Women Building Peace
January 2011
Banner photo: Syria [© Bruno Morandi/Hemis/Corbis]
SGI-Australia Participates in UNDPI/NGO and Earth Charter Events
"Seeds of Hope" in Brisbane [SGI-Australia]
An SGI delegation consisting of SGI-Australia General Director Greg Johns, Vice General Director Liz Bowen, SGI Representative to the United Nations in New York Hiro Sakurai, and three youth representatives participated in the 63rd Annual United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI) Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Conference in Melbourne, Australia, from August 30 to September 1.
The conference brought together over 1,700 participants representing 350 NGOs, in addition to UN and government officials, from 70 countries.
Under the theme "Advance Global Health: Achieve the MDGs," the conference included plenary roundtable sessions, thematic workshops and exhibitions covering a wide range of topics such as HIV/AIDS, women, youth, indigenous people and human rights. (The Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] are eight goals on poverty, education, gender equality, child and maternal health, HIV/AIDS, environment and global partnership, developed from the UN Millennium Declaration.) One of the main conference objectives was to adopt a declaration to be brought to the MDG Summit, which took place at the UN Headquarters in New York from September 20-22.
The SGI delegation hosted the exhibition "Dark to Dawn: Being Creative about Depression," as well as a workshop on depression cosponsored by the SGI, Pax Christi and the Sydney Peace Foundation, chaired by Mr. Johns. Presentations were given by Joseph Camilleri, Director of the Centre for Dialogue at La Trobe University, Louis Roller, former President of The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, and Ms. Bowen.
Mr. Sakurai, also a member of the NGO/DPI Executive Committee, helped organize an NGO/DPI Executive Committee workshop on August 30 and a plenary session on August 31.
In August, SGI-Australia also participated in celebrating 10 years since the launch of the Earth Charter. Spanning three days, the Australia Pacific Earth Charter +10 Festival, with the theme "It Starts With One: Dialogue and Action for a Sustainable Future," was held in Brisbane from September 16-18. SGI-Australia, one of the Festival's Foundation Partners along with the Queensland Government, Griffith University and other faith-based groups, displayed the "Seeds of Hope: Visions of sustainability, steps toward change" exhibition--a joint initiative of the SGI and the Earth Charter International--and SGI-Australia's "Dark to Dawn" exhibition along with a panel discussion.
