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Kairos Times: April 2005 Vol 4, #4
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| Faith commitments, indeed all ways of understanding the world, must engage each other in the public square to help shape the common good. |
| –Harry Kits, Citizens for Public Justice |
Take action
- KAIROS launches action for debt cancellation NOW!
- Appeal for Refugee Rights—first petitions
presented
- Moving forward on climate change: honouring our Kyoto commitment
- Eight members of Peace Community in Colombia murdered
- Calling for peace and an end to human rights violations in Aceh
- UN Report calls on Canada to protect and promote the rights of Indigenous peoples
- From Israel-Palestine: A call for morally responsible investment
- Last call: Women Doing Theology event
- Support Sisters in Spirit—Call for promised
funding of the Native Women’s Association
Take action!
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KAIROS launches action for debt cancellation NOW! |
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Over the weekend of April 15-17, Finance Ministers from the Group of Seven creditor countries failed once again to resolve their differences over competing debt relief proposals. Between their failed February and April meetings some 2 million more people died from preventable causes including hunger, HIV/AIDS, malaria and contaminated water due in part to their governments’ having to service illegitimate debts.
KAIROS, along with our allies in the global Make Poverty History campaign, insist that Prime Minister Martin must take leadership to ensure that a definitive debt cancellation plan is in place before the G8 Summit in July in Scotland. Our government must do more than just offer ten years of debt relief for a mere eighteen Heavily Indebted Poor Countries and a few other low-income countries. Instead, Canada must champion the unconditional cancellation of 100% of the debts owed by impoverished countries to multilateral financial institutions.
Take action on the Call for Debt Cancellation NOW! Click
here to see a PDF flyer of our debt action.
For background on international debt see: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/economic/debt/debtBriefing.asp
For more information contact John Dillon, Program Coordinator,
Global Economic Justice at
jdillon
or 416-463-5312, ext. 231.
Top
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Appeal for Refugee Rights—first petitions presented |
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KAIROS continues to lobby for the Refugee Appeal Division! On April 4, Refugee Rights Day, Bloc MP Meili Faille and NDP MP Alexa McDonough presented the KAIROS petition in the House of Commons. Speaking at a joint press conference, the two MPs joined KAIROS Board member Joe Gunn and Quebec immigration lawyer Rick Goldman in issuing a passionate plea for implementation of the appeal. Later that afternoon, the KAIROS delegation visited Conservative immigration critic Diane Ablonczy to make the case for the Refugee Appeal Division. Though not yet convinced of our position, Ms. Ablonczy welcomed our comments and invited further input. Jim McNair, a member of our Refugee Working Group, will respond to this invitation by attending a Conservative party consultation on immigration issues later in April.
KAIROS invites you to write, phone, or visit your own MP and request their support for implementation of the Refugee Appeal Division. Consult our on-line lobby kit for background information and answers to tough questions: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/action/MPLobby.asp
KAIROS will continue to receive signatures to the Refugee Rights petition until May 31. We hope to present the second batch of signatures in early June provided we aren’t facing an election. Capital Area Justice Initiatives, our local KAIROS group in Ottawa, is already busy organizing a creative press event to coincide with this presentation and draw attention to the urgent need for the appeal.
In the meantime, please continue to send your signed petitions in to us care of Sara Stratton, and accept our thanks for this truly grassroots work in support of refugee rights!
For more information, contact Tanya Chute Molina at 1-877-403-8933
X252 or
tchute
News….
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Moving forward on climate change: A plan for honouring our Kyoto commitment |
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The long-awaited Kyoto implementation plan has finally been released by the Government of Canada. Now it must be fast-tracked if there’s to be any hope of meeting the national Kyoto emissions reduction target of 270 megatonnes (MT) by 2012. While we welcome the plan’s opportunities and incentives for different sectors to do their required part in delivering those reductions, there continues to be an inequitable distribution of responsibility.
Some of the funding will support ordinary Canadians and institutions to take action in their homes, schools, businesses, and churches. Since Canada’s total emissions rate has been going up steadily, it will require a lot of effort to begin to make a difference and reverse the trend. The evidence of approaching climate change is growing and the urgency to curb our fossil fuel dependency is obvious. We can only hope that the moral and political will of the government, corporations and of us all is up to the task.
See a recent civil society letter to the Prime Minister for more
information: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/media/letters/ltrPM_followup050329.pdf
Be sure to check out KAIROS’ PDF file of the Workbook
on Energy Efficiency for Religious Buildings
and other resources in the Ecology
section of our website.
For more information, contact Joy Kennedy, Ecological Justice Coordinator, at 1 877 403 8933 ext 222 or jkennedy
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Eight members of a Peace Community in Colombia murdered |
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On February 21, eight members of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó in Colombia were murdered. An eyewitness to the killings reported that the perpetrators identified themselves as members of the Colombian army. On 20 March Colombian president Alvaro Uribe responded to the murders by accusing the leaders of the community of being auxiliaries of a guerrilla group and seeking to obstruct justice. He threatened to unleash the army on the entire community within twenty days.
KAIROS, Peace Brigades International, Amnesty International, and over 20 other concerned groups sent a letter to Canada’s minister of foreign affairs expressing our condemnation of the attacks: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/media/letters/ltrPettigrew050318.asp
We demand that the Canadian Government respond publicly to this attack. KAIROS is urging the Canadian government to implement the recommendations made in our human rights brief: The struggle against impunity in Colombia: KAIROS Submission to the Canadian Delegation to the 61st Session of the UNCHR.
KAIROS also urges the Colombian authorities to carry out an exhaustive and impartial investigation into this massacre, as well as thousands of others in the country, and to publicly recognize the Peace Community’s right to exist.
For more information, please contact John Lewis, Program Coordinator
for International Human Rights, at
jlewis
or 416.463.5312 ext. 224.
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Calling for peace and an end to human rights violations in Aceh |
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In Aceh, Indonesia, a humanitarian crisis caused by the December 26 tsunami continues. Despite this, government military operations continue. KAIROS and its partners are urging Canada and the international community to increase their efforts to bring peace to the region.
At the UN Commission on Human Rights, KAIROS partners presented
disturbing reports of abuse by the Indonesian military against women
and internally displaced people and charged that “By keeping
silent about human rights violations in Aceh, the international
community is legitimizing the violence and ignoring the basic rights
of the Achenese who not only need emergency aid, but also freedom
from fear and true peace.”
In Canada, KAIROS has repeated its call for the Canadian government
to press for an immediate ceasefire and to promote peace in Aceh.
A joint letter was sent to Minister Pettigrew on April 12, the first
day of the third round of peace talks between the warring factions
in Aceh. KAIROS’ lobbying efforts will continue in May when
a representative from its partner from Aceh will arrive in Canada
for a speaking tour.
KAIROS thanks those who have already joined in this important advocacy effort and encourages others to do so by writing letters to the Canadian government. See our archived urgent action for details—letters are still welcome: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/urgent/uaAceh050120.asp
At the 61st session of the UNCHR, KAIROS and its partners also
called on the international community to defend human rights, end
impunity and bring peace to Aceh (Indonesia), Colombia, Sudan and
Palestine/Israel. At least two of our submissions had direct effects
on the drafting of UN documents. For a full account of the work
done at the Commission, please read the report at: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/humanrights/report_UNCHR61_Summary.asp
A copy of KAIROS’ submissions to the UNCHR can be found at
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/humanrights/advocacy.asp
For more information, contact Nancy Slamet, International Human
Rights Programme Coordinator at
nslamet
or 416.463.5312 ext. 226
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UN Report calls on Canada to protect and promote the rights of Indigenous peoples |
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On April 11, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of Indigenous People, presented the Report of his 2004 Mission to Canada to the UN Commission on Human Rights. Stavenhagen’s report describes an unacceptable human rights gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples, which he attributes to federal Aboriginal policy and a failure by governments to fulfill their obligations to Aboriginal peoples.
The Report echoes the churches’ longstanding concerns with the federal government’s extinguishment policy, which requires Aboriginal peoples to “release” certain rights in order to ensure certainty for governments in land rights agreements.
Stavenhagen recommends that “it be clearly established in the text and spirit of any agreement between an Aboriginal people and a government in Canada that no matter what is negotiated, the inherent constitutional rights of Aboriginal peoples are inalienable and cannot be relinquished, ceded or released….Aboriginal peoples also require certainty and predictability concerning the non-extinguishment of their inherent rights.”
To view a PDF copy of the report, please see:
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/docs/61chr/E.CN.4.2005.88.Add.3.pdf
For more information contact Ed Bianchi, KAIROS’ Aboriginal
Rights Program Coordinator at 613.235.9956 or
ebianchi
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From Israel-Palestine: A call for morally responsible investment |
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Should churches and other organizations consider divestment from companies that profit from the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories? The Presbyterian Church in the USA became one of the first major denominations to announce that it would do so in the fall of 2004. Now one of KAIROS’ partners in Jerusalem, the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, has issued an important call to its partners around the world to follow the lead of the Presbyterian USA church. Click here to view it.
In February 2005, the World Council of Churches also called on its member churches to use economic measures to press for a non-violent solution to the Occupation. Many churches are now engaging in study and reflection processes to consider this course of action. Over the coming months KAIROS will also study this issue further. For further information on the issue of divestment and the Palestinian – Israeli conflict, see our website at: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/partners/mideast/israelPalestine/index.asp
For more information contact Hanadi Loubani, Middle East Partnerships
Program Coordinator (on leave in April) at 416-463-5312 ext. 239
(
hloubani
) or Dale Hildebrand, Team Leader for Human Rights and
Peace-building at ext. 235 or
dhildebrand
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Last call: Women Doing Theology |
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The Women’s Inter Church Council of Canada (WICC), one of KAIROS’ ecumenical partners, is holding an interfaith feminist women’s conference on theology in Montreal June 9-12, 2005. You’re invited! Read more at http://www.wicc.org/frenchriver/index.html
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Support Sisters in Spirit—Call for promised funding of the Native Women’s Association |
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The Government of Canada was to announce $5 million in funding to the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) on February 14, 2005 for its Sisters in Spirit Campaign to address violence against Aboriginal women. However, on February 1 NWAC President Beverly Jacobs learned from the Prime Minister's Office that the announcement was being postponed, despite a promise that funds would be included in the federal budget.
The Native Women's Association of Canada is calling on the Federal government to immediately fulfill its promise to commit $5 million to the Sisters in Spirit Campaign. NWAC has been negotiating with three federal departments (Status of Women Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada) since the submission of its proposal in August 2004. NWAC plans a press conference and march to Parliament Hill on March 22 if funding has not been announced.
NWAC is encouraging people to write to Minister Anne McLellan at the Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness: McLellan.A .
NWAC is asking that you copy your letter to:
Prime Minister Martin
pm
; Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott
Scott.A
; Status of Women Minister Liza Frulla:
Frulla.L
For more info on NWAC's campaign to end violence against Aboriginal
women in Canada, go to www.sistersinspirit.ca or
http://www.united-church.ca/aboriginal/rights/040106.shtm#3
contact Ed. Bianchi, Program Coordinator, Aboriginal Rights: 613
235 9956 or
ebianchi
New resources….
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New on our website… |
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Members of our Mexico trade delegation are back, and they’ve been busy. See their final report and diaries at: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/economic/trade/delegation.asp
We have a new Country of Concern site section! See our Indonesia
section at:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/countries/indonesia/index.asp
We’ve updated our ongoing analysis of debt cancellation. See
this and other background documents at:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/economic/debt/index.asp
Check out the free PDF version of the latest quarterly Global Economic
Justice Report:
Food, Farmers
and Global Trade: The Real Story
(If you would like a print subscription at the great price of $5
per issue, including postage, see our order
form.)
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