Deputy Secretary-General Commends Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, Calling Its Decade-Long Work ‘True Drivers of Change’

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative’s tenth anniversary gala dinner, today:

I am delighted to be with you tonight to celebrate the work of the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative.  Thank you to our SDG [Sustainable Development Goals] Advocate Forest Whitaker for your inspiring leadership and relentless commitment.

At the 2007 Academy Awards, you spoke powerfully about how you have always carried a desire to connect with others through the light that exists in all of us.  I like to think you were referring to our shared humanity.  And with the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, you have brought that desire to life.

Over the past decade, your initiative has touched more than 1.3 million lives through peace education — sowing the seeds of long-term peace and sustainable development.  Your work helping ex-child soldiers overcome unfathomable trauma and pain and return to their communities as agents of change is another powerful example.  Your initiative is a beacon of hope in a world in turmoil.

Blighted by war, battered by climate chaos, scarred by hate, and shamed by poverty, hunger and inequality — our world needs this hope more than ever.  Hope for peace and hope for a better tomorrow.  The two are inherently linked.

Peace cannot be sustained without sustainable development, anchored in a strong social fabric.  This idea is at the core of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — our blueprint for a peaceful and prosperous future for all.

I know that we are far from where we should be.  But, I also know that we are neither hopeless — nor helpless.  We have the knowledge, skills, and resources to turn things around.

But we will need all hands-on deck.  And we will need – as [the Initiative’s] motto so aptly puts it — “patience, passion and dedication”.  I would add courage.  It takes tremendous courage to do what you do.  The hearts and souls of those behind [the Initiative] are the true drivers of change.

Once again, my heartfelt congratulations on everything the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative has achieved in its first 10 years.  Thank you.