Cooperation for Peace

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cooperation for Peace
legal form alliance
founding 2003
Seat Bonn , Germany
purpose Umbrella organization of the peace movement
Members 55 participating organizations (2019)
Website www.koop-frieden.de

The Cooperation for Peace is an umbrella organization of the peace movement to which more than 50 peace policy organizations and initiatives belong.

Founded in 2003, the Cooperation for Peace works to ensure that military violence is outlawed as a political tool and that instead methods and strategies for crisis prevention and civil conflict management are expanded. Every year the cooperation organizes a strategy conference on a priority topic of peace policy. She is the editor of the monitoring project, in the context of which dossiers on current conflicts are regularly published.

Founding impulse

The impetus for establishing the cooperation in 2003 was the invasion of Iraq by the United States and the coalition of the willing . After the wars in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and finally Iraq, they wanted to initiate strategic cooperation that would actively fight against violence as a political tool and for civil conflict management. The competencies of different organizations and groups should be bundled more closely with the alliance.

tasks

  • Organization of discussion and consultation processes within the peace movement
  • Exchange of information and assessments between organizations and groups
  • Publication of the positions resulting from these processes
  • Dissemination of action proposals for peace work
  • Supports or initiates events and campaigns

Contributors

The cooperation consists of more than 50 peace policy organizations and initiatives. The signing of the declaration of principle is a prerequisite for cooperation. Individuals and parties cannot become members.

Contributing Organizations

Declaration of principles of cooperation for peace

A declaration of principle forms the basis for the merger. Every member must accept these principles, which is a prerequisite for participation. The policy statement reads as follows:

"The members of Cooperation for Peace advocate the following principles without violence:

  • that military violence is outlawed as a political tool and instead methods and strategies of crisis prevention and civil conflict management are expanded, but by no means integrated into military concepts,
  • that international law as the only legitimate instrument for settling interstate conflicts is strengthened and further developed,
  • that there is extensive disarmament,
  • that causes and consequences of war, such as poverty, injustice and environmental degradation, are resolutely fought,
  • that human rights and democracy are fought for and defended worldwide by non-violent means. "
-

Working method

A cooperation council, which is determined by the participating organizations and consists of around 10 representatives of the elected organizations, meets every two months for continuous work. The decision-making of the cooperation council is based on consensus. The participants elect up to five speakers during the annual general assembly. These represent the recommendations and resolutions externally and internally. Former speakers are, for example, members of the Bundestag Kathrin Vogler and Reinhard Voss (former Secretary General of Pax Christi ). The office of the cooperation is run by the network peace cooperative .

Strategy conferences

Once a year, the Cooperation for Peace organizes a strategy conference. The strategy conference is a key date for the peace movement.

Overview of the strategy conferences since 2003:

  • 2003 in Dortmund "Against the permanent war"
  • 2005 in Frankfurt / M. "For an active year of peace in 2005"
  • 2006 in Hanover "Civil conflict management in foreign and security policy"
  • 2007 in Bielefeld "Public and Peace Movement - Between Resistance and Public Relations"
  • 2008 in Aachen "Afghanistan - no way out of the military dead end?"
  • 2009 in Bremen "60 years of NATO - Peace is something else!"
  • 2010 in Heidelberg "Militarization outside and inside"
  • 2011 in Hanover "War dangers in the Near and Middle East our options for action for peace"
  • 2012 in Magdeburg "Economy and War - It's the economy, stupid"
  • 2013 in Stuttgart "Germany at War - Strategies for a Sustainable Peace Policy"
  • 2014 in Cologne "1914-2014 - 100 Years of War, 100 Years of Pacifism and Peace Movement"
  • 2015 in Hanover "Global Crises and Conflicts - Strategies and Options for Action for the Peace Movement"
  • 2016 in Leipzig “Cold War in Europe? Challenges to a Common Peace Policy in Europe - Options for Action for the Peace Movement "

Monitoring project of cooperation for peace

As part of the monitoring project for civil conflict management, violence and war prevention, the cooperation regularly publishes dossiers on various conflicts and conflict regions in which Germany plays a role. The following dossiers have been published since 2006:

  • Dossier "Civil conflict management, violence and war prevention". 2006.
  • Dossier I “The Iran Conflict”. 2006.
  • Dossier II "The Turkish-Kurdish Conflict". 2007.
  • Dossier III “The Israel-Palestine Conflict” 2nd edition 2010.
  • Dossier IV “The Afghanistan Conflict”. 2nd edition 2009.
  • Dossier V "Syria between nonviolent insurrection and civil war". 2012; Update August 2012.
  • Dossier 1b "Iran Negotiations: Legitimation for a War of Aggression?" 2012.
  • Dossier VI “The Mali Conflict”. 2013.
  • Dossier VII "The Ukraine Conflict - Cooperation Instead of Confrontation", 2015.

"Monday vigils"

In 2014, in view of the escalating Ukraine crisis, the Cooperation for Peace called for a “winter of peace”, in which the vigils for peace also took part, a movement that various sides assume to be conspiratorial cross-front positions. This cooperation led to conflicts, several celebrities withdrew their signatures under the call for peace winter. The conflict escalated in March 2015 when the managing director of the German Peace Society (DFG-VK), Monty scull, demanded in an interview that the cooperation with the right-wing vigils be ended before the Easter marches , which were supposed to mark the end of the winter of peace. The former radio presenter Ken Jebsen then claimed that Skull was “bought by NATO ”, which led to the DFG-VK withdrawing from the peace winter and an address of solidarity for cooperation for peace for Skulls.

Web links

Cooperation for Peace

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Members of Cooperation for Peace ; accessed on November 4, 2019
  2. ^ Gildemeister, Jan: Cooperation for Peace, in Friedensforum 2/2003. Page 13f.
  3. ↑ Vigils for Peace A right project on the rubble of left foundations ; accessed on November 14, 2019
  4. ^ Declaration of Cooperation for Peace of March 20, 2015: Solidarity with Monty Skull ; accessed on November 14, 2019