The International Summit Council for Peace (ISCP) was initiated by UPF co-founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon on February 8, 2019 on the occasion of World Summit 2019 in Seoul, Korea. ISCP is an international network of current and former heads of state and government, who, through dialogue and collaboration, explore solutions and offer recommendations to address the world’s critical problems, including climate change and environmental issues, religious conflicts, poverty, war, corruption and family breakdown.
The ISCP provides a meeting place for world leaders where their wisdom and experience can be utilized and their initiatives can be discussed in the service of global peace and the betterment of humankind.
ISCP is committed to building a world of peace in which everyone can live in freedom, harmony, cooperation and prosperity. ISCP upholds the core principles of interdependence, mutual prosperity, and universal values, and acts as a facilitator and advisor for the achievement of peace and development.
A crowning project of the Universal Peace Federation, the ISCP works in close cooperation with the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace, the Interreligious Association for Peace and Development, the International Association of Traditional Rulers for Peace, and other UPF initiatives.
The Founding ISCP Resolution (2019, South Korea)
Backgrounder and Purpose of the ISCP
INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT COUNCIL FOR PEACE INAUGURAL RESOLUTION
February 7-11 at the Lotte World Hotel, Seoul, South Korea
As participants in World Summit 2019 sponsored by the Universal Peace Federation and convened in Seoul, Korea, on February 7-11, 2019, on the theme, “Addressing the Critical Challenges of Our Time: Interdependence, Mutual Prosperity and Universal Values,” we affirm the urgent need for responsible leadership and good governance in bringing about a world of lasting peace, a world in which people of all nationalities, ethnicities, races, cultures, and worldviews may live together in mutual respect, harmony and cooperation as one family under God.
We applaud the leadership of Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon and her late husband, Rev. Sun Myung Moon for their vision and work over many decades to create “one family under God,” and recognize the contributions to peace that have been achieved through the Universal Peace Federation, an NGO in general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
We have gathered in Korea, in the year of the Centenary of the March 1st Independence Movement, and we support the Korean people in their quest for peace and the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
As current and former heads of state, government and world leaders from diverse nations and political systems, we recognize that humanity faces serious challenges that must be met and overcome through cooperation, mutual respect and a commitment to universal values.
We live in an interdependent world. No nation and no government exists in isolation. Many of our most difficult problems—terrorism, cyber-crime, climate change, poverty, inequality, food insecurity, conflict—are transnational in nature. We must work together collaboratively in order to resolve global, regional and national problems. Moreover, in order to carry out a comprehensive approach to peace and development, we must work across various sectors of society, including government, civil society, faith-based organizations, academia and the private sector.
Men and women who have served as heads of state or government are uniquely qualified to bring their wisdom and experience to bear in the search for solutions to humanity’s most serious problems and the effort to provide recommendations—to national governments, to inter- governmental organizations, to regional associations of nations such as the European Union, the Arab Leagues, ASEAN, and to the United Nations—that offer a path to peace and mutual prosperity for the whole human family and generations to come.
On this day, February 8, 2019, at the Opening Plenary of the World Summit 2019, we endorse the proposal to establish a new association of current and former heads of state and government, known provisionally as the International Summit Council for Peace (ISCP). The ISCP will work in concert with the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP), the Interreligious Association for Peace and Development (IAPD) and the International Association of Traditional Rulers for Peace (IATP) throughout the world. Following this inaugural program, the UPF will convene inaugural ISCP programs on the regional and national levels throughout 2019; the first World Assembly of ISCP will be convened in 2020, one year from now. We welcome the inauguration of this initiative and trust that it will contribute greatly to lasting peace for the whole human family.
Signed this day, February 8, 2019, in Seoul, Korea.
BACKGROUNDER AND PURPOSE OF THE ISCP
Purpose
The forerunner of the ISCP was the Summit Council for World Peace, founded in 1987 by Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon as a means to harness the extraordinary wealth of knowledge, experience, intelligence, and goodwill of former heads of state and heads of governments. After a distinguished record of more than two decades working with the world’s top leadership, the Council’s activities were brought under the umbrella of the UPF when it was founded in 2005.
In February 2019 in Seoul, Korea at the World Summit 2019, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, who has been integrating and refining the global mission of UPF, relaunched the International Summit Council for Peace as a separate initiative and with a renewed mission to bring together current and former world leaders and develop recommendations for the problems confronting humanity focused on three main areas – peace, security and human development.
International Inauguration
At World Summit 2019 held from February 8 to 11 at the Lotte World Hotel in Seoul, South Korea, 1200 participants from 110 nations, including 40 current and former heads of state and government, enthusiastically responded to Dr. Moon’s challenge “to join hands as one family under God.” Among the many prominent global leaders, she invited keynote speakers, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney (2001-2009) and U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (1995-1999) to share their wisdom and experience on the most pressing issues in our world today.
A resolution was approved to establish a new association of current and former heads of state, heads of government and other world leaders known provisionally as the International Summit Council for Peace (ISCP). The ISCP would work in concert with the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP), the Interreligious Association for Peace and Development (IAPD) and the International Association of Traditional Rulers for Peace (IATP).
Awardees
Dr. Moon presented ISCP Distinguished Award medals to ten current and former world leaders:
- Hon. Dick Cheney, Vice President (2001-2009), the United States of America
- Hon. Ousmane Moutari, Ambassador of Niger to the United Nations
- H.E. Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi, Head of State (2007-2017), Samoa
- H.E. Luis Federico Franco, President (2012-2013), Paraguay
- H.E. Anthony Carmona, President (2013-2018),Trinidad and Tobago
- Hon. Stanislav S. Shushkevich, Chairman (1991-1994), Supreme Soviet, Belarus
- H.E. Alfred Moisiu, President 2002-2007), Albania
- Hon. Iakoba Taeia Italeli, Governor General of Tuvalu
- H.E. Evaristo Carvalho, President of São Tomé and Príncipe
- H.E. Jerry Rawlings, President (1981-2001), Ghana
African Inauguration
At the Africa Summit and Leadership Conference (ASLC), held on June 7 and 8, 2019 at the Hilton Sandton hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa, heads of state and dignitaries from all over the continent were invited to sign a resolution to inaugurate ISCP’s African regional chapter. In recognition of their lifetime of public service and willingness to dedicate their experience, Dr. Moon presented the leaders with the ISCP Distinguished Award medal.
Awardees
- Hon. Gwede Mantashe, Chairman of the African National Congress (Representing President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa)
- H.E. Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, President (2010-2015), Nigeria
- H.E. Dioncounda Traoré, President (2012-2013), Mali
- H.E. Mahamane Ousmane, President (1993-1996),Niger
- Hon. Dr. Speciosa Kazibwe, Vice President (1994-2003), Uganda
- H.E. Prime Minister Kwassi Klutse, Prime Minister (1996-1999), of Togo
- Hon.Clara M. Ferreira de Bom Jesus, wife of Prime Minister of Sao Tome & Principe
- Hon. Alex C. Grant, Member of Parliament, Representing President George Weah of Liberia
- Hon. Josiah Dunira Hungwe, Provincial Governor of Masvingo, Representing President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe
Inaugural ISCP programs on the regional and national levels will be held throughout 2019, and the first World Assembly of ISCP will be convened in 2020.