Ms. Eve Ensler met with the members of the Genocide Prevention Group regarding the use of sexual violence in war and Canadian foreign policy. Ms. Ensler is a playwright, performer and activist and she is the award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues, which has been published in 45 languages and performed in over 120 countries. Ms. Ensler has created a “City of Joy” for survivors of sexual violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. She shared her unique insight and policy recommendations with the members of the Genocide Prevention Group.
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Field Trip to the DRC with PNoWB
The Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWB) invited the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity (the Group) to represent Canada in their upcoming field visit program to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The delegation was headed by a parliamentarian from Cameroon and consisted of six parliamentarians from developing countries and six parliamentarians from donor countries.
This program allowed Mr. Paul Dewar to make political assessments about how development aid can be used as strategy for conflict prevention and post-conflict reconciliation. Supported by a grant from the government of Finland, the delegation met with representatives and parliamentarians of the Government of the Congo, experts in the field of natural resources and conflict, and experts on post-conflict development and reconciliation. The delegation also visited a World Bank development project in Inga: a hydro-electric dam located about 360km away from Kinshasa.
The Chair of the Group took a critical eye to these projects and Canada’s existing bilateral aid policies.
“National and International Judicial Responses to the Rwandan Tutsi Genocide – Fifteen Years Later”
The Embassy of the Republic of Rwanda to Canada and HUMURA (a survivor’s network in Ottawa) invited the Chair, Mr. Paul Dewar to speak at a memorial of the fifteen anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda.
Mr. Dewar reflected on the tragedy of Rwanda and the lack of political will to intervene. He affirmed the importance of strengthening institutions to properly reflect current humanitarian situations, and the need to cooperate to prevent genocide, genocide denial and address the legal challenges of prosecuting genocide perpetrators.
Meeting with Civil Society
The office of the Chair met with representatives from about fifteen non-governmental organizations to discuss an event regarding the use of sexual violence against women in war. The representatives gave constructive feedback, contact points and speaker suggestions and have since continued working with the Group to organize the event.
International Justice and the Genocide in Rwanda: Initial Assessment
The non-governmental organization, Development and Peace, met with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity to hold a seminar on the theme of “International Justice and the Genocide in Rwanda: Initial Assessment”. The objective of this initiative was to contribute to the initial assessment of the instruments available for international justice vis-à-vis the crime of genocide.
The seminar embarked on the following themes:
- the progress and limits of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda;
- the challenges of the application of the Law of Universal Competence to national jurisdictions in the case of the Rwandan genocide; and
- the effect of international mechanisms on the social pacification of Rwanda.
- Hilary Homes, from Amnesty International and the Canadian Center for International Justice;
- Noël Twagiramungu, Secretary-General of the League for the Promotion of Human Rights in Rwanda (LIPRODHOR), visiting fellow at Harvard University- W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and American Research;
- André Guichaoua, Professor of sociology at l’Université Paris-I, Panthéon-Sorbonne, and specialist on the Great Lakes region in Africa, he was in Kigali in April 1994 and participates as a witness and expert in numerous judicial procedures; and
- Zarir Merat, head of the Lawyers without Borders (LWB) mission in Rwanda since 2007, he coordinates the observation work of the gacaca jurisdiction. He has been active in human rights and justice for over 25 years.
Annual General Assembly
Although slightly delayed due to “political crises”, a new executive of the Canadian All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity (the Group) was elected.
At this meeting, the Group’s membership prioritized Darfur, DRC, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Iran (Baha’i) and Iran-Israel, as areas for concern and the use of sexual violence against women, the persecution of minorities, and post-conflict justice as topics of concern.