Israel-Palestine: Tension-reduction Measures Urgently Needed

In Being a World Citizen, Conflict Resolution, Current Events, Human Rights, Middle East & North Africa, NGOs, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, Track II, United Nations, World Law on April 11, 2023 at 7:05 AM

By René Wadlow

The Association of World Citizens (AWC) calls for urgently needed tension-reduction measures in the Israel-Palestine-Lebanon area.

Tensions have led to a barrage of missiles from Gaza and Lebanon and rapid Israeli missiles in return aiming at weakening Hamas and Hezbollah.

Growing tensions had led to Israeli police attacking Palestinian worshipers celebrating the holy month of Ramadan within the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on April 5-6, 2023. The images of Israeli police firing teargas and beating worshipers were widely seen on social media outlets and other media.

Tensions in the area have been growing since the formation of the Netanyahu-led government with right-wing ministers. Government proposals for changes concerning the court system and the appointment of judges have led to strong and widespread protest demonstrations. However, Palestinian issues were not directly addressed by these demonstrations.

Tensions between Israel and Iran and Iranian-backed groups in Syria have also been growing. The dangers of further violence have been raised in the United Nations Security Council, but no positive actions were undertaken. United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon are on “high alert”.

For the moment, there are no high-level public negotiations underway or planned. Thus, tension-reduction measures must be undertaken as unilateral measures by the government of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the government of Lebanon. Such tension-reduction measures are urgently needed but may be unlikely. Thus, the AWC calls upon civil society organizations and persons of good will to consider what measures can be taken immediately and what structures may be established so that tension-reduction processes continue. This is an urgent call for creative and courageous actions.

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

Hommage à Monseigneur Gaillot

Nous avons appris le décès de Monseigneur Jacques Gaillot ce matin. C'est avec une immense tristesse que je présente mes condoléances à sa famille et ses proches. Voici une vidéo rare d'une interview réalisée en 2009 . Libre en partage. Dans cette vidéo, il parle de son engagement vis à vis de la population palestinienne. Il a soutenu toutes les causes qu'il jugeait justes comme la lutte du peuple syrien pour sa liberté

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8FpvMO6SaQ

Syria: The Start of a Long Night of Sorrow

 On 13 March 2011 in Derra, in the south of Syria, 15 teenage boys were arrested by Syrian security police

for having written hostile graffiti against President Bashar Al-Assad on a school wall. The arrests led to non-violent protests in Derra and by 15 March the protests had spread to other Syrian cities. There were social, economic and ecological conditions in the country which set the stage for such protests. Corruption, unemployment, high population growth, limited resources and a hugh budget for oversized security and military forces were main obstacles for economic reforms. There was also the spirit of the "Arab Spring" which had started earlier with the January 2011 end of the government of Ben Ali in Tunisia.

Unlike earlier protest movements in Syria which were based on religious or ethnic, especially Kurdish, identity, the early 2011 movement stressed the unity of all the people and their demand to have recognized their dignity. Women participated actively. Social media via the INTERNET was widely used.
Fairly quickly the protesters stated to structure themselves in cities and larger towns. Protesters started to form local councils and to take up local administrative tasks. In 2011, Syria was a police state but under administrated concerning services of education, health and other public services. Rural areas were even less administrated.

There was a strong rural to urban migration, especially to larger towns. Social service needs were not met.

The government responded to these demonstrations with police and military violence. By mid-April, a peaceful demonstration in Homs was repressed with a good number of demonstrators killed or wounded. Arrests, often followed by torture, became widespread. There were 12 different branches of the security forces, and prisons were overcrowded. While there were local leaders of protests, there were no nation-wide leaders. With no identifiable leaders to arrest, the security forces arrested anyone who looked like a potential troublemaker. Due to the regime's determination to silence any opposition, Syria's political culture regressed into fear with an end to independent periodicals and intellectual forums.

By the end of 2011, the government increasingly called upon the regular military to replace the specialized security forces which were too few to deal with the spreading protests. Protesters started to carry weapons. Some of the regular military who were of the same background as the protesters started to desert and to take their weapons with them. Thus the Syrian conflict was transformed from a non-violent civil protest to a violent civil war leading to a large number of persons displaced within the country and a large number of refugees, especially to neighboring countries - Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, but also to Western Europe.

As the conflict grew, several regional and international actors involved themselves: Russia and the USA, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, Lebanon with Hezbollah as well as the Jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).

Efforts at mediation have been carried out nearly from the start by the Arab League, U.N.-appointed mediators, and broader U.N.-sponsored meetings in Geneva. While the mediators have made detailed proposals, none have been acted upon. There have also been a few non-governmental efforts at mediation or at least efforts to keep avenues of communication open or to widen the persons involved, especially by increasing the role of women. On behalf of the Association of World Citizens, I have been involved in some of these non-governmental efforts, but I have seen few advances. The long night of sorrow continues, but we must watch closely for a possible dawn.

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Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

Yemen: Positive Action Still Needed

25 March is the anniversary date of the start of 28 days on continued bombing of Yemen in 2015 by the Saudi-Arabia-led coalition (Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Sudan, United Arab Emirates helped by arms and "intelligence" by the U.S.A. and the U.K.). The aggression by the Saudi coalition turned what had been an internal struggle for power going on from the "Arab Spring" of 2011 into a war with regional dimensions which brought Iran into the picture. The role of Iran has been exaggerated both by the Iranian government itself and by those hostile to Iran. Nevertheless, the Iranian role is real.

Since the Association of World Citizens (AWC) had been following possible constitutional developments in Yemen after the 2011 change of government, a couple of days after the 25 March 2015 bombing, the Association of World Citizens sent to government Missions to the United Nations an AWC Appeal for four steps of conflict resolution and negotiations in good faith:

1) An immediate ceasefire ending all foreign military attacks;

2) Humanitarian assistance, especially important for hard-to-reach zones;

3) A broad national dialogue;

4) Through this dialogue, the establishment of an inclusive unity government open to constitutional changes to facilitate better the wide geographic- tribal structure of the State.

While the constitutional form of the State structures depends on the will of the people of Yemen ( if they were able to express themselves freely) the Association of World Citizens proposes consideration of con-federal forms of government which maintain cooperation within a decentralized framework. In 2014, a committee appointed by the then President, Abdu Rabbu Mansur Hadi, had proposed a six-region federation as the political structure for Yemen.

Until 1990, Yemen was two separate States: the People's Democratic of Yemen in the south with Aden as the capital, and the Yemen Arab Republic in the north with Sana'a as capital. In 1990, the two united to become the Republic of Yemen. The people in the south hoped that the union would bring the economic development which had been promised. Since, even before the Saudi-led war began, there had been very little economic and social development in the south, there started to grow strong "separatist" attitudes in the south. People of all political persuasions hoped to develop prosperity by ending unification and creating what some have started calling "South Arabia" Today, these separatist attitudes are very strong, but there is no agreement on what areas are to be included in a new southern state, and the is no unified separatist political leadership.

Very quickly after 25 March 2015, many governments saw the dangers of the conflict and the possible regional destabilization. Thus there were U.N.-sponsored negotiations held in Geneva in June 2015. The Association of World Citizens worked with other NGOs so that women should be directly involved in such negotiations. However women have not been added to any of the negotiations and are largely absent from any leadership role in the many political factions of the country. There have been U.N. mediators active in trying to get ceasefires and then negotiations. There have been some temporary ceasefires, but no progress on real negotiations.

Today, the war continues with the country's fragmentation, continued internal fighting and impoverishment leading to a disastrous humanitarian crisis. There is a glimmer of possible conflict resolution efforts due to the recent mutual recognition of Saudi Arabia and Iran under the sponsorship of the People's Republic of China. However, creating a national society of individuals willing to cooperate will not be easy. Regional divisions will not be easy to bridge. There have already been divisions within the Saudi-led Coalition. Thus, positive action is still needed. Non-governmental organizations should seek to have their voices heard.

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René Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

Conscience: The Inner Voice of the Higher Self

The United Nations General Assembly has designated 5 April as the International Day of Conscience. An awakened conscience is essential to meeting the challenges which face humanity today as we move into the World Society. The great challenge which humanity faces today is to leave behind the culture of violence in which we find ourselves and move rapidly to a culture of peace and solidarity. We can achieve this historic task by casting aside our ancient national, ethnic, and social prejudices and begin to think and act as responsible Citizens of the World.

An awakened conscience makes us sensitive to hearing the inner voice that warns and encourages. We have a conscience so that we may not let ourselves be lulled to sleep by the social environment in which we find ourselves but will remain alert to truth, justice, and reason. As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says in Article 1 "All human beings are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

There is a need to build networks and bridges among Companions of Conscience. Companions of Conscience create a ground for common discourse and thus a ground for common, life-affirming action. As Companions of Conscience, we take firm action to formulate effective responses to the challenges facing the emerging world society: armed conflicts, human rights violations, persistent poverty and ecological destruction. We strive to make the world a more humane dwelling place for ourselves and for future generations as we move toward a peaceful, just and ecologically-responsible future. We do not hide from ourselves the complexity of these challenges. However, we believe in the effectiveness of common action and enlightened leadership to build a culture of cooperation and solidarity. The circle of Companions of Conscience is growing world wide. Conscience-based actions are increasingly felt.

Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

The Use of Child Soldiers: Children of Conflict

 

The Use of Child Soldiers: Children of Conflict

TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 13 Feb 2023

René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service

12 February is the United Nations sponsored International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers. Efforts to counter the use of persons under 18 years of age in the military began with non-governmental efforts in 1979 – which the U.N. had proclaimed as “The International Year of the Child”.

Nicolas Hulot, who later became well known in France for his reporting on ecology and the defence of the environment, had written “Ces Enfants qui souffrent” (Paris: Sipa-Press, 1978). He highlighted children dying from malnutrition, disease, and injury caused by wars and natural disasters. Hulot’s cry of conscience showed children fighting and being trained to fight in a number of countries in different parts of the world.

Child soldiers in Uganda. [Source: gulfnews.com]

Concern with the welfare of children has been an inter-governmental concern going back to the League of Nations days.  However, the use of child soldiers was rarely mentioned as the professional military prior to the Second World War had persons over 18, usually the youngest were in their 20s.  However, the German Nazi used very young men in the last days of the war to try to limit the impact of the Allied forces within Germany.  There were a number of films and books which told of their efforts.  However, attention did not carry on once the Nazi forces were defeated.

Building on the NGO efforts in 1979 during the International Year of the Child, in the period 1993-1996, there was a U.N. study on the “Impact of Armed Conflict on Children” led by Ms Graça Machel, later the wife of Nelson Mandela.  She wrote “For too long, the consequences for children have been tolerated as an unfortunate but inevitable side effect of war.  In reality, children have increasingly become targets and not incedental victims, as a result of conscious and deliberate decisions made by adults.”

As a result of the Graça Machel study in 1997, the U.N. General Assembly named Ambassador Olara A. Otunnu as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.  He placed an emphasis on the moral vacuum in which all restraints have been eroded and discarded – a world in which children are no longer precious.  He wrote,

“At the heart of this growing phenomenon of mass violence and social disintegration is a crisis of values. Perhaps the most fundamental loss a society can suffer is the collapse of its own value system. Many societies exposed to protracted conflicts have seen their community values radically undermined, if not shattered altogether. This has given rise to an ethical vacuum – a setting in which international standards are ignored with impunity and where local value systems have lost their sway. Distinctions between civilians and combatants have broken down. Children, women, the elderly – all have become fair game in the single-minded struggle for power.”

Ambassador Otunnu was from Uganda which had seen more than its share of the breakdown of social norms and resulting violence such as that carried on by the Lord’s Resistance Army which systematically abducted children to be used as soldiers, porters, and sex slaves starting in 1987 but building on earlier armed movements. He was in exile and given citizenship by the Cote d’Ivoire which had appointed him Ambassador to the U.N.  During the sessions of the U.N. Committee on Human Rights, he was in Geneva, and we had long discussions.  He was very open to the spirit of Citizens of the World and the need to develop universal norms so as to move beyond an unregulated struggle for power.

Olara Otunnu wrote “Children represent the future of human civilization and the future of every society.  To permit them to be used as pawns in warfare, whether as targets or perpetrators, is to cast a shadow on the future.  From generation to generation, violence begets violence, as the abused grow up to become abusers.  Children who are thus violated carry the scars of fear and hatred in their hearts and minds.  Forced to learn to kill instead of pursuing education, the children of conflict lack the knowledge and skills needed to build their futures and the futures of their communities. For a society, the lives destroyed and the opportunities lost could have a devastating effect on its long-term stability and development.

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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,

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H.G. Wells and Human Rights

 

by Rene Wadlow
2023-01-27 08:59:32

2023 will see a year-long effort leading to 10 December 2023, the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  The effort carries the title "Dignity, Freedom and Justice for All".  Thus, it is useful to look at some of the intellectual preparations both within the League of Nations and among individual thinkers for the Universal Declaration.  One of the most widely read was that of Herbert George Wells "Declaration of the Rights and Duties of the World Citizen" which is found in his book "Phoenix: A Summary of the Inescapable Conditions of World Organization" published in 1942.  The Declaration of the Rights and Duties of the World Citizen had been translated into 10 languages and sent to 300 editors of newspapers in 48 countries.

H.G. Wells from the 1930s on was concerned with the ways the world should be organized with a world organization stronger than the League of Nations.  Such a world organization should be backed up and urged on by a strong body of public opinion linked together world-wide by the unifying bond of a common code of human rights and duties.

At the end of the First World War, H.G. Wells was a strong advocate of the League of Nations, but as time went on, he became aware of its weaknesses.  He wrote in 1939 " The League of Nations, we can all admit now, was a poor and ineffective outcome of that revolutionary proposal to banish armed conflict from the world and inaugurate a new life for mankind... Does this League of Nations contain within it the gem of any permanent federation of human effort?  Will it grow into something for which men will be ready to work for and, if necessary, fight - as hither to they have been willing to fight for their country and their own people?  There are few intimations of any such enthusiasm for the League at the present time.  The League does not even seem to know how to talk to the common man.  It has gone into official buildings, and comparatively few people in the world understand or care what it is doing there."

Thus, there was a need for a clear statement of world values that could be understood by most and that would be a common statement of the aspiration on which to build a new freedom and a new dignity.  Wells had a strong faith in international public opinion when it was not afraid to express new and radical thoughts that cut across the conventional wisdom of the day.  He wrote in 1943 "Behind the short-sighted governments that divide and mismanage human affairs, a real force for world unity and order exists and grows."

Wells hoped that the "Declaration of the Rights of the World Citizen" would become the fundamental law for mankind through the whole world - a true code of basic rights and duties which set out the acceptable shape of a just world society.

Wells set out 10 rights which combined civil liberties already common to many democratic states with economic and social rights which were often considered as aspirations but not as rights.  Thus among the 10 rights we find the Right to Participate in Government, Freedom of Thought and Worship, the Right to Knowledge, Freedom from Violence including Torture, along with the Right to Education, the Right to Medical Care, the Right to Work with Legitimate Remuneration, the Protection of Minors, Freedon of Movement about the Earth.

The drafters of the U.N. Charter in 1945 included a pledge by member states "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in equal rights of men and women, and of nations large and small."  Much of the debate from 1946 when the U.N. Commission on Human Rights was created until December 1948 when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed concerned the relative place of civil liberties and of economic, social, and cultural rights.

While the text of H.G. Wells is largely forgotten today, he had the vision of the strong link between freedom of thought based on civil liberties and the need for economic dignity set out in the economic, social, and cultural rights.

Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens