680NEWS

John Lennon's widow and two sons are donating the proceeds from the 40th anniversary release of the hit "Give Peace a Chance" to a U.N. peacebuilding fund used to help countries emerging from conflict, the fund announced Tuesday.

Chile's U.N. Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, who chairs the U.N. Peacebuilding Commission which oversees the fund, praised Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Julian Lennon for their decision to celebrate "the uniting spirit" of the "universal anthem" by contributing to global efforts to help countries through the difficult move from war to peace.

Starting Tuesday, iTunes will exclusively offer the single's special anniversary single for download purchase, with new proceeds benefiting the U.N. Peacebuilding Fund through Dec. 31, he said.

"I am thrilled that so many in the music business are readily supporting 'Give Peace a Chance' on its 40th anniversary," Ono said in a statement. "It is indeed a time when we are all getting more aware of the necessity of doing something to achieve world peace, no matter how small."

"Thank you, thank you thank you. I feel deeply that we are all one, regardless of where we stand," she said.

Lennon and Ono wrote the song during their 1969 honeymoon bed-in protest against the Vietnam War and over the years it has become the world's most popular peace anthem.

Munoz told a news conference at U.N. headquarters that Lennon's widow and sons, partnering with EMI Music and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, were making the first private donation to the U.N. Peacebuilding Fund, which has raised $315 million in voluntary donations from U.N. member states since it was established four years ago.

The Peacebuilding Commission is currently helping four countries - Sierra Leone, Burundi, Central African Republic and Guinea-Bissau - emerge from conflict, he said, and the Peacebuilding Fund has helped to prevent 14 other countries from relapsing into violence including Nepal, Haiti, Kenya and Ivory Coast, he said.

Munoz called Ono the "fundamental moving force" in allowing the gift to the U.N.

"Beyond words, she is proving in a concrete action that she is committed - and she has been for such a long time - to the cause of world peace," he said.

Munoz urged companies, individuals and philanthropists to "imitate this geneorus contribution by Yoko Ono and her partners and help the Peacebuilding Commission and ... the people in the post-conflict countries that will be the ultimate beneficiaries of a gift."