Pax Christi International Newsletter nr 128 – 1 September 2004
In this issue:
Study, Action and Prayer Spirituality Project 1
Peace Spirituality within Pax Christi International 1
Africa 2
Tharwa Minority & Majority Project Findings on Crisis in Dafur 2
Pax Christi USA endorses "Unity Statement" from the Save Darfur Coalition 2
Asia & Pacific 2
News from the NCJPD India 3
Student Peace Art Campaign - Cambodia 4
Middle East 5
Pax Christi UK Vice-Chair heads for Israel/Palestine 6
Middle East Team Pax Christi Netherlands 6
Pax Christi USA Endorses the Iraq Pledge of Resistance National Memorial Procession 7
Palestinian Hunger Strike Prison 7
Central and Eastern Europe 8
An Update from Mirna Luka in Banja Luka 8
Conference of European Justice and Peace Commissions, Sarajevo 9
Soldiers Mothers in St Petersburg Win German Aachener Peace Award 9
Economic Justice, Development and Ecology 9
Action Guide Global Week of Action 9
Trade for People Campaign Petition 9
Solidarity in Europe; Are Migration and Enlargement Real Challenges? 10
Representation 10
United Nations in Vienna 10
OSCE Conference on Tolerance and the Fight Against Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, Brussels 10
More News from Member Organisations 11
Pax Christi Germany Statement on War 11
Pax Christi USA "Called to Embrace All Life: The Catholic Vote and Catholic Values" 11
Pax Christi USA Mourns the Loss of Ambassador of Peace Helen M. Casey 11
International Calendar 11
Study, Action and Prayer Spirituality Project
Peace Spirituality within Pax Christi International
In September 2004, we continue this yearlong project focusing on peace spirituality within the movement with “A Journey towards Understanding through Listening and Dialogue”. This is an address given by Paul Lansu of the Pax Christi International Secretariat at the Reflection Seminar organized by the Pax Christi British and Irish sections at Omagh, Northern Ireland, 17-18 August, 2002, in ref.: PS.26.E.03.
Each year, Pax Christi Ireland is holding a Prayer Service in Omagh together with the relatives who lost their loved ones in the Omagh bombing. Also this year, on 15 August, members of the Irish section participated in the Remembrance Day.
Visit http://www.paxchristi.net/html/ps.html to see all the responses received thus far.
Africa
Tharwa Minority & Majority Project Findings on Crisis in Dafur
The Tharwa Project, an independent regional initiative dedicated to improving minority-majority relations, conflict prevention and peace-building in the Arab world. It is being implemented by Pax Christi Syrian partner organisation DarEmar in cooperation with Pax Christi Netherlands.
Recently the Tharwa project made a list of recommendations towards the various national regional and international parties involved in the Darfur Crisis in Sudan. After in-depth study, they concluded that the current situation in Darfur is caused by the longstanding policy of racial discrimination adopted by the Arab-speaking minority of the Sudan vis-à-vis African tribes, their religious affiliations notwithstanding, and by the ongoing political infighting between various factions in the current Islamic government.
The ongoing war in Darfur, therefore, is very much the result of deep ethnic and political cleavages that have always divided the country. Unless a serious process of political reform takes place in the Sudan, the country will simply develop a habit for genocide, as the various ethnic and religious groups involved continue to resort to violence to work out their differences, transforming the entire country into one major battlefield.
In order to prevent such a development, the international community should adopt a more active engagement policy in regards to the Sudanese government and its multiplying opponents. Building on the recent success in brokering a peace agreement between the Khartoum government and rebel movements in the South, the international community should now push for a more comprehensive settlement of all outstanding issues in the Sudan related to power-sharing and greater participation in the decision-making process by previously marginalized groups. Only such a comprehensive approach, no matter how untenable it might at first appear, could help address the deeper causes for the current crisis in Darfur and the larger Sudanese identity crisis.
Read the full statement here… reference AF.40.E.04.
Pax Christi USA endorses "Unity Statement" from the Save Darfur Coalition
Pax Christi USA has signed onto a "Unity Statement" from the Save Darfur Coalition, a coalition comprised of faith-based, humanitarian and human rights organizations helping to raise public awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan. To read the statement, go to: http://www.savedarfur.org/go.php?q=unityStatement.html. For more information on the Save Darfur Coalition, please visit www.savedarfur.org
Asia & Pacific
News from the NCJPD India
In the recent months, the National Commission for Justice, Peace and Development (NCJPD) in Delhi, an Affiliated organisation with Pax Christi International, has been involved in various training, networking and peace building initiatives in India. The latest report of their activities follows:
1. Planning for Long Term Peace and Justice
The problem of the North East has been a great concern of the Churches in the region. With the help of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the North East Social Forum, an interdenominational peace-building consultation, has launched various peace initiatives. Leaders of the Presbyterian, Baptist and Catholic Churches (major groups involved in the peace process) met on 27 May 2004 to review and discuss their various processes towards peace. The recent change of Central government has given further hopes in their approach to pursue the peace process further.
2. Learning Various Strategies
NCJPD Secretary, Fr. Nithiya attended a seminar and training programme on Human Rights, organised by the India Centre in Mumbai on 17-23 May 2004. Among the participants were experts from various fields related to Human Rights Commission, lawyers, social activists and NGOs. Mr. Antony Arulraj from Hotline India - Delhi and Mr. Enosh George from Madhya Pradesh Regional JPD Commission, together with 3 others from the network of the Asian Center for the Progress of Peoples (ACPP), participated in a capacity building programme on civil society, organized by Caritas Asia on 10-13 June 2004 in Bangkok.
3. Contribution to the Network
CRS invited Fr. Nithiya to participate in a training programme on peace building in Notre Dame University, Indiana, USA on 20-29 June 2004. He presented various peace-building activities from the Justice and Peace Commissions in Gujarat, North Eastern India, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh. On his way back, Fr. Nithiya gave a seminar to a group of religious and laity involved in Peace and Justice on 11-12 July in Singapore. A special focus was given to the dominant issue of migrants in the country.
4. Teachers' Workshop on Human Rights
As a direct outcome of a National Human Rights Education Workshop held in Mumbai on 10-14 October 2003, the Mumbai Initiative for Human Rights Education (MIHRE) has recently been formed. Its objectives are to facilitate the introduction of human rights education in schools and colleges in Mumbai and to strengthen further the capacities of teachers in schools and colleges that already teach human rights. The initiative consists of advocates, activists and academics who are committed to facilitating and strengthening human rights education in Mumbai and other places.
On 26-28 June 2004, MIHRE organized a workshop on Human Rights for Teachers at St Pius College, Goregaon. Most of the participants were high school/college teachers engaged in teaching Political Science and Human Rights at the postgraduate and graduate level, practising and retired lawyers and human rights activists. The main resource person was Mr Ravi Nair of South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, Delhi. Apart from his involvement in various human rights and international institutes in the region, he currently serves on the NGO Core Committee of the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC). The workshop covered topics from understanding basic human rights concepts to International Human Rights Instruments, Child rights, Women’s rights, Terrorism, Right to Health, Food, Rights of Religious Minorities, Complaints and Monitoring Mechanisms and Campaigns. There was also a Commemoration of World Day Against Torture on the evening of 26 June. Several films related to these topics were screened during the workshop. It was a participatory workshop and an enriching experience for all 30 participants. The teachers, in particular, took much from this experience back to their classroom for theory as well as practical work. Proposal for Peace Clubs in School see ref.: PE.08.E.04. More e-mail:
5. Justice Sunday and Special Message
Justice Sunday, celebrated on the Sunday after the Independence Day of India, took place on 22 August 2004. A special message, posters and a booklet have been sent to all the 149 dioceses of the country to make the day a significant one. As the United Nations have declared 2004 the International Year of Rice, the NCJPD has chosen the theme of food security/right to food as the special message to be read out in the parishes. The message speaks of the food sovereignty and the right to food, which is one of the principles enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Church’s response or Christian vocation to be sensitive to the needs of the starving masses. A full text of the message is available, go to:
http://jpc-drtcmumbai.org/churchdocuments.htm
6. National Training Programme in Bangalore
The NCJPD has been organising National Training on the Rights Based Approach (RBA) and Peace-building at the Indian Social Institute, Bangalore on 22-31 August 2004. 35 participants were selected from 150 applications from all regions. Mr. Andre Frankovits gave the training programme from Australia, facilitated by Mr. James Tan and Ms. Kata Lee from ACPP. Kata Lee is a member of the Executive Committee of Pax Christi International. Through this programme, co-organized by ACPP, NCJPD it is hoped a national team of dedicated persons who will help in its mission of social advocacy will be formed.
Source: NCJPD and Pontifical Council on World Hunger
Student Peace Art Campaign - Cambodia
The Peace and Disarmament Education Project of WGWR (affiliated with Pax Christi International) – supported by the 'Hague Appeal for Peace' in cooperation with the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs - is currently carrying out a Student Peace Art Campaign with high school students in Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia.
Since July 1st, 2004, 132 students from all high schools and the pedagogical school in Kampong Chhnang have been involved in this campaign. Students are encouraged to draw pictures regarding “peace” and “vision building”. The campaign aims to encourage students to reflect on what is peace from their own perspective, and based on that, to have a vision about their future life in Cambodia.
On August 30, 2004 the Peace Art Committee - consisting of WGWR staff, teachers and members of the educational department in Kampong Chhnang - presented 26 drawings in an awarding ceremony at the pedagogical school in Kampong Chhnang. 26 new bicycles and 51 English-Khmer dictionaries have been given to students who participated in this campaign.
For more information about WGWR works visit www.wgwr.org.
Middle East
Bring New Life to the Old City of Hebron
Library on Wheels for Non-violence and Peace, a partner organisation with Pax Christi International, and the Christian Peacemaking Team initiated a campaign "Help Bring New Life to the Old City of Hebron". The old city of Hebron is under Israeli control following an agreement signed between PLO and the Israeli government. Since the beginning of the second Intifada a strict curfew has been imposed on the old city and its surrounding neighbourhoods for long periods of time, and all the entrances of the old city have been closed. Furthermore, the Israeli Defence Forces, IDF, routinely issue orderspreventing shopkeepers from opening their shops in the old city even when the curfew is lifted. This negatively affects the economic situation and has made shoppers afraid to access the old city due to the aggressive practices adopted by settlers and IDF.
The campaign focuses on promoting one day for shopping in the old city, each first Thursday of the month between 10 am and 2 pm. Each buyer receives a 'shopping coupon', which allows him/her to enter a prize drawing the Monday following the campaign. The first day of campaigning was on 3 June 2004. At the end of the day, 1272 people entered the old city of Hebron and 349 of them went out carrying bags and shopping coupons. On Monday 7 June 2004 the prizewinner received a refrigerator. During the second day of the campaign on 1 July 2004, 578 coupons were distributed. On 5 August, already 1308 coupons were distributed to the shoppers. In addition, the campaign got support from the local authorities in Hebron. More e-mail:
Bethlehem Summer School 2004
The Arab Educational Institute, a Pax Christi International affiliated organisation located in Bethlehem, organised its second Summer School entitled "Solidarity and Working Together in the Palestinian Society” between 26 July and 1 August 2004. In total, around 100 participants, including children, young mothers, teachers, high school and university students from all over Palestine attended.
The different programmes and activities during the summer school aim to involve young people in various creative and cultural activities as well as to engage in a discussion and dialogue on some of the main challenges facing them. The AEI is trying through these kinds of activities to move away from the traditional method of lecturing and rote learning into dialogue, discussion, self-criticism and critical thinking methods of learning and teaching.
The sessions of the summer school consisted of topics such as the history of the voluntary work, Palestinian NGOs joint work in defence of land expropriation, Israeli-Palestinian working together for justice and peace, promoting youth work through media projects, working together and mutual solidarity in the three monotheistic religions. The concluding session consisted of a festival. Each day started with a series of lectures on the daily topic, followed by discussions in small working groups. After lunch, cultural activities and workshops took place. After the formal closing session, the participants showed the results of their creativity through an art exhibition, Dabbkah (Palestinian folklore dancing wearing the traditional Palestinian dresses), and a performance of the AEI choir. More e-mail:
Pax Christi UK Vice-Chair heads for Israel/Palestine
Rosemary Read, a grandmother of five, will leave her home town of Derby, UK, on 10 September 2004 to work in Israel /Palestine for three months. She will be accompanying peace activists – both Israeli and Palestinian – and observing and reporting on human rights abuses committed by any group. Her work is part of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) of the World Council of Churches. This is a project that is supported by Pax Christi International and the British Section of Pax Christi.