Mellotronists

From: <unhcr23@...>
To: <Mellotron@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 5:28 PM
Subject: [Mellotron] Human-buttons


>
> This message is about Human beings, Democracy, UNHCR, Refugees, The 
> Iraqis, Islam, Kurds, Human rights, Respect, Money, Donations, Angelina 
> Jolie, Pavarotti, Giorgio Armani, Donors, Peace, History, Campaigns and 
> about you if you care about these words.
>
> Hi there,
>
> I am SAM, an Iraqi refugee living in Lebanon at the moment; I have spent 
> the last 9 years of my life as a refugee registered with the UNHCR in 
> Beirut. The last 3 years, I have spent as an activist for peace and human 
> rights (especially refugees and asylum seekers) on the Internet; I'm also 
> books author and ebooks publisher. I have launched many campaigns to 
> improve our situation as refugees in Lebanon and hopefully bring more 
> understanding to our problems worldwide. I helped make many changes and 
> improvements at the UNHCR office in Beirut; I used the Internet as the 
> field for my activities (you can read more about that in my free ebook 'MY 
> CAMPAIGNS'). All my e_books could be download from my website: 
> http://www.unhcr.free2w.com all my ebooks are free.
>
> My latest campaign is to stop the UNHCR from conducting illegal and 
> humiliating actions, by using photos of refugees as banners and 
> human-buttons to collect money. This is an abuse of the dignity and 
> humanity of the refugees and must stop immediately and a clear public 
> apology present by the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees. My 
> friends, I am talking about the pictures you can see here: 
> http://www.unhcr.free2w.com/if_human/if_human.htm
>
> As I'm a refugee and an activist for human rights, I feel that the 
> problems of refugees are not being solved by the UNHCR in fact their 
> policies are worsening them. I have been saying this since the first day I 
> started my activities and I said then that "If we want to improve the 
> situation of the refugees in the world we must start with changing the 
> policies of the UNHCR," I even wrote this in my books.
>
> The people of the UNHCR have used these pictures as banners and buttons to 
> collect money from donors. As a human being and a refugee, I felt these 
> pictures represent a bad and offensive example of the disrespect for our 
> humanity as refugees and asylum seekers. It does nothing to represent the 
> meaning and the principles that were mentioned in the UN51 convention. It 
> fills me with pain and sorrow to see this disrespect to our dignity and 
> humanity and also how they are deceiving the community with these 
> pictures.
>
> Unfortunately, the people who work at the UNHCR are working hard to 
> present to you a portrait of a refugee as a poor human being who's problem 
> will end when you donate a few $$$. Please look at their website (just 
> google for the unhcr) and look at the pictures there. Everywhere on the 
> site you'll just see pictures about poor people!
>
> They have worked hard to establish a deep-rooted connection between 
> poverty and refugees. Everywhere in the world now if you ask anyone what 
> the word 'refugee' means the answer will be "a poor person who has lost 
> his home", does any one of you know another meaning for the word?
>
> They have showed you just one thing: poor people as refugees and they made 
> it clear that by paying some money to them, the problem will be solved; 
> all it needs is financial resources! When you look directly at their 
> websites, the pictures of poor people will grab your attention straight 
> away! For UNHCR, the problem is money only! We all as humans need money, 
> but not only the money! There are many things in the life not only money, 
> for example things like what you could read in my free ebook 'REFUGEES 
> FARM'.
>
> When I started to post in Yahoo groups mentioning I'm a refugee, many 
> people didn't believe me, and they asked, "how it was possible for me to 
> have access to the Internet?" I was astonished at the beginning but 
> afterwards I understood the reality of what they were saying and started 
> to post messages telling the truth and because of this the UNHCR declared 
> war on me and prosecuted me. So then I started to call myself "The Truth 
> Warrior" because I am struggling to tell you the truth. I was the first 
> refugee who wrote and published an e-book on the net and the first refugee 
> who wrote and published an e-book about the UNHCR and the first who used 
> the Internet as a weapon in his struggle to survive and to make changes in 
> real life.
>
> The people of the UNHCR emphasized the connection between the refugees and 
> poverty and they drew a foggy picture of refugees, creating a strong 
> impression about their poverty, more than the fact they were stateless 
> refugees. They also put forward the idea it was the poverty creating the 
> reality of them being refugees in the first place. Now it is an accepted 
> idea in the world community that a refugee is just a poor person looking 
> for a better life, well this is just not true! The majority of the world 
> doesn't even realize that it is even possible for a millionaire to have to 
> flee his home and be a refugee.
>
> Article 1 of the Convention defines a refugee as "A person who is outside 
> his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded 
> fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, 
> membership in a particular social group or political opinion; and is 
> unable or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that 
> country, or to return there, for fear of persecution."
>
> There is no mention made of the financial situation of the refugee or the 
> degree of poverty he is experiencing, in plain simple words 'poverty does 
> not make someone a refugee'. As I said before "the link between poverty 
> and being a refugee is another thing entirely". Most of the time the 
> situation of the refugees is bad because they have no security, no 
> opportunities to get work and this then does create poverty! Its clear 
> that giving money will not solve the problem, what's needed is real 
> understanding for the problems that refugees are facing and they need 
> global co-operation to solve these problems. This inspired me to adopt my 
> motto:
> Justice brings peace, freedom brings democracy
> Understanding is the way.
>
> Let me share with you some figures published by the UNHCR itself.
> The table is on my site here: 
> http://www.unhcr.free2w.com/if_human/if_human.htm
>
> From that table, we can see the total private donations in year 2003 were 
> US$ 20,072,010. Now let's analyze that number, Anyway if we consider the 
> total numbers of asylum seekers and refugees and others of concern to the 
> UNHCR which was 20,556,781 persons published on their table on the 1st of 
> August 2003. Now we need to divide that amount on the number of refugees 
> 20,072,010/20,556,781 guess what? It's equals $0.97!
>
> So then each refugee will have a grand sum of $0.97 every year from these 
> donations!!! Yes my friend, they humiliated us for less than $1 a year. 
> Now let me think what I can do with this amount of money in one-year 
> m'mmmm, maybe I can buy 2 bars of Lebanese candy! I registered with UNHCR 
> more than 8 years ago now and until this day I have not received one cent 
> from them! So according to that table they owe me $7.80, a fortune!!! I 
> declare now that I don't want this money ($7.80) I just want them to 
> remove these humiliating pictures and make a public apology. You can ask 
> the UNHCR in Beirut about that point via their email: lebbe@... and 
> please ask them also about the amount of the money that they give for the 
> refugees in Lebanon now. I hope they'll answer you! Don't you think it's 
> strange that it's hard to get answers from the UNHCR! You'll see if you're 
> interesting to know the truth!
>
> The big question is: Does all this money come from these human-buttons 
> asking for donations on the UNHCR'S site? Does Pavarotti or Giorgio Armani 
> need these human-buttons to make donations? If they need these buttons and 
> it's a good way for collecting money for the UNHCR why don't they use 
> their own pictures this way to bring more money in for the UNHCR. Also 
> about Angelina Jolie, she is a goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR and she 
> has worked hard to collect money for the UNHCR, she is pretty and 
> attractive and her picture would make an excellent human-button. They 
> could write on the Angelina Jolie button "make a donation and be like 
> Angelina" or Send a donation to receive thanks from Angelina" do you think 
> that would offend her or the others we spoke about? Why would it does you 
> think??? Her pictures are everywhere so let them use these as a 
> human-button to collect money if they feel it is inoffensive and not 
> dishonorable to her.
>
> The last thing about these numbers is the percentage of the amount that 
> different governments contribution to the UNHCR. I read in one table the 
> total is $928,865,984. So what will happen if the UNHCR loses the 20 
> million that comes from private donors, if they remove the human-buttons 
> of refugees? OK, they will have $908,865,984, but they would be giving 
> respect to the refugees of the world, do you think they care?
>
> $0.97 a year makes no difference to a human being but if we divide the 
> same amount between the number of people working for the UNHCR, I believe 
> they have about 5000 employees... so 20,072,010/5000=$4014.40 more than 
> $4000 a year don't you think that makes a difference?
>
> I have finished now about the numbers, let us continue about the pictures, 
> and the idea of using the Angelina Jolie, maybe you will say that her 
> picture is already being used on the site of the UNHCR and you would be 
> right! But there are a few differences between her picture and the 
> pictures of the refugees. Angelina's picture isn't used to collect money; 
> it's used to show how much she cares about people and her help for the 
> UNHCR. When you click on her picture, you read about Angelina, but when 
> you click on the human-button of the refugees you find a form to donate 
> money.
>
> The important difference being this, Angelina's picture gives you her 
> name, dates and history. The human-buttons, say nothing about the people 
> on them, no names, no dates, nothing! This pushed me to find out more 
> about these human-buttons. I found out the truth about the picture on the 
> Iraqi banner in the page about Iraq, and the button on this page to donate 
> money. I wrote about it in my book "THE TRUTH WARRIOR" I could tell you 
> quickly about it now, for more details please look in the book.
>
> This is a picture of a Kurdish family, and it was taken in 1991! So that 
> was 13 years ago!!! The funny thing is that they used it to illustrate and 
> draw attention to an event that happened last year, writing on it "IRAQ 
> EMERGENCY" strange to speak about an emergency and use a 13 year old 
> picture don't you think?
>
> Do you know why they used that picture? Because it was easy... they had it 
> already, no new refugees crisis happened during the last war with the USA 
> on Iraq in 2003! Guess what? This picture shows a Kurdish family fleeing 
> by crossing the border near Suleymaniye in the north of Iraq! The problem 
> now, of course is the returning of refugees who left during Saddam's rule. 
> The age of the picture and the fact it was taken for a different reason, 
> it's deceptive and dishonest act.
>
> I would have thought that a big organization like the UNHCR would be able 
> to get a more modern picture of what is happening. They receive 
> information daily and I am sure they don't need to resort to 13-year-old 
> pictures; this information is from the last century!!! Maybe now there are 
> not any pictures of Iraqi refugees to encourage donors to click the 
> human-button! What a pity for the people of the UNHCR and for the 
> refugees, especially the Iraqis. I wonder, how old the other pictures?
>
> Do you feel that the picture shows the real situation of Iraqi refugees 
> now? Are the Iraqis still fleeing and seeking refuge outside Iraq? The 
> truth is always painful. The UNHCR has stopped receiving new applications 
> form Iraqis seeking help, and when an Iraqi goes to the UNHCR in Beirut to 
> ask for assistance they are told that the only help they can get is 
> repatriation to Iraq. At the moment Iraqi refugees are scattered around 
> the world, Many countries are offering to help return Iraqis home. These 
> countries governments mostly finance these plans. For example in England 
> the government has offered $1000 plus the cost of their flight home to 
> each refugee.
>
> In Lebanon, we are not sure about the amount of financial support for 
> those wishing to return home, but someone who had gone home told me that 
> it was about $40 informed me, the source of the money was also unclear. 
> Some people are saying that this money is from unknown Iraqi parties and 
> some say the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut. I am currently looking for more 
> information on this matter.
>
> Anyway I don't feel the $40 dollars given to refugees in Lebanon is worth 
> anything. Especially when viewed against the $1000 given by most European 
> countries. The question is this: If there is no refugee crisis in Iraq and 
> the financial support is being paid for by the governments where these 
> people are, why is the UNHCR still asking for money using pictures of 
> Iraqi refugees?
>
> One more important question about that picture, do you think that the 
> people who work for the UNHCR know anything about this woman or her 
> family? Are they registered refugees? What is her name and where are they 
> all now? Do you think she agreed to have her picture put on the web and 
> used as a human-button?
>
> I would love to know the answers to these questions, but unfortunately I 
> can't ask the people at the UNHCR even though I tried many times over the 
> years. They never answer any questions! Instead they have tried to hurt me 
> and even tried to get my ISP to cut my connection! I hope one day you get 
> the chance to ask them, and that maybe they will answer you. They didn't 
> answer any of my friends who sent them messages. So please if you like, 
> let us play their game and be a little cheeky. I hope that one of you can 
> contact them and tell them you want to donate money to help the family 
> they showed in the picture. Not telling them of course that you know the 
> picture is old. Just tell them you want to sponsor that family. Notice 
> that they wrote on it 'Emergency' so it's good to help them out! I'll wait 
> with baited breath to hear their answers.
>
> What do you think the answer will be? What do you think she would feel 
> like if she saw her picture used like that, and what if her family sees 
> her like this or someone in her village? She is a Moslem woman and to 
> expose herself like this is a sin in Islam. Did you notice she uses two 
> pieces of cloth to cover her head? The UNHCR using picture of Moslem woman 
> on the net as a banner and as a human-button to collect money where 
> millions of men could see her!!! That is a very big sin in Islam.
> As I'm a Moslem and I am sure the UNHCR haven't asked the woman's 
> permission to display her picture publicly like they are doing now, I am 
> asking them to respect the Islamic religion and apologize to the woman and 
> remove her picture immediately. Also I am asking each Moslem person 
> reading this article to express their concern about this sin, which is 
> being committed by the UNHCR for the sake of this woman and her family. 
> Every Moslem knows what sin is, and it is also a sin to be silent when you 
> see a wrong being committed. I am asking each Moslem to contact the UNHCR 
> and express your opinion as we are guided to do by Islam. I'm asking 
> Moslems particularly and all members of other religions generally, to 
> express concern about the abuse of refugees because all religions are 
> based on respect for the dignity of all humanity.
>
> There is a legal point of view for this subject:
>
> The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established by the 
> U.N. General Assembly in 1950. According to the UN51 convention and the 
> Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 
> (G.A. res. 428 (V), annex, 5 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 20) at 46, U.N. Doc. 
> A/1775 (1950)).
>
> "CHAPTER II. - FUNCTIONS OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER
>
> 10. The High Commissioner shall administer any funds, public or private, 
> which he receives for assistance to refugees, and shall distribute them 
> among the private and, as appropriate, public agencies which he deems best 
> qualified to administer such assistance.
> The High Commissioner may reject any offers which he does not consider 
> appropriate or which cannot be utilized.
> The High Commissioner shall not appeal to governments for funds or make a 
> general appeal, without the prior approval of the General Assembly.
> The High Commissioner shall include in his annual report a statement of 
> his activities in this field."
>
> As you can see the UNHCR must have permission from the General assembly 
> for any general appeal for money. The question is: Did the General 
> Assembly agree to use these pictures to appeal for funds?
>
> I would sincerely love to receive an answer, I am a refugee and I feel it 
> is an abuse of our humanity as refugees in this world. Its not just abuse 
> for our humanity as refugees but for the humanity of all humans.
>
> We appeal to you to support this campaign to remove these abuses and to 
> provide more respect for all refugees worldwide. Our situation in the 
> world worsens day after day without any new polices to help or improve our 
> situation. The UNHCR uses us as human-buttons and baits to collect money! 
> Our problem is not only because of poverty it's because the general abuse 
> of the meaning and the principles of UN51 convention because of these 
> money collectors in UNHCR and other organizations.
>
> This abuse must stop immediately. If UNHCR needs money so badly, there 
> must be other respectable and honorable ways to make general and public 
> appeals for money. For example using buttons like paypal provides for 
> donation without any humiliating pictures of humans at all.
>
> I'm not saying that the people of UNHCR are all bad, they're just part of 
> a system and they have their procedures and regulations. I just wanted to 
> explain some of our feelings as refugees. To offer my understanding of the 
> relationship between the refugees and the UNHCR. I'm an eyewitness to that 
> relationship, trying hard to improve the relationship using my campaigns, 
> my books and my unanswered questions.
>
> I feel sad because the UNHCR has failed in the past 3 years to answer my 
> questions. Until this day they failed to answer even one question! I'm not 
> asking for the impossible. I just want some answers, as I'm a refugee, as 
> I'm a human and as I'm an activist for human rights. All that gives me the 
> right to ask and to have my questions answered.
>
> I invite you as fellow humans and members of the world community to 
> support my mission by asking the UNHCR to remove these abuses and to 
> provide some reasonable answers for the questions that you have read in 
> this article.
>
> This invitation is a very important as part of the collective efforts to 
> enhance respect for human rights, and for global peace. The UNHCR 
> represent an important constituent of our community, as humans and any 
> failure in its performance will weaken the harmony and peace of the world.
>
> We're living in a time where wars are declared to liberate people from 
> despotism and further democracy and human rights. Blood is being shed now 
> to improve democracy and respect for human rights. Do we need wars and to 
> shed blood every time we face disregard for human rights and democracy?! 
> Isn't there any peaceful way?
>
> I have heard many people claim that they're working to help the refugees 
> and human rights activists and some of them are collecting money also. I'm 
> asking these people: What are you doing to help refugees and enhance human 
> rights and respect our humanity? I'd like to know, and if you have nothing 
> to do now, you can start work and help refugees by working to remove these 
> abuses and humiliations for all humans. Contact the UNHCR and ask them 
> about these pictures and tell them that these pictures are an abuse of 
> refugees' dignity and humanity, when you can do this then we can see that 
> you really care about refugees.
>
> I don't have any money to pay you but if you would like to help us in our 
> struggle and you respect our humanity as refugees in the world, then we 
> would be very thankful for this help. I'm an E-book publisher and I will 
> be publishing many more E-books in the future. I would like to have 
> answers to the questions in this article and since the people at the UNHCR 
> refused to answer my questions, I declare now that I'll give free access 
> to all of the E-books I will write in my lifetime to the first person who 
> will find the answers to my many questions concerning the UNHCR. He/she 
> will be a hero of all refugees and I'll write about them what they would 
> like. I can't give them a medal now, but we will give them our love and 
> our thanks as refugees.
>
> Please, if you think this issue is important and needs acts, you can send 
> messages to the UNHCR and your government to speak your opinions according 
> to your rights and the democracy. Here are some emails: 
> ecu@...,inquiries@...,Hqpr00@...,tb-petitions@...,info@...
>
> Notice that you can find more emails on my website or you can brows for 
> more on the net or to find more ways for contact them like phones or 
> faxes.
>
> Together we will build better world.
>
> You could reach me fast via this form: 
> http://www.unhcr.us/unhcrus/email_me.htm and if you like to know more 
> about me, you can google for my name 'osam altaee'.
>
> Thanks
>
> THE TRUTH WARRIOR
> OSAM ALTAEE
> http://www.unhcr.free2w.com
>
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