High-Level Dialogue of the General Assembly
on Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace
Informal Interactive Hearing with Civil Society

October 4 – 5, 2007
Best Practices & Strategies for Interreligious and Intercultural Cooperation Going Forward

Respondent: Yoshioka Tatsuya, Director, Peace Boat

Cooperation, mutual respect and ultimately peace, can only be reached between peoples when there is a base of genuine understanding and knowledge to build from. In order to achieve the conditions in which such understanding and knowledge can flourish; we must first look at the underlying reasons for divisions between peoples, which are unfortunately too often exploited by leaders.

I believe that true interreligious and intercultural cooperation can only be achieved when past mistakes and injustices have been acknowledged and atoned for, such as the injustices of colonialism, racism, human rights abuses or other evils. In the case of my own region, Northeast Asia, tremendous divisions and misconceptions exist between our peoples even at the grassroots level, and this is largely as a result of a failure to acknowledge the reality of the past.

Recent events, such as the controversy and protests over Japan’s revisionist high school history textbooks, have shown that the deep wounds of the past continue to bleed into the present day and are a barrier to cooperation and understanding. Such problems of an unresolved past plague many other regions, and religions, of the world. Governments and other stakeholders must engage in an open dialogue on history, in order to understand the sensitivities felt by various groups over historical events and episodes and, by doing so, prevent future conflict and create the conditions where genuine interreligious and intercultural cooperation can flourish.

In General Assembly resolution 61/221, on the promotion of interreligious and intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation for peace, it states:

“…education at all levels is one of the principle means to build a culture of peace.”

I believe that education is the key to building real understanding between peoples. As others have said today, education changes both the individual and the potential for their path through life, and the deep core of society for the future. Education on religion and religious differences and similarities is essential, and should form part of a comprehensive peace education curriculum in all schools in every nation of the world. I recommend peace education defined by the Hague Appeal for Peace Global Campaign for Peace Education as “…a participatory holistic process that includes teaching for and about democracy and human rights, nonviolence, social and economic justice, gender equality, environmental sustainability, disarmament, traditional peace practices, international law, and human security.” (1)

I believe that such education should not only be confined to schools, however, but a lifelong learning approach should be taken in the informal sector, involving civil society, governments and the UN at all levels. The organization I founded, Peace Boat (2), is devoted to bringing people of all ages together across the world at a grassroots level through peace voyages. Through my work, I’ve found that the opportunity to meet “the other” face-to-face, and to hear their testimony firsthand is a life-changing experience, even for people who previously held strong prejudices.

Especially in regions where political conditions make official-level dialogue between nations challenging, such as Northeast Asia, grassroots people-to-people contact conducted by civil society groups must be encouraged as a confidence-building measure. Currently, processes such as the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (3) are creating the conditions where this kind of dialogue can take place.

In the final analysis, real understanding and cooperation for peace can only be achieved when the threat of war is removed. I hope that people everywhere will work towards a framework to abolish war, as Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution (4) attempts to do.

I would like to end with an example of best practice in intercultural communication that takes into account the aspects of historical recognition and peace education in the informal sector. Japan-based Peace Boat and Korean NGO Green Foundation have started a ground-breaking project for dialogue and understanding between Koreans, Japanese and others in East Asia. The Peace and Green Boat is a ten-year project for reconciliation towards future cooperation and is bringing together 600 Japanese and Koreans annually to take part in educational voyages around the East Asia region. Their multi-generational, intercultural communication and dialogue focuses on learning together about the past as a way to forge understanding for the future. I believe such innovative projects at the grassroots level should be supported by international society as a way towards building a peaceful and sustainable world in this century.

1 http://www.haguepeace.org

2 http://www.peaceboat.org

3 http://www.gppac.net

4 “Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. 2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.” Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan.