The Globalize Human Rights Day on the Mezzanine last Thursday reminded students that human rights abuses are omnipresent, as a wide range of student groups tabled information concerning abuses affecting their club members.
“People are aware of human right abuses reported in the media,” said Ezra Winton, spokesperson for Amnesty International Concordia (AIC), “but a lot of them go unreported.”
AIC invited various student groups to address human right issues. Here are some of the abuses that were brought to the table.
How we get cheap vegetables
Every year, some 15,000 seasonal agricultural workers (SAW) migrate from the Caribbean and Mexico to Canada to work in field, orchards and greenhouses. The SAW program, authorized by the federal government, operates best in Ontario, where agricultural workers are not protected by the same health and safety regulations as workers in other industries.
“They perform rigorous and often dangerous work that few Canadians want to do,” said Nelson Ferguson, AIC member.
Though SAW receives medicare and a social insurance number, they face many difficulties. This includes the use of dangerous pesticides with no safety equipment or training, prohibition from joining unions, no overtime and a fatality rate equal to that of mining. They are also paid less than their Canadian co-workers. “Mexican [SAW] receive higher wages than they would in Mexico, but they’re still at the bottom of the list in Canada,” said Ferguson.
“This is how we’re able to get cheap vegetables.” In 1994, the New Democratic Party passed a bill making respect of labour regulations in the agriculture industry mandatory. In 1995, the Mike Harris Tory government took over and eliminated the bill.
“This was the first time that a retroactive legislation was passed, setting a dangerous precedent,” said Ferguson.
The federal government is planning to extend the SAW type program in construction, hospitality and tourism industries.
Guatemala: raising awareness
The Projet Accompaniment Quebec-Guatemala (PAQG) was created in response to Guatemala refugees’ demands for an international presence in their return process.
Despite the 1996 Peace Accord that ended 36 years of a civil war in Guatemala, government and military officials continue to commit abuses.
“There’s no real democracy in Guatemala,” said Christiana Mauro, a member of PAQG. “The country is really being run by a mafia.”
During the civil war, some 200,000 people died and some more 200,000 found refuge outside the country. PAQG offers an accompaniment work with refugees returning to Guatemala, as well as with human rights organizations, survivors and witnesses of massacres.
Mauro, who did accompaniment work for three months, said that an international presence makes witnesses, and other civilians that may be at risk, feel at ease. She added that the work is not dangerous for the accompaniers because they are trained.
“We’re also working in Canada to lobby the government and educate Canadians,” she said. “Most people don’t know anything about human right abuses in Guatemala.”
Tibetan to be executed
Tibet was invaded by China in 1949 and 1.2 million Tibetans have died since from torture, starvation and execution.
Tibetan women are often subject to forced abortions and sterilization.
Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) are currently focusing on freeing Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a Buddhist leader that worked to preserve Tibetan culture.
He and his monk relative were arrested in 2002, after the Chinese government accused them of bombings.
Rinpoche’s relative was executed in 2003, in the first known execution of a Tibetan for political crimes in 20 years. Rinpoche’s execution is set for April. 7, 2004.
“He’s to be executed because he promotes Buddhism and the Dalai Lama, both banned in Tibet,” said Maude Cote, member of SFT.
Because Canada has economic relations with China, “it cannot take a stand in the Tibet issue,” said Cote, “but it is against the death penalty.”
