International Day of Conscience 2025

^{4 April 2025, UN Headquarters, Geneva}

^{“ The Promised Land of Peace” A Welcome Message by Sofia Stril-Rever}

Happy International Day of Conscience Excellencies, Mme Mayor, esteemed speakers, LF Ambassadors, students and all attendees, here and online.

The IDC is on April 5th, but since it falls on a Saturday this year, we celebrate it today. April 4th marks an anniversary when a great leader of C & L is remembered. On April 4, 1968, he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. The day before in his last sermon Rev. MLK poignantly stated: "I've been to the mountaintop. And I've seen the promised land. I may not go there with you. But I want you to know that we, as a people, we’ll get to the promised land." 57 years later let's take his words to heart. Let’s envision the promised land of our reconciled humanity, let’s have a dream of the promised land of peace.

On this IDC, let’s be the voice of conscience for victims of injustice due to failings of our collective conscience.

On this IDC with love, let’s be the voice of Love for children and people who are denied the basic necessities of life due to failings of our collective heart.

On this IDC for peace, let’s be the voice of Peace for the victims of war atrocities worldwide. I invite everyone to observe a moment of silence and set the heartfelt intention that today's gathering promotes human rights and dignity for all.

The Palais des Nations is home to the human family. But not everyone can access it. We had the heartbreaking experience of visas denied to young LoveForce Ambassadors from Africa. As an homage to their courage and resilience, I’ll read this message from John Linus Otieno from Kenya, Chairperson of the UNESCO Youth Forum in Kenya.

“My heart is heavy as I write this. Despite my best efforts, I will not be joining you physically in Geneva for the International Day of Conscience due to the unjust refusal of my visa. This is a painful reminder of the structural inequalities that so often silence voices of young people on the global stage.  But here’s what I know for sure: Our mission is bigger than borders. Conscience with love knows no visas. 

My spirit is with you. Even from afar, I stand in solidarity with every word spoken, every idea shared because no system can stop our collective light. 

May your voices roar, your hearts connect. Keep rising. Keep believing in the world we’re building together.”

Thank you dear John Linus Otieno from Kenya, we stand with you, we love you.

International Day of Conscience 2025

4 April 2025, UN Headquarters, Geneva

“The LoveForce Generation” A Keynote Address by Sofia Stril-Rever

LoveForce greetings everyone here and online. I’m sure you enjoyed the music of the Auroville banyan. I was meditating beneath this sacred tree last December and it inspired me to write the LoveForce Manifesto. I drafted the initial version upon my return flight from India, and I am humbled and honored to share with you it on this International Day of Conscience 2025.

The term LoveForce originates from the Sanskrit word satyagraha, which Gandhi used to describe a determined social movement committed to truth. Since Gandhi equated truth with love, when Martin Luther King adopted non-violence in the civil rights movement, he translated satyagraha as "Strength to Love”, which I named LoveForce when I started the international LoveForce movement with the nomination of 12 LF Ambassadors on December 10th, 2024.

LoveForce aligns with the values of the International Day of Conscience and is symbolized by the dove of peace, powered by its two wings Conscience and Love. Conscience represents our innate sense of ethics and is distinct from consciousness related to cognition. What does Conscience mean in the life of nations? Conscience made history during the 1945 Nuremberg trials, when prosecutors sentenced Nazi leaders to death, asserting that conscience can't be abdicated, even under duress. This debate set an international standard for collective ethics and influenced the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, establishing Conscience as the mother of human rights in a world that had betrayed its conscience with the atrocities of World War II.

However, after 80 years, the world still betrays its conscience. Why? Because individually and collectively, our conscience is disconnected from its inherently loving and caring nature. Therefore, we rationalize war crimes and normalize economic injustice, which results in one child under 5 dying from starvation every 11 seconds, in a world capable of feeding them but incapable of loving them. The uniqueness of this day and of the LF Manifesto is to advocate for aligning conscience and love for peace.

I witnessed the unparalleled power of love at 17 when I joined Sr Emmanuelle, a catholic nun and a saint, who changed the life of 40,000 people in a slum in Cairo. In 20 years, she transformed the slum into a vibrant community, producing a generation of girls who became doctors, lawyers, or engineers. Imagine if all of us here were sisters Emmanuelle, imagine what a vastly different world it would be.

Imagine if love and conscience were the source code that governs our interactions, policies, and societal structures. We would create an environment where decisions are made not out of fear or self-interest, but out of genuine concern for the well-being of all. This would revolutionize how we approach global challenges, fostering a culture where sustainable development and human dignity are the norms rather than the exceptions.

LoveForce as the source code of evolution is a profound truth waiting to be acknowledged. Just as DNA guides the biological evolution of species, LoveForce can guide the social evolution of humanity. This is not utopia. It’s a practical strategy for systemic change, a change towards a conscious and caring world which is currently happening. We may not notice it, as it’s ignored by mainstream media, but we need to become aware that love and care play a significant role in the ecology and climate justice movements, as well as in regenerative economies. The LoveForce Manifesto is calling us to nurture this emerging civilization paradigm of love and support the millions of quiet revolutions led by unsung heroes, who are shaping a new reality.

I now turn to the LoveForce Ambassadors, the students, and young people here and online. You have the potential to become the LoveForce generation, the generation of transformation. LoveForce Elders support your efforts in service to humanity and the LoveForce Manifesto is a compelling call to foster a culture of peace with love and conscience. The LoveForce Manifesto will be posted online, and you are welcome to share it. You are welcome to join the LoveForce movement initiated by the LoveForce Foundation in Paris and the LoveForce Cooperative in Geneva. Together let’s turn planet Earth into planet Love. 

In conclusion, I make the wish for the dove of the International Day of Conscience to take flight in your hearts. Just as the dove has 2 wings of conscience and love for peace, let your 2 hands be the hands of peace. Your right hand is the hand of conscience, your left hand the hand of love. I invite you to stand up and with your 2 hands of conscience and love, form a heart for peace. You may then move closer to the person next to you and together form a heart for peace while I chant the Be the Love Gospel I composed on the melody of We Shall Overcome.

Thank you.

May LoveForce always be with you