Appeal for Peace

By Trevor and Joyce Dowling
August 15, 1999

(Report of Hague Appeal for Peace conference)

Introduction (Joyce)
From a distance is usually where we stand in relation to our world's problems, conflicts and victims of war, but on May 10 - 15 of this year, Trevor and I gathered as representatives of this church [Davies Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church in Prince George's County, Camp Springs, Maryland] and part of UU Teens for Peace with over 9,000 activists, community leaders and government representatives from more than 100 countries at the Hague Appeal for Peace, the largest international peace conference in history.

This 6-day event marked the centennial of the first International Peace Conference, which began in May 1899 in the Hague, Netherlands. Judy Collins, the singer of our prelude, led us in song during the opening plenary along with Nobel laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, Rigoberta Menchu Tum of Guatemala, Jose Ramose Horta of East Timor and several others. Kofi Annan, the secretary-general of the United Nations & Queen Noor of Jordan were featured in the closing plenary. In between, we joined over 1500 youth participants in the youth program and general workshops and discussion groups for abolishing war and creating a culture of peace in the 21st century.

This is from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan:
No one ever promised it would be easy to rid the world of the scourge of war, which is so deeply rooted in human history -- perhaps, even in human nature. No one ever said there would be no setbacks. No one ever promised us that the road would always be clear, or that those sincerely committed to peace would not sometimes be deeply divided. We all want peace. We all want justice. No one wants to choose between the two. All of us feel instinctively that they must go together. Is not injustice one of the main causes of conflict and war? Can there be true and lasting peace without justice?

Human Rights and Global Conflicts (Joyce)
I'd like to explain about this map1 we have on display. I know many of you cannot see it well now, but I welcome you to come up to look at it following the service.

This world conflict & human rights map was created by the Interdisciplinary Research Programme on Causes of Human Rights Violations for the Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolutions, and for the Goals for Americans Foundations.

The colored areas show political terror scale from the 1997 situation. Blue is level 1, which is "countries [living] under a secure rule of law, people are not imprisoned for their views, and torture is rare or exceptional. Political murders are extremely rare." As you can see this is one of the largest land masses and it also encompasses the largest number of countries - 61. The light green area is the second level with 53 countries. The yellow area is level three with 49 countries which I'll read to you since it is equal or greater to the land mass of level one: "There is extensive political imprisonment, or a recent history of such imprisonment. Executions or political murders and brutality may be common. Unlimited detention, with or without trial, for political views is accepted." Orange is level 4 with 18 countries, but it contains the most populous states in the world. Almost 3 billion people - more than half of mankind, live under such high-repression regime. And level 5 - the red area: "The practices of level 3 are expanded with murders, disappearances, and torture [being] a common part of life.... The leaders of these societies place no limits on the means or thoroughness with which they pursue personal or ideological goals."

This map also shows levels of development and specific abuses (the United States is listed here for 2), areas of high intensity conflict, low intensity conflict, and violent political conflicts, which includes the United States which is described as "Militia and Christian identity movement."

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights2, Mary Robinson, stated that "...today's human rights violations are the causes of tomorrow's conflicts." So I hope you come up and get a better look at this after the service.

Youth Programme Goals (Trevor)
The youth programme came up with amendments to the Hague Agenda for Peace and Justice which was presented at the end of the conference to the Hague Appeal's Secretary General who was receiving it in behalf of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who had to leave:

"We feel some of the most vital, pressing issues that need to be addressed to create a culture and mechanisms for peace are those directly relating to youth:

"1. Education for peace, human rights and democracy

 - Young people care about education more than international fiancial obligations and we therefore support the launch of the Hague Appeal's international campaign for compulsory peace education.

"2. Protect & respect children & youth

 - We must provide non-violent social environments and activities for young people so that they can grow in a culture of peace.

"3. Stop the use of child soldiers" which I'll address later as one of the initiatives.

"4. Eliminate community violence at the local level" which we'll address in the small arms initiative. And...

"5. Empowerment of youth" which is not among the seven initiatives of the primary agenda and I feel is an important one:

"Wars are initiated by irresponsible leaders, but it is young people who are their most vulnerable victims, both as civilians and as conscripts. Their experience, fresh perspectives and new ideas must be heard, integrated and acted upon at all levels of society. There is ample evidence that young people in conflict situations can find ways to overcome traditional prejudices, to creatively resolve conflicts and to engage in meaningful reconciliation and peacebuilding processes. The opportunity for youth to participate in peacebuilding is essential for breaking the cycle of violence for reducing and avoiding conflict. Let us all share our vision, open-mindedness, solidarity and willingness to learn in a truly intergenerational exchange based on mutual respect, trust, and responsibility.

Global Campaign for Peace Education (Joyce)
The remainder of this service will be on the seven initiatives of the Hague Appeal for Peace3, which are briefly and not in any order of importance: peace education, land mine ban, nuclear weapons, international criminal court, war prevention, child soldiers, and small arms. The first one we'll address is the Global Campaign for Peace Education.:

Of course education is something about which I feel strongly , but this is also the initiative that the youth see as most important. The UU Teens for Peace are actively organizing conferences toward the goal of educating their peers and eventually younger children.

The initiative description reads:
"A culture of peace will be achieved when citizens of the world understand global problems; have the skills to resolve conflicts and struggle for justice non-violently; live by international standards of human rights and equity; appreciate cultural diversity; and respect the Earth. Such learning can only be achieved with systematic education for peace.

"The urgency of such education was acknowledged by the member states of UNESCO in 1974 and reaffirmed in the Integrated Framework of Action on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy in 1994. Yet, few educational institutions have taken action. It is time to call upon ministries of education, educational institutions and policy makers to fulfill these commitments.

"The campaign to introduce peace and human rights education into all educational institutions will be conducted through a global network of education associations and regional, national and local task forces of citizens and educators."

International Campaign to Ban Land mines (Trevor)
One of the most interesting workshops I attended was on land mines. It was led by a 13 year old girl from Cambodia who lost her leg to a land mine when she was four. Her name is Song Kosal and she is a spokesperson for Youth Against War.

She says that every 22 minutes someone somewhere around the world is killed or maimed by a land mine. We brought back some post cards that she gave us to send to President Clinton to stop the production of land mines in this country. They will be out on the table in the lounge.

Mines affect youth and people of all ages by taking away their food since no crops can be planted where there are land mines. They take away their education since they can't go places they normally would. They take away their future since mines make it difficult to rebuild after war due to the limitations to transport goods.

Song was not asking for money for a prosthesis, since her injury does not allow her to wear one, or for wheelchairs, since they hand-make special wheelchairs for use on their terrain. As a matter-of-fact she wasn't asking for money at all. In spite of the poverty in her homeland, she was the only workshop leader who gave us a gift - wooden dove key chains. What Song was asking is to help ban land mines and if we do raise money, to send it to a reputable non-profit organization that will remove existing land mines. There are about a million land mines in the northern section of Cambodia where Song lives and there are only about a million people in the whole country. Since the United States is still producing anti-personnel mines, we have a long way to go to enforce the new Mine Ban Treaty.

Nuclear Weapons  (Joyce)
The cold war is over, so it's easy for people to forget about the threat of nuclear weapons. It is no longer new like it was in the 50's when children would have bomb drills. The young people of today have lived with the fact of nuclear weapons all their lives. And no drill is needed since there is no way they could protect themselves from obliteration if a nuclear bomb was dropped in our area.

At the conference, we attended a workshop about inspecting nuclear arsenals as concerned citizens. This workshop was given by youth protesters. Some countries have declared themselves nuclear-free, but because they are members of NATO, there are nuclear arsenals there of which the citizens aren't even aware. Are our citizens really aware of all of our nuclear weapons?

Besides lobbying, the methods to stop weapons are largely through protest and demonstrations that will attract media attention, but unfortunately the media often doesn't consider it very important news. I don't know if you heard of the protest that took place last week on the 54th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan. 400 people went to Los Alamos National Laboratory where plutonium pit, the core of the nuclear bombs, are still in production. The very brief news article would never have been written if celebrity Martin Sheen did not also attend and security agents detain them.

Of all the peace buttons worn at this conference, the one that stood out most for me was one that said: "Accident Prone People Against the Bomb." I know that there are safeguards to prevent accidents, but with 36,000 nuclear weapons in our global arsenals and more countries that have unstable governments joining the throng, the more it seems possible that an accident could happen.

It's estimated that 6,838,000 people in the U.S. would die immediately from a launch of nuclear weapons from a single Russian submarine. Millions more would die from radioactive fallout.

$96 million was spent DAILY by the U.S. in 1998 on the nuclear weapons program and yet surveys show that 80% of the American public are for nuclear abolition., including 61 retired generals and admirals and former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev and former US President Jimmy Carter.

There are some 5,000 nuclear weapons poised, ready to fire on a few minute's notice. These weapons are 200 times the power of the bomb that leveled Hiroshima. Many argue that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the right thing to do - after all, we didn't start the war and it ended a war that would've killed far more people, including many of our own. But the devastation there is hard to understand as we view it from a distance. Whole families, including all their possessions and records of their existence disappeared in an instant. The survivors remember and were effected in ways we have never experienced.

There were youth at the conference from Hiroshima, Japan and they were teaching our youth to fold cranes as a symbol of peace and so that we should never forget the horror of Hiroshima. This is what our offertory music presents for which I will sign and at the end of the song there is a chorus that is repeated many times. Feel free to join in the signing of that chorus if you'd like, but no offense will be taken if you choose even not to watch for this would also be a good time to meditate.

International Criminal Court  (Joyce)
"On July, 1998, the international community adopted in an unrecorded vote of 120-7 the Rome Statute for an International Criminal Court. The ICC will be the first permanent international court for adjudicating the most serious violations of international humanitarian law, and its creation constitutes one of the greatest advances in the rule of law and protection of human rights since the adoption of the UN Charter. The ICC will be formally established once 60 countries have ratified the Rome Statute. The NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court launched its global ratification campaign at the Hague Appeal for Peace conference. To reach the target of 60 ratifications the campaign will concentrate on raising awareness and understanding of the ICC among the general public, all sectors of civil society, the news media and decision-makers around the world."

There is an International Criminal Court in existence in The Hague, Netherlands right across the courtyard from the conference center where we were meeting each day. Though when I tried, I was unable to gain entrance. Some members of the River Road Unitarian Church were successful in getting admission to a trial of a Serbian war criminal. Again the experience they portrayed was one of experiencing it in a more close-up and personal way. They were mere feet away from a vicious criminal of war and also victims of war. And it is my understanding that he did not deny his crimes, but merely tried to justify the raping of civilians and burning of villages as a simple act of war. Which leads me into Initiate 5.

Global Action to Prevent War  (Joyce)
Trevor participated in a discussion and activity with other youth on how to overcome obstacles to peace. This is perhaps one of the most difficult jobs of creating true peace. It is one of changing attitudes and feelings toward one another, the Earth, and our own purpose in life. Here is the Hague initiative.:

"Global Action to Prevent War is a comprehensive, multi-stage program for moving toward a world in which armed conflict is rare. No more Kosovos! No more Rwandas!

"The resources, methods and procedures to make war increasingly infrequent are available. Global Action urges a mix of enhanced conflict prevention, peacekeeping, disarmament, and measures promoting human rights, non-violent solutions, and the rule of law. A sustained effort of civil society is needed to bring about the application of this program. This will require the continuing efforts of a coalition of those individuals, groups, organizations, and governments who seek to cope with violent conflict. Global Action seeks to contribute to the formation of this coalition, including those concerned with non-violent means of conflict resolution and peace education, with tackling root causes of war arising from social and economic injustice, with humanitarian aid, economic development, conflict prevention, peacekeeping, and disarmament, both "conventional" and nuclear."

I think the first step in this process is to believe it is possible. We can't accomplish anything with skepticism and pessimism. We must have a vision of peace that can become reality in order to make it a reality. No more visions of Star Wars - the government program or the science fiction story. We live in a culture where violence is viewed, either in person or from the many forms of media, on a daily basis. Are we really capable of focusing on a vision of peace?

Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (Trevor)
We saw a video at the conference showing the rehabilitation of children after they were rescued from their enslavement as soldiers in Honduras. They were often kidnapped from their schools. Sometimes they were forced to kill their own families or be killed themselves. They had drawings on display by these soldiers, many as young as ten years old. Often if they were lucky enough to escape, they would become violent criminals.

Here are the words of the youth amendments:

"More than 300,000 children under 18 years of age are believed to be currently participating in armed conflicts around the world. Hundreds of thousands more are members of armed forces or groups and could be sent into combat at almost any moment. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, UNICEF and the ICRC are actively campaigning to increase the age of recruitment to 18. They are also appealing to governments and all armed groups to prevent the recruitment of children under the age of 18, to immediately demobilize child soldiers, and to incorporate their needs into peacekeeping, peace agreements and demobilization programmes, and for the end of this unconscionable practice and for the rehabilitation and social reintegration of former child soldiers. The Hague Appeal for Peace will provide other non-governmental organizations the opportunity to contribute to these campaigns and to explore other methods by which children's rights may be protected."

International Action Network on Small Arms (Joyce)
This is the initiative that brings us home. I think that River Road Unitarian Church had a lot of vision to sponsor a youth and a young adult from Beacon House Community Ministry in northeast DC to attend this conference. The young adult who attended was Charlie, a man we know from our trips to Beacon House to help out with arts & crafts activities which we host with another church once per month during the school year. He's the man that opens up the community center and helps keep the youth "in line" with a caring attitude. You may remember him from the time we invited them to a Halloween party a couple years ago.

Charlie tried to engage himself in the goal of global peace, but it was hard for him since he lives in an area where there is a concern for personal safety and is like a war. He found that the track on inner-city violence and preventing the proliferation and unlawful use of small arms was the place for him.

Well, Washington, DC isn't very far away and gun violence comes closer and closer all the time. Some of you may remember one of our friends who was apparently murdered in her home in Marlow Heights by adolescent criminals and terrorists. And it was only a matter of months ago that a violent crime took place against one of our members right here at this church. Granted horrendous things can happen without fire arms, but more than 50% of all murders in this country occur with guns and the percentage is growing.

Of course, the incident at Columbine drew a lot of media attention about the issue of guns being available to children, but many still think it was a freak incident and not something that would happen here. An average of 14 children are killed by gun violence every day in the United States. 59% of students in grades six through twelve know where to get a gun if they want one, and two thirds of these students say they can acquire a firearm within 24 hours. In Columbine, all the guns used were manufactured in the United States, all were sold anonymously to teenagers, no questions asked, no background checks, no purchase forms, no signatures. How many of the children and youth in our community have such access to guns?

Reducing the threat posed by the proliferation of small arms is obviously just one piece to the puzzle, but it is not an insignificant piece. The culture of violence which is influenced by the manufacture of not only small arms, but also landmines which kill more civilians than soldiers, nuclear weapons that have the potential to easily destroy all that we know, the lack of justice where human rights violations are committed (some of these violators were trained in terrorist tactics right here in this country by our government), and accepting the use of children as soldiers are all situations that can be changed. That brings us back to education.

We need to educate ourselves, our loved ones, our neighbors, and our representatives about the importance of this issue and the things we can do to make a difference to move to a culture of peace.

Before we sing our closing hymn, I want to say that I hope you've learned something from this presentation today. Trevor and I were able to participate in this conference due to the help of funds raised by the youth with your support, which covered our registration fees. Even though we weren't official representatives of the whole church, we were official representatives of the Davies youth group with UU Teens for Peace, and we felt that we were there at least in part to bring this information back to you in the hope that it could be useful to our entire community in the long run. Please look at the display table in the lounge, come up and take a look at this map, and feel free to ask us questions after the service.

Please open your hymnals4 to #162 - Gonna Lay Down My Sword and Shield & stand as you are able.

Resources: 1. Search for more information about the Interdisciplinary Research Programme on Causes of Human Rights Violations. 2. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights 3. Hague Appeal for Peace 4. Buy the hymnal.