International Day of Peace

The International Day of Peace, also officially known as World Peace Day, is a United Nations-sanctioned holiday observed annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to world peace, and specifically the absence of war and violence, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone for humanitarian aid access. The day was first established in 1981 and first observed in September 1982 and is kept by many nations, political groups, military groups, and people.

Today the Peace Bell is rung at the UN Headquarters in New York, USA.

The bell is cast from coins donated by people from all continents except Africa, and was a gift from the United Nations Association of Japan, as "a reminder of the human cost of war"; the inscription on its side reads, "Long live absolute world peace".

If ever a day was needed in celebration of peace, this is the day.

 

Did you know there is a US Institute of Peace?

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) was established by Congress in 1984 as an independent, federally-funded national security institution devoted to the nonviolent prevention and mitigation of deadly conflict abroad. USIP achieves its mission through its active engagements in the world's conflict zones, teaching and training, research and analysis, and global grant-making.

History
Established in 1984.

The United States Institute of Peace Act, passed by the Congress and signed into law in 1984, established the Institute as a publicly funded national institution chartered to "serve the American people and the federal government through the widest possible range of education and training, basic and applied research opportunities, and peace information services on the means to promote international peace and the resolution of conflicts among the nations and peoples of the world without recourse to violence." The campaign to establish an Institute had begun a decade earlier, when the idea of a national peace academy was first brought to the Senate floor following recommendations by a commission appointed by President Jimmy Carter and chaired by Senator Spark Matsunaga. The legislation establishing the United States Institute of Peace was formally signed in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan.



Has Trump shut it down yet?