Appeal for Peace

National governments, the Commission of the European Union, members of the European Parliament, UN Secretary General, further responsible persons in Europe, the USA and Canada, and the global interested public.  

German original is here. Created by Prof. Dr. Klaus Moegling, Bernhard Trautvetter, Karl-Wilhelm Koch

The worldwide wars and the constantly accelerated high armament stand in the way of overcoming the ecological crisis.

The arsenals of the nuclear powers and the more than 400 nuclear reactors worldwide as well as the ecological tipping points of climate and other ecological catastrophes as well as the international rivalry are a constantly increasing danger for the future of mankind.

There will be a future of mankind only if it becomes a peaceful one. This involves peace within the societies and between nations as well as in peace with nature.

This requires international cooperation instead of rivalry and enmity.

We warn, in view of the warnings from Sharm El Sheikh, against a renewed loss of time, which humanity can no longer afford.

According to SIPRI, the official 2100 annual billion (in US $) world arms expenditures cause on the one hand a burden on the ecosphere with combustion exhaust gases, on the other hand a destruction of resources on an equally existentially damaging scale, whereby among other things resources for social programs as well as education and the fight against famine are lacking.

The Charter of Paris Treaty (1990) imposed on the treaty-states the task of working for a world peace order that takes into account the security interests of all states. This is the key to overcoming rivalry:

"We, the Heads of State or Government of the States participating in the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, have assembled in Paris at a time of profound change and historic expectations. The era of confrontation and division of Europe has ended. We declare that henceforth our, relations will be founded on respect and cooperation."


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World Beyond War

To: National governments, the Commission of the European Union, members of the European Parliament, UN Secretary General, further responsible persons in Europe, the USA and Canada, and the global interested public.  
From: [Your Name]

- We demand from the persons in power in the European Union, in the spirit of the 2+4 agreement, that it immediately and with the necessary diplomatic commitment advocate a high-level negotiation initiative, supported by the UN General Secretariat, to end the escalating war in Ukraine. The mutual killing and also the massive environmental destruction caused by war are no longer acceptable by the international community of peoples!

- We demand a consistent ecology-policy and a turning away from the uncritical growth-thinking in order to avert the existential threat to the future of life on earth with a holistic approach. Accordingly, a state's military-related emissions at home and abroad must also be attributed to its national CO2 climate report. We call on the persons responsible in the involved governments to advocate at international climate negotiations that there will no longer be any exclusion of military-related pollution n the documents of international climate negotiations.

- We call for international disarmament coordinated by the UN instead of rearmament. In particular, we demand an end to nuclear armament, which endangers the existence of mankind even more severe after the denunciation of nuclear disarmament treaties and threats of mutual destruction. Therefore, we also demand the accession of the States in Europe and in Nato to the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

It’s now necessary to negotiate and settle effective diplomatic initiatives and civil society activities in the international framework!

Peace does not come from more war! Wars do not end in peace!

Only a policy that honestly addresses all potential dangers in a timely manner can avert the threats to the future of mankind. We expect from the governments and from all people in power to take a clear position on this and to act consistently within the framework of international agreements!

List of first signatories

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Brand
(Professor of Political Science at the University of Vienna, co-author of the book ‘Imperial Ways of Life‘, Germany and Austria)

Reiner Braun

(Journalist, former Executive Director and Co-President of

International Peace Bureau (IPB), Germany)

Prof. Dr. Claudia Brunner

(Centre for Peace Research and Peace Education, Department of Educational Science, University of Klagenfurt, Austria)

Karin Utas Carlsson, PHD
(Peace activist, education conflict resolution, Sweden)

Dr. Angelika Claußen
(Co-Chairwoman of the German Section of IPPNW (the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War - Physicians in Social Responsibility) and Vice President of IPPNW Europe, Germany)

Sean Conner

(Executive Director of International Peace Bureau (IPB), USA and Germany)

Jan Gildemeister
(Executive director of Aktionsgemeinschaft Dienst für den Frieden (AGDF), Germany)

Dipl.-Ing. Karl-Heinz Hinrichs
(Founder of EVAL, peace and environment activist, Austria)

Mayeul Kauffmann, PHD
(President, Institut de recherche sur la Résolution Non-violente des Conflits (IRNC), France)

Jan Kavan

(Co- spokesperson of the Alliance of Labour and Solidarity, former Foreign Minister, Deputy Prime Minister as well as a former President of the UN General Assembly, Czech Republic)

Ulla Klötzer
(Peace and environment activist, NGOs Women for Peace, Women Against Nuclear Power, Finland)

Karl-Wilhelm Koch
(Journalist and book author, member of the orga group 'Independent Green Left', Germany)

Lea Launokari
(activist, Women for Peace, Finland)

May-May Meijer
(Founder/ Chair of the NGO Peace SOS, The Netherlands)

Prof. Dr. Klaus Moegling
(Political scientist and sociologist, member of several NGOs, Germany)

Josef Mühlbauer
(Political Scientist, Varna Institute for Peace Research, Austria)

Prof. Dr. Henning Salling Olesen

(Founder/Co-Sprecher der NEJ til Oprustning – JA til Bæredygtig Sikkerhedspolitik (No to Rearmament - YES to Sustainable Security Policy), Denmark)

Susanne Possing

(Soziologin und Entwicklungsforscherin, Founderin/Co-Sprecherin der NEJ til Oprustning – JA til Bæredygtig Sikkerhedspolitik (No to Rearmament - YES to Sustainable Security Policy), Denmark)

Mirek Prokeš

(Prague Spring 2 network, Czech Republic)

Dr. Annemarie Sancar
(Activist in feminist networks like the 'Working Group on Women's Rights and Gender Realities' of the Civic Solidarity Platform, a consultative body of the OSCE, Switzerland)

Liss Schanke
(Member of WILPF Norway, Norway)

Alice Schwarzer

(Journalist, book author and editor-in-chief of the feminist magazine 'Emma', Germany)

David Swanson

(Author and Journalist, Executive Director of the NGO ‚World Beyond War‘, USA)

Bernhard Trautvetter
(Spokesman of the Essen Peace Forum, member of the German Peace Council, Germany)

Dr. Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold
(President of PeaceWomen Across the Globe (PWAG), former MP and Member of the Council of Europe, Switzerland)

Prof. Thomas Wallgren, PHD
(social activist, Finnish philosopher and Director of The von Wright and Wittgenstein Archives of the University of Helsinki, Finland)