Concept Paper - WSCF-AP 2002 Human Rights and Solidarity Program
Human Rights and Peace Internship in Asia-Pacific
I. Background
The liberalization of economy in Asia Pacific region, otherwise known as globalization has greatly affected the educational systems of countries in this region. Education continues to be integrated into the "globalized system", re-orienting it into a mere tool for economic development, thus, making it more commercialized and privatized. Since the market and profit oriented ideology has driven out other competing alternatives or academic subjects from the curriculum of education, one of the important role of education as an indispensable tool in developing peace, justice and human rights has been endangered. Because of this, most students, even among the so-called progressive and alternative student groups, have very few chances to involve themselves in justice, peace and human rights- promoting activities.
In the era of globalization, it should not be overlooked the traditional role of the youth and students as catalyst for change and as front liners in the struggle to bring about peace, justice and human rights in the society. In this respect, the ecumenical student movements such as the Student Christian Movements (SCMs) need to revive this tradition to challenge the growing number of churches and church related institution that are becoming more and more insensitive to justice, peace and human rights issues in their societies.
For last few years, the WSCF-AP region has dealt with several important human rights and peace issues through the Human Rights and Solidarity Program(HRSP). It includes the issue of ; National Security and People’s Rights, Labor Migration, Impunity and Justice, Militarization and People’s Rights, Religious Fanaticism and Human Rights, Rights of Minorities, Rights of Women and Children, etc. Even the HRSP workshops have been well organized in terms of participation, the WSCF-AP evaluated that the recommendations of action plans of the HRSP to local level have not well implemented because of lack of structure and human resources in the local SCMs that can support continuous human rights and peace advocacy works. Therefore there has been a need for the WSCF-AP to develop a more intensive and well organized project to provide a certain people of SCMs with deeper understanding and practice of human rights advocacy works so that they can help their SCMs develop a mechanism for continuous human rights and peace works systematically.
In this sense, internship programs have proven to be an effective method of developing qualified human resources, because of the idea of "praxis" and learning through actual experience. The prolonged length of time for an internship program is also advantageous as it verifies the concepts and ideas of issues which remains as such without the actual experience.
The internship programs currently available for the SCM members are very limited and competitive. For example, the Frontier Internship in Mission(FIM) has provided a great opportunity to SCMers to be involved in justice and peace issues. However, because of high competition and qualification and the length of the internship duration – three years’ term has been a really challenge to the SCMers –, few SCMers could benefit from the FIM internship.
This project is therefore being proposed to respond to the more short-term and transitional needs, which can be connected to the long-term and more intensified internships such as the FIM. The following three “SCM internship projects for human rights and peace” will be prepared by the WSCF-AP through Human Rights and Solidarity Program Project for the year of 2002.
a. Host Organization – India SCM Dalit Desk
b. Sending SCM – Open to all SCMs, preferably to South Asia SCMs
a. Host Organization – Burma Issue in Thailand
b. Sending SCM – Open to all SCMs, preferably to South East Asia SCMs
a. Host organization – Documentation for the Action Groups in Asia
b. Sending SCM – Open to all SCMs
II. Sending SCM – Open to all SCMs
The overall objective of the proposed project is to provide the second-line leaders of SCMs in Asia-Pacific region with a venue to enhance their commitment towards human rights and peace works. Specifically it aims to:
Report of the
WSCF AP Human Rights and Peace Internship 2002
| Date | Items |
| July | Arrival to Bangkok Orientation on Burma Issues and the Documentation Centre Work in Documentation Centre Preparation of special Internally Displaced People project English Lessons for Staff in Burma Issues Met with participants of the Ecumenical Asia Pacific Student and Youth Network (Easynet) conference in Bangkok Progress evaluation between intern, Burma Issues Coordinator and staff of WSCF AP |
| August | Work in Documentation Centre Research on Special Internally Displaced People project English Lessons for Staff |
| September | Visit to Kanchanaburi Office – intern interviewed the Karen staff
about Internally Displaced People’s experiences and the CIDKP (Committee
for the Internally Displaced Karen) leader |
| October | Finishes project with Burma Issues |
Documentation Centre
The main purpose of the Documentation Centre is to have most of the data
written about the situation in Burma recorded in a database. The main purpose
is for people to find information when they need it and for the future generations
to be able to study the political history of Burma. One of the information
that was researched and recorded was on the Internally Displaced People
in Burma.
English Lessons
As each of the offices is made up of different ethnic groups it is important
that the language for communication (English) is at a standard high enough
to communicate information in an effective and convenient way. The English
lessons facilitated by the intern was aimed at assisting the staff in Burma
Issues to communicate effectively among themselves and with international
organisations.
Special Internally Displaced People Project (IDP)
This is a special project that the intern wanted to do to bring awareness
of the Internal Displacement People in Burma to the society she comes from.
This project will help raise awareness in Aotearoa New Zealand and to raise
money to help Burma Issues to continue the work they are doing. The intern
plans to hold a two-hour seminar on her experiences upon her return.
Visit to Burma Issue office in Kanchanaburi
The visit was planned to orientate the intern on the activities and programmes
of other Burma Issues offices and to also let the intern understand from
the other staff about their work. The office coordinator gave an input on
the IDP in Burma and an explanation of their struggle. The intern also had
an interview with the Committee for the Internally Displaced Karen (CIDKP)
leader which helped her to understand the immediate problems for the Karen
people.
The intern finished writing an article for the Burma Issues Newsletter combining these two main interviews.
Visit to Burma Issue office in Chiang Mai
Apart from sharing information and experience with the staff in Chiang Mai,
the intern also had time to share and discussed with the Shan Youth Group
that shares the Burma Issue office in Chang Mai. Some of the issues the
intern learned were lack of proper education and the need to be constantly
on the move to avoid the Burmese Army.
The intern also met with Sao Seng Sük, an activist, to discuss the non-violent alternative that the Shan people have. Sao Seng Sük shared on the need for a constitution to protect the basic needs of the ethnic people in Burma.
The intern reflected that the work that this organisation is doing is necessary for the people of Burma. The study of the situation in Burma, and that the ideas formed by the people in this organisation are not always human rights based. The fact that so many diverse projects can work under one umbrella shows that the aim of this organisation is to help educate people both within and outside of Burma. Recently they have suffered much tragedy but it has made them more focused on the job. They know that they have to help Burma, especially the ethnic minorities.
The intern felt that the work of Burma Issues is essential. The fact that they are different from other groups working for peace in Burma gives them an important role in working for the plight of the many Burmese peoples. They are not just focused on the need for a Democratic government, they can see that as a short-term goal, but can see that in the future (once democracy comes) that there will be many bridges to be repaired between the many peoples of Burma. Looking to the future and aiming towards the education of people makes them a strong organisation, but it also puts a damper on the funding aspect, financial backers want immediate results but most of the projects have long term goals.
Besides work, the intern found that this trip has opened her eyes to living in an Asian community. At first a cultural shock but the adapt came soon after. In the addition of working with Karen and Shan people in Bangkok and the other offices made her see more cultures as well. She was pleased to have met many people of different ethnicity in Burma so it was easier for her to understand their cultures(please note names are not used due to security).
| Date | Item |
| March | Orientation to DAGA |
| April | Working on Kashmir dossier and update Periodicals Participated in the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) 2nd Human Rights Education Consultation |
| May | Continue on Kashmir dossier Communication for Justpeace workshop |
| June | Preparation for Justpeace workshop Justpeace workshop, Penang, Malaysia Prepare report of Justpeace workshop & communication |
| July | Editing articles for Voices, Newsletter of DAGA Finalize Kashmir dossier |
Activity/work done during the four months internship
The intern had reflected that the involvement in the preparatory committee and as a facilitator in the Justpeace workshop which focused on the area of Conflict Transformation and Peace Building in Asia and the AHRC human rights training were very important in this regard of developing confidence in human right skills, campaigns and advocacy of the intern. The intern had developed a deeper understanding of human right issues and challenges in Asia-Pacific and enabled him to cross-fertilize human rights issues in Asia-Pacific and link them within broader international dimensions and structures of oppression.
The study and compilation of the dossier on Kashmir propelled the intern to creative ways of approaching, collecting, presenting, analyzing and arguing a specific human right issue.
The work on arranging the reading materials and periodicals in the library and updating these different issues related to conflict transformation and peace building in DAGA’s website as a kind of resource materials for its network, helped the intern to speedily develop a clearer and better understanding of DAGA’s work as well as the essentials of human rights work.
The intern also had time to build solidarity and critical partnership with other human rights movements/networking: Participation in the AHRC regional human rights workshop (Hong Kong) and Justpeace workshop in Malaysia provided solid opportunities for initiating meaningful dialogue on several human rights issues. This space was helpful in establishing legitimacy of groups and movements working for the cause of people. It was a time to learn, clarify, confirm and deepen human right concepts and understanding. Important regional NGOs and individuals in Hong Kong also gave the same desired environment.
There was also time for the intern to build fellowship with the ecumenical movement in Hong Kong, the ecumenical environment of Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), WSCF-AP, interaction with SCM Hong Kong, ecumenical get together and other Christian communities helped enlarge the intern’s circle of ecumenical learning and cooperation, and also provided an understanding of the Christian ministry of peace and human rights which was ultimately crucial for the intern to be trained as a young church minister in future.
Finally, the Internship has deepened my sense of vocation to work for the cause of human right with the church and peoples movement in India.
| Date | Item |
| April | Orientation to SCMI and to the Dalit and Adivasis Issues Research on the Dalit and Adivasis Issues Preparatory work for the National Workshop on Dalit and Adivasis Issues in Orissa Participated in the International Conference on HIV/AIDS organised by CANA Exposure trip to Kolar Gold Fields on Dalit miners and met with V.T.Rajashekar, a Dalit activist Analysis and Reflection with SCMI |
| May | Participation in the National Workshop on Dalit and Adivasis
Issues Exposure trip to Maggie Village and Hassen Village (Dalit and Adivasis population) Preparation work for the 90th Biennial Conference of SCMI in Shillong, Meghalaya Submission of report to SCMI Analysis and Reflection with SCMI |
| June | Exposure trip in Madurai, Tamil Nadu Met with Dalit activists and theologians in Tamil Nadu Theological College Exposure in Kandadevi Village and Keeranure Village in Madurai Submission of report to SCMI Analysis and Reflection with SCMI |
The most impressive insight into the Dalit and Adivasis Issues for the intern when he met Ganawaram, Director of the Dalit Resource Center, Madurai and had a discussion with him on Dalit History, Christian Dalit and Dalit Education system in order to gain an insight of the Dalit Issue. Ganawaram pointed out there are 80% of Christian Dalits in India but they are being oppressed by the 20% upper cast Christians which dominate the church administration. After learning these experiences from Ganawaram, the intern went to the Kandadevi Village located near Madurai. The interaction with the village teens made the intern realized the depth of Dalit and Adivasis oppression. A true story of the oppression was relayed to the intern that when 7 Dalits were elected in the Panchayat election and were about to take leadership, they were murdered in a bus before they could take office. The upper caste people of the village had killed them because they do not want a Dalit person to take leadership.
The intern also visited a Dalit village called Keeranure where he stayed for 3 days to study about problems faced by Dalits in the village. The Dalits had to make do without many basic facilities and needs. There is only one water tap for nearly 50 families. The toilets constructed by the Tamil Nadu government are not connected to the drainage system and create an unhygienic environment which threatens to spread diseases. There is no hospital in the village and the villagers have to travel 30 kilometers to a hospital.
Apart from discriminations in their daily lives, discrimination even occurs in the theological seminaries. Dalit students do not get the annual scholarship awarded by the government regularly. The visit to the Tamil Nadu Theological College gave the intern an opportunity to meet Dalit activists, Dalit theologians and the Principal of the Tamil Nadu Theological College. The discussions provided a lot of insight into the Dalit and Adivasis issue.
The intern reflected that he was alert to experience the pain and struggles of the Dalits and Adivasis. He was more keen and capable of learning from exposures than reading relevant books /papers. Since there was a difficulty in the language it was a barrier for him to grasp many things in detail within the short period. However, the experiences in India have created a deep passion for him to work for the plantation workers in Sri Lanka who face similar problems. He also was touched by the depth of the problem and social stigma in relation to the Dalits and Adivasis and what it meant to be to live with these identities.