ISSUE
TRIANNUAL NEWSLETTER
21
OF THE LONDON &
SOUTHEAST REGION
FEB 2014
London & SE Region United Nations Association
Syria after Iraq nd
Syria after Iraq
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2014: What have we still not learnt? Red vs White Poppies
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New President and Executive Committee
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Another Dodgy Dossier
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Beware those Fraudsters
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Development in a Devil of a State 4
At the London and South East Region's AGM on 2 November 2013, we said farewell and thanks to out-going president, Philippe Sands QC, and welcomed new president, Stephen Hockman, QC. Philippe’s keynote speech looked into the lack of intervention in Syria.
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t was not until chemical weapons were used in Syria that there was a serious international response, with Obama's comment on "crossing a red line" being called to account, and the proposal for military intervention. The unexpected refusal by the UK to take part then changed the whole dynamic of the argument, and led to the agreement to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons capability under the supervision of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
First Aid Workshops in Uganda
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UN Forum: Britain on the world stage - can we still make a difference?
Many people were surprised. A parliamentary clerk told Philippe it was the most exciting event he had witnessed in 41 years in the chamber. John Le Carré told him it was the first time in years that he felt proud of the UK parliament.
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In all this a key point was the respect for international law. As UNA members would know, military action was lawful under Chapter VII of the UN Charter only where a state exercised its inherent right of self defence or where it was explicitly authorised by a resolution of the Security Council. Neither of these conditions was satisfied in the Syria case. There ought to have been a resolution, but there was not. This was to a large extent a consequence of the manipulation of SC1441 as regards Iraq, and the regime change effected in Libya, going well beyond the aims authorised by the Security Council: the Russians and the Chinese had reason to refuse action against the Syrian government.
Branch Reports
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Bruce Kent’s perspective on the state of the world
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Forthcoming Events
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Copy date for the next issue: 02 June 2014
Contribution guidelines and past issues, go to: www.unalondonandse.org
Editors: Neville Grant & Linda Leung (editor@unaondonandse.org)
Since 2005 there had however been a third possibility: humanitarian intervention, now formalised as the responsibility to protect. Philippe himself had supported humanitarian intervention in Kosovo, and was open to argument as to its implementation in other cases. The key point in Kosovo was that the bombings were always likely to work, and had in fact worked, to stop the killing and persecution of Kosovars. What was the prime minister’s approach to the legality of intervention in Syria in the absence of a resolution? The published legal argument was billed as “the government’s legal position”, not the Attorney-General’s opinion. This poorly thought through response crucially did not assert that intervention would stop the killing or end the war, and offered no certainty that it would prevent further chemical weapons attacks. As it happens, decommissioning of chemical weapons was achieved, but it was never even certain who had launched the attacks: Philippe’s contacts suggested it was a “rogue group” within the Syrian military, rather than a considered action by the Assad regime. Seymour Hersch, in an article in the London Review of Books, has since adduced evidence that it was a rogue element among the jihadists. (See Another Dodgy Dossier on page 4.)
The London and South East Region is part of UNA-UK, currently serving 23 branches in the Region. Views expressed in this membership newsletter do not necessarily represent the policy of UNA-UK or the Region.
The failure to intervene in Syria was thus a long-term consequence of the false case made for intervention in Iraq in 2003. This was something that should already have been addressed by the Chilcot Report into Britain’s role in the Iraq war, but it appeared possible that publication was being >> p 2
LONDON AND SOUTH EAST REGION United Nations Association
Syria after Iraq. cont'd from page 1
2014: What have we still not learnt?
deliberately delayed until closer to the election in order to embarrass Labour. If so, political manipulation was unacceptable in such a context. The Chilcot report should be damning: British participation in the Iraq war had been based on a duplicitous brief, and as a consequence we are now confronted with a situation where we cannot act in the face of suffering on an enormous scale.
As the centenary of the start of the First World War approaches, we believe UNA should be asking exactly this question.
In questions and discussion members raised the following: 1. Had it not been the threat of force that opened the door to chemical decommissioning? Philippe pointed out that Russia had calculated the US would not intervene without British support, and it was only an (apparent) slip by John Kerry which led to an agreement on chemical weapons. 2. Would not an attack on the chemical weapons sites in any case have released clouds of lethal material which would have killed regime supporters and insurgents indiscriminately? 3. Were not the Russians motivated by a fear of losing their Syrian naval base at Tartus? 4. Had not the effect of the decommissioning been to relegitimise President Assad? 5. In the Chilcot report, Philippe’s understanding was that on being told by President Bush that the US was going to attack Iraq, Blair had committed to go to war with or without a Security Council resolution. The cabinet secretary resisted Chilcot’s wish to publish this, on grounds of protecting the confidences of an ally. But this objection could be overcome if skilled lawyers were allowed to draft the necessary wording.
LaSER will be running a series of articles to ask whether the war could have been stopped. What should interest us is not "Who was to blame?" but "What can we learn from it?", and how can we stop all wars.
RED
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Sheila Kesby looks at red versus white poppy and asks how should UNA commemorate 2014 and which is more appropriate to remember the tragedy of the war. The debate of red vs white poppy is not new. The Red Poppy is what we usually see – the Royal British Legion has run the Poppy Appeal since 1921. The association of the red poppy with the fallen was cemented in John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields. The poppy has since become a lasting memorial for those who died in the First World War and subsequent conflicts. The White Poppy was first introduced by the Women's Co-operative Guild in 1933, intending to be a lasting symbol for peace and an end to all wars. The Peace Pledge Union (www.ppu.org.uk) which now runs the White Poppy Appeal, explains: "With the rising domestic and international tensions at the time, concern grew that the "war to end all wars" in which so many had died or languished in prison for refusing to fight, would now be followed by an even worse war. The white poppy was an expression of this concern, particularly for women - many of whom were mothers, sisters, widows and sweethearts of men harmed in the First World War. While the red poppy raises funds for the British Legion, the white poppy's aim is to promote debate and rally support for resistance to war." The White Poppy was never intended to offend the memory of those who died in the Great War. Many, however, feel that it undermines their contribution and the lasting meaning of the red poppy. Some women lost their jobs in the 1930s for wearing white poppies; and even today, wearers of white poppies are sometimes met with hostility. Perhaps the red and the white poppy are not really incompatible. Already people are wearing both. At the 2013 UN Day Service in Canterbury, the Procession of the Peace Makers included the Movement Against War, CND, Amnesty International and the UN Veterans Association who sported the blue berets of UN peacekeepers for the occasion. Our report (page 6) tells that though they declined, the Royal British Legion will be invited to take part in the UN Service in 2014 in an attempt to reconcile the Red with the White Poppy.
Stephen Hockman QC is the Region's next President The Region is delighted Stephen Hockman QC will be our president for the coming two years. Mr Hockman specialises in regulatory, environmental and health & safety law. He has made a special study of the law relating to climate change, on which he speaks regularly, and is working on a proposal for an International Court for the Environment (ICE).
2013-14 Executive Committee CHAIR: Roger Hallam, Enfield & the Barnets HON SEC: Neville Grant, Blackheath & Greenwich TREASURER: Peter Webster, Streatham LaSER | Issue 21 | February 2014
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Committee Members Alan Bullion, Tunbridge Wells Tim Garbutt, Tunbridge Wells Prof Ali Hessami, Enfield & the Barnets Wendy Higgs, Blackheath & Greenwich Keith Hindell, Westminster Sheila Kesby, Canterbury Dr Kishan Manocha, Westminster Catherine Pluygers, Westminster & Putney & Roehampton Rob Storey, Putney and Roehampton Anusha Vamadeva, Sutton David Wardrop, Westminster www.unalondonandse.org
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Another dodgy dossier It is now established that the US-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003 did so on the basis of a "dodgy dossier" -– what Andrew Gilligan inelegantly called "a sexed-up report". Neville Grant looks at another "dodgy dossier". Last year, the world narrowly escaped a second adventure, based on yet another dodgy dossier intelligence reports cooked up by hawks in Washington, designed to bounce President Obama into yet another war - a bombing war in Syria – against the will of many if not most senior officers in the US military. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, known for his well-informed exposure pieces in The New Yorker, cast doubt in his most recent article "Whose Sarin?" (London Review of Books, 19 Dec 2013) on the claims by the US (and others) that the pro-Assad forces used Sarin gas in Syria. So who are we to believe? Let’s look at some of Hersh’s assertions.
a former senior intelligence officer told Hersh that at first, officials in the Obama administration had altered the available information – in terms of timing and sequence – to make intelligence retrieved days later look as if it had been picked up and analysed in real time, as the attack was happening. This was later retracted, but largely ignored by the media. the administration had no advance warning of the sarin attacks - even though the US had a secret sensor system inside Syria, designed to provide early warning of any change in status of the regime’s chemical weapons arsenal. a UN report of 16 September confirmed the use of sarin, but cautiously noted that its investigators’ access to the attack sites had been controlled by rebel forces. much was made of the rockets recovered from the scene of the attack - but Prof Theodore Postol said that the rocket recovered was "improvised", and failed to match the specifications of a similar but smaller rocket
known to be in the Syrian arsenal. the range of Syrian rockets of the type mentioned was two kilometres - these rockets would have had to travel nine kilometres if fired by Syrian government forces; the fight path analyses in the New York Times were according to one analyst "totally nuts' the extreme jihadist group al-Nusra is known to have carried out scores of suicide bombings against Christians and non-Sunni Muslim sects inside Syria and is known to have a sarin-making capability al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI), also understands the science of producing sarin. Ziyaad Tariq Ahmed, a chemical weapons expert formerly of the Iraqi military, who is said to have moved into Syria, was known to be associated with al-Nusra, and to have been involved in producing mustard gas and sarin. a high level military officer said that if the US had bombed the Assad military, it would have been '"like offering close air support to al-Nusra".
So, it may be that elements within the Assad regime used chemical weapons, but we should not rest in our beds once these have been removed. To its credit, the UN did not buy into the picture painted by the hawks of Washington. The SC resolution adopted on 27 September dealt indirectly with the notion that rebel forces such as alNusra should also disarm: ‘no party in Syria should use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer [chemical] weapons.’ The resolution also calls for the immediate notification of the Security Council in the event that any ‘non-state actors’ acquire chemical weapons. No group was cited by name. Hersh concludes; "While the Syrian regime continues the process of eliminating its chemical arsenal, the irony is that, after Assad’s stockpile of precursor agents is destroyed, al-Nusra and its Islamist allies could end up as the only faction inside Syria with access to the ingredients that can create sarin, a strategic weapon that would be unlike any other in the war zone." Sudanese artist Khalid Albaih publishes cartoons on his "Khartoon" Facebook page - merging the word cartoon with his country's capital, Khartoum. This one coincided with the first report of chemical weapons being used in Damascus. (Source: BBC News Magazine)
BEWARE THOSE FRAUDSTERS! Some UNA members have received emails purporting to come from a UN office, inviting one to register for a conference. Executive director of UNA-UK, Natalie Samarasinghe, says: "Unfortunately we see many similar scams. The conference format is very common. The email often asks for a registration form to be returned, and for a hotel to be booked. There could be a number of motives for this – obtaining bank or credit card details, or personal details for identity theft, for example. "In addition, both the phone and email address for the hotel are incorrect, presumably so that anyone who tries to book accommodation will provide payment information to the fraudsters. I doubt if these people have any particular grudge against the UN – similar scams will claim to be from banks or governments or agencies such as the FBI." It is very difficult to trace these emails. Even when it is possible to identify the IP address, there are a number of freely available tools that can be used to mask IP addresses and the chances of finding the fraudsters, many of whom use the addresses of unconnected individuals, are slim. UNA-UK have taken advice on how to handle these scams. As a result, there are prominent warnings on UNA's website, and information on UN-related scams is sent to the relevant UN office. The best advice is this: delete them. LaSER | Issue 21 | February 2014
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Development in a Devil of a State In December 2013 Ian Elgie, Chair of Eastbourne UNA, and member Tracey Davanna, a doctoral student and politics teacher, found themselves in the Indian state of Jharkhand as guests of the Bokaro Steel City team of PRADAN, one of India’s largest NGOs working for the welfare of the poorest communities in India. Here is Ian’s report. In Jan 2012 Jayashree Mohanta, a Ford Foundation scholar, undertaking postgraduate research at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex gave a talk, entitled “Poverty Reduction in Jharkhand, India’s Poorest State’, to the Eastbourne UNA on her work in India. Well until then, I thought I knew India pretty well, but now, I found myself quickly searching the internet for basic information.
Impoverished? To my surprise I discovered ironically that ‘impoverished’ Jharkhand is the ‘Ruhr of India’ – the most mineral rich state in the country with one of the largest concentrations of heavy industry, and home to TATA steel. The minerals on which the industries depend are concentrated in the Damodar Valley – the river being known in history as the ‘River of Sorrows’ for the lethal annual floods. Yet, in the higher catchment areas of the Damodar on the Chota Nagpur plateau, lie the dense Sal forests, home to one of India’s largest concentrations of tribal people – the Adivasis or Scheduled Tribes.
PRADAN’s work These Adivasi and the Scheduled Castes and OBCs ("Other Backward Castes") are the most exploited and discriminated people in India, despite the numerous laws to protect them. The tribal lands are the source of conflict, being coveted by corporate and other interested parties for ‘national development’. Naxalite terrorists, fighting ostensibly for the rights of the poorest communities, currently affect 19 of Jharkhand’s 24 districts and are a huge problem for the Union and state governments. In this most difficult situation PRADAN is achieving remarkable results. We wanted to find out about PRADAN’s approaches to empower the STs; SCs and OBCs and alleviate their poverty, improving LaSER | Issue 21 | February 2014
their livelihoods, welfare and, addressing the human rights abuses they suffer. We visited numerous villages in three districts: some dominated by tribals, some by Dalits (untouchables) and others by OBCs. What we saw in the villages was truly inspiring and a great credit to the PRADAN teams. We were very impressed by the professionalism and dedication of their personnel Health indicators in Jharkhand are amongst the worst in India– not surprising when we were told that many villages do not have a single toilet and open defecation is the norm. Yet PRADAN showed us villages where they had raised the welfare of a village where every house had a toilet and a standpipe for clean water – was this a miracle? No, it was PRADAN’s method of empowering communities through cooperative schemes such as women’s shamitis (Self-Help Groups) and through appropriate technology raising agricultural productivity, including water conservation schemes – where small dams had held up the annual monsoon rains, to provide a year round source of water for irrigation, whilst conserving top soil and raising water tables.
Grassroot vs large scale The goals of national development frequently become a contest between those who believe in the virtues of local small scale grassroots development in contrast to mega schemes – such as Jharkhand’s Tilaiya dam, one of the first large dams to be built in India. This dam built in 1950, besides controlling the devastating floods of the ‘River of Sorrows’, irrigated thousands of square kilometres, but at the cost of much tribal land. The success of the large Tilaiya dam and others which followed and are currently planned, cannot be duplicated in much of rural Jharkhand without displacing the poor from their ancestral land and p. 4
by making them landless, forcing these people to migrate into poverty traps in the industrial cities. Since 2005 Lakshmi Mittal, a London based global entrepreneur has tried to acquire titles to land in Jharkhand for a new steel mill and for mineral exploitation but tribal resistance to such land alienation has thwarted such attempts. The dilemma is that the Union and State governments together with the industrial corporations see such commercial acquisitions as vital to GNP growth and thus ‘national development’. PRADAN and others see such development as a fatal flaw in the purpose of development – and a process which can only lead to greater marginalization of exploited communities.
Eye opener Our brief visit was in every respect an ‘eye-opener’ which only went to emphasize both how complex is national development on the one hand, but on the other, how simple it can be to improve livelihoods when a purposeful consensus exists between agents of development. Ian and Tracey wish to thank the Trustees of the London and SE Region UNA Trust for their generous grant of £400 towards the cost of the study trip. Our thanks also are extended wholeheartedly to the generosity of the PRADAN teams in Jharkhand for hosting our visit and ensuring its success. www.unalondonandse.org
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First Aid Workshops in Uganda Last July, Thomas Wardale conducted a series of First Aid workshops in Eastern Uganda with financial support from the London & SE Region Trust. My trip to Uganda was without a doubt the best experience of my life so far. A large part is down to the people who, despite having very little in terms of material wealth, were some of the happiest and most welcoming I have met. The month I spent in Uganda was split in two main parts. Firstly, there was an introductory study programme led by Eastbourne UNA Chairman, Ian Elgie, to familiarise our group with the economic, political and social conditions of Uganda. This was vital to me as it enabled me to be more effective in structuring and conducting the workshops. The second part was focused on conducting First Aid courses in a range of institutions which had been identified by Ian in 2012 as having a vital need for practical First Aid skills.
Challenges: mindset, culture and resources There is widespread ignorance of even the most basic elements of First Aid in Uganda. Seeing how limited first aid supplies were in schools, I decided to check what materials could be bought from local pharmacies. Gloves, cotton wool, crepe bandages and disinfectant were all widely available but two items that are so common in England - triangular bandages and ambulance dressings - were impossible to find in Mbale, the largest town in Eastern Uganda. To me these are some of the most useful and versatile first aid items and I was
shocked to see how unobtainable they were. I knew that teaching first aid to people from a completely different culture would be challenging but I was not ready for how difficult certain things would be – things that we take for granted in England such as calling an ambulance in an emergency. I learnt from a nurse in Uganda that she had witnessed patients die because they couldn't find an ambulance or even when one was found, the patient had no 'petrol money'. Payment and bribery to get proper care is apparently common practice, both in hospitals and out. In the end, it is the poor that suffer. One of the biggest shocks was the different perceptions of illness. Some, for instance, believed that a seizure was the result of a person being possessed. As such, people were afraid to go anywhere in case they also became possessed. While this was a barrier to teaching, I found that informing people of the real causes of seizures allowed them to overcome their superstition. During our stay, one of the groups fell very ill whilst we were visiting a local school. With great difficulty we got him to hospital. I was shocked to see how basic it was inside: a bed, a curtain and a chair was all there were for each patient. On arrival, there was a power cut. I recognised it was a regular occurrence but was still shocked that it was 40 minutes before a backup generator was up and running.
Richness isn’t just material I was very impressed by the willingness of the workshop participants to learn. I have kept in contact with a few of the people I met in Uganda and am always touched by the warmth in their emails. One of the teachers I met has since bought a book on first aid. I feel that the less people have in terms of material wealth the more they crave knowledge. The poverty of Uganda is tragic and emotional to experience; but the eagerness to learn, the optimism and the good nature of the people I met shows that there is much more to life than material possessions. Thomas is a UNA-UK Youth member and local member of Eastbourne UNA. In his day job, he is Deputy Unit Manager, St John Ambulance, Willingdon and Polegate Division (District 4). His visit was supported by a grant of £200 from the London & SE Region UNA Trust.
Join members of the public, grassroots campaigners, UN officials and government decision-makers for the biggest open debate on global issues as we ask:
Britain on the world stage can we still make a difference? Secure your place at UN Forum 2014 today to: Enjoy top-level speakers speaking for and against a range of foreign policy issues in exciting debate formats. Put your questions to UK, UN and global experts. Participate in our pre-event consultation to shape the way the UK thinks about the UN. Meet others who are interested in these issues over refreshments. Receive an invite to a pre-event networking event with UNA-UK members on the evening before. Saturday 28 June • Central Hall Westminster • Tickets: www.una.org.uk/forum LaSER | Issue 21 | February 2014
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Branch Reports The UN: Working on Water London and SE Region | 21st November 2013 Report by Brian Beeley
King’s College London hosted this public meeting on international implications of water. KCL’s Professor Frances Cleaver introduced the session chaired by UNA’s Roger Hallam and Patricia Rogers. KCL’s Water Research Group provided three speakers who stimulated an active discussion. Professor Tony Allan, internationally known for his prize-winning work on ‘virtual water’ (i.e. water moved within transported food or other materials), stressed the links between water and food security, climate change, and economic development. Dr Alex Loftus spoke about the politics of rights to water, partly on the basis of his researches in South Africa, and was followed by Michael Gilmont whose focus is on water governance and prediction. Is water a right or a commercial commodity? Questions about physical, financial, and sociopolitical access to water figured in contributions from the speakers and delegates – most notably in regard to the pros and cons of water privatisation. Several references were made to the costs and prospects of desalination – might water be, after all, not a finite material? The appreciative audience of nearly forty included a strong UNA contingent and other questions ranged from aspects of inequality of access to water to the political and economic implications of climate change and water resource depletion.
UN Service for World Peace Canterbury UNA | 27th October 2013 Report by Sheila Kesby Canterbury UNA has celebrated UN Day with a service for world peace since 1981. Over the last 2 years the services have reflected the Swords into Ploughshares (Isaiah 2:2-4) theme as a modern day approach to sustainable peace. At the 2013 service, 18 groups WILFE, CND, CAAT, MAW, Amnesty International, the Gurkha Peace “And he shall judge among the nations: and Foundation, Christian Aid, two inter-faith groups and the Quakers representing they shall beat their swords into ploughthe White Poppy Movement – took part shares, and their in the Procession of the Peacemakers. spears into pruning We also extended the drama hooks: nation shall not based on Isaiah 2:4 to include an lift up sword against nation, neither shall enactment of ‘The Ode of Rememthey learn war brance’ with a group of actors wearing anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4) Red Poppies representing a Remembrance Day congregation. In response to “...We will remember them”, the question was asked “But how will you remember them?” The leader of the congregation responded with the Preamble to the UN Charter: to “...save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold suffering to mankind...” The 2013 service was well-received. Participants were glad to be in the Quire instead of the Crypt. In different ways, they described the service as a truly lovely, moving and meaningful experience, and one LaSER | Issue 21 | February 2014
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which made an important statement regarding the pursuit of world peace. They were impressed by our bringing so many different groups together in a synergistic manner. Thus encouraged, we are planning a more significant event to celebrate UN Day in the year of the centenary of the beginning of the ‘War to end all Wars’. We will try to do what we did not quite succeed last year: to symbolically reconcile the red and white poppies. The Royal British Legion was invited to take part in the 2013 service but declined, on the grounds that RBL is a non-political organisation (!). We are nevertheless pleased that three former peacekeepers took part in the service, wearing their uniforms and UN blue berets. Like many, we are alarmed that with each passing year, world peace becomes more like an elusive dream never to be realised. We believe that all groups concerned with the environment, sustainable development and public service, which includes the military, are as essential to the pursuit of peace as those concerned with peace, human rights and the abolition of war. This is why we will again invite all groups, including the RBL, to come together in 2014 to commemorate the 24th October as the day the United Nations was founded to succeed where the League of Nations had failed.
Drones on war of surveillance: do we really want these machines? Putney and Roehampton UNA | 21st January 2014 Report by Catherine Pluygers The meeting was chaired by Catherine Pluygers, with Alexander Murrell of WILPF and Jenny Gibson of Reprieve. In the past decade, there has been an exponential increase in the proliferation and use of armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as ‘drones’. Although only three countries – the US, the UK and Israel – are known to have used armed drones to date, other countries have developed or bought unarmed drones for battlefield surveillance, or are seeking to obtain armed versions. It appears that international law has not kept pace with this technology. The issues were explored at this meeting, where many drew attention to the fact that drones made more enemies than they killed - and that many innocent people, including women and children, were victims.
Inspiring Women UN Women London | 16th January 2014 Report by Alison Williams At UN Women London’s opening event for 2014, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association room was packed to listen and share on the theme of women who inspired them. Keynote speaker was Natasha Walter, an author and journalist who cofounded Women for Refugee Women in 2006 after being shocked and moved by many individual stories of violent abuse and injustice. In 1998 her first book, The New Feminism, was published when she was confident that a transformation of attitudes and policies recognising the equal dignity of women was nearly complete. But this was not the case. On the contrary, social attitudes to women have increasingly reflected those of lads’ magazines, with porn more-orwww.unalondonandse.org
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less mainstream. An e-mail from a young woman who feared she was the only person in the world who disliked these things prompted Natasha to write a second book in 2010, Living Dolls – the return of sexism, which deals with darker issues and uncomfortable sharing. Natasha outlined the case of Angelique, a political prisoner in her own country who had been repeatedly raped. She escaped to Britain but was refused asylum and left destitute with no rights, walking from one church or charity to another to survive, betrayed by men she believed would help her. Two of Natasha’s colleagues on the London Refugee Women’s Forum, Rahela from Afghanistan and Jade from “Clapham Junction”, were introduced as Inspiring Women. They emphasised how hard it is for vulnerable women to report to officials the painful, intimate details of their traumatic experiences. With the support of other survivors and British people they learn to trust and find their voices. Women for Refugee Women are campaigning for an end to the policies which reduce asylum-seekers to destitution on the streets or disgraceful conditions at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre near Bedford. An interactive session followed, with many of us coming up front to speak about the Inspiring Women whose photographs we had brought for display. Those featured included women famous in history, many living champions and family members, especially mothers. One living champion was present in person, Margaret Owen OBE, Director of Widows for Peace through Democracy. This “amazing, indefatigable campaigner and advocate, inflamed by injustice” had succeeded in getting the rights of widows into UN documents. Margaret in turn urged us to google Leyla Zana, the first person of Kurdish descent to be elected to Turkey’s parliament. In December, Margaret had been to observe her appeal against a second 10-year sentence for allegedly supporting Kurdish armed terrorism. Her appeal was successful. This inspirational woman is now free to continue her courageous advocacy for the rights of all men and women and of nations large and small.
For more information, visit www.unwomenuk.org, www.refugeewomen.co.uk, www.widowsforpeace.org LaSER | Issue 21 | February 2014
BRUCE KENT Jesuits & Friends: a personal
perspective on the state of the world We all know the feeling when catastrophes like Syria hit the headlines. Utter helplessness. The appeals come flooding in from charities. We give whatever we can. But what else can we do? The UK could of course admit numbers of Syrian refugees but our national sympathy for them does not stretch that far. Granted commercial interests, it would also be a step too far, I suspect, for our Government to stop selling arms to areas of conflict despite many calls from the Campaign against the Arms Trade and others to do so. So by and large we stick with charitable giving, hope for the best, pray for the victims and leave the rest to God. But what long term steps can we take now to avoid future Syrias and make this a less warlike world? The first step is to draw courage and inspiration from what has been achieved. There are now many areas of the world where war is effectively impossible. The states of the United States will never fight again. The great European powers are now bound together through the European Union, the first aim of which was to prevent future wars. We forget that all of the peace-making structures we now have - from the United Nations to the International Criminal Court, from the International Court of Justice to the European Union - came into being because of the vision of many peace-minded people who have faded into history. On their past work we now have to build, and improve. A really democratic UN? An International Criminal Court able to prosecute those who take military action without UN legitimacy? Why not? No one today remembers the first British Nobel prize winner, William Randall Cremer. Yet it was Cremer and his friends at the end of the 19th century who, through their calls for arbitration, laid the foundation for the International Court of Justice. We hear much about the bravery of those involved in the First World War. But almost nothing about Pope Benedict XV and his endless appeals, in the name of common humanity, for an end to the butchery. He laid the ground for Pacem in Terris and more recent Catholic condemnations of war. In an inspiring address to the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1965, Pope Paul VI committed the Church to support the UN - but its workings are still unknown to most people. I have never come across a parish or diocesan UNA group or heard a sermon on the vision of the United Nations. Yet the Preamble to the Charter starts with a call ‘to free humanity from the scourge of war’. Within our domestic society we have built up the structures which have made our society, if not crime free, at least one in which we do not resolve conflicts with our neighbours by shooting them. We have here something like (by the standards of the rest of the world) social justice. There is discrimination but people are not usually killed or imprisoned because of their race, religion or political views. We have courts and a police force. Why not expand this local reality into an ambition for the world as a whole? None of these benefits came by accident. They were all worked for by people long forgotten. We Christians must confront our current sense of impotence as we work to sow the seeds of the Kingdom of God. It is simpler to donate to good causes than to question the way the world is being run. Jesus was not put to death because he was nice to people who were hungry and sick but because he challenged the authorities, religious and political, of his day. I have great hope that the Church to which I belong, will, with a new and inspiring Pope, more vigorously oppose the militarism, national pride, greed and exploitation which underpin the conflicts of our day. It was an earlier Jesuit, Archbishop Thomas Roberts, who turned my mind in this direction. Pope Francis and he would have been good friends both giving us the vision of a more peaceful world and the urge to go out to help build it. With such a vision the legal and technical changes needed for real peace built on justice will follow if we work for them. This article first appeared in Jesuit Magazine. p. 7
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Forthcoming Events Fly Kites Kites not not Drones Drones || 22 22 March March 2014, 2014, 2pm 2.00pm Fly Blackheath & Greenwich UNA & the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom invite all to take part in the International Weekend of Action (2123 March) to highlight the importance of human rights and peace in Afghanistan and the negative impact on the use of drones used as weapons. Bring your kite to the heath and fly them! The event is inspired by the Voices for Creative NonViolence UK’s weekend of solidarity with Afghan people. To buy Afghan kites, contact kitesnotdrones@gmail.com For more information about the international weekend of action, visit http://vcnvuk.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/fly-kitesnot-drones/ Mother Earth Earth versus versus Father Father Capitalism Capitalism Mother 26 April 2014, 10.30am – 5.00pm 26 April 2014 / 10.30am – 5.00pm Augustine House, House, Canterbury, Canterbury, CT1 CT1 2YA 2YA Augustine Join Canterbury UNA and the Abbott Mills Project to celebrate 2014 UN Earth Day. 20 groups will showcase their contribution to conservation and sustainability in an all-day exhibition. Conference (chaired by Geoff Meaden) to explore the implications of adopting the ‘Green Economy’ in accordance with the outcome of the 2012 UN Earth Summit (Rio+20), to be followed by workshops in “the world as a café” format. Entrance is free and all are welcome. Please buy your lunch in the on-site cafeteria, or bring your own. RSVP (for catering purposes) and enquiries to Sheila Kesby 07765915173 / s.kesby339@btinternet.com
International Day Day of of UN UN Peacekeepers Peacekeepers International 22 May 2014, 10.00am – 1.00pm, at RUSI 22 May 2014 at RUSI th The 11 conference to mark the International Day of UN Peacekeepers will be held at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). It will be followed by the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph. The conference will focus on developing Africa’s capacity to mount and manage peacekeeping operations and will explore how developed states can better help in this enormous task. Details will be posted on the UNA Westminster website in early March.
International InternationalLaw LawLecture Lecture- -Barrister BarristerDavid DavidHammond Hammond 33March 2014, 6.30pm March 2014, 10.30am – 5.00pm Brunei BruneiTheatre, Theatre,SOAS, SOAS,Russell RussellSquare Square th In its 12 year, the lecture on Establishing human rights in post-revolution states and in international waters will see David Hammond introduce new challenges and possible answers based on his experience as adviser to the new Libyan government and also as one of the architects of a new set of maritime rules for the use of force to counter piracy. Q&A session and reception follow. Admission is free but register at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/international-law-lecture-tickets-9693576749 NO ONE ONE LEFT LEFT BEHIND: BEHIND: toward toward a a global global agenda agenda for for NO jobs, security and good governance jobs, security and good governance 17 & & 20 20 February February // 12:30-2:30pm 12.30-2.30 or 7.30-9.30pm 17 ring packed lunch) 11 7:30-9:30pm Wilberforce House, 119 Worple Road, London, or SW20ADDRESS 8ET ADD Alison Williams of Merton UNA invites you to an introductory session (repeat 4 times) to explore how to remove many of the most obvious causes of the scourge of war; and not only war but violent conflict. UNA members will all have received the publication Global Development Goals: leaving no one behind. Alison will be using it as core material for a series of workshops, kicking off with 4 repeated introductory sessions to gauge interest. Groups would be small – a maximum of 8 – as the venue is small. In the Millennium Year, 8 development goals with measurable targets over the period 2000-2015 were agreed. Progress toward reaching the MDGs has been mixed, and very little achieved in areas afflicted with violent conflict. A great deal of thought has already gone into the question of what should follow the MDGs. This time, the UN has not only engaged member states, large corporations, academic experts and global NGOs in consultations about the post-2015 agenda. It has also facilitated its largest-ever outreach to the general public , and the key concerns of the public response are reflected in recommendations from the Secretary-General’s High Level Panel (co-chaired by the Presidents of Indonesia and Liberia and our Prime Minister) and other UN bodies. RSVP essential. Enquiries to Alison Williams 020 8944 0574 / alisonwilliams36@btinternet.com
We The Peoples film festival In 2013, the annual We the Peoples Film Festival reached new venues and new audiences. Films on development, human rights and international security were screened in several university campuses in London, each with Q and A sessions featuring directors, subject experts and in some cases, personalities in the films. Unusual locations were The Water Poet pub in the City and The Platform Bar in East London which featured a series of short films alternating with good food and debate. The festival also featured a Young Film Makers Day at the BFI South Bank, which held master-classes in editing and script writing as well as screening short films which were judged by the audience. The 2013 winner of the #tweetapitch competition was Maria Shibata who will make a documentary film on bringing education to home-bound young mothers in Kenya through the use of mobile phones. Her film will be screened at next year’s film festival. This Spring, the mini-film festival UN on the Campus will bring new films to King’s College London and University College London. Festival Director Vivienne Eka who is also Branch Secretary of UNA Westminster tells LASER that planning for the 2014 Festival has already started. For information on how to attend screenings in the UN on the Campus programme, go to www.unawestminster.org.uk or www.wethepeople.org.uk
LaSER | Issue 21 | February 2014
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