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K and Jacqui Zalcberg AN AJIKIST AN T AN KAZAKHST MALDIVES N AKIST UZBEKIST P AFGHANIS- TA TURKMENIST (1.3 per cent) and Germans (1.1 per cent) each not report feeling marginalized, others speak of imprisonment in a labour camp in December make up smaller proportions of the population. steep barriers to integration and disillusionment on charges of ‘inciting religious discord’ for Central Other minorities make up a total of 4.5 per cent at the state of the ethnic Kazakh language and distributing religious literature. of Kazakhstan’s inhabitants. culture in Kazakhstan. Returnees from countries When Kazakhstan became independent in that were not part of the Union of Soviet Kyrgyzstan Asia 1991, ethnic Kazakhs and ethnic Russians Socialist Republics (USSR) report that their lack According to the 2009 census, almost 71 per cent represented a roughly equal share of the of knowledge of the Russian language impedes of Kyrgyzstan’s population identify as ethnically Katya Quinn-Judge population, though the former were under- their access to work and social services, as many Kyrgyz, while the remainder belong to minority represented in major cities. Over the past 25 local ethnic Kazakhs do not have full command groups. Ethnic Uzbeks, who are concentrated in or the five post-Soviet states of Central years, state policy has sought to balance two of the Kazakh language. Meanwhile, authorities the Ferghana Valley region in the country’s south- Asia, the year 2015 was marked by a parallel goals when it comes to cultivating – including Nazarbayev – have accused the west, made up 14.3 per cent of the population, F steep economic downturn, growing civic and ethnic identity. On the one hand, Oralman community of failing to contribute to while another 7.8 per cent of Kyrgyzstanis, concern about the security situation in northern the state has taken steps to avoid alienating the country’s economy, and the government even mostly residents of northern urban areas, identify Afghanistan and frequent public discussion its ethnic Russians, who, according to one briefly phased out subsidies in 2012. However, as ethnic Russians. Ethnic Tajiks, Uyghurs and about the reportedly growing influence of Islamic standard narrative, are seen as a potential source subsidies have since been reinstated, and in Dungans each make up about 1 per cent of the State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in the region. of separatism. On the other hand, authorities October 2015 the state passed legislation that population, while Turk, Tatar, Kazakh, Azeri, Recent events, such as a shootout in Kyrgyzstan’s have worked actively to increase the numbers of expedited the citizenship process for Oralmans – Korean, Ukrainian and German communities are capital involving alleged ISIS members, have Kazakhs and rehabilitate their traditions. The a move that some view as an effort by the state to present in smaller numbers. invigorated a narrative long promoted by officials state has retained Russian as an official language, put a more ethnically Kazakh mark on those areas One key event of 2015 was October’s in the region – that of a grave threat of terrorist while President Nursultan Nazarbayev has spoken of the country where ethnic Russians are present parliamentary elections. The Organization for incursion and calls for strict state control over consistently throughout the years of Kazakhstan’s in large numbers, in light of fears of a Ukraine- Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) the practice of Islam. The year 2015 saw heads status as a land of pluralism and tolerance. type scenario in Kazakhstan. noted in one of its reports that ‘most parties of state take some harsh measures to limit the Yet authorities have also offered subsidies to State officials and prominent media outlets refrained from nationalist rhetoric, and neither role of Islam in public life, the clearest example ethnic Kazakhs living outside of the country’s regularly draw attention to the purported anti-minority campaigning nor intimidation of which was Tajikistan’s ban on the moderate borders who choose to repatriate, in what the dangers of ‘non-traditional’ Islam – that is, of minorities was reported in the course of the Islamic Renaissance Party, previously the only United Nations (UN) has described as an effort Islamic practice that takes place outside of the campaign’. Nevertheless, national minorities were legal Islamic party in the region. to ‘preserve and develop Kazakh culture’. The state’s purview or appears to deviate from those under-represented on electoral commissions, While the five countries of Central Asia have state has designated both Sunni Islam, the teachings mandated by the state. Even non- and, in violation of OSCE commitments, no all followed distinct political trajectories since the religion of most ethnic Kazakhs, and Orthodox violent Islamic organizations that fall outside official election material was available in minority break-up of the Soviet Union, each government Christianity, the primary religion of the country’s state-sanctioned boundaries are frequently said languages – that is, languages other than the state in the region has staked its legitimacy, to a Slavs, as ‘traditional’ religions, alongside Judaism to threaten Kazakh ethnic identity. The past language, Kyrgyz, and Russian, the second official greater or lesser degree, on its image as a guardian and Roman Catholicism. Many towns have few years have seen a crackdown on Tablighi language. Key minority groups were also under- and reviver of cultural traditions that are ostentatious new mosques and Orthodox Jamaat, a Sunni organization founded in India represented among the winners of the election: indispensable to the state’s survival in the modern churches built side by side to symbolize religious in 1926 that identifies as non-violent and while ethnic Russians are nearly proportionally world. Though discrimination based on ethnic, pluralism, and Nazarbayev has likened the two apolitical. Kazakhstan banned Tablighi Jamaat represented, ethnic Uzbeks occupy only 2.5 per national or religious identity may be legally religions to ‘Kazakhstan’s wings’, without either as extremist in February 2013. Nine alleged cent of the seats in the new parliament. prohibited, in practice appeals to ‘tradition’ can of which the country could not ‘fly’. On the members of the organization were on trial at The conduct and outcome of the election is be used to justify discrimination as well as to other hand, the president has said that the titular the beginning of 2016 on charges related to arguably reflective of Kyrgyzstan’s gradual and protect citizens from it. group has ‘a particular responsibility’ for the extremist activity, while an additional member is at times uncertain recovery from inter-ethnic country’s development. awaiting trial. Meanwhile, 19 alleged members violence in the Ferghana Valley region in 2010. Kazakhstan Notably, efforts to bolster the majority are known to have been convicted of crimes In June that year, around 470 people were According to the 2009 nationwide census, 63 ethnic group have helped to create what looks related to extremism since December 2014: eight reportedly killed in attacks lasting several days, per cent of Kazakhstan’s population of roughly at times like a new minority. Over the past 25 of these have received prison sentences, with almost three-quarters of whom were ethnic 16 million identify as members of the titular years, nearly 1 million so-called Oralmans, or the longest being four years and eight months, Uzbeks. Following the violence, the government ethnic group. Of the 37 per cent who identify as ‘returnees’ – members of the Kazakh diaspora while the rest have been sentenced to terms of promoted a narrative according to which Uzbek members of a minority, ethnic Russians are by far living in countries such as China, Iran, Mongolia, restricted freedom to exercise their religion or community leaders with a separatist agenda had the largest group, making up 23.7 per cent of the Turkey and Uzbekistan – have elected to take belief. Members of Christian, non-Orthodox organized the attacks while ethnic Kyrgyz had population. Also, 2.8 per cent of Kazakhstanis advantage of state programmes that offer ethnic congregations also continue to face harassment fought back spontaneously. In keeping with this identify as ethnic Uzbeks and 2.1 per cent as Kazakhs subsidies to repatriate. While many and charges of extremism – notably, a Seventh narrative, about three-quarters of those tried Ukrainians, while Uyghurs (1.4 per cent), Tatars Oralmans have integrated successfully and do Day Adventist was sentenced to two years’ for crimes connected to the violence have been

122 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 123 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 Left: Uzbek children in Kyrgyzstan. Furthermore, the defence noted, the expert did Nonviolent Peaceforce. not speak Uzbek and was forced to rely on a partial translation of the sermon. and 2015. At the same time, Osh’s Uzbeks are While Kyrgyzstan has strengthened laws increasingly embracing Kyrgyz majority markers against gender-based violence considerably in an attempt to avoid prejudice and expand their since independence, enforcement of these laws professional opportunities. For example, majority is often lax. In an October report on domestic ethnic Uzbek schools are largely switching their violence, Human Rights Watch (HRW) language of instruction to Kyrgyz and Russian, documents numerous cases of victims finding and in 2014 the education ministry did away themselves rebuffed by law enforcement, with the Uzbek-language university entrance and cites a representative of the General exam, citing insufficient interest. Prosecutor’s office stating that preserving the Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan, like its neighbours, traditional family unit should take precedence is continuing to crack down on suspected over prosecuting perpetrators or compensating Islamic extremists. Like the authorities in victims. The UN Committee on the Elimination neighbouring states, Kyrgyzstan’s government of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)’s has been accused of using the threat of terrorism 2015 report for Kyrgyzstan notes that many to target vulnerable and politically inconvenient women ‘lack the information necessary to constituencies. An oft-cited case is the arrest and claim their rights’, and for women belonging conviction of Rashod Kamalov, an ethnic Uzbek to minorities, among whom knowledge of state imam in Osh province known for his sermons languages is less prevalent – for example, ethnic denouncing the spread of western culture and Tajik and Uzbek women – language barriers what he regarded as the decline of traditional may pose an additional obstacle to obtaining morality. In December 2014, Kamolov publicly the requisite information. Other factors can criticized the country’s security services for what also conspire to prevent minority women from he said was their heavy-handed treatment of claiming their rights. Women from minorities ethnic Uzbeks, and the government has at times Prior to June 2010, the languages, dress styles devout Muslims, and suggested a number of may be wary of dealing with a predominantly taken steps to put a more ethnically Kyrgyz and artistic traditions of both ethnic Kyrgyz and Muslims were fleeing to Syria to escape torture at Kyrgyz law-enforcement system. As in stamp on the country’s institutions and public Uzbeks were key parts of the urban landscape the hands of law enforcement. In February 2015, neighbouring states, individuals with no family spaces. in Osh, in the Ferghana Valley region in which he was arrested for allegedly preaching calls to connections among law-enforcement officials In June 2015, on the fifth anniversary of the the bulk of the violence took place. In the years jihad. In October he was sentenced to five years’ often struggle to access justice regardless of their 2010 violence, OSCE High Commissioner on following the violence, the role of ethnic Uzbeks imprisonment for inciting religious hatred and ethnicity: minority women are less likely to National Minorities Astrid Thors said that ‘the and their culture in Osh’s public life diminished for using his position to collect and distribute have such contacts. Finally, women belonging to authorities should be given credit’ for some of sharply. Six days after the attacks began, the extremist literature, a sentence that was extended minorities may be faced with added pressure to their efforts to rehabilitate areas affected by the regional government voted to rename what had to 10 years the following month. keep gender-based violence a private matter, so violence, stating that ‘destroyed property has been called the Kyrgyz-Uzbek University ‘Osh Kamalov’s trial can be viewed as a debate about as not to shame or make waves in communities largely been repaired and compensation has Public University’. The Uzbek Music and Drama the nature of tradition and who has the right that already feel threatened by the state. All of been paid to most of the victims’. She went on Theatre, a mainstay of the local arts scene and to claim to defend it. The prosecution’s case these factors played a role in the virtual absence to say, however, that ‘a sense of insecurity is still the country’s oldest theatre, was burned during hinged on the fact that Kamolov had devoted of any trials connected with sexual violence prevalent among the ethnic Uzbek community’, the riots and did not reopen until late 2012. a chunk of one recent sermon to the concept during the 2010 violence in Osh, in which and called on authorities to ensure ‘equal Centrally located cafes and restaurants that had of the caliphate, which they equated to an numerous Kyrgyz and Uzbek women – but more access to effective and impartial justice’. The previously been owned by ethnic Uzbeks were endorsement of violent jihad that contradicted of the latter – are thought to have been raped. cornerstone of official efforts to prevent further taken over in the year following the violence by the country’s Islamic traditions. The defence, intercommunal violence is the 2013 Concept of members of other ethnicities. Uzbek-language however, claimed that the prosecution’s key Uzbekistan Development and National Unity of the Kyrgyz pop songs were not performed at a concert expert witness, like many state officials who were Uzbekistan is Central Asia’s most populous Republic, which some experts consider vaguely again until 2013. Arguably, however, there has educated in the Soviet period, was poorly versed country, with more than 30 million inhabitants. termed and open to subjective interpretation recently have seen something of a resurgence in theology, which led him to miss the fact that While no census has been conducted since – although the tone of the final draft is of ethnic Uzbek culture, with the Uzbek Music Kamalov’s discussion actually revolved around 1989, authorities estimate that ethnic Uzbeks considerably more ethnically inclusive than that and Drama Theatre and its staff receiving awards the distinction between the canonical caliphate are 82 per cent of the population. Ethnic of previous drafts. from Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Culture in 2014 and the false caliphate that ISIS wished to create. Tajiks are estimated to make up 4.8 per

124 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 125 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 2015, President Emomali Rahmon vocally cent of the population; otherwise the largest The Uzbek state restricts the public and private Case study by Amina Haleem denounced dark clothes on women as minority groups are ethnic Russians (2.6 per conduct of its citizens in ways that observers ‘foreign’, and instead encouraged them to wear cent of the population), ethnic Tatars (0.7 frequently say violate basic human rights. Many traditionally colourful and vibrant clothing. per cent) and ethnic Koreans (0.6 per cent). of these restrictions govern traditional practices, Tajikistan’s Although he did not mention the hijab, While the nominally autonomous republic of or practices, which the state sees as threatening commentators noted that the president’s target Karakalpakstan occupies 37 per cent of the tradition. Restrictions on religious practice are crackdown on was clear. The Mayor of Khujand, Tajikistan’s country’s territory, ethnic Karakalpaks represent widely seen to be particularly intrusive and far- second largest city, quickly followed with a about a third of the Karakalpakstan’s population, reaching. Along with requiring religious bodies cultural identity demand to ban the sale of Iranian and Afghan and a very slight proportion of the country’s total to register according to a stringent procedure clothes, leading to a mass inspection of Islamic population. that is particularly onerous for smaller groups, clothing shops. The ethnic Tajik population is widely thought authorities are known to regularly harass The government of Tajikistan, the smallest country The annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca has to be much greater than official statistics indicate, members of religious minorities and interfere in Central Asia, has long targeted what it perceives also been restricted for individuals under given that many Tajiks and Tajik speakers may with their religious practice. For example, in as non-Tajik influences on its domestic culture. 35. In April, the Committee for Religious classify themselves as Uzbeks to improve their November authorities issued an order stating Poorly developed and discriminatory national and Cultural Issues issued the limitation and career opportunities: while state law prohibits that ethnic Uzbeks who are non-Muslims needed policies have fragmented Tajik society into insular linked the decision to Saudi Arabia’s annual discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, members to specify burial arrangements in their wills ethnic identities, a legacy of the country’s five-year quota for Tajikistan’s pilgrims, which was of ethnic minorities are generally under- – a requirement that does not apply to other civil war that ended in 1997. Hostile relations reduced from 8,000 to 6,300. However, many represented in prominent public and private demographics. The order followed an incident with neighbouring Uzbekistan have reinforced citizens believe that the ban on youth travel sector positions. The UN Committee on the in July in which authorities allegedly obstructed Tajik nationalism, making daily life difficult is a pretext for a larger government strategy Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) burial rites for a member of a Jehovah’s Witness for minorities, particularly Uzbeks. Tajikistan’s to prevent radicalization. The country’s raised concerns in 2014 regarding the shrinking family and stopped mourners from entering the authoritarian nationalism has affected the ability lawmakers have scrutinized individuals whom opportunities for children from ethnic minorities, family’s house, threatening hefty fines. of Uzbek speakers to participate meaningfully in they believe have links to extremist groups particularly ethnic Tajiks, to study in their The limitations placed on Muslims whose the political process, as the state’s lack of pluralistic and have expressed support for excluding all native languages. The Committee also suggested practices the state regards as ‘non-traditional’ language policies have essentially excluded Uzbek religiously inspired opposition parties from the that minority Tajik language and culture were can be even more severe, especially when their minorities from the political sphere. political sphere. increasingly casualties to the tensions between the practitioners may be critical of official policy. In addition to language barriers and low President Rahmon also asked parliament governments of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Restrictions take many forms, from police political representation, ethnicity directly this year to consider passing legislation CERD has also highlighted the decreasing use ordering women wearing the hijab to remove affects employment prospects for Uzbeks who that would forbid the civil registry from of the Karakalpak language in Karakalpakstan, as their scarves or re-tie them at the back of their face discrimination while applying for jobs. accepting names with Arabic origins and well as concerns ‘at the inability of some members neck in keeping with more widespread Uzbek There are reports of private employers rejecting names designated as too alien to the culture. of the Karakalpak ethnic group to maintain their custom, to arrest and imprisonment. Forum applicants simply because they are ethnic Uzbeks. But Muslims are not the only religious culture, their livelihoods and their traditional 18 estimates that there may be thousands of On the other hand, government officials have group facing discrimination in the country: lifestyle’. The Aral Sea ecological crisis, along Muslims in jail on dubious charges of extremism. flatly rejected claims that discrimination occurs Christian denominations, including with state concerns about separatism – the region The Initiative Group of Independent Human during consideration of applicants for civil Jehovah’s Witnesses, face intense scrutiny. has produced several independence movements Rights Defenders of Uzbekistan estimates that at service positions even though they must provide Heavy‑handed restrictions on religious – both contribute to this. As a result of poorly least 300 Muslims were arrested and convicted on information on their ethnic origin during practices and foreign‑influenced holidays have conceived Soviet-era agricultural practices, some charges of religious extremism in 2015. recruitment. Amid these restrictive policies, some intensified because they are viewed as a threat of which persist to this day, Uzbekistan’s portion ethnic Uzbeks have attempted to assimilate into to secular Tajik culture: for example, in 2015 of the sea has gone from being a drainage basin the heavily exclusive society by requesting that the government implemented increasingly for the region’s largest rivers to a toxic desert. their children be registered as Tajik rather than restrictive measures on Christmas celebrations Fishing and cattle ranching, traditional sources of South Uzbek in order to increase their prospects of a by banning gift-giving and Christmas trees in income for Karakalpaks as well as for members of better future in Tajikistan. educational institutions. Ultimately, however, other ethnic groups living alongside them, now A heightened fear of religious extremism has the government has further alienated its range from unsafe or unprofitable to impossible. Asia intensified the government’s crackdown on minorities through its crackdown on diversity Meanwhile, the region sees few of the profits what it perceives as ‘foreign’ influences within – despite the fact that fostering a climate from the newly thriving oil and gas industries. Shikha Dilawri, Nicole Girard, Hanna Tajik society, including reports of police beating of tolerance and multiculturalism in the Karakalpaks claim that key government posts in Hindstrom and Farah Mihlar men with beards and even forcibly shaving country is the best path towards a stable and the province are dominated by ethnic Uzbeks, them. On Tajikistan’s Mother’s Day in March flourishing Tajik society. ■ many of whom are from the national capital, South Asia covers a wide variety of minorities Tashkent. and indigenous peoples, spanning many different

126 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 127 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 languages, religions and ethnicities. But while atheists, had been on a ‘hit list’ targeting bloggers mosque in the northern Bogra district, killing from 97.5 per cent in 1947 to 51 per cent by this diversity has long enriched the region, it and writers believed to be atheists released by the the mosque’s muezzin and wounding three 2014, due to in-migration by majority Bengalis. also provides a continuous source of division in extremist Ansarullah Bengali Team in 2013, a others. On 14 March 2016, a Shi’a preacher This has led to ongoing conflicts, landlessness countries struggling with religious extremism, Bangladesh Islamist organization that has taken was also hacked to death in south-western and the erosion of cultural rights as indigenous caste-based hierarchies and an increasingly responsibility for many of these killings. Bangladesh by extremists. The militant group traditions and identity are closely connected to exclusionary nationalism. This has left little space Many of the writers targeted had been ISIS claimed responsibility for all three attacks, the land. According to the Kapaeeng Foundation, for minority and indigenous communities in outspoken in their support of the death penalty as well as the brutal murder of a Hindu priest an indigenous peoples’ rights organization, many states: from targeted attacks against places for those being tried under the International on 21 February 2016 at a temple in Panchagar, approximately 5,216 acres of land in the CHT of worship and the repression of traditional Crimes Tribunal (ICT), a domestic court set although authorities have repeatedly denied the were appropriated during the year by authorities, livelihoods to endangered languages and the up to prosecute war crimes committed during organization is operating in the country. local officials, private companies and Bengali prohibition of ancient practices, culture is the 1971 War of Independence, including The government of Bangladesh has settlers for plantations, forest reserves, tourist frequently on the frontline of inter-communal charges of genocide, for atrocities against Hindu systematically eroded the right of its indigenous developments and other uses. conflicts or government crackdowns. Poorly minority communities. The proceedings of the peoples to self-determination, particularly control This has occurred against a backdrop of regulated, top-down development is another ICT, however, have been repeatedly criticized by over their ancestral lands, closely related to the violence, intimidation and sexual assault. On threat that has often sacrificed the fabric of observers for not reaching minimal international realization of their collective cultural rights. 10 and 11 January 2015, for example, clashes established indigenous communities by displacing fair trial standards. On 18 November, the The Constitution of Bangladesh, through an between Jumma and Bengali communities them from their ancestral land, in the process Bangladesh Supreme Court rejected the amendment in 2011, asserts that ‘The people broke out during the inauguration of a college devastating their rich and irreplaceable heritage. death sentence appeal petitions of Ali Ahsan of Bangladesh shall be known as Bangalees in Rangamati, in the CHT, as Jumma student While across the region efforts are ongoing to Mohammed Mujahid of the Jamaat-e-Islami as a nation’, effectively creating an even more organizations began a protest calling for the improve stability through legal and political party and Salahuddin Qader Chowdhury of restrictive national identity that excludes the implementation of the peace accord. Two reforms, an essential element in achieving greater the BNP, both of whom were charged with indigenous non-Bengali population. While houses belonging to indigenous people were cohesion is to promote understanding and respect genocide for their role in killing Hindus, among the amendment also stated the importance of burnt to the ground, dozens were injured and a for the multitude of cultures coexisting in the other charges. Both were subsequently hanged protecting the ‘unique local culture and tradition curfew was imposed. The Kapaeeng Foundation region. on 22 November, despite accusations that the of the tribes, minor races, ethnic sects and documented continued harassment, arbitrary trials were politically motivated and allegations communities’, it disregarded calls to use the term arrests and torture of indigenous community Bangladesh of procedural misconduct, including arbitrary ‘indigenous peoples’ or ‘Adivasis’. members, including the extra-judicial killing of at Bangladesh, a predominantly ethnic Bengali limiting of witnesses. Indeed, the UN Committee on the Rights least 13 people. The Bangladesh Adivasi Women and Sunni Muslim country, is increasingly The public response to the hangings was of the Child, in its October 2015 Concluding Network (BAWN) has highlighted the increasing divided by the struggle between moderation polarized, with many major newspapers Observations, noted its general concern about prevalence of sexual assault and murders against and exclusion – a situation that leaves its ethnic supporting the decision, while Jamaat-e-Islami ‘the lack of recognition by the State party of indigenous women, with rape reportedly used and religious minorities vulnerable, particularly called for a nationwide strike. These most recent indigenous identity of the Adivasi indigenous by some Bengali settlers to instil fear in the during moments of political crisis. The ruling rulings, however, did not lead to widespread peoples’. This is reflected, for instance, in community and drive them off the land. party, the secular Awami League, continues to attacks on minorities, in contrast to the violence official educational policies. Although the 2010 Tourism too poses an increasing threat to the face strong resistance from opposition parties that had taken place after the execution of Jamaat- National Education Policy asserts that children rights of indigenous peoples. According to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat- e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah in 2013, have the right to be instructed in their mother CHT Accord, local indigenous communities must e-Islami, resulting in widespread street protests when minority Hindus were physically attacked tongue language, in practice education is largely be consulted in development that affects them, yet and a heavy-handed response from state security. and properties destroyed. Similar outbreaks in Bengali, with little emphasis on indigenous Jumma activists continue to report cases of land Within this wider political conflict, however, is occurred following the ICT ruling in February history or culture, leaving many students grabbing to accommodate tourism developments. the battle for the cultural identity of the state. 2013 against Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, when struggling with language barriers. Despite some So too in south-central Bangladesh, coastal While Bangladesh’s religious minorities, Dalits Hindu community leaders reported attacks on limited government efforts in recent years to tourism development has been destroying the and indigenous peoples continue to be pushed over 50 temples. support indigenous learning, the survival of many way of life of the indigenous Rakhine community to the margins, often violently, attacks against Hindus were not the only minorities targeted languages remains in the balance. in Kuakata. Land donated by the then prime atheists and secularists are also increasing. during 2015. Sectarian violence against Shi’a The 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace minister in 1999 for community improvement The year 2015 saw five people brutally hacked Muslims had been almost unheard of in Accord identifies the area as tribal, guaranteeing purposes has been illegally confiscated to build a to death in separate incidents throughout the Bangladesh, but on 24 October three bombs rights to self-governance and recognizing shopping complex in this resort town. Rakhine year. Avijit Roy, Oyasiqur Rhaman, Ananta Bijoy exploded during the Shi’a Ashura procession the cultural rights of the region’s indigenous have found it increasingly difficult to maintain Das, Niloy Neel and Faisal Arefin Dipan were in Dhaka, killing one and injuring dozens. communities, collectively known as Jumma. their distinct culture as their sacred waterways, all targeted for their books and blogs. Roy, Das The procession had reportedly been conducted The accord remains largely unimplemented, cremation grounds and temple lands are and Neel, who were from the minority Hindu peacefully for four centuries until the attacks. however, and the proportion of the indigenous reportedly under threat, damaged or occupied by community but were either avowed secularists or Then on 26 November, gunmen entered a Shi’a population in the area has steadily declined, new migrants to the area. Their Buddhist religious

128 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 129 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 internationally, achieved less welcome attention consultation with the Hazara people themselves, Case study by Nicole Girard in 2001 when Taliban dynamited them, leaving who Salsal and Shahmama have watched over behind little more than empty voids. While for centuries. What is certain is that their in the western media this wanton destruction physical destruction has not dulled the power Hazara heritage and has been characterized as an assertion of the and importance of the statues in the Hazara Taliban’s extreme reading of Islam, whereby imagination, reflected in their continued presence the uncertain future representations of human features in art is in storytelling, poetry and film. However the forbidden, the targeting of the statues was also dilemma of their future is resolved, it is essential of the Buddhas of an assertion of dominance over the Hazara and that the community is involved in any discussions their homeland. The destruction was in fact part and able to communicate their own feelings Bamiyan of a larger campaign by the Taliban to suppress about this vital part of their heritage. This would the rights and identity of the Hazara. In a private at least be a positive step towards realizing the Below: Photo showing where one of order to Taliban commanders in 2001, leader cultural rights of the Hazara and reversing a long the Bamiyan Buddhas used to stand. For the minority Hazaras, the Bamiyan valley Mullah Mohammed Omar specifically instructed history of discrimination. ■ Babak Fakhamzadeh. – the heart of the Hazarajat homeland in the that the Hazara’s cultural heritage be destroyed, central highlands of Afghanistan, where the and the Hazara celebration of Persian New Year, renowned Bamiyan Buddhas stood for centuries, Jashn‑e‑Nouroz, be prohibited. The order also carved into the side of a cliff – has long been a included forced land dispossession, anti-Shi’a symbol of their identity through generations of propaganda and restrictions on Hazara women, persecution, slavery and forced displacement. who generally maintained more freedom in their As Shi’a Muslims and a visible ethnic minority, society than other Afghan groups. Hazaras were killed in the thousands by the After the fall of the Taliban, the UN Taliban, the predominantly Pashtun movement Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization that follows a hard-line interpretation of Sunni (UNESCO) declared the remains of the destroyed Islam. These events followed years of systematic Bamiyan Buddhas a World Heritage Site. Various discrimination, displacement and targeted governments and international organizations have killings. While their situation has improved since contributed to discussions over their potential the fall of the Taliban government, with increased reconstruction. Yet the debates have highlighted access to universities and civil servant positions, the difficulties in balancing restoration and discrimination against them continues and they historical integrity with the wishes of minorities have regularly been targeted for abductions and – in particular, concerns about how to rebuild the other rights abuses. In November 2015, for statues faithfully and in line with conservation example, reports emerged that seven Hazaras, guidelines stipulating the use of original materials. including a woman and child, had been beheaded Many local Hazara have expressed their desire by militants who Afghan authorities claimed for the statues to be reconstructed, not only belonged to ISIS. to reassert their cultural identity but also for The Bamiyan Buddhas had long been central economic purposes as a boost to tourism in the to the identity of the Hazara community. area. Some have blamed the Afghan government Although not built by the Hazaras themselves, for not pushing harder for reconstruction, seeing who only came to have an ethno-linguistic the delays and vacillation as another example of identity based in the region some centuries discrimination against the Hazara community. later, they have their own myths associated with Now, the fate of the destroyed statues hangs the statues, unrelated to Buddhism. In Hazara in the balance. The government has reportedly folklore, the statues are of a star-crossed couple supported rebuilding the smaller of the two Salsal and Shahmama, whose doomed love ends Buddhas, although when a German team began tragically in both their deaths. The two remain rebuilding its feet in 2013 it was asked to stop: forever separated, petrified in stone, looking proceeding without using original materials across the Bamiyan valley. risked losing World Heritage status. As the debate However, the statues, long celebrated continues, decisions have been made with little

130 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 131 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 sites have also been destroyed and in some cases, Right: Dalit woman and child in India. ransacked: in 1906, there were 19 Buddhist Thessaly La Force. temples in the area, but today there is only one left. by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a right- For Bangladesh’s Dalit community, the year wing nationalist organization. As VHP members did not see any progress with the draft anti- consider Hinduism the original religion of all untouchability law that was submitted to the Indians before colonialism and proselytization, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary they have reportedly undertaken drives to Affairs in 2014. The draft intends to implement ‘reconvert’ minorities and indigenous tribes constitutional rights to non-discrimination for practising Christianity, Islam and other faiths. Bangladesh’s estimated 5.5 million Dalits. While A report released by the VHP during the year it had been accepted positively by the ministry, claimed to have ‘returned’ 33,975 people to Dalit rights advocates say the government is their ‘original’ faith between June 2014 and June stalling on enacting the legislation while Dalits 2015, while also preventing 48,651 conversions continue to suffer from discrimination in access to to other religions. Hindutva forces have in fact essential services, particularly water and sanitation been responsible for pushing for a national in urban housing. anti‑conversion law, often under the guise of freedom of religion laws, to prevent what they India see as mass conversions of Hindus to Christianity The year 2015 proved a critical test for Narendra and Islam. While similar laws exist in a handful Modi, the leader of the right-wing Hindu of states, they are not used to prevent conversions nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) elected to among religious minorities, Dalits and indigenous power the previous year. While many hoped that Adivasis; rather, these laws require either prior Modi might realize campaign promises to foster approval from district magistrates or that a local a strong multicultural India, for the most part official is informed. In any case, minority activists a Muslim man being beaten to death in Dadri, a centuries-old Muslim mosque in Ayodhya he has done little outside the scope of the BJP’s have criticized the proposed law as a means for Uttar Pradesh in late September, after rumours that some claimed had been built over a temple Hindutva, a potent form of ‘cultural nationalism’ the government to exert greater control over the spread that he had beef stored in his house. Modi erected at the birthplace of Ram. In 1992, Hindu that sees the state as Hindu and minority cultures religious rights of their communities. remained silent for weeks before describing the extremists destroyed the mosque and consecrated as a threat. Another source of contention in national incident as ‘saddening’, though he deflected blame a makeshift Ram temple in its place. While the These sentiments, actively encouraged by politics is the issue of beef slaughter, traditionally from the central government. A commission of incident immediately provoked riots across the Hindu extremists, appeared to be supported by taboo for devout Hindus as the cow is considered inquiry found the incident was premeditated and country that left more than 2,000 dead, the data from the country’s 2011 census released by sacred. One of Modi’s key election campaign not spontaneous as claimed by some BJP MPs, land dispute itself has remained unresolved for the government during the year, showing that points was a promise to curb the beef industry, and by December 15 people had been charged more than two decades. In April 2015, a court the Hindu population had dropped below 80 per run for the most part by India’s Muslim in the attack. Several other attacks followed, ruled that the land be split two-thirds to Hindu cent, the lowest level since independence, while community, once he came to power. While few including the murder of a Muslim headmaster by plaintiffs, and one-third to the Sunni Muslim the Muslim population has increased since the steps had been taken in the early part of 2015 a crowd in Manipur in November after he was Waqf Board – a judgment the latter stated it last census in 2001. However, while a simplistic to do so, some members of parliament (MPs) accused of allegedly stealing a calf. would challenge at the Supreme Court. In August reading of these figures could play into extremist became increasingly vocal in their calls for a ban, Communal violence remains a persistent the Supreme Court, although it did not yet make propaganda, commentators highlighted that with BJP Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar problem in India, often triggered by identity- a ruling, declared that Hindu worship at the growth rates across all communities are slowing Abbas Naqvi, who is Muslim, saying in May that, related issues such as music or religious temple could go on as usual. This case has been down, suggesting a stabilizing trend. As BJP ‘Those who are dying without eating beef, can go processions, and in turn heritage may often highly politicized, with VHP members apparently hard-liners have routinely exploited demographic to Pakistan.’ be a primary target during a violent outbreak. attempting to begin construction of the temple. fears for political gain, with one party member Not long before, the BJP-governed state of Arson attacks against mosques, temples and Another factor contributing to targeted violence calling in January for Hindu women to bear more Maharashtra, one of the few states where beef other important religious sites have frequently is the continued influence of India’s exclusionary children to protect the Hindu religion, it was still slaughter was still permitted in some form, preceded or accompanied wider outbreaks of caste system on its Dalit population, also known feared that the data could be used to deepen inter- banned the practice in March – a crime now violence. Increasing mutual respect and tolerance collectively as Scheduled Castes, who are among communal divisions. punishable with up to five years in prison and an for cultural differences is therefore an important the country’s most marginalized groups. Statistics This obsession with the erosion of Hindu INR 10,000 fine. dimension to conflict prevention and resolution released by the National Crime Records Bureau identity is also reflected in the practice of mass Amid these tensions, related attacks against between different religious communities. This in 2015 suggest a 19 per cent rise in violent conversions or ghar wapsi, carried out primarily Muslims dramatically increased, culminating in is illustrated by the case of the Babri Masjid, crimes against Dalits during 2014 compared

132 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 133 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 to the preceding year, following a 17 per cent used in parts of India to control movements in pressure and the clauses on consent remained in a fractured shoulder. A report by Amnesty rise in 2013, mostly committed by members of protected areas – to prevent those from outside the amendment. International confirmed these findings, accusing upper-caste groups. Some have suggested that Manipur from settling in the state. Although the Securing the rights of the country’s indigenous the government of systematically failing lower rising assertions of Dalit rights have triggered the push for the ILP was not successful, the Manipur peoples to their ancestral lands is essential for the castes, women and female-headed households, backlash, although Dalits still face considerable state assembly – in a move apparently designed to maintenance and transmission of their cultural disabled people and marginalized ethnic groups. obstacles in accessing justice. Dalit women, who appease protesters – quickly passed three bills on practices to the next generation. India’s Dongria The earthquake has aggravated existing face even greater discrimination than their male 31 August that proved to be highly controversial Kondh people of the Niyamgiri hill range in discrimination faced by Dalits, who are counterparts, are at particular risk of violence for the indigenous Naga and Kuki communities. Odisha state, for example, consider the mountain considered among the most marginalized in both from inside their community and at the While the bills attempted to limit migration into Niyam Dongar the seat of their god and believe Nepal and constitute some 14 per cent of the hands of the upper castes. the area, Naga and Kuki felt that they were passed that as the god’s descendants it is their duty to population. Dalits tend to live in remote, disaster- Despite ongoing violence, the Scheduled Castes without their free, prior and informed consent, protect the mountain, along with their identity prone areas, where they often perform dangerous and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) and that they infringed on their land rights and and traditions. Though the mountain was slated and low-skilled jobs. Nearly half of all Dalits Amendment Bill was passed, reportedly with would result in the eventual destruction of their to be mined, the Dongria Kondh won a rare live below the poverty line, compared to one- little debate, by the upper house of Parliament identities. Opposition protests broke out in early victory blocking the development in 2014. Since quarter of the general population. Lower-caste on 21 December. This progressive amendment September, MPs had their houses burned by then, however, the continued threat to their women, in particular, have struggled to access added new categories of offences, including: demonstrators and eight protesters were killed mountain, traditional lands and livelihoods – in post-earthquake aid, largely due to a lack of dedicating Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe by police. Opposition to the bills continued effect, their very identity – has hung over them. government information and difficulty reaching (SC/ST) women as devadasis (temple servants throughout the remainder of the year. ‘If they take away these rocks’, a Dongria man food distribution centres, according to the often forced to engage in sex); garlanding SC/ Negotiating a peace deal with Naga separatist explains of his mountain, ‘we’ll all die. We’ll lose Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO). FEDO ST persons with shoes (a traditional insult); using groups also proved to be a priority for Modi, our soul. Niyamgiri is our soul.’ is pushing to boost representation for Dalits on SC/ST persons to engage in manual scavenging with an unreleased ‘Framework Agreement’ Nepal’s district disaster risk reduction committees, or carcass removal; sexual abuse or advances signed between the Government of India and the Nepal which allocate support to survivors. against SC/ST women; and preventing the use National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak- Tragedy struck Nepal in late April when a 7.8 Nepal has struggled to approve a new of common property and wrongly occupying Muivah) (NSCN-IM) on 3 August. NSCN-IM is magnitude earthquake ripped through the Constitution since the end of its decade-long civil land of SC/ST persons, among others. Special one of a number of groups that have been fighting country, claiming the lives of over 8,000 people. A war and Maoist insurgency in 2006. The first courts are mandated to try these crimes. Though since before Indian independence to establish a second tremor struck the following month, razing Constituent Assembly – established to approve significant, the impacts of the amendments will homeland for Nagas, an indigenous people spread entire villages mostly in the country’s north. The the new Constitution – failed to reach consensus likely be limited if the broader shortcomings and throughout the north-east states. The agreement disasters exposed the deep-seated discrimination during a time of growing ethnic and religious biases of the justice system are not addressed. led to calls to repeal the Armed Forces Special faced by minorities and indigenous peoples fissures. No one ethnic group in Nepal constitutes According to the most recent available data from Powers Act (AFSPA) that still remains in place in the landlocked Himalayan nation. It also a numerical majority, although the Brahmin and the National Crime Records Bureau, from 2014, and gives security forces impunity for human pushed the government to adopt a controversial Chhetri hill communities hold political control. conviction rates for offenders remain very low rights violations. new Constitution, sparking months of political One of the key points of controversy surrounding at just 28.8 per cent. Similarly, the International Finally, Modi also made attempts to enforce friction and a deadly humanitarian blockade. the Constitution has been the nature of federalism Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) reports that less provisions in the 2006 Forest Rights Act (FRA), The Nepali government quickly came under and political representation of minorities. Spurred than 2 per cent of rape cases against Dalit women an important piece of legislation that could fire for excluding lower-caste and indigenous by April’s disaster, the parliament rushed to result in convictions, compared to 25 per cent potentially secure the rights of India’s indigenous communities, including women, from vital post- approve a new Constitution in September 2015, against women in India generally. Adivasi communities to their customary lands earthquake relief. According to a report by the with 507 out of 601 members of the Constituent Many of India’s indigenous peoples also struggle and forests. Implementation of the FRA has been IDSN, some 60 per cent of Dalits felt there had Assembly voting in favour. However, the process with exclusion and land rights issues, often extremely slow until now, with collective claims been intentional negligence in the provision of was engulfed by controversy, with Nepal’s exacerbated by conflicts with other groups in their languishing in bureaucratic processes and less rescue and humanitarian assistance in the wake Madhesi and Tharu minorities staging violent territories. During 2015, violence flared up in than 2 per cent of potential claims reportedly of the tragedy due to caste-based discrimination. protests against the draft legislation, which they the north-eastern state of Manipur. Meiteis have resolved. On 23 June, however, Modi issued a The study found that a majority of affected believe marginalizes their rights. Many minorities traditionally resided in the valley of Manipur, and directive to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs calling Dalits remained homeless over a month after the and indigenous communities want a federal government policies have frequently had the effect for the implementation of the FRA by granting disaster, when nearly 80 per cent of higher-caste structure divided along ethnic lines, while the of pitting them against hill-residing indigenous land rights to Adivasis within the next two communities had received tents or tarpaulins. new Constitution splits the country into seven communities, including Naga and Kuki. Protests months. These instructions came as a surprise to It also concluded that non-Dalits had been geographically demarcated provinces. Critics began to be organized in July, coordinated mostly many, as Modi had also this year been pushing prioritized for rescue efforts in the crucial days said that minorities and indigenous peoples from by Meitei student organizations, pushing for the for an amendment to the Land Acquisition Bill following the earthquake. One Dalit woman was Nepal’s Terai plains, who make up over half of reinstatement of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) that would remove community consent clauses, verbally and physically assaulted while standing the population, were under-represented in the system – a form of colonial-era regulation still though by August the government bowed to in line for humanitarian relief, leaving her with country’s new 165-member parliament, initially

134 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 135 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 allocated a mere 65 seats. By contrast, Nepal’s undesirable population growth. As such, Nepali by the authorities and is now being developed terrorism from Pakistan. mountain and hill people – dominated by higher- women have effectively been branded second- into a large business complex in the tourist Though insecurity has persisted, the number of caste Hindus – are allotted 100 seats in the new class citizens. Among the most severely affected district of Thamel. As a result, they have lost sectarian fatalities of religious minorities fell by 35 parliament, thus favouring the established ruling are Madhesi women in the southern Terai region, access to a pond considered holy from which they per cent during 2015 compared to the previous elite. Madhesis and Tharus, who constitute most where marriages across the Indian border are used to bring water and lotus flowers for worship year, with the situation particularly improving in of the Terai population, say they were sidelined common. Lower-caste and socially marginalized at a nearby monastery as part of a daily ritual. A the second half of 2015. However, this decline during the constitutional drafting process due minorities are likely to be hit the hardest, nearby stone used for death rites was also lost. It was lower than the reduction in violent killings to distrust towards them among the mainstream potentially fuelling statelessness in southern reflects how the country’s ‘top-down’ approach in general, which over the year as a whole fell by political parties. Nepal. to development, driven by the ruling elite, has 40 per cent. In fact, in the first quarter of 2015 As a result, Madhesis staged a blockade along Hindu nationalists also called during the year served to further marginalize and entrench fatalities among minorities actually rose by 38 per key trade routes with India, preventing essential for Nepal to formally adopt the majority faith as discrimination against Nepal’s indigenous peoples. cent compared to the same period in 2014, while goods such as food, fuel and medicine from its state religion. In the end, Nepal’s parliament Newari traditions have had an enormous general conflict-related fatalities were 20 per cent reaching the country, causing prices to soar. The ruled that the Constitution should remain impact on the country’s cultural heritage, lower – a disparity that suggests that minorities crisis escalated when India refused to let further secular, reflecting the diversity of the country’s especially in the Kathmandu Valley, where the do not necessarily benefit equally from security vehicles enter in what Nepal claimed was a display religious groups, including sizeable Buddhist, community comprises a sizeable part of the efforts. But while perceptions of the NAP’s effects of support for the Madhesis, who share cultural Christian, Kirat and Muslim minorities. The population. Practising a mixture of Hinduism, have been mixed, with some crediting it for the and linguistic ties with people in Uttar Pradesh decision sparked violent protests in the capital Buddhism and ancestor-worship, the Newaris improved security situation while others have and Bihar states. By the end of the year, the World Kathmandu, where nationalists torched vehicles have built the vast majority of Kathmandu’s criticized its expansion of military powers, the Food Programme was warning of an impending and looted churches. But in fact Nepal’s famed cultural and religious sites, which draw plan’s acknowledgement of the specific situation humanitarian catastrophe unless a political Constitution continues to favour the Hindu faith thousands of visitors each year. For example, of minorities– including its aim to ‘stop religious resolution could be reached. Dalits and remote by defining secularism as ‘religious and cultural the UNESCO-listed Durbar Square and extremism and to protect religious minorities’, indigenous communities struggling to recover freedom including protection of religion and Swayambhunath complex are based on Newari as well as curb hate speech – are unusual in their from the earthquake were severely affected by the culture prevalent since ancient time’. Another architectural and cultural traditions. Durbar acknowledgement of the specific situation of blockade. For example, Dalit labourers found clause imposes criminal penalties for those who Square was severely damaged in the 2015 minorities. themselves unemployed as construction sites were convert Nepalis to another faith, clearly intended earthquake, which flattened numerous historic Whether this will achieve a lasting impact for closed down. In January 2016 the government as an effort to protect Hinduism. It poses serious stupas and temples. Newari heritage suffered minorities, however, remains to be seen. Despite agreed to a number of amendments that would problems for freedom of religion and conversions similar damage in a 1934 earthquake, resulting the weakening of extremist outfits such as the grant the Madhesis and Tharus greater political in Nepal, raising the possibility of selective in some structures being rebuilt without due Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and the decrease in representation. However, disputing parties failed enforcement. consideration for their original architectural overall sectarian violence, 2015 saw increased to reach agreement on boundary delineation and The Constitution also retains the cow as the style. Nevertheless, the durability of the Newari numbers of Shi’a killed in sectarian attacks the protests only came to an end when fatigued national symbol of Nepal, fusing the country’s architectural style has also been credited with compared to the previous year. In January, Madhesi traders tore down the border blockade cultural identity with Hinduism, officially protecting some key temples – such as the Jundallah – an offshoot of the TTP, which has the following month. practised by some 80 per cent of the population Kumari Ghar or home for a child ‘living goddess’ pledged allegiance to ISIS – bombed a Shi’a The Constitution has also attracted criticism (although this number is disputed by minority – from damage in April’s earthquake, while mosque in Shikarpur, Sindh province, killing 60 for some of its other provisions. For example, activists). Nepal already imposes a 12-year jail other nearby temples mimicking the design but people. Just over two weeks later in Peshawar, Nepali women are still unable to pass on their sentences for cattle-slaughter, impinging on not the traditional techniques crumbled. It is another Shi’a mosque was targeted during Friday citizenship to their children unless the father is the cultural rights of the country’s indigenous therefore imperative that Nepal’s post-earthquake prayers by the TTP, leaving at least 20 dead. Later, also a citizen. Children born to Nepali mothers peoples. According to the Lawyers’ Association reconstruction process is inclusive and sensitive to in December 2015, LeJ claimed responsibility for and foreign fathers are barred from holding a high for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous cultural traditions. a bombing in Parachinar in the north‑west tribal political office as they can only obtain ‘naturalized Peoples and National Coalition Against Racial region, killing at least 22 Shi’a. citizenship’. This appears to be rooted in Discrimination, this policy ‘historically has Pakistan Particularly vulnerable to attack and with patriarchal notions of Hindu-based nationalism, been used to carry out the State’s forced cultural The tragic events of December 2014 at the Army limited government protection are Pakistan’s Shi’a which perceives women – especially from the assimilation of indigenous peoples and to forge a Public School in Peshawar cast a long shadow Hazara, who suffer intersectional discrimination marginalized Madhesi minority inhabiting the homogenous identity for Nepali citizens’. over Pakistan in 2015. Following the attack by the as a visible ethnic minority as well as for their plains near the Indian border – as potential Nepal’s indigenous peoples faced continued Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that claimed faith. Living mostly in Quetta, Baluchistan, threats to national security. The provision has encroachments of their land and cultural rights at 141 lives, including 132 children, the government in recent years Hazara have increasingly been come under fire from women’s and human rights the hands of the high-caste Hindu elite based in introduced a 20-point National Action Plan targeted by Sunni militant groups such as the activists, but male politicians have defended it Kathmandu during 2015. For example, ancestral (NAP) that relinquished greater political authority LeJ and TTP. In late May, five members of the as necessary to prevent men from neighbouring land belonging to the indigenous Newar people to the military and introduced a broad range community in Quetta were killed in two separate countries marrying Nepali women and creating of the Kathmandu Valley was unlawfully snatched of measures with the stated aim of eradicating shootings, followed by the deaths of five more

136 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 137 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 Hazara in June. In early July two brothers were accused of blasphemy continue to languish ability to adopt a child. Finally, after decades of While the UN says the figure is closer to 4,000, shot and killed when queuing at a passport office in prison. This includes Asia Bibi, a Christian legal limbo, in a landmark decision in February it has also been reported that as many as 10,000 in Quetta. Other Shi’a sub-sect communities such woman on death row since her conviction in 2016, the Sindh Provincial Assembly approved Pakistani Christians are living ‘under the radar’ in as Ismailis have also been increasingly targeted, a high-profile blasphemy case in 2010. In July the Hindu Marriage Bill, marking the first time Thailand. with 43 killed in a single attack in May when 2015 the Supreme Court agreed to suspend her Hindu marriage laws have been codified in a The rising climate of intolerance has also put gunmen stormed a bus in Karachi. execution to hear an appeal against her sentence, province of Pakistan. This similarly benefits at risk the existence of some smaller religious Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya community, long although no date was set. In October she was Sindh’s Zoroastrian and Sikh populations, who minority groups, some of which have not typically persecuted at both a popular and official level, placed in solitary confinement after threats to her can also register their marriages under this been the target of violence. This includes Pakistani continued to be targeted in religiously motivated life following the Court’s decision to uphold the new law. A national law that would apply to Parsis who, as vulnerable minorities in an unstable attacks during the year, primarily in Punjab and death sentence of Mumtaz Qadri, who murdered Baluchistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab – environment, have been prompted to leave the Sindh, including in October when gunmen Salmaan Taseer. Following Qadri’s hanging in all of which have passed resolutions allowing the country in recent years, speeding the dwindling injured a man and his nephews in Karachi as February 2016, protests against the execution federation to legislate on the matter – is currently of their community. For Pakistan’s small Zikri they returned home from worship. In November and in support of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have under consideration, but progress has been stalled population, rising extremism – including the in Jhelum, Punjab, a mob set fire to an Ahmadi- occurred across the country. partially due to a controversial clause in the draft appearance of pro-ISIS graffiti in south-west owned factory following rumours of blasphemy In addition to everyday discrimination bill that states that a marriage will be annulled if Pakistan – has fuelled fear in the community. allegations against the factory owner and Ahmadi in education and employment, Pakistan’s any spouse converts to another religion. Hindus Following violent attacks in 2014, and the murder workers, and it was not until the army intervened Christian community also experienced a rise are also harshly stigmatized in government school of six Zikris by Lashkar-e-Khurasan militants in that the situation calmed. In the wake of the in violent attacks in 2015. In March, a Taliban textbooks, and their places of worship continue to August 2015, many Zikris have been forced to attacks, some Ahmadi women in Jhelum were offshoot bombed two churches in a Christian be targeted. conceal their identity and flee their historic homes forced to remove their distinctive burqas and neighbourhood of Lahore, killing 15 people Other groups besides religious minorities to other parts of the country. cover their heads with scarves to avoid detection. and injuring more than 70 who were attending also experienced discrimination in Pakistan in Sikhs, many of whom now live in the north- The following day the community suffered a Sunday mass. The attack sparked a strong reaction 2015. Afghan refugees, many of whom have west of the country and whose heritage stretches subsequent attack when a crowd set fire to a from the Christian community, with violent been living in the country for decades, saw their back 500 years to when the religion was founded local Ahmadi place of worship. The persecution protests and the killing of two men accused of situation worsen following the introduction of in what is now Pakistan, have also been compelled of Ahmadis in Pakistan is encouraged by a involvement in the two bombings. Following the the NAP, with harsher limits on legal residency to leave the country in increasing numbers. constitutionally sanctioned legal regime, broadly immolation of a 14-year-old Christian boy by two encouraging greater levels of police harassment Migration spiked following violence targeting the referred to as the ‘anti-Ahmadi laws’. men in Lahore, in May a mentally ill Christian and extortion. Meanwhile, in the context of the community in mid 2014. For the first time, police Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws, often man accused of blasphemy narrowly avoided the continued separatist struggle in Baluchistan, and CCTV cameras were deployed at the two used to settle personal scores and achieve political same fate at the hands of a mob before police disappearances, torture and extra-judicial killings remaining Sikh temples in Peshawar and 1,000 gains, continued to disproportionately impact intervened to arrest him and after which local of armed separatists and activists by security forces police were dispatched to protect worshippers Pakistan’s minority communities. Yet in a Christian homes were ransacked, forcing some reportedly continue, sustained by a climate of during the Baisakhi festival to mark the Sikh new positive step, a recent Supreme Court judgment to flee. Later in 2015, a Christian couple in impunity. In April 2015, just after hosting a small year in 2015. acknowledged that criticizing or reforming Sheikhupura, Punjab, were attacked by a crowd panel discussion on Baluchistan’s ‘disappeared In a recent act of symbolic importance, blasphemy laws does not itself constitute after local clerics accused them of committing people’, prominent Pakistan human rights activist however, the Hindu celebration of Diwali was blasphemy. An October judgment then cautioned blasphemy. The situation shows little sign of Sabeen Mahmud was assassinated. Mahmud was officially designated a public holiday in Sindh that, according to Islam, a false accusation abating: 2016 began grimly with an arson attack the director of T2F café, an arts and social forum province. Celebrations in Karachi were joined by of blasphemy could be as serious a crime as on a church in Lahore, and the burning of Bibles in Karachi. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who delivered an committing blasphemy itself. Still, the process and other Christian literature at a church in Violent attacks and discrimination against address in which he expressed his solidarity with of reforming the country’s blasphemy laws has Kasur, plus an attack against Christians who were minorities have been legitimated by the gradual all victims of violence, no matter their religion. remained at a standstill, in part due to a climate privately worshiping in Sialkot. development of a rigid national narrative that, Earlier, in April, the Supreme Court of Pakistan of intimidation against reformers, such as the Recent years have also seen Christian girls in the decades following Partition, has included issued a ruling on the rebuilding of a Hindu assassinated minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti increasingly subjected to abduction, forced the renaming of streets and towns, as well as the temple in Karak district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer. While met marriage and conversion to Islam. Yet such deliberate abandonment of cultural practices – an issue that had led to a rift between local with scepticism, another notable development was acts have typically and more frequently been such as minority religious festivals. Despite the religious leaders and the Hindu minority the announcement by the head of the Council committed against Hindu girls and women, resilience of Pakistan’s minority communities, community. The Court ordered that the temple, of Islamic Ideology (CII) of his willingness to who are especially vulnerable due to the lack of this repression has often left minorities with destroyed by extremists in 1997, be restored by review the country’s blasphemy laws to determine Hindu marriage laws. This has deprived Hindu little choice but to flee the country. In Sindh, provincial authorities. if they are Islamic, requesting the government to women of basic documentation to prove their historically known for its tolerance and pluralism, Through teaching methods and materials, officially refer the law to the CII. marital status or identity, as well as restricted rising extremism has compelled large numbers schools in Pakistan have long propagated Members of Pakistan’s minority communities their access to divorce, inheritance, visas or the of Hindus to leave their historic homeland. exclusionary views concerning the historical

138 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 139 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 Left: Members of Pakistan’s Sikh minority pray at transitional justice, including meeting their own a temple in Hassanabdal. Jared Ferrie/MRG. pledges to form a TRC and to set up an office of missing persons and reparations, while in addition opposition UNP secured 106 seats of the 225 calling for the setting up of an investigative available and its leader Ranil Wickremasinge, mechanism on the lines of OHCHR’s together with Sirisena, formed a ‘national unity’ recommendations. government. In a significant and reconciliatory While the government of Sri Lanka has taken move, the new parliament appointed steps towards meeting some of their commitments Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil under the resolution, it is still unclear if and how Nationalist Alliance (TNA) – considered the such a hybrid accountability mechanism will political proxy of the Tamil Tigers during Sri be set up. In December, a former commission Lanka’s armed conflict – as opposition leader. investigating disappearances accepted that some Other immediate measures taken by the Sirisena breach of international laws had taken place, government to win the confidence of minorities but went on to argue they were not systematic. included appointing the country’s first Tamil chief The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice justice and removing a controversial Sinhalese has warned that such comments are dangerous former military official from the post of governor and may undermine the transitional justice of the Northern Province. process. Recent contradictory statements from In February 2015, the new Sri Lankan the country’s president and prime minister have government successfully postponed a vote on a caused further confusion, and cast doubts over the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution government’s commitment towards a transitional that, building on previous resolutions, was justice process. While noting the progress made expected to call for an international mechanism by the government towards such a process to investigate and prosecute violations of following his visit to Sri Lanka, the UN Special and contemporary place of religious minorities targeted human rights violations since he took international laws in the last stages of the armed Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, in society, while also restricting minorities office in 2005, as well as Muslims, who since conflict. Mandated by the HRC to investigate reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, from learning about their religious and cultural the end of the armed conflict have been victims these violations, the UN Office of the High Pablo de Greiff, warned in April that there could heritage. However, in a positive move, in January of hate campaigns and attacks by Sinhalese Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) be ‘no shortcuts’ to reconciliation and called for a 2016 it was announced that, from 1 April 2016, Buddhist nationalist groups. Rajapakshe had on 15 September released its long-awaited report state policy centred on human rights. a book called Ikhlaqiat (‘Ethics’) will be included been exceptionally popular among the majority to the Council. The OHCHR report confirmed In October, Tamils detained under the in all Sindh public school curriculums, allowing Sinhalese after leading the country’s military, victim accounts of war crimes and reported that, Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) went on a minority students to study teachings of religions in May 2009, to defeat the Liberation Tigers of from 2002 to 2011, ‘horrific levels of violations five-day hunger strike demanding their release, such as Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism, Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who were fighting for a and abuse’ had been committed by all parties highlighting the complex and vast range of instead of requiring solely Islamic studies. separate homeland for minority Tamils in the to the conflict in Sri Lanka. Additionally, it minority rights violations needing redress by north and east. Hundreds of thousands of Tamil concluded that the country’s judicial system is the government. According to a report by the Sri Lanka civilians were trapped in the last stages of fighting incapable of investigating and prosecuting such human rights group Watchdog, of the 181 The year 2015 ushered in fresh hopes for Sri and both parties have been accused of violating crimes, nor could it be trusted by victims to do officially accounted for PTA detainees, 5 have Lanka’s minorities with the surprise defeat of international human rights and humanitarian so following the failure of similar investigative been remanded for up to 19 years without a Mahinda Rajapakshe in the 8 January presidential laws. mechanisms in the past. The report proposed a clear verdict, another spent 15 years in prison elections and the appointment of former health Sirisena formed his cabinet with the leadership hybrid court formed of national and international without a formal charge, while the large majority minister Maithripala Sirisena as the country’s of the main opposition United National Party judges. Just days preceding the release of the of those arrested recently have yet to be formally Executive President. Rajapakshe, whose (UNP) and immediately pledged to work towards report, Sri Lanka’s new Foreign Minister Mangala charged. Many have also reported being tortured government had been widely accused of serious reconciliation between all communities. In July, Samaraweera, addressing the HRC, accepted while in detention. Towards the end of the human rights violations, including war crimes Sirisena dissolved parliament and called for a the limitations of the local judicial system and year, the government announced it was looking during the last stages of the armed conflict in parliamentary election. Rajapakshe attempted outlined an ambitious plan towards ensuring into repealing the PTA and in December the 2009, was defeated in large part due to minority to make a return to power by suggesting he justice for victims, including appointing a truth government signed the UN Convention for voters, who voted against him in significant would have to be appointed prime minister if his and reconciliation commission (TRC). On 1 the Protection of All Persons from Enforced numbers. The defeat of Rajapakshe brought political party gained the largest number of seats October 2015, the HRC unanimously adopted Disappearance – both positive steps towards new hopes and aspirations for the country’s in parliament. Despite a tense and closely fought, a landmark resolution that committed the guaranteeing minority rights. Tamils, who had faced increasing incidents of yet remarkably peaceful, election campaign, the government to a series of critical steps towards The legacy of Sri Lanka’s bitter decades-

140 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 141 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 long conflict continues to be felt, however, While land rights and justice are central identities inclusive, in many countries across Rohingya Muslims in western Burma, but also particularly in the north and east of the country elements in the country’s efforts at reconciliation, the region discriminatory policy and practices ethnic Indian and Chinese residents – were where a large proportion of the country’s Tamil culture and freedom of expression have been remain. Thailand, for example, has an almost stripped of their voting rights due to concerns minority reside. Over years of fighting between marginalized, particularly after decades of exclusive Thai-language policy in schools. about their citizenship. This represented a the forces of the Sinhalese majority government repressive policies by the Sri Lankan government Officials have refused mother-tongue education complete change of policy from all previous and LTTE militants, these regions experienced that saw religious practices prohibited and reforms, arguing that this would pose a threat elections, including the 1990 election won by huge upheaval due to large-scale displacement, heritage destroyed. These problems persist to to the centrality of Thai language, leading to the NLD but later annulled by the junta. The thousands of extra-judicial killings and the this day, with the Oakland Institute reporting in poor performance and high drop-out rates decision was broadly viewed as an effort to increasing militarization of public life – issues 2015 a ‘silent war’ replacing the armed conflict, among minorities and indigenous peoples. In placate escalating hostility towards the Rohingya, that are still affecting daily life in the areas with continuing militarization, displacement Cambodia, old animosity towards the Vietnamese who are treated as interlopers from Bangladesh today. In particular, since the end of the armed and Sinhalization in minority areas, reflected administration continues to fuel discrimination and heavily persecuted. By June, some 100,000 conflict there have been a number of reports in the construction of Buddhist shrines and against ethnic Vietnamese, who are provided were estimated to have fled the country by by international and national human rights victory monuments that affirm Sinhalese control. with no space to be part of the cultural-imaging boat since the outbreak of communal violence organizations documenting cases of sexual assault Research by Minority Rights Group International of Cambodia, which continues to emphasize ‘the in 2012, culminating in Southeast Asia’s worst and violence against Tamil women. In May, has highlighted similar findings, including the Khmer people’. In Burma, Buddhist extremists refugee crisis in decades. violent clashes broke out between protesters and taking over of land for Buddhist religious sites, are leading campaigns against Muslim cultural Anti-Muslim sentiments have continued to police in the northern city of Jaffna over failures the emergence of Buddhist symbols and places of practices, such as women’s head coverings, with thrive as a monk-led nationalist organization, to swiftly investigate the rape of a Tamil girl. worship in minority areas – in some cases where the complicit support of the government. known under its Burmese acronym Ma Ba Soon after the incident, President Sirisena visited no Buddhists resided – and the denial of Tamils’ While minority or indigenous cultural Tha, has gained prominence. The group the family of the victim and assured immediate access to Hindu places of worship and cultural manifestations are often actively targeted by launched an aggressive campaign to slander the action. In October, the Jaffna District court sites. Protecting Tamil and Muslim culture in the extremists, another challenge is that their opposition party ahead of Burma’s election, convicted four soldiers for the rape of a Tamil north and east, as well as reducing the pressures traditions and identities may simply be fuelling suspicion that Ma Ba Tha enjoys woman in 2010, the first ever conviction of posed by militarization and rapid in-migration, overlooked. For example, in a region where so political backing from the army-affiliated Union military personnel by a local court, making it a will therefore be an essential element in ensuring many of the economies are based on natural Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). In groundbreaking victory for minority women. peace and reconciliation in the country. Measures resource extraction, the importance of these August, President Thein Sein signed into law the While the civil conflict was primarily between adopted by Sirisena since the beginning of territories to the cultural beliefs and practices last of four controversial ‘race protection laws’ authorities and the Tamil minority, Sri Lanka’s 2015, such as allowing the national anthem of indigenous peoples is often sidelined by proposed by Ma Ba Tha to curtail the rights of small Muslim minority were also deeply affected to be sung in Tamil in Colombo after years of decision-makers promoting development – a religious minorities and women. Speaking at by the civil conflict and many are still in a unofficial restrictions, as well as reframing the process that not only displaces them from their rallies during the election campaign, prominent limbo decades after being displaced from their commemoration of the end of the conflict not ancestral lands, but also excludes them from vital nationalist monks likened the NLD to a ‘Muslim homelands. October saw Sri Lanka’s northern as a ‘victory day’ but a day of remembrance, are livelihoods and spiritual sites. party’ and urged voters to back the USDP. Muslims mark 25 years of being forcibly evicted important steps forward. The opposition party subsequently scrubbed by Tamil militants in what was the country’s Burma/Myanmar all Muslim candidates from its candidacy list, largest single case of ethnic cleansing during the The year 2015 marked a milestone for Burma as while the election commission blocked almost conflict. Some of them, now numbering close it held its first openly contested general election all independent Rohingya politicians from to 300,000, remain in displacement camps in Southeast since the end of 50 years of military dictatorship. participating. Burma’s parliament will now poor conditions, emphasizing the importance of The opposition National League for Democracy include no Muslims for the first time since including the concerns of the Muslim population (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, achieved a independence. in any transitional justice arrangement. Since Asia landslide victory, securing 77 per cent of seats Ma Ba Tha’s crusade has further restricted the end of the conflict a hate campaign, led by in parliament and ousting the military-backed the space for Muslims to practise their faith and the Buddhist extremist organization Bodu Bala Nicole Girard and Hanna Hindstrom ruling party. But this historic moment was culture in a country dominated by Buddhist Sena (BBS), has targeted Muslims and focused overshadowed by religious and ethnic frictions, religious rites. This year, the group began a particularly on the community’s religious and One of the most significant barriers to the fuelled by a Buddhist nationalist movement that campaign to ban Muslims from slaughtering cows social practices, such as their dress codes, prayer realization of minority and indigenous cultural is playing an increasingly destructive role in the (considered sacred among many Buddhists in rituals and halal slaughter methods. In December, rights in Southeast Asia is ethno-religious country’s politics. Burma) during the annual Eid al-Adha festival. the Sri Lanka Muslim Council warned that the prejudice, often based on exclusive nationalist Millions of ethnic and religious minorities were As a result, Muslims were forced to keep their BBS was attempting to reignite their campaign agendas, whereby the cultures of minorities prevented from voting in the November poll, festivities low-key out of fear of violent reprisals. against Muslims by claiming that they were and indigenous peoples are for the most part either as a result of conflict or discriminatory In the Irrawaddy delta, radical monks worked harbouring extremists who were planning a neither recognized nor respected. Although electoral rules. Notably, hundreds of thousands with the local authorities to shut down Muslim- terrorist attack in the country. there have been efforts to make national of temporary identity card holders – mostly owned cattle slaughter houses and beef processing

142 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 143 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 Left: Rohingya in Burma. United to End and failure to address urgent political issues, such Genocide. as the structure of federalism, natural resource revenue sharing and military impunity. Minority junta in 1989. The government presented the women say they have been systematically decision to change the country’s official name excluded from the peace process, allotted only 3 from ‘Burma’ to ‘Myanmar’ the same year as an out of 96 spots on three ceasefire implementation effort to dismantle the last vestiges of colonialism committees. – since the former was used by the British. Suu Kyi has pledged to prioritize minority However, it also led to the deliberate erasure of rights and the peace process in her new ethnic minority heritage and languages as many government, but many difficult questions remain. names were ‘Burmanized’ and subsequently lost For example, the NLD has signalled that it will their original meaning. This policy of sidelining appoint the chief ministers of ethnic minority minority cultural expressions persists to this day, states, despite widespread calls for them to be as reflected in February 2016 when authorities democratically elected by the local populations. refused to allow Karen and Chin cultural groups In many areas the NLD’s electoral success came to celebrate their national days in Yangon. And at the expense of smaller ethnically-based parties, on the rare occasions the government has sought which now risk being sidelined in Burma’s to showcase its diversity, its representation is democratization process. The NLD has also said carefully choreographed: for example, at the 2014 that it will not be pushing for retribution against ASEAN Summit in Naypyidaw, when ethnic the former military junta, instead focusing Burmans donned indigenous outfits to welcome on ‘national reconciliation’. Instead Suu Kyi delegates at the start of the event. has insisted her party will respect the political The imposition of Burman culture, language role of the military, which retains a quarter and religion was seen by the military as a tool of parliamentary seats under Burma’s 2008 facilities, claiming to ‘protect’ the Buddhist of promoting Buddhism as the de facto state to unite the country without having to address Constitution and handpicks the heads of key philosophy. Ma Ba Tha is also now pushing for religion and other faiths are prohibited from underlying concerns about human rights and government ministries, including that of border a ban on Muslim headwear in schools. Similar constructing new houses of worship. This ban self-determination. Shortly after General Ne Win affairs. problems have been reported in Yangon, where has been acutely felt by ethnic minority and first seized power in 1962, he banned minority Buddhist hard-liners have lobbied to stop indigenous communities that predominantly media from publishing in their local languages. Cambodia Muslims from using a local madrasa to pray. practise Christianity, such as the Chin, Kachin All publications had to first be translated into Proceedings under the UN-backed Extraordinary In Rakhine state, Rohingya Muslims live in and Karen. For example, in the impoverished Burmese before passing through the censorship Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) isolated ghettoes and unsanitary displacement Chin state, in January a community elder was board, creating significant obstacles to free continued throughout 2015, with the first camps which they can only leave if they have taken to court for erecting a 54-foot-high cross speech and cultural expression. Despite the testimony related to charges of genocide against an official permit. The community does not the previous year without permission from recent relaxation of censorship, the oppression Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge’s ‘Brother Number have access to higher education, health care and the authorities. A 2012 report by the Chin of minority media continues to be felt today, Two’ and former head of state Khieu Samphan. employment opportunities, let alone the right Human Rights Organization had also exposed with smaller press groups struggling to compete In September, the court heard from survivors of to practise their culture freely. The Burmese the systematic practice of forced conversions at with larger, better funded, Burman-dominated the regime’s policies, as prosecutors assembled government, which describes the minority as government-sponsored border areas’ development institutions. a case for genocide, that Cham Muslims and ‘Bengalis’, has led a systematic campaign to erase schools. Many of these policies are rooted in the In February, fresh conflict broke out along ethnic Vietnamese were particularly targeted the Rohingya name and ethnic identity from the junta’s long-running strategy of ‘Myanmaification’ Burma’s north-eastern frontier when ethnic for extermination. The closing order detailing country’s history. Rohingyas are prevented from (or Burmanization) of ethnic minority areas, Kokang rebels re-emerged from China to charges against the defendants noted that 36 per marrying, bearing children or accessing medical where separatist insurgencies have festered retake land snatched by the army in 2009. The cent of Cham died during the Khmer Rouge care without official permission, and security for many decades. Until 2014, minority and Burmese army continues to launch attacks on regime, between 1975 and1979, compared to forces have been implicated in mass violence indigenous communities were forbidden from ethnic Kachin, Shan and Ta’ang rebels who have 19 per cent of the majority Khmer population against them. A report by the advocacy group learning their own languages at school, and even declined to participate in the current ceasefire during the same period. The Khmer Rouge Fortify Rights concluded that there was ‘strong now children are only able to take extracurricular process, and reports of attacks and sexual violence also set out to destroy their culture, burning evidence’ that genocide was taking place, calling classes in their mother tongues. against minority communities are common. Qur’ans, prohibiting Cham from speaking their on the UN to set up a commission of inquiry to One key legacy of this process is the In October, only eight armed groups signed a language and forcing them to eat pork, while also investigate abuses. Burmanization of ethnic minority names and national ceasefire agreement in Naypyidaw. The consciously setting out to erase their traditional The Burmese government has a long history cities, which were abruptly changed by the process has been criticized for its lack of inclusion way of life by dispersing communities across the

144 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 145 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 country. Many Cham were executed simply on owning land, many settle by rivers and lakes. In Sam Al noted how important it was to protect the Ahmadis and Shi’a, endure regular threats and the basis of their identity. In October, testimony June, local authorities announced the eviction cultures of indigenous peoples, but then went on intimidation. The Ahmadiyya sect was formally detailed equally grim recollections of targeted of over 40 ethnic Vietnamese families living on to explain that the agricultural industry was trying branded heretical by the Indonesian Ulema killings resulting in the deaths of an estimated the Mekong River in Kandal province, despite ‘to create jobs for our people, so hopefully they Council, the country’s top Islamic body, in 20,000 ethnic Vietnamese. previously recognizing their residency; the families don’t have to depend on the forests any more’ – 2005, and is prevented from proselytizing and Progress was also made in cases against Meas requested a postponement to allow them to sell instead, he said, they could ‘depend on something constructing new houses of worship. However, Muth, a Khmer Rouge navy commander, who their fish stocks. Similarly, in October the eviction else, like a skill’. His comments reflect a pervasive activists have argued that the proposed new finally appeared in court in December after of around 1,000 ethnic Vietnamese families living ignorance about the central value of local eco- law does not go far enough and includes he had been charged in absentia earlier in the on Tonle Sap lake began as part of a beautification systems, ancestral land and traditional livelihoods vague provisions that allow the government to year. His case had genocide charges added to project that would require them to be relocated, for indigenous peoples, particularly non-tangible discriminate against minorities in the name of it in March, though these did not detail which despite having resided there for decades. elements such as sacred beliefs – considerations ‘national security’. minority group had been targeted. Testimony According to the International Federation frequently sidelined by careless planning. Indeed, the year saw an escalation in attacks against him towards the end of year included for Human Rights, land dispossession increased The ongoing construction of the Lower Sesan and restrictions placed on some minority allegations of mass killings of ethnic Vietnamese. during 2014 and the first quarter of 2015. While 2 dam in Stung Treng province, to be completed faiths. Indonesia’s Christian community, which Charges against Ao An, also known as Ta An, the threat of land grabbing affects majority Khmer in 2017, illustrates this tendency. One of the constitutes some 10 per cent of the population, an acting secretary in the regime’s central zone, communities as well, Cambodia’s indigenous biggest dam projects in the country, it is being came under attack on several occasions in were also brought in March, with crimes against peoples are especially vulnerable to expropriation pushed through by its Cambodian, Chinese and 2015. In October, thousands of Christians humanity for ‘extermination, persecution of their ancestral lands for large-scale Economic Vietnamese backers regardless of wide opposition were displaced in the province of Aceh when on political and religious grounds and other Land Concessions (ELCs) for agriculture, mining, and a questionable environmental impact violence broke out following the torching of a inhumane acts’, implicated in his role of killing dams and forestry. Despite a moratorium on assessment (EIA). An estimated 5,000 indigenous local church. The following week, authorities Cham Muslims. In December, the court also ELCs in 2012, according to a 2015 report from Phnong and Brov, as well as minority ethnic Lao, in the conservative province bowed to pressure proceeded with charges against Yim Tith, also Cambodian non-governmental organization are slated to be evicted to allow the flooding of from hard-liners calling for the destruction of known as Ta Tith, an acting secretary of the (NGO) Adhoc, they continued to be issued. In thousands of hectares of forest. Despite continued several other churches that allegedly lacked the regime’s north-west zone, for genocide for his July, however, the government announced that it protests by affected communities, the relocation necessary building permits. Similar arson attacks actions against Khmer Krom, a minority from would reduce ELCs to a maximum of 50 years, of villages reportedly began in August. The dam were recorded throughout the year in Papua southern Vietnam, among other allegations. a significant move considering that some span will negatively impact fish stocks for another and Central Java. Other minorities also saw Troublingly, the prejudice that drove the between 70 and 99 years, although this alone 78,000 people, many of whom are indigenous their religious freedoms threatened during the Khmer Rouge to classify ethnic Vietnamese as is unlikely to resolve the continued problem of or ethnic minorities who depend on the river year, including Shi’a Muslims, who make up ‘historic enemies’ or ‘third pillars’ aligned with indigenous dispossession. for their main source of protein. Especially less than 1 per cent of Indonesia’s population. the state of Vietnam persists to this day. Ethnic Cambodia legally recognizes collective land worrying is the destruction of cultural heritage, For example, in November the Mayor of Bogor Vietnamese are arguably the most marginalized ownership, but titles have been issued at a including sacred forest areas and grave sites, as City banned the city’s Shi’a from celebrating the and impoverished community in Cambodia, slow pace and communities continue to take well as the likely erosion of traditional knowledge. annual festival of Ashura. with many lacking identification and as a result companies to court. In July, members of the Villagers are asking for the company to include In Indonesia’s current climate of intolerance, excluded from essential services such as education. Bunong indigenous community in Mondulkiri a grave resettlement fee along with the potential the space for religious and ethnic minorities Ongoing friction between Cambodia and province launched a civil lawsuit in French relocation compensation, but the compensation to practise their culture and faith openly is Vietnam, such as a renewed border demarcation court against rubber giant Socfin, calling for offer is already inadequate and will not make up narrowing. In some parts of the country, dispute in 2015, have led to rising discrimination compensation and the return of ancestral for the loss of cultural knowledge related to their minority women are obliged to don Islamic and hate speech against ethnic Vietnamese. territories sold to Socfin for rubber plantations forests. dress, including headscarves and modest A national census of foreigners living in the in 2009. In September, 44 families from the clothing, irrespective of their faith. Since 2014, country that began in 2014 has targeted ethnic Phnong indigenous community filed a lawsuit Indonesia the autonomous region of Aceh has enforced Vietnamese for identification checks. As of 2015, in Mondulkiri provincial court against a local Following his election in October 2014, the year Sharia law for all its residents, periodically ethnic Vietnamese are reportedly being asked to military chief and a business man who were said 2015 was a crucial test of President Joko ‘Jokowi’ detaining non-Muslims for wearing ‘improper pay a bi-annual US$60 residency card fee, far to have seized over 80 hectares of their land, Widodo’s commitment to democratic reform and attire’. Similar requirements already exist in too expensive for many community members, even though families in the community had been minority rights. Unlike his predecessor, Jokowi Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, where despite the fact that many already have residency issued land ownership certificates. has publicly acknowledged the need for Indonesia female students risk fines or suspension if they documents. The importance of the forests and their to curb extremism and his government proposed do not wear the hijab. This can have a serious Ethnic Vietnamese are further targeted for associated traditions for indigenous communities a new law to protect religious minorities shortly impact on minority women’s right to education evictions from their homes. As they do not is often misunderstood by government officials, after assuming power. At present, Indonesian and cultural freedoms. have citizenship rights under Cambodian law who see forests from a primarily economic law only recognizes six major faiths, while Religious intolerance has often served to without identification papers and are barred from perspective. In March, Environment Minister Say practitioners of smaller Islamic sects, such as compound existing ethnic tensions in Indonesia’s

146 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 147 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 Left: An indigenous Papuan woman makes sago of timber, minerals and oil. In 2015, Indonesia (an edible starch) in Papua, Indonesia. Manuel continued to expand industrial activities, Boissière (CIRAD) and Center for International including smelter operations and large-scale palm Forestry Research (CIFOR). oil plantations, into territory considered ancestral by the indigenous population. Corruption in killings and harassment of peaceful human rights Papua’s natural resource sector was thrown into activists have continued, despite Jokowi’s public the spotlight this year when it emerged that a commitment to improving the lives of indigenous senior parliamentarian had demanded a Papuans. US$4 billion dollar stake in the US mining giant In May, the government formally lifted a ban Freeport McMoRan open-air copper and gold on foreign reporters travelling to the region, mine in Timika in exchange for extending its although the visa process remains lengthy and licence to operate beyond 2021. complex. This was followed by the release of Natural resources are fundamental to the some political prisoners, including the prominent cultural heritage of Indonesia’s many indigenous West Papuan activist Filep Karma, who spent peoples. But since indigenous communities often more than 10 years in prison for raising a flag in pass on their knowledge verbally and may not a 2004 protest against the Indonesian occupation. possess written evidence of their land ownership, Karma was only freed on ‘good behaviour’ and they frequently come into conflict with the his original sentence still stands. According central government, fuelling violence and paving to Papuans Behind Bars, at least 38 political the way for further deforestation. The forced prisoners remained incarcerated in West Papua as evictions of indigenous communities from their of early 2016. The repression of free speech and customary lands across Indonesia have served freedom of assembly in West Papua has become to impinge on their cultural as well as territorial synonymous with denying the indigenous rights. This has caused serious problems for population a right to express their ethnic and indigenous Dayak communities in Kalimantan, cultural identity. Activists can be charged with where activists blame top-down development for treason for staging peaceful prayer meetings the destruction of traditional rice-based farming and the use of the West Papuan flag is strictly practices. prohibited. Many communities have developed customary The Indonesian government has been accused land use practices that encourage ecological of strategically diluting West Papuan culture sustainability and diversity. This is often rooted and religion in order to weaken local resistance in a spiritual affinity to the land and a cultural to its rule. In 2013, an Australian investigation understanding of its importance to their own revealed that hundreds of Papuan children were survival. For example, the Panglima Laot in being forcibly converted to Islam by a religious Aceh – a traditional fishery management system outfit posing as a ‘free education’ initiative for – is still used today and communities are now the impoverished region – a practice reportedly working with authorities to help combat illegal carried out with the tacit acceptance of local fishing. Jokowi drew praise for highlighting the authorities. Indonesia has already drawn criticism role of indigenous peoples in the fight against for a decades-long transmigration policy that has climate change during his speech at the 2015 seen millions of ethnic Javanese and Sumatran Paris Climate Conference in December. Muslims shipped off to less populous parts of Jokowi has publicly pledged to honour the the country, such as West Papua, where the rights of Indonesia’s indigenous populations, diverse provinces, such as Christian-majority dozens of civilians – mostly young Papuan men indigenous Melanese population has now been who won a significant victory in 2013 when West Papua. A low-intensity conflict and social – were killed by security forces under dubious reduced to a minority. In June, Jokowi finally the Constitutional Court ruled that the state movement calling for greater autonomy has circumstances. In September, two high school pledged to end the controversial practice, must return millions of acres of land to their simmered for decades, fuelled by anger over state- children whose parents allegedly had ties to the although his words have been greeted with customary owners. Speaking after a meeting backed discrimination and violence towards the West Papuan independence movement – claims scepticism among some local campaigners. with the Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of the indigenous population. The year 2015 brought the parents of the victims denied – were shot Indigenous land rights lie at the heart of the Archipelago in June, the president promised to little respite to the conflict-torn region, where and one killed by police in Timika. Extra-judicial unrest in West Papua, a resource-rich region full fast-track a long-delayed law on the rights of

148 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 149 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 burning of school houses.’ The Save Our Schools Network has with the central Thai ethnic identity and the royal Case study by Hanna Hindstrom The Lianga shool, Alternative Learning accused the army and pro-government lineage – a narrow interpretation that effectively Center for Agricultural and Livelihood militias of staging premeditated attacks on excludes many minority communities, such as Development (ALCADEV), was founded in alternative education institutes in order to Thai-Lao Isan in the north-east and the Malay/ Militarization and 2004 as a unique facility to support secondary marginalize indigenous land and cultural Melayu-Muslim of the south, as well as dozens of education for indigenous youths relevant to rights. Samarca, who was slain at Lianga, was indigenous peoples. the assault on Lumad their culture and needs. It offers a combination also a vocal campaigner against large-scale The regime’s control over Thailand’s civil of academic, technical and vocational skills, development projects that fuel violence and and political life showed little sign of relaxing cultural rights in the focusing on providing sustainable livelihoods displacement in the southern Philippines. during 2015. A draft Constitution completed for Lumad communities. Formed by two Mae Fe Templa, Convenor of Save Our by the government’s own constitutional drafting southern Philippines indigenous organizations, the school aims Schools Network, stated, ‘Alternative Lumad committee was rejected in September by the to boost educational opportunities for schools are pushing for their own culturally military-appointed National Reform Council – a marginalized Lumads and help protect their relevant pedagogy that liberates indigenous development that was widely interpreted as a At 4.00 am on 1 September 2015, a troop of cultural and land rights in the face of growing peoples from the yoke of institutionalized stratagem to further extend military rule. While armed men stormed an alternative school for threats. It is one of a network of culturally discrimination and corporate plunder of all Thai citizens have been stripped of many indigenous Lumads in the southern Philippines. sensitive schools offering alternative pedagogy ancestral lands.’ The government has denied fundamental democratic rights, the regime’s Teachers and students were dragged from their for Lumad children recognized by the Filipino any involvement in Samarca’s murder, policies have varying implications for the dormitories and rounded up, together with education ministry. claiming the attackers merely dressed up in country’s minorities and indigenous people. hundreds of other civilians, in the small village Indigenous peoples in Mindanao, which has army fatigues that matched the insignia of Against this authoritarian backdrop, there have of Diatagon in Lianga, Surigao del Sur. Two been racked by ethnic conflict and a communist the nearest battalion. also been increasingly vocal calls from certain indigenous leaders – known for their work insurgency for decades, have some of the lowest In October, the University of Philippines groups to make Buddhism the state religion in protecting the community’s ancestral lands educational levels in the Philippines. Part of hosted a major cultural event in Manila, the next Constitution. While the connection against encroachments from mining companies the problem is the entrenched discrimination the Manilakbayan 2015, to commemorate between Buddhism and the Thai state has – were hauled in front of the crowd and executed towards indigenous youths within the Lumads and raise awareness of the escalating always been strong, with previous Constitutions at point-blank range. The head of the alternative centrally managed school system, which often assault on indigenous rights in the country’s stipulating the state’s duty to support Buddhism, school, Emerito Samarca, was later found in one treats them as outsiders and second-class restive south. It included a mix of political until now it has never been formally designated of his classrooms, with his throat cut and two citizens. The time and cost of travelling long and educational activities, as well as a the country’s official religion. However, while gunshot wounds in his abdomen. distances to reach public schools also place celebration of Lumad culture, arts, food and the new constitutional draft released in January According to local activists, there were 95 insurmountable burdens on many Lumad sports. This year’s event was strategically 2016 fell short of designating Buddhism as attacks on Lumad schools in the southern families. Furthermore, Lumads – a cluster of focused on the destruction and militarization the country’s official religion, the emphasis in Philippines between September 2014 and 2015, 18 indigenous communities in Mindanao – are of indigenous schools in Mindanao. the 2007 Constitution on the state promoting an average of eight cases per month. In February often caught in the crossfire of a protracted Indigenous activists in the southern understanding between Buddhism and other 2016, a compound hosting displaced children in civil conflict in the southern Philippines, and Philippines insist that the right to a free and religions has shifted to the duty of the state to Davao City was torched by unknown assailants, regularly accused of harbouring communist culturally tailored education is fundamental protect Buddhism from any threats – a significant destroying two dormitories and a shelter for sympathies. Alternative education has become to defending indigenous heritage and rights, change in language that could provide extremist evacuees. ‘Lumad schools continue to draw the the target of particular scrutiny and distrust, which are often intimately tied to the Buddhist groups with greater leverage if approved. ire of the regime’, noted the Alliance for the with the military accusing indigenous schools protection of ancestral lands and resources. Peace talks in the country’s marginalized south, Advancement of Peoples Rights (Karapatan). ‘The of promoting communist propaganda. State The government’s failure to investigate where the majority of the population belong attacks range from red tagging, actual military officials have drawn outrage for recommending crimes against Lumad schools has left the to the ethnic Malay Muslim minority, were encampment, threat and harassment of the the introduction of new schools run by the communities more vulnerable to further reignited this year after stalling with the Yingluck teachers, students and parents, closing down and military. attacks and encroachments. ■ government in 2013 – a welcome development in the possible resolution of a decades-long conflict between the Thai state and ethnic Malay separatists in the region. Representatives of the indigenous peoples and to create a task force indigenous peoples’ rights has since been delayed. under the rule of General Prayut Chan-o-cha, military regime and Malay Muslim parties, dedicated to resolving indigenous disputes. It the head of the country’s armed forces. Amid now represented by the newly formed umbrella follows a probe by Indonesia’s human rights Thailand crackdowns on independent media and the organization MARA Patani, met in Kuala commission (Komnas HAM) investigating abuses Since the military seized power from the widespread repression of NGOs, the regime has Lumpur multiple times throughout the year. of indigenous peoples’ customary land rights democratically elected government of Yingluck attempted to validate its authority by appealing to While the establishment of the MARA Patani across the country. However, the task force on Shinawatra in May 2014, Thailand has been a nationalist sense of ‘Thainess’ heavily associated umbrella group is significant, as it represents

150 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 151 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 Left: Kee Or, 104-year-old spiritual leader and and their implementation, particularly around grandfather of Karen human rights defender indigenous communities. For example, reports Porlajee ‘Billy’ Rakchongcharoen. Emma emerged in June that the Department of National Eastwood/MRG. Parks (DNP) was pushing for a new national park law to allow tourism businesses to establish areas such as language and religious education. themselves in national parks, despite them being These and other policies have helped contribute prohibited by current legislation – a development to the emergence of the region’s violent separatist that could further undermine indigenous access. insurgency. Attacks continued throughout the Yet in the same month, the National Reform year, though significantly reduced from previous Council approved a draft law on community years: from October 2014 to March 2015, land deeds that would permit forest dwellers who according to the Internal Security Operations occupied areas before the creation of protected Command, the number of incidents reduced forests to remain in exchange for undertaking by more than 62 per cent and casualties by 46 conservation responsibilities. Inconsistencies such per cent compared to the same period a year as these leave communities in a legal vacuum. before. These included three consecutive days Minorities and indigenous peoples living of bombings in Yala in May and the killing of in conservation areas have frequently found a monk in Patani province in July in an IED themselves in conflict with the state’s park (improvised explosive device) attack by suspected rangers, who have been implicated in a range of separatists targeting his convoy. human rights abuses, including the murder of The military was implicated in further abuses local activists. Judicial investigations into these during the year, including physical ill-treatment incidents are frequently inadequate. For instance, of suspected southern insurgents, with the local following the disappearance of Karen human NGO Muslim Attorney Centre reporting 33 rights defender Porlajee ‘Billy’ Rakchongcharoen cases of torture allegations in 2015. Activists were in May 2014, after he was arrested by park also harassed, including 17 ethnic Malay Muslim officials on the pretext of illegally carrying wild students arrested arbitrarily in Narathiwat in honey – a traditional source of food within the April. Human rights violations by state security community prohibited under Thai conservation have been enabled by widespread impunity for law – police laid charges against the then-head perpetrators, with authorities regularly failing of Kaeng Krachan national park, Chaiwat to prosecute soldiers implicated in incidents of Limlikitaksorn, in January. However, preliminary harassment, torture or extra-judicial killings. investigations were still ongoing at the end Meanwhile, in the north and north-east of of the year, with no convictions yet filed. In Thailand, the military regime’s plan to reduce another case brought against Chaiwat by Billy’s supposed forest encroachment, also known as the wife, the Supreme Court in September upheld ‘return forest policy’ of 2014, continued to have two previous lower court rulings dismissing the disastrous effects for minorities and indigenous case against Chaiwat for the illegal detention of peoples in the region. Minority Lao Isan farmers, Billy. In October, an appeals court again cleared such as the nine villagers convicted in Sakorn Chaiwat of a murder of another Karen human Nakorn in October for illegal trespass, have been rights defender – Tatkamol Ob-om – that took driven off land they have accessed for decades; place in 2011. Also in October, the 104-year-old three of them were sentenced to between two grandfather of Billy filed a case against Chaiwat and a half and three years’ imprisonment. Prison for his role in burning their Karen village to the sentences of between one and five years were also ground in 2011, giving the community hope that the first time diverse groups have come together political marginalization and underdevelopment, issued to 20 indigenous Pakayaw Karen for illegal justice might be served in at least one of these under one banner for negotiation, the talks have the government has also exacerbated the conflict logging in Mae Hong Song, despite the fact they cases. not yet passed the ‘confidence building’ stage, through decades of repressive policies that have were using wood to construct their traditional Individual officials in the Thai authorities according to a statement issued by the group. aggressively promoted a narrow ‘Thai’ identity homes. continued to be implicated as key players National policies have played an important at the expense of local communities, with Malay The sentencing and selective prosecution trafficking minority Muslim Rohingya role in deepening tensions in the south. Besides Muslim residents experiencing discrimination in show an inconsistency in laws regarding land use from Burma and Bangladesh en route to

152 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 153 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 destinations such as Indonesia and Malaysia. example, Section 79, ‘carrying out activities aimed minority and indigenous communities, including In May, mass graves were found in Songkhla at overthrowing the people’s administration’, government control and interference in practices province, containing what appeared to be the revised as Section 109, now includes provisions to maintain the interest of tourists. In her report bodies of more than 30 Rohingya who had that apply to those who may be preparing to to the UN HRC that was released in January of East Asia died while being held in trafficking camps. commit such a crime. Section 79 was used to this year, the former Special Rapporteur in the In the aftermath dozens were charged with imprison a pastor of the unregistered Mennonite field of cultural rights, Farida Shaheed, focused Michael Caster involvement in trafficking, including a senior group informally known as the Cow-Shed extensively on the tourism industry’s impact on military general, officers and local politicians. Church, Duong Kim Khai, whose work included minorities. She notes how communities are asked While the experiences of minority and Major General Paween Pongsirin was assigned filing complaints against land seizures. He was ‘to perform, rather than live their own cultures, indigenous communities in East Asia vary widely, to investigate the case, but after uncovering released in August this year, after serving four either by artificially retaining specific aspects of many share a history of forced assimilation a network that implicated even more senior years of a five-year sentence. Changes to the Penal cultural practices or modifying those practices to and the erosion of their traditional cultures. In officials, he feared for his life and fled to Code are set to come into force by 1 July 2016, satisfy tourist demand, such as altering food or Japan and Taiwan, for instance, the legacy of Australia, seeking asylum in December. He has and will almost certainly continue to be used accommodation patterns, or foreshortening their state discrimination and land grabbing has left expressed concerns about the likelihood of the excessively against minorities. customs’. indigenous peoples struggling to sustain their rulings being compromised by pressure from In the meantime, Vietnam’s minority and Vietnam’s country report to the UN cultures. Besides access to ancestral territories, a powerful military officials and politicians. indigenous communities continue to suffer Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural crucial element in the survival of their traditions persecution by state authorities. Hundreds of Rights demonstrates its lack of respect for the is their ability to maintain their languages, many Vietnam indigenous people from the Central Highlands, cultural rights of minorities and indigenous of which are increasingly under threat. In this The government’s draft Law on Belief and collectively known as Montagnards, fled Vietnam peoples. Rather than allowing communities to regard, official measures, such as the approval Religion was speedily pushed through for during the year to seek asylum in Cambodia. maintain and develop their practices the way they in November 2015 of a draft law to promote approval in 2015, much to the worry of Vietnam’s Systematic religious and political persecution see fit, the government details how its policies indigenous languages in Taiwan, are much ethnic and religious minorities. Religion is tightly of this mostly Christian community is well aim to ‘preserve selectively’ and ‘phase out the needed steps by the state to reverse decades of controlled in Vietnam, mostly through the documented by human rights groups, but obsolete’, including ‘superstition, tradition of decline. Nevertheless, despite successful activism Ordinance on Belief and Religion (2004) and denied by both the Vietnam and Cambodian votive papers and social evils’. For example, ethnic from communities across the region, governments its implementing Decree 92 (2013). But now governments. HRW released a report in 2015, Hmong were recently sentenced to two years for continue to undermine the vitality of minority the first national legislation regulating religion drawing on interviews with Montagnard asylum practising reformed funeral practices that, though and indigenous cultures through insensitive or will go beyond these provisions, tightening the seekers in Cambodia and Thailand to document less costly, were condemned by authorities as an inappropriate development. This is particularly state’s control over all forms of religious belief official surveillance, harassment and abuse of ‘evil practice’. the case in China, where large-scale urbanization and practice. On 17 April, a draft of the law was community members for practising religious The physical heritage of Vietnam’s minorities programmes combine in regions such as sent to religious organizations for comments. ‘evil ways’ and having politically ‘autonomous and indigenous people is also under threat, Tibet and Xinjiang with a highly securitized Various religious organizations expressed concern thoughts’. Dozens were forcibly returned religious buildings in particular. In southern Ho attitude towards local residents. Indeed, in the about the draft, including the Interfaith Council to Vietnam, with reports that some have Chi Minh City, parishioners of the Thu Thiem ongoing conflict between the state and minority of Vietnam, which noted that it entrenches subsequently gone missing from their villages. Catholic Church were led by nuns from the communities, cultural and religious practices bureaucratic obstacles to practising a faith and When it is not actively persecuting its minority Lovers of the Holy Cross convent to stage a rare are often actively repressed by the state – an limits freedom of religion for the purposes communities, the Vietnam government still protest in October against government plans to approach that serves only to fuel further tensions. of state control. The first articles of the draft tends to view its minority and indigenous destroy their heritage school building. The nuns espouse freedom of religion, but the remaining populations from a paternalistic standpoint as expressed how the building and its use is part of China articles effectively limit the practice of religion ‘primitive’ and in need of more civilized practices. their cultural identity as a religious community. With 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities, according to the whims of the government, As a result, while the state has provided some Similarly, the Buddhist Lien Tri Pagoda, located China has in the past pursued policies of allowing it to ‘intervene in the internal affairs and services such as bilingual education and access in an area in the city targeted for redevelopment, ‘coexistence’ that have included subsidies, special administration’ of ‘religious organizations’. The to health care, these programmes are not always is currently facing the threat of destruction – a cultural protections and support for minority draft is set to be passed in 2016. implemented in a culturally appropriate manner. step presented by its chief monk as a measure language education in schools. Yet in practice, as Changes were also made to the Penal Code For example, ethnic minority women report intended to target them due to their status as an demonstrated in the appropriation of minority in 2015. While reductions in the use of the serious discrimination in government hospitals unregistered religious organization. By striking cultures in so-called ethnic theme parks across the death penalty were welcomed by human rights and health centres, with few medical practitioners at the heart of a community’s identity, the country, their customs and traditional practices advocates, the changes generally increased speaking their language or being sensitive to destruction of cultural heritage sends a message are often commercialized or essentialized while restrictions on human rights – provisions the cultural practices, such as those who request about the power of the authorities, a clear underlying issues of discrimination remain government has used to imprison numerous having their husbands in the birthing room. warning to the community against the assertion unaddressed. For example, during the annual peaceful minority rights advocates or religious Further, Vietnam’s growing tourism industry of other rights. meetings of the National People’s Congress, leaders in the name of national security. For has posed problems for the cultural rights of its

154 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 155 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 China’s legislature, state media is typically awash Right: A young Uyghur woman in Kashgar, with images of smiling ethnic minority delegates Xinjiang. Sand and Tsunamis. in traditional costume – yet little if anything is said about their level of effective political issuing passports and ordered that all Uyghur participation. passports be handed over to the police, or be Furthermore, since the mid 1990s, state cancelled. Information on developments within policy has placed greater emphasis on cultural the region remains difficult to access due to integration rather than coexistence, with some obstacles for independent journalists wishing to prominent academics arguing for a ‘unitary’ report on the region. In addition, the state has national identity where existing ethnic categories launched an aggressive assault on rights lawyers are subsumed within the dominant influence of across China, including several Han lawyers who the ethnic Han majority. These ideas are now have attempted to highlight abusive treatment of shaping national policy, reflected in President Xi Uyghurs. In December 2015, lawyer Pu Zhiqiang Jinping’s emphasis on the importance of national was found guilty and sentenced to a three-year unity and the concept of the ‘China Dream’, suspended sentence for ‘inciting ethnic hatred’ which is noticeably silent on the subject of ethnic and ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ in autonomy and cultural rights. This raises real relation to social media posts, including two from concerns over the future of autonomous ethnic 2014 that were critical of government policy minority culture in China. towards Uyghurs. Another lawyer, Wang Yu, These issues are especially evident in regions was detained in July 2015 and, after six months such as Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang, of incommunicado detention, formally arrested where the state is engaged in a security on subversion charges in January 2016. She had crackdown against the local populations. represented Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, who was While, as noted by the UN Committee Against sentenced to life in prison in 2014 on separatism to stay open, provoking widespread outrage. purportedly offering Uyghur pupils the Torture in October 2015, abuses include charges. In September, reports emerged that Uyghurs opportunity to study in their mother language numerous reports of ‘torture, death in custody, Uyghur citizens of other countries who visited in Hoten were being prohibited from giving and Mandarin. However, the system has arbitrary detention and disappearance’ of China to visit family have reported intimidation, their children Islamic names, which have strong been criticized for in practice undermining community members, many of the state’s most harassment and threats, including cases of cultural significance. A list of 22 forbidden names Uyghur linguistic and cultural identity, with repressive policies take the form of cultural Chinese authorities attempting to intimidate and was disseminated, with residents reportedly the majority of the curriculum focusing on and religious restrictions. The securitization threaten them to get them to spy on Uyghurs threatened that children with those names could ‘patriotic education’ that leaves a marginal role of minority traditions and practices, besides abroad. The Chinese government has also been be barred from attending kindergarten and for Uyghur culture and history. Although the fostering a climate of surveillance and the able to exert pressure on other countries where elementary schools. Law on Regional Autonomy stresses autonomy stifling of free expression, negatively affects Uyghurs have taken sanctuary, as suggested by A government white paper published by in education and culture, including literature, targeted communities in every area of their the forced repatriation of 109 Uyghur refugees the official state press agency, Xinhua News arts, news, film, television and the preservation lives. Frequently the repression or destruction from Thailand in July 2015. Agency, in September praised urbanization of historical cultural heritage, in 2015 Uyghurs of minority culture is a corollary of state-led As in previous years, in the period leading policies for improving living standards and continue to see their linguistic and cultural development, such as top-down urbanization up to and during Ramadan, religious rights in promoting inter-ethnic harmony in Xinjiang. autonomy eroded. In an article published after programmes that have devastated pastoralist Xinjiang – Islam is a central part of Uyghur Yet state-led redevelopment has been responsible his 2014 imprisonment, Ilham Tohti explained livelihoods, architectural heritage and long- identity – were aggressively repressed. In April, for the destruction of Kashgar’s old city, that: ‘In recent years, Uyghur fears of cultural established neighbourhoods. a respected Uyghur imam was jailed along devastating its traditional architectural heritage and linguistic annihilation have been greatly with 16 other defendants on security charges and undermining local Uyghur identity. exacerbated by a sharp contraction in Xinjiang’s Xinjiang and sentenced to nine years in prison for Anthropologist Jay Dautcher argues that Uyghur local-language publishing and cultural industries.’ In Xinjiang, repressive state policies continued preaching without a permit. Women in veils residential neighbourhoods, or mehelle, have throughout 2015 amid escalating violence in the were denied entry to public hospitals, raids on been critical components in the production of Tibet region, with security crackdowns and intrusive mosques intensified and, in some areas, Uyghur Uyghur culture for hundreds of years. Traditional The Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) Party restrictions on free expression, assembly and storeowners reported that authorities forced them architecture and how residents socialize within Secretary Chen Quanguo’s 2014 exhortations movement. In Hotan, for example, ordinances to sell alcohol and cigarettes, contrary to Islamic the physical space is especially formative in the advocating inter-ethnic marriages continued, required Uyghurs to obtain official permission in practice, under penalty of fine. Authorities also construction of gender identity. despite concerns voiced by Tibetan writer order to visit relatives or seek medical treatment banned Uyghur officials and students from Since 2011, Chinese authorities have been Tsering Woeser that this amounts to ‘an attempt outside their village. Authorities in Ili stopped fasting during Ramadan and forced restaurants promoting a system of ‘bilingual education’, to dissolve the Tibetan identity in the Han

156 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 157 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 Chinese culture’. In December, the former concerns that the Chinese government would surveillance measures in Tibetan villages and TAR governor, an ethnic Tibetan, Qiangba attempt to control his succession, in March the monasteries, signalling that the state’s intrusion Case study by Michael Caster Puncog, countered that the government was not Dalai Lama stated that he might not reincarnate into Tibetan cultural and religious freedoms doing enough to tackle ethnic discrimination. after his death. This would mean an end to the could be extended indefinitely. Throughout the Tibetan plateau, numerous practice since the fifteenth century of recognizing Challenging monks, nuns and laypeople were detained and the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of Chenrezig, Inner Mongolia sentenced, some on unspecified charges. At the Boddhisattva of Compassion. Emblematic Mongolians in 2015 experienced renewed exclusion through least seven self-immolations took place during of the lack of sensitivity and religious autonomy conflicts with Chinese authorities over the loss 2015, bringing the total at the end of the year to afforded Tibetan Buddhism, was the response of traditional grazing lands, an important part cultural traditions: 143 since 2009. As in the previous year, family of Zhu Weiqun, chairman of the Committee of their semi-nomadic culture and economic members of monks who self-immolated have for Ethnic and Religious Affairs, a high-level livelihood. The year began with a delegation of the struggle of themselves been punished. While restrictions on committee within the central government, who Mongolians filing complaints in Beijing over the freedom of movement imposed since riots in stated that: ‘The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama the ongoing loss of traditional lands, much of Ainu feminists Lhasa in 2008, which had impeded the ability of has to be endorsed by the central government, which had been taken by the army. Efforts to Tibetans to participate in cultural activities, were not by any other sides including the Dalai Lama exploit Inner Mongolia’s abundance of coal and to end multiple gradually lifted, many monks and nuns still faced himself.’ other natural resources have often been seen as impediments to movement or obtaining passports. State-led urbanization, part of a long-term an assault on the traditional cultural practices discrimination In July, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a respected government policy to bring hundreds of of pastoral communities. Enghebatu Togochog, Tibetan monk, died while serving a life sentence thousands of pastoralists in the region into towns director of the Southern Mongolian Human in Japan his supporters claim was in reprisal for his and cities, continued during the year. By forcing Rights Information Center, spoke out saying, support of the Dalai Lama and promotion of nomadic Tibetans off their ancestral lands, the ‘Mongolian herders are trying their best to defend Tibetan cultural institutions. The 65-year-old programme is effectively erasing their ancient their land, culture and way of life, but very little For centuries Japan’s marginalized Ainu monk had been denied medical parole, despite indigenous culture. Mining and dam projects resources are available to them, and government population, historically based in the north being in poor health preceding his death, and across the Tibetan plateau have also fuelled policies are very hostile to the Mongolian way of the country and in particular the island of when his family tried to visit the body they were protests. In Chamdo, road construction leading of life.’ This perception has continued to spark Hokkaido, have suffered forced assimilation repeatedly turned away. China’s Rules on the to a mining project threatening Mini Mountain, protests and police crackdowns. In November, and the repression of their unique way of life. Handling of Deaths in Prison requires the delivery a local sacred mountain, reignited protests that Odongerel, a Mongolian rights defender and Only recently have there been signs of a more of the bodies of ethnic minorities ‘with respect had momentarily halted the mining project in leader of the protest movement, was detained for positive attitude from authorities, including the to ethnic traditions’. But although Tibetan 2014. Top-down redevelopment of Tibetan towns ten days for comments she made on WeChat, formal recognition in 2008 of the community Buddhism has specific funeral prayers and burial and cities is also another source of conflict. In a popular mobile app. Meanwhile, well-known as indigenous. This has been followed by rituals, the authorities refused to release Tenzin’s December 2015, for instance, the Lhasa City Mongolian rights defender Hada, despite having various public initiatives to showcase Ainu body to his family and, when protest over this government announced a policy of demolishing been released in 2014 after serving 15 years on traditions and practices. In July 2015, the denial of cultural rights erupted, the police traditional Tibetan houses and replacing them separatism charges and a further four years of Cultural Affairs Agency of Japan announced opened fire with live ammunition. In other with Chinese-style buildings. Some Tibetan extra-judicial detention after his sentence ended, plans for the construction of an Ainu museum cases of Tibetans who died in police custody, families are even being required to contribute continued to be subjected to coercive measures in Shiraoi, Hokkaido, scheduled for completion authorities have also refused to release the body upwards of RMB 200,000 of their own funds to and de facto detention throughout 2015. On by the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The to family members for traditional rites, such as the construction, whether or not they object to Human Rights Day, 10 December, Hada’s family agency announced the museum as a core with Lobsang Yeshi, a village leader and rights the demolition of their existing homes. went on hunger strike to protest his ongoing project in its plan to promote Ainu culture activist. Security measures that seek to limit abuse and harassment. and history, in line with the Council for Ainu The year 2015 marked the 20th anniversary participation in religious activities are especially Policy Promotion’s advocacy for the creation of of the disappearance of the Panchen Lama, intrusive. For example, government policy Taiwan such a symbolic space. Shiraoi village already Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who would have imposes quotas on the number of monks allowed In Taiwan there are 16 officially recognized hosts an Ainu cultural village, supervised by the been 26 years old. On 17 May, the Tibetan in given monasteries, leading to the expulsion aboriginal tribes. The Taiwanese Constitution, Hokkaido Government Board of Education, government in exile released a statement recalling of more than 100 monks and nuns from their Additional Article 10, requires the state to with traditional Ainu artifects and daily cultural the 1995 recognition of the then 6-year-old monasteries in Driru County in April and further safeguard their status and political participation, performances that attract 180,000 visitors a year and his subsequent disappearance by Chinese expulsions in Tridu County in June. In advance as well as provide assistance for, among – a figure the government hopes to increase to authorities three days later. Later the same year, of the Dalai Lama’s 6 July birthday, authorities other things, indigenous culture, education, 1 million by 2020. Meanwhile, the only World Chinese officials appointed Gyaincain Norbu as in the region also forbade public gatherings. health, economic activity and land. Taiwan’s Heritage site in Hokkaido is the Shiretoko the Panchen Lama, a move disregarded by many In January 2016, authorities announced the aboriginal peoples also have guaranteed political Peninsula, which is designated as a natural Tibetans and the Dalai Lama. Responding to indefinite extension of police presence and representation, with a mandated 6 seats

158 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 159 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 heritage site, and not a cultural heritage site to broadly over gender empowerment issues. within the 113-member Taiwanese legislature. language during government or legal proceedings. the consternation of Ainu rights defenders. Many Ainu women are involved in cultural Nevertheless, these communities continue to Following on from this, in January 2016 the However, these initiatives alone may not revival activities, recovering traditional practices suffer the effects of decades of assimilationist government launched an ambitious five-year necessarily improve Ainu livelihoods or address and performances in an effort to address both policies and land seizures, disrupting and indigenous education programme to incorporate broader prejudice if they are not accompanied ethnic and gender discrimination. In Ainu culture, undermining their ability to maintain traditional indigenous culture and language into curricula, by fundamental changes to the way to the gendered spheres of labour have not necessarily been practices such as hunting. Despite protracted provide indigenous students with additional community is represented. Historically, the considered ‘gender discrimination’ because they were attempts to develop a framework of political support and establish tailored educational tourist industry in Hokkaido has been dominated treated as part of a unique spiritual engagement autonomy for Taiwan’s aboriginal communities, institutions. by outsiders and has been criticized for between women and the natural world, which drawn out over almost 15 years of discussions Despite this limited legislative progress, reproducing stereotypes of Ainu primitiveness. constituted an integral component of Ainu culture and multiple revisions of the proposed legislation, concerns from previous years over the use At a national level, too, understanding of Ainu’s and feminine identity. Unlike mainstream Japanese the latest draft again stalled in parliament during of traditional indigenous lands for tourism history of discrimination and their situation feminism, which seeks to liberate Japanese women 2015 amid opposition both from representatives and other purposes, as well as constraints on today remains limited. In a series of textbooks from traditional gendered spheres of production, opposing its concessions and indigenous activists cultural practices in nationalized lands, persisted approved in 2015, for example, references to the Ainu feminism has embraced gendered cultural critical of its failure to provide full autonomy to in 2015. Of particular concern in terms of violent expropriation of Ainu land during the performances as empowerment. This is perhaps best its communities. preserving indigenous cultural heritage and Meiji Period (1868–1912) were revised to imply demonstrated in traditional clothwork, as evidenced Taiwan lost its seat at the UN in 1971, when economic livelihoods is the issue of hunting. the government had actually made efforts to in research by Ainu scholar Ann-elise Lewallen. the People’s Republic of China was recognized as In December, indigenous communities across protect Ainu. Ainu clothwork is a form of both political and the representative of China, and is now unable to Taiwan demonstrated against the conviction of Some Ainu rights defenders and scholars have cultural performance. Embroidered or woven ratify UN treaties. However, successive Taiwanese Tama Talum, a 56-year-old indigenous Bunun also noted with concern that the localization of patterns convey deep narrative qualities ranging governments have stated their commitment to man who was sentenced to three and a half years Ainu culture creates an inaccurate and essentialist from expressing genealogy to communing with implementing international instruments such as in prison for illegal weapons possession and notion of Ainu identity inextricably connected to the natural and spirit world. Ainu women have the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous poaching. For many indigenous communities in Hokkaido, although the territory of Ainu Mosir, organized community embroidery classes that have Peoples and other relevant texts into domestic Taiwan, hunting is not only about butchering the Ainu name for their homeland, has never created platforms for the teaching and preservation law. As such, 2015 marked the tenth anniversary animals but also social performance and been clearly delineated. This has resulted in the of cultural performance but which also provide of the passage of the Basic Law on Indigenous gender identity: it can amount to a spiritual alienation of Ainu living outside of Hokkaido: for opportunities for Ainu women to negotiate what Peoples and the establishment of the Indigenous communication. However, despite its relative example, they are ineligible to join the Hokkaido it means to be an Ainu woman in Japan today. Television Network, in line with the requirement importance in indigenous culture, Taiwanese Ainu Association, the largest organization of its Employing traditional motifs and oral histories, of the 1998 Aboriginal Education Law that there law only permits non-commercial hunting kind, and do not receive the rights and privileges Ainu women are creating vehicles not only for the should be television programming devoted to conducted for public ceremonies approved by of Ainu welfare measures. This means that, despite preservation of traditional Ainu cultural heritage indigenous culture and education. local governments. A 2013 Supreme Court national recognition of Ainu as an indigenous but also for the creation of new identities and Building on this existing legislation, in decision, furthermore, established that indigenous people, at present Ainu living outside of cultural practices. November 2015 the Legislative Yuan adopted a men could only hunt with homemade rifles Hokkaido are effectively denied such recognition Such practices have taken place within and law designed to promote indigenous languages. and ammunition, which are dangerous and and attendant rights. This has led to the creation beyond Hokkaido, reiterating the need to expand Taiwan’s Council of Indigenous Peoples, a ineffective. In January 2016, the Ministry of of hierarchies within Ainu society, not only based recognition of Ainu identity beyond localized ministry-level body that guides much of the Interior announced the possibility of relaxing on territory but also with regard to gender. geographies. It also points to the fact that government’s indigenous policy, welcomed such regulations to allow aborigines to hunt This can have a negative impact on the mainstream feminism may not always recognize the law as an important step in protecting during traditional festivals. promotion and performance of Ainu cultural the specific issues at play within an indigenous indigenous culture. The need to provide greater The cultural practices of Taiwan’s aboriginal heritage. One area where Ainu efforts to achieve community and may need to draw on indigenous support is especially urgent when many of these communities have also attracted increasing emancipation have challenged traditional feminist thinking. Ainu women are engaged in languages are now under threat: according to interest from outside the country. In July, for prejudices and inspired cultural revival most constructing hybrid cultural performances that UNESCO, 5 of the 42 indigenous languages example, the US-based Discovery Channel starkly is through indigenous feminism, which draw on past tradition rather than simply reject and dialects spoken in Taiwan are considered announced it would be releasing a programme has developed in distinct ways to mainstream it, while at the same time moving beyond certain critically endangered (just one step removed from called Taiwan’s Tribal Treasure, in close Japanese feminism. Ainu feminists have practices such as woodcarving or clothwork that extinction), one is deemed severely endangered collaboration with the Council of Indigenous accused Japanese feminists of disregarding have become increasingly commodified by tourist and a further nine are vulnerable. The law Peoples. Indigenous cultural heritage in Taiwan the intersectional dimensions of race, class villages. In this way, Ainu feminists are reaching for provides that the central government will fund received further recognition in October when or ethnicity in their campaigning, while also empowerment as both ‘indigenous’ and ‘women’ by research and studies in indigenous languages and the World Monuments Fund announced it challenging mainstream Ainu rights activism embracing traditional cultural performances, but on that public signs in indigenous areas will include was including a 600-year-old ancestral Rukai for privileging Ainu ethnic rights defence more their own terms. ■ the local language. Indigenous communities village on its Monuments Watch list. Despite will also be able to communicate in their own its significance in Rukai mythology, the village

160 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 161 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 was largely abandoned in 1974 when the village Right: Torres Strait Islanders at a cultural festival council voted to relocate closer to modern in Queensland, Australia. John Skewes. infrastructure. Its inclusion on the Watch List will highlight the importance of its fragile with their former villages and also developed new physical remains and the valuable intangible forms of cultural expression in urban and foreign Rukai heritage associated with the site. contexts that nevertheless build on the traditions of their communities of origin. This can also provide the space for a creative negotiation of an individual’s position within the community Oceania and how this links to other aspects of identity. Indigenous migrant women, for example, may Jacqui Zalcberg be able to reinterpret their roles and mobilize against issues such as gender-based violence. The Oceania region is distinctive in that many Research indicates that Oceania, in particular the of the smaller Pacific island states have a high Pacific, has the highest levels of such violence in proportion of indigenous peoples that form the world, with more than 60 per cent of women majority populations. At the same time, in and girls having suffered violence inflicted by other countries of the region such as Australia, someone they know. New Caledonia (Kanaky) and New Zealand (Aotearoa), colonial settlement and immigration Australia has reduced indigenous populations to a minority Australia was considered by the UN HRC during in their own lands. Though across the region 2015 for its second Universal Periodic Review. as a whole the indigenous population remains Many indigenous organizations contributed sizeable, continued poverty and exclusion has shadow reports to the process, highlighting the eroded many aspects of their rich cultural various challenges facing Aboriginal and Torres heritage. This encompasses not only sites of Strait Islander Australians across a range of cultural importance but also the continuity and issues. During the process, many states noted policies are contributing directly to higher rates voiced concerns that these expanded powers were promotion of intangible traditional practices, the positive development of the proposed of indigenous incarceration, compounded by having a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal including the transmission of native languages 2017 referendum on indigenous recognition, the continued separation of indigenous families, and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Northern whether as a means of communication or for providing Australians with the opportunity to purportedly on the basis of welfare concerns. Territory, perpetuating the disproportionate cultural purposes. vote on an amendment of the Constitution In the Northern Territory, since the levels of indigenous people in custody for minor The pressures facing indigenous peoples to formally recognize its first peoples. commencement of the so-called Northern offences, such as drunkenness, swearing or have been exacerbated by the destruction Nevertheless, the comments also highlighted Territory Intervention in 2006, considerable making too much noise. The paperless arrest laws or degradation of local environments and the ongoing marginalization and exclusion of resources have been allocated to the task of were subsequently challenged on the grounds eco‑systems due to natural disasters and the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, as well extending the reach of mainstream forms of of discrimination before the High Court and in effects of climate change: as many communities as the disproportionate rates of indigenous policing and governance. However, this approach November, while stopping short of striking down have close spiritual connections and complex incarceration. has eroded indigenous communities and led to the laws, the court did significantly curb the social systems attached to the land, these Recent years have witnessed a remarkable elevated rates of incarceration. Indeed, indigenous extent of their powers, insisting they be subject to pressures can disrupt cultural systems as well as indigenous cultural revival and renewed sense of peoples make up about 30 per cent of the the normal limits that apply to police arrest and livelihoods, food security and health. The year identity. However, Australia’s history of brutal Territory’s residents but more than 80 per cent of detention to protect against arbitrary detention. 2015 saw the beginning of an El Niño weather colonialism, including the violent killing of its prison population. Two well publicized cases in 2015 highlighted pattern, which forecasters fear could lead to a Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders by settlers, Of particular concern in this regard during the ongoing concern over Aboriginal deaths humanitarian crisis in the region. the forced displacement of communities from 2015 was the use of paperless arrest powers in the in custody: the death of Kumanjayi Langdon, Migration is also having an impact on oceanic their lands and the impact of assimilationist Northern Territory following the passing in 2014 a Warlpiri elder, who died in May alone in a indigenous cultures, as a high percentage of policies on the so-called stolen generation, of Section 133AB of the Police Administration Darwin police cell, after being locked up under Pacific Islanders now live abroad or have moved forcibly removed from their families, Act (NT), allowing the police to detain a person the paperless arrest laws, and the initiation of from rural areas to cities. These processes can lead have irreversibly damaged their way of life. in custody for up to four hours without a warrant a Coronial Inquest into the death of a young to significant upheaval and undermine traditional Furthermore, official policies still negatively affect if they suspect that person has committed, or Aboriginal woman, Ms Dhu, in August 2014. systems, though in many cases indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, is about to commit, an ‘infringement notice Dhu died in agony from untreated septicaemia migrants have managed to maintain connections their communities and cultures. Criminal justice offence’. Indigenous peoples and other advocates after being incarcerated in South Hedland police

162 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 163 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 station for not paying around AU$3,500 worth the number of these communities should be in practice of using the legislation to crack down of fines. Both cases brought renewed public reduced. In May 2015, the premier released the on dissent. The government has used similar Case study by Electra Babouri attention to the epidemic levels of Aboriginal government’s plan for the state’s 274 remote morality arguments to justify other repressive incarceration in Australia. According to the communities. While no specific details were measures, including its attempt during the year Australian Institute of Criminology, indigenous provided on how decisions would be made, the to block Facebook, although refugee advocates Sacred lands and imprisonment rates increased by 51.5 per cent premier noted he expected a ‘significant’ number have claimed the move was to prevent residents between 2000 and 2010. would close. of its controversial asylum detention centre from seas: the lifeblood The problem is especially pronounced among Australia continues to attract international speaking out about their conditions. Nauru has the young, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait criticism for its harsh immigration and asylum received widespread criticism for its involvement of Pacific cultures Islander youth 26 times more likely to be in policies. During the review of its human rights in Australia’s offshore processing centres, detention than their non-indigenous peers. practices at the UN HRC in Geneva, Australia including allegations of unreasonable delays This disparity is particularly evident in Western received sustained criticism from delegates of in processing claims, harsh living conditions, With the highest proportion of indigenous Australia, where the incarceration rate for other countries for a range of practices, including violence and sexual abuse against asylum seekers. peoples in traditional governance systems indigenous children is 52 times higher than mandatory detention, the turning back of boats Violence against women remains a key issue worldwide, cultural practices play an the rate for non-indigenous children. This is in with asylum seekers found at sea and the removal for Nauru. While a lack of readily available essential role in the Pacific by affirming and part due to the Criminal Code Act 1913 (WA), of asylum seekers to offshore processing centres in data makes conclusions difficult, there is a reinforcing the close interrelationship between requiring magistrates to impose mandatory other countries, such as Nauru and Papua New general perception that it is in fact increasing in eco‑systems, humans and ways of life. As with minimum sentences on young offenders in Guinea, where reports of human rights violations frequency. While some new policy measures are indigenous populations elsewhere, Pacific certain circumstances. Despite recommendations have been common. An independent review being developed by the government to tackle this communities do not distinguish between of the UN Committee on the Rights of the published in 2015 into detention conditions at problem, it is difficult to assess the effectiveness sites of cultural or natural importance: Child in 2012 to revise this practice, in 2014 the the Nauru centre by former integrity minister of these measures in reducing violence against communal identities are closely interwoven West Australian Legislative Assembly passed a Philip Moss found evidence of sexual and physical women. While traditionally Nauruan clans have with the surrounding land and sea, and bill extending the range of offences attracting a assaults on children and adults. The report been matrilineal, with property passing to female the relationship with them is not one of mandatory minimum sentence to include home concluded that many asylum seekers living in rather than male heirs and providing women ownership but interdependence, sustaining burglaries. Nevertheless, indigenous communities the detention centre were apprehensive about with a measure of domestic influence, in practice not only livelihoods but also the fabric of have been developing community-led responses their personal safety and have privacy concerns. many occupy a marginalized position within their society and beliefs. This is reflected to address these challenges. For example, in the Some commentators have suggested that the society – a situation reflected in the fact that the in the way that many Pacific languages use town of Bourke in New South Wales, community harsh asylum policies, which enjoy wide popular country has only had two elected female MPs. similar words to describe culture, eco‑systems leaders are working with a local NGO on a trial support, are driven not only by border security The issue of sexual assault against women, in and other aspects of their lives – a reflection project of ‘justice reinvestment’ that aims to but also by the legacy of exclusionary attitudes particular for the minorities who are now being of the rich interconnections their speakers identify community-based alternatives to prison among white Australians towards non-Caucasian settled in Nauru as refugees under Australia’s perceive between them. to prevent marginalized youth from offending. migrants as well as the indigenous population in resettlement policy, was highlighted by a This respect for land and the environment To succeed, however, it is essential that the general. high‑profile case that came to light in October is particularly evident in the Pacific’s many government support these initiatives. 2015, when a 23-year-old Somali refugee was sacred places. While these can manifest as Another major factor that could severely Nauru sexually assaulted on Nauru. Known as Abyan, man-made sites, such as marae in the Cook impact indigenous culture is the projected closure Nauru is a parliamentary democracy, with 58 per she allegedly became pregnant as a result of a Islands, New Zealand and Tahiti or malae of specific remote communities, particularly cent of the population comprised of indigenous sexual assault on the island and requested to in Samoa – broadly speaking, a rectangular in Western Australia. In September 2014, Nauruans while another 26 per cent identify travel to Australia, as abortion remains an illegal clearing traditionally used for community indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion as Pacific Islanders. Chinese (8 per cent) and procedure on Nauru. But after spending five gatherings and ceremonial purposes – sacred announced that agreements had been reached European (8 per cent) minorities make up days in immigration detention in Australia, sites are typically linked to elements of the with a number of states to transfer responsibility the remainder of the population. While the immigration minister Peter Dutton publicly natural landscape, from mountains and from the federal government for service provision Constitution theoretically protects the rights and stated that Abyan had decided not to proceed forests to reefs and oceans. These places are in remote indigenous communities. In November freedoms of Nauruan citizens, 2015 saw some with the abortion and was sent back to Nauru, imbued with meaning by being bound to 2014, following this announcement, the Premier significant setbacks with regard to the island without the procedure having been carried out. creation myths, kinship, migratory routes, of Western Australia, Colin Barnett, flagged nation’s democratic space, including the passing Abyan denied that she had changed her mind, initiation ceremonies, healing rituals, burial that up to 150 remote Aboriginal communities of the Criminal Code (Amendment) Bill 2015. and her lawyers said she had simply asked for sites and other practices. in Western Australia might be closed, claiming Allegedly developed to curb language that is more time to make a decision. There have been For example, the Fagaloa Bay on the that the social and health problems in many ‘threatening, abusive or insulting in nature and calls for an independent commission into the Samoan island of Upolu, now a conservation remote communities meant that the state could has the intention to stir up racial, religious or handling of the case. zone, is of immense importance to the Tiavea not provide them with essential services and political hatred’, critics accuse the government

164 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 165 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Uafato communities who have traditionally such as Kiribati at risk of disappearing entirely. by researching the tangible and intangible managed the area, one of the most important However, Oceania’s indigenous communities heritage involved in their construction, with the biodiversity areas regionally, where the sacred are also at the forefront of efforts to safeguard aim of producing a handbook of best practices ifelele tree can also be found. Continuing a irreplaceable natural resources and mitigate to support the use of indigenous building design 3,000-year history, the communities practise destruction, reflected in initiatives to conserve across the Pacific region. Nevertheless, by the Fa’a Samoa (Samoan way of life) and related threatened habitats. For instance, the Wanang end of the year the effects of Cyclone Pam were traditions, interrelating with everything animate Conservation Area in Papua New Guinea, set still visible, due in part to significant financial and inanimate (Va Tapuia). The area is believed up by a coalition of 10 indigenous rainforest- shortfalls, with only a fraction of the needed to be home to ancestral gods, with particular dwelling clans, won the 2015 Equator Prize for funds provided by international donors. elements of the landscape symbolizing elements sustainable development. They are protecting Another unique form of cultural heritage of their mythology. 10,000 hectares of rainforest and have planted widely practised in Vanuatu’s archipelago is Yet many sacred sites and seascapes are 280,000 plants on a ‘forest dynamics plot’ in sand drawing, which has also been recognized now facing various pressures, including the order to study how their local environment is on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural exploitation of their natural resources through being affected by climate change. A research heritage. Besides its merits as a rich and striking logging of rainforests, mining and other station is training community members to act as art form, it is also an important medium of development projects, such as the creation para-ecologists and research technicians. communication for the approximately 80 of roads and tourist resorts. In addition, a While indigenous peoples’ rights may be different language groups inhabiting Vanuatu. growing threat is that posed by climate change. protected across the region by national legislation, While these works are now popular as decoration Flash floods, storms, rising sea levels, increased customary rights frameworks and international and in tourist wares, their beauty reflects the temperatures and other environmental impacts norms, in practice indigenous lands and complex myths and traditions represented within are undermining the very eco‑systems indigenous especially their sacred spaces remain under threat them – elements that could be threatened by communities depend on – from soil and livestock – a situation that undermines the fundamental increasing commercialization. ■ to water sources and coral reefs. High tides and identity of communities themselves. Recognizing rising sea levels are already impacting low-lying the unique and synergistic relationship between islands and atolls by making them partially indigenous peoples and their local environments, uninhabitable or altogether submerging them, instead of marginalizing them from decision- as seen in Tuvalu, Kiribati, Vanuatu and the making, would be an important step in Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea. improving environmental stewardship in the The region’s islands are considered by many region. The alternative, however, is that they to be on the frontline of climate change, with could become the collateral damage of certain Pacific Small Island Developing States climate change. ■

Vanuatu Fortunately the cyclone, which left 75,000 Vanuatu experienced significant political in need of emergency shelter and devastated instability during 2015. In a series of landmark Vanuatu’s food crops, incurred a surprisingly court cases, 14 MPs were jailed for corruption, low death toll – 24 fatalities – a situation largely including Deputy Prime Minister Moana attributed to the design of traditional huts, Carcasses. This led to the dissolution of known as ‘nakamals’. Lightweight, relatively parliament, with the country holding a general flexible structures made of traditional materials election in January 2016. This upheaval was such as bamboo, with low walls and roofs, they compounded in March 2015 by the impacts are able to withstand extreme weather better than of Cyclone Pam, one of the worst natural other housing designs. Vanuatu was subsequently disasters in the country’s history, causing honoured in October on the International widespread destruction. The World Heritage Day for Disaster Risk Reduction for its use of site of Chief Roi Mata’s Domain, an important traditional knowledge in developing resilient seventeenth-century cultural site spread out over community housing. UNESCO also announced the islands of Efate, Lelepa and Artok, was also that it would be funding a project to support the substantially damaged. continued vitality of Vanuatu’s nakamal tradition

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