On the occasion of the International Day of Peace, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon rang the Peace Bell in the Japanese Garden at the UN headquarters in New York. The Sept. 19, 2008 event was attended by many dignitaries including UN Messengers of Peace Michael Douglas, Jane Goodall, Midori Goto, and Ellie Wiesel.
Mr. Ban kicked off this year's celebration with a traditional peace bell ringing ceremony. During the event, the Secretary-General sent a text message for peace as part of a UN campaign urging cell phone users to compose peace messages to be published on a website and delivered to world leaders gathered for the General Assembly on September 23.
In his peace messaged the Secretary-General said, "I call on world leaders and peoples around the world to join forces against conflict, poverty and hunger, and for all human rights for all.”