Archive for the ‘Asia’ Category
Tibetans are refraining from annual celebrations to mark their traditional new year holiday, and instead are seeking to draw attention to what they describe as oppressive Chinese policies against them.
India’s Tibetans protest China’s human rights violations
Tibetan protesters hurled accusations at China’s president Wednesday, chanting “Hu Jintao is a murderer” at a protest here in the Indian capital.
Tibetans accuse Chinese security forces of gunning down at least six peaceful protesters in recent months.
The New Delhi rally of about 50 Tibetan exiles and supporters was held not far from China’s Embassy. Further north, in the Indian city of Dharamsala, members of the elected administration that say it speaks for all Tibetans held a one-day hunger strike.
New Year, no celebrations
Wednesday marks the start of Tibetan Losar, the arrival of a new year on the Tibetan calendar. Under calmer circumstances, it would be a joyous occasion, but Tibetan exile parliament member Yeshi Phuntsok says this year, things are very different.
“Normally we have a three-day celebration, big celebration. First day, we do in the home prayer, and then we have many rituals and activities from morning to evening. Right now, inside Tibet is tense because they are not able to celebrate [the] new year because of the Chinese problem. So we are also not celebrating [outside Tibetan people] to support them. It is very tense inside Tibet,” Phuntsok said.
Related Gallery – Social Injustice Fuels Self-Immolation Protests
Tibetan exiles say 23 Tibetans, many of them monks or nuns, have lit themselves on fire in the past year to protest Chinese policies. Tibetans say China is systematically extinguishing their traditional Buddhist culture – from prohibiting images of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to enforcing nationalistic “re-education” programs in monasteries.
Tibetans also accuse Beijing of deliberately overwhelming Tibetan areas with Chinese migrants who tend to discriminate against Tibetans.
Speaking to the Reuters news agency, a monk in Chinese-controlled Tibet says Tibetan areas are under complete lockdown.
The monk, who is not named for his protection, says they have no freedom – no religious freedom and no freedom of speech. He says the pressure is great. People have no choice, he says, so they protest – and get fired on. He says there is nothing else the people can do.
China says recent months of protests have been carefully organized by “trained separatists,” and refer to demonstrators as “mobs” that have frequently turned to violence. Beijing describes the self-immolations as a form of terrorism encouraged by outside agitators.
Liu Weimin, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, says security measures have been tightened to “counter disruptive activities” and ensure social stability – something he describes as being consistent with the aspirations of people of different ethnicities.
Lobsang Sangay, Tibet’s elected prime minister in exile, has called on the United Nations to send a fact-finding team to Chinese-controlled Tibet, and on Beijing to lift its ban on international media access to the region.
The French medical aid group Doctors Without Borders says cuts in international aid for treating HIV and tuberculosis are putting tens of thousands of lives at risk in Burma.
More HIV, TB patients at risk
Doctors Without Borders says two thirds of HIV patients in Burma in need of antiretroviral therapy cannot get it.
That leaves 85,000 people susceptible to diseases like tuberculosis, responsible for a quarter of all AIDS-related deaths.
The group, known by its French abbreviation MSF, says every year there are an estimated 9,300 new cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis, but to date only 300 are treated.
To help close the gap, MSF expected to receive financial support under a new round of aid from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. But, in November, it was abruptly cancelled because of a shortage of cash from donor nations.
Increase in funding, disperate need
Peter Paul de Groote is head of the group’s operations in Burma, also known as Myanmar. He says the funding would have expanded treatment dramatically. “So, with the cancellation of round 11 that is not happening now, which means 46,500 people for HIV that could have been receiving treatment over the coming years and about 10,000 people for multi-drug-resistant TB will not be receiving this treatment because the money is not coming into the country,” he explained.
MSF says HIV prevalence in Burma is relatively low, but lack of treatment makes it one of the most serious epidemics in Asia.
The United Nations says between 15,000 and 20,000 people living with HIV die every year in Burma because they are not treated.
The prevalence of TB in Burma is nearly three times the global average.
MSF is the largest supplier of anti-retroviral therapy in Burma, where health care makes up a tiny fraction of government spending.
Burma is expected this year to increase its budget for health care, but is still dependent on foreign aid.
Thousands of New Zealanders took part in an emotional ceremony Wednesday to mark the one-year anniversary of a powerful earthquake that left 185 people dead in downtown Christchurch.
The names of the victims were read in the city’s North Hagley Park before tearful mourners observed two minutes of silence at the exact moment when the quake struck.
The ceremony ended with the release of 185 Monarch butterflies, meant to represent the departed souls of the victims and the rebirth of the city. New Zealand Governor-General Jerry Mateparae said he is confident the city can rebuild.
“Like the life cycle of the butterfly, from the shattered cocoon of a once-great place, a new and vibrant city can arise,” Mateparae said. “It will be a city and a region inhabited by a resilient people and built on the foundations of a strong community.”
The 6.1 magnitude earthquake destroyed thousands of homes and other buildings in downtown Christchurch, causing $25 billion in damage and turning the downtown area of New Zealand’s third largest city into a virtual wasteland. Many of the victims were language students from across Asia who died when their school building collapsed.
A number of Christchurch residents have complained about the slow pace of recovery. Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker acknowledged there is still work to be done, but called on the city to come together to finish the process.
“It’s still a difficult time and we acknowledge that. There are many unknowns,” Parker said. “There are questions still to be answered, suburbs to be rebuilt, a city to be rebuilt. The 22nd of February is a day that changed things for us in this province and this city irrevocably. We can never be the same again.”
Prime Minister John Key said February 22 will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the nation’s history, but also one on which the best of the human spirit was on display.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.