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RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN RIGHTS
E-Newsletter
Vol.1 No.18
October 11, 1999
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Religious Perspectives on Human Rights is now available online at: http://www.rghr.net
Religious Perspectives on Human Rights is a weekly e-newsletter issued by Buddhist, Muslim, Catholic and Christian Groups on Human Rights, initiated by the Asian Human Rights Commission.
Ecumenical
Call for Religious Freedom in Vietnam
In what has been called
an unprecedented show of ecumenical unity, representatives of the
country's four major religions have called for religious freedom
in Vietnam. The statement has demanded that the Communist party
respect religious freedom and the clear separation of church and
state. Leaders of all the church groups want unrestricted
authority to manage internal church affairs, including training,
appointments and construction of places of worship. One of the
specific demands was for the return of church property that has
been confiscated by communist
officials.
"We have had no
response, but we hope to have international pressure on this
regime for human rights, especially for the liberty of
religion," said Father Chan Tin, a Redemptorist priest based
in Ho Chi Minh City. Father Chan, has been a strong advocate for
human rights, first under a series of military governments in
South Vietnam in the 1960's to 1970's, and then under the
communist regime.
"It is a good
occasion because all Catholics, Protestants, Buddhist, Cao Dai
and Hoa Hao have different beliefs, but we are all oppressed by
this government," said Father Chan.
The statement was also
signed by Thich Quang Do, Vietnam's most outspoken Buddhist monk,
Tran Quang Chau signed for the Cao Dai church, and Le Quang Liem
signed on behalf of the Hoa Hao sect.
Bishop Bartholomew
Nguyen Son Lam said that Father Chan signed the statement in his
personal capacity and not on behalf of the Catholic Church of
Vietnam. "He is not a bishop and has a different political
viewpoint," said Bishop Nguyen. However, observers expect
that the Catholic bishops, who have been pushing for increased
freedom, might issue a similar statement at their annual assembly
to be held in November.
The recent
Indian Election and the future of the "Low Castes"
Western Media refers to
BJP as the Hindu Nationalist party. Though a direct translation
of the party name would be Indian Peoples Party, the title given
by the Media is more accurate. For, in India, the Janatha, the
people are mostly from the so-called low castes and therefore
outcastes in the Hindu rightwing circles, which BJP represents.
During this election, like in many of the recent ones, these
rejected and down trodden people mostly voted separately, as the
results showed. Thanks to decades of struggles, the people now
think on their own.
BJP’S attempt to
whip-up nationalism, by going Nuclear and giving television
coverage to Cargill war, did not go far to better the prospect of
BJP in creating a strong government. As one news paper using a
pop song title had this comment, "It will be like
yesterday". The only way for the coalition government to
survive is by, BJP not being BJP, that is by giving up its
extreme right wing element. How far, the parties right wing
elements will allow that, is hard to tell. Any way, as the
government will have to spend quite some time to deal with its
internal disputes, the people may be spared of right wing attack
for some time.
As even some of BJP’s
own spokesmen told the world media, one big challenge in India
for any government is the upliftment, of those who have been in
India’s limbo, for thousands of years, the low castes and
the tribal people. They constitute about forty 40% of the
population. What is clear from recent elections is that till the
people at the bottom are lifted, till significant moves are taken
towards social reform, good governance will only be a dream in
India. The changing of the bottom group remains a problem due
mainly to the thinking of the top; that is, due to the inability
of the top to give-up their deep-seated caste prejudices. A
change at that level will not only make things better for the
people who have always been kept down on the basis of religious
doctrines, but also to the whole of India, which wants to move
on, and benefit from the vast changes taking place in the world.
Annihilation of caste is the most urgent need in India. It is
also the most basic problem to be addressed, if Indian electoral
system is to produce better results than it had done in recent
elections.
FROM CAMBODIA
TO EAST TIMOR : L E A R N I N G S
The Peace keeping
intervention in East Timor has prevented the recurrence of a
Rwandan situation. The East Timor intervention is an indication
that the international community has been learning from some of
its past mistakes. This intervention is also important from the
point of view of the agonizing problems that the Peacekeepers and
the East Timorese people are fighting together. There has not
been so much unity between the aspiration of people and UN
objectives as in the case of East Timor. The Cambodian experience
in this sense was negative, since setting limits to UN
involvement came from vested interests in Cambodia itself,
despite the fact that a vast majority of people recovering from
the Genocide wanted greater UN assistance.
In east Timor however,
people who overwhelmingly voted for Independence also wants UN
involvement to recover from the massive destruction to property
and lives caused by their opponents. They want help to rebuild
their houses, schools, hospitals, and the economy. Besides, they
need assistance to rebuild institutions and personnel for justice
and the rule of law. This is vitally linked to their vote for
Independence and their yearning to build democracy. All help
given by the international community will result in quick
consolidation of stability. Delays will only be useful for those
forces of destruction that want to create internal conflicts that
will desist the realization of the wishes of the people and the
efforts of the peace keeping force. The Indonesian government has
already gone on record as saying that they will not try to stop
anti-Independence groups fighting for whatever they want. This is
despite the assurance given to the international community to
respect the wishes expressed by the East Timorese at the
referendum This is a warning to the international community to
quicken the pace and increase its assistance.
Establishing the rule of
law after such destruction is almost an impossible task. In
earlier peace keeping missions there had been very little
opportunity for UN to get engaged in such work. In Cambodia, UN
did not make any attempt for doing this and now after 7 years,
Cambodia’s rule of law situation remains as bad as ever.
Similar situation must be prevented at whatever costs, if East
Timor is to survive as a nation.
All civil society groups
must keep the pressure on the international community to support
vigorously this Peace mission. The lessons learnt from this
mission can be quite useful to many in the future.
The Decision
Against General Pinochet- An Achievement for humankind
A Challenge to
religions- Will religions catch up with the Developments in
international Jurisprudence?
Humanity can celebrate a
great achievement as a British court decided to allow the
extradition of General Pinochet to Spain to face trial on charges
of torture and crime against humanity. The principle application
of liability beyond Borders for such crimes is practically
demonstrated in this decision which is one of the major
milestones in international jurisprudence on human rights. The
case demonstrates the ultimate seriousness with which law will
treat such crimes in the future.
The case forces a major
question to all religious and moral philosophies- do they treat
torture and crime against humanity with equal seriousness as the
internal jurisprudence? In this instance, Jurisprudence has
scored a point above the religious and moral philosophies as
practiced today. Will the religious groups re-examine its
attitude to torture and test whether they have treated Torture
with equal disapproval as the modern day jurisprudence does? Will
they do all that they can to condemn and eliminate torture? Will
they examine their relationships to dictators and others that
engage in torture? These are some of the questions that are
likely to be raised constantly from now on. Religious and moral
tolerance or apathy regarding torture is likely to become more
exposed in the time to come. On the other hand, if those
who speak in the name of religion and moral values fight to
eliminate torture with the same determination as shown in this
case by the jurists, then the path for new morality for humankind
is not far off.
Cambodia
-Kidnapped opposition MP released
Sam Rainsy Party thanks
all who showed solidarity.
The following message
was received from Sam Rainsy Party
LON PHON HAS BEEN
RELEASED !
To all democrats and
justice-loving people around the world:
Cambodian National
Assembly member Lon Phon kidnapped on October 6 was released
safely today at 8.30 pm (Phnom Penh time).He is now with his
family. On his behalf and on behalf of the pro-democracy
movement in Cambodia, I would like to express my deepest
gratitude to all those who have expressed concern for the
MP's safety and have contributed to his release in all
possible ways. We will continue to fight even harder for
democracy and the rule of law to prevail in Cambodia, which is
the only way to ensure a real and sustainable development that
benefits all the Cambodian people.
Sam Rainsy
Sri Lanka :
CALL FOR PEACE MEDIATION
"Peace calls have
been made before, but never have they built up to such a
crescendo as in the past few weeks." The Island-10-10-99. (
This admission is significant given the fact that the Sri Lankan
newspaper The Island has been calling for total war and opposing
any attempt at Mediation.)
Posted on 1999-10-11
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