UNITED NATIONS
(2003 World Peace Prayer Society Report)

United Nations Headquarters, New York

The International Day of Peace annual youth observance was organized by the United Nations Department of Public Information in association with The Executive Office of the Secretary-General, Pathways To Peace and The World Peace Prayer Society. It was a videoconference including youth at peacekeeping missions in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), Afghanistan (UNAMA), and Syrian Golan Heights (UNDOF).

This 21^st observation of the International Day of Peace began with the SecretaryÐGeneral ringing the Peace Bell while 191 youth held the flags of all the member states. The Secretary- General dedicated this International Day of Peace to the UN colleagues who had been killed in the terrorist bombing at the UN in Iraq one month before. He also explained that the Peace Bell had been cast from coins sent in by children from around the world.

The Peace Bell Ceremony was immediately followed by the annual youth program in Conference Room 4. Mrs. Nane Annan addressed the youth as she has each year since 1997 when the student observance for the International Day of Peace began. Six youth from various regions addressed the Messengers of Peace. Jane Goodall received a question from Tiffany Lewin of the Roots and Shoots program in New York City; Michael Douglas received a question from Alex Dixon in Sierra Leone; Anna Cataldi received her question from Mohammad Indress in Afghanistan; Muhammad Ali was addressed by Mohammed Al-Ghanim, a youth participant in the Share the Spirit of Peace Youth Summit who came to NY from Kuwait to represent Global Youth Action Network; and Jacqueline Murekatete a Rwanda genocide survivor questioned Elie Wiesel. Everyone shared a Minute of Silence for the International Day of Peace at noon.

A highlight of the morning event was sending messages of Peace to every nation using the World Peace Flag Ceremony. Audrey Kitagawa, an advisor to the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict closed the observance. Other UN dignitaries included Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary General, DPI; Gillian Sorensen, Assistant Secretary-General, Executive Office of the Secretary-General and Ramu Damodaran, Chief, Civil Society Service, DPI.

UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK, USA

The International Day of Peace Launched at the United Nations, 19 September 2003

Dear Friends in the United Religions Initiative (URI) Community,

With a heart filled with joy, inspiration and challenge, I want to share with you the extraordinary observances of the International Day of Peace I was privileged to participate in.

On Friday, September 19, 2003, I attended the observance of the International Day of Peace at the United Nations organized by the UN Department of Public Information (DPI), the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, Pathways to Peace and the World Peace Prayer Society. Since URI is an NGO affiliated with UN-DPI and has close ties with both other organizations, it felt from the beginning as if I were at a family gathering, especially seeing the strong and creative leadership of Deborah Moldow and Monica Willard.

Because of winds associated with hurricane Isabel, we gathered in a wide hallway, behind a mass of media people and young people from around the world carrying the flags of the nations in the United Nations, looking through a glass wall to a garden where the peace bell sits. As Secretary-General Kofi Annan would later explain, the peace bell was cast from pennies sent in by children from all over the world. It is rung each year to commemorate the International Day of Peace. As we awaited the arrival of the Secretary-General, we listed to a group of talented young musicians whose repertoire included "Let There Be Peace On Earth" and "Amazing Grace."

The Secretary-General arrived with an entourage that included his wife, Nane, representatives of different UN peacekeeping missions and a group of UN Messengers of Peace - Jane Goodall, Michael Douglas, Anna Catadali, Muhammad Ali, and Eli Weisel. In a moving moment, Mr. Annan dedicated this 21st observance of the International Day of Peace, a day that calls for global ceasefire, to the UN colleagues who a month before had been killed in a terrorist bombing of the UN headquarters in Iraq. He observed that they had put their own lives at risk to support the right of all peoples to live in peace. After brief remarks from the heads of two UN peacekeeping missions, Mr. Annan led the whole group outside into the windy, sunny garden where, with the world's nations represented by the young people carrying flags, he struck the bell three times, sending the vibrations of peace over a still and somber crowd.

Following this brief but moving ceremony, the young people led a procession to a conference room where the morning's program was to be held. The conference room was filled with young people from around the world who would be leaving later that afternoon for the Share the Spirit of Youth Peace Summit at the World Peace Sanctuary, the World Peace Prayer Society's headquarters in Amenia, NY, and with representatives of different NGOs. We were joined by satellite tele-conference by groups gathered at UN Peacekeeping sites in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), the Syrian Golan Heights (UNDOF), and Afghanistan (UNAMA).

The first part of the program had young people making brief statements and posing questions to the Messengers of Peace. Tiffany Lewis, a young African-American woman from New York, spoke movingly about how her involvement in Jane Goodall's organization, Roots and Shoots, had changed her life. Beaming, Ms. Goodall responded by talking about how her experience living with chimpanzees had changed her life, showing her how blurred the line was between humans and other species; and how her realization of the rapid destruction of the chimpanzees' habitat had called her to leave that life she loved and dedicate herself to traveling the world spreading the message of care for the environment as a path to peace. She stressed the need for humanity to destroy weapons not habitat.

Alex Dixon, a former child soldier in Sierra Leone, asked Michael Douglas how he felt war should end. Mr. Douglas applauded UNICEF's work with child soldiers while lamenting that the funding for this important work was threatened. He noted that 1/3 of all small arms on Earth are in the United States; and called for their destruction.

Easily the most moving moment of the morning came when Jacqueline Murekatete, a refugee from the genocide in Rwanda now living in the US, addressed Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate in literature, Elie Weisel. She spoke of how powerful it had been for her to read his book Night because she had lived through the same experiences. A hush settled on the room as she described how, as a young girl, she had in the space of a day gone from having a happy childhood to being the enemy simply because she was a Tutsi. Suddenly, her people were called insects to be exterminated. Her mother, father, four brothers and two sisters were murdered. Why did this happen, she wanted to know.

People throughout the room wept as Mr. Weisel spoke to her, recounting his 1999 Millennium Lecture, "The Perils of Indifference," delivered at the White House. As he finished speaking, a young woman from Rwanda asked him, "What do you have to tell me about indifference?" He turned to President Clinton and said, "Mr. President, you'd better answer that."

The President was painfully silent for a moment, then said, "We could have prevented it, but didn't."

I don't understand," Mr. Weisel continued, once again addressing Jacqueline. "We knew about it and we did nothing. Indifference is never the answer. Indifference to evil is evil."

He paused. "Indifference is never the answer. Nor is despair. You must write your story," he told Jacqueline. "I will help you write your story. I pledge that today before your friends and mine."

He went on to speak of testimony as the art of truth and faith; of the hope many felt at leaving the awfulness of the 20th century behind, hope that has been crushed in the first years of the 21st century. He decried the violence in American society and the media's glorification of violence. He challenged Michael Douglas to use his influence to make a great movie about peace.

After the presentations and a time of questions and answers finished, the young people led the gathering in a peace prayer ceremony, praying for peace for all the peoples of the Earth. One by one, the flags of the nations of the world were presented, evoking a prayer that the people represented by that flag might live in peace, that peace might prevail on Earth. If this ceremony were repeated all over the world every day, the world would change for the better.

Love,

Rev. Charles Gibbs
Executive Director
The United Religions Initiative

THE UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK, USA

International Day of Peace Observed at the United Nations

Sep. 23, 2003

NEW YORK Ñ After encouraging others to publicize and celebrate the International Day of Peace on September 21st, the New York office of Franciscans International participated in a 36 hour prayer for peace in the Meditation Chapel at the UN in New York, was the key organizer of a celebration at Dag Hammarksjold Plaza across from the United Nations, and led the opening prayers at an interfaith observance in Central Park.

Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, was a featured speaker at the UN celebration which included speeches, prayers, poetry, and music. Franciscans recited Poems for Peace and led Song for Peace. The ceremony ended with Prayers for Peace offered by clerics from the Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, and Confucian faith traditions. The event was co-sponsored by Al-Khoei Foundation, Ribbon International, IIFWP, Hague Appeal for Peace, the Center for International Peacebuilding, and the Anglican Communion.

Florence Deacon OSF, the Director of the New York Office of Franciscans International, was invited to participate in a daylong celebration of the International Day of Peace in Central Park. After opening the formal part of the ceremony, Sister Florence later prayed the Franciscan Peace Prayer as part of an original music composition multi-faith prayer. The Dalai LamaÕs visit to Central Park was another event marking the International Day of Peace.

Franciscans around the world organized many other celebrations for the International Day of Peace.

2003 World Peace Prayer Society Compilation

May Peace Prevail On Earth