Nobel laureates gather for world peace

Nobel laureates joined UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in The Hague this week with government officials, academics and activists from around the world to promote an end-of-century global drive for peace. A coalition called The Hague Appeal for Peace said the 11-15 May conference would commemorate the First Hague Peace Conference 100 years ago which was attended by 26 governments. The coalition said in a statement the conference would seek to implement "the founding purpose of the United Nations to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war". "Bringing activists representing the human rights, environmental, women's and movements, as well as governments, The Hague Appeal will provide a forum for concrete action on a number of initiatives including the (permanent) establishment of an International Criminal Court in The Hague and implementation of the Ottawa Landmines Treaty. The last meeting 100 years ago, it said, had failed to limit war and the development of increasingly dangerous weapons. Besides Annan, the speakers will include the Nobel peace laureates, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, the landmine activist Jody Williams, and the East Timor independence movement leader, Jose Ramos-Horta. Graca Machel of Mozambique, who has campaigned for years with UNICEF to improve the plight of children in Africa, will also address delegates. Government delegates and some of those who were victims will also speak about conflicts in Africa. African delegates also planned separate meetings on issues ranging from the exploitation of child soldiers and to the conference idea that peace studies be made a compulsory subject at schools. In a statement setting the tone of the gathering, Archbishop Tutu, chairman of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said: "We have seen in this century the successful struggle against colonialism on the African continent, we have seen the end of apartheid; and in the last century we saw the ugly face of slavery legally abolished. Why not war?" The Hague Appeal has developed an agenda based on four basic themes. They are the Prevention, Resolution and Transformation of Violent Conflict; Disarmament and Human Security; International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law and Institutions and Root Causes of War/Culture of Peace. Click here for further information on the conference