KICKING AGAINST
HOSTILITY AND CONFLICT AS THE WORLD MARKS THE 2016 INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE
ON WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 21
Today, Wednesday September 21,
the world over is commemorating the 2016 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.
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/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 thrives 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 shows 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/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.
Suffice to say; 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 onset, 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.
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, 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.
As Nigeria joins the rest of the
global community to mark the 35th 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 Fred Doc
Nwaozor
(The Media Ambassador)
-Public
Affairs Analyst & Civil Rights Activist-
Chief Executive Director, Centre for Counselling, Research
& Career Development - Owerri
_____________________________________
frednwaozor@gmail.com
http://frednwaozor.blogspot.com
Twitter: @mediambassador
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