As military veterans who served for years shoulder to shoulder in defense of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) core principles, we aim to unite under a non-profit organization and strengthen our transatlantic relations among veterans of NATO countries (NATO Veterans, as we’d like to call ourselves). Our main motivation is twofold: 1) Connect NATO Veterans to provide networking, empowerment, and solidarity opportunities, and; 2) Promote NATO’s founding principles of rule of law, democracy, human rights, and individual liberties under a non-partisan network of experienced veterans that would help NATO to strengthen its commitment to its founding principles in a way that would enable all NATO Veterans to provide their expertise and perspectives to decision-makers.
As active-duty soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, of NATO countries, we fought to protect these principles for years, making us a unique group that appreciates the NATO alliance’s importance to humanity and dedication to peace. We strongly believe that when we are in solidarity with each other we are better able to advocate for these values in our post-military life, thereby contributing to the enhancement of NATO’s commitment to peace and security. At a time, where long- standing definitions of war and peace have become blurred, where threats to democracy, the protection of human rights, and respect for the rule of law are seemingly becoming less assured, we as NATO Veterans, believe that we can and should do more to contribute to the existing efforts to protect these ideals for a better future.
With these thoughts, we aim to build a strong network of veterans in NATO member and partner countries allowing veterans to better communicate and collaborate in the development of a strongly shared awareness and stance toward upholding the values we fought for. Thereby, we aim to empower NATO Veterans in a way they can voice their educated perspectives and opinions about reinforcing NATO’s commitment to its core principles. Through this strong network, we will also bond NATO Veterans together under transatlantic solidarity to support each other in their post-service life in a variety of ways, including but not limited to, social and economic perspectives with an international scope.
Given our determination to protect our values and support each other, we believe that achieving success would require a transatlantic, non- partisan, and non-governmental organization dedicated to;
1) The Establishment of an international network for solidarity and empowerment among veterans of NATO’s member and partner countries,
2) The Advocation of and support for veterans of NATO member and partner countries,
3) The Support of decision-makers to impact policy-making across NATO member countries to preserve democracy, freedom & human rights in line with NATO’s core principles,
4) The Contribution to NATO’s capacity to preserve its mission through research and policy debate,
5) The Advocation of the importance of NATO for world peace through dialogue and debate among veterans.
The NAVI Research Institute is the research division of NATO Veterans Initiative - NAVI that provides a unique perspective to transatlantic leaders and societies on peace and security through the lens of NATO's founding principles of rule of law, democracy, human rights, and individual liberties. The NAVI Research Institute was officially established by the NAVI Board on July 16th, 2023.
