China commemorates Int'l Day of Peace
- By Chen Boyuan
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 23, 2014
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A national ceremony commemorating the World Peace Day was held in Xi'an, the historic city and capital of Shaanxi Province, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014. [Photo by Chen Boyuan/China.org.cn] |
China's national ceremony commemorating the International Day of Peace was held in Xi'an, the historic city and capital of Shaanxi Province, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014, amid lingering threats to peace and stability in both Asia and the world beyond.
The annual International Day of Peace, also unofficially known as World Peace Day, falls on Sept. 21 each year. The United Nations established the day in 1981 as a day to reflect on the search for world peace, and especially the end of war and violence.
The U.N. designated "Right of Peoples to Peace" as the theme of this year's International Day of Peace in commemoration of the 1984 U.N. General Assembly Declaration of the Right of Peoples to Peace.
At the opening ceremony, Han Qide, president of the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD), a national peace-seeking organization which organized the World Peace Day activities, said that the goals of eradicating war, settling international disputes by peaceful means, building lasting peace and promoting the sustainable progress of mankind are "still significantly relevant" three decades after the U.N. declaration was made.
Han said that war continued to wreak havoc on the entire world, and that the progress of civilization has paradoxically caused more collateral damage, particularly the deaths of increasing numbers of civilians. In World War I, 10 percent of total causalities were suffered by civilians, but this proportion rose to 70 percent in the Vietnam War and 90 percent in the Iraq War.
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