Background & Purpose

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Your financial support will help us to expand our programs and make participation in the International Day of Peace a more universal event and help to bring about a culture of peace in our world.

Background

At its 36th session of the United Nations, the General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on November 30, 1981, establishing the International Day of Peace (Peace Day), devoted "to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples."

In 1983, Pathways To Peace (PTP) inaugurated an Initiative to coordinate the International Day of Peace and Peacebuilding activities with members of civil society representing diverse organisations. Robert Muller, then Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, approved this Initiative. The following year, citizens in over 52 countries became participants in this Initiative and in 1989, UN Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar granted status of Peace Messenger Initiative to the We the Peoples Initiative - now the Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI).

Since its inception, the Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI) has continued to serve as a community of forerunners in the emerging field of Peacebuilding, to give evidence that Peace is a practical reality and necessity in the 21st century.

The annual highlight of the CPI, the International Day of Peace, September 21, marks our personal and planetary progress toward Peace, and reminds us that our commitment - above all interests or differences of any kind - is to Peace.

Beginning in 1983, at the request of the Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Pathways To Peace has submitted a CPI Annual Report to the UN, summarizing the Peace Day activities of Participating Organisations, Individuals and Groups worldwide. CPI is global/local, inter-generational and multicultural.

Purpose

The Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI) (formerly the "We the Peoples" Initiative) is a co-operative movement to unite the strengths of existing organizations, groups, projects and individuals toward making Peace a practical reality in the 21st century. The Initiative has served as a vehicle for bringing to light the previously unseen and unheard Peacebuilders working towards Peace.

Through a variety of activities and practices, people with diverse interests are taking responsibility for co-building Peace in practical ways. The dedication of those concerned Peacebuilders illuminates the purpose behind the Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI), and provides the momentum required to establish Peace for our future generations.

Acting in concert,we DO make a difference in the quality of our lives, our institutions, our environment and our planetary future. Through co-operation, we manifest the essential Spirit that unites us amidst our diverse ways.

Excerpt of Letter from Executive Office of the Secretary-General, United Nations:

...

"The Peace Messenger Initiative is dedicated to the vision of the United Nations in the 21st century - its role in engendering Peace through Cooperation; and the United Nations at 50 and beyond - its relevance in the post-cold war era. In your commitment to fostering peace, I hope you will continue to aim to motivate members of your community and beyond to work together with the United Nations in making peace a practical reality in the 21st century and into the new millennium.

Let me urge you to join with others worldwide for a renewal of that commitment at the personal, group, community, national and international levels in celebration of our progress along the many paths to peace. I wish you and your colleagues every success in your most worthy undertaking."

Gillian Martin Sorensen
Under Secretary-General
Special Advisor to the
Secretary-General for Public Policy