'The future of this planet depends upon women.' These are the words of the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. Women religious and spiritual leaders from all of the principal religious and spiritual traditions, as well as women leaders from business and government, participated in The Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders, 6-9 October 2002, at The United Nations, Geneva. This meeting was a direct outcome of The Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders, held at the UN in New York, 28-31 August 2000.

The dialogue in New York under the auspices of The United Nations was given an institutional form in Bangkok in June 2002 with the formation of The World Council of Religious Leaders, headquartered in New York. The Geneva conference ended with the acceptance of The Geneva Declaration of Women for Global Harmony, Peace, and Justice. This declaration emphasises the major contribution of women
as leaders, intellectuals, nurturers, and educators and the intrinsic value of spirituality in tackling and resolving issues of violence, conflict, and poverty. The next gathering of The Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders is being provisionally considered for Cambodia in 2005.

Some 500 delegates from over 70 countries registered and participated in the Geneva gathering. These delegates were joined by approximately 50 women from the local community. Included in the gathering were nuns, ministers, bishops, rabbis, swaminis, peace workers, scholars, researchers, educators, experts in religious law, and many others. Some men also participated, though women were significantly in the majority.

Specific Outcomes From The Geneva Gathering Include

Task Force on Building the Inner Foundations for Peace;
Task Force on Women, Religious Law, and Customary Practice;
Women's Partnership for Peace in the Middle East;
Women's Community Building in Afghanistan;
Conference on Spirituality and Poverty Reduction ﾐ 2003;
Business Council for Peace.

Participants in the Geneva gathering convened one day before the official opening on October 7th for a day of meditation, reflection, and prayers for peace. Several hundred delegates participated in this six-hour period of spiritual activity. Prayers were shared from the following spiritual traditions: Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Jain, Jewish, Shinto, Taoist, Zoroastrian, and various indigenous traditions. This set the atmosphere and energy and gave a spiritual focus for the following days of intensive addresses and working sessions. It also provided a spiritual clarity and momentum for the world's spiritual traditions to share spiritual expressions and experiences to create a sense of harmony, kinship, and understanding through sharing of spiritual practice.

The opening day at the Palais des Nations consisted of addresses on four themes: building the inner foundations for peace; women and leadership; moving beyond dialogue into programs of social action; and the ability of women to foster social transformation. During the following two days, working sessions further developed and explored these themes and also focused on the theme of women and religious law.

Building the Inner Foundations for Peace

There was much discussion on how to develop the inner qualities that enable us to turn fear and dislike of differences into respect and appreciation for diversity.
A recommendation was made that this be developed as part of peace-building curricula and that peace education be a mandatory component of all conflict negotiations. A task force will continue to study and expand upon this theme.

Women and Religious Law: Building Confidence and Self-Esteem

During working sessions on women and religious law, there was much discussion on how religious law was being interpreted, and the need for women to gain a more prominent role in the study and exercise of the law. The role of women as defined in the religious traditions as well as in the cultural and social practices affects the self esteem of women, and thus their ability or even will to function as equal members of society. Delegates acknowledged that women from all religious and cultural traditions and from all parts of the world regardless of educational, economic, or social stature are likely to encounter issues of self-confidence and self esteem. This ultimately affects the well being of the young and of the family. Thus special effort must be made to address not just the outer, physical, and material conditions of women (i.e. access to healthcare, food, shelter, and education) but also their inner spiritual well being and health. Women religious and spiritual leaders can be a model for such achievement and can help bolster the self esteem of women from all cultures.

A task force will be formed to engage more deeply in the issue of women and religious law and practice in the context of the contemporary world, leading to
the publishing of statements, position papers, articles, or books regarding specific
aspects of these laws. A primary goal will be to enable the religious traditions to facilitate the cultivation of greater self-confidence and self esteem among women.

Women, Reconciliation, and Healing

Many delegates believe that women have a special capacity to move beyond politics and resolve differences through nonviolent means. They attribute this ability to the experience of compromise and sharing, which women have long brought to the family structure. They proposed that women can have deep empathy for the other, despite the divisions of religion, politics, race, or ethnicity. In sessions on economic and spiritual healing in regions of conflict, women from Afghanistan, Bosnia, Israel, Palestine, Rwanda, and South Africa told of the suffering in their region and of the efforts for reconciliation. It was clear that the cessation of military action and efforts to rebuild economically could not by themselves bring healing. These must be coupled with a spiritual renewal to ease the trauma of loss. This can best be achieved when the religious institutions work collaboratively, and when women religious and spiritual
leaders are given a special role to play because of their ability to empathize.

Women, Spirituality, and Social Transformation

Special sessions were held on how to bring one's inner spiritual resources into the world to alleviate poverty and suffering. Dr. Kamla Chowdry, one of the Co-Chairs of the Global Peace Initiative, has begun research on the effectiveness of spiritual organizations in reducing poverty, compared with efforts of other international organizations. She has worked with the United Nations, The World Bank, and The Ford Foundation on developing initial material and is seeking a much broader study in this field.

Based on statistics that show a growing divide between the haves and the have-nots, she suggested this issue has new urgency for religious communities. She proposed undertaking a series of case studies of successful endeavors of religious organizations where poverty reduction can be measured, and using these as models to be replicated. She asked that there be organized a conference in one year on Spirituality and Poverty Reduction to highlight the impact of these successful scenarios and explore how to expand such initiatives. She offered to set up meetings with The World Bank, Ford Foundation, and the United Nations Development Program to begin planning.

Business Council for Peace

To strengthen the support base for women as religious leaders, the Global Peace Initiative invited businesswomen from North America, Europe, and Asia to the Geneva gathering. About 70 businesswomen attended, a number of whom helped to sponsor the religious delegates. The businesswomen decided to form a Business Council for Peace, which would work under the guidance of the women religious leaders and help develop and fund projects to assist women in regions of conflict
and post-conflict. This Council would coordinate with UNIFEM in such regions to ensure that its activities support and expand programs already in place. It would also work with UNIFEM to identify women's efforts to build businesses and would support such efforts, working in conjunction with local women religious leaders.

The Next Generation

Women, regardless of whether or not they are mothers, are focused on the well being of the young. Thus, the Global Peace Initiative organized a sector called "Voices of the Next Generation," where a dozen young people (in their early and mid twenties) from regions of tension, conflict, or post-conflict came together to share their experiences and to create their vision for the future of our world. They came from Bosnia, Egypt, India, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Pakistan, and Rwanda. The group was sponsored by a Shinto-based Japanese spiritual organization that also offered to host a follow-up meeting of the group in 2003 in either Japan or the United States. A special focus for the youth was the environment. It was also announced that the organization of a Youth Summit is to be held in Africa in 2004 to draw together several thousand future leaders from the faith traditions to explore developing a shared spiritual framework for addressing the pressing social and environmental problems that confronts their generation.

Conclusions

The positive response to The Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders was quite overwhelming. In the very moving closing session, delegates and participants gave testimonials as to how transforming this experience was for them as they discovered the power of a shared commitment to faith in removing the seemingly impossible obstacles in the way of a better and a more peaceful world. They offered continuing commitment and involvement and urged the organizers to carry on the noble objectives of the Initiative.

In the days following the Initiative, hundreds of e-mails were received by the organisers expressing how women felt the experience to be a transforming one.
This has been attributed, in part, to the extent to which spiritual practice was incorporated into the program, but to a greater degree to the historic nature of the Initiative itself. Never before have women religious figures from all the major spiritual traditions come together in a strong demonstration of faith, commitment, and leadership, and found so much common ground! That was indeed empowering.

Based on this response, the Co-chairs for The Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders would remain as a coherent body, one of the direct outcomes of The Millennium World Peace Summit, and the Co-chairs would continue as the body's leadership. The organizing body will convene such a gathering every two to three years to evaluate and expand its work. In the intervening period,
specific projects, some of which were outlined above, will be organized that combine economic development for women with the building of self esteem and the formation of a shared spiritual framework for greater collaboration and partnership among the religions in order to achieve the declared objectives. The Co-chairs will reach out to women leaders in their respective faith traditions to strengthen and expand the delegations for future activities.

The Initiative clearly filled a need for women from various spiritual traditions to come together to explore how they can collectively bring the wisdom from their faiths to help address global problems. The Initiative also clearly demonstrated how powerful and effective the women's response could be if their spiritual qualities of compassion and caring are harnessed to serve the most pressing problems of our times which would help create the climate for peace.

Amma Received the Gandhi-King Peace Prize

The prestigious Gandhi-King Award for Non-violence was presented to Sri. Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma) at the United Nations General Assembly Hall (Palais des Nations) in Geneva in recognition of her lifelong work in furtherance of the principles of non-violence. Amma is only the fourth person worldwide to be presented with this Award, the previous recipients included Nobel Laureates and leaders of the 21st century - Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, and Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa.
Jane Goodall, the world-famous British primatologist, who won the Gandhi- King Award for Non-Violence in 2001, personally presented the award to Sri Mata Amritanandamayi in recognition of the vast network of charitable institutions Amma has inaugurated throughout the world, and for her personal efforts to awaken love among all people.

For more details see: http://www.ammachi.org/in-the-media/gandhi-king-award.html

Participation in The Global Peace Initiative from Scotland

Four people from Scotland had the privilege to participate in the Geneva gathering based upon an invitation to The EICWS, following participation from representatives of The EICWS at The Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders held at the UN in New York, 28-31 August 2000. Without doubt, the Geneva gathering was an outstanding success, and it has been a great inspiration to many of those who participated. The EICWS looks forward to supporting the work which is being developed from each of the New York, Bangkok, and Geneva gatherings,and to having opportunities to participate in future gatherings.

The Geneva Declaration of Women for Global Harmony, Peace, and Justice

Copies of this Declaration can be sent electronically from the contact below.

The Programme of The Geneva Initiative

Copies of the Programme can be sent electronically from the contact below.

New Year 2003 Letter from Dena Merriam, Convener, Global Peace Initiative

Copies of this letter can be sent electronically from the contact below.

Reference and Acknowledgement

This Press Release draws upon the official Executive Summary of The Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders.
See: http://www.millenniumpeacesummit.org/eventframe.html

4/1/2003.

For All Communications Associated With This Press Release:
Contact: Neill Walker, 4 William Black Place, South Queensferry,
Edinburgh, EH30 9PZ, Scotland.
Ph: +44-131-331-4469.
E-mail:njwalk710@hotmail.com

The Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders:
Secretariat: 301 East 57th Street, 3rd Floor,
New York, NY 10022,
Tel: 212-593-6438, Fax: 212-593-6345.
Email: peacesummit@ruderfinn.com