{"id":368,"date":"2020-08-30T19:22:23","date_gmt":"2020-08-30T19:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/?p=368"},"modified":"2020-08-30T19:22:25","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T19:22:25","slug":"lessons-from-2001-nobel-peace-prize-winner-kofi-annan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/2020\/08\/30\/lessons-from-2001-nobel-peace-prize-winner-kofi-annan\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons From 2001 Nobel Peace Prize Winner- Kofi Annan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cA conscience keeper of international peace and security.\u201d as described by Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Kofi Annan stands tall as one of the greatest peacebuilding icons from the African continent. The first sub-Saharan African to become the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN). Kofi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 2001 along with the UN \u201cfor their work for a better organised and more peaceful world.\u201d Who is this African giant?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kofi Annan\nwas born on the 8th of April 1938, to a Ghanaian family and studied in Geneva.\nHe joined the UN in 1962, working for the World Health Organization\u2019s Geneva\noffice and spent his entire life in the United Nations system rising through\nthe ranks to become the UN Secretary-General from 1997 to 2006. As the first\nSecretary-General to be elected from the UN staff, he was a fervent advocate\nfor peace, sustainable development, human rights and the rule of law. Although\nhis legacy includes some controversies around his perceived inability to\nproperly handle the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the Srebrenica Massacre of\n1995, Kofi pushed for reforms to rebuild the UN making it more effective and\nbrought the UN to the 21st century, while working extensively on poverty\neradication\/alleviation in countries around the world constantly seeking\ngreater stability and peacekeeping efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kofi Annan\nwas committed to containing the spread of the HIV\/AIDS virus in Africa when the\nrest of the world stood still. As the virus raged across the continent, Kofi\nAnnan met with influential African leaders and the Organisation of African\nUnion (OAU), now known as African Union (AU) to strategise on curbing the virus\nand other highly infectious diseases, especially among young adults. His strong\nleadership helped Africa to contain it by promoting its test and treatment and\npushing for enhanced healthcare systems on the continent. He was committed to the\nfight against the virus to protect and preserve the future of Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kofi Annan\nmade his work on peace a personal goal and reemphasized the UN\u2019s focus on\nadvocacy on conflict prevention and peacebuilding. He raised support for\nchildren in Afghanistan and other underdeveloped countries by amplifying their\nvoices and striving for a more peaceful world. Prevention of conflict is mainly\na national responsibility but Kofi Annan made it a responsibility of the UN too\nwhen the national body failed to protect or abuse its people by reawakening the\nUN peacekeeping department and introduced the Responsibility to Protect\ndoctrine (R2P). He is a man of integrity as he injected openness and\ntransparency into the UN system thereby making UN officials more aware of the\nimpact of their actions and inactions on vulnerable populations. He also\ncontributed to and supported the civilian rule in Nigeria, making democracy in\nNigeria possible today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kofi Annan remains a great mentor to me and other youth around the world. He believed in the strong difference youths can make in peacebuilding and politics by supporting free and fair elections, empowering young leaders to counter violent extremism and supporting a strive for a more peaceful world. According to one of his quotes, \u201cPeace is not a perfect achievement\u201d therefore it has to be consciously worked at, as it often comes after a period of war, but also gives hope; hope for a better life, a better society, a healthy life and a land that can flourish again. Kofi Annan died at the age of 80 on August 18, 2018, a fulfilled age, having lived a life full of great and positive impacts. May he continue to rest in peace and his legacies grow stronger, better and impacting. On this occasion of the 2nd anniversary of his death, I am glad to reflect on what his legacy means to young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kofi Annan\nis such a powerful mentor for youth peacebuilders especially on the continent\nof Africa. Here is why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.\u00a0 Strive to change the ineffective status quo<\/strong>. Kofi realized that the United Nations was unable to intervene in major crises such as the Rwandan Genocide of 1995 and the Srebrenica Massacre of 1999 because of the principle of sovereignty that says governments have full control of what happens in their country without any interference from outsiders. Kofi felt this was deadly and governments could use it to harm their citizens so he created the concept of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in 2001 to ensure that the international community steps in to protect citizens from their oppressive governments. In the same vein, youth-led organisations such as Building Blocks for Peace Foundation (BBFORPEACE) are demanding a change in their perception by governments and other stakeholders from perpetrators of violence to shapers of peace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Fight for Africa\u2019s development<\/strong>. Kofi made it clear that Africans had the primary responsibility to develop the continent. He emphasised the importance of education to its teeming young population and worked closely with African leaders through their member-states and the Organisation of African Unity. Likewise, BBFORPEACE is collaborating with dozens of organisations across Africa to advocate for peace and security on the African continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Respond to emerging challenges quickly.<\/strong> HIV\/AIDS was a major security threat at the beginning of the millennium in 2000. Africa, in particular, was in danger of being overwhelmed due to inadequate health support systems and health personnel as well as widespread illiteracy. Kofi swung into action leading massive sensitization adopting UNSCR 1308 identifying AIDS as a global security threat in 2000 and convening the General Assembly Special Session on HIV\/AIDS in 2001. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As young peacebuilders, we cannot wait to start tackling\nsocietal challenges. It starts right now- from you and me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oluwabukunmi Matesun,
Member, Welfare Unit,
Building Blocks for Peace Foundation<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA conscience keeper of international peace and security.\u201d as described by Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Kofi Annan stands tall as one of the greatest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[49,11,9,7],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":371,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions\/371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}