Every letter counts

Excellent ads from Amnesty International.

10 December: Human Rights Day

(click on picture to go to official Human Rights Day Website)

Fity-eight years the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted on this very day, recognising "the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family [as] the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world". For too long, "disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind", and it was " the highest aspiration of the common people"that all "human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want".

Sadly, billions of people in the world still live in circumstances and countries where theyfundamental rights to basic freedoms are denied or infringed upon. It's not just the countless people imprisoned for excercising their freedom to speak out against tyranny and oppression. It's not only the fact so many men, women and children are slaving away for meagre salaries in inhumane conditions. It's not just the many, many who are discriminated against because of their skin colour, their beliefs, gender and sexual orientation. It also includes the millions and millions of people who do not have the right to clean water, adequate food, and security of life and family.

For one day, or maybe just for one single moment today, let us cherish the rights and freedoms we take for granted, and remember those who long to enjoy them. Together we stand.

Because we are all human beings.

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Statement from Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:

On this Human Rights Day, we reaffirm that freedom from want is a right, not merely a matter of compassion. Fighting poverty is a duty that binds those who govern as surely as their obligation to ensure that all people are able to speak freely, choose their leaders and worship as their conscience guides them.

[...]

Many rich countries have yet to meet development assistance targets they have accepted, yet they continue to spend ten times more on military budgets. They also spend nearly four times their development assistance budget – an amount almost equal to the total gross national product of African countries –to subsidize their own domestic agricultural producers. Indifference and a narrow calculus of national interests by wealthy countries hamper human rights and development just as damagingly as discrimination at the local level.

Here are comments by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan,

I don't need to tell you , of all people, that the United Nations has a special stake, and a special responsibility, in promoting respect for human rights worldwide. But equally – and less happily – I don't need to tell you that the UN has often failed to live up to that responsibility. I know that ten years ago many of you were close to giving up on any hope that an organization of governments, many of which are themselves gross violators of human rights, could ever function as an effective human rights defender.

[…]

Development, security and human rights go hand in hand; no one of them can advance very far without the other two. Indeed, anyone who speaks forcefully for human rights but does nothing about security and development – including the desperate need to fight extreme poverty – undermines both his credibility and his cause. Poverty in particular remains both a source and consequence of rights violations. Yet if we are serious about human deprivation, we must also demonstrate that we are serious about human dignity, and vice versa.

[…]

We must work to make human rights a reality in each country.

Of course, protecting and promoting human rights is first and foremost a national responsibility. Every member state of the UN can draw on its own history to develop its own ways of upholding universal rights. But many states need help in doing this, and the UN system has a vital role to play.

Deep quote

When one man is not free, no man is really free.

Just came across that quote while doing some research for a paper of mine. Been a while since I came across something as powerful in as few words, so wanted to share.

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[1] Shengde Lian, former student leader from Tian An Men Square in 1989 and executive director of Free China Movement

Cabinet against amnesty....

Almost a week after the adoption of the general amnesty for asylum seekers who came to the Netherlands before 2001, the Cabinet has made it clear time and time again that it does not intend to implement the motion. The motion was to grant “all asylum seekers, except for war criminals and persons prosecuted for serious offences, who filed their first [asylum] request before April 1^st, 2001 and have not yet left the Netherlands.”

In a letter to Parliament by decommissioned Minister for Immigration (Verdonk), it was argued that the motion is “not executable and has unwanted effects” [niet uitvoerbaar is en ongewenste effecten heeft]. One argument was that because of the unstable constitutional situation we find ourselves after the elections two weeks ago, the need to form a new government “demands mutual care and restraint from the [decommissioned] Cabinet and [Parliament]”.

In short, thus, any motion passed should not be recognised as having binding effect.

Now, knowing Dutch politics, it will take months and sometimes up to half a year for a new cabinet to be formed, because of all the coalition and consensus-building agreements that need to be negotiated and signed between the majority parties. Especially with the results of the past elections, with big division of the votes between parties on the left and right, it will even be more difficult to build an agreeable and workable coalition. If the Minister and the decommissioned Cabinet claims are correct, then that effectively means this country at current is without a proper functioning government able to conduct day-to-day affairs and take any decision whatsoever, and that this situation will go on indefinitely until a new Cabinet is formed. Clearly, this is a fallacious argument!!

To further discredit the motion adopted by Parliament, Minister Verdonk argues that the motion was drafted so vaguely that it may be open to abuse by those who claim to have never left the country. An amnesty also does great injustice, she claims, to the rights of those who have left the country out of their own free will.

World AIDS Day

Millions of people have died, and millions more will.

Children, men, women of every race, in every place around the world are falling victim to this terrible disease.

Today, on World AIDS Day, it is a chance for us to show that we care, and show that we can break through the predjudice and embrace people for who they are.

Parliament approves amnesty for asylum seekers

There will be a general amnesty for asylum seekers!!!

The new parliament just voted a couple of hours ago in favour of the motion, by a very, very slim majority of 75 for and 74 against. It was the first issue on the table by the newly elected parliament which started work today. The Labour Party (PvdA), Socialist Party (SP), GreenLeft (GroenLinks), and Party for Animals (Partij van de Dieren) formed the majority for the motion, whereas the incumbent governing parties Christian Democrats (CDA), Liberals (VVD), as well as right-wing Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) and orthodox-Poretestant Political Reformed Party (Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, SGP) were against. The PvdA says that this is evidence that a majority of people in the country are for a general amnesty. Even though the new cabinet has yet to be formed, the leader of the PvdA called the motion a necessary step to show that the new parliament speaks out of principal for the amnesty.

If the motion were implemented, then a total of around 31,000 asylum seekers who came to the Netherlands before 2001, before the new and restrictive Immigration Law (Vreemdlingenwet) came into force, would have a right to stay. Of these asylum seekers, some have spent many, many years awaiting pending decisions from the Immigration Service about their status and right to remain in the country. Many have all this time been living in fear, and in intolerable conditions and prisons, and been confronted with the uncertainty of forced deportation.

Minister Verdonk of Immigration Affairs was, and still is, totally against the general amnesty, and “severely discourage[d]” [ten zeerste ontraden] the debate on the issue. Before the elections, she accused the left parties of giving asylum seekers who came into the Netherlands before 2001 “false hope” on the issue. Today, she called the vote for a general amnesty “unusual and undesirable” [ongebruikelijk en ongewenst], lamenting that the new parliament forced an outgoing cabinet is still trying to finish its last affairs to deal with such a thorny issue. She herself of course voted against the motion and called the measure “playing with fire”.

Deportation suspended...for now

Imagine two girls, 16 and 14, who have lived in this country for 11 years. Imagine them threatened to be deported because they had not been living with their father of Dutch nationality when he was naturalised. No need to imagine, because it is true.

For now, they can stay, because parliamentary questions directed at the Minister of Immigration on this very matter are pending. The father and stepmother are the two girls only close relatives, and both parents are in the Netherlands, and both are Dutch citizens...and depsite this the Immigration Service wants to deport them because the two girls are have no legal documents to remain in the country. The argument by the Immigration Service is that the girls can go back to Turkey (where they originally came from) and apply for residence there.

HELLO?! What kind of twisted arguement is this? The parents are here! The girls have practically grown up all their lives here! And they can't stay here because they don't have the proper papers! Once again this underlines the government's prioritising of rules above human rights. Dispicable.


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In related news, the opposition Labour Party (PvdA) was a debate Thursday on the issue of granting a general amnesty to some 26000 illegal immigrants who are facing deportation, despite having stayed in the country for years (some even born here). In the run up to the elections, this was one of the issues that the government opposes firmly, whereas all the parties on the left have called for. It would be interesting if the new composition of parliament after the elections would produce a majority for the motion to grant general amnesty.

Tibetan shooting

Around two months ago news hit the headlines that China shot Tibetan refugees trying to flee into Nepal through the Nanga Pass in the Himalayas. The shooting was captured on tape by Romanian journalists, and several mountaineers witnessed the incident from a camp. After the incident, around a dozen Tibetans disappeared, some children as young as 8.

Students for a Free Tibet started an online campaign called "China would you shoot me too?", calling people to submit their photos with that caption.

Such acts by this hideous regime cannot simply go away. The international community seriously needs to take a stand on the human rights issue in China and cannot delude themselves that there will be any progress without outside pressure.

"Before, I heard that the human rights problem is very serious in China. But in Western society, many people are saying China is becoming better. This time I witnessed how the Chinese communist regime treats Tibetan refugees. I was very shocked. I realized that the situation in China has in fact not improved." - Pierre Maina, Danish Mountaineer

Wing Lam (1981-2006)

Just learned that a friend of mine passed away last month...
Still trying to come to grips with the news. A mix of numbness, shock, and sadness.

I met him first in London in the final year of my studies at SOAS. He was an exchange student from Leiden, where he was studying Chinese. We had classes together once or twice a week, shared the lunches and movies, drinks and outings. Like me, he grew up between two worlds and two cultures, and we found comfort in each other knowing that we were not alone. One of the many things that we had in common.

I last saw him sometime ago here in Leiden, just before he went on an year exchange in Taiwan. He went on a trip to the seaside. And never returned.

My heart goes out to his family and loved ones... may they have the strength and comfort to cope in these dark moments.

Dear friend, you will be much missed.

Elections~

Within the next few hours polling stations will open. Parliamentary elections, six months or so after the collapse of the previous coalition over the Ayaan Hirsi Ali affair.

It's really hard to know who to vote for. The parties seem to have similar standpoints, and the mud-throwing, slander, name-calling, accusations and counter-accusations really makes me feel politics is becoming more and more about power, and how to get it. Real issues like welfare, heath care, education, integration, European affairs seem to be tools to divide and rule, to gain sympathies and votes, in order to ultimately gain power, and control.
And it's really off-putting.

Basically this time it's down to the incumbent Prime Minister Balkenende (of the Christian Democrats, CDA) and Wouter Bos (of the Labour Party, PvdA). One or the other will be prime minister, depending which party gets more votes. All the others, VVD (Liberals), GroenLinks (GreenLeft), SP (Socialist Party) etc etc seem to be sidelined. The strange thing about Dutch elections is you don't vote for a person, but for a party list. And the parties with the most votes will try to bridge a majority coalition within parliament to form a government. Who becomes prime minister is not up to the voters, but to the parties.

(Bos and Balkenende: TV debate 3 Nov 2006 RTL4)

For one thing I will absolutely not vote for the incumbent parties. This is the government that has been slowly dismantling the welfare state, that has done little to deal with the polarising and alienating phenomenon between locals and foreigners. This government unconditionally toed behind the so-called 'intervention' in Iraq. This has been a government that cares more for rules and regulations and utterly unconcerned with the 'human factor' in immigration and asylum affairs under the wishy-washy leadership of a prime minister who madly preaches 'virtues and values' [normen en waarden], but then locks up children in prisons and openly declared his opposition against same-sex marriage.

Some people are calling for a strategic vote. Already months ago commentators have identified this election as a 'battle' between the (current CDA, VVD) right, and the opposition (PvdA, SP, GroenLinks) left, with a bunch of opportunistic post-Fortuyn parties trying to siphon off votes on issues like being tough on immigration and Muslims. Then there's the Party for Animals (Partij voor de Dieren), which has attracted a large following due to the support of celebrities and prominents. It's likely they'll get into parliament, because many people are probably fed up of all the power-politics and party bickering.

I think like many, the deciding moment will be when I go into that booth and press the button.

May the best person win.

Wanted

"Tibetans from all over India have been converging on New Delhi for the past two days to voice their opposition to China's continued occupation of their country and to Hu Jintao's brutal policies in Tibet when he was the Party Secretary of the Tibetan Autonomous Region and in 1989 was responsible for the crackdown on peaceful protests and the imposition of martial law in Lhasa."

"Just this past May, the Chinese government defamed His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Tibet and reinstated their patriotic re-education of the Tibetan people. Those who fought against the Chinese re-education policy were imprisoned and subjected to various tortures. Tibetans in Tibet enjoy no freedom under Chinese rule, and every year many thousands risk their lives escaping over the Himalayas into exile."

Clingendael late November 2006

Beautiful scenes of Autumn and nature in the woods today.
Take a look! : )

• Clingendael late November IX
• Clingendael late November VIII
• Clingendael late November VII
• Clingendael late November VI
• Clingendael late November VI
• Clingendael late November V
• Clingendael late November IV
• Clingendael late November III
• Clingendael late November II
• Clingedael late November 2006