The All Africa Conference of Churches, a KAIROS partner, hosts the secretariat of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance which has issued the African Climate Justice Manifesto.

• Immediately and unconditionally release the 43 detained medical and health workers;

• Ensure the safety of these detainees, provide unlimited access to their family members and legal counsel while in custody of the military; and

• Conduct an impartial investigation into the legality of their arrest and detention, and the allegations of torture and indignities inflicted on them while in detention.

Furthermore, we join with other KAIROS members in calling on the Philippine President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to protect citizens from persecution, intimidation and violence directed against opposition groups, and ensure that the coming national election in May is not marred by violence and fraud.

We join the international community in calling the Government of the Philippines to implement the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, which seek to bring an end to human rights violations in the country.



We urge you to write letters to the Philippine President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to join our call for the immediate release of the detainees and to ensure their safety while in the custody of the military.

To read a sample letter, please click here.

View video



For more information contact Connie Sorio
Asia-Pacific Partnerships Program Coordinator
csorio[at]kairoscanada[dot]org

Intense and large scale oil and gas exploitation on the traditional lands of the Lubicon Cree First Nation in northern Alberta began in the late seventies. The impact on the community has been devastating. Within one generation the Lubicon’s hunting and trapping economy was destroyed. Efforts by the Lubicon people to adjust and develop an alternate way of life have been impeded by the federal government’s refusal to recognize the Lubicon’s land and resource rights, notwithstanding repeated calls by international human rights bodies including the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

In 2005, fifteen years after concluding that oil and gas exploitation had endangered the way of life and culture of the Lubicon Cree, the UN HRC concluded that Lubicon land “continues to be compromised by logging and large-scale oil and gas extraction” and called on the government of Canada to ensure that the Lubicon were adequately consulted “before granting licences for economic exploitation.”

Last year, following an official visit to Canada which included a trip to Lubicon territory, the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Miloon Kothari, called on the government of Canada to place "a moratorium ...on all oil and extractive activities in the Lubicon region until a settlement" of Lubicon land rights is achieved.

His report emphasized that the “activities of private companies on Aboriginal lands -- should be carried out only with consultation and approval of all Aboriginal and concerned communities" and that the activity on Lubicon land seems “in contradiction with (UN) treaty bodies' recommendations and the right to self-determination and control over natural resources” of the Lubicon people.

The last round of land rights negotiations between the Lubicon and the federal and Alberta governments broke down in 2003. There are no new talks on the horizon.

A recent leadership dispute in the community threatens to worsen the situation by drawing attention away from the Lubicon’s decades-long rights struggle. In response to recent requests from the Lubicon, the KAIROS Indigenous Rights Circle agreed to affirm KAIROS’ support by issuing a joint statement with Amnesty International emphasizing the need to stay focused on recognizing and respecting Lubicon land rights. KAIROS’ member churches have stood in solidarity with the Lubicon since the early 80s, when oil and gas extraction began taking its toll on the Lubicon people.

For more information please contact Ed Bianchi at ebianchi[at]kairoscanada[dot]org or 613.235.9956 ext 221.

• Dec 26: Dora Alicia Sorto Recino was shot to death as she was walking home from the river; she was eight months pregnant and carrying her two-year-old child, who was also injured. Dora Alicia was a member of the Environmental Committee of Cabanas, which has been extremely active in educating and mobilizing the community about the impacts of gold mining.
  View 'Democracy Now's' documentary on the death of Dora “Alicia” Recinos Sorto )

• Dec 20: Ramiro Rivera, vice-president of the Environmental Committee of Cabanas, was gunned down in front of his daughter, despite his 24-hour police protection since being shot eight times in August. His neighbour Felicita Echeverria was also killed in the attack.

• June 30: Marcelo Rivera (no relation to Ramiro), an outspoken mining activist and community leader, was found tortured and murdered in an empty well in Cabanas.

Furthermore, the assaults, attempted kidnappings and death threats against prominent human rights and community activists continue. Just recently, on January 25, we received reports that Oscar Luna, the Ombusdman in Defense of Human Rights in El Salvador had received two death threats against himself and his family since January 8. The second one, delivered January 19, warned him that he had 48 hours to leave the country. Luna has spoken out strongly against the murder of activists in Cabanas. Luna has declared that he will not permit the threats to obstruct his work in defense of human rights.

These human rights defenders and community activitist have opposed the presence of a Canadian mining company, Pacific Rim Mining Corp., in the region. Pacific Rim suspended its operations in El Dorado in July 2008 after the Ministry of the Environment denied its application for mining permits. In response, the Vancouver based mining company launched a $77-million lawsuit against the Salvadorean government under the investor state chapter of the US- Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), through its US-based subsidiary, Pac Rim Cayman LLC.

Salvadorean President Maurio Funes, who opposed the mining project during his presidential campaign, has reitirerated his support for the community, assuring Salvadoreans that he will not succumb to pressure from the mining industry. He recently declared, “There can be no misunderstanding: my government will not authorize any mining extraction projects….No one has convinced us that there are ways to extract minerals and metals, especially metals, without contaminating the environment and affecting public health.”

Despite the overtly political overtones of this violence, local police authorities and the former Attorney General have classified these murder cases as common crimes. Salvadoreans are fearful and outraged by the continued violence, but also by the inability and unwillingness of the police and the office of the Attorney General to protect community activitsts and halt the violence.

Urgent Action

We urge you to take action in order to protect the lives of community and human rights activists in El Salvador and to guarantee their legitimate right to defend their communities and environment. The community of Cabanas, the Cabanas Environmental Committee, and the National Roundtable on Mining (MESA) are calling on the international community to urge the Attorney General and Salvadorean authorities to:

• Carry out impartial, exhaustive and effective investigations into the assassination of Marcelo Rivera, Ramiro Rivera and Dora Alicia Sorto, and bring those responsible to justice.

• Ensure the safety and protection of all members of the Cabanas Environmental Committee, other community activitists and their relatives

• Guarantee the rights of the Cabanas Environmental Committee and other human rights and environmental activists to peaceful protest and to dissent.

We urge you to respond to their call. For sample letters and contact information, please see the urgent action on the Salvaide website. www.salvaide.ca/urgentaction.html Your response could save lives. March 24, 2010 marks the 30th anniversary of the murder of Monsenor Romero who died defending the rights of the poor and the oppressed in El Salvador. Although much has changed in El Salvador and throughout Latin America, we are reminded that human rights defenders, particulary those defending land and the environment, continue to be at risk, and that the struggle for human rights and against impunity continues today. For more information, please contact Rachel Warden rwarden@kairoscanada.org or Ian Thomson ithomson@kairoscanada.org

Background

KAIROS has been monitoring this situation, participating in joint advocacy initiatives and sharing information with our member churches and organizations.

• KAIROS joined 105 other organizations in sending an open letter to the Attorney General of El Salvador, urging him the investigate the murder of Marcelo Rivera (July 24, 2009) .

• The Americas Policy Group of CCIC, which includes KAIROS, sent a letter to the Hon. Peter Kent, Minister of State for the Americas, urging him to request that local Salvadorean authorities undertake a full investigation into the killing (July 23, 2009).

• The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), a KAIROS member, wrote to Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon in June 2009, asking him to ensure that Pacific Rim respects human rights and the environment (July 10, 2009).

KAIROS sees these recent murders of mining and community activists in El Salvador in the context of increasing threats and assassination of human rights and environmental activitists in the region. The environmental movement in Latin America has gained strength and visibility in the last few years and is working more closely with human rights and Indigenous groups. As a result of their increased profile and critical work denouncing human rights abuses related to resource extraction and climate change, Indigenous and environmental activists face increased risks. Throughout Latin America people are paying with their lives for defending their the environment, their land and communities.

Dear Friends.

The January 19 hearing of the Canadian Human Rights Commission tribunal looking into discrimination against First Nations children by the federal government has been postponed until April 6. As the attached Toronto Star article explains, this is the second time in three months that the hearings have been delayed - and they may never get started if the federal government has its way.

On April 6, the tribunal will hear a motion by the federal Department of Indian Affairs to dismiss the complaint. This is not the first time the Government of Canada (GOC) has tried to prevent the case from being heard. In November a federal court set aside a previous GOC motion to dismiss.

The Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society are asking people to urge Prime Minister Harper to withdraw the current dismissal motion and to let the tribunal do its job. 

More information about the complaint and the tribunal can be found at <www.fnwitness.ca>

Sincerely,

Ed Bianchi

Indigenous Rights Program Coordinator
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
211-211 Bronson Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario   K1R 6H5
613.235.9956 ext 221 /  fax 613.235.1302
ebianchi@kairoscanada.org
www.kairoscanada.org  

_______

'Aboriginal child discrimination case delayed again'
Toronto Star - Jan 12, 2010