Today, 2 October, the Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA) joins the world in commemorating the International Day of Non-Violence under the theme “Non-Violence as a Means to Peace and Development.”

For FOSDA, non-violence is at the heart of our mandate and our work. For more than two decades, we have championed conflict prevention, dialogue, mediation, responsible arms control, inclusion and human security as alternatives to violence.

This message is particularly urgent today. In Ghana, conflicts and tensions—including the protracted Bawku conflict, chieftaincy and communal disputes, electoral violence and growing tensions around land and natural resources—continue to remind us of the devastating cost of resolving differences through violence.

Across West Africa and the Sahel, violent extremism, armed conflict, political instability and the proliferation of small arms continue to destroy lives, displace communities and undermine development. Globally, the wars and humanitarian crises in Sudan, Gaza and Ukraine, among others, demonstrate once again that violence leaves consequences that endure long after the guns fall silent.

FOSDA therefore uses this Day to call on governments, political actors, traditional and religious leaders, communities, young people, women and all parties to conflict to choose dialogue over confrontation, mediation over retaliation, and peaceful settlement over the use of arms.

Non-violence does not mean ignoring injustice or avoiding difficult conversations. It means having the courage to confront our differences without destroying one another. Peace and development cannot flourish where violence becomes the language through which strength and grievances are expressed and differences resolved.

As we commemorate this Day, let us recommit ourselves from our homes and communities to national, regional and global institutions, to resolving disputes peacefully, addressing the root causes of conflict, controlling the spread and misuse of weapons, and investing in the people and institutions that build peace.

Violence is not inevitable. There is always an alternative.

FOSDA calls on all to choose dialogue, non-violence and give peace a chance.