Peace X Peace Community Members
Worldwide

“Respect is a two way street, not something you can just move to another location.”

It’s difficult to turn on the news or listen to the radio without hearing some reference to, or full-fledged debate about, the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” in New York City. Talk-show commentators offer sound bites on religious freedom, Islam, and/or terrorism (depending on where you’re tuned in to) while street protesters shout about “hallowed ground.”

What is rarely heard amidst the uproar are nuanced responses, marked by respect, compassion and a desire for reconciliation.  That’s not because such a response doesn’t exist;  it simply doesn’t get airtime. We want to change that.

Members of the Peace X Peace Community have been participating in an online discussion about the proposed community center near Ground Zero. Here is some of what has been said:

Nesima Aberra, Arizona

“Park51 may have a Muslim prayer hall, but the center as a whole is open to everyone and by rejecting the project and its location we are saying, ‘Thanks but no thanks we don’t accept your invitation.’ Respect is a two way street, not something you can just move to another location.” Nesima Aberra, Arizona

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“Construction of a mosque on a ground that was destroyed and was hit by Muslim terrorists, can be interpreted as a provocation, or  it can be interpreted as a desire for reconciliation. . .

Irit Hakim-Keller, Israel

. . . Tolerance is an important value. It is very easy to be tolerant toward someone or something nice, but it is very difficult to be tolerant toward those who hurt us, or those considered to be our enemy, or to whom we have reason to suspect their motives. I hope the American nation will be wise enough to take the right move. For me, a Israeli peacemaker, the right (and not easy) move is to let them build the mosque.” Irit Hakim-Keller, Israel

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Mary Ellen Latela

“I believe that the “mosque” issue has become a symbol of deep distrust for anything we don’t understand. Those who are the most vocal express their lack of knowledge about Islam and further about most World Religions. As an interfaith minister and a college instructor of World Religions, I hear from many students that they have never thought very much about any other tradition than their own. . . It’s sad but true that people have been fighting “in the name of God” for a long, long time. Karen Armstrong, author of The Battle for God and other timely works, notes that there have been wars, pogroms, inquisitions, based on the notion that WE are following the one and only Way and everyone else is wrong/damned/hopeless. At the root is lack of trust … as if it’s US and THEM. What if we were to realize that at some deep level, there IS NO “religious other”? Peace requires courage, patience, understanding, and the ability to see real people, bunches of huddled strangers.” Mary Ellen Latela, Missouri

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Andrea Webb

“The more intolerant we become of other faiths the more we unintentionally force them to cleave tighter to their own group as we won’t allow them into ours. Then we wonder why extremism is born. We live in a Global environment, the United States is a place that was born out of necessity of people in the past trying to escape religious intolerance, yet now we have become an intolerant nation.” Andrea Webb, Florida

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Karry Crossland

“We need to stop! How are we ever going to come together in PEACE if we continue with prejudice?

Here is one of my favorite quotes from Jimi Hendrix: ‘When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.’” Karry Crossland, California

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If you are interested in joining this discussion or others like it, check out the Peace X Peace Community! As we like to say, peace doesn’t just happen and it isn’t simply what’s there when there is no war. Peace is built. And we think that every well-intentioned person has something important to contribute to the process of building peace.

Sowmya Ayyar

Sowmya Ayyar
USA

“My technological idea is simple: help women empower themselves and transform their own lives.”

Yesterday, I attended the Center for Science, Technology and Society’s Global Social Benefit Incubator presentations at Santa Clara University in California and was inspired again to find or create a technology to help others with. I searched my skill set for unique technologies that I could offer. Only one came to mind: yoga.

What is technology, anyway? For you and me, it’s about the internet, mobile phones, and lots of gadgets and gimmicks, many which are unaffordable (but somehow still make it into the market). It’s about finding solutions to social and environmental concerns. It’s using Promethean Power Systems’ solar-powered refrigeration bins to store milk and transforming pine needles into energy like Avani.

In a village with no running water or electricity, technology is about taking what little you have, and making it into something great. It’s innovating something that can transform lives.

Decades ago, this is exactly what the father of modern-day yoga did. BKS Iyengar had some health concerns and limitations. He started learning and practicing yoga from his brother-in-law, Krishnamacharya. Iyengar took it one step further: he used house-hold goods to aid his practice. Books, towels, and chairs served as props for the master.

Today those props have transformed into blocks, mats, straps, sandbags, and many other yoga props that can help deepen your yoga practice.

My technological idea is simple: help women empower themselves and transform their own lives. Teach them how to make sandbags, eye pillows, straps, and yoga bags, and they go from victims of domestic violence to entrepreneurs in one of the hottest markets of the world today. And then teach them to use the very same tools they now sell: give them yoga lessons, and let them find peace within.

My research is about showing how yoga is beneficial to survivors of domestic violence. From my own experience, I believe it helps them regain confidence, compassion, strength, truth, non-violence and forgiveness for themselves and for others, especially former and current abusers. These qualities, which are often learned and secured through interactions with nature, can also be found within through concentration during the practice of yoga (in philosophies, poses, and meditations).

It might not be a lot to you and me. But to a woman in need, it means transformation on the spiritual level as well as the financial. It’s a growth in biophilia; it’s an opportunity for an income, and to achieve self-sufficiency and financial security; it’s a chance to obtain peace through simple technologies.

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This article was originally posted on Sowmya Ayyar’s blog — Yoga for Peace –  where she regularly writes about the intersection of yoga philosophies and peace theories. She is currently writing a master’s thesis about how yoga affects people who have experienced domestic violence. Check out her blog to read more about her experiences teaching yoga at a local domestic violence shelter.

Kathy Garms

Kathy Garms
USA

“Elkader’s founders had no way of knowing in 1846, when they named a new settlement on the banks of the Turkey River in northeast Iowa after a widely admired Arab freedom fighter, that they were setting the stage for international learning experiences.”

Who could imagine that a small rural town in America’s heartland – Elkader, Iowa – would be remembering a 19^th century world-renowned Muslim hero? Yet, that has become reality through the bonding of a tiny dot on a map and a book. Thanks to John Kiser’s biography, Commander of the Faithful…The Life and Times of Emir Abd el-Kader (1808-1883) www.TrueJihad.com, a much needed message of tolerance, respect and inter-faith understanding has been delivered directly to our doorstep.

In the mid-1840′s, Abd el-Kader became known throughout much of the world for his cunning yet chivalrous resistance to a French “civilizing mission” in Algeria. He later became widely known for humanitarian actions that saved the lives of thousands of local Christians and foreign diplomats in Damascus. All of his actions, in war and peace, were done in conformity with what he understood were the obligations of his deep Islamic faith.

Since 2008, promoting the message of Abd el-Kader’s life and his example of moral courage, generosity, learning, and open spirit has become a passion for me because it makes sense.

Being a product of Elkader where everyone knew each other, I was afforded a safe and nurturing childhood. We were free to roam the hills and explore in a community where people cared about each other. Life’s lessons were learned from family, friends, school, and trial and error with a keen distinction between right and wrong. Recent years, however, have brought the complexity of a global society, raising questions and showing us the need for more knowledge about unfamiliar cultures.

Elkader’s founders had no way of knowing in 1846, when they named a new settlement on the banks of the Turkey River in northeast Iowa after a widely admired Arab freedom fighter, that they were setting the stage for international learning experiences.

May 2010 Forum in Elkader. Algerian Ambassador Abdallah Baali (seated) with Abd el-Kader Education Project Team (John Boyer, Kathy Garms, Ed Ohlin, Sarah Sayeed, John Kiser)

In 1984, a sister city program began between Elkader (Iowa) and Mascara, Algeria—the emir’s birthplace. As sister cities president during 2007-2008, I was able to coordinate and facilitate exciting opportunities between our countries. Being invited to speak at the Council of Nation/Emir Abd el-Kader Foundation Human Rights Seminar in Algiers to honor the 200^th anniversary of Abd el-Kader’s birth and visit Mascara were both an honor and a privilege. Elkader has in turn hosted ambassadors, participated in exchanges, and continues to build cultural bridges.

Getting to know our Algerian friends has expanded our global vision of “community.” It is necessary for all of us to reach outside our comfort zones to listen, share and respond appropriately.

Our friendship with Algeria was brought even closer when, soon after a devastating 2008 flood in Elkader, Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika sent a personal message of condolence to Elkader citizens, along with a generous, no-strings-attached gift of $150,000 to assist with flood recovery efforts.

In October 2008, John Kiser chose to launch his book in Elkader. As he spoke about our long-forgotten namesake, it became apparent to me and others that Abd el-Kader’s heroic life had great relevance for today. Here was a hero who was admired by President Lincoln, Queen Victoria, Pope Pius IX as well as French generals, former prisoners, Free Masons and Christian leaders.

As interest grew locally in learning about Abd el-Kader and his struggle to live righteously (“true jihad”), far from the media’s image, our outreach has embraced new partners within Iowa and beyond.

What began with a book launch has spun into an annual Abd el-Kader Essay Contest, first offered locally, now statewide. The contest offers scholarship money to Iowa high school juniors and seniors to evaluate the significance of Abd el-Kader’s life in light of current events in America and throughout the world. Our intent is to revive the emir’s memory and example for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

May 2008 Mascara. Kathy with university students

By late 2009, the essay contest evolved into The Abd el-Kader Education Project which today encourages people to learn about a different face of Islam that has been embraced by Muslim leaders in the U.S. and in Pakistan. Collaborating with the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, madrasa teachers in Pakistan are now using the Urdu translation of the book to reflect upon and discuss Abd el-Kader’s life as a model of righteous living. Pakistani essay contests have been stimulated, in part, by Elkader’s example. The Pakistan experience is inspiring similar interest in other Muslim countries.

New dimensions have been added to the Abd el-Kader Education Project. Barbara Petzen, Education Director for the Washington DC based Middle East Policy Council, will present the relevance of Abd el-Kader’s life story to the global struggles of today and the lessons to be learned at schools and conferences throughout the U.S. One Blue, a social media company founded by Sarah Sayeed and John Boyer in Washington DC, has been promoting Abd el-Kader’s story on their website as part of a broader goal to educate youth across cultural boundaries via the internet for global interaction.

It has become very clear to me that we must all move forward in seeking knowledge, wisdom, and friendships across the globe. Each of us has the capacity to ignite a spark to show the rest of the world how different cultures can live together in friendship, respect, understanding, and cooperation.

“’The form of worship may change but not the Master, for the God of the Christians is also ours. We are only different in the way we address ourselves to Him.”

-        Emir Abd el-Kader

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Kathy Garms is a volunteer for The Abd el-Kader Education Project based in Elkader, Iowa and believes each day is an opportunity to learn and give back to the world.

by Patricia Smith Melton
Founder, Peace X Peace
Editor, Sixty Years, Sixty Voices: Israeli and Palestinian Women

Salma Jabou describes herself, first, as an Iraqi woman, and then as an engineer, founder of an educational center for war widows in Baghdad, Advisor to the President of Iraq on women’s issues, wife of the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iraq, and mother of a grown son and daughter. She has been a leader of the Iraqi women’s movement for 30 years, starting when it was a secret network during the Hussein regime.

When Saddam came into power, Salma’s extended family, like that of so many educated middle-class families, had to leave Iraq or risk being targeted and destroyed. After living in Algeria for a short time, she moved to Damascus. From there, for 22 years she slipped secretly through the Syrian-Iraqi border to meet with Iraqi women. Her mission was to keep the women mindful of their human rights and freedoms and to help prevent violence against women.

Now living in Baghdad, Salma’s work is public, large-scale, and focuses on the need of Iraqi women to earn money. We talked privately in Washington, DC, where she spoke frankly about the conditions of Iraqi women, especially widows. Fifty-five percent of the adult population of Iraq is now female because of wars, terrorism, and emigration, and 30% of the population is officially below the poverty line. Because terrorists like the headlines to report how powerful they are, bombs are detonated among crowds in order to kill the most people. That is, usually among the poor, creating a cultural subset of uneducated widows.

Salma Jabou

Without training, a widow has, Salma told me, three options: a) to return to her husband’s family where she is often seen as an burden and may be subject to violence, even as the family disapproves of her working outside the house, b) to allow her children of any age to work in the street where they are subject to physical and sexual violence, or c) to become a prostitute. Salma says, “The women are desperate, they have no food for themselves or their children. It is normal then to go to the streets.”

Of special concern to Salma are the children. She told me, “We cannot imagine what will happen in 15 years with the children who grow up in the street with all the violence, terrorism, and sexual abuse.”

Salma runs the Development and Training Widows Center in Baghdad, which she founded in May 2006. The center has graduated more than 1800 women with career training in sewing, computer fluency and English, health services, and soon to be added, photography and video. As photographers and videographers, the women can be employed to record social functions where men are not allowed.

I asked Salma if there are men who support the women. Her answer was “yes” and “no.” It is one thing to support the concept of women’s rights and even training but, she says, men exclude women from policy decisions and positions of power.

In fact, the entire government has been in limbo since the elections of March 7, 2010, without a functioning cabinet or power behind the ministries. A woman’s ministry and human rights ministry exist, but for now they are hindered and ineffectual.

This breakdown of governmental operations goes hand in hand with the continuing lack of public services including electricity, water, and fuel. Salma told me, “I ask, ‘How many years do we need to build one refinery in Iraq? Why we are importing our fuel oil? Why don’t we have stable electricity? Why no clean water supply?’ And nobody answers me. The ministries, the government, the American people working in Iraq, they just shrug.”

She continued, “But I know the answer, it is corruption—and violence and terrorism.”

Her anger shows when she says, “One school around Baghdad has 80 girls sitting on the floor. And all the school is surrounded by garbage. Why don’t the people have basic services and enough to eat? You think a girl is only 6 or 7 years and when you ask how old she is, she says 12 or 13.”

It is Salma’s contention—borne out in developing nations around the world—that when women gain financial power, they improve not only their own status, but also the state of the entire nation. She says, “Our society will never develop if we don’t have developed women, because women have a great huge part in the development of a society.”

“Developed women” to Salma means women who have economic power, and that does not mean handouts. It means education and guidance to get jobs in a marketplace that discriminates against women.

Salma says, “I believe in the rights of women, and I believe in my people. We have a lot of oil and a large agricultural area. We have good resources, but a bad government. If I do a little bit, and another person does a little, and then more people do more, we can change Iraq. Our women are strong and, in this very difficult situation, they are working to change their lives.”

I asked Salma if she felt safe. She laughed quietly and said, “I’ve worked from 2006 to now, all the time without a bodyguard.”

I reminded her of the hundreds and hundreds of doctors, engineers, and professors who were killed. She responded, “This is the life, this is the life, but many people are still working. We are still alive.”

“And you are amazing,” I said.

“No,” she replied, “there are a lot of strong women in Iraq. I can work because I am educated, and have support from my family, and can travel, and I know about my rights and democracy—I have more chances than other women. A lot of women who haven’t had a chance would do better than I.”

Salma finished, “We need connections with women in America to help us change our lives. We are suffering. Why should the women in Iraq suffer and we don’t change this?  We need support from all over the world, from women and men.”

For Salma, the most important support is a network of women—secret when it needs to be, and very public when possible—where information, encouragement, stories, and education are exchanged. This is a two-way global street where women are peers.

If you wish to reach out to the women at the Widows Center, please contact Alicia at Peace X Peace (alicia@peacexpeace.org). Help build connections with these Iraqi woman.

Harriet Dumba (l) with HAHS co-founder Agnes Oswaha, Photo by Amitra Hujira

Harriet Dumba
Sudan/USA

“With my current visit to Kajo Keji, I meet young girls who got pregnant either by older counterparts or age-mates. None of them receive HIV testing or counseling because there are no facilities that are women friendly in the region.” 

On July 28 through August 1^st 2010, Hearts of Angels for Health Sudan Initiative (HAHS, http://www.hah-s.org) brought women from all around North America to Dallas, Texas to plan and work together to support those in South Sudan. The organization was established in 2002 to work in Kajo Keji, Torit, and Bor. This second annual Kajo Keji women’s training meeting built a foundation for women in the diaspora to start extending help to those in Sudan while working together as a community rather than as individuals.

Participants who had just returned from Sudan gave testimonies of the long suffering of those on the ground. Women’s health and education was an issue heavily discussed among those in Sudan and the diaspora. HIV/AIDS is of great concern given the business activities that take place around Kajo Keji County. According to the United Nations Development Program, the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Southern Sudan is believed to have moved into the “generalized phase … where infection has gone beyond high-risk groups into the general population.” This creates an alarm for Kajo Keji County. Development challenges in Kajo Keji and Southern Sudan in general are enormous, and the burden falls mostly on the women and young girls. HIV/AIDS education is minimal, though some of the factors contributing to the spread of the disease are clearly witnessed within the community.

With my current visit to Kajo Keji, I meet young girls who got pregnant either by older counterparts or age-mates. None of them receive HIV testing or counseling because there are no facilities that are women friendly in the region. Abortion rates are also reported as high, and many are performed by peers. The aftermath impact is excruciating. HAHS wishes to create a structural system where such victims are supported to hold onto their dreams by providing life skill programs.

Dawn in Kajo Keji, 2007

Because we lack a place to coordinate such programs, the organization wants to construct a center that women can call home. We want to provide counseling, sanitation, education, and many other services. Our goal is to raise $50,000.00 by Dec 31^st 2010. The Kajo Keji women in the diaspora have already raised $2,600.00 towards this project. We are looking for companies or individuals to match these funds. All of the money raised will directly benefit the building of the women’s center.

I have made a commitment to this organization, and we cannot continue this work without help from friends like you. Donations are tax deductible. Please feel free to call me at (206) 679-7576 or email hpdumba1@gmail.com if you have any questions.

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Harriet Dumba is President and co-founder of HAH-S. She grew up in the rural village of Kajo Keji but was forced to flee to Uganda, then Kenya, and eventually the US. She is dedicated to bringing health, social justice, and peace to her homeland of Sudan.

Melody Green

Melody Green
Australia

The bloodless coup (Rudd accepted without opposition his demise) . . . brought mixed results. While many (especially women) were keen to see a woman at the helm, Julia Gillard’s method of getting there was likened to the actions of Lady Macbeth.

It’s the week after the election ―usually a period of celebration and commiseration for the winners and losers of the major parties in Australia.

Our extraordinary times have brought some interesting changes to what is traditionally a two-party system. For the first time since 1940 we have the very likely event of a hung parliament.

I think this is a telling result.

In times of crisis people want petty politics set aside from the issues―and as an optimist, I see this hung parliament as an opportunity to stop the two-party point scoring and move to a mature, enlightened sense of cooperative governing.

How does the government run in Australia?
Elections can occur any time in the third year of a term, as early as August and as late as the end of November. If it had not been for the ousting in June of the incumbent Labor Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, by Ms Julia Gillard, the first woman to become prime minister in Australia, we would not have gone to the polls this early.

Labor’s own polls were showing there would have been a major loss of support with Kevin Rudd at the helm. The bloodless coup (Rudd accepted without opposition his demise) was designed to give a fresh face to the electorate. The action brought mixed results. While many (especially women) were keen to see a woman at the helm, her method of getting there was likened to the actions of Lady Macbeth.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard

I live in New South Wales, where I have a female Premier, as well as a female Prime Minister and Governor General. This is a momentous time for women in politics in a country that is by nature quite conservative, even though Australians would like to think otherwise. Ms Gillard reflects the truth of where the country stands, but not necessarily the myth of where Australians think they stand.

She is a migrant (albeit from the UK), and from a working class background in South Australia. She went to university, graduated as a lawyer, and joined the Labor Party while she was at university. She pursued her career and then shifted to politics. So far so good. But she has not married or had children, and while the electorate would look askance at a woman with children (doesn’t she have enough on her plate running her family and keeping her husband happy?) they are also not comfortable with a single woman (how can she put her career and desire to serve her country before the traditional wife/mother role?). Her “brutal slaying” of Kevin Rudd has only added to her “unfeminine” way of doing politics. But if we look at history, while the PM has usually not been ousted while in power, the change of political leaders in opposition looks like a game of musical chair murders!

Ms Gillard called the election early to clear the way for the public to say she can govern. I simply cannot imagine a man doing that when in power. It is really a woman’s way of wanting approval showing here―and it may yet be her undoing.

Her roller coaster campaign was punctuated by salacious leaks and gossip from her own side and the illness and hospitalisation of Kevin Rudd during a long run (5 weeks compared with the usual 4) that would have undone a woman of lesser capability. The opposition had a field day at her expense.

So where to from here?
We have some of the most challenging issues to address, and they cannot be put off any longer. They are: climate change, unstable world financial markets, mining of Australia’s resources at unprecedented levels, water and land management for population growth, an aging population with an overly burdened health system that needs massive overhaul, skill shortages, tax reform, national broadband update to remove issues of isolation and enable re-population of regional areas of Australia, and more, including equity for our indigenous in health, education, and housing.

I finish as I began: I am optimistic. The week ahead will reveal if either party has won or whether we indeed have a hung parliament. We need vision to overcome the issues facing us. We need courage to explore what is best, to try things that have not been done before, to put our individual wants on hold while we work for the overall benefit of our nation and the world at large. We need new ideas and, clearly, new people. Maybe with a woman at the helm and a hung parliament we might achieve this. I am hopeful.

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Melody Green works to enhance the wellbeing of senior Australians over 50. She is a poet, author and mother of an 18 year old son. She lives in Sydney, Australia.

She is not a political journalist or affiliated with any political party. She offers her opinion as a woman and poet choosing peace.

Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury

Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury
Former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the UN

Last week, in an excerpt from a proposal launched at the working meeting on SCR 1325 at the United States Institute of Peace, Ambassador Chowdhury outlined his critique of the Secretary-General’s proposed indicators for SCR 1325.

In this post he offers a set of practical action areas to replace those indicators.

Articulated below are four major actors that should play a crucial role during the next five years, as the issues of data collection, national institutions, and country programmes/national action plans are being addressed. The particular benefit of these indicators/proposals is that action could be taken right away on these without waiting for years.

1. UN Secretary-General’s role

There is an urgent need for the UNSG’s genuinely active, dedicated engagement in using the moral authority of the United Nations and of the high office he occupies for the effective implementation of 1325.

Indicators:

a) Number of substantive policy pronouncements and directives on 1325 by the Secretary-General.

b) Number of dedicated communication sent by the Secretary-General to Heads of State/Government on 1325 – how many responses received and reminders sent to those from whom responses not received.

c) How many world leaders (various levels) were briefed by SG on 1325 during his round-the-year meetings, visits and participation at global forums like G-20, Organization of Islamic Conference(OIC), Arab League and Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). How many such meetings were followed up in substantive manner. In how many instances the UN Resident Coordinators were instructed to follow up such meetings with respective national governments.

Recommendations:

d) Secretary-General’s leadership as the chair of the Chief Executives Board (CEB) to institute system wide priority to be attached to 1325 and ensure regular monitoring of its reflection in policy decisions throughout the UN system.

e) 1325 to be discussed at the Secretary-General’s Senior Management Group meetings on a bi-monthly basis as the Under-Secretaries-General take lead in their respective areas to monitor its implementation.

f) Secretary-General’s Special Representatives (SRSGs) in charge of the peace operations on the ground should be specifically and clearly entrusted with the full responsibility with regard to prevention and participation as envisaged in 1325 in their respective command areas. Number of sexual abuse and sexual violence taking place under each SRSG’s jurisdiction to be reported.

g) The mandate of the SRSG appointed under Security Council resolution 1820 should also specifically include 1325 implementation. As a matter of fact, her mandate flows directly from the mother resolution 1325.

h) Development of a public information strategy for global application so that adequate awareness is raised on 1325 with due focus on working with media at the country level. Number of working relationship with country level media on 1325 to be reported.

i) In his recommendation to the General Assembly on the functions of the new women’s entity, the Secretary-General should assign the entity the coordinating role for 1325 implementation. A mere consolidation of existing UN offices dealing with women’s issues is not enough, the new entity needs to have a substantive role so that it can make a real difference.

j) Secretary-General should appoint competent women who have internalized the values of peace, development and human rights for all. It is not only quantity, but quality too.

k) Secretary-General should ask the Security Council to review every resolution that it has adopted – and would do so in future – to see how it affects women and its impact on women.

l) Meetings with women’s groups on 1325 implementation should be on the agenda of all UN missions undertaken by the Secretary-General, his SRSGs, his Senior Management Group members and Security Council missions.

2. United Nations system

Indicators:

a) Number of Executive Boards of Funds and Programmes for operational activities and governing bodies of the UN Specialized Agencies that adopted substantive policy directions in respect of 1325 within their relevant mandates. Heads of these entities should take leadership responsibility in this regard.

b) Number of areas in which UN Resident Coordinators have been working closely with national level partners to include 1325 implementation in their respective country programme along with needed resource allocation. As a country programme process is long – special supplementary country programmes should be presented to relevant governing bodies by 2011 for all interested countries. Donors and civil society should be mobilized for making the country programmes meaningful for 1325.

Recommendations:

c) The global and regional programmes of the Funds and Programmes should launch a 1325 Capacity Development Initiative with a special priority.

d) The Peacebuilding Support Office, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Department of Political Affairs and the University for Peace should set up special units aimed at giving priority to 1325 implementation.

e) The UN Regional Commissions ensure important policy focus on the implementation of 1325 in their respective regions.

3. UN Member States

Indicators:

a) Number of countries according substantive commitment and support at Heads of State/Government level to 1325. Number of countries that placed 1325 at the cabinet meetings agenda for discussion and decisions for country level implementation.

b) Number of countries that adopted national action plans, that are preparing national plans on a top priority basis and countries that are in the preliminary stages of preparation. UN Secretary-General should write to member states requesting attention to 3 a & b and raise these with the country leaders when he meets them (ref. UN SG’s role).

c) Number of national parliaments that considered substantive implementation of 1325.

Recommendations:

d) National coordination for 1325 implementation should be in the responsibility of a high level body, preferably headed by the Head of Government.

e) Number of national delegations that make substantive references to 1325 at the General Assembly, Security Council, ECOSOC and Specialized Agencies as well as at other major international forums.

f) Law enforcement and justice system authorities as well as defense and military forces should internalize the full implications of 1325 in their work.

4. Civil society and other actors

We should not forget that when civil society is marginalized, there is little chance for 1325 to get implemented in the real sense.

Recommendations:

a) UN Secretary-General needs to take the lead in setting up six-month inclusive consultative processes for 1325 implementation with the civil society organizations at all levels for all relevant UN entities.

b) All relevant NGOs are to be mobilized at country level by the national coordination body supported by the UN Resident Coordinator.

c) UN Regional Commissions Executive Secretaries should take lead in forming regional networks with civil society and other partners for advancing regional implementation process for 1325.

d) Organizations like NATO and African Union that are engaged in peace operations either independently or as part of the UN operations should internalize 1325 both from the victims and participation perspectives in their work.

e) Private sector and business community should ensure that their profit-motivated activities at least do not work against the objectives of 1325 implementation.

f) As increasingly deeper involvement of private companies and individuals are taking place in the war and security sectors, albeit wrongly, they should fully respect the 1325 implication in their work.

g) Universities and other academic institutions, relevant research organizations and think tanks should be encouraged to expand the knowledge base for 1325 in all its implications. University for Peace can take the lead in this process.

h) Intergovernmental and regional organizations other than the UN system should be approached by the Secretary-General and, as appropriate, by UN Regional Commissions to link up the formers’ activities with the implementation process for 1325.

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To see the full text of this proposal (which includes background and rationale) follow this link: http://listserv.nethelps.com/main/wa.exe?A2=ind1008b&L=wunrn_listserve&T=0&F=PP&S=&P=196

by Patricia Smith Melton
Founder, Peace X Peace
Editor, Sixty Years, Sixty Voices: Israeli and Palestinian Women

Being human requires us to be valiant because we work against the odds. We are large by virtue of that, despite being small, we keep trying. We search, we want, we need. We ache to feel connected to something grander than ourselves that feels true and, hopefully, kind. And, if we find it, we hold tenaciously to it, and call it “sacred.”

Our “sacred beliefs”—spiritual, existential, or just plain mundane—give us a framework for the mysteries and daily experiences of our lives, whether beautiful, terrible, infinite, personal, painful, or ecstatic. And once we have a sense of a framework, we have a sense of ourselves: we exist because we have a place in the whole, a relationship with the Something Larger. We have a map that tells us “you are here,” and how to make our way forward. Beliefs help us sort out what is happening, why it is happening, who we are, what is important, what is right, what is wrong, and what are best actions.

When “sacred beliefs” are codified into religions, they give us tenets, “commandments,” meaning (or not, depending upon our belief), a sense of what happens after death—and a way to gather in and build cultures with others who believe as we do, people who are “like us.”

The three Abrahamic religions—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—are both “like us” and “not like us.” They mix and match holy texts, customs, belief in one Almighty God, religious stories, and moral precepts. The internecine violence of the centuries could be viewed as one God-awful family feud. Not that, when one is inside it, it can be seen as such. We are too frightened and vulnerable and sure that the “other” wants us off the earth—and sometimes it has come to that.

This month and next, Jews and Muslims celebrate their most holy days. Religious Muslims observe Ramadan. They began abstaining from food and water during daylight hours on August 11 and will continue until September 9. Ramadan is the ninth month of their religious calendar, the month it is believed that the Qur’an was delivered. Observant Jews celebrate their high holy days, starting with Rosh Hashanah on September 9-10 and ending with Yom Kippur, the Jewish New Year and their most holy day, on September 18. Both Ramadan and Yom Kippur center on atonement, purification, and asking forgiveness.

So, with all of our similarities in beliefs (and culture and pure humanness), why do we not interact from our similarities? Why do we harm each other? And why aren’t we in interfaith dialogue until we get it straight, ask each other’s forgiveness (direct at-onement), and thrive instead of fight?

Here is where we leap from the mystical and mysterious to the psychological and individual. Combine our fear with our projection of our personal inner qualities onto the “other” and we have trouble. Projection unavoidably taints human understanding and communication. It is the stuff of all human interaction, and without an avalanche of evidence (usually traumatic) to the contrary, we will see only 1) what we expect to see, 2) what we are capable of imagining, and 3) what we already experience emotionally. These make up our internal world, and we experience life from the inside out.

We reinforce our beliefs—negative and positive—through an internal feedback loop of what is real and what is not, and unless there’s a major clash with external reality, most of us will shut out anything that messes with our version of what is true. If we secretly know we use people, we “see” people who want to use us. If we swell with love for people, we “see” people who are open to loving us. If we lie, we believe lying is a common MO. We create our own world populated by parts of ourselves, unless proven otherwise.

“Raw” projection is especially dominant when it comes to people of different cultures, races, or religions. It can romanticize indigenous cultures, lead to intimate conversations with strangers in airplanes, prove that French waiters are rude, and see evil in the eyes of men with dark beards.

This is not to say all projections have bad results. Most don’t, some even have positive results and can hasten empathy and understanding. But some projections lead to harm or loss. Example: the Dodo bird was unable to imagine that invading bipedal mammals could be mean. They never knew what hit them. Example: I have loved people in my life who did not believe me. They do not know what they missed.

Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink shows how we often “read” a stranger in the first few seconds more accurately than when we decipher them through longer study. Perhaps the blink test is more accurate because it comes in under the wire, before our internal fears, angers, meanness, fraudulence and/or joy, innocence, love, and honesty project outward.

So what do we do, captive as we are to our belief that we have life figured out better than other people? How interesting that we are usually nicer, kinder, saner, more generous, slower to anger, more wounded, less violent, and more moral than others, and that we have the true religion!

What do we do? We try. That is the glory part of being human.

A friend told me she asks herself, “What is the desired state of consciousness?” as though one could choose. That question is printed in 36-point fuchsia across a sheet of paper taped up in my office, and I believe I can choose, because I do, daily, over and over with each slippage. My desired state of consciousness is love without internal chatter.

But chatter, communicate, and dialogue across all real and imagined divides we must if we are to learn that it is safe to care for people who are not “like us.” The Operative Reality is still “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It is the only way to thrive, and, anyway, we are all “like us.” We must strive to embrace this reality because to be fully human is to be internally free and to live together in peace.

I choose love, even as, with experience, I am wary of some bipedal mammals. Living is an extreme art.

Rubina Feroze Bhatti

Rubina Feroze Bhatti
Pakistan

“Heavy flood swept away dozens of mud houses, schools and Basic Health Units. Heavy rains have washed away shops and many people are stranded with no access to food, clean drinking water, and other supplies.”

The worst floods in Pakistan’s history have affected 12 million people, as reported by the government’s Disaster Management Agency. My organization, Taangh Wasaib Organization, has started relief work in flood-affected areas in District Sargodha and neighboring districts. We are in fear of more devastation because of continuous heavy monsoon. This flood has raised many issues about climate change and its impact on women.

Although Sargodha is categorized as a low flood district, people in sub-districts Shah Purr, Bhalwal, and Sahiwal are badly affected. Standing crops on thousands of acres were washed away. Heavy flood swept away dozens of mud houses, schools, and Basic Health Units. Heavy rains have washed away shops and many people are stranded with no access to food, clean drinking water, and other supplies. Waterborne diseases have been breaking out.

These photos only begin to tell the story of the suffering that millions of people are experiencing:

A large number of people have been suffering from various viral diseases, including throat, respiratory, and stomach-related diseases. Taangh Wasaib Organization (TWO) has organized Medical Camps in Union Council Haveli Majoka to cover the neighboring flood-affected villages. Along with medication, TWO is also supplying clean drinking water as a preventive measure of stomach-related diseases. More than 200 patients were treated in each camp.

One flood-affected woman told us as she cried, “I can not sleep. My husband has died. I always dreamed for good education of my daughter and son. But this pitiless water has washed away everything.”

TWO highly appreciates the efforts of its volunteers Liaqat Lughari, Muhammad Ashraf, Amir Abbas, Jahanzaib, Kiran, and Maria who walked miles and miles through flood water to reach some of the most vulnerable, unreachable, and forgotten families.

Photo Care of TWO

One of the volunteers described his experience this way: “Everyone is badly affected here but stories of women and children are full of cries and tears. We walked through mud, stones, and water. We lost our shoes and have blisters on foot but we are happy that at this time of agony we are with our people.”

We have an urgent need of following items for flood-affected people of Sargodha district, where very little relief activity has been made so far.

• Milk for children
• Food Items
• Drinking Water
• Clothes
• Sleepers
• Tents
• Life saving medicine
• Volunteers

Please contribute generously to save lives. Contact us to make a donation.

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Read Rubina Feroze Bhatti’s insights on interfaith understanding in Pakistan in a previous post here.

Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury

Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury
Former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the UN

Below is an excerpt from the proposal launched by Ambassador Chowdhury at the working meeting on SCR 1325 on 27 July 2010 at the United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC.

In March 2000 it was Ambassador Chowdhury, as the Security Council’s President on Women, Peace and Security, who took the initiative for the adoption of a statement that eventually served as precursor to 1325.

In response to a Security Council resolution 1889 (2009), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has submitted on 22 April 2010 to the Council a set of 26 indicators for use at the global level to track implementation of 1325.

The international community had to wait for ten years to receive a set of indicators from the UN (actually 31 in number, as five of the indicators come in pairs) that is expected to take, according to the Secretary-General, another two to five years–it would be for sure five years or more in all the developing countries–to be operational. He says that making the indicators operational will require a pilot phase to develop a baseline data collection method.

The Secretary-General’s set of indicators puts all responsibility in the hands of the governments, as data collection and statistical responsibility in most countries are handled by them. 50% of the indicators relate to numbers, percentages and indices that would present the statistical rather than real life change in situation on the ground. These indicators fail to underscore the importance of policy change and policy orientation that could trigger real action for implementation. Some indicators ask for information that is not available realistically in conflict-affected countries. Think of indicator 16 which intends to know about “level of women’s participation in the justice and security sector in conflict-affected countries.”

A number of indicators focus on the numbers and percentages of  instructions, codes and regulations. If past experience is any guide, such recommendation will result in shrewd moves by the concerned authorities to create and adopt all the needed rules without the will in their real implementation. One can recall cases of countries that have become parties to many human rights treaties but at the same time are the worst violators of those rights.

A good number of indicators has presumed existence of “human rights bodies”, “courts equipped to try cases of violations of human rights of women and girls”, “transitional justice mechanisms”, “national mechanism for control of small arms” etc. In reality not many developing countries, particular those going through or coming out of conflicts, have any such real institutional support system. Even for quite a number of the existing institutions, there is no mandate to cover the areas where the indicators are expecting to track progress.

Take  indicator 14 that asks for “Index of women’s and girls’ physical security” and goes on to explain that given the difficulty of collecting reliable data on perceptions of physical security, it is proposed that data on this indicator be collected through consistent, replicable and ethical surveys. The UN secretariat should know better that is easier said than done.

Indicator 15 seeks to measure the “extent to which national laws protect women’s and girls’ human rights in line with international standards.” Given the current global situation, how unrealistic one would be to expect national laws protecting women’s and girls’ rights in line with international standards, which in any case remain ill-defined.

Again, indicator 22 aims at knowing about the “extent to which strategic planning frameworks in conflict-affected countries incorporate gender analysis, targets, indicators and budgets.” It seems that the Secretary-General decided to ignore the reality on the ground in a conflict-affected country.

Most indicators ask for very complex set of data in conflict-ridden countries. Such data are unavailable even for many of the normally peaceful countries. For such countries, data gathering is one of their last priorities. Even the Secretary-General himself admits that “a number of measurements will require system-wide changes to track the necessary information” and requires “direct data collection and specialized and careful technical and conceptual development.”

Indicators mention a good number of times about measuring national level resources and budgetary allocation and disbursement, but not increase in funding. Given the inherent economic and financial distress that most developing countries face, these proposals have the recipe for creating the conscious indifference of commitment by those countries.

Curiously, while a major responsibility has been put at the national level, support to developing countries by the international community through increase in funding has not been put in the indicators – there is no indicator to show the progress in official development assistance (ODA) support for the 1325 implementation.

In short, such indicators are utopian in nature, totally out of reality, oblivious of the situation in developing countries, and will provide an opportunity to the countries to ignore their implementation. A serious reality check is needed here.

Advocates for 1325 implementation believe that the Secretary-General’s indicators, if approved by the Council, will result in prolonging the frustration and agony of all concerned about the insignificant implementation of 1325 so far.

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Stayed tuned for a follow-up post in which Ambassador Chowdhury proposes a set of practical action areas to replace the Secretary-General’s indicators.

To see the full text of this proposal (which includes background and rationale) follow this link: http://listserv.nethelps.com/main/wa.exe?A2=ind1008b&L=wunrn_listserve&T=0&F=PP&S=&P=196