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Amnesty International
Report 2004
Asia and the Pacific
Regional overview 2003
The war on Iraq and issues of national security
dominated much of the political debate in the Asia-
Pacific region during 2003, and several governments
used the "war on terror" to curtail human rights.
Poverty and discrimination continued to dominate the
lives of millions of people, adversely affecting in
particular women and indigenous people. Human rights
protection remained inadequate across the region and
in some countries human rights violations increased as
a result of renewed or ongoing armed conflicts.
National security and the 'war on terror'
Security firmly established itself as the prime
concern of most governments in the region, often
informed by a US-led approach. At the civil society
level, however, there was mounting resentment at
growing US power and influence both globally and more
specifically in Asia. A "strategic partnership"
agreement signed between China and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in October in Bali,
Indonesia, was seen by many as part of China's
strategy to counter US unilateralism as well as to
build closer economic and security ties within
Southeast Asia. In East Asia, tension increased
between Taiwan and China after Taiwan adopted
legislation in November allowing its people to vote on
sovereignty and other issues.
The belief of several governments that human rights
could be curtailed under the "war on terror" umbrella
was particularly apparent in China, India, Malaysia,
Pakistan and Thailand. Hundreds of people suspected of
"terrorism" found themselves condemned to legal black
holes as the authorities ignored national and
international legal frameworks. In Pakistan, more than
500 people, including Arabs and Afghans, were
arbitrarily arrested and handed over to the US
authorities on suspicion of membership of al-Qa'ida
and the Taleban in violation of Pakistan's Extradition
Act of 1974. Others were believed to be held at
undisclosed locations in Pakistan, but the authorities
refused to provide any information about them. In
Gujarat, India, hundreds of members of the Muslim
community were held in illegal detention against a
background of investigations into a range of
conspiracies against the state. In China, thousands of
members of the predominantly Muslim Uighur community
were detained or imprisoned as "separatists,
terrorists and religious extremists" and the Uighur
culture came under attack through the closure of
mosques, restrictions on the use of the Uighur
language and the banning of certain Uighur-language
publications.
Protests by half a million people in Hong Kong in July
prompted the authorities to withdraw controversial
proposals prohibiting acts of treason, secession,
sedition and subversion.
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