By Florence Olara.
I am the Chair and Co-Founder of the Peace, Justice and Security Foundation .
As a foundation, we want to promote the Sustainable Development Goals and help educate for conscience change. Our focus is goal 16 – peace and justice – because we believe lack of security, conflict and lack of accountability are the root cause of other global issues, and it is only when we effectively work towards a more peaceful environment, address insecurities and hold perpetrators to account, that we can address the entire enterprise of the sustainable development goals. We will create a platform that enhances awareness across all age groups and beyond the legal community on the many issues that the city of The Hague stands for.
The inclusion of children and youth is a fundamental element of our work. Gandhi once said “if we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.” So this is our starting point. I have written a children’s book series called “Wings of Change” which is currently being illustrated and translated into 8 different languages including Dutch, Swahili, Russian, Japanese, Acholi, Hindi, French and German. More languages will follow.
Wings of Change tells the story of Oscar the Owl and Max the Mouse who attend the same school. Max, a child refugee recently joined the school and Oscar wants to know more about what drove Max to flee his country. As Oscar learns more about war and its consequences, and starts asking questions about ways to correct such wrongs, their teacher tells them about The Hague and what it stands for. This triggers a visit to The Hague and a tour of the various institutions. This is only the beginning. Oscar and Max would travel the world to learn more about global issues including the dangers for children in cyber space.
When ready, money raised from the sale of the book will be used to distribute free copies to community libraries and schools in developing countries.
As a powerful tool to create awareness among youth, we will also use sports, which children are passionate about. This will be a means to educate about peace, justice and security; and encourage them to relate to others and be agents of change from a young age. To begin with , the Foundation has teamed up with A.E. Ramassà football club in Spain to organise children’s tournaments and encourage them to donate books, clothing and toys for other children who love football just like they do, but live in parts of the world that are not as privileged. Once a year, together with A.E. Ramassà, the Foundation will organise a match somewhere in the world to play a professional and a children’s club. The first game will be held in West Africa next year.
As a long term project, the Foundation, in association with partners, aims to create regional interactive educational centres. The Hague is the city of peace, justice and security and yet the work done by institutions here is often geographically remote from the affected communities, and the reality on the ground. This distance unfortunately translates into certain communities not knowing and not understanding the work being done in The Hague on international peace, justice and security and how it applies to them. Not everyone can afford to come to The Hague and such centres would bring what this city stands for, closer to the global community it serves.
As part of the Foundation, we also have The Hague Justice Portal which is a website that promotes, and provides greater access to, the institutions, courts and organisations in The Hague, working in the field of international peace, justice and security. In the last twelve months the Portal has received more than 8 million hits.
To promote knowledge of the Foundation and it initiatives, each year we will host an international gala, starting this year in The Hague on the 5th of September and hopefully in different parts of the world in the future. The gala will assemble international guests and speakers from different backgrounds to highlight not only the work of the Foundation but to also recognise the work of individuals who work hard for peace, justice and security on the ground; the people who don’t make the news headlines and yet whose daily work has a great positive impact on many lives.
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