**DECISION:

23.2 Countering Terrorism

The AEU strongly condemns the attacks in the USA on September 11, 2001 which resulted in a tragic loss of life as crimes against humanity.

We express our sympathies to all those who have suffered, particularly American educators and their families, and children everywhere who have directly or indirectly had their lives irrevocably changed as a result of this violent event.

Further we condemn all acts of terrorism, whether state sanctioned or the activities of individuals or small groups as indefensible. Those responsible for the September 11 attacks must be brought to justice.

This Conference believes that the response from the international community must be based on global values of human rights and justice, not retaliation which causes the further loss of innocent lives. The victims of this tragedy, like all victims, deserve justice not revenge.

We are concerned at the language of war being used by world leaders including our own political leaders in response to this attack and the prevailing environment of racism and xenophobia around the world. We condemn the attacks on Arabic and Islamic communities.

Military retaliation in response to this mass murder will only worsen the cycle of fear, anger and violence and result in further loss of innocent lives. War and violence is only serving to further the suffering of innocent people who have already endured invasions, civil war and drought in the past decades. The women and girls of Afghanistan have suffered savage repression by the Taliban regime.

Military action will provide no long term solution to the acts of terrorism. It is weakening the level of international support to bring the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks to justice, particularly in Muslim/Arab nations, and threatens to extend the crisis. The defeat of the Taliban has not achieved justice for the victims of these terrorist attacks - this will only be achieved in an international court of justice.

We are also deeply concerned at some measures being proposed and implemented in the US and Australia which use the mantra of combating terrorism to seriously attack and curb long-standing and hard won democratic rights and freedoms.

These measures are designed to curtail the right to legitimate dissent and demonstrate a startling inconsistency in claims that this is a struggle for the preservation of democracy.

This Conference calls for:

1) renewed efforts by the international community to work within the UN structures to address terrorism;

2) long term solutions to human security which address the greed and inequities existing in the world that have resulted in millions of people, particularly women and girls, suffering from the violence inflicted by terrorism and war, or the lack of food, medicine and housing;

3) greater international efforts to resolve the Palestinian/Israeli conflict which has fueled the tensions in the Middle East and the Islamic world.

4) (the stem doesn't match for this sentence) Conference endorses the EI Congress resolution on Palestine. Further the AEU asks the EI delegation to Israel/Palestine to investigate the matter of the content of school textbooks and teaching programs in areas controlled by the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority"

Further this Conference urges the Australian Government to:

1. adopt an independent foreign policy rather than rushing unquestioningly to satisfy US foreign policy and military interests.

2. increase long term aid programs that address poverty and inequity in developing countries; and

3. work towards the improvement of organisations such as the United Nations and the International Court of Justice as part of an ongoing campaign to establish the rule of law, the pursuit of justice and the principles of peaceful resolution of conflict as the norms of international conduct.

We recognize that schools and educators have a responsibility to teach students the importance of resolving conflict in a humane, civilized and constructive manner. The actions of terrorists and aggressive responses undermine those teachings. Governments must play a leadership role in combating poverty and injustice as a prerequisite to a truly peaceful world.

Curriculum should be developed and resourced across existing educational programs and supported by appropriate professional development to ensure every educator can actively carry out this responsibility.

23.3 Globalisation Issues

Federal Conference:

- reiterates the AEU position that we oppose the inclusion of public education in the General Agreement on Trade and Services.

- notes that the federal government is currently considering its position in relation to the re-signing of possible expansion of the GATS to include public education.

- calls on the AEU, its Branches and Associated Bodies to make this issue an urgent priority for 2002, ensuring members are aware of the implications for public education and their work and involve them in actively campaigning against the inclusion of education in the GATS.

In addition the AEU work with other unions and organisations to lobby the ALP, Democrats, Greens and Independents with the aim of generating parliamentary debate and legislating against the inclusion of education and other public services in GATS.

The AEU welcomes the Poster and Information Booklet "Putting People At The Centre Of Workers' Rights, The Global Economy And Working For A Fairer Future" produced by APHEDA for Union Workplace Delegates. Branches and Associated Bodies are urged to ensure this booklet is distributed to all workplace representatives and branches/sub-branches encouraged to discuss the contents at a union meeting.
Further the Conference believes that the ITF/AEU funded project to develop curriculum materials for schools and colleges on globalisation, trans-national corporations and global institutions will enable these issues to be included in a variety of classes and will assist in a greater knowledge by students of these issues. The materials, on completion, should be widely distributed including making them available on the web. Branches and Associated Bodies should consider conducting professional development activities for teachers around the use of these materials and the issue of globalization in general.

The AEU will explore the development and funding of further cooperative programs such as teacher activist school / union exchange programs, twinning schools arrangements, etc with unions such as SADTU and CHUNKYOJO with which we have worked closely in the past.

23.4 ITF

The Federal Conference thanks the ITF Committee members for their work on behalf of the AEU. In particular the Conference thanks the retiring members of the committee, David Tonkin and Ian Mackie for the contribution to the work of the ITF.