2006 IFOR Annual ReportExerpt from the 2006 annual report. Unfortunately the year 2006 cannot be remembered as a year that brought us even one step closer to a more peaceful world. Violence in Iraq and Afghanistan increased and only showed that the extensive US and NATO led occupation troops were not able to bring any peace or stability. On the contrary, the more or less democratic installed regimes of Iraq and Afghanistan, that initially got the benefit of the doubt, face an increasing lack of credibility. The military approach to fighting terrorism has turned out to be a complete failure and the call in Western countries to withdraw their troops is increasing. This is especially true in the United States where the withdrawal issue was one of the main items in the elections of Congress and in the end led to Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation. In the Middle East the invincible Israeli forces also lost their military campaign against, in their view, the terrorists of Hezbollah. They lost the war and the international public opinion that was confronted with the great losses of the Lebanese people. Like the American war on terror, this campaign only strengthened the ideologies, idols and combating groups it was directed against. Ideology and injustice cannot be overcome by military means. Trying to do so only neglects and denies the root causes of these conflicts and even intensifies them. It should be the task of the peace movement to emphasize this mechanism and to contradict the claim that it was just a matter of tactical mistakes as is the dominant view in especially the Iraq and Lebanon wars. Military approaches not only failed in the so-called wars on terror. In Africa, the African Union has tried to end the genocide in Darfur, and a huge European force was sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo to protect local and international officials involved in the election process. Unfortunately, nothing changed. The violence in Darfur is even destabilizing neighbouring Chad and in DR Congo, and it seems only matter of time that the private armies of the various leaders and many other rebellion forces will start a new civil war. In the 2005 UNDP report it was mentioned that not only the war on terror was detracting the international community’s attention from the various peace and development crises in Africa, but also that the military instrument was considered as being the solution to these crises instead of a comprehensive peace and development approach.
|
These are the challenges the International Fellowship of Reconciliation is facing in these times. To contradict the resolving power of military forces and to present and strengthen the nonviolent capacities to deal with the violence of religious ideological and intolerant fanatics and of regional or even local warfare where religious, cultural and ethnic differences also play an important role. What role can religious communities, women’s groups and other civil actors play, both at a local and international level, to contradict all justifications of violence and build nonviolent capacities to resist and overcome it? In this regard IFOR was very grateful with the World Council of Churches 9th Assembly’s decision to work on a Just Peace document. But also IFOR itself strengthened its own capacities to meet today’s challenges. The regionalization of IFOR’s Women Peacemakers Program has begun and after an intensive assessment the International Committee could decide to establish regional desks for Africa and Asia in Ghana and India. When these regional desks are functioning, it is expected that the WPP can adapt its training and support programs much more to the specific grassroots needs in the region concerned. Unexpectedly between these very demanding assessment activities, the WPP staff had to apply already for the 2009-2010 finances and in it turned out to be a successful application so that the WPP work is secured till 2010. And last, but certainly not least, at its quadrennial Council meeting in Tokyo, IFOR adopted two new branches (in Congo and Nepal), five new groups (in Pakistan, Sudan, Benin, DR Congo and Rwanda) and five new affiliates (in Ireland, Finland, Kenya, Cameroon and one international). Most of these groups are in the regions where the aforementioned ideological and ethnic violence is taking place and within the IFOR fellowship we hope that strong relations can be built to support each other in overcoming these challenges in a nonviolent way. In order to do so, Council also adopted a Four years plan dealing with almost all of the aforementioned challenges and elected a new International Committee that feels really inspired to continue on the road of nonviolence, together with IFOR staff, international working groups and IFOR members. Jan Schaake
|
     |
|
||
To read the full 2006 annual
report in English, 