Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International’s section Canada, is in Port of Spain
By any measure, one of the most pressing human rights concerns throughout the Americas – in every corner of the hemisphere – is the widespread violation of the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous communities and leaders in the Americas are themselves well organized and connected with each other; and have been very clear over the years in setting out their vision for strengthened protection of Indigenous rights in the Americas. But the injustice and inaction has continued.
One would expect therefore that the situation of Indigenous Peoples would have prominence at a gathering such as the Summit of the Americas and that Presidents and Prime Ministers would make a special effort to dialogue with and show their respect to Indigenous leaders who attend. Far from it.
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Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International’s section in Canada (English) is in Port of Spain, Trinidad
Enrique Daza from the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA) welcomes participants to the IV People's Summit ©Amnesty International
Thursday marked the final day of the 2-day official civil society summit and the first day of the alternative People’s Summit. Ivahanna Larossa, Director of Amnesty International’s section in Uruguay, gave a strong presentation at the civil society summit, laying out the key issues in the briefing paper we had prepared in advance of the Summit.
That was part of a rich set of workshops in the morning, giving participants a chance to engage with each other and explore a wide range of key concerns – something that had been so lacking yesterday.
The afternoon, though, became fractious. The combined effects, perhaps, of life on the cruise ship, ongoing lack of access to a current version of the Summit Declaration and very poor information flow about decision-making and plans for a 30-minute dialogue session with the hemisphere’s Foreign Ministers tomorrow morning boiled over.
Continuar leyendo ‘Emotions run high on day two of the Summit of the Americas’ »
Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International’s section in Canada (English)
It happens only once every four years. Leaders from all of the nations in the Americas, except Cuba, gather to grapple with the major challenges the hemisphere faces. It should be momentous and dynamic. Unfortunately, at least for civil society groups, the beginning to the 2009 Summit of the Americas, in the Trinidadian capital of Port of Spain, has instead been marked by a great deal of frustration and aggravation.
Our three-person Amnesty International delegation has been in the country for a couple of days now. Ivahanna Larossa, Director of Amnesty International’s section in Uruguay, and I are attending the official Civil Society Summit that precedes the leaders’ summit that opens on Friday 17. Stacy Shapiro from the International Secretariat is taking part in the alternative Peoples’ Summit on the campus of the University of the West Indies, to the east of the city. We will join her there at the end of the week.
Continuar leyendo ‘Summit of the Americas off to a frustrating start’ »
