Region

Human rights and youth organizations, among them the Youth Network of Medellín (RJ) and the Foundation for Journalists for Peace (FUPERPAZ), are taking actions to highlight the role played by all of the conscientious objectors to the obligatory military service in Colombia. As such, they are trying to confront the militarization and violence that youth suffer in that country.

(PL) Some 110 candidates for mayor and 55 candidates for congress will withdraw from elections set for next November 29 in Honduras as a protest against the military coup, announced one of the withdrawing candidates today. A candidate for the legislature until today, Alfredo Montalbán explained that the decision was adopted by candidates opposed to last June’s coup d’etat.

Yesterday a delegation of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence reached Torino to be extremely warmly welcomed by 1600 people gathered in the Regio Theatre where an internationally renowned classical concert was held. Earlier in Novara the marchers endorsed a declaration denouncing the intention of the Italian government to buy 131 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

The World March for Peace and Nonviolence made a stop in Geneva on Monday. Geneva Mayor, Rémy Pagani, expressed his support for the march and denounced the current global figure of 1.5 trillion dollars in military spending, as well as Switzerland’s own hypocrisy. Dani Horowitz proclaimed “We cannot justify creating employment at the expense of other people’s lives.”

Silo, the founder of Universalist Humanism and the inspiration behind the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, addressed the 10th Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. His talk, “The Meaning of Peace and Nonviolence in the Present Moment,” spoke to the possibility of constructing a Universal Human Nation founded upon a culture of active nonviolence.

The following is the complete text of Silo’s speech made at the Tenth World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates that took place November 11, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. After an introduction by Irish pacifist and Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Silo spoke as the founder of Universalist Humanism and the inspiration behind the World March for Peace and Nonviolence.

The proposal to include nutrition as a human right in the Federal Constitution of Brazil was passed in the first round by the House of Representatives with an overwhelming majority. This ammendment will be included among social rights already established in the Constitution: health, education, employment, and housing.

After Silo and the participants in the World March for Peace and Nonviolence received from the Nobel Prize winners, in the Berlin Summit, the mission of making widely known the ‘Charter for a World without Violence’, the Chilean organisers of this initiative were received at La Moneda to put up the text in the Patio de los Naranjos.

A novel idea favouring children has become a reality now that the Namibian Ministry of the Interior and Immigration has established an office in the maternity wing of Windhoek’s main public hospital. This initiative, supported by UNICEF, is designed to ensure that every child born in the hospital receives a birth certificate.

Numerous volunteer organizers promoting the World March for Peace and Nonviolence arrived in Berlin from throughout Europe and the world to attend the Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. These World March promoters will participate in an international meeting, November 10 from 5 to 11 pm in beautiful Café-Restaurant *Kalkscheune*, at Johannisstraße 2, the city center of Berlin.