Peacebuilding: The Voices of Children

Children have a lot to say about peace. It is time we listen.

In 2015, the Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC), with the support of UNICEF, conducted a perspective survey of children's views on peace. Over 100 children, from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Timor-Leste, participated in the survey.

The children drew and shared their insights, offering diverse perspectives about peace, inspired by their relationships with family and friends, and by their daily lives at school and in their neighborhoods and communities.

For some children, peace is living in a safe and beautiful natural environment; these children made references to green surroundings, mountains and lakes, temples, and flowers and trees. For others, peace means sharing with others, as well as playing and living together. Other children stressed that peace means the absence of violence or harm in the home, school, and community.

While there is no single meaning of peace for children, their thoughts about peace have much to offer in terms of our own