Religious leaders and rights activists in  Sri Lanka have honoured prominent Catholic journalist and human rights defender Fredy Gamage who recently received Timor-Leste’s top civilian award for his remarkable contributions to its struggle for independence from Indonesia.
Gamage was hailed as a fear-less human rights defender in Timor-Leste and in his home country during a reception at the Cardinal Cooray Centre in Nego-mbo, about 40 kilometres from the capital Colombo, on Dec. 9.
Catholic priest and rights de-fender, Father Sarath Iddamalgoda, said Gamage’s commitment has persisted through decades of war, political crises, and social injustices that have plagued the island nation.
He is held in high esteem for dedicated efforts in championing the rights of north-eastern people throughout three decades of civil war in Sri Lanka, Iddamalgoda said.
Gamage organized impactful poster campaigns, such as “Tears and Fire of War,” effectively shedding light on the plight of innocent civilians caught in the conflict, he said.
“Through these campaigns, Gamage played a crucial role in informing the public about the hardships faced by minority Ta-mils, demonstrating his commitment to raising awareness about their struggles,” Iddamalgoda told the gathering.

A prominent rights group in Pakistan has expressed “considerable alarm” over the state of religious freedom in the country. The problem is especially acute for Christian and Hindu girls and young women.
Given this ever-present emergency, some prominent figures and advocacy groups made an appeal yesterday, 10 December, Human Rights Day. Celebrated around the world, the observance commemorates the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948, 75 years ago.
The appeal is addressed to Pakistan’s police, judiciary, government officials, and political leaders to enforce the law and protect those who are victims of abuse.
Many civil society groups urge the government to uphold legal and administrative safeguards to protect ethnic and religious minorities from human rights violations and abuses.
“Successive governments have introduced a legal framework and established national human rights institutions,” explained Fr Abid Tanvir, vicar general of the diocese of Faisalabad; “however, women, people with disabilities, and religious minorities are still facing discrimination and exploitation for the lack of political will and insufficient allocation of resources to institutions.”

In the realm of drug policies, the dichotomy between the recent liberalization of drugs in America and Europe and the strict, unforgiving stance in Japan unveils a stark contrast of ethical views.
While the West grapples with rising homelessness primarily fuelled by drug addiction, Japan’s stringent approach has yielded distinct outcomes, so much so that videos of Japanese subways go viral on social media for the simple reason that no drug addict ever disrupts a scene of quietness and basic civil coexistence.
The East Asian culture, particularly in Japan, stands as a testament to zero tolerance towards drug offenses, reflecting a soci-etal commitment to maintaining order and safety.
But in the Western hemisph-ere, drug-related issues, especially homelessness, are often attributed to substance abuse, particularly illicit drugs. The prime culprit is the abuse of substances like opioids, methamphetamine, and other addictive narcotics.
The resultant consequences can be witnessed in the disconcerting scenes near train stations in major capitals in Europe, where individuals, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, resort to criminal activities such as robbery or physical harassment.
Moreover, the sight of home-less individuals engaged in ghastly public acts like urination is a common sight.
“Individuals find themselves entangled in a complex web of struggles where their mental health issues exacerbate their addictive behaviours”
In my interactions with these individuals, it became evident that mental health struggles played a prime role in pushing them toward homelessness. For many, mental illness manifested itself through various addiction problems, with gambling and alcohol abuse standing out.

This week-end we mark two very significant anniversaries which are interlinked and inter-dependent and matter to the entire world. Saturday is the 75th anniversary of the Genocide Convention. On Sunday is the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Within the Asia region alone, at least two genocides are being committed right now. Both began within the past decade, both impact Muslim populations and both have been officially recognized as genocides by the US State Department as well as by parliamentarians and legal experts around the world.
They are the genocide of the Rohingyas in Myanmar and the Uyghurs in western China’s Xinjiang region. Both involve marginalization, discrimination, dehumanization, hate speech, false accusations of terrorism made against entire people groups, as well as rape, torture, the destruction of places of worship, and incarceration of large proportions of the population.
Across Asia, there are other atrocity crimes – war crimes and crimes against humanity – committed below the radar of the world’s media.
North Korea’s human rights violations were recognized a decade ago as crimes against humanity by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry into North Korea chaired by the Australian judge, Justice Michael Kirby.
In Tibet, atrocities continue and forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China, particularly Falun Gong practitioners, has been declared a crime against humanity by the China Tribunal. Indeed, that independent tribunal has declared China “a criminal state.”

A major inter-church group in Malaysia’s Christian-ma-jority Sarawak state has reje-cted an invitation to participate in a state-sponsored Christmas program after the organizers declined to replace a popular but commercial song for the celebration. The Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS) president Donald Jute said the group will not be involved in “A Christmas Carol, Sarawak in Diversity” program on Dec. 3 after the main organizer TV Sarawak (TVS) claimed it could not meet its request to replace the song Jingle Bell Rock with O Holy Night, the Malay Mail reported on Nov. 24. “The association expressed its regret that the request was not entertained by TVS,” Jute said in a letter to the Sarawak Unit for Other Religions (Uni-for), a focal body for various religious bodies to liaise and interact with state and federal agencies. The broadcaster said it rejected the request to change the song due to “religious elements” and “protocol” from the Film Censorship Board of Malaysia and the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission, he said.

A recent surge in pneumonia cases in China highlights a significant trust deficit that exists between the Chinese population and the government.
On Nov 13, a notable surge in respiratory illnesses, particularly affecting children, was reported by China’s National Health Commission. The release of its report brought back echoes of the pandemic, sparking concerns among social media users about the emergence of a “new virus from China.”
In response to these fears, the World Health Organization (WHO), which had previously criticized Beijing for a lack of transparency during the Covid pandemic, called for additional information from China.
In turn, Beijing reassured the public that “there has been no detection of any unusual or novel pathogens.”
Chinese authorities attributed the increasing cases to the lifting of Covid restrictions, the onset of the cold season, and the presence of familiar pathogens such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumonia, and SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19.
It is believed by Chinese experts to be linked to the emergence of an “immunity gap.” This gap arises from a decline in antibodies against respiratory pathogens within the general population. While the outbreak was primarily noted in the capital, Beijing, it also affected north-eastern Liaoning province and other regions in China.
“China’s approach to handling the outbreak highlighted the limitations of a tightly controlled media environment”
But was the Chinese public convinced by this explanation?

A Sri Lankan cabinet minister has accused Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of not cooperating in the ongoing probe into the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which rights activists say is making tardy progress after 55 months.
Tiran Alles, public security minister, criticized the head of the Catholic Church in the Island nation while speaking in parliament on Nov. 23.
The cardinal’s “actions were fuelling racial and religious conflicts,” Alles said.
The minister said that the probe into the 2019 bombings inside three Christian churches was nearly 90 percent complete. But the 76-year-old cardinal lacks urgency, he alleged.
Alles said 23 people are in remand in connection with the case “but the cardinal is reluctant to provide updates.”
Church sources said they have no information on the update the minister expects from the cardinal or Church officials.
“The problem needs to be solved or else the same thing will continue for another ten years,” he told lawmakers. The cardinal has been critical of the ongoing investigations and court cases, claiming that they were biased.
In September, the cardinal called for an international probe into the Easter bombings after a UK-based broadcaster claimed the country’s worst-ever terror attack was an inside job by the government.
“Cardinal Ranjith has issued letters to the authorities against various officials who follow different religions in connection with the Easter Sunday attacks,” Alles further alleged.

Sylvester and his family had no time to think before fleeing their home amid non-stop aerial bombardment and artillery shelling in the civil war-hit eastern Myanmar.
The 65-year-old quickly packed some clothes and important documents like the national registration card and left Loikaw along with his wife, son, and 91-year-old mother in a car on Nov. 14.
“We realized we can no long-er stay safe, especially due to our concern for my elderly mother,” Sylvester, who goes by a single name, told on Nov. 22.
Sylvester’s family is among an estimated 40,000 people, mostly Christians, who are said to have fled Loikaw, a town of some 51,349 residents as per the 2014 census.
Ever since the junta took power in February 2021, armed resistance has been developing against it. The junta targets Christian churches and villages, reportedly suspecting them to be hiding grounds of resistance forces.
The shelling since then destroyed several churches in eastern Kayah state (formerly Karenni) and the recent offensive also da-maged the Christ King Cathedral in Loikaw.
The latest exodus began as fighting intensified between ru-ling junta forces and armed rebel groups, including the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, over the control of Loikaw, the capital of Kayah state.
Loikaw, which serves as a nerve centre of the junta administration in the region.
became a war zone as the junta retaliated with indiscriminate air strikes and artillery shelling to keep the rebel forces, which included Christians, at bay.

A Catholic pastoral centre attached to the cathedral in Loikaw, where internally displaced people have sought refuge for months as part of the ongoing civil war, has been attacked and occupied by the Burmese army. This was reported by Bishop Celso Ba Shwe of Loikaw, the capital of Kayah State in eastern Myanmar. Even holy sites, the bishop said, were not spared from military operations, at a time when the military junta was struggling to wage war on the ground. “The Burmese army tried to take the Christ the King Cathedral complex three times,” he reports. “As a local bishop, I, together with the priests, tried to convince the military generals of the importance of the religious sites and asked them to leave the place to spare, where displaced people are also welcomed. However, on the night of November 26, the military deliberately fired artillery shells at the community centre several times, hitting the roof of the pastoral centre’s chapel. The ceiling was destroyed by artillery shells. For security reasons, “in consultation with the priests, we decided to leave the Pastoral Centre. Shortly before our departure on November 27 , 50 soldiers came and occupied the building to use it as a base and shelter.” About 300,000 people live in Kayah State, Myanmar’s smallest state, which is predominantly mountainous and inhabited primarily by the Karenni ethnic group. The Diocese of Loikaw is located here with around 93,000 Catholic believers. The Bishop’s describes the situation in the area as dramatic: “The Burmese army has used heavy weapons, combat aircraft, armoured vehicles and mobile defence systems. As a result, people in both the cities and the countryside are fleeing in different directions. Some fled to the northern part of the state or to areas of Shan State. Among the refugees were old and sick people, people with disabilities, women and some young people who, until a few days ago, were housed in the community centre in Loikaw, where around 80 have already been housed in the past few months, including 10 priests and 16 religious

The Hong Kong government has harshly rejected a petition with which ten Catholic bishops from all continents this week had asked the government of the special administrative region of Hong Kong to release the well-known pro-activist democracy – and Catholic – Jimmy Lai, who at 75 has been in prison for over 1000 days.
Lai was arrested in August 2020 thanks to the controversial “national security law”, which drastically limits freedom of speech in an attempt to suppress the pro-democracy movement. Among the harshest sanctions provided by law there is also life imprisonment for what the government considers sedi-tion, terrorism, but also damage to public transport vehicles.
The petition of the 10 Catholic bishops – Card. Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York (United States), Card. Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, Major Archbishop of Trivandrum (India) and others asked “the government of the special administrative region of Hong Kong to immediately and unconditionally release Jimmy Lai, prosecuted.
The Hong Kong government has harshly rejected a petition.