L – R: H.E., Mr. Woon-KI Lyeo, (Korean Ambassador accredited to Ireland) with Dr. Michael Casey (Fellow/Professor of the Irish State).
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Recently, Dr. Michael Casey - Fellow/Professor of the Irish State - was among a number of guests who attended a wreath laying ceremony at St. Mary’s Garden of Remembrance, Thurles, Co Tipperary, Ireland. Ambassador Woon -KI Lyeo headed an official delegation from the Republic of Korea to remember the hundred Irish soldiers fighting with U.S., British and Commonwealth Forces and seven Columban Missionaries who lost their lives in a so-called United Nations (U.N) mandated Korean War (1950-1953). Moreover, the Press Office of the European Commission, Brussels is delighted to announce that Dr. Casey (Dublin) will represent Ireland at an upcoming Global Peace Convention (G.P.C.) in Spring of 2019 in Seoul, Korea, marking the Centenary of Korea’s Independence Movement. Ambassador Woon-KI Lyeo, the Most Rev. Kieran O’Reilly, SMA (Archbishop of Cashel and Emly) and Dr. Casey (an honorary member of the Durlas Eile Eliogarty Memorial Committee), would like to take this opportunity to express their gratitude to Mr. John Wort for his wonderful sense of public spirit and commitment to organising this auspicious event.
As a nation that has experienced colonialisation, conflict, famine and mass migration, Ireland’s lived history finds resonance in the aims and objective of the U.N. Charter. We here in Ireland seek a future that acknowledges the past, but one that is not bound by it. As an island state – with a global outlook – we are deeply aware that, in an inter-dependent world, nothing is entirely foreign or wholly domestic.
Problems and challenges are no respecter of geographic boundaries; rather, they challenge us all through a shared responsibility, irrespective of race, creed or colour. We are living in an era when local, regional and global issues collide with increasing frequency and force; and, today’s crises and challenges do not carry passports or recognise international borders. Dr.
Casey believes that unilateral approaches are inadequate and that multilateralism is a key to solving the global challenges we face. We are, in essence stronger together; indeed, Ireland is a small nation that believes in the responsibility to actively engage with the U.N. and which sees U.N. membership as a declaration of our global citizenship. Since 1958 we have been a U.N. peacekeeping nation; and, in that period, not one month has passed without Irish troops participating in U.N. peace keeping operations. Today, Ireland is one of the highest, per capita troops contributors to U.N. peace keeping globally, having served in the: Congo, Cypress, Lebanon, Liberia, Chad and Syria, to name but a few of those countries.
The Global Peace Convention will bring together leading international experts, policy makers and peace advocates to share best practices and develop multi-sector partnerships for sustainable peace and development. The G.P.C. 2019 is convening in conjunction with the centenary of the Korean independence movement, an historic milestone towards a unified and peaceful Korea. Dialogue and tolerance, are, after all, vital cogs in the wheel of peace and reconciliation; for, to paraphrase Erik Erickson, life, after all, ‘doesn’t make sense without interdependence. We need each other, and the sooner we learn that, the better for us all’.
Written by Mr. Patrick Barry, Global Broadcasting Ireland April 4th 2019.