One of the most distinguished peace activists of our time, Prof. Göran von Bonsdorff of Finland, celebrated his 90th birthday on Tuesday 18th March. Göran was the leader of Finnish Peace Union for many years, and has also served as Vice-President of IPB. He is a university professor of political science and has written numerous books and articles, always expressing an optimistic view on the ways to influence world affairs in a peaceful direction.

I called him up on Tuesday to congratulate him, found him of course in the very noisy birthday party at the 'Peace Station', the headquarters of the Finnish Peace
Union. But we had a little chat, and Göran immediately invited me to attend one of his upcoming events, a seminar in Brinkhall, Turku, at the end of the summer.
That’s what happens, when you have 90-year-old friends...

Tomas Magnusson
President
International Peace Bureau
March 19, 2008

Cora Weiss speaks at International Women’s Day disarmament seminar

Former IPB President Cora Weiss, shown at right, came to Geneva in early March to deliver a speech at the International Women’s Day disarmament seminar organised by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

Please click links for full conference report and statement.

Opening of the photographic exhibition 'Nuclear Dilemma', MICR, Genev

IPB was well represented at the opening of the photographic exhibition 'In-Security: the Nuclear Dilemma', which opened at the Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (MICR) in Geneva on Wednesday Feb. 27.

Since IPB has supported the development of this project from the beginning, Colin Archer was asked to speak at the press conference in the morning, and Ashley Woods, President of the REAL Exhibition Development association, spoke at the evening reception. Participants included the Swiss Ambassador, the Museum Director, and the Mayors for Peace Campaign Manager, WFUNA staff, and local Women for Peace and disarmament/nuclear energy activists.

Responses to the exhibition have been very positive. The content includes a slide-film about the history of radiation and nuclear energy/weapons; 120 images from 10 series of photos by renowned photographers on themes such as Hiroshima-Nagasaki, Chernobyl, the contemporary nuclear industry, the US weapons programme; and wall displays of the nuclear chain and media representation of the issue.

The pedagogical programme includes visits by youth groups, workshops in local schools, and two Round Tables.

A press pack and CD of photos are available on request. The project is supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, UK and several international peace and disarmament organisations.

The exhibition will be continuing until July 27 and will be available during the NPT PrepComm (April 28-May 9) and for various groups of visitors.

It will later travel to the Gernika Peace Museum and the Berlin World House of Culture, and beyond. If you are interested in helping bringing this exhibit to your region, contact REAL.

Full information at: http://www.nucleardilemma.org and http://www.micr.ch/f/exhib/explore_current_f.html

Contact details
REAL Exhibition Development
Maison de la Paix
9 rue Dulcie September
94300, Saint Ouen
France
- Coordination : Ashley Woods, tel:+33 676 499 840 - ashley@realexpo.org
- Educational programme: Hélène Leneveu, tel: +33 659 425 882 - helene@realexpo.org

PM Gordon Brown & President Gorbachev Discuss Wide Range of Issues

Report from GSI President Jonathan Granoff,
an IPB Representative to the Nobel Peace Laureate Summit

On January 28, 2008, President Mikhail Gorbachev and I were hosted to breakfast and a private meeting with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown, at No. 10 Downing Street. The meeting was divided into two distinct parts. The first hour included Tom Fletcher, Private Secretary to the Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs, and myself. The second hour was only President Gorbachev and the Prime Minister.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Brown expressed his serious concerns on a wide range of issues, from poverty to the development of environmentally-friendly technologies. He emphasized the importance of making necessary progress on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament in order to ensure the success of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear weapons. President Gorbachev highlighted the problems with nuclear energy, reminding the Prime Minister about Chernobyl, and the need to focus on the abolition of nuclear weapons and not just preventing them from coming into the hands of unfriendly states or non-state actors.

The Prime Minister discussed the threats to our global economy, both internationally and in the United States, which has a disproportionate influence on global economic stability.  The economic fundamentals of both the US and the global economy are sufficiently sound as to be able to weather current challenges arising from an overextended mortgage market in the US and the general weakness of the dollar. Prime Minister Brown was exceptionally respectful and afforded every courtesy toward President Gorbachev, engaging him in a wide range of inquiries on current affairs -- from the need for greater international cooperation to expanding the UN Security Council.

President Gorbachev expressed confidence that bilateral relations between the UK and Russia has reached a high level of economic and cultural cooperation and that there is an interest in regularizing and developing stronger cooperation and improved understanding.

I explained the work of the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI) and shared two MPI briefs (see below). President Gorbachev highlighted the good work done in Rome at the Noble Peace Laureate Summits. We shared the Charter for a World Without Violence and the Three Questions to Fulfil Our Duty to the Next Generation that arose at the last Summit this past December in Rome. I also shared Axis of Responsibility and Freedom from the Scourge of War, (see below for all Nobel Summit docs) the presentations that I made at the Summit on behalf of the International Peace Bureau and suggested that arranging a meeting in the UK with Nobel Peace Laureates could be done in a manner that was supportive of the excellent points the Prime Minister made in a recent speech in India. The Prime Minister accepted the papers and the ideas shared in a most respectful and positive manner. Within a few days, follow up meetings were arranged for Senator Douglas Roche, Chairman of MPI, to meet with senior policy officials in the Foreign Ministry. Also, the serious manner in which Prime Minister Brown’s administration is addressing nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament was recently affirmed when Defense Minister Des Browne offered the UK as a host of a high level meeting of leaders of nuclear weapons states to address how to strengthen verification measures needed to move toward a nuclear weapons free world. This is a welcome tangible expression of the uplifting sentiments Prime Minister Brown has expressed.

I am always humbled when working with President Gorbachev, an advisor to GSI, by his wisdom, humility, courage, and commitment to making the world better for everyone. I felt particularly honored to see how he provided inspiration and encouragement to Prime Minister Brown on the good positions they shared and how he looked to build on such work. For example, when speaking about threats posed by nuclear weapons, President Gorbachev immediately offered the work that he has stimulated through a working group, of which I am a part, created through the Belfer Center at Harvard and with George Schultz, Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan.  This group aims to put forth policy suggestions for the next presidents of Russia and the US. President Gorbachev highlighted how this work might benefit the UK and that we would share our work products with the Prime Minister.

I would like to personally thank my friend Lord Peter Goldsmith QC, PC, former Attorney General of the United Kingdom, for helping to arrange this valuable meeting.

Nobel documents:

» Charter for a World Without Violence
» Three Questions to Fulfil Our Duty to the Next Generation
» PM Brown's speech in India

The two MPI briefs that were presented were:

» Visibile Intent: NATO's Responsibility to Nuclear Disarmament
»Towards 2010: Priorities for NPT Consensus

Jonathan Granoff's presentations to the Nobel Summit:

» Axis of Responsibility
» Freedom from the Scourge of War

8th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates meets in Rome

The 8th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates was organized in Rome from 13-15 December 2007 by the Summit Secretariat in Rome. Former President Mikhail Gorbachev and Mr. Walter Veltroni, Mayor of Rome, were co-presidents of the Summit. The theme of the Summit was: The Next Generation.

IPB (Nobel Peace laureate 1910) was represented by Anna Akerlund, Ingeborg Breines, and Jonathan Granoff. Their detailed report is available here, together with five additional texts and three photos.

IPB Activity Report 2006-7 out now

For a detailed overview of IPB's recent work, please take a look at our Activity Report for 2006-2007.

This was presented at the annual Council meeting in Nov. 2007 in Alexandria.

Note: This publication covers mainly the work of the Secretariat and Board. To find out about the activities of the member organisations, please visit the Membership link on the menu above, choose International or National/Local, and go to the links of the organisations themselves.

New IPB Book: WHOSE PRIORITIES?

A guide for campaigners on military and social spending
by Colin Archer
IPB Secretary-General

This book is a follow-up to IPB's earlier volume Warfare or Welfare? Disarmament for Development in the 21st Century.While that work attempted to describe the nature of the problems facing us, the new publication sketches out some approaches to campaigning in opposition to militarism, and offers summary accounts of 18 projects undertaken by civil society groups around the world.

Full text available here. Published 2007, 76pp, A4 format, illustrated. ISBN: 92-95006-04-6. German translation here.

Price: 20 CHF + postage. Discounts offered for IPB members and for bulk orders.

Order from IPB Secretariat. Methods of payment here.

FLYER available here.

For PROMOTION IDEAS, click this line.

Geneva, 8 Nov. 2007.  The International Peace Bureau announced today that it will award the organisation's annual Peace Prize to Jayantha Dhanapala, a highly-respected Sri Lankan diplomat, who has devoted his career to disarmament and global justice. The award will be made during the international seminar entitled Books or Bombs? Sustainable Disarmament for Sustainable Development, to held in collaboration with the Institute of Peace Studies at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina from Nov. 11-12.

AWARD DATE: Sunday 11 Nov, 2007
TIME: 10.00 am – programme available on request
ACCESS TO THE CEREMONY: contact IPS at: (+20) 03-483-9999. or email:  mohamed.moustafa@bibalex.org   or rania.emara@bibalex.org
Media Interviews available on request.

Jayantha Dhanapala
Like Sean MacBride, Amb. Dhanapala is a remarkable figure on the world stage. His diplomatic career has been a distinguished one. After his studies, he rose high in the ranks of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, so that by 1995 he was Sri Lankan Ambassador to the USA. He had by then already seen postings in London, Beijing, and New Delhi. He was also Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN Office in Geneva, and became Director of UNIDIR, the UN's Disarmament Research Institute. 

Dhanapala has made disarmament his special field of expertise, and he had the honour of presiding over the historic 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference - and managed to find an ingenious solution acceptable to all when most observers felt the Conference was deadlocked. He was UN Under Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs from 1998 to 2003, and the development of the Department under his leadership has been much applauded. As USG he undertook many initiatives on Disarmament and Development,  small arms and light weapons, the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon-free Zone etc. His profound dedication to the cause of disarmament is widely appreciated, as is his genuine support for civil society efforts.

Amb. Dhanapala has not neglected the challenging situation in his own country, and during a difficult period was the Senior Adviser to the President of Sri Lanka and Secretary-General of the Peace Secretariat (2004-5), charged with handling the delicate negotiations with the Tamil Tigers. In 2006 he was Sri Lanka's candidate for the position of UN Secretary-General. Dhanapala remains actively involved in several international bodies and is a member of various expert bodies, for example the recent Blix Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction and in 1996 the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. He has also just been elected President of the Pugwash conferences on Science and World Affairs.

Download full press communique in pdf format here.

NEW IPB Paper!
ARTICLE 9 & ARTICLE 26:
Twin campaigns to move the world towards peace and social justice

In his new essay, our Secretary-General Colin Archer links the "pacifist" Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and Article 26 of UN Charter that requires Security Council to “formulate plans for a system for the regulation of armaments"... "In order to promote the establishment and maintenance of international peace and security with the least diversion for armaments of the world's human and economic resources." Showing the potential power of Art. 9 and its significance in a Disarmament for Development perspective (Art. 26), he stresses the need for coordination of international civil society efforts in this field. Read full article here.

For more info on the Article 9 campaign go to: http://www.article-9.org/en/index.html

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