Celebrity Media, based on news video footage provided by the United Nations, reports: On the morning of September 9, 2026, local time, the United Nations held a ceremony commemorating the International Day of Peace in the Peace Garden outside the Conference Building at UN Headquarters. UN Secretary-General Ant贸nio Guterres, President of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly Khalilur Rahman, Japan鈥檚 Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and representatives of the United Nations Peace Bell Preservation Association attended the event.

Accompanied by music performed by the United Nations Singers and a young violinist, Guterres and Rahman each rang the Japanese Peace Bell. Its lingering sound echoed throughout the UN grounds, reminding the international community that peace is not an abstract aspiration, but a cause that requires governments, civil society organizations, and every individual to build together and support continuously.

The International Day of Peace is officially observed each year on September 21. UN Headquarters usually holds the Peace Bell Ceremony in advance to coordinate with the schedule of the General Assembly and related events. This year鈥檚 theme is 鈥淚nvest in Peace鈥擣or Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day,鈥� emphasizing that the benefits of peace should reach every person in every corner of the world.

Before the ceremony began, the master of ceremonies, UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Melissa Fleming, paid tribute to community leaders, educators, young people, activists, and ordinary citizens who have long devoted themselves to building peace. She said that by choosing dialogue over division and cooperation over confrontation, they serve as peacemakers in everyday life. Although their work often goes unrecognized, it offers a genuine demonstration of what it means to 鈥渋nvest in peace.鈥�

Fleming also explained that, as part of a legacy project of Expo 2025 Osaka, the Peace Bell and its surrounding Japanese garden underwent maintenance completed in August this year. Two plaques explaining the bell鈥檚 history and significance were also installed鈥攐ne in the Japanese garden and the other in the UN Visitors Lobby鈥攁llowing more visitors to learn the story behind the bell.

This year鈥檚 ceremony took place two days before the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. The attacks of September 11, 2001, claimed nearly 3,000 lives and had a profound impact on New York and the world. Ringing the Peace Bell at this particular moment also gave its sound a powerful contemporary significance鈥攈onoring lives lost, rejecting violence, and calling for peace.

In his remarks, Guterres said that every time the Peace Bell rings, it reminds people of the United Nations鈥� most important and far-reaching mission: building peace.

鈥淧eace is never achieved easily. Peace takes hard work. Peace takes action,鈥� he emphasized.

Guterres noted that action for peace is weakening in today鈥檚 world. Violence and division are tearing communities apart, conflicts are expanding and deepening, and many people are suffering, while the dialogue and unity needed to resolve these crises remain sorely lacking.

Yet when some governments fail to deliver peace, volunteers, advocates, civil society organizations, community leaders, peacekeepers, and peacebuilders around the world continue to offer another path through their actions. They speak out, bridge divides, repair communities, and make peace possible in everyday life through efforts both large and small.

Guterres called on world leaders to follow the example of these peacebuilders by increasing investment in people鈥檚 health, education, nutrition, and social protection; advancing sustainable development; building institutions that earn public trust; safeguarding the fundamental human rights and dignity of every person; and recommitting to proven instruments of peace, including diplomacy, dialogue, negotiation, and peacekeeping.

He said that the international community cannot merely voice support for peace. It must invest in solutions, take concrete action, and work to build lasting and sustainable peace.

In his remarks that day, the newly appointed President of the 81st Session of the General Assembly, Rahman, reflected in particular on the extraordinary origins of the Japanese Peace Bell. He noted that the bell was not created by any government acting alone, but grew out of one ordinary Japanese man鈥檚 unwavering pursuit of peace.

Rahman said that the coins and medals collected from people around the world to cast the Peace Bell each carried their own story鈥攎emories of lives saved and sacrifices made, accounts of people supporting one another during turbulent times, and humanity鈥檚 hopes for the future. When they were melted and cast together, the aspirations for peace shared by different nations and peoples seemed to be united within a single bell.

This was Guterres鈥� final appearance at the annual Peace Bell Ceremony during his tenure as UN Secretary-General. His second term will end on December 31, 2026.

鈥淭his will be the last time I ring the Peace Bell, but I will always stand with those who defend peace around the world,鈥� Guterres said in his remarks.

Notably, as the ceremony drew to a close, Guterres joined Seiko Takase, daughter of Peace Bell advocate Chiyoji Nakagawa and a representative of the United Nations Peace Bell Preservation Association, on the bell platform. Together, they rang the Peace Bell three times. The image of the two standing side by side and holding the striker was especially striking: on one side was the UN Secretary-General nearing the end of his term, and on the other, a descendant of the creator of the Peace Bell. From Nakagawa鈥檚 journey across countries to collect coins decades ago to the bell sounding once again at UN Headquarters today, the moment connected more than 70 years of commitment to peace with a living historical legacy.

As the United Nations enters its ninth decade, the three chimes seemed to carry three reminders: remember the suffering caused by war and violence, cherish the hard-won peace we have, and protect humanity鈥檚 shared future through concrete action. This symbolic moment demonstrated that the aspiration for peace can be passed down from generation to generation, but peace will not come on its own. At a time of continuing conflict, intensifying geopolitical confrontation, and deepening social division, the international community still faces a long and difficult road in its pursuit of world peace.

On one side was the UN Secretary-General nearing the end of his term; on the other was a descendant of the creator of the Peace Bell. What they rang together was not merely a bell cast from coins contributed by countries around the world, but also a legacy of peace spanning more than seven decades.

Two days later鈥攖oday鈥擭ew York commemorates the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The pain of 25 years ago reminds us that the consequences of violence do not disappear when they fade from the headlines. The Peace Bell, created more than 70 years ago, reminds the world that peace will not arrive automatically through commemorative ceremonies alone.

The three chimes can be understood as a remembrance of those who died, a warning for the present, and a commitment to the future. Yet the sound of the bell is ultimately only a symbol. What truly determines the direction of the world is whether nations, after the sound fades, are willing to reduce confrontation, rebuild trust, and resolve disputes through diplomacy, dialogue, and concrete action. The United Nations has entered its ninth decade, but the road toward world peace remains long and difficult.