Media Update: United Nations Pakistan, 20 September 2021

Video Message for the Secretary-General:

International Day of Peace

September 21, 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.

Thank you.

***

UNITED NATIONS

MEDIA ADVISORY

 World leaders to gather at UN to mark SDG Moment and inspire ambition

critical to ending the pandemic and ensuring a sustainable and

inclusive future for all

K-pop band BTS and Global Stakeholders to join Heads of State and Government in

keeping the promise of the SDGs for people and planet

 

Follow on UN Web TV

What: The SDG Moment serves to place an annual spotlight on the Sustainable Development

Goals (SDGs) and will be held at the beginning of the United Nation’s General Assembly’s High-

Level Week. It takes place as the world experiences a deeply uneven response to the COVID-19

pandemic, which risks creating a two-tier recovery with significant implications for the

advancement of the SDGs, especially in developing countries.

 

Convened by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Moment will provide world

leaders with a platform to showcase the bold plans, actions and solutions that are needed to

end the COVID-19 pandemic and set the world on course towards achieving the SDGs. Held in

advance of major meetings on food systems, climate, energy, jobs and social protection, the

SDG Moment event is expected to build the momentum needed to deliver on the Decade of

Action and Keep the Promise of the SDGs.

 

The event will include more than 30 heads of state, a key debate with UN leaders on the

COVID-19 Response and Recovery and a musical performance by K-pop band BTS, Special

Presidential Envoy for Future Generation and Culture of the President of the Republic of Korea.

Leaders from business, civil society, local authorities, the SDG Advocates and the UN will

highlight how to take solutions to scale.

 

Why: To get the SDGs back on track and prevent the worst impacts of climate change, a

profound shift in economies and societies is now needed that benefits both people and planet.

2

In the last 18 months, COVID-19 has disrupted economies and livelihoods, deepened

inequalities and risks sending over 70 million people into extreme poverty.

 

In the same period, progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions has been too slow and

biodiversity loss has continued at an extraordinary pace. This is compounded by a deeply

uneven global response to the pandemic with the world’s poorest countries and people

suffering the most. The SDGs are the north star for the transformation required to overcome

the pandemic and usher in a sustainable and inclusive future for everyone.

 

Recognising this urgency, the UN will launch a new campaign, Keeping the Promise ahead of

the SDG Moment. The digital campaign will call on people around the world to make a promise

to take action for a better future for all. Users will be asked to choose from 11 promises

inspired by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals – the world’s to-do list to protect our planet

and all its people.

 

More information is available:

www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sdg-moment

https://un.cheerity.com

When: 8am-5pm, Monday 20 September 2021

Where: Follow on UN Web TV

Social Media

#GlobalGoals

@UN @antonioguterres @aminajmohammed

Media Contacts

Francyne Harrigan, UN Department of Global Communications T: +1 917-209-6320 / E:

harriganf@un.org

Sharon Birch, UN Department of Global Communications T: +1 212-963-0564 / E:

birchs@un.org