REPORT ON
THE WSCF-AP HUMAN RIGHTS SOLIDARITY WORKSHOP 1998
'POLITICAL
PRISONERS, TORTURE AND DISAPPERARANCE IN
The WSCF-AP
Human Rights Solidarity Workshop for the South Asian Region was held at the
The
general objective of this workshop was to enable a selected number of student
leaders of SCMs to understand and appreciate the situation and issues of
political prisoners, torture and disappearance in South Asian region.
The
objectives of the workshop were as follows;
1.
Providing
participants with the basic human rights concept related to the socio-political
freedom
2.
enabling them to
identify critical aspects of possible solidarity networking and participation
between the student movements and human rights NGOs and other advocacy groups
3.
enabling them to
launch a campaign to stop the human rights violations such as illegal
detention, torture and disappearance
4.
enabling them to
organize small groups in the movements and campuses to develop the human rights
consciousness among the students
The
workshop includes three days basic inputs on human rights concept, one-day
exposure, and one-day Bible study and one day action plan.
The
basic input includes 1)Introduction to Human Rights 2)Political Prisoners,
Torture and Disappearance 3)Human Rights in the Biblical Perspective
1.
Introduction to Human Rights
This
section was done by Mr. Basil Fernando who is currently the director of Asia
Human Rights Commission. He introduced the background and basic philosophy of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR). The spirit(or principle) of the UDHR is the
‘equality’ based on human dignity, which is very simple, but ignored very
often. All human beings are the same and therefore should be treated equally,
regardless of the differences of their gender, ethnicity, religion, class or
caste. He pointed out the universality and indivisibility of human rights. Different cultural, social traditions
should not detract from the universalism of rights which are primarily
concerned with the relationship of citizens with the state and the inherent
dignity of persons and groups. It is a fallacy to suppose that some types of
rights can be suppressed in the name of other rights.
Human
beings have social, cultural and economic needs and aspirations that can not be
fragmented, but are mutually dependent. Civil, political and cultural rights
have little meaning unless the economic resources are guaranteed; the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR) and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(ICESCR) should
be understood in terms of mutual dependence.
Mr.
Basil Fernando pointed out, the responsibility for the protection of rights is
both international and domestic. The people in the world should support
international measures for the protection of rights. The state sovereignty cannot be used as an
excuse to evade international norms.
He
emphasized the rights to life, from which flow other rights and freedoms. The right to life is not confined to mere
physical existence but includes the right to every limb or faculty through
which life enjoyed. The right to life includes; the right to livelihood,
habitat and home, education, clean and healthy environment. Both international community and state party
has responsibility to eliminate the causes- wars, ethnic conflicts, cultural
and religious oppression, corruption of politics, environmental pollution,
disappearances, torture, state or private terrorism, violence against women and
children, etc.-, which prevent the right to life
2.
Political Prisoner, Torture & Disappearance
These are very critical issues for the students in
the South Asian region, since the student groups are most active in resistance
movements, which means the students are among the victims who have to face the
serious human rights violations.
Political Prisoners:
A
political prisoner could be defined as 'one who is punished or harassed because
of ones political views'. Any view
regarding the general affairs of society would fall into this category. However the UDHR recognizes the individual's
right to have, to express and to organize other people on ones own views -
political or otherwise. Political
prisoners are different from ones who are involved in arms struggles and
insurgencies. Use of arms will
disqualify people from falling into the category of political prisoners. This kind of struggles fall into the category
of criminal offences and one is not qualified to say that one took up arms
because one believed in a higher cause.
Torture:
It is
said that the worst part of torture is in the Indian sub-continent. From the
human rights point of view, article 7 of the ICCPR protects people against
torture and degrading punishment. There are two forms of torture, one is the
violation of physical integrity and the other, violation of mental/psychological
integrity. Degrading punishment is defined as any form of punishment which
treats a human being as a lesser being.
Article 7 of the ICCPR seems to be the only absolute right which has no
limits(exceptions). Under no
circumstances can anyone torture another or let another undergo degrading
treatment. However, when it comes to degrading punishment it is accepted as a
punishment which violates the standard norms and ways of treating a normal
human being. This was developed
basically, when we take prisoners into consideration. What needs to be kept in mind here is that by
becoming a prisoner, one does not become sub-human. We can not suspend a person from his/her
humanness and deprive him/her of the humanity because he/she has done a wrong
or is suspected of doing wrong and sent to prison.
Disappearances:
This
is the ultimate or the worst form of abuse or violation of human rights. Also this is the worst form of torture, not
only on the person who has disappeared, but also on others who are concerned
about the disappeared person. According
to the Amnesty International, in Sri-Lanka, an estimated 16,700 official cases
of disappearance occurred from the period of 1988-1992. In
With
regard to disappearance, the state's responsibility is great and is also two
pronged. On the one hand the person is simply not there, violating the
government's accountability of its citizens(A government is accountable for
every person in that country - it takes count with ones birth certificate,
identity card, tax payers bills etc., and is liable to place every person at a
particular address). On the other hand
the government is guilty of its killing sprees - getting the act done through
state agencies. It is also guilty of
hiding the fact of these disappearances or killings. Further, disappearance
would deprive ones relatives to know whether that individual is dead or alive,
it violates ones fundamental rights for a decent burial, and others of the
psychological acceptance of death. Disappearance is also called the worst cause
that creates imbalance in today's society.
3.
Human Rights in the Biblical Perspective
The
Bible study was done by Rev. Jerom Sahabandu, who is responsible for a local church
in
Then
in Gen. Ch.3 we find the fall of human beings.
Here the basic understanding of each other (humans - man & woman) is
based on life. The man calls the woman
Eve - because she is the 'mother of all living, cause of all life, source of
life'. In the story of Cain & Abel, God
intervenes when the life of Abel was taken. Nobody has the right to take another's
life. We are our brother's keepers. We cannot wash our hands off when the life of
another is taken, we are accountable for that life. Further, though God intervenes on behalf of
Abel and curses Cain, He brings in another injunction- that even Cain should
not be killed by anyone.
So,
this becomes the fundamental basis as to how we approach all human
situations. Any situation which deprives
a person of his/her genuine life should be challenged. When we allow it, it is
the breath of God that would be defiled.
Jesus’
life is a good example of this fundamental right to life. Jesus says if we do
not protect life, we do not uphold the sanctity of God. A fundamental question was raised in his
mission - the question of protecting life.
It is very natural that he had no problem in healing the lame on a
Sabbath. Jesus, talking about his vision, (St. John Ch.10 vv10-) said that
"I came to give life, Life abundantly".
If we
understand the ministry of Jesus from this perspective, we can understand how
we are called to respond to certain needs we see around in our society in our
daily life. The vision we have in the Bible is of one with the fullness of life
which people of all nations can enjoy. If we have a proper understanding of
life, that itself puts us into a right relationship with God. Life does not
belong to you and me. It belongs to
God.
4.
Exposure
The
participants met with some NGO leaders who are involved actively in the issue
of disappearance. Mr. Shantha, General Secretary of ‘the Organization of
Parents and Family Members of the Disappeared’(OPFMD), shared that it has been
almost impossible to solve even one case of disappearance out of thousands,
because of the unwillingness of the governments to find out the truth. The participants also met a mid 40’s woman
whose husband disappeared in 1988. She
shared a painful story how the family members have suffered in mental and
physical ways for last 10 years. The
family members have tried every effort to find out the truth since 1988,
however, this case is still in pending in the court.
5.
Action Plan
The
last day of workshop, the participants came up with various action plans which
can be done on the SCM, church and society levels.
1)
SCM & University
Level: Awareness programs, Information collection, Publishing Resource books,
Introducing Human Rights - questions & answers / study projects, Bible
studies, Poster Campaigns, Human Rights Charter translated in simple language
for students and the masses, Setting Up the Human Rights Desk/committee at
national SCMs
2) Church Level: Organizing Special Sunday
Worship(focusing on human rights), Counseling human rights victims, Providing
financial, legal, psychological assistance to human rights victims
3) Community/Society Level: Awareness programs -
assisted by all media (press/radio/TV), Street drama/theatre on human rights
issues, Solidarity march, Solidarity service at Church/School/Colleges,
Signature/post card campaign, Organizing Rally
Finally
they recommended the regional office to develop more programs on human rights
including the issue of women, migrant workers, child labor, aboriginal people,
etc. It is also an important responsibility to regional office to promote a
deeper discussion or understanding on human rights based on the theological
perspective. Besides these, the regional office should be more active in
revitalizing the human rights network formed in 1996.