"GIVING TEETH TO PEACE" - BOOK REVIEW of: THE HUMAN RIGHT TO PEACE
by Dr. Larry Fisk, PhD.
Dear friends and colleagues,
Senator Doug Roche's new book "The Human Right to Peace"
happens to be so informative, clear and forceful I can't resist forwarding my
review to as many of you as possible. The reasons for my enthusiasm for
the book are contained in the following review.
-- Larry
"GIVING TEETH TO PEACE"
Review of: Douglas Roche, The Human Right to Peace. (Ottawa, ON: Novalis)
2003. 271 pp. $24.95 (Cdn) (ppbk; ordering information below)
Even though I had met Canada's renowned "peace and human security
Senator" and had experienced him as an outspoken, yet modest, man I will
confess to being pleasantly surprised at the extent of the savvy and vision of
this well-informed, lucid, sagacious author. Senator Roche has over thirty years
of political life in capacities like Chair of the UN Disarmament Committee,
Canada's Ambassador for Disarmament and Chair of Canadian Pugwash, enabling a
vantage point to make the case for both the reality of a "third
generation" right of peace, and its unparalleled significance.
At the heart of this instructive and inspiring little book is the
argument that "peace" is a universal third generation right, depending
in part on the achievement of prior waves of human rights plus the modern
interconnectedness of all states. This contemporary inter-dependency is unlike
first generation rights like "liberty and equality" which are rights
extracted from, or in relation to, the sovereign state alone. Similarly, second
generation rights like education, health, or more generally "economic,
cultural and social" rights attending societal inequalities, are also
devised in relation to the state, or its agencies and fellow citizens.
Globalization, with its international understanding, widespread participation,
and effective communication, makes possible the universal right of peace. It is
both "innovative and addresses a whole swath of new and interconnected
challenges". It is an essential right because the horrendous atrocities of
wars, genocide, environmental devastation, world-wide hunger, displacement,
disease and water shortages and the threat of nuclear annihilation, all make
human living deplorable or near impossible for the vast majority in the modern
global context. Without peace, it is now clear, the achievements of past rights
are a cruel parody of justice.
The value of Doug Roche's book is not just the cogent argument for peace
as a fundamental right. The book is a succinct history of 20th century
Globalization and wars, with particular attention given to 9-11, Afghanistan and
Iraq. More than that it is a manual carefully documenting the slow but steady
work of the United Nations and providing chapter and verse for United Nations
declarations and achievements.
Those cognizant of the Canadian Peace Initiative and its attention to
education and action for a world fit for children will find a stunning directive
in Roche's attention to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. "The
Convention", he observes, "is the most universally accepted human
rights instrument in history. It uniquely places children at the forefront in
the quest for the universal application of human rights." Here we see a
commitment by every country in the world except the USA and Somalia, to ensure
standards for children's health, education and protection against abuse.
Protocols developed in 2002 were signed on against such heinous practices as
child soldiering, the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography.
His chapters on religions and inter-faith dialogue, peace education, and
civil society constitute a blueprint for universal action and peaceful living.
For those who care deeply about the values and commitments which grow from a
considered faith position, Roche argues forcefully for a continuation of those
dialogues which have highlighted agreement on human decency, justice, the rights
of children, freedom. This Papal Medal winner for his work in disarmament
challenges the religious institutions to take the first step in humility and
service to engaging the global secular culture. What the world faiths have held
sacred in their moral teachings secular societies, and par excellence the United
Nations, have attempted to implement. For Douglas Roche, reconciliation is the
highest form of dialogue. Religious tenets and ethics which propound the
centrality of human oneness, as the author wisely notes, "has moved from
being a kind of abstract, if vaguely interesting, idea to an issue of pressing
daily political concern". Such issues as health, education, the
environment, crime, terrorism, and corporate Globalization are now part of every
one's life.
In his concluding two chapters Doug Roche teaches us all that peace
education arises in the context of peace as a universal human right. Peace
education is a "weapon" to be employed by all citizens everywhere in
the task of replacing a culture of violence and war- the culture which presumes
violence and war are acceptable means of security-by a culture of peace. The
content of peace education includes knowledge of arms control and disarmament
mechanisms; the application of human rights, conflict resolution and
problem-solving; overcoming environmental degradation, children's rights and
gender equality, democratic participation; and listening, leadership and
dialogue skills.
Similarly, in his chapter on civil society Senator Roche documents the
impressive growth of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and their success
stories in influencing the sovereign states and the activities of the United
Nations in directions of peace and justice. Increasingly, NGOs are often more
knowledgeable than government sources. They are capable of employing new
technologies like the Internet and email to establish world-wide constituencies
for a culture of peace. They are capable of working with governments-as with the
"Ottawa Process" of the Landmines Treaty, and the work with
governments to establish the International Criminal Court. And they are able to
work without or around sovereign states in massing support as in the Hague
Appeal for Peace or the millions who protested the ignoble plans and actions of
the recent war in Iraq.
The new civil societies consist of NGOs and the increasing presence of an
understanding of what is required to work to abolish the irrationality of war
and the insanity of weapons that can destroy all human life and culture. The new
directions reinforce democratic experience and often enable end-runs around
recalcitrant governments and their backward-looking policies. The civil society
is made possible by the immediate availability of alternative information, as on
the Internet, and the highly developed skills of citizens in civil societies and
NGOs in communicating a new set of standards, fuelled by the best of age-old
religious visions.
Doug Roche's illuminating and instructive book will be one to be added to
my required reading list for courses in peace and conflict, development and
change. His masterful use of UN documents and an appendix of indispensable
websites will constitute some new priorities in my personal reading practices.
We owe a debt of gratitude to Senator Douglas Roche for his care in describing
these subjects and for providing a notion of peace that motivates change in
everyday living-it is truly a portrait with teeth.
- Larry J. Fisk, is a Professor Emeritus of Political, Peace and
Conflict Studies now living and teaching in Calgary, Alberta. You can
contact Larry at fisklarry@hotmail.com
The 260 page book can be ordered for $24.95 from
Novalis, 49 Front Street, 2nd Floor, Toronto, ON, Canada M5E 1B3; telephone
1-877-702-7773 or (416) 363-3303; email cservice@novalis.ca
; web site http://www.novalis.ca ; ISBN
2-89507-409-7 (2003).
You can also read a summary of the books highlights at http://www.peace.ca/humanrighttopeace.htm