Staff activities. (Network News).

On January 1, Larissa Fast joined the staff of Project Ploughshares as a half-time Program Associate. Larissa is a graduate of Bethel College (BA History) and the University of Notre Dame (MA International Peace Studies), and is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in Virginia. She has worked for several international NGOs in the US and in Africa as a consultant, trainer, and conflict analyst Larissa has also been appointed to the faculty of Conrad Grebel University College on a half-time basis in the Peace and Conflict Studies program. We welcome Larissa to the staff team and to our community.

In January Ernie Regehr was a participant at The Ditchley Foundation conference, The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century: Peacekeeping and the Security Council, held in England at Ditchley Park The conference chair was Sir David Hannay, former UK Permanent Representative on the Security Council, and participants included senior government officials, academics, journalists, and business people from France, UK, Norway, USA, Canada, Germany, Pakistan, and Singapore, as well as NATO and UN officials.

On January 8-9 Ernie participated in a seminar in Ottawa, jointly sponsored by the Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ploughshares is a member) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, on reporting requirements and formats for the NonProliferation Treaty.

In early January, Ken Epps represented Project Ploughshares at a meeting of the NGO Working Group on the Framework Convention on International Arms Transfers. The three-day meeting, hosted by the Arias Foundation, was held in San Jose, Costa Rica to discuss strategy and plan the next year's activities to promote NGO and government support for the Convention. The Framework Convention is intended to provide global standards for transfers of conventional weapons by committing states to relevant obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law.

On February 8 Ernie made a presentation on ballistic missile defence to the annual conference of the York Centre for International Security Studies, York University, Toronto.

During February Ernie made presentations to three classes at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University on responses to September11 and Canada-US defence relations. He also gave a public lecture at Wilfrid Laurier University, The Din and Silence of War: War and Peace in the Horn of Africa, as part of a Wilfrid Laurier University interdisciplinary lecture series.

During February, Grant Birks was a featured speaker at a food justice retreat organized by the Ontario coordinators of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Grant's presentation was titled, What makes people secure?

In February, ten interns successfully completed six-month placements in the international peace and security internship program managed by Project Ploughshares for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). Five of the interns were in Waterloo for a de-briefing session.

Attending the session were Gabrielle Beaulieu, World Council of Churches (Geneva); Michelle Piromalli, Life and Peace Institute (Uppsala); Christian Macfarlane, United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament (Togo); David Mozersky, African Peace Forum (Nairobi); and Ivan Zenar, Project Ploughshares (Waterloo). Four interns were offered extensions to their workterms by their host organizations. They were Jason Garred, InterAfrica Group (Addis Ababa); Isabelle Masson and Mark Sedra, Bonn International Center for Conversion (Bonn); and Johnny Tam, United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament (Togo). Marie Palacios-Hardy remained in Nairobi following her internship with Africa Peace Forum to look for further work opportunities. Eight internships will be available in the 2002-2003 internship program. Those interested should check the Ploughshares website at www.ploughshares.ca for details.

In March Ernie gave a panel presentation on the war in Afghanistan at a meeting of the South Asia Club of Southern Ontario.

Ernie, Lynne Griffiths-Fulton, and Ken participated in a March 25-26 roundtable in Ottawa, Small Arms after the UN Conference: the way forward. The roundtable was organized by Lynne and was sponsored by Project Ploughshares in partnership with South Asia Partnership (SAP) Canada, and in cooperation with the Small Arms Working Group of the Canadian Coordinating Peacebuilding Committee. Participants included non-governmental practitioners, policy analysts, government officials, and other experts. The roundtable was a forum for discussion of the results of the UN conference, the ongoing field work of NGOs as presented in a series of case studies, and ways to assist Canadian NGOs in planning and engaging the public in their future programming on this issue.

In March Ernie participated in a conference held in Pretoria, South Africa, African conference on the implementation of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms: Needs and Partnerships. The conference was co-hosted by the Republic of South Africa together with the governments of Austria, Canada, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Norway, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and the UK. Participants included senior government officials from all African countries and OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) member states, and representatives from UN, regional organizations, and NGOs.

In March, Ken spoke on "Canada and the International Arms Trade" to students in the Peace and Conflicts Studies program of Conrad Grebel University College. The students used the discussion for a course assignment.

On March 15 staff met with Stanley Hauerwas, the internationally known pacifist theologian and Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School in North Carolina, during his visit to Conrad Grebel University College as guest lecturer.