{"id":19,"date":"2008-06-19T13:36:01","date_gmt":"2008-06-19T04:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/test.hrn.or.jp\/?p=19"},"modified":"2023-10-25T09:45:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T00:45:46","slug":"2008-g8-summit-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/news\/2008\/06\/19\/2008-g8-summit-statement\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement on the G8 Summit in Toyako Lake"},"content":{"rendered":"

19 June 2008<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

This July, the G8 summit will be held in Toyako Lake, Japan.
\nThis year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the
\nUniversal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognized human rights as
\nan inherent right for all. However, serious violations of human rights
\nare continually being committed around the world. At this summit, we
\nurge the G8 countries to take clear initiatives not only on the
\nenvironment and on poverty reduction but also to end human rights
\nviolations. Economic development, international security and
\nenvironmental conservation will never be achieved if the governments of
\nthe world ignore human rights.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Human Rights Now, a Tokyo-based
\ninternational human rights NGO, calls the attention of the G8 nations
\nto the most critical human rights issues and urges them to express
\ntheir clear commitment to addressing the following human rights
\nviolations:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 We express deep concern over the human rights
\nviolations made by the military junta in Burma, by the Sudanese
\ngovernment in Darfur, and by the G8 countries in the name of the
\nanti-terrorism. We strongly urge the G8 countries to discuss these
\nsevere human rights violations and act to resolve them.<\/p>\n

In Burma,
\nthe military junta (the SPDC) brutally repressed peaceful
\ndemonstrations for democracy led by massive numbers of monks last
\nSeptember. Since then over 1,900 monks and democracy activists have
\nbeen detained.
\nOn May 2nd and 3rd, Cyclone Nargis hit Burma, leaving
\nan estimated 77,000 people dead and 2.4 million more suffering from the
\ndestruction. The SPDC, however, compounded the damage by initially
\nrefusing to accept foreign aid when urgent outside relief was
\nessential. Even after the SPDC expressed its acceptance of foreign
\nrelief, the junta continued to neglect its responsibility to supply
\nfood, medical care and sanitation to the cyclone’s victims. As a
\nresult, the lives of many of the suffering, especially women, children
\nand the elderly, are at risk. Further, the SPDC has forcibly displaced
\nthe evacuees from evacuation centers and sent them back to
\ncyclone-devastated areas, where basic infrastructure and health
\nservices have not yet been restored.
\nAt the same time, the SPDC
\nforced through its referendum on the new constitution, which is
\ndesigned only to prolong the survival of military regime and which
\nmakes the realization of respect for human rights and democracy even
\nmore distant. The SPDC also prevented Aung San Suu Kyi from
\nparticipating in the referendum process and extended her detention.<\/p>\n

In the Darfur region of Sudan,
\nserious human rights violations have been taking place since February
\nof 2003. The government and government-supported militias have
\ncontinuously attacked the region’s non-Arab residents and more than
\n200,000 people have reportedly been victimized. Rape and other forms of
\nviolence against women have frequently been used to terrorize the
\npopulation. Two to three hundred thousand people have been forcibly
\ndisplaced and turned into refugees. Further, the Comprehensive Peace
\nAgreement (CPA) agreed to by the northern Sudanese government and
\nsouthern Sudanese government in January 2005 is in jeopardy because of
\nthe ongoing conflicts in the Abyei region.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the
\nG8 countries must recognize that they are not exempt from
\nresponsibility for human rights violations in the 21st century. In
\nparticular, since September 11th in 2001, in the name of “the War on
\nTerror,” innocent civilians have been killed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Chechnya.
\nOther grave breaches of international human rights and humanitarian law
\ninclude, but are not limited to, the torture and indefinite detention
\nof terrorism suspects in Guatanamo Bay and at other disclosed and undisclosed locations worldwide.
\nHowever,
\nthe G8 countries refuse to accept any accountability for these
\nviolations, contributing to the spread of human rights violations
\nthroughout the world in the name of “the War on Terror”.
\nViolations
\nof human rights will be repeated as long as the international community
\ntolerates them. If the G8 countries continue to extol democracy and
\ncivil liberties, they should live up to the ideals they proclaim and
\nfulfill their responsibilities toward the above-mentioned human rights
\nviolations. The silence alone at this summit of the G8 nations with
\nregards to these abuses would worsen the human rights situation..<\/p>\n

Mindful of this, we urgently call on members of the G8 to issue a strong public statement on the following areas:<\/p>\n

I The Situation in Burma;
\n1)Condemn
\nthe brutal crackdown against pro-democracy activists last September,
\nthe imposition of the constitutional referendum, and the extension of
\nAung San Suu Kyi’s detention. Urge the SPDC to immediately initiate the
\ndemocratization process by opening a serious dialogue with
\npro-democracy groups, ethnic minority leaders and others concerned.
\n2)
\nGiven the humanitarian crisis that many cyclone victims still face,
\nincrease the amount of G8 countries’ relief aid and at the same time
\nurge the SPDC to fulfill its obligation to provide for the basic needs
\nof victims, such as food, health, medical treatment and sanitation in
\nclose cooperation with donor countries.<\/p>\n

II The Situation in Darfur
\n1)Express
\ndeep concern about the recent fighting in Abyei and call on the
\nGovernment of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army to adhere to
\nthe ceasefire agreed upon as part of the CPA.
\n2)Condemn the ongoing
\nviolations of the arms embargo established by U.N. Security Council
\nResolution 1591, and urge all states to stop all arms transfers, direct
\nor indirect, to Darfur in violation of Resolution 1591.
\n3)Establish a clear plan for how G8 governments will support efforts to establish a sustainable peace in Darfur and the full implementation of the CPA.
\n4)Support the ICC’s efforts to hold accountable those parties who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur
\nand urge the Sudanese Government to immediately cooperate with the ICC
\nprosecutor on the execution of warrants for the arrest of State
\nMinister for Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed militia
\nleader Ali Kosheib.<\/p>\n

III Human Rights Violations Committed by G8 Member States in the ” War on Terror”
\n1)State
\nclearly theG8 member states’ commitment to adhere to established
\ninternational human rights standards and international humanitarian law
\nin all circumstances
\nand address the past breaches of the Geneva
\nconventions in the course of the ” War on Terror,” including attacks on
\ncivilians and the practice of torture in interrogations. The parties
\nresponsible for these violations should be identified and held
\naccountable in a court of law.
\n2)Establish concrete measure to prevent the recurrence of human rights violations in the course of the “War on Terror”.<\/p>\n

President Koki Abe
\nSecretary General Kazuo Ito<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

19 June 2008 This July, the G8 summit will be held in Toyako Lake, Japan. This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognized human rights as an inherent right for all. However, serious violations of human rights are continually being committed around the world. At this summit, we urge the G8 countries to take clear initiatives not only on the environment and on poverty reduction but also to end human rights violations. Economic development, international security and environmental conservation will never be achieved if the governments of the world ignore human rights. \u00a0Human Rights Now, a Tokyo-based international human rights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[141,138,17,107],"countries":[245],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-statement","tag-accountability","tag-armed-conflict","tag-human-rights-violation-under-armed-conflictsmilitary-operation","tag-refugee-idp","countries-myanmar"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1073,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/1073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}