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><span id="result_box" lang="it">After the Sydney hostage crisis, acts of kindness to counteract the terrorism<br /></span></em></p> <p><span id="result_box" lang="it">From the horror that gripped the city of Sydney in the hostage crisis on December 16th that left two of the captives and the hostage-taker dead, seeds of compassion and solidarity have been sown with the Muslim community. To counter an escalation of anti-Muslim sentiments and fear of repercussions from the siege carried out by an Iranian immigrant brandishing a black flag with Arabic writing, Rachel Jacobs, a young Sydney resident, reached out to her Muslim neighbor.
<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.
Dialogue & Interculture
United World Week
Every year, from May 1st to 7th, the United World Project support, together with the Focolare Movement and Youth for a United World (Y4UW), the United World Week, a global action where many people promote events and initiatives worldwide to foster dialogue, unity, and peace.
Dialogue & Interculture
Dialogue & Interculture
Dialogue & Interculture
United World Week
Here’s the key: knowing that we do not know. No one possesses the absolute Truth, and by engaging in dialogue with everyone we can grasp aspects or fragments of truth that help us reassemble a shattered vase that we can restore only if we are “together”.
Economy & Work
Anna Granata, professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca, reminds us that teaching peace is not an abstract utopia. It is something that happens every day in Italian classrooms among children with diverse stories, languages, and backgrounds.
Art & Social Commitment
Celebrated Marvel and DC artist Gabriele Dell’Otto invites us to consider the people who are working to build peace as the real superheroes of our world. A profound discussion on responsibility, citizenship, and the challenge of doing the extraordinary in our everyday lives.
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