Baku, Azerbaijan - In an observance of the UN International Day for Tolerance (although a few days after the actual date), several women Ambassadors for Peace gathered in the UPF office in Baku for a seminar on “Women’s Role in Conflict Resolution.” The activity was co-sponsored by the Women’s Federation for World Peace. The audience was small (it was a working day) but intensely interested.
There were two presentations on the crucial role of women on the front line of peacemaking, first with historical evidence in the Scriptures (the Qur’an and the Bible), and next as an expectation in the 21st century (as stated by UPF Founder Dr. Sun Myung Moon in his last public speech before passing away in 2012). Then Mrs. Mira Afzali, a family psychologist and Ambassador for Peace, shared from her experience in counseling about some key factors of family harmony.
The discussions were intense and enthusiastic. One participant, who had attended a UPF Middle East Peace Initiative event, described a successful activity for peace which she organized with Azerbaijan pupils and parents right after the war with Armenia in the 1990s. When the possibility was raised of holding a women’s conference in Georgia, where Azerbaijan and Armenian women could participate and build conditions for ongoing dialogue, all participants concurred that it was not only possible but desirable.