|
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday sounded a call for peace and a day of non-violence, saying that each of the new global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted a year ago by 193 countries are the "building blocks for peace."
"Sustainable development is essential for lasting peace, and both depend on respect for human rights," Ban said in his message to mark the International Day of Peace. "All of us can be sustainable development advocates."
"On this International Day of Peace, express your commitment to peace by becoming a champion for the SDGs," he said.
Earlier Friday, the UN chief rang the Peace Bell at UN Headquarters in New York to mark the International Day, observed annually on Sept. 21, and he said before the event that every year on this day, the United Nations calls on warring parties around the world to observe a 24-hour ceasefire.
"But peace is not just about putting weapons aside. It is about building societies where people share the benefits of prosperity on a healthy planet," Ban said in his message for the Day.
The UN system is marking the Day early this year, with a host of events that kicked off this morning in the Peace Garden at UN Headquarters, where the secretary-general rang the Peace Bell and observed a minute of silence.
Women Nobel Peace Prize laureates and the United Nations Messengers of Peace have been invited to participate in the ceremony.
"You know best of all that peace is not an accident. Peace is not a gift. Peace is something we must all work for, every day, in every country," he said.
While welcoming ceasefires -- like the Cessation of Hostilities in Syria, Ban stressed that peace is about far more than putting weapons aside and that it involves the hard work of mediation, conflict resolution through diplomacy, reconciliation, peacebuilding and sustaining peace.
He said that he looks forward to visiting Cartagena, Colombia on Sept. 26 for the signing of a historic peace agreement which ends the 50-year war between the Colombian government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the UN General Assembly. Two decades later in 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to designate the Day as a period of non-violence and ceasefire.
The United Nations invites all nations and people to honor a cessation of hostilities during the Day, and to otherwise commemorate the Day through education and public awareness on issues related to peace.
