Stop All Wars Now!

Stop All Wars Now!

Get Full Text in PDF

As the interconnected wars in Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine are threatening the lives of millions and could even lead to the use of weapons of mass destruction, thus endangering the survival of human civilization, there is an urgent need for action.

None of us can stop these wars alone, however, all of us together as citizens of Earth have the power to stop them.

The enclosed appeal follows the spirit of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto from 1955. It appeals to all citizens of Earth to stop all aggressions and assure peace immediately.

Everyone is welcome to join this initiative. If you would like to join, please sign this appeal by clicking here.

If you have any other recommendations on how to strengthen the message of peace and stop all wars now, you are welcome to come up with ideas, statements and activities that would lead to attaining peace sooner.

We appeal, as human beings, to human beings: Remember your humanity, 
and forget the rest. (Russel-Einstein Manifesto, 1955)
Stop all wars now!

The world today significantly differs from a few decades or even a few years ago. It will change even faster in the future. We are rapidly destroying our natural and human capital and have barely a few decades to stop and remedy the destruction we have caused. New technologies like artificial intelligence and synthetic biology are emerging and our understanding of their consequences is limited. They could present an excellent opportunity to help stop the wars or a threat that could make them even more dangerous. Wars, terrorism and fighting could lead to the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), which would likely lead to mutually assured destruction and could destroy our civilization in days.

In the early 1950s, only three countries had nuclear weapons (NW) and the Doomsday clock was set at 3 minutes to Midnight. On 9^th July 1955, the Russell-Einstein Manifesto (REM) was released, emphasizing that any major war would inevitably lead to using NW. Since WWII, we have witnessed more than 50 serious conflicts resulting in millions of deaths and enormous destruction. Some conflicts have lasted over 75 years. None of these conflicts fulfilled the objectives of the initiator. In Afghanistan, the two strongest NW states faced poorly armed forces and were defeated. Examples after WWII demonstrate that wars are useless. War is immoral, useless and hopefully soon becomes illegal. It is imperative and a common interest of all states and citizens to eliminate war, terrorism and fighting.

Only immoral people benefit from conflicts and preparation for conflicts. Eisenhower emphasized the threatening role of the military-industrial complex. Preparing for war does not guarantee security or peace. NW testing caused more casualties (over 600,000) than the bombing of Hiroshima. Global Peace Index covers 163 countries and lists NW states as among the worst. At the end of WWII, political architecture was designed to prevent conflict. Within the United Nations (UN) organization, the UN General Assembly and Security Council (UNSC) were formed. The present world is multi-polar with at least 9 NW states. Emerging technologies are likely to increase the significance of smaller countries. They also add new threats to world peace, as well as new opportunities to end wars.

Only peace can guarantee our survival, human security for all and development. How do we achieve and maintain peace? We hope that humanity will find adequate solutions. Peace was found throughout our history, albeit briefly and in limited areas. If NW states are on opposite sides of a war, such a war would be particularly destructive. This could likely happen in the case of the interdependent wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa. It is not likely that any military victory could lead one side to give up if the weaker party could use WMD. Therefore, wars in general cannot have winners. Everybody incurs significant losses. Even those pretending to be neutral lose. We are facing one of the most dangerous times in the history of humankind. The Doomsday clock is 90 seconds to midnight.

Stopping the wars in Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere demands:

• Immediate acceptance of UNSC resolutions that stop all current wars, initiate negotiations and enable all people to have the rights and freedoms outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• For each war, creating a UNSC international peace force strong enough to overwhelm any party that continues to fight, assist in the withdrawal of armies to their internationally recognized borders, protect the countries in conflict during negotiations against any possible attacks and ensure free and secure movement of people and goods to aid those in need.
• Exchange of all hostages and prisoners.
• Immediate start of reconstruction and rebuilding war-torn regions.
• UNSC taking drastic actions against the responsible political, military and economic leaders and their associates if military activity is not stopped.

Sovereignty of all countries is fully guaranteed. The only restriction is no war. It is either war or our survival. Is it an impossible task? No! Humankind did it successfully as it progressed from hunter-gatherers to 21st-century humans. Though our world is vulnerable and self-destructive, it is the best ever. Life expectancy has increased three times, our knowledge and achievements are better than ever.

All this was accomplished by our creativity, understanding and empathy—the Golden Rule: Love your neighbor!

“It is time to turn our back to unilateral search for security…To survive in this world we must learn to think in a new way. As never before, the future of each depends on the good of all.” (Statement by 110 Nobel laureates on 10th December, 2001, Oslo).

Therefore, to ensure human prosperity and survival, we plead with all people of the world to demand that governments stop all aggressions now and secure the achievement of 17 Sustainable Development Goals!

Authors & Signatories: Ivo Šlaus, Aleksander Zidanšek.

Presidents, Ministers, Presidents of Academies, Rectors, Heads of NGOs, as Coauthors and/or Signatories:

Ivo Josipović (President of Croatia 2010-2015), Milan Kučan (President of Slovenia
1991-2002), Stjepan Mesić (President of Croatia 2000-2010), Paolo Cotta-Ramusinno (Secretary General of Pugwash), Garry Jacobs (President of the World Academy of Art and Science), Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker (Copresident of the Club of Rome 2012-2018), Paul Shrivastava (Copresident of the Club of Rome since 2023), Nebojša Nešković (Vice President of the World Academy of Art and Science), Budimir Lončar (Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador), Božo Kovačević (Former Minister of Environment, Ambassador), Hrvoje Kraljević (Former Minister of Science and Technology), Momir Đurović (Former President of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts), Asim Kurjak (President of the International Academy of Perinatal Medicine), Stanislav Radovan Pejovnik (Former Rector of the University of Ljubljana 2009-2013), Vito Turk (Former Director of Jožef Stefan Institute 1996-2005), Boris Cizelj (President of the Knowledge Economy Network), Krunoslav Pisk (Former Director General of the Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik), Moneef R. Zou’bi (Director General of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences), Gilbert Fayl (President of The Global Round Table), Ugo Bardi (Former president of ASPO Italy, CoR member and WAAS Fellow).

Coauthors:

Almir Badnjević, Stefan Brunnhuber, David Chikvaidze, Uroš Cvelbar, Dragan Đuričin, Fadwa El Guindi, Jüri Engelbrecht Ana Jerković, Hrvoje Kraljević, Thomas Reuter, Tatsu Suzuki.

Cosignatories:

Goran Bandov, Frano Barbir, Neven Bilić, Marita Brčić Kuljiš, Tina Disopra, Ivan Gušić, Nikolina Herceg Kolman, Boris Kožnjak, Ema Leto, Tomislav Meštrović, Anet Režek Jambrak, Vlatko Silobrčić, Ivana Skuhala Karasman Tvrtko Smital, Lojze Sočan, Zvonimir Šikić, Sanja Tišma.