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.

Different religions come together to pray for peace in Peru

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article in El Comercio (translation by CPNN)

The Interreligious Council of Peru has released a video where representatives of various faiths share a prayer for peace in the country. The participants asked for harmony and a favorable future for all Peruvians.



the video – click to play

Raquel Gago, deputy executive secretary of the Interreligious Council of Peru, pointed out that this organization is a space for meeting, dialogue and fraternity among the religious communities of Peru.

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

Question related to this article:
 

How can different faiths work together for understanding and harmony?

“This union of creeds encourages and promotes action for justice, peace, solidarity and care for creation,” she mentions at the beginning of the video.

“May this prayer serve to reflect on the importance of developing a culture of peace, justice and integrity,” she adds.

This prayer was attended by high representatives of the Brahma Kumaris Spiritual Organization, the Soto Zen Peru Buddhist Community, the Islamic Association of Peru, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Orthodox Church of Antioquia, the Interfaith Network of Women of Faith and Spirituality .

Also participating were the Evangelical Presbyteran and Reformed Church in Peru, the Lutheran Church of Peru, the Anglican Church of Peru, the National Union of Evangelical Christian Churches of Peru, the Jewish Association of Peru and the Archbishop of Arequipa, Monsignor Piñeiro, among others.

Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Mediation Forum of the Vice-Government of Ceará promotes discussion for a culture of peace

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article from Ceará, Governo de Estado (translation by CPNN)

The Vice-Government of Ceará, through its State Forum of Mediation, Restorative Justice and Culture of Peace, promoted a debate this Tuesday morning (June 29) on the use of laboratories, meetings and other peaceful devices to improve the society. The event was held remotely and attended by around 50 people, who were able to participate, ask questions and have a voice in the discussion.


Among those present at the meeting were: Cristiane Holanda, coordinator of the Restorative Justice and Mediation Coordination of the Vice-Government of Ceará; Cida Medeiros, journalist and facilitator and lawyer; and Luis Zubcov, scholar of peace dynamics.

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(Click here for the article in Portuguese)

Questions for this article:

The culture of peace at a regional level, Does it have advantages compared to a city level?

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Cristiane Holanda commented on the importance of the Forum and its monthly meetings. “Our forum tries to be democratic, participatory. We want to creat together a new model of living, being, within a society that is ethically just.”

In his speech, Luis Zubcov highlighted the need for more participative listeners in everyday interaction. “The active role of the listener is very important. Someone who is not just a passive observer, but an active one who can make a difference within the content they receive. The word is 50% of those who speak and 50% of those who listen.”

State Mediation Forum

The State Forum of Mediation acts as a partner of the Pact for a Ceará Pacific and is composed of 35 bodies and institutions, among which are: Public Ministry (MPCE), General Public Defender of Ceará, OAB, Court of Justice (TJCE), in addition of the Vice-Governor’s Office. Meetings take place every month.

Institutions wishing to participate in the Forum should contact the Vice-Governor’s Mediation Coordination at (85) 3459.6116.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

Experts identify 3 pillars for the «reunification» of Bolivians

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An article by Nancy Castro in eju! (translation by CPNN)

The deactivation of “polarizing discourses” and the creation of an effective space for peace through the media is one of the three conclusions of the “International Seminar of Experiences for the Encounter”, organized by the Vice-Presidency of the State, United Nations and International Cooperation. The event, which took place on June 22 and 29, set out the objective of generating spaces for dialogue to strengthen peaceful coexistence in diversity.

The Vice President of the State, David Choquehuanca, in the closing speech, referred to the crucial role played by the media. “The role that the media has to play is very important, some perceptions have been gathered that the media, in some cases, like to feed the confrontation, they are looking for contradictions,” said Choquehuanca.

The other two pillars are “political will” and an “inclusive and participatory” agenda.

Regarding the first pillar, it was highlighted that the role of the government and civil society organizations is fundamental to promote a dialogue beyond differences. “Political will is essential for the construction of spaces for dialogue. We must become aware that the reunification is not just an event, but a sustained process over time, which requires the decided commitment of the leaders, “concluded one of the working groups.

The second pillar aims to open participatory meetings with an agenda that reflects the diversity of the country focused on common challenges, such as the fight against discrimination, inequalities and the eradication of violence. “The challenge is to avoid the monopolization of the debate in political spaces.”

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

Question related to this article:

How can we develop the institutional framework for a culture of peace?

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Regarding the third pillar, the experts emphasized finding a favorable context for dialogue, “deactivating polarizing discourses”, and giving more space to voices that seek to build and achieve a peaceful equilibrium, a task for which the media is partly responsible.

“It is important to understand that our problems are deep and that working on these issues requires first, deactivating the feeling of threat to enable our voices,” concluded another of the work sessions.

Background.

On Tuesday, June 22, the first was held with international participants including Rigoberta Menchú Tum, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who explained that peace is not built only in meetings, but that it is necessary to build a culture of peace.

For her part, Vera Grabe, politician, ex-guerrilla commander and member of the Observatory for Peace in Colombia, stressed that peace is more than a speech, a policy, a matter for politicians, since what is really required is to dismantle violence in our practices.

There was also the participation of Carlos Borth, who spoke about the political agreements for the institutional reform of 1993, Griselda Torrico who spoke about the conflict of boundaries between the communities of Coroma and Quillacas and Carlos Romero, who related his experience around of the constituent agreements that made a new Political Constitution viable in 2009.

The participants presented their conclusions based on the experiences of national and international experts, which were received by Choquehuanca and Susana Sottoli, resident coordinator of the United Nations System in Bolivia, to build a proposal for a “National Process for the Reunification”.

Choquehuanca in his intervention made it clear that the representatives of international organizations and ambassadors of the countries are not there to please the Government and the Bolivian people. Neither is the central level of the State there to please these foreign representations and legations.

“We have become aware that we can contribute, from our embassies, as people, as professionals, as representatives or as authorities to build unity, to build brotherhood, to contribute to the construction of peace.”

During the post-electoral conflicts of 2019, members of the citizen platforms that denounced electoral fraud decided to peacefully take over state radio and television. At that time people accused these media of lying, misinforming and fueling the confrontation.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

Women from several African countries trained in the culture of peace

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article from Abidjan News (translation by CPNN)

Delegations of women from several African countries have been participating, since Tuesday, June 29, 2021, in Yamoussoukro, in a training workshop in peace education and socioeconomic empowerment. The workshop is organized by the Houphouët-Boigny foundation for the search for peace, the conference of ministers of youth and sports of the Francophonie (CONFEJES) and the organization of the Islamic world for education, science and culture (ICESCO).


Dr Diénéba Doumbia at the microphone

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(Click here for the original in French)

Questions for this article

Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

The Houghouët-Boigny Foundation of Yamoussoukro: what is its contribution to the culture of peace?

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“This workshop is an opportunity for training, and also a space for sharing experiences and actions carried out in our countries”, noted the secretary general of the Houphouët-Boigny Foundation, Prof. Jean-Noël Loucou. He affirmed the determination of his institution to follow it up “to increase efficiency on the ground.”

The training is provided by the regional center for education and the culture of peace (CRECP), a structure housed at the Houphouët-Boigny foundation with the vocation of strengthening the capacities of educational executives and others in the political, administrative and economic spheres of French-speaking African states that are members of ICESCO.

CRECP has thus already trained educational executives, communication professionals, human rights advocates and youth associations, it was recalled.

“Women cannot remain on the sidelines of our priorities. For this, we need to take into account the issue of gender and education for a culture of peace as a new and promising theme allowing everyone to truly play the role of mediators, educators, actors. of peace and reconcilers,” underlined the director of CRECP, Dr Diénéba Doumbia.

Africa, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Mentoring: around fifty women at the WANEP-GUINEA school

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article by Abdoulaye Barry in RTG Koloma (translation by CPNN)

In order to allow women to further develop the culture of peace, the Wanep-Guinea network through its project called “Mentoring of Young Women” under funding from USAID, opened a training workshop on Tuesday, June 29, 2021with the participation of about fifty women. The training enables a sharing of experiences between women with strong experience in their professional career and young women at the start of their careers.

According to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wanep-Guinea, Joseph Togna Doré, “the development of a mentoring process for the promotion of young women in our country through meetings for exchange and sharing of experience is at the heart of the major concerns of the Wanep-Guinea network and its member organizations. It is for this reason that we initiated this project which was funded by USAID with our partners the CRS in order to allow the communities of Conakry and those of Upper Guinea to develop the culture of peace. The goal is to develop greater prosperity and coherent development for these young women, ”said the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Wanep-Guinea network.

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Questions for this article

Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

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While inviting the participants to redouble their efforts for a Guinea of ​​peace and prosperity, the President of the Board of Directors of WANEP-GUINEE “hopes that this day of training” will lead to the commitment of each of the participants for the achievement of the expected results of this project ”.

Coming to share her experiences with these young women, Madame Fatou Souaré ANN Executive Director of the NGO Wafrica-Guinée (Femmes Afriques) finds this training very important. ”It will allow us the elders to make available to young women our experiences and knowledge. It’s a sharing of experience, because there are girls among you who have knowledge that our elders do not know being of the digital generation. This workshop will allow you to go through paths where you will not be faced with great difficulties like us. We are here to tell you to take advantage of this training. And you invite each of you to find a mentor who is a guide. People to whom you must go and who will guide you on the right path. We who share our experiences with you today are always looking for mentors to guide us and assist us in our various actions.”

For Batouly Kaba Deputy National Director of the Ministry of Women’s Rights and Empowerment, “The question of the protection and promotion of the rights of young women, in the management, prevention and consolidation of peace in professional bodies is one of the government’s priorities ”.

This is why, she adds. “It is undeniable that our country will continue to be sick if we do not change the paradigm of excluding women who make up 52% ​​of the population. The objectives of the project are noble and perfectly match those of the department of women’s rights issues.”

(Click here for the original in French)

Africa, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Nigeria: Osun, Kaduna First Ladies emerge leaders of governors’ wives forum

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article from Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti in The Sun


The First Ladies of Osun and Kaduna States, Mrs Kafayat Oyetola and Mrs Hadiza El-Rufai have been elected chairpersons of the Southern Governors’ Wives Forum and Northern Governors’ Wives Forum respectively.

Their election was contained in a Statement signed by the Wife of the Governor of Ekiti State and Chairperson of the Nigerian Governors’ Wives Forum (NGWF), Erelu Bisi Fayemi and made available to journalists on Thursday.

Erelu Fayemi congratulated the duo, stressing that she was optimistic that their emergence as new leaders will further help the Forum to work together “in solidarity across boundaries” in addressing issues of mutual concerns.

Mrs Fayemi who noted that the Wives of Governors have always played discreet but active roles in providing support for their husbands, stated that members of the Forum can contribute in their little ways towards the development needs of the country.

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Questions for this article

Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

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She noted that the Forum had succeeded in ensuring increased participation of women in governance, building a culture of peace in communities across the country and advocating access to education for girls.

The Ekiti State First Lady identified other efforts of the Forum to include provision of women healthcare needs, economic empowerment, advocating against drug abuse and responding to curb sexual and gender-based violence.

She commended the First Lady, Dr Aisha Buhari for all her encouragement and support for the works handled by the Governors’ Wives.

“On behalf of the Nigerian Governors’ Wives Forum, I hereby congratulate Mrs Kafayat Oyetola, First Lady of Osun State, the newly elected Chair of the Southern Governors’ Wives Forum and Mrs Hadiza El-Rufai, First Lady of Kaduna State and new Chair of the Northern Governors’ Wives Forum. Wives of Nigerian Governors have always played a discreet, yet active role to support the efforts of their husbands. By working together in solidarity across boundaries, we can address issues of mutual concern to us.”

“Through our collective work in responding to sexual and gender-based violence, access to education for girls, women’s healthcare needs, economic empowerment of women, advocacy against drug abuse, increased numbers of women in public life and building a culture of peace in our communities, we can contribute in our own small way towards the development needs of our country. I also thank HE (Dr) Aisha Buhari, First Lady Federal Republic of Nigeria, for all her encouragement and support for the work that we do as Governors’ Wives”, she said.

Africa, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

African women propose a 10-year plan for gender equality in Africa at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

A press release from APO reprinted by Africa Newsroom

The proposed Kinshasa Declaration, launched today at the Generation Equality Forum [Paris, July 2], outlines concrete actions for African Union member countries to advance gender equality in Africa by 2030; The proposed Kinshasa Declaration calls for doubling the number of women’s organizations that can access funds from national economic stimulus programs and external funding.

A delegation of African women led by Her Excellency Madame Gisèle Ndaya, Minister of Gender, Family and Children of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madame Julienne Lusenge, gender expert on the Panel of Experts in charge of accompanying President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo during his presidency of the African Union for 2021/2022 shared the proposed Kinshasa Declaration on the sidelines of the Generation Equality Forum (bit.ly/3wdRHDZ)  being held in Paris from June 30 to July 2.

The proposed Kinshasa Declaration, drafted during the Conference on Gender Equality held in Kinshasa on June 10, is the result of a large mobilization of pan-African groups including youth, civil society, researchers, government officials, activists and international organizations. One of the main objectives of the conference was to show the collective capacity of the participants and organizers  to foster a more just world, where gender equality is no longer a struggle but a reality for future generations.

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(Click here for a version in French)

Questions for this article

Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

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The proposed Kinshasa Declaration builds on existing texts on gender equality in Africa and a series of new recommendations. Its goal is to encourage the member states of the African Union to expand their actions in favor of gender equality and to put in place strong systems to evaluate progress.

For the Minister of Gender, Family and Children of the DRC, Ms. Gisèle Ndaya, this declaration offers concrete proposals for the member countries of the African Union. She highlighted that “one of the key recommendations of the declaration is to campaign for a quota system of at least 40% of women, including 10% of young women under 35 years of age in national government bodies, and in elective and nominative positions, by 2030, in order to increase the rate of women’s participation in decision-making bodies on the African continent. ”

Julienne Lusenge, member of the Panel of Experts in charge of accompanying the DRC during its chairmanship of the African Union for the year 2021/2022 said: “This proposed declaration makes a crucial contribution to the AU Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment by proposing concrete actions and tools for measuring success towards gender equality in Africa by 2030. Through this proposed Declaration, we call for, among other measures, the development and strengthening of human rights and culture of peace curricula in at least 50% of primary and secondary schools, including the integration of age-appropriate information on existing laws, conventions, and action plans with a focus on gender equality and positive masculinity by 2030. ”

According to the delegation, the proposed Kinshasa Declaration will be shared with African Union stakeholders, member states, civil society, international organizations and relevant bodies within African governments after the Generation Equality Forum. The objective is to the adoption of this Declaration at the next meeting of the African Union in 2022.

Africa, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Argentina: Teachers lead national strategy for Comprehensive Environmental Education

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article by Graciela Mandolini from Education International

We live in a historical time in which all kinds of emergencies are constantly being played out: environmental, climate, energy, health, economic … All of these converge in what many authors define as the crisis of civilization. The environmental agenda has been setting the pace and environmental conflicts have burst into school settings, appearing with unprecedented speed and persistence.

If we understand education as a process that is permanently under construction, we could say that teachers in Argentina are carrying out some important actions in terms of comprehensive environmental education. These include interventions in curricular designs, as well as in projects and programs aimed at incorporating the environmental dimension for sustainable development as part of teaching-learning proposals.

Teacher and Union Training School

For 25 years, the Confederación de Trabajadores de la Educación de la República Argentina (CTERA) [Educational Workers Confederation of the Argentine Republic] has generated teacher training processes in Environmental Education: postgraduate courses and specializations in environmental education for sustainable development, in cooperation with public universities, face-to-face meetings with in-service teachers, projects, programs and actions on environmental education for secondary school students and teachers… practical, recreational and learning activities have also been organized, such as planting trees, composting activities, etc.

The union has worked with dedication on a project aimed at creating spaces for building knowledge in order to promote a dialogue of knowledge and skills development, consolidating teacher training at all levels and modalities of the formal educational system, so as to promote environmental education for sustainable development.

This issue has been one of the fundamental pillars of the training activities promoted by our organization’s “Marina Vilte” Teacher and Union Training School.

Initially, in the late 1990s, CTERA produced a training proposal for an Advanced Specialization Course in Environmental Education for sustainable development, in cooperation with a public university that offered lectures nationally through its grassroots entities. In the training space, more than 4,000 teachers specialized in Environmental Education.

Pandemic and environmental education

During 2020, as we moved through the stages of isolation and later of social distancing, whilst tackling the pandemic, a pedagogical proposal was drawn up based on training itineraries and paths, to consider different theories and concepts on the issue affecting us.

Firstly, through mechanisms designed for this purpose, the CTERA Education Secretariat and various grassroots entities offered training opportunities using the co-self-assisted methodology, so that teachers felt this was an invitation to study and an occasion for lifelong learning, without feeling pressured to meet requirements that could create an overload of teaching work. These training formats made it possible to reflect on educational practice, based on personal interests and motivations and in a self-regulated manner.

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

Question for this article:

What are good examples of environmental education?

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Secondly, and in coordination with the INFoD (National Teacher Training Institute), CTERA further developed the proposal, moving towards creating a tutored course.

In both situations, it was felt necessary to consider the particular conditions that lead to problematizing the Teacher Training curriculum, based on the situations it addresses and analyzes, the complexity of associated trends and the practices of meaning, intervention, research, outreach and transcendence, which allow it to interact in and with the communities of origin.

Pino Solanas Law

The National Congress of Argentina recently approved the National Law of Comprehensive Environmental Education. This law, named after the Argentine filmmaker, Pino Solanas, proposes a “permanent, crosscutting and comprehensive” national public policy for all educational establishments in the country. It covers the interdependence of all the elements that make up and interact in the environment; respecting and valuing biodiversity; equity; recognizing cultural diversity; caring for our natural and cultural heritage and exercising the right to a healthy environment.

The law proposes the establishment of a National Strategy for Comprehensive Environmental Education. It promotes the creation and development of Jurisdictional Strategies and raises the issue of an Intergenerational Environmental Commitment. It also provides for the implementation, on the educational agenda, of actions to improve institutions. It affirms that any educational proposal must be based on educating young people and children. This project clearly establishes a public policy that reinforces the paradigm of citizen participation for sustainability.

Environmental education, education for life

We believe that any environmental education proposal, project or program for sustainable development that we carry out must, without question, interact with history, trajectories, institutional projects, stakeholders, local and regional projections, that will give it meaning and make it unique.

Environmental Education, based on the paradigm of Latin American Environmental Thought, makes it possible for the community’s knowledge to be discussed, thus recovering its voices, trajectories, expectations, experiences, demands, concerns and proposals, in order to highlight environmental conflicts in the territory, dismantling naturalized practices on a daily basis, generating dialogue and linking different disciplinary knowledge so as to reimagine and alter our practices.

CTERA sees Environmental Education for sustainable development as the establishment of environmental criteria, as raising awareness about environmental conflicts, understanding environmental complexity, as creativity, wonder, empathy; it means thinking in an inter-connected manner; learning as you live and learning from life.

It is a conceptual proposal that is interwoven and integrated with methodological work. That is why how we make the content available, the way we present work dynamics and proposals, and encourage participation is very important. This includes:

* Recreational activities that allow us to express our sensations, emotions, and feelings, our mind-body thoughts

* Actions that make it possible to develop proposals where identity is expressed in an artistic and creative way.

* Ancestral ceremonies that occur, highlighting the need to re-connect with nature, recognizing ourselves as children of Mother Earth.
Taking part in tree planting, composting, recycling, materials recovery, camping activities, etc.

The didactic strategies that we can use as environmental education workers to address the issues, problems and conflicts that affect and challenge us, are under continuous construction. In this process, much searching is done to ensure culture and nature, teachers, students, schools and the community support each other, generating creative processes committed to reality, promoting the construction of teaching – learning processes aimed at creating a society based on environmental, social and, of course, curricular justice.

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

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Women must no longer be ‘squeezed into a small corner’, landmark Forum declares 

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article from the United Nations News Service

In a bid to put gender equality at the heart of COVID recovery, UN Women kicked off a three-day “landmark effort” in Paris on Wednesday, aiming to lay out ambitious investments and policies to bridge the chasm between where women stand in the world today, and where they should be, by 2030.
 
“Gender equality is essentially about power, and power in a world that is still largely male dominated, with a culture that is still largely patriarchal”, Secretary-General António Guterres said at the Generation Equality Forum, launching a “five-year action journey”, based on the UN Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality. 


UN Women/Johis Alarcón People protest in a demonstration for women’s rights in Ecuador.

Noting that “power is very rarely given. You have to take it”, he stressed as one of his five priorities, the importance of parity to redistribute power and create the necessary conditions for true equality.  

Setting priorities 

The UN chief said that to achieve equal rights, discriminatory laws around the world must be repealed and transformed into ‘de facto’ equality.  

He said women in the informal economy, were “paying a heavy price for the pandemic”, also highlighting economic equality in pay, employment, and social protections. 

Noting a surge in violence against women and girls during COVID, Mr. Guterres said that putting an end to it must be “a central element of all policies and all of our objectives”.
  
Finally, he highlighted the importance of intergenerational dialogue as “another fundamental instrument for gender equality” to allow young people to be a part of decision-making in today’s digital society. 
 
Women worth more than a quarter 

In her statement, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said that “women everywhere in the world are squeezed into a small corner”.  

She highlighted how they make up a quarter of all managers, parliamentarians, climate change negotiators and “less than one quarter of those who negotiate peace agreements”.  

“One quarter is not enough. One quarter is not equality. Equality is one half, where both men and women are together”, she spelled out. 

Moving forward 

Generation Equality is about change, the UN Women chief said, it’s about “moving from making promises” to saying what has been done to advance women worldwide. 

She detailed that Member States, the private sector and others, have made nearly 1,000 commitments to change the lives of women, including to change policies.  
However, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka continued, “the fight still has to continue…We need to be pushing upwards all the time, so that there is a race to the top” 

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

Questions 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?

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Stepping up funds 

The UN Women chief concluded by detailing that countries of the Global South, regional organizations, young people and civil society groups, have all “put their foot forward” raising $40 billion, saying “and we are still counting”. 

Meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that Germany “is actively involved in the Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights” and would invest an “additional €140 million, making a total of around €240 million in the International Action Coalition”. 

And the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it would spend $2.1 billion to advance global gender equality. 

Achieving ‘tangible progress’ 

At the same time, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched a set of commitments  to achieve “tangible progress” towards gender equality over the next five years. 

The UN agency will support girls’ education  with quality gender-transformative teaching for 28 million learners in over 80 countries; work to close the digital gender divide, empower women scientists, and promote ethical Artificial Intelligence; and in Africa, empower  women economically in creative industries.  

UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay had called upon women worldwide to “take control and full leadership in every aspect of life and domain of society to build back a better future for all”. 

Co-host comments 

Co-hosting the event, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the struggle for gender equality is “far from won”. 
 
“It’s a battle today, but tomorrow it must be a matter of fact”, he underscored.
  
His counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of Mexico, said: “We must continue to fight against sexism. We must not forget economic and social equality, which is fundamental to achieve a better society”.  

Call to action from Clinton, Harris 

United States Vice President Kamala Harris, warned that “democracy is in peril” around the world. 

“I believe, resolutely, that if we want to strengthen democracy, we must fight for gender equality…Democracy is strongest when everyone participates – and it is weaker when people are left out…without doubt, gender equality strengthens democracy”, she said. 

Back in1995, at the World Conference on Women  in Beijing, then-First Lady Hillary Clinton proclaimed: “Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights once and for all” . 

At today’s meeting she sent a message that “it’s no longer enough to talk about women’s rights…[as] they are nothing without the power to claim them. And we know that when women have the power to raise our voices, assert our rights, and rebuild economies, everyone will be better off”. 

Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, drew attention to the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, or the Istanbul Convention. 

“Last year, we saw a surge in domestic violence during COVID lockdowns. The Convention provides three advantages that no country alone can: it raises national standards; provides a monitoring mechanism; and ensures co-operation between governments in the prosecution of these crimes”, she said.

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

global, United Nations, WOMEN'S EQUALITY,

WWF report: The custodians of nature crucial to any and every effort to protect our planet

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Lilian Gikandi from World Wide Fund For Nature (reprinted according to Creative Commons Attribution- Share Alike 3.0 License)

2021 is the super year for our planet. Global leaders will convene in a series of meetings to determine solutions to the planet’s climate, nature and sustainable development challenges and it is critical they support nature’s original custodians – the world’s Indigenous peoples and local communities. Any global conservation efforts including calls to protect and conserve at least 30% of the world’s land, freshwater and oceans by 2030 hinge on strong IPLC participation and leadership and will be unattainable without them.

A new, first of its kind collaborative study compiled by conservation organizations and experts, with guidance from and peer reviewed by Indigenous Peoples experts and organizations highlights the importance of recognizing and respecting the rights, governance, and conservation efforts of Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLC) as custodians of their lands. 


Photo © Luis Barreto / WWF-UK

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Question for this article

Indigenous peoples, Are they the true guardians of nature?

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The study finds that Indigenous peoples and local communities’ lands and territories cover at least 32% of the planet’s terrestrial surface and the majority (91%) are considered to be in good or fair ecological condition today. This is mostly because IPLCs have lived sustainably for generations in their ‘territories of life’ and safeguard many of the world’s remaining natural landscapes. Many of these areas support unique cultural and spiritual values and practices, and are critical in combating nature loss and climate breakdown. 

IPLC knowledge and practices have helped preserve their lands for generations. And yet, more than a quarter of IPLC lands could face high development pressures in the future, underlining the need to secure the rights, governance and practices of those who are best-placed to safeguard many of the natural systems on which we all depend.

As countries meet to negotiate a new Global Biodiversity Framework  later this year, we hope the findings of this report catalyze  support for Indigenous peoples and local communities so that they can defend and restore their lands and territories as part of global conservation efforts.   

Only with IPLCs leading, will conservation that benefits both people and the biodiversity on which we all depend, be fruitful.

Read the The State of the Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ lands and territories report here.

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT