The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed in Resolution A/61/L22, the year 2009 as the International Year of Reconciliation "recognizing that reconciliation processes are particularly necessary and urgent in countries and regions of the world which have suffered or are suffering situations of conflict that have affected and divided societies in their various internal, national, and international facets."
On December 30, the last working day of the French Presidency of the 27-member European Union, the Foreign Ministers met in Paris to analyse the conflict in Gaza and to propose a cease-fire. President Nicolas Sarkozy is now on his way to the Middle East to talk with the officials of Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and Israel about such a cease-fire and follow-up negotiations. Nicolas Sarkozy
In a remarkable combination of civil society pressure and leadership from a small number of progressive states, a strong ban on the use, manufacture, and stocking of cluster bombs was signed in Oslo, Norway on December 3, 2008. However, all bright sunlight casts a dark shadow, and in this case the shadow is the fact that the major makers and users of cluster munitions were deliberately not there: Brazil, China, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and the USA.Anti-Cluster Bomb March, Ireland
At the Palais des Nations - the UN's European headquarters- on October 15, 2008, there was an uneven start to negotiations among Russian, Georgian, Abkhazian and South Ossetian negotiators. The Russian representatives arrived 50 minutes late unsure if the representatives of Abkhazia and South Ossetia would be able to participate as full members. After a half hour of discussions in the hallways and offices set aside for the negotiators, a meeting was started. Palais des Nations
The United Nations General Assembly has designated October 2 as the International Day of Nonviolence. October 2 is the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. For Gandhi, non-violence was at the center of his philosophy and actions. Thus it is appropriate to mark the day with an analysis of one aspect of non-violent action: the role of peace teams as observers in conflict situations.Mahatma Gandhi
"The Phantom Republics" has been the name given to the states demanding the status of independence after the break up of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union: Abkhazia, Chechenya, Kosovo, Nagrono-Karabakh, South Ossetia and Transnistra. The current conflict between Russia and Georgia has put the Abkhazia and South Ossetia conflicts at center stage of world politics. Kosovo Declares Independence, Feb. 2008
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