The International Peace Bureau (IPB) (french: Bureau international de la paix), founded in 1891, is one of the world's oldest international

peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

federations. The organisation was awarded the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

in 1910 for acting "as a link between the peace societies of the various countries". In 1913 Henri La Fontaine was also awarded the Prize "

or his work as Or or OR may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * "O.R.", a 1974 episode of M*A*S*H * Or (My Treasure), a 2004 movie from Israel (''Or'' means "light" in Hebrew) Music * ''Or'' (album), a 2002 album by Golden Boy with Mis ...

head of the International Peace Bureau". , eleven other Nobel Peace Prize laureates have been members of the IPB. Its membership consists of 300 organizations in 70 countries. IPB's headquarters are located in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany, with offices in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain, and

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, Switzerland. Prior to 2017, the headquarters were in Geneva. Its main programmes are the Global Campaign on Military Spending (GCOMS) and ''disarmament for sustainable development'', which focuses both on nuclear and conventional weapons, as well as biological weapons, landmines, and small arms. IPB holds Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and associate status with the

United Nations Department of Global Communications The United Nations Department of Global Communications (DGC) (previously named the United Nations Department of Public Information) is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nations. It is tasked with raising public awareness and support o ...

. IPB was founded under the name Permanent International Peace Bureau (''Bureau International Permanent de la Paix''). From 1912 onward it used the name International Peace Bureau. Between 1946 and 1961, it was known under the name International Liaison Committee of Organizations for Peace – ILCOP (''Comité de liaison international des organisations de paix – CLIOP'').

Global Campaign on Military Spending

The Global Campaign on Military Spending (GCOMS) is a permanent, global, year-round campaign that was created in December 2014 by the IPB to tackle the worldwide issue of excessive military spending. The aim of the campaign is to pressure the world's governments to invest money in the sectors of health, education, employment and climate change rather than military. It also calls for an annual, minimum reallocation of 10% from the military budgets of all states. Finally, it advocates the reduction of arms production and international weapons trade. GDAMS Actions in Halifax, Canada

The campaign organises the Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) to bring public, media and political attention to the costs of military spending and the need to invest in new priorities. GCOMS is managed from the decentralised

, Spain, office of IPB in coordination with Centre Delàs of Peace Studies. More than 100 organisations from 35 countries have joined the campaign.

Nuclear disarmament activism

IPB has been in the forefront of nuclear disarmament activities since 1945, including: *

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation ...

(NPT) * Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) * World Court Project * Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) Currently, the IPB is campaigning to encourage the signing and ratification of the TPNW so that it may enter into force.

Seán MacBride Peace Prize

Established in 1992, the Seán MacBride Peace Prize is awarded by the International Peace Bureau to a person or organisation that "has done outstanding work for peace, disarmament and/or human rights." It is named after Seán MacBride, a

winner who was chairman of the IPB from 1968 to 1974 and president from 1974 to 1985.

Recipients

The following are the recipients of the Seán MacBride Peace Prize since its inception in 1992:
International Peace Bureau World Congress Berlin 2016

International Peace Bureau World Congress Berlin 2016

Leadership

At the Triennial Assembly held in Ghent on October 15 2022, a new group of IPB officials was elected.

President

The current co-presidents are:

Treasurer

The current Treasurer is:

Vice-presidents

The vice-presidents deputise for the president when necessary. The current vice-presidents are:

Board members

The board members are the following:

Council members

The Council members are the following persons:

Staff

The staff members are the following persons:

Nobel Peace Prizes

IPB's work was rewarded by the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910, which has also been awarded to some of its members: * 1901 : Frédéric Passy (France), IPB council member * 1902 :

Élie Ducommun Élie Ducommun (19 February 1833, Geneva – 7 December 1906, Bern) was a Swiss peace activist. He was a Nobel laureate, awarded the 1902 Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with Charles Albert Gobat. Born in Geneva, he worked as a tutor, langua ...

and

Albert Gobat Charles Albert Gobat (21 May 1843 – 16 March 1914) was a Swiss lawyer, educational administrator, and politician who jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize with Élie Ducommun in 1902 for their leadership of the Permanent International Peac ...

(Switzerland), first honorary secretaries of IPB * 1905 :

Bertha von Suttner Bertha Sophie Felicitas Freifrau von Suttner (; ; 9 June 184321 June 1914) was an Austrian-Bohemian pacifist and novelist. In 1905, she became the second female Nobel laureate (after Marie Curie in 1903), the first woman to be awarded the Nobel ...

(Austria), writer and honorary vice-president of IPB * 1907 : Ernesto Moneta (Italy), IPB council member * 1908 : Fredrik Bajer (Denmark), honorary president of IPB * 1910 : The International Peace Bureau * 1911 : Alfred Fried (Austria), IPB council member * 1913 : Henri La Fontaine (Belgium), president of IPB * 1927 :

Ludwig Quidde Ludwig Quidde (; 23 March 1858, Free City of Bremen – 4 March 1941) was a German politician and pacifist who is mainly remembered today for his acerbic criticism of German Emperor Wilhelm II. Quidde's long career spanned four different era ...

(Germany), IPB council member * 1959 : Philip Noel-Baker (United Kingdom), IPB vice-president * 1962 :

Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling (; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, chemical engineer, peace activist, author, and educator. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific top ...

(United States), IPB vice-president * 1974 : Seán MacBride (Ireland), IPB chairman and president * 1982 : Alva Myrdal (Sweden), IPB vice-president

Presidents

The IPB has a co-president system that ensures a gender-balance among leadership. Each president can currently serve up to two terms of three years. * Henri La Fontaine – 1907–1943"The Nobel Peace Prize 1901-2000". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 1 Mar 2017. * Ernst Wolf – 1963–1974 * Seán MacBride – 1974–1985 * Bruce Kent – 1985–1992 * Maj Britt Theorin – 1992–2000 *

Cora Weiss Cora may refer to: Science * ''Cora'' (fungus), a genus of lichens * ''Cora'' (damselfly), a genus of damselflies * CorA metal ion transporter, a Mg2+ influx system People * Cora (name), a given name and surname * Cora E. (born 1968), German h ...

– 2000–2006 *

Tomas Magnusson Tomas may refer to: People * Tomás (given name), a Spanish, Portuguese, and Gaelic given name * Tomas (given name), a Swedish, Dutch, and Lithuanian given name * Tomáš, a Czech and Slovak given name * Tomas (surname), a French and Croatian surna ...

– 2006–2013 *

Ingeborg Breines Ingeborg Breines (born 14 August 1945 in Singerfjord) is a Norwegian peace educator. She is senior advisor to the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. She served as director of the Women and a Culture of Peace Programme of UNESCO and from 2009 ...

– 2009–2016 *Reiner Braun – 2013–2019 *Lisa Clark – 2016–2022 *Philip Jennings – 2019–present *Corazon Valdez Fabros 2022-present IPB

References

Sources

*Gobat, Albert, ''Développement du Bureau international permanent de la paix''. Bern, 1910. *Herz, Ulrich, ''The International Peace Bureau: History, Aims, Activities''. Geneva, 1969. *From ''Nobel Lectures, Peace 1901-1925'', Editor Frederick W. Haberman, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1972.

External links

*
GCOMS website
* {{Authority control Organizations awarded Nobel Peace Prizes Peace organisations based in Germany Organizations established in 1891 1891 establishments in Switzerland Organisations based in Bern Swiss Nobel laureates