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.

USA: March For Our Lives: Road to Change

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

Statement and Projects from March for our Lives

This summer, the students of March For Our Lives are making stops across America to get young people educated, registered, and motivated to vote. We call it March For Our Lives: Road to Change.

When people across the country rallied at the March For Our Lives just over 2 months ago, we showed our politicians that we refuse to accept gun violence as an unsolvable issue. Now it’s time to turn our energy into action.

The Road to Change kicks off on Friday, June 15 in Chicago, where we’ll be joining the Peace March, led by students from St. Sabina Academy.

From there we are traveling from city to city, with more than 50 planned stops in over 20 states including Iowa, Texas, California, South Carolina, and Connecticut. We’ll also hold a separate Florida tour with more than 25 stops, visiting every congressional district.

We’re going to places where the NRA has bought and paid for politicians who refuse to take simple steps to save our lives — and we’ll be visiting a number of communities that have been affected by gun violence to meet fellow survivors and use our voices to amplify theirs.

At each stop, we’ll register young people to vote and educate them on the reforms we need to save lives, and whether their local elected officials support these reforms or support the NRA.

Take Action:

Register to Vote

Volunteer

Organize a Voter Reg Drive

Start a Local Action Club

How to set up an activism club:

Find a safe space and/or teacher sponsor at your school. After school clubs tend to be successful because of access, but if your school is giving you trouble you can contact the ACLU (they legally need to give you the opportunity to peacefully gather and share ideas) or find a community spot where you can hold meetings.


Reach out to people around the community. Diversify your voices and find a way to approach activism from an intersectional viewpoint. We have to stand up for funding for anti-violent programming just as intensely as we support voter registration. The only way we win is by educating each other on all fronts.


What are the goals of the club?

Create a more politically engaged and educated community.


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Question related to this article:

Do you think handguns should be banned?, Why or why not?

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Register people in your area to vote, raise money for community engagement events and lower the violence in your area.


Create morally just leadership in all facets of society.  


Print a Price Tag

We’ve calculated the price of each student in states across the country, based on the millions of dollars politicians have accepted from the NRA. Scroll through the options and print out a price tag to wear and share. If your state doesn’t have a price tag, that’s good news. It means that your politicians aren’t taking large sums of NRA money. Instead, use the national average price tag to show your support for reforming our gun laws. And then make a donation to help us change gun laws and beat the NRA.

Sign the Petition

We support the right of law-abiding Americans to keep and bear arms, as set forth in the United States Constitution.

But with that right comes responsibility.

We call on all the adults in Congress elected to represent us, to pass legislation that will protect and save children from gun violence.

Our elected officials MUST ACT by:

1. Passing a law to ban the sale of assault weapons like the ones used in Las Vegas, Orlando, Sutherland Springs, Aurora, Sandy Hook and, most recently, to kill 17 innocent people and injure more than a dozen others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Of the 10 deadliest shootings over the last decade, seven involved the use of assault weapons.

No civilian should be able to access these weapons of war, which should be restricted for use by our military and law enforcement only. These guns have no other purpose than to fire as many bullets as possible and indiscriminately kill anything they are pointed at with terrifying speed.

2. Prohibiting the sale of high-capacity magazines such as the ones the shooter at our school—and so many other recent mass shootings used.

States that ban high-capacity magazines have half as many shootings involving three or more victims as states that allow them.

Limiting the number of bullets a gun can discharge at one time will at least force any shooter to stop and reload, giving children a chance to escape.

3. Closing the loophole in our background check law that allows dangerous people who shouldn’t be allowed to purchase firearms to slip through the cracks and buy guns online or at gun shows.

97 percent of Americans support closing the current loopholes in our background check system.

When Connecticut passed a law requiring background checks on all handgun sales, they saw a 40 percent reduction in gun homicides.

22 percent of gun sales in this country take place without a background check. That’s millions of guns that could be falling into dangerous hands.

A background check should be required on every gun sale, no exceptions.

The children of this country can no longer go to school in fear that each day could be their last.

For more information about the Road to Change, text CHANGE to 977-79.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America

China Pu’er Sun River National Park dedicated as IIPT Peace Park

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from the International Institute for Peace Tourism

The IIPT Global Peace Parks Project was launched this past week with the dedication of Pu’er Sun River National Park as an IIPT International Peace Park in collaboration with the China Chamber of Tourism. Dignitaries participating in the ceremony included Madame Wang Ping, Founding Chairman, China Chamber of Tourism (Photo on the left); Mr. Peter Wong Man Kong, Executive Chairman, China Chamber of Tourism; Mr. Yu Jinfang,Co-founder and Developer of Pu’er Sun River National Park; Mrs. May Jinfang, Co-founder and Developer; Mr. Carlos Vogeler, Executive Director, UN World Tourism Organization; Mr. Xu Jing, Regional Director for Asia and Pacific, UN World Tourism Organization; Hon. Gede Ardika, former Minister, Culture and Tourism, Indonesia; Helen Marano, Government and Industry Affairs Director, World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC); Louis D’Amore, IIPT Founder and President and various city officials of Pu’er City.


Members of China Chamber of Tourism following the unveiling of the stone plaque
click on photo to enlarge

China Chamber of Tourism Chairman, Peter Wong stated: “Pu’er Sun River National Park is the perfect site for the first IIPT International Peace Park in China as it is a national model of the “wild beauty of nature” covering an area of 216 square kilometers with a wide variety of plants and 812 species of wildlife. In is also a model of people in harmony with nature showcasing the local culture of the diverse ethnic people of the region.”

In his Peace Park dedication address, IIPT Founder and President Louis D’Amore said: “It is truly an honor to be here with you today as we dedicate this IIPT International Peace Park – the first in China, just a few days before the UN International Day of Peace, September 21 – and in support of UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 which calls for peaceful – inclusive and just societies. As we dedicate this park, we also begin what I am sure will be an important and fruitful relationship between the China Chamber of Tourism and the International Institute for Peace through Tourism; a relationship that will bring more peace parks in China and contribute towards the vision of tourism becoming the world’s first global peace industry – and the belief that every traveler is potentially an ambassador for peace.”

The Pu’er Sun River National Park focuses on the theme “wild beauty of nature” in combination with the local culture and the harmony of humans with nature. By operating profit-making projects within the Park, it is able to effectively provide sustainable protection for precious and unique natural and cultural resources. The Pu’er Sun River National Park also serves as a Forest Ecological System Science Education Base; Flora and Fauna Rescue Base; and Global Tourist Attraction for visitors to experience nature and the Pu’er Culture.

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Question related to this article:

How can tourism promote a culture of peace?

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The IIPT Global Peace Parks project has a goal of 2,000 Peace Parks circling the earth by 11 November 2018 – the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War I. The four year commemoration of the World War I Centenary, with its theme of “No More War” – has been supported by IIPT since its launch in 2014.

IIPT is proud to have United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) as a partner in its global campaign. UCLG is the united voice and world advocate of democratic local self-government with a global network of cities, local and regional governments representing 70% of the world population. UCLG goals include contributing to the achievement of the SDG’s, Paris Agreement, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and New Urban Agenda for Sustainable Urban Development.

The Global Peace Parks Project builds on the success of IIPT’s 1992 “Peace Parks across Canada” Project commemorating Canada’s 125th birthday as a nation. IIPT conceived and implemented “Peace Parks across Canada” which resulted in 350 Peace Parks being dedicated by cities and towns from St. John’s, Newfoundland on the shores of the Atlantic, across five time zones to Victoria, British Colombia on the shores of the Pacific.
The Peace Parks were all dedicated on October 8, 1992 as a National Peace Keeping Monument was being unveiled in Ottawa and 5,000 Peacekeepers passing in review. Each park was dedicated with a ‘bosco sacro’ – a peace grove of 12 trees, symbolic of Canada’s 10 Provinces and 2 Territories, as a link to one another, and a symbol of hope for the future. Of the more than 25,000 Canada 125 Projects, Peace Parks across Canada was said to be the most significant.

IIPT International Peace Parks have since been dedicated as a legacy of each IIPT International Conferences and Global Summits. Notable IIPT International Peace Parks include Bethany Beyond the Jordan, site of Christ’s baptism as a legacy of the Amman Summit, 2000; Victoria Falls, as a legacy of the IIPT 5th African Conference, 2011, subsequently re-dedicated as the featured event on Opening Day of the UNWTO 20th General Assembly 2013, co-hosted by Zambia and Zimbabwe; and Medellin, Colombia, dedicated on Opening Day of the UNWTO 21st General Assembly. Photo is Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, first President of Zambia and UNWTO Secretary General, Dr. Taleb Rifai, planting the first of six olive trees during the re-dedication of the IIPT International Peace Park, Opening Day of the UNWTO 20th General Assembly.

About China Chamber of Tourism

The China Chamber of Tourism was formed in 2002 to include all sectors of the travel and tourism industry and related industries throughout China. It is based on a concept of “Pan Tourism” with the belief that tourism as a bond could connect and lead industries to develop co-operatively. Its core beliefs are “tourism is peace” and that world tourism calls for world peace; tourism is culture and the improvement of life quality. China Chamber of Tourism has achieved fruitful co-operation with UNWTO, WTTC, PATA – and now IIPT – enhancing the co-operation and exchange of Chinese and tourism enterprises of other nation

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Activity Report: The Turkey-UK “Peace Education in Teacher Training” Workshop

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article by the Global Campaign for Peace Education

The “Peace Education in Teacher Training” workshop took place between the dates 18th-19th January, 2018, at the Ness Hotel in Kocaeli. This workshop was organized by Kocaeli University, Faculty of Education. The workshop was supported by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) and organized under the programme of Support for Cooperation and Organizing Activities for Events within the Bilateral Cooperation between Turkey-UK. The aim of this workshop was to understand the diversity of students in schools in Turkey and the United Kingdom and to share knowledge and experience for peace education. During the workshop, participants discussed various training programs, methods and strategies necessary for the ability to live peacefully in social life, and to develop cooperation between practitioners and researchers across the two countries. Participants included 17 peace education academicians and practitioners, 10 of which were from Turkey and 7 from the UK.

The opening ceremony and first session took place at Kocaeli University, Faculty of Education. During the opening ceremony, the Vice-President of the University, Dean of the Faculty, and Chair of the event each shared their support for peace education in the university. Following this, there were ten sessions during which peace education concepts – such as the meaning of diversity and peace, content and consequences of peace education, and efforts toward pre-service and in-service teacher training were discussed. Specifically, the workshop provided space for the sharing of best practices within peace education in Turkey and the UK. During the discussions, diversity and multiculturalism emerged as core issues across the contexts. During the discussions, it was found that “diversity” is often referred to as “inclusion” in the UK, “multiculturalism” in the US, and “inter-culturalism” in Turkey. The diversities were discussed to be based on not only race, religion or nationality, but also social class, economic class, ableism, sexual orientations, academic abilities, and social deprivation. It was made clear that the starting point for diversity management depends on the perspective from which the individual educator and school approaches diversities. In particular, these approaches include perspectives that are communal, interpersonal, political and global. Concerning strategies, the participants promoted the acceptance of others, training of social skills for the classroom, role modelling, and raising culturally responsive students to manage student diversities successfully.

The aims and content of the peace education were discussed in detail during other sessions. The participants of the workshop discussed that the aims are divided into two levels: micro-level and macro-level. Among the micro-level aims, the understanding of possibilities of peace, awareness of one’s own emotional and personal sources, and the recognition of innate personal values, values about friendship and values about community were discussed. For macro-level aims, the societal peace through social justice was regarded as the ultimate aim. When it came to the content of peace education, it was divided into four categories including values, skills, knowledge and process/methodology. Compassion, respect for diversity and nonviolence were among values of peace education while cooperation, inner peace methods, conflict resolution, inquiry listening, problem solving, critical thinking, dialogue, and activism related to how to promote social change. In addition, the understanding feelings, learning human rights and children rights, environmental education, and interculturalism were among the core knowledge constructs participants felt should be included in peace education programs. Lastly gender equality in hidden curriculum, participation, and asking open questions were among the processes/methodologies discussed.

During the sessions, it was discussed that the peace education content should change according to educational stages and context of the education. Participants divided peace education content into three levels which were affective (socio-emotional), cognitive (knowledge) and practice (skills) levels. For pre-school education, the affective aim seeks to foster empathy-building by doing empathetic activities, such as empathy in the playground. For primary school and middle school, the practice level actions might include imagining alternatives to violence and improving personal problem-solving skills. The cognitive level of peace education for primary and middle schools could include intercultural engagement. Also the affective level peace education should concern generating feelings and actions toward coexistence. For high school and colleges/universities, the practice level content could include brainstorming social alternatives to violence. This would make students more aware of benefits of peace.

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Question for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

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The effect of the country’s demographic and political structure on peace education was another topic discussed in the workshop. It was decided that demographics should only describe people, not serve as separating and labelling mechanisms. Unfortunately, it was found that the countries’ political and economic structures affect peace education a great deal. The participants discussed that the hegemony of governments surely prevents investments in peace education. In relation to this, it was put forward that schools too often promote the dominant culture and that peace educators must remain aware of this.

How peace educators should be trained both during pre-service and in-service was also discussed during the workshop. Being a peaceful person was regarded as a prerequisite to being a peace educator, but what this meant was contested. Also, the participants discussed that peace education should be an interdisciplinary field of expertise rather than being a separate one. Thus, each teacher should be trained to be a peace educator during pre-service and in-service training. Elective courses, such as the course “Peace Education”, can be added to teacher pre-service training programmes to achieve this. As the textbooks are important aspects of teaching process, they should also be taken into consideration for peace education. Thus, the language and the content of textbooks for all courses should be reviewed in order for them to be appropriate for peace education. In terms of in-service training process, the teachers should be trained to be teachers who are able to resolve interpersonal conflicts by establishing constructive and peaceful dialogue with students. In order to achieve this, in-service programs should teach: negotiation skills, interpersonal problem-solving skills, mediation skills, questioning skills, effective listening, active listening skills, empathic listening skills, reflective listening skills, reframing skills, lack of prejudice, tolerance, and an appreciation of diversity, among other skills.

After the fruitful discussions, the workshop was concluded with an agreement to continue working toward peace education across the various contexts of the participants, including work to translate key materials, and to develop joint curriculum and evaluation tools. It was made clear that each and every participant both Turkey and the UK understood they were not alone in the struggle for peace education. This clearly showed the universality of peace, and the need for it. As Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of contemporary Turkey, said: “Peace at home, peace in the world.”

In conclusion, the Turkey-UK peace education training workshop promoted peace education and the respect of diversity as an important capacity for new educators in Turkey drawing on lessons learned from the UK, and vice versa. This is particularly important today since Turkey is currently facing a migration crisis. As is well-known, nearly 3.5 million Syrian refugees have arrived in Turkey since 2015. It is important that the education system and educators are prepared to assist young refugees to participate in and prosper from the Turkish education system. Thus, it is possible to say that schools are one of the most effected organizations by this immigration process, which makes peace education and peace educators especially important. The other partner, the UK, is also affected by Syrian refugees, just as other parts of the Europe are, and participants from the UK had much to learn from Turkish educators in terms of best classroom practices in times of migration, forced displacement, and trauma.

The workshop has put forward the importance of sharing standards and best practices for peace education. Preparing a joint curriculum in order to be able to work cross-culturally, and most of all, training teachers in order to manage peace education are the key findings of the workshop. It is believed that these findings will contribute to the field, since both Turkey and the UK are important examples to define how people from different cultures could live together and what kinds of social outcomes this may produce. If the contexts and the practices of peace education in these countries are understood better, this could lead to better practices in other countries experiencing similar challenges. If short, “peace at home, peace in the world” might be achieved.

Acknowledgements:

We wish to thank Dr. Kevin Kester for his greatest contributions to our activity report. Also we wish to thank the participants: Abbas Turnuklu, Anna Gregory, Beryl Williams, Edward Sellman, Hasan Coskun, Mary Dalgleish, Mualla Aksu, Osman Titrek, Sara Hagel, Semra Demir Basaran, Terrence Bevington and Yucel Kabapinar for their invaluable contributions to the all sessions.

And lastly, we would like to thank TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) for supporting our workshop with the ID number 1929B021700437 under the programme of Support for Cooperation and Organizing Activities for Events within the Bilateral Cooperation between Turkey-UK.

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

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Europe

Book review: Choosing Peace

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

A review from Orbis Books

In recent years the Catholic Church’s approach to issues of war and peace has refocused on the tradition of nonviolence and peacebuilding in place of the traditional framework of Just War teaching. Among the milestones was an historic conference hosted at the Vatican in 2016, which gathered 80 peacemakers from around the world.


Question for this article:

What are the most important books about the culture of peace?

Drawn from the conference and presented here are contributions by many of the participants, including Lisa Sowle Cahill, Terrence J. Rynne, John Dear, Ken Butigan, Rose Marie Berger, and Maria J. Stephan, among others.  Together they advance the conversation about the practice of nonviolence in a violent world, Jesus and nonviolence, traditional Catholic teaching on nonviolence, and reflections on the future of Catholic teaching. The book concludes with Pope Francis’s historic Message for World Peace Day in 2017. 

The editor, Marie Dennis, is co-president of Pax Christi International and author of many books, including The Diversity of Vocations (2008) and (as co-author) St. Francis and the Foolishness of God (2015) and Oscar Romero: Reflections on His Life and Writings (Orbis 2000), all from Orbis Books.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, global

USA: “It’s Time for Moral Confrontation”: New Poor People’s Campaign Stages Nationwide Civil Disobedience

…. HUMAN RIGHTS ….

An interview by Democracy Now (reprinted according to terms of Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0)

On Mother’s Day 50 years ago, thousands converged on Washington, D.C., to take up the cause that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been fighting for when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968: the Poor People’s Campaign. A little more than a week after her husband’s memorial service, Coretta Scott King led a march to demand an Economic Bill of Rights that included a guaranteed basic income, full employment and more low-income housing. Half a century later, Rev. Dr. William Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis have launched a new Poor People’s Campaign. Starting today, low-wage workers, clergy and community activists in 40 states are participating in actions and events across the country that will culminate in a mass protest in Washington, D.C., on June 23. We speak with Rev. Dr. William Barber and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. . .


Video of broadcast

AMY GOODMAN: The new Poor People’s Campaign officially launched last year, and, since then, Reverend Dr. William Barber and Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis have been touring the country. Today they’re in Washington, D.C., for a major day of nonviolent direct action, joining us now.

We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Reverend Dr. William Barber, you’re president of Repairers of the Breach, distinguished visiting professor of public theology at Union Theological Seminary, former president of the North Carolina NAACP, and Moral Mondays leader. Talk about what you’re doing now. What is different today? What are you doing in Washington, D.C.?

REV. WILLIAM BARBER II: Thank you so much, Amy. Today, in more than 30 states and here in the District of Columbia, activists, clergy and, most of all, impacted people, the poor, will be organizing a nonviolent, moral, fusion direct action Mondays, a direct confrontation with what we call policy violence and the immoral policies that we see are continuing to hurt the poor. And particularly the focus today will be on women in poverty, children in poverty and the disabled. We cannot continue to have a democracy that engages in the kind of policy violence that we see happening every day.

I think about the low-wage worker I met in North Carolina who could not get insurance, because North Carolina did not expand Medicaid, and was also sick with ovarian cancer and has children. Or Amy in West Virginia, who is a woman who’s a working poor woman, who watched her state, her governor, Republican governor, cynically give a little raise to teachers, but chose to do it by cutting Medicaid and cutting food stamps. Or I think about the lady Pamela in Lowndes County, Alabama, who has raw sewage in the back of her yard, who was taken advantage of by predatory lenders and had to pay over $100,000-some for a single wide trailer that is now falling apart, full of mold and holes. And her son, who is an 11-year-old, now has to wear a CPAP machine because of the infections in his lungs. And she, herself, is disabled.

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Question for this article:

What’s the message to us today from Martin Luther King, Jr.?

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All over this country, we continue to see what is not often seen or talked about in our politics, in our political debates, or even in the media, except for places like here, Amy. Two hundred fifty thousand people are dying every year from poverty and low wealth. Sixty-four million people work with less than a living wage, 54 percent of African Americans. And these realities hurt children and women and the disabled the most. Thousands of people who are homeless, of every different race, creed, color and sexual orientation.

And what we are saying, it is time for a moral confrontation, a nonviolent moral confrontation, because whether you look at the morality of our Constitution, the establishment of justice, or you look at the morality of the Scriptures, that says, for instance, in Isaiah 10, “Woe unto those who legislate evil and rob the poor of their right and make women and children their prey.” It is immoral to have 37 million people without healthcare. It is immoral not to pay living wages when we know we can do it. It is immoral that people don’t have single-payer healthcare for everybody as a matter of human rights—and children have access to public education and college, and that we stop the trend of resegregation. It is immoral the way we’ve suppressed the vote in a way that allows people to get elected who, once they get elected, using racialized methods to do so, they then vote policies that hurt women and children and disabled. They’re against living wages. They’re against healthcare. They’re against unemployment—and those things that hurt families, hurt children, hurt women and hurt the disabled.

And we’re coming together, of every race, creed, color, kind, people from every part of this country. There will be simultaneous nonviolent actions, beginning today with a 2:00 rally and then 3:00 direct action. And this will go on for 40 days, every Monday, along with other things that will be happening across the country.

AMY GOODMAN: What is that direct action, Reverend Dr. Barber?

REV. WILLIAM BARBER II: The direct action, well, today, after the rally, we will link arms, clergy, in full vestment, with impacted people. And today, we will—under the theme “Somebody is hurting our people, and it’s gone on far too long, and we can’t be silent anymore,” we will take a particular street, right near the east side of the Capitol, and we will engage in that street. Many people will sit down to pray and lay, because we are saying that the country is headed in the wrong direction. That’s why today it’s the street. Later on, it will be other places in D.C. But today it’s the street, because we’re saying the country is headed in the wrong direction. We have to break through the moral narrative. Our first goal is to break through the moral narrative to where we’re talking about it. We’re not even talking about these issues in the country. And we’re also going to be calling people to engage in massive voter mobilization. We’re also going to be doing power building among poor communities. And this, Amy, is a launch.

The 40 days is not the end of the campaign. It is the launching of a multiyear campaign.

HUMAN RIGHTS, North America

The culture of non-violence will take place in the heart of Lebanese school curricula

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article by Anne-Marie El-Hage for L’Orient le Jour (reproduced by permission of the author)

An agreement signed between Aunohr University and the Ministry of Education plans to develop a culture of peace in the country’s schools.

For the first time in Lebanon, the culture of non-violence will be at the heart of the education system, public and private, classical and technical. Not only will it appear on the menu of the next school programs, as part of the development of these programs, from kindergarten to secondary classes, but the entire education system should be impregnated, teaching, management of schools, school life, playgrounds, school transportation, the relationship between students, that between students and teachers …


Signature of the agreement on the development of the culture of non-violence in schools. Aunohr photo.
Click on photo to enlarge

This is promised by the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Education and Academic University For Non-Violence & Human Rights – Aunohr. An agreement was signed on May 15 between the two parties, represented on the state side by Minister Marwan Hamadé, sponsor of the event, and by the president of the Center for Educational Research and Development (CRDP), Nada Oweijane, and on the academic side, by Aunohr’s founder, Ogarit Younan, and by university president, Issam Mansour.

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

Question for this article:

Peace Studies in School Curricula, What would it take to make it happen around the world?

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The initiative aims to “institutionalize non-violent culture,” says Ogarit Younan, to involve the State, in all its components, from the Ministry of Education and the CRDP. Because, she notes, “the needs are pressing at this level, given the increase in violence among young people and even among children.” This explains why Aunohr University is often asked by schools across the country to train their teachers in the culture of non-violence or to organize activities in this direction for students. “After the application of our methods, the results are palpable,” observes Younan, noting that children are quieter, that the educational life becomes easier. This prompted the Minister of Education, Marwan Hamadé, to say, after the signing of the agreement, that it is “one of the most beautiful agreements signed by the Ministry of Education. ‘Education and Higher Education’. And this in a desire to highlight the crucial nature of the culture of non-violence for Lebanon.

Establishing peace begins in childhood

The starting point of this mutual initiative lies in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As a signatory to these two declarations, Lebanon faces another major challenge set by the United Nations, that of spreading a culture of peace and non-violence in the world, as part of the United Nations Program of Action for the Decade. 2001-2010. “Changing people’s minds, building peace, must start in schools and from childhood,” says Younan. To do this, the university (which obtained its license in 2014) has already developed complete curricula. It must now develop the appropriate teaching material, but also train the trainers who will go on the ground. Because the culture of non-violence goes through different learning, namely the management of anger, listening, the development of peaceful memory, the construction of the true self, the understanding of conflicts in relation to others, the language not violent, and many other things.

This is certainly not the first time that the concept of non-violence is privileged within the Lebanese institutions. In 1997, Ogarit Younan was already a civil society consultant to introduce this principle into school curricula. “But just a few chapters have been changed,” she notes, adding that at the time, “it was a first step”. Much later, on October 13, 2016, the Council of Ministers dedicated October 2 of every year as the national day for the culture of non-violence. With the signing of the new agreement, the hope of growing up in a non-violent environment is now at hand for the children of Lebanon. Provided, of course, that the initiative is put into practice.

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

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Mideast

English bulletin June 1, 2018

CIVIL SOCIETY TAKES THE INITIATIVE .

Two major international events for peace that had been scheduled for May and June were cancelled or postponed this month, and, as a result, civil society has taken up the initiatives.

We are referring to the high level meeting between the Presidents of the United States and North Korea that had been scheduled for June 12 and the United Nations High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament that was scheduled to open on May 14.

In Korea, the Nobel Women’s Initiative joined with thousands of Korean women, north and south, to call for an end to the Korean War, reunification of families and women’s leadership in the peace process. They held international peace symposiums in Pyongyang and Seoul where they listened to Korean women and shared experiences and ideas of mobilizing women to bring an end to war and violent conflict. And on May 24, International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament, along with 1200 Korean women, they successfully crossed the 2-mile wide De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) that separates millions of Korean families as a symbolic act of peace.

As readers of CPNN know from the bulletins of July, August and November, 2017, the proposal for a United Nations High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament was a followup to the landmark UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons. The Conference was supported by the nations of the Non-Aligned Movement. However, it seems that pressure from the nuclear states has forced them to withdraw their sponsorship and postpone the conference. It seems now that it may never take place.

Although the Conference is not taking place, many organizations are taking up the cause for nuclear disarmament. In CPNN this month, we carry articles about initiatives by the World Medical Association, by women parliamentarians from around the world, by local activists at one of the largest American nuclear facilities and by the American Campaign for Compliance with the Nuclear Ban Treaty.

The Council of the World Medical Association, with delegates from almost 40 national medical associations, meeting in Latvia, expressed their strong concern about the growing threat of nuclear war and spoke about the catastrophic consequences of these weapons on human health and the environment. They urged all states to promptly sign and implement the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

49 women parliamentarians from around the world, under the auspices of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, have issued an appeal, Common security for a sustainable and nuclear-weapon-free world. They come from Kazakhstan, Marshall Islands, Austria, Australia, Switzerland, Finland, Canada, Germany, Portugal, New Zealand, Sweden, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Jordan, UK, Norway, USA, Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica.

In Oak Ridge, Tennessee, one of the largest nuclear production facilities in the United States, local activists have raised enough money for a lawsuit to stop a new nuclear processing plant. At the same time they have carried their message against nuclear weapons to international meetings and to the United Nations.

The American Campaign for Compliance with the Nuclear Ban Treaty is mobilizing the civil society at all levels, individuals, businesses, faith communities, schools, organizations, cities and states to be in ‘compliance’ with the Nuclear Ban Treaty. Their goal is to put pressure on the nuclear weapons industry and eventually force the federal government to sign and implement the Nuclear Ban Treaty.

Finally, at another level, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has announced a new initiative for disarmament, focusing on three priorities – weapons of mass destruction, conventional weapons, and new battlefield technologies. Hopefully, the pressure for disarmament and peace coming from both above and below the level of the state will be able to push through some progress.

      

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY


Women legislators release appeal for common security for a sustainable and nuclear-weapon-free world

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION


Women legislators release appeal for common security for a sustainable and nuclear-weapon-free world

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION



Mexico: Congress Exhorts the City Councils to contribute to the culture of peace

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT



Solar Leads Record Renewables Investment

WOMEN’S EQUALITY


Women, Peace and Security Focal Points Network meets in Berlin to promote women’s role in peace processes

HUMAN RIGHTS



The carnage against Gaza civilian protesters

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY



The Coming Wave of Climate Displacement

EDUCATION FOR PEACE



Brazil: Experts Support Teacher Training for Culture of Peace

d-disarmament

The Coming Wave of Climate Displacement

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article by Kumi Naidoo in Project Syndicate

Not since 1951 has the international community produced a treaty to protect the legal status of the world’s refugees. Now, two agreements are currently under discussion at the United Nations, and each offers a rare opportunity to protect global migrants from the biggest source of displacement today.

Governments around the world are engaged in a series of talks that could fundamentally alter how the movement of people across borders is managed. One dialogue is focused on the protection of refugees; the other on migration.

These discussions, which are being led by the United Nations, will not result in legally binding agreements. But the talks themselves are a rare chance to forge consensus on contemporary migration challenges. And, most importantly, they will offer the international community an opportunity to plan for the impact of climate change, which will soon become a key driver of global displacement and migration.

At last count, there were some 258 million migrants worldwide, with 22.5 million people registered as refugees  by the UN Refugee Agency. These numbers will be dwarfed if even the most modest climate-related predictions are borne out. According to the International Organization for Migration, climate change could displace as many as one billion people by 2050. And yet no international treaty covers climate-induced migration – a gap that must be addressed now.

Not since 1951 have international standards for refugee protection received so much attention. That year, with more than 80 million people displaced after World War II, UN member countries ratified a comprehensive framework to standardize their treatment of refugees. The Global Compact on Refugees  that is currently under discussion builds on this framework with strategies to empower refugees and assist host governments. Most significantly, it would commit signatories to protecting “those displaced by natural disasters and climate change.”

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

Question for this article

The refugee crisis, Who is responsible?

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The second agreement is even more consequential for the management of climate-induced displacement. There has never been a global treaty governing migration, and past bilateral efforts have focused almost exclusively on violence and conflict as root causes of displacement. The proposed Global Compact for Migration  goes beyond these factors, and notes that climate change is among the “adverse drivers and structural factors that compel people to leave their country of origin.”

This type of regulatory language reaffirms what at-risk populations around the world already know: droughts, natural disasters, desertification, crop failure, and many other environmental changes are upending livelihoods and rendering entire communities uninhabitable. In my country, South Africa, a record drought is forcing major cities to consider water rationing. If water shortages persist, migration is certain to follow.

Resource scarcity is particularly dangerous in politically unstable states, where climate change has already been linked to violent conflict and communal upheaval. For example, disputes over https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/science/earth/study-links-syria-conflict-to-drought-caused-by-climate-change.htmlfertile land and fresh water fueled the war in Darfur, and even the current crisis in Syria – one of the greatest sources of human displacement today – began after successive droughts pushed Syrians from rural areas into cities. It is not a stretch to predict that climate change will produce more bloodshed in the coming years.

The two UN frameworks could serve as a basis for planning how to manage the coming climate-induced migrations. With scientific modeling to guide decision-making, states could draft orderly, dignified, and equitable relocation strategies. This is certainly a smarter approach than the ad hoc responses to date.

But history tells us that governments are reluctant to seek out collective solutions to forced migration. This failure is visible today in the haunting and inexcusable plight of refugees around the world.

As we enter the final months of the Compact talks, what should we expect of those negotiating the global plan for managing unprecedented movements of people? The causes and consequences of climate change demand close attention. Displaced people must be able to get on with their lives in dignity. The test of world leaders will be whether the global compacts on refugees and migrants can achieve this.

(Thank you to Paul Kimmel, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

global, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Women legislators release appeal for common security for a sustainable and nuclear-weapon-free world

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament

On May 24, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released Securing our Common Future: An Agenda for Disarmament. May 24 was also Women’s International Day for Peace and Disarmament. PNND women leaders used the occasion to release an appeal Common security for a sustainable and nuclear-weapon-free world.

Governments must make better use of diplomacy, international law and common security mechanisms in order to prevent war and adequately address climate change and nuclear threats, according to an international appeal released in Geneva on May 24, 2018 by women parliamentarians from around the world.


Photo montage: Endorsers of the appeal released on May 24, Women’s International Day for Peace and Disarmament (click on image to enlarge)

The appeal, Common security for a sustainable and nuclear-weapon-free world, was released to commemorate Women’s International Day for Peace and Disarmament and to give support to  Securing our Common Future: An Agenda for Disarmament, the new disarmament agenda released in Geneva on May 24 by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

‘We are deeply concerned about the existential threats to humanity and the environment from climate change, nuclear weapons and unresolved international conflicts, especially those between nuclear-reliant countries,’ said Dr Hedy Fry, MP (Canada), Co-Chair of the Canada Section of PNND and Special Representative on Gender Issues for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

‘The withdrawal by the United States from the Iran Nuclear deal and the cancellation of the US/North Korea Summit only adds to these concerns,’ says Dr Fry. ‘As such, we welcome the peace and security initiative launched today by the United Nations Secretary-General – to “pursue disarmament to save humanity, disarmament that saves lives and disarmament for future generations.” ‘

‘The increased threats of nuclear-weapons-use by accident, miscalculation or intent led the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists earlier this year to move the hands of the Doomsday Clock to 2 Minutes to Midnight,’ says Margret Kiener Nellen MP (Switzerland), President of the Swiss delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. 

‘Nuclear reliant governments must reverse these trends by taking all weapons systems off high alert, committing to never use nuclear weapons first, and commencing negotiations on the complete prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons, as urged by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.’

The appeal calls on governments, parliaments and civil society to act together to implement these goals.

‘I have joined other women parliamentarians in expressing support for the UN General Assembly’s decision for a high-level conference on disarmament to advance effective measures to build a framework for a nuclear weapon-free world,’ says Linda Duncan MP (Canada), Co-Chair of PNND Canada.

‘As women representatives, we are proud of our home countries and our national identities, but we also recognize a common humanity. We recognize the need to collaborate in building a peaceful, secure, sustainable, and just world.’

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Question related to this article:

Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

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‘Those countries that still rely on nuclear weapons for their security should phase out nuclear deterrence, replacing it with international law, common security mechanisms and verified multilateral disarmament,’ says  Baroness Sue Miller (UK), PNND Co-President.

‘The United Nations was established with an array of mechanisms through which nations can resolve conflicts, negotiate disarmament and achieve security through diplomacy not war,’ says Baroness Miller. ‘These have been supplemented by additional common security mechanisms such as the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. A better use of these mechanisms could help facilitate nuclear disarmament.’

‘The first step is for all nuclear-reliant states to implement the call of the UN Secretary-General to “ensure that the 72-year practice of the non-use of nuclear weapons continues indefinitely and is universally understood to be an inviolable norm,” says Alyn Ware, PNND Global Coordinator.

‘The non-nuclear countries have made an important complementary action to this by negotiating last year a Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. We look forward to ratification and entry into force of this treaty.’

‘In addition, the nuclear arms race costs over $100 billion annually,’ says Ute Finckh-Krämer (Germany), former Deputy-Chair of the Bundestag Subcommittee on Disarmament and Arms Control.  ‘These resources could be better used  to reverse climate change, eliminate poverty and fulfill other social and economic needs.’

‘Cities, kantons/states and federal governments in non-nuclear States can play a role in this by ending any investments they may have in corporations manufacturing nuclear weapons and their delivery systems,’ says Barbara Gysi MP (Switzerland).  ‘Already some local, regional and national governments have taken such action.’

‘The condition of our world is calling for a new „Entspannungspolitik“, says Uta Zapf (Germany), PNND Past President and former Chair of the Bundestag Subcommitte on Disarmament and Arms Control.  ‘The new peace and security initiative of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrives at the right moment. We have to end the dangerous arms race and we have to press states that rely on nuclear weapons and nuclear deterrence to put an end to these dangerous policies and strive instead for common security and peace.’

‘I call on all countries in the world to support this initiative,’ says Ms Zapf. ‘I ask all countries instead of financing arms races to use the money for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.’

Rama Mani, Member of the World Future Council, is positive that peace and disarmament will unfold as civil society and governments cooperate more. ‘Soon…We shall hear the clattering, as their guns fall to the floor, As their missiles return to their hangars, As our resolve dissolves Their determination to destroy each other. …Soon.’

The statement Common security for a sustainable and nuclear-weapon-free world  has been endorsed by legislators  from Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Finland, Germany, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lichtenstein, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

On May 23, Linda Duncan MP (Canada) submitted the appeal to the Canadian parliament. Click here to read her introduction speech

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global

Rain or Shine: Dispatch from South Korea

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from the Nobel Women’s Initiative

“We walk in the hope that we can move closer to the re-unification of Korea. We have always walked in the rain or shine. Let’s give power to women. Let’s walk.” – Young-Soo Han.

As the political situation on the Korean peninsula continues to shift, our #WomenPeaceKorea: A New Era delegation with Women Cross DMZ  spent the day demonstrating for peace and women’s representation in the process.


Photo courtesy of Women Cross DMZ

Our delegation of 30 women security experts and feminist peace activists from aroundthe world participated in the second historic  DMZ Peace Walk  today in Paju, South Korea. They marched alongside 1,200 South Korean women mobilizing for a peaceful resolution to the Korean conflict.

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Question for this article:

Can Korea be reunified in peace?

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“This strip of land symbolizes the longest division of a people, and it feels so amazing to be walking with 1,200 women to erase this division.” – Christine Ahn.

During the opening ceremonies we heard from Young-Soo Han, President of the National YWCA of Korea, about the significance of the march. The 5.5 km Peace Walk began by  crossing the Tongildaegyo  (Unification Bridge). As we walked we were told that this was the first time civilians had actually crossed the bridge on foot.

The march came just hours before it was announced that, despite American President Donald Trump’s Thursday cancellation of June’s Korea peace summit, South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un  on the North side of the DMZ to continue talks.

“The time for peace has come. Peace can only come if the people build it. But peace also needs political leaders. So we call on Kim, Moon and Trump to sign a peace treaty for the people of Korea and for the world.” – Mairead Maguire.

The Peace Walk ended in Dorasan Peace Park with a Women’s Peace Walk Declaration  reading and Peace Festival. Nobel peace laureate, Mairead Maguire, also spoke at the festival  to highlight the power of civilian peacebuilders and call world leaders back to the negotiating table.

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

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, East Asia