International Committee for the Peace Council: Current Annual Report

• Peace Councilors came to Belfast, Northern Ireland, June 16-20, 2003, to meet with local peacemakers and groups promoting reconciliation in Northern Ireland. See related stories: Statement by the Peace Council (June 20, 2003), and "Northern Ireland: Still Troubled."

• The Peace Council continued its grants for peace work in areas of the Sudan torn by decades of civil war, through contacts with Maryknoll Sisters in the area. Sudanese Women's Voice for Peace, a local non-governmental organization, used Peace Council funds for youth activities that promote peace and provide occupational training to former child soldiers.

• The International Committee for the Peace Council also assisted moderate Palestinians to promote an alternative Palestinian agenda for a peaceful resolution to Israeli–Palestinian violence.

• The Peace Council continued to support the efforts of Peace Councilor Ven. Dhammananda Bhikkhuni to restore full ordination of women as Buddhist monks in Thailand. This is an important element in establishing gender equality in this predominantly Buddhist country. (See related article from the Christian Science Monitor.) Ven. Dhammananda also continues to operate the Home of Peace and Love, a shelter for victims of prostitution and rape outside of Bangkok.

• The Peace Council continued to defend human rights and support peace workers in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. The area has been afflicted by human rights abuses, and by paramilitary and intercommunal violence. Grants-in-aid for these purposes were administered by Fr. Gonzalo Ituarte O.P., head of the Dominican mission to the parish of Ocosingo.

• In Korea, the International Committee for the Peace Council, represented by Executive Director Dr. Daniel Gomez-Ibanez, participated in meetings and conferences on Korean peninsular security, and was co-convenor of the Korea Peace Forum in Seoul, November 17-18, 2003. The purpose was to secure consensus on constructive policy recommendations to the South Korean and United States governments.

• The Peace Council was represented by Associate Director F. Peter Brinkman at the third meeting of the International Interfaith Network, in Oxford, England in September, 2003. This is a network promoting collaboration among the approximately 12 most prominent international interfaith organizations.

• Several Peace Councilors joined the Niwano Peace Foundation's new international committee to oversee the awarding of the prestigious Niwano Peace Prize.

• The International Committee for the Peace Council established a Board of Advisors to help the Peace Council's work. The first persons to serve on this board are Sr. Marceline Koch, OP, member of the governing council of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Illinois; Sr. Marilee Howard, RSM, a bioethecist at the Sisters of Mercy administrative center in Silver Spring, Maryland; and the Rev. Steve Minnema, Senior Pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church, in Madison, Wisconsin.

• In 2003 John Udelhofen, CPA, and Prof. Hizkias Assefa joined the board of trustees of the International Committee for the Peace Council. See the trustees' page for their biographies and photos.

• Throughout the year, staff and trustees worked on arrangements for future activities of the Peace Council in New York, Thailand, and with leaders of international women's non-governmental organizations.

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Page Published: 07/20/2004; Page Last Modified: Thursday, December 6, 2007
©2004 International Committee for the Peace Council

2003 Annual Report

Activities in 2003: