UPCOMING SYMPOSIUM TO FOCUS ON THE ANDEAN REGION
While the Canadian government and a growing number of corporations are
excited about the investment possibilities in the Andean region, the
human rights situation has become increasingly more precarious.
Meanwhile, selective reporting in the mainstream media has helped to
create the image that democracy is flourishing in the region. Human
rights workers, labourers, and anti-poverty activists have a different
story to tell.
For this reason, the Toronto-based Inter-Church Committee on Human
Rights in Latin America is organizing "Exploding Myths, Exploring
Alternatives: A Symposium on the Andean Region" and bringing to Canada
as participants eight leaders of human rights, church, labour,
indigenous, and women's groups in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.
The symposium will take place from February 29th to March 3, 1996 in
Aylmer, Quebec (just outside of Ottawa).
The symposium offers a unique opportunity to become better informed by
participating in panel discussions and workshops with our partners from
the region, as well as to develop effective action plans and solidarity
networks in working groups with other symposium participants.
SYMPOSIUM SPEAKERS
Rosa Espinal is president of the Federation of Community Organized
Kitchens of Lima and Callao. She was also an NGO delegate to the Fourth
World Conference on Women in Beijing.
Javier Iguiniz is chair of the Economics Department at the Catholic
University of Peru and an associate at the Lima-based Centre for the
Study and Promotion of Development (DESCO). Iguiniz co-edited The Third
World's Giant Debt (1989). He was president of the United Left's
Government Plan in 1990.
Catalina Romero is a sociologist and professor at the Catholic
University of Peru. She is the former director of the Institute
Bartolome de las Casas-Rimac, a centre for social analysis, popular
education and communication founded by Gustavo Gutierrez.
Amanda Romero has been doing human rights work in Colombia for more than
20 years and is currently a member of the Human Rights team of the Latin
American Institute for Alternative Legal Studies (ILSA) in Bogota.
Hernando Hernandez is president of the Petroleum Worker's Union (USO),
and has served as an executive member of the union for the last 11
years, both at the regional and the national level. He has worked with
ECOPETROL, Colombia's state petroleum company, for 16 years.
Elsie Monge is president of the Quito-based Ecumenical Human Rights
Commission (CEDHU) and a member of the Maryknoll missionary community.
Previously, she worked with peasant organizations in Ecuador's Valle del
Chota, as well as in Guatemala and Panama.
Carmelina Porate is a member of the Quichua nation and National
Secretary on Women and the Family for the Confederation of Indigenous
Nations of Ecuador (CONAIE). She has worked as a community organizer,
literacy promoter and taught courses on indigenous and indigenous
women's rights.
Maria Nuria De Cesaris is a member of the Diocesan Human Rights Office
of Ciudad Guayana in the state of Bolivar, where foreign mining
corporations (including Canadian firms) have displaced indigenous
communities and caused environmental damage.
The Hon. Christine Stewart is Secretary of State for Latin America and
Africa. While in opposition, she served as Liberal Caucus Critic for the
Canadian International Development Agency and Associate Critic for Human
Rights. Ms. Stewart is a former Executive Director of Horizons for
Friendship, a development NGO with programs in Central America.
Michel Chossudovsky is professor of economics at the University of
Ottawa. He has written on macroeconomic reform in Latin America,
including analysis of the narco-economy in the Andean region. Professor
Chossudovsky is a frequent contributor to Le Monde Diplomatique.
Francois Faucher is Chair of CUSO and Director of Carrefours de
Solidarite International, a regional development agency and learning
centre. Francois spent 18 years in Peru.
Eleanor Douglas is Latin America/Caribbean Development Coordinator of
the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund. A former chair of CUSO,
Eleanor has more than 20 years development experience working with local
and international NGOs in Colombia.
Bill Fairbairn is South America Programme Coordinator of the
Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America (ICCHRLA) and
has been monitoring the Andean region since 1983.
AGENDA
The symposium will feature a mix of panel discussions, workshops and
working groups.
Workshops will focus on analyzing current realities and exploring
alternatives emerging from the region. The workshops will include the
following: Canadian trade and investment in the region; The neo-liberal
economic model and its effects; Human rights and militarization; The
impact of the drug trade in the region; Labour under attack; The land:
for people or for profit?; The evolving popular movement; Women working
for change; Liberation theology and the church today.
Working groups will focus on developing strategies and linkages for
change, and will focus on the following (depending on the interest of
participants): labour solidarity; corporate responsibility; Canadian
foreign policy; women to women; ecological sustainability; alternative
economic development; inter-church solidarity; First Nations linkages;
international financial institutions.
REGISTRATION FEES
$200 for institutional representatives; $150 for individuals; $100 for
students, seniors, unwaged (OR $50 a day) Please note, there is a
discount of $25 if you register before February 2, 1996.
ACCOMMODATION AND MEALS
$150 for single room (for 3 nights); $120 for double room (for 3 nights)
TO REGISTER OR FOR MORE INFORMATION
Please contact ICCHRLA, 129 St. Clair Ave. W.,
Toronto, ON. M4V 1N5 CANADA
Tel. (416) 921-0801; Fax. (416) 921-3843
Email: ICCHRLA@web.apc.org