Peace is Possible
A newsletter for friends of Pax Christi International
2020 Peace Award: Pacific Climate Warriors
The Pacific Climate Warriors are the recipient of the 2020 Pax Christi International Peace Award. The award ceremony was held in Auckland, New Zealand on 10 December, International Human Rights Day, in an event hosted by Pax Christi Aotearoa New Zealand. 

The Pacific Climate Warriors (who are linked to 350.org) is a vibrant network of young people who live in 17 Pacific island nations and diaspora communities in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia. Their mission is to peacefully raise awareness of their communities’ vulnerability to climate change, to show their people’s strength and resilience in the face of extraordinary challenges, and to nonviolently resist the fossil fuel industry whose activities damage their environment. 
Follow Pax Christi International
We invite you to join us as we kick off our Year-End Giving Campaign. During these trying times, we are grateful to have your support. It is because of our dedicated and generous community that we are able to continue our work, sowing seeds of nonviolence, and just and sustainable peace. This holiday season, give the gift of peace. 
Justice and Solidarity: Pax Christi International in Africa, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific
Africa
Nonviolence Training in
Rwanda and Burundi
In early December a new phase started in our nonviolence training programme in the Great Lakes region of Africa.

Together with the Karama parish of the diocese of Butare (Rwanda), our member organisation, the Association Modeste et Innocent (AMI) launched an Active Nonviolence Club with a group of 55 young people, made up of 17 young men and 38 young women coming from groups of Catholic movements within the parish.

In Burundi, the Active Nonviolence Team of our member organisation the Centre Jeunes Kamenge brought together nearly 160 young women and men who will follow for the next 6 months a training on active nonviolence.

For more information on our work in the Great Lakes, please click here.
Latin America
CONVIDA-20

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic organisations and movements in Latin America have formed a CONVIDA-20 alliance. Together they seek solutions to existing global crises made worse by the pandemic. The alliance has eight commissions on areas including basic income, gender-based violence, climate crisis, and Indigenous peoples. The alliance has produced many documents and actions, built relationships, and hosted public forums.

Recently, Pax Christi International participated in a global assembly for CONVIDA-20, contributing to both the celebration and the call for ongoing work on extractivism in Latin America.

To learn more about our work in Latin America, including our recent publication on resource extraction during the pandemic, please click here.
Asia-Pacific
Peace Webinars: Australia & Philippines
In case you missed them, we've posted two more in our webinar series from Asia-Pacific. Our colleagues in the Philippines organised an excellent event in honour of the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security. Our colleagues in Australia hosted an important dialogue on the QUAD, militarisation, and nonviolence. To enjoy these webinars, please visit our YouTube channel.
Photo: US Army via Flickr Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Reflections from Asia-Pacific

Militarising Asia Pacific: A Modern Threat to Peace - A recent post on our Peace Stories blog highlights many of the challenges for peace specific to the Asia-Pacific region and how they impact the world.

Dialogue Among Religions Towards Fraternal Humanity - International Board member Archbishop Anthony Ledesma (Philippines) contributed a reflection on contextual, interfaith relationships and their importance for lasting peace.
Advocacy
Urgent Appeal to Stop the Violence in Ethiopia

Pax Christi International has been following with great concern the unfolding of violence in Ethiopia, particularly in the Tigray region. In a statement Pax Christi International calls upon both parties to stop the violence immediately and to take steps towards pursuing the implementation of a well-defined and all-inclusive peace process to a united and stable Ethiopia.
European Peace Facility risks fueling conflict and human rights violations around the world

Pax Christi International along with 40 other civil society organisations issued a joint message in response to European Peace Facility negotiations. EU governments are negotiating a new funding instrument that presents a fundamental shift towards a more military approach in EU foreign policy, and risks causing large-scale civilian harm around the world.
Letter of Solidarity to Armenian Religious Leaders

In response to the resurgence of violence and conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Pax Christi International wrote to senior religious leaders in Armenia.

"We are in deep distress for all the blood that is being shed, for the considerable destruction of homes, infrastructure, historical monuments and places of worship. We are convinced that the belligerents will not resolve their differences through violence. Pax Christi International seeks to promote in all circumstances the transition to nonviolent strategies, as prescribed by the Gospel."
Colombia Peace Agreement

To mark the 4th anniversary of the signing of the Colombia Peace Agreement, we joined a call from Oidhaco to urge the Colombian government forward in its implementation and dismantling of still active armed groups.

Right to Education: UNESCO

The year 2020 marks 60 years since the adoption by UNESCO’s General Conference of the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education. This Convention highlights States' obligations to ensure free and compulsory education, promotes equality of educational opportunity and prohibits any form of discrimination. Education is essential for just and lasting peace. We join in the call for no discrimination in education. #RightToEducation

Recently, Pax Christi International helped organise a dialogue on the shrinking civil society space in Latin America. Representatives from civil society organisations, including PCI Latin America and Caribbean coordinator Martha Ines Romero, participated. Panelists and participants looked at the role the European Union should play in supporting civil society, including through the implementation of the new Action Plans in relation to the Latin American region.

Watch event in English.
Watch event in Spanish.
Deepening Catholic Thought on Nonviolence
Available now! Order your copy of Advancing Nonviolence, the new book from Catholic Nonviolence Initiative. The book is the culmination of a three-year global conversation among church leaders, community organisers, activists, social scientists and theologians about how the Catholic Church might return to its Gospel nonviolence roots and transform the world.
Photo: Erick Forsberg via Flickr.
Nonviolence Advent Retreat
Please join us for prayer and reflection featuring an exclusive screening of “The Third Harmony,” a new film on the power of nonviolence, and brief presentations by Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire, Dr. Bernice A. King, and Rev. Emmanuel Katongole, as well as Mons. Bruno Marie Duffé, Dr. Alessio Pecorario and Fr. Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

It will be offered first on Friday 18 December at 15.00 GMT.

It will be offered again on Saturday 19 December at 

8.00-11.00 Manila
9.00-12.00 Tokyo/Seoul
11.00 -14.00 Melbourne
13.00-16.00 Auckland
Interviews with Young Peacebuilders
From cultural exchanges in Ukraine, campus ministry, advocating at the United Nations, and more, young people are leading the way in creative expressions of nonviolence. We're interviewing young people from around the world to inspire the whole Pax Christi International movement as we celebrate our 75th anniversary! Visit our YouTube channel for all the interviews.
Pax Christi International
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