Toronto Groups Unite in Call for Rights in China

Toronto Groups Unite in Call for Rights in China
By Sonya Bryskine
Epoch Times Staff
May 19, 2008

Mehmet Tohti, founding member of the Uighur Canadian Association. (Sonya Bryskine/The Epoch Times)



- Human Rights Torch Lit in Chicago Monday, May 12, 2008


TORONTO—"Olympics and crimes against humanity can not co-exist" was the message that united more than a dozen non-government organizations (NGOs) at Saturday's Global Human Rights Torch Relay in Toronto.

Attending the event were representatives from the Tibetan, Vietnamese, Sudanese, Burmese, Uighur communities, as well other human rights activists.

While speaking at the opening rally in Queens Park, attended by over 200 people, President of the Tibetan Women Association of Ontario called for more freedom and unity.

"On behalf of all Tibetans inside Tibet as well as here in exile, I would like to say that we are all victims under the same CCP [Chinese Communist Party] and we must struggle together, join hands together and never give up," said Ms Kalsang Tsomo. Toronto became the 118th city to host the Global Human Rights Torch Relay since August last year, when the 12-month run kicked off in Athens.

Initiated by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG), it has attracted hundreds of athletes, government officials and NGOs across more than 30 countries, who have called for an immediate improvement of human rights in China before the 2008 Olympics.

'We are all victims under the same CCP,' said Kalsang Tsomo, president of the Tibetan Women Association of Ontario, shown here standing in front of a banner calling for human rights ahead of the Beijing Olympics. (Sonya Bryskine/The Epoch Times)
"We are all victims under the same CCP," said Kalsang Tsomo, president of the Tibetan Women Association of Ontario, shown here standing in front of a banner calling for human rights ahead of the Beijing Olympics. (Sonya Bryskine/The Epoch Times)

Among those attending the Toronto rally was Ron Baner, President of the Hindu Conference of Canada. He called upon western democracies to engage in a more "compassionate commerce" and not tolerate China's oppression of liberty and democracy just because it is "an emerging superpower."

"The nation of India is an example of a country which [embraces] democracy and maintains human rights values that are one of the best in the world, and yet also enjoy rapid and powerful economic growth," said Mr Baner.

"The economic model of Communist China is related to a flawed, shaky political infrastructure. An infrastructure that results in the export of [faulty] goods and merchandise that [are] exported around the world. Medicine that kills, toys that poison, tires that explode."

The Human Rights Torch Relay also attracted members of the Darfuri community, including the President of the Canadian Darfur Association. When asked why he decided to attend the event, Adam Ismail quoted Martin Luther King's famous words:

"Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere."

Mr. Ismail drew attention to the continuing support that the Chinese regime has offered to Sudan in exchange for a billion-dollar oil trade.

Adam Ismail, president of the Canadian Darfur Association, says the Chinese regime is backing genocide in Darfur via its deals with Khartoum. (Sonya Bryskine/The Epoch Times)

"China buys the oil from Sudan, they provide Sudan with protection. Any kind of resolution [put forward by the United Nations], they [China] try to prevent it from happening," said Ismail.

"The second thing is they provide arms . . . the Sudanese Government is using money [from the sale of oil] to buy arms. They use these arms to crush the people," he added, referring to the humanitarian disaster in Darfur region, which Mr. Ismail says the Sudanese Government has no interest in resolving.

Meanwhile, another Darfuri representative, Bakri Abdalla, said it is "shameful that just because need oil you close your eyes of what is going on there." Mr. Abdalla immigrated to Canada 10 years ago and has not seen his family since. He says going home is still too dangerous.

But is was Mehmet Tohti, founding member of the Uighur Canadian Association, who reminded the audience that China remains one of the few countries that has not signed the UN's Declaration of Human Rights.

"Lets come up with a unified front . . . a unified china policy, push the Chinese Government to accept and rectify the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," said Mr. Tohti.

"Many government and people simply forgot that China still does not recognise the Universal Declaration. If they cannot understand . . . the [atorcities] will continue for Tibetan, Uighurs, Falun Gong and Chinese dissidents".

Following the rally was the symbolic lighting of the Human Rights Torches, followed by a 7-km relay run through downtown Toronto. After Toronto, the Human Rights Torch was off to Kingston on May 18, followed by Vancouver on May 21. The Global Relay will end in Hong Kong days before the Beijing Games are to commence.

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