On July 19, the HWPL held the 16th WARP Office in Daejeon. They invited leaders of Buddhism, Islam and Christianity to hold a forum under the theme of “God’s Promise.” Participants discussed the record of God’s promise to make and whether it was recorded in the scripture.
The Buddhist leader said, “The teachings of Buddhism are not dependent on the absolute but on the fulfillment of one’s salvation and wishes through training and enlightenment himself.”
“God promised blessings and salvation in heaven if we kept the word written in the Quran,” the Islamic leader said. “He confirmed our faith by keeping his word.”
The pastor said “There are two testaments of old and new in the Bible. The content is the liberation from sin and the return of the Creator God. The prophecy of the Old Testament came about 2,000 years ago and Jesus had achieved Old Testament. And he gave us a new testament.” Lastly, he emphasized that “the true faith of the believers is to believe that a new testament will be fulfilled and to believe what has been achieved when it is done.”
Theme: What is the truth? in Busan
On July 21, under the theme of “Truth,” leaders of Cheondoism, Buddhism and Christianity gathered to announce “the truth and standards in each scripture” and “the process and purpose of seeking the truth written in each scripture.”
“It is not easy to learn the true truth in a world where lies are played these days,” said a 40-year-old woman who attended the forum. “After listening to the truth of each religion at the forum today, I came to the conclusion that the ultimate purpose of truth is ‘LOVE’.”
Meanwhile, HWPL has continued to host the WARP Office for Inter-religious Harmony since the 2014 WARP Summit and currently operates offices at 250 locations in 127 countries.
Jayathma Wickramanayake, United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, addresses the Security Council meeting UN Photo/Loey Felipe
On 17th of July 2019, Jayathma Wickramanayake, the UN’s Youth Envoy, visited the Security Council on Wednesday with a simple message “young people care about peace.” She said especially young women can be labelled on a “small minority” easily. These stereotypes and myths skew young people’s full potential for peace. The fact is that most young people are in fact not involved in violence.
“In the past months I have noticed with grave concern, incidents of young peacebuilders and young human rights defenders being subjected to threats, intimidation, violence, arbitrary arrest and retaliation by State and non-State Actors.” She emphasized the need to protect these young peacebuilders.
A wide view of the Security Council meeting 17 July 2019 UN Photo/Loey Felipe
She reminded the Council that the Youth, Peace and Security agenda is being recognized and institutionalized within the UN as “core” to the Organization’s priorities for young people. So, the UN Youth Strategy, Youth 2030, will promote an environment that recognizes young people’s important and positive contributions to peace and security, while creating safe spaces and expanding opportunities for young people.
I totally agree with her. Young people have enormous potential. Protect them and help them grow tremendously. There’s something she and the young men of the United Nations are pushing now, and I think it’s so good that I’d like to introduce it. #Youth4Peace #Youth2030
At the First International Symposium on Youth Participation in Peace Processes, which was held last March in Finland, the youth envoy officially launched the policy paper “WE ARE HERE: An Integrated Approach to Youth-Inclusive Peace Processes.”(Here)
António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, said “It analyses how young people can influence such efforts using diverse and innovative approaches. Around the world, young women and men are striving for justice, inclusion, gender equality and human rights. We must make the most of their power as drivers of a culture of peace.”
Ms. Wickramanayake said “I hope this is the beginning of a process… for concrete actions to bring peace. Sustainable peace must be democratized to include the communities most affected. Young people are our best chance in succeeding at that.”
International Youth Peace Movement
In the last two decades, over 1,000 peace agreements have been signed globally. It is estimated that 408 million youth live in a state or province affected by armed conflict. The co-authors, Ali Altiok and Irena Grizelj, said “No comprehensive studies have assessed the role and impact of young people in these peace agreements. This paper takes the first step towards providing emerging evidence that youth inclusion in peace processes can yield positive results.”
All we need for ‘We Are Here’ is ‘We Are One’
I’m reading this paper. Looking at it, I feel confident that peace can be achieved. How? Only, it would be necessary for all of us to work together as one. All we need for ‘We Are Here’ is ‘We Are One’. I also remember International Peace Youth Group (IPYG), a youth peace organization that is emerging most recently. It is a subsidiary organization of HWPL, international peace NGO affiliated with the UN ECOSOC and the UN DGC.
IPYG shouts “We Are One!!!”
IPYG, which represents 1.8 billion young people, is affiliated with 805 organizations of 110 countries. The number of total members is 4,600,000. In IPYG Peace Letter Campaign, youth of 23 countries have participated and the handwritten peace letters have been delivered to 9 former/current presidents and prime ministers in 8 countries.
On 14th of March 2019, all youth of the world had sent to their respective President or Prime Minister in 192countries with the expectation of a response from these heads of state. On 25th of May 2019, the “6th IPYG Peace Walk” was held in around 126 locations in 77 countries around the world, including Australia, China, Germany, India, Russia, South Africa, the Philippines, and United States of America. (What is Peace Walk?) There is enthusiastic support from young people all over the world, and this huge flow is unstoppable.
6th Peace Walk / Santa Monica, LA
These young people are now doing all they can to get the DPCW, the best international law to put an end to the war, to the U.N. (What is DPCW?) Like UN Youth Envoy, the world is full of young people of passion for peace. Their potential can never be ignored. If all the peace groups of each country come together, and all of them shout in one voice, which country can start a war? No one will suffer any more.
On 11st of July, more than 25 Caribbean ambassadors and heads of states, including former Prime Minister of Belize the Honorable Mr. Said Musa, gathered in Washington D.C. Why did they gather? These incredibly famous people don’t move for no reason. They want to support the implementation of international peace legislation, the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW). Where? “Within their each countries.”
DPCW has global support, especially for young people and women. There were well over a million supporters and the DPCW has already been enacted as a National Declaration in several countries around the world, including Antigua and Barbuda.
Mr. Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize, said “I want to pledge my support for adoption of the DPCW which I find to be the most comprehensive legal framework that will serve to spread a zone of peace within the Caribbean region and across the world.” Caribbean Peace Movement is growing so rapidly.
Among the event, delegates committed to advance the passing of the DPCW through theCARICOM and the Coalition of Caribbean Leaders for Peace (CCLP). The CARICOM is an organisation of fifteen Caribbean nations and dependencies having primary objectives to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members. It is home to approximately sixteen million citizens, 60% of whom are under the age of 30. Caribbean countries have tremendous potential.
Their Headquarter is on Georgetown, Guyana. Guyana’s CARICOM Youth Ambassador and Regional Director for the United Nations Caribbean Global Peace Initiative, Ms. Samantha Sheoprashad, also gave remarks. According to a report from the Borgen Project, roughly 43 percent of Guyana’s population lives below the poverty line, the youth unemployment rate is over 30 percent but the current estimates are closer to 40 percent.
Mr. Musa, a founding member of the CCLP, urged other Caribbean leaders to participate and serve as a “beacon to guide the important work of the [CCLP] to spread the message of peace not only in our region but globally as well.” After all, they know it’s the DPCW that can solve all of this. This is the answer to peace. It is currently being presented to pass as law through the United Nations. Let’s have one voice! We Are One!
On 29 May 2019, the 6th Annual Commemoration of the Declaration of World Peace and the Peace Walk took place at Ecole Fondamentale Lafia De Kalaban-Koro in Bamako, Mali. The event was hosted by the International Peace Youth Group (IPYG) and supported by a peace advocate group called Peace One Day. Leaders from various sectors, including government and NGO and more than 300 youth, participated in the event.
The Peace Walk event was hosted for the first time in Mali and it filled the hearts of the youth and event participants with an overwhelming sense of hope. Due to the recent breakout of civil war in Mali few months ago, Malian people have been in urgent need of peace. Afterwards, those students had an opportunity to write their own peace letters. A total of 85 hand-written peace letters are to be sent to the president of Mali, together with other hand-written peace letters.
Let’s find out about Peace One Day who helped HWPL.
Peace One Day Press conference with SESG Mary Robinson / flickr CC BY-SA
Peace One Day is a non-profit organisation that was founded in 1999. In 2001 the member states of the United Nations unanimously adopted the first ever annual day of “global ceasefire and non-violence” on 21 September – Peace Day. Since 2001, Peace One Day’s objective is making it a day that is “self-sustaining”, an annual day of “global unity”, a day of “intercultural cooperation on an unprecedented scale.”
UN GA Resolution – A/RES/55/282 / Peace One Day
The founder is an actor turned filmmaker Jeremy Gilley. After a carrer as an actor, Jeremy began making films in 1995 and in 1999. And making a movie was a big boost to Peace One Day. In 1998, Gilley began to make the Peace One Day documentary, eventually deciding to aim for a UN resolution formalising the idea. This goal was reached in 2001. In 2004, the Peace One Day documentary premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) and the BBC.
He and his friends, who had nothing at first, recklessly wrote letters. He said “And we wrote to heads of state, their ambassadors, Nobel Peace laureates, NGOs, faiths, various organizations — literally wrote to everybody. And I remember the first letter. One of the first letters was from the Dalai Lama, saying ‘This is an amazing thing. Come and see me. I’d love to talk to you about the first ever day of peace.'”
That’s how it continued to evolve and results began to emerge. In Afghanistan, 70% reduction in violent incidents was recorded by United Nations Department of Safety and Security on Peace Day 2008. In 2016, after several years work with global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, it was estimated that 2.2 billion people had been exposed to the Peace Day message, that 940 million were aware of the day and that 16 million behaved more peacefully as a result. It’s a brilliant idea and has a distinct ripple effect. But there is an international peace NGO that has developed this a little bit.
“The Complete End of War and Eternal Peace”It is the goal of the HWPL. Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL) is affiliated with the UN ECOSOC and the UN DGC. And International Peace Youth Group (IPYG) is its youth organization. In order to achieve its goal, HWPL is trying every year, with a higher growth rate than any other peace organization. Experts and journalists evaluate HWPL as a practical and powerful organization.
On May 25th, “6th Annual Commemoration of the Declaration of World Peace and the Peace Walk” was held at about 126 places in 77 countries around the world including Australia, China, Germany, India, Russia, South Africa, the Philippines, and United States of America. These millions of people gathered to urge Support for the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW). It is the HWPL‘s most groundbreaking answer to peace.
Introduction of the DPCW to the UN
What is the problem of existing international law? It is not legally binding and it is allowing war in part. So 21 prominent international law experts from 15 different countries made 10 articles and 38 clauses of the DPCW. DPCW has only been proclaimed for three years, but it’s been a startling development of national and global support for citizens around the world.
It has received formal support from the Pan-African Parliament, the Council of Ministers of the Pacific Islands, the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), and the former presidents of Eastern Europe, as well as MOUs and official documents. Also, when the Chairman Man Hee Lee introduced the DPCW at UN headquarters, delegates from 145 countries gave a standing ovation.
31st HWPL World Peace Tour in Parliament of Romania / HWPL PHOTO
From a civil society perspective, more than 1.3 million citizens around the world support DPCW with signatures and IPYG Peace Letter Campaign. On March 14, citizens from all over the world wrote more than 200,000 letters of peace and sent them to presidents and prime ministers of 192 countries to urge the need for DPCW and support from countries. And the media from around the world reported it extensively, and the world cheered when they heard the news.
In my personal view, every peace organization seems to be absolutely wonderful. Wouldn’t world peace be too easy if all the world’s peace organizations were united, regardless of their own interests? But the core will be needed. I’m sure it’s HWPL that has the power to bring everyone together. We Are One!
To commemorate the 6th Peace Walk, a Peace Letter campaign along with a Peace Walk festival was held for 4 days from May 16th to 20th at Bačko Gradište and Liberty Square of Bečej in the South Bačka District of Serbia. Over 700 youth and students from all around Serbia gathered under the direction of Aleksandar Đekić, president of Bečejsko Udruženje Mladih, for the Peace Walk festival. They gathered to urge their head of state to support the DPCW. (What is DPCW?)
Aleksandar Đekić, president of Bečejsko Udruženje Mladih, who planned the event, suffered through two wars in his childhood and currently resides in Serbia. He stated that, “when I was a child, I was in two wars growing up. One in Croatia and one in Bosnia. Because of this, I accept to participate in the work of peace.”
Let me introduce you to the two wars and the Yugoslav war, which includes these two wars.
Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War 1991 Vukovar street / Wikimedia Commons
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995. An estimated 20,000 people died during Croatia’s four-year war of independence, during the breakup of Yugoslavia. Several hundred Vukovar citizens were murdered by the Yugoslav army and Serb paramilitaries in 1991. In total, the war caused 500,000 refugees and displaced persons.
Bosnian War
The cemetery at the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial and Cemetery to Genocide Victims / Wikipedia
The Bosnian War was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. During the war, an estimated 100,000 people were killed, 80% of whom were Bosniaks. In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces killed as many as 8,000 Bosniak men and boys from the town of Srebrenica. It was the largest massacre in Europe since the Holocaust. Bosnia peace efforts fail, war breaks out between Muslims and Croats, previously allied against Serbs.
Lists of Yugoslav Wars
Date: 31 March 1991 – 12 November 2001 Total deaths: 130,000 – 140,000 Displaced: 4,000,000
Ten-Day War, Slovenian Independence War (1991)
Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995)
Bosnian War (1992–1995)
Kosovo War (1998–1999)
Insurgency in the Preševo Valley (1999–2001)
Insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia (2001)
6th Peace Walk with IPYG
No one knows the need for peace as well as anyone who has experienced the war in person. Thank you for the courage and dedication of the leaders who are now working for peace. You guys fought really well. It’s our turn now.
Aleksandar Đekić said, “Before IPYG, our organization never knew that a project like this existed, and we never heard about the DPCW, even though we do projects regarding human rights. This motivated us to research more about this topic, and encouraged us to participate, and try to make new changes in our society.
IPYG helped us a lot during the planning process, especially with education about the 10 articles and DPCW. We managed to organize a major event in our city that gathered the attention of Bečejs citizens and inspired them to think about this topic more. We hope that the head of our country will notice us and our message we presented through our peace walks.”
6th Peace Walk was held in around 126 locations in 77 countries. IPYG will surely achieve peace with young people all over the world. I want you to be a witness.
Have you seen Bong Joon-ho’s parasite movie? I first knew when Professor Parasitology introduced me that there was a movie about parasites. At that time, there were hairworms, roundworms and pinworms on the screen. When the Horsehair (Gordian worm) enters the body of a praying mantis, it jumps into the water and kills itself. The reason is that the parasite becomes an adult, lives and lays eggs in the water. So I thought it might be a disaster movie where people all become zombies like Resident Evil.
And I was even more excited to hear that it won the PALME D’OR at the 72ndCannes FilmFestival. It is the first Korean movie to win in Cannes. According to a local report from the Cannes Film Festival, “Parasite” received two rounds of applause comparable to a standing ovation from the audience during its official screening. The first round of applause broke when Song Kang-ho picked up something from the trash can, and the second round of applause when a figure in the movie struck with feet. After the screening, a standing ovation followed the custom of the Cannes Film Festival, which extended unexpectedly for Eight minutes.
losing my mind over bong joon-ho's jolliness/comments in korean during PARASITE's standing ovation at #Cannes2019 and also that the first thing he said on-mic was "i'm very awkward" #BongHivepic.twitter.com/ZDOXpCO5ZP
Song Kang-ho: “How long do I need to keep clapping?” Bong Joon-ho: “Yeah, I’m hungry.”
This conversation came out in the middle of applause, and it’s so funny to me. It was also a big talk on social media. Also, it was the 22nd unanimous award of the jury in Cannes history. “It’s such a unique experience. It’s so unexpected,” Iñárritu raved about “Parasite.”
He said “It took all of us sharing our experiences. We shared the mystery of the unexpected way this film took us through different genres and mixed them and spoke in a funny, humorous, tender way with no judgment of something so irreverent and urgent. It’s so global but in such a local film. We were all fascinated by it since we saw it. It kept growing and growing. It was a unanimous decision.”
In the late 2010s, the Cannes Film Festival’s propensity is found to be paying attention to “the story of families belonging to the socially vulnerable.” It is also analyzed that this tendency led to the award of parasites. In fact, this is what I want to talk about.
In order to meet the upper class in the film, you have to keep going up, the lower class lives under the radius, and the camera keeps coming down. Many of the devices with messages in the movie hurt more. One is a “smell” that reveals a lower class. Can’t get away and stimulate the upper class. Also, “plan” also throws a message. In the movie, Kitaek claims that “No plan is the plan.” Eventually, with a wild plan, the movie ends like that. The reality is still a mess.
After the movie, I felt very depressed. It was more sad because it was often around us. The gap between the haves and have-nots will be greater across the globe. The world’s richest 1 percent, those with more than $1 million, own 45 percent of the world’s wealth. Adults with less than $10,000 in wealth make up 64 percent of the world’s population but hold less than 2 percent of global wealth. (more info) How close are you to this?
“Where does peace flow?”
But I know that I’ll soon forget these facts. What is peace? It’s really hard to practice and try. But there are still people who try to make peace on their feet. One of them, one of them, got together, became a small stream, became a river, and became a big waterfall. No one can stop it now. This huge flow will soon transform the whole world. Those who risk their lives for peace, they are HWPL.
“Where does peace flow?” Peace certainly flows from bottom to top. If citizens all over the world were to become one voice, who could stop it? The president will also have to listen to the voices of citizens. That’s what HWPL is doing now, and it’s doing great. Someday that one powerful force will be known to all over the world, and you will be surprised. If you want to know more about HWPL, look at the other posts.
The Seoul, Gyeonggi and Southern branches of the HWPL held the fourth round of the Suwon WARP Office Meeting Interfaith Dialogue, which strongly demonstrated their commitment to world peace measures and religious unity. Leaders of the three religions, Cheondogyo, Buddhism, Christianity attended as the panel to discuss the topic of the issue, “Peace.”
The questions were: ‘Is there a record of peace in the annals?’ and ‘What role should I play as a religious leader for the sake of world peace?’ The panel had heated debates based on each of the statements.
A Cheondogyo leader said “As a religious leader, we should not perceive each other as “wrong” and can coexist and symbiosis from mutual respect.”
A leader of Buddhism said “The teachings of the Buddha towards peace are the basis of Buddhism. Charity is unconditional love and sharing and companionship, and the attitude of respect for the life of the unknown, as explained in the first law of Buddha’s reign, will lead to peace.”
The Christian minister quoted the Bible as saying, “Peace is the restoration of the global village to its original form, where all mankind created by God is saved and free from death and pain.”
The HWPL’s Seoul and Gyeonggi Eastern branches had a heated debate among the “Buddhist, Confucian and Christian” promoters. This is the 23rd Seoul WARP Office.
Question is “Is there a case in your scripture that one truth is interpreted in many ways?”
The Christian panel said, “It is the present reality of Christianity that the interpretation of the Bible is rampant. The reason for this much interpretation is God’s concealment of his future, which is difficult to interpret. When the Holy Spirit tells us the truth, we can see the true meaning of it.”
The Buddhist panel said “This place is so beautiful and blessed.” And the Confucian panel said “I’m really surprised that the HWPL WARP Office has reached its 23rd anniversary. I was grateful to be with young people and I should have studied more ways to implement the truth, but I’m sorry for the lack.”
“About the Beginning of Man”, 6th Inter-Continental WARP Office
On June 15th, with the theme of “About the Beginning of Man”, “The 6th Inter-Continental World Alliance of Religions’ Peace Office Meeting” was held to discuss religious teachings on human life written in scriptures through YouTube by religious representatives from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism.
Regarding the importance of interfaith dialogue based on scriptures, Chairman Man Hee Lee of HWPL says, “Many conflicts bring the destruction of our globe. Wars and conflicts must come to an end in order to achieve peace, but wars break out more frequently because of religion. It is said that God had creation not to kill, so there should be zero conflict caused by religion. This is why religious leaders become one for peace.”
On May 14, Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL) and the International Peace Youth Group (IPYG) hosted a conference with the theme: “Youth, Let’s Voice Out” in the National Library of Romania. With the cooperation of MasterPeace, a youth peace organization, many peace-loving youths gathered.
Jeni Sendroiu, a founding member of MasterPeace Romania, stated “HWPL, current and former heads of state, legal experts, and heads of the organization (MasterPeace Romania) raised a voice together to support the DPCW. Starting from today’s event, it is time for Romanian youths to raise their voices for a better world, a world of peace and justice”
During the event, IPYG gave a progress report about the delivery of 370,000 peace letters to leaders in 33 countries, and Romanian youths wrote peace letters in the honor of the 6th Annual Commemoration of the Declaration of World Peace. For the media coverage, ANTENA 1, ranked No. 1 in private broadcasting stations, sent their reporters to participate and cover the news of peace throughout Romania.
Beginning with Emil Constantinescu, former Romania President, Romania and HWPL have deep relations. For examples, Early in April, about 700 people from various sectors of society such as education experts, women and youth groups, global peace activists and journalists gathered at Pentagon Events in Bucharest to discuss practical approaches for the realization of peace through peace education. With the title of ‘The Role of Teachers for Peace Education’, the 2019 Peace Education Conference was held.
Mr. Dragomir Marian, President of Master Peace, said “My belief, which made me work with HWPL and its peace education curriculum, is that education in personality, skill, value, and attitude is important for social, economic, and political development in any country. This role is well articulated in the ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’ No. 4 which emphasizes a quality education for all to promote lifelong learning.
This is also shared by Article 10, ‘Spreading a culture of peace’, of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW) which mentions that education is important in promoting respect and mutual understanding among different religions, ideologies, and ethnic groups.”
