Excellences, respected members of EU Parliament, Ambassadors for Peace, and ladies and gentlemen!
Representing the Universal Peace Federation of Europe and the Middle East, I wish to say thank you very much for participating this event today here in this beautiful city of Strasburg, France.
I also wish to express my deepest gratitude to the EU Parliament for allowing us to have this conference in this historic and dignified conference room for this event on Human Right.
Universal Peace Federation was founded in 2005 by Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon with the vision to organize a Global Council of leaders from many fields. UPF was designed as an organization to support peace building work of the United Nations.
The fundamental framework of UPF idea stands upon the understanding of inter-religious, inter-national, and inter-cultural cooperation. I should not forget to say that UPF also holds the vision of One Family under God, which means to establish the world where all humanity can live harmoniously with True Love. I also need to say that Rev. Dr. Moon and Mrs. Moon has never missed to emphasize the importance and preciousness of Human Right in many occasions.
Please allow me to introduce our founders shortly. Both founders were born in what is now North Korea during the Japanese 40 years rule. They experienced the 2nd World War and the Korean War which divided their country into North and South.
Dr. Moon experienced forced labor and was even tortured at a prison camp in North-Korea. Dr. Moon and his wife were both literally refugees during the Korean War. Even to this day, they cannot freely see their relatives in North Korea.
This is one of the reasons why they have worked tirelessly seeking for peace and unification by dialogue with humble heart and mutual respects. Dr. Moon’s human right were terribly neglected in prison camp, so their concern to Human Right has been very strong. I think that real peace would be realized based on the deep understanding of Human Right.
It is our universal hope to realize Peace! One of the greatest German philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote about peace in his book titled ZUM EWIGEN FRIEDEN (on Perpetual Peace) in 1795, when France and Prussia made peace treaty. According to Kant, peace means the end of all hostilities, the end of the hostile feeling. In this book, he proposed concrete ideas to realize peace which gave a foundation of establishment of United Nations, but yet peace has not be realized in the world. As Kant wrote in this book, the deep insight to human nature must be needed for realizing the universal peace. In this regard, our founders view to human nature and the methodology to realize peace is very unique and will give a new insight to us all.
As representatives of the people and as lawmakers, parliamentarians play a crucial role for realizing not only local peace but also world peace. To protect Human Right is also extremely important mission of parliamentarian. This is why UPF has inaugurated the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP) in many nations in Europe and the world. Based on the IAPP, we could recently organize the Second African Summit 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa and Asian Pacific Summit in Kathmandu, Nepal inviting 7 heads of states and many parliamentarians from the region.
I strongly believe it is a time to work together for the World Peace and Human Right with the heart of “to live for the sake of other.” It is our greatest happiness and honor to work together with all of you.
I would like to end my greetings here, expressing my deep appreciation again to you all for attending this conference. I also humbly wish to ask your continuing support to UPF activities here in Europe and the Middle East. Thank you very much.