Benin launches int'l petition to call for new UN organ to promote peace

An international petition dubbed "Peace by other Means," calling for the creation of a special United Nations organ to promote inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue for peace, has been launched in Benin's capital, Cotonou.

The initiative was launched on Wednesday by the president and founder of the Pan African Social Prospective Center (CPPS) Albert Tevoedjre, who was accompanied by Benin's government officials and representatives of international institutions accredited to Cotonou.

"The objective is to collect a lot of signatures from Africa and the rest of the world to push the UN General Secretariat to act by creating an appropriate federal structure charged with the responsibility of guiding inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue for peace," Tevoedjre said.

He said the organ would help, among other things, create a platform for inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue in member states; promote meetings between youths and religious leaders to reinforce mechanisms for living together; and create focal points for networks in each country and give priority for common development actions led by inter-religious and inter-cultural groups.

"This organ will also propose joint social innovation projects, founded on the basis of inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue in each UN member state," the CPPS president affirmed. Enditem