[HWPL]

[HWPL] HWPL's 30th~31st Peace Tour, Peace Delegation to Romania with Support of Asia-Pacific Region

On February 19th 2019, the ‘2019 Pacific Leaders' Summit for Peace' was held at the New South Wales Parliament House in Sydney, Australia, hosted by Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL). After the meeting, participants took a commemorative photo while shouting, “We are One!”

On February 21st 2019, HWPL Chairman Man-hee Lee and Hang Chuon Naron, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports of Cambodia, had a meeting.

HWPL's 30th peace tour took place in three countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

From February 13th 2019, the 10-day schedule in the Philippines, Australia, and Cambodia went smoothly. Although it was HWPL's first visit to Australia and Cambodia, discussions were held with senior political and legal officials regarding solutions to achieving world peace. This also meant forming a peace network connecting the Congress of Central America, the Pan-African Congress, and the Council of the Baltic Sea States (Eastern Europe), and the Pacific, which have all expressed their support for the DPCW.

During this tour, HWPL opened a forum for inter-religious dialogue in the Asia-Pacific region to overcome religious issues, which is considered the major cause of ethnic conflicts and the majority of world conflicts, and signed MOUs with academic, cultural, media, and civic groups as necessary for attaining lasting peace.

On February 22nd 2019, HWPL Chairman Man-Hee Lee delivered a letter of appointment from the World Alliance of Religions' Peace (WARP) Committee to Cambodia's most senior Buddhist monk, Tep Vong.

On February 15th 2019, at the Philippines Sports Stadium in Bulacan Province, Philippines, an event for fostering an international peace alliance was held under the theme of ‘We are One for Peace to Attain Sustainable Development’. About 30,000 people, including delegates throughout the country's state universities and colleges and international peace activists, participated in the event. In particular, the festival was attended by provincial governors and 11 government officials of Davao City, as well as 16 delegates including university deans, professors, students, citizens, media, and academic and political figures.

HWPL has been bearing great fruits in the field of religious dialogue and peace education in Southeast Asia. On January 24th 2014, HWPL formed a dialogue between local leaders and civic groups to promote ethnic and inter-religious dialogue for peace and to resolve the damage resulting from the 40-year conflict in Mindanao, Philippines, which concluded with the signing of a peace agreement on a private level.

Since then, various cultural exchanges and peace campaigns have been held, such as the Youth Peace Walk, the construction of peace monuments, museum exhibitions and inter-religious dialogue.

The '2019 Southeast Asia Peace Forum' was held at Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel & Residence, Cambodia on February 21st 2019.

On February 19th 2019, HWPL went on to visit Australia. Although the South Pacific has not been directly affected by war, efforts are being made at the regional level to resolve emerging threats, such as climate change and economic and ethnic issues, for the sake of peace and stability.

Chairman Man-hee Lee attended the ‘2019 Pacific Leaders’ Summit for Peace' at New South Wales Parliament House on the same day, and emphasized the need for the DPCW to high-ranking officials in the South Pacific to realize world peace.

At the meeting, the then Tuvalu Governor Iakoba Italeli, former President Christopher Loeak of the Marshall Islands, six chairpersons of the National Assembly, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and three ministers and vice-ministers signed the 'HWPL - Pacific Islands Comprehensive Agreement on Advocacy for the DPCW'.

Filipino children examined peace materials while the HWPL Peace Room Inauguration opened at the Parañaque City Library in the Philippines on February 15th 2019.

The signatories to the agreement included 12 high-level government leaders from eight countries in the South Pacific for the development of the DPCW. In addition, in order to develop the DPCW into a legally binding form, it also included content for active cooperation and participation in all stages for the DPCW to be proposed and enacted by the United Nations.

Chief Justice Gibbs Salica of Papua New Guinea said, “After learning more about the DPCW, I felt that we should all work to build a strong and peaceful nation.”

Religious leaders who attended the 'Religious World Without Discrimination, Religious Leaders Becoming One’ conference at the International Convention Center, Australia, signed a World Alliance of Religions' Peace MOU on February 18th 2019

On February 21st 2019, Chairman Man-Hee Lee participated in the ‘2019 Southeast Asia Peace Forum’ held at Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel & Residence, Cambodia. The ceremony was attended by Sidarto Danusubroto as Advisor to the Indonesian President, Wong Hon Wai as a Member of Parliament of Malaysia, Parlindungan Purba as 2nd Committee Chairman of the Indonesian National Assembly, and Chin Malin, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice in Cambodia. Participants wrote letters of support for the DPCW to be presented to national leaders and international organizations.

The next day, on the 22nd, Chairman Lee launched the HWPL Peace Education Committee together with the Cambodian Ministry of Education to discuss the introduction of peace education nationwide.

HWPL had signed an MOA with the Cambodian Ministry of Education at the 918 WARP Peace Summit in Seoul the year before. From January 2019, the Cambodian Ministry of Education expanded pilot education for elementary, middle and high schools, signed additional MOUs with 20 schools and universities and started implementing peace education.

Media coverage of the '2019 Pacific Leaders’ Summit for Peace, Sydney’ was held at New South Wales Parliament House, Australia, on February 19th 2019.

Chairman Lee and the peace delegation made their 31st tour, from March 31st to April 3rd 2019, that included meetings with high-ranking officials in Eastern Europe. During this tour, an international peace conference was held with the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization (ISACCL), the International Centre for Baltic-Black Sea Studies, and the University of Bucharest.

he peace delegation, which arrived in Romania on March 31st, met with former Romanian President Emil Constantinescu and officials from the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs one after another to discuss ways to cooperate for the attainment of world peace and plans for a peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula.

Chairman Lee (in a gray suit, centre) and attendees took a commemorative photo during the Peace Forum held under the theme of “The Role of Cultural Diplomacy in Resolving Long-Term Disputes” at the Romanian National Assembly on April 1st 2019.

After that, on April 1st and 2nd, under the theme, 'The Role of Cultural Diplomacy in Resolving Long-Term Disputes', a peace conference was hosted by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization (ISACCL), in joint cooperation with the Romanian Foundation for Democracy and the Interstate Parliamentary Alliance for International Ethics, and included the attendance of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HWPL, the Baltic-Black Sea Council, the University of Bucharest and the National School of Political Science and Public Administration.

At the opening ceremony of the Peace Conference in Romania on the 1st April, former President Emil Constantinescu gave a speech under the theme '30 Years After the Dictatorship, Today', where he emphasized issues regarding the situation at the time of the collapse of communism, social problems that arose thereafter, today's European conflicts and ways of progressing beyond these issues.

On April 2nd 2019, at the National Museum of Art of Romania, Chairman Lee gave a speech under the theme, 'Forum for Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula', at a meeting for the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula, that was co-hosted by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization (ISACCL) and HWPL.

During the conference, religious leaders from Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, the Romanian Orthodox Church and Bahaaism gathered at the National Museum of Art of Bucharest and the Ramada Hotel to hold a religions' peace meeting under the theme, 'The Role of Religion for World Peace'. In this meeting, the World Alliance of Religions' Peace (WARP) Office, where religious leaders from 129 countries engage in dialogue with each other to compare their scriptures, was introduced as a new platform for cultural diplomacy.

At the 'Forum for Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula' held at the National Museum of Art in Bucharest, former presidents of five Eastern European countries, European and Asian peace activists, representatives of human rights groups, and journalists gathered to discuss ways of securing international support and cooperation for the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula.

Following the 'Forum for Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula' held at the National Museum of Art in Bucharest, Romania, on April 2nd 2019, HWPL Chairman Man-hee Lee and former President Petru Lucinschi of Moldova took a photo to wish for the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula.

At the Levant Initiative for World Peace conference held before the closing of the conference, key figures attended and promised international support for the DPCW to be passed as a UN resolution. The ceremony was attended by former President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, former President of Moldova Petru Lucinschi, former President of Bulgaria Petar Stoyanov, former Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Djoomart Otorbaev, and former President of Romania Emil Constantinescu.

After the peace conference, HWPL co-hosted the ‘2019 Peace Education Conference’ with Master Peace, a Romanian youth group, and International Peace Youth Group (IPYG), an affiliate of HWPL.

On April 1st 2019, Chairman Man-hee Lee and his peace delegation gave an interview at Antenna 3 TV Studio, a private broadcasting station with the highest viewer ratings in Romania.

‘Peace education’ is one of HWPL’s core projects that is based on awakening the value of peace to pass on to future generations. European-tailored peace education is being conducted with peace textbooks published by HWPL that are centered on schools and academies of teachers affiliated to the Romanian youth group Master Peace.

As of the 31st tour, HWPL has signed MOUs with peace schools and academies in 208 locations in 21 countries. The HWPL Peace School is implementing education using HWPL peace textbooks. In particular, Southeast Asian countries are promoting the introduction of national peace education through the government.

During the event, International Women's Peace Group (IWPG), a partner of HWPL, held a peace conference under the theme, 'Harmony, Communication, and Peace of the 3.7 Billion Women', in the auditorium of the University of Bucharest, emphasizing the need for solidarity and harmony among women in Europe for the realization of world peace.

Peace!!