CONTENTS

Background

Main programme: Disarmament for Development

Other programme areas

Thanks to donors

Lists of IPB Officials

Vision
IPB's vision can be summed up in the motto: 'WWW: Working Together for a World Without War'. For over 100 years we have worked to promote disarmament, reduce military budgets, ban weapons of mass destruction and invest in nonviolent conflict resolution and sustainable development. 

Programme Goals

•  to shift the priorities governing the use of existing resources (public and private), from investment in the military to investment in development;
•  to demonstrate, and help alleviate, the impact of militarisation and specific types of weaponry on development.
•  more generally, to advance understanding of the links between the various crises affecting the planet (climate change, resource depletion, weapons of mass destruction, mass poverty, terrorism...) and the dangers of violent conflict.

Programme Objectives

• to build strong support networks at the national level and to help knit them together into an effective worldwide campaign;
• to help advocates articulate clear and powerful messages, and reach wider audiences;
• to improve access by all members of this network to the best and most useful campaigning materials.

Programme Activities
IPB is working to develop campaign tools such as: publications, website, e-newsletter, exhibitions and a film/DVD. National and international networks are gradually being developed, notably through the holding of meetings and conferences in different countries.

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INTRODUCTION
This period – covering yearly two years of intense activity – has been rich in experiences. During these months the IPB staff and Board have discovered more of the complexity of the theme we have chosen, and also more of its possibilities. Growth is gradual, and there are many challenges. We have understood that this will be a long term project, and one that, to succeed, will require a wider political and civil society base than it has at present.

Fortunately,the feedback received during the year has been extremely positive. The more that military operations such as the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia are seen to be failing in their attempt to tackle the underlying conflicts -- and the more cash and political energy is wasted in expensive hi-tech schemes such as Missile Defense, the more people are asking: why do we invest so much in the military, why not devote more to eradicating poverty, which is evidently at the root of so much violence? With each month that passes, IPB's disarmament-for-development message appears more and more relevant.

2007 has been the year in which climate change rose to the top of the political agenda, a development made clear by the recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and the IPCC (see IPB statement at www.ipb.org). Concern over climate change has combined with the public debates around the depletion of energy supplies and other natural resources as well as diverse environmental challenges.  This complex set of issues, when taken together, underlines the urgency of transforming our economies – in particular, finding the immense sums of money necessary to both prevent and adjust to climate change.1 One of the key implications is  that there is a danger of reductions in aid and international cooperation budgets – 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' as it were. However this simply adds to the argument advanced by IPB that to continue to invest over U$1200bn per annum in military operations is untenable.

During the year we organised a number of events and put out a series of publications to promote our message. In addition, a major effort was put into developing the global network of contacts established in the first year. Plans are now well under way for consolidating the work in 2007-8.

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MAIN IPB EVENTS

Salon des Initiatives, Paris
The salon is one of the major events in the French peace movement calendar. In 2006 IPB ran a workshop, together with the Movement de la paix and GRIP (Brussels), around the theme of military spending.

Seminar at World Council of Churches
A similar one-day session was held at the WCC headquarters in Geneva, in June 2006, organised by IPB.  We were privileged to have with us Samuel Kobia, the Gen. Sec of WCC and several other experts.

Helsinki – IPB Triennial conference
IPB was fortunate to be able to hold its major 2006 gathering in the Finnish capital alongside several other conferences and meetings – such as the IPPNW World Congress and the Asia-Europe Meeting and its 'parallel' civil society programme. Our main seminar (on Disarmament for Development) was well attended and we were delighted to have as main speaker the Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja. The MacBride Prize was awarded in a special ceremony at the Student House and the Baltic Sea Centre was the ideal setting for our Assembly and Council. This elaborate combined programme helped build on the contacts made in Finland as a result of our participation in the Helsinki Process bringing North and South  together in the spirit of the original east-west Helsinki Process.

World Social Forum, NAIROBI – Jan. 2007
IPB staff and officers participated in the WSF's first full gathering in Africa in January 2007, which was attended by some 50,000 people. (report available on request). The main event was a session on Disarmament for Development co-organised with the Disarmament to Combat Poverty campaign2 run by Frères des Hommes (France), Ekta Parishad (India) and PILER (Pakistan). IPB SG Colin Archer was one of the panel speakers. This session attracted a lot of interest. Many people indicated they felt it resonated with their concerns regarding globalization and militarism, and we have followed up these contacts during the ensuing months. Beyond this particular session IPB delegates participated in many other meetings and events throughout the Forum.

Books or Bombs, ALEXANDRIA, Nov 2007
Much of 2007 has been taken up in preparing for the IPB seminar in Egypt. This involved preliminary discussions with Board and Council members, correspondence with the host group (Institute for Peace Studies), and a preparatory visit by the IPB SG in early June. Since then the focus has been on publicity work, programme development, and logistics (travel, accommodation etc).
This meeting is a particularly useful opportunity to build bridges with our Arab colleagues, coming just days before the planned Arab-Israeli summit in the USA, and at a time when the rumours of possible strikes on Iran are increasing in volume.

Time has also been spent planning for a possible combined (or separate) gatherings in Malmö (European Social Forum) and Copenhagen in the autumn of 2008. IPB is committed to raising D for D issues at conferences organised by other agencies, for example, newly elected IPB President Tomas Magnusson introduced the Disarmament for Development theme in his speech at the Nobel Laureates summit3 in Rome in December 2006, and at the Ubuntu conference on UN reform, held in Geneva. He has again been invited to speak at the meeting organised in December 2007 by Ubuntu4 in Barcelona; and IPB will once again be visible and active at the annual Nobel Laureates summit in Rome.

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OUTREACH AND NETWORKING

Most of the in-person outreach work was undertaken in Europe. A series of short outreach tours permitted the Secretariat to keep in touch with both close colleagues and new contacts.

London(Nov 2006)

• World Disarmament Campaign

SG spoke on panel at public meeting on the theme: Warfare or Welfare? Disarmament for Development in 21st century. Other speakers: Baroness Shirley Williams (Lib-Dems), George Gelber (CAFOD, development agency).

• Quaker Peace and Social Witness
• Movement for the Abolition of War

Brussels (Nov.2006)

• Pax Christi International
• Netwerk Vlaanderen
• Pierre Galand – Senator in Belgian Parl.
• For Mother Earth, Gent

Paris (March, June and Nov. 2006)

• Mouvement de la paix
• Disarmament to Combat Poverty/Frères des Hommes

In 2007, this European work was developed further :

Ireland: the SG spent some days in Ireland in August and met with representatives of Action for Ireland (AFRI), Pax Christi, Irish CND, and the Irish Ecumenical Institute.

UK: on the same trip he was able to meet with IPB officers and representatives of Movement for the Abolition of War, Anglican Peace Fellowship, Campaign against Arms Trade, as well as development education specialists. Some of these groups participated with IPB in organising the Peace History: encouragement and warnings  conference held at the Imperial War Museum in London on April 13-14.5

France: close contact has been maintained throughout the year with key IPB contacts in Paris: Movement de la paix, Real Exhibition Development, and others.

Italy: a brief visit to Florence in early October was the occasion to renew links with IPB-Italia as well as lawyers', doctors' and scientists' groups.

Nordic countries: IPB's relations with peace organisations are particularly strong – and long standing – in Sweden, Finland and Norway. In each country there are groups and individuals helping to develop the D for D argument within both the peace and the development communities. In 2006 the major event of the year was the Triennial in Helsinki (see above). The election of two Swedes (Tomas Magnusson, President and Urban Gibson, Treasurer) to the IPB leadership has helped consolidate our relations with members and others in that country. In 2007 we were able to make a useful step forward in building links with the Danish Peace Alliance, through the preparations for our planned meeting in Copenhagen next year.

In Geneva itself, IPB participates in many international and local events, some of which are organised on an annual basis, such as the Aid and Trade expo, the Sustainable development festival, and the Salon du livre. At the United Nations we have focussed this year on the Commission on the Rights of the Child. The IPB Working Group we set up in year one has been very productive, notably in preparing for the CRC Discussion Day on "Resources for the Rights of the Child - Responsibility of States", Investments for the Implementation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of Children and International Cooperation (CRC art.4),6 which was held in Geneva on Sept. 21, International Day of Peace. . An initial set of IPB papers were published in January and then a fuller document was released in advance of the day itself. The event attracted some 100 persons, including many NGOs. Two members of the IPB Working Group made interventions at the meeting and introduced the paper.7

In Geneva we also put together, jointly with our member organisation Peace Boat (Japan), a workshop on July 4, during the ECOSOC AMR Innovation Fair. The title was Warfare or Welfare? Armed conflict, disarmament and development.

As a result of the two meetings in Africa (Nairobi and Alexandria) in particular, many new contacts have been fostered in the Global South, and through electronic networking it has been possible to maintain regular correspondence with them. We have developed our links in Asia too. To take just a few examples:

Art of Living Silver Jubilee, Bangalore, India – Feb. 2006. This quite extraordinary event brought together well over one million people for the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the organisation founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and now a worldwide movement.  Colin Archer was invited to present IPB's work at the international conference held on the preceding days. The visit offered a brief chance to also visit IPB members in both Bangalore and Chennai and to make a large number of new contacts.

On Oct.2 2007 (now International Day of Nonviolence), the Swiss March for Land and Life8 visited Geneva, the culmination of its action in solidarity with Ekta Parishad, who have recently held their Janadesh 2007 mass march for land reform.9 IPB was there to support them. The same week IPB supported various public actions in support of the monks and civilians killed and arrested during the pro-democracy demonstrations in Burma. Through these actions our connections both with people in the country and with exile and solidarity groups has strengthened. We keep in constant touch too with our member organisations in Pakistan, who are engaged in numerous peace education projects and efforts to minimise the effects of small arms and landmines. IPB issued a statement soon after the promulgation of the State of Emergency by President Musharraf in November 2007, protesting at the arrests of judges and pro-democracy activists.

Diplomatic contacts: in addition to developing links established at a number of UN meetings, Colin Archer participated in discussion evenings in Geneva hosted by the Finnish Ambassador on light weapons availability; and by the Spanish Ambassador on nuclear disarmament issues.

Right to Peace: IPB has given support to the  initiative on the Right to Peace launched by the Spanish Society for the Advancement of International Human Rights Law (Luarca Declaration), which has entailed numerous meetings this year, both in Geneva and elsewhere, including at the Human Rights Council.

United Nations (New York): our UN representative, Cora Weiss, has made a number of speeches this year at UN HQ on themes relating to D for D, climate change, gender and nuclear weapons.

International networks
We have maintained relations with an expanding number of global networks who have manifested a particular interest in the D for D theme, including:

• World Council of Churches – Decade to Overcome Violence (Protestant/orthodox)
• Globalpriorities.org (religious groupings)
• Disarmament to Combat Poverty (development)
• Pax Christi International (catholic)
• INES (scientists and engineers)
• WILPF (women)

The IPB's SG made a presentation at the annual International Women's Day Disarmament Seminar on March 7, Military Expenditures or Human Security - Where do we want our money?10, organised by WILPF in Geneva.
This is in addition to a rising number of groups at local and national level who have been in touch with us as a result of meetings, publications or contacts made at meetings and visits.

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PUBLICATIONS

New Website: this was the main focus of IPB's documentation work in 2007. Given the importance of establishing a) demonstrating a solid intellectual basis for the programme; and b) displaying an improved image for the organisation as a whole, considerable time and resources were devoted to a brand new website, which was unveiled in the first week of Oct. 2007, still at www.ipb.org.

This has received many favourable comments and will provide a platform for further refinements, additions and improvements.

French translation of Warfare or Welfare?
Given the difficulty of finding volunteer translators for book length translations, IPB has taken the decision to invest money in a professional translation of our main campaign tool, the 100pp book entitled Warfare or Welfare? This is in fact more than a translation, more like a French edition and updating. The translation has been done by Ben Cramer (member of IPB Council, based in Paris). We are currently seeking a publisher, but meanwhile it will be made available on the website.

Exhibition – preparatory work
IPB plans to mount a major photographic exhibition on the theme of its major campaign. This is being developed in collaboration with Ashley Woods (Real Exhibition Development, Paris), who has some exciting proposals for multi-media approaches and for educational tie-ins such as student newspaper on the exhibition theme. The plan is for this to take place in 2010 (location/s to be determined). R.E.D. will present a  brochure of photo-samples and a detailed project plan for consideration at the IPB Council meeting in November 07.

IPB studies
In mid-2007 IPB staff decided it would be useful to gather together a collection of the papers we have written on themes relevant to Disarmament for Development. These cover topics such as:

• climate change
• small arms
• conflict diamonds
• corruption
• the MDGs
• gender and D for D
• military impact on the environment
• military spending and the rights of the child
• Article 9 and Article 26 (based on chapters in books published by Rissho Kosei and the Article 9 Campaign)

These can now be found at the publications section of the website under http://www.ipb.org/newsletters.html

Newsletter: the twice-monthly IPB News, which concentrates heavily on DFD issues, 11 is especially appreciated by our membership network and contacts.

Campaign Guide
Our major new publication of the year is Whose Priorities? a guide to campaigning on military spending,  published in early November, both on the website and as hard copy. It showcases 18 examples of creative campaigning projects in different countries, and some ideas for developing campaign strategy. The work is conceived as more of a 'rolling text' than previous documents, since we look forward to developing and re-publishing it as time goes on. We are confident that many new examples of campaign initiatives will be discovered, and the thinking about ways to advance the programme will evolve.

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STRATEGY / PLANNING

As indicated in the introduction, staff, officers and partners closely associated with the programme have been doing some reflexion about both the challenges and the possibilities inherent in the programme, (political, economic and logistical) and have spent some time sketching out ideas for future work. This has been an important dimension of the year's activities.

Evaluation
Our analysis leads us to believe that a more solid basis for the campaign has now been created. We have better instruments and they have been more widely spread around a more extensive network of supporters and partners. 
The need for developing the work at the national level was felt again this year, and we recognise that we do not yet have active groupings in many places.
On many of the other issues identified this time last year (translation of materials, taking on board differing security debates, integrating the environmental issues etc ) we have made some good progress.
An important area remaining to be developed is the issue of the Millennium Development Goals and the further dialogue with development cooperation organisations.
A stronger secretariat is definitely needed, since too much of the burden falls on too few people at the centre. To this end we plan to launch a new round of fundraising immediately following the Alexandria seminar.

Statements : from time to time IPB issues public statements on topical issues, for example at the time of the annual release of the SIPRI military spending figures (June 12, 2007),12 and after the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize on October 12. Even more recently (Nov. 2007) we have issued press communiques on the critical situations in Iran and Pakistan.

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Once again, IPB extends its profound thanks to our main funders, the Development Cooperation Agency of Catalunya and Rissho Kosei-Kai for their generous support, and looks forward to extending our collaboration in the future.

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