A Picture for Peace

UNOY Peacebuilders invited members to take part in A Picture for Peace, an international photography contest open to all in honor of International Day of Peace on 21 September. Participants were asked to submit a photograph to illustrate their answer to the question Why are youth important in peacebuilding? The contest seeks to promote the role of youth as peacebuilders, raise awareness about youth initiatives around the world and encourage young people to participate in peace-building activities. The use of a photograph as a medium facilitates the possibility of evoking a concrete and positive image of youth in peacebuilding.

The winning photograph and 10 runners-up were selected and developed into a traveling exhibition. With this exhibition the UNOY Peacebuilders and INMP (a cooperation between two Hague-based NGOs) aim to bring young peacebuilders and their Picture for Peace on a tour across museums for peace worldwide.

UNOY Peacebuilders

The vision of the United Network of Young Peacebuilders is that of youth committed to jointly building a world in which peace, justice, solidarity, human dignity and respect for nature prevail. UNOY’s mission is to link up young people’s initiatives for peace in a global network of young peacebuilders, to help empower their capacities and to help increase the effectiveness of their actions. This year’s advocacy focus is on the theme of youth, peace and security. The initiative of this strategy is to raise awareness of the needs of youth in conflict and post-conflict scenarios and the capacity of youth for peacebuilding.

It is estimated that 50% of the world’s population is less than 30 years old. However young people are often neglected actors in development, including peace and civil society building processes, especially in post-accord phases. At UNOY Peacebuilders, we believe that youth are the vehicle of change and that by engaging young people we can combat potential threats to peace and work in a sustainable way.

More info: www.unoy.org

INMP

The International Network of Museums for Peace (INMP) is a worldwide network of peace museums that share in the same desire to build a global culture of peace. It also includes peace gardens and other peace related sites, centres and institutions which are involved in public peace education through exhibitions, documentation and similar activities. The mission of the INMP is to contribute to world peace by means of promoting and enhancing the work of museums for peace.

Museums for peace are non-profit educational institutions that promote a culture of peace through collecting, displaying and interpreting peace related material. Museums for peace inform the public about peace and nonviolence using illustrations from the lives of individuals, the work of organisations, campaigns, historical events, etc. One of the strengths of museums for peace is that they can reach out to and involve a broad general public, many of whom might not be involved in the peace movement per se.

More info: www.inmp.net

This exhibition is powered by the Dutch Museum for Peace and Non-Violence (Museum voor Vrede en Geweldloosheid).