EarthAction

Week of Action to Support Evgenij Vitishko

Week of action to support Evgenij Vitishko starts on February 28, 2014.
#FREEVITISHKO

International campaign to support Evgenij Vitishko starts on February, 28. In several
European cities and in 26 cities in Russia activists organize demonstrations and flash
mobs to attract attention to his politically motivated and injust imprisonment.

If you want to support Mr. Vitishko in your city, please contact:

• Evgenija Chirikova ([email protected]) or
• Mikhail Khotyakov ([email protected])

On December 2013, Evgenij Vitishko was sentenced to 3 years in prison. The
sentence was based on his misconduct during 3 years of probation, to which he had been
sentenced in June 2012 because he had written "Alex is a thief" on the illegally placed
fence for the countryhouse of the Krasnodar Kray Governor Alexander Tkachev.

Evgenij Vitishko together with his fellow activists from the Environmental Watch on
North Caucasus (EWNC) actively opposed logging and illicit constructions on the territory of protected forests of the Krasnodar region. He is also one of the authors of the report on the environmental impact of the Olympic constructions. Prior to the Olympic Games, authorities started to oppress members of the EWNC: many of them have been arrested, interrogated, and frisked.

Amnesty International called Mr. Vitishko the prisoner of conscience.

Photograph by: Mikhail Mordasov

The World Future Council's Future Policy Award

Our previous post introduced you to the World Future Council (WFC). Each year the World Future Council chooses one topic on which policy progress is particularly urgent. They then give a Future Policy Award on the best policy they can find on that subject. The Future Policy Award celebrates policies that create better living conditions for current and future generations. The aim of the award is to raise global awareness for these exemplary policies and speed up policy action towards just, sustainable and peaceful societies. The Future Policy Award is the first award that celebrates policies rather than people on an international level. 

The Future Policy Award is designed to alert policymakers and the public to the importance of best practice in lawmaking and highlight outstanding examples of regulatory vision. The Award draws attention to existing sustainable policies and demonstrates that when political will is asserted, positive change can happen.

Celebrating visionary policies raises public awareness, encourages rapid learning and speeds up policy action towards just, sustainable and peaceful societies. That is why each year the World Future Council calls for the nomination of policies that are inspiring, innovative and influential.

In 2013, the Future Policy Award celebrated policies for sustainable disarmament that contribute to the achievement of peace, sustainable development, and security. The Award was held in  in partnership with the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs. The 2013 Future Policy Award brochure is available here.

The 2013 Gold Award Winner was The Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1967. The Silver Award was given to Agentina's National Programme for the Voluntary Surrendar of Firearms, 2006, and the Silver Award was given to the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act, 1987.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the Future Policy Award, noting that, “By recognizing proven policies for sustainable disarmament, the 2013 Future Policy Award provides a road map which can inspire policymakers around the world.”

 

EarthAction is pleased to have played a role in the creation of the World Future Council. To learn more about the World Future Council, click here. To learn more about the Future Policy Award, click here.

 

Image: WFC

World Future Council's Peace & Disarmament Program

The World Future Council (WFC) is an international forum made up of 50 eminent personalities from around the world. They come from governments, parliaments, academia, civil society, the arts and business.  Together they form a voice for the rights of future generations.

In November 2009 the World Future Council established the Disarmament Working Group, which unites experts from around the world and brings to bear on the disarmament work the three core strengths of the WFC: 1) integrated thinking; which is 2) future-orientated; and 3) policy-focused.

In recognition of the existential threat that nuclear weapons pose to life on earth as we know it, the World Future Council established the Peace & Disarmament Commission in 2010. 

WFC's flagship project aims at identifying, raising awareness for, and spreading best nuclear disarmament policies. Policymakers have a critical role to play in ridding the world of nuclear weapons, but they need a well-stocked toolbox to take action. This is where the World Future Council’s strengths come into play.  

 

WFC produced for the Inter-Parliamentary Union – an international organization with 163 Member Parliaments – a Parliamentary Handbook to support nuclear disarmament (available here), which was released in October 2012. Parliamentarians across the globe are using this unique tool, and WFC will continue to assist them. 

 

TAKE ACTION: Please send a link with a short description of the Parliamentary Handbook Supporting Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament to one or more members of your national Parliament or Congress. Let them know you want them to take leadership on this important issue and that this Handbook is a useful tool.

 

EarthAction is pleased to have played a role in the creation of the World Future Council.

To learn more about the World Future Council, click here.