The National Peace Council (NPC), in collaboration with its partners, has commemorated the 2026 International Day of Peace with a call on students of Accra Senior High School and Accra Girls Senior High School to become champions of peace in their schools and communities.
The UN Resident Coordinator, Zia Choudhury, who said this in the keynote address, said peace was not a one-time event but a slow, steady and continuous work.
He commended the NPC for its consistent efforts and called for the inclusion of the private sector in peacebuilding, citing Sustainable Development Goal 17 on partnerships.
The event, held last Monday at the Ghana-India Kofi Annia Centre of Excellence in ICY, Accra, was on the theme: “Invest in Peace – For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day.”
It brought together government institutions, diplomatic missions, development partners, civil society organisations, youth representatives, traditional, religious leaders and peace actors.
Peace
Mr Choudhury warned against complacency, citing violence in senior high schools, poverty, inequality, hate speech and global polarisation.
He also noted that conflicts in Burkina Faso, Côte d’ Ivoire and Mali should concern Ghana because of shared borders and interconnected challenges.
Mr Choudhury shared a personal story from his childhood in Glasgow, Scotland, where football allegiance often reflected religious division, and urged the students to make practical commitments to respectful public debate, dialogue and rejection of hate speech.
Responsibility
He stressed that peace was not the responsibility of the state, the NPC, chiefs, churches or mosques alone, but of every citizen.
Speaking at the event, the NPC Governing Board Chairman, Most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, called for sustained national investment in peacebuilding, warning that Ghana’s reputation for peace and democratic stability could not be taken for granted.
He stated that Ghana’s 76th score on the latest Global Peace Index ranking, should remind everyone of the need for vigilance and sustained action, adding that “Peace is not a permanent inheritance; but a public good that must be renewed through deliberate action”.
The chairman also noted that between January and September 2026, the NPC undertook eight major mediation and fact-finding interventions across six regions as part of its preventive peacebuilding mandate.
Quarters
The council, he noted, had in the first two quarters of 2026, reached 118 schools across the country with messages on peaceful coexistence, tolerance, non-violence and the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019 (Act 999).
Other speakers included Bishop Victor Osei, a member of the NPC Governing Board, who admonished the students to chart their own path of peace.
Spokesperson for the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Aremeyaw Shiabu called for strengthened counselling services in schools to prevent violence among students.
The students from Accra Senior High School and Accra Girls Senior High School participated actively, with the event ending with a renewed call for all Ghanaians to invest in peace every day
