UN marks International Day of Peace

(September 21, 2009) The chief of the United Nations has called on nations to intensify efforts to reduce stockpiles of weapons capable of inflicting large-scale devastation and death, saying no one is safe with them. “On this International Day of Peace, I have a simple message for all: We Must Disarm! We must have peace,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after ringing the UN Peace Bell in a ceremony at UN Headquarters on Friday. The Secretary-General’s 100-day campaign on weapons of mass destruction – “WMD-We Must Disarm” – culminated on September 21, Monday, the annual International Day of Peace. During the campaign Ban, UN Messenger of Peace, Michael Douglas and US actor Rainn Wilson raised awareness of the dangers and costs of nuclear weapons by issuing a reason a day explaining the importance of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation on social networking websites and tools such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. Pointing out that most of the victims of conflict are powerless, innocent civilians, fathers, mothers, and children, Ban said that without peace “they have little hope of improving their lives. Little hope of escaping poverty.” The UN chief later repeated his message to over 1,000 students and teachers at the UN headquarters, and noted that he sent messages on Twitter to involve the whole world in the campaign to eliminate weapons of mass destruction.