Freedom of Conscience and Belief

25 November is the date anniversary of the U.N. General Assembly resolution in 1981 to proclaim the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. The Declaration is a development of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights highlighting freedom or thought, conscience, religion or belief. The 1981 Declaration is now recognized as articulating the fundamental right of freedom of conscience, religion, and belief.

The efforts for such a U.N. declaration began in 1962. Two conventions were proposed by African States, many of whom had joined the U.N. after their 1960 independence. One convention was to deal with racism. Since racism in the minds of many delegates was largely limited to apartheid in South Africa, work on a racism convention progressed quickly and was adopted in 1965. Freedom of religion was more complex. The effort was led by Liberia, but ran into East-West Cold War devisions. Work on a convention was largely completed by 1967 when the Six Day War in the Middle East broke out, making religious issues all the more sensitive at the U.N.



One issue was that there was no agreed upon definition as to what is "religion", thus the longer term used of "thought, conscience, religion or belief".

Work was still slow. Thus, it was decided to change the proposal from a "Convention" which is a treaty which must be ratified by the parliament of the Member State to a "Declaration" which can be voted by the U.N. General Assembly. The second modification was to change the declaration from a positive one - "freedom of religion or belief" to a negative one "elimination of intolerance and discrimination" based on religion or belief.

Work on the Declaration had begun at the U.N. in New York. When the human rights bodies of the U.N. moved in 1977 to Geneva, a working group on the Declaration was set up in which representatives on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Association of World Citizens, were particularly active. By the summer of 1981, the drafting of the Declaration was complete. The text was sent on to the delegates in New York and was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on 25 November 1981.

After 1981, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (become since the Human Rights Council) created the post of Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion in 1985. The post continues today. The Declaration has given NGOs an agreed upon standard to which to hold governments. The 1981 Declaration cannot be implemented by U.N. bodies alone. Beginning with the shift of the U.N. human rights secretariat to Geneva and the closer cooperation with NGO representatives, the role of NGOs is more often written into U.N. human rights resolutions, calling on NGO cooperation, education and fact-finding. Thus in the 1981 Declaration there is a paragraph which "requests the Secretary-General in this context to invite interested non-governmental organizations to consider what further role they could envisage playing in the implementation of the Declaration."

Thus, the Association of World Citizens has continued to play an active role in the U.N. human rights bodies when the right of belief and conscience has been under attack in different parts of the world. Our policy has been to take a lead when a community under pressure was not part of an NGO in consultative status with representatives in Geneva who could speak for them. In practice, the World Council of Churches speaks for Protestant and to a lesser degree for the Orthodox Churches. The Vatican, which is considered a State, participates actively in human rights bodies and speaks for Roman Catholic churches. Thus, the Association of World Citizens has, in recent years, raised the issues of the Mandaeans, also known as Sabian Mandaeans, in Iraq, the Yazidi in Iraq and Syria, the Rohingya fleeing Myanmar (Burma), the Baha'i in Yemen after having raised starting in 1980 the persecution of the Baha'i in Iran. Starting in 1985, there being no active Buddhist organization active at the U.N. in Geneva at the time, we raised the condition of religious liberty of the Tibetans in Tibet. This was followed by presentations of the fate of the Falun Gong movement in China. They are basically Taoist but consider themselves as a separate movement or belief. There was no Taoist NGO at the U.N. that I knew of.

There is a worldwide erosion of the freedom of belief and conscience in many parts of the world causing large-scale suffering, grave injustice, and refugee flows. Belief and conscience are efforts on the part of individuals and communities to understand and to seek to live in harmony with the laws of Nature and often to communicate their understanding and devotion to others. The anniversary date of 25 November should be an opportunity to consider how to strengthen freedom of conscience and belief.

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Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

Rapport annuel sur la Géopolitique de l'Afrique

Rapport annuel sur la Géopolitique de l'Afrique

Sous la direction de : Abdelhak Bassou | September 26, 2019

Le Rapport sur la géopolitique de l’Afrique, dénommé lors de ses éditions précédentes « Miroir d’Afrique », s’inscrit dans une série de documents annuels publiés par le Policy Center for the New South (PCNS). Les grandes évolutions du continent y sont traitées, avec une large place faite à l’analyse prospective. Ce rapport s’ajoute ainsi au Rapport annuel sur l’économie de l’Afrique et au Rapport Arcadia (Annual Report on Commodity Analytics and Dynamics in Africa), portant les analyses de chercheurs issus du Nord comme du Sud.

Ce document s’articule autour de trois grandes parties, consacrées aux régions, à la sécurité et au jeu des puissances étrangères. L’Afrique n’étant pas un pays, mais un vaste continent dont la carte peut abriter les superficies de la Chine, de l’Inde, de l’Europe et des États-Unis, une analyse informée et factuelle ne peut faire l’économie d’un passage au crible des dynamiques propres à chacune de ses sous-régions, organisées en communautés économiques. Le thème de la sécurité, quant à lui, englobe les questions de la migration, de l’embrigadement des mineurs dans des groupes armés, ainsi que de la criminalité transnationale et du terrorisme. Enfin, l’analyse du jeu auquel se livrent les grandes puissances étrangères englobe les problématiques liées à l’urbanisme et au changement climatique.

Consultez ici le rapport Miroir d’Afrique

https://www.policycenter.ma/publications/rapport-annuel-sur-la-g%C3%A9opolitique-de-lafrique?platform=hootsuite

Il était 1 fois, 1 mur

Témoignage de Malika Filali qui raconte sa journée.

· Il y a 30 ans aujourd'hui. Un des plus beaux jours de ma chienne de life. Ce jour qui, depuis, me fait croire farouchement que TOUT est possible. Tant qu'il y aura des hommes. De bonne volonté. Et des peuples qui crient. ------------------------------------------------------ Les tribulations d'une Marocaine dans les 2 Allemagnes 9 novembre 1989: le Mur est tombé, l'indicible s'est produit, l'improbable est arrivé, les poules ont eu des dents, la semaine a eu 4 jeudis et impossible n'est plus allemand! Il n'y a plus qu'une seule Allemagne. Nous dansons tous, les Allemands et nous, les autres. Nous autres qui pensons à nos murs à nous, invisibles certes, mais parfois insurmontables... qui sait? Si une solide muraille made in Germany a pu tomber, pourquoi pas les nôtres, si souvent rafistolées par des potentats forts de nos seules faiblesses? Le soir même, ils arrivent tous en une heure de temps de la frontière abolie, nous sommes à Hambourg si près des miradors de l'ex RDA... Ils arrivent dans leurs légendaires Trabis brinquebalantes avec chacun 100 deutschmarks en poche, alloués par l'autre Allemagne aux "frangins" récupérés. Une des cousines, hallucinée, me demande au super-marché: "A quoi ça vous sert d'avoir 18 sortes de moutardes?“. C’est vrai, ça. A quoi ça sert sinon à faire tourner le système capitaliste qui nous régit…. Je renonce à parler politique en ce jour de liesse. Les Trabis se garent à côté des Rolls des beaux quartiers de la ville, scènes surréalistes de deux mondes qui s'accostent, s'embrassent, et se congratulent. On rit, on danse, on fraternise: on est heureux d'étreindre l'Histoire. En pleine nuit mon mari se redresse de son sommeil d'Allemand fraîchement réunifié avec l'Est et me crie: "Malika, Malika, réveille-toi… Je viens d’avoir une idée!!! On va pouvoir enfin récupérer la maison du grand-père de l'autre côté de la frontière et dont personne ne voulait! Vite, on va y aller demain. Enfin 300 km sans passer par les miradors, les soldats, les chiens, les tracasseries, les contrôles, youpee!" Car ce village du Papi, enfoui au fond du Mecklembourg, je l’avais visité l’année précédente, flanquée de ma belle-mère et de mon mari. J’avais passé des heures à la frontière, sous l’oeil mauvais des soldats de l’Est, mitrailleuses pointées sur nous, me laissant passer tranquillement, moi, la non-Allemande mais déshabillant les autres et les accablant de questions et de fouilles. Jusqu’à ces tiges prolongées de petits miroirs et caméras qu’ils nous ont passé sous la voiture au voyage de retour, des fois que nous aurions un cousin clandestin épris de liberté et collé sous la carcasse… Je me souviens encore de ces magasins vides et désolants, des étalages de choux-fleurs pourris, de fruits chétifs (c’est quoi, une banane - quel goût a une orange, demandaient les petits cousins)… Le poissonnier, lui, n’ouvrait qu’un jour par semaine, l’essentiel allant sur Berlin, Dresde et Leipzig. Le communisme dans ses derniers soubresauts, mais ça, nous ne le savions pas… Et c'est ainsi que nous nous retrouvons, quelques mois plus tard propriétaires d'une maison enfouie dans un village du Mecklembourg profond où vivent environ 300 citoyens de l'Allemagne de l'Est profonde qui n'ont jamais vu d'étrangers avant mon arrivée. La nouvelle passe comme l'éclair: Une Africaine (sic) arrive! Le premier jour, en vraie bonne femme, je prends ma fille sous le bras et je pars faire des emplettes au village... Une rue, une seule rue mène à la place de la Mairie - car il y a une mairie.. mais rien d'autre: pas de cinéma, pas de super-marché, pas de poste, pas de taxis et - le comble - pas de police! Sous l'ancien régime chacun était un flic en puissance et la peur régnait... Quelques habitants bavardent sur le trottoir mais au fur et à mesure que j'avance, le silence se fait, les visages se figent et me fixent, ébahis. Je n'ose plus parler, mon coeur s'étreint et je me réfugie dans une petite boutique d'alimentation où je découvre un désordre invraisemblable: toutes les denrées sont pêle-mêle, le lait frais en bouteille est par-terre, la crème fraîche aussi, les dates sont toutes périmées, il manque de tout et une saleté évidente recouvre l'ensemble. Vais-je devoir vivre réfugiée à la maison pour ne pas avoir à affronter la curiosité et l'hostilité générales? On tient le coup combien de temps à ce régime frustrant? Le salut, comme la vérité, semblerait sortir de la bouche des enfants. Ce sont des petites filles curieuses qui ont bravé un beau matin le mur-fantôme est-ouest-Maroc pour frapper à notre porte et demander à jouer avec ma petite Anissa. Et ce sont ces mêmes enfants qui m'ont révélé alors que le bruit avait fusé dans le village apeuré que j'étais venue de mon pays avec l'intention de capturer des enfants et ... de les manger (authentique). Et quand ces mêmes enfants, dûment interrogés par leurs parents, ont raconté que je les avais fait jouer, leur avais fait à manger et que je poussais même le degré de civilisation jusqu'à faire moi-même des confitures, le village entier a décrété que si les Allemands de l'Ouest étaient des individus détestables, arrogants qui les traitaient, eux pourtant Allemands, en parents pauvres et demeurés, les Marocains, par contre, étaient un peuple-frère et qu'en conséquence je serais adoptée sur l'heure! On défilait chez moi pour y déposer des sacoches entières de fruits cueillis des jardins du village (puisque je faisais des confitures…), on m’invitait à toutes les fêtes, on notait avec satisfaction que j’allais fleurir les tombes des grands-parents de mon mari et que j’avais donné des jouets pour la salle d’attente de l’unique doc du coin. Et d’aucuns commencèrent à cogiter sur des vacances au Maroc…. Je me suis souvent demandé pourquoi je me suis fondue dans cette société ex-communiste avec autant de facilité avant de comprendre que finalement… ils étaient beaucoup plus proches, en effet, de notre structure de société au Maroc que leurs homologues de l'autre côté du Mur. Séparés en somme par la langue commune.... alors qu'eux et moi nous partagions la vie dans le clan familial, l'importance des rituels et de l’opinion d’autrui. Et moi, la Malika d’origine, j’ai eu l’immense émotion récemment d’accueillir une de ces anciennes petites filles du communisme, venue me voir avec son bébé, et qui m’a raconté fièrement avoir été une des premières, dans ce Mecklembourg réac et xénophobe, à répondre „présent“ pour l’accueil des premiers réfugiés fuyant la Syrie. „Pour moi, les Arabes, c’était d’abord toi chez qui on se réfugiait, nous les gosses, dont personne ne s’occupait vraiment…“. 

Texte de Malika Filali 

Esraa Abdel-Fattah arrêtée

Suite à l'arrestation de la journaliste égyptienne Esraa Abdel-Fattah, les Usa protestent officiellement.

Esraa est connue pour avoir été l'une des fondatrices du "Mouvement du 6 avril" en 2008, qui fut à la tête de la mobilisation de millions d'Egyptiens en 2011 et qui aboutit à la chute du dictateur égyptien Hosni Moubarak.

Le secrétaire d’Etat adjoint américain pour le Moyen-Orient, David Schenker a déclaré mardi avoir demandé à l’Egypte de libérer la journaliste et blogueuse Esraa Abdel-Fattah, dénonçant une arrestation « scandaleuse ».

Esraa Abdel-Fattah, 41 ans,est accusée par les autorités égyptiennes de « collaborer avec une organisation terroriste », de « diffuser de fausses nouvelles » et de faire un « mauvais usage des réseaux sociaux », selon le Haut Commissariat de l’ONU aux droits de l’Homme.

Après son arrestation, elle a été torturée a déclaré une porte-parole de l’institution onusienne.

Le Haut Commissariat a condamné les arrestations et dénoncé l'arrestation et la torture  de militants s en Egypte. 

David Schenker a réitéré que Washington appelait Le Caire à autoriser les manifestations pacifiques.

Des manifestations – rares en Egypte car interdites en vertu d’une loi adoptée en 2013 – ont eu lieu à travers le pays, principalement les 20 et 27 septembre, contre le président Abdel Fattah al-Sissi. Elles ont été aussitôt suivies par des milliers d'arrestations ciblant avocats, journalistes, militants politique

Selon plusieurs organisations de défense des droits humains, environ 3.000 personnes ont depuis été arrêtées en Egypte, dont des intellectuels, des militants politiques, des avocats et des journalistes. Les ONG estiment que ce coup de filet est le plus vaste depuis l’arrivée au pouvoir du président en 2014.

Sources: https://cpj.org/2019/10/egyptian-journalist-esraa-abdel-fattah-arrested-on.php

https://www.amnesty.fr/presse/une-dfenseure-des-droits-humains-enleve-et-torture

Café Citoyen: Objectifs de développement durable

CONCORDIA en partenariat avec la Librairie-Café "Raconte-moi la Terre" va mettre en place des café citoyen. Il s'agit des cafés débats qui seront animés par des volontaires en service civique et en CES (Corps européen de solidarité). Le prochain café citoyen sera animé par Capucine, service civique PrODDige et il sera dédié aux objectifs de développement durable. Il aura lieu vendredi prochain 8 novembre à 17h. L'adresse exacte est 14 rue du Plat (Lyon 2, près de Bellecour). Voici le lien vers de l'événement https://www.facebook.com/events/830369334049233/

Journées d’études « Démocratie et Néolibéralisme »

Journées d’études « Démocratie et Néolibéralisme »

17 octobre 2019 - 18 octobre 2019, à l’ENS de Lyon, site Descartes, salle D4.260

Présentation

Peu de catégories sont aussi indéterminées que celles de néolibéralisme et de démocratie. Celles-ci sont largement mobilisées dans des débats actuels au sein des sphères publique et académique  : de manière antinomique, le néolibéralisme aurait sonné le glas des pratiques démocratiques, l’exemple paradigmatique étant le Chili de Pinochet  ; et de façon plus ambivalente, il aurait inspiré des transformations dans le domaine de l’action publique, dont le New Public Management est la figure de proue. Dans ces deux cas, il y aurait une tendance à relativiser l’importante de la question de la démocratie dans les théories néolibérales. Néanmoins, la critique et la reconfiguration de la démocratie est une préoccupation constante dans les écrits néolibéraux, ce qui définit à la fois et en même temps un champ d’intelligibilité pour saisir les conceptions d’une démocratie néolibérale et celles d’une philosophie politique du néolibéralisme. Ce faisant, l’on ouvre sur des nouvelles possibilités de compréhension des rapports entre ces deux catégories  : les relations entretenues entre elles viennent alors éclairer à la fois le néolibéralisme et la démocratie.

http://triangle.ens-lyon.fr/spip.php?article8830

Nicholas Roerich

Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) The Highest mountains stand as the witnesses of the Great Reality
by Rene Wadlow
2019-10-09 07:03:09

Nicholas Roerich, the Russian painter, explorer, and cultural activist, whose birth anniversary we note on 9 October, stressed throughout his life the role of beauty and culture in bringing humanity together in unity. “True art is the expression of the radiant spirit.” Art is the manifestation of the coming synthesis of the spiritual and the material. The gates of the sacred source must be opened wide for everybody, and the light of art will ignite numerous hearts with a new love. At first this feeling will be unconscious, but after all it will purify human consciousness. Bring art to the people “where it belongs. We should have not only museums, theatres, universities, public libraries, railway stations and hospitals, but even prisons decorated and beautified.” 

His inspiration is still at work today in many efforts to preserve the art of the past and to create an art of the future which speaks to the highest aspiration of the person. 

Roerich gained recognition at a young age in St. Petersburg art circles. His paintings of early Russian life, inspired in part by his archaeological excavations of tumuli “a reminder of the Vikings in Russia” were popular among those who were looking for inspiration in the Russian past. 

There were some among the Slavophiles of the early 1900s who felt that Russia had a unique culture and thus a special role to play in the salvation of humanity. They rejected anything coming from Western Europe. However, Roerich, while close to some of the Slavophiles, especially Princess Maria Tenisheva and her efforts at the experimental village Talashkino, was never hostile to artistic creation from non-Russian cultures. As he said “The chief significance of an artistic education lies in opening up wide horizons to the pupils and in inculcating the conception of art as something infinite.” Roerich believed that one had to preserve and develop what was best in local culture as a contribution to a world culture in which the best of local cultures would be preserved. “Culture is a constant becoming, a dynamic evolution of a living world.” 

Probably the most influential aspect of Roerich’s Russian period was his cooperation with Igor Stravinsky for the theme and the music of the Sacre du Printemps and with Sergei Diaghilev for the ballet, costumes and scenery of the Sacre in Paris in 1913, a music and dance which revolutionized ballet at the time. As Roerich wrote of Le Sacre “The eternal novelty of the Sacre is because spring is eternal, and love is eternal and sacrifice is eternal. Then in this new conception, Stravinsky touches the eternal in music. He was modern because he evoked the future; it is the great serpent ring touching the great past —the sacred tunes that connect the great past and the future.” 

The Sacre is the most Dionysian of Roerich’s inspiration. His painting of 1911 “The Forefathers” at the time of Roerich’s collaboration with Stravinsky might almost be a sketch for the opening of the Sacre, whose early pages quiver with the sound of pipes. Here Dionysus-like, primitive man charms with his piping a circle of wild beasts, in this case, bears, reflecting the Slavic tradition that bears were man’s forefathers. 

Stravinsky was presented to Roerich by Sergei Diaghilev, the Russian with a holistic vision of art: music, painting, dance, and the publisher of The World of Art magazine. Roerich had already designed some of the sets for Borodin’s Prince Igor produced by Diaghilev in Paris in 1909. Roerich produced the outline and the theme for Le Sacre and later designed the sets and the costumes. 

In 1901, Nicholas Roerich had married Elena Ivanovona who shared his interest in art, music and the philosophy of China, Tibet and India. Later, in the West she wrote her name as Helena and also published under the pen name Josephine Saint-Hilaire On Easterm Crossroads (1930). The Russian composer Moussorgsky was her uncle. The young couple cooperated with the Buriat Lama Dorzhiev in building a Tibetan Buddist Temple in St. Petersburg. 

Dorzhiev saw the possibility of an alliance of the Buriats, Kaimyk and other Buddhist tribes living in the eastern part of Russia with the thirteenth Dalai Lama, who was the most politically aware of the Dalai Lamas. The alliance was to be headed by the Tsar Nicholas II and would have been a counter weight to English and Chinese influence in Tibet. 

From Dorzhiev, the Roerichs learned of the Tibetan text and ritual, the Kalachakra (The Wheel of Time) and of the coming of a new historical-astrological cycle “The New Age” to be marked by a new Buddha, Maitreya. (1) Nicholas II, however, was not to become “the Bodhisatva Tsar”. He was soon caught up by the 1917 Russian Revolution. By 1918, the Roerichs left Russia foreseeing the Soviet policy of controlling all art forms for narrow political purposes. 

After a short stay in Western Europe, the Roerichs moved to the United States where his paintings had already been shown. With American friends, he created the Master School of the United Arts in 1922 in New York City, where music, art and philosophy were taught. Students were advised to “Look forward, forget the past, think of the service of the future. Exalt others in spirit and look ahead.” 

In 1924, the Roerichs left for India and travelled especially in the Himalayan areas. For Roerich, mountains represented a path to the spiritual life. “Mountains, what magnetic forces are concealed within you. What a symbol of quietude is revealed in every sparking peak. The highest knowledge, the most inspired songs, the most superb sounds and colors, are created on the mountains. On the highest mountains there is the Supreme.” 

The Roerichs undertook a number of expeditions to Central Asia and the Altai Mountains of Russia (1923-1928 and 1933-1935) along with their son George, who became a specialist of Tibetan culture and language. George Roerich’s Trails to Inmost Asia (Yale University Press, 1931) is a good and unsentimental account of these trips, George being assigned the hard work of running the logistics. Nicholas Roerich always remained convinced of the need to preserve local culture. He put an emphasis on collecting folk tales and traditional practices of medicine, especially the use of herbs. “In every encampment of Asia, I tried to unveil what memories were cherished in the folk memory. Through these guarded and preserved tales, you may recognize the reality of the past. In every spark of folklore, there is a drop of the great Truth adorned or distorted.” 

Roerich’s desire to make known the artistic achievements of the past through archaeology, coupled with the need to preserve the landmarks of the past from destruction, led to his work for the Banner of Peace to preserve art and architecture in time of war. Roerich had seen the destruction brought by the First World War and the civil war which followed the 1917 Russian Revolution. He worked with French international lawyers to draft a treaty by which museums, churches and buildings of value would be preserved in time of war through the use of a symbol — three red circles representing past, present and future— a practice inspired by the red cross used to protect medical personnel in times of conflict. 

Roerich mobilized artists and intellectuals in the 1920s for the establishment of this Banner of Peace. Henry A. Wallace, the US Secretary of Agriculture and later Vice-President, was an admirer of Roerich and helped to have an official treaty introducing the Banner of Peace — the Roerich Peace Pact — signed at the White House on 15 April 1935 by 21 States in a Pan-American Union ceremony. At the signing, Henry Wallace on behalf of the USA said “At no time has such an ideal been more needed. It is high time for the idealists who make the reality of tomorrow, to rally around such a symbol of international cultural unity. It is time that we appeal to that appreciation of beauty, science, education which runs across all national boundaries to strengthen all that we hold dear in our particular governments and customs. Its acceptance signifies the approach of a time when those who truly love their own nation will appreciate in addition the unique contribution of other nations and also do reverence to that common spiritual enterprise which draws together in one fellowship all artists, scientists, educators and truly religious of whatever faith.” 

As Nicholas Roerich said in a presentation of his Pact “The world is striving toward peace in many ways, and everyone realizes in his heart that this constructive work is a true prophesy of the New Era. We deplore the loss of the libraries of Louvain and Oviedo and the irreplaceable beauty of the Cathedral of Rheins. We remember the beautiful treasures of private collections which were lost during world calamities. But we do not want to inscribe on these deeds any words of hatred. Let us simply say: Destroyed by human ignorance —rebuilt by human hope.” 

After the Second World War, UNESCO has continued the effort, and there have been additional conventions on the protection of cultural and educational bodies in times of conflict, in particular The Hague Convention of May 1954 though no universal symbol as proposed by Nicholas Roerich has been developed. 

Today, the need to bring beauty to as many people as possible is the prime task of developing a culture of peace. As Nicholas Roerich wrote “The most gratifying and uplifting way to serve the coming evolution is by spreading the seeds of beauty. If we are to have a beautiful life and some happiness it must be created with joy and enthusiasm for service to art and beauty.” 

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See Alan Sponberg and Helen Hardacre Maitreya: The Future Buddha (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, 304pp.) 

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Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

U.N. General Assembly: Can It Provide the Needed Global Leadership?

27 Sep 2019 – The international relations specialist Stanley Hoffmann once quipped “Goals are easy to describe. What matters more is a strategy for reaching them.” The United Nations through its annual debates in the General Assembly, its special world conferences such as those devoted to the environment, population, food, women, urbanization, and within the Specialized Agencies have created goals for a world public policy in the interests of all humanity. There are three important phases of this world public policy: formulation, implementation and evaluation. Thus, this September the UNGA began with a “Climate Action Summit” to evaluate governmental efforts to meet the challenges of climate change. Government leaders set out what they have done, or plan to do, at the national level but they said relatively little on what they could do together.

The Climate Action Summit was followed by the policy statements of national governments: Jair Bolsonaro, Donald Trump, Recep Tajyip Erdogan, Emmanuel Macron, Hassan Rauhani, Angela Merkel, Boris Johnson, Narendra Modi and Abdel Fatth al Sisi. All except al Sisi came to national power through elections and not military coups. Thus in some way, they represent the degree of awareness of world issues and the priorities of their electors.

The question asked many years ago by the world citizen Norman Cousins,

“Who Speaks for Man”?

To meet the major challenges of world-wide issues, strong leadership is necessary. Yet the avenues for leadership at the world level are difficult to trace. Leadership at the national level is usually clearly structured in a pyramid with the office of President at the top, with Cabinet Ministers, the higher ranks of the military just below. There may be a vast informal network of influential advisors, business leaders, the press – all with leadership roles, but the formal structure of governance is hierarchical and clearly defined. People generally expect the Prime Minister or the President to lead. In fact, he is judged on whether or not he provides such leadership.

At the world level, there is no world government as such, and a strong leader at the national level may play little role on the world level. What the Commission on Global Governance wrote in 1994 remains true today:

“At the moment, political caution, national concerns, short-term problems, and a certain fatigue with international causes have combined to produce a dearth of leadership on major international issues. The very magnitude of global problems such as poverty, population or consumerism seems to have daunted potential international leaders. And yet without courageous, long-term leadership at every level – international and national – it is impossible to create and sustain constituencies powerful and reliable enough to make an impact on problems that will determine, one way or another, the future of the human race on this planet.” (1)

Thus, there is a need for constant leadership and direction at the world level. There is a need to maintain and rebuild enthusiasm, to reset the course when policies do not work out as expected, to keep up a momentum and an enthusiasm. The United Nations is the only universal organization at the world level, and thus it is from within the United Nations that leadership at the world level must come. Leaders within the U.N. system must be able to reach beyond the member governments – at times over the heads of current government office holders – to the people of the world.

There are two positions of authority in the ill-defined pyramid structure of the United Nations. One is the Secretary-General; the other is the President of the General Assembly who is elected for one year at a time. The President of the current, 74th session is Tijjani Muhammed-Bande of Nigeria. There have been times when the head of one of the Specialized Agencies of the U.N. or the financial institutions or U.N. programs have provided leadership but usually on only one or two subjects.

Especially on the resolution of armed conflicts, people look to the Secretary-General for leadership. In some cases, the Secretary-General has been able to play a central role. As the servant of the Security Council, the Secretary-General has been able to play a mobilizing role in times of conflict and political crisis in those cases when the Security Council has been unified behind a decision. Since the chairman of the Security Council is a national diplomat and serves on a rotating basis only for one month, he cannot play a real mobilizing role nor is he perceived as a world leader.

Some hope that the President of the U.N. General Assembly, who is in post for a full year, could play a leadership role. So far such hopes have not been realized in practice. It would be difficult to find many people who can name the last five Presidents of the General Assembly or to cite much of what they have done other than presiding over meetings.

Today, with real challenges to humanity, with a reform-minded Secretary-General who for a decade faced refugee issues, we may see some of the marks of strong world leadership.

NOTE:

1) The Commission on Global Governance. Our Global Neighbourhood (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995)

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René Wadlow is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. He is President of the Association of World Citizens, an international peace organization with consultative status with ECOSOC, the United Nations organ facilitating international cooperation and problem-solving in economic and social issues, and editor of Transnational Perspectives.

Signs of Hope for Persian Gulf Conflicts: Serious Negotiations Needed

After an extended period of darkening storm clouds, there are signs of hope for tension reduction in two separate but related Persian Guld conflicts: Yemen and Syria. On 20 September 2019, the representatives of the Yemen Ansar Allah Movement (often called al-Houthi) proposed a peace initiative to hold off all their drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia in exchange for ending the Saudi-led armed conflict in Yemen. The United Nations envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffits welcomed the al-Houthi offer.

It is possible that Saudi Arabia, in a war that has bogged down and its its original United Arab Emirates allies increasingly reluctant, will call off the war as an unnecessary and expensive operation. There had been positive signs earlier of possible agreements related to negotiations held in Sweden, but the current signs are more telling. There may be some shifts in power relations within the ruling circles in Saudi Arabia, but the Saudi factions have no fears from elections.

If the al-Houthi remain in control of northern Yemen, which is their tribal base, it is likely that south Yemen will return to being a separate State. There had been an earlier 2014 proposal for a six-region federation for Yemen. In any case, decentralization of government and constitutional reform are necessary top priorities. If the creation of a separate southern State happens quickly, the Saudi leadership can say that their military action prevented the Houthis from having control of the full State. Thus the military conflict was not a total loss for Saudi Arabia.

For Yemen, the war has had devestating consequences. There is an immediate need for adequate food and medical supplies and support for the large number of internally-displaced persons. The economics of Yemen was weak in the best of times, and the war has destroyed what little economic and social infrastructure existed. In addition, there are real ecological challenges, especially the lowering of the water supply. The war has led to greater geographic, social, and ethnic divisions. Creating a national society of individuals willling to cooperate will not be easy. Regional divisions will be difficult to bridge.

The current Yemeni offer needs to be encouraged by the U.N. mediators and by those having some influence on decision-making in Saudi Arabia. Thus, at the U.N. General Assembly on 27 September, the Prime Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Jaber al-Hamad al-Sabah said that the Yemeni talks should be held under the auspices of the U.N. and that Kuwait was willing to host such talks. “Once again, Kuwait reaffirms that there is no military solution to this conflict and continues to back U.N. efforts.” At the same time, the Secretary General of the League of Arab States met with Martin Griffiths on the sidelines of the General Assembly in New York. Saudi Arabia, no doubt to “test the waters” has responded with a partial ceasefire in four Yemeni areas. Other States at the U.N. must now play their part.

The second sign of hope was the statement on 13 September 2019 of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that a constitutional committee of 150 persons had been agreed to for Syria. The Constitutional Committee will have 50 people chosen by the Government, 50 people from the opposition within the country and 50 persons chosen by the U.N. – all Syrians.

The Foreign Ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey at the U.N. General Assembly welcomed the agreement. The three States have been promoting the creation of such a committee. The Committee will start to met in Geneva hopefully toward the end of October.

Every constitution is an answer to unstated questions about important challenges which the society faces. Every constitution distributes power, explicitly and implicitly, and every workable constitution will do so in ways which reflect the distribution of power in the society. Constitutions must be seen as desirable. They must have positive merits related to immediate and widely felt needs. It is likely that drafting a constitution with a broader base of public support would have been more possible during the first months of protests prior to the armed conflict. We will watch the work of the Constitutional Committee as closely as possible.

There are signs of positive change in both Yemen and Syria. We do not underestimate the difficulties, but for a just peace, chances must be acted upon.

Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

Disappeared via death squades

Today, 30 August, is the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. The Day highlights the U.N. General Assembly Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances, resolution 47/133 of 18 December 1992. In a good number of countries, there are State-sponsored "death squads" - persons affiliated to the police or to intelligence agencies who kill "in the dark of the night" - unofficially. These death avoid a trial which might attract attention. A shot in the back of the head is faster. In many cases the bodies of those killed are destroyed. Death is supposed but not proved. Many family members keep hoping for a return. In addition, non-government armed groups and criminal gangs have the same practice. The Association of World Citizens stresses that much more needs to be done in terms of prevention, protection, and search for the disappeared persons. Your help in these vital efforts is much appreciated. 

Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

référence: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journ%C3%A9e_internationale_des_victimes_de_disparition_forc%C3%A9e

Growing Tensions on the Road to Persian Gulf Security

Growing Tensions on the Road to Persian Gulf Security

by Rene Wadlow

2019-09-17 07:50:03

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The 14 September 2019 drone attacks on oil installations in eastern Saudi Arabia have dimmed hope for U.S. - Iranian discussions aimed to reduce tensions and potentially end the armed conflict in Yemen. Tensions have increased, and oil prices have risen. Certain hopes created by the initiatives of the French President during the G7 meeting in Biarritz, France and the forced departure of John Bolton as U.S. National Security Advisor have lessened. In fact, the aim of the attacks may have been to lessen the possibility of Iran - U.S. discussions which might have taken place during the start of the U.N. General Assembly in New York later in September.

There is a good deal of speculation as to who fired the drones and from where. The Ansar Allah Movement (often called the Houthis) has taken credit, but some specialists doubt that they have the technical knowhow to send drones from Yemen to the targets in Saudi Arabia. Some speculate that the drones were sent from southern Iraq, possibly by Iranian-backed militias such as the Popular Mobilization Forces or by units of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards stationed in Iraq. The Revolutionary Guards are nearly "a state within the state" and could take initiatives without orders from the Iranian President or the Foreign Minister. The Revolutionary Guards could have motivations to prevent fruitful U.S. - Iranian talks at the U.N. There is also speculation that the drone attacks could be linked to increased tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates concerning the future of south Yemen where the two countries support different factions.

Whatever the locations from which the drones were launched and whomever pulled the switch, the consequences are clear. At a time when governments were speaking of a possible path to reduce tensions a "No Exit" sign has been put up near the start of the road. The road leads to ever-greater tensions which may slip out of the control of governments. Thus, in addition to the French proposal at the G7, there was an earlier Russian government proposal.

On 23 July 2019, the Russian Government's "Collective Security for the Persian Gulf Region" was presented in Moscow by the Deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Bogdanov. The Russian proposal for Collective Security for the Persian Gulf follows closely the procedures which led to the 1975 Helsinki Final Act and the creation of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Bogdanov stressed multilateral ism as a mechanism for all involved in the assessment of situations, the decision-making process, and the implementation of decisions.

It is not clear how the Russian proposal for a Helsinki-type conference will progress. Russia does not play a leading role in the Middle East today as the USSR did in Europe in the 1970s. In the lead up to the Helsinki Accords of 1975, non-governmental organizations had played an active role in informal East-West discussions to see what issues were open to negotiations and on what issues progress might be made. There is a need for such non-governmental efforts today as the Persian Gulf and the wider Middle East are growing ever-more tense.

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Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

Syria: Beyond the laws of war

on: May 07, 2016

By Rene Wadlow

The protection of medical facilities and medical personnel is at the heart of the laws of war dating from the first Red Cross-Geneva Conventions of 1864. On 3 May 2016, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2286 calling for greater protection of health care institutions and personnel in light of recent attacks against hospitals and clinics in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan. These attacks are too frequent to be considered “accidents” and may indicate a dangerous erosion of the laws of war.

The most recent systematic bombings of medical facilities have been in and around Aleppo, Syria. A country-wide ceasefire had been brokered by the United States and Russia in order to facilitate negotiations in Geneva. The ceasefire helped to decrease levels of violence. However, the Geneva negotiations carried out separately by UN facilitators with representatives of the Syrian government and members of opposition movements did not advance and have now been suspended. In addition, there was a 5 May 2016 air strike on a large camp of internally-displaced persons in Sarmada, near the frontier with Turkey. The persons in the camp were unarmed and should have been protected by the Geneva Conventions. After the first Geneva Conventions of 1864, the scope of the Conventions have been broadened, especially in light of the Second World War and the Vietnam War.

The laws of war, now most often called Humanitarian Law, are based on reciprocal restraint. “You do not harm our prisoners-of-war, and we will not harm your prisoners-of-war.” The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has a treaty obligation to see to the respect of the Geneva Conventions. The Red Cross staff is usually well aware of what is happening “on the ground.” However, they are very reserved in making this information public as publicity could harm other Red Cross functions, such as running or helping to run hospitals or providing food and medicine. Thus, it is increasingly the role onon-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to investigate and report on violations of the laws of war.

Governments also have a role to play, and Resolution 2286 is an important resolution to uphold the rule of law. Thus we must support Resolution 2286 as a reaffirmation of the importance of world law. We must also promote good faith negotiations to end armed conflicts such as those in Yemen, Syria-Iraq, and Libya. Such negotiations are difficult; good faith is in short supply. However, as representatives of non-governmental organizations, we have certain avenues for action, and Resolution 2286 gives us a mandate.

Rene Wadlow is the President of the Association of World Citizens, an international peace organization with consultative status with ECOSOC, the United Nations organ facilitating international cooperation on and problem-solving in economic and social issues.

Protecting the Planet: An Ethical Imperative

Protecting the Planet: An Ethical Imperative

by Rene Wadlow

2019-09-26 09:13:40

The U.N. Climate Action Summit on 23 September 2019 has focused on the need for ecologically-sound development. There must be development as there are still some one billion people who live in poverty, the bottom billion as they have been called.(1) This will require inclusive development, that is, development for all to include everyone's participation with benefits for all. There is currently often an insufficient level of involvement of people in planning and implementation of government-led development programs.

The majority of the bottom billion live in rural areas. To bring them out of poverty will require agricultural development: improved seeds, better post-harvest storage, and improved marketing. At the same time, forests must be preserved, and there is a need for reforestation of degraded land. Higher sea levels will require people to move. Thus we need to focus on ecologically-sound development and living in harmony with Nature.

It is useful to recall those who were the forerunners of this vision of ecologically-sound development. One such person was Aldo Leopold (1887-1948), a professor of conservation policy and a writer who highlighted ecology as ethics in his essays and journals: A Sand County Almanac and Round River. He wrote "There is as yet no ethic dealing with man's relation to land and to animals and plants which grow upon it...The land-relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not obligations...Obligations have no meaning without conscience, and the problem we face is the extension of the social conscience from people to land. No important change in ethics was ever accomplished without an internal change in our intellectual emphasis, loyalties, affections and convictions...That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics. (2)

Thus ecologically-sound development needs to be based on ethical values that are carried out in the personal life as well as in national and international policies. There is a need for a general consensus on the framework of living in harmony with Nature. While governments will formulate ecologically-sound development policies suited to their individual realities, there are guidelines provided by the United Nations and the broader world society. We have seen this with the current outcries concerning the fires in the Amazon and the Brazilian government's policy of deforestation.

During the Climate Action Summit, some government representatives met in parallel to discuss the situation in the Amazon Forest and to propose financial aid for its protection. The representatives of Brazil did not attend, claiming that it was an "internal matter". However, the combined pressure of peoples and of some governments is an indication of a new current in world politics. The ethical dimension of conservation and protection of the Planet is growing - an essential dimension.

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Notes

1) See. Paul Collier. The Bottom Billion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008)

2) See Aldo Leopold. A Sand County Almanic (New York: Oxford University Press, 1949)

Aldo Leopold. Round River (New York: Oxford University Press, 1953)

For a biography of Leopold see Curt Meine. Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988)

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Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

21 septembre 2019: Journée Internationale de la Paix

Journée internationale de la paix. 21 septembre. Le 21 septembre de chaque année, la Journée internationale de la paix est célébrée dans le monde entier. L'Assemblée générale a déclaré que cette journée serait consacrée au renforcement des idéaux de paix au sein de toutes les nations et dans tous les peuples. 

Syria: Concerns Raised and Possible Next Steps

Syria: Concerns Raised and Possible Next Steps

By René Wadlow

March 15 is widely used as the date on which the conflict in Syria began. March 15, 2011 was the first “Day of Rage” held in a good number of localities to mark opposition to the repression of youth in the southern city of Daraa, where a month earlier young people had painted anti-government graffiti on some of the walls, followed by massive arrests.

I think that it is important for us to look at why organizations that promote nonviolent action and conflict resolution in the US and Western Europe were not able to do more to aid those in Syria who tried to use nonviolence during the first months of 2011. By June 2011, the conflict had largely become one of armed groups against the government forces, but there were at least four months when there were nonviolent efforts before many started to think that a military “solution” was the only way forward. There were some parts of the country where nonviolent actions continued for a longer period.

There had been early on an effort on the part of some Syrians to develop support among nonviolent and conflict resolution groups. As one Syrian activist wrote concerning the ‘Left’ in the US and Europe but would also be true for nonviolent activists “I am afraid that it is too late for the leftists in the West to express any solidarity with the Syrians in their extremely hard struggle. What I always found astonishing in this regard is that mainstream Western leftists know almost nothing about Syria, its society, its regime, its people, its political economy, its contemporary history. Rarely have I found a useful piece of information or a genuinely creative idea in their analyses “(1)

In December 2011, there was the start of a short-lived Observer Mission of the League of Arab States. In a February 9, 2012 message to the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Ambassador Nabil el-Araby, the Association of World Citizens (AWC) proposed a renewal of the Arab League Observer Mission with the inclusion of a greater number of non-governmental organization observers and a broadened mandate to go beyond fact-finding and thus to play an active conflict resolution role at the local level in the hope to halt the downward spiral of violence and killing. In response, members from two Arab human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGO) were added for the first time. However, opposition to the conditions of the Arab League Observers from Saudi Arabia let to the end of the Observer Mission.

On many occasions since, the AWC has indicated to the United Nations (UN), the Government of Syria and opposition movements the potentially important role of NGOs, both Syrian and international, in facilitating armed conflict resolution measures.

In these years of war, the AWC, along with others, has highlighted six concerns:

1) The widespread violation of humanitarian law (international law in time of war) and thus the need for a UN-led conference for the re-affirmation of humanitarian law.

2) The widespread violations of human rights standards.

3) The deliberate destruction of monuments and sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

4) The use of chemical weapons in violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol signed by Syria at the time, as well as in violation of the more recent treaty banning chemical weapons.

5) The situation of the large number of persons displaced within the country as well as the large number of refugees and their conditions in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. In addition, there is the dramatic fate of those trying to reach Europe.

6) The specific conditions of the Kurds and the possibility of the creation of a trans-frontier Kurdistan without dividing the current States of Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran.

These issues have been raised with diplomats and others participating in negotiations in Geneva as well as with the UN-appointed mediators. In addition, there have been articles published and then distributed to NGOs and others of potential influence.

The Syrian situation has grown increasingly complex since 2011 with more death and destruction as well as more actors involved and with a larger number of refugees and displaced persons. Efforts have been made to create an atmosphere in which negotiations in good faith could be carried out. Good faith is, alas, in short supply. Efforts must continue. An anniversary is a reminder of the long road still ahead.

Notes:

(1) Yassin al-Haj Saleh in Robin Yassin-Kassal and Leila Al-Shami, Burning Country, Syrians in Revolution and War (London: Pluto Press, 2015, p. 210)

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.