The international furore that followed after rejection of visa by Canada to two indigenous conservationists, Sabitri Patra and Gopal Chandra Mandal from the remote villages near Sunderbans and Niyamgiri hills respectively to attend the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in Montreal, has compelled the Citizenship and Immigration Canada to take a U-turn.
In e-mails sent to them by CAI, the two have been asked to reapply for their visa. The sources from the ongoing CBD meeting in Canada further informed that Canadian authorities there had publicly apologised for the problem and even had a follow-up meeting to prevent such issues in future.
Sabitri and Gopal had been invited by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and officially registered by its Secretariat to participate in its meetings in Montreal from October 7 to October 18. The Pioneer had recently carried a story in this regard when in blatant violation of agreement that Canada had signed with the United Nations Environment Programme for hosting the CBD Secretariat, their visa applications were rejected on flimsy grounds, which amongst others include insufficient funds in personal account.
The issue was also taken up by the CBD Alliance Coordinator, Nele Marie with the Canadian External Affairs Minister John Baird. In a letter written to the Minister, Nele pointed out that their action is not only prejudicial but also contrary to the basic agreements for a host country of a convention to the United Nations. Specifically in the case of the Convention on Biodiversity, the participation of indigenous people, local communities and civil society in general is crucial to its decision making. Many of them live directly dependent on the customary use of biodiversity and its regeneration, and consequently do not have many private monetary resources.
Meanwhile, Gopal and Sabitri have both received e-mails saying, “If you wish to reapply, you may do so... The visa office will expedite your application given that the conference starts next week.” It, however, adds that they should bring all supporting documentation, including the official invitation to attend the conference. The mail further added that the supporting documents provided with the application did not make it clear to the visa officer that the purpose of visit was to attend the eighth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions of the convention on Biological Diversity.
Commenting on the situation, S Faizi, ecologist chairing the Board of CBD Alliance and specialising in International Environmental Policy, “The incident shows that they do not have in place the needed system to secure the due application process. The real issue lies in the fact that Canada’s visa administration process does not ensure that its officers are provided with the required information on what kind of documents are necessary for what kind of meetings/events; to enable them to make decisions that are compliant with the international commitments of Canada.