Champions of peace
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In 2017 Rotary honored six individuals as Rotary Champions of Peace. These individuals demonstrated a commitment to creating peace and resolving conflict. They are all involved in projects that address underlying causes of conflict, including poverty, inequality, ethnic tension, lack of access to education, or unequal distribution of resources. They discussed how partnerships they have developed influence the work they have done to earn the Champion of Peace recognition.
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Champions of peace
- 1. A PAGE FOR BIG BOLDBULLET ITEMS Dr. Ann Frisch 1 June 2019 Rotary Peace Symposium
- 3. Peace is the full realization of universalhumanrights for every person on the planet
- 4. In areas of armed violence, peace is being alive, at home with your family, children in school, businesses open
- 5. UCP’s role is unarmed protection for individuals and groups who are in danger
- 6. UCP’s role is unarmed protection for humanitarian workers who are providing food, water, clothing, & shelter;& to demonstrate how to nonviolently prevent conflicts over aid.
- 10. UCPs opening the way for humanitarian workers to goto occupied areas “Where NP goes, others will follow”
- 15. Link to global programs & policies for UCP Pax Christi conference - The Path of Nonviolence: Towards a Culture of Peace. Good practices conferences Africa Asia, and the Middle East High level briefing at UN
- 17. UCP training in English and French
- 19. Rotary Peace Fellows- Chulalongkorn visit NP in the Philippines
- 20. UCPs build relationships for protection With and between those at risk of violence With the humanitarian workers who serve them With those that make policy and programs
- 21. Nonviolence, once learned, is always possible: keep our planet peaceful http://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org Dr. Ann Frisch afrisch@nonviolentpeaceforce.org
- 22. Jean M Best United Nations/Rotary Champion of Peace 2017 Geneva
Editor's Notes
- I am Ann Frisch, I have been working with Nonviolent Peaceforce for 12 years, and among my duties is to identify exceptional unarmed civilian protectors and encourage them to apply for Rotary Peace fellowships. There have been 14 in 5 years. I have experienced these relationship building strategies as a unarmed civilian protector, as part of the advocacy and outreach team, and as mentor to Rotary Peace Fellow applicants.
- A vibrant definition of peace is the full realization of universal human rights for every person...as unarmed civilian protectors, we are most instrumental in helping fulfill Article 3, the right to safety and security
- As a matter of practice, we try to keep people at home. We are trying to shift the paradigm to intervene at the earliest moment to keep people at home with their children in school and their shops open. This is their right; and peace for them is being safe at home.
- Our primary role is unarmed protection for individuals and groups of civilians who are in danger.
- When it is too dangerous to stay at home, we go with civilians to refugee camps, where often we protect humanitarian workers. We have been developing new practices for reducing violence inside the camps...holding meetings for people to talk about how they would like the aid to be distributed, and sharing concerns about their safety
- When I helped to do a training in South Sudan in 2011, there were five women who came (that's a requirement: there must be women at the training). The woman on the left had walked 20 miles to be at the training. She explained that she was aware that Nonviolent Peaceforce provides transportation, but what if someone else needed the ride, or the motorcycle was broken, then it would be too late to walk. That was 2011.
- In just 8 years, Nonviolent Peaceforce has trained 1900 women in South Sudan. These women are taking on their own issues such as domestic violence, unarmed protection of their children, encouraging parents not to let their girls marry young, and protecting civilians injured in the war who might be revictimized.
- Now those same womens peacekeeping team members are teaching their daughters. Even in a war zone, women want their human rights to speak and participate.
- In a small village in South Sudan occupied by opposition forces in the South Sudan conflict, people were hungry and lacking medical care because humanitarian workers could not access them. For five years, they suffered. Then the Governor of the area spoke with Nonviolent Peaceforce and NP agreed to send a team to assess the extent of the need. The villages, or payams as they are called in South Sudan, of Dari and Lessi are in the northern part of a state where even the name and borders are disputed. Few people know where these payams are. Fewer care. The men, women and children surviving there are the casualties of war that are not counted. They are besieged in a triangle of violence. They live in an area controlled by the largest rebel group, the Sudanese Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-iO). The South Sudanese government provides no services there. Humanitarian organizations only reside in government-controlled areas and will not venture into this territory. And the people’s biggest fears come from 3-4 attacks per year by cattle keepers. About 50,000 people live in the area, although census data is unreliable. They have been cut off from humanitarian access for over 5 years. Last August the governor of the opposition requested NP to open the way to these payams for humanitarian groups to come and to assess the suffering. In a careful demonstration of NP’s nonpartisanship, our team notified the local government as well as the military commanders of both sides. As one humanitarian observed, “If NP goes other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) will go.” In late August the team set out for Dari. While they cruised the first two-thirds of the way on a good crushed rock road, they navigated the last 27 km on faint tracks through vegetation taller than the vehicle and tire swallowing mud. After having to employ a winch four times to get out of the muck, they arrived at Dari. As word spread an astonished and welcoming crowd swelled and greeted the team. They conducted a rapid needs assessment they found a community in dire need of food with many children showing signs of malnutrition. The village was not only without medications but had no soap. People with blindness and other disabilities were prevalent. Two teachers who hadn’t been paid in two years plus volunteers staffed the primary school, the only school in operation. A week later the NP team ventured deeper into the bush to Lessi payam bringing Oxfam along with them. There they found similar conditions. Food insecurity. Nodding disease and malaria. Women without access to menstrual hygiene products. Unmanaged community latrines. Almost 5,000 people having access to one borehole. The elementary school had been closed three years ago after cattle keepers attacked it killing three children and a chief. After issuing a Rapid Needs Assessment along with Oxfam, NP started advocating for basic needs. Mediations have arrived. The UN’s World Food Program has conducted an assessment but still has not delivered food. UNICEF will start programming soon. On November 28, I joined our team and a team from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the local Lacha Community Empowerment and Development. The NRC had requested our accompaniment so that they could conduct a shelter assessment. I wish I could report that we found a miraculous recovery but conditions in war weary lands don’t change quickly. Both Dari and Lessi still appeared under siege. The wheels of humanitarian agencies operating in a country with huge need turn slowly. We will continue to advocate. People reported that since NP came in August they now travel freely. As a positive indicator of the revitalized peace process, a truce was called by the two opposing militaries. Clashes have stopped. One man shared, “During the war it was like a prison. Now we can move to other villages.” Indeed war creates a tortuous prison for millions. NP will continue to play a vital role in opening these prison doors by venturing to places where no one else will go and opening humanitarian access. Even in a war zone, people want to be able to move freely.
- Nonviolent Peaceforce was invited to go to Iraq as US/Allies bombed the ISIS controlled areas. A wave of refugees poured into the camps, many of whom were the wives and children of ISIS fighters, now dead or deserted. Our Turkish speaking UCP spoke with the women: they were comfortable during the day when humanitarian workers were there; but fearful of sexual assault or abduction of their children at night. Nonviolent Peaceforce provides protection at night so they are safe.
- As a displaced Iraqi, the ability to vote seemed unlikely. The parliamentary elections in May were already rescheduled once before. It seemed impossible to register in the displacement sites where 2.1 million Iraqis resided. Many had not returned to their area of origin where they were previously registered to vote. And many had not yet been able to replace the civil and legal documentation required to register to vote. These documents were lost or withheld when they fled from home. Concerns abounded. Although the Iraqi government put special measures in place to enable displaced Iraqis to vote, safety was still an issue. Members of the Iraqi Security Forces guarded polling places. This made it impossible to maintain the civilian nature of camps. People worried about harassment from security stationed in and around the camps or harassment stemming from religious and ethnic tensions within the camps. Limited women’s access to polling stations was also a concern. But with your support, Nonviolent Peaceforce kept civilians safe. The pervasive feeling of celebration filled the air in all three camps on election day. These displaced Iraqis felt that the elections were a sign of the start of a return to normalcy and functioning democracy. People wore their best clothes, and children stood in the voting line with their parents to join in on the excitement. Supporters like you contributed to the day's anticipation. Mid-morning, NP staff realized one of the women's voting lines was at a standstill. Only men were being called into the voting tent. Men began amassing around the women. As uncomfortable as the women seemed, they remained in line to cast their ballots. NP staff checked in with security to speed up the women's line. NP highlighted the need to have the women’s line move faster to reduce harassment by the surrounding men. It would also allow them to return to their unaccompanied children back in their tents. Soldiers were immediately instructed to call forward voters from the women’s line. For the rest of the day, there was no wait to vote for women at the polling station. Before this election, Iraq began issuing special identification documents to expedite voter registration. Displaced Iraqis could use alternate documents if they could not get one of the special IDs in time. But on election day, those with the special IDs were not allowed to vote in the camp and had to walk several miles to a nearby town instead. NP staff spent the late afternoon following their ability to return to the camp after the long day. Displaced Iraqis walked past a former U.S. military installation that an air strike had hit, a destroyed elementary school, and the rubble remnants of a prestigious agricultural college. Despite the long, hot walk past clear evidence of violent conflict, both young and elderly voters showed up to cast their ballots. Your support helped make this happen. Even in a refugee camp, people want their human rights.
- When civilians’ lives are uprooted by war and people find themselves crammed alongside thousands of others in an internally displaced persons camp, things become chaotic. Discomfort, arguments and physical fights break out. Nonviolent Peaceforce lead forums where people come together to talk about their most pressing concerns. These community security forums take place on a regular basis. People address their safety concerns and share information about humanitarian aid organizations’ services. The meetings also serve as a space for people to dialogue with each other about community challenges and come up with solutions together. One example was when women started to report feeling uncomfortable going to the public bathrooms. They said that youth were loitering and they felt unsafe. When UCPs patrolled the bathrooms and waterpoints, they found that it was not just restless youth hanging around, but men as well. UCP's confronted them about their presence and asked them to understand the women’s point of view. They began to understand that the women felt as if they are being watched. Empathy is key, and that is what NP tries to get them to understand. Community leaders started to talk about the situation in their own neighborhoods. Now that more people are aware of the problem, youth that formerly sat near the bathrooms and waterpoints are now on the lookout for newcomers or visitors from other neighborhoods to inform them on giving the women privacy. And imagine : In an Iraqi refugee camp, there were wives and children of ISIS fighters, now dead from the bombings by US allies on ISIS occupation. Fleeing for their lives, they found shelter in the UN camp. They told Turkish speaking UCPs that they fel safe during the day when UN workers were there; but were afraid at night guarded by Iraqi soldiers. of sexual assault and abduction of their children in the camp. Nonviolent Peaceforce provided protection at night, so they were safe.
- In the Philippines, the months of March and April are full of celebration. It's graduation season for students across the country. And like their American counterparts, there are matching caps and gowns, certificate, speeches, and parents toting cameras around on commencement day. In a war zone, children want education, and to graduate. However, graduation day hasn’t always been a day full of smiles and joy for all the schools in the communities where Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) works. Two years ago, armed members of two parties in conflict started shooting at one another in the midst of an ongoing graduation ceremony, causing widespread fear among students, parents and teachers and abruptly ending the ceremony. Upon learning about the violent disruption, NP engaged the school and other local stakeholders in an effort to gather different perspectives, show responsive presence, and assess what could be done to prevent future violence at the school and in the community. NP continued to reach out to different local groups and engage them in conversation in the following months. Then, NP was invited by local educators to be present at the school’s graduation in 2017. On graduation day in 2017, NP staff strategically placed themselves at locations within and just outside the school. The hope was to play a role of violence prevention alongside parents, educators, and community leaders at the ceremony and positively influence the behavior of the two parties who were in conflict. A local, armed task force was also present, but stayed outside the school premises to respect the zone of peace. The school administration and local officials were able to encourage and maintain a firearms-free zone that prevented visitors or parents with firearms from entering the school premises. The day’s celebration proceed in peace. Towards the end of the program, one of the educators suggested that NP be invited again for next year’s graduation. ----- ----- When invited again in 2018, NP was present for a second time alongside teachers, parents, and students as part of an effort to create a safe space for the school’s graduation. Again, the ceremony went smoothly and without any violent incidents. When another school learned about NP’s engagement at the graduation ceremony, NP was invited to be a part of the solution for another Filipino school that was experiencing a similar situation of conflict. As with the first school, you gave NP the opportunity to foster relationships, contribute to the reduction of violence and support a local community on a significant day.
- Nonviolent Peaceforce field staff give briefings at the United Nations, conferences with world leaders. We bring together practitioners and academicians to evaluate the practices and offer opinions on which ones are critical to unarmed civilian protection.
- Here our United Nations based staff meets with UN staff.
- Another way we build relationships is providing training. We have been doing courses at Merrimack college, and here is our first training in French.
- And this year Rotary Peace Fellows from Chulalongkorn University made a field visit to the Nonviolent Peaceforce team in the Philippines to see for themselves what it's like to be an unarmed civilian protector and meet with civilians who have experienced our presence.
- So Nonviolent Peaceforce builds relationships for protection, and sometimes works to restore relationships broken by war; we keep safe the humanitarian workers, and we build relationships with those who make policy and do programs. It takes all levels: our deep experience in the field, living and working alongside those afflicted by war, our outreach and advocacy, our work to get the United Nations to adopt unarmed civilan protection as an alternative to the military response.
- In every field site, at every conference table, we leave the message that violence as a solution to conflict is not working. We have to reimagine what can be. Using nonviolence, we are able to rebuild the torn relationships, protect powerful civilians, increasingly women, and that knowledge resides with them for now and the future.