All Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and other crimes against humanity/ Groupe Parliamentaire multipartite pour la prevention du genocide et autres crimes contre l'humanite
With its experience in administering and co-ordinating the UK Genocide Prevention APPG, Aegis has played a useful advisory role in helping to set up a Canadian counterpart. The Canadian group is made up of Parliamentarians from all parties in the House of Commons and the Senate who have a common interest in the prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity. It’s mandate is to improve Canada’s efforts to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity, to increase the flow of information available to Parliamentarians, and to communicate and collaborate with like minded organisations both domestically and internationally.
The Group is currently chaired by the Honourable Paul Dewar MP (NDP) has one vice-chair from each party. They are: Johanne Deschamps, MP (Bloc Québécois); Megan Leslie (NDP); the Honourable Borys Wrezesnewskyj, MP (Liberal); and Patrick Brown, MP (Conservative). There are also two ex-officio members, the Honourable Romeo Dallaire and the Honourable Yoine Goldstein.
Recent meetings and events:
April 28th 2009, Until the Violence Stops: how Canada can help end the use of sexual violence as a weapon in war: The APPG 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: 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.
For Eve Ensler's remarks, please click here.
April 28th 2009: 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 APPG.
April 13 to 17, 2009: 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.
April 7, 2009, 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.
March 13, 2009: 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.
March 5, 2009: 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 panel of experts were:
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.
10 November 2007 - Conference on the Continuing Crisis in Darfur at the University of Ottawa
The Group was invited to participate in a panel; Senator Goldstein made a speech regarding the Canadian response to the conflict in Darfur. His address included comments about the government of Canada’s response thus far, as well as comments about the role and mandate of the APPG.
29 November 2007 - Open consultation: Plugging the Gaps: What can Canada add to the international response to the changing crisis in Darfur?
The consultation brought together leaders from the NGO community and diplomatic circles to discuss the deteriorating situation in Darfur and to make recommendations for future Canadian measures to respond to the conflict. The event was moderated by LGen. Senator Roméo Dallaire and featured presentations by Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, First Counsellor Corinne Bruno-Meunier from the French Embassy, Caroline Boudreau from the Sudan Inter-Agency Reference Group, and Tag Elkhazin from the SubSahara Centre.
Following the consultation the APPG released a report including recommendations to the government of Canada. This report was circulated among all Parliamentarians as well as in the media.
February 2008 - Meeting with the Sudan Divestment Task Force
Members of the APPG met with Daniel Millenson, Director of National Advocacy for the SDTF, who was in Ottawa to testify before the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. It was agreed that a representative from the SDTF would return at a later date to Ottawa in order to participate to a consultation the Group would organize on the question of economic sanctions and more specifically the targeted divestment model advocated by the SDTF and which has been adopted by many states in the USA.
March 2008 - Meeting with the Nobel Women Initiative
As part of All-Party Group’s ongoing effort to enhance interaction between Parliamentarians and civil society on the issue of the prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity, the Chair of the APPG, Senator Yoine Goldstein, circulated an open letter to his fellow Parliamentarians for signature. The letter was prepared by the Nobel Women’s Initiative, and was subsequently sent to President Hu Jintao in order to encourage the Chinese government to take a more active role in stopping the ongoing conflict in Darfur. This initiative garnered the signature of 15 Canadian parliamentarians, out of a total 80 signatures among Nobel laureates, Olympic athletes and parliamentarians from the UK and Australia.
The APPG and the Nobel Women Initiative agreed to collaborate on activities and projects when appropriate and to share information on a regular basis.
31 March 2008 - The Group hosts the Tolerance Caravan at Parliament
The Tolerance Caravan is a prejudice and discrimination awareness activity that theTolerance Foundation provides to high schools and locations that request it. The Group invited this multimedia exhibition exploring the importance of understanding in multicultural societies to exhibit at Parliament and hosted a networking cocktail for parliamentarians as well as members of civil society and the general public.
1 April 2008 - Joint meeting with the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet
The APPG held an emergency meeting, in conjunction with the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet (PFT), to discuss the ongoing crisis in Tibet. Further to that meeting, a list of possible Canadian responses to the current situation in that region was drafted and circulated to the members of the APPG for their input and support. It was agreed that the APPG members would sign an open letter prepared by the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet and support the PFT’s activities in support of a resolution to the conflict.
29 April 2008 - Open consultations: From the Oil Sands to Darfur: Is Divestment a Viable Way for Canada to Influence the Situation in Sudan?
The APPG held an open consultation with experts, civil society and private sector members to explore ways in which Canada could leverage the economic interests of foreign firms, particularly in the oil sands, to influence the behaviour of the government of Sudan.
The consultation was chaired by Senator Goldstein and the guest panellists were Daniel Millenson of the Sudan Divestment Task Force and Dr. John Lewis from Kairos Canada. The speakers made insightful recommendations to the Group which is working at implementing a number of them,namely;
i) make a recommendation to the Minister of Industry that the Canada Investment Act be amended so that the behaviour of foreign firms looking to invest in Canada be reviewed for human rights violation,10 June 2008 - Conference: Responsibility to Promote: What Role can Parliamentarians Play in Implementing the Responsibility to Protect
ii) request a meeting with executives of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in order to discuss the consequences of their activities in Sudan and their interests in the Canadian oil sands, and
iii) make a recommendation to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that its planned fact-finding mission to Sudan include a visit to firms with economic interests in Canada and a review of the impacts of their activities on the ongoing crisis.
The APPG hosted a panel discussion on how Parliamentarians can help to better integrate the principles of the Responsibility to Protect into Canadian foreign policy.
The event, titled “A Responsibility to Promote? What Role Can Parliamentarians Play in Implementing the Responsibility to Protect?” aimed to create a space for dialogue on this important issue between parliamentarians and experts. The consultations were chaired by Senator Yoine Goldstein, guest panellists included Prof. Frank Chalk of the Montreal Institute for Genocide Studies at the University of Concordia and Mr. Fergus Watt, Executive Director of the World Federalists Association - Canada.
