Guest lectures and speakers

UNOY Peacebuilders organises guest lectures on a regular basis. Please continue to check our website for announcements and upcoming lectures. UNOY would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our inspiring speakers and all those who attended our events.

Civilian Peacework

Sjors Beenker

In April 2008, Sjors Beenker gave a lecture on civilian peace work. Sjors Beenker has a M.Sc. Human Nutrition Education from the Universities of Wageningen and Nairobi. He has also been teaching peace at primary schools, trainer for Alternatives to Violence Project; anti militarist activist, CIRCA clown, street medic and massage therapist. Sjors has extensive professional experience from a wide range of countries, including Rwanda, Southern Sudan, Surinam, Haiti, North Korea and Sri Lanka. Sjors shared his experience from Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka and gave a general introduction to the various methods of civilian peace keeping. He also shared his personal experience on living in war torn areas and how to deal with culture shock and post-traumatic stress syndrome. After the presentation he answered questions on nonviolent peacekeeping.

Youth and the Future of Afghanistan

On June 18th 2008, UNOY, in collaboration with Global Human Rights Defense, hosted an open discussion with Afghani parliamentarian Abdul Reza Rezaii (representing Maidan Wardak province) and esteemed Political Scientist Dr. Jacob Joseph, of Afghanistan. After both figures had shared their views on the current situation in Afghanistan, many questions about the democratization process, female rights, youth movements, terrorism and the drugs trade were addressed among many others. These topics and their open attitude saw Rezaii and Joseph answer in a compelling and often heartfelt manner. They told us that the current situation in their country has limited educational opportunities for youth, especially in the South; and that this has forced many to join terrorist movements. When asked how the youth around the world could help they both answered similarly as they are both Hazaras, a minority Persian speaking people residing in the central region of Afghanistan. They simply asked that the world’s youth recognize that the Hazara people exist and that they wish to live a peaceful life, free of the war which has so often taken place in Afghanistan.

Earth Charter

On June 19th 2008 Dominic Stucker of the Earth Charter International traveled from Costa Rica in order to give a concise presentation about the Earth Charter to the UNOY team. This is a universal declaration which seeks to inspire in all peoples a sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the larger living world, and is also what forms the ethical foundations of UNOY. The Earth Charter is a bold, yet inspirational document because it uses such language as ‘love’ and ‘compassion’. Stucker defended this terminology stating that it was necessary as we are now at a critical juncture in history where change is of the upmost importance. To learn more about the Earth Charter please visit Earth Charter online.