COLLABORATION OF UN VETERANS WITH WAR VETERANS, TEACHERS OF SCHOOL AND INSTITUTIONS AS WELL AS WITH THE YOUTH ON THE WAY TO PEACE THINKING (1998-2019)

Draft Presentation of Activities of Russian Veterans to World Veterans Congress –
WVF 29th General Assembly – 16–18 February 2019 – Paris, France

Prepared by Valery Guerguel, Ph.D., director of Museum of Peacekeeping Operations,
UN peacekeeping veteran (UNTSO, 1973-76)

Part 1. GREAT PEACEMAKERS OF THE PAST AND GLOBAL PEACE THINKING

Despite the fact that human history is “rich” in wars and bloody clashes, there have always been people who not only realized the importance and value of peace, but also actively embodied their ideas, committed bold actions, made wise decisions that helped prevent conflict. Such people are called peacemakers. Thanks to them, history and humanity have acquired many strategies for resolving political and social conflicts, whose experience is unique.

History has preserved for us the names of the great peacemakers of the past, people who found solutions in difficult situations and could solve difficult problems by peaceful means. These were Archon Solon in the VI century BC (Athens), King Ashoka in the III century BC (India), Alexander Yaroslavovich Nevsky in the XIII century (Russia), Mohandos Karamchand Gandhi in the XIX-XX centuries (India) and many others.

Wars are different: big and small, fair and invasive, liberation and colonial, cold and hot. There are also absurd. The first world war became such a bloody and cruel massacre that claimed millions of lives and destroyed great countries: the Russian empire, the Ottoman empire, Austria-Hungary and Germany. In Europe alone, about 9 million 190 thousand people died. The result of the war was the wave of revolutions and civil wars, which also resulted in numerous victims.

In 1918, American President Woodrow Wilson proposed his famous "14 points", which, in his opinion, were to determine the future direction of world politics.

The first five points included open diplomacy (refusal to conclude secret alliances and blocs), freedom of navigation, equality in international trade, arms reduction, harmonization of colonial policies. The following eight points concerned the revision of borders based on the self-determination of peoples. The fourteenth paragraph provided for the creation of a “General Association of Peoples”, which would give mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to large and small states.

These principles formed the basis of the first international organization of the League of Nations, whose task was to monitor the observance of peace and prevent world conflicts. The League of Nations proclaimed open diplomacy, the registration of treaties, the gradual reduction of armaments, and announced its desire to prevent war through collective action. For his peacemaking, Woodrow Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1.1. Mile Stones of Global Peace Thinking

Years	Events
1920	Charter (Statut) of the League of Nations
1929	Publication of Pact of Roerich
1945	Charter of the United Nations
1948	Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1954	Hague Convention
1974	Recommendation on Education in the Spirit of International Understanding, Cooperation, Peace, Respect of Human Rights and Basic Freedoms adopted by UNESCO November 19, 1974
1989	Yamoussoukro Conference (Culture of Peace)
1992	Environmental Summit in Rio
1998	Declaration on Culture of Peace
2000	International Year of Culture of Peace and Manifesto 2000
2001-2010	International Decade of Culture of Peace and Non-Violence

Part 2. PROPAGATION OF GLOBAL PEACE THINKING IN RUSSIA

2.1. Propagation of Peace Thinking by Non-Governmental Organizations

2.2. Development of Peace Thinking by Peacekeeping Veterans

Part 3. ACTIVITIES OF PEACEKEEPING VETERANS IN PEACE EDUCATION

3.1. List of Soviet and Russian NGOs of UN Peacekeeping Veterans 1990-2019

Name of NGO	Time of Operation	Founders/coordinators	Notes
Peacekeeper's section of the UN Association of the Soviet Union	1990-1992	Vladimir Zakharov Alexander Ryzhov Grigory Kovrizhenko	15-20 members
Interregional public organization "UN Peacekeepers Club"	1991-1993	Guerman Pimenov Valery Guerguel	Up to 100 members
Solnechnogorsk section of UN Peacekeepers Club	1993-2006	Valery Guerguel	30 members
Museum of Peacekeeping Operations	1993-2019	Valery Guerguel, Vladimir Zakharov, Anatoly Isaenko, Eugene Komlyakov	Council of veterans of the museum:Valery Guerguel, Vladimir Zakharov, Anatoly Isaenko, Eugene Komlyakov, Ilya Zarouba
Interregional public organization "Russian Association of Veterans in UN Peacekeeping Missions"	29 July, 1998-2019	Nikolai Belik (President 1998-2000), Mikhail Ermolaev (Vice-President (1998-2000)	Sergei Lavrov as President and Victor Tarusin as Vice President since 2000 (Anatoliy Solovyev as Vice President since 2011)
Moscow regional public organization "Union of Peacemakers"	2007-2009	Valery Guerguel	30 members
Council of Peacekeeping Veterans of the Ministry of Interior of Russia	2002-2010	Vladimir Rusakov	19 members in 2002
Movement of Young Peacemakers and Schools of Peace	1998-2019	Valery Guerguel, Vladimir Zakharov, Anatoly Isaenko, Eugene Komlyakov, Samir Al Jijakli, Alexander Gorelik, Alexey Nikolenko, Yuri Shishaev, Valdimir Pavisky, Marina Shirshova, Ilya Zarouba; Secondary schools' principals and coordinators of 120 Schools of Peace	Over 1 500 members (children - 1300, adults - 200); Over120 Schools of Peace (both Secondary schools and children NGOs in 8 regions of Russia); Museum of Peacekeeping Operations and other NGOs

 

3.2. Projects of Peacekeeping Veterans in Peace Education

Name of NGO	Projects and Activities	Coordinators	Notes
Solnechnogorsk section of UN Peacekeepers Club	1. Project "Museum of Peacekeeping Operations" (1993-2019)	Valery Guerguel, Vladimir Zakharov, Anatoly Isaenko, Eugene Komlyakov	Museum was organized at the proposal of participants of the conference "UN Peacekeeping Operations: Problems and Experience"
Russian Association of Veterans in UN Peacekeeping Missions	1. Draft National Peacemaking Concept (2000)	Sergei Lavrov, Victor Tarusin
	2. Celebration (parades) of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers (2009-2018)	Sergei Lavrov, Anatoli Soloviev
Museum of Peacekeeping Operations	1. International Forum "Ecological Security and Peacekeeping in Euro-Asian Space" (Moscow, May 1995). Co-organizers: Russian Ministry of Ecology, Federation of Peace and Accord and others	Valery Guerguel, Vladimir Zakharov, Anatoly Isaenko, Eugene Komlyakov, Tatyana Romanova	Over 200 participants representing 120 ecological NGOs which adopted Public Environmental Code
	2. The memorial book of Soviet and Russian UN peacekeepers: a) "In the Service of Peace. 1973-1992" (May 1993); b) "In the Service of Peace. 1973-2000" (June 2000); c) The book "In the Service of Peace. 1973-2003" (2004) d) The book "In the Service of Peace. 1973-2008" (2009) e ) The book "In the Service of Peace. 1973-2013" (2014) f ) Electronic version of the book "In the Service of Peace. 1973-2019" (2008-2019)	Valery Guerguel, Guerman Pimenov, Yuri Bogomolov, Alexander Borisov Ruslan Gubaidullin	a) List of 500 names of Soviet and Russian UNMOs and troops. b) List of 800 names of Soviet and Russian UNMOs and CivPols b) List of over 2 000 names of Soviet and Russian UNMOs and CivPols incl. list of Russian peacekeepers perished 1973-2003
	3. Exhibitions: a) "On the Service of Peace and Humanism" at Federation of Peace and Accord, Moscow, 18-20 May 1995. b) UN Peacekeeping: In the Service of Peace" Moscow, Oct 18-28, 1995 c) "UN Peacekeeping: 1948-1996" at Moscow House of Europe Oct. 24, 1996 d) "UN Peacekeeping Operations: Yesterday and Today" at Moscow Mayer Office, Dec. 19-20, 1998 e) "Museum of Peacekeeping Operations" at "Vystrel" Military Academy, Solnechnogorsk, 1996-2010 f) "Russian UN Museum to the 60-th anniversary of the UN", at Solnechnogorsk Historical Museum, Aug 2004-Feb.2005 g) Exhibition of the section of Museum of Peacekeeping Operations in the Northern Caucasus (2018)	Valery Guerguel, Samir Al Jijakly, Aleksei Nikolenko, Ilya Zarouba, Ludmila Imennova         Valery Guerguel, Vasiliy Roenko
	4. Website "Museum of Peacekeeping Operations"(1999-2019)	Valery Guerguel
	5. "Voice of Peacemakers" bulletin (2001-2019)	Council of Veterans of Museum of PKO
	6. Website "Peace Education Net of Schools of Peace"( 2002-2019) 7. Website "Library of Peace" project 8. "Monuments to Peacekeepers around the World" project (2016) 9. Interdisciplinary program "Network of Schools of Peace" (2002-2015) 10. Interdisciplinary program "Movement of Young Peacemakers and Schools of Peace" (since 2016) 11.Publication of the book "Young Peacemakers: experience of education of schoolchildren in the spirit of culture of peace and peacemaking" (2005)	Valery Guerguel
Council of Peacekeeping Veterans of the Ministry of Interior of Russia	1. Conference on Peacekeeping devoted to the 10-th anniversary of Russian Civpol participation in UN Peacekeeping (April 2002) 2. The memorial book "In the Service of Peace. Civpols"	Vladimir Rusakov, Denis Tikhomirov, Yuri Bogomolov, Alexander Borisov and others	It was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior of Russia (over 100 participants incl. guests from the Ukraine)
Movement of Young Peacemakers and Schools of Peace	1. Educational and sports game "Model of UN Peacekeeping" (1998-2002) 2. Parades at the International Peace-Day in Moscow (1999-2010) 3. Celebration (parades) of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers (2002-2010) 4. Decade of Volunteer Deeds, Dec.1-10 (1999-2019) 5. Spring Peacemaking Action, Apr.15-May.15 (2000-2018) 6. Festival of Russian Sports, March (2001-2008) 7. Summer and winter camps "Young Peacemaker" (2004-2019). 8. Contest "Miss Peacemaker of the Year" (2018) 9. International poster contest “Anniversary of UN Peacekeepers” (2018-1019) 10. Cовет юных миротворцев/Council of Young Peacemakers (2018-2019)	Valery Guerguel, Alexander Gorelik, Vladimir Zakharov, Anatoly Isaenko, Eugene Komlyakov, Alexey Nikolenko, Ilya Zarouba, Marina Shirshova, Yulia Vlasova, Zarafshan Isaev, Svetlana Volkova, Victor Belyaev, Violetta Potylitsyna, Tatiana Luchinskaya, Lidia Nepochatykh, Vasiliy Roenko; principals and coordinators of over 120 Secondary Schools of Peace	1. Includes over 1 500 members (children - 1300, adults - 200); 2. Consists of over 120 Schools of Peace (both Secondary schools and children NGOs in 8 regions of Russia); Museum of Peacekeeping Operations, Scientific and Practical Center "Peacemaker" and other NGOs

Part 4. CHARACTERISTICS OF RUSSIAN CHILDREN'S NGO

4.1. What is children's NGO? Conditions for its Operation

4.1.1. Children's NGO is a group of children (scholars) and adults united on the basis of self government to realize its interests in professional orientation, physical and intellectual growing in different forms of activities. Ratio of children to adults is not less then 4:1.

4.1.2. What is necessary to have to provide operation and development of children's public organization?
Children's NGO functioning requires:

a) Positive (consolidating) ideas or/and a hero.
b) Money and accommodations.
c) Adult coordinators (leaders).
d) Educational technologies.
e) Plans and programs (including games and attracting events in spheres of sports, arts and social life).
f) Support or/and supervision of older generation (veterans and parents).
g) Support of official bodies (local authorities, regional or federal governments, international community)
e) Attracting uniforms, symbols, insignia, traditions and songs.

Note. Children's NGO is to be out of politics.

4.2. Principal Characteristics of Largest Children's NGOs

Аfter the collapse of the Soviet Union, the All-Union Pioneer Organization, which had several million members, ceased to exist. In its place there were formed from 9 to 11 thousand of children's NGOs in Russia, most of which had no fixed membership by 2012. The largest of them were the Interregional Movement of Young Peacemakers and Schools of Peace, Moscow City Pioneer Organization and Associations of Scouts.

Part 5. CONCLUSIONS

5.1. Reserves for Further Development of UN Veterans Collaboration with War Veterans,
Teachers of Schools and Institutions as well as with theYouth

5.1.1. Better coordination and use of potentials of the United Nations, World Veterans Federation and World UN Association.
5.1.2. Cooperation with International War Veteran NGOs, NGOs of Teachers of Schools and Institutions as well as with Scout Movement, International Movement of Pioneers and other children's NGOs

5.2. Proposal of Russian Delegation to World Veterans Congress

5.2.1. 5.2.1. To propose the Executive Board of WVF to establish (in accordance with Article 17, p.8 of WVF Constitution) the Special Committee on Peace Education for the study of experience of peace education in UN member states.

The aims of the Special Committee on Peace Education may be the following:
a) to propagate the ideas of peace education among veterans, teachers of schools and institutions as well as among the youth.
b) to further friendly relations among national and international organizations of veterans, teachers of schools and institutions as well as among organizations of youth.
c) to study experience of collaboration of peacekeeping veterans with war veterans, teachers of schools and institutions as well as with youth in the following peaceful projects:
"Generals for Peace"project (Kyrgyzstan)
“Museum of Peace” of the secondary school # 97 in Minsk (Republic of Belarus)
“Peaceful Schools International” (Canada)
“International Young Peacemaker Program" (France)
“Travel for Peace” of Erik Doken (Norway)
"ETNOMIR" project of Ruslan Bairamov (Russia)
“Young Peacemakers Team" of gymnasium № 14 in Krakov (Poland)
“Movement of Young Peacemakers and Schools of Peace” (Russia)
“Life Link” (Sweden)
“Kharkiv Young Peacemakers’ Clubs” and “School of Peace” (Ukraine)
"The Culture of Peace News Network" (USA)
“Young peacemakers clubs” (USA).
d) ) to encourage cooperation and partnership between national and international organizations and the exchange of expertise and experience in the field of peace education of war veterans, teachers of schools and institutions as well as of youth.

5.2.2. To propose to the Executive Board of WVF to invite founders or leaders of the mentioned above peaceful projects to enter the Special Committee on Peace Education.

NOTES to our proposals:
No 1. The name of the proposed special committee is the Special Committee on Peace Education, where the term “Education” means STUDY and TRAINING together.
No 2. The experience of Russian UN veterans in the field of peace education over the past 20 years indicates that peace education of students could not have been successful without the education of war veterans, teachers of school and institutions and other adult citizens of the country.  

Contacts and information:

Russia, 141506, Solnechnogorsk, Baranova Street, 46–24.
Valery V. Guerguel, director of the Museum of Peacekeeping Operations, UN peacekeeping veteran (UNTSO 1973–1976, w/c 6502).
Phone: +7 916 071 06 30
E-mail: director@un-museum.ru
http://www.un-museum.ru
http://peace-edu.un-museum.ru
http://facebook.com/valeryguerguel
https://www.facebook.com/groups/youngpeacemakers/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MPOexpositions/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/649954001835699/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1573402896137064/

Part 6. ILLUSTRATIONS

Educational and Sports Game "Model of UN peacekeeping"

The game "Model of UN peacekeeping" was developed by Russian veterans of peacekeeping missions in 1998. This game marked the beginning of the creation of the Movement of Young Peacemakers in Russia

In the photo: Veteran peacemaker Eugene Komlyakov at the head of a squad of young peacemakers from secondary school No. 1239 of Moscow at a ceremonial march in Solnechnogorsk.

The 2-nd Game "Model of UN peacekeeping"

In 1999, the 4-day long educational and sports game "Model of UN peacekeeping -1999" took place in Solnechnogorsk, in which 250 schoolchildren from Moscow and the Moscow region took part.

In the photo: The grand opening of the game on June 12, 1999. The guard of honor of the young peacemakers contributes flags of the UN and Russia.

Role of Museum of Peace in Peace education

Great importance for the dissemination of the ideas of peacemaking and the culture of peace has a museum exhibition. So far there are Peace Museums organized by young peacemakers and peacekeeping veterans in Moscow, Vladikavkaz, Kostomuksha, Zheleznovodsk, Minsk (Republic of Belarus) and Kharkiv (Ukraine)

In the photo: Lecture for military attaches at the Museum of peacekeeping operations located on the courses "Vystrel" in Solnechnogorsk.

Symbols of Movement of Young Peacemakers and Schools of Peace

Symbols play an important role in the formation and development of the children's organization. The movement of young peacemakers unites children and adults who are interested in learning about the experience of UN peacekeeping. Considering the high prestige of the world community in maintaining universal peace, the Council of Veterans of the Museum uses the paraphernalia and symbols of UN peacekeepers to award for active peacemaking activities — the blue beret and the blue scarf. In addition, members of the Movement may be awarded with flags, diplomas, honorary badges (signs), certificates and letters of thanks from the Museum of Peacekeeping Operations, which can be issued both to organizations and individuals.

In the photo: Ceremonial presentation of the flag of the Movement of Young Peacemakers and Schools of Peace to Movement of Young Peacemakers of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania.

COMPETITION OF YOUNG PEACEMAKERS "MISS PEACEMAKER - 2018"
The competition, held in Vladikavkaz in December 2018, was attended by representatives of schools of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, the regions of Russia and the Republic of Belarus.

In the photo: Paziorina Daria, one of the winners of the contest. She is a member of the Council of the Young Peacemakers of the CIS countries in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania.

Respect of National and International Traditions of Struggle against Fashism

In 2004-2010, the Movement of Young Peacemakers and Peace Schools took an active part in the Parades of Russian Youth, dedicated to the historical military parade of the Red Army on November 7, 1941 in Moscow.

In the photo: Column of young peacemakers with its flag on Red Square in Moscow on November 7, 2009.

Placement of the Clubs

The location of the children's peace clubs and teams are secondary schools that have won the honorary right to be called peace schools within the framework of the Interdisciplinary program "Movement of Young Peacemakers and Schools of Peace"

In the photo: Club of young peacemakers of the center of education № 1804 in Moscow

International Cooperation

Internationalism as a characteristic feature of young peacemakers finds its realization in the organization of international cooperation between children's organizations and institutions of different countries.

In the photo: Visit of Russian delegation to Pearson Peacekeeping Center in Canada

Peace Education Experience Exchange

The Movement of Young Peacemakers of Russia actively disseminates the ideas of peacemaking and culture of peace at the national and international levels through rallies, conferences, seminars, charity events, contests, sports and educational games.

All information about the work experience of veterans and young people in peace education is posted on the website of the Museum of Peacekeeping Operations, in the Voice of Peacemakers bulletin, as well as on Facebook, and on the websites of Peace Schools.

In the photo: The founders and participants of the project "Council of Young Peacemaker" on Facebook