UNITED NATIONS. KAZINFORM – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Thursday that the COVID-19 pandemic is expanding peace everywhere, Xinhua reports.
“This poses a huge risk to those in conflict, so I have made a quick call to a global ceasefire,” said the UN leader in the UN peace bell rite on the 39th anniversary of International Peace Day, which is observed around the world every year on 21 September.
“I will repeat the call in next week’s general debate. We’ll have to silence the weapons and focus on our unusual enemy: the virus,” the secretary general said.
The annual assembly of world leaders at the Virtual United Nations this year for the first time in its 75-year history due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first day of the general debate is 22 September.
Noting that peace is never achieved, the UN leader said that “it is an aspiration that is as our conviction and as lasting as our hope. “
“It may take decades, even centuries, to build strong and non-violent societies. But peace can be wasted in an instant through irresponsible and conflicting policies and approaches,” said the UN leader.
“Beyond war zones, the pandemic highlights and exploits inequalities of all kinds, pitting opposing communities and countries against them,” Guterres said.
He for efforts to “push for peace wherever the confrontation is unleashed and wherever there are diplomatic opportunities to silence weapons. “
The rite of the peace bell is broadcast around the world through a live broadcast, with the UN leader and the new President of the UN General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, on very remote podiums, in accordance with COVID-19 measures.
Bozkir said the pandemic threatened the health, protection and lifestyle of others around the world.
“Today we are separated and masked. The pandemic has created degrees of anguish and hardship for many. But it is the maximum vulnerable who suffer to the fullest and still suffer, either in the shock and hands of this disease,” he said.
Generally speaking, UN messengers of peace, such as prominent AMERICAN cellist Yo-Yo Ma, traveled to New York to participate in the peace bell ceremony.
Ma was practically involved in this year’s commemoration, as did Jane Goodall, the British primatologist known for her pioneering studies on chimpanzees.
Prior to the official ceremony, the two UN peace messengers participated in an International Day student birthday party, organized online. His colleagues, violinist Midori, director Daniel Barenboim and Paulo Coelho of “El Alchemist”, provided inspiring video messages.
Goodall insisted that the world would pass through the pandemic. “But when we do, we’ll have to unite like a human family,” he said. “We will have to put aside the differences between nations, religions, cultures, to face a much greater threat, which is the climate crisis. “
Ma spoke of the desire to build accept as true among other generations as a means of achieving peace.
“Intergenerational exchanges are incredibly important,” he told the young audience. “This is your global, and we will have to give you the most productive global imaginable, and have the confidence that you will be wonderful administrators for the next part of the century.