Religious personalities, scholars, educators and people experienced in working with children and young people across religious traditions have been invited to be members of the Interfaith Council. After having been introduced to the current activities undertaken by the GNRC in different regions of the world, members of the Council review the concrete plans and recommended a future direction for the ethics education initiative. The second day of the meeting included a symposium open to the public at the United Nations University on “Ethics Education and the Future of Humankind – Why Is Ethics Education Necessary Now?” in which Council members participated.

An ethics education which intentionally and constructively considers a multicultural and pluralistic society will empower children to play a major role in creating a world of greater justice, peace and dignity. The Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children aims to foster children’s spiritual development based on common ethical values and seeks to realize the right of the child to full and healthy physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development and the right of the child to education set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Interfaith Council serves as an international resource center and nexus for dialogue, partnership and action on the theory and practice of ethics education for children and was initiated by the GNRC and other supporters.

Council members include:
Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne, Founder and President of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement
Mr. Adolfo Perez Esquivel, President of Servicio Paz y Justicia, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Mr. Kul Gautam, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Dr. Hans Kung, President of the Global Ethic Foundation
Dr. Alice Shalvi, Former professor of English Literature at Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ms. Didi Athavale –Talwalkar, Leader of the Swadhyay Parivar Movement
Dr. Takeshi Umehara, Advisor of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies
H.B. Anastasios Yannoulatos, Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and All Albania, Greek Orthodox Church
Nour Ammari, GNRC Youth, Fisher Program

HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan is an honorary advisor to the Council.

A Press Conference with some of the members of the Interfaith Council was held at United Nations University communicating the outcome of the first meeting of the Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children

For more information on the event please contact the Interfaith Council Secretariat at +41 22 734 9410 or via e-mail at info@ethicseducationforchildren.org

For more information on the organizers, please visit the following websites:
http://www.ethicseducationforchildren.org http://www.arigatou.ch
http://www.gnrc.ne.jp http://www.arigatou-net.or.jp


Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, the Arigatou Foundation is an international faith-based NGO in special consultative status with the ECOSOC of the United Nations. The GNRC is one of the Foundation’s major inter-religious cooperation initiatives

The establishment of the Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children was proposed by Rev. Takeyasu Miyamoto, President of the Arigatou Foundation and Leader of Myochikai, on behalf of the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC), a network launched in May 2000