Standing Against Hate in Charlottesville

Stacey Mitchell of IFOR's International Committee joined leaders from FOR-USA in Charlottesville this weekend as they gathered with thousands to send a message of love in opposition to the expressions of hatred and bigotry that permeated the U.S. city. White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis gathered in Charlottesville to demonstrate their opposition to the removal of a statue honoring the general that lead the army of the Southern States during the U.S. Civil War. 

Several national and international media outlets covered the events in Charlottesville and FOR-USA posted several images and videos to it's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FORUSA/

Dr. Cornel West and Stacey Mitchell during an organizing meeting in Charlottesville Virginia

Call for Applications 2017-2018 Accompaniment Team in Colombia

FOR Peace Presence International Accompanier

Fellowship of Reconciliation Peace Presence (FORPP) is a non-governmental organization dedicated to providing safety, political visibility and solidarity to communities and individuals at risk in Colombia who are working to promote human rights, peace and justice. In addition to providing ongoing physical accompaniment to our partners, we also provide political accompaniment through meetings with Colombian civil and military officials as well as embassies, UN and other international officials. We provide visibility for these struggles through delegations, speaking tours, publications and an online presence, building bridges between communities in the global North and South on issues important to both. 

FORPP is supported by several branches of IFOR and is an active part of the IFOR community. For more information or if you are interested in becoming an international accompanier, click here.

FOR-USA Responds to Military Strike in Syria

On April 8th, IFOR's branch in the United States issued a statement in response to U.S. military action in Syria. While acknowledging the horror of the chemical weapons attack on civilians, FOR called upon its members to contact the White House to express their disapproval of military response to the crisis in Syria. The statement calls upon the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. just days after the commemoration of his assassination and his famous statement against the Vietnam War one year earlier.  

The statement says "The logic that a military strike, even a limited one, will deter and quell aggression from the Assad regime, or the armed resistance, or the movement of Al-Qaeda believed to be in Syria, is fundamentally flawed. In violent escalation, both sides respond in turn with their own escalation of use of arms and aggressive attacks. We are already seeing the rumbling of this in Russia’s pronouncement of the strike as “an act of aggression.”   As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.” 

To read the full statement click here. 

Help Stop the eviction of Bedouin tribes in Israel!

IFOR Members in Israel are fighting the forced displacement of Bedouin Communities in the Negev. They are asking for support by calling on people of conscience around the world to sign a letter to Israel's Prime Minister. Please click here to sign the petition. 

IFOR members write: "In 1949, Israel evicted the Bedouin tribe Abu Al Qi'an from its lands in Wadi Zabbālih in the northern Negev. In 1956, the Israeli government settled the tribe in Umm Al Hiran and Atir in the north‐east region of the Negev. However, the government never granted these localities official recognition. Now, more than sixty years later, the government of Israel has ruled to evict its Bedouin citizens from Umm Al Hiran and settle Jewish citizens there instead, in a new Jewish town be called "Hiran." Please sign the petition, addressed to Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, calling upon him to prevent this outrage of evicting Bedouin citizens in order to settle Jewish citizens in their place."

UN Geneva: IFOR Condemns Ongoing Attacks in Colombia

On March 22, during the general debate following the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' report on the situation of Human Rights in Colombia, IFOR delivered a statement that spoke to the experiences of its members in Colombia. 

IFOR Fellow Martina Lanza delivering IFOR comments during the High Commissioner's Report

The statement was delivered by IFOR Fellow Martina Lanza and it underlined our concern for the ongoing attacks against human rights defenders and on the militarization of the country, even after the peace accords. To read the full statement please click here. 

(video of the remarks can be viewed here).

IFOR has deep relationships with human rights defenders in Colombia. IFOR is represented in Colombia by SERPAJ-Colombia and IFOR branches from Sweden, Austria, U.S., and the U.K. work collaboratively to provide protective accompaniment to human rights defenders in several regions of the country. The coordinated work of IFOR Austria, U.S. and U.K. is organized as FOR Peace Presence. IFOR members have accompanied the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó for the past 15 years.