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In the News: Documentary about the International Day of Peace Released
Written by UPF - UN
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The UN Department of Public Information announced the release of "The Day after Peace," a documentary film about the International Day of Peace by Jeremy Giles.
The film “The Day after Peace” is an initiative of Jeremy Gilles, founder of the non-governmental organization Peace One Day, whose main purpose is to promote the September 21st International Day of Peace and generate a global commitment to a day of ceasefire and non-violence in order to provide areas of conflict with humanitarian aid.
In addition to their goal of global ceasefire and non-violence, Peace One Day supports a number of peace building initiatives that take a proactive approach aiming at creating peace, not just stopping war. These include a sports initiative through which hundreds of soccer games are played in the name of peace on September 21; an education initiative through which conflict resolution materials and children’s books written to inspire young people to go beyond barriers of race, nationality, and religion are distributed to schools throughout the world; and a music initiative called Song for Peace through which children in over 6,000 schools sing the official song for peace of the year together on September.
The film documents Jeremy’s journey as he brings his idea from an inspiration to a global movement. According to the UN, in 2007, over 100 million people were active on Peace Day in 192 countries. There were life-saving initiatives in 14 countries, and over 80 activities in Afghanistan alone where 1.4 million children were vaccinated against polio.
After the documentary concluded, a panel discussion began with a question and answer session from the audience of NGO representatives. The panel speakers were Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, Chairman of the NGO committee on the International Day of Peace, Ms. Susan Manuel, Chief of the Peace and Security section of DPI, Mr. Jeremy Gilles, producer of “The Day after Peace” documentary, and two NGO representatives, Mr. Michael Johnson and Ms. Deborah Moldow.
After the briefing, Ambassador Chowdhury commended UPF on its work around the world and encouraged us to continue our efforts.
The NGO representatives on the panel shared about their contribution to the promotion of the International Day of Peace. Mr. Michael Johnson, of Pathways to Peace, shared about the founding of the International Day of Peace and how the inspiration that came from just one person spread and is now an official holiday of the United Nations, and Ms. Deborah Moldow, of the World Peace Prayer Society, shared about the tradition of the moment of silence held at 12 noon on the Day of Peace and the value and meaning behind it.
The session ended with a call to action by Ambassador Chowdhury for NGOs to hold events on September 21 of this year and make a commitment to uphold this holiday every year until it becomes “more well-known than Valentine’s Day.” The NGO community left with a feeling of inspiration and determination to respond to this call.
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