Declarations for peace, make war illegal

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, December 02 — In a world scarred by violent conflicts and ideological confrontations made all the worse by cultural and religious extremism, the world community is threatened with endless conflicts, wars and acts of terrorism.

The following ten-pronged Declaration for Peace could go a long way to help sort out the mess humanity is in, if given much thought to its implementation and if undertaken in the memory of the untold numbers of innocents, young martyrs, heroic Palestinians, Iraqis, Lebanese, Afghans, Vietnamese, Africans and South American children who have been mercilessly butchered.

- Wars increasingly involve the killing of innocent people and are therefore abhorrent and criminal.

- All commercial, financial, industrial and scientific activities that aid and abet war should be criminalized.

- All national leaders who initiate aggression must be subject to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

- All legislators and all members of government must affirm their belief in peace and pledge to strive for peace.

- Political parties all over the world must include peace as one of their principal objectives.

- Non-governmental organizations committed to the promotion of peace should be set up in all nations.

- Public servants and professionals in particular, in the medical, legal, educational and scientific fields, must promote peace and campaign actively against war.

- Media must actively oppose war and the incitement to war and consciously promote the peaceful settlement of international disputes. It must cease to glorify war and violence and should instead cultivate the ethos of peace.

- All religious leaders must condemn war and promote peace.

- All nations must strengthen the resolve to accept the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and institute methods to settle international disputes by peaceful means and to renounce war.

What then is the definition of war crimes? War crimes are committed during war in violation of international conventions intended to protect civilian populations and prisoners of war. A war crime is a punishable offense under international law, for violations of the law of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. Every violation of the law of war is a war crime. Therefore, war is a crime. It is primitive and not in keeping with our stage of civilization.

War is about killing people. Killing people is regarded as a crime in any human society claiming to be civilized. Even if the killing is justified, it would still be wrong. Wouldn't we be horrified if any human society would consider murder as right? Even the very thought of it is appalling. We talk of human rights, write about human rights. Can there be a greater right than the right to life?

Unless war is made illegal, the whole world will have to endure an endless state of war between the powerful and the weak. There would be no security for anyone. There would be no place in the world that would be safe. So let us do our bit, act now and make war illegal.