Though often the setting of divisive sporting clashes, Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium took on a more unifying role recently, when it served as the launchpad for the Urdd’s Peace and Goodwill Message 2026, which this year focuses on the importance of preserving languages.
The annual message, which has been broadcast for more than a century, is created by young people in Wales and serves as an annual plea for global authorities to make positive decisions that will improve the quality of life for the next generation. It is overseen by the Urdd Gobaith Cymru (or the Urdd, for short), Wales’ largest youth organisation.
With input from acclaimed Welsh poet Marged Tudur (a former Wales Book of the Year award winner), the 2026 message was produced in collaboration with students from the city of Wrexham. Set against the backdrop of warnings from experts that half of the world’s 7000 languages could vanish by the end of the century due to globalisation, migration, and climate change, the message focuses on the importance of protecting linguistic diversity, with respect for different cultures an essential building block for moving towards a more peaceful and connected world.
Entitled Peace Speaks Every Language, the 2026 peace message was launched from the Spotify Camp Nou, the emblematic football stadium of FC Barcelona. It was an apt choice of location for this year’s message, with the stadium, the largest in Europe, serving as a symbol of Catalan identity – a culture and language that once faced significant oppression.
Another language that has suffered historical suppression is Cymraeg (Welsh), which, in the 19th century, was banned in some schools and workplaces. Cymraeg has, thankfully, made an impressive recovery during the last few decades and is now spoken by approximately a quarter of the population of Wales.
Fittingly, given the theme of this year’s dispatch, the message will be published in an impressive 75 different languages, including more minority languages than ever before, such as Kurdish, Cornish and Breton.
Speaking about this year’s message, Siân Lewis, Chief Executive of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, said, ‘For over a century, the Urdd has empowered the youth of Wales to speak out on the world’s most pressing issues.’
‘Launching this year's message from the Spotify Camp Nou is a powerful symbol of international solidarity between minority languages. We are showing that small linguistic communities can have a massive collective voice, and that when languages thrive, peace has a chance,’ she added.
A UNESCO-backed initiative unique to Wales, the Peace and Goodwill Message has been produced by the children of Wales since 1922, continuing to be sent even during periods of war and global turmoil. Previous subjects have ranged from atomic weapons to climate change, while last year’s message focused on poverty. The message has also taken on a number of forms, initially being broadcast via morse code, before moving to radio, and is now posted online, both in written form and in a short video format.
Read (or watch) this year’s message on the official Urdd Gobaith Cymru website, or via the Urdd’s Instagram or Facebook page.
Alternatively, read more about the work of the Urdd, a far from ordinary youth organisation.