Geneva — Speaking during a panel discussion on Human Rights with fellow Nobel Peace laureates in Geneva, the spiritual leader of Tibet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama Friday said that we can overcome that "potential for violence," if we remember the "oneness of humanity."
Thousand of Tibetans in Switzerland greeted and welcome His Holiness the Dalai Lama in front of Hotel President Wilson in Geneva where he arrived to engaged in panel discussion with fellow Nobel Peace laureates, on the theme 'Nobel Laureates on Human Rights – A view from civil society' at the Graduate Institute of Geneva.
His Holiness has met with exclusive journalists Friday morning and explained his three main commitments. He recommended that education should emphasize more towards the inner values such as warm warmheartedness, tolerance and forgiveness. He observed that although religion has been a source of happiness for thousands of years, sadly, today, it is becoming a source of hatred in the world. His Holiness then left his hotel to attend working lunch with diplomats being exclusively arranged by the US Permanent Mission.
In the afternoon His Holiness the Dalai Lama and fellow Nobel Laureate Tawakkol Abdel-Salam Karman and Leila Alikarami, an Iranian lawyer and human rights activist representing Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, engaged in discussions on the theme 'Nobel Laureates on Human Rights – A view from civil society' at the Graduate Institute of Geneva.
Mrs Kate Gilmore, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights moderated the event hosted by the Permanent Missions of the United States and Canada to the United Nations in parallel to ongoing 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council.
His Holiness expressed his gratitude to the US and Canadian Permanent Missions to the UN for hosting this event. He also acknowledged the moving words of the two speakers who preceded him.
Here we are talking about the future of humanity, His Holiness said. "No matter how small our voice may be but it is essential to speak up. Sometimes people say all is well with what is going on in the world, but it is wrong. In fact we are facing many problems."
"During my lifetime I have experienced lots of conflict and bloodshed such as second world war, Korean, Vietnam and many civil wars in the course of which millions of people have been killed," the Nobel Peace laureate said.
"We need to ask and think seriously where we went wrong – causes of such conflicts, what qualities we lack and why violations of human rights are taking place. Answering these questions and creating peace will require wisdom and compassion," the spiritual leader said.
"Therefore, if we have to create a more peaceful world for our future generation, we need to introduce warm-heartedness and secular ethics into our present general education system which focuses more on material oriented educational system".
He stressed that "if we remember the oneness of humanity and think of each other as brothers and sisters we can overcome that potential for violence."
Following the panel discussion, His Holiness drove to the Palais des Nations where he addressed about 3000 Tibetans. He assured them that he was in good health and thanked them for their prayers for his well-being.
