Blogging from the Religions for Peace European Inter-religious Youth Network (EIYN) Regional Summit 2010

Disarmament for Development
Paris, France
25-27 June, 2010

Visiting our friends Taoufik and Lama as they forward their Arms Down! campaign - disarmament for Development.

I will be uploading videos for all of you to see.

Get excited!

- Jess

Our Blog Experts Carry On...

Hey guys! 'Working' photos for those of you who haven't seen my facebook album.
xox - your fearless leader jess

EU countries have cut their development aid

EU countries have cut their development aid

The Propositions of Team Romania for Follow-up

Soon to be Pax Christi Romania! :-)

Team Romania agrees with all mentioned in the statement, and we are glad to have this Statement which we will translate in to Hungarian and Romanian.

Given the "off the record" presence of Team Romania, we think that to achive the MDG goals we have to build a network with other organizations. For this we want to establish connections with Christian youth and peace organizations from Romanian and from the region of Transylvania. Secondly we want to discuss the main topics pointed out in Strasbourg with other student organizations from Cluj Napoca and from the country. Of course we don't want just to talk about this, we want to act, within our possibilities, to achieve these goals. Thirdly we would like to send our plan and a brief review about the PCIYS to Sógor Csaba, with the Statement in English, Romanian and Hungarian attached.

The Propositions of PC Portugal for Follow-up

Here in Portugal i'm planing on a seminar in my University, with the name "Youth, We Care", i will try to send the sketch with the objectives and subjects to you on the plan date (monday)

Here it is, hope you can help me with some more ideas or suggestions you may have.

Sorry for the delay Jessica :P

Objectives

The objectives of Youth action in Portugal are these:

Create a the a awareness why should the youth care about the “Global Problems”,

How NGO’s work and what is their part on changing the world,

The work made in the Council of Europe,

What was the PaxChristi World Assembly Youth Seminar,

What are the MDG’s and our part on ti.

Goals

In our current situation (in Portugal). Civil associations are in decline due to the general public disinterested in civil matters such as poverty, war, starvation. The main Goals of this project its to raise the awareness in Universities how the youth can make a difference on these matters, and how it can act and enforce the policy makers to agree and act in the light of the MDG’s and all the topics from, Gender Equality to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; and finally how european policies organizations and civil structure can help the Youth to be heard.

Solution

Create a seminar in Universities, (First my own) respecting the objectives of “Youth We Care”,

The seminar will take two hours with then minute break, I will use ice breakers we learned on Strasbourg and some other techniques on Online communication the “spread the word” about the seminar.

Topics of the seminar

These are thematic groups I will divide the seminar:

Global Problems, why should we care.

NGO’s

European institutional role on solving world’s problems with the help of NGO’s

PaxChristi World Assembly Youth Seminar,

MDG’s what can the youth do.

The Propositions of PC Flanders for Follow-up

1/ Spreading it through our channel : visibilitiy through website & member magazine
2/ Spreading the statement one week before the actual conference in september
3/ workshop on how to use new media to do advocacy/campaigning somewhere in november (6 or 13 November) possibly in cooperation with Pax W-B.

The Propositions of PC France for Follow-up

They still have some changes they will make to this report, but I'm going to publish it for some of the other sections to get "inspiration" -

Planning d’activités - Pax Christi France

Sujet : La suite du Séminaire Jeunes : identifier les actions à entreprendre par Pax Christi Jeunes

Informations:

* Le Sommet International du Millénaire des Nations Unies pour évaluer les OMD se tiendra à New York du 20 au 22 septembre 2010.

Piste de réflexion sur ce que l'on pourrait faire:

* Sensibilisation (qui, comment ?)
* Lobbying (si oui auprès de qui... ?)
* Actions concrètes sous forme de projet: quels types de projets (partenariats ?)

Actions à court terme: Juin 2010

1. Traduction de la Déclaration de Jeunes en français et espagnol [Adriana]

2. Diffusion de la Déclaration :

1. Sur les sites Internet de : [Adriana]

* Pax Christi France

* cherchonslapaix.fr

2. Dans le Paxinfo (newsletter) du mois de juin [Adriana]

3. Dans la Revue Paix en Marche du mois de septembre [Adriana]
4. Auprès des organisations partenaires : [Adriana]

* Organisations et réseaux œcuméniques (Secours Catholique, CCFD, Chrétiens de la Méditerranée, Coexistir, la CJP, la JOC, etc.)

* Organisation non-catholiques (Oxfam, Agir Ici, Handicap International, Coordination Sud, Action mondiale contre la pauvreté, etc.)

5. Auprès des pouvoirs publics [Adriana, Eric]

* Au niveau national :
* aux présidents des partis politiques (PS, UMP, PC)
* au Secrétariat de la Commission de l'économie, du développement durable et de l'aménagement du territoire du Sénat
* au Secrétariat de la Commission des affaires étrangères, de la défense et des forces armées du Sénat.
* Au niveau régional : Députés
* Au niveau municipal : Maries et Conseillers (par le biais des délégués diocésains de PX)

6. Communiqué de presse (presse catholique et nationale) [Adriana]

* AFP, [Eric] a un contact

Questionnements :

* Faut-il juste envoyer cette déclaration?
* Ne peut-on pas proposer des axes de partenariats? si possible avec la municipalité: organisation d'évènements autour de OMDs? (à définir)
* Après le Sommet du Millénaire de septembre qu’est-ce que l’on pourrait proposer ?

Actions à moyen-terme: Septembre – décembre 2010

1. Elaboration d’un kit pédagogique sur les OMD disponible pour la rentrée scolaire de septembre [Eric, Adriana]

* Quelles cibles à qui envoyer? Professeurs et responsables en pastorale des Lycées et Collèges catholiques, associations partenaires.

* Pour quel public à animer? : Public jeune et adulte
* 1ère version du kit pour le 15 juillet.

2. 7ème Concours Lycéen Européen 2011 sur les OMD : [Adrianna]

* Quelle action à choisir?

* Faire une petite enquête auprès des professeurs et des responsables en pastorale pour mieux choisir l’action concernant les OMD.

Questionnements :

* Comment cibler les paroissiens pour leur faire découvrir et bénéficier de cet outil pédagogique ? Proposer cet outil au CCFD pour leurs formations « l'Education au Développent ?
* Comment impliquer les évêques et les prêtres pour qu’ils deviennent des vecteurs de sensibilisation?

Autres:

1. Il est important pour nous – Jean-Elie Houdry, Simon David, Eric Pattianadane, Adriana Eslava (Fleur Brochard) de définir notre investissement à court et moyen terme en termes de quantités de travail et de la forme d'engagement.

* Eric : pas de déplacements possibles, investissement sur l'établissement d'un kit pédagogique.

* Adriana : investissement total, diffusion de la déclaration et du kit pédagogique et sensibilisation du public.
* Jean-Elie ? à définir à la fin du mois de juin
* Simon ? à définir

New Figures for Military Expenditure 2009

Global military expenditure: 2009 figures now available

9 June 2010

Below are some extracts from the advance publicity material for the SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) Yearbook 2010, released last week, with links to more information. A summary of the chapters in the 2010 Yearbook is included at the end, together with information about how to obtain a copy of the Yearbook when it is published in July.

Please note: all $ figures below are US dollars.

World military expenditure increases despite financial crisis

Launch of the SIPRI Yearbook 2010

(Stockholm, 2 June 2010). Worldwide military expenditure in 2009 totalled an estimated $1,531 billion, according to new figures released today by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). This represents an increase of 5.9% in real terms compared to 2008 and an increase of 49% since 2000. SIPRI today launches the 2010 edition of its Yearbook on Armaments, Disarmament and International Security. In addition to the release of its much anticipated military expenditure figures, Yearbook 2010 offers an authoritative account and analysis of recent developments in a number of security-related fields. The global financial crisis, the conflict in Afghanistan, and nuclear weapons and disarmament are among some of this year’s cross-cutting security themes.

Strategic military choices in hard economic times

The far-reaching effects of the global financial crisis and economic recession appear to have had little impact on world military expenditure. The USA, with a real-terms increase of $47 billion, accounted for 54% of the world increase in military expenditure. Although the USA led the rise, it was not alone (see figure 1). Of those countries for which data was available, 65% increased their military spending in real terms in 2009. In an analysis by region, Asia and Oceania showed the fastest real-terms increase with 8.9%.

‘Many countries were increasing public spending generally in 2009, as a way of boosting demand to combat the recession. Although military spending wasn’t usually a major part of the economic stimulus packages, it wasn’t cut either’, explains Dr Sam Perlo-Freeman, Head of the Military Expenditure Project at SIPRI. ‘The figures also demonstrate that for major or intermediate powers such as the USA, China, Russia, India and Brazil military spending represents a long-term strategic choice which they are willing to make even in hard economic times.’

* The 2010 Yearbook chapter on military expenditure is available at http://www.sipri.org/yearbook/2010/files/SIPRIYB201005-AB.pdf

Taking stock in Afghanistan

There were a total of 54 peace operations in 2009, and the known cost of peace operations reached a new high of $9.1 billion. The number of personnel deployed to such operations also reached a record 219 278 (89% military personnel, 11% civilian)­a jump of 16% over 2008. The increase was due to troop reinforcement for existing peace operations, most signi cantly for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

In 2009 the USA more than doubled its troop levels in Afghanistan and annual US spending in Afghanistan now exceeds that in Iraq­$65 billion was proposed for Afghanistan, compared with $61 billion for Iraq in the nancial year 2010 budget request. Strategic efforts focused on counterterrorism, counternarcotics and the strengthening of the Afghan security forces. Nevertheless, the prospects for a decisive military victory for either the insurgency or the Afghan Government and its international backers were bleak in 2009.

Efforts to enable a political dialogue with the Taliban continued to gain momentum within the international community and the Afghan Government, but ‘Unless the Taliban judge their position is weakening, they are unlikely to fully commit to any form of political settlement’, states SIPRI Researcher Tim Foxley ‘and the international community is clearly weary of the struggle: two NATO members have already unilaterally decided to pull out. There is a tangible and growing sense of “end game” in and around Afghanistan that is likely to intensify over the next 12 months’.

Nuclear weapon arsenals in 2009

SIPRI estimates that there were around 7500 operational nuclear warheads in the arsenals of the eight nuclear-armed states (the USA, Russia, China, the UK, France, India, Pakistan and Israel). Of these, almost 2000 were kept on high alert and capable of being launched in minutes. Global efforts to reduce or eliminate these weapons moved forward despite a number of setbacks. -

Weapons production: summary

In 2008 the world’s 100 largest arms-producing companies (outside China) maintained the upward trend in their arms sales, which increased by $39 billion to reach $385 billion. While companies headquartered in the United States again dominated the SIPRI Top 100, for the first time a non-US headquartered company registered the highest level of arms sales­BAE Systems of the United Kingdom.

Thirteen companies increased their arms sales by more than $1 billion in 2008, and 23 increased their arms sales by more than 30 per cent. In contrast, only six companies in the SIPRI Top 100 had decreased arms sales in 2008. Two of these companies­SAFRAN of France and Boeing of the USA­experienced decreases of more than $1 billion.

The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq continued to heavily influence sales of military equipment such as armoured vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and helicopters. At the same time, sales registered by military services companies continued to grow, as did the arms sales of Russian companies to both domestic and foreign customers.

Following peak levels earlier in the decade, the number of large transnational mergers and acquisitions fell again in 2009. The acquisition of US companies by British companies slowed. There was, however, more consolidation in the Israeli, Russian and US industries as well as a continued pattern of arms-producing companies diversifying into the security industry.

Even though more than a year has passed since the onset of the global financial crisis and economic recession, an initial assessment shows that many arms-producing companies continued to increase arms sales in 2009. Sustained high levels of military expenditure (especially in the USA­the largest military spender and arms procurer) and the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq partly explain the continuing increase. However, the monopsonistic structure of the arms industry, the consequent strong relationship between arms producers and governments and the industry’s perceived importance to national security also shield it from the immediate impact of severe economic downturns. This status is reflected in the continued high levels of arms sales, high profits, large backlogs and strong cash flows generated by arms production. - http://www.sipri.org/yearbook/2010/06

Finally! The Video of Adriana and Josseline

Adriana Sur la Radio!

Listen HERE as Adriana discusses what brought her to the peace movement, her experiences in Colombia, the spirit and resolve of the people still working for peace inside and outside the region, and her work at Pax Christi International and Pax Christi France!

Congratulations to our French section!

Hello everyone. Here is the translation of a little article Christiaan and I wrote for the IKV Pax Christi newsletter (sorry we flatter ourselves so much with the development aid role of the Netherlands, this is just to please the chaps at IKV Pax Christi ;)):

The Netherlands as the goodietwoshoes of the world community


Last week, Christiaan Heijting and Milan Slezák visited the youth-conference op Pax Christi in Strasbourg. The theme of the conference: The Millenium Development Goals and the meaning of military spending versus spending on development aid. "During this conference we didn't only meet with great people; we could also speak very openly about the themes presented with people all over the world"

In the entire world 1464 billion dollars a year is spent on the military, which is about 21000 dollars every second. This is hard to justify considering the fact that only five countries (among which the Netherlands) spend 0,8% of their GDP on development aid. This is only a tiny amount compared to the military spending in a lot of countries. While the relationship between both is not a direct one, this fact seems hard to justify morally.

We came to the conclusion that the army can, on the one hand, be an important means to secure the infrastructure of development aid. On the other hand, armament is one of the most important destabilising factors in todays world. Therefore, we cannot judge all military spending in the same way. What we should do is once again critically analyse what military spending is really necessary and what is not.

Development aid is subject to a lot of criticism in our time as well. We have been giving development aid to developing countries for decades now, often with very little results. While the millenium goals are mainly expressed in terms of money, it is at least as important to also look at what this money achieves in practice. Does it really bring development? Are local economic structures and the equality of men and women not also disturbed sometimes by bad development aid? We will have to take a good look at the nature of development aid to reduce the criticism on development aid.

It was a pleasant suprise to see how enthousiastic many people were about the Dutch development aid system. We are one of the five countries in the world that have reached the Millenium-goals until now (spending 0.8% of the GDP on development aid each year). We also spend relatively little money on our military (about 1,6% of our GDP). In a way, the Netherlands is therefore the goodietwoshoes of the global community and luckily the theme of the conference was not very relevant for the Netherlands on this matter. The Netherlands can be prooud to play such an important role in this matter and we should do everyting to keep playing this role in the future.

(Is goodietwoshoes really a correct English expression? A friend of mine who is studying the English language says it is, but I have never heard it before :p)

Rose!!!
Porrais-tu mettre la vidéo de Josseline?
Merci ;-)

Adriana