Thursday, September 3, 2009:

Dear Culture of Peace Initiative Participants (CPI),

It is time to promote this year’s events for the International Day of Peace. The following is provided to supplement and enhance your press releases and give a sense of the scope of this year’s global observance. Please feel free to use any of the text from the generic pressrelease.

Note: your press release will be most effective if it includes specific information on activities that your organization is conducting including dates and times, locations and descriptions, and information on your organization and a contact person. Please also include this information in your press releases.

Inform Your Community Using the Media. What is a Press Release?

“A press release is pseudo-news story, written in third person, that seeks to demonstrate to an editor or reporter the newsworthiness of a particular person, event, service or product” Before you compose your press release check out this website for some effective tips: http://www.publicityinsider.com/release.asp

[YOUR LOGO]

Contact: John Doe FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

Telephone:555-555-5555

Cell Phone: 555-555-5555

Email: JohnDoe@zmail.peace

THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE TO BE OBSERVED WORLDWIDE

Global and Local Observance Planned in Every UN Nation State

This year’s annual global observance of the International Day of Peace, September 21 is capturing the attention of people, communities and nations worldwide. Based on last year’s reports, it is estimated that there will be over 10,000 events on the planet this year, sponsored by thousands of organizations, and that over 200 million people will participate. These will range from ceasefires, during which humanitarian aide is administered, to religious and interfaith services. They will include educational activities and volunteer programs; government proclamations, media events, and many types of activities by human rights, environmental, cultural and civic groups to draw attention to their particular aspect of ‘peacebuilding’; there will also be numerous private observances and events by many businesses and professionals. Noted celebrities as well as religious and government leaders historically speak out on behalf of this occasion. There will be vigils, performances, workshops, ceremonies, fundraising events, peace parties, community service projects, exhibits, walks, films, letter writing campaigns, peace fairs and much more.

There will be large-scale celebrations in cities such as Sydney, Okinawa, Amsterdam, Tehran, Geneva, Paris, London, Montreal, Havana, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Honolulu as well as in countries as diverse as Costa Rica, Dubai, India, Uganda, Lebanon, Turkey, Argentina and The Philippines. In addition, this year, for the first time ever, hundreds of calendar publishers all over the world have printed the International Day of Peace on their calendars; this initiative alone will reach a billion people. Together, these efforts can have both global impact and historical significance as our children observe ‘Peace Day’ annually and incorporate it’s meaning into their lives - year round.

Created in 1981 by unanimous resolution of the United Nations, the observance of the International Day of Peace has grown exponentially in recent years and now reaches every level of society. One way that anyone can participate is to observe a minute of silence at noon in all time zones worldwide, as requested by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The UN also arranges ceasefires, during which humanitarian aide is provided to civilian populations affected by conflicts. There are ceremonies at UN Headquarters and all facilities worldwide. This year the UN has created the WMD Campaign to call awareness of the need for reducing weapons of mass destruction as well as nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. The UN promotes this occasion via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, YouTube, text messages, radio, TV, print and public service announcements.

In addition to UN activities, thousands of international and grassroots organizations create events to promote their particular aspects of peacebuilding - whether they address human rights, the environment, education, health care, poverty, hunger, fair trade, or any of a number of other such worthwhile causes. Many of these organizations work with The Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI); a UN designated Peace Messenger Initiative with over 3,000 affiliated organizations. For more information CPI maintains the following websites: www.cultureofpeace.org and www.internationaldayofpeace.org . On these websites people can learn more about this occasion; they can locate events worldwide; and they can post their own events. Note, events posted on the Culture of Peace website automatically show up on the International Day of Peace website, which receives millions of visits during the month of September each year.

Peace Day Supporters

While there are thousands of organizations worldwide that observe the International Day of Peace every year, there are some that promote Peace Day among their members and encourage participation, to an extent that it results in large scale events and impact. These organizations usually post information and material on their websites, and present their own lists of Peace Day events online. We encourage you to browse this information at the following link: http://internationaldayofpeace.org/participate/peace_day_supporters

We Welcome Donations

Pathways to Peace manages the Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI) website, which serves the 3,000 organizations and countless projects in 200 nations that Participate in this intergenerational, intercultural local/global Peacebuilding initiative. PTP serves as international secretariat of CPI, and additional funding is needed to support the website and the hardworkingCPI Coordination Team, who volunteer their time for Peace Day. They send out newsletters, update the websites, post on Facebook and Twitter, go to the United Nations, answer e-mails from Participants and reach out to organizations. Please donate if you can! You can also make a public donation through our Facebook Cause.

Thank you, CPI Participants, for your dedication to building a culture of Peace for future generations on Peace Day and every day.

CPI Coordinator Michael Johnson, CPI Outreach Intern - Michael Kwan

Pathways To Peace is the International Secretariat for the Culture of Peace Initiative

This entry was posted on Monday, September 7th, 2009 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Culture of Peace Initiative. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.