Peace Education

October 21, 2016. The Board of the International Peace Bureau is pleased to announce that the Sean MacBride Peace Prize will be awarded this year to our own Secretary-General Colin Archer, who since 1990 has served the organization with outstanding commitment and competence. Colin Archer, who will retire next year and return home from Geneva to the UK, has spared no efforts over the last 26 years in the service of peace and of the IPB community in particular…

Read the full announcement here and if you want to know more about the MacBride Peace Prize and its connection to IPB, follow this link.

IPB Vice-President Joseph Gerson (USA) made a wide-ranging speech to introduce the conference-in-the-congress on nuclear disarmament at IPB’s Berlin gathering. He began:

“Friends, let me begin by naming the urgency of this moment of danger and opportunity. With the renewed nuclear arms races, the growing tensions between the great powers and between India and Pakistan, and the dangers of accident or miscalculation triggering nuclear war, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Perry and others are warning that “the danger of some sort of nuclear catastrophe is greater than it was during the Cold War.

UN Day on 24 October marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter. With the ratification of this founding document by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, the United Nations officially came into being. As the official UN Day, 24 of October is a perfect occasion for peace manifestations and celebrations. The Peace Union of Finland, a long time IPB member organisation, will use this UN-day to support efforts towards peace in Syria. Continue reading “Peace in Syria: a call to action on UN Day Oct 24”

7th October 2016, Berlin. (Extracts) “Youth are a military target in schools, universities, religious spheres and other social environments… We, the participants of the IPB Youth Gathering, actively strive for peace and a just future… Today we create a Youth Network under the umbrella of the IPB, calling for a world conference on youth, demilitarisation, and transformation in 2018.”

Truly inspiring words from the IPB Youth Gathering. For the full declaration, take a look here. And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send a mail to youth@ipb.org

11 October 2016 – Among the highlights of the Berlin Congress, held on Sept 30 – Oct 2, 2016, was the presentation of IPB’s Action Agenda. It should be noted that this document is not the final declaration of the Congress; nor is it a summary of the many events that took place during the weekend. Rather, it offers a broad framework to guide the IPB community in the years ahead.

The Agenda begins with the IPB’s vision and goes on to outline some of the main challenges in the peace field. It then describes our broad approach to campaigning. Continue reading “IPB publishes its Action Agenda for the coming years”

10 October 2016 – This video (in German and English) tells a lot about the issues addressed at the congress, some of personalities participating, and the creative style of the press- and side-events. The 3D-art project showing chains holding back a missile was organised by our colleagues in the World Future Council and UNfold Zero.

So take a look at the video here – it’s a great chance to discover the event!

7 October 2016 – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) threw out a case brought by the Marshall Islands about the United Kingdom’s nuclear disarmament obligations that stated that the UK, in failing to get rid of its nuclear weapons, was in breach of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The ICJ agreed with the UK’s objection to the case, in which they claimed to be unaware of a dispute with the Marshall Islands on this issue, a legal requirement to proceed. Continue reading “ICJ turns down Marshall Islands plea”