The peace walk event took place in Bangkok, as the Thai participants marched from Thonburi Youth Center to Islamic College Thailand on 14th July, with a main purpose to call Thai government leaders to restore peace and rule of law in southern Thailand after a recent bombing on 25th May in Pattani created 25 casualties of innocents.
The event was co-organized among International Peace Youth Group (IPYG) and Islamic College Thailand, not only calling for peace in southern but they also called global peace by learning the experience from the conflict and violence in Thailand. IYPG is a youth branch of international peace NGO based in South Korea, Heavenly Culture, World Peace and Restoration of Light (HWPL). About 2000 Thai youths, students, college teachers and journalists attended to the event.
Mr. Supalak Ganjanakhundee, a former chief editor of The Nation, said in his speech “Thai people should learn how to make peaceful resolutions such as peace talks. To do that, Thai people should have faith in peace and should reject any form of violence. Thailand needs to establish a credible rule of law”.
Even though the event was organized in Islamic College Thailand, the participants were from various religious background, explained by Ms. Chollada Suawong, a main organizer of the event. She believed the different people from the different backgrounds can bring harmony and expected peace in Thailand. She also helped organizing the peace letter campaign to write letters to the government leaders for peace.
In the 14 years conflict in southern Thailand, there have been 15,164 violent incidents according to a report by Human Rights Watch. Out of the estimated 6, 000 deaths during these years caused by the violence in Thailand’s deep south, about 90 percent were civilians.
The event was also the 6th Annual Commemoration of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPWC) initiated by HWPL. It was also international cooperation to call global peace.
The DPCW of 10 articles and 38 clauses addresses the principles of conflict resolution and international cooperation for peacebuilding such as respect on the international law, peaceful dispute settlement, and spreading a culture of peace. Currently, the letters supporting the DPCW written by approximately 1.3 million citizens in 193 countries have sent to their president or prime minister with expectations for responses from heads of each state.
