2009 Rights & Democracy's John Humphrey Award
2009 Rights & Democracy's John Humphrey Award
Featured Press Release
Iraqi organization wins the 2009 Rights & Democracy's John Humphrey Award
(Arabic version PDF)Canadian Tour
- November 25: Edmonton | Poster (PDF)
- November 27: Vancouver | Poster (PDF)
- December 2: Toronto | Poster (PDF)
- December 7: Montreal
- December 8: Ottawa (Award Ceremony) (By invitation only)
Videos
Watch the 2009 Rights ad Democracy John Humphrey Award Ceremony
in honour of La'Onf, the Iraqi Nonviolence Network
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
National Arts Centre
Ottawa
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Get involved
Support the Iraqi nonviolence Network, La'Onf, by sending your donations to Rights & Democracy. All funds will go directly to La'Onf and support of nonviolence workshops for youth in schools across Iraq and the translation of texts on nonviolence advocacy into Arabic.
Make an online donation (through CanadaHelps)
Note: Within the Fund/Designation list, please select : Iraqi nonviolence Network
Special Edition of Libertas Newsletter
Volume 19 - Number 1 (PDF)
Download the Newsletter
La'Onf, the Iraqi Nonviolence Network
Terry Kay Rockefeller (terry@peacefultomorrows.org), Project Director, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Before the U.S. invaded iraq in 2003, Ismaeel Dawood ran a shoe shop in Baghdad; he also studied statistics, and read widely about human rights. After the invasion, he became active in collecting stories of civilian casualties and worked with other activists in Baghdad to compile information about the detention of Iraqis in U.S. military prisons. In 2005, at the World Social Forum in Brazil, Ismaeel met Martina Pignatti Morano from Un Ponte Per (UPP), an Italian NGO formerly known as Bridges to Baghdad, and Jean-Marie Muller, an expert in nonviolence from France. Jean-Marie Muller and UPP organized nonviolence training for people in Baghdad, most of whom were connected with the al-Mesalla Centre, a community-based human rights centre.
In May of 2006, these newly-trained activists planned a week of nonviolence activities that were largely conducted in neighbourhoods of Baghdad. They distributed a poster that featured a map of Iraq with no internal boundaries and the slogan “La'Onf” (“no violence”) graphically superimposed on it. And, they talked to people–in police stations, on Iraqi army bases, and U.S. military bases–about ending violence in Iraq. They collected signatures on petitions that endorsed nonviolent approaches to rebuilding Iraqi civil society. They also held public forums in neighbourhood settings–shops, mosques, and schools. These open, very public activities were tremendously empowering, giving the organizers confidence that they could work nonviolently within a war context.
A second Week of Nonviolence in May of 2007 was far more national in scope. It included 42 organizations from 10 different governorates of Iraq (there are 18 governorates in Iraq, which function like states or provinces). The theme of the second week was “Building Peace.” Actions included large and small gatherings, often with school children.
In many regions, activists collected local residents' signatures in support of initiatives to ban the importation and sale of war toys. La'Onf undertook this drive after many young boys and their families were shot by occupation forces, who mistook realistic-looking toy machine guns for actual weapons. The petition drive had significant success. In the governorate of Muthanna, a petition initiated in 2007 resulted the following year in an ordinance being passed by the Iraqi Governing Council of Muthanna outlawing the importation and sales of all war-related toys and firecrackers.
Experienced activists also conducted workshops to which local Iraqi NGOs, civil society organizations, student groups, unions and tribal leaders were invited. At the end of each workshop, participating individuals and organizations were invited to become members of La'Onf's network within their governorate. By June 2008, more than 100 Iraqi organizations had committed to the principles of nonviolence and joined La'Onf.
In August 2008, despite the challenges to travel presented by war, violence, economic difficulties, and a badly damaged infrastructure, representatives from 15 of Iraq's governorates met in Erbil for the network's first national meeting with a democratically-elected leadership structure.
The members of La'Onf endorsed the following goals and principles:
- That all Iraqi citizens be able to participate in elections free from any and all pressures concerning how they vote.
- That violence be prevented during campaigning and voting.
- That all citizens have the right to vote regardless of their sectarian or intellectual background, religion or nationality; that this right must be protected for all.
- La'Onf called for laws that guarantee that the nomination and election of candidates will be according to an open list–a system that enables Iraqi voters to select specific candidates when voting (not a closed list in which one votes only for a political party).
- La'Onf called upon all the political parties to present their programs to Iraq's citizens, including information about:
- What plans they have to develop infrastructure in the governorate.
- What services they are going to provide in the governorate.
- What they will do to provide employment opportunities.
- Their thoughts about the roles of non-governmental organizations and how they plan to support them.
- Their thoughts on nonviolence as a means for addressing and solving problems; and what guarantees they would make that local government will not resort to violence when dealing with its citizens.
- Their position on basic principles of human rights, especially the issues of non-discrimination against women and respect for freedom of expression.
- La'Onf insisted that the Iraqi police and the Iraqi army should be the only forces responsible for protecting the election process, and they called upon these forces to maintain neutrality so as to provide an opportunity for citizens to express their opinions freely through the ballot box.
- La'Onf demanded that the occupation forces and other armed groups not interfere with the election process, but respect that only the Iraqi police and the Iraqi army should be responsible for the security of Iraqi citizens nationwide.
More than 50 organizations, which were not members of La'Onf, were so moved by a desire to promote democratic change via the ballot box and by the hope of rebuilding Iraqi civil society institutions that they joined in the activities of the third Week of Nonviolence. Many of these organizations will, it is hoped, officially join the network in the future.
Women's Rights
La'Onf's major activity to date in 2009 was a salute to all Iraqi women on International Women's Day (March 8) and a nationally-coordinated day of activities and events to build support for a campaign promoting discussion and action on stopping violence against women. Calling upon Iraqi citizens, politicians, the government of Iraq, and all its civil society organizations, La'Onf activists proclaimed that violence against women must be challenged and ended in their country.
La'Onf argues that Iraqi women are seeking to play a role in building their country. While the current quota system of Iraqi elections (which promises that women will hold 25% of elected offices) is an important step in promoting the empowerment of women, it is not sufficient. La'Onf is seeking to advance full equality for women in all Iraqi legislation and administration, and to assure their rights to education and work. La'Onf members demanded that the Iraqi government and the Regional Government of Kurdistan amend the Iraqi Constitution to fully guarantee an end to discrimination against women.
“We must work hard to stand up against the customs and traditions that justify violence against women in Iraq,” La'Onf stated. It particularly cited the lack of legislation guaranteeing women's equality, incorrect religious interpretations concerning women's roles and rights, the harsh repression of previous authoritarian regimes, and traditional cultures as the underlying factors allowing violence against women to occur.
La'Onf's announcement of their “Stop Violence Against Women” Campaign cited many reports documenting flagrant violations of Iraqi women's rights that have tragically led to dangerous, often deadly levels of violence. La'Onf identifies the root causes of this violence in the harsh conditions of the past years, especially years of forced displacement and an absence of security. In the words of La'Onf:
- Iraqi women have suffered under the previous authoritarian regimes, and by war, occupation and sectarian violence, they paid the price in double and the result is the emergence of an army of widows estimated in millions. This is in addition to unemployment and the withdrawal of women from the street and staying at home as a result of fear and hostility.
Recently, however, La'Onf sees a “significant improvement in security.” It is now “the responsibility of everyone to face the phenomenon of violence against women” and to ensure that women enjoy “all their rights as equivalent to men.” La'Onf is specifically targeting the media, men and women of religious faith, intellectuals, artists and athletes, the universities, and the embassies and consulates of foreign governments to help develop, promote and spread the messages of the campaign.
Before the end of 2009, La'Onf hopes to organize an Iraqi Nonviolence Forum, open to all La'Onf members, as well as other Iraqi activists working nonviolently to promote the rights and civic engagement of Iraqi citizens and members of the international community who are interested in supporting the work of La'Onf. Initial discussions about the fourth annual Week of Nonviolence in Iraq include plans to work on areas where ethnic and sectarian discrimination have produced intolerable levels of violence and fear, and to search for social and legal strategies to reduce violence.
[NOTE: Much of the information about the history and work of La'Onf is written in Arabic and Kurdish, languages I neither speak nor read. Some of this information is translated into English on La'Onf website www.laonf.net. This report was prepared from these English sources and from my notes on conversations with members of La'Onf during their 2008 national assembly in Iraq, and when we met at conferences in Spain, Jordan, and Italy. I am very thankful to everyone who translated those conversations for me, and to the members of La'Onf who were able to and took the time to speak to me in English. – Terry Kay Rockefeller]
La'Onf, the Iraqi Nonviolence Network (www.laonf.net)
