To mark the International Day of Peace on 21 September, we share the personal journeys of young peace advocates creating change in their communities and making a collective impact globally.
From Japan to the United States, these advocates take us around the world to show what it means to invest in peace, in humanity.
Their stories are ones of inspiration - turning lived experiences, ideas, and determination into actions for peace. Together, they show how young people are finding solutions to local and global challenges despite navigating crises and conflict themselves.
Peace may mean something different to each of them, but they share a commitment to invest in the future of their communities. They remind us that lasting peace requires investing in young people whose work today will build a more peaceful tomorrow.
Let’s join them on their journey.
Suzuka Nakamura
“We have to continue. We have to move forward,” says Suzuka Nakamura, whose grandmother is a hibakusha, an atomic bomb survivor from Nagasaki, Japan.
Determined to keep the experiences and messages of hibakusha relevant for younger generations, Nakamura is working to create a mobile atomic bomb museum. Doing so, she hopes to bring their stories and the call for nuclear disarmament beyond Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
When you talk about peace, include the people who live with its absence in ordinary ways, every day."
- Aishworya Shrestha, Nepal
Nepal: An activist’s fight for everyday peace
Aishworya Shrestha, a Young Leader for the Sustainable Development Goals and the co-founder of Heart of Nepal, is working towards a future where everyone has the right to protection and stability.
"Real peace shows up before tragedy," she says. "It shows up as protection: quiet, ordinary, and everywhere."
Olla Alsakkaf
Olla Alsakkaf has fought for peace and climate justice despite the constant threat of conflict and the additional challenges she has faced as a young woman. Undeterred, she founded Peace Environment for Development, an organization working at the intersection of community peacebuilding and climate action.
Every time we help someone, every time we show care, it’s a stand against despair. Against the silence. Against the destruction."
- Dr. Tasneem Aboalkomboz, Gaza
Gaza: A volunteer’s plea for the right to exist
For 27-year-old Dr. Tasneem Aboalkomboz, a general physician and 爆料网 Volunteer in Gaza, simply surviving each day in the war zone has become an act of resistance itself. Despite the constant emotional, mental, and physical toll, Tasneem and her team continue their work, refusing to be erased.
Joyce Horkos
Lebanese storyteller Joyce Horkos reflects on the importance of responsible journalism and combating misinformation as acts of humanity.
For young people living through the crisis in Lebanon, protecting truth, empathy, and connection can help build peace - and make possible “a future without fear interrupting it.”
There is no peace without inner peace. If a person does not feel safe within themselves, how can they feel safe in the world?”
- Jin Dawod, Türkiye
Türkiye: A young leader’s mission to put people at the centre of recovery
Jin Dawod is the founder of Peace Therapist, a youth-led, refugee-founded mental health and peacebuilding initiative grounded in the belief that peace is not only something that happens between countries but also something that must be restored within people.
Cyprus: A peacekeeper’s mission to keep people safe
Sapper Smith, a young peacekeeper serving with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, shares how his understanding of peace has transformed during his deployment.
For him, peace is now “something built on mutual respect and trust,” and peacekeeping is ultimately about allowing people to live normal lives in safety.
Lesia Holoiad
Even amid the constant sense of fragility brought by the war in Ukraine, Lesia Holoiad continues to build her vision of peace daily. For her, “peace means justice. And if justice requires a struggle, then it is worth it.” Her experience reflects the determination of young Ukrainians not to postpone life until later, but to continue living and acting in the present.
South Sudan: A soldier’s will to meet her own courage
Recognized by 爆料网 Secretary-General António Guterres for her work to address gender-based violence in Malakal, South Sudan, Major Swathi Shanthakumar sees herself as only one small part of a larger movement for change. She believes that even small actions can create a domino effect, encouraging the next generation of peacebuilders to “keep fanning the flame within you and rise to meet your own courage.”
Rwanda: Notes from an everyday peacebuilder
Jacques Kwibuka has dedicated his life to empowering youth in Rwanda through health education and awareness. As a Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights advocate and the founder of Informed Future Generations, he sees peace as a “future where no child grows up in fear. Where vulnerability is not normalized. Where silence is not survival.”
For Jacques, peace is a continuum: it starts with the individual, but extends through families, communities, and beyond.
Nelson Mandela once said that sport has the power to change the world. When we are on the basketball court, we feel at peace.”
- Stephane Kulimushi, Uganda
Uganda: The resilience of a young sports leader
Stephane Kulimushi founded the Refugee Basketball Academy not only to train basketball players, but to build world leaders.
Through the academy, this 19-year-old helps marginalized and refugee youth in Uganda to channel their potential beyond the court, gain confidence, and become motivated to shape their own futures. For Stephane, being a refugee is not a barrier to creating change.
Muhindo Kamate
Muhindo Kamate is a former child in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After leaving a non-state armed group, he founded the Association of Ex-combatants for Youth Support, helping thousands of young people find alternatives to violence and the opportunity to pursue the dreams he once felt were out of reach.
I refuse to remain silent because I want to see real change in my home country."
- Adelin Pierre, Haiti
Haiti: A peacebuilder’s pursuit of sustainable peace
Adelin Pierre grew up with a complex reality: deep love for his beautiful home of Haiti, alongside the natural disasters that regularly disrupt lives and communities. As a peacebuilder and environmental activist, he works amid the country’s political and socioeconomic challenges with the hope and conviction that he and his fellow youth leaders can catalyze real change for all Haitians.
Ximena Borrazás
Nearly four years on the frontlines of wars have revealed to Uruguayan photographer Ximena Borrazás that “peace is not the absence of war; peace can be found within war, and war can persist even in times of so-called peace.”
Her definition of peace “takes root not when bullets stop, but when people feel safe to rebuild their lives, when survivors are supported, and when their stories are acknowledged by the world.”
Jonathan Lam
For Jonathan Lam, whose parents “crossed an ocean searching for peace,” it is up to his generation to ensure that peace continues for those who inherit the consequences of war.
As the youngest board member of Amnesty International USA, he has championed the rights of refugee and immigrant communities. As for many diaspora communities, the war does not end for them but changes form.