For Your Information
International Day of Peace, 2007
Peace is more than the absence of war. It is about transforming our societies and uniting our global community to work together for a more peaceful, just and sustainable world for all. The International Day of Peace provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of Peace on a shared date. Use the International Day of Peace annually to highlight the Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, 2001 to 2010. Established by a United Nations resolution in 1981, the International Day of Peace was first celebrated September 1982.
In establishing the International Day of Peace, the United Nations General Assembly decided that it would be appropriate- "to devote a specific time to concentrate the efforts of the United Nations and its Member States, as well as of the whole of mankind, to promoting the ideals of peace and to giving positive evidence of their commitment to peace in all viable ways… (The International Day of Peace) should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples."
The Assembly's resolution declared that the International Day of Peace, -"will serve as a reminder to all peoples that our Organization, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace and should serve all of us here within the Organization as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace. May this Peace Day indeed be a day of peace."
(Quotes excerpted from the United Nations General Assembly Resolution UN/A/RES/36/67)
The amended Resolution adopted in 2001 permanently fixed the date of the International Day of Peace to September 21. “The Assembly, reaffirming the contribution that the observance and celebration of the International Day of Peace make in strengthening the ideals of peace and alleviating tensions and causes of conflict, (decided that) beginning with the fifty-seventh session, the Day should be observed on 21 September each year, with this date to be brought to the attention of all people for the celebration and observance of peace.”
The new Resolution added the call for the International Day of Peace to be a Global Ceasefire: "Declares that the International Day of Peace shall henceforth be observed as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, an invitation to all nations and people to honour a cessation of hostilities for the duration of the Day..."
Many different movements for social change are beginning to converge into a global movement for a culture of peace. The culture of peace initiative is a United-Nations designated Peace Messenger Initiative, coordinated by Pathways To Peace, that is helping to connect organisations and individuals to build a culture of peace.
Source: Compiled by Law Desk
