Senior White House advisor Jared Kushner said Tuesday that the Trump administration will put forward its long-awaited plan for peace in the Middle East after the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in early June.
Read the full story here.
Celebrities speak out for UN resolution on rape as weapon of war
Angelina Jolie and Amal Clooney added their voices in the calls this week to support a new United Nations Security Council resolution that included a mechanism to investigate sexual violence as a weapon of war. The resolution also called for full services for victims, including sexual and reproductive health care.
Read the full story here.
Photo: UN
Can radio build peace in South Sudanese refugee camps?
Since South Sudan’s civil war began in 2013, over one million citizens have fled to neighboring Uganda. Refugees continue to face tension—both between ethnic groups and with host communities—but in Bidi Bidi refugee camp, one group of refugee reporters are behind a radio program that is broadcasting hope.
“The kind of peace messages that we broadcast are unifying and reconciliatory—so say peacebuilding—messages,” says Juruga Samuel Andrew, Morobo Broadcasting Services program manager
Reporters for Morobo Broadcasting Services (MBS) hail from refugee camps around Uganda and transmit 30-minute weekly programs on peacebuilding between refugees and host communities.
“Their on-air program is every Friday from 3pm to 3:30pm,” says Okunia Doreen, Voice of Life studio manager. “I will see them on the compound from Monday, and it is Tuesdays and Wednesday that they go into the field, on Thursday they come and produce their work and hand over their complete work on Friday for airing.”
MBS get help from partner station, Voice of Life and German group GIZ, and reporters often focus on stories that deal with religious harmony, women in peacebuilding, and youth and peace.
“Looking at the current crisis we have in South Sudan, looking at the population that is involved in this crisis, you’ll find that the greatest number is the youth,” says Andrew. “So we also go to the youth, we ask them what message they want to pass to their fellow colleagues—concerning peace.”
But gaining trust in the camps is hard, where suspicions can be high and interviewees have often suffered trauma.
“There’s always a misconception of us, the reporters, by both the refugee and the host community,” says Driliga George Lominda, MBS station manager. “We tend, actually, to feel that sometimes we may be [seen as] security agents, or we are just there to find out information—biased information—and cause something.”
Reporters also struggle with access to electricity so they improvise with solar power panels and smart phone recordings for interviews. Transport can be a problem.
“When it comes to rainy season, this place is full of valleys, and streams, so it sometimes proves a big challenge,” says Lominda. “Some roads are impassable, the rivers are full.”
As well as broadcasting stories of peacebuilding, the reporters’ movement through the camps has helped refugees connect with each other.
“They’ve been able to locate their lost ones,” says Doreen. “Some of them have been coming to us saying that ‘It has been good the radio has given us the opportunity to reunite with people’. You know, very well, when the conflict started some of them went different ways, separate ways. Other went to DR Congo, others came to Uganda, so it has given them to opportunity to reunite.”
MBS staff hope their stories will have a wide-spread impact in the communities they reach.
“Unity, when we build it here, we believe that this unity will be taken back home to South Sudan, which can make people live peacefully,” says Andrew. “Because we start it with ourselves as individuals, then it extends to our neighborhood, then the neighboring communities, then the leaders. And you’ll find it goes to the highest level possible.”
Kabul peace discussion among 3,200 delegates begins
More than 3,200 Afghans gathered on Monday in Kabul to seek a consensus on peace talks with the Taliban, but hopes for success were dampened by the recent cancellation of first-ever talks between Afghan and insurgent representatives in Qatar, and by the refusal of numerous Afghan political figures to attend the current meeting.
Read the full story at The Washington Post here and watch on Al Jazeera here.
Photo: Al Jazeera
Op-ed: What we can learn from New Zealand’s response
It is with a sad heart that we have been following the news out of Christchurch, New Zealand, this past week. The attack on two mosques that claimed the lives of 50 people has shocked the world, and is felt deeply here at Peace News Network – a news agency that began in the same beautiful, earthquake-damaged city. From mainstream media we receive horrific details of how the day unfolded, and extensive coverage about the perpetrator’s life and ideology. You could be forgiven for believing the world to be a very dark place, divided by a kind of hate that de-humanizes people. But what gives us hope is the way in which the people of New Zealand have responded to the violence. At an official level, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was swift to condemn the horror as an act of terrorism but also went on to explain that New Zealand is, and will continue to be, a country that values diversity. “We are a proud nation of more than 200 ethnicities, 160 languages,” Ardern said, “and amongst that diversity we share common values. And the one that we place the currency on right now—and tonight—is our compassion.”
I feel, however, that the most encouraging signs of that compassion have come from a more local level. Friends of mine who live in the South Island have brought flowers to their local mosque, Haka dances (a traditional Maori display) have been performed to honor the victims, and social media has been inundated with messages of solidarity for grieving communities. The country’s national newspaper published a photo of a couple who took a moment on their wedding day to lay their bouquets at a memorial. One of the more heart-warming twitter threads was started when a Muslim gaming developer called for people to post mundane observations about their local mosque. It appeared a strange request at first but what developed was an enormous outpouring of anecdotes and insights into the every-day of Islamic life. As one contributor noted: “Reading this I laughed, I teared up, I learned, I healed and, to be fully honest, now I think this is the only #Christchurch thread we all must read.”
It’s what we need more of—the humanizing of the “other” and the realization that we have more in common than not. This is, essentially, what lies at the heart of Peace News Network—an ambition to bring the stories of people who are building peace, not in grand sweeping gestures but quietly, locally, powerfully, and often in the face of the worst atrocities. Today we are proud of Christchurch, and of our Kiwi friends. Let’s learn from their example.
