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UPDATE: The case of Fr. P.J. Joseph SJ

June 14, 2001

UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

Update on Urgent Appeal 15 June 2001
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UP-12-2001 (RE: UA-12-2001: Jesuit Priest abused by his own order)

UPDATE : The case of Fr. P.J. Joseph S.J.
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Dear Friends,

We are sending you a copy of an third open letter sent today by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to the Jesuit Supeior General in Rome regarding Fr. Pallath's case.

This letter is also available at: http://jjpallath.ahrchk.net

Thank you.

Urgent Appeal Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission

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( This is the third of a series of letters on the issues regarding the treatment of Fr.Pallath J.Joesph Kerala Province of Jesuits- India)

An Open Letter to:

Rev. Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach
Superior General
Curia Generalize
Compagnia di Gesu
C.P. 6139
00195 Roma Prati ITALY
FAX: 39-06-686-8214

THIRD OPEN LETTER RE: Physical assault, slander through gutter press, filing of fabricated criminal cases, denial of right to livelihood and other matters relating to Fr. Pallath J. Joseph Request for Inquiry.

14th June, 2001

Dear Rev. Fr. General,

In the first and second open letters to you, AHRC raised some concerns from a moral and human rights point of view regarding all the episodes relating to the case of Fr. Pallath J. Joseph, of which you are aware. While it is not our intention to interfere with the affairs of your order, there are matters of public interest about which many persons, including our commission, are quite concerned. They are as follows:

1. Physical assault of Fr. Pallath J. Joseph by two members of your order, together with several other hired thugs.
2. The throwing of the body of Fr. Pallath over the wall of Jesuit premises and onto the road while he was in an unconscious or semi-conscious state.
3. Slander of Fr. Pallath by some members of your order using a gutter magazine called 'Crime Star'.
4. Filing of fabricated criminal complaints against Fr. Pallath with a view to securing his arrest and preventing him from entering a Jesuit house.
5. The failure of the Jesuit Superiors to respect an agreement entered into between Fr. Pallath and the Jesuits in Kerala with the mediation of the Bishop of Calicut.
6. Failure to provide for the livelihood of Fr. Pallath after 33 years of service.

THEME OF THIRD OPEN LETTER: Why a Human Rights organization is interested in this issue.

This is my third open letter to you. Your silence is no deterrence to us, though your words may have made matters easier. In this letter I wish to clarify our interest as a human rights organization in this matter.

Human rights can be rooted in a culture only when the ethical and moral foundations of that society are compatible with human rights concepts, norms and standards. The religions play a significant role in the formation of the ethical and moral foundation of all societies. Religion can play either a positive or a negative role in making the ethical and moral norms of society compatible with human rights.

The following statement by British Jurist Sir Ivor Jennings, who was well known in South Asia in the middle of 20th century and played a role of writing some Constitutions in the region, is useful to illustrate the point made here. What he said about the role of public opinion relating to crime, applies equally to all human rights violations.

“The establishment of a sound public opinion about crime is obviously not an easy matter. Perhaps at this stage I ought to try to explain how the change occurred in England during the nineteenth century. It seems to me to have been almost entirely a religious movement which became secularised late in the century. So far as the wealthier classes were concerned it was an evangelical revival within the Church of England which produced among many an acute social conscience. William Wilberforce and the Earl of Shaftsbury were the outstanding examples, and their influence on public opinion and upon public policy was profound: but it may be pointed out that those who did most to clean up the corruption of the Unreformed Constitution, especially statesmen like William Pitt, Sir Robert Peel, Sir James Graham, and Mr. Gladstone, were influenced by the same movement. The effect of the movement can be seen in the universities and schools also. Oxford and Cambridge were intensely concerned with religious questions a hundred years ago, while the Oxford Movement owns at its height. The public schools were inspired with the same spirit, especially after Arnold went to Rugby.?

It is not possible to establish a sound public opinion on human rights in a country if the religious organisations flout human rights. In the case of Fr. Pallath, the violations by Jesuit superiors in Kerala are not only blatant and open, but also criminal. The connivance by Jesuit authorities in such actions is even more surprising.

Thus, what we as a human rights organisation are doing is to challenge the ethical and moral basis of your actions. You are not creating sound public opinion to promote human rights, instead you are obstructing it. This debate is thus necessary. Thus we have also to say: “Here we stand. We cannot do otherwise.?

We participated in the international campaign relating to the excommunication of Fr. Tissa Balasuriya of Sri Lanka in the same sprit. Such involvement to hold religions accountable for their human rights record is unavoidable if human rights are to become a reality and not just something we pay lip service to.

Yours sincerely

Basil Fernando
Executive Director

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-12-2001
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.