Hague Appeal for Peace Conference
On May 18, 1899; 108 delegates from 26 countries gathered in The Hague's beautiful Huis den Bosch in response to an invitation issued the previous August by Nicholas II, the young Czar of Russia, to hold an international conference to discuss ways of halting the arms race.
Civil Society held the largest international peace conference in history on May 11-15, 1999, the centenary of the 
First Hague Peace Conference in The Hague, Netherlands. Nearly 10,000 people from over 100 countries gathered in The Hague's Congress Center in response to an appeal launched by the International Peace Bureau (IPB), the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA), and the World Federalist Movement (WFM). During the five-day gathering, participants discussed and debated - in over 400 panels and workshops - mechanisms for abolishing war and creating a culture of peace in the 21st century.
The project was led by an Organizing Committee made up of roughly 30 international organizations. The purpose of The Hague Appeal for Peace 1999 was to raise in a serious and realistic way, questions as to whether or not at the end of the bloodiest century in history, " humanity can find a way to solve its problems without resorting to arms, and is war still necessary or legitimate given the nature of weapons currently in arsenals and on drawing boards worldwide, and can civilization survive another major war?"
Participants included hundreds of civil society leaders and representatives from 80 governments and international organizations - including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Prime Ministers Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh and Wim Kok of The Netherlands, Queen Noor of Jordan, Arundhati Roy of India, and Nobel Peace Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, Rigoberta Menchú Tum of Guatemala, Jody Williams of the United States, José Ramos Horta of East Timor and Joseph Rotblat of the United Kingdom.
Conference Vision
It was the worst of centuries and the best of centuries...
The past 99 years have seen more death, and more brutal death, from war, famine, and other preventable causes than any other time span in history. They have seen the tender flame of democracy snuffed out again and again by crazed dictators, military regimes and colossal international power struggles. They have seen the widening of the gulf between the favored of the earth and the wretched of the earth and the growing callousness of the former toward the latter.
But the years have also witnessed the power of the people to resist and overcome present oppression as well as age-old prejudices of gender against gender, race against race, religion against religion, and ethnic group against ethnic group. These years have witnessed an explosion of scientific and technical knowledge which make possible a decent life for all who inhabit this planet, the formulation of a set of universal rights which, if taken seriously, would translate that possibility into reality, and the infancy of a system of global governance which, if allowed to grow, could guide this transition.
We, members and representatives of people's organizations from many cultures and spheres of society, mindful of the dual history of this century, issue the following appeal to ourselves and to those who profess to lead us: As the global community moves into the 21st century, let this be the first century without war.Let us find ways and implement the ways already available to prevent conflict by removing its causes, which include the unequal distribution of the world's vast resources, the hostility of nations and of groups within nations toward each other, and the presence of ever more deadly arsenals of conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction. When conflicts arise, as they inevitably will despite our best efforts, let us find ways and implement the ways already available to resolve them without resort to violence.Let us, in short, complete the work of the Peace Conference held in The Hague a century ago by returning to the vision of general and complete disarmament which flickered briefly on the world stage after the last World War.
This will require new structures for peace and a fundamentally strengthened international legal order. Specifically, let us find the moral, spiritual and political will to do what our leaders know must be done but cannot bring themselves to Abolish nuclear weapons, land mines and all other weapons incompatible with humanitarian law, Abolish the arms trade, or at least reduce it to levels compatible with the prohibition of aggression enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations; Strengthen humanitarian law and institutions for the period of transition to a world without war; Examine the causes of conflict and develop creative ways of preventing and resolving conflict; and overcome colonialism in all its forms and to use the tremendous resources liberated by an end or reduction of the arms race for the eradication of poverty; neocolonialism; the new slavery; and the new apartheid; for the preservation of the environment; and for the benefits of peace and justice for all.
In pursuing these goals, let us commit to initiating the final steps for abolishing war, for replacing the law of force with the force of law.
Discussion and Action (from the Hague Conference)
Discussions and action were motivated by the following themes:
- Failure of Traditional Approaches
- Human Security
- Soft Power
- All Human Rights for All
- Replacing the Law of Force with the Force of Law
- Taking the Initiative in Peace-Making
- Bottom-Up Globalization
- Democratic International Decision-Making
- Humanitarian Intervention
- Financing for Peace and Starving the Funds for War
Hague Agenda for Peace and Justice for the 21st Century
The conference launched the Hague Agenda for Peace and Justice for the 21st Century, a set of 50 recommendations for the abolition of war and the promotion of peace. The Agenda (UN Ref A/54/98) was formed out of an intensive democratic process among the members of the HAP Organizing and Coordinating Committees and hundreds of organizations and individuals. The Agenda represents what civil society organizations and citizens consider some of the most important challenges facing humanity for the 21st century. It highlights four major strands:
- Root Causes of War & Culture of Peace
- International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law and Institutions
- Prevention, Resolution, and Transformation of Violent Conflict
- Disarmament and Human Security
The conference redefined peace as not only the absence of conflict between and within states, but also as the presence of economic and social justice. It also brought together environmentalists, human rights advocates, feminists, spiritual leaders, humanitarian and development workers and others - some of whom do not normally perceive themselves as "peace activists" - to work together to develop a sustainable culture of peace.
Some of the alliances formed as a result of this great coming-together spawned concrete campaigns. Others will take longer to do so, but it is certain that more such campaigns, peace-building efforts and cross-sectoral projects will emerge
