User:Vijay-mehta2008

Vijay Mehta

Life and work

Vijay Mehta

is an author and global activist for peace, development, human rights and the environment. Some of his notable books are The Fortune Forum Summit: For a Sustainable Future, Arms No More, and The United Nations and Its Future in the 21st Century. He is president of VM Centre for Peace (www.vmpeace.org),co-founder of Fortune Forum Charity www.fortuneforum.org, Chair of Action for UN Renewal www.action-for-un-renewal.org.uk, and co-Chair of World Disarmament Campaign www.world-disarm.org.uk. He is a founder of Climate Change 365 www.climatechange365.eu , chair of Arms Reduction Coalition, a member of the council of International Peace Bureau (IPB) and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

He along with his daughter Renu Mehta founder of Fortune Forum (www.fortuneforum.org) held two summits in London in 2006 and 2007. The summits attracted a worldwide audience of 1.3 billion people (one fifth of humanity) including print and media coverage. The keynote speakers for the first and second summit were Bill Clinton, former US President and Al Gore, former US vice-President, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize 2007.

Vijay Mehta has appeared in various TV programmes including BBC World , Ajtak-24 hour Indian news channel, Iranian national TV, and Think Peace documentary, Canada, www.friction.tv among others. The Independent, Observer and Guardian newspapers, among other journals have written about him. His life is devoted to the service of peace, humanity and our planet.

He is at present writing a book on climate change jointly with, Renu Mehta. The book addresses threats and challenges posed by climate change crisis in areas of peace, security, conflicts, diseases, biodiversity and natural disasters. It advances ideas and actions of mitigation, adaptation and conservation to cut green house gases. It shows ways of harnessing renewable energy sources which can lead to sustainable development for a sustainable future.

His main areas of activity are:

He works with civil society, international organizations, governments, businesses as well as with peace, human rights, environment and development groups.

• International peace, security and disarmament • Poverty reduction and development • Protection of human rights • Environmental sustainability • Effective United Nations system and renewed global governance • Respect for the rule of law and multilateral treaties • Bridging the religious and cultural divide

His global vision is to work together with civil society, international organisations, governments, businesses, as well as with peace and development groups. His priorities are to work for a better world through the universal values of freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance and human dignity.

He advocates that in a world full of violence and conflicts, peaceful dialogue and education is essential to creating a safer world. Humankind cannot move forward until our governments, leaders and citizens decide to incorporate these values into their daily lives.

Publications

He is a writer and some of his publications are as follows:

He is author of the book Arms No More which exposes the hideous global arms trade and charts ways to curb its proliferation and promote global peace and security. It examines global threats posed by spread of small arms, light weapons and weapons of mass destruction in bringing terror, wars and conflicts worldwide. It puts forward the case for the reduction and eventual abolition of all weapons to end military superiority and enhance global peace and human security.

The launch of ‘Arms No More’ was held at a reception in Euston, London. It was attended by Bruce Kent, vice president (CND), Stansilav Patedji, prominent peace activist from Czech Republic and delegates from the World Social Forum in London. One of the highlights of the evening was a performance by musicians.

His book "The United Nations and its Future in the 21st Century" is a collection of Erskine Childers annual lectures held in London by prominent UN academics, professionals and politicians about how the United Nations should be reformed to meet the threats and challenges of the 21st century. It discusses ideas about the UN’s central role in contributing to international peace and security.

"Vijay Mehta lends intellectual credibility to the project and wrote "The Fortune Forum Code for a Sustainable Future", a sort of manifesto that will underpin the group's future activities. "All the things we are trying to achieve have people who are concerned enough to help with."

The Independent (London), 26 September 2006

The launch of the UN book, was held in Friends House with keynote speaker, Judge Rosalyn Higgins (president of the World Court). Among the contributors of the book were Margaret Anstee (former under secretary-general to the UN), Jayantha Dhanapala (former under secretary-general for Disarmament Affairs), Dennis Halliday (former UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq), Rosalyn Higgins (president of the World Court), Razali Ismail (permanent representative of Malaysia to the United Nations), Richard Jolly (former special advisor to the administrator of UNDP), Caroline Lucas MEP, Patricia McKenna (former MEP), Paul Rogers (professor, Bradford University), Ramesh Thakur (senior vice rector of the United Nations University) and Jenny Tonge (former UK MP).

His latest book, “The Fortune Forum Code: For a Sustainable Future” explores the themes of global poverty, environmental sustainability, worldwide diseases and peacebuilding. It states that in our interconnected world a future built on the foundations of mass poverty in the midst of plenty is economically inefficient, politically unsustainable and morally indefensible. The international community should work on reducing conflicts, protecting human rights, promoting democracy and good governance as key ingredients to sustainable development.

This book was launched at the inaugural philanthropic summit of the Fortune Forum. Vijay Mehta is co-founder and trustee of Fortune Forum charity. The event was attended by Former US President Bill Clinton, Deepak Chopra, Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) and its founder, Renu Mehta. The event received extensive coverage by the international press and media network. This can be viewed at www.fortuneforum.org.

In his various roles, he has addressed conferences and meetings in different parts of the world.

Barcelona Forum

At the Barcelona Forum (2004), an international conference which was well attended by delegates from various countries, he gave presentations at three different sessions on UN reforms, terrorism and international law (‘Are rulers above the law’?) The title of the conference was ‘Towards a World Without Violence.’

The Barcelona Forum 2004 was an extraordinary event. Conceived in a sense as a follow up to the highly successful 1992 Olympics, the Barcelona, Catalan and Spanish authorities decided to embark on a joint project to revive a decaying area of the city and draw in talent and creativity from around the world. Originally billed as the Universal Forum of Cultures, under the auspices of UNESCO, it finally took shape in the months of May to September 2004 under the more modest title of the Barcelona Forum 2004.

IPB's contribution was to organise, together with local member organisation Fundacio per la Pau, a 5-day international Dialogue on the broad theme 'Towards a World Without Violence'. This took place from June 22-27. Over 1000 people participated in the conference itself, but several thousands more participated in some way or other in the 'outside-the-conference' programmes aimed at the general public.

Some of the distinguished speakers included IPB President Cora Weiss, Fundacio per la Pau President, Alfons Banda, Fredrico Mayor, former director-general of UNESCO and Ramesh Thakur, vice rector of United Nations University.

European Peace Conference 2003, 2005 (Prague, Czech Republic)

At the European Peace Conference in Prague (2003), he spoke on the war in Iraq, entitled ‘Unite for Peace and Justice: Stop War and Terrorism.’ The speech was well received as it was the start of the Iraq war. He also attended a rally about the war on Iraq and addressed thousands of people in the centre of Prague. The conference was successful and it was a great opportunity to network with peace organizations from the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Russia and other countries from Eastern Europe.

He visited Prague again in 2005 to address a conference on the remarkable women, Noble peace prize winner, Bertha Von Suttner on the 100th anniversary of her winning the Nobel peace prize. The tile of Vijay Mehta’s speech was ‘Ending war and building a just, peaceful and sustainable world.’ He spoke on international peace and security with special reference to two important documents.

1) The UN High-level Panel Report on Threats, Challenges and Change (2004). 2) The 2005 World Leaders Summit Outcome Report

He emphasised that governments and civil society need to work together to ensure the recommendations of the report were implemented for a better world.

Among the international speakers, Cora Weiss, from New York, Anne Kjelling from the Nobel Institute from Oslo, Vijay Metha and Peter Van den Dungen from the United Kingdom gave speeches at the conference.

Global Governance Group conference and the New School of Athens

Vijay Mehta went to Athens, Greece 2006 to attend an international conference on the title ‘Beyond the Millennium Declaration: Embracing Democracy and Good Governance’. At the conference Mehta presented a paper ‘Revitalising Global Governance and Democracy-for a just, peaceful and sustainable world.’

For more effective global governance we have to reform the institutions (UN, IMF, World Bank, WTO, EU) of today to suit the changing needs of the 21st century. The issues of poverty, environment, diseases wars and conflict are interrelated and not stand alone threats and need to be tackled in a concerted way for the benefit of all.

In today’s world we have the knowledge of what the problems are and what are our capabilities. The issues are interdependent and we need to deal with them collectively. The world is split along two axes; between democracies and autocracies; and between countries seeking a balance of power and those that want a world organised around international law and institutions. The international community should work on reducing conflicts, protecting human rights, promoting democracy and good governance as key ingredients to sustainable development.

Vijay Mehta has served on many advisory bodies on peace and disarmament and was a member of the team of international experts who met in Greece, at the invitation of the Mayor of Athens and Global Governance Group. As a result, The New School of Athens was created on November 2004. In the classical tradition of ancient Athenian democracy, the school is determined to bridge divergent opinions so as to produce pragmatic proposals in favour of innovative international dialogue and more effective global governance.

Among the international speakers taking part were Dora Bakoyannis (Mayor of Athens), Kimon Valaskakis (President, Global Governance Group, Greece), Anuradha Mittal (executive director, the Oakland Institute, USA and India), Paul Collier (Professor of Economics, Oxford University, UK), Michael D. Intriligator (Professor of economics, political science and public policy, UCLA, USA), Sir Richard Jolly (Honorary professor and research associate of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex), and Cyril Ritchie (President, Federation of International Institutions, FIIG, Geneva, Switzerland).

United Nations

The most effective way of solving global threats and challenges is through a effective and reformed United Nations as it works for the world’s poor, for peace, for environment, for progress and for human rights and justice.

He has written various articles and given speeches on the necessity of keeping a United Nations fit for the new century. He was also the editor of the book ‘The United Nations and its future for the 21st century.’ We must not forget that although there have been small conflicts and wars around the world, the UN has been successful in its essential mission of preventing World War III. It is very effective in the areas of peacekeeping, rebuilding communities, and protecting human rights.

In Brussels he participated in the European Network for Peace and Human Rights Conference where he presented a paper, ‘The role of the UN in strengthening international peace and security.’ At a UN conference in Florence, he produced a discussion paper on reforming the UN.

He has traveled to the UN headquarters in New York, to attend various conferences. In particular, the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference and the DPI/NGO conference on the Millennium Development Goals.

Vijay Mehta was part of a team from CND UK attending the NPT conference. Prominent people attending from the UK were Kate Hudson (chair of CND), Dave Knight (vice president, CND), Rebecca Johnson (director, Acronym).

There were excellent opening speeches by Kofi Annan (UN secretary-general), Mohamed El Baradei (dorector-general, IAEA). However, the conference didn’t not come to anything as delegates could not agree to the final agenda let alone the successful outcome of the conference.

He attended the UNA-UK Annual Conference 2006 took place at Durham University's Trevelyan College from 21- 23 April. United Nations Under-Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor delivered the keynote address on 'the future of the UN' in Durham Cathedral. Other prominent figures attending the conference include Lord Hannay (UNA Chair), Sam Daws (UNA executive director), and Jim Addington (chair of Action for UN Renewal).

World Peace Forum (Vancouver, Canada)

In June 2006, he attended the World Peace Forum which was one of the largest peace gatherings over three thousand international delegates from 97 countries attended in the beautiful, green and clean city of Vancouver.

Vijay Mehta gave talks on a) UN reforms, b) The Danger of Arms Trade in the Global Economy and Building Civil Society, and c) Ending War and Building a Just, Peaceful and Sustainable World. He gave a TV interview to Think Peace Documentary.

The panel on UN reforms discussed how to strengthen the UN’s role in maintaining international peace and security. It examined the progress of the September 2005 UN Summit of World Leaders and report back on commitments made and actions taken to date. Some additional UN reforms, not adequately addressed through the World Summit process like Security Council reforms, abolition of veto, and enhancing the role of General Assembly were also discussed. The presenters of the panel were a) “UN Institutional Reform”. How can we make the Security Council more representative and work towards abolishing the veto? Presenter: Vijay Mehta (www.vmpeace.org) b) “The UN, Justice and the Rule of Law” Presenter: Jim Addington c) “New UN Human Rights Council and “Responsibility to Protect” Presenter: Hon. Warren Allmand d) “Peace building Commission” Presenter: Bill Pace e) “UN Peacekeeping as well as the proposal for a UN Emergency Peace Service” Presenter: Peter Langille.

Among some of the well-known speakers who took part in various sessions were Hans Blix former UN weapons inspector, Mayor Akiba of Hiroshima - Japan, Former Vice President of World Court – Christopher Weeramantry Sri Lanka, Cora Weiss, President of International Peace Bureau from New York, Dennis Kucinich, US Congressman, Doug Roche- Chair, Middle Power Initiative, Vijay Mehta- President of VM Centre for Peace from the UK, and Jim Addington, Chair of Action for UN Renewal from UK.

More than 10,000 people lined the streets of downtown Vancouver on Saturday as activists from the World Peace Forum marched, chanting messages of peace and calling for an end to global conflict.

A great networking opportunity with organisations from Canada, US, Latin America and other countries around the world to inform, inspire and take action.

Global poverty, development and environment

Vijay Mehta went to the Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Make Poverty History campaign coalition of charities, religious groups, trade unions, campaigning groups and celebrities who mobilised around world politics in 2005 to increase awareness and pressure governments into taking actions towards relieving absolute poverty.

As a result of the pressure from the historic march and the G8 Summit, world leaders made a pledge to cancel the unserviceable debts of the most poorest countries of the world. He presented the discussion paper Development in Africa: Shaking the curse of poverty, hunger and disease. His recent book, ‘The Fortune Forum Code: For a Sustainable Future’, there is a specific chapter dealing with Africa and the exceptional challenges it faces where more than 1 billion people live below the poverty line and 30,000 people die each day from poverty. The book has the road map for global development. The Fortune Forum Summit also dealt with the theme of global poverty, highlighting its problems and solutions.

The ongoing initiatives in 2006 include working on Sustainable Disarmament for Sustainable Development. The campaign highlights wars, military spending, impact of weapons on human lives, which holds back the agenda for the urgently needed development of the poorest regions and conflict zones in the world. The campaign is started by the International Peace Bureau (IPB), Arms Reduction Coalition (ARC), World Disarmament Campaign (WDC) and supported by various other groups and organizations around the world.

Mehta, as part of the campaign, has spoken on ‘securing trade justice’ at Friends House, London, and on ‘Towards the peaceful use of world resources in the 21st century’ at the House of Lords, Parliament, London.

A IPB conference took place in Helsinki on sustainable development which highlighted the need to develop a worldwide network of activists for the disarmament and development campaign, which will aim at the reduction of landmines, small arms, and nuclear weapons. Mehta is a member of the IPB council.

The International Peace Bureau is dedicated to the vision of a World Without War. The IPB is a Nobel Peace Laureate (1910) and over the years 13 of its officers have been recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Vijay Mehta has dealt with the environment issue in his new book, ‘The Fortune Forum code: For a Sustainable Future’. Environmental degradation and natural resource depletion continues unabated threatening our natural systems and resources, for our existence and development. Desertification, lack of biodiversity, forest loss, reduced stock of marine fisheries and the depletion of the ozone layer continue to pose risks for the global environment.

We are overusing our resources to the extent that our planet is becoming extremely fragile and hence we are experiencing climate change and global warming. As water is becoming a scarce resource, more precious than oil, it is becoming one of the most valuable commodities in the both developing and developed countries. A lack of clean water and basic sanitation is now a problem for up to 40 per cent of the world’s population and knocks at least $556 billion a year off the world’s economic growth, according to the World Health Organization. The Fortune Forum Summit dealt with world wide disease, HIV/AIDS, malaria and cancer, highlighting its problems and solutions.

The question facing the world's governments, businesses and green groups is thus not simply how best to tackle the world's growing environmental crisis, but how to do so in a manner that does not at the same time hamstring national economies, especially those of the world's poorest nations. What we need is renewable energy in the form of water, wind and solar to be used for sustainable development. The Fortune Forum summit dealt with climate change, highlighting its problems and solutions.

In the recent event held by the Fortune Forum charity, one of its initiatives, Envirotrade (African Renaissance) is actively engaged in offsetting CO2 emissions, alleviating poverty and conserving biodiversity. It helps to plant trees, provides sustainable livelihoods, enables sustainable enterprises to grow and reduce pressure on threatened natural resources in Mozambique.

Fortune Forum charity summit event

As co founder and trustee of Fortune Forum, along with its founder, Renu Mehta, he hosted a major charity and fundraising event in September 2006. The Summit received extensive coverage by the international press and media networks. The proceeds from the event were distributed among major charities, who utilised the funds for the benefit of millions of people worldwide.

The event was attended by former US President Bill Clinton who made an urgent call for action to tackle the pressing issues of global poverty, environmental sustainability and worldwide health to a glittering array of influential entrepreneurs, captains of industry, global leaders, media moguls and celebrity activists. Former US President Bill Clinton was honoured with the British Red Cross Humanity Fellowship Award. Michael Douglas, actor and UN Messenger for Peace, made the stunning presentation. Photos of the event can be viewed at www.fortuneforum.org.

The work of the British Red Cross, African Renaissance, WaterAid and Alliance for a New Humanity were showcased side by side on a shared platform to highlight these global issues which co-exist. These formidable organisations are working to actively find solutions to the most defining challenges of our time. The campaigning of which cannot be accomplished by one nation or one organisation alone.

The evening raised awareness for and funded many projects including emergency aid relief, notably buying ambulances for the British Red Cross, purchasing tree planting for Envirotrade, providing clean water projects for WaterAid. The music legend, Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), performed after an absence of 27 years. Deepak Chopra, the renowned spiritualist, delivered his message of instilling a culture of peace. Deepak Chopra and Dave Stewart performed a special peace music jam.

The event inspired and engaged exceptional individuals and corporations to become drivers of social change, to compliment the work of major charities and governments in a powerful way. This launch event will serve as a prelude to more focused and intimate high-level events where these leaders can join forces to harness their power, ideas and influence.

The Fortune Forum is stimulating a culture of giving by influencing philanthropic habits so that a new generation of heroes, alongside the great philanthropists, can harness personal and material resources that can ensure a sustainable future. 'The Fortune Forum Code - For a Sustainable Future' book was timely launched at this inaugural event.

Peace and Disarmament

He campaigns for reduction of small arms, abolition of war and reviving peacebuilding and peacemaking. He lecture on ‘Establishing peace through teaching peace’ states that priorities should be changed from spending on global arms trade and toward peace education and culture of peace.

In Geneva, Vijay Mehta participated in the NGO disarmament committee to review the progress of the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). He also frequently travels to the UN headquarters in New York, to attend various conferences. In particular, the NPT Review Conference and the Millennium Development Goals Conference. (for recent and forthcoming speeches, see speaking engagements, www.vmpeace.org). At UNA Streatham and Clapham, he gave a talk on the UK nuclear submarine system Trident replacement. The title of the speech was ‘Should Britain be building new nuclear weapons?’

He attended the annual CND conference in Bradford on 14-15th October 2006. He was re-elected as member of the National CND council for 2006/07. He presented his latest book, 'The Fortune Forum Code: For a Sustainable Future.' He distributed his discussion paper on replacement on Trident system called: 'Should Britain be building new nuclear weapons? What are the implications and what is the peace movement's strategy?

During the conference, he spoke on the resolution about the United Nations upholding the rule of law which was unanimously passed.

Key resolutions passed at the conference include:

CND will continue to build a broad alliance of MPs, trade unionists, students and young people, faith communities and others to put maximum pressure on the government not to replace Trident.

CND will further promote multi-ethnicity campaigning, particularly by seeking enduring alliances at national, regional, and local levels with appropriate organisations with a strong ethnic minority base.

CND will continue to campaign for more discussion in the media and among politicians on the issue of the militarization and weaponisation of space. CND will also press the UK government to become more central to initiatives for the prevention of an arms race in outer space (PAROS).

Delegates overwhelmingly passed an emergency resolution condemning North Korea’s nuclear weapon test and calling on all nuclear weapons states to “break out of the dangerous spiral of nuclear proliferation and immediately begin negotiations on disarmament.” It also calls on the British government to “convene a world summit on disarmament…instead of exacerbating global tensions and proliferation through replacing Trident.”

International law and human rights

Vijay Mehta is secretary of Institute for Law and Peace (INLAP) and editor of INLAP Times. INLAP works to foster conscious appreciation of the shared norms which underlie the laws and treaties concerning law and peace. In this capacity, he has attended conferences in Brussels and Barcelona, where he spoke on the rule of law and the legality of war. He is part of a network for upholding the 8 July 1996 decision of the international court of justice on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons which states that the threat or use of nuclear weapons ‘ would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict.’

In the area of human rights, Vijay Mehta went to UNA Chichester and spoke on the Responsibility to Protect, the new Human Rights Council and Peacebuilding Commission. He advocated that urgent solutions should be found for the ongoing atrocities in Darfur, Sudan and the horrors of Rwanda should not be allowed to happen again. He also regularly attends the European Network for Peace and Human Rights conference in Belgium.

Mehta, in the role of a public speaker, travels widely to give talks on international relations, peace, disarmament, development, environment, UN reforms and the global arms trade in all its aspects from small arms to nuclear weapons and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). He often writes articles for journals and newsletters.

Biggest march in history

One of the most memorable events was when Vijay Mehta participated on the march against the threat of war in Iraq. Just before the outbreak of the Iraq war, a demonstration and a march took place in 2003 in which millions of people participated all over the world. The February 15, 2003 anti-war protest was a co-ordinated day of protests across the world against the imminent invasion of Iraq. Millions of people protested in approximately 800 cities around the world. According to BBC News, between six and ten million people took part in protests in up to sixty countries over the weekend of the 15th and 16th; other estimates range from eight million to thirty million.

The biggest protests took place in Europe. The protest in Rome involved around 3 million people, and is listed in the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records as the largest anti-war rally in history. Opposition to the war was highest in the Middle East, although protests there were relatively small - Mainland China was the only major region not to see any protests.

Britain's Stop the War Coalition (StWC) held a protest in London which became the largest demonstration in the city's history. Police estimated attendance at 750,000 people; the demonstration's organisers estimated that around 2 million attended. The protest was organised under the slogan "No war on Iraq - freedom for Palestine".

The StWC, who had previously held a series of demonstrations and rallies against the Afghanistan war and the upcoming Iraq war, called for a national demonstration in London for February 15, the agreed-upon international day of protest. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Muslim Association of Britain joined the StWC for this event.

The demonstration gained widespread support. It was backed by the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone who used his position to help resolve the administrative issues. Previously the British press had taken a low view of the newsworthiness of demonstrations, with The Guardian claiming to have a general policy not to cover them. However, sections of the media came over to support this demonstration. For example, The Daily Mirror gave large coverage in the lead up to the march and provided thousands of placards. The demonstration also received sponsorship support from Greenpeace.

Founder and founding member of the following organisations

Vijay Mehta helped to start a number of initiatives. Some of which are as follows:

VM Centre for Peace

To address the challenges of international peace and security, environment, poverty, and sustainable development by implementing the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, and other initiatives.

Climate change 365

It addresses threats and challenges posed by climate change crisis in areas of peace, security, conflicts, diseases, biodiversity and natural disasters. It advances ideas and actions of mitigation, adaptation and conservation to cut green house gases. It shows ways of harnessing renewable energy sources which can lead to sustainable development for a sustainable future.

Fortune Forum charity

Dedicated to assist and showcase some of the finest humanitarian organisations alongside a number of exemplary grassroots initiatives in the world today.

Movement for the Abolition of War (MAW)

Helping to build a civil society movement for the abolition of war by challenging popular thinking about the acceptability of war.

Peaceworkers UK

Focuses on raising standards in the field of conflict prevention, crisis management and peacebuilding through an integrated programme of research, training, assessment and recruitment.

Peace Rights

An NGO established to promote peaceful conflict resolution, challenge threats to peace and to develop educational and research initiatives

Non-violent Action Magazine (Now part of Peace News).

For up-to-date news and views from the international peace and anti-militarist magazine (Peace News) and the monthly magazine for UK actions (Non-violent Action). Peace News is written and produced by and for activists, campaigners and radical academics from all over the world.

International Peace conference, Hague (1999)

Vijay Mehta and Sue Davis (CND), along with 11 youngsters, took part in a major conference. Some 10,000 participants – including Nobel laureates, religious leaders, and the UN secretary-general – met in the Netherlands for the 4-day conference to discuss how to create ‘a culture of peace’ in the new millennium. The outcome of the conference had 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

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.

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 more ambitious than the Czar's: It is to raise in a serious and realistic way, questions as to whether or not at the end of the bloodiest century in history, "can humanity 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?"

Vijay Mehta, ‘Why I am going to Hague’ was published in ‘Non-violent Action Monthly,’ prior to the conference.

Some of his speeches, reports and interviews include: Also see Text of speeches, interviews and reports on the website www.vmpeace.org

Disarmament for Development Wesley's Chapel, London Making the World a Better Place: Outsourcing Philanthropy A discussion paper on culture of giving and outsourcing philanthropy The Responsibility to Protect, the new Human Rights Council and Peacebuilding Commission Chichester, UK Vancouver leads quest for peace Vancouver, Canada Ending War and Building a Just, Peaceful and Sustainable World Vancouver, Canada UN Institutional Reform Vancouver, Canada The Danger of Arms Trade in the Global Economy and Building Civil Society Vancouver, Canada Peace belongs to us all! Establishing Peace through teaching Peace London, UK Should Britain be building new nuclear weapons? London, UK The Price of Peace: Bread or Bombs London, UK Revitalising Global Governance and Democracy: For a just, peaceful and sustainable world Athens, Greece Changing priorities and mindset of our world turned upside down London, UK Wars, Arms Reduction and Tackling Poverty Birmingham, UK A Report of the International Conference on 'Bertha Suttner Ideas in Present Time' Prague, Czech Republic Ending War and Building a Just, Peaceful and Sustainable World Prague, Czech Republic United Nations: Searching a new Road Map for Peace and Security in the 21st Century London, UK and Brussels, Belgium Hiroshima Remembered London, UK The United Nations and its Future in the 21st Century London, UK Development in Africa – shaking the curse of poverty, hunger and disease Edinburgh, Scotland The Future of NPT: Challenges and Prospects Ahead New York, USA Reviving Nuclear Disarmament: A Vision or a Reality New York, USA Making War History London, UK Seminar on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: A Treaty in trouble Geneva, switzerland Militarisation or Peace: What Future for Europe? London, UK Reforms of the UN: A Discussion paper on 'Report of the UN High-level Panel on Threat, Challenges and Change London, UK Why we Value Gandhi? A Hindu Perspective London, UK Which Way to Disarmament - A holistic approach to peace London, UK Current Conflicts: Peace Movement Response London, UK Present and emerging Governance Challenges - Governing security Athens, Greece The Danger of Arms trade in the Global Economy and Building Civil Society Sheffield, UK Report of the NGO Committee for Disarmament's demonstration, meetings with the Ambassadors of British and French missions, progress on Mayors of Peace Initiative Geneva, Switzerland Are Rulers above Law, Can World Tribunals on Iraq Establish War Crimes and War Criminals London, UK Arms Reduction and Tackling Terror London, UK International War Crimes Tribunal and Legality of Occupation London, UK Legal Actions: Can it Establish the Rule of Law London, UK New World Order and United Nations London, UK NPT Dossier for PrepCom Review Conference, 2004-05 USA Paths to Peace Amid Global Crises London, UK Report of European Network for Peace and Human Rights Conference Brussels, Belgium Report of the European Peace Conference Prague, Czech Republic The Proliferation Security Initiative London, UK The Role of the UN in Promoting Peace and Nuclear Disarmament London, UK Unite for Peace and Justice - Stop War and Terrorism Prague, Czech Republic United Nations and its Future in the 21st Century London, UK

Also see Text of speeches, interviews and reports on the website www.vmpeace.org