Mali Archives - A STEP TOWARDS PEACE

Yorosso’s Historic Step for Peace: Mali City Declares May 25 as “Peace Day”

🌍 Key Point: Mali’s Yorosso City officially adopted a resolution inspired by the DPCW and declared May 25 as its official “Peace Day”—marking the first case in Africa of integrating HWPL’s peace principles into local law! 🎉🕊️

✨ Summary ✨
▪️ Yorosso becomes first African city to adopt a resolution based on the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW)
▪️ May 25 officially designated as “Yorossso Peace Day”
▪️ Citizens led the creation of the resolution through public dialogues
▪️ HWPL recognized as an official peace partner of the city
▪️ A major turning point for community-based peace governance

💡 What Happened in Yorosso?

On May 26, the city council of Yorosso, Mali unanimously passed a historic resolution inspired by the DPCW (Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War), originally proclaimed in 2016 by HWPL. This moment not only marks a first in Africa, but it also sets a shining example of how local governments and citizens can work together to build sustainable peace 💪🏾🌿.

The resolution was drafted through citizen participation and officially adopted in the presence of 23 council members and the mayor. It highlights the values of equal civic participation and the spread of a culture of peace, directly referencing Article 10 of the DPCW.

👥 Citizens at the Heart of the Peace Process

What makes this event extra meaningful? It wasn’t just a top-down decision. Starting in February 2024, HWPL’s Mali branch and the city government facilitated a series of community dialogues, where residents identified conflict sources and worked toward peaceful solutions.

The result? A resolution written by the people, for the people ✍️❤️. The mayor even took part in drafting the first version!

And get this—May 25 will now be celebrated every year as “Yorosso Peace Day”. How cool is that?! 🎉🕊️

🛠️ Real Actions for Real Peace

This wasn’t just words on paper. Yorosso citizens have already been walking the talk:

🧹 Regular street cleanups
📚 Peace education for youth
🎭 Cultural events that promote unity

These small but powerful activities have helped foster trust and a sense of shared identity within the community.

Even without full-time staff in the region, HWPL’s Mali branch has built a self-sustaining structure through consistent education programs and local training. Residents took the lead from start to finish—proof that lasting peace begins with local ownership 💬🌱.

🌐 What This Means for the World

With war and conflict threatening many corners of the globe, Yorosso’s peaceful step is more than symbolic—it’s a model for international peace governance. A representative from HWPL emphasized the importance of other cities and nations following Yorosso’s lead by institutionalizing the DPCW through legal frameworks 📜🌍.

And the journey isn’t over! Yorosso plans to:

✨ Expand its peace and volunteer culture
👵 Bridge generational gaps through traditional festivals
📖 Document and preserve community customs

This is just the beginning of a peaceful ripple effect that could reach across Mali—and all of Africa 💫.

Let’s celebrate cities that choose peace, one resolution at a time! 💙 Wouldn’t it be amazing if your town was next? 😄🕊️

Ivory Coast and Mali HWPL Peace Camps

The ‘HWPL Peace Camp’ was held at seven elementary schools in Ivory Coast and Mali from December 9th to the 23rd of last year. The message of ‘Peace and Safety, Respect and Cooperation’ from Peace Camp was significant since both neighboring countries in the Sahel region of West Africa suffered conflicts between French military and Islamic extremism in the same month.

The first five-day activities in Ivory Coast made local educators feel the need for peace-education. Allou Fatimata Marie Christ, Director of the Sainte Marie High School in Abidjan, who attended the Peace Camp, emphasized the role of peace-education as she expressed, “To live in this world as a human being, it is important to learn about peace because we must create a peaceful world.”

A STEP TOWARDS PEACE Ivory Coast and Mali HWPL Peace Camps UNESCO Peace education MOU manheelee peace biography man hee lee peace education Man Hee Lee biography Mali Ivory Coast HWPL Peace Camp — ▲The conclusion of MOU between HWPL Department of Peace Education and UNESCO National Committee of Ivory Coast/HWPL(Left), The Photo of Peace Camp Activities, Progress High school in Mali

In addition, the UNESCO National Committee of the Ivory Coast immediately organized a meeting between UNESCO officials and educators, as the educators felt that the importance and necessity of peace-education should be understood. The MOU on peace-education with HWPL, which was discussed prior to the meeting, enabled the establishment of a cooperative relationship.

In the meantime, peace camps will be held at four schools in Mali until the 23rd. The government held a meeting with education officials to discuss the future peace-education plan of Mali and to conduct peace-education through mutual cooperation. Students have had time to learn peace by practicing peace on their own, and peace-education will continue to be implemented based on schools’ responses about the hope and need for peace-education.

Reference:
http://hwpl.kr/en/news/view/200204463/0/Malipeacecamp

Peace is up to you :0 Good luck!

African Leaders of Peace Summit : Speakers of National Assembly #2

African Leaders of Peace Summit

– Plenary 2: Speakers of National Assembly

What do we need for the development of Africa? What should we do now? This is what participants, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Chief Justice, and other high-level people, had in mind. I am grateful that people like them are leaders who are thinking ‘How can we do more for Africa?.’ I think the people of Africa will be very happy, if they know these efforts as the session of today. There are many bad leaders in the world, who drive the people to the death. Particularly, the Youth.

The following is their conclusion : Development in Africa cannot be done in war and conflict. War and conflict are a huge blow to us all. We must make peace for Africa’s development.

Plenary 2: Speakers of National Assembly

I’m very excited about what messages the chairman Lee is giving about Africa. Because he traveled abroad with the answer to peace. He is going on 29th World Peace tour to achieve peace and end war. He is going on 29th World Peace tour to achieve peace and end war.

The DPCW is based on the U.N. Charter

This is their story. “There have been many conflicts and wars in Africa, and peace is really rare. Mali is also in conflict and it is known that Sudan, South Sudan, DRC, Congo are as well. Africa is known as the dark continent. We’ve been trying to make peace through the African Union (AU). DPCW is a document based on the U.N. Charter. And I hope that as a UN Security Council, DPCW will be introduced to the United Nations and also the African Union.”

Another leader said, “I was so happy reading the DPCW that I read it all overnight. I really felt it was necessary in this world. It is too necessary for human society and Africa, which has a lot of conflict. But it’s not just in Africa. Disputes occur in many different forms in each country. It’s like a big mountain. But It’s not impossible. I think the DPCW is a great tool, and it’s going to be a social and economic development for the development of Africa.”

The Problems of Africa

“The DPCW is something we’ve always discussed and talked a lot about in terms of human rights. There’s a lot of war and conflict going on in Cameroon, where the scars of the war are a lot. Last week, our Pan-Africa Council was discussing a conflict in Africa. One of the biggest problems is that many countries are good at speaking but in practice, they are opposed to it. What’s really important to us is that we have to believe in peace. Because without peace, Africa would not be able to make any further progress. It seems easy for Africa to achieve peace only when the DPCW becomes a culture and makes world peace.”

What is the DPCW different from others?

“What I want to say is that DPCW has something that I haven’t seen before : Religion. It is what the former president thinks is important. There’s been a lot of talk about human rights, but we didn’t think religion much. We didn’t think of a way. But the important thing is that most conflicts, especially in Africa, are caused by religion.”

“This year is the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth. We are celebrating the achievements of former President Nelson Mandela and Mrs. Albertina Sisulu. But conflict and terror are not over yet. The African leaders couldn’t solve it by calculating profits and losses each other through political problems. Through these, we lost our value and ruined our mutual friendship. What can we do for our Africa? By bringing the DPCW to the United Nations, we can achieve peace. And we can progress by promoting justice and peace through Agenda 2063 of African Union. We can use DPCW to achieve peace by 2030. And It will bring peace to the continent of Africa. DPCW requires our efforts. We need to make sure that DPCW would not become just another international law. Unlike other laws, we should not ignore this law. We need to know what’s different from other laws and to let people support the DPCW.”

African Leaders of Peace Summit

– Plenary 2: Speakers of National Assembly

Time : UTC 13:00-14:00, 10 August 2018
YouTube : bit.ly/2vWDgah (Only Korean)

#29thWorldPeaceTour #HWPL #Pray4Peace #ReligiousFreedom #Peaceleader #WeAreOne #PeaceLetter #Africa_Peace #Peacelaw #DPCW_Africa