The Society for Threatened Peoples International STPI (german: Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker-International, GfbV-International) is an international

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

and

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

organization with its headquarters in

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Its aim is to create awareness of and protect minority peoples around the world who are threatened by oppressive governments. The society states that it "campaigns against all forms of genocide and ethnocide." It has

consultative status The consultative status is a phrase whose use can be traced to the founding of the United Nations and is used within the UN community to refer to "Non-governmental organizations ( NGOs) in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and So ...

with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

, participatory status with the Council of Europe, and has branches in Germany,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, Switzerland,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, and

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also inc ...

. The Secretary General of the Society for Threatened Peoples International (STPI) and Society for Threatened Peoples-Germany (STP) is Tilman Zülch. The society awards the Victor Gollancz Prize. The Society for Threatened Peoples has a strong focus on

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

and other parts of

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

, including

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

, but it also works with countries in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

History

The Society for Threatened Peoples Germany emerged in 1970 from the Hamburg-based "Aktion Biafra-Hilfe." Aktion Biafra-Hilfe was founded in June 1968 by Tilman Zülch and Klaus Guerke during the

Biafra War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence ...

to draw attention of the world to the occurrences within Biafra in present-day Nigeria and to stop the hunger and genocide going on there. Zülch went to the area to witness the atrocities and eventually wrote a book together with Klaus Guerke. The experience campaigning for the protection of the victims and refugees encouraged campaigns for other minorities transforming Aktion Biafra-Hilfe into the Society for Threatened Peoples-Germany. In 1978 the headquarters of the Society for Threatened Peoples Germany moved from Hamburg to

. Since 1993 the STP has

with the

United Nations Economic and Social Council The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...

. The STPI is also a Member organization of Committee for a Democratic UN. Since January 2005 the STPI also has participatory status at the Council of Europe.

Organization and areas of work

The STPI is one of several European minority rights organizations. In December 2011, the organization had 5774 members and 675 sponsors, most of whom are based in Germany. The organization's activities are coordinated in Göttingen. Regional groups support the work of the STP-Germany in a few German cities, including Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Münster and Nuremberg. The STPI publishes press releases, organizes public demonstrations, arranges post card fund raising campaigns, prepares reports for court hearings, produces educational materials for teachers, and publishes the journal "Pogrom", which is a source of information about the situation of ethnic and religious minorities. Since its founding, a main focus of the human rights work of the STP, has been the African continent; though the STPI is not represented by a section. Since the

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

the STPI has been disproportionately active in

as well as

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

. In Kosovo the STP-Germany paid for a team that, under the direction of the human rights worker Paul Polansky, worked for the interests of the Roma. In Bosnia and Herzegovina the support of the survivors of the

Srebrenica Massacre The Srebrenica massacre ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Masakr u Srebrenici, Масакр у Сребреници), also known as the Srebrenica genocide ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Genocid u Srebrenici, Геноцид у Сребрен ...

is particularly important for the German chapter of the STPI. Another focus of the STPI is

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. Renate Domnick, a volunteer for the STP-Germany, organized the first large European trip of an Indian delegation from 16 American countries. In the Middle East the Kurds play an important role for the STP: This pushed the STP-Germany to open a STPI office in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq. Prominent supporters of STP-Germany include: the writer and futurologist

Robert Jungk Robert Jungk (; born ''Robert Baum'', also known as ''Robert Baum-Jungk''; 11 May 1913 – 14 July 1994) was an Austrian writer, journalist, historian and peace campaigner who wrote mostly on issues relating to nuclear weapons. Life Jungk was bor ...

,, the author Günter Grass, former German chancellor

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...

, current President of

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...

José Ramos-Horta José Manuel Ramos-Horta (; born 26 December 1949) is an East Timorese politician currently serving as president of East Timor since May 2022. He previously served as president from 20 May 2007 to 20 May 2012. Previously he was Minister of Fore ...

, and

Marek Edelman Marek Edelman ( yi, מאַרעק עדעלמאַן, born either 1919 in Homel or 1922 in Warsaw – October 2, 2009 in Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish political and social activist and cardiologist. Edelman was the last surviving leader of the ...

a leader in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Political goals and strategies

The Society for Threatened Peoples places the fight against

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

forced migration Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

, all forms of minority oppression, and

deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

of refugees in their country of origin as the center of their work. Their themes include the cultural and religious groupings like the

Falun Gong Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...

in China, the Christian minorities in Iran, or ethnic groups like the

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

or Chechen. The Society for Threatened Peoples lobbies politicians and uses letter writing campaigns to apply pressure for its causes. The Society for Threatened Peoples has always maintained that

, today often known as

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...

, of people is wrong and constitute a

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

. The Society for Threatened Peoples has advocated for a

Centre against Expulsions The Centre Against Expulsions (german: Zentrum gegen Vertreibungen, ZgV) was a planned German documentation centre for expulsions and ethnic cleansing, particularly the expulsion of Germans after World War II. Since March 19, 2008 the name of the ...

. The Society for Threatened Peoples has in special situations supported military interventions. The society supported the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

intervention in the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

in 1999. In 2006 the Society for Threatened Peoples supported the protection of elections in the Congo by the German military.

References

*"Society for Threatened Peoples" in Lawson, Edward, ''Encyclopedia of Human Rights'', New York : Taylor & Francis, 1991.

External links

Society for Threatened Peoples website
{{Authority control Human rights organisations based in Germany Göttingen 1970 establishments in West Germany Organizations with participatory status with the Council of Europe Non-profit organisations based in Lower Saxony Organizations established in 1970 International human rights organizations