Within the framework of the Global Peace Festival, Russian Ambassadors for Peace decided to conduct in Moscow and other cities and regions of Russia a series of public events during 2008 under the motto “Peace in Heart - Love in the Family – Peace on Earth.” Our overall goal is to build a sustainable civil coalition that is able to provide national leadership to promote patriotic and family values, living for the sake of others, civic accord, peace and reconciliation, inter-ethnic and inter-religious cooperation, and dialogue among cultures and civilizations, through arts and culture, sports, service, and education.

Symbolically, the Russian government proclaimed 2008 as the Year of Family. So our goals and objectives were to concentrate public attention on the ideals of living for the sake of others, true family, peace and reconciliation in society, with a final goal to set up sustainable and effective civil coalition. We need this in order to facilitate dialogue between civil society and the state bodies within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals and to involve state bodies in public peace efforts, resulting in efficient mechanisms of social partnership. The essential purpose of such a coalition is to consolidate the isolated peace and service efforts for the sake of joint positive development, and to highlight the Global Peace Festival and the Universal Peace Federation/Ambassadors for Peace activities in Russia in 2008 and beyond.

Keeping this in mind, we started campaigning to develop a broad civil coalition branded “Global Peace Festival.” To consolidate public effort in support of the Year of the Family in Russia, we are facilitating a public discussion on important human development issues. These activities were linked to the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, in order to highlight the Constitutional rights of women, children, and family. We also advocate humanitarian and service activities to benefit families with several children, orphans, poor people, and senior citizens.

Our academic and educational activities include conferences, symposiums, and round table discussions on public diplomacy, human development, peace and human security. We held lively debates on issues of religious education in the Russian schools, actions in support of the Russian language and Russian culture, promotion independent publishers of educational literature, and other timely issues of interest to Russian citizens.

Our international GPF activities aim at sustaining inter-ethnic, inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue in order to promote tolerance and transparency. To celebrate the 60th jubilee of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we will present the draft UNESCO Convention on Peace Education and offer activities to highlight the UN International Decade of Culture of Peace for Children of the Planet.

But people are generally more attracted by culture programs, arts, and entertainment than by abstract debates. So we are also planning folklore exhibitions, competitions, and shows in support of Russia’s indigenous people and traditional culture, and also youth activities, such as get-togethers and rock concerts to support patriotic education and volunteer service. Our sports cluster includes marathons, martial arts, and soccer activities.

We are scheduling our festival events to be conducted throughout the whole year. We launched the Festival on March 1, with the International “Moscow Super Family” competition. As a finale, a major ceremony, coinciding with the official wrap-up of the Year of the Family in Russia and representing all festival activities in Moscow and other cities and regions of Russia, will conclude our series of GPF events in December 2008 or January 2009.

We think that to arrange for the GPF-2008 to involve a broad civil society coalition is more important than to do it by ourselves. Thus, our GPF participants and stakeholders include government and non-governmental organizations, public commercial and non-commercial organizations, institutions, movements, and individuals representing various strata of civil society, academia, culture and arts, media, and sports, as well as different religions and denominations.

It is important that the Russian National Peace Council be considered an initiator and one of the key participants but not the coordinator and organizer of the Festival. We are encouraging Ambassadors for Peace to volunteer and coordinate core activities of the Festival. The Festival Board, serving as the steering committee, is composed of eight to ten people; it represents key stakeholders and core activities, as well as prominent public figures who are able to campaign effectively for the Global Peace Festival.

Public organizations and individuals have expressed interested in the GPF-2008 activities in Moscow. Other cities and regions of Russia approved our Global Peace Festival 2008 and have agreed to carry out their own 2008 activities under the aegis of the Global Peace Festival. They will be using the Global Peace Festival motto and logo, furthering the ideal and message of working together for peace across the vast expanse of Russia, extending our ability to reach out to others.

Our partners will enjoy complete organizational independence within the framework of the Festival. They will coordinate their planning, raise financial resources, and promote their Festival activities in accordance with the broad coalition/network principles.

We expect the idea and vision of the Festival to be widely promoted through our partners' media contacts, with the Festival Board serving in a consultative and advisory capacity. We envision the Global Peace Festival in Russia as an ongoing public campaign rather than a single event. This will help us to further promote the UPF ideals and core principles in Russia and throughout Eurasia.

For information about Global Peace Festival activities around the world, visit www.globalpeacefestival.org.