Category Archives: TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

UNESCO: Second International Conference on Youth Volunteering and Dialogue: Preventing Violent Extremism and Strengthening Social Inclusion

. . TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY . .

An article from UNESCO

The Second International Conference on Youth Volunteering and Dialogue: Preventing Violent Extremism and Strengthening Social Inclusion, was held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris between 24 and 27 September. The conference, organized in partnership with UNESCO Beirut, aims at fostering the vital values of solidarity, empathy, critical thinking, social engagement and meaningful civic participation.


(Click on image to enlarge)

The Conference focuses on four thematic areas:

• Refugees and Migration: Youth volunteers spearheading inclusion

• The importance of intercultural education

• The role of the media and social media in constructing positive dialogue

• Youth engagement with cultural heritage and the arts.

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Question for this article

Islamic extremism, how should it be opposed?.

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More than a hundred youth volunteers from around the world participated in the conference, representing the UNESCO Global Citizenship Youth Network in the Arab States, the Scouts Movement, and the United Nations Volunteers. The participants exchanged meaningful dialogue on each other’s work on social entrepreneurship and civic engagement, and participated in organized workshops related to the thematic areas. In addition, they also participated techniques workshop on the Human Library, Drama Therapy and Sports against Violence, featured by experts in the field. At the final stage of the conference, the youth participants presented their pitches for their future commitments and initiatives that are in line with the purposes of the conference.

The conference also presented an award ceremony for the winners of the UNESCO “if I were” Global Youth Contest. The contest was launched on social media in Arabic, English, French and Spanish and was open from 24 February to 12 March 2017. UNESCO received 837 submissions, from 117 countries around the world. The contest allowed participants to have the opportunity to imagine themselves in someone else’s shoes: they could choose to be anyone with a simple camera. Ten contestants from different countries made the final list. The initiative is part of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Programme for a Culture of Peace and Dialogue, funded by the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. UNESCO Headquarters and UNESCO Regional Office in Beirut implemented the initiative in collaboration with the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue (KACND).

The initiative is rooted in the International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures (2013-2022) for which UNESCO has been designated lead agency by the United Nations General Assembly. It also contributes to UNESCO’s operational strategy on youth 2014-2021, recognizing “youth as equal partners and actors for development and peace”, in line with the social, ethical and humanitarian engagement in the promotion of volunteering undertaken by the Government of Saudi Arabia.

global, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY, United Nations,

USA: Labor Unions Are Stepping Up To Fight Deportations

…. HUMAN RIGHTS ….

An article from the Huffington Post (reprinted according to the principle of “fair use”)

Organized labor is finding creative ways to protect immigrant members and families vulnerable in the Trump era.

Yahaira Burgos was fearing the worst when her husband, Juan Vivares, reported to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in lower Manhattan in March. Vivares, who fled Colombia and entered the U.S. illegally in 2011, had recently been given a deportation order. Rather than hide, he showed up at the ICE office with Burgos and his lawyer to continue to press his case for asylum.


UNITE HERE 631 out in force in Phoenix demanding that Motel 6 stop cooperating with ICE

Vivares, 29, was detained for deportation. That’s when Burgos’ union sprang into action.

Prepared for Vivares’ detention, members of the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ gathered for a rally outside the ICE office that afternoon, demanding his release. Union leadership appealed to New York’s congressional delegation, enlisting Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) to reach out to ICE leadership. The union president even disseminated the name and phone number for the ICE officer handling Vivares’ deportation and urged allies to call him directly.

“I was very lucky to have a union,” said Burgos, a 39-year-old native of the Dominican Republic who works as a doorwoman on the Upper East Side. “They moved very fast. They moved every politician and every union member. … If it were not for the union he would be deported.”

Vivares is now at home with Burgos and their 19-month-old son, having been granted a stay of deportation as the court considers his motion to reopen his asylum case. Although he’s far from being in the clear, his lawyer, Rebecca Press, says the union’s quick response was critical to keeping Vivares in the U.S. for now. “I do believe that their being able to reach the upper echelons of Congress gave us a window of time,” she said.

Vivares’ case provides a vivid example of the gritty work unions are doing to protect immigrant members and their families vulnerable to deportation in the Trump era.

Their efforts show the ways in which many unions ― particularly those in the low-wage service sector ― have become de facto immigrants rights groups advocating for their members. They also show how much organized labor on the whole has evolved on immigration issues. It wasn’t so long ago that unions generally viewed undocumented workers as competitors who undercut wages (in fairness, some unions still see them that way).

In recent months unions around the country have been hosting “know your rights” workshops to teach workers how to handle encounters with ICE agents and where to turn when someone is detained. They’ve provided legal assistance to and rallied around members and their families who have wound up in deportation proceedings. And they have made a concerted push to win language in union contracts aimed at avoiding deportations and helping workers who run into problems with their immigration papers.

“We’re trying to make people realize that part of the power of being organized at work is you really do have the ability to get additional binding protections if you have the strength to win them at the bargaining table,” said Shannon Lederer, the director of immigration policy at the AFL-CIO, a federation of 56 unions.

Some unions have gotten employers to agree to notify a shop steward whenever ICE or the Department of Homeland Security reaches out to the company about employees’ status. They have also succeeded in getting companies to agree not to allow immigration officials onto the worksite unless they have a warrant. In some contracts, employers have vowed not to conduct “self audits” of their employees’ immigration paperwork unless the feds force them to.

While these tactics predated Trump’s election, unions are now making them a priority. The AFL-CIO recently distributed a nearly 200-page toolkit to its member unions that included contract language they could push for with respect to immigration. In many cases, companies and unions have a mutual self-interest in enacting the protections: Employers do not want to lose trained workers, and unions do not want their members deported.

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Questions related to this article:

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

What is the contribution of trade unions to the culture of peace?

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Ron Herrera, the secretary-treasurer at Teamsters Local 396 in Los Angeles, said it was a point of pride for his union to secure clauses in their sanitation contracts guaranteeing workers a grace period for dealing with any snags that come up with their work papers. The contract assures that, so long as they can eventually clear up the problem, the workers won’t lose their jobs or their seniority while they deal with immigration officials.

Herrera said he has received two phone calls in the past week from alarmed members who are working under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was created by President Barack Obama. The program granted legal work status to an estimated 800,000 young undocumented immigrants who’d come to the U.S. as children. Last week Trump said he would rescind DACA in six months, leaving it to Congress to pass legislation authorizing such a program.

Herrera’s union is a good example of the changing demographics of many labor groups. As a Latino, Herrera said, he was an affirmative action hire at UPS in the 1970s. Now, many of the workplaces his union represents are predominantly Latino. “Even if somebody has legal residence, a lot of times there’s a family member that doesn’t,” he said. “We need to step up and understand that this social issue is actually a work issue, too.”

One of the most powerful things a union can do for an undocumented worker or family member is intervene politically on his or her behalf. Not all cases turn out like that of Juan Vivares. Eber Garcia Vasquez, a Long Island sanitation worker and father of three U.S.-born children, was detained by ICE last month. He had left Guatemala and entered the U.S. illegally 27 years ago. His union, Teamsters Local 813, rallied in lower Manhatta after he was detained, and the union’s Washington lobbyists took his case directly to the Trump administration.

Garcia Vasquez was nonetheless sent back to Guatemala last week, according to the Daily News. He hadn’t been back since he left more than a quarter-century ago.

Many unions have launched training programs aimed at helping members navigate run-ins with immigration agents. In Seattle, an immigrant rights group taught members of SEIU Local 775 how to run such workshops; the union’s members in turn were able to fan out and teach colleagues.

“It’s stuff that we’ve always had on our radar but we kicked into high gear,” said Heather Villanueva, one of the union’s organizers. “The tone changed from generally talking about it to literally trying to protect families once Trump was elected.”

In Austin, Texas, the teachers union has been doling out Fifth Amendment rights cards and packets to help students’ families plan for immigration raids. Many teachers sought out rights training from the union after seeing how frightened their students’ families had become, according to Montserrat Garibay, the vice president of Education Austin. They have been partnering with pro bono immigration attorneys to host presentations for families after school hours.

“We feel this is a crisis that the Latino immigrant community is going through right now,” Garibay said. “As teachers we feel an ethical and moral responsibility.”

The hotel and hospitality union Unite Here, which is heavily immigrant, went so far as to create a ringtone in Spanish called “Nada Nada,” with lyrics enumerating one’s rights when la migra comes knocking: “If immigration comes to arrest you, keep calm / You have the right to not sign anything and not say anything.”

Maria Elena Durazo, Unite Here’s general vice president, said the union redoubled its efforts on immigrant rights once it saw Trump’s cabinet taking shape, with nominees such as Jeff Sessions, now attorney general, making clear that the deportation talk was more than campaign bluster. The union wants to insert more immigration safeguards into new contracts moving forward, like having employers contribute to assistance funds for undocumented workers who lose their jobs, she said.

Part of the challenge unions face, Durazo said, is making all their members see the value of such investments, particularly those who have little sympathy for undocumented immigrants.

“The main thing is to understand the union as an organization of their fellow workers, that we’re all in this together,” she said. “In some places, that could be more difficult: Why are we doing this if they’re here undocumented? It takes a lot of work to build that kind of clarity and solidarity.”

North America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

From Europe to the United States, these cities oppose their governments to better accommodate migrants

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article by Rachel Knaebel for Bastamag

In the United States, hundreds of municipalities have chosen not to contribute to the hunt against the undocumented launched by Donald Trump. In Europe, many municipalities have commited themselves to a welcome of migrants. “Sanctuary cities”, “refuge cities” … From Italy to Great Britain, from Barcelona to Grande-Synthe, these communes are trying to constitute a veritable counter-power against unworthy and xenophobic policies.


Photo: LGBT demonstration of solidarity with refugees in London, June 2016 / CC Alisdare Hickson
(Click on the photo to enlarge)

In the United States, hundreds of municipalities have chosen not to contribute to the hunt against the undocumented launched by Donald Trump. In Europe, many municipalities have commited themselves to a welcome of migrants. “Sanctuary cities”, “refuge cities” … From Italy to Great Britain, from Barcelona to Grande-Synthe, these communes are trying to constitute a veritable counter-power against unworthy and xenophobic policies.

Barely elected President of the United States, Donald Trump passed a decree to cut federal funds to the hundreds of municipalities that criticized his anti-migrant policy. Confronted with Trump’s program, his willingness to expel undocumented migrants irrespective of the number of years of residence, and his desire to erect a wall on the Mexican border, many cities quickly declared themselves “Sanctuary cities”. These municipalities “have adopted policies that promise to protect and serve all their residents, regardless of their migratory status,” says the powerful American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

In effect, these cities refuse to cooperate with the federal security forces, when they ask them to put undocumented migrants in detention. They do not necessarily require citizens to produce a birth certificate or to stay legally to access local public services. Some sanctuary municipalities even decide to recognize non-US identity papers as valid in their territory or to distribute their own municipal identity papers to all their residents, regardless of their nationality.

From New York to Milan, via Barcelona

Some of the most important cities in the United States, such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Washington, have adopted this position. And they have not lost the battle against Donald Trump, since a federal judge blocked last April the decree of the president who wanted to cut off their resources.

In Europe too, faced with a historic crisis in the management of migration, local authorities are countering the closure policy pursued by the European Union states. Most European governments rely on safe management and agreements with undeveloped countries like Libya and Turkey (read our article Sending them to detention or to a dictatorship: this is how Europe “relocates” its refugees). However, in Milan on May 20, 100,000 people demonstrated at the initiative of the left-wing mayor of the city to promote the reception of migrants.

In February, it was the mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau, allied with the Podemos party, who called for a demonstration for the reception of migrants. Again, more than 100,000 people responded. The Catalan capital has also initiated an international network of cities committed to helping migrants, Solidarity Cities, intended to push the Spanish government to speed up the reception of refugees arriving in Europe, and to relocate them to Spain.

“France is not welcoming”

And in France ? There is the good example of Grande-Synthe, a northern town of 20,000 inhabitants, where the municipality has welcomed migrants en route to England (see our article Assuring migrants’ reception, ecology and social emancipation: the astonishing example of Grande-Synthe), notably by constructing a reception center with Médecin sans frontières with decent living conditions (taken over by the prefecture, the center was destroyed by a fire last April). Individual citizens also commit themselves, from Calais to the Italian border, and are sometimes taken to court for “Illegal acts of solidarity” (read our article At the Franco-Italian border, residents of the Roya valley risk imprisonment for helping migrants).

In Paris, thousands of migrants disembarked in the capital find themselves on the streets without any care and they are harassed by the police. Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced the opening of a first reception center in May. The center opened six months later. Scheduled for 500 people, it is too small and saturated permanently. According to the association France Terre d’asile, more than 1,000 migrants were still sleeping in the street in early July near the reception center. The association Gisti (Group of information and support to immigrants) also denounced the police violence against the migrants who were waiting in lines to enter the center. In spite of very real but dispersed initiatives (read here our article), “France is not welcoming”, regrets Filippo Furri. Will the French cities take over from a failing state?

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

Question for this article

The refugee crisis, Who is responsible?

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Crisis of the Italian hosting model

“We must differentiate between networks of solidarity-based cities in Europe and the movement of sanctuary cities in the United States,” said Filippo Furri, a member of the Migreurop network and a doctoral candidate at the University of Montreal. In Europe, municipalities are forming a safe haven on the issue of asylum. In the United States, the movement has instead built itself to protect all undocumented immigrants who have lived in the country for a while. ”

Filippo Furri is well aware of the Italian case, in particular that of Venice: “With the Balkan war in the 1990s, there was a wave of refugees. In Venice, an initiative of citizen and NGO solidarity organized a dignified welcome. A reception system was set up at the beginning of the 2000s. Venice became a sort of prototype of the asylum system, which later developed in Italy, with the current emergency situation. ”

Along with Greece, Italy is one of the two main countries of arrival for the hundreds of thousands of people who land every year in Europe by sea, seeking asylum and security. More than 360 000 people have arrived by the Mediterranean Sea in Europe in 2016. More than 98 000 since the beginning of 2017 (more than 2000 migrants have already died in the Mediterranean Sea this year). Italy is therefore one of the countries that has to manage the reception of migrants in urgent and large numbers, in addition to sea rescues. In early July, its government called on other European countries to help care for newcomers. But instead of taking the side of hospitality, the Italian government also threatened at the same time to close its ports to the migrants.

Aid to development in the face of failing states

“Italy, like Greece, is becoming a real retention territory,” says Filippo Furri. There are forms of hospitality and hospitality in civil society. It is a response to state management, which is primarily aimed at controlling flows, sorting people, and scattering reception centers by imposing them on local governments. There is a conflict between the local reception of municipalities and the state control. In the same way that NGOs take over from the European states and authorities to save lives in the Mediterranean Sea, Italian municipalities are organizing to do what the Italian state refuses to do: to organize a dignified welcome and to encourage exchanges between the local population and newcomers.

The network of “Communes of the Earth for the World”, founded in 2003, today brings together more than 300 municipalities from all over Italy. For example, the association organizes an intercultural festival in Riace, a village in Calabria that has become one of the entry points for many migrants in the EU (see our article These villages that choose to welcome migrants). The association of municipalities also conducts international solidarity projects, such as a solar energy development project in the Sahel. “The Recosol network is organized on a logic of solidarity that goes beyond the issue of migration,” says Filippo Furri. It is a network of mutual assistance between local communities. ”

To constitute solidarity associations, beyond the sole objective of managing the emergency, this is surely the specificity of the networks of shelter cities in the face of the migration policies of the States. “The State leaves it up to the Italian municipalities to organize the reception of migrants. It is the municipalities that organize housing, language courses and local integration,” explained the coordinators of the network of municipalities Recosol. The Italian government’s policy suffers from the lack of a global vision and a national plan for the reception and integration of migrants. It is therefore the NGOs and the citizens, on the territory, who make the difference. ”

Sanctuary City in the UK

In Britain too, citizens and municipalities are countering the xenophobic policy of the Conservative government. “A Sanctuary City was created in Sheffield in 2005 by a small group of people who wanted to better accommodate the refugees,” said Forward Maisokwadzo, spokesperson for the British network. The Mayor of this city of 500,000 inhabitants in the north of England fully supported the initiative and made a public commitment to welcome asylum seekers and refugees in his city. “Then the movement became very important, in terms of the number of people and communes involved. It now includes a hundred municipalities. The idea is to work with everyone: citizens, associations, local authorities.”

For the movement “City of Sanctuary”, the key to hospitality is in this collective work. “The actions carried out by the movement vary from place to place. They can, for example, involve raising awareness of the issue of the reception of asylum seekers, says Forward Maisokwadzo. In Bristol, the city has tackled the problem of deprivation of asylum seekers, who receive very little financial support and are not allowed to work during their study. A dozen other cities are committed to the issue. Their job is also to push the government to address this issue.”

(Thank you to Kiki Chauvin, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

Europe, North America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY,

Germany: The dead refugees lament! Action September 5

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

A press release from Kultur des friedens (translated by CPNN)

On Tuesday 5 September 2017 at 12 noon, at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
a 100 meter long banner was erected listing the names of 17,306 refugees that have died in the Mediterranean since 2012. It serves as a memorial to them and as a resistance to the inhuman policy that contributed to their deaths, the restrictive policy of the European Union (Fortress Europe). The dead lament. This action takes place on the occasion of the last General Debate on current political issues in the Bundestag before the parliamentary elections which will take place on Tuesday 5 September .

Members of the Culture of Peace Society (GKF) have just returned from refugee camps in Greece, most recently from Mytilini / Lesbos, where the central place was occupied by refugees because they no longer see any prospect of leaving the island. The real cause of their flight was ignored at the latest European refugee summit, as the federal government combats the consequences of its own misguided policy.

At the same time, a reminder action is called for at the Brandenburg Gate on 5 September 2017 at 12 noon, parallel to the meeting in the Bundestag.

We ask the media to announce the event and to report how the cause of death was war, poverty, climate change and human rights violations.

Question for this article
Europe, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Dominican Republic: Mayor praises successful congress for peace in Southern region

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article from Nuevo Diario (translated by CPNN)

Yaguate, San Cristóbal.- The mayor Rosa Peña de Lluberes described as successful the First Congress of Youth in the Southern Region for a culture of peace in this city that involved hundreds of young leaders.


Mayor Rosa Peña

The municipal executive thanked the Public Ministry for having chosen this municipality as the venue for the celebration of this great and significant event and she welcomed each of the delegates of the different provinces and all the authorities present.

The speakers of the event were Angel Gomera Peralta, with the theme youth, conflict resolution and a culture of peace; José Armando, Tavarez, with the theme of vocational guidance; José Monegro with the topic of Assertive Communication; Marcos Díaz, with effective leadership; and Danissa Cruz, who addressed the issue of human rights for peace.

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(Click here for the original Spanish article)

Question related to this article:
 
Youth initiatives for a culture of peace, How can we ensure they get the attention and funding they deserve?

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Liyana Pavón also addressed the issue of gender violence; Luis Verges the handling of the emotions; Pavel de Camps presented the subject of computer security and Tobias Crespo road safety for peace.

The attorney general of the Court of Appeal of San Cristóbal, Celeste Reyes, congratulated all those present and stressed the great importance of the event at a time when all sectors must fight for citizen security and peaceful coexistence.

Dr. Héctor Bienvenido Soto Valdez of the legal department of the local city council was responsible for the organization of the activity, and Patria Rodríguez, of the department of youth, was in charge of the words of welcome.

The artistic part was in charge of the male inmates of the correctional center Najayo, and the queen of the patrons of Yaguate was Miss Naomi Villar.

The closing words were spoken by Milciades Ventura Lembert, youth mediation coordinator (SINAREC), of the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic.

The congress was held at the José Francisco Peña Gómez sports center in this town.

Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

United Nations: Inter-Religious Coalition Aims For Peace in the Middle East

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article by Joan Erakit from the International Press Syndicate

There is a famous bible passage that alludes to the unfortunate kinship between siblings; a child is questioned by God about his brother and he, at the time having killed his brother, denies allegiance by asking: “Am I my brothers keeper?” Some may interpret the parable about Cain and Able as follows: being humans, we are brothers by birth meant to look out for one another, yet circumstances have arisen that have turned us against each other. In the end, it is religion that is called upon to solidify bonds, bringing people from various backgrounds and points of view, together on the same page.

Religion, an often complex topic within political arenas, found its way to the United Nations Headquarters in New York for a political panel around the role of religious leaders in the peace building process in the Middle East.


Photo: Religious Leaders from Israel and Palestine pose with UN Secretary-General António Guterres (6th from left) and UNAOC High Representative Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser (6th from right). Credit UN Photo
(Click on photo to enlarge)

With the support of the government of Spain, represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Alfonso Maria Dastis, and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), led by High Representative Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, religious leaders from Israel and Palestine converged on July 18 at the UN to defend and demand their seat at the peace building table, emphasizing the need for the UN to formally acknowledge that religion could no longer be kept out of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Representatives of the three monolithic faiths in the region – Christianity, Islam and Judaism — attended the meeting in New York, and in a show of support, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres joined the discussion.

He delivered his remarks to a packed room that also consisted of the esteemed panelists: Sheikh Raed Badir, member of the Palestinian Ulama Council; Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Palestine, Syria and beyond the Jordan River; Dr. Adina Bar Shalem, founder and president of the Haredi College in Jerusalem, Rabbi Avraham Giesser, Rabbi of Ofra and Council Head for the State religious educational system of Israel and finally, Rabbi Michael Melchoir, the community Rabbi of Jerusalem and president of the Mosaica Religious Peace Initiative.

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, one of the panelists, Sheik Imad Abed Al-Hamid Al-Falouji, chairman of the Adam Center for Dialogue of Civilizations in Palestine and a collaborator of Rabbi Melchoir, could not obtain a visa to the U.S. and thus joined the discussion via videoconference.

“The Holy Land has a special place in the hearts of billions of people around the world,” Guterres said, later adding, “With every passing day, frustration grows, hope diminishes, and the perspective of a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems more distant.”

The Secretary-General’s words were well received given that the speakers gathered had spent time together in Spain for the Alicante Declaration, a summit for religious peace in the Middle East hosted by the Spanish government and UNAOC in November of 2016.

The Declaration itself was devised as proof that religious leaders from all three monolithic faiths had agreed to partner and become responsible for creating a peaceful existence among their followers, more specifically stating:

“We vehemently call for the cessation of incitement, misrepresentation and distortion of the image of the other and of the neighbor. We commit ourselves to educate future generations to uphold mutual respect. Drawing upon the religious traditions, and our understanding of what is best for our communities and peoples, we call for a solution that recognizes the right of the two peoples to exist with dignity.”

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Question related to this article:
 
How can different faiths work together for understanding and harmony?

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It cannot be denied that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has troubled the Middle East and thus the entire world, for years and that various initiatives have been undertaken by groups and individuals on both sides to mediate a solution – almost always failing.

At the same time, it cannot be denied that religion, at its core, has the power to influence people. “We firmly believe that Religion is not the source of the problem. On the contrary, religion can be part of the solution,” according to Al Nasser.

Thus in an effort to offer a new avenue for which to broker mediation, UNAOC has approached the situation differently by working with religious leaders on both sides of the conflict in hopes of securing them a seat at the peace building table.

“The Alliance is one of the UN’s main leading entities promoting interfaith and intercultural dialogue. We recognized that peace cannot be in attained through the endeavors of politicians alone. For this reason, we value the partnership and engagement of various players such the civil society, the private sector, the academia and most of all, the Religious Leaders and faith-based organizations,” Al-Nasser said.

Given that religious leaders are there to provide guidance to those who seek its solace and understanding, and because their status in society tends to hold extreme gravitas, it is only fitting that they play an important role in shaping the spiritual journey’s of humanity – especially when it comes to conflict.

Whether it was the passionate words of Al-Falouji, who himself shared in a videoconference his personal experience of working across religious lines or the poetic words of the Patriarch Theophilos who confidently deemed Jerusalem as the common home for Jews, Christian and Muslims – one thing was certain: religion is a political tool, and in this case, one that is seeking to bridge peace between two historically fraught sides.

“As I have continuously stressed, the two-state solution is the only path to ensure that Palestinians and Israelis realize their national and historic aspirations and live in peace, security and dignity. The expansion of illegal settlements, or the violence or the incitement undermine this prospect,” said Guterres.

Speaking with candor, the Secretary-General urged religious leaders in the audience not to dismiss the opportunity for which they had to change the narratives about their respective faiths – narratives that had been distorted by extremism and radicalization. Instead, it was his solemn plea that religious leaders, local and regional might utilize their influence to foster messages of peace, resolution and commonality among congregants.

By appealing to the core values of all three monolithic faiths irrespective of both conflict lines through the Religious Peace Initiative, Guterres believed that a dialogue could at least be started.

In theory, this is a promising desire that would hopefully do just as the Secretary- General hopes. In practice, it will require a concrete action plan that not only holds religious leaders in the region accountable for their declarations, but also provides them with capacity building, tools and spaces to begin these dialogues among their followers.

“We firmly believe that religion is not the source of the problem. On the contrary, religion can part of the solution,” Al-Nasser concluded.

Sitting in the room at the UN Headquarters, one could not help but notice the sense of urgency possessed by the panelists to engage in the peace building process – they were all thoroughly prepared with passionate statements of a life that would see no conflict in the Middle East, “a dream” as Rabbi Melchoir put it.

After a fruitful summit in Spain and a productive meeting at the United Nations, the coalition of religious leaders ready to bring Muslims, Christians and Jews together must prepare to develop not only a cohesive message, but a method of dialogue that speaks to all three faiths and that is felt by men, women and children in such a way that they look upon each other as a brothers keeper, and not his enemy.

global, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY, United Nations,

Jewish, Christian, Muslim Leaders Feast Together for Interfaith Ramadan Break-Fast in Istanbul

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

Excerpt from an article in Breaking Israel News

Last Thursday [June 8], a delegation of rabbis joined Adnan Oktar, a prominent Turkish Muslim cleric, at the Çırağan Palace Ballroom in Istanbul for his traditional iftar feast ending a day of fasting during Ramadan. More than 750 people from different religions and nationalities, including Jewish and Christian clergy and lay leaders, joined Oktar for the annual event hosted by Oktar’s organization, the Movement for the Culture of Peace and Reconciliation.



(Click here to enlarge image and caption)

The guest list included a number of illustrious attendees, several of them Israeli: the chief rabbi of the city of Shoham, Rabbi David Stav; retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Israel Rabbi Abraham Sherman; Anglican priest Todd William Kissam from Maryland; and Co-Chairman of the Muslim–Jewish Friendship Organization in France, Imam Mohamed Azizi.

Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/89564/israeli-delegation-joins-iftar-feast-istanbul-prominent-pro-israel-muslim-cleric/#KOeX07EqCGTAQ8gJ.97

Question related to this article:
Mideast, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Côte d’Ivoire: Preservation of the peace in Port-Bouët: Communal youth give their recipes

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article from Unité.ci

The Union of Youth of the commune of Port-Bouët, in collaboration with the NGO “Acting for peace and well-being” (ONGAPBE), organized on Saturday 10 June 2017 at the Hotel Communal, a seminar on “How can youth develop the culture of peace in the commune of Port-Bouët? “.


Photo legend : Seminar participants sit in a circle

Samuel Kouassi, President of the Youth Union, gave the reasons for holding such a seminar. According to him, it is the young people who in times of acute crisis are instrumentalized to commit acts of violence. “Youth can become the armed fist of people with troubled and selfish purposes. We must therefore work to ensure that this important segment of the population in our commune in particular and in the country in general find ways to protect themselves in case of crisis, disorder or disorder.” That is why he invited the leaders of young people from all parts of the commune to listen carefully to the message delivered today and put it into practice if necessary.

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(Click here for the original French version)

Question for this article

Youth initiatives for a culture of peace, How can we ensure they get the attention and funding they deserve?

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Mr Koffi Amani, President of ONGAPBE, gave some suggestions for young people to be peace actors in their families, neighborhoods, communities and, in turn, in Côte d’Ivoire. According to him, the seminar establishes an interactive methodology, “Collective intelligence, listening to others and networking among all the youth groups makes it possible to involve young people in the search for peace,” he said. For him, it is essential to avoid suspicions and dissension. Young people should think together by listening to each one, giving positions and listening to those of others. “The culture of peace must not be an isolated action, since it concerns everyone. With us 1 + 1 is not equal to 2, but to 11. For 11 is the figure of force, while 2 is division. Our methodology is to bring everyone together to produce the desired results, “said Koffi Amani.

He recalled that the NGO he runs has been functioning since December 2012. In January 2013, the NGO trained its facilitators who are people who publicly animate seminars, meetings or training sessions. The facilitator is called the “host.” Their methodology consists in having the participants set up in a circle. “The circle has a specificity in the sense that it allows everyone to see each other during the exchanges. Each point of the circle constituted by each participant has equal value. That is, each participant has the same importance as the others in the debate. There is no leader and everyone has the right to speak. Each one can not speak more than another and each participant can not see the right to speak back. He who has not the word should listen attentively to the one who is speaking. These are the rules we have set ourselves to inculcate certain values ​​to all those who take part in our trainings, “said the president of the NGO.

Participants talked about their experience of peace and how they once worked in their lives to bring harmony into the family, neighborhood, school, etc. It is this experience that they have been asked to remember, the day when they will be faced with a situation that requires them to commit themselves to peace.

Africa, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Mexico: Colima will host the Meeting of Youth Peace Leaders

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article from El Pulso de Colima (translated by CPNN)

Youth Leaders for Peace will meet on May 9 in the Administrative Complex of Government of the State. A total of four forums will be set up to discuss the culture of peace and education for peace, according to Gamaliel Haro Osorio, state secretary of Youth.

The Youth Secretary invites all young people to attend this event that will feature international celebrities, along with the state government led by José Ignacio Peralta Sánchez, who has always been an ally for youth.

The celebrities include Mrs. Dolly Hirsh, survivor of the Holocaust; Rubén Pacheco Inclán, president of the Inter-American Bar of Lawyers; Francisco J. Guerra González, national coordinator of the World Embassy of Activists for Peace (EMAP); Max Trejo Cervantes, secretary general of the Ibero-American Youth Organization and Jorge Montemayor Paz, director of the EMAP National Orchestra.

Haro Osorio stated that the event will be totally free and will start at 08:30 in the morning, For further information contact 01 312 3145099 with staff of the Youth Secretariat and EMAP.

The official spokesman of the World Embassy for Peace Activists, Mario Moreno Contreras, said that more than 3,000 young people are expected to attend the project that is being presented for the first time in Colima. It encourages young people to develop not only as professionals, but in all the fields in which human being interact. “It’s about giving them the necessary tools to be good young people in a space that is open for ideas.”

Through a press release, the Secretaría de la Juventud mentions that Erika Arely Moreno Hernández, a youth leader from the center area, was present at the press conference to announce this event. She highlighted that through different projects they want to create and promote a Culture of peace among young people.

(Click here for the original Spanish version)

Question for this article
Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Beirut Declaration enhances role of religions in promoting human rights

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights

​​​A “Faith for Rights” initiative launched at a recent gathering of faith-based and civil society actors from around the world aims to unite religious communities of various faiths to counter discrimination and religious-based violence through a shared objective to promote human rights and to uphold the freedom of religion or belief.

“Our objective is to foster the development of peaceful societies, where diversity is not just tolerated but fully respected and celebrated,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a video message to participants at the two-day meeting hosted by the UN Human Rights Office in Beirut.

“Religious leaders, with their considerable influence on the hearts and minds of millions of people, are potentially very important human rights actors,” said Mr. Zeid.

Building on the 2012 Rabat Plan of Action that laid out religious leaders’ core responsibilities in countering incitement to hatred, the Beirut Declaration (pdf) expands those responsibilities to the full spectrum of human rights. It calls on believers of all faiths to join hands and hearts in articulating ways in which they can stand together in defending fundamental rights against discrimination and violence.

Sheikh Maytham Al Salman, a religious leader and rights defender from Bahrain, urged religious leaders and faith-based organizations to assume leading roles in countering hate campaigns targeting particular religious groups. “Religious hostility has risen to alarming stages,” he said.

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Question related to this article:
 
How can different faiths work together for understanding and harmony?

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Linked to the Beirut Declaration are 18 Faith for Rights commitments (pdf) to uphold human rights, including pledges to avoid invoking “State religion” in order to justify discrimination against any individual or group, to ensure gender equality and minority rights, to refrain from oppressing critical voices and to engage with children and youth.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the freedom of religion or belief Ahmed Shaheed said he was concerned about the explicit targeting of youth “by those who would prey on young minds.” He called on religious leaders to pay particular attention to the vulnerability of young people subjected to hate speech.

“Youths look up to religious leaders for guidance, mentoring, support and advice. Therefore there is a need to engage with those communities at a very early age and provide a mind-set that is tolerant, broad-minded and has respect for others,” said Mr. Shaheed. “It is important to go beyond the human rights council chamber out into the field and to engage people and ensure we develop solidarity and cross-community collaboration to mobilize people to support the freedom of religion or belief.”

Ibrahim Salama, chief of the UN Human Rights Treaties Branch, hailed the Beirut Declaration as a rights-based call to people of all faiths around the world to promote peaceful societies based on mutual respect.

“Rather than focusing on theological and doctrinal divides, the Beirut Declaration favours the identification of common ground among all religions and beliefs to uphold the dignity and worth of all human beings,” he said.

(Thank you to Böðvar Jónsson of Akureyri, Iceland, the CPNN reporter for this article)

global, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY