September 21: International Day of Peace
As part of the celebrations of the International Day of Peace, on September 21, a day for much reflections, another opportunity to share with other organizations, with different emphases on what peace means, on what is needed from us all to advance agendas to end wars; and to foster conditions and attitudes to create peace, peace as a way and as an goal, beyond ourselves.
Our world keeps bleeding; Humanity is still in the nightmare of wars, from which we all want to wake up. It is inspiring to realize that by now over 1793 civil society organizations, and public institutions have adhered to the Santiago Declaration to the Human Right to Peace
See www.aedidh.org/sites/default/files/Santiago-Declaration-en.pdf
This document is being used as a base document by the Human Rights Council appointed Working Group to draft a Declaration on this matter, which is hoped to be voted in the UN General Assembly. It is very comprehensive document of what the right to peace entails, even if some modifications could be suggested in two paragraphs, such as 27, in which tribute is paying to organizations who have advocated for peace, and WILPF is omitted, yet the one organization that has been active in most of the issues this declaration contains is WILPF, as we know, for almost a 100 years, therefore, we cannot but rejoice at the fact that nowadays, so many groups coincide in connecting all those subjects to positive peace, as we have done. Paragraph 28 of the considerations refers to peace and women, it can be expanded, and hopefully there will opportunities to do so, before the UN working group assigned to draft the Declaration on the right to peace as a human right.
On this past September 21st some international organizations launched a campaign to promote peace as a human rights, and launched a video with many popular singers, asking that UN declares it so. We can support this initiative by signing at http://www.pazsinfronteras.org .
WILPF´s activism along history is testimony of our commitment with the right to peace. Joining the efforts that may lead to a Declaration, which at the same time invokes International Law, and therefore entails States obligations, should be a significant effort toward building political will for peace. Mobilizing our sections and our networks to be part of this initiative, to collect millions of signatures supporting this idea, should be a campaign in which our united efforts can be very significant.
WILPFERS can do it. Let us do it!
