“For 80 years, we have worked to forge peace, tackle poverty & hunger, advance human rights & build a more sustainable world – together.” On Friday's #UNDay, @antonioguterres urges people to unite & fulfil the extraordinary promise of the United Nations... The creation of @UN was the result of a global commitment to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." 80 years later, the UN remains essential for advancing peace, prosperity & human rights. #UN80

 United Nations

@UN

 

“For 80 years, we have worked to forge peace, tackle poverty & hunger, advance human rights & build a more sustainable world – together.” On Friday's #UNDay,  @antonioguterres urges people to unite & fulfil the extraordinary promise of the United Nations.

 

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https://www.un.org/en/observances/un-day/message  

 

Secretary-General's message (2025)

“We the peoples of the United Nations...”

These are not just the opening words of the United Nations Charter – they define who we are.

The United Nations is more than an institution.  It is a living promise – spanning borders, bridging continents, inspiring generations.  

For eighty years, we have worked to forge peace, tackle poverty and hunger, advance human rights, and build a more sustainable world – together.

As we look ahead, we confront challenges of staggering scale: escalating conflicts, climate chaos, runaway technologies, and threats to the very fabric of our institution.

This is no time for timidity or retreat.  

Now, more than ever, the world must recommit to solving problems no nation can solve alone. 

On this UN Day, let’s stand together and fulfil the extraordinary promise of your United Nations.

Let’s show the world what is possible when “we the peoples” choose to act as one.

 

United Nations Geneva

@UNGeneva

 

The creation of @UN was the result of a global commitment to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." 80 years later, the UN remains essential for advancing peace, prosperity & human rights. #UN80   

 

The original manuscript of the United Nations Charter

Global military spending reached an unprecedented $2.7 trillion in 2024 amid intensifying wars and rising geopolitical tensions worldwide. “The world is spending far more on waging war than in building peace,” the UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at a press briefing for his new report on the threat posed by the steady rise in military expenditure.

Military spending worldwide hits record $2.7 trillion

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https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/news/2025/09/110404/military-spending-worldwide-hits-record-27-trillion

09 September 2025

 Global military spending reached an unprecedented $2.7 trillion in 2024 amid intensifying wars and rising geopolitical tensions worldwide. 

“The world is spending far more on waging war than in building peace,” the UN Secretary-General António Guterres  said at a press briefing for his new report on the threat posed by the steady rise in military expenditure.

Spending on security needs increased across all five global regions during 2024, marking the steepest year-on-year rise for at least the last three decades. Compared to the $2.7 trillion directed to military budgets, the world could eliminate extreme poverty for just under $300 billion.

“A more secure world begins by investing at least as much in fighting poverty as we do in fighting wars,” said Mr. Guterres

A choice between aid or arms

The alarming amount spent on arms-related costs last year alone is 750 times the 2024 UN regular budget. It also equates to almost 13 times the development assistance provided by the OECD’s

development assistance committee in 2024, indicating a stark trade-off between military expenditure and sustainable development.

“Redirecting even a fraction of today’s military spending could close vital gaps – putting children in school, strengthening primary health care, expanding clean energy and resilient infrastructure, and protecting the most vulnerable,” said Mr. Guterres.

For a small portion of what was invested in militaries this past year – and the previous decade – the world could fund education for every student in low and lower middle-income countries, eliminate child malnutrition globally, fund climate change adaptation in the developing world, and bring the international community closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals  (SDGs), the UN estimates.

“Rebalancing global priorities is not optional – it is an imperative for humanity’s survival,” said the UN disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu at the press briefing.

‘Sustainable development is in jeopardy’

With only one of the five of the SDGs on track, Mr. Guterres stressed that “our shared promise of sustainable development is in jeopardy.”

While more is being spent on militaries, less is being spent for social investment, poverty reduction, education, health, environmental protection and infrastructure – hindering progress on nearly all the SDGs and undermining the UN Charter, the UN’s cornerstone document. 

“But we know that development is a driver of security and multilateral development cooperation works,” said UN Development Programme (UNDP) deputy chief Haoliang Xu.

“When people’s lives improve, when they have access to education, healthcare, economic opportunities and when they can live lives of dignity and self determination, we will have more peaceful societies and a more peaceful world.”

A new security approach

"Investing in people is investing in the first line of defense against violence in any society,” said Mr. Guterres.

The report calls for a more human-centered and multidimensional approach that priorities diplomacy, international cooperation, and paves the way for sustainable development.

In a vicious cycle, lack of economic opportunity, poverty, and underdevelopment breeds instability – fuelling violence and a rise in State expenditure on the military, the UN report contends.

Investing in development and sustainable security has the potential to stop today’s arms race and alleviate the need for military spending. 

“The evidence is clear: excessive military spending does not guarantee peace,” said Mr. Guterres. “It often undermines it – fuelling arms races, deepening mistrust, and diverting resources from the very foundations of stability.”

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Military spending worldwide hits record $2.7 trillion

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Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for risking their lives to fight for children's rights... "widening the concept of peace work to include efforts to improve human rights, fight poverty and clean up the environment."

In this Feb. 18, 2014 file photo, Malala Yousafzai, visits Zaatari refugee camp near the Syrian border in Mafraq, Jordan. Children's rights activists Yousafzai, 17, of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Friday, Oct. 10, 2014. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)

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http://news.yahoo.com/malala-kailash-satyarthi-win-nobel-peace-prize-090630266.html

Malala, Satyarthi win Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for risking their lives to fight for children's rights.

Malala, a 17-year-old student and education activist, is the youngest ever Nobel winner. She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman two years ago for insisting that girls also have the right to an education.

Satyarthi, 60, has been at the forefront of a global movement to end child slavery and exploitative child labor since 1980, when he gave up his career as an electrical engineer. The grassroots activist has led the rescue of tens of thousands of child slaves and developed a successful model for their education and rehabilitation. He has also survived several attempts on his life.

"This is an honor for all my fellow Indians, as well as an honor for all those children in the world whose voices were never heard before properly," Satyarthi told India's NDTV network.

The Nobel committee's announcement reflected a delicate diplomatic balance, naming one activist from Pakistan and another from India, two countries that are long-time bitter rivals; one Muslim and one Hindu; both sexes; an elder statesman of child's rights and a youthful advocate who had herself been a victim.

The Nobel Committee said it was an important point to reward both an Indian Hindu and a Pakistani Muslim for joining "in a common struggle for education and against extremism." The two will split the Nobel award of $1.1 million.

By highlighting children's rights, committee widened the scope of the peace prize, which in its early days was given for efforts to end or prevent armed conflicts.

"It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights of children and young people be respected," the committee said. "In conflict-ridden areas in particular, the violation of children leads to the continuation of violence from generation to generation."

Malala was barely 11 years old when she began championing girls' education in Pakistan, speaking out in TV interviews. The Taliban had overrun her home town of Mingora, terrorizing residents, threatening to blow up girls' schools, ordering teachers and students into the all-encompassing burqas.

She was critically injured on Oct. 9, 2012, when a Taliban gunman boarded her school bus and shot her in the head. She survived through luck — the bullet did not enter her brain — and by the quick intervention of British doctors visiting Pakistan.

Flown to Britain for specialist treatment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, she underwent numerous surgeries but made a strong recovery.

Malala currently lives with her father, mother and two brothers in Birmingham, attending a local school. She has been showered with human rights prizes, including the European Parliament's Sakharov Award.

The Nobel committee said Satyarthi was carrying on the tradition of another great Indian, Mahatma Gandhi.

"Showing great personal courage, Kailash Satyarthi, maintaining Gandhi's tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain," the committee said.

The founder of the Nobel Prizes, Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, said the prize committee should give the prize to "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

The committee has interpreted those instructions differently over time, widening the concept of peace work to include efforts to improve human rights, fight poverty and clean up the environment.

"The struggle against suppression and for the rights of children and adolescents contributes to the realization of the "fraternity between nations" that Alfred Nobel mentions in his will," the committee said.

Former Indian diplomat Lalit Mansingh praised the Nobel committee's choices this year.

"The Nobel committee is always aware of the international situation and is conscious of helping in conflict resolution. The award, especially at a time when India-Pakistan relations are under stress, is a nice gesture," he said.

The Nobel Prizes in medicine, chemistry, physics and literature were announced earlier this week. The economics award will be announced on Monday.

All awards will be handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.