[Blog] An appeal to stop war and negotiate for peace

In our name, we the 165 Iranian schoolgirls killed by missiles; in the name of the almost one million Russian and Ukrainian civilians and soldiers killed; the 160,000 Palestinians and 2,000 Israelis murdered; the close to one million Sudanese killed or maimed in the internal conflict; in the name of humanity, in the name of each world citizen who supports this letter:
We appeal to all heads of states, heads of government (and to all warring parties) to immediately cease fire and start negotiations, with arbitration where necessary.

Stop the illegal, immoral, unacceptable killing of humans and destruction of their habitats and means of living. In future, we will use words — not guns - to analyse and discuss existing conflicts and arrive at mutually acceptable solutions.

Humanity is quite unique. Of millions of galaxies, trillions of suns and trillions of planets (including the 8 other planets in our own solar system), as far as we know life is quite unique. Humanity is quite unique. Those 165 girls had the human right to complete their schooling, go home daily to their family, eventually marry and procreate, exert a profession and hence contribute to consolidate humanity on Earth. Under no law, no rule, no argument of any sort (under directive of your President/PM) were you authorised to murder them!

“This is war, you might say, we were acting in a war situation.” Indeed, which is why we are now appealing to stop war as a means of trying to solve conflicts. Stop immediately using guns, missiles and bombs as a means of solving conflict (as between Israel and Iran, as between Iran and the USA, and between Ukraine and Russia, etc.).

What next?

The means and the solution: Resort now to negotiation through dialogue and discussion, with arbitration to solve the conflicts which oppose you. Remember also that war as now practiced kills people, maims people, causes pain and suffering to humans and costs your country’s economy millions if not billions of wasted funds.

Also, the planet is undergoing climate change and global warming which must be combatted at all costs (which we are now doing with reduction of CO₂ emissions, greenhouse gases, use of renewable energy sources, etc.). Wars release huge amounts of CO₂, use huge amounts of fossil fuels, toxify and pollute the planet’s environment, our nest to one and all.

In practice:

• Publish widely and redirect this appeal to all heads of states and governments, and to elected houses of representatives of governments.

• Already PM Carney of Canada, PM Ramgoolam of Mauritius, the governments of four Scandinavian countries have made such an appeal.

• Arbitrators: Countries or regional groups (such as the African Union for the Sudan conflict), Egypt for the Gaza occupation, the European Union for the Ukraine conflict, and others who volunteer to host negotiation meetings and offer arbitration if need be. Ideally, the UN and its SG can and indeed must be called upon to provide arbitration - with the advantage that it can then reach solutions/decisions respecting international law.

Proposed by
Dr Michael Atchia
Past Programme Director, UN
[email protected]
3 March 2026