Youths & Nobelists Gather for PeaceJam 10th Anniversary Conference

By Shivani Bhatt
NYLC Youth Advisory Council

Ten Nobel Peace Prize laureates, 3,000 youths, and an atmosphere of peace-making set the stage for the PeaceJam 10th Anniversary Conference, held September 15-17 in Denver. The inspirational weekend — focused on strategies for youth-led peace-making — was packed with keynote speeches, exchanges of ideas, and youths presenting peace plans and service-learning projects that address major world problems.

The conference explored ways of promoting a global community. The Dalai Lama, the first laureate to affiliate with PeaceJam, said that unbiased compassion towards everyone, even one’s enemies, was the key to making this possible. Archbishop Desmond Tutu framed the issue as a matter of strength in numbers: "Think of the sea," he said. "What is it made of? Isolated drops of water. Think of what happens when they come together. Think of what you could do — hundreds of young people can support struggles for justice everywhere.”

During a panel session with all 10 Nobelists, several agreed that the United States has the resources to promote peace and equality but is using them for efforts like the war in Iraq. "How much does a fighter bomber cost?" asked Argentinean Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. "How much could we do for life if we didn’t spend that money on death and destruction?"

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias posed a similar question: "What hurts people?" He said, "1.6 million [people] died of tuberculosis in 2001. …The greatest terrorism of Osama Bin Laden is that he continues to siphon resources away from other causes that are killing other people."

At the culmination of this weekend, five members of NYLC’s Youth Advisory Council presented their plans for addressing HIV/AIDS. In a small session with Prime Minister José Ramos Horta of East Timor, they committed to furthering HIV/AIDS education through NYLC’s Y-RISE: The Service-Learning and HIV/AIDS Initiative. Related events include workshops at a regional PeaceJam conference and a celebration on International AIDS Day. The Youth Advisory Council is also pursuing the longer-term goal of working collaboratively with youths in Africa to address the disease’s global impact.

Jody Williams, the U.S. laureate recognized for her efforts to outlaw landmines, nicely summed up the spirit of the event: "You can’t just feel emotion about injustices of the world," she said. "It is wasted emotion unless you do something different. Sentiment without action is irrelevant."

Pictured: Youth Advisory Council Mentor Ruth Adu-gyamfi with Nobel Laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.