Month: January 2015

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SIEM REAP, Cambodia — Additional details have emerged regarding the ongoing military takeover of a rural Cambodian village that started over a month ago. The 562 families involved hope a court will allow them to return to their own land soon. In addition, one of the imprisoned villagers may be released in a matter of days.

The village of Phnom Tebang Bantay Srey, north of Siem Reap, has been undergoing a gradual military takeover due to a supposed lack of land deeds. Those documents have since reappeared and the villagers hope that this will be what they need to re-acquire their land.

According to the village’s primary spokesperson Solina, previously they would have been content with each of the families having 5 hectares of land returned to them. However, they would now be satisfied with 1 hectare each, as the villagers primary source of food is their own crops. In this case, “They’ve backed off and are remaining patient as they await further developments from the courts.”

Read more: Villagers in Cambodia kicked off land as military moves in

Solina says that she’s being sought by the police, primarily because she speaks English and can thus increase awareness of the villagers’ situation. However, she is not overly concerned for her individual safety. “They may threaten us with their guns, but they won’t shoot us. Here in Siem Reap they’re afraid of hurting us because of all the tourists.  They’d lose out on lots of business [if word of any violence were to get out].”

However, other villagers are more wary of the police presence and want to take things one step at a time. Not helping things, however, is that what news has gotten out has been negative. According to village leader Chirn, ”The radio station [Asia Free Radio] is saying that we were abusing our own land [having roadblocks set up and burning forest land]. Why would we do that?”

He also said that the government considers the land to be valuable and has slowly been edging the villagers off their land for years. “Starting around 2011, they [the military] have been taking our land, an acre at a time. They do it slowly so we don’t get too alarmed too quickly.”

Another reporter who has been involved in researching the situation and who spoke to The Speaker on condition of anonymity said that he was disappointed with the reaction of a human rights NGO in Phnom Penh. “After I didn’t get much of a response from LICADHO [the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights], I decided to go it alone and help as much as I could independently.” He continues to hope that gradually additional food and water will be able to get to the villagers, who at this time are cautious to return to their land.

On a positive note, one of the imprisoned villagers may be released within a few days, possibly as early as Jan. 28, as the courts review her case. “We just have to be patient,” says Solina. “One day we will get our land back and not have to worry anymore.”

By Brett Scott

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Despite being one of the most feared inhabitants of marine life, it seems like even sharks are not exempt from becoming the victimized party deep within the ocean.

Leilani Tresize, a local resident of Hawaii, reported to have found the butchered remains of a 12-foot shark at the ocean floor of Makua Beach, Oahu several weeks ago, when she went for a swim to photograph dolphins.

Tresize recounted the gruesome sight in detail, saying that the shark had a “cut mark on the back, like someone had sliced him through him.” Its stomach “had been cut open” and its jaws were “missing.” She also noted that the shark’s fins were cut off from the body and that she found it floating in the water about thirty feet away from the rest of the carcass.

While there are no state laws in Hawaii that pertain to the outright killing of sharks, there is a bill that was passed in 2010 that banned the practice of shark finning in an effort to save the shark population from being depleted due to the popularity of shark fin soup.

Former State Senator Clayton Hee, who authored the bill, said that it is not limited only to the unlawful possession of shark fins, but extends also to any part of the shark.

“It demonstrates an ignorance of the law and, unfortunately, it demonstrates that who ever did it got away with it,” Hee said. “It doesn’t make sense that you kill it in the first place because it’s unlawful to do so, and then leave it there.”

Many speculated that the culprit was most likely after the shark’s teeth, as the only things that appears to be taken from it would be its jaw. Shark teeth are known to be a very valuable resource for making weapons and jewelry.

Oriana Kalama, founder and CEO of Hawaii’s marine life supporter group Ocean Defender, said that a proper protocol should have been observed in killing the shark, so as to honor Hawaiian traditions and values.

Tresize has also shown the same sentiments as Kalama, stating that a Hawaiian would have taken the whole shark rather than mutilate it, take only a few parts and leave everything else to rot.

Currently, Tresize has already brought it to the attention of the local authorities, sharing the photos that she took of the shark’s remains to the lifeguards of Makaha. However, nothing has been heard from any authority figure as far as the matter is concerned.

By Antonio Torrijos

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During a government meeting on urbanization this week, the administration of Tibet stated their decision to increase the permanent urban population of Tibet by 30 percent by 2020 — a figure that represents roughly 280,000 new Chinese immigrants to Tibet.

The urban population of Tibet has risen dramatically since the 1980s, when China launched a “National Strategic Project to Develop the West” following the end of the Cultural Revolution.

Before the campaign, under 300,000 people lived in 31 towns and cities in Tibet. According to Chinese estimates for 2013, over 740,000 people now live in 140 towns and cities in Tibet. The new push will bring that number to over one million.

Because the majority of new residents in Tibet are ethnic Chinese, many Tibetans have expressed concern about a threat to their distinct cultural, religious and national identity. The Chinese population has increased in all Tibetan regions since China invaded Tibet in 1959.

In the administrative capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, Lhasa, Chinese outnumber Tibetans three to one, while in 1990 there were only 81,200 Chinese in all of TAR.

In addition to the Chinese resident population measured in government figures, there are also an additional 300,000 to 500,000 (150,000 to 250,000 in TAR) ethnic Chinese stationed in Tibet as cadres, administrative staff, and ordinary and military police.

The chairman of the Tibetan regional government, Losang Jamcan, said at the meeting that Tibet still lagged behind many regions of China, and that urbanization especially was lagging behind the rest of China.

Losang said that Tibet wanted to improve public services in urban areas in order to attract more people to move to Tibet, and to boost local economies.

Analysis by James Haleavy

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Freedom House, a prominent US-based human rights organization which monitors and rates various global freedoms, has found that under President Xi Jinping repression has increased in China. Of the 17 categories assessed by Freedom House in their China Report, repression has increased in 11 since 2012 when Xi took power, indicating an overall intensification of repression.

“The current leaders appear to be increasing repression, expanding the targets and reach of the security agencies even more than their predecessors,” wrote Sarah Cook, senior research analyst for East Asia at Freedom House and author of the report.

The categories in which repression had increased since Xi took power in 2012 include grassroots rights activists, online opinion leaders, ordinary internet users, civic-minded businesspeople, CCP cadres, labor leaders, scholars and professors, print and television journalists, Christians, Buddhist Tibetans, and Muslim Uighurs.

Since 2012, the Chinese government has begun to targeted new entities as well, Cook found. CCP authorities conducted detention, imprisonment, public humiliation and physical abuse on individuals who had previously been safe in the nation, including a pastor from a state-sanctioned church, a highly popular businessman, an acclaimed lawyer, an internet entrepreneur, and several middle class professionals. Party cadre had also suffered increased physical abuse — to the point of death — Freedom House reported.

Five categories maintained a level of repression consistent with pre-2012 findings: political dissidents, human rights lawyers, formal nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), protest participants, and Falun Gong practitioners.

Freedoms in China increased in only one category, according to Freedom House: petitioners, and the increase was minor, involving the abolition of the “reeducation through labor” camp system.

Freedom House noted that particularly prevalent in China since Xi took office was the incidence of religious persecution. Falun Gong adherents, Muslim Uighurs and Tibetan Buddhists were more likely than other classes of people to suffer prison sentences of over 10 years, systemic torture and death while in custody.

The Chinese government has shifted tactics since Xi entered office, Freedom House found. The government began using less overtly political charges — instead using public assembly- and disturbance-related charges for arrests. Bribery, illegal business offences and prostitution were also used against politically-involved actors in China, including journalists, according to the report.

The CPC also increased it’s use of short detention terms and high monetary fines, and revived televised forced confessions.

“On the one hand, there seems to be a greater emphasis on more formal types of punishment — such as administrative detention, brief criminal detention, and full prosecutions — and on punishments that discredit or humiliate the target, most likely a bid to enhance the legitimacy of the crackdown. On the other hand, this has not translated into an actual reduction in the use of extralegal detention, since the abolition of the discredited RTL system has led to the reported proliferation of less visible alternative facilities,” wrote Cook in the report.

“Repression has increased under the new leadership, yet fear of the regime appears to be diminishing,” she concluded.

The data from which Freedom House completed their study included that from their own interviews (conducted for the purposes of their research), media reports, Chinese human rights groups, the China Labor Bulletin, the Duihua Foundation and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

The report, “The Politburo’s Predicament,” was completed by Sarah Cook and was published on the Freedom House website.

By James Haleavy