General Information
Who We Are?
We choose active nonviolence and conscientious objection both as a lifestyle and as a mode of working. With these methods, we work so that society internalizes the necessity to permanently construct a culture that objects to structural violence and also perceives the necessity for a means of development that is human-centered and focuses on the full expression of human rights.
Beneficiaries
Service for Peace and Justice Ecuador works with sectors victimized by situations of violence, those situations which arise from the knots of tension: gender violence, generational violence, environmental and economic violence and ethnic violence.
Our work pays particular attention to teachers, youth, women, and political and community leaders. We work so that these sectors are empowered through active nonviolence and conscientious objection, empowerment where education for peace, transformation of conflicts and civic participation play a fundamental role.
We firmly believe in the need for the participation of different social sectors as threads for a complete social tapestry, particularly those that are excluded and victimized by poverty, militariasm, authoritarianism, illogical economic policies, and other destructive forces.
Objectives
- To construct a powerful movement and political proposal of conscientious objection and noviolence.
- To act on the problem of human rights violations and routine and institutionalized violence.
- To build and develop a mode of thinking that derives its beliefs from nonviolence and conscientious objection and which will change violence and injustice at its roots.
- Work towards the daily construction of peace, based in the education system, nonviolent conflict resolution, and the promotion of active civic participation regarding conscientious objection and active nonviolence.
- Promote and exercise solidarity and social aid.
- Participate in the work of Service for Peace and Justice of Latin America (SERPAJ-AL) and the national and international organizations of which SERPAJ-Ecuador is a member.
Philosophical Principles
Conscientious Objection
A human being, by nature, objects to all types of imposition. She or he is called to object to such exclusive processes as: domination, imposition, authoritarianism, or that which tends to destroy human life. We promote the furthering of our human capacities, especially our capacity to distinguish and discern, and thus, object. Conscientious objection, like dissent, is an attitude of freedom, both individual and collective, an attitude which is to be in disagreement. It is essential to human beings. It becomes both a right and a dynamic element in the reproduction of life. It is an active component in all truly pluralistic societies, a capacity which allows us to break from any conformist intention. It is a conscious position against authoritarianism.
Active Nonviolence
Establishing conscientious objection becomes a transforming force in society, a force which seeks to construct a culture of nonviolence and objection. It seeks to create a society which has internalized the necessity to permanently construct a culture which objects to structual violence.
Mission
Our mission is to foster the practice and socialization of the principles of conscientious objection and active nonviolence so as to promote human-centered development and to develop a society in which knowledge, power, and access are exercised in a just and equitable way and promote human-centered development.
Vision
We envision a world in which society lives within a culture of nonviolence and objection; a society which has internalized the necessity to permanently construct a culture which objects to structural violence; a society where people perceive the necessity of human-centered development that allows us to live together; a society which exercises all rights, from the local to the regional; a society that considers human rights first and foremost with every new form of production.
