‘We are not powerless’: UN chief urges world leaders to invest in peace

In a world facing rising conflicts, violence and divisions that are causing great suffering for millions of people, the UN chief on Monday called on world leaders and citizens to invest more in peace.

“Achieving peace is not something that just happens,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a message for Monday’s International Day of Peace . “It is a shared and decisive choice to invest in a better future .”

Invest in peace is this year’s theme, echoing the founding principles of the UN, built amid the ashes of the Second World War.

As world leaders gather at UN Headquarters for the annual High-Level Week , Mr. Guterres called on them to strengthen diplomacy, dialogue, mediation and peacekeeping operations as essential means of preventing and resolving conflicts .