Home

Archives

AHRC Site

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN RIGHTS

E-Newsletter
Vol.3 No.39
September 24, 2001


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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) REFLECTION ON TERRORISM AND COUNTER-TERRORISM
2) SPECTRE OF FARMERS' SUICIDES BACK IN AP, India
3) IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE FOREIGN WORKERS IN TAIWAN
4) ARAKAN MUSLIM LEADER SEEKS WORLD HELP FOR ASYLUM
5) BURSTING GRANARIES AND STARVATION
6) AHRC HOME NEWS:

1) REFLECTION ON TERRORISM AND COUNTER-TERRORISM

By Basil fernando

Let me share briefly what happened to my own country, Sri Lanka, over a period of around 20 years, in the name of a battle between terrorism and counter-terrorism. This may be relevant as we hear talk of a prolonged war against terrorism these days. Mine are a private citizen's observations.

May I relate this to how I have been coping with the news and information on the September 11 Tragedy in the United States? I heard of this incident just a few minutes after it happened. I was in Bangkok attending a conference on the International Criminal Court (ICC), an international treaty that, ironically, United States has refused to ratify. I watched the TV coverage continuously till the next morning, and during very many hours in the days since. This was not due to curiosity, but due to habit. Over the last twenty years, we have got used to hearing of similar incidents in our own country, though different in magnitude. I watched as you may have done, the scenes of the incident, listened to reports, commentators, politicians, priests and others. Above all, I watched intently the members of the victims' families, carrying photos of loved ones, showing posters of them, talking to commentators and community workers, often crying. I also saw the good people trying to help. Further, I also saw the political and religious ceremonies and talk of theologians and military people. As I did that, I came to one realization: That despite changes in details, what I was seeing was something I have seen very many times before. It was as if I was reading a book that I had read over twenty times or more. There were no surprises for me. Psychologically, I was once again grappling with something that I have been familiar with for a long time.

The rhetoric of US leaders who spoke of war, of sure enough victory, good and evil, friends and foe - how many times I have heard these things before! All that I noticed in their faces was confusion, as I have seen in the faces of successive leaders in my country. They tried to sound brave and united. It is always like that.

After twenty years, what has "terrorism and counter-terrorism" done to my country?
All economic life has been seriously disrupted, including the air transport industry.
It has virtually destroyed the spirit of the nation
It has deeply and fundamentally divided the communities living in the country.
It has made people cynical of the political establishment of the country and created alienation from the political process.
Rule of law has collapsed to the point that an Appeal Court judge said recently that people resort to summary justice instead of resorting to courts.
A whole generation of young people have grown up without knowing what peace means. This psychological impact on the young is the worst of all.

And many other things. I want to stress that this is not only due to terrorism but due also to the so-called war on terrorism.
My country failed to address some of the fundamental problems - economic, political and social - which gave rise to armed conflicts. Even of late, many people have come to realize this. So there may still be some hope.

One firm conviction I have is that it is the private citizens that can really make a change. If they speak out their minds and if they intervene to assert what they think is right and wrong, there is hope for a transition to peaceful times. Uniformity and conformity leads to decadence, and decadence is no answer to the type of grave problems that throw up sad tragedies. I only hope that the present crisis will not result in the use of the same strategies that have failed us. I further hope that a wiser, more mature and humane solution may come out of the present crisis, and that this may also help all of us in different parts of world who have been trying to deal with this problem for a much longer time.

2) SPECTRE OF FARMERS' SUICIDES BACK IN AP

Omer Farooq/Hyderabad

The pesticide meant to fight the pest attack on the Groundnut has come handy for the distraught farmers of Anantapur to end their lives. In a reflection of the grim situation of recurring drought in this Anantapur district, more than thirty farmers have committed suicide so far this year. The suicides are reminiscent of a spate of suicides by the cotton farmers in Warangal and other parts of Telangana in 1997, in Mehbubnagar district in 2000 and suicides by powerloom weavers in Sricilla of Karimnagar district earlier this year.

President Mr. Chen Shue Bien

3) IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE FOREIGN WORKERS IN TAIWAN WE SAY NO TO:

CHEAP LABOR IN TAIWAN! ?UNREASONABLE BROKER'S FEE! DEDUCTION OF BOARD AND LODGING FROM THE MINIMUM WAGE OF FOREIGN WORKERS! VIOLATION AGAINST HUMAN AND LABOR RIGHTS OF FOREIGN WORKERS! THIS POLITICAL DECISION THAT WILL BENEFIT ONLY THE EMPLOYERS AND WILL BRING MORE UNEMPLOYMENT AND HARDSHIP TO LOCAL WORKERS! TO POLICE HARASSMENt AND FORCED DEPORTATION!

We say YES to:

MORE PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW FOR FOREIGN AND LOCAL WORKERS! EQUAL JOB EQUAL PAY!MINIMUM WAGE TO FOREIGN WORKERS! MORE VIGILANCE ON THE PART OF THE GOVERNMENT AGAINST UNSCRUPOLOUS BROKERS AND EMPLOYERS!
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND DISSENT!

Fr. Bruno Ciceri, Stella Maris International Service Center, #37, Lainan Street, 803 Kaohsiung,Taiwan
e-mail: brunostm@ksts.seed.net.tw

4) ARAKAN MUSLIM LEADER SEEKS WORLD HELP FOR ASYLUM by Abdur Rahman Khan ,The Independent Bangladesh:

The President of the Arakan Muslim Development Foundation, M A Rahim, an asylum-seeker in Bangladesh since February this year, is passing his days in distress waiting for humanitarian assistance from the international community. Assisted by Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, a legal and human rights organisation, MA Rahim has appealed to the international community for asylum and action against "the tyranny of the Myanmar military government."

Rahim, worked as an educationist in his home town Myauk-U. He was arrested by Military Intelligence (MI-10) on November 23 last year and held in confinement in Myauk-U for over a month. Rahim alleged that while in custody he was routinely tortured by the army and police men. Continued torture resulted in the loss of all his teeth and severe injuries to his eyes, he alleged adding "I am now a half-dead man". Rahim was released following an order from an appeal judge's court where he was not proved guilty....

5) BURSTING GRANARIES AND STARVATION : THE INTERVENTION OF The Peoples'Union for Civil Liberties". GOOD NEWS Writes Dr.P.J.Alexander

India is a paradox-an enigma wrapped in a mystery. Such paradoxes as we see in India today, are hard to come by elsewhere. Here contradictions are in peaceful co existence. To cite a few-caste and untouchabilty with rabid political extremism, beauty queens donning the Miss World Crown year after year with female foeticide and dowry deaths, enviably rich human resources, IT, Medicine, Engineering, Management, and Technology) with massive illiteracy, nuclear weaponry and energy crunch, Hi-rise buildings with large slums, Hi-tech industries with manual scavenging, Astro-physics and now Astrology in the universities, bursting granaries and starvation deaths-the list is by no means short. They are all man made and can be corrected ,resolved ,to make the country stronger and richer. Yet they are permitted to survive ... One paradox - bursting granaries and starvation deaths- was dealt a body blow by the Sureme Court of India the other day, thanks to activists and intellectuals...The "green revolution" in just two states in India during the last decade, made a miracle here, from food scarcity, to food surplus.The food surplus, in the last few years are creating problems for storage and warehousing .Mountains of grains are now stacked in the open, and the surplus with the Food Corporation is unmanageably large, feasting pests and rodents and to rot. In the midst of such plenty, people, citizens of India, die of starvation. Socialism, one of the basic features of the Indian Constitution which made the Indian State, a caring state, was losing its thrust with the onslaught of" market friendliness, globalisation, and privatisation " and the resultant pressure for the withdrawal of subsidies, and to let supply and demand regulate the price structure, all but demolished a reasonably efficient and functioning public distribution system.

Intellectuals and activists from NGOs have been arguing for a rational food security system in the wake of these developments They were asking the governments and the academic community to work out a rational and realistic food-for-work programme. But an insensitive political executive and somnolent governmental machinery went on dithering and did nothing. Reports in the media spoke of PLANS TO DUMP LARGE QUANTITY OF GRAIN INTO THE SEA while people in the State of Orissa died of starvation and of eating " mango-kernels' This was brought before the Supreme Court through a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by an activist organisation, "The Peoples'Union for Civil Liberties". The Court, true to its mission ,told the Central government and state Governments ,on the 20th of August," that food must reach the starving, not rot". "Mere schemes without implementation were of no use and what was important was that food should reach the needy".

So the good news from India is that it is about to become a "Hunger Free "India. Good news indeed.

AHRC HOME NEWS:

1- Messrs Bruce Van Voorhis, Wong Kai Sin and Basil fernando are attending a workshop on Human Rights for Tibetans organised by AHRC.
2- Welcome to Ms. Tracy the new intern form the United States.Bruce Van Voorhis
3- Would you care to have a copy of the dossier prepared for the Vigil of the HK Ngos relating to the incidents of 11th September, please drop us a line. It can be sent by email.