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RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN RIGHTS

E-Newsletter
Vol.2 No.15
April 10, 2000


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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.

Dear Friends

This issue provides some information from the UN Commission on Human Rights Annual Meeting, attended by representatives of AHRC/ALRC.  We include submissions made on disappearances in Sri Lanka and the formation of National Human Rights Commissions in Asia, along with a UN press release which picked up on the theme of food scarcity and militarization in Burma.  AHRC has been pushing for recognition and action on these issues by the UN, and the UNCHR meeting provided a good means to promote a response to these urgent human rights dilemmas.  Also in this issue is some news about the Greenpeace perspective on toxicity in the Asian environment.  The News in Brief section covers issues in China, East Timor and Australia, as well as a UN statement which exposes the strong link between human rights and development.

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1) Disappearances - An Oral Intervention at the UNCHR Meeting
2) UNCHR Submission on National Human Rights Commissions
3) UNCHR Press Release on Burma Food Scarcity
4) Greenpeace Confronts A Toxic Asia
5) News In Brief

1) Disappearances - An Oral Intervention at the UNCHR Meeting

ALRC made the following submission to the UN Commission on Human Rights meeting in Geneva on April 5.

TOPIC:  Civil and Political Rights: Disappearances and Summary Executions

Presented by Sanjeewa Liyanage.

Mr. Chairman,

On behalf of the Asian Legal Resource Centre I would like to draw the attention of this commission to a grave human rights problem faced in many Asian countries. Systematic causing of mass disappearances has left a permanent mark in the conscience of the many states in Asia as well as international community. Enforced and involuntary disappearances is one of the horrifying and

ugly phenomenon faced by the peoples of many Asian countries especially in Punjab in India, Kashmir, Aceh in Indonesia, East Timor, and Sri Lanka. When a person disappears, there are many who are affected by such single instance. Parents, brothers, sisters, children, relatives and friends of that disappeared person would suffer for many generations to come. For them, it is not an easy experience to simply forget what happen and get on with life. Often these human aspects are gone un-noticed.

Disappearances continues to take place up to this date in Aceh in Indonesia as well as in West Papua. It has been a general pattern that occurrence of involuntary disappearance follow each time when there is an escalation of political activities in these areas. Until now, there has not been any serious effort by the Indonesian government to attend to the problem of involuntary disappearances in an effective manner.

The Asian Legal Resource Centre raised the issue of enforced and involuntary disappearances in Sri Lanka during the 55th Session of this Commission. Since the State party has taken then hardly any significant action concerned to prosecute the offenders of over 30,000 disappearances. After ten years of grossly inadequate action by the State party, it is possible that they hope the matter will recede from memory and be forgotten. In fact, the people can never forget and the psychological wounds which can never be healed until a full investigation into every case along with criminal trials is carried out. Meanwhile more disappearances have been reported this year. The public confidence in the law enforcement machinery is at an all-time low.

United Nations agencies, too, are well informed of the vast scale of disappearances that have occurred and negligence to prosecute offenders. The UN Human Rights Commission itself has made strong statements on the issue several times. The UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances has made many recommendations, which it recently noted have not been implemented. The Working Group visited Sri Lanka in 1999 and its public statements show a lack of progress. We note that the Asian Human  Rights Commission has kept the UN Secretary General and the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights informed about the  situation.

Mr. Chairman, from a legal point of view, there is hardly any doubt that disappearances in Sri Lanka constitute a crime against humanity. The disappearances can also be considered a gross abuse of human rights, in the manner that term was used by the UN Secretary General during the last session of this Commission. The factual basis for this legal position has been established by the four Presidential Commissions of Inquiry Into Involuntary Removal or Disappearance of Persons. In fact, one Presidential Commission came to the finding that, "In the given context [Sri Lanka], the word "disappearances" is only a euphemism for the death caused by extra-judicial killings." The evidence shows that there has been large-scale torture, that people have been killed after being arrested, and that the persons in the highest level of the government in power planned and ordered these disappearances.

The reasons for these disappearances should shock the international community: they were for the purpose of winning two elections, one Presidential and the other General. The disappearances created a climate of terror, which enabled public opinion to be  manipulated. Following finding of the one of the Commissions referred to above is relevant: "The graph [a graph attached to the

Commission's report] established that removal and killings showed a marked increase from the nomination for the presidential election in 1988 and continued in that manner until the general election and thereafter. The security personnel who until then had dealt with JVP [Janatha Vimutthi Peramuna] problem in a fair manner were goaded into indiscriminate removals and killings, after an alleged ultimatum purported to have been issued by the JVP, that unless the service personnel deserted their posts, the members of their family would be killed. It was probable that this was a ploy adopted by then government to use security forces to crush their political opponents" (page 3-4, Presidential Commissions of Inquiry Into Involuntary Removal or Disappearance of Persons, in Central, North Central and Uva Provinces).

Mr. Chairman, despite such findings by Commissions in Sri Lanka, the perpetrators are still moving about freely. Despite international awareness of the grave crimes involved, no attempt has been made to address the issue with the seriousness it deserves. We urge that the matter be dealt with on the basis of a crime against humanity and that an International Tribunal be established with the cooperation of the State party concerned to bring to justice the persons responsible for the crimes. We all know that there have been over 30,000 extra-judicial killings as well as torture, illegal detention and killings while in legal custody in Sri Lanka. Until this matter is dealt with in an adequate manner, through the establishment of an International Tribunal, it will continue to hurt the conscience of the international community.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

2) UNCHR Submission on National Human Rights Commissions

The following submission by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the necessity of effective National Human Rights Commissions in each country in Asia was presented to the UN Commission on Human Rights meeting in Geneva:

For some time now, several countries in Asia have promised to establish National Human Rights Commissions. These countries include South Korea, Bangladesh and Nepal. However, despite prolonged discussions, these institutions have not yet been established. One of the reasons is the unresolved problems relating to powers of the commissions. India, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Indonesia have already established National Human Rights Commissions.

The National Human Rights Commission [of India] came into being through an Ordinance on 25 September, 1993. The Ordinance was replaced by an Act called Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 which came into force in January 1994. The primary function of the National Human Rights Commission is to inquire into complaints of Human Rights violations. It may be seen that the National Human Rights Commission has no power to take any binding decision. It is, for this purpose, helplessly dependent on the High Courts/Supreme Court of the concerned Governments, and the role of the National Human Rights Commission here is that of a Petitioner, a supplicant. The recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission has no legal sanction.

The [Indian HR] Commission receives thousands of complaints from individuals, from NG0s, activists and other concerned groups each year. For the period 1996-97 the number was 20,833. Many cases are left pending, in spite of attempts by the Commission to simplify procedures and make structural changes. The Commission, in most of these cases, employed the post-office procedure

which meant asking State Governments to investigate the allegations and inform the Commission of the action taken. It is noted that the investigative option vested in the Commission was very rarely exercised. The Commission is forced to place immense faith in the State Governments and their investigative machinery, against whom the majority of the complaints are targeted - not a very

satisfactory procedure. The Annual Report of the Commission for 1996-97 says "In many cases which were entrusted by the Commission to the State agencies for investigation, the Commission was not satisfied with the quality of work."

National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has extensive powers and there has been no record of inadequate resources. However, its performance has in no way impressed the nation. It suffers from an internal incapacity to act, while the situation of grave human rights abuse prevailing in the country calls for a very active commission. The Commission adheres to red tape bureaucratic

methods and thereby fails to understand that the very making of this type of national institution is supposed to stop such practices. In a country where there is enormous delays in hearing court cases (for example a civil cases may generally go on for ten years, and often even longer), the Commission has so far failed to create a counter culture of speed and access. With regard complaints of torture, the commission adopts the method of private discussions with the law enforcement agencies and generally does not conduct open inquiries, even though it has power to do so. These procedures take place in a situation where law enforcement has collapsed to a great extent and there are massive numbers very serious crimes.

The [SL HR] Commission can try to help the law enforcement agencies to cope with this anarchic situation by making recommendations which its mandate allows it to make. Generally, there is a serious lack of public confidence in this national Commission. The responsibility for this situation lies mostly the commission itself. There are serous problems of access to persons from outstations and even in the capital there is no access to the commission on Saturdays and Sundays. Use of modern communication techniques such as email could remedy the present situation. Given the very difficult situation the country is in (at least one country has named Colombo as the most dangerous city the world), the commission's performance must be treated as appalling and morally unbecoming.

3) UNCHR Press Release on Burma Food Scarcity

The following is an excerpt from a UN press release from the UN Commission on Human Rights annual meeting in Geneva.  AHRC and Burma Issues convened a panel discussion on food scarcity and militarization in Burma, and many other organisations have picked up on these as major issues preventing the Burmese people from achieving the most basic of human rights.

MARK TAMTHAI, of Asian Legal Resource Centre, said the Government of Myanmar had failed to respect the economic, social and cultural rights of its people and to protect the natural resources, the labour and the freedom by which people obtained food. In the name of national security, the army had burned food and crops, displaced civilians and relocated communities to areas unfit for sustaining their livelihoods.  The military made persistent, onerous demands for rice, foodstuffs, material and labour. People had to flee to the forests without reliable food supply, proper housing or health care. Hunger, illness and death ensued. The State had consistently and consciously violated the right to work, as documented by the International Labour Office.

DEBORAH STOTHARD, of the Aliran Kesedaran Negara, said there was a tendency to disconnect economic, social and cultural rights from civil and political rights. There was great poverty in Burma, where there had been no natural disasters and the country had once been described as the rice bowl of Asia.  The Government put military spending ahead the well-being of the people.  Public

expenditure there was among the lowest in the world... The organization condemned ASEAN for "constructively engaging" with the Burmese Government. This sent the wrong message to the international community and the Burmese people and further slashed away the rights of the Burmese people. The Commission was urged to remember the situation in East Timor and what had followed when people's human rights were continually violated.

DAVID ARNOTT, of War Resisters International, spoke about the impact of militarization on economic, social and cultural rights. For example, there was the resource-rich country of Burma. The report by the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar was welcomed. The report had raised the issue of excessive military spending, but had not mentioned the direct oppression by the military of the

rural population, causing increasing suffering, tensions and displacement. Burma was a good example of the role of Government in producing economic collapse.  The report showed the effects of the ethos of a military regime, policies of militarization, and economic ineptitude. Women and children were particularly affected. The Commission was urged to incorporate the findings of the Special Rapporteur's report in its resolution on the situation in Myanmar.

THUANG HTUN, of Worldview International Foundation, said Burma was the most appropriate example of how a resourceful rich country could decline to the level of a least-developed country when a ruling military elite denied basic human rights and fundamental freedoms to its people. Everywhere in Burma, there was evidence of poverty, ethnic conflict and growing threats to the environment. Such concerns transcended every region, war zone, and ethnic community.  The most obvious victims were the 120,000 refugees and half a million migrants in Thailand who had fled the country. Forcible population transfers and other forms of human-rights violations had led to the destruction of the socio-economic fabric of village life, widespread malnutrition and death, internal displacement of about 1 million people, and a continuous flow of refugees into neighbouring countries.

4) Greenpeace Confronts A Toxic Asia

The following is from the 'Tour Logbook' of Greenpeace's flagship Rainbow Warrior, in Hong Kong on its TOXIC FREE ASIA tour.

"Asia is emerging as one of the key arenas in the battle to save the planet. Ecological security for the planet will not be won without Asian involvement. The challenge for Greenpeace is to encourage Asian nations to plan their economic development using ecologically sustainable technologies, rather than the inappropriate and environmentally destructive technologies the West would

like to foist on them," said Greenpeace International Executive Director Thilo Bode.

"Many Asian countries are still well placed to avoid dirty technologies," said Von Hernandez, Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner in South East Asia. "However, some foreign governments, aid agencies and industry promoters see the Asia region as a marketing opportunity to sell expensive and polluting technologies, or to get rid of technologies no longer desirable in their own countries".

"We call on Asian governments to reject foreign funding for dirty and inappropriate technologies," said Nityanand Jayaraman, Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner in India. "Investment in waste prevention, source separation, composting and recycling, for example, would alleviate the need for expensive incineration technology and generate many new jobs."

Although this is the first time Greenpeace has set up permanent offices in the region, the group has already been conducting campaigns for several years on toxic and energy issues.  Greenpeace has established working relationships with local environmental groups and a large network of voluntary supporters both in India and in South East Asia.

5) News in Brief

(a) CHINA - Petition of 10,000 displaced persons reaches PRC Courts The human cost of China's rapid economic development became clearer with the submission of a petition from over 10,000 displaced person to the Chinese judicial system.  One million people have been moved from their homes in Beijing and re-located, regardless of whether they owned the house or not. The petitioners are calling for their right to fair compensation under the Constitution, and also decry the corruption associated with the sale of the land to developers.  Despite the newsworthy nature of the petition, the media have been silent on the issue.  The organisers of the petition have been cautioned by their employers to not organise demonstrations or sit-ins, but they reserve their right to do so under the Constitution.  Meanwhile, the government has released information on political prisoners as it tries to fight off possible censure by the UN.

(b) EAST TIMOR  - Rebuilding, Repatriation and Reconciliation

- REBUILDING: Following criticism over the lack of involvement of East Timorese people in the rebuilding process, the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) has established advisory councils that will provide regular fora for exchanging views between UN staff and district representatives.  The UNTAET chief has also promised to appoint East Timorese people, including "as many women as possible" to top jobs in the new public service.

- REPATRIATION:  The UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports that the last week saw only 700 people move back to East Timor from the West Timor refugee camps, down from 1,400 in previous weeks.  This is despite 134,000 East Timorese refugees remaining in West Timor and reports of 'sporadic' food rations over the past three months and deterioration in basic services in the

camps where they are staying.  For those remaining, life in the camps is still preferable to returning to the place where they experienced the violence after the 1999 referendum.  The UNHCR says that for the refugees, security remains a "paramount concern".

- RECONCILIATION:  The UN and Indonesia have signed an accord on judicial cooperation.  This accord will facilitate the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the 1999 violence in East Timor. UNTAET will be responsible for gathering information, producing witnesses, conducting research and making arrests.

(c) UNDP REPORT  "Good Governance" vital to reducing poverty

A UNDP report makes ''good governance'' the top priority in poverty-fighting by the development program under a new administrator, Mark Malloch Brown, whose organization supports a range of governance projects. Without good governance, reliance on trickle-down economic development and a host of other strategies will not work, the report concludes, the article reports.  Development experts now accept the idea that local governments, often neglected or nonexistent in the developing world, must play a crucial role in poverty reduction.   The report stressed that "holding governments accountable to people is a bottom-line requirement for good governance" but added that democratic norms such as free elections were not enough. Accountability between elections, particularly in the use of public funds, was "crucial to poverty reduction efforts," it said.

(d) AUSTRALIA  Human Rights Scrutiny

The Australian government faces scrutiny from five UN bodies over the next year.  The issues include the removal of land rights for indigenous people, mandatory sentencing which disproportionately affects young Aboriginal people, and the poor treatment of refugee 'boat people'.  The government further alienated Aboriginal people by claiming that the thousands of indigenous people who were forcibly removed from their families to be brought up as 'whites' families under the policies of a previous government did not constitute a 'Stolen Generation'.  The Prime Minister, Mr. Howard, has repeatedly refused to give a formal apology to the Aboriginal people for this policy of forced removal.