The 5th International Religious Leaders Conference was held at TheK Hotel in Seoul, South Korea on 19 September. Over 1,300 people including religious leaders were in attendance at the conference which was a part of the 2019 World Peace Summit. HWPL is hosting HWPL World Alliance of Religions Peace (WARP) Office meetings and Religion Peace Camps around the world.
It’s time to show their achievements and search for ways of improvement. It’s not visible, but the world has changed a lot. If you want to see more specific?
HWPL Chairman Man Hee Lee encouraged other religious leaders to join the HWPL WARP Office meetings by saying “let us gather and compare scriptures to fulfill our goal. We need a common standard to compare scriptures. You have to judge for yourself. Religions cannot achieve harmony until we have a common understanding of scriptures. HWPL WARP Office meetings must do this.”
2019 Conference for the Implementation of the Declaration
“Legislate Peace” – Implementation of the DPCW for Sustainable Development
On the 19th, the second day of the 2019 World Peace Summit, experts and citizens gathered to share the achievements and focused on the “Legislate Peace” (LP) project. They were creating a huge stream of peace.
Mr. Man Hee Lee, Chairman of HWPL, explained the necessity of introducing new provisions of peace to international law by stating, “It is no small task to introduce new provisions to international law. Then we need to know why new ones are needed. This is because wars cannot be ceased with current international law, and if so, peace cannot come to the world. Current international law makes exceptions for the use of force, so wars cannot be ceased. The HWPL International Law Peace Committee, which is composed of world-renowned experts in law, drafted the DPCW. If you think its content is needed for humanity to live and better than the present, it should be carried out.”.
Under the theme, Expanding 3.7 Billion Women’s Network for Support and Advocacy of the DPCW and Peaceful Unification of the Korean Peninsula, approximately 1,000 women from home and abroad attended the 2019 International Women’s Peace Conference.
IWPG Chairwoman Hyun Sook Yoon gave a speech which highlighted the important role given to the 3.7 billion women around the world. She urged women to take an active role as peace advocates along with the IWPG.
“Although we couldn’t be part of the independence movement, now we can be part of the peace movement — the greatest cause of our time, which can lead to the cessation of wars and a peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula. Why shouldn’t we be the ones who protect the lives of our children and prevent any more lost lives? I ask you to send a call to action to the presidents of your respective countries so that they will sign in support of the DPCW and bring forth global peace and the cessation of war. Let your fellow citizens also see that the 10 articles and 38 clauses of the DPCW embody the solution for peace. Help encourage them to support the DPCW as you do and put the nation on track to becoming a leading country in peace works.”
Giani Harpreet Singh Ji Jathedar (Head), from Sri Akal Takht Sahib urged all to look past religions and beliefs and become one to achieve peace by saying, “I, on behalf of all the Sikhs of the world, give my good wishes to HWPL for attainment of their noble objectives for DPCW to be submitted to the UN General Assembly as a draft resolution and to become a legally binding instrument. Through the World Alliance of Religions’ Peace Office meetings, Religious leaders are discussing the spirit of peace written in scriptures to step forward onto the road of world peace.”
2019 World Peace Summit: 5th Anniversary of the WARP Summit
This peace festival was held at Suwon World Cup Stadium (Korea) and was broadcast live to a worldwide audience. And “Legislate Peace” Campaign was conducted in 113 countries, 166 locations, 211 events. [138 countries participated] I certainly recommend seeing it in person. Because knowing and feeling are very different. Especially, I recommend you see the IPYG Card Section and Media Facade.
IPYG Card Section and Media Facade at the 2019 World Peace Summit ❤❤
Mr. Man Hee Lee, Chairman of HWPL, proclaimed a message of peace filled with passion through his opening speech by saying “Five years ago, at the WARP Summit, Political leaders pledged to work towards an international legal document for peace and cessation of war, religious leaders pledged to achieve the alliance of religions, and heads of various organizations pledged to urge for the completion of this work. We are working to keep that promise now. The event is held at the same time in many countries around the world. These efforts will shine in the history of the world and we must be united to achieve the promised purpose (of peace). Let the DPCW be presented and passed to the UN General Assembly as international law of peace. We Are One!”
What’s happening in 200 cities in 110 countries? It is a Peace Festival!! Beginning on August 27th, Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Paris, France, Mindanao, Philippines, Suva, Fiji, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Cape Town, South Africa, and more, hold “2019 World Peace Summit” to support the DPCW for sustainable development. There are so many people who want peace. They are confident in the DPCW, a new international law aligned with SDGs and UN Charter and are about to achieve peace with their voices.
Today we looked at five cities. Finally, I want to introduce you a boy, born in South Sudan, a country suffering from a sustained civil war.
This young boy is Immanuel Lovizo Justin. When he saw 150 people die horribly before his eyes in a civil war in 2016, he decided to start the work of peace. He already knew his life could be threatened.
He started to encourage people to realize the DPCW, which is a new international law called the “answer to peace” and is supported by former/incumbent Presidents, and he collected 5,000 signatures of support for DPCW by himself. He also held a peace concert and was reported in the local newspaper.
The peace-loving young boy is now in a hurry to collect 10,000 peace letters for the Presidents and has already collected more than 1,000. What value did this South Sudanese boy see in the DPCW? Why is he risking his life in the battlefield to call for the DPCW?
“Legislate Peace (LP)” Campaign is in progress, beginning on August 27th over 200 cities, including Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Paris, France, Mindanao, Philippines, Suva, Fiji, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Cape Town, South Africa, and more. They will host conferences, forums, supporting signature events as part of the Peace Letter Campaign and various cultural events.
I’ll show you firsthand what’s going on all over the world.
In Cape Town, the South African branch along with Cabinet Ministers, Speakers of Parliament and women organizations will announce the reply of peace letters and the initiatives of peace education and will show how the DPCW can be used for promoting the end of violence in Africa.
The goal of this movement is establishing a universal standard and international order that can be applied across the globe and enacting an international and legally binding law for peace. It is the DPCW, a comprehensive document that clarifies the role of the members of international society to prevent and resolve conflicts. DPCW is in the process of being introduced to the UN as a draft resolution.
2019 World Peace Summit: 5th Anniversary of the WARP Summit
There are so many useful programs. Everything goes live on YouTube, so I hope we watch it together. Peace is bound to be achieved if each of us makes only a little more effort. Already the whole world is moving, and this huge flow is unstoppable. Together, Peace.
As of August 2019, a book named “True Story of HWPL: Peace and Cessation of War” with the record of peacebuilding efforts by millions of global citizens and social leaders has been displayed in public institutions including libraries, schools, museums in 195 countries.
According to HWPL the publisher, the purpose of this book is to implant the values and spirit of peace that lead “every individual to become a messenger of peace.”
Chairman Man Hee Lee of HWPL who experienced the war as a war veteran prefaced the book by saying “We have worked together with all our hearts and strengths to achieve world peace and cessation of war transcending all borders of nation, ethnicity, and religion. Let us all become messengers of peace and leave peace as an everlasting legacy for future generations. Our work of peace will shine as an eternal light in history.”
Regarding the value of this book, Vice mayor of Târgu Mureş in Romania, Dr. Makkai Grigore, told “This book is a model and a call to peace. Readers can find models that are worthwhile to follow and can be stimulated to maintain peace. Through this book, I can come into contact with a lesser-known reality and meet world leaders who have a say about peace. I think this book can be considered a symbol of peace education, a history fragment for the 21st century.”
In this current century, the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) set out key points for harmonious coexistence and development of the global community, including the economy, poverty eradication, education, welfare, equality and justice. The precondition for achieving this goal is the sustainable state of peace without war based on the complete cessation of violent conflicts such as hostile actions and wars throughout the international community.
However, conflicts and actions of war between countries have not ceased, and the possibility of war is further increased by the spread of violent extremism by non-state actors based on religious and ethnic identity. Just as such, today’s conflicts are becoming worsened by the everyday fears that can directly affect individuals, going beyond what affects one’s country.
Therefore, a comprehensive approach of prevention and solution is required to respond to violent forms of disputes, including wars that threaten the lives of mankind. This comprehensive approach is based on the participation of non-governmental organizations and individuals – as well as governments and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) in this current international community – where the response to disputes in non-political areas such as culture, religion, ethnicity, economy, and the environment is required with the cooperation between various actors. This increases the possibility of establishing global peace as a new approach to respond to conflicts by transcending national boundaries with shared, common effort for peace from around the world.
The HWPL Peace Summit sets the source of power to create a world of peace to include every agent of action – from an individual to a country – to become a peace messenger. The 10 articles and 38 clauses of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW), drafted by HWPL along with international law experts from around the world, reconfirms the core values included in the existing international documents discussed and drawn in international communities including the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
The Declaration also clarifies the role of the members of international society, including civil societies and countries, to ban, prevent, and resolve conflicts. Based on the global support shown through “Legislate Peace” campaign, the 10 articles and 38 clauses of the DPCW should be introduced to the UN as a resolution with the goal of the principles of peace represented in the Declaration should be established as international law for peace which should be protected as a legally binding document in the world today.
HWPL, the host of this event, is an NGO associated with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the UN Department of Global Communications and in Special Consultative Status with the UN ECOSOC. The organizers are the IPYG, an affiliated organization of HWPL, and the IWPG, a UN ECOSOC-affiliated NGO with Special Consultative Status. Mr. Man Hee Lee is the chairman of HWPL. In fact, everything here has nothing to do without him. That’s how important he is.
All of these can be seen as Man Hee Lee’s peace biography. I think it would be nice to read another article because I’ve posted so many posts about who he is. (more info)
1. On 17-19 September 2014, HWPL hosted the September 18th HWPL World Peace Summit for world peace and cessation of war. At this event, the world’s political leaders recognized the need for an international legal instrument that ensures peace and promised to cooperate, and religious leaders promised to become one according to the teachings of God and contribute to peace. As a token of their promise, they signed the Agreement to Propose the Enactment of International Law for the Cessation of Wars and World Peace and the World Alliance of Religions Agreement on 18 September 2014 at the 63 Building in Seoul.
2. In 2015, the 1st anniversary of the September 18th HWPL World Peace Summit was held at the World Peace Gate in Seoul Olympic Park. At this event, the HWPL International Law Peace Committee was officially inaugurated, and its members entered the stage of discussing an international legal instrument to settle and prevent armed conflicts.
Then on 14 March 2016, the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW), comprising of 10 articles and 38 clauses, was proclaimed. The fundamental spirit of the DPCW is the fair governance based on law, not power. Articles 1 to 7 pertain to the role of States while Articles 8 to 10 aim to empower the participation of global citizens in establishing a global order of peace through politics, religion, media, education, and civil society.
3. At the 2nd Anniversary of the September 18th HWPL World Peace Summit of 2016, discussions were held to turn the DPCW into legally binding form. As a result, “Legislate Peace” Project was launched to advocate the DPCW and mobilize support for its implementation globally, and over a million people in 170 countries participated in just one year.
4. In 2017, 2017 Anniversary of the September 18th HWPL World Peace Summit was held under the theme, “Establishing Collaborative Governance for Development and Implementation of the DPCW.” Building on the momentum from the adoption of the DPCW by the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), the Summit aimed to increase awareness of the DPCW among intergovernmental organizations including the United Nations.
Furthermore, the agreed standards for determining a trustworthy religious scripture, which is the key of the comparative study of scriptures, were presented and ideas for a global peace media network were developed. Overall, the Summit provided an opportunity to seek ways to establish a cooperative network among international organizations, governments, and civil societies.
5. Through the 4th Anniversary of the September 18th HWPL World Peace Summit that convened with the theme of Collaboration for Peace Development: Building a Peace Community through the DPCW in 2018, the following topics were discussed: 1) Plans of action to support the DPCW to be introduced as UN resolution as a national and regional level; 2) Plans of action to establish and expand peace networks with various fields in the core including politics, religion, education, media, youth, women, etc.
With the youths’ Peace Letter activities that urged for a peaceful unification on the Korean Peninsula in 2018, the Peace Letter campaign expanded during March to May in 2019 for the citizens and leaders from around the world in various sectors to urge support for the DPCW. As a result of this campaign, peace letters were written and sent to the heads of state from 192 countries.
The theme of the 2019 World Peace Summit: 5th Anniversary of the WARP Summit is “Legislate Peace”– Implementation of the DPCW for Sustainable Development. This year the outcomes from the previous year’s work – in which various fields focused on solidifying peace networks – will be shared, along with a more detailed direction for the advancement of actualizing world peace. For this purpose, there will be events held in 200 cities in 110 countries with 300,000 citizens with the goal of establishing a universal order and standard that is applicable internationally, and to establish an international, legally binding document for peace.
As Romania holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first half of 2019, a peace conference was held on 1-2 April in Bucharest. The conference was hosted by the ISACCL in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Romania, HWPL, Centre for BBS, University of Bucharest, SNSPA, FRD and Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Global Ethics.
HWPL was on 31st World Peace Tour. I’ve never heard of a private organization in a far and small country doing this. This is really a huge thing.
Hon. Emil Constantinescu, Former President of Romania, said “It is necessary to have political and military cooperation based on the mutual trust for the unification. If we plan with the foundation of the precedents of Eastern Europe’s transition from communism to democracy, along with international exchange, it will be of great help for us to establish worldwide governance that the whole world needs.”
Mr. Man Hee Lee, Chairman of HWPL, said “How would the world think of a people who point guns at each other? North and South Korean leaders should bear this in mind. As seen in the case of Germany, reunification should be achieved by the people, not politics or law. If North and South Korean people come forward to reunify, nothing will stop them.”
Mr. Dragomir Marian, President of Master Peace, said “Through Peace Education over 5 terms, we have educated children how to prevent and resolve conflicts and violence. Peace exists in the context of family, fellow groups, and societies. Through education, we have realized that teaching the principles of peace in the early stage of life can transform the youth to embrace peace.”
Mr. Man Hee Lee, Chairman of HWPL, said “Who should first be the teacher of children in the world? It is their families, their neighbors, and the society. For a peaceful world, it is not too late to start this work of peace now.”
HWPL Special Edition: The Beginning of Change towards Peace
Senior reporters with a high position at the newspaper office came and asked questions about his ” Peace Scenario.”
Q. What is the significance of the peace work that you have done so far for cessation of war and world peace?
The Chairman Man Hee Lee of HWPL said “More people died from starvation than from combat injuries during the Korean War. Many people struggled to live, eating anything from dirt to gunpowder in bullets. When could they ever take off their blood-stained military uniforms?”
“To do so, war had to come to an end. Wars must never happen again. Peace is not just a matter of one individual or one country. It matters to all people of the world, so everyone in the world must support this work of peace. I invite everyone to become messengers of peace, transcending the borders of nationality, ethnicity and religion.”
Q. Could you comment on the Peace Letter Campaign that HWPL is engaging in together with many youth, women and social organizations around the world?
The Chairman Lee said “If heads of state truly love their citizens and their countries, they will not be able to ignore the will of the people. Young people are sacrificed in the frontlines of war without getting a chance to blossom. Has anyone compensated for their sacrifices? Now the youths are saying they will protect themselves. Women are saying they will not send their children to battlefields. Their Peace Letters will certainly move the world.”
Q. What could be a path forward for peace education?
He answered “Someone once offered to award me a peace prize, but I rejected the offer. Instead of receiving the peace prize, I made a book that contains all the peace work that we have done so far and distributed the book in libraries around the world, so that the future generations can know about this work of peace. I believe that this is a true peace education that we need.”
“No one has yet been able to achieve cessation of war and realize world peace, and this work may seem impossible even in the future. However, this is a work that needs to be done by someone for all mankind, and maybe the DPCW, which is about to be introduced in the UN General Assembly, could be the last hope we have.”
I was most impressed with his last words. I don’t want to miss this chance, which may be the last hope. It’s not just for me, it is for all of us. Since IPYG Peace Letter Campaign has already become an international campaign involving 200,000 people, I’d like to keep trying to write peace letters. Let’s write together. 🙂