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 9^th, 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 7^th 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 8^th 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 26^th 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 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