South East Asia group

The Cambodian authorities must immediately release 24 women and six children detained yesterday while peacefully protesting their forced eviction.

The group of 30 were arrested while protesting last week’s violent forced eviction of some 300 families from the poor Borei Keila neighbourhood of Phnom Penh.  

“These people never should have been arrested in the first place,” said Donna Guest, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Asia-Pacific.  

The success of the US Secretary of State’s visit to Myanmar should be decided by whether the authorities respond immediately by undertaking bold and far-reaching human rights reforms, Amnesty International said in a statement today.
 
On Thursday Hillary Clinton will begin a two-day visit to Myanmar, the highest-level visit by a US official in over 50 years.
 

On the eve of the second anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre, Amnesty International lamented the very slow wheels of justice in the Philippines and called on the Philippine authorities to abide by its obligations under international human rights law to ensure effective remedy for victims of the Maguindanao massacre and their families, and to break the continuing impunity. Amnesty International also reiterated its call for improved support to witnesses and victims’ families.

The release of at least 120 political prisoners in Myanmar today is a minimum first step, and authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all remaining prisoners of conscience, Amnesty International said.

Prisoners of conscience make up the majority of the political prisoners still jailed after the measure.

The Yemeni authorities must immediately stop the killing of peaceful protesters by security forces, Amnesty International said today following reports that dozens of people have been shdot dead in the capital Sana'a since Sunday.

Hundreds more are said to have been injured after security forces used snipers and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) against protesters marching to demand the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Around 26 people were killed on Sunday. The continuing violence has seen more killed in Sana'a today.

In response to Prime Minister Najib Razak's announcement today that the Malaysian government will seek to repeal the Internal Security Act (ISA), lift all emergency proclamations, and repeal or review other restrictive laws, Amnesty International said:

"Prime Minister Najib's repeal of the ISA is a significant step forward for human rights in Malaysia. The ISA is a notoriously repressive piece of legislation that has stifled peaceful dissent in the country for over 50 years," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Director.

Amnesty International today called on Philippine Senators to vote in favour of ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), helping the fight against impunity for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes worldwide.

If the bill is approved by the Senate on 22 August, the Philippines will join almost two-thirds of countries in the world which have ratified the Rome Statute.

The Government of Maharashtra must ensure a thorough and fair inquiry into deaths during a protest by farmers, Amnesty International said today, after at least three people were killed when police fired on the demonstration on a highway in western India.

The deaths took place on Tuesday, on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, when 500 farmers gathered to protest a pipeline bringing water to the industrial township of Pimpri-Chinchwad.

The Vietnamese authorities must immediately release a French-Vietnamese blogger who has been sentenced to three years in prison on national security charges, Amnesty International said today.

Professor Pham Minh Hoang, a maths lecturer who holds dual nationality, was accused of writing articles that “blackened the image of the country” by the judge at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City.

He told the court his writings were not aimed at overthrowing anyone, and that Vietnam needs to be more democratic, reports said.

Amnesty International welcomed the release of six political activists, but called on the Malaysian authorities to free thousands of other detainees held under preventive detention laws.

Socialist Party MP Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj and five party officers were held without charge for over a month under Emergency Public Order and Prevention of Crime Ordinance (EO), which allows for indefinite detention without charge or trial.  

All six were travelling to an event related to a widely publicized demonstration on electoral reform in Malaysia when police arrested them.

Amnesty International has urged the Vietnamese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release a Catholic priest who was returned to prison yesterday while on parole to treat serious health problems.

Police arrested Father Nguyen Van Ly, aged 64, yesterday in the central diocese of Hue before an ambulance transported him to prison. Authorities claim he was returned to prison for distributing anti-government leaflets during his parole. 

Ongoing attempts by UK-based mining company Vedanta Resources to overturn an Indian government decision blocking a proposed bauxite mine and expansion of an alumina refinery in Orissa should not be allowed to succeed, new report by Amnesty International says.

The report, Generalisations, Omissions, Assumptions [17]  reveals that the company has failed to adequately consider the human impact of its proposed projects with an investment of US$ 1,7 billion in Orissa.

Amnesty International welcomed the decision by a US Court of Appeals that US-based Exxon Mobil can face claims relating to extrajudicial killings, torture, and prolonged arbitrary detention by Indonesian soldiers in Indonesia’s Aceh province under the US Alien Tort Statute (ATS).

The UK government must press Malaysia’s Prime Minister on freedom of assembly in his visit this week, Amnesty International said today, after peaceful protesters in Kuala Lumpur were met with police violence and 1,667 arrests at the weekend.

Police arrested peaceful demonstrators, fired teargas canisters directly at protesters, and teargassed a hospital compound on 9 July, in attempts to stop the electoral reform rally known as Bersih 2.0 from gathering in a stadium.

The UK government must press Malaysia’s Prime Minister on freedom of assembly in his visit this week, Amnesty International said today, after peaceful protesters in Kuala Lumpur were met with police violence and 1,667 arrests at the weekend.

Police arrested peaceful demonstrators, fired teargas canisters directly at protesters, and teargassed a hospital compound on 9 July, in attempts to stop the electoral reform rally known as Bersih 2.0 from gathering in a stadium.

The Indonesian government must immediately initiate an independent and impartial investigation into the allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of political activists during August 2010 in Maluku province. The failure to properly investigate such serious allegations, nearly a year after the alleged human rights violations occurred, perpetuates the ongoing culture of impunity for the security forces in Indonesia.

Pakistani authorities must put an end to the rise in targeted killings across the country by providing justice for the victims and accountability for the perpetrators, Amnesty International said today amid reports of more than 30 fresh deaths in Karachi in the past two days alone.

On Tuesday the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said it had documented the violent deaths of more than 1,100 people in Karachi in the first half of 2011. Some 490 of these were targeted killings on political, ethnic or sectarian grounds.

Authorities in India’s Chhattisgarh state must immediately comply with a decision by the country’s Supreme Court to disband and disarm anti-Maoist state-sponsored civil militias, Amnesty International said today.

Since 2005, civil militias known as Koya commandos are alleged to have committed serious human rights violations with the support of government security forces in Chattisgarh.

Indonesia’s support for an international convention on domestic workers must be followed by the enactment of a domestic workers’ law in Indonesia, Amnesty International said today. Amnesty International welcomed the adoption of the International Labour Organization (ILO) convention and Indonesia’s support for this key instrument.

Governments must improve working conditions for tens of millions of domestic workers around the world, Amnesty International said today after the adoption of a new treaty setting global standards for domestic work.

The International Labour Organization (ILO)’s annual conference overwhelmingly adopted the Convention on Domestic Workers yesterday, extending a range of measures to protect labour rights that have been abused or have gone largely ignored in the past.

Indonesia’s support for an international convention on domestic workers must be followed by the enactment of a domestic workers’ law in Indonesia, Amnesty International said today. Amnesty International welcomed the adoption of the International Labour Organization (ILO) convention and Indonesia’s support for this key instrument.

A Uighur schoolteacher is facing politically motivated terror charges in China after he reported a death in custody, Amnesty International said today following his extradition from Kazakhstan.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry yesterday confirmed that Ershidin Israil is being held on terrorism charges as a "major terror suspect", although the charges were not substantiated.

Amnesty International calls today for the immediate and unconditional release of seven prisoners of conscience, arrested and charged merely for their involvement in a peaceful political protest and flag-raising. Their case highlights the continued failure of the Indonesian government to distinguish between armed groups and peaceful political activists.

Any Pakistani investigation into the killing of an unarmed student by paramilitary police forces must be thorough and impartial, and lead to a conviction of those guilty of the crime, Amnesty International said today.

Sarfaraz Shah, 25, was shot dead in a Karachi park on Wednesday by Karachi Rangers, a paramilitary police force under the authority of the Interior Ministry.

Myanmar:  Amnesty International calls for the urgent establishment of an international commission of inquiry as Myanmar rejects recommendations to end violations of international human rights and humanitarian law

Human Rights Council adopts Universal Periodic Review outcome on Myanmar

The Myanmar authorities must stop forcing prisoners into cells designed for military dogs, Amnesty International said today, after it emerged that the practice is being used as punishment against hunger striking activists.

Seven prisoners, including two Buddhist monks who went on hunger strike at Insein prison in the main city of Yangon, were placed in solitary confinement between 24 and 26 May, in the cells, Amnesty International has learned.

Amnesty International strongly condemns the killing of Professor Saba Dashtiyari and calls on the Pakistan government to bring his killers to justice.  

Professor Saba Dashtiyari succumbed to his injuries after being shot repeatedly by unidentified gunmen on Wednesday evening (1 June) on Sariab Road in Quetta while on his way home.

Indian authorities must immediately release two activists arrested apparently for their work to protect local communities from industrial pollution, Amnesty International said today, after one of the men was found chained to a hospital bed while in custody.

Environmental activist Ramesh Agrawal and Harihar Patel, who practices indigenous medicine, were arrested on 28 May in Raigarh town in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh after leading a campaign to protect local Adivasi (Indigenous) communities from pollution caused by industrial projects.