Peace One Day
Encyclopedia
Peace One Day was founded by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 documentary filmmaker and actor Jeremy Gilley
Jeremy Gilley
Jeremy Gilley is an English actor, filmmaker and founder of the charity Peace One Day.-Early life:Born in 1969, Gilley spent his early years in Southampton, England. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at 17.-Career:...

 in September 1999. The charity promotes the idea of one day a year free of conflict and war, one day of a global truce regardless of all kinds of conflict. The UN had already declared the third Tuesday of September the international day of peace in 1981. However initial success for the charity came on the 7th September 2001 when the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 passed a further resolution declaring 21 September the International Day of Peace
International Day of Peace
The International Day of Peace, also known as the World Peace Day, occurs annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to peace, and specifically the absence of war, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone. It is observed by many nations, political groups, military...

 with the additional aim of declaring a global ceasefire and doing so on a fixed day of the year.

To raise public awareness of Peace One Day, celebrities and musicians gather together for large concerts on Peace Day. With the proceeds of these concerts students are provided with packets of information and a documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 was is made of the entire process. Peace One Day has also partnered with large corporations like Skype
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...

, Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

, and Puma AG
PUMA AG
Puma SE, officially branded as PUMA, is a major German multinational company that produces high-end athletic shoes, lifestyle footwear and other sportswear. Formed in 1924 as Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik by Adolf and Rudolf Dassler, relationships between the two brothers deteriorated until the two...

 in order to continue raising awareness of 21 September and the importance of global ceasefire.

Background

At the Womad music festival in 1998 Jeremy Gilley conceived the idea of one day when all countries vowed not to wage war; a worldwide ceasefire
Ceasefire
A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces...

, a non-violence day. Later that year, Jeremy began meeting students, peace negotiators, NGOs, government representatives, heads of state, and United Nations officials in order to make his dream a reality. Those he contacted included:His Holiness the Dalai Lama, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson
Mary Robinson
Mary Therese Winifred Robinson served as the seventh, and first female, President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. She first rose to prominence as an academic, barrister, campaigner and member of the Irish Senate...

, Secretary General of the League of Arab States Amre Moussa
Amr Moussa
Amr Mohammed Moussa is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the Secretary-General of the Arab League, a 22-member forum representing Arab states, from 1 June 2001 until 1 June 2011. He is a candidate in the 2011 Egyptian presidential election....

, Peace Laureate and former Israeli President Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...

, former Costa Rican President and Nobel Peace Laureate- Oscar Arias Sanchez, Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...

 and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...

.

Through numerous meetings it was learned that a United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

 resolution would be a good way to establish such a day, and this was made that the goal. Many of the meetings were filmed and compiled them to create the documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 "Peace One Day", which was then showed to the United Nations General Assembly to convince them of the importance of the mission of Peace One Day.

After much effort. On 7 September 2001, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution, sponsored by the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

, formally establishing an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on the UN International Day of Peace
International Day of Peace
The International Day of Peace, also known as the World Peace Day, occurs annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to peace, and specifically the absence of war, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone. It is observed by many nations, political groups, military...

 - Peace Day - fixed in the global calendar on 21 September. This recalled the previous UN resolution that had declared the first ever peace days.

The first Peace Days passed relatively uneventfully, and it was not until 2006 that "life-saving activities" began to take place on the 21st. On Peace Day 2006 the World Food Programme delivered 30 tonnes of food to Southern Sudan, Star Syringe Ltd. carried out immunization programs in nine countries, and the International Rescue Committee
International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee is a leading nonsectarian, nongovernmental international relief and development organization based in the United States, with operations in over 40 countries...

 reunited a former child soldier with her family. 2007 was an even better year for the organization: "over 100 million people, in over 100 countries are marking the day, today [September 21] in many different ways," said Director of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 News and Media Department Ahmad Fawzi.

Around the world Peace Day walks, discussions, poetry readings, assemblies, and football matches were held, but most important of all has been the ceasefire in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

. The ceasefire allowed UN agencies and the Afghan government to give polio vaccines to 1.4 million children in areas of southern and eastern Afghanistan. Gilley and Peace One Day Ambassador Jude Law
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...

 traveled to Afghanistan to videotape the impact of the 2007 Peace Day in Afghanistan for Gilley's documentary "The Day After Peace", meeting with Afghan Minister of Education Mohammad Atmar, UN Special Representative to Afghanistan Tom Koenigs, the head of the Afghan Red Crescent Society
Afghan Red Crescent Society
The Afghan Red Cross Society is the Afghan affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The Society has existed for over 70 years although with limited structure due to the prevailing conditions which have affected the country at large for over 20 years.-...

 Fatima Gailani, and many others.

In 2008 Peace One Day formed a partnership with Puma AG
PUMA AG
Puma SE, officially branded as PUMA, is a major German multinational company that produces high-end athletic shoes, lifestyle footwear and other sportswear. Formed in 1924 as Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik by Adolf and Rudolf Dassler, relationships between the two brothers deteriorated until the two...

 to launch One Day One Goal with the hope of seeing football matches played on Peace Day in all 192 member states of the United Nations. The idea was that these football matches, or "unity matches" would bring together people from different communities and cultures who would ordinarily not play together, and in 2009 over 700 matches were held in over 200 countries on Peace Day.

Peace One Day has also formed partnerships with several clothing designers, including Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for Marc Jacobs, as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, with more than 200 retail stores in 60 countries. He has been the creative director of the French design house Louis Vuitton since 1997...

, Stella McCartney
Stella McCartney
Stella Nina McCartney is an English fashion designer. She is the daughter of former Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney and the late photographer and animal rights activist, Linda McCartney.-Early life:...

, Toby Mott
Toby Mott
Toby Victor Mott is a British artist,designer and sometime Punk historian known for his work with the Grey Organisation, an artists' collective that was active in the 1980s, and for his fashion brand Toby Pimlico...

, Dave Little, and Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters, Inc. is a publicly traded American company that owns and operates five retail brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN....

 in order to continue to raise money and awareness. T-shirts by the designers are available for purchase from the Peace One Day online shop, and money from the purchases goes toward funding Peace Day activities, documentaries, and education.

On September 21, 2010, the Board of the Carnegie Foundation announced that Peace One Day and Jeremy Gilley
Jeremy Gilley
Jeremy Gilley is an English actor, filmmaker and founder of the charity Peace One Day.-Early life:Born in 1969, Gilley spent his early years in Southampton, England. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at 17.-Career:...

 would be the recipient of the Wateler Peace Prize
Wateler Peace Prize
The Wateler Peace Prize is awarded annually by the Dutch Carnegie Foundation and is named for J.G.D. Wateler who, upon his death on 22 July 1927 "bequeathed his estate to the Dutch State, under the proviso that the annual revenue accruing from it should be expended upon the awarding of a prize to...

.

Peace One Day Concerts

As part of the charity's continuing plan to raise awareness of Peace Day the charity has organized numerous concerts with the support of celebrities and musicians like Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...

, Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...

, Joseph Fiennes
Joseph Fiennes
Joseph Fiennes is an English film and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayals of William Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love, Sir Robert Dudley in Elizabeth, Commisar Danilov in Enemy at the Gates, Martin Luther in Luther, Merlin in Camelot, and his portrayal of Mark Benford in the...

, Sir Richard Branson, and the late Mo Mowlam
Mo Mowlam
Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam was a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament for Redcar from 1987 to 2001 and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.Mowlam's time as Northern...

. The first concert was held in 2002 at the Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....

 Academy in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and it was so successful that a second concert was held there again in 2003. In 2007, the Peace One Day team organized a third concert at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

 in London, headlining Annie Lennox with Yusuf Islam, Corinne Bailey Rae
Corinne Bailey Rae
Corinne Bailey Rae is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leeds, who released her debut album Corinne Bailey Rae in February 2006....

, James Morrison
James Morrison (singer)
James Morrison is a BRIT Award-winning English singer-songwriter and guitarist from Rugby, Warwickshire. In 2006, his debut single "You Give Me Something" became a hit in Europe, Australia, and Japan, peaking in the top five in the UK and New Zealand. His debut album, Undiscovered, debuted at the...

, Kate Nash
Kate Nash
Kate Marie Nash is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. She had a UK no. 2 hit "Foundations" in 2007, followed by the platinum selling UK number 1 album Made of Bricks. She was named Best Female Artist at the 2008 BRIT Awards....

, and Marc Almond
Marc Almond
Marc Almond is an English singer-songwriter and musician, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell...

. The concert also included specially filmed pieces from Jude Law
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...

, David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...

, and Lord David Puttnam
David Puttnam
David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam, CBE, FRSA is a British film producer. He sits on the Labour benches in the House of Lords, although he is not principally a politician.-Early life:...

. A second concert was held at the Royal Albert Hall in 2008, and it was broadcast in 93 countries. In 2009 the Peace One Day 10th Anniversary Concert was held in Paris at Le Grand Rex, and this concert included performances by Lenny Kravitz, Kasabian, and Keziah Jones
Keziah Jones
Keziah Jones is a Nigerian singer-songwriter and guitarist. He describes his musical style as "Blufunk", which is a fusion between raw blues elements and hard, edgy funk rhythms...

.

In addition to the concerts, Peace One Day joined with Dave Stewart
David A. Stewart
David Allan Stewart , often known as Dave Stewart, is an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for his work with Eurythmics. He is usually credited as David A. Stewart, to avoid confusion with other musicians named "Dave Stewart".-Early life:Stewart was born in Sunderland,...

 and Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff, OM is a Jamaican musician, singer and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences...

 to create a special song titled "Peace For One Day" that they hope will be played on radio stations around the world on Peace Day.

Education Initiatives

Peace One Day launched its first educational resource, the Peace One Day Citizenship Resource Pack in May 2006. Since then, the team has gone on to create an education resource that is available free online to those who have registered with the website. The resource is meant to be used in schools to teach children in grades 6-12 about conflict resolution, global citizenship, human rights, and the link between sustainability and peace; there are currently 5,000 users and by 2010 the organization hopes to have 20,000 educators utilizing the resource. In 2010, with the help of Skype, Peace One Day launched the resource in the six official languages of the UN (Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish), all also available free online. The new online resource contains an extra lesson, "Intercultural Cooperation", that allows students to connect with students from other countries through Skype.

A major part of the education resources are the "Three Steps to Peace One Day", which are:
  1. Decide what you will do to make peace on 21 September
  2. Log your Peace Day commitment at www.peaceoneday.org
  3. Tell others around the world and ask them to complete the Three Steps


They are meant to be small steps that will encourage children to recognize the importance of peace and the understanding that one person can make a difference, as well as steps that will spread global awareness of Peace Day.

Peace One Day Films

The first documentary Peace One Day (2004) shows the real-life results of Peace Day 21 September around the world, including life-saving initiatives by leading humanitarian organizations. The film was used to encourage the members of the United Nations General Assembly to adopt the 21st of September as the day of global ceasefire and nonviolence, and includes footage of Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama, Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...

, Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...

, and Alan Rickman
Alan Rickman
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...

.

Gilley completed a second feature documentary, The Day After Peace, in 2008. The film includes footage of the visit to Afghanistan by Jeremy and Jude Law
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...

 and has won numerous awards, including the Cinèma Vérité Award in Paris and Geneva and the Best Documentary Award at the Zimbabwe International Film Festival
Zimbabwe International Film Festival
The Zimbabwe International Film Festival is an annual ten day film festival held in Zimbabwe in August or September. It is a non-profit organisation. The festival is a non-political competitive platform that provides a showcase of feature films, documentary films and short films, as well as...

. It was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

 on 19 May 2008 and was shown on 21 September 2008, at a Gala screening at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. It was also shown on 20 September 2008 on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....

 as part of the Storyville strand and on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

on 27 September 2008. In August 2008 free screenings of the film were offered in Afghanistan. This was part of a promotional tour with Peace One Day Ambassador Jude Law, to encourage all citizens of Afghanistan to celebrate Peace Day.

In 2010, Gilley completed a third feature documentary, entitled Peace One Day Part Three. Produced by Gilley and Jude Law, it received its premiere broadcasts on 18/19 September 2010 on BBC World, with a reach of 306 million households in over 200 countries.

In 2010, Peace One Day launched a new division, POD Productions. POD Productions now provides film production services for third parties. All revenue goes into the Education and Life-Saving campaigns.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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