My best congratulations to the Australian Council for Human Rights Education President Zeny Edwards for the establishment of the ACHRE e-News. The second issue of e-News is attached. Worth reading – it provides a good summary of HRE recent developments in Australia.
It was sad to learn about the resignation of New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian from Parliament today. Ms Berejiklian is facing an ICAC investigation into whether she breached public trust.
In my view, Gladys has been a witness to how much migrants can achieve in Australia.
Born in 1970 as the eldest of daughters to Armenian immigrant parents, Krikor and Arsha. Her grandparents were orphaned by Turkish soldiers in the Armenian genocide in 1915. Ms Berejiklian spoke only Armenian until she was five years old, when she began learning English. She has remained involved in the Armenian-Australian community, serving a term on the Armenian National Committee of Australia.
In 2004, as Australian Human Rights Commissioner, I was privileged to be invited to address the Armenian Community at the anniversary of the Armenian genocide function in North Sydney (my speech is here 2004-04-29 NSW – Genocide Armenia to Rwanda) .
Ms Berejiklian has been a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly since 2003, representing the seat of Willoughby. She assumed office of the Premier on 23 January 2017 and won the 2019 state election. She has led our state through some of its most challenging times, from bushfires to drought, from floods to storms, and a once-in-a-century pandemic – always putting the needs of the people of NSW first.
Thank you Gladys for your decades of dedication and service to NSW. I wish you all the best for the future.
Sev Ozdowski with Gladys Berejiklian, NSW Premier
Information source: Falun Dafa Information Centre, USA
DID YOU KNOW? IN THE TRANSPLANT MARKET, THE CHINESE REGIME IS THE SOLE STATE-SANCTIONED PLAYER WITH A MURDER-FOR-PROFIT INDUSTRY. And now, China may be rewriting medical standards to entice other regimes to follow suit. This was one of many revelations presented at The World Summit on Combating and Preventing Forced Organ Harvesting international webinar, which also disclosed estimates that more than a million have died due to forced organ harvesting.
Countries that follow ethical medical procedures cannot compete: it’s cheaper and faster for patients to get organs in China. This economic reality alone could push other regimes to follow Beijing’s macabre methods.
But the world is also waking up to the CCP’s crimes. A petition campaign in 2018 addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights garnered over 3 million signatures across the globe. This month, over 400,000 viewers attended World Summit live webinar sessions. And now you also have an opportunity to refuse the CCP’s encroachment of our medical ethics by adding your signature to the Universal Declaration on Combating and Preventing Forced Organ Harvesting here.
I encourage everyone interested in human rights and, in particular, in human rights education to join this conference.
A PDF copy of the invitation is attached here.. Invitation..
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INVITATION LETTER
The XVIII International Human Rights Congress continues the work developed in its seventeen previous editions, which have always addressed topics related to philosophical, historical and legal foundations, as well as the practice of Human Rights in Brazil and other countries. This event also intends to be a privileged space for talking about new perspectives related to Human Rights, public policies and innovation in this area.
The expectation is that the event will be held between November 8 and 12, 2021, at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, completely online, being open to students, teachers, professionals and activists from social movements, with the aim of to reflect on Inequalities, DESCA and the 2030 Agenda.
For that, it will count on the collaboration of several Higher Education Institutions, including: Universidade Católica Dom Bosco – UCDB, MS, Brazil; Faculdade Estácio de Sá Campo Grande – FESCG, MS, Brazil; Universidad Complutense de Madrid – UCM, Spain; Federal University of Grande Dourados – UFGD, MS, Brazil; University of Washington, Tacoma – UW, United States; Mato Grosso do Sul College – FACSUL, MS, Brazil; State University of Mato Grosso do Sul – UEMS, MS, Brazil; Universidad de Salamanca – USAL, Spain.
The event will also count with the participation of the Public Ministry and other institutions and bodies of the state and federal Judiciary.
In view of the above, we invite you to join the International Commission for the Promotion of the XVIII IACHR. This committee will assist in publicizing the event on various social media networks and research groups, as well as in the dialogue between possible collaborators / speakers and conducting institutions, namely, Institute of Human Rights of Mato Grosso do Sul – José do Nascimento – IDHMSJN; Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul – UFMS; and Catholic University Dom Bosco – UCDB.
Certain of counting on your collaboration, we put ourselves at your disposal and thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
Rosângela Kato Getulio Raimundo Lima Ynes da Silva Félix President
of IDHMS.JN Standing Committee on CIDH Organizing Committee of XVIII CIDH
Go to the AUDIO section to listen to prof Sev Ozdowski’s interview with Ms Dorota Banasiak (Producer, Radio SBS Polish Program).
On 13 August 2021 The Epoch Times newspaper has published an article by Daniel Teng about my USA Human Rights award from Friends of Falun Gong. Please see the link below.
On 16 July 2021, I was presented with the 2021 Friends of Falun Gong Human Rights Award in Washington DC. I regret that because of COVIS-19 Sydney lockdown I was not able to travel to Washington DC to receive the award in person. For my address delivered at the award ceremony see: 2021-07-18 The 2021 Friends of Falun Gong Human Rights Award, Washington DC, 16 July 2021, Statement by Prof Sev Ozdowski, | Dr Sev Ozdowski AM
Enclosed is the photo of the Human Rights Trophy that arrived in Sydney today. It is a beautifully hand-crafted piece of art that was manufactured at a jewellery factory in New York City. Enclosed is a short documentary about the factory that crafted this beautiful trophy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX-Rxz0egiw&lc=Ugy2cPNVzeCuTP8n1uV4AaABAg
Thank you to all who helped with the acknowledgement of my work to advance human rights in China. The Trophy will be displayed in a very prominent place.
On Friday 30 July Prof. Sev Ozdowski AM, Chair, Australian Multicultural Foundation and former Australian Human Rights Commissioner took part together with Prof. the Honourable Bob Carr, former Premier of New South Wales (1995 to 2005) and former Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs in a dialogue organised in recognition of the International Day of Friendship titled ‘International Friendship and Multilateralism’.
The discussion was moderated by Ms Lissa McMillan, the former ABC and SBS journalist. The webinar was hosted by Mr Ahmet Polat, Executive Director, Affinity Intercultural Foundation and Dr Patricia Jenkings, President, NSW Branch, the United Nations Association of Australia. Closing remarks were offered by Affinity Advisory Board member, Mr Richard Broinowski AM.
The discussion covered a range of issues impacting on the current state of multilateralism and on the promotion of dialogue among civilizations, countries, cultures and individuals. The contemporary approach to multilateralism by China, Russia and the USA were discussed.
Here is the link to the webinar’s live stream video event:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/98etjoxti10mo3q/AACGvEKTXIgC0Hv-QfdLqtLqa?dl=0
Alternatively watch on:
YouTube: https://youtu.be/G9YJWNAXmis
Facebook: https://fb.watch/777tHWFbEQ/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Affinity_IF/status/1421034003537096706?s=20
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/affinity-intercultural-foundation_international-friendship-day-international-activity-6827790338208485376-IElj
Since the communist takeover of China in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party has mounted regular anti-religious campaigns and actively prosecutes religious minorities such as Tibetan, Uyghur, Muslims and Christian communities.
22 years ago, on July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party has launched a brutal campaign to eliminate Falun Gong spiritual movement. Today, after 22 years, this brutal repression continues. Since 1999 millions of Falun Gong practitioners have been imprisoned, tortured, or killed, including by criminal harvesting of their organs for illicit transplantation.
If you are interested in finding more about the prosecution of the Falun Gong movement see a video, about 3 mins, that includes video messages from Senators Eric Abetz, Connie Fierravanti – Wells and Professor David Flint: https://www.facebook.com/falungongnsw/videos/335934784746893/ See also, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China #IPAC statement that was published on Twitter https://twitter.com/ipacglobal/status/1417244104619171846/photo/1 and an article by John Deller published in Epoch Times : https://www.theepochtimes.com/20-july-anniversary-of-a-persecution-targeting-the-world_3907953.html
History tells us that the persecution of religious and minority groups by a state leads only to one result; the submission of the state to the will of the people. I hope that in the not-too-distant future, Chinese people will be able to practice their religion in freedom again.