Posts Tagged ‘Asia’
Saturday, May 1st, 2010
Tim Soutphommasane; 1/5/10
Is it illiberal for governments to ban practices judged to be illiberal, as the French government is doing with its intended ban on the burka? Those familiar with France will be aware its civic culture isn’t one of vive la difference. The French republic has, since its birth through revolution, stood for an unambiguous and unitary creed: liberte, egalite, fraternite. When it comes to religious expression, republican ideology has meant a non-negotiable stance of secularism: laicite. In 2004, French authorities moved to ban all ostentatious displays of religious symbolism in government schools. Though evidently aimed at the wearing of headscarfs by Muslim students, the ban extends to all forms of religious expression.
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Tags: Asia, Australia, Europe, Religion
Posted in Asia, Australia, Human Rights, Religion, Womens Rights | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
14/4/10
Scientists say they have found clear proof that meat from whales captured under Japan’s whaling programme is being sold in US and Korean eateries. The researchers say they used genetic fingerprinting to identify meat taken from a Los Angeles restaurant as coming from a sei whale sold in Japan. They say the discovery proves that an illegal trade in protected species still exists. Whale meat was also allegedly found at an unnamed Seoul sushi restaurant. Commercial whaling has been frozen by an international moratorium since 1986.
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Tags: Asia, Australia, Environment, Japanese, Trade
Posted in Aid / Trade, Australia, Human Rights, Japan, Pacific Region | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
Stephen Fitzpatrick 7/4/10
The people-smuggling trade through Jakarta has become such big business that spotter’s fees of up to $540 a person are being offered for getting asylum-seekers on to boats headed for Australia. And with a range of smuggling networks operating to ferry asylum-seekers through the archipelago after they have fled Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the “brokers” offering their services are thick on the ground. The flow of refugees making the perilous crossing to Christmas Island from points on Java’s southern coastline is also being accelerated by the fact successful arrivals are immediately telephoning friends and relatives remaining in Jakarta and nearby, urging that they follow “while the gates are still open”, one asylum-seeker told The Australian. There is widespread acknowledgement among the asylum-seeker community that the trip to Australia is now as easy as it was in 2001 – the previous numerical high point in the flow. One Afghan man, former bootmaker Mahdi Naeimi, had his 12-year-old son fetch a map of Indonesia to demonstrate the most practical jumping-off points from Indonesia to Australia. “All the agents are liars,” Mr Naeimi said. “They all lie. But when we talk with them, we can see what percentage they speak truly, and what percentage is false. Then we decide which one to go with.”
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Tags: Asia, Australia, Indonesia, Migrants & Refugees
Posted in Asia, Australia, Human Rights, Indonesia, Refugee & Migrant | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
Joanna Moorhead; 6/4/10
I am walking along a brightly painted corridor when a couple of young girls catch first my eye, and then my arm. They smile at me, and giggle; they look about the same ages as my elder daughters, 17 and 15. Just like my daughters, these girls have taken a lot of time over their make-up and their clothes, and they look beautiful. In their faces I see the same fun and youthful optimism that I see every day in my own house. But there the comparisons end. Because I am in Faridpur in central Bangladesh, on the banks of the Padma River, and these girls are sex workers. Each day they must have intercourse with four or five men, for the price of about 100 taka, or less than $2, a time. And for most of the girls here, there is no monetary gain whatsoever: because most of the inmates (and it is, in many ways, like a prison) at this Faridpur brothel are chhukri, or bonded sex workers, sold by their families to a madam in return for two or three years in which she, the brothel owner, can pocket all their earnings.
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Tags: Asia, Children, Prostitution
Posted in Asia, Health & Children, Human Rights, Sex Trade | No Comments »
Saturday, April 3rd, 2010
Stephen Fitzpatrick, 3/4/10
Indonesian immigration authorities are questioning 47 asylum-seekers seized this week trying to reach Christmas Island from Java, one of several boatloads taking advantage of the end of the rainy season. “The weather is definitely a factor,” national police spokesman Edward Aritonang said. “If we use the picture from previous years as a guide, we can see there’s a rise – we’ll see what develops this year.” Many of those trying to reach Australia’s immigration zone in the current wave are from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, and most appear to have been living in temporary accommodation near Bogor, south of Jakarta.
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Tags: Asia, Australia, Indonesia, Migrants and Refugees
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Thursday, April 1st, 2010
Leigh Dayton; 1/4/10
In one of the world’s greatest migratory feats, four little shorebirds flew non-stop from Victoria to Taiwan in just over six days, covering 7600km. En route, the ruddy turnstones, Arenaria interpres, cruised at an average speed of 50-55km/h. Those are two findings from the first monitored migration cycle of the stocky wader, which spends the Australian winter along the southeastern coast of Australia and in New Zealand. Birds then fly north for about six weeks of feeding and breeding in Siberia, via Taiwan, a one-way journey of 12,400km. After the breeding season, three of the four birds went home following the same Australasian “flyway”. But one went its own way, flying east to the Aleutian Islands, then south to the Gilberts and then home to Victoria via the northern NSW coast, a round trip of 27,000km.
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Tags: Asia, Australia, Environment, Pacific
Posted in Asia, Australia, Environment, Pacific Region | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
31/3/10
Human rights group Amnesty International has called on China to publicly state how many people it puts to death each year. In its annual report on the use of the death penalty worldwide, published on Tuesday, Amnesty said the number of people executed by Beijing last year was likely “in the thousands” – estimated to be more than the total in the rest of the world.”Chinese authorities claim that fewer executions are taking place. If this is true, why won’t they tell the world how many people the state put to death?” Claudio Cordone, the Amnesty International interim secretary general, said in a statement. The 41-page Death Sentences and Executions in 2009report refused to even estimate the toll in China, saying that the organisation believed publicly available statistics “grossly underrepresent” the actual figure.
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Tags: AI, Asia, Capital Punishment, Global
Posted in Asia, Capital Punishment, China, Human Rights | No Comments »
Saturday, March 27th, 2010
Ben Doherty; 27/3/10; (2 Items)
Australia is being urged to stem the flow of boat people by accepting more refugees from south-east Asia before they risk the hazardous journey to Australia by sea. The Refugee Council of Australia has recommended the government grant an extra 1000 offshore humanitarian visas to refugees from south-east Asia each year, saying more places will reduce the incentive for people to turn to people smugglers offering dangerous, insecure passage. ”Ultimately, the best way of reducing the incidence of asylum seekers and refugees risking hazardous journeys to Australia is to focus upon understanding and tackling the causes of secondary movements and original flight,” the council said in a submission.
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Tags: Asia, Australia, Migrants & Refugees
Posted in Asia, Australia, Refugee & Migrant, Sri Lanka | No Comments »
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
6/3/10
More than 20 years after the campaign to get dolphin-friendly tuna into shopping bags, supermarket shelves are still stacked with tuna that has been fished unsustainably. That’s according to Greenpeace’s new report card on the canned tuna brands in supermarkets. John West ”lacks credibility”. Sirena is ”one of the worst offenders”. Woolworths home brand is rebuked for selling overfished yellowfin. Greenseas gets the best ranking, but it could still try harder. Except for skipjack tuna, all Pacific species are overfished or endangered. And fishing methods introduced to protect dolphins, kill endangered turtles and sharks. But consumers would not know this from the label on the can.
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Tags: Asia, Australia, Environment, Trade
Posted in Aid / Trade, Asia, Environment, Pacific Region | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Cameron Stewart; 3/3/10
Dual Israeli nationals will be banned from entering Dubai in a sanction that police say will be enforced by recognising “physical features and the way they speak”. The announcement, by Dubai police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, is the first reprisal for Israel’s suspected role in the murder of a Hamas leader in Dubai and could affect dual Australian-Israeli citizens using Dubai as a stopover. The sanction will be difficult to police given that Israelis enter the United Arab Emirates on second passports because the UAE does not have diplomatic ties with Israel. The Emirates will “deny entry to anyone suspected of having Israeli citizenship”, General Tamim said, adding that police would “develop skills” to recognise Israelis by “physical features and the way they speak”. The head of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Robert Goot, said last night he would not comment on General Tamim’s declaration.
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Tags: Asia, Australia, Israel, Middle East
Posted in Asia, Australia, Human Rights, Israel & Palestine | No Comments »
Monday, March 1st, 2010
Mark Dodd; 1/3/10
Australia’s former ambassador to Israel, James Larsen, has been appointed the new Ambassador for People-Smuggling Issues, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith announced yesterday. Mr Larsen succeeds Peter Woolcott who has held the position since June last year. The ambassador is responsible for high-level advocacy of Australia’s interests in promoting effective and practical international co-operation to combat the crime of people-smuggling, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, Mr Smith said. “Mr Larsen will continue to promote closer regional co-operation through the Bali process on people-smuggling, trafficking in persons and related trans-national crime, which Australia co-chairs with Indonesia,” he said. “A particular priority for the ambassador will be to work with Indonesia and other countries in the region to utilise the Bali process ad hoc group mechanism to address particular country and regional situations involving people-smuggling.”
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Tags: Asia, Australia, Migrants & Refugees
Posted in Asia, Australia, Human Rights, Indonesia, Refugee & Migrant | No Comments »
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
25/2/10
Like most rivers in this country which are fast drying up under the scorching summer sun, the Mekong is no exception. This otherwise mighty river has shrunk substantially in size and its once forceful flow is now down to a trickle in many lower stretches of the river, to the extent that navigation has become impossible. Although the drying up of the Mekong River in the dry season has become a normal phenomenon, the situation this year appears to be much worse than that in previous years. The impact has already been felt by people depending on the river for water, transport and food. The Irrigation Department of late has reported that the river in Loei, Nong Khai and Nakhon Phanom provinces has already reached critical levels even though the peak of the dry season is still a month away. Tour boat operators in Chiang Rai’s Chiang Saen district have suspended their services because the water level is too shallow for navigation. Fishermen have reported fewer catches prompting many of them to turn to other manual jobs to make a living. Less rainfall as a result of climatic changes may be partly to blame. But non-governmental organisations which have been closely monitoring ecological changes in the Mekong River have been quick to point accusatory fingers at China. They blame China for storing up water, especially at the newly-completed Xiaowan hydro-electric dam, to generate electricity. That is just part of the sad story. The damming of the Mekong’s tributaries in Laos and northeastern Thailand, such as the Pak Moon dam, also contribute to less water flowing into the Mekong.
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Tags: Asia, China, Environment
Posted in Asia, China, Environment, Health & Children, Human Rights | No Comments »
Friday, February 12th, 2010
Tom Arup; 12/2/10
The federal government is considering making it a criminal offence to import timber that has been illegally harvested overseas. The law would be established next to a voluntary certification and verification program for timber importers, which would be set up through a range of agreements with developing nations such as Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. During the 2007 general election campaign, the government pledged to ”seek to ban” illegal timber imports. Australia has already had discussions with the US and New Zealand about common principals for any timber import certification program. Under the new law, customs or other law enforcement agencies would investigate claims of companies importing illegally logged timber.
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Tags: Asia, Australia, Environment
Posted in Aid / Trade, Asia, Australia, Environment | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
Lex Hall and Jamie Walker; 26/1/10; (2 Items)
Desperate asylum-seekers intercepted at sea by the navy were allowed to keep cigarette lighters and matches, even though one man was seen to make a “throat-slashing gesture” in the chaos before their boat exploded, killing five and injuring many more. Northern Territory Coroner Greg Cavanagh was told yesterday, at the opening of an inquest into the tragedy off Ashmore Island last April, that “a level of confusion … and lack of control” allowed the boat to be sabotaged and set ablaze by either its Indonesian crew or the 47 predominantly Afghan asylum-seekers packed on board. A navy requirement for its own personnel to be rescued ahead of the boat people may have contributed to the death toll, the coroner heard. In one case, a distressed asylum-seeker was pushed away from a rescue launch to allow RAAF Corporal Sharon Jager to instead be dragged to safety.
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Tags: Asia, Australia, Indonesia, Migrants & Refugees, Sri Lanka
Posted in Australia, Human Rights, Indonesia, Refugee & Migrant, Sri Lanka | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Jonathan Prearlman & Ari Sharp; 6/1/10; (2 Items)
Australia’s deals to deter asylum seekers have triggered an Asia-wide virus of ”xenophobia and amnesia” over refugee rights, a human rights group says. The refugee policy director at Human Rights Watch, Bill Frelick, has criticised recent moves across Asia to prevent the resettlement of refugees, which he says began with the agreement in October between the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to prevent a boatload of Sri Lankan asylum seekers from entering Australian waters. ”The willingness to flout international refugee law and to ignore the entreaties of refugees not to be sent back to their home countries has become the mark of chummy bilateral relations between Asian states,” Mr Frelick writes in the International Herald Tribune. ”A virus is sweeping Asia. The symptoms are heightened xenophobia and amnesia about fundamental refugee rights.”
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Tags: Asia, Australia, Migrants & Refugees
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Friday, January 1st, 2010
Saleh Al-Turigee; 1/1/10
Manal tells her story with some laughable wretchedness and sadness. She says in her message, “I am 30 years old, Saudi, a graduate and like many university graduates still looking for a job. Looking for employment is not, however, my main concern or top priority because it is almost impossible to get a job without wasta (connection). My main concern at the moment is getting married. I’m 30 and unmarried, what should I do? “One of my friends advised me to contact a sheikh who also works as a matchmaker. After some initial hesitation, I called him and responded to his questions. I told him that my prospective husband should be single. It’s not important if he is divorced or a widower, he shouldn’t be married. He confirmed that my request was difficult if not impossible because I am 30 and no bachelor would want to marry a woman like me.”
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Tags: Asia, Gender, Human Rights
Posted in Asia, Gender & Marriage, Womens Rights | No Comments »
