killing us slowly: human rights abuses and the physician who fought against them revathi ravi, msii
TRANSCRIPT
Convention Against Genocide
• “killing of members of any racial, ethnic, national or religious group because of their membership in that group
• causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group• inflicting on members of the
group conditions of life intended to destroy them…”
Chhattisgarh, India
Population:20,795,956
Economy:Billai Steel Plant
Railway ZoneAluminum Plant
National Thermal Power Corporation
Hunger
• India: 33% - BMI of less than 18.5• Scheduled Tribes: > 50%• Scheduled Castes: >60%
• Famine = 40% or more (WHO)
• Allowed for Malnutrition for Majority of Population
Chhattisgarh Government
• Push and displace the poor from this land• Place them in camps• 644 villages• 350,000 people • Andhra, Orissa• Roaming, Forests
Military Campaign
• “Aim”: Maoists
–Communist Party of India–Claim: poorest of India – Adivasis and Dalits– “Peoples” War–Method: Violence – armed struggle– Influence over poor people
Salwa Judum
• Translation: “Purification Hunt”• Armed villagers and children• Citizens “fighting the Maoists”
• Villager vs. Villager
Dr. Binayak Sen
• 1978 Central Villages in India• 1981 Chhatisgarh, Iron miner community• 1990 Adiwasi tribals
• People’s Union of Civil Liberties
Activism
• PUCL and Human Rights Organizations
• Conclusions:– Government planned– Government trained– Government funded
Government denies everything…
Charge
• Care for a Prisoner• Permission from jail superintendent and
commissioner• Direct Supervision
• Alleged with “Passing Notes”
Arrest
• Media Propaganda: Fled the country
• Visited Commissioner
• Arrested
• Increased Charges in Jail
A World Outraged
• "The fake encounters, rapes, burning of villages and displacement of adivasis [indigenous tribals] in tens of thousands and consequent loss of livelihoods have been extensively chronicled by several independent investigations. Dr Sen's arrest is clearly an attempt to intimidate PUCL and other democratic voices that have been speaking out against human rights violations in the state” – Noam Chomsky
Petition
• 22 Nobel Laureates• Former Chief Minister of Chhatisgarh• Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and
Human Rights• R.R. Keithan Gold Medal by The Indian
Academy of Social Sciences (ISSA)
• “I am been accused of waging war on the state, which is an absolute ridiculous charge, because I have never even held a gun in my hand”
• No Convictions• No real allegations
• Solitary confinement
• Deteriorating Health
• Supreme Court of India: May 2009 – No medical reasons
Today
• Ongoing Trial• Wants to go back – End of Maoist Violence– End of Government Assault– Peaceful Talks
“How can I Not…”
Inequity
“Right thinking people who are sensitive to issues of human rights, need to recognize this situation, and decide how they relate to these tendency”