What is the path to peace? The Path to Peace Awards Ceremony brought in an address by the UN Secretary General, António Guterres – one that is sure to bring much clarity and a sense of direction for humankind in general, and nations in particular along with the policy makers within these nations. As mentioned by him in an address earlier in the week, he again reiterated that the process of brokering and fostering peace is one that would necessarily need to connect dots like better inclusion when it comes to combatting poverty, creating better representation of religions and ethnicities, as well as a more concrete commitment to both climate change goals and prevention of conflict with sustainable development.
This event and the remarks came soon after the G20 Summit where there had been a lack of proper climate change goals set by the member nations, who also happen to be the 20 superpower economies of the world. The Cop26 also seemed to be more of a compromise as per the UN secretary general, who made his stance clear at the Path to Peace award ceremony.
In order to chart a fitting path to peace that would be efficient and long lasting, we would have to think more in terms of prevention rather than retaliation. This also came in the wake of the comments by the US when it said that Pakistan and China were countries of concern to watch out for, since they were promoting measures that would eventually curb religious freedom.
Poverty and sustainable development along with prevention of conflict seemed to be at the heart of the Secretary General’s address at the Path to Peace awards even as he did not make a mention of the comments by the US in naming a specific country or region when it came to a political lens to view conflict prevention from.