International Day on Living Together in Peace at UNESCO

May 21, 2019

Last May 16, the Observatory was at the heart of the celebrations of the International Day on Living Together in Peace, including through an event organized at UNESCO.

Celebrating the 2nd edition of the International Day on Living Together in Peace, the Observatory, in cooperation with the Delegation of Canada to UNESCO, the Permanent delegation of Algeria and the International Coalition for inclusive and sustainable cities (ICCAR), organized the event "Improving how we live together in cities", with the participation of local governments representatives and civil society actors.

Table-ronde

Proclaimed by the United Nations in 2017, this international day offers the opportunity to mobilize efforts of the international community in favor of peace, tolerance, inclusion, mutual comprehension and solidarity. UNESCO has the mandate to facilitate the celebration of this Day internationally.

The round-table "Improving how we live together in cities" aimed to share views and experiences particularly about the role and specificities of cities. The participants invited to this session were M. Roland Ries, Mayor of Strasburg, Ms. Jana Hansjürgen, Chief Diversity Officer at the City of Düsseldorf, Mr. Hamid Demmou, President of AISA ONG internationale, representing of Cheikh Bentounes, as well as Mr. Gaspard Njock, socially-engaged artist. The Coordinator of the Observatory, Mr. Esteban Benavides, made the introductory presentation on the topic "City policies on Living Together".

Maire de Strasbourg

Cheikh Bentounes

Mayor Geisel

For the occasion of this event, Cheikh Bentounes, initiator of the project to create this day, adressed a message to the audience and the country delegations (see video).

This event also allowed to contribute to the preparation of the upcoming Mayors Summit on Living Together to be held in Düsseldorf at the end of August (see video-message by Mr. Thomas Geisel, Mayor of Düsseldorf).

This event was also an opportunity to present two projects of city-university cooperation by UNESCO Chairs ("WAT_UNESCO: imaginer ensemble les villes" - Chaire UNESCO en paysage et environnement - Université de Montréal and "PoliCité: de la confrontation à la confiance" - Chaire UNESCO Politiques urbaines et citoyenneté - ENTPE - University of Lyon).

Many other activities and events were organized in other cities of the Observatory and throughout the world (see Foro de Cordoba and international calendar).

By the way, the city of Sceaux choose this day to become member of the Observatory Communiqué