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Kairos Times: April 2007. Vol. 6, #4
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| If any of you happens to see an injustice, you are no longer a spectator: you are a participant. And you have an obligation to do something. |
--June Callwood, rest in peace |
In this edition:
- Be a part of the Week of Action for Darfur April 22-29
- Days of Prayer and Action for Colombia, May 20-21
- New killing and abductions in the Philippines: take a moment for a phone call
- KAIROS at the 4th Session of UN's Human Rights Council
- Water and mining campaign continues; groundbreaking report released
- New on our site: Federal budget report card; shareholder
actions; questioning agrofuels
Be a part of the Week of Action for Darfur April 22-29
The crisis in Darfur is once again escalating, as warring militias have turned to attacking African Union peacekeepers and humanitarian workers over the last few months. Seven peacekeepers were killed in early April, most of them from Rwanda, as the security situation moves beyond critical.
Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed and the crisis has spread across the borders of Chad and the Central African Republic. World leaders must add action to their words to stop the violence.
Events are being organized across Canada and around the globe leading up to a global day of action on April 29th to call attention to the worsening situation and demand action from world leaders, including the Canadian Prime Minister. For a listing of events, please see http://www.globefordarfur.org/index.php
To find out more, please contact John Lewis, Program Coordinator
for International Human Rights at
jlewis
or 416-463-5312 ext. 224.
Top
of pageDays of Prayer and Action for Colombia, May 20-21
“Sisters and brothers, please join us in fervent prayer and faithful witness for a sustainable peace in Colombia,” write church partners in Colombia. Every day, our partners in Colombia bear witness to a war in which civilians are the primary victims of threats and assassinations. More than 3.5 million people are displaced, the second largest internally displaced population in the world. Yet thousands risk their lives to heed God’s call for peace by working for justice and an end to war.
KAIROS encourages our members and network to join the thousands of people of faith in Canada, the U.S. and Colombia as we pray for an end to the violence and suffering in Colombia, and act to ensure peace with justice in Colombia. Engage your faith communities in these international days of prayer and action, May 20 and 21. Take a day to remember our brothers and sisters in Colombia in prayer and worship, and then act by asking the Canadian government to take action on Colombia’s humanitarian crisis
In Canada, the day of community action and witness will focus on Canadian policy in Colombia and, in particular, two issues of concern. One is Canada’s support for a dangerously flawed demobilization process with paramilitary groups, a process that is leading to ongoing impunity and human rights abuses as opposed to sustainable and just peace.
The other issue is the lack of federal legislation for Canadian multinational firms operating in the resource extraction industry. Colombia is rich in natural resources, and 87% of forced displacements, 82% of human rights violations and 83% of assassinations of trade union leaders in the country occur in resource-rich regions.
To get involved go to www.peaceincolombia.org , the website of the Colombia Steering Committee of the Latin America Working Group. Congregations in both the United States and Canada are asked to register their involvement by e-mailing their name and location to jtrowbridge . Both congregations and individuals may access the many worship materials on the site: you’ll find prayers, liturgies, sample letters and postcards to elected representatives, and tips for holding public witness and educational events.
Community Action and Witness resources for Canadian churches, including sample letters to the Canadian government and background fact sheets, will be posted on the KAIROS website shortly. Also check the Colombia page of the KAIROS website http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/countries/colombia/index.asp for background on our work with partners in Colombia.
Additional liturgical and action resources may be found at http://www.mcc.org/us/washington/days
. You can also check the Christian Peacemakers Team (CPT) website
http://www.cpt.org/colombia/colombia.php
for ongoing updates on the work of CPT and its Colombian partners,
and for additional tools for prayer and witness. A photo gallery
on Colombia is posted on the Mennonite Central Committee Canada
website:
http://mcc.org/gallery/07_03/index.html
For more information, please contact Rachel Warden, Program Coordinator for Latin American Partnerships, at 416-463-5312/ 1-877-403-8933 ext 242 or rwarden
New killing and abductions in the Philippines: take a moment for a phone call
Just over a month ago, KAIROS joined Development and Peace, the Anglican Church, and the United Church in sponsoring a tour of Philippines church and human rights leaders. Many Canadian groups and communities have followed with grave concern the numerous and continuing murders of human rights workers, members and leaders of peasants’ and farmers’ associations, political opponents and advocates for justice in the Philippines.
With deep regret we heard the news of the gunshot wounding of Mr. Jose Ely Garachico and the abductions and disappearances of Ms. Ma Luisa Posa Dominado and Mr. Nilo Arado on April 12, 2007. Mr. Garachico is the information officer for KARAPATAN, an alliance of human rights groups in the Philippines. He is in critical condition in hospital, and no word has been heard of Ms Dominado and Mr Arado’s whereabouts.
KAIROS joins KARAPATAN, Canadian churches and Philippine churches and civil society in condemning the ongoing killings and the unrelenting harassment of human rights workers.
Both a People’s Tribunal held in the Netherlands this March and a recent statement to the UN Human Rights Council in which KAIROS participated noted that these attacks and extra judicial killings are being carried out as part of a systematic campaign to silence and intimidate individuals and groups who challenge the policies of the government and oppose the abuses of the military. Since 2001, more than 835 people have been killed in a wave of targeted assassinations linked to the Philippine military – a number surpassing all twelve years of the martial law regime of former President Ferdinand Marcos. KARAPATAN and other civil society peace and justice groups rightly point out that the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for these attacks and extra judicial killings will only make the violence worse.
KAIROS joins in a call on the Government of the Philippines to:
- Conduct an investigation into the attack on Mr. Garachico and the abduction of Ms. Dominado and Mr. Arado immediately;
- Ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice and that the lives of ordinary people are secured;
- Call on the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to strictly enforce the international standards and national laws protecting the civil and political rights of citizens with their members.
We believe the safety and indeed the lives of Ms. Dominado and
Mr. Arado hang in the balance. Public pressure can help: Please
send a letter to Ambassador Jose S. Brillantes, The Philippine Embassy
in Canada, Suite 606, 130 Albert Street
Ottawa ON, K1P 5G4 or call (613) 233-1121 and leave a message expressing
your concerns. Numbers for other areas: Consular Office/Toronto:
Consul General Alejandro Mosquera - (416) (416) 922-7181 ext. 221.
Vancouver: (604) 685-1619 Winnipeg: Eda Pangilinan - (204) 859-4639
For more information, contact Connie Sorio, Program Coordinator, Global Partnerships—Asia and the Pacific, 1 877 403 8933 or 416 463 5312 x240 or csorio
KAIROS at the 4th Session of UN's Human Rights Council
A few weeks ago, Canada's policies and actions on racism were reviewed by the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). To assist its review, the CERD accepts submissions from NGOs. KAIROS' submission focused on the discriminatory nature of Canada's Aboriginal policy, specifically Canada's Comprehensive Land Claims Policy, its approach to Specific Claims, and its recent decisions to abandon the Kelowna Accord and oppose the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Read our submission at http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/media/letters/aboriginalRightsCERD0702.pdf
In its review, the UN CERD expressed serious concern about Canada's policies towards Aboriginal peoples and touched on most of the issues raised in KAIROS' report. For example, the Committee recommended that Canada support the immediate adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples” (paragraph 27). (See KAIROS’ archived urgent action on this issue.)
It also recommended that Canada "ensure that the new approaches taken to settle aboriginal land claims do not unduly restrict the progressive development of aboriginal rights" (paragraph 22).
In an unprecedented move that echoes the current KAIROS campaign, the Committee recommended that Canada “explore ways to hold transnational corporations registered in Canada accountable” for the “adverse effects” of their economic activities “outside Canada” (paragraph 17).
For the UN CERD's complete report, please go to: http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/cerds70.htm
For more information contact Ed Bianchi, KAIROS' Aboriginal Rights
Program coordinator at 613 235 9956 or
ebianchi
.
The UN Human Rights Council closed its fourth regular session on
March 30th with the adoption of a compromise resolution on the crisis
in Darfur. While only a small step, it was a meaningful and welcome
one in the struggle to defend the rights of Darfuris.
The Council also continued the practice of hearing detailed reporting from independent experts on human rights violations under “thematic” discussions, such as torture, violence against women, and extrajudicial killings. This segment of the Council’s agenda shines a spotlight on violations in many countries, an act which could itself help to protect human rights in some cases.
Along with 11 other civil society organizations from around the world, KAIROS (under the Special Consultative status of the Canadian Council of Churches) urged the Council to adopt a strong resolution on Darfur, taking note of a recent Human Rights Council report and its recommendations.
For the civil society statement, please see http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/media/statements/stmDarfur070322.pdf
For a copy of the Council report on Darfur, please see http://daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/6952176.htm
The final resolution establishes a group composed of six independent experts on a range of abuses – including violence against women, extrajudicial executions and torture –led by the Council-appointed expert on Sudan. The expert group is charged with working to ensure follow-up and implementation of existing recommendations by the Council as well as other UN institutions, including the Security Council. The group is also charged with reporting back to the Council in June.
KAIROS also called attention to the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. Alongside the World Council of Churches, we called on the Human Rights Council to support the implementation of the recommendations of the preliminary note on the visit of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
The preliminary note can be found at http://daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/5748567.html
For the World Council of Churches statement, please see
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/media/letters/ltrFAIR070327.pdf
To find out more about KAIROS work on protecting the people of
Darfur and the Philippines, please visit http://kairoscanada.org/e/humanrights/index.asp
or contact John Lewis, Program Coordinator for International Human
Rights at
jlewis
or 416-463-5312 ext. 224
Water and mining campaign continues; groundbreaking report released
Signed copies of the overdue water bill continue to pour into the KAIROS office (no pun intended!). These bills call for Canada to put binding (not voluntary) environmental and human rights legislation on Canadian corporations working overseas. About two thirds of the world’s mining companies are registered in Canada, and mining has an enormous impact on water from the tar sands in Alberta to gold mines in the Philippines. Even as the KAIROS local network and member churches continue to question privatization of water services and ask whether we need bottled water, we are looking overseas to the impact of resource extraction on water.
Thanks to dozens of World Water Day events and the efforts of hundreds of churches, schools and individuals, the stack of signed bills is growing higher. Keep them coming! KAIROS and its member churches will plan a creative presentation of the bills on Parliament Hill but, like you, we’re waiting to see if a federal election will be called for the late spring. Our plans for the event and for a planned cross-Canada visit of Southern partners hinge on election dates. So please watch our website for updates.
In the meantime, the federal government has released a report on
the Roundtables on Resource Extraction process, in which KAIROS
national and local members took part.
A complete copy of the report is available at:
http://international.gc.ca/cip-pic/library/Advisory%20Group%20Report%20-%20March%202007.pdf
See also a series of press releases on the report and the process, http://www.halifaxinitiative.org/index.php/CNCA_Media as well as an article from the Montreal Gazette.
Your efforts are having an impact! For more information on the campaign, see KAIROS’ campaign page (including links to Development and Peace’s resource extraction campaign): http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/action/campaign.asp and our mining roundtables page at http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/corporate/mining/index.asp
For more information, contact Sara Stratton, Campaigns Coordinator,
at 1 877 403 8933 x241 or
sstratton
New on our site: Federal budget report card; shareholder actions; questioning agrofuels
How does the federal budget measure up from a justice point of
view? See what you think:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/resources/policyBriefing10BudgetReportCard0704.pdf
It’s annual general meeting time for many corporations, and
shareholders across the country are putting forward resolutions
with an eye to social justice and corporate responsibility. Check
out our latest shareholder alert:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/corporate/shareholder/shareholderActionAlert0703.pdf
President Bush’s vision of replacing gasoline with 35 billion
barrels of renewable fuels has ignited a debate on the wisdom of
growing crops for fuel instead of food. A new KAIROS briefing paper
adds a Canadian perspective to the debate. It discusses the consequences
for people in the Global South of plans for expanding the production
of agrofuels. The paper shows how peoples’ movements in the
South are resisting large-scale production for export and suggests
that energy conservation initiatives and smaller-scale community-based
alternatives are better options. To download a copy of Are Agrofuels
Alternatives to Oil? See
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/resources/policyBriefing9Agrofuel0703.pdf
You’ve been reading Kairos Times, a monthly e-bulletin from KAIROS, the social justice organization of eleven Canadian churches and church agencies. Sign up for this free bulletin and occasional urgent actions or contact us at info , or toll-free 1 877 403 8933.
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