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.

United States: Workers Rising in the South

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

A blog from the United Steel Workers

Workers at Blue Bird Corp. in Fort Valley, Ga., launched a union drive to secure better wages, work-life balance and a voice on the job.

The company resisted them. History defied them. Geography worked against them.

But they stood together, believed in themselves and achieved an historic victory that’s reverberating throughout the South.

About 1,400 workers at the electric bus manufacturer voted overwhelmingly this month to join the United Steelworkers (USW), reflecting the rise of collective power in a part of the country where bosses and right-wing politicians long contrived to foil it.


“It’s just time for a change,” explained Rinardo Cooper, a member of USW Local 572 and a paper machine operator at Graphic Packaging in Macon, Ga.

Cooper, who assisted the workers at Blue Bird with their union drive, expects more Southerners to follow suit even if they face their own uphill battles.

Given the South’s pro-corporate environment, it’s no surprise that Georgia has one of the nation’s lowest union membership rates, 4.4 percent. North Carolina’s rate is even lower, 2.8 percent. And South Carolina’s is 1.7 percent.
Many corporations actually choose to locate in the South because the low union density enables them to pay poor wages, skimp on safety and perpetuate the system of oppression.

In a 2019 study, “The Double Standard at Work,” the AFL-CIO found that even European-based companies with good records in their home countries take advantage of workers they employ in America’s South.

They’ve “interfered with freedom of association, launched aggressive campaigns against employees’ organizing attempts and failed to bargain in good faith when workers choose union representation,” noted the report, citing, among other abuses, Volkswagen’s union-busting efforts at a Tennessee plant.

“They keep stuffing their pockets and paying pennies on the dollar,” Cooper said of companies cashing in at workers’ expense.

The consequences are dire.

States with low union membership have significantly higher poverty, according to a 2021 study by researchers at the University of Minnesota and the University of California, Riverside. Georgia’s 14 percent poverty rate, for example, is among the worst in the country.

However, the tide is turning as workers increasingly see union membership as a clear path forward, observed Cooper, who left his own job at Blue Bird several months ago because the grueling schedule left him little time to spend with family.

(article continued in right column)

Question related to this article:
 
What is the contribution of trade unions to the culture of peace?

The right to form and join trade unions, Is it being respected?

(article continued from left column)

Now, as a union paper worker, he not only makes higher wages than he did at Blue Bird but also benefits from safer working conditions and a voice on the job. And with the USW holding the company accountable, he’s free to take the vacation and other time off he earns.  

Cooper’s story helped to inspire the bus company workers’ quest for better lives. But they also resolved to fight for their fair share as Blue Bird increasingly leans on their knowledge, skills and dedication in coming years.

The company stands to land tens of millions in subsidies from President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and other federal programs aimed at putting more electric vehicles on the roads, supercharging the manufacturing economy and supporting good jobs.

These goals are inextricably linked, as Biden made clear in a statement congratulating the bus company workers on their USW vote. “The fact is: The middle class built America,” he said. “And unions built the middle class.”

Worker power is spreading not only in manufacturing but across numerous industries in the South.

About 500 ramp agents, truck drivers and other workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina just voted to form a union. Workers in Knoxville, Tenn., last year unionized the first Starbucks in the South.

And first responders in Virginia and utility workers in Georgia and Kentucky also formed unions in recent months, while workers at Lowe’s in Louisiana launched groundbreaking efforts to unionize the home-improvement giant.

“I wouldn’t hesitate to tell any worker at any manufacturing place here that the route you need to take is the union. That’s the only fairness you’re going to get,” declared Anthony Ploof, who helped to lead dozens of co-workers at Carfair into the USW earlier this year.

Workers at the Anniston, Ala., company make fiberglass-reinforced polymer components for vehicles, including hybrid and electric buses. Like all workers, they decided to unionize to gain a seat at the table and a means of holding their employer accountable.

Instead of fighting the union effort, as many companies do, Carfair remained neutral so the workers could exercise their will. In the end, 98 percent voted to join the USW, showing that workers overwhelmingly want unions when they’re free to choose without bullying, threats or retaliation.

“It didn’t take much here,” said Ploof, noting workers had little experience with unions but educated themselves about the benefits and quickly came to a consensus on joining the USW.

“It’s reaching out from Carfair,” he added, noting workers at other companies in the area have approached him to ask, “How is that working out? How do we organize?”

As his new union brothers and sisters at Blue Bird prepare to negotiate their first contract, Cooper hopes to get involved in other organizing drives, lift up more workers and continue changing the trajectory of the South.

“We just really need to keep putting the message out there, letting people know that there is a better way than what the employers are wanting you to believe,” he said.

(Thank you to Nation of Change for calling our attention to this article.)

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, HUMAN RIGHTS, North America

Colombian Civic Leader Offers a Grassroots Strategy for Peace

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION . .

An article from the United States Institute of Peace

Nine months into new efforts by Colombia’s administration to achieve “total peace” with remaining armed groups following decades of civil war, that process should make room for the nation’s thousands of grassroots and community organizations to strengthen peace locally when the fighting stops, says a prominent civic leader from one of the country’s most violent regions. Stabilizing Colombia, where migration toward the United States and other countries soared last year, will require steady support from U.S. and international partners, said Maria Eugenia Mosquera Riascos, who helps lead a Colombian network of 140 civic and community organizations working to end violence.

President Gustavo Petro vows to expand Colombia’s implementation of a six-year-old peace accord with what was the country’s largest rebel group, and his administration has begun pursuing accords with other armed groups. Yet “the government cannot make peace alone,” thus a major initiative is needed from civil society, Mosquera Riascos said in an interview. Mosquera Riascos traveled from her home in Colombia’s economically impoverished and violent Pacific coastal region to Washington this month; she met U.S. officials and peacebuilding practitioners focused on Latin America after having last year received USIP’s Women Building Peace Award.

Mosquera Riascos’ struggle for peace carries resonance well beyond Colombia’s borders. Helping Colombia achieve lasting peace is integral to reducing the mass migrations across Latin America that are fueled notably by violent conflicts, poverty, and environmental damage, and to shrinking drug trafficking that exploits Colombia’s instability. U.S. officials counted more than 125,000 Colombians among those stopped at the U.S. southern border in 2022, up from about 6,000 the prior year.

In 2016, “after the peace accord was signed” with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), “the world got the impression that Colombia was now at peace,” Mosquera Riascos said through an interpreter. “But we can’t speak about a ‘post-conflict’ Colombia because the conflicts continue.”

Implementation of the accord has lagged for years, she noted. Modest improvements in rural governance, plus development programs and land distribution to rural populations, were meant to stabilize impoverished rural communities by helping people, including former guerrillas, pursue nonviolent ways to earn adequate incomes. But those changes came slowly and were never fully resourced.

“After the [2016] accord, we expected that state institutions would come and fill the voids” of governance across the rural regions where FARC had ruled, Mosquera Riascos said. Instead, “many different armed groups have filled those voids,” fighting for territory and control over illicit commerce that FARC once ran. Land distribution has operated in reverse in areas where those with arms or money have seized holdings from small farmers. The battles for rural control have included a surge in deforestation, violence and impoverishment in Colombia’s Amazon and Pacific coastal regions.

Colombia’s Violence: A Grassroots View

Mosquera Riascos helps lead a network called Communities Building Peace in Colombia (or CONPAZCOL) from her home region on the Pacific coast. In rural areas, Colombia’s main armed groups — the National Liberation Army rebel group (or ELN), the paramilitary Gulf Clan (also known as Gaitanistas) and dissident factions of the former FARC — are fighting to control lucrative smuggling routes for cocaine or illicitly extracted minerals or other natural resources, Mosquera Riascos said.

In the region around her home city of Buenaventura, these armed groups “have locked down entire communities along the rivers — many of them Indigenous people — preventing them from going out to fish or farm.” The combatants have forced some communities to leave the region altogether, she said. Violence in Buenaventura includes urban gangs that seek to profit from cocaine or other contraband that can be smuggled through its seaport, one of Colombia’s busiest.

(continued on right column)

Questions related to this article:

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

How can just one or a few persons contribute to peace and justice?

(continued from left column)

The Pacific region is a center of Colombia’s Black population, descendants of the country’s former African slaves, and of the poverty that makes Colombia “one of the most unequal countries in the world,” according to the World Bank. Armed groups threaten or kill civilians, many of them Afro-Colombians, whose land or compliance they want, Mosquera Riascos said. Gunmen seize people “who simply disappear,” she said.

The new government of President Petro “offers a lot of hope that we can now make better progress” on peace, Mosquera Riascos said. A signal of that hope, she said, is that Vice President Francia Marquez is an environmental and human rights activist — and the first Afro-Colombian to hold such a senior office. Afro-Colombians heavily supported this government’s election last year, Mosquera Riascos noted. Along with the Pacific region they are receiving heightened attention that she hopes will extend to support for the efforts of grassroots peacebuilders.

Seeking Better Strategies for Peace

To advance peace, the government will need broad support from both Colombia’s grass roots and its international partners, Mosquera Riascos emphasized. A top priority in coming months needs to be a national process of dialogues among Colombia’s thousands of community-level civil society organizations, she said. Groups working to build peace, justice, rule of law, economic development and the rights of marginalized ethnic groups, women, LGBTQ communities and victims of the war’s violence all need “to unify and synergize our proposals for working with this government,” she said. “We need to be able to say to the administration, ‘we are the civil society, and this is our proposal to support your program and build a real peace.’ That can help make progress toward peace sustainable.”

Petro has promised to pursue a “total peace” by seeking negotiated agreements with armed groups nationwide. A recent government estimate counted four major organizations and 23 urban gangs with more than 17,600 members, including more than 7,000 active combatants. The Petro administration quickly opened peace talks with the largest remaining rebel group, the National Liberation Army, and offered a new year’s truce with the paramilitary Gulf Clan, which pursues drug trafficking and operates as the de facto government in swaths of Colombia. The government halted that truce after 11 weeks because of what it said were the group’s continued attacks on police.

Mosquera Riascos voices support for the government’s overarching goal but stresses that too broad or unfocused an effort risks failure. She seeks a calibrated strategy across Colombia’s widely varied landscape of conflicts, many of them localized. In Washington, she met nongovernment organizations and U.S. officials focused on Colombia, urging a strategy that focuses first on localities where the conditions are most ripe for progress, with state capacities reinforcing civil society and local peacebuilders — an approach she calls “comprehensive peace.”

Why put local peacebuilders at the fore in this process? Mosquera Riascos gave examples of how such activists can use their local roots to build the customized initiatives required to advance peace in their localities — and can do so at lower cost than outsiders. One such effort, the Casas de Madre, has built six community-based dialogue centers across the country that host representatives of disparate groups that are key to local peacemaking, and who otherwise have no safe and organized place to meet. Local dialogue projects are vital not simply to lay foundations for peace but also to offer hope of better options to youth who are readily recruited by combatant groups, Mosquera Riascos said.

USIP has similarly found over decades that community-level dialogues are cost-effective tools for building peace. A series of dialogues in areas of Colombia previously ruled by the FARC rebels helped strengthen governance in areas that faced rising insecurity and other challenges amid a relative power vacuum following the 2016 peace accord. Courageous, creative local civic and government leaders are pursuing such projects, which can reinforce the conditions for peace and strengthen the country’s social fabric and trust in government.

While Colombia requires leadership from its grass roots to stabilize from the longest civil war in the western hemisphere, that process will require broad, sustained support from the United States and other international partners, Mosquera Riascos said. For one thing, Colombia’s government already “cannot afford the [financial] costs of the commitments in the 2016 peace accord,” she noted.

President Petro’s reception in Washington last month, when he met President Joe Biden, “was extremely important to us,” Mosquera Riascos said, “and we need the strong diplomatic support for the peace program to continue.” The presidents “discussed the ways to build peace and also to protect the environment” — twin efforts that need to advance in tandem, she said.

International organizations should bolster their focus on human rights in Colombia, particularly on continued threats and assassinations targeting civic leaders like herself who stand up to armed groups and powerful interests. International recognition of frontline peacebuilders, such as the USIP award she received last year, provides an “umbrella” of protection for those at risk, Mosquera Riascos said, and facilitates financial and moral support for their work. Especially, she added, Colombia’s partners should sustain their support for the country’s energetic peacebuilding efforts by women. Women struggled for years to achieve an unprecedented level of recognition and influence in Colombia’s peacemaking that has made the process a model for other countries in conflict.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America

Angola Debates The Women’s Role In Building Peace And Democracy

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article from the African Media Agency

The Angolan vice-president, Esperança da Costa, will open this Thursday, May 25, the 1st International Women’s Forum for Peace and Democracy, in an event that will also involve, as speakers, like Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (former President of the Republic of Liberia), Epsy Campbell Barr – former Vice President of Costa Rica (Member of the UNHCR Permanent Forum for People of African Descent) and Zahira Virani (Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System Nations in Angola).


Video of the event

The 1st International Women’s Forum for Peace and Democracy, which takes place over two days (May 25th and 26th, at the Hotel Intercontinental Miramar), is an event that focuses on women’s struggle for equality, emancipation, continental development for Peace and Democracy, part of the Luanda Biennial – Pan-African Forum for the Culture of Peace and Non-Violence, which is a joint initiative between the Government of Angola, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) and the African Union (AU).

Operatively coordinated by the Minister of State for Social Action, Dalva Ringote Allen, the 1st International Women’s Forum for Peace and Democracy, which takes place under the theme “Technological Innovation and Education for the Achievement of Gender Equality” and with the motto “Innovation Technology as a Tool for Achieving Food Security Combating Drought on the African Continent”, aims to:

* Reaffirm and strengthen political commitment to action on gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls and their human rights, ensuring high-level engagement,

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for information in Portuguese)

Question for this article

Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

The Luanda Biennale: What is its contribution to a culture of peace in Africa?

(Article continued from left column)

* Foment discussion events through round tables, high-level interactive dialogues, to exchange experiences, lessons learned and good practices.
* Debate on the status of gender equality on the African continent, identifying goals and achievements achieved, and challenges to fill existing gaps

The 1st International Women’s Forum for Peace and Democracy also has the following specific objectives:

* Identify areas of convergence within the national chapters of the Bienal de Luanda and expand the position of groups of young women leaders at national level,

* Establish regional, continental and international cooperation protocols,

* Propose concrete actions for the qualification of young women, promoting opportunities for access to the labor market.

In order to materialize these objectives, five thematic panels were programmed, globally, for the two days of work, namely “The challenges of globalization in the process of gender empowerment”, “Technological innovation and education to achieve gender equality” , “Formalization as a mechanism for social and financial inclusion”, “Challenges of food security and climate change on the African continent” and “The role of women in consolidating peace and preventing conflicts”.

The program of the 1st International Women’s Forum for Peace and Democracy includes two master classes in the conference auditorium of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, with the themes “Challenges of Food Security and Climate Change on the African Continent”, by Papa Abdoulaye Seck (former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Equipment and Ambassador of Senegal to Italy) and “Financing for Development in Africa Calls for a Paradigm Change: The Driving Role of Domestic Resources”, by Cristina Isabel Lopes Duarte – Adviser to the Secretary General of UN for Africa.

The 1st International Women’s Forum for Peace and Democracy is aimed at Women Leaders of African Regional Organizations, Women Leaders, Heads of Government and members of the PALOPS, CPLP and OEACP. International and National Organizations, Representatives of Diplomatic Missions, Representatives of public sector entities, Public and private companies and Private sector entities.

Africa, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

United States: Labor’s Uptick Isn’t Just Hype

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An article by Eric Blanc in Labor Politics (reprinted by permission)

Is the current labor uptick just more hype than reality? Numerous articles have recently made this   case, pointing to the continued decline in union density in 2022. This skepticism also appears to be the prevailing view among most national union leaders. Though rarely stated publicly, labor’s continued routinism suggests that few people up top see our moment as particularly novel or urgent.


Fortune 500 Companies Targeted by Unionization, 2021-2022

But contrary to these skeptics, there is compelling data indicating that things really are changing — and, therefore, that unions should immediately make a major turn to new organizing.

Consider, for instance, the statewide 2018 educators’ strikes, which were largely begun over viral rank-and-file Facebook groups. These were the first US strike wave since the 1970s, impacting millions of students and involving hundreds of thousands of school workers. Strike activity in 2018 rose to its highest peak since the mid-1980s and it remained high in 2019 as the wave spread to blue cities like Los Angeles and Chicago. The qualitative shift was even more significant: unlike in the Reagan era, the red state revolt consisted of work stoppages that were mostly illegal, statewide in scope, offensive in their demands, and generally victorious in their outcomes. 

Union membership numbers present a grimmer picture.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 273,000 workers joined unions last year. Yet because total employment rose at a faster rate, union density fell from 10.3 to 10.1 percent from 2021 to 2022. Clearly, we are not currently in an upsurge analogous to the 1930s. As exciting as recent campaigns may be, we should be sober about their very real limitations. 

Dwelling only on the continued decline of union density, however, misses the forest for the trees. One of the reasons why recent worker-driven campaigns are so qualitatively important is that they have won union elections at some of the largest corporations in the world. Amazon’s 1.1 million employees, for example, constitutes the country’s second largest workforce and Starbucks’ workforce is the eighth largest. 

Winning elections at these types of firms is a major development that is not captured by membership rolls alone. National unions have for decades generally avoided pushing for union elections at such large companies, believing not unreasonably that they were simply too powerful to defeat — at least under our current, threadbare and barely-enforced, labor laws. As such, the vast majority of years since the Fortune 500 was established in 1955 have witnessed zero, or at most one, union drives at the non-union companies on the list. In contrast, 2021 saw three such drives and 2022 saw eight. 

Given labor’s overall risk-aversion, it is not surprising that a majority of those organizing efforts were instances of what I call DIY Unionism — strikes and union drives that are initiated by self-organized workers and/or in which workers take on key responsibilities traditionally reserved for union staff.

(article continued in right column)

Question related to this article:
 

What is the contribution of trade unions to the culture of peace?

The right to form and join trade unions, Is it being respected?

(article continued from left column)

Labor’s opponents are well aware of this increase in worker-to-worker organizing. In a 2022 report, the notorious union-busting firm Littler Mendelson sounded the alarm:
“There has been a shift in how people are organizing together to petition for representation. What was once a top-down approach, whereby the union would seek out a group of individuals, has flipped entirely. Now, individuals are banding together to form grassroots organizing movements where individual employees are the ones to invite the labor organization to assist them in their pursuit to be represented.”

To be sure, workers at Amazon, Starbucks, Apple, Google, and other mega-corporations are still a long way away from winning a first contract. That will likely take many years, more intervention from state actors, and greater resources from established unions towards boosting, and defending, new organizing. But it is a major historical development that unionizing the US private sector’s biggest players no longer seems like a distant fantasy. 

The fact that these recent drives have won elections against such economic heavyweights helps explain why news coverage of unions shot up in 2022 — as does the fact that media outlets have become one of labor’s most dynamic growth areas.

Increased publicity about David versus Goliath workplace organizing, and negative publicity about union busting, is bad news for corporate America. Stories of ordinary workers taking on billionaire CEOs tend to spur copycat attempts. And coverage of illegal (or morally reprehensible) union busting tarnishes company brands, while increasing pressure on elected officials to defend and enforce labor law. 

When it comes to fomenting today’s pro-union zeitgeist, the growth of pro-union sentiment over social media is no less significant. To cite just a few examples: Antiwork — a misleadingly named Reddit group focused on exposing bad working conditions and promoting unionization — shot up from 80,000 members in early 2020 to 2.3 million members by late 2022. The labor-focused media outlet More Perfect Union has received 150 million views on its YouTube and TikTok videos. And videos of Starbucks workers walking out in response to illegal firings now regularly go viral, racking up millions of views and exposing the hypocrisy of a nominally progressive corporation. Starbucks’ Vice President of Partner Resources thus recently admitted that she had to turn off social media because it “has been very disheartening. And yet perception is reality in some way shape or form.”

Media attention on its own will not turn things around for unions, but it is nevertheless critical for keeping up momentum and bringing “the labor question” back to the center of US politics. Millions of workers are finally beginning to see that non-union jobs can become union jobs — and that they personally could play a role in making that happen.

No less important, coverage of recent union drives among white-collar and (largely female) pink-collar care workers has undercut the still-common myth that unions are just for white men in hard industry. Multiple worker organizer interviewees explained to me that the first thing they had to do was disabuse themselves and their colleagues of the assumption, to quote a New York Times tech worker named Vicki, that “unions are just for coal miners or something — not for us.”

Google analytics allows us to measure the increase in search queries last year asking the question: “How do I form a union?” The following graph captures a surge in bottom-up unionization interest, particularly in the wake of the highly publicized union win at Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island. Today’s active interest in unionization constitutes a major contextual difference from the 1990s and 2000s when labor’s halting turn to new organizing stumbled over the high staff resources required to spark workers to unionize.

Qualitative data also indicates that there has been an increase in individual workers directly reaching out to unions asking them to organize them — what unions usually call “hot shops.” To quote a cannabis industry worker turned Teamsters organizer in Illinois, “these workers are reaching out to us for help, so that’s unusual. It used to be we were seeking them out and now they’re coming to us. Our phones are ringing constantly with workers who want protection, higher wages, better benefits and accountability from these companies.” 

Put simply: despite the immense power of the forces arrayed against them, rank-and-file organizers today are continuing to take big risks to win power and democracy at work. Unions should follow their lead.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, North America

Brazil President Lula’s speech to the G7

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION .

A publication by the Government of Brazil

(Editor’s note; News media in the US and Europe headlined the decisions of the G7 countries (US, UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany and Japan) in their recent meeting in Hiroshima that supported Ukraine president Zelensky and that attacked the “economic coercion.” of China and Russia. They fail to mention the following alternative vision presented at the meeting by Brazilian President Lula.)


In the official photo, the President of Brazil was placed between the Presidents of the Comores and Vietnam, while the President of the United States was placed between the Presidents of Canada and France.

Hiroshima is a propitious setting for a reflection on the catastrophic consequences of all types of conflict. This reflection is urgent and necessary. Today, the risk of nuclear war is at its highest level since the height of the Cold War.

In 1945, the UN was founded to prevent a new World War. However, the multilateral mechanisms for conflict prevention and resolution no longer work.

The world is no longer the same. Traditional wars continue to break out, and we see worrying setbacks in the nuclear non-proliferation regime, which necessarily will have to include the dimension of disarmament.

Nuclear weapons are not a source of security, but an instrument of mass destruction that denies our own humanity and threatens the continuity of life on Earth.

As long as nuclear weapons exist, there will always be the possibility of their use.

For this reason, Brazil was actively engaged in the negotiations of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which we hope to be able to ratify soon.

In line with the United Nations Charter, we strongly condemn the use of force as a means of dispute settlement. We condemn the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

At the same time, as fighting continues, the human suffering, loss of life and destruction of homes increase.

(Article continued in the column on the right)

Questions related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

Latin America, has it taken the lead in the struggle for a culture of peace?

(Article continued from the column on the left)

I have repeated to exhaustion that it is necessary to talk about peace. No solution will last unless it is based on dialogue. We need to work to open room for negotiations.

At the same time, we cannot lose sight of the fact that the challenges to peace and security currently plaguing the world go far beyond Europe.

Israelis and Palestinians, Armenians and Azerbaijanis, Kosovars and Serbs need peace. Yemenis, Syrians, Libyans and Sudanese all deserve to live in peace. These conflicts should receive the same degree of international attention.

In Haiti, we need to act quickly to alleviate the suffering of a population torn apart by tragedy. The scourge to which the Haitian people is subject is the result of decades of indifference to the country’s real needs. For years, Brazil has been saying that Haiti’s problem is not just one of security, but, above all, one of development.

The gap between these challenges and the global governance we have continues to grow. The lack of a reform of the Security Council is the unavoidable component of the problem.

The Council is more paralyzed than ever. Permanent members continue the long tradition of waging unauthorized wars, whether in pursuit of territorial expansion or in pursuit of regime change.

Even without being able to prevent or resolve conflicts through the Council, some countries insist on expanding its agenda more and more, bringing in new themes that should be dealt with in other bodies of the UN system.

The result is that today we have a Council that does not deal with the old problems, nor the current ones, much less the future ones.

Brazil has lived in peace with its neighbors for over 150 years. We made Latin America a region without nuclear weapons. We are also proud of having built, together with African neighbors, a zone of peace and nuclear non-proliferation in the South Atlantic.

We are witnessing the emergence of a multipolar order that, if well received and nurtured, can benefit all.

The multipolarity that Brazil seeks is based on the primacy of International Law and the promotion of multilateralism.

Re-enacting the Cold War would be foolish.

Dividing the world into East and West or North and South would be as anachronistic as it is innocuous.

It is necessary to break with the logic of exclusive alliances and false clashes of civilizations.

It is urgent to reinforce the idea that cooperation, respecting differences, is the right path to follow.

Thank you very much.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global, Latin America,

Are economic sanctions a violation of human rights?

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Here are some quotes from CPNN articles that raise this question.

2017: (We are) “convinced that ending the Korean War officially is an urgent, essential step for the establishment of enduring peace and mutual respect between the U.S. and the DPRK, as well as for the North Korean people’s full enjoyment of their basic human rights to life, peace and development – ending their long sufferings from the harsh economic sanctions imposed on them by the U.S. Government since 1950.”

2019: “Alfred de Zayas, the first UN special rapporteur to visit Venezuela in 21 years, told the Independent(1/26/19) that US, Canadian and European Union “economic warfare” has killed Venezuelans, noting that the sanctions fall most heavily on the poorest people and demonstrably cause death through food and medicine shortages, lead to violations of human rights and are aimed at coercing economic change in a “sister democracy.”

2019: “On 3 August 2018, the U.N.’s General Assembly received the report from the U.N.s Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order, concerning his mission to Venezuela and Ecuador. . . . The effects of sanctions imposed by Presidents Obama and Trump and unilateral measures by Canada and the European Union have directly and indirectly aggravated the shortages in medicines such as insulin and anti-retroviral drugs. To the extent that economic sanctions have caused delays in distribution and thus contributed to many deaths, sanctions contravene the human rights obligations of the countries imposing them.Moreover, sanctions can amount to crimes against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”

2020: Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire: “The USA should lift sanctions placed on Iran, North Korea, Cuba, etc., and all 54 countries where these sanctions bring death and destruction to citizens, leaving their governments with no money for medicine and food or to help them cope with the coronavirus.”

2020: The People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty : “International sanctions that include food and agriculture trade are war crimes. Moreover, blanket economic sanctions decimate nation’s livelihoods and developing countries’ international trade relations. Countries like Sudan, Zimbabwe, Iran, Syria, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are suffering from sanctions initiated and backed by US and its G20 allies – severely limiting their policy options in facing a pandemic like the coronavirus. In Venezuela and Bolivia, the US tried to put into power political allies using sanctions that created shortages and economic restrictions that the population suffered through within the script of the Hybrid War. The economic and financial embargo imposed by the US against Cuba has impeded export of goods and services, procurement of resources, and trade since 1958. In particular, food trade, access to medicine and medical supplies, and exchange of scientific knowledge were greatly restricted, impacting the Cuban peoples for many decades.”

2021: “The UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures and human rights, Alena Douhan, today [12 February] urged the United States, European Union and other States to drop unilateral sanctions imposed against Venezuela. At the end of a two-week visit to Venezuela, Douhan said the sanctions have exacerbated pre-existing calamities. They have resulted in the economic, humanitarian and development crisis, with a devastating effect on the whole population of Venezuela, especially but not only those in extreme poverty, women, children, medical workers, people with disabilities or life-threatening or chronic diseases, and the indigenous populations.”

2022: “The United Nations special rapporteur said the “outrageous” sanctions the West has imposed on Syria are “suffocating” millions of civilians and “may constitute crimes against humanity.” The country’s economy contracted 90%. Nine out of 10 Syrians live in poverty.”

2023: “Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said he had personally urged Biden to attack the root causes of migration to the US southern border, namely the “poverty and abandonment” endemic to those countries — and which US sanctions have unquestionably played a major role in causing.”

The sanctions against Cuba are universally condemned by the United Nations and Human Rights organizations. Quoting Wikipedia, “The United Nations General Assembly has passed a resolution every year since 1992 demanding the end of the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, with the U.S. and Israel being the only nations to consistently vote against the resolutions. . . . Human-rights groups including Amnesty International,[2] Human Rights Watch,[18] and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights[19] have also been critical of the embargo. . . . In 1997, the American Association for World Health stated that the embargo contributed to malnutrition, poor water access, lack of access to medicine and other medical supplies and concluded that “a humanitarian catastrophe has been averted only because the Cuban government has maintained a high level of budgetary support for a health care system designed to deliver primary and preventative medicine to all its citizens.”

Finally, should sanctions be considered as terrorism? Keep in mind that the definition of terrorism, according to Oxford Dictionary is “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.”

* * * * * * * * * * * *

This question applies to the following CPNN articles:

Only Israel, the United States, and Ukraine refuse to stand with Cuba

The Washington Consensus Supporting Sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela Is Breaking

The Western Sanctions That Are ‘Choking’ Syria May Be Crimes Against Humanity

UN human rights expert urges to lift unilateral sanctions against Venezuela

People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty: Nine Demands for Food and Rights

Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire: Do Not Be Afraid…. All Will Be Well….

What the Press Hides from You about Venezuela — A Case of News-Suppression

US Media Ignore—and Applaud—Economic War on Venezuela

USA: Sign The People’s Peace Treaty with North Korea

d-human rights

The Washington Consensus Supporting Sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela Is Breaking

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

An article by Branko Marcetic in Jacobin

Twenty-one members of Congress last week called for lifting US sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela, including most of the Squad. The pushback is needed: sanctions are a cruel economic weapon that hurts average people — and has spurred a surge of economic refugees.


Activists carry Venezuelan and Cuban flags during a protest rejecting President Joe Biden’s policy of sanctions on June 10, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Ringo Chiu / AFP via Getty Images)

One of the defining features of our era has been the loss of a domestic political appetite for more US wars. But a similar pushback to Washington’s use of sanctions has been slow to follow, despite the fact that US sanctions are demonstrably cruel, indiscriminate, ineffective, and often illegal.

The near-term prospects for a groundswell of US opposition to sanctions are basically nonexistent at this point. But we may be seeing the beginnings of one taking shape: last week saw twenty-one House Democrats send Joe Biden a letter calling on the president to end US sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela and review Donald Trump–era sanctions policy more generally, in light of the “border crisis,” which has seen a surge in migrants at the southern border (though one that is lower than expected ) since the expiration of the Donald Trump–era Title 42 order.

Calling the sanctions “a critical contributing factor in the current increase in migration,” the letter points to “their grave humanitarian toll on the peoples of those countries” and the “significant logistical challenges” it is creating for US authorities. But the letter also stresses that “there are also strong moral grounds” to lift the sanctions and that US policy should seek to not “exacerbate the suffering of the innocent people whose freedom we seek to advance.”

Organized by two representatives of border states, Reps. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) and Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) — a cochair of Biden’s 2024 campaign and Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-VT) very first congressional endorser, respectively — the letter was cosigned by a number of progressive elected officials, including Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Chuy García (D-IL), and six of the newly expanded “Squad” of progressive and socialist members of Congress.

The signatures of Squad members Ilhan Omar, Summer Lee, and Ayanna Pressley were missing from the letter. Massachusetts representative Jim McGovern, who has repeatedly called on Biden to lift sanctions against Venezuela in the past, also didn’t sign the letter, and his Northampton office was met by protests from the Anti-Imperialism Action Committee, an anti-capitalist activist collective based in Western Massachusetts, and other activists as a result.

Some of the progressive signatories have taken this message to other platforms. At a May 11 House Agriculture Committee meeting, Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) — one of the newly minted Squad members who won his seat in these past midterms — spoke about the failure of the decades-long US blockade on Cuba in fostering democracy and called for “revisiting our policies that push people out of their home countries,” emphasizing the economic costs to the US economy that result.

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Question related to this article:

Are economic sanctions a violation of human rights?

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“I don’t think that it serves us to be starving people abroad,” he said. “I think it helps Americans for us to be feeding people all over the world.”

Khanna similarly took this message to a venue where viewers are unlikely to have heard criticism of Biden’s continuation of Trump–era sanctions policy: MSNBC, on the Morning Joe  show.

“Look at what’s causing people to flee Venezuela and Cuba,” he urged. “The Republicans are saying, ‘let’s sanction them more.’ That’s causing more people to actually leave. Let’s look at rational sanction policy so we’re not causing the influx.”

Progressive criticism of sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela — both of which are explicitly aimed at fomenting regime change in the countries — have been backed up by Ben Rhodes, a foreign policy advisor for former president Barack Obama.

“This is an obvious thing that is sitting right in front of the Biden administration, to just go back to the kind of openness that we had at the end of the Obama years [and] make life better for the Cuban people,” he said in a recent MSNBC appearance, warning that the political cost for Biden stemming from events at the border would be worse than for lifting Trump’s “maximum pressure” sanctions.

This course has also been endorsed by leftist Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who said he had personally urged Biden to attack the root causes of migration to the US southern border, namely the “poverty and abandonment” endemic to those countries — and which US sanctions have unquestionably played a major role in causing. This comes a month after the US envoy of the Venezuelan opposition itself, which only a year ago was demanding that Biden not waver on Trump’s policy, implored the administration to end the sanctions, lest it turn Venezuela into “another Cuba.”

Despite this diverse chorus of voices pushing for sanctions to be lifted, it’s also running into a wall. That’s because, according to the Washington Post, the Biden administration is worried about alienating Cuban-American Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who wrote a counterletter claiming, as all sanctions enthusiasts do, that the policy has nothing to do with the exodus of people from both countries.

Menendez is a hard-line supporter of Trump’s sanctions policy, and is currently under federal investigation eight years after already once being indicted on separate bribery charges. When he finds time away from potential criminal prosecution, Menendez is a full-time hawk who teams up with neocon Lindsey Graham to push legislation undermining peaceful coexistence with China and Iran. Since it relies on him to push through appointments blocked by the GOP and to pursue its wider geostrategic goals, the administration has tended to give Menendez enormous leeway in driving its own foreign policy decision-making, something that likely won’t change anytime soon.

Still, the fact that there’s any disquiet being heard at all in Washington toward the ruinous and largely pointless US overuse of sanctions — a weapon that the Biden administration has used with record frequency — is an important development. Political shifts in the halls of Congress don’t happen overnight and are usually the fruit of months and years of small, symbolic measures like this letter, adding up bit by bit to slowly shift what’s politically acceptable. This progressive challenge to a president — one who’s otherwise enjoying near-dictatorial levels of obeisance from fellow elected Democrats — is a first step, and one that couldn’t have happened without the election of progressive insurgents to Congress.

HUMAN RIGHTS, North America

Zone of Peace, Trust and Cooperation of Central Asia

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY .

Excerpts from United Nations Press Release

The UN General Assembly held a debate on the declaration of Central Asia as a zone of peace, trust and cooperation (for background, see Press Release GA/12437).  Many speakers commended that declaration, with some offering recommendations alongside their encouragement, as Central Asian countries showcased regional and national efforts. . . .

AKSOLTAN ATAEVA (Turkmenistan), expressing her gratitude to the General Assembly for its unanimous support in adopting a historic resolution for Central Asia by declaring it a zone of peace, trust and cooperation, pointed out that the concept of such zones enables the international community to create long-term security guarantees.  Among other things, she spotlighted similar such initiatives in other regions; showcased the Central Asia region’s efforts on strengthening peace and stability, such as the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia and its project; and highlighted its regional sustainable development projects, including on transport, logistics and infrastructure.  The success of the Central Asian countries in maintaining a further strengthening of stable and lasting peace in the region notably depends on the support of the international community, she underscored, calling on all to cooperate to that end.

AKAN RAKHMETULLIN (Kazakhstan) said to coordinate its joint national efforts and those of the United Nations, his country will establish the United Nations Regional Centre for the Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan in Almaty.  The hub will streamline the Organization’s inter-agency regional and interregional coordination and management to transform Central Asia into a zone of peace, security and sustainable development, with a spillover effect into Afghanistan.

Speaking as the Kazakhstan Chairmanship representative to the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, he said the Conference considers the establishment of confidence-building measures, peace and dialogue as the primary basis for broad cooperation.  It will achieve the goals of sustainable development and socioeconomic well-being on the vast Asian continent.  The Central Asian region is facing unprecedented new and emerging challenges and the forum includes 28 States, with eight observers.  The region’s entire perimeter is surrounded exclusively by Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia member States.  The Conference is a platform that gives Central Asia an outreach to other parts of the Asian continent and neighbouring subregions.  Central Asia tends to gain considerably from the Conference’s multifaceted, multidimensional portfolios.

MARÍA DEL CARMEN SQUEFF (Argentina), underlining the international community’s recognition that the establishment of zones of peace can contribute to the strengthening of economic development and peace, highlighted her country’s experience as an active participant of the zone of peace and cooperation of the South Atlantic.  This zone is notably not only one of peace and cooperation but is also a nuclear-weapon-free zone.  She commended the efforts of Central Asian countries to promote confidence and cooperation at a time when it is more vital than ever.  The success of this initiative, however, will depend on the joint work and determination of the zone’s member States as well as the support of the international community.  In that regard, the current Assembly debate is a sign of that commitment and a promising signal, she said.

MUNIR AKRAM (Pakistan) said his country has made consistent efforts to promote peace and cooperation in its own and adjacent regions.  The Government actively advocated for the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in South Asia for more than two decades.  This was thwarted by the nuclear explosions initiated by its neighbour.  Pakistan has also supported the creation of a zone of peace in the Indian Ocean, as declared by the Assembly in resolution 2832.  His delegation is concerned that the Indian Ocean is being drawn into a geostrategic construct that implies the renewal of rivalries and the emergence of new military alliances.  With these efforts to escalate military and political competition, it is even more vital to preserve Central Asia as a zone of peace.  A peaceful Central Asia can be a bulwark against the extension of conflicts from Europe to Asia and serve as a bridge of peace across the Eurasian landmass.

JONIBEK ISMOIL HIKMAT (Tajikistan) stressed that the Central Asian countries have demonstrated constructive and predictable inter-State relations at a time when the world is experiencing simultaneous crises in security, health, economics, politics and climate change.  In recognizing the significance of economic and social development for its people and the region’s prosperity, his Government has focused on infrastructure development, energy projects and economic diversification; seeks to harness its water potential to drive economic growth and employment; and is open to cooperation to that end.  Mitigating climate change, addressing waste and water pollution and ensuring environmental sustainability are pressing global issues, he continued, spotlighting several of Dushanbe’s initiatives to that end. Regarding its efforts on addressing shared security threats such as terrorism, its financing and drug trafficking, he reiterated his President’s call to build a security belt around Afghanistan while strengthening regional cooperation and coordination.

JOONKOOK HWANG (Republic of Korea) said it is highly commendable that these countries are aligning themselves with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.  The resolution addresses the importance of preventive diplomacy and the active role of women.  To address the complex transboundary challenges, such as terrorism and climate change, an integrated approach is crucial.  His delegation appreciates the role being played by the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, established in 2007.  The Centre has led to initiatives to empower women and youth.  His delegation supports the Center’s proactive role in addressing the challenges in Afghanistan, which affects peace and stability in the region and beyond.  Climate issues are another crucial challenge facing the Central Asian countries and he welcomed efforts to reach solutions to the region’s water challenges.  Many issues, such as land degradation, require the international community’s consistent attention.  Noting the Republic of Korea’s expanding trade volume with the Central Asian region, he said the Government will continue to expand future economic partnerships with the region, including in digital transformation and health infrastructure.

GERARDO PEÑALVER PORTAL (Cuba) stressed that, to make headway towards a world of peace, the diversity of different political, economic, social, cultural and religious systems must be respected as must the principles and aspirations of the Charter of the United Nations alongside international law.  Noting that the planet is now facing a crisis which began with the COVID-19 pandemic, he pointed out that the world has yet to learn from its mistakes — it continues to waste money by modernizing weapons, billions of dollars which could otherwise be used to achieve peace, sustainable development and a decent life. As such, he urged the international community to focus on eradicating poverty, hunger, disease, ignorance and colonialism’s consequences.  It must also, among other things, address the unjust economic order that reproduces the privileges of rich countries while perpetuating the “lackings” of the poorest. There can be no peace without development, justice and equity, he underscored, spotlighting the United States’ embargo on his country.

SEDAT ÖNAL (Türkiye) said the international community is facing entwined, multi-faceted contemporary challenges, such as international peace and security, sustainable development and human rights.  These challenges cannot be dealt with in isolation from each other.  Greater international cooperation is crucial and each Member State must take action.  Regional cooperation and ownership are essential and Türkiye has contributed to regional efforts to resolve conflicts and address disruptions in the food and energy supply chains.  For example, the country participates in the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation.  Central Asia is key to the region’s stability and this resolution is an important step that shows the collective political will of countries to bolster a culture of cooperation in managing energy resources, trade and transportation initiatives.

AIDA KASYMALIEVA (Kyrgyzstan) pointed out that consultative meetings among the region’s heads of State serve as an important platform for cooperation by ensuring peace and trust.  The fourth such meeting in July 2022 notably confirmed the commitment of Central Asian countries to a constructive and mutually beneficial dialogue and resulted in a treaty on friendship, good-neighbourliness and cooperation for the region’s development. Highlighting a number of issues of importance, including the “Central Asia plus” format and the Regional Centre, she invited Member States and international organizations to further enhance their support of the Five Years of Action for the Development of Mountain Regions.  She also announced that her country aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 44 per cent by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 through the development of hydropower.  She then spotlighted her Government’s cooperation with Uzbekistan on delimiting their border as an example of dialogue and the search for mutually acceptable solutions.

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Question for this article:

Where in the world are zones of peace?

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JAIME HERMIDA CASTILLO (Nicaragua) said the Charter of the United Nations asks all Member States to maintain international peace and security and settle their disputes through peaceful means.  The international community recognizes that the creation of zones of peace can help contribute to peace and stability in the specific areas and beyond.  The creation of a zone of peace in Central Asia will help promote cooperation between peoples, countries and cultures.  It is important to maintain territorial integrity and sovereignty as an important part of this work.  Trade and economic openness is important.  The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) created a zone of peace in 2014.  Its people are committed to engage in friendly relations despite their differences.  His delegation supports multilateralism.  Yet there are still countries that do not apply a culture of peace and impose unilateral coercive measures.  He rejected these measures, which are called sanctions, as unfair.  He called for the repeal of these measures.

ANTJE LEENDERTSE (Germany) — noting that Central Asia faces serious challenges which include climate change, water scarcity, geopolitical tensions and the threat of terrorism — stressed that stronger regional cooperation will further promote prosperity by deepening intraregional trade and expanding the use of renewable energy and the protection of natural resources.  The zone of peace in particular can create positive momentum to deepen ties and foster regional cooperation as a strong foundation for maintaining peace and security, bringing forward sustainable and green development and promoting human rights.  For its part, Germany is supporting the Green Central Asia initiative, which focuses on joint regional projects in the fight against the climate crisis; cooperating with all Central Asian States to strengthen comprehensive security within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE); and funding multiple OSCE projects to foster long-term stability, resilience and prosperity for Central Asia’s young people.

BAKHTIYOR IBRAGIMOV (Uzbekistan) said Central Asian countries have great potential for cooperation and development as they share a common spiritual and cultural-historical heritage, common transport-communication networks and economies that complement one another.  Tashkent strongly believes in strengthening practical cooperation with its neighbours to confront traditional threats of terrorism, organized crime and drug-trafficking, as well as new challenges such as illegal Internet activity.  A long-term peace in Afghanistan can play an important role in connecting Central and South Asia.  His delegation is ready to work with interested Member States to involve Afghanistan in regional economic processes, expand humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people, and promote important social and infrastructure projects.  He recalled Tashkent’s initiative to establish, under United Nations auspices, an international high-level negotiating group.  This group would develop and agree with the de facto government of Afghanistan on a road map of gradual implementation of obligations of the parties.

YOSHINO KOHEI (Japan) noted that 2022 marked the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of his Government’s diplomatic relations with the five Central Asian countries.  Tokyo also established its cooperation mechanism with the region in 2004 — the Central Asia plus Japan dialogue — when no other countries had such a framework of cooperation.  His Government has notably worked with Central Asian countries on tackling a variety of challenges they face, including by providing $4.1 million in grant assistance to empower youth and strengthen social cohesion across the region and by cooperating with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  Building on these achievements, Japan will continue to support peace, sustainability and sustainable development in the region, he pledged.

ROBERT A. WOOD (United States) said his delegation commends the creation of this zone as it creates a foundation for greater cooperation in the region and reinforces the integrated pillars needed for a peaceful society.  The creation of a zone helps strengthen the security of States within the region.  Yet he was disappointed that some delegations fought to prevent the resolution from reaffirming the importance of human rights and international law in sustaining peace.  The resolution should note that human rights and international law are enshrined in the preamble of the Charter of the United Nations.  His delegation was delighted that the role of women in maintaining peace was included.  Women must always participate in the peaceful settlement of disputes at all levels of decision-making.  His delegation is committed to supporting democratic goals in Central Asia.

JAMES KARIUKI (United Kingdom) stressed that cooperation and mutual support between Central Asian countries and their partners is critical given the security challenges facing the region, be it the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan or the economic uncertainty caused by the Russian Federation’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.  In encouraging Central Asian States to continue their work with the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund, he underscored that political stability, long-lasting reform and sustainable economic development are necessary for those nations to fulfil their potential.  For its part, the United Kingdom is supporting long-term reform and stability by strengthening its trade links with those countries and working with the region bilaterally and through its regional programming.  He then pointed out that temperatures in the region are expected to rise faster than the global average; observed that this is already driving water scarcity and food insecurity; and called for sustainable solutions.

DAI BING (China) said his delegation supports the establishment of this zone in Central Asia as the world faces many complex challenges and solidarity and trust must be promoted.  China has always supported cooperation that includes mutual benefits.  The upcoming China-Central Asia Summit, which will be held on 18 and 19 May in China, will gather heads of State and will build a closer community and open a new chapter in regional relations.  China will work with these countries to defend the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and build a zone of peace in Central Asia.  China firmly supports the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of these countries.  China opposes the interference of external forces in the internal affairs of Central Asian countries under any pretext.  This would make the region a battleground for geopolitical gains.  He supported efforts to combat terrorism, cybercrime and organized crime.

JOAQUÍN ALBERTO PÉREZ AYESTARÁN (Venezuela), welcoming Central Asian countries’ efforts to promote conflict prevention mechanisms and consolidate regional peace, security and stability, spotlighted his region’s zone of peace and its contributions towards strengthening peace and trust among the Organization’s Member States.  Unfortunately, many of the goals and aspirations within the Charter of the United Nations continue to escape the world’s peoples who yearn for more peace and prosperity.  In that vein, he called on all responsible States to end the ongoing use of inflammatory rhetoric; the use of zero-sum games; punitive, divisive and confrontational approaches; reckless, provocative and unilateral actions; double standards; and the further imposition of agendas of a dubious nature.  Such actions in no way contribute to the aspirations of achieving a lasting peace or preventing the emergence of new conflicts or crises, he underscored, before renewing his Government’s firm determination to defend the Charter.

VASSILY A. NEBENZIA (Russian Federation) said his delegation is a long-standing and reliable partner of the Central Asian nations.  For many years, it has consistently supported the region in its aim for gradual development and this resolution on the zone of peace is an example.  The Russian Federation is also supporting the region by participating in summits.  For example, the first Russian-Central Asian Summit was held in Astana on 14 November 2022.  The region is of major geopolitical significance for the Russian Federation and good relations are essential to maintain its security and stability.  Anti-terrorist activities are important.  The Russian Federation is a key trading partner for the region and a major consumer of Central Asian goods.  Maintenance of the transportation corridors is important to economic development.  The Russian language is prominent in the region, making the Russian Federation an essential part of the region’s labour markets.  He noted that Western parties are seeking to undermine stability through the use of sanctions and imposing their world view on this region.  His delegation is committed to good neighbourly relations.

YASHAR T. ALIYEV (Azerbaijan) said that the zone of peace, trust and cooperation is a shining example of multilateralism and diplomacy which reinforces the three pillars of the United Nations.  It notably contributes to the strengthening of international peace and security while promoting the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, he added. The region’s countries in particular play an important role in ensuring peace, stability and sustainable development as well as in promoting regional and international cooperation in areas such as science and technology, education, environment, trade, transport, culture and others.  His Government notably enjoys friendly relations and constructive cooperation with these countries and has engaged closely in transport, logistics, energy, agriculture and tourism, to name but a few areas.  As such, Baku attaches high importance to further enhancing cooperation by focusing on greater connectivity and communication.

(Editor’s note: The countries of Central Asia do not obey the NATO demand to boycott Russia. The leaders of all Central Asia countries went to Moscow on May 9 to take part in the annual ceremony celebrating the end of World War II.)

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

United States: Six years as a ‘City of Peace’: Happy anniversary, Ashland!

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An article by David Wick in Ashland News

Tuesday, May 16, is the sixth anniversary of Ashland officially becoming a City of Peace and joining the International Cities of Peace Association. On May 16, 2017, Mayor John Stromberg, with a unanimous vote of the Ashland City Council , proclaimed that “…the City of Ashland, Oregon is a City of Peace in perpetuity and encourage city and community leaders to develop policies and procedures that promote a culture of peace in our region.”


City officials and Ashland Culture of Peace Commission Executive Director David Wick, center, tie the ribbon at the International City of Peace Ribbon Tying Ceremony in 2017, as a symbol of joining together. Graham Lewis photo

The focus and engagement on this accomplishment has lessened over the last three years due to the impact of COVID, but the legacy of Ashland, the 163rd International City of Peace, has never lessened internationally nor in the hearts of many community members.

Among the current 380 International Cities of Peace in Peace in 70 countries on all six inhabited continents, Ashland has always been held in high regard as an example to learn from. With the guidance of the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission (ACPC), working closely with the City of Ashland, many segments of our community, and other peacebuilding organizations, we are seen as an ideal way of co-creating an infrastructure of peace.

International Cities of Peace (ICP) is an association of citizens, governments and organizations who have by proclamation, resolution, or by citizen advocacy established their communities as official Cities of Peace. The fundamental focus of a City of Peace is on safety, prosperity and quality of life.

There is no 100% peaceful city — rather, all are on the path to “becoming” a more peaceful city. Various forms of violence or hostility affect every community, yet as Mahatma Gandhi reminded, “…acts of love and service are much more common in this world than conflicts and quarrels.” Hundreds of cities around the world are building on their legacy of peacebuilding in a forward commitment to work toward a community-wide culture of peace. Establishing a community as a peace city recognizes past achievements, encourages current initiatives, and inspires future generations for practical peace building.

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Question related to this article:
 
How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

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The Ashland community and city have taken many steps to manifest a City of Peace, many more than can be listed here. This list includes: Options for Helping Residents of Ashland (OHRA) and others assisting people in need, establishment of the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission, Chamber of Commerce action to support businesses, wildfire protection action by Rep. Pam Marsh, Travel Ashland (VCB) Advisory Committee initiatives, installation of the World Peace Flame with middle school Flame Keepers, initiation of the Police2Peace program, Ashland Food Bank, Peace House initiatives and Uncle Foods Diner, Peace Village Festival, the Peace Wall and climate action by The Geos Institute, among many others.

Being a City of Peace is a continual state of making daily choices individually, organizationally, systemically, every one of us. On May 16, 2023, what does this look like in Ashland now and moving forward? How do we want to increase the safety, prosperity and quality of life for all in Ashland, in our region? This can begin with a smile for the next person each of us sees.

Ashland.News Editor Bert Etling and Ashland Police Department Chief Tighe O’Meara both served as Ashland Culture of Peace Commission (ACPC) Commissioners and were recently asked what they value about taking steps to co-create Ashland as a City of Peace.

Bert Etling responded: “I value ACPC’s raising awareness of values that too-often go unspoken and unrecognized, which makes them more likely to fall into disuse. The very existence of ACPC prompts people to think about qualities worth affirming and practicing. On a more concrete level, organization of and participation in events offering the opportunity for people of diverse backgrounds to share their perspectives and harmonious space builds peace in the community. And, of course, the Peace Flame as an ongoing reminder of that energy (in the wonderful Thalden Pavilion space), and sustaining learning about, sharing and passing along those values through the students tending to the site.”

Chief O’Meara’s reply is: “One of the things I value most about the ACPC is that through it we promote conversations, connections, and better mutual understanding. We may not always be able to agree, but unless we come together, we certainly won’t. In those connections and conversations, we have our best chance at understanding, and through that peace.”

As a city and community, we have gone through some rough patches and there are more to come in the challenging times we live in. And the choices and directions are in our hands both individually and collectively. Let’s co-create the very best ongoing City of Peace that we can, together.

An International City of Peace information center is being created at Catalyst Ashland, 357 E Main St., Ashland, 541-625-6565 by owners Precious Yamaguchi and Andres Rivero, and myself, David Wick of the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission.

David Wick is executive director of the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission (Ashlandcpc.org) and president of the Rotary EClub of World Peace. Email him at info@ashlandcpc.org.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, North America