The year 2020 has been a tough battle in terms of fighting through global health emergency induced by Coronavirus. Alongside, different corners of the world are tackling with various issues on a parallel scale like terrorism, injustice towards immigrants and minorities, false notion of nationalism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, threat to environment and natural resources, rising fraud in trade and banking, increased crimes and insecurity to women and children and much more.
Going through a very recent record, various countries have witnessed murders of people from the LGBTQ+ community, a number of countries have explosions affecting the lives of people like in Beirut, refugee camps are being burnt down (Greece), increase in rape incidents (Liberia declared it a national emergency), border disputes like the one between India-China, rise in domestic violence among the pandemic (India, US, UK, etc), people are suffering not just due to natural catastrophes but also due to their inherent actions, nature and thinking pattern which invokes or aggravates the issues.
September 21 every year is celebrated as International Day of Peace by the United Nations. The UN General Assembly observes this day to build the importance of peace by observing a constant mode of non-violence and cease-fire for a period of 24 hours.
World Peace Day 2020 Theme: Shaping Peace Together
The year 2020 has brought a greater battle than the aforesaid pointers – the global health emergency of Coronavirus as declared by WHO. In a tough battle like this, countries should not have fights with each other on various issues, but support each other to fight the ‘bigger’ battle of the ‘minute’ virus. It has been timely proven, particularly with the virus that an event in one corner of the world can impact the entire world and bring it into standstill.
This year, is the time, that every country needs to backseat their arms and weapons and focus on the efficient management of the population, and on channelizing the medical resources for vaccine research and production and in combating the contagion.
As per the brief given by UN for 2020, thus ‘Peace Day’ which also marks the 75th anniversary, is about listening and learning. In these crucial moments of unison, it is important to have and raise a voice, foster dialogues and innovative conversations which will help to resolve the challenges globally.
‘Shaping Peace Together’ for this International World Peace Day directs us to nurture our humane, compassionate side towards all the living beings making attempts to get through the global emergency and imbibe hope and kindness in their lives.
Going forward, amid the Coronavirus pandemic, it has reported that globally, the citizens from different countries are practising discrimination against the infected people, and the same needs to be retracted. It is not fair to blame a particular community or set of people representing a peculiar nationality for the contagion of the virus. Let’s understand that Covid-19 is a virus, maybe a dangerous virus, but we can stand ‘together’ to tackle the worst scenario and build universal peace, harmony and good health
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