Today, the United Nations will ring the Peace Bell in New York City to inaugurate the International Day of Peace. While you might think this day was put on the calendars nearly 100 years ago when Woodrow Wilson famously called World War I “the war to end all wars,” the International Day of Peace has a quirkier and more recent history.
The International Day of Peace, interestingly enough, did not originate directly from the end of either of the World Wars. Its origin can be traced to 1981, when a pair of odd bedfellows – the United Kingdom and Costa Rica – sponsored a UN resolution to set aside the opening day of the General Assembly, usually the 3rd Tuesday of September, as the International Day of Peace. Costa Rica has a long track record of peace – since 1948 it has been one of few countries in the world without a military.
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In 2001, the General Assembly planned to open early, on September 11. This day, of course, would change the course of the world irrevocably.
Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the UN at the time, released a statement that changed the nature of the International Day of Peace, as well. Not only would the UN continue to recognize the International Day of Peace, but it declared September 21 to be “a day of global ceasefire and non-violence.”
Since then, Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon has kept up this tradition, by each year requesting that a global ceasefire be upheld. In 2008, this worked quite well – as Afghanistan experienced a 70% reduction in violence on the International Day of Peace.
Palestinian children in Gaza, 2014.
Over the years, the International Day of Peace has focused on different themes. These include: disarmament and non-proliferation (2009), youth for peace development (2010), and last year’s theme, dignity for all. This year’s International Day of Peace focuses on the Sustainable Development Goals. It has been a landmark year for global climate change initiatives, given the amount of countries who have signed on to the COP21 in 2016.
With the advent of the Internet and social media, the message of the International Day of Peace has grown significantly in the past half decade. Last year, 610 million people were aware of Peace Day, compared to 280 million in 2012. You can expect that number to grow this year.
It is an important time to increase awareness of this event, as much of the world still suffers from war and violence. The Global Peace Index, which is produced by Vision of Humanity, found that in 2016 the world is 2.4% less peaceful than it was a year ago. The conflict in Syria has displaced more than 11 million people since 2011 and throughout the world 3.7 million children lack proper access to education.
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With that in mind, there are some bright spots to celebrate today on the International Day of Peace, such as a 12 percent increase in UN peacekeeping funding and a decrease in the global amount of external armed conflicts fought.
You can follow the International Day of Peace on Twitter through the hashtag #InternationalDayofPeace.