Throughout this year, the Hague will be the centre for many conferences, meetings and events, all celebrating and commemorating the first ever official International Peace Conference, an event which took place in this town one hundred years ago.

In a booklet called "One Hundred Years Ago", written by Steve and Jan Nation as a background paper for the World Peace – Inner Peace Conference 1999, we are taken through some of the steps and stages which prepared the Hague for becoming the important international centre it is today.

The unlikely initiator of the first peace conference was Czar Nicholas II of Russia who invited governments to participate in a conference "with the object of seeking the most effective means of ensuring to all peoples the benefits of a real and lasting peace, and, above all, of limiting the progressive development of existing arms.

This conference, which stretched from 18 May to 29 July that year, marked the beginning of a process and method of negotiation and of cooperation between countries which eventually led to the creation of the United Nations. The Permanent Court of Arbitration was established at the 1899 Conference and subsequently found its home in The Peace Palace, a gift from Andrew Carnegie who envisioned it as "a temple and symbol of a world's desire for peace and goodwill to man."

Among the many 1999 events are:

* The Hague International Model United Nations, THIMUN, (24-29 January) Teams of Youth from more than 100 countries debating UN related issues.

* The Citizen's Peace Conference (11-16 May), with its Hague appeal for Peace, immediately preceding the

* Inter-Governmental Conference (17-19 May) on international law and peace-keeping.

* "World Peace – Inner Peace 1999 (18-20 may), a contribution to global preparations for the UN International Year for the Culture of Peace (2000)

* United Nations of Youth Conference (6-16 May), empowering Youth in non-violent Conflict Resolution, Reconciliation and Building Cultures of Peace.


This most informative and timeless booklet can be obtained from:
World Peace Inner Peace Secretariat:
Slotlaan 31, 3062 PL Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Fax: +31-10-4149271, E-mail: davidhuis@hetnet.nl