18 October 2017, Jakarta, Indonesia

(MPI Director Chris Vertucci participated in this forum)

We, 182 peacebuilders from twenty-one countries in Asia, Middle East, Canada and United States of America met in Jakarta, Indonesia for the 6th Action Asia Peacebuilders’ Forum on the 16th to 18th of October 2017 to gather as a community to discuss and explore solutions under the theme “Preventing Violent Extremism: A Peacebuilding Perspective”.

We declare our firm collective commitment:

We fervently uphold Action Asia’s shared vision of a world of justice and peace, where basic needs are met, and dignity and human rights are respected;

While we acknowledge the United Nation’s efforts mandating member states to create a National Plan of Action to prevent violent extremism, we believe that national and local governments, and local and international resource agencies should seriously consider a paradigm shift recognizing that the issue on violent extremism is not just a security and law enforcement concern, which underscores the necessity for inclusivity such as a consultative approach to all stakeholders most importantly to those directly affected by conflicts and by committing appropriate resources to achieve these goals;

The Interfaith Cooperation Forum has published their September 2017 issue of faith and peace. Two of the articles are reflections from two of the School of Peace (SOP) participants in the 2017 program.

  pdf Download the September 2017 issue of faith and peace here(1.84 MB) .

The September 2017 faith and peace newsletter includes the following articles:

• Formosa and Environmental Conservation
• Traditional Oarsmen and Development
• Interfaith Strengthening Culture
• Is a Clamor for Independence a Punishable Crime?
• Beirut Declaration on Faith for Rights

  pdf Download the 2017 NARPI newsletter here(1.93 MB) , sharing more about the 2017 NARPI Summer Peacebuilding Training in Okinawa.

Also, here are links to the videos from this year's training:
NARPI Week 1 video
Field Trip video
NARPI Week 2 video

And here are links to the photos:
NARPI 2017 Week 1 Photos
NARPI 2017 Field Trip Photos
NARPI 2017 Week 2 Photos

To those who were together in Okinawa, thank you for your presence and contributions! To those who gave financial support, thank you for helping NARPI to continue! We appreciate each of you, the important work you do, and the ways that you support this small effort for peace in Northeast Asia.

A three-day seminar (26-28 May 2017) was conducted on “Women in Peace building” by Nagaland Catholic Women Association in Collaboration with Peace Channel and Don Bosco Institute of Development & Leadership (DBIDL) Dimapur, Nagaland. The seminar was organised inorder to educate and empower the women about their rights and train them on the skills and techniques of peace to work for peace building in the society. The Resource Persons for the seminar were Fr. Dr. C. P. Anto (Founder & Director of Peace Channel), Dr. Akum Longchar (Chief Editor & CEO Morung Express), Dr. Rosemary Dzuvichu (Head of English Dept. Nagaland University cum Advisor of Naga Women Association), Mrs. Liangsi Niumai (Advocate, Director of Care-Centre for Environment and Rural Poor Dimapur), Mr. Samir Bordoloi (a freelance organic Farmer, Consultant and an Agripreneur). The topics which were being stressed upon by the resource persons during the seminar were “Skills & Status of Women in conflict situation,” “Women participation in conflict resolution & peacebuilding,” “Role of women in peacebuilding activities,” "Women as an agents for positive change” and “To bring peace in the society by improving the economy through organic farming.” The seminar consisted of lectures, group discussions, peace celebration, audio visual learning sessions and different exercises to learn the importance of Truth, Mercy, Justice and Peace and to convey the message of our present society.