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.

Spain: Professor Marta Gonzalo, Keynote Speaker at the International Congress of Mediation and Culture of Peace

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article by Raúl García Hémonnet for the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (translated by CPNN)

Marta Gonzalo, professor of private international law at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), has been the European and Spanish representative in the second edition of the International Congress of Mediation and Culture of Peace. Her intervention focused on comparing experiences and mediation proposals between Latin America and the European Union.

The Second Edition of the International Congress of Mediation and Culture of Peace, held at the end of November in Panama, brought together academics and professionals from countries such as Panama, Argentina, Costa Rica, Cuba and other European countries. The meeting served to carry out a joint reflection on the current panorama of mediation and the different paths towards the Culture of Peace.

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(click here for the Spanish version)

Question for this article:

Mediation as a tool for nonviolence and culture of peace

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The URJC professor focused on making several concrete proposals in her keynote address: ‘Experiences and proposals for mediation compared: Latin America – European Union’

Through these proposals, she invited all attendees to conduct collaborative practices in conflict management. Not only from the point of view of mediation and law but also from a real and effective collaboration from all areas involved in the resolution of conflicts.

She called for collaboration of legal, social, political and cultural actors to favor mediation and seek collaborative solutions to conflicts that satisfy all those involved. Based on these elements, the professor urged changes in all areas, proposing specific measures in the host country, Panama, with concrete proposals about information, education, legislation, training and dissemination.

She also invited all attendees to join the Conference of Universities for the Study of Mediation and Conflict (CUEMYC) and to work in the international framework and in a global manner on practices that encourage and encourage mediation towards an authentic culture of peace.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Europe, Latin America,

Australia: Thousands of students walk out of school to demand politicians stop dangerous climate change

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from the website of School Strike 4 Climate

In an Australian-first, as the nation experiences unprecedented fires, drought, heat and storms, thousands of students from hundreds of schools across metropolitan and regional Australia are today [30th November] striking from school to demand their politicians act urgently to stop further dangerous climate change and the Adani coal mine, which threatens their future.

30 major strike events are taking place across the country, in every capital city and almost 20 regional centres including Townsville, the Whitsundays, Inverell, Coffs Harbour, Ballarat, Newcastle and Bega. Instead of going to school, students will today be at their nearest Parliament House or Federal MP’s office for the day.

See the full list of strikes taking place here. Student spokespeople can be made available for interview, and links to vision and stills can be found below.

In a week of storms, fires and record heat: On Monday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison used Question Time to urge students not to join the strike. On Tuesday, the Senate passed a motion in support of the strike. On Wednesday, over 200 student strikers flooded Federal Parliament to meet with MPs about climate change. On Thursday, Adani announced it has funding to push ahead with its coal mine which is a key target of the students.

Inspired by 15 year old Swedish student Greta Thunberg, who has been striking outside the Swedish Parliament since August, year 8 students from Central Victoria brought the initiative to Australia and have been striking in Bendigo a day a week during November. As a show of support for the Australian strike, students in Sweden, France, Norway and Finland are also striking this week.

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Question for this article:

Despite the vested interests of companies and governments, Can we make progress toward sustainable development?

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Harriet O’Shea Carre, 14 years old, from Central Victoria, said: “As young people, we will inherit the decisions that our politicians are making about climate change. We learn in school that scientists think we have just a decade to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and yet our politicians are helping rich companies like Adani mine and burn more coal that will only make this worse. We’re striking from school to tell them to stop, now.”

Jean Hinchliffe, 14 years old, from Sydney, said: “As a generation, we are sick of those in power failing to stop the climate crisis. We’ve spent our entire lives hearing the dire warnings. Our future is on the line, and sitting around waiting until we can vote and lead the country just isn’t enough. We are striking to tell our politicians to stop all new coal and gas projects, including Adani’s mine, and take immediate action to move Australia to 100% renewable energy.”

Ruby Walker, 17 years old, from Inverell, said: “I wake every morning in a state that is 100% drought declared. I have seen our government axe policies to protect my generation’s future. I have seen the failure to invest in solutions that would protect us and the failure to prevent and prepare for the climate crisis. Enough is enough. As young people, we didn’t create this problem, but we’re going to do everything we can to stop it. We are striking to push our politicians to treat climate change as the crisis it is and do everything in their power to keep fossil fuels in the ground.”

Students plan to continue strike action after the summer holidays and ahead of the Federal election. Many are organising meetings with their Federal Politicians to call for an end to the Adani coal mine, no new coal and gas projects and a commitment to get Australia to 100% renewable energy by 2030.

Media Enquiries: 0427 485 233 or 0437 316 331 to arrange interviews with student strikers or schoolstrike4climate@gmail.com

Website: https://www.schoolstrike4climate.com/

Photos from the walk-outs will be uploaded HERE with November action pics.

Vision from the walk-outs will be uploaded HERE.

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

East Asia, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Israeli women hold mass rallies to protest rising violence against women

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from Press TV

Tens of thousands of women have held a general strike as well as protests across the Israeli-occupied territories to voice their anger at the Tel Aviv regime’s failure to stem a sharp increase in violence against women.

On Tuesday, protesters staged separate rallies in several cities, calling on Israeli authorities to take action to stop the killings of females during domestic violence-related incidents.


A general view of protest against violence against women in Tel Aviv, Israeli-occupied territories, December 4, 2018 (By AP)

Dressed mainly in black with red hats, and carrying red balloons and torches, some 30,000 demonstrators gathered in central Tel Aviv to urge the Israeli administration to address the issue.

“Today we made history,” the protest’s organizers told the crowd. “Today the silence on the violence against women has turned to screams.”

Some 200 pairs of women’s shoes, painted red, were also placed on display on Habima Square in central Tel Aviv in a sign of protest.

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Questions related to this article:

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

How effective are mass protest marches?

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In occupied Jerusalem al-Quds, demonstrators chanted for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “wake up,” carrying signs that read, “Women’s blood is not cheap” and “We are killed and the government is silent.”

Some women blocked the entrance to the city, holding signs stating, “Enough with the murder of females.”

Organizers of the protests demanded that a budget of nearly a $70 million be allocated to combating violence against women.

The strike was called last week in the wake of the recent murders of two teen girls, whose deaths brought the number of women, who were killed over the past year in domestic violence-related incidents to 24, the highest in years.

Over 300 institutions, municipalities, schools, and groups joined the strike and the protesters observed a moment of silence to mark the deaths.

A day earlier, activists poured red dye in public fountains in several cities to draw attention to the protest.

Shortly after the end of the rally, Netanyahu’s office announced that the prime minister would convene a meeting of the ministerial committee on violence against women on Wednesday morning.

On Monday, the opposition’s Zionist Union brought a no-confidence motion, denouncing the regime’s failure to curb such violence.

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

Mideast, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Presentation in Abidjan of a training manual on the culture of peace and social cohesion

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from the Journal de Cameroun (translation by CPNN)

A training manual on the culture of peace, social cohesion, prevention and peaceful conflict management was presented on Thursday [November 29] in Abidjan by the Ivorian Minister for Solidarity, Social Cohesion and the Fight against Poverty. Prof. Mariatou Koné. The 235-page manual is structured around four modules: culture and peacebuilding, social cohesion, conflict prevention and peaceful conflict management.


“With today’s launching of this handbook, Côte d’Ivoire has just taken another step on the road to consolidating peace and strengthening social cohesion. This manual comes at the right time (…), “said Minister Mariatou Koné after thanking the country’s technical and financial partners, including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF).

“Thank you for devoting your mandate, in the aftermath of the 2011 post-election crisis, with the valuable assistance of your staff, to keep Ivorians away from fear of others by investing in the development and promotion of tools. for political, intercultural, interreligious and intercommunity dialogue, “she said.

For Minister Koné, this manual is a powerful vehicle to strengthen living together and also to build the new Ivorian, “inviting each and everyone to appropriate it effectively as an instrument to build a culture of peace, which must be translated into all our daily behaviors and visible in our ways of living with others.”

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(Click here for the original article in French)

Questions for this article:

How can we promote a human rights, peace based education?

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“To be at peace with others, to be at peace with oneself, is the ongoing challenge to create the conditions for sustainable development in the service of individual and collective well-being. Nothing can stop us from pursuing this goal,” she concluded.

The purpose of the module on the culture of peace and peacebuilding is to provide participants in training sessions with a clear understanding of peace and the culture of peace, as well as the conditions for its consolidation. It also aims to enable them to know and appropriate the values ​​and attitudes that peace and the culture of peace bring to the everyday life of every citizen.

As for the module on social cohesion, in addition to fixing the lexical field of the concept, it deals with its implications of life in society, particularly through the need for reconciliation and the key steps that such a process requires in a society in crisis. .

For its part, the Conflict Prevention Module promotes common traditional and modern conflict prevention practices and their functioning. These are broken down in such a way as to enable learners to make a deeper knowledge of them, but especially because they can be mobilized by them to anticipate conflicts.

Finally, the module on conflict management engages participants in training sessions in a collective reflection that allows them to relativize and defuse conflict, define it correctly and have a clear representation by determining the role that it can play in a society, its different types, its causes, the actors who are stakeholders and the attitudes that should be adopted when it occurs.

In 2015, a study was made about social cohesion and peace in Côte d’Ivoire, with the technical and financial support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The study highlighted the need for better peace-building with three essential tools. a National Strategy for Reconciliation and Social Cohesion 2016-2020; a new National Social Cohesion Program for the period 2016-2020; and a handbook for the harmonization of skills in the field of social cohesion. culture of peace and social cohesion.

Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Gabon: Panafrican Women’s Network presents its action to the Senate

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article from L’Union, Gabon

The Gabon section of the Pan-African Women’s Network for the Culture of Peace and Sustainable Development recently met with women senators.

Conducted by the resident coordinator of the United Nations system, Stephen Jackson, the Gabonese section presented, its plan of action to the network of women senators of Gabon (Refeseg). The plan of action is articulated around two axes .

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(Click here for the original article in French.)

Question for this article

Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

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The first deals with the culture of peace, the appropriation of Resolution 1325 and its corollaries, citizenship, education, training, peace and security, respect for human rights, respect for democratic principles, equality between men and women in positions of responsibility, the fight against the discrimination of women.

The second axis includes sustainable development, economic independence, environmental law, law and health, inclusive growth, leadership and association, art and traditional education.

The office of the Gabon section, headed by Victoire Lasseny Duboze, intends to mobilize more women from Gabon’s civil society throughout the country.
 

Africa, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Mali: FOOTBALL “We are all together”: For the promotion of peace and living together

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .
An article by Noyine Touré in Afrique Sports (translated by CPNN)

The United Nations, in collaboration with Search For Common Ground, is organizing the first edition of the “we are all together” football tournament from 30 November to 02 December 2018 in Bamako. The aim of this activity is to raise awareness of the culture of peace and tolerance through sport.

The announcement was made during a press briefing this Thursday in Bamako at the UNESCO office in the presence of Ms. Ute Kollies, Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Mali, her counterpart of UNESCO, Mr. Hervé Huot-Marchand and the representative of the Ministry of Sports, Diakaridia Diakité, Technical Advisor, who welcomed the idea.

From Friday, December 30 to Sunday, December 2, from 5 pm, the Zone-K complex in Bamako will welcome teams from the North and Center of the country. Young people from Gao, Mopti, Tessalit and Timbuktu will compete for three days to win the first phase of the competition. These different meetings are an opportunity to highlight the values ​​of sport, such as the patient, tolerance, or perseverance.

It is not a simple tournament, but it is a question of bringing together young people from different horizons, in order to sensitize them to the knowledge and the respect of the other person, as well as to social cohesion and dialogue.

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(Click here for the French version of this article)

Question related to this article:

 

How can sports promote peace?

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Thus, awareness and reflection sessions on peace will be given to young people, to allow them to return to their respective regions with action projects, which they can set up, in order to promote peace in their turn. and tolerance.

Sport has always been an element of social cohesion, all sports competitions and in particular football allows for at least 90 seconds to bring together a whole nation behind its national team. For years, football has been considered the most popular sport in Mali, for all categories, “seniors, juniors and juniors”. It is a unifying element between communities and young people.

In this perspective, the United Nations system through this tournament makes football a central element in promoting peace. It should be noted that for the United Nations as a whole, sport has a significant role in promoting the ideals of peace during the post-conflict period.

The young footballers already on site in Bamako welcomed the initiative to its true value and wished that other editions could be played in the north as well as in the center. For them, it is already a victory to be together with brothers here in Bamako for the unification of communities and especially between their younth.

The main partners of this activity are, with UNESCO: the Ministry of Sports, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization in Mali (MINUSMA), Mikado FM Peace Radio in Mali, and Search For Common Ground.

Africa, DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

How can sports promote peace?


This discussion question applies to the following articles:

The Olympic Games and the Culture of Peace

About the Soccer World Championship and Education for Cultures of Peace

World Cup 2022: The beautiful image of Mbappe and Hakimi at the end of the match

Algeria: 19th edition of the Mediterranean Games

UN chief calls for Olympic Truce to build ‘culture of peace’ through sport

US: WNBA players wearing T-shirts opposing Dream owner

Honduras: Culture of peace promoted in 200 young people from “hot” areas

Rio Olympics: Why the opening ceremony’s spotlight on climate change matters

Iranian Women Won More than a Medal at the Olympics

WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx acknowledge shooting victims with t-shirts

The soccer team you won’t see at the World Cup (Uganda)

International Day of Sport for Development and Peace

Legião da Boa Vontade propaga Cultura de Paz no Campeonato Amazonense

Legião da Boa Vontade Promotes the Culture of Peace at the Amazonian Championships

A Sport for Peace World Database

Peace and Sport has Reached New Heights

Sports for Peace in São Paulo

Colombian Network Football for Peace and Development

Exchange between Colombia and Peru: Football for Peace

Running for Peace

d-democratic

“Peace through dialogue: Our destiny” is theme of Mindanao Week of Peace 2018

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article by Carolyn O. Arguillas from Minda News

“Peace through Dialogue: Our Destiny” is this year’s Mindanao Week of Peace (MWOP)  theme.

Held every last Thursday of November until the first Wednesday of December, this year’s celebration from November 29 to December 5 is the 20th Mindanao-wide week of peace that the Bishops-Ulama Forum (now Conference) initiated in 1999, inspired by the annual week of peace in Zamboanga City that the Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) organized.


OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The BUC was born three years earlier, on November 29, 1996.

In their joint statement, the BUC convenors — Archbishop Emeritus Fernando Capalla for the Catholics; Aleem Caboali Cali of the Ulama League of the Philippines, for the Muslims; and Bishop Emeritus Hilario Gomez, Jr. of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP) for the Protestants — said dialogue is important because as social beings, “humans are destined to associate in order to survive and to grow in humaneness.”

“It is a natural need and therefore a task,” they said, adding that it is necessary to “be present in person with respect, to speak with sincerity, to listen with interest, to be open to all ideas and to seek the truth,” describing it as “the art of humane dialogue.”

The Joint Statement said underpinning dialogue is “the awareness of being a believer in the Oneness of God Who as Creator brings humans to unity and peace, to integrity and solidarity.”

In a separate message, Mindanao’s lone Cardinal, Orlando Quevedo, OMI, newly-retired Archbishop of Cotabato and prsently Apostolic Administor Sede Vacante of the Archdiocese of Cotabato said dialogue is not mere intellectual discussion but “listening humbly and respectfully to ‘the other,’ listening not only with one’s ears, but most importantly listening with one’s heart” as this transforms hostility and suspicion into understanding and trust.

He said this was the internal process that the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front developed through long years of patient dialogue for peace.

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Questions for this article:

How can different faiths work together for understanding and harmony?

Can peace be achieved in Mindanao?

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Since 1999

MindaNews tracked down the MWOP themes across two decade, and found a number of them recurring.

1999: Healing the Past, Building the Future

2000: Mindanaoans Journeying Together Towards a Culture of Peace.

2001: Peace: Sharing the Vision of Unity and Hope
2002: Peace through Reconciliation: Mindanaoans seeking a Common Ground

2003: Healing through Forgiveness: Key to Total Human Development

2004: A Reconciled Family, Agent of Reconciliation

2005: Millennium Development Goals: Women and Youth as Partners in Peace Building

2006: In the Name of the Almighty, God of Harmony, Care for the Earth
2007: Building Bridges of Peace with our Peace Officers
2008: Integrity of Mind and Heart a way to Reconciliation and Peace!

2009: Think Mindanao, Feel Mindanao, Bring Peace to Mindanao

2010: Responsive and Responsible Governance: Key to Peace, Development and Sustainability
2011: Common Word between us and you: Love of God, Love of Neighbor

2012: Love of God and Love of Neighbor, A Challenge for Mindanao

2013: Dialogue and Hope: Key to Peace

2014: We pray for long-lasting peace in Mindanao. Give, Share, Live and Proclaim Peace

2015: Mindanaons’ Aspiration for Peace

2016: Healing for Personal and Social Transformation

2017: Owning Mindanao History for Peace and Development

2018: Peace through dialogue: Our destiny

Then President Joseph Estrada issued Proclamation 207 on November 5, 1999, declaring November 25 to December 1, 1999, “and every year thereafter” as the Mindanao Week of Peace, “to provide a venue for the expression in various forms of the peace aspirations of the people of Mindanao and for convergence of peace initiatives.”

The Proclamation said all concerned government agencies and instrumentalities, including government-owned and controlled corporations and members of the private sector and civil society based in Mindanao “are enjoined and encouraged to engage in relevant and meaningful activities in celebration” of the MWOP in coordination with the BUF (now BUC).

It also said the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) in partnership with the secretariat of the BUC Secretariat, “shall provide all the necessary help to ensure a successful coordination of all undertakings during the said week of peace.”

In March 2000, four months after issuing Proclamation 207, Estrada waged an “all-out war” against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), displacing nearly a million residents, some of whom returned home only after Estrada was ousted in January 2001.

On November 3, 2000, Estrada issued Proclamation 408, amending Proclamation 207 by resetting the date of the MWOP to the last Thursday of November until the first Wednesday of December of every year thereafter.

The following year, on November 26, 2001,  President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who assumed the Presidency in January that year following the impeachment of Estrada, issued Proclamation 127 which was practically a reiteration of Proclamation 207.

Arroyo’s Proclamation declared the last Thursday of November up to the first Wednesday of December of every year thereafter as the Mindanao Week of Peace. 

East Asia, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

UN Women’s Org. hosts North Darfur peacebuilding workshop

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from Radio Dabanga Sudan

The United Nations Women’s Organisation and a Sudanese training centre organised a workshop on strengthening women’s participation in peace building in Zamzam camp for displaced people in North Darfur yesterday.

The two-day workshop, focused on peace building and the Darfur peace dialogue, launched in the camp south of El Fasher city. The UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (‘Women’ in short) and the Maamoun Buheiri Training Centre hosted the session with the participation of more than 50 people, from women leaders in the camp to representatives of civil society organisations.

Question for this article

Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

Manal El Aseil is the director of the Women and Family Department of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of North Darfur. The director told the Sudanese press: “The workshop aimed to raise awareness and promote a culture of peace. We discussed a number of working papers presented by a number of professors of El Fasher Univeristy and Omdurman Islamic University.”

A representative of the Maamoun Buheiry Centre explained that this workshop comes within a series of 50 workshops which the centre organises in cooperation with women partners in various Darfur states. They are financed by the African Bank in Sudan.

Last week, a number of Khartoum-based women’s and human rights organisations launched the #WeAreMany campaign to combat violence against women and youth, child marriage, and forced marriage. A Sudanese human rights organisation recently highlighted an increase in sexual and physical violence against women and children in the country, as well as endemic female genital mutilation (FGM).

Africa, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

India: Cultures from around world converge at folk dance fest

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from the Times of India

It was a coming together of cultures from around the world at the Punjab International Folk Dance Festival organized by the Punjab Cultural Promotion Council (PCPC) in collaboration with Ishmeet Singh Institute at the Ishmeet auditorium on Monday evening.

The fusion of African, Colombian, Cuban, Mexican, Punjabi bhangra and Indian classical dances was well received by the audience, students and dignitaries. La Escuela de Danzas Folcloricas-Palma Africana folk dance ensemble from Colombia was the highlight of the mega event.

Bringing the diverse cultures of the world on one platform, the event propagated the message of love, peace and harmony. Colombians led by group director Madam Maria Carmen Melendez took the stage by storm with their vibrant presentation of folk dances mapale, mix carnaval, salsa and guacherna on the scintillating beats of Colombiano music comprising drums (Tambora) and a pair of Maracas, displayed by artist Alfonso.

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Question for this article:

Do the arts create a basis for a culture of peace?, What is, or should be, their role in our movement?

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Sharing the theme, festival director Dr Davinder Singh Chhina said that PCPC has invited 43 international folk delegations from all over the world to attend the dance festival since 2002 to promote culture of peace, international friendship, multiculturalism and cultural diversity.

The Cumbia dance represented the culture hybrid of European, African and other indigenous communities while spreading the message of happiness; Bambuco, a musical on Colombia, emulated the process of love expressed by farmers, while Guacherna depicted festivities of Barranquilla, the native city of the guest delegations.

Carnaval De Barranquilla was a cultural representation and a mix of different dancing styles which expressed the period of colonization. The salsa beats took the audience on a tour of Cuba, while mapale and bullerengue depicted the cultural diversity of Colombia.

Closing the concert, Colombians performed bhangra along with Punjabi artists. Colombian artists Carmen Sanjuan, Dany, Alfonso and Andrea were all praise for the hospitality and vast heritage of Punjab.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, South Asia