The Minimum Ground · We choose peace
Today, too many leaders treat war as an early option instead of a last resort. We want the opposite: leaders who reach for negotiation first, and nations that invest in living together rather than in the next weapon.
Where this began
Why is it so wrong to start the global movement around the notion of peace and world peace? It's possible.Mirjana Spoljaric, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, in conversation with The New York Times, 2026
Watch the interview
The Interview, The New York Times · Watch on YouTube
Why now
Wars have become easy to start and very hard to end. Old conflicts are never resolved, new ones are added on top, and the habit of negotiating is being lost.
armed conflicts tracked by the ICRC today, the highest number since the Second World War.
as many conflicts as there were fifteen years ago.
state in the world has ratified the Geneva Conventions. That shared commitment still stands.
What we stand for
No war has ever ended in total victory. It ends when leaders decide to stop. We ask them to decide sooner.
Every budget is a statement of what a society expects. We want ours to expect diplomacy, development and mediation, not only weapons systems.
The Geneva Conventions are the one set of rules every country has signed. We hold every leader, of every side, to them. How they came to be.
When leaders say there are no rules and no red lines, everyone holding a weapon hears it. We call out the language that prepares for war.
For children, peace is not a distant dream. It is the future they assume. We owe them a world that does not prove them wrong.
A life in one country is worth exactly as much as a life in another. Dignity is not something only some people are owed.
What you can do
The pledge
I choose peace. I will ask those who represent me to put negotiation before escalation, to invest in peace rather than an arms race, and to honour the Geneva Conventions without exception. I will not accept that some lives matter less than others.