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Rotary’s involvement in peace work began early
Rotary Peace Fellow Nai-Hua Wu recently spoke to incoming district governors at the 2010 International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA.
Although advancing the cause of world peace was not one of the original ideas behind Rotary, the concept took such a strong hold so early on that peace and Rotary have come to be inextricably linked in the minds of anyone familiar with the organization.
In 1914, at the onset of World War I, delegates to Rotary’s international convention in Houston adopted a resolution that called for the convening of an international peace conference and urged all Rotarians to support worthy efforts such as the international peace movement. In September of that year, the Rotary Club of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, submitted a proposal to the International Association of Rotary Clubs asking that Rotarians become advocates for peace in their communities.
In 1922, as the organization took the name Rotary International, the fourth object of Rotary was ratified: "The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service."
At the convention in Havana in 1940, delegates approved a resolution that identified "freedom, justice, truth, sanctity of the pledged word, and respect for human rights" as "vital to international peace" and called on each Rotarian to protect these principles. Even as World War II was raging, Rotarians were able to organize a conference in London, attended by representatives of 21 countries that laid out a plan for peace. This led to the formation of an international group that would later evolve into UNESCO, but not before the historic 1945 meeting in San Francisco at which the United Nations was chartered. About 40 Rotarians took part as delegates and observers at that meeting. Rotary played a critical role in the formative days of the UN, with five Rotarians elected to the post of president of the General Assembly during the first 12 years.
Throughout the second half of the century, Rotarians around the world continued to work for peace as individuals and in their local clubs, both through financial contributions and a wide range of projects to improve the quality of peoples' lives through health care and education. In 2002, The Rotary Foundation embarked on a new initiative that will help it imprint its peacemaking mark on the 21st century: an international studies program in conflict resolution at seven peace centers at prestigious universities on five continents.
With more than 400 alumni of the Rotary Centers for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution
working in peace-related jobs throughout the world, Rotary is well on the way to achieving its goal of inspiring a new generation of peacemakers.
Download the full issue of
Global Outlook -- Focus on Peace and Conflict Resolution.