Peace

Eyes on Darfur

- Adam Clare

Amnesty International has started a new campaign that aims to bring the world’s eyes onto the crisis in Darfur through a new website Eyes on Darfur. The site offers users the ability to see up to date satellate imagery of what’s going on in the troubled region. This Amnesty Interanatinal project sounds simialr to what Google Earth recently did.

Amnesty International USA’s unprecedented Eyes On Darfur project leverages the power of high-resolution satellite imagery to provide unimpeachable evidence of the atrocities being committed in Darfur – enabling action by private citizens, policy makers and international courts. Eyes On Darfur also breaks new ground in protecting human rights by allowing people around the world to literally “watch over” and protect twelve intact, but highly vulnerable, villages using commercially available satellite imagery.

let’s hope that this will get more people writing their officals to do something about the crisis!

First Global Peace Index Ranks 121 Countries

- Adam Clare

The Economist Intelligence Unit has done its first global peace index and has named Norway as the most peaceful country. Many international figures, like Jimmy Carter and the Dali Lama have supported the survey.
earth.jpg
Some rankings:

2 New Zealand
3 Denmark
25 Australia
40 Ghana
60 China
96 USA
97 Iran

Child soldiers may be reduced in Chad

- sohorobin

This one doesn’t feel like good news but I don’t think I need to say anything here…

Chad’s government has signed a deal with the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) to begin demobilising child soldiers from its national army.

The agreement is a U-turn for the government, which as always denied that it has had under-age fighters.

In a recent Unicef investigation more than 300 child soldiers were discovered in one town alone.

6 Environmental Warriors!

- Vanessa King

earth.jpgThe Goldman Environmental Award is the world’s largest prize honoring grassroots environmentalists, and this years winners were just announced! Check out these 6 amazing people from all over the Globe who have done some really incredible stuff for nature!

North America
Sophia Rabliauskas, 47, Manitoba, Canada: Working on behalf of the Poplar River First Nation, Rabliauskas succeeded in securing interim protection for the boreal forest of Manitoba, effectively preventing destructive logging and hydro-power development while the government and international agencies deliberate on the future of the region.

Africa
Hammerskjoeld Simwinga, 45, Zambia: In an area where rampant illegal wildlife poaching decimated the wild elephant population and left villagers living in extreme poverty, Simwinga created an innovative sustainable community development program that successfully restored wildlife and transformed this poverty-stricken area.

Asia
Tsetsegee Munkhbayar, 40, Mongolia: Munkhbayar successfully worked with government and grassroots organizations to shut down destructive mining operations along Mongolia’s scarce waterways. Through public education and political lobbying, Munkhbayar has effectively protected Mongolia’s precious water resources from additional unregulated mining.

South & Central America
Julio Cusurichi, 36, Peru: In the remote Peruvian Amazon, Cusurichi secured a national reserve to protect both sensitive rain forest ecosystems and the rights of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation from the devastating effects of logging and mining.

Europe
Willie Corduff, 53, Ireland: In the small farming community of Ross Port, Corduff and a group of committed activists and landowners successfully forced Shell Oil to halt construction on an illegally-approved pipeline through their land.

Islands & Island Nations
Orri Vigfússon, 64, Iceland: Vigfússon brokered huge international fishing rights buyouts with governments and corporations in the North Atlantic, effectively stopping destructive commercial salmon fishing in the region.

All winners will be honored as they come together at the San Fransisco Opera House tonight!!

Weapons Make for Neat Looking Furniture

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

peace chair
In Cambodia, some weapons are being turned into furniture. I like this idea of repurposing old machines of death into useful things for everyday use. It’s a great sign of human creativity. Although I do wonder how comfortable that chair is.
Don’t forget that there is always coffee machines made from old weapon casings.

After more than 30 years of civil war, ending in 1998, the Cambodian gouvernment destroyed 125,000 weapons across the country. In this time (name withheld by request), a small arms specialist with the European Union, and British artist (a different name withheld) saw an opportunity, and decided to create The Peace Art Project Cambodia (PAPC) in November 2003. The Peace Art Project Cambodia was a sculpture project turning weapons into art as expressions of peace.

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