History

Written by Colin Archer, IPB Secretary-General (retired)

The end of the Cold War ushered in a particularly complex decade. Loss of peace movement momentum due to the end of East-West confrontations and the immediate nuclear threat was accompanied by a diversification of focus. Human rights, social development, gender, environment and other causes all absorbed activist energies and favoured new coalitions and political formations. These issues were highlighted by a remarkable series of major UN Summits, culminating in the Millennium Declaration and ultimately the Sustainable Development Goals (2015).

Continue reading “A short history of the International Peace Bureau: 1990 – 2017*”

The IPB was founded in 1891-92, as a result of consultations at the Universal Peace Congresses, large gatherings held annually to bring together the national peace societies that had gradually developed, mainly in Europe and North America, from the end of the Napoleonic Wars onwards.
Continue reading “Over a century of Peace-Making”

David McReynolds served as vice president of IPB from 1983 till 1989 after the International Confederation of Disarmament and Peace had merged with the IPB in 1983. Continue reading “David McReynolds”

Adolf Heilberg was a respected lawyer and liberal politician in Imperial Germany and during the 1920s and an influential activist of the German Peace Society. He served as a member of the International Council of the IPB from 1907 till 1929. Continue reading “Adolf Heilberg”

Few peace advocates know the name Elie Ducommun. For this reason, a two-day history seminar was held in Geneva to explore the life of the remarkable Swiss politician who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1902, together with IPB’s second Secretary-General, Albert Gobat. The ‘Ducommun Committee’ decided to invite specialists from several countries to offer analyses of Ducommun’s role in many fields.
Continue reading “Elie Ducommun: First Secretary-General”

Every year IPB organises an international conference, linked to our Council meeting. Every third year we hold the IPB Assembly, which is open to all members. Here you can find a list of all the meetings held since the end of the Cold War. The photo is from our conference in Oslo in 2010 – the centenary of our Nobel Peace Prize.
Continue reading “IPB Assembly and Council meetings, from 1990”

Baroness Bertha Felicie Sophie von Suttner (9 June 1843 – 21 June 1914), born Countess Kinsky in Prague, was the posthumous daughter of a field marshal. In 1891, she was responsible for the creation of the Permanent International Peace Bureau in Bern. In 1892 she promised to keep Alfred Nobel informed on the progress of the peace movement and, if possible, to convince him of its effectiveness. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905.

See graphic “Nobel laureates and Disarmament” published by UN Office of Disarmament Affairs for additional information and a broader overview.
Continue reading “Nobel Peace Prize Laureates”