MESSAGE FROM
HER EXCELLENCY SHEIKHA HAYA RASHED AL KHALIFA
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE
UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
21 SEPTEMBER 2006

Translated from Arabic
The International Day of Peace is observed on 21 September, two days after the opening of the General Debate at the sixty-first session of the General Assembly of the United Nations during which the speeches of world leaders outline the state of our world, its conflicts, its challenges and the questions that arise concerning it.

The International Day of Peace was proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations for the first time in 1981: its objective from the outset, was to celebrate peace and to strengthen the ideals of peace among the nations and peoples of the world and in their relations one with another.

The International Day of Peace took on a new dimension in 1998 when the United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution 53/25, launched the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World and when, on 7 September 2001 it resolved that the International Day of Peace would be a day of ceasefire when the cycle of violence between nations and peoples would be curbed.

What the world now needs, more than at any time in the past, is to see the triumph of the principles of peace in our confrontation of war, its horrors and its tragic human consequences. The world is not proceeding, as a result of globalization, along the path of tackling the problems that arise and seeking out their causes: instead, we see the world advancing to an unprecedented degree, along a path that threatens its stability and security.

May this International Day of Peace be a day of contemplation of the destiny of our world and an occasion for building bridges towards the future; let us bear in mind the fundamental values enshrined in the Charter so as to save present and future generations from yet more grief, death and bloodshed. Let us also strive to ensure that scientific progress and technological developments will not be achieved at the cost of humanitarian concerns. If we truly wish to ensure the future, it is incumbent upon us to bring the two into harmony and into a fraternal association.
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The International Day of Peace is an annual occasion for reconsidering what has been achieved, and what can be achieved, on behalf of peace. This day is not solely for peace organizations and movements throughout the world; it extends also to every citizen committed to working towards a world that is not weighed down by the oppression of wars, inequality and injustice.

Just as our Organization realizes that there is no true peace without justice, it is also aware that it is injustice that gives rise to murderous tendencies and provides an impulse towards extreme violence.

We wish the International Day of Peace, year after year, to be an affirmation of our commitment to peace and a reflection of our desire to disseminate the awareness and education that are necessary for a culture of peace and the values of peace which resist all forms of violence, absolutism, obscurity and exclusion.

Indeed, peace is also a force; let it be a force for those who believe in a better and more perfectly developed world. It is a force that does not wound but one that heals, a force that makes life on Earth worthy of humanity and of the lofty human ideals based on justice and tolerance.

Peace is the most beautiful gift that the human race can bestow on itself, but is also the most difficult of gifts because it requires discernment and a sustained and profound effort.

Let us work together for the good that it bestows on all humankind.