PHA-Exchange> (Fwd) [ESCR-Net ] Open Invitation for WSF seminar on Human Rights
Marjan Stoffers
marjan.stoffers at wemos.nl
Wed Jan 7 05:00:23 PST 2004
------- Forwarded message follows -------
To: "anita cheria and/or edwin" <winnu at vsnl.net>, <INESCR at yahoogroups.com>
From: "Sanjay Gathia" <sanjay at forumasia.org>
Date sent: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 17:06:32 +0700
Subject: [ESCR-Net ] Open Invitation for WSF seminar on Human Rights and Internally Displaced Persons in South Asia and South-East Asia
Dear All,
This is an open invitation to all interested groups to kindly join us
in the seminar organized by FORUM-ASIA Human Rights and
Internally
Displaced Persons in South Asia and South-East Asia World Social
Forum
2004 Mumbai, India 19th January from 9 am till 12 noon.
We would request you to kindly forward this information into your
own
networks and also invite interested groups to join us for the same.
Wishing everyone a Happy New Year also
.!!!
Warm regards
Sanjay
===========================
Sanjay Gathia
South Asia Coordinator
c/o FORUM-ASIA
111 Suthisarnwinichai Road , Samsennok, Huaykwang
Bangkok 10320, Thailand
Mobile: 66-(0)6-1345484
Tel. 66 2 2769846-47, 02-6934940 ext. 115
Fax 66 2 6931132; 66 2 6934939
Email: sanjay at forumasia.org / sgathia26 at yahoo.com
Forum Asia (www.forumasia.org <http://www.forumasia.org/> ) was
launched in December 1991, to facilitate collaboration among human
rights organizations in Asia so as to develop a regional response for
the promotion of human rights and democracy in the region.
Collaboration between members of FORUM-ASIA is based on the
understanding that human rights and fundamental freedoms are
indivisible and interdependent. They include not only civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights but also the rights of
peoples to pursue freely their economic, social and cultural
development. FORUM-ASIA strives towards the promotion and
protection
of human rights in the Asian region through collaboration and
cooperation among human rights organizations in the Asian region.
==============================
CONCEPT NOTE
Human Rights and Internally Displaced Persons
in South Asia and South-East Asia
World Social Forum 2004
Mumbai, India
Seminar on Human Rights and Internally Displaced persons in South
Asia
and South-East Asia to be held at the World Social Forum, Mumbai.
Internal displacement, a concomitant of development and
modernization,
is an issue that has affected the lives of tens of thousands of people
in Asia. As a network of groups working on various issues across
Asia,
Forum Asia has over the last few decades, takes serious note of the
devastating impacts of internal displacement. As people face
dislocation and disruption of their lives or the threat of it,
internal displacement assumes grave proportions the scale of which
increases almost on a daily basis. Forum Asia is concerned with the
gravity of the phenomenon and wishes to take the opportunity
provided
by the World Social Forum, to be held in Mumbai from 16th-22nd
Jan, to
place these multi-dimensioned issues on board.
We propose to have a seminar for the duration of 3 hours to discuss
the issues that concern internally displaced people. The following
note presents the conceptual framework of the discussion.
Internal displacement is caused by:
i. ethnic conflicts
ii. development projects
iii. religious or communal conflicts
Marginalised ethnic groups with a history of oppression by
nation-states engaged in struggles for self-determination or armed
conflict often form a large bulk of internally displaced groups. Long
and protracted conflicts over control of territories, over the right
to a particular 'nationality' leads to the disruption of democratic
mechanisms and to the collapse of all structures that are necessary
for people to enjoy political, civil and cultural rights.
Nation-states, in a bid to exert control and authority over such
groups often invokes special legislations to curb such movements. In
many cases, the army is given unrestricted powers by the nation-
states
thereby setting the stage for large scale violation of human rights.
Continuing and retaliatory violence by both the nation state as well
as the ethnic groups concerned further compounds the situation and
makes it difficult to bring peace or normalcy. At best, it is only a
fragile 'normalcy' that is instituted which only conceals the
traumatic implications of violent displacement. Further, as in most
kinds of displacement, a population once displaced is often liable to
be displaced again for a variety of reasons.
The second major cause of internal displacement in Asia have been
large scale development or infrastructural projects. Here, the
development paradigm pursued by nation states purportedly to usher
in
growth and progress, has been responsible for the displacement of
large numbers of women, children and men. Internal displacement
has,
regrettably, become part and parcel of modernisation and
development.
Development related internal displacement, be it dams, nuclear
power
plants, canals, mines or industries, creates a large mass of
impoverished people who have been stripped of all rights to their
lives as collectivities and individuals. Development related
displacement does not occur in a vacuum. It is usually marginalised
communities like Dalits or indigenous peoples who bear the brunt of
development. Additionally, these development or infrastructural
projects are promoted and supported by multilateral agencies like the
World Bank, the IMF, ADB and so on, as the only solution to issues
like drinking water shortages. Apart from the fact that such
development projects often accelerate the depletion of natural
resources, they also affect traditional access to fundamental
resources like water, land or forests. While resettlement and
rehabilitation of displaced populations are sometimes mentioned in
the
project planning, the lack of coherent policies that respect people's
cultural and social needs, often
reduces such mention to a mockery. In the meantime, people
continue to
suffer and face an endless cycle of dispossession and displacement.
The third significant cause of internal displacement is religious or
communal conflicts. This also involves forced and violent
displacement
as people flee to safety when their lives and property are attacked.
Like the other causes of internal displacement, religious conflict
usually affect minority populations most adversely. While a disruption
of 'normalcy' and the imposition of majoritarian policies or
ideologies, affects all populations, it is the minority populations
that face a complete erosion of their citizenship rights. Violence and
the threat of increased violence often leaves minority populations
with little or no options in terms of rebuilding their lives. As most
minority populations also face discrimination even in 'normal'
contexts, religious violence or communal riots exacerbates this
discrimination in the most acute fashion. Displacement in this context
has often meant loss of livelihood, loss of education, health care
facilities, and most importantly, loss of citizenship rights.
It must be noted here that in all three contexts of internal
displacement it is women who often bear the brunt of the traumatic
impacts of such experiences. Being the most vulnerable constituents
of
even vulnerable communities, women experience displacement in
very
specific ways. Both long term as well as short term impacts of
internal displacement tend to exacerbate the invisibility of women
and
their predicaments.
As we see, internal displacement is accompanied in all contexts by
large scale violation of human rights. International covenants,
national policies, internal legislation--have been unable to address
the specific needs of internally displaced persons. The UNHCR
guiding
principles on internal refugees in some measure tries to respond to
the complexities of internal displacement. However, more often than
not such guidelines are undermined by national policies or the lack of
policies. In this seminar we hope to discuss strategies on how to
campaign across Asia to use such guidelines to influence and create
sets of national laws and policies that will resonate with some
meaning for the tens of thousands of people being displaced
internally.
Tentative Agenda of Forum Asia Event at WSF 2004
on 19th January from 9 am till 12 noon
Theme: Human Rights and Internally Displaced Persons in South
Asia and
South-East Asia
Duration: 3 hours (tentatively can stretch by 30-40 mins)
Target group: Concerned people (estimated 500)
Date: 19th January
Time: 9am to 12 noon
Venue/Location: To be Displayed at WSF by Organizers at Nesco
Grounds,
Western Highway, Goregaon (East), Mumbai 400 063.
1. Introduction of Forum Asia (10 mins)
2. Overview of issues (10 mins)
3. Key Note Address (30 mins)
4. Panel Discussions
§ Panel 1: Development Related Displacement
- Speaker from Orissa (15 mins)
- Speaker from Thailand (15 mins)
§ Panel 2: Conflict Related Displacement
- Speaker from Aceh (15 mins)
- Speaker from Nepal (15 mins)
§ People’s Struggles Against Internal Displacement: Experience
Sharing from Sri Lanka (15 mins)
* Overview (15 mins)
5. Overview on Critical Analysis of Guiding Principles of IDPs
6. Open Discussions on Planned Interventions and Experience
Sharing – South Asia and Southeast Asia (30 mins) - Invite
various groups from Kashmir, Gujarat/India, Northeast India, India
(all states), Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,
Timor
Leste (East Timor), West Papua, Aceh/Indonesia,
Mindanao/Philippines,
Tibet, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Burma/Myanmar and all group
interested on the issue.
7. Concluding Remarks (20 mins) Forum Asia.
------- End of forwarded message -------
Projects coordinator
Please reply to marjan.stoffers at wemos.nl
tel +31-20-4352062
__________________________________________________
Minder schulden, een betere gezondheid. Steun onze oproep voor
schuldkwijtschelding. Kijk op http://www.wemos.nl/campagne
Drop the debt for better health. Support our campaign for debtrelief.
See
http://www.wemos.nl/campagne
Wemos Foundation, P.O. Box 1693, 1000 BR Amsterdam, The
Netherlands
tel +31-20-4352050, fax +31-20-4.686.008 http://www.wemos.nl
__________________________________________________
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: -
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 9705 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20040107/f159f1b3/attachment-0014.obj>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: -
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 60902 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20040107/f159f1b3/attachment-0015.obj>
More information about the PHM-Exchange
mailing list