The March European Leadership Conference, the fourth and final to be held in the 2007/8 winter program in Glory House, The Netherlands, was "the best and most joyful" said Wim Koetsier, UPF-NL Secretary General.

"There were also tears when the people went away. They felt God's Spirit and True Love, not just because of us, but because of God and all the investment in Holland since we first acquired Huize Glory, actually since 1965, when Teddy Verheyen opened the mission here".

This was part of Wim's address at a special evening Sunday Service in Utrecht, to formalize the passing of leadership of the Dutch Unification Movement from him to Hans Campman. Tim Miller was also at the service, representing President Song in officiating in the handover, and he also expressed how the guests were melted by God's Love, by the content of the lectures and the way the guests were cared for, adding much more about how in particular the development of UPF and Ambassadors for Peace in the Netherlands was appreciated.

Hans Campman later said he felt that at this ELC guests had been particularly "in tune spiritually, that they had felt they were coming home, which is of course the way it should be."

There were some 35 participants registered for the conference, including Family members from other countries, and this swelled to about 50 for the Saturday afternoon and evening program.

In addition to the UPF lectures by Tim Miller, the program on Friday included a talk "Peace and War in the Middle East" by Jhr. Dr. Pieter Beelaerts van Blokland, who is active in many areas of public life, having formerly been Dutch Government Minister of Housing, City mayor and Queen’s Provincial Commissioner, and is now playing an active role in UPF-NL; and on Saturday, there was a mini-conference, which is reported below. Both Dr. Beelaerts and Dr, van Eekelen had attended the European Leaders Meeting in Barcelona, together with a third UPF-NL Ambassador for Peace Abdullah Haselhoef.

Universal Peace Federation

Dr. Willem van Eekelen and Dr. Meine Pieter van Dijk were the principal speakers at a UPF conference on the importance of Security and Development and Economy as Conditions for Peace on Saturday, March 8, 15.00, at Huize Glory, Bergen aan Zee, North Holland.

The 'mini conference' was part of a UPF European Leadership conference, which ran from Friday to Sunday. Such conferences, subtitled "Leadership and Good Governance - Innovative Approaches to World Peace", held most months, in The Netherlands, Huize Glory, and other countries, give a substantial introduction to the principles and activities of the Universal Peace Federation and in addition feature guest speakers.

Dr. van Dijk's talk "Economy and Peace", accompanied by an extensive PowerPoint presentation, was mainly based by Oxford University Professor of Economics Paul Collier's book "Bottom Billion", which won the 2008 Lionel Gelber Prize, described by The Economist as "the world’s most important award for non-fiction." (The Economist). Dr. Van Dijk recommended it as being of great value for the general reader, professional economist and student.

Some years ago, people talked of developed and under-developed countries, but the latter title became "developing" countries. Dr. Collier maintains that of the six billion people in the world, two were in rich countries, some one billion people were living in countries that are not developing and three billion were somewhere in the middle. Efforts were usually made to help the middle three billion, but Collier strongly asserts that support should focus on the "bottom billion", not least because it is from these countries that terrorists might be most readily recruited.

These poorest countries are caught in a poverty trap. In his book, Dr. Collier cites four basic reasons:

1. The conflict trap. Conflict within the country may be caused by politics or ethnic divisions, but the underlying problem is usually economic. Religious affiliation is not a real cause of conflict, Dr. Van Dijk agreed with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon who had asserted that the conflict in Sudan/Dafur was not really about religious differences but about natural resources. If people were desperately poor, they easily joined a group, even a military one, that promised a better life; and once conflict had started, it easily led to a cycle of violence.

2. The natural resource trap: the abundance of natural resources can be as much a curse as a blessing. It can lead to corruption and to large government spending that cannot be maintained indefinitely. The Netherlands is not a desperately poor state, but Dr. Van Dijk mentioned that the Netherlands' excessive spending of the income from natural gas resources in the 1990s and then cutting back when income fell away had been dubbed the Dutch disease. Easy income from natural resources could discourage manufacturing industry and kill exports and make a country less able to react to shock changes in prices.

3. Landlocked with bad neighbors: in this situation, a country cannot easily participate in international trade. Van Dijk said that Collier did not only back up his conclusions with substantial information, but he also offered solutions and in this case recommended how a country might improve its relationship with neighbors and coastal access and benefit by becoming a "haven in the region".

4. Bad governance: unfortunately the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund had not been as watchful as they might have been, "conditionality had become a paper tiger". Impetus for change ultimately needed to come from within, from a country's own "heroes". the higher the percentage of those with secondary education, the more likely a country could achieve a "sustainable turnaround". It seemed that reform was more likely after a civil war. This was a sad reminder of how Dick Leurdijk had asserted in a UPF lecture that the United Nations was only able to come about as a result of the suffering of World War Two and his fear that substantial reform of the UN might only come after a major catastrophe.

Dr. Van Dijk backed up his comments with examples from Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Chad and Tanzania. He again emphasized that all Collier's statements were based on research, not opinion. 70% of the poorest countries were in Africa, capital flight was a major problem, also falsification of documentation of exports.

Key issues or conclusions arising from the research results in the book included: - Africa had failed to develop jobs in export manufacturing, it was better to not just export raw materials but to process them first;

Asia's success had made it harder for Africa to develop;
Africa needed more access to European markets;
Globalization had benefited China and India more than other countries;
Poor countries needed to research how to develop industries that would attract foreign money. Ethiopia could do much to develop tourism;
a possible boom in 2008 might result in more corruption;

In considering their policies, it was recommended that:

concern be given to the fact that if not truly resolved, conflicts tended to start again within a decade;
there be a narrow focus on countries at the bottom;
 that 'development aid' usually be limited to 'rescue help', that military intervention might be necessary (as in Darfur), that a country be helped to develop effective laws and charters; and that rich countries develop trade policies to change "marginalization".

Dr. Van Dijk emphasized that despite the difficulties, he was an "Afro-optimist" and agreed with one questioner that "bad news hits the media first", so people might have a false view of a country, that might make, for example, development of tourism more difficult.

Although some countries did carry large debts, in fact much had been "forgiven", and the fear now was that some countries might start to borrow again. Replying to a question about the possibility of conflict over water, Dr. Van Dijk said technology was moving very fast, the costs of desalinization were coming down rapidly. In passing, he said that while India was developing rapidly, it was not in the same league as China.

Reviewing his talk, one was left with the conclusion that the problems of these poor countries could indeed be resolved if human ingenuity were encouraged, along with honest public service.

Dr. Willem van Eekelen, who spoke on "Security and Development as Conditions for Peace", has a distinguished record of public service, as a diplomat, parliamentarian and government minister of defense, and he is still very active in foreign affairs, in particular in encouraging development of the European Union.

He had recently returned to India and had seen huge changes since he was Ambassador for the Netherlands in the late 1950s. It had then been thought that India would never be able to feed itself, but though it now had three times the population, there seemed to be enough food.

He had also served in Africa, much of which still lacked basic infrastructure. It was difficult to develop if farmers could not easily get to market. The Microcredit system, supported by Princess Máxima, was especially helpful to women in Ghana where, he joked, "women work and men talk". Development aid should lead to trade Security: it was difficult to help all that one might wish since developing countries were so insistent on "sovereignty" and did not want "interference" from outside. He had wanted to help in Rwanda. Kofi Annan had developed the concept "responsibility to protect": the intervention by external actors (preferably the international community through the UN) in a state that is unwilling or unable to prevent or stop genocide, massive killings and other massive human rights violations. But, Dr Van Eekelen asserted, if you started an intervention, you needed to also envisage the future. America had not done this in Iraq. Military victory might be the easiest, you then needed stabilization and development, including ensuring good governance, with clear definition of the powers of government and government officers.

Dr. Van Eekelen looked at Development by first summarizing attempts at international cooperation since World War 2. He opined that the United Nations charter agreed in 1945 was still a "pretty good, even remarkable document", noting that international security was vested ultimately in the Security Council. In 1949, NATO clarified a nation’s right to self defense. In 1954, the 1948 Treaty of Brussels led to the Western European Union (WEU), the main purpose of which was to prevent France and Germany ever again warring together. He had been Secretary General from 1989 to 1994 and Dutch friends had joked that WEU actually stood for Willem’s Eigen Unie (Willem’s Own Union).

The 1950 Coal and Steel Community was largely the creation of Robert Shuman and Jean Monet, who had suggested "if you have a problem, don’t attack it head on; try to put it in a wider, different context, for mutual benefit", a maxim Dr. Van Eekelen also sought to apply in his own life. Functional integration of German and French industries could also help prevent development of industry for military use.

He then looked at the present European Union, how the "communitarian model" of having the Commission that proposed changes to be considered by the Council of Ministers and EU Parliament (with decisions being upheld by the European Court) helped avoid national disagreements.

Suggestions as to how the EU might further develop had included helping resolve the Middle East (basically Israel/Palestine) impasse and voting together at the UN. The US had carried the most influence in the Middle East, but the Iraq war had lessened this somewhat.

When he had attended the recent UPF Summit in Washington, he had said had he merely observed the situation as it was now, say as a visitor from Mars, the answer would seem obvious, but there were thousands of years of history to reckon with. What each side wished for was "recognition".

There was a precondition to discussion and both sides should consider taking the first step. Israel should announce there would be no more new settlements and no development of existing settlements -- and Palestine should stop the terrorist attacks and firing of rockets. Then one could start negotiations.

There was then the need to agree boundaries, with corridors. Territories might have to be exchanged. This should not be so difficult. The return of refugees was a bigger problem. Who was a refugee? Israel would take some but not all. Jerusalem was the biggest problem. Both sides wanted it to be their capital and there were also disputes over the Holy Sites. It might be a solution to put the city under international or UN protection.

He had greatly valued his experience with UPF’s Middle East Peace Initiative (MEPI). He had expected Ramallah to be all in ruins, but the devastation was "smaller than this building", the media had been misleading, in fact Ramallah seemed rather prosperous. Tragically, all the Christians he had met in Bethlehem wanted to leave, they saw no future there. This, he said, was his picture from Mars; but he would rather say from Venus. Men were from Mars, women from Venus -- and women were more of a source of peace.

Compliments and questions then came thick and fast. Possibly inevitably, the question of Iraq arose. Even though Saddam was a dictator, was the damage justified? The US had hoped that Iraq oil production would be quickly restored and that it would pay for reconstruction, they had not been prepared for attacks on their troops or the Shia, Sunni, Kurd conflicts, now it was greatly feared that, with the support of Iran, the Shia might take over the country. However, he was optimistic, the Iraqis themselves were now understanding their difficult situation, attacks were diminishing.

Fundamentally, the problem was that Iraq was an artificial construction, a result of the carve up of the Ottoman Empire after World War 1.

Pakistan, India and Afghanistan were also discussed, Dr. Van Eekelen suggesting ways through the complexities and dilemmas; we wanted democracy, but what if that led to disintegration of states? He appreciated how a great man might bring a big change, as Sadat had done in signing a peace agreement with Israel.

An Egyptian woman suggested that the solution to the problem of Jerusalem might be that it became solely a religious center, under the administration of UPF. Dr. Van Eekelen liked the idea, but felt it might not be acceptable to either side! He ended by saying that he had appreciated MEPI "enormously, it was a perfect program, we met people from all sides and all levels and areas of society, full marks to MEPI".

In answer to a final question, he felt that difficulties in the Balkans would be resolved, including Kosovo, with cooperation from the UN, NATO and the EU. Again, returning to his saying that simple solutions that might be proposed by someone from Venus were made more difficult by history, he mentioned that Yugoslavia had also been an artificial post World War 1 creation that had only been held together by Tito’s maneuvering and manipulation.

New Ambassador for Peace Bruce Cerew: An Ambassador for Peace certificate was presented to Bruce Cerew who experienced many of the "horrors of human abuse and war - not just those horrors that haunt the battlefields, but horrors carried in the minds, hearts, and souls of every person who has fallen through the cracks of global society" in Africa, before eventually making his way to the Netherlands. He has written a fictionalized account "War Child" and hopes that "my work will reach the inner souls of my audience and make them allies in my fight against the atrocities against asylum seekers, child abuse, and women's' rights in Africa and beyond."

Dinner was followed by a cultural evening, featuring musical and other performances from UPF members and conference participants.

The weekend conference was residential, with some 35 participants, and extra attendees on Saturday brought the total above 50. Lectures on the principles and practices of UPF were given by Tim Miller, UPF Europe Vice-Chairman, and the Friday evening programme included a talk "Peace and War in the Middle East", by Jhr. Dr. Pieter Beelaerts van Blokland, who is active in many areas of public life, having formerly been Dutch Government Minister of Housing, City mayor and Queen’s Provincial Commissioner.