International Day of Living Together in Peace, May 16, 2025

Every year on May 16, the International Day of Living Together in Peace is celebrated. It was established by the United Nations General Assembly with resolution 72/130 on December 8, 2017, to ensure continuity in the international community's work in promoting peace, inclusion, and mutual understanding.

This Day was announced in the wake of a series of initiatives promoted by the UN General Assembly, embodying one of the primary purposes for which the organisation was founded: to encourage collaboration among nations to solve global challenges through the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all and the fight against discrimination.

Among these initiatives, we recall the proclamation of the year 2000 as the "International Year for the Culture of Peace" with resolution 52/15 of 1997, the decade 2001-2010 as the "International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World" in 1998, as well as resolution 53/243, adopted in 1999, which led to the adoption of the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace. The latter, formulated from the key concept in UNESCO's Constitution that "since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed," still represents a universal mandate based on the idea of a positive and participatory peace.

In 2025, this Day aims to be an invitation to the entire international community to support reconciliation processes aimed at sustainable forms of peace and development, primarily involving local communities and their representatives.