Preamble
Recognizing that the World Summit on Sustainable Development seeks to create a consensus on
the conditions that humanity must meet in order to foster "development that meets the needs
of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs",
we endorse this meeting as citizens of the world and urge its support by the governments
of the world and by international civil society.
We acknowledge that Agenda 21 prescribes a wide-ranging
program of actions to be taken to reach sustainable development in the 21st century in order
to ensure a safe and just world in which all life has dignity and is celebrated. Concomitant
with its goals of addressing issues such as poverty, promotion of human health, protection of
the environment and defining a global institutional architecture, we express our strong desire
that both the process and outcomes of the WSSD will help build the foundations that will allow
peace to flourish. Violent conflict and its resulting economic, environmental, social, physical
and emotional destruction and trauma, disrupts and distorts society at every level and as such,
presents the primary obstacle to achieving the conditions where sustainable development can be
sought and achieved.
Building peace at the individual level, within and between societies and
in relation to the environment, requires the creation and development of appropriate institutions.
We
therefore urge the governments of the world, particularly those whose delegations are attending
the WSSD in Johannesburg, to recognise that there is an indivisible link between sustainability
and peace and for them to implement comprehensive policy initiatives as follows:
Violence can never be used to counter terrorism, conflicts or acts of
war
- Renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation-state and the threat or use of force as
means of settling international disputes
- Take active steps towards demilitarisation and disarmament
- Divert funds freed up by reductions in defense budgets into peace and sustainability programmes
The Military industry to be held accountable
- Hold the military industry - recognised as one
of the world's most polluting industries through its entire process from production
through to end use - responsible for its detrimental impact on the environment
- Hold the arms trade - as one of the largest and most lucrative industries in
the world - accountable for its fundamental role in the disruption and destruction
of societies and economies
The importance of international Treaties and Law
- Respect the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Ratify and implement the existing weapons regulating treaties, such as the CTBT and
CMBT
- Declare all war-related activities illegal and regard them as a violation of human
and environmental rights under international law
Peace by peaceful means
- Identify and address the root-causes of conflicts, such as human rights violations,
foreign occupation, poverty and ecological exploitation
- Strengthen the mandate of international institutions such as the UN to intervene in
international conflicts using non-violent means
- Create and actively implement an international non-violent peace forces system with
a mandate to include the early deployment of civil society observers and mediators; wherever
possible at a preventative stage
- Carry out, support and promote preventative diplomacy
- Sign and ratify the Rome Statute and support the implementation of the International
Criminal Court (ICC)
The promotion of the principles enshrined in Article
9 of the Japanese Constitution
- Call on, and support, the UN and international institutions to ensure that every effort
is made to promote the renunciation of the right to wage war and to bear arms as a key
to world peace and the creation of a sustainable society
- Work, through democratic means, to incorporate the concept of Article
9 into the constitutions
of their own countries and work to promote its adoption by governments throughout the
world
- Pressure the Japanese Government to recognise the irreplaceable value of Article
9 for the future of humanity and work to preserve its integrity and implement its principles
Peace education as the main, long term, tool for peace
- Recognise peace education as the main tool for developing in people a strong, responsible
commitment to peace and thus guaranteeing world peace for the future
- Support and encourage the promotion of peace education by the UN and implement it
as a compulsory subject at all levels of the education system across the globe
We also appeal in particular to the United Nations, reminding its institutions and individuals
of their original mandate to take a stronger leading role in finding negotiated and peaceful
means to transform international conflicts. The UN must act decisively against the tendency
towards unilateralism and exclusivity displayed by certain states.
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