“ICT for Peace” is an initiative born from the union of the aims of the Culture of Peace Foundation and the Cibervoluntarios Foundation in order to promote, encourage and draw attention to the social use of information and communication technology to foster culture of peace. An international initiative therefore intended to be an itinerant event, to be held in different parts of the world, especially in countries where governments are committed to giving special support to the development and use of technologies for citizen empowerment. Citizenship is contributing, through the use of technologies for the promotion of democracy, to act up for human rights and to fight against inequalities. In short, the development of more just, equitable, united and peaceful societies. We also want to visualize the use and knowledge of new technologies as a means to alleviate social gaps, generate social innovation and foster citizen empowerment.
Four lines of action:
Temas centrales en los que trabajamos. Cómo el uso social de la Tecnología puede ofrecer un impacto positivo en el desarrollo de proyectos para:
During the history of Mankind, men have managed power, while women have been set aside in everything related to public issues as economy, politics or employment, pushing them into the home and family support.
This situation gets worse in violent conflicts or marginality and poverty situations, as women suffer war brutality and systematic human rights violation in the first place. In addition, they are marginalized in the access to education and to participate in the issues that affect them; in decision making and in peace processes.
If we want women to contribute to peacebuilding and social problems solving, the key is implicating them in the issues that concern them and in the decision making. This is the reason why Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have a key role as they empower women and make them be an active part of the social, political and economical issues of their communities.
Peace is necessarily linked to equality and development. But it is also linked to a full women access and participation in the power structures, as long as its full implication in every effort to prevent and solve conflicts.
For any women, war means impoverishment, sexual violence, forced relocation, family loss… But we shall bear in mind that women have been and definitely are essential in war prevention, taking active part in the search for non-violent resolutions to conflicts, denouncing human rights violations and building peace and social and economical development on their societies.
The Women and Technology program aims to display women’s role as leaders on social change in their societies, through the use of information and communication technologies. The program wants to show that women are not just passive victims of war, violence and inequality, but active developers of social change.
Women can generate new and innovative approaches to conflict prevention and solution, and also in the reparation of social and economic injustices, all of them key items for peacebuilding.
Currently 60 million people in the world live forcibly displaced, the highest amount ever recorded in the recent history of mankind. Every day, 42,500 people are forced to leave their homes by multiple causes: poverty, human rights violations, natural disasters, political repression, armed conflicts, etc. People fleeing persecution, misery, hunger and death.
Economic migrants leave their homes in order to survive, seeking a better life, and refugees have to flee their places of residence if they want to save their lives or freedom. If other countries do not offer them protection and do not help them and welcome them, they may be condemning them to an unbearable homeless life, without sustenance and without rights.
When migrants and refugees arrive to other countries, in most cases, what they find is discrimination, lack of security, extreme conditions in camps and settlements, threats of any kind. In addition, women and children are extremely vulnerable refugees. Often, refugees are assaulted, enslaved, prostituted … Meanwhile, children can not go to school or receive medical care they need, and those unaccompanied, moreover, can easily to fall into trafficking human networks, forced labor or criminal activities.
For many refugees displacement causes a permanent loss of livelihood or employment opportunities, and this can lead to chronic poverty. People lose contact with their country, their culture, their community. These tragic situations produce often physical and mental illnesses, and an immense emotional damage that can last a lifetime.
Therefore, the first thing displaced persons need is to find shelter, food and access to medical care. And when they reach their destination, they need, despite assistance and protection by the host country, to learn the local language and to acquire the knowledge necessary to manage the documentation and find a suitable job in the new country, enabling them to enjoy a dignified life.
The information and communications technology (ICT) plays a key role in solving problems of people with great needs, such as migrants and refugees.
Mobile phones are becoming a lifesavor in displacement, they are an important aid to escape war and persecution. So much so that the Syrian refugees are considering them the “most important thing” on their journey. The phones are allowing them to keep in touch with their families, sharing crucial information about their plight, find out about the different routes, how to travel safely through Europe and also tell the world their stories.
The “Migrants, Refugees and ICT” program aims to raise awareness of tools, initiatives, projects and experiences of using technology to empower these people, to help them regain their rights, strengthening their protection and safety, and guarantee a decent life both in flight and in the country of destination.
But technology is not only essential for refugees in particular, but also for organizations that are responsible for giving them shelter, serve them, register them, regroup … in humanitarian interventions, etc.
Democracy is a political regime, economical, social, cultural and international founded in the maintenance and promotion of dignity and the rights of all of the people, guaranteeing social justice and equality, enforcing society´s cohesion and facilitating the participation of every individual in public life and in the development of society, liberty and peace. Therefore, democracy is the only political regime that is founded in the exercise of human rights, in which it is possible to imagine the new era of the world in which governorship would be permanently inspired by justice, equality, liberty and solidarity.
Conversely, the lack of democracy, weak democracies and democratic models based in pure formalities result in unjust social and economic situations, inequalities, lack of liberty and conflicts. Thus it is necessary the establishment of firm democracies, effective and participatory developing democratic contexts in which human rights are completely respected and exercised, and the responsibilities assumed.
To develop strong democratic societies, plural and participatory it is necessary strengthening the role of civil society in the promotion and defense of human rights and in the political and democratic reforms. And the extension of its participation and political representation.
The project “Democracy and ICT” has as objective introducing, exchanging and promoting all kinds of programs, projects and activities that are intended to promote the use of technology for the democratic transition and strengthening the participation and representation mechanisms. As well as the empowerment of the citizenship that extends its ability to express them freely and permanently, reinforcing its real and effective representation and participation in making decisions concerning matters affecting them in a local and global level, reaffirming in this way a firm and effective democracy. Contributing to the development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law, as well as the respect of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Strong and genuine democracies guided by universal democratic principles resulting in freer societies, fair and just, that respect the equal dignity of all citizens. Therefore, a change global democratic context .
Peace concept has nearly always been linked to war concept. Peace has been understood, traditionally, as the lack of war or direct violence. But peace does not only mean that there is no war or violent conflicts, as it is directly linked to many other issues that can drive to violence as the lack of democracy, poverty, lack of natural resources, human rights violations, environmental decay, ethnic conflicts, any kind of discrimination (racial, sexual or religious…) Therefore, peace also means contributing to avoid all these problems, strengthening democracy, development, human rights and disarmament, all of them four essential items for peace.
Building peace means avoiding or reducing the causes that provoke some of the present time conflicts:
-Development: Poverty, unemployment, economic inequalities and disbandment, drive, generally, to margination, isolation, exclusion and feelings of injustice, and all this can end up in violence.
-Human rights: The persistent violation of human rights can put peace, individual and collective security in danger.
-Democracy: Democratic governance, representing every citizen and answering to their necessities and goals is the most efficient way in what people can fully develop its capabilities.
-Disarmament: Designing treaties and international regulations about armament control and disarmament, and the adhesion of States to this laws and its application, is key to guarantee security in every country and region.
“Peacebuilding and ICT” program expects to promote and make visible experiences and initiatives on the use of information technologies and communication for peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
The program wants to show the key role that ICT can play in the access to economic opportunities that favour the existence of sustainable life conditions and basic social services; in the contribution to the promotion and strengthening of human rights respect as it favours a bigger citizen knowledge about their own rights, to require them and denounce its violation; in the promotion of citizens’ active participation in every aspect of political, economic and social life and, more precisely, in all the issues that affect them directly; and in the prevention of weapon use and the eradication of the causes of its demand
Demonstrate how technology is contributing to the promotion of Democracy and Culture of peace throughout the world.
Creating an annual event to showcase all organizations and individuals working with ICTs to promote the culture of peace in different countries.
Report inequalities and basic human rights violations To the public attention about the reality of many people.
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