Organizer: Further Activities |
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Organizer, Directors & Advisors, Sponsors, Team
Imperial Palace / Hofburg
Gala of the Vienna Peace Summit 1999 and Establishment of the Foundation for the International Peace University
The Vienna Peace Summit`s social highlight will be a Gala taking place at the Great Festival Hall of the Imperial Palace on July 3, 1999, from 7 p.m. till midnight. The event includes a reception followed by a special program with the Nobel Peace Laureates, artists and prominent participants of the Vienna Peace Summit as well as a communal gala dinner.
At the gala the results of the Vienna Peace Summit 1999 will be presented to opinion leaders from politics, economy, science, religion, culture, and the media, and further discussed with the partcipants of the Summit. On this occasion the non-profit Foundation for the International Peace University will be established with the following objects:
a) to follow the tracks of the Vienna Peace Summit 1999 and to
garuantee the implementation of it`s results, in particular
b) to support national and international institutions with the appropriation of financial resources and contacts
c) to establish as a mediator new networks between private and public institutions, associations and companies for the concentration of powers and the enabling of synergies and co-operation
d) to sensitize the public for the work of existing institutions to reach new target groups
The Foundation for the International Peace University will be ideologically, politically and religiously independent. It`s activities will be unselfish and not directed towards profit. It will exclusivly and directly pursue non-profit aims.
Governmental law demands a capital stock of ATS 1.000.000 (DM 142.000/SFr 115.000/Euro 72.000) to establish the foundation on July 3, 1999. To reach this aim trust accounts have been set up in Austria, Germany and Switzerland at which donations can be received to be used exclusively for the foundation`s establishment. We hope that many people will contribute to the non-profit foundation with smaller or larger donations. If the needed capital stock cannot be reached until July 3, 1999, all amounts received at the trust accounts will be repaid to the donors.
The legal steps to establish the foundation are handled by the President of the Lawyer`s Chamber of Vienna, Dr. Klaus Hoffmann, who is at disposal for any questions and further information.
Among the honorary founding members who garuantee for the
foundation`s success will be Nobel Peace Laureates and personages
including Dr. Oscar Arias, Franz Beckenbauer, Frederik De Klerk,
Jochen Gerz, Gyula Horn, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Edzard
Reuter, Dr. Horst Teltschik and Jody Williams.
Program of the Vienna Peace Summit Gala on
July 3, 1999
Reception of the participants and guests of honor
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Commemoration of Lord Yehudi Menuhin
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Presentation of the results of the Vienna Peace Summit 1999
through the rapporteurs of the working groups and additional
remarks by the Nobel Peace Laureates
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Three-course gala dinner and possibility to discuss the results
of the Vienna Peace Summit 1999 with the Nobel Peace Laureates
and international opinion leaders from politics, economy, science,
culture, religion, and the media
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Ceremonial act with the Nobel Peace Laureates and the foundations`s
honorary members to establish the non-profit Foundation for the
International Peace University to implement to results of the
Vienna Peace Summit 1999
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Desert and artistic program with the participation of Uwe Kröger,
Erika Pluhar, Konstantin Wecker and special guests
Projects of the Foundation for the
International Peace University
Award of the Sir Sigmund Sternberg Prize
Shortly after the Vienna Peace Summit 1999 the United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan will receive the Sir Sigmund
Sternberg Prize of the Foundation for the International Peace
University for his just, last and effective contribution to inner,
social and outer peace, international understanding and the
protection of human rights. The prize will be awarded to Kofi
Annan at a special ceremony in July in Vienna. On this occasion
the ethical action plans for governments drafted by the
participants of the Vienna Peace Summit 1999 will be personally
handed over to the Secretary-General.
The prize was dedicated by Sir Sigmund Sternberg, Chairman of the International Council for Christians and Jews and Founder of the Sternberg Centre for Judaism in London. It is awarded every second year to a non-profit organization or an individual who has contributed to peace, disarmament and international security in an outstanding way.
For the first time the prize was awarded to the Community of
St. Egidio on October 6, 1997, at the city hall of Padua for its
mediation in political conflicts, its contribution to the
interfaith dialogue and its social service projects. In the past
three years St. Egidio has given hospitality to 50,000 immigrants
at their community centre in Rome, its soup kitchen has fed 70,000
homeless and refugees. The community has engendered development
and emergency aid programs, particularly in Africa, the Balcans
and Latin America. It has also been the official negotiator in
the peace talks for Mozambique. The award of the Sir Sigmund
Sternberg Prize to the Community of St. Egidio has been the start
of a co-operation with the Society of Founders of the
International Peace University to establish joint courses and
practical programs on "Interfaith Dialogue" which are
offered in Berlin and Assisi to support international
understanding through non-violent forms of conflict prevention.
The former warship "Golden Bear"
in California: Future US-Campus of the Peace University
Directly after the Vienna Peace Summit the renovation process of
the former warship "Golden Bear" into the future US-campus
of the Peace University starts with an opening celebration on
August 7, 1999, in Oakland, California. With the support of
Congressman Ronald V. Dellums and signed into law by President
Bill Clinton the government of the United States has donated the
ship with a capacity for 1,500 people to the International Peace
University and the ArtShip Foundation. After the 2nd World War
the "Golden Bear" was used as a training ship for the
California Maritime Academy. Now it will be transformed into a
peace and multicultural center with classrooms, studios, a
theatre and cabins for students to live on the ship. With an
opening celebration the Nobel Laureates Dr. Oscar Arias, Mairead
Corrigan-Maguire, Shimon Peres, Prof. Joseph Rotblat, Prof. Wole
Soyinka and Betty Williams will inaugurate the transformation
process of the "Golden Bear" on August 7, 1999.
The former benedictine monastery "Abbaye
De La Grasse" in the South of France: Future European Campus
of the Peace University
The former benedictine monastery "Abbaye De La Grasse"
will serve as the future European campus of the Peace University.
Located between Montpellier and Toulouse the monastery was
founded by Charles the Great in 798 and was for a long time one
the most influential monasteries in the South of France. In the
main building with a dwelling space of 8,500 m2 classrooms,
apartements and a dormitory for 130 people will be created.
Events for up to 1,000 people can take place at the monastery`s
inner court. A library with an Internet-forum will be established
in the old tower of the abbey.
Semester for Personal Orientation
Filled with new meaning and content, the former warship, a state
symbol for reaching out to "keep outer peace", as well
as the former monastery, a church symbol to "keep inner
peace", shall become contemporary peace symbols for the new
millenium. Therefore the Foundation for the International Peace
University will develop a semester for orientation in co-operation
with academic and social institutions, associations and companies.
This semester is especially directed towards young people
following high school prior to beginning further special
education such as university studies or an apprenticeship. It is
also directed towards people who lost their jobs or a sense of
purpose in their present occupations. The semester seeks to offer
orientation for an authentic link of profession and vocation, for
creative forms of work that correspond to the talents and
capacities of the individual and that can be connected with an
experience of sense.
Early Warning System for Conflict Prevention
and Conflict Solution
The Peace University will use its network of 17,700 international
organizations and representatives in the fields of politics,
economy, science, culture, religion, and the media to create an
independent board of experts to develop an early warning system
for intelligent conflict prevention and conflict solution. The
Peace University board of experts shall co-operate with the
United Nations` Secretary-General to draft ethical action plans
for governments on the basis of a creative management of
conflicts and interdisciplinary thinking. The process- and action-oriented
work of the board of experts will be available and transparent to
a broad public through the Internet. It shall lead to the
establishment of an independent media agency network promoting
ethical values for the world of media to contribute to peaceful
transformations of conflicts.
Further projects:
Among further projects of the foundation range the courses of the
International Peace College with the following main topics:
Detailled course information is available at www.peace-university.net
The courses will be complemented by study journeys connecting
inner and outer travelling. Personal encounters with teachers and
members of the Peace University in India, South Africa, the
United States and other countries will be at the core of these
journeys.
Projects proposed by the Participants of the
Vienna Peace Summit 1999 for the Foundation for the International
Peace University
Advancing the Commission of the Nobel Laureates` International
Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers: Developing European and Grass-Roots
Support
Dr. Oscar Arias, patron of the International Peace University,
has convened a group of 16 fellow Nobel Peace Laureates to
endorse an International Code of Conduct an Arms Transfers. It
was drafted by an international group of arms control specialists
from organizations, such as the British American Security
Information Council, Saferworld, Amnesty International,
Demilitarization for Democracy, the Council on Economic
Priorities and the American Friends Service Committee, and signed
at a ceremony in New York City in May of 1997.
The International Code, inspired in part by initiatives in the
European Union and the United States, is meant to provide a
comprehensive system of moral restraints on the arms trade. It
would require that arms-importing governments uphold humanitarian
law and internationally standards of democracy, human rights, and
peaceful international relations. In addition, the code would
prohibit the transfer of weapons to states that spend more on
their militaries than on health and education, or the
introduction of significantly new levels of technology into
unstable regions. This dual emphasis on human rights and human
development makes the International Code of Conduct a crucial
initiative for advancing the human security of millions of people
around the world. As part of its broader peacebuilding program,
the Foundation for the International Peace University should help
to realize this potential by vigorously promoting the Code at
both the grassroots and diplomatic levels in the following ways:
Detailled information on the International Code of Conduct on
Arms Transfers is available at www.arias.or.cr
Promoting Communication between Conflicting
Factions within Divided Societies in Africa
Frederik Willem De Klerk, patron of the International Peace
University, has proposed a co-operation with his own foundation
in South Africa dedicated to the development of multiparty
democracy in the African continent. Areas of mutual projects
could include:
I. The economic integration of Africa into the globalization process
1. Action drafts for the European Union to take steps to
promote the economic development of Africa and its integration
into the global economy by
2. Action drafts for the International Monetary Fund and other appropriate international and economic organizations to investigate ways and means of limiting the damage done to emerging economies, and particular those in Africa, by uncontrolled speculation and the volatility in international financial markets;
3. Action drafts for the appropriate international economic and trade organizations to investigate the hardships caused to developing countries, and particular those in Africa, by seriously deteriorating terms of trade for many of their main exports, with a view to taking steps to stabilize and improve the situation;
4. Action drafts for the European Union, the International
Monetary Fund and other appropriate international organizations
to intensify their efforts to assist and encourage African
governments to adopt and adhere to economic, financial and fiscal
policies and approaches which are most likely to promote rapid
economic growth and development in their societies.
II. The promotion of peace and stability in divided societies
Action drafts for the United Nations to hold an international conference on societies which are divided on ethnic, cultural or religious lines with a view to
1) examining the nature and scope of such conflicts throughout the world;
2) estimating the human and economic cost of such conflicts;
3) assesing the threat which they pose to international peace;
4) identifying the causes of such conflicts and the methods
and approaches by which they may be resolved.
III. Coverage of African affairs by the international media
Action drafts for the international media to increase and
intensify its coverage of developments in Africa, particularly
with regard to the conflicts and economic and developmental
problems experienced by the continent, but also of the successes
that are being achieved in many African societies.
Further proposed projects in brief
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