A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE ON HUMAN DIGNITY

Hon. David Kilgour

Thank you to the organizers of this 18th memorial lecture. It is a pleasure to participate in any event honouring Dr Rosenberg, who did so much to save lives, including those of 301 orphaned Jewish children who remained in Terezin concentration camp northwest of Prague in 1945.

On November 8, 1938, he was in Berlin, helping to rescue families by moving them over mountains to Czechoslovakia. That very night, Kristallnacht, Hitler’s agents murdered 92 ... Read More

UN favours Sikh in turban case against France
Washington The UN's rights body has concluded that France had violated the religious freedom of a 76-year-old Sikh man when he was asked to remove his turban for his ID photograph, a US-based Sikh group has said.
United Sikh, a Sikh rights body, had filed a communication on behalf of Ranjit Singh to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in December 2008.

Singh, despite his ill-health, has had no access to the public health-care ... Read More

Challenges to human rights defenders
Human rights defenders are on the frontlines to promote human rights and combat violations challenging government and civil society.

Human rights defenders acting against discrimination of all sorts in the country and outside , often at great personal risk to both themselves and their families, are being intimidated, threatened , false cases are foisted and many are murdered and killed.

Human rights defenders speak out against abuse and violations including discrimination, exclusion, oppression violence and while working ... Read More

China's human rights record getting worse: US ambassador
Beijing: China's deteriorating human rights record is a growing concern for the United States, even as overall ties between the countries become more entwined, US Ambassador Gary Locke said on Wednesday.

With China drawing criticism from candidates in the US presidential election and Beijing changing Communist Party leaders next year, Locke said the Obama administration would work to maintain forward momentum in relations, including coaxing China to open up wider to US exports and investment ... Read More

Human rights groups press EU to support minority rights in South Asia
Enlarge this pictureWilson Chowdhry with MEP Wikstroem at the EP in BrusselsA manifesto has been presented to the European Union asking that it take action to prevent human rights abuses against minorities in South Asia.

The British Pakistani Christian Association (BCPA) was among the groups at the European Parliament in Brussels to present the manifesto.

The document states that religious, ethnic and sexual minorities are among the most vulnerable groups in South Asia.

They face the threat of ... Read More

Justice for Dr. Chander Grover
AN APPEAL

South Asia Mail is proud to co-sponsor, along with Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism (SCAR), a campaign to petition Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to put an end to Dr. Grover’s 25 year ordeal involving his persecution by the National Research Council. The management of South Asia Mail asks for your support to secure justice for Dr. Grover by signing the petition found on the webpage below.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/justiceforchandergrover/

For many years the UN Human Rights ... Read More

Human Rights Resource Kit released
A Human Rights Resource Kit – produced by Office for Justice Peace and Development – was released by His Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias at CBCI Centre today. The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) handed the first copy of the Resource Kit to Most Rev Albert D’ Souza, Archbishop of Agra who is also the Secretary General of the CBCI, in the presence of Most Rev Yvon Ambroise, Bishop of Tuticorin and ... Read More

Toronto Judge Rules:“Neuro Leaks emails are admissible”
(OTTAWA, October 6, 2011) – Dr. Waleed AlGhaithy (Neurosurgery Residency Program, University of Ottawa) who was summarily and arbitrary dismissed from the Neurosurgery Program as reprisal for initiating human rights complaints, today was granted permission from the Superior Court of Justice (Ontario) to adduce fresh evidence in the pending judicial review of his dismissal. The review hearing is scheduled for November 28, 2011 at Osgoode Hall in Toronto.

The Honourable Justice Dambrot J. released his October ... Read More

Book on minority rights in MP published
The Catholic Church has published a handbook on the constitutional rights of minorities to safeguard their interests in the communally-sensitive state of Madhya Pradesh. The book is being aimed not just for members of the state’s various minority groups but also for government officials. The state has witnessed more than 100 sectarian attacks since 2003 and its educational institutions, according to several Church sources, are constantly being harassed by the government.

“This is a friendly way ... Read More

Binayak Sen plans campaign against sedition law
Lucknow: Human rights activist Binayak Sen said Sunday that he will soon undertake a nationwide signature campaign to scrap the sedition law under which he was booked in Chattisgarh.

Sen, who is also the vice president of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), proposes to mobilise at least one million signatures that would be sent to parliament with a demand to repeal section 124 of the Indian Penal Code.

Disclosing this at a seminar ... Read More

The fight of his life: The Grover story
OTTAWA — Physicist Chander Grover has been battling National Research Council Canada before the country's human rights tribunal and courts for almost a quarter of a century.

Neither age, nor health issues, nor mounting legal bills have tempered his resolve to win recompense for the ruin of his once-promising career.

At 68, recently recovered from a serious illness, he remains committed to the fight even in the face of questions from his family about whether it's time ... Read More

Sachar report may lead to Muslims’ ghettoization: Salman Khursheed
Union Minister of Water Resources and Minorities Affairs, Salman Khurshid, speaking at a function; Moosa Raza, Chairman SIET Trust on extreme left

New Delhi: In an important development, marking a radical shift in the UPA government’s approach, from pre-Sachar to post-Sachar period, the Union Minister of Minorities Affairs Salman Khursheed has questioned, both the credibility of the Sachar report and blind acceptance of its recommendations.

Speaking at a function in Chennai on June 25, Khursheed said that ... Read More

Discrimination against minorities to be a crime soon
Khurshid wants the Ministry of Minority Affairs to evolve into the Ministry of Equal Opportunities

New Delhi: If you are not able to get house in any housing societies because you are being discriminated against for being a member of minority community, then the housing society may have to go through three-month jail term and Rs. 5 lakh fine. According to the draft of the proposed Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) bill, prepared by the Ministry of ... Read More

Women criminals & landgrabbers assault pastor in Delhi
Pastor M. S. Jeblin, whose church worship center in the national capital was attacked earlier in 2008

N. Delhi, 11 June, 2011: Pastor M. S. Jeblin, whose church worship center in the national capital was attacked earlier in 2008 by the Hindutva brigade, has recently been made a victim by his neighbours at A/88/B Baljit Nagar, who has the tacit support of these fundamentalist groups. The police are taking no action and hence, Dr. John Dayal ... Read More

Human Rights: A La The European Union Style
Shobha Shukla
(CNS): In a significant development, the European Parliament (EP) has linked the Kashmir dispute with the signing of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India. According to a news (Source: The Nation, 14 June 2011), the para-33 of the resolution passed by the European Parliament on May 11, 2011, over the FTA between India and European Union, states that "Human rights, democracy and security are essential elements of the relationship between EU and India. ... Read More