We are pleased to introduce Dr. Charles Mercieca, the founding President of IAEWP. The IAEWP would be celebrating its 50th anniversary and it has been the brainchild of this remarkable living saint of peace.
He is also the winner of the 2008 Prime Minister of Malaysia Peace Award which was conferred during the 18th IAEWP World Peace Congress 2008 in Malaysia.
Dr. Charles Mercieca spent most of his life doing academic work and traveling in an effort to help bring about world peace through education. In addition, he revealed great interest in problems of human and social concern. He has also advocated using human resources merely for positive and constructive purposes. He was born in the Island of Malta and studied in Italy and the USA where he has been living since 1961.
Academic Achievements
He secured his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in 1966 in Philosophy and Historical Foundations and taught at Alabama A&M University for 34 years. During this time he was also Visiting Professor, Kyung Hee University, South Korea, fall 2000; Tver State University, Russia, spring 1993; National University of Santa Ana, El Salvador, spring 1990; Visiting Scholar, Northeastern University, summer 1985; Associate in Education, Harvard University, spring 1985, and Hon. President, SBS Swiss Business School, Zurich, 2001-11.
This professor is also founder and president of the International Association of Educators for World Peace, which is a non-governmental organization of the United Nations whose four major goals are peace education, environmental protection, human rights and disarmament. He has been enlisted in several “Who’s Who.” Besides, he also studied several languages including English, Maltese, Italian, Spanish, French, German Russian, Latin and Greek.
He published a few books and over 900 articles on a variety of topics related to education, political science, culture, religion and social problems of human concern. Some of his articles were translated into quite a few languages and put on quite a few websites, one of which was done not long time ago in Russia which carries several selected articles of his.
Some websites which carry his articles are: http://www.peacefromharmony.
Working for Peace as a Vocation
Also, he revealed interest in the revival of the matriarchal society sine he believes that women tend to rule from the heart, which is kind, loving and trusting. This led him to write several articles on the Blessed Virgin Mary whom he views as the ideal woman that ever existed. In fact, fairly recently he published a book entitled: Marian Spirituality: Key to Eternal Happiness. This may be secured from Sanbun Publishers, A-78 Naraina Indl. Area, Phase 1, New Delhi 110028, India. The e-mail is:sanbunpublishers@hotmail.com
By nature, Dr. Mercieca is altruistic. He concentrates on giving to others all that they may need to the best of his ability while, at the same time, he expects nothing in return. In all of his work he has demonstrated himself to be a genuine peace-maker. Over the past few decades, he has been invited to give talks in countries across every continent, which served as an inspiration to many who later decided to follow the route to peace as their career. He firmly believes that in a war everyone is a loser and no one is a winner.
He also shares the philosophy of former US President Dwight Eisenhower who said to the US Congress in his farewell address: “Remember that all people of all nations want peace, only their governments want war.” Besides, this US President also reminded the US Congress saying: “Keep in mind that every dollar you spend on weapons and wars is a theft from the hungry and the poor.” This type of philosophy explains why Dr. Mercieca decided to use all his time and energy to work for peace.
In this area, he always encourages everyone to do one’s best and then God will do the rest. As some ascetical writers tell us, God wants to save the world through our efforts. This means we must, by all means, let God use us as effective instruments to help solve the manifold problems facing the world. The more we try to become involved in problems the world faces, the more we are likely to succeed. In the process, we should demonstrate faith, hope and love for all humans without exception.
Thank you for the blessed opportunity to put this information on record.
Steve Varatharajan
Deputy Secretary General
IAEWP ( NGO Ecosoc UNITED NATIONS )
