CIVIL SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT FORUM 2007
“A Platform for Development: Countdown to 2015”
Thursday 28 June 2007

The CSDF Workshop on the Right to Peace discussed the “Luarca Declaration” on the Human Right to Peace, which was adopted by the Spanish Society for the Advancement of International Human Rights Law (SSIHRL) on 30 October 2006 and opened for discussion by civil society in all regions of the world. Numerous colloquia have already been held, including three round tables at the United Nations, accompanied by the formal submission of the text of the Declaration to the fourth session of the Human Rights Council on 15 March 2007. The Luarca Declaration will incorporate the imput of international civil society with a view to adoption of a redrafted final text by the United Nations General Assembly. (See A/HRC/5/NGO/9).

The panel of the CSDF workshop was composed of Professor Alfred de Zayas (USA) of the Geneva School of Diplomacy, Professor Krishna Ahooja Patel (India), Dr. Zeki Ergas (Switzerland) of the Geneva ngo “Millennium Solidarity”, and David Fernandez (Spain) representing the SSIHRL.. The international audience included representatives of the 2009 International Conference of NGOs (Australia) and the Foundation for Gaia (Scotland).

The Workshop’s conclusions are:

1. Peace is a fundamental human right.
2. Peace is a condition sine qua non for the right to development and for the enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
3. Peace is not just an absence of armed conflict, but the presence of proactive international solidarity based on justice. Peace is an expression of international understanding consistent with the principles of sovereignty, self-determination, liberty, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
4. The elements of the human right to peace are already codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the seven core United Nations human rights treaties. Article 3 of the UDHR stipulates “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”.
5. The human right to peace entails a positive formulation of the jus cogens prohibition of the use of force contained in article 2, paragraph 4, of the UN Charter, in General Assembly Resolution 2625 (“Friendly Relations Resolution”), in GA Resolution 3314 (“Definition of Aggression”), and in article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, prohibiting all propaganda for war. The human right to peace encompasses the right to development as formulated in the Millennium Development Goals.
6. International civil society demands from its elected leaders that they engage in dialogue toward meaningful disarmament, including nuclear disarmament. The financial resources released by disinvestment in the war industry will enable the implementation of the MDG’s.
7. International civil society urges all members for the United Nations to take meaningful steps to enforce GA Resolution 39/11 on the “Right of peoples to peace” and Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2002/71 on “Promotion of the right of peoples to peace.”
8. International civil society urges the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to establish its own Secretariat task force to elaborate further the elements of the human right to peace as already laid down in the draft “Luarca Declaration” of 30 October 2006 and to assist in the adoption of a Declaration on the Human Right to Peace by the Human Rights Council..