United Nations: International Day of Peace 2014. Saturday 20th September 2014, a meeting at the University of Padova was held, attended by mayors, in support of the human right to peace, University of Padova, 20 September 2014,

On the occasion of the International Day of Peace, Saturday 20th September 2014, there will be a meeting at the Archivio Antico del Palazzo del Bo, University of Padova, in support of a United Nations Declaration for the international recognition of the human right to peace. The meeting will be attended by mayors, municipal and regional councillors and representatives of civil society organisations.

It is hoped that the International Day of Peace 2014, will help to create Group of City Diplomacy named "Article 1-Right to Peace" in the Veneto region. The Group will have the task of informing and raising the awareness of Human Rights to the public and creating educational events on the specific issue of the right to peace. The group will also invite twinned municipalities of other countries to sign the petitionary motion dedicated to the international recognition of the human right to peace that has been approved by the local and the regional authorities. Moreover, the Group will be tasked to ask the Italian members of the EU’s Committee of the Regions and of the CoE’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities to introduce the petitionary motion within these bodies.

There is a need to act in order to make the UN Declaration adopting the Article 1 proposed by the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, which reads:

1. Individuals and peoples have a right to peace. This right shall be implemented without any distinction or discrimination for reasons of race, descent, national, ethnic or social origin, colour, gender, sexual orientation, age, language, religion or belief, political or other opinion, economic situation or heritage, diverse physical or mental functionality, civil status, birth or any other condition; 2. States, severally and jointly, or as part of multilateral organizations, are the principal duty-holders of the right to peace; 3. The right to peace is universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. 4. States shall abide by the legal obligation to renounce the use or threat of use of force in international relations. 5. All States, in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, shall use peaceful means to settle any dispute to which they are parties. 6. All States shall promote the establishment, maintenance and strengthening of international peace in an international system based on respect for the principles enshrined in the Charter and the promotion of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development and the right of peoples to self-determination.

The meeting is organised by: Human Rights Centre of the University of Padova, UNESCO Chair in Human Rights, Democracy and Peace, Municipality of Este, Municipality of Ponte San Nicolò, Municipality of Loria, Beati i Costruttori di Pace, Incontro fra i Popoli, Associazione Diritti Umani-Sviluppo Umano.