Budapest, Hungary – At the National Assembly of Hungary, Mr. Zsolt Nemeth, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, hosted a consultative meeting on September 19, 2024, to discuss the formulation of an international Peace Charter.
The Peace Charter aims to provide an international framework to strengthen solidarity and partnerships among nations. It envisions cooperation between states and non-governmental organizations, such as UPF and IAPP, as equal members.
This was the second consultative meeting on the Peace Charter, a project initiated by the Cambodian government in partnership with UPF, based on a series of summit meetings jointly held in Seoul in 2020 and 2022. The first meeting was held in Phnom Penh on September 6, 2024. The conference in Budapest was to engage Europeans and consider their perspectives in formulating a document that can provide a structure and process toward sustainable peace.
The meeting was organized in cooperation with the Cambodian government and attended by Mr. Suos Yara, chairman of the Commission on Foreign Affairs of the National Assembly of Cambodia and president of the International Parliament for Tolerance and Peace; Mr. Chheng Kimlong, president of the Asian Vision Institute; Dr. Ahmed bin Mohamad Aljarwan, president of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace; Dr. Charles Yang, international chairman of the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP); Mr. Mushahid Hussain Sayed, co-chairman of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties; Ms. Putri Maha Lima, deputy secretary general of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly; Mr. Andrés Pastrana Arango, president of Centrist Democrat International and former president of Colombia; and Ms. Sofia Solemacher Van der Vegt, Hungarian director of the Christian Democratic Institute, along with government representatives from Cambodia and Hungary.
The UPF delegation consisted of Dr. Charles Yang, international chairman; Dr. Michael Jenkins, international president; Mr. Ek Nath Dhakal, regional co-chairman for the Asia Pacific region; and Mr. Jacques Marion, regional co-chairman for Europe and the Middle East. Mr. Bhubaneswar Kalita, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee at the Indian Parliament and a UPF ambassador for peace, also attended the event as the IAPP representative for the Indo-Pacific region.
In his keynote address, Dr. Yang explained the proposal by UPF founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon to create an Asia Pacific Union Forum. This proposal was endorsed by former Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia at the UPF Asia Summit in 2019. The Peace Charter project was subsequently developed at two World Summit meetings. Dr. Yang stated that this charter would become an important new platform for engaging nations and civil society to contribute to world peace, including the future unification of the Korean Peninsula. He also explained UPF's proposals to create a Peace Park in the Korean Demilitarized Zone and establish a 5th UN Office to provide UN representation, which has been lacking in Asia, in the world's most populous continent.
The Cambodian delegation was led by Mr. Suos Yara and Mr. Chheng Kimlong, and included officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. European participants included a former prime minister of Slovenia, the deputy speaker of Serbia, and a member of parliament from North Macedonia. The Asian delegation included representatives from Cambodia, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Indonesia.
The Peace Charter is expected to be adopted and launched at the 11th International Parliament for Tolerance and Peace conference in Phnom Penh from November 23 to 26, 2024, followed by the development of a comprehensive action plan at the World Summit for Peace to be held in Seoul from April 10 to 14, 2025.
