Home

Archives

AHRC Site

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

E-Newsletter
Vol.3 No.19
May 7, 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) Human Rights Message For Vesak- Celebrating Buddha's Birth, Enlightenment And Passing Away. Nalin Suaris -Buddha understood cruelty is a human product and not an accident
2) DALIT DEBATE - A massive advance for the cause of the Dalits Comment by Basil Fernando
3) For the First Time in BELGIUM : A CIVILIAN JURY FROM ONE COUNTRY IS JUDGING SUSPECTS OF WAR CRIMES IN ANOTHER COUNTRY
4) UA-14-2001: Civil Society under siege
INDONESIA EARLY WARNING - Denial of right to freedom of association and expression, threats to human rights defenders
5) MALAYSIA: END POLITICAL ARRESTS
6) TORTURE: UN Committee Opens Three-Week Review Session

1) Human Rights Message For Vesak- Celebrating Buddha's Birth, Enlightenment And Passing Away. Nalin Suaris
-Buddha understood cruelty is a human product and not an accident-

On the 6th of May, several countries in Asia will observe a holiday to celebrate Buddha's Birth, Enlightenment and Passing Away. There is hardly anyone who would dispute the fact that no one has influenced Asia as much as Gotama Buddha, who lived in the fifth century BC.

What is unique to the re-discovery of Buddha's life and teaching in recent times is that his ideas were completely opposed to the dominant ideas of his time. The scholars have quite clearly established that he opposed the Chaturwarna philosophy which divided all peoples into four castes, putting Brahmins at the top and Sudra at the bottom, on the theological basis of divine will. Rejecting this division and asserting that all are born of women, Buddha preached ideas of common humanity and equality. He recognized the rights of women and the right of education for all. The basic tenet of Brahminism is that the right to education belonged solely to the top caste: the Brahmins themselves.

Buddha's teaching on loving kindness can really be appreciated only when it is seen in the background of the utter cruelty to human beings and animals contained in Brahmin doctrines. Caste was a cruel separation of people that turned the ill-treatment of the low castes into an ideal. According to the Dhamma of the Brahmins, an upper caste person who wanted to treat a low caste person as an equal was a sinner who needed to undergo purification through rituals. As for animals, the Brahmins' main job was to offer animal sacrifices. Buddha preached against such sacrifices.

Kindness and cruelty remain the major point of human discourse even to date. There are many ideologies which justifies cruelty for various pretexts, such as maintaining the purity of the race, national interest, culture and even economic development. Deliberate policies that deprive basic food, water, medicine and education to vast sections of people are promoted by big nations, big corporations, and big financial institutions. Inequality towards women is promoted in the same way. Every form of cruelty rises not through accident but through well worked out human networks.

Buddha understood, the conditionings of human cruelty and worked against them. He challenged the notions that supported such cruelty and promoted notions that were capable of defeating the negative notions. However, negative notions again got back their lost influence, thanks to religious persecution and an extremely organized effort by Brahminsm. Caste came back even worse than before, and became untouchability. Over 17% of the Indian population even today suffer from this, even though untouchability has been legally abolished. Meanwhile, Buddha's teachings were falsified and the aspects of his teachings which gave rise to one of greatest social movements for equality and against cruelty have been suppressed. Buddhism has been transformed in many places to an other-worldly religion.

Re-discovery of Buddha's original teaching can lead to a powerful movement to resist all forms of cruelty and discrimination. It can also be an inspiration for movements to protect nature. The Buddhist festival of this year is a good occasion to try to understand the damage that has been done to Buddha's teachings and to rediscover the original message. If this were to happen, it would give a tremendous boost to the human rights movement in the world, particularly in India, the place where Buddha's message has its origins. We urge that on this special day, special thought be given for Dalits, who are crying for liberation from caste discrimination.

2) DALIT DEBATE - A massive advance for the cause of the Dalits

Comment by Basil Fernando

At last the Dalit issue is getting the attention it deserves in the World media, thanks particularly to the Indian governments obstinate opposition to include the Dalit issue in the discussion at the World Conference on Racism. The Dalit lobby must consider this as a great advance and demonstrate its capacity to engage in this debate.

A test of any campaign is that it can draw a response from the enemy. Now, that is a principle that Gandhi also relied on. We may put his view to good use, even if we may not agree with him on many things. After all, it was not for nothing that the Brahmin fundamentalist Godse killed him, accusing him of weakening Hindus- by which he meant the Brahmins and their supporters.

Imagine what little would have been achieved if India merely agreed to include the word caste in the conference without resistance. It would be the same story as the Constitutional provisions and the other laws on Dalits, which after been made into law is mostly ignored. Even Indian Attorney General admitted that despite these provision the problem still remains.

Indian objection thus will have a quite an adverse effect on Brahmins and it gives an opportunity for exposing this vicious form of discrimination to the world.

We may consider as to why India has taken this position despite the damage that it is bound to cause;

As Ambedkar pointed out clearly in his Annihilation of Caste, there is no such thing as the Indian Nation, except as a political fiction. In real life Brahmins defend themselves, what ever may happen to the Nation. ( Most of the Diplomats themselves are Brahmins and any way what you have in India is the rule of the Brahmins).

Another reason for this is that this world conference will embarrass quite a lot Brahmins who live in the West and who pretend that they are more Westernized than the people in the West. They talk the language of liberalism. At Heart, most Brahmins remain Brahmins where ever they are. The debate will expose their double standards.

Thus, if they can stop this discussion they will be very happy. The Brahmin may use a few people from among Dalits as it also happens in other conflicts, be it black people's struggle, liberation struggles and the rest. However, Brahmins will care very little for any of them after they are been used. Thirdly, India has maintained the boast of being the world's largest democracy. Now, the world will know the type of democracy that exists. Fourthly, India wants to appear as a very modern nation with nuclear capacity and having satellites in space. However, there is manual scavenging at home and sewerage engineering remains at the most primitive stage. Fifthly, India's great claim has been that it is highly a spiritual civilization. In fact, the caste which is the basis of social organization of India is one of the most cruel practices mankind has ever known. To see how holiness and cruelty co-exists, one must look into the caste discrimination in India. There is discrimination even regarding drinking of water. Besides this, there had been many a great cultural critics, Anthropologists and other intellectuals who had devoted a great deal of effort to play down the significance of caste in India. These writings were specially published in the West. Now, the exposure of Caste issue will cast great doubts about such research publications and the reputations built on such works. No wonder that some people referred as eminent scholars are taking part in preventing the discussion on this issue.

No one who really knows the depth of discrimination of caste in India would have expected that this debate will be an easy one. It will be a hard debate and will be a long one. But the debate has begun. Now, it is time to meet the Brahmin at a world stage and not in his hiding place only. In India Brahmins will resort to any thing from murder to throwing of human excreta and urine to stop such a discussion. ( For Brahmins human excreta is a symbol of power- those who doubt this must watch the video film Less Than Human). In the world stage there will be less of a possibility for such things. This is the advantage the Dalit lobby has got at this moment. Let us Engage the Brahmins and their supporters in this debate by keeping it up every day, however long it may take. This we owe to the Dalits and to the humanity.

3) For the First Tme in BELGIUM: A CIVILIAN JURY FROM ONE COUNTRY IS JUDGING SUSPECTS OF WAR CRIMES IN ANOTHER COUNTRY

Belgium's trial of four Rwandan Hutus on charges of complicity in Rwanda's 1994 genocide "opens a promising new frontier in the evolution of international criminal law" by "expanding the doctrine of universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity," the New York Times said yesterday in an editorial.

Two nuns, a professor and a business executive are being charged under Belgian laws with collaborating with Hutu militias in a number of killings. This is the first time a civilian jury from one country is judging suspects accused of war crimes in another country, the newspaper says, noting that the trial supplements African proceedings which have yielded "mixed results."

Those on trial in Belgium had the resources to flee their country, but crimes against humanity "are an affront to people everywhere, and there should be no sanctuary for those responsible for the violence," the editorial says (New York Times, 1 May).

The Brussels trial is "a step beyond what we've seen in the Rwanda tribunal or the Yugoslav tribunal, where we had to set up tribunals under the auspices of the international community as a whole," said Bruce Broomhall, head of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights' International Justice Program, in an interview with National Public Radio's Morning Edition. "I think trials by individual governments in their own courts for crimes under international law is going to become a much more accepted part of the practice in the next years" Sarah Chayes,

4) UA-14-2001: Civil Society under siege

INDONESIA EARLY WARNING - Denial of right to freedom of association and expression, threats to human rights defenders

Indonesia's new democracy is facing its greatest threat to date.

While the world's attention is on whether President Wahid will stay in office or not some organisations have taken the opportunity to wipe out the main progressive, democracy-building organisations, openly calling it an "anti-communist" purge (even though the organisations may be completely unrelated to communism).

Organisations that are being targeted include progressive trade unions, political parties, non-governmental organisations and student movements. Organisations attempting to open investigations into the 1965-66 massacre of well over a million persons (which brought Suharto to power) have been targeted in particular.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS YOU MAY CONTACT:timgill@ahrchk.org

5) MALAYSIA: END POLITICAL ARRESTS

(New York, April 30, 2001) ?Human Rights Watch today welcomed a new coalition of Malaysian rights groups, the Anti-ISA Movement (AIM), dedicated to repeal of Malaysia's notorious Internal Security Act (ISA).Human Rights Watch also called on Malaysian authorities to release ten opposition leaders and rights activists detained under the ISA in the past three weeks, or else charge them and ensure that they are promptly and fairly tried. ISA detainees can be held indefinitely without trial. Since April 10, nine opposition leaders and one prominent human rights activist have been detained under the ISA, and held incommunicado with no access to lawyers or family. Human Rights Watch, noted that the human rights situation in Malaysia had deteriorated, largely because of Prime Minister Mahathir's determination to crush his political rivals.

6)TORTURE: UN Committee Opens Three-Week Review Session

The UN Committee Against Torture began its 26th session yesterday and is scheduled over the next three weeks to hear reports on .....

During the morning session, the committee learned that as of March, 84 initial reports had been submitted, while 37 were overdue. As for second periodic reports, 52 had been received and 41 were late, while among third periodic reports, 28 had been submitted and 37 were overdue. Of the 27 fourth periodic reports expected from country parties, only six had been received.

Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan told the committee that torture is widespread and that the body must adapt its role on this issue after 25 previous sessions (UN release, 30 Apr). He called on all states to ratify the convention.