International Day of Peace

May 2, 2022

A UN resolution established the International Day of Peace in 1981 to coincide with the opening of the UN General Assembly. The first Peace Day was celebrated in 1982 and was held on the third Tuesday of September each year.In 2002, the UN General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent annual date for the International Day of Peace celebration. In 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to designate the Day as a period of non-violence. The United Nations invites all nations and people to honor a cessation of hostilities during the Day, and to otherwise commemorate the Day through education and public awareness on issues related to peace.

The 2021 theme for the International Day of Peace is “Recovering better for an equitable and sustainable world”. In regards to the theme, we are incorporating the environment as well as the socio-cultural aspect as a mechanism for peacebuilding. The International Day of Peace is celebrated on 21^st September every year. In 2021, which is marked by the Covid-19 fear, stigma and hatred, we are trying to create a ground for establishing the mechanism of peacebuilding.

Peace Tourism:

It is a travel activity conducted to provide message of peace. Tourism not only entails international tourists, but also domestic and, in this activity, we are focusing on the domestic arenas of peace tourism. Visiting heritage places, eating at a place all entails the activity of peace. The peace tourism here specially focused on the socio-cultural aspect wherein a traveler will promote local culture and values. The promotion may include the food that a person eats, shopping, places of worships. The socio-cultural background creates an identity of the host places and thus when tourism incorporates those values then it promotes the mechanism of peace.

Peace Tourism through Heritage Cycling:

To enhance the activity of peace tourism, heritage, cycling is one of the mechanisms that is discussed upon. Following is the mechanism for heritage cycling:

1. In this activity, UNESCO listed heritage sites are selected and the participants will cycle to the site.
2. The cyclist will cycle with a peace message attached to the cycle or wherever feasible. Suggested place for the attaching peace slogan is: Chest and Back of a person; the front of the cycle. The slogan will also incorporate the environment, aligning the peace message.
3. At the heritage sites, designated volunteers are placed in a water, some first aid. A photo booth or photo frame is also placed at the heritage site. The photo frame is designed in such a manner as to promote the heritage sites.
4. A cyclist has to take a part in the photo frame to complete the activity.
5. Upon completion of cycling route, a badge is provided to the cyclist namely Patrimonito badge which will be distributed at the destination point of cycling route i.e. At Nepal Scouts Headquarter, Lainchaur.

Peace Dialogue:

The Eleven staff members of the international organization (four female and seven male and two of them are patient of blood pressure) were abducted by an armed group on Thursday 1-11-2019 in the province of dead hill, south west of Titanic. They were making their way back to the international delegation in Titanic following a humanitarian mission. They are being held in an undisclosed location, but the rebel- groups army’s leader just announces that he is ready to negotiate if international organization is ready to give a pressure to the government to release their party cadres.

The International organization is not in a position to say more at this stage about the process involved in seeking the release of its eleven employees or confidential discussions with the different parties concerned. Senior officer of the International Organization and assigned to negotiate with a rebel group.

The group was divided into three, Group A, B and C respectively. In each group there were 2 rebel and 2 humanitarian groups as well as there were 2 designated observers in each group, one of the YESS Girls team and one from Nepal Scouts NHQ Staff. Observer was requested to share their general observation in the last of the sharing session that we would be able to collect feedback for future reference.

Objectives:

The main objective of the project is:

• To allow participants to practice their skills in a low-risk setting and requires them to confront common negotiation problems directly, among other benefits.
• To teach participants how to handle disputes that are fraught with ethical issues while contributing in the community.
• To introduce participants to new negotiation and dispute resolution tools, techniques and strategies.
• To help participants to become better negotiators by allowing them to become familiar with communication styles, build trust, monitor agreements and know when to stop if an agreement can’t be reached in the time allowed.

Outcomes:

• Participants acquire a systematic framework for analyzing and understanding negotiation process.
• Assess and enhanced the participants’ awareness of strengths and weaknesses as a negotiator.
• Learn how to create and maximize value in negotiation skills in the community.
• Gained problem-solving techniques for distributing value fairly while strengthening relationships.
• Developed skills to deal with difficult negotiators and negotiation tactics.
• Helped participants to Discover how effectively to manage and coordinate across and behind-the-table negotiations.