Caux 2009 Forum for Human Security - Machar Dhourgon, Sudan, Salmad Ahmed, Pakistan, Charles Robb, USA (Photo: Blair Cummock)‘It can’t be fair that we Europeans are 5% of the world’s population and pollute the world with 24% of the carbon emission.’

So said Felix Finkbeiner, aged 11, from Germany, who has set up Plant for the Planet, active in 20 countries. Ruthie Gopin, aged 13, from the USA, has set up Carbon-Free Kids which is enlisting teenagers in action to overcome global warming.

Katherine Marshall, a senior advisor to the World Bank, writing on her blog on the Washington Post website, described these two as stars of the second annual Caux Forum for Human Security.  The event, held 17-22 July 2009, took a hard look at the daunting economic, environmental, governance and inter-cultural factors that create human insecurity. Lest such challenges overwhelm and immobilize us, Katherine reminded us that “history suggests that most real transformations can be linked to crisis. We are facing the opportunity to build the kind of world that we are looking for.”

Group from India and Pakistan at Caux 2009 CFHS (Photo: Blair Cummock)

The conference brought together 320 people from 49 countries intent on doing just that. One of these, John Graham from Seattle, President of the Giraffe Project, said “the key criterion for being there was not celebrity, but a personal history of creativity and courage in addressing public problems.” On his widely read blog about the conference,he describes a dozen such people and notes that “the extraordinary impact of what takes place here stems from more than intellectual give-and-take. A core strategy at Caux is that effective political change stems from personal change.”

Among other US participants were climate change experts, Caux Scholars, diplomats and ordinary citizens. Senator Charles Robb, a unifying force in Washington, who came with his wife, Lynda, said that “thought and reason are going to be far more productive than carrying a big stick. We cannot continue to have the swagger that leaves us few friends and allies around the world.” Harriet Fulbright, President of the J. William Fulbright Center, also brought valuable experience to a central question of the conference, how to engender trust among the world’s diverse population.

Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun, whose vision for the Caux Forum grew out of his long experience in Africa, reminded everyone that true cooperation could only be established if we are deeply open to the message of love, and are ready to change ourselves in order to change the world. Impressive delegations were present from three regions of particular concern to the United States: South Asia, the Middle East and Sudan. In each case, honest dialogues gave rise to greater trust and positive initiatives.

An Indian business family had funded the visit of many from Pakistan. Another prominent Indian, who thought the special atmosphere of Caux reflected the absence of envy, expressed amazement that he had had to come to Switzerland to understand his neighboring country more deeply. Pakistan's most widely-read English language newspaper Dawn published an article headlined "Beyond the Walls of Hatred." Those from the Middle East had come because of the strong conviction of one participant in the 2008 Caux Forum. They emerged from their private conversations with concrete ideas about how to build confidence between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Sudanese delegation, led by the Vice-President of South Sudan, included Jemma Kumba, the first woman Governor of a Sudanese State. Her sentiments upon leaving Caux were shared by many. “I leave Caux with a new thinking and new ideas. As a person who has been traumatised by conflict throughout my life, the level of my trauma has been reduced because I met a friend here who listened to my story.”