International Day of Peace - Cyberschoolbus United Nations

Get involved

This day is an important opportunity for school and community groups to become part of a worldwide observation. We encourage you and your students to start planning for this exciting day.

Download Postcard - Working for Peace [PDF, 311KB]

Here are ten of the ways the UN works for peace every day:

Brings together 192 countries to work to prevent and resolve conflict and wars.
Promotes human rights for all.
Provides food, water, shelter and medicine to victims of war or disasters.
Develops international agreements to counter terrorism, control drugs and crime, protect the environment and curb illicit weapons.
Deploys peace operations to help countries recover from war.
Supports democracy through free and fair elections, and good governance.
Establishes international tribunals and courts to ensure justice for war crimes and violations of humanitarian law.
Inspires a culture of peace through dialogue, education and information.
Leads campaigns against poverty, hunger and disease.
Assists economic and social development.

To honour the International Day of Peace on 21 September, take a minute to send us a postcard to tell us what you can do for peace.

What you can do

Use the internet to promote peace...

What others are doing

Observe a minute of silence at 12 noon

Help improve your community

Hold a concert at a hospital or elders' home

Collect food or clothing for people in need.

Plant a tree

Schedule an assembly with a peace theme, or hold a peace vigil

Hold a conflict resolution workshop

Create your own celebration

Gather ideas from Ben & Jerry's "50 Ways to Promote Peace."

Make or order a peace pole for your school, park, or place of worship.

Play a recording of the UN Peace Bell at noon (requires RealPlayer) or ring bells for peace in your school or community on 21 September.

Listen to peace songs. Play a recording of The Day of Peace.

Visit the web sites of other organizations that are planning events for the International Day of Peace.

A network of environmentally conscious schools connected through the Web is planting trees on the International Day of Peace. ENO (Environment Online) documents that hundreds of schools in over 70 countries are planting trees as a symbol for environmental protection and international co-operation in the field of environmental education, cultural diversity, tolerance and peace. The ENO website is http://eno.joensuu.fi/treedatabase.htm

The National Youth Council of Chad is organizing musical performances, theatrical productions, poems, dances, and films for 700 to 900 young people per day from 15-21 September.

Africa Youths for Peace and Development will celebrate the International Day of Peace by providing meals and clothing for street kids and war affected youths in Freetown, Sierra Leone and by planting 60 trees in the community.

The Uganda Social Forum is organizing a Peace Day event at Mandela National Stadium in Kampala. Many organizations will come together to discuss development related topics, including peace and security, HIV/AIDS, education, and the reduction of poverty. The Uganda Social Forum is also launching a caravan that will start in the Kasese district on 15 September and continue to Kibaale district for a night-time campfire and the laying of a peace-and-reconciliation monument on 18 September. Along the way, the Uganda Social Forum will be organizing sports-for-peace activities and cultural events in the hope that these activities will encourage people in the region to reflect on conflicts that affect their daily lives.

The East Africa Students Service Organisation will launch a campaign with posters and peaceful protest to ask people to surrender illegal weapons to the authorities.

Learn more about other International Day of Peace activities.

Let us know how you will celebrate the International Day of Peace, email us at cyberschoolbus@un.org.

International Day of Peace 2006

Send a message of peace

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