Showing posts with label human rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label human rights. Show all posts

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Are immigrants in Calais not human???!

On Wednesday (29/7/15) during his tour of South East Asia David Cameron said he sympathised with holidaymakers stuck in Calais due to the disturbances (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33699141).

"A swarm" that was what the PM of a free world called human beings running away from persecution (http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/7901450). Disturbances. Immigrants problem. Did he mean some desperate asylum seekers trying to get into any vehicle - even endangering their own lives - that caused a huge traffic jam for tourist going from Britain to France and vice versa? 

So there are two groups of humans here: holidaymakers, and immigrants/asylum seekers. One group are going on holiday, to have fun and spend some money. The other group are desperate to find a place to live. To live, to avoid death, to flee being killed.

And David Cameron the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, said that he has every sympathy with the holidaymakers.

I thought my old ears were hearing things instead of the news on the radio. But I was not hearing things. I heard what the PM said: sympathised with the holidaymakers.

The rage in my head! I wish to scream at him: 
What about the immigrants who have been travelling through hostile countries, storm in the sea, being abused and raped on their journey to runaway from war? Are they not deserving sympathy? Are they less human than holidaymakers? Why? Are they less human because they were not born in Europe? Have we forgotten the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? 

I despair. We are living in a twisted world where news about a lion receives more reaction than dying humans (http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/7894342)



Tuesday, May 19, 2015

The Law of The Sea According to Acehnese Fishermen

Acehnese fishermen's 'Law of the Sea' (Hukom Adat Laot) stated that seaman who sees any boat in distress should offer help. As a loval fisherman explained to Al Jazeera news, "At sea you are all brothers and sisters, foreigners or Indonesians. So if someone is asking for help, we as fishermen have an obligation to help without looking at race, religion or anything."

I sense a similarity in principle with the UN Declaration of Human Rights. The strange thing is that these fishermen had never studied UN Conventions and might have never heard of the Declaration og Human Rights. On the other hand, countries who had ratified the UN Convention for Refugee and claimed to adhere to Human Rights principles are turning these human down! 

The worrying thing is that the so called law enforcements are questioning fishermen who helped the immigrants. Indonesian Armed Forces reminded Acehnese fishermen that that taking in illegal immigrant is against the law. 

I hope that the brave Acehnese fisherman will stand up for human rights and will not let authority in uniform stop them helping fellow human.