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International Day of Conscience 2025: Leave No One Behind
Palais des Nations, Geneva
04 April 2025
After the success of the celebrations of the International Day of Conscience in 2024, we are excited to invite you to join us together with BeTheLove, AI-ODD and diverse partner organisations for the 2025 edition at the UN Headquarters at Palais des Nations in Geneva on 4 April 2025 (10:00 - 17:30).
What is the International Day of Conscience?
The International Day of Conscience (IDC25) on 5 April has been established in 2019 by the General Assembly of the United Nations to invite all human beings to focus their minds every year on how to build « a culture of peace with love and conscience ». With this resolution (A/RES/73/329), the General Assembly emphasized the urgent necessity of a mindset shift to address the global challenges facing the human family, including issues such as poverty and hunger which kills a child’s life every eleven seconds. This radical shift of mindset is highlighted by the reference to love enshrined for the first time in a UN resolution.
Furthermore, despite ongoing international tensions, in September 2024 all UN Member States signed up a Pact for the Future, to set themselves "on a path towards a brighter future for all of humanity". They pledged "a new beginning in multilateralism" based on the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
They reaffirmed their "enduring commitment to the 2030 Agenda" adopted in 2015, whose 17 SDGs have been jeopardized by the implementation gap that followed. Governments unanimously renewed their commitment to Leave No One Behind and established this guiding principle for all components of civil society. Indeed, no government acting on its own can achieve the 2030 Agenda. Its success depends on each and everyone of us.
The International Day of Conscience (IDC) offers the opportunity to reflect and plan to act on what we can do to Leave No One Behind. We therefore decided to convene a meeting at the UN Headquarters, in Geneva, on 4 April 2025, and launch an intergenerational and intercontinental brainstorming to give substance to the framework of norms enshrined in the United Nations’ core texts which ought to govern the life of nations and to the promotion of the Inner Development Goals (IDGs) initiative.
The IDGs framework is an open-source co-creation process based on the recognition that to be sustainable and effective, solutions to global challenges must also be rooted in specific personal attitudes, skills and abilities that help us catalyse the kind of outer change that the SDGs aim at.
We acknowledge in this process the crucial role of Conscience - our innate moral compass - and emphasize the importance of Love as advocated by Resolution 73/329. Love in this context should be understood as taking care of every single member of the Earth family through creative actions. The combination of Love and Conscience can unleash everywhere a powerful collective force of transformation for social change, world peace, and human evolution (ed by Resolution 73/329).
4 April 2025: The International Day of Conscience 2025 at the UN Headquarters in Geneva
WITH THE EXCEPTIONAL PARTICIPATION OF DR DENIS MUKWEGE, 2018 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE
- :DATE: 4 April 2025, 10:00 – 17:30 CEST
- LOCATION: Building E, Room XVII, United Nations - Palais des Nations, Geneva/Switzerland (entrance via Pregny gate)
- PROGRAMME: Find out more and discover the full programme here.
- ATTENDANCE on 4 APRIL: free of charge
- REGISTRATION MANDATORY
The Geneva events related to the International Day of Conscience 2025 (IDC 25) will benefit from the exceptional participation of Dr. Denis Mukwege, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and of 12 young Ambassadors from each of the 5 continents, who are recipients of the Young Leaders LoveForce Awards (YLLFA) conferred to them on 10 December, 2024, in Hyderabad.
These young actors of change, together with students from various schools and universities embody the "One Young Humanity Team”, a driving force for societal change, climate action, and racial justice. They have been selected for their compliance with the Leave No One Behind rule, which is the game changer’s promise of the 2030 Agenda, fully aligned with the IDC core values. The active inclusion of youth in IDC 25 celebration is a response to the call from the UN Secretary-General to deliver a present and future that works for all through the establishment of meaningful youth engagement.
Alongside those young global changemakers, we will benefit from the presence of UN officials, UNESCO ambassadors, the Mayor of Geneva, indigenous leaders, sustainability experts, spiritual activists, artists, writers and meditactors.
Walk the talk
The celebration of the International Day of Conscience on 4 April, 2025, is a call to walk the talk of the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Agenda 2030, the Pact for the Future, the UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women and Peace, and other reference commitments which open new pathways of Conscience and Love for fairer, happier, and peaceful societies.
Mahatma Gandhi asserted in the last century: "Be the change you want to see in the world". At the dawn of the new millennium, we echo him with Sofia Stril-Rever: "Be the love you want to see in the world."
Despite the escalation of wars, deadly armed conflicts, largescale massacres of civilian populations and the trivialization of violence against nature, we reassert that violence is not a fatality. Peaceful, just and healthy societies are possible, as demonstrated by the millions of quiet revolutions undertaken by unsung heroes who are changing our world under the mainstream media spotlights. It depends on us, younger and elder members of the Earth family, to make peace a reality at the personal and societal levels in the political, economic, and environmental sectors.
One earth. One family. One future.
Cost
Participation in the celebration of the International Day of Conscience at the Palais des Nations on 4 April 2025 is FREE OF CHARGE.
REGISTER HERE
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GLOBAL CONVENORS
SOFIA STRIL-REVER is a public speaker, award-winning author, teacher and spiritual activist. Sofia is the biographer of the Dalai Lama and has co-authored four books with him which have been translated into over twenty languages. She is the founder of LoveForce Leaders and the founding President of BeTheLove, a protocol of heart and mind-awakening for leaders and changemakers, encouraging them to shift from individualism to altruism and accelerate the implementation of the 2023 Agenda and the rise of a civilization of love.
IGNACIO PACKER is Executive Director of the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation, a Swiss private charitable foundation with the mission to provide a safe and privileged space to inspire, equip and connect individuals, groups and organizations from around the globe to engage effectively and innovatively in the promotion of trust, ethical leadership, sustainable living and human security. Ignacio has over 30 years of experience in humanitarian work and development issues. He is an expert on human rights and social issues and has been strongly engaged in global advocacy on protection frameworks for migrants and refugees with a particular focus on children and youth.
SARAH NOBLE is Head of Global Engagement at Caux Initiatives of Change. She has dedicated her career to building a better world and is passionate about showcasing people's stories on how we can build peace with each other and the planet. Sarah has held leadership positions at international organisations focused on peacebuilding, humanitarian issues, and independent media. She is also co-founder and Curator of the Peace Talks at Interpeace that have taken place in more than 8 countries with over 8.000 attendees and more than 200 speakers from over 50 countries.
PASCALE FRESSOZ is the Founding President of International Alliance for the Sustainable Millenium Goals (AI-ODD International). She uses private sector management methods to serve the common good, human rights, environmental protection and the fight against poverty. AI-ODD, present in 20 countries through its network of committed citizens, has obtained ECOSOC status from the UN. Pascale is also the director of a consultancy firm and a former local councillor. In 2014, after eight years of campaigning for the cause of hostages in Colombia, she was appointed Peace Ambassador by Professor Tévoédjré, former adviser to Kofi Annan. She is the author of "Agir pour un monde durable. Making the transition a success with the 17 SDGs".
HOST
ORGANISERS
- Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation
- Be The Love
- International Alliance for the Sustainable Development Goals (AI-ODD)
WITH THE SUPPORT OF:
- Permanent Mission of Bahrain to the UN and international organisations in Geneva
- Ville de Genève
- Guerrand-Hermès Foundation
- Future One
- SEEDS-Africa
- YMCA World
- The People Foundation
- NaturaSounds
- The International Academy of Transformative Leadership
- The International Spiritual Council for Transforming Humanity Foundation
- Leader Eveillé
- The LoveForce Foundation
- Initiatives of Change International
WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF:
- Permanent Mission of Morocco to the UN and international organisations in Geneva
- Permanent Mission of France to the UN and international organisations in Geneva
- Permanent Mission of the Marshall Islands to the UN and international organisations in Geneva
STEERING COMMITTEE
- Sofia STRIL-REVER, Founder LoveForce Foundation
- Ignacio PACKER, Executive Director, Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation
- Sarah NOBLE, Head of Global Engagement, Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation
- Pascale FRESSOZ, President of the International Alliance for the Sustainable Development Goals (AI-ODD)
- Christian DAVID, Former editor-in-chief of UN Special magazine, former UN official and active campaigner in numerous NGOs, Vice-President AAFI/AFICS
- Jean FABRE, UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy, Deputy Director of the UNDP in Geneva (1998-2008)
- René LONGET, Former Mayor of Onex, author, sustainability expert for the Swiss government
- Patrice ROBINEAU, Former Special Advisor to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Head of the World Council of Conscience project
- Vanessa MENDEZ, Former Deputy Director of the UNESCO Chair for a Culture of Peace Economy
- Maurice SIMON, co-founder of the Women's Cause and elected representative of the town of Gaillard, AI-ODD
- Carl BJERTNES, President of the SEEDS-AFRICA (Social Entrepreneurships & Enterprise Development Strategies)
- Elizabeth WILSON, Journalist
“We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of civilization.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
