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RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN RIGHTS

E-Newsletter
Vol.3 No.22
May 28, 2001


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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.

1) APPEAL TO INDIA AND MYANMAR : SAVE LIVES OF 300 WOMEN AND CHILDREN
2) AFGHANISTAN: HINDU ID POLICY MAY LEAD TO HARASSEMENT AND INTIMIDATION
3) RELIGIOUS RIOTS SPREAD THROUGH CENTRAL BURMA
4) RELIGIOUS UNREST GROWS AMID ECONOMIC TURMOIL
5) THE MEETING ON HUMAN RIGHTS : The Statement of the participants
6) ISLAMIC REFUGEES IN AUSTRALIA...
7) DATABASE AND PUBLICATION on UN Instruments AVAILABLE ON-LINE.

1) APPEAL TO INDIA AND MYANMAR : SouthAsia-HumanRights
SAVE LIVES OF 300 WOMEN AND CHILDREN TRAPPED IN A BATTLE ZONE INSIDE MYANMAR'S NAGA INDIGENOUS PEOPLE INHABITED AREA

Dear colleagues,

According to available information since May 7, 2001 the armies of Myanmar ( Burma) and India have mounted a coordinated military assault on the military and civil camps of the Naga nationalists forces inside Myanmar (Burma), across the borders of Nagaland and Manipur states of India. We have also learnt that about 300 to 400 hundred civilians, mostly women and children belonging to the families of the rebel groups are presently raped inside this battle zone. There is serious concern about the life and safety of these civilians. The area where the military operations are taking place is the traditional homeland of the Konyak Naga Indigenous people which was given away to Myanmar, then Burma, in the nineteenth century by the British colonialists.

The target of the attack is the Head Quarters of 2nd Battalion of National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Kaplang) an armed wing of the Naga nationalists which have been fighting for the Naga indigenous people's right to self determination against Indian and Myanmar government for the last five decades. It is strange that the Indian government should become a party to a military assault against the National Socialist Council of Nagalim - Kaphlang ( NSCN - K) within a week of declaring a "cease-fire" with this very group. We have received information hat more than 3000 Indian army personnel are involved in the operation across the border inside Myanmar.

We appeal to you to intervene in this situation urgently. You should demand that the fighting be halted immediately to allow the women and the children trapped in the battle zone before any harm comes to them. India as a signatory of the four 1949 Geneva Conventions is under obligations not to put civilian populations at risk in a war zone. Considering the fact that the Myanmar army is known for "not taking prisoners" and the history of massive abuse of the Naga Indigenous people by the Indian army in India's northeast, we have reasons to be concerned about the fate of these civilians in the camps under seize.

We urge that the International Committee of Red Cross should be allowed immediate access to the war zone to ensure the safety of the civilians and humane treatment to wounded and captured combatants. Both the governments of India and Myanmar can not walk away from their obligations under International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law.

Kindly send your appeals to the Indian diplomatic missions in your countries immediately. Also please write appeals to the Prime Ministers of India.
Prime Minister's Office, South Block, New Delhi, India

Fax: + 91-11-3019817

2) AFGHANISTAN: HINDU ID POLICY MAY LEAD TO HARASSEMENT AND INTIMIDATION:

From: Jeannine Guthrie

(New York, May24, 2001)- Human Rights Watch today condemned the decision by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban requiring Hindu citizens to wear distinguishing identification. Human Rights Watch urged countries with diplomatic or informal relations with the Taliban to advise its leaders against issuing and enforcing such an edict."The decision is further evidence of the ascendancy of hardliners within the Taliban," said Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division. "And it will leave the Hindu minority vulnerable to harassment and intimidation. In effect, Afghan Hindus are being forced to wear a badge of second-class citizenship."

3) RELIGIOUS RIOTS SPREAD THROUGH CENTRAL BURMA

Sourc: Irrawaddy Online News, By Min Zin

May 26, 2001--Anti-Muslim riots that started in Taungoo, a major transit center between Rangoon and Mandalay, on May 15 continue to spread to other towns throughout central Burma. According to various sources, curfews have been imposed on several towns and cities in the area, including Pegu, Prome, Oktwin, Taungoo and Taunggyi While there have been no confirmed reports of casualties from this latest flare-up of religious violence, it appears that the worst is far from over.

Approximately eighty nine percent of Burma's population is Buddhist, while Muslims and Christians each make up four percent of the population.

4) RELIGIOUS UNREST GROWS AMID ECONOMIC TURMOIL, BURMA

By Aung Zaw

May 24, 2001 Recent religious turmoil in Burma's Mandalay Division and Shan State, coinciding with the plunge of the Kyat, Burma's official currency, has resulted in soaring commodity prices and severe petrol shortages. Though the military authorities have imposed curfews on some cities where religious riots broke out between Muslim and Buddhist Burmese, officials are tightlipped about the on-going confusion and unrest. As a result of these clashes, a number of Buddhists and Muslims in Taungoo, in Mandalay Division, have reportedly been killed.

Monks in Rangoon have been barred from even leaving the capital. Last Saturday, as a group of monks waited to catch a passenger bus north, they were approached by security officials and told to return to their temples. A well-known monk, who requested not to be identified, said he was forced to cancel his trip up north as well. Authorities reportedly told him that there is currently a nationwide ban on all religious gatherings.

5) THE MEETING ON HUMAN RIGHTS : The Statement of the participants.

21st 24th May 2001

A group of about 20 priests, nuns and lay persons gathered at Kandy from the various parts of Sri Lanka reflected on the human rights situation of the country. The major concern of this group was what the ordinary people and the religious leaders can do to help resolve some of the acute problems in the human rights situation.

On of the morning of 22nd May the gathering learnt that the Sri Lankan government had declared 22nd as the National Human Rights Protection day. The gathering welcomed this move and further noted that the Sri Lankan government is a signatory to several U.N. human rights instruments. The declaration of this day as Human Rights Day through out the country should be taken as the government's recognition of all of the U.N. human rights conventions and of state obligations to honour these conventions in Sri Lanka.

The recognition of this day comes at a time when the Sri Lankan people are facing some of the most crucial decisions in their history. There is widespread apprehension that the rule of law has suffered serious setbacks. There is also the widespread recognition that the country must face up to some fundamental reforms, particularly in its justice system, the police, prosecution and judicial systems.

The resolution of the long-standing conflict, the recognition of the right of Sri Lanka,s minorities are some of the major concerns of the people. A bold political decision in order to end the military approach to this problem and to urgently find a political solution is a necessary condition for peace, democracy and human rights in the country.

On this occasion of Sri Lanka's first Human Rights Day, we hope that all of the peoples of Sri Lanka will take a more active interest in resolving the grave human rights problems existing in the country. The ending of extra judicial killings, the widespread use of torture and the extreme forms of censorship exercised over the press should be the primary demands of the people. We wish the Sri Lankan government and the Sri Lankan people a happy and prosperous future on the basis of a genuine respect for Human Rights that is built on the foundation of a vibrant democratic framework.

Just behind the venue of the meeting, is the former Teldeniya town submerged in water as part of the Mahaweli Project. The inhabitants who lost their habitat were evicted from the area. Today it is a wasteland. The place is symbolic of the type of development projects, which have been undertaken in the recent decades. The end result is waste and enormous suffering caused to the people for no purpose at all. What is worst is that in the name of such development, massive human rights violations have been caused to a large number of persons, particularly the young people from the rural sector. This included massive disappearances, extra- judicial killings, torture and rape. The use of Emergency Law for such repression, has caused a massive crisis in the entire Justices System, resulting in a collapse of the Law enforcement machinery. As the President of the Court of Appeal has noted in a recent speech, recourse to justice is been replaced with summary killings. Thus a development model that has ultimately turned the country into a wasteland, has also produced the situation of societal collapse and the collapse of the moral structure of the society.

The gathering reflected on the recent murder of the 76 year old Catholic Priest Fr. A.B.A Costa on 10th May 2001 which has shocked the entire nation and particularly the people of Negombo and the catholic community. Like many other killings that are taking place on a routine basis through out the country, the incident pointed to the inability of the state to protect human life. The law enforcement machinery has proved incapable of preventing such crimes in a competent manner. This poses a challenge for all persons particularly the religious leaders of the country, to respond to this situation in a manner adequate enough to generate a societal response to alter this ominous danger. Thus the collapse of law and order situation has the potential of causing the disruption of community relationships among various racial and religious groups in the country as was witnessed in the recent events at Mawanella. These incidents should be treated as alarm bells to the whole society and calls to action in order to save the moral structure and the justice system of the country.

( The second part of this statement will appear in our next newsletters - the editor)

6) SUBJECT: ISLAMIC REFUGEES IN AUSTRALIA...

Refugee rights groups today accused the Australian government of maintaining a reign of terror inside refugee detention centers, after a pre-dawn raid on a detention centre in the north of the country. At from 4.00am on Saturday, 170 police and guards made a surprise raid on the Port Hedland detention centre, locking down detainees for more than eight hours while they made repeated searches. Twenty-one males and one woman were handcuffed, photographed and transported to the South Hedland Police holding cells, and will appear in court on Monday, on charges of threatening and violent behaviour towards Commonwealth employees during a recent riot at the centre.

A Catholic priest who visited the centre says some inmates believe those arrested and charged with threatening and violent behaviour were unfairly selected. About 40 of the remaining detainees are on a protest hunger strike. Father Wally McNamara says that "90 per cent of them are law abiding people and would abide by regulations of immigration and whatever the right answer is, this is certainly not the answer."

Detainees had been demanding an increase in the pay rate from to for a minimum of eight hours work, a proper roster of available work and paid overtime after eight hours.

Sources: ABC news reports, Refugee Action Collective media statement, Pamela Curr ?Melbourne Indymedia

7) DATABASE AND PUBLICATION on UN Instruments AVAILABLE ON-LINE.

Madam, Sir,I am pleased to inform you that UNESCO has published on the Internet:

* A database of more than 600 human rights research and training institutions world-wide. This database is the electronic version of the World Directory of Human Rights Research and Training Institutions. Searches on the database may be performed in English, French and Spanish.

* Human Rights Major Instruments: Status as at 31 May 2000. Available in English and French, this is an overview of the state of ratifications, sucessions and adhesions to human rights instruments as well as the membership of the United Nations, UNESCO and major regional organizations.Both publications are available at:

http://www.unesco.org/human_rights/index.htm Comments and ideas are welcome, kindly send them to: human.rights@unesco.org Rudolf Joo