International Day of Peace (Sept. 21st)

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; InternationalDayofPeace.org; Roots in Peace

The International Day of Peace was created by the UN, a global observance by hundreds of millions people and thousands of organizations each year on September 21st. The music and images in this video entertain and provide a message of hope.

International Peace Pagoda (Andrea Grasso)

"The people of the world have asked us to shine a light on a future of promise and opportunity. Member States have responded with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development... It is an agenda...to end poverty in all its forms. An agenda for the planet, our common home. An agenda for shared prosperity, peace, and partnership."
 

— UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon

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From education to the arts, social justice to sports, health to the environment, neighborhood issues to service for others, there are many ways to participate in Peace Day! People are invited to create a public or private activity related to peace to help to spread the mental intention, heart vibration, and verbal expression about Peace Day and/or attend a community event. LEARN MORE

• VIEW PEACE DAY EVENTS

Taking a stand for peace means taking a stand for justice because Black Lives Matter (AP)

 

Burma junta still repressing monks

Monk offers prayers at Shwedagon Pagoda, Rangoon's most famous landmark. Monks face continuing repression two years after the dictatorship's crackdown (AFP/File/Birbal).

BANGKOK (AFP) – Burma's Buddhist monks face continuing intimidation, repression, and severe jail sentences two years after the junta's crackdown on anti-government protests, a rights group said Tuesday. A report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) said around 240 monks were serving tough prison terms, while thousands have been disrobed or live under "constant surveillance" following their leading role in the 2007 demonstrations.

The ["Saffron Revolution"] began as small rallies against the rising cost of living. But they escalated into huge de-monstrations led by crowds of monks that posed the biggest challenge to junta rule in nearly two decades. The new report said the potential for a repeat of the protests is "very real" if the international community does not put pressure on the regime to enact credible political reform ahead of elections planned for 2010.

It details the arrest, beating, and detention of individual monks after the 2007 uprising, in which at least 31 people [and potentially many more] were killed as security forces cracked down on protesters in the country, now called "Myanmar" by its dictators. The junta has since closed down health and social service programs run by local monastic groups across the country and intensified surveillance of monasteries, according to the report.

It said many monks -- who also face repression for their important social service role after the devastation of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 -- have left their monasteries and returned to their villages or sought refuge abroad. The cyclone killed 138,000 people and prompted international criticism of the government's slow response.

"The stories told by monks are sad and disturbing, but they exemplify the behavior of Burma's military government as it clings to power through violence, fear, and repression," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The monks retain a great deal of moral authority, making principled stands by monks very dangerous for a government that doesn't."

Meanwhile the rights group accused the junta of using Buddhism as a tool to gain political legitimacy -- for example by lavishing gifts on selected senior monks and monasteries. "It would not be surprising to see monks on the streets again if social grievances are not addressed," Adams added. On Friday Myanmar authorities freed two journalists who helped victims of last year's cyclone and released several opposition activists as part of an amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners, according to witnesses.

Their release followed another HRW report on Wednesday that said the number of political prisoners in Burma had doubled to more than 2,200 in the past two years. UN chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed the release of prisoners but urged the junta to free those still being held, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Source

UN chief hails release of Burma dissidents

UN Chief Ban ki-Moon and Burmese dictator General Than Shwe

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — UN chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed Friday the release of a batch of political prisoners in Burma (Myanmar) but urged the junta to free those still being held, including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The Secretary-General welcomes the release of a limited number of political prisoners as part of a larger amnesty," Ban's spokes-woman Michele Montas said. Earlier Friday, Myanmar author-ities freed two journalists who helped victims of last year's Cyclone Nargis and released several opposition activists as part of an amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners, according to witnesses.

One of the freed journalists was Eint Khaing Oo, 28, who was arrested in 2008. This year she became the first recipient of an award set up in memory of a Japanese video reporter who was killed in monk-led protests in 2007 [during the Saffron Revolution]. More>>

Burma, U.N. rebuilding year after cyclone

John Heilprin (AP)

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visits the village of Kyondah in Burma to inspect reconstruction projects from last year's devastating cyclone, which killed over 130,000 people. Burma's opposition party said Ban's failure to meet its imprisoned leader Aung San Suu Kyi was a "great loss" as the UN chief left the military-ruled nation empty-handed (AFP/UN/Ho/Mark Garten).

KYON DA VILLAGE, Burma – As the U.N. helicopter skimmed above the placid Irrawaddy Delta, Burma's military junta was putting the final touches on its showcase village. Throngs of people lined the muddy walkways of Kyon Da village, a relief camp erected in this cyclone-hit area, while others stayed in their homes — neat rows of small houses made out of dried palm and matted bamboo.

The new houses on stilts replaced the plastic tents and stacks of supplies put on display for visitors a year earlier, after Cyclone Nargis devastated the delta in May 2008. For last weekend's visit by U.N. officials, some villagers smiled, and their kids sported freshly starched and ironed white linen garments. About 1,000 homes collapsed and more than 100 people died in Kyon Da when the cyclone struck.

The angry waters that swallowed 138,000 lives in the cyclone have receded. Seen from above, where there had been a monolith of shimmering water was now a patchwork of rice field and border, river and shoreline, muddy pond and gray cloud. Gone were the endless stretches of flooded rice fields and islands of destroyed homes with a few people standing on the rooftops. It affected more than two million, leaving a quarter-million homeless.

The biggest health threats remain HIV, AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, according to the International Organization for Migration, which began partnering with Burma's government in 2005. In the past year IOM-led medical teams treated 110,613 people in 858 of the affected villages. More>>

Appeals Court bars 2 Suu Kyi witnesses

YANGON – Burma's highest court rejected an appeal Monday by Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyers to reinstate two key witnesses in a trial that could send the pro-democracy leader to prison for five years. High Court judge Tin Aung Aye rejected the appeal because it was "intended to disturb and delay the trial," court officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

• Video: US demands Suu Kyi release (Reuters)
• Video: Burmese reflect on Suu Kyi's birthday
• Slideshow: Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi
• Video: Birthday protests call for Suu Kyi release (BBC)

The court's ruling means only two people will testify in Suu Kyi's defense at her trial, which resumes Friday, and that a verdict could be reached in a week or two. The 64-year-old Nobel Peace laureate is charged with violating the terms of her house arrest when an uninvited American man swam secretly to her lakeside home and stayed for two days.

"This is very unfair. The court had allowed 14 prosecution witnesses but only allowed two from the defense," said Nyan Win, one of Suu Kyi's lawyers. "We tried our best to have the trial conducted according to the law but it has failed." More>>

• U.N.'s Ban ki-Moon to visit Burma to urge reform (Reuters)
• Burma court rejects witness appeal: official (AFP)
• Appeal to reinstate Suu Kyi witnesses rejected (AP)

Officials: UN envoy arrives in Burma

Protest rally in Tokyo with monks as Suu Kyi marked a grim 64th birthday in prison and activists took to the Internet and staged worldwide protests (AFP/Toshifumi Kitamura).

YANGON – A U.N. special envoy was in Burma on Friday to pave the way for a possible visit by the U.N. secretary-general that would be politically delicate because of the continuing trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Human Rights Watch and some governments have urged U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon not to visit now, arguing the trip could be exploited by the military government.

Riot police patrol High Court in downtown Yangon, 6/24/09. Lawyers urged Burma's highest court to reverse a ban on two key defense witnesses (AP/Khin Maung Win).

Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate, is in prison and being tried on charges of violating the terms of her house arrest after an uninvited American man swam to her closely guarded lakeside home last month and stayed two days. But Suu Kyi's own party supports such a visit, and other countries say the alternative is to do nothing and miss an opportunity to have the U.N. chief press for Suu Kyi's release and push for more open and inclusive elections next year. Details of the visit of Ibrahim Gambari, who arrived Friday, have not been disclosed by the U.N., but some officials in Myanmar's diplomatic community spoke openly about it.

"My understanding is that Dr. Gambari is here to assess the condi-tions for a potential visit by the secretary-general," said British Ambassador Mark Canning. Ban's "commitment to achieving progress is well known," Canning told The Associated Press. "The issue — as always — is the degree of cooperation he can expect to receive." After arriving in Yangon, the commercial capital, Gambari was driven in a motorcade for a four-hour trip to the capital of Naypyitaw to meet government officials, an official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information to the press. More>>

A rally in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, 6/26/09. A U.N. special envoy arrived in Burma today to pave the way for a possible visit by the U.N. secretary-general (AP/Ahn Young-joon).

UN urges war crimes probe in Sri Lanka

(AFP) UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. chief lent credence to the pos-sibility of war crimes in Sri Lanka, saying an international probe is needed to examine the military actions of the govern-ment and defeated Tamil Tiger rebels during the civil war.

Sec'y-General Ban Ki-moon...declined to elaborate on exactly how the inquiry should be done, but he urged an examination of what he said were serious allegations of violations of international humanitarian laws, according to diplomats and U.N. officials who attended.

"Any inquiry, to be meaningful, should be supported by the members of the U.N., and also should be very impartial and objective," Ban told reporters Friday at U.N. headquarters. More>>

• U.S. couple arrested for spying for Cuba for 30 years
• Valid grievances at root the of Tibet unrest
• Report: 26 people dead in China from landslide

Sri Lanka: UN Humanitarian Aid

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has ordered the immediate dispatch of a humanitarian team to northern Sri Lanka, where thousands of civilians are trapped as government troops make a final push to crush the Tamil Tiger rebel insurgency.

• VIDEO (AFP)

UN urges "drastic" action to help banks and poor

John Heiprin (AP)

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. chief warned Friday of global recession and a serious hit to emerging economies, calling for "drastic" measures to shore up banks and extend lines of credit to the world's poorest states.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the era of self-regulation among the biggest banks and other money-lending institutions had ended and pledged to support European and American efforts to rethink the global financial architecture.

He also called for all U.N. agency heads to cut 2 percent across-the-board from their budgets, saying it could not be business as usual. More>>

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon seen at the U.N. headquarters in New York in this 9/24/08 file photo (Reuters/Eric Thayer).