Geneva Peace Forum: A Ceremony for Peace

Geneva Peace Forum: A Ceremony for Peace is the flagship public moment of the Forum, bringing together diplomacy, personal testimony and artistic expression around its central theme: Choose Peace. The ceremony will explore what choosing peace means in practice. Its first part will focus on diplomacy, mediation and conflict resolution, highlighting the deliberate choices, relationships and sustained engagement required to resolve disputes through peaceful means. 

At its centre, the Peace Message will offer a personal reflection on mediation, drawing on decades of experience engaging with conflicts and efforts to create space for dialogue. The second part of the ceremony will turn to the role of culture and artistic expression in peacebuilding. 

Through visual art, poetry and artistic performances, the programme will explore how art can challenge perceptions, preserve memory, create empathy and imagine alternatives to violence. Combining high-level reflections with artistic interventions, the Ceremony for Peace will create a space that is both thoughtful and symbolic: a moment to consider peace not simply as an aspiration, but as a choice that must continually be made by individuals, institutions and societies.

The event will be followed by a cocktail offered by the Swiss Authorities and the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform.