As the world enters 2026 amid mounting crises, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has issued a stark but hopeful New Year appeal, urging global leaders to shift resources away from destruction and towards development, peace and people.
“The world stands at a crossroads,” he said, warning that conflict, climate breakdown and systemic violations of international law are eroding trust in leadership worldwide.
“People everywhere are asking: Are leaders even listening? Are they ready to act?” he said.
Mr. Guterres underscored the scale of global suffering, noting that more than a quarter of humanity now lives in conflict-affected areas. Over 200 million people require humanitarian assistance, while nearly 120 million have been forcibly displaced by war, crises, disasters or persecution.
Against this backdrop, he pointed to what he described as a profound imbalance in global priorities.
“As we turn the page on a turbulent year, one fact speaks louder than words: global military spending has soared to $2.7 trillion,” he said, nearly 10 per cent higher than the pervious year.
That figure, he stressed, is 13 times higher than total global development aid and equivalent to the entire gross domestic product (GDP) of the African continent. If current trends continue, military spending could more than double to $6.6 trillion by 2035, even as humanitarian needs continue to rise.
A path to hope
Despite the grim statistics, the Secretary-General underscored that solutions are within reach.
In September 2025, he launched the report The Security We Need: Rebalancing Military Spending for a Sustainable and Peaceful Future. The report shows how relatively small shifts in spending could deliver transformative results.
Less than four per cent of current military expenditure could end world hunger by 2030, it finds, while just over 10 per cent could fully vaccinate every child. Redirecting 15 per cent would more than cover the annual cost of climate adaptation in developing countries.
“It’s clear the world has the resources to lift lives, heal the planet, and secure a future of peace and justice,” Mr. Guterres said.
Call to action
Looking ahead, he had a direct message to leaders globally.
“On this New Year, let’s resolve to get our priorities straight. A safer world begins by investing more in fighting poverty and less in fighting wars. Peace must prevail,” he urged.
Addressing people everywhere, he added: “Play your part. Our future depends on our collective courage to act.”
“In 2026,” he concluded, “I call on leaders everywhere: Get serious. Choose people and planet over pain. Let’s rise together – for justice, for humanity, for peace.”
UN News/ Conor Lennon Young leaders take part in a Peace Circle at UNHQ (file Dec 2025)
By Conor Lennon
The UN has long been at the forefront of efforts to involve young people in decision-making, and the last decade has seen significant progress, thanks to the adoption of a Security Council resolution on youth, peace and security which led to widespread changes in the ways that the voices of young people are not just heard, but also incorporated in peace plans and policies.
In 2021, after the Taliban takeover, Nila Ibrahimi and her family fled Afghanistan. Having been a vocal rights advocate since the age of thirteen, when she led a viral campaign that successfully overturned a government ban preventing Afghan girls over the age of 12 from singing in public, she knew that she risked being a target of the new regime.
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After spending time in hiding, she now lives in Canada, but she hasn’t left activism behind. From her new home, she started HerStory, an organisation dedicated to documenting the experiences of girls both inside Afghanistan and across the diaspora.
“I do my best to tell the stories of girls who have been banned from going to school. I was able to graduate but my friends are still stuck in time in the ninth grade. It’s emotional work, but I think that if it motivates just one person to do something, then I think that I have done enough”.
Active partners in peace
Ms. Ibrahimi was speaking to UN News at an event held on 15 December to mark the tenth anniversary of Security Council Resolution 2250, which formally recognises young people as active partners in maintaining and promoting international peace and security.
Around half the people on the planet are under 30, which makes them the generation with the greatest stake in our common future. Nevertheless, they are often excluded from the spaces where solutions to our most intractable issues are shaped.
Since the adoption of the resolution, the UN has supported a host of initiatives implementing the recommendations it contains. For example, theDemocratic Republic of the Congo, The Gambia, and Honduras developed Youth, Peace & Security (YPS) national and local action plans; the African Union held Africa’s first continent-wide dialogue on YPS, culminating in the Bujumbura Declaration; and 11 countries, from Africa to the Middle East, Asia and Europe, have so far enacted YPS action plans that are aligned with Resolution 2250.
Afghanistan, still ruled by the Taliban, is not one of them. However, Ms. Ibrahimi, who has often felt that she is ploughing a lonely furrow, remains undaunted and dedicated to continuing the fight for women’s rights.
“It really struck me, in the conference, that I'm in the same room as some people who I would never have had the opportunity to meet and learn about the ways that they have implemented strategies to empower youth in their countries,” she reflects. “Just being in their presence has been a big privilege and opportunity to not just talk about my own story and raise the voices of Afghan women but also learn from others”.
Act now for peace
The 15 December events culminated in a Peace Circle, featuring Ms. Ibrahimi, several other young leaders, and senior UN officials, diplomats and academics. Peace Circles grew out of a major UN initiative, as part of the flagship Act Now campaign. They are informal dialogues on subjects connected to peace, which could range from subjects as wide-ranging as education gender equality, climate and technology. At least half of the participants have to be under 30, with an emphasis on young people who are often not at the table and new to UN spaces.
The Act Now for Peace campaign runs until September 2026, and the discussions held at the Peace Circles will directly feed into a number of UN projects, including the UN Secretary-General’s Independent Study on youth contributions to peace, and a Global Youth Peace Manifesto.
Celebrity Media Commentator: Within the generally gentle, cautious, and controversy-avoiding cultural atmosphere of Chinese churches, Pastor Zheng Lixin and the “Trumpeter Ministry” he founded stood out as both strikingly unconventional and urgently necessary five years ago. He dares to confront the deep structural tensions between culture and politics, dares to point out the real dilemmas faith faces in contemporary society, and dares to call believers to assume public responsibility rather than locking faith away in a private spiritual corner. Such a voice has long been extremely rare in the Chinese world, yet the times are proving that it is precisely this kind of voice that is most forward-looking and most constructive.
The current U.S. administration’s renewed affirmation of Christian culture is a clear example. Since President Trump assumed office once again this year, American political culture has undergone a rare reversal—public faith is no longer treated as an “untouchable forbidden zone,” but is being reconsidered as a key factor in sustaining the nation’s moral center. Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Hergerthes openly raised his hands to lead prayer at the Pentagon, calling military officers and civilian officials to lift up the name of Jesus at the very heart of national military power. The Pentagon is not a church; it is the strategic and command center of the U.S. military. The appearance of such a scene signals a recalibration of cultural direction. Even more historically significant, on September 8, 2025, during a speech at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, President Trump once again publicly declared: “We are a nation under God, and we always will be.” In contemporary American political culture, this was not an ordinary statement, but a public reaffirmation of values—a pushback against more than a decade of faith being forced out of the public sphere.
The Return of Public Faith: Why Pastor Lenny Cheng Has Become a Driver of Our Time
For many years, the core emphasis of Zheng Lixin’s Trumpeter Ministry—that “faith must return to the center of public life”—has formed a profound resonance with this national-level cultural return. Pastor Zheng’s sharp edge lies not merely in his willingness to speak, but in his courage to identify who dares not speak. His critique is directed not at society, but at the church’s silence in the face of the times. He has long warned that if Christians continue to confine faith to personal devotion and church activities, while lacking cultural analysis and public responsibility, the next generation will inevitably be shaped by the mainstream education system, social media, and secular culture. If families do not act proactively, culture inevitably will; if the church remains silent, values will inevitably be defined by others. These words may be uncomfortable, but they accurately expose a long-standing blind spot within Chinese churches.
The prayers at the Pentagon and the public declaration at the Museum of the Bible have generated enormous social reaction precisely because they broke the taboos imposed by political correctness in recent years. Supporters argue that the United States was founded on trust in God and biblical values, and that without a foundation of faith, social order cannot be sustained, family structures will continue to collapse, and society will struggle to withstand the shock of value confusion. Critics, by contrast, loudly accuse the government of “religious interference in politics,” claiming that such public prayer deepens social division, with some media outlets even attempting to downplay the significance of the events themselves. Yet the fiercer the controversy, the clearer one fact becomes: America is contesting its cultural soul, and that contest will never be won through silence.
This is precisely where the significance of the Trumpeter Ministry lies. It does not seek to manufacture religious emotion, but to rebuild a language of public faith—enabling Christians to understand the contours of contemporary culture, to re-establish faith transmission within families, and to speak in the public sphere with maturity and rationality. What Pastor Zheng proposes is a systematic project of cultural reconstruction: from parents to churches, from education to values, from private belief to public responsibility. He continually reminds believers that faith without a public dimension cannot influence society; faith confined to Sundays cannot shape the next generation; faith that never enters the cultural core can only be submerged by the tides of the age.
The prayers at the Pentagon, and President Trump’s public declaration at the Museum of the Bible “We are a nation under God, and we always will be,” represent a real-world response to the core vision of the Trumpeter Ministry. They demonstrate that faith has not withdrawn from the national stage; rather, after a prolonged cultural vacuum, it is once again being regarded as a foundation for social stability. For Chinese churches, this serves as a sobering wake-up call. Silence is not neutrality—it is withdrawal from the battlefield; avoiding controversy is not wisdom—it is abdication of responsibility. Without proactive preparation, the next generation will inevitably lose its way amid value conflicts.
In this sense, Pastor Zheng Lixin is not merely a commentator on the times, but a driver of the times. What he advances is not a surge of religious emotion, but a long-term reconstruction of cultural foundations, a reshaping of values, and a proactive stance against overwhelming cultural currents. As national-level discourse once again speaks of being “under God,” and as faith re-enters the public center, the trumpet blast of the Trumpeter Ministry becomes both a prelude and a footnote to this historic shift.
What Pastor Zheng Lixin is doing is ensuring that Christians are no longer absent from the cultural battlefield. In the reconstruction of civilization, a single trumpeter often matters more than a thousand who remain silent.
Celebrity Media, based on news provided by the United Nations News Centre, reports: On 27 November, Lacroix met with the President of the Central African Republic, Faustin Archange Touadera, together with MINUSCA Head of Mission and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Valentine Rugwabiza. The talks focused on the latest changes in the political process in the Central African Republic and the deployment of new tasks for the stabilization mission.
Lacroix emphasized that the long-standing “excellent partnership” between the United Nations and the Government of the Central African Republic is translating into tangible progress. He noted the significant achievements made by the country in consolidating stability, institutional development, and democratic elections, demonstrating a positive turning point. With the upcoming elections, he said that the United Nations and MINUSCA are prepared to face tough challenges and are committed to ensuring that the elections are conducted under the best possible conditions.
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UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix visits the Central African Republic, reaffirming support for political process and election preparation
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, arrived in the Central African Republic on 26 November 2025 for a four-day working visit. The visit focuses on jointly assessing the current political process and election preparation with the Government of the Central African Republic and MINUSCA.
Lacroix stated: “Our communication with His Excellency the President once again demonstrates the strong cooperation between the Central African Republic and the United Nations. This cooperation is reflected in progress toward stabilizing institutions and advancing the electoral process. The United Nations and MINUSCA will continue to shoulder their responsibilities, even in the toughest environments, and fully support this process.”
Lacroix also reaffirmed the firm support of UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the entire UN system for the efforts of the Central African people. He said that the people are making real and difficult efforts for the future of their country, and the United Nations will continue to stand by them, consolidate existing achievements, and promote new progress.
Special Representative Rugwabiza also emphasized MINUSCA’s current mission priorities: while consolidating stability, creating a more favorable political future for the Central African people. She noted that the mission will continue efforts in dialogue, strengthening engagement with all parties, and ensuring that the improving security and political environment benefits the population.
This visit is seen as an important opportunity for the United Nations to promote peace and democratic progress in the Central African Republic, reflecting ongoing international attention and commitment toward stability. With elections drawing nearer, the outcomes of Lacroix’s visit are expected to have far-reaching impacts on future stabilization and political transition efforts.
UN News/ Conor Lennon Young leaders take part in a Peace Circle at UNHQ (file Dec 2025)
UN Youth Office
UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix visits the Central African Republic, reaffirming support for political process and election preparation