Peace begins at home and on the street and is about kindness and about communicating lovingly with each other. Feminine energy is necessary for humanity to achieve harmony, peace and balance on this earth. Today, the masculine energy still predominates and the powers of women worldwide are often forcibly restricted and suppressed. Universal Human Rights as enshrined in the UN Charter, and especially for women, must be protected much more strongly, because violence against women is one of the most systematic violations of human rights. It is time to put an end to this.

The empowerment of women towards an equal balance with men is the key for humanity to be able to evolve into the stage of eternal peace. Therefore, our feminine energies must now be released globally, as they are needed to rebalance, transform, heal and restore the earth. True transformation needs the fusion of proportionate masculine and feminine energies. We will then be able to understand how to begin to realign ourselves with the world.

Bertha von Suttner was one of the advocates of the first Hague Peace Conference, although as a woman she was not allowed to be present at this conference, she vigorously organized her own conference with women at the same time. By 1900, everyone knew who she was; an Austrian pacifist, a key figure in the Peace Movement that arose at a time of great tensions between the European states. She outlined her aversion to war in her novel ‘Die waffen nieder’ (‘Put your arms down’). When I think of her, I see her walking around The Hague perkily but above all steadfastly during the Peace Conferences.  She was not allowed to talk to all those men, but her presence was felt everywhere. She became one of the founders of the Peace Palace and encouraged Alfred Nobel to establish a Peace Prize. In 1905, she became the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1915 another Peace Conference was held in The Hague, for and organized by women. Just as I do, they admired Bertha. Bertha surrounded herself with statesmen and pacifists, and she discussed the role of women with Aletta Jacobs, who was the first woman to study at the University and who also worked tirelessly and effectively for women’s rights, such as women’s suffrage. 

Berta and Aletta; two special role models who have been of great significance for important efforts for peace and for women’s rights today. In my roles for peace and human rights, I will also always be committed to this. Shouldn’t we stand up together now? Wherever in the world where war is being waged and women’s rights are being violated, let us bring women together and lets create a powerful unity of female voices. Isn’t it high time for a new Hague Peace Conference, this time with women and men together?