All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity

Ottawa, (December ^29th, 2009) – The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has decided not to renew funding to KAIROS, an internationally recognized Canadian aid and social justice group.

The $7 million funding renewal proposal included financial support for 4 years to over 20 partners in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The proposal identifies a specific partner in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Héritiers de la Justice, and aims to fund this human rights organization at the level of $75,000 a year from 2009-2013. This funding would have gone to establish a women’s legal clinic aimed to address the continued use of rape as a weapon of war.

According to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, since January 2008, approximately 40 women are raped in South Kivu every day. CIDA funding for the KAIROS 2009-2013 Program Proposal is crucial to continuing this program with Héritiers de la Justice and combating the prevalence of sexual violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

For decades, KAIROS has been working to promote human rights, justice and peace and viable human development. KAIROS’s well established programs have delivered effective aid and upheld CIDA’s goals and priorities. “There is absolutely no justification for cutting aid to this reputable organization,” said MP Paul Dewar, NDP foreign affairs critic and Chair of the Genocide Prevention Group. “I urge the government to renew funding to KAIROS and commit to upholding its international and moral obligations for promoting human rights.”