Tag Archives: Latin America

The peace process in Colombia: A Chronology

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Taken from Deutsche Welle (translated by CPNN)

The following is a chronology of the highlights of the peace process begun three years ago and culminating in March. The countdown starts from the expected date for the final signing.

Colombia
Juan Manuel Santos shakes hands with Timochenko in Havana during the peace dialogus. Photo by Reuters

The Government of Colombia and the FARC negotiated in Havana, Cuba an accord to end the armed conflict after more than half a century that has cost the lives of 220,000 people, has left about 7 million victims, 62% of its territory affected by landmines and incalculable damage to the environment due to massive clearing for coca cultivation, illegal mining and attacks on the national pipeline.

Five points are on the table: agrarian reform, abandoning arms, political participation of the ex-insurgents, drug trafficking and reparation for victims. Additional agreements concern implementation, verification and countersignature of the accords.

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March 23: Expected date for final signing of the peace process

January 13: The negotiating teams of the Government of Colombia and the FARC began the last stage of the peace talks, which will work in permanent session to accelerate the process and meet deadlines.

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December 15: Agreement about victims including a comprehensive system for reparation, justice, truth and guarantees of non-repetition. This step was, according to President Juan Manuel Santos, “the most important advance in the negotiating agenda.”

November 22: The Colombian government announced pardon of 30 FARC prisoners in different jails for the crime of rebellion.

November 10: “Timoshenko”, spokesman of the FARC, announced that on September 30 he ordered all structures of the guerrillas to suspend arms purchases in order to reduce the intensity of the armed conflict.

October 28: President Santos said the government and the FARC can reach an agreement to start a bilateral ceasefire before January 1, 2016, to which the FARC suggest to start before Christmas.

October 23: The High Commissioner for Peace of Colombia, Sergio Jaramillo said the FARC promised to deliver remains of people who died when they were in their possession for which they have the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC ).

October 17: The government and the FARC announced an agreement to jointly seek more than 25,000 people who have been reported missing by various sources as a result of the armed conflict.

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(click here for the Spanish version of this article.)

Question for this article:

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

See the CPNN bulletin for September 1, 2015, concerning the Colombia Peace Process.

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October 10: FARC spokesman Timoshenko stated that the FARC must suspend recruitment in order to facilitate the peace process.

September 23: President Santos met in Havana with the FARC leader, Rodrigo Londoño, alias “Timoshenko”. They made an historic handshake and agreed that peace will be signed no later than March 23, 2016, after presentation of the basic agreement on justice.

September 15: The government presented to Congress a legislative bill to facilitate rapid implementation of peace agreements.

July 10: The negotiators announced a plan to reduce the intensity of the conflict and accelerate the achievement of agreements that allow reaching a bilateral and definitive cease-fire.

June 4: The parties agreed to the creation of a Truth Commission that will be launched when peace is signed.

March 7: The government and the FARC announced an agreement for joint humanitarian de-mining.

2014

December 17: The FARC announced an indefinite cease unilateral ceasefire starting on December 20.

August 16: A first group of twelve victims of armed conflict met with the negotiators, followed by another four groups totalling 60 people.

June 7: The government and the FARC announced that five delegations of victims would attending hearings with negotiators in Cuba over the coming months.

May 16: The Government and FARC reached an agreement on drug trafficking and illegal crops, the third item on the agenda.

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May 26: The government and the FARC announced the first agreement of the negotiating agenda at the point of land and rural development.

August 20: The FARC acknowledged for the first time their “share of responsibility” for the casualties caused by the armed conflict.

November 6: The parties announced the second agreement of the five items on the agenda, political participation of the guerrillas.

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October 17: Government negotiators and the FARC established in Oslo that the roundtable would begin in Havana the following month.

August 26: Start of negotiations for the final signing of the peace process. Government delegates and the FARC decided that Havana would be the host for negotiations towards a “General Agreement ending the conflict and building a stable and lasting peace” with the support of Cuba and Norway as guarantors.

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President Creates Ministry of Indigenous People in Chile

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article from Prensa Latina

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet signed today at La Moneda Palace the laws that create the Ministry of Indigenous People, the National Council and the Indigenous People”s Councils.

Chile
Photo from Latercera

In a simple ceremony, Bachelet congratulated herself on benefiting, at last, the original Chilean indigenous people, who include new ethnic groups recognized by the State, with a ministry devoted to them.

We have the duty of making our nation a country where its multiculturalism and plurality, the president asserted.

She said the ides was generating more spaces for the cultural richness of our identities to be expressed and to guarantee respect and equal treatment to all men and women, something that all people and beliefs deserve.

According to an official press release, to create these authorities, representatives of the ethic groups Aymara, Quechua, Atacameños, Diaguitas, Kollas, Rapa Nui, Kawesqar, Yaganes and Mapuche were consulted.

The president explained that the new ministry would collaborate with the presidency of the Republic to design, coordinate and assess policies, plans and programs aimed at encouraging and strengthen the rights of the original people.

The new institution would also work in favor of their socioeconomic, political and cultural development, as well as to seek elimination of all forms of arbitrary discrimination.

In Chile, there is a conflict with the indigenous people, especially with the Mapuche, who demand the return of their lands, seized by transnational companies.

( Click here for the original version in Spanish.)

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Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Latin America: Pedagogical Movement: new phase, new impetus

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from Education International

The third meeting of the Pedagogical Movement renewed the cohesion and agenda for the future of education in Latin America, with a plan to strengthen the influence of the trade union movement on public policies.

pedagogical

The meeting was held in San José, Costa Rica, between 1 and 3 December, and was attended by 500 people from 18 countries and 34 education trade unions in Latin America, as well as international guests from the United States, Norway, France and Sweden.

Hugo Yasky, Chairman of the Regional Committee of Education International for Latin America, indicated that the path that the Pedagogical Movement has to embark on represents a new stage  in which all trade unions have to assess the school experience together with the teaching experience and practice, in step with the social struggle and movements. “We have to advance to include other social sectors in the practice, move forward and seek a common cause with representatives from sectors involved in the grass-roots movement of the peoples of Latin America. This construction of alliances is key,” Yasky argued.

The declaration which resulted from the meeting cited the Pedagogical Movement as a platform for meeting and collective construction, determined to embody a contrasting vision of society in the field of education to that which is imposed by the dominant force, by the economic, media, financial and military power.

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(click here for the French version of this article or here for the Spanish version)

Question for this article:

What is the relation between peace and education?

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Against the commercialisation and privatisation of education

One of the key themes of the meeting that the affiliated organisations of EI debated concerned the strategies used by multinationals to privatise education. Thus, Antonio Olmedo, researcher at the University of Roehampton in the UK, illustrated the topic with his lecture “The Education privatisation and commercialisation process.” He analysed the approach of large companies to impose their mercantile proposals on governments, thereby contributing to insecurity about the quality of education and teaching. “We have to think of other solutions, because neoliberalism is like a chameleon and is more regulated than the public sector itself,” he reassured.

Similarly, Professor Luiz Fernandes Dourado, of the Federal University of Goiás, Brazil, underscored that privatisation is a sophisticated process and, as a result, leads to the weakening of the trade union movement and breaks with democratic management in schools. This runs counter to the vision of the Latin American Educational Movement, which sees education as a social right.

Inspiration behind the international campaign

David Edwards, Deputy General Secretary of Education International, pointed out that the new worldwide campaign conducted by his organisation against the business of education promoted by multinational corporations and multilateral organisations drew inspiration from Latin America. The campaign is a new tool to defend public education and to show the real intentions behind privatisation.

“At the Ottawa Congress, we were instructed to launch a campaign against the privatisation of education and to unmask those behind it. We started the campaign to analyse what is happening in other parts of the world. In education, the world market amounts to more than 3 billion and the governments in certain countries are facilitating access to this ‘booty’ for private groups. We are trying to show citizens what these multinationals are really doing,” Mr Edwards said. 

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

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Porto Alegre, Brazil: Fifteenth anniversary of the World Social Forum

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An article by Suzy Scarton, Jornal do Comércio

From 19 to 23 January next year, Porto Alegre will host the 2016 Thematic Social Forum (TSF) which aims to address challenges and perspectives under the theme “another world is possible .” In addition to taking stock of the actions taken in the last decade and a half the event also celebrates the 15th anniversary of the first World Social Forum that was held in Porto Alegre in 2001. The opening march will be held on January 19, at 15h, from Glênio Peres.

forum
Jonathan Heckler/JC

Topics of the meeting include the crisis of capitalism, domestic and international political context, youth participation, culture of peace, racism, Latin American integration, activism and how to combat xenophobia and homophobia. Mayor Jose Fortunati reaffirmed the importance of the event to consolidate ideas that can change the world. “Just changing the current system is enough to allow us to move forward,” he said yesterday to the social and trade union leaders who are organizing the event. He reiterated that the city will contribute to the organizational and structural support.

The activities will be carried out mainly in the old Gasometer factory, at the City Council, in the Park of Redenção, at the Legislative Assembly and in the plaza Zumbi dos Palmares. The Deputy Municipal Secretary for Local Government, Carlos Siegle added that while the guidelines have changed in the space of 15 years, “we need to reflect for a profound debate on the role of the citizen.”

Registration to participate in the forum is now open and can be made on the site www.forumsocialportoalegre.org.br.

The first forum in 2001 was considered a novelty in the international arena by its coordination capacity in the anti-capitalist struggle as well as for its radical policy proposals regarding social, economic and environmental issues. Among the guests this year will be former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva , former Uruguayan President Pepe Mujica, the writer and sociologist Manuel Castells Spanish, the Brazilian activist against violence to women Maria da Penha and the Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai.

(Click here for the original version in Portuguese.

 

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UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Youth Refugees and Sport wraps up humanitarian mission in Colombia

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article from The official website of the Olympic Movement

The IOC Honorary President and Special Envoy of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for Youth Refugees and Sport, Jacques Rogge, this week concluded a two-day humanitarian mission to Colombia, where he had the opportunity to get a first-hand look at the challenges faced by Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in the country.

Colombia
Click on the photo to enlarge
caption: ©Coldeportes (5)

His visit was also an opportunity to announce a new sport-based project in the Quibdò and Buenaventura areas located in the Pacific region, highly affected by the issue. The project, jointly funded by the IOC and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), aims at protecting young people and children from the risks of armed conflict and other forms of violence through sport.

Jacques Rogge was accompanied on his trip by Colombian Sports Minister and former IOC Member Andrés Botero Phillipsbourne, Colombian National Olympic Committee (NOC) President Baltazar Medina, Colombian wrestler and double Olympic medallist Jackeline Rentería Castillo and a UNHCR team led by Country Representative Stéphane Jaquemet.

The mission started with a visit to the UNHCR office in Bogotá to discuss the displacement of the local population, which has stemmed from 50 years of internal conflict, resulting in more than 6.9 million IDPs in the country, of which an estimated 38 per cent are children and adolescents. The UN Refugee Agency works on solutions to address the heavy consequences faced in particular by children and women in the area. The meeting was followed by a visit to the Ministry of Sports – Coldeportes – and the NOC to discuss possible synergies around the implementation of sports programmes for the IDPs.

Special Envoy Rogge also visited the UNHCR Office in Quibdó and the community of Villa España, which currently hosts a hundred IDP families. He had the opportunity in the field to speak with representatives from local youth association AJODENIU, who expressed their strong desire for sports infrastructure and programmes to be developed in light of the current lack of the most basic facilities.

The new project unveiled by the Special Envoy is called “The alternative of sport: protecting children and young people from the risks of armed conflict and other forms of violence”. Its precise goal is to address these needs while using sport to create a safe environment and a place of exchange, where young people can receive appropriate support and develop increased awareness of their rights and self-protection mechanisms. For young people who have experienced conflict, war and displacement, participation in sports and recreational activities can provide a constructive outlet and much-needed psychosocial support. Sport also provides a healthy alternative to potentially harmful or risky lifestyles and role models.

(Click here for the original French version.)

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Question for this article

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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As mentioned by Ingrid Palacios, a young displaced representative of the youth association: “Displacement has not killed our dreams and I am sure in our community there are many potential Olympic medallists, we only need the opportunity to prove it. We know this dream can become a reality, because sports will motivate us to become better persons, provide us with a sense of teamwork and foster a culture of peace which we really need in our country.” Additionally, in the specific case of indigenous communities, support for the practice of traditional sports will contribute to the strengthening of community identity and social cohesion.

The joint IOC-UNHCR project, to which Coldeportes and the NOC have pledged their full support – starting with the provision of a multi-sport infrastructure provided by the Ministry – is expected to last three years. Its launch next year will coincide with the expected signature of a peace agreement in Colombia between the Government and the long-warring factions in March 2016.

Commenting on these historic developments, Special Envoy Rogge said: “It is our duty to help the youth and the local population, and to support the ongoing peace efforts. And what better way is there to do it than through sport, which is a recognised strong enabler of youth empowerment, health, education and social inclusion”

UNHCR Country Representative Jaquemet said: “Athletes are role models for the unprivileged and displaced youth, and we believe in the powerful role that sport can play, not only in their personal reconstruction, but also for the peace process at large.”

For the last 20 years, the IOC and UNHCR have been using sport to support healing and development among young refugees in many camps and settlements around the world. Following the approval of Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, and in light of the current global refugee crisis, the IOC has created a special fund of USD 2 million to develop relief projects through sport in collaboration with NOCs around the world. Details of some of the projects already under way can be found here and here.

With the help of NOCs and the UNHCR, the IOC is also in the process of identifying a number of athletes living in forced displacement, and will help them through its Olympic Solidarity programmes to take part in the Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro 2016. The IOC is confident that this initiative will bring hope to the refugee athletes who wish to return to training and compete at the Games. It is also intended as a symbol of hope for all refugees around the world, which will help raise awareness of the magnitude of the crisis.

Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Latin America heeds the cries of refugees

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article by Laura Bécquer Paseiro, Granma

Despite the differences in culture, religion and language, Latin America has offered a prompt response to the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean caused by wars in the Middle East and North Africa, specifically the conflict in Syria which has threatened the population there since 2011.

granma
Foto: AFP

Despite the differences in culture, religion and language, Latin America has offered a prompt response to the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean caused by wars in the Middle East and North Africa, specifically the conflict in Syria which has threatened the population there since 2011.

The unstable situation in this country has led to the displacement of some four million people, the largest such humanitarian crisis since WWII.

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 350,000 persons have crossed the Mediterranean to reach Europe. While authorities there continue to discuss how to repatriate immigrants, a new opportunity is available on the other side of the Atlantic.

Countries like Brasil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile have established programs to receive refugees. Some 6,000 Syrians have been received thus far in Brasilia, Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

Employment opportunities and access to health and education are some of the advantages the region offers those fleeing violence in their native countries.

Legislation protecting refugees in many Latin American countries has been described by the United Nations as excellent.

The fundamental principles of this policy were adopted last December in Brasilia, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees.

The action plan adopted expressed the commitment of Latin American and Caribbean governments to approach the problem from a humanitarian point of view. Examples of this effort include the implementation of programs such as Quality Asylum, and Borders with Solidarity and Security, which address the needs of people who live, cross or return to border areas.

Brazil is the Latin American country which has received the greatest number of Syrians, 2,077 since 2011. Some 1,700 are in shelters and 4,000 have requested asylum, according to the Justice Ministry’s National Refugee Committee (Conare), as the European crisis continues.

The more than 10,000 kilometers which separate the region from the epicenter of conflict are not an impediment. Latin America is an alternative, a place to start anew.

( Click here for a version in Spanish.)

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Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Latin American Legislators, a Battering Ram in the Fight Against Hunger

…. HUMAN RIGHTS ….

An article by Marianela Jarroud, Inter Press Service News Agency (reprinted by permission)

Lawmakers in Latin America are joining forces to strengthen institutional frameworks that sustain the fight against hunger in a region that, despite being dubbed “the next global breadbasket”, still has more than 34 million undernourished people. The legislators, grouped in national fronts, “are political leaders and orient public opinion, legislate, and sustain and promote public policies for food security and the right to food,” said Ricardo Rapallo, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Food Security Officer in this region.

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A girl in traditional festive dress from Bolivia’s highlands region displays a basket of fruit during a fair in her school in central La Paz. F Credit: Franz Chávez/IPS

The members of the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger also “allot budget funds, monitor, oversee and follow up on government policies,” Rapallo told IPS at FAO regional headquarters in Santiago, Chile.

A series of successful public policies based on a broad cross-cutting accord between civil society, governments and legislatures enabled Latin America and the Caribbean to teach the world a lesson by cutting in half the proportion of hungry people in the region between 1990 and 2015.

But the 34.3 million people still hungry in this region of 605 million are in need of a greater effort, in order for Latin America to live up to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is aimed at achieving zero hunger in the world.

The Sixth Forum of the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger (PFH), to be held in Lima Nov. 15-17, will seek to forge ahead in the implementation of the “plan for food security, nutrition and hunger eradication in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) by 2025.”

The plan, which sets targets for 2025, is designed to strengthen institutional legal frameworks for food and nutritional security, raising the human right to food to the highest legal status, among other measures.

“The Parliamentary Front Against Hunger is a key actor in the implementation of CELAC’s Food Security Plan, for the construction of public systems that recognise the right to food,” the regional director of FAO, Raúl Benítez, told IPS.

The PFH was created in 2009 with the participation of three countries. Six years later, “there are 15 countries that have a strong national parliamentary front recognised by the national Congress of the country, which involves parliamentarians of different political stripes, all of whom are committed to the fight against hunger,” Rapallo said.

As a result, “laws on family farming have been passed, in Argentina and Peru, and in the Dominican Republic there are draft laws set to be approved. To these is added the food labeling law in Ecuador,” the expert said, to illustrate.

Bolivia sets an example

In Bolivia, the School Feeding Law in the Framework of Food Security and the Plural Economy, passed in December 2014, is at the centre of the fight against poverty in an integral fashion, Fernando Ferreira, the head of the national Parliamentary Front for Food Sovereignty and Good Living, told IPS in La Paz.

This model, which draws on the successful programme that has served school breakfasts based on natural local products in La Paz since 2000, is now being implemented in the country’s 347 municipalities.

The farmer “produces natural foods, sells part to the municipal government for distribution in school breakfasts, and sells the rest in the local community,” said Ferreira, describing the cycle that combines productive activity, employment, nutrition and family income generation.

The school breakfast programme has broad support among teachers because it boosts student performance and participation in class, Germán Silvetti, the principal of the República de Cuba primary school in the centre of La Paz, told IPS.

“They didn’t used to care, but now they demand their meals,” Silvetti said. “Some kids come to school without eating breakfast, so the meal we serve is important for their nutrition.”

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In the past, students didn’t like Andean grains like quinoa. But María Inés Flores, a teacher, told IPS she managed to persuade them with an interesting anecdote: “astronauts who go to the moon eat quinoa – and if we follow their example we’ll make it to space,” she said to the children, who now eat it with enthusiasm.

Appealing to the appetites of the 145,000 students served by the school breakfast programme is a daily challenge, but one that has had satisfactory results, such as the reduction of anemia from 37 to two percent in the last 15 years, Gabriela Aro, one of the creators of the programme and the head of the municipal government’s Nutrition Unit, told IPS.

Authorities in Bolivia say the government’s “Vivir Bien” or “Good Living” programme will reduce the proportion of people in extreme poverty which, according to estimates from different national and international institutions, stands at 18 percent of the country’s 11 million people.

Mexico, another case

In Mexico, a nation of 124 million people, meanwhile, poverty has grown in the last three years, revealing shortcomings in the strategies against hunger, which legislators are trying to influence, with limited results.

“Legislators must be more involved in following up on this, one of the most basic issues,” Senator Angélica de la Peña, coordinator of the Mexican chapter of the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger, told IPS in Mexico City. “Even if we define budgets and programmes, they continue to be resistant to making this a priority.”

There are 55.3 million people in poverty in Mexico, according to official figures from this year, and over 27 million malnourished people.

The increase in poverty reflects the weaknesses of the National Crusade Against Hunger, the flagship initiative of conservative President Enrique Peña Nieto, which targets undernourished people living in extreme poverty.

The Crusade is concentrated in 400 of Mexico’s 2,438 municipalities, involves 70 federal programmes, and hopes to reach 7.4 million hungry people – 3.7 million in urban areas and the rest in the countryside.

The Senate has not yet approved a “general law on the human right to adequate food”, which was put in motion by the Parliamentary Front and involves the implementation of a novel constitutional reform, which established in 2011 that “everyone has a right to sufficient nutritional, quality food, to be guaranteed by the state.”

The draft law will create a National Food Policy and National Food Programme, besides providing for emergency food aid.

But in spite of the limitations, Mexico’s social assistance programmes do make a difference, albeit small, for millions of people.

Since February, Blanca Pérez has received 62 dollars every two months, granted by the Pension Programme for the elderly (65 and older), which forms part of the National Crusade Against Hunger.

“It helps me buy medicines and cover other expenses. But it is a small amount for people our age – it would be better if it was every month,” this mother of seven told IPS. She lives in the town of Amecameca, 58 km southeast of Mexico City, where half of the 48,000 inhabitants live in poverty.

Pérez, who helps her daughter out in a small grocery store, is also covered by the Popular Insurance scheme, a federal government programme that provides free, universal healthcare. “These programmes are good, but they should give more support to people like me, who struggle so much,” she said.

Two urgent regional needs

Above and beyond the progress made, Rapallo said Latin America today has two urgent needs: reduce the number of hungry people in the region to zero while confronting the problem of overnutrition – another form of malnutrition.

Overweight and obesity “are a public health challenge, a hurdle to national development, and a moral requisite that we must address,” said Rapallo.

In that sense, he added, “parliamentarians are essential” to bring about public policies that contribute to good nutrition of the population and their growing demands.

“There are parliamentarians that are real leaders in their respective countries. But if all of this were not backed by a strong civil society that puts the issue firmly on the agenda, we wouldn’t be able to talk about results,” he said.

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

HUMAN RIGHTS, Latin America

Nazca-Desventuradas: Chile’s New Marine Reserve

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Sara Jones, Council on Hemispheric Affairs (reprinted by permission)

At the 2015 Our Ocean Conference, Chilean president Michelle Bachelet announced the creation of a new marine park off the coast of Chile, which, if created, would be the largest fully protected marine reserve in the world. This action taken by Bachelet spurred questions across the international community over whether Chile might become the world’s next leader in ocean conservation. The project has been met with both skepticism and enthusiastic support by the Chilean nation and by the international community.

Chile
Bunaken Marine Park in Indonesia (Sakurai Midori)

The Nazca-Desventuradas National Marine Park was unveiled in October and will encompass a surface area of 297,518 square kilometers (114,872 square miles), the equivalent of 8 percent of the world’s oceans that have been declared as no fishing areas or have no-take protections. It would include the waters off the coast of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and the waters surrounding San Ambrosio and San Félix Islands.[These two islands are called the ‘Islas Desventuradas’ (Unfortunate Islands) and are the namesake of the marine park. The purpose of creating this national park is to reduce the amount of fishing in the area in order to protect the ecosystems within its borders. The waters surrounding the islands have been the site of “a modest amount of fishing, mainly for swordfish” but the creation of the park designates this area as a marine protected area (MPA). According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the definition of a protected area is “A clearly defined geographical space, recognized [sic], dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.” The IUCN stresses the importance of having a long-term plan to actually have an impact on conservation and ocean recovery. The creation of a marine reserve gives the Chilean government legal means to enforce the limits that could be imposed on fishing, especially by using its navy as a deterrent. Local fisherman can still fish in an area 50 miles from the coast, but industrial fishing will ideally be eliminated.

Environmental and Cultural Impact

The creation of a new marine reserve in this area will bring about a multitude of environmental benefits to the area. According to National Geographic, the area that the park will protect has a unique oceanic environment which encompasses a variety of tropical and temperate species.[8] Furthermore, National Geographic writes that “About 72 percent of the species found around Desventuradas and an island chain known as the Juan Fernández archipelago—about 466 miles (750 kilometers) to the south— is endemic.” Fishing and pollution are two causes of environmental degradation in the ocean; so creating a marine park to protect the ecosystems of this region is a positive step towards changing the way the sea is protected.

In addition to its environmental benefits, the marine reserve also represents an important step towards protecting the cultural interests of the people of Rapa Nui. For this community, the ocean surrounding their island is an important part of their culture and way of life. The mayor of Rapa Nui, Pedro Edmunds Paoa, said, “This marine park will not only conserve the many species endemic to the waters of Easter Island but also the traditions of our Polynesian ancestors and the Rapa Nui people…The park will be complemented by a fishing area that will allow our ancient practice of tapu—or smart fisheries management—to endure.” The Rapa Nui gain their livelihood from the surrounding waters and many of them are excited about the prospect of protecting this area from industrial fishing trawlers. Joshua S. Reichart, an environmentalist from Pew Research Center, states that the marine park would not only represent an accomplishment for president Bachelet, but also a “triumph for the Rapa Nui.”

Historical Context of Marine Conservation in Chile

When it comes to environmental protection of marine areas, Chile may not have much experience, but it has focused recent efforts in addressing this issue. The Nazca-Desventuradas National Marine Park is not the only marine conservation effort the country has made. At the 2015 Our Ocean Conference, Chile also announced its promise to creating a marine protected area (MPA) in an exclusive economic zone near the Island of Rapa Nui. At the 2014 Our Ocean Conference, Chile agreed to join the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement. It also fulfilled its commitment by implementing a new policy to combat IUU fishing (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing). According to Oceana, an international organization dedicated to conducting research on oceans, Chile’s creation of a new national policy of IUU is “a move that gives the Chilean Navy increased resources to conduct enforcement operations in the high seas.” The areas that have been protected were vulnerable areas and thus the new policy is necessary for giving Chile the legal means to more effectively regulate fishing activities. Furthermore, Chile has created a new Ocean Policy Council which focuses on addressing the threats to its ocean waters and marine ecosystems. The main objectives of this council are to protect the sustainability and security of Chile’s marine environments.[ Another measure the country has taken to protect its marine environments is the creation of a group called the Friends of the Port State Measures Agreement, which promotes support between Latin American states in the endeavor of improving the protection of marine areas ] In the past two years, Chile has made great efforts to address the environmental threats to its marine areas.

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International Context of Marine Conservation

Chile is not the only country which has recently announced the creation of a marine reserve. The Nazca-Desventuradas National Marine Park will be the largest park of its kind in the world only if the United Kingdom does not create its marine park near the Pitcairn Islands first. The Pitcairn Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean, where the United Kingdom plans on creating the largest continuous marine reserve in the world. This marine reserve has a similar goal to the Chilean project. Adam Vaughn, a reporter for The Guardian, writes that: “The zone is expected to ban commercial fishing, and will cover a 834,000 sq km (322,000 square miles) area where previous expeditions have found more than 80 species of fish, coral and algae.” While this project is still underway, another marine reserve created by the United Kingdom is currently the largest marine protected area. This is encompasses the waters surrounding the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

The United Sates has also announced the creation of two new marine sanctuaries. The first is to be constructed on the western side of Lake Michigan and the second one is the Mallows Bay-Potomac River in Maryland. Both of these locations are the sites of shipwrecks. Meanwhile, Cuba has announced that it is participating in negotiations with the United States to create sister marine protected areas. According to National Geographic, “The U.S. side would include the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the Flower Garden Banks in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Dry Tortugas and Biscayne National Parks. The Cuban side includes the Guanahacabibes National Park on the western tip of the country.”

New Zealand has also announced a new marine reserve in the Kermadec which is northeast of New Zealands’ North Island. The recent surge in marine protection programs is heartening for supporters of marine preservation; however, they do not come without criticisms.

Support for the Nazca-Desventuradas National Marine Park

As previously noted, the new marine park in Chile is of great interest for the local fishing community and the Rapa Nui community. Although support for the program is not unanimous for either group, voices of support can be found in each.

For many local fishermen in Chile, a growing issue is the presence of industrial fishing trawlers, which are not only making it more difficult for local fishermen to gain their livelihood, but also engage in illegal fishing. In addition to this criticism of industrial fishers, local fishermen complain that they are at fault for increasing pollution in the oceans. The Guardian quoted Sara Roe, the president of a Chilean fisherman’s association: “Between 2004 and 2013, she said, there was a dramatic decline in the tuna, swordfish and barracuda her fishermen caught, forcing some into land-farming and construction jobs.”

Francesca Avaka Teao, a representative of the Hanga Roa Tai fisherman association, said that “in addition to the ecological importance of these waters, culturally and since ancestral times, the sea has been synonymous to abundance, richness and connection to nature for our town. The community of Rapa Nui develops diverse activities in it, not only in terms of nourishment, but also in terms of sports, art, recreation, and world view, among others.” The representative’s statement shows that the concerns expressed by the fishing community are tied to the environmental and cultural concerns expressed by the rest of the Rapa Nui community.

Criticisms of the Nazca-Desventuradas National Marine Park

While some members of the Rapa Nui community have expressed their support for the marine park, others had expressed doubt that the park would actually be created and a fear that the new marine park will encounter the same issues that the natural park on the mainland of Rapa Nui had faced. The creation of Rapa Nui National Park led to a spike in tourism on the island, which some members of the community opposed. The primary concern of the Rapa Nui people is that the previous natural park was created by the government without their consultation. However, President Bachelet has addressed this concern and affirmed that the marine park plan will be implemented following consent of the Rapa Nui community.

At first glance, the marine park represents a strong initiative to protect the ocean. However, Russell Moffitt, a conservation analyst at the Marine Conservation Institute, criticizes the project by questioning whether the location that is being protected is really the best place to make a real environmental impact for the oceans. He says that it might be more urgent to protect near-shore waters because these areas are more impacted by fishing and pollution. He adds that protecting these areas will not be sufficient, but they are easy goals. It would be more beneficial to create a variety of types of marine reserves.

What will be the fate of the ‘Unfortunate Islands’?

By creating the Nazca-Desventuradas marine park, Chile could become a leader in the international community in terms of marine preservation. Its recent efforts in preserving its marine environments with the support of local indigenous communities, is commendable. While the marine park is not without its criticisms, it has the potential for protecting important ecosystems and the culture of the Rapa Nui people. The impact that the new marine park will have is uncertain, but overall it is a positive step for marine preservation in a time where marine preservation has become increasingly important to the international community.

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

Latin America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Open Data – Still Closed to Latin American Communities

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article by Emilio Godoy, Inter Press News Service (reprinted with permission) (abridged)

. . . The link between open data and projects that have an influence on local communities and the environment was one of the issues at the Open Government Partnership Global Summit held Oct. 27-29 in Mexico City. Taking part in the summit were representatives of governments and civil society and academics from the 65 countries participating in the Partnership, created in 2011 under the aegis of the United Nations. Of that total, 15 countries are from Latin America.

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Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of ECLAC, and other heads of international agencies discuss the need for greater transparency on the part of governments, during the Open Government Partnership Global Summit in Mexico City. Credit: ECLAC

During the summit’s forums and workshops, the delegates of organised civil society called for a strengthening of open data policies and faster progress towards compliance with Principle 10, which cannot happen unless there is movement towards total information openness.

It is common practice in the region for communities to be uninformed about the very existence of mining, oil, energy and other kinds of projects even when carried out in their immediate vicinity, as they are neither previously consulted nor given access to information. Permits and concessions are off their radar.

Countries in the region ratified the declaration on the application of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration, signed during the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012.

According to information shared by participants during the open government summit in Mexico, the question of the environment is limited to instructions to disseminate public consultations in the environmental impact assessment process in the Second Plan of Action on open data 2013-2015.

Currently, Mexico is collecting proposals to design a third, more ambitious, plan.

One of its key focuses is “natural resource governance”, which encompasses climate change, fossil fuels, mining, ecosystems, the right to a healthy environment, and water resources for human consumption.

For its part, Peru has been discussing since May a “strategy on openness and reuse of open government data” for the period 2015-2019, which would include environmental questions.

In August, Argentina presented the first part of its “second plan for open government 2015–2017”, which also fails to include major environmental considerations.

“The problem is severe; it is not enough to just be transparent,” said Carlos Monge, the representative in Peru of the U.S.-based non-governmental Natural Resource Governance Institute. “There is a question of timing. When do citizens need that information? After the fact?

“That’s a mistake. We need to think about how to make information available before decisions are reached, as well as information about the impact of those decisions,” he told IPS.

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Monge complained that since 2014 countries like Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru have reformed their legislation to lower environmental standards, with the aim of drawing investment in the mining and oil industries, due to the drop in global demand for raw materials, one of the pillars of their economies.

The “Global Atlas of Environmental Justice” lists 480 environmental conflicts in 16 Latin American and Caribbean nations, related to activities like mining, fossil fuels, waste and water management, access to land and infrastructure development.

The initiative forms part of the European project “Environmental Justice Organizations, Liabilities and Trade” and is coordinated by the University of Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology and drawn up by experts from 23 universities and environmental justice organisations from 18 countries.

The majority of the disputes, the atlas says, are concentrated in Colombia (101), Brazil (64), Ecuador (50), Peru (38), Argentina (37) and Mexico (36).

When they are in the dark about infrastructure or mining or oil industry projects in their local surroundings, communities suffer what U.S. Professor Rob Nixon calls “slow violence” from environmental problems arising from the exploitation of natural resources, which generates conflicts and further impoverishes local populations.

Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), complained during the summit that local communities are not previously informed about extractive industry projects and said the region is not yet ready to meet open data requirements.

“It’s important for them to have information on concessions, contracts, impacts, revenue, consultations, so they are aware beforehand of the effects,” she told IPS.

The countries of this region agreed in November 2014 on the negotiation of a treaty on Principle 10, in a process facilitated by ECLAC, which is about to open a regional natural resource governance centre.

Tomás Severino, director of the Mexican NGO Cultura Ecológica. who is taking part in Mexico’s open data initiatives and in the Principle 10 regional negotiating process, stressed the need to modify laws to bring them into line with these schemes.

“We need participation and consultation mechanisms,” he said.

Monge cited two processes that he said should be given institutional structures. “Zoning and consultation imply the generation of a lot of information. If they want to carry out a project, the information on money, water and territory should be made transparent,” he said.

The first refers to zoning of residential, industrial or ecological areas, by the municipal authorities, and the second involves asking local populations whether or not they want a project to go ahead.

“Consultation is one of the most effective instruments. Principle 10 addresses it before a project is carried out,” Bárcena said.

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

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America

Colombia: “The peace process involves everyone”

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by Professor Alicia Cabezudo, Vice President of International Peace Bureau

 “The process of educating for peace must begin many years of listening to each other” – David Adams, Round Table on Community Education and Education for Peace.

On 1 and 2 October the “National Encounter for Peace Education” was held in Bogota to develop a strategy of information, reflection and building public awareness of the issues of peace in the present context. More than 600 people attended the event that started with a theatrical performance “Memoria, Manos a la Obra” [roughly: “Remembering – Hands on!”] which portrayed the challenge of transforming a country that has been many decades in armed conflict from the perspective of those [especially women] who have experienced it most intensely.


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Scene from video of National Meeting for Education for Peace

The two-day meeting discussed the current context of peace, in the framework of the dialogue and agreements in Havana, the demands of educators, students, sectors and social movements, as well as the need for truth and reconciliation, in the context of education for peace.

At the meeting, teachers shared their knowledge and experiences on human rights education, citizenship skills, citizenship education, ethics education in relation to education for peace and on issues linked to inclusion, reparations and social reintegration from the perspective of those who have been victims. On the second day participants analyzed the progress and needs of education for peace at the regional level, in the context of national and regional education policies for peace. The discussions will be published as Proceedings of the Congress in the coming months.

Peace as a concept; education for peace and social construction of knowledge related to the field of non-violence are some of the issues that Professor Alicia Cabezudo shares in an interview with Coexistence Foundation as a contribution to the peace process that is taking place in Colombia.

(click here for the Spanish version of this article.)

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FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America