Last term, the Amnesty International group at Westlake hosted guest speaker Humeera Imran, a representative from The Peace Foundation, with guests Kavita Loetawan and Lex Scheffer. 

Humeera presented a REACT (Responding to Armed Conflict) presentation on the Ukraine Conflict. In the hour-long presentation, she provided insight into the conflict, its history, and its impact. The Peace Foundation takes an educational approach to advocating for peace. In the presentation, Humeera explained how the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has escalated to a level in which a third of the Ukrainian population has been displaced and, resulted in over $60 billion worth of damage to infrastructure. She also outlined the global response to the conflict, with economic sanctions on Russia being applied to discourage further aggressive behaviour or violations of international law.

At the end of the presentation, The Peace Foundation provided some ways in which people have peacefully fought for Ukrainian freedom through the expression of art, as well as ways that students can get involved to advocate for peace, including taking part in the 2024 Youth Peace Week, creating art which inspires peace, and treating others with kindness. 

This presentation was educational and inspiring. I hope the students took away as many things as I did from The Peace Foundation’s talk.

Written by Tina Kim, 13 WFN