Gerd Greune

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Gerd Greune (born March 15, 1949 in Hanover ; † August 24, 2012 in Hamburg , Germany ) was a German peace activist and President of the Institute for International Assistance and Solidarity (IFIAS).

Gerd Greune at an IFIAS event with journalists in Brussels in 2007

Gerd Greune originally studied to become a teacher, but soon became interested in politics . The right to a conscientious defense was the first political issue with which he dealt, subsequently topics such as the German and international peace movement or the stationing of nuclear weapons in Europe and nuclear weapons in general were added. In 1978 he founded with Karsten Voigt , Wolfgang Biermann u. a. within the framework of the SPD, the “Initiative for Peace, International Equalization and Security”, which should also work on the subject of peace in social-democratic run-up organizations. In 1979 Gerd Greune co-founded the European Office for Conscientious Objection in Brussels as the umbrella organization for national associations of conscientious objectors in European countries in order to promote the right to conscientious objection, with the preparation for or participation in war and other military activities, as a fundamental human right across Europe . He was a board member and secretary general of the International Peace Office (IPB, Geneva) from 1979–1981 and, during the 1970s and 1980s, a member of the federal executive board and co-federal chairman of the German Peace Society / United War Resisters ( DFG-VK ), the largest German peace organization. In 1985 he co-founded the AtomtestStop campaign, together with Petra Kelly , Herta Däubler-Gmelin and others. Until his death he published the current status of the worldwide atomic tests on a regular basis. From 1986 to 1997 he worked as an advisor to social democratic politicians in Germany. From 1993 he was a European policy advisor to the SPD party executive in Brussels. In 1997 he and his wife founded the Institute for International Assistance and Solidarity (IFIAS) in Brussels . The office served as a platform for informal discussions between members of the opposition from various countries ( Charter 97 from Belarus, the Chechen government in exile , opposition unions and parties in Yugoslavia by Slobodan Milošević, etc.) with European politicians. IFIAS Brussels carried out a large number of international human rights projects with the support of the European Commission , for example in Chechnya (2000–2002), the Western Balkans (1997–1999), Southeast Turkey (2005–2007), Bulgaria (2005–2002). 2007), Syria (2005–2007), Palestine (2006–2008) and Belarus / Belarus (2011–2013). From 2000 to 2004 the IFIAS office in Brussels was the official representative of the American media organization INTERNEWS . Most recently, from 2008 until his death, Gerd Greune developed an Arab media-internet network with partners in the Middle East.

His special interests were human rights , freedom of the press , anti- armament and conflict resolution . Gerd Greune had five children.

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