Impact Peace
Did you know…?
- In 2006, worldwide terrorist incidents increased 25 percent to 14,000
- In the 20th century alone, there have been the following number of deaths due to genocide:
- Armenia (1915-1918): 1-1.5 million
- Germany (1933-1944): 6 million
- Cambodia (1975-1979): 1.7 million
- Bosnia (1992-1995): 200,000
- Rwanda (1994): 800,000-1 million
- Darfur (2003-Present): 200,000-400,000
- Among 75% of all women think that they are “too fat” and an astounding 89% wish to “lose weight”
So…what is the problem?
For such a broad topic, let us break it down into three main areas of focus:
War
War - the violent means to an end - has existed since primordial times. And although the motives behind each conflict may vary, they all stem from the basic quest for more power or more control - be it over the possession of land, political influence, or resources. But perhaps even more mortifying than the deaths caused by the wars are the enduring effects the wars have on the lives of their survivors. In fact, recent history has shown that children as young as ten years old are taken away from their families (nearly 80% are separated from kin) and taught how to assemble Ak-47s. Some training programs even go as far as forcing the child to perform brutal acts of violence upon their own family members to successfully harden the child to violence and sever them from society.
Genocide
In 1944, Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin attempted to coin a word to describe the horrific holocaust events of World War II. During the process, he combined the Latin term for race - “geno”, with the Latin term for killing - “cide”; resulting in the existence of the phrase “genocide”.
“Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
a) Killing members of the group;
b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
-United Nations’ Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1951)
Inner Peace
In magazines, on television, in virtually every form of media today, advertising agencies captivate audiences with their images of the ideal body and beauty and deceive them with products designed to improve looks and bring customers closer to society’s accepted standard of beauty. Although all people can be ensnared, the teenage population has been shown the most susceptible. This sense of insecurity can then lead to depression, eating disorders, and lack of self-esteem - all symptoms that take a toll on one’s mental and physical health.
The World’s Response
The Ten Recommendations by GraçaMachel (1996)
Peace and security
The needs of children and women must be at the heart of all actions to resolve conflicts and implement peace agreements, including those mandated by the United Nations Security Council, the General Assembly or the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Peace-keepers have a vital role to play in promoting children's rights.
Monitoring and reporting violations of child rights
Children in armed conflict situations must be treated as a distinct and priority concern in all monitoring and reporting activities by UN field personnel and any other responsible organizations which may be involved.
Health, psychosocial well-being and education
These should be the pillars of all humanitarian assistance for children in emergencies. Psychosocial well-being can best be ensured through community rather than institutional approaches. Education lies at the centre of a viable community, so maintenance of schooling during emergencies is an indispensable imperative.
Adolescents
Their educational, training and health care needs should be given priority attention to assist their well-being and to discourage their participation in armed conflict, trafficking, prostitution and drug abuse. This cannot be achieved without the participation of youth in their own personal and community development. Child-headed households urgently need protection and care.
Gender-based violence
Whether committed by a soldier or an official, whether as a matter of public policy or individual behavior, all incidents of wartime rape and other sexual torture must be prosecuted as war crimes. Military and peace-keeping troops and personnel of all humanitarian agencies must have special training on their responsibilities to children and women.
Internally displaced children
In each emergency, a lead organization should be assigned overall responsibility for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons. In collaboration with that lead organization, UNICEF should provide leadership for the protection and assistance of internally displaced and unaccompanied children, with particular reference to preventing family separation and promoting family tracing.
Child soldiers
A global campaign should be launched to stop the recruitment of children under age 18 into armed forces and to ensure that governments and opposition forces demobilize all such children immediately and incorporate their needs into peace agreements and demobilization programs. The first such step should be to speedily conclude, adopt and adhere to the draft Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child raising the age of recruitment and participation in armed forces to 18 years.
Land-mines
The report supports the international campaign for a complete ban on the use, production, trade and stockpiling of land-mines; programmes to instruct children in mine-contaminated areas about the dangers of mines; child-centred rehabilitation programmes and land-mine clearance with contributions required from countries and companies profiting from land-mine sales.
Prevention
The international community should closely monitor arms transfers and impose a total ban on arms shipments to conflict zones. Governments and civil society, with support from donors and development agencies, must address the root socio-economic causes of conflict and support the social infrastructure that protects children.
Special Representative
A Special Representative of the Secretary-General should be named to monitor implementation of this report and ensure that issues of children and war are kept high on international human rights, peace, security and development agendas.”
Now it’s your turn…TAKE ACTION!
Hold a Film Screening to Raise Awareness About Genocide
Organize a film screening at your community center and a discussion afterwards to explore the causes and negative effects of genocide. Suggested films that discuss genocide are Hotel Rwanda, The Pianist, or One April Morning.
Join the Empower-a-Girl Program Today! Start a sister team in your local school!
Through our extensive networking, GHG will help facilitate communications between you and your sister team (we always try to pair a domestic team from the U.S with one of our overseas teams).
Receiving letters, pictures, and small handicrafts from one another is just one of the numerous benefits from this unique relationship-you will also learn about global issues and perform social change projects to promote peace.
Raise Awareness about Human Rights
Hold an information seminar at your school or elsewhere in your community to share what you have learned about global gender equality with your peers.
Organize a Self-Esteem Summit for Younger Girls
It has been repeatedly reported that girls are more influenced by and thus more vulnerable to cultural standards of ideal body images than boys are. Gather a team and organize workshops featuring community women leaders about peer pressure, body image, self-esteem, and real beauty
Possible Activity: “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…”
Pair up the participants and give each pair a handheld mirror big enough to view the entire face. If possible, let the participants pair up themselves as the activity might require trust from both sides.
One partner will hold the mirror and observe her reflection while the other partner will observe the mirror-holder’s face for one minute. (This might bring forth a burst of giggles, but it’s all good fun ☺)
After the one minute is up, both partners will face away from each other and try to either draw or notate specific qualities about the observed face ( 10 minutes)
The on facing the mirror holder should think of things like - the color of her eyes (do not be bland and state “brown”, go deeper and ask yourself what they remind you of), something unique about her face that sets her apart and brings a smile to your face. Make sure your depiction is as detailed as possible!
For the mirror holder, this step might be a bit awkward at first but it’s okay to be honest! What is a feature (s) that you like about yourself? Is there something special on your face with a story behind it? For example, a small scar on your chin from a childhood fall? A piercing? Also try drawing out your own face as meticulously as possible during this time period!
Switch roles and repeat!
Afterwards, let each pair compare their observations! What were some things they both noticed? Did the observer note more things than the mirror-holder? What were the differences between the observations?
I WANT TO TAKE ACTION TO PROMOTE PEACE!
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