Seeking Strategies for Peacebuilding between Government and Civil Society
at the 3^rd Annual Commemoration of the WARP Summit in Seoul, Republic of Korea

An international summit to seek global governance for peace and stability of the international society is held from September 17^th to 19^th in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), an international NGO under the UN DPI, hosts the 3rd annual commemoration of World Alliance of Religions’ Peace (WARP) Summit, where representatives from governments and civil society groups will discuss detailed action plans for peacebuilding at local, national, and international levels.

To discuss ways to build a ‘Peace Governance’ as an international network, 1,000 participants in the summit include heads of state, ministers, members of parliament, representatives of international association in law, education, religion, press, youth and women. The theme of the summit is ‘Establishing Collaborative Governance for Sustainable Development and Implementation of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW), drafted by experts in the international law to advocate conflict resolution and development of peace as a culture.

Today’s international community is trying to create “Good Governance” for the implementation of the agenda such as economy, culture, and education for sustainable development. In this global trend, HWPL has actively carried out citizen-involved peace activities supported by the government.

The ‘Legislate Peace’ Campaign, a citizen-level advocacy campaign for the establishment of the international law for peacebuilding with youth and women has been conducted in the form of signatures, forums, and seminars in over 100 countries since May 2016. In cooperation with local governments, Peace Day and Peace Zone have been enacted by cities including the United States and South Africa to facilitate peacebuilding efforts by citizens.

Based on the experiences of peace activities, HWPL has been holding this annual event every year since 2014 to discuss the roles and action plans of each group of society. Under the slogan of ‘Together for peace as messengers of peace’, Mr. Man Hee Lee, the Chairman of HWPL, emphasized the importance of the support of the international community by saying, “For world peace and cessation of war, we should create conditions for working together with youth and women’s organizations in each country. I would like to ask for the support for the unification of the Republic of Korea to the officials of each country.”