Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, has called for strengthening the UN, saying the world body remains the best hope for an equal and peaceful world in the future, but said it lacked the power to make the much-needed changes.
Speaking as panellist at an event being attended by youth leaders from around the world, he said the Security Council was an unequal body, the General Assembly has no binding powers, while the powers of finance lie in Washington and trade in Geneva.
“Therefore,” the Pakistani envoy said, “we need to strengthen this body — the United Nations — and the General Assembly if we are going to change the world.
“And I hope that all of you, as young people, will strive within your countries to do everything possible to strengthen the United Nations — in every way possible — because that is when we will be able to listen and implement the wishes of the generation of the future”
Ambassador Akram was addressing the opening session of ‘Future We Want’ Model UN: Global Initiative for young leaders at United Nations Head-quarters in New York.
He said the progress towards achieving world peace over the past 78 years was partial was “partial.”
“We have resolved conflicts, we have made progress in science and technology, in prosperity,” Ambassador Akram said but it was incomplete and unequal.
“And therefore, we are faced with a world today whose hallmark, whose largest characteristic,” he said was inequality between the powerful and the weak, the rich and the poor, and the privileged and the destitute.
“And this inequality is writ large in every field that you see today and therefore, the purpose that we should seek — our central purpose –has to be how to promote equality in all spheres of life in the future,” he said.
“That is a responsibility that will fall on your shoulders, and shoulders of your contemporaries in everyone of our countries,” the Pakistani envoy said told young leaders.
Ambassador Akram also highlighted the issues relating to climate change, peace and security, and development.
He called for addressing at least six areas simul-taneously. “Firstly, the peace agenda: We need to address the threat of nuclear annihilation we face it today, as much as we did in the Cold War. We need to control the arms race where expenditures are at the highest level in the history of the United Nations,”
Earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made brief introductory remarks. “United Nations is the world’s shared platform for action and the sustainable development,” the UN chief said, noting, “Goals are the blueprint for dignity, peace and pros-perity for all on a healthy planet.
“Your voices are essential to promote under-standing, fight intolerance and build a better world,” he added.
Among others, the Director of the Outreach Di-vision UN Department of Global Communications Maher Nasser, and ambassadors of some other mis-sions, including Canada, Portugal, Philippines, and Guyana, also spoke
‘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 key focus on 17 SDGs that mention the youth and education.—APP
