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RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN RIGHTS
E-Newsletter
Vol.1 No.3
June 28, 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.
How the Christian and Catholic Group
Can Defend The Right to Proper Burials
Increasingly right to conduct proper burials is
denied to many families through out the world. This denial also
take place in many Asian countries. However,burial is considered
as one of the most important rituals in all religions.
The Christian and Catholic rituals of burials
are very important. These rituals forms a very important part of
the life of Christian communities. Christian pastors and Catholic
priests attend to persons in death rows and officiate at burials
after execution. In fact, Burials are an area that belong to the
family and community. The state has power to interfere with these
rites and rituals.Still state agents do interfere and often not
without the tacit consent of the state. This happens mostly when
arrested prisoners are killed by the state agents. The purpose of
secret burials often is to protect the state agents who have
engaged in such killings. However, unwillingness on the parts of
religious leaders to insist on their rights as religious and
community leaders ensure proper burials irrespective of who they
are, lead the state agents to act with impunity. Once the moral
resistance breaks down extra- judicial killings and secret
burials can increase in thousand folds as recent experiences in
many countries show. Disappearances , has become a common
phenomenon The possibility of disappearances depends on, to a
large extent, when the leaders of religions do not come forward
to depend their duty to ensure proper burials. Where there has
been insistence on this matter, disappearances cease to be
widespread. For details on disappearances in Asia you may see the
Web-site
www.disapperances.org
, maintained by the AHRC.
Actions that can be taken
- The Christian and Catholic leaders can let
the government know the importance their religion
attaches to the right of burial of the family members and
of the community for proper burials.
- Where a family complaints about missing
persons and possibility of extra-judicial killings and
secret burials prompt actions can be taken by local
pastors or priests and such actions need to be support of
the Church leaders.
- Where a pattern of disappearances begin to
appear the Church leaders can alert the State about the
matter and make provisions for keeping special vigils on
the issue.
- If despite of protests the opportunities
for burials are not provided, the Church leaders can take
special actions to provide rites, rituals and advise to
the families and communities so affected.
- Take actions to instruct the society at
large of the emotional and societal value of proper
bidding of farewell to loved ones and departed community
members and urge the society to insist on State to
safeguard this basic social practices relating to burials
- The church groups, particularly the
Justice and Peace groups can take actions to educate the
state agencies and community on protection of this right
and where it is violated take immediate actions to
correct the situation.
Back to top
An Open Letter to Catholic Bishops
Conference of India and All Justice and Peace Groups
Subject: Take Special
Action to Protect The Dalit Women
The Secretary
The Bishops Conference of India
C.B.C.I. Center,
Ashok Place, Gole Dakhana,
New Delhi 110001
India
The Chairperson
Justice Development and Peace Commission
The Bishops Conference of India
C.B.C.I. Center,
Ashok Place, Gole Dakhana,
Delhi 110001
India
Dear Bishops and Members of the Justice and
Peace groups,
You are no doubt aware of the enormous amount
of reports received about the rape of Dalit women by upper caste
men and often also by the police in many parts of India. There
are parts of the country which more notorious in this respect
than others, for example Bihar. To many tales often heard from
this place the Times of India( 16 June 1999) added the tale of
Naugachia police district falls where hundreds of Dalit women
including a fourteen year old, were raped in the presence of
their husbands. The situation is well known one we do not wish to
elaborate. Instead we request that the church group take more
active part in protection of the rights of these very much abused
people. The representations to government and local
government bodies, Pastoral letters and other forms of
instructions, the use of Catholic media, vigil groups and other
suitable measures may be developed for this purpose. Above all
increase of educational facilities for Dalit women in particular
can go a long way to contribute to their rescue. The Christian
groups can create international solidarity for Dalits with
special emphasis on women and raise awareness and resources to
help them.
Thank you
Editor
All readers of this E-new Letter is encouraged
to sent similar letters to Christian leaders in India and also to
ones in their own countries to contribute bring about relief to
those persons. Time has come for conducting world wide prayer
sessions and other actions on this issue-ed.
Back to top
The Buddhist Humanitarian Ideal A
Description of An Ancient Sculpture Depicting the Buddhist Ideal
(Found at an ancient Monastery at
Annuradapura-an ancient Buddhist city in Sri Lanka)
The piece of sculpture referred to is perhaps
the only one surviving in which the ancient artists of Ceylon
attempted to express the humanitarian ideal of tile Buddhists. It
is crowded with figures of men and women, and various animals,
loving each other in friendship and sympathy. In one of the
carvings (bottom left), a man and a woman are nursing a wounded
monkey or a child. A little above it are two monkeys together,
like friends. One of them is biting a fruit and the other,
perhaps, depicted in the attitude of feeding his companion.
At the top of the sculptural piece, two
ascetics are depicted in the attitude of accepting offerings from
two men. Between these two, two animals are represented - a
she-bear and its cub. Below this carving are the heads of two
friendly elephants. Underneath the elephants are two lions, or
perhaps a lion and a lioness. The figures of two proverbial
enemies, the cobra and the mongoose, can be easily identified in
another carving (extreme right), united in friendship. Adjacent
to this can be seen a deer and a tiger, or perhaps a lion, like
friends. Another carving below this depicts with intense feeling
the figures of two animals, one in the attitude of licking the
head of the other, probably a fox, who is enjoying the attention
and friendship bestowed on him by the other. A man and a woman
who stand behind them look on with approval At the bottom of the
right side of this crowded piece of sculpture, a man, probably a
farmer, is seen reclining in his hut or bower. The head of the
animal behind him can be identified as that of a bull who is
licking the hand of his master.
Love and harmony pervade all the scenes
depicted in this piece of sculpture.
The practice of this humanitarian ideal seems
forgotten by the sophisticated Buddhists of today. It perhaps
lingers in their minds as an abstraction. To the ancient Buddhist
it was not an abstraction, but a concrete reality, because they
practised it.
( Text from Marlin Wicremasinghe- the fore most
Sinhala- Sri Lankan writer of the 20th Contury)
Posted on 1999-06-28
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