The twelfth Parents’ Day Seminar as the annual event of Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP)-Bangladesh was held in Dhaka on Aug. 2, 2008 on the theme of The Era of the Global Family: A Culture of Peace. About 80 educators and NGO leaders attended. The president of WFWP, Mrs. Zeenat Ara Bhuiyan, gave the welcoming speech and a PowerPoint report about WFWP activities.
Three women were given awards for their contribution to society. After Ms. Mehreen, a well-known pop singer, sang several spiritual songs, Mr. Kazi Ali Reza, Officer in Charge of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), presented the keynote speech. Using statistics, he explained both the good points and bad points of globalization and its influence on the family, society, and the world. He mentioned that we should not consider diversity to be a threat but rather as something to be understood and harmonized through tolerance.
Finally, Mrs. Salma Khan, former Ambassador to Indonesia and Secretary General of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, offered words of encouragement. She expressed appreciation for WFWP’s character education initiative and its focus on the family, calling it a much-needed approach in Bangladesh. She emphasized that a self-centered way of life leads to conflict and loneliness, while an altruistic way of life brings peace and joyfulness.
The United Nations Information Centre in Dhaka is organizing a Peace Day Message Contest on the occasion of the International Day of Peace on September 21. The Universal Peace Federation, the Women's Federation for World Peace, and the International Relief Friendship Foundation in Bangladesh are cooperating in this contest and will celebrate the coming Day of Peace together.