On 5 April 2014, the International Convoy of Peace for Syria kicked off their humanitarian and peace journey to Syria at the Tehran Peace Museum. The convoy consists of a group of 14 peace activist from a number of countries including Mairead Maguire, the Nobel peace prize laureate, David Smith, a priest from Australia, Sheik Ali Ahmad, a Syrian spiritual leader and Sam Eskandar, the Lebanese peace campaigner.
During their visit to the museum, the convoy had the opportunity to talk to NGO activists in Iran, as well as war veterans and chemical weapons survivors, Iranian artists and volunteers at the museum. The convoy left for Syria on Wednesday April 9th, and will take aid and medicine for the war affected people of Syria.
To see the photos of this event, please click here.
On 31 March 2014, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mr. Gary Lewis, received an e-Petition from Iranian media celebrities and representatives of the Tehran Peace Museum at the UN Common Premises in Tehran.
The event was organized so that the e-Petition signed by over 1.500.000 Iranians in support of the release of the abducted border guards can be conveyed, ultimately, to UN Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon.
“On an occasion as important as this, where over 1.5 million Iranians have combined to give us their voices through their computer screens and by SMS, I am honoured to witness this solidarity that has been displayed by the Iranian people in support of the abducted border guards. I promise to deliver the e-Petition to UN Headquarters in New York and – like all Iranians – the UN hopes for a peaceful and successful outcome to the process underway to secure the border guards’ release.” said Mr Gary Lewis of the UN.
Full report of the meeting is available here on the UN website.
The 7th issue of the INMP (International Network of Museums for Peace) Newsletter is published and is now available on the following link.
In this issue of the newsletter, you can find reports and news from the peace museums around the world as well as useful information about the 8th international conference of museums for peace which will be held in South Korea in September 2014.
One full page of this issue of the newsletter is allocated to the news from Tehran Peace Museum. To read the newsletter click here
On the occasion of the 26th anniversary of Halabja Gas attack in 1988, a ceremony was held at Tehran Peace Museum to launch The Persian translation of “a Poisonous affair, America-Iraq and the gassing of Halabja”, a book by Dr Joost Hilterman from International Crisis Group.
Several researchers, officials, chemical warfare survivors and TPM members attended the ceremony in which the director of center for Iran-Iraq war studies, the author and the translator of the book and Tehran Peace Museum board director spoke about the chemical weapons attacks in 1980s and its consequences as well as the role of independent researches in raising public awareness against weapons of mass destruction.
Dr Hilterman’s book is one of the most comprehensive researched about the use of chemical weapons against Iranians and Kurds during 1980s and western countries’ support to Saddam’s regime.
To see the photos of this event, please click here.
On 6 February 2014, five Iranian border guards were kidnapped by a Pakistan based terrorist group called " Jeishol-adl (The Army of Justice)". The following petition has been issued in support of the abducted soldiers and signed by large number of artists, scholars, athletes, journalist and activists.
Below is the petition text which is still open for more signatures:
"Free our Soldiers :Petition in Support of 5 Abducted Iranian Border Guards
We ask all responsible authorities in the world, the UN and our neighbor country, Pakistan to do their best as a humanitarian action so that the 5 innocent abducted Soldiers would come back home safe."
signed by:
More than 250 Famous Iranian artists, authors , Scholars , Journalists, Athletes, ...
To sign the petition, click here
A group of families and survivors of Halabja gas attack visited Tehran Peace Museum on 25 February 2014.
In their visit, the representative of Association for Chemical Victims of Halabja appreciated the role of Iranian people in helping the victims of gas attack and making the people around the world aware of this crime. He continued that TPM and Halabjah Memorial Museum have strong relations. The manager of TPM welcomed their visit by saying that Iranian people and victims of Halabjah have a lot in common and they should stand together so these crimes would not happen again.
Halabja, a city in Northern Iraq (Kurdistan) was gassed by Saddam's regime on 16 March 1988 and more than 5000 civilians were killed, many more still suffer from long term health problems.
To see the photos of this event, please click here.
A group of international criminal law and human rights lecturers and researchers visited Tehran Peace Museum on 21st February 2014. These visitors had come to Iran from Italy, Canada, Ireland and Brazil in order to participate in the International Conference on The Evolution of Legal Concepts in the Light of Evolution of International Criminal Courts/Tribunals.
In their visit, the visitors learned about long lasting health effects of chemical weapons on human body and environment. They also had a friendly chat with the victims of chemical weapons. Professor Flavia Lattanzi a lawyer at international Criminal tribunal for former Yugoslavia was among the visitors.
To see the Photos of the event click here.
Canadian artists of the “Playing Chess with Doomsday’s Machine” visited Tehran Peace Museum on Wednesday 22 January 2014. During this visit which lasts more than an hour, the Canadian members of this theater group had a friendly chat with a group of staff and volunteers of the museum and said they have deeply touched by this museum and its humanitarian goals and activities.
“Playing Chess with Doomsday’s Machine” is an antiwar play directed by Shahin Sayadi, which is an adoption of a novel –with the same title- written by Habib Ahmadzadeh, and is participating from Canada in the 32nd International Fadjr Theater Festival.
The interested ones can watch this theater on Sunday 26 and Monday 27 January 2014 (6 & 8:30 pm) in Chahar Soo [Four sided] Hall of the Tehran’s City Theater Complex.
To see the photos of this visit, please click here.
1: Gernika Peace Museum Foundation
The Gernika Peace Museum -formerly known as the Gernika Museum-- was founded on 7th April 1998 by the Gernika-Lumo Town Hall in a building which was previously been used by the Courts and the post office and Telegraph service.
The Museum may be considered as a history museum in the sense that it was used as a guide to the history of Gernika-Lumo and, more particularly, to the Civil War and the bombing.
From 1999 to 2002, with the assistance of the Ministry of Culture, the decision was taken to turn the museum into a Peace Museum (the first peace museum in the Basque Country and the entire Spanish State).
Since 2011 the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University provides Rotary scholarships to pursue a master program in peace and conflict studies at Uppsala University and students from all over the world can apply to.
The Rotary Center for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution at Uppsala University selects and educates Rotary Peace Fellows to have a significant, positive impact on peace and conflict resolution during their future careers.
For more information please visit the department's website:
On Tuesday, 7 January, 2014, a group of British Parliamentarians from the British-Iranian Friendship Group, under the leadership of former foreign minister, Jack Straw, visited the Tehran Peace Museum. Mr. Jeremy Corbyn, a Member of Parliament and chair of “Stop the War Coalition”, also joined the delegation.
During their hour-long visit to the museum, the British-Iranian Friendship Group talked to war victims and chemical weapons survivors who are volunteer guides in the museum. The discussions covered several issues including the problems Iranians currently face regarding sanctions and the consequent shortage of necessary medical supplies.
The delegation offered to help build bridges between British and Iranian NGOs, who are active in the field of peace and countering the trend toward war.
To see the photos of this event please click here.
Take time to pray...
it helps to bring God near and washes the dust of earth from your eyes.
Take time for friends...
they are the source of happiness.
Take time for work...
it is the price of success.
Take time to think...
it is the source of power.
The third workshop on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) was held in Tehran Peace Museum on 18 December 2013 in collaboration with ICRC office in Iran and National Committee of International Humanitarian Law (NCIHL).
More than 40 students of different courses including international law participated in this workshop in which several subjects including Principles of IHL, Implementation and enforcement of IHL, Red Cross and Red Crescent movement and chemical weapons convention were discussed.
To see the Photos of the event click here.
On Tuesday 17 December 2013, the Tehran Peace Museum hosted the night of Masuji Ibuse, the 145th night of Bukhara, in collaboration with the Bukhara cultural and literary magazine, Tehran Peace Museum, Tehran University's Faculty of World's Studies (Japan Studies Group) and Melat Cultural & Social Institute.
Masuji Ibuse is a renowned Japanese author, whose novel entitled Black Rain, has now been translated into Persian by Mr. Ghodratolah Zakeri and published recently in Iran. Black Rain was originally published in 1965, 20 years after the Hiroshima atomic bomb attack. The novel is a reflection of the devastation inflicted on Japan and its people after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Ibuse based his work on actual historical records. In 1989, the book was adapted to a screenplay for a film of the same name, directed by Shohei Imamura.
The annual award ceremony for the Nobel Peace Prize took place in Oslo, Norway on Tuesday 10th of December, 2013. This year’s recipient was the OPCW (the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons).
The OPCW Director-General, Mr. Ahmet Üzümcü, officially accepted the prize on behalf of the organization. Mr Üzümcü was accompanied by a delegation of ambassadors from 10 state parties. In addition, Mr Kazem Gharibabadi, the Iranian Ambassador to The Hague and Iran’s permanent representative to the OPCW, was among the delegates representing countries from Asia.
During his speech at the award ceremony, Mr. Üzümcü shared the following sentiments. “It is enough to look at the pictures of victims to understand the agony that they must have gone through – from Ieper in Belgium to Sardasht in Iran, from Halabja in Iraq to Ghouta in Syria”.
Members of the Tehran Peace Museum's board met with Director General of the OPCW (the winner of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize) in the Hague on 06 December.
Victims from Sardasht were present at the exhibition
At the recent OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) annual conference held in The Hague from 2 to 6 December, 2013, the Tehran Peace Museum and the Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support (SCWVS) displayed a photo exhibition of the long term effects of mustard gas on the eyes. This exhibition was the first of its kind in the world and was widely seen by the participants of the conference.
The 6th issue of the International Network of Museums for Peace (INMP) newsletter was published in November 2013.
This 12 page newsletter includes the following articles:
• A new Kenyan Travel Exhibition: Journeys of Peace
• The 8th International Conference of Museums for Peace
• Celebrating Peace Philanthropy: INMP’s contributions
• The Annual Report of the INMP board meeting
• A full page coverage of some of the activities of the Tehran Peace Museum on Page 6
Click here to download the newsletter in PDF format and find out more about the programs and activities of the INMP and museums for peace around the world.
A delegation of the Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support (SCWVS) and representatives from the Tehran Peace Museum will attend the annual Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) conference of the State Parties in the Hague, Netherlands from 2-6 December, 2013.
The OPCW conference, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013, is an important forum, particularly in light of the recent chemical attacks in Syria, which recently joined the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Title: “From Interventionism to Intelligent Conflict Management”
Date and Time: Wednesday 27 November 2013, 4-6 p.m.
Venue: House of Humanities Scholars (Khane-y-e Andishmandan-e Oloume Ensani), Varsho Park, Varsho Alley Junction, Villa St., Tehran.
Organizers: Tehran Peace Museum, Iranian Association for United Nations Studies, and House of Humanities Scholars.
Open to all the interested individuals