Universal Peace Federation
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The Universal Peace Federation (UPF), formerly the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP), was inaugurated on February 6, 1999. It is one of several organizations founded by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon.
The headquarters of the organization is in New York City. Its stated purpose is to resolve conflicts. It is an non-governmental organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations,
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[edit] Renaming
On September 12, 2005, The Universal Peace Federation (Peace Federation) was created by Dr. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon. According to its website, "the launch of the Universal Peace Federation is not the establishment of new organization. Rather, it represents the inauguration of a new mission and set of responsibilities that build on the achievements of the past. As such, the IIFWP from this point forward will be known as the Universal Peace Federation, or simply the Peace Federation."[1]
The renaming was done in New York on September 12, 2005, in the presence of over 300 political and religious world leaders from 156 nations, including the Philippines' Speaker of the House Jose de Venecia.
[edit] Ambassadors for Peace
One of the projects of the IIFWP (now UPF) is a volunteer corps of Ambassadors for Peace. The stated purpose of this program is sponsoring dialog and cooperative projects between religious leaders and leaders of good conscience, particularly in the Middle East. The program has been ongoing since the IIFWP was founded in 1999.
[edit] Interreligious and International Peace Council
The IIPC is a program of the UPF [2]. It is perhaps best known for sponsoring the March 2004 coronation of Sun Myung Moon in Washington, D.C.
[edit] International Highway Project
A new project, announced at the UPF inauguration, is the Peace King Tunnel/Bridge to connect the Asian and North-American land masses through the Bering Strait. This is a very challenging engineering project, estimaed to cost 200 billion dollars.
It is intended to be part of an International Peace Highway project to connect all continents together, free of borders, in which no armament or war equipment would be allowed to travel. This International Highway Project was announced in the 1980's with a proposal by Reverend Moon to build a tunnel between the Korean peninsula and Japan.
[edit] Chapters
There are 191 national chapters around the world.
On November 17, 2005, the European Chapter of the Universal Peace Federation was inaugurated in Geneva, Switzerland, with the participation 1,200 Ambassadors for Peace from all continents.
