EarthAction

Invitation to online Common Security Conference 10-11 April 2025

 

I am contacting you today to personally invite you to an online conference on 10-11 April, organized by the International Peace Bureau, International Trade Union Confederation, and the Olof Palme International Center. 

 

The event, entitled “Common Security Conference 2025: Redefining Security for the 21st Century” seeks to expand upon the work that we began in 2022 with the publication of the report Common Security 2022: For Our Shared Future and continued with last years’ Common Security in the Indo-Pacific report.

 

The upcoming conference is also a recognition that we are not the only organizations fighting to redefine ‘security’ away from strictly militarized definitions to more inclusive and peace-based ones. We therefore believe that it is vital that we come together for key discussions on our efforts to redefine security and to coordinate efforts to produce greater results for our shared goal.

 

Our collective knowledge and experience is needed to fight for a better, less militaristic and more just conception of security. We sincerely hope that you will be able to join us on 10-11 April. Importantly, the conference will include regional discussions and an open discussion forum – for the full program schedule you can visit this page.

 

Registration is available here.

 

Please note that this conference is envisioned as the start of a bigger process of coalition-building around redefining security. We will take extensive notes of the discussions with the aim of building the next steps collaboratively with all of you. 

 

Please feel free to share the invitation with those in your network that may be interested to attend/contribute to the discussion. We are also accepting ‘endorsing organizations’ for the events, should you be interested.

 

Should you have questions, please do not hesitate to let me know. Thank you and we hope to see you there!

 

Read more about the International Peace Bureau here

Applications now open for Younger Leaders for SDGs!

We are pleased to share that the UN Youth Office has officially launched the search for the next cohort of 17 Young Leaders for the SDGs!

On a biennial basis, the Youth office is proud to recognize outstanding young leaders between 15 and 35 years old for their agency, courage and ingenuity in finding lasting solutions to the world's greatest challenges. Becoming a Young Leader is a title of recognition from the United Nations for young people who are excelling in their contributions to helping deliver on the SDGs in their communities.

Throughout the two-year term, these 17 Young Leaders will engage young people for the 2030 Agenda, not only through their existing initiatives, platforms and networks but through advocacy opportunities with the United Nations and our partners. For inspiration, you can check out the profiles of previous Young Leaders from the 2022 cohort, 2020 cohort, 2018 cohort and 2016 cohort.

How can you engage and support the call for applications?

• Spread the word on social media. A dedicated social media toolkit is available on Trello, including assets and copy translated into Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Please feel free to amplify and circulate widely to your networks (especially via country-level colleagues working closely with young people on the ground).
• Make sure to use #YouthLead and tag @UNYouthAffairs in your posts.
• The easiest way to support is by sharing our launch posts on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads or by using this click-to-tweet.
• Encourage young people across your networks to apply. We are looking for diverse young people from all over the world between the ages of 15 and 35 who are driving change globally and/or in their communities. Applications are now open here and will close on Friday, 18 April 2025 at 11:59 pm ET.

Many thanks in advance for your support in helping to identify and recognize the next set of inspirational Young Leaders who are leading us towards the world we all want.

Read more about UNEP here

News from Nablus - Palestinian House of Friendship

The Palestinian House of Friendship (PHF) is located in Nablus, a medium-sized city north of Jerusalem on the West Bank in Palestine. Mohammed Sawalha, founder and director of PHF, describes the current situation there as extremely dangerous throughout the city and region, with illegal settlers attacking villagers and Israeli soldiers patrolling the streets of Nablus day and night. The city is literally under siege these days, and it often takes two or three hours to cross it because of numerous checkpoints where settlers stand next to Israeli soldiers and verbally or physically humiliate travelers.

Soldiers have been particularly threatening to worshippers going to their local mosques to pray in the early morning before work. Recently they entered a neighborhood mosque for the first time, interrupted the prayers, and detained participants.

Most distressing is the collapse of the local economy, as small businesses are forced into bankruptcy, and unemployment skyrockets. It is difficult for Palestinians to obtain cash or building supplies, though recently the Israeli government announced construction of 2300 new housing units for settlers on the West Bank.

     

In spite of these stressors of daily life for people living in the Nablus region, PHF continues to offer programs for children and their families. This summer six smaller camps for 180-200 children took place within their communities, so parents could quickly collect them if danger developed. 120 Boxes of Love containing food, books, toys, and warm winter clothing were distributed to needy families over the past four months. 200 school backpacks have been donated to children who are able to return to school this fall. Dancing and singing groups continue to meet. After-school programs, Girl Scouts, and the music studio are in operation this fall. And three or four English conversation classes are being held in order to raise money for other programs.

Thanks to a generous donor, PHF has opened a small café near its offices in downtown Nablus where young people can drink coffee at discounted prices, use the internet, and study in a quiet, peaceful environment.

PHF has also initiated a series of “Democracy Building” workshops in Nablus and the wider region to train adults in how to become active participants in a civil society, learning how to vote, how to run for office, and how to develop legislative proposals. Planning for a future in which Palestine may someday become an autonomous state reinforces identity, dignity, and hope during stressful times.

Meanwhile families are anxious, some schools opened late or not at all, and people are living in a state of hypervigilance on the West Bank in the fall of 2024.

Mohammed, his staff, and the families of PHF all express their gratitude for your continuing generosity in supporting the Palestinian House of Friendship.

To read more about the Palestinian House of Friendship, click here.

Martin Luther King’s Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, 10 December 1964

“I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a
militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction… I believe that even amid
today’s mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I
believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations,
can be lifted from this dust of shame and reign supreme amongst the children of men. I
have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their
bodies, education, and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their
spirits.”

Climate Governance Commission Report and MEGA: Proposals to better manage the global environment

The Climate Governance Commission (CGC) yesterday released Governing our Planetary Emergency. This is a ground-breaking report which highlights that current policies are failing to address the global climate emergency, and which puts forward a platform of climate governance proposals in order to ensure more effective cooperative action to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C or less.

“The world faces a deepening planetary emergency—and is on a reckless path toward runaway, catastrophic climate change—having already over-shot six of nine scientifically-identified Planetary Boundaries,” according to the Report. “Collectively, we must chart a safe and sustainable path for a workable future for all of humanity.”

The report was released two days prior to the start of the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP28) taking place in Dubai, with the aim to positively influence the deliberations and decision-making at the COP.

Global governance to protect the environment

The report provides a package of fifteen near-and-medium-term proposals for vital and substantial governance improvements across the international system. These include, amongst others, Climate COP reform, declaration of planetary emergency and establishment of an international court for the environment.

“The science is clear. It is telling us that we are already living within an extinction crisis and a climate crisis. Life on Earth as we know it, and even our own survival as a species, is at risk,” says María Fernanda Espinosa, Co-Chair of the Climate Governance Commission and President of the UN General Assembly 2018-2019. “What we need is a reflection on and reconsideration of our global governance architecture, to ensure it is fit for purpose and adequate to the tasks ahead."

Climate Governance Commission Proposals

Among the near-term recommendations proposed by the Commission of experts:

• Urgent improvements of climate COPs for delivery, action, and accountability to focus, reconfigure, and streamline the annual conference, currently expected to attract more than 70,000 delegates in its 28th year. 
• The declaration of a “planetary emergency” by the UN General Assembly at next year’s Summit of the Future, as well as the activation of an Emergency Platform, elaborating on a proposal by the UN Secretary-General.
• A Grand Bargain among the “Big Four” GHG-emitting nations (China, the U.S., India, and the EU), joined by other high-emission nations. 
• Establishment of institutional infrastructures to evaluate the climate performance of goods and companies, and for the responsible engagement by and accountability of fossil fuel companies, executives, and associations.
• Renewed efforts to bridge the great climate finance divide, including through debt forgiveness, reforms to multilateral development banks, and balanced global carbon taxes and tariffs to fund climate mitigation and adaptation in low and middle-income countries.

“We stand at the cusp of a green energy transformation, poised to shape a fairer, cleaner, healthier future. The means to finance the climate action we need to see are within reach, but it is good governance that holds the key,” says Mary Robinson, Commission co-chair, former President of Ireland and Chair of The Elders.

Advocating for change

The Commission will form diverse, high-level working groups to refine its recommendations and advocate for their associated transformations. This will be done in conjunction with Mobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance (MEGA) a new global alliance the Climate Governance Commission is establishing in partnership with the World Federalist Movement – Institute for Global Policy (WFM-IGP) and Citizens for Global Solutions with a number of other cosponsoring organizations.

At root, it is not an environmental crisis. Humanity has created a global governance crisis,” says John Vlasto, Chair of the WFM-IGP Executive Committee and Co-founder of MEGA. “Resolve this and we can unite to live in harmony with each other and with nature.”

The MEGA platform went live yesterday - in conjunction with the launch of the Climate Governance Commission Report - and will be publicly launched in the New Year.

For more information see Governing Our Planetary Emergency: Release of the Climate Governance Commission Report.

From UNFOLD ZERO. Read more here.

Introducing the Nominees of International Children’s Peace Prize 2023

We are excited to share the latest updates on the International Children’s Peace Prize 2023!

As you may know, the International Children's Peace Prize (‘ICPP’) is the most important award given to a young changemaker who has made an exceptional difference for the rights of the child and the position of vulnerable children, anywhere in the world.

The prize was launched in Rome during the 2005 World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates chaired by Mikhail Gorbachev. Since then, each year the prize has been awarded by a Nobel Peace Laureate.

For the first time ever, this year’s awards ceremony for the winner of the 2023 International Children’s Peace Prize will take place on November 17th at the Palace of Whitehall, London. To ensure as many people as possible can join the ceremony, it will be held in a hybrid format.

For the ICPP 2023, we have received 140 nominations of young changemakers from 35 countries around the world! The nominees are working on a range of topics, including education, climate change, refugees and migrants, sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, non-discrimination against children of prisoners, indigenous people, and many more.

You can now see all their amazing stories on our website!

We hope that you will be inspired by their stories and encourage young people to continue their changemaking activities with more passion and rigor. You can also contribute to make this happen by donating on our website.

Learn more about Kids Rights here

Anti-dam groups troop to NCIP over FPIC inconsistencies, conduct dam exposure tour

Filing of petition and complaints at the regional office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples-Cordillera (NCIP-CAR)

Dam-threatened Kalinga tribes along with advocates trooped to the regional office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples- Cordillera (NCIP-CAR) to petition the dams proposed along the Saltan river in Kalinga.
 

Indigenous peoples from the municipalities of Pinukpuk, Balbalan and Tabuk in Kalinga mark this year's International Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers (IDAAD) with a petition filed against JBD Water Power Incorporated's (JWPI) hydroelectric power projects at the NCIP regional office in Baguio City today, March 14, 2023. Said petition seeks the nullification of the result of the Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) among the Limos tribe last February 9, 2023, whatever the results may be, on basis of inconsistencies in the process.

 

 

According to Elma Tuazon, representative from the Limos tribe and lead convenor of the Sumkad ti Umili para ti Matagoan, Karbengan, Aglawlaw, Daga ken Dayaw (SUMKADD), the petition submitted is nullifying "the decision-making process/meeting for the Limos Ancestral Domain activity on February 9, 2023 related to the Saltan Hydroelectric Power Project", proposed by the JWPI along the Saltan River in Kalinga. "We have sinced petitioned against these dam projects along the Saltan River since 2022, we are reiterating our opposition to these proposed dam projects."
 

Resolutions against the JWPI dams were adopted by several barangays in Balbalan and the municipality of Pinukpuk as early as February of 2022.
 

A dialogue with NCIP CAR Regional Director Atty. Atanacio Addog was also conducted, where the demands for NCIP's accountability and strict monitoring of the FPIC process were floated. Continuing talks between the petitioners and NCIP will soon determine the outcomes, but petitioners remain wary of NCIP's expected actions considering that Addog is one of the accused in the administrative charges including 158 counts of estafa, falsification, and use of falsified documents filed by the dam-threatened Isnag indigenous peoples of Kabugao on December 2022 and January 2023.

 

 

Dialogue with NCIP Regional Director Atanacio Addog at the NCIP Regional Office in Baguio City.

 

Dams Learning Exchange
 

Prior to the petition filing, the petitioners from Kalinga were accompanied by delegates coming from dam-threatened communities in Kabugao, Apayao for a two-days Dam Learning Exchange. The Indigenous peoples delegation conducted an educational tour at the Ambuklao Dam site in Bokod, Benguet.

 

 

Ocular visit of delegates to the Ambuklao Dam. Ptr. Virgil Aniceto of the Regional Ecumenical Council of the Cordillera (RECCORD), who spent a long time of service in Bokod, explained the parts of the dam and the resulting damages at the time of its construction and beyond.

 

Bokod town Mayor, Honorable Thomas Wales, in his message to the delegates during their courtesy call said, "Think of the next generation, not only the now. Consider them when you make your decision regarding those projects. Our decision should not limit the future generations' options for development as they see fit for them. This is for the sake of us all."
 

In the community exchange, Ambuklao Barangay Captain Monroe Galasgas related the experience of their community during the building of the then government-owned 75MW Ambuklao Dam through the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR). "We had to leave our community. Some of our families were relocated to Nueva Vizcaya and Palawan however, our families eventually returned to Ambuklao because the relocation site was undeveloped," he said.
 

The dam was decommissioned in 1999 due to silt accumulation. It resumed operation in 2011 after it was rehabilitated by SN Aboitiz. It was since then upgraded to 105MW capacity. SN Aboitiz now owns and manages the facility, but last January this year, it was reported that Bokod indigenous peoples rejected the company’s bid to continue the said dam’s operation through a resolution of non-consent submitted to the provincial office of NCIP Benguet.
 

According to the community, a large portion of the lands covered by the dam compound are part of their ancestral domain. "We are still reclaiming some of our lands until now," Galasgas added.
 

"A lot of our questions have been answered regarding the long-term impacts of dam on the lives and livelihood of people," said Eusebia Luban, an Isnag woman from Kabugao, Apayao who attended the dam expo and tour.
 

"Balunen me dagitoy nga adal tapno ibingay mi met kadagiti kakailian mi," she added.
 

#OurRiversOursToDefend

#LetOurRiversFlowFreely

#DefendCordilleraPH

UN General Assembly calls for an end to the war in Ukraine

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution late last night (Feb 23), calling for an end to the war and demanding Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine, in line with the UN Charter.

Coming just hours before the war entered its second year, the resolution was adopted under the Uniting for Peace mandate, which provides the possibility for the UN General Assembly to take action to address acts of aggression or other serious threats to international peace when the Security Council is blocked by the veto power of one of the Permanent Five Members.

The UNGA resolution, entitled Principles of the Charter of the United Nations underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine contains 11 key points including;

• Deploring the dire human rights and humanitarian consequences of the war;
• Expressing deep concern about the adverse impact of the war on global food security, energy, nuclear security and safety and the environment;
• Calling for full adherence by the parties to the armed conflict to their obligations under international humanitarian law;
• Emphasizing the need to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law committed on the territory of Ukraine through independent investigations and prosecutions at the national or international level, and ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes;
• Underscoring the need to reach, as soon as possible, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in line with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations;
• Reaffirming that no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal;
• Demanding that the Russian Federation withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized border;
• Calling for a cessation of hostilities.

Time for Russia to End the Continuing War Against Ukraine
InDepthNews, February 23

"Russia should end its invasion of Ukraine, withdraw its troops from Ukrainian territory and enter into negotiations with Ukraine to resolve historical disputes and establish a lasting and just peace that guarantees the security of both nations," says the World Future Council in an article Time for Russia to End Continuing War Against Ukraine published in InDepthNews yesterday.

“Regardless of any grievances and unresolved conflicts that Russia may have with Ukraine and the United States/NATO, the use of force to resolve such conflicts is prohibited under Article 2 of the UN Charter,” says Alyn Ware, Director of the World Future Council Peace and Disarmament program.

"War has no place in the 21st century when humanity already needs to address so many pressing issues such as climate change and implementing the Sustainable Development Goals” says Angelina Davydova, in the InDepthNews article. Ms Davydova is a Member of the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group and Council Member of World Future Council.

“We regret that better use is not made of diplomacy, mediation and Common Security mechanisms earlier in conflicts to address and resolve historical grievances." says international lawyer Neshan Gunasekera, Co-Chair of the World Future Council Peace and Disarmament Commission and a Director of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms. “We call on the United Nations and the international community to make better use of these common security mechanisms to address unresolved conflicts and prevent war." 

Such Common Security mechanisms include the UN Security Council, UN General Assembly, International Court of Justice, UN mediation services, UN Human Rights Council, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and others.

Calling for urgent action to protect children from escalating heatwaves ahead of COP27

Our new report, The Coldest Year Of The Rest Of Their Lives: Protecting Children From The Escalating Impacts Of Heatwaves, warns that urgent action is needed to increase funding for adaptation to protect children and vulnerable communities from worsening heatwaves and other climate shocks. The report can be found here.

Released ahead of COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, the report finds that 559 million children are currently exposed to high heatwave frequency (defined as an average of 4.5 or more heatwaves per year). Further, 624 million children are exposed to one of three other high heat measures - high heatwave duration, high heatwave severity, or extremely high temperatures.

“The mercury is rising and so are the impacts on children,” said ED Cathy Russell.

Following up on 2021’s, Introducing the Children’s Climate Risk Index, our new study focuses on one specific hazard – heat. It was developed in collaboration with partners including the Data Collaborative for Children and aims to help us better understand children’s exposure to the impacts of climate change to help prioritize action for those most at risk and ultimately ensure today's children inherit a livable planet.

 

World Day of Prayer and Action for Children

The World Day of Prayer and Action for Children is celebrated every year on November 20, the same day as the anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and World Children’s Day.

Arigatou International launched the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children in 2008 to make this an opportunity for people of different religions and cultures to come together to pray and meditate, but also to take action for children’s rights and well-being.

This year also, organizations working for children’s rights and well-being have joined Arigatou International and UNICEF to celebrate the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children and the Wear My Shoes Campaign.
 
The Wear My Shoes Campaign aims to mobilize children and adults - including religious leaders, policymakers, parents/caregivers, and educators - to protect Children’s dignity.

Visit our landing page for more information. 

Please click HERE to register for the event.

From Unicef