United Nations Peace Bell Ceremony on the occasion of the International Day of Peace 2026 High-level Events Date: 9 September 2026 Language: English Transcript: https://transcripts.un.org/en/asset/k1u/k1uxv7ijo5 Transcripts available through this tool are created by using automatic speech recognition and are not official records nor official documents of the United Nations. Official records and official documents are available on the Official Document System of the United Nations. --- UN · USG Global Communications [5:35]: Excellencies, dear colleagues, friends, good morning. I'm Melissa Fleming, UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, and it is my honor to welcome you to this year's Peace Bell ceremony. We gather in observation of International Peace Day. It's commemorated every year on the 21st of September. And this is a date on which, if only for one moment, we ask the world to pause and reflect on what peace truly means. For our organization, this day carries special meaning. It speaks to the deepest aspirations of humankind, and that is to live in a world free of violence and strife. I would like to begin by thanking the young violinist from Tarumi Program and the United Nations Singers for the beautiful and inspiring music that they shared with us. The theme of this year's observance is "Invest in Peace for Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day." And this speaks to a simple truth that the benefits of peace must reach every person in every place on Earth. And that does not happen on its own. It takes quiet, often unseen work by community leaders, educators, young people, activists, neighbors, and citizens who choose dialogue over division, cooperation over confrontation. They are the everyday architects of peace. And their example shows what investing in peace actually means, not a decision made once, but a practice renewed day after day in ordinary moments and in ordinary places. And that is the work each of us can continue in our communities and beyond. It is now my pleasure to welcome the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, as well as His Excellency Mr. Khalilur Rahman, President of the 81st session of the General Assembly. And we are also pleased to be joined by Mr. Yamazaki Kazuyuki, who is the Permanent Representative of Japan, and Mrs. Yamazaki Yuko. And finally, it is our honor to have with us Mr. Abe Shin, the designer and the gardener of the Japanese garden in which we stand. as well as Ms. Takase Saiko, the daughter of the donor of the Peace Bell to the United Nations and also the founder of the Association of the Preservation of the UN Peace Bell. And I am pleased to note that as part of the Expo 2025 Osaka Legacy Project, essential maintenance work was carried out last month on the Peace Bell and on the Japanese Garden. which has helped to preserve this beautiful and meaningful place for future generations. Two plaques have also been installed, one here in the Japanese Garden and another in the visitors' lobby, so that the story and enduring message of the Peace Bell can reach the many people who visit the United Nations. I would like to express our sincere appreciation to the Government of Japan for its generous support for this work. Thank you once again for being with us this morning, and it is now my pleasure to welcome the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, who will ring the Peace Bell after his statement. Mr. Secretary General. UN · SG [9:31]: Mr. Mr. President of the General Assembly, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, each year, the toll of the Peace Bell reminds us of the most important and consequential job we have: building peace. Peace is never a perceived achievement. Peace is hard work. Peace is action. But in our world today, action for peace is faltering. Violence and division are tearing apart communities. Conflicts are widening and deepening. People are suffering. And the dialogue and solidarity that solutions require are missing in action. But where governments are failing to deliver peace, people are showing another way. Around the world, volunteers, advocates, civil society, leaders, peacekeepers, and peacemakers are doing the heavy lifting of peace, raising their voices, bridging divides, healing communities. So their actions, large and small, They are bringing to life the theme of this year's International Day of Peace, "Investing in Peace for Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day." As world leaders prepare to gather at the United Nations in the coming weeks, I urge them to follow the lead of these champions of peace by investing in sustainable development, in people's health, education, nutrition, and social protection. by building institutions and systems that people can trust, by safeguarding the human rights and dignity that belong to every person, by recommitting to the proven tools of peace, diplomacy, dialogue, negotiation, and peacekeeping, and by ending wars and conflicts now. Today, I'll call on world leaders to stand with us, take action, invest in solutions, and do the hard work of building lasting, sustainable peace. This is the last time I will ring the peace bell, but I will always stand with the champions of peace around the world. Thank you. UN · USG Global Communications [12:15]: Thank you, Mr. Secretary General, and please join me now in welcoming the President of the General Assembly, His Excellency Mr. Khalilur Rahman. And following his statement, the President of the General Assembly will also ring the Peace Bell. GA · PGA [12:37]: Mr. Secretary General, Ambassador Yamazaki Madam Yamazaki, Under Secretary General Fleming, and all those gathered here at this monument of peace, peace be upon all of us. I'm honored to join you today to commemorate the International Day of Peace. Allow me to express my sincere thanks to Ambassador Yamazaki and the Permanent Mission of Japan for maintaining this venerable tradition. We are privileged to be joined by Ms. Takase Siko, daughter of Peace Bell creator Chiyoji Nakagawa, who proposed his idea to the sixth session of the General Assembly in Paris in 1951. Moved by an extraordinary aspiration for peace, Mr. Nakagawa collected coins from around the world, melted them, and cast the Peace Bell from the stories they told. This is what he has done, stories of saving, lives and sacrifice, of solidarity in times of chaos, of hope that the seeds for global peace might one day take hold. This hope for peace was placed in the hands of the United Nations, where we are standing today, and with it a duty to ensure it was not placed in vain. In ringing the bell today, we are reminded of this legacy. and the inescapable truth for which this bell tolls. Peace must be built, and it is our shared responsibility to build it, through acts of courage and compromise, through choices of unity over division, and the countless individual contributions that give life to our collective aims. It's not easy, as the Secretary-General said, but this is a difficult task that we must do. Indeed, to invest in peace is to invest in trust, and 81 years on, in the confidence that multilateral actions can still deliver for those it exists to serve. This year's theme, "Invest in Peace for Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day," reminds us of this calling. Like the Peace Bell, the UN was formed in a crucible, from the ashes of war. It ushered in a new dawn, bringing countries of different histories and cultures together to build something greater than any could build alone. We see this mosaic represented in the General Assembly, and as President of the 81st session of the Assembly, I take our shared mission to heart. I will work tirelessly to renew trust among Member States and in this institution. Excellencies, you may know that beneath this bell are handfuls of soil from Nagasaki and Hiroshima, sent to Mr. Nakagawa by hibakusha, survivors of the atomic blasts of 1945. Their wish for peace so strong, it is the literal ground on which we stand, a poignant reminder that from tragedy, we can leave something behind that asks more from us today. As the Assembly enters its ninth decade, we honor their memory. We make a vow to tomorrow's generations to choose peace over peril, dialogue over division. We recommit to the hard-won principles of the Charter for which those in San Francisco in 1945 stood in awe. And we uphold the tenets of international law underpinning all we do. Like those who came before us, let us cultivate our extraordinary aspiration for peace. Let it guide us towards a future where each generation leaves to the next a world more worthy of peace. I thank you. UN · USG Global Communications [17:30]: I believe we now have a song from the UN singers, and I would like to thank them in advance. And let's listen. UN · UN Singers [17:59]: This is my song, O God of all the nations, a song of peace for lands afar and mine. This is my home, the country where my heart is. Here are my My dreams, my holy shrine. What other hearts My country's skies are bluer than the ocean, and sunlight beams on clover leaves and And skies are. UN · USG Global Communications [19:51]: I would like to thank the UN Singers for that beautiful song, and all of you who joined us here in person, and those of you who joined us remotely, for this meaningful annual tradition that honors the fundamental aspiration of people everywhere, the pursuit of peace. Thank you.