Canadian Association of Muslim Women Lawyers denounces Parti Québécois’ proposed Quebec Charter of Values

The Canadian Association of Muslim Women Lawyers (CAMWL) joins a chorus of voices from across the country and within Quebec in denouncing the Parti Québécois’ (PQ) proposed Quebec Charter of Values, which would prohibit public servants of minority faiths from wearing mandatory religious symbols at work. The proposed Charter is intolerant and unconstitutional, and any anticipated benefits are far outweighed by its devastating impact on religious minorities. In particular, the CAMWL is deeply concerned about the proposed Charter’s effects on Muslim women who wear hijab and/or niqab.

The proposed Charter discriminates against and will disproportionately affect minority religions in the province. Symbols like yarmulkes, turbans and hijabs are considered mandatory articles of faith to those who wear them. The proposed Charter bans these symbols, but spares the unmistakable cross on Mount Royal and the cross above Quebec’s Legislative Chamber. This is a clear violation of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, specifically sections 2(a) and 15, which uphold the rights to religious freedom and equality, respectively. The proposed Charter also replicates the marginalization in Canada of pre-existing Indigenous faiths, many of which include traditions that, until recently, were also banned, even criminalised. The discriminatory effect of the proposed Charter is unjustifiable in a free and democratic society.

The CAMWL further notes that the proposed Charter’s targeting of minority faiths is an affront to the key principle that democracy is not simply rule of the majority over (vulnerable) minorities, but includes (when necessary) the fundamental protection of minorities from the majority. The proposed Charter marginalizes minority communities by presenting them as threats to Quebecois identity. It assumes that those perceived as members of religious minorities are not and can never be authentically Quebecois, and that they should not help shape the values of their home province.

The proposed Charter also damages the livelihoods of religious minority communities. By tying employment in the public sector to mode of dress, employees from minority faiths are less likely to be able to serve the public. Rather than welcoming these communities to contribute to and participate in all aspects of life in Quebec, the proposed Charter sends the message that they are not welcome in places as essential as courts, hospitals, and schools, among others.

We emphasize our concern that the proposed Charter will marginalize and disempower the many Muslim women working or interested in working in the public sector, by forcing them to choose between their livelihoods and their deeply held religious beliefs. The CAMWL supports the position that in this case, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects individuals from having to make such a decision.
The CAMWL reiterates that the proposed Charter is unconstitutional and intolerant, and that it will have a severe and disproportionately negative impact not only on public sector employees from minority faiths, but on attitudes towards diversity in general. Indeed, whether or not the proposed Charter passes constitutional muster, the damage has already been done: far from uniting the province, it has paved the way for open animosity since its proposal, including an attack on a mosque in Saguenay. We stand with other justice-seeking groups in asserting that a far better approach would be to embrace all individuals and their desire to participate as full and equal members of Quebec society by acknowledging their right to express their faith as an intrinsic part of their identity.

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Endorsed by:

• West Coast LEAF
• Noor Cultural Centre (Samira Kanji, President)

We are also supported in our position by the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association; read their statement online.

http://camwl.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/quebec-charter/

To:
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
Minister of Foreign Affairs Canada
chrystia.freeland@parl.gc.ca

Re: Appeal to Drop All Charges against Dr. Anand Teltumbde

Madam:

We wish to bring to your notice a series of arrests of intellectuals and activists in India within a growing environment of violence against expressions of dissent, such as the murder of several intellectuals and the journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh in 2017. The latest target of this suppression of dissent is Dr. Anand Teltumbde, a scholar we had invited to Canada to lecture at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University
Dr Anand Teltumbde, an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, Executive Director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., Ex-MD & CEO of Petronet India, former Professor of Business Management at IIT-Kharagpur, currently Senior Professor and Chair, Big Data Analytics in Goa Institute of Management, author of 26 books, columnist in the premier social studies journal in India, Economic and Political Weekly, writer of innumerable articles, a noted scholar of caste-class and public policy issues, public intellectual and human rights activist faces imminent arrest as a so-called ‘Urban Naxalite’ (or Maoist) under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The charges against him are patently fabricated. People arrested under this act face years of incarceration without trial.
Dr. Teltumbde recently has introduced a post-graduate course in Big Data Analytics in Goa that is the first of its kind in India. As a member of the Dalit community born in humble circumstances, Dr. Teltumbde has always stood in support of the struggles of the underprivileged and has been a guiding force in the movement for accessible education in India.
Dr. Teltumbde has travelled extensively to lecture on Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit struggle. It was in order to give such lectures that he was invited by the Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Lecture Committee, comprising the Institute for the Humanities, Simon Fraser University; Department of Asian Studies, Centre for India and South Asia Research, and the Robert H. N. Ho and Family Foundation Program in Buddhism and Contemporary Society at the University of British Columbia; Chetna Association of Canada; and the Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation for South Asian Advancement, to deliver the Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Lecture in Vancouver and Surrey in 2016. This was followed by lectures in Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal.

Dr. Teltumbde’s home in Goa was raided in his absence without any notice by the Poona Police on August 28, 2018. At the same time in simultaneous raids in several cities, the homes of others, including a priest, were similarly raided and five writers, lawyers, civil-rights activists, and an octogenarian poet, were arrested and continue to be incarcerated. Before this, in June 2018, five other individuals, including academics, lawyers, and civil and democratic rights activists, were arrested and also remain incarcerated.

These raids and arrests follow from the organization of a peaceful public meeting on 31st December 2017, co-organized by retired Supreme Court Justice P. B. Sawant and retired justice B. G. Kolshe Patil of the Bombay High Court, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Last Anglo-Maratha battle, which took place at Bhima-Koregaon, Maharashtra, India, where large numbers of Dalit soldiers were martyred. The public meeting drew attention to the communal and casteist policies of the BJP.
Dr. Teltumbde was invited to a planning meeting for this public meeting but, in the end, attended neither the planning meeting nor the public meeting. The charge against the others arrested and that facing Dr. Teltumbde is that they collaborated with Maoists and that the public meeting was funded by Maoists. For these charges there is not a shred of credible evidence. The police have also concocted a conspiracy to assassinate the Prime Minister implicating these dissident intellectuals and defenders of human rights. The people already in jail on charges similar to those against Dr. Teltumbde are: Arun Ferreira, Gautham Navlakha, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Sudha Bharadwaj, Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Varavara Rao, and Vernon Gonsalves.

We, the undersigned, appeal to the Government of India in the name of justice, democratic freedom, and the rule of law that the charges against Dr. Teltumbde be dropped unconditionally and that the ten human rights activists currently in jail be released immediately and unconditionally and appeal to the Government of Canada in the name of its championship of human rights urgently to take up this issue with the Government of India.

Signed:
The Organizing Committee for the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Memorial Lecture (SFU/UBC):

Chinmoy Banerjee (Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation)
Ajay Bhardwaj (University of British Columbia)
Jai Birdi (Chetna Association of Canada)
Samir Gandesha (Simon Fraser University)
Harinder Mahil (Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation)
Jessica Main (University of British Columbia)
Anne Murphy (University of British Columbia)
Sara Shneiderman (University of British Columbia)

Other Canadian organizations and trade union:

India Civil Watch Canada (ICW Canada)
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD)
CERAS Montreal
Democracy, Equality and Secularism in South Asia Winnipeg (DESSA)
Punjabi Literary and Cultural Association Winnipeg
Unifor Canada

The following mail has been sent to the President of India with CC to the PM of India, CM of Maharashtra and the DGP of Maharashtra.

To,
The Honourable President of India,

Sir,

This is to draw your attention towards the imminent threat of arrest that Prof. Anand Teltumbde is facing in the aftermath of rejection of the appeal he filed at the Supreme Court regarding the fabricated FIR lodged against him by the Pune police. He has currently been granted a period of four weeks for seeking pre-arrest bail from the competent Court.

Prof. Teltumbde is an IIM-A alumnus, IIT Professor, Executive Director of BPCL, Ex-MD & CEO of Petronet India, Senior Professor and Chair, Big Data Analytics in GIM, author of 26 books, columnist in EPW, writer of innumerable articles, a noted scholar of caste-class and public policy issues, leading public intellectual and democratic and educational rights activist.

Coming from the poorest of the poor family, Prof. Teltumbde passed through the best institutes in the country with scholastic achievements. Just being an alumnus of hallowed IIM Ahmedabad, he could have easily lived a luxurious life only if he had chosen to ignore social oddities around him. However, with a sense of contributing to better the lives of people, he decided to just make enough to sustain his family at a reasonable living standard and devote time to make an intellectual contribution, the only thing possible, towards making the world a little more just. Informed by this instinct, the residue of activism during his school and college days naturally landed him in organizations like Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR) of which he is today the General Secretary and All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE) of which he is a presidium member. He has selflessly fought against caste-based discrimination, human rights violation of the marginalized and has advocated the cause of reaching education to the poorest of the poor. There is not an iota of unlawful in either his voluminous writings or selfless activism. Rather, his entire academic career and corporate career of nearly four decades have been without a single blemish and exemplar of the integrity of highest degree. Despite all these, the danger of being arrested under the tag of an ‘Urban Maoist’ looms large over him.

As per the affidavit submitted by the Pune police in High Court, the five charges levied against Prof. Teltumbde stand on the basis of five letters, each of which had been refuted completely by him. But at the end of these proceedings, a sealed envelope was given to the judges by the Police. The Court hereby rejected his petition, without considering the above refutations, his personal credentials, and the absence of plausibility of connection of the claims made by the Police to his profile.

Since Prof. Teltumbde holds a strong case, he approached the Supreme Court, but the Court refused to interfere in the police investigation and asked him to seek a pre-arrest bail from the competent court. Under such preposterous charges, Prof. Teltumbde can only be arrested under the draconian UAPA, that would invariably amount to a devastation of his academic, social, and personal life. For a person who has devoted almost four decades of his professional life in serving this state apparatus, such criminalization is utterly unjust.

The current situation is in absolute need of your kind and speedy intervention and assurance of prevalence of justice through dismissal of the false FIR against Prof. Anand Teltumbde and grant him pre-arrest bail such that he may be able to continue contributing academically and socially without any hurdles. We think if not intervened, it will pose serious questions on the democratic ethos of our country.

With Regards,
Coordination of Science and Technology Institutes’ Student Associations (COSTISA)
(www.facebook.com/supportcostisa)

The IPT 2018 shall seek to help raise the visibility before the international public of the ongoing violation of peoples’ rights in the Philippines, exercise moral suasion, and help generate further political pressure on the governments of the Philippines and the US to heed the calls of the Filipino people

Dear Friends,

Warm greetings of peace!

The 16th President of the Philippines, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, rode on the Filipino people’s clamor for change in his electoral campaign and in the first few months of his presidency. He promised pro-people economic reforms, opened his Cabinet to progressive leaders from civil society, resumed the long-stalled peace talks with the revolutionary National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), and called for an independent foreign policy, to name a few.

But less than two years into his term, his human rights record has surpassed the records of previous administrations (Arroyo and the recent Aquino regimes’), even that of the notorious Marcos dictatorship.

He has not only continued their anti-people economic programs, he waged a brutal “war on drugs”, declared and sustained martial law in Mindanao, unilaterally cancelled the peace talks with the NDFP and instead declared an “all-out-war” and intensified its US-inspired counterinsurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan, intentionally targeting unarmed activists and human rights defenders.

Philippine human rights group KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights), has documented 126 extrajudicial killings (EJKs), 235 frustrated EJKs, 272 illegal arrests and detention, 930 illegal arrest without detention, 426,590 victims of forced evacuation, 39,623 cases of use of public places for military purposes, 362,355 incidents of indiscriminate firing from July 2016 to December 2017.

These figures do not even include the unprecedented number of killings as a result of the administration’s anti-drug war Tokhang now estimated to be at least 10,000. While Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Chief Superintendent Dionardo Carlos denies that there are extrajudicial killings under the Duterte administration, the PNP reported that there had been 6,225 drug-related deaths between July 2016 and September 2017.1 Furthermore, the PNP released a report that as of April 23, 2017, 7,080 people had been reported as killed in the “War On Drugs” since July 1, 2016.2 The victims of this bloody campaign are largely poor people, including minors and youth.

Well-documented cases of these human rights violations have been brought to the attention of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by several concerned Philippines based as well as international civil society organizations through the Universal Periodic Review on the Philippines (UPR) process in Geneva in 2017 and the Special Procedure mechanisms. A
1http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/10/07/1746112/pnp-6225-drug-related-deaths-no-extrajudicial-killings 2https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/145814-numbers-statistics-philippines-war-drugs

number of national and international entities have likewise conducted fact-finding solidarity missions and have issued reports, recommendations and condemnations of the Philippine government’s inaction to stop the killings and other serious human rights violations in the country.

Despite the conclusions of these entities confirming the responsibility and culpability of State authorities, President Duterte and his closest allies remain unmoved and are intent in continuing atrocities, emboldened by US political and military backing.
Victims of human rights violations under the US-Duterte regime are seeking justice. They have organized themselves and are working closely with various organizations in strengthening efforts to hold perpetrators to account.
It is at their behest that the IPT 2018 is being convened by the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH), Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), IBON International, and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP).
The IPT 2018 shall seek to help raise the visibility before the international public of the ongoing violation of peoples’ rights in the Philippines, exercise moral suasion, and help generate further political pressure on the governments of the Philippines and the US to heed the calls of the Filipino people.

The IPT is a court of public opinion where concrete evidence shall be presented (through survivors and expert witnesses) of their violations of the Filipino people’s individual and collective rights under international law. They will be brought for judgment before the broadest possible international audience.

The Tribunal’s verdict shall be based on a thorough and fair assessment of the evidence by a body of jurors composed of leading public figures of recognized achievement and high moral stature, in accordance with applicable legal standards. The body of evidence and verdict of the IPT 2018 shall be transmitted to the United Nations, various Parliaments and governments, as well as broad international organizations.

The IPT 2018 shall serve due notice to the perpetrators of these violations that impunity shall not go unchallenged by the people.

Let us be reminded that the resulting international uproar against the spate of extra-judicial killings under the US-Arroyo regime soon after the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal Second Session in the Philippines (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and George W. Bush)3, contributed to a decrease in the incidence of such killings in the latter part of 2007. The decline, though 3 Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal Second Session on the Philippines [PPT2] of March 2007 in The Hague, The Netherlands (The Filipino People vs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, George W. Bush, et.al: indicting the US-backed Arroyo regime for human rights violations, economic plunder and transgression of Philippine sovereignty)

temporary, was a welcome respite for the Filipino people under siege.

The Filipino people again appeal to the peoples of the world to listen to their voices and join them in their struggle for just and lasting peace in the land.

We invite you to heed their call and be a part of the IPT 2018 in Brussels, Belgium, from September 17 to 20, 2018.

We fervently hope that you can ENDORSE* and/or SPONSOR** this initiative as well as send representatives*** to the actual Tribunal in September 2018.

In solidarity and on behalf of the conveners,

Angie M. Gonzales Coordinator, International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines Head of the International Coordinating Secretariat

* Endorsers are organizations and/or individuals from different disciplines publicly supporting or participating in this initiative, assisting the organizers in informing others who might be interested to do so as well; your organization/name will be published as an endorser in due time

** Sponsors are organizations or individuals financially supporting the organization of this initiative;

Your monetary contributions will be very helpful in covering the costs of documenting the cases up to international legal standards, bringing the witnesses to testify at the Tribunal and eventually in the dissemination of the verdict to the international community

Account Name: Stichting ICHRP IBAN: NL12 INGB 0006 8639 12 BIC: ING BNL 2A Please indicate: Donation to the IPT 2018

For specific contributions or in kind (ex. Publication, accommodation in Brussels, etc., organization of an event after the IPT proper), please contact ipt2018@humanrightsphilippines.net

*** Practical information for actual attendance to the Tribunal to follow; delegates are requested to pre-register

For confirmation of participation or inquiries, please write to: ipt2018@humanrightsphilippines.net