Crisis Prevention Starts with Empowering People, Deputy Secretary-General Says at Peace Initiative, Challenging All to ‘Do More’

Following are UN Deputy Secretary‑General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative “Place for Peace” dinner and auction, in New York today:

It is my great pleasure to be with you tonight to honour activist and advocate Forest Whitaker, and to pay tribute to youth peacemakers.  The work of these young people as peacemakers, educators and entrepreneurs, and the training and support of the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, are making a real difference in communities on the ground.

Poverty, inequality, extremism, intolerance, climate change and environmental degradation are threatening our common future.  But the 2030 Agenda [for Sustainable Development] and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are a global road map to put us on the right track.

The Global Goals are a list of what our world needs, if every single person is to live in safety, freedom and dignity, on a healthy planet.  Crucially, the Goals are interconnected and mutually dependent.  They recognize the links between human rights, development and peace.

Let me tell you a story.  I was recently in Afghanistan, where I met young women who have never known peace.  They told me about their human rights, their opportunities for education, training and development, and the prospects for peace and security in their country.  They saw the links clearly.  One woman told me: “It’s an illusion if you think you’re going to give away people’s rights and then have any real peace.”  Promoting peace through reconciliation and sustainable development, empowering young people and creating opportunities for them is the number one way to achieve all the global Goals.

And that is why the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative is so special.  It is not only improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people, which is incredible in itself.  It’s making our world more peaceful, prosperous and sustainable, one person, one community at a time.  When you support this Initiative, you’re making a difference at the individual and the global level.

Crisis prevention starts with empowering people to seize opportunities and take charge of their lives.  The Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative is crisis prevention in action.  I challenge all of you here to take action, like Forest [Whitaker] and the young peacemakers.  Because four years since the global Goals were agreed, we are not on track to achieve them by 2030.

Deadly conflict, the climate crisis, gender‑based violence and growing inequality are undermining our efforts.  Youth unemployment is alarmingly high.  Hundreds of millions continue to experience poverty and hunger.  And biodiversity is being lost at an alarming rate.

We need to kick‑start a decade of action and activism for people and for planet.  We all need to challenge ourselves to do more in our work and our daily lives.

And with that in mind, it is now my pleasure to introduce Cissy Joy [Namatovu].  She was one of the first youths to be trained by the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative in Uganda and is now a successful entrepreneur who trains vulnerable young women in her trade, hair dressing.  Cissy is a true model of women’s empowerment at its best.  Let’s join Forest Whitaker and young peacemakers like Cissy to raise our ambition, accelerate action, and take big, bold, transformative steps to advance the global Goals.