{{short description|Proposed flag to represent world peace}} {{use dmy dates|date=March 2022}} thumb|220px|One design for an international peace flag
There have been several designs for a '''peace flag'''.
== White-bordered national flag == thumb|left|White-bordered US flag. Banner reads "Peace to All Nations". The white flag is recognized in most of the world as a flag of surrender, truce or ceasefire. The first mention of a white flag used in this context is made during the Eastern Han dynasty (AD 25–220). A white flag was also used by the anti-war movement during the US Civil War in 1861.<ref>{{cite web|url={{GBUrl|7t_an-gkYa4C|p=251}}|title=The American Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events of the Year|date=30 April 1864|publisher=|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url={{GBUrl|XS0LAAAAIAAJ|p=230}}|title=Struggles and Triumphs: Or, Sixty Years' Recollections of P.T. Barnum, Including His Golden Rules for Money-making|first=Phineas Taylor|last=Barnum|date=30 April 1889|publisher=Courier Company|via=Google Books}}</ref>
In 1891, the third Universal Peace Congress in Rome devised a generalized Peace Flag design, which was simply the home nation's flag bordered in white to signify non-violent conflict resolution. This was used (although not officially adopted) by the American Peace Society<ref>{{cite book|url={{GBUrl|btwBAAAAYAAJ|p=213}}|title=American Advocate of Peace|publisher=American Peace Society|date=1892|volume=54-55|via=Google Books}}</ref> and the Universal Peace Union.<ref>{{cite web|url={{GBUrl|09wBAAAAYAAJ|p=113}}|title=The Advocate of Peace|date=30 April 1894|publisher=American Peace Society|via=Google Books}}</ref> It was designed by Henry Pettit.{{sfn|Allen|1930|p=491}}
== The Pro Concordia Labor flag == thumb|right|Button depicting the peace flag thumb|1904 simplified design of the flag of universal peace In the 1890s, expatriate American Cora Slocomb di Brazza Savorgnan, the Countess Di Brazzà, invented a universal peace flag with three upright bands: yellow, purple, and white, which became the peace flag of the International Peace Bureau.{{sfn|Allen|1930|p=553}} Originally, there was a complicated symbol on the middle band: "a shield ... surmounted by a man's and a woman's clasped hands, sustained by a pair of dove wings with a white star aloft; on the shield can appear any device chosen by the association adopting the flag, or simply the number of enrollment among the users of the flag, or the motto ''Pro Concordia Labor'' (For Peace I Work), or this motto may be placed upon a ribbon on the flag beneath the shield, or on a streamer (white) from the flag staff (blue, the color of promise) surmounted by a star with the motto of the association or individual using the flag upon the other white streamer".<ref>{{cite web|url={{GBUrl|-IIEAAAAYAAJ}}|title=History and Minutes of the National Council of Women of the United States, Organized in Washington, D.C., March 31, 1888|author=National Council of Women of the United States|date=30 April 1898|page=315|publisher=E. B. Stillings|via=Google Books}}</ref>
This flag was adopted by the International Council of Women in 1896. In 1904, it lost the complicated design and became a simple tricolor.<ref>{{cite book |url={{GBUrl|RCqyJyiwW7MC|p=476|q=banner of universal peace}} |title=The School Arts Book |date=30 April 2018 |publisher=Davis Publications |editor-last=Bailey |editor-first=Henry Turner |volume=7 |page=476 |orig-date=June 1908 |via=Google Books}}</ref> == The Earth flag == thumb|The Universal Peace Congress' world peace flag {{ill|James William van Kirk|nl}}, a Methodist minister from Youngstown, Ohio designed the first world peace flag of the Earth, using rainbow stripes, stars and a globe. In 1913 and 1929, he made a peace tour through Europe with his flag.<ref>{{cite news|first=Corien|last=Glaudemans|title=Een vredesapostel uit Ohio|language=nl|work=Den Haag Centraal|date=16 October 2009}} For pictures of James William van Kirk and his peace flag, see [http://www.haagsebeeldbank.nl/ Haagse Beeldbank; photocollection of the Municipal Archive of The Hague (the Netherlands)] nrs. 1.02811 and 5.12996.</ref> He traveled around the world arguing for "the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God".<ref>{{cite news|title=How One Minister Paid His Way Round The World|work=The Western Christian Advocate|first1=C.|last1=Holliday|first2=J. F.|last2=Wright|date=1906}}</ref>
The Universal Peace Congress eventually came to adopt Kirk's flag as its official World Peace Flag, and it was subsequently adopted by the American Peace Society as well as other groups. It consisted of "the earth on a blue field covered with white stars; a white band crossed the globe and to the left was broken up into a spectrum representing the variations of the human race—different, but united in peace".{{sfn|Allen|1930|pp=496-498}} The flag also shows 46 stars surrounding the globe and the spectrum.
In 1938, Kirk authored an autobiography, ''Stranger than fiction: four times around the world, designer of world flag, a world builder, at 80 years makes a new start in life''.
== The Banner of Peace == thumb|Roerich Pact Banner of Peace {{main|Banner of Peace}} The ''banner of peace'' is a symbol of the Roerich Pact. This pact was the first international treaty dedicated to the protection of artistic and scientific institutions and historical monuments.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uscbs.org/1935-roerich-pact.html|title=Roerich Pact: Treaty on the Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historic Monuments|date=15 April 1935|website=U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield}}</ref> It was signed on 15 April 1935. The banner of peace was proposed by Nicholas Roerich for an international pact for the protection of culture values.
== The Rainbow flag == {{Globalize|section|Italy|date=March 2023}} [[File:PACE-flag.svg|thumb|220px|The rainbow colored PACE flag, (Italian for 'peace')]] The most common recent design is a rainbow flag representing peace, first used in Italy at a peace march in 1961. The flag was inspired by similar multi-coloured flags used in demonstrations against nuclear weapons. A previous version had featured a dove drawn by Pablo Picasso.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elettrosmog.com/bandieradellapace.htm|title=La vera storia della bandiera della pace - Notizie storiche sulla bandiera della Pace, la bandiera Arcobaleno della Pace|language=it|first=Carmen|last=Pirovano|website=www.elettrosmog.com|url-status=dead|access-date=2007-08-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205131634/http://www.elettrosmog.com/bandieradellapace.htm|archive-date=2007-02-05}}</ref>
The most common variety has seven colours—purple, blue, azure, green, yellow, orange, and red—and is emblazoned in bold with the Italian word ''PACE'', meaning "peace".
It became popular with the ''Pace da tutti i balconi'' ("peace from every balcony") campaign in 2002, started as a protest against the impending invasion of Iraq. At that time its use was met with criticism from the Italian LGBT community for being too similar to the LGBT six-color gay pride flag (which was originally created in San Francisco California in 1979 and had started being used regularly in Italy a couple of years earlier during the 2000 inaugural WorldPride celebration in Rome).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://gilbertbaker.com/flags/ | title=Flags }}</ref> The flag was flown from balconies in all Italian cities by citizens against the war. Its use spread to other countries too, and the Italian ''Pace'' was sometimes, but not everywhere, replaced with the corresponding translation in the local languages.
According to Amnesty International, producer Franco Belsito had produced about 1,000 flags per year for 18 years, and suddenly had to cope with a demand in the range of the millions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amnesty.no/aktuelt/flere-nyheter/arkiv-reportasjer/det-nytter-1|title=Det nytter!|language=no|website=Amnesty International Norway|date=6 June 2003}}</ref>
Common variations include moving the purple stripe down below the azure one, and adding a white stripe on top.
The seven-color peace flag is not to be confused with the similar six-color gay pride flag, which does not have azure and has the colors in the opposite order with red at the top.
== The Peace Flag initiative == "The Peace Flag" is an initiative that aims to unify all nations underneath one common symbol on International Peace Day. While there are various icons of peace – the olive branch, the dove – there is no official world flag of peace adopted by the United Nations. This initiative proposes that, for one day a year on 21 September, every country raises an all-white version of their national flag to represent that we are all one. In 2013, embassies of Colombia, Equatorial Guinea and Ecuador in London officially agreed to support The Peace Flag initiative by raising a colorless version of their respective flags on 21 September. The initiative was nominated for a White Pencil in 2012 at D&AD for its contribution towards peace, in support of Peace One Day.{{cn|date=March 2023}} <gallery> File:Colombian Flag of Peace.jpg|Colombian Flag of Peace File:Equatorial Guinean Flag of Peace.jpg|Equatorial Guinean Flag of Peace File:Ecuadorian Flag of Peace.jpg|Ecuadorian Flag of Peace </gallery> === The largest peace flag === The first large peace flag was made in Lecce, Salento, Italy by the association "GPace - Youth for peace" on Saturday, 14 November 2009. It was {{convert|21|x|40|m|ft|-1|abbr=in}}. Three years later this record was broken. On 21 September 2012, the Belgian Peace Organisation<ref>{{cite AV media|author=Vredevzw|title=Grootste vredesvlag {{!}} Biggest peaceflag - Gent 21 september 2012|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VzXEtQN8x4|date=3 October 2012|via=YouTube}} Vredeshuis Ghent and five city schools unfolded the worlds largest peace flag; [http://www.vrede.be/ vrede.be].</ref>{{better source needed|date=June 2025}} ({{convert|30|x|50|m|ft|round=5|abbr=in|disp=x|/}}) in the historic center of Ghent. The action aimed to reinforce the demand to disarm in order to make room for sustainable development. The largest peace flag was made in Prato, Tuscany, Italy with the fabrics produced in the city and showed at the Italian liberation day (25 April 2003) on the hill around the city to protest against the war in Iraq . It was approximately 1000m×13m (3280,84 ft × 42,65 ft). The flag was paraded through the streets of Prato again on 25 April 2025.{{Fact|date=June 2025}}
== Gallery == <gallery> File:US Peace flag.svg|United States flag with peace sign canton File:GreekRainbowPeaceFlag.svg|Greek language rainbow peace flag File:Light Dispersion Peace flag.svg|Light Dispersion Flag File:Bandiere della pace a Milano 2003.jpg|"Pace da tutti i balconi": peace flags hanging from windows in Milan, Italy, in March 2003. Over 1,000,000 were hung against the Iraq war. File:American Peace Flag.png|American Peace Flag, 1904 </gallery>
== See also == * Peace symbols * Peace movement * White-blue-white flag (Russian anti-war flag) * Flag of Earth * Rainbow flag
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Bibliography == *{{cite book|last=Devere|first=Allen|title=The Fight for Peace|location=New York|publisher=Macmillan|year=1930|url={{GBUrl|z_lZAAAAIAAJ}}|via=Google Books}}
== External links == {{Commons category|Peace flags}} * [http://www.thepeaceflag.com The Peace Flag] * [http://flagspot.net/flags/int-wpa.html Brotherhood Flag] * [http://triptych.brynmawr.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/Stamps&CISOPTR=735&CISOBOX=1&REC=1 World Peace Service flag]
Category:Activism flags Flag Category:Rainbow flags Category:Horizontally symmetrical flags