Celebrating corporate citizenship in Luxembourg
25/03/2019
Our memorable field visit to Cambodia
14/04/2019On the 26 and 27th of March, we had the privilege of participating in the conference “Stand Speak Rise Up!”, hosted by Her Royal Highness The Grand Duchess of Luxembourg who “has dedicated a large portion of her time and energy to social and humanitarian issues, placing women’s and children’s rights and the fight against all forms of violence against them at the heart of her humanitarian action”.
Norma Bastidas, ultra-athlete, Women’s Rights Activist, Her Royal Highness The Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and Paola Dumet, Board member and treasurer of Unity Foundation.
It was truly inspiring to attend this forum, which aimed to be a platform for sexual violence survivors, of which woman and children are particularly vulnerable, to “not to be seen as just the beneficiaries of efforts, but first and foremost, as the architects of their own destiny”, “architects of peace and change”. This message resonated particularly strongly with us, as the principle of equality between man and woman is at the core of our framework for development and at the heart of all our projects: without the qualities, talents, and skills of both women and men, full economic and social development becomes impossible:
From the Bahá’í writings: “The world of humanity is possessed of two wings — the male and the female. So long as these two wings are not equivalent in strength the bird will not fly. Until womankind reaches the same degree as man, until she enjoys the same arena of activity, extraordinary attainment for humanity will not be realized”.
Thames Cornette-Borges (Psychologist), Paola Dumet (Board member and treasurer of Unity Foundation), Michelle Bachelet (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, former president of Chile), Dr. Neda Moayed Rafii (Unity Foundation Ambassador)
Some of the key speakers included Nobel Peace Prize laureates such as Dr. Denis Mukwege, Nadia Murad, and Professor Muhammad Yunus, as well as other distinguished personalities and experts in the fight against sexual violence. Among the messages that clearly stood out, were the noble nature of human beings, the principle of the oneness of humanity and the cardinal importance of education as a means to prevent and eradicate sexual violence. In his moving address to the conference, Professor Yunus shared his experience and, challenged widely accepted assumptions about the human being and its relationship with others:
Recording from professor Yunus speech.
Some extracts from Professor Yunus speech: “Real human beings are very different from selfish (…) once we discover ourselves, instead of money makers, as human beings, we transform society, instead of a civilization based on money making, based on greed. If you want to solve this problem, we have to create another kind of civilization, a civilization based on human values, and fellow feeling. We can do that, it’s not impossible!”.
We also had the special privilege of receiving in our office representatives from different organizations in Colombia, which had been invited as speakers and were being hosted, in the days prior to the conference, by the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. Our heart-warming meeting with them provided a valuable opportunity for us to have meaningful exchanges on the work that our organizations are doing in that country. A common theme that we discussed extensively, was the importance of raising awareness and providing moral-based education to younger generations. In the words of 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Denis Mukwege in his address to the conference:
“Education is the source of prevention. We must initiate boys to become positive men, to promote positive masculinity and discourage toxic masculinity.”
Fulvia Chunganá Medina (National Coordinator, Red de Mujeres Víctimas y Profesionales; Member of SEMA, the Global Network of Victims and Survivors to End Wartime Rape), Dr. Neda Moayed Rafii (Unity Foundation Ambassador), Angela Escobar Vásquez (National Coordinator, Red de Mujeres Víctimas y Profesionales; Member of SEMA), Pilar Rueda Jiménez (Asesora en Género de la Unidad de Investigación de la Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz, JEP), Carmen Liliana Zape (Red de Mujeres Víctimas y Profesionales; Member of SEMA) and Angela Roldán (Unity Foundation Project manager).
We would like to wholeheartedly thank HRH the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa for her initiative, which also allowed us to connect with many like-minded individuals and organizations. Likewise, we want to express our deepest gratitude to all the speakers, particularly the survivors, for their courage and inspiring allocutions, which motivated us further to continue supporting our local partners as they strive to empower their local communities and work towards positive and lasting social change.
