In the summer of 2014, citizens in Northern Iraq were displaced, especially those of different minorities, and the Yazidis in particular were murdered or enslaved. ISIS now appears to be engaged in, among other things, threatening the Druze community in Syria in a similar manner. Dutch peace organisation PAX brought out a policy brief in which they cite the three conditions for success in the battle against ISIS.
“Don’t deny, don’t blame others, but have a meaningful dialogue with the women of Srebrenica.” PAX is hopeful that a new beginning in the relationship Netherlands – Srebrenica is possible. The organization hopes the minster will come with a new political initiative.
‘You never walk alone’, that song performed by Paul McCartney stays in my mind when thinking about the people affected by the Gaza war. What has happened since the last war between Hamas and the Israeli army has ended? In the Gaza strip as well as in Israel, especially near the border with Gaza, fear and mistrust of each other still have the upper hand. What can PAX do in situations where people are intimidated and where hope seems to have died?
On July 9, South Sudan celebrates its 4th anniversary. Earlier this year Father John Opi Severino paid a visit to the Netherlands and Germany to highlight the situation in South Sudan, a country embroiled in a bitter civil war. On that occasion PAX peace movement and the Council of Churches in the Netherlands handed him a Dove of Peace.
Recently, students at Pace University provided recommendations for PAX on universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) following a semester-long project examining States’ progress in implementing the ban. By Caitlin Boley (Intern at PAX New York Office) The students’ recommendation came right in time for the Intersessional Meetings that were held in Geneva (Switzerland) […]
With ISIS retreating from areas previously under its control in Northern Iraq, a comprehensive peacebuilding strategy must be agreed immediately to ensure the safety of all civilians, including both returning communities and those who remained under ISIS control. After ISIS, a new PAX report based on extensive interviews with internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Ninewa Plain in the Kurdish region of Iraq, lays out the serious security concerns at stake and provides proposals to address them.
More than a hundred member states of the United Nations have stated they want to work to stigmatise, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons by supporting the ‘Humanitarian pledge’. Striking in this is the absence of the Netherlands.
2014 was one of most violent years in recent history. The shocking uprising of ISIS for example has only served to further intensify the war violence in Syria, while minorities in Iraq have become displaced en masse. These and other developments have required strategic agility and great creativity from PAX and its partners. PAX published its Annual Report 2014.
PAX unites with men and women who make their ways to bring peace and justice. Oscar Romero was one of those till he was murdered by his own government, while consecrating mass.
Last Sunday, weeks of demonstrations against the government of Macedonia culminated in a big protest event before the government building in the capital city Skopje. PAX’s Kosovo programme manager Michael Warren saw ‘a vast, energized, and patient crowd of 20-25,000 citizens. Families, students, workers and old folks were waving Macedonian, Albanian, and even Roma, Turkish and Bulgarian flags. A festive atmosphere, and also a hopeful one.’
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