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working together. The spate of riots, killings and wanton

destruction of properties across the world is a result of lack

of tolerance. It has become the norm for certain persons in

the world to capitalize on ethnic, religious or other disa-

greements to initiate and execute the slaughter of innocent

people and destruction of properties.

The Earth has never discriminated between nations, in

that all potentials of greatness are granted to all races. If we

must live together in our diversified societies, we should learn

how to teach peaceful coexistence, tolerance, humanity, love,

caring and sharing as well as respect for constituted authori-

ties. Peace and harmony continue to elude the world because

humankind has refused to acknowledge that we are indis-

pensable to each other; if a calamity besets one nation, others

cannot escape sharing the consequences.

Some of the ways people of diverse cultures and back-

grounds can live together peacefully are:

• Focus and work on the common values and teachings

of different religions and cultures of the world instead

of emphasizing the differences that tear us apart.

For

those with no religion, keen observation of nature is

recommended because nature is always at peace with itself.

• Behave like friends to each other with a pure heart,

sympathy and good intentions.

• Let decent behaviours, sincerity and kindness be our

second nature in life.

• Desist from abusing and insulting other people’s holy

personages, cultures and races.

• Nations should avoid policies that are only beneficial

to themselves – for example, immigration policies that

hinder the coming together of people of different beliefs.

• Show respect, love, understanding and tolerance to all

humans irrespective of race and religion.

But what is the role of the youth in promoting cultural diver-

sity in our globalized societies? Youth can contribute to the

creation of dynamic and harmonious multicultural societies

in the following ways.

Youth can promote cultural integration among them-

selves, for example by learning at least two foreign languages

or, when they are old enough, by not hesitating to marry

outside their nationalities. In 2013, WAY organized an MIYD

titled ‘Youth migration: A step from heaven’. Participants

between the ages of 18 and 35, in gender-balanced groups,

gathered to discuss the topic. At the end of the event there

was a declaration that contains recommendations from the

youth to non-governmental organizations, the media, public

and private sectors and so on. The recommendations outline

how youth rights on migration can nationally and region-

ally be improved and strengthened more fully and actively

towards a sustainable global development effort. This is just

one of the ways that WAY is helping the youth to promote

cultural diversity.

Youth can also promote cultural diversity by forming them-

selves into groups that will focus on a particular global issue

such as advocacy on HIV/AIDS, child-trafficking or labour.

WAY gathers about 200 youth participants from around the

world every year to discuss these global issues. For example,

in 2001 the topic discussed was ‘youth and globalization’,

which resulted to declarations and recommendation by the

participants.

Another way that youth can promote cultural diversity is by

not viewing issues through the eyes of the fixed prejudices,

misconceptions and biased stories of their parents and guard-

ians. They can also adopt compassion and sympathy by not

considering others as weak and themselves as strong. They can

appreciate and understand other people’s points of strength and

Youth participants during the 14th MIYD on the theme ‘Youth and education, taking action: getting results’

Image: WAY

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