Europe

Over 200 protesters from Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Stop the War Coalition gathered outside the Afghanistan Conference in London’s Lancaster House. Campaigners greeted Gordon Brown and the visiting Presidents, Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers with the clear message that majorities in almost all their countries want their troops brought home.

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.

The Congolese journalist, Caddy Adzuba, is in Spain to receive the award granted by ‘El Club de las 25’, a women’s journalists’ association, for her work raising awareness of the conflict in her country and how this violence is affecting women in particular. Despite receiving death threats, she is pressing forward with the project ‘A Loudspeaker for Silence’.

A week has already passed since I left Punta de Vacas. I have arrived in Geneva and am going to leave my bags at home, in the Valais Mountains.
I’d love to sum up this wonderful adventure. The World March already seems like a far-away memory and a chapter has just ended. The experience and facts now belong to the past.

The town hall of Fuenlabrada, south of Madrid, is exhibiting thirteen paintings made by students from several local schools. They are inspired by Pablo Picasso’s famous painting that portrays the horrors of war. This initiative is one of the activities developed by ‘World Without Wars and Without Violence’ during the World March for Peace and Nonviolence.

The UN opened the International Year of Biodiversity in Berlin today. The organisers say that human activity is leading to the increasing loss of an ever greater number of plants and animals. Eight years ago, agreements were made at a UN conference in Johannesburg on reducing the loss of biodiversity. It is clear that this year’s targets will not be met.

The Portuguese parliament has passed a law that legalises same-sex marriage, becoming the sixth country in Europe to do so.

The bill proposed by the Socialist government was backed by other left wing parties and rejected by the centre-right opposition. The law gives gay marriages the same rights as heterosexual marriages, including those on taxes, inheritance and housing.

In 2009 Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented human rights violations against migrant women, men, and children in every region of the world, publishing dozens of materials, including 14 reports. This issue is treated by the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers ratified by 42 countries since the UN adoption on December 18, 1990

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.

Anti-nuclear campaigners from Trident Ploughshares group, London & Oxford Catholic Worker, Campaign Against Arms Trade, World March for Peace and Nonviolence and Kingston Peace Council dressed in white “weapons inspector” overalls and festive hats serenaded employees of nuclear weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin outside the US arms giant’s central London office.