Institutional Peace to Counteract the Threats of Global Conflicts is Examined
‘HWPL’s 6th Annual Commemoration of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW)’ was held online on 14 March 2022 with over 5,000 participants, under the theme Institutionalising Peace: Building a Legal Foundation for Sustainable Peace.
UN-affiliated NGO Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL) endorsed the combined efforts of governments and civil society that lead to the institutionalisation of peace in each society. The DPCW, proclaimed in 2016, provides a guide to citizen-led peace advocacy, in line with international organisations including the UN, the African Union (AU), and the EU that have stressed normative guidance as a standard for substantial conflict resolution with the participation of women and youth.
As for the need to “build a legal foundation for sustainable peace,” Dr. Kamal Hossain, the President of International Law Association (ILA) Bangladesh Branch said, “The precondition for achieving peace is securing peoples’ inalienable rights, which include equality before the law, equal protection of the law, non-discrimination, freedom to associate, freedom to assemble, and freedom to express.”
In addition, Ms. Anna Cervenakova, a member of HWPL International Law Peace Committee, mentioned, “In the world’s ongoing crisis, governments question themselves, what kind of action would be the best action to take in order to overcome the emergency crisis. The need for human development, by overcoming the public health emergency, climate change, economic decline, restrictions on human rights, brings us to the point of how these burdens are solved by the institutions of the governments. Much of the burdens of the work is, therefore, on the side of the governments, so it is important what are the priorities in their institutional agenda.”
As one of the speakers, Prof. Rommel Santos Diaz of International Law at the Universidad INCE said that government offices including the Senate, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Attorney General’s Office in the Dominican Republic have been working with NGOs for the purpose of the “state’s decision-making for public policies on citizen security and human rights” based on the DPCW.
Responding to prevalent threats from religious conflicts, Imam Moulana Shafiek Nolan in Westridge of South Africa expressed, “(T)he DPCW emphasises the importance of peace between religions and the cessation of religious conflict. The monthly scripture dialogue hosted by HWPL particularly aims to create a platform to break down misunderstandings of religious scripture and practices, mirroring the values expressed in the DPCW.”
Chairman Man Hee Lee of HWPL said that wars and conflicts continue to occur since “wars can be triggered if it is allegedly necessary according to the current international law, which is why this cannot put an end to war.” He highlighted that all members of the global village need to be united as one as “messengers of peace” to “certainly create a thing (international law for peace) that can bring about peace.”