The Board of Peace is Full of Violent Leaders

The Membership: Authoritarians, Strongmen, and Dictators

If the Board of Peace were genuinely dedicated to peace, you’d expect its membership to reflect democratic values, human rights commitments, and humanitarian track records. Instead, The Guardian catalogued the attendees at the inaugural meeting:

Countries Rated “Not Free” by Freedom House:

• Egypt: Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly represents a country with tightly restricted civil liberties, mass political imprisonment, and documented human rights abuses.
• Kazakhstan: President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev leads a nation with unfree and unfair elections, restricted freedoms, and endemic corruption.
• Uzbekistan: President Shavkat Mirziyoyev governs what observers call an “authoritarian state with few signs of democratization.”
• Vietnam: Represented by Communist Party General Secretary Tô Lâm, a one-party state with severely restricted freedoms.
• Belarus: A founding member despite being complicit in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. President Alexander Lukashenko has been accused of rigging elections and violently suppressing protests.
• El Salvador: Under President Nayib Bukele’s “state of exception,” civil liberties have been suspended and tens of thousands detained without due process.

Leaders with Authoritarian Tendencies:

• Turkey: Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan represents a country where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has consolidated power, imprisoned political opponents, and restricted press freedom.
• Hungary: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a Trump ally, leads a country rated “Partly Free” and known for anti-migrant and anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
• Indonesia: President Prabowo Subianto, whom Trump praised at the summit, has been accused of human rights abuses in East Timor during Indonesia’s military occupation.

Invitations to Accused War Criminals:

Trump extended invitations to Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu—both of whom have arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes. Netanyahu declined to attend the charter signing ceremony in Switzerland due to concerns over arrest. Human Rights Watch characterized the Board as a “rogues’ gallery of leaders and governments with human rights records ranging from questionable to appalling” and a “club of impunity.”

Who Refused: The Democratic Rejection

The most telling detail about the Board of Peace is who declined to join. Major democratic allies rejected their invitations:

• France: Rejected because the charter “goes beyond the framework of Gaza and raises serious questions, in particular with respect to the principles and structure of the United Nations.”
• Germany: Declined to participate.
• United Kingdom: Rejected the invitation.
• Norway: Stated they “cannot be part of a structure that challenges the role of the U.N. and existing international law.”
• Sweden, Canada, Greece, Italy, Slovenia: All declined.
• Vatican: Pope Leo XIV rejected the invitation, with the Vatican expressing concern that the U.N. should remain primarily responsible for managing crisis situations.
• Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelensky called the idea of inviting Russia and Belarus “absurd” given their invasion of his country.

Canada’s invitation was rescinded entirely after Prime Minister Mark Carney denounced “American hegemony” at the World Economic Forum. The pattern is unmistakable: traditional democratic allies with strong human rights records refused, while authoritarian regimes with documented abuses eagerly joined.

The Colonial Gaza Project

The Board of Peace includes a subsidiary Gaza Executive Board tasked with overseeing the reconstruction and temporary governance of Gaza. Notable members include Marco Rubio (Secretary of State), Steve Witkoff (Special Envoy to the Middle East), Jared Kushner (Trump’s son-in-law with no official government position), and Tony Blair.

Human rights experts have condemned this structure as colonial. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, stated: “It is a colonialist operation: others deciding for the Palestinians.” The criticism centers on one glaring absence: no Palestinian representation. A board designed to govern a Palestinian territory, overseeing its reconstruction and temporary administration, includes Israel, Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, and the United States—but not a single Palestinian voice.

Jared Kushner presented a vision for a “New Gaza” (sometimes called “Trump Riviera”) that did not include Palestinians determining their future. The United Nations, World Bank, and European Union estimate Gaza’s reconstruction will cost $70 billion—making the Board’s pledged funds a fraction of actual needs.

Meanwhile, Israel—whose military assault devastated Gaza and whose leaders face ICC war crimes charges—sits on the executive board overseeing Gaza’s reconstruction.

$10 Billion Without Oversight: The Slush Fund Concern

The U.S. commitment of $10 billion raises profound legal and ethical questions:

No Congressional Approval

Congress appropriates federal funds. The Constitution is explicit. Yet Trump pledged $10 billion to the Board of Peace without any congressional vote or authorization. Senator Murphy called this “totally illegal”—and he’s correct.

Personal Control

The Board’s charter positions Trump as chairman for life with total financial control. Critics have described the $10 billion as a potential “slush fund” that Trump could control even after leaving the White House. Reddit discussions have framed this as “Trump giving himself $10B.”

Opaque Spending

There is no clarity regarding how, when, where, or by whom the $10 billion would be spent. No accountability mechanisms have been disclosed. No auditing requirements have been announced.

Discrepancy with UN Contributions

The U.S. pledge to the Board of Peace is more than 12 times its $767 million pledge to the UN’s annual budget. Meanwhile, the U.S. has withheld much of its assessed UN contributions and owes approximately $4 billion to the international organization. Trump claims he wants to “strengthen up” the UN—while simultaneously creating an alternative body and defunding the original.

Undermining the United Nations

Trump has explicitly suggested the Board of Peace could replace the United Nations. European nations have expressed concern that this is precisely the goal—to usurp the UN’s role as the primary international forum for conflict resolution and peacekeeping.

The Board’s charter notably does not mention human rights. The Trump administration has been actively working to undermine UN efforts to uphold universal human rights, including:

• Withdrawing from UN organizations
• Stopping funding for programs like the UN Population Fund
• Pushing to remove “human rights language” (terms like “gender,” “diversity,” and “climate”) from UN resolutions and statements, viewing them as “woke” or politically correct

The Board of Peace represents an alternative framework—one where human rights aren’t mentioned, authoritarian regimes have equal standing with democracies, and American taxpayer money flows without Congressional oversight.