[asia-apec 1375] Peoples Human Rights

[Swee-Hin Toh]

The International Society for Peace and Human Rights and the World
Comission for Peace and Human Rights are hosting a joint conference
for May 1-7, 2000. 

Summary

We wish to hold a People's Human Rights Conference that will be a voice for
the voiceless.  Our Conference will enable victims of human rights abuses
from all over the world to come together in Edmonton, Alberta on May
1-7,2000,to share their pain, their challenges and their successes, to make
connections with others who share their values and to form a new,
international network of grassroots human rights workers. 

The University of Alberta is providing us with free meeting space and will
likely also provide free conference facilities. We are attempting to locate
a high profile person to be our keynote speaker, but this person must abide
by our principles of serving without remuneration (expenses only). The
Conference itself will consist of a Plenary Session and workshops on the
following 3 themes: Women and Children, Aboriginal People and the
Environment, and a third to be named that will include other topics such as
torture, prisoners of conscience, freedom of expression etc. Sunday will
focus on The Future, organizing to stay in contact, discussing how we can
help each other and setting up whatever organization the participants think
will be the most beneficial.  We will have Country Profiles on that will
include a brief history of the country and its political situation, a
summary of its human rights record, and contact people.

Goals

We have two main goals for our project.  The first is to educate the
participants on human rights issues throughout the world via the Country
Profiles and our international guests.  The second goal is to obtain the
commitment of the participants to engage in concrete action to attempt to
alleviate these abuses.  To facilitate this, we are hoping to establish an
International Network of grassroots human rights workers for the purpose of
mutual education, support and action.

Target Audience

We expect 550 people and more to attend the conference.  At least 100 will
be from outside Canada, all grassroots human rights workers.  The other 450
will be primarily Canadians, mostly youth 18-30. The benefits will be the
contact with each other, the learning that comes from intense interaction
and the ongoing network that we hope to establish.  For the Canadian young
people, this conference will provide what will likely be a
once-in-a-lifetime experience to interact with people who have dedicated
their lives, often at the risk of their lives, to attaining the basic
dignities of life that Canadians take for granted.  As a result of this
experience, it is hoped that these young people will commit to working to
achieve peace, justice and human rights throughout the world. Through the
Conference we seek to establish a truly meaningful international network of
activism.  

We are asking you to help us. We know we are asking a lot but we do so with
the belief that our collective efforts can help make a just and equal
society based on ideals of truth and compassion.

1) Your organization: Please send us information on the function and
mandate of your organization.  Where does your group operate and are your
members national or internationally located.  We would also like you to
outline and identify any potential for or interest in collaborating with
our organization, the International Society for Peace and Human Rights, to
improve living conditions of humans and preserving wildlife and the
environment. 

2) Documentation: Your help is needed by documenting human rights abuses
and environmental degradation in your country. If possible we would like to
receive the report by January 15. Please be clear, objective and factual
about the cause of the abuse and include logical, objective and practical
ideas for improvement. If applicable highlight in a short list the names of
International corporations and/or governments involved in perpetrating
these human rights or environmental abuses.  The sources of all information
will remain confidential but the facts will be publicized.  Through sharing
our voices an undeniable bond will help strengthen a future to be founded
on peace.  

3) Speakers: We would like you to list one or two speakers with a national
or international reputation to speak at the conference.  Please inform us
of the lowest cost for bringing your guest speaker to the conference.
Please note that we are not yet in a position to make any commitments.

4)Contact other groups:  Write and inform us of other grassroots human
rights and environmental oranizations in your country.  Please try and
contact as many of these groups as possible and inform them of the
conference and the International Society for Peace and Human Rights (ISPH) 


Please visit our website at www.ualberta.ca/~hudema/people.htm


We would like to keep the costs of our conference minimal to allow as many
grassroots organizations as possible to participate in this event. We have
secured some professional fundraisers who have volunteered on our behalf to
obtain funding and we would like to use
these funds to subsidize the conference costs. Our main priorities will be
to cover the cost of renting the venue, covering the expenses of our
invited speakers and subsidizing the food costs of all participants. If we
are successful in our fundraising efforts, we would of course be happy to
subsidize as many participants as possible from under represented regions
but we cannot make any promises at this time. As a result, we ask all
organizations and individuals to please consider fundraising on their own
to send representatives to Edmonton.

We have looked into guest accomodations and will be able to house people in
student dormitories. For a single room, the cost is $31.36/night or $192.64
for the week. For a twin room, the cost is $40.32/night and $248.64 for the
week. Local hotels are $80-$100/night. All costs are given in Canadian
dollars. We will provide more information as it becomes available. Please
contact us if you have any questions in the meantime. (For Filipino
delegates who are willing to be billeted in Filipino-Canadian homes in
Edmonton, please contact <vcawagas at ualberta.ca> for details.) 


We have invited several international speakers to speak about various
regions and issues and will post these as soon they are confirmed (see
below for latest update).
                                                                              
Ona'je Mu'id
International Co-commissioner of N'COBRA
(National Council of Blacks for Reparations in America) 

Ona'je will be holding a preparatory session for the UN sponsored World
Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance to be held in South Africa in the summer of 2001. This will
give our conference delegates the opportunity to provide their input for
this very important event. More details 

Joseph Rotblat
Great Britain 

Joseph Rotblat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 along with the
Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs for their work to reduce
the role of nuclear arms in international affairs. He has written numerous
books and will speak about the connection between science and human rights
issues. 

Zohra Rasekh
Senior Health Researcher (Afghanistan),
Physicians for Human Rights
Boston, USA

Ms. Rasekh was born in Afghanistan and now lives in Boston and works as a
researcher for Physicians for Human Rights. Her research centres on women's
health and human rights in Afghanistan, and in a recent research project,
she interviewed 200 women living in Afghanistan as well as refugee women
living in Pakistan. She will present findings from this research at the
conference. More details 

Mary Jo Leddy
Romero House, Toronto 

Mary Jo Leddy will speak on refugee issues. 

Dr. Owens Sara-Wiwo
MOSOP 

Owens Sara-Wiwo is the brother of the late Nigerian activisit Ken Sara-Wiwo
and will speak about the Ogoni in Nigeria. 

Leo Saldana
Environmental Support Group, South India

We will make the full agenda available in January which will outline our
planned sessions. We plan to hold sessions and invite representatives to
speak about the current situation of human rights and the environment in
various regions and to also hold sessions on conflict resolution, effective
activism strategies and other solution based issues. Please continue to
check our website in the coming months and contact us if you have any
questions or suggestions. 
 

If you have any questions or comments, or if you wish to send us
information, please contact: 

             Saren Azer 
             574- MHRC, Dept. of Medicine
             University of Alberta
             Edmonton, Alberta
             Canada
             Tel (780) 492-5014 
             Home (780) 436-0210
		e-mail: sm10 at sprint.ca
                                            
		Mike Hudema
              Apt. 1503
              10883 Saskatchewan Dr.
              Edmonton, Alberta
              Canada T6E 4S6
		e-mail: hudema at ualberta.ca 


To add your organization to our links, please email Jennifer at
jv3 at ualberta.ca 


Toh Swee-Hin (S.H.Toh)  PhD
Director, CIED & Professor, Ed Policy Studies
7-104 Educvation North
Univrsity of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta  T6G 2G5
Ph: (780) 492-2556
Fax:  (780) 492-0762
e-mail: s.h.toh at ualberta.ca