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Chapter 1
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In the 21st century it has become necessary to abolish war itself as an accepted means of settling international disputes, much in the same way as we have abolished slavery in the 19th century and colonialism in the 20th century.
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“Reaffirming further that the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and of this Protocol must be fully applied in all circumstances to all persons who are protected by those instruments…” |
Chapter 2
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Chapter 3
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... the uncertain combination of human fallibility and nuclear weapons carries a high risk of a potential catastrophe. Is there a military justification to accept that risk? The answer is no. |
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The technological revolution applied to information technology, has been diffusing power away from governments and empowering individuals and groups to play roles in world politics — including wreaking massive destruction — that were once reserved for the governments of states... |
Chapter 4
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Chapter 5
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The 20th Century will go down as the bloodiest century in all of human history. We will have lost 160 million people, killed at conflict... If we want to avoid repeting this tragedy in the 21st Century, it is high time to start... |
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Do not bombard Buenos Aires, we cannot defend ourselves. |
Chapter 6
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Chapter 7
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The possibility of integrating all the countries in the region to advance on the declaration “LATIN AMERICA: REGION OF CITIES FOR PEACE” is based on the search of consensus with a view to decide on a regional policy to banish war, terrorism and armed conflicts of any origin whatsoever from the continent. |
Introduction
It is a duty and, at the same time, a well-grounded hope,
to realize a state of public right
which advances perpetual peace ad infinitum ...
Perpetual Peace is, therefore, no empty idea, but a practical thing which, through gradual solution, is coming always nearer
its final realization;
and it may well be hoped that progress towards it
will be made in more rapid
rates of advance in the times to come.
Immanuel
Kant
…Time past and time future,
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Thomas S. Eliot
Any massive attack on civilian targets constitutes an aberration typical of contemporary times. The bombardment over Guernica marked the starting point of an unconventional form of cruelty, which expanded all through the twentieth Century: technological developments facilitate the execution of such a task, thus permitting to keep distance from the cruelties which might be committed. Could anyone avoid being shocked by the image of a pregnant woman being bayoneted into her womb? However, similar feelings are not aroused if cities are bombarded over, despite the death toll being counted by the thousand.
Many believe that the great challenges to bring about change should not even be considered as there are forces or powers hindering them. Such a skeptical stance is predominant in most people when enquired on the likelihood of wars being brought to an end as a way of solving conflicts. It also extends to the possibility of civilizing war by avoiding its being targeted on civilian populations. That skepticism includes a new form of violence, terrorism, which has similarly adopted the logic of massive assaults over defenseless people.
Such incredulous reaction concerning the possibility of ending war or diminishing its cruelty on civil populations, is most probably similar to the one provoked when slavery was brought to an end at the beginning of the nineteenth century: was it possible to finish with an institution which was getting lost in the memory of history? Who would have dared believe at the beginning of the twentieth century that racism would be widely rejected? Who could have imagined in 1900 that colonialism would be massively condemned and would become an exception some day?
It is always possible to do something against cruelty and it is less difficult to do so in those places where cruelty does not rule over. In Argentina, the abolition of slavery came earlier in time in relation to other countries where it was the core of productive processes.
It is possible to start fighting war, or at least, fighting against its cruelest atrocities.
International Humanitarian Law provides the tools necessary to find possible ways to prevent such horror.
The City of Buenos Aires and the Region are certainly able to advance towards an initiative that can be later imitated in other zones where belligerent or terrorist violence has already been settled.
