[HWPL]

[HWPL] HWPL Built Peace Monument in Zambia!

The unveiling ceremony of the HWPL Peace Monument was held on 1 March 2023 at Childhood Joy Academy in Lusaka, Zambia.

Zambian youth and citizens who yearn for peace are actively participating in HWPL peace projects. The HWPL Peace Monument was built at Childhood Joy Academy, a school that teaches HWPL’s Peace Education. Childhood Joy Academy has been teaching HWPL’s Peace Education for three years after signing a peace education MOU with HWPL.

The Peace Monument, the first to be erected in Zambia, is a one-of-a-kind that was designed over several meetings. In the last stages, HWPL members from Korea also flew to Zambia to help with the construction. The construction began in November 2022 and concluded on 28 February 2023.

Renu Saran, the headteacher at Childhood Joy Academy, stated that the HWPL Peace Monument was erected with the hope that students will always remember peace and put it into practice so that the culture of peace could be spread to everyone.

She was appointed as an HWPL Peace Educator after participating in the HWPL peace educator training course in order to teach peace, and she has supported other teachers in the academy to also participate in the HWPL peace educator training course.

The peace monument’s unveiling ceremony was filled with various activities including learning the meaning behind the peace monument, reflecting on peace not only in Zambia but worldwide, and watching performances put on by students. The participants also had time to write peace letters advocating for the end of the Russian-Ukraine War.

Peace!!

 [HWPL]

[HWPL] HWPL Swiss Joined Side Event 52nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council “The Right to Education in Afghanistan”

The Side Event 52^nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council “The Right to Education in Afghanistan” was held in Geneva, Switzerland on March 31^st. Representatives from 33 UN member countries, IGO, UNESCO, and NGO organizations attended the event under the theme of “Unleashing the Potential of the next Afghan Generation: The Right to Education in Afghanistan,” and was co-hosted by the G7+, the Belgian Permanent Representative to the United Nation Human Rights Council, HWPL Swiss branch, and Action for Development. The event hosted discussion regarding practical solutions to improving the educational environment of Afghan children.

Mr. Habib Mayar, G7+ Deputy General Secretary, emphasized the importance of promoting peace and stability through national dialogue and reconciliation. He explained that it is due to decades of war, suffering, and instability that the right to education for women and girls in Afghanistan has been denied. Mr. Mayar appealed to the delegates to put aside political agendas and think from the perspective of their human conscience, to allow for solutions to be found that can promptly ensure that the right to education in Afghanistan is upheld.

Ms. Parasto Hakim, Founder of SPAK Underground and Online University, Afghanistan, said that Afghanistan currently focuses solely on religious education. She requested that the UN focuses on the re-establishment of schools for women and girls and issues resolutions to recognize sexual offenses against women as a serious crime in Afghanistan. Moreover, she strongly urged the UN Human Right Council to do more work to help the children in Afghanistan.

Mr. Mohammad Nadir Azedpana, Principal of Mukhtar School, Afghanistan, shared how he had partnered together with HWPL to teach peace education. His experience showed that pupils who had engaged with the topics of peace, human values, the importance of families, and good manners through the HWPL Peace Education Curriculum had shown great improvements in terms of classroom behavior and school performance. Such pupils had become more polite, had grown in self-confidence, and seen improvements in their test scores. Mr. Nadir Azedpana shared plans to conduct and extend the peace education classes and expressed his gratitude towards HWPL for providing this opportunity.

H.E. Dr. Nasir Ahmad Andisha, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, stressed that schools in Afghanistan are no longer places of learning, but where soldiers are created. He called upon the UN Council to push for an accountability mechanism that can ensure the protection of human rights for all in Afghanistan and emphasized the need to proceed in unity when addressing the worsening human rights situation in Afghanistan.

Starting with the Side Event 52nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council, HWPL will continue to discuss the right to education for women and children in Afghanistan.

Peace!!

 [HWPL]

[HWPL] HWPL Solidarity of Religions’ Peace Committee Proclaims a Statement on the Russia-Ukraine War

It has already been a year and two months since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year causing a war to break out. Despite the world’s desire for the war to end as soon as possible, the war is being prolonged causing many concerns to arise.

HWPL has been providing material and emotional support to those affected by the Russia-Ukraine war. There was a conference held for peace between Russia and Ukraine, a statement issued to urge for peace, peace letters sent to Russia’s President Putin to urge for the war to end, and volunteer work and sponsor activities for the Ukrainian refugees.

In addition, religious leaders attending the HWPL World Alliance of Religions’ Peace Office have consistently held several large and small prayer meetings since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine War with hopes to end the war and restore peace. Although they have different religions, they participated in prayer meetings with their members and prayed earnestly for peace between Russia and Ukraine while respecting each other’s prayer culture.

This opportunity showed how everyone’s heart for peace is the same, transcending doctrines and cultures of each religion, and the boundaries of the continent and the country. Therefore, all religious leaders from the HWPL Solidarity of Religions’ Peace Committee joined forces to write a statement calling for an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The statement encompasses the urge for the complete end of the Russia-Ukraine war and hostilities between the two countries, and the tragic heart about the innocent lives being sacrificed. It also includes the concern of mass destruction and co-destruction caused by the prolonged war, and hopes for peace negotiations through the mediation of the international society, prompt resolution of problems, and the restoration of peace.

 

Religious leaders of the HWPL Solidarity of Religions’ Peace Committee who wrote and signed the statement include Elias Chacour the Archbishop Emeritus of Melkite Catholic Church in Israel, Vong Teph the Great Supreme Patriarch of Supreme Patriarch’s Cabinet in Cambodia, Homi Burjor Dhalla the President of World Zarathushti Cultural Foundation in India, Phra Brahmapundit the President of the International Council for the Day of Vesak in Thailand, Mohammad Al Yaqoobi the Grand Ayatollah of Office of the Religious Reference Sheikh Mohammad Al Yaqoobi, and Dae Bong the Executive Chief of Korean Buddhism Jogyejong Conference in Korea.

President Homi Burjor Dhalla said, “The war itself is definitely a violation of human rights,” actively expressing his desire to stop the war and a heart to aid and serve the victims.

Korean Monk Dae Bong revealed his regret after hearing how the Russia-Ukraine War is affecting their people, destroying the people’s daily lives, and how many innocent lives are being sacrificed. He urged to transcend religion and cooperate by saying, “Buddha and Jesus said to achieve peace. HWPL is working to end war and we should transcend religion and cooperate with this work.”

Religious leaders who are currently attending the HWPL World Alliance of Religions’ Peace Office joined the Peace Letter Campaign for peace in Russia and Ukraine held by the International Peace Youth Group (IPYG) to mark the 7^th Annual Commemoration of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW). The urge to end the Russia-Ukraine War and achieve peace will continue.

 [HWPL]

[HWPL] HWPL Hosted 2023 Peace Educator Training Education in Colombia

On February 27th, March 4th, and March 31st, 15 educators from George Williams College in Colombia participated in HWPL Peace Educator Training.

For the first time in Colombia, the teachers who participated in the peace teacher training program participated in the education with a sense of responsibility as peace teachers. This education was conducted as a time to understand and learn about the value and importance of peace education through the contents of HWPL peace textbooks.

Paola Andrea Bolaños Melo, a Castellan language and ethics teacher at George Williams College, shared his impression after the training, “It was a very enriching thing that needed to be shared with students, family, and acquaintances, as it allowed us to reflect on and seek the path to peace education and learning. My plan is to continue with the values instilled in me from home, based on respect for others and myself. My mentality remains the same that we cannot build peace when selfishness and resentment invade our minds and hearts and that no matter how insignificant it may seem to others, we must always do good deeds for peace.”

Luz Enith Prieto de Rodriguez, a mathematics teacher at George Williams College, shared her determinations for the future and stated, “All that is about the love of peace is my favorite subject. it is the chair that strengthened that link I have with the subject. All my life as a teacher, I’ve been practicing it by instilling in each of my students from that self-love, that self-respect, and that love of nature. I’ve instilled it could say my whole life. Continue with my task of leaving that legacy to my students. My job is a vocation, so I do it with love and when I do it with love, I know that it’s going to fall into each of my students and therefore into their homes. Always being consistent between what I do and say, is a reflection of my practice. I have to live and set an example in order to be a messenger of peace. Peace begins with me.”

On March 31st, the last day of the training, all 15 educators were given certificates of completion of the HWPL Peace Educator Training Education. Afterward, the educators pledged to teach peace as Colombian peace educators actively. Together with HWPL, they plan to conduct a peace education program for Colombian youth at the end of April.

 [IPYG]

[IPYG] IPYG Re-structs The Youth Empowerment Peace Workshop into the Youth Engagement & Peacebuilding Working Group

The International Youth Peace Group (IPYG), which serves as a networking and platform for peace activities of young people around the world, has restructured the Youth Empowerment Peace Workshop (YEPW) to a new activity called the Youth Engagement & Peacebuilding Working Group (YEPW).

The existing Youth Empowerment Peace Workshop (YEPW) has been operated as a practical online/offline discussion platform to help young people solve their own problems. The workshop participants discussed what is the most serious problem that currently threatens youth and peace in the region, and among them, various problems such as lack of educational opportunities, unemployment, and violence, and contents to solve them have been developed and implemented. The YEPW, which started as a regional group, has since developed into a coalition in which young people from 40 countries from different continents participate together.

Going one step further, the IPYG organized the existing “Youth Empowerment Peace Workshop,” centered on the workshop participants, to regularize youth cooperation for peacebuilding and institutionally establish it in each region, will be changed to “Youth Engagement & Peacebuilding Working Group.” Also, with the new slogan “Together for change, Peace in Action,” the IPYG will encourage young people to actively participate in the realization of peace.

Now, the Youth Engagement & Peacebuilding Working Group (YEPW) will become the center of national youth networks and peace projects, displaying creative ideas and challenging mindset for fulfilling peace, and representing the voices of young people who yearn for peace. In addition, it will be a major organization that carries out activities for community development.

Through the Youth Engagement & Peacebuilding Working Group (YEPW), we look forward to your interest and participation (info@ipyg.org) in the role and activities of young people around the world for peacebuilding.

Peace!!