Women's Peace Petition Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit VIKKI@lexsun.law.uts.edu.au Wed Nov 12 18:37:46 1997 The Peace Action International organisation would like this petition to carry on for this year. I am forwarding this urgent action for your attention. Please pass this message onto others. Thanks. ================================================================== THE WOMEN'S PEACE PETITION by Stephanie Urdang A women's peace petition is circulating throughout the world and fast gaining momentum. The petition, a non-governmental initiative that now has more than 150 organizational co- sponsors from around the world, demands that all governments of the world transfer a minimum of five percent of their military budgets over the next five years to health, education and employment programmes. The 100,000 signatures collected thus far were presented on United Nations Day - October 24 - to the President of the General Assembly, Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko of Ukraine following a press conference sponsored by UNIFEM. In a brief but moving ceremony, Mr. Udovenko pledged his support for the spirit of the petition and offered to collaborate in whatever way he could. He also agreed to have the Ukrainian translation of the petition (which is so far available in 17 languages) circulated amongst women's organizations in Ukrainia. The petition calls for delegitimization of war as an acceptable form of social behaviour, in the same way that slavery, colonialism and apartheid have now been delegitimized, and that governments and civil society together develop new institutions that do not resort to violence for the settlement of disputes. It is an idea that has gained currency in a number of United Nations forums and was picked up early this year in the form of the petition to be signed by women and supportive men. The word was spread by mail, e-mail, the Internet and personal communication. The signatures have been collected thus far from 100 countries, most of which are in the Global South. The petition will continue to be circulated through the year 2000 as an expression of a hope that the new millennium can usher in an era marked by the culture of peace. At the press conference piles of petitions were displayed, paper creased and worn, that had been handled by many women from countries as far afield as India and Turkey, South Africa and Rwanda. Some of the petitions had been carefully stitched into cloth covers before being mailed to New York. Others came by hand, e-mail and fax. A nine-year girl from Turkey signed the petition as a symbol for the youth of the world who passionately desire a future without war. The Ambassador of Liechtenstein, Claudia Fritsche, Senator Margaret Reynolds of Australia and Cora Weiss of Peace Action International were among the speakers. It's a movement that has begun small, but one while gaining strength, is up against enormous odds. As a Kenyan young woman present at the press conference said with emotion in her voice, "The real reasons for war are economic. It is not simply the impact on women and children but a reflection of the broader imbalance of power in the world." Five percent of a nation's military budget is a small figure, one that with sufficient government will would not be impossible to transfer. The many tattered and grimy petitions and the meticulously sewn cloth covers in which some of them arrived, speak to the painful need of women the world over. Impoverishment, conflict and war are the tangible realities of their lives, and behind the careful signing of their names we hear a cry for real change. Copies of the Peace Petition from Women of the World can be obtained from: Peace Action International, Tel: (212) 750-5795; Fax: (212) 682-0886; e-mail: or Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches; Tel: (212) 867-5890; Fax: (212) 867-7462. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytfem-11.15.97-02:56:12-31870