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.

The Wet’suwet’en Fight Against New Pipeline Spreads Across Canada with Blockades & Occupations

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

A report from Democracy Now (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. )

A major anti-pipeline struggle continues in Canada, where protests have broken out across the country in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders whose sovereign land in northern British Columbia was raided last week and over the weekend by Canadian police. Dozens were arrested in the days-long raid of unceded indigenous territories, where hereditary chiefs have been in a protracted battle to protect their land from the construction of TransCanada’s 400-mile, $4.7 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline. The raids took place about 700 miles north of Vancouver and sparked outrage across the country. In Ontario, a Mohawk solidarity protest has shut down the Canadian National Railway for days, halting travel for tens of thousands of passengers. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for a quick resolution to the protests on Wednesday. In New York, protesters on Wednesday gathered for a sit-in outside the United Nations headquarters in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders.


video of Democracy Now broadcast

For more, we go to Wet’suwet’en territory, where we’re joined by land defender and matriarch Molly Wickham. Her clan, the Gidimt’en Clan, was raided last week by 60 heavily militarized officers with assault rifles and dogs. And in Toronto, we’re joined by Pamela Palmater, Mi’kmaq lawyer and member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick. She is the chair in indigenous governance at Ryerson University.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, as we go to a major anti-pipeline struggle in Canada, where protests have broken out across the country in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders, whose sovereign land in northern British Columbia was brutally raided last week and over the weekend by Canadian police. Dozens were arrested in the days-long raid of unceded indigenous territories, where hereditary chiefs have been in a protracted battle to protect their land from the construction of TransCanada’s 400-mile, $4.7 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline. The raids took place about 700 miles north of Vancouver. This is a land defender confronting armed police officers last week.

LAND DEFENDER: We are here for humanity, for life! We are unarmed! We are peaceful! You are killers! You are genocidal maniacs! You have your guns pointed at us!

AMY GOODMAN: The raids have sparked outrage across Canada and the world. In Ontario, a Mohawk solidarity protest has shut down the Canadian National Railway for days, halting travel for tens of thousands of passengers. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for a quick resolution to the protests on Wednesday. In fact, his offices were occupied.
Well, for more, we go to Wet’suwet’en territory, where we’re joined by land defender, matriarch Molly Wickham. Her clan, the Gidimt’en Clan, was raided last week by 60 heavily militarized officers with assault rifles and dogs. And in Toronto, we’re joined by Pamela Palmater, Mi’kmaq lawyer and member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick, chair of the indigenous governance at Ryerson University.

We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Molly Wickham, let’s begin with you. You’re right there at the Wet’suwet’en Nation. Can you talk about what is happening? Explain what the conflict is around this pipeline.

MOLLY WICKHAM: The conflict that has been going on around this pipeline has been going on for years. This isn’t something new. Last year, on January 7th, we were also raided by heavily militarized RCMP with lethal overwatch and —

AMY GOODMAN: And let me explain: RCMP is Royal Canadian Mounted Police, for the non-Canadian audience.

MOLLY WICKHAM: Oh, right, yes. And so, this is the second year in a row. And actually, the raid happened on the exact same location a year and a month after the raid that happened last year. And so this has been an ongoing battle. But it’s also a bigger issue around indigenous rights and title and sovereignty of our nation. We have a hereditary system that’s in place, that has never been extinguished. Our traditional governance system is in place, and this is a conflict between that governance system and colonization and the imposition of Indian Act ban systems, which were — came in through the Indian Act from the federal government and are being used against our own people to try and undermine our decision-making and our inherent right to make decisions and protect our territory.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain what happened during the most recent arrests of the matriarchs performing a ceremony for missing and murdered indigenous women? If you can talk about the wearing of the red dresses and exactly what happened? And were you arrested, as well?

MOLLY WICKHAM: So, what happened up at Unist’ot’en — they’re our neighboring clan. We have five clans within the nation, and each clan is responsible for their territory. And so, they were doing a ceremony because they have a man camp that is built on their territory, which is supposed to house 400 men, 400 foreign workers that are coming from all different parts of so-called Canada and externally, and they’re not from our community. And we have a huge rate of murdered and missing indigenous women, especially in the north here, where our territory lies. The highway that runs through our territory is called the “Highway of Tears” because of the number of murdered and missing indigenous women. And so, they have been bringing attention to that fact, that these man camps bring increased rates of violence, increased rates of murder against our women, increased rates of domestic abuse and violence and drug abuse and alcohol abuse in our communities. And that’s what they were performing there. I was not at the Unist’ot’en Camp. I wasn’t arrested. I was one of the ones that was arrested last year. And currently I’m seven months pregnant and wasn’t permitted to be out on our territory during the raids.

AMY GOODMAN: And can you talk about who owns Coastal GasLink? What is this project?

MOLLY WICKHAM: This is a project owned by TC Energy. They changed their name after last year. And they —

AMY GOODMAN: TC being TransCanada?

MOLLY WICKHAM: TransCanada, yeah. And so, they legally changed it to TC Energy. But this project has been ongoing for quite a while. They’ve had different investors, mostly Shell, Shell Canada. And they just received investment, new investment, by AIMCo, just recently, and that’s not quite finalized yet. But it’s very — they’re walking a tight line in terms of companies that want to invest in this project. LNG Canada is one of the biggest investments. And that’s the terminal that is looking to transport and liquefy the natural gas, or the fracked gas. And that project hasn’t gotten off the ground. And so, everybody talks about it as if it’s a done deal, but the actual terminal itself has not been built in Kitimat.

(Report continued in right column)

Question for this article

Indigenous peoples, Are they the true guardians of nature?

(Report continued from left column)

AMY GOODMAN: In Ontario, a Mohawk solidarity protest has shut down the Canadian National Railway for days, halting travel for tens of thousands of passengers. I want to turn to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responding to the solidarity protests.

PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU: We recognize the important democratic right, and we will always defend it, of peaceful protest. This is an important part of our democracy in Canada. But we are also a country of the rule of law, and we need to make sure those laws are respected. That is why I will be — I am encouraging all parties to dialogue to resolve this as quickly as possible.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose own offices were occupied. Pamela Palmater is also with us, the Mi’kmaq lawyer and member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick, chair of indigenous governance at Ryerson University. Can you talk about the solidarity protests that are taking place across Canada, including directly in the prime minister’s office?

PAMELA PALMATER: Yeah. Well, there’s lots —

AMY GOODMAN: And respond to what he said.

PAMELA PALMATER: Yeah, there’s lots of solidarity protests. I mean, it’s the Mohawk, the Haudenosaunee peoples shutting down rails. And there’s lots of people. There was youth and others standing in solidarity at various legislatures, preventing access, occupying minister’s offices, also shutting down ports. There are people shutting down bridges, shutting down highways. Because this is a repeat offense. And you can’t attack indigenous peoples in a worse way than sending in the Royal Canadian military — Royal Canadian —

AMY GOODMAN: Mounted Police.

PAMELA PALMATER: RCMP, yeah, Mounted Police. I can’t get away from the militarized version of them. And how they’re always so heavily armed, how we found out that they were authorized for, quote-unquote, “lethal overwatch,” to use as much violence as possible against the Wet’suwet’en people to literally remove them from their homes, outside of Canada’s Constitution, in breach of Canada’s so-called rule of law, in breach of Wet’suwet’en law, in breach of international law. And so, indigenous peoples all across the country feel this, because this has happened in Oka, this has happened in Miꞌkmaq territory with Elsipogtog. You know, it’s happened in Standing Rock. It’s happened all over Turtle Island. And so, when the RCMP attack the Wet’suwet’en, they also attack us. So we raised in solidarity. And it’s often categorized as an anti-pipeline protest, but I don’t think that’s accurate. It is for some, but for most of us it’s about protecting our indigenous sovereignty and our land rights, which are the two issues that have never been resolved, and they’re always trumped, they’re always breached, despite how many court cases or how many international protections we have.

And for me, I find it really upsetting that the prime minister, who is not even in Canada, who is actually traveling the world trying to campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, you know, in order to maintain peace and security worldwide, can’t do that or follow the rule of law here in Canada. And as you know, the RCMP denied media access to record what was happening, to be able to report on what was happening, removed media people, arrested some of the media. So, they’re reaching their own Constitution, their own Charter of Rights, yet they espouse the rule of law. And to my mind, what he’s really talking about is the law of rulers. They pick and choose which laws suit their economic and political purposes, while at the same time continuing to commit genocide against indigenous peoples, because we know from the national inquiry one of the ways to commit genocide against indigenous peoples is to forcibly remove them from their lands, which is something that is completely prohibited under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is now supposed to be law in B.C.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain how the Wet’suwet’en system of governance, how it has affected how hereditary chiefs have tried to engage with the governments of Canada and British Columbia on this pipeline issue? Pamela Palmater?

PAMELA PALMATER: Is that a question for Molly? Oh, sorry. Well, I don’t speak for the Wet’suwet’en, but what I know from talking to Wet’suwet’en peoples, like Molly and other hereditary leaders, is that, you know, this isn’t new. This is something that —

AMY GOODMAN: Well, let me put that question to Molly Wickham. Molly, if you can explain how the hereditary chiefs work and how that has affected their communication with both Canada and British Columbia and the company?

MOLLY WICKHAM: So, we have 13 house chiefs. We have five clans. And our house chiefs are the speakers on behalf of the clans collectively. We’ve maintained this system. Our laws are solidified and ratified in our feast hall, in our potlatch, which was banned by the federal government. And so, this is the way that we have always governed ourselves. This is the way that we are moving forward with this movement, is that it’s our traditional leadership and our hereditary system that are making the — speaking on behalf of our decision-makers, which are our clans and our chiefs.

And so, the company has actively undermined — the federal government and the provincial government have actively undermined our system of governance by going to elected band councils, which were imposed by the Indian Act and the federal government. And so, we are asserting ourselves, as we always have. We’ve never been — you know, we’ve always been on our territories. We’ve always occupied our territories. We’ve always used this system of governance and collective decision-making to say and discuss what is and what is not allowed on our territory. And we have very strong trespass laws. And Coastal GasLink, TC Energy, the province and the federal government are providing false authority and false permission, unauthorized permission, on lands that we hold full jurisdiction to, to make decisions on.

AMY GOODMAN: To settle this, can you pronounce, Molly Wickham, “Wet’suwet’en”? Can you pronounce your nation?

MOLLY WICKHAM: Yes. We are the Wet’suwet’en Nation, and I belong to the Gidimt’en Clan. It’s one of the five clans of the nation.

AMY GOODMAN: And are the raids over? And what is happening with the actual pipeline being built? And what are you demanding of the Canadian government?

MOLLY WICKHAM: We had three raids on Gidimt’en territory alone over the course of five days, and it resulted in 21 arrests of our camps, of our territory, 15 of which are moving forward with charges against our land defenders, heavily militarized police force coming in and removing everybody from the territory. And so, they were not successful in removing our entire camp at Gidimt’en at 44 kilometer, where the raid happened last year, so we still have people that are there. We have people that are moving back in. The tactical teams have left the area, but there’s still a huge RCMP presence and police presence on our territory. The chiefs have — they served an eviction notice on February 4th — or, January 4th to all Coastal GasLink employees on 22,000 square kilometers of our territory. And that eviction notice still stands. And that eviction notice will continue to be enforced by the Wet’suwet’en according to Wet’suwet’en law.

AMY GOODMAN: Molly Wickham, I want to thank you so much for being with us, land defender, chief, matriarch of the Gidimt’en Clan of Wet’suwet’en Nation. And Pamela Palmater, Mi’kmaq lawyer, member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick, thank you so much for joining us, as we continue to cover that struggle.

North America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Devoted to discovery: seven women scientists who have shaped our world

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article from UN Women

On International Day of Women and Girls in STEM [February 11], here are just seven women scientists you need to know and celebrate.


Left to right: Tu Youyou, Maryam Mirzakhani and Segenet Kelemu.

For centuries, women have made significant contributions to the field of science. They’ve discovered life-saving remedies, devised world-altering inventions, and produced far-reaching research, but in many cases their invaluable advances are minimized or neglected.

For too long, the STEM fields [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] have been shaped by gender biases that exclude women and girls, past, present, and future.

Unequal access to education, technologies, and leadership positions have steered countless bright female minds away from STEM careers and stalled their progress.

Despite the setbacks,creative and tenacious women and girls are pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge and seeking solutions to complex global challenges every day. Their work has changed the way we see our world, and their stories deserve to be told, and retold.

The scientific breakthroughs we get reflect those who make them. The gender gap in science, technology and innovation translates to missed talent, untapped discoveries and biased solutions.

Tu Youyou

Tu Youyou is a pharmaceutical chemist whose visionary research on malaria treatment is rooted in ancient Chinese medicine. Her discovery of artemisinin, a compound that quickly reduces the number of plasmodium parasites in the blood of patients with malaria, has saved millions of lives.

As a pharmacology student, Youyou learned to classify medicinal plants, extract active ingredients, and determine their chemical structures. Early in her career she spent years in the rainforests of South China, studying the devastating consequences of malaria and ancient medical texts about traditional Chinese treatments for the disease.

After years of research, Youyou and her team finally found a reference to sweet wormwood, which had been used in China around 400 AD to treat intermittent fevers, a symptom of malaria.
They extracted the active compound artemisinin, tested it, and published their findings. Today the World Health Organization recommends artemisinin combination therapy as the first line of defense against malaria.

‘“Every scientist dreams of doing something that can help the world,” says Youyou.

In 2015 she and two colleagues were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, making her the first Chinese Nobel laureate of this category and the first Chinese woman to receive a Nobel Prize in any category.

Youyou’s discovery continues to save lives every day. Click here to learn more about her extraordinary work.

Kiara Nirghin

“Ever since I was young, I was interested in asking questions about how the world worked,” says 19 year-old Kiara Nirghin, winner of 2016 Google Science Fair for creating a super absorbent polymer that can retain over 100 times its mass—potentially revolutionizing water conservation and sustaining crops through periods of drought. Best yet: it’s low-cost and biodegradable, made of orange peels and avocado skins.

Nirghin’s interest in water conservation stems from her experience of the 2015 drought in her home country of South Africa. She was struck to see water dams, once full to the brim, run dry, and she felt frustrated by the lack of solutions to the problem. “I always knew that I had to do something to solve the drought because nobody else was doing anything,” she said at the United Nations Observance of International Women’s Day 2019.

Nirghin’s discovery has the potential to reach far beyond her hometown; applied to agricultural fields, her super absorbent polymer could increase food security around the globe.

Nirghin continues her research and studies at the University of Stanford and advocates for young girls to pursue their STEM interests: “Getting girls involved in science should be on everyone’s agenda. I think that every idea fundamentally has the power to change our world.”

Lending her voice to UN Women’s I am Generation Equality campaign, Nirghin said: “We can encourage more women and girls to pursue STEM careers by showcasing more positive role models and other women’s success stories. Role models are so important because they are proof to young girls and aspiring scientists that they too can achieve their dreams.”

Learn more about Nirghin’s discovery and experience as a girl in STEM in an Instagram live interview alongside 2015 Google Science Fair winner Olivia Anne Hallisey.

Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson is a mathematician whose calculations have been essential to U.S. space exploration. As a NASA scientist, Johnson calculated trajectories, launch windows, and emergency return paths that flew the first U.S. astronauts into space and Earth’s orbit.

“I found myself very inquisitive. I wanted to know what was going on and why. It was important to me to learn why,” Johnson says of her drive to push the boundaries of possibility

(continued in right column)

Question for this article

Does the UN advance equality for women?

Prospects for progress in women’s equality, what are the short and long term prospects?

(continued from left column)

She was the first African-American woman to attend her graduate school and was one of few African-American women to work on the NASA space program. She faced discrimination because of her race and gender, but she knew she belonged on the team.
“They got used to me asking questions and being the only woman there,” she shares.

Today, at 101 years old, Johnson is a steadfast proponent of women and girls in STEM. “Girls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing,” she says.

She encourages those inspired by her pioneering career to pursue their own interests: “Find out what your dream is, and then work at it. Because if you like what you’re doing you will do well.”

Marie Curie

Marie Curie was a physicist and chemist whose radioactivity research laid the foundation for modern nuclear science, from X-rays to radiotherapy for treating cancer. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, and the first person to win two Nobel Prizes in different sciences.

Curie attended university in her native Poland and received her Doctorate degree from the University of Paris. She and her husband Pierre discovered two radioactive elements, polonium and radium, she founded a medical research institute in Warsaw, and she invented mobile X-ray units that helped more than one million wounded soldiers in World War I.

Curie was unaware of the risks her research posed. She eventually died of a radiation-related illness, but her discoveries continue to save lives today.

Encouraging us all to pursue our passions with curiosity and courage, Curie said, “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” Her legacy continues to inspire women and girls in STEM today.

Marcia Barbosa

Marcia Barbosa is a Brazilian physicist known for her research on the complex structures of the water molecule. “Water is weird,” says Barbosa, who thinks the anomalies of the molecule could help address freshwater shortage problems.

Barbosa has developed a series of models of water’s properties that may improve our understanding on a wide variety of topics, such as: how earthquakes occur, proteins fold, cleaner energy is generated, and diseases are treated. In 2013, she was awarded the L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science.

In addition to her remarkable research, Barbosa is committed to leveling the playing field for women and girls in STEM. She has organized a number of conferences on women in physics, authored papers on geographic and gender diversity inscience, and taught seminars that examined the lack of women in the field.

Be inspired by Barbosa’s activism and share you support for women and girls’ equal access to education and opportunity by using #WomenInScience.

Segenet Kelemu

Segenet Kelemu is a molecular plant pathologist whose cutting-edge research is dedicated to helping the world’s smallholder farmers grow more food and rise out of poverty.

“The drive of my life is to make a difference in people’s lives and to improve agriculture in Africa,” she shares.

Kelemu grew up in a poor farming family in Ethiopia and was the first woman from her region to get a college degree. “In my village, girls were married off at a very young age, but luckily I was too rebellious for anyone to arrange a marriage for me,” she laughs. “I was really determined to go to university.”

After years of studying and working abroad, Kelemu returned to Africa to lead a new generation of scientists. “I think investment in African agriculture, investment in African research is actually investment for mankind as a whole,” she says.

Kelemu was awarded a L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science in 2014, named one of the 100 most influential African women by Forbes Africa, and elected as a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences in 2015.

A woman of many firsts and a hero in her field, Kelemu inspires us to work with purpose and dedication for the causes we care about.

Maryam Mirzakhani

As a girl growing up in Tehran, Iran, Maryam Mirzakhani dreamed of becoming a writer. It wasn’t until her high school years that she discovered her talent for mathematics—the subject that captured her creativity and intellect for the rest of her life.

In 1994, Mirzakhani became the first female Iranian student to win the gold medal in the International Mathematical Olympiad, scoring 41 out of 42 points, and in 2015 she returned to win with a perfect score.

She earned her PhD from Harvard University and was a leading scholar on the dynamics and geometry of complex surfaces. In 2014, she became the first female winner of the Fields Medal, the most prestigious award in mathematics.

“The more I spent time on mathematics, the more excited I became,” Mirzakhani said of her research. She recalls loving “the excitement of discovery and enjoyment of understanding something new, the feeling of being on top of a hill, and having a clear view.”

Although Mirzakhani passed away in 2017, her invaluable contributions to the field of mathematics endure, and her trailblazing career has paved the way forward for many women mathematicians to come.

global, United Nations, WOMEN'S EQUALITY,

Building peace through Rotary

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article by David Wick in the Ashland Tidings

Being invited to speak at the Rotary World Peace Conference in Ontario, California, Jan. 17–18, was an energizing and thought-provoking way to begin the new year.

I am aware of the many challenges we all face in 2020, and I found participating in a room with 1,000 other people who are focused on peace and peace-building to be a real boost and reassurance that we are on the right track.

The mission of the Rotary World Peace Conference 2020, with 19 general session speakers, 153 breakout sessions, and 67 information and product booths, is to bring together experts with solutions to major issues that are occurring in our personal lives, homes, schools, businesses and communities around the world. The focus on peace in Rotary is growing significantly. This is contributing to the culture of peace evolution.

My presentation about the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission’s community engagement and our assistance with sheltering unhoused people in our community was well received. Throughout the conference I found a great deal of interest from participants in how ACPC is educating our community about the ideals and actions of the culture of peace. I was also asked how we work with Rotary and whether we have similar goals. The short answer is yes.

My return flight home to Ashland had a layover in Portland. Before I left, Al Jubitz, a Rotarian for 43 years and founder of the international Rotarian Action Group For Peace, asked me to stay on for several days in Portland to meet Fergal McCarthy, Rotary International Peace Programs manager from Evanston, Illinois, and to attend several Rotary Club meetings, including a special dinner celebration of the Portland area Rotary peace-builder clubs. I learned a great deal about the many ways and many levels Rotary can use its significant infrastructure and local-global reach for peace-building and developing the culture of peace.

Jubitz believes that Rotary is uniquely capable of turning the world toward nonviolent conflict resolution, ultimately leading to a world beyond war.

(continued in right column)

Question(s) related to this article:

What is Rotary doing for a culture of peace?

(continued from left column)

I have learned that one of the guiding principles of Rotary is the Four-Way Test, which is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for the things we think, say or do:
Is it the truth?
Is it fair to all concerned?

Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Al had heard about the closing ceremony of our Ashland Global Peace Conference (Sept. 21, 2019), where Irene Kai (ACPC co-founder) led a votive peace candle-lighting ceremony while reading the Peace Flame Invocation with John Lennon’s “Imagine” playing in the background. He requested the same be done for the conclusion of the Rotary peace-builder clubs dinner. I conducted this closing ceremony, and the experience was beautiful and inspiring. This will move on to other clubs and cities.

Inspired by Al, Barbara Gaughen-Muller, Rudy Westervelt and other Rotarians, Irene and I have become members of the Rotary E-Club of World Peace, and we meet weekly online via Zoom with other members far and wide. We are thus official Rotarians with the privilege of visiting any other Rotary Club in the world.

After bringing ACPC and Rotary peace-building missions and practices together, I wanted to learn more about our two Ashland Rotary clubs and their peace-focused activities. I also wanted to bring to them the opportunity be become peace-builder clubs, with the possible accompanying benefits.

I met with Alan Harper, president of Rotary Club of Ashland, and Chris Chambers, president of Rotary Club of Ashland Lithia Springs, and member Dan Fowler to learn more. Both clubs participate in many activities to create greater well-being, such as international student exchange, Ashland literacy for youth, programs for the growth of Ashland High School students (Interact Clubs) and SOU students (Rotaract Clubs), shelter boxes for disaster relief, vocational scholarships, summer camps, grants to community nonprofit organizations, and a student of the month ceremony. From the perspective of ACPC, these clubs are contributing to the culture of peace.

As Alan Harper said, “Rotary has been around for a long time and is still making positive change in the world. We are proud to work on both the local and global levels, especially as we engage with young people.”

This is peace-building through Rotary.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, North America

ICAN cities appeal : Support from Mayors for Peace

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

excerpts from the websites of ICAN cities and Don’t Bank on the Bomb

The ICAN cities appeal has received the support of Mayors for Peace, a network of 7675 cities in 163 countries around the world that support the solidarity of cities towards the total abolition of Nuclear Weapons, and ICAN partner organisation.


Cities that have adopted the appeal (click on image to enlarge)

Since August of last year, Mayors for Peace have been working in various ways to encourage all States to ratify the Nuclear Ban Treaty, and their efforts largely inspired the ICAN Cities Appeal. And while Mayors for Peace deferred to the judgement of each individual member on what approach is most effective in its country or region to reach our common goal, Mayors for Peace representatives were instrumental in achieving the endorsements of the Cities Appeal in both Fremantle and Granollers. We are grateful for their support and eager to see what further collaboration will bring.

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Question related to this article:

Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

(Continued from left column)

Cities across the planet are speaking up against nuclear weapons and calling on their governments to join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Nuclear weapons put all our cities – and everything we love in them – at risk. A nuclear bomb detonated in a city would immediately kill tens of thousands of people, and tens of thousands more would suffer horrific injuries and later die from radiation exposure. And according to the International Committee for the Red Cross, no state or organization would be equipped to deal with the catastrophic consequences of a nuclear bomb.

Is your city not on the list and would you like to see them step up and speak out against nuclear weapons? Then ask them to! The process is different in each city, but it all comes down to getting in touch with your local authorities or elected representatives and urge them to endorse the Cities Appeal. You can also get social! All over the world, people are supporting the campaign by sharing pictures and stories of the places they love in their cities. Join them using #ICanSave.

The appeal states:

“Our city/town is deeply concerned about the grave threat that nuclear weapons pose to communities throughout the world. We firmly believe that our residents have the right to live in a world free from this Threat. Any use of nuclear weapons, whether deliberate or accidental, would have catastrophic, far-reaching and long-lasting consequences for people and the environment. Therefore, we warmly welcome the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by the United Nations in 2017, and we call on our national government to join it.”

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global

Youth representatives speak out for Nuclear Disarmament at the NY City Hall

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from Peace Boat

On January 28, 2020, Peace Boat US attended the NY City Council hearing at the City Hall to support two legislations about nuclear disarmament. Held by the Committee on Governmental Operations, the hearing focused on two legislations that were sponsored by City Council member Daniel Dromm. RES0976-2019 will encourage council members to divest the New York City pension funds from industries that support nuclear weapons technologies and development and INT 1621-2019 which will make New York City a nuclear-weapon-free zone. Passing these legislations would not only be a city-wide decision but will also serve as a role model for a nuclear-free world.


Peace Boat US interns holding the Nobel Peace Prize 2017 won by ICAN, along with SDGs and signs for a nuclear free world on the steps of New York City Hall.

Many organizations and activists gathered on the stairs in front of the New York City Hall for a press conference to raise awareness for nuclear disarmament. ICAN representative Ray Acheson displayed the Nobel Peace Prize, a sign of hope and motivation for the activists, while calling for the city to step against nuclear weapons. She voiced support for a City Council resolution urging Comptroller Scott Stringer to divest pension funds from companies involved in nukes. Acheson is a member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.

Acheson and other community leaders decried investments detailed in a 2019 report from the International Disarmament Institute at Pace University, which found the city’s retirement funds have put $475 million in 19 “nuclear weapon producers.” The sum includes more than $180 million invested in Boeing and about $67 million in Honeywell International.

(Continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

(Continued from left column)

More than 60 people testified at the public hearing, including Peace Boat US Director Emilie McGlone and our youth delegation from Hollins University, sharing the testimonies of the survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, encouraging Council Member Fernando Cabrera to announce his support for divestment from nuclear weapons producing companies. 

Participants at the hearing expressed their love of the city and strong unwillingness to see New York, or any other place on the Earth, to be exposed to the threat of irreversible destruction that nuclear weapons poses. Nuclear weapons not only eliminate the capacity of human self-defense and mutual aid, but they also create a genocidal level of injury. But so far, an outrageous amount of money is being invested in nuclear weapons instead of more immediate and pressing issues like poverty, health care, and climate change. Nuclear disarmament is a local, national and international issue and thus, in order to rid the world of nuclear weapons, we need actions from all levels, not just words. “It is the will of conscience of humanity,” to educate of truth and create real security that nuclear weapons are incapable of. 

Director Emilie McGlone spoke on behalf of Peace Boat US and shared information about the nuclear disarmament initiatives that Peace Boat has been organizing onboard and in the ports of call. Since 2008, Peace Boat has invited Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to participate in the “Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World: Peace Boat Hibakusha Project.” This project is held annually onboard Peace Boat’s global voyages. As the average age of the Hibakusha is now more than 76 years old, the time remaining for them to directly share their experience and insights is very limited. 

The interns read testimonies on behalf of Hibakusha Shigeko Sasamori, Satsuko Thurlow, and Yasuaki Yamashita as well as activist Linda Chapman. The atomic bomb survivors’ testimonies described their personal experience and trauma suffered from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and urged the New York city council and committee members to support the total abolition of nuclear weapons and its development. The interns felt honored to deliver this important message to the hearing at the City Hall. It was an insightful experience for them to be part of this powerful and pivotal process. 

This post was created and published by Chin Wai Wong, Irina Conc, Leena Gurung, and Sajila Kanwal.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America

New York City hearings pave the way for nuclear weapons divestment

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from Move the Nuclear Weapons Money

On Tuesday last week (January 28), New York City Council held public hearings on two measures (draft Resolution 0976 and Initiative 1621) which if adopted would oblige the city to divest its city pension funds from the nuclear weapons industry and establish an advisory committee to develop city action to further implement its status as a nuclear-weapon-free zone.


Video of hearing

The draft measures were introduced to the council in June 2019 by Council members Daniel Dromm, Helen Rosenthal and Ben Kallos. Since then, New York peace, climate and disarmament activists have been campaigning to build endorsement from enough council members for the adoption of these two measures.

They have been supported by Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, a global campaign to cut nuclear weapons budgets, end investments in the nuclear weapons and fossil fuel industries and reallocate these budgets and investments to support peace, climate and sustainable development. (Click here for the written testimony of Move the Nuclear Weapons Money).

The campaign has included directed research, lobbying of councillors, public events & actions, and open letters in support such as the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money Open letter to New York City Council endorsed by representatives of over 20 New York peace, disarmament and climate action organizations.

‘City of New York pension funds should not be used to support any aspect of nuclear weapons production, plain and simple,’ Councillor Helen Rosenthal told a support action organised by the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign in front of City Hall in October 2019.

‘Helping to fund nuclear proliferation (whether directly via investments in weapons manufacturers, or indirectly via Citibank and other financial institutions with ties to weapons makers) runs contrary to what this city and our 300,000+ municipal workers stand for. Our teachers, fire fighters, social workers, and so many other public sector workers have devoted their careers to making life better for their fellow New Yorkers. We cannot in good conscience assist in underwriting the catastrophic loss of life and environmental ruin that would result from a nuclear conflict.’

Impact of NYC nuclear weapons divestment

New York City pensions have approximately $480 million invested in the nuclear weapons industry. The divestment of this amount would probably not make any financial impact on the weapons manufacturers.

However, it would serve as a positive example of an action that can be taken by cities and other investors to align their investments with their ethical values. And it would give support to federal initiatives to cut nuclear weapons budgets, such as the SANE Act introduced into the U.S. Senate by PNND Co-President Ed Markey and the Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act, introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives by PNND Member Eleanor Holmes-Norton.

The Hearings

The public hearings on Thursday were run jointly by Council member Daniel Dromm and Council member Fernando Cabrera, chair of the NYC Committee on Governmental Operations. They included testimony from a wide range of New Yorkers and civil society organisations, including from labour, education, academia, finance, health, religious and law sectors and from communities impacted by the production, testing and use of nuclear weapons. Witnesses stretched in age from 19-90. Click here for a video of the testimonies.

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Question related to this article:

Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

(Continued from left column)

As the public hearings opened on Thursday, the two measures were one-vote short of a veto-proof majority. By the end of the hearings, Council Member Fernando Cabrera had affirmed his support thus ensuring the required votes for adoption. As such, it looks fairly certain that the measures will be adopted.

New York Administration resistance addressed by Move the Nuclear Weapons Money

One unresolved issue from the hearings is which city department would oversee the implementation of the two measures. Another issue is what resources, including budget, would be required for implementation and from where these would come.

The New York City administration was represented by Ms Penny Abeywardena, New York City’s Commissioner for International Affairs, who argued that her department (the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs) had neither the resources nor the mandate to implement the measures if they were adopted. She argued that her department was responsible for building good working relations between NY City and the United Nations, educating youth about the United Nations, and reporting to the UN on NYC’s implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, but not to engage in national security policy or international disarmament which was the mandate for the Federal government – not the city.

Mr Jonathan Granoff, representing Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, responded in his oral testimony that the remit from these resolutions was not that the City engage in advocacy at the United Nations, but rather to implement obligations arising from the UN that are applicable to cities as well as to federal governments. This is exactly what her department is doing with respect to SDGs, and is what they have a mandate to do for nuclear disarmament.

‘The very first resolution of the United Nations, which was adopted by consensus, affirmed a universal commitment to abolish atomic weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, and this is further affirmed as an obligation in the Non-Proliferation Treaty ,’ said Mr Granoff, who is also President of Global Security Institute and an internationally respected lawyer.

Ms Abeywardena, in outlining her department’s commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, seems to be unaware that SDG 16 includes the obligation to implement such international law at all levels of government, including at city level. As such, the Commission on International Affairs does indeed have the mandate to implement these measures if and when they are adopted.’

With regard to the human resources required to implement the measures, Mr Granoff agreed with Ms Abeywardena that her commission and the City Council did not have much expertise on nuclear weapons. ‘This is exactly why an advisory committee is required – to provide that expertise, and that expertise is here in this room, and you can have our expertise for free. The only resource standing in the way of getting rid of nuclear weapons is emotional, spiritual and political will.’

Click here for the oral testimony of Mr Granoff.

Click here for the written testimony of Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, which includes experience of nuclear weapons divestment by cities, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other investors from around the world.

New York City and Mayors for Peace

The written testimony of Move the Nuclear Weapons Money included a proposal that a key action New York City should take in implementing the resolutions once adopted would be for them to join Mayors for Peace.
Jackie Cabassso, North America Representative for Mayors for Peace, in her oral testimony outlined some of the actions of Mayors for Peace – including introduction of nuclear disarmament resolutions that were adopted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Ms Cabasso reminded the City Council of the invitation from Mayors for Peace to New York to join, and urged she that they do so.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America

For Bob Marley’s 75th Birthday, Ziggy Marley Reflects On His Father’s Legacy

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from National Public Radio for Central California

It can be hard to reconcile Bob Marley’s massive and ongoing influence with the fact that the genre-defining reggae artist was just 36 when he died of cancer in 1981. Marley would have turned 75 this Thursday; to this day, his music accounts for nearly a quarter of the reggae listened to in the United States.


Redemption Song

Question for this article:

What place does music have in the peace movement?

To celebrate Marley’s 75th birthday, his estate is launching a year of events and releases, including concerts featuring Marley’s sons, Ziggy and Stephen, new music videos and reissues. NPR’s Scott Simon talked to Ziggy Marley about his own memories of his father and his music

Ziggy was 12 years old when his father died, and he says he most of all remembers his father as a generous person. “He’s a loving man; I think that is the most important thing,” he says.

True to the Marley tradition, Ziggy says that the classic Bob Marley message of peace, love and happiness still has a place in an often bleak world.

“The majority of people are good people, are peaceful people,” Marley says.

“But we’re just not loud, we’re just not on the TV, we’re not in the news — it’s just the people making war in the news.”

Listen to their full conversation in the player.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, global, Latin America,

The People of Colombia Are Cracking Up the Walls of War and Authoritarianism

. HUMAN RIGHTS .

An article by Justin Podar in Citizen Truth (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. )

The protests that started with the national strike called by Colombia’s central union on November 21 to protest pension reforms and the broken promises of the peace accords have persisted for two months and grown into a protest against the whole establishment. And the protests have continued into the new year and show no signs of stopping.

The end of the decade has seemed to bring an unstoppable march of the right wing in Latin America as elsewhere. The 2016 coup in Brazil  that ended with fascist Jair Bolsonaro in power, the  2019 coup in Bolivia, the continuously rolling coup in Venezuela, all showcased the ruthlessness of the U.S. in disposing of left-wing governments in the region.

Right-wing victories at the ballot box occurred in Chile in 2017 and in Colombia in 2018, where the electorate rejected the left-wing Gustavo Petro and embraced Iván Duque, a protege of the infamous former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez. But with the new wave of protests, the unstoppable right-wing juggernaut is facing many challenges.

In Chile, three months of protests, still going on, are demanding the resignation of President Sebastián Piñera and the reversal of a range of neoliberal policies. Even in the face of the police and army using live fire against protesters, they have not let up.

Ecuador is another peculiar case, in which Lenín Moreno ran as a candidate who would continue left-wing policies, but who promptly reversed course upon reaching power in 2017, including revoking the asylum of Julian Assange, who is now in a UK prison. Reopening drilling in the Amazon, opening a new U.S. airbase in the Galapagos, getting rid of taxes on the wealthy, and doing a new package of International Monetary Fund austerity measures was enough to spark a sustained protest. Moreno’s government was forced to negotiate with the protesters and has withdrawn some of the austerity measures.

In Haiti, protests have gone on for over a year. Sparked in July 2018 by a sharp increase in fuel prices (the same spark as for the Ecuador protests), they have expanded to call for the president’s resignation. In Haiti, as the protests have dragged on, some of the country’s elite families have joined the call for the president’s resignation, which will make it even more difficult to find a constitutional exit from the crisis.

In Colombia, after winning the runoff in 2018, President Duque may have felt that he had a mandate to enact right-wing policies, which in Colombia have usually included new war measures in addition to the usual austerity. But combining pension cuts with betraying the peace process was simply stealing too much from the future: Young people joined the November 21 protests in huge numbers (the lowest estimates are 250,000).

The sustained nature of the protests is striking. Rather than one-offs, the protests have been committed to staying on until change is won. We may hear more this year from post-coup Brazil and Bolivia as well.

At the heart of Colombia’s protest is the issue of war and peace. To say Colombians are war-weary is an understatement. The war there  that began (depending on how you date it) in 1948 or 1964 has provided the pretext for an unending assault  on people’s rights and dignities by the state. Afro-Colombians were displaced from their lands under cover of the war. Indigenous people were dispossessed. Unions were smeared as guerrilla fronts and their leaders assassinated. Peasants and their lands were fumigated with chemical warfare. Narcotraffickers set themselves up inside the military and intelligence organizations, creating the continent’s most extensive paramilitary apparatus. Politicians signed pacts with these paramilitary death squads. The war gave the establishment an excuse for the most depraved acts, notably the “false positives” in which the military murdered completely innocent people and dressed their corpses up as guerrillas to inflate their kill statistics.

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Questions related to this article:

How effective are mass protest marches?

(Article continued from left column)

Even though the guerrillas, with their kidnapping and too-frequent accidental killings of innocents, were never popular with the majority, Colombians have backed peace processes when given the chance. And Colombians didn’t look kindly at the major betrayals of peace processes in the past, like the one in the 1980s, when ex-guerrillas entering politics were assassinated by the thousand. From 2016, when the new peace accords were affirmed, until mid-2019, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) tallied  138 of their ex-guerrillas murdered; more than 700 other activists were killed in the same period, including more than 100 Indigenous people since Duque came to power in 2018.

At the end of August, a group of FARC members led by their former chief negotiator, Iván Márquez, announced that they were returning to the jungle and to the fight. They argued that the assassination of their members and the refusal of the government to comply with the other aspects of the accords demonstrated that there was no will for peace on the side of the government. Those FARCs who announced they were giving up on the accords were treated as having gone rogue: The government labeled them as criminal groups. Aerial bombardment (a war measure not normally the first recourse in dealing with “criminals”) quickly followed. When a bombing (also in August) by the Colombian air force of one of these rogue groups in Caquetá killed eight children and Duque labeled it “strategic, meticulous, impeccable, and rigorous,” he was greeted with much-deserved public revulsion. Duque was shaping up to deliver the same kind of war as always, only now under the flag of peace, its victims labeled criminals instead of guerrillas.

Eternal war does benefit some: those in the arms and security business especially, and those who want to commit crimes under the cover of war. But despite the many benefits of eternal war for the elite, normalcy also exerts a powerful draw. When Duque’s mentor Álvaro Uribe Vélez was elected president in 2002 and 2006, it was with the promise of normalcy—of peace—through decisive victory over the guerrillas. Instead, he delivered narco-paramilitarism, false positives, and, very nearly, regional wars with Ecuador and Venezuela.

One of Uribe’s early acts was to negotiate a peace agreement with the paramilitaries. Since the paramilitaries were state-backed, organized, and armed, this was a farcical negotiation of the government with itself. But when some of the paramilitary commanders began to speak publicly about their relationships with the state and multinational corporations, they found themselves deported to the U.S. At the time, the scandal was given a name—“para-política.” But to some of the investigators, it was better-termed “para-Uribismo.” Paramilitary commander Salvatore Mancuso—who had the temerity to talk about the Chiquita banana corporation  and who is apparently going to return to Colombia  sometime soon—is just the best-known name. Many others have found that being a paramilitary leads to a considerably shortened lifespan. Uribe, mayor of Medellín and governor of Antioquia during the heyday of the cartels, is named in numerous official documents as being close to both the narcotraffickers and the paramilitaries. The evidence keeps coming, as courts, now trying Uribe’s brother, keep getting closer to the man himself.

After the first round of “Uribismo,” it was time to try a peace process. The betrayal of that process, initiated in 2012, and the new president Duque’s promise of yet another decade of “Uribismo,” has been a motivating force of the recent protests.

Uribismo entangles endless war with austerity and inequality. In a recent Gallup poll, 52 percent of Colombians surveyed said the gap between rich and poor had increased in the past five years; 45 percent struggled to afford food in the previous 12 months; and 43 percent lacked money for shelter. The social forces that typically fight for social progress and equality—unions and left-wing political parties—have traditionally been demonized as proto-guerrillas. With the government declaring the war over—and with great fanfare—people want the freedom to make economic demands without being treated as civil war belligerents.

But when faced with the November 21 protests, the government went straight to the dirty war toolkit, murdering 18-year-old protester Dilan Cruz on November 25, imposing curfew, detaining more than 1,000 people, and creating “montajes,” the time-tested use of agents provocateurs to commit unpopular and illegal acts to provide a pretext for state repression. Government officials have also tried to claim that Venezuela and Russia (of course) were behind the protests.

Part of the dirty war toolkit is to negotiate, and the government has been doing so  with the National Strike Committee. No doubt hoping that the protests will exhaust themselves and any agreements can be quietly dropped as numbers dwindle, the government is dangling the possibility of dropping some austerity demands. Meanwhile, the negotiators are being threatened by paramilitary groups, and another mass grave of those murdered as military “false positives” has been unearthed. Uribismo has wormed its way into every structure of the state: Real change will have to be deep. By not giving up easily, the protesters have shown the way. These protests could be a crack in the walls of fascism that seem to have sprung up everywhere in the past decade.

This article was produced by Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

(Thank you to Alicia Cabezudo for sending this article to CPNN.)

HUMAN RIGHTS, Latin America

Iran: Educational program for parents was held by the First National Campaign to Prevent Child Abuse in IRAN

. HUMAN RIGHTS .

Sent to CPNN by Mr. Daniel Petrosiyan

Child abuse is one of the most ignored issues in IRAN. The First National Campaign to Prevent Child Abuse in IRAN (FNCPCA) has held street classes by Shahin Gavanji and Jahangir Gavanji for more than 15000 parents in 31 cities of Iran. In this plan they made small changes in teaching and the parents got familiar with many forms of child abuse and important points to prevent abuse and ways to help their child.

Some parents don’t have free time to attend in classes or conference about this delicate issues so,the purpose of this campaign was to use the time of parents in street and educate them between 5 to 10 minutes with the important ways to protect children and ask them to get involved with other parents in their communities.

(article continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

Rights of the child, How can they be promoted and protected?

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In these classes the important points to prevent child abuse were put in an A4 brochure and presented to parents in the main parks and square of each province. The content of brochures include the:

* Different types of child abuse

* Identifying signs of child abuse

* How to support children including psychological and emotional support

* What we should do when we are the witness of child abuse

We tried to explain all information in the short time and asked them to read the brochure,

The goals of this campaign:

* Face to face meetings with parents and creating supportive environments to empower parents and help them to access with the necessary information to raise and protect their children in a safe place.

* Calling attention to child abuse

* Helping communities to reduce child abuse

* Using the times of parents availability for them to learn important points about prevention of child abuse

HUMAN RIGHTS, South Asia

Bangladesh: Rohingya children get access to education

. HUMAN RIGHTS .

An article from Amnesty International

The Bangladesh government has announced it will offer schooling and skills training opportunities to Rohingya refugee children, two and a half years after they were forced to flee crimes against humanity in Myanmar.


Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have been campaigning for the nearly half a million Rohingya children in Bangladesh’s refugee camps to be allowed to enjoy their right to quality education, warning of the costs of a ‘lost generation’.

“This is an important and very positive commitment by the Bangladeshi government, allowing children to access schooling and chase their dreams for the future. They have lost two academic years already and cannot afford to lose any more time outside a classroom,” said Saad Hammadi, South Asia Campaigner at Amnesty International.

“It is important that access to appropriate, accredited and quality education be extended to all children in the Cox’s Bazar area, including Rohingya refugees and the host community. The international community has a key role to play here in ensuring the Bangladesh government has the resources it needs to realize this goal.”

Up to now, the Bangladesh government had resisted calls to grant Rohingya refugee children access to education, limiting learning opportunities to a few provisional learning centres that offer playtime and early primary school lessons scattered across the refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazar district. A few children who managed to gain access to local secondary schools were expelled on the government’s instructions.

Amid fears of either being forcibly returned to Myanmar or relocated offshore to the uninhabited silt isle of Bashan Char, these children have faced an uncertain future. Many were on the verge of completing their schooling when the Myanmar military attacked their villages, forcing them to flee to Bangladesh and throwing their lives into limbo.

Bangladesh’s Foreign Secretary, Masud bin Momen, told journalists today: “The government has felt the need to keep Rohingya childrens’ hope for the future alive with extending education and skills training to them.”

(article continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

Rights of the child, How can they be promoted and protected?

(article continued from left column)

Under the government’s plans, Rohingya refugee children will get school education up to the age of 14, through the provision of the Myanmar curriculum, and children older than 14 will get skills training. The schools will need adequately trained teachers who can use the Myanmar curriculum and teach in Burmese.

A pilot project led by UNICEF and the Bangladesh government will start off with the involvement of 10,000 children. The scheme will then be extended to other children, including those from the host community, who will be taught separately according to Bangladesh’s national curriculum.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, a binding treaty which Bangladesh has ratified, makes clear that education can and should ensure the development of the child’s personality, talents, mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential while enhancing respect for human rights and preparing them for a responsible life in a free society.

“The benefits of educating children cannot be underestimated, with the positive effects rippling through their communities and broader society. They can speak up for themselves, claim their rights, and lift themselves and others out of a difficult situation. But the costs of denying children education can be severe, including leaving them vulnerable to poverty and exploitation. We welcome this significant breakthrough and look forward to the government delivering on its commitments,” said Saad Hammadi.

Amnesty International’s campaign for the right to education

On World Refugee Day last year, Amnesty International held an ‘art camp’ for children in the refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar. Working with a group of Bangladeshi artists, they spent two days drawing sketches depicting their aspirations for the future – some of whom wanted to become teachers, doctors, pilots and nurses. In collaboration with UNICEF, the works of art were exhibited in Dhaka and later made their way to Washington DC, London and other major world cities.

In August 2019, Amnesty International published a briefing, “I don’t know what my future will be”: Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, detailing conditions in the camps, particularly for children who had not seen the inside of a class room since arriving in the camps in 2017.

Amnesty International also launched a global petition, calling on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to ensure children in the refugee camps and the host community are provided quality education. 

Two of Bangladesh’s best-known YouTube stars developed a hip-hop music video in collaboration with Amnesty International, echoing the petition’s call.

HUMAN RIGHTS, South Asia, Uncategorized