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[SANET-MG] Canadian government meddling in an international convention



Hello John,
Thank you for the important effort. I ma enclosing below a press release from today indicating that the Canadian government continues to block Dr. Tewolde's participation in an international meeting! I also have learned that two farmers from India were denied participation in the same meeting. One aspect I find most frustrating is the silence of the Canadian news media on the issue even though they have been repeatedly contacted. Most of the Canadian media are government propaganda departments,CBC, and the others are controlled by large corporations. The RCMP (Royal Canadian Monsanto Police) may have worked their magic. The only avenue open seems to be to try to interest the international news media in Canadian meddling with international meetings and functions. sincerely,Joe Cummins
 Urgent Protest Needed For Dr. Tewolde

This letter is from Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, who has still not received a visa from the Canadian Government to enable him to attend a crucial biosafety meeting in Montreal that will be dealing with the issues of labelling of genetically modified (GM) products and liabilities in case of damages. See "Canada denies visa for Africa's chief biosafety and biodiversity negotiator" http://www.i- sis.org.uk/CanadaVisa.php Please step up your protests to the Canadian government, enclosing Dr. Tewolde's letter:

Hon. Pierre Pettigrew, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Email: Pettigrew.P@parl.gc.ca Telephone (613) 995-8872 Fax: (613) 995-9926
Hon. Andy Mitchell ,Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food,
Mitchell.A@parl.gc.ca Telephone:(613) 996-3434 Fax: (613) 991-2147
Hon. Stéphane Dion, Minister of the Environment, stephane.dion@ec.gc.ca
Telephone: (613) 996-5789 Fax: (613) 996-6562
Hon. Hon. Joseph Volpe, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration,
Volpe.J@parl.gc.ca Telephone: (613) 992-6361 Fax: (613) 992-9791
and copy to: Dr. Hamdallah Zedan, Executive Secretary of the CBD secretariat@biodiv.org

Dear Friends,

On 17 May 2005, I informed you by e-mail of my problems with obtaining a visa to enter Canada for the biosafety negotiations which will take place in Montreal from 25 May to 3 June 2005. On 20 May 2005 I sent you an update. I have still not got a visa to Canada. So, I am now giving you a second update.

Today is 23 May 2005. Inspite of intimations from some quarters that I will get a Canadian visa, I still do not know when, or if at all, I will get that elusive visa. I would not be the first one prevented from going to Montreal on legitimate government duty demanded by international agreements because Canadian immigration authorities failed to honour their commitment to facilitate the giving of visas to delegates. My colleague at the Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia, Mr. Dereje Agonafir, was to participate in the meeting of the Expert Group on Outcome-oriented Targets for the Programmes of Work on the Biodiversity of Inland Water Ecosystems and Marine and Coastal Ecosystems, 25-27 October 2004. He was refused a Canadian visa. I then wrote a protest letter of the High Commission of Canada in Nairobi. I know of another Ethiopian refused a visa in 2004. He was to attend a meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization.

This means that now I cannot give the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity a precise enough travel plan to enable them to arrange my flight to Montreal, which they kindly do because I am a delegate from one of the poorest of countries.

The negotiations on liability and redress under the Cartagena Protocol will start the day after tomorrow, on 25 May 2005. Whatever happens tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after..., therefore, it now looks certain that I will have been prevented from joining you in those negotiations. Of course, I will keep on trying to join you at any time before and including 3 June 2005.

Now, it seems certain that I have failed in my duty of trying to help put in place an international liability and redress regime to protect the interests of the poor of my country, the poor of the world, and the biodiversity of the biosphere from adventurism in genetic engineering. I hold the Government of Canada responsible for my forced dereliction of duty.

Given this, I would demand redress from the Government of Canada if I could. But we, the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, have not passed any binding decision that I know of to enable me to do that. If I am wrong in my understanding, I would appeal to those of you my friends who read this Second update and who know the law better than I do to advise me. In the mean time, I will set aside the issue of liability and redress concerning my forced dereliction of duty and focus on the future.

Many of you will recall that, in 1998 in Montreal when we were negotiating the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the delegations of the industrialized countries refused to even consider liability and redress in genetic engineering. Those of us from the developing countries had to refuse to consider any issue other than liability and redress before we could arrive at a compromise. This compromise was to start negotiating on an international regime on liability and redress when the Protocol has come into force (See Article 27 of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety). Now, 7 years later, I have a feeling of déjà vu of a Miami Group behaviour. Shall we keep being haunted by past scenes of disharmony instead of looking forward only because our Secretariat is in Canada? I suggest that you exorcise the unpleasant past by passing a decision like the following at COP/MOP 2:

A) Any delegate shall be given a visa by the Government of Canada on demand provided that that demand is conveyed formally from the delegate's Government which is a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity or any protocol emanating from it to the effect that the delegate will be travelling to Canada for work related to the Convention on Biological Diversity or to any protocol emanating from it.

B) One refusal or delay by the Government of Canada in issuing a visa requested as in (a) above that results in any diminition of participation by the delegate in the planned work shall become sufficient ground for the closure of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal and its transfer to the territory of another Party. The complete transfer of the Secretariat shall be effected within 2 years from the date when the impeded work of the delegate was to have began.

Today is a public holiday in Canada - Queen Victoria's birthday. I expect that this holiday will delay whatever might have happened with my request for a Canadian visa. In any case, I join all Canadians in commemorating this symbolic day. I invite you all my friends from the rest of the world to join them as well. I will tell you how I will commemorate it.

I will be remembering the genocide that wiped out the Carribs and other indigenous peoples in the New World; I will be remembering the millions of my fellow Africans who perished opposing slavery and who suffered as slaves; I will be remembering the millions of all our ancestors who died opposing colonialism and those who survived to become disposable objects on their own lands; I will be remembering our parents who freed us from colonialism and died in improving our chances of enjoying the dignity that life deserves. Obviously, I will be remembering the opposite of what the Canadian public holiday formally commemorates, which I presum is the greatness of the Victorian era. But I know that many Canadians will join me in remembering also what I will be remembering. Globalization has scrambled not only the genome, but also the globe; not only biology, but also geography. Geography has not yet been scrambled enough to bring me to Montreal at any time I want, but it is scrambled enough to make Montreal hear and see Addis Ababa and vice versa. I will thus be thinking also of the scrambled world; not only of the scrambled genome. I will be thinking of the thousands who died in Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the United States. I will be thinking of the thousands who are dying in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Congo Democratic Republic and the Sudan. I will also be thinking of the thousands who died of the tsunami in South-East Asia, South Asia and Eastern Africa. I will be thinking of the destruction of humans and other forms of life that could be prevented and that is being promoted. I will be thinking of the many species that are becoming extinct.

But I am an optimist. The global scrambling is going to be fully harnessed to save life. It is only the baggage from the Victorian era that is still causing destruction. However, the scrambling caused by globalization makes it easy for us to leave this baggage on the wayside of history. My ancestors who valiantly fought and kept out colonial Western Europe would, if they could now see, be gratified with the support that I, their less significant descendant, am getting from all of you in the world, including from those of you in Western Europe, and especially from those of you in North America!

For the time being, this is all that I feel that I need to say to you in way of updating you, my friends. Of course, I am happy that those who are not my friends are also updated.

Thank you all for your tremendous moral support, my friends. And I assure you that I will not be demoralized by those who are not my friends.

Your comrade in the search for safety for all life, especially for the safety of the poor of the Earth,

Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher


John Lozier wrote:

> Mr. Pierre Pettigrew
> Sir:
>
> In response to the attached press release which reached me just now, I urge you to take any steps possible to enable Dr. Tewolde to participate in the meetings scheduled for this week.
>
> Given the circumstances, this could be a great embarassment to the Canadian government. Whatever the merits of the biosafety issue, the inclusion of Tewolde's viewpoint is essential to demonstrate that the process of discussion is free and open.
>
> Assuming that you will help to correct this situation, can you suggest additional actions I could take to the same end.
>
> Thank you.
> John Lozier
>  > ETC Group
>  > News Release
>  > 18 May 2005
>  > www.etcgroup.org <http://www.etcgroup.org>
>  >
>  > Canada Denies Visa for Africa's Top Biosafety Negotiator
>  > Montreal's status as UN's biodiversity headquarters is jeopardized
>  >
>  > Ottawa - In a breathtaking display of political interference, the
>  > Canadian government has blocked entry of Africa's chief negotiator for
>  > the Cartagena (biosafety) Protocol, who was scheduled to attend UN
>  > meetings beginning next week in Montreal. The Protocol is the United
>  > Nations treaty that governs the international movement of genetically
>  > modified (GM) organisms.
>  >
>  > Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, the Ethiopian government's chief
> > scientist and its representative to the Montreal-based UN Convention on
>  > Biological Diversity (CBD) had his passport returned without the
>  > requested Canadian visa yesterday, and without explanation.
>  >
>  > The renowned scientist submitted his passport to the Canadian embassy
>  > on May 5 and had planned to fly to Oslo, Norway for inter-regional
>  > negotiations prior to attending the Montreal meetings that begin
>  > Wednesday, May 25.  Because his passport was returned only May 17, Dr.
>  > Tewolde was forced to miss the Oslo meeting.
>  >
>  > Labeled dangerous?
>  >
>  > Officials at Foreign Affairs and Citizenship and Immigration have been
> > unable to offer an explanation for rejecting the negotiator's visa. Dr. > > Tewolde has been to Canada often over the past decade, participating in > > intergovernmental negotiations on biodiversity and biosafety. Since the
>  > Rio Earth Summit of 1992, Dr. Tewolde has been one of the most well
>  > known leaders among African diplomats addressing environmental issues.
>  > However, his positions have not been popular with the Canadian
>  > government.
>  >
>  > During the negotiations on a UN treaty on crop genetic resources
>  > adopted in Rome last year, Dr. Tewolde spoke on behalf of all
>  > developing countries in demanding the right of farmers to save and
>  > exchange seeds and in opposing "life patenting" (intellectual property
>  > over biological products and processes). In the negotiations that led
>  > up to the Cartagena Protocol, the Ethiopian clashed with his Canadian
>  > counterparts, demanding higher standards to prevent GM contamination.
> > At UN meetings in Montreal and around the world, Dr. Tewolde has spoken
>  > passionately against Terminator technology (genetically-modified seed
> > rendered sterile at harvest time, forcing farmers to buy new seeds each
>  > growing season). In February, the Canadian government was prepared to
>  > dismantle a de facto moratorium on Terminator at a UN biodiversity
>  > meeting in Bangkok. Canada was deeply embarrassed (and highly
>  > criticized) when its position became known.
>  >
>  > The Ethiopian scientist had made it known that he would be coming to
>  > Montreal next week to press for the labeling of genetically modified
>  > seeds and food products and for companies and governments to accept
>  > liability when their seeds lead to GM contamination.  Canada has thus
>  > far failed to ratify the UN biosafety protocol and is known to be
>  > opposed to both compulsory GM labeling and liability.
>  >
>  > "I had planned to participate in these negotiations and continue with
>  > trying to help finalize the unfinished business of protecting
>  > biodiversity and human beings," wrote Dr. Tewolde in a letter sent
>  > today to colleagues around the world.
>  >
>  > Montreal's UN future in doubt:
>  >
>  > In 1995, the Canadian, Québec, and Montreal governments persuaded the
>  > United Nations to locate the Secretariat for the UN Convention on
> > Biological Diversity in Montreal. One of the critical requirements for
>  > hosting a major UN agency is easy access for foreign diplomats to
>  > attend intergovernmental discussions.
>  >
>  > "In barring Dr. Tewolde from participating in the Montreal meetings,
>  > Canada is jeopardizing Montreal's future as a United Nations city,"
>  > said Eric Darier, a campaigner with Greenpeace in Montreal, "If Ottawa
>  > is doing this for its own political purposes, it is making a grave
>  > mistake and tarnishing Canada's reputation in the process."
>  >
>  > "Dr. Tewolde is one of the most respected scientists in his field,"
>  > said Pat Mooney, Executive Director of ETC Group in Ottawa, "If the
>  > Canadian government can't make sure Dr. Tewolde has his visa for the
> > opening of the meetings, Canada does not deserve to host the Convention
>  > on Biological Diversity." ETC Group is a Canadian-based international
>  > civil society organization with observer status in the United Nations.
>  > Mooney talked with Dr. Tewolde by telephone today.
>  >
>  > Dr. Tewolde himself is concerned that Canada's actions signal a
>  > pattern, "Now that I have been prevented from coming to Montreal, who
>  > knows which ones of you will be prevented next time?" he wrote.
>  >
>  > Dr. Tewolde is the recipient of a number of awards and honors for his
>  > work in defending biodiversity and the environment. In particular, he
>  > received the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the Alternative
>  > Nobel Prize).
>  >
>  > For further information:
>  >
>  > Eric Darier, Campaigner, Greenpeace, Montreal (514) 933-0021 x 15;
>  > mobile (514) 605-6497
>  >
>  > Pat Mooney, Executive Director, ETC Group (613) 241-2267; mobile (613)
>  > 261 0688
>  >
>  > Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator, Ban Terminator Campaign, (613) 241 2267
>  >
>
> ********************************************************
>
> John Lozier
> ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
> West Virginia University Extension Service
> PO Box 6108, Morgantown, WV 26506-6108
> Telephone 304-293-6256
> ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

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