Social Media: Amplifying Your Voice and Transforming an Audience into a Community
January 20, 2012 | UN Headquarters, NY, NY
Socialbrite, a media consulting group for non-profits, offered a timely and interesting panel entitled “How NGOs can use social media to eradicate poverty” held at UN headquarters on Friday, 20 January 2012. The Socialbrite Team was represented by JD Lasica and Shonali Burke, both of whom were eager to act as liaisons between NGOs and the new virtual world spilling over into the philanthropic movements of the last decade and, ultimately, the powerful world of social good.
Social media and new connective technologies have become regular topics of conversation both around the UN and beyond. Connecting individuals from distant corners of the earth, these tools have impacted both the volume of discussion and the diversity of discussants, and thus the discussion itself. As such, human security concerns have been redefined through new media and social technology widening the space for public discourse on issues of global concern, including disarmament and other facets of international security.
A full report on the event can be found here.
Please connect with us on Facebook, ‘Disarmament Dialogues,’ and Twitter @DisarmDialogues!
More information on the event and access to the presenters’ powerpoint slides can be found here.
More information on ‘Socialbrite’ can be found on their website.
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Promoting a Robust Human Security Agenda at UPEACE
December 8, 2011 | University for Peace, Costa Rica
During a trip to South America for a conference co-organized with the Government of Ecuador on combating the illicit trade in small arms (a report from this conference is forthcoming), Global Action’s Katherine Prizeman was honored to participate in a lunch-time lecture series with students at the UN-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. UPEACE provides the international community with an institution of higher learning focused on all aspects of the peace and security objectives of the United Nations through education, training, and research.
Katherine offered a seminar entitled, “Promoting a robust human security agenda: highlighting links between gender, disarmament, and the arms trade.” As 2012 will be a critical year for many processes on the disarmament agenda, including the ATT negotiating conference, a Review Conference on progress made in the implementation of the Programme of Action on small arms (PoA), and a conference to begin work on a Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone (WMDFZ), the seminar at UPEACE was a timely discussion with diverse students poised to take their places as peace practitioners in the world. The linkages addressed in the seminar underscored how porous the concept of human security is as well as how security concerns are essentially indivisible from one another– from women’s participation in disarmament policy to the role of illicit weapons in the perpetration of atrocity crimes. In the context of the ATT and PoA processes, Katherine discussed the need to increase the links between disarmament processes and gender in order to better address these issues in a more comprehensive and multifaceted manner.
Global Action looks forward to many more collaborations with UPEACE and will continue to highlight its important role in peace education for the whole of the international community.
For Katherine’s presentation, please click here.
For more information on UPEACE, please click here.
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Operationalising R2P: The Civilian and Military Challenges of the Third Pillar
January 13, 2012 | Brussels
With this summer’s Responsibility to Protect (R2P) ‘Third Pillar’ debate fast approaching, GAPW is participating in a series of regionally-based workshops, including one in April in Brussels, and hosting its own two-day event in New York in May. In collaboration with Rutgers University, the first day of the New York event will focus on the policy circumstances and recommendations for a United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS). On the second day, the event will focus on the third pillar of the R2P norm, bringing together many experts, UN diplomats, and other practitioners who have worked on R2P over the past few months in preparation for the debate. The hope is to help inform and consult with diplomats as they begin drafting their statements for the summer debate.
The Brussels event is being co-organized by the Madariaga-College of Europe Foundation, Global Action to Prevent War, the Global Governance Institute, the Bonn International Centre for Conversion, the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect and the Center for the Study of Genocide at Rutgers University. This workshop will bring together policy-makers from the EU, UN and regional organisations and scholars to debate the civilian and military challenges posed by the third pillar of the R2P principle. The workshop will be followed by a publication that will report on the proceedings, highlight recommendations for the GA debate and beyond, and catalogue the paper contributions. A policy brief will precede the workshop.
Accordingly, the organisers invite scholars and policy-makers at all levels to submit abstracts for consideration. Abstracts should include a prospective title, author details and a 150-200 word abstract. Successful papers will require that authors travel to Brussels to present their findings, ideas and arguments at the workshop in a 20-30 minute presentation. Final papers will be between 2,500 - 4,000 words long.
Deadline for Abstract Submission: 11 February 2012
For full details on the Call for Papers please click here.
Please submit abstracts and all queries to Daniel Fiott at dfiott[at]madariaga.org
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US Engagement in UN Peacekeeping: The Role of Women
December 15, 2011 | Washington, DC
One of Global Action’s key partners, Citizens for Global Solutions based in Washington, DC, recently published a series of papers on US engagement in UN peacekeeping. In 2009, the Obama Administration signaled that the United States would increase its participation in international peacekeeping missions and identified key goals to accomplish this mission. In 2011, these aspirations have yet to be implemented. “Women in International Peacekeeping” is an excerpt from the Partnership for Effective Peacekeeping’s report, “U.S. Engagement in International Peacekeeping: From Aspiration to Implementation” that examines the importance of achieving greater gender balance in peacekeeping operations and recommends steps that the United States can take to increase the number of women in peacekeeping and in leadership roles in peacekeeping operations. The full report additionally examines U.S. Funding of Peacekeeping, Training and Equipping Peacekeepers, and Standing Civilian and Police Capacity and provides recommendations for Congress and the Administration to increase engagement in these areas.
For the full excerpt on “Women in International Peacekeeping,” please click here.
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Linking Women’s Participation and the Prevention of Atrocity Crimes
November 14, 2011 | Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
In our efforts to fully implement our MOU with the Rutgers University Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Global Action was ‘on stage’ this week in Newark for a presentation focused on our efforts to link the prevention of atrocity crimes and the full participation of women in all conflict prevention and response measures. The focus is a new group organized by Melina Lito that brings together UN and NGO officials from the gender and genocide prevention communities to find ways to influence next year’s General Assembly debate on ‘third pillar’ response capacities under the R2P framework. We anticipate a truly global process to ensure a diversity of recommendations to discuss with diplomats. We hope that our agreement with Rutgers will result in a robust, cutting-edge, fully-funded program that offers hope to a new generation that the threat of mass atrocities can finally be eliminated.
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The Sydney Peace Foundation Tackles Military Priorities and Security Questions
November 14, 2011 | UN Headquarters, NY, NY
Readers of this site know that one of Global Action’s core priorities is a significant readjustment of military spending priorities, with more of a focus on ‘homeland defense’ and less on the forward projection of power by the US and other major military forces. The current ideological mantra guiding so much of US military spending policy - ‘we must fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here’ - is driving the country to the edge of national bankrupcy while seemingly creating more enemies than it is vanquishing. The latest chapter in this ongoing drama is provided via our partner Stuart Rees in Sydney. Stuart is director of the Sydney Peace Foundation and is concerned, as are many in Australia, about a new policy to place additional US forces in the far north of that country in an attempt to contain the ‘threat’ allegedly posed by China to the region. Once again, an arms build-up is offered as the only path to security including, in this case, security from attack by a government that has shown no disposition whatsoever to do so. Defense against a spurious threat creates targets rather than removes them. If Stuart is right, and this build-up is being promoted primarily for local economic benefit, it is indeed a dangerous game with limited benefit. China is not likely to tolerate being ’surrounded’ or backed into a corner. With the US deficit skyrocketing, provocative and needless military engagements would seem to serve no useful interest.
GAPW Hosts New Partner Dedicated to Preventing Genocide and Mass Atrocities
November 1, 2011 | UN Headquarters, NY, NY
Global Action recently hosted two of our partnership organizations, the League for Educational Awareness of the Holocaust (LEAH) and Our Humanity in the Balance (OHIB), for a day of briefings on the current situation in Sudan and South Sudan. Our relationship to LEAH has evolved over the past several months as they have begun negotiations with our OHIB. The negotiations have been directed towards organizing a joint deployment in areas of South Sudan that have been subject to violence initiated against the Nuba people by the Sudanese government. This deployment will provide relief supplies to the Nuba camps that have cropped up along the South Sudan border, but will also provide opportunities for fact-finding and relationship building for subsequent activity in the region, including the launch of LEAH’s new, ambitious monitoring system.
The South Sudan deployment is one of the educational and technical projects proposed by LEAH under its new strategic plan. While we believe that the benefits of deployment are many — including relief provisions for populations under siege as well as enhanced credibility with other genocide prevention organizations and agencies - it is the comprehensiveness of LEAH’s approach that sets it apart, For us, the combination of direct service, monitoring, policy engagement, education and character development add up to a program with diverse focal points and prospects for fruitful collaboration.
Global Action stands ready to provide assistance on policy and connections with international actors who can enhance the benefits of both initial and longer-term collaborative engagements on all of LEAH’s programs. Our judgment is that LEAH and its diverse partners are poised to make many significant contributions to the heavy responsibilities associated with ending the threat of mass atrocities in our time.
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Engaging UN-based Journalists and Encouraging Honest Conversation
Since September, Global Action has enjoyed the energy, collegiality and commitment of Lia Petridis Maiello, a former German journalist who is currently pursuing graduate studies at Seton Hall University. Among other contributions, Lia has urged us to pay more attention to a strangely ignored segment of the UN community – the journalists who cover the UN and whose opinions about how successfully (or not) the UN functions in its core mandates – especially in peace and security – influence public opinion and support in countries worldwide. While many of us have strong opinions about the media, we have not always done due diligence in understanding how media works, journalistic obstacles to accessing both officials and news worthy images, the pressures of deadlines in a highly competitive business climate, and much more. At the same time, media responsible for covering the UN are not always aware of the full scope of important UN activities, are not always patient with the slow pace of consensus-driven negotiations by states with limited trust for each other, and are not always familiar with the diverse personalities driving the system and preserving forward momentum on security, development, climate and other issues, at times over the objections of some very some powerful states.
With Lia’s guidance, we have begun a formal process of dialogue with UN-based journalists to better understand the related contexts that define the work of journalists, UN officials and diplomatic missions. We hope eventually to help journalists gain better access to stories and personalities that can enrich their bylines, help keep the UN honest, and enlarge the appreciation of citizens worldwide for the many ways in which the UN and its member states keep conflict under control and provide relief and guidance when the peace fails.
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2011 Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security
October 28, 2011 | UN Headquarters, NY, NY
Orzala Ashraf Nemat (left) on behalf of the NGOWGWPS with Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN-Women.
A month of celebrations for the 11th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 came to a close on 28 October 2011 with the Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security. This year’s theme was Women’s Participation and Their Role in Conflict Prevention and Mediation. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UN-Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet, and ECOSOC President Ambassador Lazarus Kapambwe of Zambia were among the main presenters, followed by Orzala Ashraf Nemat who spoke on behalf of the NGO Working Group on Women Peace and Security (NGOWGWPS).
Overall, a number of delegations applauded the work of UN Women and discussed the progress of their respective NAPs. Attention was also paid to the role of civil society in initiating dialogue around these issues as well as acting as critical players in building the capacity necessary to help women participate. This debate is a good annual reminder of the importance of integrating women, peace and security into the Council agenda on a regular basis as well as highlighting the cross-cutting issues involved with securing women’s active participation and full political access.
For a full report, please click here.
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UNGA First Committee Comes to a Close
October 31, 2011 | UN Headquarters, NY, NY
This year’s General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security met from October 3 through 31. Delegations undertook some of the most difficult issues facing the international community at present– nuclear disarmament, conventional weapons control, and disarmament machinery among others. After general debate and issue-specific discussion finished up, delegations took action on resolutions.
Each year the hope is that the international community can come together in this deliberative body to not only make commitments to disarmament, but also implement those commitments in national policies. It remains to be seen if the commitments adopted this year will be implemented, but the worth of the Committee in and of itself is clear. As High Representative for Disarmament Sergio Duarte stated at its opening, “…the Committee has the capability to make its own independent contribution to advancing multilateral norms in disarmament.”
As has been the case in previous years, Global Action contributed to the First Committee Monitor, a weekly digest of reporting and analysis on the Committee’s work. Global Action focused specifically on discussions related to conventional weapons such as transparency in armaments, military expenditure and the arms trade.
All issues of this year’s Monitor are available here on the Reaching Critical Will website. Also available are statements and voting results.
Global Action was also pleased to present one the NGO statements to the First Committee on the ‘Implementation of the NPT Action Plan including the Middle East WMDFZ.’
For access to all the presentations from civil society, please click here.
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Partner Spotlight!
GAPW has recently signed an MOU with our partners at BICC and the Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution, and Human Rights at Rutgers University!
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