This international conference, organized by The Fountain Magazine hand Peace Islands Institute of New York, aims to highlight the importance of educating children, especially at the level of primary and secondary school, as an effective and sustainable method to prevent and solve the conflicts at all levels. The conference also intends to shed light on the successful cases, where the education has been utilized as a means to peacebuilding in the conflict-stricken regions.

A little more than a decade into the 21st century, the humanity has already achieved an unprecedented level of advancement and wealth, which one could not have even imagined only quarter a century ago. The digital media has given the individual an ability to communicate the ideas and images with the millions around the world through a couple of finger moves. The barriers between the invidual and the information have almost become non-existent. The transportation revolution has made the distance an antiquated concept. Every aspect of our lives has been changing constantly, exponentially, and ever more rapidly as the time passes. Yet, what is unfortunately not changing is the presence, pervasiveness, and destructiveness of the conflicts. Last but not the least, this massive change has brought to the fingertips of an individual not only the world of knowledge and wealth, but also a potential nuclear doomsday.

No matter what the nature or the scale of the conflict is, at the core of it lies the individual. It is the individual that makes the decision between hating and not hating; it is the individual that prevents the millions of others from enjoying their birthright freedoms; and it will be an individual that will make the decision to either cause or prevent a nuclear disaster that can, God forbid, perish the nations. So, given that the individual lies at the core of every conflict, is it possible to eliminate the ongoing conflicts, and to prevent the potential ones by educating the individuals? Given that the terrorists, criminals, and trouble-makers of today were the children of some twenty years ago, could the education of the children be an effective tool to prevent conflicts and build sustainable peace? These are the main questions that will guide the presentations and discussions during the conference.