Pressenza IPA

Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation, and it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace. *Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan*

Japan, the only country to be the target of atom bombs, and the U.S., the only country to drop them, firmly committed themselves to working towards a nuclear weapons free world, when President Barack Obama visited Japan during his first presidential tour of Asia. Both governments reaffirmed their “determination to realize a world free from nuclear weapons”.

The three-day World Summit on Food Security ended today after committing the international community to investing more in agriculture and to eradicating hunger at the earliest date. FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf, who hosted the event, said the Summit marked “an important step towards the achievement of our common objective – a world free from hunger”.

The Peace Torch will be outside the public entrance at Holyrood from 13:00 hours, Tuesday 17th November. SNP MSP Bill Kidd has joined Minister for Parliament Bruce Crawford to welcome the World March for Peace and Nonviolence to the Scottish Parliament today, as the peace torch arrived at the Parliament at 13:00 hours.

Famine can be defeated using only 10% of what is currently spent on arms. This is the demand that volunteers from the international humanist organisation “World Without Wars and without Violence” put to the Presidents of the world, meeting this morning in Rome at the Summit proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

In a historical ceremony, a Peace Torch was passed from the Liberian delegation of the World March for Peace and Non Violence, to the delegation of the same World March of Sierra Leone on the Mano River Union Bridge, the border between the two countries, were participants gathered on both sides to allow this important gesture.

World leaders convened at FAO Headquarters for the World Summit on Food Security today unanimously adopted a declaration pledging renewed commitment to eradicate hunger from the face of the earth sustainably and at the earliest date.
The Summit declaration vows better governance, increased investment and proactive climate change strategy.

Almost 1,000 square metres of fabric sewn together by the young people of GPace formed the biggest peace flag in the world. The multicoloured cloth was laid out on Saturday November 14 on Lecce’s beautiful Piazza Duomo. The event was part of the ‘More Fun No More War’ campaign which condemns the terrible reality of child soldiers.

The Zero Nuclear Weapons Forum was held in Toronto this weekend, bringing together renowned experts and activists for informative discussions on nuclear disarmament. Over 250 people attended, and what was perhaps most notable throughout all the talks was the sense of optimism and hope that achieving a world free of nuclear weapons was now becoming possible.

Exactly one year ago, Pressenza was relaunched as an international press agency exclusively dedicated to peace and non-violence. The place and the occasion could not have been more inspirational. We were in the Park for Study and Reflection in Punta de Vacas, on the mountain frontier between Argentina and Chile for the symposium “Ethics in Knowledge”.