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RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN RIGHTS

E-Newsletter
Vol.3 No.11
March 12, 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) WORLD WATER DAY 2001 on 22 MARCH
2) PLEAD WITH HEAVENLY POWERS FOR WATER: Report from Reid Shelton
3) HOW FAIR AND EQUITALE IS THE DISTRIBUTION OF WATER - a basic right
Questions and Answers by International Movement Against Large Dams
4) SEX WORKERS TO DEMAND THEIR RIGHTS
5) CARITAS JAFFNA ORGANISES WOMEN'S DAY -C.Jeyakumar.
6) WAR HAS CHANGED OUR LIFE, NOT OUR SPIRIT- A JRS publication
7) AMNESTY DEFINES VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AS TORTURE
8) PRODUCTION AND SALE OF DEVICES FOR TORTURE: The Countries Involved
9) ELIMINATION OF LABOUR REFORM CAMPS in China

1) WORLD WATER DAY 2001 on 22 MARCH

Water, WHO Says More than 1 billion people lack access to clean water, the World Health Organization reports. A WHO report to be published next month reveals that despite a decade of work by aid agencies to prevent droughts and pollution, tens of thousands of children die daily of thirst or diseases caused by infected or poisoned water.

2) PLEAD WITH HEAVENLY POWERS FOR WATER: Report from Reid Shelton

The International Water day will be celebrated on the 22nd of March with a difference at Tissamaharama, which is 200 Km south of Colombo. Why this place was chosen for the simple reason that it is there that the people experience the scarcity of water the most. There is less rain and throughout the year it is dry. The irrigation schemes had not been functioning properly due to bad construction of the dams. Therefore the people will bring water from various areas of the country to perform a religious function. Symbolically wash the Dagoba and plead at this religious centre for heavenly powers for intercession.

3) HOW FAIR AND EQUITALE IS THE DISTRIBUTION OF WATER - a basic right

(A quotation from the Asian Human Rights Charter is presented as a preamble for a discussion on DAMNS presented in Questions and Answers by International Rivers Network on Damns www.irn.org)

"Natural resources, (including water) must be used in a manner consistent with our obligation to future generations. We must never forget that we are merely temporary custodians of the resources of nature. Nor should we forget that these resources are given to all human kind, and consequently we have a joint responsibility for their responsible, fair and equitable use" Art 2.9 Asian Human Rights Charter

Questions and Answers on the International Movement Against Large Dams
(IRN supports local communities working to protect their rivers and watersheds. We work to halt destructive river development projects, and to encourage equitable and sustainable methods of meeting needs for water, energy and flood management.)

Q. What is a large dam? How many large dams are there?
A: A large dam is defined by the dam industry as one higher than 15 metres There are more than 40,000 large dams worldwide. There are more than 300 major dams giants which meet one of a number of criteria on height (at least 150 metres), dam volume and reservoir volume.

Q: Which countries have the most large dams?
A: China has around 19,000 large dams. The US is the second most dammed country with some 5,500 large dams...
Q: How many are being built today?
A: The rate at which large dams are completed has declined from around 1,000 a year from the 1950s to the mid-1970s to around 260 a year during the early 990s.
Q: Why is there so much opposition to large dams?
A: Large dams have provoked opposition for numerous social, environmental, economic and safety reasons. The main reason for opposition worldwide are the huge numbers of people evicted from their lands and homes to make way for reservoirs. The livelihoods of many millions of people also suffer because of the downstream effects of dams: the loss of fisheries, contaminated water, decreased
amounts of water, and a reduction in the fertility of farmlands and forests due to the loss of natural fertilizers and irrigation in seasonal floods. Dams also spread waterborne diseases such as malaria, leishmaniasis and schistosomiasis. Opponents also believe that the benefits of dams have frequently been deliberately exaggerated and that the services they provide could be provided by other more efficient and sustainable means.
Q: How many people have been displaced by dams?
A: Between 30 and 60 million, the majority of them in China and India. At present perhaps 2 million people are displaced every year by large dams.
Q: Aren't people displaced by dams fairly compensated?
A: In nearly every case which has been studied, the majority of people evicted - usually poor farmers and indigenous people - are further impoverished economically and suffer cultural decline, high rates of sickness and death, and great psychological stress. In some cases people receive no or negligible compensation for their losses. Where compensation is given, cash payments are very rarely enough to compensate for the loss of land, homes, jobs and businesses and replacement land for farmers is usually of poorer quality and smaller than the original holdings.
Q: How much land has been flooded under reservoirs?
A: More than 400,000 square kilometres - the area of California - have been inundated by reservoirs worldwide. This represents 0.3 percent of the world's land area, but the significance of the loss is greater than the figure suggests as river valley land provides the world's most fertile farmland, and most diverse forests and wetland ecosystems.
Q: Have many people been killed in dam collapses?
A: More than 13,500 people have been swept to their deaths by the roughly 200 dams outside China which have collapsed or been overtopped during the 20th century. Two large dams which burst when a massive typhoon hit the Chinese province of Henan in August 1975 left an estimated 80,000 to 230,000 dead. This disaster was kept secret by the Chinese government and was only revealed to the outside world in 1995. People have also died in earthquakes caused by the great weight of water in large reservoirs. A magnitude 6.3 earthquake caused by Koyna Dam in India in 1967 killed around 180 people.
Q: What are the benefits provided by large dams?
A: The majority of large dams are built for irrigation; almost all major dams are built for hydropower. Nearly one-fifth of the world's electricity is generated by dams. Dams also provide flood control, supply water to cities, and can assist river navigation. Many dams are multipurpose, providing two or more of the above benefits.
Q: Surely we need dams to produce cheap and clean electricity?
A: Hydroelectricity is cheap to produce - once the dams are built. The problem is the huge costs of building dams and the long time it takes to build them. The Itaipu Dam, for example, cost billion and took 18 years to build. Actual costs for hydropower dams are also almost always far higher than estimated costs - on average around 30 percent higher. Dam designers are often very optimistic about how much power their dams will produce and often fail to account for the impacts of droughts,meaning that dams often produce less power than promised. Itaipu generates around 20 percent less electricity than predicted. When these high costs, delays and risks of low river flows are factored into calculations of the costs of electricity it can be seen that hydropower is now an expensive form of power generation. Hydropower should not be considered as clean power because of the destruction of river ecosystems and its many social impacts. Internationally, private investors in power projects are largely avoiding large dams and prefer to invest in cheaper and less risky gas-fired power plants

4) SEX WORKERS TO DEMAND THEIR RIGHTS

A meeting of several thousand sex workers from India and other countries across Asia has agreed measures to combat the trafficking of vulnerable women. The sex workers - who gathered in the Indian city of Calcutta - said they would set up a network to prevent women being targeted by trafficking gangs. The network would also help to improve the social status of sex workers, according to conference organiser Smarajit Jena. "It will also help fight for other social and economic causes of the sex workers like respectability in society and trade union rights," she said (BBC)

5) CARITAS JAFFNA ORGANISES WOMEN'S DAY -C.Jeyakumar.

We are happy to let you know that "HUDEC" Human Development Centre the socilal arm of the Catholic church (Caritas Jaffna)is organising a programme for women to mark the International women's day. There will be 300 women participanting in the event where many issues relating to women in conflict situation will be discussed

6) WAR HAS CHANGED OUR LIFE, NOT OUR SPIRIT

International Women's day, is an opportunity to stop and reflect on the lives of women, particularly those who face oppression and persecution in many parts of the world. But it is also an opportunity to celebrate the courage and the hope of women worldwide, especially of those who even in the midst of suffering are a beacon of reconciliation, of life and of justice. To honour them, JRS today launches a book "War has changed our life, not our spirit", a collection of stories of and about women who have suffered through war and displacement.The purpose of the book is to provide a vehicle through which some women can tell their own stories of suffering and hope.

Those who would like copies of the book are asked to contact the JRS International Office at

7) AMNESTY DEFINES VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AS TORTURE

Amnesty International called on governments yesterday to protect women from torture and take responsibility for violence against women, marking the first time domestic violence has been defined as torture by an international human rights organization. As part of its global campaign to stop torture, Amnesty's report, Broken Bodies, Shattered Minds: Torture and Ill-Treatment of Women, examines the circumstances in which violence against women worldwide, at home or in custody, constitutes torture (UN Wire)

8) PRODUCTION AND SALE OF DEVICES FOR TORTURE: The Countries Involved

Countries "involved in the manufacture, distribution, supply or brokering of devices that are always or sometimes used to inflict torture." Some 74 US companies are involved in marketing electroshock weapons, leg irons, shackles, thumbcuffs and other restraints, the report says. Amnesty called for a ban on the use of police and security equipment which inflict cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and an immediate suspension of the international transfer of these devices pending the outcome of an independent review into their effects.

9) Mary Robinson Urges the ELIMINATION OF LABOUR REFORM CAMPS in China UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson today urged Chinese leaders to eliminate the country's nationwide system of labor reform camps as a means of punishment. Robinson is in Beijing to conduct a two-day workshop on China's system of punishment for minor crimes. Ratification Of UN Human Rights Treaty Likely During a meeting with Robinson today, State Councilor Li Tieying indicated the Chinese Parliament might soon ratify the UN Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which it signed a few years ago (MacKinnon, CNN.com).(This was ratified a week ago- editor)

During the meeting, the two sides discussed at length the history of the human rights issue, ways to promote human rights and international human rights documents. Both sides acknowledged that governments around the world have the responsibility to promote and protect human rights in accordance with those texts (Xinhua News Agency, 26 Feb).