Civil Society Leads Track II Diplomacy Efforts with North Korea

In July 2013, it will be 60 years since the Korean War Armistice was concluded, but there is still no peace in the Korean Peninsula.  In November, 3P Human Security and the Alliance for Peacebuilding hosted a roundtable discussion on civil society engagement with North Korea featuring Peter van Tuijl, Executive Director of the Global Secretariat of GPPAC (Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict) Secretariat.  Van Tuijl reported on a high-level Track II diplomacy effort in Pyongyang, Beijing, and the region undertaken by members of GPPAC’s North East Asia network over the last two years, including the most recent trip in October. GPPAC’s efforts are currently focused on promoting dialogue and building trust between Six Party countries in order to help create the conditions for moving the peace process forward even while political diplomacy is stalled at the Track I level.  Following the roundtable discussion, Van Tuijl headed to Capitol Hill where he lead a briefing on civil society diplomacy with North Korea with staff from several Congressional offices.

GPPAC’s delegation to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was hosted by the Korean National Peace Committee (KNPC) in Pyongyang.  The GPPAC delegation included members from Australia, China, Ghana, the Netherlands and Japan. A reflection on the visit was published in the China Daily, and can be found here.

Peter van Tuijl leads a Capitol Hill briefing on North Korea.

Peter van Tuijl is Executive Director of the Global Secretariat of GPPAC (Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict)in The Hague, a world-wide civil society network that works to promote conflict prevention and peacebuilding. In between 2000-2007, he lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, and worked as a  Civil Society expert with the UNDP-led Partnership for Governance Reform and as a Senior Technical Advisor for a project to combat corruption in the Indonesian National Police, under the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP), United States Department of Justice. Earlier, Peter worked as a Senior Advisor with OxfamNovib, concentrating on NGO advocacy capacity building, and served as Executive Secretary to the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID). He has published a number of articles in Academic Journals and other media, on the role of NGOs, transnational civil society, human rights, NGO accountability as well as on social and political developments in Indonesia. He is co-editor with Lisa Jordan of “NGO Accountability, Politics, Principles and Innovations“ (Earthscan 2006).

What’s Next for Nepal: AfP Roundtable Discussion

Many challenges remain on Nepal’s path to peace and stability following the signing of the peace agreement in 2006, which is why 3P, the Alliance for Peacebuilding, and the Asia Foundation hosted today’s roundtable discussion, “Continuing a Path toward Stability: What’s Next for Nepal.” Dr. Hari Bansh Jha attended the event as the featured presenter.  The meeting brought together cross-sector practitioners and policymakers involved in work in Nepal, and identified crucial areas that must be addressed for Nepal to move forward on a path toward sustainable peace. Some of the critical issues discussed included the political process, the rule of law and access to justice, and equitable economic development.

A "Collaboration Connections" event on stability and peace in Nepal.

Today’s roundtable was the latest in a series of “Collaboration Connections” events facilitated by the Alliance for Peacebuilding. The purpose is to push forward important dialogue about a region or issue from a peacebuilding lens, and draw upon the unique expertise across multiple sectors of stakeholders to identify opportunities to support peacebuilding goals and explore areas of potential collaboration.

Dr. Hari Bansh Jha (center) shares his thoughts on peace in Nepal.

Dr. Hari Bansh Jha is Professor of Economics and Executive Director of the research organization, Centre for Economic and Technical Studies (CETS) at Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Nepal since 1989.  He was senior ICCR Fellow at Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA) in New Delhi from 2011-2012.  He was also Visiting Scholar at The Institute of Asian Studies, German Institute of Global and Area Studies in Hamburg Germany in 2011.  Jha has a M.A. in Economics from Banaras Hindu University and Ph.D. from University of Bihar in India.  He taught economics in Nepal’s Tribhuvan University between 1976 and 1998.  He also worked as Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nepal in 1989-90.  In his academic life, Jha has to his credit 27 published books.  He worked on 55 research projects sponsored by different organizations, including the UNDP, UNICEF, UNCTAD, ILO, WHO, World Bank, USAID, the Asian Development Bank, etc.  His interests are wide ranging and include: spirituality, climate change and security, border studies, Nepal-India relations, peace and conflict, Nepal’s relations with Tibet/China, migration, and more.

3P in Mexico: Shaping a Regional Lens to Address Cross-Border Violence

In November 3P Program Manager John Filson took part in a national conference in Chiapas, Mexico organized by the Mexican network of GPPAC (Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict), made of local NGOs working in violence prevention and human rights at the community level throughout Mexico. Participants were peacebuilding practitioners from every region, working in the thick of violence and personal threats in Mexico’s general state of insecurity and impunity related to the Drug War, poor governance systems, and chronic poverty and inequality.

 

Mexican community leaders meet to share stories of violence and peacebuilding efforts throughout Mexico.



The conference was an opportunity for Mexican peacebuilders, activists, and human rights defenders to step back from the heat and pressure of their daily work to share stories of struggles and successes with counterparts from other parts of the country. It helped further strengthen relationships and collaborations among Mexican civil society organizations as part of an on-going robust citizen movement in Mexico that has stood up to demand an end to the violence, impunity, and abuses that have increased drastically in recent years, not only by organized criminal networks but also by government and paramilitary security forces.

 

Regional representatives discuss potential strategies for addressing systemic violence, corruption, and impunity in Mexico.

John also met with Mexican counterparts to discuss strategies for regional collaboration in response to these complex problems. What Mexico is experiencing today is often understood, especially outside of Mexico, as a power struggle between the Mexican government and the long-standing system of black markets and organized crime. But in reality, problems related to the trade in narcotics, arms and human trafficking, criminal gangs, and the culture of violence with impunity are directly and specifically linked across national borders. Guns made and sold in the U.S. supply drug cartels with the means to kill and extort. Drugs bolstering illegal markets in Mexico fuel gang violence and drug addiction in U.S. cities. Those same profits return to illicit economies in Mexico and continue the cycle. 


Members of GPPAC’s North America regional network focus on cross-border strategies to pursue change in U.S. and Mexican communities and at the policy level.

In 2013, 3P, the Alliance for Peacebuilding, and partners in Mexico, the U.S., and Canada will work to support on-going change efforts both at the community and policy levels through strategies that recognize the cross-border nature of the problems of drug consumption, arms trade, and violence that impact vulnerable communities throughout North America. Watch for a bi-national civil society delegation in Washington in Spring, 2013 to help policymakers understand the direct cross-border links and recommendations for cross-border policy solutions.