The Genocide Prevention Group hosted a panel discussion on how the current economic recession may potentially impact human rights and crimes against humanity.
The themes and expert panel guiding the discussion were as follows:
1. “Recession Breeds Repression”
Dr. David Gillies and his colleague, Mr. Abraham Sewonet Abatneh from the North-South Institute, discussed how the current economic recession is a stressor and catalyst for conflict. The recession may breed repression by reducing commodity export revenues, remittances and foreign exchange and increasing unemployment levels and food prices. In countries with no or “frayed” social safety nets, this can lead to repression, conflict and crimes against humanity. Mr. Abatneh illustrated this with case studies of Southern Sudan, Haiti and Ghana.
2. The Economic Recession and Canadian Foreign Policy
Dr. Manfred A. Bienefeld from the School of Public Administration at Carleton University discussed the longer-term issues that breed recession and governments that are not responsive to their citizens. He argued that the situation in Somalia is an example of what could occur if we do not build a degree of cohesion. He further contended that Canada is not immune to difficulties arising from the economic recession and that we need to focus on the broader structures that cause these problems.
Congo Awareness Day – Break the Silence
Although the security and humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been horrific for more than 10
years, the international community is generally unaware of this catastrophe. Thousands of Congolese victims, especially women, the elderly and children, have been totally abandoned.
The stakes are high, the fight is real and the cause is common.
Canadian Senator Mobina Jaffer held a day event to raise awareness of the Congo, especially the sexual violence against Congolese women and young girls in the eastern DRC. This event will have an impact only if all Congolese nationals themselves participate in numbers.
“Until the Violence Stops: Policy Recommendations”
This event was a panel discussion with local non-governmental organizations and parliamentarians. Following up with the April 28 events, four themes guided the policy recommendations:
Paul Dewar shaking hands with a member of the Congolese community in Ottawa
Panel in discussion
- sexual violence: a crime against humanity
- justice and human rights
- sexual violence and the security sector
- diasporas affected by sexual violence in Canada
Paul Dewar shaking hands with a member of the Congolese community in Ottawa
Panel in discussion
“Until the Violence Stops: how Canada can help end the use of sexual violence as a weapon in war”
The Genocide Prevention Group hosted a creative and provocative event to inform parliamentarians about the systematic and widespread use of sexual violence, the ‘normalization’ of rape in war, and the political will to intervene.
Key note speakers included:
From Left to Right: Robert Fox, Oxfam Canada’s Executive Director; Joanna Kerr, Oxfam Canada’s Director of Policy and Outreach; Eve Ensler; MP Paul Dewar (Chair)
For Eve Ensler’s remarks, please click here.
- Eve Ensler; playright, activist, founder of V-Day organization, and witness to the use of sexual violence in Bosnia, Haiti, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo;
- Stephen Lewis; Chair of the Stephen Lewis Foundation and former United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Panel Discussion with Eve Ensler
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.
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.