The “Suzanne Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement” launched the first “Institute of Peace Studies” in the Arab region in February 2006 dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of peace.

Hosted by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Institute serves as the academic arm of the Movement developing training and research programs designed to disseminate practical ideas for peace, including its developmental and environmental aspects.

It also focuses on exploring ways and means of expanding the role of women and the young generation in the process of peace building. In realizing its objectives, the Institute will engage in partnerships, on the regional and international levels, with a view to maximizing the efforts of individual institutions through coordinated and collaborative activities.

One of the main objectives of the Institute is to “equip societies, especially children and youth, with the necessary knowledge and skills that will enable them to create their own pathways to peace and security”. It will act as a conduit, uniting and focusing all efforts towards the establishment and maintenance of long-term peace. By working harder to build peace, she believes, it will be harder for them to let it go.

Additionally, The Institute will offer courses in six different areas of study, such as law, ethics and human rights, conflicts resolution and post-conflict areas, mediation and negotiation in theory and practice, promoting the culture of peace, human security and peace; and gender and peace building.

One of the first activities undertaken as part of the Institute’s inauguration was the launch of a new publication by the Geneva Center for Democratic Control (DCAF) entitled “Women in an Insecure World”. Covering many aspects of the peace agenda, the book records and analyzes the scope and magnitude of violence experienced by women. It highlights the active role women can take in peacemaking and post-conflict reconstruction. It examines a wide range of issues from violence against women to human trafficking, from the ravages of war to commonplace discrimination.

The Inauguration of the Institute was held in February 2006 by H.E. Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak. The event opened with a speech of Mrs. Mubarak followed by the speech of Prof. Julia Marton Lefevre (University of Peace), of the former President of Romania Mr. Emil Constantinescu and of the tw0 Nobel Peace Laureates Mr. David Trimple and Mrs. Betty Williams. After the speeches, the Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandria, Dr. Ismail Serageldin, made the presentation of the Institute’s program and philosophy. The event closed with the Round Table discussion for the promotion of Peace through the Institute, and the presentation of two books, “Wounds of War” and “Trafficking Women & Children”.

The event was attended by the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Αbou El Gheit, the Governor of Alexandria, Mr. Αbdel Salam El Mahgoub, Mrs. Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, Prof. Federico Mayor, the wife of the Egyptian Minister of Finance Mrs. Μichele Boutros Ghali, Mrs. Mary Eisenhower – President of the «People to People» Foundation, the Greek Ambassador to Egypt Mr. Panayotis Vlassopoulos, the President of the Greek Association of “Friends of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina” Mr. Andreas Zaimis, and others.

Taking this opportunity Mrs. Vardinoyannis proposed to Mrs. Mubarak and Dr Serageldin the idea for the establishment of a Center for the study of Hellenistic Studies