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.

NPT Review Conference ends without agreement: What next?

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from Unfold Zero

Can new actions/initiatives come from the NPT deliberations?
On Friday (August 26), after four weeks of deliberations, the 10th Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty  concluded with no final agreement.


flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency

A 35-page long draft final document prepared by the Review Conference President Ambassador Gustavo Zlauvinen had agreement of most, if not all, of the NPT States parties except one – Russia. (See No consensus at NPT review conference after Russia blocks draft document , NHK, August 27, 2022).

A key objection of Russia was the opposition expressed in the draft document to the military activities conducted near or at nuclear power plants, in particular the Zaporizhzya nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which has been occupied and militarized by Russia. These activities pose severe risks to the integrity of the nuclear power plant that could result in a nuclear catastrophe of a similar or worse nature than the Chernobyl nuclear accident. (See In Ukraine, a Nuclear Plant Held Hostage , NY Times, August 23, 2022).

The draft document also affirmed that the security of non-nuclear States must be protected, and that States Parties must refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.

While not mentioning Russia by name, this language was correctly perceived by Russia as condemning their invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine relinquished nuclear weapons, which they possessed at the break-up of the Soviet Union, in return for security guarantees in the Budapest Memorandum   which protect their territorial integrity. Russia has violated both the UN Charter and the Budapest Memorandum by its invasion of Ukraine.

The international community should welcome the principled refusal of the other NPT States Parties to delete these important provisions. Such deletion would have been required to get agreement from Russia, but would have resulted in a weak final document that did not address real nuclear threats of today. Consensus should not be achieved by abandoning important principles and international law.

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Question related to this article:
 
Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

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What now: New action from a ‘failed’ NPT Review Conference?

The failure of an NPT Review conference to adopt a final document does not necessarily imply a failed conference. Proposals discussed during an NPT Review Conference can take a life of their own despite of – or even stimulated by – the lack of agreed outcome.

This happened for example in 2015. A final document was unable to be agreed. The main dispute was on the proposal to convene a UN conference to establish a Middle East Zone from Nuclear Weapons and other Weapons of Mass Destruction regardless of whether or not all states in the region participated in the UN Conference. A secondary dispute was on the proposal to start negotiating a threat to prohibit nuclear weapons regardless of whether or not nuclear armed and allied states joined such negotiations.

Despite no final agreement, the NPT Review Conference provided the incubation space for both proposals, which then were taken up through the UN General Assembly resolutions.

These resulted firstly in the UN Open Ended Working Group being reconvened in 2016 to prepare the basis for a nuclear ban treaty, which was then negotiated and adopted at the UN General Assembly in 2017. This was followed in 2018 by the UN General Assembly establishing a UN Conference on a Middle East Zone free from Nuclear Weapons and other WMD , which convenes annually (except during the COVID-19 pandemic) until it concludes a legally binding treaty.  

Issues/initiatives at the 2022 NPT Review Conference that drew a lot of attention, possibly paving the way for action in other forums, included nuclear risk reduction, non-use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict, the adoption of no-first-use policies and negative security assurances.

The call for adoption of no-first-use policies, for example, found much stronger support than in previous NPT Review Conferences, and for the first time ever was included in the draft final document (up until the final few days). This was in large part due to the campaign activities of NoFirstUse Global, including the presentation to the NPT Review Conference of the Open Letter Fulfil the NPT: From nuclear threats to human security , and advocacy in capitals and during the Review Conference.

In addition, informal discussions were held during the NPT Review Conference, on a proposed United Nations General Assembly resolution on reducing the threat of nuclear-weapons-use arising from armed conflicts including the Ukraine conflict.

UNFOLD ZERO, NoFirstUse Global   and other partner organizations will use the momentum generated at the NPT Review Conference on these initiatives (and others) to make progress in the UNGA and other relevant forums. We encourage you to stay tuned and engaged in this.   

According to Ambassador Gustavo Zlauvinen, President of the NPT Review Conference, the conference was “very meaningful.” “Delegations engaged in discussions on very complex issues, and the lack of an outcome document did not diminish their work. It is like we had a movie for four weeks, but we couldn’t take a picture at the end of the movie. So not having the picture of that doesn’t reflect that the movie didn’t exist.” (See UN Chief disappointed nuclear treaty conference ends without consensus , UN News, August 27, 2022)

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, United Nations,

War Abolisher Awards 2022

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article from the website of the Action Network

The War Abolisher Awards will be presented at an online event on September 5. To attend, fill in the information and register here..

World BEYOND War’s Second Annual War Abolisher Awards will recognize the work of an environmental organization that has prevented military operations in state parks in Washington State, a filmmaker from New Zealand who has documented the power of unarmed peacemaking, Italian dock workers who have blocked the shipment of weapons of war, and British peace activist and Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn who has taken a consistent stand for peace despite intense pressure.

The Whidbey Environmental Action Network (WEAN), based on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, will be awarded the Organizational War Abolisher of 2022 award.

The Individual War Abolisher of 2022 award is going to New Zealand filmmaker William Watson in recognition of his film Soldiers Without Guns: An Untold Story of Unsung Kiwi Heroes. Watch it here.

The Lifetime Organizational War Abolisher Award of 2022 will be presented to Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali (CALP) and Unione Sindacale di Base Lavoro Privato (USB) in recognition of the blocking of weapons shipments by Italian dock workers, who have blocked shipments to a number of wars in recent years.

The David Hartsough Lifetime Individual War Abolisher of 2022 Award will be presented to Jeremy Corbyn.

Whidbey Environmental Action Network (WEAN):

WEAN, an organization with 30 years of accomplishments  for the natural environment, won a court case in April 2022 in Thurston County Superior Court, which found that Washington’s State Parks and Recreation Commission had been “arbitrary and capricious” in granting the United States Navy use of state parks for military training. Their permission to do so was vacated in an unusual and lengthy ruling from the bench. The case had been filed by WEAN  with the support of the Not in Our Parks Coalition to challenge the Commission’s approval, given in 2021, for its staff to proceed with permitting the Navy’s plans for war training in state parks.

The public had first learned that the U.S. Navy was using state parks for war rehearsals in 2016 from a report at Truthout.org. There followed years of research, organizing, education, and mobilizing of the public by WEAN and its friends and allies, as well as years of lobbying pressure by the U.S. Navy, which flew in numerous experts from Washington, D.C., California, and Hawaii. While the Navy can be expected to keep pushing, WEAN won its court case on all counts, having persuaded the court that unannounced warlike actions by armed troops in public parks was damaging to the public and the parks.

WEAN impressed people for years with its dedicated efforts to expose what was being done and to put a stop to it, building a case against the environmental destruction of war exercises, the danger to the public, and the harm to resident war veterans suffering PTSD. The state parks are locations for weddings, for the spreading of ashes following funerals, and for seeking quiet and solace.

The Navy’s presence in the Puget Sound region is less than positive. On the one hand, they tried (and will likely try again) to commandeer State Parks for training in how to spy on park visitors. On the other hand, they fly jets so loud that the state’s flagship park, Deception Pass, becomes impossible to visit because jets are screaming overhead. While WEAN took on the spying in state parks, another group, Sound Defense Alliance, addressed the Navy’s making life untenable.

A small number of people on a small island are having an impact on Washington State and developing a model to be emulated elsewhere. World BEYOND War is very pleased to honor them and encourages everyone to attend.

Accepting the award and speaking for WEAN will be Marianne Edain and Larry Morrell.

William Watson:

Soldiers Without Guns, recounts and shows us a true story that contradicts the most basic assumptions of politics, foreign policy, and popular sociology. This is a story of how a war was ended by an army without guns, determined to unite people in peace. Instead of guns, these peacemakers used guitars.

This is a story that should be much better known, of a Pacific Island people rising up against the largest mining corporation in the world. After 10 years of war, they had seen 14 failed peace agreements, and the endless failure of violence. In 1997 the New Zealand army stepped into the conflict with a new idea that was condemned by the national and international media. Few expected it to succeed.

This film is a powerful piece of evidence, although far from the only piece, that unarmed peacekeeping can succeed where the armed version fails, that once you actually mean the familiar statement that “there is no military solution,” real and surprising solutions become possible.

Possible, but not simple or easy. There are many courageous people in this film whose decisions were critical to success. World BEYOND War would like the world, and in particular the United Nations, to learn from their examples.

Accepting the award, discussing his work, and taking questions on September 5 will be William Watson. World BEYOND War hopes that everyone will tune in.

Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali (CALP) and Unione Sindacale di Base Lavoro Privato (USB):

CALP was formed by about 25 workers in the Port of Genoa in 2011 as part of the labor union USB. Since 2019, it has been working on closing Italian ports to weapons shipments, and for much of the past year it has been organizing plans for an international strike against weapons shipments at ports around the world.

In 2019, CALP workers refused to allow a ship to depart Genoa with weapons bound for Saudi Arabia  and its war on Yemen.

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Questions related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

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In 2020 they blocked a ship carrying weapons meant for the war in Syria.

In 2021 CALP communicated with USB workers in Livorno to block a weapons shipment to Israel for its assaults on the people of Gaza.

In 2022 USB workers in Pisa blocked weapons  meant for the war in Ukraine.

Also in 2022, CALP blocked, temporarily, another Saudi weapons ship  in Genoa.

For CALP this is a moral issue. They have said that they do not wish to be accomplices to massacres. They have been praised by and invited to speak by the current Pope.

They have also advanced the cause as a safety issue, arguing to port authorities that it is dangerous to be allowing ships full of weapons, including unknown weapons, into ports in the centers of cities.

They have also argued that this is a legal matter. Not only are the dangerous contents of weapons shipments not identified as other dangerous materials are required to be, but it is illegal to ship weapons to wars under Italian Law 185, Article 6, of 1990, and a violation of the Italian Constitution, Article 11.

Ironically, when CALP began arguing for the illegality of weapons shipments, the police in Genoa showed up to search their office and their spokesperson’s home.

CALP has built alliances with other workers and included the public and celebrities in its actions. The dock workers have collaborated with student groups and peace groups of all types. They have taken their legal case to the European Parliament. And they have organized international conferences to build toward a global strike against arms shipments.

CALP is on Telegram, Facebook, and Instagram.

This small group of workers in one port is making a huge difference in Genoa, in Italy, and in the world. World BEYOND War is excited to honor them and encourages everyone to hear their story, and ask them questions, on September 5.

Accepting the award and speaking for CALP and USB on September 5 will be CALP Spokesperson Josè Nivoi. Nivoi was born in Genoa in 1985, has worked in the port for about 15 years, has been active with unions about 9 years, and has worked for the union fulltime for about 2 years.

Jeremy Corbyn:

Jeremy Corbyn is a British peace activist and politician who chaired the Stop the War Coalition from 2011 to 2015 and served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. He has been a peace activist all his adult lift and provided a consistent parliamentary voice for the peaceful resolution of conflicts since his election in 1983.

Corbyn is currently a member of the Parliamentary Assembly for the Council of Europe, the UK Socialist Campaign Group, and a regular participant at the United Nations Human Rights Council (Geneva), Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (Vice President), and Chagos Islands All Party Parliamentary Group (Honorary President), and a Vice president of the British Group Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Corbyn has supported peace and opposed the wars of many governments: including Russia’s war on Chechnya, 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara and Indonesia’s war on the West Papuan people: but, as a British member of Parliament, his focus has been on wars engaged in or supported by the British government. Corbyn was a prominent opponent of the 2003-begun phase of the war on Iraq, having been elected to the Steering Committee of the Stop the War Coalition in 2001, an organization formed to oppose the war on Afghanistan. Corbyn has spoken at countless antiwar rallies, including the February 15 largest-ever demonstration in Britain, part of global demonstrations against attacking Iraq.

Corbyn was one of just 13 MPs to vote against the 2011 war in Libya and has argued for Britain to seek negotiated settlements to complex conflicts, such as in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and Syria in the 2010s. A 2013 vote in Parliament against war Britain joining the war in Syria was instrumental in dissuading the United States from dramatically escalating that war.

As Labour Party leader, he responded to the 2017 terrorist atrocity at the Manchester Arena, where suicide bomber Salman Abedi killed 22 concert goers, mainly young girls, with a speech that broke with bipartisan support for the War on Terror. Corbyn argued that the War on Terror had made British people less safe, increasing the risk of terrorism at home. The argument outraged the British political and media class but polling showed it was supported by the majority of the British people. Abedi was a British citizen of Libyan heritage, known to the British security services, who had fought in Libya and was evacuated from Libya by a British operation.

Corbyn has been a strong advocate for diplomacy and nonviolent resolution of disputes. He has called for NATO to be ultimately disbanded, viewing the build up of competitive military alliances as increasing rather than decreasing the threat of war. He is a lifelong opponent of nuclear weapons and supporter of unilateral nuclear disarmament. He has supported Palestinian rights and opposed Israeli attacks and illegal settlements. He has opposed British arming of Saudi Arabia and participation in the war on Yemen. He has supported returning the Chagos Islands to their residents. He has urged the Western powers to support a peaceful settlement to Russia’s war on Ukraine, rather than escalate that conflict into a proxy war with Russia.

World BEYOND War enthusiastically awards Jeremy Corbyn the David Hartsough Lifetime Individual War Abolisher of 2022 Award, named for World BEYOND War’s co-founder and longtime peace activist David Hartsough.

Accepting the award, discussing his work, and taking questions on September 5 will be Jeremy Corbyn. World BEYOND War hopes that everyone will tune in.

These are the second annual War Abolisher Awards.

World BEYOND War is a global nonviolent movement, founded in 2014, to end war and establish a just and sustainable peace. The purpose of the awards is to honor and encourage support for those working to abolish the institution of war itself. With the Nobel Peace Prize and other nominally peace-focused institutions so frequently honoring other good causes or, in fact, wagers of war, World BEYOND War intends its awards to go to educators or activists intentionally and effectively advancing the cause of war abolition, accomplishing reductions in war-making, war preparations, or war culture. World BEYOND War received hundreds of impressive nominations. The World BEYOND War Board, with assistance from its Advisory Board, made the selections.

The awardees are honored for their body of work directly supporting one or more of the three segments of World BEYOND War’s strategy for reducing and eliminating war as outlined in the book A Global Security System, An Alternative to War. They are: Demilitarizing Security, Managing Conflict Without Violence, and Building a Culture of Peace.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global

Mayors for Peace: Delegation attended the 10th NPT Review Conference

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

Excepts from the website of Mayors for Peace

A Mayors for Peace delegation attended the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (10th NPT Review Conference) in New York. Headed by Vice President TAUE Tomihisa (mayor of Nagasaki) and Secretary General KOIZUMI Takashi, the delegation appealed to the representatives of national governments to adopt a final document for promoting nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and respect what had been agreed on at the first Meeting of States Parties (1MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The Mayors for Peace delegation also requested greater understanding of and continued support for the initiatives of Mayors for Peace from the national government representatives.

At the UN Headquarters, the venue of the 10th NPT Review Conference, Mayors for Peace also hosted an Atomic Bomb Poster Exhibition, aiming at building momentum for achieving a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons.

Meeting with Former UN Under-Secretary-General Chowdhury

The Mayors for Peace delegation handed to former UN Under-Secretary-General Anwarul Chowdhury a letter from President Matsui requesting a commemorative lecture at the 10th General Conference of Mayors for Peace, and had exchange of views on the culture of peace—championed by former Under-Secretary-General Chowdhury himself.

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Question related to this article:
 
Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

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Other meetings

(Other meetings were held with the Executive Director of the Arms Control Association, with Special Representative of the U.S. President for Nuclear Nonproliferation, the  Permanent Representative of Japan to the Conference on Disarmament, the Director of Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland, Hibakusha Ms. Setsuko Thurlow, the Permanent Representative of UK to the Conference on Disarmament, the Permanent Representative of France to the Conference on Disarmament and the President of the 10th NPT Review Conference.)

Speech at the NGO presentations session of the 10th NPT Review Conference

Representing the Mayors for Peace network, Vice President Taue delivered a speech at the NGO presentations session. He stated that what prevented another Hiroshima and Nagasaki from happening for the past 77 years is the hibakusha’s long-standing call for the abolition of nuclear weapons—which has resonated throughout the world, raising awareness of their inhumanity. Nevertheless, decades of such effort can be undone if just one nuclear-weapon state decides to use all of its power to tyrannize other states, he continued. He then addressed the complementarity of the TPNW with the NPT, appealing that the two treaties reinforce each other and that they both are integral for international society to realize a world without nuclear weapons.

Furthermore, he urged the attendees to fulfill the nuclear disarmament obligations as stipulated in Article VI of the NPT, as well as to propose concrete strategies to ensure progress in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation measures.

He also expressed the determination of Mayors for Peace, to continue striving for a world without nuclear weapons. He closed his statement by imparting a message: May Nagasaki be the last wartime atomic bombing site.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, United Nations

United Nations Secretary-General in Japan, 5–8 August

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

Excerpts from a press release of the United Nations

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Hiroshima  from New York on the evening of Friday, 5 August.

On Saturday, he spoke at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, which aims to console the souls of those lost to the atomic bombing, as well as pray for the realization of lasting world peace.  In his remarks, the Secretary-General underscored that nuclear weapons are nonsense  and called on countries to work urgently to eliminate the stockpiles that threaten our future.

The Secretary-General said his message to leaders is simple:  Stop flirting with disaster.  Take the nuclear option off the table — for good.  [See Press Release SG/SM/21401]

After the ceremony, he met with Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, with whom he discussed issues in the region including the situation in the Korean Peninsula and Japan’s efforts to tackle climate change, among others.  After their meeting, the Prime Minister gave the Secretary-General a special tour of the Peace Museum, and they then signed the museum’s guestbook.
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Question(s) related to this article:

What is the United Nations doing for a culture of peace?

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Following the tour, the Secretary-General met with a group of survivors of the atomic bomb, known as the hibakusha, who shared their experiences with him.

This encounter was followed by a meeting with the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki  who bestowed upon him a special honorary citizenship.  Accepting this honour, the Secretary-General said that it is impossible for people to come to Hiroshima and not to feel the absurdity of the existence of nuclear weapons, and that he accepted this honour on behalf of all those working for a nuclear weapons-free world and in the memory of those tens of thousands of people who were killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 77 years ago.  [See Press Release SG/SM/21402]

He then held a press encounter  in Hiroshima and told reporters that the world is in danger of forgetting the lessons forged in this city 77 years ago.  He added that it is unacceptable for states in possession of nuclear weapons to admit the possibility of nuclear war.  He stressed that we must use every avenue of dialogue, diplomacy and negotiation to ease tensions and eliminate the nuclear threat.

The Secretary-General also met with the Hiroshima Governor, Hidehiko Yuzaki, and then took part in a dialogue with young activists who are leading initiatives on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.  He emphasized the importance of young people speaking up for nuclear disarmament and keeping the memory of the impacts of the bombings alive.  This was followed by an interview with the national broadcaster NHK at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) offices.  He then met and took pictures with the UNITAR staff members.

East Asia, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, United Nations

India: No More Hiroshima; No More Nagasaki; Nuclear Weapon Free World

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article received at CPNN from Dr Balkrishna Kurvey, President, Indian Institute for Peace Disarmament & Environmental Protection 

No More Hiroshima: No More Nagasaki: Peace Museum. , Indian Institute for Peace Disarmament & Environmental Protection , with Raman Science Centre, Ministry of Culture, National Council of Science Museums. Government of India arranged No More Hiroshima: No More Nagasaki: remembering event from 6 to 10 August 2022. Bombing posters were displayed for public. More than 5000 people visited


(Click on image to enlarge)

On 6th August Arnab Chtterjee Project Director , Raman Science Centre, inaugurated No More Hiroshima: No More Nagasaki: Peace Posters. On 10 August Dr Balkrishna Kurvey Honorary Executive Director of No More Hiroshima: No More Nagasaki: Peace Museum addressed the students/youths on Nuclear Weapons Free World with special reference to India and Pakistan. The event was arranged in Raman Science Centre, Nagpur.

Dr Kurvey informed that India and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons and there is an arms race between these countries. India posses 120 – 130 and Pakistan posses’140-150 nuclear weapons. There are many complex reasons for present nuclear arms race in South Asia. There is mistrust, misunderstanding and animosity between nuclear weapons countries in South Asia. Any fanatic military officer or political leader or due to misunderstanding, may start a nuclear war. The terrorist groups in Pakistan may possess and control the nuclear bombs which will be dangerous to whole world.

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Question related to this article:
 
Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

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The use of just 150 kiloton nuclear bomb over a city like Mumbai could cause upto 86, 60,000 deaths.

Research carried out by International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War and Physicians for Social Responsibility, came to conclusion that limited nuclear war between India and Pakistan , 2 billion people will be at risk. And 1 billion will die due to starvation in global south.. It will have horrible consequences of:

1) Nuclear famine: regional nuclear war will cause global mass starvation; 2 billion people will be affected and 1 billion will due to starvation in global south. .

2) Nuclear ozone hole: the global cancer burden of a regional nuclear war;

3) Nuclear winter: the Earth’s life sustaining ecosystems remain at risk;

4) The casualties of nuclear war: .

By displaying the photos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing, we do not intend to emphasize the horrible account of that war but to think how peace is fragile and to convey the horrors of war to the future generation

Most Indians do not know what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We could build the public consensus by displaying the photos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing..

We must remember what happened on the fateful days of 6th and 9th August 1945!

The purpose of No More Nagasaki: No More Nagasaki Peace Museum is to reach out maximum people in world to create solidarity and public peace education and awareness towards immediate and long range effects of atomic weapons and need of signing of CTBT by Governments.

We have to educate the people that the assumption is wrong that nuclear weapons increase security. Instead, they have environmental and health impacts.

Seeds for peace must be sown in the minds of youngsters through history books and peace posters.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, South Asia

Calls for Peace Mark Six Months of ‘Senseless’ War in Ukraine

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from Common Dreams (licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.-)

While Russia presses on with its lumbering invasion of Ukraine and Western nations led by the United States keep sending billions of dollars in arms and aid to bolster Ukrainian resistance, peace advocates on Wednesday marked the war’s six-month anniversary—and Ukraine’s independence day—with renewed calls for peace.


UNICEF video based on children’s drawings from Ukraine

Decrying the “senseless war,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told  the world body’s Security Council on Wednesday that “the people of Ukraine and beyond need peace and they need peace now. Peace in line with the U.N. Charter. Peace in line with international law.”

Writing for the U.K.-based Stop the War Coalition, journalist Shadia Edwards-Dashti noted  that “the war has been a disaster for the Ukrainian people, resulting in tens of thousands of Ukrainian casualties and displacing more than 13 million people—just shy of a third of the population. On the Russian side, some estimates suggest up to 75,000 are dead or injured.”

“From the very start of the invasion the Western response has focused on the military solutions,” she continued. “Within a week of the invasion, NATO forces had drummed up their biggest military mobilization in Europe since the end of the Cold War. The aim from the start was a decisive military victory against Russia. As a result, negotiations have been discouraged and chances for peace squandered.”

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Questions related to this article:
 
Can the peace movement help stop the war in the Ukraine?

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“We simply cannot allow this six-month war to drag on for years as some analysts are predicting, Edwards-Dashti added. “Decisive victory for either side looks remote. The only possible solution is a process of negotiation. As the economic crisis deepens and Western governments threaten to raise defense spending, we in the West must intensify our call for peace and sanity.”

Anatol Lieven, director of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft’s Eurasia program, warned  that while NATO countries “can now afford to be less afraid of Moscow” given the Russian military’s battlefield woes, “the risk of unintended escalation to nuclear war does however remain very real.”

“Since nuclear weapons are the one area in which Russia remains a superpower, there is an obvious temptation for Moscow to engage in nuclear brinkmanship,” he added, “and anyone who decides to walk along a brink runs the risk of falling over it.”

Martin Kimani, Kenya’s ambassador to the U.N., similarly cautioned  that “unless the Ukraine war is stopped through dialogue and negotiation, it could be the first of a series of conflicts that future historians will name the Third World War.”

“Such a disaster would be different from the last world wars, and all the wars before them,” he said. “The dangers of direct conflict between nuclear-armed powers means that most of their confrontations would be undertaken by proxy. Africa and the rest of the world would be thrown into a mirror of the Cold War.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the war’s six-month anniversary and his country’s independence day by hailing Ukraine’s unexpected success in resisting Russia’s invasion.

“Every day is a new reason not to give up,” he said  in a video address from central Kyiv. “Because having gone through so much, we have no right not to reach the end. What is the end of the war for us? We used to say, ‘peace.’ Now, we say, ‘victory.'” 

Asked in an interview with NPR if she sees “any negotiated way out” of the war, Norwegian U.N. Ambassador Trine Heimerback replied: “I think that’s the question we all have. Right now, I don’t think we are too optimistic, unfortunately.”

James Kariuki, Heimerback’s British counterpart, said the issue of negotiations is “for the Ukrainians” to decide.

“But,” he added, “the best way to end the conflict would be for Russia to withdraw its troops and end its illegal occupation.”

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe

Culture of peace curricula: what are some good examples?

Here is one approach

Maria Montessori believed that peace was innate within children. Her timeless educational philosophy was developed around this basic understanding. Perhaps all we need to do as teachers is to provide stimulating learning environments that validate this knowing and understanding and nurture it. We may not have to actually teach it,  Sharing peace-building stories gently attends to this. Strong, creative and imaginative peace-building characters who focus upon win-win and have faith in peace being possible are at the centre of the story plots. In Hassaun Ali-Jones Bey’s unique and mesmerising story, Black Ink is such a character who bravely crosses the universe seeking validation of what he knows in his heart. The magical character also models all the important peace-building values, understandings and actions needed for peace-building. I believe also that peace-building must be modelled and the whole teaching-learning environment should reflect similar values, understandings and actions…as is the primary focus of the Save the Children Australia UN Global Peace School Program upon which I am presently fortunate to be working. As Gandhi stated: ‘If we want peace in the world then we need to begin with the children.’ We need to listen to them. I also believe there are many ways to attend to peace-building..there’s not just one way…and fun and creativity should be elements of any peace-learning programme with children working together. Parents are also teachers and they can choose to share peace-building stories with children as well.

Here are some CPNN articles on this subject:

Honduras: IUDPAS and World Vision Certify 27 Professionals with the Diploma in Culture of Peace

ICP course: Activating a Culture of Peace

Uruguay: The book Culture of Peace

Mexico: International Diploma in Development and Culture of Peace at the UAZ

Mexico: Invitation to register for an online diploma in the Culture of Peace through the Arts

Transformative Peace Initiatives through TOCfE Tools

El Salvador : MUPI promotes workshops on Culture of Peace

Dominican Republic: 11 Thousand People Train in Conflict Resolution and Culture of Peace in 2021

Imagine Project receives Global Education award

d-education

Mexico: International Diploma in Development and Culture of Peace at the UAZ

. EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from Express Zacatecas (translation by CPNN)

The International Diploma in Development and Culture of Peace aims for participants to reflect,in a virtual and asynchronous way, on all the factors and structural elements that are generators of violence and conflicts, so that once they are identified, they can become promoters of peace. .


UAZ

This is an initiative of a group of research professors from the Doctorate in Heritage and Culture of Peace of the Autonomous ©(UAZ) who are concerned about the context of violence and insecurity that is experienced in different areas and spheres of society, both at a national and international level. For that reason, they are training professionals for peacebuilding.

(Click here for the original Spanish version).

Question for this article:

Culture of peace curricula: what are some good examples?

Is there progress towards a culture of peace in Mexico?

This diploma course is approached from a multidisciplinary perspective and consists of four modules: “Economy, development and culture of Peace”; “The culture of peace: recent approaches”; “State-Church Relations: conflicts and agreements” and “Community Development for the construction of a culture of peace”.

The course will take place between the months of August to December of this year. The professors Imelda Ortiz Medina, Laura Gemma Flores, Jorge Martínez Pérez and Leonardo Alonso Santoyo, will teach the modules, in which the students will learn and acquire tools so that they can look for alternatives and strategies to prevent violence and conflicts.

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

As described by the coordinator, Imelda Ortiz Medina, the first module concerns the relation of economic growth, inequality, human development and sustainability to the construction of peace. In the second module, an analysis will be made about the recent approaches to the meaning of the construction of a culture of peace. The third concerns the difference between the type of evangelization carried out by the Anglo-Saxons and the society of the Iberian Peninsula,. Finally, in the fourth module, it will be seen that the construction of peace requires community development.

The course is developed through the Economics Unit (UAE) and the academic bodies: CA-UAZ 251 “Economics, sustainability and nanotechnology” and CA-UAZ 172 “Theory, history and interpretation of Art”, of the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, with the support of the International Multidisciplinary Network on Development and the Culture of Peace.

Due to its modality, the participants will have free access to the course materials, so that they can carry out the activities in the period of each module.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Proposal for a nuclear weapon trade-off to end the Russia/Ukraine war

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

Received by email from Unfold Zero (info@unfoldzero.org)

On July 19, The Hill (which goes to most US congressional offices) published Nuclear strategy and ending the war in Ukraine, a very interesting article by Oscar Arias, Nobel Peace Laureate and former President of Costa Rica; and Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute, a co-founding organization of UNFOLD ZERO.

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Questions related to this article:
 
Can the peace movement help stop the war in the Ukraine?

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Mr Arias and Mr Granoff propose that the United States and NATO “plan and prepare for withdrawal of all U.S. nuclear warheads from Europe and Turkey” as a way to “get Putin’s attention and bring him to the negotiating table” and possibly agree to end the war.

It’s a very interesting and bold proposal that could possibly work. It would allow Putin a way to end the invasion by claiming domestically (to Russians) that he had scored a victory – the elimination of US nuclear weapons in Europe. At the same time it would not diminish the security (or perception of security) NATO countries ascribe to nuclear deterrence, as such deterrence does not rely on the US nuclear weapons currently based in Europe.

According to the two authors “NATO’s nuclear arsenal failed to deter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has almost no utility as a weapon of war. But NATO’s nuclear weapons can still be put to good use, not by threatening to launch them and escalate the war, but by withdrawing them to make room for new negotiations and eventual peace.”

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global

Colombia: Peacebuilding in Viotá, a model that seeks to be replicated throughout the country

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An article from Newslocker (translation by CPNN)

Former guerrillas, victims and public forces have created dialogue tables and worked together on local projects that provide reparation for the damages caused by the war. They are working on restorative actions in advance, before the JEP imposes its own trials. (The JEP, Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz, was established by the Peace Accords.)


Marker plaque completed in the cemetery of San Gabriel, Viotá. / Courtesy Dunna

The armed conflict in Viotá (Cundinamarca) left traces of terror that, over the years, have eaten away at the dreams of thousands of families. The 22nd and 42nd fronts of the extinct FARC settled there in the 1990s, making this municipality one of their most important strongholds in the Andean region around Bogotá. Entering the new millennium and for nearly four years, the Peasant Self-Defense Forces of Casanare also entered this area and tried to take control through extortion, murder and forced disappearance.

The result of the violence unleashed by these two armed groups was a balance of 12,903 victims registered by the Victims Unit. In the files of the Attorney General’s Office and the Justice and Peace courts themselves, the cases of more than 113 people considered missing were documented, of whom little or nothing was known over the years.

Even without knowing many truths about their loved ones and after a long time without being listened to by the State to seek justice, the people of Viotá have learned to forgive and see the construction of peace as the central element of their life in community. When the former FARC signed peace in 2016, the vast majority of ex-combatants who operated there stayed to complete their reincorporation process into civilian life, according to the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN).

“The case of Viotá is rare, because the normal thing in other territories where thousands of people laid down their arms was for the former guerrillas to go to other departments where no one knew them from the past, to start a life from scratch. However, in Viotá they decided to face their crimes, live with their usual neighbors to whom they did so much harm and chose to show them that in their own home they could successfully advance a model of collective reconciliation,” said Natalia Quiñones, co-founder of the Dunna Corporation, an organization that accompanies innovative alternatives for peace in various areas of the country.

Dunna has been very close to the processes of dialogue and reconstruction of the social fabric in Viotá. There, with the support of the Embassy of the Netherlands, the Bolívar Davivienda Foundation, the Mayor’s Office and the Cundinamarca Agency for Peace and Coexistence, they managed to establish dialogue among those appearing before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) of the ex-guerrilla with its victims, members of the public force and other inhabitants, in order to carry out restorative exercises and healing activities for the mind and body, in order to overcome the traumas and emotional discomfort left by the war.

“We have known each other forever. Now they are my neighbors and I sell them vegetables and pig feed. We do not forget what they did to us, but we accept their repentance,” said a resident of Viotá who has participated in the process.

“We have an interdisciplinary team of psychologists, yoga teachers, psychiatrists, political scientists, lawyers, sociologists and anthropologists who have been working on the development of the Viotá program to generate a reconciliation model that can be replicated at the national level. Our results there showed that 100% of those who received our attention had significant changes in trust, reciprocity, stigmatization and collective efficacy. The exercises of dialogue, restorative circle and mind-body strategies were able to reduce distrust and bring together the inhabitants of the community to address the present and the future that the community faces collectively.

In other projects with similar protocols, Dunna has obtained satisfactory results in terms of post-traumatic stress and mental health, showing that this type of model can help between 91 and 94% of the participants to successfully overcome mental health risks. derived from the trauma and to achieve emotional well-being”, added Quiñones.

In Viotá they learned to forgive with the formula of action without harm: nothing that is done on the ground or any gesture or word that is said in the spaces of dialogue and listening should re-victimize anyone. However, a feeling shared by the victims and perpetrators of the war in Viotá is that words alone are not enough to repair the many atrocities that were experienced.

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(Click here for the original article in Spanish)

Discussion question

Restorative justice, What does it look like in practice?

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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In Viotá, the encouragement to compensate crimes against humanity and give dignity to the survivors has been a constant. It has been channeled into collective reconciliation through cooperative projects of infrastructure and memory.

The voices of peace prevail and one of them is that of José del Carmen Viracachá, a peace signer who lives in this area. Ten years ago he was convicted of war crimes and he now understands that a custodial sentence is not the best way to pay tribute to those who have suffered so much in the past. He said in an interview, “We want to make and export peace through example. Forgiveness is valuable, but it must be accompanied by concrete actions that serve people and so that they see our repentance and our commitment not to repeat anything bad. Confinement almost never fixes anything; that’s why I think that the harshness of the past must be addressed directly.

New paradigm of justice

Prison as the ultimate goal for those who committed crimes in the context of an armed conflict according to the Statutory Law of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), enacted three years ago, on June 6, 2019.

An acronym appears in the document that will be talked about frequently in the coming months: the TOAR (Works, Works and Activities with Restorative content).
The Peace Agreement stipulated two types of TOARs to be developed at different stages of the post-conflict. On the one hand, there are the TOARs that are a consequence of the imposition of the JEP’s sanctions; these do not yet exist, because the court has not yet issued any ruling. They will be imposed in the cases of macro-cases 01 (taking of hostages and other serious deprivations of liberty) and 03 (extrajudicial executions). In these cases restorative activities will be required, as long as those appearing comply with the conditions of the Statutory Law; that is to say, tell complete truths, give guarantees of non-repetition and dignify their victims.

On the other hand, and returning to the case of Viotá, there are the anticipated TOARs, which consist of carrying out restoration activities (infrastructure works, construction of monuments, demining tasks or literacy tasks, among others) in advance of any imposed sanctions. These anticipated TOARs honor the rights of the victims and obtain discount benefits from a restrictive sentence of freedom when it is imposed. These restorative activities must have the endorsement of the Executive Secretariat of the JEP. During 2021, the JEP jurisdiction followed up on 64 of these projects in various departments.

During the dialogue sessions that Dunna led with the actors of the conflict in Viotá, several options were discussed for collective work to promote the historical memory of the town. What do we need to see on our streets to feel represented and respected after the conflict? How to advance a work or activity that is not forgotten by future generations? Those were some of the questions raised among the people of Viotá, who also had to take into account in order not to be frustrated that any project they thought of had to be in harmony with the development plan of the town and subject to the economic capacities of the municipality, which ultimately must pay for the expenses.

“The most difficult task was to first seek funding before putting the TOARs on everyone’s lips. The priority, of course, is to choose something that the community wants and sees in it a symbolic and restorative content; Luckily, a consensus was reached and the people were able to prioritize projects that their municipal administration could afford to pay. Viotá’s dignity is the goal and remembering those who no longer with us was the most beautiful”, explained Natalia Quiñones.

That was how all eyes were directed to the path of San Gabriel. The Viotá cemetery is located there, to which paradoxically they could not take their dead, due to the precarious access roads. The surrounding streets were destroyed, so the cemetery was not accessible. This was a headache, especially during the years of conflict and in the covid-19 pandemic.
To address this situation, peace signatories, victims, public forces and citizens built a 68-meter-long path, with which they managed to give a new face to an iconic area for this town and a sign of honor to the dead who the war took and that for so many years they could not visit as they wanted.

On March 17, 2022, the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia announced the completion and delivery of the work to open the path of San Gabriel. This marked the closure of a cycle in which Viotá does not want to repeat again, especially since it was a war that they never looked for and never understood, but that completely penetrated their homes.

“This project not only benefits the people of San Gabriel; it also serves for reconciliation. The cemetery has always had a special importance and thanks to this we know that those who previously made us suffer now help us feel good about ourselves and about what we can do together towards the future”, said a resident of Viotá who preferred not to be named.

Now that the Viotá process is completed, Dunna is working in Fusagasugá and Venecia to replicate this model in Cundinamarca. They hope to expand the TOARs to more regions of Colombia and demonstrate that any peace is possible if in the communities there is a robust sense of belonging and a genuine willingness to forgive and not repeat harm.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America