Europe

After having crossed more than 20 countries, the World March stopped over in Paris. On foot, by bus, by boat, to the cinema and finally to the Ministry of Defence, the international and Parisian Marchers, accompanied by the French spokesman Alain Ducq, made the 5 aims of this world campaign known, as well as their applicability to France.

Coinciding with the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German capital hosts the 10th World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. Under the theme “Breaking Down New Walls for a World Without Violence,” speakers during the plenary session address the need to eliminate the ‘walls’ that still exist in today’s world.

This morning in Milan, sunny skies and over 3000 children and students from Lombardy welcomed the World March for Peace and Nonviolence with a celebratory parade, carrying thousands of blue balloons. Waiting for them on the stage in Piazza Duomo were Ivan Ramiro Cordoba, the celebrity footballer and supporter of the March, and Alessandro Cattelan of Radio 105.

The city of Berlin commemorates the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Wall as guests, political leaders from throughout the European Union as well as the four allied powers that guarded the former divided city have already begun to arrive. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureates are also meeting at their 10th Summit which will take place at Berlin’s City Hall.

After having crossed Oceania, Asia, the Middle East, northern Europe and the Balkans, the World March for Peace and Nonviolence arrived in Italy today, where it will remain until November 12. Trieste, the first Italian stop, welcomed the March with official greetings from the Mayor and the Provincial President, and a huge symbol of peace in the evocative Piazza dell’Unità.

After being received by the Hungarian delegation of the World March for Peace and Non-violence and its representative Balazs Szigeti, the marchers completed a section of the route that – despite the rain – was memorable and full of surprises. Fire jugglers, dancers and choristers wowed the marchers before their arrival at the forecourt of Buda Castle in Budapest.

Concluding the Third Global Forum on Migration, Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, urges governments of the world to improve living conditions and treatment of immigrants. Moon emphasizes that ‘immigrants be treated with more sensitivity in the face of these dramatic events. Protecting and promoting human rights of immigrants is fundamental, regardless of legal status’.

Former boxing World Champion, Mensur Peljto is accompanying the World March for Peace and Nonviolence on its Balkan route between Istanbul and Geneva. As the only Bosnian member of the team, and given that most peace and nonviolence activists are unfamiliar with boxing champions, he was an unknown quantity but very quickly he won the hearts of everyone in the bus.

Today a delegation of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence Balkan team had a meeting with Stjepan Mesić, President of Croatia. During the meeting he was presented with the documents of the World March and asked to read and endorse the Nobel Laureates Charter for a World without Violence. “There’s no one more in favour of peace than I am”.

As the World March for Peace and Nonviolence reaches Bosnia and Herzegovina on day 8 of its Balkans tour the March was welcomed by Presidency Chairman Željko Komšić and by the city Mayor, Alija Behmen. Accompanying the March at the start of its procession through the 16th century streets around Baščaršija square, Sarajevo, Komšić wished the March all the best.