Taipei, Dec. 10 (CNA) A Japanese peace advocate Monday encouraged Taiwanese youth to have the courage to take risks and try to build a peaceful and sustainable Taiwan through their energy and innovative efforts.
The power of civil society in the post-Cold War era has a proven, international track record of making a difference, said Tastuya Yoshioka, Founder and Director of Peace Boat -- a Japan-based non-government organization (NGO) which advocates peace, human rights, sustainable development and environmental protection.
In Japan, young people are taught that risk-taking is wrong, but as we face the ongoing threats such as militarism, nuclear weapons, climate change and global epidemics, all global citizens should step up and do something, he said.
The United Nations framework is important to solving global issues, but it's neither perfect nor able to do it alone. Unfortunately, given the fact that security council member states all make money from wars, world peace is paid little more than lip service, he told more than 100 National Taiwan University students in a lecture.
That's why civil societies can and should come in and make impacts, said Yoshioka, who founded Peace Boat in 1983 as a university student.
Human security, rather than national security, is one of the most important concepts of a civil society, he said, adding that the key is protecting the human being, not the politicians, companies or states.
Yoshioka, 46, established the organization at a time when the issue of Japan's revisionist history high school textbooks was first becoming controversial. He was shocked that neighboring countries in Asia were protesting about the content of the textbooks.
Peace Boat visited Taiwan on its third voyage in 1986 for a meeting with Taiwanese democracy activists. As Taiwan was still under an authoritarian regime, the boat was seized, searched and detained. It is because of that experience that Taiwan has always held a very special place in his heart, Yoshioka said.
Commenting on the cross-Straight issue, Yoshioka said in a media interview Sunday that something along the lines of the European Union format would be an option.
"People can't forget the terrible past, but at the same time they can start reconcile, " he said.
For the past 24 years, Peace Boat has sailed on nearly 60 voyages and visited more than 100 countries, including conflict zones such as Eritrea, Cuba, Sierra Leone and the Balkans.