Fund of Freedom and Peace established

The House of Free Opinion hosted the presentation of the Fund of Freedom and Peace on Friday. This fund is designed to build and develop civil society and help to popularize and realize in practice the concept that independence, peace, humanitarian and democratic ideas are common values “for all mankind,” as the founders said at the presentation, which was attended by representatives of local and international NGOs and public figures.

The Chairman of the Fund, philosopher Shio Arsenishvili, briefly outlined the reasons for creating the Fund. He said the war and violence Georgia has experienced in recent months is the most important reason. He said the lack of a “peace concept” in Georgia was to blame for the war. “First we have to create a peace theory and then find practical ways to implement it,” Arsenishvili said. He noted the necessity of working out a “peace concept” not only for Georgia, but for the entire Caucasus region and to create a world peace concept too.

“If the whole world is not peaceful, particular countries will not be peaceful either, so we will actively cooperate with international organizations, institutes and funds to create a World Peace Concept and ways to implement it in real life,” he noted.

“This organization has high aims. For me the fund’s regional goals are very interesting. Its priority is to work out a Caucasus Peace Concept, which is very important,” Mamuka Areshidze, the head of Free Opinion House, said. The fund has around 100 members all over the world, the founders said. Emil Ojakmguliev, a lawyer, is one of the international members. He said there is a lot of work ahead. “We will be operating within legal frameworks to achieve our goals and build a democratic, just state,” Ojakmguliev said.

The fund aims to support professional research in the ecological, economic, social, cultural and political spheres, to explore practical solutions to problematic situations and to formulate corresponding strategic concepts, the founders said in their statement. They said they will hold conferences and seminars and encourage initiatives, projects which “match our goals.” “We will try to encourage originality and individualism and give our work a developmental disposition,” the statement reads.