The full plan
Three Days Down, explained.
The idea, the steps, the numbers and the questions we still need to answer together.
Download the briefing (PDF)A simple idea, shared by many
Every child should have food, care and the chance to grow up in safety. Watching children suffer can leave people feeling powerless. Three Days Down offers a way to bring that concern together and make it visible.
Three Days Down is a shared campaign for a peaceful, three-day pause in non-essential work and spending. The aim is to put pressure on governments to protect Palestinian children and civilians. You choose how you can safely take part. Essential services and care continue.
Start by adding your pledge. Then help someone else understand the idea. When enough support and preparation are in place, a date can be proposed and shared widely. You do not need to pay, give an email address or join a street march to pledge.
A pledge is an expression of support. It is not a promise to stop work regardless of your circumstances. Once a date is announced, everyone makes their own decision about taking part.
What we want to help change
The campaign asks governments to protect Palestinian children and civilians, secure sustained access to food, clean water and medicine, and protect hospitals, health workers and humanitarian aid. It also supports accountability for civilian harm through lawful processes.
The public case rests on civilian protection, humanitarian law and clearly identified findings from courts, UN bodies and humanitarian organisations. It does not depend on settling centuries of history or making claims about ancestral ownership.
The proposed pressure comes from people acting together: safely pausing non-essential work and spending, making their reasons clear and inviting others to join. Whether this changes government decisions depends on participation, organisation and the wider situation. No outcome is guaranteed.
150 million is the ambition. At 20 million, planning begins.
150 million is our long-term global ambition. At 20 million recorded pledges, formal consultation and preparation begin with organisations and unions, including discussion of possible dates. Pledging continues throughout. These are campaign choices, not numbers that guarantee safety, turnout or success. The count records pledges; it cannot prove how many different people will take part.
At 20 million recorded pledges, organisations and unions will be invited to discuss and propose a possible global date and organise towards a first three-day action. Palestinian organisations and affected communities should help shape that process. Consultation begins at this milestone; it does not depend on growth slowing or on 150 million being out of reach.
Reaching 20 million does not automatically set a date or call the action. Any proposal must explain who is taking responsibility, the geographic reach and organisational support, local legal and worker-safety considerations, how essential services will continue, and the preparation time needed.
Before and after this milestone, the campaign continues building support, checking the count and helping local groups prepare. Pledging stays open towards the 150 million ambition. Everyone decides whether and how to take part when a date and plan are announced.
How a date would be chosen
No date has been set. At 20 million recorded pledges, the campaign will begin formal consultation with organisations and unions to discuss and propose a possible global date and organise towards a first three-day action. Pledging continues towards our long-term ambition of 150 million. Reaching 20 million does not automatically announce a date or call the action. A decision needs a clear plan, named people taking responsibility, geographic reach, organisational support, local legal and worker-safety review, and time for everyone to prepare.
Before an announcement, the people taking responsibility must be named. Palestinian organisations and affected communities should help shape the plan. Local groups, workers and advisers need time to assess what participation would mean and how essential services will continue.
The announcement must give the start and end times, explain local time zones, allow a stated preparation period, and set out how postponement or cancellation will be communicated. Organisations and supporters can then help spread the agreed date. Personal pledge contact details are not needed: announcements will appear on this website.
About one month after an initial action, organisers would review whether food, medicine and other essential aid are reaching people reliably, using dated humanitarian reporting. If meaningful progress is still missing, another 72-hour action could be proposed. It would need a fresh announcement, safety review and a new choice to take part. It is not an automatic extension.
Take part in a way that fits your life
Care continues. Healthcare, emergency response, food, water, sanitation, humanitarian aid, essential transport and caregiving must keep going. Participation is voluntary and peaceful. No violence, hate, harassment, sabotage or pressure on people who cannot take part.
If you cannot stop work, you can still share the campaign, discuss it with friends or take part outside working hours. Where practical, approved annual leave may be one option. No one should be pushed to lose wages, risk their job or abandon someone who relies on them.
Rules and protections for stopping work differ by country, workplace and circumstances. A large pledge count does not remove those risks. Check your situation with a local union or a qualified adviser before making plans.
Pausing spending means non-essential purchases. Keep buying food, medicine and other things you need. Do not switch off equipment, communications or services that keep people safe. This campaign should never make life harder for people already at risk.
What economic pressure could mean
People keep economies running through their work and spending. Coordinated changes to that activity can make a public demand harder to ignore. The practical effect depends on where people take part, which activities pause, how long they pause and whether work or purchases happen later.
The table uses the World Bank's 2024 world aggregate for GDP per person employed: Int$49,070 in constant 2021 purchasing-power-parity terms. Dividing that annual figure by 365 gives a standardised calendar-day equivalent of Int$134.44. This is a sourced output benchmark, not a guessed wage or a rate measured for campaign supporters.
Economic output is the value created through production and services. It is not a worker’s wage, a company’s profit or money taken from a particular person. It also depends on equipment, skills, organisation and other inputs. Counting pledges alone cannot establish an economic cost.
Read the scenarios alongside their assumptions. Essential workers who continue working, supporters outside paid employment and people who only share the message must not be counted as full workdays paused.
Research-backed benchmark, not a forecast
What could a pause represent?
The World Bank's 2024 world aggregate for GDP per person employed is 49,070 constant 2021 international dollars at purchasing-power parity (PPP). Dividing that annual figure by 365 gives a standardised calendar-day equivalent of Int$134.44 per employed person. The table applies that single published benchmark only to workers who actually pause normally productive work.
One day = employed participants actually pausing × (Int$49,070 ÷ 365). Three days = the one-day figure × 3. The 365-day divisor avoids inventing a universal wage, workday length or workweek; it is an annual-output equivalent, not a measured daily wage.
| Employed people actually pausing | One calendar-day equivalent | Three calendar-day equivalents |
|---|---|---|
| 1 million | Int$134.44m | Int$403.32m |
| 10 million | Int$1.34bn | Int$4.03bn |
| 20 million | Int$2.69bn | Int$8.07bn |
| 50 million | Int$6.72bn | Int$20.17bn |
| 150 million | Int$20.17bn | Int$60.5bn |
Int$ = constant 2021 international dollars at PPP; m = million; bn = billion. Table totals are rounded.
These figures are neither forecasts of permanent loss nor estimates of wages withheld. GDP per employed person includes the contribution of capital, technology and other inputs. PPP international dollars compare volumes across economies; they are not current US dollars available at market exchange rates. Actual net effects depend on countries, sectors, hours, essential-work exclusions, substitution and how much activity is delayed or made up. Do not add spending reductions to these figures because that may count the same activity twice.
Scale it honestly
For a turnout not listed, multiply the number of employed people who actually pause by Int$134.44 and by the number of full calendar-day equivalents paused. Do not use the pledge total unless every pledge represents an employed participant who takes part. If the 72-hour period contains fewer than three normally productive days for someone, count only the work actually paused.
Sources and method
World Bank WDI: GDP per person employed — World. The 2024 world aggregate used here is Int$49,070 per employed person. Constant 2021 PPP international dollars are a purchasing-power measure, not current-US-dollar cash losses. Accessed 6 October 2026.
ILO: Labour productivity — frequently asked questions. Explains why aggregate productivity also reflects machinery, technology and economic structure, and why it should not be read as an individual worker's wage or effort.
Your pledge, your choice
Choose your country and add your pledge. A private pledge does not need a name. If you want to appear in the public list, you can choose a name to show with your country and pledge date. That is a separate choice, off by default.
No email, phone number, home address or employer is requested. After submitting, save your private code or take a picture of it. The code lets you check, change or remove your pledge. Anyone with it can manage that pledge, so keep it safe. A lost code cannot be automatically recovered.
During a busy period, a pledge may be received before it is counted. The website will distinguish those states. A saved pledge remains one pledge when the same submission is retried. Bot checks help protect the count but do not prove one entry per person.
Private names are not collected for new pledges, but using a website still involves technical information processed by its hosting and security services. The campaign does not promise complete untraceability. See the privacy notice for service providers, earlier records, removal and backup limits.
An idea for all of us
People around the world are invited to help shape this campaign. Palestinian people and affected communities should have a meaningful voice in where it goes. Nonprofit organisations, workers and community groups can bring experience, improve the plan and help carry it forward.
You can share the idea in your own words, make banners or music, and invite your community to take part. Anyone who has felt powerless while watching children suffer has a place in that effort.
For now, one person maintains the website and answers questions about pledge information while a wider team is formed. Any change in who looks after the campaign or pledge information must be explained publicly. Earlier pledges keep their original terms.
You do not need to pay or donate to pledge. Three Days Down does not sell participant information. Questions about costs, affiliations or who is responsible are welcome.
Read the sources for yourself
The evidence page links to dated humanitarian reports, ICJ documents and UN General Assembly resolution ES-10/24. Read the original documents and their scope: a court’s provisional order, an advisory opinion and a General Assembly resolution are different things.
The January, March and May 2024 ICJ orders in South Africa v. Israel concern provisional measures; they are not final judgments on the merits. The July 2024 advisory opinion addresses a separate set of legal questions. None of these documents endorses Three Days Down or grants permission for a work stoppage.
The economic table uses the World Bank's 2024 world aggregate and an explicit annual-output-divided-by-365 calculation. The World Bank and ILO references define productivity measures and their limits; neither source predicts this campaign’s effects or endorses it.
Questions, ideas or corrections?
Ordinary supporters, local groups and organisations can all help improve the idea. Tell us what is unclear, what could put people at risk and what would make the plan more useful in your community.
Read the updates page for announcements and changes. If you shared an older briefing, use the current one when passing the message on.