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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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Latest News on Peacebuild Fora
Project Ploughshares to Manage
The UK funds will support training for NGOs and allow them to participate directly in activities at the UN and at meetings of states in the Middle East and in Southeast Asia sponsored by the European Union. Support will also be available for civil society efforts in India. Senior Program Associate Ken Epps will manage the program in collaboration with other members of the NGO ATT Steering Committee (members include Amnesty International, the Arias Foundation of Costa Rica, Oxfam, Viva Rio of Brazil, and the International Action Network on Small Arms). The overwhelming majority of United Nations (UN) member states agree that an Arms Trade Treaty is needed to control the trade in conventional arms so that transfers that aggravate armed conflicts and human rights violations are stopped. The United Kingdom has taken a leading role among states in the campaign to secure an ATT through the UN. This financial support is an acknowledgement of the key role that civil society played in the successful disarmament negotiations that resulted in the Mine Ban Treaty of 1997 (the Ottawa Convention) and the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008.
Crisis in Sri Lanka
Read the latest updates on Sri Lanka from: Care Canada
Amnistie internationale Depuis 1998, le recrutement et l'utilisation d'enfants soldats ont été reconnus comme crimes de guerre par la Cour pénale internationale (CPI). Pourtant, cette situation persiste encore. Au moins 250 000 enfants, filles et garçons confondus, sont encore aux mains des forces et des groupes armés sur au moins trois continents. Amnistie internationale Canada francophone appelle à l'action. Envoyez une carte électronique au Secrétaire général des Nations Unies. Lancez un cri du coeur pour les enfants soldats. Visitez le site de la campagne
U.S. Institute of Peace
Read a report about this story from the Tribal Liaison Office (TLO) which was created in 2003, to facilitate, with USIP's help, peacebuilding and conflict resolution.
Women Talking with Women:
The keynote speaker was longtime IANSA member Wendy Cukier, Associate Dean of Management at Ryerson University, in Toronto, Canada. Participants came up with a regional policy framework for getting women involved in decision-making about violence prevention and exchanged ideas on the role women could play in reducing violence in their households, communities and countries. The meeting outcomes included a 10 point regional action plan
 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.
Canada One of the Only President Obama’s announcement during his visit earlier this month to Mexico that he will ask Senate to ratify the OAS firearms trafficking convention, Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Related Materials (CIFTA) has had an impact on remaining hold outs. The Dominican Republic has ratified the CIFTA, bringing the number of OAS states that have ratified CIFTA to 30. Only three countries still have to ratify the firearms convention: Canada, Jamaica, and St. Vincent.
SAWG Attends Civil Society Forum
For more information about the SAWG and its activities, please contact Maribel Gonzales at: mgonzales@ploughshares.ca
Stephen Lewis and Eve Ensler On April 28th, Eve Ensler and Stephen Lewis made powerful and moving presentations to parliamentarians and members of civil society on the use of sexual violence in conflict. Ensler is the world-renowned author of The Vagina Monologues and founder of the V-Day organization, which has raised over $70 million dollars towards the prevention of violence against women. She spoke passionately of the suffering of the people of DRC over the past 12 years of conflict. She called on Canadians to support Congolese organizations who were working at great risk to themselves to help ease the suffering of those affected by sexual violence. Stephen Lewis’ work with the United Nations spans more than two decades, including acting as Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations. Stephen Lewis is the chair of the board of the Stephen Lewis Foundation and the author of the best-selling book, Race Against Time.He called on the Government of Canada to take a leading role in addressing the problem of sexual violence by providing increased support and oversight to MONUC and by implementing United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820—both of which recognize the use of sexual violence as a deliberate and debilitating strategy of combat. Special thanks go to the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity for hosting the event and to Paul Dewar, chair, for their tremendous efforts in making this such an inclusive event. Thanks also to Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec, STAND Canada, Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, Amnesty International and Amnistie internationale Canada francophone for their work. For more information on the use of sexual violence in conflict see the GPWG's new fact sheets:
A New Take on Feminism
This video was prepared for and first shown on March 4th, 2009, at an event marking International Women's Day in Ottawa. In the spirit of the evening, the video asks us to consider feminism in a new light—sometimes funny, sometimes serious, always engaged. The event was organized by more than ten organizations working for women's rights and equality at the local, national and international levels, including: Amnesty International Canada, the Nobel Women's Initiative, Oxfam Canada, Harmony House, Inter Pares, the Gender and Peacebuilding Working Group, the Women’s Event Network, OCTEVAW, the Ad Hoc Coalition for Women’s Equality and Human Rights, Women’s Worlds 2011, PACT Ottawa, Planned Parenthood Ottawa, Comité Réseau d'Ottawa, and GalldinLiew Feminist Legal Practice. For more information about the GPWG and its activities, please contact Kate McInturff at:gender@peacebuild.ca
The African Union
The obligations of R2P are particularly relevant to Africa in the face of crises such as those in Sudan (Darfur), parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Somalia. Rather than passing definitive judgment on the relatively young notion of R2P, this policy note addresses some of the challenges confronting its implementation in Africa. For more information about the POWG and its activities, please contact Clare Morris at: powg@peacebuild.ca
Following-up on the Geneva Declaration In 2006, the Government of Canada endorsed the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development. In this declaration, governments committed to integrating armed violence reduction and conflict prevention into their humanitarian and development programming, to supporting armed violence reduction and prevention initiatives targeted at specific risk factors and groups, to stemming the spread and misuse of small arms, and to seeking a measurable reduction in armed violence by 2015. The recent UN General Assembly Resolution on armed violence and development (A/RES/63/23) asks the Secretary-General to collect views from member states on the relationship between armed violence and development. The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), in which the CPWG participates, has been involved in the Geneva Declaration process and has drafted a submission in response to the Resolution to detail potential measures to prevent violent conflict. Peacebuild is writing to Foreign Minister Cannon to support the GPPAC submission and to urge the Government of Canada to submit its views on the links between the reduction of armed violence, conflict prevention and the promotion of development, and its proposals for more effective international responses.
The Afghanistan Reference Group On April 15, 2009, the Afghanistan Reference Group met with the Department of Foreign Affairs' Afghanistan Task Force on the Government of Canada’s December 2008 Quarterly Report. The meeting had a thematic focus on Humanitarian Issues. Government representatives provided insightful updates on the different areas of government engagement in Afghanistan: Reconciliation, Border Management (Afghan-Pakistan border), Rule of Law (Cops, Courts and Corrections), Security (Afghan National Army training), National Institutions & Democratic Development (elections, IDLG, technical advisors in Afghan ministries), Basic Services (Dahla Dam, school construction, teacher education, wheat seeds, micro-finance), and Humanitarian Assistance (food aid, polio vaccinations, support to UNHCR for the refugee return, de-mining). Special concerns related to humanitarian assistance were the protection of aid personnel and Afghanistan’s absorption capacity for the high number of returning refugees. Canada supports the Humanitarian Action Plan (HAP) in the areas of de-mining, support for the refugee return, food security, emergency telecommunications, nutrition, health and emergency education. Government representatives emphasized Canada’s support for the civ-mil guidelines and humanitarian principles in the face of the U.S. troop surge. Canadian Forces received extensive training before deployment, including on interactions with NGOs and other stakeholders. Civilians are now taking up more space than before at the Kandahar PRT, which is a platform for all Canadian government engagement in the province. For more information about the CPWG and its activities or about the Afghanistan Reference Group, please contact Silke Reichrath at: prevention@peacebuild.ca
Forum Meeting Features
The Forum for Children and Armed Conflict held its most recent meeting on April 16, 2009, in Ottawa. Mr. Paul Kellner, Coordinator of the Agency Learning Network on the Care and Protection of Children in Crisis-Affected Countries gave a presentation to Forum Members, giving them an opportunity to learn about another network of international organizations based at Colombia University that also works on issues pertaining to children and armed conflict. The Learning Network and Members of the Forum shared experiences and challenges, and discussed future opportunities for collaboration. A second presenter, Mc Anthony Keah, discussed his recent novel: Growing up naked: The Untold Stories of Children at War. The novel is based on factual events that took place during the civil war in Liberia. It also captures some of Mr. Mc Anthony’s experiences by addressing the challenges faced by a researcher in conducting this type of research and the issues that children face as child soldiers and as victims. For more information about the Forum and its activities, please contact Guillaume Landry at: g.landry@ibcr.org. |
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Project Ploughshares, a Canadian disarmament and peacebuilding organization based in Waterloo, Ontario, announced this week that it will manage a one-year program to support international civil society efforts to achieve an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the United Kingdom is contributing £323,000 from its Strategic Programme Fund, with an option to renew the funding for a second year.
This 45-page report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) is based on a two-week fact-finding mission to northern Sri Lanka in February. HRW conducted over 60 interviews with representatives of local and international nongovernmental and humanitarian organizations, UN agencies, medical personnel, religious leaders, diplomatic representatives, and ordinary civilians affected by the conflict. The government has prohibited journalists and human rights monitors from going to the battle zone in the Vanni, making access to information difficult.
The U.S. Institute of Peace is currently funding the Commission on Conflict Mediation Program (CCM) in Khost Province in Afghanistan. Composed of six tribal elders, the Commission provides an alternative dispute resolution mechanism akin to Western out-of-court arbitration. During its first 18 months, the CCM has worked on 31 conflicts; 18 cases have been resolved; 10 cases are currently being processed; and 3 have been referred to the provincial court. This marks a success for USIP's rule of law work in Afghanistan, as arbitration services, now provided free of charge, are being utilized and working. 
Over 150 women from across the region met in Trinidad and Tobago for two days to discuss crime and violence. The meeting was hosted by WINAD (Women's Institute for Alternative
Development) and UNICEF in a effort to mobilise women for analysis and action to promote women's full participation in decision making on security issues. The participating countries were; Antigua and Barbuda; Belize; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Grenada; Guyana; Haiti; Jamaica; St Kitts; St Lucia; St Vincent and the Grenadines; Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos; Venezuela, Canada and United States of America.
Maribel Gonzales, SAWG Coordinator and Programme Associate, Project Ploughshares, attended the Civil Society Forum of the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on 14-16 April 2009. The Civil Society Forum was one of three pre-summit meetings sponsored by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the host government of Trinidad and Tobago. About 280 civil society participants from the Americas attended the conference, which had “Social Innovation and Implementation: Citizens in Motion” as its theme. A 4th Summits of the People was held almost concurrently on 16-18 April 2009 in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. The Summits of the People were established by social movements in the global south in response to the free-market policies embodied by the Free Trade Area of the Americas plan, which opponents argue have been detrimental to the vast majority of peoples in the Americas and around the world. Maribel attended the final session of the Summits of the People.
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