Malaysia
20.08.03
Urgent Interventions
Malaysia : Open letter to Mr. Dato Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi
OPEN LETTER TO MR. DATO ABDULLAH HAJI AHMAD BADAWI
Minister of Home Affairs
Paris - Geneva, August 20, 2003
Dear Sir,
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World
Organisation against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of their joint
programme, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights
Defenders, express their deepest concern over the fact that, on
August 18th, Ms. Cynthia Gabriel, Executive Director of the human
rights organization Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), was denied entry
into Sarawak by Immigration officers at Miri Airport.
According to the information received, Ms. Cynthia Gabriel was to
attend a workshop entitled "Workshop on Globalisation and its Impacts
on Indigenous Peoples in Malaysia" in Miri, Sarawak. Immigration
officers at the airport told Ms. Gabriel that she was denied entry as
her name was blacklisted. The officers kept her passport and booked a
ticket back for her on August 19th, to Kuala Lumpur. Upon
negotiation, she was allowed to stay overnight and was told to be
back at the airport at 5.30 am. She was then given back her passport
and took the plane.
No official information were given on the blacklist mentioned by the
authorities nor on the reasons why Mrs. Gabriel's name was on this
list. According to the information received, Mrs. Gabriel was only
told that additional names had been put on this blacklist in 1998.
The Observatory is preoccupied about these measures, aimed at
hindering Ms. Cynthia Gabriel's activities as a human rights defender
and notes with concern that similar measures preventing other human
rights defenders from going to Sarawak territory have already been
taken in the past by Sarawak local authorities.
These measures contradict both the Universal Declaration on Human
Rights (article 13) and the Declaration on Human Rights defenders
adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1998, which states that :
"Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others,
to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human
rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international
levels" (article 1).
The Observatory urges the Malaysian authorities :
i. to conform with the provisions of the Declaration on human rights defenders adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1998, in particular its Article 1 above mentioned;
ii. to comply generally with the terms of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights which guarantees freedom of movement and security of all citizens, as well as with international human rights standards.
Sidiki Kaba - President of the FIDH
Eric Sottas - Director of the OMCT
Minister of Home Affairs
Paris - Geneva, August 20, 2003
Dear Sir,
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World
Organisation against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of their joint
programme, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights
Defenders, express their deepest concern over the fact that, on
August 18th, Ms. Cynthia Gabriel, Executive Director of the human
rights organization Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), was denied entry
into Sarawak by Immigration officers at Miri Airport.
According to the information received, Ms. Cynthia Gabriel was to
attend a workshop entitled "Workshop on Globalisation and its Impacts
on Indigenous Peoples in Malaysia" in Miri, Sarawak. Immigration
officers at the airport told Ms. Gabriel that she was denied entry as
her name was blacklisted. The officers kept her passport and booked a
ticket back for her on August 19th, to Kuala Lumpur. Upon
negotiation, she was allowed to stay overnight and was told to be
back at the airport at 5.30 am. She was then given back her passport
and took the plane.
No official information were given on the blacklist mentioned by the
authorities nor on the reasons why Mrs. Gabriel's name was on this
list. According to the information received, Mrs. Gabriel was only
told that additional names had been put on this blacklist in 1998.
The Observatory is preoccupied about these measures, aimed at
hindering Ms. Cynthia Gabriel's activities as a human rights defender
and notes with concern that similar measures preventing other human
rights defenders from going to Sarawak territory have already been
taken in the past by Sarawak local authorities.
These measures contradict both the Universal Declaration on Human
Rights (article 13) and the Declaration on Human Rights defenders
adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1998, which states that :
"Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others,
to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human
rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international
levels" (article 1).
The Observatory urges the Malaysian authorities :
i. to conform with the provisions of the Declaration on human rights defenders adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1998, in particular its Article 1 above mentioned;
ii. to comply generally with the terms of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights which guarantees freedom of movement and security of all citizens, as well as with international human rights standards.
Sidiki Kaba - President of the FIDH
Eric Sottas - Director of the OMCT