Effective dialogue is key to building peace – Nobel Laureate

Madam Jody Williams, the 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate, has called for effective dialogue as a means to ensure peace, unity and security across the globe.

She said it was imperative for Authorities to continue to institute peace campaigns to enable the youth to be critical thinkers and discover the right approach in resolving conflicts instead of violent means.

She made the call on Thursday at a lecture in Accra on the theme: “Finding the Balance, Security and Human Rights in the Contemporary World” organised by the Africa Centre for Peace Foundation (WACPF).

The lecture was to educate the youth to contribute to peacebuilding and impact positive change in communities, and the world at large.

Madam Williams said there was no way an individual could change the world by its own, and that there was the need for people especially young ones to come together and share their ideas to contribute to initiatives that would bring change to the society.

She appealed to leaders to encourage the youth to take up leadership roles, irrespective of any affiliation, as a step to learn and understand approaches to peacebuilding in society.

Madam Williams said it was the time people paid attention to their responsibilities as citizens and contributed to nation building, urging the youth to put their energy into making the world better for future generations.

“Young people should know they are powerful, they have the right to see things and change them for the better,” she added.

Madam Williams also encouraged women who had received prizes to help other women in the world, just as she used hers to shine women in developing countries and war zones, to open opportunities for women in deprived areas.

“Women should recognise their ability; the power they possess is great and they need to come together and work towards achieving a peaceful society,” she said.

She said the promotion of human rights, good governance and democracy must be given special attention in ensuring effective change for national development.

“If we are going to make this radical change secure, we have to think of the fundamental security of all, peace is not just the absence of armed conflict, peace is socio-economic justice, gender equality, a world where people live with freedom from fear,” she added.

Ms Christine Evans-Klock ,the UN Resident Coordinator, Ghana said the world must involve the youth in peace programmes to imbibe in them the sense of nationality to serve as agents of change and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

She said their outfit was working to support Ghana to achieve the SDGs, since their strategies were aligned with the vision of the country in investing in prosperity, peace and security and urged all and sundry to organise programmes that would instil peace in the minds of people devoid of violence.

Mr Wisdom Addo, the Executive Director of PeaceJam West Africa Co-ordinator, said the focus of the centre was to ensure peaceful co-existence and respect for each other irrespective of religious, racial, ethnic and cultural background.

He said the centre organised programmes that promoted peace in schools and communities, involving tolerance, respect for human rights among others.