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About Scilla Elworthy

Scilla Elworthy founded Peace Direct in 2002 to fund, promote and learn from peace-builders in conflict areas, and the Oxford Research Group in 1982 to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics. She was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 2003 and has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was adviser to Peter Gabriel, Desmund Tutu and Richard Branson in setting up 'The Elders'.

Articles by Scilla Elworthy

Monday 28th November

Peace can be planned. Just like health

Scilla Elworthy, 28 November 2011
"Violence can be prevented. This is not an article of faith, but a statement based on evidence" (WHO 2002). Scilla Elworthy calls for a strategy based on the clear evidence of what is working in scattered pockets around the world, with the creation of 'Infrastructures for Peace' at its core.
Friday 11th November

"Feast with your enemies" - Dekha Ibrahim Abdi

Scilla Elworthy, 11 November 2011
What do I do differently as a result of knowing this great woman? I utterly believe in the power of one local person to transform a violent situation. I know that humiliation is the driver of most incidents of violence, and that respect is the best antidote to humiliation, and I try to apply that. On the weekend of the UK memorial service for Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, Scilla Elworthy remembers her friend
Wednesday 4th May

Scilla Elworthy

Scilla Elworthy, 4 May 2011

“In 2012, due to a massive public awareness campaign, the global public became aware that it was not only necessary, but possible, to evolve individual and collective consciousness, as Einstein had insisted would be necessary for survival. As a result, decisions affecting the planet began to be made from a new, long-term perspective that for the first time took as its premise a holistic, collective, interdependent view of the earth and its inhabitants.”

Monday 24th May

Is it time for a worldwide strategy for the building of peace?

Scilla Elworthy, 24 May 2010
On average, one dollar spent on programmes to prevent violent conflict achieves as much as sixty dollars spent reacting to crises once violence erupts. So why is there no worldwide strategy for the building of peace? November 1918 marked the end of the 'war to end wars'. One hundred years later, we should now be calling for a new Versailles Convention.
Wednesday 10th May

If diplomacy fails

Scilla Elworthy, 10 May 2006
How can the crisis over Iran be resolved without resort to violence? Scilla Elworthy looks at the possibilities for creative action at citizen level.
Monday 7th November

Learning from Fallujah's agony

Scilla Elworthy, 7 November 2005
The second siege of Fallujah by United States forces in November 2004 inflicted huge damage and casualties on the Iraqi city. Scilla Elworthy asks what went wrong, and what strategy could have worked better for civilians and military alike.
Tuesday 19th July

Tackling terror by winning hearts and minds

Scilla Elworthy, 19 July 2005
The decisive instrument in preventing attacks like those in London is the capacity of the human mind to imagine and implement solutions that lead to real change. Scilla Elworthy proposes a fresh way of addressing terrorism.
Thursday 18th March

Peacemaking at the sharp end: Iraq before and after war

Scilla Elworthy, 18 March 2004
One year on from the Iraq war, an experienced researcher of military conflict and peacemaking asks: was there an alternative, what can be done now, and what are the lessons of Iraq for conflict prevention and peace-building worldwide?
Wednesday 29th January

Iraq: a way out?

Scilla Elworthy, 29 January 2003
Is there a practical, realistic alternative to seemingly inevitable war with Iraq? The experienced policy analyst Scilla Elworthy builds on her recent visit to Baghdad to propose a peaceful solution that yet speaks to the realities of conflict.
Wednesday 15th January

The crisis over Iraq: the non-military solution

Scilla Elworthy, 15 January 2003
What would a non-military strategy for dealing with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq involve? A seminar convened by London’s Royal United Services Institute and the Oxford Research Group, and involving government and NGO representatives from around the world, recently addressed this vital issue. The ORG’s director presents her own interpretation of the proceedings.
Tuesday 14th January

Waiting for the dawn: a Baghdad diary

Scilla Elworthy, 14 January 2003
In early 2003, amidst the inexorable build-up of US forces in the region, the director of the respected Oxford Research Group visited Baghdad to gauge the current situation on the Iraqi side and to consider alternatives to war. Here is her vivid diary of an extraordinary few days.
Tuesday 10th September

The road not taken

Scilla Elworthy, 10 September 2002
What happens if you introduce the idea of cost control into the handling of terror? The beginnings of an audit.
Wednesday 10th October

9/11: What should we do now?

Tim Garden, Scilla Elworthy, S Sayyid, Mary Kaldor, and David Held, 10 October 2001
A group of key thinkers on matters of war, fear, human and international relations discuss the possible outcome of post-9/11 policies at an event held by openDemocracy and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in October, 2001. Here are some excerpts…
Tuesday 24th July

Widening Atlantic?

Scilla Elworthy, 24 July 2001
Security policy differences between Europe and the US are real and growing. A researcher of international security and conflict mediation sketches those differences – from missile defence and weaponisation of space to nuclear policy and arms control. Is US “unilateralism” a danger, and how should its allies respond?
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