Events > 2004 > Declaration at GCPNV
Preamble:
A Global Convention on Peace and Nonviolence was convened in New Delhi on January 31 and February 1, 2004 under the auspices of Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti. Shri R. Venkatraman, former President of India was the Chairman and Shri I.K. Gujral, former Prime Minister of India, the Co-Chairman of the Convention. The Prime Minister of India, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is also the ex-officio Chairman of the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, delivered the inaugural address. Messages supporting the objectives of the Convention were received from Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India, Mr. Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, Mr. Jimmy Carter, former President of the USA, Mr. Jiang Zemin, former President of China and Mr. K.R. Narayanan, former President of India.
The Convention was attended by over 200 delegates including former Heads of State and Government, other political leaders, and senior representatives from the academia, media and civil society from several countries active in the cause of world peace.
The principal subjects for discussion at the Convention were:
I. The Gandhian Concept of World Peace and its practical value in the current context. This Committee was chaired by H.E. Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid, former President of Indonesia and Co-chaired by Mr. Justice
Muhmmad H. Rahman, former Chief Justice of Bangladesh and Acharya Ramamurthy, Eminent Gandhian.
II. Strengthening of the United Nations, particularly the Security Council to effectively discharge its responsibility for the preservation of Peace and Security in the world. This Committee was chaired by Shri I.K. Gujral, former Prime Minister of India, and Co-chaired by H.E. Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, former Prime Minister of Tanzania and former Secretary-General of Organisation of African Unity
III. Combating terrorism and promoting universal brotherhood and harmony among all religious, ethnic, linguistic and other groups in the world. This Committee was chaired by H.E. Mr. Richard von Weizsaecker, former President of Germany and Co-Chaired by H.E. Shri Sher Bahadur Deuba, former Prime Minister of Nepal and Ms. Nirmala Deshpande, Eminent Gandhian.
Each Committee submitted its report to the Plenary session on February 1 after a thorough discussion and lively debate. The Plenary session considered all the three reports at length and made several suggestions to clarify, improve, amend and alter the reports. These were embodied in a draft Declaration and presented to the plenary in the afternoon by Shri I.K. Gujral. After discussion, the Plenary adopted the following Declaration.
GLOBAL CONVENTION ON PEACE AND NONVIOLENCE
DECLARATION
GANDHIAN CONCEPT OF WORLD PEACE AND ITS PRACTICAL VALUE IN THE CURRENT CONTEXT
Mahatma Gandhi lived, worked, fought and died for peace, equality and respect for all human beings, tolerance and respect for all religious faiths and ethnic groups and settlement of differences (whether personal, national and international) by dialogue and discussion. He led the Indian masses, without distinction of race, gender or religion, to independence from what was at the time the mightiest power on earth, without violence and rancor towards the colonial authorities. It was undoubtedly an unparallelled achievement in the annals of humankind.
At the same time, his teachings and personal example provide practical tools which are relevant for addressing the multi-dimensional challenges faced by the world today.
Non-violence is not a weapon of the weak, but of the strong and fearless. It does not consist merely of abstention from physical injury; it demands a discipline of not even thinking of hurting others. Non-violence has been successfully used across the world. The most recent example is the steps taken by India and Pakistan to establish a relationship of peace. The Convention takes note of the massive peace rallies ,attended by millions of people, throughout the world, against unilateral use of force.
The mindset of people has to be made more pro-non-violence. Strong peace movements need to be created in all countries. The concept and methods of non-violence should be widely communicated,
promoted and distributed. It is also essential to bring about connectivity among different peace movements.
The delegates called upon the governments and civil societies to create awareness throughout the world of the importance and relevance of Gandhi’s message towards the fulfillment of the fundamental expectation and right of humankind for a peaceful world order.
STRENGTHENING OF THE UNITED NATIONS PARTICULARLY THE SECURITY COUNCIL TO EFFECTIVELY DISCHARGE ITS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF PEACE AND SECURITY IN THE WORLD.
Humanity the world over has been in search of national and global peace and harmony. It was for the advancement of these objectives that the United Nations was established towards the end of the Second World War in 1945. While the primary purpose behind the creation of the United Nations was “to save the succeeding generations from the scourge of war”, the Charter of United Nations also provides for promotion of social and economic justice as well as human rights in the international community and to progressively codify international law. The delegates to the Convention unanimously affirmed their abiding commitment to and faith in the United Nations as the sole, universal forum for peacefully resolving conflicts between nations. They declared their conviction that it was not permissible to resort to the threat or use of force in the settlement of disputes except as provided under the Charter of the United Nations. Unilateral armed intervention by one state against another was against the tenets of international law, unless it was undertaken for the strictly limited purpose of genuine self-defence as provided under Article 51 of the UN Charter.
Partnership, and not pre-emption, should be the guiding principle. The Security Council should hold a special public session, open to all members, to discuss the issue of the unilateral use of force. In this context, the delegates expressed anguish and deep concern at the erosion in the credibility of the United Nations in recent times, especially during the past one year in relation to the events in Iraq. But they remain fully convinced that the United Nations must have the essential and central role in the maintenance of international peace and security.
It is imperative to make the United Nations more broad-based and to enhance its credibility by peoples’ involvement at a mass level. The civil society, which has been neglected and marginalized, must be enabled to play its full part. Civil society can make significant contributions as is evidenced by the Convention on Landmines. Countries around the world must abide by international law.
United Nations must have access to the required financial and human resources to carry out its mandates. Members must fulfill their financial obligations in full and on time. Serious thought should be given to provide standby forces to the United Nations that would be available for prompt and effective deployment in crisis situations.
In this connection, the participants in the Global Convention called for the much delayed reforms in the functioning and composition of the Security Council. The membership of the United Nations has increased from 50 in 1945 to over 190 at present. It is imperative, if the United Nations is to achieve genuine representative character and credibility for its decisions, that the composition of the Security Council should be expanded, in particular by giving adequate representation to the developing countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The provisions relating to veto power should be reviewed.
The Convention welcomed the UN Secretary-General’s decision to establish a high-level panel of experts to examine the new threats to peace and security in the contemporary world. It was emphasized, however, that there should be adequate involvement by the public in the deliberations of the high-level panel.
The recent proposal on authorizing intervention in situations of grave humanitarian crises was also examined. It is felt that such interventions might have to be considered in cases of massive violations of human rights, serious threats of terrorism, complete break-down of state machinery etc., but only with the authorization of the United Nations and with full considerations of non-military options for interventions. Such interventions should under no circumstances be a pretext to bring about regime change.
Humankind the world over has striven for bringing about universal and complete disarmament. Highest priority should be given to nuclear disarmament. At the same time small arms and light weapons with ever increasing destructive force are being developed. The number and brutality of armed conflicts have intensified, particularly in the less developed regions of the world such as in Africa. The delegates to the Global Convention call on governments and non-governmental organizations to exert all efforts to curb and eliminate these vicious weapons of death and destruction which have been responsible for the killings and mutilations of child soldiers in several countries. The movement for general and complete disarmament, including in particular of nuclear weapons, needs to be revived and intensified. Poverty is at the root of most conflicts in the world. Resources released from disarmament should be channelized for development and building peace.
COMBATING TERRORISM AND PROMOTING UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD AND HARMONY AMONG ALL RELIGIOUS, ETHNIC, LINGUISTIC AND OTHER GROUPS
Terrorism is the scourge of the contemporary world. There is hardly a country which is not the victim of terrorism. Innocent men, women and children are slaughtered in their homes and market places by barbaric acts of terrorism. Nothing can justify resort to terrorism; no excuse can be used to explain away the murder of people not even remotely connected with issues invoked by terrorists. All forms of terrorism, whether practiced by individuals, or groups or supported or tolerated by states, must be condemned unequivocally. The international community must unitedly fight this menace. No country, however powerful, can tackle terrorism on its own; cooperation with others is indispensable. The United Nations provides the ideal forum for coordinating the common fight against the global phenomenon of terrorism.
There is too much strife in the world, too much suffering, too much poverty, too much disease and malnutrition, too much ignorance. The irony is that there are enough resources, and enough wisdom in the world, to reduce strife, alleviate suffering, poverty, disease and ignorance. What the international community needs is to foster and nurture a spirit of universal brotherhood and harmony among all religious, ethnic, linguistic and other groups in the world. Human beings everywhere desire to live in peace with one another. A culture of tolerance, pluralism and respect for diversity must be inculcated in children from an early age. The role of education is thus vital. It is
equally essential to make universal education available to all children throughout the world. Democracy also plays an indispensable role in preventing conflict among nations since it is well recognized that democracies do not go to war with one another; it is thus highly desirable to promote democracy in the world. In this context, it must be stressed that while it is the primary responsibility of elected representatives of the people to ensure good governance and development for the welfare of the people, civil society can do much to supplement governmental efforts. The empowerment of civil society and access to the fruits of development for the weak and under-privileged sections of society everywhere, which Mahatma Gandhi tirelessly strived for, must become a high priority for the United Nations and international community.
The Convention welcomed the following suggestions made by the Chairman of the Convention in his Welcome Address:
1. No terrorists shall be afforded asylum in any country including the country of his origin.
2. Regardless of the existence of a treaty for extradition between two countries, the country having control over a terrorist shall hand him over to the country where the act of terrorism had been perpetrated.
3. States indulging in, or aiding or abetting terrorist activities in other states or refusing to abide by the foregoing clauses shall be expelled from the United Nations and other allied organization and deprived of all facilities of these organizations.
The Convention appeals to all delegates and other organizations interested in promoting universal peace and non-violence, to create an enlightened public opinion, particularly among the youth, in their respective areas to:
1) Strengthen the United Nations and the Security Council to prevent unilateral action for the resolution of disputes in violation of the provisions of the Charter.
2) Restructure the UN so as to reflect the changed equations since the Charter was framed.
3) Combat terrorism and all other forms of violence and end the crimes perpetrated by terrorists by mobilizing strong public opinion.
4) Bring pressure through the non-governmental sector and the UN for progressive reduction of all weapons and achieve complete disarmament within a reasonable time.
5) Start in every place a Gandhi Centre to inculcate in the minds of the younger generations the culture of Peace and Non-violence.
6) Report to the Gandhi Smriti, the action that would be taken in pursuance of the decisions arrived at in the Global Convention on Peace and Non-violence.