Following the 25th anniversary of the UN Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (A/RES/53/243) in 2024, SGI is launching an interview series The Culture of Peace: Conversations with Leaders of Change to help build new momentum in the coming decades. 

This series features leaders of change including United Nations officials, experts, scholars and advocates, with a focus on women and young people at national, regional and local levels. Our aim is to raise awareness and bring attention to the power each one of us has to foster the culture of peace through our daily actions. We believe that this in turn will help the United Nations effectively carry out its work for a more peaceful, just and sustainable world.

Our first three videos will feature Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations and Founder of the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace. He served as the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN (1996–2001) in which capacity he chaired the nine-month-long negotiations resulting in the consensus as mandated by the UN General Assembly. He also was the introducer of the agreed text of that document on behalf of all Member States for adoption by the Assembly on 13 September 1999. 

The inaugural video, titled “From Inspiration & Initiative to Action & Advocacy: Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury’s Journey to Create The Culture of Peace at the United Nations” is available on our YouTube channel. The second and third episodes will become available in the coming weeks.