Choosing Peace in an Age of Polycrisis: Reflections as UNGA81 Unfolds
As world leaders gather for the 81st United Nations General Assembly, Euphrates staff member Issah Toha Shamsoo reflects on his experience at the inaugural UN Peacebuilding Week earlier this year. Amid overlapping global crises, he asks what young people can do differently and where we can find hope. His reflection calls for renewed international cooperation and for investment in the relationships and communities that sustain peace. Above all, Issah reminds us that young people are already peacebuilders—and that peace is still worth choosing.
As the 81st UN General Assembly unfolds, I find myself reflecting on the privilege and honour of joining the inaugural United Nations Peacebuilding Week in New York earlier this year.
That experience feels even more significant today.
We are living through what many describe as a period of polycrisis: raging and protracted conflicts, the climate crisis, growing inequalities, democratic backsliding, increasing pushback against international norms and multilateral cooperation, and the profound opportunities and risks emerging from artificial intelligence.
Against this backdrop, I keep returning to questions that many young people, myself included, are grappling with:
1. What is our role in all of this?
2. What can we do differently?
3. And perhaps most importantly, what gives us hope?
As I listen to leaders from around the world address the General Assembly from that podium, I find myself looking for more than statements. I am looking for a renewed commitment to dialogue over violence, and multilateral cooperation over confrontation.
I am looking for leadership that recognises that regardless of our nationality, geography, religion, race or political background, we are connected by our shared humanity and our common hope for peace, prosperity, fulfilment and freedom.
There is no doubt that we are off track in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, yet we can still change course. For me, that starts with Member States recommitting to the principles at the heart of the UN Charter: the peaceful resolution of disputes, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, restraint in the use of force, respect for human rights, international cooperation, and the equal dignity of peoples.
But peace cannot be sustained by governments alone. It requires communities, civil society, young people, women, religious and traditional leaders, and institutions willing to build trust and address grievances before they escalate into crises.
The inaugural UN Peacebuilding Week reinforced for me that peacebuilding becomes sustainable when we invest in the relationships, institutions and opportunities that make peaceful societies possible.
As young people, we are not only beneficiaries of peace, we are also peacebuilders, mediators, and leaders.
There is still work to do.
There is still hope.
And peace is still worth choosing.