UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, has emphasized the need for strengthening the UN to create a more equal and peaceful world.
He spoke as a panelist at the ‘Future We Want’ Model UN: Global Initiative event in New York, which brought together young leaders from around the world.
Akram pointed out that the Security Council was unequal, and the General Assembly lacked binding powers. He highlighted that the power of finance was in Washington and trade in Geneva, making it difficult for the UN to effect change.
The envoy called on young people to strive to strengthen the United Nations in every possible way within their countries to help implement the wishes of the generation of the future.
Ambassador Akram emphasized that the progress towards achieving world peace over the past 78 years was incomplete and unequal. He noted that inequality between the powerful and the weak, rich and the poor, and privileged and the destitute was the hallmark of the world today.
Akram called for a central purpose of promoting equality in all spheres of life in the future, which he said was a responsibility that would fall on the shoulders of young people and their contemporaries in every country.
The envoy also highlighted the issues relating to climate change, peace and security, and development, calling for addressing at least six areas simultaneously. He identified the peace agenda as a priority, calling for addressing the threat of nuclear annihilation and controlling the arms race, where expenditures were at the highest level in the history of the United Nations.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in his introductory remarks, called the United Nations the world’s shared platform for action and sustainable development. He noted that the goals were the blueprint for dignity, peace, and prosperity for all on a healthy planet, and young people’s voices were essential to promoting understanding, fighting intolerance, and building a better world.
The ‘Future We Want Model United Nations’ is committed to promoting a united international community and a more sustainable world through the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a key focus on 17 SDGs that mention youth and education.
