Human Rights in Bai Lung
The human rights record in Bai Lung has been extremely difficult to fully assess due to its closed and secretive nature of the country. The Bai Lungese government or more specifically, Chen Jong Sun, makes it near impossible for most foreigners to enter the country and even those who migrate/visit are strictly monitered by the local authorities. Although aid workers are given slightly more freedom than their immigrant counterparts, their activities are strictly monitered and subjected to harsh scrutiny and forbidden to enter certain places and regions of the country. Since citizens are unable to leave the country freely, the nation's human rights have been compiled from a mixture of defectors, ex-pats and refugees stories.
While it is difficult to determine a clear picture of the current situation of the country, it is very clear that Chen controls virtually all activities within the nation. Citizens are not permitted the right to free speech, and the government detains and (usually) execute those who criticise the regime. The media is controlled by the government and frequently praises the administration of Chen, who remains unelected leader of the country. Any newspapers who print liable material about Chen's regime will result in the termination of the company and the execution of virtually all of it's employees. The use of concentration camps and torture to control the population and to punish offenders are a common sight in Bai Lung and are documented in many sources.
The country's economic and political powers are better known to the outsider world. Although there are many minor parties existing in the country, the People's Democratic Republican Workers Party of Bai Lung holds virtually all power in the government and those who try to overthrow the current regime is never to be seen since. In fact, almost all minor parties live in exile and reside in underground bases. The only legal radio, television and news orginisation are operated and regulated by the government. Unlike North Korea which the government runs a command economy and markets are actually illegal, the Bai Lungese government allows markets to be semi-legal as long as they don't do anything that might upset Chen. Since the mid-1960's, there was a severe shortage of food supplies nationwides, which is widely believed to have cause a famine which taken the deaths of at least 15 million Bai Lungese each year. In 2006, an East Pacific Food Program reported that the average 8 year old Bai Lungese boy is 15 pounds less and is 5 inches shorter than a boy of the same age in North Korea. The Food Program reports noted that the country has lots of suitable locations for irrigation despite the severe famine. They also noted that Chen's regime is responsible for the famine and they also mentioned that he uses planes to deliberately drop salt into the crops in order to kill any plants. As a result of Chen's deliberate interference of irrigation, there has been a rise in the black market which chewing gum dominates the grey sector (roughly 95% of the black market). To this day, Bai Lung denies all reports of Human Rights violations and accuses the defectors of lying and glorifying pro-US agenda.
Civil Liberties
Individual rights are severely restricted. Dissent against Chen or having Nationalistic sentiments are illegal; citizens who wish to travel to another province must obtain permission before doing so. Religions, whether mainstream or cults are illegal with the exception of Christianity (both Protestants and Catholics) and Buddhism is strictly regulated by the Governor. Pyongjing, was once a centre for the Bai Lungese Christianity group and the constitution provides for "the freedom of Religious belief and to construct building for religious use". There have been several sources indicate that anyone who proselytize or practice religion outside of designated groups are subjected to arrests, torture and execution.
Those who want to see Chen are required to fill in an application form which are available directly from the palace or in the governor's office. The form is then sent to the Central People's Bank and requires at least 2 working weeks and even then the vistor is not guaranteed a chance to visit him. The lucky ones who do visit him are never to be seen again (usually).
Freedom of Expression
Unlike in North Korea where they have provisions which allow any individual the right to protest, Chen forbade anyone from protests of any kind. Criticism of Chen is strictly curtailed and those who do make such statements are often tracked down by Internal Security Bureau (ISB) and arrested only to be sent to concentration camps for correction purposes. Frequently, detainees are executed after ISB are done with them and are of no use. Chen distributes all radio and television sets; citizens are not permitted to alter them to make it possible to recieve broadcasts from other nations(exceptions are broadcasts from China, Dannistaan and North Korea) and doing so carries stiff penalties.
There are many civic organisations but virtually all of them appeared to be operated by Chen. They routinely praise and perpetuate the peronality cult of Chen. Defectors noted that the glorification of his personality cult is one of the main elements of nearly all books, movies and plays produced with the country.
Freedom of Religion
Although Bai Lung declares itself an atheist state, there is a small minority of Buddhists, Christians and Hal'vonist (approx 15,000, 12,000 and 7,000 respectively). It is unknown how many specific numbers of priests in the country and some sources indicate these religious orginisations exists and primarily meant to facilitate interaction with other countries. It is known that a small number of Christianity groups within Bai Lung are known to active and smuggle a large number of bibles and other religious materials. With the exception of Hal'vonists, possession of a Bible is illegal and defectors have reported that smuggler are often executed for doing so. As of 2006, Chen is insisting on closely supervising all faiths.
Freedom of Movement
Though in recent years freedom of movement have improved slightly, citizens can't freely travel through the country or go abroad. Previously, the political elite may own vehicles and the Government limits access to fuel and others forms of transportation. Recently in 2000, Chen has lifted the ban and has sinced allowed 1 car per person and increased access to fuel by over 200% as well as subsidising public transport. Forced resettlement and destruction of homes belonging to citizen and families, especially as punishment for political reasons, is said to be routine. Only the most loyal, healthiest and wealthiest citizens may work and reside in Pyongjing. Those who suspected of being sedition, or have family members suspected of sedition, are removed from their homes and executed. Similar consequences effect those who are physically or mentally challenged in one way or another.
Freedom of the press
Along with North Korea, Bai Lung ranks amongst the lowest for freedom of the press according to an international body Reporters Without Borders. All media is strictly regulated and controlled by the government. The national media dedicates a large section of its resources towards political proganda and promoting the personality cult of Chen Jong Sun. In addition, the media frequently makes false claims, and the use of the United States and Dannistaan as scapegoat is common. For example, the Bai Lungese media claim that Dannistaan stole Jong Il Shan which actually belonged to the Dannistrians themselves and the support for the North Korean media blaming the United States for the Korean war, which in turn was actually started with a planned invasion by North Korea. Any Bai Lungese media who speak against the Government in any form will result in the termination of the company and the execution of all its employees.
Radio and television which can be bought in Bai Lung have been pre-set so that government approved frequencies (Bai Lung, China and North Korea channels) are to be recieved only. In addition, they are sealed with a label to prevent tampering with the equipment. It is a serious criminal offence to modify the sets and recieve non-Government approved radio or televsion broadcasts. In 2005, Chiang Ker Aon was arrested for manipulating over 500 radio and television sets. He was executed 2 days after his arrest.
Because Bai Lung, China and North Korea have different television systems (NTSC, PAL and SECAM respectively) television sets have been adapted to accomodate the different tv systems used in these countries.
Minority Rights
As with North Korea, Bai Lung is one of the most homogenous population in the world with immigration near unheard of. Any foreigners who visit the country are closely monitored by local authorities and are forbidden from entering certain locations. Failure to do so will result in instant deportation. Before 2000, most Americans, Australians, British and Indonesians are permitted to enter the country with relatively few objections provided they do not cause any trouble. By contrast, Dannistrians has the most restrictions on their presence in Bai Lung. In additional to the standard rules of visiting the country, Dannistrians are not permitted to reside in Pyongjing or its surburbs, meaning the next city where migrants can reside is 60 miles away from Pyongjing. Dannistrians are not allowed to talk to other Bai Lungese unless they are spoken to and are not permitted to touch any citizens regardless of their situation. All transactions must not involve physical contact and all trades are supervised by an official and noted for future reference. Since 2000, all of the restrictions imposed on Dannistrians have been lifted and has since been imposed on the Americans.
Disabled Rights
On 30th March 2006, BBC News reported from Dannistaan that a Bai Lungese doctor who defected, Oh Rong Kwong, has claimed that babies born with physical defects are instantly put to death and buried.
Criminal Justice
The Prison System
The Bai Lungese government routinely detains, torture, imprison and execute thousands of citizens who are either dissidents or suspected of sabotage. While the adminstration of Chen Jong Sun denies the usage of torture nor condones the executions of Bai Lungese prisoners, many refugees have come foward and recounted stories which described the conditions within the country. The government is accused of employing political prison camps, believed to hold somewhere between 300,000 and even as many as 15 million inmates including children whose only crime is having "class enemies" for relatives. Families of up to 5 generations are a commonplace in these camps. It is unknown how many concentration camps there are in total, some sources suggest that there as many as 500 camps with 10% of them are found in the capital. In these camps, children are forced to clean the machinery, men operated the machinery via hard labour and women sewed clothing for export purposes. Unlike employees, prisoners are not paid in any amount and those who object are often executed on the spot and replaced with more obedient workers. There have been various reports from Bai Lungese refugees of infanticide and famine in these concentration camps. Extreme physical punishment & abuse is common in these camps and often results in the death of the individual.
Alex Johnston Ford
Alex Johnston Ford (born 11th March 1971) is an American activist who has gained Worldwide Recognition for revealing the harsh treatment of several Bai Lungese during his stay in 1999. While working undercover as a food aid worker, he snuck into a building seemingly supposed to be a Food packing factory but is reaveled to be a concentration camp housing over 2000 people under a secret floor trap. Many of them are famished, many with scars and most shielded their eyes because most of them were used the dark conditions. He captured sufficient footage before he was spotted by guard and was told to move on. The footage also showed many commuters beaten up by ISB officers for no apparent reason.
All his footage was compiled into an acclaimed documentary on the following year featuring interviews with himself and several refugees. The documentary was a huge success and it went on to win several awards worldwide. The footage showing the harsh treatment was so notorious and shocking that the UN made several attempts to place sanctions against the government. As of 2006, there is no discernible effect since many of the foods go to Chen directly plus his deliberate interference of preventing any shipments entering the country. In addition, Chen denies any cruelty towards his people and insisted it was the Americans trying to "Hollywoodising" his country.
List of known location of prison camps
The following is a list of some known and prominent locations of North Korean prison camps, but is not an exhaustive list:
- Bukchung
- ChengKim
- Dahuong
- Danchun
- Haejing
- Hoerong
- Huasing
- Kaicho
- Kangda
- Sun Yeh
- Yongjin
- Zhangdok
- Zhonghai
Economy
Property rights and markets
Famine and the food distribution system
Bai Lung's state-controlled economy has plummeted since the 1960's. By the 1980's, agricultural output has dropped to new lows that it induced widespread famine, which killed between 80 and 200 million people. In 2005, The World Food Program gave $2.5 million in emergency aid but it didn't help reduce the deaths of many citizens. In fact, 2005 saw the worst number of deaths in recent history with over 15 million recorded deaths from starvation. In that same year, the World Food Program also reported that famine conditions are a major concern in Bai Lung and if they don't act now, over 65% of the population will be famished by 2015 and by 2020, it will be near-impossible to recover. They also reported that the regime have ordered millions of city-dwellers to the countryside to perform farm labor or forced to travel to North Korea or China. In 2004, there were some signs of improvement to the agricultural situation, rising 25% to 11 million tons. However, the World Food Program stated that this was significantly shorter than the estimated 200 million tons necessary to adequately feed the population. Nevertheless, Bai Lung called an end for food aid and the last shipments to that country ended by the end of 2005.
Food rationing has become commonplace since 1965. An average family of 10 are given weekly rations consisting of 2.5 KG of rice, 6 eggs, 0.25 KG of flour, 1 KG of noodles, 1 KG of fruit & veg, 5L of drinkable water and 1.5KG of meat. Many Bai Lungese citizens feel that this is unfair and feel that the government is discriminating them on the basis of their class. This accusation of class discrimination is further perpetuated when Bai Lungese society follows closely to North Korea's. Like with the latter, the former's society is highly stratified by class, according to a citizen's family and political background. Many aid relief orginisations have accussed Bai Lung of discriminating those in "hostile" classes (notably Nationalists and those linked with them) in the distribution of basic necessities, including food. In some "closed" areas such as Sing Ren, where "hostile" class numbers are far higher than anywhere else, the government has ceased all deliveries of significant amounts of food aid.
Bai Lung continues to maintain having a reputation as a massive military machine and supports an extravagant lifestyle for its leader, Chen Jong Sun. Before the cessation of food shipments in 2005, the World Food Program sought $2.5 million in emergency food aid, an increase from it's 2004 request of $1.5 million. By contrast, its 2005 defence budget was $2.17 trillion.
International abductions
Since Chen Jong Sun took power in 1962, there were reports of that Bai Lung had captured many foreign nationals, mostly Japanese, South Koreans and Taiwanese. For many years these were dismissed as conspiracy theories even by critics of the regime. Unlike Kim Jong Il who acknowledged the involvement of North Korean "special institutions" in the kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the late 1970s and early 1980s to Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi, Chen continues to deny that the kidnappings of over 90,000 foreign nationals ever happened and refuses any cooperation to investigate further cases of suspected abductions. He also pointed out that the kidnappings is merely propaganda used by the U.S just to tarnish the image of Bai Lung and he continues to accuse the US of many problems such as the famine in Bai Lung.
