2006 Annual report
Nurturing a politics of life: how we do what we do
Inter Pares collaborates with people in Canada and in over twenty countries to promote peace, democracy and sustainable livelihoods. We do this through the depth and intimacy of our relationships with our colleagues, people of integrity and courage who have built organizations, movements and networks based on social justice values that we share. With them, we discuss, analyze and plan our work together. And with them, we nurture new organizations, build coalitions, create knowledge, educate for change and generate the resources necessary for action. Here are a few examples of how Inter Pares celebrates and nourishes a politics of life, inventing the future daily through our actions with colleagues around the world.
uniting for action
When people come together on the basis of shared values and a united commitment to work for change, the impact is almost always more far-reaching, creative and effective than what we can do alone. For these reasons, a key strategy of Inter Pares and our counterparts is to help build and sustain coalitions, both internationally and in Canada.
The Burma Relief Centre (BRC) nurtures coalitions among civil society groups on Burma's borders to facilitate common strategies and promote understanding and trust among diverse and historically isolated communities. With Inter Pares' financial, political and programmatic support, BRC promotes initiatives that bring together people of different ethnic backgrounds and people who work in different sectors. One such initiative is the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM), a broad coalition of individuals and groups based in Burma, Thailand, Bangladesh and India, who are concerned about the social and environmental impact of a proposed gas pipeline through Burma to Asian markets. Such a pipeline would also provide enormous revenues to Burma's corrupt and repressive military junta. In 2006, SGM published Supply and Command, a major report that brought significant international attention to the threat on people's lives, livelihoods, health and environment posed by the pipeline. The coalition also worked with Indian activists to publicize and question the Indian government's plans to purchase gas supplies from Burma.
In Canada, Inter Pares continued to participate in the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, a coalition of 38 Canadian organizations monitoring government policies and practices that undermine civil liberties, human rights, and the rights of refugees and migrants in the context of the "war on terror". Co-founded by Inter Pares in 2002, the ICLMG was an official intervenor in the Commission of Inquiry in the case of Maher Arar in 2006. The Commission's report, released in the Fall of 2006, included the ICLMG's recommendations to exonerate Mr. Arar, to recommend further investigation into the cases of other Canadian citizens detained and tortured in Syria, and to establish civilian oversight of all Canadian agencies involved in national security operations.
learning and knowledge for action
The struggle to eradicate entrenched inequalities and injustice in Canada and around the world requires constant innovation and fresh ideas. Inter Pares creates opportunities for people to come together to think "outside the box," develop new ideas and strategies, and form relationships of common cause.
In September 2006, Inter Pares brought together 22 people from Canada and around the world to examine the global trend in state policies that control and contain the movement of vulnerable people. Recognizing the contribution migration makes to who we are and who we will become - in the North and global South - participants considered strategies to counteract and transform the pervasive politics of fear that runs through the migration debate. The report from this learning circle, Out of the Shadowlands, is available on Inter Pares' Web site, along with the Inter Pares Occasional Paper The Boundaries of Belonging: Reflections on Migration Policies into the 21st Century.
In Peru in August 2006, Inter Pares counterpart Project Counselling Service organized an international legal seminar on the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. The seminar brought together women's groups from Peru, Guatemala and Colombia, international legal experts, and members of the Peruvian judicial system, to develop legal tools for prosecuting cases of war-related sexual violence in national and international courts. Participants emphasized the importance of providing appropriate psychological support to women giving testimony, to ensure that the legal process does not re-victimize them. All involved agreed that women survivors themselves need to be at the centre of their own cases, as engaged actors, with accompaniment from lawyers and psychologists. Given ongoing political turmoil in these countries, participants agreed to work together to assure the safety and security of women witnesses, as well as lawyers and judges.
In 2006, Tiniguena, a leading environmental organization in Guinea-Bissau, organized its third annual youth forum on the Bijagos islands, which brought together hundreds of young women and men to develop plans to conserve the delicate biodiversity of the area. Participants worked together to incorporate new conservation ideas while keeping alive the cultural practices that are in balance with the archipelago ecosystem. Following the forum, local youth organized an exhibition showcasing current Bijagos handicrafts and art, reminders of a deeply rooted and ever vibrant culture.
organizing for social change
Over the course of 31 years, Inter Pares has helped establish and accompany scores of organizations that have become leading voices for social justice around the world. Inter Pares provides seed funding to develop new organizations. And Inter Pares staff participate as advisors, steering committee or Board members in the stewardship of organizations and in the day-to-day accompaniment of groups and individuals who dare to dream of a better world.
In 1999, in response to alarming reports of human rights abuses and environmental damage caused by Canadian mining companies, Inter Pares joined human rights, aboriginal, and environmental organizations in pooling resources to create the organization MiningWatch Canada (MWC). Inter Pares remains a proud member of MWC, and an Inter Pares staff person sits on its Board. Today, MWC has become a key resource for citizens who want to ensure the respect of human rights and the integrity of communities and the environment where mining occurs. In 2006, MWC played a crucial role in the joint industry and civil society Advisory Group to the Canadian government's national roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Sector in Developing Countries. The roundtables reviewed mechanisms to hold Canadian oil and mining companies accountable in Canada for environmental damage and human rights violations in developing countries. The Advisory Group's report and recommendations will be tabled in Parliament in early 2007.
For the past decade, Inter Pares has collaborated with organizations internationally and across Canada concerned with the spread of genetically modified organisms. In October 2006, Inter Pares helped create the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, an alliance of over twenty groups from across the country working for food sovereignty and biodiversity conservation. Inter Pares also facilitated the participation of a member of the National Farmers Union in an international training course on biosafety and genetic engineering. The knowledge gained at this course is informing our common understanding and analysis of the risks posed by the application of genetic engineering in agriculture.
educating for social justice
Education nurtures and promotes public understanding of social justice dilemmas, and encourages personal and collective action for change. Education is at the heart of vibrant social movements. In 2006, Inter Pares and our counterparts organized public fora, researched and wrote articles and opinion pieces, and participated in parliamentary hearings, contributing our analysis to debates on social justice and policy change.
In March 2006, in conjunction with other organizations, Inter Pares organized a public forum entitled Terminator on Trial. This event attracted nearly a thousand participants who were interested in learning more about Terminator technology - a technology that renders seeds sterile, making it impossible for farmers to save their seeds. Thousands of Canadians joined citizens worldwide to demand that our government support the United Nations moratorium on Terminator technology. As a direct result, the moratorium on Terminator was upheld and strengthened.
During the year, Inter Pares researched and documented Canada Pension Plan (CPP) investments in companies involved in conflict areas overseas. This resulted in the launch of a national public education campaign about the lack of socially responsible criteria for CPP investments. Inter Pares and several other national organizations urged Canadians to write to provincial and federal members of Parliament to raise these concerns. In response to these efforts, officials of the CPP Investment Board have engaged in discussions with civil society, and and have signaled their willingness to collaborate in promoting corporate social responsibility.
The Inter Pares Web site is increasingly being used by students and activists, in Canada and internationally, as a source of information about social justice issues. In 2006, Inter Pares published short articles about our work, and launched a photo essay, The Price of Gold, on the social and ecological impact of gold mining in Ghana. We also released two papers on migration, Out of the Shadowlands and The Boundaries of Belonging, and posted a short video of the Back Pack Health Worker Team, filmed by the health workers themselves inside Burma. These pieces have been been widely disseminated and re-published by other organizations. All of these materials are available at www.interpares.ca.
mobilizing resources
Generating resources to support social justice action is an integral part of Inter Pares' work. We have learned through experience that modest amounts of money, used strategically and wisely, can help people to strengthen their own organizations and nurture creative initiatives for change. We describe some of those organizations and their courageous work in this report and in our Bulletin throughout the year.
By nurturing relationships of common cause and solidarity with counterpart organizations around the world, Inter Pares provides an opportunity for Canadians to make a difference. Through their donations, Canadians make an enduring contribution to dynamic, life-sustaining action in diverse places and circumstances. As one of Inter Pares' supporters in Calgary told us, "It is true that these are troubled times, when hope is often hard to see. But contributing in spirit and joining in solidarity with those who articulate a shared vision is a tonic and a source of hope."
This demonstration of support from thousands of Canadians allows Inter Pares to raise funds from private foundations and the Canadian government. Inter Pares engages with these institutional funders, such as the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), to inform and improve public policy. We draw on our experience and understanding of issues that concern us all - gender equality, human rights, environmental stewardship, economic justice, democratic development - to advocate for change in the policies of our own government that affect the lives of people in Canada and elsewhere. In this way, the value of the initial financial contribution to a single organization or program can have a lasting positive impact beyond the borders of a local community.
| Reviewed April 26, 2007 |  |
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