UK SAYS NO MORE partner with Peace One Day

We’re so happy to have Peace One Day join as a UK SAYS NO MORE campaign partner. Each year on September 21st, Peace One Day work to make the day one of worldwide peace awareness and unity.

What is Peace One Day?

Find out from them:

Peace One Day’s objective is to institutionalise Peace Day 21 September, making it a day that is self-sustaining, an annual day of global unity, a day of intercultural cooperation on a scale that humanity has never known.

In 1999, Jeremy Gilley founded Peace One Day, a non-profit organisation, and in 2001 Peace One Day’s efforts were rewarded when the member states of the United Nations unanimously adopted the first ever annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on 21 September – Peace Day.

Jeremy Gilley is an actor turned filmmaker, who in the late 1990s became preoccupied with questions about the fundamental nature of humanity and the issue of peace. He decided to explore these through the medium of film, and specifically, to create a documentary following his campaign to establish an annual day of ceasefire and non-violence.

To support this goal, and inspired by a 70% recorded reduction in violent incidents on Peace Day 2008 in Afghanistan (source: United Nations Department of Safety and Security), Jeremy launched series of Peace One Day coalitions, each with a lead partner: the NGO Coalition; the ‘Reducing Domestic Abuse’ Coalition; the Student Coalition; the Faith Coalition; the Corporate Coalition; and the Schools’ Network.

In 2012 we analysed the results of Peace Day and found that, across the world, approximately 280 million people in 198 countries were aware of Peace Day 2012. For Peace Day 2013, due to activation on the day by every sector of society around the world, we recorded a 68% increase in the number of those aware of the day – that’s 470 million people. Of that number, approximately 1-2% (4-8 million) behaved more peacefully in their own lives as a result, improving the world for thousands of others.

In 2014 the Peace One Day Report found that over 1 billion people were exposed to Peace Day messages. Of those exposed,610 million are now aware of the day, with an estimated 10 million people behaving more peacefully on the day as a result. In 2015 this growth continued with an estimated 1.5 billion people now exposed to Peace Day messages with 709 million people now aware. Of those aware, an estimated 13 million people behaved more peacefully on that day. For more information on the impact of Peace Day please click here.

Peace One Day 2016

This progress has created a solid foundation for taking the message of Peace Day to 3 billion people by Peace Day 2016. Through our own initiatives and collaborations with various parties, Peace One Day continues to encourage organisations and individuals take specific actions to reduce violence around the theme: Who Will You Make Peace With?

In 2014 Peace One Day launched a 3-year project in the Great Lakes region of Africa for Peace Day, 21 September. The goal of the project is to raise awareness of Peace Day and encourage all sectors of society in the region to stand together in the name of peace on 21 September.

Peace One Day is impartial and independent of any government, political persuasion, corporation or religious creed. Through a multi-platform approach, Peace One Day utilises different tools to raise awareness, advocate for Peace Day and engage the global community in its broad observance.

Reducing Domestic Abuse Coalition

There is a strong likelihood that someone you know has been the victim of domestic abuse in their lifetime. Domestic abuse affects entire families and communities. In the UK alone, between 750,000 and 950,000 children witness domestic violence each year, affecting their development, educational attainment and health (UNICEF and the Bodyshop International report). Peace Day will be an opportunity to unite on a scale never seen before and bring the issues of domestic abuse to the fore. Together we can decrease the level of violence, raise awareness and generate a vast array of activity around those issues.

Watch the content from the day’s livestream on Wednesday September 21st over at https://www.facebook.com/peaceoneday/ Pamela Zaballa, Head of Policy for Women & Children’s services at Hestia and Melissa Morbeck, Executive Director at Corporate Alliance both spoke during different segments across the day.

You can download a wealth of resources to celebrate Peace One Day on their resources page. Not sure how to participate? Here are some simple ideas.

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