At the Inaugural Dialogue of Diplomatist@30 held at NDIM on 21 January 2026, senior journalist Huma Siddiqui highlighted the evolving meaning of peace in a deeply interconnected yet increasingly fragmented world. Speaking on the theme Planet, People, Peace and Prosperity, she urged the audience to move beyond siloed thinking and recognise the structural links between environmental stress, social exclusion, insecurity, and global instability.
Opening her address, Siddiqui underscored the urgency of the theme, noting that these four dimensions can no longer be treated as separate conversations. “Today, these are not separate conversations. They are deeply interconnected,” she said, setting the tone for a discussion that framed peace not as an abstract ideal but as a lived, fragile reality.
Redefining Peace Beyond the Absence of War
Challenging conventional definitions, Siddiqui argued that peace in the contemporary world must be understood far more broadly. “Peace in our time is not merely the absence of war. It is the presence of trust,” she observed, pointing to trust between states, within societies, and between citizens and institutions as the true foundation of harmony.
She emphasised that peace does not require unanimity of opinion. Rather, it depends on the ability to coexist with difference without allowing it to escalate into violence—whether physical, social, or digital. The erosion of this trust, she warned, is increasingly visible across the globe.
A World More Armed, Yet Less Secure
Citing global data, Siddiqui drew attention to the disturbing paradox defining the current moment. “Across the world, more than 117 million people have been forcibly displaced by conflict, violence, or persecution,” she noted, adding that this stark figure reflects how “global stability is breaking down faster than we are rebuilding it.”
At the same time, she pointed to record levels of global military spending, driven by insecurity and mistrust. These parallel trends—mass displacement and rising militarisation—prompt a critical question, she said: “Is the world actually becoming safer, or simply more heavily armed?”
Conflict Without Frontlines
Siddiqui observed that modern conflict is no longer limited to borders and battlefields. It now unfolds through supply chains, energy systems, information networks, climate stress, and social divisions. This shift, she argued, demands a fundamental rethink of how peace is pursued.
“Peace cannot be treated as something that comes after war. It must be built before violence begins,” she said. While military strength may deter aggression, it cannot heal social fractures, reduce inequality, or restore trust—pressures that often accumulate silently within societies long before violence erupts.
Planetary Stress and Human Fragility
A significant portion of Siddiqui’s address focused on climate stress as a growing risk multiplier. Water scarcity, food insecurity, and extreme weather events, she explained, do not automatically cause conflict but severely weaken already fragile societies.
“A stressed planet produces stressed societies,” she remarked, making the case that peace cannot be separated from environmental resilience. When livelihoods collapse and resources shrink, communities turn inward and the space for compromise narrows.
Equally critical, she argued, is the human dimension of peace. Across regions and political systems, one lesson remains constant: “People do not lose faith because they disagree; they lose faith because they feel ignored, excluded, or treated as expendable.” Justice, she stressed, is not an optional add-on to peace—it is its foundation.
Prosperity, Dialogue, and the Role of Truth
Siddiqui also addressed the close relationship between peace and prosperity. Though often discussed separately, she noted that the two rise and fall together. When development stalls and inequality deepens, frustration grows. When young people see no credible future, patience with institutions erodes.
“The real test of peace is not whether borders are quiet, but whether people believe their lives can improve without violence,” she said, underscoring the need for peace to deliver tangible improvements in everyday life.
Turning to dialogue, Siddiqui cautioned against superficial engagement. “Real dialogue is not about winning arguments; it is about listening without preparing a counter,” she observed. For dialogue to support peace, it must move beyond performance and symbolic gestures to become a genuine exchange rooted in honesty and discomfort.
She further highlighted the importance of information integrity, warning that when societies lose a shared sense of reality, disagreement quickly turns into hostility. “Information integrity is not merely a media concern—it is a peace concern,” she asserted.
From Principles to Practice
Siddiqui also outlined a set of practical priorities: focusing on prevention rather than reaction, protecting institutions that deliver everyday fairness, treating economic inclusion as a security issue, creating guardrails for technology and information spaces, and investing in people-to-people engagement beyond state-to-state diplomacy.
“These are not dramatic solutions,” she noted, “but they are durable ones.”
Siddiqui offered a powerful reminder of what peace truly demands: “Peace is not a declaration; it is a discipline. Harmony is not a slogan; it is a daily practice.” In a world marked by mistrust, climate stress, and fragmentation, she warned that peace cannot survive on good intentions alone.
“Peace is not something we achieve once,” she concluded. “It is something we must maintain—carefully, constantly, and together.”
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