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Medicine, Conflict and SurvivalPublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fmcs20

World civil society forumVijay Mehta aa 14 Cavell Street, London, E1 2HP E-mail:Published online: 22 Oct 2007.

To cite this article: Vijay Mehta (2003) World civil society forum, Medicine, Conflictand Survival, 19:1, 61-63, DOI: 10.1080/13623690308409669

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CONFERENCE REPORT

World Civil Society Forum

VIJAY MEHTA

London E1 2HP

Over 500 delegates representing more than 50 countries belonging to 350groups from around the world (non-governmental organizations,indigenous people, research centres, foundations and United Nationsagencies) gathered at Geneva for the World Civil Society Forum conferencefrom 14 to 19 July 2002. The conference covered a wide range of issues:peace and disarmament; environment, trade and sustainable development;information society; health promotion; indigenous people; and theinteraction of civil society with grassroots and international organizationssuch as UN agencies and government. The conference included a youthforum, training sessions, plenaries, workshops, cultural activity andexhibitions. Each day there were workshops of a high standard on peace,human rights, the environment and civil society's co-operation with the UNand other international organizations.

Boutros Boutros Ghali, former secretary general of the UN, spoke at theopening plenary. He emphasized the great need and importance of civilsociety, saying that:

All the revolutionary ideas of the past and present, such as respectand protection of human rights, rights of the child and woman,creation of the International Criminal Court, ban on landmines,cancellation of debt of poor countries, to mention but a few, have allcome from civil society before being accepted by majority to becomepart of the policies of various governments. The power lies with thepeople. All governments and UN should listen and learn fromthousands of grassroots organisations around the world.

The themes of the working group on peace and disarmament were:

• Guns, mines and bombs - the challenges of disarmament;• How to engage with disarmament issues;• Conflict resolution - the right of people to self-determination;• Protecting civilians - challenges for the humanitarian movement;• Conflict transformation - how civil society can make a difference;

MEDICINE, CONFLICT AND SURVIVAL, VOL. 19, 61-63 (2003)PUBLISHED BY FRANK CASS, LONDON

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62 V MEHTA

• The war against terrorism and threats to peace and security, especiallyin relation to the media - crises in Central and South Asia;

• Education for peace in society - the media, Members of Parliament,including of the European Parliament, schools and universities;

• Bringing it all together - the role of civil society in supporting peaceprocesses and disarmament negotiations.

Today's world has a stockpile of 30,000 weapons of mass destructionwith 5,000 on hair-trigger alert. Nuclear proliferation, notably in India andPakistan, continues. New developments, such as bunker-busting bombs, mini-nukes and chemical and biological weapons, are accelerating the risk ofnuclear and other terrorism around the globe. In Africa and other parts of theworld, small arms and light weapons bring untold human suffering, includingthe killing of women and children and the use of child soldiers. All theprincipal arms control treaties (such as the Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT]and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty [CTBT]) are under threat after theUS withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Governments aroundthe world are spending more money on military equipment and weaponsnow, under the disguise of the threat from terrorism, than they were at theheight of the cold war. For example, in the case of Columbia, 89 per cent ofthe country's budget goes on military expenditure.

To carry forward the huge task of disarmament it was suggested thatcivil society should focus on efforts to:

• Re-negotiate the CTBT and prepare for the next session of the NPT in2005;

• Make governments aware of the International Court of Justice AdvisoryOpinion on the illegality of use and threat of nuclear weapons, whichobliges the nuclear powers 'to pursue in good faith and bring to aconclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament' (UN DocA/51/218, para. 105F);

• Campaign for agreement on a definite date for the Fourth UN SpecialSession on Disarmament;

• Organize a conference on the immorality and control of nuclearweapons, focusing on humanitarian issues, destruction of lives, citiesand communities;

• Advocate a new treaty leading to an eventual ban on the manufacture,stockpiling and use of small arms, light weapons, tanks and combataeroplanes; and

• Learn from and follow the example of successful campaigns, such as theinternational campaign to ban landmines, the Drop the Debt Campaignand the campaign to set up an International Criminal Court.

The challenges are enormous and no negotiations for disarmament areunderway at the moment. However, the combined strength of civil society

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CONFERENCE REPORT 63

(United Nations Associations, World Court Project, Abolition 2000, theInternational Peace Bureau, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, theInternational Action Network on Small Arms and many other peace anddisarmament organizations in many countries) can make a difference andbring about a more peaceful future for humankind.

A Co-ordinating Council has been elected to act on the practicalproposals and recommendations coming out of the conference. The nextWorld Civil Society Forum is expected to take place in 2004.

(20 September 2002)

Correspondence: 14 Cavell Street, London El 2HP. Email: vijay@anglo-sphere.com.

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