Resources:

People’s struggles for justice

• The arbitrary deprivation of life – by Basil Fernando, UPI Asia.com, 30 May 2008. Fernando, a Sri Lankan lawyer, is director of the Asian Human Rights Commission and long-time resource person of the ecumenical movement on human rights issues.
• Christian Discipleship In A Broken World – statement on peace-building by the participants of the seminar on “Religions: Instruments of Peace or Causes of Conflicts?” at the WCC Ecumenical Institute of Bossey, Switzerland on 11-16 May 2008

Colombia

• Brussels Declaration Concerning Human Rights Violations in Colombia (2008.09.17) – full text of the verdict of the International Opinion Tribunal on Human Rights Violations in Colombia held on September 15-17, 2008 in Brussels, Belgium
• Violation of Human Rights in Colombia as A State Crime (2008.07.31) – media release issued by Proyecto Justicia y Vida prior to the convening of the International Opinion Tribunal on Human Rights Violations in Colombia held on September 15-17, 2008 in Brussels, Belgium
• Verdict of the International Tribunal of Opinion on Forced Displacement in Colombia (2008.01.21) – report by Proyecto Justicia y Vida on the tribunal on forced displacement held at the Colombian Congress in Bogotá on November 21-23, 2007
• Symbolic court finds Colombian state complicit in crimes against humanity (2006.11.25) – report on the International Tribunal Against Impunity, organised by Proyecto Justicia y Vida and NGOs in Ciudad Bolívar and Cazucá, and co-sponsored by the Commission on Human Rights of the Colombian Congress
• Verdict of the International Tribunal Against Impunity: The Cases of Ciudad Bolívar and Cazucá (original Spanish text) – Bogotá, Colombia, 24-25 November 2006

Ecuador

• Change Triumphs In Ecuador’s Constitutional Referendum (2008.10.09) – report by Helga Serrano and Eduardo Tamayo on the progressive provisions of Ecuador’s newly ratified Constitution which, among other fundamental changes upholding national sovereignty, legally prohibited the establishment of foreign military bases in the country

India

• Statement on Religious Violence and Intolerance in India (2008.09.26) – issued by the Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches during its meeting in Luebeck, Germany, 26 September 2008
• Condemn the Orissa Violence (2008.09.03) – statement by the Mumbai-based Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS) and Institute of Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
• Witch Hunting Muslims in the name of Fighting Terrorism (2008.08.24) – statement and interim report issued by the Peoples Tribunal on the Atrocities Committed against Minorities in the Name of Fighting Terrorism, held in Hyderabad, India on 22-24 August 2008

Nepal

• Nepal: Sustainable Peace and Change? – Nepal advocacy page maintained by the International Crisis Group, summarising its analysis of the current situation in Nepal and its policy recommendations for the post-election period; the article also lists the Crisis Group’s previous reports and policy studies on Nepal
• The War in Nepal is Over! (2006.11.22) – account of the events surrounding the historic signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended Nepal’s 11 year-long civil war, by Dr. K. B. Rokaya, general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Nepal

Philippines

• The Collapse of Peace in Mindanao (2008.10.23) – media release and report overview (with link to full report) of the policy study undertaken by the International Crisis Group on the conflict between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Philippine Government
• Honouring The Memory of Bishop Alberto Ramento (2008.10.03) – brief articles commemorating the second death anniversary of PfL founding member Bishop Alberto Ramento, victim of extrajudicial murder, 3 October 2006
• Strengthening Interfaith Movement Amidst the Philippine Government’s All-out War Campaigns – paper prepared by Amirah Ali Lidasan for her tour of New Zealand in October/November 2007 as a guest of the Philippine Solidarity Network of Aotearoa
• Pressure Continues to Stop the Killings in the Philippines (2008.02.15) – report on the action by the United Church of Canada urging the Canadian government to impose strong measures on the Philippine government to take immediate steps in resolving the human rights crisis
• Christians, Muslims and justpeace in the Philippines (2007.12.03) – brief report on the efforts of Christian and Muslim leaders to end the war in Mindanao
• Let the Stones Cry Out: An Ecumenical Report on Human Rights in the Philippines and a Call to Action – released by National Council of Churches in the Philippines, March 2007

Sri Lanka

• Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province: Land, Development, Conflict (2008.10.15) – media release, summary, recommendations and link to full report of the policy study undertaken by the International Crisis Group on Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war
• Statement on Humanitarian Crisis in Sri Lanka (2008.09.26) – issued by the Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches during its meeting in Luebeck, Germany, 26 September 2008
• The War and International Solidarity (2008.09.22) – analysis by Dr. Jehan Perera, director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, of the factors and consequences of the international community’s implicit support of the Sri Lankan government’s renewed drive to hasten the military defeat of the LTTE, linking the development to the US-led global war on terrorism
• Commemorating July 1983: Bridges that Continue to Hold (2008.07.21) – statement issued by the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka on the 25th anniversary of the July 23, 1983 massacre that signaled the mass exodus of over 800,000 Tamils from Sri Lanka and started the civil war between Tamil separatists and the Sinhalese-dominated government of Sri Lanka. Known as “Black July”, the event is commemorated annually by the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora across the globe.
• Casualty Count – essay by Hong Kong-based Sri Lankan activist, Lakshan Dias, highlighting the folly of varying standards used in numerically measuring the human cost of War, taking the civil war in Sri Lanka as a case in point