Our Voices for Peace
Review of an Exceptional Day
On April 2, 2026, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva and online around the world, more than 900 people shared a call for the awakening of consciousness and the choice of Peace. A call carried by love of life and our shared humanity, beyond all borders, beyond the ideologies that destroy lives and divide peoples.
📅 April 2nd 2026
🏛️ Palais des Nations · Salle Tempus · Geneva
🌐 French & English
« This 2026 edition was described as exceptional, embodying momentum in a very unstable geopolitical context and thus marked by the urgency of our times. »
900
Participants
400
Online
250+
Young People Taking Action
24
Preparatory Workshops
30
Speakers
Ovations
4
35
Partner Organizations
21
Represented Countries
13
On the occasion of the International Day of Consciousness, the Palais des Nations in Geneva welcomed, on April 2, 2026, approximately 900 participants who came to experience an exceptional event. They met great witnesses of peace and humanity from some of the most devastated regions of the world, committed thinkers, institutional representatives, on-the-ground actors and activists, artists and young people from around the world.
In a world marked by conflict, fractures and rising violence, the International Day of Consciousness, unanimously adopted in 2019 by the United Nations General Assembly, launched a clear and urgent call:
Create spaces for meeting, dialogue and awakening of consciousness to build peace and together contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Because peace cannot be decreed through speeches alone, the 2026 International Day of Consciousness was a sensitive, collective and lived experience. A vibrant meeting of hearts and consciousnesses, where those who have known war testified to the strength of our shared authentic humanity, a powerful barrier against the ideologies and destructive forces that traverse the world.
The event was co-organized by Pascale Fressoz, founding president of the International Alliance for Sustainable Development Goals NGO (AI-ODD, ECOSOC consultative status with the United Nations), and Sofia Stril-Rever, initiator of the celebration of the International Day of Consciousness in 2023 and founder of the LoveForce philanthropic fund, sponsor of the event. The event benefited from the support of a broad collective of partner foundations and NGOs, the UN Directorate General in Geneva, local authorities in the Savoie regions, educational institutions and higher education and research establishments based in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Geneva.
Thirty speakers from 13 countries delivered poignant messages alongside Melissa Parke, Nobel Prize laureate and former minister in Australia, activists, young leaders, diplomats and artists. The discussions were punctuated by art with the work of Anima, the music of the brilliant Iranian conductor Karim Wasfi, and the voices of the United Nations Choir.
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The Mothers' Call for Peace
From Trauma to Courage
Dr Raouf Salti, president of Children's Right to Healthcare (Geneva-based foundation accredited with ECOSOC), representatives of the Jewish community in Geneva, and Ali Malhoodji, founder of One Love, presented the Mothers' Call, a collective cry rejecting all the inevitability of violence.
In a video, Palestinian Reem Al Hajajreh and Israeli Yael Admi, initiators of this call, reminded us that their children were not born to kill nor to be killed.
The video Gaza Birds Singing showed, set to music, these beautiful faces, the gazes of young people who could be our children, and which restore humanity to situations that had been dehumanized. The call from these people still living on the beach in tents, under oppression, but always with the desire to live, deeply moved the audience. Since April 2, the video has been circulating on social networks. Victims finally feel recognized in their humanity.
🕊️
Women, Builders of Peace
Resolution 1325 — Rights and Reconstruction
⚖️
The Afghan women lawyers, legal experts and political leaders, engaged in an international tour, were unable to speak on that day but we want to express all our thoughts for these women who were committed to defending the implementation of Resolution 1325 on the role of women in building peace.
From Survival to Solidarity
Conscience and Human Dignity
Former Child Soldiers Become Leaders of Peace
Emmanuel Jal and Abdul Aziz Muhammat, former child soldiers who became internationally recognized leaders of peace, shared their journey of inner transformation and overcoming hatred. Their moving testimonies illustrated that reconciliation and forgiveness are not only possible, but necessary to build a more just world.
🫱🏻🫲🏿
Children's Song for Peace
A Moment of Intense Emotion at the Heart of the Palace of Nations
🎵
A moment of intense emotion marked the day when, at the heart of the Palace of Nations dedicated to the human family, the voices of children from Gaza singing for peace resonated, accompanied by their music teacher Ahmed Muin and Geneva sound artist Julie Semoroz. The children's choral voices as a sublime expression of a path of joy, peace and hope.
🌱
Young People's Advocacy, 4 Standing Ovations
A Generation Speaking Out
Mathieu Chappaz's intervention electrified the audience, drawing 4 consecutive standing ovations. Two videos as well as the concrete actions of young leaders highlighted a generation firmly committed to peace, ecology and the SDGs. Co-moderators and steering committee members from the International School of Geneva (Ecolint) contributed to hosting this intergenerational day in a remarkable way. Already in 2025, there had been numerous standing ovations following expressions of indignation and ambitious action plans proposed by young people on Peace, ecology in all its dimensions, and on the SDGs.
A generation that speaks out
🌍 An Urgent Context
Humanity faces growing intolerance, erosion of rights, widespread violence. The 2030 Agenda would never have been adopted in this geopolitical context. And yet it exists. This event chose to make full use of it to maintain the course of strengthened multilateralism.
🎨 Art for Raising Awareness
Art awakened consciousness throughout the day. Children sang for Gaza. Artist Anima created a collaborative painting, The Star of Magdala. Each participant was able to contribute their stone and crystals to a collective work for peace.
🤝 Coming Together for Action
The time has come to stand united, to strengthen our ranks to stay the course, not only among the already convinced, but among communities throughout the world. Saving the UN, sustainability, rights, peace: this has proven to be indispensable, and this conference was a living demonstration of it.
Because this day could not be limited to a one-off event, the fundamentals of the International Day of Consciousness, incorporated in the LoveForce Manifesto for Peace, were shared throughout the 2025-2026 school year through weekly workshops led by professor Jan Dijkstra and Sofia Stril-Rever with students at the International School of Geneva.
A specific program titled "Leadership, Peace and Humanism," led by Pascale Fressoz and Vanessa Mendez, engaged over 120 students in Savoie, Haute-Savoie and Isère through 24 workshops, enabling them to speak out about peace on April 2 during the conference.
Albanais High School
Porte de Chartreuse High School
International Group
Collège des Bauges
Polytech Annecy-Chambéry
Sciences Po Grenoble
The LoveForce Manifesto for Peace was also shared with Amnesty International's youth branch, the International Humanitarian Law NGO at the University of Geneva, as well as with the Neuro Center of UNIGE, under the direction of Professor Didier Grandjean.
In total, nearly 250 young people from universities and schools in Geneva and the French Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region brought forward concrete, creative and bold proposals on April 2. This day was a privileged moment of intergenerational connection, marked by friendliness and brotherhood. The proposals from this event will be compiled in a white paper and then presented to the decision-makers of our countries.
Because art and culture are powerful levers for creating necessary awareness, the day welcomed exceptional artists. Anima invited the public to co-create his work The Star of Magdala by consciously and lovingly placing salt crystals there, with each participant contributing their stone to this collective work for peace.
Young people from the International School of Geneva displayed drawings for peace alongside the mural Sharing Peace, created by schoolchildren from Gaza. These works joined the peace declarations of young students and professionals, many of whom chose altruism and "impact careers."
Iranian conductor Karim Wasfi and the United Nations Choir moved the Tempus Hall with their voices and compositions, transforming the UN space into a true sanctuary of lived and embodied peace.
"Let us rise as the voice of Conscience for the victims of injustice, where humanity betrays its own conscience. Let us be the voice of Love for peoples broken by hatred, where humanity turns away from its heart. Let us be the voice of Peace for the oppressed whom war silences, where humanity denies what makes it human.
Together with the youth of the world, let us open new paths of consciousness, courage and love to build more just and happier societies. Together, let us reinvent peace. Together, let us transform planet Earth into a planet of Love."
By mobilizing ourselves, we open another path, that of a new paradigm of peace. Peace is a political, ethical and human necessity, involving placing human dignity, international law and conscience at the heart of decisions. On April 2, it was not only about words. This conference embodied what civil society must be, the conscience of nations.
A white paper bringing together all the proposals formulated during the conference will be drafted to establish a roadmap for strengthened multilateralism. These concrete, creative and bold proposals from young people and speakers will then be presented to the decision-makers of our countries.
📘A White Paper
This day will be the subject of a documentary directed by Anne Dorr, with the participation of young people, for peace and the Sustainable Development Goals. A film that will extend and amplify the messages carried on April 2.
🎬 A documentary
The Leadership, Humanism and Peace program continues to expand in schools and universities. This movement for a new paradigm of peace, founded on human dignity and international law, continues to extend well beyond Geneva.
🌍An Ongoing Movement
A thousand thanks to our 900 participants for their precious presence, including 400 online from around the world. Thank you to the 30 speakers who came from 13 countries for their moving messages. Thank you to Melissa Parke, Nobel Prize laureate, to the activists, young people, diplomats and artists who brought this day to life.
Thank you to the UN Geneva, to Anne Dorr, to Rotary International District 1780, to Rameau, to the members of the Steering Committee and to our dear AI-ODD and LoveForce volunteers. Thank you to all 35 of our partner organizations. Thank you to the schools and universities in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Geneva for their commitment to the preparatory workshops.
Together, we open another path, that of a new paradigm of peace..