Vision Statement

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 availableto 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 waysand implement the ways already
availableto 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 doAbolish 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.

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