International Civil service

History

Shortly after the First World War takes place a meeting of pacifist European Christians in 1919 with Bilthoven in the Netherlands. The idea emerges to bring together volunteers of various countries to work with the rebuilding, one wants to propose an alternate with the Military service obligatory. Association is created in 1920 under the name international Voluntary civil service .

The principal founder is the Swiss engineer Pierre Ceresole, he sets up in 1920 a first building site of rebuilding at Esnes close to Verdun (France) with some other pacifist, of which the Quaker English Hubert Parris (one of the initiators of Bilthoven). This camp brings together volunteers English, Belgian, French and German in order to contribute to the reconciliation of the people which had just clashed.

This first experiment is not simple but the spirit of this first building site is spread quickly. The volunteers of this building site wish to convince of other people that to work for peace within such a framework can constitute an real alternative with the military service. The number of volunteers increases quickly and they also gain the support of the local populations and certain governments.

In the the Twenties, the SCI organizes great projects of voluntariate, bringing help and assistance in affected areas by floods or avalanches. At the time of the Spanish Civil war, many volunteers of the SCI take part in the evacuation and the reception of the Spanish taken refuge.

It is on the building site of the Ormonts in 1924 that one of the first volunteers, John Baudraz (conscientious objector in 1915), sings what will become the symbol, the rallying sign of the Civil service until in the years 1960: “Friendship”. }} " |- |“Friendship” |- | You which make our misères
Disparaître the moitié
Viens make us live as brothers,
Charme pure of the Friendship. (...) |}

The structure of the first years was very abstract, the decisions of engagement being caught between Pierre Ceresole, his brother Ernest Ceresole or Paul Schenker. In Bern in 1934, a general meeting named a committee and engaged Rodolfo Olgiati like first remunerated secretary. As of the following year appeared a bulletin, the Civil service , in German and French. In England was founded The International Voluntary Service for Peace (IVSP) also in 1934. The French branch is created in 1936. The network which is created then is called international Civil service . Other active members create groups SCI in their own country and the day before the Second world war, the SCI is present in England, Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia.

After the war are developed the exchanges of volunteers between Europe and Asia like between Western Europe and Eastern Europe and North Africa. In the the Sixties, the way of organizing the building sites changes. In addition to work itself, the aspects teaching and the international exchange occupy from now on an important place in the building sites. The movement becomes also politically more committed. In the the Eighties, the peace becomes again the major concern of the SCI and the East-West co-operation intensifies under the Cold war. Projects concerning the young people, the unemployed and the questions North-South are also very important as of this time and led to the creation of many international work groups.

With time, the work of the SCI widened and turned to new questions: the conflict in Balkans, the ecology, the assistance with refugees etc With the fall of the Iron curtain, of new partnerships are created. In parallel, the North-South exchanges meet an lively interest. In the middle of the the Nineties, the SCI reorganizes. Then it defines a strategic program for the years 2004-2009. The discussions around the Democracy and of the effectiveness within the structure, of the range of work for peace and the role of the SCI animate the movement unceasingly, in constant evolution.

Structure

In 2007, the SCI counts 43 branches in the whole world (but mainly in Europe and Asia) and of the organizations partners in the countries where does not exist yet of branch SCI. Its current structure is the following one. ; Branches The SCI has branches and organizations partners in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and South America like in Australia. They generally consist of national work groups, local groups and a national committee. ; International work groups They are composed of branches of the SCI, groups, organizations partners and individuals interested by the tackled questions. They are interested in a topic or an area of the precise world. They are validated each year by International Committee Meeting at the time which their budgets and action plans are voted. The work groups play a big role because they bring together people anxious to organize and develop their actions in more targeted way. They are the specialists in a field and assume several tasks going of the relations with new potential partners, with the organization of seminars while passing by the supervision of the activities of the branches or the representation of the SCI in a given area or a field of activity. --------- table with 2 columns ---------

; International Committee Meeting (ICM) The international meeting of the committees is held each year alternatively in Europe and Asia. Each branch has a voice but the delegates of groups SCI and work groups also have the right to attend this meeting. The ICM are the principal authority of decision of the SCI and the place where the general policy of the movement is defined.

; International Executive Committee (IEC) The international executive committee is the body of coordination of the SCI and the place where the decisions between two are made ICM.

; International secretariat The international secretariat is with Antwerp (Belgium). Its composition varies according to the needs and from the resources of the organization. It includes/understands at least an international coordinator who is of office a member of the IEC and coordinates the work of the other members of the personnel.

Goals and means

Since its beginnings, the international Civil service (SCI) engages peacefully for the right of the minorities, the Sustainable development and the international exchange. It was given for objective to work with the construction of the Paix and the bringing together of the people. The SCI is a global area network which organizes projects in the whole world for volunteers of all ages, all religions and any origines.

The building site is the privileged tool of the SCI like place of training of the tolerance and the respect of others. It makes it possible each one to discover the values of others and its culture in a spirit of user-friendliness and opening. The SCI also proposes to take part in international seminars, to carry out long-term voluntariate, to invest in the operation of association itself, to animate building sites, or to accommodate foreign volunteers.

To leave with SCI is to meet women and men who want to share their culture, their hopes, their future and their life, quite simply; it is also to travel in remote or close regions to discover other lifestyles.

SCI considers the voyage like an exchange, a reciprocal source of knowledge, but more especially, like a vector of knowledge, tolerance, mutual respect and not like a simple tourist activity and mercantile.

Extraits from the international constitution of the SCI the goal of the SCI is to promote international peace, comprehension and solidarity, social justice, the support for the development, and the respect of the environment. The SCI believes that all the men are able to live together while respecting themselves mutually without resorting to violence to solve the conflicts. In order to achieve these goals, the SCI:

acts in a non-violent way to change the individuals and the company
comes to assistance of the victims of violence, of injustices social, economic or political, with the victims of the famine, of diseases or of the destruction of their environment,
takes part in suitable non-violent international actions in the event of situations of tension, of war and of injustice,
supports all the actions which encourage the international solidarity, justice, mutual comprehension, the participation of each one in all the levels of decision, and the respect of the individual as the Universal declaration of the Human rights
rules it promotes and organizes actions of voluntary service in co-operation with the local communities like with other international local associations, main roads or, like means of encouraging more confidence between the people of origins social, cultural, political or nun different while working, by learning and while living together,
bases its work on the support for the initiatives by which the people organize themselves in order to solve their problems,
engages so that no work is undertaken which competes with the paid labor or which breaks a strike,
regards its work as an alternative to the military service and contributes everywhere to its abolition by melting an international voluntary service non-violent.

Affiliations

The SCI has an advisory statute near the the Council of Europe and is member of the following ridge organizations.

CCIVS - Coordinating Committee off International Voluntary Service Organizations - * YFJ - Youth Forum Youth - * AVSO - Association of the organizations of voluntary service/Association off voluntary Service Organizations - * UNITED for Intercultural Action -

Distinctions

In 1987 the SCI received the United Nations the title of " Messenger of Paix" , a gesture of recognition for its efforts for the defense of peace in the world.

See too

External bonds

SCI, international office
Funds '' international Civil service '' with the Library of the City of the Chaux-de-Fonds
Catalog of the international files

International Civil service - France
International Civil service - Switzerland

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