The Peace Institute adheres this Tuesday 21st of September, the International Day of Peace, which was established by the UN General Assembly in 1981 for "commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace within and among all nations and people." Twenty years later, the General Assembly decided that 21 September would be observed annually as a "day of global ceasefire and non-violence" and invited all Member States to commemorate the day, including through education and public awareness.Peace work includes more than only reduction of violence and war in between nations. Peace work includes working against violence and promoting the capacity of peaceful conflict resolution and participation in society also on a structural and individual level.
Following this goal, the Peace Institute manages several projects to promote peace. As every year, in September, the School Peace for the school year 2010-2011 was declared in the town square in Mariehamn. Within this project young people on Åland get to learn how to resolve conflicts in differents levels in the school. The Peace Institute also offers mediation for criminal cases and certain disputes.
This year the Peace Institute has a cross border project with Latvia to prevent trafficking. In our society there is a conflict when one sex has more privilege than other and when one sex is more vulnerable than the other. One of the purposes of this cross border project is questioning gendered power relations and stereotypical ideas about roles of men and women, by envolving young people from Latvia and Åland in boys and girls groups where they learn how to include the gender perspective in their lives and thereby preventing trafficking.
The school peace project is a cooperation between the Åland government, the Åland Islands Peace Institute, Folkhälsan on Åland, and Save the Children Åland. What is more, the Challenging gender roles for prevention of trafficking is a cross border project between the Peace Institute and the Center for Women Marta, in Latvia.
To raise awareness on the International Day of Peace, the initiative Peace One Day looks to engage all sectors of society, including governments, international organizations, regional and non-governmental organizations and individuals through encouraging them to take action.
For more information about Peace One Day click here.