Action Programs

INDIAN PARTICIPANTS

Dalits

1. Proper documentation
2. Protest programs
3. Recording facts and building up international pressure
4. Sensitizing children through changes in school syllabi
5. Seeing problems holistically, by addressing Dalit issues in relation to every area of work
6. Encouraging inter-caste marriages as government policy

Plan/Response to Dalit Problems

1. Write down stories of atrocities against Dalits and send them to the Asian Human Rights Commission
2. Campaign against atrocities against Dalits through posters, pamphlets, banners and street plays
3. Build public opinion regarding the treatment meted out to Dalits, and particularly Dalit women, in broader sections of society
4. Sensitize the hierarchy and the people at large regarding Dalit Christians and send stories to AHRC about the suffering of Dalits inside the Church

Re: Indigenous People

Focusing on alternative styles for education

Re: Suicides

1. Detailed documentation of cases and publicity in international forums
2. Getting access to cases of burnt women by networking with organisations in the country

Re: Child Sexual Abuse

1. Work at the individual level
2. Networking with groups in Kerala and India
3. Conducting sensitizing programs with police, teachers and doctors
4. Preparing a write-up on child sexual abuse cases and movements in other countries under international law; setting a campaign up with one judiciary to bring about a change in the law

Re: Clay Mining in the Paddy Fields

1. Building up international opinion
2. Organising farmers and preparing a draft declaring clay as our common resource and farmers as guardians of the soil, to build up international pressure

CAMPAIGN AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITIES VERSUS STREET CHILDREN, WOMEN AND MINORITIES

By M.Z. Shahid, DRTC/JPC, Bombay, India

Processes involved/ to be initiated

1. Research and fact finding
2. Documentation / building detailed stories on torture
3. Mobilisation/ campaigning through meetings, seminars and conferences
4. Filing public interest litigation in the High Court/ resorting to other legal mechanisms
5. Urgent appeals to AHRC
6. Networking through AHRC/ Solidarity
7. Publications
8. Training for capacity building

Training on Human Rights for Sensitization of the following groups

1. Police – higher officials
2. Students – schools and colleges

NEPALESE PARTICIPANTS

Short Term Plan

Awareness of human rights:

1. The concept of human rights
2. Building a coalition against torture
3. Sensitizing police officials (at all levels)
4. Sensitizing various institutions on human rights issues
5. Bridging the gap between the international human rights network and the local victim
6. Readiness to take up cases worldwide through lobbying by networking (communications through e-mail)
7. Keeping records of the victims
8. Helping victims of torture to seek justice
9. Organizing non-violent protests, like signature campaigns and hunger strikes

Long term Plans

Conduct training programs with:

1. Police in Maoist affected areas
2. Police in border areas where trafficking is prominent
3. Prison officials
4. Teachers

• Include a human rights syllabus in the education system
• Pressurize I/NGOs to initiate training programs for members of the judiciary and medical personnel
• Provide social workers and religious representatives with means to voice concerns over torture cases
• Pressurize I/NGOs and the government to run programs for torture victims, like:

Rehabilitation homes
Health camps
Housing facilities
Legal aid
Financial support
Social skills training programs
Counselling centres
Hotline facilities

• Inspection of police stations without prior notice
• People concerned about HR issue should be in good relations with NGO and village leaders to get the good information.

Ms. Pooja will build a unit with AHRC to send articles and stories related to torture, and in addition to keep records, conduct training programs for children.

FOLLOW-UP FROM AMAN

To Make AMAN WATCH effective in building a campaign against torture:

1. Research on Islamic inspirations and provisions to prevent and eliminate torture and other human rights violations. (With minorities, women, children – reaching out through Mosques, Madrashas and religious institutions)

A simple publication containing:

• selected stories
• important parts of UN Conventions
• Islamic provisions and inspirations

2. Training workshop for AMAN WATCH – National contacts/correspondence (in cooperation with AHRC, if agreeable)

• to develop skills on fact finding, story writing, reporting, networking and advocacy
• to provide information and become familiarised with UN conventions and national and international laws, acts, etc.

We will circulate the statement from this workshop and keep participants on our mailing list

SRI LANKAN PARTICIPANTS

Short Term

• Urgent appeals to continue
• Poster on torture in Sinhala and Tamil
• Vesak Postcard to be printed in Sinhala
• Workshop on human rights for religious groups in May
• E-newsletter to be translated to Sinhala and Tamil

Long Term

• A program for the national human rights task force with AHRC staff as resource persons
• Special focus on suicide cases and displaced, traumatized children.
• Document information on disappearances and displaced children
• Broaden the AHRC group in Sri Lanka and hold a meeting in August
• Print postcards on the “right to water” as a part of the campaign

BANGLADESHI PARTICIPANTS

1. To hold a meeting with other NGOs to introduce AHRC; AHRC will also be introduced through the meeting of the Commission for Justice and Peace in Bangladesh
2. Keeping regular contact by sending our stories to AHRC and utilizing this network
3. Sending torture cases for AHRC publications
4. Writing something about the “Public Safety Act” and section 54 of the Penal Code of Bangladesh, which are instruments of torture for the police and government
5. Continue arranging seminars and workshops to sensitize people about torture
6. Enhancing preventive and curative measures for women and children who suffer in our country due to discriminatory laws
7. Filing a writ petition in the High Court for the proper rehabilitation of sex workers in different areas of our country who are evicted from brothels