The International Peace Bureau (IPB) is organizing the World Congress called “Disarm! For a Climate of Peace” between Sept 30– Oct 02 2016 at the TU Berlin . The Congress is one of the largest international political peace events of the year. Special correspondent of Eurasia Diary in the conference informs that approximately 1000 guests from all over the world are expected to participate at the Congress. The Congress has opened by Ingeborg Breines and Reiner Braun, IPB Co-Presidents Welcome from the Technical University Berlin by Christian Thomsen, President of the Technical University Greetings from the City of Berlin by Matthias Kollatz-Ahnen.
Several prominent guests joined the Congress. Among the speakers in the plenaries, in panel discussions and working groups will be, among others, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman from Yemen (2011),, the founder of the “Right Livelihood Award” Jakob von Uexküll, the laureates of the “Right Livelihood Award” Vandana Shiva and Alyn Ware, prominent economists like James Galbraith, Noam Chomsky (via video) and Samir Amin, the Co-President of the Club of Rome Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, the secretary generals of ITUC and UNI Global Union Sharan Burrow and Philip Jennings, the former Director General of UNESCO Federico Mayor Zaragoza, the former Defence Minister of Ecuador and current Permanent Representative of her country to the United Nations in Geneva María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, the director general of the United Nations office in Geneva Michael Møller, the chairman of ver.di Frank Bsirske and board member of IPB, chairman of International Eurasia Press Fund Umud Mirzayev.
The world’s governments spend some $1,700 billion on the military sector and the expenditure is on the rise. The Congress organizers would want this money instead to be spent on a wide-ranging global transformation towards a culture of peace, notably: - Climate change mitigation and preservation of biodiversity; - Peace, human security, disarmament, conflict prevention, transformation and resolution; - Social justice, human rights, gender equality, public services and creation of decent and environmentally sound jobs; - Sustainable development, new production and consumption patterns, anti-poverty programs, UN Sustainable Development Goals; - Humanitarian programs to support the most vulnerable. We believe the transformation of society can only be achieved when handling conflict differently and reallocating military expenditure.
Hence, we view this priority shift in government spending as one element in a much broader global transformation towards a green, socially just and peaceful society. The crisis of civilization we are facing seems more far-reaching than the ecological and economic crisis alone.
The main aim of this Congress is to bring the issue of military spending, often seen as a technical question, into a broader public debate on the future of both humanity and the planet. The organizers hope hereby also to strengthen the global community of activism and partnership for a world without war.
The IPB World Congress is supported by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), UNI Global Union, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), by international religious organisations (of different persuasions), organisations from the environmental and development policy sector as well as by the three big political foundations in Germany: Heinrich Böll, Friedrich Ebert and Rosa Luxemburg.
What is the International Peace Bureau?
Founded in 1891/92, the International Peace Bureau (IPB, www.ipb.org) is the oldest existing international peace network. It counts more than 300 member organizations in over 70 countries and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910. Over the course of time, 13 prominent IPB leaders were also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The IPB devotes itself to the vision of a world without war. The main focus of its work is “Disarmament for Sustainable Development”. Within this programme, it mainly strives for the re-allocation of governments’ military spending. For 6 years, the IPB has been the coordinator of the Global Campaign on Military Spending (including the Global Days of Action on Military Spending, GDAMS. Since the 1980s, the IPB has promoted the worldwide campaign for nuclear disarmament, aiming at the abolition of all nuclear weapons.
