A Silent Moment

What’s Going On in Asia?
HONG KONG		AGM of Justice and Peace Commission
INDIA		South Asia Peace Initiatives and Conflict Resolution Workshop
		JP Commissions Meet at WSF (St. Pius College)
PAKISTAN		India Pakistan Peace Mission
PHILIPPINES		Re-instatement of the Death Penalty
SOUTH KOREA		A Statement of the Korean Delegation to the World Social Forum

Events
Workshop on Challenges and Strategies for Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific
World Social Forum (WSF) 2004 in Mumbai
Invitation to Hurights Osaka Award 2004
Program in Conflict Transformation
New UN Human Rights Chief Appointed
International Women's Day

Resources
WLUML Handbook
Asia-Pacific Trainers Database
Children's Work Survey 2003

JPW Exchange Corner
Brief History of the Bulletin
News Bits about Fellow-JP Workers
BEWARE of e-mail Viruses
Invitation to Exchange Information

A Silent Moment

"In whatever way we seek God in our lives, we will be changed because we know that our God is precisely a God of peace and non-violent love. Once we have encoutered this non-violent, loving God, we can never return to our violent ways.

"For some this is heresy. They cannot let go of their violent vengeful images of God. I think real faith in the God of peace and non-violence is a kind of cultural heresy; it is an act of reisistance against a culture that legalises war, injustice and nuclear weapons. That's why I believe our image of God is critically important not only for our own soul but politically for the whole world."

John Dear, SJ
(courtesy of Justice and Peace Scotland, Issue 6/2003)

What’s Going On in Asia?

Hong Kong

AGM of Justice and Peace Commission
The Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese (JPHK) held its Annual General Meeting on 14 December 2003. The first part of the event was a powerpoint presentation on various human rights issues in Hong Kong and the Church's involvement in these events, such as the issues of right-of-abode, "Article 23" (National Security Bill) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). This was followed by a group discussion and sharing on the personal responses of the participants to those incidents.

The second part, before the actual AGM, was a panel presentation with Bishop Joseph Zen as one of the presenters. He reflected that Christian faith is not a means to escape hardship. Instead, to live the faith fully, Christians need to apply the Church teachings to their everyday lives, which include the social issues of the society.

JPHK has published a list of books in Chinese. Among them, a report on religious freedom in China would be translated into English in March 2004. As JPHK hopes for solidarity with the people in China, they have requested ACPP to help disseminate it. Those who do not receive Hotline Urgent Appeals by post, but are interested to receive a copy can contact ACPP at hotline@acpp.org


India

South Asia Peace Initiatives and Conflict Resolution Workshop
This workshop was held on 18 January at the World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai, with Ravi Nair of the South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre, giving the keynote address. Panelists included Peter Jacob (Pakistan), Newton Fernando (Sri Lanka), Saloni Singh (Nepal) and Yasmin Ashai (Kashmir), moderated by Fr. Rudi Heredia. There were 150 participants who reflected together on the problems in the South Asia region.

At the end of the workshop, a letter was drafted and addressed to the Prime Ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries - Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India - appreciating their peace initiative efforts and urging them to continue this effort to build a solid foundation for enduring peace. A copy of the sample letter which outlines steps taken is available on request.


JP Commissions Meet at WSF (St. Pius College)
Fifty participants from Nigeria, Netherlands, South Africa, Thailand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India met on 20 January 2004 at the invitation of the Justice Peace Commission - Mumbai. The countries met with a view to share their successes and failures with regard to Justice and Peace work.

Justice and Peace Commissions (JPC) function under the Bishop's Conference. Asia has an informal network of JPC workers, while the European Justice and Peace Commission operates under the European Union of Justice and Peace Commission that has a rotating presidency.

While in some countries the laity were inactive in justice and peace activities, in other countries priests and religious posed as stumbling blocks. The JPC focused on a variety of issues ranging from human rights, to pluriform societies, tribals, anti -war groups, land rights, gender, environment and legal literacy.

Suggestions from the discussions include: formation of a SAARC Forum of JPC; inviting European or African JPC to Asian meetings and vice versa; one of the European countries could adopt Advocacy on any issue of the JPC on behalf of a country in need of it. Contacts and exchange of ideas is expected to continue via email. A Core Group comprising of representatives from the Netherlands, South Africa, Thailand and India was formed for follow up of these suggestions.

The WSF resulted in networking with new groups, more awareness on various social issues, and concrete resolutions from workshops.


Pakistan

India Pakistan Peace Mission
A delegation from the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) Pakistan visited Mumbai, India in January to hold consultation sessions with the National Commission for Justice, Peace and Development, India (JPDC) on peace-building after revival of dialogue between India and Pakistan. The purpose was to bring Church bodies together and to plan for a peoples-based peace initiatives.

The delegation also participated in the World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai and visited Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the promotion of peace between the two countries. This was held on 17 January 2004 with 24 participants, including three from the Catholic Relief Services (CRS)-Pakistan and five from NCJP-Pakistan. After the introduction of NCJP-Pakistan and JPDC-India, a message from NCJP Chairperson, Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha, was read. He urged the participants to focus their work on issues, like castechism, gender discrimination, religious intolerance and ethnic conflicts.

The following initiatives were proposed in the consultation:
- A delegation of Church Organizations (Catholics and non-Catholics) from India shall visit Pakistan in August 2004 to bring the message of peace and goodwill.
- A cultural exchange on alternate basis would be held
- Training opportunities in India for Pakistani laity would be explored
- A foint publication for peace education.
- A justice and peace forum body at South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) level would be held.
- Religio-Cultural pilgrimages would be arranged


Philippines

Re-instatement of the Death Penalty
On 5 Decmber 2003, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has lifted the freeze on the death penalty, effective January 2004. A moratorium on capital punishment was put into effect during the Jubilee period, in March 2000, after the Filipino Church placed pressure on Mr. Joseph Estrada who was president at that time.

In recent months, there have been various reports of abductions for reasons of blackmail, mainly directed towards the Chinese community, which is considered to be the country's wealthiest ethnic population. It is reported that although President Arroyo indicated that she is morally against the death penalty, she said, "the president must bear in mind what is better for the greater general public in determinate exceptional circumstances."

However, it is believed that crime and capital punishment are being used to gear up for the presidential elections in May 2004.

In an open letter to President Arroyo in December 2003, the Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation Commission (JPICC- AMRSP) stated that lifting the suspention of death penalty is "tantamount to imposing on an already violent and wounded society the old law of the jungle ("a tooth for a tooth"); which condones and justifies the resolution of problems and conflicts through violence and death."

In their statement, JPICC-AMRSP declared: "We are hundred per cent for seeking justice for the victims of all crimes.
We vigorously and steadfastly struggle that perpetrators of heinous crimes be made to pay for their crime against humanity. But we must do this not by employing the very weapons that these madmen use to commit evil, nor by making our own the fruits of their sick and distorted minds - i.e. inhumanity, hatred, violence, death!"

At the conclusion of the statement, JPICC-AMRSP urged the president: "Seize this sacred and God-given opportunity to redeem yourself with your civilized constituents: For once, we ask you to set aside personal, family or political interest, and serve the people. For once, do what your humanity and your faith tell you to do… Abolish the Death Penalty forever from our nation's life!"


South Korea

A Statement of the Korean Delegation to the World Social Forum
A professor in Korea, Dr. Minwoong Kim, has initiated and suggested a letter writing campaign (in English) to "defeat Bush." A statement was released during the World Social Forum in Mumbai on this and the campaign is expected to continue during the year, organized by NGOs in Korea.

In the statement, with the title: 'The World is Safer without Bush,' professor Kim claimed that the theme "Defeat Bush Campaign" is becoming one of the most important global issues in 2004. The world community, which has witnessed the destructive consequences of the US President George W. Bush 's Administration's imperial strategy of the pre-emptive strikes, calls for the American people's wise choice for their next president in the coming November. "Presidential election of the year 2004 is not only the national agenda of the United States of America, but also the urgent matter of global significance," he added.

The professor further stated the following among the reasons why the world is not safe: "President Bush has fatally violated the international system of peaceful resolution of conflicts by invading the sovereign states… without any global consent, or without any legal and democratic support of the people of the United States itself. Bush Administration justifies its war plan along with an interventionist foreign policy, by labeling several countries as the axis of evil that allegedly threaten the security of the world."

He claimed that the USA is the nation that provided an exemplary model of democracy for the world in the past, because of its highly acclaimed respect for the human rights, people's decision, and freedom of opinions. However, he stated that this wonderful legacy of the Republic has been constantly attacked by the "power of Empire" since the advent of Bush to the power.

The Korean delegation to the World Social Forum claimed that they do not intend to intervene in the domestic politics of the USA. "We want you, in particular, the people of the US, to understand how the global community feels about the Bush Administration, and to be in strong solidarity with the people of the world, who love peace, and like to see the glorious revival of the prestige of the US as the leading nation for democracy and peace in the world," they stated. In conclusion, they suggested that defeating Bush in the coming Presidential election of 2004 will be the first step towards this.

Events

The following events are excerpts from various sources and information channeled to ACPP-Hotline Asia.

Workshop on Challenges and Strategies for Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific
On 10-12 November 2003, 60 educators from 42 non-governmental organizations, including 19 regional organizations, 24 national organizations and from the UN Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Right (OHCHR), the UN Economic and Social Council (UNESCO) and the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, met in Bangkok for a regional gathering to define the challenges and strategies for human rights education in the Asia-Pacific.

The Workshop on "Human Rights in Asia Pacific: Defining Challenges and Strategies" was organized by the Asia Pacific Center for Education on International Understanding (APCEIU), the Asia Pacific Human Rights Information Center (HURIGHTS OSAKA) and the Asian Regional Resource Center for Human Rights Education (ARRC).

Among their aims was to map out the coverage of human rights education programs in the region in terms of educational fields (formal, non-formal, informal), sectors, issues and geographical spread; to discuss strengths and weaknesses in the growth and development of human rights education programs; and to identify strategies on how to further develop human rights education programs in light of the goals of the UN Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004).

The workshop focused on a number of issues which were addressed by way of presentations given by human rights educators working in the field and parallel working group discussions and presentations. The working groups focused on certain sectoral groups of particular concern, namely:
1. Indigenous peoples, refugees and ethnic minority groups;
2. Migrant workers; and
3. Plantation workers, peasants and the urban poor.

At the end of the workshop, the participants defined that the overall aims of human rights educators in the Asia-Pacific is to use HRE more effectively as a means towards achieving human rights for all; to achieve sustainable strategies that enlarge the community of human rights educators as well as the constituencies for HRE; and to ensure that HRE addresses those needs that are yet unmet, and reaches those groups that are yet unreached.

Many concerns, issues and strategies were raised during the workshop. The priority issues identified were:
- engaging with governments (treating government people as strategic partners in human rights education and having more programs for those in government service),
- using regional forums and meetings (strategic partnership with regional bodies, collecting and disseminating information and mobilizing resource persons available to these groups),
- using the UN system (eg United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education as a lobbying tool with governments), promoting ratification of UN treaties, the evaluation of UN HRE programs, and
- the development of HRE strategies for NGOs, civil society organisations and individuals (developing skills and knowledge on human right principles, adopting a holistic approach, increasing links with each other and reaching out to more marginalized groups).
- Courtesy of Summary Report (HRE Asia Pacific listserve) and FOCUS Asia Pacific (HURIGHTS OSAKA), Dec. 2003


World Social Forum (WSF) 2004 in Mumbai
The World Social Forum is "…an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and inter-linking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neo- liberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a society centred on the human person". (From the WSF Charter of Principles).

The WSF hosts the biggest congregation of anti-MNC (multi-national companies) activists. About 100,000 people from all over the world, including 60,000 foreigners from 130 countries, attended. From 16 - 21 January 2004, they deliberated over the a host of issues, including globalisation, capitalism, imperialism, racism and the environment, at about 1,200 seminars and conferences in the sprawling NESCO grounds in suburban Goregaon. They gathered to protest, to network, to share their vision and in general, to state that "Another World is Possible."

Protests were held against the unilateral imposition of a global order by the United States and its military intervention in Iraq; there were discussions on gender, alternative sexuality, child labour, dalits and human rights. Prominent persons who took part ranged from Nobel Prize winners to human rights activists.

More than 1000 workshops presented a wide variety of views from diverse theoretical and political ideologies, and ended generaly with an expressed need to join efforts for the common objectives in a struggle, eg. against exploitation of domestic workers, corrupt governance, nuclear waepons, and issues relating to displaced peoples, environmental concerns and violence to women and children.

The World Social Forum 2004 ended on 21 January, with a concluding ceremony in Mumbai's Azad Maidan, in which 30,000 participants marched with slogans and banners against imperialism, economic globalization and US imperialism, It converged on the venue after a colourful rally that began at the August Kranti Maidan near Grant Road.

At the concluding ceremony, former Indian president K R Narayanan said that people must fight globalisation if it is not working in their interest. A message from former South African president Nelson Mandela was read out: "At this meet, we must formulate strategies to overcome discrimination of all kinds."

More information of the WSF can be found at:
http://www.wsfindia.org/
Some images of the WSF can also be found at the Dignity International web site:
http://www.dignityinternational.org/mumbaiwsf_1.html
Contributions and web site links regarding your participation in this event is also welcome. Please send to hotline@acpp.org


Invitation to Hurights Osaka Award 2004
On its 10th Anniversary, Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center invites participation in the contest for the most original teaching materials and programs in international human rights, "Hurights Osaka Award 2004 for International Human Rights Education Materials"
http://www.hurights.or.jp/event/award2004_e.html

Any individual, group or organization from Asia-Pacific can participate and the material can be in any language.

For more information and application form, please contact Minoru Maegawa (office@hurights.or.jp)

Program Section,
Asia-Pacific human Rights Information Center
1-2-1-1500 Benten, Minato-ku Osaka 552-0001 Japan
Phone: +81-6-6577-3578 Fax: +81-6-6577-3583
Web site: http://www.hurights.or.jp/


Program in Conflict Transformation
Faculty of Social Sciences at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Netherlands, offers a Master's degree in Conflict and Sustainable Peace, taught in English.

More information can be found at the following links:
http://www.kuleuven.ac.be/onderwijs/aanbod2004/opleidingen/E/SC_50269112.htm ;
http://www.kuleuven.ac.be/macsp/index.htm ; or
www.kuleuven.ac.be


New UN Human Rights Chief Appointed
The nomination of Justice Louise Arbour as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights was approved during the General Assembly on 25 February 2004. She will assume office in June 2004 for a term of 4 years. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights is the highest international body devoted to human rights.

Currently a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Ms. Arbour served as the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda from 1996 to 1999. She was particularly effective in persuading the international community to execute arrest warrants for war criminals indicted by the tribunals. As former Prosecutor of War Crimes Tribunals, she is likely to push for International Criminal Court. For further information on Louise Arbour see
http://www0.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/sga866.doc.htm

She succeeds Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was killed in an attack on U.N. headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003. The post was previously held by Mary Robinson until September 2002.

For the further information please click:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/02/20/global7576.htm
http://www.achrweb.org/features/ACHRF0904.htm


International Women's Day
Greetings to all women and to all those who work for women's rights.

The International Women's Day, celebrated on 8 March, is an occasion marked and celebrated by women's groups, especially workers unions, around the world, for the past 90 years.

If you would like to share your activities for this special event in the next Bulletin, please contact hotline@acpp.org

Resources

WLUML
Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) has published a handbook "Knowing Our Rights: Women, family, laws and customs in the Muslim World" It is an outcome of the Women and Law in the Muslim World action-research Programme of the international solidarity network, WLUML. It covers 26 topics relevant to marriage and divorce, including the status of children and child custody and guardianship. Parties interested in this handbook can contact the regional coordination office of WLUML in Pakistan:

Shirkat Gah Women's Resource Centre
PO Box 5192, Lahore, Pakistan
Email: sgah@lhr.comsats.net.pk


Asia-Pacific Trainers Database
The ARRC announced the release of the "Asia-Pacific Trainers Database" in January 2004. For several months, they have been gathering information on Human Rights Educators and Trainers in the Asia-Pacific region. This information is now available on-line at ARRC web site http://ww.arrc-hre.com under "Trainers Database" or directly at
http://www.arrc-hre.com/trainers_database_frameset.html

The Trainers Database is organized into 3 sections: Country, Sector and Region, for fast, easy access to the information.

The Database users can also link to the South Asian Forum for Human Rights (SAFHR) Trainers Database which focuses on Human Rights educators in the South Asian region.

First time users are required to obtain a username and password through the link:
http://www.arrc-hre.com/trainers_database/access_form.html

More information can be directed to ARRC by e-mail: arrc@ksc.th.com or fax: (66) 2-731-0829.


Children's Work Survey 2003
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has issued a report of children's work experiences in New Zealand: "Protecting Children at Work". It is a compilation of the 5000 responses to a questionnaire sent to 10-17 year-olds at Catholic schools. Questionnaires were sent together with materials about children's rights and employment, as part of Caritas' advocacy and as part of their preparation for responding to the Department of Labour's invitaion to comment on their review of the minimum age of employment. A full report is available at www.caritas.org.nz

JPW Exchange Corner

Brief History of the Bulletin

"Justice and Peace Workers" or JPW encompasses all people who work for justice, peace and human rights in Asia and Australia, mainly, though not exclusively, with Catholic organisations like the national or diocesan commissions for Justice and peace (CJP) or the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation groups (JPIC) of religious communities.

The Justice and Peace Workers Bulletin was proposed by those present during the 4th meeting of the Justice and Peace Workers (JPW) in the Philippines in November 2001, to provide a platform for information sharing and strengthening JPW network through solidarity and support.

During the 5th JPW meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka in October 2003, it was decided to continue this effort to share, information about good new resources, coming events or training opportunities, to exchange ideas and follow up points that were discussed during the meetings for the continued communication and networking among the JPW who work for justice, peace and human rights in Asia and Australia.


News Bits about Fellow-JP Workers
In Bangkok, Jim (Rungtip), has completed her service as Coordinator of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace Thailand (CCJP) at the end of December 2003. Jim has been working with CCJP for nearly seven years and the staff held a farewell ceremony for Jim during the planning and evaluation session of the Commission in December.

In Hong Kong, ACPP Coordinator, Sandie Cornish, completed her contract in March 2004 and Linda Noche took over as Acting Coordinator on 14 Feburary.

Let us send Jim and Sandie our best wishes for their future plans and hope they will stay in touch.

Let us also take this opportunity to congratulate Br. Amnuay (attended JPW meeting 2003 at Colombo) who celebrated his 25th anniversary as an ordained priest on 18 October 2003. The celebration was held in Chonburi province, Thailand.


BEWARE of e-mail Viruses
Viruses and worm variants are recently spreading rapidly through e-mail messages. As the work of justice and peace uses more and more e-mail, it is important to know about viruses and how to avoid them. Not only should we avoid ourselves getting infected, but we should also prevent ourselves from spreading the virus around. Knowing more about viruses is an important step to know how to react.

The recent Mydoom, NetSky-D virus attempts to entice e-mail recipients into opening a file attachment, most commonly those with a [.zip, .pif] file name extensions. If the attached file is opened, the worm installs malicious code on the computer user's system and sends copies of itself to all contacts in the user's address book. Both versions of the worm leave a file on the infected machine that can potentially allow a malicious individual to access that machine. Mydoom-B also reportedly blocks access to some websites, including Microsoft.com and some antivirus vendors' websites. Mydoom, Netsky-D and similar worms only infects systems running Microsoft Windows.

How to identify viruses?
Most of the recent mass-mailing worms arrive in an e-mail message as follows:
From: a false address
Subject: Varies, such as: "Error," "Status," "Server Report," "Mail Transaction Failed," "Mail Delivery System," "hello," "hi", "Re: Document", "Re: Re: Document", "Re: Re: Thanks!", "Re: Thanks!", "Re: Your document"
Body: Varies, such as:

• "The message cannot be represented in 7-bit ASCII encoding and has been sent as a binary attachment."
• "The message contains Unicode characters and has been sent as a binary attachment."
• "Mail transaction failed. Partial message is available. Your document is attached."
• "Here is the file."
• "See the attached file for details."
• "Please have a look at the attached file."
• "Please read the attached file."
• "Your file is attached."

Attachment:

• varies with extension [.bat, .exe, .pif, .cmd, .scr] - often arrives in a ZIP archive (25 to 35 kb)
• In the case of two file extensions, multiple spaces may be inserted as well, for example: <document.htm (many spaces) .pif >
• The icon used by the file could try to make it appear as if the attachment is a text file.

What to do if infected?
Infection by worms and viruses can be minimised by not clicking on unknown attachments in emails. Updating anti-virus signature definitions is also a sensible step.

If you think that you may be infected with worms, and are unsure how to check your system, you may download stinger tools from websites like: www.symantec.com ; www.grisoft.com ; www.housecall.antivirus.com (scan online for free) to scan your system and remove the virus if present.

Note:
§ Receiving an email alert stating that the virus came from your email address is not an indication that you are infected as the virus often forges the sender's address.
§ Do not assume that the sender address is an indication that the sender is infected. Additionally you may receive alert messages from a mail server that you are infected, which may not be the case.


Invitation to Exchange Information
20 March 2004 will be the first anniversary of the US-led bombing and invasion of Iraq. It is expected that freedom and peace-loving people and movements around the world will march the streets and assemble in public places to demand the immediate withdrawal of US and British troops from Iraq and to press for an end to their illegal occupation of this war-torn country.

Elsewhere in the world - in Korea, the Philippines, Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Haiti, and everywhere, people's lives and well-being continue to be threatened by the escalation of US military intervention.

During the last JPW networking meeting in October 2003, Colombo, participants have expressed the need to collect and exchange information, documentation and sentiments regarding the US military presence in Asia. If you would like to share your activities or statements on related events or topics, please contact hotline@acpp.org