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Category: Human Rights Observatory

November 18, 2020 / 0 Comments

Shaping Peace Together

by Jean Pierre Ndagijimana

On September 21st of each year, the United Nations observes the International Day of Peace. This day marks the UN’s declared 24 hours of cease-fire for everyone on Earth to experience the ideals of peace, to breathe freely, and to find a gap of calm. The international theme for the 2020 Peace Day was “Shaping Peace Together.” The pandemic has challenged our existing understanding of what peace really means. As the world celebrated “peace,” the pandemic reminded us that we must come together to protect and care for one another.

In this spirit, the Rwandan Community of Northern California (TRCC), the University Ministry at the University of San Francisco, together with the African Communities Program at Partnerships for Trauma Recovery (PTR) co-hosted a virtual event called “Celebrating Peace.” Given the complexities of the moment, we expanded the theme to reflect our collective need for de-stressing and shaping peace together.

The event opened with a welcoming message from Angélica Nohemi Quiñónez, the Interim Director of the University Ministry at the University of San Francisco (USF), who highlighted the importance of this space as one for sharing stories, different perspectives, opinions, and ideas. Tizita Tekletsadik, PTR’s African Communities Program Manager, followed, acknowledging the stress associated with the pandemic, and invited Yehoyada Mbangukira, the US Rwandan Community Abroad Secretary-General, who welcomed participants on the behalf of TRCC and moderated the conversations. 

Our guest artists, Daniel Ngarukiye, Inzora Benoit, and Bosco Intore, played their part: they entertained the heart with soothing music performed on an Inānga, a traditional instrument from Rwanda and Burundi. 

Diana Tovar, a graduate student in Migration Studies and a member of the USF Arrupe Human Rights Observatory, was one of our panelists. Ms. Tovar rooted her perspectives in her experience in Colombia. “Peace is a social construct, it requires recognizing that others’ pains are my pains too,” she said. For Ms. Tovar, in the current moment, “peace is an act of kindness: generosity, a smile, love, understanding, empathy, and putting aside what divides us.” She challenged the dominant notion of equating peace with the mere signing of peace agreements. For Ms. Tovar, peace is a path and a goal. According to the panelist, we achieve peace only when individuals and the larger society recognize that something is wrong, and they are willing to do their part to change what does not seem right. She condemned indifference to racial injustices and reminded the audience to use their privileges not just to help others but to build bridges between our communities. 

Another panelist, Ms. Liliane Umuhoza, Founder of the Women Genocide Survivors Retreat Program, joined from Rwanda and drew from her personal experiences surviving the genocide against the Tutsi to define what peace requires. For Ms. Umuhoza, peace is fulfilling the promise of “Never Again” that failed to prevent the tragedies of 1994 after many other “Never Again” statements preceded the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. By equating peace to equality, Ms. Umuhoza said that peace means access to food, shelter, and other basic needs. In addition to these material needs, she emphasized that when thinking about peace during the Coronavirus pandemic, mental health and wellbeing needs to be considered.  In her words, “when your mind is not stable, it affects everything around you.” She called this type of peace “psychological safety,” where people can feel free to share their stories and feel heard.

Dr. Ernest Uwazie, another panelist, is the Director of the Center for the African Peace and Conflict Resolution at California State University, Sacramento. For Dr. Uwazie, “peace may look different from place to place and from time to time.” According to the professor, “peace is a satisfaction of one’s interests of justice, substantive justice.” Peace is recognizing that every human being is worthy of recognition, worthy of fair treatment, free from eminent and remote threats. In other words, it is when all of us can dream as far as we can. Dr. Uwazie reminded the audience that every human being has the potential to do good. He invited us to be resilient, conciliatory and he urged us to condemn not the person but the harmful act. Dr. Uwazie encouraged us to be humble in our own failings and to learn from our wrongs. 

Event participants were also invited to contribute to our definition of peace. Here are some of their reflections:

  • Peace today means living in a country that is protective of its own people; addressing the Coronavirus pandemic.
  • “Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz.” — Benito Juárez 
  • Inner peace, being in harmony with my own self and thoughts, as well as outer, wishing but also working towards peace – at local and global levels
  • Kuri njye numva amahoro ari igihe umuntu aba adafite ibimuhungabanya muri we no hanze ye.
  • Feeling safe at home and outside. When everyone has the same human rights and dignity respected.

When closing the conversations, Mr. Yehoyada, shared his major takeaway: Shaping peace together is within our power. This happens by being responsible, resilient, and not being indifferent when others are experiencing injustices. Peace comes from the understanding that we are all in this together because there is no community made up of one person. 

The success of this event is a result of a collective commitment. I would like to thank all the contributors: the participants, panelists, the moderator, the guest artists, the organizing team, and the co-hosting organizations. The greater a community’s loss in common ground, the greater the resulting gain in violence. In our “humble togetherness,” we can all, indeed, shape peace together.

November 6, 2020 / 0 Comments

Analyzing the U.S. Election amongst Jesuit Universities

Members of the Arrupe Observatory of the University of San Francisco participated in a panel discussion on the 2020 U.S. presidential elections with more than 60 students, professors, and alumni from the Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla in Mexico.

This panel included interventions by Enrique Bazán Ed.D, María Autrey M.A, and Ana Karen Barragán all members of the Arrupe Observatory, and by Natalia Mora who graduated from Ibero Puebla and is currently working at the Red Cross in Chicago, Il. This event was moderated by Juan Luis Hernández Avendaño, Viceprovost of the Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla, and featured significant participation from IBERO Puebla students in International Relations and Political Science.

Together, they offered their perspectives and concerns on the current election results, the unique context and history of the United States, the keys to the election, the characteristics of the current administration, and the political profile and behavior of the current president.

The major concerns from the Ibero in Puebla, Mexico asked the panel to talk on where:

  • The apparent fragile democracy in the United States today.
  • The Mail voting system and distrust of citizens and misinformation from the current administration.
  • The apparent weakening of the democratic party.
  • The influence and exacerbation of racism in the country.
  • The Latino vote.
  • The massive support for the current president, the leadership model that Donald Trump has put forward as President of the United States.

During the conversation, special attention was placed on the rising wave of populist governments in western democracies and how Donald Trump is just one of many examples of demagogue figures governing the world. The conversation also circled around racism and how the world is coming to see the United States as a synonym of racism. For that matter, the electoral college’s racist history was discussed and the recent uprising around George Floyds and Breonna Taylor’s deaths, and how a movement has been rising across the country that fights for Black lives.

Conversations such as this strengthen international collaboration and offer Jesuit students a global perspective central to the Jesuit experience. This is set up to be one of many more collaborations between the Arrupe Human Rights Observatory from the University of San Francisco with the Ibero Puebla and other Universities across the Global Jesuit Network.

woman in front of image of the 43
September 25, 2020 / 0 Comments

Ayotzinapa: 6 Years Seeking Truth and Justice

Six years after the disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa in Mexico, the Arrupe Human Rights Observatory joins the demand for justice and truth.

The Arrupe Observatory recognizes the struggle of families, civil society organizations, and specific government agencies for the clarification of truth and the pursuit of justice. Also, the Observatory joins the call of many organizations asking the competent authorities to maintain a constant dialogue and listening to the victims and to provide effective justice.

It also invites our Jesuit university community to join the cause by providing financial support to the Centre ProDH, the Jesuit Human Rights Centre in Mexico, to continue providing legal advice and promoting human rights issues in Mexico.

Donate here.

The following is a description of ProDh Center of the events of Ayotzinapa 6 years ago.

On the night of September 26, 2014, a group of students from the Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos de Ayotzinapa, between 17 and 25 years old, went to the city of Iguala, Guerrero, (Mexico) with the aim of “taking” the buses they needed to participate in the commemoration of October 2, which every year keeps alive in Mexico the memory of that repression against students that took place in 1968. Although the retention and temporary use of buses by students to carry out their activities had been common in Guerrero and even had the tacit approval of companies and authorities, on September 26 the response of the authorities was not the usual one: Municipal Police of Iguala opened fire on the students to prevent them from leaving the city with the buses. Helped by other corporations and civilians, the police managed to close the road to five buses – three that were traveling on a central street and two that were traveling on a peripheral street. In these two scenarios, 43 students were detained and were supposed to be disappeared. Later that night, attacks against the students and the general population continued, not only by state agents but also by civilians who, as was later demonstrated, were part of the structure of a criminal organization strongly linked to the state agencies present in that area of Guerrero, called Guerreros Unidos.

The outcome of the bloody night in Iguala was brutal: 43 young students are still missing; 6 people were executed, among them 3 students, including the case of a young man whose body was found the next day in an uninhabited area with clear signs of torture; at least 40 people were injured, including two students who were seriously and permanently affected by their health. In total, more than 180 people were direct victims of human rights violations that night and about 700 people were indirect victims, considering the relatives of the victims.

In spite of the process of searching for truth and justice initiated by the families of the disappeared and the victims of execution, the obstruction of the investigation by the authorities has prevented the truth of the events that occurred to the normalistas of Ayotzinapa on September 26 and 27, 2014 from being known by the families and by all of society; and therefore, not all of those responsible for these events have been investigated, processed, or sanctioned.

(Find the original version in Spanish)

August 28, 2020

Arrupe Observatory to Collect Testimonies for the Colombian Truth Commission

On Friday, August 28th, the Arrupe Human Rights Observatory officially joined the Colombian Truth Commission as collectors of testimonies from refugees and exiled Colombians by the armed conflict. Members of the Arrupe Observatory have initiated a series of training to be able to interview victims to add their testimonies to the final work to be presented by the Colombian Truth Commission.

“The work that is going to be done by the Arrupe Observatory, and by other volunteers, is precious and indispensable for the Commission and for the peace in Colombia,” said Michelle Harb, who is in charge of the international work of the Truth Commission “For the Commission, the important thing is to be able to collect the most complete account, listening to all voices. And one of the central voices is that of refugees or exiles. Exile is one of the most silenced things, which has been less visible in what is understood by the universe of victims that there have been in Colombia,” added Harb.

Besides helping with interviews and testimony collection, the Arrupe Observatory has played a crucial role in the promotion of the Commission’s work abroad, hosting events for the dissemination of news. The latest one, “Your Truth Matters”, was co-hosted with UC Berkeley and the University of Arizona, reaching thousands of Colombians in the United States.

August 12, 2020

Your Truth Matters: A conversation with the Colombian Truth Commission

On August 8, the Arrupe Observatory, in collaboration with the Center for Latin American Studies of the University of California (Berkeley) and the Center for Latin American Studies of the University of Arizona held the virtual dialogue:  “Your Truth Counts. Exile and Memory in the Work of the Truth Commission, Colombia”, with the participation of Commissioner Carlos Martín Beristain. 
This event gathered mainly a Colombian audience located in the United States, which served as an invitation to share their experiences in relation to the armed conflict in Colombia, and adding it to the testimonies of thousands of others. The dialogue achieved more than 800 views.
Watch the dialogue here:

 

June 19, 2020

The Jesuit Massacre in El Salvador Trial 2020

via the Guernica Center for International Justice

Madrid, 8 June 2020 – The trial for the killings of Ignacio Ellacuría, Ignacio Martín-Baró, Amando López, Joaquín López y López, Juan Ramón Moreno, Segundo Montes, and their housekeeper and her daughter, Elba Julia Ramos and Celina Maricet Ramos will begin on Monday, 8 June 2020 where it will begin with the criminal charges being read out, and then the evidence will be presented, starting with the testimonies of the defendants and witnesses.

The historic trial is scheduled to be held in the course of two consecutive blocks: the first taking place from 8 – 10 June 2020; and the second scheduled later in the summer, from 8 – 16 July 2020.

The first hearing will commence at 15.00 CET on 8 June 2020,

The principal defendant is former colonel Inocente Orlando Montano, who at the time of the events was Vice-Minister of Public Security, and was extradited from the United States of America to Spain on 29 November 2017.

The assassination of the Jesuits priests and the two women they employed shocked the entire world and forever tainted Salvadoran history with atrocity and injustice. This heinous act was carried out in the early hours of 16 November 1989 by the Atlacatl Battalion of the Salvadoran Army. The events were so significant that they are said to have forced the end of the civil war in El Salvador and catalysed the victims’ quest for truth, justice, and accountability, after an era of state-sponsored terror and repression against the civilian population.

Due to the restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, considering the international importance of the trial, attorneys for the private and popular prosecution ‒exercised by the Spanish Pro-Human Rights Association (APDHE), the family of Jesuit assassinated Ignacio Martín-Baró, and the San José Jesuit School of Valencia Alumni Association‒ filed a petition to have the trial live streamed in an effort to promote the need for justice to be publicly and transparently administered.  The online transmission of the trial aims to promote the possibility of having victims and other stakeholders in El Salvador and the Salvadoran society, at large, engaged in this momentous event.

The trial will be live-streamed from here.  More Background Information here.

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