Category Archives: global

Voice of the Global South: Multilateralism Can and Must Deliver

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION .

An opinion piece by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Cyril Ramaphosa and Pedro Sánchez, heads of state of Brazil, South Africa and Spain published by the Transcend Media Service

The year 2025 will be pivotal for multilateralism. The challenges before us — rising inequalities, climate change, and the financing gap for sustainable development — are urgent and interconnected. Addressing them requires bold, coordinated action — not a retreat into isolation, unilateral actions, or disruption.

Three major global gatherings offer a unique opportunity to chart a path towards a more just, inclusive and sustainable world: the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville (Spain), the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Belém (Brazil) and the G20 Summit in Johannesburg (South Africa). These meetings must not be business as usual: they must deliver real progress.

A multilateral moment we cannot waste

Trust in multilateral institutions is under strain, yet the need for dialogue and global cooperation has never been greater. We must reaffirm that multilateralism, when ambitious and action-oriented, remains the most effective vehicle for addressing shared challenges and advancing common interests.

We must build on the successes of multilateralism, in particular the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. The FfD4, COP30 and G20 must serve as milestones in a renewed commitment to inclusiveness, sustainable development, and shared prosperity. This will require strong political will, the full participation of all relevant stakeholders, a creative mindset and the ability to understand the constraints and priorities of all economies.

Tackling inequality through a renewed financial architecture

Income inequality is widening—both within and between nations. Many developing countries struggle under unsustainable debt burdens, constrained fiscal space, and barriers to fair access to capital. Basic services such as health or education must compete with growing interest rates.

This is not just a moral failing; it is an economic risk for all. The global financial architecture must be reformed to provide countries in the Global South with greater voice and representation and fairer and more predictable access to resources.

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Question related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

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We must advance debt relief initiatives, promote innovative financing mechanisms, and work on identifying and addressing the causes of the high cost of capital faced by most developing countries. The G20, under the South African presidency, is prioritising these three areas.

At the same time, Seville’s FfD4 will be a defining moment to secure commitments for stronger international financial cooperation for sustainable development, including through better taxation of global wealth and negative externalities, the enhancement of domestic resource mobilisation and for a more impactful and effective rechannelling of Special Drawing Rights.

Just transitions towards climate-resilient development

For many developing countries, just climate transitions remain out of reach due to a lack of funds and development constraints. This must change. At COP30 in Belém, a summit hosted in the heart of the Amazon, we must ensure that our climate finance commitments translate into concrete action.

The success of COP30 will depend on whether we can bridge the gap between promises and delivery. Under the UNFCCC, key foundations for COP30 will be the submission of new and ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by all parties and the Baku to Belém Roadmap to scale up financing to developing country parties for climate action from all public and private sources to at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2025.

We need to significantly increase climate adaptation finance, leverage private sector investment and ensure that multilateral development banks take a greater role in climate financing. The FfD4 in Seville will complement these efforts by ensuring that climate financing does not come at the cost of development.

An inclusive response to global threats

The world is increasingly fragmented, and this is precisely why we must redouble our efforts to find common ground. Seville, Belém and Johannesburg must serve as beacons of multilateral cooperation, showing that nations can unite around common interests.

In Seville, we will work to mobilise both public and private capital for sustainable development, recognising that financial stability and climate action are inseparable. In Belem, we will stand together to protect our planet. And in Johannesburg, the G20 will reaffirm the importance of inclusive economic growth.

As we look ahead to 2025, we call on all nations, international institutions, the private sector and civil society to rise to this moment. Multilateralism can and must deliver — because the stakes are too high for failure.

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FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global

On the ground at UN women’s conference in New York City

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from the Catholic Register

Every March thousands of government officials, activists and policy makers descend on the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York City for two weeks of both high-level meetings and side-events at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).


UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous delivers remarks at the opening of the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, 10 March 2025, UN headquarters. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown.

The CSW began in 1946 as one of the original sub-commissions of the UN’s Economic and Social Affairs Commission (ECOSOC). Its purpose, according to the UN website, is to promote “gender equality, the rights and the empowerment of girls.” 

Since March 10 when the 69th CSW session began, the streets around UN headquarters on East 45th have been filled with men and women from every corner of the world. African women, wearing traditional dress underneath hastily purchased sweaters as protection against the East River wind, walk alongside young female urbanites carrying tote-bags that proclaim, “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made,” that a quote of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

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Questions related to this article:

Does the UN advance equality for women?

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In the line-up in front of the UN Pass and ID office, waiting to receive my press pass, I was sandwiched between a woman who was a director of “Gender Equality and Social Inclusion” at a UK-based think tank and a tiny, red-lipsticked New Yorker who works for NGO Girls Not Brides. The two women were quite excited when they heard I was a journalist but went completely silent when I told them I worked for The Catholic Register.

According to the CSW website, the commission is a “one-of-a-kind platform for feminists from around the world to advocate, learn and share experiences.” 

This year is a particularly important one for the CSW as it marks 30 years since the fourth World Conference on Women at which the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted. Signed by 189 countries, the 1995 global policy document outlines 12 focus points which includes women and the economy, human rights and the environment. Since the adoption of the declaration, subsequent commissions have been engaged with member countries monitoring and reporting on progress in those 12 areas.

Sima Bahous, executive director of UN Women, introduced the 69th CSW with the note, “while we have not yet known a world of full equality for all women and girls, the global community collectively imagined it in the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.” [Click here for her speech.]

Every year, much of the work of the commission takes place in the hundreds of side events both on the grounds of the UN headquarters and offsite in nearby hotels. Organized by non-governmental organizations in conjunction with member state delegations, the topics range from the realities of sex-selective practices to the role AI might play in combating human trafficking. 

The Canadian delegation co-hosted several side events in the first week, including one co-hosted with Sierra Leone, Plan International, UNICEF and CHOICE for Youth & Sexuality, entitled, “Stories from the future: Charting a path towards the future girls want.”

This year, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth of Canada Marci Ien leads the Canadian delegation. Ien has stated that the primary focus of Canada’s advocacy at the commission will be “Women’s empowerment and the advancement of 2SLGBTQI+ rights.”

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global, United Nations, WOMEN'S EQUALITY,

CODEPINK at International Working Women’s Day 2025

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from Codepink

This year’s International Working Women’s Day was a welcome respite from the chaotic, maddening, and often heart-wrenching news cycle that is defining 2025. Our local chapters showcased last weekend that we will never let ourselves be defined by, nor distracted by the chaos and cruelty that’s being unleashed on us and our sisters all over the world. Instead, we focused on meeting people where they are at and growing the movement one person at a time.


From Los Angeles to Dallas, from Massachusetts to London, UK, our local chapters centered international working women’s resistance to send a powerful and urgent reminder that if women around the world are standing together – liberation from imperialism and militarism is inevitable! 

CODEPINK’s birth 23 years ago also culminated in powerful action on IWWD 2003, kicking off our alternate, feminist vision for peace against the backdrop of U.S. militarism and violence against women at home and in the Global South. 

Our chapters are doing the hard work of movement building. Many of them showed up to Women’s Day events in their community and brought flyers that educate on war and peace in a way that makes sense to anyone and everyone. This sparked lively conversation with people our movement wouldn’t otherwise reach. Scroll down to read more and see action photos!

CODEPINK Bay Area honored the revolutionary struggles of working women within Turtle Island and the Global South by holding community-led workshops to oppose fascism. Bay Area Organizer Cynthia stated, “The event was a beautiful collaboration of many groups. People were happy to receive our CODEPINK flyers. A highlight was the Palestinian Feminist Collective workshop where we learned about the crucial role of women in Palestinian life and resistance.”

CODEPINK London, UK took to the streets to mark the International Feminist Strike 2025 as part of a global anti-colonial movement.

We asked our CODEPINK London Regional Organizer, Nuvpreet: In the spirit of IWWD, what does true solidarity with international women look like? 

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Questions related to this article:

Do women have a special role to play in the peace movement?

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“As feminists in the imperial core, we must recognize that our governments fund, support, and maintain systems of militarism and colonial domination that harm women across the world. Our role is to oppose and end these systems so that women across the world can live in peace.”

CODEPINK Milwaukee did not let their local IWWD protest forget the women of Palestine! They brought signs, chants and extra PINK to the streets of Milwaukee! The women of Palestine are our sisters!!!

CODEPINK North Carolina showed up at their first event together with the message that militarism and war has no place in our feminism! Or at IWWD!

We asked our National Co-Director, Danaka: How do we care for ourselves and each other all year round? 

“It’s pretty easy to get swept up in the constantly devastating news cycle. But I try and remember that feeling defeated isn’t helping anyone…it’s not helping me, and it’s certainly not doing anything for women in the Global South who my country is bombing, starving, or exploiting. When I practice my feminist values of care, solidarity, and curiosity – how could I ever feel hopeless? There’s billions of people in the world with kind hearts, we just need to organize them.” 

CODEPINK NYC joined partners to host an educational screening of Leila and the Wolves (Leila wa za’ib) followed by a discussion on women leading resistance and liberation movements. 

Kurt from CODEPINK NYC reflected after, “The discussion was just as impactful as the movie itself. It felt good to be in a room where people could share their thoughts openly, even when the topics were tough. I walked away feeling really grateful for the chance to connect in community over such an important film. Thanks to everyone who made the event happen!” 

Our chapters have their work cut out for them as they disrupt the war narrative everywhere. And the work hasn’t stopped at IWWD! Last week, CODEPINK London, UK made news launching  BasesOffCyprus, a brand new coalition-led campaign to end joint US/UK surveillance flights aiding Israel’s genocide, which forced the UK government to publicly respond. Our chapter in Missouri is organizing to stop Israel Chemicals Limited from opening up a new facility in St. Louis. CODEPINK North Dakota is working on kicking Elbit Systems out of their state. The chapter in Chicago is part of a massive coalition to divest from Israeli bonds. They are taking on the war machine locally while educating and activating their friends and neighbors. 

Thank you to all those that brought messages of peace and justice to their International Working Women’s Day actions! We cannot do this work without each of our amazing local leaders, online organizers and global partners. 

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global, North America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY,

Sign the Peace Clock Manifesto

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from Code Pink

Join us to pivot from Doom to Peace and disarm the world from nuclear weapons. Sign the Manifesto!

Over the years, the hands of the clock have been reset, forward and backward, as scientists and policy makers estimated how immediate the nuclear danger loomed, based on the perils faced by other countries obtaining nuclear weapons as well as new arms control measures, weapons limitations, and agreements, particularly between the US and Russia for disarmament measures. At its most optimistic, the Doomsday hands were moved to 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 when the US and USSR announced the complete cessation of nuclear testing.

Shockingly, despite years of nuclear arms control measures, resulting in arsenals down from a high of 70,000 bombs at the peak of the world’s nuclear insanity, to about 12,000 today, 11,000 of which are in the US and Russia with nearly 4,000 poised and ready to go, with another 1000 held by the six other nuclear weapons states—UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea– the clock has never been set closer to Doomsday than it is today—At 90 seconds to midnight! (1)

It’s time to transform the clock and change the conversation! Dire warnings about Doomsday have done little to increase our world’s safety these 77 years. It’s time to pivot our focus from doom to the many small necessary steps we each need to engage in to create peace. The fear of doom encourages compromise with those who are only interested in building Empire and the war economy. This never brings us to our goal of peace. We must stop giving our blessing and consent to endless steps to “control” arms that lead to ever more danger as illustrated by the aging Doomsday clock.

Instead, we must demand their abolition, as we move to a nuclear free world at peace unthreatened by catastrophic annihilation and the ultimate climate change; a nuclear winter.

Let us deemphasize procedural steps that keep up stuck, which scholars have already named: ‘anti-preneurism’ steps towards illusory progress. (2)

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

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We are at a turning point in history. It is time to change the conversation with bold new proposals. Proposals that are guaranteed to bring us a respite from the growing terror. Proposals that will bring a shift in planetary consciousness allowing us to respond cooperatively to the impending cataclysmic climate disaster down the road! Proposals that will usher in a rising dawn and change our focus from Doom to Peace. Mother Earth grows impatient with the folly of humankind.

We will take steps that lead to peace on earth and mobilize, expose and render powerless the MICIMATT (Military, Industrial, Congressional, Intelligence, Media, Academic Think Tank complex) in our work for peace. Bringing about:

° US acceptance of Russian and Chinese proposals for treaties to ban weapons in space and cyberwar

° The reinstatement of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia and removal of US missiles from Romania and Poland

° Removal of US nuclear weapons from five NATO states in a deal for Russia removing its recently placed nuclear weapons in Belarus

° All nuclear weapons off high alert and separate the warheads from their delivery systems as China does – following the wisdom of the East

° The dissolution of NATO and respect of a reformed United Nations empowering global democracy, where all countries have decision-making power, not just imperial powers.

° US, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, UK, France, North Korea, and Israel completely disarm.

Russia and China have offered to be willing partners in these initiatives. They have been proposing them to the United States and voting on them in the UN for more than ten years. Let us together make this real for the people and the planet.

1 Status Of World Nuclear Forces

2 Resistance to the emergent norm to advance progress towards the complete elimination of nuclear weapons

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global

Global Day of Action to Close Bases

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An announcement from World Beyond War

We call on individuals and organizations around the world to join the Global Day of Action to #CloseBases on February 23 by organizing protests at military base sites near you.

The thousands of military bases, both foreign and domestic, around the world are a critical piece of the war machine that must be dismantled. Closing bases is a necessary step to shift the global security paradigm towards a demilitarized approach that centers common security — no one is safe until all are safe.

Video for Global Day of Action

Top 5 Reasons Why We’re Calling for a Global Day of Action to #CloseBases

1. Bases often perpetuate colonialism, removing Indigenous people from their lands. From Panama to Guam to Puerto Rico to Okinawa to dozens of other locations across the world, militaries have taken valuable land from local populations, often pushing out Indigenous people in the process, without their consent and without reparations. For example, the entire population of the Chagos Islands was forcibly removed from the island of Diego Garcia by the UK so that it could be leased to the U.S. for an airbase.

2. Bases cost an exorbitant amount of $$. The cost of U.S. foreign military bases alone is estimated at $80 billion a year, money that could be better spent on healthcare, education, renewable energy, and so much more.

3. Bases exacerbate environmental damage and the climate crisis. Military emissions are exempted from climate agreements, like the Kyoto Protocol. The construction of bases has caused irreparable ecological damage, such as the destruction of coral reefs and the environment for endangered species in Henoko, Okinawa. Furthermore, it is well documented at hundreds of sites around the world that military bases leach toxic so-called “forever chemicals” (PFAS/PFOS) into local water supplies, which has had devastating health consequences for nearby communities.

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Questions related to this article:
 
How can we be sure to get news about peace demonstrations?

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4. Bases can have violent and harmful impacts on local communities. Militaries have a notorious legacy of sexual violence, including kidnapping, rape, and murders of women and girls in nearby communities. Yet troops stationed at foreign bases are often afforded impunity for their crimes due to Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs) with the so-called “host” country. Bases can also bring a rise in property taxes and inflation in areas surrounding them which has been known to push locals out.

5. Bases heighten tensions and provoke war-making. The presence of hundreds of thousands of troops, massive arsenals, and thousands of aircraft, tanks, and ships in every corner of the globe facilitates war-making and promotes an arms race. Additionally, bases make locations into targets for attack. And foreign bases implicate countries in the crimes of foreign militaries.

Actions Around the World on February 23

Click here for the map with details on the planned actions.

Click here for the Action Planning Toolkit.

Core Mobilization Organizers

International Peace Bureau (Global)
No to War – No to NATO Network (Global)
Pace e Bene (U.S.)
RootsAction (U.S.)
Veterans For Peace (U.S.)
War Industry Resisters Network (U.S.)
War Resisters’ International (Global)
World BEYOND War (Global)

Click here and go to the bottom of the page for the full list of endorsing organizations.

RESULTS

Reports from the Global Day of Action to Close Bases

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global

An excerpt from remarks by President Trump at the World Economic Forum

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

Excerpt from a press release of The Whitehouse

(Editor’s note. The following excerpt from remarks by President Trump at the World Economic Forum illustrates the impression one gets from the new President that it is impossible to know if his words can be taken seriously. Or are they just part of a game he is playing with the world, much like Charlie Chaplin’s portrayal of Hitler playing with a toy balloon of the world. Let us hope they can be taken seriously in this case.)

How do you see the relationship between the U.S. and China in the next four years under your leadership?

THE PRESIDENT:  He called me.  But I see it very good.  I think that we’re going to have a very good relationship.  All we want is fairness.  We just want a level playing field.  We don’t want to take advantage.  We’ve been having massive deficits with China.  Biden allowed it to get out of hand.  He’s — $1.1 trillion deficit.  It’s ridiculous, and it’s just an unfair relationship. 

And we have to make it just fair.  We don’t have to make it phenomenal.  We have to make it a fair relationship.  Right now, it’s not a fair relationship.  The deficit is massive, as it is with other countries — a lot of Asian countries, actually.  But we have deficits that are very big, and we can’t keep doing that, so we’re not going to keep doing that. 

But I like President Xi very much.  I’ve always liked him.  We always had a very good relationship.  It was very strained with COVID coming out of Wuhan.  Obviously, that strained it.  I’m sure it strained it with a lot of people, but that strained our relationship.  But we always had a great relationship, I would say, and we look forward to doing very well with China and getting along with China. 

 Hopefully, China can help us stop the war with, in particular, Russia-Ukraine.  And they have a great deal of power over that situation, and we’ll work with them. 

And I mentioned that with — during our phone conversation with President Xi, and hopefully we could work together and get that stopped. 

We’d like to see denuclearization.  In fact, with President Putin, prior to a — an election result, which was, frankly, ridiculous, we were talking about denuclearization of our two countries, and China would have come along.  China has a — a much smaller, right now, nuclear armament than us or field than us, but they’re — they’re going to be catching it at some point over the next four or five years. 

And I will tell you that President Putin really liked the idea of — of cutting way back on nuclear.  And I think the rest of the world, we would have gotten them to follow.  And China would have come along too.  China also liked it. 

Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear, and the destructive capability is something that we don’t even want to talk about today, because you don’t want to hear it.  It’s too depressing. 

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

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So, we want to see if we can denuclearize, and I think that’s very possible.  And I can tell you that President Putin wanted to do it.  He and I wanted to do it.  We had a good conversation with China.  They would have been involved, and that would have been an unbelievable thing for the planet.

And I hope —

MR. BRENDE:  Mr. President, when you’re —

THE PRESIDENT:  — it can be started up again.

MR. BRENDE:  — back here in Davos next year, will — will there be then a peace agreement with — with Ukraine and Russia by then?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, you’re going to have to ask Russia.  Ukraine is ready to — to make a deal. 

Just so you understand, this is a war that should have never started.  If I were president, it would never have started.  This is a war that should have never, ever been started.  And — and it wasn’t started during my — there was never even talk about it.  I knew that it was the apple of President Putin’s eye, but I also knew that there was no way he was going in, and he wasn’t going to go in. 

And then, when I was out, bad things happened, bad things were said, a lot of stupidity all around, and you end up with what you have.  Now you have all these bombed-out cities — they look like demolition sites — with many people killed. 

I think the — the thing that you’ll see about Ukraine is that far — far more people have died than is being reported. 
And I’ve seen that.  But far, far more people have died.

When you look at a city that’s become a demolition site, where big buildings have been collapsed by missiles hitting them and everything else, and they say, “One person was slightly injured.”  No, no, many people were killed.  Those are big buildings.  I was surprised at how — that was my business.  These are buildings that go two and three blocks long.  They’re 20 stories high.  They’re big, powerful buildings.  Then they were knocked down, and there were a lot of people in those buildings.  They had announced that two people were injured.  That’s not true.  So, I think you’re going to find that there were many more people killed in Ukraine and the Ukraine war than anybody has any idea. 

But if you look now, so many of the — the people being killed are soldiers just facing each other with guns, rifles, and drones — the new form of warfare — drones.  And it’s a very sad thing to see.

And when you see pictures of the fields that I see, nobody wants to see it.  You’ll never be the same.

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, North America,

Mazin Qumsiyeh: Old story- new twist

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION .

A blog Jan 24, 2025 by Mazin Qumsiyeh (abbreviated)

Will history repeat itself but now with a very different outcome especially in the era of global environmental catastrophe powered by greed and militarism? To review reality locally and globally helps us find answers. Locally, Israeli apartheid forces are now doing in our parts of the West Bank what they did to Gaza. Ethnic cleansing, destruction of property, and massive violations of human rights ranging from right to move right to worship, right to simple dignified life.  People here are scared that this is merely the beginning of accelerated genocide and ethnic cleansing  as perpetrated in Gaza.  

We have repeatedly warned of the consequences of Western collusion with genocide and ecocide.  The fate of Gaza will be the fate of humanity if not enough people wake up in time to the global reality of simply unsustainability of “might makes right” colonial policies.  

At Trump’s inauguration, the billionnaires were in the front row while his picks for secretaries were behind them. This image sums the momentous transformations gripping our planet. It used to be argued that the deep state consist of moneyed interests, largely hidden. Now we reached a point that murderous moneyed interests no longer work behind the scenes. The ultraright and fascists and neoNazis and Zionists are front and centre and openly cause millions to suffer with impunity. They even brag about their “common interests”.

For example, let us take the spectacle of the “World Economic Forum”  this past week (for a run-in I had with this forum in 2006, see http://qumsiyeh.org/theworldeconomicsforumcontroversy/). The right wing CEOs and government officials like the President of Argentina openly declared building an alliance of leaders around the world who believe and practice policies of “money trumps people”. At the same forum convicted felon Donald Trump delivered a belligerent, triumphalist, and (textbook) colonialist speech touting a vision of the world where elite business interests trump human rights.

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Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

The fate of Gaza, will it be the fate of humanity?

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Eisenhauer warned US citizens in his farewell speech: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

Eisenhauer did not anticipate how horrific it would be in the 21st century nor did not anticipate an alliance of neocolonial powers reinvigorated and working towards the same  goals: making the rich richer, the poor poorer, and wrecking the global environment while unleashing militarism and wars in unprecedented cruelly like we see in Palestine (genocide and ecocide). Our species is at a pivotal moment in history never experienced before. We are then many, they are the few. If more of the many mobilize quickly we may still have a chance to save ourselves and our planet. . . .

Stay Humane and keep hope alive

Mazin Qumsiyeh
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home
Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director
Palestine Museum of Natural History
Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability
Bethlehem University
Occupied Palestine
http://qumsiyeh.org
http://palestinenature.org
facebook pages
Personal https://www.facebook.com/mazin.qumsiyeh.9
Institute https://www.facebook.com/PIBS.PMNH

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FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global, Mideast,

UN-Tourism Candidate is Placing Tourism at the Heart of Peace and Reconciliation

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from eTurboNews

Mouhamed Faouzou Deme from Senegal has made headlines in Africa, wanting to become Africa’s choice in the upcoming UN Tourism election for Secretary-General.

He is the only one of the four competing candidates for the highest UNWTO post who provided feedback to eTurboNews on the role of tourism for peace. Once Secretary-General Zurab took his helm in 2018, UNWTO’s long-year relationship with the International Institute for Peace of Tourism was eliminated, forcing IIPT chairman Louis D’Amore to cancel his carefully planned summit in Montreal. IIPT never fully recovered from this disappointment after this.

Its former Secretary-General, Dr. Taleb Rifai, fostered this unique relationship between UNWTO and IIPT. Mouhamed pledged to reinstate this, should he become Secretary-General, and responded to WTN. He stated:

Tourism stakeholders, professionals, and political actors have continued to recall the importance of placing tourism at the heart of peace and reconciliation programs to enable the sector to mobilize its capacity for action.

This is often in favor of investment, development, and social inclusion.

Adherence to freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance, solidarity, cooperation, pluralism, cultural diversity, dialogue, and understanding promotes peace.

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Questions related to this article:
 
How can tourism promote a culture of peace?

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Tourism is a vector of peace, respect, openness, and dialogue.

Tourism has the value of peace because it is only built and carried out in an environment of security, stability, and conviviality.

The main idea behind the concept of peace in tourism is that peace exists when people travel freely around the world.

It helps travelers to get to know new people, cultures, and values.

This experience can increase mutual understanding between people who have lived in diverse cultural contexts.

Furthermore, peace tourism aims to reduce the root causes that create situations where violence is perceived as inevitable.

It does not replace other types of tourism practices but rather aims to facilitate their improvement.

Its impact goes far beyond economic benefits. It is interesting to look at tourism as a social force rather than an industry and see how we can use it to establish a culture of peace.

Tourism connects people and the planet. It is a vector of trust and goodwill.

Understanding culture can change behavior and consolidate peace.

Tourism’s role in supporting peace is also reflected in its contribution to the fight against poverty, the preservation of culture, and protecting the environment.
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The International Institute for Peace through Tourism: A personal memoire

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

Excerpts from the reflections by Timothy Marshall, Chairman, IIPT Board of Directors

As we end this year, I have been asked to share some reflections on my journey with our Brother Lou D’Amore. . . When launching IIPT, Brother Lou’s vision was and is to make the world’s largest industry, travel and tourism, the first global peace industry; with the belief that every traveler is potentially an ambassador for peace.


Lou D’Amore, left, and Timothy Marshall, right, with Tukwini Mandela

THE BEGINNING YEARS: LAUNCH OF SUMMITS, CONFERENCES AND CHAPTERS

As the creator and global leader of the ‘Peace Through Tourism’ movement, IIPT launched its first global conference on Sustainable Tourism Development in Vancouver in 1988. The theme was: “Tourism: A Vital Force for Peace”. Eight hundred persons from sixty-eight countries were in attendance; and Pope John Paul II and U.S. President Ronald Reagan were featured in video-taped messages. The Vancouver Conference first introduced the concept of ‘Sustainable Tourism Development’ four years prior to the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Vancouver conference also introduced a new paradigm for a ‘Higher Purpose of Tourism’ which incorporated the Mission of IIPT. Today, we hear this concept espoused all over the globe. However, nearly 40 years ago when IIPT was founded, the industry’s focus was almost exclusively on economics and finance, and these concepts were very foreign.

Approximately 6 months after our first global conference, the first Caribbean conference on socially and environmentally responsible tourism was held in 1989 in the Bahamas. It featured Dr. D’Amore; along with Mr. Stanley Selingut, who established the first Caribbean eco-tourism resort based in St. John, U.S. Virgin Island; as well as representatives from Indonesia and the Pacific, who all gave case studies. This led to two subsequent conferences on eco-tourism in the Caribbean, and a major new focus on sustainable tourism by the Caribbean Tourism Organization . . .

Our first Global Summit was held in Amman, Jordan in 2000. King Abdullah II was our Royal Patron; and Mr. Harvey Golub, Chairman of American Express, and Chairman of WTTC, served as our first Summit Chair. I was asked to convene our first Coalition of Partners meeting which was attended by thirty-two organizations from around the world; each of whom committed to a Millennial Project. Many good initiatives came out of this, and it is our hope to resurrect this body with a new gathering of like-minded NGO’s and other organizations going forward.

Our first African Conference was held in Nelspruit, South Africa in 2002, eight years after Mr. Mandela became President. It included a host of Ministers of Tourism throughout the African continent. . .

PEACE WITH OUR CREATOR

IIPT has played a meaningful role in the spirituality and tourism sector— from a major conference at the site of St. Francis of Assisi’s home in Assisi, Italy… to sacred Himalaya travel and treks in Bhutan… to dedicating a global peace park at Bethany Beyond the Jordan, site of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River…to the dedication of a global peace park at the martyrs trail in Uganda, where record crowds flocked to Uganda for the 50th anniversary of the canonization of 32 Christian martyrs who were burned to death for their refusal to denounce Christianity. The Uganda Martyrs Trail was dedicated as a legacy of IIPT’s 4th African Conference and is an important tourist attraction. This event has also been designated as a national holiday in Uganda and has become a major event on the global catholic calendar.

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Questions related to this article:
 
How can tourism promote a culture of peace?

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Through these and other initiatives, IIPT has been fortunate to have interfaith forums at our events around the world. These gatherings have facilitated interfaith and intercultural dialogues. At our second global conference in Montreal, eight different religions gathered at the top of Mount Royal overlooking the City of Montreal. That conference profoundly demonstrated that when we focus on the importance of love, mutual respect, and living in peace, it becomes clear that our similarities are much greater than our differences.

PEACE WITH EACH OTHER

. . . Over the years, we have assembled a wonderful network of industry strategic partner organizations like PATA and the Africa Travel Association who signed an historic MOU at our 2005 Summit in Thailand. This MOU promoted travel between the African and Asian continents. One of our closest partners, Skal International, has joined forces with us to establish peace cities and towns in wonderful places around the world. Under the principle of ‘healing wounds of conflict’, one of our Board members, Don King, led an IIPT initiative to support the Al-Awon Charity in Azraq, Jordan, which provides educational services for 160 Syrian refugee children who, along with their families, fled the conflict in Syria. This special IIPT project is one way that we try to bring our principles to life and make a tangible impact in the lives of people who are hurting.

The theme of our 25th Anniversary celebration at World Travel Market in London was “Building a Culture of Peace Through Tourism”. . . .

‘PEACE WITH NATURE AND THE EARTH’

This can be seen in almost everything we have done; but can most directly be seen through the dedication of over 450 global peace parks in Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, Canada, the United States, and Mexico. This initiative was launched in Canada on its 125th Birthday with 350 peace parks across Canada. It has now spread to six of the seven continents around the world. In addition to Victoria Falls, a world heritage site and one of the seven wonders of the world located on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, IIPT has dedicated a major global peace park at the renown Puer National Park in China, along with the dedication of a global town of peace in the Danzhai Wanda village of China, which is an international tourism destination dedicated to poverty reduction. . . .

One of our most impactful initiatives regarding peace with nature was the hosting of one of the world’s earliest global summits on Climate Change in Lusaka, Zambia in 2011. This Summit brought together some of the top thought leaders and practitioners from every major sector around the world and led to the adoption of the Lusaka Declaration which is housed at the United Nations.

THE BUILDING OF A WONDERFUL FAMILY

During the month of September 2023, I was pleased to Chair our Global Strategic Planning Retreat in New York where members of the IIPT Family gathered to begin the process of transitioning from Lou’s presidency to Ajay Prakash becoming the newly elected President of the Institute. The weekend began on Friday evening with food and drinks in a beautiful setting on the Hudson River as family members were welcomed to New York and celebrated being together once again. . . .

As I prepare to close these reflections, it seems appropriate to return to our beginning days where the ‘CREDO OF THE PEACEFUL TRAVELER’ became our anchor:

“GRATEFUL FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRAVEL AND EXPERIENCE THE WORLD AND BECAUSE PEACE BEGINS WITH THE INDIVIDUAL, I AFFIRM MY PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMMITMENT TO:
– JOURNEY WITH AN OPEN MIND AND HEART,
– ACCEPT WITH GRACE AND GRATITUDE THE DIVERSITY I ENCOUNTER,
– REVERE AND PROTECT THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT WHICH SUSTAINS ALL LIFE,
– APPRECIATE ALL CULTURES I DISCOVER,
– RESPECT AND THANK MY HOSTS FOR THEIR WELCOME,
– OFFER MY HAND IN FRIENDSHIP TO EVERYONE I MEET,
– SUPPORT TRAVEL SERVICES THAT SHARE THESE VIEWS AND ACT UPON THEM,
– AND BY MY SPIRIT, WORDS AND ACTIONS,
– ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO TRAVEL THE WORLD IN PEACE.”

(Editor’s note: Thank you to Bea Broda for sending us the IIPT End-of-year newsletter that contained this memoire)

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With Israel’s destruction of Kamal Adwan Hospital, UN rapporteur calls for global medical boycott

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

An article from Nation of Change

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Israeli-Occupied Palestinian Territories, reacted forcefully to the complete destruction by the Israeli military of Kamal Adwan Hospital at Beit Lahia in northern Gaza and the arrest and abuse of its patients and its director. She called for a world-wide medical boycott of Israel, writing at “X” :

“I urge medical professionals worldwide to pursue the severance of all ties with Israel as a concrete way to forcefully denounce Israel’s full destruction of the palestinian healthcare system in Gaza, a critical tool of its ongoing genocide.”

She was concurring with San Francisco-based physician and author Rupa Marya.

Muhammad Muhsin Watad at the Israeli newspaper Arab 48 explained that last Friday, “the Israeli army stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital after hours of besieging it. They burned its facilities, mistreated those inside, including patients, the injured, and medical staff, before taking into custody several individuals and forcing others [including women] to strip in the severe cold and undergo forced evacuation, all while gunfire and tank shelling occurred in the surrounding area.” Some 350 staff and patients were illegally detained by Israeli forces, though most were subsequently released.

The actions were part of Israel’s strategy of forcibly displacing 400,000 Palestinians from northern Gaza and making it uninhabitable for them, as the occupying army systematically detonates buildings and destroys neighborhoods. The forced displacement of an occupied population is a war crime. Gaza Palestinians are huddling in tents or sleeping rough amid heavy downpours and frigid temperatures in which several babies are known to have died in recent days.

Also on Friday, having emptied and burned the hospital, the Israelis detained its director and other medical staff.

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Question related to this article:

How can war crimes be documented, stopped, punished and prevented?

How can a culture of peace be established in the Middle East?

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Watad at Arab 48 says that the Government Media Office in Gaza is alleging that Abu Safieh was subjected to physical and psychological abuse. He was forced to strip out of his medical coat and clothing and was used as a human shield. His children called on the international community to pressure Israel to release their father, whose fate remains unknown.

He was last seen walking outside the ruined hospital toward the turret of an Israeli tank.
When dissidents in other countries have faced tanks, they have been celebrated widely in U.S. media. American mass media “news” for the most part have ignored Abu Safieh and his fate.

Medical boycotts are not unprecedented. Physicians in the allied victor states of WW I boycotted  the German scientific and medical establishment on the grounds that German researchers and physicians were guilty of praising German militarism and denying German war guilt. They even founded alternative associations, such as the one to fight tuberculosis set up in Berlin, and held international congresses only in French and English, excluding German-speakers.

Medical boycotts of Israel have also been proposed  previously, as with the 2007 call of some British physicians for non-cooperation with the Israeli Medical Association for failing to uphold ethical standards in their treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. They urged that the IMA be kicked out of the World Medical Association.

As I have noted before, the Rome Statute  underpinning the International Criminal Court, which went into effect in 2002, lists among “War Crimes” “ix) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives.” The Israeli army’s allegations that hospitals in Gaza are armed camps and weapons depots is ridiculous, and such assertions have been disproven whenever newspapers of record such as the Washington Post have investigated them.

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