 
News Release
KAIROS Urges Federal Government to Adopt
Human Security Agenda:
Monia Mazigh Joins Panel Discussion of Issues
9 December 2003
For Immediate Release
(Ottawa)- Monia Mazigh, wife of Maher Arar who was released in October
from a Syrian jail where he was imprisoned and tortured for 10 months,
will be one of the featured speakers at KAIROS’ Roundtable
on Human Rights and Global Security: Challenging the War On Terror
being held in Ottawa on December 10, 2003. Members of Parliament,
award-winning human rights activists, representatives of nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs), and others and will be among the participants.
It will be followed by a vigil on Parliament Hill in commemoration
of International Human Rights Day.
KAIROS, a partnership of Canadian churches and church related organizations
dedicated to social justice, is calling on the federal government
to adopt a 15 point action plan it calls an Agenda for Just Peace
that will help address growing public concerns about security issues.
It will present the action plan during the roundtable discussion,
at the official launch of its two year Cultivating Just Peace campaign.
The Agenda for Just Peace challenges the federal government
to take specific actions to respect human rights, nurture social
security (including an official review of Canada’s anti-terrorism
legislation), control arms exports, increase foreign aid and cancel
debt payments from poor countries. About one thousand representatives
from church communities across the country will lobby MPs as well
as candidates in the upcoming federal election.
“True security doesn’t come through the escalating
military responses to the threat of terror around the world.”
says Mary Corkery, KAIROS executive director. “Imagine how
different, how much more secure the world would be if its leaders
governed in a spirit of peace instead of from a place of fear. The
Agenda for Just Peace outlines some significant first steps
for getting there ”.
KAIROS is concerned about the escalating violations of human rights
around the world under the guise of the ‘War on Terror’.
Testifying to this first hand will be the two recipients of this
year’s Rights and Democracy John Humphrey Freedom Award. Martha
Cecilia Domicó will speak on behalf of her father Kimy Pernía
Domicó, a respected leader of the Embera Katio people of
Alto Sinu in Colombia’s Cordoba province. Mr. Pernía
played a pivotal role in his people’s fight against the construction
of the Urra hydroelectric dam, a project partly funded by Canadian
interests. Disappeared in June 2001, Kimy Pernía Domicó,
is a symbol of the struggle of indigenous peoples in the face of
massive human rights violations.
Angélica Mendoza de Ascarza, who has spent the last 20 years
fighting for truth and justice in Peru and helped inspire the creation
of Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, will also speak.
The disappearance of her 19-year-old son, Arquimedes, in 1983 inspired
her quest for the truth about his fate and that of thousands of
others who disappeared during the civil war between the Peruvian
government and Shining Path guerrillas.
Both women are powerful speakers who passionately evoke the struggle
of their peoples. However, theirs is not an isolated struggle. Gerry
Barr, executive director of the Canadian Council on International
Cooperation (the principal umbrella coalition for Canadian international
development NGOs), will describe the impact of the ‘War on
Terror’ on Canadian NGOs and their southern partners.
Hilary Homes, a campaign coordinator with Amnesty International,
will focus on how the ‘War on Terror’ has led to a creeping
acceptability of torture, the practice of rendition and the profound
compromise of legal rights. Maher Arar’s case is the story
of how the post 9-11 reality of the erosion of civil liberties was
brought home to one Canadian citizen. His wife, Monia Mazigh, will
explain why what happened to her husband puts the rights of all
Canadians at risk and describe the latest developments in the quest
for an independent public inquiry. KAIROS has written to Prime Minister
Jean Chrétien supporting Amnesty International’s call
for an independent public inquiry into the case.
Media Contact:
Adiat Junaid
Communications Coordinator
(416) 463 5312, ext. 223
E-mail/Courriel à Adiat Junaid
Julie Graham
Education:Website/ Resources,
KAIROS
129 St Clair Ave West, Toronto ON M4V 1N5
1 877 403 8933 x233
E-mail/Courriel à Julie Graham
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