International Peace & Sustainability Award for Children
CHILDREN‘S AWARD
If this proposal touches you then ‘be the change you wish to see’. I present you with a possibility where you can change the world for children.
“No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it. We need to learn to see the world anew.”
Albert Einstein
“Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush; anxious for greater developments and greater wishes and so on; so that children have very little time for their parents; parents have very little time for each other; and the home begins the disruption of the peace of the world.”
Mother Theresa
Albanian Christian Missionary
Winner of Nobel Peace Prize
“I will ask you all to Make Dreams Real for the world’s children. This will be our theme, and my challenge to all of you.”
Dong Kurn Lee, former Rotary International President
PROJECT SUMMARY
This proposal is written for an International Children’s Peace & Sustainability Award and can be tailored to the local level. The key is to empower children to actively engage in peace building and sustainability projects. They can envisage a bright future.
It is proposed that an International Children’s Peace & Sustainability Award be established in 2011 to raise awareness of the critical importance of children to become actively engaged in peace building and ecological sustainability across the world. Children represent over 50% of the world’s population; it is evident that children’s voices, ideas, and concerns are not adequately represented about global issues that directly affect them. The concept of an International Children’s Peace Award is to set a precedent to directly acknowledge children’s ideas, creativity and capabilities in peace building and ecological sustainability and to acknowledge the support given by schools. The International Children’s Peace & Sustainability Award will be instrumental in encouraging and informing active participation in peace and sustainability projects by children within their own local community setting. Through connecting schools with peace and sustainability education materials, global networks, raising local awareness to inspire communities to encourage children to be active, inspired, challenged and empowered to face the challenges of the future. An International Children’s Peace & Sustainability Award will be a catalyst for positive and effective change globally.
It is proposed that a reputable organisation be found as a lead organisation and funding body of the ‘The International Children’s Peace & Sustainability Award’. UNESCO would be invited to partner The International Children’s Peace & Sustainability Award and an Educational Expert.
The International Children’s Peace & Sustainability Award will have as its call to action REAL HOPES – Responsibility, Empathy, Awareness, Love, Honesty, Oneness, Peace, Enjoyment and Service. This is a powerful message that leads by universal values and example, exemplifying ethical conduct and real-world community service. This is an important example for children around the world to follow.
It is proposed that the Award is promoted to schools and submissions collected at the local level. A World Peace Sustainability Clown aka Susan Carew, will travel to nominated countries to collect submissions from schools, teach excerpts of peace & sustainability education with a focus on ‘thinking differently’ and disseminate peace and sustainability education materials.
Susan will conduct research entitled Children’s 2020 Visions of the Future. The World Peace Sustainability Clown will speak to clubs, community groups and raise media awareness of this initiative. The UN Peace Messenger and Patron will present the Award to children of outstanding merit who are promoting peace building and/or sustainability.
A documentary film will be made about the World Peace Sustainability Clown’s journey to promote the Award.
Significantly, the nominated organisation leading this project will be part of a growing movement to secure a real future for children around the world. To make their dreams real.
ENDORSEMENT/SUPPORTERS
This proposal has been circulated for feedback, critical appraisal and grounding from Rotarians, peace and conflict resolutions experts, scientists, ministers, civil libertarians, nuclear activists, community development advocates, educators and think tanks. The author of this proposal would like to warmly thank all contributors for sharing their advice and feedback. Initial responses to this proposal, as follows:
Dear Susan, dear Antonio – very impressive, totally original, never seen anything like it before. Forward it to Olivier Urbain for Arts and Peace – please — all the best johan in California
Professor Johan Galtung
Dear Susan, thank you for sending me the advance copy of your interesting proposal for a Rotary International Peace Award for the Children of the World – a very commendable concept.
Dr. Henry Gardiner, Past Governor, RI District 9700 1995-96
Dear Susan, congratulations for taking on this very ambitious project/journey/quest.
Owen Secombe, UNESCO APNIEVE
Network for International Education and Values Education
Dear Susan, I really admire your noble effort to educate and inspire children, particularly to understand peaceful philosophy and also the education that you have given yourself in this area.
Dr. Helen Caldicott
Author, Public educator about the medical hazards of the nuclear age
Dear Susan, I have now scanned your admirable proposal. Every joyous wish for its success. Blessings
Dr Stella Cornelius (AO), Conflict Resolution Network, Sydney
Dear Susan, Kris here – I have read you proposal and I think it is admirable and a great initiative.
Dr. Kris Klugman, Civil Liberties Australia
Sounds like a good idea Susan go for it! Cheers Kevin
Professor Kevin Clements, Director
The National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago, New Zealand
G’day Susan, A brilliant concept! Congratulations. I think the concept is exciting and that Peacefull is the absolutely perfect person to be the messenger. I greatly admire your commitment to world peace, and support this proposal with my good wishes, joyful thoughts and prayers
Dr Nikola Balvin,
Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Queensland (Melb.)
Dear Susan, the wonderful aspect about you is that you are still pursuing your dreaming and I think that is terrific. I really hope you succeed in this endeavour.
Basil Varghese
former Education Coordinator, Brotherhood of St Laurence
Overall it seems good. I confess to fluctuating between cynicism (big international organisation, bureaucrat-speak) and enthusiasm (yes, excellent idea, could become an inspiring and empowering process). Going through Rotary I think is much better than the UN, much more likely to actually achieve something. Overall, you won me over.
Dr Geoff Davies
Author, Scientist, Social commentator
COMMENT BY AUTHOR
In 2010, I travelled the world as a World Peace Clown to 20 countries in 6 months. I self funded the project to go to schools, hospitals and clowned on the streets to bring peace to life as love and joy and to test how the clown was received cross-culturally. You are welcome to visit my blog ‘Clowning My Way Around the World’. What I require is like minded people who can commit to an idea and follow through. I have already shown through my work that I have the capacity to carry this project out.
If you are concerned about the future and are an ethical person/organisation then connect. We are seeking project partners and sponsors. If you want to make a difference contact Peacefull
The International Peace and Sustainability Award will encourage children …
‘To be the Change You Wish to See in the World” (Gandhi).
BACKGROUND BRIEFING
On January 12, 2001, 100 of the World’s Nobel Peace Laureates published a ‘Dire Warning For Planet Earth’, reinforcing the idea that it is time to change the way we think:
“The most profound danger to world peace in the coming years will stem not from the irrational acts of states or individuals but from the legitimate demands of the world’s dispossessed… It is time to turn our backs on the unilateral search for security, in which we seek to shelter behind walls. Instead, we must persist in the quest for united action to counter both global warming and a weaponised world. To survive in the world we have transformed, we must learn to think in a new way. As never before, the future of each depends on the good of all.”
Mahatma Gandhi considered himself a practical idealist. As leader and founder of the nonviolence movement in India, his work stands as a testimony for alternatives to violence and war. The success and popularity of his approach was evident by the global response to his actions of leading his people in a nonviolent struggle for their independence. Gandhi believed the future is in the hands of children, he stated:
“If we are to reach real peace in this world and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we have to begin with the children.”
As an intergenerational concept, sustainable development requires present generations to nurture the world’s social, economic and environmental well-being, and to enable next generations to do the same. The transfer of critical knowledge to today’s young people is vital, yet its realization is threatened by crises in resource-stressed regions and by diseases threatening to obliterate whole generations. At present, youth under the age of 25 comprise over 50 per cent of the world’s population. This scenario calls for significantly more attention to be paid to preparing youth for the challenges ahead. Many solutions have been proposed to bring young people to the forefront of sustainable development practices and policies, but without sufficient response from national-level policy-makers, young people can become marginalized in the political sphere, left with the impression that their input is not valued.
The UN General Assembly’s Special Session on Children in May 2002 attracted 69 Summit level participants and 190 high level national delegates[4]. The session included political leaders, UN agencies, religions, business, arts, academia and civil society. Five Nobel Peace Prize Laureates attended and 1,700 delegates representing NGO’s from 117 countries. For the first time in the history of the UN meetings, more than 400 children were there as delegates and active participants.
The UN Secretary General told delegates that ‘the children in this room are witnesses to our words”. The children were more than that as they challenged the adults, informed them and provided stories of their lives. The children inspired all present with their belief in collective change and their hope.
The children addressed the Assembly on 8 May 2002. Two delegates representing the Children’s forum stated the following:
“We are the world’s children.
We are the victims of exploitation and abuse.
We are street children.
We are the children of war.
We are the victims and orphans of HIV/AIDS.
We are denied good-quality education and health care.
We are victims of political, economic, cultural, religious and environmental discrimination.
We are children whose voices are not being heard: it is time we are taken into account.
We want a world fit for children, because a world fit for us is a world fit for everyone.”
Child delegates:
Ms Gabriela Azurduy Arrieta (Bolivia) and Ms Audrey Chenynut (Monaco)
Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF stated “what must now follow their words are their actions (Assembly) for the future of humanity depends on them.”
The current situation for children around the world is a reflection of the violence of adults and it is passed down one to the other, the cycle of violence must be stopped and society no longer considers violence as acceptable or indeed, normal.
UNICEF highlights alarming statistics of violence, as follows:
- 53,000 children died worldwide as a result of homicide;
- 80-98% of children suffer physical punishment at home;
- Between 20 and 65 percent of school-aged children in developing countries reported having been verbally or physically bullied in the previous 30 days;
- 150 million girls and 73 million boys under 18 experienced forced sexual intercourse;
- 1.8 million were exploited in prostitution and pornography, and 1.2 million were victims of trafficking;
- 5.7 million children participated in forced or bonded labour;
- Persistent social and legal acceptance of some forms of violence against children that too often leaves such violence unnoticed and unreported;
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child requires States to protect children from all forms of violence, to prevent and respond to violence, and to provide support to children who are victims of violence (Article 19);
- Society’s acceptance of everyday violence against children is a major factor in the persistence of that violence. Positive, non-violent environments should be created for and with children, in their homes, schools, other institutions and communities, accompanied by public education and advocacy campaigns and the training of teachers and other public servants;
- Governments at various levels should promote and support programmes and campaigns to educate the public and parents on child rights generally and in particular on maintaining positive, non-violent relationships with children in families. Here, the media can also play a key role.
The 1959 Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets a universal standard on the rights of children. The declaration highlights the need for children to develop individual abilities and learn to be useful members of society, protected from harm and exploitation. Moreover, the responsibility of parents and others is to provide conditions that will foster the development of children, enhance confidence and self esteem enabling them to develop to maximum potential.
The United Nations (UNESCO) designated the Decade 2005-2014 to be dedicated to Education for Sustainable Development. This decade overlaps with the Decade for a Culture of Peace but each decade is not mutually exclusive but must be communicated interchangeably. Governments from around the world have been invited to strengthen their contribution to sustainability through a focus on education. A culture of peace and ecological sustainability is intrinsically linked by universal values of learning to live peacefully together and taking responsibility for ecological sustainability over unabated materialism, consumerism and self interest. It is essential that a balance is achieved and a goodness of fit is attained. UNESCO APNEIVE [Asian Pacific Network for International Education and Values Education] provides a circular diagram to highlight the balance.
It is vital for the future of humanity that children are included, inspired, challenged and empowered to lead a culture of peace that is sustainable. To fail to act now will render the next generation without necessary tools and values for real hope.
“The greatest investments we can make are in our children and grandchildren. Our current ideas for dealing with climate change, carbon emissions, resource depletion and other problems… [solutions] will seem awkward compared to the elegant, up-to-date strategies our children will invent and deliver.”
Green Schools,
Rocky Mountain Institute,
by Cameron M. Burns and Huston Eubank
An International Peace & Sustainability Award is essential.