Case 10-2015: Argentina

REPORT ON CASE of MALDONADO

 

On September 7th, 2017 the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights reports on the possible enforced disappearance of Santiago Maldonado, member of the direct action group called Ancestral Mapuche Resistance (Resistencia Ancestral Mapuche or RAM). After analyzing the allegations on the part of witnesses and relatives of the disappeared person, and after the analysis of the behavior of the Argentine State, the Buddhist Tribunal concludes that the human rights to life and integrity of Santiago Maldonado have been violated, as since August 1st, 2017 the only information regarding his fate or whereabouts are testimonies of witnesses who saw the abduction, as well as information coming from classified reports talking about Maldonado’s death at the hands of Argentine National Gendarmerie forces, which would have acted with violence after the orders from both representatives of the Executive Branch and Judge Otranto.

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights only takes into consideration the reports of witnesses who saw the alleged forced disappearance of Santiago Maldonado, being beaten and abducted by the Argentine Gendarmerie. It is also taken into account the fact that Pablo Nocetti, head of the Cabinet of the Argentine Ministry of Security, had announced that all members of the Mapuche group were going to be suppressed and detained.

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights affirms that the Argentine Government for several weeks was denying the forced disappearance of Santiago Maldonado in spite of testimonial evidence, providing support to the security forces of the Argentine Gendarmerie that were responsible for the repression and refusing to investigate them. This act is consistent with the denialism attitude of the Argentine Government of President Macri, while several of its officials have made statements denying the plan of genocide and crimes against humanity during the last military dictatorship.

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights provides ethical support to the courageous actions of Prosecutor Delgado, who has decided to investigate the Argentine Government for the crime of Cover up the forced disappearance of Santiago Maldonado.

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights perceives that the Argentine Government has violently repressed a march that called for the appearance of Santiago Maldonado, coming to the point to illegally detain of dozens of demonstrators, which constitutes a new human rights violation.

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights states that the systematic and widespread pattern of human rights violations by the Argentine Government, especially violations in the justice system and in relation to tribal and aboriginal peoples, shows that the situation of the country has not changed at all, so that the illegal behavior of former President Cristina Kirchner is similar to the behavior of the current Argentine President Mauricio Macri, which is due to the fact that both are different expressions of populist governments.

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights asks the Argentine Nation to adopt the necessary measures so that its governors, whether they are presidents, judges or legislators, not only reveal the Truth about what happened to the life of Santiago Maldonado, but that they also assume the commitment to respect the human rights of every citizen of the country.

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights condemns any act of violence damaging the physical integrity of any person, simultaneously recognizing that the individual and collective human rights guaranteed by instruments of International Law of the Mapuche Community and the rest of the Aboriginal Peoples are not being respected, thus suffering genocides and crimes against humanity that have remained unpunished for hundreds of years.

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights states that the Mapuche People is being persecuted violently in Chile, so it is ordered to start an investigation to the Chilean government for possible violations of the human rights of tribal communities.

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights is an autonomous body that responds both to the legal system of the Buddhist Nation and also has the mandate to respect the fundamental freedoms and the natural rights of all sentient beings of the planet, acting as an organ of ethical supervision in the world.

 

Always with spirit of Reconciliation (Maitri),

H.E. Master Maitreya Samyaksambuddha

President and Spiritual Judge of the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights

Case 10/2015: Argentina

LEGAL WARNING TO NOAM CHOMSKY

Dear Mr. Noam Chomsky, as a result of your critical statement on the neo-liberal policies of President Macri of the Argentine government, the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights has a duty to show you that, although such President has increased the levels of poverty, inflation, unemployment and salary claims, your statement is deeply superficial and incorrect because it fails to criticize the government of former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who has carried out the most corrupt government in the history of Argentina. In addition to incur this dualism, your statement expresses “full solidarity” towards Cristina Fernández de Kirchner for allegedly being suffering “an increasingly pronounced judicial-communicational attack”.

Although it is interesting and even advisable for philosophers and thinkers to have social commitment, it is also true that this social commitment must be carried out with professionalism and knowledge; otherwise every thinker is at risk of endorsing corrupt leaders as you did. In addition of being the most corrupt government in Argentine history, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner made serious violations of human rights, since she violated the collective rights of the tribal-indigenous peoples of Argentina in a systematic and generalized way. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has also violated human rights by covering up the former Army chief involved in crimes of torture, kidnapping and forced disappearance of people during the military dictatorship. This covering-up pattern of Human Rights Violations carried out by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was evident during the magnicide of Prosecutor Nisman, who was assassinated a few days after denouncing the former Argentine President precisely because of covering-up of terrorists. Following the serious cover-up of the murder of Prosecutor Nisman, that episode has remained unpunished in the Argentine criminal justice system.

All this shows that your support for former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is an example of the dangers of ignorance. Yet, the economic policies of the current President Macri are obviously disastrous and greatly harm the Argentine people, however this fact does not endorse in any way to incur the dualism of supporting populism and crimes against humanity committed by Cristina Kirchner.

Since you are a prestigious thinker, by means of this Legal Notice we require you to refrain from making any kind of endorsement or support to those who have violated Human Rights. You have the doors open to learn from the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights whenever you need a deep ethical opinion on international legal issues.

With spirit of reconciliation (maitri),

Master Maitreya Samyaksambuddha

President and Spiritual Judge of the International Buddhist Ethics Committee (IBEC) & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights (BTHR)

 

 

 

Case 10-2015: Argentina

 

Legal Requirement to Ravi Shankar

March 17th, 2017

The International Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights exhorts Mr. Ravi Shankar to immediately abstain from issuing positions that are contrary to Buddhist Ethics and which are complicit in Human Rights violations.

This requirement arises from compliments that in the context of the World Happiness Summit Mr. Ravi Shankar has issued in favor of Argentine President Macri, whom he considers to have “a progressive global perspective.” Such claims legitimize a government that is conducting human rights violations, as has been demonstrated in the many jurisprudential developments carried out by the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights. Among the most recent human rights violations carried out by this government there are Genocide Denial, and there are also persecutions against teachers who are accused of wanting to destabilize the country. In fact, unlike what Ravi Shankar asserts, there is no progressive global perspective in Argentina, nor is a change taking place, but rather populism still remains. In this case, unlike the left-wing populism of former President Cristina Kirchner, President Macri is carrying out right-wing populism in favor of the upper classes and without any will to solve the country’s great problems, such as social injustice and impunity. In fact, contrary to Mr. Shankar’s assertion, President Macri is not “doing a good job”, since the beginning of his term, the number of poverty has increased to 1.5 million poor people while the government announced its “zero poverty” project. In addition, given the fact that Mr. Shankar has signed an agreement with Mauricio Macri in 2008, there is clearly a conflict of interests, so that any ethical evaluation that Mr. Shankar can make will be tinged with personal interests.

Despite the fact that Mr. Shankar has also stated that he wishes to “see the world as one family” where cultures and religions meet “in harmony”, the complicity with human rights violations is completely contradictory to the discourse he verbally transmits. This kind of spiritual self-contradiction is also perceptible in his vision of billionaires obsessed with money and luxury cars, about whom Mr. Shankar thinks “it’s okay they have it while having a big smile, heart for them and others”.  In a world where more than half of humankind lacks food and drinkable water, only impostors who receive multi-million dollar donations are in favor of social injustice and the crimes of capitalism.

In case that Mr. Ravi Shankar does not refrain from continuing with these statements, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights will investigate him for violations of Buddhist Ethics and also for Complicity with Human Rights violations.

 

Kind regards, with spirit of reconciliation (maitri),

Master Maitreya Samyaksambuddha

President of the International Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights

 

 

 

PRONOUNCEMENT on Lack of Judicial Protection

March 4, 2017

First of all, Mauricio Macri, the President of the current Argentine government, during the electoral campaign promised to support and to strengthen the teaching work. A year after assuming the role of President not only has not fulfilled that promise, but he has decided to fight unions which defend the rights of all teachers in Argentina. The case of the teachers’ unionist called Baradel is very particular, because in spite of having assigned police custody – due to the death threats that his family receives -, in a speech addressed to the country, President Macri has affirmed that Mr. Baradel “doesn’t need anybody who cares for him”. In this way, the highest authority of the Argentine State is contrary to the basic judicial protection required by a teacher threatened with death, violating the right to justice and peace that every human being has. The main consequence of this public discourse is the explicit evidence of the treatment of the Argentine State toward teachers who demand a decent wage, but there is also an explicit evidence of the contempt and lack of judicial protection received by millions of citizens before a legal system based on Impunity and the protection of the powerful. Other decisions of the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights on the Case Argentina have shown that the Argentine government has failed to protect the essential rights of the International Temple World Association of Buddhism, leaving its leaders in a state of complete lack of protection against repeated death threats and violent attacks. Now, if the Argentine State considers a teacher threatened with death does not need anyone to take care of him, one might wonder how the State then defends Buddhist masters or even ordinary citizens. In this way, it is evident that the only ones that are protected judicially by the Argentine State are the powerful individuals. This situation of Lack of Judicial protection towards the population and situation of Impunity in favor of a powerful elite absolutely violates the standards of the universal system of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms that demand equality before the law.

Second, the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights continues to denounce the hundreds of murder cases of women that occur year after year, many of which occur after denunciations before the judicial system, which shows that the Argentine State provides lack of judicial protection to the woman.

Thirdly, the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights takes the decision about the detention of the parliamentarian Milagro Sala, who was arbitrarily detained by a protest before a local governor of Argentina. This detention is arbitrary because social protest should never be criminalized, since every citizen has the right to demonstrate peacefully. The protection of the right to freedom of expression is of vital importance. Milagro Sala has been held in prison following serious accusations such as death threats, illicit association and extortion; all of these crimes have been committed with the permission and complicity of the former Argentine government of Cristina Kirchner, so that while the Former President Cristina Kirchner runs free, the arrest of Milagro Sala will undoubtedly be being arbitrary. Now, when a new local governor who was confronted with this parliamentarian entering office, the judiciary automatically decided to advance allegations of episodes that had been maintained with impunity during the previous government, demonstrating once again that justice protects only those who are inside of the highest spheres of Power. It is shameful the fact that justice investigates death threats only when they are addressed to governors or presidents, whereas when death threats are directed towards humble teachers or citizens there is no judicial protection. It is the State’s role to guarantee the full exercise of the human right to peace and justice for all citizens, including the criminals themselves. In addition, arrest and imprisonment are not measures that solve problems, since more powerful effects can be maintained through large economic sanctions against the accused ones, along with other restorative justice measures. The judicial system must be purified so that it no longer responds solely to the needs of the powerful and then begins to protect and care for all citizens, especially the teachers, who have the social function to educate the generations of the present and future. The delays and shortcomings of the rule of Law are a situation that requires initiating not a mere change of government, but rather a transformation and democratization of all the Powers of the Argentine State, which is vitiated by systemic corruption.

Fourthly, the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights again insists that the police and the prison system in Argentina commit crimes against humanity, since cases of torture, abuse and arbitrary prolonged detention are systematic or generalized. Corruption of the security forces is obviously linked to judicial inefficiency and corrupt practices of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Powers.

Fifthly, the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights again denounces the Argentine political party called “Peronism” for another crime against humanity that went unpunished, because in addition to the genocide against an indigenous people occurred during the first presidency of Perón, during his second presidency, it was created an extreme right-wing paramilitary group called “Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (AAA)”, which was responsible for hundreds of murders.

All of these five points show that those who do not belong or are not allied with the governing Power, as is the case with teachers, women, opponents, prisoners, aborigines and revolutionaries, are always juridically unprotected in Argentina, while the powerful ones who corrupt the integrity of the country enjoy impunity. This is the major vicious circle (karma) of this great Nation.

 

Master Maitreya

President of Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights

 

Official Statement on Responsibilities of the Argentine Government

On February 11, 2017, the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights decided to carry out a reorganization of the crimes for which the Argentine government and its President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner were sentenced as “Responsible” in order to better clarify the judged criminal actions, keeping the lower charges as evidence of the higher charges. In accordance with this Official Statement, it is recognized the “Responsibility” of the Argentine Government and the former President Cristina Kirchner in the following crimes:

• Crimes against Humanity
• Human Rights Violations
• Violation of the Rights of Tribal Peoples
• Ecocide
• Corruption

The charge of Crimes against Humanity has been amply demonstrated by the evidences of an alliance with the State of Iran to conspire and cover up those responsible for terrorist attacks in Argentina, in addition to carry out a magnicide against the Prosecutor who denounced this cover-up. It is also included in these crimes against humanity the complicity with drug trafficking and human trafficking, which maintain a market for sexual slavery, as well as sustaining a police system of violent repression, abuses, torture and inhuman prison treatment from the State.

The charge of Human Rights Violations has been amply demonstrated by the fact of making threats, illegal espionage, attacks on freedom of expression, violations of women’s rights and religious discrimination, in addition of establishing a non-independent judicial system where impunity and injustice are guaranteed for the powerful people in a systematic and widespread way.

The charge of Violations of the Rights of Tribal Peoples, previously defined as Aboriginal Exclusion, is accompanied and interrelated with ample evidence of violations of the rights of the child, such as child malnutrition and health abandonment.

The charge of Ecocide is totally justifiable because the Argentine government is responsible for the constant depredation of numerous forest ecosystems.

The charge of Corruption is the crime most demonstrated in the case, because the Argentine government have generated a social system plenty of insecurity and poverty at the same time that the officials enriched themselves grossly and with impunity, performing acts of abuse of power, failure to comply with the duties of a public servant, money laundering, fraud, manipulation of students and pornography, influence peddling and incompatible negotiations, negligence, scams, political cronyism, authoritarianism and fascism.

On the other hand, it is essential to point out that these charges alluded to former President Cristina Kirchner are crimes that the current Argentine Presidency of Mauricio Macri is also carrying out, where there have also been cases of corruption, ecocide, violation of the rights of tribal peoples and violations of human rights. Moreover, the police system responsible for crimes against humanity has still persisted. In this sense, the only real advance by the current Argentine government of Macri appears to be the annulment of the cover-up regarding Iran for its terrorist acts and the alleged commitment to investigate the assassination of Prosecutor Nisman. However, the current Argentine government has decided to cover up crimes against humanity committed by its current Chancellor Susana Malcorra, who was Assistant of Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of UN, an organization “Responsible” for numerous genocidal acts that have been judged by the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights.

Argentina may have become the most important country in the world, because it has all the human and natural resources to achieve it, although its political and military leaders have been responsible for destroying and devastating all its wealth for nearly 90 years, violently blocking the emergence of a genuine revolutionary government that democratically represents the people, who are systematically and widespreadly deceived and manipulated by their governors.

Finally, the defenders of Human Rights, of Fundamental Freedoms and Ethics are the key players for the renewal and development of democracies, seeking peace and justice along with the advancement of education and health. The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights, as a free and independent organization, will continue to provide a pathway of defense of political, economic, cultural and environmental rights, defying governments in power and rejecting any reprisals by corporations oppressing society from the shadows.

Master Maitreya

President

MANIFESTO on Peronist Movement

 

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights, defender of the rights of global citizenship and of all beings of Mother Earth, exercising the cultural sovereignty emanating from the Buddhist Peoples and Spiritual Communities, is perfectly aware of the situation of poverty and oppression in which most of the Tribal populations of the world are living, and these people have suffered the total or partial loss of their political, economic, legal and environmental means;

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights has a universal ethical vocation, so that all humanity needs to become aware of the terrible situation that tribal peoples from all continents have suffered and still are suffering it, because they have historically suffered genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes of against humanity;

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights, at the special moment in which the world seems to be inclined toward populist regimes,  is communicating with the Argentine Republic in order to analyze the legal situation of the Peronist Movement, which was structurally populist and authoritarian, from the perspective of the International Law;

It is stated that the Peronist political movement created by the general Juan Domingo Perón was accomplice of Nazism, and that, after the Second World War, it converted the Argentine Republic into a refuge of Nazis.

It is stated that the Peronist movement has covered up terrorist attacks on Argentine soil against the Jewish community.

It is stated that the Peronist movement is responsible for the assassination of prosecutor Nisman, who had denounced the complicity of the Argentine government with the Iranian government for ensuring impunity concerning the above mentioned attacks.

It is stated that the Peronist movement has been the most corrupt form of government in the history of the Argentine Republic, using poor people with populist electoral demagogues.

It is stated that the Peronist movement has used thousands of individuals from tribal peoples as slave laborers, who lived in conditions of exploitation by the State, private companies and the Catholic Church.

It is stated that the Peronist movement on day October 10, 1947, during the Perón administration, was an unjust and immoral order that committed crimes against humanity during three weeks in the province of Formosa, by carrying out a real persecution and genocide against the Pilagá tribal people, killing more than a thousand people with war weaponry such as machine guns and combat aircraft, because this peaceful people refused to be subjected to conditions of forced labor.

It is stated that the basic human rights of the Pilagá people were violated and even the survivors were persecuted in order that there were no witnesses, in a historical episode that has passed almost unnoticed by the entire population of the country thanks to the complicit silence of politicians, journalists and the Catholic Church, who did not denounce the fact.

It is stated that in the genocide carried out by the Peronist movement, hundreds of children, unarmed men and elderly individuals were persecuted and murdered, young women and girls were raped; accesses to rivers were cut off, corpses were burned and buried in mass graves.

It is stated that this genocide carried out by the Peronist movement was in line with previous military episodes, such as the terrible Napalpí massacre in 1924 against the Toba People.

It is stated that the genocide carried out by the Peronist movement has a colonialist trait similar to that of the conquest of the desert performed in Argentina in 19th century by General Roca against all tribal peoples, where there were concentration camps, shootings, mass murders, slavery and stealing of babies.

It is stated that these episodes have remained unpunished due to the complicity of the military, judges and Peronist governments of the 20th and 21th centuries.

It is stated that most of the judicial cases in the province of Formosa are carried out against tribal peoples, who continue to be persecuted, criminalized and imprisoned.

It is required the deep investigation into the massacres suffered by the Pilagá and Toba Peoples.

It is required that this sad episode of the Argentine Republic is taught in history books, being the biggest betrayal against the patriotic dreams of Argentine heroes such as Belgrano, San Martin and Güemes.

It is required the immediate adoption of legal measures that bring justice to the families of tribal peoples who have suffered genocidal acts by the Peronist movement and other governments.

It is required the urgent implementation of humanitarian assistance for tribal peoples living in marginalization, malnutrition, disease and discrimination, contributing to the well-being and sustainable development of these indigenous peoples.

It is required the compliance with the 169 Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (ILO), and also with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

It is required the destruction of the statue made in honor of President Peron, since this statue constitutes disrespect for the memory and spiritual integrity of tribal peoples.

It is required the political proscription of the Peronist movement for being a fascist and genocidal regime.

On December 10, 2016, the present Manifesto on the Peronist Movement is expressed as a contribution to a more peaceful, just, educated and healthy world.

 

Case 10-2015: Argentina

 

Proclamation on Immigration

August 30, 2016

The International Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights,

Whereas on September 1, 2016 the Argentine Government has decided to set up a detention center for immigrants, which is undoubtedly a prison for foreigners, whose transfer and custody will be carried out by federal police as a preliminary stage to deportation;

Recalling that this fact is a significant political downturn of the Argentine Government concerning human rights, because not only violates local immigration laws and international human rights instruments, but it also comes back to the old policy of the last military dictatorship, whose perspective was to restrict, persecute and criminalize immigration, carrying out illegal detention centers where the guarantees of criminal law and due process are often violated;

Aware that this persecutory policy is a radical change of direction on the part of Argentina in compliance with human rights of immigrants, which is framed in an illegal worldwide climate in which superpowers are led by a xenophobic and anti-immigration vision by considering immigrants not only as suspects and offenders, but also as a scapegoat for unemployment and poverty, as in the case of the European Union and the United States, the latter being a country where half of the migrant detainees of the world are, instead of helping them access better living conditions;

Deeply concerned because this punitive action of the Argentine Government to seek to detain immigrants rather than help them to regularize their situation is a contradiction to its public manifestation of an alleged governmental good willingness in receiving immigrants and refugees coming from Syria;

Deploring the criminalization of immigration, which not only is in rebellion against international Human Rights treaties, but also violates the Preamble of the Argentine Constitution, where the blessings of Liberty to ourselves, to our posterity, and to all men in the world who wish to dwell on Argentine soil are safeguarded;

Analyzing that the international Human Rights conventions that Argentina has signed are clearly aimed at considering police detention and arbitrary imprisonment by way of punishment or as deterrence purposes for political reasons of immigration control constitute an attack against the right to freedom and it criminalizes the right to free movement of immigrants;

Considering that the Argentine immigration law enables detention only as a last resort, after a judicial order for expulsion, after the immigrant would be granted with the possibility of regularization, due that his detention involves the criminalization of migrants, associating them with a security problem;

Examining that the right to emigrate and to live peacefully in another country is part of the Human Right to Peace, as is established by the Santiago Declaration of 2010, so that immigrants and refugees are human beings free to decide where they wish to live, reason by which State powers should not interfere with said willingness except in those cases where an immigrant is a real threat to the safety and welfare of society;

Considering that the States should move from a paradigm of the right to fight and expel to a paradigm of the human right to migration, which is neither a problem of national security nor of public order, being rather an essential form of social relationship with the neighboring countries of the region;

Affirming that while States have the right to regulate the entry, stay and departure of foreigners in their country, certainly have no right to criminalization, detention and systematic expulsion of immigrants because it is an action that encourages discrimination, xenophobia and racism;

Showing concern about the fact that while the previous government of Argentina manipulated the emblem of human rights, instead, the current government shows disregard for a deep policy in this field, which is evident in its indifference to know precisely what was the true number of people killed by the Argentine State during the last military dictatorship;

Reaffirming that the discriminatory treatment that the Argentine government provides to immigrants has also been carried out against Aboriginal communities and tribal peoples in the country, including the systematical religious discrimination against the International Temple know as World Association of Buddhism, unprotecting it with impunity facing violent attacks, while the Catholic Church is subsidized by the State with millionaire funds even though it has systematically committed sexual abuses and has also been complicit in genocide and crimes against humanity during Argentina’s last military dictatorship;

1. It is expressed absolute solidarity with the status of immigrants and refugees, since the members of the Buddhic People are citizens of the world, without attachment to any nationality;
2. It is declared that the Argentine government is violating the existing national laws on Migration as well as the international commitments undertaken by the country, representing a break point or step backwards in Argentine migratory policy, since Law 25871 regulated in 2010 was worldwide recognized as a model for its promotion on the human right to migrate instead of prioritizing control, combat and migratory restriction;
3. It is issued an order to investigate the European Union for having decided to make arrests and mass deportations of immigrants and refugees, which violates international human rights treaties, constituting a crime against humanity to be analyzed within the framework of ethical judgments of Buddhist Law;
4. It is manifested that immigrants are human beings with full civil rights and an intrinsic Liberty that States must respect and maintain;
5. It stated that immigrants should be able to become citizens of the countries where they wish to live, provided they refrain from all forms of violence and want a life full of peace, labor, education and health;
6. The false association between migration and crime is condemned, not only for being a political perspective that leads to negative effects such as discrimination, but also because immigration entails a host of positive contributions to societies;
7. It is confirmed that restrictive and controlling migration policies are ineffective, because do not solve the causes of immigration, so it is more right and proper moving toward a policy of protection of Human Rights to migrate, to be integrated and to be included;
8. It is established that rich countries have the duty to help the poor countries in order that their populations do not flee from war, poverty, ignorance and pollution;
9. This ethical Proclamation is invoked as an act of justice against violations of the Constitution and Human Rights by the Argentine State, the United States and the European Community;
10. It is impugned the fact that the Argentine government does not belie the hundreds of newspaper articles describing the president’s actions as “Buddhist” or “Zen”, which implies a superficial, capitalistic and perverse use of Spirituality;
11. It is remembered the ethical spirit of the Buddhic People in the Saffron Revolution of Myanmar, by requesting four petitions to the Argentine Government: that it make an appropriate apology to the World Association of Buddhism for the impunity of attacks received; the annulment of increases of taxes and services for those living in poverty and extreme poverty; that it prohibits the creation of detention centers in Argentina and the South American region; that it promotes unity and reconciliation of all social sectors of Argentina in order to seek peace, social justice, knowledge and ecology;

Written in Costa Bonita, Argentina, two thousand and six hundred years after the foundation and independence of the Buddhist People.

President: Buddhist Master Maitreya

Resolution of case No. 10-2015: Argentine Government

Wednesday June 1, 2016

 

The International Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights,

Recalling the principles of Buddhist Law, the human rights and fundamental freedoms established by tribal and international instruments such as the ancient legal code (Vinaya) adopted by the spiritual commune (sangha) and the 169th Convention of the International Labour Organization (ILO) concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, approved by Argentina on April 7, 1992 through the National Law No. 24.071 and subsequently ratified in Geneva on July 3, 2000;

Whereas the Buddhist people is a tribal spiritual community, so that it does not only have individual human rights but also collective human rights, including political, economic, cultural and environmental rights without any discrimination;

Aware that the Buddhist people has a spiritual distinction with regard to the rest of the population of countries, such as cultural autonomy, and that it is because it is a tribal and native-Asiatic community with thousands of years of history of evolution of its ancestral knowledge and practices;

Profoundly worried about the situation of marginalization and social exclusion suffered by tribal peoples in Argentina, including violations of their human rights and fundamental freedoms, such as malnutrition, extreme poverty, pollution of natural resources and the expropriation of their lands, these situations being evidences of the indifference from State and cultural suppression of their traditions;

Deploring hunger-related deaths of hundreds of children from tribal peoples as a result of such practices of state discrimination;

Recalling that tribal peoples from Argentina have reached this situation of oppression and alienation from genocides and ethnic cleansings that occurred in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and which have never received any compensation for such suffering;

Taking into consideration that in Argentina the Catholic Church is an institution greatly benefited by the State, receiving political power, economic backgrounds and cultural spaces, even though said entity has contributed directly and indirectly to Argentina’s military dictatorship responsible for crimes against humanity;

Examining that the Catholic Church has been internationally denounced for perpetrating and conceal hundreds of thousands of worldwide cases of sexual abuses of underage youth, and that such a situation has not changed substantially;

Considering that the Catholic Church receives salaries coming from the Argentine State to its religious officials, which turns it virtually into an illegitimate Fourth Power and contrary to the democratic system and the republican separation between State and religion, reason why the laws 21745 and 21950 have been declared as unconstitutional and discriminatory, such as it has been notified to the Governor of Buenos Aires and the Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cult through an Opinion of the Buddhist Tribunal of Human Rights dated on April 25, 2016;

Reaffirming the ethical Judgment of the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights of December, 2015 against the Government of Argentina and its former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner for crimes against humanity, religious discrimination and Aboriginal exclusion, among others;

Showing consternation both for the enormous poverty and injustice in Argentina, as well as for the fact that the current president of that country has signed Article 1 of Decree 711 where it is allocated more than 16 million for administrative expenditure of the Fundación Pía Autónoma de Derecho Pontificio Scholas, a Catholic organization linked to the Vatican, the latter being a State that receives hundreds of millions of dollars from donations from around the world every day, even though it has been internationally denounced that these funds are not mainly used for humanitarian purposes;

1. Affirms that Buddhist Law is the most ancient customary juridical institution of defense of human rights, by protecting the inherent dignity of life, like the human right to peace and to a healthy environment, in order to build a global civilization governed by the Law.
2. It calls for the fulfillment of human rights and fundamental freedoms of tribal people, especially of Buddhist communities and their distinctive spiritual lifestyle based on self-determination and liberty.
3. It expresses the hope that the tribal peoples of Latin America recover their physical integrity, mental development and their spiritual evolution, fulfilling the dream of the Argentine hero Manuel Belgrano.
4. States that the different governments of Argentine Republic have ruled in favor of the powerful ones, the rich, successful and relatives, systematically incurring corruption and impunity, instead of governing for the general welfare of society.
5. Solemnly establishes that every law or decree of the Argentine government which attempts against the equality and non-discrimination must be denounced by the Buddhist Ethics at an international level.
6. Declares the laws and decrees of the Argentine Government such as laws 21745 and 21950 and Article 1 of Decree 711 as illegal, among others, which have been established to partially and discriminatorily favor the Catholic Church, by continuing to violate the equality rights that have religious minorities and tribal people who inhabit the country, which have the human right to have access to the same benefits.
7. Condemns the interference in other countries’ internal affairs which is usually carried out by the Vatican State, especially in its daily communications with Argentine officials in the executive, legislative and judicial Powers.
8. Appeals to the compassionate wisdom lying potentially hidden in the Argentine Presidency in order that makes Buddhism appropriately, by means of an exemplary, righteous and unselfish lifestyle, by correcting with humility and effectiveness the serious errors denounced in this Declaration, in order to be capable of following the ethics of detachment, the path of reconciliation and the practice of solidarity developed by masters Gautama and Jesus in the world.

 

ACT ON MALCORRA

Dear Susana Mabel Malcorra, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cult of the Argentine Republic,

Through this Act, on May 16, 2016, we communicate with you to make an International Repudiation regarding your candidacy as UN Secretary General. This is because under your mandate in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cult you have done absolutely nothing to remedy discriminatory conditions found in said Secretariat of Cult, by keeping unconstitutional laws which maintain the Catholic Church as a virtual fourth power of Argentina. Such laws (laws 21745 and 21950) have been duly declared as unconstitutional and discriminatory according to an official Opinion of the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights dated on April 25, 2016 in its communication to the Ministry of Justice of the Province of Buenos Aires, of which it is annexed copy to the present letter. In the same Opinion it makes clear that “indifference to this Opinion by the highest authorities of the Government of Buenos Aires, the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Presidency of the Nation, would constitute an act of complicity with the discriminatory and unconstitutional actions that have been analyzed in due time.”

Moreover, we want to point out that our Buddhist Temple has experienced the discriminatory treatment of said Secretariat of Cult, which refused to register it some years ago, something that has not been corrected by your mandate, by giving us no kind of support even though we are one of the most important Buddhist and tribal institutions in the world.

In conclusion, we request an immediate appropriate action on your part that corrects the current discriminatory order, either by eliminating the economic and political benefits to the Catholic Church in Argentina that is providing the same rights and opportunities to other religious communities without any discrimination. It would be ethical and legitimate that the funds used to fund the Catholic Church, which depends on the Vatican State, are properly used to help the millions of poor and not those who hold wealth and power.

 

Always with a reconciling spirit,

Buddhist Master Maitreya

President of the International Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights

Legal opinion on case No. 10-2015: Argentine Republic

Monday, 25 April, 2016

As a result of the brief presented by Ms. Silvia G. Pradelli, Director of Criminal Records and Constitutional Guarantees of the Ministry of Justice  – Province of Buenos Aires, dated on April 12, 2016, it will be determined then whether the facts exposed constitute a discriminatory act or unconstitutional conduct in terms of Buddhist Tribal Law and International Law of Human Rights, by performing an analysis of the possibly illegal actions by the Judicial Power which are made by the relevant ethical opinion.

 

Description of the Case

In the brief by Ms. Silvia G. Pradelli, on behalf of the Government of Buenos Aires, it is detailed that the Correctional Court 1 of Necochea processed the IPP No. 110003787/13 and 110004131/14, by informing that said Court ordered the “suspension of the trial for one year, having been complied the figure of probation in both cases, the complainants not having been appeared to audiences to which they were cited, and not having been appealed the measures taken.”

The International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights have placed full record that these actions committed by the Court constitute unlawful acts that violate the fundamental freedoms of the members of our community, in breach of international human rights treaties that have constitutional status in Argentina. Below a series of points are detailed showing the unlawful conduct of the Court:

1. A week before the supposed beginning of trial, in 2015, our institution filed a criminal complaint for Abuse of authority and Violation of the duties of public officials against Ms. Eugenia Salgado and Ms. Eugenia Quagliaroli, respective criminal instructor and prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office UFI No. 1, which would be the true cause of the suspension of the trial.
2. In the same complaint filed in the Court a series of illegal procedures by the Judicial Power are detailed, also being carried out a petition which consists of eleven points that were ignored by who is in charge of the Correctional Court No. 1 of Necochea.
3. Attached to the complaint it was also presented a written Statement, so it is a lie that the complainants have not appeared. Complainants have also personally attended several times to say that they were not agreed with the probation, because the fact denounced was about an attempted murder with repeated death threats.
4. Regarding the “measures taken” by the Court, to date no notification has being received, the letter from Mrs. Pradelli being the first news received on the issue.

This list of facts shows precisely the mistreatment given to the complainants, which constitutes an act deeply discriminatory that the Ministry of Justice of Argentina is required to comply and resolve it as soon as possible. About the above acts, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights proceeds to issue the following ethical legal opinion.

 

Preliminary Warning

Basically, it should be defined the field of competence of the International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights at the moment of performing the present opinion, which is dedicated to determine the existence or not of acts that violate Buddhist ethics, but also to analyze conducts that violate human rights, establishing ways of actions corresponding within the legal framework of Buddhist Tribal Law. It should also be noted that legal procedures carried out are ethical and spiritual activities characteristic of the system of self-government of Buddhist communes, which are entitled to maintain their political, economic, educational, religious and legal institutions, as noted by the International Law. The special and universal jurisdiction of the International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights has the rights to develop and maintain the institutional structures of Buddhist people and its distinctive traditions, procedures and legal practices, simultaneously adhering to internationally recognized standards, such as International Declarations, Covenants and Conventions on Human Rights, especially emphasizing the “169th Convention of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples” of 1989. Cabe señalar que el Estado de la República Argentina promulgó la aprobación del Convenio 169 de la OIT en Abril 7 de 1992 a través de la Ley Nacional Nº 24.071 y posteriormente emitió ratificación del Convenio en Ginebra el 3 de julio de 2000.

 

Regulatory Framework

In order to analyze the existence of a discriminatory act or unconstitutional behavior by the Court in this case, it is essential to provide the regulatory framework of the issue raised, both of the regulations of Argentine Republic and the international human rights instruments.

In the first place, Articles 16 and 75 of the Constitution of Argentina establish the right to equality, especially by giving constitutional hierarchy to international human rights instruments which enshrine the principle of equality and non-discrimination, like Article 2 the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man; Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Article 24 of the American Convention on Human Rights; Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Articles 2, 3 and 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Article 1 of the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; Articles 2 and 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Secondly, the Argentine Law No. 23.592 criminalizing discriminatory acts says: “Any person who arbitrarily prevents, obstructs, restricts or in any way impairs the full exercise on an equal footing of the fundamental rights and guarantees recognized in the National Constitution, shall be obliged, at the request of the injured party, to render the discriminatory act without effect or cease to perform it and repair the moral and material damage caused. For the purposes of this article, particular consideration shall be given to discriminatory acts or omissions founded on motives such as race, religion, nationality, ideology, political or trade union opinion, sex, wealth, social status or physical characteristics”. 

Third, the existence of legal discrimination on the part of the Court of Necochea is based on the violation to the constitutional guarantees of criminal due process, such as the reasonable duration of process, the right to defense, the right to be heard, and the right to be legally assisted. These guarantees are also enshrined in the American Convention on Human Rights.

In fourth place, it is especially applicable in this case the Article 12 of the “169th Convention of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples” of 1989, which stipulates: “The peoples concerned shall be safeguarded against the abuse of their rights and shall be able to take legal proceedings, either individually or through their representative bodies, for the effective protection of these rights”.

 

Adequacy of facts of the case

After listing the facts described along with the regulatory framework, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights is able to perform an analysis about whether the Court of Necochea committed an act of discrimination and unconstitutional behavior. In the present case, ever since events began in August 2013, it has been perceived a complete inefficiency and incompetence by the Argentine State professionals who are part of the Judicial Power. This means that violations of Buddhist ethics and human rights are not isolated cases but it is about a systemic disease that is a characteristic of a Power dominated by organized crime, corruption and impunity. In short, as the Congresswoman Dr. Elisa Carrió said, “the institutional scandal today in Argentina is the federal judges and there is where one has to claim for the Republic”. This fact has caused that each complaint of the victims of the case is ignored by all organisms of the Judicial Power. Así, mientras exista justicia para algunos e injusticia para otros, habrá entonces un sistema jurídico viciado de discriminación. According to the International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights, the main objective of Justice should be to ensure the full enjoyment of the conditions of freedom, equality and fraternity, allowing the enjoyment of all human rights and by promoting respect for the fundamental dignity of life. The international treaties incorporated in the National Constitution of Argentine Republic prohibit any form of discrimination, especially when it comes to discrimination in access to effective compliance enforcement of Justice, by imparting directives to ensure the provisions of due process. However, since the complainants have expressed having suffered discrimination on more than one occasion to the entities of the Argentine Judicial Power, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights is issued on the integral totality of the facts of the case. With regard to the prosecutor’s office of Necochea, it has been perceived that it has never carried out a detention or a search warrant to seize firearms belonging to the attackers, paralyzing all kind of measures over 2 years and even verbally attacking the complainants. In addition, the Bar Association of Necochea recommended the complainants to invent a false allegation of sexual abuse in order that the prosecutor’s office to take action, otherwise it considered threats, attack, assault and attempted murder as a mere local civil conflict, which was what happened when the case was derived to a dispute resolution office. In the case it has not been verified any action on the part of the judicial authorities except by the Court of Guarantees when issuing Injunctions For Protection (IFP) as a request of complainants faced with the judicial lack of protection by the State. Judicial authorities have neither responded nor have acted concerning the complaint filed to the prosecutors of the case. All these misconducts by the institutions of Judicial Power demonstrate that it is profoundly discriminatory, since in other cases in which individuals with political and economic power are involved there is a progress while cases of social, ethnic or cultural minorities are ignored and respective functions are not complied properly. Given the seriousness of the events denounced, the complainants have required the intervention of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which failed to halt the framework of impunity of the case, as demonstrated by the facts narrated by Ms. Pradelli: the trial was suspended and without notice to the victims, thus violating all kind of local and international human rights jurisprudence. Faced with these evidences, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights finds sufficient evidences to confirm an Opinion concerning Discrimination. Given the obligations of the Argentine Republic to ensure full access to justice and social integration of ethnic minorities and tribal peoples, it is underlined the obligation of the State authorities of the executive, legislative and judicial powers to deploy all available resources at its disposal in order to ensure compliance with national and international Law in the best possible conditions. Thus, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights expresses that currently the Argentine Republic provides political, economic and cultural resources exclusively to the Catholic Church, ignoring the duty of the State to recognize the principle of equal opportunities in all social levels. “Such a totalitarian spirit operates today in Argentina (…) thanks to legal order the Roman Catholic Church has the religious monopoly and preferential constitutional status in comparison with other religious confessions which results in an INEQUALITY in religious freedom (…) bulldozing constitutional rights (Articles 16 and 17 of Magna Carta) of those citizens who profess a different cult from the Church of Rome or who do not profess any religion, but it also gives a determined moral protection to said Church, something which does not do with other confessions.”[1] To carry out the egalitarian principle of Buddhist Tribal Law and of International Law, which is the equality of human beings, the State must ensure that its legal professionals are trained in human rights, so they can provide the necessary support to communities that are discriminated. The Argentine Republic must ensure that all persons have access to justice, especially minority groups and tribal peoples, which have additional collective rights to individual human rights.

With regard to the complaint lodged by the victims of the case, it is stressed that is an Opinion of the International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights that the refusal of the Argentine Judicial Power to provide constitutional guarantees and fundamental freedoms in order to access to justice, as well as the indifference of the Executive Power faced with these denounced facts, constitutes an act of discriminatory behavior in terms of laws 23.592 and 24.071. Therefore, if the victims had been citizens with economic power or social status, the judiciary had acted promptly and effectively. It also comes into consideration the violation of the human right to peace of complainants, which has been completely unprotected and ignored by the Argentine State, although there is a legal duty to take into account the fact of being members of a tribal commune in which spiritual lifestyle is central to the well-being and physical, mental and social health. This Human Right to Peace encompasses a wide range of activities which are directly or indirectly related to the complainants’ political, economic, cultural and environmental activities, which have been attacked as a result of the violent assaults suffered and subsequently unprotected in face of the framework of impunity by the State. In the case denounced, members are dedicated to learning, care and monitoring of spiritual educational processes that are essential and interdependent of tribal lifestyle of the Buddhist people, so that protecting the free development of this lifestyle is an essential pillar when ensuring access to health and justice. As stated above, there are various international human rights instruments that guarantee the inherent right of every individual, who is part of some kind of tribal people or ethnic minority, to enjoy a dignified life according to its own system of traditions and customs. Furthermore, because it is a violated minority but has full collective rights to self-determination and self-government, it is indispensable the state adoption of positive measures in order to guarantee the full integration of the Buddhist people in the legal system such as it is embodied in the aforementioned domestic and international regulation. In view of this it is appropriate the indication of the International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights, regarding tribal peoples, stating that the Argentine State is obligated by international conventions ratified and approved by domestic law to promote the development of collective rights using its available resources, which requires the Argentine government to do much more than merely abstain from taking negative measures for members of tribal peoples. In the case of the Buddhist people which is such a vulnerable community incapable of defending itself aggressively against physical attacks because of their practice of non-violence, the State obligation is to take positive measures that reduce structural disadvantages which are  a product of political, economic, cultural and environmental discrimination, giving a preferential treatment that is appropriate to members of communities different to those of the rest of the general population, with the Purpose to achieve full and egalitarian participation of all members of society. Consequently, the Judiciary must adopt positive measures, such as dealing with complaints of the victims, thus offering them preferential treatment. This has been raised in the Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which in the Saramaka case has confirmed that tribal peoples keep “a strong spiritual relationship”[2] with the environment in which they live, which is both their source of life and their cultural identity. Such consideration would be especially applied to the Buddhist people to whom the jurisprudence related to tribal communities must be applied, by requiring special measures of State according to International Law of human rights to protect the physical and cultural existence of members of the Buddhist community. In this way, full access to Justice as a form of protection of the Human Right to Peace is essential for the survival of the lifestyle of Buddhist people, then being protected by the provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights (Pact of San José): Article 4 the right to life, Article 5 right to personal integrity, Article 8 fair trial, Article 11 protection of honor and dignity, Article 12, freedom of conscience and religion, Article 15 right of assembly, Article 16 freedom of association, article 24 equality before the law and Article 25 judicial protection.

The International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights indicates that ratification of Convention No. 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples and the corresponding Argentina Law 24.071 provide the legal framework for the recognition of the operation of legal institutions of tribal peoples among whom the Buddhist community is found. Therefore, it is the obligation of the Argentine State not only to defend the collective rights of the Buddhist people but also to respect their ethical and spiritual conclusions in favor of human rights, contemplating actions of prevention, promotion and protection of their cultural integrity, providing assistance to satisfying their needs and requirements. It is then established that when Judicial Power does not fulfill its constitutional functions it is essential then that the tribal legal system of the Buddhist people fights against corruption and impunity of the system. Following this line of ideas, the Argentine State must provide appropriate juridical coverage to members of the Buddhist community, whilst acknowledging the validity of its specialists and professionals responsible for indispensably intervene in defense of Peace, Good and Justice which are the specific characteristics of the lifestyle of the tribal people that has been practiced over thousands of years and in every continent of the world.

 

Conclusion

The International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights concludes it is out of discussion that the complainants’ constitutional guarantees to access justice have been violated. The latter ones not only having the right to the highest attainable level of physical, mental, social and spiritual health, but also the right to have their own tribal juridical systems that become more important when making heard their fundamental freedoms and fighting against impunity, so their notifications, opinions, resolutions and judgments must prosper. The International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights dictates that state support is fundamental when ensuring access to justice and health in its integral sense, but it is also for the possibility of social integration and full enjoyment of all collective and individual human rights.

Ergo, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights considers the following points:

1. It is claimed that the refusal to provide full and effective access to Justice constitutes a discriminatory conduct by the Judicial Power the terms of Laws 23.592 and 24.071, together with concordant complementary laws.
2. It is requested the impeachment of the judge in charge of such actions along with the intervention of the Court of Necochea which was in charge of the case.
3. It is required the Argentine Republic adapts a special plan to access Justice for individuals and peoples of all tribal peoples in order to give full response to needs in legal matters that endanger the physical, mental, social and spiritual health of its members.
4. It is required the Argentine Republic to comply with the Conventions ratified before the ILO, by providing implicit and explicit legitimacy to the conclusions that are stipulated by legal institutions which are a characteristic of all tribal peoples residing in its country, which have self-determination and self-governance internationally recognized.
5. It is declared unconstitutional the Law of Cults 21.745 and its corresponding Registry of Worship in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina for being an essentially discriminatory body that does not guarantee freedom of worship and also has its origins in pursuit social control on the part of the military dictatorship.
6. It is declared discriminatory and unconstitutional another law of military dictatorship, the Argentine law 21.950 by which the Argentine state pays the salaries of Catholic bishops and archbishops, which would be an equivalent to 80% of the salary of a judge.
7. It is hereby stated that indifference to this Opinion by the highest authorities of Government of Buenos Aires, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Presidency of the Nation, would constitute an act of complicity with the discriminatory and unconstitutional actions which have been opportunely analyzed.

Always with a spirit of reconciliation,

 

Buddhist Master Maitreya

President of the International Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights

 

[1] Pablo A. Ramella, Derecho Constitucional, pág. 197, ed. Depalma, 1986, ed. Actualizada.

[2] Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Caso del Pueblo Saramaka Vs. Surinam. Excepciones Preliminares, Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas. Sentencia de 28 de noviembre de 2007. Serie C No. 172.