Sydney Peace Foundation Conference

Mr IAN COHEN [5.19 p.m.]: On 15 and 16 April I had the pleasure of attending the Iraq Never Again: Ending War, Building Peace conference held at Customs House in Sydney. It was a two-day conference organised by the Sydney Peace Foundation to coincide with the arrival and participation of the Peace Boat. It was an excellent conference. People gathered to discuss peace and how we can move forward, not only from an Australian perspective but globally.

I had the great fortune of boarding the Peace Boat, which was moored at Circular Quay. It is a wonderful, white, old-style—art deco—cruise ship that is as big as any war ship but certainly does not attract the same attention. It was wonderful to see the flags flying on the boat and a peace banner painted along the side. The boat has travelled around the world on what one could call a diplomatic mission. It emanates from Japan and it has many young Japanese people on board, but there are also tourists on board who pay their own way. The boat travels to various hot spots and areas where it can be of assistance. It has been travelling around the world for some 25 years now.

The conference was very successful and the night on the Peace Boat was really uplifting, particularly with the young Japanese people talking about their culture and also their desire for peace. The Peace Boat is a Japanese-based international non-governmental and non-profit organisation that works to promote peace, human rights, equal and sustainable development and respect for the environment.

Bringing together local and international scholars and students, Iraq and Kurdish speakers and local activists, the conference marked the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the launch of the international Peace Boat. The conference provided a forum for imaginative and feasible plans for building peace in nations such as Iraq. Stuart Rees, Emeritus Professor and Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, highlighted in his presentation to the conference the need for a reconfiguration of nation-building priorities when he stated:

Politicians, generals and media commentators need to replace the centuries-old fascination with violence with a perspective which promotes public services, human rights and adherence to the rules of international law.

Demilitarising our conceptualisation of managing international conflict is imperative in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The sentiment of the conference participants focused on the need to galvanise our commitment to non-violence and to resolve conflict of all permutations by addressing the underlying systemic causes of conflict with infrastructure development, education and the provision of basic social services. The spirit that embodies Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution has never been so relevant to international relations. The no-war principle states:

Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.

As nations straddle geopolitical difficulties and global turbulence in managing natural resources, the starting point for international actors should be one of non-violence, not military intervention. I am greatly encouraged by the young people and activists who, counter to intellectually cheap and lazy media stereotypes, are proactively shifting the focus away from warmongering to sensible and effective methods of alternative dispute resolution.

Hundreds of young activists participated in this event, giving up their lives and embarking on a wonderful adventure. But the adventure all revolves around human rights and peace. The conference was certainly a wonderful event in which to take part and listen to the speakers express their ideas and ideals. They will be the next line of international leaders who consider what can be achieved without arms, violence and military intervention. They appreciate that robust or stable societies and economies, in transition from civil and international disruption, can only secure cultural and economic longevity by peace building.