On September 7, the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations delivered a statement at the High-Level Forum on a Culture of Peace during a panel discussion dedicated to the theme of early childhood development.

In its statement, the Holy See said building a culture of peace requires fighting injustice and tackling the root causes that lead to war and violence. It is crucial to build a culture of peace among children through educating them in a "culture of encounter," so that, through dialogue, they can learn authentic respect, esteem, listening and solidarity, and become enabled to respond to the many forms of violence, poverty, exploitation and discrimination. The Holy See also called for greater efforts toward disarmament and toward the non-proliferation of weapons, which it said aggravate situations of conflict and undermine development and lasting peace.

The statement can be found here.