On Saturday September 21, 2013, we ended the Peace Palace Centenary Celebrations with a spectacular Peace One Day concert. The initiator of this concert is British documentary filmmaker, actor and peace activist Jeremy Gilley, who heads a non-profit organization with the same name and who is the 2010 recipient of the Carnegie Wateler Peace Prize. He hosted the concert together with fellow British actor and Peace One Day Ambassador Jude Law. During the press conference we got the chance to briefly interview them and talked about the importance of Peace One Day! Here what they had to say
What is the reason you came up with this concert?
Jeremy Gilley : I was concerned, frightened and confused about what was going on in the world and I wanted to make a difference in a little way and so I decided to make a film about peace. I then realized that there was no Day of Peace and that´s when I got the idea about making a film about creating the first ever day of cease fire and non violence with a fixed calendar date voted for by every government in the world. It was successful and the 21 of September is now World´s Peace Day.
How important is it to involve children in Peace Day?
Jude Law : Their recognition, discussion and embrace of a Day of Peace is of huge importance. The subject of Peace and great peacekeepers and peacemakers like Jeremy are icons and heroes of the world. They´re also the generation that we hope will make this day as important and significant as every other special day such as Christmas, Valentine´s Day or birthdays.
Jeremy Gilley: 'Peace One Day' has free educational materials which we've have on our website for seven years now for teachers as well as for parents. There are all kinds of series of lesson plans on how to inspire and empower young people to be the driving force behind the vision of the UN Peace Day. This can be done through different school activities such as through art, literature and music. These educational materials are currently being used in a 197 countries. Last week and this weekend, there are literally millions of young people across the globe who are doing extraordinary things with their families and who are being peacemakers within their own families. The children could be instigated in to something that is collective which will improve the quality of their lives and therefore of their communities and our cities and countries. I believe that this is incredibly constructive. I think the point is, that if we want to move from a culture of war to a culture of peace, we are going to have to give the tools to young people to become the peacemakers of tomorrow. Until they get the tools, I feel we are lacking in supporting them to create the kind of world we want to create.
Here in the Peace Palace, we are trying to look for new solutions to help solve international legal problems. In doing so, we sometimes feel that that we are creating a distance between the legal institutions and the people on the ground. What can we do to involve individuals more in the work we do to close the gap between them and the courts?
Jude Law; What kind of events are you doing to encourage them?
Peace Palace Library Staff: Apart from this not very many so far.
Jude Law: I´m no expert on this, but it seems to me that opening your gates and holding events like this would be a good idea. And treating this as part of their community seems like a positive way forward.
Are audiovisuals materials a good instrument to use to communicate the message of peace and justice?
Jude Law: Something Jeremy taught me which is why I really got involved initially as a filmmaker and as someone involved in film was using media as a positive tool to document but also to educate and spread the word as a form of communication. His organization does that in a very effective way.
The 'Peace One Day' Concert took place on Saturday September 21, 2013, in the garden of the Peace Palace. Acts included performances by Natasha Bedingfield, Kane, The Feeling, Carlinhos Brown, Miguel Bosé, Jahméne Douglas and Paul van Dyk.