The first conference will
be held from 20th –30th June 2004 and will focus on
the India- Pakistan scenario.
Twenty Indian and twenty Pakistani
students aged 15 to 19 will be brought together on the MUWCI
campus and will work together for a constructive engagement
of the conflict using formal and informal forums. The conference
aims to develop a better understanding of the conflict,
its roots, and the need for stronger relations within the
sub-continent.
The highlights of the conference include:
• Perspectives of India’s and Pakistan’s
history, and how it is taught.
• Examination of the major issues affecting Indo-Pak
relations, including Jammu and Kashmir;
• A critical look at the role of the media in the
conflict.
• Training for the conference participants as ‘Change
Agents’ to further the aims of the conference in their
immediate environment once they return.
• Pre-conference homestays for Pakistani participants
in Mumbai.
• Interaction with well known scholars, experts, activists,
political leaders and diplomats.
• Screening of film related to the conflict.
• Creative expression of conflict and peace using
art, music and theatre.
Participants will be equipped with the skills they need
to transmit their own learning from their personal experience
to other youth in their immediate environment.
Youth Initiative
for Peace
Youth Initiative for Peace
is a growing organization, already consisting of members
from India, Pakistan, and fifteen other countries. YIP established
itself after conducting a “Focus on Kashmir”
conference held in Singapore (2002), following which a week-long
peace camp was organized in Lahore, inviting delegates from
all 7 SAARC nations (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan,
Nepal, Bangladesh and the Maldives). Based on the success
of these ventures, a “Youth Without Borders”
conference was held in Karachi in July 2003 to further engage
young people in dialogue. YIP aims to remove misconceptions
that have been created amongst the peoples of South Asia
by establishing a network of young change agents in these
countries.
After the success of the previous conference
in Karachi, YIP is now engaged in organizing another peace
camp to develop understanding between India and Pakistan.
The peace camp, ‘Challenges and Opportunities in South
Asia’, will bring together forty students from all
corners of India and Pakistan together to promote the idea
of peace in their respective countries as embodied by the
ideals according to which YIP functions.
The aims of this initiative by YIP are:
• to improve communication
and create better understanding among a diverse group of
future peace builders from India and Pakistan;
• to explore the source
of prejudices and biases toward people from different socioeconomic
backgrounds and nations;
• to allow participants to discover
which medium of communication is their strength;
• to learn about the role of media
in conflict and peace building;
• to find ways to use the arts and
other forms of expression for peace and social justice;
and
• to train in the practical skills
and tool of effective conflict management;
• to
motivate participants to generate further, practical initiatives,
that they will undertake, using the mediums discussed.
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