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RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN RIGHTS

E-Newsletter
Vol.3 No.13
March 26, 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) ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEAL against
Discrimination on the basis of occupation and descent
2-1) BURMA Kyodo: Thai police suspect Myanmar monks of spying
2-2) Muslim Information Centre of Burma : Mosque Imam killed by
junta in Burma
3) THE SITUATION IN AMBON / MOLUCCAS - NATIONAL DIALOGUE LANGGUR
from Crisis Centre
4) VEITNAM: Vietnamese Buddhist Leader Kills Herself in Govt. Protest
5-1) PAKISTAN: General 'Ready to Take Presidency':
5-2) PAKISTAN: MASS ARRESTS CONDEMNED
6) Legalize Rights of Our Ancestral Land - Veddha Chief
7) COURSE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND PEACE STUDIES

1) ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM
21 March 2001

INDIA - Discrimination on the basis of occupation and descent Asian Human Rights Commission has repeatedly stated that the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa will mean nothing to the outcaste of South Asia if it does not address the caste issue. Caste oppression is a form of racial discrimination on the basis of descent and occupation (as defined by the UN Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination).

Yet the Indian government has used extreme measures to prevent the WCAR from addressing this issue, which it rightly considers to be a shameful and embarrassing blight on the record of the 'world's largest democracy'. Their strategies have included:

• Sending "GONGO's" (government representatives in the guise of NGOs) to participate in every preparatory meeting with an aim to sabotaging discussions, documents and strategies related to caste
• Diplomatic pressure on other countries to not mention caste and pressure UN to not speak about caste
• Making pacts for silence with other Asian nations, to prevent any major discimination problems being raised
• Strategic control of UN: take chairing and drafting positions, adopt anti-NGO rules
• Bypass own parliament through an appointed 15-member team that does not report to Indian parliament

SUGGESTED ACTION

To mark this day for ending discrimination, built on the blood of those who have fought against entrenched systems of discrimination, we urge you to take a small action to urge both Mary Robinson and the Indian government to enable this issue to be raised at the WCAR. Your action may give a glimmer of hope to the outcaste millions condemned to the life of landless labourers or manual scavengers, prevented from receiving proper education, socially excluded and subject to massacres, rape and unsanitary housing conditions.

Following are two sample letters which you can use to help you write to Mary Robinson and the Indian government.

SAMPLE LETTER 1:

Dear Ms. Robinson

I regret to learn of your decision to not continue in your role as High Commissioner for Human Rights. You have made a great contribution to the promotion of human rights in the world, despite the constraints of your office. It is possible that your imminent departure from the position may lift those constraints sufficiently to enable you to advocate on behalf of an extremely oppressed group numbering in the hundreds of millions who are yet to gain a voice in the international human rights stage.

This group is the Dalits of South Asia, who have been the victims of a fundamentally discriminatory caste system for thousands of years. Despite good legislation and superficial projects, their plight remains desperate. As you know, the Indian government has worked very hard to prevent this issue from being raised through the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, despite the CERD's decision that caste oppression is an insidious form of racial discrimination on the basis of descent and occupation.

I urge you to, during your final months in your illustrious position, do everything possible to ensure that the WCAR will address this gross human rights abuse by an entire society. I also ask that you initiate proceedings to gain UN support for the International Day for Dalit Solidarity, April 14 (birthday of Dr. Ambedkar, the recognised Dalit leader), which was declared by the Global Dalit Conference held recently in Delhi. Your efforts on this could make an enormous difference to the forgotten, downtrodden masses of Dalits who have so far not benefited in the least from the United Nations system.

Yours sincerely
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SEND TO:
Ms. Mary Robinson ,High Commissioner for Human Rights.
OHCHR-UNOG e-mail: webadmin.hchr@unog.ch
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SAMPLE LETTER 2:

Dear Mr. Vajpayee, Ms. Gandhi and Mr. Balayogi

It is my understanding that the Indian government is opposing the inclusion of caste in the agenda of the forthcoming World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. This is despite the fact that caste discrimination is the most deeply entrenched form of discrimination on the basis of descent and occupation, which is clearly related to racial discrimination. Further, I understand that the efforts to oppose the inclusion of this issue are being conducted in an underhand manner that prevents debate in the parliament and employs dishonest persons posing as "NGO's" who are working to disrupt genuine efforts of Dalit groups.

I urge you to at the very least bring this matter for debate in parliament, as called for by the Dalit leaders who met in New Delhi recently for the Global Dalit Conference. It is shocking that the world's largest democracy would prevent parliamentary debate on the issue, and would ignore the call of those representing some 160 million of its inhabitants to enable discussion of the issue at international fora. The international community and the Dalit community of India and Nepal will certainly know about and be shocked by these efforts to prevent discussion on this fundamental discrimination problem, and would greatly appreciate the efforts of anyone working to enable it to be discussed at the WCAR.

Yours sincerely

SEND LETTERS TO: Prime Minister of India
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Address: 3, Race Course Road,
New Delhi-110001
Fax: +91 11 301 9817
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister
Leader of the Opposition : Smt. Sonia Gandhi
10, Janpath, New Delhi-110 011
Fax: +91 11 3018651
Speaker of Parliament Mr.Shri Ganti Mohanachandra Balayogi
17, Parliament House, New Delhi-110001
Fax : +91 11 3792927
Please contact the Urgent Appeals coordinator if you require more information or wish to report human rights violations. Email:

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees yesterday addressed the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, and said racism, xenophobia, violence and human rights violations are to blame for the world's growing number of displaced people.

2-1) BURMA Kyodo: Thai police suspect Myanmar monks of spying

MAE HONG SON, Thailand, March 21 Kyodo

Thai police said Wednesday they have put more than 200 Buddhist monks from Myanmar in the northern border province of Mae Hong Son on watch list over suspicions they are military spies.

'Some monks are moving around the border areas seeking to make friends with Thai military officers guarding the areas,' he said. Some 40 Myanmar people suspected of spying have been detained by Thai authorities since the February clash.

2-2) Muslim Information Centre of Burma : Mosque Imam killed by junta in Burma

March 2001

On December, 15, 2000, junta's military officers shot the Imam of mosque in the head, killing him. The shooting occurred in the compound of mosque in Karen state of Burma. The military officers led by Captain Soe Hla of Light Infantry Battalion No.28 came to the Kyauk Taung village mosque and asked the Imam, U Sulaiman ( about 37 years old) to go as porter. The Imam of the mosque requested the authorities to spare him from portering, as it was the month of Ramadan, Islam fasting month. However, the military officers shot him dead

3) THE SITUATION IN AMBON / MOLUCCAS - Report no. 150 from Crisis Centre

NATIONAL DIALOGUE LANGGUR - On Sunday, March 18, the inter-religious "National Dialogue on Revitalizing Local Culture for Rehabilitation and Development in the Moluccas towards a New Indonesia" in Tual-Langgur, Kei-Kecil, was closed. One of its recommendations - called the Pesan Langgur - said: "On behalf of our belief in God Almighty and in order to enhance human values and dignity, we, the participants of the National Dialogue, have reached an accord to proclaim what we will call "The Langgur Recommendation" i.e. "The firm and unvacillating intent to find a solution to end the conflict and the violence which up to now have unsettled the Moluccas and North Moluccas". It was also agreed upon that the dialogue at Langgur had to be seen as a step in the ongoing process of dialogue to end the conflict, encompassing all those who are involved in the unrest. Though there will always be religious and ethnic differences, however, adat (local custom) and especially adat houses should be permanent meeting points for all . The participants also pledged - after returning to their locations in the Moluccas and North Moluccas - to be ambassadors of the Langgur Recommendation

4) VEITNAM: Vietnamese Buddhist Leader Kills Herself in Govt. Protest
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Posted Wednesday, March, 21, 2001
HANOI The 75-year-old head of the women;s league of a Buddhist sect died Monday after setting herself on fire in southern Vietnam to protest the detention of the group's leader and demand religious freedom, a statement said Tuesday;Nguyen Thi thu, 75, doused herself with petrol and set herself alight in the village of Tan Hoi in Dong Thap province to protest the arrest of Le Quang Liem, secretary of the Hoa Hao Buddhist church in Vietnam; the statement said.
Subject: [AMAN] human rights and peace studies course in kathmandu

5-1) PAKISTAN: General 'Ready to Take Presidency': Posted Wednesday, March, 21, 2001

by Rory McCarthy in Islamabad

Military ruler General Pervez Musharraf is preparing to appoint himself president as a first step towards establishing a civilian government, politicians and military analysts say.

5-2) PAKISTAN: MASS ARRESTS CONDEMNED

Rights group calls for lifting of ban on rallies

(New York, March 22, 2001) Human Rights Watch today condemned the mass arrests of political party leaders and activists in Punjab province by Pakistan's military government.

On the morning of March 20, the Pakistani government launched the third wave of mass political arrests since October 1999 coup. The arrests apparently were made to forestall a rally planned for March 23 by the multiparty Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD)."With crackdowns like this one, it's hard to see how Pakistani authorities expect their claims of progress to be taken seriously," said

6) Legalize Rights of Our Ancestral Land - Veddha Chief

Saroj Pathirana in London, Wednesday 21/03/01 1745 GMT. The proposed Sri Lankan constitutional amendment should clearly define the rights of the indigenous people of Sri Lanka says the leader of Veddhas (Lacnet.org)

7) COURSE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND PEACE STUDIES

A course is being organised on human rights and peace studies by South Asia Forum for Human Rights in Kathmandu. Those interested please check it out. Reply-To: AMAN_ASIA@yahoogroups.com