In memory of Mr. Sergio Vieira de MelloCiping Huang  On August 19, as I was driving to Washington, DC to participate in an upcoming meeting with Mr. Craner the next day, I heard the news of the explosion at the UN headquarters in Baghdad and that Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello was hurt. A few hours later, he died. Great sadness overwhelmed me for the rest of my driving hours. Only four months ago, I met him in Geneva where he served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (see our newsletter A13-G5). The photos we took together were the only ones of hundreds that I took this year that did not come out quite right (the photo link: http://weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2003/UN0304deMello.jpg . The third from left is Mr. De Mello; the fourth from left is Ciping Huang). So even a physicist had to say: "I hope it was not an omen." It has not been easy as a human rights defender. The day I called myself as a human rights defender was the day I realized the additional danger I had to face. The danger comes with the path we choose, not bad luck. In our struggle for other's freedom and peace, we are paying the price of our own freedom and peace. Now, after years have passed, all the struggling has made me learn that the path is not just very difficult, but dangerous, even deadly. We have received oral and written threats for what we have done, threats even to our lives, even on the USA soil. Consciously, one has to bravely prepare for tragedy and death with expectation, instead of with fear. Nevertheless, when a fellow human rights defender falls, the sense of loss and sorrow is only greater. That day, I had a close call of an accident myself. It made me further realize that human life is fragile, but not the human spirit. Hereby, I want to dedicate this issue to the lives lost during the August 19's bombing, especially to Mr. De Mello, this leader and martyr of the human rights defenders. -------------------------- |
