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>Cuiaba celebrated 12th edition from 13 to 16 November. 48 ethnic groups, as well as from more than a dozen other nations under the same language of sport. "Despite that fact that our languages are different, that our skin varies, we're uniting here with one heart,"</em></p> <p><strong>Bare feet instead of hi-tech shoes</strong> and a loose notion of competition that assigns little value to winning: welcome to the 12th Indigenous Games hold in Brazil's Amazon region.</p> <p><strong>Moment of union and meeting</strong> for so many ethnicities. In 2015, the organizers would like to achieve world by calling to participate Australian aborigines and the African tribes. Many are calling the tournament a alternative to the big sporting event coming up on Brazil's calendar – the football World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics two years later. "We're not looking to crown champions or find great athletes," said Carlos Terena, the organiser of the games, who, like many indigenous Brazilians, uses his ethnic group's name as his surname. "This isn't about competition, it's about celebration." (...)
<p> <em>Ioane Teitiota loses case to stay in New Zealand, after arguing that homeland of Kiribati was being destroyed by climate change</em></p> <p><strong>A man from Kiribati</strong>, a Pacific island threatened by rising sea levels, has failed in an attempt to become the world's first climate change refugee.</p> <p><strong>A New Zealand judge</strong> dismissed Ioane Teitiota's case as "novel" but "unconvincing".<br />Lawyers had argued that New Zealand should not deport Mr Teitiota even though his visa had expired, because climate change was gradually destroying his home land.</p> <p><strong>The difficulties Mr Teitiota and his family</strong> would face in the tiny nation – which consists of about 30 atolls, most only a few metres above sea level – meant they should be recognised as refugees, the lawyers said.</p>
<p> </p> <p><em>Russian President stops at Vatican ahead of Italy-Russia summit.</em></p> <p><strong>Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Pope Francis</strong> at the Vatican Monday after arriving in Rome the day before a government summit between Russian and Italian ministers. </p> <p><strong>At the center of the 35-minute</strong> encounter were wishes for peace in Syria, the Vatican said.</p> <p>"The urgency to put an end to the violence" and to "encourage concrete initiatives for a peaceful solution to the conflict" were at the heat of the talks, said a statement.
<p><em>Solar power and internet to provide health and education</em></p> <p><strong>Poor rural communities in South Africa</strong> are benefiting from a new initiative using solar power and internet to provide health and education. </p> <p><strong>The so-called “smart villages”</strong> are made up of shipping containers and other self contained high-tech trucks kitted out as health centres and schools, all running on solar power. They can be moved hundreds of kilometres to remote locations.</p> <p><strong>A recently opened “smart school”</strong> in the isolated Midrand area provides each student with a computer and internet access.
<p><em>Youth for a United World of the Philippines and other parts of the world are mobilizing after Haidyn. A message to tell us how from Eleanor and Anton Villegas, from Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental Island.</em></p> <p><strong>“Thank you for all</strong> that you are doing to help! We are very well and we were spared from the typhoon Haiyan and so together with the Youth for a United World in Dumaguete, we are carrying out several initiatives to assist those affected by the typhoon.</p> <p><strong>"We have launched this slogan</strong>: 'I was spared from the typhoon. I want to give up, to give back!'</p> <p><strong>"A night to raise</strong> funds for the victims was a success were we did a link up with the Y4UW in Cebu who were repacking relief goods and the Y4UW in Manila who did their fundraising too.</p>
<p> </p> <p><em>Francis blesses, 'hugs' Italian boy from afar</em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Foggia, November 21 - Pope Franci</strong>s has answered a letter sent to him by an eight-year-old Italian boy from the southern Italian city of Foggia, blessing him and telling him he was sending him a hug from afar.</p> <p><strong>"Dear Pope Francis</strong>, my name is Matteo Rinaldi and I am an eight-year-old boy from Foggia.</p> <p><strong>"You seem to be</strong> a very good pope and I would like to get to know you, to hug you and I would also really like to show you my city Foggia," the young boy wrote in the letter sent about a month ago.
<p><em>Actions of fraternity after the typhoon Haydn. The suggestion of the Youth for a United World: to do and to repeat.How? All the explanetions in a viral video.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>When give up it's give back to someone? Can we do it togheter? The suggestion of the Youth for a United World in a viral video on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyufXUQ9Vjs">www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyufXUQ9Vjs</a>. </strong></p> <p><strong>"Give up</strong> that pricey meal with a friend in exchange for a home cooked one with mom, a movie date with girlfriend for an evening stroll around town (why not invite your best friend too?), or that pair of shoes you've been saving up for months for cheaper ones... then donate the rest!<br />Open your closets. Grab a shirt, and ask yourself if it made you happy wearing it, think of how much happier someone who needs it more will be. Then <strong>repeat</strong>.
<p> <em>20 of November: anniversary of the UN Convention on the rights of the child adopted in 1989. One echo from Canada.</em></p> <p><strong>The 20 of November marks Universal Children’s</strong> Day. This is the anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted in 1989, the first legally binding international convention to affirm human rights for all children: every child, everywhere, has the right to survive, grow and be protected from all forms of violence.</p> <p><strong>“Violence against children</strong> does more than harm individual children, it undermines the fabric of society, affecting productivity, well-being, and prosperity,” UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Anthony Lake said. “No society can afford to ignore violence against children.”</p>
<p><em>Problems need to be resolved through dialogue for the Tibetan spiritual leader speaking to students of Yakumo Academy</em>.</p> <p><strong>Yakumo Academy - Tokio, Nov 18.</strong> During a meeting with students of a school for girls in Tokio Dalai Lama said: “What’s important now is to ensure that the 21st century becomes an era of peace and non-violence".</p> <p><strong>For Tibetan spiritual leader </strong>"It doesn’t mean there won’t be any problems, there will be, so long as sources of conflict remain, but we need to resolve them not by resorting to force, but through dialogue".</p> <p><strong>He continues lauding Japan's</strong> achievements in recovering from the violence it went through.
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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