Nobel Peace laureate and human rights activist, Tawakkol Karman, has stressed that peace can only be achieved through justice, noting that peace doesn’t mean only stopping wars, but also preventing oppression and injustice.

This came in a lecture by Mrs. Karman at an event organized by the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) and the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of India to UNESCO to commemorate the International Day of Non-Violence, 2017. 

"There is a close link between the absence of peace and the absence of justice," said the Nobel laureate, adding there is a growing need for peace at local, regional and global levels.

She emphasized that there is no development without peace or peace without development, pointing out “the road to peace is not passable, but this shouldn’t frustrate us.”

"Development is no longer a delayable option," Karman added, explaining that the young are a positive force that must be maintained and not allowed to turn to a negative force. 

Nonviolence, in Karman’s view, doesn’t mean silence and nonaction towards repression, injustice and tyranny.

Nonviolence is a peaceful struggle featured by sacrifices, she said, explaining that whoever keeps silent in such case are nothing but a submissive coward.