DPCW is solution to war: IWPG Chairwoman

International Women’s Peace Group (IWPG) Chairwoman Hyun Sook Yoon participated in HWPL’s eighth annual commemoration of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW) held at the Peace Institute located in Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi Province, and urged for support toward the DPCW.

Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL) Chairman Man Hee Lee proclaimed the 10 Articles and 38 Clauses of the DPCW in 2016, and ever since, IWPG has been supporting its institutionalisation as the answer to peace.

This event was planned to gather people from all over the world with the mindset of peace to closely cooperate under mutual understanding and communication in order to find ways to establish peace on earth.

In her commemorative speech, IWPG Chairwoman Hyun Sook Yoon said, “Even at this moment, numerous wars are being waged all around the world, and innocent civilians are being sacrificed. And in the midst of this conflict, women and children suffer the most. The validity of the DPCW as the fundamental solution to war has been continuously proven by presidents, ministers, legal experts, and NGO leaders all around the world.”

She added, “Physical conflict and war must first come to an end. On top of that, structural and cultural conflict should also disappear. Only then can we truly eradicate discrimination and violence in the economy, environment, labour market, development processes, and much more. Through this, sustainable peace will be achieved on this earth.”

Chairwoman Yoon emphasised that we should join forces to institutionalise the DPCW and introduced IWPG’s efforts toward this end.

IWPG is currently participating in the 68^th UN CSW (Commission on the Status of Women) taking place at the UN Headquarters in New York. Every year IWPG joins this international event to introduce the DPCW to female ministers all around the world and lay the roadmap to urge the heads of states to also support this declaration.

IWPG is also planning to co-host a side event with Côte d’Ivoire, the country that also signed an MOA with IWPG during CSW68. IWPG will explain the key clauses of the DPCW and introduce the case of Mindanao, Philippines, where the DPCW is actually being put into action.

In addition, IWPG is working to establish 100 regional peace committees within March to strengthen local peace activities. Since 2023, IWPG has been providing Peace Lecturer Training Education (PLTE) all around the world to promote the necessity of the DPCW.

During the commemorative event, HWPL mentioned the ongoing wars in Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Hamas to highlight the desperate need for an institutional framework to sustain a world of peace. HWPL also expressed its commitment to leading international discussions to foster stable development of institutional peace based on mutual understanding and communication among different cultures.

HWPL in contributing to the mitigation of conflict and mutual distrust based on spiritual knowledge sharing through religious platforms such as scripture comparison dialogue within the WARP office and the International Religion Peace Academy. It is also working with UNESCO National Committees, national governments, schools, and many other institutions to spread peace education that facilitates understanding and open communication.