peace building trough human security

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Ref: 07-0937.en
PAX CHRISTI INTERNATIONAL
LATIN AMERICAN AND THE CARIBBEAN CONSULTATION
“PEACE BUILDING TROUGH HUMAN SECURITY”
CHACLACAYO, PERU, 27-29 AUGUST 2007
MESSAGE
On the invitation of Pax Christi International we have gathered in Chaclacayo, Peru, 30 Latin
American organizations and others in solidarity from Germany and the United States, to reflect
on peace building in Latin America and the Caribbean and its relationship to human security.
We express our profound solidarity to our brothers and sisters in Peru who have suffered the
tragedy of an earthquake, and with those have survived and continue living with hope. It is
the responsibility of the Peruvian government with global solidarity to ensure the rapid
recovery of affected communities. We express as well our solidarity on the fourth anniversary
of Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Report.
Peace building rooted in human security involves the reaffirmation of human dignity as our
ethical horizon, in addition to human rights and Gospel values; it also involves a commitment
to center our reflection and our actions on the integral development of persons, recovering the
memory of our peoples and the right to self-determination of the communities historically
excluded, impoverished and violated. It involves as well pursuing the birth of inclusive
societies where development is characterized by autonomy, sovereignty, and the inclusion of
all in participatory and plural decision-making processes. It involves the rejection of designed
plans for our continent from development models that ignore the richness of diversity and the
right to create alternative ways to promote equality.
This Consultation has allowed us to explore common, pressing problems in our countries,
including misery and socio-political exclusion that worsens urban violence, the remilitarization
of the continent with its many manifestations, limitations on the movement of peoples, the
criminalization of popular organization; the inadequate exploitation of natural resources,
problems of energy production and the illegitimate debt, among others. Before this troubling
panorama, we took time to strengthen the articulation of our experiences and initiatives, in
order to advance the possibility that all people may live a dignified life, enjoy peace with
justice and live in freedom.
We are convinced that the violence and oppression that the majorities suffer do not have the
last word and our organizations are forging numerous opportunities for peace on the
continent. Our commitment is expanding spaces for the exercise of popular power,
mechanisms to strengthen systems of justice and recovery of the dignity of victims and
playing an active role in the construction of new and reconciled societies. Many forces are
also aimed to break the spiral of oppression, discrimination, exclusion and impoverishment of
millions of people.
We acknowledge and promote a new valuing of the richness of Afro-American and indigenous
peoples and of their ancestral experience, significant to forging new models of cultural
inclusion, and fraternity and a new awareness of the need to recover our communion with the
resources of Mother Nature and to oppose the destructive exploitation of the environment.
The Consultation likewise prompted us to seek a new spirituality and an ethics of peace and
hope, making visible a new commitment of churches within the regional reality and from an
ecumenical partnership.
We recognize in the strength of our diversity an opportunity for mutual enrichment, and we will
bring back to our organizations the richness of shared experiences and a sense of solidarity
with the struggles of the whole region that have been amply recognized in this event. We will
look for ways to articulate in order to share our human resources and materials, our
methodologies and strategies, our concerns and good practices.
We are grateful for the dedicated work of Pax Christi International and the Comisión Social de
Acción Social (CEAS) in the organization of this Consultation. We also are grateful to
Monsenor Pedro Barreto, President of CEAS, for his support and assistance.
Chaclacayo, August 29, 2007
Asamblea Permanente de la Sociedad Civil por la Paz
Asociación Civil Colectivo Madreselva
Cáritas Colombia
Cáritas Venezuela
Catholic Relief Services - CRS
Centro de Asesoría e Investigaciones Legales - CEDAIL
Centro de Derechos Humanos “Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas”
Colectivo Kullakas
Comisión de Justicia y Paz de la Orden Franciscana
Comisión Episcopal de Acción Social - CEAS
Commisão Pastoral Da Terra - CPT
Confederación Latinoamericana de Religiosos y religiosas - CLAR
Conferencia Mundial de Religiones por la Paz
Consejo Latinoamericano de Iglesias - CLAI
Federación Latinoamericana de Asociaciones de Familiares de Desaparecidos - FEDEFAM
Fraternidad Laica Carlos de Foucauld
Fundación para la Reconciliación
Grupo Paz de Cristo Perú
Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos - IIDH
Pax Christi Alemania
Pax Christi Estados Unidos
Pax Christi Internacional
Pax Christi Port-au-Prince
Pax Christi Puerto Rico
Red Global de Religiones a favor de la Niñez
Red Nacional de Iniciativas Ciudadanas por la Paz y contra la Guerra - REDEPAZ
Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles “Todos los Derechos paraTodos”
Servicio de Justicia y Paz en América Latina – SERPAJ AL
Tutela Legal del Arzobispado de San Salvador
Viva Río