In another of attack on universal human rights, life, and dignity, news of the Khilafah-seeking ISIS terror group shows the terrorists committing more killings of gays. The ISIS authoritarian group has established its own religious Hisbah “police force.” In lands where ISIS occupying powers have taken control, reports state the ISIS group has been using “undercover operatives” to lure gays out, and then beating them to death by stoning or throwing them off of buildings in public executions.
Khilafah’s Form of “Justice” for Gays – Hunting and Down and Publicly Murdering Gays by Stoning, Throwing Them Off Buildings (Center ISIS Khilafah Police Vehicle)
The Khilafah ISIS Hisbah religious police use undercover “flirt squads” to try to seduce and entrap gays for public execution. In addition, the Khilafah’s Hisbah also frame people as gay, to rationalize such public murders.
We call for the world public to show OUTRAGE for the public and atrocious murders of gays by these authoritarians. Their contemptible human rights violations deserve the world’s condemnation.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L) supports the universal human rights, life, and human dignity of all of our brothers and sisters in humanity. We reject the authoritarian tactics of hunting and murdering people for their sexual orientation, or for any of their identity group characteristics, as a fundamental attack on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and a fundamental attack on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
These monstrous public spectacles to use authoritarian measures to deny human rights to anyone because of the identity group are an attack on our universal human rights – by ANYONE who denies these human rights.
Rejecting these horrific human rights violations is not an attack on Islam, but is a call for ending these crimes against humanity by the Khilafah group ISIS.
“An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” The words by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. resonate as a fundamental basis for our shared human rights.
As previously reported by R.E.A.L, the fascist tactics by the anti-freedom group which seeks the establishment of a dictatorial Khilafah demonstrate their complete and total contempt for the equality and liberty which are our shared fundamental human rights.
We urge the friends of freedom to continue to challenge authoritarians and authoritarian murderers who are at WAR with our shared universal human rights. Together, we must be united to be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
In a continuing denial of their responsibility in the strains with society and violence against the public (including the strangulation of Eric Garner), the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) leader blamed African-Americans and the fatherless on their inability to be participants in law enforcement. Other former minority NYPD officers spoke up, however, and described an environment where some white police officer views African-Americans with contempt and some did not view them as human beings. This contempt for human rights must be challenged by all those who support our shared universal human rights.
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, in an interview with the Guardian, blamed the NYPD’s woes on their inability to hire African-Americans in police positions. He stated: “We have a significant population gap among African American males because so many of them have spent time in jail and, as such, we can’t hire them.” He then states that this is the “unfortunate consequences” of an explosion in “stop, question and frisk” stops in the last decade targeting racial minority men. This policy, struck down in 2013 by a federal judge as a “policy of indirect racial profiling,” was implemented by NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton.
NYPD Police Commissioner also blamed those without fathers for the decline of law enforcement’s effectiveness and hostility against police behavior: “We’re starting to reap what has been sown over the last 40, 50 years, with homes dissolving and homes without parental guidance,” he said on John Gambling’s radio show on AM 970. “There is just less respect for authority. I think some of it’s coming out of the fact that we have so many home environments in our country that are not home environments in the traditional sense, in that there’s no direction at home.”
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton (Source: Susan Watts, NY Daily News)
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton also told the Guardian that he continues to defend the ongoing “broken windows” ultra-aggressive policies of NYPD police officers, mostly against minority neighborhoods. These “broken windows” policies contributed to the NYPD 120th precinct (Staten Island) police strangulation of African-American Eric Garner. The “broken windows” policies are defending by extremists in law enforcement, such as NYC John Jay Criminal Justice College police instructor Peter Moskos, who also seeks to promote whipping and electric shock as punishment for Americans. Peter Moskos is a “Facebook friend” to NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton.
NYC: The Choking of Eric Garner: “I Can’t Breathe” (Source: YouTube)
Former NYPD captain Eric Adams stated that one white NYPD police officer described a largely black housing area as, “these people are all animals; they don’t deserve anything.” The Guardian reported that “Adams says officers and management must stop making assumptions about poor communities based on the ‘numerical minority’ that commits most of the offenses.”
Former NYPD officer Ray Benitez, who is African-American Hispanic, told the Guradian that he observed racial stereotyping among the NYPD police. The Guradian reports that he “watched officers stereotype entire neighborhoods.” He stated that: “You’ve got to know that 95% of the people in the community have no dealing with the police at all. None.” But he still saw a discriminatory attitude among NYPD police. “I’m talking about a thinly veiled disgust…simply because they appear to be in distress, with a different station in life. Maybe the sociological condition is that somehow those cops feel they’re more entitled, that they’re better.” Former NYPD police officer Ray Benitez described the “stop and frisk” procedures on NYPD police taking racial minorties as: “humiliation, maybe even emasculation, of a segment of society.”
Former NYPD police officer Travena Garel stated to the Guardian: “I just think that for a lot of officers, black men are viewed as something other than human beings.”
Responsible for Equality And Liberty believes that a representative democracy involves shared responsibility for societal problems. No one group is exempt from that shared responsibility as well as our shared universal human rights. We are disappointed to see extremists in our justice community pointing fingers at problems, and ignoring their own responsibility to be contributors in a representative democracy. We urge all of our fellow Americans to reconsider what it means to be active participants in a representative democracy for all.
We urge all to be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
Yet another police union defends extremist behavior as Americans protest the un-Constitutional behavior by an extremist in law enforcement, this time in McKinney, Texas. As previously reported by Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), extremist David Eric Casebolt was a leader in the McKinney Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge # 107 union as a “Second Vice President.” The Texas FOP is also supporting David Eric Casebolt, and his attorney Jane Bishkin is a participating attorney for the Texas FOP.
After David Eric Casebolt’s (June 5, 2015) assault on a 14 year-old child and pulling his gun on unarmed children, the McKinney FOP police union took their Facebook page offline, concealing David Eric Casebolt’s leadership role in the police union. On the FOP’s web page, they made the position “vacant,” and they hurriedly appointed Michael Best into the position.
On June 9, 2015, the McKinney Police Union President Daniel Malenfant issued a statement defending the violence by David Eric Casebolt as necessary to deal with “trespassing,” “vandalism and active fighting.” Union leader also promised “to provide any assistance necessary to the officer involved and his family.” The McKinney Police Union denied that the harassment and assault on African-American children was racist, stating “without a shadow of doubt that all members of the McKinney FOP and McKinney PD do not conduct racially biased policing.”
The McKinney Police Union also rationalized extremist David Eric Casebolt’s vulgarity against children, stating: “the use of profanity during high stress incidents may occur when attempting to gain control of unruly subjects who are not complying with officer’s commands.” (A reminder to the McKinney Police Union, the American people are not your “subjects.”)
McKinney Texas Police Union Regarding Police Union Leader and Extremist Casebolt’s Attack on African-American Children: “Not a Racially Motivated Incident” – Profanity Understandable when Dealing with “Unruly Subjects”
The McKinney Police Union also stated that “certain details of this incident are being inaccurately broadcasted by media outlets to the public in the McKinney area and across the nation. The subjects involved were a mixture of teens and adults who were trespassing not in a community pool but a private property pool regulated and maintained by this particular Home Owners Association. Vandalism and active fighting was reported in the same area involving this group of teens and adults.”
While the McKinney Police Union may be hiding its Facebook page, the McKinney Police Union does not have the power to remove the YouTube video of this incident, where the public can clearly see with their own eyes what happened.
While the McKinney police stalled in their “investigation,” David Eric Casebolt had the opportunity to “resign from the police force instead. WFAA reports that “Casebolt’s resignation was confirmed Tuesday by attorney Jane Bishkin.” Jane Bishkin is not only David Eric Casebolt’s attorney, but also she is the participating attorney for the Texas Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which includes the McKinney FOP #107 Police Union.
WFAA also reported how the 14-year old child’s head was SLAMMED into the ground, as can be seen in a second video by teenager Jahda Bakari.
The full text of the McKinney Police Union Statement is as follows:
“On 6/6/15, the McKinney Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #107 was informed by a member that he had been involved in an incident which resulted in him being placed immediately on administrative leave status. “The McKinney FOP has not been able to fully examine all of the video and reports surrounding this incident. The McKinney FOP assures that this was not a racially motivated incident and can say without a shadow of doubt that all members of the McKinney FOP and McKinney PD do not conduct racially biased policing. The McKinney FOP does not condone professional officers cursing at juveniles or any citizen during routine calls for service. The use of profanity by officers diminishes the professional image which is expected. With that said, the use of profanity during high stress incidents may occur when attempting to gain control of unruly subjects who are not complying with officer’s commands.” “Information is being provided to the McKinney FOP that certain details of this incident are being inaccurately broadcasted by media outlets to the public in the McKinney area and across the nation. The subjects involved were a mixture of teens and adults who were trespassing not in a community pool but a private property pool regulated and maintained by this particular Home Owners Association. Vandalism and active fighting was reported in the same area involving this group of teens and adults.” “The McKinney FOP urges all citizens who are intending on coming to this community wanting to take part in any protests or demonstrations to do so peacefully. The McKinney FOP is also urging the public to allow the McKinney PD investigators to conduct their investigation. The McKinney FOP believes that the McKinney PD will conduct a thorough investigation and will take every piece of information into consideration. We continue to urge all citizens exercising their 1st Amendment Rights regarding this incident to do so peacefully. “The McKinney FOP is working closely with the Texas State FOP Lodge to provide any assistance necessary to the officer involved and his family. “If more information is discovered, the McKinney FOP will ensure it is disseminated accordingly.”
Responsible for Equality And Liberty continues to challenge police unions to shake off their torpor and reverse the damaging course that a pattern of contempt and denial on police abuses has done to this country, our Constitution, and our homeland security.
McKinney Police Practicing Shooting with Automatic Weapons (Source: McKinney Police Department Facebook)
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) denounces the human rights violation and blatant abuse of an extremist against children, in the aftermath of altercations at a pool party in McKinney, Texas, on June 5, 2015. We have learned of extremist police brutality against children outside of a swimming pool, including an extremist police officer pulling a gun on other children, after he was assaulting a child, dragging her by the hair, and pushing her face into the ground. We have seen the video of the despicable violence against African American children by an extremist within the McKinney police department, and we call for the justice community to take action on this assault against our children.
WE NEED YOUR ACTION. We call for American citizens, human rights activists, and especially responsible members of our law enforcement community to contact McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley (telephone: 972-547-2700; email: gconley@mckinneytexas.org) and Assistant Chief Joe Ellenburg (telephone: 972-547-2737; email: jellenburg@mckinneytexas.org) to demand that they take action TODAY to arrest extremist Police Patrol Supervisor Corporal David Eric Casebolt for his armed assault and threats against these children. (See more below).
This immediate conflict started at a swimming pool party at a mostly white neighborhood’s Craig Ranch North Community Pool in McKinney, Texas. It was intended to be an end of school celebration, with a number of guests invited to the swimming pool on guest passes. Apparently some of the residents at the Craig Ranch North Community reportedly were upset about the pool guests, which were mostly non-white. The dispute reportedly centered over whether the African American and Hispanic guests at the pool were entitled to their guest status.
Miles Jai Thomas told the Huffington Post that the guests were upset about when a pool security officer started “making up rules” to force the non-white guests to leave. He also told the Huffington Post that “[b]efore officers arrived on the scene, a white woman had started making racist comments, telling black party goers to get used to the bars outside the pool because that’s all they were going to see. When one of the white teens at the party talked back to the adult, the woman began cursing and yelling at her as well.”
After the pool guests reportedly did not want to leave, the McKinney Police Department ordered nine (9) police vehicles to the area, sending twelve (12) police officers to a dispute at a swimming pool.
Instead of restoring “public order,” the extreme action by the McKinney Police Department had the predictable reaction of taking a minor situation and letting it get out of control. As the heavy-handed reaction created predictable frustration, one extremist in the police force decided to act out and assault our nation’s children.
From YouTube, we have seen the video of this assault by an extremist against a 14 year-old African American child. It is despicable. An extremist in the McKinney Police Department, identified as Officer David Eric Casebolt, who is white, chose to take an extreme response to the mostly African-American children who did not like the heavy-handed police response.
In the YouTube video, we see extremist Eric Casebolt grabbing children and assaulting them. Extremist Eric Casebolt grabs a 14-year old girl by her hair and violently throws the child to the ground. The extremist then tries to force the child’s face onto the ground and the sidewalk. As the collective children shout about his activity, extremist Eric Casebolt then withdraws his police-issued gun and pulls it out, aiming it at unarmed African-American children while he chases them. One girl, wearing a shirt with an American flag, screams as she watches the badge-wearing extremist chase unarmed African-American children with a gun.
As the other African-American children run for their lives, the extremist returns to the unarmed child in the swim suit (clearly with no weapon and no threat), with his gun drawn, then he holsters it so that he can grab the child’s body with both hands, drags her by the hair, forces her face into the ground, as she cried for her mother.
The extremist David Eric Casebolt then kneels on top of her body, while he points at the other children, threatening that they will be next.
Eric Casebolt does this to a 14-year old CHILD.
I am sure there are many millions of patriotic American men who would like to educate extremist David Eric Casebolt on our view of cowardly grown men who beat up little girls. But certainly, our justice community must speak for us and communicate our values of justice to extremist David Eric Casebolt.
When this is tolerated we must ask once again, what country we are living in? Surely, this is NOT the United States of America. Our justice community must act swiftly and severely to such criminal extremists who commit such cowardly violence against our children. Accountability of law enforcement is not some “gift” to the American people; it is the minimal expectation that we must demand to preserve any hope for law and order in this great nation.
American patriots no doubt wonder what happened to the other eleven (11) police officers who were dispatched to the swimming pool altercation. Were they all incapable of restraining extremist David Eric Casebolt from such actions? Or were all of those grown men too afraid to keep David Eric Casebolt from assaulting children? I wonder how many of the other McKinney police, or any of our fellow law enforcement, would have such casual restraint (or fear) if David Eric Casebolt was dragging YOUR CHILD by the hair and assaulting YOUR DAUGHTER like that.
I can imagine what the millions of American fathers reading this are thinking about in terms of consequences if David Eric Casebolt had ever taken such cowardly actions against their daughter or their children. David Eric Casebolt needs to learn this too, and he needs to learn it from the swift and severe acts of our justice system.
Like all patriotic Americans and civilized people, Responsible for Equality And Liberty is astounded at this offense. R.E.A.L. asks the McKinney Police Department: why isn’t extremist David Eric Casebolt arrested for his assault on these children? We need our federal government to act and stem the tide of such violence by extremists in our nation, and ensure that extremists know there will be consequences for their actions.
We have learned from BuzzFeed that McKinney Chief of Police Greg Conley held a press conference today (June 7, 2015) stating that he is “committed a complete and thorough investigation of this incident,” and that an officer was “placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.”
McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley asks public to have “patience” for a “thorough investigation” of Eric Casebolt’s public assault on children
It is perfectly evident for the nation and world to see what happened. There were plenty of witnesses, and McKinney Police Chief Conley’s call for “patience” for a “thorough investigation” is what we have heard too many times, and come to learn mostly represents the code words for “stall tactics.”
This is absurd, Police Chief Conley, and it is insult to responsible individuals in law enforcement, and it is yet another disgrace to the great United States of America. Any other American who publicly assaulted a child like this and threatened children with a gun would be in handcuffs, right now, today.
R.E.A.L. calls for our fellow human rights activists to denounce the failure of the McKinney Police Department to arrest Officer David Eric Casebolt today, right now, for his assault on these children. We don’t want to hear about administrative suspensions, lawsuits, or the other “alternatives.” The American people and the eyes of the world expect JUSTICE from our justice community, not beating our children in the street, and not excuses and stall tactics when we see it right in front of our nations’ eyes.
Most importantly, we call for those in the justice community to find their voice and their conscience on these matters. Our justice community should be at the forefront in denouncing such violence against our citizens, and calling for swift and severe consequences for those extremists who betray the trust the American people put in our police.
The blue line needs to stand together, not in denial, but in defense of the people and the Constitution it has vowed to serve and protect.
The words “out of control” are what patriotic Americans are stating to themselves as they continue to hear about what disgrace after another. In some communities, we have started to see action. In South Carolina, Michael Slager was arrested for murder. In Baltimore, the six who arrested Freddie Gray and left him with a broken neck and spine have been arrested for charges from murder to assault. This is what the American people expect, and most of all, this is what the justice community MUST SHOW.
Another video of yet another out-of-control extremist wearing a badge from the public, must be dealt with swiftly and severely by the justice community. Our justice system, like our government, is not “their” system; it is “our” system. This is why, in many parts of the nation, we have the power to make citizen’s arrests in extreme circumstances. The law is law – not just for some – but for all.
R.E.A.L. calls for the immediate ARREST of extremist Officer David Eric Casebolt for his public assault of children and his threat to kill other children. Such extremist violence is a threat to public safety, and that is what is what law enforcement is really about – protecting the public and their human rights.
His wild and reckless actions were nothing less than an armed assault on unarmed children. His extremist violent actions must not be accepted as representing law enforcement in the United States of America in ANY form, and must be recognized for the criminal behavior it represents.
There must be ACCOUNTABILITY for these actions. Another slap on the wrist will only further alienate the American public from many, many good, hard-working people in law enforcement, who this extremist does not represent. Our friends in blue need to find their voice. And SOON.
When extremists wearing a badge of our justice system believe they can beat CHILDREN in public with impunity, we must demand consequences for such human rights violators – everywhere and all of the time. Wrong is wrong – no exceptions.
If we defend our shared universal human rights, that means EVERYONE, including our good friends in law enforcement, who need to remember that they too are… Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
McKinney Police Deputy Chief – Professional Standards – Kim Lee
Email: klee@mckinneytexas.org
Telephone: 972-547-2755
================================
UPDATE:
Extremist David Eric Casebolt has been in other news, recently regarding an FAA Airman Certification, and the Dallas Morning News reported that David Eric Casebolt was an instructor trainee with Executive Self-Defense and Fitness Training in McKinney, TX. Casebolt’s photo had been removed from the company website. R.E.A.L. contacted this company, and was told they had “no comment.” The Dallas Morning News also reported that extremist David Eric Casebolt served in the U.S. Navy from 1993 to 2000. The DMN reported that “He also served in the U.S. Navy as a member of the military police from 2000 to 2003 and an operations specialist from 1993 until 2000.” Media have also reported on extremist links on videos online by David Eric Casebolt.
R.E.A.L. has also learned that extremist David Eric Casebolt was an officer in the McKinney Police Union Fraternal Order of Police (Lodge # 107). Once again, R.E.A.L. sees police unions associated with extremist behavior, as we have reported about in New York CityandBaltimore. David Eric Casebolt was listed as the “Second Vice President” in the McKinney Police Union, which is led by Union President Dale Malenfant (dmalenfant@mckinneyfop.org). The McKinney Police Union has since taken down its Facebook site to conceal this association, but there has been no comment or statement by the McKinney Police Union on the actions by its apparently former “Second Vice President” in his attack on children. In the meantime, caches of the McKinney Police Union membership list online has shown a replacement of the “Second Vice President” position to “vacant” and then now filled by “Michael Best,” with their board of directors.
The McKinney Police Union states that its values are: “Equality, Fairness and Integrity,” and that “Law is the Safeguard of Freedom.” R.E.A.L. has contacted the McKinney Police Union to get a comment on their position on whether the assault by their union officer David Eric Casebolt on these children represents the values and freedoms they are safeguarding.
R.E.A.L. will update this with any statement we receive from the McKinney FOP police union on this matter.
June 9, 2015 Update: Extremist David Eric Casebolt resigned “on his own will” while under investigation and will get to keep his pension and benefits. His lawyer, Jane Bishkin (also an attorney for the Texas FOP police union), announced his resignation in a statement at 5 PM on June 9. R.E.A.L. calls for charges against the extremist for his violence against our children.
R.E.A.L. reports that the UNHCR is seeking $13 million to step up response to Southeast Asia boat crisis. The UNHCR spokeperson Melissa Fleming provided a press briefing, on June 5, 2015, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva seeking funds for refugees and migrants from Southeast Asia, specifically mentioning the plight of Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing from Myanmar.
“UNHCR is seeking US$13 million to help with the needs of new boat arrivals in South-East Asia, where thousands of refugees and migrants have been crossing the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The appeal was launched yesterday, and is aimed at beefing up our work to do with protection for the nearly 4,800 people from Myanmar and Bangladesh who have been disembarked from smugglers’ boats in the last month. In the latest incident, earlier this week, over 700 people were landed in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. They included some 120 women and children who said they had been at sea for at least three months. With the monsoon season imminent, it’s estimated that thousands of people may still be at sea.”
“UNHCR’s appeal follows from last Friday’s regional meeting of affected States held in Bangkok. It also reflects elements of a 10-point plan of action proposed by UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. The funds will allow UNHCR to step up its response in three main areas: Firstly by helping meet the international protection needs of new boat arrivals, secondly by enhancing information available to people considering the journey, and thirdly by targeting some of the root causes of these movements in source countries. To date, UNHCR’s teams have registered just over 1,000 Rohingya new arrivals in Indonesia. In southern Thailand we have distributed relief supplies and are counseling dozens of new arrivals, while in Malaysia we are scaling up to meet the needs of arrivals once consistent access is provided.”
“Additional resources are needed to set up mobile multi-functional teams to quickly identify and help people with specific protection needs. Refugees who cannot return home will need assurance that they can stay in host countries temporarily with access to legal work until conditions are conducive for voluntary return or until other solutions are found. Where possible, UNHCR will support livelihood programs within national structures to serve the needs of both refugees and host communities.”
“The appeal envisages training for the region’s search-and-rescue officials on international legal principles and protection, and exploration of predictable disembarkation options. UNHCR will also expand its monitoring and reporting on maritime movements to include information campaigns providing factual information to potential travelers about the risks and mistreatment at the hands of smugglers and traffickers. To reduce incentives for people to undertake these dangerous sea journeys, UNHCR will seek legal alternatives such as programs to transition from refugee to migrant status in host countries in need of temporary migrants. A key part of the appeal focuses on mobilizing support for humanitarian, human rights and development needs in source countries to address the root causes of movement. UNHCR is ready to work with the governments to address issues of citizenship and documentation of people in Bangladesh and in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.”
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has received reports of new arrests in Thailand of Pakistan Christians who are seeking asylum, in the Samrong district of Bangkok.
We are being given reports today, June 6, 2015, that Thai police arrested eight Pakistani Christians asylum seekers including three men, three women, one elderly woman and a ten month old baby in the Samrong area of Bangkok today.
R.E.A.L. calls for the Thailand government to show mercy for these individuals being detained as they continue to seek asylum through the UNHCR office and await UNHCR Bangkok review of their case for Refugee Status Determination (RSD).
As we see from today’s report, Pakistan Christian refugees who have fled to Thailand are being arrested by the security forces before the UNHCR interviews them and makes a decision on their case. They are not getting the opportunity to be considered for such asylum and refugee status, as these women, children, and men get rounded up and put into Immigration Detention Center (IDCs).
Thailand: Pakistan Christians Praying for the Release of Christians Arrested by Thai Police in Immigration Detention Centres (IDC) (Source: Pukkar News)
In May 2006, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) identified Pakistan to be designated as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) by the Department of State, due to its abuses against freedoms. Pakistan remains a “Tier 1” Country of Particular Concern to the this U.S. Government organization.
R.E.A.L. has been repeatedly petitioning the Thailand government on this matter, and we have provide detailed documentation of the Pakistan Christian oppression for Thailand government representatives for their consideration of mercy towards these asylum seekers.
The U.S. Embassy in Thailand has provided a statement to R.E.A.L., that once the UNHCR makes an RSD decision on these refugees, it will also consider their cases for U.S. asylum as well. The Pakistan Christian refugees clearly meet the refugee standards as described in UNHCR Resettlement Handbook, Chapter 5, Section 5.7.1.
But we need the UNHCR to accelerate its process of getting review of Pakistan Christians’ refugee status, and we call for the Thailand government to use patience in allowing the refugees’ reviews by UNHCR to get completed. We call for the Thailand government use mercy and restraint for these Pakistan Christian refugees in Thailand to have the right to get UNHCR refugee status interviews and consideration, without being put in Thailand prisons. These desperate individuals need time for the UNHCR to process their cases and give them an opportunity for asylum in nations where they will not be oppressed due to their religion.
While Thailand may not be a signatory to the specific 1951 Refugee Convention, Thailand is a signatory to many other international agreements and laws which protect the rights and dignity of Pakistan Christians who only seek our shared universal human rights of freedom of religion and security, which have been denied to them by Pakistan.
Thailand is a signatory to the:
— Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (December 10, 1948)
— International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (October 29, 1996)
— Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (October 2, 2007)
— Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (January 9, 2012)
— Convention on the Rights of the Child (March 27, 1992)
In Pakistan, these refugees and their children have been these rights. They are not only Pakistan Christians, they are our fellow human beings who have all of the rights which Thailand and the nations of the world agree to ensure for them in our community of humanity. They have the right to the international legal protection under these agreements which Thailand has signed as one of the nations of the world.
It is morally and ethically wrong for refugees fleeing from Pakistan fleeing because of conditions where they are being such rights, to also be denied freedoms in another nation which is a signatory to these international laws and covenants. Pukkar News also quotes Farrukh Harrison Saif: “The international community has to put pressure on Thai government, not to arrest the asylum seekers, because asylum is not a crime. It is a right of any individual or a family or group.”
We urge the public to share this concerns with the Kingdom of Thailand government, the UNHCR, and the OHCHR.
Please share your voice with these agencies and institutions. Please also find the Thailand embassy in your nation, and reach out to it on this issue.
Kingdom of Thailand
The Secretariat of the Prime Minister
Government House, 1 Phitsanulok Road, Dusit, Bangkok 10300
General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister
Secretariat_PM@opm.go.th
FAX: 66 02 282 5131
Kingdom of Thailand
Royal Thai Embassy
1024 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Suite 40
Washington, DC 20007
United States
Contact: H.E. Mr. Pisan Manawapat – Ambassador
Telephone: (202) 944-3600
Thailand Embassy/Consulate Email: information@thaiembdc.org, consular@thaiembdc.org
UNHCR Regional Representative in Thailand
3rd Floor, United Nations Building, Rajdamnern Nok Avenue, 10200 Bangkok, Thailand
Telephone: 66 2 288 1858
FAX: 66 2 280 0555
Email: thaba@unhcr.org
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Case Postale 2500
CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt
Switzerland (Suisse)
Telephone: +41 22 739 8111
FAX: +41 22 739 7377
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Director of UNHCR Office
P.O. Box 20
Grand Central, New York, NY 10017
United States
Telephone: 1-212-963-0032
Facsimile: 1-212-963-0074
Email: usane@unhcr.org
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Regional Office for South East Asia
6th Floor, United Nations Buidling, Rachadamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand
Tel: +66 2 288 1235
Fax: +66 2 288 1039
Email: ohchr.bangkok@un.org
Ms. Matilda Bogner
Regional Representative
+66 81 755 0826
bogner@un.org
Our message to Thailand, UNHCR, OHCHR, and the people of the world is PLEASE – join us and be Responsible for Equality And Liberty – for all.
It was June 4, 1989. I was 30 years old. After what I was hearing last night in the world news, I turned on the television in the morning at my apartment in the Washington DC suburbs to see if there had been any changes. Americans were proud of the Tiananmen Square Protests for democracy in China, which had seemed so hopeful for our fellow lovers of freedom in China.
We had felt so helpless and furious at the U.S. government for doing nothing to help the protesters for democracy. The day before on June 3, my co-worker turned to me and said, “there’s nothing we can do.” I looked out the window. I pushed my keyboard aside and slammed my fist on the desk. “That’s not true,” I replied. “I am not going to just sit here if the protesters are attacked. We have to do something.”
On June 4, the worst was known to the world. What would become known as the “Tiananmen Square Massacre” was revealed to the stunned silence of people around the world. It was clear that something major had been happening the night before on June 3; I took off work to be home that day and follow the situation. I could not pretend to be focused on work, with this world-changing situation occurring before our eyes.
By June 4, the worst of the news started to filter out to the American people in Washington DC and the suburb where I lived.
The Communist Chinese Party (CCP) Army had turned on their people and a massacre was occurring. I was typing at a keyboard, writing and listening to the reports, and the shocking news of the massacre, slowed the incessant tapping of my fingers typing to a total silence. In homes and offices around Washington DC, people stopped talking as we heard more about the incoming reports.
Those who sought to fight for freedom in China with their own statue of the “Goddess of Liberty” (in the fashion of our Statue of Liberty) were being mercilessly killed by the CCP Army in the streets of Tiananmen Square.
1989 – PRC Embassy, 2300 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, DC. Americans Came Together to Protest the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, 1989.
Then I looked up the address of the PRC Embassy at 2300 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. in the telephone book, and I got up out of my chair, and headed for Washington DC and the PRC Embassy. I got a bus and subway to Metro Center, and I took the subway to Dupont Circle.
The Washington DC traffic was always heavy, and it was that afternoon. The only real choice was to walk. It was about a mile and a half. I took off my jacket, and started walking from Dupont Circle to the PRC Embassy. People were starting to talk about the massacre around Dupont Circle, and I asked some if they were headed to the PRC Embassy, and for those who didn’t know what was going on, I filled them in, and then kept walking. People starting together in groups at Dupont Circle, and some individuals like myself started marching to the Embassy up past the Washington Hilton Hotel (where there was an attempt to assassinate President Reagan in 1981).
As I got further up the street on Connecticut Avenue past the Hilton, I really started to notice the public crowd building. You could see spontaneous crowds headed up the sidewalks marching towards the PRC Embassy. You saw a number of Chinese Americans, but people of every race, background, age, some in groups and some alone. Some carried radios as we tried to stay abreast of what was happening. One man had a large “boom box” style radio, who we gathered around when we reached the Embassy.
We had no Internet, no email, no instant messaging, no Facebook, no Twitter, no portable cell phones.
But Americans across your nation’s capital had one thing: a CONSCIENCE.
We were not simply going to “do nothing.”
Americans and immigrants of every identity group – all with one shared mission on June 4 – we were going to the Chinese Embassy. When I arrived at the Embassy, there were already about 50 protesters in place. Some where chanting protests. Others had signs (I didn’t think to do that). Others were listening to a radio on the street corner and updating us on what was happening. I joined my fellow human beings protesting at the Embassy. The people I met were not “activists,” but people who had been following the news and spontaneously felt something must be done. I would imagine the crowd of protesters swelled to over 200. It could have been a larger number. No one was thinking we should “count;” we were outraged over the massacre. I never saw a “news report” on the U.S. protests at the Embassy.
We raised our voices to the enemies of freedom in the CCP government represented there at the embassy. One of the protesters in a bright colored shirt and mustache helped to organize the protesters’ chants:
“FREE CHINA NOW.”
“STOP THE KILLING”
“FREE TIANANMEN SQUARE”
We protested into the night. We continued to have new reports about the killings and the crackdown on the freedom protesters in Tiananmen Square in what would later become known as the “Tiananmen Square Massacre.” Everywhere, except in Communist regime China, where even today, all these years later, they still refuse to acknowledge that it even happened.
As the night grew later, we could see those remaining in the embassy had left, and we had only the ever-watching eye of security left. People began to gather up there things to go home. But we knew that for those killed by the CCP tanks and soldiers, they would be going home, and that their families would be mourning the loss of their loved ones. The bright flames of the sacrifices would never never NEVER be forgotten by those who love freedom and human rights.
It would a long walk home…. for all of humanity. This massacre never should have happened, and our world needed to find a way to end such terrible violence.
I turned up to the windows of the embassy on Wisconsin Avenue.
The ever watchful eye goes both ways, both to tyrants and to those who respect our shared universal human rights.
I shouted to the Embassy watchers, “We’ll be back!”
And we will continue to go back to challenge the enemies of freedom – everywhere and anywhere in the world.
Our CONSCIENCE makes us Responsible for Equality and Liberty.
———————
Postscript:
People often tell me the ever-popular half-quote of Reinhold’s Serenity Prayer “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,” but conveniently forget the rest of the quote about having “the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” The Courage to Change is also what we seek as well.
Enemies of freedom and our shared universal human rights love the silence of those who do nothing. That is all they need.
But the courage we need, and the serenity we need, is our willingness to continue to try. I have seen it. I have seen the real courage of people around the world who will not let fear, oppression, and difficulty silence their conscience and trample their human rights.
They don’t need to be told what to do. They are simply RESPONSIBLE.
On June 2, 2015, Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir was sworn in for another five-year term as “President,” after another “election” with opposition boycott and a “low turnout.” He took the oath of national assembly in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman. Omar Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on war crimes charges, seized power in a military coup in 1989. In 1997, the United States government issued a trade ban on Sudan for hosting the former Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in the 1990s and for human rights abuses.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted Bashir for war crimes and for crimes against humanity in 2009, and the ICC indicted Bashir for genocide in 2010. An ICC warrant for his arrest has been outstanding for over six years.
Under Omar Al-Bashir’s reign of terror, 300,000 have been killed in Darfur, countless women have been raped and abused in Darfur, and there are an estimated 3 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) have been displaced from their homes and villages in Darfur.
Sudan: Indicted War-Criminal Omar Al-Bashir Sworn in for Another 5-Year Term as President (Source: Ashraf Shazly – AFP )
Such Sudan elections are regularly plagued with irregularities. In 2015, the Sudan Tribune reported that “Sudan Tribune reporters spotted several polling stations were empty from voters in different electoral constituencies in the Sudanese capital” on April 16, 2015. The Tribune also reported that “Several heads of polling stations complained of weak voter turnout on the fourth day, also they pointed to the existence of errors related to the fall of voters names and the repetition of the names of electors in a number of electoral constituencies.” The Sudan National Electoral Commission noted errors in voting in 2010 as well.
In March 2010, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo stated that elections for Omar Al-Bashir, would be equivalent to “a Hitler election.”
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) joins with the free people of their world in their stand against this cruel dictator and indicted war criminal. We call for the leaders of the American government to reject Omar Al-Bashir’s actions and call for the end to his tyranny in Sudan.
