Filipino youths have joined the global crusade for peace and disarmament by participating in the “Arms Down" signature drive. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said the signature drive kicked off on Saturday at the Colegio De San Juan De Letran in Intramuros, Manila. "With a pledge to shoulder one million signatures, the Filipino youth has linked up with other youth leaders across the globe in a worldwide campaign of collecting 50 million signatures to lobby the UN (United Nations) General Assembly for the abolition of nuclear arms production," the CBCP said on its news site. The "Arms Down" campaign aims to:
abolish nuclear arms production; stop the spread and misuse of conventional weapons, and allocation of 10% of military budget for the Millennium Development Goals. Eight development goals The MDGs are eight international development goals that all 192 United Nations member states, and at least 23 international organizations, have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. These goals include: (1) Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; (2) Achieving universal primary education; (3) Promoting gender equality and empowering women; (4) Reducing child mortality rate; (5) Improving maternal health; (6) Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; (7) Ensuring environmental sustainability, and (8) Developing a global partnership for development. 'I am for peace' Those who took part in the event dubbed “I Am For Peace, I Am For ARMS DOWN!" were: YouthPinoy, a joint project of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Youth and Media Office; youth leaders from the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Youth (ECY); Religion For Peace Interfaith Youth Network represented by the Youth Desk of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP); Focolare Youth’s Gen/Youth for a United World Movements; The Center for Moderate Muslim Youth (CMMY), student leaders from the University of Santo Tomas, and indigenous people’s youth organizations, such as Tuklas Katutubo and Katribu. “Arms Down" is a campaign organized by the youth members of the "Religions for Peace," the world’s largest multi-religious organization. Kyoichi Sugino, associate secretary general of Religions for Peace, called on the youth leaders for their commitment to peace. Under the Arms Down the program, youths from various countries such as the Philippines, Kenya, Liberia, Japan, Indonesia, Latin America and other countries in the world will be able to work together for peace. –VVP, GMANews.TV 
GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
