On 26-28 of June, the key Partner of GPPAC in Central Asia – “Dolina Mira” (Valley of Peace) Network held a workshop on analysis of the situation in Ferghana Valley in Kyrgyzstan, Issyk-Kul. Dolina Mira is a network of civil society organizations from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan working together to address the tensions arising in Ferghana Valley and to prevent the outbreak of violent conflict. The network is supported by the Danish Refugee Council and became a member of GPPAC in 2006.

As part of the workshop conducted in cooperation with UNDP-Kyrgyzstan, the members of Dolina Mira network identified the key impediments to lasting peace in Ferghana Valley, discussed the challenges and identified the core strategic directions and action points. During the General Assembly of Dolina Mira, which took place on 30 June, the key strategic decisions were confirmed, the number of working groups were formed and new members were accepted. 

Dolina Mira continues to be a strong example of how a regional network can work effectively in addressing regional conflict issues, and where there is a strong potential for GPPAC to complement and enhance the impact of the current regional work.

Added on 4 August 2009

In early January 2009 in Montenegro, the Ministry of Education of Montenegro signed a Memorandum on Cooperation with GPPAC Regional Secretariat for the Western Balkans, the Nansen Dialogue Centre MontenegroSupport to Education System Reform Process in Montenegro. The memorandum includes exchange of materials, news, relevant info on capacity building, and research within GPPAC and South East European Mediation Forum (www.seemf.eu). concerning the programme

In May 2009, the programme Support to Education System Reform Process in Montenegro, including Nansen School of Dialogue and School Mediation programmes got official certification by the Bureau for Education Services in Montenegro, which gives an institutional recognition to the programmes.

In April 2009, in Serbia, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia released a letter to the Nansen Dialogue Centre Serbia stating official support for the continuance of the Mediation in Schools in the South of Serbia programme. This programme started in 2007 as part of Lillehammer - Bujanovac Schools' Cooperation Project with the aim of strengthening conflict resolution skills through the enhancement of non-violent communication. With the participation of both teachers and students this programme is contributing to a safe school environment.

This beginning of a partnership of understanding and cooperation between the Ministry of Education and the schools provides great motivation for the region and is a positive step towards support for Peace Education curriculum being implemented in schools in the region.

Added on 16 July 2009 

A meeting of the GPPAC Peace Education Working Group was held in Jerusalem from the 18th - 20th of May 2009. Participants discussed strategic and administrative details of cross regional and global Peace Education activities carried out in the past six months or planned and also those planned for the rest of the year and were introduced to the regional conflict context by local peacebuilders.

Common themes and challenges emerged from the discussions, including the wish to build the capacity of peace educators as agents of change, seeing tools such as teacher training in peace education as a viable avenue to promote conflict resolution methods, an aim for institutional support of educational authorities in promoting peace education, and a shared interest in the exchange of materials, curricula, and manuals. The challenge of translating policy documents into practical action was also discussed as it came in many of the regional updates.

The members also agreed to restructure the Peace Education Working Group, among others setting up several implementation committees within the group on different themes, that members can sign up to according to their interests and possible contributions. Various digital communication platforms and an e-newsletters were also discussed as ways to further strengthen interaction on peace education.

The second half of May 19th and the whole of the 20th were dedicated to further deepening an understanding and feel for local context: The members of the working group got the opportunity to learn and interact with both Israelis and Palestinians in many different settings, including a visit to Hebron and a roundtable discussion with speakers from universities, peace organizations, psychologists, charities and aid organizations. Listening to a mixture of both personal, professional, and academic standpoints on the situation revealed the deep complexities of the conflict in this region as well as the efforts being undertaken from various quarters to resolve it.

A full account of discussions can be found in the Meeting Report.

Added on 7 July 2009

Peace Boat statement to the Six Party Talk states regarding the North Korean Nuclear Test. PeaceBoat is the GPPAC Regional Secretariat for Northeast Asia.

26 May 2009

As citizens living in Northeast Asia, sharing the memory of the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and hoping for the realisation of the abolition of nuclear weapons as soon as possible, we strongly condemn the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), and stress that this test threatens the peace and security of all Northeast Asian citizens, including those of North Korea. In these circumstances, we make the following requests of the members of the Six-Party Talks.

1. We call on the North Korean government to immediately return to the Six-Party Talks, fundamentally move away from a foreign policy based on provocation and threat such as through the rocket test launches and nuclear tests, and to aim for national security through the establishment of dialogue and regional security mechanisms based on confidence building. Furthermore, we call for the initiation of concrete actions towards the destruction of stockpiled nuclear weapons, complete renunciation of nuclear weapons development, and the denuclearisation of the Northeast Asian region.

2. We call on the Japanese Government to strongly oppose North Korean nuclear testing from the position of the only country to have ever suffered an atomic attack. Furthermore, we ask Japan to enshrine its own three non-nuclear principles into law, and return to the principles of the Pyongyang Declaration, working towards the resolution of the abduction issue, settlement of issues relating to Japan's history of invasion and colonial rule, and the realisation of a Northeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone within the process of negotiations towards normalisation of diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea.

3. We call on the Government of the United States to recommence direct negotiations with North Korea, put forward concrete suggestions for resolution of North Korea's energy supply and economic aid problems, and strongly urge North Korea to make a shift in its policy. Furthermore, we call for the realisation of the denuclearisation of Northeast Asia, including the US military bases located in Japan and South Korea. We also strongly urge the US to cease the strengthening of its missile defence related weapons, which are provocative to North Korea; implement significant disarmament of its own nuclear weapons as one of the nuclear weapon superpowers; and at the same time declare 'no first use' of nuclear weapons.

4. To the South Korean government, we request efforts to make the Six-Party Talks function as a step towards the regional peace process of Northeast Asia, through normalising relations with the Government of North Korea by acts such as strengthening food aid and renewing initiatives to reunite families divided across the border between the two Koreas.

5. We request Russia and China to make steps towards nuclear disarmament as nuclear powers, and to fully cooperate for the establishment of a Northeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone.

Enquiries regarding this statement can be directed to Yoshioka Tatsuya of Peace Boat.
(Tel:+81-3-3363-8047 / Fax:+81-3-3363-7562 / pbglobal@peaceboat.gr.jp)

Subject to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 63/23 on ‘Promoting Development through the Reduction and Prevention of Armed Violence’, based on the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, the UN Secretary-General was instructed to seek the views of the member states on the interrelation between armed violence and development and to report back to the General Assembly at its 64th session in 2009. Within this process, international non-governmental organisations were invited to make submissions to the coordinating body by the end of May 2009. To download GPPAC’s submission, please click here (PDF 228kb). For more information on this process, please visit the website of the Geneva Declaration Secretariat, or visit the Small Arms & Armed Violence page of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs to read the views of member states and other civil society organisations.

Added on 24 May 2009

WANEP joins partners in the Africa Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfAP) to observe political intolerance and violence in Kwazulu-Natal province before, during and after the South African elections.

As part of efforts to contribute to violence prevention before, during and after the general elections in South Africa, three GPPAC Regional Initiators - ACCORD, NPI-Africa and the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) - which constitute the Africa Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfAP) have formed an election observation and monitoring team. Their mission is to observe and record levels of political intolerance and violence in the province of KwaZulu-Natal before, during and after the general elections.

It is in this light that the West Africa Regional Initiator for GPPAC, WANEP released this press statement to sensitize the world about the role that Civil Society is playing on a common platform to contribute to violence prevention in South Africa.

Added on 24 April 2009

In June 2009, a special guest from South Korea (Lee Jae-Young) will be travelling through Japan. During his stay in Japan, Lee Jae-Young will be holding a series of training workshops about conflict resolution - from the personal to the global. He will also be explaining more about the new and exciting initiative to launch the Northeast Asia Regional Peace Institute - NARPI.

Mr. Lee Jae Young graduated from Eastern Mennonite University with an MA in Conflict Transformation. He works for the Korean Anabaptist Center as the Peace Program Coordinator. He is also one of founding members of the Conflict Resolution Center in Women Making Peace, where he currently works as a researcher. He has conducted various workshops on peace education, conflict transformation, and mediation training for school teachers, parents, government officers, NGO activists, and students. He is also working on the establishment of a peacebuilding institute in the region called Northeast Asia Regional Peacebuilding Institute(NARPI). For more information on NARPI, please go to www.narpi.net. Mr. Lee Jae Young is a vice-president at Connexus Language Institute in Seoul, and a member of the GPPAC Peace Education working group.

These workshops are organised by GPPAC Northeast Asia, Peace Boat, the Global Campaign for Peace Education, Olive and Rosemary, Nonviolent Peaceforce Japan, and Transcend Japan.

• Tokyo: Friday 12 June from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Peace Boat Centre Tokyo (5 mins walk from Waseda Exit, Takadanobaba station [JR/Seibu Shinjuku/Tozai Subway lines]). www.peaceboat.org/english/wtpb/map.html.  Participation will cost 500 yen. For any questions or enquiries, please call +81-3-3363-8047, fax +81-3-3362-6309 or email to info@peaceboat.gr.jp.
• Kyoto: Monday 15 June from 6:30-8:30 pm in Room 829, Ryoyukan Hall, Kinugawasa Campus, Ritsumeikan University (www.ritsumei.jp/campusmap/index_j.html).  Participation will cost 500 yen / 300 yen for students. Questions and enquiries can be directed to Lee Keung (Ritsumeikan University) at ja099061@ed.ritsumei.ac.jp.
• Nagoya: Tuesday 16 June from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Tokai Gakuen University, Sakae Satellite Campus - 3 min / 200m South of Exit 4, Yabaicho Station, Meijo Line. Participation will cost 500 yen, and questions or enquiries can be directed to Asakawa at +81-70-5573-3925 or kasan@mac.com), or to the Olive and Rosemary Office at olive_and_rosemary@hotmail.co.jp.
• Hiroshima: To be confirmed (somewhere between 17-19 June). For enquiries, please contact Okumoto Kyoko at okumoto@wilmina.ac.jp.
• Lee Jae-young will also be presenting at the Peace Studies Association of Japan (PSAJ) event, which will be held at Keisen Women's University on Saturday 13 June 2009, and participating in events later that night. For more information about this, please contact Okumoto Kyoto at okumoto@wilmina.ac.jp. 

For general enquiries, please contact Meri Joyce through meri@peaceboat.gr.jp or at +81-3-3363-8047.

Added on 9 June 2009

The Global Media Forum will bring together media users and producers, peace building and conflict prevention specialists, representatives from the fields of media technology and security, public relations, the military and arms industry, as well as members of government and political parties to network and discuss challenges and solutions for the future. To find out more information or register, please visit http://www.dw-gmf.de/.

Added on 7 April 2009

As part of the Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) programme, the GPPAC Regional Secretariat for West Africa, WANEP, organised an international conference in Côte d’Ivoire from 23-26 February 2009 on Mobilising for Early Response. This meeting brought together the international GPPAC EWER Working Group, peacebuilding practitioners from West Africa, and several representatives from ECOWAS, the UN, the AU, and the Ivorian ministries of Reconciliation and African Integration. The participants exchanged experiences, made practical recommendations and effective early warning and early response mechanisms. The outcomes of the three situation assessments on Mobilising Early Re¬sponse in Central America, Kenya and Transnistria were discussed. Based on these sessions, the Working Group made plans to develop the MER Project further so that GPPAC regions will be in a better position to respond to existing or emerging situations which threaten to result in violence.

Considering the challenges that Côte d'Ivoire has faced in implementing the 2007 Ouagadougou Political Agreement that was mediated by the current chair of ECOWAS, and the deferral of elections originally scheduled for early 2008 to April 2009, this conference also aimed to facilitate dialogue on the current situation in the country. To this end, several local NGOs provided their input and a panel of experts addressed ‘Prospects for Transitioning to Peace in Côte d’Ivoire.’ The conference itself received exceptional media coverage in both televised and print media and there was an opening statement provided by the Minister for Reconciliation and Peace from Côte d’Ivoire. In general, there was a feeling that the conference and the coverage surrounding it has rekindled constructive debate within Côte d’Ivoire on the nature of the conflict, which was one of the main motivations of the EWER Programme for choosing to hold its review conference there.

The meeting participants also took the opportunity to visit some local organisations to hear about their work, including the national civil society platform "Convention de la Société Civile ivoirienne" (CSCI), the platform for Ivorian human rights organisations, "Regroupement des Acteurs Ivoiriens des Droits Humains" (RAIDH) which among others coordinates youth sensitization programmes, COSOPCI, a platform for peace and democratic development which targets the media and has trained three thousand civilians as election monitors, and finally, CEFCI-WHCR, a women’s centre for democracy and human rights. These trips demonstrated to the participants that despite Cote d’Ivoire’s problems, there is a vibrant and growing local civil society presence there.

To read the full conference report, please click here (PDF 752kb). The report of the Working Group meeting is in the final prepartory phase, and draft reports of the MER case studies will be available shortly. For more information, please contact the Programme Assistant for our Early Warning and Early Response Programme, Annabel Meurs, at ewerprogram@conflict-prevention.net.

Added on 25 March 2009 / Updated on 20 May 2009

The Regional Centre for Strategic Studies from Colombo, Sri Lanka (Regional Initiator for GPPAC South Asia) organised a workshop in association with the Research Center for Peace Building at Mahidol University (Bangkok) and the Berghof Foundation for Peace Support (Berlin). Held in Bangkok, Thailand from 23-25 January 2009, the Workshop brought together scholars and activists from South and Southeast Asia to focus on "Civil Society Perspectives on Conflict and Peace" in their respective regions. Insights were shared on the role of civil society actors in promoting conflict transformation and peace building with respect to internal conflicts, and on the role of regional collaboration to improve the effectiveness of conflict prevention and peace promotion.

The workshop opened by mapping internal conflicts and peace processes in the region. It addressed the potential for Track 2 and 3 activities on peace building and conflict transformation and focussed on multi-track civil society engagements in the region – using Sri Lanka, Kashmir, the Philippines and South Thailand as case studies. The role of SAARC and ASEAN with regard to internal conflicts and ways to encourage CSOs to play constructive roles in engaging with such actors was also examined during the workshop – which aimed to identify a ‘way forward’ through enhanced regional networking and collaboration amongst CSOs.

In addition to representatives of the Regional Secretariat for South Asia (Professor Amal Jayawardane and Ms. Nilakshi Gunatillake), representatives from GPPAC Southeast Asia (Mr. Augusto Miclat) and the GPPAC Global Secretariat (Ms. Marte Hellema) were also present.

Added on 7 May 2009

In cooperation with the GPPAC-SEA Peace Education Working Group, the Center for Peace Education (Philippines) organised a workshop on peace education for 27 educators drawn from 8 countries in Southeast Asia from 19-23 January 2009. The workshop sought to equip a core of formal and community educators with the knowledge required to disseminate peace education; to encourage them to generate feasible action plans for implementation in schools, organisations and/or communities; to encourage the development of core teams capable of promoting peace education in each country; and to facilitate the development of the Southeast Asia Peace Education Network, which was started in September 2007. The conference also attracted representation from two Ministries of Education (Cambodia and the Philippines), and the regional Working Group is working to produce a training manual by the beginning of 2010 for trainees to use in their home countries.

Added on 12 March 2009

In December 2008, NPI-Africa organised the seminar “Towards a Multi-Conflict Prevention Plan for Kenya”. This seminar was one of the activities of the Mobilising Early Response project, which is conducted under GPPAC’s Early Warning & Early Response (EWER) programme. More than 20 representatives from different Kenyan CSOs as well as government departments gathered together in Mombassa. Mr. Ifeany Celestine Okechukwu came from the WANEP office in Nigeria to provide the seminar with a cross-regional element, and the Global Secretariat was represented by Mr. Kees Kolsteeg – the regional coordinator for Africa. The major outcome of this two day seminar was the production of a draft framework for a Kenyan Conflict Prevention Plan. NPI-Africa will ensure that this document is developed further and implemented accordingly.

Added on 12 March 2009

"Sustainable peace in Kenya, our region and the rest of our continent will only be realized when we each discover that our individual and collective actions constitute choices either for peace or violence. Peace education, while not offering all the answers, holds the possibility that we can begin to build foundations for peace in our young school-going people. I hope that this conference will be remembered for having spurred the region towards embracing peace education in our schools."

                                              - Ms. Florence Mpaayei, Executive Director, NPI-Africa

Conference on Peace Education in Eastern and Central Africa: "The State of the Art, Lessons and Possibilities"

In its capacity as the Eastern and Central Africa Regional Secretariat for the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), Nairobi Peace Initiative - Africa (NPI-Africa) organised a Regional Conference under the theme, Peace Education in Eastern and Central Africa: "The State of the Art, Lessons and Possibilities" held in Nairobi, Kenya from 2-5 December 2008.

The conference was organized in partnership and collaboration with the GPPAC International Secretariat, The Global Campaign for Peace Education and Kenya's Ministry of Education.

To mobilise the participants, NPI-Africa cooperated closely with GPPAC regional focal points in order to invite relevant civil society members and to identify relevant officers within the ministry of education. With support from the efficient and cooperative offices of the Ministry of Education in Kenya, NPI-Africa was able to invite government officials and relevant educational institution members from Kenya.

The conference provided a forum for sharing experiences from various initiatives around the world and raised awareness for peace education in East and Central Africa. It charted ways for future collaboration and networking between informal and formal educators, Ministries of Education, UN agencies, teacher training institutions, researchers and civil society groups.

The great interest in peace education shown by Kenya's Ministry of Education and preparations of curriculum and materials in that direction after the recent political crisis and violence in Kenya made this conference very timely. It was also encouraging to have representatives from the Ministry of Education strongly involved who showed a keen interest in establishing future relations with civil society and increasing their efforts to promote peace education.

For more information please visit:

http://www.npi-africa.org/conference.php

Added on 15 December 2008

On 17 November 2008, the General Assembly of the UN passed a resolution on ‘Promoting Development through the Reduction and Prevention of Armed Violence’, based on the Geneva Declaration. The Resolution stresses the need for a coherent and integrated approach to the prevention of armed violence with a view to achieving sustainable peace and development, and instructs the Secretary-General to collect the views of Members States on the relationship between armed violence and development. At the moment, we understand that hearings will be held in Geneva and New York City, and that international non-governmental organisations will be given an audience should they supply useful inputs on the subject before the end of March.

As in previous years, the AR Programme has produced a printed newsletter with highlights from International Day of Peace (IDP) activities around the world. Copies of this publication, our newest GPPAC brochure and copies of past issue papers were sent to the regions in mid-February. Should you like to be included in our IDP database, please let us know by sending an e-mail to pbp@conflict-prevention.net. Alternatively, you can access the newsletter, brochure and issue papers here on the GPPAC website.

The report of the GPPAC Awareness Raising Meeting is also still available. Held on 19-20 October 2008 in the Netherlands, the meeting brought together members from the Awareness Raising Working Group as well as several media experts. Together they developed a media strategy for GPPAC and discussed the challenges and opportunities which face those wishing to utilize the media in conflict prevention. To read the full report, please click here (PDF, 443kb).

Updated on 17 March 2009

After the upsurge of violence and killings in Gaza at the end of December 2008, two distinguished persons linked to GPPAC, a Palestinian and an Israeli, wrote complementary articles which comment on the need to transform mindsets away from militarism and martyrdom and call upon peacebuilders around the world to unite and take action. Click here to download the articles and read what Edy Kaufman and Lucy Nusseibeh have to say (PDF, 176 kb).

With support from GPPAC, a meeting of prominent independent political experts from Russia and Georgia was organised in November 2008 by the International Center on Conflict and Negotiation (ICCN). Held in Istanbul, Turkey, the symposium was entitled: "Georgia-Russian Relations: Ways Out of Crisis" . Participants analyzed the fundamental causes of the conflict as well as key factors which triggered the eruption of violence. During this meeting, experts also discussed the mechanisms which can be employed in future strategies designed to stabilize relations. Despite differences in positions and perceptions, the participants managed to identify and frame commonly accepted key process goals, and agreed upon the following:

Considering the strength with which these individuals represent the interests of their constituents, and the opportunities they have to influence opinions within both their own societies and the circle of decision makers in the political arena, the members of this unique initiative have decided to continue their work together under the title of the "Istanbul Process".

Immediate plans include the production and dissemination of publications incorporating some of the key points from the November discussions. In the long term, the experts plan to facilitate a series of events which involve regional civil society actors and government officials from across the region, and organize several meetings with international multilateral organizations - which includes crisis management groups.

It was stressed with great hope that this initiative will continue to analyse and monitor the situation and create a space for communication across the conflict divide. Acting as liaisons between the relevant actors, it is hoped that this group of individuals will succeed in bringing the parties closer together and preventing future violence in the region.

Added on 15 December 2008