27-Jun-2020: ASEAN leaders cite 1982 UN treaty in South China Sea dispute
South-east Asian leaders said a 1982 UN oceans treaty should be the basis of sovereign rights and entitlements in the South China Sea, in one of their strongest remarks opposing China’s claim to virtually the entire disputed waters on historical grounds.
The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) took the position in a statement issued by Vietnam on behalf of the 10-country bloc. ASEAN leaders held their annual summit, with the coronavirus pandemic and the long-running territorial disputes high on the agenda.
The ASEAN statement said: “We reaffirmed that the 1982 UNCLOS is the basis for determining maritime entitlements, sovereign rights, jurisdiction and legitimate interests over maritime zones.”
The leaders were referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a 1982 international agreement that defines the rights of countries to the world’s oceans. It also demarcates stretches of waters called exclusive economic zones where coastal states are given the right to exclusively tap fishery and fuel resources.
UNCLOS sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out.
As ASEAN’s leader for 2020, Vietnam oversaw the drafting of the chairman’s statement. This was not a negotiated document but circulated among other member states for consultation. Vietnam has been one of the most vocal critics of China’s assertive actions in the disputed waters.
China has taken increasingly aggressive steps to bolster its claims to the strategic waters. It vaguely marks them with a “nine-dash line” that overlaps with the coastal waters and territorial claims of ASEAN member states Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei. Taiwan has also staked a claim in vast stretches of the disputed waters.
In July 2016, an international arbitration tribunal invalidated China’s vast historical claims to the waters based on UNCLOS. China refused to participate in the case and dismissed the ruling as a sham.
In recent years, China transformed seven disputed reefs into missile-protected island bases, including three with military-grade runways. It continues to develop them in ways that have sparked protests and alarmed rival claimant states, as well as the US and its Asian and western allies.
In recent months, China has come under fire for what rival claimants said were aggressive actions in the disputed waters as countries were scrambling to deal with the coronavirus crisis.
Vietnam protested in April after a Chinese coastguard ship rammed and sank a boat with eight fishermen off the Paracel Islands. The Philippines backed Vietnam and protested against new territorial districts announced by China in large swaths of the sea.
18-Jun-2020: U.S. Bill to sanction China over Uighur rights
US President Donald Trump has signed into law a legislation that condemns the gross human rights violations of Uyghur minority groups in China’s restive Muslim-majority Xinjiang region, paving the way for imposing sanctions against senior Chinese officials.
The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, 2020 holds accountable the perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses such as the systematic use of indoctrination camps, forced labour and intrusive surveillance to eradicate the ethnic identity and religious beliefs of Uyghurs and other minorities in China.
However, a section of the Act purports to limit his discretion to terminate inadmissibility sanctions under the Act.
The bill, which includes sanctions on the senior Chinese officials directly involved in the crackdown on the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, was passed with an overwhelming support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
Senator Marco Rubio applauded the Act and said that it is an important step in countering the totalitarian Chinese government’s widespread and horrific human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), including the mass internment of over one million Uyghurs and other predominantly ethnic Turkic Muslims, as well as Beijing’s intimidation and threats against US citizens and legal permanent residents on American soil.
The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) welcomed the enactment of the law.
29-Apr-2020: Sudan enters new era for girl rights with criminalization of FGM
UNICEF welcomes the landmark move by the transitional government to criminalize female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in Sudan.
The amendment to the Criminal Law Article 141 was endorsed by both the Sovereign and Ministerial Councils on 22 April. All amendments proposed by National Council for Child Welfare (NCCW) in line with UNICEF vision to promote child rights were also endorsed.
This comes following years of persistent and forceful advocacy by all stake holders; the NCCW, women and child advocates, donors including UK aid and the Swedish government, UN agencies, international and national organizations, community-based organizations and community members, especially those who came together and publicly declared to join the ‘Saleema’ movement.
Sudan is considered one of the countries where FGM/C prevalence rate is very high. According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) 2014, the FGM/C rate is 86.6 per cent. There is also evidence of decline among the younger age group 14-0 years from 37 per cent in 2010 to 31.5 in 2014.
This practice is not only a violation of every girl child’s rights, it is harmful and has serious consequences for a girl’s physical and mental health. This is why governments and communities alike must take immediate action to put an end to this practice. Every girl deserves to be ‘saleema’.
Abandonment is not only about the legal reform, or about legalization or criminalization. We need to work very hard with the communities to help enforce this law. The intention is not to criminalize parents, and we need to exert more effort to raise awareness among the different groups, including midwives, health providers, parents, youth about the amendment and promote acceptance of it.
UNICEF is committed to eliminating all forms of FGM/C. The organization’s work focuses on building a protective environment for children that safeguards them from abuse and exploitation.
The Saleema initiative, launched in 2008 by the National Council of Child Welfare (NCCW) and UNICEF Sudan, supports the protection of girls from genital cutting, particularly in the context of efforts to promote collective abandonment of the practice at community level. Saleema is a word that means whole, healthy in body and mind, unharmed, intact, pristine, and untouched, in a God-given condition. The broad objective of Saleema is to change the way that people talk about female genital cutting by promoting, at the community level, wide usage of new positive terminology to describe the natural bodies of girls and women.
Since the Saleema Initiative began in 2008 the ideal of keeping girls ‘Saleema’ has spread throughout Sudan, and also created interest in neighbouring countries such as Somalia and Egypt. It was then adopted by the African Union Commission as a Continental Initiative to end Female Genital Mutilation in Africa by 2030.
The adoption of the Child Act 2010 was considered as a milestone for the protection of children generally and specifically for children in conflict with the law (offenders). However, the implementation of the Child Act was always challenged with the implementation of the Criminal Act (1991) by judges. The Criminal law 1991 had contradicted the Child Act in different provisions leading to violations of the Child Rights in Sudan.
Article 141 of the amendment to the Criminal Act
Article 141 Female Genital Mutilation
- There shall be deemed to commit the offence of female genital mutilation whoever, removed, mutilated the female genitalia by cutting, mutilating or modifying any natural part of it leading to the full or partial loss of its functions, whether it is inside a hospital, health centre, dispensary or clinic or other places.
- Whoever commits the crime of female genital mutilation shall be punished with 3 years of imprisonment and a fine or closing the premises.
The other amendments to the Criminal Act include:
- Setting the age of the child at 18 and ending the confusion created in the judicial precedents in applying the Criminal Law and the signs of Puberty.
- Increasing the age of Criminal Responsibility from 7 to 12.
- Prohibition of death penalty on anyone who did not exceed the age of 18.
- Prohibition of corporal punishment.
- Community service as an alternative measure to detention for pregnant and lactating women.