President of the 74th Session of the General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande has convened the General Assembly’s annual High-Level Forum on Bangladesh’s flagship resolution on ‘Culture of Peace’.
Held on a virtual platform due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event on Thursday was addressed by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
It was also addressed by Ambassadors of a large number of Member States and High Representatives of several UN entities, the Bangladesh mission said.
The theme for this year’s event was “The Culture of Peace Change our world for the better in the age of COVID-19”.
In her statement, Ambassador Rabab Fatima, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN, recalled Bangladesh’s historic leadership role in mooting the notion and steering the General Assembly resolution on ‘Culture of Peace’.
She quoted from the maiden speech of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the United Nations in 1974, Peace is an imperative for the survival of mankind. It represents the deepest aspirations of men and women throughout the world”.
That is also what shaped Bangladesh’s enduring commitment to the cause of global peace and inspired us to propagate a culture of peace, she added.
Ambassador Fatima also highlighted the continued relevance of culture of peace in addressing global challenges particularly during the pandemic.
She pointed out that many of the pandemic response initiatives of the UN resonate the call under the culture of peace.
She made specific recommendations for internalizing a culture of peace to complement the international community’s efforts to forge global solidarity in overcoming the pandemic.
Later in the day, Ambassador Fatima participated as a panelist in a side event titled “Education, Covid-19 and the Culture of Peace” organized by the renowned US Think Tank the International Peace Institute (IPI).
