Date: Thursday 20 January 2005
Subj: Zimbabwe: The NGO Bill and the Church
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
As Zimbabwe heads towards elections, the Zanu-PF ruling party continues to silence dissent through repressive legislation.
The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) requires that all media organisations register with the government-appointed Media and Information Commission and is a tool that enables the Mugabe regime to reduce freedom of speech and control the Press. Several independent newspapers have already been suspended using the AIPPA. The Public Order and Security Act (POSA), another piece of repressive legislation, is used to prevent meetings and activities of any organisation which is critical of Zanu PF.
Another restrictive Bill, Zimbabwe's new Non-Governmental Organisations Bill 2004, proceeded through parliament in early December, passing with 48 votes for and 28 against, and now awaits President Mugabe's signature to be enacted as law. The Daily News (Harare) warns: "Just like AIPPA and POSA, if passed into law in its present form, the NGO Bill will be used to shut down the operations of any NGO which the ruling party believes to be a challenge to its hold on power." (27 Oct 2004)
THE NGO BILL AND THE CHURCH
Jen Redshaw, reporting for South China Morning Post in Harare, Zimbabwe, writes, "Churchgoers fear the law signals the start of a new drive by Mr Mugabe's increasingly authoritarian government to extend its control over the church. David Coltart, an MP for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), calls it 'one of the worst attacks on the independence of the church'.
"Speaking on Friday after a meeting of church leaders to discuss the act, the Anglican Bishop of Manicaland told the South China Morning Post he was worried. 'We are saying no [to the bill],' Father Sebastian Bakare said in a telephone interview. 'It is putting the church in a situation where it will be incapacitated. We can't be confined to the pulpit only.'
"One church official recently told a small meeting in Harare: 'I think it's the beginning of the persecution of the church. We're heading for tough times'." (SCMP 20 Dec 2004)
"DRACONIAN LAW"
The International Bar Association (IBA) has written an analysis of the Zimbabwean NGO Bill 2004. The IBA states in its introduction, "At the outset, it is critical to note that while the preamble to the Bill states that it is 'for the registration of non-governmental organisations, to provide for an enabling environment for the operations, monitoring and regulation of all non-governmental organisations …', an analysis of the Bill suggests that it is a far-reaching and draconian law clearly designed to exert full and complete control over non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other human rights and development organisations in Zimbabwe."
HOW DOES THE NGO BILL THREATEN THE CHURCH?
The NGO Bill takes the most repressive features of its predecessor, the Private Voluntary Organisations Act (PVO) of 1966, and expands it so that virtually all foreign and local NGOs will be within reach of the Bill for the purpose of investigation and discipline by a Council that will be stacked with government ministers.
One of the most significant differences between the PVO and NGO Bills is the NGO Bill's definition of an NGO. Excerpt from Part One the Bill:
---------------------------------
"non-governmental organisation" means any foreign or local body or association of persons, corporate or unincorporate, or any institution, the objects of which include or are one or more of the following—
(a) the provision of all or any of the material, mental, physical or social needs of persons or families;
(b) the rendering of charity to persons or families in distress;
(c) the prevention of social distress or destitution of persons or families;
(d) the provision of assistance in, or promotion of, activities aimed at uplifting the standard of living of persons or families;
(e) the provision of funds for legal aid;
(f) the prevention of cruelty to, or the promotion of the welfare of, animals;
(g) the promotion and protection of human rights and good governance;
(h) the promotion and protection of environmental rights and interests and sustainable development;
(i) such other objects as may be prescribed;
(j) the collection of contributions for any of the foregoing;
------------------------------
Clearly, numerous Christian ministries, including church and mission based ministries, will be classified as NGOs on account of their provision of humanitarian aid and charity, defence of human rights, prevention of family distress, or even just their collection of contributions for such ministries.
Even if the church/mission/ministry doesn't offer any of the above listed services they may still be classed as an NGO on account of, "(i) such other objects as may be prescribed".
Will a pastor threaten the status of his church by exegeting a text such as Isaiah 58 (for example), which could (theoretically) be classed as "promotion of human rights"? If such an exegesis is followed by taking a collection for a ministry that provides food for the hungry and clothes for the naked (v7), will the church be required to seek NGO registration in order to remain open? Handling contributions collected contrary to the Act is a criminal offence!
This seems far fetched, but the NGO Bill would enable such a scenario. If a particular Christian pastor is publicly critical of the government, then surely that pastor is vulnerable to such repressive measures.
NGO COUNCIL
A Non-governmental Organisations Council will be established. It will consist of five NGO representatives and nine (instant majority) government ministers. All are to be appointed by the Minister. ("'Minister' means the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare or any other Minister to whom the President may, from time to time, assign the administration of this Act".)
The NGO Council is responsible for considering applications for NGO registration (which is compulsory); for investigating NGO activities and administering disciplinary action is necessary; for formulating rules for registration, de-registration, and codes of conduct for NGOs. The NGO Council has extraordinarily wide powers for investigation which will render all NGOs, even those dealing with sensitive information, open to investigation by government officials.
The NGO Council may also investigate "maladministration", which is broadly defined as, "any contravention of any provision of a code of conduct that may be proscribed" (proscribed that is, by the NGO Council that is stacked with government ministers). NGO directors or committees may be suspended for "maladministration", or if the NGO Council deems that suspension is "in the public interest".
The NGO Council may be funded by moneys appropriated by the government through an Act of parliament, by foreign governments, through moneys accrued in the course of operation, and through fees and charges. (So the NGO Council could be partly funded by Libya (for example), while Zimbabwe's Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (for example) will not be permitted to receive any foreign funds! Section 17 of the NGO Bill states: "No local non-governmental organisation shall receive any foreign funding or donation to carry out activities involving or including issues of governance.") A Registrar for NGOs will be appointed and a Registry of NGOs will be kept.
COMPULSORY REGISTRATION
Section 9 of the NGO Bill states that anyone commencing or continuing to operate an NGO without registration, or seeking financial assistance for an unregistered NGO, will be guilty of a criminal offence and may face a fine, a prison term (maximum 6 months) or both.
Section 9 point 4 of the NGO Bill states: "No foreign non-governmental organisation shall be registered if its sole or principal objects involve or include issues of governance." ("'foreign non-governmental organisation' means any association of persons, whether incorporated or unincorporated, that does not consist exclusively of permanent residents or citizens of Zimbabwe who are domiciled in Zimbabwe". And, "'issues of governance' includes the promotion and protection of human rights and political governance issues".)
Regarding registration of remaining NGOs, NGO directors will have to lodge an application for registration with the Registrar. The NGO then has 30 days to place a notice in a local newspaper advising its details and its intent to receive registration. Anyone then has 60 days to lodge an objection to the Registrar as to why the NGO should not be registered. The Registrar then submits all the information to the NGO Council, which will either grant or deny registration. The NGO Council also has the power to cancel certificates of registration if they consider that circumstances have changed.
ANALYSIS
The International Bar Association (IBA) comments that the Zimbabwean NGO Bill gives the Mugabe regime, through the NGO Council "virtually open-ended powers to control the fate and activities of NGOs".
Of great concern to the IBA is the prohibition on foreign funds. "This raises serious concerns that organisations working on some of the most critical support projects in Zimbabwe – e.g. food distribution, AIDS relief, and political violence reporting – which are at present almost entirely foreign funded, may be closed. The inevitable consequence will be that less information on domestic human rights and governance conditions or activities will be reported on and the government will, as a result, be less accountable to its people.
"The irresistible inferences to be drawn from this analysis are that the Bill has been drafted as a targeted attack on NGOs pursuing objectives adverse to existing governmental policy and on foreign NGO activity in Zimbabwe. The objective is thus to silence dissent in a key component of civil society by excessive regulation and wide-ranging powers to discipline and close down NGO activity."
The IBA concludes that the NGO Bill "is nothing more than a further attempt by the Zimbabwean Government to exert a stranglehold on those perceived to be in opposition to government and government policies.
"The Bill extends the scope of the Government’s assault on sources of opposition and information even further, namely to human rights groups and other organs of civil society. In the ultimate analysis, not only is the Bill in flagrant violation of international and regional human rights standards and norms, it also represents a decisive rejection of the terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which provide for the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly. That attitude can only be described as contemptuous of the rule of law and of regional and international standards of governance and of the protection of human rights. (International Bar Association 24 August 2004)"
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Thursday, December 16, 2004
North Korea's balancing act.
Date: Thursday 16 December 2004
Subj: North Korea's balancing act.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
----------------------------------------------------------
NORTH KOREA'S BALANCING ACT
- plus two articles on two kidnapped South Korean pastors.
----------------------------------------------------------
NK AMENDS CRIMINAL CODE TO ASSIST MARKETS AND CRUSH DISSENT
Park Song-wu reports for the Korea Times, "North Korea has strengthened legal measures to protect private property in a recent revision of its criminal law, while stiffening penalties for anti-state crimes, according to a copy obtained by a local broadcaster.
"North Korea experts in Seoul said the revision, the fifth since 1950, can be understood as Pyongyang’s efforts to achieve two goals at the same time – safeguarding its communist regime and boosting its impoverished economy." (Link 1)
While prison sentences for theft, counterfeiting, evading tax and infringing copyright have been increased, so too have sentences for "anti-state crimes". Instead of facing a prison sentence of 5-10 years, those participating in armed riots will now receive "more than 5 years" – the ceiling has been abolished. Instigators of armed riots will face life imprisonment or the death penalty. Likewise, defectors who flee North Korea in an act of betrayal will also face "more than 5 years", instead of 5-10 years. Those who have defected, but are willing to declare loyalty to the regime and confess to being "economic migrants" will be pardoned upon their return. In future, those who flee for "non-political reasons" will receive two years in prison instead of three.
One new subject for punishment under the revised criminal law is keeping or distributing "anti-state broadcast materials". A person found guilty will receive a 2-5 year prison sentence. According to the Korea Times, "Experts believe the clause was created to prohibit North Koreans from listening to U.S.-funded radio broadcasts that will be bolstered next year with the endorsement of the North Korean Human Rights Bill in October."
Another new subject for punishment is the distribution of culturally "obscene" materials such as CDs, videotapes and music.
The Korea Times reports that Professor Ryoo Kihl-jae of the Graduate School of North Korean Studies at Kyungnam University questions Pyongyang’s intentions for the revisions of the criminal law. He believes that criminal law is not important in North Korea and the authorities will punish whoever they want using other means. Professor Ryoo believes the purpose of the revision is purely to make the world aware of North Korea's criminal law and of the penalties law-breakers will suffer. It is designed to give confidence to investors, and deter reformist agitators and "anti-state" agents.
MARKET REFORMS PRODUCE OPENINGS
The Kim jong-Il regime introduced market reforms in July 2002. The reforms, however, sent inflation soaring and drastically widened the income gap. Paik Hak-soon, director of North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute, told the Korea Times that, "Kim Jong-il is now trying to prevent social problems from drastically undermining his regime."
The free-market reforms have also brought many North Korean traders into contact with the outside world. As noted in a recent Washington Post (WP) article entitled, "For North Korea, Openness Proves a Two-Way Street" (13 Dec 2004), "...diplomats, analysts, intelligence sources and recent defectors say that the once airtight lid on information in what is known as the Hermit Kingdom is gradually loosening."
The WP article states, "Asian intelligence sources estimate that as many as 20,000 North Koreans -- particularly those trading in the newly thriving border area with China -- now have access to Chinese cellular phones, from which they can make undetected international calls in large areas of northern North Korea." Also, at the new Kaesong Industrial Park near the border with South Korea, and the tourist resort at Mount Kumgang, South Korean firms are directly employing and paying North Korean workers for the first time.
The WP quotes Sohn Kwang Joo, managing editor of the North Korea Daily (a Seoul-based website) as saying, "North Korean people and the elite bureaucrats all want more reform. But the faster the doors open, the more vulnerable becomes Kim Jong Il's tight grip of the nation. Kim Jong Il will therefore try to control and limit the opening. But as more people cross in and out of the border, there are more mobile phones, and more flows of information, the North Korean people will begin to realize the truth about Kim Jong Il."
David Wall, an associate fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, recently traveled along the China-North Korean border and wrote a report that was published in the Japan Times. (Link 2)
He notes that Koreans have been crossing the frozen border rivers for generations and at least 2.3 million Koreans now live in China along the North Korean border. He says there have been between 200,000 to 300,000 recent illegal arrivals and, "The Korean communities are easy to identify by the many Christian churches, complete with spires and crosses on top." Wall believes that the immense vastness of the refugee/illegal immigrant situation makes it simply unmanageable for Chinese police who, he says, tend to leave the "migrants" alone unless they engage in criminal activity or publicly expose themselves in media stunts.
Wall says, "There is growing legal and even cross-border investment in which the Chinese Korean community is active. Every day hundreds, sometimes thousands, of traders and tourists cross the borders. They are not closed. It is easy for the migrants to move between the communities and send goods and money back."
MAINTAINING A TIGHT GRIP
North Korea is following China and Vietnam and gingerly opening up and reforming, to some degree, under a dictator who will not permit his rule to be threatened and who will, in any way, be propped up and supported by China in the event of any threat. The reforms are threatening the regime, so to ensure that situation does not get out of control, the regime (especially when it feels threatened) slows the process down and tightens its oppressive grip in a perpetual give and take balancing act.
Hamish McDonald reported to the Melbourne AGE (Australia) on 29 November that Pyongyang has asked the United Nations aid agencies to cut their foreign staff in the country by half. The regime has also said that it wants all international non-government organisations to quit once current programs are ended. There are five UN agencies, with about 64 foreign staff, operating inside North Korea. McDonald writes, "A narrowing of the world's main window into North Korea - through international aid organisations - could fit with the scenario of a hardliners' backlash, some UN officials speculate."
North Korea specialists in South Korea and China are positive that Kim's grip on power is rock solid, and that there is no imminent threat of regime collapse. However, Cho Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification told Reuters recently (26 Nov 2004), "I think there will be a drastic change to the Kim Jong-il regime at a certain point in time. But the change to the power structure is not likely to come from below. The change is likely to come from a high level, and once it happens, it's going to move very quickly."
Cho Min seems to believe that "change" (and he uses that term quite ambiguously) is inevitable, given the momentum now for openness and reform.
Next year – 2005 – will be the fifth anniversary of the signing of the North-South Joint Declaration at the historic 15 June 2000 Reunification talks in Pyongyang (see link 3), and the 60th anniversary of Korean independence (15 August 1945 – liberation from Japanese colonial rule). And we continue to pray.
- Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) NK Adopts Market-Friendly Criminal Law
Korea Times 8 Dec 2004
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200412/kt2004120816030010440.htm
2) No witch hunt for North Koreans in China
By DAVID WALL, Special to The Japan Times, 6 Dec 2004
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/geted.pl5?eo20041206a1.htm
3) North-South Joint Declaration
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/791691.stm
--------------------------------------------------------------------
TWO ARTICLES ON TWO KIDNAPPED PASTORS
--------------------------------------------------------------------
South Korean pastor, the Reverend Ahn Seung-un (60), is believed to have been kidnapped from Yanji city while assisting refugees on the China/North Korea border in 1995. He has now emerged in North Korea, working for the official Korean Christian Federation and tightly controlled by North Korean guards.
Ex-South Korean Pastor Works for N. Korean Christian Federation
Korea Times, 7 Dec 2004
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200412/kt2004120717520311990.htm
------------------------
South Korean pastor, the Reverend Kim Dong-shik (57) was kidnapped from Yanji in 2000. He remains missing. On Friday 10 December, a 35-year-old Korean national named Ryu was detained in South Korea and charged with pastor Kim's abduction. Ryu was trained in Pyongyang and worked with a team of 10 North Korean agents to abduct pastor Kim whose name was on a list of those targeted by Pyongyang for abduction.
Government Urged to Press for Release of Kidnapped Pastor
By Reuben Staines, Park Song-wu
Korea Times, 14 Dec 2004
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200412/kt2004121416470311950.htm
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subj: North Korea's balancing act.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
----------------------------------------------------------
NORTH KOREA'S BALANCING ACT
- plus two articles on two kidnapped South Korean pastors.
----------------------------------------------------------
NK AMENDS CRIMINAL CODE TO ASSIST MARKETS AND CRUSH DISSENT
Park Song-wu reports for the Korea Times, "North Korea has strengthened legal measures to protect private property in a recent revision of its criminal law, while stiffening penalties for anti-state crimes, according to a copy obtained by a local broadcaster.
"North Korea experts in Seoul said the revision, the fifth since 1950, can be understood as Pyongyang’s efforts to achieve two goals at the same time – safeguarding its communist regime and boosting its impoverished economy." (Link 1)
While prison sentences for theft, counterfeiting, evading tax and infringing copyright have been increased, so too have sentences for "anti-state crimes". Instead of facing a prison sentence of 5-10 years, those participating in armed riots will now receive "more than 5 years" – the ceiling has been abolished. Instigators of armed riots will face life imprisonment or the death penalty. Likewise, defectors who flee North Korea in an act of betrayal will also face "more than 5 years", instead of 5-10 years. Those who have defected, but are willing to declare loyalty to the regime and confess to being "economic migrants" will be pardoned upon their return. In future, those who flee for "non-political reasons" will receive two years in prison instead of three.
One new subject for punishment under the revised criminal law is keeping or distributing "anti-state broadcast materials". A person found guilty will receive a 2-5 year prison sentence. According to the Korea Times, "Experts believe the clause was created to prohibit North Koreans from listening to U.S.-funded radio broadcasts that will be bolstered next year with the endorsement of the North Korean Human Rights Bill in October."
Another new subject for punishment is the distribution of culturally "obscene" materials such as CDs, videotapes and music.
The Korea Times reports that Professor Ryoo Kihl-jae of the Graduate School of North Korean Studies at Kyungnam University questions Pyongyang’s intentions for the revisions of the criminal law. He believes that criminal law is not important in North Korea and the authorities will punish whoever they want using other means. Professor Ryoo believes the purpose of the revision is purely to make the world aware of North Korea's criminal law and of the penalties law-breakers will suffer. It is designed to give confidence to investors, and deter reformist agitators and "anti-state" agents.
MARKET REFORMS PRODUCE OPENINGS
The Kim jong-Il regime introduced market reforms in July 2002. The reforms, however, sent inflation soaring and drastically widened the income gap. Paik Hak-soon, director of North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute, told the Korea Times that, "Kim Jong-il is now trying to prevent social problems from drastically undermining his regime."
The free-market reforms have also brought many North Korean traders into contact with the outside world. As noted in a recent Washington Post (WP) article entitled, "For North Korea, Openness Proves a Two-Way Street" (13 Dec 2004), "...diplomats, analysts, intelligence sources and recent defectors say that the once airtight lid on information in what is known as the Hermit Kingdom is gradually loosening."
The WP article states, "Asian intelligence sources estimate that as many as 20,000 North Koreans -- particularly those trading in the newly thriving border area with China -- now have access to Chinese cellular phones, from which they can make undetected international calls in large areas of northern North Korea." Also, at the new Kaesong Industrial Park near the border with South Korea, and the tourist resort at Mount Kumgang, South Korean firms are directly employing and paying North Korean workers for the first time.
The WP quotes Sohn Kwang Joo, managing editor of the North Korea Daily (a Seoul-based website) as saying, "North Korean people and the elite bureaucrats all want more reform. But the faster the doors open, the more vulnerable becomes Kim Jong Il's tight grip of the nation. Kim Jong Il will therefore try to control and limit the opening. But as more people cross in and out of the border, there are more mobile phones, and more flows of information, the North Korean people will begin to realize the truth about Kim Jong Il."
David Wall, an associate fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, recently traveled along the China-North Korean border and wrote a report that was published in the Japan Times. (Link 2)
He notes that Koreans have been crossing the frozen border rivers for generations and at least 2.3 million Koreans now live in China along the North Korean border. He says there have been between 200,000 to 300,000 recent illegal arrivals and, "The Korean communities are easy to identify by the many Christian churches, complete with spires and crosses on top." Wall believes that the immense vastness of the refugee/illegal immigrant situation makes it simply unmanageable for Chinese police who, he says, tend to leave the "migrants" alone unless they engage in criminal activity or publicly expose themselves in media stunts.
Wall says, "There is growing legal and even cross-border investment in which the Chinese Korean community is active. Every day hundreds, sometimes thousands, of traders and tourists cross the borders. They are not closed. It is easy for the migrants to move between the communities and send goods and money back."
MAINTAINING A TIGHT GRIP
North Korea is following China and Vietnam and gingerly opening up and reforming, to some degree, under a dictator who will not permit his rule to be threatened and who will, in any way, be propped up and supported by China in the event of any threat. The reforms are threatening the regime, so to ensure that situation does not get out of control, the regime (especially when it feels threatened) slows the process down and tightens its oppressive grip in a perpetual give and take balancing act.
Hamish McDonald reported to the Melbourne AGE (Australia) on 29 November that Pyongyang has asked the United Nations aid agencies to cut their foreign staff in the country by half. The regime has also said that it wants all international non-government organisations to quit once current programs are ended. There are five UN agencies, with about 64 foreign staff, operating inside North Korea. McDonald writes, "A narrowing of the world's main window into North Korea - through international aid organisations - could fit with the scenario of a hardliners' backlash, some UN officials speculate."
North Korea specialists in South Korea and China are positive that Kim's grip on power is rock solid, and that there is no imminent threat of regime collapse. However, Cho Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification told Reuters recently (26 Nov 2004), "I think there will be a drastic change to the Kim Jong-il regime at a certain point in time. But the change to the power structure is not likely to come from below. The change is likely to come from a high level, and once it happens, it's going to move very quickly."
Cho Min seems to believe that "change" (and he uses that term quite ambiguously) is inevitable, given the momentum now for openness and reform.
Next year – 2005 – will be the fifth anniversary of the signing of the North-South Joint Declaration at the historic 15 June 2000 Reunification talks in Pyongyang (see link 3), and the 60th anniversary of Korean independence (15 August 1945 – liberation from Japanese colonial rule). And we continue to pray.
- Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) NK Adopts Market-Friendly Criminal Law
Korea Times 8 Dec 2004
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200412/kt2004120816030010440.htm
2) No witch hunt for North Koreans in China
By DAVID WALL, Special to The Japan Times, 6 Dec 2004
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/geted.pl5?eo20041206a1.htm
3) North-South Joint Declaration
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/791691.stm
--------------------------------------------------------------------
TWO ARTICLES ON TWO KIDNAPPED PASTORS
--------------------------------------------------------------------
South Korean pastor, the Reverend Ahn Seung-un (60), is believed to have been kidnapped from Yanji city while assisting refugees on the China/North Korea border in 1995. He has now emerged in North Korea, working for the official Korean Christian Federation and tightly controlled by North Korean guards.
Ex-South Korean Pastor Works for N. Korean Christian Federation
Korea Times, 7 Dec 2004
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200412/kt2004120717520311990.htm
------------------------
South Korean pastor, the Reverend Kim Dong-shik (57) was kidnapped from Yanji in 2000. He remains missing. On Friday 10 December, a 35-year-old Korean national named Ryu was detained in South Korea and charged with pastor Kim's abduction. Ryu was trained in Pyongyang and worked with a team of 10 North Korean agents to abduct pastor Kim whose name was on a list of those targeted by Pyongyang for abduction.
Government Urged to Press for Release of Kidnapped Pastor
By Reuben Staines, Park Song-wu
Korea Times, 14 Dec 2004
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200412/kt2004121416470311950.htm
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
PAPUA: BLIND TO GENOCIDE?
Date: Wednesday 1 December 2004
Subj: Papua: Blind to Genocide?
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
December 1 is the day Papuans remember as their "Independence Day". Papua's Dutch colonial masters expressed their commitment to Papuan independence and recognised the Papuan anthem and Morning Star flag, which was then raised for the first time on 1 December 1961. Indonesia, which had ambitions to annex Papua, immediately fought an undeclared war with the Netherlands in Papua, over the issue of Papuan independence. The USA intervened and, with the assistance of the UN, Papua was placed under Indonesian control on 1 May 1963. The Australia government supported the move.
Then in 1969, under the farcical ‘Act of Free Choice’, Indonesia hand-picked 1,025 Papuans to vote unanimously against Papuan independence. This sham referendum, which the Papuans refer to as the "Act of No Choice", was then passed off as a legitimate, democratic act of self-determination. The UN accepted the result without debate.
It is widely accepted that at least 100,000 Papuans have died at the hands of Indonesian security forces since 1963, although Papuans say the real figure is probably much higher. According to Operation World, 90% of all indigenous Papuans are officially reckoned as Christian, predominantly Protestant.
-------------------
DESTROYING A PEOPLE
There are two ways to achieve genocide. One is to wage war, massacring a people in cold blood. The other way is to enact policies that are strategically designed to culminate in the eradication or decimation of a people: in the words of the Genocide Convention, "Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."
With this second method, the genocidal policies need to be gradual to avoid arousing suspicion and able to be attributed to natural causes. (The Government of Sudan has on numerous occasions engineered famine for such a purpose.) In December 2003, Yale Law School's Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic released a report in which they argued that Indonesia is indeed enacting policies in Papua that will, if not checked, lead to the genocide of the indigenous Papuan people. (Link 1)
One insidious method of "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part" is the Indonesian security forces' introduction of AIDS to Papua through the provision of Javanese AIDS-infected prostitutes to indigenous Papuans at sites where Indonesian authorities trade with Papuans. Add to this, trans-migration policies to change the demographic make up of Papua from predominantly protestant Christian Papuan, to a majority Javanese Muslim. Add to this, a continual stream of human rights abuses that leave the population weak and traumatised. Add to this, the theft of all Papua's resources. Add to this, the division of Papua into three provinces, two being majority Muslim, leaving the Papuans politically marginalised in their own land. Time and blindness is now all that is needed for the Papuans to become a decimated, subjugated Christian minority in a Muslim majority state.
This slow method of physically destroying a people does, however, require great patience. And when a slow genocide is under way there is always hope that voices for justice will wake up and intervene. Evidence suggests however that many in the Indonesian military (TNI) and the Indonesian elite security forces (Kopassus) are running out of patience and are looking for an opportunity to commence slaughtering the Papuans with the aid of the Islamic Laskar Jihad and the pro-Indonesian militias of Eurico Guterres.
If a war against the vulnerable Papuans erupts, it will be catastrophic. NOW is the time for the voices in support of rights and justice to speak out for the preservation of Papua and its indigenous people. One day soon it may be too late.
PROVOCATION AND EXTREME TENSION
All through 2004 Papua has been on a knife edge with the Indonesian military attempting to provoke conflict and the Papuan leaders, especially church leaders, trying to maintain calm. This tension cannot be maintained indefinitely. The Indonesian military wants to justify its claim that, due to the "separatist threat", Papua must not be granted autonomy and must remain under military control, because the military profits, through corruption, from the exploitation of Papua's resources.
One provocation the Indonesian military uses is sniper killings.
On 22 November, Nethy Dharma Somba reported from Jayapura (Papua) for The Jakarta Post, "Local non-governmental organizations, churches and student organizations urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to set up a fact-finding team to investigate the recent series of shootings in the province.
"Eight people, including a church minister and a police officer, were killed in a series of attacks by unidentified gunmen between Aug. 17 and Nov. 12, 2004 in Puncak Jaya regency. Some 15 others, mostly children, died when more than 5,000 residents of 27 villages in the regency had to flee and take refuge in remote areas after they felt their lives were in danger due to the continued presence of the gunmen.
"The police and military are blaming the Free Papua Movement (OPM) separatist rebels for the incidents, while tribal leaders, religious leaders and human rights activists in the province are alleging that the Indonesian Military (TNI) is behind the shootings."
A more detailed account of the shooting of the church minister is available in the Radio Australia transcript of an interview with Pastor Socrates Sofyan Yoman, President of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches in Papua. (Link 2)
Pastor Socrates Sofyan Yoman says that Reverend Eleesa Tabuni was shot by members of Indonesia's Kopassus Special Forces in the the town of Mulia on 14 September. Pastor Yoman also reports that after the killing, troops arrived in a helicopter and shot at the villagers from the air as they were gathering food from their gardens. He says two were killed and multitudes fled into the jungle in fear of their lives.
It is estimated that some 5,000 villagers are now displaced in the jungle, without food as their crops have been destroyed. The Papuan human rights group Elsham reports that church members have been pressured to hand over a witness to the killing of Pastor Tabuni. The church members are refusing to comply, which is extremely courageous as Papuan have been executed and tortured to death by Indonesian troops. Pastor Yoman says that 22 churches in the central highlands district are now empty because the people have fled to the jungle. He fears they will starve there.
PRESERVING A PEOPLE
In early November, Papuan human rights activist John Rumbiak told Australian media that Papua is "a time bomb waiting to go off". According to Rumbiak, an extra 25,000 troops have entered mineral and timber-rich Papua since 2000, and more than a million migrants from Muslim Western Indonesia have moved into Papua, rapidly closing the gap on the 1.5 million indigenous Papuans.
Rumbiak, who is the international advocacy co-ordinator for the human rights group Elsham, called on the Australian government to "support and encourage" Mr Yudhoyono to establish the "necessary pre-conditions" for peaceful dialogue. He said those conditions should include a withdrawal of the massive troop presence in Papua, the dismantling of the militias and the dropping of the decree that has divided Papua into three new provinces.
If this does not happen soon, Papua will become fully Islamised and the vulnerable, predominantly Protestant Christian Papuans will be totally decimated and brutally subjugated.
------------------
BLIND TO GENOCIDE?
The fact is, governments of influence are not blind to this genocide - only disinterested. It is inconsequential.
That gold, copper, timber, and relations with Indonesia should be worth more than the lives of precious human beings is morally repugnant.
- Elizabeth Kendal
rl-research@crossnet.org.au
Links
1) Yale Law School – Dec 2003
Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic
Indonesian Human Rights Abuses in West Papua: Application of the Law of Genocide to the History of Indonesian Control
http://www.law.yale.edu/outside/html/Public_Affairs/426/westpapuahrights.pdf
2)INDONESIA: Thousands displaced after Papua raids
Radio Australia. 8 November 2004
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/asiapac/programs/s1237348.htm
Subj: Papua: Blind to Genocide?
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
December 1 is the day Papuans remember as their "Independence Day". Papua's Dutch colonial masters expressed their commitment to Papuan independence and recognised the Papuan anthem and Morning Star flag, which was then raised for the first time on 1 December 1961. Indonesia, which had ambitions to annex Papua, immediately fought an undeclared war with the Netherlands in Papua, over the issue of Papuan independence. The USA intervened and, with the assistance of the UN, Papua was placed under Indonesian control on 1 May 1963. The Australia government supported the move.
Then in 1969, under the farcical ‘Act of Free Choice’, Indonesia hand-picked 1,025 Papuans to vote unanimously against Papuan independence. This sham referendum, which the Papuans refer to as the "Act of No Choice", was then passed off as a legitimate, democratic act of self-determination. The UN accepted the result without debate.
It is widely accepted that at least 100,000 Papuans have died at the hands of Indonesian security forces since 1963, although Papuans say the real figure is probably much higher. According to Operation World, 90% of all indigenous Papuans are officially reckoned as Christian, predominantly Protestant.
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DESTROYING A PEOPLE
There are two ways to achieve genocide. One is to wage war, massacring a people in cold blood. The other way is to enact policies that are strategically designed to culminate in the eradication or decimation of a people: in the words of the Genocide Convention, "Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."
With this second method, the genocidal policies need to be gradual to avoid arousing suspicion and able to be attributed to natural causes. (The Government of Sudan has on numerous occasions engineered famine for such a purpose.) In December 2003, Yale Law School's Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic released a report in which they argued that Indonesia is indeed enacting policies in Papua that will, if not checked, lead to the genocide of the indigenous Papuan people. (Link 1)
One insidious method of "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part" is the Indonesian security forces' introduction of AIDS to Papua through the provision of Javanese AIDS-infected prostitutes to indigenous Papuans at sites where Indonesian authorities trade with Papuans. Add to this, trans-migration policies to change the demographic make up of Papua from predominantly protestant Christian Papuan, to a majority Javanese Muslim. Add to this, a continual stream of human rights abuses that leave the population weak and traumatised. Add to this, the theft of all Papua's resources. Add to this, the division of Papua into three provinces, two being majority Muslim, leaving the Papuans politically marginalised in their own land. Time and blindness is now all that is needed for the Papuans to become a decimated, subjugated Christian minority in a Muslim majority state.
This slow method of physically destroying a people does, however, require great patience. And when a slow genocide is under way there is always hope that voices for justice will wake up and intervene. Evidence suggests however that many in the Indonesian military (TNI) and the Indonesian elite security forces (Kopassus) are running out of patience and are looking for an opportunity to commence slaughtering the Papuans with the aid of the Islamic Laskar Jihad and the pro-Indonesian militias of Eurico Guterres.
If a war against the vulnerable Papuans erupts, it will be catastrophic. NOW is the time for the voices in support of rights and justice to speak out for the preservation of Papua and its indigenous people. One day soon it may be too late.
PROVOCATION AND EXTREME TENSION
All through 2004 Papua has been on a knife edge with the Indonesian military attempting to provoke conflict and the Papuan leaders, especially church leaders, trying to maintain calm. This tension cannot be maintained indefinitely. The Indonesian military wants to justify its claim that, due to the "separatist threat", Papua must not be granted autonomy and must remain under military control, because the military profits, through corruption, from the exploitation of Papua's resources.
One provocation the Indonesian military uses is sniper killings.
On 22 November, Nethy Dharma Somba reported from Jayapura (Papua) for The Jakarta Post, "Local non-governmental organizations, churches and student organizations urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to set up a fact-finding team to investigate the recent series of shootings in the province.
"Eight people, including a church minister and a police officer, were killed in a series of attacks by unidentified gunmen between Aug. 17 and Nov. 12, 2004 in Puncak Jaya regency. Some 15 others, mostly children, died when more than 5,000 residents of 27 villages in the regency had to flee and take refuge in remote areas after they felt their lives were in danger due to the continued presence of the gunmen.
"The police and military are blaming the Free Papua Movement (OPM) separatist rebels for the incidents, while tribal leaders, religious leaders and human rights activists in the province are alleging that the Indonesian Military (TNI) is behind the shootings."
A more detailed account of the shooting of the church minister is available in the Radio Australia transcript of an interview with Pastor Socrates Sofyan Yoman, President of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches in Papua. (Link 2)
Pastor Socrates Sofyan Yoman says that Reverend Eleesa Tabuni was shot by members of Indonesia's Kopassus Special Forces in the the town of Mulia on 14 September. Pastor Yoman also reports that after the killing, troops arrived in a helicopter and shot at the villagers from the air as they were gathering food from their gardens. He says two were killed and multitudes fled into the jungle in fear of their lives.
It is estimated that some 5,000 villagers are now displaced in the jungle, without food as their crops have been destroyed. The Papuan human rights group Elsham reports that church members have been pressured to hand over a witness to the killing of Pastor Tabuni. The church members are refusing to comply, which is extremely courageous as Papuan have been executed and tortured to death by Indonesian troops. Pastor Yoman says that 22 churches in the central highlands district are now empty because the people have fled to the jungle. He fears they will starve there.
PRESERVING A PEOPLE
In early November, Papuan human rights activist John Rumbiak told Australian media that Papua is "a time bomb waiting to go off". According to Rumbiak, an extra 25,000 troops have entered mineral and timber-rich Papua since 2000, and more than a million migrants from Muslim Western Indonesia have moved into Papua, rapidly closing the gap on the 1.5 million indigenous Papuans.
Rumbiak, who is the international advocacy co-ordinator for the human rights group Elsham, called on the Australian government to "support and encourage" Mr Yudhoyono to establish the "necessary pre-conditions" for peaceful dialogue. He said those conditions should include a withdrawal of the massive troop presence in Papua, the dismantling of the militias and the dropping of the decree that has divided Papua into three new provinces.
If this does not happen soon, Papua will become fully Islamised and the vulnerable, predominantly Protestant Christian Papuans will be totally decimated and brutally subjugated.
------------------
BLIND TO GENOCIDE?
The fact is, governments of influence are not blind to this genocide - only disinterested. It is inconsequential.
That gold, copper, timber, and relations with Indonesia should be worth more than the lives of precious human beings is morally repugnant.
- Elizabeth Kendal
rl-research@crossnet.org.au
Links
1) Yale Law School – Dec 2003
Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic
Indonesian Human Rights Abuses in West Papua: Application of the Law of Genocide to the History of Indonesian Control
http://www.law.yale.edu/outside/html/Public_Affairs/426/westpapuahrights.pdf
2)INDONESIA: Thousands displaced after Papua raids
Radio Australia. 8 November 2004
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/asiapac/programs/s1237348.htm