The Hague Appeal for Peace, May 1999 Last month, Rebecca Razavi attended the Hague Appeal for Peace on behalf of the Association of Baha'f Youth UK. She was elected to the delegation who represented the 1,500 youths at this civil society conference in the closing ceremony, where she addressed the 10,000 delegates and here shares her hopes for world peace. The report follows the advanced notice of the event, in issue 26 of the Associate: "Returning to the Hague - The Third International Peace Conference" by Rod Rastan. What do 10,000 concerned activists and over 700 civil society groups make? Hopefully peace. While NATO carried on bombing foreign embassies in Belgrade, and the world media stuck faithfully by the adage that good news is no news, hoards of thinkers and leaders of thought descended on the Hague to make world peace not just a vague longing but a tangible reality. The idea of a Hague Appeal for Peace is nothing new: exactly 100 years ago in 1899 the Queen of the Netherlands and Czar Nicholas II of Russia convened the first Peace Conference. They did so at a time when the ominous monster of war was rearing its head in Europe. Despite their efforts mankind could not escape its outdated mindset of nationalism, militarism and imperialism the twentieth century became the bloodiest in recorded history. This time around the conference was organized by civil society, and its results will be carried forward by civil society. Although the conference was supported and attended by world leaders such as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Queen Noor of Jordan and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, not to mention a clutch of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, it says a lot about the shift in balance of power, and for the hopes of success that such a notable gathering was assembled by humble citizens the sector of society that must take any peace initiative to heart if it is to have a chance of success. It seemed a tangible realisation of the call of the Universal House of Justice: "let it be this generation that inaugurates this glorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet". (The Promise of World Peace) The outcome of the Hague Appeal was a citizen's Agenda for Peace and Justice in the 21st Century. Born of hours of consultation among the thousands of organizations and individuals that have actively participated in the Hague Appeal for Peace process, the Agenda represents what these civil society organizations and citizens consider to be some of the most important challenges facing humankind as it prepares to embark upon a new millennium. The preamble begins: "The world is emerging from the bloodiest, most war-ridden century in history. On the eve of the new century, it is time to create the conditions in which the primary aim of the United Nations, "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war", can be realized. This is the goal of the Hague Appeal for Peace." The overwhelming feeling from the conference was that governments have failed to fulfil their responsibility to prevent conflict, protect civilians, end war, eradicate colonialism, guarantee human rights and create the conditions of permanent peace. This responsibility cannot therefore be entrusted solely to governments. The citizen's Agenda for Peace and Justice for the 21 st Century aims to facilitate a new approach. Building on the recent model of New Diplomacy in which citizen advocates, progressive governments and international organizations have worked together for common goals. The Baha'i input at the conference was felt all around: of the seven youth called upon to address the main conference at the closing session, two were Baha'is. Moreover, there were 30 Baha'i youth from across Europe as representatives of the European Baha'i Youth Council. There were a number of workshops led by Baha'is on varying themes, mainly concerning how to create a culture of peace. Several of the workshops used the arts to convey the principles that under-pin a culture of peace, such as equality of the sexes and the oneness of humanity. Many of the Baha'is from the Hague worked as volunteers behind the scenes. Mr Techeste Ahderom, who represents the Baha'i International Community at the United Nations, sits on the executive of CONGO (a committee of representatives of NGOs who have consultative status with ECOSOC) and is the co-Chair of the Millennium Forum. The Millennium Forum will be held by civil society in New York in MayJune 2000. It will be a response to the UN Secretary-General's invitation for the full partnership of civil society, in the assessment of UN reform by the UN and states during the latter half of the year 2000. With so many different people from such disparate places, some degree of contention might have been expected. And indeed seemingly irreconcilable views were expressed. However, they were expressed in an atmosphere of openness and tolerance and so through consultation became educational instead of confrontational. The dialogues undertaken at the Hague became a working example for the sceptics and naysayers, proving just how much people desire to reconcile their differences and want to go beyond conflict and rather celebrate and appreciate differences as a tool for building a culture of peace. Nowhere was this more apparent than round the table of the more serious constructive dialogues going on between civil society activists of conflict regions such as Ethiopia and Eritrea, TurkishlKurdish, Israel and Palestine, and Cyprus. A dialogue on finding non-violent solutions of the Kashmir dispute lasted for several days and incredibly resulted in the agreement of a proposal developed by a group of non-violent Kashmiri leaders and activists. The key to the success of the Hague Appeal for Peace was not only the achievement of bringing together the sheer numbers of people from the global south and developed countries but also the creation of the feeling that we can work together as a common human society despite the differences in our lives, culture and experiences. Report by Rebecca Razavi The Associate is the newsletter of the Association for Bahá’í Studies (English-Speaking Europe), 27 Rutland Gate, London SW7 1PD, UK. <<PREVIOUS • ASSOCIATE HOME PAGE • CONTENTS • ABS(ESE) HOME PAGE • NEXT >>