Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK – On May 25, hundreds of youth and representatives of civil society gathered in Windhoek for a peace walk to raise awareness on the need to achieve a conflict-free Africa.
The event was jointly hosted by an international peace NGO, Heavenly Culture, World Peace and Restoration of Light (HWPL), its affiliated group, the International Peace Youth Group (IPYG), and the Namibia Youth Development Organization, which was joined by scores of hopeful youth to invest in the work of peace.
The peace walk formed part of the 5th Annual Commemoration of the Declaration of World Peace, which has been carried out in 100 cities in 50 countries including South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, South Korea, UK, the U.S, India, and China. This global movement is aimed to promote a culture of peace based on the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW). Together…Youth celebrating a future conflict-free Africa in Namibia
HWPL, a non-governmental organization affiliated with UN ECOSOC, had the first Declaration of World Peace in 2013 to call for all members of society to work together as peace messengers. The chairman of HWPL, Man Hee Lee, highlighted that every person in every country is responsible for establishing world peace. “Rather than waiting to take peace for granted, it is we who should put an end to all wars to protect humanity and our world and leave peace as a legacy for future generations. Since laws of today cannot compensate for the lives sacrificed in war, what we need is an instrument that protects human life, a law that prevents war.”
The peace walk was held within the vicinity of the Independence Museum. During her address, Thormaline Shitaleni, co-founder of Libra Foundation, a Namibian youth-run initiative advocating gender equality, shared the HWPL chairperson’s message: “Peace can and will be achieved in our generation today, and every effort we put into creating peace is one step closer to a conflict-free Africa.” In addition to this, she reminded the audience: “When the youth of the world unite, all wars will cease.”