Second Round of Tehran-Sardasht Peace Rally Competition

The second round of Tehran-Sardasht Peace Rally was held for the Commemorate of the victims of chemical weapons and development of friendship and peace through tourism on 27, 28 and 29 June 2019 in Tehran-Sardasht road with participation of 40 cars and 130 members of Tehran Peace Museum family, especially chemical victims and their families. The Rally was held with the cooperation of Chemical Victims Society, Tehran Peace Museum and assistance of Touring and Automobile Club of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs and Sardasht Chemical Victims Society.

The members of Tehran Peace Museum's "Children Department" held a workshop consisted of storytelling, narrating and painting in two schools for girls and boys, named respectively Kowthar and Enqelab located in Sardasht province, from 21^st to 24^th of May.

The collected artworks were displayed in an exhibition called "Little Narrators" for the memorial of the 33^rd Anniversary of Sardasht Chemical Bombardment in Sardasht on June 28^th and 29^th and the venue of this Exhibition was at Bistoon; the old Bathroom (Hammam) of Sardasht.

The Peace Counts Workshop was held on Tuesday July 2^nd from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with attendance of 17 participants.

At first, participants got to know each other, later on, through group activities, concepts of peace, violence, non-violent behaviors and negotiation and how to avoid violence in fundamental entities like family, local communities and workplaces, the concept of conflict, its procedure and the role of third party were taught during the four main parts of the workshop.

In 1977 The International Council of Museums (ICOM) named May 18^th as “The International Museum Day” with the aim of further unifying the creative aspirations and efforts of museums and drawing the attention of the world public to their activity.

This year the International Museum Day was celebrated with cooperation of Iranian chapter of ICOM and Iranian Academy of the Arts with the theme of “Museums as the cultural hubs: Future of Tradition” on May 18^th.

Dr. Fabio Carbone, special envoy of International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT), accompanied by Mr. Mojtaba Ebadi Fath, International Relations’ Officer of Holy Defense Museum, visited Tehran Peace Museum on May 7^th 2019. Mr. Taghipour Moghadam, director of TPM, guided him on Museum’s tour and provided him with a thorough explanation regarding different sections of the Museum accompanied by the simultaneous translation provided by one if the Museum's intern.

Japanese humanitarian physicians, also known as “MOCT” whose cooperation with Tehran Peace Museum initiated 14 years ago, accompanied by their new members, visited TPM on 25^th of April. After the tour of the museum, history, projects and international cooperation of TPM were presented in a meeting. The future collaboration of the parties was discussed in that meeting as well; among them were Iran-Japan film festival (24-30^th of June) In Hiroshima, facilitation of internship programs, inviting children peace education groups of Peace Museums and holding rotating exhibitions of children’s paintings.

Tehran Peace Museum and SCWVS’s representatives attended 23 Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the 4th Review conference of CWC which was held from 19-30 November 2018 in The Hague. 150 member states, 7 international organizations, 75 NGOs, chemical industries and media representatives were present in the conference.

On June 28th, 1987, 4 chemical weapons (mustard gas) were dropped on Sardasht, a city in Northwest of Iran. 110 civilians were killed within few days and 8000 were exposed to mustard gas.
After 31 years, people of Sardasth are still suffering from the long term consequences of mustard gas. This was the first chemical attack against civilians in the history. On this occasion, the minister of foreign affairs of Iran and director general of Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have issued statements.

June 28, 2018 marks the 31st anniversary of the disastrous gas attack by the Iraqi Ba’athist regime on innocent and oppressed people of Sardasht. This day is designated as National Day of Fight Against Chemical and Biological Weapons in the Iranian calendar. The reality is that the calendar can register this human disaster only on one of its pages while the innocence and resistance of the people of Sardasht have been registered eternally in all pages of history.

Every year on 28 June, we come together to mourn the men and women who perished and those who continue to suffer the terrible after-effects of the chemical attack on the Iranian town of Sardasht. The name Sardasht, like Ieper and Halabja, has become a powerful reminder to the international community that the use of chemical weapons cannot be tolerated – not then, not now, not ever.

"Children and Peaceful Dreams" drawing exhibition was held from 21st to 23rd June 2018 Honar Gallery, Shafagh Cultural Center. This exhibition was a collaboration between Hadis Early Childhood Education Centre and Tehran Peace Museum.

Mayors for Peace Newsflash for June 2018 was published and a section of that is dedicated to the news of total number of Iranian member cities exceeding 1000.

In this news flash it is stated that: " As of June 1, 2018, the number of Iranian member cities reached 1,003.

On 21 June 2018, the state of Palestine became a member state to Chemical Weapons Convention after it deposited its instrument of accession on 17 May 2018 with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

"Children and Peaceful Dreams" is the name of the exhibition by Hadis Early Childhood Education Centre in collaboration with Tehran Peace Museum . In this drawing exhibition, six years old children have depicted their dreams of a peaceful future.
" Children and Peaceful Dreams " is open for visits for all interested ones, especially the children as below:

Time:  21st to 23rd June 2018, 4 to 6 p.m.

Venue: Honar Gallery, Shafagh Cultural Center, Shafagh Park, Farahipour St., Yousefabad, Tehran

The eleventh round of selecting Best Museums of Iran was held in Artists Forum on 21 May 2018 on occasion of International Museums Day and Cultural Heritage Week with the international motto of "Hyper Connected Museums: New Approaches, New Publics".

Mr. François Mairesse, President of ICOFOM (International Committee for Museology of ICOM) and wife visited TPM on 12th May 2018. In this visit which was coordinated by ICOM-Iran, Mr. Mairesse was accompanied by director of ICOM-Iran and got familiar with the history and consequences of the use of chemical weapons against Iran.

Tehran Peace Museum is open for visits during holy month of Ramadan from Saturday to Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 16.

After Ramdan, we will be open as before from Saturday to Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 13 and 14:30 to 17.

We are closed on national holidays. TPM's admission fee is free.

After publishing the news of accepting interns in Mayors for Peace(MfP), Ms. Fateme Babaha a young member of MfP team was introduced as the TPM’s representative to the secretariat in Hiroshima to participate in a 17-days internship program.

Mr. Ian Biggs, ambassador of Australia in Tehran along with Mr. Tim Paterson,  deputy head of mission and Mr. Hamish Leslie, second secretary visited Tehran Peace Museum on 15 February 2018.

The 21st issue of the International Network of Museums for Peace (INMP) newsletter has been published. In this newsletter, you can read more about the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Exhibition as well as reports and articles on peaceful activities of various peace centers in the world, including from Japan, Norway, UK, India, USA, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Cambodia, South Korea and The Netherlands. You can find the news on TPM's activities in pages 12 and 13.

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