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U. Senior: Address to Peace Summit 2023, Session III-A
Written by H.E. J. Uduch Sengebau Senior, vice president, Palau
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Address to Peace Summit 2023
May 2-5, 2023
Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, Mother of Peace, and the family of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), I thank you for the opportunity to be here at this peace summit. I applaud and am very grateful for the great hospitality that has been extended to me and my delegation.
On the topic of “Toward a World Culture of Peace: Focus on the Asia Pacific,” I would like to focus on the Republic of Palau, which is a very small country. It is a member of the United Nations with a population of less than 20,000, and it has only been an independent country for less than 30 years. Next year, we will celebrate our 30 years of independence. I also thank the Honorable Ek Nath Dhakal for the opportunity to be able to be part of this panel.
Palau was in World War II. From 1943 to 1944 it was also the site of the bloodiest battle between Japan and the United States. We know what it is like to be in a war, and so I would like today to focus on the establishment of the constitution of Palau. It became effective in 1981, so that is just a bit over 40 years ago. The preamble of it says: “In establishing this Constitution of the Sovereign Republic of Palau, we venture into the future with full reliance on our own efforts and the divine guidance of Almighty God.” So, all the functions of the government open and close with a prayer. The fundamental rights section of the constitution guarantees freedom of conscience and philosophical or religious beliefs, and the section says government may not take any action to compel, prohibit or hinder the exercise of religion.
In 2017, the Palau National Congress passed a law, signed by the president of Palau, to establish a national day of prayer in January where the people of the Palau may honor and entreat the Almighty God and pray in groups or as individuals.
The reason why it is so important to have that base is, as Dr. Moon has said and the UPF family says, we are one family under God. So a small country like Palau exists in a large ocean, and we also face and see the threats of climate change to our existence, geopolitical tensions and conflicts. It is important to ensure that the culture of peace is passed onto the young people of Palau because that is the only way to be able to make sure that they are peace-loving and will work towards peace.
In becoming vice president two years ago, I have always advocated for incorporating the principles of UPF into government operations to show that we are indeed one human family created by God. So, we should carry out social justice, provide social services that will help the vulnerable members of the community and ensure that we have the highest qualities of human beings. We need to be able to model spirituality and morality in our leadership.
Finally, the family should be supported because the family is where we teach our children peace and love. I believe incorporating those values into not only the education system but also into the work of the government in supporting and providing for the people and serving the communities with those principles is the way forward to enable the culture of peace to grow in our community.
I thank the UPF family again for this opportunity and I close with this: I am so thankful and feel that I am part of the UPF family. In September of last year, my husband had an accident and had to be flown by an air ambulance to the Philippines for medical care because our country is small and we don't have the kind of expertise for the injuries that he had. Hon. Dhakal, and his lovely wife Blessie, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kittel, came to visit me while I was in the hospital with him.
I really felt grateful, but I also felt important to be this person from a very small island, yet a part of this big UPF family for peace. I thank again Dr. Moon. Happy 80th birthday.
Blessings to you all. Thank you so much.
To go to the Peace Summit 2023 Schedule page, click here.