MANY TO MANY 65 The Citizens' Peace Conference

The Citizens' Peace Conference in The Hague, 11-16 May 1999

The Hague Appeal for Peace 1999 will seek to re-focus people's minds on the vision of a world in which violent conflict is publicly acknowledged as illegitimate, illegal, and fundamentally unjust. The Hague Appeal has three stages:

1) a 2-year preparatory process, which already involves over 500 organisations;

2) an end-of-the-century conference to be held in The Hague, 11-16 May, 1999; and

3) a follow-up campaign on the Agenda for the 21st Century on Peace and International Justice that will emerge from The Hague process.

The Hague Appeal for Peace Organising Committee believes that the last major conference of the century should be on peace and international justice.

Goals and Programme

The goals and framework of The Hague Appeal for Peace 1999 draw from those set at the First International, Peace Conference of 1899, updated to address contemporary conditions. These themes are:

* to strengthen international human rights and humanitarian law and institutions;

* to advance the peaceful settlement of disputes, including conflict prevention and peace building,

* to link and develop substantive issues in disarmament, including nuclear abolition, and

* to create a culture of peace and alleviate the root causes of war.

Using the expertise of the Organising Committee, the Appeal is forming strong cross-sectoral working groups on key focus areas, such as women and armed conflict; peace education; environment and conflict; and the media. Particular emphasis is placed on youth and the involvement of young people in all aspects of the campaign.

Governmental Initiatives

The first time that a conference was held not to conclude or settle a war, but to focus on building a lasting world peace was organised by the Czar of Russia and the Queen of the Netherlands in 1899. At the close of the 21st century, the Hague Appeal Organising Committee is supporting the governments' plans to commemorate the Centennial, organised by 25 nations led by the Russian Federation and the Netherlands.

In December 1997, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution supporting the 1999 Centennial plans. This resolution refers to The Hague Appeal for Peace and suggests that the sequence of conferences in 1999 could be considered as a Third International Peace Conference.

Other Activities

Many organisations and individuals will not be able to attend the citizens' conference in The Hague. Organisations across the world are invited to participate in The Hague Appeal by developing appropriate events, workshops, lectures, and other initiatives relating to the themes of the Appeal. Some organisations are holding meetings at which they will draft resolutions and proposals for submission at the citizens' conference. Others will hold local events to raise awareness about the need for a new culture of peace for the next century.

More information can be obtained from: The Hague Appeal for Peace 1999,
c/o IALANA, Anna Paulownastraat 103, 2518 BC The Hague, the Netherlands.
Fax: +31-70-345-5951, email:

". . . unarmed UN inspectors have destroyed more weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in the past six years than Operation Desert Storm did." – Kofi Annan

Anthony Brooke and Gita Brooke, co-founders
Te Rangi, 4 Allison Street, Wanganui 5001, New Zealand
phone/fax: +64-6-345-5714 ~ e-mail: Many to Many
under the aegis of
Operation Peace Through Unity
is a communicating link between
'we, the peoples' of all nations, races, creeds and ideologies offering in the spirit of the preamble of the United Nations Charter an instrument for the furthering of better relationships based on deepening mutual understanding and the aspiration to promote unity and cooperation beyond all differences.