Dear members, partners, colleagues, friends:

First of all, a very Happy New Year to you all! We all hope that 2017 will mark a new direction after the negative political developments witnessed in 2016.

Come what may, it will also be a year of change for the IPB. As you will know by now, our Secretary-General Colin Archer takes his retirement at the end of this month, and a new staff group will take over:

New offices

In Berlin: Reiner Braun (Co-President) will lead a team which includes some of the same persons who hosted the successful Berlin Congress of October 2016: Amela Skiljan (Programme Coordinator) and others.

In Barcelona: Jordi Calvo (Vice-President) will be working with others at the Centre Delàs to coordinate the Global Campaign on Military Spending.

In Geneva: Arielle Denis (former Vice-President) will take over and develop IPB’s relations with institutions based in Switzerland.

In June we will close the office at the rue de Zurich in Geneva, but, as you see above, three new centres will spring up in its place!

Projects in motion 2017

As for the programme, we have many projects in motion. Among these are:

♦ Global Days of Action on Military Spending (April)

♦ Activities at the nuclear Ban Treaty negotiations (New York, March and June)

♦ Side meetings at the NPT Prepcomm (Vienna, May)

♦ Plans for the NATO Counter-Summit (Brussels, TBD)

♦ Participation in the annual Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates (Bogotá, Feb.) and the World Conference against A & H Bombs (Japan, August).

You can expect to receive regular news via our monthly newsletter and our various websites and social media channels (see below).

Further mailings will follow, with contact information for the new staff, the addresses of the offices, and other details.

Among the topics being looked at by the newly-elected Board is the question of the date and location of the 2017 Council meeting.

We face many challenges in a world where militarisation is growing rapidly. We invite you to fully support and cooperate with the new team and send us your feedback.

Kind regards

Reiner Braun & Lisa Clark

Co-Presidents

International Peace Bureau
41 rue de Zürich
1201 Geneva
Switzerland
+41-22-731-6429

mailbox@ipb.org

www.ipb.org
www.gcoms.org
www.ipb2016.berlin
www.makingpeace.org

The International Peace Bureau is a global network dedicated to the vision of a World Without War. We are a Nobel Peace Laureate (1910), and 13 of our officers have also been recipients of the Prize. Our 300 member organisations in 70 countries, and individual members, form a global network bringing together expertise and campaigning experience in a common cause. IPB has UN Consultative Status and is the Secretariat for the NGO Committee for Disarmament (Geneva). Our main programme centres on Disarmament for Sustainable Development, of which the Global Campaign on Military Spending (GCOMS) is a key part. Recent world congress: Disarm! For a Climate of Peace – Berlin, Sept 30-Oct 3, 2016.

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