| Posted: May 02 2005,10:10 |
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PROGRESS: Has your organization seen
progress toward a culture of peace and nonviolence in your domain of
action and in your constituency during the first half of the Decade? |
Our
Organization has seen somewhat perceptible, albeit halting and
sporadic, progress toward generating general awareness about the
necessity of developing the composite culture of peace and nonviolence
amongst people, especially the youth in India, during the first half of
the Decade, that is, 2001-2005. This period was broadly marked by the
general state of reduced violence and relatively greater inclination
for and prevalence of peace in India even though the mindless acts of
cross border terrorism and the tragic loss of the innocent lives
continued to occur in the Indian State of Jammu & Kashmir. There
have also been sporadic violent acts of insurgency in the North-East
States of India. This NGO, nay, the whole nation, was dismayed by the
communal violence in the Indian State of Gujarat in year 2002. However,
at regional level, the peace initiatives taken by the people and
governments of India and Pakistan have been refreshingly reassuring as
both the countries jointly declared that they would not allow terrorism
to impede the on-going peace process, which was termed as
“irreversible” by both the nuclear nations of the Asian region.
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OBSTACLES: What are the most important obstacles that have prevented progress?
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Fundamentalism
and religious fanaticism have largely been the main obstacles in the
path of progress toward enhancing and achieving adherence to culture of
peace. In addition, under-development, unemployment, ignorance,
injustice, poverty are liable to lead to violence. The development that
is not anchored on spiritual, ethical and human values tend to get
distorted in society. The decline of values leads to phenomenon of
consumerism, ecological degradation, human rights violations,
intolerance and extremism. Value-oriented education, eco-friendly
science, sustainable development, interfaith amity, eradication of
poverty and dynamic solidarity of our membership of ‘one global family’
– vasudhaiv kutumbakam – lead to a culture of peace among people.
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ACTIONS: What actions have been
undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the first half of the Decade?
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On
proclamation of the year 2000 as International Year for the Culture of
Peace, this NGO too took up the task of taking the message of Culture
of Peace to the people, especially the youth. The volunteers of this
Non-Profit NGO “Global Harmony” joined hands with the Brahma Kumaris of
New Delhi and visited various educational institutions in the Indian
capital for collection of signatures in support of the Manifesto-2000.
Our signature collection campaign was marked by our explanations and
exhortations to the youth to inculcate the human values of tolerance,
understanding, non-violence, justice, truth, integrity, peace, harmony,
love, caring and sharing, which go to make a culture of peace. As this
NGO does not have sufficient resources of its own, it mainly works in
consortium with the Forum of Indian NGOs for Cooperation With United
Nations (FINCUN) and other like-minded NGOs. The FINCUN, in consortium
with "Global Harmony" and other NGOs, jointly organized, among other
things, various Workshops and Seminars during the course of its
National Assembly from 16th to 18th February, 2001 at New Delhi, India.
The following Workshops, which were then held in New Delhi, India,
merit special mention:
(a) Promotion of Culture of Peace
(b) Protection of Environment
© Banning of Nuclear and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction, General and Complete Disarmament.
(d) Economic and Social Development, Eradication of Poverty and Globalization.
(e) Human Rights: Political, Civil, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – Right to Development.
(f) Democratization of United Nations
(g) Strengthening of the Non-Aligned Movement.
Various
Special Interest Group (SIG) discussions, workshops, seminars,
symposia, meetings and conferences were also held from time to time
amongst the youth, educators, students, women, professionals, senior
citizens, et al. The specific “Global Harmony” project named
“Environmental Education for Building Culture of Peace and Global
Citizenship” was accepted and invited for presentation in the Education
for Peace Globalnet Conference held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in October
2002. Earlier, the “Global Harmony” project “Future of Our Children”
was also accepted and invited for presentation in the international
conference at the University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, in
September 2000.
This NGO was represented in the “International
Conference on Globalization and Challenges for Education – Focus on
Equity and Equality” held at New Delhi, India, in January 2003 as well
as another International Conference on “Globalization and Information
Technology” held at the University of Santa Clara, U.S.A., on April 24,
2003. This NGO was honored by Fordham University, New York, USA, in
as-much-as its Paper on “Relevance Of Ancient Indic Philosophy of
‘vasudhaiv kutumbakam’ for Promotion of Culture of Peace and Global
Citizenship”, was accepted for presentation in the International
Conference on Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, which was held in
October-November 2004. This NGO experienced a sense of satisfaction
when its Founder and President, Wing Commander Nandlal Jotwani (Retd.)
was honored by the ARC Initiative, Stanford University, USA, with the
award of the status of Visiting Fellow, in the field of Indian culture
and religions for academic year 2003-04. “Global Harmony” is a unique
Non-Profit NGO wherein the social work is carried out by a group of
self-motivated, dedicated volunteers, hailing from various walks of
life, endowed with devotion, dedication and integrity, functioning
independently at their own pace and space, making meaningful use of
their talents, expertise and available resources, pursuing peace
projects and programs aimed at accomplishment of organizational goals
in an environment of democratic freedom as this NGO has consistently
refrained from raising funds from any source except the willing
cooperation of volunteers using their own available resources in the
course of participation in and implementation of peace value-oriented
education projects and programs for a composite culture of peace.
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ADVICE: What advice would you like to
give to the Secretary-General and the General Assembly to promote a
culture of peace and nonviolence during the second half of the Decade? |
U.N.
should reinvigorate its efforts to encourage all nations and the civil
society to take effective measures to overcome all perceivable
obstacles to promotion of culture of peace in the world not only during
the second half of the Decade (2006-2010) but also as an on-going
process at all times.
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PARTNERSHIPS: What partnerships and
networks does your organization participate in, thus strengthening the
global movement for a culture of peace? |
In
addition to the Forum of Indian NGOs for Cooperation with United
Nations (FINCUN), India, this NGO has been keen to develop its
networking with, among many other like-minded NGOs/Institutions, CIRHU,
Auroville, India; the Brahma Kumari Vishwa Vidyalaya, India; United
States Institute of Peace, USA; International Peace Bureau, Geneva,
Switzerland; UNESCO/UNIC/UNDPI and the U.N. DPI / Millennium Forum, et
al.
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PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence in the second half of the Decade (2005-2010)? |
This
non-political, non-partisan and non-profit NGO looks forward to
building and developing greater networking and partnerships among
various actors as well as working in consortium with the like-minded
NGOs/Institutions for launching the collective and effective global
movement for a composite culture of peace.
We have planned to catch
them young at the schools/colleges and inculcate humane values amongst
them by conducting personal contacts, group discussions, symposia,
seminars, workshops, conferences, awareness campaigns and mass
education. We will appreciate the like-minded individuals, institutions
and organizations to extend their cooperation to pool our resources and
work in consortium to achieve our common objectives. We aim at making
the world a harmonious 'global village' by developing and implementing
dynamic value-oriented educational projects and programs, which promote
culture of peace, convergence, intercultural affinity, interfaith
understanding, sustainable development, value-oriented including human
rights education, gender equality, human amity, world peace and global
harmony in the spirit of 'vasudhaiv kutumbakam', that is, the whole
world is but one family.
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Postal address of organization
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Wg. Cdr. Nandlal Jotwani, Ph.D.
Founder and President
GLOBAL HARMONY
Non-Profit NGO for Culture of Peace
57 Ground Floor, Vinoba Puri
Lajpat Nagar-II, New Delhi-110024
India
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E-mail address of organization
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nandlaljotwani@globalharmony.com
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Website address of organization
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www.globalharmony.com (construction is ‘on’ with voluntary help)
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Highest priority action domain of a culture of peace
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While
the following order of precedence is broadly followed in our plan of
action, due emphasis is laid on each of these inter-twined, vitally
important domains for a culture of peace:
(a) Education for a culture of peace
(b) International peace and security
(c) Sustainable development
(d) Human rights
(e) Understanding, tolerance, solidarity
(f) Democratic participation
(g) Equality of women
(h) Free flow of information and knowledge
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Second priority action domain of a culture of peace
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Highest priority country of action (or international)
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While India and Asia remain our priority, we in "Global Harmony" are international in outlook, approach and outreach.
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Second priority country of action (or international)
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