There is an urgent need to reform the UN’s rules of operation, to rethink Europe’s role and the relationship between nation states and supranational structures.
Final declaration, Rome 18th June 2022
The war raging in the heart of Europe shows us the limits and weaknesses of the global governance system and Europe’s continuous dependency on the logic of military blocs and nuclear deterrence, which are at the roots of tensions between states and prevent to bring such tensions back into the realm of diplomacy, dialogue and the world order of the UN system. There is an urgent need to reform the UN’s rules of operation, to rethink Europe’s role and the relationship between nation states and supranational structures.
States, governments, and the current supranational structures created after the tragedies of two world wars have proven unable to fulfill their primary mandate of ensuring security, peace and well being for all humankind, blocked by vetoes and a hegemonic view of international relations.
The war in Ukraine is just the latest example, the latest war generated by this system which democratic institutions no longer control. A system that produces weapons, weapons that produce wars, wars that produce deaths, crimes, destruction, refugees, hatred, revenge. A self-destructive spiral of violence whose only winners are power groups operating above democracies and the principles and values of the founding charters and system of international law of the United Nations and the sovereignty of individual states.
The war in Ukraine poses an utmost threat to the entire planet. We are facing the risk of a widening of the conflict and its transformation into a nuclear war. Already now the consequences of this war have produced devastating economic effects on every continent, increased poverty, hunger, disease, and also increased fossil fuel consumption.
Stopping the war in Ukraine means stopping the risk of entering into an even larger scale war and a devastating increase in inequality and poverty.
It becomes more evident by the day how the inflow of ever more powerful weapons deepens the furrow of war, exacerbating the risk of an escalation and a widening of this conflict whose economic effects spread across the planet, hitting the poorest first. Never more urgently than now political initiatives are needed that take the guns off the table, bring about a ceasefire and open a prospect for peace.
We cannot stop at only assisting the victims of this war and of denouncing violations of international law, human rights and freedoms. We want to and must become protagonists again, nonviolently, against wars, against arms merchants, against dictatorships and military regimes. We have no more time to waste in building a global society capable of living in peace, without the need to arm itself to feel secure, based on the concept of shared security, the application of and respect for universal human rights and international law.
We commit ourselves to work together FOR A EUROPE OF PEACE, with the aim of generating a common vision of what a Europe of Peace should be and what it should do, through the joint work of a large alliance of European civil society, composed of networks, movements, trade unions, social actors, and progressive and democratic European forces that recognize themselves in these five points that we consider to be fundamental:
- condemnation of the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine and defense of its independence and sovereignty, as well as full affirmation of the human rights of minorities and all language groups in Ukraine;
- solidarity with the Ukrainian people, Russian pacifists opposed to the war and conscientious objectors on both sides;
- the strengthening of the call for a cease-fire in order to start immediately negotiations in which the UN plays a leading role;
- the commitment to military de-escalation as a key lever for diplomatic and political initiatives;
- the building of a common security system in Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals, based on cooperation and disarmament for a common future;
We invite you to join and support this mobilization, and to take part in promoting coalitions at national level with the aim to organize, as soon as possible, an European civil society conference for a Europe of peace.
Rome, June 18, 2022
For signing the appeal: segreteria@retepacedisarmo.org
First signatories in Italy:
Rete Italiana Pace e Disarmo (with its costituency : Accademia apuana della pace – ACLI – AGESCI – ALTROMERCATO – Ambasciata democrazia locale – ANSPS – AOI – Associazione di cooperazione e di solidarietà internazionale – Archivio Disarmo – ARCI – ARCI Bassa Val di Cecina – ARCI Servizio Civile aps – ARCS – Associazione Papa Giovanni XXIII – Associazione per la pace – AssopacePalestina – AUSER – Beati i costruttori di Pace – Casa per la pace di Modena – CDMPI – Centro di Documentazione del Manifesto Pacifista Internazionale – Centro Studi Difesa Civile – Centro Studi Sereno Regis – CGIL – CGIL Padova – CGIL Verona – CIPAX – CNCA – Commissione globalizzazione e ambiente (GLAM) della FCEI – Conferenza degli Istituti Missionari in Italia – Coordinamento Comasco per la Pace – Coordinamento pace in comune Milano – Emmaus Italia – FIOM-Cgil – FOCSIV – Fondazione Angelo Frammartino – Fondazione Finanza Etica – Forum Trentino per la Pace e i diritti umani – Gruppo Abele – IPRI – rete CCP IPSIA – Lega per i diritti dei popoli – Legambiente – Libera – Link – coordinamento universitario – Link2007 cooperazione in rete – Lunaria – Movimento europeo – Movimento Internazionale della Riconciliazione – Movimento Nonviolento – Nexus Emilia Romagna – Noi Siamo Chiesa – Opal Brescia – Pax Christi Italia – Percorsi di pace – Rete degli studenti medi – Rete della conoscenza – Tavola sarda della pace – U.S. Acli – UDS – UDU – Un ponte per… – Ventiquattro marzo)
ANPI
Associazione Salviamo la Costituzione
Casa Internazionale delle Donne
Centro per la Riforma dello Stato
Cospe
Fondazione Lelio e Lisli Basso
Sbilanciamoci!
StopTheWarNow
Associazione Paese Reale
Baobab Expericence
UP – Su la testa
Portico della Pace di Bologna
