President inaugurates World Youth Conference for Kindness

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated a first-ever World Youth Conference for Kindness organised by the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) at Vigyan Bhavan on 23 August. Themed “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam-Gandhi for the Contemporary World: Celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi,” the conference saw participation from over 1,000 youths representing 27 countries and Nobel laureates, among others.

The President addressed the gathering and said, “Gandhiji was born in India, but he belongs to entire humanity. Gandhiji, the most influential Indian of the 20th century, remains to be the benchmark of assessing our public functionaries, political ideas and government policies, as well as the hopes and aspirations of our country and our people—and of our shared planet. He not only led us to freedom, but he also urged us to cherish freedom and preserve the concept of universal peace.”

The conference included special addresses by Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Union Human Resource Development Minister, UNESCO MGIEP head J.S. Rajput and Nobel Peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi. The conference was aimed at providing youth and policymakers a platform to discuss means of implementing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Dr Anantha Duraiappah, Director, UNESCO MGIEP, said, “As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s life, we must ask ourselves how we can move beyond simply having an intellectual exercise of Gandhi’s ideas—especially for the 21st century. If real societal change is to be achieved, Gandhi’s learnings, which he meticulously imbibed through his experiments, need to be built into our education systems and exemplified in our daily lives. The World Youth Conference for Kindness is a step towards our goal of creating a movement of inspired and empowered youth through kindness to transform them and build long-lasting peace in their communities.”

Usman Kromah, a youth delegate from Liberia, told The Sunday Guardian, “Kindness means the world to me. I was one of the 60 people selected by MGIEP from all over the globe because of my work with refugee communities in Liberia. I was born as a refugee, so I understand their issues and work towards rehabilitation, peace-building, environmental and gender education. I established an organisation called ‘Pan African Volunteer’s Network’ to involve more youngsters into my project. ”

The plenary topics of discussion included “The Art and Science of Peace”; “Talking Across Generations on Education: Can Kindness Prevent Violent Extremism?” and “Youth Agency: Scaling Up Acts of Kindness”. The panelists at the conference included Michael N. Nagler, founder and president, Metta Center for Non-Violence; Nandita Das, Director and Actor; Nandini Chatterjee, Neuroscientist, UNESCO MGIEP, etc. The conference culminated with the adoption and release of the “New Delhi Declaration on Kindness for the SDGs”. The Delhi Declaration comprises of over 1,300 submissions by young applicants from 117 countries and findings by the 60 delegates from across 27 countries.