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.

International Criminal Court Offers Hope to Afghanistan’s Victims

. HUMAN RIGHTS .

An article by Patricia Gossman from Human Rights Watch (reprinted according to Creative Commons License)

Afghans who are skeptical about whether the US-Taliban agreement  and planned intra-Afghan peace talks  can deliver a better future, now have reason to believe that justice might not be squandered in the process. Today, judges on the International Criminal Court  (ICC) authorized the court’s prosecutor to investigate possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan since May 1, 2003. 


Afghan family leaves site of attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, December 22, 2016.  © 2016 Reuters

It was a rocky road to get here. In November 2017, after a more than 10-year analysis of the Afghanistan situation, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked the court to approve an investigation  into alleged crimes, including targeted attacks on civilians by the Taliban and other insurgents; torture, rape, and enforced disappearances by Afghan police and security forces; and torture by the United States military and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 

(Article continued in right column.)

Question related to this article:

Can the International Criminal Court provide justice?

(Article continued from left column.)

Despite acknowledging the court’s jurisdiction over the crimes and that Afghanistan was making no effort to seek accountability, an ICC pre-trial chamber rejected the investigation  as not being in the “interests of justice.” In the ruling, the judges noted that “changes within the relevant political landscape” – likely referring to the US-Taliban talks as well as the Trump administration’s public attacks  on the ICC – would make an investigation too difficult. 

But in today’s decision, the appeals chamber overruled the lower court’s interpretation of the court’s founding treaty – which had been widely criticized, including by Human Rights Watch  – and allowed the investigation to go ahead. 

Coming amidst genuine movement toward peace talks, the ruling is an important reminder of the costs of impunity. The Bonn Agreement, signed in December 2001 after the defeat of the Taliban government, failed to provide justice for rights violations by all sides and fueled further atrocities by allowing serious human rights abusers to maintain official and unofficial positions of power. 

Today’s decision reaffirms the ICC’s role as an institution that might change these dynamics by challenging entrenched impunity. It has offered Afghans who have long sought justice hope that they may one day see it realized.  

global, HUMAN RIGHTS, South Asia,

English bulletin March 1, 2020

. CITIES TAKE THE LEAD . .

Nuclear disarmament. New York City is becoming the most recent city to plan for divestment of their funds from the nuclear weapons industry. Public hearings in the city on January 28 heard from a wide range of speakers in favor of this action. Speakers included the global campaign, Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, Mayors for Peace, young peope from Peace Boat and a representrative from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. 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.

Hundreds of cities have joined the cities appeal of ICAN calling for the total abolition of nuclear weapons. 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.”

The Appeal is also supported by Mayors for Peace with its network of 7675 cities in 163 countries around the world. The most recent city to support the appeal, on January 27, was Oxford in the UK.

Sustainable development. UN Habitat recently sponsored the Tenth World Urban Forum to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by world leaders in 2015. At the meeting, which took place in Abu Dhabi from 8-13 February, the 13,000 participants  recognized that “an increasingly urbanized world is a ‘transformative force’ that can be harnessed and steered to boost sustainable development.” Among the organizations of cities taking part in the Forum was ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability), a network of cities in over 100 countries, with global experts in 22 offices.

At the World Urban Forum, the Global Parliament of Mayors presented a project called the Virtual Parliament, an online tool to connect with Mayors around the world, to debate and vote on political issues and to exchange experiences. For example, it has supported an action of the US congress of Mayors against gun violence.

Reducing international tensions. The organization of International Cities of Peace reports that the first City of Peace on the Korean peninsula was established February 5 near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Pocheon. A major celebration was held at City Hall where Mayor Park signed a Proclamation as a crowd of media, dignitaries, and over 100 citizens packed the hall. Pocheon has the potential to help make the dream of Reunification of South and North Korea come true in order to benefit citizens of both countries.

Urban violence. A new initiative, the Strong Cities Network (SCN), is working with a broad coalition to reduce urban violence. According to the SCN, “Today, 83% of deadly violence occurs outside of conflict zones, with the majority of this violence concentrated in cities.” Their report highlights successful initiatives in Glasgow (Scotland), Oakland (California), and cities in Ecuador.

Tackling urban violence is also the priority of the World Forum on Cities and Territories of Peace, which is a project of the United Cities and Local Governments. Previous forums were held in Madrid in 2017 and 2018. The next one will take place this coming October in Mexico City to construct “solutions that promote urban environments capable of eliminating expressions of violence.”

According to the Strong Cities Network,”Nation states have dominated the global political arena for centuries, but with more than half of the world’s population today residing in cities, it may be time to rethink who should be at the table when it comes to decisions on how we can reduce violence.” The same could be said with regard to nuclear disarmament, sustainable development and the reduction of international tensions.

          

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION



Strong Cities Network: Reducing violence is not impossible, and cities are proving this

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION



Peace promotion in the Sahel: The best award-winning radio productions

HUMAN RIGHTS




Amnesty International: New generation of young activists lead fight against worsening repression in Asia

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY



New York City hearings pave the way for nuclear weapons divestment

EDUCATION FOR PEACE



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

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT



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

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY


Switzerland: Lutheran World Federation marks World Interfaith Harmony Week

WOMEN’S EQUALITY



Devoted to discovery: seven women scientists who have shaped our world
d-democratic, d-disarmament, d-sustainable

Angola promotes the role of African women in government

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article from Prensa Latina

Angola will continue to promote the empowerment of women and their participation in the government, said the Minister of State for the Social Area, Carolina Cerqueira, at a meeting of the Pan-African Women’s Organization (PAWO) held today [Feb 28] in Windhoek, Namibia.

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for the original Spanish version)

Question for this article

Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

(Article continued from left column)

As the vice president of the PAWO, she also stressed that Angola encourages the role of women in promoting the culture of peace in the region, whether through institutional or civil society initiatives, as well as the creation of mechanisms to guarantee financial resources for the empowerment of the female sector.

According to the source, she also confirmed the solidarity and friendship that unite Angola and Namibia; a relationship, she said, of close ties throughout the history of the struggle for independence and economic and social development.

Angola’s presence in this congress, with a delegation composed of women from different sectors, including the diaspora, reflects the appreciation of Namibia and the importance that the country attaches to the PAWO, she said.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the five regions of the African continent and was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
 

Africa, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

New York City, April 24-26: World Conference & Mobilization – Abolish Nuclear Weapons; Resist and Reverse the Climate Crisis

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

Conference call from World Conference 2020

(note: Because of the COVID-19 epidemic, the conference has been canceled.)

Boston/Berlin/Tokyo: Leading nuclear disarmament, peace, climate and justice organizations announced plans today for The World Conference and international mobilization in New York City, April 24-26, 2020. The Conference and related events urging nuclear disarmament and action for climate sustainability and justice will be held on the eve of the critically important Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference and the 75th anniversary of the United States atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.


Image from Conference flyer: aftermath of Hiroshima

The Conference (April 24 & 25,) will bring together leaders, activists and A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha), from across the United States, Asia, Europe, and the Global South. It will be held at the prestigious Riverside Church, the site of Martin Luther King Jr’s seminal 1967 “Beyond Vietnam” speech. Plenary speakers will include leading international disarmament, peace, climate and justice movement leaders, and activists, scholars and diplomats from around the world.

On April 26, thousands will rally in Manhattan and march to the United Nations, where more than 10 million petition signatures urging the fulfilment of the NPT’s promise of the complete elimination of nuclear weapons will be presented to UN and NPT Review officials. The march will be led by Japanese and Korean Hibakusha, as well as by leaders of the assembled movements who understand the interconnected nature of their concerns and the imperative of building multi-issue movements.

(continued in right column)

Question(s) related to this article:

Global meetings, conferences, assemblies, What is the best way for delegates to interact afterwards?

(continued from left column)

Conference organizers stressed the urgent need to counter the increasing existential dangers of nuclear weapons/nuclear war, with many urging grassroots action to press the nuclear weapons states, as well as their own governments to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The conference will also provide a venue for movement building to reverse the climate crisis, and to challenge the deadly and debilitating consequences of rising income inequality, racism, nationalism and xenophobia.

Their Conference Call (see attached) states: “The World Conference will provide a unique opportunity for the world’s nuclear disarmament campaigns, allied movements and organizations, and diplomats committed to banning and eliminating nuclear weapons to amplify our abolition demands to the Review Conference. Making links to climate and social and economic justice movements offers a new opportunity to develop the alliances and intersectional movements we need to prevail.”


Initiating organization include: American Friends Service Committee, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK), Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security, Gensuikin (Japan Congress against A- & H- Bombs,) Gensuikyo (Japan Council against A- & H- Bombs), International Peace Bureau, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A- & H- Bomb Sufferers’ Organizations), Peace Action, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung – New York Office, and Western States Legal Foundation.

Speaking for the coalition, Joseph Gerson said: “It is a privilege to be working with such a diverse and international coalition to hammer home the need for disarmament, peace, and climate, economic, and racial justice,” says Joseph Gerson, conference organizer and disarmament coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee. “With increasing threats of war, rising tension between world powers, new arms races, rising seas of the climate crisis, and continued violence against people of color, we are organizing to create the foundation for real security for future generations.”

Read our call to action here.

Download our event flyer here.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global, North America,

Articles from 2019

Now displaying CPNN news in English during 2019.
Click on the numbered pages below to see all.
For articles from other years, click 2024 or 2023 or 2022 or 2021 or 2020 or 2018 or 2017 or 2016 or 2015 or prior to 2015.
For English articles by category or region, click Read on the menu above.

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Uncategorized

Nobel Women’s Initiative: A strategic approach to climate action

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

A strategic paper by the Nobel Women’s Initiative

Canada can be the global leader in promoting environmental and climate change action and gender equality. By taking a more integrated, feminist approach, the results of these related efforts can be amplified. This strategic approach has the potential to become a key pillar in addressing gender, climate and environmental priorities:

• There is a clear link between women’s rights and how women experience climate change. When women lack full and equal rights, they suffer disproportionately from negative climate change impacts. In turn, climate change negatively impacts women and their rights.

• Often, climate change policies and programs treat women as either victims or environmental saviours, rather than potent agents of change. This approach reinforces gender inequality by disregarding women’s agency or adding to their already heavy workloads.

• Local-level, women-led initiatives are having significant positive impacts on climate change action, and gender equality. Yet, global climate finance flows are being directed elsewhere. Even when donors fund local-level climate change projects, they rarely take gender equality issues into account. Funding that targets women’s rights and gender equality, meanwhile, tends to overlook women’s climate change adaptation efforts.

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Questions for this article

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

(continued from left column)

• Canada can bolster its leadership in environmental and climate action and gender equality, by strengthening its feminist approach. Canada should:

Fund:

Increase the proportion of climate change funding directed to projects led by women’s organizations. Prioritize partnerships with local women’s rights actors in calls for proposals for climate change projects. Provide core funding for women’s rights organizations and movements that address climate change impacts. Establish a dedicated Women’s Fund for Climate Adaptation.

Listen:

Facilitate, fund and support the participation of grassroots women’s organizations in climate policy and finance discussions. Advocate at international climate fora for the meaningful inclusion of women who are directly affected by climate change.

Build:

Strengthen the capacity of grassroots women leaders and their organizations to participate substantively in climate change fora and negotiations. Invest in movement-building of women’s rights actors on climate change. Fund consortiums that build the collective power of women’s rights and environmental justice movements.

Influence:

Advocate for a deeper understanding of climate change as a critical human rights issue at international fora. Socialize the importance of taking a feminist approach to tackling climate change with other governments and stakeholders. Use Canada’s influence to advocate for a more inclusive Green Climate Fund1.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

North America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Amnesty International: New generation of young activists lead fight against worsening repression in Asia

… . HUMAN RIGHTS … .

An article from Amnesty International

A wave of youth-led protests across Asia is defying escalating repression and a continent-wide crackdown on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, Amnesty International said today as it published its annual report on human rights in the region.

‘Human Rights in Asia-Pacific: A review of 2019’, which includes a detailed analysis of human rights developments in 25 countries and territories, describes how a new generation of activists are fighting back against brutal crackdowns on dissent, poisonous social media operations and widespread political censorship.

“2019 was a year of repression in Asia, but also of resistance. As governments across the continent attempt to uproot fundamental freedoms, people are fighting back – and young people are at the forefront of the struggle,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and South-East Asia and the Pacific.

“From students in Hong Kong leading a mass movement against growing Chinese encroachment, to students in India protesting against anti-Muslim policies; from Thailand’s young voters flocking to a new opposition party to Taiwan’s pro LGBTI-equality demonstrators. Online and offline, youth-led popular protests are challenging the established order.” 

Hong Kong’s defiance echoes across the world

China and India, Asia’s two largest powers, set the tone for repression across the region with their overt rejection of human rights. Beijing’s backing of an Extradition Bill for Hong Kong, giving the local government the power to extradite suspects to the mainland, ignited mass protests in the territory on an unprecedented scale.

Since June, Hong Kongers have regularly taken to the streets to demand accountability in the face of abusive policing tactics that have included the wanton use of tear gas, arbitrary arrests, physical assaults and abuses in detention. This struggle against the established order has been repeated all over the continent.

In India, millions decried a new law that discriminates against Muslims in a swell of peaceful demonstrations. In Indonesia, people rallied against parliament’s enactment of several laws that threatened public freedoms. In Afghanistan, marchers risked their safety to demand an end to the country’s long-running conflict. In Pakistan, the non-violent Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement defied state repression to mobilize against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.

Dissent met with crackdown

Peaceful protests and dissent were frequently met with retribution by the authorities.

Protesters faced arrest and jail in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand as repressive governments across South-East Asia took severe steps to silence their opponents and muzzle the media.

In Indonesia, several people were killed as police clamped down on protests with excessive force. Yet few steps were taken to hold anyone to account for the deaths; no police were arrested nor were any suspects identified. 

In Pakistan and Bangladesh, activists and journalists alike were targeted by draconian laws that restrict freedom of expression and punish dissent online.

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for a Spanish version of this article or here for a French version.)

Question(s) related to this article:

What is the state of human rights in the world today?

(Article continued from left column)

And in Hong Kong, police deployed reckless and indiscriminate tactics to quell peaceful protests, including torture in detention. Demands for a proper investigation into the conduct of the security forces have yet to be met.

“The authorities’ attempts to crush any form of criticism and suppress freedom of expression were as ruthless as they were predictable, with those daring to speak out against repressive governments often paying a high price,” said Biraj Patnaik, South Asia Director.

“Asians are told their aspirations for fairer societies are fantasies; that economic disparities can’t be addressed; that global warming is inexorable and natural catastrophes unavoidable. Most emphatically of all, they are told that challenging this narrative will not be tolerated,” said Biraj Patnaik.

Minorities feel the weight of intolerant nationalism

In India and China, the mere risk of insubordination in nominally autonomous areas has been enough to trigger the full force of the state, with minorities conveniently deemed a threat to “national security.”

In the Chinese province of Xinjiang, up to a million Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities have been forcibly detained in “de-radicalization” camps. 
 
Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, saw its special autonomous status revoked as authorities imposed a curfew, cut access to all communications and detained political leaders.

In Sri Lanka, where anti-Muslim violence erupted in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings, the election of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dimmed hopes of human rights progress. Another self-styled strongman, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, continued his murderous “war on drugs.”

Governments have tried to justify repression by demonizing their critics as pawns of “foreign forces” and to bolster that repression through sophisticated social media operations. Neither ASEAN nor SAARC, the two main regional bodies, tried to hold their members to account, even in the case of gross human rights violations.

It has been left to the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmar military in Rakhine State against the Rohingya in 2017. The court is also looking into the thousands of killings carried out by police in the Philippines, and hearing an appeal on its decision not to authorize an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Australia’s egregious offshore detention policies left refugees and asylum-seekers languishing in deteriorating physical and mental condition on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Manus, Papua New Guinea.

Progress against the odds

People speaking out against these atrocities were routinely punished, but their standing up made a difference. There were many examples where efforts to achieve human rights progress in Asia paid off.

In Taiwan, same-sex marriage became legal following tireless campaigning by activists. In Sri Lanka, lawyers and activists successfully campaigned against the resumption of executions.

Brunei was forced to backtrack on enforcing laws to make adultery and sex between men punishable by stoning, while former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak took the stand on corruption charges for the first time.  

The Pakistani government pledged to tackle climate change and air pollution, and two women were appointed as judges on the Maldivian Supreme Court for the first time.

And in Hong Kong, the power of protest forced the government to withdraw the Extradition Bill. Yet, with no accountability for months of abuses against demonstrators, the fight goes on.

“Protesters across Asia in 2019 were bloodied, but not broken. They were stifled, but not silenced. And together, they sent a message of defiance to the governments who continue to violate human rights in pursuit of tightening their grip on power,” said Nicholas Bequelin.

East Asia, HUMAN RIGHTS, South Asia,

Uruguay: Pépé Mujica, the ex-President of the Republic voluntarily the poorest in the world.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article from the website of Pierre Martial, writer and journalist (To share as widely as possible, my friends and friends! Sharing is already acting.)

“The President’s house? It’s over there, at the very end of the dirt road! You see? It is the small shack with a green zinc roof and with chickens in front! “.

In the depths of this poor suburb of Montevideo, at Paso de la Arena, everyone knows José Mujica, affectionately nicknamed, at more than 84 years old, “Pépé Mujica“.


Copyright D.R.

Firstly, because he has lived in this modest 45 square meter farmhouse for over 20 years with his wife Lucia and his disabled dog, on three legs, Manuela.

Then, because he was President of the Republic of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015! And that he never stopped living in this modest house, even when he was the head of the nation!

Pépé Mujica was born into a family of poor peasants,, and he always wanted to stay in the midst of the most disadvantaged. He got involved and campaigned from a young age,precisely to defend the poorest and the oppressed!

So no question of abandoning them, even when he was President, for the gold of the Republic and the Presidential Palace, too luxurious for his taste!

It was at the age of 15, in 1950, that young José, orphaned by a father at 6, began to take action against misery and injustice.

In the 1960s, faced with the rise of paramilitary groups who wanted to take the law into their own hands and take power in his country with forceful attacks, kidnappings and assassinations, José Mujica was one of the founders, along with Raoul Sendic, of the emblematic group of Tupamaros. A kind of “Robin Hood” of Uruguay, the Tupamaros had given themselves the mission of protecting the people and containing the rise of the paramilitaries.

In 1973, when the military dictatorship raged, he was taken “prisoner-hostage” by the junta and was imprisoned in unsustainable conditions.

Tortured every day, put in total isolation, he was detained for more than 10 years, including 2 years at the bottom of a well. He came out in 1985, half crazy, a madness and a terrifying experience of which became, paradoxically, his greatest strength.

“It’s strange, he confides today, but a person sometimes learns more from difficult times than moments of happiness. These dark years were horrible and yet they taught me a lot”

(Article continued in the column on the right)

(Click here for the original French version of this article.)

Questions related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

(Article continued from the column on the left)

A silence, then: “For example, I can no longer hate. Do you know the luxury of not hating?”

As soon as he left prison, the ex-Tuparamo resumed fighting, a more peaceful fight this time but still as tireless and uncompromising.

In 1994, he became a deputy. In 1999, he was elected senator and was re-elected to the same office in 2004. While continuing to work as a farmer.

In 2010, consecrating his life to the service of his people, he was elected President of the Republic.

No more farmhouse and hard agricultural work? And welcome to presidential comfort, official cars, the luxurious Presidential Palace and the very comfortable emoluments of the Republic?

Not at all! Never! Not if you know Pépé Mujica!

The day after his election, he announced – to the chagrin of the Protocol – that it was out of the question for him to live in the Presidential Palace. Too rich for him! He would stay in his little house, full stop! But he reassured the world: the presidential residence would continue to serve, he committed to it. In 2012, for example, during the terrible cold wave that hit the country, he had it registered as a refuge for the homeless!

Second, he refused all official cars that were imposed on him. His Ladybug, blue bought in 1987, was more than enough for him, he said.

And thirdly, he decided to redistribute 90% of his monthly salary as President to charitable organizations, declaring himself well-off to keep the remaining 10%, the equivalent of 900 euros, the average salary in Uruguay.

It was on March 1, 2015 that Pepe Mujica ended his presidential functions. Not that he had had enough! At 80, he is still in great shape! Nothing beats the love of family, friends and dogs to keep you young! But the Constitution of Uruguay only allows one 5-year presidential term.

Pépé Mujica therefore returned, serene and good-natured, to his farmhouse, his flowers and his garden, in the depths of his suburbs and alongside his friends.

Is he satisfied with what he has done, with the example he has been able to set? He rolls his eyes.

“I did what I could … I have dedicated a large part of my life to trying to improve the social condition of the world in which I was born. I had a few disappointments, many injuries, a few years in prison …. Finally, the routine for someone who wants to change the world … “

His projects?

“Continue to live as long as possible! It is a miracle that I am still alive after all that I have experienced! And then read too, read a lot! I spent more than 10 years in a dungeon including 7 without being able to read. I’m late to catch up! ”

We wish you many more years of life and reading, Pépé Mujica, and we hug you with emotion.

You are for me – for all of us – much more than an example …

You give us hope!

(Thanks to Kiki Chauvin Adams who sent this article to CPNN.)

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America

Mexico: Culture of peace in higher education

. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION .

An article by Jaime Valls Esponda in El Universal

On February 17, the proposal of the Comprehensive Culture of Peace Plan in the Higher Education Institutions was presented at the headquarters of the ANUIES [National Association of Universities and Institutions of Higher Education]. In addition to the subject of peace, it contains measures for the prevention of addictions and seeks to contribute to the development of young people in school and social settings.

Statistics indicate a deterioration of values ​​that has increased insecurity, which especially affects the most vulnerable sectors of the population: women, the elderly , children and low-income households in general. Without values, society loses cohesion and the social fabric is eroded. What is needed is a culture of peace that returns stability throughout the nation and ensures harmonious coexistence. An active contribution of higher education institutions is needed; they are spaces for the socialization of essential principles of well-being and peace. They are the ideal environment for the flourishing of the rule of law, inclusive justice and citizenship.

(continued in right column)

(Click here for the original Spanish version of this article.)

Question for this article:

Is there progress towards a culture of peace in Mexico?

Where is peace education taking place?

(continued from left column)

The proposal, which is the result of the work of the academics and specialists of the associated institutions, will be submitted to the ANUIES National Council for consideration next March. One of the main actions foreseen is the figure of Peace Agents formed by university students and citizens, in order to strengthen the social fabric in their environment. Similarly, it is proposed to establish Specialized Care Centers to delineate peace programs with a social sense. The “Together for Peace” campaign will be supported with the participation of academics and students; the opening of Clubs for peace, the implementation of health and wellness projects with drug use prevention measures and the offer of courses, workshops and materials related to addictions.

Likewise, it was agreed to integrate an inter-institutional group of specialists and experts from the Center for Documentation, Research and Prospect for Security, Justice and Peace of ANUIES. They are to develop programs and indicators on the subject. It was proposed to create, in the medium term, a School of thought for peace, with an educational offer focused on social transformation. Finally, it was recognized that since society is central to the construction of peace, there is need for an active change that involves the joint management of citizenship, family and school.

ANUIES calls for the creation of a National Network of Specialists and Experts in the Criminal Justice System. One of its tasks should be the promotion of a culture of peace in the justice system in all regions of the country.

Higher education institutions, in the full exercise of their social responsibility, expressed in teaching, research, innovation and culture, should recognize the demands of society and contribute to solving the problems of the nation. Higher education institutions are sensitive and in solidarity with the causes of a culture of peace, social justice and full respect for human rights.

Jaime Valls Esponda is the Executive Secretary General of ANUIES.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Strong Cities Network: Reducing violence is not impossible, and cities are proving this

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

Article by Joe Downy from the Strong Cities Network

Today, 83% of deadly violence occurs outside of conflict zones, with the majority of this violence concentrated in cities. Nation states have dominated the global political arena for centuries, but with more than half of the world’s population today residing in cities, it may be time to rethink who should be at the table when it comes to decisions on how we can reduce violence.


Video of Glasgow program

Recently, a coalition  of cities and organisations, including the Strong Cities Network, have pledged action to help halve urban violence by 2030, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 16.1 to ‘significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere’. Such a goal is undoubtedly ambitious, but cities hold a number of advantages  over nations that may help to tip the balance in their favour. The gathering momentum of new city-based alliances such as C40 Cities, the Global Parliament of Mayors, United Cities and Local Governments, and the Strong Cities Network is proof of a shift away from solely state-dominated approaches to global issues to new, collaborative forms of decision-making between the national and the local level.

The challenge of reducing urban violence is not just limited to the act itself, but also in overcoming our perception that violence is inevitable. When violence is normalised in this way, it is seen as an inescapable part of everyday life which stymies any attempts to radically reduce it.

This is far from the truth. Cities all over the world have pioneered responses to their own complex and contextualised problems of localised violence, and there are important lessons and insights to be learned from one another.

(Continued in right column)

Questions for this article:

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

(Continued from left column)

In the early 2000s in Glasgow, Scotland, knife crime and homicide rates were double those of the national level, and Scotland itself was regarded among the most violent countries in the developed world. To help stem this, the city’s leadership established a specialist Violence Reduction Unit, which coordinated community outreach, educational and employment initiatives in the neighbourhoods most affected by violence. Under the motto ‘violence is preventable, not inevitable’, the city’s homicide rate halved  within ten years, and the numbers continue to drop. Lessons learned from this programme are now being applied in London, which established its own Violence Reduction Unit last year.

In collaboration with local governments, Ecuador took a radical step in the way it was dealing with gangs in 2007 – looking beyond solely punitive approaches and starting to engage with them through new and innovative ways. Working relationships  were established between gangs, law enforcement and local government, and members were encouraged to become positive community leaders. Grants were set up and incentives put in place, and gangs could apply for state funding if they fulfilled certain requirements to develop their own initiatives. This saw organic and unprompted partnerships develop between community actors and gang members, such as the Catholic University of Quito, which sponsored 15 gang members to study to become nurses. A decade later, homicide rates in the cities of San Domingo, Quito and Guayaquil had plummeted to a third of what they had been in the early 2000s.

In Oakland, California, which once ranked among America’s most dangerous cities, homicide rates have fallen by almost 50%  since 2012, a drop which bucked the national trend in the same period, which has seen sharp increases in homicides in many major U.S. cities. This remarkable change has been attributed largely to collaboration  between law enforcement, community actors and civil society. It was recognised early on that a law enforcement-led approach was not enough by itself, and was both financially unsustainable and sent the wrong message to the communities it was seeking to serve. Instead, by engaging with the wealth of community actors and violence prevention groups such as Caught in the Crossfire, the Khadafy Washington Project, and Cure Violence, whole-of-society and preventative approaches to tackling the issue were allowed to thrive. One of the most impressive examples of this was seen in the local ‘Ceasefire’ policing programme, which saw local actors collaborate with law enforcement to create a tailored strategy.

All of these approaches display the role that cities areand should be playing in helping to reduce violence. By engaging with communities, forming strategic partnerships with civil society, local organisations, businesses and their national counterparts, and treating violence as a preventable phenomenon, cities are setting the examples for nations to follow.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, global