UNITED NATIONS: In his New Year message on Thursday, UN Secretary General António Guterres called for peace in both the real and virtual worlds.
After a year of brutal warfare from Afghanistan to Ukraine, “the world needs peace in 2023 more than ever”, said the UN chief. “We need peace now. Peace with one another, through dialogue to end conflict. Peace with nature and our climate, to build a more sustainable world.”
In the same message, the secretary general also emphasized the need for peace on the internet. “There also needs to be peace online, so instead of disinformation, and conspiracy theories, all societies can enjoy the Internet free from hate speech and abuse,” he said.
In 2023, “let’s put peace at the heart of our words and actions”, the UN chief said. “Together, let’s make 2023 a year when peace is restored to our lives, our homes, and our world.”
Peace, he said, was also needed inside families and homes, “so women and girls can live in dignity and safety.” Mr Guterres also stressed the need for peace on streets that too often have seen violent reprisals from security forces in response to peaceful protest. Demonstrators and whole communities need “the full protection of human rights”, he said, and for those with religious belief, there needs to be peace in places of worship, together with greater tolerance of other faiths.
Meanwhile, a UN report, also released on Thursday, noted that while Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers “face little to no political opposition, they are unable to deal with terrorist groups operating in the country.”
The report points out that while “much of the focus on Afghanistan has centred on the steady erosion of women’s rights, … security has been increasingly challenging under the Taliban.”
The report notes that the Afghan people were rocked by waves of deadly terror attacks, from blasts at schools in April, to the bombing of a mosque in August. The so-called Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for those attacks, also carried out attacks against the Russian and Pakistani embassies, and a hotel hosting many Chinese nationals.
The UN, however, announced in December that it is keeping dialogue open with the leaders of the Taliban, despite their differing positions.
