The Director of Peace, Security, and Conflict Prevention at the United Nations Association of Africa (UNAA), Ambassador Victor Asije, has called on world leaders to invest more in creating a better understanding and happiness among the peoples of the world.
Asije, who made the call in a message to observe this year’s International Happiness Day, added that peoples of the world urgently needed the enabling environment for happiness to thrive.
According to him, the International Happiness Day was declared by the United Nations (UN) as a fundamental human rights, and was aimed at encouraging a more inclusive, equitable, and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes sustainable development and peoples well-being.
“As the world today celebrates this year’s International Happiness Day, I would like to, respectfully, play up these still currently-relevant words of the ever-living Adam Smith.
“Adam Smith said centuries ago that ‘All constitutions of government are valued only in proportion as they tend to promote the happiness of those who live under them.This is the sole use and end’.”
“So as we all, today, mark this year’s International Happiness Day, I would like to remind world leaders that millions, and millions of people in different villages, cities, and in different nations are earnestly craving for happiness,” he said.
The UNAA Director of Peace, Security, and Conflict Prevention said that it was imperative for other world leaders to begin to emulate how Nordic, and other countries that had been ranked by the World Happiness Report, were taking issues of happiness seriously.
Asije maintained that if Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Netherlands, Costa Rica, Israel, Luxembourg, and Mexico had been “consistently” ranked as the top ten happiest countries, happiness could be achieved globally.
The global peace advocate noted that when the right environment was created for happiness, joy, and peace to thrive at homes, communities, public and private organisations, people-to-people relations and exchanges, religious beliefs, and between nations, global peace would be enhanced.
The ambassador added that the encouragement of happiness globally, would promote better understanding between nationalities, strengthen relationships, marriages, peaceful coexistence between homes, communities, organisations, local, national, continental and international businesses, and religious organisations
“And to you all men and women, boys and girls out there, let’s always understand that life challenges and happiness are naturally, and mutually interwoven.
“And that, it is only when we daily understand the bittersweet experiences of life, that we would choose happiness,joy, and peace over lives fraught with misunderstandings, jerkiness, grumpiness, frazzleness , unruliness, disorderliness, frustration,irritability, depression, and belligerence.
“As world leaders, heads of families, communities, government institutions, businesses, professional organisations, religious organisations, schools, and youth organisations, let us begin to create the enabling environment for ourselves, our family members, employees, community members,nationalities, school children, and youths to always choose happiness, in the midst of life challenges,” he said.
The ambassador, who noted the psychosocial effects of unhappiness, urged world leaders to urgently recommit to giving priority to people’s happiness, and well-being on their development agendas.
Asije said that it was vitally important for peoples of the world, to know that they were created to be happy at all times, adding that the choice by people to make themselves happy, was not optional.
The UNAA Director of Peace, Security, and Conflict Prevention enjoined people to begin to love themselves more, slow down from the current fast-paced lifestyle, and choose happiness over unhappiness.
“What most of us need today, tomorrow, and in the nearest future is better understanding of ourselves as individuals,as couples, community members, colleagues, organisations, our different religious beliefs, and nationalities
“The more we understand that this ordered world, and its inexhaustible resources were created by an incomparably intelligent, ordered, loving, detribalised, and an always happy God, we would all also choose happiness during the good, the bad, and ugly moments.
“If peoples of the world had had better understanding of themselves, past conflicts, crisis and world wars, and the ongoing conflicts between Israel and Iran would not have started in the first place,”
Asije said.
The global peace advocate also cautioned people against “seeking happiness” from the use of drugs, alcoholism, adventurism , manipulation, falsehoods, gambling ,deceitfulness, other acts of criminality, and uncontrolled sex, describing them as fleeting happiness.