Baroness Bertha von Suttner, the first women to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, ‘returned to the Hague’ on June 9 to join academics, historians, lawyers, youth and peace activists in a commemorative conference for her 175th birthday.
Baroness von Suttner was instrumental in the ground-breaking Hague Peace Conference of 1899 which established the Permanent Court of Arbitration (ICA). She was also instrumental in the follow-up Hague Peace Conference in 1907 and in convincing Andrew Carnegie to build the Peace Palace in the Hague which houses both the ICA and the International Court of Justice.
Baroness von Suttner passed away in 1914, a few months before the eruption of World War 1, a war which she had warned would happen if nations did not ‘lay down their arms’, the theme of her highly successful novel about the tragedy of war. She was resurrected for her 175th birthday conference at the Peace Palace by actor and historian Anita Zieher, who usually performs the one-person play Peace Please: The Journal of Bertha von Suttner.
For the birthday commemoration, Anita appeared in role of Bertha to discuss with conference participants what Bertha might say, think and do if she were alive today. The innovative question and answer session between ‘Bertha’ and the conference participants capped off three days of presentations, workshops, art and theatre organised by the Bertha von Suttner Peace Institute.
Anita Zheir as Berhta von Suttner answering questions about peace and disarmament today
One of Bertha’s key messages to the conference was that the arms races today, including the nuclear arms race, could result in further disastrous wars, just as the arms races in the early 20th century resulted in the First World War. On a more positive note, ‘Bertha’ remarked that the world in the 21st century has a much more developed range of legal and political mechanisms to resolve conflicts and prevent war than at any time in the past, so there is really no excuse for war.
A number of conference speakers agreed that the call to ‘lay down your arms’ should start with nuclear weapons, which pose an existential threat to humanity so serious that the hands of the Doomsday Clock were recently shifted to 2 Minutes to Midnight.
Marzhan Nurzhan (PNND, Basel Peace Office), one of the keynote speakers at the conference, highlighted the opportunity provided by the upcoming UN High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament to reduce the risks of nuclear war and make progress on nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament (see Marzhan Nurzhan presentation).
Marzhan Nurzhan speaking at the Bertha von Suttner event at the Peace Palace, the Hague
Ms Nurzhan, who convenes the global youth network for nuclear disarmament (Abolition 2000 Youth Network), drew attention to the catastrophic trans-generational consequences of nuclear tests affecting over 2 million people in her country Kazakhstan. The experience of nuclear tests provides an imperative to ensure nuclear weapons are never used again. She also spoke about the importance of youth cooperating with more experienced activists to build a stronger and more effective peace movement, and reported on global youth actions such as the Youth appeal Reach High for a Nuclear-Weapon Free World on which was sent to virtually every President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in the world.
The anniversary of Bertha von Suttner’s 175th birthday included messages of support from the office of French President Emmanuel Macron, Hon Ms Adriana Krnacova the Mayor of Prague (birthplace of Baroness von Suttner), Hon Ms Pauline Krikke the Mayor of Hague, Cora Weiss (former President of the International Peace Bureau) and a joint statement from 50 women legislators from around the world - Common security for a sustainable and nuclear-weapon-free world - which was presented to the conference by Ms Nurzhan.
The women legislators’ statement - which was endorsed by women leaders of national parliaments, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe - highlights the importance of common security and international law to eliminate the current reliance on nuclear weapons and militarism.
Endorsers of the women legislators' appeal for nuclear disarmament commemorating the 175th birthday of Bertha von Suttner
‘Bertha’ spoke to the 175th birthday event in the Hague about the importance of engaging parliamentarians. Baroness von Suttner had helped Frédéric Passy and William Randal Cremer establish the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 1889 as a forum for parliamentarians from around the world to meet and build peace and cooperation between nations, an initiative which won both of them the Nobel Peace Prize. Baroness von Suttner had addressed the IPU a number of times in its early years.
Ms Nurzhan reported on recent initiatives that she and other representatives of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND) have taken at the IPU, including submitting resolutions on nuclear disarmament that have been adopted by the IPU, organising panels at IPU assemblies to inform and engage parliamentarians, and releasing a Parliamentary Action Plan for a Nuclear Weapon-Free World at the 2017 IPU Assembly in St Petersburg.
Ms Nurzhan concluded her comments at the 175th birthday commemoration by citing former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s statement that ‘The world is over-armed while peace is underfunded’, an observation that Baroness von Suttner had also made often in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Ms Nurzhan announced that civil society has launched Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, a campaign to cut nuclear weapons budgets, end investments in corporations manufacturing nuclear weapons, and transfer these budgets and investments into better purposes such as ending poverty, promoting peace, protecting the climate and implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.
Special event at Humanity House
On June 7, the Humanity House in the Hague held a special event How do I work for Peace and Disarmament featuring Marzhan Nurzhan, Abolition 2000 Youth Network Convener, and Deepti Choubey, Head of Public Affairs of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
The peace experts reported on their work in peace and disarmament organisations, personal career paths and choices. They outlined their motivations, challenges and successes. And they interacted with the audience. Following the discussion, Marzhan introduced and screened the documentary 'Where the Wind Blew' about the catastrophic health consequences of nuclear testing in her home country Kazakhstan, and the successful campaigns of Kazakhs and Americans to close down the test sites and end nuclear testing in their countries.
Marzhan and Deepti speaking at the Humanity House event