Today, Thursday, September 21, the world over
is commemorating the 2017 anniversary of the International Day of Peace. In respect
to the effect of peace to humanity, in 1981, the United Nations (UN) General
Assembly through a resolution established the International Day of Peace.
The day was first celebrated on
Tuesday September 21, 1982. The maiden commemoration was meant to coincide with
the anniversary of the UN’s opening session, which was held annually on the
third Tuesday of September. The theme of this year’s celebration is ‘Together
for peace: respect, safety and dignity for all.’ This implies that everyone must
be considered important for peace to reign in any society.
Consequently, in 2001, the UN General Assembly by unanimous votes
adopted resolution which established 21st September of every year as
an annual day of non-violence and ceasefire. By this resolution, the UN invites
all nations and people to honour a cessation of hostilities, and to otherwise
commemorate the day through education and raising of public awareness on issues
related to peace.
Hostility
is unfriendly or aggressive behaviour or feelings towards people from other
backgrounds. It can also be described as a strong opposition against an idea, a
plan or a situation. On its part, conflict is a situation in which individuals,
groups or countries are involved in a serious disagreement or argument which
often results to violence; it can simply be defined as a state of complete
confusion and disorder. On the other hand, peace is a period of time when there
is no enmity, violence or war in a certain locality; more so, it is the state
of being calm or quiet, or living in mutual friendship with others.
Hostility and conflict that have
over the decades subjected mankind to a state of mockery, have indeed arrested
the developmental thrive of most nations across the globe thereby constituting
a severe and uncontrollable poverty among the populace. Conflict, that is as
old as the world, has succeeded in rendering the socio-economic growth of many
countries incapacitated due to its cruel and dastardly nature.
Conflict through the emergence of terrorist activities such as
assassination, kidnapping, massacre, armed robbery, genocide, or what have you,
has not only brought endless anxiety to the people, but has contributed
immensely to the degradation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the
affected country or region, as the case may be. Above all, the dangers of war,
or the level of the post-traumatic stress disorder attributed to it, cannot be
overemphasized.
Research indicates that the rudimentary attribute of several conflicts
are directly related to leadership and/or valuable natural resources such as gold,
diamond, petroleum, coal, timber, water and so on. Needless to say that, addressing
the ownership, control and management of available natural endowments is
crucial to maintaining peace and security in any society, thereby sustaining an
ideal development needed by all.
Hence, in Nigeria for instance, it’s
imperative for the governments at all levels to include the host communities of
the country’s resources in the scheme of things, especially while implementing
capital projects. Equitable distribution of leadership positions among the
citizens cum regions would equally be a welcome idea.
Surely, peace and security are essential foundations for social progress
and sustainable development, thus we must quench the fire of extremism among us
in order to tackle the root causes of conflict. We must bear in mind that peace
is definitely a long journey that we are bound to collectively embark on. It
suffices to say that we are expected to hold peace in our hearts and minds, and
tenderly nurture it so it would grow and blossom.
It is not anymore news that
armed conflict causes untold grief and hardship to families, communities and
the entire country involved. Indeed, too many persons are suffering today at
the brutal hands of war-mongers and terrorists. This is why, from the outset,
we must learn to teach our children and wards the essence of tolerance and
mutual respect. Let’s invest in the schools and teachers toward building a fair
and inclusive world that embraces diversity; fight for peace at all cost, as
well as defend it with all our might.
The various religious bodies have a very vital and inevitable role to
play in this regard. They must, at all times, endeavour to preach peace among
their congregants irrespective of the circumstance. Survey shows that, on the
average, a worshipper sees his/her religious leader as the god on earth; hence,
the various church or mosque leaders across the country are required to tender
a sermon that would bring only peace in the society rather than the reverse.
From time to time, we are meant to
sensitize our children, relatives, friends, colleagues, associates, and what have
you, to emulate the habit of the UN Messengers of Peace, or the likes of
Princess Haya, Daniel Barenboim, Paulo Coelho, Michael Douglas, Jane Goodall,
Edward Norton, Steve Wonder, Charlie Theron, and Elie Wiesel, just to mention
but a few, whom remain distinguished individuals carefully selected from the
fields of art, literature, science, entertainment, and sports, among other
fields of public life, who have agreed to help focus worldwide attention on the
work of the UN in the area of peace promotion. These prominent icons volunteer
their times, resources, energies, talents and passions, to raise awareness of
United Nations’ tireless efforts to improve the lives of billions of people
worldwide.
The International Day of Peace offers people globally a shared date to
think about how they can contribute towards ensuring that natural resources and
quest for leadership positions are handled in a mature and tactical manner,
thus reducing potential for disputes as well as paving ways for a sustainable future,
which is obviously the future we want. Furthermore, in our various homes, we
need to see our spouses as best friend, to avoid likely cases of domestic
violence that could jeopardize our peace.
So, as Nigeria joins the rest of
the global community to mark the 36th anniversary of the laudable
commemoration, there’s a compelling need for holistic condemnation of any act
that could result to any form of hostility or conflict around us, in order to
sustain a formidable peace needed for both individual and national
developments. Think about it!
Comrade Nwaozor,
public affairs analyst &
civil rights activist,is the Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub - Owerri
(Twitter: @mediambassador)
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