Peace One Day

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Peace One Day
Peace one day logo.jpg
Type NGO, NPO
Founded September 1999
Location United Kingdom
Key people Jeremy Gilley, Founder
Focus World Peace, Non-violence, International Community
Method Activism, Education, Non-violence, Life-saving
Website http://www.peaceoneday.org/

Peace One Day is a non-profit organisation with the objective to raise awareness of the International Day of Peace that occurs on the 21st September each year. The objective of the organisation is to foster Peace Day as "a day for wide-scale community action, and a day for UN agencies and aid organisations to safely carry out life-saving work."[1]

Founded in 1999 by the British documentary filmmaker and actor Jeremy Gilley, Peace One Day led a successful campaign to pass UN Resolution 55/282 recognising Peace Day. Unanimously approved by all members States the resolution also invites organisations and individuals to commemorate the International Day of Peace through education and public awareness, and to cooperate with the United Nations in the establishment of the global ceasefire.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

In 1998 Jeremy Gilley conceived the idea of a single day when all countries vowed not to wage war; a worldwide ceasefire and day of non-violence. Later that year, Gilley established Peace One Day and began meeting students, peace negotiators, NGOs, government representatives, heads of state, and United Nations officials in order to initiate the Peace Day campaign. Those contacted included:His Holiness the Dalai Lama, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, Secretary General of the League of Arab States Amre Moussa, Peace Laureate and former Israeli President Shimon Peres, former Costa Rican President and Nobel Peace Laureate - Oscar Arias Sanchez, Nelson Mandela and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Whilst the UN had already declared the third Tuesday of September the international day of peace [3] the Peace One Day lobby aimed to extend the International Day of Peace beyond its essential symbolism and pushed for a more robust resolution. On 7 September 2001, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution, sponsored by the UK and Costa Rica, formally establishing an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on the UN International Day of Peace - Peace Day - fixed in the global calendar to the 21 September.[4] This process was recorded by Gilley who consequently created the documentary film "Peace One Day".

The former UK ambassador to the United Nations, Jeremy Greenstock, credited Peace One Day's campaign with playing a central role in the new resolutions processes and commented that “the need for such an enhanced approach was originally brought to our attention by a United Kingdom-based non-governmental organization, Peace One Day”.[5]

[edit] International Action

The first Peace Days passed relatively uneventfully, and it was not until 2006 that "life-saving activities" began to take place on the 21st.[6] On Peace Day 2006 the World Food Programme delivered 30 tonnes of food to Southern Sudan, Star Syringe Ltd. carried out immunization programs in nine countries, and the International Rescue Committee reunited a former child soldier with her family.[6]

In 2007, Peace One Day focused on Afghanistan to help develop and document preparations for life-saving activities across the country for Peace Day. A 21 September ceasefire allowed UN agencies and the Afghan government to give polio vaccines to 1.4 million children in areas of southern and eastern Afghanistan.[6] Gilley and Peace One Day Ambassador Jude Law traveled to Afghanistan to videotape the impact of the 2007 Peace Day in Afghanistan for Gilley's documentary "The Day After Peace", meeting with Afghan Minister of Education Mohammad Atmar, UN Special Representative to Afghanistan Tom Koenigs, the head of the Afghan Red Crescent Society Fatima Gailani, and many others. As a result of this work, since 2007, Peace Day agreements by all parties to conflict in the region have resulted in the immunisation against polio of 4.5 million children in areas hitherto unreachable or hard to reach due to conflict.

[edit] Community Action

For the 21 September every year Peace One Day leads a global campaign of widespread community action and celebration in every continent. Past years such events have included Peace Day walks, discussions, poetry readings, assemblies, concerts, photography exhibitions, sport events. The project aims to institutionalise Peace Day and generate grass root activity in all 193 member states of the United Nations. In 2007 director of the United Nations News and Media Department Ahmad Fawzisaw stated: "over 100 million people, in over 100 countries are marking the day, today [September 21] in many different ways,"[6]

[edit] Peace One Day Concerts

As part of the charity's continuing plan to raise awareness of Peace Day the charity has organized numerous concerts with the support of celebrities and musicians like Annie Lennox, Angelina Jolie, Joseph Fiennes, Sir Richard Branson, and the late Mo Mowlam. The first concert was held in 2002 at the Brixton Academy in London, and it was so successful that a second concert was held there again in 2003. In 2007, Peace One Day organised a third concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, headlining Annie Lennox with Yusuf Islam, Corinne Bailey Rae, James Morrison, Kate Nash, and Marc Almond. The concert also included specially filmed pieces from Jude Law, David Beckham, and Lord David Puttnam. A second concert was held at the Royal Albert Hall in 2008, and it was broadcast in 93 countries.[7] In 2009 the Peace One Day 10th Anniversary Concert was held in Paris at Le Grand Rex,[8] and this concert included performances by Lenny Kravitz, Kasabian, and Keziah Jones.

[edit] Education Initiatives

Peace One Day launched its first educational resource, the Peace One Day Citizenship Resource Pack in May 2006. Since then, the team has gone on to create an education resource that is available free online to those who have registered with the website. The resource is meant to be used in schools to teach children in grades 6-12 about conflict resolution, global citizenship, human rights, and the link between sustainability and peace; there are currently 5,000 users and by 2010 the organization hopes to have 20,000 educators utilizing the resource.[9] In 2010, with the help of Skype, Peace One Day launched the resource in the six official languages of the UN (Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish), all also available free online. The new online resource contains an extra lesson, "Intercultural Cooperation", that allows students to connect with students from other countries through Skype.[10]

[edit] Peace One Day Films

The first documentary Peace One Day (2004) shows the real-life results of Peace Day 21 September around the world, including life-saving initiatives by leading humanitarian organizations. The film was used to encourage the members of the United Nations General Assembly to adopt the 21st of September as the day of global ceasefire and nonviolence, and includes footage of Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, and Alan Rickman.

Gilley completed a second feature documentary, The Day After Peace, in 2008. The film includes footage of the visit to Afghanistan by Jeremy and Jude Law and has won numerous awards, including the Cinèma Vérité Award in Paris and Geneva and the Best Documentary Award at the Zimbabwe International Film Festival.[11] It was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2008 and was shown on 21 September 2008, at a Gala screening at the Royal Albert Hall, London.[12] It was also shown on 20 September 2008 on BBC Four as part of the Storyville strand and on BBC Two on 27 September 2008.[13] In August 2008 free screenings of the film were offered in Afghanistan. This was part of a promotional tour with Peace One Day Ambassador Jude Law, to encourage all citizens of Afghanistan to celebrate Peace Day.[6]

In 2010, Gilley completed a third feature documentary, entitled Peace One Day Part Three. Produced by Gilley and Jude Law, it received its premiere broadcasts on 18/19 September 2010 on BBC World, with a reach of 306 million households in over 200 countries.

In 2010, Peace One Day launched a new division, POD Productions. POD Productions now provides film production services for third parties. All revenue goes into the Education and Life-Saving campaigns.

[edit] References

  1. ^ About Peace One Day. Peace One Day. Retrieved 01 January.
  2. ^ UN Resolution (A/Res/55/282)
  3. ^ A/RES/36/67, 30 November 1981
  4. ^ United Nations General Assembly Resolution 282 session 55 International Day of Peace on 7 September 2001
  5. ^ General Assembly Fifty-fifth session 111th plenary meeting Friday, 7 September 2001, 10 a.m. New York
  6. ^ a b c d e "Story So Far", http://www.peaceoneday.org/en/about/story, Retrieved 2011-08-20
  7. ^ "Past Concerts". Peace One Day. Archived from the original on 2010-07-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20100728210647/http://www.peaceoneday.org/en/concerts/past-concerts. Retrieved 2011-09-20. 
  8. ^ "Paris Concert 2009". Peace One Day. Archived from the original on 2010-06-17. http://web.archive.org/web/20100617095854/http://www.peaceoneday.org/en/concerts/concerts. Retrieved 2011-09-20. 
  9. ^ "How can you get involved?". Peace One Day. http://www.peaceoneday.org/en/education/POD-EDUCATION. Retrieved 2011-09-20. 
  10. ^ "About Peace One Day Education Resources". Peace One Day. http://www.peaceoneday.org/en/education/ABOUT-THE-RESOURCES. Retrieved 2011-09-20. 
  11. ^ "The Day After Peace". Peace One Day. Archived from the original on 2010-07-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20100716110958/http://www.peaceoneday.org/en/film/the-day-after-peace. Retrieved 2011-09-20. 
  12. ^ Peace One Day celebration Peace One Day, (official home page), accessed 31 May 2008.
  13. ^ "BBC Programmes - Storyville - The Day After Peace". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dn76v. Retrieved 2011-09-20. 

[edit] External links

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