In dedicating to the culture of peace its first Year and Decade for the 21st Century, the United Nations called for a “transformation from a culture of war and violence to a culture of peace and non-violence.” See The UN and a Culture of Peace and the global movement for a culture of peace.

The culture of peace is an emerging reality, germinating and growing in the values, attitudes and actions of people, a problem-solving process that needs to be cultivated and supported. Hence the official slogans of the International Year for the Culture of Peace were “Cultivate Peace” and “Peace is in Our Hands.”

The Culture of Peace News Network (CPNN) enables us to learn from each other’s experiences and ideas. Its scope is defined by the eight program areas defined in the United Nations Program of Action on a Culture of Peace that was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1999: peace education, sustainable development, human rights, women’s equality, democratic participation, tolerance and solidarity, free flow of information and disarmament and security.

The programme areas of the UN Programme of Action were translated into actions to be undertaken by individuals in the Manifesto 2000 that was signed by 75 million people during the UN International Year for the Culture of Peace.

Let us learn together how to make the transformation from a culture of war and violence to a culture of peace and non-violence.