The conference's opening and closing ceremonies included presentations by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The Hague Appeal is a people-led movement that works closely with governments and international organizations. The Hague Agenda for Peace is the result of intensive consultation between the 72 members of the Hague Appeal Coordinating Committees and hundreds of organizations and individuals. The following is excerpted from the Hague Agenda. This century has seen unimagined changes.
Society now has the means to cure much disease and eliminate poverty and starvation.
We have witnessed successful experiments with active nonviolence in struggles for independence and civil rights, and the replacement of authoritarian government by democracy. We have also seen genocide in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Kosovo, brutal attacks against civilians, and the spread of horrendous weapons capable of ending life on much or all of the planet. Many governments have failed to prevent conflict, protect civilians, end war, eradicate colonialism, guarantee human rights, and create peace. The Hague Appeal proposes a citizens' Agenda for Peace and Justice for the 21st Century. This fundamentally new approach builds on the New Diplomacy in which citizen advocates, progressive governments, and international organizations have worked together for common goals.