THE KUALA LUMPUR INITIATIVE TO CRIMINALISE WAR 17th December 2005

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The right of petition. Representative government assumes the right of citizens to be heard. The privilege of petition is inherent in free citizenship. - The right to rule. It is not enough to be heard; the power of petition must progress to the actual management of the government.

THE KUALA LUMPUR INITIATIVE TO CRIMINALISE WAR
17th December 2005

THE Kuala Lumpur Global Peace Forum of concerned peoples from all five continents

UNITED in the belief that peace is the essential condition for the survival and well-being of the human race,

DETERMINED to promote peace and save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,

OUTRAGED over the frequent resort to war in the settlement of disputes between nations,

DISTURBED that militarists are preparing for more wars,

TROUBLED that use of armed force increases insecurity for all,

TERRIFIED that the possession of nuclear weapons and the imminent risk of nuclear war will lead to the annihilation of life on earth.

To achieve peace we now declare that:

Wars increasingly involve the killing of innocent people and are, therefore, abhorrent and criminal.

Killings in war are as criminal as the killings within societies in times of peace.

Since killings in peace time are subject to the domestic law of crime, killings in war must likewise be subject to the international law of crimes. This should be so irrespective of whether these killings in war are authorized or permitted by domestic law.

All commercial, financial, industrial and scientific activities that aid and abet war should be criminalised.

All national leaders who initiate aggression must be subjected to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

All nations must strengthen the resolve to accept the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and institute methods to settle international disputes by peaceful means and to renounce war.

Armed force shall not be used except when authorised by a Resolution passed by two-thirds majority of the total membership of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

All legislators and all members of Government must affirm their belief in peace and pledge to strive for peace.

Political parties all over the world must include peace as one of their principal objectives.

Non-Governmental Organisations committed to the promotion of peace should be set up in all nations.

Public servants and professionals, in particular in the medical, legal, educational and scientific fields, must promote peace and campaign actively against war.

The media must actively oppose war and the incitement to war and consciously promote the peaceful settlement of international disputes.

Entertainment media must cease to glorify war and violence and should instead cultivate the ethos of peace

All religious leaders must condemn war and promote peace.

To these ends the Forum resolves to establish a permanent Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur to:

IMPLEMENT this Initiative.

OPPOSE policies and programmes that incite war.

SEEK the cooperation of NGOs worldwide to achieve the goals of this Initiative.

Signed by:

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
Prof Francis A. Boyle
Dr. Helen Caldicott
Mr Matthias Chang
Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Prof Shad Saleem Faruqi
Mr Denis J. Halliday
Dato’ Mukhriz Mahathir
Dr Chandra Muzaffar
Dato’ Michael O.K. Yeoh
Mr Hans-Christof Von Sponeck

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^71:2.4 There are ten steps, or stages, to the evolution of a practical and efficient form of representative government, and these are:

^71:2.5 1. Freedom of the person. Slavery, serfdom, and all forms of human bondage must disappear.

^71:2.6 2. Freedom of the mind. Unless a free people are educated -- taught to think intelligently and plan wisely -- freedom usually does more harm than good.

^71:2.7 3. The reign of law. Liberty can be enjoyed only when the will and whims of human rulers are replaced by legislative enactments in accordance with accepted fundamental law.

^71:2.8 4. Freedom of speech. Representative government is unthinkable without freedom of all forms of expression for human aspirations and opinions.

^71:2.9 5. Security of property. No government can long endure if it fails to provide for the right to enjoy personal property in some form. Man craves the right to use, control, bestow, sell, lease, and bequeath his personal property.

^71:2.10 6. The right of petition. Representative government assumes THE RIGHT OF CITIZENS TO BE HEARD. The privilege of petition is inherent in FREE CITIZENSHIP.

^71:2.11 7. The right to rule. It is not enough to be heard; THE POWER OF PETITION must progress to THE ACTUAL MANAGEMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT.

^71:2.12 8. Universal suffrage. Representative government presupposes an intelligent, efficient, and universal electorate. The character of such a government will ever be determined by the character and caliber of those who compose it. As civilization progresses, suffrage, while remaining universal for both sexes, will be effectively modified, regrouped, and otherwise differentiated.

^71:2.13 9. Control of public servants. No civil government will be serviceable and effective unless the citizenry possess and use wise techniques of guiding and controlling officeholders and public servants.

^71:2.14 10. Intelligent and trained representation. The survival of democracy is dependent on successful representative government; and that is conditioned upon the practice of electing to public offices only those individuals who are technically trained, intellectually competent, socially loyal, and morally fit. Only by such provisions can government of the people, by the people, and for the people be preserved.

From the Urantia Teachings

^134:6.1 If one man craves freedom -- liberty -- he must remember that all other men long for the same freedom. Groups of such liberty-loving mortals cannot live together in peace without becoming subservient to such laws, rules, and regulations as will grant each person the same degree of freedom while at the same time safeguarding an equal degree of freedom for all of his fellow mortals. If one man is to be absolutely free, then another must become an absolute slave. And the relative nature of freedom is true socially, economically, and politically. Freedom is the gift of civilization made possible by the enforcement of LAW.

^134:6.2 Religion makes it spiritually possible to realize the brotherhood of men, but it will require mankind government to regulate the social, economic, and political problems associated with such a goal of human happiness and efficiency.

^134:6.3 There shall be wars and rumors of wars -- nation will rise against nation -- just as long as the world's political sovereignty is divided up and unjustly held by a group of nation-states. England, Scotland, and Wales were always fighting each other until they gave up their respective sovereignties, reposing them in the United Kingdom.

^134:6.4 Another world war will teach the so-called sovereign nations to form some sort of federation, thus creating the machinery for preventing small wars, wars between the lesser nations. But global wars will go on until the government of mankind is created. Global sovereignty will prevent global wars -- nothing else can.

"AND THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES, AND THEIR SPEARS INTO PRUNING HOOKS: NATION SHALL NOT LIFT UP SWORD AGAINST NATION, NEITHER SHALL THEY LEARN WAR ANY MORE " Isa 2:4.

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