September 21 - International Day of Peace
In 1981, the General Assembly declared that the opening day of the General Assembly session each September “shall be officially dedicated and observed as the International Day of Peace and shall be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples.”
On September 7, 2001, the General Assembly declared that the International Day of Peace would be fixed on September 21 of each year, and stated that :
"The International Day of Peace shall henceforth be observed as a day of global ceasefire and nonviolence, an invitation to all nations and people to honor a cessation of hostilities for the duration of the Day.”
In addition, the General Assembly invited "all Member States, United Nations organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and individuals to commemorate the International Day of Peace in an appropriate manner and to cooperate with the United Nations in the establishment of a global ceasefire."
International Day of Peace – Official site of the United Nations
Nongovernmental organizations around the world have studied this vision and applied it to propose actions and events to emphasize the importance of peace.
In Switzerland, the Collective for Peace and Nonviolence was founded in 2008 to organize public awareness events during the two weeks from the International Day of Peace on September 21 to the International Day of Non-Violence on October 2.
About 20 nongovernmental organizations from French-speaking Switzerland and neighboring France are now members, including founding members Grains of Peace, le CENAC, Eirene, and Peace Watch.
