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.
GENEVA – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday offered her encouragement to ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in drafting a regional human rights declaration, but called for a meaningful consultation on the draft with the widest spectrum of people in the region before it is presented to ASEAN’s foreign ministers in July.
(...more)PATTANI – When Yingluck Shinawatra, the younger sister of self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and their Puea Thai party scored a resounding election win last July, few figured her government would be able to kick-start a peace process in the country’s insurgency-prone, predominantly Malay Muslim far south region…
(...more)BANGKOK—A contentious $3.5 billion dam project on the Mekong River was put on hold again Thursday as nations called for further study of the environmental effects, a setback for Laos’s plan to reinvent itself as the hydropower battery of Southeast Asia.
The Mekong River Commission, comprising Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, said in a statement that member governments had agreed to study the implications on the Xayaburi dam project further before giving Laos the go-ahead to continue construction—the second delay to the project this year.
(...more)On 8 December, 2011, the UCDP released its latest addition to its vast number of datasets; the UCDP GED version 1.0-2011. The UCDP GED is an event-based and georeferenced dataset on organized violence, detailing all of the UCDP’s categories of violence (state-based conflict, non-state conflict and one-sided violence) in Africa between 1989 and 2010 at the level of the individual event of violence.
Also on 8 December, 2011, the UCDP released new data on external support in internal armed conflicts for the time period 1975-2009.
(...more)It takes a true visionary to see a Buddhist monk deploying a pack of giant rats as the solution to the devastating danger posed by landmines.
Every few hours, another person is killed or maimed by a landmine. Even in areas removed from active conflict, landmines are more than just distressing reminders of former bloodshed — they’re hidden hazards that terrorize populations and freeze development.
Identifying, unearthing, and disarming these explosives is dangerous and daunting. Despite record clearances, more countries deployed anti-personnel mines last year than in any year since 2004.
But one social innovator has risen to the challenge — with the help of a few hundred friends. The innovator is the industrial engineer, Buddhist monk, and Ashoka Fellow Bart Weetjens.
(...more)Should local residents have a say in the building of dykes and other flood control structures? Are flood management decisions negotiable between the authorities and the people?
Some people would agree that they are. Since October, several communities in Bangkok and elsewhere have opposed the way in which the authorities carried out their flood diversion plan. In several cases, such opposition has been successful.
(...more)In the United States, many of us take the freedom of the press for granted. But in numerous parts of the world, freedom of the press is not the norm. Journalists face political harassment, threats of imprisonment, violence, and even death, simply for doing their jobs and reporting the truth. Many of these journalists are women, but all too often we don’t hear about them.
Fortunately the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) takes the time to honor and celebrate the incredible, brave work of these women.
Last week in New York and Los Angeles, The International Women’s Media Foundation recognized four women journalists for their courage and willingness to risk their lives to cover the news in order to shine a light on repressive governments, corruption, injustice and crimes against humanity.
(...more)The media of East Asia, South-east Asia and the Pacific have an important role to play in covering conflict, violence and the issues faced by vulnerable groups. At times, reporting on these situations puts the media’s own safety at risk. Bringing together senior representatives of media organizations from the region, a conference hosted by the ICRC aims to advance discussion on these topics and facilitate the sharing of best practices and recommendations… more
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New media and the democratization of the Internet gives “marginalized” people a new battleground and potential parity with state-controlled or influenced media in the realm of hearts and minds. Digital media, however, is also under siege by interest groups and propagandists, who stir up already volatile socio-political landscape in many countries.
(...more)External threats usually unite a quarrelling country. That is the rule of thumb, isn’t it? Joint efforts to help ease the suffering of victims in times of natural disaster also usually trigger the best in ourselves, doesn’t it? I used to believe such is the case. I am not so sure any more. If a threat to survival is a unifying force, then there is a chance that the mega flood can help heal and wash away the deep and destabilising political divisiveness. But as our country slides deeper and deeper under water, I have to admit this is only wishful thinking.
(...more)BANGKOK – Nearly 84 per cent of Bangkok residents were worried about news related to political conflicts in solving flooding, according to a poll released on Sunday.
Assumption University’s ABAC Poll conducted an opinion poll among 1,305 persons living in the capital between Oct 15-22 on the topic of lessons they learned from the country’s flood crisis.
About 81 per cent of respondents said that they wanted to see good cooperation between the Pheu Thai Party’s core leaders and Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra from the Democrat Party in tackling the severe flooding.
As Thailand faces the country’s worst inundation in decades, 66.3 per cent of the respondents said that they learned more about how to brace for and handle the flood crisis, adding that the crisis brought unity in the nation and gave them lessons on impact of natural destruction.
(...more)Friday, 2 December 2011 to Sunday, 4 December 2011
“FROM TALK TO ACTION’ – PROGRESSING BEYOND THE TYPICAL CONFERENCE TOWARDS STRATEGIC ACTION COLLABORATIONS TO ADVANCE MEDIATION, CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION AND PEACEBUILDING PROCESSES IN ASIA PACIFIC
Since 2001, the APMF has organised four successful Mediation Conferences throughout the Asia Pacific region in Australia, Singapore, Fiji and Malaysia. Traditionally, these conferences have provided an exceptional opportunity for an array of academics, policy makers, practitioners and students from diverse countries to share their knowledge and skills while building networks in a stimulating environment. During the 4th APMF Mediation Conference in Malaysia (2008), participants’ identified the need for access to a “collaborative strategic dialogue and action planning space” in which they could collectively and more comprehensively contribute to the advancement of mediation, other conflict transformation and peacebuilding processes in the region. The APMF Executive and Summit Coordination Committee are committed to provide this vital “space” through a collaborative Summit that offers opportunities for stimulating dialogue (e.g. discussions with renowned international, regional, national experts and professional colleagues); knowledge building and skills sharing (e.g. course, field trip and mentoring opportunities, sharing research findings, etc.); the identification and engagement of cross-cutting and themed Mediation Action Groups; the design and implementation of strategic Mediation Action Plans; and through dynamic networking opportunities. Collaboratively designed and driven by proactive delegates, the Summit process and resulting outcomes have real potential to contribute to and advance mediation, other conflict transformation and peacebuilding processes in culturally fluent ways across the Asia Pacific region.
(...more)The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said that there has been a rise in attacks on medical workers and healthcare facilities in war zones.
In a report published on Wednesday, the organisation called for a halt to deadly assaults on medical facilities and personnel around the world.
(...more)Loving kindness, compassion, and above all self-awareness: Thai Buddhist leader Sulak Sivaraksa always returns to those themes when he speaks. But there’s a steely determination behind his gentle facade and admonitions to pay attention to one’s breathing as a first step to self mastery. Sulak accepted the Niwano Peace Prize in Kyoto, Japan, on July 23 in a ceremony that highlighted his life’s work, marked over many decades by the courage, determination, imagination, and the inspiration that are the anchors of his Buddhist faith. It was a splendid occasion to celebrate a special leader…
Sulak is a leading voice in global inter-religious dialogue and engagement, an acknowledged global leader for peace. Interdependence is an essential, living concept. His voice of reason and ethics highlights the tangible issues that touch on human dignity. He was one of the early leaders who brought the ethical challenges of caring for the environment into global discourse.
(...more)Hundreds of squatters evicted by armed men from a disused factory site in Pathum Thani last weekend have taken occupation of a government building at Chaeng Wattana instead.
They are refusing to leave until the government delivers on its promises to help the landless poor.
The rights group behind the squatters has also called on landless poor from elsewhere in the country to occupy state-owned properties to force the government’s hand.
The landless squatters are from the North and Northeast and are involved in a dispute between a rights group fighting on their behalf, which promised them homes, and government agencies which they claim failed to deliver on promise to provide them with land…
Mr Kamta [Kamta, a 63-year-old rubber farmer from Ubon Ratchathani]… arrived at the Pathum Thani site near Paholyothin Highway in May.
He lost his 30 rai of land in Ubon Ratchathani a few years ago, when it was found to overlap with the newly declared Buntarik-Yodmon wildlife sanctuary.
(...more)Ottawa residents scanning recent headlines could be forgiven for thinking they live in a post-feminist age: France’s Christine Lagarde is now managing director of the International Monetary Fund; German Chancellor Angela Merkel is deemed one of the most influential women in the world; and even Thailand has just elected its first ever female Prime Minister in Yingluck Shinawatra.
But behind each of those headlines lie more sobering reminders: that the infinitely qualified Lagarde attained her position due to the allegations of sexual assault against her male predecessor; that gender stereotypes remain so ingrained in Germany that women’s workforce participation is declining; and that Thailand remains a known destination for child sex tourism.
Here at home, although the recent ascension of an unprecedented three female leaders to the rank of premier has been greeted as groundbreaking, and our newly elected federal parliament is now one-quarter female, women’s representation at all levels of politics remains well under the 30 per cent threshold believed to provide sufficient critical mass to auger significant changes to public policy.
(...more)Nineteen 19 Thai farm workers who were victims of human trafficking are being allowed to stay in Canada another two years so they’ll have time to apply for permanent residency.
In what could be a precedent-setting case, the workers no longer face being sent to jail or deported.
The workers paid recruiters in Thailand up to $10,000 each to bring them to Canada to work for employers who in some cases were abusive.
(...more)Abstract : This paper is a gendered analysis of peacebuilding capacity in the context of forced migration… This study of women from Burma in exile reinforces the need to implement UNSCR 1325 in a way that strengthens the peace capacity of diaspora women?s organizations in host countries as well as those at home.
(...more)As Yingluck Shinawatra has been catapulted to elected office from nowhere, Thailand faces the predicament of having to progress from its wrenching political morass that dates to the military coup in September 2006. At the centre of this will be if or how Yingluck can grow into her own person as Thailand’s first female prime minister, beyond the long shadow of her deposed and exiled brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, and reach out to his opponents as a bridge-builder to mend Thailand’s deep wounds of protracted conflict and turmoil.
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