Invitation to the Conference of the

EUROPEAN NETWORK FOR 

PEACE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

20/21 October 2005, European Parliament, Brussels

Dear Friend,

What can the peace movement do to resist the grave and growing threats to civilised life? What strategies might be most effective? What should our priorities be? Our Conference in Brussels in October provides a timely forum for activists from different countries and movements to share their various perspectives on how to respond to the many challenging questions we face. We have highlighted three for our agenda.

First, how do we defend civil liberties and human rights? Tony Bunyan of Statewatch has prepared a special report for us concerning the ‘exceptional and draconian’ measures entailed in the emerging ‘counter-terrorism’ regime amongst the G8 and European Union countries. This is available as a pamphlet under the title “Countering Civil Rights”. It is also available on the web, with updates 

. Tony will convene the workshop on this theme.

Second, how do we take forward our work on Iraq? The Istanbul session of the World Tribunal on Iraq took place at the end of June. It was the culmination of some twenty meetings around the world, which had commenced in Brussels with a hearing about the Project for a New American Century.  The Istanbul Tribunal was a great success, bringing together the testimony of Iraqis enduring the daily chaos, privations and dangers of their occupied country, together with opinion and comment on the causes and consequences of war (see www.worldtribunal.org). We are consulting with Ayse Berktay, one of the key animators in Turkey, and others about reporting on the work of the Tribunal and presenting proposals to carry the work forward.

Nuclear weapons have been a constant concern of the Network ever since its establishment in 2002. The Nuclear Posture Review, submitted to the US Congress on 31 December 2001, indicated how active were US plans to modernise its nuclear arsenal and military doctrine. These brought forth an answering response in terms of military doctrine from Russia. To maintain our attention on these crucial matters, Regina Hagen in Germany has kindly agreed to help convene our third main workshop on nuclear weapons issues. This will include the growing demand for the complete withdrawal of US nuclear weapons from Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey and the United Kingdom. 

Have you additional proposals for the agenda of our Conference?  If so, please send them together with any paper you wish to submit. If you are able to send your paper electronically, we can put it on our website. 

There is no fee for the Conference, but all applicants are required to meet their own costs of travel and accommodation.  The Brussels Tourist Office (www.brusselsdiscovery.com) can help with accommodation.

Please use the form to register for the Conference. Early registration will assist us in arranging your entry to the European

Parliament building in Brussels.

We very much hope to see you in October.  

Yours sincerely,

Ken Coates, Ken Fleet, Tony Simpson

Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation                                           

Workshop Reports for Conference 05

Papers sent to the conference for inclusion 

The Draft Programme for the Conference

Contents of the initial dossier on human rights