Report of Youth Ambassador for Peace in Symposium 2002 at UCLA, Los Angeles, California

Photos - SYM 2002

The 2nd Global Ethics Symposium, focusing on Current Influences of Secular Morality and Religious Conscience, took place June 27th-30th, 2002 at the University of California, Los Angeles. It was co-sponsored by the Pacific Rim Institute for Development & Education (PRIDE) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Institute of World Religions (IWR), from the People's Republic of China, and was hosted by the UCLA School of Public Health.

Over 100 internationally renowned scholars, educators and professionals from many disciplines, including the top 25 scholars from the People's Republic of China, came from 15 countries to address critical issues in the areas of moral and ethical conduct. The speakers presented papers on the ethics, social standards, and spiritual values influencing Global Morality, focusing on four specific areas: Social & Economic Justice; Education & Human Development; Globalization of Health; and Religious & Cultural Values.

A simultaneous PRIDE Youth & Undergraduate Ambassador Program provided a forum for outstanding students to address issues of diversity and co-existence with the Symposium’s speakers and Dr. Abdelkader Abbadi, former UN Political Director;  Representatives of Jordan Price ‘s Nadeem Karim, UN trainers Dr. Nancy Roof, Dr. Susan Roylance and Youth Program Board Member Judge Dorothy Nelson and Dr. Ken Druck participant took part in the sessions.

The PRIDE Youth Ambassador (PYA) for Peace program teaches its students-- which include youth, undergraduate students and young adults-- to take ownership of their contributions to the future destiny of the world, by focusing on the awareness of how world harmony begins with cultural understanding and respect and that the application of ethics and moral values must adapt and evolve with different locations and situations, stressing the need for inter-faith dialogue to provide a spiritual value base for tolerance and unity.

A major focus of the PYA program is to develop a humanitarian commitment. Children and youth, worldwide, are victims of poverty, starvation, violence, abuse, and religious conflict. These wrongs need to be challenged by youth who are empowered to do so, and the students are taught how to break down barriers by the use of cross-cultural literacy to bridge gaps between societies, and how to use peer power-- worldwide-- to assist those efforts.

The PYA students also receive instruction in conflict and violence prevention skills and for emergency preparedness as well. To this end, PRIDE included the internationally acclaimed conflict resolution training developed by the Western Justice Center Foundation and the United Nations, in the Youth program.

The PYA program enables its students to connect global policies to local applications. PRIDE Youth Ambassadors learn to lead at local and diplomatic levels first hand. The PYA program provides instruction on how systems work to enable the youth to become part of and use those systems for positive effect, learning how to acquire grants and funding, and how to develop coalitions and use UN and NGO strategies to empower projects of local and federal interests.

The PYA program places emphasis on the need to ‘be the change’ in one’s own conduct and actions, and the importance of developing commitment and perseverance to follow through to the long-term achievement of their goals. These disciplines lead the students to new life enriching program and career options.

Students completing the entire PYA program are granted a formal PRIDE Certificate of Qualification to attend special United Nations sessions as a PRIDE Representative and Academic Centers are notified of this Distinguished Honor.