Join an International Delegation to Colombia!

Fellowship of Reconciliation Peace Presence, an effort supported by several branches of IFOR,  is organizing the Longing for Peace International Delegation April 18 – 27, 2017. 

FOR Peace Presence provides physical safety, political visibility and solidarity by accompanying communities and organizations that embrace active nonviolence to defend life, land and dignity.

Colombia is going through an historic but uncertain period. The results of four years of peace negotiations between the government and the FARC-a comprehensive agreement on five areas related to the conflict-was rejected by voters in October 2016 by the narrowest of margins. The Colombian Congress later approved the agreement on November 30th. Amid the hope of what the agreement means concerns about the future of implementation remain. 

The delegation will meet with local human rights defenders; human rights and environmental NGOs' women peace leaders; young Conscientious Objectors; Afro-Colombian, indigenous and small scale farmer leaders; and displaced communities. The delegates will learn about the impacts of corporations, and how global demand for energy is devastating communities and destroying vital ecosystems. 

For more information about FORPP or the delegation please visit their website here.

IFOR Submits Report on Eritrea to Human Rights Committee

IFOR's Main Representative to the UN in Geneva, Derek Brett, submitted a report on Eritrea to the 119th Session of the Human Rights Committee. The report specifically focused on matters of military service, conscientious objection and related human rights concerns in Eritrea. 

From the Report: 

Of all the world's states, Eritrea is the only one in which military service issues are widely considered to be one of the major human rights concerns.   Both men and women are subject to conscription; since 2002, under a situation of general mobilization, the period of service has been prolonged indefinitely.   Forced recruitment and abusive treatment within the military are widespread.  The right of conscientious objection is not recognized; the only way to escape enlistment is to leave the country.  Travel restrictions however mean that few citizens are able to do this legally, and it is believed that a “shoot to kill” policy is in place to prevent persons crossing the border clandestinely.  Nevertheless, almost throughout its independent existence Eritrea has, proportionate to population, suffered one of the largest refugee outflows in the world. 

To read the full report click here.

2016 EBCO Annual Report

In his foreword Friedhelm Schneider, EBCO President, points  to some gleams of light amid the darkness: 

• In January 2016 an amnesty was pronounced for all Greek objectors who had declared their objection before 1998 when the current law on conscientious objection entered into force. No compensation, however, was granted for all fines and prison sentences imposed to this group of early objectors.
• Supported by an international network of solidarity and lobby work the Ukrainian journalist and conscientious objector Ruslan Kotsaba was acquitted in July 2016. He had been arrested in February 2015 because of his appeal to refuse a mobilization that would lead to fratricide.
• In Rojava, Kurdish region where a many years long struggle is being waged against ISIS, the right of conscientious objection has been recognized by the government of the Cizre canton in April 2016.

After its General Assemblies held in London (14 May 2016) and in Athens (19 November 2016) the European Bureau of Conscientious Objection expresses once more its concern that the credibility of international Human rights institutions on the European and United Nations level will strongly be damaged if the implementation of their resolutions and judgements cannot be achieved. It will consequently stay an important task for human rights NGOs to remind national governments of their responsibility to publicize and to execute the binding requests of international Human rights institutions.

Click here to read the full EBCO 2016 report in detail.

MIR Madagascar Holds General Assembly

On September 17-18 MIR/IFOR Madagascar (FIEFA) held its general assembly and elected new officers. The general assembly was held in Antananarivo. 11 people were elected to serve the board for the next 3 years from 2016 to 2019. 

Patrick Rakotondranaly was elected president and Luciani Jos'oint was elected vice President. Other board members include Vololona Razafindrainibe, Ernest Razafindraibe, Michel Ravoavy, Jean Aimé Randriamiantrarivo,  Alexandre Ramarosandratana, Jacques Tronchon, Suzette Marie Isabelle Razanamalalanandrasana, and Assina Feno.

The International Secretariat expresses congratulations to the members and new leadership of FIEFA. The IFOR community remains in solidarity with our members in Madagascar as the continue the work of nonviolence and peace.

Newly elected board members of MIR Madagascar pose after the board meeting in Antananarivo

Expressing Concern for Human Rights in Turkey

On September 14, during the 33 Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, IFOR's Main Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Derek Brett, expressed concern for the situation of Human Rights in Turkey. In his statement, Brett noted that:

"Even before the massive detentions and new restrictions on the freedom of movement, assembly and expression which followed the attempted military coup, we were deeply concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in the country, and disturbed by the lack of attention which it has received in this Council. Our contacts on the ground report ongoing breaches of International Humanitarian Law and widespread human rights violations, particularly in the south-east of the country, including the targeting of civilians in military operations, extrajudicial executions, the demolition of towns and villages, leading to massive displacement, and the torture and long term detention of civilians, particularly in prisons in the cities of Urfa and Siverek." 

IFOR called on the Turkish authorities to heed the repeated appeal for unfettered access to the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the staff of his office, particularly to the South – East of Turkey.

IFOR also hosted a side event for diplomats and others featuring Peri Hevi, a journalist who spoke about the human rights situation in Turkey after the election of June 2015 and Ramazan Baytar, independent activist who spoke about the coup attempt and the aftermath.

IFOR maintains contact with many human rights activists in Turkey, particularly conscientious objectors. Derek Brett spoke about the situation facing conscientious objectors during the side event hosted by IFOR. 

Recent Highlights from the Movement

IFOR's branches in the Northern Hemisphere along with the International Secretariat have been experiencing summer over the past months. Even before summer, our team at the International Secretariat fell behind on providing updates to the news section of IFOR's website. Here are some important happenings within IFOR in the past several months that we've missed:  

Cultural Academy of Peace Celebrates Pearl Jubilee

IFOR's Affiliate in Kerela, India celebrated the Pearl Jubilee. CAP's newsletter described:

"it is the Day we realized the impact of 30 years of our “commitment and service” to women and children especially those in crisis situation. The large number of Social activists, professionals, secular and religious groups, Government  representatives and our network Partners, almost 500, was indeed quite heartening. Many people have commended that it was an indicator of the  acceptance of Cultural Academy’s mission."

The event was held in on April 9th Ashir Bhavan, Ernakulam. It was a remarkable day as they simultaneously observed NIRBHAYA DAY, in memory of the deceased victims, and survivors of Sexual abuse. Cultural Academy runs Nirbhaya Home, a project of Kerala Government. The Residents of this Home as well as Shanthi Bhavan  took active part in the celebration.

The Cultural Academy also hosted a one day workshop on Gender Equity for Social Safety with Emphasis on Masculinity led by Dr. Suseela Mathew, an International Trainer on Gender and Conflict Management, on 30th July 2016 at Shantibhavan Auditorium, Ernakulam. 

The Human Cost of the War on Drugs

April 19-21 there was a Special Session of the UN General Assembly on Drug Policy.  The International Secretariat helped coordinate the involvement of FOR-USA and SERPAJ-AL.

FOR-USA participated in the Special Session in collaboration with the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference who had assembled an international collection of clergy to give voice the damage that the War on Drugs has caused on communities around the globe: religious leaders from the United States, El Salvador, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and the United Kingdom told of the horribly punitive and violent actions taken through the War on Drugs.  SERPAJ-America Latina was represented by the presence of Carlos Martinez of SERPAJ-Chile.

Longing for Peace Campaign

FOR Peace Presence launches Longing For Peace Campaign: FOR Peace Presence represents the work of several members of the IFOR to protect communities and human rights defenders in Colombia. With the Peace Process negotiating an end to the armed conflict, there is a lot of work on a grassroots level that needs to be done to guarantee that implementation of the agreement and the continued physical and political space for communities and organizations to continue their essential work for peace as well as social, economic, cultural, and environmental justice.

In light of all this, FOR Peace Presence is organizing an interactive multimedia campaign titled Longing for Peace. The campaign is designed to coincide with the signing of the accords while highlighting the diverse voices and experiences of FORPP partners, members of Colombian civil society, and members of the international community as they share understandings of peace, hopes for a their country post-accord, and ongoing challenges to building lasting and meaningful peace. The campaign aims to broaden the physical and political space necessary for building peace and to recognize that peace is a process-oriented action, requiring ongoing and long-term participation at all levels.

IFOR's Beloved Communities Project Continues

Following the visit of Palestinian American lawyer and activist Ahmad Abuznaid, 20 May- 20 June, IFOR was pleased to welcome Dr. Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons as it's 5th speaker for the Beloved Communities Project. Dr. Simmons is a veteran of the U.S. Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. She is a Sufi muslim and a professor of Islamic Studies. She spoke to a variety of communities in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels, Berlin and Budapest about Islam, nonviolence, feminism, the U.S. Black Freedom Struggle and many other topics. 

IFOR & UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), Vienna

UNODA  introduced a program called "Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education Partnership". July 5-6th, the "Women Higher Education for Peace Vienna Forum" was held. It included a "job fair" for women mainly from the Global South, to be involved more deeply in disarmament affairs and also job opportunities. IFOR is one of 6 NGOs from the Vienna UN Committee on Peace who were partners of the whole program -we were invited to participate in both the Forum and the job fair.  IFOR was represented by Therese Kirchner, board member of IFOR Austria and IFOR's representative to the UN in Vienna, Pete Haemmerle participated  in a short video clip on the work of the NGO Committee on Peace (including IFOR) in Vienna. 

Much more work for peace was done by IFOR members around the world in the past several months. We will not be able to report them all here but these were some of the highlights we thought it was important to share.