By SADIA WALI
The world is experiencing complex challenges, such
as violent extremism, identity-based conflicts and cultural and religious constraint.
Ethno nationalism, racism and discrimination against minority groups, religious
extremism and violations of human rights are the cause of an increasing number of
local and regional conflicts across the world.
FROM
A CULTURE OF VIOLENCE TO A CULTURE OF PEACE, A UNESCO publication says,
“The word peace has a variety of meanings in
different contexts. In international affairs, it is employed to denote
relations between states. Elsewhere, it is associated with internal conditions
in a country, in a society, between groups, organizations and social structures
or between man and his natural environment. In ethics or morality, the word ‘peace’
is used to characterize human relationships and attitudes or to determine an
individual’s frame of mind, often qualified as ‘inner peace. In the law of nations,
‘peace’ denotes the contrary of war, which is most frequently defined as a
resort to armed struggle and hostilities”
Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, ‘the
recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of
all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace
in the world’. The Yamoussoukro Declaration proposed to base a peace culture
‘on the universal values of respect for life, liberty, justice, solidarity,
tolerance, human rights and equality between women and men’. All these values
may be grouped around such key notions as justice, human rights, democracy,
development, non-violence and peaceful resolution of conflicts.
A culture of peace is intimately linked with a
culture of human rights and democracy, thus these racial disputes and conflicts
have raised the question how can we deal with these in a constructive way.
Johan Galtung, Elise Boulding and Santiago Genovéseminent peace researchers and
philosophers have emphasized on conflict prevention and post-conflict
peace-building procedures. They stressed upon rethinking peace and designing
new modalities for its achievement at the international, regional, national and
local levels. These modalities are renewed focus on good governance, rule of
law, sustainable development, and respect for human rights, economic and social
marginalization.
UNESCO has raised awareness worldwide about the
importance of dialogue, diversity and inclusion. UNESCO World Report: Investing in
Cultural Diversity and Intercultural
Dialogue.
PART I says,
Equitable exchange and dialogue among civilizations, cultures and peoples,
based on mutual understanding and respect and the equal dignity of all cultures
is the essential prerequisite for constructing social cohesion, reconciliation
among peoples and peace among nations.
Challenges to building
intercultural dialogue include: building intercultural competencies, promoting
interfaith dialogue, and reconciling conflicting memories. Interfaith dialogue is a crucial dimension of
international understanding, and thus of conflict resolution;
playing a vital role in the field of Cultural Diplomacy, interfaith dialogue
fosters reciprocal understanding, acceptance and tolerance amongst different religious
communities.
The
U.S. State Department released the Country Reports 2014-15 on Terrorism which
states that nearly 33,000 people were killed and 34,700 injured in almost
13,500 terrorist attacks around the world in 2014-15. The terrorist attacks
took place in 95 countries, but were concentrated in Iraq, Pakistan,
Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Syria. The report points out that terrorism in
2015 was marked by numerous kidnappings and hostage-taking events citing more
than 9,400 people kidnapped or taken hostage in terrorist attacks particularly
in Iraq and Syria. The root causes of increased terrorism around
the world are ethno-nationalism, racial and cultural discrimination, socio-economic status and lack of political inclusiveness in states or
grievances to combat terrorism.
General Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova
said: "We see an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Syria and Iraq. We
see cultural cleansing on massive scale, humanity’s shared heritage destroyed,
looted and sold off. Countering violent extremism calls for action in every
society, especially with young women and men, who, in their aspirations and
their diversity are our greatest ambassadors of peace,”
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in remarks to General
Assembly debate on peace operations, 12 October 2015 said, “The
historic adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals last month underscores a
long-standing truth: there will be no peace without development, no development
without peace, and neither without respect for human rights.”UN Secretary
General has rightly underlined the centrality of tolerance, promotion of
inter-cultural dialogue and mutual respect for global peace. At a time when
various parts of the world is hungering for peace and the phenomenon of racism,
xenophobia, extremism and various other forms of violence are stirring the very
edifice of a peaceful global society, all efforts needs to be made to promote
voices of compassion and love.
United Nations General Assembly stipulates certain
duties and obligations for states in order to promote peace and calls upon all
states to discourage and eliminate incitement to racial hatred, national or
other discrimination, injustice or advocacy of violence and war.
President Obama clearly emphasized about the nature
of the struggle against violent extremism and the most appropriate response:
"Ideologies are not defeated by guns but new ideas," he said.
"The path is not less democracy but more democracy, HR and the rule of
law. “We have to work together to build diverse, tolerant, inclusive societies
to defeat violent extremism," said President Obama, adding "We will
win the battle and this requires diligence, focus, and sustainable efforts by
all of us."
The most senior United Nations humanitarian official
stressed that the failure of parties to the conflict in Syria to uphold the
basic tenets of international law has propelled the Syrian people to levels of
tragedy and despair which could barely have been imagined five years ago.
“By any measure, the situation in Syria has worsened
since the beginning of the year,” the UN Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O'Brien, told
the UN Security Council during a briefing on the situation in the country.
Prime Minister Abadi of Iraq said, "We have
to stop foreign fighters, stop financing, stop the enslavement of women, stop
theft of artifacts."
Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom,
the King of Jordan and Prime Minister of Italy, MatteoRenzi has highlighted the
role of collaboration and dialogue among communities in bringing back peace in
the region.
The Prime Minister of Malaysia said "No crime and violence is justified in
the name of religion. Moderation in Islam and its associated values of humility
and compassion are values that help to promote values of compassion, respect,
tolerance and mutual understanding.”
Members of the
European Council have reacted with deep sorrow
and strong unity to the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. These attacks
targeted the fundamental values and human rights that are at the heart of the
European Union - solidarity, freedom, including freedom of expression,
pluralism, democracy, tolerance and human dignity. We will safeguard our common
values and protect all from violence based on ethnic or religious motivations and
racism they said.
The French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, laid
emphasis on the urgency of collective action in the struggle against Violent
Extremism. This was also echoed by the Prime Minister of Belgium, who said:
"only together can we make progress towards a safer world."
Speaking at the
United Nations General Assembly, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz
Sharif said, "Pakistan is
fully committed to the objectives of nonproliferation and disarmament. Pakistan
is also participating in global efforts to prevent and combat proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction he said. He proposed for renewed peace talks with India. He said that
these talks aimed at defining the relationship between the Asian countries ‘as
one of cooperation, not confrontation.’
Promotion of
non-violence and peace is not just about the absence of war. It is not an end
or final goal, but a process. It is about creating an enabling environment for promoting
peaceful social change through advocacy, knowledge sharing and networking that
increase tolerance and encourage conflict prevention. Peaceful
exchange of views and ideas builds understanding, empathy and tolerance and
identifies new possibilities for peaceful coexistence among nations and peoples
of the region.
We are living through a period of global transition.
Technology is connecting us ever more closely, and cross-cultural exchanges are
deepening every day. Societies are more diverse and intolerance is on the rise.
We have to
prepare learners to become good citizens in their communities, nation and the
world and equip them with the skills that promote peace and human dignity at
all levels of interaction. Teach girls and boys not just how to live
together but how to act together as global citizens. We need to nurture
tolerance from playgrounds to parliaments.
“Let
us join hands to accept differences and to end violence. No culture can live if
it attempts to be exclusive” - #MahatmaGandhi
Let every dream become Martin Luther King’s
dream, let every step towards peace become Mahatma Gandhi’s Salt March and let
every obstacle in your path become Nelson Mandela’s painful twenty-seven years
in prison. Promise yourself that you will contribute your best to make the
phenomenon of violence outdated, promise yourself that you will try to motivate
your friends to walk on the path of non-violence. Rise up to the level of love, compassion and
peace and create powerful, long-lasting change to make this world a better
place to live.
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