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Peace and Non-Violence Commission Bill 2007
Explanatory Memorandum
Senator Lyn Allison
The purpose of this Bill is to create an Act to establish a Peace and Non
Violence Commission in Australia that will promote the pursuit of peace and
non-violence as an objective and a responsibility of national government.
The Commission will also work to align Commonwealth government activity
with United Nations policy in the promotion of peace and advance
Australia's obligations under international humanitarian law.
The PNVC will take a proactive and strategic approach in the development of
policies that promote national and international conflict prevention, non-
violent intervention, mediation and peaceful resolution of conflict.
The PNVC will consist of a Commissioner and seven Assistant Commissioners
of Peace, Education and Training; Domestic Peace Initiatives; International
Peace Activities; Technology for Peace; Arms Control and Disarmament;
Peaceful Coexistence and Non-Violent Conflict Resolution; and Human Rights
and Economic Rights.
Background and outline
There is a growing push internationally to establish statutory bodies
charged with promoting peace, particularly in the United Kingdom, the
United States, Canada, Japan and Italy and there are peace groups,
longstanding and emerging, in Australia behind the move. The Bill has been
available as an exposure draft to these groups and a number of individuals
with an interest in the subject.
Commonwealth governments of Australia once played a leading role in the
promotion of peace internationally. Australia set up the Canberra
Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons which reported to the
Prime Minister in August 1996. That report said:
Nuclear weapons posed an intolerable threat to all humanity and its
habitat advice that if the peoples of the world were more fully aware
of the inherent danger of nuclear weapons and the consequences of
their use, they would reject them, and not permit their continued
possession or acquisition on their behalf by their governments even
for an alleged need for self-defence.
These facts are obvious but their implications have been blurred.
There is no doubt that, if the peoples of the world were more fully
aware of the inherent danger of nuclear weapons and the consequences
of their use, they would reject them, and not permit their continued
possession or acquisition on their behalf by their governments, even
for an alleged need for self-defence.
The Canberra Commission was disbanded after making its report and little
progress has been made on its recommendations in the intervening ten years.
Indeed 27,000 nuclear warheads are still in existence, states that have
nuclear weapons and are not party to the NPT have increased in number and
outer space has emerged as a new theatre of war.
The PNVC will make recommendations for reductions in weapons of mass
destruction and provide advice on Australia's obligations, responsibilities
and negotiations in relation to treaties and international agreements and
matters relating to defence and security. It will attend negotiations on
treaties such as the NPT.
Australia's spending on defence has climbed to $22 billion and, for the
first time in our history, exceeds that spent on education. The case has
not been made for such a shift in priorities and the defence budget appears
more geared to war fighting capability than peacekeeping.
The PNVC will forecast the comparative costs of violent and non-violent
solutions as a basis for advice. A Peace Institute will be established and
the Office of International Peace Activities will provide training and
deployment of graduates and other non-military conflict prevention and
peacemaking personnel.
The PNVC will have a commissioner of arms control and disarmament and will
make annual reports to the Prime Minister on the sale of arms and munitions
from Australia to other nations and how such sales affect peace.
Australia was drawn into an invasion of Iraq with neither the approval of
the Parliament nor the support of populace. The justification for this war
turned out to be false and, according to high level intelligence reports,
increased the threat of terrorism.
Records are not kept with any reliability but it is estimated that civilian
casualties have reached many hundreds of thousands during and after the
attack on Iraq.
One of the missions of the PNVC is to work to divert from armed conflict
and develop new structures for the resolution of disputes by non-violent
means. Had such a body been in place to study the impact of war and non-
violent alternatives, then at least Australia's contribution to this
foolhardy exercise might have been avoided.
Little headway has been made in Australia on family violence and child
abuse. Incarceration rates have increased, drug and alcohol abuse is on
the rise and there have been outbreaks of violence connected with of
ethnicity and religion.
Anti terror laws have been enacted but not enough effort made to counter
the factors that give rise to terrorist acts or to build social cohesion
and foster peaceful conflict resolution. The Office of Domestic Peace
Activities will have a role in developing domestic policy to address these
and other problems within in Australia.
Universities offer fewer courses in peace studies than in the past and
peace education in schools has all but disappeared. Bullying remains a big
problem in schools despite good progress in sadly too few schools. The
Office of Peace Education and Training will develop a peace education
curriculum that will include the civil rights movement, peace agreements
and circumstances in which peaceful intervention has worked to stop
conflict. It will impart communicative peace skills and non-violent
conflict resolution skills.
The PNVC will develop policy alternatives for the treatment of drug and
alcohol abuse and for the prevention of crime.
The Office of Arms Control and Disarmament will advise on the reduction and
elimination of weapons of mass destruction, develop strategies for
deterring testing of nuclear weapons and provide assistance in the
implementation of international agreements on arms and nuclear weapon
control.
Human rights abuse has been perpetrated by countries with which Australia
has trading and military cooperation agreements, including Indonesia, China
and the United States yet it is rare for such agreements to deliver
improvements in human rights protection.
The Office of Human Rights and Economic Rights will assist in incorporating
the principles of human rights into all agreements between Australia and
other nations. It will conduct economic analyses of the scarcity of human
and natural resources as a source of conflict, whether due to armed
conflict, mal-distribution of resources or natural causes. It will develop
strategies regarding the sustainability and management of aid funds and the
impact of conditions set by funding agencies on peace and stability in the
countries in receipt of such funds.
The PNVC will advise the relevant Ministers on all matters to do with
national security and international conflict and to promote the peaceful
resolution of such conflicts.
Peace and Non-Violence Commissioners will be appointed on merit and will
have expertise in peacekeeping and peace studies, international
humanitarian law, conflict resolution and mediation; non-proliferation and
disarmament; civil rights; international law and treaty making and
obligations.
A review of the operation, impact and effectiveness of the PNVC will be
conducted by the end of 2011, a written report provided to the Minister and
tabled in the Federal Parliament within 7 days.
The Act will have a sunset provision, effective 30 June 2012.