NP in Geneva
Nonviolent Peaceforce at 2nd Ministerial Review Conference of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development
Geneva was the site of a milestone international conference on armed violence from October 31 to November 1. The 2nd Ministerial Review Conference, hosted by the Government of Switzerland and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), brought together Ministers and diplomats from more than 96 signatory countries as well as experts from organizations like the World Bank and the International Red Cross. NP was in attendance with a distinguished crowd of international and national civil society organizations working at the intersection of violence reduction and development.
Official delegations and civil society organizations worked together to assess the progress of signatory countries in the implementation of the Geneva Declaration (GD) commitments. In 2006, this declaration started as a high-level diplomatic initiative designed to support states and civil society actors in their efforts to reduce and prevent armed violence. Among other objectives, the conference sought to reaffirm and strengthen the engagement of the signatory states to the GD, as well as accelerate tangible measures towards the achievements of the GD goals expected for 2015.
Among the main priorities for operationalizing the GD was implementing new strategies to tackle the challenges of armed violence. Promising initiatives were discussed, such as the seeking to engage mayors and local authorities at the heart of any action, as well as producing baseline assessments for more effective monitoring and as a way to ensure that practices are adapted to new contexts.
NP’s representatives, Ann Frisch, NP Senior Adviser and Returned Peacekeeper, and Shirley de Leon Garnier, Brussels grants officer, presented NP’s track record of unarmed civilian peacekeeping (UCP) and shared with attendees our experience of how UCP can reduce and prevent armed violence. We were the only civil society organisation (CSO) to submit a greeting statement to delegates and signatory countries. Click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page to read our statement.
NP joined with other CSOs to organize and develop a coherent message to the heads of delegations who were present. At the end of the conference, NP and the rest of the CSOs presented a consolidated report which was read at the plenary, and where it was noted that signatory countries should “…Promote the use of civilian to civilian protection” and “…Provide safe spaces for civilians to undertake conflict resolution, peacemaking and peacebuilding” among the “whole of society strategies” to achieve the Geneva Declaration objectives. Click here to see the report.
At this conference NP enriched its network of high-level contacts and technical specialists, gained more visibility at the international level and, most importantly, integrated unarmed civilian protection into the global action agenda.
