International Day of Peace
21 Ways to Act for Peace this September
Click hereto download the 21 Ways to Act for Peace brochure as a PDF which you can distribute at your church or community group.
1. Sign up! Join the Act for Peace mailing list at www.actforpeace.org.au and receive regular updates on how you can act for peace.
2. Use social media to promote peace. Encourage your friends to devote their Twitter and Facebook status to “International Day of Peace”. Follow Act for Peace on Twitter at @actforpeace, use the hashtag #peacedayaus, and add us on Facebook to keep informed.
3. Plan an event for the International Day of Peace! Encourage everyone at your workplace, school or church to bring multicultural food, music and clothes on 21 September.
4. Encourage interfaith dialogue. If you are part of a faith-based group, why not organise an interfaith event to promote understanding and friendship between different faith-based groups in your community.
5. Help us organise a ceasefire! We’re calling on Australian politicians to observe a “ceasefire” on September 21 – you can write to your local MP to ask them to participate! Visit our website and find out more.
6. Support the Horn of Africa emergency appeal. Twelve million people affected by drought in the war-torn Horn of Africa desperately need your help. Visit our website to give.
7. Stop Cluster Bombs! These bombs within bombs can lie unexploded on the ground for years after a conflict and kill innocent civilians. Find out more and send a letter to your MP through our website.
8. Download the Building Blocks of Peace education modules, which are comprehensive resources on peace and sustainability for high school teachers. If you’re a student, tell your teacher about them! The modules are available at the Institute for Economics and Peace website.
9. Help to end mandatory detention of asylum seekers by signing the petition on our website.
10. Join teams in 180 other countries that are playing a game of soccer as part of the global One Day One Goal campaign for the International Day of Peace. Visit the website to find out how.
11. Give a talk at your school or church on international peace. Visit the interactive map on our website to learn more about conflict affected countries worldwide.
12. Make the Arms Trade Treaty bulletproof. Visit the Act for Peace website to find out how you can help stop the sale of arms which kill 750,000 people each year, and injure ten times more.
13. Host a film screening of a documentary that promotes peace and raises awareness of conflicts and poverty. Invite your friends, colleagues and members of your community. Ideas for films to watch can be found on the Teach Peace website.
14. Help to retire the bomb by adding your name to the One Million Pleas campaign, which was launched last year to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The campaign aims to gather the support of one million people around the world to support the abolition of nuclear weapons. Visit the website to find out more.
15. Join the call for Palestinian Statehood. In a few days, a declaration will be made at the United Nations for a Palestinian State. Visit our website to find out how you can lend your support.
16. Organise a fundraiser for Act for Peace’s Christmas Bowl. Your contributions help people in some of the world’s worst conflict-affected countries. Visit our website at
www.actforpeace.org.au/christmasbowl to view the range of online resources and start planning!
17. Keep the Promise! Next month, on October 15, 16 and 17, we’ll be joining Make Poverty History to call on political leaders to keep their promise to the world’s poor, many of whom are trapped by conflict. This nation-wide action will use the symbol of a handshake to remind leaders of the commitment they have made. Visit our website to find out more.
18. Join the International Day of Prayer for Peace. Led by the World Council of Churches, this is a day for people of all faiths to come together and pray for peace. Download resources here.
19. Call your local paper and ask them to cover your event on the International Day of Peace. If you haven’t organised an event, you could ask them to do an article on someone in your community from a conflict-affected country and talk about the issues.
20. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper so that it can be published on the International Day of Peace. For ideas, visit our website.
21. Act for peace! Tell people it’s Peace Day. Wear white! Have your own ceasefire! Promote peace and harmony and above all, remember those people affected by conflict in your thoughts, prayers and actions today and every day.
Click here to return to the main International Day of Peace page.
