HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

173

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE  RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE SPARK M. MATSUNAGA INSTITUTE FOR PEACE, LOCATED WITHIN THE CENTER FOR POLICY STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA, TO CONVENE A WORKING GROUP TO EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY OF DESIGNATING HAWAII AS THE "GENEVA OF THE PACIFIC".

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, Geneva is internationally recognized as a center for conflict resolution, a site for international peace efforts, a convenient location for conferences and conventions, and the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross; and

 

     WHEREAS, Geneva shares many connections with Hawaii, including the fact that the missionaries who settled in Hawaii were the descendents of the original Calvinist pilgrims who arrived in the New World on the Mayflower, espousing the 16th century creed of Jean Calvin of Switzerland; and

 

     WHEREAS, Geneva, like Hawaii, is a forward-looking, generous, international city with a global persona and multi-national perspectives in which numerous countries have a Consulate General; and

 

     WHEREAS, there are presently six career Consulates General and 34 Consulates in Honolulu, representing 40 nations; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii has maintained a diplomatic and consular network of 93 diplomatic posts around the world and legations from France, Great Britain, Japan, Portugal, and the United States, as well as 20 Consulates, that existed in Honolulu in 1892; and

 

     WHEREAS, in the mid 19th century, Hawaii was the first non-Western nation to be accepted into the Family of Nations, a consortium of 45 fully independent nations; and


     WHEREAS, Hawaii was the leader of the Pacific in the 19th century and had diplomatic representation in the series of British colonies that now comprise Australia; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii has always been internationally oriented, with King Kalakaua, the first head of State, to go around the world while in office in 1881 to establish diplomatic relations; and

 

     WHEREAS, the first delegation from Japan to Washington, D.C. stopped en route to Hawaii and was received by Kamehameha IV in 1864 before meeting the President of the United States; and

 

     WHEREAS, Geneva was an independent country, a city-state, for many centuries, and on November 28, 1843, Great Britain and France, in a joint declaration, recognized the independence of the Kingdom of Hawaii; and

 

     WHEREAS, on May 16, 1854, King Kamehameha III proclaimed Hawaii's neutrality that was to be respected by all Belligerents; and

 

     WHEREAS, like Geneva, Hawaii attracts visitors from around the world and many different languages can be heard on the streets, in stores, in hotels and businesses, in institutions of higher learning, and on school campuses in Hawaii; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii is centrally located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and is accessible to people from the Americas, Oceania, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Russian Federation, the European nation that borders the Pacific; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States is currently in a war, and it becomes increasingly evident that war is not the answer to the world's problems; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii is the perfect location for exploring peacekeeping options because Hawaiian values are values of peace – acceptance, unconditional personal regard, harmony, balance, patience, respect, pleasantness, and humility – expressed through the Hawaiian concepts of mahalo, aloha, lokahi, pono, ahonui, akahai, `olu`olu, `ihi, and ha`aha`a; and

     WHEREAS, Hawaii received a national award in 2005 for the Hawaii State government's emphasis on promoting diversity and advancing minorities and women in the workplace; and

 

WHEREAS, in 1918, President Woodrow Wilson's speech, "Fourteen Points," depicted his vision for lasting peace, leading to the development of the League of Nations; and

 

     WHEREAS, Geneva became the headquarters of the League of Nations in 1920 and served as the forerunner to the United Nations and is presently the European Headquarters of the United Nations; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii is home to the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UH), founded on the late United States Senator Spark Matsunaga's encouragement for Hawaii, "to create . . . a sanctuary for seekers of peaceful ways and traditions"; and

 

     WHEREAS, Senator Spark Matsunaga, like President Woodrow Wilson, believed that the world would be better if more of us learned how to peacefully resolve disputes of all kinds from interpersonal to global; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace is a multi-disciplinary academic community of scholars, students, practitioners, and visitors who, through teaching, research, service, and application, seeks to use Hawaii's "strategic Pacific location to bring people together and renew the University's responsibility to provide a safe sanctuary for a civil and respectful exchange of perspectives and ideas", and regularly convenes forums, workshops, classes, and public meetings; and

 

     WHEREAS, the mission of the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace is dedicated to building on Hawaii's cultural heritage and island values, including aloha, mutual aid and respect, sense of community, caring for the land, and reliance on each other, to promote cross-cultural communication and peacemaking leadership; now, therefore,


     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, that the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace, located within the Center for Policy Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is requested to convene a working group to explore the possibility of designating Hawaii as the "Geneva of the Pacific"; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a written summary of the working group's findings be submitted to the Legislature no later than 20 days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2008; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace.

 

 

 

Report Title: 

Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace; Geneva of the Pacific