H.E. Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, President of Malta, addressed the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society, in Rome, during a session entitled “Universal Values: Peace and Security.”
During her contribution, President Coleiro Preca stated that “peace is not just the absence of war,” whilst urging those present to work together, in synergy, to build a culture of positive peace, which can only start when every single member of our society is treated as a valued collaborator within the same society. “Only then,” Her Excellency said, “can we, as people, communities, nations and regions, truly achieve sustainable positive peace.”
The President also called for more women to be present on the peace-making table. She appealed for energies to be focused on the promotion of the role of women in processes of peace-building within our nations, and said that for peace-building initiatives to have sustainable and long-term benefits the unique contributions of women must be included, at every step of the journey.
“There is this very important saying which states that if you educate a woman, you will educate the child, you will educate the family, and you will educate the community because women are leaders, and we need to bring more women from communities to our negotiation tables, to build peace from the communities upwards, through a bottom-up approach,” The President concluded.