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.

2nd International Youth Forum on the Culture of Peace: Religion, Mediation and Climate Change in the Sahel

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article from Le Faso (translation by CPNN)

The Sougourounoma Initiative for Education, Peace and Health (ISEPS) is organizing the second edition of the International Youth Forum on the Culture of Peace from December 17 to 19, 2024. The meeting, under the theme “Youth, Religion, Mediation and Climate Change in the Sahel and West Africa”, brings together young people from Benin, Mali, Niger, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. It will allow participants to discuss issues related to peace, including the link between peace and climate change, conflict analysis and interreligious dialogue.


Serge Aimé Zabié from the NGO Indigo, Côte d’Ivoire

Faced with the security crisis currently facing Burkina Faso and other Sahel countries, the contribution of young people in the response to this crisis is more than necessary. This explains the holding of this international forum, which advocates the inclusion of young people and their initiatives in the peace process. During the meeting, young people will be equipped with conflict analysis, interreligious dialogue, as well as mediation of environmental conflicts. “The aim will be to mobilize young people to discuss the link between peace and climate change, to prevent violent extremism and ensure that conflicts related to climate change are not exploited by armed terrorist groups to recruit young people and carry out acts of violence,” said Dr. Sougourounoma Henri Kaboré, Chairman and Executive Director of ISEPS.

The 72 hours of work will be filled with sessions on strategic analysis of conflicts and the Sahelian and West African context and sessions on mediation of environmental conflicts, whether by civil society, religious and customary actors. The involvement of young people in adaptation to climate change and in peacebuilding will also be highlighted during this forum. “We hope that participants will acquire specific skills in conflict analysis, environmental mediation, and interreligious dialogue. We also hope that they will build relationships of friendship and partnership among themselves, beyond religious and cultural barriers, so that once they return to their communities they can engage more meaningfully in their communities to transform things,” says Dr. Sougourounoma Henri Kaboré.

(Click here for the original article in French.)

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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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The international youth forum is being held within the framework of the project “Youth in Interreligious Dialogue and Interreligious Mediation for Peaceful Communities in Burkina Faso”, which is being implemented in Fara in the Balé province. It is funded by the German Robert Bosche Foundation to the tune of 80,000 euros. Annie Höhne, representative of the German Ambassador, sponsor of the forum, welcomed the organization of the forum, and suggested that such initiatives are crucial to address current challenges.

“This support reflects our shared commitment to promoting peace and resilience in a region facing multidimensional challenges related to conflicts, humanitarian crises and climate change…In the current context of Burkina Faso, the role of young people is more crucial than ever. Their engagement in peaceful conflict resolution, environmental protection and interfaith dialogue is a cornerstone for building harmonious and sustainable communities,” she said.

During the forum, religious and customary leaders will speak with young people through presentations. Naaba Boalga, traditional chief of the village of Dawelgué, will lead a presentation focusing on traditional African religions in relation to nature. He will explore the relationships that existed between traditional African religions and the environment. “Our traditional societies are societies that practiced subsistence agriculture, that is to say that you mainly produced cereals and you consumed them. So you produce what you consume and you consume what you produce. And this mode of production, for example, means that traditional societies did not exert as much pressure on natural resources. Today, there are cash crops, such as sesame, cotton, which are practiced. Which is not a bad thing, but I am only placing myself in the traditional context to explain that at the time, there was a dialectical relationship with nature that did not pose any particular problem to this nature that managed to regenerate itself. We must now know how, in this context, we can at the same time benefit from cash crops and the advantages linked to the monetary economy, but while being respectful of nature,” he says.

For Alidou Ilboudo, coordinator of the Interreligious Council for Peace in Burkina, the emphasis on interreligious dialogue is a very important aspect of the forum. “We have a duty to connect and bring together young people of all faiths. Our mission is to tell them that indeed, each of us can have a faith, a belief, a dogma, but this dogma must nourish him with very strong convictions that remind him that we have a common origin that comes from God. And we are all brothers in humanity. So it is in dialogue that we learn this,” he maintains.

Having come from Côte d’Ivoire to take part in the forum, Serge Aimé Zabié of the NGO Indigo, which works in the field of social cohesion and peacekeeping, welcomes the initiative that includes young people in the search for peace. He hopes to come out of the meeting better equipped in peacebuilding. “My main expectation is that this forum can really change the mentality of young people so that they are no longer in a passive positionwhere they expect everything from the State, or think that peace comes from others. Peace must come from us young people, in our communities and families,” he said.

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Africa, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Personal Souvenirs of Federico Mayor

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION .

Special for CPNN by David Adams, CPNN coordinator

In the words of Margaret Mead, “”Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

I was privileged to know and work with Federico Mayor who was one of these “thoughtful committed individuals” who changed the world. He was nominated many times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and as Frederik Heffermehl wrote in his book, “The Real Nobel Prize”, he should have received it.

Here are some of my personal souvenirs of working with him.


Mayor at the meeting of the Culture of Peace Advisory Group in February 1999, with Anaisabel Prera Flores (left) and Enzo Fazzino (behind)

In 1986, when I went to Seville to join scientists from around the world to discuss whether war is part of human nature, I was introduced to a scientist from Spain, Federico Mayor Zaragoza. I was told, “He is the John F Kennedy of Spain.” Like Kennedy, he was very handsome with deep blue eyes and black hair and very much a “ladies’man.” In addition to his university professorship, he was also involved with government administration, including having served as the Education Minister in the Spanish government.

Mayor signed the Seville Statement as a scientist.. In 1956 At the age of 22, he had obtained his doctorate in pharmacy and in 1966 at the age of 32, he had gone to work for two years as a researcher in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Hans Krebs in Oxford, best known to physiologists like myself for having discovered and described the Krebs cycle. This is the chemical reactions occurring in the mitochondria, by which almost all living cells produce energy. Krebs told him, “Don’t forget that research consists in seeing what anybody can see and in thinking what nobody has ever thought,” which Mayor said was an inspiration to him.

After Seville, when I undertook the dissemination of the Statement on Violence, Mayor was a big help. He wrote me in September of 1986: “0ur snowball is growing fast…If all the snowballs starting their way would have such strength, all the world would be covered with snow. I hope that we will succeed to cover it with peace.”

It was no accident that his words to me were poetic. Like me, he wrote poetry. Over the years we would exchange our poems. He sent me his published books of poetry, and I started my UNESCO mission reports to him with a poem. I remember once that he distributed one of these mission reports to the Executive Board of UNESCO over the objections of his chief of staff who complained, “I will not send a poem to the Executive Board!”

In 1987, Mayor was elected the Director-General of UNESCO. He had previously served at UNESCO in 1978-1981 as Deputy Director-General.

In 1988, responding to the invitation of Felix Houghouet-Boigny of Côte d’Ivoire to hold an international conference in Yamoussoukro on “Peace in the Minds of Men,” Mayor convened a team to plan the conference. He invited me to be part of this team in order to promote the Seville Statement on Violence. In fact, he put me as the first speaker in the conference to introduce it.

It was during the planning meetings for Yamoussoukro that I got to know Felipe MacGregor from Peru who introduced the concept of the culture of peace, which became the theme of the Conference.

Responding to the recommendations of Yamoussoukro in 1989, UNESCO formally adopted both the Seville Statement on Violence and the Culture of Peace as official policies. And in 1992, Mayor invited me to take my sabbatical from Wesleyan University to come to UNESCO to work for dissemination of the Seville Statement. The 47-page UNESCO brochure on the Statement is one of the fruits of that year.

1992 was the year that the UN Security Council adopted the proposal of Secretary-General Boutros Ghali, prepared at Yale University, to establish a UN military force that could be used by the Council to enforce its decisions. It proposed to establish on a permanent basis the Blue Helmets previously decided on a temporary basis to intervene after civil wars in countries like El Salvador and Mozambique

I was horrified by the the vision of a global tyranny that such a plan could bring about. The US had gained total control of the Security Council at that time due to the fall of the Soviet Union. At UNESCO, working with Georges Kutukdjian, who had led the planning for Yamoussoukro, I developed a proposal for a Culture of Peace Program that would bring peace through joint projects by former enemies rather than through the imposition of armed force.

On my birthday, May 13, 1992, Mayor invited me to have breakfast with him on the top floor of UNESCO headquarters. He was drinking milk to control an ulcer caused by the stress of his his job as Director-General. I presented the 3-page plan for a Culture of Peace Program, and he said simply, “We’ll do it.” “But”, he said, “it cannot be presented by you because the United States is not a member of UNESCO;” The US had withdrawn a few years earlier to protest UNESCO’s siupport for Palestine and UNESCO’s proposal to aid the Global South to develop their own news agencies. So, instead, Mayor sent me to Ahmed Sayyad, President of the Executive Board, who agreed to present the proposal. The Sayyad proposal was adopted by a standing ovation of the UNESCO Executive Board in November, 1992. Sayyad went on to devote his life to the culture of peace, including as the Assistant-Director General for External Relations.

In 1993, Mayor invited me to take a leave of absence from my university to come to Paris and to prepare the culture of peace program. Again, since the United States was not a member of UNESCO, I could not head up the program, but I should work under a new director. Mayor chose Leslie Atherley from Barbados to head the program along with Edouard Matoko from the Congo. The two of them had taken the courageous action to work for education in Iraq despite the war and the objections of the United States.

But I needed a post. My university had told me that if I did not return immediately, I would lose my job as professor. And by the rules of UNESCO they should not give a post to someone from a country that was not a member state. Years later, I was told by the staff member concerned, that Mayor told him to ignore the rules and to give me a post without going through the necessary procedures.

This was a quality of Federico Mayor that made him great, and that infuriated the rich Member States of UNESCO. Mayor did not follow the rules if they stood in the way of important policy decisions.

In 1993, Mayor was re-elected as Director-General of UNESCO. He concluded his acceptance speech with the following words: “From everything I have just said you will have gathered that I intend to devote myself personally, in the coming years, to the culture of peace, the peace of peoples and the peace of individuals, peace that is the prime condition for discharging our duties as men and women to the full, our mission as human beings.”

At UNESCO, Mayor personally lobbied to achieve more than 50 declarations for a culture of peace from important international bodies, as listed here. These, and many others, are also listed in Mayor’s own publication, “History of the Culture of Peace”, that he updated as recently as 2019.

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Questions related to this article:

How can we carry forward the work of the great peace and justice activists who went before us?

(Article continued from the column on the left)

In those years, under Mayor’s leadership, at the Culture of Peace Program, we established national culture of peace programs, beginning with El Salvador and Mozambique and including later, a national program in the Russian Federation.

On a few occasions Mayor and I published together. The first was in 1993 with the article, “How Psychology Can Contribute to a Culture of Peace” that was given the place of honor as the first article in a new journal, Peace and Conflict Journal of Peace Psychology, appearing only under his name. This article was my way of explaining to Mayor, (and to the journal’s audience, how the approach of the Culture of Peace Program was based on the findings of the Robbers Cave experiment of the psychologist Muzafer Sherif. This was the principle of cross-conflict participation which we used in El Salvador and Mozambique, getting the former enemies to work for peace by planning together projects of social projects.

Unfortunately, rich member states of UNESCO refused Mayor’s request to fund the 50 or so projects drafted by the former enemies in El Salvador and Mozambique. The one exception, a project for rural women in El Salvador, funded by the German Development Agency, was a great success, proving that the method was successful. If the other projects had been funded, we can imagine that El Salvador and Mozambique could have escaped from the culture of war which has once again descended upon them. And perhaps the rest of the world would have turned away from its domination by the military-industrial complex.

The opposition to Mayor’s work for the culture of peace by of the rich Member States and their military-industrial complex would only increase over the years.

The failure of our national programs led to conflict in our unit at headquarters. I took the position that the approach of national programs had failed and that we should turn to working primarily with the civil society by establishing a news network for their actions that promoted a culture of peace. The rest of the unit disagreed. Like the rest of the United Nations founded on a military model in 1945, UNESCO has no effective means for conflict resolution within the organization. Unlike many large corporations, that have come to establish conflict resolution methods, the UN and UNESCO have resisted reform. In our case, we tried to resolve our conflict with the use of outside mediators. When this failed, I went personally to Mayor, breaking the old military rules of UNESCO by going over the head of my director, and I told him that I could no longer work in the organization.

Mayor’s response was to ask me to be patient and he would give me a new responsibility. First, using funds gained by the return of the UK to UNESCO, he gave me resources for contracts for a culture of peace news network in the six languages of the organization. Then, a few months later he put me in charge of a new unit to manage the International Year for the Culture of Peace (IYCP) that had been voted by the UN in New York.

The contracts for a culture of peace news network were awarded, but without exception, they eventually failed. After leaving UNESCO, I carried on the work without any money.

But the International Year for the Culture of Peace was a success, thanks to Mayor’s support including two of his management decisions. He put Anaisabel Prera Flores in charge of mobilizing the sectors of UNESCO, and assigned Enzo Fazzino to work with me in the IYCP unit. I took on the task of preparing, along with Sema Tanguiane, the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace that was eventually adopted by the UN General Assembly. And Enzo took charge of the Manifesto 2000 that translated the UN resolution into everyday language by which individuals could sign and promise to promote a culture of peace in their everyday lives. Thanks to the engagement of UNESCO’s global network of national and civil-society organizations, the Manifesto 2000 was signed by 75 million people, including more than a million in India, Nepal, Colombia, Brazil, Korea and Japan. The first 700,000 signatures came from Algeria where it was sung from the mosques and distributed on the streets by the Scout Movement.

The success of the IYCP was achieved despite the fact that our attempts with Mayor’s help to raise funds were not supported by the rich Member States or by the UN foundation. To support our efforts, Mayor diverted funds from the budgets of pet projects of Member States at UNESCO. This did not make us popular with our colleagues, and it increased Mayor’s conflict with these states.

Mayor’s tenure ended at UNESCO in 1999, so he was no longer the Director-General of UNESCO when the IYCP achieved its full success. Instead, he founded a Culture of Peace Foundation in Spain.

Without Mayor’s leadership, the work of the culture of peace at UNESCO came to a halt. The organization did little to support the International Decade for a Culture of Peace that had been voted by the UN for 2001-2010.

But Mayor did not stop. He obtained funding from Catalonia and hired me and a team of youth to mobilize support for the Culture of Peace Decade in the civil society. This was successful for almost a thousand civil society organizations, as shown in the reports that we prepared in 2005 and 2010.

The member states of the UN failed to publish our reports, despite effective face-to-face lobbying by teams of youth in 2005 and 2006, so Mayor published the 2010 report as a glossy brochure, and we distributed the copies by hand to UN delegates attending the General Assembly meeting about the Decade.

During the Decade, Mayor was named to head up the new United Nations initiative for an Alliance of Civilizations. In this capacity, he once again hired me and our team of youth, to contact youth organizations around the world and ask them what kind of support they needed to promote a culture of peace. In 2006, we published our report based on responses from 475 organizations in 125 countries, and this became the basis for the Alliance youth program which continues to the present day.

After the Decade, Mayor was frustrated by lack of financial support for the culture of peace work of his foundation. At one point, he flew me from the US to discuss this, but he was so frustrated that he spent our half-hour appointment on the telephone with someone else, and I went back to the States with no new project possible.

Had Mayor received the Nobel Peace Prize, as mentioned above, no doubt he would have received the financial support that was needed to further develop the culture of peace.

But we still live in an era when there is no financial support for peace, only for war. Will this ever change?

In his “History of the Culture of Peace“, Mayor leaves us with hope, like the inspiration that he had with Hans Krebs:

“And there lies our faith, because all living beings are predictable and measurable, with the sole exception of the human being. And the fact is that all of us have an exclusive and wonderful ability, which is the ability to create. For this reason, the human being is unpredictable and immeasurable, always capable of the unexpected. The human being is not predestined; he is free and the master of his own destiny. This is the great hope of humanity: in times of greatest tension and crisis, the humans are capable of bringing out the best of themselves.”

“Yes, peace is possible. It is possible to transform an economy of war into an economy of generalised development, in which investments are reduced in arms and increased in new sources of renewable energy; in the production of food and water; in health; in the protection of the environment; in eco-friendly housing; in electric transport; in education… The human race is capable of inventing its own future.”

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FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global, United Nations,

Search for Common Ground supports midwife care in Afghanistan

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

Received at CPNN by email from Search for Common Ground

The Taliban recently decreed that women and girls are no longer permitted to receive technical medical education (previously an exception to the standing ban on girls’ schooling), which includes midwifery, nursing, dentistry, and other medical professions. This shift will have significant impacts on women’s access to healthcare and means that there is now zero access to higher education for Afghan women.

In light of these changes, women trained as midwives are now more essential than ever. To address a growing need, our team in Afghanistan worked with experienced midwives to establish 10 midwife-led units in November 2024.


Frame from Search for Common Ground video

These brave and talented women are carrying the responsibility to protect maternal and reproductive health in a country where women often have few options.

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Question related to this article:

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

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Key highlights of the units include:

° Fully equipped facilities providing all medical tools and resources for comprehensive midwifery services
° Educational materials to guide women on family planning and maternal health
° Knowledgeable, professional staff of midwives offering expert advice and quality care
° Community outreach to engage local leaders and residents, raising awareness of services.

Afghan women often carry invisible burdens—fear, isolation, and uncertainty about the future. Yet, even in the face of these challenges, they are finding ways to bring hope to each other.

But the journey is far from over. Afghanistan has the highest rate of infant mortality in the world, and the eighth-highest rate of maternal mortality. Women’s access to healthcare remains dire, and with escalating challenges, the need for support is greater than ever.

Every donation carries the potential to save lives and offer a future where Afghan women and their families are not left behind.

In Afghanistan, our team is courageously carrying hope for a healthier tomorrow. Will you carry that hope with us?

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South Asia, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

The World March for Peace and Nonviolence: What is its history and its effects?

The history of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence goes back to the 2009 when it started from Wellington (New Zealand) on October 2, 2009, and arrived in Punta de Vacas (Argentina) on January 2, 2010, after travelling 200 cities in 97 countries promoting peace and nonviolence (in particular, nuclear disarmament). See article in CPNN at that time.

From the beginning, Pressenza has served as its media agency, and over the years CPNN has carried their articles on the second and third world marches that took place in 2019 and 2024, as listed below.

Here are the CPNN articles on this subject:

Team of the Third World March for Peace and NonViolence entered Nepal

The Third World March for Peace and Nonviolence Takes Its First Steps in Africa

Mexico supports the launch of the Third World March for Peace and Nonviolence

Start of the 3rd World March for Peace and Nonviolence: A global call for unity

2 October 2023: 3rd World March for Peace and Nonviolence officially launched in the Spanish Congress of Deputies

The 2nd World March in Latin America with its message of Peace and Nonviolence

Launch of the Second World March for Peace and Nonviolence

2nd Walk for the Culture of Peace in Cotia, Brazil, receives support from the World March for Peace and Nonviolence

The Americas are preparing for the second World March for Peace and Nonviolence

Launch of the 2nd World March for Peace and Nonviolence at the 2nd World Forum of Peace Cities in Madrid

The World Starts the 2009 New Year with a Call for Peace

Uncategorized

Team of the Third World March for Peace and NonViolence entered Nepal

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by Tulsi Sigdel for Pressenza

A corps of the ‘3rd World March for Peace Team’ entered Nepal under the lead of Rafael de la Rubia, a great humanist from Spain, accompanied by prominent Humanist Peace Volunteers from UK, Italy, Australia, India and Bangladesh.

(article continued in right column)

(Click here for the article in French or click here for the article in Spanish.)

Question for this article:

The World March for Peace and Nonviolence: What is its history and its effects?

(article continued from left column)

The Humanist Team of Nepal joined the international champions of peace and began their march yesterday from the cultural city of Tokha, in Kathmandu, where they were received by municipal officials in their facilities.

There, the local authorities handed over a “Token of Love” to the group of visitors as a sign of support and appreciation for the message they are carrying. In reciprocity, the activists gave the municipal officials documents on the meaning of this worldwide action. Finally, a march was held through the streets.

The four-day march will continue today at Bouddha, TU-Kirtipur, Budhanilkantha and finally to Banepa and Dhulikhel cities. Then, the activists will cross to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.
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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, South Asia

The Third World March for Peace and Nonviolence Takes Its First Steps in Africa

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from Pressenza (translation by CPNN)

Under the slogan “For Peace and Nonviolence”, the Third World March for Peace and Nonviolence reached Tangier, where the Seventh Humanist Forum was held from 27 to 30 November 2024, organised by the Humanist Embassy. The Forum is an international platform that brings together humanist activists from around the world to exchange ideas and strengthen efforts to build a world of peace and nonviolence.

Key Events and Themes

Participants: Humanist Embassy – World Without Wars and Without Violence – Convergence of Cultures – Humanist Association for Peace and Education in Nonviolence.

The Forum featured a series of cultural sessions and workshops focusing on the following issues:

1. Promoting the values ​​of peace and coexistence among peoples,

2. Raising awareness of the dangers of violence and promoting a culture of peace and non-violence,

3. Exchanging humanist experiences and practices in the field of peacebuilding and non-violence.

(article continued in right column)

(Click here for the original article in French.)

Question for this article:

The World March for Peace and Nonviolence: What is its history and its effects?

(article continued from left column)

International Presence

The Forum attracted more than 250 participants, including a foreign delegation of 30 humanist activists from ten countries, giving the event an international dimension and allowing the exchange of knowledge and experiences between participants from diverse cultural and geographical backgrounds.

Tangier hosted the seventh edition of the Humanist Forum

The launch of the 7th Forum in Tangier was characterized by a large and diverse audience, with the opening of the event serving as a pivotal platform for the exchange of ideas and visions on peace and non-violence. The opening session was characterized by inspiring presentations and interventions that highlighted the multiple aspects of these humanist issues by the national and international representatives of the Humanist Embassy.

The presentations were intellectually rich and culturally diverse, with the speakers sharing their personal experiences and experiences in order to promote dialogue and understanding between different cultures. The forum also allowed participants to interact with the speakers, which made the discussions more lively and enriching

Participants expressed their satisfaction with this unique event that aims to create a global platform bringing together activists, thinkers and decision-makers to share successful experiences in promoting the values ​​of peace and tolerance. The forum continued with roundtable discussions and workshops highlighting practical solutions to the challenges facing the world today in the areas of non-violence and sustainable development.

Welcoming the World March for Peace and Nonviolence

The Forum was marked by the hosting of the World March, it was organized by World Without War and Nonviolence. The march left Costa Rica on October 2, 2024 and arrived in Morocco through the gateway to Africa, Tangier, on November 27, 2024. The event was an opportunity to highlight the importance of international cooperation to promote the values ​​of peace, especially since the march will continue its journey to African countries in order to convey its message to a greater number of people.

Thus, the Forum is part of the World March, aimed at establishing a culture of peace. It coincides with the launch of the third World March, thus strengthening the vision of the Forum while expanding its impact.
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Africa, DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

Women of Côte d’Ivoire commit to the Culture of Peace: more than 5,000 women expected at the Palais des Sports on December 21

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article from Abidjan.net (translation by CPNN)

Peace will be celebrated on Saturday, December 21, 2024, by more than 5,000 women, at the Palais des sports in Abidjan-Treichville, an initiative of the Caucus of Women of Côte d’Ivoire for Peace. MP [Parliamentarian] Mariam Traoré, President of the Organizing Committee of this gathering made the announcment on Tuesday, December 10, during a press conference at the Maison de la Presse in Abidjan-Plateau.

She explained that it is a gathering of women “from the institutions of the Republic, elected officials, women from public and private administration, women economic operators around the theme of peace”, specifying that the meeting is intended to be an apolitical activity.

In her speech, Mariam Traoré insisted on the importance of peace for women. “The women of Côte d’Ivoire want peace to be sustained. Especially as the upcoming elections approach, they want to fully play their part by calling on all actors in our society to make the defense of peace an absolute priority”, she insisted.

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for the original in French.)

Questions for this article

Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

(Article continued from left column)

According to the speaker, the Caucus will also take this opportunity to highlight the great contribution of President Alassane Ouattara in making decisions adapted to the needs of promoting women and the population in general. “We want to thank him for the peace and stability restored in our country. To mark this moment, we will release doves of peace,” she stressed.

“We, the women of Côte d’Ivoire, want peace and we are ready to work with all parties to achieve it,” assured the Tengrela MP. In the same vein, Mariam Traoré stressed the importance of peace, which she considers the most precious state to which all peoples of the world aspire. “For several years, our country has been living in tranquility and security; this contributes to ensuring the harmonious development of our nation and our activities,” she rejoiced.

The MP also urged Ivorians to preserve this stability, particularly as the next elections approach. “We must all work, each at our own level, to protect this peace that our country has taken so long to find.”

The ceremony is under the high patronage of Adama Tounkara, Mediator of the Republic, and under the patronage of Adama Bictogo, President of the National Assembly and the co-sponsorship of Henriette Dagri Diabaté.

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Africa, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Third edition of dialogue on youth, peace, security in Africa opens in Bujumbura, Burundi

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from the Nile Post

The third edition of the youth, peace and security in Africa dialogue organized by the African Union has opened in Bujumbura, Burundi.

The objective of the dialogue is to promote the youth peace and security agenda through advocacy and participation of young women and men across the Continent to meaningfully contribute to the implementation of the Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) Agenda in Africa.

The dialogue running under the theme, ‘Empowering African Youth for Peace: Education and Enhanced Coordination as a Catalyst for the Implementation of the YPS Agenda’ is being held at the at the Kiriri Presidential Palace and President  Évariste Ndayishimiye who is also the African Union champion of the YPS agenda is among the participants.

With more than 60% of Africa’s population under the age of 25, the youth are a critical force for shaping Africa’s future.

(article continued in right column)

(Click here for an article on this subject in French.)

Question for this article:

Can the African Union help bring a culture of peace to Africa?

(article continued from left column)

However, the continent still faces challenges in peace and security, including armed conflicts, political instability, and the rise of extremist groups, which disproportionately impact youth, women, and other vulnerable populations.

The dialogue in Bujumbura has brought together key stakeholders to assess progress, identify challenges, and explore strategies for mainstreaming peace education in school curriculums and mobilizing resources for YPS initiatives.

Over 1,200 participants, including policymakers, young leaders, and representatives of international institutions are attending.

The third edition of the dialogue has brought together key stakeholders in the implementation of the youth, peace and security agenda at the continental, regional and member states levels in order to assess the progress made so far, the challenges and opportunities for enhanced coordination, collaboration and complementarity.

On the other hand, the dialogue seeks to engage the participants in reflecting on effective ways to promote peace education in Africa.

(Editor’s note: Further information is available on the Twitter page of the African Union Youth Ambassadors for Peace.

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Africa, DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

Mexico: Jalisco SPPC launches training in Culture of Peace for the reconstruction of the social fabric

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from the Gobierno del Estado de Jalisco (translation by CPNN)

The Government of Jalisco through the Secretariat of Planning and Citizen Participation (SPPC), has began the training process in Culture of Peace for the reconstruction of the social fabric, in order to promote communities of care in the municipalities of the State.

The strategy “Reconstruction of the Social Fabric” is promoted in coordination with the Secretariat of the Social Assistance System. It involves the improvement of the immediate urban environments of people and their families.

The officials launching the project included the Secretary of Planning and Citizen Participation, Margarita Sierra Díaz de Rivera, and María del Carmen Bayardo Solórzano, Director of Strategic Projects, representing the Secretary of the Social Assistance System. They presented the program’s guidelines and its relevance to the State Government’s peace-building strategy. Alberto Esquer Gutiérrez also participated in this event.

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(click here for the original version in Spanish).

Questions for this article:

Is there progress towards a culture of peace in Mexico?

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The project is included, through various levels of intervention, to the cross-cutting theme indicated in the State Plan for Governance and Development (PEGD) and to the strategic themes of the State Program for a Culture of Peace.

The Secretariat for Planning and Citizen Participation is the governing body in charge of mainstreaming the Culture of Peace in the State of Jalisco and is responsible for coordinating the actions issued by the executive branch in matters of culture of peace, as well as mainstreaming, supervising, evaluating and proposing strategies to progressively integrate the peace approach in the different areas of government.

The head of the SPPC, Margarita Sierra, said that: “Everything we do is in terms of governance and with a focus on peace. We have to give meaning to government programs to respond to the need of citizens to live in peace in all their spaces.”

Among the institutional challenges that were raised are: training in the culture of peace; inter-institutional linkage and coordination, and the construction with citizens of an agenda to address territorial needs. To learn more about the culture of peace and governance, please access: participa.jalisco.gob.mx/participacion-ciudadana.

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EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Colombia: Cúcuta Mayor’s Office Successfully Concludes Workshops on Historical Memory and Culture of Peace

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article from the Alcaldía de San José de Cúcuta (translation by CPNN)

The Secretariat for Post-Conflict and Culture of Peace has carried out workshops on historical memory, culture of peace and human rights. The project, carried out at the facilities of the Regional Center for Attention to Victims, concludes the measure “Action on historical memory, promotion of the culture of peace and promotion of human rights”, of the Return and Relocation Plans of the communities of Ciudad Rodeo and San Fernando del Rodeo, in the municipality of San José de Cúcuta.

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(click here for the original version in Spanish).

Questions for this article:

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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During these meetings, the community became familiar with the basic concepts of historical memory and culture of peace, and deepened their knowledge of human rights. Through timelines, phrases and drawings, they described their surroundings, told their life stories, talked about their neighborhood and projected their aspirations for the future. Through various symbolic acts, they shared their experiences, promoting the recognition of the truth and contributing to their emotional and psychological repair, which helped heal the wounds of the past and strengthen the reconstruction of the social fabric.

The culture of peace workshops created spaces for young people from the municipality, promoting integration and the exchange of experiences. These activities facilitated the improvement of peace practices, using Hip Hop culture as an educational and transformative tool to face challenges, promote values ​​of peace and respect for human rights.

Through various dynamics, the youth sought to promote mutual respect, coexistence, understanding and social transformation through the arts.

Finally, it is important to highlight that all these workshops
contributed significantly to the process of reparation and reconciliation of the victims of the armed conflict, initiating a process of healing and rebuilding relationships based on respect, non-violence and peaceful coexistence; thus contributing to the construction of a more just, stable and harmonious society.
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DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America