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.

Can cluster bombs be abolished?

This question applies to the following CPNN articles:

10th anniversary of the Oslo Process: The Historic start to the cluster bomb ban

Strong outcome of 1st Review Conference of Convention on Cluster Munitions

Celebrating our success in 2016; Supporting ICBL-CMC Efforts in 2017

Japan Gets Rid of All Cluster Munitions

Thousands of Civilian Lives Being Saved by the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Lomé Conference Sets Course for Africa-wide Cluster Munition Ban

International Day of Mine Awareness and Mine Action

Africa Unites Against Cluster Bombs

L’Afrique s’unit contre les bombes à sous-munitions

Over 100 Countries Negotiate Cluster Bomb Ban

For older discussions, click here

d-disarmament

10th anniversary of the Oslo Process: The Historic start to the cluster bomb ban

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by the Cluster Munition Coalition

23rd February marks the 10th anniversary of the Oslo Process. Ten years ago today the Oslo Process began when 46 states took an extraordinary step by making a historic declaration to outlaw cluster munitions at a conference hosted by the Norwegian government in Oslo in February 2007.


The Oslo Process culminated with the signing of the Convention on Cluster Munitions within less than two years. Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store with Soraj Ghulam Habib from Afghanistan. © Federico Visi

With persistent and concerted efforts by governments in close partnerships with the Cluster Munition Coalition, International Committee of the Red Cross and United Nations agencies, the Oslo Conference was followed by ten regional meetings hosted by different countries, including by some of the most affected such as Lao PDR and Lebanon, to mobilize international support for a total ban on cluster munitions. In less than two years, the ambitious goal of the Oslo Declaration was achieved, when 94 states signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions during the first week of December 2008 in Oslo.

We asked Ambassador Steffen Kongstad of Norway, who played a crucial role during the Oslo Process, what the launch of the process meant to him. Ambassador Kongstad, currently Norway’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the OSCE, said: “The launch of the Oslo Process and the successful conclusion of the Convention on Cluster Munitions that followed demonstrated what can be achieved when affected countries, other interested countries and competent civil society organisations work together based on facts and humanitarian concerns and principles. The CCM has saved countless lives and limbs and prevented unacceptable human suffering. That was exactly the purpose and objective of this process.”

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Question related to this article:

Can cluster bombs be abolished?

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We asked Mr. Hrvoje Debač, Director at Office for Mine Action of the Republic of Croatia, what the Oslo Process and the Convention on Cluster Munitions mean to him.

Cluster munitions were known to be indiscriminate and for having caused disproportionate civilian casualties for decades before the start of the Oslo Process. The use of cluster munitions by the United States in Afghanistan in 2001-2002 and in Iraq in 2003 and the massive use of cluster munitions in Southern Lebanon by Israel and Hezbullah (a non-state armed group) in 2006, provided indisputable evidence of the indiscriminate nature of cluster munitions and caused global outrage. Cluster Munition Coalition campaigners, together a core group of states and other actors worked tirelessly to bring the devastation caused by cluster munitions to the attention of the international community and to urge the immediate ban of the weapons.

What the international community, and most importantly affected countries, have achieved through the Convention on Cluster Munitions is remarkable. To date, 119 nations have joined the convention. According to the Cluster Munition Monitor, 29 States Parties have destroyed nearly 1.4 million stockpiled cluster munitions containing 172.9 million submunitions. Seventeen States Parties and one non-signatory have ceased the production of cluster munitions. Last year, the United States suspended its transfers of cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia and one of the world´s largest arms producers, Textron, announced plans to stop producing cluster munitions. The Saudi-led coalition ended its use of UK-made cluster bombs in Yemen.

Listen to this short interview with Ms. Habbouba Aoun, head of the Landmines Resource Center for Lebanon, a member of the Cluster Munition Coalition in Beirut. Ms. Aoun actively participated in the Oslo Process and she continues to advocate for a cluster munition-free world.

We congratulate governments and other actors for their efforts to eradicate cluster bombs. We also demand that the international community remains fully committed until all countries join the convention, until no one else gets killed or maimed by cluster bombs, until the Saudi-led coalition, Syria, Russia and any other actor that uses cluster munitions stops doing so, until all victims receive sufficient assistance, until all states destroy their stockpiles of the weapon, and until the world is free from the plague of cluster munitions.

[Editor’s note: As of June 2018, Among the major powers, the United States, Russia and China have not yet signed the convention.]

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

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global

Can UN agencies help eradicate poverty in the world?


This question applies to the following CPNN articles:

United Nations: Guterres urges countries to recommit to achieving SDGs by 2030 deadline

United Nations: Debt-laden countries at risk, as financial markets screech to a halt

Global Solutions Lab: Eliminating Urban Poverty

Latin America and the Caribbean could be first developing region to eradicate hunger

Amérique latine et Caraïbes: première région en développement susceptible d’éradiquer la faim

América Latina y el Caribe podría ser la primera región en desarrollo en erradicar el hambre

Developing Nations Seek Tax Body to Curb Illicit Financial Flows

UN: Consensus Reached on New Sustainable Development Agenda to be adopted by World Leaders in September

Les Etats membres de l’ONU s’accordent sur le nouveau programme de développement

ONU: Líderes mundiales logran consenso sobre la nueva Agenda para el Desarrollo Sostenible

WFP Launches Major Study Into Brazil's Success In Buying From Smallholder Farmers

Oxfam agrees with IMF on 'Redistribution, Inequality, and Growth'

Tackling Economic Poverty in Afghanistan

Report on the UN Millennium Development Goals: we can eliminate world poverty by 2030

The Hungry Know No Peace

d-sustainable

Barcelona demonstration calls for the reception of refugees

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article from the Huffington Post Spanish edition (Translated by CPNN and reprinted with respect to the principles of ” Fair use “)

“Enough excuses! Let’s go now!” Under this motto, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Barcelona as convened by the organization “Casa Nostra, Casa Vostra” to demand that Spanish authorities put in place immediately a plan to welcome the thousands of refugees that arrive each day to Europe fleeing the horror of war.

The demonstration, attended by some 160,000 people according to the police and around 500,000 according to the organizers, started in the Plaza Urquinaona of the Catalan capital and marched to the promenade via the Via Laietana and Doctor Aiguader Street. The idea is to march to the Mediterranean Sea, where last year 5,000 people died while trying to reach the European continent.


(Click on the photo to enlarge)

The protest emulates the historic mobilization of Barcelona in 2003 against the war in Iraq. The organizers asked participants to dress in blue to give the image of a blue tide moving from the center of the city to the sea.

The first block of the march was formed by the thousands of volunteers of the “Volem Acollir” (We want to welcome) campaign, followed by members of refuge and immigration related groups, then a third block formed by other social organizations and a fourth by political and institutional representatives.

Up to 900 organizations joined the initiative (mostly Catalan, but also from other parts of Spain) and more than 70,900 people have signed their manifesto, including personalities from the political, cultural and associative world.

The mayor of Barcelona, ​​Ada Colau, present in the mobilization, expressed confidence that the city “will become the capital of hope, the defense of human rights and peace.”

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

Question for this article

The refugee crisis, Who is responsible?

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Speaking to reporters, the mayor said she is “excited” by the massive turnout, and she stressed that the demonstration is a message for the states of Europe to establish “safe routes” for immigrants. She also pointed out that the demonstration may inspire more events in other European cities with calls for “hope and life.”

The Minister of the Presidency of the Generalitat, Neus Munté, called on the European Union to go “beyond” its asylum policies and establish safe corridors for refugees. He assured that Catalonia is prepared to welcome the refugees and that it considers the demonstration this Saturday as a “unanimous cry” to highlight the situation of refugees.

The first secretary of the PSC, Miquel Iceta, stated that the western countries have caused the crisis of the refugees by its interventions in the Middle East. He stated that “nobody is innocent”, and demanded that we not allow the modern crusaders to cause the death of people in the Mediterranean. “The refugees are simply fleeing from hunger and war,” he insisted, and he called for all voices to be united to encourage institutions to make welcome policies.

Parliament President Carme Forcadell also called on the European Union institutions to change their “harmful” policies on refugees with the aim of welcoming more people and recalled that in February 2016 the Parliament adopted two declarations against the EU agreement with Turkey. “We hope that the demonstration will help other cities and states in Europe to do the same so that we can change these policies that go against the spirit of the EU,” he said.

For her part, the CUP deputy in the Parlament Gabriela Serra lamented that the Mediterranean has become a sea formed by “a mantle of 5,000 dead.” She expressed a deep indignation towards all institutions for their inaction: “Starting with ours.” “We are here to ask for action and we say that the Spanish government is failing,” she said, and she criticized the fact that of the 4,500 refugees that the State has promised to host, only 200 have arrived.

The deputy of Ciudadanos in the Parlament Sonia Sierra demanded the establishment of a common European policy for the reception of refugees, and she called for assistance to Italy and Greece to improve the conditions of the refugees there. She criticized the host agreements reached by the European Union with Turkey because they violate human rights, according to her, and she pointed out that the central government has breached its reception commitments.

Europe, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

How effective are mass protest marches?

A study, described in CPNN, finds that nonviolent resistance, including mass protest marches, are more effective than violent resistance in both the short term and the long term. The analysis, stemming from a research project on Nonviolent Resistance and Democratic Consolidation, is based on 101 democratic transitions that occurred within the time period of 1945 to 2006. Using data from the Varieties of Democracy Database the researchers analyze improvements for civil society organizations (CSOs, i.e. interest groups, labor unions, religious organizations, social movements, and classic NGOs) after democratic transitions. They compare cases where democratization was induced by an NVR campaign (like Poland and Benin) with transition cases that did not feature an NVR campaign (i.e. violent or elite-led transitions). The four aspects of CSOs that were evaluated include: (1) independence from government, (2) freedom from repression, (3) consultation of CSOs for policymaking, and (4) participation in CSOs.

This question applies to the following recent articles in CPNN:

2 October: 3rd World March for Peace and Nonviolence officially launched in the Spanish Congress of Deputies

Honduras: A massive march cries out for peace in Olancho

Indian farmers call off lengthy protest after govt assurances

Thousands demonstrate in France to stop violence against women

VIEW Reactions to India’s decision to repeal farm laws

Successful start of the Latin American March for Nonviolence, Multiethnic and Pluricultural

USA: Women Rally for Abortion Justice Amid ‘Unprecedented Attack’ on Reproductive Rights

Belarus: Women at the forefront of human rights struggle

Irate farmers storm Delhi on tractors as tear gas deployed and internet cut off in scramble to defend Indian capital

France: Thousands protest against bill to curb filming of police

‘Stop Lukashenko’: Hundreds of Thousands Protest Against Belarusian Leader for Eighth Straight Day

Tens of thousands march in southern India to protest citizenship law

A Worldwide Revolution Is Underway

Kazakhstan: Protests of presidential vote bring 500 arrests

Czech Republic: Prague crowds demand PM Andrej Babis step down

Sudan: top UN official demands cessation of violence and rape against civilians by security forces

Hong Kong protesters march demanding leader resign

Brazil: general strike highlights Bolsonaro’s weakness

Celebrating arrests, but still pushing for change, protesters rally in Algeria

Israeli woman hold mass rallies to protest rising violence against women

France: More people marched in the demonstration #NousToutes than in the demonstration of the “Yellow Jackets”

How Nonviolent Resistance Helps to Consolidate Gains for Civil Society after Democratization

Philippine Catholics march against Duterte’s deadly war on drugs

Live long and protest: the power of mass action is alive in Romania

USA: Women’s marches fight back against inauguration of Trump

Nonviolence Highlights in 2016

40,000 Create Human Chains to Protest Violence in Honduras

March of Hope gathers 20,000 in historic Jerusalem rally

Colombia: Youth for Peace: Mass marches in 16 cities across the country

Papua New Guinea: Thousands march to ‘make a stand for peace’

For CPNN articles on this topic prior to 2015, click here.

d-human rights

Philippine Catholics march against Duterte’s deadly war on drugs

…. HUMAN RIGHTS ….

An article from Deutsche Welle

Thousands of demonstrators marched alongside Catholic Church leaders in the Philippines capital of Manila on Saturday [February 18] to protest President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs and attempts to reinstate the death penalty.


(c) picture-alliance/AP photo/B.Marquez
(click on image to enlarge)

According to police estimates, at least 10,000 people joined the “Walk for Life” march, making it the largest rally yet against Duterte’s brutal crackdown against drug dealers and users. It also marked the largest show of opposition from the Roman Catholic Church against the government’s anti-drugs campaign, which has seen more than 7,600 mostly poor people killed in the past seven months.

“We have to stand up. Somehow this is already a show of force by the faithful that they don’t like these extrajudicial killings,” Manila bishop Broderick Pabillo said. “I am alarmed and angry at what’s happening because this is something that is regressive. It does not show our humanity.”

The Catholic Church is one of the Philippines oldest and most influential institutions in a country where about 80 percent of the population identifies as Catholic, a legacy of the country’s time as a Spanish colony.

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Questions related to this article:

How effective are mass protest marches?

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Duterte on a collision course with Catholic Church

As one of the nation’s most powerful institutions, the Catholic Church has in the past played a crucial political role in the Philippines. In 1986, it helped lead a revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Then, in 2001, it supported an uprising against then- president Joseph Estrada before he was subsequently ousted over corruption charges.

The Church initially refused to voice its opposition to Duterte’s anti-drugs campaign but its opposition has grown increasingly vocal since the end of last year, with the number of casualties continuing to rise.

“It is obvious that there is a spreading culture of violence. It is saddening to see, sometimes it drives me to tears how violent words seem so natural and ordinary,” the country’s highest-ranking Church official, Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle, said. “In your surroundings, in your neighborhood, there are so many lives that must be saved. They will not be saved by mere discussion.”

Duterte was elected president in May on the back of a strong anti-crime and anti-drug platform, claiming he would save generations of Filipinos from the drug menace. Since being elected to office, he has often attacked the church, once describing it as “the most hypocritical institution” for speaking out against his campaign. The President has also scolded a number of local bishops, accusing them of corruption and sexual abuse.

Duterte has also asked Congress to revive the death penalty by public hanging, which has also put him on a collision course with the Church. “Execution is murder,” Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who heads the country’s bishops, said. “We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing those who kill.”

East Asia, HUMAN RIGHTS

Latin America and the Caribbean could be first developing region to eradicate hunger

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Latin America and the Caribbean could be the first developing region to completely eradicate hunger if its governments further strengthen their implementation of a food security plan developed by the CELAC bloc, FAO’s Director-General José Graziano da Silva said today [25 January 2017].

Speaking at the Summit of Presidents and Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Graziano da Silva stated that, “CELAC’s Food Security, Nutrition and Hunger Eradication Plan (FNS) represents the crystallization of governments’ political will to eradicate hunger before 2025.”

Approved by CELAC in 2015, the plan promotes comprehensive public policies to reduce poverty, improve rural conditions, adapt agriculture to climate change, end food waste and face disaster risks.

In his address, FAO’s Director-General noted that the CELAC FNS plan is fully in line with high-level global commitments such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

And the region has made an even more ambitious commitment, he noted: to eradicate hunger by the year 2025, five years before the target established by SDG 2: Zero Hunger.

“This region has all the necessary conditions to achieve this, starting with the great political commitment that sustains the CELAC FNS Plan,” explained Graziano da Silva.

The plan is already bearing fruit throughout the region: Bolivia, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela relied on it to diagnose their food and nutrition security policies, while Peru used it as a base for the creation of laws regarding food donation and to minimize food losses and waste.

Tackling the double burden of malnutrition

The integral nature of CELAC’s FNS Plan allows countries to not only address hunger but also obesity, which affects 140 million people in the region according to the FAO / PAHO report Panorama of Food and Nutrition Security.

Malnutrition generates enormous economic and social costs, as public health systems must now cope with increasing levels of diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, as well as the consequences of child stunting, wasting and undernourishment.

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

Question for this article:

Can UN agencies help eradicate poverty in the world?

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According to the FAO, one of the worrying trends in the region is the increase in female obesity: the rates of obesity for women are ten percentage points higher than that of men in more than twenty countries in the region.

As a way to o confront this situation, Graziano da Silva highlighted the CELAC FNS Plan’s Gender Strategy, which will ensure that the plan benefits women and men equally and which is already being implemented as a pilot program in four countries: El Salvador, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Strengthening family farming to tackle climate change

According to FAO’s Director-General, the impacts of climate change have the potential to reverse the gains made in the fight against hunger and extreme poverty in the region.

“Agriculture is the sector most affected by climate change and one of its main victims are small family farmers, men and women, many of whom struggle daily for their survival,” said Graziano da Silva.

Together with CELAC, FAO is developing a plan of action for family agriculture and rural territorial development that promotes sustainable intensification of production, public procurement and food supply systems, rural services and greater opportunities for rural youth.

FAO is supporting CELAC in putting together a Regional Strategy for Disaster Risk Management for Agriculture and Food Security, which supports resilience and adaptation of farmers through sustainable farming techniques and resource management.

Graziano da Silva stressed that eleven countries in the region have already adhered to the Port State Agreement, which seeks to eradicate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and called on all countries to join in taking care of the sustainability and conservation of their fishery resources.

Peace, food security and sustainable development

In Colombia, the CELAC FNS Plan has supported the creation of a strategy aimed at rehabilitating the livelihoods of vulnerable communities in the central area of the country.

According to FAO’s Director-General, the peace process in Colombia illustrates the indissoluble link between peace, food security and sustainable development, an issue that is at the heart of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

“There will be no social stability or peace as long as there is hunger, poverty and inequality. Nor can we move forward if we continue to exploit our natural resources. Sustainability is a pre-condition for development,” said Graziano da Silva.

(Thank you to Sergio Tripi and the Good News Agency for calling our attention to this article.)

Latin America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Restaurants Will Test If The U.S. Can Stomach ‘A Day Without Immigrants’

…. HUMAN RIGHTS ….

An article by Carolina Moreno and Liz Martinez for the Huffington Post (reprinted according to the principle of “fair use”)

Restaurant owners across the country are hoping the way to the nation’s conscience is through its stomach as they prepare to close their businesses in solidarity with immigrants on Thursday.

The restaurateurs are doing their part to support the grassroots movement dubbed “A Day Without Immigrants,” which asks immigrants not to go to work, open their businesses or buy any products for a full day on Feb. 16. The goal is to impress on President Donald Trump the importance of immigration.


Newscast about Day without Immigrants

“I’m happy about it,” said Benjamin Miller, co-owner of El Compadre and South Philly Barbacoa restaurants in Philadelphia. “[I’m] glad to see that chefs are stepping up and taking agency and using their power to advocate for people who are more vulnerable. The most we as chefs risk are fines, but these people risk losing their families. They have a lot more to lose.”

Miller’s wife and business partner, Cristina Martinez, is especially invested in the cause because she is an undocumented immigrant currently unable to apply for a green card, despite being married to a U.S. citizen. The couple will close El Compadre on Thursday. (Their other restaurant opens only on weekends.)

It’s no surprise that restaurateurs are taking a stand against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, which has led to an uptick in raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities. An estimated 1.2 million undocumented immigrants work in food preparation and serving jobs in the United States, according to 2012 Pew Research Center data.

Some high-profile names in the restaurant business have signed on to the effort, including Spanish-born chef José Andrés, who was sued by Trump after he pulled out of plans to open a restaurant in the new Trump hotel in Washington, D.C. Andrés announced on Twitter that he will be closing all five of his D.C. area restaurants on Thursday in solidarity.

The Blue Ribbon restaurant group has also vowed to close seven of its restaurants in New York City.

“This is not a casual decision,” Blue Ribbon partner Eric Bromberg told Eater New York, adding that closing their doors will definitely impact their bottomline. “But there are times in life when money isn’t the most important thing.”

Two other notable chefs with Philadelphia locations, Stephen Starr and Ecuadorian-American Jose Garces, have not said they will shut down for the day, but they are promising not to fire or otherwise punish any employee who decides to participate in “A Day Without Immigrants.”

(Article continued in the right column)

Questions related to this article:

The post-election fightback for human rights, is it gathering force in the USA?

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“We recognize the immigrant community is an essential part of the hospitality industry. … We support the right for hospitality industry employees to have their voices heard,” Garces said in a statement to HuffPost. “We are in close communication with any employees who plan to participate Thursday and doing our best to mitigate against any potential impact to our guests’ experience. We will not take any adverse action with any employee who chooses to participate.”

Any decision not to open even for a day is particularly difficult for those who own small businesses. Melissa Silva-Diaz, CEO and owner of the El Burrito Mercado in St. Paul, Minnesota, decided to close her family-owned eatery on Thursday after hearing about the day of protest from customers and workers.

“We had employees and a couple of customers send us the image of ‘Un Día Sin Inmigrantes,’” Silva-Diaz, whose parents are from Aguascalientes, Mexico, said on Wednesday. “I began to ask around and I asked employees, and some said they were planning on not working. That triggered a conversation. We had a meeting yesterday. We had a healthy discussion about it. I asked each individually what they wanted to do. I reached out to other businesses. Everyone was talking about it. Then we took a vote and unanimously we decided to do it.”

She acknowledged that many of her customers aren’t happy about the decision. But she said, “That’s what we want to do, to bring people awareness and get them talking.”

Juan Ramirez, manager of Taquerias Los Jaliscienses in Austin, Texas, understands firsthand the struggles that many undocumented immigrants face. The 54-year-old worked in the fields harvesting potatoes and wheat when he arrived from Mexico decades ago and gained legal status after the Reagan administration granted a major amnesty in 1986.

“I feel we are nothing without immigrants,” Ramirez said. “We are all in the same boat. Why not row together to move forward?”

Ramirez said that his Austin restaurant will be closed on Thursday and that he supports his employees 100 percent. He also noted that many workers were concerned about having enough money to pay their bills, yet they were willing to make the sacrifice.

While mobilizing around immigrants is nothing new, Miller noted, the Trump administration’s immigration directives have lit a fire under the community.

“This is part of a movement that has a long history,” the Philly restaurant owner said. “I feel like this subject is not just about Trump. There were plenty of deportations under Obama. … This political climate is mobilizing more people.”

Miller also hopes consumers will do their part to ensure that “A Day Without Immigrants” makes a strong statement.

“As a patron tomorrow, don’t go to restaurants,” Miller said, addressing all Americans. “Don’t spend money in restaurants. If you go to a restaurant and it’s closed, don’t go to another one. Stay home tomorrow. Cook for yourself. Show solidarity with immigrants. Restaurants not participating, they will feel the impact that immigrants make every day.”

HUMAN RIGHTS, North America

USA: Army veterans forming human shield to protect NoDAPL protesters at Standing Rock

…. HUMAN RIGHTS ….

An article from RT.com

US veterans are returning to Standing Rock to support and protect Native American protesters as the Dakota Access Pipeline continues to meet resistance despite President Trump’s executive order to continue construction of the $3.7 billion pipeline.

The veterans are gathering in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, with many on their way.


Veterans march with activists outside the Oceti Sakowin camp in December © Stephen Yang / Reuters
(click on image to enlarge)

“We are prepared to put our bodies between Native elders and a privatized military force,” Air Force veteran Elizabeth Williams told the Guardian. “We’ve stood in the face of fire before. We feel a responsibility to use the skills we have.”

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has vowed to fight the president’s order to push ahead with the pipeline despite the US Army Corps of Engineers stating it would cancel its planned environmental impact study and grant a permit for construction of the final phase of the pipeline beneath Lake Oahe to go ahead.

The protest camps are being prepared for flooding that is expected to come as temperatures increase. The veterans’ presence will present a challenge to law enforcement wishing to remove water protectors from the area.

(Article continued in the right column)

Questions related to this article:

The post-election fightback for human rights, is it gathering force in the USA?

(Article continued from the left column)

Previous clashes between security officials and protesters have been violent, with police deploying water cannons, rubber bullets and teargas at protesters. Private contractors also set dogs on the demonstrators.

The Veterans Stand group is fundraising for the protesters who continue to resist the pipeline being built by Energy Transfer Partners, and has raised close over $220,000 so far. It said the increase in “turmoil and uncertainty” at Standing Rock has inspired them to act.

More than 1,000 veterans came to Standing Rock in December. Whilst there, they apologized to Native Americans for the US government’s treatment of the country’s indigenous people. Veterans Stand doesn’t expect the same veteran presence as before, but it will provide support to the camps through its fundraising.

“The biggest misconception is that Veterans Stand wants to do anything aggressive in response,” Veterans Stand founder Michael Wood Jr told CNN. “People want to do something and they just don’t know what to do. We just want to give people a platform.”

“We’re not coming as fighters, but as protectors,” Jake Pogue, a Marine Corps vet, told the Guardian. “Our role in that situation would be to simply form a barrier between water protectors and the police force and try to take some of that abuse for them.”

“Finally, it’s the US military coming on to Sioux land to help, for the first time in history, instead of coming on to Sioux land to kill natives,” veteran Dan Luker said.

HUMAN RIGHTS, North America

Africa: The Festival of Amani strengthens our ability to live together

. EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from Radio Okapi (translated by CPNN)

The 4th edition of the Amani Festival ended on Sunday (February 12th) in Goma (North Kivu). Over its three days, more than 30,000 people from all walks of life took part in this great cultural event for the promotion of peace in the Great Lakes region. Music, dance, exhibition of works of art, promotion of entrepreneurship … there was a diversity that pleased everyone.

The organizers of the festival are pleased with the success of this event, which they believe is contributing to peace building efforts in the region.

“Our goal is to reinforce our ability to live together. And in a post-conflict region, like the [Great Lakes] region, where many of the young people who attended the festival have lived through traumatic times, the festival fits in with its theme of being able to encourage living together” explained Vianney Bisimwa, the festival administrator.

The event provided an opportunity to strengthen the links between people and to help alleviate the trauma that the young people have lived through, he continued.

When people gather at this festival, they do not see themselves as ethnic groups, or other forms of identity differences, but “on the contrary, they look at each other in relation to what they have in common. It means the love of music and dance and the attachment to entrepreneurship. ”

One of the positive results of the festival, according to Vianney Bisimwa, are opportunities in the entrepreneurship sector:

“We have previously seen the success of the project CIGOM, a project funded by the Amani festival, which engages in the production of chalk. And we have many artists who, after the festival, have undertaken [some projects]. ”

[Note: For CPNN articles about the previous three editions of the Amani festival, see here for 2016, here for 2015 and here for 2014.]

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

 

Question related to this article:

Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE