2018 Peace and Global Security Workshops
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Triggering Migration: How Guns and Greed Fuel Conflict and Displacement
The world is experiencing historically high levels of forced displacement, resulting from armed conflict, counter-terrorism, and war. Although global arms sales have been on the decline in recent years, that trend shifted in 2017 as global arms sales increased and will again in 2018 and beyond. While the U.S. loosens restrictions on weapon sales, we have closed our door to those seeking refuge from violence. Come and learn about how the arms trade and specific weapons, like armed drones, triggers and fuels violence resulting in displacement and migration around the globe. Experts will address the impact that weapons can have on communities and how we can push governments to adopt stricter arms export policies.
Speakers:
Kate Kizer, Policy Director at Win Without War
Saba Ismail, Aware Girls
Rev. Michael Neuroth, Policy Advocate, United Church of Christ
Transforming the U.S. Foreign Policy Framework
Interactive session on the framework of United States Foreign Policy and the connections between this framework and specific policy concerns through the lens of uprootedness. How does U.S. militarism and a quest for economic dominance contribute to global migration and displacement around the world? We will examine the need to reshape our U.S. foreign policy and have discussions around a transformation of this framework into a faithful foreign policy framework and what that might look like coming from the Christian community. We will explore alternatives such as Shared Security, Nonviolence and Just Peace. Join us!
Speakers:
Aura Kanegis, American Friends Service Committee
Eli McCarthy, Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM) and Georgetown University
Supporting Refugees in Your Community – A Positive Act of Resistance
What does it look like to support refugee resettlement in your community? How can directly supporting families equip individuals for advocacy? How can refugee resettlement work be a form of faithful resistance? Come hear from organizers in Virginia and New Jersey… one from an interfaith network of hundreds of volunteers that grew out of the refugee crisis in recent years… and ¬one from a church that has assisted 12 families over the last 60 years.
Speakers:
Representative of NOVA Friends of Refugees
Tom Charles, Co-chair of the Refugee Resettlement Committee, Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton, NJ
Migration Push Factors in Central America’s Northern Triangle
Violence, economic insecurity, and inability to meet certain basic human needs such as food and nutrition can all play a role in pushing migrants from their homes. Experts and individuals living in and from the Northern Triangle will share evidence and stories around the push factors forcing migrants to flee. Presenters will also discuss community-based efforts to reduce these factors. Attendees will have the opportunity to develop and practice an advocacy ask around 0000immigration/push factors using evidence they have learned, stories from their own communities, and a Biblical basis and narrative.
Speakers:
Larry Parr, Maryknoll Lay Missioner based in El Salvador
Representative from the World Food Programme
Moderator: Representative from Bread for the World, Washington, D.C.
Driving Displacement in Syria: Militarization and Migration
Co-sponsored with Middle East section. Please see workshop description on that page.
A People and Peninsula Divided: Addressing Uprootedness in Korea as a Key to Peace and Reunification
Co-sponsored with Asia Pacific section. Please see workshop description on that page.