A one day retreat of CC leaders was conducted
at the Mar Thoma Retreat Centre, Perungalam island on 25th March, 2013. 62 members from various
CCs attended.
CC leaders on the banks of Ashtamudi
Lake
.jpg)
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
The Global
Peace Index
The Global
Peace Index (GPI) is
an attempt to measure the relative position of nations' and regions'
peacefulness. It is the product of Institute
for Economics and Peace (IEP) and
developed in consultation with an international panel of peace experts from
peace institutes and think thankswith data collected and collated by the Economist
Intelligence Unit. The list was
launched first in May 2007, then continued yearly. It is claimed to be the
first study to rank countries around the world according to their peacefulness.
It ranks 158 countries (up from 121 in 2007). The study is the brainchild of
Australian entrepreneur Steve Killeleaand is endorsed by individuals such as Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama, archbishop Desmond Tutu, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, economist Jeffrey Sachs, former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, and former US president Jimmy
Carter. Factors examined by the
authors include internal factors such as levels of violence and crime within
the country and factors in a country's external relations such as military
expenditureand wars. The index is
launched each year at events in London, Washington DC, the United Nations in
New York and
in Brussels
2012 Global Peace Index Results
According to the 2012 GPI, the world improved in peacefulness for the first time since 2009. All regions excluding the Middle East and North Africa saw an improvement. Sub-Saharan Africa does not occupy the bottom spot for the first time since the GPI was launched in 2007.
Top 10 (MostPeaceful Countries)
Rank
|
Country
|
Score
|
1
|
Iceland
|
1.113
|
2
|
Denmark
|
1.239
|
2
|
New Zealand
|
1.239
|
4
|
Canada
|
1.317
|
5
|
Japan
|
1.326
|
6
|
Austria
|
1.328
|
6
|
Ireland
|
1.328
|
8
|
Slovenia
|
1.330
|
9
|
Finland
|
1.348
|
10
|
Switzerland
|
1.349
|
Bottom10 (LeastPeaceful Countries)
Rank
|
Country
|
Score
|
158
|
Somalia
|
3.392
|
157
|
Afghanistan
|
3.252
|
156
|
Sudan
|
3.193
|
155
|
Iraq
|
3.192
|
154
|
Dem. Republic of Congo
|
3.073
|
153
|
Russia
|
2.938
|
152
|
North Korea
|
2.932
|
151
|
Central African Republic
|
2.872
|
150
|
Israel
|
2.842
|
149
|
Pakistan
|
2.833
|
Main Findings
For the sixth consecutive year, Western Europe remains
markedly the most peaceful region with the majority of its
countries ranking in the top 20. The Asia Pacific region’s
overall score improved by the largest margin over the
2011-2012 period.
• World becomes slightly more peaceful in the last year -
bucking a two-year trend.
• Sub-Saharan Africa for the first time is not the least
peaceful region.
• Iceland is the country most at peace for the second
successive year.
• Syria tumbles by largest margin dropping over 30 places
to 147th position.
• Somalia remains world’s least peaceful nation for
second year running.
• End of civil war sees Sri Lanka as biggest riser, leaping
nearly 30 places.
• Sub-Saharan Africa’s levels of peacefulness have
increased steadily since 2007 with improvements in
‘Relationships with neighbouring nations’, ‘Availability
of small arms and light weapons’, and ‘Number of
deaths from internal conflict’.
• North America experienced a slight improvement,
continuing a trend since 2007.
• Latin America also experienced an overall gain
in peacefulness, with 16 of the 23 nations seeing
improvements to their GPI scores since 2011.
Top 5 Risers
|
Score, 2012
|
Change in score, 2011–12
|
Rank, 2012
|
Change in rank, 2011–12*
|
|||||
|
2.145
|
|
|
↑27
|
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|
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|
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|
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|
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|||||
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|
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Top 5 Fallers
Country
|
Score, 2012
|
|
|
|
||||
Syria
|
|
+0.523
|
|
↓31
|
||||
|
|
|
|
↓40
|
||||
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↓29
|
||||
|
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↓20
|
||||
|
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|
|
↓19
|
The GPI ranks 158 nations among which India Ranks 142nd position
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