International Day of Peace 2024; September 21st.

FORUM: “Cultivating a Culture of Peace.” International Day of Peace 2024. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace. In that declaration, the United Nations’ most inclusive body recognized that peace “not only is the absence of conflict, but also requires a positive, dynamic participatory process where dialogue is encouraged and conflicts are solved in a spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation.” In a world with rising geopolitical tensions and protracted conflicts, there has never been a better time to remember how the UN General Assembly came together in 1999 to lay out the values needed for a culture of peace. These include: respect for life, human rights and fundamental freedoms; the promotion of non-violence through education, dialogue and cooperation; commitment to peaceful settlement of conflicts; and adherence to freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance, solidarity, cooperation, pluralism, cultural diversity, dialogue and understanding at all levels of society and among nations. In follow-up resolutions, the General Assembly recognized further the importance of choosing negotiations over confrontation and of working together and not against each other. The Constitution of the UNESCO starts with the notion that “wars begin in the minds of men so it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed”. It is this notion that framed the theme and logo of this year’s observance of the International Day of Peace. The ideas of peace, the culture of peace, need to be cultivated in the minds of children and communities through formal and informal education, across countries and generations. The International Day of Peace has always been a time to lay down weapons and observe ceasefires. But it now must also be a time for people to see each other’s humanity. Our survival as a global community depends on that. Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #Peaceday, #sustainingpeace, #InternationalDayofPeace, #21September.

EVENTS: On September 21st will held at United Nations Headquarters, a ceremony to observe the International Day of Peace 2024. Several events are being held throughout the world to observe the Day. Get the List of worldwide events!

On september 13th; The programme will begin with the traditional Peace Bell Ceremony in the Peace Garden at 9:00 a.m. EDT, the U.N. Secretary-General and the General Assembly President will ring the Peace Bell to mark the 43nd Anniversary of the International Day of Peace. Watch the livestream!

PUBLICATION: A snapshot of the global state of peace. The average level of country peacefulness deteriorated by 0.56 per cent. Read the 2024 Global Peace Index, a report provided by the Institute for economics and Peace (IEP).

STATEMENTS: Read the statement of the U.N. Secretary-General Message for the International Day of Peace 2024; September 21th.

Everywhere we look, peace is under attack.
From Gaza, to Sudan, to Ukraine and beyond we see:
Civilians in the firing line;
Homes blown apart;
Traumatised, terrified populations who have lost everything – and sometimes everyone.
This catalogue of human misery must stop.
Our world needs peace.
Peace is the ultimate prize for all humanity.
And as this International Day of Peace reminds us – the solutions are in our hands.
Cultivating a culture of peace means replacing division, disempowerment, and despair with justice, equality and hope for all.
It means focusing on preventing conflict;
Propelling the Sustainable Development Goals;
Promoting human rights.
And tackling all forms of discrimination and hate.
This month’s Summit of the Future is a vital opportunity to advance these aims.
Let’s seize it.
Together, let’s lay the groundwork for peace.
And let’s nurture a culture where equality, peace and justice thrive.

António Guterres.

Secretary-General's remarks to the UN Peace Bell Ceremony. On 13 September 2024, as delivered
Secretary-General's 100-day countdown to the International Day of Peace message.

Every year on 21 September, the United Nations invites the world to mark the International Day of Peace. This year’s focus is on “Cultivating a culture of peace”.

In a world mired by conflict, inequalities and discrimination, we must strive ever harder to promote dialogue, empathy and human rights for all.

As we begin the 100-day countdown to Peace Day, let us plant the seeds for non-violence, justice and hope.

António Guterres.

International Day of Education 2024; January 24th.

FORUM: “Learning for lasting peace.“ International Day of Education 2024. The world is seeing a surge of violent conflicts paralleled by a concerning rise of discrimination, racism, xenophobia, and hate speech. According to the Global Peace Index 2023, the average level of global peacefulness deteriorated for the 13th time in the last 15 years. 2022 was recorded as the deadliest year since 1994, the year of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and the Yugoslav wars. In 2022, the overall global economic impact of violence increased by USD 1 trillion to a total of about 17.5 trillion, almost a quarter of global GDP. In our interconnected and interdependent world, these numbers do not capture the magnitude of human suffering, nor of the shocks they cause to the societal fabric around the world. The impact of conflicts is felt far beyond war zones and transcends any boundary based on geography, gender, race, religion, politics, offline and online, and leaves a legacy of traumas. Hate speech, in particular, not only causes harm at the personal level and can incite group-targeted violence: it is also an attack on inclusion, diversity and human rights. In this context, an active commitment to peace is more urgent than ever. This commitment ought to surpass security and defense measures to prevent or stop conflicts, for peace does not begin where violence ends. Sustaining peace requires a strong foundation of inclusive, democratic and participatory governance, dialogue, solidarity, mutual understanding and cooperation, sustainable development, gender equality and the general realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Education is key to this endeavor. This pertinent role of education should reverberate in the ongoing negotiations towards a Pact for the Future to be launched at the Summit of the Future in 2024. The Education for peace needs to be transformative at its core, as jointly underlined by the UNESCO Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development, and the report of the International Commission on the Futures of Education which calls for a new social contract for education. Anchored on a strong foundation of accessibility, equity and quality, education, especially when mainstreamed in global peacebuilding efforts, can play a protective role when there is a continuity of learning, especially for those marginalized during conflict. Education can also contribute to redressing inequities inequalities and injustices by ensuring that all learners are represented and recognized in all facets of education. Lastly, it can facilitate post-conflict recovery justice and reconciliation. Education placed at the center of our commitment to peace can help empower learners with the necessary knowledge, values, attitudes and skills and behaviours to become agents of peace in their immediate communities. As conceptualized in UNESCO’s Global Citizenship Education, these defenses of peace include cognitive, social and emotional skills, and behavioural competencies to, for example, address issues ranging from hate speech and discrimination to all violent conflicts. The International Day of Education 2024 aims to:

• Mobilize Member States and partners to maintain education at the top of the political agenda and deliver on their TES and Education 2030 commitments;
• Generate visibility at the local and global levels on the importance of education in strengthening and sustaining peace, as outlined in SDG4 Target 4.7, and other global education efforts;
• Advocate for higher levels of domestic and international financing for education in general, and education for peace in particular, especially through innovative and multi-stakeholder mechanisms and partnerships;
• Highlight and celebrate the peacemaking role of youth and educators in and through education towards just, inclusive and peaceful societies;
• Provide a platform to discuss priorities and challenges for education for peace in contexts of increased protracted global crisis and conflicts;
• Rally influencers and the wider civil society to push forward the movement to bring education into the center of local national regional and global peacebuilding efforts;
• Raise awareness for effective approaches in education for peace and mobilize commitment for their implementation.

Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #EndLearningPoverty, #Education2030, #DayofEducation, #24January, #EducationforPeace, #Learningforpeace, #education, SDG4.

EVENTS: On January 24th, the celebration of the International Day of Education 2024 with the theme “Learning for lasting peace.” will be held at UNESCO Heaquaters in Paris. Learning for peace must be transformative, and help empower learners with the necessary knowledge, values, attitudes and skills and behaviours to become agents of peace in their communities. A transformed and well-resourced education system can be an effective long-term preventative tool that protect, build and sustain peace before, during and after conflict. Before conflict, such an education can lay the preventative foundations that make conflicts difficult to erupt by helping all learners realize their fundamental human right to accessible and equitable quality education. Read UNESCO’s concept note for the 2024 celebration, download the programme and watch the event.

STATEMENTS: Read the Statement by the United Nations Secretary-General on International Day of Education 2024; January 24th and the Statement of the Director-General of the UNESCO on International Day of Education 2024; January 24th.




HIGHT LEVEL EVENT: Learning for lasting peace - International Day of Education 2024  at ECOSOC Chamber, UNHQ. Livestream

International Day of Peace 2023; September 21st.

 FORUM: “Actions for Peace: Our Ambition for the Global Goals.” International Day of Peace 2023. This year’s theme is a call to action to recognize our individual and collective responsibility to foster peace. Fostering peace contributes to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will create a culture of peace for all. Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #Peaceday, #sustainingpeace, #InternationalDayofPeace, #21September.

EVENTS: Peace Bell Ceremony on the Occasion of the 42nd Anniversary of the International Day of Peace at United Nations Headquarters. The programme will begin with the traditional Peace Bell Ceremony in the Peace Garden at 9:00 a.m. EDT. At that event, the U.N. Secretary-General and the General Assembly President will ring the Peace Bell. 

The International Day of Peace Youth Event 2023 's theme, "Actions for Peace: Our Ambition for the Global Goals," underscores the imperative for both individual and collective responsibility in urgently nurturing peace.

A youth choir from Brooklyn, New York, sings at the event.

STATEMENTS: Watch the statement of the U.N. Secretary-General Message for the International Day of Peace 2023; September 21th.

In his message for the International Day of Peace on September 21, 2023, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the crises facing both people and the planet, including conflicts leading to significant displacements, severe natural disasters like fires and floods, rising temperatures, and persisting issues related to poverty, inequality, and injustice. Additionally, he noted the presence of mistrust, division, and prejudice in contemporary society. The Secretary-General emphasized the core theme of this year's International Day of Peace, stressing that peace is not a passive state but a consequence of deliberate actions. He called for proactive measures to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring inclusivity and equity. Moreover, he advocated for action to combat the ongoing environmental crisis, safeguard natural resources, and protect human rights and dignity, especially as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights celebrated its 75th anniversary. The Secretary-General highlighted the importance of diplomacy, dialogue, and collaboration in diffusing tensions and resolving conflicts, issuing a compelling call for global commitment to actively promote and maintain peace for the benefit of all humanity.

GET INVOLVED: Act for our common future.

Embrace the possible. That’s the call of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, a blueprint for a better world. We don’t have to wait for the future we want—we can create it right now. Everyone can join the global movement for change. ActNow is the United Nations campaign to inspire people to act for the Sustainable Development Goals.