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WILPF International
Programme 2004-2007
Earlier WILPF programmes:
2001 to 2004
1998 to 2001
1995 to 1998
Economic and Social Justice, Respect for the Environment
–
The Foundation of Peace
WILPF PROGRAM AND PLAN OF ACTION 2004 -2007
Building a Culture of Peace
The heart of WILPF’s work from its founding almost
90 years ago to the present is to study and make known the roots of conflicts
and wars and to strive for their eradication. It is to help build a society
without war, one in which there will be economic and social justice, respect
of all human rights of women, men, children and the rights of every living
thing; a society in which every person participates fully in decision-making.
Our task is to help construct this necessary foundation upon which a durable
peace can be achieved.
We remain united in achieving that goal in spite of the turbulent times
history has brought us through and today challenges us in unprecedented
ways. We are challenged by the violence in our societies and the increasing
number and the intensity of national and regional conflicts in all parts
of the world. We are challenged by the erosion of human values that gave
birth to the United Nations Charter and to the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and international standards and laws. We are challenged by
the marginalization of the United Nations and the return to unilateralism
where a powerful state and a few allies impose their economic and political
doctrines and military rule on others, by force if needed. We are challenged
by the powerful transnational corporations’ control of resources
and the economic and social policies of nations to amass profits for their
shareholders at the cost of meeting citizens' needs. We are challenged
by the dangers the new weaponry and military strategies represent to all
humanity and the environment.
As has so often been said, these dangerous developments are not inevitable.
They are the results of decisions and the work of human beings. They can
be stopped and reoriented by human beings. To do this many are needed,
and many the world over are joining in accomplishing this enormous task.
We will do our part in this dynamic world movement as we have always done.
We are politically diverse, culturally rich, financially strained. We
are women from the North and from the South, from the colonized and from
the colonizing countries, from war-torn countries and from countries that
make war. We are united in rejecting racism and discrimination of every
kind, in rejecting economic injustice, violence and every form of oppression.
And we are united in our efforts to help dismantle the presently prevailing
culture of militarism and to construct a culture of peace.
Our immediate challenge is to implement a program of work that informs,
educates, advocates, builds trust, is supportive of efforts of other organizations
and of the United Nations. This is a program to reach out to others to
join us in our great endeavour to build a permanent peace based on justice
and freedom for all.
How do we frame our work, our program and actions, so that it makes sense
to all of us in WILPF, in the first place? How can we make the international
program organic, that is, able to take on a significant meaning and direction
for each of us in the context of our daily lives, in our regional, national
and international political work?
For WILPF as an organization to grow, to be visible and to have an influence
on micro and macro policies in our very interconnected world requires
our activities at the local and national levels to be also very interconnected.
The challenge is for us to work out specific short and longer term activities
within the an overall framework of the agreed program on which every section
will work in its own local context, all contributing integrally to the
whole international effort.
Framework
Within the overall framework of Building a Culture of Peace, our activities
are in three main interlinked areas, developed from a woman’s perspective.
I. Peace and Security - Disarmament, Demilitarization. Global
Governance
This includes--
• Disarmament: Preventing the development of new weapons,
preventing the proliferation of weapons and the militarization of space;
controlling small arms; banning nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction;
converting military production and military institutions to serve civilian
purposes;
• Changing national budget priorities;
• Educating for peace: education for disarmament, for human rights
and
for development in a sustainable environment;
• Supporting women’s peace efforts globally; implementing
Security Council Resolution 1325;
• Exposing warrior empire building under the guise of protecting
national security interests;
• Democratizing the Security Council and developing conflict prevention
mechanisms within the framework of the UN Charter;
• Defend the role and status of NGOs in the UN system.
II. Environmental Sustainability
This includes--
• Working for economic, racial and social justice and for
the right to clean water and a healthy environment;
• Working with Indigenous Peoples for their rights;
• Promoting education for sustainable development;
• Promoting the implementation of international conventions and
agreements on safeguarding the environment and health, such as, the
Kyoto agreement;
• Study and act against the negative impact of neo-liberal economic
globalization; oppose the UN global compact with transnational corporations;
work for democracy and good governance.
III. Global Economic and Social Justice
This includes—
• Preventing wars and empire building;
• Opposing privatization and commodification of essential common
resources and goods such as water;
• Monitor the World Trade Organization; International Monetary
Fund, World Bank and other economic/financial institutions, and oppose
agreements that are particularly harmful for women;
• Work for debt cancellation;
• Work for fair trade;
• Promote democratic policies locally, nationally and in the United
Nations;
• Work to eliminate poverty;
• Work for the promotion and protection of human rights.
Overall WILPF Program
Actions will be focused and elaborated in three arenas, being aware that
issues are cross-cutting:
• the WILPF organization, members, sections;
• global, regional and local peoples’ movements
such as the World Social Forum, disarmament, anti-war and anti-globalization
coalitions; women’s networks; and,
• the United Nations and its agencies.
Each of the three Program priority areas has a related program committee
or working group: the Global Economic Justice Committee, Working Group
on the Environment, Working Group on Disarmament, Peace and Demilitarization.
The three program areas overlap and reinforce each other. Our work, representation
at conferences and our involvement at the UN, at the World Social Forum
(WSF) and similar regional and global gatherings, will reflect this program
unity. Our collective work in WILPF, from local to global, will also reflect
this unity and be stronger in its emphasis.
Economic and Social Justice,
Respect for the Environment –
The Foundation for a Culture of Peace
1. Disarmament, Demilitarization and Good Governance
This area has been WILPF’s unrelenting and persevering work
and area of leadership for nearly nine decades. Major recent developments
in the area of peace and disarmament demand that we continually assess
our priorities and focus of work. Examples are the flagrant disregard
of adopted international treaties and agreements, new nuclear weapons
development and proliferation, the militarization of space, many new
types of weapons, increased military spending and the further militarization
of culture and society demand that we continually assess our priorities
and focus of work.
We have two strong programs already in place: the Peacewomen
Project and Reaching
Critical Will. These are also tools to strengthen our actions.
The International
Peace Update is a long-standing program and educational tool. Our
Occasional
Papers and Seminar reports are also useful tools.
New and expanded projects are proposed using new technologies and coalitions,
such as, the Disarmament Education Initiative and the Media Outreach
Project.
Work on Resolution 1325 is expanding and adding depth and comprehensiveness.
1.1 To reaffirm our commitment to de-legitimize the concept of
war, particularly the concept of preemptive war, and to transform a culture
of militarism into a culture of peace.
a. To study, advocate and lobby to eliminate the causes of war and
armed conflict.
b. To advocate and lobby for the strengthening of the United Nations
(UN) and for the democratization of the Security Council and all UN
organizations and agencies.
c. To continue efforts on all levels to reduce arms proliferation.
1.2 To ensure that women are integrated at all levels of decision
making, conflict resolution, peace negotiations and reconstruction programs,
in line with Security Council Resolution 1325.
a. To strengthen and deepen our understanding of gender in peace,
politics, economic and social issues.
b. To strengthen the provisions of 1325 for the purpose of lobbying
national governments, regional intergovernmental and UN system bodies.
1.3 To promote a ‘Culture of Peace’ and specific
grassroots initiatives on multi-ethnic coexistence and nonviolent conflict
resolution.
a. To elaborate and formulate positions about the links between,
racism, racial discrimination, ethnicity, nationalism, armed conflict,
economic and social justice and on how to reflect this analysis in
our work.
d. To promote full respect for universal human rights.
c. To promote Education for Peace and for Sustainable Development.
d. To work with Governments, the UN
Division for the Advancement of Women, NGOs, and others on the
Beijing
+10 Review and Appraisal.
2. Environmental Sustainability
Without trying to define the ambiguous term “sustainable
development” we recognize that it expresses the concept of providing
the basic requirements for life and human dignity for all -- present
and future -- in a way consistent with the ecological reality of our
human existence. It is easier to identify what is clearly unsustainable
than to define what constitutes sustainable practices.
In the discussion and documents for the World
Summit for Sustainable Development, the integration of three “interdependent
and mutually reinforcing pillars” or components of sustainable
development are essential to a global plan of action. These are economic
development, social development and environmental protection.
The overall objectives of and essential requirements for sustainable
development are poverty eradication, changing unsustainable patterns
of production and consumption and protecting and managing the natural
resource base of economic and social development.
In making a linkage to the Millennium
Development Goals (MDG) especially poverty eradication and health,
the Johannesburg
Plan of Implementation (2002) attempted with feeble results to set
specific goals along five themes:
• Water and Sanitation
• Energy
• Health
• Agriculture
• Biodiversity
There is urgency on the issue of water, essential to all life. Though
UN reports, agencies, and scientists warned us years ago of an impending
water crisis, the developed countries of the North have recognized this
only recently.
One billion people have no access to clean water and about one
half the world’s people have no or inadequate access to sanitation
services.
The prevailing model of neoliberal economic globalization, where every
sphere of life is commodified and transformed into an object of ownership
for profit, threatens the lives of billions of people by making clean
water inaccessible. People are forced to drink filthy, disease-laden
water and are without decent sanitation services because they cannot
pay for them.
Achievement of the MDG as a step toward the total eradication of poverty,
toward health for all and an ecologically sound, just and fair sustainable
way of living will not be possible without a radical transformation
of society. We have to work for the transformation of our society in
which security equals military might to a society in which security
equals the wellbeing of every human being, a society based on universal
human rights, justice, peace and respect for the natural world upon
which we depend. One could easily make a case of WILPF’s aims
and principles as being a precursor of the articulation of the MDG.
The greatest area of controversy lies in achieving Goal 8 where the
neo-liberal market formula as the basis of development has to be challenged.
Gender issues in the MDG are highlighted mainly in terms of education
and health. WILPF’s program identifies the importance of the inclusion
of women in all aspects of society if there is to be success in achieving
progress in development and peace.
The year 2015, the date set for achievement of the MDG, is also
the 100th anniversary of WILPF.
2.1 To incorporate in our work a comprehensive understanding
of environmental security within the reality of human existence on the
planet.
a. To advocate for racial justice and human rights with regard to
access to food, water, a clean, healthy environment and the right
to development.
b. To raise awareness of the impact of militarism, military production,
and war on environmental security.
2.2 To promote the right to clean, accessible
water and the protection of water resources as a common good.
a. To develop a program of action with a strong gender analysis for
WILPF on the issue of water related to human rights, conflict prevention,
links between military budgets, pollution, trade policies and social
development.
b. To bring the issue of right to water in the context of economic,
social and cultural rights at the Human
Rights Commission.
3. Global Economic Justice
Economic justice and the elimination of poverty are fundamental
components of human security and a culture peace. Our present work on
global economic justice evolved out of the organization-wide study initiated
in 1996 on the negative impact of economic globalization. It is fundamental
to the historic aims and principles of WILPF.
We want to envision, describe and clarify the kind of society we
are trying to build. We challenge neo-liberal policies and institutions
such as the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the International
Monetary Fund, and all undemocratic, unjust regional and bilateral trade
pacts. In doing, so we demand the full participation of women in just
economic arrangements, agreements and negotiations.
Global economic justice is also closely interwoven with our sensitivity
to the ecological basis of our human existence and the kind of economic
and social development in a sustainable environment we envision.
3.1 To challenge and seek alternatives to the current economic
world order, including a just international trade system that promotes
human rights, labour rights, environmental sustainability.
a. To monitor the World
Bank, World Trade
Organization, and International
Monetary Fund and join with others in resisting exploitive and
unfair policies of neo-liberal financial institutions and policies.
b. To work for the elimination of the unjust debt burden, unfair subsidies,
and oppressive trade policies that keep people poor.
c. To undertake advocacy and lobbying activities to campaign against
economic globalization and the privatization of the public services.
d. To oppose the privatization and corporatization of the UN, especially
the global
compact with corporations.
3.2 To analyze and make known the links between national security,
environmental sustainability, and economic and social justice.
4. Additional Organizational Activities Based on our Program.
4.1. Publications
We will produce at least three issues of IPU each year.
Occasional papers such as on Human Security, Space for Peace, and leaflets.
Publication on Water, with information and analysis from our Sections
4.2. International Women’s Peace Conference 2006, Cuba
Confirmed by 2004 WILPF International Congress
See OPP from US Section.
Possible themes based on current program work such as,
sustainable development and human security; Beijing +10 review; SC Resolution
1325; wars, terrorism and human rights.
4.3. International Executive Committee Meetings
2005, 2006
4.4. Congress 2007
Specific actions and details of programme
activities with timeline are being developed and will be posted
as soon as possible.
Our immediate Programme priorities
for the next 10-12 months are:
1. Preparation for and participation in the NPT
process.
2. Keep
Space for Peace Week
3. Peacewomen work on
Beijing +10 and UN Resolution 1325
4. Publication on Water from WILPF's analysis and Section documentation
5. Preparation and planning for Women's
International Peace Conference
6. Fund-raising and organizational development to support WILPF
international Programme work in Geneva and New York
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International WILPF web sites:
International WILPF home page: http://www.wilpf.int.ch
Reaching Critical Will project: http://www.ReachingCriticalWill.org
PeaceWomen project: http://www.PeaceWomen.org
The flexibility for all WILPF sections to
work on local issues linked to the WILPF global priorities is a key element
of our work.
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