Thursday, September 11, 2008

Global Awareness

MANDATORY JAIL

Malaysia is home to an estimated 46,000 refugees, but just over 36,000 are registered with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Of the total, about 12,700 are members of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority, another 12,000 are members of other Myanmar minority ethnic groups.

The Rohingyas came in the 1990s from Myanmar, but the government there disputes their origin and refuses to let them return.

Malaysia views refugees as illegal immigrants since the country has yet to sign the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, which has been ratified by more than 140 nations.
"Anyone without a travel document is subject to caning, as prescribed by the Immigration Act," the Immigration Department's enforcement chief, Ishak Mohamed, said.

Illegal immigrants face a mandatory jail sentence of up to five years and up to six strokes of the cane. Males above 50 and women are exempted from caning.

Lawyers and rights group advocates said Malaysia should ban caning, saying it was inhumane.
"Human Rights Watch condemns caning as a barbaric practice. It has no place in a civilized society," the group's Asia director, Brad Adams, told Reuters.

"Allegations that caning has been used against Rohingyas should be thoroughly investigated by independent agencies."

Malaysia's Bar Council, which groups about 12,000 lawyers, recently passed a resolution calling for a ban on caning.

The council's Legal Aid Centre said the immigration courts set up to deal with immigration cases should not be too hasty in handing out punishments.

"It is like a slaughter house," said Latheefa Koya of the Legal Aid Centre. "People come in their hundreds to these courts and all the judge really wants to do is to tear up this backlog of cases, so miscarriages can happen."

Fri, 2007-08-10 23:22.

Link: http://mostlywater.org/caning_of_refugees_in_malaysia_sparks_protest

PUBLISHING ARTICLES ON HUMAN RIGHTS TO PROTECT MYANMAR REFUGEES

In order to help Myanmar refugee to fight against human rights violation and impunity, it is vital to understand their causes, their development and their consequences, as well as their social, political and economic context. On this website the author have introduce a lot of articles on human rights and approaches to defend against violations.

The Spanish website comprises case law regarding to human rights that can be used as debate reference when legal disputes arise owing to protecting the refugee rights. This is important when legal action is taken upon saving and rescuing them. In this case, this website has given the case where European Court of Human Rights established the range and means of free expression protected under the European Convention - including political, artistic and commercial expression through the written and spoken word, television and radio, film and art.

In addition, the organization has posted up an extraordinary but interesting article on internet censorship in America. Though this has not been substantial in helping Myanmar refugee to escape from their current condition, this article has given a clearer description and illustration of how human rights have been exploited. Also, this could increase the consciousness of people of how important their rights being protected.

The website also touches organization that violates human rights. Here, world trade organization is given as an example. The article depicts activities done by lobbying ad political groups, and they have taken away human rights from the society which is under their influences. Meanwhile, Myanmar refugees have been suffering due to the same reason- political issues and failure.

Of course, the organization has collected articles from all over the world, written in different languages, providing knowledge and current issues on human rights globally. Most of the articles focus on events happened in South America, a state where most disputes and wars arise. These articles remind people that war and political intentions have killed the rights which people should possess over the years. Also, Myanmar refugees have been victims resulted in the political instability of their mother land.

All of all, publishing articles is a meaningful activity as by the time people read the articles, the articles could inspire people to seek the deeper definition of human right, and hopefully by that, people will find the true perspective of it and thus united to fight against violations, particularly of Myanmar refugee.

Organization:
Derechos human rights
Link:
http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/doc/articulos/eng.html

CYCLONE NARGIS

Before the world marvel at what China prepared for the Beijing Olympic 2008, a catastrophic event strike the union of Myanmar causing chaos, fear and death tolls amounting to an estimate of 130000 inclusive of those who were missing. So, what catastrophic event are we talking about? The country's Irrawaddy delta was hit by Cyclone Nargis which devastated the country with winds up to 215 km per hour causing a damage of 10 billion US dollar.

With a loss of 10 billion US dollar, how does the union of Myanmar recover from this natural disaster? Worry not, as there are NGOs to help the Burmese people. The NGOs can help spread global humanity by organizing campaigns to aid the people of Myanmar. One of them is the Foundation for the people of Burma. They provide humanitarian aid to Burmese people of all backgrounds, ethnics and religions. They also organize campaigns such as collecting donations. The link to the foundations website is http://www.foundationburma.org/

Besides that, United Nations (UN) also took part in organizing campaigns to help relief the pain and suffering of the Burmese. They help find donors, publishes materials for different audiences on all aspects of the refugees experience and giving legal protections through an extensive body of international law and treaties and by working with governments and other organizations as part of their campaign in promoting global morality. The link to the website is http://www.unhcr.org/country/mmr.html.

In a nutshell, the world is quite a beautiful place!

Post done by Blogging Committee(1) - Kiang Peng,Yee Chien, Wei Hao & Chong Yeow

Acts And Regulations On Humanity And Morality

Legal Restrictions on Human Liberties and Freedom

In Acts of Parliament , there are at least 14 statutes which cause severe inroads, and, for practical purposes, abrogate constitutionally protected fundamental rights.

Public Order (Preservation) Act, 1958.

Prevention of Crime Act, 1959

Trade Union Act, 1959.

Immigration Act, 1959

Internal Security Act, 1960.

Societies Act, 1966.

Police Act, 1967.

Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance, 1969

Universities and University Colleges Act, 1971.

Official Secrets Act, 1972

Sedition Act, 1972.
Essential (Security Cases) Regulations, 1975.

Printing Presses and Publicity Act, 1984.

Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act, 1975

Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are considered entitled to:

The right to life,

Liberty,
Freedom of thought and expression,

Equal treatment before the law, among others

All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated. The international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing, and with the same emphasis.
National laws and legal instruments pertaining to human rights are as below. Over the years, the provisions for human rights have been progressively whittled down and restricted by some acts and amendments. Acts and laws pertaining to human right must not fully restricted the rights of people. It should by enforce in such a way that peace and harmony can be achieved, at the same time people can enjoy their rights. It all lies in a thin line. If acts and laws are over-do, people will not be able to enjoy their rights. If there is no restriction for human rights, much problem will occur as people are free to do anything they want without having to face the consequences.

Liberty - Internal Security Act

The most pernicious legislation is the Internal Security Act ("ISA") which gives sweeping powers to the Executive, (the police and the Minister of Home Affairs) to arrest and detain any person for a period of 60 days; thereafter the Minister can order that person to remain in detention for a further two years, which detention can be renewed indefinitely every two years. Preventive detention is terribly insidious because a person's liberty is deprived without trial. Other extraordinary powers extend to prohibiting meetings and banning publications, books and periodicals.

Case law :
When presenting the Bill in Parliament on 21 June 1960, the then Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Tun Razak stated that as there were still 583 armed terrorists in Northern Malaya there was still a need for the people to be protected from communists subversion. He also gave the assurance that the ISA would be used with the utmost care so as to avoid the abuse. Despite that assurance, more than 20,000 people had been detained during the period 1960 to 1990 under the ISA for diverse reasons which have nothing to do with communist subversion. With the signing of a formal peace treaty with exiled remnants of the Communist Party of Malaysia in Thailand in 1989, reliance no longer seems to be placed by the Executive on communism as a ground for detention.

The ISA is contrary to the fundamental liberties and core principles of international law, including the right to liberty of the person, to freedom from arbitrary arrest, to be informed of the reason for arrest, to the presumption of innocence and to a fair and open trial in a court of law. In fact, it would be impossible to find any scholar of worth or independence prepared to argue the contrary.

Freedom of Movement – Police Act, Immigration Act

Laws curbing freedom of movement include ESCAR. Provisions also appear in the Police Act and Immigration Act, curtailing freedom of movement. Thus, Malaysian citizens from Peninsular Malaysia do not have a right to travel to Sabah and Sarawak.

Freedom of Speech and Expression – Sedition Act, Official Secret Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act

These three statutes seriously undermine freedom of speech and expression. The Sedition Act in Malaysia is a law prohibiting discourse deemed as seditious. A person found guilty of sedition may be sentenced to three years in jail, a RM5,000 fine, or both.The Printing Presses and Publications Act contains numerous restrictions on the publication of newspapers and periodicals, including the requirement for an annual license which may be revoked by the Minister at any time.

Case law :

Fan Yew Teng, Param Cumaraswamy, Lim Guan Eng and Karpal Singh were prosecuted under the Sedition Act, while Lim Kit Siang and journalists Sabry Sharif and James Clad were found guilty of offences under the Official Secrets Act.

During the political tension of 1987 in the wake of Operation Lalang, three major national newspapers, the Star, Sin Chew Jit Poh and Watan had their licenses revoked. Self-censorship among newspapers owners, who are anyway closely linked to the governing coalition and their editors is a grave impediment to free expression in Malaysia.
Publications by opposition parties are restricted to sale to party members only.

Foreign newspapers and journals are periodically banned or delayed
The broadcast media is completely denied any alternative thinking. Thus, RTM and TV3 do not broadcast material from the opposition.

The advent of the Internet has given an impetus to on-line reporting and sites like Malaysiakini have flourished – itself a commentary on the needs of the average news-starved Malaysian

Freedom of Association – Societies Act, Universities and University College Act

Freedom of Association is restricted by provisions in the Societies Act, Trade Unions Act and Universities and University College Act. The Societies Act requires every club, organization, society or political party to secure a license, thereby providing the executive with the means to block or impede the formation of any organization, which it considers undesirable. The Act has an intimidating effect, can result in prolong decision-making, have had a negative impact on the development of independent civil society. This has led to some NGOs registering as companies under the Companies Act, 1965 which itself has its own bureaucratic regime. The Trade Unions Act restricts the rights of some workers in a manner inconsistent with international norms. Strict control over a trade union's affairs is exercised by the relevant bureaucracy. The Act also does not permit large groups of trade unions covering workers in different fields.

(Taken from part of the article Human Rights in the 21st century by Tommy Thomas.)

Reference from http://www.aliran.com/.

Post done by Blogging Committee(insert number here) :
(Francis, Winnie, Amy, Carmen and Hui Yi)

Logos and Symbols of Humanity and Morality

1) Refugees International

Mission

Refugees International generates lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for displaced people around the world and works to end the conditions that create displacement.

Challenge

Refugee crises left unattended threaten stability around the world. Recent estimates of the numbers of refugees and internally displaced people have been increased to 34.5 million worldwide—all people who have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict and oppression. Additionally, there are more than 11 million stateless people in the world—often living in limbo, without citizenship rights or protection.

Work

Timely responses to refugee crises can increase stability in a region before the conflict spreads across borders. Each year, Refugees International conducts 20 to 25 field missions to assess crisis situations that have caused people to leave their homes or their countries. Based on up-to-date information gathered in the field, they provide governments, international agencies and non-governmental organizations with effective solutions to improve the lives of displaced people.

Reputation

Refugees International is a leading advocate for the needs of the world’s most vulnerable and under-represented populations. It is a small, highly effective organization recognized for credibility and accuracy.

Impact

On each mission—along with recording the need for basic services such as food, water, shelter and protection from harm—advocates explore a variety of other issues to be addressed, such as health services, access to education, human rights abuses, and circumstances specific to women and children. Because of the efforts, many who are abandoned in camps return home, refugees without food are fed, stateless people have obtained legal status, and families in danger have been moved to safer locations.

2) Foundation for the People of Burma

Foundation for the People of Burma (FPB) is the largest, independently-supported, U.S.-based humanitarian organization focusing exclusively on Burma. It has been implementing projects and supporting community-based action since 1999. The organization’s programs provide direct assistance to communities that have been severely affected by injustice. They engage in compassionate, creative and strategic interventions which facilitate positive, long-lasting change for those that face scarcity and lack personal freedom.

Since 1999 they have had the privilege of collaborating with community-based partners to bring a wide range of services to tens of thousands of people inside Burma and refugees in neighboring countries. Services include basic health care, primary education, improved teaching materials, HIV treatment, leadership training, emergency food relief, clean water and income-generating activities. The organization respect each community's desire for self-determination by listening sensitively in order to facilitate effective, human-scale improvements without ethnic or religious discrimination.

History

FPB was established in 1999 as the Burma People's Relief Group by Hal Nathan, at the time Senior Portfolio Advisor at Seneca Capital Management. A practicing Buddhist, Hal traveled to many countries in Asia, including Burma. After meeting and listening to the stories of many in Burma as well as refugees that had fled across its borders, Hal knew that building a small, nimble organization, staffed primarily by local Burmese people, would truly foster needed change at the community level.

Their first projects focused on aid for refugees living on the Thai border. Since then, FPB has had the great fortune of expanding the number of projects, the breadth of their scope, and the depth of their impact. FPB currently operate with a small staff in San Francisco, dozens of Burmese partners and countless volunteers in the U.S. and Asia.

3) International Rescue Committee (IRC)

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a leading non-sectarian, non-governmental international relief and humanitarian aid organization based in the United States. The IRC's mission is to help those fleeing racial, religious and ethnic persecution, as well as those uprooted by war and violence.

In 1933, the American branch of the European-based International Relief Association (IRA) was founded at the suggestion of Albert Einstein, in order to assist Germans affected by Adolf Hitler's government.

At work in more than 25 countries, IRC delivers a number of services, including: emergency response, health care, children and youth protection and development programs, water and sanitation systems, the establishment of schools, training of teachers, strengthening the capacity of local organizations and supporting civil society and good-governance initiatives.

On the 5^th of May 2008, The International Rescue Committee is dispatching an emergency team to Myanmar to rapidly assess needs and lay the groundwork for urgent assistance for people made homeless by the weekend's devastating cyclone.

The IRC has been working in the region for 27 years, providing health care, water, sanitation, education and other assistance for tens of thousands of Myanmar refugees living along the border in Thailand.

Post done by Blogging Committee 3 :
Hazel, Chai Hooi, Jenny

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Myanmar Refugee Fund Raising Activity

“save their life.. save the world..”

UNHCR – The UN refugee agency

In some of the most unforgiving places on earth, YOUR support can provide protection, shelter, food and clean water, as well as education and medical care – all vital and urgent needs for people who have fled their homes to escape persecution or conflict.

The UN refugee agency is currently working in more than 110 countries, assisting close to 33 million people. In the first five months of this year, we have responded to more emergencies than in the whole of 2007. Sadly, the world's need for our work has never seemed so great. From Sudan's Darfur region to Myanmar and China – wherever people have been forced from their homes our staff are there to help, to shelter and to protect.

For refugees who have lost everything, a little goes a long way. Your support will help ensure that we can continue to be there – today and tomorrow, and for as long as we are needed.

Contact us
UNHCR is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Our address:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Case Postale 2500
CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt
Suisse.

Our telephone number:

+41 22 739 8111 (automatic switchboard).

http://www.unhcr.org/donate/index.htm

Foundation for the People of Burma (FPB)

Foundation for the People of Burma (FPB) is the largest, independently-supported, U.S.-based humanitarian organization focusing exclusively on Burma. We have been implementing projects and supporting community-based action since 1999. Our programs provide direct assistance to communities that have been severely affected by injustice. We engage in compassionate, creative and strategic interventions which facilitate positive, long-lasting change for those that face scarcity and lack personal freedom

Since 1999 we have had the privilege of collaborating with community-based partners to bring a wide range of services to tens of thousands of people inside Burma and refugees in neighboring countries. Services include basic health care, primary education, improved teaching materials, HIV treatment, leadership training, emergency food relief, clean water and income-generating activities. We respect each community's desire for self-determination by listening sensitively in order to facilitate effective, human-scale improvements without ethnic or religious discrimination.

The Cyclone Relief and Reconstruction Fund of the Foundation for the People of Myanmar

-- Approximately $1.1 million has been raised in this effort so far. Thank You!

-- We assess that we can effectively employ at least $2 million over the next year in reconstruction work.

-- Initially, we devoted funds to critical relief needs: food, water, medicine, tarps and toilets.

-- Now, we are constructing homes and schools, replanting fields and purchasing farm and fishing equipment.

-- Our administrative costs are minimal. Your funds are reaching the homeless, the poor, the children, the elderly and the entire Burmese population affected by the cyclone and still in need of help.

YOUR HELP IS SAVING LIVES. Please continue to donate generously and keep Myanmar in your hearts.

https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=24039

Thank you for your support!

Every single dollar u donate, u can make their life better. So why not contribute something for the world n make everyone able to live in a better and harmony place? Your aid is highly appreciated.. THANK YOU!