Feminist for the Gift Economy

PEACECAST VI

Feminist for the Gift Economy (FGE)
Feminist International Radio Endeavor (FIRE)
Women's International News Gathering Service (WINGS)
Women´s Caucus for Gender Justice (WCGJ) of the ICC

In Search for Justice, Human Rights, and end to impunity and a Just Peace:
Women Activists of the Women´s Caucus for Gender Justice (WCGJ)

October 19, 2001

Topic of discussion:

The UN Security Council passed on Friday September 29th, 2001 (pm) Resolution no. 1373 (2001) which requires all states to take sweeping measures to 'combat' terrorism and opens the door to the use of force as one means of doing so. A matter of concern, among others, is that terrorism is not defined for the purposes of the resolution. This, and the statement about the 11^th of September terrorist attacks will be the focus of the program.

The Women´s PEACECASTS Project grew from several existing ideas and projects to rise to the occasion of the attack September 11 on the United States. From an initial core of participants, it is designed to expand outward and involve many and varied women in discussion across boundaries of nations, groups, philosophies, and also languages.

The final goal the project aims for is: Peace on Earth through realizing women's values.

Participants included:

Inday Sajour from the Philippines and Executive Director of the Caucus

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Crisna Aguya Patel, President of the Women´s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and
Felicity Hill of Australia and the Women´s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) representative 
in New York, following the UN process and other WILPF guests.

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The WCGJ Urgent Appeal:

Dear friends,
We would like to inform you of a matter of extreme importance and urgency. As many of you know by now, the Security Council of the United Nations quickly adopted a resolution no. 1373 (2001) which requires all states to take sweeping measures to 'combat' terrorism and opens the door to the use of force as one means of doing so.
The text of this resolution can be found at
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/sc7158.doc.htm

While passing resolutions aimed at maintaining or restoring international peace and security is the primary responsibility of the Security Council, it is a responsibility that must be discharged with utmost care and diligence ensuring that such actions do not pose a further threat to the international community.

While some aspects of the current Security Council resolution are commendableand will go a long way in dealing with terrorism, there are other aspects which have the potential to cause further threats to international peace.

One alarming aspect of the resolution is that terrorism is not defined for
purposes of the resolution which mandates sweeping measures to combat terrorism. On the issue of the lack of a consensus about what terrorism is, Britain's UN Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock simply said: ``for most of the time, if something looks like a terrorist and makes a noise like a terrorist, it's a terrorist - and we now know what to do about it in terms of what we set out in this resolution.''

Another matter of concern is the manner in which this resolution was passed. Since the September 11, 2001 attack on the WTC and the Pentagon, the United Nations has heightened security around its building. NGO access to the building is restricted. As such there was no presence of civil society to know what was going on and intervene in the process. Some who had information on the impending resolution understood the resolution would be passed on Monday Oct.1, 2001.

However, the resolution was hurriedly passed on Friday evening. Clearly, the US wanted the full support and backing of the United Nations to any actions or use of force against any states they claim to be responsible for the September 11, 2001.

A high-level debate on terrorism is scheduled IN the General Assembly on Monday and Tuesday October 1-2, 2001. In light of this rushed resolution by the Security Council, it is now even more important that states hear from people from their respective countries of the danger some of the language of the Security Council poses to international peace and security and of its potential interpretation to seriously curtail civil, political and human rights of asylum seekers, refugees and other members of minority groups internationally. WCGJ of ICC.

The innovative concept of the Women´s PEACE NET webcasts:

Listeners can forward comments or questions for the discussants either via e-mail or using the live Chat Room on the FIRE website.

The Chat Room is very simple to join and requires no special software.

Up to 400 listeners can currently listen at the same time to FIRE's netcasts live. Official SERVER statistics account to 1, 600 daily hits of the FIRE web radio during each of the first 3 Women´s PEACE NET webcasts.

The netcast audio is also saved (both with a recording device at the FIRE studio and as a sound file on the server) for later re-use both on the internet and by radio stations. (Radio stations can also broadcast live directly from the netcasts, although live netcast technology still lacks the high degree of consistency and reliability of older technologies such as satellite transmissions.)

The recorded audio is archived on the internet for later listening, whenever people want to go to the site and listen. Copies are also sent to WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service and other producers (either on recorded media in the mail or as files over the internet). The audio is then edited and duplicated for further release to radio stations, in standard radio station formats. The programs are distributed to radio stations by the usual means: on cassettes or CDs, over satellites, and through audio distribution sites on the internet.

Press, electronic mails and magazine journalists are listening to the Women´s PEACE NET webcasts and producing features for their media.

For further information, please contact:

Feminists for the Gift Economy www.for-giving.org contact: Genevieve Vaughan, Founder	WINGS – Women´s International News Gathering Service P.O. Box 33220 Austin TX 78764 USA (512)416-9000 wings@wings.org
FIRE – Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE) PO Box 239, Ciudad Colón,Costa Rica.tel fax 5062491319 email: fuegocr@racsa.co.cr www.fire.or.cr	Women´s Caucus for Genr Justice of the International Criminal Court (ICC) caucus@iccwomen.org