FROM ICELAND: TEN PROPOSALS FOR PEACE

On June 26, Iceland will hold presidential elections, with candidate Thor Magnusson running on a peace platform. If he wins, he could do a lot -- for Iceland and for the world, write Johan Galtung, professor of Peace Studies and Director of TRANSCEND: A Peace and Development Network, and Dietrich Fischer, Academic Director of the European University Centre for Peace Studies in Stadtschlaining, Austria and Co-Director of TRANSCEND. In this column, authors present ten proposals for what the president of a small country could do for peace. Today, a peace president could invite all of the governments in the Middle East to a modern \'\'Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation\'\' to explore the creation of a six-state Middle East Community, comprised of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and a fully-recognised Palestine, modelled after the European Community. Why not build on successes rather than heading for new failures with the misguided US \'\'road map\'\'? A peace president could be the first to introduce peace education in all schools with a focus on non-violent alternatives. A study of TV violence shows that damage is done less by the viewing of violent acts than by the absence of non-violent alternatives and attention to the grief and trauma of the bereaved. Iceland can also provide a model for developing countries. To its traditional economy based on agriculture and fishing it has added electronics and pharmaceuticals, bypassing heavy industry.

EURO-PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS IN EUROPE: PAY ATTENTION

This week-end\'s elections to the European Parliament may seem like yet another of those \'\'old Europe\'\' oddities --like the welfare state, long paid vacations, and constitutional monarchies-- but its importance should not be underestimated, writes Joaquin Roy is university professor \'Jean Monnet\' and director of the Centre of the European Union of the University of Miami. The European Parliament is the largest directly-elected democratic legislature in the world: with 732 members, it represents 350 million citizens from 25 countries. Yet to judge from press coverage and the projected rate of voter turnout (less than 50 percent) both foreigners and Europeans seem to share a certain scepticism about the role of institution. What the citizens who stay away from the polls apparently do not know is that their daily existence depends more and more on the decisions taken by the Euro-parliament, which passes community laws each week. More than eighty percent of European legislation originates from the EU institutional process.

PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE: A PROVEN IDEA FOR A TUMULTUOUS WORLD

The principle of peaceful co-existence has just turned fifty, and while the pessimists feel that it is out of fashion, the optimists believe that it is more important than ever, writes Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary General of the UN from 1992-1996. On 29 April 1954, the China and India signed an Agreement on Trade and Communications between the Tibet region of China and India based on five principles: mutual respect for each other\'s territorial integrity and sovereignty; mutual non-aggression; mutual non-interference in each other\'s internal affairs; equality and mutual benefit; peaceful co-existence. In his article, the author writes that pessimists hold the five principles have lost their force because they are linked with the UN, marginalised since the end of the Cold War and the emergence of a single superpower. To apply the five principles there is no need to wait for an overhaul of the UN system, since the basic concepts are already in the Charter. They can be made more effective by taking into consideration the drastic technical changes brought about during the post-Cold War period, globalisation, the increasing gap between rich and poor countries, the multiplicity of internal wars, and the unilateralism of the lonely superpower\'s policy.

INCREASED TRADE NO PANACEA FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

In the 40 years since the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was founded, the international environment has been radically transformed by globalisation, and the problems experienced by developing countries today require innovative approaches, writes Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The eleventh quadrennial UNCTAD conference will be held in Sao Paulo, June 13-18. In this article for IPS, Ricupero writes that the conference will define the type of national and multilateral measures that are needed to ensure that integration into the world economy yields real development gains for developing countries. Open trade regimes and financial markets alone are not enough. The author notes that in many developing countries, conventional, market-based policies have not lived up to expectations for sustainable development and poverty reduction, arguing that trade policies should be complemented by redistributive policies, primarily through taxes, as UNCTAD proposes.

EUROPEAN UNION: THE BIGGER, THE MORE CONSERVATIVE

The profoundly conservative nature of European politics, the EU institutions, and individual member states is worrying, particularly as manifested in EU economic and social policy, writes Emma Bonino, deputy in the European Parliament and a nleader of the Transnational Radical Party. In this article, Bonino writes that current debates about the size of the EU budget are beside the point as long as almost half of these funds will go to finance the Common Agricultural Policy, which imposes a huge cost on EU consumers while ruining the hopes of hundreds of millions of farmers in developing countries. Another troubling example of conservatism was the decision by almost all of the fifteen old member countries to put off until 2011 complete freedom of movement for workers of the ten countries that just joined the EU. Then there is the continuous postponement of the initiation of serious negotiations on admitting Turkey. While the reasons for such prudence are comprehensible, the EU cannot lose this historic occasion to create a deep and stable connection between a large Islamic country and the liberal and democratic West.

COLUMN DEDICATED TO INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL DAY CELEBRATED ON JUNE 5: ONE WORLD, ONE OCEAN. AND IT IS TIME TO SAVE IT

The rich and poor worlds are linked as never before - by economics, trade, migration, and by one body of water that covers 70% of the earth\'s surface, and on which our survival depends. As there is only one World, there is also one Ocean. But the world\'s Ocean is dying, writes Ian Johnson, Vice President of the World Bank. But there is reason to hope. The 2002 Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable, called for ambitious but achievable goals such as restoring degraded fish stocks to sustainable levels by 2015. Now it is time to move forward and developed countries must lead the way. As with agriculture, rich countries must lead the way in eliminating the harmful subsidies and other protectionist policies that lead to over-fishing. These policies need to end to avoid continuing the depletion of the Ocean\'s living resources.

HOW ASEAN CAN HELP BRING DEMOCRACY TO BURMA

ASEAN made history with its recent public remarks about Burma and its military government, calling upon them to release popular national leader Suu Kyi from house arrest and to take action to settle the country\'s long-running civil and political wars, writes Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Laureate and East Timor\'s Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this article, Ramos-Horta writes that this reflected the mounting alarm of ASEAN leaders of Burma\'s right to assume the chairmanship of the group in 2006. If there is no change, in 2006 ASEAN will be led by a military government that keeps over 1,300 political prisoners, relies on forced labour for public works, and has left over one million people internally displaced, ASEAN must encourage and expect Burma to seriously engage with its own people, especially Suu Kyi, her party, and the political leaders of the ethnic nationalities. We must encourage and expect Burma to engage with its neighbours, with ASEAN, and with the United Nations, to effect political and economic change. And we must encourage and expect the SPDC to demonstrate their leadership bona fides by rising to these challenges.

CONSUMER-LED STRATEGIES RECYCLE PAPER AND SAVE ANCIENT FORESTS

Alarmed by the unrelenting destruction of the world\'s remaining old growth trees and frustrated by unresponsive and ineffectual government regulators, ancient-forest activists are turning to market-based strategies to pressure leading paper producers and retailers to shift to recycled and tree-free paper products, writes Mark Sommer, director of the Mainstream Media Project and host of award-winning syndicated radio programme, \'\'A World of Possibilities.\'\' Over the past few years, the Paper Campaign, a US-based grassroots coalition of environmental groups, has targeted the world\'s top three paper products retailers in a concerted effort to shift market signals. In November, 2002 Staples announced its commitment to rapidly phase out all wood and paper products made from endangered forests, achieve 50 percent post-consumer content within two years, and phase out all products with 100 percent virgin wood fibre. Using recycled rather than virgin wood-fibre papers is one step in the right direction, but paper can be and is being made economically from numerous other fibres besides trees. The most promising of new options is kenaf, a fast-growing, single-season crop that can reach 18 feet in several months under optimal conditions and can be manufactured by existing paper mills.

UN CONVENTION TARGETS KLEPTOCRAT RULERS

In election campaigns this year in Indonesia and the Philippines --countries that have been impoverished by the greed of successive corrupt leaders-- the presidential candidates have battled one another for the anti-corruption mantle, writes Peter Eigen, Chairman of Transparency International. In this analysis for IPS, Eigen writes that both countries are case studies in how corrupt leaders who take advantage of immense personal power and immunity from prosecution can devastate their populations by systematically plundering their wealth. The recent adoption of the United Nations Convention against Corruption is an important step towards the repatriation of money siphoned off by nefarious leaders. The first-ever UN International Anti-Corruption Day will be held on 9 December to pressure governments to ratify the Convention so that stolen assets can be returned to their rightful owners. Thirty ratifications are needed before the Convention comes into force. Citizens have a right to know what happens to the money managed by public officials in the developed and developing worlds, and to insist that donor and other government funds reach the intended recipients - the people.

MAKE IT OR BREAK IT TIME FOR LATEST WTO NEGOTIATIONS

2004 is a crucial year for the Doha negotiations of the World Trade Organisation and the multilateral trading system in general, writes Supachai Panitchpakdi, Director-General of the World Trade Organization. In this article, the author writes that since the beginning of this year, starting with the instrumental efforts by US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, we have witnessed a number of very important initiatives and inputs to help move the process forward. I personally saw a much- needed new level of political commitment at important ministerial gatherings such as the Paris Ministerial Conference of the OECD and the Less Developed Countries (LDC) Ministerial Conference in Senegal. WTO Members are showing a remarkable sense of political urgency and realism, combined with the willingness to negotiate substance, and they are determined to reach framework agreements by July. The WTO and the multilateral system are under pressure again to deliver results. I have consistently argued that if governments and their constituents lose faith in the ability of the Doha negotiations to deliver results, we can expect to see a growing imbalance between multilateral and bilateral deal-making, widening the gap between stronger and weaker countries. The foundations upon which the multilateral trading system is built -- non-discrimination and transparency -- are at stake here. These core principles make the international trading environment more predictable and less complex. If we don\'t make sufficient progress in these negotiations and conclude them successfully, it is the poorest countries that will lose the most.

IS THERE STILL HOPE?

Generalised terrorism, whether that of Al Qaeda, of Sharon in Israel, or of US President Bush, arouses very real fears of calamity in the near future, writes Leonardo Boff, a writer and theologian. At times it seems we haven\'t yet seen the worst that could befall us. This situation raises a philosophical question: can we still place any hope in human beings? Are we capable of improving our social behaviour, our sense of humanity and morality, or are we condemned to live this tragedy to the very end until we destroy ourselves? It is always possible to improve, Boff writes, but humanity will improve only if the majority of its members do so. If this does not happen, we are finished. We will increase our destructive capabilities until tragedy is inevitable. But for this not to happen, one must assume the existence of a second factor: a philosophy of hope.

BEYOND THE SPANISH THRONE

On May 22, Prince Felipe de Borbon, heir to Spanish throne, will marry television news anchorwoman Letizia Ortiz. While the pomp and publicity of this royal event are sure to draw attention away from the crucial institutional dimensions of the monarchy, it is important to remember that it occupies a central place in the Spanish political system, writes Joaquin Roy, \'Jean Monnet\' Professor and Director of the European Union Centre of the University of Miami. The king is both the highest representative of the state to other countries and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. It is the king who appoints the prime minister, prior to the recommendation by Congress (according to the results of elections or post-electoral arrangements), and who has the prerogative to declare war and make peace (with proper authorisation of Congress). Less fascinated with the monarchy than the British, Spaniards have less patience with it. For only a fraction of the bad behaviour of the Windsors, the Spanish monarchy would end in a few weeks. Felipe and Letizia know this very well. They will have to work every day to keep their jobs.

COCA PROHIBITION A MISERABLE FAILURE: END IT

Efforts to eradicate coca production through \'\'supply reduction\'\' and \'\'alternative development\'\' have failed miserably, writes Emma Bonino, Member of the European Parliament and founding member of the International Anti-prohibitionist League. In this analysis, Bonino writes that the situation in the Andes has become unbearable for local communities, threatening the general development of their countries while providing a source of easy and big money for all sorts of illegal groups, from the narcos to terrorist and paramilitary networks. Comprehensive alternative development projects should address the broader economic situation of farmers, who cultivate \'\'drug crops\'\' not only because of to \'\'rural poverty\'\', \'\'lack of access to markets for legal products\'\', and \'\'unsuitable soil for many other crops\'\' as the UN claims, but also because the plants are an integral part of the cultures, traditions, and religions of the indigenous peoples living in those regions. The Permanent Forum should look into the possibility of reflecting coca-related issues in its annual report, where it issues recommendations to the ECOSOC. Ending the prohibition on coca should become a priority for all those that genuinely struggle for freedom and human rights and that are working towards the establishment of a system that functions on the force of law and not the law of force, a law that does not prohibit, but facilitates, the cohabitation of peaceful peculiarities including, ultimately, indigenous issues.

CURE ILLS OF GLOBALISATION BY DEMOCRATISING IT

The current process of globalisation is generating widespread distress, destroying traditional connections of solidarity, and marginalising entire countries and even entire regions while raising the risk of war, exclusion, hatred, and ethnic and religious conflict, writes Boutros-Boutros Ghali, UN Secretary General from 1992-1996. In this article, the author argues that the globalisation of the economy must be accompanied by the development of a global movement for democracy. Global democracy cannot be limited to a transformation of the structures of national democracy. Its objective must be a new architecture structured in such a way that it is controlled directly not by citizens but by states, multi-national corporations, non-governmental organisations, municipalities, and political parties. This will require the creation of new political institutions as well as the reform of the existing international institutions. While these ideas may seem futuristic or utopian, the author writes that peace among nations grounded in a democratisation of globalisation is a desirable, and reachable, goal.

INTERVIEW WITH AHMED QUREI: ‘I WILL NOT MEET WITH SHARON FOR

There is no time to lose: the European Union and Russia must reactivate the Quartet, together with the UN and United States, in order to realise the Road Map to peace in the Middle East, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei told IPS.

IN LONG RUN, OUTSOURCING WILL BENEFIT EVERYONE

The emerging reality of global enterprises that can shift their business across borders with increasing ease to maximise profits poses both an opportunity for competitive countries and a challenge to some of the standards prevailing in other societies, writes Reubens Ricupero, . In this article Ricupero writes that a heated debate is under way on whether or not outsourcing undermines the accepted trade liberalisation paradigm, is leading to a job exodus from developed to developing countries, and what the cost/benefit ratio is and whether protectionist government intervention is needed. Claims of a big wave of offshoring to poor countries swallowing up high-skill jobs in rich countries do not reflect reality. Outsourcing export opportunities for developing countries are much broader than generally presented, with a wide range of these countries significantly increasing their presence in global outsourcing markets. While the realisation of these opportunities may in fact lead to increased job losses in advanced countries, it should be recognised that these short-term costs will ultimately be trumped by the long-term gains of cheaper services being available to consumers in both advanced and developing countries.

GREEN BUILDING: RECONSTRUCTING COMMUNITY, REUNITING PEOPLE AND NATURE

In advanced industrial nations we spend 90 percent of our lives in the Great Indoors with little connection to the Great Outdoors. Modern construction techniques have successfully shielded us from Mother Nature, and one another, and too often at the expense of our well-being, writes Mark Sommer, a journalist and host of the award-winning syndicated radio programme \'\'A World of Possibilities\'\'. In this article, Sommer writes that in response to the growing divergence between our architecture and our well-being, a new generation of architects and designers is emerging with a different vision and strategy, setting new standards for construction based on principles that reunite humans with one another and nature. What has gone wrong with the buildings we inhabit is a reflection of the deficiencies of modernity itself -- its isolation from nature, brutal disregard for community, and uncritical embrace of a narrow economic calculus. The post-modern sustainable building movement places the conservation of resources and reconnection between people and nature ahead of privileged isolation and private profit. But to be widely adopted, it must also satisfy the bottom line, albeit one that gives greater weight to social and environmental benefits.

ULTIMATE EU GOAL: PEACE AND SECURITY FOR THE CONTINENT

Although the forthcoming enlargement of the European Union is the largest in EU history, it is important to realise that it still does not encompass the whole of Europe, writes Martti Ahtisaari, president of Finland in 1994-2000. In this article, the author writes that after the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007 preparations should begin for the next enlargement round. The Union must make sure that it provides the South-East European countries a meaningful and concrete vision for their membership. The EU also needs to establish its relationships with a number of countries not expected to become members in the near future, such as Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova. The EU must be able to offer something between mere collaboration and full membership. The final objective for enlargement of the Union to the east is to consolidate peace and security on our continent. The former foreign minister of Poland, Bronislaw Geremek, has said \'\'the enlargement will bring history and geography in harmony with each other\'\'. This goal, which the member states and the applicant states have pursued for over a decade, is finally materialising.

THE BIRTH, PASSION, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION OF THE EU CONSTITUTION

Last December, Spain and Poland sent the EU constitution project into collapse by rejecting a revised vote-weighing calculation for the EU Council and insisting on retaining the more advantageous system from the 2002 Nice Treaty, writes Joaquin Roy, Jean Monnet professor and the director of the Centre for the European Union of the University of Miami. Thus began what was feared would be an excruciating passion for the text of the constitution, the author writes in this analysis. Thrice the Italian presidency refused to cooperate. Some, like Judas, seemed to be bargaining for money. The Spanish and Polish governments transformed themselves, as if under Mel Gibson\'s direction, into Roman soldiers on the road to Golgotha. Blair like Pilate washed his hands. All stood by silently and no one intervened to prevent the death of the project, as one of the largest crises in the history of the EU settled on a horizon heavy with thunder and darkness. Then, suddenly, as a result of the legislative elections in Spain, the main obstacle disappeared. Spain returned to the bosom of \'\'old Europe\'\', and in a display of the art of late repentance the Polish government expressed its doubts about its alliance with the US in Iraq. After a death foretold came the resurrection, as a final prelude to the ecclesiastic cycle. Brussels now sighs with relief.

A WATERSHED IN NORTH-SOUTH RELATIONS

There are a host of disturbing signs that North-South relations require immediate attention, writes Omary Mjenga, secretary of the Tanzanian Secretariat of the Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy, an initiative launched by Finnish and Tanzanian governments. In this article, the author writes that increasing numbers of people in the South view the current process of globalisation as no less than a modern imperialism, which uses every mechanism possible to shape the global order to suit the preferences and needs of the major advanced industrial nations. Moreover, this new imperialism is largely unhindered, indeed is even aided and abetted, by the multilateral mechanisms developed over the past five decades. If ever there was a time for the collective voice of the South to make itself heard, it is now, when the multilateral institutions to the United Nations still retain some legitimacy. If developing countries are to exert some influence over international or global relations and to affect the shape of global and national governance of economic policy, they need to summon the political will to improve rapidly their intellectual and technical capacity to take up the challenge.

SOUTH AFRICANS FACE CHOICE BETWEEN MOVING FORWARDS OR BACKWARDS

On the eve of South Africa\'s third general election and the celebration of our second decade of liberation, one of the major contestants at the polls is a right-wing coalition that would have opposed much of the progress our country has made since 1994, including ending apartheid, writes Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa. The Coalition for Change is a right-wing group comprised of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) of Dr. Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and the Democratic Alliance (DA), a merger of three right-wing parties. It is opposed to many of the initiatives we have taken since 1994, especially to address the interests of the poor at home and abroad, Mbeki writes in this article. The ANC will continue to put forward its own policies, focused, among other things, on the vigorous intervention of the democratic state to ensure a better life for all our people, both black and white. We will continue to encourage the formation of a people\'s contract among all those, including the overwhelming majority of our population, who are committed to the building of a non-racial and non-sexist people-centred society.