More than 400 young leaders from around the world, including parliamentarians, entrepreneurs, and representatives of civil society and faith-based organizations, met in Asunción, Paraguay on July 2-6 to launch a broad-based coalition to address some of the world's most pressing conflicts and human needs. Hosted by the U.S.-based Universal Peace Federation and Youth Federation for World Peace, the International Young Leaders Summit sought to develop a new paradigm for leadership that balances both spiritual and secular perspectives, and that works collaboratively with governments, inter-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, business and industry, and civil society.

The conference attracted more than half of the newly elected senators and deputies of the new Paraguayan government and also met with outgoing President Nicanor Duarte at the Presidential Palace, congratulating him on the nation's first peaceful and democratic transition of power.

A key to the initiative is the mobilization of a new generation of young leaders from every sector who are not committed to dated strategies that have left so many hopes unfulfilled. The summit specifically advanced innovative approaches toward meeting the 2000 UN Millennium Development Goals, benchmarks in such areas as extreme poverty, basic health care and education, and gender equity to be met by the year 2015.

Following the summit, some ten thousand young professionals and peace workers gathered in Asunción for the first of a worldwide series of Global Peace Festivals organized by UPF, YFWP, and other regional partners. The festivals are recognizing the courageous and often unheralded work of men and women who have dedicated their lives to resolve conflict and provide critical support services.

Action, not words, is becoming the defining characteristic of the UPF-YFWP partnership. The ILC brought together more than 220 participants from 80 nations, including a significant group of Young Ambassadors for Peace convened by the Youth Federation. In his congratulatory remarks to the conference, UPF Co-chair and YFWP President Dr. Hyun Jin Moon spoke of his growing respect for Paraguay and its people.

"I want you to know that it was in the Chaco (the remote tropical North) that I first encountered the real spirit of the Paraguayan people," he said. "Out there in the wilderness I met people who were willing to offer us great hospitality when they had almost nothing, and I felt that despite the suffering of this nation in recent years, the time has come for Paraguay to shine. The eyes of the world will be upon this nation and the Global Peace Festival to see we can all do together."

At the conclusion of the Paraguay summit, Moon presented an ambitious program to translate the strategies and vision of young leaders into a series of impact initiatives. Moon first recognized the growing numbers of Young Ambassadors for Peace on every continent and called on them to take ownership of their aspirations as peace makers. "A vision and a dream without an owner is just an idea," he said. "Yet a vision and a dream that has an owner can transform the world."

YFWP executive vice president David Caprara says the young leaders' passion and professional expertise can be an essential asset. "In trouble spots like the Middle East, it is critical for a new generation to step forward with the courage to change the narrative of conflict to one of mutual respect and openness to the other side," Caprara said. "We have a historic opportunity to bring change, and we are looking to a new generation of leaders to step forward, with the support of progressive partners in government, civil society, and the faith community."

Moon also announced an international soccer initiative, Peace Dream, noting that sports competitions are an ideal means of breaking down historic barriers and building character through good sportsmanship that can translate into all spheres of life. Moon said agreements for UPF-YFWP character education initiatives are being supported by ministries of education and teachers across the world."Finally, he said, "Young Peace Ambassadors are joining forces with UPF on every continent to address UN Millennium Development Goals through measurable service programs. This peace police" force, he said, can be deployed as an important new tool for emergency response as well as for longer-term critical needs.

A number of prominent leaders supported this call for innovative new approaches to peace building and international service. President Leonel Fernandez Reyna of the Dominican Republic, former President Rodrigo Alberto Carazo of Costa Rica, and former Speaker of the House Jose de Venecia of the Philippines emphasized the need for new approaches to problems in the hemisphere that can more fully engage the United States as a strategic partner.

The Paraguay summit followed a recent six-nation Latin American tour by Dr. Moon, who held high level meetings in Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and Brazil. Moon emphasized the importance of drawing on spiritual values and traditions as an underutilized resource for governance. Looking to America's founding, he emphasized that freedom and human rights are grounded in transcendent principles, and that religious traditions have a significant role, not in advancing sectarian interests, but in guiding political and social change based on values and ethics shared by all faiths.

"To me the American dream was never merely a political or economic dream," Moon told an assembly of government and civil society leaders in Peru. "We all know that democracies without values, rooted in self-interest, can be just as ruthless and just as dictatorial as a totalitarian regime, and that capitalism not controlled by values can lead to a world of those who have and those who have not. The American dream uniquely recognized the sovereignty of God and through that realization was committed to uplifting the human family to the dignity that can only come from God. Thus the first document that marked the birth of that nation, the Declaration of Independence, directly recognized the sovereignty of God as the basis upon which the rights of any American are derived, and the basis on which the nation would be established"

Following this six-nation tour, UPF and YFWP hosted an Americas Summit in Washington, DC, bringing 150 government and civil society leaders from 33 nations to the table to assess new methodologies for hemispheric cooperation and regional prosperity. UPF Founder the Reverend Dr. Sun Myung Moon addressed the leaders at the Washington gathering, stressing that the boundaries of race, nationality, gender, and religion have been historic impediments to peace and need to be transcended by a new consciousness rooted in the universal principle of living for the sake of others.

Following plenaries and working groups on development and cooperation in the Americas, the international leaders spent a day in Texas and met with former U.S. President George H.W. Bush at the Bush Museum and Library, before returning to Washington for further briefings.

The six-nation tour, the Americas Summit in Washington, and the International Young Leaders Summit in Paraguay have engaged some of the most respected statesmen in the Americas, as well as growing numbers emerging young leaders. The prospect of bringing meaningful change, of providing for basic human needs, and of implementing an effective methodology for conflict resolution has generated excitement and hope. And the action agenda outlined in Asunción promises to translate this hope into an on-the-ground approach that can bring peace and prosperity in the twenty-first century and beyond.