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Kairos Times
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| Continue to challenge our faith and love;
Nurture the hope within us Strengthen our passion to serve and journey with the people Accompany us on our way Give us the strength of an eagle, the humility of a dove, the wisdom of a serpent As we join the people in the quest for a lasting Peace based on Justice. AMEN. |
| Prepared by Promotion of Church People's Response (PCPR), Philippines |
Join our 2003-4 campaign, Cultivating Just Peace! Contact us for information:info or toll-free 1 877 403 8933, extension 233. New resources are now available for ordering through orders or our website. You can also leave a message at 1 877 403 8933 x246.
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Web link of the month!
Our friends at Citizens for Public Justice offer some excellent
reviews of summer reading. Check out the reviews and titles at http://www.cpj.ca/pjrc/education/main.html#read
Updates
- KAIROS local groups: Thanks and updates
- Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- Joint letter on human rights sent to Colombian President Uribe
- Update on Darfur: African Union Protection Force for Sudan is insufficient
- International Criminal Court takes up the case of the Congo
- KAIROS seeks a Program Coordinator: Africa Partnerships
- KAIROS starts a new Trade E-List!
- Latest Global Economic Justice Report focuses on the HIV/AIDS crisis
- Request from KAIROS groups in SW New Brunswick:
please support a petition for the rights of the Passamaquoddy
Nation
Breaking News
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Immigration Minister calls on churches to stop offering sanctuary. |
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KAIROS is shocked by Immigration Minister Judy Sgro’s recent statement that the churches should cease offering sanctuary to refugee claimants. Refugee claimants are forced to seek sanctuary and local churches are obliged to offer it because of deep flaws in Canada’s refugee determination process. The problem lies with the system, not with sanctuary itself.
These flaws include the government’s failure to implement its own promise of a fair appeal process. (See KAIROS’ archived action on this issue)
KAIROS also expresses its concern that refugees have been portrayed as a security threat. Such unfounded conclusions can further erode the basic refugee rights to which Canada has publicly committed itself.
Canada has signed all of the significant international Conventions which lay out the basic rights of refugees and displaced persons. We have an obligation to honour these covenants. In situations where our system fails to meet those obligations, and vulnerable people find themselves facing deportation back to violence, torture, or likely death, the churches are compelled to respond.
Minister Sgro also communicated through the media that she wants to meet with church leaders; KAIROS notes that in February 2004 we requested such a meeting. No reply to that request has been received to date.
The churches, advocacy groups, and KAIROS will continue to respond to the Minister’s statement. Please watch our website for further developments.
For more information, contact Sara Stratton, Interim Team Leader,
Communications/ Education, 416 463 5312 x241 or
sstratton
Take Action!
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What's Behind Gildan's Decision To Close Its El Progreso Factory? |
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This action comes to us from the Maquila Solidarity Network, with whom the churches in Canada have a long-standing relationship on issues related to sweatshops and worker rights. KAIROS is a member of the Ethical Trading Action Group, which is coordinated by the MSN.
On July 12, Montreal-based T-shirt manufacturer Gildan Activewear made a surprise announcement during a meeting with the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and Worker Rights Association (WRC) that it will close its El Progreso factory in Honduras on September 30, leaving 1,800 workers unemployed. That unexpected announcement effectively terminated discussions on the corrective action the company should take to address worker rights violations at the factory that were substantiated by separate FLA and WRC investigations.
Gildan's decision to cut and run from the factory in the midst of negotiations on corrective action is totally unacceptable and a clear violation of the FLA's corporate membership requirements.
MSN is demanding that Gildan reverse its decision to close the factory and comply with all recommendations for corrective action being requested by the FLA and WRC as a result of their investigations. If Gildan refuses to reverse its decision, MSN will be calling on the FLA to suspend Gildan's membership as a FLA Participating Company until the company demonstrates its willingness to operate in good faith.
Many of you have already sent letters of protest to Gildan, and we thank you for taking such prompt action. If you have already received Gildan's automatic, form-letter response, please write back to the company, asking specific questions that require an individual response. On the MSN website you will find a sample letter and information on the facts behind the closure of the Gildan El Progreso factory: http://www.maquilasolidarity.org/campaigns/gildan/index.htm
If you have not yet written a letter to Gildan, please do so today
and send a copy to MSN:
info
For a sample letter and background information, visit
the MSN website at: http://www.maquilasolidarity.org
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Updates
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KAIROS local groups: Thanks and updates |
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Special thanks to local KAIROS groups across the country who have sent back their completed evaluation forms. The feedback you gave is very valuable and will help shape next year's program resources and campaign. If you haven't yet sent in your group evaluation, you are not too late! To receive a copy of the evaluation form, e-mail Adele Halliday (ahalliday@kairoscanada.org). Or, simply write up some thoughts and ideas and e-mail them to Adele.
Thank you also to the many people who used the KAIROS federal election kit to raise issues that might otherwise have gone unnoticed in an election campaign that did not reflect many of the issues most of concern to the average Canadian. Now that the election is over, our work on engaging a minority government and many new MPs begins!
A reminder that the deadline on the Agenda for Just Peace action cards was extended to September 15. Feel free to bring signed cards to your regional meeting.
And finally, we hope to see you all the at fall regional meetings!
Click here to see a PDF
invitation or contact your regional
rep.
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Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples |
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Ten years ago, the United Nations launched the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. In 1998, the U.N. General Assembly reaffirmed “the adoption of a declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples [is] a major objective of the Decade.” Unfortunately, as the end of the Decade draws near, there is widespread concern the process relating to the draft U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples could end as well.
With the support of the Grand Council of the Crees, the Assembly of First Nations and other Aboriginal organizations, KAIROS joined with Amnesty International, Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers), and Rights & Democracy to launch a public education and advocacy campaign that urges Canada to play a leading and constructive role in ensuring this urgently-needed international human rights standard is achieved.
To date the campaign has included joint public statements, news releases, letters to the government, and a meeting with the U.N. Special Rapporteur for the Protection of the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In March, KAIROS added its name to a Joint Submission to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that was drafted by the Grand Council of the Crees (Quebec), the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, among others.
The U.N. Working Group on the draft Declaration has only two meetings left before the end of the Decade in December. In the summer and early fall KAIROS will participate in meetings with Members of Parliament from all parties to ensure the Declaration is a high priority on the government’s upcoming agenda. Also, in order to raise the Declaration’s profile during this crucial time, a post-card and poster are being planned.
For more information, contact Ed. Bianchi, Program Coordinator, Aboriginal Rights at 613.235.9956 or ebianchi
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Joint letter on human rights sent to Colombian President Uribe |
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KAIROS is among 44 trade unions, church groups and NGOs from Canada
and the United States that signed on to a letter to Colombian President
Alvaro Uribe Velez expressing concern about the President’s
recent public accusations and threats against members of Peace Brigades
International working in the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado.
PBI is a highly respected organization that does very important
work in accompaniment of human rights and social organizations in
Colombia. KAIROS works with PBI in Colombia and Canada on policy,
advocacy and education work. These recent accusations by the Colombian
President need to be seen in the context of a campaign to criminalize
and de-legitimize the work of human rights groups and social organizations
in Colombia. The campaign first began against Colombian organizations,
including some of our partners (see urgent actions and updates on
Ricardo Esquivia), and more recently has included international
organizations such as PBI. You can get more information on Colombia
from KAIROS resources such as The Hidden Story video and study guide,
or by contacting:
Rachel Warden, Coordinator: Global Partnerships Program, Latin America.
416 463 5312 x242 or
rwarden
or
John Lewis, Program Coordinator, International Human Rights,
jlewis
or 416 463 5312 ext. 224.
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Update on Darfur: African Union Protection Force for Sudan is insufficient |
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Two months ago, the United Nations’ secretary general, Kofi Annan, acknowledged that in Darfur “the risk of genocide remains frighteningly real,” yet the international body remains paralyzed by the conflict. While humanitarian assistance and human rights monitors have begun to arrive in Darfur, the security situation remains extremely tenuous. The UN’s World Food Program has had to restrict deliveries in many areas throughout the Sudan, including Darfur, due to ongoing insecurity and violence.
On July 6th, the African Union (AU) agreed to send a protection force of 300 soldiers into the troubled region of Darfur in western Sudan. This is a first test for the new force. To date, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Botswana have been approached to provide troops for the protection force, one of the first of its kind mandated by the two-year-old AU.
“We are discussing with the Sudanese government on the deployment. That force is essentially to go in and create some kind of confidence so that refugees [and] internally displaced persons can return,” said Sam Ibok, the director of the Peace and Security Division at the AU. “We are confident (Sudan) will accept. It has been difficult but we are talking.”
It is unlikely, however, that a force of only 300 will be able to secure an area the size of France in which more than one million people have been displaced and from which another 150,000 have fled to escape militia attacks. A major famine looms and the situation demands much greater action to address the ongoing insecurity.
For more information contact John Lewis, Program Coordinator, International
Human Rights,
jlewis
or 416 463 5312 ext. 224.
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International Criminal Court Takes Up the Case of the Congo |
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The decision last month by the International Criminal Court (ICC)
to investigate war crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC) is a much-anticipated opportunity in the struggle against
impunity for human rights crimes in Africa. ICC Prosecutor Luis
Moreno Ocampo announced on June 23rd the beginning of this first-ever
investigation by his office.
In April of this year, the DRC’s transitional government surprised
many observers by requesting that the ICC prosecutor investigate
crimes in the Congo, only the second such request on the continent.
It is an important step in the nation’s shift toward constitutional
democracy.
“There will be no meaningful transition in the Congo without
putting an end to impunity for the horrific crimes that have characterized
the conflict there,” said Richard Dicker of Human Rights Watch.
“The recent killings and rapes in the eastern Congo underscore
the urgent need for a thorough and effective investigation into
these and other horrific crimes.”
According to U.N. estimates, an estimated 50,000 civilians have
died in the Ituri region of eastern DRC since 1999,. The eastern
parts of Congo, where massive violations of human rights have become
commonplace, are only the most recent areas of conflict in the country.
An estimated 3.3 million civilians have died throughout the Congo
since violence erupted in 1996.
For more information contact John Lewis, Program Coordinator, International
Human Rights,
jlewis
or 416 463 5312 ext. 224
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KAIROS seeks a Program Coordinator: Africa Partnerships |
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KAIROS seeks a creative, dedicated program coordinator to work with our Human Rights/ Peacebuilding team and Africa partners in promoting human rights and justice in sub-Sahara Africa.
The program coordinator for Africa partnerships will oversee partnership relations, program development and coordination, project management, policy development, and advocacy with respect to the Africa region. Conflict/ peacebuilding and economic justice are major thematic priorities for this region.
Please see the full job description
on our website under Support Us/ Employment
Opportunities.
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New resources
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KAIROS starts a new Trade E-List ! |
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KAIROS has started a new e-list to provide regular updates on trade-related
work, including information on the FTAA negotiations, bilateral
trade deals and the World Trade Organization. We hope to share with
subscribers our work to stop unjust trade agreements and institutions
and to promote viable and just alternatives. These Updates will
run no more than two pages in length and will only be sent out when
there's news to share. We will also send out the occasional trade-related
Urgent Action that requires immediate action.
To sign up for the KAIROS Trade E-List contact Rusa Jeremic, Program
Coordinator, Global Economic Justice,
rjeremic
, 416 463 5312, ext 225
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Latest Global Economic Justice Report focuses on the HIV/AIDS crisis |
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The Summer 2004 issue of the Global Economic Justice Report has
just been released. In this report we look at the struggle to overcome
the HIV/AIDS pandemic, including the urgent need to address the
deep-seated poverty in which it thrives. Some of the issues covered
include the relationship between HIV/AIDS and malnutrition, and
the role of global trade and finance in draining more wealth out
of the sub-Saharan Africa region than is provided through Official
Development Assistance. This special extended edition also goes
behind the scenes to examine the struggle to supply low cost medicines
to people living with HIV/AIDS and recent Canadian legislation on
cheap drugs. The conclusion offers a set of important recommendations
for action. To receive your complimentary copy of this issue please
send an e-mail to
orders
citing the Kairos Times offer or call toll free1 877
403 8933 x246. You can also subscribe to all four issues for $20!
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Request from KAIROS groups in SW New Brunswick: please support a petition for the rights of the Passamaquoddy Nation |
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Some KAIROS groups in the Atlantic region are requesting support for a petition that focuses on the Canadian government’s continued refusal to recognize the rights and existence of the Passamaquoddy First Nation. The groups are working alongside the Passamaquoddy Tribal Council and the Passamaquoddy First Nation Solidarity Network. See http://www.wabanaki.com for more information.
KAIROS regions and local groups often take up actions that are
not part of KAIROS’ national work, but relate to a local vision
for global justice. For more information about this action and for
copies of the petition, please contact Tim Devlin, Atlantic Regional
Representative, at
devlin
The petitions will be sent
to the federal government in October, so time is short.
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