News item | 30-03-2021

On 29 March 2021, the “Action for Peacekeeping” conference of the United Nations was opened by 40 children of the St. Bavo Choir School in Haarlem performing the song “Call for Peace”. This musical tribute to the United Nations was recorded at the Peace Palace.

A musical video clip by the St. Bavo Haarlem Choir School and the Dutch Military Orchestra opened a conference organized by the UN and the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York to celebrate the three-year anniversary of ‘Action for Peacekeeping’ (A4P). This is an initiative of António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, to modernize peacekeeping missions. Guterres asks UN member states to strengthen and renew the collective commitment of UN peacekeeping. The A4P was adopted at the UN Security Council in 2018 under the chairmanship of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

In collaboration with the Dutch Ministry of Defence and with the cooperation of the Dutch military orchestra “Regimentsfanfare Garde Grenadiers en Jager”, the 40 choir members of the Choir School Haarlem, aged 8 to 12, created a four-minute video clip for this conference which was recorded at the Peace Palace in The Hague. With the clip, the children literally give voice to the importance of the United Nations and reflect on the responsibility that the Netherlands takes within the UN. The A4P conference was be concluded with an online performance by a youth musical group from Sudan.

Besides the presence of the Secretary-General and a large international group, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Under-Secretary-General of the UN, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, also made a contribution to this important conference.

The entire videoclip can be watched here:

Source: Dutch Ministry of Defence & St. Bavo Haarlem Choir School