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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. View all posts by CPNN Coordinator →

Zimbabwe: NPRC to enforce peace pledge ahead of by-elections

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An article from the The Herald

In an effort to curb pre-and post-election violence, the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) will roll-out peace caravans in all areas holding by-elections next month and ensure that candidates abide by the peace pledge signed when they filed their nomination papers.

Commisioner Gutu

Those who fail to abide by the pledge, which was introduced in June 2018 shortly before that year’s harmonised elections, risk being disqualified.

In an interview over the weekend, NPRC spokesperson Commissioner Obert Gutu, reminded all by-election candidates that they are bound by provisions of the peace pledge.

“We intend to roll out peace caravans in those areas where by-elections are going to be held as we seek to unite the people of Zimbabwe by building peace,” he said.

“Participants who violate the peace pledge that they signed when they filed their nomination papers run the risk of being disqualified if they deliberately and unlawfully violate and breach the terms and conditions of the pledge. Delinquent political behaviour will certainly not go unpunished.”

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Question related to this article:

How should elections be organized in a true democracy?

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w-enforcement agents and judicial authorities to prevent and penalise electoral offenders as provided for by the Electoral Act.”

Comm Gutu said the impending outreach was also in response to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s call to sister independent Constitutional commissions to participate in their programmes to ensure peaceful elections in Zimbabwe.

“Peace-building is at the very core of the NPRC mandate. The NPRC has designed and developed an election strategy which is being fine-tuned in time for the ongoing electioneering season.

“This is a well-thought out and well-crafted strategy that acts as a guiding document as we go about our peace-building duties particularly during this period of election campaigning,” he said

Part of the NPRCs mandate includes developing mechanisms for early detection of areas of potential conflict and dispute, and to take appropriate preventive measures.

Towards the 2023 elections, Comm Gutu said the NPRC would play a leading role in all peace-building initiatives.

The NPRC will be going out there in the field to meet and interact with all political players as we seek to foster and sustain a culture of peace and tolerance.

“We will be holding meetings and workshops with all stakeholders specifically targeted at ensuring that the period before, during and after elections is peaceful.”

He urged political parties to avoid fanning animosity among their supporters, highlighting that this was detrimental to ongoing economic re-building efforts.

February 14, 2022Africa, DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATIONAfricaCPNN Coordinator

Leftist President of Honduras Blocks Indigenous Community’s Eviction

…. HUMAN RIGHTS ….

An article by Andrea Germanos from Common Dreams (reprinted according to Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Honduras’ new leftist president on Wednesday intervened to halt a court-ordered eviction of an Indigenous community from their ancestral lands following violent scenes of the attempted forced removal by police earlier in the day.

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Question related to this article:

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

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Human Rights Minister Natalie Roque shared on social media that, with orders from President Xiomara Castro, lawyers and officials from her office went to the Tierras del Padre community, located just south of the capital of Tegucigalpa, to stop the evictions, saying the suspension was in accordance with the law and authorized by the state.`

“We are not going to tolerate any aggression or blow against a pregnant woman or against a citizen or against a child,” presidential adviser Pedro Amador said on the scene, according to video circulated on social media

In a tweet, Roque accused judicial officials who’d approved the evictions of continuing “in the power of the dictatorship.” As Agence France-Presse reported last month, “four of the five judges in the court’s constitutional chamber were named to their posts by the previous Congress, which was dominated by the right-wing National Party of former president Juan Orlando Hernandez.”

A statement from the country’s human rights ministry called the proposed expulsions—performed at the behest of a businessman and land developer who claims ownership of the area—a “clear violation of the human rights of over 100 families who live in the sector in an ancestral Lenca territory that dates from the year 1739.”

February 14, 2022FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, HUMAN RIGHTS, Latin AmericaLatin AmericaCPNN Coordinator

Chinese-Russian Text on Constructing a Community of Common Destiny for Mankind – A Crucial Peacebuilding Approach

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article by René Wadlow in the Transcend Media Service

The presence of the Russian President to the start of the Winter Olympics led to an important Joint Statement which goes well beyond a press statement usual after bilateral meetings. Thus the Joint Statement must have been in preparation for some time and stresses current proposals of the two States. Thus it merits close attention. The Joint Statement highlights the concept of the community of common destiny for mankind:

Putin and Xi Jinping in Pekin

“The Russian side notes the significance of the concept of constructing a community of common destiny for mankind proposed by the Chinese side to ensure greater solidarity of the international community and consolidation of efforts in responding to common challenges.”

The Joint Statement sets out the political framework for its proposals.

“Today, the world is going through momentous changes, and humanity is entering a new era of rapid development and profound transformation. It sees the development of such processes and phenomena as multipolarity, economic globalization, the advent of information society, cultural diversity, transformation of the global governance architecture and world order. There is increasing interrelation and interdependence between States; a trend has emerged towards redistribution of power in the world; and the international community is showing a growing demand for the leadership aiming at peaceful and gradual development.”

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Question related to this article:

Free flow of information, How is it important for a culture of peace?

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The United Nations is to play a central role in this effort. The Joint Statement goes on to call

“to protect the United Nations – driven international architecture and the international law-based world order, seek genuine multipolarity with the United Nations and its Security Council playing a central and coordinating role, promote more democratic international relations, and ensure peace, stability and sustainable development across the world …The Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set noble goals in the area of universal human rights, set forth fundamental principles, which all the States must comply with and observe in deeds…Interaction and cooperation on human rights matters should be based on the principle of equality of all countries and mutual respect for the sake of strengthening the international human rights architecture.”

Economic development is stressed.

“ In order to accelerate the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we call on the international community to take practical steps in key areas of cooperation such as poverty reduction, food security, vaccines and epidemics control, sustainable development, including green development, industrialization, digital economy and infrastructure connectivity.”

Given current world tensions and the possibility of armed conflicts, the Joint Statement stresses that

“The international community should actively engage in global governance to ensure universal, comprehensive, indivisible and lasting security.”

****

Full text of the Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China on the International Relations Entering a New Era and the Global Sustainable Development of 4 Feb 2022

February 14, 2022FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, globalglobalCPNN Coordinator

Central Africa : Safeguarding the Lake Chad basin, a major regional challenge

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from The Conversation (translated by CPNN and republished under a Creative Commons license)

Located at the crossroads of five African countries (Central and West) – Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Niger and Nigeria – the Lake Chad basin represents an important and vital source of water shared by more than 40 million inhabitants.

This basin is home to biodiversity as well as an extremely valuable natural and cultural heritage. Rich and varied production systems built on diversified uses of space, as well as ancient local conventions, attest to the rational exploitation of natural resources.

Fishermen on the shores of Lake Chad, in 2015 north of N’Djamena (Chad). PHILIPPE DESMAZES / AFP

For several decades, this area has unfortunately been plagued by an anthropo-ecological imbalance, to which must be added the climatic changes that began in the 1970s; these have led to a gradual drying up of the basin.

As a result, there is competition for the use of natural resources, exacerbated by armed conflicts orchestrated by the sect of Boko Haram that has engaged in illegal timber trafficking, poaching of protected species and agro-pastoral conflicts.
This situation leads to significant population migrations.

“Biosphere reserves” to preserve resources

The challenges currently facing the Lake Chad Basin are three-fold:

– A security challenge for the restoration of peace and security in the countries of the Lake Chad Basin;

– an ecological challenge, with the conservation of biodiversity, the management of ecosystems and their rehabilitation;

– a socio-economic challenge, for the revival of agricultural, pastoral and fish farming activities, poverty reduction, participatory planning and inclusive governance.

To safeguard and sustainably manage the hydrological, biological and cultural resources of this area, contribute to poverty reduction and promote peace, the five states of the basin have decided to apply the model of transboundary “biosphere reserves” and sites of World Heritage.
It is with this in mind that Unesco, within the framework of the Biosphere and Heritage of Lake Chad (BIOPALT) project, has set itself the task of supporting the five States in the preparation of files for the nomination of national and/or transboundary biosphere reserves and a transboundary World Heritage site in the basin.

A participatory approach

The various consultations – national, led by BIOPALT and regional, led by the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) – have made it possible to identify the major difficulties of the basin and the expectations of the communities in the face of these constraints.

To carry out these initiatives, the participatory approach was adopted. Its modus operandi is built on four main components: know, train and build capacity, rehabilitate and use sustainably, manage and enhance. Here, the various activities were carried out with the support of local and international partners.

The network of project partners is made up of scientists (mainly universities in the Basin, but also other international institutions), NGOs and associations. The work carried out is validated by a scientific and technical council.

A dozen studies on the Lake Chad Basin

From 2017 to 2021, thirteen studies were carried out on the biodiversity, hydrology, culture and socio-economic aspects of the basin. They have allowed a better knowledge of hydroclimatic risks, water quality, biological and cultural diversity and finally the variability and resilience to the climate of this space.

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(Click here for the original article in French)

Question for this article:

What is the relation between the environment and peace

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Two tools have been developed: a portal on water quality in the Lake Chad Basin and a flood and drought monitoring platform. These tools allow the control of pollution of the lake and its tributaries as well as the monitoring of meteorological hazards.

Four workshops – organized around the monitoring of floods and droughts, the monitoring of the water quality of Lake Chad and the establishment of a PHI Cameroon committee – have made it possible to train 90 experts.

Some 2,000 people have also been trained in the peaceful management of natural resources, conflict prevention and the sustainable conservation of Lake Chad. A master and a MOOC have also been created to address the management of biosphere reserves and world heritage sites.

Finally, a biosphere reserve has been created, two others have been proposed as well as a cross-border World Heritage site, while two community radios have been launched to help prevent violent extremism and to promote peace , environmental protection and sustainable development.

Seven income-generating activities have been launched relating to beekeeping, fish farming, agroecological market gardening, rice growing and tree growing enabling 20,000 beneficiaries to diversify their sources of income and strengthen their socio-economic resilience to the impacts of Covid-19.

Three ecological restoration techniques have also been developed, allowing the rehabilitation of degraded lands and the improvement of community skills. Communication actions (website, newsletter and events) aim to publicize the project.

Although 80% of the activities planned under the BIOPALT action plan have been carried out, several points remain to be implemented today: the finalization of four publications, the carrying out of a bioecological and socioeconomic study in Kalamaloué (Cameroon), the realization of a regional workshop relating to the world heritage and the finalization of MOOC on the reserves of biosphere and the world heritage.

Ecological restoration and synergy

Several perspectives are emerging in a second phase of the BIOPALT project. Ecological restoration, for example, has already begun and aims to bring together the various users of the lake and promote peace and development. Income-generating activities have been developed and will make it possible to provide substantial income to actors in the field and to strengthen community management to conserve biodiversity and reduce poverty.

Seasonal movement of live stock across the national borders has been promoted, based on agreements for the peaceful management of natural resources and training (culture of peace, veterinary points). Mobile pastoral schools are being considered.

Finally, a synergy of action between education and literacy is being set up with other initiatives, such as the Project to Strengthen Education and Literacy (PREAT).

The BIOPALT project will thus have made it possible to obtain tangible results in the field of the restoration of degraded ecosystems (ponds, dune plains) and the promotion of income-generating activities based on the green economy.

Training and capacity building on the peaceful management of natural resources, building on UNESCO’s “PCCP approach”, has also been developed, as has the strengthening of cross-border cooperation, regional integration and the production of dossiers for the inscription of Lake Chad on the World Heritage List and the creation of biosphere reserves.

For 50 years, UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Program has relied on the alliance between exact sciences, natural sciences and social sciences to find solutions implemented at the heart of 714 exceptional natural sites (in 129 countries) with biosphere reserve status.

Authors:

Amadou Boureima, Head of the Laboratory for Studies and Research on Sahelo-Saharan Territories (LERTESS), Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey (UAM)

Aristide Comlan Tehou, Researcher at the Applied Ecology Laboratory of the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi of Benin

Daouda Ngom, Full Professor, Head of the Ecology and Ecohydrology Laboratory, Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar

Mallé Gueye, Teacher-Researcher, Hydrosciences and Environment Department, Iba Der Thiam University of Thiès

February 9, 2022Africa, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTAfricaCPNN Coordinator

France: Appeal by the AFCDRP on the occasion of the 1st Anniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An appeal received by email at CPNN from AFCDRP, the French Association of Communities, Departments and Regions for Peace

One year after the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), the AFCDRP-Maires pour la Paix calls on its member communities to mobilize to make France participate in the first meeting of States Parties to the UN from 22 to 24 March 2022 in Vienna, Austria.

In a fragile socio-economic context aggravated by the Covid 19 pandemic and the climate emergency, new military spending only contributes to the impoverishment of society and the poverty of citizens.

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

Question related to this article:

Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

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Not only poverty, but also the threat of nuclear weapons, is a source of tension and insecurity in our territories and beyond our borders.

We say no to this insecurity!

We, elected representatives of cities and local authorities, have a duty to invest in favor of peace and disarmament.

We express by this appeal that cooperation and brotherhood should prevail among peoples.

About sixty countries have already ratified the TPNW, including Austria and Ireland within the European Union. In addition, five countries will attend the meeting as observers (Germany, Finland, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden). France must open up to the debate on nuclear weapons and take full part in the movement.

We call on French communities to mobilize locally for this first anniversary of the ratification of the TPNW to ensure that France takes part and truly advances on the path of nuclear disarmament.

Two gatherings have already been announced for Saturday January 22 in Lyon, place de la Comédie 69001 (at 3 p.m.) and in Paris, place Edmond Michelet 75004 (from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.). Join the movement!

AFCDRP is available on social media at twitter and facebook

February 8, 2022DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, EuropeEuropeCPNN Coordinator

The Pope : “The time has come to live in a spirit of fraternity and build a culture of peace”

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article by Carol Glatz of the Catholic News Service published by Catholic Philly

The time has come to live in a spirit of fraternity and build a culture of peace, sustainable development, tolerance, inclusion, mutual understanding and solidarity, Pope Francis said.

Frame from video of the Pope’s message

“Now is not a time for indifference: either we are brothers and sisters or everything falls apart,” he said in a video message marking the International Day of Human Fraternity Feb. 4.

The international celebration is a U.N.-declared observation to promote interreligious dialogue and friendship on the anniversary of the document on human fraternity signed in Abu Dhabi in 2019 by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar in Egypt.

The pope, the sheikh and U.S. President Joe Biden all issued messages for the commemoration.

“Fraternity is one of the fundamental and universal values that ought to undergird relationships between peoples, so that the suffering or disadvantaged do not feel excluded and forgotten but accepted and supported as part of the one human family. We are brothers and sisters,” the pope said in Italian in his video message.

People must walk together, aware that, “while respecting our individual cultures and traditions, we are called to build fraternity as a bulwark against hatred, violence and injustice,” he said.

“All of us must work to promote a culture of peace that encourages sustainable development, tolerance, inclusion, mutual understanding and solidarity,” he said.

People of different faiths all have a role to play, he said, because “in the name of God, we who are his creatures must acknowledge that we are brothers and sisters.”

And all of humanity lives “under the same heaven,” so believers in God and all people of goodwill should journey together, he added.

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(Click here for a French article on this subject and here for a Spanish article.)

Question related to this article:

How can different faiths work together for understanding and harmony?

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“Do not leave it to tomorrow or an uncertain future,” he said. “This is a good day to extend a hand, to celebrate our unity in diversity — unity, not uniformity, unity in diversity — in order to say to the communities and societies in which we live that the time of fraternity has arrived.”

“The path of fraternity is long and challenging, it is a difficult path, yet it is the anchor of salvation for humanity,” the pope said. “Let us counter the many threatening signs, times of darkness and mindsets of conflict with the sign of fraternity that, in accepting others and respecting their identity, invites them to a shared journey.”

The pope encouraged everyone to dedicate themselves to “the cause of peace and to respond concretely to the problems and needs of the least, the poor and the defenseless. Our resolve is to walk side by side, ‘brothers and sisters all,’ in order to be effective artisans of peace and justice, in the harmony of differences and with respect for the identity of each.”

In his video message, Sheikh el-Tayeb said, “This celebration means a quest for a better world where the spirit of tolerance, fraternity, solidarity and collaboration prevails. It also indicates a hope for providing effective tools to face the crises and challenges of contemporary humanity.”

“We have embarked on this path in the hope for a new world that is free of wars and conflicts, where the fearful are reassured, the poor sustained, the vulnerable protected and justice administered,” he said.

In Biden’s written statement commemorating the day, he encouraged everyone to work together to overcome the global challenges that no one nation or group of people can solve on their own.

“For too long, the narrowed view that our shared prosperity is a zero-sum game has festered — the view that for one person to succeed, another has to fail,” he wrote. “This cramped idea has been a source of human conflict for centuries.”

Problems such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and increased violence, “require global cooperation from people of all backgrounds, cultures, faiths and beliefs. They require us to speak with one another in open dialogue to promote tolerance, inclusion and understanding,” and to guarantee that “all people are treated with dignity and as full participants in society,” he wrote.

“On this day, we affirm — in words and in actions — the inherent humanity that unites us all,” the president wrote. “Together, we have a real opportunity to build a better world that upholds universal human rights, lifts every human being and advances peace and security for all.”

Cardinal Miguel Ayuso Guixot, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and member of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity, said in a statement that the day “is an opportunity to advance the sense of responsibility toward the poor, vulnerable, homeless and oppressed.”

“I hope human fraternity will turn into a global movement of promoting moral values shared by all peoples from all walks of life,” the cardinal said.

February 6, 2022global, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITYglobalCPNN Coordinator

United National AntiWar Coalition: No War with Russia

. .DISARMAMENT & SECURITY. .

An email received at CPNN from the United National AntiWar Coalition

Today (February 6) was an amazing day. In little more than 1 week, the entire antiwar movement came together, signed a joint statement against a war with Russia and organized protests in dozens of cities around the country. We also held an online rally where antiwar leaders from many groups spoke. The consensus is that we must remain unified and continue to organize our movement into the future.

Tomorrow, you will have the opportunity to join our webinar where peace activists from the US, Russia and Ukraine will speak. Hundreds have already registered. You can do so below and help make this a powerful event.

US/NATO Aggression at the Russian Border
A conversation between US, Russian and Ukrainian Peace activists
Webinar, Sunday, February 6,
12 noon Eastern (US/Canada)

Click here to register

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Question for this article:

The peace movement in the United States, What are its strengths and weaknesses?

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Speakers will include:

Ajamu Baraka, National Organizer, Black Alliance for Peace

Larissa Shessler, Chair, Union of Political Emigrants & Political prisoners of Ukraine

Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Joe Lombardo, Coordinator, United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)

Vladimir Kozin, Correspondent member, Russian Academy of Military Science

Leonid Ilderkin, Coordinating Council of the Union of Political Emigrants & Political Prisoners of Ukraine.

Corporate media in the US has been warning about a possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia. This, Russia denies. But this propaganda has been used by the Biden Administration to whip up sentiment for war. Billions of dollars of US arms have been sent to Ukraine, Ukraine has massed an estimated 145,000 troops on the Russian border with US “advisors” supporting their effort. For years the US and its Western allies have moved NATO into Eastern European and former Soviet States in violation of agreements made with Russia. They have installed missiles at the Russian border and conducted “war games” at the Russian border. Today’s threat is a threat against a major nuclear power that puts the entire world in danger. Join us for this important webinar with voices for peace from Russia, Ukraine and the US.

Click here for UNAC’s statement on the situation on the Russian border

(Editor’s note: See also the CPNN article US Must Take Russia’s Security Concerns Seriously)

February 6, 2022DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North AmericaNorth AmericaCPNN Coordinator

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

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article from the United Nations

Secretary-General António Guterres is urging the world to “build a culture of peace” through the power of sport, calling for nations to observe the Olympic Truce, endorsed last week through a resolution of the UN General Assembly.

OC/Milos Bicanski Beijing 2022 – Handover Ceremony of the Olympic Flame in Athens, Greece.

Amidst spreading conflict and rising tensions, he reminded that the appeal calls on all parties to observe a ceasefire throughout the course of the upcoming winter games.

‘A date with history’

In the spirit of “mutual understanding, hard work and fair play”, the top UN official noted that athletes competing from around the world “have a date with history”.

“In a few days, our human family will come together in Beijing for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games”, the UN chief said in his message encouraging everyone to strive for the Olympic ideal.

“This spirit inspires us all”, he said.

Beyond sports

Mr. Guterres said that the Olympic Truce represents “a chance to overcome differences and find paths towards lasting peace”.

As the world strives to end the COVID-19 pandemic, he urged everyone to “unite for a safer, more prosperous and sustainable future for all”.

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(Click here for the message in Spanish and here for the message in French.

Question for this article:

How can sports promote peace?

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During a recent press conference, he lauded the game Games as being “an extremely important manifestation in today’s world of the possibility of unity”, mutual respect, and cooperation between different cultures, religions and ethnicities.

Above political dispute

The Olympic Truce has a 3,000-year-old history, dating from when the Ancient Greeks established the sacred truce of Ekecheiria to allow the participation in the Olympic Games of all athletes and spectators from the Greek city states, which were otherwise almost constantly engaged in conflict with one other.

General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid appealed to all Member States to demonstrate their commitment to the Olympic Truce and to undertake “concrete actions at the local, national, regional and world levels to promote and strengthen a culture of peace and harmony”.

“I also call upon all warring parties of current armed conflicts around the world to boldly agree to true mutual ceasefires for the duration of the Olympic Truce, thus providing an opportunity to settle disputes peacefully”, he added.

Remaining neutral

UN resolution 76/13, entitled “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal”, was co-sponsored by 173 UN Member States and adopted by consensus.

It called for the observance of a truce during the 2022 Beijing games, beginning seven days before the start of the Olympic games, on 4 February, until seven days after the end of the Paralympics.

It also encouraged all Member States to cooperate with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in using sport as “a tool to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation in areas of conflict during and beyond the period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games”.

IOC President Thomas Bach described the resolution as “a great recognition” of the Games’ mission “to unite the best athletes of the world in peaceful competition and standing above any political dispute”.

“This is only possible if the Olympic Games are politically neutral and do not become a tool to achieve political goals”, he spelled out.

February 6, 2022DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, global, United Nationsglobal, United NationsCPNN Coordinator

Amnesty International : Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

A report from Amnesty International

In May 2021, Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah, a neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, began protesting against Israel’s plan to forcibly evict them from their homes to make way for Jewish settlers. Many of the families are refugees, who settled in Sheikh Jarrah after being forcibly displaced around the time of Israel’s establishment as a state in 1948. Since Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank in 1967, Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah have been continuously targeted by Israeli authorities, who use discriminatory laws to systematically dispossess Palestinians of their land and homes for the benefit of Jewish Israelis.

video by Amnesty

In response to the demonstrations in Sheikh Jarrah, thousands of Palestinians across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) held their own protests in support of the families, and against their shared experience of fragmentation, dispossession, and segregation. These were met with excessive and deadly force by Israeli authorities with thousands injured, arrested and detained.

The events of May 2021 were emblematic of the oppression which Palestinians have faced every day, for decades. The discrimination, the dispossession, the repression of dissent, the killings and injuries – all are part of a system which is designed to privilege Jewish Israelis at the expense of Palestinians.

This is apartheid.

Amnesty International’s new investigation shows that Israel imposes a system of oppression and domination against Palestinians across all areas under its control: in Israel and the OPT, and against Palestinian refugees, in order to benefit Jewish Israelis. This amounts to apartheid as prohibited in international law.

Laws, policies and practices which are intended to maintain a cruel system of control over Palestinians, have left them fragmented geographically and politically, frequently impoverished, and in a constant state of fear and insecurity.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

WHAT IS APARTHEID?

Apartheid is a violation of public international law, a grave violation of internationally protected human rights, and a crime against humanity under international criminal law.

The term “apartheid” was originally used to refer to a political system in South Africa which explicitly enforced racial segregation, and the domination and oppression of one racial group by another. It has since been adopted by the international community to condemn and criminalize such systems and practices wherever they occur in the world.

The crime against humanity of apartheid under the Apartheid Convention, the Rome Statute and customary international law is committed when any inhuman or inhumane act (essentially a serious human rights violation) is perpetrated in the context of an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over another, with the intention to maintain that system.

Apartheid can best be understood as a system of prolonged and cruel discriminatory treatment by one racial group of members of another with the intention to control the second racial group.

TAKE OUR COURSE

Amnesty International has created a free 90-minute course called “Deconstructing Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians”. To learn more about the crime of apartheid in international law, what apartheid looks like in Israel/OPT, and how it affects Palestinians’ lives, sign up to our course on Amnesty International’s human rights education academy.

WHY IS AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGNING AGAINST APARTHEID?

Apartheid is not acceptable anywhere in the world. So why has the world accepted it against Palestinians?

Human rights have long been side-lined by the international community when dealing with the decades-long struggle and suffering of Palestinians. Palestinians facing the brutality of Israel’s repression have been calling for an understanding of Israel’s rule as apartheid for over two decades. Over time, a broader international recognition of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as apartheid has begun to take shape.

Yet, governments with the responsibility and power to do something have refused to take any meaningful action to hold Israel accountable. Instead, they have been hiding behind a moribund peace process at the expense of human rights and accountability. Unfortunately, the situation today is one of no progress towards a just solution and worsening human rights for Palestinians.

Amnesty is calling for Israel to end the international wrong, and crime, of apartheid, by dismantling measures of fragmentation, segregation, discrimination, and deprivation, currently in place against the Palestinian population.

TELL ISRAEL: DEMOLISH APARTHEID, NOT PALESTINIAN HOMES

The Palestinian experience of being denied a home is at the heart of Israel’s apartheid system. That’s why, as a first step towards dismantling this system, we are calling on Israel to end the practice of home demolitions.

Palestinian families need people to stand with them against injustice and discrimination, by taking action to help them protect their homes.

TAKE ACTION

ISRAEL’S SYSTEM OF OPPRESSION AND DOMINATION OF PALESTINIANS

Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, successive governments have created and maintained a system of laws, policies, and practices designed to oppress and dominate Palestinians. This system plays out in different ways across the different areas where Israel exercises control over Palestinians’ rights, but the intent is always the same: to privilege Jewish Israelis at the expense of Palestinians.

Israeli authorities have done this through four main strategies:

Fragmentation into domains of control: At the heart of the system is keeping Palestinian separated from each other into distinct territorial, legal and administrative domains

Dispossession of land and property: Decades of discriminatory land and property seizures, home demolitions and forced evictions

Segregation and control: A system of laws and policies that keep Palestinians restricted to enclaves, subject to several measures that control their lives, and segregated from Jewish Israelis

Deprivation of economic & social rights: The deliberate impoverishment of Palestinians keeping them at great disadvantage in comparison to Jewish Israelis

FRAGMENTATION INTO DOMAINS OF CONTROL

In the course of establishing Israel as a Jewish state in 1948, Israel expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and destroyed hundreds of Palestinian villages, in what amounted to ethnic cleansing.

Since then, successive governments have designed laws and policies to ensure the continued fragmentation of the Palestinian population. Palestinians are confined to enclaves in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the refugee communities, where they are subject to different legal and administrative regimes. This has had the effect of undermining family, social and political ties between Palestinian communities and suppressing sustained dissent against the apartheid system; it also helps to maximise Jewish Israeli control over land and maintain a Jewish demographic majority.

Millions of Palestinians remain displaced as refugees and continue to be physically isolated from those residing in Israel and the OPT through Israel’s continuous denial of their right to return to their homes, towns and villages.

DISPOSSESSION OF LAND AND PROPERTY

Since 1948, Israel has enforced massive and cruel land seizures to dispossess Palestinians of their land and homes. Although Palestinians in Israel and the OPT are subjected to different legal and administrative regimes, Israel has used similar land expropriation measures across all areas – for example, since 1948, Israel has expropriated land in areas of strategic importance that include significant Palestinian populations such as the Galilee and the Negev/Naqab, and used similar measures in the OPT following Israel’s military occupation in 1967. In order to maximize Jewish Israeli control over land and minimize the Palestinian presence, Palestinians have been confined to separate, densely populated enclaves. While Israeli policies have allowed for the discriminatory allocation of state land to be used almost exclusively to benefit Jewish Israelis both inside of Israel and in the OPT.

(continued in right column)

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

Question related to this article:

Israel/Palestine, is the situation like South Africa?

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SEGREGATION AND CONTROL

Successive Israeli governments have pursued a strategy of establishing domination through discriminatory laws and policies which segregate Palestinians into enclaves, based on their legal status and residence.

Israel denies Palestinian citizens their rights to equal nationality and status, while Palestinians in the OPT face severe restrictions on freedom of movement. Israel also restricts Palestinians’ rights to family unification in a profoundly discriminatory manner: for example, Palestinians from the OPT cannot gain residency or citizenship through marriage, which Jewish Israelis can.

Israel also places severe limitations on Palestinians’ civil and political rights, to suppress dissent and maintain the system of oppression and domination. For example, millions of Palestinians in the West Bank remain subject to Israel’s military rule and draconian military orders adopted since 1967.

DEPRIVATION OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS

These measures have left Palestinians marginalized, impoverished and economically disadvantaged across Israel and the OPT.

Decades of discriminatory allocation of resources by Israeli authorities, for the benefit of Jewish Israeli citizens in Israel and Israeli settlers in the OPT, compound these inequalities. For example, millions of Palestinians inside of Israel and East Jerusalem live in densely populated areas that are generally underdeveloped and lack adequate essential services such as garbage collection, electricity, public transportation and water and sanitation infrastructure.

Palestinians across all areas under Israel’s control have fewer opportunities to earn a living and engage in business than Jewish Israelis. They experience discriminatory limitations on access to and use of farmland, water, gas and oil amongst other natural resources, as well as restrictions on the provision of health, education and basic services.

In addition, Israeli authorities have appropriated the vast majority of Palestinians’ natural resources in the OPT for the economic benefit of Jewish citizens in Israel and in the illegal settlements.

LIFE UNDER APARTHEID

DENIED A HOME: DEMOLITIONS AND FORCED EVICTIONS

Palestinians are systematically subjected to home demolitions and forced evictions, and live in constant fear of losing their homes.

For more than 73 years, Israel has been forcibly displacing entire Palestinian communities. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians’ homes have been demolished, causing terrible trauma & suffering. More than 6 million Palestinians remain refugees, the vast majority of whom live in refugee camps including outside of Israel/OPT. There are over 100,000 Palestinians in the OPT and another 68,000 inside of Israel at imminent risk of losing their homes, many for the second or third time.

Palestinians are caught in a Catch-22 situation. Israel requires them to obtain a permit to build or even erect a structure such as a tent, but – unlike Jewish Israeli applicants – rarely issues them a permit. Many Palestinians are forced to build without permits. Israel then demolishes Palestinian homes on the basis that they were built “illegally”. Israel uses these discriminatory planning and zoning policies to create unbearable living conditions to force Palestinians to leave their homes to allow for the expansion of Jewish settlement.

Mohammed Al-Rajabi, a resident of Al-Bustan area in Silwan, whose home was demolished by Israeli authorities on 23 June 2020 on the basis that it was built “illegally”, described to Amnesty International the devastating impact on his family:

FRAGMENTED LOVE: SEPARATION OF PALESTINIAN FAMILIES

Israel has enacted discriminatory laws and policies that disrupt family life for Palestinians. Since 2002, Israel has adopted a policy of prohibiting Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza from gaining status in Israel or East Jerusalem through marriage, thus preventing family unification.

Israel has long used discriminatory laws and policies to separate Palestinians from their families. For example, Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza cannot gain legal status in Israel or occupied East Jerusalem through marriage, denying their rights to family unification. This policy has forced thousands of Palestinians to live apart from their loved ones; others are forced to go abroad, or live in constant fear of being arrested, expelled or deported.

These measures explicitly target Palestinians, and not Jewish Israelis, and are primarily guided by demographic considerations that aim to minimize Palestinian presence inside Israel/OPT.

Sumaia, was born and raised in Lod in central Israel. She married her husband, who is from the Gaza Strip, in 1998 and he moved to live with her in Lod. In 2000, Sumaia and her husband began the process of applying for family unification, so they could live together legally. The family unification process took 18 years, during which the couple lived in fear and anxiety. Sumaia told Amnesty International:

UNDER SIEGE

Over the past 14 years, more than 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been living under Israel’s illegal blockade. Along with four major military offensives, the blockade has had catastrophic consequences for the people of Gaza.

The blockade is a form of collective punishment. It forces Gaza’s population – the majority of whom are refugees or their descendants who fled in 1948 – to live in increasingly dire conditions. There are severe shortages of housing, drinking water, electricity, essential medicines and medical care, food, educational equipment and building materials. In 2020, Gaza had the world’s highest unemployment rate, and more than half of its population was living below the poverty line.

On 30 March 2018, Palestinians in Gaza launched the Great March of Return, a series of weekly mass demonstrations along the fence between Gaza and Israel.

They were demanding their right to return to their villages and towns in what is now Israel, as well as an end to Israel’s blockade on Gaza. The response was brutal: by the end of 2019, Israeli forces had killed 214 civilians, including 46 children, and injured more than 8,000 others with live ammunition. A total of 156 of those injured had to have limbs amputated. More than 1,200 patients require long-term, complex and expensive therapy and rehabilitation, and tens of thousands more require psycho-social support -none of which are widely available in Gaza.

The blockade prevents Palestinians from accessing adequate healthcare, in particular life-saving and other emergency medical treatment only available outside Gaza. The Israeli authorities often delay these permits and sometimes fail to provide them at all.

Adham Al-Hajjar, 36, is a freelance journalist and lives in Gaza City. On 6 April 2018, while he was covering the Great March of Return demonstrations, Israeli snipers positioned along the fence separating Gaza from Israel shot him. He is unable to get the medical help he needs in Gaza because of the debilitated health services there.

CRIMINAL PATTERNS

Israel has been systematically committing serious human rights violations against Palestinians for decades. Violations such as forcible transfer, administrative detention, torture, unlawful killings and serious injuries, and the denial of basic rights and freedoms have been well documented by Amnesty and others. It is clear that Israel’s apartheid system is being maintained through committing these abuses—which have been perpetrated with almost total impunity.

They form part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian population, carried out within the context of Israel’s institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination over Palestinians, and therefore constitute crimes against humanity of apartheid.

DISMANTLING THE SYSTEM

There is no place for apartheid in our world. It is a crime against humanity, and it has to end.

Israeli authorities have enjoyed impunity for too long. The international failure to hold Israel to account means Palestinians are still suffering every single day. It’s time to speak up, to stand with Palestinians and tell Israel that we will not tolerate apartheid.

For decades, Palestinians have been calling for an end to the oppression they live under. All too often, they pay a terrible price for standing up for their rights, and they have long been calling for others around the world to help them.

Let this be the beginning of an end to Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians.

Join us in the fight for justice, freedom, and equality for all.

TELL ISRAEL: DEMOLISH APARTHEID, NOT PALESTINIAN HOMES

Palestinian families need people to stand with them against injustice and discrimination, by taking action to help them protect their homes.

TAKE ACTION

Further Reading

Q&A: Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime against Humanity

February 3, 2022HUMAN RIGHTS, MideastMideastCPNN Coordinator

English bulletin February 1, 2022

. MEDIATION AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE .

While it is difficult to find progress in the culture of peace in international relations, the methods of the culture of peace such as mediation and restorative justice continue to advance at the level of inter-personal relations.

The greatest advances continue to be seen in Latiin America.

In Brazil, two years ago CPNN reported that almost all state courts and judicial policy makers took part in a debate at the Superior Labor Court in Brasilia on the current stage of restorative justice in the country. And recently we have seen developments in restorative justice aimed at promoting a culture of peace in the Brazilian states of Pernambuco and Ceará.

In Argentina, the National Directorate of Mediation and Participatory Methods of Conflict Resolution, held the “National Meeting of the Federal Network of Community Mediation Centers and Training in School Mediation”. In the CPNN article they list the advantages of community mediation and the responsibilities of the mediators and the parties concerned.

In Panama, the Coordination Office of the Community Mediation Program presented the main results achieved during the year 2021. Most cases continue to be initiated voluntarily, that is, that the citizen directly attends the Center to request the conflict management service without the intervention of a judge or other authority.

In Mexico, 13 mediation centers are available in the capitol state. The CPNN article describes the process of mediation in detail.

In the Dominican Republic, the National Conflict Resolution System (Sinarec), reported that in the past year 2021 it trained more than 11 thousand people in its citizen education programs for alternative conflict resolution and culture of peace. Among those trained were members of public ministries, psychologists, teachers, members of the National Police, community and ecclesiastical leaders.

Europe is advancing as well. Ministries of Justice of the Member States of the Council of Europe took part in the Conference on the theme of restorative justice, in Venice in December. The two-day Ministerial Conference concluded with the signing of the Venice Declaration, a joint document that stimulates policies aimed at a wider dissemination of restorative justice, access to which “should be an objective of the national authorities”.

In Spain, the Specialized Mediation Group of the Granada Bar Association has discussed and described the transformative practice of mediation. This type of mediation orients the participants towards conflict transformation, maximizing the choice and control of the parties in terms of content and process, increasing the intervener’s transparency, avoiding the use of pressure, manipulation and overreaction and promoting the conversation between the parties.

Over the years CPNN has carried many articles about the use of restorative justice in the United States. And most recently, the law school of Marquette University has established a Center for Restorative Justice. The center will train law students in how to use restorative justice at local, national, and international levels in a guided civil dialogue to address conflict, promote healing, and facilitate problem solving.

A bill was introduced in December in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India to promote mediation (including online mediation), and provide for enforcement of settlement agreements resulting from mediation. The bill sets out the procedures that must be followed in mediation and among other measures, it would require the central government to establish the Mediation Council of India.

If only these principles of mediation and restorative justice could be used at the level of international relations ! For example, Russia has recently proposed peace treaties with the United States and with NATO, but so far they are being completely ignored, not only by the USA and Europe, but also by the mass media in these countries.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

Europe

Council of Europe : Ministerial Conference on restorative justice concludes with the signature of the Declaration of Venice