HWPL Austria, Our Peace. Your Future.

Why get involved?

Four reasons to contribute in Austria.

What HWPL Austria stands for, concise, honest, no grand promises.

Prevention at the UN duty station Vienna
Vienna hosts more than 40 UN organisations, peace prevention has both infrastructure and tradition here. We act before conflicts escalate: peace education, dialogue formats and legal frameworks work structurally, not just symbolically.
UN-anchored, acting in Austria
HWPL International holds Special Consultative Status with the UN ECOSOC. Through this international anchor, every Viennese activity of HWPL Austria gains weight, and Austria a further voice in global peace policy.
Carried by Austrian civil society
Peace is not decreed from above. Our members in Vienna and across all federal states bring expertise from law, religion, education and volunteer work, rooted in Austria's tradition of associations and civic engagement.
In the spirit of Bertha von Suttner
We work UN-diplomatically: fact-based, respectful of all traditions, without polemics, without party politics. In doing so we continue the Austrian peace movement tradition, from Suttner via Fried to Frankl.

Postcards from Vienna

Why Austria, of all places? We have a few clues.

Vienna and peace are surprisingly tightly intertwined, and not only in Sunday speeches. We've gathered the most striking facts into a small postcard collection.

Want to see more?

(6 more postcards are waiting over on the About page.)

1905 · True pioneer

The very first Nobel Peace Prize laureate? A Viennese.

Bertha von Suttner, born in 1843 in the Habsburg Monarchy, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905, as the first woman ever. Her novel "Lay Down Your Arms!" (1889) made her the international voice of the peace movement, long before women could vote.

„Pacifism was trending here before there were trends."