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THIRD WORLD NETWORK BIOSAFETY INFORMATION SERVICE 20 May 2005
RE: CHIEF AFRICAN NEGOTIATOR DENIED ENTRY INTO CANADA FOR BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL MEETINGS We wish to bring to your attention that the Canadian government has denied a visa to the chief African negotiator to the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety, Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, from Ethiopia to attend the upcoming meetings of the Biosafety Protocol in Montreal which start next week. Dr Tewolde is the Director
General of the Ethiopian Environmental Protoction Authority, and the most
senior official in the Ethiopian Government on environment issues. He
is the current chair of the African Group. During the Biosafety Protocol
negoatiations, Dr Tewolde led the Africa Group as well as the Like-Minded
Group of Developing Countries (G77 and China, except for Argentina, Chileand
Uruguay).
Indeed, another negotiator from Iran, Jafar Barmaki, seems to have also met with the same fate. It has been more than a month since he applied for a Canadian visa and has thus far not received a reply. The plight of Dr Tewolde has
stirred up strong protests worldwide among the NGOs (Item 2) .
Canadian NGOs, outraged over the action of the Canadian government, are
calling the public to urgently appeal to the Canadian government to immediately
issue a entry visa to Dr Tewolde to attend the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
to be held in Montreal from May 30 to June 3 as well as to pay for his
flight and transport cost. With best wishes,
Item 1 17 May 2005 It will be recalled that the final show down in the negotiations on the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety involved a Canadian delegate negotiating on behalf of the Miami Group (Canada, USA, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile), a European Commission delegate negotiating on behalf of the European Union, and myself negotiating on behalf of the developing countries including China, with the exception of Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. It will also be recalled that the two main issues left pending during the final negotiation session of the Protocol in 2000, to be negotiated and settled soon after the Protocol comes into force, were identification (labelling) (see Article 18.2 (a)) and liability and redress (See Article 27). The issue of identification has to be settled in COP/MOP 2 in Montreal, 30 May-3 June 2005, and I expect that the shape of the future negotiations on liability and redress will be determined in the preceding 3-day meeting of the 1st Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group of Legal and Technical Experts on Liability and Redress on 25 -27 May 2005. Both meetings will take place in Montreal, Canada, in the territory of a State which is not a Party to the Protocol. I had planned to participate in these negotiations and continue with trying to help finalize the unfinished business of protecting biodiversity and human beings. In a related forum under the auspices of the FAO, I helped negotiate the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as the chief negotiator of the African Group. In this treaty also, we have an unfinished business-that of negotiating a Material Transfer Agreement to go with the Treaty. On the 11th and 12th of May 2005 we were to have an African Preparatory Meeting on the Material Transfer Agreement in Lusaka, Zambia. On the 19th and 20th of May 2005 we were to have an inter-regional meeting on the same issue in Oslo, Norway. From Oslo, I was to travel to Montreal via London. Based on these facts, I planned my travels and obtained all my visas for Zambia, the Schengen States, and the United Kingdom and sent my diplomatic passport to the Canadian Embassy in Addis Ababa for the Canadian visa. They gave me some highly complex forms to fill in. I filled them in. The passport and the forms duly filled in were sent to the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi by courier on 5 May 2005. The Canadian High Commission sent me back even more complicated additional forms to fill in. I filled them in immediately and sent them back on 10 May 2005 together with clear information on all my travel plans. I should have left for Lusaka on 10 May 2005. So, I missed the African Preparatory meeting on the Material Transfer Agreement of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture because my passport was still in the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi. Today is the 17th of May 2005. My passport returned from Nairobi and was given to me this morning at 10:00 hrs. The British Airways flight which was to take me to Oslo had already left in the night. Therefore I will not be able to attend the meeting in Oslo. My passport came back to me without a Canadian visa. Therefore, I am not going to Montreal to attend the liability and readdress and COP/MOP 2 negotiations either. What a neat instrument of interfering with negotiations to which you are not a party refusing an entry visa has become! My friends, we have passed various hurdles in assuring our rights for fairness and justice in both the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. I am writing this letter to you all for the following reasons: 1. I would like to urge you all Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to continue withstanding the ex-Miami Group and insisting on: a. Clear labelling on all genetically engineered commodities; b. State liability in cases of damage to the environment and/or human beings arising from products of genetic engineering; c. Entitlement to full compensation in cases of damage to the environment and/or human beings; d. Burden of proof of any product of genetic engineering not being the cause of damage resting on the country exporting that product; e. Venue of litigation and enforcement of judgement being in the country where the damage occurred and not in the country of export. 2. But, now that I have been prevented from coming to Montreal, who knows which ones of you will be prevented next time? Should we allow the country where our own Secretariat of the CBD is located to become the sieve to let pass only those of us it wants to participate in negotiations? I protest, and I invite you to join me in the protest, to the Government of Canada. If this act of sieving by Canada continues, I suggest that we either move our Secretariat of the CBD elsewhere, or at least refuse to hold any negotiation sessions in Canada. 3. I would like to urge you all my African and other friends in the Material Transfer Agreement discussions to ensure a common understanding on aiming at communally obtaining the benefits that the CBD entitles us, i. e. a) Research on the genetic
resources accessed to be carried out "with the full participation
of" the Parties that need to develop their capacities b) Research to be carried out
in the territories of the Parties that need to develop their capacities
(Art. 15.6); Of course, inspite of this present hindrance by the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi, I will try to get on the processes with you at a later stage. Please, in the mean time, negotiate effectively. With best wishes for you all, Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher cc:
ETC Group Canada Denies Visa for Africa's Top Biosafety Negotiator Montreal's status as UN's biodiversity headquarters is jeopardized Ottawa - In a breathtaking display of political interference, the Canadian government has blocked entry of Africa's chief negotiator for the Cartagena (biosafety) Protocol, who was scheduled to attend UN meetings beginning next week in Montreal. The Protocol is the United Nations treaty that governs the international movement of genetically modified (GM) organisms. Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, the Ethiopian government's chief scientist and its representative to the Montreal-based UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) had his passport returned without the requested Canadian visa yesterday, and without explanation. The renowned scientist submitted his passport to the Canadian embassy on May 5 and had planned to fly to Oslo, Norway for inter-regional negotiations prior to attending the Montreal meetings that begin Wednesday, May 25. Because his passport was returned only May 17, Dr. Tewolde was forced to miss the Oslo meeting. Labeled dangerous? Officials at Foreign Affairs and Citizenship and Immigration have been unable to offer an explanation for rejecting the negotiator's visa. Dr. Tewolde has been to Canada often over the past decade, participating in intergovernmental negotiations on biodiversity and biosafety. Since the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, Dr. Tewolde has been one of the most well known leaders among African diplomats addressing environmental issues. However, his positions have not been popular with the Canadian government. During the negotiations on a UN treaty on crop genetic resources adopted in Rome last year, Dr. Tewolde spoke on behalf of all developing countries in demanding the right of farmers to save and exchange seeds and in opposing "life patenting" (intellectual property over biological products and processes). In the negotiations that led up to the Cartagena Protocol, the Ethiopian clashed with his Canadian counterparts, demanding higher standards to prevent GM contamination. At UN meetings in Montreal and around the world, Dr. Tewolde has spoken passionately against Terminator technology (genetically-modified seed rendered sterile at harvest time, forcing farmers to buy new seeds each growing season). In February, the Canadian government was prepared to dismantle a de facto moratorium on Terminator at a UN biodiversity meeting in Bangkok. Canada was deeply embarrassed (and highly criticized) when its position became known. The Ethiopian scientist had made it known that he would be coming to Montreal next week to press for the labeling of genetically modified seeds and food products and for companies and governments to accept liability when their seeds lead to GM contamination. Canada has thus far failed to ratify the UN biosafety protocol and is known to be opposed to both compulsory GM labeling and liability. "I had planned to participate in these negotiations and continue with trying to help finalize the unfinished business of protecting biodiversity and human beings," wrote Dr. Tewolde in a letter sent today to colleagues around the world. Montreal's UN future in doubt: In 1995, the Canadian, Québec, and Montreal governments persuaded the United Nations to locate the Secretariat for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal. One of the critical requirements for hosting a major UN agency is easy access for foreign diplomats to attend intergovernmental discussions. "In barring Dr. Tewolde from participating in the Montreal meetings, Canada is jeopardizing Montreal's future as a United Nations city," said Eric Darier, a campaigner with Greenpeace in Montreal, "If Ottawa is doing this for its own political purposes, it is making a grave mistake and tarnishing Canada's reputation in the process." "Dr. Tewolde is one of the most respected scientists in his field," said Pat Mooney, Executive Director of ETC Group in Ottawa, "If the Canadian government can't make sure Dr. Tewolde has his visa for the opening of the meetings, Canada does not deserve to host the Convention on Biological Diversity." ETC Group is a Canadian-based international civil society organization with observer status in the United Nations. Mooney talked with Dr. Tewolde by telephone today. Dr. Tewolde himself is concerned that Canada's actions signal a pattern, "Now that I have been prevented from coming to Montreal, who knows which ones of you will be prevented next time?" he wrote. Dr. Tewolde is the recipient of a number of awards and honors for his work in defending biodiversity and the environment. In particular, he received the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize). For further information: Eric Darier, Campaigner, Greenpeace,
Montreal (514) 933-0021 x 15; Pat Mooney, Executive Director,
ETC Group (613) 241-2267; mobile (613) Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator, Ban Terminator Campaign, (613) 241 2267 Item 3 Ottawa---Africa's leading expert on genetically modified foods has been refused a visa to attend a meeting next week in Montreal at the Secretariat for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Ethiopia's chief scientist, Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, is critical of genetically modified foods, and his opinions often run counter to those of the Canadian government. He has been to Canada many times to attend meetings on biodiversity. He is Africa's chief negotiator for the Cartagena Protocol and he was scheduled to attend meetings about the protocol, the United Nations treaty that governs the international movement of genetically modified organisms. According to an NGO that has been in contact with Tewolde, the Canadian Embassy refused his entry visa and asked him Thursday to answer questions about his political involvement over the past 35 years. But Pat Mooney of Etcetera Group, a non-profit organization that's trying to help Tewolde get into Canada, said Thursday it's probably Tewolde's views on genetically modified foods that has the government concerned. Mooney said Tewolde is an outspoken critic of the "terminator seeds" that are engineered to be sterile, requiring farmers to buy new seeds each growing season. Mooney also said Tewolde was planning to call for the labelling of all genetically modified foods. "Put these two things together, and the rather remarkable position of the embassy in blocking his visa, and we have to raise the question: is there another agenda here? Is there something going on that's blocking him from attending the negotiations?" Mooney told CBC. He said refusing entry to the Ethiopian scientist may spark an international incident. "We've heard today from some governments in Africa that if he's not there, if he's barred from attending, there could well be a boycott or a protest in Montreal next week. He is so much the leader that his absence would almost make it difficult to carry on any negotiations," said Mooney. In 1995, the United Nations decided to locate the Secretariat for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal. But one of the requirements for hosting a UN agency is easy access for foreign experts to attend intergovernmental discussions. "In barring Dr. Tewolde from participating in the Montreal meetings, Canada is jeopardizing Montreal's future as a United Nations city," Eric Darier, a campaigner with Greenpeace, said in a news release. Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
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