United Nations, New York - With the world’s people exhausted from war and angered by short-sighted Government policies that padded military budgets and gutted social programs, senior United Nations officials and eminent peace advocates opened a High-level Forum on a Culture of Peace September 14 stressing that education, youth outreach, and women’s empowerment were the keys to wiping out poverty, injustice, and exclusion.

“When we look at the suffering in our world, we know how urgently we need a culture of peace,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, opening the first-ever General Assembly high-level forum on the topic, citing troubling events in today’s headlines; from the fighting in Syria that was taking a deadly toll on civilians, to Mali, where sacred sites in the legendary city of Timbuktu were under attack, and the terrible attacks in Libya and elsewhere where a “disgusting film” appeared to have sparked violence.

For a report by the UN Information Office, click here.