Tag Archives: Latin America

Historic Peace Accord for Colombia Is Signed in Havana

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An article from Prensa Latina English

After nearly four years of talks, delegations from the FARC-EP and the Colombian government have signed a final agreement in Havana for a political solution to the armed conflict in the South American country. Signed yesterday [August 24] by the representatives of the insurgent Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) and the Colombian government, the document includes a set of initiatives that contribute to the implementation of Colombian constitutional rights and ensure a stable and lasting peace.

accord

The initiative will mean an end to the enormous suffering caused by the conflict and will open a new chapter in the history of the nation and will begin a transition period which will allow territorial integration, social inclusion and the strengthening of democracy, the two sides said.

Through a joint statement, read by the representatives of the guarantor countries – Cuba and Norway – the representatives of the guerrilla force and the government of Juan Manuel Santos stated that the pact is a comprehensive approach which respects ethnic, cultural and gender diversity.

Item one of the agreement concerns comprehensive rural reform, which will contribute to structural transformation of the countryside; item two deals with the democratic enlargement that will allow the emergence of new forces onto the political scene in order to enrich the debate on major national issues.

Item three contains the bilateral and definitive ceasefire and hostilities agreement as well as disarmament; item four analyzes the solution to the problem of illegal drugs; item five concerns the victims; and item six deals with the mechanisms for implementation and verification.

The heads of the government delegation, Humberto de la Calle, and the FARC-EP team, Ivan Marquez, have signed seven original copies of the document. They will be distributed to the negotiating sides, the guarantor countries and the accompanying nations (Venezuela and Chile).

The seventh document will be deposited, after its signing, at the Swiss Federal Council in Bern, as the depository of the Geneva Conventions.

The concluding text of the talks will be followed by the tenth conference of the FARC-EP and a referendum, whose date has not yet been set. The referendum seeks to endorse the agreement. There will also be a ceremonial signing of the peace agreement.

The signatories agree that although it is not a perfect agreement, it is a viable mechanism to initiate the necessary transformations in Colombia, on the basis of guarantees to respect the fundamental rights of future generations.

(Click here for a Spanish version of this article

Question(s) related to this article:
FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America

Rio Olympics: Why the opening ceremony’s spotlight on climate change matters

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

Blogpost by Diego Gonzaga for Greenpeace

There is such a complex mix of political, social and economic issues happening in Brazil right now, it is hard to know where to start. Should I mention the president’s impeachment? What about the corruption scandal involving so many Brazilian politicians right now? And don’t get me started on the Zika virus.

Greenpeace
Performance around climate change during Rio Olympic Games opening ceremony. Credit: Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil/Wikimedia Commons

I’ve lost count of how many articles I’ve seen talking about the water pollution in Rio and concerns for the health of the athletes and tourists. Even though I knew deep down that Brazil was not going to be able to meet the world’s expectations — or my own — before the Olympics started, I really hoped that they would somehow figure it out. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

Don’t get me wrong, amongst so much bad media, there is still good news. Brazil just celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Soy Moratorium, an agreement that helps protect the Amazon from deforestation for soy farming. And I cannot forget to mention the huge news that the license for building a mega-dam in the heart of the Amazon was cancelled just last week. But there is always more to be done.

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Question for this article:

How can sports promote peace?

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Brazil may have missed the opportunity to have the sustainable event it planned, but the silver lining is that in this international spotlight, Brazil’s leaders can make the right choices for the environment. There are still other hydroelectric dam projects in the Amazon that should be cancelled. Brazil’s focus needs to be on clean energy options like solar and wind instead — energy sources that protect Brazil’s biodiverse ecosystems and the climate.

Watching the opening ceremony, I was glad to see that at least one opportunity was not missed: bringing climate change front and center. Two powerful messages were delivered during the event. The first was a video about global warming. Seeing Amsterdam, Rio, Florida and so many other places around the world being flooded due to the rise of sea level gave me chills. These are the real consequences if the whole world does not commit to fight against climate change. The second message announced that more than 11,000 trees will be planted in Rio, representing each Olympic athlete.

This part of the opening ceremony was just a symbolic act, but I hope that both messages serve as a wake up call for everyone who watched it — and that the sense of togetherness it provided can make people feel that it is possible to make a difference, even through small acts like planting a tree. The fight against climate change is everyone’s fight. Even some Olympic athletes are recognizing the role they can play.

The whole ceremony was amazingly beautiful, inclusive and exceeded my expectations. It made me feel proud of being Brazilian, because it showed the whole world our culture, history and diversity. And it reminded us all that, if we are capable of joining forces to celebrate Olympic Games together, we can make the world a better place as well.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

Three Colombian women tell us why preserving seeds is an act of resistance

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Fernanda Sanchez in Rabble (reprinted by permission)

Protection of native seeds is growing strong in Colombia. Colombian women are preserving seeds from multiple threats such as mining, free trade agreements, agrochemicals, hybrid and transgenic seeds among others. Fernanda Sánchez Jaramillo spoke with three women from three different provinces in Colombia about how being a seed guardian is an act of resistance, promotes food security and maintains cultural identity.

seeds
Photos provided by the women in the article: (left: Alba Portillo; right: Velma Echavarría)
Click on photos to enlarge

Tulia Álvarez is a 70-year-old smallholder farmer and a seed guardian in Colombia. Her family has lived all its life in the countryside where Álvarez learned how to raise animals and cultivate the land. Life in the cities scares her. She prefers to stay away and travels occasionally to Duitama and Bogotá to sell food that she grows at her farm. Álvarez sells carrots, corn, beans, cilantro, quinoa, amaranth, lettuce, chard, peas and native seeds.

“Our seeds are the most important for our food security and food sovereignty; if we don’t take care of our seeds we won’t have food,” Álvarez told rabble. When asked why women become seed guardians, she responded that women are traditionally responsible for the family orchards and they are concerned about providing food to their families.

There are several women’s organizations protecting seeds in Boyacá such as San Isidro, Asociación de Mujeres Presente y Futuro, among others. “Seeds are sacred. It is why we have to protect them and love them. If there is abundance of seeds and we waste them, they will be gone… like a child that is reprimanded and never comes back.”

While Álvarez is preserving seeds in Boyacá, thousand of kilometers south of Colombia, Alba Portillo is doing the same with other women.

Portillo is 32 years old and was born in Yacuanquer, a small town located near the Galeras Volcano. Yacuanquer is a Quechua word that means sepulchre of the Gods.

Her parents are farmers. She was raised by a family, which has the tradition to talk in the kitchen while making meals on a wood stove with food they grew and harvested such as beans, corn, squash, arracacha and cilantro.

“In my opinion each afro-Colombian woman, female farmer or Indigenous woman who decides to plant native seeds is a seed guardian,” Portillo told rabble.

Being a seed guardian is more than a job, it is her vocation. When she was growing up, Portillo observed that the landscape of the territory she calls home was dramatically changing. Famers had less water and food. She also encountered classmates at school who thought that kids from the countryside were poor and fools.

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Question for this article:

What is the relation between movements for food sovereignty and the global movement for a culture of peace?

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Later on she came to the conclusion that a lot of people in the cities don’t value farmers who grow their food. “Farmers’ work is underpaid and not appreciated. Then, I reflected that food is life’s centre and without seeds food won’t exist. If seeds are gone it will be the extinction of a millenary culture, identity, memory and our roots,” Portillo says.

Portillo belongs to an organization called Red the Guardianes de Semillas de Vida were she promotes growing food in a sustainable way and without agrochemicals. “If farmers don’t have seeds, water and land, they lost everything. Losing the seeds is like being orphans of history.”
Nariño is the centre of agro diversity on the Ecuadorian Andes region. Nowadays Portillo’s organization has 1,200 seed varieties such as quinoa, amaranth, native corn, beans, peas, flowers, tomato and different kinds trees.

“Seeds are sacred. They have lived here and evolved during 11,000 years — in relation to human beings — as part of our family, who has the food has the power,” says Portillo.
Velma Echavarría is an Embera Chamí Indigenous woman who belongs to the Cañamomo-Lomaprieta Reserve in Riosucio (Caldas). She and approximately 40 other women take part of the network that guards seeds.

Cidra, yacón, sagún, cassava, beans, corn, medicinal plants and timber-yielding trees are some of the seeds they protect. Their task is not easy.

“Corn seeds are the most threatened and more difficult to preserve because transgenic corn crop is legal in Colombia and there is not protection from the state for afro-Colombians,

Indigenous and farmers who want to preserve native seeds; on the contrary, regulations pose a risk to native seeds and rural communities,” Echavarría told rabble.

On her reserve, Echavarría and other people offer educational sessions to their community about the harmful impact of transgenic seeds on their food sovereignty and food security.

Thanks to their work, Cañamomo-Lomaprieta Reserve was declared a Transgenic Free Territory in 2009.

Preserving seeds is crucial to Indigenous autonomy. “The relation is direct and essential. This is an act of resistance and autonomy because we pursue the good life for communities within the ancestral territory, prevent displacement and the lost of cultural identity.”

Fernanda Sánchez Jaramillo is a Colombian journalist, has amaster’s degree in international relations and is a social service worker. During her time as a social service worker, she was elected as a human rights representative for people of colour at BCGEU union in Vancouver. Fernanda has 20 years of experience. She worked for traditional media sucThree Colombia women tell us why preserving seeds is an act of resistanceh as El Espectador and El Tiempo in her country but now she is a freelancer for online media in Colombia, Spain and Latin America.

She wrote seven books about women. In 2014, she received the Colibrí award in Barrancabermeja (Colombia) for her contribution to peace through journalism. Nowadays, she is a Carter’s Center fellow and a law student. She is a feminist.

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

Latin America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Peru: #NiUnaMenos: 50,000 protest violence against women in Lima

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from Peru Reports

At least 50,000 people marched in the #NiUnaMenos protest against violence and abuse of women in downtown Lima on Saturday. The rally dubbed “Not One Less” was organized after reports that 54 women have been murdered so far in 2016. The protest started on Saturday afternoon in downtown Lima’s Campo de Marte park and passed Plaza Bolognesi and Plaza San Martin before ending at the Palace of Justice.

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Miles se congregan ahora frente al Palacio de Justicia tras marcha “Ni Una Menos”. (Aarón Ormeño/ El Comercio)

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and first lady Nancy Lange attended the event as well as actress Wendy Ramos, who has been an outspoken voice for the movement.

“We will march, we will break the silence,” said Ramos in a promotional video leading up to the event.

“We do not allow or want victims of violence,” second Vice President Mercedes Araoz told reporters. Araoz gave fiery rhetoric of standing up to ‘machismo’ in recent weeks. She said that she had been a victim of psychological abuse.

Under the slogan “if you touch one, you touch all,” the cry of songs and drums flowed down street after street, in a show of immense solidarity. Many daubed their faces with make-up bruises and bloody noses. Others donned pink and blew whistles. Children sat on shoulders waving “Ni Una Menos” flags.

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(click here for an article in Spanish about this event)

Question related to this article:

Protecting women and girls against violence, Is progress being made?

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There were processions of nurses and clergyman alongside men hooded in leggings pulling their beaten wives. Towering black crosses adorned with flags of other Latin American nations followed chants of “Respect.” Police and representatives from all political parties joined the march and throughout the country people gathered to demand harsher punishments for men who beat or murder women.

“It’s important we go today because inequality is terrible in Peru and too many girls I love are at risk,” one protester said.

“We will promote a culture of peace and tolerance, saying no to violence, no more violence against women and children,” event organizers and victims of domestic violence Arlette Contreras and Lady Guillen told reporters.

Interior Minister Carlos Basombrio told a group of protesters of his promises to “train police commissioners to have better protocols.”

Though brought together by a serious issue, celebration filled the air. Politicians took selfies and few failed to smile.

The fiercer chanters and placard wavers were blocked by police from entering Plaza Grau near the Palace of Justice. One large banner which read “No more sterilizations” hung from the railings outside the Palace of Justice. The songs faded at around 7 p.m. as the march dispersed. Signs were left up against walls and ribbons flickered from the railings.

Three women were murdered in Lima in the week leading up to the march. Two of the women were murdered by scorned lovers. The third, a 16-year-old minor, was forced to a hotel by a taxi driver, who died as he forced her to drink and raped her.

There were smaller marches in Peru’s other cities including Arequipa, Trujillo, Chimbote, Cusco, Juliaca, Tacna, Andahuaylas, Abancay and Ayacucho.

Latin America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Colombia Includes Gender Focus for a Stable, Lasting Peace

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article by Patricia Grogg for Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS)

The novel inclusion of a gender perspective in the peace talks that led to a historic ceasefire between the Colombian government and left-wing guerrillas is a landmark and an inspiration for efforts to solve other armed conflicts in the world, according to the director of U.N.-Women in Colombia, Belén Sanz.

gender-1
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In statements to IPS, Sanz described as “innovative and pioneering” the incorporation of a gender subcommittee in the negotiations between the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which began in November 2012 in the Cuban capital and ended in late June with a definitive ceasefire.

She said the large proportion of women who spoke with the negotiating teams, in regional and national forums, and during visits by victims and gender experts to Havana showed the growing openness on both sides to the inclusion of gender proposals in the final accord and the mechanisms for its implementation.

The results of the work by the subcommittee, made up of representatives of both sides, were presented in Havana during a special ceremony on Jul. 23, exactly one month after the ceasefire was signed, putting an end to over a half century of armed conflict.

Taking part in the ceremony were U.N.-Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka; the U.N. Secretary General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura; and Sanz, whose office has worked closely with the subcommittee.

Other participants were María Paulina Riveros, the Colombian government’s delegate to the subcommittee, and Victoria Sandino, the FARC’s representative, along with the rest of the members of the subcommittee, the delegates to the peace talks, and representatives of the countries that served as guarantors to the peace process.

The results of the subcommittee´s work, presented on that occasion, include the incorporation of a gender perspective and the human rights of women in each section of the agreement, starting with guarantees for land access and tenure for women in rural areas.

Other points agreed on were women’s participation in decision-making to help ensure the implementation of a lasting, stable peace; prevention and protection measures for a life free of violence; guarantees of access to truth and justice and measures against impunity; and recognition of the specific and different ways the conflict affected women, often in a disproportionate manner.

“These are some examples that can be illustrative and inspiring for other peace processes around the world,” Sanz said from Bogotá, after her return to the Colombian capital.

In her view, “these strides forward represent milestones in the promotion of women’s rights and the transformation of gender inequality during the construction of and transition to peace, which could be exported to other places in the world and adapted to their particular conditions and contexts.”

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Question for this article

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

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The introduction of a gender focus also includes the search for ensuring conditions for people of different sexual orientations to have equal access to the benefits of living in a country free of armed conflict.

“For women and people with different sexual identities to be able to enjoy a country at peace is not only a basic human rights question: without their participation in the construction of peace and, as a result, without their enjoying the benefits of peace, peace and stability themselves are threatened,” said Sanz.

She cited a study commissioned in 2015 by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 15 years after the approval of Security Council Resolution 1325, designed to promote the participation of women in peace processes.

The report showed that women’s participation increases by 20 percent the probability that a peace agreement will last at least 20 years, and by 35 percent the chance that it will last 15 years.

“So if women don’t participate in peace-building processes, not only as ‘beneficiaries’ but as drivers of change and political actors, it’s hard to talk about a stable, lasting peace,” said Sanz.

The U.N. study also shows the risks faced by women in the post-peace deal stages.

According to the report, women in areas affected by the conflict have fewer economic opportunities and suffer the emotional and physical scars of the conflict, without support or recognition – besides often facing routine violence in their homes and communities and shouldering the burden of unpaid care for children and the elderly and household tasks.

In a broader sense, “the structures of inequality remain in place and measures are needed to dismantle them, as well as a commitment by society as a whole,” said Sanz, who described a transition process like the one that Colombia is facing as “a key opportunity” to transform women’s status in society.

She said the continued work of the gender subcommittee is “crucial”, as well as that of women’s organisations, with the support of international aid, in order to incorporate provisions in the agreements to enable these situations of inequality to gradually be transformed, with a view to the period following the signing and implementation of the accords.

The inclusion of gender provisions in peace agreements “opens a window of opportunity for the transformation of existing structures of inequality and can also be an opportunity for other peace processes, during the signing of the agreements and the stage of implementation,” said the head of U.N.-Women.

According to estimates, women account for over 40 percent of the members of the FARC, whose exact numbers are not publicly known.

Overall, women represent slightly over half of the general population of 48 million. However, Colombia is one of the countries in Latin America with the lowest levels of female representation in politics.

In 2015, women represented only 14 percent of town councilors, 17 percent of the members of the lower house of Congress, 10 percent of mayors and nine percent of governors. These figures are still far below the parity that would do justice to the proportion of women in society, states a U.N.-Women report.

Latin America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Brazil: Public schools of São Vicente transform education through the culture of peace

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article by Herbert Lima and Myrian Castello 

A Culture of Peace committee composed of educators Carla Souza, Damiana Albuquerque, Herbert Santo., Ingrid Geraldo, Lourdes Santo., Myrian Castello, Regina Morais, Sandra de Aragão, Tatiana Rodrigues and Wagner Bessa, is carrying out a program of Training for Peace Education of 60 hours for professionals from all the public education units of São Vicente in partnership with the Secretary of Education.

Vicente
(Click on photo to enlarge)

The main objectives of the training are

– Stimulating new ways of living together;

– Improve group relations and climate at schools;

– Plan positive changes after identification of common problems;

– Create communication networks and undertake ACTIONS;

– Enable an affective perspective at the school units and work collectively on awareness and preparation of actions for local development

– Work for a culture for peace in education in order to assess, sustain, co-create solutions and view results.

To achieve these goals the training consists of seven modules in two stages:

Stage 1:
Contact
Consciousness
Transforming Action
Recognition
Connecting Action

Stage 2:
Practice
Presenting Actions

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(Click here for the article in Portuguese)

Questions for this article:

What is the best way to teach peace to children?

Where is peace education taking place?

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The modules were inspired by the following organizations and methodologies:

The Pedagogy of Cooperation and Culture of Peace: A method of teaching and cooperative learning, where each and every person is considered to be a master-apprentices engaged in the discovery of themselves and the world, through the encounter with others, in the face of problem situations challenging them to find cooperative solutions for the success and well-being of everyone.

Pallas Athena: The organization Palas Athena promotes and incubates programs and projects in the areas of Education, Health, Human Rights, Environment and Social Promotion, in order to improve human society through the mutual understanding of cultures and the articulation of knowledge.

Oasis Game: The Oasis Game is a support tool for citizen mobilization for the realization of collective dreams.

Nonviolent Communication: supports the establishment of partnership and cooperation relations through effective and empathetic communication. It emphasizes the importance of determining actions the basis of common values.

Restorative justice is a paradigm, the opposite of punishment, based on values, which aims to repair the damages caused by an offense committed by one of the parties involved – victim, offender and community – and, where possible, the reconstruction of broken relationships.

Circle Dances: These promote group unity and community spirit, and interculturalism, as everyone joins hands and supports and assists each other.

Psychomotricity: The method of studying a person through his body movements in relation to his/her internal and external world.

During the modules, the training involved 93 teaching units and about 300 education professionals who were able thereby to promote a culture of peace within and outside the school walls.

A number of activities were carried out by managers in partnership with the community around the school.

Research carried out in the modules showed a high level of involvement and satisfaction of participants who requested the continuation and expansion of training.

The activities were carried out from January to June and will be continued.

For more information, contact comissaoculturadepaz@gmail.com

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Innovative program for leadership, ethics and culture of peace helps to transform young Brazilians

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by Herbert Lima, 29 years old and one of the program participants.

If our culture promotes so many kinds of violence, how can we transform it into a culture of peace?

youth
(Click on photo to enlarge)

The idea of leadership, such as so many others is changing. We do not live in an era of constant transformation, but the change of an era. We have enough knowledge to build a society that favors an harmonic co-existence with others with ourselves and the ecosystems we are in. In order to promote such changes however, a change in vision and a new action is needed, and that is the goal of the program “Ethics and Culture of Peace – Youth leadership for Citizen Coexistence”, promoted by the organization Palas Athena and organized in 4 workshops and 3 nature imersions, with a total of 30 hours of activities. This program was designed by Palas Athena, which has worked with leaders from government and private companies, local leaderships and educators from all over Brazil for more than 40 years (more information here: )

As participants, 44 young leaders with different backgrounds in social transformation were selected. The selection process was conducted in a way to guarantee the diversity of the group. All of them now are following up their training and have already generated good results.

“It is really a remarkable program for us, I do believe that all knowledge that I receive here today I will be able to share in my daily activities, and certainly I am a better person since I start to know all these amazing people here. I will be able to work even more for the culture of peace and make the world a better place.”

(Click here for the article in Portuguese)

Question for this article:
FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America

Young people from all over the world come together at Hiroshima to learn about peace and nuclear disarmament

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An article by Herbert Lima and Myrian Castello 

The Mayors for Peace Network organizes in partnership with the Hiroshima Peace and Culture Foundation and the Hiroshima University, a summer program in Japan called Hiroshima and Peace. The aim is to provide students with a general understanding of the nature and attributes of war and peace by illuminating various aspects of wartime experiences, including the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and, at the same time, to explore contemporary issues related to world peace in the era of globalization

Hiroshima
Students in the Summer Program, “Hiroshima and Peace” (2015)
(Click on photo to enlarge)

The program is hosted by different experts on the field from around the globe and has the special participations of two survivors of the bomb who give testimonials to the young students. This year, 40 young people from different countries were selected to participate in the program that lasts 10 days and it is included in the official calendar of events in memory of the many killed in the atomic bomb attack during the second world war on the city of Hiroshima in August, 1945.

To know more about the program, visit the Hiroshima City university website: www.hiroshima-cu.ac.jp/Hiroshima-and-Peace/index.htm

To know more abou the Mayors for Peace network, access: www.mayorsforpeace.org/

(Click here for the article in Portuguese)

Question for this article:
FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America

Brazil: The Dream Factory creating new paths for Culture of Peace and Non-violence

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An article by Herbert Lima and Myrian Castello 

Fábrica dos Sonhos (“Dream Factory”) is a Brazilian movement born in 2013 that create spaces for development of people and organizations, realization of dreams, connections and culture of peace. The movement was conceived by Myrian Castello, Thayná Monteiro and Herbert Lima. They dream of a better world where people can make dreams come true. They create activities such as courses, speeches and meetings that awaken the best side of each person by using tools that improve action and reflection.

dream
Cooperative game activity

An activity recently organized by the Dream Factory is the Des-Connection Trail, a new movement that has begun in June 26th and united a group of persons from 14 to 56 years old at Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo. The purpose was to open a space in the stressful and rushed environment of the city where people could disconnect from their routine and smartphones and connect with themselves and with the nature around them, thus promoting a culture of peace, self-knowledge and their relationship with the world.

The Des-Connection Trail has counted on the participation of specialists and activities including:

Cooperative Games – “We play in game as we play in life” – With the purpose of promoting reflection and self-knowledge in a humorous way, the cooperative games invite you to be who you are, without barriers and without judgement.

Biomimicry – Discover solutions to the world through observation of nature.

Culture of Peace – Discover, learn and share what is peace for each person and how we can bring it into our routine.

Neuro Linguistics Programming – Discover and reframe each person’s history.

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(Click here for the original article in Portuguese)

Question for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

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Another methodology created by the organization to promote consciousness is “Collaborative Mentoring” that is the collaboration between the participants and the developing of dreams and consciousness.

The Dream Factory proposes the creation of an economy that would be more conscious and positive with the development of a new relation with money for which the organization plans to develop courses accessible to the participants. The Trail participants could choose between: paying for just the material used in the course, the material plus the hourse of organizating work, or else to collaborate with the organization by voluntarily paying more than the costs.

Surprisingly 85% of people choose the last option. Here are some of their comments:

Rodrigues, A. “I thought the payment system was incredible. It made the trail accessible to more people and able to be constructed by everybody. My suggestion is to keep this system of payment choice, so that more people can feel comfortable and participate.”

Finotti, A. “I’ve learned that I don’t need lots of time of being together to become a friend of someone, I learned that a Sunday at the park can be much more than that, I learned that simple moments such as sharing a meal with someone can be amazing.”
During the walk there were some stops with reflections and connections with each person’s history. This was essential for each one to discover more about self-awareness, about nature, opening space to cultivate peace from inside so they can promote it in the world.

The trails take place regularly and with a specific calendar. For more information contact by email fabricadossonhosx@gmail.com or consult the website www.fabricadossonhos.net

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America

Florianópolis, Brazil: World Peace Forum: a space to build a better world

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by Claudia Quintero in FIPU Press (Federación Internacional de Prensa de la Pueblos) (translated by CPNN)

Representatives of 60 countries will be in Florianópolis from 22 to 25 September for the Version 2016 X World Peace Forum (World Peace Forum). Florianopolis is the capital of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, located on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, known for its natural beauty, host of the largest and most important meeting of world peace agents.

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The organizers, the Schengen Peace Foundation, have created the forum “to promote the message of peace in Europe and throughout the world, contribute to building a more peaceful world by promoting peace, tolerance and multicultural understanding through dialogue, debates, publications, exhibitions, workshops, internet platforms, meetings, and education programs, as well as peace studies “.

Since 2007, this NGO organizes the World Peace Forum, which brings together teachers, academics, peace activists, businessmen, journalists, students, religious leaders and politicians, as well as any citizen who is interested in building world peace/

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

Question related to this article:

How can the peace movement become stronger and more effective?

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Among the promoters of the forum are Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Nobel Peace), the University of the Sorbonne in Paris, and the president of the European Commission, Jacques Santer.

In 2015, the World Peace Forum made progress in the search for peace by organizing the 1st World Peace Forum of Youth in Cairo, Egypt, and the World Peace Forum in the city of Baia Mare, Romania where the objective was the “Search for common global values.”

The World Peace Forum is a partnership involving people from all over the world in the search for world peace. There we can debate, for example: What contribution can each of us make for peace? Here in Colombia, we are on track and at the forum will seek to elucidate the most urgent issues, the root causes of violence and the need to overcome them in order to achieve a peace with justice.

No place is more appropriate for this great event than the UNIPAZ University in Brazil which is dedicated to training for peace. The university is recognized for its holistic curriculum for the culture of peace, which puts integrity of the human being in first place and the need to elaborate regional peace proposals.

Representing Colombia in the Forum will be the director of the Foundation for a New Life (Funuvida), Alejandro Toro, who will present the Qantu Project – Plan for International Support for the non-recurrence of armed conflict in Colombia, a peace strategy for the country with international vision.

Click here for more information about the World Peace Forum

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Latin America