Together for peace, environment and climate protection. Abolish Nuclear Weapons!

Rosy Weiss: Report from an event accompanying the first UN Conference of the partner states of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons[1], taking place at the VIC, Vienna, 21-23 June 2022[2].

This hybrid meeting[3] organized by ABFANG[4], WILPF[5] Austria and the IPB[6] took place on June 19 and was supported by IPPNW[7] Austria, Frieden./.attac, ITUC[8] , transform!europe, forum wissenschaft&umwelt, ICAN[9], the Vienna NGO Committee on Peace and the International Department of the International Trade Union  Confederation. Politically correct beginning with voices on the situation in Ukraine for peace from Yurii Sheliazhenko, executive secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement and Oleg Bodrov, chairman of the Public Council of the Southern Shore of the Gulf of Finland, Russia. Apart from the call for immediate ceasefire and for dialogue, they stressed the importance of youth involvement into the peace process. Confronted with the propaganda, which only makes enemies everywhere and thereby contributes to divide people, it is important to tell the truth, in particular for youth as part of one society on our planet. For this the peace process should become operational on regional level. This was followed by a passionate presentation of the most important paragraphs of the Treaty and of practical ways of implementing it by Rebecca Johnson (UK), co-founder of ICAN. She addresses nuclear weapons and climate destruction as the major extinction threats of our time. Nuclear weapons have to be banned as they are enabling war, not preventing it. Power should be shifted from nuclear players into the international community and international law. NFU, no first use, a problematic concept, the aim should be no nuclear weapons at all. No  military attacks on nuclear facilities. Importance of victim assistance and environment remediation. Vanessa Griffin from ICAN Pacific spoke of fighting for peace in the Global South and in particular of the long term effects of nuclear testing of the USA, GB and France in her part of the world. In this regard, she sees the whole world today as a colony of the nuclear powers. The conclusion was a stirring, eloquent presentation of trade union peace work, peace struggle, struggle for security and workers and people human rights by Philip Jennings (UK), ITUC and co-president of the IPB. He introduced a report published by the Olof Palme International Centre, the International Peace Bureau (IPB) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on Common Security 2022: For Our Shared Future. The meeting ended with a Panel Discussion in cooperation of peace and environmental movements – Way to an eco-social society? Participants: Helga Kromp-Kolb, environmental meteorologist, Professor BOKU, Phill Gittins, Education Director WBW (World beyond War), Heidi Meinzolt, Europe Regional Representative, WILPF, Alex Praça, Brazilian Journalist, Alessandro Capuzzo, Trieste Non-Nuclear Movement. Heinz Gärtner, political scientist, OIIP (Austrian Institute for International Affairs).

[1] TPNW, into force since 2021. 86 signatures, 56 ratifications (global south! No nuclear powers, no NATO member states, not Iran, not Saudi-Arabia).
[2] Not to be mixed up with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) of 1970, initiated by the five nuclear powers, with its aims to prevent to spread nuclear weapons and weapons technology; to foster peaceful use of nuclear energy and to further nuclear disarmament.
[3] with excellent voluntary interpretation German-English
[4] Aktionsbündnis für Frieden, aktive Neutralität und Gewaltfreiheit
[5] Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
[6] International Peace Bureau
[7]Intern. Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
[8] International Trade Union Confederation
[9] International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Editor’s note:
We – IAW Communicaton Unit – recently uploaded two of our parallel events from the CSW66 to our YouTube-Channel:

• WOMEN, PEACE & CLIMATE CHANGE IN A ‘DIVIDED’ CYPRUS

• Climate change: Women’s Wisdom vs Military Contribution to Disaster

Both online events attracted a lot of interest and luckily can be watched in full on YouTube.

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General : UNCAC entered into force in December 2005. Presently it counts 186 State Parties. It recognizes the importance of both preventive and punitive measures and addresses the cross-border nature of corruption. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna serves as its Secretariat.

Interestingly the UNCAC does not define corruption as such. It rather lists and defines a series of offences that should be criminalised and covered by legal provisions, including bribery of national and foreign public officials and in the private sector, embezzlement, money laundering, concealment, and obstruction of justice. Concerning the agents of corrupt practices, UNCAC Art.2 uses a functional definition of the term “public official”, which covers anyone who holds a legislative, administrative, executive or judicial office, or performs a public function or provides a public service.

The UNCAC has eight chapters and 71 articles. Four chapters contain substantive provisions, such as preventive measures, criminalisation and law enforcement, international cooperation, and asset recovery. UNCAC Article 13 is of particular importance for civil society organisations (CSOs) as it highlights their important role. It is being debated by governments and is the basis for advocacy by the UNCAC Coalition (of civil society) and Transparency International.

Impressions from the NGO briefing held “on the margins” of the 10^th resumed session of the Implementation Review Group (IRG) of the Convention, recently held in Vienna.

The IRG sessions are open to UNCAC signatory states and intergovernmental organisations. Civil society organisations have not been permitted to participate as observers, due to opposition from a small but influential group of countries. This is problematic and inconsistent with international human rights standards, Goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals and with transparency and participation standards in the Convention itself.

Government debates about the admission of CSOs as observers has led to a temporary compromise at the COSP4 (Conference of State Parties 4^th session in Marrakesh in 2011), in which Governments agreed on a “briefing” for CSOs “on the margins” of the IRG meetings on the outcomes of the review process, including the technical assistance needs identified. Only CSOs admitted to participate as observers in the COSP previous to the briefing can attend and make oral and written statements. Exceptions can be made for CSOs with ECOSOC consultative status.

These briefings are widely considered to be an inadequate substitute for observer status and has been a subject for CSO advocacy.

Apart from the Briefing, CSOs are permitted to make written submissions to the IRG of up to 1500 words. However, these submissions may not contain evaluations of country implementation of UNCAC or focus on the conduct of the review in a single country.

Governments can object to specific NGOs attending the COSP, if the applicants do not have ECOSOC status. At the last COSP in 2017, two Hungarian NGOs were not accredited due to an objection from a government. The UNCAC Coalition and Transparency International has repeatedly criticised this non-objection approach, which lacks transparency as the objecting State Party remains anonymous.

For futher reading:

https://www.unodc.org

https://uncaccoalition.org:

Growing Civic Space: UNCAC Coalition Statement to the 10th Session of the UNCAC Implementation Review Group Meeting.

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Femicide is far more than murder. In general killing is done by men. One man kills another. This is statistical evidence. As we also know, men kill women, women kill women and women also kill men.

And then, there is “femicide”, a term, a combination of “femina” and “caedere” – meaning “woman killing”. It is used whenever a woman is killed because of her sex. It’s the murder by a partner or family member (family honour), or criminal gangs as a power demonstration (humiliation of the enemy), and as a weapon of war.

It’s the definition seen through the gender aspect that makes the difference, because it reflects the reasons behind femicide.:  Violence against women is rooted in inequalities and discrimination against women and its prevention and eradication must be grounded in gender equality and empowerment of women.

In 2012 the United Nations counted  approximately 43.000 cases of femicide (killings within relationship). This is four times the number of persons killed in terrorist attacks, as stated by Paul Bekkers, director of OSCE and  General Secretary Lamberto Zannier. (Approximately, because of the lack of reliable data on femicide). This is why Duvravka Simonovic, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, once again requested collection of data as an important first step towards creating awareness as a precondition for requesting concrete measures to prevent femicide. In consequence she promoted the establishment of Femicide Watches at the national level, the systematic collection and documentation of data, allowing an analysis of victims’ profiles and perpetrators’ profiles – and, therefore, address the root causes.

Representatives of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, of the Serbian Department of Gender Equality, of the Armenian Coalition to stop violence against women, of the Femicide Census, in partnership with Women’s Aid Federation England, of the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Second University of Naples and COST Action “Femicide across Europe” and the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence participated in two plenary sessions in a panel format.

Suggestions put forward: training of police officers, encouragement of women to bring violent cases to the courts, awareness-raising within the judiciary, the administration. One very important request came from Ms. Anna Costanza Baldry, Professor in criminal and law psychology, representative of the Second Universit of Naples calling for help for the orphans of inter-family femicide.

According to Aldo Lale-Demos, Vice-Director of UNODC (the Office of the United Nations on Drugs and Crime Prevention, with its headquarters in Vienna) 78 per cent of the victims killed by partners are women – with regional differences. Considering all regional differences all these cases Had one  aspect in common: “it represents the most extreme, ultimate form of inequality between women and men”. 

Monitoring at both global and regional levels has shown that:

• Femicide or gender related killings of women, and sexual and other forms of gender based violence against women and girls are widespread and persistent human rights violations,
• There is widespread impunity due to the lack of implementation of the global and regional instruments on women’s rights and violence against women and the failure to turn these into real pr4oteftiuonof every woman and girl,
• There are significant gaps and shortcomings in national legislation and prevention systems often combined with tolerance of such violence, exacerbated by a lack of reliable and disaggregated ate, the absence of adequate risk assessments, and concealment and underreporting of gender-related killings, rapes and other form of gender based violence against women.

The symposium had been jointly called by the UN Rapporteur on Violence against Women and all other global and regional mechanisms to end femicide and gender-based violence ( The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw), the Inter-American Special Rapporteur on violence against women, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) , the UN Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanisms to the Belém de Pará Convention (MESECVI) and the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence of the Council of Europe (GREVIO). 

Suggestion for IAW: creation of an IAW observatory on national femicide data on the basis of a questionnaire to be sent to member organizations and individual members.

Some useful e-addresses;

http://:www.ohchr.org

http://coe.int/en/web/istanbul-convention/grevio

http://www.oas.org/en/mesecvi/about.asp

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3 women out of 15 members of both negotiating teams and women advisors to the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) and the HNC delegation. The UN mediator, Staffan de Misura, counselled by a board of 12 Syrian women and 1 international gender advisor. This is the big difference to the unsuccessful first Syrian peace talks in 2014. As Hibaaq Osman (from el-Karama, our partner organisation to the successful side event at the margins of CSW59) said: “The voices of the women openly protesting together with men against Bashar-as-Assad, March 2011, have been silenced by gunmen”.

The basis for women’s participations in Geneva has been laid down in resolution 2254 of the UN Security Council past December, calling for “the meaningful participation of women in the UN facilitated political process for Syria”. February 2016 Staffan de Misura called the Syrian Women’s Advisory Board to life. The Board is composed of 12 representatives of civil society of different social and ideological backgrounds chosen from Syrian women’s organisations.

However, numbers aren’t enough. Women must also have meaningful access and influence. It is now up to women, supported by de Misura, to get their voices heard and become accepted in these up to now male dominated negotiations. According to rumours these women have been instructed by UN officers not to show too much of emotions, to try “to outwit the men, to remain more or less neutral and to keep to only two or three main messages”.

What do you think: Is it good will of the UN boys or still the old patriarchal system looming behind their encouraging hints? Knowing Hibaaq and her sisters, I am pretty much sure, that they do not need any good advice to make them heard and carry out meaningful influence.

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Peace is possible building it
One breath at a time,
Peace is possible building it
One word at a time,
Peace is possible building it
One day at a time,
Peace is possible building it
One person at a time,

Peace is possible only and only
By peaceful means.

We do not need to fight for it,
We do not need to die for it,

Peace is possible only by peaceful means.
Let’s go for it.

Greta Elbogen, Austrian poet, social worker, psychotherapist (born 1937)

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Read the whole presentation
Report from the event

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Confronted with all the violence and hatred around the world, to many of IAW’s members the celebration of this day may sound rather cynical. Especially to those having experienced their lives torn apart by war and conflict, be it as victims or as defenders of human rights or involved in peace talks and the reconstruction of their communities.
To all of them: IAW’s deep appreciation and salute.
IAW supports the efforts of the United Nations in working on a universal declaration on the human right to peace. The unique feature of such a declaration would be that once agreed upon it would represent a substantive commitment of the UN family of nations to build a preventive culture of peace. It would help to protect the human rights defined in so many important UN documents, but so often endangered or lost in conflict; and especially for women.
IAW supports the world-wide implementation of UN Security Resolution 1325 and subsequent United Nations Security resolutions for women, peace and security. We are convinced that a UN-wide Declaration on the Human Rights to Peace would strengthen their implementation and enhance women’s engagement as advocates, partners and agents of change, FOR PEACE.

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Militarism is normally understood as the preponderance of military values and interests in politics and society based on the concept that wars are inevitable. It is a way of thinking about a proper hierarchical division of the world, based on order and obedience. “It is built through the construction of the “enemy”, the indoctrination of children, and the creation of myths about the nation and the other” (Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) at Rutgers University, meeting 2011 on “violence against women and militarism.) “As a result, militarism is linked to nationalism. It is about control and the power relations that buttress militarism and exposes the ways in which male violence is constructed as a legitimate form of control”.

In the end, it is about control and power of definition.

In an important joint NGO statement to the CEDAW Committee submitted on the occasion of the General Discussion on Women in Conflict and Post-conflict Situations, July 18, 2013, endorsed by IAW, it is stated that “peace at home and peace in society are interlinked. A culture of militarism intimidates women from asserting their collective and individual rights, including the right to vote and participation in political decision-making. Families with ex-combatants often experience increased levels of violence”. According to CWGL “ Domestic violence becomes even more dangerous when guns are present in the home” According to the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), women are three times more likely to die violently if there is a gun in the house.

“Conflicts everywhere”, as it was stated at the Nobel Women’s Initiative conference, May 2013, Belfast, “target young men – and especially ‘alienated’ young men”. For Madeleine Rees (WILPF) the key problem is also – in part – one of masculinities. “War necessitates and reproduces a type of masculinity that is prepared to go and fight – and even kill – for something. Dominant models of masculinity, in turn, draw on a militarised idea of the nation.”

According to the joint NGO statement, prevention is a high priority, including first and foremost the “regulation of possession, sale, trade and criminal use of legal and illicit small arms and light weapons”…”Best practices to contain widespread harm to girls and women during conflict require further study and financial support. These include engendering early warning systems…for instance, as has been proposed by the African Union, through women’s networks serving as sources of information concerning conflicts.” Investment in education (instead of in arms manufacturing) is regarded as one of the most strategic measure to ensure personal security.

Both prevention and education are in no way new strategic goals in IAW policy making. Their application in the context of IAW’s Peace Commission policy as reflected in our Action Programme 2008-2010, could trigger innovative interlinkages and unexpected results. Please become part of safety-voices-choices by contacting: iaw.peace@womenalliance.org.

Military versus social spending

“There is no business like the arms business”. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), total world military expenditure in 2012 was USD 1.75 trillion. This is equivalent to 2.5 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP).  Do we have any idea what 2.5 of the global GDP would represent for social spending? Fortunately, the Campagne tegen Wapenhandel (www.stopwapenhandel.org) gives us some ideas when asking how many jobs could be created with a USD one billion investment. The answer: 8,555 in the military, 10,779 in personal consumption, 12,804 in construction, infrastructure, 12,883 in health care, 17,687 in education, 19,795 in public transportation.

Another important source of information, published by the World Council of Churches in 2005, is a compilation of data and facts related to military spending, education and health. In its Foreword mention is made of “a silent deadly disaster taking place every day in the starvation of 24,000 people, many of whom could be saved if the world had not gotten its budget priorities so utterly wrong”. An international and interfaith “Global Priorities Campaign” (www.globalpriorities.org) states that “one half percent of the world’s military spending would save 6 million children from death each year”. Finally, the World Game (www.worldgame.org) has calculated that one third of the world’s military spending would satisfy budgetary needs for addressing all global problems, from deforestation to HIV & AIDS, from clean water to illiteracy.

For a feminist organisation such as  the Alliance, it may be interesting to note that it was a woman, Ruth Sivard, who first published a comparison of military and social spending by world governments.  Ms Sivard had been a high-ranking economist for the US State Department and the Arms Control and Disarmament Administration. She was able to find reliable sources for the detailed statistical information she published.

Some IAW peace herstory:
Up to the Geneva Congress in 1920, the Alliance was guided in its activities by its Charter drafted in Washington in 1902 and the goal adopted at the Congress in Berlin in 1904. Accordingly, it concentrated on the right of women to vote, the political empowerment of women, persuaded that this would bring about the power of decision so much needed for women in every political field.  In 1914, however, 10 years after its inception, the Alliance (at the time the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, IWSA) saw itself “faced by the disruption, the animosity, the misunderstanding caused by war”. The Manifesto drawn up by the IWSA and delivered on July 31, 1914 to the Foreign Office and Foreign Embassies in London speaks for itself and remains one of the pillars of IAW’s policy for peace and international understanding. In this forthcoming year – the 100^th anniversary of the outbreak of WWI, today’s IAW still upholds the principles of “conciliation and arbitration for arranging international differences.”

A first sign of changing positions was the new title of the Alliance adopted by the Paris Congress, 1926: International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship. This indicated its wider, more comprehensive aims, including peace and support for the League of Nations. The resolution adopted at Paris that a permanent peace committee should be formed led to the establishment of the “Committee for Peace and the League of Nations”. In 1927 this committee proposed holding a study conference in Amsterdam the same year on aspects of the maintenance of peace and the study of the economic and political causes of unrest. It is interesting to note that IWSA organised a further peace conference in May 1931 in Belgrade. This conference passed three resolutions: on disarmament, on international economic co-operation, and on participation of women at the forthcoming multilateral disarmament conference.

At its Jubilee Congress in Berlin in 1929, the resolution on “Peace and the League of Nations” declared “that it is the duty of the women of all nations to work for friendly international relations, to demand the substitution of judicial methods for those of force, and to promote the concept of human solidarity as superior to racial and national solidarity”.

Starting with the first International IAW Congress after WWII in Interlaken, August 1946, peace continually remained on IAW agenda. (Here another important change of title took place: International Alliance of Women – Equal Rights-Equal Responsibilities). Congress adopted an important peace resolution “protesting against the use of atomic energy as a weapon of war”, urging “that the sources, scientific development, manufacture and use of atomic energy for all purposes be under the control of the United Nations” and “calling upon its members to unite in a common effort so that full support may be given to the new organisation (UN) and the principles upon which it is based”, and thereby ensuring “through national and international co-operation that the professed ideals of a community of nations, the unity of mankind and the universal brotherhood of man, may be translated into a living reality”. Congress participants also signed a petition addressed to the multilateral Paris Peace Conference of the same year. They express their hope that the treaties coming out of this conference might build a world order based upon justice and the right of people to live in freedom and harmony, protected against all forms of aggression.

Since then, IAW never ceased its efforts to “conciliate and arbitrate”, at national and regional levels through its member organizations and individual members, and through its advocacy in cooperation with the United Nations and other multilateral organizations. It was therefore with great enthusiasm that IAW welcomed Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) and its following resolutions, forming the backbone of today’s efforts towards reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction – including the full participation of women – after conflicts and humanitarian crises.

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