Nato concept
NATO's essential and enduring purpose set out in the Washington Treaty, is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by political and military means. Based on common values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, the Alliance has striven since its inception to secure a just and lasting peaceful order in Europe. The achievement of this aim can be put at risk by crisis and conflict affecting the security of the Euro-Atlantic area. The Alliance therefore not only ensures the defense of its members but contributes to peace and stability in this region.
The fundamental guiding principle by which the Alliance works is that of common commitment and mutual cooperation among sovereign states in support of the indivisibility of security for all of its members. Solidarity and cohesion within the Alliance, through daily cooperation in both the political and military spheres, ensure that no single Ally is forced to rely upon its own national efforts alone in dealing with basic security challenges. Without depriving member states of their right and duty to assume their sovereign responsibilities in the field of defense, the Alliance enables them through collective effort to realize their essential national security objectives.
To achieve its essential purpose, as an Alliance of nations committed to the Washington Treaty and the United Nations Charter, the Alliance performs the following fundamental security tasks:
Security: To provide one of the indispensable foundations for a stable Euro-Atlantic security environment, based on the growth of democratic institutions and commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes, in which no country would be able to intimidate or coerce any other through the threat or use of force.
Consultation: To serve, as provided for in Article 4 of the Washington Treaty, as an essential transatlantic forum for Allied consultations on any issues that affect their vital interests, including possible developments posing risks for members' security, and for appropriate co-ordination of their efforts in fields of common concern.
Deterrence and Defense: To deter and defend against any threat of aggression against any NATO member state as provided for in Articles 5 and 6 of the Washington Treaty.
Security challenges and risks
Notwithstanding positive developments in the strategic environment and the fact that large-scale conventional aggression against the Alliance is highly unlikely, the possibility of such a threat emerging over the longer term exists. The security of the Alliance remains subject to a wide variety of military and non-military risks which are multi-directional and often difficult to predict.
These risks include uncertainty and instability in and around the Euro-Atlantic area and the possibility of regional crises at the periphery of the Alliance, which could evolve rapidly. Some countries in and around the Euro-Atlantic area face serious economic, social and political difficulties. Ethnic and religious rivalries, territorial disputes, inadequate or failed efforts at reform, the abuse of human rights, and the dissolution of states can lead to local and even regional instability. The resulting tensions could lead to crises affecting Euro-Atlantic stability, to human suffering, and to armed conflicts. Such conflicts could affect the security of the Alliance by spilling over into neighbouring countries, including NATO countries, or in other ways, and could also affect the security of other states.
The existence of powerful nuclear forces outside the Alliance also constitutes a significant factor which the Alliance has to take into account if security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area are to be maintained.
The proliferation of NBC (Nuclear, Bacteriological and Chemical) weapons and their means of delivery remains a matter of serious concern. In spite of welcome progress in strengthening international non-proliferation regimes, major challenges with respect to proliferation remain. The Alliance recognizes that proliferation can occur despite efforts to prevent it and can pose a direct military threat to the Allies' populations, territory, and forces. Some states, including on NATO's periphery and in other regions, sell or acquire or try to acquire NBC weapons and delivery means. Commodities and technology that could be used to build these weapons of mass destruction and their delivery means are becoming more common, while detection and prevention of illicit trade in these materials and know-how continues to be difficult. Non-state actors have shown the potential to create and use some of these weapons.
The global spread of technology that can be of use in the production of weapons may result in the greater availability of sophisticated military capabilities, permitting adversaries to acquire highly capable offensive and defensive air, land, and sea-borne systems, cruise missiles, and other advanced weaponry. In addition, state and non-state adversaries may try to exploit the Alliance's growing reliance on information systems through information operations designed to disrupt such systems. They may attempt to use strategies of this kind to counter NATO's superiority in traditional weaponry.
Any armed attack on the territory of the Allies, from whatever direction, would be covered by Articles 5 and 6 of the Washington Treaty. However, Alliance's security must also take account of the global context. Alliance security interests can be affected by other risks of a wider nature, including acts of terrorism, sabotage and organized crime, and by the disruption of the flow of vital resources. The uncontrolled movement of large numbers of people, particularly as a consequence of armed conflicts, can also pose problems for security and stability affecting the Alliance. Arrangements exist within the Alliance for consultation among the Allies under Article 4 of the Washington Treaty and, where appropriate, co-ordination of their efforts including their responses to risks of this kind.
Give Russian equivalents of the following words and phrases.
To safeguard; the rule of law; a commitment; a challenge; a resolution of disputes; to intimidate; to coerce; to affect; vital; a deterrence; to deter; a large-scale conventional aggression; a rivalry; the abuse of human rights; a dissolution; a proliferation; to pose a threat to; delivery means; weapons of mass destruction (WMD); offensive and defensive advanced weaponry; to provide for; adversary.
Give English equivalents of the following words and phrases and make up your own sentences or situations with them.
Роспуск; средства доставки (оружия массового поражения); защищать; представлять угрозу; обязательство; вызов; устрашать; враг/противник; решение споров; запугивать; нарушать права человека; принуждать; современное наступательное и оборонительное вооружение; затрагивать/влиять; жизненно важный; устрашение; широкомасштабная агрессия с применением обычного вооружения; оружие массового поражения; соперничество; распространение (оружия массового поражения); предусматривать/предписывать; верховенство закона.
4. Read the article again and answer the questions.
1) What is the official purpose of NATO?
2) What is NATO based on?
3) What is the fundamental NATO principle?
4) Are NATO allies encouraged to rely upon their own national efforts alone in dealing with basic security challenges? And why?
5) What are NATO principle tasks? What do they mean?
6) What is highly unlikely in NATO security environment?
7) What non-military challenges does NATO face today?
8) Who do you think is meant by "powerful nuclear forces outside NATO" that constitutes a significant factor which the Alliance has to take into account?
9) What does the proliferation challenge mean?
5. Comment on the following statements.
1) NATO purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by political and military means.
2) NATO principle task is defense of its members.
3) Today the biggest threat to NATO is a large-scale conventional aggression against the Alliance.
4) Non-military challenges pose the most serious threat to NATO today,
Look at the NATO security challenges and risks again and make up a chart defining which of them are of a vital and peripheral nature.
Vital Peripheral
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
7. Give a summary of the NATO concept in English using the words and expressions from the previous exercises.
8. Make a presentation on the topics below and answer the questions of the audience:
1. NATO's role and tasks today.
2. Should Russia join NATO?
Part 2. Non-Governmental Organizations.
PREVIEW
Do you know any NGOs? What’re their goals? Do you think they have any aims which are not stated openly?
What’s the main difference between IGOs and NGOs?
STRATEGIC VOCABULARY
Surplus funds - more than what is needed or used; extra money
Foundation - an organization or institution established by endowment with provision for future maintenance
To Endow – provide something freely, donate
Suffrage - the right of voting, franchise; the exercise of such right
Welfare - the state of doing well especially in respect to good fortune, happiness, well-being, or prosperity; aid in the form of money or necessities for those in need
Grassroots organizations – the one driven by the politics of a community; the term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures. Grassroots movements are often at the local level, as many volunteers in the community give their time to support the local party, which can lead to helping the national party. For instance, a grassroots movement can lead to significant voter registration for a political party, which in turn helps the state and national parties.
Advocacy – protection or promotion of particular cause or policy
Alleviation - to make (as suffering) more bearable; to partially remove or correct
To implement - to give practical effect to and ensure of actual fulfillment by concrete measures
To raise fund - to get together for a purpose: collect
To expatriate - to withdraw (oneself) from residence in or allegiance to one's native country
READING
What is a Non-Governmental Organization?
By Professor Peter Willetts, City University, London
NGOs and their Independence from Governments
The most difficult question about the independence of NGOs is whether they come under governmental influence. Individual governments do at times try to influence the NGO community in a particular field, by establishing NGOs that promote their policies. This has been recognized by quite common use of the acronym GONGO, to label a government-organized NGO. Also, in more authoritarian societies, NGOs may find it very difficult to act independently and they may not receive acknowledgment from other political actors even when they are acting independently. Beyond these unusual situations, there is a widespread prejudice that government funding leads to government control. In the field of human rights, it would damage an NGO for such a perception to arise, so Amnesty International has strict rules that it will not accept direct government funding for normal activities. On the other hand, development and humanitarian relief NGOs need substantial resources, to run their operational programs, so most of them readily accept official funds. While these NGOs would like the security of a guaranteed budget for their administrative overheads, governments generally only want to support field costs for projects.
Nominally NGOs may appear to be independent, when they design their own programs, but government influence can arise indirectly if the program is designed to make it more likely that government grants or contracts will be forthcoming. On the other hand, confident experienced NGOs can appeal for funding for new approaches and in so doing cause government officials to re-assess policy. The best example of this is the way in which NGOs, particularly the International Planned Parenthood Federation, dragged governments into adopting population programs. There is no obvious method to identify the direction of influence, without detailed knowledge of the relationship between an NGO and a government. Environmental NGOs may have either type of funding relationship. Conservation and research groups may happily obtain government funds to support their programs: some are innovative and some are not. Beyond these situations, radical campaigning groups may be unwilling and unable to attract government funds.
NGOs and their Relations with Business and Commerce
A few intergovernmental economic organizations do allow an individual company to have access under their provisions for NGOs, but this is only in cases where there are loose ad hoc procedures and there are no formal institutional arrangements. However, as with political parties, non-profit-making federations of companies, established for industry-wide collaboration and to act as lobbies, are widely accepted. From the earliest days of the UN, bodies such as the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Organization of Employers and similar organizations for particular economic sectors have been included among the NGOs. Until the 1990s, they were not of much significance in the UN itself, but they have always been important in the specialized agencies. The more technical the question under discussion, the more the policy-making process will draw on their expertise.
One of the outcomes of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the UN Conference on Environment and Development, was to draw companies into global environmental politics and hence more into the work of ECOSOC. Sectoral bodies are prominent when questions such as energy or transport are on the agenda. In addition, issue-oriented commercial grouping have been formed. The most prominent is the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, a successor to various lobbies that focused on the Earth Summit, to promote environmentally friendly business. The oil companies have sound environmental credentials in some forums, but not in others. The Oil Companies International Maritime Forum is making a useful contribution to the reduction of oil pollution at sea, but the Global Climate Coalition opposes reductions in oil consumption. OCIMF is registered as an NGO by the International Maritime Organization, and the GCC is admitted as an observer to the sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 1999, the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, explicitly called upon companies to widen their social responsibilities by entering into a Global Compact with the UN. Companies that do so agree to endorse nine principles, covering promotion of a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labor standards and protection of the environment. Soon afterwards, global business organizations, several hundred companies and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions responded positively, but only a handful of human rights, environment and development NGOs did so. There remains a deep suspicion among many such NGOs about the possibility of companies implementing commitments to social responsibility.
Despite the suspicion of business, some NGOs have chosen to engage directly in collaborative arrangements to formulate and monitor statements of business ethics. This has been done both on an industry-wide basis and with individual companies. For example, WWF (known as the Worldwide Fund for Nature until July 2000) took the lead in forming the Forest Stewardship Council in 1993 and the Marine Stewardship Council in 1996. Each Council works to promote sustainable practices, with participating companies gaining the benefit of having their products endorsed by the NGOs as being environmentally friendly. Similarly, various companies are having environmental and/or social audits undertaken on an annual basis, by independent assessors.
Summary
The term, "non-governmental organization" or NGO, came into currency in 1945 because of the need for the UN to differentiate in its Charter between participation rights for intergovernmental specialized agencies and those for international private organizations. At the UN, virtually all types of private bodies can be recognized as NGOs. They only have to be independent from government control, not seeking to challenge governments either as a political party or by a narrow focus on human rights, non-profit-making and non-criminal.
The structures of NGOs vary considerably. They can be global hierarchies, with either a relatively strong central authority or a more loose federal arrangement. Alternatively, they may be based in a single country and operate transnationally. With the improvement in communications, more locally-based groups, referred to as grass-roots organizations or community based organizations, have become active at the national or even the global level. Increasingly this occurs through the formation of coalitions. There are international umbrella NGOs, providing an institutional structure for different NGOs that do not share a common identity. There are also looser issue-based networks and ad hoc caucuses, lobbying at UN conferences. In environmental politics, this occurs in the unique form of the nine "Major Groups".
At times NGOs are contrasted with social movements. Much as proponents of social movements may wish to see movements as being more progressive and more dynamic than NGOs, this is a false dichotomy. NGOs are components of social movements. Similarly, civil society is the broader concept to cover all social activity by individuals, groups and movements. It remains a matter of contention whether civil society also covers all economic activity. Usually, society is seen as being composed of three sectors: government, the private sector and civil society, excluding businesses.
NGOs are so diverse and so controversial that it is not possible to support, or be opposed to, all NGOs. They may claim to be the voice of the people and to have greater legitimacy than governments, but this can only be a plausible claim under authoritarian governments. However, their role as participants in democratic debate does not depend upon any claim to representative legitimacy.
Answer the following questions. Prove your answers with the information from the text:
1. In which way and in which situations does the government influence the NGOs directly?
2. Which kinds of NGOs accept official, statе funds? Why?
3. The relationship between governments and NGОs can be of different types, cannot they? Describe it.
4. Why does the prejudice exist that governmental funding leads to the government control of activities performed by the organization? Why is this prejudice considered to be a prejudice, not a well-known fact?
5. Which type of NGОs is widely accepted in the world of business and commerce?
6. Describe shortly the history of NGOs connected with corporations and businesses?
7. Except funding, NGOs and businesses benefit from each other. In which way?
8. Many companies are skeptical about the changes in their responsibilities promoted by numerous NGO in social and trade field. Why?
9. Could you give successful examples of NGOs and businesses collaboration?
10. Please, give the modern day understanding of all NGOs presented by the UN.
11. What kind of organization is and umbrella NGO?
12. What’s the relationship between NGO and a social movement?
13. Why do some organizations claim themselves having greater legitimacy than governments? Does it coincide with the reality?
Complete the word formation table. Use a dictionary if necessary.
verb |
noun |
adjective |
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|
authoritarian |
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humanitarian |
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сonservation |
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provision |
|
|
significance |
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|
commitment |
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|
credentials |
|
endorse |
|
|
implement |
|
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|
|
sustainable |
|
assessors |
|
|
|
virtual |
|
contention |
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|
|
legitimacy |
|
|
plausible |
II. Give the characteristic feature from the table to each of the listed NGOs.
National Organization For Women
World Organization of the Scout Movement
Compassion International
Mothers of Beslan
GOLOS Association
Chinese Overseas Movement of Advanced Culture
Muslim Hands
Defining Criteria |
Organizational Structures and Nomenclatures |
Criteria used in defining NGOs and related concepts: size organizational structure operational programme areas geographical specificity funding sources membership structures position on the project cycle |
Some of the terms used to define NGOs based on its organizational format: non-governmental organization non-profit organization private voluntary organization non-governmental development organization government-organized NGO [GONGO] donor-organized NGO [DONGO] social movements civil society community-based organization people's organization grassroots organization |
Operational Areas |
Tools and Strategies |
Some of the operational areas within which NGOs have worked, independently and in collaboration with other organizations: organization of the community democracy education enterprise development environment health housing human rights infrastructure political franchise poverty alleviation |
Intervening tools and strategies adopted by NGOs in their projects: community organizing decision support information dissemination leadership development participation training and development workshops |
Membership Structures |
Catch-phrases and Cliches |
Membership structures of NGOs can consist of: professionals women youth community religion volunteers students |
Catch-phrases and cliches used in NGO literature, with tongue firmly placed in the cheek: bottom-up disadvantaged charity civil society empowerment grassroots independence morality social capital sustainability top-down |
LISTENING COMPREHENSION
You will listen to the report about the program of Rockefeller foundation "Doorway to Dreams: Savings Innovations for Low-Income Consumers" (June 2008, Boston, MA). They help low income families to make long-term savings with the help of a savings bond
Savings Bonds have been called "the All American Investment." They are an easy way to save money safely and get a good market return. Rates change every May and November based on either current market rates or inflation.
There are two main types of bonds offered. The Inflation Indexed - or I Bond - is designed to offer all Americans a way to save that protects the purchasing power of their investment by assuring them a real rate of return over and above inflation. I Bonds have features that make them attractive to many investors. They are sold at face value in denominations of $50, $75, $100, $200, $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 and earn interest for as long as 30 years. I Bond earnings are added every month and interest is compounded semiannually. They are state and local income tax exempt and federal income tax on I Bond earnings can be deferred until the bonds are cashed or stop earning interest after 30 years. Investors cashing I Bonds before five years are subject to a 3-month earnings penalty.
WHILE-LISTENING QUESTIONS.
From the report you can grasp the difference between the savings bond and other savings opportunities offered by other financial organizations. What's it?
Innumerate the pluses of the pros of the savings bond.
Why can't low-income families afford low term savings accounts, deposits?
How is the tax return policy fulfilled with the help Rockefeller Found, support?
Who usually buys those savings bonds? Why?
Tick the statements True, False, No Information:
The program started with the tax refund system for low income families investigation.
The currently running cheque clearance system gave rather good opportunity for everyone to save some money.
The participant of the program said that she's buying those bonds for her back-up.
Differed tax assets (DTA) provide those I-bonds for participants of the 'Doorway To Dreams Program'.
The co-ownership of the bond is impossible: you either owe it personally or gift it to whoever you like.
80% of the people who had bought those savings bonds kept them to themselves as a retirement safeguard.
The interviewee is going to give a savings bond for her daughter while she's during her college career.
64% of all the people at tax savings sites had a deposit certificates, but they didn't feel the advantages of such an account.
People willing to get a bond have to pre-order it.
If the owner of the bond moves somewhere abroad they can redeem their bonds in any financial institution available.
If you buy a savings bond, you'll be able to buy a house in 5 years.
The interviewee bought savings bonds for her godchildren once they were kids.
The savings bonds let you earn a huge interest in short time period.
Translate following phrases regarding the report information:
процентная ставка – i______ (r______)
совместное владение – c______
крупноформатная электронная таблица - (e ) s______
ДС (депозитный сертификат) – с______ of d______
погасить облигацию – r_____ b______
Define the difference:
savings bond
account
deposit
Part 3. Conflicts, Wars, Terrorism.
STRATEGIC VOCABULARY
1) To escalate - to make or become greater or more serious;
2) A militant - person who fights, is aggressive;
3) To claim responsibility for – admit the complicity in this or that criminal/ terroristic action;
4) Suicide bombing/attack - is an attack intended to kill others and inflict widespread damage, while the attacker intends to die as well in the process;
5) Refugee camp – a refugee camp is a temporary camp built to receive refugees;
6) A refugee – is a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail him/herself of the protection of that country;
7) To bolster (defenses) - to give a boost to smth;
8) To mass troops – increase the number of troops and armament;
9) To repulse - to drive or beat back;
10) To realign - to reorganize or make new groupings of;
11) Retaliation - to repay (as an injury) in kind;
12) To perpetrate - to produce, perform, or execute (something likened to a crime);
13) Intelligence - an agency engaged in obtaining information concerning an enemy or possible enemy or an area;
14) Ceasefire - a military order to cease firing; a suspension of active hostilities;
15) To constrain - to force by imposed stricture, restriction, or limitation;
16) Cruise missile - a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and uses a lifting wing and a propulsion system, usually a jet engine, to allow sustained flight; it is essentially a flying bomb;
17) Deterrence - the act or process of the maintenance of military power for the purpose of discouraging attack;
18) START - Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty;
19) WMD proliferation – proliferation (increase in number) of Weapons of Mass Destruction
CAN YOU GUESS?
1. Out of approximately 193 countries in the world, how many countries experienced armed conflict in 2002?
a. 21
b. 42 (In the last 20 years there have been more than 120 wars worldwide.)
c. 67
2. What proportion of the world's countries spent more on the military than on health-care in 2002?
a. one-fifth (1 in 5)
b. one-third (1 in 3) (An average of 22 billion US dollars a year is spent on arms by countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. From 1998 to 2001 the USA, the UK and France earned more income from arms sales to developing countries than they gave in aid.)
c. half (1 in 2)
3. Between 1997 and 2001 what percentage of developing countries experienced a civil war?
a. 26%
b. 41%
c. 56% (Wars today are concentrated in the poorest countries and these countries can very easily get caught up in a cycle of poverty and conflict.)
4. In World War One, what percentage of casualties were civilians?
a. 14 %
b. 67 %
c. 90 %
5. What percentage of casualties were civilians in World War Two?
a. 14 %
b. 67 %
c. 90 %
6. What proportion of those killed in conflict since 1989 have been non-combatants (civilians)?
a. 14 %
b. 67 %
c. 90 % (This is the figure since the end in 1989 of the 'Cold War' which marked a change in the types of conflicts and how they were paid for.)
7. How many small arm weapons are there in the world?
a. 639 million (That is equal to one for every ten people. 8 million more small arms are produced every year.)*
b. 749 million
c. 829 million
8. What percentage of small arms are in civilian hands (not soldiers)?
a. 60 % (Small arms kill more people than Weapons of Mass Destruction.)
b. 70 %
c. 80%
9. How many children are estimated to be involved in conflicts worldwide (2002)?
a. 3,000
b. 30,000
c. 300,000 (It is estimated that roughly 300,000 children under the age of 18 are still participating in armed conflicts around the world.)
10. Article 38 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that you have a right to protection in times of war and should not have to be in an army or take part in a battle under what age?
a. 12
b. 15 (Part three of Article 38 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states: ‘Parties shall refrain from recruiting any person who has not attained the age of 15 years into their armed forces. In recruiting among those persons who have attained the age of 15 years but who have not attained the age of18, parties shall endeavour to give priority to those who are oldest.’)
c. 21
“Peace” and “Violence”
The concept of peace has an important cultural dimension. Traditionally in oriental cultures, peace has to do more with inner peace (peace in our minds or hearts) while in the western world, peace is understood to be outside the individuals (absence of war or violent conflict). For example, in India the word peace is "shanti" and implies a perfect order of the mind or peace of mind. Gandhi based his philosophy and strategy on a concept called Ahimsa, which means broadly to refrain from anything at all harmful. He said, "literally speaking, Ahimsa means non-violence. But to me it has a much higher, an infinitely higher meaning. It means that you may not offend anybody; you may not harbour uncharitable thoughts, even in connection with those who you consider your enemies. To one who follows this doctrine, there are no enemies". In the Maya tradition, peace refers to the concept of welfare; it is linked to the idea of a perfect balance between the different areas of our lives.
They are many definitions of peace. One of them that has had a strong influence is the distinction that has been made between positive and negative peace by Johan Galtung, an internationally renowned Norwegian scholar and researcher in this field.
Negative peace means that there is no war, no violent conflict between states or within states such as the wars in the Balkans.
On the other hand, positive peace means no war or violent conflict combined with a situation where there is equity, justice and development.
We could summarize these two concepts the following way:
no war = negative peace
no war + social justice/development = positive peace
A high level of social justice and a minimum level of violence therefore characterize positive peace.
While some people think that all the problems have been fixed when a war has stopped, in reality a great deal of work remains to be done, namely, to rebuild the country and develop structures that will lead to more social justice and development for all the people living in the countries affected.
We can therefore say that peace is not only a matter of disarmament but it also has to do with the way people live.
??? Who should be responsible for implementing strategies preventing violence of any kind in your own community?
But can we talk about peace without speaking of violence?
There are many definitions of violence, one of which is that violence is the use of strength - overt or hidden - with the objective of obtaining from an individual or a group something they do not want to consent to freely.
There are different kinds of violence. We can distinguish between direct and indirect (or structural) violence:
Direct violence = physical violence
Indirect or structural violence = poverty, exploitation, social injustice, no democracy, etc.
Therefore, there is peace when there is no direct and no indirect violence.
What is the cost of violence?
Key date
The third Tuesday of September each year
International Day of Peace
In a situation of non-peace, the parties involved in the conflict see their economic and social rights being violated (economy of the country disrupted, black market, loss of jobs or homes, etc.) as well as their civil and political rights (the right to life is threatened, as well as the right not to be tortured or the right to physical integrity, etc.). The short- and long-term consequences of a violent conflict in terms of human rights violations are devastating and leave deep scars in societies.
Linking escalating intolerance and violence, the Education Pack gives a different view on these issues; see the text following "Differences between people are not valued as an asset, they more usually lead to suspicion or rejection".
The statistics and information below illustrate the cost of violence in human and monetary terms.
Direct violence:
1) In Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite the 1995 General Framework Peace Agreements, between 850000 and 1.2 million people are still displaced internally or living as refugees; around 17000 people are still reported as having disappeared.
2) 800000 people died in three months during the 1994 war in Rwanda.
3) The total number of people who died during the first world war was 8538315
4) In the 1990s, civil wars killed 5 million people worldwide.
5) 500 million small arms are in circulation around the world.
6) In the 1990s, wars and internal conflicts forced 50 million people to flee from their homes.
7) 800 deaths a month are due to anti-personnel mines (landmines).
8) In 1995, 53 million people - one out of every 115 people on earth - were uprooted from their homes, either being displaced within their countries or becoming refugees abroad.
Indirect violence:
1) Around 17 million people die every year from lack of medicine.
2) About 24000 people die from the effects of hunger each day. That is about one person every 3.5 seconds.
3) More than 30000 children a day die from mainly preventable diseases.
Violence in general not only leaves physical scars but also emotional scars on any person that has participated either directly or indirectly in conflict situations such as wars or situations of interpersonal violence such as family violence. These scars can provoke long-term traumas that are not visible in people. They are impossible to estimate in terms of monetary costs but nevertheless have a high human cost.
??? Do you think that there should be rules limiting the levels of violence in TV programs?
Is violence natural?
Key date
25 November
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
Many people are convinced that human beings are naturally violent and that consequently we cannot avoid wars, conflicts and general violence in our lives and our societies. Other specialists in this field claim that we can avoid thinking, feeling and acting violently. The Seville Statement on Violence elaborated in 1986 by a group of scholars and scientists from many countries, North and South, East and West, confirms this by stating that:
"It is scientifically incorrect to say that we have inherited a tendency to make war from our animal ancestors.... Warfare is a solely human phenomenon and does not occur in other animals....
There are cultures that have not engaged in war for centuries and there are cultures which have engaged in war frequently at some times and not at others....
It is scientifically incorrect to say that war or any other violent behavior is genetically programmed into our human nature....
It is scientifically incorrect to say that humans have a "violent brain"... how we act is shaped by how we have been conditioned and socialized...".
Most of us are conditioned to react aggressively and violently by our environments. We learn to think, feel and act aggressively and in some cases violently. Wherever we live, we are submitted to a social and cultural pressure that conditions us to read about violence, watch violence, and hear about violence almost constantly. Television programs, advertisements, newspapers, video games and the movie and music industries contribute largely to this situation. Before reaching adolescence, a child has seen thousands of murders and violent acts just by watching television. Our modern societies, whether consciously or not, make an apology for violence. Violence is seen as being of positive value. In most cultures, saying no to violence and avoiding physical violence or confrontation is perceived as a sign of weakness especially for men, who are put under a lot of pressure by their peers from a very young age.
??? Do you agree with the statement that violence is never justified, even against the most violent people?
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