QUEEN’S AND BELFAST CITY COUNCIL LAUNCH 2018 GLOBAL PEACE INDEX 
13 June 2018
The William J. Clinton Leadership Institute and the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast – in partnership with the Institute for Economics and Peace and Belfast City Council – will launch the 2018 Global Peace Index and a conversation about Positive Peace Framework for Northern Ireland on Thursday, 14 June.
The Global Peace Index, the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness, is published each year by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), which is now the leading think-tank dedicated to developing metrics to analyse peace.
Guests at the launch will be joined by keynote speaker Steve Killelea, the Founder and Executive Chairman of IEP, who will be flying in from Sydney to launch this year’s Index following similar launches at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and The Hague.
The Index covers 99.7 per cent of the world’s population and ranks 163 countries. It uses 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, and measures the state of peace using three thematic domains: the level of societal safety and security; the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict; and the degree of militarisation.
Enda Young, Programme Manager at the William J. Clinton Leadership Institute at Queen’s and one of the organisers said: “We are delighted to partner with Belfast City Council to bring the Global Peace Index to Belfast.
“The Index presents the most comprehensive data-driven analysis to-date on trends in peace, its economic value, and how to develop peaceful societies.”
Steve Killelea is an accomplished entrepreneur in high technology business development and at the forefront of philanthropic activities focused on sustainable development and peace. In 2007 he founded the IEP, an international think tank dedicated to building a greater understanding of the interconnection between business, peace and economics with particular emphasis on the economic benefits of peace.
As well as the Global Peace Index launch Mr Killelea will also be talking about the Institute’s Positive Peace Report and how it is relevant to Northern Ireland 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Young continued: “It is fitting that we host the 2018 launch here in Belfast, a post-conflict society which has come so far in the past 20 years since the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. Addressing what makes a positive peace should be a focus for all of us over the next 20 years.”
The launch at Queen’s is one of a number taking place across Europe and the U.S. including: the House of Lords, London; the inaugural World Forum for Peace, Normandy; The Hague, Netherlands; the Luxembourg Peace Prize, Luxembourg; Tirana, Albania; Milan, Italy; and Washington D.C., and New York in the U.S.
The launch is open to the public and free to attend. Register your attendance via Eventbrite.
Media inquiries Zara McBrearty at Queen's Communications Office on telephone: +44 (0)28 9097 3259.
Caption (L-R): Enda Young of the Leadership Institute, Professor John Brewer, Acting Director of the Mitchell Institute, Steve Killelea, Dr Fiona Murphy, Interim Director of the Leadership Institute, Professor Adrienne Scullion, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences and Lord Mayor Deirdre Hargey.
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