| Posted: April 28 2005,09:10 |
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PROGRESS: Has your organization seen
progress toward a culture of peace and nonviolence in your domain of
action and in your constituency during the first half of the Decade? |
There
is a great interest among teachers in learning more about a culture of
peace, and there has been a lot of talk about bullying in Sweden. The
governmental campaign entitled Together (Tillsammans) during 2001-2002
was one step to put focus on the need to work to eliminate all kinds of
bullying of children. Furthermore the Swedish government decided on
2005-03-09 to include knowledge about conflict transformation in all
teacher education.
A governmental committee has looked into
education for sustainable development (Att lära för hållbar utveckling,
SOU 2004:104). In its report a holistic approach is emphasised.
Poverty, climate change, epidemics and war are examples and problems
barring the way to sustainable development, and thus education for
sustainable development is mentioned as one of the solutions.
Unfortunately the committee does not emphasise the need for knowledge
about conflict transformation and nonviolence, even though this is
fundamental to be able to educate for sustainable development. The
report is now being processed by the government.
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OBSTACLES: What are the most important obstacles that have prevented progress?
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It
is not enough that the Swedish government ratifies conventions and
signs resolutions. Words have to be put into actions. Even though
teachers’ training is being changed to include conflict handling
capacity, the decision needs to be implemented and that costs money. We
believe that approving the bill is a big step in the right direction,
but more actions have to be taken to foster a culture of peace through
education. Political awareness and money are two important obstacles
for implementing conventions and resolutions. Usually there is
political awareness on the overall level, but when looking closer at
certain issues the willingness to make the necessary priorities are
often lacking.
Unfortunately the media reporting in general
focus too much on war and violence. Furthermore young people are often
presented in a negative way. We believe that this does not help to
foster a culture of peace and nonviolence.
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ACTIONS: What actions have been
undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the first half of the Decade?
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Peace
is in our hands in Sweden is a co-operation project including five
organizations: The Christian Council of Sweden, PeaceQuest, Swedish
Educators for Peace, SweFOR and the United Nations Association of
Sweden. We want to show the opportunities, possibilities and gains of
constructive conflict transformation and prevention of violence between
individuals as well as between different groups of people, no matter
where we are in the world. This project is financed by the Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Sida does not
necessarily share the opinions put forward.
We train
nonviolence teams of young people who in turn train other young people
in nonviolence and work proactively for a culture of peace. Today we
have six teams and we will train another two during 2005. The teams get
a four days training and on-going support for 3-4 months.
We
also educate and train trainers and facilitators of nonviolence and
peaceful conflict transformation, who are members of different
organisations, teachers or students.
As of now 2800 persons
has received a higher knowledge of conflict transformation and
nonviolence by courses and seminars that we have arranged or supported.
The activities range from one hour workshops to one month exchanges. We
also work to inspire people to take a greater engagement and interest
in these issues. As of April 2005, 410 youngsters, teachers and
volunteers have gained greater engagement for a culture of peace. We
believe that their commitment will spread to others as well.
We work as part of a campaign to include knowledge
about conflict transformation in teachers’ training and in the
educational system. An appeal signed by 22 teacher student
organisations was sent to the Minister for Education, Thomas Östros in
April 2003. He agreed that it is important that future teachers receive
knowledge and training in conflict transformation, but referred to the
fact that all universities are autonomous.
We thought that the
national goals for what must be included in the teachers’ exam were not
clear enough on this point. We decided to change this, by writing a
parliamentary bill and asking several members of Parliament to register
it. Seven MPs signed the bill in October 2003. To further put emphasis
on our demand we arranged a conference with representatives from 12
universities, student representatives, and specialists in conflict
education. We discussed how to create a mandatory course and how to
have it included in all teachers’ training, stating the need for
steering documents to help the process. The bill was refused, but that
did not stop us. Groups of people had continued the work at their
university after the conference and that gave us motivation to try to
get the bill approved next time. The same demand was put forward in a
new bill and signed by the same members’ of parliament. We arranged a
follow-up conference in November 2004 and this time it resulted in a
number of recommendations on what needs to be done to include conflict
transformation in the educational system. One was to form a Conflict
Education Council between the universities, to help building their
capacity.
In February 2005 the bill was addressed in the
Parliamentary Committee for Education and 5 parties of 7 announced that
they would vote in support of the bill. This meant a majority in
Parliament for the bill and on March 9, 2005 the bill was approved. On
April 26 we visited the Minister for Schools to talk about the
importance of teaching peace and conflict transformation at secondary
school.
Local branches of the organisations in the project are
able to apply for money to do local nonviolence and peace building
activities. So far the project has supported exchanges, workshops and
performances in more than 20 cities from the south to the northern
parts of Sweden. Thanks to the project, people and organisations who
did not know about each other have come closer together.
For
example in Växjö there was a day of seminars and lectures on the
International Day of Peace, 21 September 2004. About 100 persons
attended the event. In Gothenburg a manifestation for peace was
arranged on June 12, 2004 with lectures and music. The activities
focused on sustainable development and peace and how lack of resources
can be a cause for conflict. An estimated 750 persons attended this
outdoor activity.
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ADVICE: What advice would you like to
give to the Secretary-General and the General Assembly to promote a
culture of peace and nonviolence during the second half of the Decade? |
We
believe that it is important that the Secretary-General urge
governments to both implement UN-resolutions and to relocate resources
for their implementation. Our experience tells us that co-operation is
very important, both within civil society and between civil society and
the government.
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PARTNERSHIPS: What partnerships and
networks does your organization participate in, thus strengthening the
global movement for a culture of peace? |
Peace
is in our hands in Sweden is a co-operation project by five
organizations in Sweden; The Christian Council of Sweden, PeaceQuest,
Swedish Educators for Peace, SweFOR and the United Nations Association
of Sweden. We have also worked together with Nonviolent Communication
Centre, The Drama and Conflict Project, Friends, Peace Team Forum,
Yrkesgrupperna mot kärnvapen, Bilda and other educational associations,
Föreningen Ickevåld i Uppsala and others.
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PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence in the second half of the Decade (2005-2010)? |
Our
ambition is to educate more people in nonviolence and conflict
transformation and to continue our effort to include knowledge and
practice of constructive conflict handling in the entire educational
system with or without funds from our donors.
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Postal address of organization
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Fred i våra händer, Svenska FN-förbundet, Box 15115, SE-104 65 Stockholm, Sweden
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E-mail address of organization
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monica.hagbok@fn.se, stina.magnuson@fn.se, ingrid.odquist@fn.se
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Website address of organization
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www.fredivarahander.nu
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Highest priority action domain of a culture of peace
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Education for a culture of peace
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Second priority action domain of a culture of peace
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International peace and security
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Highest priority country of action (or international)
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Sweden
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Second priority country of action (or international)
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International
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