16th May 2019 marks the second ‘International Day of Living Together in Peace’. This initiative was first proposed by the Honorary Head of the international Sufi order AISA (International Association Sufi Alawiyya NGO), Sheikh Khaled Bentounes and it was later adopted as an annual official day by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on December 8th, 2017.
Living together in peace does not only emerge from the absence of conflict, but it crucially also emerges from accepting differences and the ability to respect, understand, and appreciate other people and their opinions. Unfortunately, it is of no surprise today that the lack of agreement and understanding often lead to massive conflicts, wars, deaths, and injuries that we observe daily. A record by Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) from 1946 to 2016 shows that the number of deaths and injuries have been decreasing since 1940s around the world. This is certainly a great news/report and data for almost all the people.
However, in certain countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and many more, the number of deaths and injuries have increased since the aforementioned period and number is still inclining in certain countries.
This begs the question: what causes conflict and/or war? Although this is a very general and deep question, if one digs deep, the roots of conflict and war are often lack of education, understanding and agreement. For instance, as an Afghan in Afghanistan, I believe that most of the causalities is a result of the ongoing war between the government and the anti-government terroristic groups, such as the Taliban and ISIS. While the government strives to work for improvement, most of the anti-government terroristic groups, carrying a false understanding of religious laws claim that certain rules should be implemented such as women should stay at home, education should be banned, etc., obviously, this shows lack of education that leads to conflict due to lack of agreement. For many reasons like this, it is crucially important to take the chance in a day like the International Day of Living Together in Peace to promote equality, positivity, solidarity, harmony, and tolerance. Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General on the occasion of the International Day of Living Together in Peace maintains, “In a world in which we regularly witness tensions, acts of hatred, rejection of others and discrimination, the pursuit of peace and the will to live together harmoniously is more crucial than ever. UNESCO, and the United Nations as a whole is striving on a daily-basis to provide people with the means to achieve peace, not only because peace is one of the major goals of the 2030 Agenda, but also because it is a precondition for sustainable development and for the common good.”
According to The UN General-Assembly, 16th of May is declared the International Day of Living Together in Peace, and the day aims to uphold the desire to live and act together, united in differences and diversity, in order to build a sustainable world of peace, solidarity and harmony. The Day invites countries to further promote reconciliation to help to ensure peace and sustainable development, including by working with communities, faith leaders and other relevant actors, through reconciliatory measures and acts of service and by encouraging forgiveness and compassion among individuals. I believe, that all the people should acknowledge differences and try to respect it. Nobody should be afraid of complexity, rather, we should all understand that the diversity of the world is in uniting those certain differences. Let’s all take the chance to promote peace, diversity, and unity among people and take part in achieving one of the very important goals of 2030 UN’s Agenda, which is achieving peace. Happy International Day of Living Together in Peace!
Comments are closed.