UNGA 81: Peace, Security and Justice

New York, United States- The United Nations observes Sept. 21 as International Day of Peace. The day falls just before the start of the U.N. General Assembly’s high-level week, when world leaders gather at U.N. headquarters in New York for the General Debate.

The year’s theme, “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All,” is at the forefront of the UNGA 81 general debate. On Sept. 8, President of the General Assembly H.E. Khalilur Rahman presented the theme, along with his vision for the year ahead. The session’s theme centers on restoring trust in the organization and demonstrating that the United Nations can translate commitments into results.

The “UN Peace Circle” was one of several conversations and panels taking place across U.N. headquarters. What distinguished this discussion was the experience the panelists brought to it. The nine participants came from different parts of the world, and several had experienced displacement, conflict or humanitarian crises firsthand, while others had dedicated their work to building peace and supporting affected communities.

Melissa Fleming, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, captured the broader message of the discussion “Peace is not the absence of war, it is the active building of human dignity, justice and hope.”

The panelists have been actively building that peace. Their work had already taken them into communities affected by conflict, displacement and inequality. Several argued that building peace means giving young people the resources and authority to shape the communities they will inherit.

Noor Ali AlMusallam, a youth representative for the World Organization of the Scout Movement, argued that young people are already contributing to their communities through volunteering and other forms of civic engagement. What they need, AlMusallam said, is greater investment, including funding that puts young people in control of peacebuilding efforts.

Jonathan Yam is an example of the youth volunteering and engaging in their communities. The youngest board member of Amnesty International USA, Yam joined the conversation as a national youth leader and New York community organizing coordinator for Amnesty International USA’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Task Force. The son of two Vietnamese refugees, Yam’s family experienced displacement from war firsthand as a result of war, from living in a refugee camp in Malaysia to eventually building a home in Jackson Heights, New York.

“When they came to the United States, there weren’t opportunities for them to engage in activism work or for their voices to be heard by local officials. At a young age, both of them did not have access to an education in Vietnam or when they came to the United States,” Yam said.

Drawing from his own family’s experience, Yam outlined what he believes is necessary to make progress towards peace: “If we can focus on the issues that led to displacements. If we can focus on issues that are happening today; whether that’s family separation, an unexploded ordinance from the Vietnam war that are still impacting communities like Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. And focus on those issues intergenerationally and connect that to a diaspora, I think that we are able to make progress towards peace.” Yam's comments raised a broader question: what happens after displacement?

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  (Left to Right: Versha Sharma, Mary Maker, Muzoon Almellehan, Maher Nasser, & Sophia Polishchuk)

“Behind every number, is a child buried beneath the rubble.” 

Sofia Polishchuk, director of the Children of Ukraine Foundation and national security trade lawyer, challenged the assumption that greater military spending produces greater security. Global military expenditure reached $2.9 trillion, she noted, yet the world is not necessarily safer. For Polishchuk, investing in peace means looking at how we define national security. 

This year’s theme for International Peace Day is: “Invest in Peace: For Everyone, Everywhere, and Every day”. For Sanjana Sanghi, a UNDP youth champion and actor, that investment means trusting the generation being asked to build that future. She described an “acute poverty of trust,” but said young people have already demonstrated what they can accomplish when given the opportunity.

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  (Left to Right: Noor Ali AlMusallam, Sanjana Sanghi, Diene Keita, & Jonathan Yam)

Maher Nasser, assistant secretary-general, brought the discussion back to the foundations on which peace is built. Nasser claimed that peace requires justice, equality, respect for human rights and a rule of law that applies to all. The panel ended with a question that most leaders, diplomats, and experts were asked throughout the day:  “What does peace mean to you?”