The International Progress Organization (IPO) is a Vienna-based think tank dealing with world affairs. As an international non-governmental organization (NGO) it enjoys consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and is associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information. The organization aims at promoting peaceful co-existence among all nations, in particular the dialogue among civilizations; a just international economic order; global respect for human rights; and the international rule of law. The IPO has members in more than 70 countries on all continents and organizes conferences and expert meetings on issues of conflict resolution, civilizational dialogue, international law, and United Nations reform. The organization publishes the series Studies in International Relations (since 1978) and monographs in the field of international relations theory.
The president of the IPO is Dr. Hans Köchler, the Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. The organization was founded in Innsbruck (Austria) in 1972 by a group of students from Austria, Egypt and India who felt a need for a new approach towards North-South relations and development partnership. Among the original supporters of the organization were the then Austrian President Rudolf Kirchschläger, Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor, and Indian President Gyani Zail Singh.
Since 1974 the IPO has organized a series of lectures and conferences on the cultural dimension of international affairs (Amman 1974; Innsbruck 1974; Vienna 1979; Rome 1981; Nicosia 1984); these activities preceded the current global discourse on the dialogue of civilizations in which the I.P.O. has participated through the organization of expert meetings in Europe and the Muslim world. In 1987 the IPO initiated (in co-operation with Nobel Laureate Seán MacBride) the Lawyers' Appeal Against Nuclear War which led to a worldwide civil society campaign for a resolution by the UN General Assembly calling for an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the question of the legality of nuclear arms. In September 1991 the IPO convened the Second International Conference On A More Democratic United Nations (CAMDUN-2) at the United Nations Office at Vienna. In 2000 the Secretary-General of the United Nations nominated two officials of the organization as international observers at the Lockerbie trial in the Netherlands (see also: Pan Am Flight 103 and Hans Köchler's Lockerbie trial observer mission). Since 1985, the IPO has been calling for a democratization of the United Nations Organization, in particular of the UN Security Council. Since 1987, the organization has been dealing with the problem of international terrorism, repeatedly suggesting a legal definition of terrorism by the UN General Assembly. The various initiatives and proposals are documented in the IPO conference proceedings. In addition to the organization of lectures and international conferences, the IPO has undertaken (since 1980) monitoring missions in the fields of human rights and the rule of law.
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