Building a Culture of Peace around the World

ACROSS BORDERSPeace Boat

Peace Boat is a Japan-based international NGO that has been organising global voyages for peace and internation-al exchange since 1983. Peace Boat embarked on our first voyage in the Autumn of 1983 when the world was still divided by Cold War tensions, and even travelling across national borders was not easy.

In the intervening 30 years, the global political landscape has shifted dramatically, and the issues we face are quite different, but our mission remains the same. Our voyages aim to build an international grassroots network between individuals, free from the constraints of national interest. Peace Boat's voyages will continue to create a space where people can come together, deepen relationships, support one another and find common ground.

Peacebuilding through FriendshipNatural Wonders and World Heritage Sites

Peace Boat gives participants onboard and our partners around the world the opportunity to meet one another directly. Our in-port programmes, whether study programmes to learn about social issues in partnership with civil society groups, cultural exchange programmes, or joint campaigns allow people to exchange ideas face to face.

In a world where more and more areas of stunning natural beauty are under threat, Peace Boat seeks to re-imagine a form of tourism that takes into account environmental concerns. Visiting breath-taking natural wonders and world heritage sites raises participants' awareness of the need to protect the natural environment.

Connecting People through Global Voyages

Over the past 30 years, Peace Boat has organized over 80 voyages, including 53 around-the-world voyages, carrying over 50,000 participants to over 180 ports. Our diverse voyage participants range from toddlers to people in their 90s, from many different countries and professions.

(Figures as of November 2013)

More than 8,000 people welcomed Peace Boat in Corinto, Nicaragua, during our very first round-the-world voyage in 1990.

Life on a Ship ‒ the Small World that we Share

The ship is more than just a mean of transport. Sea travel allows us to experience the freedom of our blue planet, while the ship itself becomes a world in microcosm. This precious space beyond borders is a unique environment to reflect on the world's fragile beauty, as well as build lasting bonds for action with fellow travellers.

Peace Boat in numbers...

CubaBosnia

South Africa

Korea

During WWII, many women particularly from Korea known euphemistically as 'comfort women' were forced by the Japanese military into sexual slavery. Post-war democratization movements encouraged many of them to demand compensation and a recognition of their human rights. Peace Boat has organized programmes for the women to share their story to our participants, with the belief that learning about Japan's past, and in particular those shameful episodes which do not feature in school textbooks, is key to reconciliation and peacebuilding in the region.

South Africa may have ended its long period of Apartheid, but economic disparity remains a serious issue and many people still live in the formerly black-only townships. Peace Boat cooperates with a local NGO to support its musical training of local children, potentially changing their lives forever, through providing musical instruments. Young musicians from the townships are also invited onboard for exchange programmes with participants.

Since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Cuba has hosted many affected children and provided them with free medical treatment. Despite the 30 years since this tragedy, many children continue to suffer. Peace Boat has sent toys, stationery and other supplies to the children who have left their homes far behind to spend time recovering in a foreign land. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, our support has extended to children and youth in the affected region, with the kind assistance of partners from all around the world.

Civil War broke out in the Former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, when its constituent republics began to declare independence. Bosnia and Herzegovina saw the worst fighting, with over 200,000 losing their lives. Study programmes onboard and in port examine the complex relationships between politics, media and violence, and Peace Boat has hosted youth from the region for special post-conflict reconciliation programmes.

Listening to the Testimony of former 'Comfort Women'

From the Children of Chernobyl to the Children of Fukushima

The Reality of Post-Apartheid South Africa

The Former Yugoslavia and the Scars of War

Visiting a high school in a former black-only township (South Africa) Onboard remembrance ceremony (Peace Boat)

Chernobyl Affected Children Care House (Cuba) Walking through war-torned areas of Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Eritrea

Venezuela

PEACE BALL

P-MAC

The Olympic Games are orignally a celebration for peace. Taking this into account, Peace Boat has organized different campaigns in Olympic host cities, making appeals for Peace & Social Justice. In the lead up to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Peace Boat implemented a project to assist the Eritrean cycling team to participate in the Games. The campaign was a gesture of solidarity and encouragement to the newly independent nation, which had achieved independence only three years before following a 30 years civil war.

Over 300,000 students participate in Venezuela's world famous state-funded music program, 'El Sistema,' also known as the Fundación Musical Simón Bolívar. In a country with stark wealth disparities, this program aims to provide hope to disadvantaged children, prevent their participation in crime, and to foster world-class musicians.Peace Boat has a long-standing relationship with 'El Sistema', providing musical instruments and also conducting exchange programmes and concerts both in land and onboard.

There are many children around the world living in poverty who cannot afford a soccer ball, and instead kick around a scrunched up plastic bottle. The “Peace Ball” project delivers soccer balls and other sports equipment to disadvantaged children, and uses the power of the world's most popluar sport to build bridges of communication and solidarity. Since 1999, we have donated over 12,397 soccer balls to 43 countries.

Years after the end of the civil wars in Cambodia and Afghanistan, a vast number of landmines remain. The Peace Boat Landmine Abolition Campaign (P-MAC) supports organizations that are removing these mines by collecting donations and raising awareness through on-the-street campaigns and public lectures. Between 1998 and 2012, P-MAC has funded the successful clearance of mines from 1.37 million square kilometers, and built three elementary schools and one health centre on the newly safe land.

Olympic Campaign for the Newly Independent Eritrea

Peace Ball Project: Peace through Sport

Giving Hope to Children: Venezuelan Music Education

Laying a Path to a World Free of Landmines

Eritrean cyclists visiting Japan (Tokyo, Japan)

Soccer exchange match (Eritrea)

Delivering violins and other musical instruments (Venezuela)

Study trip on landmine issues (Cambodia)

US military bases are a great burden for the people of Okina-wa. Islands in the south of Japan with only 0.6% of Japan's land, Okinawa is host to 74% of the US military bases in the country. Crimes and violent assaults by military personnel and noise pollution continue to affect the local people, and the risk of accidents is always present. Peace Boat works to raise awareness of this issue, bringing the voice of local citizens to the main islands of Japan and to the United States.

Every Thursday since 1977, women have gathered in the Plaza de Mayo of Buenos Aires, Argentina, demanding information about their children and husbands who disappeared during the military dictatorship. Peace Boat has joined their activities on several occasions, supporting their demands for truth and justice. On a recent visit, the mothers honoured Peace Boat with a white scarf, an emblematic symbol of peace and their struggle in Argentina.

Palestinian refugees are not only the largest population of refugees in the world, but also those who have been kept from their homes for the longest period. Peace Boat organises study programmes to refugee camps and a fair trade project to support people living in refugee camps in Jordan and Palestine. Peace education and dialogue programmes are held onboard with youth from communities in Israel and Palestine, in an effort to create new ties of friendship and trust.

Denmark, a country that 30 years ago depended mostly on fossil fuel imports for its energy, has decided to produce 100% of its energy consumption from renewable energy sources by 2050. How was this energy shift possible? Sharing the lessons from pioneers around the world such as Denmark and Germany, Peace Boat is among the leaders of the social movement to create an energy shift in Japan and a sustainable future for the world.

Facing the Okinawan Bases Issue

Visiting Palestinian Refugee Camps

The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo

Shifting to a Society based on Renewable Energy

Okinawa

Argentina

Palestine

Denmark

The Middelgrunden Offshore Wind Farm (Denmark)Photo courtesy of the Scandinavian Tourist Board

Visit to a Palestinian Refugee Camp in Amman (Jordan)

Participants listen to locals at an anti-base camp in Henoko (Okinawa, Japan) Marching together with the ‘Mother of the Plaza de Mayo’ (Argentina)

For decades, Tahiti was the site of repeated nuclear tests. Indigenous communities in Tahiti have reclaimed their self-sufficient life styles to bring back their traditions and ultimately gain independence from France. Through exchange programmes and a fair trade project, Peace Boat has sought to support them and introduce a different reality and a new vision for this 'South Pacific Paradise'.

Despite official efforts in place to recognize the suffering of the first nation communities and confidence-building in the name of multi-culturalism, discrimination against indigeneous peoples and the forced seizure of their land for commercial development persists. By listening to the stories of the First Nation communities, we can begin to really question what our ‘modern’ societies are built upon.

The Challenge of Reclaiming Traditions: Indigenous Tahitians

Development and the First Nation Communities of Canada

Peace Boat believes in looking at the world from the perspective of local people. As the world confronts an unprecedented number of issues, indigenous wisdom, knowledge and traditions are an invaluable source for us to learn how to coexist with nature and envision an alternative to the current ‘development model’. Visits and exchanges with local communities allow Peace Boat’s participants to reflect upon their own societies.

Learning with Indigenous Communities around the World

“Peace Boat's voyages, offering an inspiring learning environment, and linking onboard programmes with local people, issues and cultures, are changing people's perspectives. I myself felt the kind spirit of friendship through your warm welcome, interest and respect. I wish for the further development and success of Peace Boat.”

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (1992) Rigoberta Manchu, long time activist for indigenous human rights in Guatemala and Latin America, joined us in 2013 as a Guest Educator, and introduced participants to the Mayan culture and her outstanding lifework for peace and human rights.

Changing perspectives,One voyage at a time

Rigoberta Menchu (Human Rights Activist)

Canada

Tahiti

Visit to a First Nation community (Canada)Experiencing traditional farming with local leaders (Tahiti)

Travelling the world during an early stage of life, before forming stereotypes and discrimina-tory attitudes, is a gift that will stay with a child forever. By safeguarding an environment in which children are able to encounter the world and meet people from various backgrounds, Peace Boat's Montessori Programme aims to create a new generation of peacebuilders.

The onboard GET language programme allows participants to communicate more effectively with the people they meet onboard and in port. The programme focuses on oral commu-nication, viewing languages as global tools for international and intercultural exchange, and combines onboard classroom study with exchange programmes and home-stays in selected ports of call.

Seminars at sea and study/exposure tours at ports of call make up the Global University curriculum, a intensive peace and sustainability education programme focused on experiential learning. Our programme is designed to foster the growth of future peace makers in fields as varied as NGO work, international organiza-tions and community-based grass roots activities.

Global University ‒ Become a Peace Maker!

Peace Boat Montessori Programme

Onboard LanguageTraining Programme

Peace Boat’s ship not only connects us with the world, it creates a neutral, mobile space of endless possibilities, enabling people to engage across borders in dialogue and mutual cooperation.

A Unique & Neutral Space

Utilizing the peaceful & neutral space provided by the ship, Peace Boat’s International Student (IS) Programmes increase access to peace education and conflict resolution training for young people, particularly from regions affected by armed or political conflict. New friendships and perspectives gained onboard contribute to participants understanding of their situations, and many youth have become actively involved in peace building activities at home.

Since 2005, Peace Boat has collaborated with the Korea Green Foundation in order to build new bridges between Korea and Japan through the organisation of "Peace & Green Boat.” These short voyages, unthinkable 30 years ago, explore the East Asia region promoting people-to-people exchange and dialogue onboard and in ports. In October 2013, the 6th "Peace & Green Boat" voyage sailed, visiting Korea, mainland China, Taiwan and Japan.

Peace & Green Boat: Voyages co-organised with the Korea Green Foundation

Onboard International Youth Exchanges:Providing a unique neutral space for dialogue and understanding

Youth from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North America, Latin America & the Pacific have joined International Student Programmes onboard, which also cover topics such as environmental sustainability, social entrepreneurship and regional integration.

Youth from Israel and Palestine perform together after a series of dialogue and exchange sessions onboard.

Apart from the Peace & Green Boat voyages, Peace Boat also coorganizes youth dialogue and peace education projects in the region, such as the yearly Northeast Asia Regional Peacebuilding Institute (NARPI).

Cycking together in San Salvador (El Salvador)Peace Boat participants planting native trees in the Galapagos (Ecuador)

Due to rapid development and introduced species brought in by settlers, the precious nature of the Galapa-gos Islands - the "islands of evolution" - are under threat. Since 2007, Peace Boat has been working together with the Charles Darwin Foundation and photographer Fujiwara Koichi on a project to plant native species such as Scalesia.

We participated in a project run by the NGO CESTA, which is working dedicatedly on environmental issues in El Salvador, Latin America. CESTA and Peace Boat are both members of the global environmental network Friends of the Earth (FoE) International. This photograph shows participants cycling on bicycles restored from thrown away materials as part of an effort to bring attention to the air pollution caused by an increase in cars.

Reviving the Galapagos Forest Project

Environmental Appeal in El Salvador

Travelling around the world, one can directly experi-ence the reality of threats to our planet's beautiful environment. In the Amazon River area of Brazil, the forests are disappearing as a result of large-scale development. Through climate change, thought to be the result of human activity, the glaciers of the Artic region, Alaska, and Patagonia in Latin America are receding. Peace Boat is involved in various projects in cooperation with people around the world working on such environmental issues.

Looking afterour Earth

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai (1940-2011), founder of the Green Belt Movement, strongly supported Peace Boat’s activities and educational programmes. A joint reforesta-tion project in Kenya was established during her lifetime.

El Salvador

Galapagos

El Salvador

Tahiti

Exchange with Civil War’s survivors (El Salvador)

The Hibakusha have taken part in exchange programs around the world with other survivors of war and violence. In particular, meeting with the survivors of Agent Orange contamination in Viet Nam and the survivors of Auschwitz were painful reminders that the scars of war persist for generations. Through these exchanges, and learning from each others’ experiences we seek to cooperate accross generations and frontiers to build a world free of war and nuclear weapons.

The nuclear chain leaves affected survivors not only in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also in places such as Tahiti where nuclear tests took place, and in areas where uranium is mined, such as Australia. Through our exchanges with these survivors we realized the need to connect efforts through a ‘Global Hibakusha Network’, and have organized Global Hibakusha Forums on board and in ports.Since 3.11, we have also reached out and worked with survivors of the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear disasters.

Sharing experiences with survivors of war and violence

Building a Global Hibakusha Network

The Hibakusha Project was started by Peace Boat to highlight the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and to forge a path toward nuclear abolition. As part of the project, Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki) join Peace Boat voyages to give their testimonies to the world of their first hand experiences with nuclear weapons, and call for their abolition. Their testimonials have struck a very strong chord with the global community and continue to move people to act for a nuclear free world.

Global Voyages for a Nuclear Free World

Peace Boat Hibakusha Project

The Hibakusha Project, which commenced in 2008, has taken place on six separate Peace Boat voyages, and as of November 2013 has taken 150 Hibakusha to more than 60 countries to share their testimonies.

(Figures as of November 2013)

Exchange with Nuclear Test survivors (Tahiti)

The Peace Boat Disaster Relief Volunteer Center was established following the tremendous devastation caused by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The Center based its activities in one of the worst affected areas, Ishinomaki City in Miyagi Prefecture, and dispatched thousands of volunteers there to support local residents in carrying out emergency relief efforts. Even after the initial stage of disaster relief, PBV has continued to play a key role in the area by developing ways to provide support that match the gradually changing needs.

Disaster Relief:It takes People to support People

PBV carries out domestic and international emergency relief work at sites affected by natural disasters such as typhoons, floods and heavy snow. Furthermore, PBV is working toward future disaster prevention and reduction by proactively building partnerships with businesses and local government authorities and cultivating a network of volunteer leaders ready to act.

Aiming to provide a healthy, dynamic and creative retreat to Fukushima children, youth and families affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Peace Boat has organized a series of international exchange, study and recreational programmes in Japan, onboard and abroad. Participating youth have gained new friends, hope and a positive outlook for their and their communities’ future.

Peace Boat first carried out long term relief work during the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake that struck Kobe in January of 1995. Making use of this experience, we have continued to dispatch staff to carry out disaster relief efforts in countries across the world affected by natural disasters, including Turkey, Taiwan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Chile and the United States.

The Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake

Disaster Relief and Prevention

Fukushima Youth Project

Peace Boat Disaster Relief Volunteer Center (PBV)

After learning from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, which released grave amounts of radiation, Peace Boat helped create the “Declaration by 311 Representatives for A Nuclear Free East Asia”. Following this, Peace Boat organized the Global Conference for a Nuclear Power Free World in 2012. Based on the networks established during this Conference, the Mayors for a Nuclear Power Free Japan initiative was inaugurated. Collaboration with local citizen groups across Asia, such as carrying out study programmes to nuclear power facilities in Korea and Taiwan, have also been carried out during Peace Boat's voyages.

The Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War was held in 2008 as part of the 'Global Article 9 Campaign'. This campaign shares with people around the world the philosophy of Article 9 of Japan's Constitution, which renounces war and the right to maintain armed forces. Currently strong attempts are being made in Japan to reject and revise Article 9 of the Constitution, but during this Conference many intelectuals from around the world focused attention on it and affirmed their strong support for Article 9. Since then, there have been many other Article 9 related actions, including an Article 9 themed Asia Regional Voyage.

Over the course of this three day international conference in May of 2008, more than 30,000 people from all over Japan gathered, along with over 200 people from 41 countries, including Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire.

Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War

Global Conference for a Nuclear Power Free World

Two Global Conferences for a Nuclear Power Free World were held during 2012. Over 15,000 people attended the first conference, which took place over the course of two days in Pacifico Yokohama, one of the largest conven-tion centers in Japan. Approximately 100,000 people around the world accessed the live stream of the Confer-ence by internet.

GPPACMDGs

As an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, Peace Boat works to share input from civil society around the world with the international community.In a world where poverty is an ever growing problem and both conflict and human rights abuses persist, it is vitally important that the voices of those suffering on the ground are heard. These voices must form the basis of any propos-als made to the international community.

Peace Boat and the United Nations

The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) is an international network of NGOs working in peacebuilding and conflict prevention. GPPAC is made up of 15 regions, each working with its own action plan to address issues specific to each region. Since 2004, Peace Boat has acted as the Regional Secretariat for GPPAC in Northeast Asia.

Peace Boat also works toward the achievement of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Peace Boat has been running its own Millennium Development Goals Campaign in partnership with various international organizations and NGOs to raise awareness of the MDGs and the role of civil society in achieving these goals. Peace Boat’s ship displays the United Nations Millennium Campaign logo "End Poverty 2015".

The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict

Peace Boat Millennium Development Goals Campaign

Yoshioka Tatsuya, Director of Peace Boat and the Regional Representative of North Eastasia of GPPAC (Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict), gives a speech at the United Nations, during a visit of the ship to New York.. Peace Boat presents a Japanese taiko (drum) performance during the opening ceremony of the GPPAC global conference.

Peace BoatTimeline of Activities

1983　　　●　Peace Boat is established. First Asian Regional Voyage.

1984　　　●　Goods for Sustainability - United People’s Alliance (UPA) Project started.

1990　　　●　Peace Boat launches first around the world voyage, as the Gulf War starts, making peace appeals in each port.

1992　　　●　Peace Boat delegation attends the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

1995　　　●　Peace Boat carries out disaster relief activities in Kobe after the Great Hanshin Eartquake.

　　　　　 ●　Olympic Campaign for Eritrea.

1998　　　●　Peace Boat (Land)Mine Abolition Campaign (P-MAC) is established, raising funds for

de-mining in Cambodia.

●　“No More Hibakusha” photo exhibition depicting nuclear victims from Hiroshima and Nagasaki held in India and Pakistan following nuclear tests in these countries.

●　First Peace Boat Peace Award granted to Mikhail Gorbachev.

1999　　　●　First Peace Boat southern hemisphere global voyage sails.

●　Peace Ball Project to promote international exchange and cooperation through sports is established.

●　Peace Boat participates as an Organizing Committee member of the Hague Appeal for Peace.

●　Peace Boat voyage accredited as an Official Programme of the UNESCO-led “International Year for the Culture of Peace”

●　Peace Boat International Students (IS) Programme is launched.

●　Onboard GET language programme launched.

2000　　　●　Peace Boat establishes its ‘Global University’ peace education programme.

2002　　　●　Peace Boat gains Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC).

2003　　　●　Second Peace Boat Peace Award granted to Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

2004　　　●　Peace Boat ship calls in at the World Social Forum in Mumbai.

●　Peace Boat becomes the Northeast Asia regional secretariat for the ‘Global Partnership for the

Prevention of Armed Conflict’ (GPPAC)

2005　　　●　First ‘Peace & Green Boat’ voyage sails in cooperation with South Korea’s Green Foundation.

●　Agent Orange victims support campaign launched.

2006　　　●　Peace Boat US established in New York in collaboration with the Hague Appeal for Peace.

2007　　　●　Launch of the ‘Reviving the Galapagos Forest Project’ with the Charles Darwin Research Center.

●　Cooperation project with Venezuela’s music education foundation ‘El Sistema’ established.

2008　　　●　‘Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War’ held.

●　‘Peace Boat Hibakusha Project - Global Voyage for a Nuclear Free World’ launched.

2009　　　●　Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Campaign launched with the United Nations.

●　International conferences on Peace Constitutions organised in Costa Rica and Ecuador.

2010　　　●　Peace Boat Montessori Programme and Global School Programme established.

2011　　　●　Relief efforts begin in areas affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan.

●　Fukushima Youth Project launched.

2012　　　●　Global Conference for a Nuclear Free World held.

2013　　　●　Peace Boat’s 80th Voyage sails.

www.peaceboat.org

PHOTO : PEACEBOAT, Brami JEGAN, CHIGA Kenji, ENDO Kazuhide, MASAGAKI NaotoMIZUMOTO Shunya, NAKAMURA Mitsutoshi, Stacy HUGHES, SUZUKI ShoichiUCHIDA Kazutoshi, USHIJIMA Yu, YAMAKI Kaori