During the Session, IFOR hosted a group of ten human rights activists from Mexico, Colombia, South Sudan, and Western Sahara, brought to Geneva through their partnership with the SweFOR, IFOR's Swedish branch.
Representing a variety of different organizations in countries facing similar yet distinct challenges to human rights, the activists experienced a week of training on the various ways in which the work of the United Nations in Geneva can help to protect human rights on the ground. They attended debates in the Human Rights Council and watched it adopt the Report on the review of a member state under the Universal Periodic Review; they met with staff of the High Commissioner's Office working with some of the Council's special procedures, and heard how these take up complaints about human rights violations sent to them by activists in country; they saw two of the ten “treaty bodies” - the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Rights of the Child – questioning delegations from a “state party”. Some met with the World Council Churches – also based in Geneva – and the Lutheran World Federation; meanwhile the rest of the party met with other leading ngos – Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and also with UPR-Info and the CCPR Centre - ngos with the specific purpose of facilitating the access of in-country activists to specific UN procedures (the Universal Periodic Review and the Human Rights Committee, which oversees the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, respectively).
The IFOR Secretariat responding to requests from local activists has joined with local community organizer Omar Ba to launch the formation of a new IFOR group in Flanders. Omar Ba, a native of Senegal, and long time resident of Antwerp, Belgium is a well-known voice within Flanders on matters of multiculturalism and social inclusion.
Monday, 26 October 2015 seven activists connected to IFOR’s Belgian branch Agir Pour La Paix appeared in court to face criminal charges for their action on February 11, 2012 to denounce the presence of nuclear weapons on Belgian soil.
The courtroom in Mons was packed with supporters of the Bombspotters, including 3 members of IFOR Germany who traveled to show their support. The IFOR International Coordinator was also there to express solidarity with the Bombspotters. Over 50 Belgian and international organizations have expressed support for the Bombspotters and the importance of their act of civil disobedience.
Working closely with the IFOR members in the Netherlands and Belgium, the International Secretariat launched a new project to support the efforts of its members to encourage reconciliation in their societies by challenging racism, xenophobia, and other forms of discrimination and social alienation. The project seeks to promote nonviolence as a means of addressing the structural violence that these social ills represent. The name of the project is inspired by the phrase “Beloved Community” made popular by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was a member of IFOR’s branch in the United States.
On Thursday, September 10, 2015 The German Branch of IFOR sent the following appeal in response to the refugee situation confronting Germany and other European countries to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, German President Joachim Gauck, the group chairmen of the Bundestag as well as the prime ministers of the federal states and the Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration:
The national council of the branch of IFOR in the Republic of Congo, Movement International de l Reconciliation Congo (MIR Congo) was held from 17 to 23 August 2015, the Séminaire Saint Gabriel de Dolisie. It coincided with the organization of the 5th Edition of the '' National Meeting of Initiatives of Peace '' under the theme: "Dare to dialogue and build peace among people and nations through non-violence and reconciliation." The following statement was released following the meeting :
The 70th anniversary of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was marked in Austria by various commemoration events, in two of which FOR Austria was actively involved. In the evening of August 6th the annual Hiroshima day event, co-organised by the Hiroshima Group Vienna, the Vienna Peace Office and the Austrian sections of ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), IPPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War) and IFOR (International Fellowship of Reconciliation), took place in front of St. Stephan’s Cathedral in the centre of Vienna. It included symbolic non-violent actions (“dismantling” of a nuclear weapon, Target X/Die-in and circle of silence, “decontamination” of passers-by by the Austrian Red Cross), information stalls, peace songs and a lantern parade in commemoration of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation Peace Presence, an organization founded and supported by branches of IFOR, is dedicated to providing safety, political visibility and solidarity to communities and individuals in Colombia who are working to promote human rights, peace and justice has released it's first ever annual report as a new independent organization.
Rev. Anthony Grimes, a member of the National Council of IFOR's branch in the United States witnessed a police altercation while in Amsterdam for a project sponsored by Kerk en Vrede and the IFOR Secretariat. IFOR International Coordinator, Lucas Johnson, also witnessed the incident. Rev. Grimes video received over 168,000 views and stirred controversy in the Netherlands. IFOR and Kerk en Vrede release the following statement in response to the controversy:
