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April 2010
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April 2010 The future has never been more uncertain, but that's not all bad news. This moment could belong to those who want to articulate something that is ... local, durable, human, imaginative, inclusive, and open to ongoing improvisation, rather than locked in place as a fixed ideology. The moment is ours to seize.
Rebecca Solnit As we do every year at this time, we are sending you Inter Pares' Annual Report celebrating the achievements of the courageous and dedicated people whose work you support. You will also find our audited financial statement, which we offer as a concrete expression of our accountability to you and the many thousands of Canadians that support our work each year.
Several years ago, an Inter Pares staff member had the opportunity to participate in a biodiversity festival in Andhra Pradesh, India, organized by the Deccan Development Society. It was an extraordinary sight. The festival was comprised of women farmers who walked from village to village, accompanied by a procession of carts pulled by oxen garlanded with flowers. The carts, decorated with sheaves of grain, flowers, and colourful fabrics, carried baskets of seed varieties the women saved and used in the growing season. The women sang and danced, proudly displaying the rich biodiversity that is the foundation of their agriculture. When the procession ended ...
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Inter Pares works in collaboration with social justice organizations in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Canada. We provide financial, organizational, and political assistance to our counterparts to address the root causes of poverty, injustice, and conflict in their communities and societies. Social change work requires imagination, patience, and perseverance. Often this work requires courage, because powerful interests resist change, sometimes with repression and violence.
The following are a few examples of what we have all achieved with your support.
In Mexico, the southern state of Chiapas is a war zone. Through checkpoints, raids, arrests, and harassment, the army and paramilitary groups have terrorized indigenous communities for sixteen years. This low-intensity counterinsurgency war has been justified as a “war on drugs” and on organized crime, opening the way for paramilitary groups to attack with impunity communities who dare speak out against the violence. ...
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Farmers have always saved seeds at harvest time for the next planting season. These seeds, selected over generations, are adapted to local growing conditions, allowing farmers to cope with changing climatic conditions and pest outbreaks.
For these reasons, farmers are resisting pressure from governments and multinational companies to use genetically modified (GM) seeds, which increases costs, threatens biodiversity, and heightens crop vulnerability. ... Click here to read the rest of this article
Colombia's 1991 Constitution enshrines the collective rights of indigenous and afro-Colombian communities to land and territory. The presence of armed actors, however, often prevents communities from exercising these rights. In addition, their resource-rich lands are coveted by the Colombian government, armed actors, and multinational companies. Sixty-five percent of the mining concessions granted in Colombia, many to Canadian companies, are located on ancestral lands. ...
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In 2009, Inter Pares continued to support Nijera Kori's work with 800,000 landless people in rural Bangladesh. Nijera Kori provides organizing assistance and training to help poor women and men to collectively bargain for better wages, to demand health, education and other services from government, and to protect their rights to communal resources.
The results of Nijera Kori's work are remarkable. People who participate in Nijera Kori's program have improved their livelihoods and gained access to resources such as common land and bodies of water. Their children, especially girls, are far more likely to attend school. There has been a marked decline in teenage marriage. Women participants report enhanced decision-making roles in the household and in the community. And in some villages, women participants have been elected to local government positions. ... Click here to read the rest of this article
This past year, Inter Pares staff member Rebecca Wolsak testified before the Canadian Senate's Standing Committee on Human Rights, which was conducting a study on Canada's implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820. These resolutions address the impact of war on women and the importance of including women in peace building processes, and condemn the use of rape as a weapon of war, categorizing it as a crime against humanity. In Burma, as in many other regions affected by armed conflict, sexual violence is used to terrorize communities ...
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Inter Pares is a Canadian social justice organization working in Canada and around the world to create understanding about the causes and effects of poverty and injustice, and to support actions that lead to positive social and economic change. ...
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Inter Pares' social justice work is an expression of values shared by most Canadians – of one standard of dignity and equality for all, of international cooperation and solidarity. For thirty-five years, thousands of Canadians have expressed these values through financial contributions to Inter Pares. Without this support, our work would not be possible. ...
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From its origins reconciling families torn apart by the U.S. Civil War, to the Mothers' Day Proclamation of 1870 calling on women around the world to end wars – to stop their sons from being sent to kill other mothers' sons – Mother's Day was about women working together for a better, peaceful world.
Inter Pares wants to help you "Take Back the Day," with a gift-giving alternative this Mother's Day. At takebacktheday.ca, you can send a short video on the history of Mother's Day to friends and family. And you can make a gift of peace to a mother in your life – by contributing to women and organizations working for social change around the world, in the original spirit of peace and justice intended by the day's founders. Visit takebacktheday.ca and celebrate Mother's Day – with a little peace and justice.
In March 2010, the Canadian International Development Agency signed a five-year agreement with Inter Pares to continue its support to our program in Asia with Burmese refugee and exile communities who have fled Burma's brutal dictatorship. This program prioritizes attention to vulnerable groups – particularly women and displaced communities, as well as ethnic minorities that are severely oppressed by the country's regime. ...
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Inter Pares collaborators Étienne Roy-Grégoire and Jamie Kneen testified before the Standing Parliamentary Committee on International Trade on December 1, 2009. They presented the results of a joint study by Inter Pares, Mr. Roy-Grégoire, Mining Watch Canada and CENSAT Agua Viva on Canadian investment in the mining and oil sectors in Colombia. Their presentation contributed to the committee's reflections on Canada-South America trade relations.
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In November 2009, Inter Pares' Rebecca Wolsak was invited to testify before the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights as part of its examination of Canada's international and national human rights obligations, particularly concerning women, peace and security. Rebecca spoke of the experiences of our Burmese counterparts who have documented rape as a weapon of war in Burma, and their recommendations about how to address it.
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With the support of thousands of Canadians, Inter Pares works in Canada and around the world with social change organizations who share the analysis that poverty and injustice are caused by inequities within and among nations, and who are working to promote peace, and social and economic justice in their communities and societies. Charitable registration number (BN) 11897 1100 RR000 1.
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