Peace Day Ceremonies and Events at the United Nations
This year’s ceremonies at UN Headquarters took place today and will be archived at http://www.un.org/webcast/. The program featured presentations by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other UN dignitaries, as well as UN Messengers of Peace Jane Goodall and Princess Haya of Jordan.
There were performances by a choir from Japan and musicians from the Vermont Peace Academy; films from Yemen and Albania; and large screen video-conferencing with students in Iraq, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Sudan. This was followed by a presentation of Pledges for Peace, the Minute of Silence, the Ringing of the Peace Bell, and a Flags of the World Ceremony by the World Peace Prayer Society!
Following is the text of remarks made by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the student observance of the International Day of Peace, today, in New York:
Hello, everyone!
It’s a great pleasure to welcome you to the United Nations today and thank you for taking part from all over the United States.
As you know, I just rang the Peace Bell. I think you saw a broadcast of my remarks. These can be summarized in three words: We Must Disarm.
I shared some of the messages that we received on Twitter from people just like you –- maybe even some people right in this room.
I also tweeted some of my own reasons why We Must Disarm:
- because the world is overarmed and peace is underfunded;
- because disarmament contributes to development; and
- because nukes threaten humankind. Let’s get rid of them 4 good.
I sent these messages on Twitter because I want to involve the whole world in the campaign to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. Not just political leaders but citizens everywhere -– including students like you. You are the future leaders and owners of this planet Earth.
Seeing you makes me think of my own days as a student. We didn’t have modern technology, such as the Internet or compact phones that could take pictures and videos and download music. Such things seemed like science fiction. Today they are sometimes taken for granted.
In the same way, a nuclear-weapon-free world may seem like a far-off dream, but it is not.
Next week, President [Barack] Obama of the United States will chair a Security Council summit on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. Next year, the parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will hold an important Review Conference in the United Nations. The prospects for reducing nuclear arsenals are better than they have been for years, though the road ahead will not be easy.
It may be difficult for you to imagine me growing up in a world with no Internet. I hope that someday, your children will have trouble imagining what it was like to live in a world that could be annihilated at any moment by nuclear weapons.
On this International Day of Peace, let’s pledge to keep pushing, together, for a nuclear-weapon-free world. And I count on your commitment and your leadership as future leaders of this world.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
The UN student observance international day of peace was outstanding. There was one disapointing aspect of it though. . I was seated in the back of the conference room on the balcony and we could not hear about half of what was being said. Part of it had to do with the volume of the speakers and part of it had to do with the speakers accent’s.
I hope in the future the speakers will be louder so that all observers will be able to know what’s being said.
September 20th, 2009 at 4:30 am
This is interesting! We shall all work to promote the ‘Culture of Peace’
September 20th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
We are the children of the Law of One
One heartbeat
September 21st, 2009 at 12:46 am
We are grateful that people of all ages, cultures and genders are working together to benefit all humans- to rid the world of nuclear weapons, to settle differences through nonviolent means, to manage and care for the world’s resources of water, land and fuel as well as learning that we must also stop the explosive population growth on our planet. It is our dream to sponsor many students to this event in the future and we are very proud of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for speaking the truth that nuclear weapons must be disarmed for the future of our beloved Earth and generations beyond us.
With Peace and Blessings to all.
September 21st, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I participated in Global Coherence Initiative’s Peace Day Webinar. At the end of the webinar we all (over 10,000 people) paused for about five minutes to send love from our hearts to the planet. They have a globe on their site that lights up locations where people were participating. They suggest that we do this every day for at least five minutes.
Peace begins with US!
Kay