September 21 is the international day of Peace, while the summarizing exhibition of the 2nd Pan Armenian painting contest “I am a Sower of Peace” was opened at UN House in Armenia on the previous day.
The contest was initiated by “Women for Development” NGO within the “Armenia and Neighbors: In Search for Peace” project of WCC Armenia Round Table Foundation, in partnership with the UN Department of Public Information Yerevan Office, Armenian UN Association and Fondation Philipossian & Pilossian.
The contest aimed at making the peace message of Armenian schoolchildren, especially from remote bordering communities, available for all the humanity, once more highlighting the importance of stopping the wars and establishing peace.
This year 613 schoolchildren from 101 schools of 11 provinces of Armenia participated in the contest: this is four times more than it was last year. Almost all of the authors of the 86 artworks selected for the exhibition attended the opening ceremony accompanied by their parents or teachers.
Among the special guests was H.E. Mr. Eiji Taguchi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan in Armenia, who welcomed the audience and once again highlighted the importance of peace for the mankind. “Peace is very important for all of us, especially following World War II, when we lost 3 million people in Japan and 60 million people worldwide, we realized that Japan must become the most peaceful country in the world. During the past 70 years the Japanese government did its best to reach peace and keep it. Nevertheless, all the countries must be responsible for peace in the world. It starts from us, from the adults who pass it to you-our younger generation for you to cherish and go on keeping it,” he said:
Gohar Markosyan, the president of “Women for Development” NGO said it was of crucial importance for local and international actors to see what the attitude of children towards war was and how they resist against the ideology of war. “The symbol of peace for our children are the weapons “imprisoned” for already a long period of time, the tanks with flowers and balloons in their gun barrels instead of shells, unused rifles turned into props for newly planted trees,” she noted. She quoted the message of the nine-year-old Milena: “Let all the weapons go silent forever and let peace rule the world.”
“The artworks of children enlighten us and bring peace to our thoughts. They guide us and remind that peace has its cost and it is of great value,” Tsovinar Ghazaryan, Programme Officer of the WCC Round Table Foundation noted.
In their welcoming speech Armineh Haladjian, the head of the UNDPI Yerevan office and Armine Podosyan, the chair of the Armenian UN Association talked about the mission and efforts of UN directed to establishing and keeping peace. They said, “It’s a painful reality that the theme of peace never loses its urgency. Whereas the UN calls for peace and no wars throughout 72 long years – since its establishment. Peace is one of the ideological pillars of the Sustainable Development Goals that entered into force recently. The 16th of those goals covers the idea of peace.”
“If we dream of a more peaceful, safer and more developed world, then we should adopt a comprehensive approach and recognize that human rights, peace, security and sustainable development are interdependent. We need to listen to the youth; we need to work with them towards the challenges of the future world. Because today we build the world of tomorrow where today’s young people are going to live,” added A. Podosyan.
The first-prize winning artwork in the two age categories were printed as postcards (Milena Hovhannisyan, 9 years old, Gyumri (Sirak region), and Julieta Petrosyan, 16 years old, Torosgyugh community (Shirak province) and should be delivered to local and international organizations. Four other children also received awards: Marianeh Nazaryan (2nd prize) 7 years old, Agarak community (Aragatsotn province), Aram Zakaryan (3rd prize) 7 years old, Masis community (Araratprovince), Arman Vardanyan (2nd prize) 13 years old, Lernantsk community (Lori province), Anahit Minasyan (3rd prize)14 years old, Nerkin Karmiraghbyur community (Tavush province). 13-year old Svetlana Zalinyan from Gargar community (Lori province) was awarded with a special prize for her colorful dove selected as the logo of the initiative. The authors of all the exhibited paintings received certificates and souvenirs. The paintings will be exhibited at UN House till September 29.
At the end of the event young representatives from the Armenian UN Association made an interactive presentation for the participating children on the Sustainable Development Goals and namely on Goal 16.
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Each year September 21 is celebrated as the International Day of Peace all over the world. It was adopted by the General Assembly in 1981. This year’s theme is “Together for Peace: Respect, Safety and Dignity for All.”