First of all, I would like to say how happy I am to be here at UNESCO; to be in a place that cares about culture, education and science all over the world, this will surely give both a sense of pride and safety,

as education and science provide the world with peace and development as well as with the ability to coexist, tolerate and believe in diversity.

 

Dear friends, 

The world has been experiencing increasing waves of armed conflict, terrorism, racism and tyranny, which should raise questions rather than simply raise merely objections or cause a sense of frustration. Why does this happen? How did wars, terrorism and racism come back to the fore? Who really is responsible for this? Who is behind the relentless attempts to thwart international development and peace and security efforts across the world.

 

Dear friends, 

It is true that the road to peace is not always passable, but this should not frustrate us or prevent us from moving forward to achieve peace. We have to believe in ourselves and our ability to achieve it no matter how difficult it may seem.

Among the problems facing many societies that have sunk into chaos, war and poverty is that they have not passed the development test. To overcome this, considerable efforts and hard work await us.

I believe in a fact: there could not be peace without development and vice versa; there is certainly an opportunity to build sustainable peace wherever sustainable development is promoted, and any efforts made to achieve either of them reflect positively on the other. 

The failure to build sustainable development leads to a state failing to comply with duties to ensure social well-being and improve people’s economic conditions, which result in a failed state where hunger and poverty prevails, and thus social peace becomes more vulnerable to collapse and slide into various conflicts and crisis. 

Peace is increasingly needed at local, regional and global levels, and I think nobody could claim that peace is not an inevitable need or that it is possible to cope with and manage life in the absence of peace, as societies lacking in peace have no room for development, a decent life or anything else.

 

Dear friends, 

No one in today's world, neither individual or group, could feel safe while seeing others lacking in peace. Peace is not a personal matter, but it has to do with all human beings. I believe that many like me dream of uniting the world's will to achieve peace and fight poverty and hunger through effective participation in sustainable development.

Indeed, sustainable multi-dimensional development is no longer a delayable option. History proves that peace and development are influenced by each other, but this influence is no longer governed by a specific geographic area. Terrorism, a symptom of political corruption, tyranny and failed development, indiscriminately attacks everywhere around the world. The problem of climate change will have major impacts on the world’s safety, and no one will be safe from its consequences. These dangers will affect everyone on this planet. So we have to think differently and broadly.

 

Dear friends, 

The post-2015 development agenda and the preceding millennium declaration have been a great achievement of humanity, which would stabilize the whole globe and bring to mankind sustainable peace and a life free of poverty and hunger. Then, all human societies everywhere would become a better place. Therefore, the onus is on us to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in an honest and genuine manner.

The SDGs are characterized by ambition and equity, as they have been founded on the principles of justice, fairness, freedom and human dignity as well as on the principle that the earth is our mother. It is also everyone’s duty and right to protect it for all of us and for future generations. This means it is necessary to turn the page on the unfair globalization where some have had special privileges while others have gotten nothing.

I know that state heads and heads of governments have taken a great step when signing the post-2015 development goals, but this remains inadequate. For me, implementation of the goals should urgently come into effect so that societies across the globe realize their positive impacts. 

In order for this to happen, it requires, among others, to develop objective and detailed plans to carry out the development agenda in a comprehensive and balanced manner. It also needs adequate UN supervision over the implementation of these plans and performance evaluation, as well as the ability to overcome difficulties constantly and provide enough funds needed for the implementation of the world’s different development plans.

All these measures are necessary so that the post-2015 development agenda will not be just ink on paper, like what happened to the package of signed agreements and plans, which have turned out to be mere archival materials. 

While talking about the global development goals and about factors as well as the reasons for their success, it is also essential to stress the importance of the trio of “strong institutions, peace and justice” to ensure the success of plans, rationalizing funding and avoiding any non-implementation. 

Strong institutions are needed on two levels: At the UN level and at the local and national level. It is necessary to activate the existing United Nations bodies related to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, give them greater powers to be able to play their role in planning, supervising, evaluating and making radical reforms. This enables the competent United Nation agencies to honor commitments and make others meet their own commitments. Otherwise, it would not be possible to achieve Agenda 2030.

At the local level: to achieve the multi-dimensional and sustainable development, having strong institutions is also a very important prerequisite as there is no development without strong institutions, which adhere to the rule of law, accountability and transparency, fight corruption and prevent the abuse of power and waste of resources.

If we effectively combat corruption and guarantee rights and freedoms, we will have opened the door to a sustainable development and fulfilled the most important condition for building a sustainable peace process. It's a failed management that lacks transparency and accountability. Any efforts made or prescriptions given to ensure the good governance would never lead to peace or development unless corruption is combated and transparency and accountability are effectively adopted. 

 

Dear friends, 

The global development agenda is based on the principles of justice that should dominate the fair distribution of the benefits of globalization, among all members of this global village on which we share life.

Locally, opportunities should be distributed among citizens without discrimination or monopoly under any circumstance, as justice is manifested when all enjoy their basic rights and freedoms equally and indiscriminately.

Likewise, criminal justice must be achieved to ensure the protection of citizens from aggression and violations of their rights and freedoms, and to ensure that offenders and perpetrators do not escape just and fair punishment according to law.

The achievement of justice in many communities entails stopping dictators’ war on their own people, and therefore the most important form of justice is to protect people from massacres and killings committed by despots against those demanding freedom. So, the road to justice begins with ensuring that perpetrators of massacres against humanity are internationally prosecuted, held accountable and allowed not to go unpunished. This is an important way to apply justice in many communities and countries suffering from such violations.

Any society lacking in rights and freedoms is living in false peace and deceptive stability. Any efforts made to resolve disputes and achieve peace without taking into consideration rights and freedoms leads, at best, to “temporary truce”, which would be followed by a more intense conflict.

There is a close link between the absence of justice and the violation of citizens’ basic freedoms. Thus, the struggle for a democratic society governed by respect for rights and freedoms is a fight for justice, too.

 

Dear friends, 

Finally, talking about peace, development and comprehensive development would remain worthless until women and youth become part of these tracks. Development plans, where women and young people are not taken into account, are empty and totally useless.

Throughout the world, especially third world countries, women play an important role in social and economic life in difficult circumstances. Therefore, development plans focus on how rural women, who represent a large proportion of women workers, can improve their working conditions, and this reflects positively on the fight against poverty, and on efforts to reduce poor communities.

When women are not excluded, it greatly helps to bring peace and progress in the areas of sustainable development.

On the other hand, when the energies of young people are not marginalized and wasted, it helps countries and societies overcome many serious problems such as unemployment, organized crime, terrorism and poverty. Any nation that wants to rise must take care of its youth and enable them to play an essential role in driving the locomotive of modernization and development.

The Youth is a positive force that must be maintained and not allowed to turn into a negative force or a burden on society. This is the responsibility of all of us; states, governments, societies, international organizations and bodies and activists being concerned with development, peace and human rights.