Bagaimana pula dengan hak-hak Masyarakat Pribumi Bukan-Islam?

Malaysia telah mengambil langkah untuk melindungi hak masyarakat pribumi ketika ia menuju ke arah kemajuan untuk menjadi negara berpendapatan tinggi menjelang 2020.

Kuasa Usaha Perwakilan Tetap Malaysia di Pertubuhan Bangsa-bangsa Bersatu (PBB) Raja Reza Raja Zaib Shah berkata pembuat dasar Malaysia memainkan tanggungjawab untuk mengiktiraf dan menangani keperluan semua lapisan masyarakat termasuk kira-kira 150,000 masyarakat pribumi.

"Ke arah memastikan hak Orang Asli dan lain-lain masyarakat pribumi kekal didukung dan dilindungi, kerajaan berterusan mengambil langkah memperluas keperluan makanan, perlindungan, kesihatan, pendidikan dan pekerjaan mereka," katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian dalam kenyataan mengenai Item Agenda 66: Hak Masyarakat Pribumi pada Jawatankuasa Ketiga Sesi ke-68 Perhimpunan Agung PBB di New York pada Isnin.

Raja Reza berkata Malaysia terus komited untuk memperkukuh keberkesanan pihak berkuasa berkaitan seperti Jabatan Pembangunan Orang Asli selain pegawai negeri dan daerah yang bertanggungjawab kepada kebajikan dan kemajuan masyarakat ini.

Dalam kenyataan berasingan pada Jawatankuasa Kedua perhimpunan agung itu, beliau berkata Malaysia akan terus berkongsi pengalaman terutama dalam bidang menghapuskan kemiskinan dan membina keupayaan dengan negara kurang membangun di peringkat serantau dan antarabangsa.

Pautan: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/244610

Lebih ramai tok batin dan ketua kampung Orang Asli akan dihantar mengerjakan ibadah haji menerusi Program Khas Haji tajaan Yayasan 1Malaysia Development Berhad (Yayasan 1MDB) pada masa akan datang.

Setiausaha Politik kepada Perdana Menteri yang juga pengerusi jawatankuasa itu, Datuk Jailani Ngah berkata untuk tahun depan, dijangka 30 orang akan dibawa mengerjakan ibadah itu berbanding hanya lima orang tahun ini...

Sebanyak 800 orang terdiri daripada imam, ketua kampung dan pengerusi jawatankuasa kemajuan dan keselamatan kampung (JKKK) menunaikan haji menerusi bawah program itu tahun ini. Kumpulan kedua dijangka tiba Sabtu ini.

Pautan: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/244614

The Orang Asli community in the Peninsula will not stand to benefit from any affirmative action plans for the Bumiputeras unless concrete policies are put in place to first address their basic demands. 

In fact, Orang Asli activist Tijah Yok Chopil said some 180,000 Orang Asli,  from about 852 villages, may very well "fall victim" to lucrative incentives given out through the latest Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Plan.

"The government says it is giving out millions of ringgit in tenders and contracts to the Bumiputera developers. Part of these contracts will involve developing land for commercial purposes. 

"But when it comes to land development projects, the Orang Asli often become the victim as the status of their native customary land [tanah adat] is not recognised by the government," said Tijah, who founded the Village Network of Peninsular Malaysia Orang Asli as a non-governmental organisation to champion causes affecting her community.

"We are demanding for recognition of our customary lands because it forms the basis of Orang Asli's survival as a community," said Tijah when met by theantdaily.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had last month unveiled the Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Plan, reportedly worth almost RM30 billion, which aims to reduce inequality of income not only between Bumiputeras and non-Bumiputeras, but also among Bumiputeras themselves.

"I cannot see how the Orang Asli can benefit from these projects, tenders and contracts when the government can't even adequately resolve our most basic demands," said Tijah...

The plight of the Orang Asli community will once again be brought to global attention at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Universal Periodic Review, scheduled to be held at its headquarters in Geneva from Oct 21 to Nov 1...

The Village Network recommendations are recorded in one out of 28 stakeholders’ reports submitted to the UNHRC on Malaysia and endorsed by a coalition of 54 Malaysian NGOs that came together as Comango. A separate detailed report was also submitted to the UNHRC on behalf of the Society for Threatened Peoples. 

Among others, it stated that the Orang Asli face severe marginalisation and discrimination in socio-economic opportunities, as well as displacement and eviction from their ancestral lands. It also stated that 76.9 % of the Orang Asli are living under the poverty line while 35.2 % live in extreme poverty, a sad fact considering the millions in allocations which have been channelled through the country's annual budget.

Read more here:

http://www.theantdaily.com/news/2013/10/20/orang-asli-wont-gain-development-plans

Freedom: Another Casualty of the Gay Agenda

By Frank Turek. Posted on 28 August 2013 by The Christian Post.

If you think that same sex marriage and "non-discrimination" laws are all about love and tolerance, you couldn't be more wrong. A decision out of the New Mexico Supreme Court last week clearly shows why. The decision is itself intolerant and discriminatory.

According to the Court, Christian photographer Elane Huguenin violated New Mexico's "non-discrimination" law by politely declining to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony. Although the lesbian couple that brought the complaint easily found another photographer, Elane Photography now must pay nearly $7,000 in court costs for merely exercising her First Amendment rights.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was put in place to prevent exactly what the New Mexico Supreme Court has done: using the strong arm of government to force citizens to advocate (not just tolerate) ideas and behaviors that contradict their religious or moral convictions. Forcing people to support same sex weddings or commitment ceremonies is forcing them to advocate same sex behavior.

The First Amendment protects not only the right to free speech, but also the right not to be coerced into speech. Former Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Warren Burger wrote, "The right of freedom of thought protected by the First Amendment against state action includes both the right to speak freely and the right to refrain from speaking at all. . . . A system which secures the right to proselytize religious, political, and ideological causes must also guarantee the concomitant right to decline to foster such concepts." Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U.S. 705, 714 (1977). Even the U.N. Human Rights Committee recognizes a universal human right not to be coerced into advocating any idea. (You know our country is stuck on stupid when our courts are getting human rights lessons from the U.N.!)

Now, if you justify this decision because you disagree with Elane Photography's religious or moral position, you're not thinking like an American (or a U.N. person). Imagine a homosexual videographer being forced to video a speech that a conservative makes against homosexual behavior and same sex marriage. Should that homosexual videographer be forced to do so? Of course not! Then why Elane Photography?

It is important to understand that Elane Photography was not refusing service because of the "sexual orientation" or sexual attractions of the couple. In fact, Elane Photography was happy to work with lesbian clients on other projects that did not involve advocating homosexual behavior (for example, taking professional head shots). In this case however, she declined service because she did not want to use her artistic talents to advocate sexual actions that went against her moral and religious beliefs.

But isn't this just like a white photographer refusing to photograph a black wedding? I know it's very fashionable to compare homosexuality to race, but the comparison is completely fallacious. And as Chesterton said, "Fallacies do not cease becoming fallacies when they become fashions."

First, homosexuality, unlike race, is a behavior, and statistically a harmful behavior. As a result, people have good moral reasons-even beyond religious beliefs-for opposing or not wanting to advocate homosexual behavior. But since race hurts no one, there is no moral justification for refusing to serve someone merely due to race.

Second, people are born into their race but not their sexual behavior. Sexual behavior is always a choice, race never is. You will find many former homosexuals, but you will never find a former African American. (I know whom you're thinking about. Let him rest in peace!).

Now, some believe there is a gay gene for homosexual attractions. But there's not only no evidence for a gay gene, identical twin studies suggest it doesn't exist. Yet even if we one day find some kind of genetic component to homosexual attractions, that would not mean that homosexual actions must be advocated by anyone. Being born with certain tendencies doesn't necessarily justify acting on those tendencies. If it did, Elane Huguenin could have justified her actions by simply claiming that she was born with the anti-gay gene!

New Mexico Justice Richard C. Bosson justified his actions this way: "The Huguenins are free to think, to say, to believe, as they wish; they may pray to the God of their choice and follow those commandments in their personal lives wherever they lead. The Constitution protects the Huguenins in that respect and much more. But there is a price, one that we all have to pay somewhere in our civic life."

I have a newsflash for Justice Bosson: People in North Korea and Iran are free to think, believe and pray to the God of their choice too! But that's not freedom of religion. The "free exercise" of religion means that you can actually live according to your religious beliefs. Justice Bosson and his misguided colleagues are essentially saying, "You can be a Christian as long as you don't act like a Christian. It's fine if your pastor or the Bible tells you to do something, as long as you don't actually do it." So we can't obey God anymore? Is that the "price" we have to pay, Justice Bosson? Looks like the time for peaceful civil disobedience is here. Jail anyone?

Despite his inane ruling, Justice Bosson does seem to recognize the chilling implications of his decision. He wrote: "…the Huguenins… now are compelled by law to compromise the very religious beliefs that inspire their lives. Though the rule of law requires it, the result is sobering. It will no doubt leave a tangible mark on the Huguenins and others of similar views."

This is only one of many "tangible marks" that the mainstream media continues to ignore as they cheer on intolerance disguised as "gay rights." There is a long and growing list of marks tattooed on people of faith and people of conscience who are being discriminated against beyond just the Huguenins. This is not tolerance or "non-discrimination." It is exactly the opposite. It is totalitarianism-do what we say, or else!

Our country has a choice to make: either maintain the value of freedom enshrined in our Constitution, or usurp the value of freedom by mandating conformity to the gay agenda. Unless the church and other freedom-loving people begin to speak up and get involved – and by that I mean in politics, education, the media, and law-we will lose the very freedoms our founders spilled their blood to secure.

Yes, there is a price to pay. But the price isn't giving up your Constitutional rights as the New Mexico Supreme Court mandates. The price is getting involved to protect those rights.

P.S. Click here https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/cross-examined/id337782458 and go to the top of the list to hear my in-depth interview with Jordan Lorence, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorney who argued the case for Elane Photography. You can also see Jordan interviewed by Shannon Bream here. ADF is considering an appeal to the United States Supreme Court.

Link: http://m.christianpost.com/news/freedom-another-casualty-of-the-gay-agenda--103184/cpt

EAIC Is Unable To Cope, Form IPCMC Now!

By Boo Su-Lyn. Published by The Malaysian Insider on 4 June 2013.

The Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) has acknowledged it is hamstrung by only having one investigating officer to probe complaints of misconduct against 19 enforcement agencies, as public outcry grows over deaths in police custody. It also has an annual budget of just RM7 million.

EAIC CEO Nor Afizah Hanum Mokhtar said the commission has 23 staff members, including the investigating officer, clerks, a driver, legal adviser, administrative officer and an operations director. 

“We have very limited manpower,” Nor Afizah Hanum told The Malaysian Insider in an exclusive interview at her office here yesterday. 

“We had six investigator posts that we got from MACC. They withdrew five on 16th May,” she added, referring to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Amid the outcry over recent deaths in police custody, there has been growing calls from the opposition and the Bar Council for the government to set up an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

The Malaysian Bar, civil society groups and several politicians from both sides of the divide have called for the IPCMC to be implemented to reform the police force since 2006.

The IPCMC, which was mooted by a royal commission chaired by former Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah but shot down by the police, was to be modelled on the United Kingdom’s Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), as well as other police oversight bodies in New South Wales and Queensland in Australia, and Hong Kong.

Speaking to The Malaysian Insider yesterday Nor Afizah Hanum said the sole investigating officer remaining at the EAIC also came from the MACC and has 11 years’ experience as an investigator.

The MACC, in contrast, has a budget of RM276 million this year and will receive an additional 150 posts annually to boost its manpower from 2,500 staff to 5,000, English daily The Star reported last September.

The EAIC, which was set up in April 2011, investigates complaints of misconduct against the police force, the Immigration Department, the Customs Department, the Rela Corps, the National Anti-Drug Agency, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, the Department of Environment, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, the National Registration Department (NRD), the Department of Civil Aviation, the Road Transport Department (RTD), the Department of Industrial Relations, the Department of Fisheries, the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, the Manpower Department, the Health Ministry (Enforcement), the Tourism Ministry (Enforcement and Licensing units), the Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry (Enforcement) and the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government (Enforcement).

Nor Afizah Hanum said the EAIC needed an annual budget of at least RM25 million, as well as at least 10 investigating officers and 10 research officers. “We hope to expand till 78 personnel... we have a requirement for research officers to work in a taskforce to study rules and procedures and do visits to lock-ups, prisons,” she said. 

She added that the EAIC has received 469 complaints as of May 31 this year since it was formed in 2011, with 353 complaints against the police. Twenty-one complaints were lodged against the Immigration Department, 15 against the RTD, 10 against the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government, and nine against the Customs Department. 

She said the EAIC, however, has yet to receive complaints of deaths in custody, police shootings or assault by enforcement officers. “We haven’t received complaints of a criminal element,” said Nor Afizah Hanum. 

She added that the complaints ranged from police inaction on cases, inaction of immigration authorities against illegal immigrants, a policeman having an affair with someone else’s wife, or the NRD revealing one’s personal particulars to another party without consent.

The former Sessions Court judge said investigations were opened for 124 out of 469 complaints, with one case resulting in a recommendation of disciplinary action against the police.

According to human rights group Suaram, 218 cases of alleged deaths in custody in Malaysia took place from 2000 to this month, with its records showing that nine of those cases occurred in 2012, while eight cases occurred so far this year...

The Home Ministry reportedly told Parliament last October that 298 people were shot dead by the police between 2007 and August 2012, including 151 Indonesians and 134 Malaysians, which is an average of one deadly shooting a week.

A United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention 2010 visit to Malaysian prisons and detention centres reported in 2011 that between 2003 and 2007, “over 1,500 people died while being held by authorities.”

Read more here:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/enforcement-oversight-body-has-just-one-officer-to-investigate-19-agencies-says-ceo

There is no need to establish the Independent Police Misconduct and Complaints Commission (IPCMC), said Minister for Governance and Integrity Paul Low.

He said there is an existing channel called the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) that would perform the same duties as the IPCMC.

“There is no need to form the IPCMC, we already have a channel that allows the public to lodge complaints with regard to the enforcement agencies called the EAIC,” he said.

“There is lack of awareness. I believe that the only thing left to do is to educate the public on how one can lodge a complaint via the EAIC,” he added.

Read more here:

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/05/30/no-need-for-ipcmc-says-minister/

Malaise in Malaysia: Corruption in High Places

Posted by The Huffington Post on 27 December 2012.

It is an accepted cliché that power corrupts and is usually in reference to a country's leaders and their ability to amass private fortunes at the expense of their electorate. But the real tragedy is how corruption corrodes civil society. It creates cynicism, anger or voter apathy, with people losing confidence in politicians and therefore losing their connection with democracy. If the problem cannot be solved through the ballot box because of a corrupt electoral system, then a country is really in trouble.

Malaysia may not be in big trouble yet. While it still has a robust free press and whistleblowers are protected, the current issues have a chance to be addressed fairly. But the media is under pressure to conform and whistleblowers have been arrested instead of the corrupt officials. One of the foundations of the fight against corruption is the need to protect the messenger, and while many countries are being urged to adopt such legislation, it is only effective if respected and enforced.

Malaysia ranked 60th out of 182 nations last year in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, down four places from 2010, when 178 countries were included. Two recent scandals have rocked the establishment party of UMNO, bringing disrepute to people in high places from the Prime Minister down. The Scorpene submarines deal has exposed the hypocrisy of leaders who pledge to end corruption yet proceed as if winning elections is all about self-enrichment.

Malaysia was a signatory of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in 2008 with a legal obligation to "prevent, investigate and prosecute" cases of international corruption. However, a complaisant majority party and judiciary allow for delays in hearings, refusals to release documents and in the case of the submarines deal, to deny that French law has jurisdiction over Malaysian transactions. The French government however, is actively pursuing its own inquiry and has released over 153 documents making it clear that apart from individuals, the ruling party (UMNO) was the biggest beneficiary, receiving commissions, bribes and support fees in the millions.

In spite of government harassment, the civil rights organization, SUARAM, is determined to uncover the truth in its pursuit for accountability and stated in a May 2012 press conference in Bangkok, that it will continue to make the results public as the case proceeds in the French Court.

Another scandal has recently become public and tarnished the reputation of a former government minister and family members when it was revealed that National Feedlot Corporation funds were misused for the purchase of condominiums using Malaysian government funds. Government patronage over the years has involved highway construction and defense contracts and a variety of other government arrangements with UMNO cronies. Prime Minister Najib Razak, who chairs the Finance Ministry Acquisition Committee, is in the powerful position of being able to award contracts and to charge whistleblowers instead as a smokescreen to protect his friends.

PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim has condemned such politically-motivated charges and his party is setting up a National Oversight and Whistleblower Centre to offer future informants protection via legal and monetary aid. Anwar promises to end corruption and dissatisfaction with UMNO and has been reinforcing the popularity of the PKR. But while the integrity of the electoral process is in doubt and the institutions responsible for anti-corruption and the rule of law have been compromised, it is difficult to foresee how the next election will play out.

It is ironic that the shining example of democracy, the U.S., has also been undergoing problems with electoral integrity, as right-wing public officials attempted to purge electoral rolls of potential Democratic electors, proving that nothing is safe, even in a democracy, if the judicial system is underpinned by a right-leaning Supreme Court.

Anwar Ibrahim is being hounded by the Prime Minister Najib Razak and the ruling party UMNO, and after surviving trumped up charges and years in prison under a previous administration, Anwar is used to having his reputation slandered by the opposition. However, the victimization is proving counterproductive as his popularity is increasing and his message of moderation, inclusion and hope is resonating with his growing coalition as well as the center.

Anwar may not yet have the following to counter the strength of UMNO, with its entrenched 20 years of patronage creating a loyal party base especially in rural communities, but he certainly has the attention of those who want to see Malaysia's democracy strengthen and mature. The educated voters of Malaysia hope that Anwar Ibrahim will be their country's next Prime Minister, leading Malaysia to an incorruptible leadership role in the global community.

Written by Dr Azeem Ibrahim, the Executive Chairman of The Scotland Institute and a Fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/azeem-ibrahim/malaise-in-malaysia-corruption_b_2304185.html

Guatemalan peasants protesting rights abuses killed, UN dispatched

By Deborah Dupre, author, columnist and rights defender. Published by examiner.com on 6 October 2012.

Thousands of indigenous Guatemalans shouted in anger Friday and the United Nations human rights officers have been dispatched to the Department of Totonicapan in western Guatemala where the military and police brutalized and killed six indigenous people protesting energy and education rights abuses Thursday.

“We have received alarming information that six indigenous peasants were killed and at least 30 injured,” a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Rupert Colville, told reporters in Geneva.

"We were protesting right next to them when they opened fire on us," said Rolando Carrillo, a 25-year-old protester with a bandaged arm and lacerated face he said was from being hit during the clash. Six of the seven dead peasants were buried Friday afternoon in Totonicapan, where thousands gathered as the coffins of local people shot to death passed through the town's central square.

Hundreds shouted "Justice! Justice!" while dozens of mourners hurled themselves toward the coffins in grief.

The Associated Press reports,"Thousands of indigenous Guatemalans shouted in anger Friday about the deaths that occurred during a protest over electricity prices and educational reform in a poor rural area. According to reports, a large number of indigenous people placed several roadblocks in protest against increased electrical tariffs and other basic service provisions.

Mr. Colville noted conflicting reports about the location of the incident. “Details remain unclear and our office in Guatemala is shortly sending two teams of human rights observers – one to Sololá Department and one to Totonicapan – to verify the facts and follow up on the incidents,” he said.

USA Today reports that the protesters were blockading a highway near Totonicapan, about 90 miles west of Guatemala City. President Otto Perez Molina has now acknowledged that government forces opened fire during the protest Thursday. Molina has said earlier that police and troops on the scene were unarmed and that protesters provoked the clash.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, visited Totonicapan during her mission to Guatemala in March. She met with traditional indigenous authorities to discuss a range of human rights concerns. Ms. Pillay had noted that, although indigenous peoples constitute the majority of the nation's population, they continue to be subject to exclusion and denial of their human rights.

Guatemala was among the first signatories of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, that underscores indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination, that is, to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect their rights.

In a May protest, approximately 200 people armed with machetes and guns briefly seized an army outpost in a province bordering Mexico to demand justice for the killing of a man who opposed constructing a hydroelectric plant. In response, Molina declared a state of siege in the area and granted the army emergency powers.

Link: http://www.examiner.com/article/guatemalan-peasants-protesting-rights-abuses-killed-un-dispatched

Were the 5 charges against Suaram company politically motivated?

By Teoh El Sen. Published by Free Malaysia Today on 8 September 2012.

Pro-establishment Malay rights groups demanded to know why Suaram was registered as a company, Suara Inisiatif Sdn Bhd, with a paid-up capital of RM2. Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) and Perkasa have accused the NGO of being funded by foreign powers to “destabilise the peace of the country”.

The Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) then raided Suaram’s offices and found that the company was suspected of having breached the Companies Act 1965 for carrying out activities unrelated to the purpose of its establishment as a business.

More recently, Germany’s Ambassador to Malaysia, Dr Guenter Georg Gruber, admitted to channelling funds to Suara Inisiatif to finance specific project initiatives. In response, Foreign Minister Anifah Aman asked for an explanation of the funding, saying that it could be “seen as interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state” because the Malaysian government considers Suaram to be politically-biased.

Suaram has consistently denied any wrondoings and in defence, claim that the timing of the checks were clearly “political” as the NGO has been aggressively highlighting the suspected corruption in the Scorpene scandal, which implicates Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

Suaram adviser Kua Kia Soong has revealed that Suaram receives money from Finland, the United States, Canada and various state governments in Malaysia, as well as donations from citizens. He argues that Suaram was a registered company as the authorities have traditionally made it difficult for vocal NGOs to be properly registered as a society.

Read more here:
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/09/08/un-rep-ok-for-ngos-to-receive-foreign-funding/

Even the Malaysia government received foreign funding but nobody has accused it of being a 'foreign agent', argues United Nations Special Rapporteur, Maina Kiai.

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/09/08/suaram-company-to-face-five-charges/
Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) has identified five charges under the Companies Act 1965 to be made against Suara Inisiatif Sdn Bhd (Suara Inisiatif)... He said the action taken against Suara Inisiatif was not politically motivated, but because of the offence it allegedly committed.

Christianity’s Via Dolorosa

Published by Free Malaysia Today on 8 April 2012.

By Fiorello Provera

BRUSSELS: Recently, the human-rights activist, former Dutch politician, and Somali exile Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote about a global war on Christians in Muslim countries. She discussed at length the appalling phenomenon of violent intolerance towards Christian communities, and cast blame on the international community and prominent NGOs for failing to address this problem.

In almost every part of the world, reports emerge on a daily basis of Christian communities falling victim to harassment and persecution.

In Nigeria, on Feb 26, three Christians were killed and dozens wounded after a car bomb exploded close to a church in the northern town of Jos. At least 500 people have died during the last year in attacks attributed to the violent Islamist group Boko Haram, which has called for all Christians to leave northern Nigeria.

In East African states such as Sudan, Christians have been given an April 8 deadline to leave the north. The ultimatum will affect up to 700,000 Christians who were born in South Sudan before it became independent last year. In Eritrea, it is reported that 2,000-3,000 Christians are in detention, and that many have been tortured.

But the Middle East remains the most dangerous place for Christians to live, and attacks occur with frightening regularity. Egypt’s Copts and Iraq’s dwindling Christian community feel the pressure the most.

Depending on the outcome of events in Syria, many wonder about the fate of that country’s vibrant Christian community. In Iran, members of so-called “house churches” (independent assemblies of Christians who meet in private homes because of their fear of oppression) are rounded up and imprisoned.

In 2012, the organization Open Doors, which is devoted to focusing on the plight of Christians, designated Muslim-majority countries – including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and even the Maldives – as some of the world’s worst offenders.

In Pakistan, the country’s notorious blasphemy laws are frequently used against Christians to settle personal scores or extort financial gain. The shocking assassinations of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s minister for minority affairs, and the governor of Punjab province, Salmaan Taseer, ensured that anyone who speaks out on this topic can expect swift retribution.

Top offender Yet the problem is not limited to the Muslim world. In China, according to the organization The Voice of the Martyrs, persecution of Christians rose significantly from 2010 to 2011.

Unofficial house churches are especially vulnerable to official harassment or raids by the authorities.

But the world’s top offender remains North Korea, where Christians are subject to the worst forms of abuse, with reports that at least 25% endure slave-like conditions in labor camps.

In Vietnam, the indigenous Degar people, also called Montagnards, are viewed with suspicion for their Christian faith, and the government is responsible for numerous cases of torture and abuse, while hundreds of Degar women have been subject to forced sterilization.

Even in countries that are heralded for their openness and tolerance, such as India, Christian groups have been subject to attacks. During 2011, at least 1,000 cases of anti-Christian violence were reported across the country. In January, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, Hindu fundamentalists attacked an evangelical pastor whom they accused of forcible conversions.

As bad as anti-Christian violence and intimidation is, indifference to the plight of Christian groups under threat is widespread among governments, the media, and even ordinary citizens.

A smattering of Christian NGOs works to publicize the issue, but mainstream human-rights organizations have largely neglected to highlight cases of explicit anti-Christian attacks and persecution.

Tying to trade deals There is an obvious reticence by international bodies even to acknowledge the problem. But according to the Pew Forum, at least 10% of the world’s Christians – 200 million people in 133 countries – live in societies as a minority group. Unless action is taken to address the issue, hundreds of communities that simply wish to practice their religion peacefully will face profound psychological and demographic consequences, fleeing into exile to preserve their faith.

The European Union, the United States, and the world’s other democracies have the capacity to raise the issue of religious persecution; what they lack is the will.

The EU should follow the example of the US State Department, which publishes a comprehensive annual report on religious freedom around the world.

Another possibility is to raise the issue through bilateral agreements with countries where Christians are persecuted.

That way, it would become clear that these states cannot operate with impunity when it comes to their religious minorities, whether they profess Christianity or any other faith.

- Project Syndicate Fiorello Provera is Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs [From Wikpedia: The Via Dolorosa (Latin,"Way of Grief" or "Way of Suffering") is a street, in two parts, within the Old City of Jerusalem, held to be the path that Jesus walked, carrying his cross, on the way to his crucifixion.]

International Anti-Corruption Day 9 December 2011

"On this International Anti-Corruption Day, let us pledge to do our part by cracking down on corruption, shaming those who practice it and engendering a culture that values ethical behaviour."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Message on International Anti-Corruption Day

Message of the Secretary-General for 2011

Corruption afflicts all countries, undermining social progress and breeding inequality and injustice.

When desperately needed development funds are stolen by corrupt individuals and institutions, poor and vulnerable people are robbed of the education, health care and other essential services.

Although the poor may be marginalized by corruption, they will not be silenced. In events across the Arab world and beyond this year, ordinary people have joined their voices in denouncing corruption and demanding that governments combat this crime against democracy. Their protests have triggered changes on the international scene that could barely have been imagined just months previously.

All of us have a responsibility to take action against the cancer of corruption.

The United Nations is helping countries combat corruption as part of our broader, system-wide campaign to help bolster democracy and good governance.

The United Nations Convention Against Corruption is a powerful tool in the fight. I urge all governments that have not yet ratified it to do so without delay. I also call on governments to include anti-corruption measures in all national programmes that support sustainable development.

The private sector, too, stands to gain enormously from effective action. Corruption distorts markets, increases costs for companies and ultimately punishes consumers. Companies can create a more transparent global economy through anti-corruption initiatives, including the work of the United Nations Global Compact.

On this International Anti-Corruption Day, let us pledge to do our part by cracking down on corruption, shaming those who practice it and engendering a culture that values ethical behaviour.

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/58/4

Somali mother's desperate fight to save her family

Published by Mail Online on 1 August 2011. By Brian Carroll.

The Kenyan national newspaper, Daily Nation, summed it up in a lead editorial this week calling for ministerial resignations: ‘This tendency to attribute every misfortune to nature will be our downfall. We are not condemned by acts of God, but by gross mismanagement.’

The fleeing citizens of Somalia don’t even have a government to blame. Since 1991, when the first Somali refugees fled civil war and came to Dadaab, those who remained have been doomed to a dystopian nightmare, trapped between murderous militia on one side, and the onslaught of nature on the other.

A Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has been in place since 2006, but it scarcely controls a few neighbourhoods in the capital Mogadishu, a city now classified by the United Nations as the most dangerous on earth.

Somalia is the international community’s greatest failure. Experts report that a UN force of 22,500 soldiers would be required to suppress Al-Shabaab, and keep peace. Because of the United States’ €9 trillion debt and commitments in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, there is no international will to invade Somalia.

Instead the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) needs €700million before December to stop deaths like Osman’s, after seven months of dry, harsh and unforgiving days.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2020938/Somalian-famine-Mother-conceals-childs-body-food-ration-starving-twin-sister.html#ixzz1TsGcigu7

How to donate: The Disasters Emergency Committee is an umbrella organisation for a number of leading British charities.

They include: ActionAid, Age UK, British Red Cross, Cafod, Care International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Plan UK, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision.

To make a donation call 0370 60 60 900 or text ‘CRISIS’ to 70000 to give £5. Alternatively, send a donation to PO Box 999, London, EC3A 3AA , visit www.dec.org.uk. or go to www.rescue-uk.org

UN Slams Malaysia's Detention-Without-Trial Laws

Published by The Malaysian Insider, 18 June 2010.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — Malaysia needs to repeal or amend draconian laws that allow imprisonment without trial and have been used against opposition politicians, journalists and bloggers, a UN body said today.

The UN working group was invited by the government and has been in Malaysia for two weeks to look into arbitrary detentions. It gave a critical assessment on four preventive laws including the Internal Security Act (ISA).

“These preventive laws are exclusively administrative and do not allow intervention by the judiciary,” the group’s chairman, Malick Sow, told reporters. “It is a classic case of arbitrary detention.”

The ISA, which dates back to British colonial rule, permits detention without trial with detainees usually held incommunicado and rarely charged in court.

Its use has been justified on the grounds of maintaining national security although many of its high-profile victims have been opposition politicians.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who now leads the opposition, was imprisoned under the ISA when he was the leader of a Muslim youth movement.

He is currently on trial on sodomy charges in what he says is a repeat of a politically motivated prosecution that saw him dismissed from office in 1998, put on trial and imprisoned.

The government had pledged to review the ISA before Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak took office in April last year but no changes have taken place yet.

The ISA and other laws are used against people suspected of criminal activity and against terror suspects.

Sow said the group privately interviewed detainees held under preventive laws and found no complaints about treatment by guards in prisons and detention centres.

However, the group found these detainees were likely to be tortured or mistreated in order to obtain confessions or evidence in police detention.

“It is not necessarily physical violence but also the external conditions and the withholding of food. There were few who said any particular tool was used to beat them but it was more to do with punching and kicking,” Sow said.

“They prefer prisons than police stations. They feel safer in prisons.”

The group will present a full report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in March next year and will follow up again two years after the report is presented.

Malaysia was re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council last month. — Reuters