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Stronger Track Two Networks Needed

In Being a World Citizen, Conflict Resolution, NGOs, Nonviolence, Peacebuilding, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, Track II, United Nations, United States on August 5, 2025 at 5:45 PM

By René Wadlow

The continuing armed conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, increased tensions between Mainland China and Taiwan with the lack of any formal governmental negotiations forces us to ask if more can be done on the part of Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) to encourage negotiations in good faith.

Governmental efforts, bilateral or within the United Nations (UN) can be called Track One. Track One diplomacy is official government negotiations with the backup resources of government research and intelligence agencies. There can also be Track One “back channels” of informal or unofficial contacts.

Track Two diplomacy is a non-official effort usually by an NGO or an academic institution. The use of non-official mediators is also increasing as awareness grows that there is a tragic disjuncture between the UN mandate to keep peace and its inability to intervene in conflicts within a State – often confrontations between armed groups and government forces and sometimes among different armed groups.

Track Two talks are discussions held by non-officials of conflicting parties in an attempt to clarify outstanding disputes and to explore the options for resolving them in settings that are less sensitive than those associated with formal negotiations. The participants usually include scholars, senior journalists, former government officials and former military officers. They should be in close contact with national leaders and decision-makers. The purposes of Track Two talks vary, but they are all related to reducing tensions. Much depends on the caliber and dedication of the participants and their relations with governmental leadership.

Citizens of the World were involved in one of the earliest continuing Track Two efforts. In 1959 President Eisenhower asked the world citizen Norman Cousins, editor of the New York-based journal The Saturday Review of Literature, if there were some way that could be arranged to get private Soviet and United States (U.S.) citizens together to discuss U.S.-Soviet relations.

The first meeting was held at Dartmouth College and became known as the Dartmouth Conferences held in many different places in the USA. David Rockefeller, chief of the Chase Manhattan Bank, whose name as a capitalist was known by most Soviets, was one of the active participants. Rockefeller and his family had many contacts with U.S. intellectuals and scholars on whom they could call to participate in the Dartmouth meetings.

A Russian-American Conference, Dartmouth Group, October 1962 (C) Phillips Academy Archives and Special Collections, CC BY-SA 2.0

As Kenneth Boulding, a Quaker economist who often participated in Track Two efforts wrote:

“When Track One will not do,

We have to travel on Track Two.

But for results to be abiding,

The Tracks must meet upon some siding.” (1)

Note:

1) Quoted in John W. McDonald with Noa Zanolli, The Shifting Grounds of Conflict and Peacebuilding (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008, 241 pp)

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

BOOK REVIEW: A. Fonseca Pimentel, “Democratic World Government and the United Nations”

In Being a World Citizen, Book Review, Conflict Resolution, NGOs, Peacebuilding, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, Track II, United Nations, World Law on August 5, 2025 at 7:00 AM

By René Wadlow

A. Fonseca Pimentel, Democratic World Government and the United Nations.
Brasilia, Escopa Editions, 1980, 158pp.

The United Nations (UN) was created in the spirit of world citizenship (“We the Peoples…”). The history of the UN can be seen as the development of world citizen values and world law. The world community is in a period of vast transformation being brought about by powerful economic, political, and cultural agents to cope with the challenges of growing interdependence among all peoples and the growing impact of people on the natural environment.

Structures of world law are needed to provide a framework for this transformation. The UN General Assembly has proclaimed the standards of international law such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) which has become the world standard and guide for both regional and national human rights law. Such declarations are part of a trend of building and strengthening a world peace structure composed of world law and intergovernmental institutions which command such general acceptance that resort to world law will replace unilateral actions of States based on narrow domestic political considerations. Governments, business corporations, and transnational social movements are increasingly convinced that they all possess a stake in an orderly world society which can be endangered by the use of force.

However, as Pimentel points out, an orderly world society is not a world society without change. No rule of law is possible without sufficient methods for solving grievances.

Fonseca Pimentel was a Brazilian scholar and economist with long experience in public administration and as a UN advisor on administrative reforms. As he notes, “The dilemma facing the United Nations is to find a way to go further on the road to world citizenship.” At this time when there is armed violence in many parts of the world and consistent violations of human rights, he sets out the challenges clearly.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

Opposing the Death Penalty: The Fight Goes On

In Current Events, Democracy, Human Rights, International Justice, Middle East & North Africa, NGOs, Religious Freedom, Solidarity, United Nations, World Law on July 29, 2025 at 7:45 PM

By René Wadlow

In a July 28, 2025 statement, the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called for a moratorium on capital punishment in Iran where at least 48 persons are currently on death row. According to information gathered by the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva, at least 612 persons were reportedly executed in the first half of 2025. Minorities continue to be disproportionately affected by executions.

Religious minorities in Iran include Sunni Muslims, Christians, Baha’is, Zoroastrians, Jews, and the Gonabali Sufi community. Religious and ethnic identities in Iran often overlap.

(C) Amnesty International

Türk added, “Information received by my Office also indicates that judicial proceedings in a number of cases, often held behind closed doors, have consistently failed to meet due process and fair trial guarantees…The death penalty is incompatible with the right to life and irreconcilable with human dignity. Instead of accelerating executions, I urge Iran join the worldwide movement abolishing capital punishment starting with a moratorium on all executions.”

The Association of World Citizens has repeatedly called upon governments for a moratorium on executions with a view of abolishing the death penalty – a penalty that extensive research has shown has little or no impact on the level of crime and too often opens doors to judicial errors and injustices.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

Thailand-Cambodia: Good Faith Negotiations Needed

In Asia, Being a World Citizen, Conflict Resolution, Current Events, NGOs, Nonviolence, Peacebuilding, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, Track II, United Nations, World Law on July 26, 2025 at 9:50 AM

THAILAND-CAMBODIA: GOOD FAITH NEGOTIATIONS NEEDED

The Association of World Citizens (AWC) expresses deep concern over the rising political tensions and military clashes between Thailand and Cambodia which has led to a large displacement of civilians from the border areas.

On July 24, 2025, Cambodian forces launched artillery attacks on civilian targets in Thai territory, and Thailand responded with airstrikes on Cambodia. Landmines have been set in the contested border areas. The AWC has long been active against the use of landmines. This escalation of Thai-Cambodian tensions risks a destabilization of both governments and societies.

Therefore, the AWC calls for an immediate ceasefire and the start of negotiations in good faith.

Prof. René Wadlow, President of the Association of World Citizens

Human Rights Education: A Vital Need

In Being a World Citizen, Human Rights, International Justice, NGOs, Nonviolence, Peacebuilding, Refugees, Religious Freedom, Social Rights, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, United Nations, World Law on July 26, 2025 at 6:30 AM

By René Wadlow

Education for human rights is a vital need in order to create a universal culture of human rights. Such a culture of human rights can be built around peoples’ needs and current struggles. A human rights culture is more than knowing and respecting the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a break in the cycle of humiliation, abuses of power and violence in which too many people are caught today. People want to know that they are in full control of their lives and that their society embodies their uniqueness as people with the full development of their personality and sense of dignity.

Knowledge requires appropriate pedagogical techniques for imparting human rights information, and therefore there is a need to train teachers at all levels of formal education in the teaching of human rights. There is a need to develop innovative material for use especially in professional training for the judiciary, law enforcement, military, medical and social work. The need to develop innovative teaching material and techniques is true for the efforts against torture especially on persons held in custody.

In addition to human rights education within formal educational institutions, an emphasis can be placed on popular education and the informal sector. There is a role for writers and anthropologists to collect stories and songs that evoke the historical memory of people about hope, respect, equality and human dignity. Likewise, the media can play an important role both in giving information and in developing respect for human rights and dignity.

Human rights education is an indispensable tool in the empowerment of peoples. Learning of human rights leads to participation, reciprocity and accountability on all levels of society. This strengthens the democratic process as persons become aware of their rights and responsibilities, of the full dimension of equal respect between women and men, and among peoples of different cultural and ethnic identities.

There is much to be done, and many can play a role. Join in this vital effort for human rights education!

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

South Sudan: Continued Disintegration

In Africa, Being a World Citizen, Conflict Resolution, Current Events, Humanitarian Law, NGOs, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, Track II, United Nations, World Law on June 5, 2025 at 11:00 AM

By René Wadlow

On May 23, 2025, the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, gave a stark warning about the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the state of South Sudan. He stated that, “The escalating hostilities in South Sudan portend a real risk of further exacerbating the already dire human rights and humanitarian situation.” It is estimated that some 125,000 persons have been displaced within the country between March and mid-April 2025. In addition, there are refugees present fleeing the armed conflict in the state of Sudan. South Sudan is filled with arms from the long years of civil war: 1956-1972 and 1982-2005 between the north – largely Muslim and Arabized and the south which followed traditional tribal religions with southern leaders largely Christian. In 2011, there was a referendum in which southern Sudan voted to become the independent state of South Sudan. The Association of World Citizens was among the Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) observing the independence referendum.

Since independence, political life has been structured by the tensions between the President, Salva Kiir, and the Vice-president, Rick Machar. There was an armed conflict between the two from December 2013 and August 2015 in which many persons were killed. There were multiple violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses. In addition to the forces under the control of the two political leaders, there are a host of armed militias usually based on ethnic-clanic structures.

In July 2016, internally displaced persons in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, relocating to a cleaner, drier location across town, under the protection of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
(C) Isaac Billy/UN Photo

The UN and the African Union have made efforts to reach peace agreements among the parties, but the provisions of the peace agreements have not been put into practice. There is a lack of trust on all sides. It is difficult to see how progress can be made given the intensity of the resentments. There is no doubt a need for new leadership, but there are no signs of any leaders leaving the scene. Elections are not in the style of the country. South Sudan is a situation which merits observation and reconciliation efforts when possible.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

India-Pakistan Ceasefire: Negotiations Now Needed

In Asia, Being a World Citizen, Conflict Resolution, Current Events, NGOs, Nonviolence, Nuclear weapons, Peacebuilding, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, Track II, United Nations, World Law on May 13, 2025 at 7:30 AM

By René Wadlow

After the April 22 attack and death of 26 Indian tourists at Pahalgam in the Indian-administered area of Kashmir, tensions between India and Pakistan grew quickly. Pakistan was accused by India of backing the terrorists who had carried out the attack – a charge which Pakistan denied. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the Indian military “complete operational freedom”. A combination of bellicose rhetoric, domestic pressures, and political agitation led to daily exchanges of armed fire, and the shooting down of Indian jet fighters. The frontiers between the two countries were closed and diplomats withdrawn. The dangers of escalation between the two nuclear-armed countries were obvious to many.

Fortunately, outside voices called for an immediate ceasefire: U.S. President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), and some member governments of the UN Security Council which met in closed session, as well as a good number of Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) involved in conflict resolution efforts such as the International Peace Bureau and the Association of World Citizens (AWC). One must now strive so that the ceasefire will hold.

(C) CNN

The next step is to facilitate negotiations between the Indian and Pakistani governments. A first step is to create a number of confidence-building measures so that the ceasefire holds. Then there is a need to develop longer-range negotiations. There are a good number of outstanding issues, such as Kashmir, which go back to the founding of the two countries.

It may be that the current steps back from the nuclear brink will drive home the need for serious negotiations. NGOs in both India and Pakistan may help to see on what issues progress may be made. Those of us on the outside must do all we can to facilitate creative dialogue between Indians and Pakistanis.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

The Power of Conscience

In Being a World Citizen, Conflict Resolution, Current Events, Human Rights, Humanitarian Law, Middle East & North Africa, NGOs, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, War Crimes, World Law on May 4, 2025 at 12:00 PM

By René Wadlow

On May 2, 2025, a ship carrying food and medical supplies for the Gaza Strip organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition was attacked by drones in international waters near Malta. The ship was badly damaged and its cargo lost. The ship was appropriately called The Conscience.

Conscience is that inner voice which helps each person to know right from wrong. Every thought and deed has an ethical significance and consequence – what is called in Indian thought Karma. Conscience, this perception of choice between right and wrong, is within each person as a clear guide. A sensitive conscience speaks with a voice of authority so that one can act positively and with justice.

Conscience under attack (C) The Malta Independent

Nonviolent action to protect civilians and to call attention to crucial situations is being increasingly used. There are real dangers involved. In 2010, a similar humanitarian aid ship of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition was attacked by Israeli forces in international waters. Ten persons were killed and many wounded.

Today, many of us have called for the end to the Israeli blockade of supplies to the Gaza Strip, a blockade which began again after the end of a ceasefire on March 18, 2025. Families are struggling to meet their most basic needs of food and medicine. We need to develop creative and positive avenues of action.

(C) Seven Sisters Collective/Instagram

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

Kashmir Attack Creates Increased India-Pakistan Tensions: Track Two Measures Needed

In Asia, Being a World Citizen, Conflict Resolution, Current Events, NGOs, Nonviolence, Peacebuilding, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, Track II, United Nations, World Law on April 29, 2025 at 7:00 AM

By René Wadlow

On April 22, 2025, four gunmen killed 26 people and injured others in the Kashmir tourist center of Pahalgam, Kashmir, India. The Resistance Front claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack, but the group is little known. Indian officials have blamed Pakistan as being behind the attackers saying that Pakistan has a fundamentally criminal disposition in its deep state membership. Pakistan is host to Islamic militants that carry out terrorist raids in India but does not necessarily control them.

As a result of the Pahalgam attack, India has closed its border crossings into Pakistan and suspended India’s 1960 Water Treaty with Pakistan. Anti-Pakistan protests have erupted in India’s capital New Delhi and in several other cities raising fears that anti-Muslim sentiment will grow in India. Pakistan responded by closing its border crossings with India and closed its air space to Indian aircraft.

In 2019, India modified the special self-governing status of Jammu and Kashmir, and security measures have been very tight since. Nevertheless, Kashmir is an important location for tourism within India. Within 48 hours, 90 percent of the tourists in Kashmir left – a blow to farmers who sold their food to tourists and to handicraft makers. The image of a young bride sitting beside her husband’s lifeless body has been viewed multiple times and is fixed into the Indian national consciousness as the symbol of the drama.

As tensions within Jammu and Kashmir have led to armed conflicts between India and Pakistan in the past, the governments of Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran have offered their good offices as mediators. On April 25, Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian Foreign Minister, said that both India and Pakistan are “brother nations” and that Iran was prepared to play a mediation role.

A ‘Beating of Retreat’ ceremony in Wagha, Pakistan, just next to India, on December 5, 2010. (C) Koshy Koshy

It may be that the governments of Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran are all too involved with advancing their own political interests in world politics to be taken as neutral mediators. Nevertheless, the India-Pakistan tensions are very dangerous and may easily grow worse if steps to reduce tensions are not taken very soon.

As Citizens of the World, we are particularly called to help create a climate for negotiations in good faith and to reduce tensions. Therefore, we need to use our worldwide links in a creative way to reduce tensions. We devote ourselves to the safeguard, restoration, and construction of peace through dialogue, cooperation and reconciliation.

One approach in which World Citizens participate is called Track Two. Track One is official government-to-government diplomacy among instructed representatives of the State although there can be “back channels” and informal contacts among the representatives of governments. Track Two consists of discussions held among non-officials of conflicting parties in an effort to clarify outstanding disputes and to explore the options for resolving them in settings that are less sensitive and often less structured and with less media attention than those associated with official negotiations. Those involved in Track Two talks usually include scholars, senior journalists, former government officials and businesspeople. Depending on the aims and styles of these meetings, the profile of Track Two participants will differ.

The specific purposes of Track Two talks vary, but they are all related to reducing tensions. By informing their respective publics, participants, may indirectly contribute to the formation of new priorities and policies.

Track Two is not the end of the story for insights gained must be incorporated into the positions of government negotiators. There is a little verse by the Quaker economist Kenneth Boulding who participated in many Track Two efforts,

When Track One will not do,
We have to travel on Track Two.
But for results to be abiding,
The Tracks must meet upon some siding.

Today, discussions among Nongovernmental Organizations with avenues of communication to Indian and Pakistani officials should begin now. Time may be in short supply.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

Dangerous Arms Control Withdrawal

In Being a World Citizen, Conflict Resolution, Current Events, Europe, Human Rights, Humanitarian Law, International Justice, NGOs, Peacebuilding, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, Track II, United Nations, World Law on April 7, 2025 at 6:30 AM

By René Wadlow

Early April 2025, Finland’s Prime Minister announced the state’s intention to withdraw from the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines, called for short the Ottawa Convention – reflecting the vital role that Canada played in its creation.

The Convention, which came into force on March 1, 1999, prohibits the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines. Over the decades, such anti-personnel mines have caused civilian harm, often of children, long after the hostilities have ended as they can be set off many years after they have been placed. The Convention has also advanced mine clearing operations, thus significantly reducing landmine-related harm and bolstered assistance for survivors.

As of March 2025, 165 states have ratified or acceded to the Convention. However, some major military powers including the USA, China, the Russian Federation, India, and Pakistan are still outside the treaty. Given the armed conflict in Ukraine, some states which have a land frontier with the Russian Federation have also indicated that they have started a withdrawal process: Finland with 1,340 km of frontier with the Russian Federation, Estonia with 294 km, Latvia with 284 km, Lithuania with 297 and Poland with 232 km.

In the same spirit as the Landmine Convention, a combination of progressive states such as Norway and Ireland and a combination of Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) including the Association of World Citizens (AWC) worked for the creation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions which came into force in August 2010. This Convention bans the use, production, and transfer of cluster munitions and sets deadlines for stockpile destruction and clearance of contaminated land.

Landmines and explosive remnants of a war site in South Sudan (C) UNMISS

Cluster munitions are warheads that scatter scores of smaller bombs. Many of these sub-munitions fail to detonate on impact, leaving them scattered on the ground ready to kill or maim when disturbed or handled. Reports from humanitarian organizations and mine-clearing groups have shown that civilians make up the vast majority of the victims of cluster bombs, especially children attracted by their small size and often bright colors.

The issue of the indiscriminate impact of cluster bombs was raised by the representative of the Quaker United Nations (UN) Office in Geneva and by me for the Association of World Citizens, starting in 1979. (1) Many of the same NGOs active on anti-personnel mines were also active on the cluster bomb issue – a combination of disarmament and humanitarian groups.

The withdrawal of states from the Landmine Convention is a dangerous weakening of an important arms control effort. Thus, as Citizens of the World, we ask states tempted to withdraw from the Convention on Landmines to reconsider their position. We call upon the government of Canada to reaffirm its support for the Ottawa Convention.

Note

(1) See René Wadlow, “Banning Cluster Bombs: Light in the Darkness of Conflicts”, Journal of Humanitarian Medicine, Palermo, Italy, July-September 2010.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.