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Press 
Published in the Press
Toward Freedom
The Hague Appeal - published in In spite of some criticisms, the Hague Appeal for Peace offers a great platform for civil society to show what it can do in the quest
for sustainable world peace. The World Citizen Foundation fully supports the premise that peace is a human right and that war should be abolished. But who wouldn't agree with that? The challenge of going beyond the words still
remains. How do we in practice work toward establishing the "force of law instead of the law of force" as the organizers have eloquently written? What "strategies, coalition and timelines for progressing forward" do we develop and
how? (both quotes from the HAP brochure). These are the basic answers the World Citizen Foundation has tried to answer. First, we realized that we did not have the perfect solution and therefore that we should not work alone.
Even though specific ideas and suggestions, even concrete realizations, exist, as yet there is no democratically made global rule of law which can outlaw war or replace aggression by mediation or litigation. And unfortunately, all
of these ideas - whether good or bad - are totally unknown and not supported by more than a tiny fraction of the world's public. Also, many are unrealistic or naive. That is why ideas need the scrutiny of public attention so that
the best will emerge and spread, and give credibility to proponents of world law. Unripe ideas are what allows powerful people and institutions to dismiss civil society's voice in the world law debate. This debate is happening
anyway - driven by economic globalization - but in the closed circles of the rich and powerful. It is happening unfortunately with very little participation from civil society in the corridors of power and during the annual World
Economic Forum in Davos. When leaders in office today, like Jacques Chirac, Joschka Fischer or Lamberto Dini speak on the record about the obsolete nature of the unlimited sovereignty of the Nation-State in a globalized economy, we
should jump at the opportunities. The problem right now is that civil society organizations are not taken seriously because they are not united even by any meaningful (but simple) common denominator. How to promote the needed
broad public debate on the issue of global democratic governance? No entity can do so alone. That is why a new coalition has been designed as a cross-sectoral partnership to create widespread popular support for the idea of world
peace through world law. This coalition open to all sectors (public and private sectors and NGOs), will provide a platform to discuss new and existing ideas and promote the necessary public debate the world needs to solve our
common problems. The building of "globalization with a human face", as Mr. Annan called for at the last World Economic Forum, will happen only if a credible and fair mechanism exists on the global level to allow the
world's population to express itself. The Hague Conference as well needs to address the challenge of the democratic global rule of law because it is a condition to fulfil the other goals of HAP. If it failed to consider how to
establish the rule of law on the global scale, or how to control these legal institutions (and the ones making and enforcing the new world law) in a democratic way, progress would be illusory at best. This is why we need a global
debate on what are the best ways in practice to achieve the democratic force of law on the global scale. This is precisely the goal of the Global Coalition World Democracy 2010 which will launched on 14 May at The Hague. The
Global Coalition World Democracy 2010 is a new cross-sectoral coalition for civil society, business, governments and intergovernmental organizations that will focus on promoting a global public debate on the need for better global
governance to enforce the democratic rule of law. It will raise the public profile and the visibility of this vital issue in an increasingly globalized world, a world where economic globalization has outpaced political and
democratic control. It is inspired by several existing partnerships, in particular Abolition 2000, the Coalition for an International Criminal Court and the Campaign to Ban Landmines. The strength of the Coalition 2010 lies in its
diversity. The Coalition hopes to bring the concept of global democracy from the perceived fringe to the mainstream where it in fact already resides. First introduced at the Millennium NGO Forum meeting in February 22nd at the
United Nations, the World Democracy coalition was received with great interest. The Hague Appeal for Peace is the first major event feeding into the Millennium NGO Forum which was created following the call from UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan. It provides an ideal place to launch the Coalition 2010. The Hague will discuss many of the same issues that the Millennium NGO Forum is addressing. One important area is the issue of Citizenship and Governance
which the World Citizen Foundation proposed and is convening. The coalition will act as a clearinghouse of ideas and will provide a platform for all its members, so the global governance debate can move to centre stage. It will
promote the concept of global democratic governance through many processes, be they from civil society (Hague Appeal for Peace, World NGO Conference etc.), from business (e.g. World Economic Forum) or from international
organizations (e.g. UN Millennium events). Most coalitions focusing on global issues often fail to arouse the interest of organizations on the regional and local levels. The Coalition 2010 aims at changing this tendency. Already
several organizations which are not usually associated with the issue of global governance have joined the coalition: United Towns Organization, an organization of 2000 local authorities and the Business Association for the World
Social Summit, a business organization promoting higher voluntary social standards. The careful design of the Coalition as a cross-sectoral partnership which focuses on presenting potential solutions and creating a public
debate (rather than pointing the finger) is the key to these unprecedented endorsements. Coalition members are asked to subscribe to a minimal common statement whereby they agree with the goal of creating global and democratic
sovereign institutions, with several basic design principles buttressed by the inherent sovereignty of individuals and the representative institutions that express their sovereignty. The issue of global democratic
governance is not a fringe or idealist issue, but one totally in the mainstream if one were to ask the question directly to the world's people, or to the world's intellectuals, scientists, parliamentarians, business-people etc.
No one can pretend to have the ultimate answer to the problems of global governance, but at least we know that the present system is neither fair, efficient, sustainable nor even stable. Global structures must change, but it is
better for world peace and for civil liberties that they change progressively following a global public debate than through uncoordinated, emergency or even martial law measures in times of crisis. Contact:
Acting Secretary, Coalition 2010,
Peace through World Lawby Troy Davis with Sarah Obraitis
World Citizen Foundation
May 1999
c/o World Citizen Foundation,
New York, NY 10017
United States of America
Tel: +1-212-973-9835, e-mail:
Fax: +1-212-973-9836
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