GSoA Coordination Meeting
16 September & 14 October
Once a month the board meeting of the GSoA takes place. The board is open to all members and interested parties eager to get involved in the GSoA activities.
Café de la Paix of the Swiss Peace Council
Elisabeth Bäschlin on the Western Sahara conflict: international law or particular interests?
25 September, 7:00 – 9:00 pm, Zurich.
The Sahrawis have a right to self-determination, but who cares… A value-oriented policy seems to have abdicated internationally – at the expense of the Sahrawi people.
Elisabeth Bäschlin, em. lecturer in geography, president of SUKS / Swiss Support Committee for the Sahrawis, has accompanied the Sahrawis in their struggle for the right to self-determination for more than 40 years. As a regular visitor to the exiled state of Western Sahara in the refugee camps south of the Algerian oasis town of Tindouf since 1985, she has been able to experience the changes in organization and society firsthand. If you want to participate virtually, please contact diana.schenkel@friedensrat.ch by September 22.
Helvetas Symposium: Reclaiming Civic Space
31 October, 2:00 – 5:30 pm, in person in Bern or virtually
Authoritarianism is on the rise globally and civic space is shrinking. Civil society organizations and social movements are under attack in many countries. Their ability to act as a counterweight is being curtailed through political intimidation and prosecution, and funding is becoming increasingly scarce. It is urgent to rethink bilateral partnerships and funding mechanisms enabling organizations to further civic rights.
Civic liberty champions and human rights defenders from Haiti, Serbia, and Zambia, along with the Ford Foundation, will discuss:
– Innovative practices for protecting and reclaiming space for rights-based civic action amidst global democratic backslides.
– Approaches for empowering an interconnected local-to-global civil society and promoting collective action for social justice.
– Enablers and restraints in international development cooperation for locally-led civil society
– New funding models that allow local actors and NGOs to define and follow their own agenda for change while furthering civic rights.
More information and registration here.
KITCHEN BATTLE TOUR: Cooking and Eating for a Good Cause with a Star Cast from Gastronomy
Bern: 19 – 21 October, Lucerne 10 – 12 November, Zurich: 16 – 18 November
At the Kitchen Battle, the charity event for the projects of Cuisine sans frontières, renowned cooking teams cook from a shopping cart with contents they only learn about on the same day. High-quality meat and fish, seasonal vegetables, fruits and dairy products from local producers make up the shopping cart. Under time pressure, the teams create a four-course menu, which is eaten and judged by the 150 guests and a five-member jury. The proceeds of the Kitchen Battles will be allocated to the projects of Cuisine sans frontières. More information here.
Geneva Peace Week’s 10-year anniversary
30 October – 03 November, Maison de la Paix (Geneva)
This year’s edition of the Geneva Peace Week will feature around 45 events spread over 5 working days, offered in person with some workshops and events held online. Event formats for the 2023 edition include high-level panels, workshops, policy briefings, special events, and a digital series. The detailed program and registrations will be released on 25 September. GPW is a flagship initiative of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform in collaboration with partners. More information and registration here.
DCAF’s Contributions to Geneva Peace Week: Building Trust, Building Peace – An Agenda for the Future
30 October – 3 November, Geneva
As a partner of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, DCAF – the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance will co-host the opening event of Geneva Peace Week, alongside four high-level panels on the nexus between good security sector governance and peacebuilding. Together with other Geneva-based partner institutions, these panels will focus on the meaningful participation of women (with the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining and Small Arms Survey), the role of private military security companies and mercenaries (with the University of Copenhagen), accountability of state responses to cybersecurity incidents (with the International Parliamentary Union and Permanent Mission of the Netherlands to the UN), and addressing the climate crisis and environmental degradation in vulnerable contexts (with the Principles for Peace Foundation). More information and registration here.