chinese-run casinos in Southeast Asia and allegations of business scams, prostitution and worker abuse, including holding employees against their will. Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng ordered immigration officials and police officers to develop a plan to fight human trafficking, which plagues the region. Sar Kheng addressed the casino workers escape with the press on Aug. 18 after an inter-ministerial agency meeting at the Interior Ministry on fighting human trafficking. “We went down there to see the situation. It was not entirely true, but partly true,” he said. “Our mission is to rescue the victims and bring the ringleader to justice.” Sar Kheng said that authorities had arrested a “ringleader or manager” and have some of the workers involved in a case in Kandal’s Chrey Thom village. “Preliminary information regarding the swimmers to Vietnam [is that] they may have come to work illegally,” he said “When it came to arguing over salary or other issue, they ran away and swam across the canal to Vietnam.” Kandal Gov. Kong Sophoan wrote on Facebook that he led a delegation to review the dispute between the foreign workers and the company at the Pacific Real Estate Company in Chry Thom village in Koh Thom district.  “I had a meeting with the company and encouraged them to abide by Cambodian laws and the Constitution, respect their business licenses, and absolutely not engage in human and drug trafficking,” he wrote.  “Regarding the Vietnamese people who escaped the workplace and swam to Vietnam, the authorities must continue to investigate according to the law,” he wrote.      Tricked into working there Two workers told VnExpress that they were tricked into working at the casino and then exploited. One woman said employees had to create fake social media profiles and find people to buy into a phony dating platform or risk beatings. Kouch Chamroeun, governor of Preah Sihanouk province also known for its Chinese-run casinos and related crime, told Vitit Muntarbhorn, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, on Aug. 19 that there is no human trafficking in Sihanoukville, a popular coastal destination for tourists. Muntarbhorn, who was appointed to his position in March 2021, is touring the country from Aug. 15 to Aug. 26, his first official visit. The U.N. envoy is meeting with government representatives, human rights defenders and other stakeholders to assess Phnom Penh’s efforts to safeguard human rights. During the meeting, Kouch Chamroeun claimed that authorities have investigated allegations workers were being illegally detained by businesses in Sihanoukville but found instead employees working normally, with some relaxing and playing on their cell phones, according to a Facebook post by the Preah Sihanouk provincial administration. The workers said the workers who had complained to the authorities that they were being detained against their will really just wanted to change workplaces, the governor added. Chhay Kim Khoeun, spokesman for Cambodia’s General Commissariat of National Police, did not respond to a request via the Telegram instant messaging service for an update on the investigation into the case.  Chum Sounry, Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, could not be reached for comment regarding a request by Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Phnom Penh’s help in investigation into the case. On Monday, two people in An Giang province were arrested for their roles in the incident and charged with making arrangements for others to leave Vietnam illegally, according to state media. Nguyen Thi Le, 42, and Le Van Danh, 34, who both live in Long Binh town organized for six of the workers to be employed in the casino with “light workloads and high wages.”   Le told authorities that in May an unidentified person in Cambodia had asked her to join him in bringing Vietnamese workers to Cambodia. She contacted Danh to help by picking up the workers and taking them to the riverbank where she would accompany them to Cambodia. Le said she received payment of 300,000 dong (U.S. $13) from the Cambodian man, of which she paid Danh 100,000 dong (U.S. $4.30). Translated by Sok Ry Sum for RFA Khmer and Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Interview: ‘It was the truest and most precious thing about that time’

Editor010 mins

Three years after millions took to the streets of Hong Kong in protest at the city’s diminishing freedoms and to call for fully democratic elections, a new documentary is showing audiences around the world just what motivated them to risk arrest, injury or worse at the hands of riot police. Beijing has long claimed that the movement was instigated by “hostile foreign forces” who wanted to challenge and undermine the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by fomenting dissent in Hong Kong. But for documentary film-maker Ngan Chi Sing, the complex political and psychological forces that drove people to face down an increasingly repressive regime can be expressed as a single thing: love. And he’s not just talking about romance, although that did play a part. “There is also the love of one’s own land, love for this city, and the love of the older generations for our young people, for those Hongkongers who sacrificed [their well-being and freedom] for people they had never met and didn’t know,” Ngan told RFA in a recent interview. “I often say that this was the truest and most precious thing about that time, for me, anyway,” said Ngan, who goes by the English name Twinkle. Ngan started out with the intention of recording the protests, turning up at the front line, day in, day out, shooting intense footage of pitched street battles and chanting crowds, and interviewing young Hongkongers insistent that the government listen to their five demands: revoke plans to allow extradition to mainland China; allow fully democratic elections; release all protesters and political prisoners; chase down those responsible for police violence and stop calling protesters “rioters.” Then leader Carrie Lam eventually withdrew plans to amend the law to allow the extradition of alleged criminal suspects to face trial in mainland China, but not before the city had erupted in a summer of protest that saw crowds of one and two million people march through the streets, the occupation of the Legislative Council, and the defacement of the Chinese flag and emblems outside Beijing’s Central Liaison Office. But the city’s government — under intense political pressure from Beijing — has since gone full tilt in the opposition direction when it comes to the other four demands. Instead of an amnesty or an end to the government’s use of “rioters,” to describe the protesters, there is now an ongoing crackdown on peaceful political opposition and public dissent. Documentary film-maker Ngan Chi Sing. Credit: Ngan Chi Sing Why take the risk? More than 10,000 people have been arrested on protest-related charges, while the authorities are prosecuting 2,800 more under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from July 1, 2020. Given the risks, why did so many turn out to defend themselves from behind makeshift barricades of traffic barriers, umbrellas and trash cans? It’s one of the first questions Ngan puts to a masked protester on the front line in 2019. “I am a Hong Konger born and bred, and Hong Kong is now under occupation,” comes the hoarse reply. Ngan started shooting the film during the last June 4 candlelight vigil for the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, initially without any aim other than recording these events for posterity. He said he still recalls vividly that many participants that night in Victoria Park held their candle in one hand, and a leaflet calling for a public rally against plans to allow extradition to mainland China in the other. But he didn’t always feel a sense of journalistic separation from what he was filming. Filming in Sheung Wan on July 28, 2019, Ngan got a heavy dose of tear gas. “The front-line protesters pulled me into the umbrella barricade formation … sheltering me and washing my eyes so I could carry on filming that day,” Ngan he said. “This had a dramatic impact on me.” “I had previously been looking at these young people through my lens, like a journalist, to film the dangers they faced, and to see whether they were afraid,” he said. “But in that moment they rescued me, I became one of them.” A scene from “Love in the Time of Revolution.” Credit: Ngan Chi Sing Political asylum Ngan said he had very little experience of film-making or journalism before the protest movement, but after the incident in Sheung Wan, he decided to make a film from his footage. He shot footage and interviewed people for more than a year, until February 2020. In November 2021, fearing his materials would be confiscated by police, he brought everything to the U.K., where he is currently applying for political asylum. One of the things that struck him was the relative lack of experience of nearly everybody involved in the protests. As the movement’s “hands and feet” were increasingly being arrested and taken off to detention centers to await trial, new protesters took their place at the front line who were often younger and less experienced than their predecessors in the movement. Nonetheless, the movement embraced everyone, and it was this aspect that drove Ngan’s storytelling when cutting the film. “I am an amateur myself, and no one has heard of me,” Ngan said. “The people behind the scenes and the people I interviewed were amateurs too.” “So many people paid a price and are now silently living with consequences they should never have had to bear,” he said. “The political prosecutions are still happening.” Now in London, Ngan feels that he can give them the recognition that is their due. “These amateurs will never be in the spotlight, so I want to bring out their voices and their stories,” he said. “Love in the Time of Revolution” has screened at a documentary festival in Switzerland, a Hong Kong Film Festival in Sydney, and will premiere in the U.K. on Aug. 20. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Nine dams in Laos release water, forcing many to head for higher ground

Editor09 mins

Villagers in northern Laos are once more scrambling for dry land after water releases from nine upstream dams to relieve pressure after a week of heavy rain caused flooding in some areas. The Meteorology and Hydrology Department of the Lao Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment predicts even more rain is in store for the region as a tropical depression is expected to cover northern Laos from Aug. 19-28. The dams that released water are the four Nam Ou dams in Phongsaly Province and Luang Prabang Province; the Xayaburi Dam, on the Mekong mainstream in Xayaburi Province; two Nam Khan dams in Luang Prabang Province; and two Nam Lik dams in Vientiane Province. Residents told RFA’s Lao Service that their homes, places of work and farms are now flooded. Many said they had to escape to higher ground. “Our farm was on low ground, and our floating restaurant on the Khan River is damaged,” a resident of Samakhixay, Xeing Ngeun district, Luang Prabang province, who like other sources in this report requested anonymity for safety reasons, told RFA Friday. “We’re now trying to save our livestock by moving them to higher ground. We hope that the Nam Khan dams are able to control the water soon. We don’t worry much about water from the rain, but we do worry a lot about the dams because we’re afraid they could break,” said the source. Laos has aggressively built dozens of dams on the Mekong River and its tributaries in its controversial economic strategy to become the “Battery of Southeast Asia” by selling the generated electricity to neighboring countries.  But villagers living near the dams say the projects have upended their lives. Many residents have had to move, often facing protracted disputes over compensation and being relocated to less fertile lands, while those left behind sometimes have to scramble for higher ground if the dams release water without prior notice.  The Xayaburi dam’s release resulted in rising waters inundating corn fields, a resident of Pak Hung Village in the city of Xayaburi, Xayaburi province, told RFA. “The corn fields of at least 20 families in this village near the Mekong River are under water. The current of the Mekong River is very strong,” the source said. A resident of Feuang district, Vientiane province, told RFA on Friday that the two Nam Lik dams had begun releasing more water the day before. “The Lik River has gone up about 50 centimeters [about 20 inches]. Up to now, our floating raft guesthouses have not been affected yet,” the Feuang district resident said. Because the Mekong has many tributaries, a dam that releases water in one spot may force others downstream to do the same, as was the case with the Xayaburi Dam, according to an official of the  Agriculture and Forestry Department of Xayaburi Province. “We’re monitoring the water level of the Mekong River below the Xayaburi Dam. The Nam Ou dams are still releasing water; that’s why the Xayaburi Dam must also be releasing more water too,” the official said. Multiple sources told RFA that authorities issued safety warnings prohibiting floating guesthouses from receiving tourists, in some cases saying that the water level could increase as much as four meters. Others were concerned that the flooding could sweep away fishing boats and flood roads, isolating residents in the process. Many locals said they were packing their valuables before heading to higher ground.  “The Ministry of Energy and Mines, the authorities of Feuang district and of our village should make sure that the warning reaches all the residents because this time of the year is the rice planting season, and many villagers stay at their farms for several months to plant rice,” a resident of Hat Don Kang Yai Village in Feuang district said. “The authorities should also give notice several days in advance, so that the business owners have enough time to prepare,” the source said. Men work to pry apart a clump of debris in the Mekong River on Aug. 13, 2022 in Sanakham District, Vientiane Province. Credit: RFA Lao Service Official response Government officials told RFA it is standard practice for the dams to release water in heavy rains, and that dam operators warn the authorities in advance. “The Xayaburi Power Company wrote to us on Saturday that our department should inform all districts below the Xayaburi Dam,” an official of the Energy and Mines Department of Xayaburi province told RFA.  “A day later, our department informed the Xayaburi Municipality, Pak Lay district and Kenthao districts and their residents to pack their valuable belongings. Based on the report from the dam, the Xayaburi Dam is releasing more water because the Nam Ou dams in Luang Prabang province and Phongsaly province are releasing more water,” he said. “We’re gathering information about the impact and the damage caused by the flood and water discharges,” an official of the Ministry of Energy and Mines told RFA. “The water is coming from all directions, from Luang Prabang province and other northern provinces.” Xayaburi province issued a warning on August 13 to all provincial districts about releases from the Xayaburi and Nam Ou dams. Similar warnings were issued by the Ministry of Energy and Mines, which on Tuesday warned that the Nam Lik 1 and 2 dams would release water on Thursday. The operators of the Nam Khan 2 and 3 dams warned on Tuesday that those dams would also release water on Thursday.  Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Critics say Cambodia tries to trick UN official into believing it respects rights

Editor08 mins

Cambodian labor activists said a visiting United Nations human rights official was given the false impression that the country supports worker rights by authorities who paused a violent crackdown on a  months-long protest by a group of former casino employees while the official toured the site. Vitit Muntarbhorn, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Cambodia, is on an 11-day official visit to the country, his first since assuming office in March 2021. His tour included a meeting with the group of former NagaWorld Casino workers who have been protesting since they were among 1,300 laid off by the casino in December 2021. The workers say they were unfairly fired and offered inadequate compensation. “I was pleased to be able to visit striking workers and see them exercise their freedom of expression and right to peaceful assembly today,” Vitit Muntarbhorn wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday. During the visit, the former workers were uncharacteristically allowed to protest directly in front of the casino on Wednesday and Thursday. United Nations Human Rights in Cambodia also monitored the protest on Wednesday, releasing video footage on Facebook with a statement acknowledging that the protest was peaceful.  “The UN Human Rights Cambodia office welcomes today’s developments and looks forward to authorities continuing to protect strikers’ rights, including the right to #peaceful #assembly and #FreedomofExpression,” the statement said. But the scene has not alway been so peaceful. The striking workers have more typically been met by police officers, who often used violence to force the protestors onto buses, which would then shuttle them to quarantine centers on the outskirts of town on the premise that their protests violated COVID-19 prevention measures. Some strikers have been injured in the crackdown, now in its ninth month. One woman said she suffered a miscarriage as a result of her injuries inflicted by police.  Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, told RFA’s Khmer Service that the new hands-off approach to the worker over the past few days is a ruse intended to convince Vitit Muntarbhorn and the U.N. that Cambodia respects human rights, but things will return to normal once he leaves. “The government wants to save face and trick the rapporteur,” Rong Chhun said. “Please, Mr. Rapporteur, don’t believe this trick. … [Later] there will be more freedom restrictions.” The rapporteur’s presence alone was enough to get authorities to ease restrictions, Chhim Sithar, leader of the NagaWorld union that represents the strikers, told RFA. “Before the arrival of the rapporteur, there were serious violent attacks [on the strikers] which injured at least two women recently. It is completely different now,” she said.   “We have observed that [Prime Minister] Hun Sen requested that [the rapporteur] report positive things about Cambodia, so violence has been reduced. This is just a show to make sure that the rapporteur  can’t see factual events,” she said. Government supporters say that the special rapporteur is being shown the true Cambodia. “Those who accuse the government of faking respect for human rights are trying to create a toxic environment to destroy the government’s reputation,” Kata Orn, spokesman for the government-backed Cambodian Human Rights Committee, told RFA. He said that there is an understanding between the workers and the authorities that allows the workers to strike without any crackdown. Political analyst Kem Sok told RFA that the rapporteur should gather information from all the stakeholders before making any statement.  “Hun Sen has no desire to respect human rights and democracy otherwise it is a threat to his power,” he said. U.S. delegation A group of U.S. lawmakers led by Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) also visited Cambodia this week as part of their tour of Asia. During a meeting with more than a dozen government officials, Markey urged Cambodia to protect human rights, political freedoms and free speech. “Cambodians overcame decades of war and chaos that cost the country millions of lives, and deserve to enjoy the democratic freedoms they were promised. The government must release political prisoners, end the crackdown against opposition parties, and allow for freedom of expression and a free press,” Markey said in a statement.  Markey also called for the release of Cambodian American activist Theary Seng, who is serving a six-year prison sentence for her outspoken opposition to Hun Sen. The delegation also met with opposition leader Kem Sohka, who is on trial for what critics say are politically motivated charges of treason. “I thank Mr. Kem Sokha for his bravery and willingness to continue to stand up for the rights of all Cambodians despite ongoing harassment by the government,” said Markey.  “All charges against him should be dropped immediately, and he and the Cambodia National Rescue Party should be free to participate in elections.”  Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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China enforces lockdowns as COVID cases spiral in Xinjiang and Tibet

Editor09 mins

A sharp increase in the number of coronavirus cases in Xinjiang led China’s government to send a delegation throughout the far-western region to implement controversial zero-COVID policies, further isolating residents there. As of Wednesday, Xinjiang recorded 2,779 confirmed COVID-19 cases throughout Xinjiang, with officials in the capital Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi) designating 73 high risk districts and imposing strict exit-entry controls due to the rising number of infections, China News Service reported.   Now officials there are administering a new Chinese medicine called “A Ci Fu” to combat the virus, though the efficacy of the medicine remains unknown, sources said. Beijing sent a special working group to region, with Ma Xingrui, Chinese Communist Party secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), visiting Ghulja (Yining), Chochek (Tacheng), Bortala (Bole), Sanji (Changji), Turpan (Tulufan) and Qumul (Hami) on Aug. 13-16. Erkin Tuniyaz, a Chinese politician of Uyghur origin who is the current XUAR chairman, visited Kashgar (Kashgar) during the same period. The two officials oversaw the implementation of mass testing and lockdowns to contain outbreaks of the respiratory virus. In the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in northern Xinjiang, Ma stressed the need to implement Chinese President Xi Jinping’s instructions on epidemic prevention and control and stressed the need for urgency. He called for delineating risk areas and implementing detailed prevention and control measures, as well as increasing screening and accelerating construction of makeshift hospitals, Chinese media reported. But Uyghurs said the lockdowns implemented to contain COVID are causing problems of their own. For example, a Turpan resident told RFA that farmers are unable to pick their grapes, leaving the fruit to rot in fields and causing huge financial losses.  “We are desolate,” he said. “We really hope this pandemic will disappear soon, so we are able to gather our grapes safely and hang them in drying rooms.” A Uyghur on Douyin, the Chinese version of the short-form, video-sharing app TikTok, said many people in the affected areas are unable to afford food because they are not able to work. Food prices have also gone up because of the lockdowns, the source said. A police official in Ghulja county’s Hudiyayuzi township said officials were directed to warn residents to be careful what they say or believe in regards to the COVID outbreak. “We will investigate and detain those who spread rumors,” the officer said.  William Nee, research and advocacy coordinator at Chinese Human Rights Defenders, told RFA on Monday that the lockdowns were likely particularly hard on Uyghurs in Xinjiang given the isolation many already lived under. Shanghai residents endured a three-month lockdown. But those who were confined to apartments could at least communicate their plight to the outside world via  cell phones or through social media. Chinese repression in Xinjiang doesn’t give Uyghurs a similar outlet.  “We have much less knowledge about how the zero-COVID policies are affecting people,” he said, adding that he saw a video recorded by a Han Chinese woman in Kashgar showing that the city was deadly quiet. “I’m sure she could run that risk without any problems, but if a Uyghur were to produce that type of video, I’m sure they would be detained on some pretext,” Nee said. “So one of the difficulties is that any negative ramifications of the zero-COVID policy affecting Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities would be that they [are] reluctant to share [information] because it could be seen as a political offense.”  A laboratory technician works at a COVID-19 testing facility in Lhasa, capital of western China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, Aug. 9, 2022. Credit: CNS/AFP Stranded tourists in Tibet The number of COVID-19 cases are also on the rise in neighboring Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). As of Wednesday, the region recorded 2,911 confirmed cases, 742 more than were reported on Tuesday, according to an official count. “People are subject to continuous testing,” said a Tibetan living in the capital Lhasa. “The Potala Palace and other religious sites are shut down, schools have postponed their reopening, and people are stocking up on groceries and buying face masks.”  Tens of thousands of Chinese tourists stranded in the capital Lhasa and the towns of Shigatse (Xigaze) and Ngari (Ali) are trying to leave Tibet. On Tuesday, the TAR’s Transportation Department announced that those who are leaving the region by air or train must take two COVID tests within 24 hours of their departure and have a certificate indicating negative results. A Tibetan in the region told RFA that resources for the testing and prevention of the virus are being depleted due to the high number of Chinese tourists there. Nee said that video of workers spraying down roads in Tibet with disinfectant had no scientific basis as being an effective means of preventing the coronavirus, and only serve a performative purpose to make people believe that officials are doing everything possible in terms of a zero-COVID policy to please Xi Jinping.  Though the number of cases has spiked in Tibetan cities in recent days, airports in the region, including Lhasa Gonggar Airport, have remained open and the influx of tourists has continued without restriction.   “During earlier COVID surges, the Chinese government did not restrict tourists from entering Tibet because Tibetans were concerned,” said another Tibetan from Lhasa. “Now as COVID outbreaks are increasing and the situation remains uncertain, we are worried about to how it will turn out in the next few days.”  Earlier this week, a Chinese official in Lhasa issued a notice warning residents not to share any COVID-related news or information on social media. Translated by Mamatjan Juma and Alim Seytoff for RFA Uyghur, and Kalden Lodoe and Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0