Day: November 20, 2021

ZRENJANIN, SERBIA — They are shivering in barracks without heat, going hungry and have no money. They say their passports have been taken by their Chinese employer and that they are now stuck in Serbia with no help from local authorities.
These are the Vietnamese workers who are helping build the first Chinese car tire factory in Europe. The Associated Press visited the construction site in northern Serbia where about 500 of the workers are living in harsh conditions as China’s Shandong Linglong Tire Co. sets up the huge facility.
The project, which Serbian and Chinese officials tout as a display of the “strategic partnership” between the two countries, has faced scrutiny from environmentalists over potentially dangerous pollution from tire production.
Now, it has caught the attention of human rights groups in Serbia, which have warned that the workers could be victims of human trafficking or even slavery.
“We are witnessing a breach of human rights because the Vietnamese [workers] are working in terrible conditions,” Serbian activist Miso Zivanov of the Zrenjaninska Akcija [Zrenjanin Action] nongovernmental organization told The Associated Press at the drab one-story warehouses where the workers are living.
“Their passports and identification documents have been taken by their Chinese employers,” he said. “They have been here since May, and they received only one salary [payment]. They are trying to get back to Vietnam but first need to get back their documents.”
Workers sleep on bunk beds without mattresses in barracks with no heating or warm water. They told the AP that they have received no medical care even when they developed COVID-19-like symptoms, being told by their managers simply to remain in their rooms.
Nguyen Van Tri, one of the workers, said nothing has been fulfilled from the job contract he signed in Vietnam before embarking on the long journey to Serbia.
“Since we arrived here, nothing is good,” he said. “Everything is different from documents we signed in Vietnam. Life is bad, food, medicine, water … everything is bad.”
Wearing sandals and shivering in the cold, he said about 100 of his fellow workers who live in the same barracks have gone on strike to protest their plight and that some of them have been fired because of that.
Linglong did not respond to an AP call seeking comment but denied to Serbian media that the company is responsible for the workers, blaming their situation on subcontractors and job agencies in Vietnam. It said the company did not employ the Vietnamese workers in the first place. It promised to return the documents it said were taken to stamp work and residency permits.
The company denied that the Vietnamese workers are living in poor conditions and said their monthly salaries were paid in accordance with the number of working hours.
Populist-run Serbia is a key spot for China’s expansion and investment policies in Europe, and Chinese companies have kept a tight lid on their projects amid reports they run afoul of the Balkan nation’s anti-pollution laws and labor regulations.
Chinese banks have granted billions of dollars in loans to Serbia to finance Chinese companies that build highways, railways and factories and employ their own construction workers. This is not the first time rights groups have pointed out possible breaches of workers’ rights, including those of Chinese miners at a copper mine in eastern Serbia.
After days of silence, Serbian officials spoke against “inhumane” conditions at the construction site but were quick to downplay Chinese responsibility for the workers’ plight.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said she “would not rule out that the attack against the Linglong factory” is organized “by those against Chinese investments” in Serbia — referring to frequent criticism from the West that Chinese projects there are not transparent, are ecologically questionable and are designed by Beijing to spread its political influence in Europe.
“At the beginning, it was the environment. Now they forgot that and they focused on workers there. After tomorrow there will be something else,” she said.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Friday that a Serbian labor inspector has been sent to the Linglong construction site but was blunt on the expected outcome of the eventual findings.
“What do they want? Do they want us to destroy a $900 million investment?” Vucic asked.

Source: Voice of America

A violent mob sexually assaulted, beat, threatened, and humiliated a 27-year-old intersex person on November 15, in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital. The perpetrators filmed the attack, which lasted for several hours, in two horrific videos which circulated on social media.

According to medical reports issued by a health facility in Yaoundé, the victim Sara (not her real name) suffered multiple hematomas all over her body. Sara’s doctor said that she needed monitoring for 15 to 18 days due to the severity of her injuries.

Police arrested a man in connection with the attack, but released him 48 hours later. On November 16, Cameroonian Foundation for AIDS (CAMFAIDS), a human rights organization advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people, filed a complaint with the police on behalf of Sara as a victim of assault, battery, and inhuman and degrading treatment. CAMFAIDS is providing support to Sara, including for medical and psychological assistance.

Two CAMFAIDS members said Sara is shocked and severely traumatized and attempted suicide on November 19. “We found her unconscious in the bathroom beside a bottle of bleach. We called the doctor. She is under observation,” said a CAMFAID activist.

In August, Human Rights Watch documented another brutal mob attack against two transgender women, Shakiro and Patricia, in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital. The attack occurred just weeks after a court had ordered the women’s release from prison pending their appeal of a five-year sentence on arbitrary “homosexuality” charges.

2021 has seen an uptick in police action against LGBTI people in Cameroon. Between February and April, security forces arrested at least 27 people, including a child, for alleged consensual same-sex conduct or gender nonconformity, beating and subjecting some to forced anal examinations in detention, recognized as a form or ill-treatment or torture.

Authorities have yet to make a public statement on Sara’s attack. Their silence over this high-profile incident of senseless violence against an LGBTI victim risks sending a message of tolerance for such abuse and highlights the government’s failure to protect LGBTI Cameroonians. Police should urgently respond to CAMFAID’s complaint, investigate the attack against Sara, and bring those responsible to justice. They should also ensure the safety of LGBTI activists who are doing crucial work in a climate of intimidation and violence.

Source: Human Rights Watch

(Geneva) – Nepal has made no progress on justice for crimes under international law in the 15 years since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights Watch, and TRIAL International said today. The 2006 agreement ended a decade of armed conflict in Nepal. To enable a credible transitional justice process, the Nepali government should put the needs of victims front and center, and set out a clear timeline for holding meaningful consultations and upholding its legal obligations.

Successive Nepali governments have pledged to deliver truth, justice, and reparations to victims, including by implementing a 2015 Supreme Court ruling to amend the transitional justice law to disallow amnesties for serious crimes. Nevertheless, they have repeatedly failed to do so. Instead, the two transitional justice commissions have become inactive, while successive governments have instead used their theoretical existence as a pretext to prevent cases from proceeding through the regular courts.

“Nepali authorities’ reluctance to meet their obligation to investigate and prosecute grave crimes has deepened the suffering of victims, undermined the rule of law, and increased the risk of future violations,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “As long as justice is denied in Nepal, those allegedly responsible for international crimes committed during the conflict remain vulnerable to prosecution abroad under the principle of universal jurisdiction.”

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed on November 21, 2006, between the then government and Maoist former rebels contained a commitment “to investigate [the] truth about people seriously violating human rights and involved in crimes against humanity.” The government established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons in 2015. The two commissions have received over 60,000 complaints, but have not completed any investigations. Over 2,500 people remain victims of likely enforced “disappearance,” their situation or whereabouts unknown.

“Nepal’s transitional justice commissions have achieved nothing in six years, and effectively function only to block progress on accountability,” said Mandira Sharma, senior international legal adviser at ICJ. “These commissions have long since lost the trust of victims.”

In 2015 the Supreme Court struck down parts of the 2014 Transitional Justice Act, which governs the two commissions, for failing to meet Nepali and international legal standards. The court ordered the government to amend the law, in particular to remove provisions providing amnesty for grave violations, but the ruling has been ignored. In May 2020 the government lost an appeal against the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has issued guidance on Nepal’s international legal obligations in relation to justice and accountability, which should set the standard for future action.

“Nepal’s transitional justice process needs to provide truth, justice and reparation to victims and their families, as well as accountability for perpetrators and guarantees of non-recurrence,” said Cristina Cariello, head of the Nepal program at TRIAL International. “Despite threats and intimidation, and seemingly endless delays, victims’ groups have been steadfast in demanding justice – to be credible this process must win their trust.”

Victims’ groups have repeatedly made their position clear, including in a joint letter on September 31, 2021, to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. They called for amending the Transitional Justice Act following wide consultations; a comprehensive roadmap with a timeline for consultations and amending the law; and for the “international community including the UN to provide technical assistance to ensure the impartiality and independence … of any new transitional justice bodies set up after the amendment of the Act.”

During Nepal’s recent Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of its human rights performance at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, numerous UN member states expressed concern over the delays and weaknesses in the transitional justice process and said that the government should ensure that an independent and rights respecting process is promptly made operational.

“Nepal’s international partners should press the government to fulfill its legal obligations and fulfill its commitments on justice and accountability, and stand ready to support a credible justice process,” said Nirajan Thapaliya, director of Amnesty International Nepal. “To be credible and successful, it is vital that any transitional justice process upholds victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparations and other human rights standards of Nepali and international law.”

Source: Human Rights Watch

Cambodia registered 332,875 tourists on Nov. 19, the second day of the three-day Water Festival, according to a report of the Ministry of Tourism.
The figure saw a remarkable increase of 152.15 percent from 132,013 tourists on the first day of the annual festival, it added.
Of the tourists, the report pointed out, 328,412 were national visitors and 4,463 were domestic foreign tourists.
Phnom Penh capital was the most popular tourist destination attracting 66,750 visitors, followed by the provinces of Siem Reap, Preah Sihanouk, Kampot, Kep, Pursat, Battambang, Mondulkiri, and Rattanakiri, it underlined.
The ministry expressed its optimism that the tourist movement will remain active until the end of the weekend.
Like in 2020, this year’s celebration of Water Festival is cancelled to prevent COVID-19 spread. Although there is no celebration, people have three-day off as usual. They can travel throughout the country without restrictions as Cambodia has announced to reopen in all domains since Nov. 1.

Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse