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Kairos Times: January 2005 Vol 4, #1
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| "If peace does not come to Aceh...I'm afraid we will be destroyed worse than by the tsunami...Everything here begins with peace." --Rufriadi, a prominent Acehnese human rights lawyer. |
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- Urgent action: Peace, human rights and effective aid needed now in Aceh, Indonesia
- Take action now for a national child care program!
- KAIROS “Sunday for refugee rights”: February 6
- Urgent action: Indigenous Guatemalan killed while
picketing an illegal mine
- Southern Sudan: The dawn of peace?
- Special section: Our response to the tsunami devastation in Asia and Africa
- New on our website…
Take action!
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Urgent action: Peace, human rights and effective aid needed now in Aceh, Indonesia |
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Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh was the area hardest hit by the earthquake and resulting tsunamis of December 26. Yet Aceh was facing a crisis long before the natural disaster struck. Thousands of civilians have been killed and many others tortured, abducted, and displaced in a long-running military suppression of a separatist group. Armed conflict continues even as the Indonesian military takes a lead role in distributing aid.
Public pressure is urgently needed to ensure that Canada takes a firm stand and continues to pressure Indonesia for peace, and to ensure that desperately needed aid reaches the people of Aceh. Visit the KAIROS website to see the full text of this action, including a sample letter.
See the full urgent action at http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/urgent/uaAceh050120.asp. For more information, contact Nancy Slamet, Program Coordinator, International Human Rights (Asia/Middle East) at 416 463 5312 x 226 or nslamet
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Take action now for a national child care program! |
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Social Development Minister Ken Dryden will meet with provincial
ministers on February 11 and 12 in Vancouver to decide on critical
details of the proposed national child care and early learning program.
The federal government has committed to spending $5 billion over
five years, but it is still unclear how the money will be spent.
Now is a crucial time to write to Minister Dryden. Ask him to ensure
that the program is affordable for all families, delivered on a
not-for-profit basis, and sustainable over the long term. For information
on the “building blocks” campaign for child-care, visit
http://www.childcareadvocacy.ca/action/buildingblocks.html
The KAIROS anti-poverty program and fund focus on both the effects of poverty and its root causes. A lack of affordable child-care is a major factor in family poverty, and Canada is one of the few industrialized countries not to have a national child-care program. Now is the time to make a change; help push our governments to make good on their promise.
You can read an opinion article on this issue published by the
Toronto Star and written by our own Michael Polanyi—see
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/antipoverty/polanyi_caringForChildren.asp
To find out more about KAIROS’ work on this and other Canadian social policy issues, contact Michael Polanyi, Coordinator, KAIROS Canadian Social Development Program at mpolanyi or 416-463-5312 x237.
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KAIROS “Sunday for refugee rights”: February 6 |
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The first-ever KAIROS Sunday is coming up on February 6 2005. This is a chance to promote KAIROS’ work in your own faith community, and to raise awareness of your own church’s work for justice. Any Sunday can be a KAIROS Sunday, but we’ve suggested February 6 as a time for a pre-Lent focus on the Refugee Rights petition that is now underway. Here’s what you can do:
- Encourage members of your faith community or work place to
sign our petition calling on the Canadian government to implement
the Refugee Appeal Division, so that asylum will not be denied
to those who need it. Hold a petition signing at your church if
possible, or include it in the Sunday bulletin. You will find
the KAIROS Refugee Rights petition and background information
on our website at
www.kairoscanada.org/e/action/campaign.asp - Use the Refugee Rights bulletin insert:
www.kairoscanada.org/e/action/Refugees_Sunday_BulletinInsert.pdf - Add to your services a reflection on the refugee experience, an experience shared by Mary, Joseph and Jesus.
- Invite refugees in your community to share their stories.
- Pray for those in sanctuary, for those sent back into danger, and who continue to seek security within our borders.
Many thanks to the people and groups who have planned educational events. Don’t forget to check out our NEW events posting page, and to send us notices of your events: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/events/listing.asp
Have an event that is organized or co-sponsored by KAIROS? Let us know. Contact Sara Stratton, Network and Campaigns Coordinator, to post events or to get more information on the current campaign: sstratton or 1 877 403 8933 x241.
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Urgent action: Indigenous Guatemalan killed while picketing an illegal mine |
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For almost two months communities in Guatemala have been resisting the operations of Canadian/US Glamis Gold Mining Company. On January 8th Guatemalan authorities indicated that they were prepared to call in the military to get heavy mining equipment past protesters who were picketing an access road. On January 11th eyewitness accounts from the well-respected CNOC (National Coordinating Committee of Campesino Organizations) reported that a protester, Raul Castro Bocel, was killed by Guatemalan authorities while protesting the passage of platform trailers destined for an unauthorized mining project in San Marcos.
Glamis Gold, a Canadian/US company, must stop its operation until a public and transparent negotiation process is completed that includes all potentially affected communities and respects the principle of free, prior and informed consent from indigenous communities.
We invite you to act quickly to prevent further violence and to safeguard the rights of indigenous communities. An urgent action has been posted to http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/urgent/uaGuatemala050111.asp
For more information, please contact Rusa Jeremic, Program Coordinator, Global Economic Justice rjeremic or 416 463 5312 x 225.
Updates…
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Southern Sudan: The dawn of peace? |
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This is an historic moment for Sudan. The Government of Sudan (GoS) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) signed the peace agreement on January 9th 2005, promising to put an end to a war which has lasted for over 20 years.
Song and ululation filled the air in Sudanese communities around the world as Sudan’s Vice President, Osman Taha, and the SPLM’s chairman, Dr John Garang, signed the Naivasha Final Agreement. Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir declared that “this is a great day not only for the Sudan but Africa. It’s the day of peace where insecurity will be replaced by security. Displacement of people will be marked with their return.”
The permanent truce and the agreements on the implementation of power and wealth-sharing and security arrangements were signed in December; the other protocols were signed earlier in the year. Their texts are reproduced on the Justice Africa website (http://www.justiceafrica.org/SudanPeacesign.htm)
Great challenges remain for the country. All parties to the peace must work to ensure that the peace agreement is widely accepted and supported by the Sudanese people, that its implementation remains on track, and that it becomes the framework for peace in the other conflicts in the country such as those in the Darfur, Kordofan, and the Beja regions.
KAIROS congratulates all the parties, the mediators and facilitators, and the Sudanese people. Through our partnership with the Sudanese churches, KAIROS and the Inter-Church Coalition on Africa have walked for peace with the people of Sudan for many years. It has been a slow and often painful process, sustained in the face of much skepticism and active attempts at destabilization.
Click here for an extensive chronology of 2004 events in Sudan:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45010
For a longer article, see http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44987
For further information, please contact John Lewis, Program Coordinator for International Human Rights at jlewis or 416.463.5312 ext. 224.
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Special section: Our response to the tsunami devastation in Asia and Africa |
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Documents on our continued advocacy on the aftermath of the tsunamis that struck South Asia and Eastern Africa can be found at http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/media/statements/smtTsunami050105.asp
KAIROS is committed to examining the long-term issues related to this catastrophe, including support for partners in the region, the urgent need for debt cancellation, and concerns about aid and reconstruction in conflict zones such as Aceh, Indonesia.
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New on our website… |
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We’ve been reflecting on the serious long-term impact of
the devastating tsunami that hit South Asia and Eastern Africa—look
for the new links on our homepage or go to
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/media/statements/smtTsunami050105.asp
for a list of all documents related to the tsunami and wider issues
such as aid and human rights.
We’re gearing up for a Global Week of Action on Trade in April! Look for a new flyer to download at http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/economic/trade/index.asp
In March KAIROS will also send an ecumenical church leaders’ delegation to Mexico on a fact finding and solidarity mission focused on trade. Look for more information in the next Kairos Times.
And we’ll remind you again to check out and use the events-posting
page at
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/events/listing.asp
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