All posts by CPNN Coordinator

About CPNN Coordinator

Dr David Adams is the coordinator of the Culture of Peace News Network. He retired in 2001 from UNESCO where he was the Director of the Unit for the International Year for the Culture of Peace, proclaimed for the Year 2000 by the United Nations General Assembly.

Nuclear deterrence gives ‘false sense of security,’ Vatican official says

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from Catholic Philly

The goal of a nuclear-free world can only be achieved through a renewed sense of unity and solidarity among nations that breaks the dynamic of mistrust, said Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican foreign minister.

Addressing a webinar Dec. 16 on nuclear disarmament, Archbishop Gallagher highlighted the Vatican’s support of political dialogue that goes “beyond the theory of fear” and of the need to “emphasize how nuclear deterrence represents a false sense of security and of stability.”


A Russian Yars RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile system drives during the Victory Day parade marking the 71st anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, at Red Square in Moscow May 9, 2016. (CNS photo/Grigory Dukor, Reuters)

“The Holy See reaffirms its unwavering commitment in this direction as demonstrated by its ratification of all the main nuclear treaties and its continuous efforts to promote a concrete culture of peace based on the dignity of the human person and on the primacy of law, fostering responsible honest and consistent cooperation with all members of the family of nations,” he said.

The webinar, titled “A world free from nuclear weapons,” was co-sponsored by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Georgetown University, Notre Dame University and the Catholic Peacebuilding Network.

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Question related to this article:
 
Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

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The event coincided with the launch of a new book that features Pope Francis’ address in November 2017 in which he spoke out against nuclear weapons, as well as “testimony from Nobel Peace Prize laureates, religious leaders, diplomats, and civil society activists,” according to Georgetown University Press.

In a Dec. 14 statement, the dicastery said the goal of the event was to stress the link between peace, disarmament and health security during a time of pandemic.

In his talk, Archbishop Gallagher cited the pope’s video message to the U.N. General Assembly in late September. In his message, the pope said the current pandemic can lead to two paths: one that shifts toward a “renewed sense of global co-responsibility” or one of “self-sufficiency, nationalism, protectionism, individualism and isolation” that “excludes the poor, the vulnerable and those dwelling on the peripheries of life.”

The Vatican foreign minister said the pope’s perspective also applies to the issue of nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence.

He also expressed concern that “nuclear powers often seem to continue turning inward away from multilateralism,” such as the uncertainty regarding the renewal of the New START treaty, a bilateral agreement between the United States and the Russian Federation that seeks to reduce and limit the use of nuclear warheads, ballistic missiles and other strategic offensive arms.

However, he also cited the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which bans the possession and use of nuclear weapons, as a step toward a “nuclear weapons-free world.”

To achieve a lasting peace, Archbishop Gallagher said the international community must look beyond nuclear deterrence.

“International peace and security cannot be founded on the threat of mutual destruction or total annihilation or maintaining a balance of power or regulating relations by substituting the rights of the power to power of right,” the archbishop said.

“Peace and security must be built on justice, integral human development, respect for fundamental human rights, the protection of creation, the building of trust among peoples, the promotion of educational and health structures, dialogue and solidarity,” he said.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, North America,

Female victims and ex-combatants graduated as peace activists in Antioquia, Colombia

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from Infobae (translation by CPNN)

More and more women are joining peacebuilding initiatives showing that their testimonies, stories and courage are the best tools for change.

As reported by El Espectador, 91 students graduated from “Peace education activities”, a workshop coordinated by the Medellín Mayor’s Office to create spaces that promote peace building in everyday life. This workshop was made up of nine groups of less than 15 participants, including women ex-combatants of the FARC, women victims of the conflict and community leaders.


In total, 91 women participated in the workshops. Image from Facebook / UN Verification Mission in Colombia.

The participants come from ten communes in the city and were linked to this workshop through the work of government organizations such as the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN), the Truth Commission, the Convivamos Corporation, the organization Mujeres Caminando por la Verdad, among others.

(Click here for the original article in Spanish.)

Questions related to this article:

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

Do women have a special role to play in the peace movement?

According to information from El Espectador, the meetings were held between September and November, once a week, in groups made up of ex-combatants or women victims of the conflict, where they deepened their knowledge about the Peace Agreement, the Truth Commission , the generation of daily peace actions and the resolution of daily conflicts.

Juliana Martínez Londoño, secretary of the Women of Medellín, explained that these workshops were developed “to promote spaces that allow the construction of a culture of peace with a gender perspective. They considered the work that women have done in favor of the peace and, in that way, the women were considered as protagonists and promoters of reconciliation strategies and construction of the social fabric ”.

Teresa de Jesús Orozco, leader of the Association of Displaced Elders of Antioquia (ASOADEAN), stated that “these spaces have been very beautiful because they taught us to exchange anger for love and for understanding and we as leaders can work in many ways, until we reach our people,.”

Delegates from the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, the ARN and the United Nations Development Program were present at the graduation. In addition to the certification, the women will receive a kit including, among other things, a blog and a USB memory with the memories of the workshops.

“With this work we show that peace is an issue that is present in the daily newspaper and to the extent an education for peace is necessary, (…) these women are publicly recognized as social actors and as important voices”, the secretary Juliana Londoño told El Espectador.

Latin America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Mexico: The Academic of Education participates in the Conference for Peace of the Maguen David Hebrew School

. EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from Anáhuac (translation by CPNN)

A workshop “Peace transcends and summons us” was held for high school students from the Maguen David Hebrew School as part of their Conference for Peace. The workshop was taught by Prof. Susana Memun Zaga, coordinator of the Area of ​​the Degree in Organizational and Educational Pedagogy of our Faculty of Education .

During the month of November, and for the seventh consecutive year, the Maguen David Hebrew School organizes the Days for Peace to honor the memory of the Prime Minister of Israel and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, Yitzhak Rabin. The objective is to promote the concept of Peace in the young people through various speakers, including community leaders, rabbis, leaders of non-governmental organizations, universities, foundations and teachers,

(Click here for the original Spanish version).

Question for this article:

Is there progress towards a culture of peace in Mexico?

What is the relation between peace and education?

The young people reflected during the workshop on the natural relationship between the concept of Peace and Education, on the importance of Education for a culture of Peace and the importance of their own commitment to take actions in order to build peace.

In addition to the above, they collaborated in small groups to analyze thoughts and phrases of Martin Buber, Hanna Arendt, Paulo Freire and María Montessori, where they discussed their relationship with education from their own context as young students. Finally they presented their conclusions and interacted about their ideas and their own experiences, sharing their commitments and becaming aware of the decisions they have in their hands to build a better world.

As a Faculty of Education, it is of great importance to us to collaborate with other educational institutions in strengthening and building a culture of peace.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Costa Rica: Peace brings together parliamentarians from the world in our country

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article from Diario Extra (translation by CPNN)

Congressmen from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Honduras and El Salvador are visiting the country to promote the value of tolerance and the culture of peace, fight against discrimination, religious sectarianism and ethnocentrism and to develop the norms of international law and human rights, to strengthen the principles of tolerance and achieve peace. The meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Group of the International Parliament for Tolerance and Peace, takes place in our country from Wednesday the 16th to Friday the 18th,.


The representatives of the parliaments gathered in front of the National Monument, in the National Park to deliver a flower arrangement. (Photo David Barrantes).

The meeting has the participation of the president of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace, Ahmed Bin Mohmed Aljarwan (United Arab Emirates) and the president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Duarte Pacheco (Portugal).

Also, the Argentine Walberto Allende, President of the International Parliament for Tolerance and Peace.

On the part of the Legislative Assembly of our country, the hosts are the deputies David Gourzong and Jorge Fonseca of the PLN and Rodolfo Peña of the PUSC.

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(Click here for a version in Spanish.>

Questions for this article:

How can parliamentarians promote a culture of peace?

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On Thursday morning they delivered a wreath in front of the National Monument, in the National Park to celebrate the opening ceremony of the meeting.

“We are proud to work with them on issues of peace, on issues of consensus in the world such as the health crisis, and on economic problems in the countries where we have to restore normalcy and to have access to vaccines,” said Gourzong.

This is the first official meeting of Duarte Pacheco, the new President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), who was very excited about the opportunity to build an agenda for peace and tolerance in the world.

“Costa Rica is a small country, but a good example for the world with its culture of peace and building bridges between peoples. I am sure that important agreements will emerge from here to address the global challenges we now face,” said Duarte Pacheco.

For Rodolfo Peña Flores, who is also a member of the board of the fourth Permanent Commission on United Nations Affairs of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the visit of Duarte Pacheco will serve to consolidate major international agreements to promote the comprehensive recovery of the countries.

“This will be a very important and enriching space for Costa Rica, where, through a vision of solidarity and humanity, we can strengthen and establish efficient instruments for the integral recovery of the countries. I am convinced that, through effective cooperation, we can consolidate good agreements to face global challenges and tostrengthen productive ties between different nations,” said the Christian Socialist.

“The election of Costa Rica has to do with its rich history with peace, more in the current moments that we are also living as a result of the pandemic that brought about a crisis in the governments of Latin America and in the world. That is why the decision to be here. We will leave happy and enriched with the recent history of Costa Rica for the benefit of the peace of the continent,” commented the Argentine Allende.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

In bipartisan vote: US House approves record $741 billion military spending bill

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from the World Socialist Web Site

The overwhelming bipartisan vote by the House of Representatives Tuesday evening [December 8] to approve the largest military budget in American history demonstrates the reality of capitalist politics. Democrats and Republicans are supposedly at each other’s throats over an array of social and political issues, but they are entirely in agreement on funding the world’s largest and most lethal military machine.


The Pentagon in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

The House vote for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was by a massive margin, 335–78. Democrats supported passage by 195–37. Republicans supported passage by 140–40. Every leader of the House Democrats backed passage: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James Clyburn. They were joined by the top Republicans: Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Minority Whip Steve Scalise and the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, the co-sponsor of the massive bill, Mac Thornberry of Texas.

The margin was far more than the two-thirds required to override a threatened Trump veto, although it is not clear that Trump will actually follow up on his tweets demanding two changes in the bill, neither relevant to its basic purposes. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already said the Senate will pass the NDAA in the next few days. The margin is likely to be even more decisive than in the House.

While rubber-stamping the largest-ever Pentagon budget, the House and Senate remain locked in a protracted stalemate which has blocked the payment of a single dollar of federal supplemental unemployment insurance since the benefit expired last July 31.

The $741 billion for the Pentagon is approximately six times as much as the $121 billion in unemployment benefits paid out to 60 million workers since the coronavirus pandemic struck.

The goal of the NDAA, according to its preamble, is to achieve “irreversible momentum in the implementation of the National Defense Strategy” spelled out by the Pentagon in 2018, which identified “strategic competition” with Russia and China, not terrorism, as the “preeminent challenge” of US military policy. This includes, according to the various subdivisions of the massive bill, achieving “Superiority in the Air”, “Superiority on the Seas,” “Superiority on the Land,” and, in keeping with the demands of Trump, “Superiority in Space.”

It is not hard to imagine what the rest of the world is to think of this all-out US drive for military power “uber alles”: China, Russia and imperialist powers like Germany, Britain, France and Japan are all engaged in military build-ups to match that in America, bringing ever closer the danger of an uncontrolled military clash between great powers, most of them nuclear armed.

Well short of such an apocalypse, the arms race involves an unforgivable squandering of economic resources needed to meet social concerns such as education, health care, alleviating poverty and retirement security.

One of the largest single components of the Pentagon budget is Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), funded to the tune of $69 billion. This is the spending for ongoing military operations where US forces are deployed: primarily Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, as well as the Persian Gulf, where vast naval and air assets are arrayed against Iran. The OCO also covers active drone missile warfare operations across Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

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Question for this article:

Does military spending lead to economic decline and collapse?

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The bill puts billions into preparations to confront Russia and China, including fully funding the European Deterrence Initiative, the NATO build-up on Russia’s western borders, and the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, providing $2.2 billion for similar activity by US naval and air forces directed against China. The label “deterrence” is entirely deceptive: the Pentagon is not seeking to ward off Russian and Chinese aggression, but to prepare for US aggression against one or both countries, regarded as the main obstacles to maintaining US world domination. Another $250 million goes for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, while $500 million (and likely much more) is earmarked for Israel.

Some other major provisions of the bill include:

– Requiring the Air Force to maintain 386 operational squadrons comprising at least 3,850 combat aircraft. This includes $9.1 billion to buy an additional 93 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, 14 more than the Trump administration requested.

– Adding $108 million to the procurement of MQ-9 drones equipped to fire missiles.

– Purchasing another seven C-130J transport aircraft, used to rapidly deploy troops, tanks and artillery to new war zones.

– Procurement of additional major warships for the US Navy, including one additional Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarine, cost roughly $3 billion, and additional smaller submarines, amphibious ships and P-8 anti-submarine aircraft.

– Funding to support redesign and improvement of land-based combat systems like artillery, tanks and armored vehicles for the “future of warfare against near-peer competitors” (war with Russia, China or another major power).

– Equipping the Army with an additional 116 helicopters, including 60 UH-60 Blackhawks, 50 AH-64E Apaches, and six of the giant MH-47G Chinooks.

– Continued funding for a systematic, across-the-board modernization of US nuclear weaponry, begun under Obama and continued under Trump, including submarine-fired missiles, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and heavy bombers capable of intercontinental flight.

The legislation incorporates a number of provisions to block military moves announced by Trump in recent months, delaying reduction of US troops stationed in Germany and South Korea, for example, until the next administration. Trump did not threaten a veto over these items, demonstrating that his threats of withdrawal were only for electoral purposes, or to extract more money from the countries being “protected” by US forces.

The veto threat came over one provision included in the bill, and one provision that the drafters left out despite Trump’s incessant demands to the contrary.

The provision Trump objects to establishes a procedure through which all US military bases named after Confederate commanders will be renamed in the course of the next three years. These include Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, and Ft. Hood, Texas, two of the largest centers of the US military, as well as Ft. Benning, Georgia, and Camp A. P. Hill in Virginia.

The provision Trump has demanded as an addition to the NDAA would repeal Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1995, which frees social media companies of liability for anything posted by their users. Because of this provision, Trump has been unable to sue Facebook and Twitter when they have placed warning messages on his tweets and postings of brazen falsehoods or incitements to violence. Both Senate and House leaders rejected Trump’s demand as extraneous to the Pentagon budget and likely to derail the legislation if included.

What is most remarkable, however, and almost unreported in the media, is the lockstep agreement between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party on this legislation. Under conditions where Trump is defying the outcome of the November election and seeking to overturn its results through unconstitutional actions, the Democrats nonetheless vote to provide the “commander in chief” with virtually a blank check.

Democratic and Republican leaders on the committees overseeing Pentagon policies and military budgets gave unanimous support to the NDAA, boasting that the military budget has passed Congress by huge majorities for 59 straight years, and the Fiscal 2021 budget will be number 60.

When it comes to the most critical institution of the capitalist state, there is not even a two-party system in America, there is only one party: the party of the military-intelligence apparatus, which is required both to assert US imperialist interests around the world and to defend the financial aristocracy against the looming threat of social disorder and class conflict at home.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America

Nairobi, Kenya : International Peace Research Association Conference 2021

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An announcement from the Global Campaign for Peace Education

Established in 1964, the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) undertakes research on issues pertaining to international peace and security. Every two years, it holds a conference to discuss findings and solutions to problems affecting peace, security and development across the world. It does so in partnership and/or collaboration with academia, policy-makers, research institutions, and various other multi-disciplinary thinktanks globally.


IPRA shall be holding its 28th Biennial General Conference themed, PEACE TECHNOLOGY; Positioning Fourth Industrial Revolution and Emerging Technologies in Fostering Global Peace’ in Nairobi -Kenya from the 11th to 15th January 2021 hosted by Multimedia University of Kenya (MMU). Since 1964, this shall be the first gathering of the Global Network of Peace Researchers in the East Africa region and the third (3rd) of this kind in Africa as a continent (1998 – Durban, South Africa ; 2016 – Freetown, Sierra Leone).

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Question for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

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Part of the objectives of the 28th IPRA General Conference are inclined towards discussions and proposals surrounding plenary themes on Peace Technology in the Anthropocene, International Humanitarian & Human Rights Law, Arms Control and Technology Revolution, Information Technology and Peace, Sports Science and Peace, Climate Change and Early Warning Systems, Forensics and Counter-Terrorism, Media, Virtual Network and Education, Mental Health, Spiritual Security and Spiritual Intelligence. Other specific objectives shall be addressed under the various sub-themes represented in IPRA’s ten (10) Commissions which can be accessed at: http://iprapeace.org/index.php/commissions.

Global Trade, Corporate Surveillance and Peace

The Republic of Kenya continues to contribute to peace and security efforts across the continent and globally. The country having hosted many refugees who fled from civil conflicts in their respective countries of Somalia, South Sudan, the Great Lakes Region (Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo), continues to discharge its mandate to promote peace and security under the various regional and international conflict resolution mechanisms. Kenya also enjoys a vast expanding digital revolution with approximately 38 percent of its predominantly young population being within the age group of 15 – 35 years.

Thus, the 28th IPRA General Conference in Nairobi, Kenya is expected to highlight progress and challenges of 21st century revolutionized Information, Communication and Technology, their effects on global (dis)order and present ultimatums on viable next steps.

Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE, global,

San Luis Potosi, Mexico: Teachers of the Municipal Educational System Trained against Gender Violence

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from Gobierno muncipal de San Luis Potosi

– Within the framework of the Campaign for the Elimination of Violence against Women “Paint the world orange 2020”

In the framework of the Declaration of Gender Alert Against Women (DAVGM), and continuing the commitment to educate and form a vision of the world based on values ​​and principles for human rights, the Directorate of the Municipal Education Department offered training to its teaching staff for the elimination of violence against women.


Training workshops and conferences, both face-to-face and digital, were carried out for 16 consecutive days for all personnel in the educational system managed by the City Council.

(Click here for the original article in Spanish.)

Questions related to this article:

Protecting women and girls against violence, Is progress being made?

Is there progress towards a culture of peace in Mexico?

The head of Municipal Education, Azalea Martínez Navarro, explained that the commitment of the Capital Government is to articulate actions that promote healthy and peaceful coexistence, through strategies that help raise awareness and reduce violence.

“For more than 15 days, we worked to prevent and eradicate violence against women, where for the first time the entire teaching staff, as well as the directors of each educational entity, joined in raising the voice of no more violence against women and girls, working for a culture of peace, for equal conditions and for students to have hope for the future ”.

The official thanked all the educational staff for assuming this commitment, facing the challenges so that all girls and boys can live a life free of violence.

The closing event was also attended by the head of the Women’s Instance, Sofía Córdova Nava; the Executive Secretary of the Municipal System for the Comprehensive Protection of Girls, Boys and Adolescents – SIMPINNA -, Jesús Hernández Jiménez; as well as the Municipal Director of Social Prevention of Violence and Crime with Citizen Participation, Jassán Nieto Guerrero.

Latin America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

United Nations Alliance of Civilizations : Applications now open for the Youth Solidarity Fund

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An announcement from the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations

The Youth Solidarity Fund (YSF) supports youth-led organizations that foster peaceful and inclusive societies. Seed funding is given to projects, for and by young people, that demonstrate innovative and effective approaches to intercultural or interfaith dialogue. UNAOC additionally offers capacity-building support to help youth-led organizations strengthen the implementation of their projects.

Established in 2008, YSF responded to calls for action made by young civil society leaders worldwide on the importance of establishing funding mechanisms for youth-led organizations. Today, YSF is more relevant than ever. As the global agenda increasingly speaks of youth’s participation and contribution to peace, development and security, it is critical to listen and respond with funding and partnership opportunities. Click here to start application process


Photo from video about previous YSF winners

The funded projects are youth-led and youth-focused. The age definition used by UNAOC to characterize youth is an individual between the ages of 18 and 35. While the projects target mainly young people, they have an impact on entire communities, often involving religious or political leaders, policy-makers, educational institutions and media organizations.

Youth Solidarity Fund – 9th Edition

The world today is home to the largest youth generation in history, a population that suffers disproportionately from the effects of violence, conflict, poverty, and now COVID-19. The repercussions of COVID-19 extend way beyond health and are exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and inequalities. The UN Comprehensive Response to COVID-19 states that the world is experiencing a “surge of stigma, a tsunami of hate, and ramped-up efforts to exploit young people.” To counter this alarming trend, it calls for more action to address the root causes of intolerance and discrimination by promoting inclusion and respect for diversity.

Despite COVID-19 and many other obstacles and challenges, young people continue to find ways to engage, support one another, as well as demand, and drive change. Young people implement innovative solutions to peace and security challenges and are the most able to mobilize their peers. They have the power to transform entire regions to make them more secure, peaceful, and socially inclusive. This has been recognized by the United Nations’ Youth, Peace and Security agenda, which has increasingly focused on youth as agents of change and key actors in powerful social movements. The latest Security Council Resolution on YPS 2535 (July 2020) reiterates youth-led organizations’ critical role in planning and stabilization efforts in peacebuilding and sustaining peace. Indeed, these organizations have a deep understanding of local conditions and meaningful community relationships, allowing them to work with populations that may be difficult for others to access.

Our world has recently witnessed a tragic surge in religious hatred, with increased attacks and violence targeting members of faiths and traditions. In the face of these unspeakable tragedies, the world has also witnessed extraordinary displays of support, love, and solidarity from religious communities across the globe for the victims of such attacks. That led to the creation of the United Nations Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites, developed by UNAOC and launched in September 2019, highlighting the need to create counter-narratives to hatred and violent extremism and promote sustained collaboration among different religions through interreligious dialogue, education, and media. Youth empowerment, including their meaningful participation in decision-making, can play an essential role in whole-of-society preventative approaches.

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Question related to this article:
 
Youth initiatives for a culture of peace, How can we ensure they get the attention and funding they deserve?

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YSF continues to support youth-led civil society organizations, with a particular focus on the role of young people in promoting peace and preventing violent extremism. YSF does so by providing the partnership, mentorship, and financial means to help young people implement activities that prevent violent conflict, promote peace and social inclusion. YSF functions as a small grant-making mechanism for youth to develop their own ideas on strengthening community resilience against violent extremism conducive to terrorism. UNAOC believes that young people are uniquely placed to counter and prevent violent extremism within their communities based on their valuable insights, influence, and credibility.

Additionally, YSF contributes to the implementation of the UN Secretary-General’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism and the call to support young people as they take up the causes of cultural and religious pluralism, peace, and mutual respect. The 9th edition of YSF encourages proposals addressing the increased stigma and discrimination of young people and their communities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Proposals focusing on promoting tolerance and respect for other religions and cultures, the right of human beings to practice their faith in safety and peace, and dialogue and respect to combat extremist ideologies and narratives, are also welcome. By addressing the issue of hate speech and its impact on young people, the new edition of YSF will also follow recommendations of the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech.

A critical part of YSF is a comprehensive capacity building and mentorship support provided to the grant recipients. Organizations that will be awarded with the seed funding for their projects will also take part in structured capacity development program, consisting of workshops and regular mentoring sessions. Through tailor-made mentorship, the workshops will offer know-how on diverse topics, including organizational development, sustainability and personal safety in the field. Additionally, the program also provides grant recipients an opportunity to network with their peers and build connections with the international community. This capacity development program is based on the Youth 360 approach developed by Search for Common Ground with UNAOC and other partners.

Impact

Since 2008, UNAOC has launched eight YSF editions and provided funding to youth-led organizations based in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. To date, a total of 68 projects have been funded, reaching around 95,000 direct beneficiaries in 40 countries. In total, more than 1.7 million direct and indirect beneficiaries have been impacted over the past twelve years.

The projects funded by YSF target young people from various backgrounds: students, marginalized youth, minorities, youth in rural or urban areas, youth in conflict or post-conflict situations, artists and activists. The youth-led organizations employ creative methodologies to break stereotypes, improve intercultural relations and promote a culture of peace, including:

– Educational activities, ranging from one-day awareness raising sessions to week-long trainings, peer-education activities, summer camps, as well as development of educational materials and tools and creation of networks of student leaders and youth clubs;

– Arts and sports as tools to address conflict in a non-violent way, to promote inter-community understanding and to raise-awareness about the dangers of sectarianism, extremism and radicalization;

– Media and social-media campaigns, video production for advocacy purposes and radio series to promote messages of tolerance and peace;

– Creative settings that facilitate intercultural dialogue, interfaith understanding, sharing of experiences and learning from each other in order to bring meaningful change to their society.

Click here to start application process

(Editor’s note : The February 2021 newsletter of the UNAOC announces that “The call for applications for the ninth edition of UNAOC’s Youth Solidarity Fund recorded its highest submission rate with 1,508 applications from youth-led organizations representing 76 countries! UNAOC is now in the process of selecting a group of organizations that will have a chance to participate in capacity-building workshops provided by its project partner, Search for Common Ground. This new interactive component is introduced to strengthen the project proposals and widen the support provided to the youth organizations that invested their time and efforts in the application process.”)

global, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY, United Nations,

Broken societies put people and planet on collision course, says UNDP

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from the United Nations Development Program

The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest crisis facing the world, but unless humans release their grip on nature, it won’t be the last, according to a new report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which includes a new experimental index on human progress that takes into account countries’ carbon dioxide emissions and material footprint.

The report lays out a stark choice for world leaders – take bold steps to reduce the immense pressure that is being exerted on the environment and the natural world, or humanity’s progress will stall.


Photo: LALS STOCK/Shutterstock.com

“Humans wield more power over the planet than ever before. In the wake of COVID-19, record- breaking temperatures and spiraling inequality, it is time to use that power to redefine what we mean by progress, where our carbon and consumption footprints are no longer hidden,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.

“As this report shows, no country in the world has yet achieved very high human development without putting immense strain on the planet. But we could be the first generation to right this wrong. That is the next frontier for human development,” he said.

The report argues that as people and planet enter an entirely new geological epoch, the Anthropocene or the Age of Humans, it is time to for all countries to redesign their paths to progress by fully accounting for the dangerous pressures humans put on the planet, and dismantle the gross imbalances of power and opportunity that prevent change.

To illustrate the point, the 30th anniversary edition of the Human Development Report, The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene, introduces an experimental new lens to its annual Human Development Index (HDI).

By adjusting the HDI, which measures a nation’s health, education, and standards of living, to include two more elements: a country’s carbon dioxide emissions and its material footprint, the index shows how the global development landscape would change if both the wellbeing of people and also the planet were central to defining humanity’s progress.

With the resulting Planetary-Pressures Adjusted HDI – or PHDI – a new global picture emerges, painting a less rosy but clearer assessment of human progress. For example, more than 50 countries drop out of the very high human development group, reflecting their dependence on fossil fuels and material footprint.

Despite these adjustments, countries like Costa Rica, Moldova, and Panama move upwards by at least 30 places, recognizing that lighter pressure on the planet is possible.

“The Human Development Report is an important product by the United Nations. In a time where action is needed, the new generation of Human Development Reports, with greater emphasis on the defining issues of our time such as climate change and inequalities, helps us to steer our efforts towards the future we want,” said Stefan Löfven, Prime Minister of Sweden, host country of the launch of the report.

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(Click here for the article in French or here for the article in Spanish

Question for this article:

Despite the vested interests of companies and governments, Can we make progress toward sustainable development?

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The next frontier for human development will require working with and not against nature, while transforming social norms, values, and government and financial incentives, the report argues.

For example, new estimates project that by 2100 the poorest countries in the world could experience up to 100 more days of extreme weather due to climate change each year- a number that could be cut in half if the Paris Agreement on climate change is fully implemented.

And yet fossil fuels are still being subsidized: the full cost to societies of publicly financed subsidies for fossil fuels – including indirect costs – is estimated at over US$5 trillion a year, or 6.5 percent of global GDP, according to International Monetary Fund figures cited in the report.

Reforestation and taking better care of forests could alone account for roughly a quarter of the pre-2030 actions we must take to stop global warming from reaching two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

“While humanity has achieved incredible things, it is clear that we have taken our planet for granted,” said Jayathma Wickramanayake, the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy Youth. “Across the world young people have spoken up, recognizing that these actions put our collective future at risk. As the 2020 Human Development Report makes clear, we need to transform our relationship with the planet — to make energy and material consumption sustainable, and to ensure every young person is educated and empowered to appreciate the wonders that a healthy world can provide.”

How people experience planetary pressures is tied to how societies work, says Pedro Conceição, Director of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office and lead author of the report, and today, broken societies are putting people and planet on a collision course.

Inequalities within and between countries, with deep roots in colonialism and racism, mean that people who have more capture the benefits of nature and export the costs, the report shows. This chokes opportunities for people who have less and minimizes their ability to do anything about it.

For example, land stewarded by indigenous peoples in the Amazon absorbs, on a per person basis, the equivalent carbon dioxide of that emitted by the richest 1 percent of people in the world. However, indigenous peoples continue to face hardship, persecution and discrimination, and have little voice in decision-making, according to the report.

And discrimination based on ethnicity frequently leaves communities severely affected and exposed to high environmental risks such as toxic waste or excessive pollution, a trend that is reproduced in urban areas across continents, argue the authors.

According to the report, easing planetary pressures in a way that enables all people to flourish in this new age requires dismantling the gross imbalances of power and opportunity that stand in the way of transformation.

Public action, the report argues, can address these inequalities, with examples ranging from increasingly progressive taxation, to protecting coastal communities through preventive investment and insurance, a move that could safeguard the lives of 840 million people who live along the world’s low elevation coastlines. But there must be a concerted effort to ensure that actions do not further pit people against planet.

“The next frontier for human development is not about choosing between people or trees; it’s about recognizing, today, that human progress driven by unequal, carbon-intensive growth has run its course,” said Pedro Conceição.

“By tackling inequality, capitalizing on innovation and working with nature, human development could take a transformational step forward to support societies and the planet together,” he said.

To learn more about the 2020 Human Development report and UNDP’s analysis on the experimental Planetary Pressures-Adjusted HDI, visit http://hdr.undp.org/en/2020-report.

(Thank you to Phyllis Kotite, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, United Nations,

BREAKING: TFF Statement – “Convert Military Expenditures To Global Problem-Solving”

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

A statement from The Transnational

On top of all the global problems we must solve as soon as possible comes the Corona. This statement argues that the priorities of the world are – well, perverse; everything the UN does amounts to 3% of the global military expenditures.


TFF’s Board suggests that all countries reduce their military by 50% immediately. That would save about US$ 1000 billion. And that that huge sum should be re-allocated to solve the problems we had and the socio-economic consequences of the Corona pandemic.


That would also – finally – be a step to prove that governments are willing to implement a policy for true disarmament and move towards human and common security for the common good.


In a civilised world, this should be common sense.
If you do not want to read the whole argument, just scroll down and sign this statement.


“We’ve likely only seen the beginnings of the worldwide economic consequences of the Coronavirus. For those who want to see, there are forecasts of a deep economic crisis written on all the walls.

Before the Corona, the world faced huge problems that – among other resources – require funds to solve: huge sums. Think the 17 UN Development Goals, think technological innovation; think the global climate/warming crisis; think the rebuilding of war-torn countries and think the reduction towards zero and repatriation of the world’s 80 million displaced people.

And think funds to convert the present military systems towards another, less costly way of creating security. We have just experienced how the outdated non-human security has deprived us of the needed resources when the Corona hit. Recklessly, virtually all governments had ignored a predictable civilian challenge but wasted billions of taxpayer money on weapons and war.

The Corona should be a wake-up call.

So we ask: Where are the funds going to come from to solve humanity’s most urgent problems before they become too big to solve? 

It seems that most governments believe that the annual world military expenditures – ranging around US$ 2000 billion, the highest ever – can be maintained. Some even believe their national expenditures must increase substantially.

The same governments believe that the world’s most important organisation of which they are all members – the United Nations and its organisations – can do what it must on a regular budget of US$ 3 billion and total annual expenditures of US$ 50-60 billion. That is 3 per cent of the costs of global militarism.

Those are the priorities of our world. It’s not sustainable in Corona times – if it ever were. It is ethically indefensible too. And it produces neither security nor peace.

Perhaps the incomprehensible sum of US$ 2000 billion would be justified if the world experienced solid defence and security as well as trust, cooperation and peace.
But the fact is that there are more tension, hatred, dominance attempts, new kinds of wars added to old ones and much more terrorism than before the US-led Global War on Terror.

Furthermore, one country after the other has been destroyed since the end of the First Cold War in 1989-90. It has been possible thanks to a systematic violation of international law, including in particular the UN Charter.

(Statement continued on the right column)

Question for this article:

Does military spending lead to economic decline and collapse?

(Statement continued from the left column)

Imagine that every country in the world would reduce its military expenditures by at least 50%. Then we would have US$ 1000 billion.

Is it a large or small sum?

It’s equivalent to what China in 2013 put behind the Belt and Road Initiative, BRI – a cooperative effort around infrastructure, fast physical and digital communication, sea and land transport, education and cultural exchange, and much more. Today it involves around 80 countries, some on all continents and it is open to everyone.

The philosophy behind it is, at least theoretically, one of peace. It dates back to the Panchsheel Treaty of 1954, the five principles of peaceful coexistence.

Beyond doubt, this is the largest and most positive cooperation project in today’s world. It is the project that will give birth to – if it has not already? – a new multi-polar world order based more on cooperation than confrontation.

There is, therefore, no doubt that a substantial conversion of, say, US$ 1000 billion from the military to the solution of humanity’s common problems would provide a desperately needed boost for the common good.
(This argument does not rest on any assumption that money is the primary tool to solve problems; that takes lots of non-material qualities. But with economies falling apart at a moment when all economies need funds for” rebooting humanity,” this is a straightforward thing to do with a rather large bang for the buck).

Additionally, lots of human and other resources, knowledge, experience and equipment today operated by the military could be converted and put to civilian tasks.
Such a conversion would boost employment – as there exists no documentation for the often-stated assertion that military investments boost employment more than civilian investments. It is, rather, comparatively wasteful.

It’s time for more global cooperation and less confrontation

Ours is not the time for more militarism, warfare and antagonism. The net effect of military investments is suffering, destruction (of lives, capital and property) and unavoidable environmental destruction.
 
Furthermore, every military dollar stands in the way of precisely  that global cooperation without which we are doomed. And it is not matched by a security or peace effect.

Time is up for those who strut about and try to master others by violence or the threat of it. Militarism and warfare are now as outdated and indefensible as is slavery, absolute monarchy, dictatorship, child labour, rape and discrimination. These are phenomena we have decided, in the name of civilisation, to abolish or condemn.

If you feel we cannot, very quickly, reduce or abolish militarism, nuclearism and warfare but should uphold at least some self-defensive military capacity, that should be discussed. It’s in line with Article 51 of the UN Charter.

That would mean much more dis-armament than the suggested 50% and it would mean trans-armament toward a new way of handling our unavoidable conflicts, create security in diversity and with defensive military and civilian means, and – thereby – realise the peaceful future which 99% of citizens around the world strongly desire.
 
There are, indeed, alternatives. But minds, as well as other resources, need to be liberated before it’s too late.

So, to begin with: Reduce everybody’s military expenditures equally much, say 50%. And see the marvellous positive results – politically, economically and in terms of peace. Then move on.

A better world is possible. And the Corona is a benign wake-up call compared with World War III.

We need to use the Corona crisis constructively.

In this 11th hour, humanity’s situation makes it abundantly clear to us that it is either cooperation and coexistence or destruction and no existence.”

TFF’s Board
Annette Schiffmann
Thore Vestby
Jan Oberg
Christina Spännar, co-founder

Almost 400 TFF Associates and friends of the foundation have already endorsed this statement – see them all further down. They are some of the most peace competent and concerned citizens in the world. 

You can trust their judgement, and now it is your turn!

Click here and scroll to bottom to sign.

Thanks a lot!

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global