On October 14, Ploughshares welcomed Janna Payne, our second intern in the eight-month Peace and Human Security Internship program sponsored by The Presbyterian Church in Canada. Janna has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Theory from Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York, and spent the last year working as Housing Case Manager in the Episcopal Urban Internship Program in Los Angeles, California. The Presbyterian Church will sponsor this internship again next year. More information will be available in future newsletters.
New on the Ploughshares website
Transparency and Accountability: NPT Reporting
At the 2000 Review Conference to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), all States parties to the Treaty agreed to submit regular reports. Since the NPT has no permanent secretariat, there is in effect no central entity to request and receive the reports and no process for compiling and analyzing them. Project Ploughshares has filled this void with regular analysis and reporting on the state of NPT reporting. See the Ploughshares webpage, Transparency and Accountability: NPT Reporting, for a review of the reports submitted.
Armed Conflicts Report 2008
On September 18 Project Ploughshares issued a press release prior to the International Day of Peace on September 21. The release, 30 wars greet the global day of ceasefire, drew attention to the 30 conflicts documented in Armed Conflicts Report 2008. Go to our Armed Conflicts Report 2008webpage for descriptions of the conflicts, the preface written by Maureen O’Neil, former president of the International Development Research Centre, and an order form for the Armed Conflicts Report poster.
Program Updates
Reducing Armed Violence in the Caribbean
Program Associate Maribel Gonzales participated in a strategic planning workshop held on September 18-19, 2008 in Trinidad and Tobago. The workshop, hosted by Ploughshares local partner, the Women’s Institute of Alternative Development (WINAD), brought together representatives from the Caribbean Coalition for Development and Reduction of Armed Violence (CDRAV), a coalition of civil society organizations from eight Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. WINAD serves as the secretariat of CDRAV. The workshop was the first event in a three-year joint project of WINAD and Project Ploughshares to address armed violence in the Caribbean.
Maribel Gonzales (in red) with fellow participants at the strategic planning workshop in Trinidad and Tobago.
Armed Violence Reduction and Development
John Siebert and Suzanne Cherry (World Vision Canada) meet with World Vision staff in Uganda to review plans for conducting field research with Ugandan communities in the area.
In September 2008 Executive Director John Siebert and Senior Program Associate Ken Epps were in Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan to conduct field research, in cooperation with World Vision Canada, on the impact of World Vision’s peacebuilding initiatives on armed violence. A report on the findings will be available in the first quarter of 2009.
On September 12, Ken attended the Review Summit of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development in Geneva. The Summit was hosted by the Swiss government and UNDP and was preceded on September 11 by an NGO briefing and public meeting on civil society-government cooperation to reduce the burden of armed violence.
Space Security
On September 21, Project Ploughshares released Space Security 2008, drawing attention to the fact that anti-satellite weapons and space debris are increasing threats to the security of outer space. Program Associate Jessica West organized and spoke at a side event at the United Nations First Committee on International Security and Disarmament. Sponsored by the Space Security Index research consortium, for which Project Ploughshares serves as secretariat, and the Reaching Critical Will project of the Women’s League for International Peace and Freedom, this event, titled “Space Security 2008: New Perspectives on Space Security”, highlighted key findings from Space Security 2008, and critical issues from the perspective of commercial space actors, emerging space states, and civil society.
Nuclear Disarmament
On October 16-17, 2008, Senior Policy Advisor Ernie Regehr and Jessica West participated in meetings in Ottawa hosted by the Canadian Network Against Nuclear Weapons, of which Ploughshares is a member. Ernie chaired a panel discussion with Ambassadors from European NATO member states to discuss issues related to prospects for changing NATO’s security doctrine. Ernie also gave a tribute speech on October 16 at a dinner celebrating Doug Roche’s 80th birthday and the launch of his memoirs, Creative Dissent.
From left to right: Amb. Knut Langeland, Amb. for Disarmament Affairs for Norway; Amb. Wim Geerts, Amb. to Canada from the Netherlands; Ernie Regehr, Project Ploughshares; Mr. Colin Smith, Head of Political Section at the British High Commission in Ottawa; and Amb. Matthias Höpfner, Amb. to Canada from Germany.
Other Speaking Engagements
John Siebert led peacebuilding workshops at the University of Toronto Multifaith Centre on October 5 and at Crieff Hills Conference Centre on October 16, and during October led adult education classes and gave sermons at several United Church of Canada and Mennonite Church Canada congregations. On October 17, Ernie Regehr gave a presentation on reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan as part of a Canadian Pugwash Group session on Afghanistan.
Benefit Events
On October 19, Waterloo Lutheran Seminary together with the Laurier Centre for Music in the Community, held their third Sing Fires of Justice for Peace: A Festival of Music and Hymns, a benefit concert for Project Ploughshares. We extend our thanks to the performers who donated their time and talents as well as to those in attendance who made contributions to Project Ploughshares in a freewill offering.
We also thank Kayla Renaud and students at Wilfrid Laurier University who organized a "Last Lecture" evening on October 22 to benefit Project Ploughshares. Two faculty members, Dr. Don Morgenson (Psychology) and Dr. Mercedes Rowinsky Geurts (Languages) made inspirational presentations similar to the one that Robert Pausch from Carnegie Mellon University gave shortly before his untimely death.
During October Ernie Regehr had several media interviews covering a number of topics: with CTV News Net on negotiations in Afghanistan, with the Catholic Register on October 2 on armed conflicts, and with CBC Radio International on October 17 on the US-India nuclear cooperation deal.
Disarming Conflict
Ernie Regehr's blog has recent postings on Afghanistan, nuclear non-proliferation, and Canada's peace dividend.
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