Author: Assistant Coordinator

Denuclearizing of the Korean Peninsula

Denuclearizing of the Korean Peninsula and Establishing a Northeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone

(Presentation of Dr. J. Enkhsaikhan, Chairman of Blue Banner NGO at the 6th Forum of Northeast Asian Peace and Development, held on 24 November 2019 in Shanghai)

Continue reading “Denuclearizing of the Korean Peninsula”

MacBride Award 2019 for Elayne Whyte Gómez

Elayne Whyte Gómez

“We wanted to change the world,” Ambassador Elayne Whyte Goméz said of herself and her classmates 24 years ago to an audience of students, staff and community members in a University. That aspiration continues to fuel her work. Ambassador Whyte is a career diplomat who is proudly serving as a Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office in Geneva. “Costa Rica which is a country that decided 70 years ago to have a different approach to peace and security by abolishing its armed forces. So that means for a country like us, that we have put all our trust in an international system, that through rules and institutions we can resolve the conflicts and problems of humanity” she explains.

This dedication to improving international law inspired this young diplomat to lead successfully the negotiations of the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017, as an ultimate step of successful disarmament treaty negotiations.

Between 2014 and 2015, she was co-Chair of the 5th Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM). She is currently a member of the Committee on the Implementation of Article 5 of the Conference of the States parties to the Anti-Personnel Landmine Convention (APLC) and a Vice-president of the Conference of the States parties of the APLC. She was Vice-president of the Second Conference of the States Parties of Arms Trade Treaty.

Her leadership at the UN conferences negotiating the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons from March to July 2017 was a background of the success of the Treaty. The negotiations were brought to a successful conclusion in July 2017 and are ratified up to now by 26 countries and signed by 70. She developed during the conference a new style of work allowing the contribution of civil society and experts, together with diplomats. She is deeply connected to nuclear disarmament and a world free of nuclear weapons.

IPB is proud to award Mrs Gomez the Sean Mc Bride Prize, for her invaluable contribution to the completion of the historic Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and salute the work and dedication of this young woman in a key disarmament process where too fewer women have the opportunity to lead.

MacBride Award 2019 for Bruce Kent

Bruce Kent

Bruce Kent is an internationally known peace activist and a “real peace hero” who, even in his 90th year, remains an active campaigner and organizer for peace and human rights. He was one of the main speakers at the big march and demonstration against nuclear weapons in London in 2016.

Bruce was ordained as a Catholic Priest in the Diocese of Westminster in London in 1958 and became a Chaplain to Pax Christi in from 1974-1977. He joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in 1960 and was elected chair from 1977-1979, becoming the General Secretary in 1979 for 6 years. He was elected CND Chair again from 1987-1990. He was also Chair of War on Want from 1974-1976 and was the British co-ordinator for the Hague Appeal for Peace in 1999. He is now a Vice-President of CND, Pax Christi and Movement for the Abolition of War (which he co-founded in 2001).

He was also one of the founders and main organizers of the European Nuclear Disarmament Campaign in the 1980s. He was also, in 1988, one of the main organizers of a 1000-mile peace walk from Warsaw to NATO HQ in Brussels to call for a united peaceful nuclear-free Europe.

Bruce was also IPB President from 1985 till 1992 and he has been an inspiration to so many people of all ages in the UK and elsewhere.

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On Saturday 19th of October 2019, Bruce Kent received the Seán MacBride Peace Prize Medal in London. Here you can see some photos from the ceremony and get an impression!

Sports as a peace building tool

Sports as a peace building tool

The lasting spirit of Pyeong Chang Olympic games.

On Friday 8 November 2019 at the United Nations in Geneva, the City of Pyeong Chang that hosted the winter Olympic games in 2018 and the Pyeong Chang 2018 Legacy Foundation organized a Seminar on Peace and Sports where IPB consultant Arielle Denis was asked to contribute.

IPB has been a strong supporter of the Pyeong Chang spirit since the start and IPB co-President Lisa Clark participated in the 1st Pyeong Chang Peace Forum in 2019. Indeed, the authorities, the Sports community and the South Korean civil society organised Pyeong Chang Olympic games has a really meaningful peace event, regenerating the Olympic spirit as it should always be: a unique opportunity to build bridges between peoples. As one remembers, using the opportunity of the Olympic Games, the 2 Koreas started a new era of relations towards peace and reconciliation. Everyone has in mind the impressive opening ceremony where the Korean teams walked together at the parade and played together in team sports.

The momentum created by PyeongChang 2018 served as a catalyst for political dialogue between the two Koreas, and also between the USA and North Korea, helping to bring about a thaw in their strained relations through the power of sport.

Since then, many steps where made with the participation of civil society, like the very meaningfull women crossing borders movement.

Building on 2018 success, Pyeong Chang Forum 2019 called for a number of action plans, including for all governments to increase their commitment to supporting and enforcing international disarmament laws. It called of course on the two Koreas to find a way to end over 70 years of hostilities between them and embrace a peaceful and collaborative way of moving forward. In addition they called the UN to fully implement the SDGs and drafted resolutions to prevent violations of women’s rights.

One of the questions addressed in the November 8 Seminar was to expand the Pyeong Chang spirit. The next Olympic games will take place in Japan, and this will coincide with the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The idea of making this time a strong call for nuclear abolition gathered everyone’s support and should be brought to the next Pyeong Chang Forum which will take place on February 11-12 2020.

New Board and Council Members

We are welcoming the new Board and Council members that will be representing IPB for the next three years:
  • CO-PRESIDENTS

Lisa Clark (Beati I Costruttori di Pace, Italy)

Phillip Jennings (UNI Global Union, former General Secretary, Switzerland)

  • VICE-PRESIDENTS

Corazon de Fabrios (STOP the War Coalition, Philippines)

Dave Webb (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, United Kingdom)

Joseph Gerson (Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security, American Friends Service Committee, United States)

Jordi Calvo Rufanges (Centre Delàs, Spain)

  • TREASURER

Lucas Wirl (IALANA, Germany)

  • STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Alain Rouy (Mouvement de la paix, France)

Arielle Denis (IPB Consultant, France)

Binalakshmi Nepram (Manipur Women Gun Survivors, India)

Etienne De Jonghe (Pax Christi International, Belgium)

Jargalsaikhan Enksaikhan (Blue Banner NGO, Mongolia)

Jun Kyu Lee (Peace researcher, South Korea)

Patricia Pérez (Instituto Latinoamericano Para La Paz Y La Ciudadanía, Argentina)

Rieko Asato-Kodama (Gensuikyo, Japan)

Steven Staples (Rideau Institute, Canada)

Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan (Nonviolence International, Thailand)

  • EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Reiner Braun (IPB, Germany)

  • IPB COUNCIL MEMBERS

Ann Wright (Code Pink/Veterans for Peace, United States)

Balkrishna Kurvey (New India Development Association, India)

Jenny Clegg (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, United Kingdom)

Kwaku Addai (Millennium Development Institute, Ghana)

Lisa Silvestre (Mouvement de la paix, France)

Oleg Bodrov (Public Council of the South Coast of the Gulf of Finland, Russia)

Onwuekwe Ejimole Fidela (World Youth Peace Organization, Nigeria)

Stephan Möhrle (Arms Information Centre, Germany)

Surrender Singh Rajpurohit Gundecha (Bharat Uday Mission, India)