From: ryyti@jyu.fi (Jarmo Ryyti)
Subject: BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS
Organization: University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 11:26:43 GMT

Ruotsinsuomalainen 10.12.1992:

V[HEMMIST\ASEMALLE HAETAAN SUOMEN VIRALLISTA TUKEA

Ruotsinsuomalaisten tavoitteelle saavuttaa Ruotsissa etninen ja kielellinen
v{hemmist|asema haetaan nyt Suomen virallista tukea.

Asiaa ajaa nyt Suomen valtioneuvoston asettama pakolais- ja siirtolaisuusasiain
neuvottelukunta, joka luovutti ruotsinsuomalaisten j{rjest|jen v{hemmist|-
julistuksen Suomen hallitukselle viime perjantaina. (4.12.92)
Neuvottelukunta puolestaan sai vastaanottaa v{hemmist|julistuksen Juuret
Suomessa-juhlallisuuksien yhteydess{ viime elokuussa.

Neuvottelukunnan mielest{ Suomen tulee sis{llytt{{ ruotsinsuomalaisten 
v{hemmist|asematavoite Suomen ja Ruotsin v{lisiss{ virallisissa yhteyksiss{
k{sitelt{vien asioiden joukkoon.

Neuvottelukunnan luovutuskirjelm{ss{ muistutetaan p{{ministeri Carl Bildtin
ruotsinsuomalaisten asemaa koskevista luonnehdinnasta. Bildt on todennut,
ett{ maitten pitk{ yhteinen historia, sen synnytt{m{ suomalaisasutus Ruotsissa
ja ruotsinsuomalaisten suuri lukum{{r{ oikeuttavat antamaan ruotsinsuomalai-
sille erityisaseman.

Ruotsinsuomalaisesta kopioinut,
jarmo ryyti




Human Rights Coordinator (hrcoord@igc.apc.org) wrote:
: 
: From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
: Subject: HUMAN RIGHTS: Communal violence bla
: 
: /* Written 12:16 am  Dec 12, 1992 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in
: igc:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all
: rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
: original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.
: 
: Title: HUMAN RIGHTS: Communal violence blamed for many abuses in
: 1992
: 
: washington, dec 9 (ips/jim lobe) -- the ''epidemic of communal
: violence'' accounted for much of the serious human rights abuse
: experienced by people in various regions of the world during 1992,
: according to the annual human rights report released here
: wednesday by the new york-based human rights watch.
: 
: the report, published to coincide with the 44th anniversary of the
: universal declaration of human rights thursday, also calls on u.s.
: president-elect bill clinton to upgrade the importance of human
: rights in u.s. foreign policy and to recognise that its abuse
: derives from many causes, including ethnic conflict.
: 
: human rights watch, the umbrella group for five human rights
: committees which serve different regions, called for a greater
: understanding that the protection of human rights requires more
: than periodic elections which it said was the view of the
: administrations of presidents ronald reagan and george bush.
: 
: ''the fruits of this shallow vision of democracy have been reaped
: in the emergence of elected tyrants whose one-time designation as
: 'freedom fighters' cannot mask their appeal to hatred,
: intolerance, and virulent nationalism,'' the report said.
: 
: many of these new leaders have used ethnic conflict to actually
: promote violence, according to the report, which argues that such
: violence ''highlights the importance of human rights to the
: maintenance of global peace''.
: 
: the major communal conflicts of 1992 were often caused by abusive
: governments determined to hold onto or enhance their power in the
: face of pressure for greater democratisation, according to the
: 424-page report.
: 
: in some of the most serious cases, including continuing violence
: in liberia, somalia, sri lanka, and sudan, ethnic conflict was
: spurred by a history of governments favouring certain groups while
: repressing others.
: 
: in other cases, serious government abuses in response to
: separatist movements resulted in a downward spiral of violence.
: 
: this has applied to the indian government's efforts to defeat
: separatists in kashmir, punjab, and assam, the turkish
: government's campaign against kurdish separatists, ''ethnic
: cleansing'' efforts in nagorno karabakh by both armenian and azeri
: forces, and the ''systematic abuses'' by israeli forces in the
: occupied territories, the report said. (more/ips)
: 
: human rights: crises expose fragility of improvements in americas
: 
: washington, dec 9 (ips) -- latin america and the caribbean made
: important progress in human rights this year, but crises in haiti,
: peru and venezuela exposed the fragility of the improvements made,
: ''americas watch'' said in a report released wednesday.
: 
: ''the dawn of democracy is rather cloudy,'' sub-director for
: ''human rights watch,'' kenneth roth, said on presenting the
: report.
: 
: he explained that, despite the worldwide democratic trend, there
: have been signs that some sectors still show little regard for
: democracy.
: 
: as examples he cited peruvian president alberto fujimori's
: dissolution of parliament on apr. 5, the overthrow of haitian
: president jean-bertrand aristide on sep.30, 1991 and the fact that
: he has had to remain in exile for over a year and the two attempts
: to overthrow the venezuelan government on feb.4 and nov.  27.
: 
: ''human rights watch'' comprises humanitarian organizations which
: monitor the observance of rights such as those of women and
: prisoners and freedom of expression in the americas, africa, asia,
: europe and the middle east.
: 
: roth said another trend his group has observed in the past year
: was that of confronting past perpetrators of human rights abuses.
: 
: he said a case in point was el salvador, where two commissions
: created under peace accords between the government and the
: guerrillas -- an ''ad hoc'' and a ''truth'' commission -- were
: involved in this area.
: 
: the ad hoc commission recommended the dismissal of over 100
: ranking military officials, he pointed out.
: 
: also in el salvador, the existence of a 1991 massacre, which had
: been denied by the salvadorean and u.s. governments, was proved,
: he added.
: 
: other cases included chile, where the judicial inquiry into the
: murder of diplomat orlando letellier is under way, and paraguay,
: where lawsuits have been filed against military officials who
: committed abuses during the dictatorship of alfredo stroessner.
: 
: however, in other countries, impunity continues to be the norm,
: stated roth, mentioning peru, thailand, indonesia and kuwait.
: (more)
: ----
: 
: human rights: communal violence blamed for many abuses in
: 1992(2-e)
: 
: human rights: communal violence (2)
: 
: it notes that in still other cases, governments, such as those in
: kenya, south africa, and zaire, have fomented ethnic violence to
: resist calls for democratisation.
: 
: in several conflicts, elected governments have appealed to the
: ''basest form of nationalism and ethnic exclusion,'' said the
: report which cited the governments of serbia, croatia and several
: states of the former soviet union as examples.
: 
: ''the lesson of these conflicts is that human rights violations by
: governments play a large role in transforming communal differences
: into violent clashes. the answer to halting or preventing such
: violence lies not in a return to an authoritarian past but in an
: end to the official abuse that fuels this strife,'' the report
: said.
: 
: another problem is when states are conceived as a single national
: group -- an impossibility given ''the natural shifting of
: populations'' around the earth.  thus, in addition to the ''ethnic
: cleansing'' of the balkans and elsewhere, estonia and latvia have
: disenfranchised much of their russian-speaking populations, as has
: kuwait with respect to its bedoon peoples.
: 
: germany's virtual refusal to grant citizenship to those of non-
: german origin is yet another example cited in the report.
: 
: beyond ethnic conflict, 1992 has also shown the fragility of the
: global movement towards democracy.
: 
: elected leaders have in some cases shown little hesitation in
: committing abuses of their own, while others have shown open
: contempt for electoral results.
: 
: in peru, for example, president alberto fujimori defended his
: ''self-coup'' by citing the need to fight corruption and
: incompetence. in that apr. 5 ''coup'', fujimori suspended the
: country's constitution, dissolved congress, and imposed an
: emergency government of national reconstruction.
: 
: the report said that in algeria, the military simply annulled
: parliamentary elections won by the islamic salvation front by
: claiming it was protecting democracy and human rights.
: 
: similar reasons were cited by the military which ousted elected
: president jean-bertrand aristide in 1991 and by venezuelan rebel
: troops in the two coup attempts this year.
: 
: many governments also refused to establish accountability for past
: gross abuses of human rights, a key measure of the health of a
: country's democracy. while some prosecutions for past abuses have
: taken place in chile, paraguay, germany, amnesties for such abuses
: were declared in thailand, south africa, and kuwait.
: 
: human rights watch called on the clinton administration, which
: takes office jan. 20, to look beyond the holding of elections in
: assessing a country's human rights performance and to press
: governments to hold gross abusers accountable for their actions.
: 
: it also urged the clinton administration to drop all double
: standards in assessing abuses by u.s. friends and foes and to halt
: all aid to governments which systematically commit gross
: violations. (end/ips/jl)/yjc/92)