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Kairos Times: March 2006 Vol 5, #3
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| A refugee situation is a difficult one. We are people
with many problems. Our rights are not respected in our land
of origin and often neither in the land of asylum. We are without
a voice and when we try to speak, our voices are not heard.
But we have our lives and that is our greatest hope… |
-- Kwizera Jean de Dew, a Burundian refugee in Tanzania. April 4 is Refugee Rights Day. |
All the news
- World Water Week wraps up
- April 4 is Refugee Rights Day!
- Creation of Human Rights Council a major step forward for the protection of victims worldwide
- Invitation to an Advocacy Justice Camp
World Water Week wraps up
Many thanks to the thousands of people across Canada who attended World Water Day walks, workshops, and services of worship! 151 municipalities and town councils have voted to endorse the Water Declaration, and more re-affirmed their commitment to clean, safe, public water. See http://www.devp.org/testA/news/communiques2006_9-e.htm for more details and photos. Over 5,000 people sent letters to the federal government through the “Click for Clean Water” action.
You can see photos of the alternative World Water Forum in Mexico City on CUPE’s site at http://www.cupe.ca/worldwaterday And an article published recently in the Toronto Star presents the views of KAIROS, CUPE and the Council of Canadians on water.
Still want to take action? It’s not too late. The KAIROS- D&P postcard campaign will run until June 1. We have a new letter format of the postcard for you to download: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/action/ltrPMWaterCard0603.pdf
We will announce the number of signed cards later in the spring.
And stay tuned for a continued campaign on water for 2006-2007.
For more information, contact Sara Stratton, Network and Campaign
Coordinator, at
sstratton
or 1 877 403 8933 ext. 241.
April 4 is Refugee Rights Day!
On this day, refugee rights advocates affirm the right of asylum seekers to a fair hearing of their claim. Currently, one of the most serious threats to that right is the Safe Third Country Agreement, which largely closes the US-Canada border to refugees.
On March 27, in anticipation of Refugee Rights Day, the Canadian Council of Churches, Amnesty International and the Canadian Council for Refugees filed legal submissions in a court challenge of the Safe Third Country Agreement. Stay tuned for updates! For more information about the churches’ opposition to the Safe Third Country Agreement, read our policy briefing paper at www.kairoscanada.org/e/resources/policyBriefing2Refugees0601.pdf
Learn more about Refugee Rights Day through the Canadian Council
for Refugees:
http://www.web.ca/ccr/RRDay.html
For more information, contact Tanya Chute Molina, Refugee and Migrant
Rights Coordinator, at
tchute
or 1 877 403 8933 x 252.
Creation of Human Rights Council a major
step forward for the protection of victims worldwide
KAIROS welcomes the creation of a new United Nations Human Rights Council to replace the Commission on Human Rights. “The decision of the General Assembly to create the Council is momentous”, said the High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour. “It responds to the hope that the global community could come together and create a strong institution at the heart of the international human rights system.”
While retaining some of the best elements of the old Commission – including the system of independent investigators and the participation of civil society – the new body will have a few significant new features for the promotion and protection of human rights around the world. Candidates for membership will have to make commitments on human rights; elected members will be first in line for scrutiny under a universal periodic review of their human rights records; and members of the Council that have committed gross and systematic violations of human rights can be suspended. None of these provisions exists in the present Commission.
The method of election to the Council also represents a major improvement over the Commission. Nations seeking membership will require an absolute majority of UN member States: of the 191 members, at least 96 must support a state's membership by secret ballot. This threshold is much higher than the 28 or fewer votes that could get a country membership in the Commission.
Seats on the Council will be distributed among regions: 13 for Africa, 13 for Asia, six for Eastern Europe, eight for Latin America and the Caribbean and seven for a group of mainly Western countries, including the Canada and the United States.
The overwhelming majority of countries supported the proposal. The United States, Israel, Palau, and the Marshall Islands voted against establishing the new Council.
The new Council calls for the election of council members on May 9, 2006 with the first meeting to be held June 16th. KAIROS will continue to present its human rights concerns to the appropriate bodies of the UN, including the Human Rights Council. The reports are,
For more information contact John Lewis, Program Coordinator International
Human Rights at
jlewis
or 416.463.5312 ext. 224.
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Invitation to an Advocacy Justice Camp
You are invited to participate in an exciting ecumenical training event on faith based social justice activism, to be held in Ottawa May 8-13, 2006. The Advocacy Justice Camp will offer an experiential program of reflection, dialogue, community building and activism. Small groups will explore advocacy with a focus on a particular issue. For more information email Rosemary Anderson at rc.anderson or check their website at www.justicecamp.org
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