Today we commemorate the International Day of Peace, initiative launched by the United Nations in 1981. The Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC), joining in this commemoration, is aware of its importance and the absolute need in the present times to unite efforts and wills in the defense of Peace; against war, the militarization of international relations, the arms race; and for disarmament, the dissolution of political-military blocks and international relations based on cooperation and friendship among peoples, and the respect for the sovereignty and independence of States.

The struggle for Peace has renewed importance given the multiplication of interventions, aggressions and conflicts, which are provoking death, suffering and the destruction in many points of the world, including the greatest number of refugees since the Second World War, the majority of whom are precisely from countries that are victims of war and foreign aggressions, such as Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Ukraine, Palestine, among others.

Therefore, the defense of Peace demands, for example, the union of all those that desire a world of peace, cooperation, progress and social justice in rejecting the military exercises that NATO has planned for October, involving Portugal, turning this occasion into a high point in the demand for the dissolution of NATO, foreseen in article 7 of the Portuguese Constitution.

On this International Day of Peace, CPPC recalls the aggressive character of NATO, a warmongering organization that seeks to continue its geographic expansion in the East and Southeast of Europe and the reinforces its military means near the borders with the Russian Federation, with the dangerous consequences that may follow.
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Also on this day, and on the 65th anniversary of the Creation of the World Peace Council and the Stockholm Appeal — against nuclear weapons — increased importance must be given to the reaffirmation of that central demand for Peace in the world: the end of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction, and a general, simultaneous and controlled disarmament, including the end of foreign military bases in the world.

CPPC underlines on this International Day of Peace the relevance and urgency of the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter 70 years ago, which should guide international relations, such as peace, cooperation among countries and peoples, disarmament, the respect for national sovereignty and independence, values reaffirmed 40 years ago by the signers of the Helsinki Final Act.

Confidant in the will and capacity of the lovers of peace and the peoples, together, to stop the more aggressive impulses of the powers that foster war, CPPC appeals to all the true defender of Peace that in the actions to be realized during the month of October they express their repudiation for NATO and against its military exercises; raise their voice for the end of wars and demand from the Government of the Country the strict fulfillment of the Portuguese Constitution, which enshrines the respect for the sovereignty of States, a peaceful solution to international conflicts, the end of colonialism and imperialism, disarmament and the dissolution of political-military blocks as the path to follow for a world in which Peace, solidarity and cooperation are more than words on treaties.
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​For Peace all of us are not too many

National Leadership of CPPC​