. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION .
A declaration by the National Collective for Peace Marches (translation by CPNN)
International Day of Peace, September 21, 2026: “Stop wars, stop violence, stop poverty.”
The National Collective for Peace Marches calls for a multiplication of initiatives everywhere between September 19 and 26. Hope lies in our collective ability to compel choices other than the war economy and war itself.
The National Collective for Peace Marches calls upon citizens, as well as trade unions and organizations—whether civic, political, cultural, humanist, or philosophical—to multiply initiatives across France. The aim is to make the population’s and the peoples’ profound desire to live in peace heard.
The international situation is extremely grave. Wars are spreading, international law is too often flouted, military spending is rising massively, and nuclear arsenals are being modernized; furthermore, the risk of the conflict expanding globally—including the potential use of nuclear weapons—cannot be ignored.
Against this backdrop, the Collective reaffirms its refusal to succumb to resignation or to the normalization of war. Since 2015, it has brought together nearly 200 national and local organizations around a clear call: “For peace: stop war, stop violence, stop poverty. Let us express our desire to live in peace in a world of solidarity, justice, and fraternity.”
War is always a failure. It destroys lives, drives civilian populations into exile, exacerbates inequalities, fuels human rights violations and crimes against humanity, and diverts vast resources that should be dedicated to jobs, wages, healthcare, education, housing, public services, and the ecological transition.
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Will you participate in the International Day of Peace?
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We refuse to see social rights, freedoms, human dignity, the security of peoples, and the future of coming generations sacrificed to the logic of war, domination, and militarization. International law must take precedence over force. Negotiated political solutions must prevail over war and violence. Lasting peace cannot be built without social justice, ecological justice, cooperation among peoples, respect for state sovereignty, and the concrete realization of all human rights.
Through this mobilization, the Collective calls for action to achieve human security—both nationally and globally—built upon the principles of the UN Charter, the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the implementation of the eight areas of a culture of peace defined by the United Nations, and the realization of IPCC recommendations to combat global warming.
In the face of the spiral of war, hope lies in citizen action and in the unity of social, trade union, civic, environmental, feminist, humanist, cultural, and political forces that reject war as an inevitability.
On September 21, 2026—and throughout the week of September 19–26—the National Peace March Collective therefore invites people everywhere to organize marches and rallies, Public debates, forums, concerts, exhibitions, cultural initiatives, meetings with elected officials, and activities in neighborhoods, villages, workplaces, schools, and universities. Every initiative counts. Every voice raised counts. Every presence in the public sphere counts.
The Collective also calls for this momentum to be sustained around United Nations Disarmament Week (late October to early November) by organizing departmental peace forums. These events aim to raise awareness of the alternatives for global human security championed by the Collective—alternatives rooted in the tangible realization of all human rights.
Let us march! Let us debate! Let us come together! Let us take action! Together for peace, justice, social rights, and human rights.
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