On April 3, 2014, I was recognized as “Goodwill Ambassador for Peace, Care, and Relief in GCC Countries, Middle East, and North Africa” by the International Organization for Peace, Care, and Relief, and as a member of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It really is a huge honor for me to get such recognition from such a big organization. It really encourages me to do more in my field and spread the message of peace all over the world.
The Global Peace Index (GPI) is an attempt by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) to measure the relative position of nations’ and regions’ peacefulness. The list was launched in May 2007, and is updated on an annual basis by consulting the international panel of peace experts from peace institutes and think tanks with the data collected and arranged by the Economist Intelligence Unit. GPI is claimed to be the first study ever done to rank countries around the world on the basis of peacefulness. At present, it ranks 163 countries, while in 2007, it ranked 121. A great progress!
This study is the brainchild of the Australian technology entrepreneur Steve Killelea, founder of Integrated Research, and is endorsed by individuals such as Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, economist Jeffrey Sachs, former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, current deputy secretary-general of the United Nations Jan Eliasson, and former US president Jimmy Carter.
The index delineates global peace using three major areas: the extent of domestic and international conflict, the level of safety and security in society, and the degree of militarization. Factors are both internal, such as levels of violence and crime within the country, and external, such as military expenditure and wars. The updated index is released annually at events in London, Washington DC, and the United Nations Secretariat in New York.
The following are some highlights I captured from the 2016 GPI report, which I felt was good to share with the readers:
Now I stress my concentration on the very bitter fact that the world has become less peaceful since 2008, with a deterioration of 2.44 percent in the average country GPI score. Is this not a matter to worry about? Yes, it is!
Studying the report over the last decade, it has been observed that the fall in peacefulness was unevenly distributed around the globe; 77 countries actually became more peaceful over this period, and 85 deteriorated further. Mainly the deterioration was noticed in four areas: the Middle East and North Africa, northern sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, and the countries dividing Russia and Europe, particularly Ukraine. Among these four areas, the Middle East and North Africa had the largest average deterioration on seven of the 23 GPI indicators. On average, internal indicators deteriorated while external indicators improved.
Syria is in complete meltdown, and civilians are paying the price. According to the recent BBC report, more than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four and a half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a fullscale civil war. More than 11 million others have been forced out of their homes. By June 2013, the UN said that 90,000 people had been killed in the conflict. By August 2015, that figure had climbed to 250,000, according to activists and the UN. A total of 6.5 million people are internally displaced in Syria, and 1.2 million were driven out of their homes in 2015 alone.
The UN says that it will need $3.2 billion to help the 13.5 million people, including 6 million children, who required some form of humanitarian assistance in Syria in 2016. About 70 percent of the population is without access to adequate drinking water, one in three people are unable to meet their basic food needs, more than 2 million children are out of school, and four out of five people live in poverty.
Positive peace is defined as peace with justice for all. Oftentimes, “peace” is mistaken simply as the absence of some negative force, such as violence. But according to Martin Luther King, “peace is not only the absence of tension, but the presence of justice,” which I totally agree with.
The following eight pillars by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) are so important that I think they should be taught at schools to young children to create a perfect tomorrow full of love and passion.
On August 28–31, 2000, 2,000 of the world’s preeminent religious and spiritual leaders representing many faith traditions gathered at the United Nations for the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders. The outcome of the summit was the signing of a Commitment to Global Peace, in which religious leaders accepted religious diversity, condemned all violence perpetrated in the name of religion, and committed themselves to fostering mutual respect among their communities.
The World Council of Religious Leaders (WCRL), launched in Bangkok on June 12–14, 2002, at Buddhamonthon and at UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), is an independent body that works to bring religious resources to support the work of the United Nations in the common quest for peace. The WCRL is not an official part of the United Nations, nor does it have any status within the United Nations. The formation of the WCRL was one of the stated goals of the Millennium World Peace Summit. The summit aims to create a forum in which several hundred preeminent leaders of all the world’s great religious and faith traditions can come together at the United Nations for the first time in history to pledge a commitment to take concrete actions for the achievement of world peace. This commitment has been embodied in the Declaration for World Peace that the participants signed and that has specified actions to be taken.
The objective of this council is to serve as a resource to the United Nations and its agencies around the world, nation states, and oth er international organizations, offering the collective wisdom and resources of the faith traditions towards the resolution of critical global problems. The participants of the world council adopted a charter that outlines key areas in which religious leaders can play an active role in reducing conflict and addressing the critical needs of humankind.
The WCRL aims to serve as a model and guide for the creation of a community of world religions. It seeks to inspire women and men of all faiths in the pursuit of peace and mutual understanding. It will undertake initiatives that will assist the United Nations and its agencies by providing the spiritual resources of the world’s religious traditions in the prevention, resolution, and healing of conflicts and in addressing global social and environmental problems. By promoting the universal human values shared by all religious traditions and uniting the human community for times of world prayer and meditation, the council seeks to aid in the development of the inner qualities and external conditions needed for the creation of a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world society.
The world council encourages the religious traditions and the United Nations to work in closer cooperation in building a community of the world’s religions to work for the benefit of the global family. In a fragile world that grows increasingly violent, WCRL are coming together to further dialogue and build a foundation of trust so that religious leaders can be an effective and powerful vehicle for peace.
On February 2, 2017, according to the Straits Times, a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore, the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies signed agreements with six religious institutions in a move to promote greater understanding of different religions in Singapore.
The school’s Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies (SRP) program will work closely with the institutions to develop postgraduate courses on religion and conduct research into the religious lives of the diverse communities in Singapore, among other things.
The six institutions are the Buddhist College of Singapore, the Hindu Center, Muis Academy, the St. Francis Xavier Major Seminary, the Taoist College, and Trinity Theological College.
SRP head of studies Mohammad Alami Musa said, “We can see the divisiveness in other parts of the world and how religions and beliefs are tearing society apart. Here, we work very hard to bring all our people together. We want to interact and exchange our experiences, our knowledge. With this, it will make our social bonds much stronger.”
The SRP program covers modern inter-faith relations and conflict in plural societies. Such efforts to enhance religious harmony and expand the common space in Singapore come amid growing polarization along the religious lines in the region and rising antiIslamic sentiments around the world.
The Emirates Red Crescent is a volunteer humanitarian organization founded on January 31, 1983, to support the official authorities in peacetime and wartime, in accordance with the provisions of Article (26) of the first Geneva Convention in 1949. Later, in 1986, it was internationally attested as a member in the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
I really thank them from the bottom of my heart for such a gigantic and kind effort for mankind. Many countries, such as Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Palestine face considerable suffering owing to several conflicts, and authorities like the Red Crescent work like a boon for them. What a great job. Now, let us have a quick look at the situations in Afghanistan, where the UAE Red Crescent is doing an outstanding job.
During the third quarter of 2016, the security in Afghanistan remained precarious and deteriorated in many areas. Recent violent clashes between government forces and the armed opposition have forced thousands of families to flee their homes, and medical facilities have struggled to cope with the influx of wounded civilians and fighters.
In this complicated and tough environment, the UAE Red Crescent is trying hard and smart to help and secure food, basic needs, and medicine for the civilians.
Since the beginning of October, the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) has redoubled its efforts to remind all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law to underline the need for them to do all they can to protect civilians and ask them to guarantee safe access to health care and clean water. Sadly, on January 10, 2017, five Emiratis carrying out humanitarian work were killed in a terrorist bomb attack in Afghanistan. The UAE ambassador to Afghanistan, Juma Al Kaabi, was also severely injured in the explosion in Kandahar. He was there to lay the foundation stone for the UAE-funded Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan orphanage and to sign an agreement with Kardan University for the UAE to offer scholarships there.
Mourning the deaths, President Sheikh Khalifa called for flags to be lowered to half-mast for three days at all ministries, government departments, and institutions to honor those killed. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, vice president of UAE and ruler of Dubai, said, “It is with pride that we mourn today the martyrs of Emirati humanitarian work in Afghanistan. Five martyrs have given their lives while striving to serve the weak, the children, and the needy. There is no humane, moral, or religious justification behind the explosion and the killing of those who seek to help others. May Allah grant mercy on their souls. The Emirati people are proud of their sons who work in the humanitarian field, and the country raises its head up high today for the martyrs who fell in the name of humanity unknown to those terrorists.”
It is really sad to mention here that while I was writing this paragraph, we received breaking news from our news agency that the UAE ambassador to Afghanistan, Juma Al Kaabi, passed away after suffering from his explosion injury. What sad news.
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes created by