UN SG's Peace Day Message 2021
This year’s International Day of Peace comes at a crisis point for humanity.
COVID-19 has turned our world upside-down.
Conflicts are spinning out of control. The climate emergency is worsening. Inequality and poverty are deepening.
And mistrust and division are driving people apart at a time when solidarity and collaboration are needed more than ever.
As a human family, we face a stark choice —
Peace or perpetual peril. We must choose peace.That is why I call for a 24-hour ceasefire today.
And by working in solidarity for a lasting, sustainable peace every day, we can tackle the issues facing us.
We need peace to urgently deliver lifesaving vaccines and treatment for COVID-19.
We need peace to recover from the pandemic and re-build shattered systems and shattered lives.
We need peace to level the playing field and reduce inequalities.
We need peace to renew trust in one another — and faith in facts and science.
And we need to make peace with nature — to heal our planet, build a green economy, and achieve our net-zero targets.
Peace is not a naïve dream. It’s a light in the darkness.
Guiding us to the only pathway to a better future for humanity.
Let’s walk the pathway of peace as if our lives depended on it.
Because they do.
António Guterres
