The Words of the Balcomb Family
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The Words of the Balcomb Family |
A conference on “One Family under God: A New Vision of Peace in the 21st Century” conference was held in Kiev, Ukraine, at the Premier Palace Hotel on February 19, 2009. The conference was organized by the Universal Peace Federation and the Ukrainian Peace Council, a Ukrainian NGO. Among the 350 participants at the conference were renowned public figures, writers, scientists, artists, and representatives of many Ukrainian and international NGOs.
This conference in Ukraine was part of the chain of events of the Global Peace Tour 2009 organized by UPF. This year's World Peace Summit on January 29-31 in New York, USA, brought together UN representatives and public and religious figures from 194 nations. Ukraine was represented by the Ukrainian Peace Council headed by the first President of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk.
The conference in Kiev was opened by Leonid Kravchuk, who mentioned that the Ukrainian people have the moral right to be in the vanguard of a global peacemaking process because their history is an example of peacemaking efforts, in particular as a country which voluntarily renounced its nuclear weapon.
Dr. Katsumi Ohtsuka, Chair of UPF-Eurasia, spoke about UPF activities in various countries and the progress made by the Global Peace Festial around the world. He appealed to conference participants to join this international peacemakers’ movement.
Other speakers included a famous poet of Ukraine, Borys Oliynyk, the head of the State Department of Nationalities and Religion at the Oleksand Sagan, and biochemistry research Institute director, academician Sergiy Komisarenko. They shared their opinions about peace, the relationship between religion and science, and the necessity of establishing an Inter-religious Peace Council at the United Nations.
Conference participants supported UPF's proposal to establish an International Peace Council at UN, which will work to prevent conflicts and promote lasting peace. It is not a secret that most conflicts in the world have some religious basis. Conference participants also supported the proposal to hold a Global Peace Festival in Ukraine in 2010. This event will help to overcome the differentiation of society according to geographical or faith factors, revive family values, and develop the volunteer movement in Ukraine.
At the end of the conference, new Ambassadors for Peace were appointed.