Secretary-General's message 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.
As a human family, we face a stark choice — peace or perpetual peril. We must choose peace.
António Guterres
100-day countdown to International Day of Peace 2021
Secretary-General's message
Every year on 21 September, the United Nations invites people around the world to celebrate peace by observing 24 hours of ceasefire and non-violence.
As we strive to heal from the COVID-19 pandemic and reimagine a better future for people and planet, this year’s theme is “Recovering better for an equitable and sustainable world.”
Peace is the foundation of that recovery. The global vaccination effort cannot advance amidst armed conflict.
Nor can we build a sustainable, resilient, peaceful world while we are at war with nature. Recovery efforts offer an opportunity to transform our relationship with our planet and our environment.
The world cannot go back to what it was. As we count down to the International Day of Peace, I call on people everywhere to be part of a transformation for peace, by standing up against hatred and discrimination, by caring for the planet, and by showing the global solidarity that is so vital at this time.
António Guterres
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