Dear Participants of the IPB World Congress,

Two months after the IPB World Congress we are still enjoying the success of it. All the feedback has been positive!

We gradually published videos from the plenaries and speeches from some speakers (www.ipb2016.berlin). Actually, we are still in the process of collecting and publishing. Moreover, we plan to collect all plenary speeches and summaries of the panel discussions and workshops in order to publish them in form of a book. Yes, we will make a book documentation of the Congress. In this regard we would be very happy about your contribution – a few sentences how you felt during the Congress, your impressions and photos (if you like).

Also, we succeeded in inspiring young people. The participants of the Youth Gathering are planning a World Youth Peace Conference to be held in 2018, where young people can meet, exchange their ideas and experiences and learn from each other.

These are not the only points we are working on.

We would like to take this opportunity to inform you about our latest updates and the future IPB development and actions.

There is a big change for IPB ahead. Starting from 2017 IPB is going to be more decentralised:

IPB will move its headquarters from Geneva to Berlin. Of course, IPB will remain being represented in Geneva too, but the main coordination and project development will take place in Berlin. However, the Global Campaign on Military Spending (GCOMS) and the Global Day of Action (GDAMS) are going to be coordinated from Barcelona.

We remain loyal to our aims and we will continue having our focus on disarmament for development and develop events, projects and papers under this umbrella. GCOMS activities planned for 2017 will prove this (more information: www.demilitarize.org).

The first preparatory conference of the next NPT Review Conference will be held in May 2017 in Vienna and we aim to be part of it and offer some workshops. After the steps taken towards a nuclear weapons-free world in 2016, we will intensify our work on this topic and contribute (as much as we can) to achieve this aim.

Another important event in 2017 will be the NATO summit in Brussels. The exact date is not published yet, but we will definitely be part of the Counter Summit and the demonstration with our Belgian and other international partners.

After the first shock phase related to the US election results, we have to express our deepest concern about the future Trump Administration and the implications for world peace. We will support our friends in the US peace movement as much as we can.

For now it remains only to wish you happy holidays, enjoy the time with your friends and families, and fill yourselves with positive energy.

With the best wishes

Colin Archer, Secretary-General

Reiner Braun, Co-President

Lisa Clark, Co-President

Amela Skiljan, Programme Coordinator

 

More information you can find on our websites (www.ipb.org, www.demilitarize.org, www.ipb2016.berlin) and via Facebook and Twitter.

Download Letter to Participants.pdf