WACC Statement on International Day of Peace (21 September 2010)

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

WACC Statement on International Day of Peace (21 September 2010)

To commemorate International Day of Peace, September 21, the World
Association for Christian Communication (WACC) is calling on
individuals and civil society organizations, to communicate peace and
to create practical expressions of peace-building.

> Full statement...

WACC is celebrating International Peace Day together with Radio Okapi,
based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The International Press
Institute (IPI) has honoured Radio Okapi with its 2010 Free Media
Pioneer award.

Radio Okapi began broadcasting in 2002 as a public service station and
has contributed to peace and democratisation with its professionalism
and ethical stance, with daily broadcasts in five languages. In 2008
the WACC-SIGNIS Human Rights Award went to the documentary "Shock
Waves", which highlights the work of Radio Okapi. Since then the
radio station has set up a news website giving the outside world a
perspective on the country's developments.

Radio Okapi demonstrates the value and significance of peace
journalism, which lies at the heart of WACC's programme
"Communication for Peace". Peace journalism is when editors and
reporters make choices ­ of what to report, and how to report it ­
?
that create opportunities for society at large to consider non-violent
responses to conflict. It reveals the contexts of conflict, listens to
all sides, explores hidden agendas, and highlights a range of peace
ideas and initiatives.

Radio Okapi journalists continue to receive threats because of their
news reporting of corruption, on fighting between rebels, government
forces and local militants, and its coverage of issues that directly
impact local communities. Two of its journalists have been murdered
since 2007.

Elsewhere in the Democratic Republic of the Congo WACC is partnering
with the Federation de Femmes pour la Paix et le Developpement
(FEPADE) in a project aimed at reducing the impact of collective
trauma and aiding the process of mutual healing.

In East Africa WACC has assisted the Kenya Pastoralist Journalist
Network (KPJN) in an attempt to rebuild local communities and
strengthen traditional methods of conflict resolution, using
communication to empower ex-combatants and reintegrate them into
society.

And in Fiji, WACC is concluding a project with femLINKPACIFIC aimed at
identifying media and practices that advance non-violent and gender
inclusive transformation of local and national conflicts and at
developing a collective understanding of gender-inclusive peace media
and communications.

International Day of Peace is an opportunity for individuals and civil
society organizations, to communicate peace and to create practical
expressions of peace-building. As such it is a call to action that
WACC wholeheartedly endorses from its perspective of communication for
social justice for all.

The World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) is an
international non-governmental organization promotes communication for
social change. It believes that communication is a basic human right
that defines people's common humanity, strengthens cultures, enables
participation, creates community and challenges tyranny and
oppression. See  http://www.waccglobal.org