Press Releases

Agriculture, rural development, reforestation key to greener, more productive future.
A significant increase in national food production, rural employment and reforestation are the keys to a greener, more productive Haiti, said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf during a four-day visit to the country to launch with the government the critical spring planting season.

The UN Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference starts in New York on May 3, 2010. The political juncture has never been as favourable for demanding nuclear disarmament. Vredesactie is calling for the operations of the Kleine Brogel nuclear base to be permanently stopped using non-violent direct action beginning on April 3.

The members of the peace action network, US for OKINAWA, assembled on January 31st to express their concern about the enormous burden that U.S. military bases are placing on Okinawa. Already, U.S. military facilities occupy nearly 20% of Okinawa Island, and even the U.S. and Japanese governments agree that Futenma Air Base should be closed.

Over 50 Italian organisations have demanded the immediate release of Muhaned Abu Awwad, a nonviolence activist and the eldest son of the General Manager of the Palestine association ‘Parents Circle – Families Forum’, who was arrested on January 23 by Israeli armed forces. ‘His arrest falls within the framework of a wider repressive mission’, stated Luisa Morgantini.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai, following his trilateral summit with Turkish president Abdullah Gül and Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari, confirmed in an announcement to the media that he will ask that the *”Taliban names”* be removed from the UN sanctions list during the summit on Afghanistan being held this week in London.

Premieres on CBC’s The Nature of Things – Thursday, January 21, at 8p.m. (8:30 NT) –
Filmmakers Donna Zuckerbrot and Daniel Zuckerbrot, Reel Time Images, produced, directed and wrote this exciting and intriguing documentary called “Bugs, Bones & Botany: The Science of Crime”, that will surprise even faithful viewers of TV’s many forensic programs.

Today, a meeting was held by the Community for Human Development, an international humanist association that undertakes sociocultural activities, which through the new worldwide campaign ‘10,000 volunteers for active nonviolence’, intends to continue the activities initiated during the World March for Peace and Nonviolence.

The humanist organisation ‘Convergence of Cultures’ is carrying out an international campaign for solidarity with Aminatau Haidar, the Western Saharan who has been on hunger strike in defence of the rights of her people. The campaign demands that the authorities concerned comply with both UN resolutions and human rights.

In this note, we reproduce the homage given by members of the international team of the World March for Peace and Non-violence to President Rodrigo Carazo, who died as a result of a heart condition days before being able to welcome the team in his country, Costa Rica. The career of Rodrigo Carazo places him among Latin American Humanist leaders.

Rafael de la Rubia, international spokesman for the World March for peace and non-violence, wanted to celebrate the International Day for Human Rights. He is doing so from El Salvador, where he is currently with the World March Base Team. In a press release, he proposes that the right to peace be considered a human right.