UN Advises on Peaceful Coexistence

By Michael Olugbode

The UN Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, has said that the world has a choice to make between living in peace and in perpetual peril.

Guterres, in his address to commemorate the International Day of Peace on September 21, said: “As a human family, we face a stark choice – peace or perpetual peril. We must choose peace.”

In his message to commemorate the day in Nigeria, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Edward Kallon, said that the rights of the people to peace have been hampered by insecurity issues around the country, particularly the insurgency in the North-East, the spate of violent kidnappings at our children’s schools, and the farmer-herder crisis along the Middle Belt.

Kallon said: “In the spirit of the International Day of Peace, I call on the perpetrators to lay down their weapons and give peace a chance. The only solution to these crises is peace.”

“Furthermore, we must make peace with our fellow mankind as we face a common enemy: COVID-19. To recover from this devastating pandemic, we must reconcile with one another first. We need solidarity in order to mitigate the pandemic’s worst consequences, deliver the vaccines, and support this great nation Nigeria on its road to recovery. “A halt in local conflicts will allow us to address this global emergency. Those caught in areas of conflict like the North-East are especially vulnerable in terms of access to healthcare. We need to ensure that they have access to necessary treatments and vaccines.”

Kallon stated that the 2021 theme for the International Day of Peace is “Recovering Better for an Equitable and Sustainable World,” lamented that “the pandemic has hit the underprivileged and marginalied groups the hardest,” stressing that “we must build back better a world that is more equal, more just, more inclusive, more equitable, and more sustainable.”

He said: “As we support the government of Nigeria to implement the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, we remember that there is no peace without development and no development without peace. I exhort each and every Nigerian to be an agent, ambassador and advocate of peace as we collectively work towards putting this pandemic behind us and moving into a new era of peace, prosperity and progress.”

The International Day of Peace, which is marked every September 21, was established in 1981 by the unanimous United Nations resolution 36/37, the General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to “commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples.”

It is a day devoted to achieving peace through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.