About the Event

On September 2, 2026, Melissa Wild, Founder and Executive Director of UPEACE NY, delivered the University for Peace remarks at the United Nations High-Level Forum on the Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace at UN Headquarters in New York.

Her intervention reflected on what it means to move beyond commitments toward the daily practice of peace, emphasizing the importance of women’s leadership, peace education, dialogue across divides, inclusion, and critical institutional self-reflection.

Several central themes emerged throughout the Forum:

Women as architects of peace
Women must be meaningfully, safely, and equally represented in peace negotiations, mediation, and decision-making, not simply as participants, but as architects and leaders of peace.

Investing in the next generation of peace leaders
Investment in peace education, skills development, literacy, and digital access for women and girls is fundamental to strengthening their participation and leadership in peacebuilding.

Dialogue and relationships across divides
Peace cannot be built through a divisive mentality. Intentional alliances, sustained dialogue, meaningful relationships, and the resources to support them are essential to transforming conflict.

Critical self-reflection as a practice of peace
The Forum also challenged institutions, including the United Nations itself, to examine honestly whether their policies, priorities, and everyday practices genuinely advance equality, dignity, inclusion, and peace.

As Melissa shared in her remarks:

“We must be willing to engage in critical self-reflection, as institutions, as individuals, and as individuals within institutions, as to whether or not our daily choices, the compromises we make for the sake of staying relevant, liked, funded, our resolutions and national policies, uphold this commitment to a culture of peace – We must ask ourselves, is it predicated on a practice of ‘othering’ or rather a practice of ‘including?’ This is how we return to interdependence, a foundational orientation of a culture of peace.”

The Forum brought together distinguished voices including Annalena Baerbock, Elizabeth Spehar, Anwarul Chowdhury, Leymah Gbowee, and Lannel Eugenia Villalta Carballo, whose contributions explored women’s leadership and mediation, dialogue, inclusion, peace education, and the responsibility of institutions to reflect critically on their own practices.

Melissa also expressed gratitude to Rebecca Arnieri, Angelica Sanchez, and Krista Smith for supporting the preparation of the remarks; to Permanent Observer Ramu Damodaran and Vice Rector Juan Carlos Sainz-Borgo for their support in representing the University for Peace; and to the many educators whose work continues to embody and advance the practice of peace.

Continue the conversation and see highlights from the Forum on UPEACE NY’s LinkedIn.

Read Melissa Wild’s intervention:

3-Minute Version

10-Minute Version