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 32^nd 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:

http://www.pcr.uu.se/education/uppsala_rotary_peace_center

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.

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 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.

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”.

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

Tehran Peace Museum’s daily visit statistics during 8 months of the solar calendar (April – November 2013) are as follow:

Total visitors: 10550 persons

Average number of visitors per month: more than 1300 persons

Average number of visitors per day: 65 persons

Tehran Peace Museum is always looking forward to host the visitors.

Visiting hours: Saturday to Wednesdays, 9 – 12:30 & 14 – 17

On Sunday 17th November 2013, the Tehran Peace Museum shared a recently published statement by a group of active NGOs about peace and the environment.

The statement focused on the impact of sanctions on Iran’s environment. Dr. Esmaeil Kahrom, an environmental activist and consultant to the Head of the Department of Environment, gave a brief speech and then delivered this statement on behalf of the NGO Representatives.

In this statement, the NGO representatives shared their research on the impact of sanctions on a number of environmental domains such as climate, water, soil, the distinction of different types of plants and animals, etc. The NGO representatives asked for the abolition of sanctions, which have placed people in difficult circumstances, placing their lives, and the physical and psychological health of the society at large, in danger.

To see the photos of this event please click here.

To read the statement please click here.

On Monday 11th November 2013, the Tehran Peace Museum was honored to welcome Dr. Jan Oberg to give a talk titled "Peace studies in the world and its role in our current world full of wars" during the Museum’s regular open English discussion group. The talk was followed by an informal dialogue and a lively question and answer session.

Dr. Oberg is the director and co-founder of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research in Lund, Sweden. The Foundation is an independent think tank, which has been dedicated for more than 28 years to academic research, as well as practical, on the ground experience with the purpose of promoting Article 1 of the UN Charter that peace shall be created by peaceful means.

 On the occasion of the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict (6 November), a seminar on “Environment and Armed Conflicts” was held in Tehran Peace Museum on Wednesday 6 November 2013.

The seminar was a collaboration between Iranian International Studies Association (IISA), Tehran Peace Museum (TPM), United Nations Information Center (UNIC) office in Tehran and Peace & Environment Center.

An artistic workshop entitled, “This is not my earth”, with the focus on Peace and Children, was held as a collaboration between the Kooche Sepid Artistic Group and the Tehran Peace Museum in the City Park on Friday 1 November 2013. Many children and families attended this event, supported by our enthusiastic volunteers.

In this workshop, which was conducted by different artistic groups, children made tiny puppets, paper cranes, drawings and wrote their peace messages. In addition, one of the participating groups used storytelling methods to talk about “Peace in the City”, to the children who attended this event.

At the end of this half-day workshop, Mr. MReza Taghipoor (the museum’s manager) said this workshop was a rewarding experience for the museum and also for the people who live nearby. He shared his perspective that, “Peace is these few hours that we worked together”.

To see the photos of this event please click here.

Spanish young man who walks around the world, after passing 10 countries, was in Iran and visited Tehran Peace Museum on Monday 21 October 2013.

Ignacio Dean Mouliaa, who takes this five-year charity stroll that will be a circuit of the globe to raise awareness about environmental problems, attended one of the free discussion sessions of the museum in English and shared his experience of his travels with the members and volunteers of the museum.

On Wednesday 23 October 2013, H.E Mr. Johannes Douma, new ambassador of the kingdom of the Netherlands visited Tehran Peace Museum ,together with his spouse and the first secretary, Mr. John van der Zende.

Following his visit and during a meeting with museum's staff and volunteers, chemical warfare survivors, who volunteer for TPM expressed their appreciation to the government and people of the Netherlands for medical care of the CW victims during Iran-Iraq war and for conducting trial for the companies and individuals who helped Sadam's regime in producing and usage of chemical weapons in 1980s. They also mentioned that as the Netherlands hosts OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) and also INMP (International Network of Museums for Peace) secretariat in The Hague, TPM's relations with Holland is so important. They also presented a brief report of the museum’s educational programs to the ambassador Douma.

Ambassador Douma, admired TPM's activities and its humanitarian goals and that he would support the museum to be in contact with related institutes in the Netherlands.

To see the photos of this visit click here.