Introduction to the Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children
In May 2002, Rev. Takeyasu Miyamoto, President of the Arigatou Foundation, was given the opportunity to address the United Nations Special Session on Children on behalf of the GNRC. In his address, he gave voice to the commitment of people of all religions with a special devotion to improving the well-being of children. Among the pledges the GNRC made to the international community on that occasion was the establishment of a council on ethics education for children:
We will establish a “Global Council on Ethics Education for Children”* consisting of people of faith, educators and others. Its mandate will be to work in cooperation with the United Nations to make the development of spirituality in children - including ethical values, esteem for people of different religions and civilizations, and faith in the Divine - an essential part of the “quality education” pledged in the Special Session Outcome Document, “A World Fit for Children.” Our efforts will focus on the critically important primary school years.
There is nothing more needed in the hearts and minds of our children today than ethical values rooted in human dignity, respect for different religions and civilizations, and faith in the Divine. Contemporary education, which tends to overemphasize facts and knowledge and leave out the nurture of an abundant heart in the child, has contributed to various social problems, such as juvenile delinquency. The values children have will determine the character and quality of the Earth they - and their children - will inherit. We believe that children whose hearts are spiritually rich enough to have faith and esteem for diversity will be able to bring about significant change in the world of the 21st century. Since ethics and religion are so closely intertwined, it is clear that religious people, particularly the GNRC as an interfaith catalyst, can and must play a significant role in helping our children to develop these truly human virtues.
This initiative will help equip children with the knowledge and skills needed to empower them to promote attitudes and values such as global solidarity, peace, respect for diversity, tolerance, social justice and environmental awareness among their peers, and thus to bring about change in their own lives and in their communities, both locally and globally. In this sense, we believe that this ethics education should constitute a core part of the “Education for Development” advocated by UNICEF.
Following up on this proposal, the Arigatou Foundation held three preparatory meetings for the establishment of the Council, one in November 2002 in Tokyo, one in June 2003 in Geneva, and one in Rome in December 2003. The first meeting was attended by prominent Japanese religious leaders and scholars, two former Japanese Cabinet ministers, and several representatives of UNICEF and related organizations, as well as the key initiators of regional-level GNRC initiatives from around the world. Its objective was to discuss a wide range of issues including the content of ethics education, the challenges and approaches in promoting ethics education globally, and the specific process leading up to the establishment of the Council. The second meeting was attended by prominent experts in the fields of ethics and education from various countries, representatives of UNICEF and UNESCO, and the GNRC regional coordinators. The participants discussed the purpose and content of ethics education for children; the composition and structure of the Council; and strategies for the implementation of ethics education for children. Informed by the expert discussions at these two meetings, a draft Vision and Strategies Statement was prepared. GNRC members from around the world provided input on the draft paper, and at the third preparatory meeting in Rome in December 2003, extensive drafting sessions were conducted to further refine the paper. The resulting paper is available here.
On the basis of this paper, the establishment of the Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children was formally announced on May 19, 2004, the final day of the Second Forum of the GNRC. Congratulatory messages were presented from Council members, including Professor Hans Küng, President, Global Ethic Foundation, and Mr. Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, President, Fundación Servicio Paz y Justicia.
A press kit on the Council is available for download here.
* At the third preparatory meeting, it was formally decided that the name of the Council would be “Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children.”