Peace message for Iraq Launched at the Erbil Citadel

Scripted and illuminated in the Kurdish language, the peace message sits against the backdrop of the majestic Erbil Citadel in the vicinity of the newly landscaped Shar Park and the city’s bustling local bazaars.  Large flex banners of the same message in English, Arabic and Kurdish have also been affixed to the scaffolding on the walls of the Citadel to draw the public’s attention to the importance of this year’s peace day slogan and its global theme of Youth for Peace and Development.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the United Nations in Iraq, Mr. Ad Melkert, welcomes this initiative and urges the youth of Iraq to advocate for peace by engaging in development and reconstruction projects and initiating dialogue with the country’s leaders to promote sustainable peace.  “Peace and development go hand in hand and they are a prerequisite for a better and brighter future.  The young people of Iraq, who represent over half the population of the country and its future leaders, need to be enabled and empowered to actively contribute in the shaping of Iraq’s future,” Mr. Melkert said.

SRSG Melkert welcomed the raising of the Peace Day slogan near the Erbil Citadel, renowned as one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world.  The second phase of the Erbil Citadel Revitalization project is presently ongoing, in which the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is assisting the HCECR in implementing urgent preventive works on ten of the Citadel’s most unstable buildings.  UNESCO is also working with national authorities in their efforts to enlist the site in the World Heritage List.