The Global Peace Convention 2017 has concluded, but it’s impact in multiple sectors and partners is evident.
Filipina Attorney and Manila Standard Columnist, Rita Jimeno expressed hope in her latest column reflecting on the Global Peace Foundation’s unique, values-based approach to peacebuidling.
She writes:
Amidst the worsening peace situation all over the world, the Global Peace Foundation chaired by Dr. Hyun Jin P. Moon forges on with its peace building efforts around the globe. The Foundation which started in Korea to spur the unification of the North and South now has a presence in 16 countries, namely: Uruguay, the United States, Uganda, Tanzania, the Philippines, Paraguay, Nigeria, Nepal, Mongolia, Japan, Malaysia, Korea, Kenya, Ireland, Indonesia and India.
What does the foundation do? It partners with public and private institutions and persons to establish a culture of peace. Starting in the home where values are first learned by every person, the foundation, through the Global Peace Women, holds conferences and women leadership trainings to empower women in promoting the values of caring, sharing and loving unconditionally. It believes that if children grow up in an atmosphere of love, the culture of valuing peace and rejecting violence takes root. The foundation also focuses on other tracks to build peace, particularly in education, interfaith peacebuilding, and sustainable development and poverty reduction through a socially responsible business paradigm. The foundation realizes that it is not possible to talk of peace when hunger grips a people. Thus, it has also embarked on poverty alleviation through livelihood and entrepreneurial development in a number of countries.
When I first joined the movement for global peace, particularly the Global Peace Women, I was skeptical about how this almost unrealistic, if not impossible, dream could be achieved especially in the growing threats of terrorism worldwide. But when I saw in the four-day Global Peace Convention held at the Marriott hotel in Pasay City last week that no less than 40 nations were represented by at least a thousand delegates, I started re-thinking. Global peace is possible, it seems. It only takes a few determined and good-hearted people to start the ripples and soon—who knows—the contagion of peace will spread and conquer the world. It was encouraging to see former heads of states and prominent world leaders in attendance among whom were former president of Guatemala, Venicio Cerezo; former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo; former deputy prime minister for strategy and finance of Korea, Jin-Pyo Kim; the Director of Geopolitic and International Relations and Unesco Peace Chairman in India, Madham Das Nalapat; and the founder and chairman of the Asian Studies Center, Edwin Feulner.
Her full colum appears here in the Manila Standard:
