The Commonwealth Heads of Government are now busy formulating proposals that include, the negotiating points from the perspective of the Commonwealth on the United Nation’s Global Development Goals of 2015. 

Since the origin of human history, wars have cost billions of human lives.  From as recent as the beginning of the Second World War (i.e. past 75 years or so), wars between nations have killed and maimed more than a billion. They have decimated millions within minutes (e.g. due to dropping of nuclear bombs), annihilated whole civilisations, created millions of displaced populations and crippled billions mentally and physically for a life-time. Furthermore, they destroy environments and whole ecologies, forever, and contribute to climate change. In short, wars have the ability to destroy all our development agendas overnight. Furthermore, wars across borders and invasions are probably the most powerful promoter of internal strife and violence.  

Sadly, the on-going discussions on the post-2015 Global Development Goals (especially at the level of the UN) focus mainly on conflicts and violence within countries, and pay scant attention to wars between countries and its threats to global peace.

Of all international groupings of nations in the world, the Commonwealth is in a unique position to contribute positively towards this discourse. Born after violent invasions, repressions and degrading colonization, it is extremely sensitive to the issues arising from wars across borders. Furthermore, several Commonwealth nations continue to be affected by cross border aggression and wars between nations.

Thus the people of the Commonwealth demand that the principles of reconciliation should be applied to conflicts between nations as well as within nations. We cannot tolerate the hypocritical situation where we advocate for accountability of states for violence and human rights within its borders, while turning a blind eye to equally horrible violations across borders. 

Towards balancing this asymmetry of attention, a Hikkaduwa Declaration was submitted to the Commonwealth Peoples Forum-2013 in Hikkaduawa, via open letters published in Sri Lankan newspapers, emails, and in the form of a printed document which was circulated. It had the ultimate aim of pressurizing the United Nations to include a goal on elimination of all forms of war from the globe by 2030, in its post-2015 development agenda. 

We therefor urge Commonwealth Heads of Government to agree to, and advocate for the inclusion of 'end to all wars by 2030' as a UN post-2015 Development Goal. 

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