Birth of Canadian Culture of Peace Program
an article by David Adams

I was fortunate to be present at an historic event in Hamilton, Ontario, on November 23, 2004, when the Canadian Culture of Peace Program (CCOPP) was launched. This came as the culmination of 9 days of intensive peace conferencing under the leadership of Robert Stewart who has been very active in recent years in the organization of peace education conferences in Canada (See CPNN report of November 29, 2003). Stewart's website, www.peace.ca is a great source of information.

The organizational effort to build CCOP is impressive. A core group of 5 people, including Douglas Roche, retired Senator and distinguished diplomat as Senior Advisor, is developing a vision statement, strategic plan, and timeline to support the fledging effort. The effort includes coordination with peace stakeholders including the University of Alberta Peace Education Program and the United Nations. CCOP has committed to contribute to the World Report on the Culture of Peace to be presented to the United Nations in June 2005. The report will inform the General Assembly debate in the fall of 2005 at the halfway mark of the 2001-2010 International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World. Other planned activities include support of governmental peace and non-violence initiatives, recruiting peace activists, continuing educational activities and regional peace conferences.

With the launch of CCOPP the concept of a world network of national culture of peace programs, first envisioned by the United Nations in the 1990s, has come one step closer to reality.

A listserve has been established for those who wish to take part in developing the program, the CPIdiscussion group.

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National Culture of Peace Programs
What are their potentials and pitfalls?

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GLOBAL MOVEMENT FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE

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The first national culture of peace programmes were those supported by the UNESCO Culture of Peace Programme, for which I was the initial consultant in 1992.  In 1993-94 we launched national programmes in El Salvador and Mozambique.  And later, less ambitious programmes were begun in Burundi and Nicaragua and there was a related programme in the Philippines.  Although it was not called a national culture of peace programme, the Peace Process in South Africa at that time corresponded to all of its principles.  There are a number of sources of information on these programmes, available at my website, http://www.culture-of-peace.info.  See the section "Toward a Global Culture of Peace" and the documents on history and the monograph.. . ...more.

This report was posted on December 19, 2004. The moderator is Tony.

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