Beirut, 20 September 2013 (United Nations Information Centre) — The first online demonstration for peace from Beirut to the world kicked off today as part of an initiative by the UN Information Centre in Beirut (UNIC-Beirut), in cooperation with JWT, Touch and Born Interactive companies. The demonstration was launched in a press conference organized on the occasion of the International Peace Day (21 September).
The demonstration, under the theme “Tolerance for Peace”, paves the way for people to express their views on peace and advocate tolerance for a safe future. It will also lead to a sustainable and meaningful activity: CIVICPEACECORPS, an online community with a number of programs and activities that will be implemented to further promote the culture of peace. You can take part in the demonstration on the following address: www.demonstrateforpeace.org
The press conference featured statements by UNIC-Beirut Public Information Officer, Margo Helou; Head of Corporate Communications at Touch, Ghada Barakat; Founder and Chairman of Born Interactive, Fady Sabbagha; and Managing Director at JWT, Omar Sadek.
In her statement, Helou referred to the preamble of the UN Charter which calls for saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war and maintaining international peace and security. “The United Nations not only considers peace a basic right, but also an integral part of the right to live, considered to be the most important human right,” Helou said.
She referred to the statement by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the occasion of International Day of Peace in which he said: “Let us pledge to teach our children the value of tolerance and mutual respect. Let us invest in the schools and teachers that will build a fair and inclusive world that embraces diversity. Let us fight for peace and defend it with all our might.” Helou also invited everyone to take part in the online demonstration to express their aspiration and the aspiration of their society to live in peace and security for a better future.
Barakat, for her part, noted that Touch’s participation in this campaign came as part of the role played by the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in achieving a lasting peace by empowering citizens to interact, get hold of information and take decisions in a better way. “The ICT technology, from equipment and programs, helps people communicate and educate via several means, including computers, internet, cellular phones and others. And this contributes in a concrete manner to apply the means of building peace within the framework of a long-term harmonious strategy,” Barakat added.
As for Sabbagha, he said that once again Lebanon is making headlines through a new and unique initiative, which is celebrating peace on the internet, Demonstrateforpeace.org, the first of its kind in the world. The chairman of Born Interactive referred to the company’s partnership with the United Nations that has been ongoing for a long period of time, adding that they respect the rightful causes and appreciate tremendous efforts exerted by the organization to improve the lives of people and communities. “This initiative embodies the importance of internet and new social media that are helping in spreading the messages of peace across the world in a fast way reaching large numbers of individuals and creating a world movement to spread peace by all means,” Sabbagha said.
For his part, Sadek underscored the importance of tolerance as an anchor of peace. “If we all celebrate tolerance, we will be able to live in harmony with one another and we will live in a better world,” he said. “It is time to change the way we behave. It is time to reach out to our fellow citizens of the world, armed with tolerance, instead of discrimination. And it is time to take a stand for peace,” he added. Sadek went on to say that JWT braces this first-of-its-kind initiative over the internet from Beirut to the world because its purpose is to unite the Lebanese people with other global citizens to celebrate tolerance and pave the way for a peaceful future.
At the end of the conference, Sadek gave a presentation on the peace campaign and its major messages and activities, followed by a Q&A session by reporters on this issue.