| February, 2009 | |||||
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Peacebuild is a network of Canadian organizations and individuals engaged in activities related to addressing the causes and consequences of violent conflict.
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Tribute to Douglas Fraser
Those who knew Doug and worked closely with him in Canada and internationally recognized someone making concrete contributions towards a more peaceful world, first as a soldier for 40 years and then as a civilian since retiring with the rank of colonel from the Canadian Forces in 1993. He brought to Peacebuild and other organizations he worked for or volunteered his time to a wealth of knowledge and skills. These were gained in his years of military service, with the United Nations as the military advisor to Canada’s Permanent Mission and subsequently as a conventional arms control expert, with the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre and others involved in peacekeeping and peace operations training, and with the UN again as a weapons inspector in Mosul prior to the second Iraq war. In her tribute to her former colleague at the UN, Peacebuild Chair Peggy Mason noted that within the UN’s Department of Disarmament Affairs, Doug combined pragmatism and creativity, in one particular case by developing the first "integrated" response to a request from a member state to help with their small arms problem. The mission was not only one of the first to focus on small arms but also pioneered a holistic approach that took into account underlying causes of the proliferation of small arms, not just the consequences. Always active and engaged, he had recently returned from a training mission to Kenya, where UN Police were being prepared for their deployment to Darfur. A few months previously he had been in Botswana, organizing another training session for West African military peacekeepers. Doug had been a member of Peacebuild since its beginnings in the mid-1990s and a volunteer Board member since 2005. He played a valuable and valued hands-on role in the network’s review of operations and direction in 2007 and 2008, as well as participating on a regular basis in the Peace Operations and Small Arms working groups and a number of other activities. His experience, wise counsel, dedication, humility, and humour will all be missed greatly. David Lord
Peacebuilding Roundtable
The objectives of the roundtable were to foster a focused dialogue between the academic/research community and UN policy experts working on peacebuilding; and identify a research agenda linking researchers in the global South and North with each other as well as with the peacebuilding policy community.
Two Peace Operations Summer Courses Peace Operations: Manufacturing Peace
Séminaires d'été sur les missions de paix
Building a “WHOLE OF COMMUNITY” Approach
Strengthening Canada’s Peace-making Capacity
According to the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Canada has mediated only about 1% of conflicts globally. However, the Centre also recognizes Canada as one of a few countries that have “active peace diplomacy structures”. Canada is well-positioned to promote inclusive peace processes – peace processes that include women, local communities, and civil society organizations. However, Canada’s support, to be more effective, will need to go beyond just sending observers to peace-talks. Canada must strengthen its peace-making and peace-building capacities to ensure its diplomatic and financial resources are invested in ways that will help build the sustainability of peace processes. All papers are available on the CCIC website
Zimbabwe’s Blood Diamonds
*Peacebuild currently has four Working Groups and one Forum that bring together members interested in particular thematic areas of activity. The Sudan InterAgency Reference Group and the Afghanistan Reference Group are also key mechanisms for NGO-governmental interaction promoted by Peacebuild.
For more information about the SAWG and its activities, please contact Maribel Gonzales at: mgonzales@ploughshares.ca
The GPWG participated in the annual convention of the International Studies Association in New York this month, presenting their own work on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820 and meeting with researchers and policy-makers working on the same issue. The GPWG also participated in a planning meeting for an exciting new project: the Global Center for Gender and Crisis Prevention and Recovery. The project is jointly sponsored by UNDP-BCPR, the U.S. Social Science Research Council and the Boston Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights. For more information about the GPWG and its activities, please contact Kate McInturff at:gender@peacebuild.ca
For more information about the POWG and its activities, please contact Clare Morris at: powg@peacebuild.ca
Martin Fischer (CPWG Steering Committee member) traveled to Côte d'Ivoire to represent the CPWG at a conference and meeting of the Early Warning/Early Response Task Force of GPPAC. The conference brought together a range of international practitioners in peacebuilding to exchange knowledge and experiences with respect to the role of regional organizations in conflict prevention, the state of the art in Early Warning and Early Response, civil society roles in conflict prevention, three case studies on monitoring early response, and prospects for Côte d'Ivoire. The conference was followed by a meeting for the strategic development of the Task Force. For more information about the CPWG and its activities, please contact Silke Reichrath at: prevention@peacebuild.ca
The Forum for Children and Armed Conflict held its most recent meeting on February 5, 2009, in Ottawa. The meeting was well attended by members of the Forum, who had an opportunity to learn about the outcomes of a research project undertaken by the Canadian NGO Children as Peacebuilders (CAP) in Uganda and Colombia on youth participation in the monitoring and evaluation mechanism created by Security Council Resolution 1612; discuss the current state of collaboration between Canadian civil society working on children’s rights in armed conflict and the Canadian International Development Agency; learn about work being carried out in Sri Lanka on the issue of children and armed conflict; and finally discuss the Omar Khadr case. The Forum for Children and Armed Conflict also presented at the World Issues Conference at Carleton University, in Ottawa on February 18, 2009. The presentation explored international human rights and humanitarian legislation aimed at protecting children in situations of armed conflict, the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration methods, and the situation of children in armed conflict in DRC, Rwanda and Burundi. For more information about the Forum and its activities, please contact Guillaume Landry at: g.landry@ibcr.org. |
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The Peacebuild network lost a dear friend and active supporter with the death of Doug Fraser on January 31, 2009
Last December, a two-day roundtable on peacebuilding was held in Ottawa. It brought together more than 60 participants from academic institutions, research organizations, governmental departments, NGOs and the UN system from the Americas, Japan, Europe, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.
Deux séminaires crédités sont proposés: un séminaire d’approfondissement des Missions de paix des Nations unies et un séminaire d’approfondissement sur les opérations humanitaires. Ils sont ouverts aux étudiants des cycles supérieurs de toutes les universités et aux professionnels. 
The Small Arms & Light Weapons Working Group (SAWG) is developing a detailed proposal for engaging with parliamentarians who are a focus of SAWG’s education and awareness raising activities for this year. The Parliamentary Engagement initiative aims to raise awareness and the level of knowledge among MPs about small arms and light weapons control issues. Activities include : a) production of information material (e.g. fact sheets); b) a Parliamentary Forum series where information can be shared with MPs, and c) local level (riding) activities by members of SAWG such as meeting with MPs to raise SALW control concerns.
The Peace Operations Working Group (POWG) hosted a roundtable on “The Role of Policing in Integrated Peace Operations” on March 4th, which brought together representatives from the government, NGO and training communities. Speaker Andrew Hughes, the UN’s Police Adviser, provided an overview of the international dimensions of policing and highlighted many of the challenges that exist in the policing dimension of peace operations. Supt. Doug Coates, Director, International Peace Operations Branch, RCMP detailed Canada’s historical and ongoing contribution to policing and Vic Josey, Pearson Peacekeeping Centre spoke to some of the future challenges associated with policing in peace operations and for the need to provide training over the long-term. The roundtable was one of a series of events on the multi-dimensional aspects of integrated peace operations.
On February 24 - 27, Silke Reichrath (CPWG coordinator) and Rena Ramkay (CPWG co-chair) traveled to Mexico City for the Conflict Prevention Working Group (CPWG) to meet with representatives of the U.S. Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), the Mexican Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) contacts at SERAPAZ, and other Mexican NGOs active in conflict prevention. The discussions centered on ways to strengthen the North American region within the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC). Common issue areas of concern related to conflict prevention were also discussed, including access to territory and natural resources; activities of international corporations and mega-projects; the militarization of civil dissent; national security plans; the drug trade; and migration. 
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