We invite youth in Europe to participate in the video project: Peace, Climate and Security: From youth voices to policy action.
Video a short statement with your thoughts on peace, climate and nuclear weapons for presentation to policy makers attending the Basel Peace Forum 2020 and for online promotion and interaction.
Basel Peace Forum, January 2020
Experts and policy makers from politics, business, civil society, and academia will be meeting at the Basel Peace Forum, Switzerland January 9-10 to discuss the topic of cities in times of conflict and peace. Engagement of youth in these issues is important, as highlighted in the recent UN Security Council Resolution on Youth, Peace and Security, and the UN General Assembly Resolution on Youth, disarmament and non-proliferation.
As such, Basel Peace Office and partner organisations will bring voices of European youth to the Basel Peace Forum, including through a special meeting of legislators and youth leaders, an interactive pavilion at the Basel Peace Forum and the video project Peace, Climate and Security: From youth voices to policy action.
At these events we will explore the connections between climate action, peace and nuclear disarmament, and build dialogue between policy makers and youth. We will also announce the first winner of the Peace and Climate action of European Youth (PACEY) Award (submissions close January 5, 2020).
We invite you to make a short video of your thoughts on peace, the climate crisis and/or nuclear threats for inclusion in a composite youth voices video. See sample video at https://youtu.be/uX0cpWFkefw). Send your video message to Chaimae Sebbani at Chaimae@pnnd.org.
Final compilation video
We will link the short video messages into a compilation video which will be presented at the Basel Peace Forum. We will seek responses to the video from the policymakers attending the event. Additionally, the individual videos will be shared on YouTube so that you personally will be able to view them and share within your community.
We invite you to send us a video message (not longer than 1 minute) answering one or both of the questions below, while holding the attached peace/planet sign.
Please, read the instructions carefully before you start filming, as we will instruct you to do an action with the peace/planet sign which will connect you with the other video messages making it look as though the peace sign is travelling around Europe.
Questions to address in your video message:
- What are important issues for you and other youth in Europe - climate, nuclear weapons and peace?
- What role can parliaments, the European Union, United Nations and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) play to address these?
How to use the peace sign in the video:
- Find attached the graphic created for the event. It combines the symbols of the main issues discussed at our Pavilion event.
- Print out the sign, preferably the A3 size if you can. Otherwise, print out the A4 size which is available as two halves, and tape them together.
- Use the sign in the video: Hold your smart phone horizontally to film. At the start of the video clip, hold the nuclear disarmament symbol to your far right. Move it across to center screen. Say your lines for the video. Then move the nuclear disarmament/climate change symbol to your far left. Once the video clips are put together, it will look as though the nuclear disarmament symbol is being passed from one person to another as we go around Europe. Click here for sample videos.
Fun fact: Do you know where the peace sign came from?
The well-known nuclear disarmament symbol was designed in 1958 by Gerald Holtom, a conscientious objector, for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. It uses the semaphore for the letters N and D (nuclear disarmament) placed within a circle.
In adding the circle, Holtom wrote that the symbol was like a person standing with their arms outstretched – somewhat in despair at the tragedy of war and the impossibility of civilization surviving a nuclear war. But it can also symbolize a person holding his/her hands out to join with others around the world for peace. In this way the symbol links nuclear disarmament to the wider aspiration for global peace and an end to war. The symbol was purposefully never copyrighted – so that like peace, it is able to be spread by anyone.
Contact us if you have any queries on how to use the nuclear disarmament symbol in the video clip. Contact: Chaimae Sebbani at Chaimae@pnnd.org.