To mark the International Day of Peace, a Peace Circle was held at the opening of the SDG Media Zone at the 81st Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly on 21 September 2026.
The Peace Circle, a social mobilization feature of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ¡¯s Hear Us. Act Now for a Peaceful World campaign on youth empowerment and inclusion, focused on the theme of Peace Day ¨C Invest in Peace: For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day.
Bringing together a diverse, intergenerational group of youth advocates, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ leaders, refugees, influencers, civil society representatives, and peacebuilders, the discussion explored how to meaningfully invest in peace.
Investing in youth
Moderated by award-winning journalist and former Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief Versha Sharma, the Peace Circle emphasized what meaningful investment in peace requires amid rising conflict, inequality, and displacement. Participants emphasized that peace must be built through education, opportunity, inclusion, and greater investment in young people, and not only through diplomacy and conflict prevention.
Youth as agents of peace
A recurring theme throughout the Peace Circle was that young people should not be treated merely as beneficiaries of peacebuilding efforts but recognized as leaders driving change. Drawing on her experience growing up as a refugee in Kakuma, Goodwill Ambassador urged institutions to listen before deciding how to invest: ¡°Before you invest money on me, listen to me.¡±
Young people and refugees living through crises, Maker stressed, are already mobilizing toward change as they develop solutions within their own communities. What they need, she argued, are resources and platforms to scale those solutions.
World Scouting representative Noor Al Musallam reinforced that message: ¡°Young people are already giving back to their communities.¡± She argued that the real gap is not one of skills but of opportunities to turn those skills into meaningful impact.
Jonathan Lam, the youngest board member of Amnesty International USA, similarly highlighted the importance of intergenerational organizing, noting that connecting younger generations with the experiences and stories of those who came before them can strengthen community mobilization for peace.
, the Executive Director of the , reinforced the call to trust young people as leaders, noting that young people ¡°don¡¯t need us to be empowered¡± but need security, support and resources that reach communities directly.
Education as protection
Education also emerged as a critical example of what investing in peace looks like in practice. Goodwill Ambassador described education as more than learning, calling it ¡°protection¡± and ¡°stability¡± for children living through conflict and displacement.
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications also emphasized the strategic importance of educating refugees, noting that young people given opportunities today may one day become the very people needed to rebuild their countries tomorrow. Recalling Hani, a Syrian refugee who fled with his high school diploma, Fleming highlighted the profound importance of education as both a means of survival and a source of hope for the future.
Speakers also called for broader changes in how societies invest in peace. Actor and Youth Champion in India, , reflected on what even a small share of global military expenditure could make possible if invested in health facilities, schools, vocational training, and the arts, while also calling for more confidence in youth leadership.
Rebalancing military spending
Sanghi was responding to the fact that global military spending reached a record high of $2.7 trillion in 2025. And just a small fraction of that could end world hunger, vaccinate children everywhere, and help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change.
of the Children of Ukraine Foundation, who was recognized as a ¡°Leader for Tomorrow¡± by the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Office for Disarmament Affairs, argued that investing in peace requires directing resources toward resilient societies and the next generation.
, the Director of the Outreach Division of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Department of Global Communications, connected those investments to the broader foundations on which lasting peace depends. ¡°Peace can only be built on solid grounds of justice, equality, respect for human rights, and a rule of law that applies to all,¡± he said.
As the Peace Circle drew to a close, participants were asked what peace means to them personally. Their answers ranged from keeping families together to creating the freedom for children to simply grow up without fear.
Safety, opportunity and dignity
Al Musallam captured a theme that had run throughout the conversation, describing peace as ¡°having the safety, the opportunity, and dignity to build a future you believe in.¡±
Taken together, the discussion in the Peace Circle pointed to a broader message: meaningful peace requires listening to young people, investing in the solutions they are already creating, and ensuring that their participation extends into the spaces where they can shape the decisions that determine their futures.
Since the launch of the Hear Us. Act Now for a Peaceful World campaign in September 2025, approximately 350 Peace Circles have taken place around the world ¡ª across 60 countries and 150 locations.