The opening words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are as true today – and as urgently needed – as they were when they were adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948: “Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”

The same can be said for Amnesty International, the global people’s movement for human rights. It now has more than ten million people in 150 countries. The challenge it faces today is as great as it has ever been.

These were the recurring themes of a Himalayan gathering (pictured above) that took place in early March 2023 at the headquarters of Amnesty International Nepal – a nationwide network of more than 7,000 activists right across the country’s provinces. The gathering was convened by and presided over by Amnesty International Nepal’s current dynamic director, Nirajan Thapaliya.

Amnesty International Nepal has made the recording of the full event, which includes a discussion of the challenges facing the country now, available here.

Universality and non-discrimination

Universality and non-discrimination were key themes in the meeting. The gathering was convened to examine some long-standing issues in the development of Amnesty International in countries like Nepal and to assess the challenges being faced by human rights activists around the world at the present time.

It is sometimes argued that the idea of “human rights” is a western concept. In fact, the drafting of the Universal Declaration was a deliberately international, cross-cultural project from the beginning. It involved people from all continents, different cultures and political systems. The extensive international consultation included eminent figures such as Mahatma Gandhi.

Two South Asian women played a key role. Hansa Mehta of India was widely credited with changing the phrase “all men are born free and equal” to “all human beings are born free and equal”. Lakshmi Menon, who later became the chair of Amnesty International in India, argued for the principle of non-discrimination. She succeeded in getting the phrase “the equal rights of men and women” into the preamble and the “universality” of rights respected in in the declaration as a whole.

Examining the past, assessing the future

A special feature of the gathering was the presence of the founder of Amnesty International Nepal, Nutan Thapaliya. He is seen here greeting Richard on his arrival at the Amnesty International headquarters in Kathmandu.

Now 94 years of age, Nutan was the lawyer who was instrumental in establishing the organization in Nepal in 1969. He worked closely with Richard who, in the early 1970s, was the organization’s Field Secretary in Asia. Also present at the welcoming, and seen in the photo, was Dhruba Kumar Karki, former Chairperson of Amnesty International Nepal (2006-2008).

It was an opportunity to look backward to an eventful past when Amnesty International Nepal was just getting underway and to look forward to new developments and threats in today’s world.

The entire event was a hybrid in-person and on-line gathering, with people joining not only from different regions in Nepal, but also from countries ranging from the UK and Denmark to Iran.

South Asian voices for human rights

Of particular interest was the opportunity to review the original report of the South Asia Regional Conference of Amnesty International, held in New Delhi, 20 -23 March 1975. The conference, which was jointly convened by Amnesty International leaders in South Asia, was attended by four delegates from Nepal, eight from India (including Lakshmi Menon), four from Bangladesh, three from Pakistan, and two from Sri Lanka, as well as the Chair of Amnesty’s International Executive Committee and the organization’s Secretary General.

“This was a historic conference,“ said Director Nirajan Thapaliya, “the first of its kind in South Asia. I was still not born then! But we will carry on in this spirit. We will carry the flame!”

The report pointed out that, in the countries of the region, “the common features of wide- spread poverty, hunger, disease, unemployment, illiteracy and inadequate communication facilities tend to result in political conditions where few or no fundamental freedoms are guaranteed and where organizations which are or appear to be politically active may be banned or at risk.”

“In this context,” it said, “Amnesty International must concern itself with the long-range need to cultivate respect for human rights and to awaken people to the possibilities and the need to protect and defend victims of human rights violations.”

The delegates called for a different organizational model: working through networks and cooperating with other effective organizations. Richard pointed out that this is exactly what Amnesty International Nepal is doing, such as with its recent Social Justice conference. “There is tremendous strength and outreach in this collaborative approach,’ he said.

The conference delegates stressed the importance of Human Rights Education at all levels of society. “In the face of repression and brutality people think that is the norm – because that is what they have been subjected to all their lives, for generations. Instead they need to understand that human rights are the birthright of every single human being.”

There was a recognition of the need to move beyond being an English-speaking elite. Much more material needed to be translated into local languages, said the delegates. An information hub was needed in the region itself. So the first outpost of Amnesty International outside Europe – the South Asia Publications Service – was established in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Courage, determination and discernment

Working for human rights anywhere in the world takes courage, determination and discernment. “This is the spirit we have to have,” Richard told the participants. “We can have all kinds of troubles. It is not a question of whether we succeed today or fail today. What matters is that we have a serious vision of how society – our human family – takes the next step in its journey to begin expressing and implementing the vision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

“This is not easy work,” he said. “It is the work of generations. Things go up and down, but we need to be very clear about the goal.”

The brave founders of Amnesty International Nepal faced many challenges more than 50 years ago. Richard spoke fondly of his work with Nutan Thapaliya and described how they would go together to Kathmandu Central Jail. “Thanks to his standing as a lawyer,” Richard said, “Nutan would be able to get the guards to bring the political prisoners to the barred gateway of the prison to meet me.” He said it was thanks to Nutan and all the courageous lawyers and other human rights defenders in the country that they were able to assemble, painstakingly, possibly the most comprehensive details on the hundreds of political prisoners held in the country at that time, and get it out of the country to Amnesty’s International Secretariat in London.

Shot dead by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

The meeting was surprised when the director of Amnesty International Nepal, Nirajan Thapaliya, called up on the screen this cartoon of Richard being personally assassinated by the Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher. She was often referred to as “The Iron Lady”.

Richard gave a vivid description of facing hostile questions when Amnesty challenged the British government over the fatal shooting of the three suspects claimed to be planning a bomb attack. The confrontation with the British Government showed that the work of Amnesty International applies to countries and governments in all parts of the world. He said the movement must be willing to stand up for human rights wherever they are violated and face the wrath of those in power.

Amnesty International made headlines in South Asia in March with the release of its annual review of human rights worldwide. “As South Asia sits on the brink of a volatile and unpredictable future, it is important now, more than ever, to keep rights squarely in the centre of all negotiations and conversations,” said Senior Director of Amnesty International, Deprose Muchena, at a launch of the report in Colombo, Sri Lanka – as reported by the independent Groundviews – journalism for citizens.

This perspective came up early on in our “Himalayan Gathering”. Nepal, like so many countries that have emerged from years of war, faces the two-fold challenge of establishing truth and justice for atrocities that happened in the past as well as getting their current governments to act in accordance with the law, the constitution and the promises they have made. These are two of the overarching aspects of the complex human rights dynamic that Nepal faces. This is also true for much of South Asia as a whole, and we also see this pattern in countries worldwide who are dealing with the issues of truth, transitional justice, reconciliation and peace.

The rising generation

A lively question and answer session followed with the many participants who had filled the meeting space in the Kathmandu Amnesty headquarters. They included many members of the rising generation who are thoughtful, inquiring and committed to addressing the many human rights issues in their society. You get a feel for the dynamism of the movement in Nepal and also its increasingly inclusive membership from its website.

A month after our gathering Amnesty International Nepal held its Youth Mela in Besisahar, Lamjung. The theme was ‘Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers: Youths in Action’. The three-day festival focused on facilitating interactive programs centered on significant human rights issues for AI Nepal’s youth members. For the discussion we had during our gathering in March on current issues in Nepal and other challenges being faced by the movement internationally, please view the recording by clicking here.

Richard was accompanied by his wife, Jane Ward, who had also been in Nepal with him in the 1970s. Jane worked for many years in the Office of the Secretary General of Amnesty International with particular responsibility for organizing the International Council Meeting, the movement’s supreme governing body. At the end of the session, both she and Richard were presented with gifts from Amnesty International Nepal – a beautiful silk shawl for Jane and a traditional Dhaka Topi, the distinctive Nepali cap, for Richard. Expressing his thanks and appreciation for everyone, he said, “I feel you have made me an honorary citizen of Nepal!”

World Buddhist leaders are appealing for peace in Myanmar and Buddhist charities are bringing aid to victims fleeing the violence.

A Rohingya refugee family on the side of the road without shelter in Bangladesh Photo ©: UNCHR/Adam Dean.

Buddhist Global Relief, founded by one of the western world’s leading translators of the Buddha’s teachings, and the Tzu Chi (literally “Compassionate Relief”) Foundation, launched by a renowned Taiwanese Buddhist nun, are both dedicating relief resources to what UN Secretary General Antonio Guiterres has called “a humanitarian and human rights nightmare.”

The United Nations and major aid agencies now report that more than half a million people – mainly women, children and the elderly – have fled over the border between Myanmar (also known as Burma) and Bangladesh since late August. Thousands more continue to flood in every day. 

The exodus is the fastest exodus of human beings from a single country since the outbreak of the Rwandan genocide. The vast majority are members of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya, caught up in a violent conflagration that, according to the country’s security forces, includes official “cleansing operations”. The military said 176 out of 471 villages had been emptied of people, and an additional 34 villages “partially abandoned.”

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International legislators gather in London to contemplate mindfulness in politics

“I got thrown out of yoga for laughing,” UK government minister Tracey Couch told an international conference  of legislators exloring mindfulness and public policy. “So mindfulness as a means of helping me deal with my depression and anxiety was not something I thought was going to work.”

As Minister for Sport and Civil Society and a Conservative member of parliament, she was opening the first-ever international gathering of political leaders, educators, scientists, researchers and medical specialists to discuss “mindfulness in politics”. The event in London’s Westminster was attended by legislators from 15 nations, invited  by the nation’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness.

 ‘It really clicked”

“After attending my third session of training offered by the Mindfulness Group, I got it,” she said. “It really clicked. This is helping me: the understanding of who you are and how you can cope. Mindfulness teaches you to be in the present moment and not to be beating yourself up.”

Personal as her statement was, it was the opening of an event focused on public policy. “In fact,” said Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn, the molecular biologist described as the godfather of the contemporary mindfulness movement, “I always saw my work as a public health intervention.”

In 1979 Dr Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and in 1995, opened the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society. “When we started, there were no grants for mindfulness,” he told the conference. “Now there are scores of millions of dollars going into mindfulness research every year.”

“What we are learning from neuroscience now is that the brain is an organ of experience,” he said. “It is actually shape shifting, transforming itself on the basis of our experience from moment to moment. This is called functional connectivity or neuroplasticity. It’s been shown that in eight weeks of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction different regions of the brain get more dense. Other parts, like the amygdala which is the stress reactivity centre, actually reduce.”

The impact of the MBSR training on people suffering with depression was a key factor in bringing mindfulness to the attention of the British Parliament. Chris Ruane, Labour MP for the Welsh constituency of Clywd, broke the ground with an intervention in the House of Commons in 2012.

He presented research findings on the benefits of mindfulness training for people suffering from depression and dependency on prescription drugs. He called on the government to explore the application of mindfulness in health care and other public services, including those offering support to the unemployed.

Mindful Nation UK

 In the five years since Chris Ruane’s speech, the research has continued. With the formation of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness – and painstaking training of more than a hundred MPs, lords and civil servants – came the publication in 2015 of the group’s own research report Mindful Nation UK.

The parliamentarians’ report made policy recommendations for the practical application of mindfulness training in the areas of health care, education, the criminal justice system and the workplace.

At the London conference, an expert panel presented the results of efforts to implement the report’s recommendations. Hearing the results was one of the features that drew more than a hundred leaders and professionals in the fields of mindfulness and politics from around the world to the event. They came from countries as diverse as France and Sri Lanka, Croatia and Israel, the United States and Morocco.

“One billion people will suffer from depression at some point in their lifetime,” Willem Kuyken, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, told the gathering. “The priority for health care systems around the world is going to be moving away from communicable diseases, dysentery and water-borne diseases to mental health. That’s a massive challenge we all face.”

A growing body of clinical research

There is a growing body of clinical research and practice that strongly suggests mindfulness training could be a key component in meeting that challenge. Dr Rebecca Crane, Director of the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University, Wales, described the development of a further mindfulness training system known as Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). Integrating mindfulness with cognitive science, it is particularly designed for the needs of those suffering from depression.

 “We are still in the midst of the research,” she said. “In trials, MBCT halved the expected rate of relapse. There is increasing vulnerability with each episode of depression, and MBCT really supports people to reduce that vulnerability.” After further trials in 2004, The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), recommended its use in the country’s National Health Service (NHS).”

Within only two years of the publication of the Mindful Nation UK report, two of its four recommendations for health policy are now being implemented. MBCT has become a “mandated” primary care intervention for psychological therapy services across England. This endorsement requires that it become widely available. The second policy success is that the NHS has agreed to fund the training of MBCT teachers for psychological therapy services. The teacher training will start in March 2018.

The impact of trauma and abuse

The Mindful Nation UK report also recommended that the NHS and the National Offender Management Service should work together to ensure the urgent implementation of NICE’s recommended Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for recurrent depression in the country’s prisons and parole system.

“The majority of people with whom we work face significant challenges, environmentally, psychologically and in relation to the impact that trauma and abuse have had on their personality formation,” said Amaladipa Remigio, Head of Public Protection for the National Probation Service in Wales. “This can result in behaviours that are harmful to themselves, to others and to society.”

“Levels of addiction and poor mental health are much higher than in the rest of the population, and incidents of violence, suicide and intentional self-injury have been at their highest recorded levels in the last 12 months. Recently, an offender was taking their own life every three days in British prisons,” she said to audible gasps from the conference.

In an attempt to find out if mindfulness training could be helpful, her service ran three experimental programs in high-risk offender hostels in Cardiff and Swansea, followed by a much larger research project designed in conjunction with Swansea University. It involved both offenders and probation officers and was conducted between January and October this year. “Mindfulness training is reducing stress levels, improving emotional self-management, creating a psychological space where more creative responses can develop and enhancing resilience, creativity and compassion,” Ms Remigio said.

“I’ve spent 24 out of the last 30 years in prison,” said Mark, a former offender released within the last year. He held the conference spellbound as he described his journey and his incessant mental turmoil. He described how, after attending his first mindfulness session, he went home, “did a short practice” before lying down on his bed and slept for what he said was the first time in those 30 years.

“Mindfulness has given me my life back,” he said. “I can walk down the street. I can stand here today. Believe me, for me this is a big, big deal. For a stubborn person like myself, if it can do it for me, then there’s an awful lot of other people in prisons today that could benefit from this.”

It is not only those who are incarcerated or on probation who are affected. Nicola, a probation officer, reported on the postive impact of mindfulness practice in what she called her “relentless” work, and Baroness Angela Harris spoke of the successful efforts to introduce mindfulness therapy into the units where British police receive trauma counselling and care.

Reflecting on the research data and testimonials, Dr Kabat-Zinn told the gathering, “I don’t think we realize the extent to which we are miraculous beings. Humans have this profound capacity for imagination, creativity and kindness even under very, very difficult circumstances.”

“Are you proposing an anti-politics?”

 “Mindfulness is about how we carry ourselves,” said Kabat-Zinn. “Carrying is the root meaning of the verb ‘to suffer’. We are carrying a lot of negativity, often a lot of anger and resentment. It weighs on us. But what if we learned how to carry things with a greater embrace of awareness? Yes, the circumstances outwardly would be the same as they always were, but inwardly we would have potentially new degrees of freedom in working with old and very, very knotty problems. We can modulate our behaviour. We can learn.”

“I wonder if you are proposing an anti-politics,” asked Alan Howarth, a Labour peer in the House of Lords, drawing a sustained round of applause. “During my political lifetime the dominant political ideologies have been about conflict and competition. Does this offer an antidote to the ideologies of conflict and competition? Or are you suggesting that politics is capable of being made humane?”

“Is the world, as we have constructed it, up to the task?” Kabat-Zinn asked in response. “It is getting more urgent to know the answer to that question. We are really talking about an orthogonal rotation in consciousness. The word means ‘rotated at ninety degrees’. Instead of running on auto-pilot until we are at each others’ throats, can we see with fresh eyes so that we are not using our science to destroy more and more people?”

“Maybe it starts with talking to people we don’t usually talk to. Mostly we are in an echo-chamber,” Kabat-Zinn replied. “We need to train ourselves in listening, so we become a stethoscope listening to the heart of the country.”

[The international conference, hosted by The Mindfulness Initiative, was held in London, October 2017.]