Global Peace hosted a Global Peace Honours Ceremony in a 2-session virtual event on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th of April 2021, respectively. The event honoured and appreciated Global Peace Citizens for their contributions to the 100 Inter-Generational Dialogues (IGDs) convened in 100 cities across the world, either as speakers, moderators, or conveners. The Global Peace IGDs have collated common aspirations, challenges and concerns related to issues of climate change, health, employment, gender, inequality, conflict, technology, and population, which have been synthesized into a select number of thematic areas. These thematic areas are expected to be discussed further and the required solutions sought, for human progress and development under the latest initiative of Global Peace, the Futures Forum. The ceremony culminated in the virtual awarding of certificates of recognition to the distinguished Global Peace Citizens, in a virtual acknowledgement of their hard work and dedication to meeting the goal of working together for a better world.
The first session of the event took place on Thursday, 15th of April 2021, with Global Peace Citizens from Africa, Asia and Europe represented. While the second session took place on Friday, 16th of April 2021, with Global Peace Citizens from North and South America. The Executive Director of Global Peace, Dr Vasu Gounden, delivered a short speech in which he expressed his gratitude to the Global Peace Citizens for their various contributions. Dr Gounden also expressed his excitement at how well diverse groupings of young people from all over the world have responded to the initiatives of Global Peace and embodied the four key principles of the Global Peace initiative which are “ensuring shared values, cooperation, and tolerance across the world; protecting our shared environment; building inclusive economies in and between countries; and sharing knowledge for human progress.”
Global Peace has resolved to work together for a better world, recognizing the role of youth at the helm of driving solutions to pressing global issues as innovators, influencers, investors, and implementers. This investment will reap rich dividends, as the youth of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. Thus, it was essential to acknowledge and honour those who have participated and contributed to Global Peace, for laying the foundation for a movement of people seeking the collective betterment of our world. The ceremony was also dedicated to giving young women achievers from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America an opportunity to present speeches on the “impact of COVID -19 on youth” in these continents. Young female Global Peace Citizens were duly represented by; Maha Ghazi, a research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE) in Washington DC; Mariam Gamal Amine Geris, a public health and nutritionist expert at the University of Alexandria, Egypt; Ayda Morvaej, a senior lawyer at the Fars Bar Association in Tehran, Iran; Valeria Blanco, an intellectual property lawyer and member of Junior Chamber International (JCI) in Barcelona, Spain; Rebecca Thomas, account coordinator at CARE in Atlanta, USA; Paula Bernasconi Vargas, an International Relations student of the ITESM University in Guadalajara, México; and Marinel Canela, executive director of Canela Law and Counselling, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Over 350 virtual Certificates of Recognition were presented to Global Peace Citizens by the Coordinator of Campaigns and Advocacy of Global Peace, Mr. Kobla Asamani, who expressed his overwhelming appreciation to the awardees for their efforts at contributing to the successes of the movement thus far. The Honours Ceremony was a resounding success with participants from over 100 cities across 5 continents resolving to commit to the work of Global Peace through the expansion of the vision, network, and innovation of young people towards working together to build a better world, today and into the future.
