Dey Krahorm brutal forced eviction (Photo: Licadho)May 29, 2009
ABC Radio Australia
Amnesty International says the world is sitting on a political, economic, and social time bomb. In its 2009 annual report, the human rights organisation argues the current economic crisis is producing a human rights crisis on a global scale.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Andrew Beswick, campaigns manager for Amnesty International Australia
BESWICK: Well, what we're saying is the impact of the global financial crisis, while they are cutting across all areas of the economy, are being felt particularly by the most vulnerable and we're seeing tens-of-millions of people around the world being forced further into poverty. The Asia Development Bank, for example, estimated that a further two million people in Cambodia were forced into poverty as a result of the impacts of the global financial crisis.
And what we're seeing there is, of course, there is a direct link between poverty and human rights and in fact that poverty is often characterised by exclusion and a lack of voice in the economy and the government of the day. And a good example of this in the case of Cambodia, would be the situation with forced evictions, where people living in poverty are being forced off land and being forced to fight for their right to the homes that they live in.
LAM: Indeed, how is this linkage between recession and repression playing out here in the Asia-Pacific region?
BESWICK: Well, I guess that would be one example that we are particularly looking at at the moment -- the situation of Group 78 in Phnom Penh. I guess more broadly you are seeing impacts, for example, more recently in PNG also with forced evictions. There are obviously ongoing problems with the right to food in places like North Korea, where food has been used as a political weapon over a number of years. In China, you have had the growing economy being increasingly reliant on migrant workers over a number of years and as that has waned, you have now seen people having to return to their villages, and that's had quite a big impact on the social situation in China there. So it plays out in numerous different ways.
LAM: But Amnesty's also pointed out that there are out of all this GFC and the global economic mess, that there are opportunities for change. Can you tell us a bit more about this?
BESWICK: Well, I guess if people are talking about stimulating economies, if we're going to spend billions-of-dollars propping up multinational banks and then if we are going to invest in that sort of a return to the concept of a 'new deal,' then we believe that this is the time to be looking at how a new deal can actually help the most vulnerable. How can we actually invest in ways that are going to offset poverty in the long term and ensure that the impact, the changes to the economic system have the most benefit to the most people.
LAM: What about deprivation and exclusion, the long suffering people of North Korea, for instance, whom you mentioned earlier, that the government uses food aid as a political weapon and its posturing against South Korea and the West. Is the rest of the world powerless or the donor nations powerless to do anything about this?
BESWICK: I don't think that people are ever powerless and in particular, in relation to North Korea, I think that they are finding themselves increasingly marginalised with the positions that they are taking, and so I think you will find that there will be continued negotiations there, and we would expect that the pressure will be continued to be put on North Korea to respect the rights of their citizens as well as to behave in a responsible manner internationally.
LAM: And Andrew, next week, of course, is the 20th anniversary of the violent suppression of the China democracy movement, Tiananmen Square massacre. China on many levels, compared to 1989 is very different today. But what's Beijing's attitude towards human rights now, do you think?
BESWICK: Well, there are some improvements. We have seen that Beijing has moved towards a human rights charter, which has some basic steps in moving towards greater recognition of civil and political rights. But we're still seeing high levels of repression of freedom of expression in China.
There was some improvements around the time of the Beijing Olympics and Amnesty International along with other human rights organisations did press the Chinese Government at the time of the Olympics, we expected there to be an improvement in the human rights situation that would be ongoing. Unfortunately, some of the improvements that we saw then such as the opening up of web sites around August, 2008, and some relaxation of restrictions on journalists appear to be mostly wound back although they are still improvements in the media reporting situation. But it's definitely a long way to go in China in terms of coming up to global standards on their allowance for freedom of expression in that country.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Andrew Beswick, campaigns manager for Amnesty International Australia
BESWICK: Well, what we're saying is the impact of the global financial crisis, while they are cutting across all areas of the economy, are being felt particularly by the most vulnerable and we're seeing tens-of-millions of people around the world being forced further into poverty. The Asia Development Bank, for example, estimated that a further two million people in Cambodia were forced into poverty as a result of the impacts of the global financial crisis.
And what we're seeing there is, of course, there is a direct link between poverty and human rights and in fact that poverty is often characterised by exclusion and a lack of voice in the economy and the government of the day. And a good example of this in the case of Cambodia, would be the situation with forced evictions, where people living in poverty are being forced off land and being forced to fight for their right to the homes that they live in.
LAM: Indeed, how is this linkage between recession and repression playing out here in the Asia-Pacific region?
BESWICK: Well, I guess that would be one example that we are particularly looking at at the moment -- the situation of Group 78 in Phnom Penh. I guess more broadly you are seeing impacts, for example, more recently in PNG also with forced evictions. There are obviously ongoing problems with the right to food in places like North Korea, where food has been used as a political weapon over a number of years. In China, you have had the growing economy being increasingly reliant on migrant workers over a number of years and as that has waned, you have now seen people having to return to their villages, and that's had quite a big impact on the social situation in China there. So it plays out in numerous different ways.
LAM: But Amnesty's also pointed out that there are out of all this GFC and the global economic mess, that there are opportunities for change. Can you tell us a bit more about this?
BESWICK: Well, I guess if people are talking about stimulating economies, if we're going to spend billions-of-dollars propping up multinational banks and then if we are going to invest in that sort of a return to the concept of a 'new deal,' then we believe that this is the time to be looking at how a new deal can actually help the most vulnerable. How can we actually invest in ways that are going to offset poverty in the long term and ensure that the impact, the changes to the economic system have the most benefit to the most people.
LAM: What about deprivation and exclusion, the long suffering people of North Korea, for instance, whom you mentioned earlier, that the government uses food aid as a political weapon and its posturing against South Korea and the West. Is the rest of the world powerless or the donor nations powerless to do anything about this?
BESWICK: I don't think that people are ever powerless and in particular, in relation to North Korea, I think that they are finding themselves increasingly marginalised with the positions that they are taking, and so I think you will find that there will be continued negotiations there, and we would expect that the pressure will be continued to be put on North Korea to respect the rights of their citizens as well as to behave in a responsible manner internationally.
LAM: And Andrew, next week, of course, is the 20th anniversary of the violent suppression of the China democracy movement, Tiananmen Square massacre. China on many levels, compared to 1989 is very different today. But what's Beijing's attitude towards human rights now, do you think?
BESWICK: Well, there are some improvements. We have seen that Beijing has moved towards a human rights charter, which has some basic steps in moving towards greater recognition of civil and political rights. But we're still seeing high levels of repression of freedom of expression in China.
There was some improvements around the time of the Beijing Olympics and Amnesty International along with other human rights organisations did press the Chinese Government at the time of the Olympics, we expected there to be an improvement in the human rights situation that would be ongoing. Unfortunately, some of the improvements that we saw then such as the opening up of web sites around August, 2008, and some relaxation of restrictions on journalists appear to be mostly wound back although they are still improvements in the media reporting situation. But it's definitely a long way to go in China in terms of coming up to global standards on their allowance for freedom of expression in that country.
1 comment:
Before the general election, the CPP issues the party's policy which seems to reduce the poverty and increase the human right. But after the election, what the 90-seat voters should receive as compensation for what the CPP has promised is the forced eviction and land grabbing.
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