Target: ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
Sponsored by: Mindfulness Practice Communities of Australia
Dear Friends,
Our brothers and sisters in Australia and New Zealand have formulated this new petition directed towards the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Please help them by signing this petition and getting the word out to your friends (Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Blogs, etc.).
Text of petition:
Vietnam will assume the Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2010. As a member of this organization it is expected that the member countries will comply with the fundamental principles of ASEAN which are set out in its Charter:
* Promoting regional peace and identity, peaceful settlements of disputes through dialogue and consultation, and the renunciation of aggression.
* Upholding international law with respect to human rights, social justice and multilateral trade.
* Settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful manner (1976)
The Bat Nha Monastery, in the Lam Dong province, has been attacked and destroyed, and aggression and violence have been used to evict 400 peaceful Monks and Nuns. This is in contradiction of international law. It ignores human rights and social justice stated as one of the principles of ASEAN. Although Vietnam denies intervening in “internal or local disputes”, the government’s non intervention reflects the current state of the country’s lawlessness and lack of leadership.
We urge the Vietnamese Government to intervene and ensure that the Bat Nha Monastery is allowed to live and practise in peace as law abiding Vietnamese citizens.
We call on the current Chairman of ASEAN, the Prime Minister of Thailand, Abhisit Vejjajiva, to initiate a re-evaluation of the appointment of Vietnam to the position of Chair 2010, in view of the Vietnamese Government’s non intervention in this crisis.
We ask for ASEAN influence to ensure that the 400 monastics be offered every assistance. They have been targeted merely for practicing their beliefs and now need help in terms of security of accommodation, freedom from harassment and freedom to practice their religious beliefs without persecution.
We have faith that ASEAN have the power to reduce the violence that is happening right now and restore peace.
The text of this petition recognises that it was
just an internal or local dispute at Bat Nha.
Did anybody of the helpbatnha team read it before?
I also think it could target more than one destination: how about adding the United Nations and the European Union to the list of as well?
Vietnamese government,please do the right thing and learn the good way to govern the country from western countries
Mr. Nguyen, I don’t know if you are offering an honest advice or a provocation or some joke, but I disagree with you. Vietnam has a long tradition of nationalism which is independent of China, the West or Communism. That was when Buddhism was flowering in th 11th century, and wisdom and compassion were employed in the government. If you wrote the above line as a joke or in a mean-spirited manner just to damage the reputation of the Bat Nha Sangha, I would like to say that you have saddened me. The Bat Nha sangha is non-political and all they want to do is to practice together instead of being forced to study in a different Buddhist tradition.
Please, stop that kind of comments and let yourself be guided by compassion and understanding. Thanks.
does anyone know where i can download a petition regarding the voilence towards the bat nha monastry? i want to print it out and get my school to sign it and give it to ASEAN
by the way send to dark…@hotmail.com
I support these peacefull Buddhits but what can opinion when force remain stronger anyway?
Did opinion won that last century without a great loss of lives before the Wall felt in Berlin ? like in Jericho?
Do you count the (wars) deaths until UDSSR was weaken to self collapsing?
Stop killing us Human’s
Please be compassionate and mild towards mild and compassionate human beings.
Violence begets violence. Please help these people. They are of immense value to our world today.
They are the hope of tomorrow. We follow their destiny with hope for justice.
kindly
Stig Helweg-Jorgensen, Denmark
Vietnamese government officials show the world that they fear peace and community. Their actions & provocations against the peaceful and compassionate monastics shows also their weakness: if they were convinced of their own strenght they would be free to “live & let live” as we say in the US. Instead, they are acting in a way reminiscent of the chinese during the “cultural revolution.” Shame on them, shame, shame, shame. I can only hope that those they incite to rise against the monastics will realize that, to paraphrase Martin Luther King, when any one of us is oppressed, none of us is free. Those attacking the monastics could be next.