In an increasingly unstable international context, where not a day goes by without the media reporting new military escalations — including increasingly explicit nuclear threats — the growing spread of conflicts highlights how urgent it is to affirm peace not only as an ethical and political value, but as a fundamental human right that must be recognized, protected and actively promoted.
A project to promote a new vision of peace
With this awareness, Etica Sgr has conceived and promoted the research project “Peace as a fundamental right of individuals and peoples”. The initiative is made possible thanks to the allocation of part of the company’s profits to the Fondazione Finanza Etica and benefits from the collaboration of the University Human Rights Centre “Antonio Papisca” of Padua, a centre of excellence in the field of human rights and peace. The project will actively involve about 20 experts from the academic world and from organisations working on these issues.
The objectives of the project
The research pursues a twofold objective: on one hand, to analyze the role of local, national, and international actors in the ongoing process — initiated within the United Nations — of recognizing the right to peace as a fundamental right; on the other hand, to formulate recommendations to revive and strengthen this process.
The Charter of the United Nations and Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights already provide solid foundations for the recognition of peace as a fundamental right. The research aims to enhance these foundations in order to transform peace from an ethical aspiration into a fully enforceable right.
Affirming peace as a fundamental right poses significant challenges for States: it means both renouncing the right to wage war and committing to actively building peace. It requires concrete measures such as disarmament, recognition of the United Nations’role in maintaining peace and international security, the reduction of military spending and the redirection of resources toward education, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.
The four phases of the project
The project is divided into four phases. The first focuses on analyzing the contribution of international institutions by collecting and studying documents to understand the internal debates within such organizations. The second phase explores the efforts of Italian local authorities in promoting the recognition of the right to peace, also examining significant experiences from civil society. The third part focuses on the role of transversal themes – such as ethical finance and economics, education and information, climate change and environmental degradation – in affirming the right to peace. The final part is dedicated to formulating recommendations to be addressed to governments, the European Union, local authorities and schools.
Seminars will be organized at the Human Rights Center of the University of Padua to discuss and share the project’s results.
Peace must become a human right
Luca Mattiazzi, General Manager of Etica Sgr, underlines the importance of the project: 
“Recognizing peace as a fundamental right of individuals and peoples means removing it from the logic of force and placing it within the sphere of rights and freedoms, founded on human dignity and the right to life. In this way, peace once again becomes the responsibility of the original holders of fundamental rights: people. Such recognition would imply for States the commitment to overcome the ancient ius ad bellum – the right to wage war – and to assume a positive duty towards building peace. Violating this duty could then be considered a serious breach of international law.”
A concrete step toward a future of peace
In a global context where peace is increasingly under threat, responsible and courageous choices are needed. The project promoted by Etica Sgr is a concrete step toward incorporating peace into the framework of human rights, helping redefine its value from legal, cultural, and political perspectives. This vision places human dignity at the center and considers peace not as an abstract aspiration but as a right to be recognized, protected, and fulfilled.
Ethical finance has always supported peace and disarmament. In 25 years of activity, Etica’s funds have never invested in the armaments industry, excluding from the funds all companies involved in the production, use, maintenance, distribution and storage of controversial weapons – such as landmines, cluster bombs or nuclear weapons – as well as conventional weapons, due to their negative impacts on people, economies and the environment.
In line with this commitment, Etica Sgr submitted a joint statement with the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), to stop the financing of nuclear weapons. The initiative was presented at the UN during meetings of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), a key forum to assess the treaty’s progress and strengthen international action on these issues.
Please read the following Legal Notes.
