Brahma Kumaris at United Nations

This week’s briefing addressed “Linking Human Rights to Extreme Poverty”, In Observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Poverty (17 October). A video titled “Ending Extreme Poverty, a Road to Peace” produced by ATD Fourth World, highlighting on extreme poverty as a violation of human rights and the necessity to respect the dignity of the poor was screened.

Four expert panelists explained on the problem of poverty and the connection between poverty and human rights. Ms. Elizabeth Gibbons, Chief of Global Policy, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) New York, Ms. Catherine Barnett, Vice-President, Project Enterprise, Ms. Nina Lim Yuson, President, International Movement ATD Fourth World and Mr. Adonis Salas, Community Activist and Member of International Movement ATD Fourth discussed how the individual, organizations and humanitarian agencies could help the United Nations achieve eradication of extreme poverty and hunger.

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In observance of the International Day for Mental Health (10 October) and the International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction (10 October), this DPI briefing was about ‘The Psychological impact of Natural Disasters’.

The briefing looked into the psychological impact of natural disasters and the ways in which organizations and humanitarian agencies can help survivors of natural disasters recover from the trauma associated with the event.

The session started with a video from the ‘UN in the 21 Century’ series entitled, Aftershock: The Earthquake in Pakistan. There were also two ‘UN in Action’ videos; Nias Rebuilds After Earthquake, and UN Project Aims to Prevent Loss of Life When Natural Disasters. The Aftershock video was about the earthquake in Pakistan on 8 October 2005, one of the areas most severe disasters. More than three million people were wounded, 75000 people died - nearly half of them children and many of the children who did survive were orphaned. Islamabad, the capital city of the Pakistan established an orphanage for the children who lost their parents in the earthquake. Children had powerful reactions to the event. Some were deeply traumatized by witnessing many of their friends being killed, and others were reunited with their parents after many months of thinking their parents were dead. The recovery response to disaster is a complex and moving phenomenon.

In March 2005, Sumatra experienced an earthquake that killed around 800 people. The suffering was unforgettable. Working with local communities and government agencies, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), assessed the area and created a plan to restore basic services. A new hospital to care for the injured is now under construction. With 84000 people homeless, it was critical for the new construction to be able to withstand future earthquakes.

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Photo of some of the HLD participants at the breakfast reception kindly organized by the Baha’i community.

On 25 May 2007, the General Assembly adopted draft resolution A/61/L.60 entitled “High-level Dialogue on Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace”.

The Office of the President of the United Nations General Assembly has convened a ‘Task Force’ of civil society representatives to help ensure the effective participation of civil society, including non-governmental organizations and the private sector, in the High-level Dialogue, scheduled to be held on 4 and 5 October 2007. The effects of globalization processes, international travel and migration, the fast-expanding capacities of communication, tensions amongst diverse ethnic and religious groups, the realities of war, worldwide threats of terrorism, and the grave consequences of global climate change, have all highlighted the urgent need to deepen the cooperation and understanding between cultures, religions, and civilizations. Multi-stakeholder partnerships need to be developed to respond effectively to these global crises, enabling the shared engagement of very diverse constituencies. The High-Level Dialogue and its informal Interactive Hearing aim to strengthen efforts of interreligious and intercultural understanding and cooperation by engaging a variety of actors and constituencies, especially in government, civil society and the United Nations system. These three parties have also been at the core of the Tripartite Forum on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace formed after the 2005 Conference on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace. The High-level Dialogue further seeks to promote a culture of peace and dialogue among civilizations, advance multi-stakeholder coalitions, including with the private sector on related issues, further strengthen the Alliance of Civilizations initiative, and to translate shared values into action in order to achieve sustainable peace in the 21st Century. The initiatives and organizations mentioned here in the concept note, as well as other like minded organizations working locally, regionally and globally, continue in their efforts to implement their respective strategies and recommendations. Participants in this Interactive Hearing are encouraged to bring in their expertise, ideas and best practices to advance interreligious and intercultural understanding and cooperation everywhere in the world and to strengthen the outreach to support this cause. A variety of Governments have the opportunity to speak on this topic today and tomorrow with the civil society to offer their thoughts and comments in the afternoon.

The President of the session of the General Assembly opened the session with his comments including that “A crime committed in the name of Religion is a crime committed against Religion.” In order to have Religions help in the process of cooperation for peace there should be Reconciliation; “Reconciliation as a balance of remembering and forgetting.” The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon of South Korea, spoke at the opening: “But, all too often, I have discovered that people who aspire to the same things also suffer from the same prejudices. They all fear that which is different from them: the other ethnicity, the other skin color, the other cultural or linguistic tradition and, above all, the other religion. And yet, in today’s era of global travel and instant satellite transmissions, people everywhere are encountering less of the familiar, and more of “the other”. This reality has fed rising intercultural and inter-religious tensions, as well as growing alienation among vast segments of the world population. Today, there is an urgent need to address this worrying trend. We need to rebuild bridges and engage in a sustained and constructive intercultural dialogue, one that stresses shared values and shared aspirations.”

Of the many presentations during this conference the Minister from Bosnia Herzegovina stated, “that with dialogue, respect and coexistence will lead to tolerance, peace and real prosperity and this will eliminate both us and them.” The Brahma Kumaris can agree that the elimination of ”I” and “my” will be the beginning of the end of conflict.

Gandhi’s Message of Non-Violence Needed Now More Than Ever by Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General New York, Oct 2 2007 12:00PM

The message of Mahatma Gandhi, whose peaceful struggle helped birth an independent India and inspired countless people around the world, is needed now more than ever amid rising global tensions, intolerance and conflict, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

Addressing the General Assembly’s first-ever observance of the International Day of Non-violence, Mr. Ban said that communities around the globe were “increasingly mired in rising intolerance and cross-cultural tensions. We see extremist dogma and violent ideologies gaining ground, as moderate forces retreat. “And we have witnessed lethal force being used against unarmed and non-violent marchers who exemplified the very spirit of the Mahatma’s teachings,” he added, referring to the recent wave of peaceful protests witnessed in Myanmar. Calling the man who inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world a “personal hero,” Mr. Ban said that “by incorporating non-violence into everyday life, the Mahatma inspired countless individuals to lead better, more meaningful lives.” He added, “The Mahatma’s inspiration is needed now more than ever.”

The Secretary-General said he hoped the Day, which will be observed annually on 2 October, Gandhi’s birthday, will help to advance true tolerance and non-violence at every level, from individuals all the way up to Governments. “May this Day help spread Mahatma Gandhi’s message to an ever wider audience, and hasten a time when every day is a day without violence,” he said.

Also addressing the observance, General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim highlighted the need to spread the message that “non-violence, tolerance, respect for human rights, democracy, development, and diversity, are interlinked and mutually reinforcing.” It was Gandhi’s belief, Mr. Kerim said, that intolerance was the worst form of violence, and that without genuine tolerance, no dialogue can have a lasting impact. “This message underlines the importance of having various initiatives within this Organization to promote dialogue among cultures, religions and faiths as well as to strengthen mutual understanding,” he added.

The Assembly is set to convene a high-level dialogue on interreligious and intercultural cooperation later this week.