The General Assembly of the United Nations announced the International Day of Peace as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace among nations and peoples, which is marked on 21st of September each year. This Day embodies the aspirations of all peoples to live together, free, and equal in dignity and rights. This year’s celebration is under the slogan “The Right of Peoples To Peace”, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of General Assembly Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace.
The UAE ranked 40th out of 162 countries in the Global Peace Index (GPI) for this year which was released recently, and recorded good points within many of the internal indicators. It also contributed to reinforce the message of the State and its leading role in the field of world peace through holding Dubai International Peace Convention in the period between (17th -19th) of April, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai, where many new themes, events, and initiatives that aim to emphasize the message of the event were put forward, which is a necessity for peace and peaceful coexistence among peoples and within communities.
Within the United Nations’ diligent endeavors to make prosperity, equality and peace in our world prevail, it coordinates with governments and civil society organizations and other partners to move to a new and ambitious action plan for post-2015 entitled “Sustainable Development”, in order to continue with the successes and significant achievements in the era of “Millennium Development Goals”. As part of UAE’s endeavors to achieve the goals of sustainable development, it makes special efforts to address the various causes of poverty, including conflicts, weakness of states, social ostracism, deterioration of the performance of economies, the low capacity to mobilize the national resources in the poor countries, meager government performance, and weak investment in health and education, because building peace requires awareness to the hidden crisis in education during conflict, when schools become arenas to fight, or education becomes a way to sow and teach hatred.
On several occasions, His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, emphasized the UAE’s interest in education in various regions of the world, especially those suffering from war and displacement, in the belief that education is the necessary and essential tool to achieve peace and sustainable development , and fight against wars and epidemics, and the resulting waste of human resources and destruction of the achievements of the State and its successes. In order to achieve the principle of sustainability, the ministry has taken into account that the ultimate and greatest goal of its plans is the establishment of an infrastructure for the higher education sector in the State that considers the needs, requirements, and expectations of the future, translated into long, medium and short term plans, to ensure implementation in accordance with the international rules and standards.
