Hmong Forced Back To Laos

 

In the latest blow to refugee seekers in Asia thousands of Thai military with batons and riot shields today began forcibly repatriating some 4000 Hmong from a border camp in Thailand back to Laos.

Thailand chose to ignore protests from U.N. refugee officials, international rights groups, and the United States.

RFA quoted Col. Thana Charuvat, who is overseeing the deportation of the 4,371 Lao Hmong, that the initial busloads departed peacefully.

Neither journalists nor independent observers were permitted to witness the operation at Huay Nam Khao camp.

The Hmong are a lost people in communist Laos and Vietnam. There homes straddle the mountains in both countries. They allied with the US in the Vietnam war and since then have incurred the wrath of the both regimes.

The refugees fear persecution back in Laos.

The move comes barely weeks after Cambodia repatriated 20 ethnic Uyghur refugee seekers to China seemingly in contravention of international law.

Not A Great Time To Be A Refugee In Asia

The only upside to being a refugee is generally the miserable life in a make shift camp and an uncertain future is better than the horrors you are running from. 

But this week in Asia being a refugee took a new twist as international law and common human compassion were ground into the mud.

Thailand has joined its neighbor, Cambodia, in the new sport of sending back the most wretched and vulnerable of humanity to a precarious future at best.

Uyghurs’ Fate Slammed

The New York Times used its editorial pages today to lambaste Cambodia’s deportation of 20 Uyghurs as a breach of international law. China and Western nations also come in for well-deserved criticism.

But why does anyone expect either China or Cambodia to heed international protests and abandonment of international law in such cases? Both countries have learned they can behave with impunity even in a matter so tragic as refugees, including infants, facing nearly certain ill-treatment upon their repatriation.

Daily RFA News Summary December 10

This a summary of stories being carried on Radio Free Asia today December 10, 2009. Please use the links to go directly to the relevant RFA language website to listen to the stories or read original language transcripts. Some items are translated into English and are available on RFA’s English language page.

If there are stories that you want to hear more about or you would like to see covered we would love to hear from you. If you have a story to tell we will listen.RFAs main page has contact details for all the language services.

Exotic Pet Craze Hits Hong Kong And China

Hong Kong is the latest part of Asia to be hit by a craze for exotic pets. During the 1990s many a Cambodian general or governor did not regard his home complete without at least a Tiger or two in the garden.

In Beijing exotic pets have are seen by some as surrogate children and treated as such dining on sumptuous foods and being pampered by doting owners.

And the range of animals people chose to love is staggering, big cats, Madagascar chameleons, Honduran milk snakes to burrowing cockroaches from Australia according to the South China Morning Post.

RFA daily news summary Thurdays Nov 12

Radio Free Asia’s Daily Language Service News Summary

RFA EXCLUSSIVE:  TODAY AN INTERVIEW OF PRESIDENT OBAMA’S BROTHER BY THE CANTONESE SERVICE .

This a summary of stories being carried on Radio Free Asia today November 12, 2009. Please use the links to go directly to the relevant RFA language website to listen to the stories or read original language transcripts. Some items are translated into English and are available on RFA’s English language page.

If there are stories that you want to hear more about or you would like to see covered we would love to hear from you. If you have a story to tell we will listen.RFAs main page has contact details for all the language services.

Lao:

1. Lao Ministry of Energy and Mining to inspect investors for those who get mining concessions but never start operations, hoping to sell to bigger players for profit.
2. UXO Lao severely short of funds and labor. The Government is under pressure to clear land for farmers but officials say they lack money and employees to keep up with demand.
3. AIDS center estimates 5000 HIV cases in Laos. Earlier the Government announced 3,900 HIV/AIDS cases, but has now increased the estimate.
4. Lao sports official says only 1000 tickets left for SEA Games’ opening and closing ceremonies.
5. Sky-rocketing prices in Vientiane generate more land-related conflicts.
6. According to health official, 1,500 people seek medical help every month for skin problems caused by fake cosmetics.
7. Vientiane lacks data about mining potential need to attract investors.
8. Lao university students concerned by the lack of education opportunities for underprivileged youth.

Tibetan:

1. Dalai Lama ends public teachings in Arunachal Pradesh by exhorting thousands of his followers to maintain Buddhist culture.
2. Chinese FM spokesman Qin Gang says President Barack Obama’s race and background should mean he is sympathetic to China’s opposition to the Dalai Lama and Tibetan independence.
3. China should abolish secretive “black jails” used to hold aggrieved citizens, Human Rights Watch says in new report launched ahead of President Obama’s visit.
4. President Obama leaves on his debut presidential tour of Asia seeking to revive America’s prestige as regional power. It is seen as a trip much heavier on symbolism than diplomatic substance.
5. U.S. Treasury Sec Timothy Geithner says a strong dollar is “very important” to the U.S. and praised China’s role in the global economic recovery.
6. The Dharamsala-based Active Non-violence Education Center calls for objective reporting by media to spread the message of peace according to Tibetan Administration-in-exile reports.

Burmese:

1. Japan most likely will resume Official Development assistance to Burma after the 2010 election according to the Japanese based NGO Burma Info.
2. India’s policy towards Burma one sided, says Human Rights Watch Asia director in press conf in India.
3. 88 student leader Ma Mee Mee transferred again from Insein to Kathar prison and Ko Thet Zaw from Moulmein to Insein.

Vietnamese:

1. Vietnam Parliament to supervise creation of schools and improvement in teaching standards.
2. Vietnam Parliament prepares the next week’s Q&A for Vietnam PM Nguyen Tan Dung.
3. Price of gold on Vietnamese market continues to soar.
4. OSC: French PM arrives in Vietnam for talks on economic ties.
5. UN Food and Agriculture Organization hails achievement of Vietnam in fighting hunger.

Mandarin:

1. RFA EXCLUSIVE – Family vows to resist forced demolition with blood in eastern China city of Linyi. PHOTO
2. Longtime Sichuan rights activist Liu Zhengyou arrested on charges of fraud.
3. Police round up petitioners in Beijing and Shanghai before arrival of President Obama.
4. Tiananmen mother Ding Zilin urges President Obama to rescue jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo.
5. Wife in letter calls on President Obama to help locate kidnapped rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng.
6. LA-based Chinese groups request President Obama push China on rights.
7. Human Rights Watch blasts China over “black jails” in which petitioners for justice and detained.
8. Panel: Obama’s China trip and US-China relations.
9. Shanghai petitioners express support for rights activist Feng Zhenghu, stuck in limbo at Tokyo airport as entry to Shanghai denied.
10. Canada-based Chinese activists mobilize to help Feng Zhenghu stuck in Tokyo airport.
11. Panel – New policy for addressing petitioners’ complaints: Central government officials will visit provinces, municipalities to meet local petitioners.
12. Reform of China’s education system.
13. Chongqing government promotes “Red-themed” stage plays.

Khmer:

1. Outsted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin speaks to 300 govt officials and business representatives at the Ministry of Finance in Phnom Penhy. He thanks Hun Sen for the opportunity. Later meets with Thai supporters in Siem Reap, visits Angkor Wat. No press interview.
2. Poipet security situation is normal but cross-border business is estimated down 60%. No Thais are allowed to cross the border to visit the Cambodian casinos.
3. National assembly set for Nov. 16 session on suspending Sam Rainsy’s immunity in order to investigate allegations he damaged state property by removing a Vietnam border marker.
4. A Chinese road construction company awarded U.S. $73M loan from China begins 50-km detour of Road 78 from Stung Treng to Ratanakiri to bypass hydroplant Sesan 2.

Cantonese:

1. RFA EXCLUSIVE: INTERVIEW with President Obama’s half brother who suggests his visit to China “has to respect the other side.” PHOTOS AND VIDEO
2. U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai consulates invite local bloggers to one hour video meeting for background on Obama
3. visit. Bloggers speak on China’s Firewall.
4. Many organizations continue to urge Obama to speak on China’s human rights situation. HK group will demonstrate tomorrow. Dissidents in China under tight control.
5. Human Rights Watch report on “black jails.”

Korean:

1. Human Rights in Asia, a Japanese human rights group, stages campaign urging EC to press the Luxemburg Government to report transfers of Kim Jong Il’s allegedly illegally obtained funds from Switzerland.
2. Former State Dept senior economist William Newcomb recommends financial sanctions to counter North Korea’s illicit activities.
3. South Korea lambasts North Korea for what it calls its planned provocation in the West Sea.
4. FAO report on crop prospects in North Korea.
5. US envoy Stephane Bosworth to visit North Korea soon for direct talks.
6. News analysis – North Korea secret power succession.
7. News analysis – North Korea observatory: A song in praise of Kim Jung Un.

Uyghur:

1. East Turkistan Republic Day.
2. Conference on Uyghur region in Turkey’s Kocaoli city.
3. On the issue of illegal prisons in China.

 END

Cambodia Crackdown?

More news now on Cambodia’s all-important, beleaguered garment industry.

Just weeks after the Labor Ministry reported more than 20,000 jobs lost over the last year as a result of the global economic slump, the authorities are vowing to crack down on workplace violations after a fourth incident of mass poisoning of workers in just over a month.

This latest incident occurred at World Best Cambodia Co. Ltd., where 400 workers fainted after inhaling a pesticide being sprayed in their work place and living quarters. According to local media, the pesticide is used to protect the company’s cloth and materials from insects—not to protect workers.

This company is owned by Oknha Srey Sothea, a businessman said to have close ties to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

Rights groups have long complained about abuses in the garment trade in Cambodia, and they point to hollow assurances given in the past to deal with corruption or malfeasance.

Workers producing garments for leading US retailers including Walmart have claimed in the past that factory managers violated minimum wage rules, denied them sick leave, verbally abused them and discriminated against union members.

The poisoning comes at a time when the garment industry is already in trouble. Production is down due to the world wide economic slow down. Many plants have shut down. Some are trying to bunker down and wait for better times while others are unlikely to reopen.

Local trade unions say tens of thousands of workers have abandoned the factories to find work in other industries or go back to the countryside because of poor pay and conditions.

The sector provides 80 percent of its foreign exchange earnings and employs an estimated 350,000 people a year—mostly women whose most likely alternative is the sex trade. Economists and experts have studied the issue extensively but problems persist.

Even managers who would like to meet workers’ demands for better conditions—such as drinkable water and breathable air—face another dismal reality: It takes just four weeks to gut a garment factory of machinery, load it into a cargo plane, fly it to another country, set the machinery up and train a new set of workers. In one month a factory could be operating in another country, or even in another continent.

Cambodians homeless, missing after landslide

RFA’s Khmer service documented a large-scale landslide in Phnom Penh today as residents in a crowded area of the Cambodian capital scrambled to account for relatives and salvage what they could after a 50-meter bank of the Tonle Sap River slid into the water. At the end of the day, neither the cause of the disaster nor the number of people left dead or homeless was unknown.

Phnom Penh Police Commissioner General Touch Naroth said 500 to 600 officers had been mobilized to rescue victims from the landslide at Reussey Keo. The area of the landslide was roughly 60 meters long and 30 meters wide, and it took some 38 houses with it, Touch Naroth said. Another senior official, Phnom Penh City Governor Kep Chutema, said city authorities were on standby in case of further landslides.

“We’re not sure yet” how many people might have been submerged as well, he said. “But we picked up five children from the water and told people to collect their family members and review and count themselves. Now they are collecting their belongings.”

Cambodia: Land disputes flare (3)

by Seang Sophorn

Banteay Meanchey, December 20, 2007—People living in Balelay village, Poipet commune claimed that the provincial authorities have dismantled their houses and threatened them to move away from the land they currently live on.

A Balelay villager named Savath told RFA that in the morning of December 20, when the villagers were away from home, Banteay Meanchey provincial police chief deployed his men to remove their houses without reasons. She also said that she has become fearful when the police, before leaving, warned that they would come to remove those houses again.

Savath said, “They smashed the walls, windows and door while I was away from home.

Cambodia: Land disputes flare (2)

by Mom Sophon

Kampot Province, December 21, 2007—In an area located almost in the center of the woods in Anlong Krom village, Ta Ken commune, Chhouk district, which is being bulldozed, about four or five people are chitchatting, and soldiers are sparsely deployed. Some are in hammocks; some are holding rifles and standing guard watchfully. Near the worksite are quiet thatched-roofed huts.

It is neither a military headquarters nor a maneuver site, but an area being bulldozed for development, prompting violent dispute in which a woman suffered from miscarriage; an old man injured his calf and an 18-year-old girl was beaten and now has fled to safety.