Peace and Conflict Resolution scholars and foreign affairs practitioners convened at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School’s Point of View research and retreat facility in Mason Neck, Virginia on March 22, 2022 issued the following appeal to the conflicting parties in Ukraine:
All parties to this conflict are now hurting. The costs in human life and suffering are mounting and the damaging effects of the conflict are rippling around the world. It is high time for the parties to agree to an immediate and complete cessation of hostilities. Continuing the struggle inevitably multiplies the damage and poses increasing risks that nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction may be used.
Along with the U.N. Secretary General, we believe that conditions now exist for negotiating an agreement acceptable to all parties. The parties should therefore set about negotiating a comprehensive peace agreement with no preconditions.
We call on the international community to support peace as it emerges, offering humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding support for the long-term process of recovery.
In addition, it is imperative that all OSCE Participating States commit to a through-going review of the existing security architecture. This review should begin immediately with a view to updating the Helsinki Final Act and other security agreements at the OSCE’s forthcoming 50th Anniversary in Helsinki in 2025.
Signatories are listed below. Others are invited to join the statement and to distribute it freely. For further information, please contact University Prof. Richard E. Rubenstein at rrubenst@gmu.edu.
John M. Evans
Former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
Jeffrey Sachs
University Professor at Columbia University
Jack F. Matlock, Jr.
U.S. Ambassador to the USSR, 1987-91
Richard Falk
Professor of International Studies, Emeritus, Princeton University
Ambassador Jacques Paul Klein
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (Ret.)
Alpasian Ozerdem
Dean, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University
Christopher R. Mitchell
Professor Emeritus, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University
Susan H. Allen
Director, Center for Peacemaking Practice, George Mason University
Richard E. Rubenstein
University Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University
Karina Korostelina
Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University
Sergey Utkin
Leading Researcher, Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences
Daniel Rothbart
Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University
Prabha Sankaranarayan
President and CEO, Mediators Beyond Borders International
Hugh DeSantis
Former career office, U.S. State Department, Author
Sara Cobb
Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University
Dr. Margarita Tadevosyan
Research Assistant Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University
Ivan Kislenko
Fulbright Scholar
Alex van Oss
(Former) Coordinator, Caucasus Area Studies, Foreign Service Institute
Michael Shank
Adjunct Professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs and George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution
Dr. Lara Olson
Consultant, Peacebuilding and Conflict Sensitive Development
Research Fellow, Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies (CMSS), University of Calgary, Canada
David Carment
Professor of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Fellow, Institute for Peace and Diplomacy
Cynthia Lazaroff
Founder and Director, Women Transforming Our Nuclear Legacy
Omar Grech
Director, Centre for the Study and Practice of Conflict Resolution, University of Malta
Rene Wadlow
President, Association of World Citizens
Kevin Avruch
Henry Hart Rice Professor of Conflict Resolution Emeritus
Professor of Anthropology Emeritus, George Mason University
Peggy Mason
Former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament to the United Nations
Current President of the Rideau Institute
Antonio Carlos da Silva Rosa
Editor, Transcend Media Service
Jake Lynch
Associate Professor, Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Sydney
Diane Perlman
U.S. Convenor, TRANSCEND
John Scales Avery, PhD
Michael Loadenthal
Executive Director, The Peace and Justice Association
Jeremy Wildeman
Adjunct Professor, Adjunct Professor at the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies, Carleton University; and in International Development Studies, Trent University
J.M. Flagg
Chicago, Illinois
Jan Oberg
Director, The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFF, Lund, Sweden
