10th Anniversary of the HWPL World Peace Summit in Ukraine: Peace Education in Times of War

On September 23, 2024, Ukraine celebrated the 10th anniversary of the HWPL World Peace Summit with an online conference focused on peace education in war. This event was part of a global initiative, with regional HWPL World Peace Summits taking place in 122 countries between September 18 and 30. The aim is to celebrate a decade of the global peace movement and discuss future strategies for building lasting and just peace worldwide.

The summit was organised by the global branch of the international organisation Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), registered with the UN ECOSOC, in partnership with 35 Ukrainian organisations, including regional and city education departments, NGOs, universities, and schools. The online conference in Ukraine gathered around 200 representatives from education, government, legal sectors, and civil society.

Valentyn Arendarchuk, the Director of the Education Department of the Zhytomyr City Council, shared insights about the department’s collaboration with HWPL on the peace education project, stating, “I truly believe that once Ukraine achieves its long-awaited victory over the enemy, peace will follow, and we will have the opportunity to launch many new initiatives.”

Hanna Krysiuk, the founder of the international magazine Business Woman and the Business Woman Club, and the Chair of the International Headquarters for Supporting Ukrainians, spoke about “HWPL’s initiatives focused on peace and rallying support for Ukraine during these difficult times of war and genocide against the Ukrainian people”. She also shared her experiences in covering peace-related topics, educational programmes, and environmental initiatives in her magazine.

During the conference, a report was shared on HWPL’s support for Ukraine amid the ongoing full-scale war. It highlighted the organisation’s efforts in international statements, conferences, humanitarian aid, refugee assistance, and educational initiatives. Among the HWPL’s key initiatives were the results and plans for the international Peace Education project, which currently provides peace lessons in 90 countries worldwide.

HWPL has been collaborating with Ukraine in education since 2020, offering free textbooks and video lectures for peace lessons and teacher training. In Ukraine, memorandums have been signed with six education departments across cities and regions, three universities, twenty-three schools, and two NGOs. During the 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years, more than 2,200 students from various regions and cities in Ukraine have participated in peace education courses.

“In today’s context in Ukraine, these peace lessons are incredibly important. We live in a time when our children not only need to stand against aggression but also work to build peace in their surroundings. We are developing a teacher training course on the Moodle platform to provide more educators with the tools to teach peace lessons. We will engage with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to consider integrating this programme at the national level, as it has the potential to transform the future of our country,” emphasised Viktoriia Sokolova, Vice-Rector for Research and International Cooperation at Alfred Nobel University.

HWPL developed the peace education curriculum with the support of educators from various countries worldwide. These peace lessons aim to cultivate the younger generation as citizens of peace who promote a culture of peace and contribute to strengthening global harmony. Students who have completed peace education may play a vital role in rebuilding Ukraine after the war.

“Our experience with these lessons has been incredibly positive and transformative. Students have shared how they learned to resolve conflicts with their families and friends without resorting to aggression, which we see as a clear indicator of the lessons’ success. Peace lessons are crucial for cultivating conscious, tolerant citizens who can help build a peaceful society, making them an essential part of modern education,” said Nataliia Kutsenko, Director of the Vocational Medical and Pharmaceutical College at Poltava State Medical University.

Olha Omelko, the director of Kniahynynivskyi Lyceum of the Volyn Regional Council, emphasised, “The peace lessons generated strong interest among students, as they tackled important topics simply and engagingly. We discussed issues like harmony in life, gratitude, respect for elders, the importance of preserving our heritage for future generations, and the ability to negotiate and think. These lessons are incredibly important because if we don’t teach children about peace, someone else will surely teach them the opposite.”

The World Peace Summit organised by HWPL has been held annually in South Korea since 2014. The first summit brought together about 2,000 leaders from 170 countries and more than 200,000 citizens, making it the largest international event ever organised by a non-governmental organisation.

This year, the main celebration of the 10^th anniversary of the World Peace Summit took place on September 18-19 in South Korea, gathering around 30,000 participants under the theme “Creating World Peace Community Through Regional Collaboration.” In line with the focus on “regional cooperation,” HWPL signed a partnership memorandum with the intergovernmental organisation Group of 7+ (G7+), which comprises 20 countries, and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino), which includes 23 member states, to develop peace initiatives.

Lee Man-hee, the Chairman of HWPL, pointed out in his speech, “We must work together to create a world of peace and leave it as a legacy for future generations.”

Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL) is an international non-governmental organisation registered with the UN ECOSOC, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. After ten years of global cooperation for peace, HWPL has united 500,000 members in 170 countries and is carrying out peacebuilding projects through MOAs and MOUs with 1,014 organisations across 105 countries.