On September 24th, the 8th Anniversary of the September 18th HWPL World Peace Summit was held in Lusaka, Zambia with the theme of ‘Peace as an Institution: A Foundation for Sustainable Development’. It was held with around 150 participants including Hon. Given Lubinda(Former Minister of Justice of Zambia), members of parliaments, religious leaders, educators, youth, and journalists to reaffirm the importance of the sustainable development guaranteed by institutionalizing peace while the global community has yet to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and faces another threats caused by the Russian-Ukraine conflict. In particular, the event in Zambia was focused on “Institutionalization and development for peace communities in Zambia, a leading country in peace.”
Since September 18th in 2014 when the peace summit was held for the first time, Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), an international peace NGO under the UN ECOSOC, has called for solidarity for peacebuilding at the global level through collective actions with various actors including heads of state, ministers, law makers, religious leaders, educators, youth and women leaders, and reporters. This annual summit shares peace activities and achievements in cooperation with governments and civil society around the world every year.
Regarding the cause of peacebuilding at the global level, Chairman Man Hee Lee of HWPL said, “The global village has suffered from the unexpected COVID-19 that has hit every country. People are not alone in the midst of difficulties. We live in the same global village, and we are neighbors and families. Each one of us is the one who are obliged to make our world a better place to live. And shouldn’t we pass on our good world to our descendants?”
Raphael Kumwenda, a producer of Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation(ZNBC), said that actualizing peace is a shared responsibility regardless of our background and sphere of influence. As a media professional, he stressed the role of a journalist is important to institutionalize peace by saying, “media is a powerful tool that can be used for the good of all through responsible reporting and discourse.”
Kennedy Mushili, a teacher at Mukobeko Secondary School, stated the importance of HWPL peace education by saying, to eliminate wars and maintain peace, we should teach future leaders and citizens how they can sustain a peaceful community and country.
Gaharaharashim Garry Mpuhuyawu, the preisdent of Mentra Youth Zambia, said that It was the tremendous result to provide the peace education through Youth Empowerment Peace Class to around 500 youths in 8 schools with International peace youth group (IPYG) and HWPL. He added, “Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, we should not stop promoting peace and giving online educational opportunity to youth to live in a peaceful world.“
Mr. Chung Young-min, General Director of the IPYG emphasized the role of youth as the main player of international action for peace by saying that education programs for 1,500 global youth in 59 countries are hosted to “protect the basic rights of youth around the world so that everyone can live a happy life without being left behind.”
The main goal of peace as an institution that HWPL suggested is to weave the values of peace into our social fabric, allowing mutual respect, harmony, cooperation, and co-prosperity to become part of our institutions as the norms and cultures of each society, domestic law, and international law. The principle of peace is contained in the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW), which was drafted with the participation of international law experts from 15 countries and proclaimed by HWPL in 2016.
The 10 articles and 38 clauses of the DPCW underscore conflict prevention and resolution, gradual reduction of armament and the transition to instruments for daily lives, mutual respect and conflict resolution of religious and ethnic groups, and spreading a culture of peace. The DPCW urges all actors in the global community including international organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations, and civic groups to play respective roles in institutionalizing peace.
