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Since our humble beginning in 1960, one of our major roles is to monitor war and peace issues both in Canada and abroad. Below you will find the latest letters sent to our Canadian government with the responses we have received. In addition, VOW partners with women's peace groups around the world and together we make statements that are presented to the United Nations.
Statements & Endorsements
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JULY 25, 2009
STATEMENT OF THE CANADIAN VOICE OF WOMEN FOR PEACE
Canadian Voice of Women for Peace is a Canada-wide Non Governmental Organization that works for peace and justice in Canada and the world.
We are here to add our voice to that of the international community demanding immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, including journalists, students, and civil society activists arrested in the protests following the disputed results of the Iranian June 12th election.
The Iranian government´s brutal response to these protests is a direct assault on the Iranian people´s human and civil rights and those of everyone who supports these ideals around the world.
Our expression of solidarity with the democratic movement of Iranians does not mean support for foreign acts of intervention. We firmly hold that the political fate of Iran must be determined by Iranians and their civil and political rights.
We condemn all those who attempt to advance their own military and corporate interests by exploiting the current turbulent political situation of Iran.
Canadian Voice of Women for Peace provides a means for its members to cooperate with women throughout the world to create the mutual respect and understanding necessary for the peaceful resolution of international conflict. We urge our government to ensure that resolution of this crisis involve women peacemakers in accordance with its obligations under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.
As women, we support the full involvement of women in this powerful nonviolent struggle for democracy. We mourn the death of Neda Aghasoltan who was killed while peacefully standing up for her rights, and for the rights of all Iranians. We call for the immediate release of Shadi Sadr, a women lawyer and activist, arrested one week ago.
We stand in solidarity with our sisters in Iran in their struggle for peace, human rights and justice.
Toronto. 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM. Queen’s Park, north side.
Montreal. 1:30-4:30 PM. St. Catherine intersection, Atwater across AMC Theater.
Calgary. 12 Noon Rally. City Hall.
Halifax. 5:00 PM. Main Entrance, Public Gardens.
Victoria, 6:00 – 8:00 PM. Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, front lawns. Green Human Chain (please wear green).
Vancouver. 12:00 – 3:00 PM. Vancouver Art Gallery, north side (W. Georgia, between Hornby and Howe).
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26 October 2009
Janis Alton, Past Chair on behalf of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace
Thank you for this opportunity to contribute to your examination of aspects of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and the related resolution 1820. You have particularly asked for comment regarding Canada’s role in strengthening human rights mechanisms, including equality between women and men, in conflict affected areas. On behalf of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, I can offer some comments to your focus on:
1. Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325
2. Participation in relevant UN conflict resolution and peace building mechanisms
3. And departmental programs and initiatives.
I am drawing from our volunteer women’s organization long-standing activism, since its founding in 1960. At our inception, we called for an end to war, not how to make war safe for women, and for women’s rightful inclusion in decision-making at all levels on matters related to peace and security. We still do. Our pioneering activism focused on the abolition of nuclear weapons. Sadly, this continues. As we near our 50th anniversary, our record includes a host of educational and advocacy efforts to address the folly of the military system and the rutted, undemocratic pattern of exclusion of women’s voices from the foreign policy arena. As our understanding of the interconnectedness of issues grew, so did our outreach. When UNESCO coined the phrase, “culture of peace” not so long ago, we had an “Aha!” moment. recognizing in its description a compact way of expressing what we had come to be about with a plethora of activities - from coast to coast & internationally. For example, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, since the 70’s has been an affiliate of the United Nations through the Department of Public Information and, since 1996, with the Economic and Social Council. We have actively used this linkage lobbying extensively at multiple UN Missions for demilitarization in New York, Geneva and Vienna, and at NATO headquarters and that of the Warsaw Pact, among others.
We were very active in the civil society run-up, and adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325.We continue our deep interest in its implementation, and are especially encouraged by the strong language of the preamble which recognizes the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace-building. It stresses the importance of women’s equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and the need to increase women’s role in decision-making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution. Music to our ears!
We thank you for this Senate initiate to prod the implementation of this historic resolution. If even Article 1 were fully implemented, (which calls upon member states to increase representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutional mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict) , this would contribute to the deterrence of rape. Women’s heightened visibility in this area will help build respect for women, help men to stop treating women like trash.
Canada deserves praise for its continuing leadership of the UN-based Friends of 1325, a small but growing number of states seeking ways to promote women and gender sensitivity within the UN system, and its conflict management processes but …. where is the sustained leadership at home? Where is our own national plan of action?
We also applaud Canada’s long standing financial support of the International Women’s Tribune Centre and specifically its international Working Group on Women, Peace and Security. But where is the sustained, adequate financial program of support at home for NGO coalitions such as PeaceBuild (of which Canadian Voice of Women for Peace is a part.) trying to educate and advocate for women’s right to participate? We strongly recommend that equality and peace building NGOs be given sustained and adequate funding to help move along towards women’s equal representation in all aspects of peace building from prevention to conflict resolution. Currently, Canada plans to commit a massive 490 billion to military spending over the next 20 years, continuing to drive the prevailing culture of war.
We ask you to consider whether the adoption of equality practice in all aspects of decision-making related to peace and security and at all levels should be voluntary?
We need women who are peacemakers, who support gender equality, sustainable development, justice, all human rights for all people. There are plenty of creative, progressive voices. It is a moral obligation to move at a faster rate.
Canada should continue to support the presence of progressive women at the decision-making tables for resolution to the conflicts in Afghanistan.
[NOTE: UN SC res. 1325 is international law. Along with Cora Weiss, (NY) President of the Hague Appeal for Peace, we concur that it is time to use it in a court case. If a table is set for a peace agreement and only men are seated, women’s organizations should take them to court and use 1325 in their brief.]
[Story- When women in Northern Ireland went to see George Mitchell, who was chairing the Good Friday Agreement to bring peace to the many years of the Troubles, he told them that to be seated and eligible they would have to represent a political party. So they went out and formed the Women’s Party and got 2 seats at the table. Their presence made a sustained difference. They insisted on institutionalizing human rights in the Agreement.]
We would go further. We have already recommended to personnel within the UN Peacekeeping Unit that peace education be integral to every peace agreement. It could include rewriting text books, holding encounter sessions with educators from all “sides”, having student exchanges and other creative ways to reduce hatred and build reconciliation. Teaching 1325 and 1820 would make a difference.
We recommend that all troop contributing countries sending peacekeepers to zones of violence be trained and TESTED in 1325 and 1820. Sexual abuse by peacekeepers is not uncommon. There are about 120,000 personnel including peacekeepers from 117 countries on 18 UN-led operations on 4 continents directly impacting the lives of millions of people, half of whom are women.
We recommend that not only the military but [Canadian] advisors and negotiators be sensitized to gender issues in conflict to appreciate the importance of implementing 1325and 1820. Other stakeholders in a conflict zone such as police and government personnel should be similarly educated. The specific requirements of girls and women must be addressed. In Canada, the Manley Report supports these demands for Afghanistan.
Canada must encourage the development and reinforcement of women in the role of the judiciary and in government in states recovering from conflict.
We recommend that Canada, and other states provide dedicated funding to these approaches, including general capacity-building for women and girls. .
Ideally, within Canada and elsewhere, every single piece of legislation, every resolution should be screened by legislators at all levels of governance to ask how does this affect women? Are women including in the vetting of the resolution, in the implementation of it?
We recommend that systematic consultations be undertaken by the Department of Foreign Affairs with relevant NGOs begin. The last of these informal consultations was in 2006.
We recommend revival of the specific consultative process implemented in Canada following the adoption of SC res. 1325 which brought together relevant NGOs, civil servants, M.P.s and Senators under joint Senate and MP leadership. This practice of new diplomacy was all too brief. It fizzled for lack of governmental financial support.
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13 January 2009 - VOW Press Release
The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW), a non-partisan NGO comprised of women from across Canada and around the world, call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. VOW urges all involved parties in the region to come to the peace table without delay.
“Recognizing that the present violence in the region arises from a deep-rooted history of violence begetting violence, we are strongly convinced that a peace process is the only solution and that polarizing the conflict gains nothing. At the same time, the extreme humanitarian crisis which exists and is growing in Gaza demands immediate action now,” says Lyn Adamson, VOW member and professional conflict mediator who has helped train members of a nonviolent civilian peaceforce in Gaza.
An online petition has been released to encourage all concerned Canadians to sign onto the VOW Peace Call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to polarization of the conflict. Click here for the petition.
VOW is calling on the Canadian government to strongly support ongoing demands for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and to use its diplomatic influence to call on all parties to respect humanitarian law, human rights, and the Geneva Conventions. “We especially urge the Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs officials to encourage the new Obama administration to use its influence to bring a lasting peace to the Middle East, and to assist in any diplomatic way possible in furthering nonviolence, peacebuilding, and humanitarian approaches in the region,” states Dr. Janet M Eaton, VOW Co-Chair, academic and researcher.
VOW reminds the Canadian government and the UN Security Council to ensure that women, who promote peace, from all parties involved in the Gaza crisis, are at the decision-making table in accordance with Article 1 of Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (2000) which “Urges member states to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict.”
“We further urge the international community, and especially the United Nations Security Council, to continue to work toward a ceasefire, and to ensure that combatants on both sides of the conflict respect international humanitarian law, human rights and the Geneva Conventions,” says Janis Alton, VOW Co-Chair.
Established in 1960, the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) is a national Non Governmental Organization (NGO) with membership from across the country and around the world with consultative status with the United Nations Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC). VOW is also one of the NGOs cited by UNESCO’s standing committee in the working group report entitled “The Contribution of Women to the Culture of Peace.”
For further information and to set up interviews with peacebuilding experts, please contact Sandra Ruch, Administrative Coordinator, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, via email or phone 416-603-7915.
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UN RESOLUTION MOVES GENDER EQUITY ARCHITECTURE DISCUSSION INTO GENERAL UNITE NATIONS ASSEMBLY
15 September 2008 - At a final meeting of the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly, member states adopted by consensus a resolution that will officially move forward the gender architecture discussion into the next General Assembly session. This means that states have agreed to take next steps toward strengthening the UN system in relation to gender equality and women’s empowerment. .../more
Endorsed by VOW, this is a monument step towards women's equity for the need to strengthen the United Nations’ institutional mechanisms on gender equality and called for a consolidated women’s entity led by an Under Secretary General and with extensive country presence. READ THE GEAR STATEMENT.
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VOW Statement for the 50th Anniversary Conference and Gala BUILDING PEACE: RESISTING WAR
In 1993 the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a “Warning to Humanity” pointing out that “human beings and the natural world are on a collision course.” At that time, these top scientists were not certain about the predictions of global climate change, but now they would be; we all are. Meanwhile, everything they were certain of – serious water shortages, the fragility of ocean ecosystems, soil depletion and decreasing food production, the irreversible, heartbreaking loss of species – is happening as predicted or even more quickly than predicted.
The Union of Concerned Scientists listed five areas for action,
each “inextricably linked” to the others: - We must bring environmentally damaging activities under control to restore and protect the integrity of the earth's systems we depend on, making special mention of the need to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and develop smaller scale, renewable energy sources matched to Third World needs.
- We must manage resources crucial to human welfare more effectively.
- We must stabilize population. This will be possible only if all nations recognize that it requires improved social and economic conditions, and the adoption of effective, voluntary family planning.
- We must reduce and eventually eliminate poverty.
- We must ensure sexual equality, and guarantee women control over their own reproductive decisions.
The declaration went on to point out: “Success in this global
endeavor will require a great reduction in violence and war. Resources
now devoted to the preparation and conduct of war – amounting to
over $1 trillion annually – will be badly needed in the new tasks and
should be diverted to the new challenges.” Obviously, in the nearly two decades since this warning was issued,
humanity has made little progress towards these goals, despite the
dedicated efforts of millions, even billions of groups and individuals
around the world. For instance, by now, the US alone is already
spending close to or more than $1 trillion on “defence” each year.
Canada's military expenditures amount to $58 million every day.
The huge disparity between unimaginable riches and dire poverty not
only still exists, it is increasing, with only 20% of the world's people
consuming over 80% of its resources. The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace is part of a global
grassroots movement that refuses to give up in the face of this terrible
situation. We know the “diagnosis” is frightening, the prognosis not
hopeful. We realize that in the face of our current situation, denial is
tempting, not just for the individual who faces a dire illness but for
humanity as a whole. We also know that sometimes, especially when
there is great love and strength of will, some patients can heal, despite
all odds. There is so much we love in life, in this earth we share with all
kinds of other creatures. We must carry on, as Adrienne Rich put it,
“perversely, with no extraordinary power,” seeking to “reconstitute the world”.
We ask our fellow citizens: if you were gravely ill, how would you
want to act? Would you not hope to have the courage to move beyond
denial, so that what time you had to spend with those you loved most
would be real, rather than a charade of “nice” appearances? Would you
not want to change your way of life, to do what you could to bring
about healing? Thus, we ask you, our fellow citizens: Please, let's use the resources
we have to make the lifestyle changes that will give us and our planet a
chance for a healthy future. For instance, let's not squander our wealth
on fighter jets that we supposedly need for defence from “threats”
such as the recent Russian flight exercises, a claim columnist Jeffrey
Simpson described as “side–splittingly funny.” With the money we
would need to spend on those F–35s, we could pay for a whole host of
useful programs, including programs to fight poverty, invest in food
security, improve health care and fight climate change. When we are in denial we can end up making ridiculous decisions,
such as deciding to use gas–guzzling fighter jets to “defend our air
space” when we really need to defend our air from ever increasing
concentrations of greenhouse gases. Of course, it is not just one
decision about fighter jets that must be changed, but this current
example is highly symbolic of the overall change in direction we need.
As Dr. Dale Dewar, executive director of Physicians for Global Survival
and a member of the board of VOW, has stated, “War's utter waste of
human resource – lives, intelligence, time and money – devoted to
childish ‘games’ will eventually end – or the human race ends.” Once we move beyond denial, we can take the kinds of risks that
may bring healing. Do we have the courage to open our eyes to the
reality of what war and militarism are doing to us and all life on earth?
We must face the fact that there is no failproof path to “security.”
Neither military force nor the power of nonviolence can protect us from
all harm. But investing in military force causes crushing harm to people
and our earth whereas learning to use the tools of nonviolence can help
us grow as human beings, and offers real hope for a livable future. Systems thinker and author Joanna Macy once pointed out that we
have “no guarantee that this tremendous shift [in values and lifestyle,
“The Great Turning”] will kick in before our life support systems
unravel irretrievably.” But this uncertainty could “draw forth our greatest
courage and creativity.... From our own life experience, we know
there's never a guarantee – whether we're falling in love, or going into
labor to birth a baby, or devoting ourselves to a piece of land, turning
the soil and watching for rain. We don't ask for proof that we'll succeed
and that everything will turn out as we want. We just go ahead,
because life wants to live through us!... Our time to come alive is right
now, on this edge of possibility.” Jan Slakov
The Delegitimization of War BACKGROUND
The burden of the resort to war is now borne by all of humanity; the inability
of the international community to accomplish nuclear disarmament; the rise of
the doctrine of pre-emptive self-defence; the threat of imperial ambitions;
the escalating disregard of the rule of international law; the contradiction
between state sanctioned resort to war as a way of solving international
disputes and the universality of human rights; the appalling gap between
monies devoted to military "security" and other sectors devoted to non-military
human security and, the historically unprecedented human and environmental
costs of war which raged in the last century and sadly, continues. All of these
matters, and more, starkly condemn war as grossly immoral, perverse and
risking omnicide. Canadian Voice of Women for Peace demand that war like
slavery, colonialism and apartheid, be consigned to the scrap heap of history
by its delegitimization, domestically and internationally.
RESOLUTION: THE DELEGITIMIZATION OF WAR Canadian Voice of Women for Peace calls for: - the delegitimization of inter-state war;
- the government of Canada to take the necessary steps to embed this policy into national infrastructure and practice as soon as possible within this Decade of a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World (2000-2010);
- the government of Canada to seek changes within the international system, including the United Nations system, to fully support this policy.
Submitted for re-affirmation* by Janis Alton. Seconded by Janet Eaton.
For VOW General Meeting, Halifax, 1 November, 2008
* Originally adopted in 2004.
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ABOLITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND PHASING OUT NUCLEAR ENERGY Statement by Canadian Voice of Women for Peace for distribution in New York at the meetings of the CSD 17 and the NPT Prep Com from the 4-15 May 2009. RECOGNISING that these two crucial meetings coincide and provide the opportunity again to highlight the interdependence of the fundamental issues addressed by the two meetings; RECALLING the Nobel Laureate Declaration, signed by thirty-five Nobel Laureates. This Declaration, prepared for UNCED by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and the Whistler Foundation for Environmental Sustainability calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the phasing out of nuclear energy; CONSCIOUS of the inextricable link between nuclear energy and the development of nuclear weapons; CONCERNED about the known and yet-to-be-known serious health, environmental, social and psychological impacts of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy; ALARMED about the continued failure to abolish nuclear weapons and the dire consequences of the threat or use of nuclear weapons; REAFFIRMING the 1996 decision of the International Court of Justice that the threat or the use of nuclear weapons is contrary to international humanitarian law; REAFFIRMING that each of the parties to the NPT undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control; REAFFIRMING also the precautionary principle which reads where there is an irreversible threat of destruction to the environment, to biodiversity, to climate, the lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason to postpone measures to prevent the threat (paraphrase of the principles enunciated in the Rio Declaration, Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Framework Convention on Climate Change;) the application of the precautionary principle is vital in all issues facing both the CSD and the NPT; SEE OTHER SIDE PAGE 2 CONCERNED that Article IV of the NPT enshrines the inalienable right of all parties to the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes; CONCERNED about nuclear energy being presented as a safe and clean alternative, and as a solution to climate change when it is neither safe nor clean for the following reasons: - undermines climate protection by wasting time and taking resources away from more effective, clean and safe solutions - results in the dumping of this expensive and unsafe technology throughout the world - decreases global security as volumes of nuclear waste with no safe method of disposal increase massively and materials and technologies are spread;
ACKNOWLEDGING the long-term implications of the overconsumptive model of development , and the failure to adequately conserve energy and resources;
AWARE of alternative safe source of medical isotopes;
WE CALL FOR:
- ABOLISHING NUCLEAR WEAPONS;
- PHASING OUT OF NUCLEAR ENERGY;
- REMOVING THE PROVISION FOR “PEACEFUL” USE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY FROM ARTICLE IV OF THE NPT;
- REPLACING OF ARTICLE 1V OF THE NPT WITH PROVISIONS FOR SOCIALLY EQUITABLE AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE AND SOUND RENEWABLE ENERGY;
- LIMITING THE ROLE OF THE IAEA TO THE INSPECTION OF THE NUCLEAR ARSENAL OF ALL STATES, AND TO THE FURTHERING OF THE ABOLITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS;
- BANNING OF THE EXPLORATION, MINNG AND EXPORT OF URANIUM;
- PHASING OUT OF THE USE OF NUCLEAR REACTORS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MEDICAL ISOTOPES;
- INSITUTING A FAIR AND JUST TRANSITION PROGRAMME FOR WORKERS, INCLUDING SCIENTISTS, AFFECTED BY THE ABOLITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND BY THE PHASING OUT OF NUCLEAR ENERGY;
- GUARANTEEING OF THE RIGHTS OF FUTURE GENERATIONS TO A WORLD FREE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND OF NUCLEAR ENERGY.
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The board of Conscience Canada wishes to endorse efforts by peace
activists in Ottawa towards building a relationship of mutual respect
for the red and white poppy, for all those who have died and suffered in
war, and for all those who participate in Veterans Week and Remembrance
Day events, regardless of the colour of the poppy or poppies they wear.
As we consulted to come up with a statement, we realized that it is
important to recognize that the white poppy tradition continues to be
rooted in deep concern with the "subtext" or assumptions that underlie
mainstream Remembrance Day discourse and events. We would like to
question some of these assumptions. For instance, to what degree do we
owe our freedoms to people dying and killing for us? We encourage
people to wear both a red and a white poppy, the red to symbolize our
respect for the great sacrifices made by many in the armed forces, the
white to rededicate ourselves to create a true culture of peace and to
remember others caught up in war, including those who have struggled
nonviolently for a better world, helping humankind to see and embody
the best of what is meant by the word "humanity". There is the ancient
maxim: "If you want peace, prepare for war"; we are convinced that "if
you want peace, prepare for peace and work for justice."
We recognize the value of much of the work done with monies collected
through the red poppy campaign and do not wish to compete with the
Legion's fundraising efforts. We applaud the fact that, in Canada
especially, white poppies are often homemade, often with recycled
materials, and we discourage the selling of white poppies. If money is
donated as part of any white poppy campaigns, we feel those collecting
the money are honour-bound to put any money not needed for modest
expenses associated with the campaign towards community and
peace-building efforts, especially those which help alleviate the
suffering of war.
We also recognize that the way we commemorate Veterans Week and
Remembrance Day has a real cultural effect. We wish to contribute to
building a culture of peace and feel strongly that the white poppy
tradition is a part of that culture, one we wish to foster.
It should be remembered that, for some people, Remembrance Day has
become more meaningful because of the white poppy tradition. Rather than
seeing the white poppy campaign as detracting from the red poppy
campaign, we see it as promoting remembrance, reflection and dialogue -
something which will surely encourage more Canadians to become engaged
in efforts to promote peace at home and abroad.
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For interviews with peace experts, please contact:
Sandra Ruch
Admin. Coordinator
Email: info@vowpeace.org
Phone: 416-603-7915
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