Impunity Watch: Asia

BRIEF: Myanmar Pro-Democracy Leader Aung San Suu Kyi Misses Meeting with UN Envoy

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar - The detained Myanmar opposition leader, Aung San Sun Kyi, missed a scheduled meeting with a United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari.  Mr. Gambari, a UN representative on a five-day mission to push for reconciliation between opposition groups and the military, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962.  He met briefly Wednesday with top leaders from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, but his planned meeting with Aung San Sun Kyi did not take place.  Nyan Win, a spokesman for her National League for Democracy, said he did not know why Aung San Sun Kyi did not go, but added, the reason could be that Suu Kyi is not satisfied with the present condition during this visit of Mr. Gambari.  Nyan Win also expressed his concern about Aung San Sun Kyi's health. 

Suu Kyi, who has been confined without trial for more than 12 of the past 19 years, was suffering from low blood pressure and was unable to leave her bed, Japan's Nikkei news agency reported.  In September 2003, Suu Kyi also underwent gynecological surgery, and was hospitalized in 2006 for a stomach ailment.  The junta stopped allowing her physician to visit her home for monthly medical checkups earlier this year, National League for Democracy member Soe Aung said.

For more information, please:

AFP - UN envoy meets Suu Kyi's party, but fails to see her - 20 August 2008

Bloomberg - Myanmar Opposition Concerned About Aung San Suu Kyi's Health - 20 August 2008

New York Times - Myanmar: Opposition Leader Misses U.N. Meeting - 20 August 2008

BRIEF: China Sentences Two Women to "Re-Education through Labor"

By:  Lindsey Brady
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor - News

Two elderly women, Ms. Wu (79 years old) and Ms. Wang (77 years old) were notified this past Monday that they had been sentenced to "re-education through labor" for a period of one year.  The two women had been seeking permits to hold demonstrations in one of China's newly designated protest areas.  It was their fifth visit to the police when they were told they had been given the administrative punishment for their acts of "disturbing the public order."

Ms. Wu and Ms. Wang had been neighbors in Beijing before their homes were destroyed to make way for China's redevelopment project.  Despite agreeing to the move on the premise that they would have a new home built for them, six years later both women are living in rundown apartments on the outskirts of Beijing.  The Chinese government announced in July that three city parks would serve as protest areas while the Olympics were in Beijing but so far no demonstrations have taken place and no applications for demonstrations have been approved.  Ms. Wu and Ms. Wang wanted to use one of these protest areas to fight what they view as unjust compensation for the demolition of their homes.

Ms. Wu and Ms. Wang are not the only applicants who have faced what human rights advocates view as unjust treatment.  It has been reported that two Chinese advocates were seized from a Public Security Bureau's protest application office and have not been heard of since.  Ms. Wang's son, Mr. Li, has attempted to apply for a permit since his mother's sentencing but has not even been allowed the opportunity to fill out the required forms.  Human Rights advocates have been criticizing the use of administrative sentences such as "re-education through labor" because they are handed down without a trial or option of appeal.  Similar punishments have been handed out to Chinese citizens caught taking pictures of schools destroyed during the earthquake in China and believe government corruption led to the school's faulty construction.

For more information, please see:

New York Times - Two Women Sentenced to "Re-Education" in China - 20 August 2008

Canadian Press - 2 Chinese Sentenced to Labour Camp - 20 August 2008

AFP - China Detains Six US Pro-Tibet Activists at Olympics - 20 August 2008

Impunity Watch - A Pre-Olympic Look at China's HR Record; Pakistan's Taliban Threatens Women with Acid; Sri Lankan Government Accused of Allowing Serious Human Rights Violations to Continue - 04 August 2008

Deadly Attacks in Western China; Myanmar's Pro-Democracy Leader Aung San Suu Kyi Detention Extended

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China - An unknown number of assailants jumped off a vehicle passing through a checkpoint in the Xinjiang region in China and stabbed four security officers, killing three of them and injuring the other on Tuesday, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The attack was the third in eight days in Xinjiang, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan and where an Islamic militant separatist group operates.

On Sunday, assailants used home-made bombs targeted police and government offices, as well as public buildings in the other flashpoint in Xinjiang, the city of Kuqa.  One security guard was killed and 11 assailants died in those bombings and ensuing clashes with police, according to Xinhua. Also, sixteen police officers were killed in an attack in Kashgar earlier this month, but Xinhua news agency said there was no evidence linking these attacks.

A Uighur activist has accused Chinese authorities of arresting dozens of people in the wake of the blasts.  Dilxat Raxit, spokesman of the German-based World Uighur Congress, accused Chinese authorities in Kuqa of arresting dozens of innocent people since the blasts.  "This includes women," he wrote in an email, quoting local Uighurs he had talked to by telephone. "They have also been mass detentions in adjacent areas." He urged the international community to put pressure on China to end "inhumane crimes against ethnic Uighurs".  But the Kuqa local government said that Mr Raxit's allegations were untrue.

China said Wednesday that some evidence suggests terrorist groups may have been involved in a series of attacks in the Muslim territory of Xinjiang.  Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters Wednesday in Beijing, "As to whether the recent violent attacks have any links with terrorist forces, there is evidence to indicate that East Turkestan forces may be behind these events."  Thirty-one people were killed since the assaults began nine days ago.

For more information, please see:

ABC - Political killings rock China's north-west - 12 August 2008

AFP - Three dead as unrest flares in China's restive Xinjiang - 12 August 2008

AP - China: attacks possibly linked to terror groups - 13 August 2008

BBC - Renewed violence in west China - 12 August 2008

NPR - Attacks In Western China Spur Fears, Suspicions - 13 August 2008

Washington Post - Three Security Officials Killed in Western China - 13 August 2008

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YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been allowed to meet with her lawyer for the first time since 2004, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, Nyan Win said.  According to Suu Kyi's lawyer, Suu Kyi appeared to be in very good health when they met Friday.  Suu Kyi consulted her lawyer about the detention law under which she has been confined without trial for more than 12 of the past 19 years.  The detention law states that no one can be held longer than five years without being released or put on trial.  But a commentary in June in the state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper, said detentions are permissible for as long as six years under a 1975 "Law Safeguarding the State from Dangers of Subversive Elements."

Meanwhile, Myanmar's military rulers have extended Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest for another year, a source that spoke to a member of her political party told CNN.  Furthermore, police in Myanmar's western Rakhine state arrested a member of pro-democracy party Tuesday, a party official said.  "Nyi Pu was taken from his home early Tuesday morning," said Thein Naing, a senior official of the National League of Democracy in Rakhine.  "Police said they want to question him but it is not clear what they want to know," he said.

Rakhine has hosted some of the bigger pro-democracy protests held in Myanmar in the past year, while most of the country remains subdued.  Authorities also arrested prominent human rights activist Myint Aye, who has been arrested and imprisoned at least five times in the past 20 years.  No reason was given for the arrest on Friday.

For more information, please see:

AP - Myanmar's Suu Kyi allowed rare visit by lawyer - 10 August 2008

AP - Myanmar police arrest opposition party executive - 12 August 2008

CNN - Aung San Suu Kyi detention extended - 11 August 2008

Radio Australia - Burma's detained pro democracy leader granted meeting with lawyer - 10 August 2008

Comrade Duch Set for Trial; Chinese Activist Still Missing

By: Angela Lohman
Impunity Watch, Administrative Editor 

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Former Cambodian prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Comrade Duch, will be the first person to go on trial in Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge tribunal.

Eav faces charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his involvement in running Tuol Sleng prison, where detainees were tortured and executed. As many as two million people are thought to have died during the four years of Khmer Rouge government in the late 1970s. 

Two years have passed since work officially started on bringing former leaders of the Khmer Rouge to justice. There have been numerous delays and controversies, but the formal indictment of Eav is a sign of progress.

A spokesman called Eav’s indictment “an important moment in the history of the courts,” for putting the former prison chief on trial will give a boost to the credibility of the process. 

As noted, Eav was in charge of the prison known as S-21 or Tuol Sleng. There, 15,000 prisoners were systematically tortured. Those who survived the ordeal were sent for execution in the notorious “killing fields.”

Progress on the judicial side is also a welcome distraction from the tribunal’s many problems. Donors are withholding promised funds because of corruption allegations and local staff have been working without pay. 

For more information, please see:

BBC – Khmer Rouge’s Duch set for trial – 12 August 2008 

Radio Australia – Financial woes for Khmer Rouge tribunal – 13 August 2008 

Radio Australia – Toul Sleng Prison survivors welcome Duch indictment – 13 August 2008

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BEJING, China – A Christian activist who was detained on his way to a church service attended by President Bush on the opening weekend of the Olympics has not returned home.

Hua Huilin said he and his brother, Hua Huiqi, a member of Beijing’s underground Christian church, were stopped by security agents in two black cars on Sunday while they were cycling to the Kuan Jie Protestant Church around dawn.

The pair was taken in separate cars, but while Huilin was released a few hours later, his brother never returned home. 

“I told him not to go because it’s during the Olympic Games and this period is sensitive,” Huilin told the Associated Press in a telephone interview. “But he was determined to go because he said that church was where he was baptized. So I went with him hoping to protect him.”

Huiqi had been planning for days to be at Kuan Jie Protestant Church at the same time as President Bush, who was in Beijing for the Olympics. It is not immediately clear what Huiqi had planned to do at the church. 

Huiqi, an underground pastor who has fought against a development project in his neighborhood, has been arrested and beaten several times over the last few years because of his religious activities and has served six months in jail for “obstructing official business.”

Chinese authorities often round up activists before and during sensitive periods, taking them to detention centers. Authorities have already further tightened normally stringent restrictions to curb potential criticism or protests during the Olympics. 

For more information, please see:

AP – Chinese activist detained on way to church – 10 August 2008 

AP – Chinese activist still missing after detention – 11 August 2008

Uighur Islamic Militant Group threatens Olympics Attacks; Anti-China Protest in India, Nepal ahead of Olympic; UN Envoy sees "Hope" of Improvement in Myanmar's Human Rights Record.

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia 

BEIJING, China — According to a U.S. intelligence group that monitors terrorist communications, an Uighur Islamic militant group has threatened to attack the Beijing Olympics released a new video warning Muslims to avoid being on planes, trains and buses with Chinese at the games.

The video was made by the Turkistan Islamic Party, which seeks independence for China's western Xinjiang region, the site Intelligence Group said.  In the video, a man who wears a black turban, covers his face and holding an assault rifle, who identifies himself as Abdullah Mansour, says in the Uighur language: “We, members of the Turkestan Islamic Party, have declared war against China. We oppose China’s occupation of our homeland of East Turkestan, which is a part of the Islamic world.”  The video also features graphics: a burning Olympics logo and an explosion imposed over an apparent Olympic venue.

Another video issued Wednesday claims the communist regime's alleged mistreatment of Muslims justifies holy war.  It accuses China of forcing Muslims into atheism by capturing and killing Islamic teachers and destroying Islamic schools, according to the site Intelligence Group. It also says China's birth control program has forced abortions on Muslim women.

Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, appeared to be on high alert. Security guards were checking bags at the entrances of hotels, department stores and discos in the busy city.  Guards with red armbands rode on most public buses, watchful for attackers. Small groups of police patrolled the sidewalks of the bustling Muslim quarter, where merchants cooked lamb kebabs and sliced up watermelons at fruit stands.

The Uighurs has with a long history of tense relations with the central government.  Urging Muslims to "choose your side," the man warns: "Do not stay on the same bus, on the same train, on the same plane, in the same buildings, or any place the Chinese are," according to a translation by the site Intelligence Group.

For more information, please see:

AFP - China's Muslim west tense ahead of Olympic opening - 07 August 2008

AP - Chinese Islamic group issues new Olympic threat - 07 August 2008

Bloomberg - Uighur Militants Threaten Olympic Attacks, U.S. Monitor Says - 08 August 2008

New York Times - Group Says Video Warns of Olympic Attack - 07 August 2008

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NEW DELHI, India — Thousands of angry Tibetan exiles in India and Nepal held anti-China protests on the eve of the Beijing Olympics, saying the occasion was an opportunity for their plight to be recognized around the world.

In New Delhi about 1,000 Tibetans staged a march, carrying Tibetan flags and shouting, "Say no to Beijing Olympics" and "No Olympics in China". Protesters wore T-shirts that read "Help protect the practice of Buddhism in Tibet" and "Stop cultural genocide".  "Tibetan culture and religion is in serious threat. China is trying to wipe out the identity of Tibetans," said Dolma, 22, a nun who goes by one name. "We want China to guarantee religious freedom and human rights in Tibet," Dakpa Tenzin, chairman of Tibetan Young Buddhist Association, told AFP.  Police and paramilitary troops were deployed with fire extinguishers and buckets of water amid fears that protesters would set themselves on fire.

About 2,000 Tibetans and Nepali supporters staged anti-China protests in the Nepali capital Kathmandu. Police charged with batons raised to break up the demonstration and detained 513 of the protesters -- 337 men and 176 women -- police said.  The demonstrators had staged a peaceful sit-in protest since early Thursday but later refused to disperse, prompting police to charge and beat them with bamboo sticks, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.

Tibetan exiles in both Nepal and India have been protest frequently to show their support for the uprising that erupted in Tibet's capital in March, and to protest China's hosting of the Olympics.

For more information, please see:

AFP - Tibetans protest in India, Nepal ahead of Olympics - 07 August 2008

AP - Tibet exiles protest against China in Nepal, India - 07 August 2008

Reuters - Hundreds detained as Tibetans march in India, Nepal - 07 August 2008

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YANGON, Myanmar - Human Rights Watch issued a report alleging that the Myanmar government has made no moves to improve human rights over the past 20 years.  According to the report, on August 8, 1988, millions of Burmese took to the streets to demand an end to military rule.  Government forces violently crushed the mass protests, opening fire into crowds of students and Buddhist monks.  An estimated 3,000 people were killed nationwide during the seven months of protests. There has been no independent investigation or prosecution of the members of Myanmar’s security forces involved in the violence of 1988.

The anniversary comes a day after the new United Nations human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana met with top officials from the opposition National League for Democracy and political prisoners during his five-day visit to Myanmar.  But he was not allowed to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who has spent most of the last 19 years under house arrest at her rambling lakeside home in Yangon.  But Quintana says that he received positive signs that the ruling junta accepted the need for his mandate to investigate widespread claims of abuses in the country.  The envoy also spoke with top disaster relief officials coordinating the relief effort for 2.4 million people struggling to piece back their lives following Cyclone Nargis.

Quintana said in June that the human rights situation in Myanmar "has not changed for the better" since the last report by his predecessor, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, whose mandate ended in April.  He hoped to return to Myanmar before report his findings to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2009. 

For more information, please see:

AFP - UN envoy sees 'good signs' from Myanmar at end of mission - 07 August 2008

Human Rights Watch - Burma: No Rights Reform 20 Years After Massacre - 07 August 2008

Reuters - UN rights envoy meets Myanmar political prisoners - 07 August 2008

Voice of America - Human Rights Watch: No Improvement in Burma's Human Rights Since 1988 'Massacre' - 07 August 2008

A Pre-Olympic Look at China's HR Record; Pakistan's Taliban Threatens Women with Acid; Sri Lankan Government Accused of Allowing Serious Human Rights Violations to Continue

By:  Lindsey Brady
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor - News

BEIJING, China - As the world waits for the Olympic Games to begin this week China is once again the subject of criticism for their human rights record.  Nancy Pelosi (Dem.-CA), speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, says China's government has acted in opposition to the message of the Olympics.  Pelosi was quoted by the San Francisco Gate as stating "the Olympic Charter states that the goal of the Olympic Games is to promote 'a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity'" and in China "human rights leaders have been jailed or have been placed under house arrest.  Both foreign and Chinese journalists have been beaten, harassed and detained."  This quote comes after President Bush's meeting with Chinese dissidents was criticized by the Chinese government.  The foreign ministry spokesman for China, Liu Jianchao believes the meeting sends the wrong kind of message and expressed China's strong opposition to the meeting.

Critics have especially focused on the outrage of restricted internet access and the arrest of Chinese citizens seen as dissidents.  China promised unrestricted internet access to foreign reporters during the Olympics only after there was global disapproval.  China now allows access to most websites for human rights groups and Wikipedia articles on topics China deems sensitive.  The Sydney Morning Herald, however, finds that China has not lived up to its promise because the "multiple attempts by the Herald to send an email to Australia and within China that mentioned taboo subjects such as Tibet and Falun Gong failed to arrive." 

Since June, there have been at least three people who have been arrested for spreading information about the collapse of a reported 7,000 classrooms and dormitories in the May 12th earthquake that hit the Sichuan Province.  After the earthquake many citizens were concerned when they observed buildings built next to the schools still standing while many students were killed when the buildings containing classrooms collapsed.  The International Herald Tribune reports that Huang Qi, Zeng Hongling, and most recently Liu Shaokun have been arrested for charges ranging from "possession of state secrets after meeting with bereaved parents and publishing articles about structural problems at schools" to "suspicion of inciting subversion" and "seriously disrupting social order."  In the case Huang Qi, he has still not been allowed to meet with lawyers or family members.  Sharon Hom, the executive director of Human Rights in China, was quoted by The Guardian as accusing "instead of investigating and pursuing accountability for shoddy and dangerous buildings, the authorities are resorting to 're-education through labour' to silence and lock up concerned citizens like teacher Liu Shaokun and others."

For more information, please see:

AFP - US more Concerned with Rights than Chinese Complaints - 1 August, 2008

Sydney Morning Herald - Dissident Free, Yet Still Far from Liberty - 4 August, 2008

San Francisco Gate - China's Olympic Challenge:  A Case of Dignity - 3 August, 2008

International Herald Tribune - Sichuan School Worker Punished for Quake Photos, Rights Group Says - 31 July, 2008

The Guardian - China Detains Teacher for Earthquake Photos - 3 August, 2008

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LAHORE, Pakistan - The sect of the Taliban located in Pakistan is referred to as the Tehreek-e-Islami Taliban Pakistan or "TIP."  It has been reported that the TIP has issued a fifteen day notice to "un-Islamic" businesses and women to comply with their orders or face dire consequences.  The targeted business have been ordered to shut down completely.  The targeted businesses are mostly music stores, internet cafes and cable service providers.  Police have pledged to increase security in response to the letters.  The letters themselves featured a picture of Baitullah Mehsud along with "Quranic versus about Jihad" written around the picture.  Mehsud is a commander in the Taliban and said to fit "the part of the Pakistani tribal guerrilla leader to the hilt."  His emphatic belief in his own interpretation of Islam can be seen in his emphasis on jihad against the foreign presence in Afghanistan and the desire to create an Islamic state.  One passage in the TIP letters stated "Western and Indian media was damaging the character of youths and madrassah students and the business of music and movies is 'Haram'" meaning it is forbidden.

The last part of the letter also warns women to wear Hijab within five days of receiving the letter.  The threatened punishment for not following this order is acid thrown on their faces.  Hijab is a based on Islamic doctrine and consists of clothing that covers the entire body except for the face and hands, attire that is not form fitting so as to attract attention to the shape of the body.  One blog takes a look at the history of disfiguring women in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uganda, Vietnam, Cambodia and Ethiopia to name a few.  In cases of so called "honour killings" acid has been used against women who are said to have brought dishonor on her family or religion.

For more information, please see:

Top News - Pak Taliban Warn Women to Wear "Hijab", Else Face Acid Burns - 31 July, 2008

Daily Times - Taliban Warn "Un-Islamic" Businesses of Dire Consequences - 31, July 2008

Raquel Evita Saraswati -Pakistani Taliban:  Wear Hijab, or be Disfigured - 1, August 2008

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ("LTTE") rebels are "South Asia's worst perpetrator of violations against individuals" according to the Asian Centre of Human Rights.  This comment came after Sri Lanka failed to once again gain a bid on the UN Human Rights Council due to failure to prevent continued abuses.  The Tamil rebels have been recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and India.  The LTTE have been fighting for a separate Tamil state in the Sinhalese nation for 36 years.  Fighting between the Sri Lankan government and the rebels is said to have escalated since the Sri Lankan government ended their cease-fire with the rebel organization this past January.

In March Human Rights Watch declared that "the government is responsible for abductions of civilians during the conflict" while Amnesty International claims journalists are increasingly becoming the targets of attacks for reporting on the conflict.  A Bloomberg News article quoted the Sri Lankan government as countering that "groups complaining about its human rights record are politically motivated and have an anti-government agenda." 

Richard Boucher, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia and Central Asia has strenuously called upon the Sri Lankan government to stop the human rights abuses while continuing to fight the LTTE.  Specifically Boucher was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying, "there are some detentions and abuse of human rights which have not been investigated and we are concerned about it.  He sited the killing of aid workers as an example for this situation."  Boucher states the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has created some great discussions on how to fight threats of terrorism and food shortages.  On August 3rd, 2008, after the SAARC took place, a clash between the LTTE rebels and Sri Lankan soldiers resulted in at least twenty deaths.  Since January it is reported that nearly 5,500 rebels and 500 soldiers have died in the conflict.

For more information, please see:

Bloomberg News - Boucher Says U.S. Concerned about Sri Lanka Human Rights Abuses - 3 August 2008

Daily Mirror - Stop Violation of HR and Illegal Detention:  US - 2 August, 2008

AFP - 22 Killed in Latest Sri Lanka Clashes - 3 August , 2008

UN Human Rights Envoy Visits Myanmar; Olympic-size Evictions Rock Beijing; Gem Ban Strengthened Against Myanmar

By: Angela Lohman
Impunity Watch, Administrative Editor 

YANGON, Myanmar (Burma) – The new UN Human Rights Envoy for Myanmar, Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana, started his first mission to the military-ruled Southeast Asian nation on Monday, four days before the 20^th anniversary of brutally crushed democracy protests.

Quintana, whose own parents were political prisoners under a military regime in Argentina, arrived in the former Burma late on Sunday and is due to stay until Thursday, the eve of the “8-8-88” uprising anniversary. 

According to a UN statement, the new envoy wished “to engage in a constructive dialogue with the authorities to improve (the) human rights situation of people in Myanmar (Burma).”

The new envoy is expected to meet a number of government officials as well as opposition politicians and leaders of some of Myanmar’s many ethnic minority groups. 

It is not clear whether Quintana will see detained opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in prison or under house arrest continuously for the past five years. But members of Kyi’s National League for Democracy have informed the public that they are keen to press Quintana on the issue of trying to secure better medical care for the detained Kyi.

It remains to be seen whether Quintana will make any headway in a country that has been ruled by a succession of uncompromising military dictators for the past 46 years. 

The last time a UN rights envoy paid a visit to Burma was in November 2007, two months after troops used force to end large anti-government protests. At least 31 people were killed and several thousands were detained. According to former envoy Paulo Sergei Pinheiro’s report, the detainees were subjected to cruel and degrading treatment.

Those who have fled Myanmar hope the envoy’s trip will trigger another uprising against the government; however, analysts and diplomats say that this is very unlikely. 

For more information, please see:

BBC – New UN rights envoy visits Burma - 4 August 2008

International Herald Tribune - New U.N. rights envoy starts mission in Myanmar - 4 August 2008

Reuters – New U.N. rights envoy starts mission in Myanmar - 4 August 2008

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BEIJING, China – Approximately 20 people angry about being recently evicted from their homes in central Beijing demonstrated not far from Tiananmen Square. 

Uniformed police quickly surrounded the residential street Monday where AP Television News video showed the group shouting and being kicked out of their homes while not receiving proper compensation from the government.

The demonstrators were unhappy about being evicted from their former homes in the area to make way for Olympic-related redevelopment. The area is being rebuilt into a commercial strip with businesses such as Nike, Starbucks, and Rolex. 

“Developers shouldn’t use the Olympics to take our homes. And we cannot stop protecting our rights because of the Olympics,” protester Ma Xiulan told AP Television News.

“We don’t oppose the Olympics. But it’s wrong for them to demolish our house. It’s wrong,” said a second protester, Liu Fumei. 

Beijing carried out a 40 billion US dollar makeover in preparation for the Olympics, and many older homes were destroyed as part of the modernization campaign.

China is sensitive to any public criticism of the Beijing Olympics, which begin Friday, and has stationed security agents throughout the city to watch for signs of unrest. Demonstrators around Tiananmen Square are rare and generally stopped quickly by police. 

It is unclear where the protesters were taken and whether they were detained. A duty officer in the Beijing police news office said he did not know what happened to them.

For more information, please see: 

BBC – Defiant Beijing family loses home - 18 July 2008

CNN – Report: Protests over Beijing home evictions – 4 August 2008

The Seattle Times – Olympic protests over Beijing evictions - 4 August 2008

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NEW YORK, United States – A new US law that bars gem dealers and jewelry retailers from importing rubies and jade from Myanmar is a major step in curtailing the “unethical international trade” in Burmese gems, Human Rights Watch said on July 29, 2008.

“The international trade in Burmese gems helps finance repression and puts millions into the pockets of Burma’s abusive rulers,” said Arvind Ganesan, director of the Business and Human Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. “With the new law, US retailers can no longer legally profit from the trade in Burmese rubies and jade.” 

Since 2003, the US government banned products from Burma; however, a loophole within the law permitted the purchase of Burmese-origin gems that were cut or polished in other countries such as India or Thailand. The new law that was signed by President George Bush on July 29 eliminates the loophole for rubies and jade, which are Myanmar’s top-selling gem exports. The law will not, however, cover all precious stones or forbid the sale of Burmese-origin gems legally imported to the US under prior rules.

Gems constitute Myanmar’s third most important export product, following oil and natural gas and agricultural products. According to some reports, global gem exports from Myanmar during the 2007 - 2008 fiscal year reached as high as 647 million US dollars. 

The European Union and Canada already prohibit the import of Burmese gems.

For more information, please see: 

Human Rights Watch – Burma’s Gem Trade and Human Rights Abuses - 29 July 2008

Human Rights Watch - US: Burma Gem Ban Strengthened - 29 July 2008