CULTIVATING JUST PEACE

KAIROS campaign challenges the war on terror's vision of security

By Karen Van Loon
February/March 2004

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What are the signs of the times in which we live? September 11. The War on Terror. The war in Iraq. Anti-Terrorism Bill C-36. Increased border security. Colour-coded security alerts. Ballistic Missile Defence.

North Americans have begun to experience some of the violence, uncertainty, fear and anxiety that are everyday fare for many around the world. It is tempting to follow the view that security is found in increased military might, that protecting ourselves justifies sacrificing basic human rights and freedoms, that governments should use violence and discrimination to make us feel safer.

Human rights and global agreements promoting true security and peaceful resolutions to conflicts are under threat. Boosting military might requires resources at the expense of the Earth and the poor. The gap widens between rich and poor, powerful and powerless. The War on Terror has eroded true peace and security rather than enhanced it. How are we called as Christians to respond? What is our vision for a just peace?

The prophet Micah (4:3-4) inspires us today with his daring vision of peace in response to the violence, uncertainty and repression of his time: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid." Peace means living free of want and free of fear. In Matthew 25, the Reign of God is given to those who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned. What we do to the "least of these," we do to God.

How can we work towards making this vision of just peace and true security a reality in our world? For more than 30 years, the Canadian Churches have been strong advocates in this work, forming for this purpose Project Ploughshares and the interchurch coalitions that came together as KAIROS in 2001. KAIROS tries to discern the signs of the times and respond with education and action campaigns. The 2003-2004 focus is Cultivating Just Peace.

Manifesto 2000

As a first campaign action, we are invited to sign Manifesto 2000, a statement of individual and community commitment to peace. Manifesto 2000 translates the human rights resolutions of the United Nations into everyday language. Drafted by 18 Nobel Peace Prize laureates and already signed by millions of people, Manifesto 2000 reminds us that global action for a "just peace" begins at home and in our community. You can sign onto Manifesto 2000 online only, at www3.unesco.org/manifesto2000.

While individuals sign the Manifesto, real change requires that our personal actions be matched by our government's commitment to uphold human rights and focus financial resources and policies on human and ecological needs rather than on military responses. KAIROS' Agenda for Just Peace action card calls on Canada to respect human rights, nurture social security, control arms exports, increase aid and cancel the debt.

Respect Human Rights

Canada supports human rights in principle, but in practice picks and chooses those rights it will honour and those it will dismiss as being non-obligatory or even unrealistic. Canada strongly supports free trade agreements whose rules threaten such basic human rights as health including affordable medical care, food security and labour rights.

The Agenda for Just Peace calls on Canada to ensure that the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its corresponding covenants are indivisible, universal, legally enforceable and have priority over trade and investment agreements. When trade and investment agreements do not ensure the primacy of human rights, Canada should stop negotiations.

The rights of Aboriginal peoples are recognized in international and Canadian law, but Canada has yet to commit to the new relationship based on "mutual recognition, respect, responsibility and sharing" as called for in the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Canada should implement Aboriginal, treaty and inherent rights, and work with Aboriginal peoples to advance the UN draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Nurture Social Security

What is our present social security situation? One in six Canadian children live in poverty-a 21% increase since 1989 when Parliament pledged to eliminate child poverty by 2000. Social security also depends on safe air, water and food, and a stable climate. Fear of job loss in the oil and gas sector is hindering progress on Canada's response to climate change. Canada's new Anti-Terrorism Bill C-36 compromises civil liberties, provides police with increased powers of surveillance and allows for preventive detention. The Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States forces refugees who come to Canada via the U.S. to return to the U.S. where they are far more likely to be deported or detained.

The Agenda for Just Peace advocates that Canada re-orient security spending towards social security, equitable economic development, environmental protection and protection of civil liberties. Canada should increase the national child benefit and spending on affordable housing. Reducing energy usage and increasing our renewable energy supply would help Canada meet its commitments to reduce greenhouse gases contributing to climate change. Canada should review Anti-Terrorism Bill C-36 and withdraw all those provisions of the bill which compromise civil liberties and are not essential for protection of security. The Safe Third Country Agreement should be cancelled.

Control Arms Exports

The arms trade is not subject to any international treaty. Canada exported between $1.5 and $2 billion in arms in 2001, making it among the 10 largest global arms suppliers. Canadian military goods are shipped regularly to countries whose governments violate human rights. As examples, in 2001, Canada shipped military goods worth $280,000 to the Philippines and $2.2 million to Colombia.

The Agenda for Just Peace calls on the Canadian government to place additional national controls on arms exports to stop shipments to countries that abuse human rights. As well, Canada should actively promote the development of an International Arms Trade Treaty to prevent arms transfers to governments that show a pattern of persistent human rights violations. This treaty is the main goal of the international Control Arms campaign launched by three global organizations-Oxfam International, Amnesty International and the International Action Network on Small Arms, which includes Canadian co-founder Project Ploughshares. On December 10, 2003, International Human Rights Day, the political leaders of Brazil and six other nations pledged their support for an International Arms Trade Treaty.

Increase Aid

Over the next five years, the Canadian government will increase Official Development Assistance spending. However, these increases will not make up for the deep cuts sustained during the 1990s. With current annual spending increases of 8%, it will take until 2040 for aid to reach Canada's UN commitment of 0.7% GNP, originally promised by 2015.

The Agenda for Just Peace calls on Canada to increase Official Development Assistance to 0.7% of GNP within the next five years. Canada should not attach conditions to aid but respect the right of peoples to determine their own development goals according to local needs.

Cancel the Debt

Canada has set a global precedent by ceasing to collect debt payments from a number of highly indebted poor countries in 2000. Unfortunately, the impact of this bilateral debt cancellation gesture on poor countries has been minimal. The World Bank, the IMF and regional development banks continue to refuse to cancel multilateral debts. In spite of various debt relief measures, the total debt of the 41 countries eligible for debt cancellation has increased from US$205 billion to $215 billion between 1996 and 2001.

Canada also refuses to act on illegitimate debt, a justice issue affecting many developing countries. Illegitimate debt includes debt that strengthened dictatorships or regimes such as Apartheid, debt for projects never built, and debt that cannot be repaid without causing harm to people in the indebted country.

Canada continues to accept the attachment of structural adjustment conditions to global debt relief. These conditions include privatising public services; removing labour regulations; cutting taxes and government social spending, including spending on health, the environment and education. Intended to attract foreign investment, these conditions end up exacerbating disparities in many poor countries.

The Agenda for Just Peace calls for the immediate and unconditional cancellation of 100% of the bilateral and multilateral debts of all low-income countries, the rejection of structural adjustment conditions, and the cancellation of the illegitimate debt of all developing countries. Canada should call on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to use their gold reserves and loan loss reserves to cancel the debts of all low-income countries. Canada should also help establish an International Debt Tribunal to assess and cancel the illegitimate debts of developing nations.

Putting our faith into action

We can each look at how we might cultivate just peace in our daily lives and our communities. By signing the attached Agenda for Just Peace card we can let our government know that we would like more concrete steps taken towards building peace based on justice in Canada and our world. Beyond this campaign we are called to continue on a lifelong path of solidarity with the "least of these."

It is tempting to see these visions of just peace as unrealistic. Ched Myers, in his book "Who will roll away the stone?", describes the stone in front of Jesus' tomb as standing between the end and the new beginning, and representing "our paralysis whenever we conclude the discipleship journey is a dead end, that Jesus' vision of love and justice is, for all practical purposes, a well-meaning delusion." Trusting in the grace of God, let us continue the work of rolling away the stones that block true peace in our world.

Lay missioner Karen Van Loon coordinates Scarboro's Justice and Peace Office. Special thanks to KAIROS for the material used in production of this article. Please visit the KAIROS web-site to download the Just Peace Action Card and to obtain further resources and background information on this campaign.

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