International Day of Living Together in Peace marked at UN with bell-ringing ceremony and calls to act on AI, faith freedom and community resilience

United Nations — More than a hundred speakers and hundreds of attendees gathered at an event organized by the Council for Justice, Equality, and Peace and partnering groups at United Nations headquarters on May 16 to mark the International Day of Living Together in Peace. The program concluded with a ceremonial bell ringing intended to symbolize global conscience and a call to practical action.

The conference mixed religious and civic leaders, private-sector speakers and organizers in a multi-hour program that included short addresses on religious tolerance, women’s leadership, climate action, veteran perspectives on peace and warnings about the need for regulation of advanced artificial intelligence. Organizers said hundreds of bell-ringers from dozens of countries participated in the closing ceremony.

Organizers and purpose Organizers identified the Council for Justice, Equality, and Peace and affiliated groups — including the Federation of World Peace and Love and invited partners described in the program as Time for Truth/Time for 2 Foundation and COJEP International — as hosts of the event. The gathering opened with remarks asking attendees to treat the day as both a ceremony and a platform for “results, not rhetoric,” and the program repeatedly framed peace as requiring personal responsibility as well as institutional change.

Why it mattered Speakers used the platform to press for concrete follow-up across multiple domains: tighter oversight of rapidly advancing AI systems, wider protection of religious freedom, improved conditions for women’s leadership, and community-level measures such as anti-drug programs and small-business support. Several speakers tied those calls to global frameworks, including references to the United Nations charter and to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.

Key themes and notable remarks - Regulation of advanced AI: A finance-sector speaker who identified himself as Paul (introduced onstage as a family-office executive) urged urgent international regulation of artificial general intelligence and described private investment strategies he said were aimed at “protecting strategic assets” from future market shocks. He described large private investments and a fintech platform the speaker called the “Bank of Humanity”; the article reports those claims as the speaker presented them and does not verify financial figures.

- Personal ethics and civic behavior: A representative of the Way to Happiness materials argued that shared personal precepts — summarized in the program as principles such as “treat others the way you want to be treated” — could reduce conflict and corruption when applied in schools, prisons and workplaces. The speaker framed the approach as nonreligious, focused on individual behavior rather than governmental mandate.

- Religious freedom and community action: Clergy and faith leaders framed peace as an everyday practice. Rabbi Yitzhak Yahushua urged small daily acts, saying congregants should “start the morning with one good action” as a way to create broader social change. Other faith leaders described religious freedom as a fundamental right that must be actively defended.

- Veterans and security perspectives: Retired U.S. military speakers said peace requires civic and moral preparedness. Colonel Otto Padrón, a Cuban‑American veteran, invoked the maxim “If you want peace, prepare for war,” and said preparedness should include moral and civic measures as well as defensive ones.

- Climate, community and small-business resilience: Speakers from Latin America described local and national climate programs and community-organizing efforts. A speaker from Honduras said his volunteer network works with municipalities to advance sustainability goals tied to the U.N. agenda. A representative of New York bodegas described to the audience how small neighborhood stores supported communities during the COVID-19 pandemic and urged continued support for small businesses.

- Media and public action: Filmmaker Shmuel Hoffman urged attendees to translate the conference’s messages into a practical project: he proposed compiling 10–30 second video clips of small acts of kindness from attendees’ home communities and assembling them into a single global film to spotlight “what peace looks like.” The proposal was presented as a follow-up action rather than formal policy.

Ceremony and close Organizers concluded the program with a bell-ringing ceremony described onstage as representing “conscience awakened,” “love and peace,” and “the world as one.” Event moderators announced that several hundred designated bell-ringers from more than 100 countries participated; the ceremony included presentation of commemorative certificates and artwork to invited guests.

What was not decided The event was a conference and ceremony, not a policy-making session; speakers proposed ideas, appeals and projects but did not pass resolutions or formal motions during the program. Financial claims and specific program metrics presented by private speakers were reported here as those speakers stated them; the event did not provide independent verification of private investment totals or fintech registrations mentioned from the stage.

Next steps Several speakers framed concrete next steps as follow-up activities rather than formal actions: proposed short-film submissions, local community programs modeled on the Way to Happiness precepts, and public appeals for governments and international bodies to examine and, where appropriate, adopt regulatory steps for advanced artificial intelligence. Organizers said a separate gala and additional programming would continue after the ceremony.

Sources and attribution This article is based on remarks made during the May 16 program at United Nations headquarters and on materials distributed from the stage. Quotations and paraphrases are attributed to speakers as they were introduced in the program or are reported as claims made from the podium.