The historic city ofHiroshimawill host the GNRC Third Forum which will take place from 24 – 28 May 2008. Initial planning by the Organizing Committee of the GNRC Third Forum has singled out Violence, Environment and Poverty to be major themes in the coming Forum, in which Ethics Education and Child Rights are proposed to be cross-cutting themes for the Forum.
The GNRC Third Forum planning shifted a gear higher with the naming of the Hiroshima City as the place where the Third Forum will be held in May 2008.
During its first meeting from 17– 19 March in
Tokyo, Japan, the Organizing Committee took time to discuss about the choice of the venue, noting that it was relevant and useful as GNRC focus on themes such as violence and armed conflict as well as poverty and environment.In the coming Forum whereby GNRC will be marking eight years since it was founded in Tokyo, Japan in 2000, an estimated 250 participants from different parts of the world, including the designated GNRC regions namely GNRC Europe, GNRC Latin America and the Caribbean, GNRC Arab States, GNRC Central Asia and Caucasus, GNRC South Asia, GNRC Africa and GNRC Israel.
In 2002 at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Rev. Takeyasu Miyamoto called on the international community to come together and address issues on ethics and children. During the United Nations Special Session for Children, Rev. Miyamoto proposed the formation of a ‘Council on Global Ethics Education for children’.
The Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children has since been formed as one of the major global initiatives of the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC).
The vision of the Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children is building a ‘world in which all children are empowered to develop their spirituality – embracing ethical values, learning to live in solidarity with people of different religions and civilizations, and building faith in the Divine Presence’.
