Online ReporterWallace Ruzvidzo
Herald Reporter
SPEAKER of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda says global peace and security are essential, citing the 1945 United Nations Charter and emphasising the need for international peace and security after two devastating world wars.
He said this in his General Debate submission at the 152nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and Related Meetings, which ended yesterday in Istanbul, Türkiye.
The meetings were held under the theme: “Nurturing Hope, Securing Peace and Ensuring Justice for Future Generations.”
“That is why the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly Sustainable Development Goal 16, advocates for inclusive peaceful societies, access to social justice for all and accountable institutions at every level of governance,” he said.
“However, as the Sustainable Development Report of 2024 confirms, SDG 16 remains among the most severely off-track of all seventeen sustainable goals.”
The Speaker said, according to the 2023 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Report, over 117 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes and communities. Furthermore, no fewer than 2 billion people currently live in fragile, conflict-affected or violent settings.
He added that, equally, Africa has experienced 44 million internally displaced persons and cross-border refugees.
These realities, said Adv Mudenda, imperil the very promise of the African Union’s Silencing the Guns initiative and the broader ambitions of Agenda 2063.
“Alarmingly, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that global military expenditure topped US$2.4 trillion in 2023 alone.
“Let the world, therefore, heed the exhortation by Pope Leo XIV: ‘Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace.
“Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others but to encounter them!
“The IPU cannot and should not escape this exhortation, as it is a call for compelling Parliamentary diplomacy.”
Zimbabwe, said Adv Mudenda, approaches the peace and security theme as a nation that paid a heavy price for peace and independence.
“Its hard-fought Liberation Struggle exacted immeasurable suffering and sacrifice upon our people, yet Zimbabwe emerged with a resolute commitment to global peace and security,” he said.
“At independence in 1980, our Founding President, Robert Mugabe, crystallised that determination when he declared: ‘Surely this is now the time to beat our swords into ploughshares, so we can attend to the problems of developing our economy and our society.’
“To reinforce that spirit, Zimbabwe embraced reconciliation as a national ethic of renewal.
“The Unity Accord of 1987 ended a painful chapter of internal division and set our country on a path of national reconstruction and healing. Our 2013 Constitution has solidified that national spirit of reconciliation through a robust Bill of Rights.”
He said nurturing hope in the middle of the current global war conflicts and in the future demands that the IPU religiously believe that “hope does not disappoint”.
“That justice is the ethical, philosophical and legal principle of fairness, equity and moral rightness, which guarantees peace for the present and future generations globally.
“Meanwhile, the peace dividend must be premised on total respect for international law and multilateralism, and not on unipolar hegemony,” said Adv Mudenda.
