Sergei Nikitin, director of Amnesty International representative office in Russia, shows a copy of the report
Academic freedom and the ‘Occupy Central’ movement were highlighted as the key human rights issues facing Macau and Hong Kong by an Amnesty International report released yesterday.
A single paragraph of the 415-page annual report released yesterday is dedicated to the MSAR: “Pro-democracy academics reported being targeted for their political involvement and criticism of the government. Bill Chou Kwokping, an academic at the University of Macau and vice-president of Macau’s largest pro-democracy group, said he was suspended for ‘imposing [his] political beliefs’ on his students; after an inquiry, the university did not renew his contract. Another academic, Eric Sautede, a lecturer at the University of St. Joseph, lost his post in July; the university rector told a local Portuguese language newspaper it was due to Eric Sautede’s political commentary,” the paragraph reads.
Predictably, Hong Kong receives more attention than Macau due to the pro-democracy protests that made world headlines last year. Several incidents related to the ‘Occupy Central’ movement are mentioned, such as the one which occurred on 28 September. This was when police reportedly “used tear gas and pepper spray in an attempt to disperse thousands of peaceful protesters who had gathered in streets near the administrative headquarters.”
Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization focused on human rights, also mentions the existence of “fears for the right to freedom of the press,” a reference to the dismissal of the former chief editor of Ming Pao newspaper Kevin Lau. The report mentions that other journalists have complained of stringent censorship rules.
The situation of the 300,000 migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong is also raised. Amnesty International states that thousands of these workers “were trafficked for exploitation and forced labor, and heavily indebted with illegal and excessive agency fees.”
Regarding China, the report uses a similar tone to previous years, stating that, authorities continued to “severely restrict the right to freedom of expression” and that ethnic minorities including Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongolians faced discrimination and increased security crackdowns.
“Activists and human rights defenders risked harassment and arbitrary detention. Torture and other ill-treatment remained widespread and access to justice was elusive for many,” the report reads.
Some positive aspects are also mentioned in the NGO’s assessment of the situation in China, such as the abolition of the Re-education Through Labor system announced in 2013 and the fact that the Fourth Plenum in October 2014 was “focused on the rule of law.” PB
Cluster bombs have been used in Ukraine conflict
Illegal weapons such as cluster bombs have been used in the Ukraine conflict, according to Amnesty International. The human rights organization also criticized both sides – not the pro-Russian separatists – for the high number of civilian deaths. “Taking into account everything we understand as of now, we think that they (cluster bombs) were used by both sides,” the organization’s senior director for research, Anna Neistat told reporters.
No Comments