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RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN RIGHTS

E-Newsletter
Vol.13 No.51
December 17, 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.

WE WISH OUR MUSLIM READERS A HAPPY AND PEACEFUL EID-UL-FITR

We wish to congratulate National Commission for Justice and Peace of Pakistan which has deservedly been awarded the 5th Tji Hak-soon Justice and Peace Award.

CONTENTS

1) REFUGEES, ASYLUM SEEKERS AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS "PRODUCTS OF POLITICAL FAILURE."
2) Universal Human rights day & religious minorities of Pakistan.
3) TAMPERE DECLARATION: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHILDREN, TORTURE AND OTHER FORMS OF VIOLENCE
4) AHRC ESTABLISHES VICTIMS FUND
5) ‘WE CAN LOVE WHAT WE ARE, WITHOUT HATING WHAT ?AND WHO ?WE ARE NOT,’Koffi Annan

- Want more copies of our HR Day poster?

1) REFUGEES, ASYLUM SEEKERS AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS "PRODUCTS OF POLITICAL FAILURE."
REFUGEES: Lubbers Addresses Opening Of UNHCR Ministerial Conference U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers today addressed a historic meeting in Geneva of signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention, highlighting the challenges faced by member countries and their shortcomings in implementing the accord. Lubbers urged countries to honor their international obligations under the convention, calling the world's 22 million refugees, asylumseekers and internally displaced persons "products of political failure."

"The convention is fundamentally about freedom from fear," Lubbers said. "In the new international political environment, we see governments refusing to accept refugees because they are so many; refusing to accept them because they are mixed up with economic migrants; refusing to accept them because of a lack of burden sharing among states. ... Unfortunately, governments' policies towards refugees and asylum seekers are often based on fear and mistrust."

"The difficulties of managing mixed flows of refugees and other migrants must not be underestimated," Lubbers added. "We must develop new approaches, tools and standards to strengthen the legal and physical protection of the refugees, while separating out the undeserving"(UNHCR release/ReliefWeb, Dec. 12).

Rights Activists Call For Monitoring System To Ensure Compliance With Convention. Rights groups meeting in Geneva yesterday said there should be an independent monitoring system to ensure that member countries to the convention are adhering to its policies, arguing that too many countries only pay lip service to the treaty. "The convention itself is fine. The problem is to ensure that states really abide by it," said Anders Ladekarl, who chaired a meeting of nongovernmental organizations
(Richard Waddington, Reuters/ABCNews.com, Dec. 11).


2) Universal Human rights day & religious minorities of Pakistan.
Christian Liberation Front is commemorating Human rights day with the victims?families at Bhawalpur on 10th December. There will be a special seminar under the title “Human rights & Pakistani religious minorities? We have invited different organizations, religious leaders and community leaders in this program.
The main purpose of this seminar is to highlight the violation of Human rights of religious minorities on basis of religion in Pakistan. Secondly to express our concern over delaying the arrest of culprits. We have selected Bhawalpur because of the tragic incident, which is one of major example of persecution and religious terrorism.

3) TAMPERE DECLARATION: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHILDREN, TORTURE AND OTHER FORMS OF VIOLENCE
The “International Conference on Children, Torture and Other forms of Violence: Facing the Facts, Forging the Future?brought together 183 participants from 73 countries in all regions representing wide range of international and national NGOs, other organizations and observers from governments and international governemental organizations,

Violence against children (all persons under 18), both girls and boys, encompasses all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, and includes, inter alia, sexual abuse, harmful traditional practices, trafficking, exploitation, bullying in schools and corporal punishment.

Preventing and eliminating violence against children has huge potential for creating a society free of violence and favourable to a culture of human rights.

We the participants present ?
Recognize that the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international standards affirm children’s status as holders of human rights. These include the right to respect for human dignity and physical and psychological integrity and to equal protection under the law, without any form of discrimination.

Recognize the special competence and abilities of children and affirm that all children have the right to be active participants in identifying, preventing and addressing all forms of violence suffered by them,

Note the necessity to strengthen existing mechanisms to address violence, establish new mechanisms, provide them with adequate and sustainable funding, and take greater efforts to mainstream children’s rights across international, regional and national systems,

Welcome the request of the General Assembly that the Secretary-General conduct an in-depth international study on the issue of violence against children, as recommended by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

We recommend:

To the United Nations and UN-related bodies:

1. That the UN Commission on Human Rights appoint a Special Rapporteur on Violence against Children
2That the UN Secretary-General appoint an internationally-respected independent expert to head a well-qualified team to conduct the in-depth international study on violence against children
6. That the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights organize with urgency a special workshop for existing UN mechanisms to address ways to more effectively address violence against children within their work

4) AHRC ESTABLISHES VICTIMS FUND

Oftentimes staff members of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) encounter victims of human rights violations who need support, at least temporarily, in situations of extreme need. While fighting for their rights, it is also necessary to help them, even in a small way, in such times of distress. For this purpose, AHRC has set up a Victims Fund. Your help may assist a person and their family who have suffered from a violation of their human rights. You can make your contributions to this fund by sending a cheque in U.S. dollars made out to the Asian Legal Resource Centre Ltd. to the following address:
Unit D, 7/F, Mongkok Commercial Centre
16 Argyle Street
Kowloon
Hong Kong

5) ‘WE CAN LOVE WHAT WE ARE, WITHOUT HATING WHAT ?AND WHO ?WE ARE NOT,?
SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS IN NOBEL LECTURE
The twentieth century was perhaps the deadliest in human history, devastated by innumerable conflicts, untold suffering, and unimaginable crimes. Time after time, a group or a nation inflicted extreme violence on another, often driven by irrational hatred and suspicion, or unbounded arrogance and thirst for power and resources. In response to these cataclysms, the leaders of the world came together at mid-century to unite the nations as never before.
A forum was created -?the United Nations -- where all nations could join forces to affirm the dignity and worth of every person, and to secure peace and development for all peoples. Here States could unite to strengthen the rule of law, recognize and address the needs of the poor, restrain man’s brutality and greed, conserve the resources and beauty of nature, sustain the equal rights of men and women, and provide for the safety of future generations.
We thus inherit from the twentieth century the political, as well as the scientific and technological power, which -- if only we have the will to use them -- give us the chance to vanquish poverty, ignorance and disease.

In the twenty-first century I believe the mission of the United Nations will be defined by a new, more profound, awareness of the sanctity and dignity of every human life, regardless of race or religion. This will require us to look beyond the framework of States, and beneath the surface of nations or communities. We must focus, as never before, on improving the conditions of the individual men and women who give the State or nation its richness and character. We must begin with the young Afghan girl, recognizing that saving that one life is to save humanity itself. Poverty begins when even one child is denied his or her fundamental right to education. What begins with the failure to uphold the dignity of one life, all too often ends with a calamity for entire nations.

In this new century, we must start from the understanding that peace belongs not only to States or peoples, but to each and every member of those communities. The sovereignty of States must no longer be used as a shield for gross violations of human rights. Peace must be made real and tangible in the daily existence of every individual in need. Peace must be sought, above all, because it is the condition for every member of the human family to live a life of dignity and security.

A Note : For more copies of our Human Rights Day poster "What Happens When Human Rights Are Violated in Asia?", please write to us. The editor