GUYANA, like many countries, commemorates Remembrance Day annually to reflect on the sacrifices made in the pursuit of peace years ago. Even now, with the Ukraine/ Russia crisis, for example, it is important to reflect on the suffering and sacrifice to build a better world.

Remembrance Day, observed on the second Sunday in November, pays homage to the fallen in World War I (1914- 1918) and World War II (1939-1945), two events with grim global consequences.

Wars are the result of inequalities or injustices, whether real or perceived, between and among nations and between governments and citizens in pursuit of domination or resistance to being dominated.

Because of their devastating effects on life and livelihoods, measures are continuously explored to limit such events. In 1919, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) was established to address the conflicts that led to WWI. This was done on the premise that government, employers and workers’ representatives meeting as equals to determine future relationships based on agreed conventions was crucial to preventing another war.

Despite the establishment of this, the world went to war again.

In 1948, in another attempt to prevent another war, governments established the United Nations (UN). This organisation’s mission set out to achieve worldwide comity based on the equality of man, where each individual deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. From this principle has sprung its Declarations.

It took two wars, which resulted in millions of lives lost, the dislocation of millions more and the destruction and confiscation of properties and businesses, to reinforce the necessity of the benefits in mutual respect to man’s livelihoods, his possessions and the right to call a place home. The cost was too high.

Ordinary men and women were injured and died in these wars, along with our men and women in uniform, who were on the frontlines. As homage is paid to the uniformed fallen, the institutions established as a consequence thereof, must not only be seen as reminders not to repeat the past, but must also serve as extensions of their lives and the beacons that ought to ground, court, and maintain human relations.

A troubling, though not unresolvable, fact is that the world continues to see volatile and dangerous conflicts. Again, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year illustrates just that.

Internally, citizens are in conflict with their governments due to the denial of fundamental rights and freedoms which occur through domination by the elected class, and is supported by the well-connected.

The eruption and continuity of these conflicts, when examined, invariably carry similar characteristics of WWI and WWII, this human failing, where, in the absence of established institutions that hold all to the same standards and require all to play by the same rules, war would be unending.

In its efforts to keep our frailty in check, appreciation can be had for the principles of the ILO and the UN, their attendant arms and the laws in respective member countries.

Conflict is an element of human interaction. Though man is a homogeneous being, our thoughts, desires, goals and actions are heterogeneous, and from this spring competing interests, foci, and priorities that spark conflicts.

Conflicts, however, do not have to be debilitating, leading to animosity, confrontations, struggles, wars, injuries and loss of lives. It means that paying homage to the fallen requires more than acts of symbolism; it requires nations, governments and citizens living up to the ideals that were birthed from their sacrifices.

Should man respect the rules he put in place to regulate his behaviours and pursue actions in resolving differences, it would significantly help in preventing wars from within, between, and among. It continues to be proven that man’s peaceful and harmonious existence remains in respecting the principles ensconced by the ILO and the UN.