Humanists for Social Justice and Environmental Action supports Human Rights, Social and Economic Justice, Environmental Activism and Planetary Ethics in North America & Globally, with particular reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other Human Rights UN treaties and conventions listed above.

Friday

Tell CPP to explain why you own a fracking oil company

The Canada Pension Plan, our pension plan, spent $900 million of our money to bail out the struggling Canadian oil company Encana by buying its Colorado fracking operation. We own an oil company that fracks in Colorado’s Denver Julesberg (DJ) Basin. Where local communities have been fighting to impose moratoriums on plans to drill 15,000 wells.

It may not end there. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board former CEO, Mark Wiseman said “I don’t think we’d go buy Exxon, but we might buy a piece of Exxon if it were for sale.”  A company that not only contributes to climate change directly but has also been accused of funding climate change deniers.

This is the climate cavalier attitude of Canada’s largest public investor.

An attitude that is costing us and one that we must change. Sign the petition to tell Finance Ministers to climate risk proof your pension.

Friends of the Earth Canada asked Corporate Knights to look into investments of the five biggest public sector pension funds. Turns out they are foregoing $20 billion profit every year by not fully incorporating climate risks into investment decisions. The Canada Pension Plan likely missed out on US$6.5 billion in profits by sticking with climate polluting industries.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has also investigated pension funds and found the CPP is more heavily invested in fossil fuels than other funds. This means the CPP is more exposed to climate risk. Fossil fuel producers or pipeline companies make up about 22% of the CPP’s Canadian investments and about 6% of its foreign investments. In these same investments, CPP owns 34 companies involved in the worst climate polluting industries – coal mining and coal burning utilities.

Thursday

Drones and Killer Robots: Canada's Policy: Free, University College, June 15

Science for Peace Discussion: Drones and Killer Robots: Canada's Policy
"Military operations have increasingly included precision guided munitions and unmanned aircraft known as drones. Under development are unmanned fully autonomous armaments, or ”killer robots’’ that destroy or kill without a human in the decision loop. Now is the time to debate what Canada plans to do about this."

Wednesday, June 15, 2016, 7 pm
Room 261, University College,
15 Kings College Circle, University of Toronto.
All are welcome. No charge.
Speakers:
Michel Duguay, Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Laval University and chair, Science for Peace Working Group on Drones
Walter Dorn, Professor of Defence Studies, Royal Military College and Canadian Forces College
Cesar Jaramillo, Executive Director, Project Ploughshare

‘Human Suffering Has Reached Staggering Levels’

‘Human Suffering Has Reached Staggering Levels’ | Inter Press Service
ROME, May 17 2016 (IPS) - “Human suffering from the impacts of armed conflicts and disasters has reached staggering levels.”
With these one dozen or few words, the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, briefly but sharply portrayed the current humanitarian drama, explaining why the UN has decided to hold the first ever World Humanitarian Summit on May 23-24 this year in Istanbul, Turkey.
Secretary General Ban documented his statement with specific figures: nearly 60 million people, half of them children, have been forced from their homes due to conflict and violence.
“Every humanitarian crisis is inherently unique and context-specific,” O’Brien responded to IPS in an interview. “However, taken together, there are 125 million people in need of aid in the world today as a result of conflicts and natural disasters and over 60 million people have been forcibly displaced. These are the highest numbers we have on record since WWII.”
According to O’Brien, it is clear that the landscape of humanitarian action has changed significantly over the past years and “collectively we have not been able to adequately keep up with and respond to contemporary challenges.”
The UN Under Secretary General then explains to IPS that it is not about one humanitarian crisis, but multiple crises happening at the same time, from the crisis in Syria and the region to the impact of El NiƱo, which currently affects 60 million people in the world.
And that the humanitarian needs have grown exponentially while the resources have not been able to follow suit which has created an ever-widening gap.
 “A core aim of the summit is the reinvigoration of political will and commitment to take forward the Agenda for Humanity.” And adds “The Summit is a launch pad at the highest level: but what is even more important will be a commitment to follow up and make these actions a reality.”
He also says that UN member States and other stakeholders making commitments during the Summit will be asked to update on progress against their implementation. “Follow-up at the inter-governmental level will begin with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Humanitarian Affairs Segment.
O’Brien adds that the UN Secretary-General’s report to the General Assembly will address how each of the core responsibilities will be carried forward and will define the vehicles for assessing progress.

Wednesday

Muslim states block gay groups from U.N. AIDS meeting; U.S. protests

Muslim states block gay groups from U.N. AIDS meeting; U.S. protests | Reuters

A group of 51 Muslim states has blocked 11 gay and transgender organizations from attending a high-level meeting at the United Nations next month on ending AIDS, sparking a protest by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Egypt wrote to the president of the 193-member General Assembly on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to object to the participation of the 11 groups. It did not give a reason in the letter, which Reuters saw.

Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, wrote to General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft and said the groups appeared to have been blocked for involvement in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy.

"Given that transgender people are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population, their exclusion from the high-level meeting will only impede global progress in combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic," Power wrote.

U.N. officials said the European Union and Canada also wrote to Lykketoft to protest the objections by the OIC group, whose members include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Sudan and Uganda.

The issues of LGBT rights and participation in events at the United Nations have long been contentious. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has advocated for LGBT equality but faced opposition from African, Arab and Muslim states as well as Russia and China.

"We are deeply concerned that at every negotiation on a new General Assembly gathering, the matter of NGO (non-governmental organization) participation is questioned and scrutinized," Power wrote."The movement to block the participation of NGOs on spurious or hidden grounds is becoming epidemic and severely damages the credibility of the U.N.," she said.

In 2014, Ban said the U.N. would recognize all same-sex marriages of its staff, allowing them to receive its benefits. Russia, with the support of 43 states including Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Syria, unsuccessfully tried to overturn the move last year.

In February, the 54-member African Group, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the 25-member Group of Friends of the Family led by Belarus, Egypt and Qatar protested six new U.N. stamps promoting LGBT equality.

The Group of Friends of the Family promotes the traditional family. It launched a photo exhibit, "Uniting Nations for a Family Friendly World," at the U.N. on Tuesday, which is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.

Monday

Canada removing objector status to UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - Aboriginal - CBC

Canada removing objector status to UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - Aboriginal - CBC
Canada will remove its permanent objector status to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said Monday.

The declaration — first adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2007 — recognizes Indigenous people's basic human rights, as well as rights to self-determination, language, equality and land, among others. "We are fully adopting this and working to implement it within the laws of Canada, which is our charter," Bennett said.

The announcement came at the UN in New York City, where Bennett and Justice Minister Jody Wilson Raybould are attending the opening session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

While Bennett offered few details on exactly how Canada would implement the declaration, she said that an official announcement would be coming on Tuesday.

The lack of specific details in Monday's announcement frustrated some. "I was so disappointed that there was nothing new or substantiveadded to the conversation," said Hayden King, director of the Centre for Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University.

"[The Liberal government] just repeats these platitudes and these commitments, but it has not demonstrated or indicated any concrete action."

King also had concerns about Bennett and Wilson-Raybould's comments that Indigenous peoples in Canada are already protected and that the UN declaration "breathes life" into Section 35 of the Constitution Act, which recognizes and affirms their rights.

He said previous governments have relied on Canadian courts' interpretation of Section 35, which he calls narrow and limited.

Tuesday

Amnesty International Canada - the world's longest imprisoned Journalist

Amnesty International Canada

Muhammad Bekzhanov is one of the world’s longest-imprisoned journalists. Uzbek authorities seem determined to keep him behind bars and silence his voice. Persecution, harassment and intimidation forced Muhammad Bekzhanov to leave Uzbekistan In 1993 while he was editor-in-chief of Erk (Freedom), the main opposition newspaper.

In 1999, Ukrainian authorities forcibly returned Muhammad Bekzhanov to Uzbekistan. He was detained by security forces and tortured with beatings, suffocation and electric shocks. During his trial, he and his co-defendants described how they were forced to confess to fabricated charges of a bombing. The judge ignored the torture complaints and sentenced him to 15 years based entirely on the confession. Days before Muhammad Bekzhanov was due to be released, his sentence was increased by over four more years for allegedly breaking prison rules. His family are concerned about his declining health. There has been no effective investigation into the allegations of torture. Repeated calls for a fair trial have been ignored.

The international press freedom organization Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) awarded Muhammad Bekzhanov the International Press Freedom Prize in 2013. The award “salute[s] the exemplary courage of men and women for whom reporting the news is a daily battle.”

Call for the release of Muhammad Bekzhanov.