SFP Statement on Peace in the Middle East
June 4, 2010

Dear Peace Friends,

It has been a difficult week for many who seek peace in the Middle East. The administration team of Service For Peace in the Middle East (SFP-ME) mourns the tragedy in the Mediterranean. We call for dialogue as a way to work through our problems.

We also mourn the passing of Sheik Abdul Aziz Bukhari. The Sheik encouraged interfaith dialogue between all faiths,  believed in peace for the Holy Land and contributed to our student leadership trainings. His smile was peace.

SFP-ME, as a member of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace NGO Forum, seeks to reiterate its position that we are working for real peace in our hearts, thoughts and actions, and against violence from any side. We believe in solving every dispute in educational, diplomatic and non violent ways, while creating democratic and free states, and ending occupation and the siege on Gaza.

In Service,

The SFP Team in the Middle East

SFP Statement on Human Rights
September 11, 2008

December 10, 2008 will mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On that date in 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Declaration "as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction."

Of all of the rights and freedoms identified in the Declaration, Service For Peace views education as the very root of human rights since it is through the process of education that we learn of our own rights and the importance of respecting the rights of others.

Article 26 of the Declaration states the following:
"Everyone has the right to education... Education shall be directed to the full development of human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms."

Service For Peace primarily focuses its efforts on the need to provide universal primary education. The organization is guided in these efforts by Millennium Development Goal #2 which states:

"Every human being should have the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. Unfortunately, too many children in the world today grow up without this chance, because they are denied their basic right to even attend primary school."

Throughout the world, Service For Peace conducts programs that bring together diverse groups of people to address urgent social needs. This cooperative, learning experience furthers understanding between people of different faiths, races and nationalities, helping to secure the right to security and the right to safety from violence. As Millennium Development Goal 2 states:

"A sustainable end to world poverty as we know it, as well as the path to peace and security, require that citizens in every country are empowered to make positive choices and provide for themselves and their families."