It is our duty to challenge them. When religion renders people passive and powerless, it deserves the dishonourable title of opiate. Peace and security must be considered, as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged, from a standpoint of the transition from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention. The UN must now build a preventive system based on soft power. I support proposals to establish a conflict preventing committee.
Poverty gives rise to conflict, which in turn further aggravates it.
Severing this vicious circle would help eradicate one of the causes of war and resolve this global injustice as well. Cuts in military spending, with the savings channelled to poverty reduction and developmental activities would considerably alleviate the problem. The UN must listen to the voices of ordinary citizens and work with them. The creation of a global peoples council as a consultative body to the General Assembly could be one such initiative. This could monitor the implementation status of past agreements, serve a nodal point for networking among NGOs and member states and as a venue for sustained discussion towards enhancing global cooperation.