Why the International Day of Peace matters in 2026

This article has been updated.

The global outlook for peace is challenging, to say the least. There were 195 separate armed conflicts recorded in 2025 and over 1,300 experts worldwide have concluded that state-based armed conflict is the second-biggest risk in 2026, behind geoeconomic confrontation and ahead of extreme weather events.

Yet as the United Nations (UN) marks International Day of Peace on 21 September, its outgoing Secretary-General, António Guterres, reminds the world, “Peace is never a passive achievement”.

The 2026 Global Risks Report finds that "the world is balancing on a precipice. The turmoil caused by kinetic wars alongside deployment of economic weapons for strategic advantage is continuing to fragment societies".

Framed as 'The Age of Competition', the report says "stability is under siege" as cooperative mechanisms unravel and governments retreat from multilateral frameworks. Confrontation is replacing collaboration, it says, and trust is losing its value.

According to the 2025 Global Peace Index, there are more state-based armed conflicts ongoing than at any time since World War Two. So the UN's 2026 theme of 'Invest in Peace - For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day' couldn't be more timely.

The UN was established in October 1945, less than two months after the end of World War Two, with the specific aims in its Charter to “maintain international peace and security”, “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights”, “promote social progress and better standards of life” and ensure “justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law”.

The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which takes place each year in September. A UN resolution declared it a day for “commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples”.

Twenty years later, UNGA passed a second resolution designating the day as a time of non-violence and cease-fire – advocating for a cessation of hostilities while promoting dialogue, conflict resolution and peace education.

Since 2001, the International Day of Peace has been held on 21 September.

International Day of Peace activities take various forms across the globe.

In many parts of the world, the day is marked by a minute of silence, peace education events, intercultural dialogues and other activities that improve understanding and cooperation between cultures.

Each year, the day is marked at UN Headquarters with the Peace Bell Ceremony. The Peace Bell was cast in the early 1950s from coins and medals given by representatives of the UN member states and children from all continents.

"Man has ... suffered from wars since prehistory, and ... peace has been a long cherished wish of man," said Chiyoji Nakagawa, a member of the board of the Japanese UN Association, who donated the bell in 1954.

Little progress has been made in the intervening years - indeed, conflicts have been escalating since the 2010s, Uppsala Conflict Data Program charts show.

With action for peace faltering, violence and division destroying communities, and conflicts worldwide deepening, volunteers, advocates and peacekeepers are stepping in where governments are failing, Guterres said at the bell ceremony.

The UN is urging world leaders to follow the lead of these 'champions of peace' by:

As Guterres said: “Each year, the toll of the Peace Bell reminds us of the most important and consequential job we have: building peace".