Nonviolence International Timeline

a full history of this 31 year old world changing Organization

Joshua kirshbaum
nonviolenceny

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I have been a part of the Nonviolence International community for many years now. one thing that has always surprised me was the incredible history of this organization. hear is the timeline I have collected over the years.

1989 -

  • Palestinian activist Mubarak Awad founded Nonviolence International along with co-founders Jonathan Kuttab, Kamal Boulatta, and Abdul Aziz Said. Nonviolence International is a 501(c)(3) organization registered in Washington, DC, United States and is continuously active in educating and training the public and activists in the use of nonviolent resistance. They are particularly known for their work in conflict zones[4] and Civil Society at the United Nations, building coalitions to find and advocate for nonviolent solutions across the globe.
  • Ni joined the International Deserters Network associated with WRI has offered support for people resisting the Gulf War of 1991 and, on a much larger scale, the wars in the Balkans, where it was also engaged with several other peace organizations in an experiment in international nonviolent intervention, the Balkan Peace Team.

1991 -

  • Nonviolence International coordinated anti-coup d’état training in Russia. This led to the organization’s publication of the Training Manual for Nonviolent Defense Against the Coup d’État, which has since been used globally in both English and Spanish.

1992 -

  • Nonviolence International Southeast Asia was founded this year, Lead by Fred Lubang and Mitzi Austero. Focuses on peacebuilding, conflict transformation, humanitarian disarmament, and supporting peace processes in the South East Asia region.

1993 -

  • Andre Kamenshikov partnered with Nonviolence International to found the Nonviolence International-Newly Independent States (NI-NIS), based in Moscow. NI-NIS was the first major organization to publicly warn the world about the impending war in Chechnya; the organization also released the first environmental damage assessment regarding the war in Chechnya [ru].

1995 -

  • NI Joind The Tent of Nations, ( an internationally known educational and environmental meeting center where people from around the world come together. The Nassar family has lived on this land for the last century)
  • During the 1995 International Campaign to Ban Landmines, NI was one of the endorsing organizations and was one of the attending parties of the Phnom Penh conference in Cambodia during June of 1995. This conference was the largest anti-landmine conference to date and was the first gathering to take place in a heavily mined country (see land mines in Cambodia).
  • NI became an organizational member of The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997,

1996 -

  • NI organized a groundbreaking consultation entitled “Mainstreaming Peace Teams” at American University in 1996. As a result, more than 50 experts from over 25 countries engaged in dialogue about unarmed peacekeeping and third-party nonviolent intervention.

1997 -

  • The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997
  • Each coordinating region of NI worked heavily on The Mine Ban Treaty, or the Ottawa Treaty, this treaty is the international agreement that bans anti-personnel mines. Officially entitled The Convention on the Prohibition, Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and on Their Destruction, the treaty is sometimes referred to as the Ottawa Convention. The Mine Ban Treaty was adopted in Oslo, Norway, in September 1997 and signed by 122 States in Ottawa, Canada, on 3 December 1997. As of March 2018, there were 164 States Parties to the Ottawa Treaty.

1998 -

  • Between 1998 and 2002, Michael Beer assisted in launching the International Burma Campaign with a conference and publication in Burma Today.[7] Beer, along with Gene Sharp and Bob Helvey, provided training in nonviolent action for over 1,000 Burmese resistance guerrillas and civilians.

1999 -

  • From 1999 to 2009, NI created programs of nonviolence and peace education in Aceh during the civil war (see Aceh War); the programs were led by Dr. Asna Husin, who remains a senior researcher for Nonviolence International. In 2004, a tsunami ravaged Aceh; the NI office was destroyed and several staff members were killed or injured. Following the tragedy, NI raised and distributed funds for orphans in Aceh.

2001 -

  • NI as a part of Control Arms, began to circulate a “Draft Framework Convention on International Arms Transfers” and sought the support of governments around the world.
  • NI as a part of IANSA was involved in lobbying the 2001 United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms which produced an agreed Programme of Action
  • NI became the Fiscal sponsor of War Resisters’ International (WRI) & and the office in London has supported three programs: work on conscientious objection, supporting nonviolent movements against war and countering youth militarization.

2002 -

2003 -

  • NI as a part of the Control Arms campaign began, campaigning for an international ATT in more than one hundred countries. One of the main elements of the early campaign was
  • NI helped facilitate the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) launched in the Hague.

2005 -

  • David Kirshbaum Joins Nonviolence International and starts the the NI Israel Law Resource Center: who’s mission was to identify and catalog all the actions taken by the Isreal/Palestine conflict and connect each action to international law & isreali law in order to give a paper trail and set of tools to the human rights activists in the region.
  • Nonviolence International gained consultative status at the United Nations. (ECOSOC) | https://esango.un.org/civilsociety/showProfileDetail.do?method=showProfileDetails&profileCode=2651
  • NI organized the International Conference on Nonviolent Resistance, which was hosted in Bethlehem in December of 2005. The conference brought together over 250 nonviolent activists from around the world, including renowned activists Gene Sharp and Bernard Lafayette.
  • The IANSA London office was closed in 2015, and the main coordinator & UN liaison office in New York.

2006 -

  • 2006 to 2015, NI organized training and produced podcasts, films and texts for the largest resource center on nonviolence produced in Farsi
  • NI was a core coordinator of the ‘Million Faces’ petition. The petition brought together people from around the world who had suffered from armed conflict and armed violence as well as other supporters. The petition reached its goal in 2006, and the petition was presented to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan by ‘Millionth Face’ Julius Arile, from Kenya
  • UN Members voted to consider states’ views on a potential Treaty and convene an expert group, with only the United States against.[4] Alongside this consultation NI assisted Control Arms conducted a parallel ‘People’s Consultation’, holding events in over one hundred countries. The intention was to use ordinary people’s voices to influence government’s responses to the UN consultation. Whereas similar consultations usually result in ten to fifteen responses, when the UN Secretary-General presented the findings in 2007, the ATT consultation had received over one hundred
  • NI became the fiscal sponsor for Control Arms, and continues as the core organizing organization for the coalition.
  • NI worked with IANSA to coordinate civil society in a UN Review Conference ended in July 2006 without further agreement. A subsequent meeting (The Biennial Meeting of States 3 “BMS3”) in 2008 agreed to a substantive outcome document by a majority vote.
  • NI & IANSA, as leading coordinators of the Control Arms Campaign, promotes an international treaty regulating the conventional arms trade called the Arms Trade Treaty A resolution to begin work on this Arms Trade Treaty was approved by the UN General Assembly in 2006 and the completed treaty was put into force on 24 December, 2014

2007 —

  • NI became an organizing member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.
  • In partnership with several mainstream media companies, NI started a campaign to document government destruction of historical sites, & over the next 13 years would Contract more than 40 research expeditions in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Documenting over 100 violations in international law on video. (Joshua Kirshbaum, in 2018 would become the executive director of the New York office, starting with NI in 2013 would be contracted for 7 of them as a conflict photographer.)

2008 -

  • NI office head, Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan was a core organizer in the efforts for the Convention on Cluster Munitions was December 2008 opening for signatures. In November 2008, the Monitor decided to monitor the universalization and implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in addition to monitoring the Mine Ban Treaty and published its first report on cluster munitions in May 2009.

2009 -

  • NI was one of the founding members of the Humanitarian Disarmament Forum
  • in Pattani, Thailand, Nonviolence International South East Asia supported by UNICEF built The Building Peace by Teaching Peace Program & modules aimed to reach out to schools through providing trainings and support for teachers on peace education.
  • NI joined the conference of NGOs with a consultative relationship to the United Nations (CONGO)
  • NI Facilitated efforts for UN General Assembly votes to initiate negotiations of an arms trade treaty. When the UN Secretary-General first expresses concern about humanitarian impact of explosive weapons.

2011 -

  • NI was a key organizer of the Control Arms Secretariat being established.
  • The Nonviolence International South East Asia, Lead by Fred Lubong & Mitzi Austero with the support of Canada Fund-Thailand, expanded the The Building Peace by Teaching Peace Program into the schools in Yala and Narathiwat Provinces, southern Thailand
  • NI actively Participated in the joining of International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) merging into one unified structure, now known as the ICBL-CMC, in order to realize operational efficiencies and reinforce complementary work. The ICBL and the CMC campaigns remain separate and continue to remind governments of their commitments to implement and promote both treaties. Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor continues its unique civil society monitoring program on the humanitarian and developmental consequences of landmines, cluster munitions, and explosive remnants of war.

2012 -

  • David Kirshbaum Starts the NI Palestine Media Project: training Palestinian refugees how to contact and communicate with the mainstream media across the world. Bringing thousands of Refugee stories to the general public.
  • Joshua Kirshbaum sold his shares of his chain of the film studios and started fundraising a set of community centers in Latin America, under consultation with members of Nonviolence Interntional.
  • NI participated in the Toxic Remnants of War Project, launched 2012.
  • NI was a founding member of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots formed in New York.
  • NI assisted Human Rights Watch convenes first annual humanitarian disarmament forum.

2013 -

  • 2013 NI expressed a need for a permanent to liaison with the United Nations. In Preparation for the ending of the MDGs and the Increasing Demand for accountability in the international community, NI promoted David Kirshbaum to Director of the New York Office with the task of fundraising, planning, and supporting the struggling Partners. Then in 2014, David Kirshbaum raised the funding and founded the Nonviolence International New York office (NVINY). Quickly taking on Civil Society leadership in the planning committees of the SDGs and the MGS, the New York office quickly became a champion of the stakeholder system leading and guiding hundreds of new NGOs in the new founded resources on interacting with the United Nations. Rapidly become an active board member of multiple groups at the UN. the NVINY office quickly became known for Holding civil society corruption accountable and promoting new and unheard voices throughout the Civil Society at the United Nations.
  • Before heading back to Latin America, Joshua Kirshbaum, contracted by affiliates of NI & the US Government, Joshua would spend several nonconsecutive weeks doing conflict photography and documenting several key events and nonviolent resistance efforts in the middle east.
  • Joshua Kirshbaum Founded a set of Community & and Event centers starting in Cuenca Ecuador and over the next few years host multiple TEDx conferences, weekly movies, and control events, concerts, lead technical teams in leading fields like Augmented Reality Apps, Tinder Latin America, & would host organizations that did peace education and women’s rights work. And would open up different locations in the next 6 yeast across Latin America including Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, brazil, Uruguay, and Peru.

2014 -

  • As a leading coordinator of Control Arms NI worked on the completed, Arms Trade Treaty with the UN General Assembly and it was put into force on 24 December, 2014, & holds a record of states’ votes for the final Resolution adopting the ATT, as well as a record of state signatures and ratifications.
  • IANSA registered as an NGO in Ghana, with NI as a fiscal sponsor and a participant in their efforts.
  • NI coordinates with Mexico and Austria the conferences on humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons. And the More than 100 states endorse Humanitarian Pledge to “stigmatise, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons.”
  • The UN voted overwhelmingly in favour of convening negotiations on an ATT, with Zimbabwe the only vote against.[6] States finally met In 2012 and 2013 to negotiate an ATT, all the while receiving significant input from civil society groups including Control Arms& Nonviolence International New York. On April 2, 2013, despite the objections of North Korea, Iran and Syria, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to support the ATT, in a 156–3–22 vote.[1] The ATT has been open for signature since June 3, 2013.
  • Starting in 2014 the New York Office has taken on a leading role in IANSA’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5, IANSA has sought to significantly increase the role of women in the global conversation on small arms and light weapons (SALW) related violence. Through initiatives such as the “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence,” IANSA has worked to encourage meaningful participation of women as stakeholders in the fight against gun violence, as opposed to passive victims.IANSA’s Women’s Network is the only international network focused on the connections between gender, women’s rights, small arms and armed violence. Providing 10–70 volunteers & interns, projects, guided programs, and more for the IANSA efforts.
  • Working with affiliates of NI, Joshua Kirshbaum would spend several nonconsecutive months doing conflict photography and documenting key moments and events across the middle east.

2015 -

  • David Kirshbaum as the director of the new york office became a board member of the conference of NGOs with a consultative relationship to the United Nations (CONGO)
  • David Kirshbaum and the New York office was a civil society coordinating member of the construction of the sustainable development goals. (SDG)
  • NI contracted Joshua Kirshbaum and sent him to Sevilla, Spain to coordinate the construction of the Sevilla Tech Club that focused on producing VR & AR projects that Positively impact communities.
  • Twenty-five Jews from the US, Canada and Europe spent a week replanting trees on the farm and the Center for Jewish Nonviolence was born. Later on that year NI would become the fical sponcer and in partnership with the Tent cities would host projects, trips and events with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence.
  • In 2015 to 2016, Under the guidance of Joshua Kirshbaum, Participants of the Casa De La Vida Leadership Training Program in Cuenca, Ecuador, sponsored by NI’s New York office would started 18 prominent Latin American humanitarian projects with organizations like MADRE, Save the Children, RIADIS, & Mercosur.
  • Joshua Kirshbaum would be contracted on several Peace Education Projects on the Israel and Palestine border.
  • NI was an active coordinator of the letter calling for ban on autonomous weapons lead by Artificial Intelligence (AI) researchers and roboticists.
  • NI offices across the globe were active coordinators of the First Review Conference of Convention on Cluster Munitions adopts declaration “condemn[ing] any use of cluster munitions by any actor.” Austria convenes discussions of political commitment on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. And the starting of the Toxic Remnants of War Network.

2016 -

  • NI’s Joshua Kirshbaum and Justin Curmi in partnership with Every town against gun violence Lead the #govote campaign in the United States focused on connecting citizens to services on election day in 23 states.
  • Joshua Kirshbaum Joined the board & became treasurer of Coalition for Global Citizenship 2030, and has NI became the Fiscal Sponsor.
  • Rose Welsch started as the organizing member and UN liaison at IANSA and in Partnership Our New York office we have been built and coordinated record support for the cause including consulting & participating in dozens of campaigns across the globe.
  • NI became board members and coordinating members of NGO Major Group, within the NGO major group system at the United Nations focused on connecting and advocating for the needs of NGO’s within the framework of the sustainable development goals. (SDG)
  • NI coordinates efforts to the UN Environment Assembly conference in which the resolution on protection of the environment in areas affected by armed conflict is Passed.
  • New York office of NI coordinates efforts with CCW’s Fifth Review Conference establishes a Group of Governmental Experts on lethal autonomous weapons systems.
  • NI coordinates regional Civil Society’s efforts for the UN Environment Assembly campaign’s resolution on mitigation of conflict pollution.
  • NI is the acting United States fiscal sponsor for the Gaza Freedom Flotillas, which seeks to end the siege of Gaza using nonviolence.

2017 -

  • Joshua Kirshbaum the Founder of American Ethos and NI New York’s acting Director of communication became core organizers of the world oceans fair, climate march, leading groups of thousands in protests across the US.
  • NI joined and became the fiscal sponsors of We are Not Numbers, a project for young adults in the Gaza Strip designed both to help them share their narratives (and those of their people) in their own words with the Western (English-speaking) world and bust stereotypes about Palestinians.
  • NI southeast office mediated the peace treaty in Mindanao, the Philippines between the Philippines government and the Bangsamoro people.
  • UN Environment Assembly passes resolution on mitigation of conflict pollution.
  • The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. “for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.”
  • American Ethos as the ÆFocus initiative under Joshua Kirshbaum, sponsors 36 events in New York City, with prominent speakers on different conflict zones, human rights violations, international confrences, and more hosted at universities like Pace, NYU, and Columbia.

2018 -

  • In Partnership with the Global Movement of the Culture of Peace and the Coalition for Global Citizenship, the New York office coordinated the meetings of IMilenial News.
  • David Kirshbaum Retires at the Director on the New York office and a Unanimous vote elects Joshua Kishbaum as the youngest Director in the nonviolence International Network.
  • The New York office started a set of Programs focused on Bridging partnerships across Civil Society at the United Nations. With multiple Peace Educational program under the leadership of Joshua Kirshbaum the New York/UN office has 700+ participants (volunteers, interns, and students) working directly with the United Nations on projects across the globe. the different teams are advocating for nonviolent solutions through peace education and international advocacy; connecting a youth network of Agents of Change to Civil Society at the United Nations.
  • In cooperation with several offices of Nonviolence International across the globe the New York office built out a platform to do eight core documentaries and build out a public library of footage from each of the regions. This project is estimated to be finished by 2025.
  • In partnership with Clayborn Carson, Director of the King Institute, Joshua and David Kirshbaum as Representatives of NI went to Stanford University and became founding and organizational members of the Gandhi King Global Initiative.
  • In the 2018 United Nations General Assembly NVINY’s New Internship Program was mentioned as an “ideal youth program”
  • NI southeast asia started the War to Peace Sharing Center in Cotobato city, A place for those who are transitioning from war to peace. A space for creatives, innovators, social enterprises & peacebuilders — a place for sharing. Offers second-income opportunities while broadening the possibilities for creativity and innovation, Ni southeast asia also sent Joshua Kirshbaum to the Sharing Center to document stories and to facilitate several workshops with multiple entrepenual centers in the city.
  • Partnership with Nonviolence International South East Asia & Nonviolence International New York has built out the Building Peace by Teaching Peace Program modules for the north and latin american teachers and peace educators. With an additional 83 modules and workshops designs specifically with these regions in mind.

The 2018 Nonviolence International New York Narrative Report. -

2019 — Marks the 30 year anniversary of Nonviolence International

  • Beginning of 2019, NVINY moved from our midtown 3 person office in weworks to a three story townhouse in Harlem and the teams came together and started the Harlem Nonviolence Resource Center.
  • David Kirshbaum Founded the Arizona Research Program for Nonviolence International New York, running 5 core international research projects.
  • Joshua Kirshbaum as the Director of the New York office became a board member of the conference of NGOs with a consultative relationship to the United Nations (CONGO)
  • NVINY started the an interviews searies on Youtube of some of the iconic members of the network.
  • NI’s South East Asia office coordinates the adoption of principles on environmental protection in relation to armed conflict into the International Law.
  • During first Committee on disarmament IANSA and several other international coalitions at publicly praised NVINY’s Internship Program. Each of them separately contracting members of NVINY to design Their youth platforms.
  • NI currently works on several projects, that focuses on grassroots activism in Sudan, the Ukraine, Palestine, & New York City.
  • Director and founder Mubarak Awad, along with co-founder Jonathan Kuttab, led a delegation to Qatar with Palestinian leadership in order to advocate for a nonviolent strategy of resistance.
  • Michael Beer served as an advisor to the 2019 Sudanese resistance movement & was publicly thanked on different art displays across Sudan
  • Under Joshua Kirshbaum the New York office has now founded The New York Graduate Plan with unprecedented access and opportunities to the United Nations and the international community for students across the globe.
  • Joshua Kirshbaum as the Director of the New York office, would speak in several Geneva based Conferences focused on Human Rights and Youth participation the United Nations & the International Community.
  • NI fundraises and sends 45 representatives too Austria in its efforts to convene a conference on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Ireland starts consultations to develop a political declaration on the topic.
  • Joshua Kirshbaum as the Director of the New York office would travel to the NI Location of Cotabato City, Philippines and work with NISEA leads in order to collect more footage for the Documentaries and Video archives. & in the philippines. Joshua would also run and assist in several workshops both online and in person, Join the SEA office in several important events for the Bangsimoro and the indigius tribes around the region.
  • Marculles Henderson, Administrative Director would speak on an expert panel in a Peace Boat Event on Youth Engagement with Disarmament.

2020 —

  • Nonviolence International New York, generated 200+ new modules, for the Building Peace by Teaching Peace Program and under the leadership of Joshua Kirshbaum, distributed them across Latin America to a network of peace educators and community builders.
  • After the hit of the COVID-19 global pandemic , the entire Nonviolence International network went out of commission or completely digital. Many of the NI affiliates went dark and civil society as a whole had a moment of quiet. In partnership with the The New York office media team on our Action in Quarantine Action Initiative, The DC office started their wonderful monthly Webinars and we all got back on our feet.
  • The New York office quickly transferring onto a online platform quickly shut down its office and went fully digital. With the continuation of the internship program, volunteer teams, and the different NonviolenceNY Network participants they quickly started to build out and help with the global transition. Under the guidance of the New York office there was a formation of 8 new volunteer hubs across the world;
  1. The Arizona Research Center’s volunteer base grew 3x and started assisting the local community, helping medical supplies and masked circulate, and are building out educational materials and coordinating teams.

2. Our France teams doing translations in french & Spanish.

3. Actions in Quarantine site launched, this fully online hub of volunteers doing projects in their hometowns focused on helping paramedics and covid research.

4. United for Change project with three hubs coordinated by Marculles Henderson;United for Change — Maryland, working on different educational & informational materials for minority groups and peaceful protesters, United for Change — New York City, the teams assisting and coordinating peaceful protests and global partitions, while doing research on black History, & United for Change — Atlanta, helping minority & young voters get to the election poles.

5. Sponsored by ÆStudios North Carolina the NVINY volunteer medic team is assisting the different volunteer COVID-19 response units with supplies and medical aid.

6. Under Joshua Kirshbaum’s leadership the NVINY team started the Practical Peacebuilding Mentorship Program, a six month Mentorship Program with NVINY. In wich the participants will be joining a community of activists and student leaders from around the world to learn from experienced members of civil society at the United Nations. Participants & Mentors plan and lead active projects with NVINY to build and implement important change, in service to our local and global communities.

7. The New York office team under the leadership of David Kirshbaum, is working closly with the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute at Stanford University on the Gandhi King Global Initive (GKGI), Network (GKGN), to coordnate the network of almost 100 peace and justice organizations from around the world. tthey are also coordnating a speaking tour that will be launched in 2021.

8. In light of the escalating violence across the world a group of NonviolenceNY Network program Alumni partnered with Joshua & started hosting weekly members-only strategy meetings called, the United Action Strategy Meetings, activist and community leaders coordinate nonviolent actions & resistance across the United States and in the following cities across the globe: Mexico City Mexico, Seville Spain, Frankfurt Germany, Casablanca Morocco, Jerusalem & Bethlehem Isreal/Palestine, (Quito Guayaquil, Cuenca & Puyo) Ecuador, Cairo, & Asyut Egypt, (Manchester, York, & Cambridge) England, Amman Jordan, Copenhagen Denmark, Geneva, Switzerland, Vienna Austria, Maracay Venezuela & Kobe japan…

EXPLAINER VIDEO: Training, Classes and Digital Field Work | New York Graduate Plan

9. And last but not Least we have the pleasure to announce the first semester of the New York Graduate Plan Online! an educational collaboration between Nonviolence International New York and UNITAR that seeks to build graduate students with a passion for peacebuilding and international affairs into future diplomats. Over the course of this program, students will learn from UN diplomats in diplomatic training sessions, master the art of peacebuilding in workshops at Nonviolence International New York and personally lead world-changing digital fieldwork with Civil Society at the United Nations.

And its almost 2021!

There is so much more on its way. we are always working on stuff and building things to help the world. if your intersted in joining us, then apply for the New York Graduate Plan Online, and learn how you can impact the world.

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Joshua kirshbaum
nonviolenceny

I am the Executive Director of Nonviolence International New York and the BRAND NEW Nonviolence U.N. Resource Center here in New York City.