KAIROS Executive Director Jennifer Henry recently sent a message of care and solidarity to our global partners. Their quick responses reveal that many are working from home in compliance with public health directives, and all remain gravely concerned about the communities they accompany.

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines is not letting the global pandemic stop it from defending human rights and issued this statement urging “the Philippine government to enhance whole-of-society coordination mechanisms.” 

Assassinations of social leaders and gender-based violence are on the rise amid the spread of COVID-19 in Colombia. Carlota Isabel Salinas Pérez, a woman human rights defender and long-time member of KAIROS’ partner, the Organización Femenina Popular, was murdered outside her home on the evening of March 24 in San Pablo.

The cornerstone of Colombia’s Peace Agreement between the government and the FARC, the former guerilla group that is now a political party, is the non-repetition of violence. However, KAIROS partners in Colombia are raising the alarm that state and non-state actors are actively targeting human rights defenders, and especially Indigenous and Afro-Colombian social leaders living in rural areas where the decades-long conflict hit the hardest.

This Friday, April 3, the Global Climate Strike is going virtual! At noon (EDT), Fridays for Future Toronto will host a 2-hour online rally with performers, speakers and opportunities for group action. The rally will be livestreamed on Facebook and other social media platforms.

Thirteen-year-old Autumn Peltier has gained recognition nationally and internationally as a protector of clean water and her identity as an Indigenous woman has played an important role.

On March 30, 1980, Alfredo Barahona, KBE Global and Newcomer Coordinator, was one of at least half a million people who attended the funeral of Oscar Romero in San Salvador. To mark the 40th anniversary of Romero’s assassination, Alfredo wrote this reflection.

In this iPolitics article, KAIROS Migrant Justice Coordinator, Connie Sorio, weighs in on the need for improved federal protections to safeguard the wellbeing of vulnerable foreign migrant workers in Canada during the pandemic.

The theme of this year's World Water Day (March 22) is how climate change and water are inextricably linked, and how climate change symptoms such as drought, floods and extreme weather events are all about water. When considered in the context of our local watersheds, we see how everything is impacted, from habitat, to the food we can grow, to our very livelihoods.

A KAIROS-led delegation of church leaders that visited Israel, the West Bank and Gaza in November 2019 is urging the Canadian government to address the worsening humanitarian crisis in Palestine and support conditions for a just peace, including by increasing financial assistance to women peacebuilders in the region.

The delegation brought their findings and recommendations, outlined in the KAIROS Palestine and Israel Delegation Report, to Parliamentarians when they met with them in Ottawa on March 9 and 10. Read the report.

Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the Anglican Church of Canada, and The United Church of Canada have issued a joint letter calling on churches to do more to address anti-Black racism and to uphold the main objectives of the International Decade for People of African Descent.

As a community, KAIROS offers its thanks to Wendy Kalkan for nearly four years of service as KAIROS Prairies North Regional Representative. As both the leader of a regional coordinating committee and the “face” of the organization on the ground in the region, the role of Regional Rep is both important and challenging and we are deeply grateful to Wendy for stepping forward at a time of need in Prairies North.

KAIROS’ Women of Courage partners celebrated International Women’s Day with a week of activities. Learn more and check out the photo album!

Online Global Climate Strike, April 3

Earth Day, April 22