Peace First! The rest will have to come later… February 18, 2008
Posted by Meher Nigar in Emerging Trends.1 comment so far
“Sab Say Pehlay Peace” should be the slogan of the hour.
When around seven schools in Lahore got bomb threats very recently, one had to stop to think that the insanity in the world is knocking at our doors and threatening to invade the peace inside our homes. The terrifying thought of our children or anyone’s children meeting a fate similar to Ms. Benazir Bhutto’s is enough to make everyone wake up to the fact that humanity has to step back from the brink of disaster that it is itself responsible for. All our personal endeavors in all spheres of our existence become meaningless if our children become universally homeless with no planet to grow up in.
Let us take a look at what is happening round the globe.
The above graphic and related information is taken from the website titled, “The Vision of Humanity”, http://www.visionofhumanity.com/ that was launched in May 2007 to highlight the Global Peace and Sustainability issue.
The website publishes a Global Peace Index, (GPI) which ranks 121 countries by their measure of peacefulness. GPI has been developed for the first time in conjunction with:
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The Economist Intelligence Unit
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an international panel of peace experts from Peace Institutes and Think Tanks
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the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney, Australia
The Global Peace Index is composed of 24 indicators, ranging from a nation’s level of military expenditure to its relations with neighbouring countries and the level of respect for human rights. The index has been tested against a range of potential “drivers” or determinants of peace—including levels of democracy and transparency, education and material well-being.
The following are the top fifteen and worst fifteen countries ranked by the Global Peace Index:-
Sadly but not surprisingly, Pakistan is ranked seventh from the bottom at the 115th position.
Top Fifteen Countries by Global Peace Index
1. Norway
2. New Zealand
3. Denmark
4. Ireland
5. Japan
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Canada
9. Portugal
10. Austria
11. Belgium
12. Germany
13. Czech Republic
14. Switzerland
15. Slovenia
Worst Fifteen Countries by Global Peace Index
107. Algeria
108. Myanmar
109. India
110. Uzbekistan
111. Sri Lanka
112. Angola
113. Cote d’Ivoire
114. Lebanon
115. Pakistan
116. Colombia
117. Nigeria
118. Russia
119. Israel
120. Sudan
121. Iraq
Before the earth explodes and we fall of the edges, we have to focus our energies towards converting people and influencing minds. Teaching our kids peace is a big priority but the rate at which men are fighting and destroying in the name of religion, politics, greed for power and fighting terror might render the sowing of peace process in our kids too late.
