The Right of Women, The Strength of Women 1

 Do you remember Leymah Gbowee, who is a peace activist from Liberia as well as a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, has spoken at TED about her transformed life and wretched life of African girls. Let's have a look at her speech :
Unlock the intelligence, passion, greatness of girls

 The biggest issue in Africa is sexual abuse, and according to her the rate of teen pregnancy in Liberia is 30 percent. Those girls would be naturally apart from school, the environment and chances of being educated.

Touching thing for me during i watched the video clip was tearful voice of Gbowee, which sounds like she's about to cry. I could feel her sincerity and her heart full of mercy and grief. The stories she is telling was sad and infuriating indeed, but also encouraging and hopeful at the same time. Hope there appears more brave girl who will fight for other 'sisters' as well as for herself. Thanks to Leymah again. I really like her :*

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Caricatures!

 Drawings and cartoons are really effective to deliver some messages or ideas. We can describe our thoughts through the image implying many things at once. Also it is often easy to understand and can have stronger impact than speech or writing. So here i brought some funny cartoons and cute pictures about peace today :) 

I love this picture. We used to have birds caught in the cage, but i've never thought of locking weapons in the cage instead of them. Peace dove must fly free all over the sky.

 Isn't this picture so funny? Like the first one it is brilliant in some different way lol because I haven't thought about other "birds" as a symbol of peace, neither chicken is a kind of bird. How about you? Chicken now wants to stand for peace too!

 However here's some people who has nothing better than chicken. You might know, PALESTijNEN in the cartoon means Palestinian in Dutch and iSRAЁL means Israeli. The cartoonist must be Dutch. (Thanks to him/her) The Palestinian in the picture is saying "To the right, I say to the right..." but we can see the Israeli drives to the left. This implies a big part of world conflicts has been made by those two nations. Israel wants settlements', Palestine don't want to give them their land away.

Here we can see how to destroy peace. People who wants to harm others use weapon very 'peacefully' and use them for 'pieces'. These are really satirical ones. Actually the root of many conflicts and wars is religion. They say differences in religious faith make some feud, but is there supposed to be things like feud or hatred between religion?

 He looks like meditation but actually thinking of revenge. Muslims and Christians are not the only do wars and kill each other but many other religions too. I posted about the massacre of Muslim people in Burma supported by Buddhists. Blind, extreme belief makes those tragedy I think. It's so terrifying.

Not expecting religion to help make peace (or just to be good), who should do things for peace? Politician? Peace workers? Let's see.

 I am sorry to make fun of only Obama but I didn't mean it. I wanted to show the hilariousness of TEAM EDWARD and TEAM JACOB. (They are two awesome guys in Twilight series.) We cannot chose one between them so I could understand how hard to make an agreement between them. Like this politicians role are relatively small and has little power even to solve problems. And peace workers, I think they are nothing but window dressing. With Nobel Peace Medal, you cannot run for peace.

 My posting is almost done with peace spray! haha Let's just SPRAY peace around us. How? I told you many times through my writings XD And don't forget to Keep Calm and Peace and Love♡

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Wars are all around the world

 Like myself, most people who haven’t experienced a war don’t really understand how precious the peace is. It’s like we do not know the value of food unless we have starved, and cannot understand the value of air unless we have experienced an oxygen shortage.

 What would it feel like if bullets and rockets are falling down to you. And what if our beloved parents, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters are dying in front of you. With full of sorrows, full of hatred, you may say “When does the world of peace come where we see each other's smiling face in happiness!”

 As you know, hundreds ordinary people are dying in one day at Gaza. Ordinary people, not soldiers, but children and women. Some pictures really make me sad and cry, and that's why I didn't upload them. You can still find them out through googling “gaza”. Numerous children are dying dreadfully.

 There was an airliner shot down, and about 300 passengers and crews boarded on the plane were all dead. If there was no conflict, there would not be such absurd death.

 I do believe that we all have a right to live life enjoying peace no matter where we were born. But even now there are numerous people who are deprived this right in this same world we live in.

 We have to be in their shoes, though the events haven't happened to me. Think as it happened to my brother, sister, and my friends who are living together on this planet. So please remember these situations keeping eyes on these news, And let's dream together a world of peace together.

 Finally if one country really loves peace, it should DO ACT instead of just watching and saying about it.

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Peace Video : AXE PEACE "Make Love, Not War"

How dramatic and brilliant! Axe, which is men's hair styling product, made a commercial ad for New Axe Peace, "Make Love, Not War." What a brilliant idea! It's really impressive that normal product can be advertised like this. I think this ads shows how people need to be aware of peace and how war is painful to humanity. Through this commercial, I felt that we need to bring true love in this world. I wish that can be started from me, myself first. I think this is one of my best commercial ads ever!

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Principles that can bring peace

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. 

 Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson
    



 What do you think about this quote? I have been speculating on this quote to figure it out. Knowing the author’s background, I guess it’s about being diligent that can make us be free from pressures or slump. He is a lecturer, poet and essayist who wrote mainly about self-improvement and successful life.

 However I would like to apply it to world peace, not 
only to individual peace. I thought world peace also can be brought only by ourselves and the triumph of principles. What would be ‘the principles’ in this case? It might be the principles of to get along with other people and not to fight with anyone. Yes, it’s love. In other words, not being selfish but being altruistic. Sounds really elementary, yet it is not easy to put in action. Again, there’s no other one who can bring us peace but ourselves, so it is us who 
should make the principles achieve a triumph too.

 How is it possible to be selfish and altruistic at the same time? Be diligent for yourself and be loving for all of us. In this way we may achieve a perfect peace!

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WORLD PEACE IS POSSIBLE, WHEN WE ARE TOGETHER

Do you remember the movement “KONY 2012”?

 It started from the U.S, and it made a huge impact. Joseph Kony is a world famous criminal who is still committing crimes in Africa. He kidnapped more than 30,000 kids, making boys to his army, abusing girls but no one was trying to stop him. 

 One film uploaded on the internet March 2012 made huge effect. This film was created in 2012 to arrest Joseph Kony making him famous on the internet. Many people watched this film and spread it around.

Viewers explosively increased, people started to wear KONY 2012 shirts, and went out to the street to put posters about this criminal.

 And also, people sent mail to celebrities whose taking part in cultural and political area effectively. As a result, many famous celebs participated in this movement. As this case became a publicly hot potato, president Obama made a movement as a response and made a promise to resolve the problem.

 Consequently, we can say this movement was failed because the original goal to capture Joseph Kony in 2012 was not accomplished. Also, there are many opinions against this movement. BUT, through this movement I found the HOPE. When we are separated, and isolated, we don’t have any power. But thanks to such things like internet and SNS, now we can look each other through the screen. When we share our thoughts, and act in one purpose -the world peace-, we can change the leaders in the world, and the world of peace will be achieved.

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Little Peace Activists (4)

Mattie Stepanek

Mattie was born with muscular dystrophy which causes degeneration of muscles. 

Although his days were numbered because of the incurable disease, he had prayed for children suffered by war and famine, had done anything he could do for a settlement of peace. 

Mattie appeared in the Oprah Winfrey Show and talked about world peace even he was battling with the disease. 

He had delivered many times of lecture for politicians, students, children and world leaders. Mattie Stepanek passed away in June 2004 at the age of 14, hoping his wish come true.

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Little Peace Activists (1)

There are little heroes who indeed put their decision into practice for world peace. 
They didn’t just wait for adult to solve the situation, but to solve by themselves. The young activists believe small powers united would be a great power.

Farlis Calle

Farlis was so sad and mad about the continuous civil war in Columbia which took her friend’s life away. She held an election with her friends to let the people know that children long for peace. The day war stopped for the election, 3 milion children voted for peace.

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Creative Growth - William Scott - Peace Worlds

Pharrell William's "Happy" music video is one of my favorite today. And I got to know he's amazing work "i am OTHER". This video -that i posted up above- is one of the video from 'i am OTHER' youtube channel. 

Well, I think this video is truly inspiring. It shows pure heart of William Scott, how he's thinking for World Peace. I think that is something needed for starting peace. Such a beautiful soul. And amazing artwork!

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Peace ceremony in Mindanao

Messenger of peace hosts a peace agreement ceremony to bridge the gap between Catholic and Islamic Leaders

MANILA, February 1, 2014 – Peace has started in the Mindanao Island, a region stricken by a long history of religious conflict between Catholics and Muslims that has claimed over 100,000 lives. The peace movement, led by peace advocate Man Hee Lee, marks third visit to the Philippines from South Korea at the request of Mindanao religious leaders.

On January 24, 1,000 participants including Mindanao State University students, youth associations, mayors and religious leaders held a peace walk in downtown General Santos. The peace walk, held for the first time in the Mindanao region, transcended religions and nationalities, inspiring the Filipino youth generation that peace is possible.

Following the Mindanao Peace Walk, a forum to discuss a solution of peace brought together the representative of Catholicism (Fernando Capalla, former archbishop of Mindanao Davao), the representative of Islam (EsmaelMangudadatu, Governor of Maguindanao, and Islamic autonomous district in Mindanao) and Chairman Man Hee Lee. The representatives of Catholicism and Islam united to sign the peace agreement for ending the war and achieving World Peace and pledged to work together with Chairman Man Hee Lee. After signing the agreement, Capalla and Esmael vowed before God, the people of the world, and the approximately 150 participants that Catholics and Muslims will never have disputes again.

The visit to the Philippines is a part of Mr. Lee’s 7th World Tour to meet with students, nation leaders and religious leaders around the world to promote the message of peace. In November of last year, Mr. Lee began his tour in the United States and spoke at the University of Southern California. Furthermore, working together with school organizations of UCLA, UC Irvine, Cal Poly Pomona, Pepperdine and Cal State Fullerton, he organized a rally for peace aboard the SS Lane Victory ship in San Pedro, CA.

Reference

• http://www.balita.com
• http://realtime.rediff.com

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Heroines of Peace – The Nine Nobel Women (0)

The Nobel Peace Prizes at their best set before us an array of great human spirits. The nine women Prizewinners clearly belong in this list. They come from a variety of backgrounds and represent a variety of forms of peace making.

The earliest of these heroines of peace was the Austrian baroness who inspired the Prize, while the most recent was the Indian from Guatemala who rose to leadership overcoming poverty and oppression. They include the woman regarded as the greatest of her generation in the United States; the scholar and reformer who was the acknowledged intellectual leader of the American peace movement; two Northern Irish advocates of nonviolence who made a dramatic effort to resolve the longstanding violent conflict in their land; a saintly missionary working in the slums of Calcutta; a Swedish social reformer who became a cabinet minister and ambassador; and a Burmese intellectual who led the opposition to a brutal military dictatorship.

They were not only of different nationalities and different classes, but of different faiths; among them were Catholics and freethinkers, a Buddhist and a Quaker. They worked against war in peace societies and in political life, as humanitarians and defenders of human rights. This small group of nine Laureates represents the diverse paths to peace which the Norwegian Nobel committees have recognized over the years. But they are most interesting in themselves; each has a fascinating story to tell.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the lives and peace efforts of these nine laureates, picturing them as the members of the Nobel Committee described them in presenting them with their prizes at the award ceremonies. Thereafter we shall reflect on what, if anything they had in common. In the Appendix are some notes on the contributions of other women, the wives and mothers of the men who won the Prize. But first a few words about Alfred Nobel's intentions regarding women and the Prize and how the Norwegian committee have followed his wishes in this respect.

Nobel, The Norwegian Nobel Committee, and Women Prizewinners

The story has often been told of how Nobel had long been interested in peace but how it was his friend the peace activist Baroness Bertha von Suttner, who drew his attention to the international movement against war which was becoming organized in the 1890s and secured his financial support for her peace activities.

In January 1893 he wrote her that he planned to set up a prize to be awarded "to him or her who would have brought about the greatest step toward advancing the pacification of Europe." In the will he drafted a few months later Nobel included a generous bequest for Baroness von Suttner's Austrian Peace Society and provided for prizes to be awarded every three years for intellectual and scientific achievements. These included efforts to promote the establishment of a European tribunal and were to be granted to the most deserving, whether "a Swede or a foreigner, a man or a woman."

In the final draft of his will, Nobel omitted the last clause, as well as the bequest for the Austrian Peace Society, but he set up a prize for peace as one of his five prizes, and he clearly expected the Baroness to receive it. Four awards were made, however, before she finally received the prize in 1905.

In 1901 and 1902 she was not even on the Committee's short list. In 1903 the Committee put her on the short list, but despite the support of most of the other peace leaders, who called her their "commander-in-chief," she was again passed over. In 1904 she lost out to the Institute of International Law, which added insult to injury, since when Nobel's will was being implemented, the Baroness, with her special knowledge of her friend's intentions, had strongly protested to the executors that Nobel had wanted the Prize to go only to individuals.

In a speech earlier that year Nobel Committee Chairman Jörgen Lövland, in referring to the awards to the veterans of the peace movement, had spoken of "the men who had done this work." Small wonder that the Baroness just about gave up hope and was much surprised when the gold ring finally came around to her in 1905. This was due to the special effort of Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, the great writer, who was a member of the committee.

When the Baroness came to deliver her Nobel lecture in the spring of 1906, Chairman Lövland, now foreign minister, spoke at the banquet about the great influence of women in history and how they could change the ideas of war and give men higher aims. It was however, twenty-six years later before the second woman, Jane Addams, was honored with the Prize.

Addams had first been nominated in 1916 for her efforts to bring the First World War to an end and repeatedly thereafter. In 1923 the Committee's adviser recommended her in his report, and she had a distinguished list of supporters, including Woodrow Wilson, John Dewey, Felix Frankfurter, Robert LaFollette and Sidney Webb, but no Prize was awarded for that year. Four more times she was on the short list before she shared the divided Prize of 1931 with Nicholas Murray Butler.

In the presentation speech, made in her absence, Professor Halvdan Koht said, "In honoring Jane Addams, we also render homage to the work which women can do for peace and human brotherhood." Apparently that was enough homage for the next fifteen years until in 1946 Emily Green Balchshared the Prize with John Mott of the YMCA. This time it took years for the next women laureates, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, even though the committee had had its first woman member since 1948.

During the thirty years Mrs. Aase Lionaes served on the Committee, chairing it the last ten, the Williams-Corrigan award was the only one to women. Since then the committee has done better, honoring Mother Teresa in 1979, Alva Myrdal in 1982, Aung Sang Suu Kyi in 1991, and Rigoberta Menchú Tum in 1992.

In the first 45 years of the Prizes, only three went to women, and of the 96 awards since 1901, only nine women have been Prizewinners. The committee's archives are open for research up to the Second World War, so we know that a number of women made the short list: The Quaker Priscilla Peckover and Annie Besant, theosophist and social reformer, both from England; from the United States, the peace activist Lucia Ames Mead, Belva Lockwood and Carrie Chapman Call and Elsa Brändström, the Swedish humanitarian.

Others who might have been considered in the period included Dr. Aletta Jacobs of the Netherlands, feminist and activist; the activist Helene Stöcker and the artist Käthe Kollwitz of Germany; Christian socialist Muriel Lester and author Vera Brittain of England; and feminist and writer Oliver Schreiner of South Africa.

In the years following the Second World War, there were several well qualified women candidates who were not named. In 1947 there was a proposal with the Cold War in mind, to share the prize between Eleanor Roosevelt who had done distinguished work on human rights in the United States and Alexandra Kollontai, the Soviet diplomat who had contributed to ending the Soviet-Finnish War. In 1948 Rosika Schwimmer of Hungary, who began her peace campaigning during the First World War, was nominated by a number of European parliamentarians.

While it is true that during all these years it was difficult for a woman to rise to prominence in a male world, the Norwegian Nobel committees were apparently not without prejudice.

Reference

• http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/themes/peace/heroines/index.html

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Work with Peace Corps and change your life, director says in Gainesville

A two-year commitment to service can turn into a lifetime's worth of stories that not even the pictures can fully capture.

That was the message Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Peace Corps acting director, delivered Monday during a visit to the University of Florida to speak to students about how the Peace Corps can enhance their lives and future careers.

“As a Peace Corps volunteer, you never really know what your impact is going to be,” she said. “It is a life-changing experience for both you and your community. Most volunteers will say they got more than they gave, but every single one of us gave more than we realize.”

Hessler-Radelet, who comes from four generations of Peace Corps volunteers, said UF has been one of the organization's most valued partners and Gainesville is home to one of the most active recruiting locations.

“There is a trail of Gator fans that crosses the world,” she said. “Right now, University of Florida alumni are teaching Nepalese farmers how to improve their crop fields.”

UF has consistently been ranked as one of the top colleges and universities in the country for Peace Corps undergraduate and graduate school recruits. In 2013, UF tied for the top spot in the nation with the University of Washington.

David Sammons, former dean of UF's International Center, said that more than 1,200 UF alumni have served as volunteers. He served in the Philippines and worked in elementary science education, mainly doing teacher training.

Reference

• http://www.gainesville.com

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Musicians sing for peace at DRC festival

Amani festival, cancelled in 2013 b/c of clashes between Congo's army and M23 rebels, goes ahead in Goma

The city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been the scene of armed conflict between rebel and government forces for nearly two decades. But this weekend Goma put on a different face as crowds gathered at College Mwanga, close to the Virunga market, to celebrate a music festival with the optimistic slogan "playing for change, singing for peace".

A few thousand Gomatraciens – as people living in the city call themselves – and visitors from other parts of the DRC and from Rwanda, Burundi and other countries attended the festival, which had been scheduled to take place in 2013 but was cancelled because of clashes between Congo's army and M23 rebels.

The Amani festival – Swahili for "peace" – went ahead this year after peace talks between the warring parties. Musicians and artists from all over the Great Lakes region, including the outspoken Kinshasa rapper Lexxus Legal and the local musician Innocent Balume, performed, and Martin Kobler, head of the UN mission in DRC, joined in with the festivities.

Reference

• http://www.theguardian.com/world

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South Sudan rivals to begin peace talks

Talks between South Sudan's government and rebels are due to start in the near future in Ethiopia, say observers.

However there has been no immediate halt to hostilities, with reports that heavy fighting is continuing.

The conflict erupted more than two weeks ago between supporters of President Salva Kiir and those of his sacked deputy Riek Machar.

At least 1,000 people have died and more than 121,600 are believed to have fled their homes.

East African leaders have been leading mediation efforts to end the crisis.

On Monday, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni threatened the rebels with military action if they failed to agree to a ceasefire by the end of Tuesday, and begin talks.

It appears pressure on Mr Machar has worked, says the BBC's James Copnall in the capital Juba, as he says he is sending a delegation to the talks despite Mr Kiir failing to agree to demands including the release from jail of Mr Machar's political allies.

But Mr Machar insists he will not order his troops to stop fighting before preliminary talks have taken place.

The end-of-Tuesday deadline was also missed, with Ethiopia now saying they hope talks in Addis Ababa will start on Wednesday and the UN's special representative to South Sudan, Hilde Johnson, saying they will begin on Thursday for "logistical reasons".

'Rebel gains'Mr Machar, who was deputy president until he was sacked in July, denies there was a plot to overthrow Mr Kiir.The fighting initially broke out in Juba, and has now spread to many parts of the country.The situation in the key town of Bor is fast-moving, but a government minister confirmed that the town had fallen to Mr Machar's forces. Thousands of people are fleeing to the town of Awerial from Bor and surrounding areas, said David Nash of the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, with many sleeping out in the open and facing a lack of clean water and sanitation.

The Sudanese army meanwhile said it had recaptured several areas bordering South Sudan on Tuesday.

Having apparently captured Bor, Mr Machar told AFP news agency that his forces were "still marching on Juba".

He said hostilities would only cease, and he would only arrive for talks in person, if preliminary negotiations in Addis Ababa were satisfactory.

Mr Machar claimed his delegation to talks would be headed by Rebecca Nyandeng, the widow of John Garang, who led South Sudanese rebel forces against Khartoum for many years - though she later denied this in a BBC interview.

As a Dinka, Ms Nyandeng would help Mr Machar challenge the allegation that his rebellion is primarily from his Nuer ethnic group.

Mr Machar's forces are a mix of mutinous soldiers loyal to him and an ethnic militia called the "white army", known for putting white ash onto their bodies as a kind of war-paint and insect repellent.

Observers say the talks are likely to be complicated, as the two sides will have to agree on a mechanism to monitor a ceasefire.

Mr Kiir has also ruled out any power-sharing arrangement with Mr Machar in the longer term.

South Sudan is the world's newest state. It was formed in 2011, gaining independence from Sudan after decades of conflict.

Reference

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news

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Global PEACE Index

PH among the least peaceful countries in the world- Global Peace Index

The Philippines was among the least peaceful countries in the world, the recent survey from Global Peace Index revealed.

According Institute for Economics and Peace’s Global Peace Index (GPI) 2013 , the world became “less peaceful” compared to how it was five years ago. In the new index, 162 countries around the world were surveyed to determine the levels of securities in the socities, the extent of conflicts and the degree of militarization in the countries.

Based on their findings, the GPI reported that the level of peace in the world have fallen by five percent since 2008. It added that internal conflicts in countries have risen over the years and it also showed that 110 countries became less peaceful over the years.

Iceland, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Austria, Ireland, Slovenia, Finland and Switzerland were the top 10 peaceful countries, the index reported. It explained that Iceland’s political stability, low crime rate and small prison population made it the most peaceful country in the world.

“Europe is the most peaceful region, with 13 of the top 20 most peaceful countries,” the index said and added that “the top three most peaceful countries [Iceland, Denmark and New Zealand]” made it to the top because of their “small and stable democracies.”

Meanwhile, Japan, the only Asian country that made it to top 10, were ranked six because of its good relations with its neighboring countries and its strict laws on possession of firearms, GPI said.

“The three least peaceful countries are Afghanistan, Somalia and Syria,” GPI report said.

“Syria’s score dropped by the largest margin, with the biggest ever score deterioration in the history of the GPI,” it added.

Afghanistan landed on the last spot because, the index said, it uses a political terror scale. It added that Afghanistan scored 3 out of 5 in military expenditures and 4.1 in terms of domestic and international conflict. Although there are less people killed in the country due to internal conflicts, the index said that the country failed to secure its people. The country scored 5 out of 5 in terms of society’s security.

“Embroiled in conflict and instability for much of the past two decades, Afghanistan remained far from peaceful during 2012. While two GPI indicators registered improvements [fewer people killed as a result of internal conflict and a drop in the number of refugees and displaced people], four deteriorated and the country returned to the foot of the GPI, below an improving Somalia,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Philippines is still among the less peaceful nations in the world based on the results of the index. The country ranked 129 in 162 countries surveyed. The index said that the country scored two out of 5 in terms of militarization, 3.1 in terms of society’s security and 3.2 out of five in terms of domestic and international conflict.

“Ranking among the least peaceful countries in AsiaPacific, Thailand, the Philippines and Myanmar all face ongoing internal civil conflict. Last year saw improved prospects for peace between the Philippines government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (the main rebel group on the southern island of Mindanao), when a framework deal for a potential peace agreement was signed. There are many obstacles to lasting peace, but negotiations appear to be on-track in 2013,” the index said.

PEACE

Meanwhile, International Peace Advocate Lee Man Hee visited the Philippines to conduct a series of talks on how to achieve peace.

In a press conference at the Manila Hotel on Thursday, Lee said that the youth plays a significant role in achieving peace in a society. He said that the youth’s desire to achieve it can make a lot of difference in terms of attaining peace in a society.

Lee explained that the most common victims of war were the youth, especially the young children who are voiceless in turbulent times.

“It is the youth, the young soldiers, who fight and die in wars not the politicians who want the war,” Lee said.

Lee, the peace advocate, was a war veteran of the Korean war. Lee shared that as a young boy, he was forced to enter the military to fight for South Korea. He shared that upon seeing so many of his young comrade die in the battle, he promised himself that if he ever survive he will spend the rest of his life promoting peace.

Lee has been meeting with different Presidents and leaders around the world talking about drafting an international peace covenant that aims to end domestic and international wars in countries around the world.

“The whole world desires peace, even the people living in North Korea desires it,” Lee said.

Lee came to the Philippines to conduct a series of talk about peace and to discuss the peace covenant he was pushing to President Benigno Aquino 3rd.

Reference 

• http://manilatimes.net/ph-among-the-least-peaceful-countries-in-the-world-global-peace-index/9984/

• http://www.infomongolia.com/ct/ci/6122/139/Global%20Peace%20Index%202013:%20Mongolia

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PEACE in Mindanao

Messenger of Peace Hosts a Peace Agreement Ceremony to Bridge the Gap between Catholic and Islamic Leaders.

The peace has begun in Mindanao Island. This region has suffered disputes between Catholic and Islam for about forty years and it has caused over 100,000 casualties. Manhee Lee, the peace advocate has paid his third visit to Philippine and during his stay he has advised the Archbishop and three Bishops to sign a Peace Agreement at a Nunnery. The purpose of Lee’s visit was to conclude the Peace Agreement which can lead to settle the conflict in the Mindanao region. Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma (the diocese of Cagaya de Oro) has met Mr. Lee for the first time on September 2013 and ever since their meeting, he has continually invited him many times to pay a visit in Philippine and to respond, the Peace advocate has decided to travel despite the region’s tight vigilance.

World peace activist Man Hee Lee hosted the Peace Walk in the downtown area of General Santos on January 24 where approximately 1,000 participants including students of Mindanao State University, members of International Youth Group, and religious leaders joined the event, transcending the boundaries of religion and nationality for the first time in this region. This movement created a great sensation and hopes among the Filipinos, who yearn for peace and it initiated a wave of peace within international societies, media, and people.
After the Peace Walk, students of Mindanao State University, Youth Groups, Mayors, University professors, Catholic leaders and Islamic leaders, who had participated in the Peace Walk gathered in the conference room of a hotel located in downtown General Santos. Speeches about conflict and the solution to peace in Mindanao Island were delivered in the following order: the representative of Catholic (Fernando Capalla, former archbishop of Mindanao Davao), the representative of Islam (Esmael, governor of Maguindanao, and Islamic autonomous district in Mindanao) and Chairman Manhee Lee. The representatives of Catholic and Islam united to sign the peace agreement for ending the war and achieving World Peace and pledged to work together with Manhee Lee. After signing the agreement, the representatives and Chairman Manhee Lee held the Peace Agreement Ceremony announcing that Catholic and Islam will never have disputes again before God, people of the world, and approximately 150 participants.
Although there has been a Peace Agreement meeting hosted by Philippine government and Islam autonomous region on 2012, it could not bring the conclusion of peace. In fact, it was a very first time for a representative of peace organization from South Korea to host a Peace Agreement in Philippine and the world was astonished at the sight of the change of the nation, from death to life. Philippine government did not hesitate to express the gratitude to the representative for his accomplishment and they opened a celebration to celebrate the memorable day.
State-run broadcasting stations and private broadcasting stations in the Philippine reported the event and it has not only surprised people but has also greatly inspired the citizens of the Philippine. Man Hee Lee will not end his journey here but he will also conclude a Peace Agreement with Fidel Valdez Ramos, the former president of Philippine, on 29th and the news is being spotted already and is planned to be aired on numerous media including the nation and the world. The Chairman is planning to leave the country on 30th.

Reference

• http://www.spyghana.com

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