Movimiento por la Paz

The Movement for Peace -MPDL- celebrates its 25th anniversary. We want this celebration to become an impetus to revitalize and reinvigorate the international community to the pacifist vocation that led to the creation of the Movement and make a call to reflection and participation that promotes attitudes of peace to facilitate and enrich the pacific coexistence between people and peoples.

After the deviations the word “peace” has suffered, especially since 11-S, it is urgent to promote a positive Peace concept based on the welfare of the individual as a basic tool for building peace. A peace that surpasses the traditional conception of peace as the absence of war and that expands and renews understanding of peace as a situation in which individuals can develop freely in the absence of situations of inequality, marginalization or injustice, among others.

To defend and promote this concept of positive peace, there are several areas where we must carry out our action. On the one hand, it is essential to claim the Peace as a human right, a right and an obligation that already exists in the field of Human Rights, but that is diluted convulse actual international security context. This right legally enshrined in international law imply a guarantee for all individuals and peoples, and an obligation to ensure his defence that corresponds to all women and men, peoples, states and international bodies.

On the other hand, we must promote and support Peace Building in all phases of armed confrontation. Equally important is to work for the prevention and termination of conflict and work towards the stabilization and social reconstruction in postwar periods. Following the end of the conflict displaced and refugee populations still have to find an outlet for their standardization; the economic and social fabric remain broken; situations that require the support of all to restore normalcy and lay foundation on which to begin the democratic stabilization, reconciliation, respect for human rights and peace to avoid a new outbreak of the conflict.

And all this must be done within the overall framework of what has been called Culture of Peace, defined and institutionalized in the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution of 6th October 1999. According to the text of the resolution, the Culture of Peace represents a set of values, attitudes, traditions, behaviours and lifestyles based, inter alia, on respect for life, the practice of non-violence through education, dialogue and cooperation, full respect and promotion of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and promotion of equal rights and opportunities for women and men.

The Declaration and Programme of Action placed the first stone of a road that since then has been marked by several moments of great importance in the recognition of cultural diversity as a factor promoting global development. In 2001 it was proclaimed the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the world, coordinated and executed by UNESCO; and in September 2005 world leaders reaffirmed it in the Final Document of the World Summit and the Declaration Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace and the Global Agenda for Dialogue among Civilizations as well as its Programme of Action, adopted by the General Assembly.

These initiatives have progressively worked out in terms of peace building, but they require the determined and coordinated action of all actors integrating the international society: States, governments, international organizations, civil society, etc.. Especially important is the role of the latter, which consists of a large number of actors (social organizations, associations, political parties, trade unions, media, etc..) who may play an important role in developing a positive peace in the daily life of every society.

For all this the Movement for Peace -MPDL- focuses its mission of Peace Building in the promotion of individuals, social organizations and social networks that can serve as elements of stability in society by following this Decalogue:

1. To claim Peace as a human right.

2. To promote and support Peace Building in all phases of armed conflict.

3. To promote development for Peace.

4. To promote education for Peace.

5. To promote social integration for Peace.

6. To demand equal opportunities for both men and women.

7. To promote respect and care for the environment.

8. To promote reflection, research and discussion on Peace Building.

9. To cooperate and collaborate with agencies and national, international and supranational institutions to fulfil our mission.

10. To promote the participation of citizens in the above mentioned tasks..

The consecution of a fair, balanced, sustainable peace in our societies depends on the work and commitment of all men and. Because, as reads a slogan of the Movement for Peace –MPDL-, "peace is much more than the absence of war."