Call for Trafficking Action:
The directors of two labor recruiting companies in Cambodia accused of human trafficking by more than 100 victims are on the run and likely hiding outside of the country, authorities said, after several rights organizations pressured the government to apprehend the men.
Rights groups CARAM-Cambodia, Licadho and Adhoc said they have received complaints from 102 victims against domestic labor recruiter T&P Co. Ltd. and Taiwanese firm Giant Ocean International Fishery Co. Ltd. facing charges of human trafficking, rights abuses, torture, and kidnapping.
The three groups jointly appealed to the Ministry of Labor, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, and the Ministry of Justice to order the two firms to compensate the trafficking victims and to arrest their local chiefs.
But according to Anti-human Trafficking Deputy Director General Chiv Phally, who is investigating the allegations, the two directors have fled the country to avoid arrest and questioning by the court.
“T&P Co. is owned by Sam Pisey, a Khmer national,” the investigator said. “Sam Pisey is hiding outside Cambodia because he knows that the police have had an arrest warrant out for him since 2011.”
The Taiwanese local head of Giant Ocean International “is hiding outside of Cambodia as well,” he said, adding that investigations are under way.
Arrest complicated
Moeun Tola, the head of the labor program at the Community Legal Education Center (CLEC), said that while Giant Ocean International is headquartered in Taiwan, the company had maintained a branch office in Phnom Penh which functioned as a domestic labor supply firm.
The office has been closed since early 2012, according to the rights groups.
“They had operated the office without the company logo or any signage,” Moeun Tola said, adding that he had no contact information for the branch office since it was officially shuttered.
Moeun Tola said that the CLEC recently had trafficking victims take them to the place they were had been recruited, only to find a vacated apartment building.
He confirmed that the authorities have been unable to identify the branch office’s director and that the court is conducting an investigation with the aim of issuing an arrest warrant.
CLEC assisted in the rescue of 10 fishermen allegedly trafficked to Taiwan through Giant Ocean International in 2011 and helped to rehabilitate four fishermen rescued in June from a fishing boat owned by the company that was operating in South African waters.
Moeun Tola charged that T&P Co. was “backed by a high-ranking government official” and that Sam Pisey is only “a small piece of the puzzle,” without elaborating further.
Neither Giant Ocean International nor T&P officials could be reached for immediate comment.
Joint appeal
CARAM-Cambodia, Licadho, and Adhoc last week called on the authorities to apprehend the men and to seek compensation for victims who never received their salaries while working as domestic servants in Malaysia or on fishing boats around Southeast Asia.
“The compensation must be on a case-by-case basis. Some victims want compensation, some want the companies’ directors to be prosecuted,” CARAM-Cambodia Executive Director Ya Navuth told a press conference.
“The decision should be made by the court. We, as the civil societies, can only raise the victims’ concerns so that the government can resolve the issue.”
Licadho President Pung Chhiv Kek said that some of the victims who had worked as maids in Malaysia claimed they had been abused and raped, but that the two companies never sought justice for them.
“This problem can’t be swept away,” she said. “The victims have been calling my cell phone.”
Pung Chhiv Kek told RFA that some of the maids she had spoken to said they were placed in the homes of the two companies’ directors, who had used cameras to monitor them. Others said they were forced to sleep in the garage of the homes they worked in and were not given enough food to eat.
A 32-year-old trafficking victim named Mao Sopheak, who said he was sent to work in Fiji’s fishing industry in 2011, told reporters that he had been promised U.S. $150 a month. Instead, he said, he was forced to work 18-20 hours a day and was given no financial compensation.
“Sometimes I worked 29-30 hours. And sometimes they only gave me food every two to three days,” he said.
Trafficking
Precise figures on human trafficking in Cambodia are hard to come by, but the country is known to be a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking.
A primary destination for trafficking victims from Cambodia is neighboring Thailand, where an estimated 100,000 Cambodian migrant workers are living illegally.
Many of them are recruited with the promise of better wages, but soon find themselves deceived about payment and length of service, and without any rights as illegal residents.
In 2011, more than 100 Cambodian men forced into labor on Thai fishing boats were repatriated after escaping from their traffickers or being rescued during raids, the U.S. State Department said in its 2012 global Trafficking in Persons report.
In June, the department honored Cambodian trafficking victim Vannak Anan Prum, who suffered years of forced labor on fishing boats in Thailand and on a plantation in neighboring Malaysia, as one of its “Heroes Working to End Modern-Day Slavery” for artwork he published about his experience.
Reported by Sok Serey and by Samean Yun for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Aug 23, 2012
Marriage Conditions Tightened in Laos
Marriage Conditions Tightened:
The Lao government is tightening conditions under which foreigners marry local women in a bid to combat human trafficking, according to officials.
Under new rules introduced recently, foreigners wanting to marry local women should be a resident in Laos for at least three consecutive months and have to provide a variety of personal documents for the government to conduct background checks, the officials said.
The stringent conditions are aimed at plugging the marriage loophole that foreign human trafficking syndicates have been using to smuggle Lao women out of the country.
The foreigners quickly get married with local women in Laos and then take them to their countries where the women are forced into prostitution and other illicit activities, the officials said.
"The government has just issued a new law that basically states that if a foreigner wants to marry a Lao girl, he must stay in Laos for three months to obtain proper documents, not just obtain documents and then leave," a Lao anti-human trafficking officer told RFA's Lao service.
"Many women have been missing and sold,” the officer said, without giving details on the foreign human trafficking syndicates that are linked to such marriages and smuggling Lao women.
The officer said that under the new rule, a foreigner who wants to marry a Laotian has to submit documents of "his nationality, background and other necessary information to Lao authorities."
"The authorities will investigate and the investigation will take at least three months. If the foreigner is trustworthy, he will be allowed to marry [much] faster; but if [the application is] in doubt, the marriage will be delayed or never permitted."
Smuggling rings
In recent months, officials have exposed foreign sex rings smuggling Lao women to China, Thailand, and Malaysia.
In May, the government reported that hundreds of girls have been trafficked into China from the northern provinces of Laos.
One official had said that over the past two years, hundreds of families from provinces bordering China had approached the government requesting help in locating their missing daughters.
The girls, many of them from the ethnic Khmu minority, were lured with the prospect of work, or had married Chinese nationals.
Human trafficking rings are also increasingly using Thailand as a transit country to send Lao girls to Malaysia where they are sold into prostitution, according to a Lao official, also in May.
Based on statistics provided by the immigration bureau of Thailand’s Songkla province, which borders Malaysia to the north, 48,000 Laotians crossed into Malaysia in 2011, but only 46,000 returned.
Some 35 percent of Lao nationals trafficked to Thailand end up in prostitution, U.N. figures have shown.
Across the border
Earlier this month, a Thai official claimed that more than 500 underage Lao girls are working as sex slaves in eastern Thailand, saying that authorities in both countries need to step up the fight against human trafficking.
Chuvit Kamolvisit, a Thai member of parliament and advocate for social issues, said that the girls, aged 13 to 18 years, were discovered in a karaoke bar in the Chachoengsao district of Chachoengsao province.
But Thai Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung denied Chuvit’s claims in a statement to the Thai media, saying no such karaoke bar existed.
He called on Lao officials to take measures which included more scrutiny of Lao girls traveling to Thailand to look for work and targeting officials who have assisted traffickers.
A Lao draft law on human trafficking is currently under review and is likely to be put into law by 2014, officials have said.
The U.S. State Department maintained Laos at “Tier 2” in its annual report on human trafficking in June, saying it does not fully comply with minimum standards for protecting trafficking victims, but that it is making significant efforts to comply with those standards.
Reported by Sidney Khotpaya for RFA's Lao service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.
The Lao government is tightening conditions under which foreigners marry local women in a bid to combat human trafficking, according to officials.
Under new rules introduced recently, foreigners wanting to marry local women should be a resident in Laos for at least three consecutive months and have to provide a variety of personal documents for the government to conduct background checks, the officials said.
The stringent conditions are aimed at plugging the marriage loophole that foreign human trafficking syndicates have been using to smuggle Lao women out of the country.
The foreigners quickly get married with local women in Laos and then take them to their countries where the women are forced into prostitution and other illicit activities, the officials said.
"The government has just issued a new law that basically states that if a foreigner wants to marry a Lao girl, he must stay in Laos for three months to obtain proper documents, not just obtain documents and then leave," a Lao anti-human trafficking officer told RFA's Lao service.
"Many women have been missing and sold,” the officer said, without giving details on the foreign human trafficking syndicates that are linked to such marriages and smuggling Lao women.
The officer said that under the new rule, a foreigner who wants to marry a Laotian has to submit documents of "his nationality, background and other necessary information to Lao authorities."
"The authorities will investigate and the investigation will take at least three months. If the foreigner is trustworthy, he will be allowed to marry [much] faster; but if [the application is] in doubt, the marriage will be delayed or never permitted."
Smuggling rings
In recent months, officials have exposed foreign sex rings smuggling Lao women to China, Thailand, and Malaysia.
In May, the government reported that hundreds of girls have been trafficked into China from the northern provinces of Laos.
One official had said that over the past two years, hundreds of families from provinces bordering China had approached the government requesting help in locating their missing daughters.
The girls, many of them from the ethnic Khmu minority, were lured with the prospect of work, or had married Chinese nationals.
Human trafficking rings are also increasingly using Thailand as a transit country to send Lao girls to Malaysia where they are sold into prostitution, according to a Lao official, also in May.
Based on statistics provided by the immigration bureau of Thailand’s Songkla province, which borders Malaysia to the north, 48,000 Laotians crossed into Malaysia in 2011, but only 46,000 returned.
Some 35 percent of Lao nationals trafficked to Thailand end up in prostitution, U.N. figures have shown.
Across the border
Earlier this month, a Thai official claimed that more than 500 underage Lao girls are working as sex slaves in eastern Thailand, saying that authorities in both countries need to step up the fight against human trafficking.
Chuvit Kamolvisit, a Thai member of parliament and advocate for social issues, said that the girls, aged 13 to 18 years, were discovered in a karaoke bar in the Chachoengsao district of Chachoengsao province.
But Thai Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung denied Chuvit’s claims in a statement to the Thai media, saying no such karaoke bar existed.
He called on Lao officials to take measures which included more scrutiny of Lao girls traveling to Thailand to look for work and targeting officials who have assisted traffickers.
A Lao draft law on human trafficking is currently under review and is likely to be put into law by 2014, officials have said.
The U.S. State Department maintained Laos at “Tier 2” in its annual report on human trafficking in June, saying it does not fully comply with minimum standards for protecting trafficking victims, but that it is making significant efforts to comply with those standards.
Reported by Sidney Khotpaya for RFA's Lao service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.
International Criminal Court Seeks Proof of Abuses in Cambodia
Court Seeks Proof of Abuses:
Updated at 7:30 p.m. EST on 2012-08-22
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has sought more details from a Cambodian rights group over a complaint lodged on “crimes against humanity” allegedly committed by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government against its people, according to the group.
Sourn Sereyratha, leader of the Khmer People Power Movement (KPPM), said the ICC had requested witness statements and more evidence to back the organization’s complaint submitted two months ago against the government and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).
“After submitting the complaint on June 22, which requested the court to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the Phnom Penh government, our lawyers are now working with the ICC prosecutor,” he told RFA’s Khmer service.
“The court has requested that we pass on additional evidence for further investigation.”
The KPPM complaint to the ICC alleges that the current Cambodian government has forcibly evicted more than 100,000 people from land the group says they have “legal title” to, and that members of the government are personally profiting from the use and sale of such land.
It said the land grabs may constitute a crime against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the ICC—a statute that Cambodia is bound to abide by.
The U.S.-based group cited “credible reports” of beatings, unjustified imprisonment, and killings of individuals who question or legally resist the forced evictions.
Ky Tech, an attorney for the Cambodian government, said he was unaware of any complaint having been filed with the ICC.
“I don’t have any details of the case, so I don’t have any comment,” he said.
The KPPM’s complaint is believed to have upset Hun Sen’s government.
A Cambodian radio station chief was arrested in July soon after he returned home from witnessing and reporting on the filing of the complaint at the ICC on June 22.
Senior CPP official Cheam Yeap acknowledged that land disputes are a problem in Cambodia, but dismissed the severity of the issue.
“During Hun Sen’s leadership, of course there have been some mistakes, but those mistakes are not serious enough to be considered crimes against humanity,” Cheam Yeap said.
“On what basis do they make this claim? Are they comparing development with genocide, such as during the Pol Pot regime?” he asked, referring to the 1975-1979 rule of the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge, during which up to two million Cambodians died of disease, exhaustion, starvation, and execution.
“If that was true, no one would want to work in the government or want to be the prime minister,” he said.
The surviving members of the Khmer Rouge leadership are currently facing a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh.
“Hun Sen has led the country since 1985 and has plenty of experience. He is not an ignorant man,” Cheam Yeap said, adding that the ICC would not recognize the KPPM’s complaint against the prime minister as legitimate.
Positive sign
But independent analyst and former senior researcher for the Asian Human Rights Commission Lao Mong Hay said it is a “positive sign” that the ICC had accepted the complaint.
“It shows that they have been paying attention. If there is substantial evidence, the court will investigate,” he said.
Lao Mong Hay said that if the complaint is accepted, the court would also make a ruling on whether the Cambodian government has the legal right to forcibly evict residents.
“For example, when the government demolishes people’s homes and relocates them to live in remote areas—is this a valid criminal charge?” he asked.
“If there is substantial evidence, the court will issue a warrant for summons or arrest.”
Clair Duffy, Khmer Rouge tribunal monitor for the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), said accusations of the Cambodian government committing crimes against humanity would have to be tried outside of the country due to a lack of independence in the national judicial system.
“When the ICC looks at the question of willingness and ability of the Cambodian courts to prosecute this themselves, they will look at the track record in Cambodia on the land rights issues and that routinely the people protesting about this are filing complaints—they never get anywhere,” Duffy said.
“Actually, when they protest, there is often a lot of police brutality around their peaceful protesting. So I think, really, Cambodia has made it clear that this is not going to be the forum to address these issues.”
She cited “routine impunity” for individuals who have assaulted peaceful protesters and even instances when people had been killed.
Duffy called forcible eviction “a huge problem” in Cambodia.
“The question really is whether [there is] evidence that this is part of a policy by the Cambodian government that raises this to the status of a crime against humanity,” she said.
“The preliminary reports of this problem in Cambodia are very, very serious and it’s really a matter now of whether the prosecutor of the ICC thinks it’s something that the international community is adequately concerned with to pursue it.”
Recent arrests
The KPPM has also highlighted the recent arrest of Cambodia’s Association of Democrats leader Mam Sonando, whose group has been linked by the government to a land revolt involving more than 1,000 families in Kratie province who are being evicted by authorities from land they say they have farmed for years.
Cambodian authorities have said that the government owns the land, but activists contend that it had already been awarded as a concession to Russian firm Casotim, which plans to set up a rubber plantation.
In May, the land row sparked a clash as a large number of military personnel carrying guns tried to disperse the families. In the melee, a 15-year-old girl was shot dead after she was struck by a bullet authorities say was intended as a warning shot.
Sonando, who is also the director of the independent Beehive Radio station, is in prison accused of sparking the land revolt. He faces 30 years imprisonment if convicted on all charges.
His arrest came after he visited the ICC in The Hague to cover the presentation of the complaint by the KPPM. Sonando's report was aired over Beehive Radio on June 25. The next day, Hun Sen publicly called for his arrest.
The activist voluntarily returned to Phnom Penh on July 12 and was arrested three days later.
Cambodia’s land issues date from the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, which forced large-scale evacuations and relocations throughout the country, leaving who owned what land under question.
This was followed by mass confusion over land rights and the formation of squatter communities when the refugees returned in the 1990s after a decade of civil war.
Hun Sen has publicly spoken out against an increasing number of land seizures. But rights groups questioned his commitment to protecting the Cambodian people from illegal land grabs and forced evictions since he authorized land concessions to three private companies in May, just after announcing a moratorium on further grants.
Reported by Sok Ry of RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Updated at 7:30 p.m. EST on 2012-08-22
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has sought more details from a Cambodian rights group over a complaint lodged on “crimes against humanity” allegedly committed by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government against its people, according to the group.
Sourn Sereyratha, leader of the Khmer People Power Movement (KPPM), said the ICC had requested witness statements and more evidence to back the organization’s complaint submitted two months ago against the government and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).
“After submitting the complaint on June 22, which requested the court to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the Phnom Penh government, our lawyers are now working with the ICC prosecutor,” he told RFA’s Khmer service.
“The court has requested that we pass on additional evidence for further investigation.”
The KPPM complaint to the ICC alleges that the current Cambodian government has forcibly evicted more than 100,000 people from land the group says they have “legal title” to, and that members of the government are personally profiting from the use and sale of such land.
It said the land grabs may constitute a crime against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the ICC—a statute that Cambodia is bound to abide by.
The U.S.-based group cited “credible reports” of beatings, unjustified imprisonment, and killings of individuals who question or legally resist the forced evictions.
Ky Tech, an attorney for the Cambodian government, said he was unaware of any complaint having been filed with the ICC.
“I don’t have any details of the case, so I don’t have any comment,” he said.
The KPPM’s complaint is believed to have upset Hun Sen’s government.
A Cambodian radio station chief was arrested in July soon after he returned home from witnessing and reporting on the filing of the complaint at the ICC on June 22.
Senior CPP official Cheam Yeap acknowledged that land disputes are a problem in Cambodia, but dismissed the severity of the issue.
“During Hun Sen’s leadership, of course there have been some mistakes, but those mistakes are not serious enough to be considered crimes against humanity,” Cheam Yeap said.
“On what basis do they make this claim? Are they comparing development with genocide, such as during the Pol Pot regime?” he asked, referring to the 1975-1979 rule of the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge, during which up to two million Cambodians died of disease, exhaustion, starvation, and execution.
“If that was true, no one would want to work in the government or want to be the prime minister,” he said.
The surviving members of the Khmer Rouge leadership are currently facing a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh.
“Hun Sen has led the country since 1985 and has plenty of experience. He is not an ignorant man,” Cheam Yeap said, adding that the ICC would not recognize the KPPM’s complaint against the prime minister as legitimate.
Positive sign
But independent analyst and former senior researcher for the Asian Human Rights Commission Lao Mong Hay said it is a “positive sign” that the ICC had accepted the complaint.
“It shows that they have been paying attention. If there is substantial evidence, the court will investigate,” he said.
Lao Mong Hay said that if the complaint is accepted, the court would also make a ruling on whether the Cambodian government has the legal right to forcibly evict residents.
“For example, when the government demolishes people’s homes and relocates them to live in remote areas—is this a valid criminal charge?” he asked.
“If there is substantial evidence, the court will issue a warrant for summons or arrest.”
Clair Duffy, Khmer Rouge tribunal monitor for the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), said accusations of the Cambodian government committing crimes against humanity would have to be tried outside of the country due to a lack of independence in the national judicial system.
“When the ICC looks at the question of willingness and ability of the Cambodian courts to prosecute this themselves, they will look at the track record in Cambodia on the land rights issues and that routinely the people protesting about this are filing complaints—they never get anywhere,” Duffy said.
“Actually, when they protest, there is often a lot of police brutality around their peaceful protesting. So I think, really, Cambodia has made it clear that this is not going to be the forum to address these issues.”
She cited “routine impunity” for individuals who have assaulted peaceful protesters and even instances when people had been killed.
Duffy called forcible eviction “a huge problem” in Cambodia.
“The question really is whether [there is] evidence that this is part of a policy by the Cambodian government that raises this to the status of a crime against humanity,” she said.
“The preliminary reports of this problem in Cambodia are very, very serious and it’s really a matter now of whether the prosecutor of the ICC thinks it’s something that the international community is adequately concerned with to pursue it.”
Recent arrests
The KPPM has also highlighted the recent arrest of Cambodia’s Association of Democrats leader Mam Sonando, whose group has been linked by the government to a land revolt involving more than 1,000 families in Kratie province who are being evicted by authorities from land they say they have farmed for years.
Cambodian authorities have said that the government owns the land, but activists contend that it had already been awarded as a concession to Russian firm Casotim, which plans to set up a rubber plantation.
In May, the land row sparked a clash as a large number of military personnel carrying guns tried to disperse the families. In the melee, a 15-year-old girl was shot dead after she was struck by a bullet authorities say was intended as a warning shot.
Sonando, who is also the director of the independent Beehive Radio station, is in prison accused of sparking the land revolt. He faces 30 years imprisonment if convicted on all charges.
His arrest came after he visited the ICC in The Hague to cover the presentation of the complaint by the KPPM. Sonando's report was aired over Beehive Radio on June 25. The next day, Hun Sen publicly called for his arrest.
The activist voluntarily returned to Phnom Penh on July 12 and was arrested three days later.
Cambodia’s land issues date from the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, which forced large-scale evacuations and relocations throughout the country, leaving who owned what land under question.
This was followed by mass confusion over land rights and the formation of squatter communities when the refugees returned in the 1990s after a decade of civil war.
Hun Sen has publicly spoken out against an increasing number of land seizures. But rights groups questioned his commitment to protecting the Cambodian people from illegal land grabs and forced evictions since he authorized land concessions to three private companies in May, just after announcing a moratorium on further grants.
Reported by Sok Ry of RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Lhasa 'Like a Vast Prison'
Lhasa 'Like a Vast Prison':
Chinese authorities have implemented a massive security clampdown in Lhasa, pouring police into the Tibetan capital and setting up checkpoints with airport-style body scanners in busy downtown areas, residents said on Thursday.
"Lhasa city has been turned into a large prison," one Tibetan resident of Lhasa told RFA's Tibetan service. "There are police everywhere in groups of 10 or more with rifles, batons, and fire extinguishers on each of them."
She said police had set up security checkpoints for pedestrians near the popular tourist area of the Barkhor Market and the pilgrimage route around the city's central Jokhang Temple.
"Body scanning checkpoints have been installed at different points, and Tibetans are being regularly scanned and checked," she said, adding that body scanning gates had been set up around the Potala Palace, the former residence of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
A second Tibetan resident said that Tibetans arriving from out of town were being denied entry to the city.
However, this same treatment wasn't being extended to Han Chinese, who have poured into the Himalayan region since the completion of the Golmud-Lhasa railroad in 2006.
"They are stopping the Tibetans at the gates, while the Chinese are free to go anywhere and enter from everywhere in Lhasa," he said.
"Tibetan villagers from the Lhasa area cannot enter from Yukhu or Kuru Bridge, so the real victims are the Tibetans."
Simmering tensions
He said that Tibetans from other Tibetan regions in southwestern China had been expelled from Lhasa and sent home, unless they were able to show a residence permit for the city.
"All those without permits have been sent back to their hometowns," the man said. "Lhasa is overflowing with Chinese, and the Tibetans cannot get involved in arguments with them."
He said that ethnic tensions are simmering below the surface of the order imposed by armed security forces.
"If any Tibetan is involved in a dispute, the Tibetans will be the losers," he said. "If we speak and argue with the Chinese, they call this the 'politics of separation.'"
"We cannot engage the services of lawyers, and in fact the Chinese lawyers are scared to take Tibetan cases."
A third Tibetan resident agreed. "Now Lhasa and the surrounding areas in Tibet really look like a vast prison," he said. "We cannot do anything."
He said that authorities were monitoring all phone traffic coming into Lhasa from overseas, although it was unclear if this was a temporary measure.
"If relatives living in foreign countries call their family members in the Lhasa area, this sets off a red warning light at police monitoring stations in Lhasa, and the conversation is recorded," the man said.
Han also checked
Some Han residents of Lhasa said they, too, were being subjected to tight security, however.
"They have set up those security scanners, and you have to walk through the scanner," said a Lhasa-based migrant worker surnamed Yao.
"They are also checking identity papers and so on, especially if you go to the Jokhang Temple and the Barkhor."
"Basically, we have stayed in a restaurant for the past two days. We haven't been out."
While this month sees the celebration of the annual Shoton yogurt festival, some residents said the city's tight security no longer seems linked to any specific event.
"It's not just the past couple of days," said a second Tibetan woman. "It's been like this the whole time."
"It's very strict, but it is usually like this over here now; we have got used to it," she said.
"They won't let people gather on the streets, let alone allow any Tibetan-Han [conflict] to take place."
"It's checks, checks, checks ... Everyone has to undergo checks. They search you near the Barkhor Market with machines."
Other areas targeted
Recent reports indicate that the stringent security measures aren't limited to Lhasa.
Chinese authorities have detained more than 1,000 residents of a restive Tibetan county since March, targeting mainly educated youth involved in promoting the revival of Tibetan language and culture, local sources said this week.
The crackdown followed the deployment of large numbers of security forces to Driru county in the Nagchu prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in March following demonstrations in the area, residents said.
In a growing wave of opposition to Beijing's rule in Tibetan areas, 49 Tibetans have self-immolated since February 2009, with nearly all of the fiery protests taking place in Tibetan-populated provinces in western China.
The first self-immolation protest in Lhasa was reported in May, when two young Tibetan men set themselves on fire in a central square of the heavily guarded city.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party has launched a nationwide "stability" drive in recent months, targeting activists, dissidents, and potential political flashpoints like Tibet and the troubled northwestern region of Xinjiang ahead of a key leadership transition at the 18th Party Congress later this year.
Reported by Yangdon Demo for RFA's Tibetan service and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin service. Translated by Karma Dorjee and Luisetta Mudie. Written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Chinese authorities have implemented a massive security clampdown in Lhasa, pouring police into the Tibetan capital and setting up checkpoints with airport-style body scanners in busy downtown areas, residents said on Thursday.
"Lhasa city has been turned into a large prison," one Tibetan resident of Lhasa told RFA's Tibetan service. "There are police everywhere in groups of 10 or more with rifles, batons, and fire extinguishers on each of them."
She said police had set up security checkpoints for pedestrians near the popular tourist area of the Barkhor Market and the pilgrimage route around the city's central Jokhang Temple.
"Body scanning checkpoints have been installed at different points, and Tibetans are being regularly scanned and checked," she said, adding that body scanning gates had been set up around the Potala Palace, the former residence of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
A second Tibetan resident said that Tibetans arriving from out of town were being denied entry to the city.
However, this same treatment wasn't being extended to Han Chinese, who have poured into the Himalayan region since the completion of the Golmud-Lhasa railroad in 2006.
"They are stopping the Tibetans at the gates, while the Chinese are free to go anywhere and enter from everywhere in Lhasa," he said.
"Tibetan villagers from the Lhasa area cannot enter from Yukhu or Kuru Bridge, so the real victims are the Tibetans."
Simmering tensions
He said that Tibetans from other Tibetan regions in southwestern China had been expelled from Lhasa and sent home, unless they were able to show a residence permit for the city.
"All those without permits have been sent back to their hometowns," the man said. "Lhasa is overflowing with Chinese, and the Tibetans cannot get involved in arguments with them."
He said that ethnic tensions are simmering below the surface of the order imposed by armed security forces.
"If any Tibetan is involved in a dispute, the Tibetans will be the losers," he said. "If we speak and argue with the Chinese, they call this the 'politics of separation.'"
"We cannot engage the services of lawyers, and in fact the Chinese lawyers are scared to take Tibetan cases."
A third Tibetan resident agreed. "Now Lhasa and the surrounding areas in Tibet really look like a vast prison," he said. "We cannot do anything."
He said that authorities were monitoring all phone traffic coming into Lhasa from overseas, although it was unclear if this was a temporary measure.
"If relatives living in foreign countries call their family members in the Lhasa area, this sets off a red warning light at police monitoring stations in Lhasa, and the conversation is recorded," the man said.
Han also checked
Some Han residents of Lhasa said they, too, were being subjected to tight security, however.
"They have set up those security scanners, and you have to walk through the scanner," said a Lhasa-based migrant worker surnamed Yao.
"They are also checking identity papers and so on, especially if you go to the Jokhang Temple and the Barkhor."
"Basically, we have stayed in a restaurant for the past two days. We haven't been out."
While this month sees the celebration of the annual Shoton yogurt festival, some residents said the city's tight security no longer seems linked to any specific event.
"It's not just the past couple of days," said a second Tibetan woman. "It's been like this the whole time."
"It's very strict, but it is usually like this over here now; we have got used to it," she said.
"They won't let people gather on the streets, let alone allow any Tibetan-Han [conflict] to take place."
"It's checks, checks, checks ... Everyone has to undergo checks. They search you near the Barkhor Market with machines."
Other areas targeted
Recent reports indicate that the stringent security measures aren't limited to Lhasa.
Chinese authorities have detained more than 1,000 residents of a restive Tibetan county since March, targeting mainly educated youth involved in promoting the revival of Tibetan language and culture, local sources said this week.
The crackdown followed the deployment of large numbers of security forces to Driru county in the Nagchu prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in March following demonstrations in the area, residents said.
In a growing wave of opposition to Beijing's rule in Tibetan areas, 49 Tibetans have self-immolated since February 2009, with nearly all of the fiery protests taking place in Tibetan-populated provinces in western China.
The first self-immolation protest in Lhasa was reported in May, when two young Tibetan men set themselves on fire in a central square of the heavily guarded city.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party has launched a nationwide "stability" drive in recent months, targeting activists, dissidents, and potential political flashpoints like Tibet and the troubled northwestern region of Xinjiang ahead of a key leadership transition at the 18th Party Congress later this year.
Reported by Yangdon Demo for RFA's Tibetan service and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin service. Translated by Karma Dorjee and Luisetta Mudie. Written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
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Aug 22, 2012
New President Taur Matan Ruak publicly declares assets and calls on all public officials to follow
New President Taur Matan Ruak publicly declares assets and calls on all public officials to follow: President Taur Matan Ruak
East Timor Legal News 22/08/2012 ETLJB East Timor's new president, Taur Matan Ruak, has made a public declaration of his personal assets. He has also declared the assets of his wife and his children. The declarations were submitted to the Chief Justice of East Timor, Claudio Ximenes, at the Court of Appeal today at 11:00am.
It is the first time that the Head of State
East Timor Legal News 22/08/2012 ETLJB East Timor's new president, Taur Matan Ruak, has made a public declaration of his personal assets. He has also declared the assets of his wife and his children. The declarations were submitted to the Chief Justice of East Timor, Claudio Ximenes, at the Court of Appeal today at 11:00am.
It is the first time that the Head of State
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