The Tehran Peace Museum

Currently housed in a building donated by the municipality of Tehran within the historic City Park, the Tehran Peace Museum is as much an interactive peace center as a museum. It coordinates a peace education program that holds workshops and hosts conferences on the culture of peace, reconciliation, international humanitarian law, disarmament and peace advocacy.

The 29th Conference of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) was held in The Hague, The Netherlands from 25 to 29 November 2024. Diplomatic delegations and high-ranking officials from 193 member states of the organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were present at the conference. Representatives of the Tehran Peace Museum and the Chemical Weapons Victims Association, while attending the conference, held a side event, read a statement, and met with diplomatic delegations and members of other NGOs from different countries around the world during the conference. The Tehran Peace Museum, as a members of the CWC NGO Coalition, has had close ties with the OPCW in recent years, and has been actively involved in supporting victims of chemical weapons and raising awareness about the effects and consequences of these weapons on human health and the environment.

On the occasion of the International Day of Peace, an event called " The role of museums in promoting a culture of peace" was held at Tehran Peace Museum (TPM) on 22 September 2024.

The event which was attended by volunteers, social activists, experts in the field of museums as well as a group of survivors and veterans of 1980’s war, jointly organized by TPM, National Committee of Museums and the In Flanders Fields Museum in Ieper, Belgium.

Following the message of the Secretary General of the United Nations a number of experts including Mr. Seyyed Ahmad Mohit Tabatabai, Secretary of the National Committee of Museums of Iran, Ms. Mona Badamchizadeh, senior museology expert Mr. Ismail Babaei, senior expert in museum management. As well as Mr. Filip Deheegher and Mr. Wouter Sinaeve from the city of Ieper in Belgium shared their experiences with the participants in the event.

Monday 21 Aug 2024: A special ceremony was held at the Tehran Peace Museum in collaboration with the Bolivian Embassy on the occasion of the 199th anniversary of the independence of Bolivia in which a large number of ambassadors and foreign representatives in Tehran, officials of related organizations as well as volunteers of the Tehran Peace Museum attended ​​. In this event, in addition to commemorating Tupac Katari, the national hero of the fight against colonialism and unveiling the bust of this prominent figure in the history of Latin America, an exhibition was opened on this occasion in the Art Gallery of the Peace Museum. This exhibition, which includes pictures and posters from the ancient history of Bolivia and Latin America and the independence movement in this continent and the role of fighters such as Tupac Katari, is open to visitors until the 20th of September at the Art for Peace Gallery.

The 2^nd training session on “ introduction to Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – OPCW – “ was held on Monday 10 June 2024 at the Tehran Peace Museum.

The event was attended by over 30 participants mostly postgraduate students of law, international relations as well as chemistry and biology.

A number of former OPCW staff members from inspectorate, International Cooperation and Assistance Division as well as two former OPCW Interns were among the speakers of this training session.

Ms Elisabeth Waechter, Head of Public Relations and Spokesperson of the OPCW was one of the speakers of the event who joind the training session via a live video call.

In her remarks, Mr Waechter provided brief information regarding the current and future activities of the OPCW and the role of civil society in promoting the goals of the OPCW and the Chemical Weapons Convention then she answered a number of questions from the audience.

Participants were also given chance to learn on how to use personal protective equipment in chemical incidents in a practical training.

The Tehran Peace Museum organizes such training sessions in regular basis to raise awareness among university students and young generation on the role of international organizations in promoting global peace/disarmament.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition "Let Me Breathe" took place on February 26, 2024, drawing a crowd of notable figures, including the ambassador of Japan and representatives for the UN. This exhibition pays tribute to five pioneering women scientists and artists who made significant contributions in Europe in the early 20th century. Dr. Clara Immerwahr from Germany, Dr. Gertrud Woker from Switzerland, Dr. Naima Sahlbom from Sweden, as well as Frida Perlen and Käthe Kollwitz from Germany, are being celebrated for their efforts to raise awareness about the dire consequences of using chemical weapons.
The ceremony commenced with the reading of a message from Professor Van Den Dungen, a well-known peace historian and the founder of the International Network of Museums for Peace (INMP). Following this, Seyyed Ahmad Mohit Tabatabai, president of ICOM Iran, delivered a speech highlighting the pivotal role of women in Iranian history and emphasizing their significance in the economic and social spheres.
After the formal ceremony, attendees were invited to visit the exhibition at the Tehran Peace Museum’s Gallery. For this exhibition, the efforts of these pioneering women have been showcased through posters and a collection of unique books and documents generously donated by Professor Peter van den Dungen, the founder of the International Network of Museums for Peace (INMP).

The exhibition will remain open to the public until March 11th at the Tehran Peace Museum, providing an opportunity for visitors to learn more about inspiring stories of these women and their enduring legacy in the fight against chemical weapons.

Tehran Peace Museum will hold an exhibition introducing and honoring five pioneering women from the early 20th century. Through the stories of Dr. Gertrud Woker, Dr. Naima Sahlbom, Frida Perlen, and Käthe Kollwitz, who were preceded by Clara Immerwahr’s dramatic and tragic protest, the exhibition sheds light on their efforts to raise awareness about the horrors of chemical weapons and showcases the misuse of science in war. For this exhibition, a collection of rare materials including books and pamphlets will be put of public display.

Opening ceremony: February 26^th, at 11:00                    

Venue: Tehran Peace Museum

Chemical Warfare victim Mr. Ahmed Gholamifard, died of respiratory failure on January 1^st, 2024.

He sustained severe lung and eye injuries due to mustard gas exposure in January 1987 During the Iran-Iraq war, and suffered from chronic complications of chemical injuries for more than three decades, including tracheal stenosis and corneal damag.

Mr. Gholamifard, who was a resident of Mashhad, was an active volunteer member of the Association for the Support of Chemical Weapons Victims and the Tehran Peace Museum. He participated in various social programs including international events: he spoke as a representative of chemical weapons victims at the annual onference of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague in 2018. He was also one of the 4 chemical warfare survivors who appeared in the court of the Netherlands in The Hague in June 2023 during the trial of two Dutch companies that sold chemicals to the Saddam regime and testified as a mustard gas victim.

Due to the severe narrowing of his airways (trachea), Ahmad had undergone many surgeries, including airway stenting and several corneal transplants, but he was still full of hope and was active in various cultural, social and educational programs. ..Tehran Peace Museum expresses its condolences to the respected family of Mr. Gholamifard and the community of chemical warfare survivors ..... May his soul rest in peace.....

November 30th is the International Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Weapons

This day, which was unanimously named by the member states of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and is included in the calendar of the United Nations' global events, is an opportunity to recall the danger of chemical weapons and the need to completely destroy the arsenals of these weapons, as well as a call to 4 non-member states to join immediately without condition to the convention on the prohibiting of the production, development, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons.

Also, this day is an opportunity to commemorate those who lost their lives as a result of such prohibited weapons, as well as those who suffered long-term illnesses and complications due to exposure to chemical weapons, including the victims of chemical weapons in Iran.

It should be remembered that despite the global ban on the use of chemical weapons, which were first used in the First World War, in the war imposed by Iraq against Iran (1980-1988), Saddam's regime used more than 3 thousand tons of deadly and highly toxic chemical weapons against the combatants and the defenseless people of the border areas of Iran, as a result of these attacks, nearly one million people were exposed to chemical agents, and more than one hundred thousand people were treated for serious chemical injuries, and thousands of people lost their lives.

Today, more than three decades have passed since the end of the war, nearly 65,000 chemical warfare survivors in Iran are still suffering from chronic diseases caused by chemical weapons, and many of them need continuous medical treatment.

Mass killing of civilians and targeting medical facilities and hospitals in Gaza which is an inhumane and criminal act as well as clear violation of international humanitarian law ( IHL)  must be stopped immediately.

The Tehran Peace Museum as one of the IHL promoting NGOs, along with many other international NGOs and millions of people around the world, while condemning such horrible war crimes, calls upon the international community and responsible international organizations to do all they can to stop the ongoing tragedies in Gaza and reminds them that silence in the face of these crimes makes criminals continue killing and committing genocide with impunity….