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Destiny Church Protesters Scooped By Human Rights
Scoop News: Destiny Church Protesters Scooped By Human Rights Counterparts
By Joseph Barratt - AUT
By the time masses of Destiny Church supporters arrived in Waitangi on Tuesday, a smaller but louder group of Human Right activists had already stamped its mark on proceedings by raising concerns about political killings in the Philippines.
Tuesday saw the opening of the Interfaith Dialogue in Waitangi, an event co-sponsored by New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The talks aim to bring people of different faiths together with the goal of reducing religious radicalization and to promote peace in the Asia-Pacific region.
At Waitangi, throughout the morning powhiri that welcomed international delegates from around South East Asia, the protesters could be heard. The group said the Philippines and Indonesia ought not take part in the talks.
The protesters included Denis Maga a Philippines trade unionist touring New Zealand to raise awareness of Philippine human right abuses by the military.
Mr Maga raised concerns and pointed to United Nations investigations and Amnesty International reports that highlight the issue of the Filipino military being responsible for political persecution in the Philippines.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo countered their assertions claiming that the government has been trying to stop the violence.
“We share the values of human rights and democracy same as New Zealand,” President Arroyo said. “We are in a fight to turn around our history of political violence and retribution.
“We are slowly breaking down the cycle of violence.” President Arroyo said.
She then went on to say that the Philippines government is putting more resources into investigating political killings and many arrests have already been made.
New Zealand Foreign Affairs minister, Winston Peters, criticized the protesters during his opening speech. He said they are “trampling all over the dignity of this place”.
One of the protesters, Maire Leadbeater, from the Indonesian Human Rights Committee showed outrage at the inclusion of Indonesia's ex-foreign affairs minister Ali Alatas, at the Alliance of Civilisations symposium last week - which was the preamble for the inter-faith talks.
”Its as if they have forgotten what he has done,” Mrs Leadbeater said, “He was the spin doctor during the Dili Massacre. He never expressed regret for the killings,” said Mrs Leadbeater.
Indonesia also has a history of repression and is responsible for the killing of one third of East-Timor's population during the occupation years. It is also responsible for ongoing human right concerns with the Indonesian military in West Papua.
New Zealand this month re-opened military ties with Indonesia. Shortly after, an Indonesian military officer arrived in New Zealand for training. Military ties were severed in 1999 when - in the last months of its occupation of East Timor - Indonesia was found to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of Timorese people.
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