A Canadian-first: Certification of Peace Professionals

OTTAWA -- Four years of groundbreaking work recently culminated in the first accreditation of Peace Professionals by Ottawa-based Civilian Peace Service Canada (CPSC).  The Green Party of Canada congratulates CPSC, the first organization to develop and apply a standardized methodology for accrediting Peace Professionals.

”It is particularly gratifying to see that one of the two graduates that was presented accreditation certificates, Dr.  Ben Hoffman, was a former member of our shadow cabinet. We wish him the very best in the essential work he and his fellow colleague, Yves Morneau, are doing to further international peace,” said Elizabeth May, Leader of the Canadian Greens.

“We are committed to developing and applying ‘gold standard’ criteria for assessing the fitness of civilians to do effective work in conflict zones.  Like doctors, lawyers, engineers and soldiers, CPSC believes peace workers need to be assessed and accredited for competence and professionalism,” affirmed Gord Breedyk, co-chair of CPSC. He added that while thousands of organizations are doing excellent work in training and research for viable alternatives to military responses to conflicts, few are assessing “readiness” to intervene.

“Global Action is excited about this program, in part because we believe that developing this cadre is a necessary supplement to UN-based efforts to implement the Responsibility to Protect R2P, including our proposal for a UN Emergency Peace Service,” said Robert Zuber, Organizational Development Director of Global Action to Prevent War. He noted that the success of R2P requires tools and capacities for which competent professionals with a commitment to non-violence will be particularly valuable. Zuber added “We also maintain that CPSC assessments could help raise the bar on competencies and values for many State and UN-sponsored field operations with peace and security dimensions.” Global Action to Prevent War is active in 53 countries for government and grassroots efforts to stop war, genocide and other forms of deadly conflict. It works with representatives of the UN’s Genocide Prevention Office, the World Federation of UN Associations and the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect.

Ellen Michelson, Green Party of Canada Peace and Security advocate, noted, “In the wake of Canada’s declining  reputation internationally under our current leadership, it is great to see individual Canadians taking the type of actions that better represent Canadian values”.

-30-

Contact Information:
Debra Eindiguer
Press Secretary
Green Party of Canada
c: 613.240.8921
media@greenparty.ca
www.greenparty.ca