What’s
Going On in Asia?
Hong
Kong
Fact
Finding Mission to the Philippines
The Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong
Kong Catholic Diocese (HKJP) joined other human
rights activists, lawyers and reporters to
investigate the situation of extra-judicial killings
in the Philippines in July 2006.
In the press
conference after the fact finding mission, activists
criticized the lack of independence of the Task Force
“Usig”, which was set up to investigate
extra-judicial killings in the country.
“Usig”, a body that solely comprises
members of the police, draws upon the entire register
of activities of the police in terms of
investigations.
To support the
victims and local effort, HKJP had asked Cardinal
Zen, bishop of Hong Kong to write an appeal to the
Philippines consul-general in Hong Kong. Among the
some 700 extra-judicial victims, a quarter of them
are Church workers or clergy.
Source: HKJP
India
RBA
Workshops on Advocacy
The National Commission for Justice, Peace
and Development (NCJPD), Catholic Bishops' Conference
of India will be organizing a capacity-building
workshop on the Rights Based Approach (RBA) to Social
Justice Advocacy. The workshop will be an
introduction to "The RBA to Social Justice
Advocacy". The workshop will be held on 22-26
October 2006.
The objectives are
to introduce and train participants in the use of RBA
with specific relevance to the Indian situation.
Thirty-six participants will be selected from the 12
ecclesiastical regions of India working under the
NCJPD. After the Workshop, they are expected to apply
RBA to their work and contribute to social justice
advocacy in their localities and as local partners of
NCJPD, while those with sufficient experience will be
expected to train others. Content will include:
Catholic Social Teachings linkage to RBA, human
rights framework, analysis, advocacy, strategic
planning and follow-up.
The workshop is
designed and will be run by a team from the ACPP and
Human Rights Council of Austrialia who will act as
workshop facilitators and resource persons. Some
alumni of the previous workshop will also assist as
facilitators or resource persons. The workshop is
made possible by the generous sponsorship and
contribution of Cordaid (Netherlands), Taiwan
Foundation for Democracy and CRS-India.
Source: NCJPD
Japan
Japan withdraws troops from
Iraq
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced
on 20 June 2006 that Japan would withdraw its troops
from Iraq, ending the Japanese military’s
riskiest and most ambitious overseas mission since
World War II.
About 600 soldiers had been based
in Samawa, capital of the southern province of
Muthana, since January 2004, providing clean water
and medical assistance, and repairing roads and
buildings. The troops had been limited to
humanitarian, non-combat duties due to Japan's
pacifist Constitution.
The country, however, will
formalize its military’s global role. The
Japanese Defence Agency Director-General, Fukushiro
Bukaga, said the country will consider a bill to make
the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force’s
international peace co-operation activities part of
its regular duties.
Source: Reuters, South China
Morning Post, International Herald Tribune
(Asia-Pacific)
Koizumi's visit to the
controversial shrine
On 15 August 2006, the anniversary of
Japan's World War II surrender, the Prime Minister
visited the Yasukuni Shrine enraging China and South
Korea, two victims of past Japanese invasions. The
latter two countries consider the visit a
glorification of militarism.
Despite Mr. Koizumi's apology to
victims of WW II during a national memorial service
in honour of Japan's war dead after the visit,
Japan's neighbours deem his visit a destructive move
against ties.
Both South Korea and China have
suspended summit meetings with Mr. Koizumi since his
last visit.
Opinion within the country is
diverse. More than 1,000 people marched in Tokyo to
protest against the visit, and others staged
candlelight vigils. However, public polls after this
latest pilgrimage indicated rising domestic support
to his visits, especially among younger Japanese,
prompting concerns about a rise of nationalism.
The Yasukuni shrine honours 2.5
million war dead, including 14 people convicted as
criminals by a 1948 war tribunal.
Source: International Herald
Tribune (Asia Pacific), BBC News
Philippines
Abolition of the Death
Penalty
At Easter, on 15 April 2006, President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced the commutation of
around 1,200 death sentences to life imprisonment in
the Philippines.
On 7 June 2006, both the Senate and
the House of Representatives approved separate bills
to abolish the imposition of the 1994 death penalty
law. Two weeks after the Congress passed the
legislation, President Arroyo signed a law abolishing
the death penalty, which makes the Philippines the
125th nation to abolish the death penalty in law or
practice.
The abolition is believed to be due
to pressure from the Roman Catholic Church and human
rights groups. Some analysts believe that it is
driven by political reasons - President Arroyo
abolition of the death penalty in exchange for the
support of the Church and bishops for her policies
such as the revival of mining to bring in foreign
investment and her push to change the country's
US-style constitution.
Despite the abolition of the death
penalty, people remain vulnerable to fundamental
injustices. Arroyo’s administration is
accountable for the alarming increase in levels of
extrajudicial killings. Task Force “Usig”
(TFU), the government’s investigative body,
seems incapable of addressing the issue effectively.
In 1987, the Philippines took an
innovative step as the first Asian country to abolish
the death penalty. However, the death penalty was
restored in December 1993 and the first execution was
carried out in 1999.
Source: BBC news, Sunday
Examiner
Response to the Guimaras
Tragedy
Solar I, a tanker with two millions liters
of oil on board, chartered by the Philippines’
largest oil refiner Petron, sank 23.4 km from the
southern coast of Nueva Valencia town in Guimaras on
11 August 2006. It is believed that 200,000 to
250,000 liters had leaked out from the tanker.
The spill damaged a large area of
coastline and polluted fishing grounds, dive spots
and a national marine reserve in the central
Philippines.
It is one of the worst spills to
hit the Philippines, and the government has appealed
for international assistance with the clean-up. The
removal of oil and tanker is still in the process. A
resident who had been employed to work in the
clean-up operations died on 22 September 2006,
suspected to be due to toxic fumes coming from the
bunker fuel. More respiratory illnesses are also
recorded in oil spill affected areas.
A free concert was organized on 15
September 2006 for the tragedy in Guimaras, with a
message from the people of Guimaras. Although the
concert was free, the Society of the Divine Word and
Cardinal Rosales asked for “donations of money
or protective gear, food and medicines for the
victims in the stricken area from all religious
congregations in the AMRSP and Friends."
Justice, Peace & Integrity of
Creation Commission-Association of Major Religious
Superiors in the Philippines (JPICC-AMRSP) issued the
“Statement on the Guimaras Oil Spill Tragedy and
the On-going Threats to Integrity of Creation”
in August, expressing its concerns on the environment
and the people affected by the oil spill. It also
demanded Petron and the Department of Natural
Resources to take immediate and accountable actions.
Please click here for the full
version of the statement..
The Catholic Bishops Conference of
the Philippines (CBCP) also appealed for the
immediate removal of the remaining bunker fuel from
the sunken tanker.
Source: JPICC-AMRSP, BBC news
Singapore
New Employment Law in
Singapore
At the end of July, the Association of
Employment Agencies and Casetrust came up with two
standard contracts for employers of maids in
Singapore.
The contracts will comprise of a
service agreement between the agency and the employer
and another employment contract between the employer
and the maid. Under the agreement, there would be a
well-defined replacement policy and a fairer refund
policy reducing the possibility of disputes.
The new law is expected to provide
better protection for domestic workers. The
employment contract stipulates the minimum one day
off entitlement for the maid in a month, if the day
off is not taken, the employer would have to
compensate the maid in cash.
The implementation of these
contracts will create a level playing field resulting
in greater professionalism among practitioners. Any
dispute arising from the contract will be referred to
accreditation bodies or employment agencies for
mediation. If parties fail to come to terms, the
dispute can be brought to an alternative resolution
mechanism.
In Singapore, domestic workers do
not enjoy labour rights, as domestic work is seen as
informal work and is not recognized by labour law.
However, after the launch of
standard contracts launched, all employment agencies
accredited by the two bodies (Casetrust and
Association of Employment Agencies) would have to
implement them by the 15 September 2006. Employment
agencies are not allowed to amend the service
agreement or the employment contract without the
prior approval of their accreditation body.
Source: Think Centre, Casetrust
South
Korea
Villagers against US
military expansion
On 13 September 2006, 22,000 riot police and
450 contracted construction workers bulldozed houses
in the village of Daechuri and Doduri at dawn. The
movement managed to wipe out 68 of the 90 houses
which the Ministry of Defence targeted.
During the struggle, 10 residents
received minor injuries. Some elderly residents
suffered verbal insults from contracted construction
workers. Destruction included not only houses, but
also a farm warehouse with expensive farming
equipment, including a USD100, 000 tractor inside.
Many supporters were blocked by
police checkpoints from entering the village several
days before the event. Twenty-one activists were
arrested on the morning of 13 September for trying to
enter the village area.
Despite the approaching deadline of
relocation (31 October 2006), villagers put their
hope into action by continuing to work in their
gardens, organizing for the defense of their land,
and preparing for a major demonstration in Seoul on
24 September.
South Koreans in the United States
demonstrated their solidarity. In Washington DC,
dozens of protestors took to the streets; supporters
also protested outside the South Korean consulate in
Honolulu in the second week of September.
According to the military newspaper
Stars and Stripes, the US military plans to build new
facilities on the farmers' land in order to improve
the quality of life for American soldiers stationed
in Korea. Those amenities include a new fitness
center "complete with a gym, indoor pool,
running track, and four-storey parking garage."
George Katsiaficas, a researcher at
Harvard University's Korea Institute and president of
the Peace Island Foundation reported that the
American troops' relocation away from major
population centers and the North Korean border could,
paradoxically, increase the likelihood of war in the
Korean Peninsula. In his opinion, the move
"takes American forces out of the range of North
Korean artillery and creates a situation where the
United States could attack North Korea without
Americans necessarily being directly threatened in
the immediate counter attack." He sees the
redeployment of US troops in South Korea as part of a
larger strategy.
Source: OneWorld.net