International Day of Peace: Educate for Peace

"It is not enough to teach children how to read, write and count. Education has to cultivate mutual respect for others and the world in which we live, and help people forge more just, inclusive and peaceful societies."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
100-day countdown message to the International Day of Peace

Each year, International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. This year, the UN has adopted the theme Education for Peace.

Peace Day is not only about a reduction of violence in areas of conflict, it is also about reducing violence in our homes, communities and schools. We all have a role in building a more peaceful world. Once again, Soroptimist International will be collaborating with the Peace One Day campaign to promote peace-building and reconciliation around the world.

For Soroptimist International, International Peace Day will be an opportunity to showcase and build on the work that many Clubs and Federations are already doing to promote peace and reduce violence through education.

Soroptimist Action for Peace

Many Soroptimist federations, unions and clubs worldwide carry out projects to promote tolerance, understanding and conflict resolution.

Soroptimist International of Europe presents a biennial Peace Prize to honour remarkable achievements to promote peace. In 2013, the prize was awarded to Silvana Arbia, an Italian judge who played a key role in delivering justice and peace in Rwanda with the International Criminal Tribunal.
SIE also sponsors the Kigali Peace Marathon, set up by a Soroptimist from Luxembourg in 2005 to promote unity, understanding and tolerance, bringing together competitors from Rwanda and abroad.
SI Tønsberg (Norway) help to build bridges between women from different countries by running classes in Norwegian language and culture for asylum seekers. The programme has enabled women from 39 countries to build friendships and integrate more easily into life in the town.
SI Rakiraki (Fiji) held workshops and a poster competition at a local high school to promote tolerance and harmony

SI Bingley (UK) helped to train a group of children aged 9-10 to become peace makers in 157 schools, helping them to develop the skills to challenge unfair treatment and promote mutual respect.
In SI of Niigata-Hamanasu (Japan), helped to promote international exchanges, encouraging families to host visitors from China to encourage goodwill and understanding across national boundaries.

Action ideas for International Day of Peace

SI is a member of the Peace One Day NGO coalition; Federations, Unions and Clubs can also join at http://peaceoneday.org/ngo-coalition/.

Why not organise an event or activity on or around 21 September to help children or adults develop the skills to reduce conflict? These could include listening skills, negotiation, building positive relationships and anger management and could take place at a local school or college, with a community group for children or adults or at an SI club meeting.

Peace One Day have excellent free education resources, suitable for children or adults, available in 6 languages (http://www.peaceoneday.org/resources/ – registration necessary).

You can find other ideas for activities here:

Take part in the 24 hour Global Broadcast for Peace! Peace One Day are organising a concert with international artists on 21 September at the Hague (Netherlands) to celebrate Peace Day and the 100^th anniversary of the Peace Palace. You can watch the broadcast here, or embed the code to stream the concert from your own website.

If you’re organising an event, you can help spread the word by filling in a Peace One Day Plans form.

Soroptimist Advocacy for Peace

In September 2012 Caroline Themm, UN Representative for New York, attended the General Assembly High Level Forum on Peace. Ban Ki-moon stated ‘the concern of the world should be the promotion of peace’; US $1.7 million is spent on arms in one day as opposed to peace actions in one year. Governments must implement the 1999 Programme for Action on the Culture of Peace & further strengthen the global movement that is happening now.

In December 2012 UN Representative in Geneva Wilfrida Hendrickx attended a General Assembly meeting with the NGOCSW group which discussed how to build peace through human rights education. By teaching women and girls what their rights are so that they can promote it within their families and communities helps to build peaceful societies.

April 2013 saw Rina Dupriet, UN representative for Paris attend a UNESCO side event entitled ‘Strengthening Freshwater Security for Peace and Sustainable Development’. Billions of people are affected by water challenges and the main burdens fall on women and girls who often have to collect the water, taking insecure journeys to collect it. With greater development in communities, women and girls can live safer, more peaceful lives.

On 6 September, Yoko Komori Olson and Paulette Forbes-Igharo both UN reps in NY attended the High Level Forum on the Culture of Peace in New York which will stress that education, youth outreach, and women’s empowerment are all key to wiping out poverty, injustice and exlusion and that through education and empowerment, we can teach peace, not hate.