Warfare is on the rise from Kosovo to Angola, but several peace groups are hoping that they can push for an abolition of all war at a special conference at The Hague next month.

A plea to make the next 100 years “the first century without war” is the centrepiece of the Hague Appeal for Peace, a declaration of intent expected to be approved by dozens of nations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at a conference in The Hague May 11-15.

“We have seen, in this century, the successful struggle against colonialism on the African continent, we have seen the end of apartheid, and in the last century, we see the ugly face of slavery legally abolished. Why not war?,” asks Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.

Cora Weiss, the president of the Hague Appeal, adds”We’re determined that this century, which has been the most violent and war-filled in history, does not repeat itself in 2001.”

As a result participants at next month’s conference need to develop concrete steps to create “a culture of peace” for the future, she says.

Among the Appeal’s main goals are a recommitment by governments to abolish nuclear weapons and landmines, and to reduce or end arms trafficking; a strengthening of international humanitarian law; and an increase in efforts to eradicate poverty and to preserve the environment.

The appeal begins by paraphrasing Charles Dickens to describe the past 100 years: “It was the worst of centuries and the best of centuries.”

Several NGOs, including the International Peace Bureau, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and World Federalist Movement, are leading the effort to bring governments and civil society together for the Hague Appeal.

In addition, the Appeal’s cosponsors confirm that at least a dozen governments, including those of Bangladesh, Bosnia- Hercegovina, Ireland, Jordan, Lebanon and most Scandinavian countries, will be sending prime ministers or Cabinet-level officials to the meeting.

Some 60 additional governments have been invited, according to Bill Pace, the Appeal’s secretary-general and some 3,000 participants are expected in all.

Nevertheless, Pace notes that the Hague Appeal is substantially different from previous conferences this decade on the environment, human rights, population, women’s rights, food and housing.

Those UN-organised conferences – starting with the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 – emphasised the role of governments, as did the original International Peace Conference convened at The Hague in 1899 by Czar Nicholas II of Russia. By contrast, Pace said, the 1999 Hague Appeal is being organised by civil society.

The shift in emphasis stems in part from the fact that the UN General Assembly did not want a UN-sponsored conference to focus on the peace and security issues that the Assembly and Security Council traditionally handle, Pace noted..

But the shift also shows how dramatically the role of NGOs has changed over the past decade.

“We are seeing the climax of what began in Rio in 1992,” argued Stephen Lewis, deputy executive director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

At the beginning of the decade NGOs were less prominent at international conferences than governments but, by the 1994 Human Rights Conference in Vienna, “governments were on the run” as activist groups pushed them for changes, he said.

Many of the conference’s convening groups are well aware of the effect of NGOs.

Many anti-war groups helped to push a coalition of European and developing governments to establish a ban on landmines signed in Ottawa in 1997; rights groups, including the World Federalist Movement, proved crucial in forming a similar “like-minded” group in support of an International Criminal Court last year.

The Hague Appeal can be expected to display even more of a partnership between governments and NGOs on major peace and security issues, says Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh, whose prime minister, Sheikh Hasina Wajid, will attend the conference.

“This is the world order that is emerging,” Chowdhury says of the government-NGO partnership.

Yet as the Kosovo crisis shows, some wars can frustrate the growing unity of NGOs.

Some peace groups have questioned the role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in attacking Yugoslavia – either seeing the attacks as a necessary measure to halt the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo or as a violation of international law.

Pace revealed that the May conference will include a “mock trial” on the legality of NATO’s actions.

Weiss added that the conference will include panels on subjects ranging from Kosovo to the continuing effort by Spain to extradite Chilean Gen. Augusto Pinochet from Britain to stand trial for crimes against humanity.

Featured speakers are to include UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Nobel Peace Prize laureates Jody Williams of the United States and Jose Ramos Horta of East Timor.