--------------------------------------------------------
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/10/14/australia-address-rights-abroad-and-home
1) Australia: Address Rights Abroad and at Home
Prime Minister Abbott Should Make Rights Centerpiece of New Government
“Australia should recognize that a secure Asia-Pacific region depends on countries working together to address human rights problems. Prime Minister Abbott shouldn’t give other countries in the region a free pass on human rights, just as he shouldn’t neglect important rights issues at home.”
(Sydney) – – Australia’s new Coalition government should ensure that its “Asia first” foreign policy puts human rights at the forefront, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The new prime minister has suggested he will have a regionally focused foreign policy, adopting a “more Jakarta, less Geneva” approach and giving priority to the Asia-Pacific region.
Human Rights Watch outlined a range of foreign and domestic policy issues and made recommendations for the Australian government to protect human rights abroad and at home.
“Australia should recognize that a secure Asia-Pacific region depends on countries working together to address human rights problems,” said Elaine Pearson, Australia director at Human Rights Watch. “Prime Minister Abbott shouldn’t give other countries in the region a free pass on human rights, just as he shouldn’t neglect important rights issues at home.”
The countries covered in the letter are those in Asia where a strong Australian human rights foreign policy can make the most difference: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia,Malaysia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. Human rights concerns in these countries include crackdowns on freedom of expression, assembly, and association; repression of religious minorities; and failure to hold security forces to account for torture, killings, enforced disappearances, and other abuses.
During his election campaign, Abbott said that the coalition’s foreign policy would be “designed to protect and project our reputation as a strong and prosperous nation and our values as an open liberal democracy.”
Promotion of these values should include publicly raising human rights concerns with foreign leaders, Human Rights Watch said. Yet in bilateral meetings in Indonesia and on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) last week, Abbott failed to raise human rights concerns with Indonesian, Chinese, and Vietnamese leaders. He instead discounted Australia’s human rights role, saying: “We will say our piece when there are major human rights abuses taking place but, generally speaking, it’s not the job of the Australian prime minister to stand up and give lectures to the wider world.”
Human Rights Watch also made recommendations to the Australian government on several important domestic policy issues, specifically asylum seekers and refugees, disability rights, and same-sex marriage.
Human Rights Watch also made recommendations to the Australian government on several important domestic policy issues, specifically asylum seekers and refugees, disability rights, and same-sex marriage.
“Governments shouldn’t be afraid to speak frankly with their neighbors when they see an opportunity to improve human rights,” Pearson said. “Of course the message will be strongest when the government is seen as walking the talk that it gives overseas, and that means addressing the limitations of its own human rights record.”
--------------------------------------------------------
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=79854
Posted at 10:06 on 15 October, 2013 UTC
98 international and Pacific NGOS, academics, politicians and individuals have written to the
leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group voicing support for the West Papuan application to join the MSG.
Those behind the letter - including organisations from Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, the Philippines, India and the USA - have welcomed the leadership of the MSG on the West Papua issue.
The MSG is considering a bid for membership in the group by the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation.
The grouping has also sought to engage more closely with Indonesia on human rights issues in West Papua.
However the letter describes a threat to the survival of the indigenous Melanesians of West Papua, through rapidly declining population and ongoing human rights abuses, including the denial of the right to self-determination.
The letter was written in solidarity with thousands of West Papuans who have demonstrated over the last year calling for support from their Melanesian neighbours to acknowledge their Melanesian identity and have West Papuans granted MSG membership.
A number of those demonstrations have been met with beatings and arrests by Indonesian security forces.
-------------------------------------------------------
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=79852
Posted at 10:06 on 15 October, 2013 UTC
Pro-independence activists in the remote Indonesian province of West Papua are planning to mark the anniversary of what they say was their declaration of independence.
At the Third Papuan People’s Congress on October the 19th 2011, a large gathering of West Papuans declared the independence of the Federal Republic of West Papua and elected Forkorus Yaboisembut as their President.
Mr Yaboisembut was arrested by Indonesian authorities and remains in prison, along with other activists.
Yoab Syatfle, an activist who says he represents Mr Yaboisembut, says he is warning the local authorities as well as those in Jakarta that people will mark the anniversary on October the 19th and may raise the banned Morning Star flag.
Mr Syatfle says he is seeking recognition of West Papua from the United Nations and regional groups such as the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
---
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.