If you are interested in volunteering with the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, please contact us.

Please send your own letter to Prime Minister Harper and Minister Oda and contact your own MP.

More info can be found on the KAIROS website, www.kairoscanada.org.

Dear Prime Minister Harper and Minister Oda,

We are writing to express our deepest concern regarding the withholding of CIDA program funding to KAIROS for 2009 to 2013.

KAIROS provides programs that promote the human rights values that are expressed in Canadian foreign policy. KAIROS’ 21 partner organizations in the developing world bring hope to endangered communities and extend the good-will of the Canadian people around the world. This is people-to-people peacebuilding at its best. The loss of this funding will be devastating to partner organizations involved in very difficult and important work in very stressful, and often dangerous circumstances. These organizations deserve support from Canadians, and this is work that members of the Voice of Women for Peace, from across Canada, do support. We are particularly concerned about the impact on women in the affected communities.

The current work of KAIROS honours government’s priorities which are clear inthe Official Development Assistance Accountability Act requiring Canadian aid to be consistent with international human rights standards. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Colombia, and Sudan, for example, KAIROS partners with organizations such as the Sudan Council of Churches and supports grassroots human rights workers who widen democratic space by protecting the lives of the threatened.

The 2009-2013 proposal was developed within two priority sectors of CIDA: promoting good governance (human rights) and advancing ecological sustainability (reducing the impact of climate change and addressing land degradation). It was approved at every level of CIDA before being declined on November 30.

It is impossible to believe that such work does not fit CIDA’S current priorities. This is a decision that defies explanation. We are writing to urge your government to immediately restorate this funding to KAIROS.

Sincerely,
Lyn Adamson
Co-Chair
Canadian Voice of Women for Peace

Founded in 1960, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace has consultative status with The United Nations - ECOSOC

Click here to sign the Gaza Peace Petition.

VOW Statement: Ending the Crisis in Gaza - Building Peace in the Middle East

We, the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW), a non-partisan NGO comprised of women from across Canada and around the world, call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. We urge all involved parties in the region to come to the peace table without delay.

Recognizing that the present violence in the region arises from a deep-rooted history of violence begetting violence, we are strongly convinced that a peace process is the only solution and that polarizing the conflict gains nothing. At the same time, the extreme humanitarian crisis which exists and is growing in Gaza demands immediate action now.

We call on the Canadian government to do its utmost to support ongoing demands for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and to use its diplomatic influence with all parties to respect humanitarian law, human rights, and the Geneva Conventions. We especially urge the Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs officials to encourage the new Obama administration to do all in its influence to bring a lasting peace to the Middle East, and to assist in any diplomatic way possible with furthering nonviolence, peacebuilding and humanitarian approaches in the region.

We remind the Canadian government and the UN Security Council to ensure that women, who promote peace, from all parties involved in the Gaza crisis, are at the decision-making table in accordance with Article 1 of Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (2000) which “Urges member states to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict.”

We further urge the international community, and especially the United Nations Security Council, to continue to work toward a ceasefire, and to ensure that combatants on both sides of the conflict respect international humanitarian law, human rights and the Geneva Conventions.

SIGN THE GAZA PEACE PETITION NOW

Thank you for your support!

Donations to help further the work of VOW are always welcome! If you are interested in becoming a member of VOW, please click here for more information.