Peace has always been a much sought-after phenomenon by every living creature. The subject  and search for true and lasting peace is one that has transcended every bound, and extended to every human endeavour and concern.

Simple as the concept may sound, the exigencies and the mode of life in the modern and civilized world of today make such a search a precarious one, coming only at the behest of concerted physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological effort.

One of the most outstanding efforts of the pursuit of peace on the global scale has been the establishment of the United Nations Organisation in 1945, the need of which was so expedient given the global involvement of the countries of the world in an all-encompassing, destructive, needless and wasteful war, and that was the second time in coming.

An indication of the dearth of the commodity of peace will always lie in the level and number of conflicts that are still prevalent despite the consensus of virtually all the countries of the world that peace was of the essence if development was going to be anywhere in sight.

Peace has been aptly and practically described not just as the absence of conflict or physical violence and breakdown of order, but an enthronement of justice, equity, and the various other ingredients that perpetuate and ensure the life of the phenomenon of peace.

One of the most fundamental components of this discourse would be the promotion, upholding and the aggressive support of the fundamental human rights of the citizen or individual in question.

It, of course, goes without saying that the infringement or downplaying of an individual’s right to life, right to fair hearing, right to freedom of association, right to freedom of worship and most recently, right to quality education, is an integral component of the destructive chain that would snowball in time into the total loss of peace in the region or locality, of course with the attendant physical, material, mental and sometimes financial casualties.

Instances where such seemingly inconsequential denials have led to mutinies that have lasted months and even years are all too fresh in our memories; even if it is not, the Arab spring will stand out as one of the most significant in this regard.

The link between human rights promotion and advocation, peace promotion and the sustenance of true democracy, which undeniably is a form of government that is easily the most popular in the world today, is obviously a strong one.

The engendering of a sound human rights programme is an ingredient, if not chiefly, for the birth and nutrition of sound peace, which now provides the leverage and footing on which general opinion, for the people and by the people can now thrive, and in turn deliver dividends of development, progress and an enviable pride of place in the comity of nations.

All too often, the pursuit of peace has been a phenomenon which has involved policy formulation, human and material contingencies, and sometimes actual combat to quell certain manners of uprising, different shades and hues of peacekeeping operations, and all these have, in the plausible and noble cause, excluded a critical mass of the population of the world whose contributions have neither been sought nor seen to be of importance-the aged and elderly.

In viewing the elderly as prime agents of peace and nation building, we must take into account the fact that the society they are now suffering exclusion from was moulded and shaped by them, and the wealth of experience they possess was drawn from the same society.

Elders are an alternate conflict resolution resource, as well as prime agents of peace, and that is one factor that has been ignored for long enough.

The United Nations, in the same spirit of heightened chase for world peace, has christened September 21 International Day for Peace, and the theme has been strategically and timely chosen: “Education For Peace”. It is so glaring the need for a kind of education other than, and above perfunctory studying of books and solving of sums in this desire for a peaceful world.

The kind of education that shuns inordinate slavery of any kind and form, due, mutual and fair respect for people’s views and opinions, is the kind of education that is needed, and will mark the crux of peace in this 21st century.

Mr  Ike Willie Nwobu, a management consultant, wrote from Abuja.