Universal Peace Federation

Korean: 천주평화연합 (Cheonju Pyeonghwa Yeonhap)
Hanja: 天宙平和聯合 — cosmos/peace/federation
Abbreviation: UPF Founded: September 12, 2005 — Lincoln Center, New York City
Co-founders: Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon
UN Status: NGO in General Consultative Status with ECOSOC Preceded by: IRFWP (1991) → FWP (1991) → IIFWP (1999) → IIPC (2003) → UPF (2005)

Primary sources: The Universal Peace Federation · IRFWP and IIFWP · Cham Bumo Gyeong

What is the Universal Peace Federation?

The Universal Peace Federation (천주평화연합, Cheonju Pyeonghwa Yeonhap) is a global interreligious and international peace organization co-founded by Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon on September 12, 2005, in New York City. It is designed to function, in the teaching of Rev. Moon, as the Abel United Nations — a spiritually grounded, interreligious body that stands alongside and supports the existing United Nations (understood as the Cain UN) to overcome the limitations of secular nationalism and work toward lasting world peace rooted in God's universal family.

The UPF is not a Unification Church organization in the confessional sense. It is a global network of civic, religious, political, and academic leaders — regardless of faith, nationality, or ideology — united around the conviction that humanity is one family under God and that interreligious cooperation is the foundation of genuine peace.

Rev. Moon proclaimed the UPF's theological identity with a precise formulation at its inauguration:

"UPF will fulfill the mission of the Abel UN in front of the current UN in the position of Cain." — The Universal Peace Federation, September 12, 2005

And its cosmic name was explained as follows:

"The word 'universal,' meaning 'of the cosmos' (cheonju), signifies the house of this universe. All within this house are one great family. The Universal Peace Federation is the organization that will bring peace to this large family. The peace among the members of this large family will naturally lead to the kingdom of heaven on earth and in heaven." — The Universal Peace Federation, September 13, 2005

I. The Theological Vision: The Abel United Nations

The most distinctive concept in the UPF's founding is the idea of the Abel UN. In Unification theology, the existing United Nations occupies the Cain position — an external, political body built on the interests of sovereign nations, without a spiritual or religious dimension.

Like Cain, it has the outer form of what God intended — a body representing all nations — but lacks the inner content: a foundation in God's love, interreligious wisdom, and absolute moral values.

The UPF is designed to stand alongside the UN in the Abel position — not to oppose or replace it, but to support, elevate, and eventually guide it toward a higher standard. Rev. Moon described this relationship with the Cain–Abel framework he applied to all providential structures:

"The Universal Peace Federation is the Abel UN. I already proclaimed its authority as the Abel sovereignty. As the Universal Peace Federation is the Abel UN, having Abel sovereignty, it will support its UN older brother from the position of Abel, cooperating with its brother instead of killing him. They will establish the tradition of working together in harmony to solve world problems." — The Universal Peace Federation, February 15, 2006

The specific reform Rev. Moon proposed to the UN — and which the UPF was designed to implement — was the creation of an Interreligious Council within the UN system: a body of respected spiritual leaders that would function as an upper house alongside the existing lower house of national representatives. He first proposed this at the UN headquarters on August 18, 2000, and repeated it consistently throughout the remainder of his life:

"It is clear that the UN requires a deliberative body made up of religious leaders as an upper house, and a deliberative body of political leaders as a lower house. Their role would be to cooperate, not to confront each other as though they were a ruling party and an opposition party." — IRFWP and IIFWP, August 9, 2000

II. The Path to UPF: A Decade of Institutional Building (1991–2005)

The Universal Peace Federation did not emerge suddenly in 2005. It was the culmination of a deliberate, decade-long process of institution-building through which Rev. Moon gradually constructed the organizational infrastructure for a global interreligious peace movement. Each predecessor organization represented a stage in this process.

The Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP) — 1991

The IRFWP was founded on August 27, 1991, in Seoul, at a gathering of 2,000 religious leaders from 34 countries. It was the first major step: gathering the world's religions under a single organizational umbrella, united by the conviction that God is the common Parent of all faiths. Rev. Moon described its rationale:

"God founded different religions among people from different cultural backgrounds. Some are servant-type religions and others are child-type religions. These religions must become one with a parent-type religion." — IRFWP and IIFWP, October 1, 1990

The IRFWP represented the internal (religious/mind) dimension of the peace movement.

The Federation for World Peace (FWP) — 1991

Immediately following the founding of the IRFWP, on August 28, 1991, Rev. Moon founded the Federation for World Peace at the Little Angels Performing Arts Center in Seoul, gathering former and current presidents and prime ministers from 51 nations. This organization represented the external (political/body) dimension.

The relationship between the two organizations was explicitly theological: religion (mind) and politics (body) must unite for peace to be possible, just as, within the individual, the mind must govern the body. Rev. Moon taught:

"The Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace, which represented the religious realm, and the Federation for World Peace, which represented the political realm, must become one like mind and body and take the lead in realizing world peace." — IRFWP and IIFWP

The Summit Council for World Peace (SCWP) — 1987

Preceding both, the Summit Council for World Peace had been established with its first conference on May 31 – June 4, 1987, gathering 20 former heads of state at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul. It became the foundation for the Federation for World Peace and established the pattern of gathering the world's highest-level political leaders in a providential context:

"When we convene the Summit Council for World Peace we must gather the best scholars... When a summit is convened, at least three people from each nation, including a former president or prime minister, should be present. This will give those gathered the authority to tell anyone, 'You must listen to what we are saying.'" — The Universal Peace Federation, July 3, 1982

The Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP) — 1999

The IIFWP was founded on February 6, 1999, merging the interreligious and international visions into a single organization explicitly oriented toward the United Nations framework. Its founding represented Rev. Moon's determination to engage directly with the UN and its structures:

"True Parents founded the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace to connect our international foundation, centered on the UN, with our interreligious foundation." — IRFWP and IIFWP

The IIFWP organized the major UN address of August 18, 2000 — Rev. Moon's first formal presentation to the UN community — in which he proposed the upper-house/lower-house reform.

The Interreligious and International Peace Council (IIPC) — 2003

On October 3, 2003, the IIPC was founded as a more formal deliberative body, designed to give institutional expression to the proposed Interreligious Council concept.

The Universal Peace Federation (UPF) — 2005

The UPF was inaugurated on September 12, 2005, at Lincoln Center, New York City. The date was chosen deliberately: exactly four years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which had demonstrated to Rev. Moon the urgency of interreligious peacebuilding. Rev. Moon himself wrote the founding proclamation and delivered the keynote address, framing the UPF as the culmination of everything that had been built over the preceding decades.

III. The Founding Vision: One Family Under God

The core vision animating the UPF is not a political program — it is a theological conviction: that all human beings, regardless of race, religion, nationality, or ideology, belong to one family under God as their common Heavenly Parent. The divisions of the fallen world — between nations, between religions, between races — are not the original or intended condition of humanity. They are the legacy of the Fall, and their dissolution is the work of the providence.

Rev. Moon expressed this in the context of the Summit Council's founding:

"Each country must reject the pursuit of its national interests as the basis for policy." — The Universal Peace Federation, August 28, 1991

And more expansively:

"The American motto 'One Nation under God' must be elevated by the Abel UN to 'One World under God.' If this happens, everything can be included naturally." — IRFWP and IIFWP

This vision was not merely rhetorical. It was rooted in Rev. Moon's lifelong practice of the interracial, interfaith Matching and Blessing Ceremony: the UPF's external peace work was, in the providential logic, the macro-level expression of what the Blessed Family accomplished at the micro-level. Every interracial, interfaith Blessed marriage was a small UPF; the UPF was a global Blessed community.

IV. The Three Problems and the Three Organizations

Rev. Moon identified three fundamental problems facing the world as he saw it in the 1980s and 1990s:

Communism — the external ideological threat of atheistic materialism
The crumbling of religions — the internal spiritual crisis of faiths losing their authority and coherence
The moral corruption of youth — the breakdown of family and sexual ethics

He founded three distinct international organizations to address each:

"I founded the Women's Federation for World Peace, the Interreligious Federation for World Peace, and the Youth Federation for World Peace because I have a dream of creating a central global organization that represents humankind, which can lead the world of the 21st century toward a new altruism based on living for the sake of others." — The Universal Peace Federation, March 29, 1994

The UPF integrates and elevates all three, serving as the umbrella under which the specific missions of the FFWPU, WFWP, CARP, and dozens of affiliated organizations converge.

V. The Ambassadors for Peace Program

One of the UPF's most distinctive and far-reaching programs is the Ambassadors for Peace network, launched in 2001 and developed systematically through the UPF after 2005. Ambassadors for Peace are individuals — from all walks of life, all faiths, all nationalities — who commit themselves to the UPF's vision of One Family Under God and to active participation in peace initiatives in their communities and nations.

The program has grown to encompass tens of thousands of representatives across the world, including current and former heads of state, religious leaders, academics, civic figures, and community organizers. Rev. Moon described the providential function of this network:

"Globally, I am uniting religions centering on the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace, and I am conducting a movement to bring harmony in politics centering on the Federation for World Peace. Such a movement must be created either by someone who understands God's providence or by a nation that stands on the side of heaven. To this day, such a nation has not existed. Therefore, the one who understands God's providence must be the one to accomplish it." — The Universal Peace Federation, May 9, 1993

VI. The 120-Nation Speaking Tour (2005)

Immediately after the UPF inauguration on September 12, 2005, True Parents embarked on a historic speaking tour of 120 nations in 100 days — completing it on December 23, 2005. The tour brought the UPF's founding message directly to national leaders, religious figures, and civic communities in every part of the world.

Rev. Moon described the purpose and significance of this tour in terms drawn directly from the logic of providential indemnity:

"Right after we held the inauguration of the Universal Peace Federation in the United States, I began a 120-nation speaking tour. I planted in those 120 nations the victories that we achieved during our entire life of indemnity. Not one among the 120 nations opposed my visit. There was no opposition in any nation, from island nations to peninsula nations to even continental nations. Then I passed on my victory to Mother." — The Universal Peace Federation, September 23, 2007

Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon subsequently led a 180-nation speaking tour, further extending the UPF's global reach. The number 120 carried specific providential significance: it corresponded to the 120 disciples gathered in the Upper Room at Pentecost, representing the worldwide nation.

VII. The UPF and the Reunification of Korea

A central and consistent theme of Rev. Moon's UPF teaching is its connection to the providential goal of the unification of North and South Korea. The Korean Peninsula, surrounded by the four great powers of America, Japan, China, and Russia, was understood by Rev. Moon as the focal point of the global Cain–Abel struggle — North Korea representing the satanic Cain-type sovereignty, South Korea the Abel-type. The UPF was designed, in part, as the international framework through which this reunification could occur:

"Once True Parents are allowed to be involved, North and South Korea, Russia and China, and Russia and America will not be able to fight each other. Problems will be solved without needing to fight. Once True Parents are allowed to be involved, the communists will recognize them as their parents and the democratic world will also recognize them as their parents." — The Universal Peace Federation, February 15, 2006

"Four powerful nations, America, Japan, China, and Russia, surround the Korean Peninsula. I intend to organize leading figures from these four countries and to hold a world peace conference. We will gather representatives from at least 120 countries to advocate this world peace conference, to place the United Nations in the Abel position." — The Universal Peace Federation, February 11, 1992

VIII. Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon's Leadership After 2012

Following the passing of Rev. Sun Myung Moon on September 3, 2012, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon continued to lead the UPF as its co-founder and primary spokesperson.

She has addressed hundreds of international gatherings through the UPF, consistently advancing the vision of One Family Under God and proposing a renewed United Nations with an interreligious dimension.

Under her leadership, the UPF has convened annual World Summits in Seoul, gathering hundreds of current and former heads of state and government, Nobel laureates, religious leaders, and civic figures. She has maintained the UPF's commitment to peacebuilding initiatives in the Korean Peninsula, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

IX. The UPF's Organizational Structure and Affiliated Bodies

The UPF operates through a network of specialized affiliated associations, each addressing a specific sector of civil society:

International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP) — gathering elected legislators from around the world (launched 2016)
Interreligious Association for Peace and Development (IAPD) — bringing together religious leaders across faith traditions (launched 2017)
International Summit Council for Peace (ISCP) — convening current and former heads of state and government (launched 2019)
International Association of Academicians for Peace (IAAP) — engaging the scholarly and academic community
International Media Association for Peace (IMAP) — working with journalists and media professionals
International Association for Peace and Economic Development (IAED) — addressing the nexus of peace and economic justice
World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO) — coordinating civil society organizations globally

X. Academic Perspective: UPF as Religious NGO and Providential Institution

From an academic standpoint, the UPF occupies a distinctive position within the broader landscape of faith-based international organizations. It is registered with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as an NGO in General Consultative Status — the highest category of NGO standing, shared with major organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Scholars of religion and international relations have noted several characteristics that distinguish the UPF from conventional religious NGOs.

First, its explicit theological framework — the Cain–Abel paradigm applied to the UN — represents a rare instance of systematic theological reasoning applied directly to international institutional design.

Second, its founders' willingness to engage with leaders across the full political and religious spectrum — including figures from communist states, Islamic governments, and evangelical Christianity simultaneously — reflects the movement's consistent commitment to transcending ideological boundaries.

Third, the UPF's proposal for an Interreligious Council within the UN system has been taken seriously by a range of scholars and practitioners of interreligious dialogue. In 2012, the UN General Assembly proclaimed June 1 as the Global Day of Parents — an initiative that parallels Rev. Moon's proposal to the UN in August 2000 to establish a Parents' Day as an annual UN observance. Academic research published by the University of Vienna (Zoehrer and Pokorny, 2022) identified the UPF as a significant case study in the emerging intersection of religious NGOs and United Nations reform proposals.

The UPF's long-term significance in Unification theology, however, exceeds its institutional profile. It is understood not merely as an NGO but as the providential instrument through which the restoration of One Family Under God advances at the national and global level — the outward expression of what the Blessing Ceremony accomplishes within the family.

Key Texts

The Universal Peace Federation — Sun Myung Moon, Cham Bumo Gyeong — the primary doctrinal source, containing 16 numbered teachings from 1982 to 2007
IRFWP and IIFWP — Sun Myung Moon, Cham Bumo Gyeong — full history of predecessor organizations with extensive citations
Summits — full archive of UPF summit addresses by True Parents on tplegacy.net
Challenges and Possibilities for World Peace — Sun Myung Moon, June 1, 1987 — early vision of the summit movement
The Reunification of Korea and World Peace — Sun Myung Moon, August 22, 1992