Leaders of the nations are gathering in New York this weekend for the UN’s Summit of the Future. The Anglican Communion’s UN team will attend, to represent the vital role that faith groups play around the world in working for peace. Glen Ruffle, the Anglican Communion’s UN Representative in Geneva, shares his hopes for the Summit.
The UN Summit of the Future is a pivotal moment for leaders to make a pact for the future that addresses some of the biggest issues facing the world.
Coinciding with International Day of Peace (September 21), the Summit will have a big focus on the how to deal with major conflicts raging around the world.
Globally, the amounts that governments spend on war and conflict far outweigh the amounts invested in peace. A Global Peace Index Report in 2023 found that expenditure on peacebuilding and peacekeeping equalled only 0.4 percent of global military spending.
The results of this are all around us: in huge loss of life, millions forced to flee their homes and fractured societies.
In many places faith groups are working to overturn this narrative.
For example:
- Church leaders risked their lives to start negotiations in Mozambique in the early 1990s that ended a war and led to more than a million guns being taken off the streets.
- The Archbishop of Canterbury, His Holiness Pope Francis, and Moderator Iain Greenshields of the Church of Scotland went on a historic pilgrimage to South Sudan in 2023, urging political leaders to listen to their people and ensure peace across the nation.
- Right now, Anglicans are working with other faith leaders to end violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo from all angles: to use financial levers and better due diligence to bring about investment changes to restrict the funding of armed groups who control mineral supply lines, and to work at the local level as UN-trained mediators to transform individual relationships and mediate between warring groups.
- And in the Holy Land, Anglican-run hospitals continue to provide medical care during conflict, being beacons of hope in the carnage of war.
As well as speaking up for peace and reconciliation work, Anglicans at the Summit of the Future are calling for intergenerational dialogue to enable the youth voice to be heard and integrated into governance systems, and for the cooperation of science and faith in order to unleash immense benefits for all people across the earth.
The UN is warning states that the world is running out of time. It’s vital that there is appetite for change among the world's leaders – and that faith communities around the world continue to play their part in working for peace in their contexts.
May the followers of Jesus continue to travel after the Prince of Peace and face down challenges of conflict. Partnership between states, the UN and faith communities will be essential to bringing about change locally.
Now more than ever, the Church needs to stand together with those suffering the most from conflict, shaking off lethargy and embracing the full way of Christ in how we speak about justice and peace to our governments, our neighbours and all people perpetuating violence. Whether our influence is over a family or over a nation, this is the path to hope.