Reporting on Conflict | Media Watch BlogPeacemakers Trust posts news, reports or announcements of interest to people studying or working in the field of dispute resolution, conflict transformation and peacebuilding. Inclusion of an item on the media watch blog does not imply endorsement or agreement of Peacemakers Trust with views expressed by authors of posted items.
Eleven years ago, celebrating the creation of the world’s first permanent International Criminal Court, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan spoke of “a gift of hope to future generations, and a giant step forward in the march towards universal human rights and the rule of law.â€
(...more)The peace process in the deep South can only get going when the authorities bury their egos and ask for outside help
The Thai government seriously needs to consider using outside help to end the ongoing conflict and bring permanent peace to the Malay-speaking deep South, where more than 3,400 people have been killed since January 2004. This message was made loud and clear at a recent seminar organised by Parliament’s Legislative Committee on the Deep South Conflict, during which Thai academics and local participants urged the government to learn from various conflicts around the world.
(...more)I am worried. My concern stems from the manner in which “reports from the front lines” have been presented in two leading medical journals — Britain’s The Lancet and our own Canadian Medical Association Journal ( CMAJ)…
When respected medical journals start to wind their way into the political arena, however, it is important that a clear separation is made between reporting of facts and disseminating opinion. In the case of these two journals, I feel this has not been been done..
I believe physicians must stand up for human rights. But I also feel we must do so recognizing all sides of a particular issue…
We must take care as doctors not to blame one side or the other. Rather, we must use our powers to communicate, to heal and to try, in small steps, to bring the warring parties together.
(...more)As President Obama tackles enormous foreign policy challenges, he would be well-advised to extract good ideas from past administrations and carry forward this “better part of history.”
At least one example comes from the Eisenhower administration, a time when the Cold War and nuclear weapons’ fears dominated the world scene. During this turbulent period, President Eisenhower called for a peace conference. Representatives from different countries gathered to discuss topics like school lunches. Yes. That’s right. School lunches. This was not the typical peace conference. It was not about disarmament, but rather food to fight hunger abroad.
(...more)Islamabad – Politics is never dull in Pakistan. Over the past few weeks, it has been inspirational too.
On 16 March, I watched people flock to the home of Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. A tense standoff between the government and a coalition of opposition groups over Chaudhry’s reinstatement as chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court had finally been resolved. After two years of government-enforced “retirement”, Chaudhry would return to the bench.
A cross-section of Pakistan’s diverse society gathered by the thousands on the lush, manicured lawn of the chief justice’s official residence to celebrate – young and old, men and women, religious and secular, rich and poor. Lawyers in their black suits, the signature uniform of Pakistan’s democratic revolutionaries, danced the bhangra – a Punjabi folk dance – as drums sounded and chants about freedom and justice filled the air.
(...more)Australia’s National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council today released its long awaited 73 page Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Civil Justice System Issues Paper [pdf].
This paper is the first step in shaping how the courts and mediation will interact in Australasia for years to come.
(...more)Afghan scholar, Abdul Nafi Olomi, MA Peace & Conflict Studies at the European University Center for Peace Studies (EPU), shares his analysis of the internal and regional conflict in Afghanistan and Central Asia, and possible solutions for peace.
(...more)There is a growing global movement to establish official departments of peace with mandates to focus exclusively on building a culture of peace. Departments of peace would not be subsumed into ministries of defence.
This movement has gained momentum particularly since the election of Barack Obama as US President when “Ideas for Change in America†on-line survey put the creation of a “Secretary of Peace” second on the top ten list. While there are very few official departments of peace — possibly only Nepal and the Solomon Islands, the idea is no longer dismissed as a fanciful or new fringe movement. More and more parliamentarians and former parliamentarians, including Canadian former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lloyd Axworthy, are supporting the idea at least in principle. Proponents point out that in the US, the idea goes back to 1792. The idea of provincial or municipal departments of conflict resolution also fit into the concept of official departments of peace, with the Ohio Commission for Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management held up as an example.
Members of the global movement met in Washington DC March 20-23.
Peacemakers Trust has created a list of official Departments of Peace and organizations promoting cabinet level Departments of Peace or Civilian Peace Services. Your suggestions would be welcome:
Campaign to Establish a Canadian Department of Peace (NGO)
â– Home Page
Civil Peace Service, Germany
â– Home Page
Civilian Peace Service Canada (NGO)
â– CPSC Home Page
Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments for Peace
â– Home Page
Government of Nepal
â– Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction
Government of Solomon Islands
â– Ministry of National Unity, Reconciliation and Peace
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Conflict Issues, UK
â– APGC
â– Ministry for Peace organization home page (Secretariat for APGC)
Ministry for Peace, Australia (NGO)
â– Home Page
Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management
â– Home Page
Peace Alliance Campaign to Establish a US Department of Peace
â– Home Page
BEIRUT – It may not often seem that much can be done to bring lasting calm to Lebanon, a country whose contemporary history demonstrates a phenomenal propensity for hostility among the 18 officially recognized religious sects. Yet this reality does not deter 32-year-old founder of Youth for Tolerance (Y4T) Elie Awad and his staff from doing their part to help lay the foundation for civil peace and stability by arming adolescents with the tools to build trust across the bitterly divided nation.
(...more)Truth and Reconciliation commissioners Jane Brewin Morley and Claudette Dumont-Smith came to the Anglican Church of Canada General Synod office in Toronto on Feb. 13 to consult with an ecumenical group that helps the churches engage in the truth and reconciliation process. The outgoing commissioners are preparing information and advice for the yet-to-be-appointed new commissioners and chair.
(...more)Legal moves may force Obama’s government into starting a new inquiry into abuses at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib
Criminal proceedings have begun in Spain against six senior officials in the Bush administration for the use of torture against detainees in Guantánamo Bay. Baltasar Garzón, the counter-terrorism judge whose prosecution of General Augusto Pinochet led to his arrest in Britain in 1998, has referred the case to the chief prosecutor before deciding whether to proceed.
(...more)Indigenous Arctic peoples must be consulted on ways to preserve their ways of life and boost employment opportunities as the northern ice retreats due to climate change, a group of experts convened by the United Nations cultural agency has agreed.
“Action formulated to address Arctic issues must begin from an understanding that many of the peoples of the Arctic have self-governing institutions,†according to recommendations issued by participants at the meeting organized by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
(...more)With the formation of a new government in Israel, what are the chances for peace in the Middle East? Last Friday, as director of the Center for International Conflict Resolution, I invited to Columbia University Shlomo Ben Ami, a historian and former foreign minister of Israel, to talk about the chances for peace in the region. The lecture reflected the depth of knowledge, the intellectual honesty, and the wisdom that has marked the academic life as well as the political carrier of Ben Ami. The thoughts he expressed in the lecture echoed the ideas and the analysis he put forward in his book Scars of War, Wounds of Peace.
(...more)A former president of Iran believes the Islamic theocracy can peacefully co-exist with Israel as “brothers and sisters” and has defended his chequered record on human rights.
Dr Seyed Mohammad Khatami’s visit to Australia has attracted criticism from some in the Jewish community who have questioned his reformist credentials.
The former leader of Iran told a Canberra audience on Tuesday Iran had a history of living peacefully with its neighbours, putting him at odds with Iran’s current hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , who was reported in 2005 to have said he wanted Israel “wiped off the map”.
(...more)Marion, VA – A six-year increase in legal aid for victims of domestic abuse in Southwest Virginia has been a success. The Southwest Legal Aid Society (SVLAS) greatly increased its outreach over that period, and the result has been a dramatic 35-percent decline in the number of requested protective orders; a much greater decline than seen statewide.
(...more)French President Nicolas Sarkozy has suggested using the mineral wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo to help bring peace to central Africa, which has witnessed one deadly war after another since the terrifying events of the 1994 Rwandan genocide heavily upset the balance of power in the region. The region has been plagued by rival militias for more than a decade.
France has been remained heavily involved in the central African region despite the ending of colonialism in Africa. The results of these actions have been mixed; including enormous good being done by donating international aid to the region, and, sadly, being directly involved in supporting the Rwandan genocide. France and Rwanda still have extremely tense relations to this day due to the mass killings in 1994.
(...more)Back when I was in 7th grade I stood up in front of my English class and delivered a tongue-in-cheek, poorly researched presentation on why I thought Mister Rogers should be the next President. I ate up the first few minutes zipping up my cardigan, and putting on some sneakers, and then I proceeded to mock him roundly. It was a riotous success. Fourteen years later, I’m using this post to repent.
(...more)HOLON, Israel — For just over an hour on Wednesday, a club for elderly Holocaust survivors on a side street in this suburban town south of Tel Aviv came alive with an encounter of an extraordinary kind.
Many Israelis see Jenin as the capital of suicide bombers.
A youth orchestra came to play for the elderly Israelis, a good turn that might pass in other countries as routine. In this case, though, the entertainers were Palestinians, a group of musicians 12 to 17 years old from the Jenin refugee camp, once a notorious hotbed of militancy and violence in the northern reaches of the West Bank.
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RoC Editor: Also see the following stories:
Palestinian camp bars youth orchestra leader By ALI DARAGHMEH. AP, 31 March 2009.
Shame on us! What will happen next? Will Palestinian kids be duped into playing music to Israeli pilots who exterminated Gaza children with White Phosphorus? By Khalid Amayreh. Palestine Think Tank, Mar 29th, 2009.
(...more)Attempts to establish a health plan for the occupied Palestinian territory were made before the 1993 Oslo Accords. However, the first official national health plan was published in 1994 and aimed to regulate the health sector and integrate the activities of the four main health-care providers: the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Palestinian non-governmental organisations, the UN Relief and Works Agency, and a cautiously developing private sector. However, a decade and a half later, attempts to create an effective, efficient, and equitable system remain unsuccessful.
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