ABOUT

The 9th Anniversary of the September 18th HWPL World Peace Summit is set to be held on 18 September 2023 in Seoul, Korea. The event is held to commemorate the 2014 HWPL World Peace Summit, examine the key achievements of the agreements signed that day, and establish future plans.

The September 18th HWPL World Peace Summit is a platform for people worldwide to lead and engage in discussions to create a world where peace, law, order, and culture are preserved. Since the first event held in 2014, the peace summit has been celebrated annually in Seoul, South Korea. Depending on the key agenda, the sessions of the event are categorized into international law, religion, education, media, women, and youth, and many panelists get involved, including not only experts from various fields but also related persons from governments and civil organizations.

2. Description

Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL) has led initiatives that propose multidimensional strategies inclusive of governments, intergovernmental organizations, and civil society in the efforts for implementing conflict resolution and establishing peace. HWPL hosted the September 18th HWPL World Peace Summit in 2014 with leaders in politics, religion, women’s groups, youth groups, and the media in attendance. HWPL and leaders of various sectors convened to discuss conflict resolution, establishing peace, and mutual cooperation and signed landmark agreements on building and implementing solid systems for cooperation. The agreements covered implementing legal instruments to ensure peace, building religious harmony, and creating peace activities by state actors and citizens, respectively. Such agreements became the basis of further discussions that have taken place every year on 18 September as the signing entities continue their exchange on peace strategies.

The Agreement to Propose the Enactment of International Law for the Cessation of Wars and World Peace, signed during the 2014 conference, led to the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (hereinafter the DPCW), which reaffirms the major international conventions for peace, sets out methods for resolving modernized conflicts, and emphasizes the role of nation-states and civil society for achieving peace. It was followed by a citizen-led global campaign, the Legislate Peace (LP) project, which aims at incorporating peace in the legal order to build a global community of coexistence and harmony. Echoing the citizens demands for peace as a norm, in which cultural and social rules are shared by all citizens, the LP project is expanding its scope to the conservation of environmental preservation, relief, education, and empowerment of women and youth.

In accordance with the World Alliance of Religions Agreement signed by major world religious leaders, the strategies in the efforts for building peace in the religious community are also steadily being implemented. The HWPL World Alliance of Religions’ Peace Offices have been established and actively operated in 130 countries around the world, contributing to preventing religious disputes and promoting harmony through close dialogue and communication between different religions.

In addition, HWPL is carrying out various initiatives to build sustainable peace. HWPL peace education that fosters peace values among future generations is being conducted in 90 countries; and the International Peace Youth Group (IPYG), an organization under HWPL, has formed a Youth Engagement & Peacebuilding Working group (YEPW) around affiliated organizations in 119 countries seeking to maintain citizen-led peace and promote a culture of peace. It also mediates communication between conflicting parties in various disputed regions, and strives to raise citizens’ awareness of peace through peace journalism research and peace media networks.

Through this event, HWPL aims to reflect on the achievements of its activities over the past decade and propose to upgrade the “LP Project” to an “LP Program” by improving it into a more systematic, multidimensional, and long-term strategy. In addition, the ideas on ways to strengthen the mediation between conflicting parties for dispute resolution and plan a policy discussion body for spreading a culture of peace will be shared. The participants will have the opportunity to interact and cooperate with networks closely connected to all walks of life around the world, and participate in the discussion process for establishing and implementing strategies for each initiative.