As the desire for peace among the citizens in Thailand has been rising due to the bombing terrorism happened on May 29th in Pattani that occurred 25 casualties of innocent civilians, about 2,000 students and citizens gathered to call for the establishment of international law for peace.
The event consisting of a peace walk and peace song contest was held at the Islamic College Thailand in Bangkok on July 15th in attendance with students, faculties, and journalists. To spread a culture of peace, the peace walk took place from the Tonburi Youth Center to the Islamic College Thailand and the speeches calling for a sustainable peace secured in legal framework continued.
The participants also joined the “Peace Letter Campaign” that collects the voice of citizens of each country to establish international law for peace based on the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War(DPCW). According to the official of the host, the letters will be delivered to the leaders of Thailand.
The DPCW of 10 articles and 38 clauses addresses the principles of conflict resolution and international cooperation for peacebuilding such as respect on the international law, peaceful dispute settlement, and spreading a culture of peace. Currently, the letters supporting the DPCW written by approximately 1.3 million citizens in 193 countries have sent to their president or prime minister with expectations for responses from heads of each state.
Ms. Chollada Suawong, a coordinator of this event, said “I am happy to cooperate in organizing this event participated with people from various religious backgrounds that can help to transform the differences into harmony.”
Mr. Supalak Ganjanakhundee, a former chief editor of The Nation, said in his speech “Thai people should learn how to make peaceful resolutions such as peace talks. To do that, Thai people should have faith in peace and should reject any form of violence. Thailand needs to establish a credible rule of law. It can also be supporting the DPCW that means ruling by just and legitimated laws.”
The event was hosted by an international peace NGO called Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light(HWPL) and its affiliated youth organization, International Peace Youth Group. This event also marked the 6th Annual Commemoration of the Declaration of World Peace and the Peace Walk that has been held at about 126 places in 77 countries including Myanmar, Australia, China, Germany, India, South Africa, the Philippines, and the United States of America.
To realize the world of no war and sustainable peace, HWPL has been carrying out its peace initiatives such as international law for peace, interfaith dialogue meetings, and peace education in cooperation with various sectors of global society from citizens to heads of states with the slogan of “Everyone should become messengers of peace”.