Thursday, February 1, will see the beginning of UPF World Peace Tour 6 in The Netherlands. Some 70 events, under the title "Interreligieuze Manifestatie voor Familiewaarden en Wereldvrede - Wereldwijde Aktie brengt Hoop op Vrede", are planned before Easter. The first event (in het Nederlands, despite this report being in English) will be in the UPF Dialoogcentrum in Amsterdam Zuid.

The Universal Peace Federation (UPF) was founded on September 12th, 2005, four years and a day after the tragedy of 9/11, by the Revered Dr. Sun Myung Moon and his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, with the vision and mission of bringing the entire human family into peace and harmony, beyond ethnicity, religion or nationality.

At the inaugural address delivered at the Lincoln Center in New York City, Rev. Moon outlined his vision for a world of peace, speaking of bold reforms needed on every level from the individual to the whole world. He said the United Nations needed change, and in particular create a council where the counsel of wise religious leaders could be heard. He urged the United States, Russia and all the world’s leading nations to combine forces to build a "Peace King Tunnel" across the Bering Strait, creating a physical link between continents that would also bring all the world’s peoples together. Finally, he declared that all people should make a new commitment to creating marriages and families of lasting peace. "Some may doubt that this can be fulfilled," said Rev. Moon, "but where there is a will, there is always a way. Especially when it is the will of God!"

UPF was an outgrowth of the Inter-religious and International Federation for World Peace, which in turn was a development from the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, based on the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (known in short as the Unification Church), which Rev. Moon had founded in Korea in 1954. Rev. and Mrs. Moon are known to supporters of the Unification Movement as True Parents and Father and Mother Moon.

After the UPF founding ceremony, Rev. and Mrs. Moon immediately began a worldwide speaking tour (UPF World Peace Tour) to 120 countries, traveling over 80,000 miles as they visited a different country every day. They were welcomed by presidents, heads of state and leaders of religions, and by tens of thousands of ordinary men and women eager to hear their uplifting message of peace and hope. Rev. Moon spoke at the inauguration of UPF in the Netherlands at the Kurhaus Hotel, Scheveningen, Den Haag, on November 2. - Universal Peace Federation - NL inauguration by Dr Sun Myung Moon - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UPFWorldPeaceTours-NL/message/24. His entry had been opposed by the Dutch Immigration Service (IND), but a judge ruled in his favor.

When this UPF World Peace Tour concluded in late 2005, Rev. Moon immediately announced UPF World Peace Tour II, which was conducted from March through August 2006. The first speaking events in Korea were shared by both Rev. Moon and his wife, and then Mrs. Moon continued, supported by many of her children, who shared the speaking duties and brought great passion and energy to every city, visiting Japan, the United States, Europe, Eurasia, Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America.

As well as the more than 100 nations that were visited personally, a further 80 nations conducted their own Peace Tour events, for a total of 180 nations in just under six months. She had planned to visit The Netherlands, but despite protests to the court, the delaying tactics of the IND made it not possible and the planned event in the Kurhaus went ahead without her.

Dr. Moon then immediately launched Peace Tour III on August, 2006, his children and grandchildren now carrying the message to 12 cities in each of 40 nations in a 40-day period.

WPT4 started just one week after the conclusion of WPT3 in Venezuela on October 14th, with US Ambassadors for Peace, all religious leaders, speaking in their hometowns on October 21. A total of 176 Ambassadors for Peace , primarily from the United States, took part in a tour, that after the United States visited Japan and Korea and all the continents of the world. 16 AfPs addressed rallies in The Netherlands on November 1 - www.peace-tour.org/tour4_2006/nation/netherlands.php and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UPFWorldPeaceTours-NL/message/24

The international segment of Peace Tour V started on December 8th, with the aim Ambassadors for Peace delivering Dr. Moon’s Peace Message throughout 40 nations by the end of the year. 1,200 events were scheduled for each of four nations: the United States, Germany, Korea and Japan.

The Netherlands was visited by two Korean and one American Ambassadors for Peace in the weeks before Christmas and, in addition to hosting a UPF-Europe symposium European UPF symposium, Dec 1-3, Huize Glory, NL - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/upf-nl/message/145, which included an address by former government minister Dr. Willem F. van Eekelen, co-organizing a conference to mark the 30th anniversary of Vietnamese refugees coming to the Netherlands and discuss possibilities of helping Vietnam develop - "Towards a Common Future?" - Conference re. Vietnam, Dec. 30 - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/upf-nl/message/149, - and supporting the December Middle East Peace Initiative with two participants - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/upf-nl/message/142, organized five meetings with them, December 20-24 , - UPF Peace Tour 5 Rallies in Netherlands, Dec. 20-24, 2006 - Report - groups.yahoo.com/group/upf-nl/message/156 , having held a previous Peace Tour meeting and Women’s Federation Christmas Party in its conference centre in Bergen aan Zee on December 17 - Report. Sun, Dec. 17: UPF Rally and WFWP Party Report. Sun, Dec. 17: UPF Rally and WFWP Party - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/upf-nl/message/150.

When the two Peace Tours IV and V concluded, by the end of 2006, more than 20,000 events had been held in over 70 nations worldwide.

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