Stories from around the globe show how a united world is already in motion. This platform highlights experiences, initiatives, and projects from people and communities working for unity and peace. Explore what’s happening and get inspired.
<p><em>The largest global youth population in human history can create a better world for all</em></p> <p><em></em>Young people matter. They matter because an unprecedented 1.8 billion youth are alive today, and because they are the shapers and leaders of our global future. They matter because they have inherent human rights that must be fulfilled,’ according to the <strong>UN Population Fund</strong> (<a href="http://www.unfpa.org/">UNFPA</a>) report <a href="https://www.unitedworldproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/www.unfpa.org_sites_default_files_pub-pdf_EN-SWOP14-Report_FINAL-web.pdf">State of World Population 2014</a>.</p>
<p><em>From Argentina, the experience of a judicial official who tries to reconcile fraternity and justice by putting people first.</em></p> <p><strong>“I’ve been working in the criminal justice system</strong> of Santa Fe for twenty years. It’s not a good business card to be holding these days in Argentina, where officials and institutions are the subject of constant suspicion, whether justified or not.</p> <p>Ever since my first experience, the <a href="http://www.focolare.org/en/chiara-lubich/spiritualita-dellunita/">spirituality of unity</a> has given meaning to my presence in the environment where crime, violence and non-love are more evident than love, which is the fulfillment of the law, as St Paul says.</p>
<p><em>About 300 people - including Hindus, Muslims and some Christians - will celebrate the birth of Christ at Swarga Dwar, Mumbai, an ashram founded by PIME. The days leading up to the celebration are special for its children who play cricket, football and other games. "The kids wait for this festival with joy. They like to prepare the tree and put the star on the crèche," the facility's head said.</em></p> <p>Mumbai - "At Swarga Dwar, Christmas is an important day. We bear witness to Jesus before our guests and friends, who are mostly Hindus and Muslims. And his message becomes theirs," said Fr Vijay Rayala, regional superior of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) in India, as he talks about the Heaven's Gate ashram, a residence and rehabilitation centre in Mumbai for people with leprosy founded in 1983 by Fr Carlo Torriani, also a PIME missionary.</p>
<p><em>Obama, Raul Castro thank Pope Francis for mediation</em></p> <p> New York, December 17 - United States President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro on Wednesday announced an historic thaw in relations between the two countries.</p> <p>"We will start to normalise our relations with Cuba," Obama said in a television address.</p> <p>"We'll put an end to this outdated approach to Cuba... I have given Secretary of State John Kerry the mandate to launch immediate negotiations to revive the dialogue that stopped in 1961...
<p><em>On the International Human Rights Day, the manifesto signed by the UNIRedes organisations promotes action for a more fraternal and more socially united world.</em></p> <p><strong>«<strong>64 years after the institution of the International Human Rights Day</strong></strong> [10 December] and of the appeal to “all peoples of the world” launched by the United Nations General Assembly,” we, the members of UNIRedes, wish to make public our constitution on the network, in order to foster authentic partnership relations, and build a more just and fraternal world, in pursuit of total respect for human rights.» These were the opening lines of the “Manifesto” signed on the occasion of the International Day of Human Rights, by over 50 social organisations, initiatives and movements of 12 Latin American and Caribbean countries involved in UNIRedes.</p>
<p><em>No one should become an accomplice in "man's exploitation by man," an activity that touches millions of people forced by violence into "slave labour". In view of the situation, "There is a need for just laws" and international cooperation. Everyone has a "specific role and responsibilities, to practice acts of fraternity" towards the victims of exploitation.</em></p> <p>Vatican City (AsiaNews) - In his message for the 48<sup>th</sup> World Day of Peace, Francis warned against becoming accomplices in the many forms of modern slavery. Millions of people are sadly involved in "man's exploitation by man," forced by violence into "slave labour, [. . .] men and women labourers, including minors, [who are] subjugated in different sectors, whether formally or informally", migrants and poor. In view of this, the pontiff issued an urgent "appeal to all men and women of good will, and all those near or far, including the highest levels of civil institutions, who witness the scourge of contemporary slavery" to take action against slavery.
<p><em><em><span id="result_box" lang="en">Yesterday in Oslo the </span></em></em><em><em><span id="result_box" lang="en">Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Sathyarti, awarded last October<span>.</span></span></em></em></p> <p>Two champions of children’s rights have been honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo.</p> <p>The award was shared between Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi, 60, and Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, at 17 the youngest person ever to receive it.</p>
<p><em>Super Soccer World 2014, a worldwide soccer tournament for teens who would like to use sports as an instrument for building relationships and for peace among different countries. There were 56 teams involved from various cities around the world.</em></p> <p><strong></strong><strong>A soccer tournament where the winner is not one team but two and from different parts of the planet</strong> sometimes very far from each other? Where Art Play is practiced and awarded? Where the sponsors are willing to donate an amount for every goal as a contribution to finance scholarships for teens from disadvantaged countries? Many initiatives and projects of solidarity? A “third playing time”…?</p> <p><strong></strong><strong>«This and many other things were part of the Super Soccer World 2014</strong> – Federico Rovea, one of the organizers of the event shared with us. This sporting event was promoted by the “<a href="http://www.focolare.org/en/movimento-dei-focolari/un-popolo/rpu/" target="_blank">Teens for Unity</a>” of the Focolare Movment and <strong>involved 56 soccer teams from various cities in the world»</strong>.
Dialogue & Interculture
New Humanity NGO presented the M.E.D.I.T.erraNEW project — co-financed by the Erasmus Plus Program — to the Youth Section of UNESCO in Paris.
Peace & Human Rights
Amid the rubble of Syria, art becomes an act of resistance. Discover the story of Aeham Ahmad, the “The Pianist of Yarmouk”, who defied the horror of war with the invincible beauty of his musical notes.
Operation Mato Grosso is working on over 100 missions across Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, all rooted in education, hard work, and solidarity. Jacopo Manara, who has been a volunteer for years, tells us their story.
An interview on communication with Michele Zanzucchi, journalist and writer, former director of Città Nuova, professor of communication at Sophia University Institute and at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and author of around forty books.
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