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News
November 6, 2002
Freedom of
Religion Gets More Attention Worldwide
Conference Held by Aid to the Church in Need
ROME (Zenit) - Worldwide public opinion is
discovering an age-old human rights issue: religious liberty.
According to a congress of experts organized by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)
last week, "the topic of religious liberty, which in past years seemed to be
almost exclusively reserved to John Paul II's unheeded appeals, is beginning to
awaken a certain interest in public opinion."
This view, voiced over Vatican Radio by ACN's president in Italy, Attilio
Tamburrini, was supported by experts who spoke at the congress. Among the
experts were Archbishop Attilio Nicora, new president of the Administration of
the Patrimony of the Holy See; Giorgio Filibeck, official of the Pontifical
Council for Justice and Peace; and Massimo Introvigne, director of the European
Center of Studies on the New Religions.
ACN, an association of pontifical right, funds projects in countries where the
Church is in difficulty. Since 1998, ACN has published an "Annual Report on
Religious Liberty in the World," a detailed document that has become a point of
reference for human-rights organizations, journalists and missionaries, among
others.
This year's meeting, held at the Domus Carmelitana of Rome, highlighted the
critical importance of religious liberty, the "test of the observance of all
other rights," as John Paul II has stated on various occasions.
"Where there is religious liberty, other human rights may be respected; where it
is lacking, all others will be violated," Tamburrini said. "For this reason,
many are beginning to realize that attention to this problem not only affects
the believer, but implicates man as man."
The congress heard how, in addition to countries where Communism still survives
-- such as China, Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba -- religious liberty is regarded
today as an "ancillary right" in two other key sectors: in certain Muslim and
post-Communist countries.
In some Muslim countries, "the Shariah [Islamic law] is the supreme law of the
state," Tamburrini continued. This ostracizes believers of other religions.
A new issue regards erstwhile republics and satellites of the former Soviet
Union, "where a mentality persists that considers the right to religious liberty
as a concession, namely, that [government] authorization is necessary to
exercise religious liberty."
The fundamental question posed by the congress was: What to do, in the face of
countries that violate this fundamental right?
Tamburrini suggested that ordinary citizens should urge their representatives to
examine respect for religious liberty in partner nations before stipulating
trade agreements with such nations. "But the man on the street has another
fundamental weapon -- the vote. We should demand this commitment directly from
candidates," he stressed.
"However, I think that the most important weapon is information," Tamburrini
added. "Criticism of [religious oppression] produces a clear effect. Most
governments in most countries want to show world public opinion that they are
not the 'bad guys.'"
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Vietnam,
Philippines sign bilateral cooperation accord
By Agence France-Presse
HANOI (inq7.net)
- Vietnam and the Philippines signed an agreement here Wednesday, the first day
of a visit by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, laying the foundations for
long-term bilateral cooperation, officials said.
The agreement provides a framework for "Vietnam-Philippines relations for the
first 25 years of the 21st century and beyond," the foreign ministry said
following talks between Ms Macapagal and her Vietnamese counterpart Tran Duc
Luong.
The two countries are to sign an agreement on sports cooperation on Thursday, it
added.
Ms Macapagal, who arrived here on Wednesday from a summit of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Phnom Penh, is also scheduled to hold talks
with Communist Party secretary general Nong Duc Manh, Prime Minister Phan Van
Khai and the speaker of the National Assembly, Nguyen Van An.
She is to visit the mausoleum of communist Vietnam's founder, Ho Chi Minh, on
Thursday before leaving for the economic capital Ho Chi Minh City, formerly
Saigon, where she is to meet with Philippine businessmen.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1976, the Philippines and
Vietnam have signed economic cooperation agreements and begun activities in the
transport, tourism and education sectors.
Bilateral trade totaled 424 million dollars last year and Vietnam has approved
21 Philippines investment projects worth more than 260 million dollars,
according to Vietnamese statistics.
Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong visited the Philippines in 2001 and
then-Philippines president Fidel Ramos also made a trip to Vietnam.
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Vietnam
Banks Inject US$61 Mln into Steel Manufacture
HANOI (Asia Pulse) - Vietnam's major
financial institutions have finalised a deal to fund the construction of one of
the country's biggest steel plants in the Phu My Industrial Zone No 1. The
Vietnam Investment and Development Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank and
the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development signed agreements last week with
the Southern Steel Company (SCC). Under the deal, the banks will provide nearly
US$61 million of the plant's total cost of US$153 million. SCC will invest US$12
million, while the remainder will come from the Development Assistance Fund. The
Phu My Steel Plant will be the largest of its type in Vietnam.
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UNITED
STATES: CONGRESS TABLES INTERNET FREEDOM BILL
(International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) Clearing House) - Internet
free-expression campaigners may have cause for hope: the United States Congress
is considering a bill calling for the creation of a special office to combat
Internet censorship in authoritarian regimes around the world, report
International Journalists' Network (IJNet) and the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER).
However, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) warns the legislation should
not replace or lessen US support for independent journalists working under such
regimes.
Introduced in the House of Representatives by Christopher Cox and Tom Lantos
last month, the Global Internet Freedom Act would allocate up to US$100 million
over two years towards establishing and operating a federal Office of Global
Internet Freedom, IJNet says. The bill has also been introduced in the Senate.
The Office of Global Internet Freedom would "develop and implement a
comprehensive global strategy to combat state-sponsored and state-directed
Internet jamming, and persecution of those who use the Internet," reads the
proposed Act.
In particular, the office would be charged with countering the censorship
efforts of authoritarian regimes around the world, including Burma, China, Cuba,
Laos, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Vietnam.
The office would be set up within the International Broadcasting Bureau, which
administers the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free
Asia, and recruit programmers and Internet advocates in helping citizens bypass
state controls on the Internet.
CPJ says the bill, if passed, would be helpful in protecting free expression in
many parts of the world, but stresses that it should not supplant existing
efforts to support independent journalists working under authoritarian regimes.
"Unless they feel safe [journalists] won't publish critical information on the
Web," the group says. According to EurasiaNet, the bill apparently does not
tackle other forms of censorship in countries targeted for Internet
anti-censorship initiatives.
In recent months, new software, including Peekabooty and Dynaweb, has been
developed to counteract Internet censorship in China, reports FEER. The programs
rely on peer-to-peer technology similar to what Napster used for sharing music
files. However, several Internet advocates, including the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, worry that some of the new software available may not be effective
enough in protecting the identity of users from Chinese authorities. "Before
throwing good money after bad, there needs to be a careful examination of the
[software] designs," says James Mulvenon, co-author of a recent Rand Corporation
study on the Internet in China.
The proposed Global Internet Freedom Act can be viewed here:
http://policy.house.gov/assets/ACF876.pdf
Visit these links:
- CPJ Report on China "The Great Firewall":
www.cpj.org/Briefings/2001/China_jan01/China_jan01.html
- Human Rights Watch:
www.hrw.org/advocacy/internet/index.htm
- Global Internet Liberty Campaign:
www.gilc.org/presswire/
- Rand Corporation Study "You've Got Dissent":
www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1543/
- Peekabooty:
www.peek-a-booty.org/pbhtml/index.php
- IJNet: www.ijnet.org
- FEER:
www.feer.com/articles/2002/0211_07/p024region.html
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