Dr. Scott Bollens is a professor in the department of Urban and Region Planning in the School of Social Ecology at the University of Calfiornia, Irvine. Professor Bollens was also recently appointed the Drew, Chase, and Erin Warmington Chair in the Social Ecology of Peace and International Cooperation. He has conducted a thorough examination of urban planning techniques and tactics in a number of conflict ridden cities. Since 1994, he’s interviewed more than 120 urban professionals in Jerusalem, Belfast, Johannesburg, Nicosia and Sarajevo about the role of city building in the midst of nationalistic ethnic conflict. In April 2002, Bollens presented his findings in a paper titled “Practical Strategies of Urban Peace-Building” at a seminar in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The seminar brought together experts on urban cooperation in politically and ethnically contested areas, including a group of eight Israelis and Palestinians who have been examining the challenges and options in planning a Jerusalem of mutual acceptability. In his studies of city planning practices that either serve the ways of war or the paths of peace, Dr. Bollens sees ramifications for America. Worldwide urban studies have shown him that planners in the United States have much to learn when accommodating the American melting pot. For more information on Dr. Bollen’s work, please download City and Soul.
Mr. Anwarul Karim Chowdhury was appointed in March 2002 by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. In December 2003, Mr. Chowdhury was designated as the Secretary-General of the International Meeting for the ten-year review of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of the Small Island Developing States held in Mauritius from 10-14 January 2005. Mr. Chowdhury was also designated the Secretary-General of the International Ministerial Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and the Donor Community on Transit Transport Cooperation held in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 28-29 August 2003. Prior to his appointment, Ambassador Chowdhury completed his assignment (1996-2001) as Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York. He also served as Bangladesh's Ambassador to Chile, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela, as well as Bangladesh's High Commissioner to the Bahamas and Guyana. During his tenure as Permanent Representative, Mr. Chowdhury served as President of the Security Council, President of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Board and Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council of the UN in 1997 and 1998. He had served for more than 10 years, as the Coordinator for the Least Developed Countries in New York. In May 2001, he led the negotiations on behalf of the least developed countries at the Third United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries, which adopted the comprehensive Brussels Programme of Action for the present decade. Mr. Chowdhury also chaired the Fifth (Administrative and Budgetary) Committee of the UN General Assembly in 1997-1998. From 1990-1993, Mr. Chowdhury was the UNICEF Director for Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Chowdhury was born in 1943 in Dhaka, Bangladesh and joined the diplomatic service in 1967. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Contemporary History and International Relations from the University of Dhaka. He has been a regular contributor to journals on peace, development and human rights issues, and a speaker at academic institutions and other forums. He also served as an Adjunct Professor at the School of Diplomacy, Seton Hall University of the United States. Mr. Chowdhury is the recipient of the U Thant Peace Award and UNESCO Gandhi Gold Medal for Culture of Peace. He is an Honorary Patron of the Committee on Teaching About the UN (CTAUN), New York. In March 2003, the Soka University of Tokyo, Japan conferred on Ambassador Chowdhury an Honorary Doctorate for his work on women's issues, child rights and culture of peace as well as for the strengthening of the United Nations.
Dr. Richard A. Matthew is Associate Professor of International and Environmental Politics in the Schools of Social Ecology and Social Science at the University of California at Irvine, and Director of both the Center for Unconventional Security Affairs (www.cusa.uci.edu) and the associated Global Environmental Change and Human Security Research Office (www.gechs.uci.edu) at UCI. He is a Faculty Associate of the Global Peace and Conflict Studies Center and the Center for the Study of Democracy. He received his PhD from Princeton University and has taught at Georgetown University and Williams College. He has worked closely with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and the International Institute for Sustainable Development, government departments and agencies including Defense and State, intergovernmental organizations including the United Nations, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the private sector. His research focuses on understanding and responding to transnational security threats including global environmental change, terrorism, infectious disease and landmines. Much of this work has explored possibilities for reducing threat and vulnerability through education, conservation and poverty alleviation. He has undertaken field work throughout South Asia and other parts of the developing world, including Pakistan, Cambodia and South Africa. Flyer and Additional Information
In the thirty years since she was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for her work to bring peace to her native Northern Ireland, Ms. Williams has devoted her life to fighting against the injustices, cruelty and horrors perpetrated on the children of the world. Ms. Williams has traveled the globe recording the testimonies of children who have been subjected to suffering beyond belief and advocated for legislation to protect children. She has called for the creation of safe areas off limits to any form of military attack in every country where children are under the threat of death and destruction. These “Cities of Compassion” would protect children and ensure that they be treated with dignity, respect and love. Such cities would help alleviate the huge refugee and orphan problems that plague many countries today. As a result of her many years of work in Italy, World Centers of Compassion for Children International is building the first “City of Compassion” for children in the Basilicata Region of southern Italy. For more information, please visit http://www.centersofcompassion.org/. In addition, the Nobel Women's Initiative (NWI) was established in 2006 by Betty Williams and her sister Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, and Mairead Corrigan Maguire. These six women -- representing North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa -- have brought together their extraordinary experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality. The mission of the Nobel Women’s Initiative is to address and prevent the root causes of violence by spotlighting and promoting the efforts of women’s rights activists, researchers and organizations working to advance peace, justice and equality. For more information, please visit www.nobelwomensinitiative.org Flyer and Additional Information
Since it was established by the government of national unity, the NURC has strived to become a platform where Rwandans of all social conditions can meet and discuss the real problems of the nation, especially those related to the unity and reconciliation, culture of peace, tolerance, justice, democracy and development. The primary role of the NURC is to serve an educational function for the communities of Rwanda. In 1998, Beate Sirota Gordon, former Performing Arts Director of the Japan Society, was decorated by the Japanese Government for her long-term service to Japanese culture. However, she should be better remembered for her contribution to Japanese women’s equality by drafting portions of the post-World War II Japanese Constitution. How was she, at the age of 22, involved in this historic and highly political enterprise? The Constitution of Japan was ultra-secretly prepared in only 9 days, February 4th to 12th 1946, by 25 Americans including Beate Sirota Gordon. They were the officials of the Government Section, General Headquarters (GHQ). The Constitution was expected to follow "the MacArthur Note" and Washington guidelines. This was because General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, had became convinced that a Japanese committee on constitutional revision was incapable of adequately democratizing the Imperial Constitution and that the Far Eastern Commission (representing the allied powers) might soon intervene in the matter. On 13th February, the Government Section officials delivered their hastily drafted constitution to the Japanese cabinet and said that the adoption would help to protect the imperial throne and to hasten the end of the Allied Occupation. In this off-the-record meeting, Miss Sirota was "the only woman in the room" as an interpreter. After difficult negotiations and wording revisions, on March 6, the Shidehara cabinet published the text as its own handiwork. General MacArthur announced to the world that he was satisfied with the "new and epoch-making" constitution. On the day when it was promulgated by Emperor Hirohito, Gordon and other GHQ members sat at the Diet gallery. Though imposed by the United States, the Constitution itself was excellent and beneficial for the redevelopment of Japan. The people were released from militarism, which meant no spending on weapons for years to come. For the happiness of the majority, even land reform was conducted to some extent. The drafters were inspired with pacifism and humanistic idealism, for it was right after the war and before the Cold War. The Constitution had 3 new pillars; Renunciation of War, Sovereignty in the People (with the Emperor as symbol of nation), and Abolition of Feudalistic Family System (or Equality of Sexes). The articles on women read: Article 14. All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin. Article 24. Marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of the both sexes and it shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with equal rights of husband and wife as a basis. With regard to choice of spouse, property rights, inheritance, choice of domicile, divorce and other matters pertaining to marriage and the family, laws shall be enacted from the standpoint of individual dignity and the essential equalities of the sexes. (The latter half is omitted.) Beate Gordon was born in Vienna in 1924, the daughter of renowned Russian pianist Leo Sirota. She settled in Japan at the age of five, when her father was invited to teach at the Imperial Music Academy. Their house in Tokyo was a salon of artists from super-traditional KABUKI actors, modern dancers, and European musicians to Japanese painters and sculptors. She grew up in cultural diversity and richness. Meanwhile, through housemaids, friends and ladies coming to her mother’s social circle, Gordon came to know about Japanese women, rich or poor, whose social status was low under the feudalistic family system. – By Kuniko Fujisawa Bill Martinez, M.S. Mr. Martinez is Manager of the Youth and Gang Violence Intervention Specialist Jerald Cavitt |
Building Peace In Divided Cities
Culture of Peace Distinguished Speaker Series Inaugural Lecture
Climate Change and Peace
We Must Become The Change We Seek: Seven Ways to Build a Culture of Peace
Educating Against Imperialism: 
Peace In The World Is Everybody's Business
Nuclear Weapons and the Human Future
Fear and Insecurity As A Cause of Conflict
Culture of Peace Lecture
On Equality Between Women and Men
and The Role of Cultural Exchange in Creating PeaceBeate Sirota Gordon
Turning Street Warriors into Peacemakers: Gang Intervention in Los Angeles Culture of Peace
The SGI-USA is involved in non-sectarian, awareness activities to promote the values of peace, culture and education. |
 SGI President Ikeda's Peace Proposal
Each year SGI President Ikeda publishes a peace proposal which explores the interrelation between core Buddhist concepts and the diverse challenges global society faces in the effort to realize peace and human security. |